Author's Forward…and I don't own Naruto or Korra (duh!): Well after a long hiatus, here's the 5th chapter of the NarutoxKorra story. I'll warn you now there's probably some grammar errors in there and the characters will be starting a lot of sentences with the word well. But hey it's a new chapter so here ya go…

Looking up at the slowly descending meteor that was her impending doom, Sakura really wished she had taken Tsunade up on her offer of signing the slug contract. As things were, she was pretty much dead.

"Get as many of the wounded loaded onto creatures that can fly as possible," Shizune yelled. "We have to save as many of these patients as possible."

"Fuck that! I ain't dying on no Leaf ninja's orders!" A shinobi from Cloud yelled before he began to run away.

"COWARDLY BASTARD!" a wounded Mist ninja shouted. As the Cloud shinobi ran by, the Mist grabbed the sword by his bed and stabbed it into the retreating medic's left leg. "Let's see you run now bitch!"

"Sakaki!" Another Cloud shinobi yelled, this one an injured woman laying on a stretcher that had been placed to the side cried. "I'll kill you for that! We should have never trusted you Mist fucks!" Then, she formed hand signs and spewed fire at the man, consuming several other people in the flames and setting the tent above them all on fire.

As other medics worked to contain the damage, more battles broke out all over the medical unit. Ninja that had crippling injuries that made it impossible to fight but still move such as a missing arm or hand, got up to run for their lives, while some medics worked to save their patients, and others abandoned them for self-preservation.

Amidst all the chaos, Sakura could only stand and watch. "This is nuts," she mumbled.

"Well what did you expect?" Ino asked as she came up from behind her friend. "Ninja get brought here, and they're done fighting, they're told they're safe and everything's gonna be okay…and now we're all gonna die."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Shizune arguing with another ninja as he climbed inside a giant clam, then the creature disappeared in puff of smoke. "And then there's the fact the doctors are asked to save the patients over their own lives. That's hard enough to do when its someone from your own village, forget the people that have been trying to kill you your whole life," Ino commented.

Sakura looked away from her senpai and back to Ino. "Hey Ino, you have a summon animal, right?"

"Yeah," the girl admitted reluctantly, it was no secret she hated the animal her family had gotten stuck with. "But, if you want him to carry a patient out of here, he's only big enough to carry one person in his mouth."

"Then that's one person we can save!" Sakura shouted. "Now hurry it up and summon him!"

The other girl glanced over to Sakura. "Can't you summon that giant slug the Hokage has?"

Sakura moaned and slumped her shoulders. "No…I held off because I wanted something a bit less…slimy." No I wish I had taken her up on the offer.

Ino frowned and grumbled, but still formed the boar, dog bird, monkey ram series of seals, then put her thumb and placed her hand on the ground. "Summoning jutsu!"

A blast of smoke obscured the two ninjas' vision for a moment, then Sakura found herself standing nose to nose with a giant tan boar with large tusks. "Okay, now we just need to load-"

"Mind transfer jutsu."

Sakura's body shuttered, and she found herself moving on her own. When she tried to speak, her mouth wouldn't move. What the-Ino! Then, she watched as she slowly climbed into the boar's mouth. Ino cut it out damnit!

"Sorry Sakura, but I'm not going to just stand around and get out of here on my summoning while leaving you to die," the possessed girl was told with her own mouth and voice.

I can hop a ride with someone else! Sakura mentally screamed.

Ino moved Sakura's head to look at the pandemonium the medical camp had become. Earth, fire, water, and lightning were flying everywhere along with kunai and other ninja weapons. She couldn't even tell what the fighting was about anymore, as if they needed a reason when the death falling from above had blocked out any view of the normal sky.

"You're going to find a ride in all of that in less than thirty seconds?" Ino asked before her hands clapped together.

Fine, Sakura admitted. Just hurry up and follow after me with a reverse summon-wait a second…

"Yeah, boars can't do reverse summoning. No fingers for hand signs. Kai!"

INO! Sakura screamed before the world went black and she felt herself tumble around through the transportation technique.

-Chapter 5-

The man called Amon looked at the mirror in front of him, and reached up to trace the mark on his forehead. Even after all these years and all these efforts, the Caged Bird Seal remained in place. How long has it been since I even bothered to notice it anymore? The man called Amon asked himself.

The fight with the Uchiha had brought back some disturbing memories from his life before.

"And here I thought I was free of such things," he mumbled. The sound of the lift on the other side of the wall brought Amon back to the present. He put his mask back on, then turned to face the wall that slid back to revel Hiroshi and four normal-looking people carrying the supplies he needed.

The men took a moment to admire the mecha tanks that Hiroshi had built inside the very place they were standing, then brought over the four gourds, the bamboo, as well as the art and medical supplies. Amon signaled for them to set the things aside, then looked over to Hiroshi. "These are the most loyal men you could find?" he asked.

The industrialist nodded. "Within the constraints you gave to me, of course," Hiroshi replied. "Each one of these men joined us after the…demonstration you gave." An obvious allusion to his sealing of benders.

"Good," Amon him before looking to the other men. "Tell me gentlemen, are you committed to this revolution? Are you willing to give your lives for the sake of removing bending from the world?"

The one in the middle, a balding man in his semi-later years stepped forward. "Yes sir! All my life, the triads have run my section of the city, demanding money form be just for living there, and the police just laugh when we ask for help! I'm ready to do whatever you need."

"Man this so cool!" one of the teenagers, a girl who looked to be around fifteen, squealed.

"Yeah Amon, we're ready! Just tell us what you need us to do," a teenage kid shouted with enthusiasm.

Amon crossed his arms. "But I've already told you, I need your lives." As confusion crossed the faces of his sacrifices, Amon walked forward. "Did you honestly think I needed four untrained strangers for some secret mission when I had personally trained chi-blockers at my beck and call?"

Then he looked over to Hiroshi. "Thank you for bringing the supplies Sato. Now shut the door before they try to run away."

-The Air Temple-

Something about this morning was different. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Korra felt…calmer, more rested, and a confidence she hadn't felt since…well, since the South Pole. It made little sense. The amount of sleep she had gotten was negligible with how long Aang had kept her up explaining things. But still, Korra felt rejuvenated somehow.

There was still a million things to take care of, and Korra still had no idea just how she was going to do them all, but that little part of here that said everything was going to work out seemed a lot bigger than it had been in the past few weeks.

She walked out onto the temple grounds, and was surprised to see Tenzin conversing with Mako and Bolin. "If there's anything else we can do for you-"

"Hey guys!" Korra said with loud cheerfulness…then noticed it seemed really out of place amongst the three of them. "Uh…something…wrong?"

Mako gave Korra a glare. "Where the heck were you last night?"

The gruffness of the fire bender made Korra blanch. "I had Avatar stuff," she told him before looking over to Bolin. "So I take it by Mako's bad mood…Katara couldn't do anything?"

"Yeah," Bolin replied as he looked away from her.

Korra cracked her chuckles. "Then stand aside boys."

As anger gave way to confusion, Korra walked over to Bolin and pressed her hand against his head like Aang had shown her. Then, she closed her eyes, and opened herself up to the flow of the universe.

Being in the Avatar state was a rush for Korra. She could almost remember things that happened over a thousand years ago. Her body felt stronger, faster, all around invincible. Like this, Korra knew she could do anything.

She reached out to touch Bolin's inner chi flows and felt herself entering to flow through them. She delved in deeper and…

…felt like she ran head first into a wall.

The shock knocked her out of the Avatar state and had Korra stumbling back. She caught herself, then frowned at the unexpected problem. "What the hell was that?" she mumbled.

