Naruto stood with his arms crossed as he watched Aang pull on Appa's reins, trying to make him leave the village. The saddle was empty, and Katara and Sokka were not with the boy and his pets.
Naruto had a raised eyebrow as he waited for him to realise Appa wasn't going to let him get away with his plans. The moon was high in the sky as Katara and Sokka came up behind him.
"What's going on here?" Sokka asked
"What do you think? Aang's trying to force Appa to leave you two behind because it's too dangerous."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Hey, what about you?" Sokka complained.
"I know Aang too well and confronted him about such an act hours ago." Naruto shrugged.
"Let's go, Appa! Come on, boy!" Aang complained as he pulled on the reins. Appa simply roared back in response.
"Look, I'm sorry, but Katara and Sokka aren't coming to the Fire Nation with us. If they got hurt, I'd never forgive myself." Aang frowned before turning to Appa, annoyed. "So get your big butt off the ground, and let's go!"
Aang pulled some more, and the bison refused to move.
The air bender pulled hard enough that the reins snapped back and pulled the boy to the floor, where he sat defeated.
Sokka and Katara were trying not to laugh.
"I think his big butt is trying to tell you something." Sokka finally spoke, catching the boy's attention.
Aang turned around to see the two siblings with Naruto and the villagers behind them.
"Naruto!" Aang complained. "Hey, I didn't get them; they know you better than you think."
Naruto defended his hands up in surrender.
"Please don't go, Aang. The world can't afford to lose you to the Fire Nation. Neither can I." Katara admitted. Aang frowned and thought before he got to his feet.
"But I have to talk to Avatar Roku to find out what my vision means. I need to get to the Fire Temple before the sun sets on the Solstice.
That's today." Aang worried as Naruto rolled his eyes and walked to Appa, walking up the bison's tail to sit in the saddle as Aang bent himself up onto Appa's head.
Appa finally got up and began to walk as Naruto moved to Aang's side. He grabbed the reins and stopped the bison as the two water tribe siblings stood before the giant bison.
"Aang, what are you trying to prove here? Going by yourself?" Naruto asked. "I won't be alone. I have you." Aang reminded him.
"Right, right, cause the two of us are so formidable." he agreed.
"We're not letting you go into the Fire Nation, Aang," Katara said strongly.
"At least not without your friends. We got your back." Sokka smiled. Momo landed on Aang's shoulder, and Appa licked Sokka, who whined in the complaint.
"It's a long journey to the Crescent Island." The chief walked towards them and handed Naruto a Parcel, who handed it to Aang. "You'll have to fly fast to have any chance of making it before sundown. Good luck," he said, and Aang smiled
"Thank you for your—" but the chief cut him off with a point to the rising sun.
"Go!" Katara and Sokka climbed onto Appa's back, and Aang flicked the reins to allow the bison to jump into the air.
"So, what do you expect will happen when we get to the Fire Nation?" Sokka wondered
"Well, I doubt they'll allow their borders to be unguarded with all the terror they're spreading, so maybe some border police?" Naruto offered as the sun came up.
"It's not going to be easy, that's for sure," Aang admitted. "We can't waste any time on Fire Nation soldiers," Katara warned.
"That's why we give some defence, and we fly straight over." Naruto said, "Nothing fancy and no offence. We don't have the time." He looked at the three, and they all nodded as the sun began to rise.
Katara was leaning over the edge for the saddle, scanning the water below, and Aang glanced at her before turning back to Appa.
"Come on, boy! We've got a long way to go! Faster!" he urged.
"Aang! We got trouble." Katara informed
"Yeah, and it's gaining fast!" Sokka confessed, causing the two upfront to turn around.
Naruto groaned. Below them in the water was a ball Fire Nation Navy ship. It was puffing out steam as it followed the bison in the waters.
"For God Sake Zuko! Now is not the time!" Aang complained.
"What do we do if he attacks?" Sokka worried
"Aang steer, Sokka, keep an eye on the back, Katara below and I'll deal with any attacks," Naruto said, getting up and walking to the back of the bison.
They watched as a catapult was lifted from below the deck. Naruto raised his arms as the cargo was set on fire, and within the minute, it was shot into the air at them.
"Fireball!" Katara shouted, "I'm on it!" Naruto assured. Aang held the reins tight in case the boy missed, but he raised his arms; trees suddenly grew from the ground below just in time to hit the fireball. The two collided.
"We have to get out of Zuko's range before he shoots another hot stinker at us!" Katara said as he held his nose.
"Can't you make Appa go any faster?" Sokka demanded his hands on his nose also.
