Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender, they belong to their specific manga and cartoon chains and authors and artists, and this is just for fun, not profit.

Bending the Jutsu

A Naruto II/Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover

Prologue: The Fire Nation has become even more relentless in the war against the Earth and Water Nations due to the fact that the Avatar has returned. Firelord Ozai has ordered legions of his best firebenders to go out and conquer the Earth Nation faster, even the mighty city of Omashu fell to the newest offensive. Admiral Zhao led a massive assault on the Northern Water Tribe's main city fortress, yet it failed when the Avatar, a young airbender named Aang absorbed the water spirit in his Avatar State and brought the fight directly to the Fire Nation….

The Sound Village has begun plotting to destroy Konoha once again, it's leader Orochimaru, the fallen Sannin preparing a massive assault. Yet he needs allies, and a massive army to triumph over Konoha's Military might. He has sent emissaries to the Rock Village in the Land of Earth, due to their lingering hatred and jealousy of Konoha from being victorious in the last Shinobi War. Time has also begun to run out for his apprentice, Uchiha Sasuke; soon he'll be able to transfer his soul into the gifted Uchiha…

Avatar Aang, and his companions, Sokka and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe arrived in the Earth Nation to find a Earthbending Teacher for the young Avatar. Due to a vision in a spiritual swamp, he found one in the form of the blind, yet extremely gifted Earthbender, Toph. Now, as they travel to find the secret to beating the Fire Nation, they reach a massive desert which they have to cross to get to Ba Sing Se, the Earth Nation's Capital on the Avatar's Flying Bison, Appa…

Uzumaki Naruto, the boy who would be the next Hokage increased his training under the tutelage of Hatake Kakashi and ANBU Captain Yamato. He is determined to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, since he never breaks a promise. The young Hyuuga Heiress, Hyuuga Hinata has been called in by Kakashi to oversee his training…

Chapter 1: A World at War

Konoha, Training Sector 8

In the training sector of Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, a 15 year old teenager, with blue eyes and spiky blond hair, whisker-like markings on his cheeks, a forehead protector with a leaf carved into the middle of it and wearing black and orange jumpsuit. On his back was a red spiral symbol in between the red and orange divide. He let out an yell of frustration, and threw up his hands into a strange sign, he crossed his fingers and instantly 2000 copies of himself appeared.

"This time I'm really going to do it!" the young man yelled, and his copies added their support.

From the top of a hill overlooking the training area, a young woman with white eyes, same age as the young man, long black hair, dressed in a brown and white light coat and long black pants with bandages around her thigh, stood next to a tall man with silver hair, a mask covering most of his face, and his forehead protector his right eye. "How's he doing, Hinata-san?"

The young woman, Hyuuga Hinata, heiress to the prestigious Hyuuga Clan sighed. She activated her Kekki Genkai, the Byakugan and watched as the young man, and his copies swirled energy in their hands. "N-Naruto-kun is still having difficulty molding his chakra element into the Rasengan, y-yet he's gotten his control better. He could make the attack complete any day now, Kakashi-sensei."

The silver haired man, Hatake Kakashi nodded and turned to the man with dark black hair and eyes. "Has he been keeping the Kyuubi down, Yamato-san?"

"He has gotten better about it, his temper is just under the limits of releasing the power of the demon," 'Yamato' replied, arcing his eyebrow. "I could have sworn he started doing it better when the young Ms. Hyuuga arrived."

Hinata's faced reddened slightly at that, making Kakashi smile underneath his mask. "You had only a week to learn about Naruto and his teammate Sakura; I had 6 months with him, and two years with Sakura."

"I guess my powers of observation aren't as great as I thought," Yamato grinned. "So when he completes the Rasengan, which Yondaime and Jiraiya-sama could not achieve, he'll be strong enough to defeat Uchiha Sasuke?"

"That's the plan, at least for now," Kakashi replied, and Hinata gazed down at the ground for a second. "Something wrong, Hinata-san?"

"N-No…I just wish…I could help more," Hinata replied in a nervous stutter. '...I'm still having trouble believing…'

A few days ago, Hinata had returned from a mission with her sensei, Yuhi Kurenai, and her teammates Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba and his dog Akamaru. Kurenai went to tend to her flower gardens, Shino went to inform his clan of the mission's success, and Kiba just went to go play with his large dog. That left Hinata alone, with really nothing to do.