-Near Republic City-

Tarrlok sliced his wrist with an old hunting knife and drew out some of the red liquid inside, then stopped the flow and covered the cut with his own blood. A knock at the door broke his concentration, and he glanced up at the door after regaining his composure.

No one else knows I'm here, he reminded himself.

The old cabin tucked away in the mountains near Republic City had been his unofficial retreat that he never gotten around to using. It was old, covered in dust, and completely unknown to anyone besides himself and one other man that he had gotten in contact with last night after the disaster.

"Come in," Tarrlok called.

A second later, the door opened to reveal a short man with gray hair and wrinkles around his eyes. Despite his age, the man still moved with a lithe grace that spoke well of both his skills and ability to use them. It was odd that someone that was over one hundred years old could still get around so easily, and looked so young.

But Tarrlok was hardly interested in such things. It was the man's other talents that he needed at the moment.

"You're Mr…" Tarrlok paused, trying to remember the name of his father's old acutance. "Flow? I believe was like you liked to be called, correct? I had expected you to be much more decrepit."

The old man nodded. "The Red Monsoons knew how do more than simply move water in my day," he explained in a raspy voice that was barely above a whisper. "The ability to prolong life is a simple matter of knowing what needs to be healed in the body at the end of the day.

"If your father had bothered to learn it, he might have been willing to wait until the Avatar was dead and gone before trying to seize control of this city rather than wasting all of our resources on a failed attempt to weaken the government's hold on this place," he added.

Tarrlok leaned back in his chair. "My father was never one for patience," he admitted. "That much was proven during the Traditionalist Rebellion." The name of his father's roundabout coup of the city stirred up bad memories of the man, and brought a frown to Tarrlok's face.

Before Yakome had been arrested for blood bending, there had been three distinct gangs in Republic City: The Agni Kai, The Red Monsoons, and The Black Boulders. Thanks to his blood bending, Tarrok's father was able to take control of the Boulders from the top up, and use them to stir up trouble in the city in a massive series of terrorist attacks that ended with most of the gang being taken into custody. To anyone who knew the history of Republic City, this event was known as the Traditionalist Rebellion because of the Black Boulder's origins.

Those being the Black Boulders were a group of Earth Kingdom citizens who had come back to the land around Republic City and demanded their forefather's property returned. When the Avatar refused their request, as they had never lived on the land themselves, many became disenchanted and established the society while quietly moving back into the area. But they only just stirred up the usual kinds of triad trouble until Tarrlok's father came along to use them for his own purposes.

Of course thanks to the Boulders being arrested, interrogations led to Yakome being fingered as a blood bender, while the remains of the gang decided to take on people from other bending styles, and eventually became the Triple Threat Triad.

"But that was then, and this is now," Tarrlok told him. "When my father was preparing me to return to Republic City, he spoke often about its underworld; you in particular. He said your investigation and deduction skills were far above anyone else's. It was because of you that the triad managed to operate for so long under the police department's nose."

The man almost seemed to smile, but there was hardly any warmth in it. "True, and now you're here requesting my help. What for?"

"I want you to find Amon," Tarrlok told him. "I suggest beginning with the catering company I had hired for my gala the other night. It wasn't the first time I used them, but I must admit that I never really paid attention to the faces of servants. So I don't know if the busboys had been replaced, or if it was an Equalist friendly group from the start."

Mr Flow put his hands together and rested them on the desk. "And payment?"

Tarrlok nodded. "I have plenty of funds stashed away," he admitted. "But I doubt someone with your connections needs such things. So I can assure you that as a member of the city council, I can open certain doors to help a person in your kind of lifestyle."

"Tempting," Mr Flow told him while reaching up to rub his chin. "But, there is something else I'll admit to being a bit more interested in than favors from a politician. Tell me, can anyone learn how to blood bend without a full moon?"

-The Air Temple-

Tenzin didn't know what to say.

On one hand, Korra had somehow learned to go into the Avatar State at will during her time alone the night before. It was a feat Tenzin's own father needed guidance to do even with years of training at an Air Temple that replied heavily on meditation. It was a miraculous thing that had him standing in awe of the girl's talents.

But on the other hand, even with the Avatar State to give her access to thousands of years worth of memories and power Tenzin could only speculate on, Korra had found herself unable to heal Bolin both then, and now.

So, he simply stood in the corner and watched as Korra looked the boy's stomach over while her eyes glowed with the power of a fully realized Avatar. She had her hands on his stomach, and was inspecting the area around his navel. But apart from the back marks that appeared around his bellybutton when Korra started her work, nothing had happened.

However Katara, didn't seem to be as willing to let things just occur. "Korra, you need to stop."

"There's…it's like there's some kind of blockage, I think," she replied with multiple voices. "Just give me a few more minutes." Korra looked up to Bolin. "Try bending the rock again."

Katara put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You've been at it for two hours. I don't think a few more minutes are going to make a difference. I know better than most the strain the Avatar State puts on you. You need to stop, right now."

The Avatar turned her attention to the older woman, then stood up and closed her eyes. As the glow escaping from her eye lids faded, Tenzin rushed in and caught the girl before she fell backwards. With help to regain her footing, Korra put a hand to her head and rubbed her temples. "Ugh, my whole body feels like lead."

"The Avatar State may empower you with limitless energy, but your body is still human," Katara scolded her once Korra had sat down. "Using it continuously like that is dangerous." She looked over to Pema, then shifted her gaze to the children. "Girls, can you go get me a jug of water so I can wash away Korra's soreness?"

Korra rubbed her shoulders and moaned. "I wasn't even doing anything with it though, just…consulting with everybody." She let her head fall back, then regretting moving it at all. A pounding headache accompanied her exit from the Avatar State, and moving did not help things.

When turned his attention onto her, Korra regretfully adjusted her posture to meet his gaze. I am really going to need some aspirin at this rate, she told herself.

"I don't understand," Tenzin mumbled as he moved his attention between the Avatar and Bolin. "My father was able to take away people's bending, and what your using is obviously that ability, but…are you saying you can't restore his powers?"

In the back of the room, Bolin finished putting his shirt back on and buttoning it, then looked over to the girl. "Wait, seriously?" he asked. "I thought you said you just needed more time."

Korra tried to clear her mind, a difficult task when it felt like the thing was ready to crack open at any minute. "Don't worry Bolin I can do it," she told him. "I…just need some time to figure it out."

"Is there something wrong with the Energybending knowledge Aang gave you?" Tenzin asked. "I would have thought it would be easy with my father's lost skill."

"That's not it," Korra replied, then pressed her hand to her chin as she thought about how to explain it. "It's like this: Aang's Energybending…I send the Avatar's chi into someone else's body and it…gunks up the network. Eventually it's pushed to the edge of the body, and leaves a little piece of that chi behind to make sure no other chi from the outside source that powers bending can get in. If there's any doubt or hesitation, the foreign chi is expelled completely. Even then, it would have been simple for Aang to remove it at any time in the future. Like he was taking a lid off a bottle."

Korra sighed and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "But Amon's ability is different. He plugs up the pipes, but the chi stay's where he put it, like he locked it in place or something."

Since Korra stopped it there, Tenzin filled in the rest for Bolin's sake. "And Korra is attempting to pick the lock."

"Okay, I'm still lost here," Bolin told them. "What do pipes and locks and gunk have to do with my bending? I bend earth, not water."

A motherly giggle escaped from Katara's lips, and then she smiled at the younger benders. "Well, I suppose the analogy would be obvious for a water bender skilled in healing," she admitted. "Very well, I shall explain. Korra, could you come here and assist me for a moment?"

Even with her body saying no, Korra picked herself up to walk over and stand by Katara. It had been a long time since she had seen Katara's explanation about the flow of chi within a person's body.