"Yeah, but there's just one little problem," Aang muttered, causing the three to turn and see, within the ocean, dozens of Fire Nation ships, and all bigger than Zuko's.
"Blockade! And I've bet they've all got catapults too!" Naruto cursed.
"If we fly north, we can go around the Fire Nation ships and avoid the blockade. It's the only way." Aang believed.
"There's no time." Katara believed. "This is exactly why I didn't want you to come. It's too dangerous." Aang thought. "And that's exactly why we're here."
"If we didn't come, you'd have never gotten to the temple in time for fear of getting shot down," Naruto said. "Stuff those ships," he said before taking a deep breath and grinning
"Let's run this blockade." Sokka encouraged.
"Appa! Yip! Yip!" the Bison dove down towards the blockade.
"Naruto! They're lighting the catapults." Sokka shouted.
"Good." Naruto grinned. "Let's make them waste their ammo."
The boy continued waving his hands as several catapults fired the fireballs at them, not caring about the ship down below them. Aang began to steer the bison through as Katara and Sokka cried and ducked into the saddle. Naruto kept on growing more wood; the fireballs kept colliding with the wood, but not actually hitting Appa.
A few of the balls exploded before them, and bits of embers hit the water surrounding the group, but luckily none penetrated through and hit Appa.
"Are you alright, Naruto?" Aang asked
"So far." he nodded as he blocked out another one. "Just keep dodging." As a result, Aang pulled Appa up into the clouds and no sooner than he had the fireballs come flying blindly through them.
The bison weaved this way and that, the passengers inside screaming as Naruto tried to intercept the firebombs.
"I know it's better for us up here, but I can't see where the bombs are coming from now!" he said, annoyed, not mentioning he was too far from the ground to grow trees anymore.
They ran at the blockade, almost through the heavy fire of it all. Naruto glanced forwards to see a catapult sitting waiting, and his eyes narrowed. He gasped when it was fired straight at them.
"Aang!" Naruto warned. Aang spun around, and he aimed his foot at the ball. Air went rushing at the firebomb as water twirled its way into the middle, and the entire bomb was blasted apart and into pieces, allowing the bison to fly straight through the middle.
Naruto and Aang flew backwards and hit the bison, Katara and Sokka grabbing them, so they didn't fly off past them, and Appa suddenly flew right through the ships and past the blockade.
"We made it!" Aang cheered, punching his fist to the air before sharing a double high five with Naruto.
"Yeah! I knew we could do it! And you wanted to go around." he rolled his eyes.
Sokka and Katara stood looking worried and not all that excited about their victory.
"We got into the Fire Nation..." Sokka realised in disbelief as his shoulders slumped "...Great..."
"Now we just gotta find this crescent island, and it's a temple," Naruto said, grinning.
"Easy peasy." Aang nodded. They flew until the sun began to set, Appa getting tired and Naruto falling asleep from him defending parade before Aang suddenly shouted and all were alerted and awake again.
"There it is! The island Roku's dragon took me to!" The three looked up to literally see a crescent Island with a volcano in the middle. A small temple stood on the left-hand side of the lava river.
"Thank god, let's talk to Roku and leave before anything else bad happens." Naruto yawned.
Appa landed on the safe ground near the pathway to the temple, and the four descended; Naruto and Aang turned to Appa's face, patting him as Sokka began to stretch and Katara smiled at the animal.
"You did it, buddy. Nice flying." Aang smiled.
Appa groaned and rolled over in exhaustion.
"Oh! You must be tired!" Katara cooed as he rubbed his belly.
"No," Sokka answered, causing Katara to look at him annoyed as Sokka stretched. "I'm good." he began to jog on the spot. "Refreshed and ready to fight some firebenders." Katara turned to his brother with a narrowed look on her face.
"I was talking to Appa." She confessed. Sokka stopped mid jog.
"Well, I was talking to Momo." he covered up, pointing over his shoulder to the lemur hanging upside down on the branch.
"Don't be harsh, Katara; he did a very good job," Naruto said with a sly smirk, but his tone seemed to have gone entirely over his head.
"Thank You, Naruto," Sokka said smiling. Finally, someone appreciated...
"I was, of course, talking about Momo," Naruto interrupted his glorious thoughts; Katara laughed along with Naruto while Sokka seemed to be looking down at the ground in despair.
After they stopped laughing, they soon followed Aang up the pathway and to the temple. It held five floors, including the ground floor, and the roofs turned and pointed upwards, glowing yellow in the setting sun.
They reached the temple and ducked behind a low wall carefully.
"I don't see any guards," Sokka confessed
"The Fire Nation must have abandoned the temple when Avatar Roku died." Katara thought.