She wandered around Konoha, and if on impulse checked in the local and most popular Ramen Shop in town, Ichiraku. She blushed to herself when she realized why she did that-to find Uzumaki Naruto…her crush, no, it wasn't a simple crush anymore; she had fallen in love with him. Yet when she first saw him after he returned from his training with Jiraiya of the Legendary Three, she hid because she didn't have enough courage to see him. On top of that, when he found her…she started blushing, and as always, he thought she had a fever, and she immediately fainted.

"Expecting Naruto here?" a voice asked from behind her. She jumped and looked back and saw Naruto's Jounin instructor, the copy-ninja Hatake Kakashi.

"…ano…um…" Hinata started as she started blushing a deep shade of tomato red.

Underneath his mask, Kakashi smiled. "He is out training for our next mission of retrieving Sasuke, if that's what you want to know. Come to think of it, he's having a little trouble…we could use your talents in aiding his progress?"

Hinata nearly collapsed when she heard Kakashi's request. "M-My talents? What's he doing? A-And wouldn't Neji-nii-san be better?"

"Neji-san's on a mission right now and Naruto needs help molding his chakra element into the Rasengan…and also keeping the thing he keeps caged under control. Yamato can keep it under control, but neither of us can see the chakra being channeled," Kakashi replied, his smirk still showing underneath his mask. "This isn't a mission however, and you can refuse or back out anytime. Though there is something you must know about Naruto to make the proper decision…"

"…what is it?" Hinata asked after she took a gulp of air, processing the request.

"Walk with me, we can't have any prying ears from the general public hearing this," Kakashi told her seriously, and the young Hyuuga nodded and walked with the copy-ninja away from the crowd around Ichiraku. "As you know, 15 and a half years ago, Yondaime defeated the nine-tailed demon fox, Kyuubi. He saved the entire village, yet what your generation doesn't know is that he didn't destroy Kyuubi."

"What?" Hinata interjected in slight shock. "…I thought he destroyed Kyuubi…"

Kakashi shook his head. "Yondaime was the finest, most powerful ninja this village ever produced, perhaps the strongest on the planet. Yet even his might isn't enough to destroy the strongest of all the nine-tailed bijuu. Instead…he took a newborn babe, a young boy, and sealed the demon inside of him. With that, Yondaime died, leaving the child to grow up…becoming a prankster…then a genin we all know…"

Hinata's eyes widened. "Y-You mean…Naruto-kun has Kyuubi sealed inside of him?"

Kakashi nodded. "He's the monster's jailer, the only thing that is keeping the demon from killing us all. Many of the villagers look upon him in hatred because he has the demon inside of him, though most have let that hate go, some will never let it die."

Hinata nodded solemnly at that, remembering the hateful looks the adults gave Naruto three years ago. The silver haired Jounin cleared his throat. "Naruto has only told Sakura and Temari-san about this, during our mission to save Kazekage-sama, Gaara, from Akatsuki."

"I…I'll do it," Hinata told him. He gave her a momentary look of confusion. "I'll help you train Naruto-kun. He isn't the demon, the adults are wrong about him…he's the strongest man I know."

"I was hoping you'd say that. Well, come on; let's get to the training field. Konoha's number one knucklehead is about to start another round of training," Kakashi said as he looked up onto the buildings of the village to see Sarutobi Asuma, Nara Shikamaru, Kamizuki Izumo, and Hagne Kotetsu leap towards the gate. He suddenly got the feeling that this would be the last time he'd see his old friend Asuma.

She stood as Naruto growled in frustration once again.

"Damn it!" Naruto roared as his clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "What the hell am I doing wrong? Whenever it feels like the wind chakra is going into the Rasengan, it suddenly disappears!"

Hinata pursed her lips, and glanced up at Kakashi, and he looked as if she should tell him. She gulped, but walked down from the hill towards him. The blond gave another loud growl of frustration, but he looked towards the Hyuuga Heiress walking towards him, and his anger seemed to suddenly disappear from the sight of her. He put on his trademark grin as she approached.

