Disclaimer: My name is not Masashi, Mike, or Bryan so I own neither Naruto nor Avatar: The Last Airbender.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Demon/spirit/summon speech"

"Japanese speech"

"Jutsu/ Attacks"

This is the rewrite of my first story "Avatar: The Last Airbender and The First Shinobi." It's going to be pretty different the first version. I noticed that when most people rewrite a story they change a few things, but mostly keep it the same. But me? I totally revamp it. Instead of starting at the beginning of both Naruto and ATLA it's going to be set post-ATLA and post-Naruto Part I. And the Naruto universe is as AU as I could get it while still being able to fit into canon Naruto, if that makes any sense.

The last story was going to be more in an Avatar format but I've been getting into more manga so now it's going to be more manga-like. That basically means instead of stand-alone chapters there are going to be arcs.

So with that enjoy.

The Boy from the Sky

A cloaked figure ran through the dark forest, the only source of light being the waning moon in the sky.

Legs aching and lungs on fire, the figure looked around for any sign of other people before stopping for a breather. Though the figure didn't detect anyone around they darted into some nearby bushes. This person was not going to be caught off guard, hidden in the foliage, aware of their immediate surroundings and legs ready bolt, or pounce, at a moment's notice.

After a minute of resting the figure got ready to take off again when a twig snapped behind them. "Did you honestly think you can sneak up behind me?" The cloaked person cried, their voice female, as she turned around and unleashed a wave of blue fire into the darkness, lighting a couple of shrubs on fire. "And for your naiveté you'll suffer my wrath."

The culprit ran out, turning out to be a frightened weasel rat. The girl stared after the fleeing animal, eye twitching.

"Over there!" A voice shouted.

She cursed. Looking back she spotted three men in Fire Nation armor coming after her. Cursing once more she ran off deeper into the woods. 'Even animals are turning against me.' she thought bitterly.

One of the soldiers stayed behind while the other two chased after her. The lone soldier pulled out a small black ball with a fuse. He lit the fuse then chucked it in the air. The ball exploded in a loud boom and bright flash. The two soldiers looked back at the light. "The signal's been sent. Backup should be here soon. Remember our job is to keep her within our sights while leaving a trail to follow. Colonel Wong told us not to engage in combat until backup arrives."

"Is she really that dangerous?" the other soldier asked. "I mean I heard she went insane."

"Don't you know the crazy ones are the ones to watch out for?"

"But she's just a-"

"What? A teenager? A girl? Remember that teenage girl practically single handily conquered Ba Sing Se last summer. Crazy or not, Princess Azula will always be dangerous."

It was two months ago when Avatar Aang fought and defeated Phoenix King Ozai.

It was two months ago when Princess Azula dueled her brother Zuko for the title of the Fire Lord which resulted in her defeat and her nervous breakdown.

It was two months ago when Princess Azula was shipped off to a mental asylum.

And it was a week ago when Azula broke out with the help of some rebels.

Since then she had been traveling with these rebels, who called themselves the Phoenix Alliance, to meet up with one of their generals. Things were going fine until the ship they were traveling on was attacked by pirates. That's right, pirates.

Since before even the war began the Fire Nation has been great in keeping pirates out of its waters. But two months with her brother in charge and all that changes.

While the pirates did hit them with a surprise attack, they were but a group of non-bending uncouth brutes while Azula and her allies were trained soldiers, elites. Driving the pirates off wouldn't be too difficult of a task and it was looking that way however before they could completely fight them off a Fire Navy ship that noticed the battle arrived on the scene and had quickly recognized the fugitive princess.

Not being equipped to fight a Cruiser they were forced to retreat. The Cruiser immediately followed them and after an intense battle the rebel ship was sunk. Azula, having foreseen this outcome, had had the ship head for the nearest island for the entire duration of the fight so by the time they were sunk they weren't too far from the coast. And with the use of jet skis they were able to get there quickly though not without a few, or six, causalities.

With those six gone along with the crew that was left behind on the ship, Azula was down to just three men. Two days later two of the men stayed behind to hold off pursuers and a day after that the last one was killed by a Yu Yan Archer. That was two days ago.

Since then Azula had been travelling through the Fire Nation wilderness, only going into towns at night to steal food or to stowaway on ships sailing between islands. Azula barely slept for caution, not fear, Azula doesn't fear anything, of being attacked in her sleep, only falling asleep when it was impossible for her to stay awake. And she's fought off Fire Nation soldiers twice plus a bounty hunter.

She was exhausted and the town where she was to meet up with this general, Golden Spark Town, was still two days away on foot and she was supposed to be there three days ago. 'Two more days. In my condition that might as well be two years.'

Azula jumped over a bush and landed right on the edge of a small river cliff. Waving her arms to regain her balance she vaguely recalled the same thing happening to her when she fought the Avatar and her brother last spring. Remembering how she regained her balance that time she jumped and spun her body. She was able to get one foot on the ground before it crumpled and she was sent tumbling into the river.

Azula pulled herself onto land grumbling and steam rising off her body. Climbing to her feet Azula instantly cried out and fell back down. She glared at her left ankle; it had been sprained in the fall. Azula let out a rage fueled scream, fire spewing from her mouth. "What else could go wrong?" she growled.

A blast of fire flew over her head with several more following after it. She rolled as they hit the spot she was just occupying. Turning around she saw a dozen soldiers jumping into the water, five of them mounted on three different komodo rhinos.

With her sprained ankle she wouldn't get far running away before they caught up with her. While Mongoose Dragons were the better runners, Komodo Rhinos were the better swimmers. Plus the river wasn't very deep, six feet at best. So running away was out. Confronting them now wasn't a much better option but it was better than wasting what little energy she had left and going through the pain of trying to flee only to have to fight them anyway.

