(Location: Konoha)
"Damn, do I need a drink!" Minato said aloud as he went through the paperwork on his desk. He pushed back away from his desk and looked out the window. The afternoon sun shined down on the village, sometimes getting obscured by the occasional cloud. All-in-all, it was a perfect day "It is times like these that make me think of places he could of been." He thought, remembering a certain blonde. "Where are you, Naruto?"
"Lord Hokage!" Asoka yelled from the hallway, bursting through the doors. She was a new secretary
"What's the matter, Asoka?" He asked, worried that something had happened.
His secretary held out a scroll for him. "This just came through the transport seal. It's from Mito's team and was marked urgent."
Minato took the scroll, opened it and began to read it. After a few minutes, he looked up from it. "Asoka, get Team Asuma and Team Guy in here, ASAP." He ordered, still holding the open scroll.
"Them? They just got back from a mission, why do you need them now?" The secretary asked. Minato simply showed her the open scroll. She stood completely still, reading and re-reading the first sentence. "I'll go get them right away." She said before leaving the office.
Minato put the scroll down and reached for his hidden stash of sake. If one were to take a look at the open scroll, this would have been the first sentence:
Lord Hokage
Naruto Uzumaki has been found.
(Location: Azula's camp)
He walked into the camp (which was neatly created) and went straight to Azula's tent
When he stepped in, he saw Azula sitting in a meditative pose in front of three candles. breathing in and out. As she did, the fires on the candles raised and lowered with her breathing.
"Naruto," She said, making him stop at the tent flap. "Those people today, the ones that were shocked to see you. Who are they?" She knew that they knew him in some way, but that was it.
"...My past," He answered shortly
" yes but who are they?" She emphasized the word 'who'
"...." Naruto stayed silent.
He sighed " those were ..." He stopped ,trying to find the write words " former comrades of mine , the group of 12 rookies ... Or at least part of them. You know the story" after that he just left the tent.
"Indeed I do, but there's more to it than that. What are you hiding from me, Naruto?" She thought to herself. Deciding to think about it, she went back to her exercise.
"You're going to tell her sooner or later, kit." The Kyūbi told his Jinchūriki as the blonde went to set up his sleeping bag.
"I know, Kyūbi. I just hope it's later." He mentally replied.
(Location: Konoha)
Both Team Asuma and Team Guy stood in the Hokage's Office, having gotten the request to come urgently. Minato looked at them from where he sat. "I'm grateful that you all got here quickly." He said to them.
"What's the problem, Lord Hokage ?" Asuma asked. Even though he and his team had been summoned right away, he remained relaxed. To him, this was just another mission.
"As you all very well know, a month ago Team Mito set sail for what we have always known as the Bending Countries. They were given an A-rank mission to protect someone." He began to explain.
"We know that part." Chōji said, remembering seeing that team off. "So why did you call for us?"
"When they met up with the person and his group, they were going to rescue a friend from out of a city by trading him for someone else." He sighed before continuing. "When they went to do the trade, they encountered Naruto Uzumaki." He watched as everyone digested the information.