"Hey Hinata, what are you doing down here?" Naruto asked cheerfully, and the Hyuuga Heiress blushed. "Are you getting a fever again? You're red…"

"N-No…I'm not getting a fever, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata replied as she mustered up the courage to talk with him. "I-I just wanted to tell you what I saw with my Byakugan while you were doing your attempt…"

Naruto's smirk widened. "You know what I did wrong?"

"…you're control is getting much…much better…but y-you seem to be trying to force the wind chakra into the Rasengan…" Hinata started with a gulp. "I-It isn't something that can be forced…"

"…what do you mean?" Naruto asked again as he sat on the ground and crossed his legs.

"W-Wind is moving air, forcing it will only make it blow back at you…like a hurricane," Hinata replied, searching in her mind for an analogy. "W-Water Element Chakra also can't be forced; it needs to flow like a calm stream, not a raging flood or river. Fire Element Chakra can be forced since force is the way to create it; same goes for Lightning Element Chakra. Earth Element Chakra requires a stern, calm mind to mold and perform…"

"…I think I get it…like Water I have to let the Wind Chakra flow gently," Naruto said as the information clicked in his head. "Thanks Hinata! You're really smart!"

Hinata blushed at his praise. "N-Not really…"

"I'm serious! You're one of the smartest girls I know!" Naruto told her as he jumped into the air. "What's your Chakra Element by the way?"

"Ano…I haven't done the test yet…" Hinata replied as she began twiddling her fingers together.

Naruto smiled and took out a piece of paper. "Kakashi-sensei showed me a way to test for your chakra element. Here, take it."

Hinata does so, trying to keep her blush down. "It'll split if it's wind, crumple if it's lightning, burn if it's fire, turn to dust if it's earth, or become wet if it's water," Naruto told her. "Just concentrate."

The Hyuuga heiress gulps and she does so. Suddenly, the paper starts to dampen and start dripping. Naruto smirks. "Guess you're a water element. This is great, we can train together!"

Hinata blushed again. "Y-Yeah…I guess so…"

Kakashi and Yamato walked over. "Got some revelation or something, Hinata-san?"

"She's a water element!" Naruto exclaimed with a smirk. "It's great; I have a training partner now!"

Kakashi nodded. "That's great. It is kind of hard just training alone after all…"

Hinata began to smile at that. 'I'll be spending even more time with Naruto-kun…'

"Well, let's get back to the training then," Yamato said with a smirk. 'Things are starting to get even more interesting…'

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Earth Nation Borders

On another path, near a mountain range, a bald boy with an blue arrow going straight down his back sat cross-legged on the ground. He was wearing a loose fitting orange tee-shirt with loose fitting long pants and a long shirt underneath his top shirt. The wind blew, making the grass move left and right. Around him were strange holes, like they were dug out of the ground by a group of rodents. And behind him, there was a large, six-legged creature with the head of a bison and a tail of a platypus, with snow white fur covering it's body. On the creatures back there was the same arrow that the boy had, yet it was gray in color. Three people and another small creature, that looked like a cross between a lemur and a bat.

"What's out here?" the male teenager with light fitting blue clothing asked as he stretched.

"A lot actually," the younger girl with fair skin, wearing her hair up with her bangs over her face, wearing a yellow dress that had a loose fitting green jumpsuit underneath, and she was barefoot and appeared blind replied as she bent down to the ground and put her hand on it. "There's hundreds of little-."

The boy on the ground shushed her. "I know you can see underground but don't ruin the surprise."

The boy then blew into a flute he had in his hands and blew out a note. Suddenly, a furry, prairie dog-like rodent came out of one of the holes and beeped in tune with the note of the flute. The boy turned to look at where the rodent came out and giggled.

"Yeah," he chuckled as he blew into his flute again, and another prairie-dog like creature popped up from another hole in front of him and beeped in tune with his flute again. He threw up his hands and laughed. "I'm putting an orchestra together."

"Orchestra huh?" the teenager asked, unimpressed. "Well, la-di-da."