For her part, Katara took a deep breath, then pulled water out of the jug she had sent for after Korra's attempt to heal Bolin. Then she sent a controlled stream at Korra's stomach, and let the Avatar's natural affinity for water take control of the flow. After a few seconds, a webbed outline of water streams surrounded Korra, spiraling out from the center of her stomach and going down to the tips of her toes and fingers.

"This is the chi network," Katara explained. "The flow of energy through the human body. We water benders use this to aid us in our healing, with the power of our Waterbending flowing along these paths. I also know from Aang that Energybending uses this same principle."

Bolin rubbed his chin. "So it's like the pipes in a house, and Amon plugged up the toilet, so nothing can get out."

Everyone in the room stared at the boy for his remark. "Well," Korra drawled. "It's a little backwards since you're more like empty instead of overflowing, but yeah."

With the explanation done, Korra looked over to Katara. "So how about taking care of my body now?" she asked. A second later the complex web became a thin membrane of liquid, and relaxing energies washed over Korra, and she felt the aches in her arms and legs quickly recede. The exhaustion remained, but at least the ache was gone.

"It's no replacement for rest," Katara reminded her. "Now go lay down for an hour."

"But-"

"Go," Katara ordered.

Once Korra had walked out of the room, Katara turned around to face her son. "Now, I'll be needing a trip over to the mainland. I need to book passage on the earliest ship headed to the Pole."

Tenzin raised his eyebrows, but before he could speak, Bolin chipped in. "Actually sir, I think I'll be needing a ride too. The next ferry isn't till lunch, and I got to start getting me and my brother's stuff packed for our move later today. I'd already be there, but…well, you know, Korra's healing and all."

Once Tenzin assured the boy he would take him over, he had Bolin run ahead and with instructions for the acolytes to saddle Ugi. A quick glance at the sun outside informed him that he was pretty late.

Tarrlok had called him unusually early in the morning and informed Tenzin that he was still recovering from the wounds given to him last night. As such, Tenzin would need to be the council representative involved in the investigation of the Equalist attack on Tarrlok's home. The council wasn't usually involved with such things, but it was a stipulation that Tarrlok had made along with his task force in matters involving the Equalists.

With everything else taken care of, he turned back to his mother. "You're not staying? But with Korra able to awaken her Avatar powers, I thought that you would want to remain here and help with her instruction," Tenzin admitted.

Being the only person alive who had knowledge of an Avatar new to the Avatar State, Tenzin had been hoping for her support in guiding Korra through that training. Something told him it would be a little overwhelming to handle both Airbending and Avatar training when it came to the girl.

"I doubt she'll need it," Katara assured him. "Besides, I've already told her the best advice I could give. Do not let that girl overtax her use of the Avatar State, Tenzin. If you can, see if you can get her to slow down with her training."

The suggestion, or order really since it was Katara doing the suggesting, had Tenzin running his hand along his beard in puzzlement. "You sound as if she's already mastered it," he mumbled.

The woman crossed her arms and frowned in thought. "Well, maybe not completely," she admitted. "But…Tenzin that girl has a talent I've never even heard of before. If we hadn't slowed down her training at the South Pole, she would have been here years ago."

"Is there something wrong with that?" Tenzin knew Aang had been using all four elements by the age of twelve. While if might have been true that the Avatar didn't usually start his or her training in other elements by the time they were sixteen, that was more due to the fact a sixteen year old is more willing to accept other points of view than any lack of talent in his opinion.

Katara was silent for a moment. "No, I suppose not," she admitted eventually. "Maybe I'm just a little resentful of the times passing me by with all that excitement that happened last night."

"Yes well, if you want, I can tell some Equalists where your hiding next time I see them," Tenzin offered.

The old woman smiled at her son, then made her way to the door. Once outside, she peered across the bay at the giant golden-colored structure. "Or maybe I'm just a little miffed about not seeing a match while I'm here. Korra couldn't stop talking about that Pro-Bending down at the Pole."

The comment turned Tenzin's mood sour, and his expression soon matched it. "Ugh. I don't see people's obsession with that foolishness."

"Upset they don't let air benders compete?" Katara asked with a smile.

Tenzin crossed his arms and held his chin up. "Nonsense! In fact, I'm actually a little grateful that there are so few of us, so there aren't four people to a team instead of three."

He cleared his throat as they approached the bison stables. "And you probably shouldn't talk about pro bending around that Bolin boy," Tenzin added. The poor kid had been a pro-bender before Amon had gotten his hands on him

A second later, Katara spoke again, changing the topic. "Then let's talk about something we have been avoiding; Amon, and what we both saw plain as day last night."

"The spirit manifesting around him," Tenzin supplied. "It disturbs me as well. But I'm more interested in the why, rather than the how."

Katara nodded. "Well, I can understand why that particular spirit wouldn't like Republic City," she admitted. It was a nature spirit after all. The creature had gone ballistic when his forest had been destroyed. She took in a deep breath, and let out the air. "And I thought he and Aang had been friends."

When they reached the stables, Tenzin was happy to find that his bison was waiting for him, and ready for travel. "Perhaps that is one of the problems," Tenzin told her. "Spirits don't think way we do. They…plan for the long haul. Aside from the Moon Spirit, all the others are older than any living human, perhaps older than our entire civilization.

"I'm not blind to the changes that Republic City has caused to its surroundings, and how quickly as well. Before the hundred years war, people lived in houses made of stone and hay, and had lived in them for as far back as we have a written history. The Avatar disappears, and in one hundred years the Fire Nation is moving about in ships of iron that make the air hard to breathe and build factories that produce runoff that kills the land. That's no coincidence Mother.

"Then my father returns, and nothing changes. If anything, the speed that technology is increasing has actually picked up since all four nations are working together. To a nature spirit, the Avatar really has failed, and it's quite possible they don't like the way things are going," Tenzin theorized. "Perhaps some of them really have decided to put a stop to it."

"But to join with a man who can take away bending," Katara mumbled to herself as she looked down at the ground. "What good would removing bending from the world serve as far as the spirits are concerned?"

Tenzin let out a perturbed grunt, getting the woman's attention. "While our technology has progressed, bending is still a very important part," he explained. "Without fire benders working at the power plant, most of what we have would be permanently crippled.

"But, while I admit the man's ability is certainly disturbing. When you think about things logically, he can't possibly get rid of bending altogether. Amon performs a crippling injury, no more, no less; and only on a single individual. One man can not destroy bending, no matter what he does."

-Hiroshi Sato's Hidden Factory-

Hiroshi Sato was a man of many talents, but being able to look at men receiving open heart surgery without anesthetic was not one of them. He cringed when the last of the volunteers was cut into. Amon had damaged the man's vocal cords beyond use and tied him down, but Hiroshi could still hear the sound of the knife and crack of bones.

"Jar!"

Hiroshi quickly ran over to place the ordered item on the makeshift operation table that had been a workbench before he backed away from the man, then hid his eyes from the sight of Amon removing the boy's heart.

His curiosity overriding his fear for the moment, Hiroshi looked over to Amon when the grisly deed was done. "Amon, if I may ask…why do you need their hearts?"

"I don't," he replied simply. Then he screwed on the jar's cap and set it with the others. "It's the blood inside their hearts that's important. While blood is a perfect catalyst, life's blood, the last drop of liquid the heart contains before the body dies…that is truly special. That is what you need to make a seal."

Hiroshi readjusted his glasses. "A seal, sir?"

"How much do you know about the final year of the war? The Fire Nation's siege of the north, to be precise," Amon clarified.