As he did, he remembered what had happened when the Blond had left Konoha. He gave an order to do an investigation into Naruto Uzumaki. When the investigation started, He ordered that everything about the young shinobi was to be looked into. That meant his records were to be studied and interviews of people who knew him were to be made (with the exception of Team 7, as those would probably be biased). The entire process took about two weeks, during which it was discovered that the records for each mission Naruto was on were falsified. They were made to look as if Naruto did little on the mission while Sasuke and Mito took most of the credit. The men that had been put onto the investigation brought this to the attention of Minato, who immediately called a council meeting and asked for Tsunade to attend
When the council meeting began, he told both the Shinobi council and the Civilian council about the falsified records before demanding that the Civilian council explain their actions. They objected, saying that he had no way of proving that they had actually falsified the records. That was when he pulled out his trump card. He showed them the mission record for Tsunade's retrieval. It stated that Naruto was attacked and knock unconscious by two Akatsuki members. They would have taken him away had it not been for the intervention of Jiraiya, Sasuke and Mito. After chasing the two away, the four of them continued looking for Tsunade. As they did that, Jiraiya had taught Sasuke the Rasengan while doing nothing to help Naruto. The record continued on like that, praising Sasuke and Mito while barely mentioning Naruto,
When he had finally finished reading, Tsunade told them that she remembered that mission differently. She remembered Sasuke being sent back to the village after being injured and that it was Naruto trying to learn the Rasengan. She also told them that no shinobi was stupid enough to tamper with a mission record that dealt with a potential head of the hospital. Minato then ordered the ANBU in the room to bind the Civilian council. Once they were bound, she ordered Inoichi and the members of his clan who were there to read their minds. He did so and the end result was discovering that not only had they falsified the records, they had bribed the teachers of the Academy to torment and ignore Naruto as well as tamper with his grades (the only teacher who refused to take a bribe was Iruka Umino). As soon as Inoichi reported this, Minato stripped the councilmen of their positions and status. New council members would be picked out later, once everything had settled down.
, Tsunade brought the Konoha Eleven to the hospital. She took them to a file room, leaving the door open behind them. She took a file off the shelves and put it on the table in front of them. She told them that they wouldn't leave the room until they had read every single file, if it took more than a day, food and drink would be delivered to them. She walked out the door, closed it, and locked it. Not understanding why she had done this, they decided to start reading the file in front of them.
However, they discovered that the file was about an incident where Naruto had arrived late that day and the teacher had yelled at him for that. As punishment, he made Naruto do a hundred push-ups and if he stopped for any reason he had to start over again. Ino, Kiba and Sasuke with the rest of the class had laughed at him as he tried to do the push-ups but kept collapsing, the others just ignored him.
After reading that file, they were sick to their stomach but they just grabbed another file, thinking that the first one was the only one on Naruto. It didn't take them long to find out that all the files were of Naruto and this was a big room. It took them a week to read all of the files. After that was done, they went straight to Tsunade and demanded why she had made them read all of those files.
"So that you could glimpse at the hell that boy has been through." She answered. the Konoha Eleven made it a priority to find Naruto every time they went on a mission. They were going to bring their teammate and friend back.
"What happened?" Shikamaru asked, bringing his attention back to the present and the group in front of her. "Did he join with Team Mito?"
"Come on, Shikamaru, it's Naruto we're talking about here. Of course he joined them." Ino told her teammate.
"YOSH! Ino is most correct. Naruto would've rejoined with his comrades and tried to youthfully rescue their friend!" Guy cried out.
"I agree with Guy-sensei, Naruto definitely would've tried to join with Team Mito, especially if Lady Hinata was there." Neji stated. It seemed like the thing the blonde would do when he met them. Now, they would probably see him once Team Mito came back.
While everyone began to agree with what Neji said, Minato stayed silent. "...He didn't join them, did he?" Shikamaru finally asked, silencing everyone else in the room. They all stared at him, silently hoping that wasn't the case.
He sighed, knowing what came would shock and stun them. "The Bending countries have been in a war for the past century. It was instigated by one of the countries, called the Fire Nation, when they completely annihilated another of the countries, the Air Nomads." Everyone was indeed shocked by what he told them, but he didn't stop. "Apparently, their motive for this was to prevent the rebirth of someone called the Avatar."
"I'm guessing that the Avatar survived?" The Nara clan heir asked him.
"Yes, the report states that the Avatar fled the Air Temple where he had lived when he learned he was to be taken away. He was caught in a storm in the middle of the ocean and encased himself in an iceberg. He stayed that way for a hundred years."
"I know this is relative to the mission that they were on, but what's have to do with Naruto?" Asuma asked. He couldn't see how all of this would be relevant.