Before they could all get on land Azula started raining bolts of fire upon the soldiers who were still in the river and couldn't defend themselves. She managed to get three of them before an arrow struck her in the arm. Hissing in pain Azula looked towards the direction the arrow had come from. 'Of course there's a Yu Yan archer among them.' And if there was one then there was at least another. The Yu Yan usually worked with no less than two in a group.

Seemingly distracted, the leader launched a fireball at Azula. Snapping to attention, Azula dispersed it with her leg. With a yelp she yanked the arrow out of her arm blood spilling from the wound. "Give it up. Even you can't fight us all in your condition." The leader, a captain, Azula noted, remarked.

Azula said nothing, settling for lighting the arrow on fire then dropping into a fighting stance. He was right though. She only had one good leg and one good arm and she was dizzy and lightheaded. It would take a miracle for her to get away now.

A big flash light brightened the night sky accompanied with a loud boom.

Everyone, shocked, looked up for the source. There in the sky, about a mile or so away, was a gigantic glowing white vortex, golden bolts of energy crackling around it.

"What the hell is that?" One soldier exclaimed.

Azula stared at the swirling mass of light with trepidation. Her eyes widened when three streaks of white light flew out the vortex that disappeared soon after. One flew north, one flew west, and the last one flew in their direction.

They all watched as the light flew closer and lower 'It's going to crash nearby' Azula realized. Azula started to think of a way to use this to her advantage when the light ricocheted off a tree and headed right towards them. 'Oh you have got to kidding-'

It hit the water and skipped on the surface once… twice… three times before bouncing on land. As the thing (Which lost the right to be called a light when its glow disappeared when it hit the water) rolled past her, Azula thought she heard it scream. She shook her head. There was no way that thing was a person.

It came to a halt when it rolled into a tree letting the Fire Nation natives see that it was some sort of hump shaped thing covered by a cloth. Everyone stared at it in silence for a moment. One of the soldiers stepped towards the mystery object. "What in the-" The object shot up, scaring everybody.

"Damn! That hurt!" the 'thing' shouted. The thing turned out to be a young boy about 12 or 13 years old with unusual features. He had spiky hair, which wasn't unheard of, but was really rare. His hair was yellow, which Azula assumed was dyed (Because no one had natural yellow hair). On his cheeks were three whiskers-like markings.

His clothing consisted of a dark green shirt that only had one short left sleeve. On the sleeve was a crest of a grey cloud with a yellow thunderbolt shooting out of it, all in a white circle. Over the shirt was a sleeveless dark crimson vest that was left unzipped and on the back there was a bright red spiral. On his sleeveless right arm he had on a white wristband. He wore black three quarter pants with a red stripe going up the side of each pant leg, a red belt, and black sandals. Strapped to his right leg was a black rectangular pouch and a larger round tan pouch was attached to the back of his pants.

On both of his arms were tattoos of a grey dragon spiraling down the length of the arm and ending with its head on the back of his hand. They looked like airbending tattoos except for the long skinny point on one side that was the dragon's horn and the more blunted point that was the dragon's mouth.

The boy patted his forehead which was covered by a black headband with a metal plate engraved with a symbol that looked a bit like a leaf. "I think this is the first time my forehead protector has actually been used to protected my forehead." The boy muttered. "So are you still alive?" When no one responded the boy blinked. "Ero-sennin?" He looked around then groaned. "Great. Where the hell did that pervert disappear to?"

The soldiers looked at each other then back at the boy then turned to the captain. "What do we do sir?"

"He's just a brat. He's not as important as the princess. One of you go grab him while the rest of us capture her." The captain said.

"Is he looking at us?" One of the soldiers asked. The others looked at the kid and shrugged. Indeed his head was turned towards their direction but his eyes were squinted shut, as they had been since he crashed, so they couldn't tell if he was at anything let alone them.

He pointed at them which made them tense. "Whoa. Where the hell did you guys come from?"

The soldiers face faulted.

"WE'RE THE ONES WHO SHOULD BE ASKING THAT!"

"You only just noticed us!"

He stared at them for a moment, eyes still closed, before walking away. "I'm thirsty."

"Now he's ignoring us!"

He saw Azula and one of his eyebrows rose. "Man, you look like crap."

Azula stared at him blinking. She should have burnt the boy to a crisp for saying that but her anger was overshadowed by the shock of someone actually saying that to her. No one had ever said anything like that to her, especially so… matter-of-factly. Before she could utter a response, the boy had already started walking away toward the river.

He was just five steps away from the river when a blast from a fireball lit the ground in front of him on fire. The boy calmly stared at the fire then looked back at a soldier who still had his fist extended then back to the fire and kicked dirt on the flames. The kid frowned. "Look at you, about to start a forest fire. You ever hear of a little thing called control. Read up about it will ya." And he turned right back to the river.

A fireball formed in the firebender's palm. "I'll show you control you little pipsqueak." He growled.

The boy spun around. "THE HELL YOU CALL ME?"

The captain growled. "What are you doing provoking him! Just grab him already!"

He looked at the soldiers, then at the forest, and then turned towards Azula. "Oi, did they do that to you?"

Azula frowned. "What's it to you?"

He didn't respond instead he just nodded his head. "Okay I've decided." He pointed at the soldiers. "I don't like you guys!"

They stared at him for a second. "You don't like us?" The captain repeated.

"Nope. Why the hell should I? You almost start a forest fire. You just told him to grab me. You're about to fight us ten vs. two- hold up."

He looked to the right then over at Azula who had to resist the urge to groan. 'This guy,' she decided 'is a simpleton.' "There are only nine of them." 'Idiot.'

The kid scratched his head. "Really?"

"Yes." She hissed. "Can't you count?"