"Yeah, but you'd think there'd be someone," Naruto muttered, eyeing the temple.
"It's almost sundown. We'd better hurry." Aang said. They jumped over the wall and headed for the door, which was encased in a red and gold fire plate.
They ran into the room and began to creep over the floor as Momo landed beside them.
"Wait... I think I heard something." Sokka said as he stopped, causing the other three to stop too.
"You had to say that, didn't you." Naruto sighed, and they turned around to see their exit blocked by five men wearing red.
"We are the Fire Sages. Guardians of the temple of the Avatar." the one in front explained.
"Great! I am the Avatar." Aang said with a grin as he stepped forwards.
Naruto, along with Katara and Sokka facepalm, did he have to go and announce to some people of fire nation that he's the Avatar??!!
"We know." The fire sage took a fire bending pose and shot fire at the four. Aang moved forwards and slapped his hands together, causing the fire to part in two and disperse, missing the four as it ran over the floor before disappearing.
Two more fire benders joined in, and Aang swung some air to block that.
"I'll hold them off. Run!" Aang shouted at the three. Aang swung his foot and caused the five sages to have their feet knocked out from under them.
Naruto and Aang turned quickly, running after the first two and away from the Fire Sages. They quickly rejoined Katara and Sokka, skidding to halt in front of them from another corridor.
"Follow me!" Aang shouted.
"Do you know where you're going?" Sokka questioned.
"Nope!" Aang confessed as he rounded a corner.
"My suggestion is u-p!" Naruto said as he skidded to a halt at the corner and turned to run back past the two, Aang quickly following him as a Fire Sage was hot on his heels.
"Wrong way!" Aang admitted
"Come back!" The fire sage called after them as Sokka and Katara quickly followed the other two benders. Aang skidded to another stop to turn another corner, and Naruto almost toppled over as he followed the two siblings turning after them as the fire sage continued to follow.
Naruto almost ran into the boy as he stopped short again at a window, their path being a dead end, and they turned to the fire sage with worry.
"I don't want to fight you. I am a friend." Aang said.
"Firebenders aren't our friends." Sokka snapped, and Naruto shot him a look as he and Aang took a bending stance.
To their surprise, however, the fire sage suddenly got down on his knees and bowed to Aang at his feet.
"How about now?" Naruto asked Sokka
"I know why you're here, Avatar." the fire sage admitted.
"You do?" Aang asked as he relaxed his pose and looked surprised.
"Yes." the man stood up. "You wish to speak to Avatar Roku. I can take you to him." he allowed.
Aang turned to his friends, who looked just as confused.
"How?" Aang wondered.
The man moved a lantern to his left, and a small hole sat under it. He placed his hand on the hole and his other hand on his shoulder before shooting fire into the wall. Beside him, fire shot within the wall, and it moved to reveal a doorway. Stairs stood within the rocky cavern which proceeded downwards.
"This way." the man pointed. The four looked slightly weary before a voice sounded.
"Find him!"
"Time is running out. Quickly!" the sage urged.
"I'm more willing to trust this man than those ones!" Naruto said, and he grabbed Sokka's arm and pulled him into the tunnel with a cry. Aang and Katara nodded, and the sage followed them in, shutting the secret door behind them.
Around them, rock and lava dripped through the cave, and the four glanced at it as they walked in silence, Shyu having moved to lead the way.
"Avatar Roku once called this temple his home. He formed these secret passages out of the magma."
"He was a lava bender? Is that a thing?" Naruto asked, surprised.
"It can be for earth benders," Shyu admitted.
"Or if you're the avatar." Naruto nodded with a sigh.
"Did you know Avatar Roku?" Aang wondered
"No. But my grandfather knew him. Many generations of Fire Sages guarded this temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place." Shyu said as they began to move upwards.
"Is that how you knew I was coming?" Aang wondered.
"A few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred. The statue of Avatar Roku, its eyes... began to glow!" Shyu confessed.
"Katara, remember the air temple?" Sokka remembered.
"Yeah! A few weeks ago, that's when we were at the Air Temple. Avatar Roku's eyes were glowing there too!" Katara remembered.
"I guess all the statues are connected no matter where in the world." Aang smiled.
"At that moment, we knew you had returned to the world," Shyu admitted
"If this is the Avatar's temple, why did the Sages attack me?" Aang wondered.
"Things have changed. In the past, the Sages were loyal only to the Avatar. When Roku died, the Sages eagerly awaited for the next Avatar to return. But he never came." the sages admitted
Aang stopped and leaned on the wall.
"They were waiting for me." he realised. Sokka put his hands around the boy's shoulders
"Hey, don't feel bad. You're only a hundred years late," he said, earning a whack to the head by Katara.