Three more of the strange creatures popped out of the holes as the boy kept playing. The teenager threw up his hands into the air at the boy's play, hardly believing this boy was him…the Avatar. The lemur-like creature leaped into one of the holes after one of the creatures, then resurfaced a second later. The Avatar, an airbender named Aang, continued playing as more of the rodents popped out of the earth, and the lemur-like creature went to chase after them. The older girl in blue clothing laughed at the scene, and the teenager huffed.

"This is great and all, but don't we have more things to worry about?" the teenager, who's name is Sokka asked as he plugged the flute, then took his finger out and threw out his hands. "We should be making plans."

"We've already made plans," the blind girl, an Earth Bending Master named Toph reminded Sokka as she closed her eyes, and then she opened them. "We're all picking mini-vacations."

"There's no time for vacations," Sokka told her as Aang turned his head to look up at the older boy.

"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can," Aang told the teenager of the Southern Water Tribe. "I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. I've been training my butt off."

"Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our downtime?" the older girl, Katara, Water Bending Master asked her older brother as she walked up.

"Even if you do master all the Elements, then what?" Sokka asked, crossing his arms and then spreading them around his hips. "It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation, should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's House?" He then turned and knocked at the air. "Knock, knock, hello, Fire Lord, anybody home? I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war."

Aang then blew into his flute again, and one of the prairie-dog rodents came up under Sokka and beeped, making Katara giggle. "Alright, we'll finish our vacations and then look for Sokka's intelligence."

The airbender used some wind to put himself back onto his feet and he laughed. A second later he took out one of the maps he had on his flying bison, Appa, and showed it to Katara. "Your turn, Katara, where do you want to go on your mini-vacation?"

Katara bent down and inspected the map and then she pointed at one of places on it. "How about the 'Misty Ponds Oasis'? That sounds refreshing."

"Oh, yeah, I've been there, it's a pristine natural ice spring, and I usually don't use the word pristine, it's one of nature's wonders," Aang replied as he looked at the map. "I hope it's still like how I remember it though."

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Village Hidden in the Sound

In one of the underground lairs that Orochimaru, the fallen Sannin had constructed, the snake Master poured over ancient scrolls, looking for a jutsu he heard about. On his 'throne', there was a crystal ball, a communication and spying method that all kage's used to keep tabs on certain ninja, or contact a other world. Inside the ball, there was fire, and a man cloaked in darkness.

"What is taking so long, Orochimaru?" the cloaked man asked. "You said you had the teleportation jutsu."

"I do, Lord Ozai, but I am just looking-oh wait, there it is," Orochimaru looked at the kanji on the scroll, then at the symbols and diagrams for creating the jutsu. "The terepo-to jutsu, with it I'll be able to send my disciples to aid you in your war against the Earth and Water Nations, Fire Lord."

"And with it, I will send you discipline Fire Benders and Soldiers to aid you in your battle against Konoha," Ozai said from behind his shroud.

Orochimaru's brow furrowed. "It'll take practice to get it right, and Sasuke is not ready for my transference jutsu. I will attempt to open up the portal with the terepo-to jutsu. If I'm successful, our plan will be ready for execution."

Ozai nodded from the ball, and the Snake Sannin walked into the middle of the room. From the shadows, his second in command, former Konoha Ninja, Kabuto walked forward and bowed.

"I am ready for the experiment, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said as he went to one knee, and pushed his glasses up.

Orochimaru's smile crept onto his face. "Very well, Kabuto-san."

The Snake Sannin then bit his thumb, and blood began leaking out. He then knelt down and started drawing a circle around him. He finished, and then drew a smaller circle inside the larger one. He then drew a five-stared symbol, with the top pointing to the west. Finally, he drew the Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind symbols into the outside of the star and he rose to his feet.

"Kabuto-san, come here," Orochimaru ordered as Kabuto walked forward. "Do not step out of the pentagram's circle."

Kabuto nodded, and pushed his glasses up as a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "As you wish, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru then began a long series of hand seals, starting with the dog, horse, and ox, and he finished with the dragon symbol. Chakra began spiraling out of blood seal that the snake sannin had drew on the floor, and the ground begin shaking as Orochimaru finished. Unknown to both Orochimaru and Kabuto, however, a wire streaked out of the shadows from behind the former medic from Konoha. The ground kept shaking, forcing Kabuto to step back to keep his balance…but he failed to notice the wire and…he fell out of the circle. Orochimaru's eyes widened in anger as the jutsu went awry, and leapt out as a beam of light burst from the seal out of his hideout.