"When they went to go to the trade, they met up with the other party. The other party consisted of the Fire Nation princess, her two friends...and her bodyguard: Naruto Uzumaki." The words came out easily enough, but they still hurt.
The expression on everyone's face was obvious: denial, complete and utter denial. "That can't be right! Naruto is not so unyouthful that he would join with that kind of country!" Lee argued. The blonde would've joined with Team Mito to fight against the Fire Nation
"Lee's right! We're talking about Naruto. He would never join the Fire Nation, not of his own free will." Tenten said. She was sure that he must've been brainwashed or something.
Minato shook his head, silently telling them they were all wrong. "Not only did he join the Fire Nation of his own free will, he's been creating fire nation colonies ." He continued, further crushing their hopes.
"I take it that Team Mito tried to get him to come back?" Shikamaru didn't like where this was going, but the questions had to be said.
"They did and he refused. They tried to take him by force."
"What happened?" Chōji asked, despite not wanting to hear the answer. The question came out involuntarily.
"He defeated them easily. He broke through a B-ranked Genjutsu and took out Mito with a single punch, as well as Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino." The Hokage told them.
"What about Lady Hinata?" Neji demanded. He didn't mention his cousin and that worried him.
"She also tried to attack him but from what the report says, he didn't fight back until he distracted her. He grabbed her by the neck and threatened to kill her if they continued to fight. To make his point clear, he stabbed her in the stomach and formed a Rasengan, threatening to use it on her face. Needlessly to say, afterwards the trade negotiations fell through and Team Mito with their charges had to leave the city and the surrounding areas." He answered, making him angry.
"So you called us in to have us help out Mito's team." Asuma said, figuring out why he called them in. He also realized that what they heard just now was relevant.
"Yes, I'm upgrading this mission to S-rank and I'm sending you all to help Team Mito. Your primary mission is to help with the protection of the Avatar. Your secondary mission is to try and locate Naruto Uzumaki." He said to all of them.
"Is anything else we should know about Naruto?" Guy asked him.
"According to Hinata, his chakra control was so strong and controlled that she could not see it unless he had used a jutsu."
"That should be impossible." Neji objected. There was no way that the Naruto he fought could've managed to get that much control over his chakra in just three years.
"Lord Hokage," Shikamaru spoke. "The Rasengan that Naruto created during the fight, did he create a clone to help make it?"
"No, he formed the Rasengan with only one hand." He answered him. Her answer made everyone minus the Nara clan heir look at him with surprise.
"Then I think it's safe to say that his chakra control has at least improved." He commented to himself.
While everyone thought that over (trying to believe it), Ino asked a question. "Shouldn't Lord Jiraiya be able to track Naruto via the Toads?"
Minato shook her head. "He tried. He asked the Toads to Reverse-Summon Naruto to Mt. Myōboku. When they attempted to do it, it was revealed that, somehow, Naruto had put a Block on his name in the Summoning Scroll."
"A Block?" repeated Tenten. "What's that?"
"A Block is something someone with Summon Contract uses when he doesn't want to be found but still be able to contact them. To put simply, the only time the Toads will be able to find and/or Reverse-summon Naruto is if he summons them first and if he stays in the same area." He explained. While she knew the principles behind a Block, she had never used it himself.
"And he hasn't summoned them in over three years and possibly will be constantly on the move." Shikamaru noted. So there went the option of using the Toads.
"That's all the information I have for you. While you are out looking for Naruto, be sure to also look for intelligence on him." He told them all. "Now, I want you all to reconvene here in twenty minutes so that you'll be able to reach the Bending Countries."
"But Lord Hokage, it took Team Mito a month at sea to get there. How are we supposed to get there without leaving the village?" Ino protested.
"We have already figured out a way. We have recently place a seal in the mission records room. The seal allows messages from far away, such as other countries across the sea, to come in quickly. If we add enough chakra to the seal, we'll be able to send you all through to Mito and her team. Dismissed!" barked Minato. They all left the room, except for one person. "What is it, Guy?" He asked the spandex-wearing shinobi.