"Yeah. There are these nine in front of us. Then there's the guy pointing an arrow at you in that tree. I don't he's on our side." He pointed to his left. Azula, surprised, tried to spot the archer. "And I just noticed the two across river dressed just like him." He pointed across the river. The captain flinched as if struck. "So actually it's twelve vs. one."

"One?" Azula questioned.

"Well you're in no condition to fight."

He had a point. And if this kid's detection abilities were anything to go by then he couldn't be too bad of a fighter. Perhaps she could use this boy. It wasn't like he was going to beat all the soldiers but he might be able to hold them off long enough for her to get away. "Yes you're right." Azula purred. "I suppose I'll have to leave my fate in your hands…"

"Naruto" He smiled. "Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto flashed her a thumbs up.

Azula inwardly smirked. 'Too easy.' Boys; just stroke their egos a bit and they'll do anything you want, which made Azula vaguely wonder why she couldn't get a boyfriend.

Naruto turned to the soldiers. "That fireball. That was firebending right?" He asked.

"No it was waterbending." A soldier sarcastically replied.

Naruto smirked. "Well I just to be happen to be a firebender as well." His fist burst into blood red flames. "Let's go wild."

The soldiers silently stared at his fire before the firebending soldiers burst into laughter much to the blonds' and the non-bending soldiers' confusion. "What's so funny?" a non-bender asked.

"He's a Rose Flame." A firebender laughed.

"A weakened deranged princess and a Rose Flame. This is almost too easy."

"A Rose Flame?"

"The strongest part of a fire is its center and the weakest is the edge. And as you move further from the center the color of the flames changes."

The non-bender still looked confused. "Yeah. So?"

The firebender sighed. "The colors of a fire from the center out goes white, then yellow, orange, and red as the outermost."

"Oh. Oh."

"Exactly."

Azula frowned as remembered the lessons on the different shades of flame.

Most firebenders started bending flames that were more orange than yellow that, as the bender grew better, changed to a healthy blend of orange and yellow. The sign of a master were flames with a stronger presence of yellow in them. Actually because of her blue flames Azula had been immediately been declared a master at the age of 12 before she mastered all of the necessary forms. There were few who could create blue fire but none besides herself who could actually use it in combat. The last person able to had been her grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon, in his younger years. White was the strongest and rarest of flames, but there hasn't been a firebender in well over 100 years who have been able to create those flames.

However there were some firebenders who started bending flames that had more red than anything. 'Affectionately' called 'Rose Flames', these firebenders were the jokes among other firebenders. To be a Rose Flame was the shame of a firebender, which caused a most of them to stop and hide their bending. There has never been a Rose Flame who has been declared a master, destined to have at best average orange-yellow flames.

'So much for a decent distraction.' Azula thought bitterly.

"Save yourself some pain and just stand down Rose Flame." One soldier called.

Naruto rolled his shoulder. "Make me."

Wong motioned for one of the mounts holding a non-bender and a firebender to rush the teens. Then he had himself and the another follow after on their own mounts.

Watching the charging rhino Azula prepared to scare it with a blast of fire when Naruto jumped in her path. "Get out of the way you fool!"

He ignored her and reared his fist back… and punched the rhino. "Hidō: Honoken (Way of Fire: Flame Fist)!"

Azula had realized what he was planning to do a split second before he did it. She was about to scream at the kid, which a part of her realized would be useless as he would be dead or critically injured, but stopped when his flaming fist collided with the beast's head and watched in shock as the beast was lifted off its feet, flew past the other two mounts, over the equally shocked foot soldiers' heads, and crashed into a boulder hard enough to turn it into a pile of rubble.

Everybody stared at the wreckage, eyes wide and jaws dropped. This kid, a Rose Flame, sent a +6,000 lb. rhino flying with a single punch.

"Do you know the main reason why I don't like you guys?" Naruto asked them in a low voice.

The soldiers gulped at the dark edge in his voice and shook their heads.

He pointed at one of the firebenders. "You."

"M-m-me?"

"You… You… YOU CALLED ME PIPSQUEAK!" He roared. "Hidō: Faia Roketto (Way of Fire: Fire Rocket)!" Naruto reared his hand back and punched forward. The soldier was slammed by a fireball hard enough to launch him back into the rubble.

Azula looked at the fallen firebender then at Naruto in a bit shock. 'Is this kid really a Rose Flame?'

Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Warning. The next two minutes will feature the most violent and painful experience of your lives." He smirked darkly. "Viewer discretion is advised."

Pained screams echoed throughout the forest.

Minutes after the screams ended a group of soldiers, numbering around twenty, arrived at the riverbank led by a large man with a crescent shaped scar starting from under his right eye and going down to his cheek. He surveyed the burnt landscape littered with craters and unconscious soldiers with an angry scowl.

He climbed off his mount, marched up and kicked one of the fallen soldiers awake. "What happened here?" The man questioned.

"C-colonel Wong."

"The princess has on the run for six days. She's exhausted and weak. Against twelve men she didn't have a chance. Capturing her should have been child's play." Wong yanked the soldier up. "So tell me how the hell did you let her get away?" he yelled.

"She had help."

"Help? The Phoenix Alliance?"

"No. It was… a boy."

"A boy. As in One. Single. Child!"

"Yes. But this was no ordinary child. I never expected a kid to firebend like that, let alone a Rose Flame."

Wong froze. "Come again."

The soldier hesitated, realizing his slip up. "He's a," the soldier gulped "…Rose Flame."

"WHAT!"

Azula stared up at the twilight sky and huffed.

The boy, 'Naruto', she reminded herself, had been all grins after he demolished those soldiers but then briefly looked off to distance with a frown before rushing over, muttered something about twenty-one people on their way, then threw her on his back, and took off into the forest.