"You fool! How dare you screw up this crucial jutsu!" Orochimaru roared, but then he noticed the wire and his eyes shot to the shadows. 'Sasuke…how dare you sabotage my plans! You are my puppet, and I will not tolerate any of your disobedience anymore!'

He then looked up into the air. 'Wherever that beam goes and hits, the people caught in it will be brought to Ozai's world. Yet, if the jutsu wasn't messed up, they would have been sent directly to Ozai's palace. As it stands now, they could land anywhere…'

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Konoha, Training Sector 8

Hinata activated her Byakugan and watched as Naruto, using two clones to stabilize and form the wind chakra into the Rasengan. She looked over at the spring of water Yamato had created for her to practice her Water Jutsu's, which Kakashi was very knowledgeable about. The blond genin began to swirl the blue chakra in his palm, and the wind chakra began to swirl inside of the tiny hurricane of chakra.

"Yes, I'm doing it! It's almost complete!" Naruto cheered as the Rasengan kept spinning and the hurricane was surrounded by a tornado of wind chakra. "Almost, almost, almost…"

Suddenly, the Rasengan detonated on its own, throwing Naruto and his clones back. Both bushins exploded in a puff of smoke, and Hinata ran over as the blond genin landed hard on his butt.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled as she helped him up. He snarled in frustration, and then his head drooped.

"I…I almost had it…what the hell went wrong?" Naruto asked quietly, looking down at the ground. "The wind chakra was forming with the other chakra; I saw it, why didn't it hold?"

From atop the hill, Kakashi noticed how close Naruto got to completing the jutsu. "He'll be able to do it. Yondaime didn't even get to that point."

Yamato nodded, and he felt a chakra spike and looked back to see Haruno Sakura running towards Naruto and Hinata. The pink-haired kunoichi noticed that the blonde-haired genin was moping, and the Hyuuga Heiress was holding him up. She smirked, but looked at the destruction around the area.

"…hi, Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a sigh. He then looked up and put on a smile. "How you doing? What are you doing here?"

"Just was wondering how well your training was going, he's been doing well with this chakra element forming, right?" Sakura replied as she looked at Hinata.

"He's doing very well; he helped me find my chakra element-water," Hinata replied with a blush which Naruto didn't understand, yet, but Sakura knew all too well and the Hyuuga Heiress began twiddling her index fingers. "Yamato-sama made me a spring to practice in…."

"Well, I think it's time for a break…" Sakura commented as she looked at the burnt grass and the small crater Naruto's nearly complete Rasengan had created. She opened her pack. "Good thing I brought ramen for Naruto, hope it's enough since I know how much he eats…"

"Wow! Thanks Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered as he leaped up. "Got any miso pork ramen?"

Sakura sighed and she reached into her pack and handed it to her friend. 'I wanted that one…' she thought as her Inner Self roared. 'DON'T LET THE NARUTO PERV HAVE THE MISO RAMEN!'

"Sakura-san, good timing," Kakashi said as he walked over with Yamato. "If Tsunade is okay with it, I'd like to start you on the chakra-element training too, since you want to help bring back Sasuke."

The pink haired kunoichi nodded, and she noticed Yamato looking up into the air. "Something wrong, Yamato-san?"

"…nothing, I hope. I just felt a chakra-spike coming from the west…" Yamato replied as he trailed off. Suddenly, a twinkle of light above them sparkled as the ANBU Captain was handed a cup of chicken ramen, and his head snapped back to look into the air. "Everyone, back!"

But it was too late, the light slammed into the five of them were engulfed in the strange light. To the casual observer, it would look like the light vanished with them, seemingly vaporizing them, yet to an observant shinobi, it would look like they were transported somewhere against their will. The ANBU Team Seven replacement, only known as Sai, saw what happened.

'I must go report this to Tsunade-sama…' Sai thought as he brought the binoculars down from spying on his teammates and Jounin Masters. "Danzo-sama will also need to know…"

With that, the ink-using shinobi disappeared.