Being an educated man, Hiroshi had studied such things. After his wife died, he had become even more interested in the past actions of benders. One of he greatest military minds of the Fire Nation during the opening years, a man named Sun Zu most famous quote 'Know Thy Enemy' had guided that belief.

He called on such knowledge now. "The Fire Nation attacked, and the Admiral in charge…I forget his name," Hiroshi admitted. Such losers weren't worth remembering. "He lost because the Avatar joined with the water spirit to assault the Fire Nation Navy."

"Were you aware he injured the moon spirit of that time?" Amon asked.

Hiroshi nodded. "Yes but…it didn't seem to last. From what I understand, the Avatar healed it. Shortly after the war, both it and the water spirit returned to the spirit world with the help of the Avatar to prevent something like that from happening again…unfortunately. Water bending could have been ended for all time, and now it's out of our reach."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Amon replied. "On both accounts."

"Hmm?"

The man with the mask looked over to Hiroshi. "Spirits are…spirits, not truly part of the physical world. They don't follow the same laws as humans do. Think of them more as…a giant ball of energy; like the electricity so many of your machines run on. You can disrupt it, you can change it form one form to another, but you can never truly destroy it.

"Eventually, the moon spirit would have healed and Waterbending would have returned to the world," Amon explained. "The Avatar's healing simply expedited the process, which in turn saved the North Pole in the long run. I doubt they would have held out for the three years it would have taken for the spirit to reconstitute itself."

Hiroshi cleared his throat. . "That's very, uh…interesting Amon. But, what does this have to do with your…project?" The thought of being in the room when such a thing was taking place gave the man a headache, and talking about it made him feel worse. He needed to put his mind to other matters.

"If that energy cannot be destroyed, then it must be contained," Amon told him. "That is the power of human sacrifice, to give one's life to become a container for these creatures. Or in the case of our volunteers, to give ones life in order to empower an object to hold such things."

As his master held up the jar containing the last of the hearts, Hiroshi's mind processed what he's just heard. It almost sounded as if… No, he couldn't be planning to…

"How do you possess such a power?" Hiroshi asked, glad the focus of the conversation was sifting.

The man was silent for a moment, and Hiroshi had wondered if he had done something wrong to anger the man. Amon reached up to touch his forehead, or the forehead of his mask at any rate, and sighed. "That is unimportant. Bring me the brushes and one of the containers. It will take a great deal of time to place the sealing formulas, and I want this done with as soon as possible."

-The Air Temple, Korra's Bedroom-

Korra hated sitting around and doing nothing. It just wasn't her. Even in the Pole when there had been nothing to do, she had found something to occupy her time, be it training, playing with Naga or…other stuff.

With nothing to do, her thoughts drifted to the problem she was trying to distract herself from. She closed her eyes, slowed her breathing, and cleared her mind.

When Korra opened her mind again, she was floating in darkness. Another being formed in front of her, and she was face to face with Aang. "You called?" he asked.

"I…well," Korra looked away for a moment and cleared her throat to buy herself a second in order to gather her courage. "About what we talked about last night. I…I'm ready for you to show me."

Korra's head tingled as she felt another presence form behind her. She turned around to look at the taller woman with the green dress and ancient armor, her face covered in paint. "Avatar Kyoshi."

The ancient Avatar bowed her head to Korra. "If we're going to tell a story, it's best to start at the beginning, no?"

Kyoshi's eyes were replaced by the glow of the Avatar state, and filled Korra's vision.

When she was able to see again, Korra found herself standing in the middle of a tiny village that had taken the retro style a bit too far. The roofs of the buildings were made from thatch, while a variation of wood, stone, and bamboo comprised the rest of the buildings.

Korra looked down at herself, a little put off by the ghostly appearance, but she had been ready for such a thing thanks to her long discussion with Aang the night before. "Where the heck are we?"

"This is my home," Kyoshi told Korra. "It was the day Madara Uchiha came to my village to tell me of the hidden purpose of the Avatar. Now be quiet and watch."

Korra did as instructed, and stood silent while the scene played out in front of her.

A man in red armor made his way through a crowed of women dressed like Kyoshi and into the center of the small village to meet with an old woman who slowly walked out of her own hut that was almost twice as big as most of the others.

"Wait," Korra mumbled as she looked at the old woman bent over from age, then to the tall and strong woman standing next to her. "That's you?"

"That was me at the age of two hundred," Kyoshi told Korra. When the younger Avatar just stared at her with a gaping mouth. ""What? I WAS the oldest Avatar ever you know. Bending healing energies through a mud bath did wonders for my skin and helped me stave off age. But old age did catch up to me eventually."

"You came here seeking the Avatar, young man?" the Kyoshi in the vision spoke.

Madara looked down at the woman with his crimson eyes, and nodded. "Yes, but are you the Avatar? I had expected someone much…younger." His eyes glowed and spun. "Show me proof."

The old woman took in a deep breath, and closed her eyes. When she had opened them again, the light of the Avatar State shone through.

"I still don't know why I entered the Avatar State simply because he asked me to," Kyoshi admitted. "But once I had, I realized my odd actions and canceled it."

Madara's head cocked to the side, as if he were trying to figure out something that had gone wrong. "Interesting," he said before bowing his head to begin making introductions. "My name is Madara Uchiha. I come from a foreign land, the sight of a great battle between our shared ancestor, and a dark spirit that nearly destroyed the world."

The scene started to melt, and Korra looked around in a panic. "What's going on?"

"This is part of the memory," Kyoshi assured her. "Believe me, I reacted pretty much the same way."

When the scenery changed to a dark landscape, devoid of plants or animals, and Korra looked around at the landscape, her heart pounding in her chest. "Many thousands of years ago, before the Avatar, there was a great evil that plagued the world," Madara explained.

Korra blinked when the red ground she was standing on suddenly darkened, and she looked up to see a giant silhouette of some type of creature so large it blocked out the sun. The monster roared, and Korra felt a tingle of fear pass down her spine despite the fact this was all only a vision. "It destroyed and devoured everything it encountered, until one man with the power given to him by the spirits stood against such an evil, and locked it away underneath my homeland."

The scene changed, and a man that was little more than a shadow holding a fan similar to the one Madara had on his back and strange eyes that contained a ripple pattern appeared. The man struck the ground with his weapon, and it opened up to swallow the creature, sucking the giant shadow up as if it was made of water.

"However, the evil was only locked away, not defeated," Madara continued before the image changed to show a map with two giant landmasses. "The hero knew that one day, it would break free from its confinement. So he created a way to safeguard the land, wherever the darkness might appear again."

The symbol that Korra had seen Sasuke wearing appeared on the eastern landmass. "To the east, he left his body, birthing a son that would continue on his bloodline, gifted with the eyes needed to see this evil."

The symbol with the different logos of the four nations brought together appeared over the western landmass that Korra recognized as her homeland. "To the other land, he left his spirit, binding it to the Earth and beginning what you people call the Avatar Cycle."

"Should the power of the savior ever be needed again, his descendents were to seek out the Avatar, and reclaim the celestial power of their progenitor's spirit," Madara explained before the illusion within the vision vanished, leaving Korra standing back in the middle of Kyoshi island.

"And so I have come as instructed by the messages our forefather has left," he said before holding out his hand. "Help me cousin. Open yourself to the power of the universe, and submit yourself to me."

Korra looked over to her past life's spirit as the vision showed her living self slowly accepting Madara's request. "You didn't resist?"

"Of course looking back on things, I see he was pushing me towards his decision. There was…something about the man. When you looked at him…it was as if I couldn't not agree with him,"Kyoshi's spirit went on. "When he showed me the vision of the beast, I felt something in the back of my mind stir, something ancient that all my past lives felt and understood."