"Did you just huff? If anyone should be huffing it should be me. I'm the one carrying you." Naruto complained.

"I didn't ask you to carry me." Azula snapped. "And I certainly didn't ask you to carry me while flying through the treetops like a hog monkey." She looked down at the forest floor angrily with a hint of nervousness.

"…What the hell is a hog monkey?"

A deep voice chuckled. "Hog monkey. Now there's a meal I haven't had in long time."

Naruto frowned. 'Exactly how long ago, Kyuubi?'

"Are you trying to ask how far back you are ningen?" Kyuubi asked sounding amused.

'Well it would be nice to know what time period I'm in so I could, uh, what's the word, survive, baka-fox.' Naruto retorted.

The demon snarled. "How the hell should I know? All I can say is that we're at least three hundred years back."

'Three hundred huh. Well I was expecting to be somewhere between fifty and one thousand years back.'

Azula glared at him. "Bring us down."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"Bring us down!"

"Why?"

"You weren't paying attention. I tree branch almost decapitated me."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "We're not moving fast enough for a tree branch to decapitate you. At worst you would been knocked unconscious and or knocked off my back."

"Down. Now." Azula growled. "I will not die because some little boy dropped me."

"Little boy!" Naruto exclaimed. "I just saved your ass back there. You should be calling me Naruto-dono or Naruto-sama."

"What does that mean? 'Dono' and 'Sama'?" Azula questioned.

Naruto raised an eyebrow then smirked. "Lord or master."

Azula set his shirt on fire.

Crying out, Naruto dropped to the forest floor and dumped Azula on the ground. "You lit me on fire! What the hell is your problem!" He asked while patting out the flames.

"I will not be spoken to like that, especially by a peasant."

"Peasant? Who do think you are? Queen of the-"

"Princess."

"What?"

"I'm Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. The rightful heir to the throne."

Naruto stared at her before walking away. "Well excuse me princess."

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm through dealing with your royal bitchiness. Go get one of your loyal subjects to help you."

Azula looked at the retreating boy. As annoying and disrespectful as this commoner was, he had his uses. 'He travels a lot faster than a Komodo Rhino does, that's for sure.' By chance the boy had headed off in the direction of Huangjin Huo, and at his pace she could make there before noon.

If that scene with the soldiers proved anything, it was that one; Naruto was strong and two; he wasn't easily intimidated. And if twelve soldiers didn't scare him then she doubted that she, in her current physical state, could. Azula frowned. Well if fear wouldn't work then there was one other road less traveled by her she could take.

"Fine!" Azula yelled. "Leave a defenseless girl in the forest by herself. With no one around for miles except for those guys who were chasing me." She sniffled making Naruto paused. "But I'm sure I'll be able to get away with my twisted ankle."

He turned to her looking up at him, her lips pursed. His eye started twitching. "…Devil thy name is woman."

Ah guilt, fear's little sister.

The pair made it to Golden Spark Town hours later, sometime before noon. Naruto, wanting to get this over with, had ran there at top speed, which was much faster than the previous speed he had been traveling at, much to Azula's surprise and irritation.

Wandering through town they ended up walking through the market which wasn't too busy. Naruto noticed people giving them strange looks. He didn't blame them. A cloaked person riding on the back of a smaller cloaked person wasn't a normal sight to see.

Naruto looked up from under the hood of his white cloak, which Azula forced him to wear. "So here's the deal hime-chan."

Azula glowered at him. Ever since she told him she was a princess he's gone between calling her that, telling her that hime meant princess and chan was an endearing term used for girls, and various mispronunciations of her name.

"I'm gonna drop you off at a clinic and then be on my merry way."

"No." Azula protested.

"Now what's your problem?" Naruto whined.

"I don't need to go to a clinic. All I require is food and a place to sleep."

Naruto eyed her skeptically. "Really? Because I thought I was carrying you because you twisted your ankle." He rolled his eyes and started speaking sarcastically. "But I guess I've been carrying you so I could feel your breasts up against my back and almost touch your ass for the past four hours."

Azula locked her arms around his neck in a chokehold. "No asshole. You're carrying me because I'm weak from hunger and sleep deprivation." She tightened her hold on him.

"*gah* O-okay. Okay. You win. *gah* No clinic. *gah* Now let go. I can't *gah* breathe."

Azula held him for few more seconds before releasing him. "Good." She smirked. "I'm glad you could see it my way."

"Yeah whatever. You crazy bitch. Is a hotel alright?"

"And what, may I ask, is a hotel?"

Naruto's eyes widened a bit. "Oh, um, guess hotels don't exist yet." Azula rose an eyebrow at that, "There are inns right?"Azula nodded. "How about an inn?"

Azula hesitated before giving her consent.

'They didn't have hotels three hundred years ago?'

"I said at least three hundred years moron. We can be much further back than that."

'How much further?'

"Dunno. Could be several hundred. Could be a couple thousand."

Naruto stumbled. 'A couple thousand!' "Hey what year is this?" He asked Azula.

Azula stared at him blankly. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Nope. What year is this?" He asked again.

"You have got to be- It's 15XX."

"Oh. Just five hundred years." He mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Azula entered the room they were staying in, fresh from a bath, clad in a red rode and a towel wrapped around her head. Naruto turned to her, an excited look on his face. "Hey Alula-"

"-My name is Azula." Azula growled through clenched teeth. "And don't speak my name out loud."

Naruto briefly wondered why she would tell him her name only to tell him he's not allowed to say it before shaking his head. "Yeah whatever. Anyway you'll never believe what I saw. I swear I saw a bird with a dog's head!"

Azula just looked at Naruto before sighing. "It was just a parrot dog."