"Aang, even if you hadn't vanished, you'd have either perished or not have been able to return here anyway, what with the Fire Nation out to get you." Katara frowned. "I guess they gave up hope."
"Yes, they did." Shyu nodded. "They lost hope the Avatar would ever return. When Fire Lord Sozin began the war, my grandfather and the other Sages were forced to follow him." the sage shook his head in dismay, "I never wanted to serve the Fire Lord. When I learned you were coming, I knew I would have to betray the other Sages."
"Thank you for helping me." Aang bowed at the man. Shyu smiled before they continued.
"We'll follow these stairs to the sanctuary." their stairway quickly began to spiral upwards, and they climbed them one after the other.
"Once you're inside, wait for the light to hit Avatar Roku's statue. Only then will you be able to speak with him." Shyu explained.
Shyu removed the trap door above them, and the five quickly moved out of the tunnel.
"NO!" Shyu suddenly cried as he walked towards a door.
"Shyu, what's wrong?" Aang asked as they followed, looking up at the fire decorated door before them. There were five blackened spots in which were the opened mouths of dragons, and each twirled and swirled its way over a golden flame with red gems.
"The sanctuary doors, they're closed." he said, confused, "Can't you just open them with firebending? Like you opened that other door?" Katara wondered as Sokka looked at the door, and Aang pushed on it hopelessly.
"No. Only a fully realised Avatar is powerful enough to open this door alone." Shyu admitted, and Aang frowned before putting his hand on it. "Otherwise, the Sages must open the doors together with five simultaneous fire blasts," he explained.
"Five fire blasts, huh?" Sokka thought before an idea came to his mind, and he looked up at a lantern above his head with a grin. "I think I can help you out."
"How so?" Naruto wondered, "You have four other fire benders in that bag of yours?" he asked.
"No, but I do have something that might just work as well," he said as he rummaged through his bags, the other four watching him with interest. He began to pick out animal skins and then pulled the lamp off the wall.
"This is a little trick I picked up from my father. I seal the lamp oil inside an animal skin casing, Shyu lights the oil-soaked twine and tada! Fake firebending!" he held up one of the animal skins he'd just poured lamp oil into.
"You've really outdone yourself this time, Sokka." Katara smiled.
"Yeah, I'll give you the props for this one." Naruto nodded in agreement.
"This might actually work." Shyu smiled.
They filled the rest of the bags and put them all within the dragon's mouths, Sokka making sure they sat insecurely.
"The Sages will hear the explosions, so as soon as they go off, you rush in," Shyu said, turning to Aang behind them.
"It's almost sunset. Are you ready?" Katara asked as he and Naruto smiled at Aang. Sokka quickly rejoined the others behind the pillars, putting his fingers in his ears as Katara held Momo safely out of the way.
"Definitely." Aang nodded. Naruto grinned at the boy, and they turned to Shyu, who sent a spark across all the twine, and they instantly began to burn. Shyu joined Aang and Naruto behind a pillar, and they watched expectantly as the twine burned and Sokka held onto Katara's legs.
The explosion went off, and smoke went everywhere, but Aang didn't hesitate, he ran forwards and grabbed the handle, but nothing budged.
"They're still locked," he called as the smoke vanished, the four coming out for behind the pillars.
"It didn't work." Shyu sighed as Aang fell to his knees. He looked at the door angrily, frustrated beefier standing and taking a few steps back.
"Why won't it open! Aargh!" Aang threw air after arblast at the door, but the entire thing stayed sealed to its hinges.
"That won't solve anything, Aang!" Naruto said
"Aang, stop! There's nothing else we can do." Katara grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him away from the door.
"Unless we find more fire benders, there's no way to open it." Naruto sighed.
"I'm sorry I put you through all this for nothing," Aang said, his head hanging in disappointment.
Sokka approached the door and ran his finger through the soot in confusion.
"I don't get it. That blast looked as strong as any firebending I've seen," he said, frowning as Momo looked in through one of the mouths. Katara's expression suddenly lit up.
"Sokka! You're a genius!" She suddenly said, earning confused looks from everyone.
" 'Sokka' and 'genius' don't really belong in the same sentence." Naruto thought, crossing his arms.
"Wait, how is Sokka genius? His plan didn't even work." Aang reminded her.
"You're right. Sokka's plan didn't work... but it looks like it did." Katara said, and Naruto looked at the door before him expression widened in understanding.
"Did the definition of "genius" change in the last hundred years?" Aang wondered, still confused.
"No, he's right!" Naruto grinned. "It looked like it worked; therefore, it looked like you got inside the sanctuary," he explained.