"And what other choice did I really have?" Kyoshi asked. "I was old. Far too old to take any more action myself. I foolishly clung to life until my body was useless. If there was truly a great beast as he said, which all my instincts and those of my past lives told me there was, I could so nothing to stop it. So, I submitted myself to his will."

When Madara explained what he was there to do, Korra blanched. "You can't be serious," she mumbled. Still, she couldn't take her eyes off the scene. It was like two satomobiles getting ready to crash into one another, Korra knew what was going to happen, but she kept her eyes glued to the scene till the last possible moment.

The man in the red armor with the long spiky hair walked up to Kyoshi and gazed upon her with his unnatural red eyes, his giant fan with the red and white symbol still on his back.

"I am truly sorry its come to this cousin," he told her in the language of the four nations. "I should warn you. I've undergone a similar process, so I know this will be quite painful."

Fear ran through Kyoshi's mind at the prospect of what was about to happen. Still, she did her duty and accepted her fate. Then she entered the Avatar state. "Let's just get this over with Sir Uchiha."

Korra looked away at the last moment. However, she still heard the awful sound of Madara doing his grisly work, and the Kyoshi in the vision screaming. Thankfully, the vision ended right then, and Korra found herself floating in the void next to Kyoshi and Aang.

"That was pretty disturbing," she told them. "did you ever find out what happened to the first Madara?"

Aang was the one to answer. "I learned Avatar Roku attempted to investigate the claims of another land, but found a great storm blocking his path that resisted his attempts to bend it out of his way. He spent five years approaching it from various angles and a different times of the year, all to no avail. So he simply named it the Sea of Storms, and forbade all travel into it."

"Not that it mattered," Kyoshi added. "People long since knew if a boat sailed too far east or west, or the wrong way north and south from the poles, it never returned. My following incarnation just figured out the reason why."

Korra crossed her arms and started to put the pieces together. "Okay so…what? This dark spirit, or whatever, is busted loose, and now it needs to be locked away again? Then why didn't Sasuke just ask me for help?" she demanded.

Instead of giving her a direct answer, Aang reached forward to take Korra by the shoulder, and the world was replaced by a more familiar past life experience.

She stood in the masked man's cave. From the looks of things, he had just finished performing the surgery on Aang's back where his blocked chakra was located.

"If that was the case, then why didn't you just tell me?" Aang demanded.

"He gave me the same story as the other Madara Uchiha," the spirit explained. "And it wasn't just the man's explanation that had me on edge. The very air of this land was thick with an unnatural force, even he was soaked in it. The man said this was proof, a mark the beast left wherever it went, and I must admit to being quite disturbed. But still…"

Korra finished the unspoken thought. "Why trust a guy who kidnapped you?"

Aang simply nodded towards the scene.

"Do you honestly think I would believe you'd throw away your life on the word of a stranger?" the masked Uchiha asked as he walked around the pinned Avatar. "You? A man with three children and a wife?

"Do you think I haven't taken the time to research you before doing this, Avatar?"

Then the masked Madara stopped to stand over Aang, letting his glowing eye be seen behind his mask. "I would not let the fate of my entire world ride on the arrogance of a self-righteous fool. No," he told Aang. "You would try to search for some non-existent solution that requires no sacrifice on your part, you're too weak for something like that."

"You know nothing about me," Aang replied.

The masked man chuckled. "I know you crippled a man and let him kill himself in prison rather than bear the burden of a death on your conscience," Madara told him. "And that's all I need to know to see who you really are.

"Now, I've repaired your inner gate so you can enter your Avatar State for more than just a second or two at a time. Accept your fate."

Aang frowned. "And if I don't?"

In response to the question, Madara laughed. "Oh I didn't bet the future of my homeland on the determination of a coward," he assured Aang, "it would just have been a lot less painful for you."

"I don't think you need to see what happened next," Aang told Korra before the vision faded out.

They entered the spiritual void, and Korra shivered. "I uh, I think I know what happened." The images of some of her childhood nightmares flooded back into her, and she shivered. "He…he had a way to force you into the Avatar State, didn't he? Why didn't you escape?"

"The Avatar State may let me channel a great deal of power, but the ability to use that power properly depends on my ability to move," Aang told her, his usually clam voice cracking. "I don't know how long he kept me there, but the pain was nearly constant, and without windows I was unable to judge the passage of time. When this Madara was done with me, he slit my throat…and I am ashamed to say that I considered it an act of mercy."

It took Korra a moment to process what she had just seen. She understood why Aang had told her to wait. If Korra had learned of this the night before…

"So…what should I do?" she asked.

Aang remained silent, studying the girl. "The day before I battled the former Fire Lord to end the war, I asked my other selves that very question," he told her. "All my other lives told me: do your duty, kill Oozai."

He sighed, and hook his head. "But I said no, thinking that I could find a better way. I rediscovered energy bending, and managed to dethrone the man without killing him. Because of that, we were able to find Fire Lord Zuko's mother."

"And you're saying…what?" Korra asked. "Listen to you instead of them?" It sounded pretty pretentious to her.

Aang shook his head. "You're the Avatar now Korra, not me. What I'm saying is that you need to make your own decisions. I can inform you, I can comfort you, and I can help you work things out, but I will not force you into an action you do not believe is right."

"Korra, are you there?" Jinora called out, breaking the Avatar from her dream trance.

"Wake up, wake up!" the younger air bender sister said as Korra opened her eyes to see Ikki had already zoomed into her room and was jumping up and down. "Korra wake up! Dad gave us the day off. Come play with us!"

Korra groaned and opened her eyes. "Come on Ikki I'm tired. I need some sleep."

"But you were asleep, for a whole hour," she complained. "Besides, Dad's not here and Mom's taking a nap cause of the baby, so we want to show you something really cool! And we won't be able to if they're around."

-Republic City Docks-

Katara took some time to read the schedule in her hands, then gave it to the woman standing across the counter. "So, there aren't any ships leaving for the South Pole till the end of the month? I can take a freighter if need be." It wouldn't be the first time she traveled with the bare minimum comforts.

"Sorry ma'am," the schedule master told her. "It's not a hotspot for tourism or a good shipping destination. Although we do get plenty of fishing ships coming up from the Pole, they make other stops besides Republic City before heading home. Not to worry though, they'll be plenty after the pro-bending finals, we've got people coming all over for that. More than one liner actually meant to carry people will be selling tickets for the Pole to take people home afterwards.

"But, short of hiring your own ship, that's the best I can give you ma'am."

It's as I expected then, Katara told herself. The old woman comforted herself with the fact she could at least tell Tenzin she tried to find a way home before commandeering a room at the Air Temple.

And as long as she was in Republic City, it would simply be a matter of course to attend a pro-bending match…

"Do you know if they're still selling tickets for one of those pro-bending events that's coming up?" she asked.

The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry Ms Katara, you'll have to take a look at the arena's ticket counter yourself," she said before bending in closer, "although ma'am, you can probably get a seat in one of the VIP seats if you ask the right people. I know the owner of the league has a private box set aside for himself and his family."

Katara thanked the woman, and left the dock master's office building, and looked around the city. While the arena's spires were in sight, the long walk she would need to take in order to reach them was already starting to make Katara's legs ache.

"Maybe I should have told Tenzin to wait for me," the old woman muttered to herself. Although, that would have meant putting up with more of his anti-pro-bending opinions.

How was it that the child was more inclined to tradition and lectures than the mother?

"It's probably better for him that you didn't."