"You mean those things are common?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Azula limped to the window and shut the curtains. "Fetch me some ice before you go out for food." She sat down on one of the beds in the room. "And I know you can't get anything extravagant so I'll just have a plate of chicken-pork dumplings with lemon-mango juice."

'Did she say chicken-pork?' Naruto frowned. "Do I look like a waiter to you?"

Azula glared at him and gestured to her bandaged ankle. "Does it look like I can go out?"

Naruto returned her glare. "Well I said you should go to a clinic."

"I'm not going to a clinic!" Azula shouted fiercely, a wild look in her eyes that made Naruto flinch. Neither one of them spoke for a while.

"…How am I supposed to get food with no money?" Naruto asked breaking the silence.

"How should I know? Figure something out."

Naruto opened his mouth to yell at her but decided against it and walked out the room grumbling.

Smirking to herself Azula lied down and recalled the past hour.

She and Naruto had gone to an inn at a less populated part of the town. A slight problem arose when it came to paying for a room. As an escaped mental patient, Azula didn't have any money on her. And Naruto…

"Yeah…I don't know what a silver piece is much less do I have five of them."

That had earned him glares from both Azula and the innkeeper. Azula then began to threaten to burn the inn down before Naruto pulled her back and told her he'd handle it in a way that 'didn't make them the jackasses'. Azula scoffed but let him go ahead.

"Please sir," He started. "Give us a room."

That had Azula convinced that the boy was mentally retarded. But to her shock the innkeeper nodded, handed Naruto a key, and wished them a good stay. Bewildered, Azula had questioned him on what he did. All Naruto said was he has a 'look'. Azula frowned as she remembered the innkeeper's eyes; they looked dull, almost lifeless.

Naruto reentered the room, a bag of ice in his hand. "Here." He set the ice on her ankle. "You said dumplings?"

"And lemon-mango juice."

His eye twitched. "Right away, hime-chan." He mock bowed then exited the room.

Azula glared at the door. Dear Agni the boy was infuriating. But for the time being he was of use to her. At least until she could make contact with the Phoenix Alliance. After that the boy's very existence would become a liability and all liabilities were to be terminated. Azula supposed she could have Naruto join the Phoenix Alliance, he certainly was strong enough of a fighter, even with his status of a Rose Flame, but that disrespectful attitude of his was not something she could have in her army, lest it spread to the other soldiers. Azula smirked to herself. Besides, Uzumaki on his knees begging for his life was something she wanted to experience.

The inn had stopped serving breakfast and it was still too early for lunch so that left Naruto to go out into the city in search of food. Naruto frowned as he noticed that everyone here looked alike; dark hair, gold eyes, pale skin, and red clothing.

'I'm glad I used a henge.' Naruto thought as he looked at himself from a window reflection. Short brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin, and no whiskers or tattoos, Naruto felt he could pass for an average Fire Nation kid. Naruto ran his hand through his hair and chuckled. Good old Henge no jutsu.

'I need food, and to get said food I need money. I have plenty of Ryo notes but in this time money is a bunch of coins so I'm basically broke. But this isn't first time I've been on the road, broke and hungry. I know several ways to get cash fast.' Hearing a lot of noise Naruto looked to his left and spotted the source, a busy street. His curiosity piqued, Naruto walked down. Looking around Naruto spotted people playing a game of cards. Further down where another group of people shooting dice, another group was pitching coins, and all around were other various gambling games going on. Naruto smiled and walked over to the card game.

A couple of the players, a man with a small mustache and a husky man, noticed him and smirked at each other, thinking easy prey. "Hey kid. Want to play?" the mustached man called.

Naruto shrugged and sat down. "I don't have any money." The men frowned. "But," Naruto reached into his shirt and pulled out a string necklace adorned with a green jewel. "I have this. I've been told it's worth a ton of money."

"A ton huh." The mustached man examined the jewel. "All right." He dealt out five cards to each player. Naruto picked up his hand and frowned.

"What are these supposed to be?" Naruto asked gesturing to the wooden squares in his hand.

The husky man snorted. "What do mean 'what are these supposed to be?' They're cards."

Naruto frowned. Of course the cards here were different too. But it didn't really matter, Naruto was someone who won more because of luck than skill. He looked at his hand, on the face of four of his cards were three swirls and on each one in the upper-right corner was a different symbol; those same three swirls, a circle with what looked like waves inside it, a weird trapezoid symbol, and a symbol that looked like a flame. Naruto looked at his fifth card, the flame symbol with a small wave symbol in the corner.

"Call." 'Mustache' said with a smirk. He laid down three fire cards topped with water symbols. "Three wet flames." The others groaned and threw their cards down.

Naruto sweat dropped. 'Wet flames?'.

'Mustache' chuckled and reached for the pot. "Hey does this get me anything?" Naruto asked showing his hand to everyone.

'Mustache' blanched. "An air cycle!"

Naruto sweat dropped further. 'Air cycle? Seriously?' "So I win?" The men nodded numbly. "Sweet." He gathered the money in.

The husky man growled. "You just got lucky kid."

"Yep. I'm not denying that."

"Yeah just wait. We'll get you in the next hand."

Two hours later Naruto walked out the street whistling happily while carrying an armful of bags of money.

Behind him in the street were the broke card players, dice rollers, coin shooters, coin spinners, and other gamblers Naruto had cleaned out, many of them crying over their losses.

'And the 'The Legendary Cleaner' strikes again.'The false brunette soon found himself seated at a small open air restaurant waiting to be served.

A growl rumbled in his head. "Damn it boy."

Naruto frowned. 'What's your problem?'

"My problem is that you're here playing servant to that girl."

'Girl? …Oh! Ally! Or Lula. …Hime-chan? Whatever her name is. Hmm, I totally forgot about her.'

Kyuubi was silent for a moment before sighing. "Why doesn't that surprise me. So then why are you here when you have food sealed in those scrolls."