"Why wasn't Team Kakashi or Kushina notified about this?" He asked in return.
"Why do you think?"
"Lord Hokage, they should at least be told. This is their teammate and son we're talking about and―"
"And that is exactly why my wife and Team Kakashi weren't notified." He cut him off. "The primary mission is to protect the Avatar, not find Naruto. If they had the chance to abandon the Avatar and go after Naruto, you and I both know they would do so in a heartbeat." Guy remained silent, so he continued. "It's for the best, Guy, now go pack for the mission. Also, you are not to tell anyone else about this conversation." He nodded once and left the room. Minato leaned back in her chair and sighed. "How long were you listening, Jiraiya?" was the question he asked aloud, looking up at the ceiling.
The air besides the window twisted and shimmered, revealing Jiraiya standing there. "Since you said that he was the bodyguard to a princess," He answered.
"How is it that he kept up with his training? There are no shinobi in the Bending Countries!" He demanded, looking over the part of Team Mito's fight against him. The report had been on his desk the entire time in plain view.
"My spy network is only in the Elemental Countries, but I think I know who taught the gaki." He said in reply, looking at the report in general.
"Who is it?" Minato demanded.
"You know as well as I do. There's only one who could've taught him."
Minato's eyes went wide at the thought. "How would the Kyūbi be able to teach Naruto anything?" The last time he had checked (which was, admittedly, three years ago), the Bijū would look for the slightest opportunity to get free.
"He was sealed inside the first hokages wife and Kushina. He was bound to pick up a few things over time." He told him. The Toad Sage was certain the fox knew to properly train Naruto just from the stuff he knew.
"It was probably more than a few things." He commented and he agreed.
"If Naruto was taught by the Kyūbi during three years of war..." Jiraiya left the sentence hanging but both of them shared the same thought. "Dear Kami, he'd be a shinobi that hasn't been seen since the Shodaime Hokage and Madara Uchiha during the Clan Wars."
(Location: Aang's group)
It had been some time after Toph had 'left' her family to join with Aang. Now it was dusk and they were setting up camp. "Hey, you guys picked a great campsite. The grass is so soft." Toph noted as she felt the earth around them.
"That's not grass." Sokka told her as he looked down at the ground. "Appa's shedding."
"Oh, gross!" Katara complained, lifting a foot off the fur. She really didn't want to step in sky bison fur.
"That's not gross." Aang told her. He didn't see what the problem was. "It's just a part of spring. You know, rebirth, flowers blooming, and Appa gets a new coat."
"Aang is most correct! Springtime is so youthful!" Lee shouted.
"Yosh! And you all are in the springtime of your youth!" Guy cried out.
"Don't even think about hugging." Neji warned the two of them.
"We'll have Toph bury you up to your waists in the earth." Tenten threatened. The rest of Team Guy (or any of the others) needed to see that again.
"Ah, the beauty of spring," Katara said with sarcasm as she watched the shinobi team. Appa sneezed at that point, causing a lot of fur to fly upward and fall down to the ground (as well as the group). "Stop, Appa, stop," She told him as he shook his head, getting rid of any other loose fur.
"It's not that bad, Katara." Sokka told her. She turned around and saw him crouched on the ground. "It makes a great wig." He turned around and on top of his head was a tall cone of Appa's fur.
"And a great beard." Aang announced as he hopped down from the saddle. He was wearing Appa's fur as a bushy white beard. Both of them laughed at what the other was wearing.
"I'm just glad we have another girl in the group. There are times you two are disgusting." Katara said as she swept fur off her shoulders. Sometimes, she couldn't believe their antics. It was like they were five years old.
Toph walked up to Aang and Sokka. "Excuse me, does anyone have a razor? Because I've got some hairy pits," She declared as she raised her arms, showing that she had stuffed fur under her armpits. The three of them kept laughing, even more so when Aang had sneezed, slammed into Appa's foot and fell to the ground. Even Katara started to giggle. Team Guy just stared at them all, before finally joining the laughter.