A shiver ran down the eighty-year-old woman's spine, and she looked behind her to see who had managed to sneak up on her. Confusion replaced startlment when she saw the black-haired boy standing in the middle of the street. "Sasuke? But Korra said-"

Katara stopped herself. Now that I think about it… After Amon had reappeared and drew in Hei Bei spirit around himself, which seemed disturbingly similar to what Aang had done once at the North Pole, they had ran away and come back to find Korra standing alone. She hadn't actually said anything involving what happened to Sasuke or Amon, just that 'they disappeared'.

Katara had simply reasoned that the spirit had snatched Sasuke up and taken him to the spirit world. When Korra didn't countermand the theory, everyone took it to be true. "What happened last night?" she asked cautiously.

Did Amon simply run away and he chased after? Katara asked herself.

But, the theory didn't account for Korra's depression. So Katara threw it away.

In fact, the only thing Katara could reason that would have Korra acting as depressed as she had was if something really bad happened to the boy. "Did you have your bending taken away?"

"What did you mean when you said Tenzin was wrong about the oldest creature in the world?" Sasuke demanded in an even tone.

Then the boy's eyes changed, the iris glowed red with a strange dark crisscrossing pattern in place of an pupil, and Katara felt like she had a small ocean pressing in around her. What in the world? the old woman asked herself the strange pressure in the air started making her head hurt. "What is this?"

"Tell me what I want to know, and I'll leave you in peace," Sasuke said evenly.

Katara frowned at his strange actions, but decided it was better to answer him. "It's more of the way you look at things, I suppose," she began. "The lion turtle that Tenzin mentioned is definitely the oldest animal that we know of, but I'd hardly call it the oldest creature overall. There are things much older than that in this world."

Breathing in a breathe as deep as she could, Katara glanced at the water and licked her lips. Just what is the boy doing to me? She wondered. Was he somehow heating the air to make it harder to breathe? "And stop whatever you're doing already, I'm hardly going to deny a simple request to the man who saved my granddaughter's life."

The pressure receded, but Katara could almost feel it in the air around her, waiting to press down on her again. And those eyes…it can't be…

"Well?" Sasuke demanded his impatience showing.

Katara took her time in answering, making a show of getting her nerves under control. "As I said, it's a matter of perspective. The last lion turtle is indeed old, but if you want to see, and I take it speak with the oldest creature in his world, I would suggest the knowledge spirit, Wan Shi Tong. The age of a spirit far exceeds that of any natural creature, and now that the ocean spirit has retreated back into the spirit world, he would be the oldest being on this planet I know of."

The information only made the boy more agitated. "Then tell me where this thing is."

"I'm not exactly sure," Katara admitted reluctantly, breaking eye contact. "My friends and I came across his library in my youth. We angered the spirit and caused him to sink the library to deny human's access to its knowledge. Some of us thought it's been returned to the spirit world. But…" She shook her head. "I think that is no longer the case."

Sasuke stared at her for a moment, then looked down at the ground and mumbled something to himself Korra couldn't quite hear before addressing her again. "I've never heard of something like that, and I've read all of the biographies."

The declaration made Katara wince. "Well…we weren't too thrilled with how that little adventure turned out," she admitted while she remembered the time she spent in that particular hell hole. A man had died, and Appa had been poached by sand benders. Then the group spent a few days trudging through the dessert, wandering around snapping at each other while Sokka ate some plants that were better left alone, and got even crazier than usual. It as far from their finest moment. "So, we left that part out of the history books when it came time to write them."

"Show me," Sasuke told her.

Katara looked to the dock master's office. More than likely, they probably had maps in there. "If you insist. Just let me find a map and-"

Sasuke slammed his palm into the side of the building, and Katara turned around in time to see strange black writing appear on the wall that spread out to form a circle with several lines of script extending from Sasuke's hand.

There was an explosion of smoke, and the a loud bird shriek rang in Katara's ears. The smoke cleared, and years of having her life full of strange crap helped Katara manage to keep from gaping at the giant bird that had appeared from nowhere.

"I think you misunderstand. Now, come and show me," Sasuke told her.

-Air Temple Island-

Korra was more than a little curious about what the kids wanted to show her. The girl needed a distraction after being shown the other encounters that her past lives had with the Uchiha. The possibilities they brought to mind were the very definition of disturbing.

So she followed the girl's into the temples basement, then back out again after they had snagged a pretty ornate box that was longer than Korra's arm. "So what's in it?" she asked as they picked the box up.

Jinora shushed her, then let Ikki lead the way out. Judging by the way the younger girl was poking her head out the door to look for anyone noticing them, and how both the kids were tiptoeing around, whatever was in the box was definitely not something they were supposed to be messing with.

I should probably try and stop them, Korra told herself while she crossed her arms. But…I really do want to know what's in that box. A tiny buzz in the back of her mind had more doubts creeping up on her, but Korra managed to cut the feeling with a quick slap to the back of her neck.

Once they had cleared the temple, the two girls led Korra to the far side of the island, away from all the other structures and trees. Then Jinora set the box down and to turn and face Korra.

"You're going to love this," Jinora told her.

"Just promise not to tell anyone that we still practice with it!" Ikki added.

The tiny buzz in the back of her mind made its way to Korra's gut, increasing her worry. "Uh, just what's in that thing anyway?"

To answer the question, Jinora turned back around again to reach down and take the top off the box. Then, she reached inside and pulled out…a jian with a fancy scabbard?

"A sword?" Korra mumbled. While she didn't think little kids should be playing with such a sharp object, she didn't understand the secrecy about something that could be bought on the street.

Ikki seemed offended by the question, then pulled the weapon out of its sheath. The blade was jet black. "This is Great Uncle Sokka's sword. He made it from a magic rock of metal that fell from the sky!"

The description didn't impress Korra. She simply crossed her arms and frowned. "Magic metal?"

The older sister picked the sword up and swung it around rather awkwardly a few times, then let the sword rest in her free hand as she blew a blast of air across the blade. Then, she turned around and swung it through the air towards the sky.

Korra raised an eyebrow as a strange rippling passed through the air, and the odd feeling in the pit of her stomach returned as Jinrora dropped the weapon that was too heavy for her, and Ikki tried picking it up. "Okay, so…what was that?"

"That's what happens when you bend air through the sword. I don't know what happens when you use other elements. Here try it," Jinora told her before taking the sword away from Ikki, who couldn't lift it off the ground without her hands shaking. "Just bend the flows through the sword, like we do with gliders."

"Can she even do that with other bending?" Ikki asked her older sister. "Far as we know only Airbending works with the sword."

The remark made Korra frown before she realized the fact that she hadn't told anyone that connecting with Aang had managed to break her Airbending block the other night as well.

Although, the little voice in the back of her mind (which was sounding more and more like Aang shouting at her from really far away now that she thought about it) made her take the better part of caution.

She decided to use the other element that was just as available to her: Fire!

"Heh, watch this," the older girl told the younger two before she sent a blast of fire along the blade and swung it in the direction of the-

"NO NOT THAT WAY!" Jinora shouted in horror as Korra completed her swing.

Korra winced, then looked back to Jinora. "What the heck is wrong with-" the sound of a loud explosion and the accompanying force jarred the Avatar and made Korra turn her head back and gulp as a giant eruption of flames consumed the trees, the surrounding dead leaves as well as the small tuffs of grass that had been hidden under a light blanket of snow before the fire bending had melted it and evaporate the water.

Ikki let out a scream, then grabbed onto Korra's leg. "Put it out, put it out!"

"Oh crap it's getting closer,"

Reacting mostly on instinct, Korra performed a wild fling of her arm in conjunction with the sword before blowing out a powerful burst of air in a combination bending maneuver. Then, she watched the path of her bending wind as it tore and sliced through the ground, branches, roots, and the bodies of the trees that hadn't even been touched by the flames, up until it reached the training grounds; then it tore through the stone and sliced apart half the spinning gates before coming to a stop. The follow-up gust of breath quickly knocked all the flaming leaves and branches back in on themselves, stopping the blaze.