'What my emergency ramen? As in ramen for e-mer-gen-cies! I'm not wasting what little ramen I have stored away when there's a perfectly good town where I could get ramen from.'

Kyuubi snorted.

"So what can I get you kid?" A male voice asked.

Naruto jumped then looked up at a waiter. Naruto frowned, he must have really zoned out in his talk with Kyuubi for this guy to sneak up on him. "Well I haven't eaten since yesterday so I'll have two large bowls of every kind of ramen you have, except vegetable, a glass of water and… what did she want again? Oh! A plate of 'chicken-pork' dumplings and a glass of lemon-mango juice to go."

The waiter nodded and walked away.

Kyuubi scoffed. "Look at you, whipped. I say instead of bothering with that annoying girl you kill her and be on your way."

'I'm not whipped! And why do you always say I have to kill something? Wouldn't it just be easier to just ditch her?'

"Yeah, probably, but it wouldn't be as fun as killing her."

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'I'm ignoring you now.'

The waiter came back frowning. "Um, we don't have ramen here."

Naruto whined. "You don't?"

"No. Actually the cook doesn't know what ramen is."

Naruto paled. "He doesn't know what ramen is?"

The waiter nodded.

"Do you?"

The waiter shook his head.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Would you like to order something else?"

"RAAAAAMEEEEEEEN-CHAAAAAAAN!"

All around town and in the surrounding forests birds flew away, wild animals ran off, pets whimpered, and people paused, looking up and around for the source of the pained wail.

Azula's eyes flew open having just been sleeping. She shot up and looked around the room and frowned. 'Uzumaki'. What the hell was that idiot doing? Sighing, Azula turned back to go to sleep and paused. Something was tapping on the window. Her frown deepening, Azula got up and crept to the window. Preparing for a quick fire blast Azula slightly pulled the curtains back and peeked out. Sitting outside on the windowsill was a messenger hawk. Narrowing her eyes, Azula, without letting herself be seen, quickly opened the window, snatched the bird, and shut the window back.

Azula opened the letter and was surprised to see it was from the Phoenix Alliance. How they knew she was in town, let alone what inn and room she was staying at disturbed her a bit, but it at least proved they were a competent organization. Azula went over the rest of the letter. They wanted to meet up tonight at warehouse #6, wherever that was. That was fine with her, the sooner the better. Azula looked at the signature at the bottom. General Shao Zu.

It wasn't much of a surprise that Shao Zu was one of the leaders of the Phoenix Alliance. Shao Zu was a man who thrived and grew successful during the war especially during her father's reign. Like a lot of high ranking officers he was proud and arrogant, though he was more ambitious than most, more than she cared for, he was loyal to the war effort and her father.

The door opened and a brown haired boy sullenly shuffled in holding a box.

Azula promptly slid into a bending stance. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Bringing you your food hime-chan." He tossed her the box.

She caught it, blinking. "Uzumaki?"

Naruto grunted and plopped face first on the bed.

Azula stood staring at the former annoying cheery blue-eyed yellow haired boy now a sulking gold-eyed brunette. "What happened to you?"

"What happened? I'll tell you what happened or rather what hasn't happened yet." Naruto sat up and looked at her, tears streaming down his face. "Ramen hasn't been invented yet!" he cried.

Azula's eye twitched as she watched him plop on the bed again. "That's not what I meant. What I want to know is-"

Naruto sprang back up no longer crying with an intense look in his eyes. "What? What's ramen? Why it's only the greatest dish to be ever invented! All other foods pale in comparison! A gift from the gods I tell you! A gift from the gods!"

"…Right. Actually what I wanted to know is how it that you've changed your appearance so drastically."

Eyes widening a bit, Naruto ran a hand through his hair finding it to still be short and straight. "Whoops." He was engulfed in smoke for a moment before it cleared and revealed Naruto back to normal. "Sorry about that."

Azula's eyes bulged and jaw dropped. "H-how did you that?"

"It was just a henge." Naruto said like it was nothing special.

"Henge?" Azula repeated.

Naruto looked at her skeptically. "Don't tell me you've never heard of the henge no jutsu before?"

Azula crossed her arms. "I can't say that I have."

Naruto frowned. "I thought royalty and nobility were taught a little bit about how to recognize and defend against some low level jutsu when they were young in case of assassination or abduction." Naruto mentally rolled his eyes. 'As if a child of nobility can do anything against a ninja skilled enough to even be tasked to go after a noble.' "And yet you don't even know about one of the basic three jutsu all shinobi know."

"What are jutsu and who are these shinobi you speak of?" Azula asked interested in something that could lead to the murder of a certain brother of hers.

This time it was Naruto whose jaw dropped. "You don't know what a shinobi is? You bend blue fire so you can't be one of those sheltered 'spends my day in the garden while having tea' princesses, hell even if you were one, you should have at least heard about them." He frowned. "Is it really 15XX, because if it is ninja should have been around for a few hundred years by now."

Kyuubi snorted. "They've been around longer than that."

'Well then why doesn't a princess know about ninja?' Naruto complained to the fox demon.

"Do you not know your own species' history gaki? You shinobi weren't always the large, publically recognized force of power that you are in modern times. This is the era where you ninja really were warriors from the shadows, known at best as an urban myth."

Ninja an urban myth? What the hell is up with this stupid time period.

Azula made a face. "What do ninja have to do with shinobi?"

Naruto blinked. "Why did you look like you smelled something bad when said ninja?"

"What, those cowards who strike from the shadows but don't fight face to face because they lack the skill and power to do so." Azula shrugged. "I have nothing against them though. Admittedly they do have their uses."