(Location: Azula's group)
"This thing is really moving, isn't it?" Ty Lee asked, sitting in a chair. She could feel the humming of the engine coming from the floor.
"So it would seem." Mai answered as she leaned against the wall. She felt the engine hum as well. She just felt it through the wall.
"I must hand it to War Minister Qin; he did on a fine job on this." Azula noted. The War Minister had been at Yu Dao ( a colony that they went past) working on a military project. The end result was hybrid of a tank and a train. When he heard that Azula was hunting for the Avatar and had stopped in Yu Dao, he lent the tank-train to her so that she could track him down.
The door to the next car opened and one of the engineers step through. Attached to his waist was a safety line so that he wouldn't fall off when trying to get to another car. "Princess, we've found a trail on the Avatar. We're following it now." He told Azula.
She nodded. "Very good," She told him "Is Naruto still checking our supplies?" She asked Mai, looking at her as the engineer left to go back to the engine.
"Yeah, he's also checking on the mongoose dragons." She answered.
"Hey, Azula," Ty Lee said. "I've got something to tell you." She sounded nervous, almost like she was unsure if she should continue to speak.
"What is it, Ty Lee?" It was rare (very rare) to hear the acrobat talk like that. She was always confident and happy about what she said.
"Well...this morning, while we were still in Yu Dao, I had woken up early." She began to explain. "I wanted to stretch my legs a bit, so I walked around a little. When I walked past Naruto's room, I heard him scream."
Both Azula and Mai had an expression of surprise. They've never really heard Naruto scream (at least, not off of the battlefield). "What happened?" Azula asked.
"It sounded like he had woken up from a dream. Then he started to talk to himself. I didn't hear much but I did hear the word 'Jinchūriki'.' At that point a guard had shown up, so I left." She looked at her two friends. "Do you know what that word means?"
They shook their heads. "Do you think this has something to do with your vision in the swamp?" Mai asked Azula. She didn't know why, but she felt it was just so. When they were in the swamp, they all had seen separate visions and later consulted each other
"I don't know." She answered. "But something tells me it also has to do with those people from Omashu." Everything they seemed to learn about their friends past seemed to have to deal with those people.
(Location: Aang's group)
The sun had set and the sky had turned purple. Aang and Sokka were setting up the tent and sleeping bags while Katara dealt with the water. Guy, Lee had gone looking for firewood while Neji and Tenten had taken up positions in the trees to keep a lookout. The only person who wasn't doing anything was Toph. She was kicking back and relaxing against a rock with a piece of wheat in her mouth.
Katara took notice, so she went over to Toph. "So, Toph," She began. "Usually when setting up camp, we try to divide up the work."
"Hey, don't worry about me. I'm good to go." Toph told her. The Earthbender was completely relaxed. She didn't look like she was going to be moving from that spot any time soon.
"Well, actually what I'm trying to say is some of us might fetch water while someone else might set up the fire pit or put up the tent." Momo flew by with berries in his paws, which he dropped into Katara's hands. "Even Momo does his fair share." The Waterbender told her.
"Katara, I'm fine, I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire; I've already collected my own food and look." She bent two slabs of rock out of the earth to from a triangular shape over her head. "My tent's all set up."
Katara made a face. "Well, that great for you, but we still need to finish—" She tried to say.
"I don't understand! What's the problem here!?" Toph demanded, interrupting her. She was becoming impatient and annoyed
"Never mind," She said, walking away.
Later, Aang was Airbending the saddle off Appa's back. He managed to get it on the ground but he also managed to put it on top of Sokka as well. As this was going on, Katara looked over at Toph and decided to give it another try. "Hey Toph," She greeted as she walk back over. "I wanted to apologize for earlier. I think we're all just a little tried and getting on each other's nerves."