But, the damage was done. Most of the trees on the right side of the island were charred husks, with a few cut in half or nothing more than stumps.

"Wow that was WAY further than when Jinora cut down the trees in daddy's meditation garden!" Ikki exclaimed as she leapt around and inspected the damage more closely. "Hey Jinora, I think Korra even made more than one blade. Look, when she swung the long-sword, it even cut the grass at different angles!"

"So…you figured out Airbending…huh?" Jinora managed to mumbled before a tree that had been cut at the base finally fell down with a large crash. "Congratulations."

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL -"

"Hey Mom's done with her nap," Ikki said as the girl grabbed the two gliders and handed Jinora the larger one.

Out of the corner of her eye, Korra saw the two girls run towards the cliff behind them. "Well, gotta go," the older sister told Korra before the kids leapt to safety off the side of the cliff to fly away.

"I tried to warn you," Aang's voice whispered in Korra's head.

Oh sure, now I'm supposed to listen to you, the young avatar thought at the spirit as she came face to face with Pema.

-Police Station-

Once he had gotten to Republic City's central police station, Tenzin sent his bison back home on its own and made his way through the giant building. It was a little undermanned, although understandably so after the events of last night. Lin probably had half her force combing through Tarrlok's estate with another fourth of it checking into the catering company that had served them the toxic champagne.

Although it was Tarrlok that was supposed to be handling Equalist investigations, the man had been missing since last night. It was only after a quick debate with his other council members and a chat over the phone with Inspector Saigon that they had decided to continue the council's involvement with the police in regards to the Equalists. So Tenzin found himself volunteering for the job.

When he did meet up with the woman in the room police conducted their less intense interviews in, the first question out of Lin's mouth were a bit perplexing. "That Firebending brat ever turn up at your place?"

Unlike Katara, Lin had her own view on Sasuke's disappearing act. She theorized he just ran off.

The monk blinked at the question. "Well, no."

"So that kid's still missing?" Lin asked. "Figures."

Tenzin raised an eyebrow at Lin's line of inquiry. "Is there something wrong?"

The look on Lin's face told Tenzin she was obviously perturbed about something. He figured it was best to get it out on the open right now, before she let it affect her work.

"Little brat never did give me back my mother's hairpin," she grumbled. "Plus there's the people he killed last night…although I know it was self-defense. Well, a trial in absence of the defendant is just such a damn pain."

"Oh boy," he mumbled. She's in one of her moods again…this is going to be a long day.

Then the interviews began. It was a less than interesting experience for Tenzin, as pretty much everyone said pretty much the same thing: they were surprised, they were scared, and then they were glad when it was all over.

But there was one other thing that one of commented on that got Lin and Tenzin's attention…

"I saw it myself," the older aristocrat began, "he blood bent Amon!"

The accusation had Lin on the edge of her seat, while Tenzin managed to maintain an appearance of outward clam. "What did you just say?" he asked.

"I said he blood bent Amon!" the aristocrat repeated. "I saw it myself, the man's arm twisted, and Amon even said he was blood bending!"

And there were others…

"Amon was about to grab the Avatar, and then he arm got all crick, snak twist," the young entrepreneur as he moved his arm to help with the demonstration.

"Amon said so, he called Tarrlok a blood bender," the overweight high-society woman told them.

In all, twenty five guests from the party gave statements, or described the situation to the effect that Tarrlok was a blood bender.

When the last witness had departed, Tenzin crossed off the name from the names gathered from Tarrlok's guest list and sighed. He could read Lin well enough to tell she was hesitant about the idea as well. "Well, we still haven't been able to talk to Hiroshi Sato, but I don't think that's what we need to be concerning ourselves with at the moment. So, what do you want to do?"

Lin raised an eyebrow at the pointless question. She knew that Tenzin already had the answer. "We arrest the man and bring him in on suspicion of being a blood bender of course."

"I…see," he replied, clearly lost. Lin hadn't shown any hesitation with her response, which meant that wasn't what was troubling her. "Well if there's no other business-"

"We'll also have to bring in your mother on the same charge," she continued a little too easily, as if she was asking someone to pass the salt.

Tenzin whipped his head around to look at Lin. "Excuse me?"

Not intimidated in the least by the city official's dark tone, Lin continued on. "Last night I observed your mother using a weakened form of blood bending on one of your daughters."

"As I understand from Pema, Katara used those abilities to save the life of Jinora," Tenzin replied. "Under the circumstances, I don't see how you can convict my mother."

"So you do know, that's a little surprising. It's simple, she was blood bending, so she broke the law. That means she needs to be tried and punished."

Tenzin frowned. "This is a bit much Lin, even for you." He knew that last night had probably set the woman on edge, but going after his mother was a new extreme.

Lin leaned back in her chair and turned it so she could face Tenzin with her whole body. "Really? Do I need to remind you what happened the last time a blood bender was loose in our city, one that could use the skill without the aid of a full moon? Now we've got one, maybe two, if the reports about Tarrlok can be believed."

She straitened her back and continued. "Now what do these blood benders do? They save the life of a child, and the Avatar herself. So now maybe people are going to start thinking 'maybe blood bending isn't so bad' and other crazy ideas about it simply being the 'higher' form of Waterbending like my men and I do with metal?"

"Blood bending is little more than an abomination! No one is going to think of it that way because of a few minor incidents!" Tenzin told her.

Lin raised an eyebrow. "Just like you thought how no one was going to go along with these Equalist…what did you call them when the movement came to Republic City? It was B something…blowhards? Yes, as I remember you thought they were just harmless rabble rousers that everyone would laugh at when they heard Amon's ideas. We all saw how that's turned out."

The point struck a little too close to home for Tenzin.

Since it seemed Lin wouldn't be budging on the issue, he decided to put a stop to her pursuit of Katara another way. "Well the point about my mother is moot," Tenzin said. "I dropped her off at the docks this morning. She's probably well on her way back home by now; and I doubt the Southern Water Tribe will do little more than laugh at you if you try to extradite her over a blood bending charge Lin."

The information obviously sit well with the woman, but Tenzin knew she wouldn't follow up on things either. If the reports were true and Tarrlok really was a blood bender, then Lin would put all her efforts into finding him first.

After he and Lin made arrangements to send out a few search parties for Tarrlok, Tenzin had to hold an impromptu news conference to explain what happened at Tarrlok's estate. It was nearly sunset before he was making his way home, in a good mind for a hot bath and some actual relaxation.

However, those dreams were also shattered when he saw the path of destruction left by what could only be a barrage of a rather destructive Airbending technique his father had so eloquently named 'wind blades'.

Tenzin sighed, guided his bison down, and found himself standing in front of his two daughters and their Water Tribe house guest. "How many times have I told you girls not to use Uncle Sokka's sword? That thing is dangerous in the hands of a bender."

"Korra did it," Ikki and Jinora said in unison as they pointed towards the girl sitting across from them.

For her part, Korra just glared at the young air benders.

"And I suppose it was Korra's idea to go in the storehouse to take this family secret of ours out?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay well…I might have said something," Ikki confessed. "But that's only because Jinora asked me what Korra's Firebending would have been like with-"

"I don't want to hear it," Tenzin told her. "The two of you are grounded-"

"But you asked!" Ikki countered.

Thankfully before the conversation could get any worse, Korra interceded. "What the heck is that thing Tenzin? I didn't mean to use nearly that much Firebending, but it just sort of…well, happened!"