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Earth Kingdom, between the mountains and great desert

The group rested dead center in between the mountains and the great desert of the Earth Kingdom. There were no villages, no small towns, and no settlements, so they had to set up camp. Appa roared a yawn as he laid down on the soft leaves Aang and Katara had got for him. Aang, Katara, and Sokka were laying in their sleeping bags under the stars, since no bad weather looked like it was on the horizon, though Toph created her rock tent with Earthbending-just in case.

"Tomorrow we'll be reaching the Ice Spring, I hope you like it Katara," Aang said as he looked up into the sky.

"Me too, nice to be away from psychotic firebenders with blue fire…" Katara commented as she saw a twinkle in the sky. "I think I see a shooting star…"

"Yeah, me too," Aang said as he looked up as the light started to grow larger. "I really hope I can defeat the Fire Lord though…"

"You'll do it, Aang; I believe in you, Sokka believes in you, Toph believes in you…" Katara started as the little flying lemur, Momo, landed on the young airbender's head. "…and Momo and Appa believe in you."

Aang smiled at that, and he looked back up into the night sky. "Is it just me or is that shooting star getting bigger?"

"Why don't you guys just go to sleep?" Sokka yawned as he turned over. "We have a big day tomorrow…"

Katara smirked, but she looked up into the sky as the light from the star grew brighter and brighter, until it was practically hovering over them. On instinct, she leapt out of the way as the light approached. "Everyone, move!"

Sokka yawned in frustration until he saw the light barreling down near them. Instantly, he jumped and Aang rolled out of the way as the light slammed down into the ground. For about five seconds, the light stayed until it burned out…leaving five unconscious people near Aang's group.

"…that was weird…" Sokka commented as he walked up to the five people. They were all wearing strange clothing, the one of the girls, near his age, actually had pink hair. The other girl had dark, bluish black hair, and the man had tall spiky silver hair. The other two, a boy with whisker marks on his cheeks had spiky blonde hair, and the other man had black hair. They all had strange metal plates attached to cloth tied around certain areas on their body-the blond haired boy and the pink haired girl had them on their foreheads, the dark bluish black haired girl had it slung around her neck, the silver haired man had it slung over his left eye, and the black haired man had it engraved on a face helmet. They all had a symbol of a leaf on them.

"Who are they?" Aang asked as he noticed Toph coming out of her rock tent.

"Can't everyone be quiet, please? I'm trying to sleep here!" Toph asked in frustration as she wiped her blind right eye. "Wait, why are their five other people here? I feel five different heartbeats."

"You're not going to believe it, they came out of a light from the sky," Sokka said as he bent down near the two girls. 'Wow, they're pretty good looking…'

The boy with spiky blond hair and whiskers flexed his muscles which were nearly invisible under his mostly black over orange coat. The pink haired girl in the black skirt covered with a red pack over her hips also stirred for a second. The dark bluish-black haired girl with pale, fair skin wearing a light purple overcoat and dark blue long pants turned and she was facing the spiky haired boy. The silver-haired man with a blue mask covering the bottom of his face, wearing a strange green vest with many pockets and dark blue pants and shirt groaned, yet remained unconscious. The dark haired main with the strange facial wear and the same bluish-black shirt and pants as the other three stirred and groaned, but he too remained unconscious, on his back was a sword.

"…whoever they are, I think they'll need our help," Katara said as she opened her waterbending flask, and the water floated out and engulfed her hands. She bent down and began using her healing powers on the spiky-haired boy. 'He's kind of cute…though doesn't look like my type.'

The boy groaned. "Damn you…Sasuke…get back here…I promised…Sakura-chan…I'd b-bring you back…"

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Sokka asked. "They might be from the Fire Nation, hell, they could have come anywhere."

"I don't think they're Fire Nation…" Aang said as he looked at the spiky haired boy too, and at the leaf symbol on their metal bands. "I have never seen this symbol though; I wonder what it means…"

The dark bluish-black haired girl mumbled. "N-Naruto-kun…why can't I tell you…"

Suddenly, the silver haired man's right eye opened, and blinked as it looked around. "…okay…what am I doing here and who are you? Tell me quickly…"

The man suddenly stood up and took out a strange looking knife from a pack on his thigh. "Where am I, and why are my students and Yamato-san here? Did you bring us here?"