"Cowards from the shadows." Naruto chuckled humorlessly. "A few things. One; I'm a ninja. Two; I just saved your life last night by kicking those firebenders' ass 'face to face', something you couldn't do." Azula glared at him. "And three; How the hell do you know what a ninja is but don't know what a shinobi is?"

"What, are they related to each other?"

"They're the same thing." Naruto said like it was obvious. "Ninja is just a translation for the word shinobi."

Azula shook her head. "Whatever."

Naruto's eye twitched. "Stupid annoying princess."

Azula turned to him. "What did you say?"

Naruto looked away. "Nothing." He looked back at her, a more serious expression on his face. "So what's the deal? Why doesn't hime-chan want to be seen?"

Azula narrowed her eyes before schooling her face to look innocent at him. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm not as stupid as I look, and I'm anything but blind. You had us wear cloaks into town which means you thought there was a chance we would be recognized. You're hurt but you refuse to go to a doctor, which is something I doubt you do normally. And when we were looking for a place to stay at you weren't looking at the quality of the inn, you looking at the number of people in the area and the positions of the other buildings, making sure they weren't too close to or taller than the inn." At the princess' slightly widened eyes and clenched fists Naruto smirked.

Azula frowned. So wasn't just a slightly strong idiot, it turns out he's a slightly strong, not so idiotic ninja. Azula took a deep breath, visibly relaxing, and decided to relent some information. "The cloaks weren't for being recognized now but rather for being recognized later when those soldiers come with our descriptions."

Naruto looked at her in shock. "Soldiers? Those guys were soldiers?"

If she had any less self-control Azula would have face faulted. "Their uniform weren't a clue that they were soldiers?" She deadpanned.

"Yeah well I'm not from around here."

"When you say around here do you mean the Fire Nation? Because all the soldiers in the Fire Nation wear that uniform." She glared at him suspiciously.

Naruto just shrugged.

"So then where's a firebender like you from, the Earth Kingdom?" Azula asked mockingly.

Naruto crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. "Well I was told not to tell anybody before I got here but," He looked at her with squinted eyes before smiled. "If I want you to trust me then I should trust you."

Trust. Azula scoffed. 'Yeah right. A foolish concept never to be used again.' She thought bitterly.

"Well believe it or not, I'm from the future."

Azula was silent for a minute before responding. "You're from the future?" She repeated slowly, disbelief in her voice.

"Five hundred years in the future to be exact." He lifted five fingers for effect.

"Riiiight." Azula looked at Naruto incredulously. It didn't look like he was lying and Azula refused to believe that her ability to read people had diminished. That meant he really believed he was from the future. 'Looks like I'm not the only one who escaped from the mental institution. Though unlike this guy, I was never insane.'

Naruto nodded to himself. "There. I've told you something about myself I wasn't supposed to tell anybody." He gestured to Azula. "Now it's your turn; why are soldiers hunting down their own princess?"

Azula snorted. "And why would a kid who just met me last night and claims he's from 'the future' care?"

"You're right I shouldn't care. Ever since we met you've been nothing but mean, rude, and bossy," Naruto shrugged. "But I have friends who treat me worst than you have, and that's what I consider you hime-chan; a friend. And when my friends are in trouble I don't turn my back on them. So tell what's going on so I can help you!"

Azula looked at him for a moment before sighing. "The Fire Nation had been at war with the other nations for the past one hundred years and we were winning."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit at that, impressed, but didn't say anything.

"Under the leadership of the previous Fire Lord, my father, Fire Lord Ozai, the Fire Nation was at the height of our power, victory was assured." Azula's tone darkened. "But two months ago, on the day we were going to achieve total victory over the war Zuko, my older brother and traitor to our nation, challenged me during my coronation to Fire Lord for the crown. We dueled and I defeated him. Zuzu has always been weaker than me. But then he cheated and sicced that filthy water witch on me. They locked me in chains and shipped me off to a mental institution."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Mental institution? Wow, I've never heard that in a coup d'état story before."

"He sent me there to discredit anything I would say." At Naruto's puzzled expression Azula sighed. "When it's your word vs. his over how he won the throne unjustly and you're considered to be insane, people tend to believe him over you." Azula explained bitterly.

A look of realization hit Naruto's face. "Oh." Then he frowned. "But why did he keep you alive and run the risk of someone believing you instead of silencing you forever by killing you."

"Most likely to mock me by having me spend the rest of my life locked in that awful place all the while knowing that he now holds the throne. But its Zuzu's mistake for not finishing me back then because the opportunity to do so will never come again." She smirked evilly. "He'll rue the day he opposed me! I'll hunt down and destroy everybody and everything he-"

"There are a couple of things about your story that are bugging me." Naruto spoke, stopping Azula mid-rant.

Azula glared at him. She didn't like to be interrupted during a tirade.

"You said older brother. Wouldn't he be the heir to the throne anyway?"

"I also said traitor to our nation!" Azula snapped at him. "He left and joined up with the Avatar. And once he stole my throne Zuko went and surrendered to the other nations"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "…What does joining the Avatar have to do with your brother betraying your country?"

For the sixth time that day Azula was convinced Naruto was mentally ill. "The Avatar is the Fire Nation's greatest enemy. He has been since the last Avatar betrayed my great-grandfather Fire Lord Sozin over one hundred years ago."

"Is that right?" Naruto said anger in his voice. 'Oh great. A corrupt Avatar, that's just what I need. And she said the last Avatar too. Poor people, it's been bad one right after the other.' Naruto fell back on the bed.

"If I'm to get my throne back then I'll also have to face the Avatar. Not too long ago that was something I would have looked forward to, but after what he did to father, I'm now hesitant to do so."

"What did he do?" Naruto asked.

If it wasn't for his heightened hearing Naruto would have missed Azula's quiet reply. "He took my father's bending away."