"So?" Aang wondered, "So if you're in the sanctuary, where they don't want you to be, how are they going to get you out?" Naruto asked as Katara smiled.
The boys shared a confused look. "They'd have to open the doors." Shyu realised. Aang and Sokka's faces lit up.
"They open the doors,"
"And Aang runs in!" Katara grinned.
"Brilliant!" Aang grinned.
"Now, all we need are the fire sages!" Sokka grinned
"The blast should have attracted them." Shyu believed with a smile.
"Quick! We need to hide!" Naruto said, grabbing Aang and pulling him behind the pillars.
"Shyu, go and get the other sages!" Sokka said as Katara quickly joined Naruto and Aang. Shyu nodded, and he quickly ran off.
"Now we'll grab the sages while you run in, okay, Aang," Naruto said, and the boy nodded.
"Come quickly! The Avatar has entered the sanctuary!" The four all ducked, and Shyu entered the hall with the other four sages.
"How did he get in?" Another questioned
"I don't know. But look at the scorch marks and down there!" They all looked to the crack under the door to see a shadow moving.
"He's inside. Open the doors immediately before he contacts Avatar Roku." Aang shimmied his way down the dragon tail on one of the pillars as the sages got into position in front of the doorway.
With a deep breath, the fire sages shot fire at the mouths of the dragons on the door.
The room lit up red, and smoke protruded from the cracks around the door.
As soon as the fire dispersed, the middle head spun and turned upside down around the red gem, the four other dragons fell inwards, and the three flamed symbols split down the middle to uncover the middle of the door. Red light flooded out, and the doors began to creak as they slid open to the sides.
The room was dark on the other side, and the five sages waited with their hands raised only to see Momo, covered in soot and sneezing before them.
"It's the Avatar's lemur! He must have crawled through the pipes! We've been tricked!" Momo suddenly leapt forward at the head sage, screeching and knocking the man off of his feet. Sokka and Katara ran out from behind the pillars, and each covered two sage's heads with their robes.
Naruto moved to grab another before he caught movement beside his eye and turned. His eyes widened before he grew frustrated.
Shyu quickly grabbed the fourth Sage, grabbing his face and bending him over backwards.
"Now, Aang!" Shyu called, but nothing happened. Katara looked up from the sage he had lying on the floor.
"Aang! Now's your chance!" he shouted. But for his response, fire came dancing out from behind the pillars and Naruto with them.
"We have a bit of a problem," Naruto admitted as the three looked at him, shocked.
Zuko and Aang came out from behind the pillar, Zuko holding Aang's hands behind his back.
"The Avatar's coming with me!" Zuko declared
"For god's sake, Zuko, can't you wait like ten minutes to kidnap him!" Naruto demanded, annoyed. The sages all stood, turned and flipped until Sokka, Katara and Shyu were held with their hands behind their backs, and Momo flew off with another's hat. Zuko began to push Aang towards a set of stairs as Naruto balled his fists.
"Close the doors! Quickly!" Zuko ordered.
Naruto jumped and stamped his foot on the ground, causing Trees to run from it and towards the staircase, covering it over and preventing Zuko from descending with Aang.
Zuko turned to him angrily as Katara, Shyu and Sokka were chained to a pillar, two of the sages now moving towards Naruto.
"Go for it, burn the wood, but remember you'll need to somewhat release Aang to do it, and I'll guarantee he'll get loose!" he warned. He spun and wood bind the Sages.
Aang looked at Katara and Sokka before glancing at Naruto. He immediately struggled spun out from in front of Zuko, kicking him, causing Zuko to stumble and then kicking him again.
The Sages gathered as Aang ran at Katara and Sokka, and Naruto moved his arms, growing trees from outside through the windows, to knock them from their feet.
"Go!" Katara turned to the door, which was slowly closing. Aang bent himself into the air, and he dove for the door, just slipping between the doors as they slammed shut, the fire and locked moving back into place.
"He made it!" Katara grinned as Shyu smiled in relief. A bright blue light suddenly shot from the door, and everyone turned their eyes away from it before the hall was back to its usual red.
"Well, guess I pissed you off a little." He said, smirking ever so slightly before the other sages were broken from the branches tying them and got to their feet.
Naruto looked at the four of them, one still holding Shyu, and sighed.
"I might be a little over my head here..." he whispered.
"You lost me the avatar." Zuko seethed.
"Wouldn't be the first time. After all, I'd much rather keep my friend free and safe than locked up in some Fire Nation prison!" Naruto snapped back as he took his stance.
"You're outnumbered, boy, give up!" one of the sages ordered
"Not the first time I have been outnumbered." Naruto smiled.