"N-No sir, you appeared out of a light from the sky, all five of you were unconscious," Katara stammered, amazed that the man was on his feet already, but his knife looked menacing. "I-I'm Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, I'm seeing what I can do to help you're students with my waterbending…"

"I'm Sokka, and just put the knife down…" Sokka started as he took out his bladed boomerang. "And no one will get hurt."

"W-We don't mean any harm to you, sir. You have my word on it, I'm the Avatar, Aang," Aang said as the strange man lowered his blade, and sighed.

"And I'm Toph, so if you want to continue, you'll end up splatter on the rock-face," Toph threatened, becoming very protective of her friends.

"Alright," the man said as he sheathed his blade back into it's pack. "Never can be too careful, you don't look like you're lying."

"Because we're not, I can tell since I can feel the vibrations and breathing of the person," Toph stated, her blind eyes glaring at the man.

"A ninja can never be to careful," the man stated. "I am Hatake Kakashi, Jounin of Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves." He then indicated to the still unconscious people near Katara. "The blond-haired kid, that's one of my students, Uzumaki Naruto." He then pointed to the girl next to him. "She's not originally from my team, but I've started training her to use her chakra element, and I requested that she help Naruto, her name's Hyuuga Hinata, heiress of the Hyuuga Clan." He then indicated to the pink haired girl. "She's part of my team, our medic, Haruno Sakura." The other man stirred. "And he is ANBU Black Ops captain, only known as Yamato."

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he jumped up. "Whoa, what is that?" he asked as he pointed at Katara's hands. "Kakashi-sensei, where are we, and who are they?"

"…I think we'd better save the introductions till the morning, Naruto," Kakashi replied as he looked up at the night sky, and then at the four kids who he had introduced himself to. "And I think they're tired…"

"Alright," Naruto said as he looked at Katara. "That's a pretty cool trick, medical ninjutsu, right? Never seen it used with water though." His stomach growled. "Oh man…I hope the ramen got here with us!"

He then looked at the sleeping flying bison, Appa, and the flying lemur, Momo, on Aang's head. "And what the hell are those?"

"…in the morning, Naruto," Kakashi stated as he looked into his pack. "…you wouldn't happen to have an extra sleeping bag up on that thing, would you?"

"…sorry Kakashi, we don't," Sokka said as he eyed the Jounin. "We'll have to wait until we get to the Ice Spring in the morning to pick up more supplies, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Kakashi said as he sat back down. "Well, you might as well get back to sleep."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you," Sokka stated with an edge of paranoia, before Aang yawned, and he followed.

"Relax, Sokka, if he wanted to do anything to us, he'd already have done it," Aang said as he went back to his sleeping bag. "Besides, we're all tired."

"And he doesn't have any deception in his voice, so we can trust him," Toph stated as she yawned. "We'll talk more in the morning…"

Sokka sighed. "Alright, but I don't want anyone to blame me for dying in the night if you're wrong!"

Everyone had a good hearted laugh at that, and Aang's group crawled back into their sleeping bags. Kakashi sighed as he looked around.

'Well I guess Sasuke's rescue will have to wait, though I have a feeling these kids, especially that Aang kid will help complete Naruto's wind training…" Kakashi thought as Naruto went back to where he landed, and laid down. "I thought you were hungry."

"I am, but it would be kind of mean to light a fire here and now after these guys tried to help us," Naruto stated as he looked up into the sky. "Guess my stomach will have to wait till morning." It growled in response to that. "I know, you're hurt, but being nice guys we are we can't make these kids lie awake while we cook."

With that, he closed his eyes and curled up on the ground. Before drifting back off to sleep, he heard Hinata mumble again. "Why can't I tell him…why am I so nervous about it…" His eyes fluttered shut, and he drifted off to sleep.

To be continued…

. This is my first crack into the Naruto and Avatar fics, I write mostly Star Wars(check my profile to see the works in progress), so my writing should be honed enough to avoid beginner mistakes. I hope you like, and please read and review.