Naruto whistled. "Wow."

"My father used to be the most powerful firebender, literally the most powerful man in the world." Azula closed her eyes, her clenched fists trembling. "And now he's locked up in a prison cell literally powerless. I can't let that happen to me too."

"So don't." Naruto said.

Azula looked at him.

"Just worry about getting your throne back from your brother. If this Avatar dude does come around I'll kick his ass, dattebayo!" Naruto declared.

'Sure you will. And I'll suddenly grow a third arm.' Azula started pacing in front of Naruto. "The first step to get take down my brother down is to join up with the resistance. We're supposed to meet in town tonight at a place called Warehouse #6." Azula paused. "Is there a warehouse district in this town?"

Naruto blinked. "Uh, yeah, on the north side of town. At least I think that's what it was."

Azula nodded to herself. "Then I'll start there."

"Count me in. But I have one more question." Naruto pointed to his right. "Has that bird always been here?"

The teens stared at the messenger hawk who stared back before it squawked at them.

Night came and the cloaked duo made their way to the meeting place.

Naruto started to get a sense of foreboding as soon as they entered the warehouse district. "Something bad is about to happen."

Azula glanced at him before focusing back ahead. "What makes you say that?"

"I have the ability to detect incoming threats and dangers." Naruto explained.

"Is that right?" Azula said, not believing the boy.

"Yeah. It's just one of the abilities of my kekkei genkai."

"Uh huh." Azula didn't know what a kekkei genkai was and frankly, she didn't care. She was more focused on finding Warehouse #6.

Warehouse #4. Warehouse #5. Azula smirked. There it was. Warehouse #6.

Azula looked around to make sure no one was around before entering the warehouse.

Naruto followed in after her, his eyes narrowing. He was still sensing danger and now he could feel that there were other people in the building but he didn't have his kekkei genkai fully active so he couldn't tell how many there were exactly, but he estimated that there were at least ten other people here.

Azula looked around the warehouse; it was quiet, dark, and seemingly empty, a combination that made Azula feel apprehensive. "Uzumaki, light." Azula called.

"Is there something wrong with your bending?" Was Naruto's response.

Azula growled at Naruto.

"It's surprising to hear such insolence from a subordinate of yours, Princess Azula. I hope this doesn't mean you've lost your edge." A voice spoke from the darkness. Around the room torches were lit, bathing the room in orange light and exposing several dozen men in Fire Nation armor, one of whom was confidently walking towards them. An older man, his armor was different, fancier looking, than the others and unlike the other soldiers the man wasn't wearing a helmet or mask, allowing the small smirk on his face to be seen.

Azula narrowed her eyes. "General Shao Zu. I see you haven't lost your talent for telling jokes when they're not appreciated."

Shao Zu's smirk faded and he quickly bowed. "My apologies princess. It's a nervous habit of mine."

"Well do try to control yourself general. I no longer have patience for such behavior."

"Of course." Shao Zu straightened up. "It's good to see that you were able to make it here, Your Highness. I had heard what had happened to your escort and was afraid that you too would soon be captured."

"That almost happened. If it wasn't for this boy here my brother's soldiers would have me in their custody right now." Azula frowned. "I find it a bit discomforting that a child was able to accomplish something several men of the Phoenix Alliance couldn't."

"Hey don't be like that." Naruto interjected. "I'm sure they don't suck, I'm just awesome that's all." Shao Zu pinned Naruto with a glare.

Azula started studying her nails. "Maybe this isn't the right group for me; there are other resistance factions out there. The Heart of Fire sounds like they're a competent group."

Shao Zu fell to his knees and bowed before Azula. "I assure you Princess there is no one more capable of winning the Fire Nation back from your brother than us."

Azula looked around at the gathered men. "I need an army that's decisive, efficient, ruthless, cold-blooded."

Naruto frowned. 'Ruthless and cold-blooded?'

Kyuubi hummed in his cage. "Maybe this girl isn't so bad after all."

Hearing the fox demon say that gave Naruto a bad feeling.

"We are all of those." Shao Zu insisted.

Azula looked the general straight in the eye. "Prove it."

"How?"

Azula pointed at Naruto. "Kill him."

And that's chapter one, ending it off with a cliffhanger.

So what do you think? Completely different from the first version right?

Don't expect the next chapter to be this long, this chapter was a lot longer than I wanted it to be.

Yes, bending attacks will have names. I wanted attack names for bending techniques and they're gonna have them. I needed something to distinguish between jutsu and bending so instead of katon or fuuton I came up with hidō (way of fire). The inspiration behind the word hidō actually came from the terms kidō (way of destruction) and bakudō (way of binding) from Bleach. I honestly just came up with it right before I finished the chapter.

Now I don't like god like stories and Naruto isn't going to be god like, but he will seem that way at some points story, especially in the beginning, along with other ninja characters, and that's only because I believe ninjas from Naruto are so much stronger than benders. Now some of you may disagree but I think it could be justified. Imagine if some ninja had, along with their jutsu, the ability to bend. They would be So. Bad. Ass. Well in this story ninja can bend and they are badass, compared to Avatar benders. Though I may be making ninja more awesome than they really are.

Yes, I gave Naruto a kekkei genkai, but like I said Naruto's not going to be god like, as it is it won't make Naruto too strong. It's one of my own creation and I'll say this, he inherited from one of his parents, it's not from the Namikaze or Uzumaki clan, and Minato and Kushina are still his birth parents. That's all I'm saying, I've already given out three of its abilities away in this chapter.

And a proud moment for me; I actually predicted a kekkei genkai in Naruto, Shakuton (Scorch Element) about 10 chapters before it came out, although I thought it would be called Heat Element. But not only did I correctly predict what it does; I correctly predicted what villageit came from! How freakin' awesome is that!