"Yeah, you do seem a little tried." Toph told her, not even trying to apologize back. In her mind, she wasn't doing or saying anything wrong.
Katara got irritated. "I meant all of us." She replied, trying to get her message across.
But, it didn't. "Well, goodnight." The Earthbender told her, crawling into her earth tent.
"Goodnight." She gave up and walked away.
That night, everyone except Lee and Guy (who had taken over lookout duty from Neji and Tenten) was fast asleep. Toph lay in her earth tent sleeping peacefully, but suddenly came awake because of something. She kept her hand on the ground and concentrated, trying to feel what it was. "There's something coming towards us!" She called out as she came out of her tent.
"What is it?" Aang asked as they joined her.
She placed a hand on the earth again. "It feels like an avalanche, but also not an avalanche." She told them
"Your powers of perception are frightening." Sokka noted with sleepy sarcasm. He wanted to back to sleep, but he also knew that he had to try and be alert.
"Confirm what she's saying, Neji." Guy ordered. Out of all of them, the Hyūga would be able to do so quickly.
Neji activated his Byakugan. "There is something coming this way and closing in fast." He announced, staring at a certain direction. From said direction, was said something.
"Should we leave?" Katara asked.
"Better safe than sorry," Aang replied.
They quickly broke down camp and boarded Appa. As the sky bison flew away, they all saw smoke in the distance. "What is that thing?" Katara asked aloud as they looked at the smoke that looked like it was following them.
"I don't know, but I don't want to find out right now." Sokka told her.
They had flown a good distance. When they finally decided to land, Toph was the first to get off. "Ah land, sweet land," She said as she apparently hugged the ground. "See you guys in the morning." She told as she hopped up and started to walk away.
"Actually, can you help us unload?" Katara asked. They could use everyone's help with that.
"Really, you need me to help unload Sokka's and Lee's funky smelling sleeping bags?" She asked.
When he heard this, Lee took a sniff from his bag and fainted from the smell. Sokka saw this and brought his bag down. .
"Well yeah." Katara told her. "That and everything else, you're a part of our team now and—"
"Look, I didn't ask you to help unload my stuff. I'm carrying my own weight." Toph told her off before walking away.
"That's not the point." She said, going after her. "Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful."
"What!?" exclaimed the Earthbender. "Look here, Sugar queen. I gave up everything I had so I could teach Aang Earthbending, so don't you talk to me about being selfish!" She sat down and bent another tent out from the ground, effectively ending the conversation.
"Sugar queen!?" demanded Katara. The response she got was a slab of rock coming out of the ground and covering the opening of the earth tent. "Did...did you just slam the door in my face? How can you be so infuriating?"
As they watched Katara essentially throw a tantrum around the tent, Aang looked at Sokka. "Should we do something?" He asked. He didn't know how to deal with this kind of situation, seeing as he never grew up with the opposite sex.
"Hey, I'm just enjoying the show." Sokka told him. The Tribesman enjoyed it whenever Katara lost her cool and it wasn't directed at him.
Aang decided to approach Katara. "Okay, okay. You both need to calm down." He said to her, making her stop the tantrum.
"Both?" She asked before whipping around to face Aang with a look that could've possibly terrified a Bijū. "I'M COMPLETEY CALM!"
"I can see that." He said, doing the wise thing and backing off.
Later, everyone was trying to sleep, everyone except Katara. "The stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't see them, Toph!" She called out, feeling moody and spiteful.
Toph's response was to bend a rock line at Katara, sending her up into the air and landing on top of Sokka. "Hey, how's a guy supposed to sleep with all this yelling and earth quaking!" Sokka demanded after pushing Katara off of him.
The earth tent's door fell back into the ground and Toph appeared. "That thing is back." She announced, getting their attention again.
"Well, how far away is it? Maybe we can close our eyes, just for a few minutes?" The Tribesman asked, trying to cover himself with his sleeping bag. He really wanted to sleep.
Aang noticed the incoming smoke. "I don't think so, Sokka." He told the pony tailed man.
He began to get out of his sleeping bag. "It was wishful thinking to begin with anyway." He grumbled mostly to himself.
They quickly got everything aboard Appa and flew away again, but the smoke was still there, following them. "Seriously, what is that thing?" Katara asked aloud, not really expecting an answer.
"And how does it keep finding us?" Toph also asked.
"I don't know. But this time, I'm going to make sure we lose it." Aang told them. As he had Appa pour on the speed, the others just dozed.
(Location: Tank-train)
"It seems like we're speeding up." Naruto noted. He could feel the engine humming faster through his feet. There was also that slight pull of gravity it had on him.
Azula took a look at her bodyguard. "Naruto," She began. "Why don't you go to sleep?" He turned to look at her. 'You've been awake since early this morning and have been working hard since. You need the rest." She explained.
"She's right." Mai agreed. The guy looked practically dead on his feet.
"Yeah, go and sleep, Naruto. We'll be with the mongoose dragons in the last car." Ty Lee chimed in.
Seeing as he had no argument, he nodded. "Alright, but I want you to wake me either when its morning or we've caught up with the Avatar." He told them, completely serious.
Azula smiled. "Sleep well, Naruto." She told him as she left the car along with Ty Lee and Mai.
(Location: Aang's group)
Appa finally landed on a flat part of a mountain. He landed and rolled onto his side, letting everyone in his saddle fall out onto the ground. "Okay, forget about setting up camp. I'm finding the softest piece of dirt and going to sleep." Sokka told them as he scooted away in his sleeping bag.
"That's good because Toph wasn't going to help anyway." Katara said snidely.
"Oh, I didn't realize baby needed someone to tuck her in bed." Toph retorted.
"That's enough, you two." Guy commanded. They didn't any more of this arguing.
"Yeah, there's something after us and we don't even know what or who it is." Aang told them as he tossed his shawl over his head. He was just as tired as Sokka and wanted to sleep just as badly.
"It could be Zuko. We haven't seen him since the North Pole." Katara suggested. Truth be told, she was getting nervous about not seeing him around.
'Who's Zuko?" Toph asked.
Sokka gave her a summery. "Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who's tracked us all over the world." He told her.
"Not all over the world." Tenten commented. Her team nodded in agreement. Zuko had tracked them all over this side of the world. As far as they knew, he had never been near the Elemental Countries.
"What's wrong with ponytails, ponytail?" Katara asked his brother with humor in her tried voice.
"This is a warrior's wolf tail." He replied without even lifting his face off the ground, pointing at his hair.
"Well, it certainly tells the other warriors that you're fun and perky." She replied.
"Anyway, who's ever chasing us couldn't have followed us here. So, now would everyone just shush?" He lay back on his sleeping bag and tried to fall asleep. But Momo landed on his chest and started to make a racket. "No, Momo, shush. Sleepy time," He told the lemur. Momo just went over his head, straight to the edge and continued to make noise. The Tribesman was the first one to get the point. "Oh don't tell me." He groaned as he put his head on the ground.
"That's impossible." Aang protested. "There's no way they could've tracked us." He had Appa fly faster and put more distance between them and whoever it was that was following them.
"I can feel it with my own two feet!" Toph told him. He ran over to the edge to take a look. Sure enough, there was the smoke and the tank-train coming at them.
"Let's get out of here." Katara suggested.
"Maybe we should face them, find out who they are. Who knows? Maybe they're friendly." He suggested in turn.
"Always the optimist," Sokka commented. The Air Nomad always did seem to believe that everyone was a potential friend to them.
The tank-train stopped and the car opened its side door. To Aang's and Katara's surprise, out of the smoke that bellowed out from the car, came Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai on mongoose dragons. The mongoose dragons then began to run up the trail that led Aang's group. "It's those three girls from Omashu!" Katara exclaimed. They all got ready to fight, taking stances and drawing weapons.