Tenzin looked over to the girl and let out a sigh. "The simple answer is that it's a sword my uncle, Sokka forged during the years of the great war; which was later lost and recovered after a long search. At first everyone believed it was just a normal blade made from a metal with an unusual hue; and even that was explained away by it being the smelted and refined remnants of a meteorite."

"Okay," Korra drawled as she motioned with her hand for Tenzin to continue.

"To be honest I think my father and the others were very foolish," the old man said. "Sozen's Comet amplifies Firebending, the moon increases the power of Waterbending, so why wouldn't another celestial object do much in the same? They even had a clue to this, when Toph found her bracelet was sensitive to Metalbending during the founding of her school."

Korra's eyes widened at the question, but the surprise was quickly replaced by confusion over the obvious question that Tenzin's comment led to. "But I used Fire and Air with the sword."

"And it does the same with Earth and Water," Tenzin supplied. For a moment he thought about relating to Korra about just how his parents had learned that fact, but decided against it. If Korra had indeed made connection with Aang, then there was little point in relating the story; and finding out about the earthquakes Toph had caused with that blasted thing always led to the larger list of other natural disasters Katara and Aang had caused while fooling around with Sokka's weapon.

"Somehow, the metal acts as a natural conductor and focus point for bending," Tenzin explained. "But, instead of a grand motion, all the chi is concentrated in a point at the tip, or the edge of the blade. Of course, you can see why we keep the existence of the sword a secret."

Korra let out a chuckle. "Yeah, every weapon-using bender in the world would be knocking on your door wanting to try it out."

When he saw that the Avatar hadn't quite grasped the serious of the situation, Tenzin's face lost its calm demeanor to help impress upon her the weight of what he needed to tell her.

"No, if it became known that such a weapon exists, then people would begin to wonder where it came from. If they found out…can you imagine twenty such blades in existence? Who knows how much of this metal has fallen to our world and is hidden beneath the earth? There may be enough for a hundred such swords.

"How much of the land would be destroyed if people went looking for them?" he asked. "What would be done with that metal? While we might be able to harness it to enhance our bending further, the first thing that was made from it was a sword, and so many people would follow suit simply because it worked. What could someone actually trying to make a weapon that works well with bending be able to do?"

After Tenzin watched the reality of that he had told her sink in, Korra asked another question, "So why keep something like that around at all?"

"Because I can think of one type of person who comes along every now and then who might need a little and could do with an…edge, if you will."

-The Desert-

Despite the heat, the ache in her bones from nearly twenty hours of activity, and the motion sickness that came from being carried around by a flying animal which was clearly not used to passengers, Katara had to admit she was feeling more than a bit impressed with the boy who had kidnapped her as they stood looking at the entrance to the ancient library half-buried in the sand.

She looked up at the sky where several of the smaller cousins to the hawk that dragged her across the sky were circling overhead. With them, a search which should have taken days, if not years, had been reduced to just a few hours.

"What can I expect in-"

Katara looked over to the boy and then followed his gaze to see what Sasuke was looking at, and what she supposed made him cut off mid-sentence. Then, she simply watched the knowledge-seeker with a book in its mouth scurry along the sand before climbing the tower and disappearing through an opening at the top.

"An orange fox," the raven-haired boy grumbled to himself, although Katara took the opportunity to explain.

"Wan Shi Tong uses them to gather books from around the world and bring them here," the woman told Sasuke. "I spotted one a dozen years ago in Ba Sing Se, stealing something from an old friend's library. Although considering what happened when I came here last time, I thought it best to keep my mouth shut."

Sasuke's mouth turned to a sneer, and he made his way up the slope to the top of the library's tower. "Fine Whatever. You showed me what I needed to see, you can go now."

The curt dismissal made Katara frown. "So now you just leave me here to die? Quite the repayment for the woman who saved your life."

"Hm?" Sasuke grumbled before looking back at her. "I didn't see any threatening animals from our way in, and you did point out that oasis. It should still be in walking distance."

"You can't be serious," Katara deadpanned. The oasis was at least three days away; and that was for someone who wasn't in their twilight years. "I'd be dead from thirst before the day is out."

Sasuke coked his head. "Then why don't you just make your own-wait, you can't, can you?" He turned his face away from Katara and headed back up the slope. "Hn that's odd. Fine, I'll take you back when I'm done here."

"What's odd-hey come back here!" Katara yelled as the boy simply ignored her and continued up the slope. After a moments hesitation, the old woman followed as fast as she could. Clothing fit for a Republic City winter wasn't meant for an Earth Kingdom desert.

As she made it up to the window, Sasuke let out an annoyed groan, then grabbed the woman and jumped down the interior of the tower, which was a great deal further away from the bottom than Katara remembered.

"Are you insane, we're going to-" Katara cut herself off when they landed on the ground with a light 'thud' minus any of the damage, or even a jarring impact that should follow such a fall.

She turned to look at the boy and gave him a scowl. "How did you do that?"

Logic told her what he should have done was let lose with a Firebending technique the last few seconds to slow their descent. In fact, nothing she knew of could have achieved the result she just experienced. Even air bender landings required a cushion or updraft to slow someone's fall.

"I absorbed the force of our landing with chakra," Sasuke explained with an eerily dry tone. Katara was starting to think it was his normal voice.

Cat-tra? Katara thought, running the foreign word though her mind; although even then it didn't sound right. "What's-"

The sound of something heavy repeatedly striking the floor to make an odd tapping sound made Katara look down a row of books that extended into the shadows. Despite the years, she recognized the sound of the giant owl's feet on stone.

"Who dares to inter the inner sanctum of Wan Shi Tong, knower of one thousand things?" the creature's voice demanded from the darkness a second before it appeared.

Wan Shi Tong was much as Katara had remembered him, a gigantic black barn owl with a white face and deep obsidian eyes. It strutted down the isle and looked the two of them over. "Oh it's you again," the spirit grumbled.

"Yes-" Katara began-

"What do you want Madara?"

-and stopped before she could utter another word. Her train of thought thoroughly wrecked, all she could do was utter. "Huh?"

Beside her, Sasuke's expression turned to one of annoyance. "Madara Uchiha died several years ago. I am Sasuke Uchiha. Like my great-grandfather, I achieved an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and read the tablet; which led me to you." As he talked, the boy's eyes changed from the strange red configuration that Katara had seen at the docks into a pattern that was completely different.

The giant owl reached up and rubbed his wing under his beak, as if scratching his chin. "Actually, your ancestor went to the last of the lion turtles before he came to me. I'm afraid the instructions that were left to the inheritors were a bit…misleading. Well, no matter you're here and that's what counts."

Then, Wan Shi Tong looked over to Katara. The woman tried to steel herself as the spirit looked her over. "And you are?"

"No one of consequence," Sasuke said. "I'm here to obtain the method for achieving the Rinnegan. Tell it to me."

"Why?" the spirit demanded calmly.

Sasuke was silent for a moment, taken aback by the question. He stared at the creature with a frown on his face for a few more seconds, then answered. "For the only reason an Uchiha would be here. The ten-tailed beast is soon to be revived. My eyes have progressed as far as they can on their own."

For a moment, Katara was certain she saw the owl spirit draw its head back at the mention of the beast with ten tails, but the creature's composure was back the next instant.

"Not so fast boy," the spirit replied as the feathers on the creature ruffled. "Those eyes of yours are not the normal pattern, true; but that proves nothing. So tell me, how many of my feathers did I just move?"

"One thousand, one hundred and fifty two," Sasuke replied instantly, gaining a curious look from Katara out of the corner of her eye.

Wan Shi Tong nodded. "Well, it seems your eyesight is undimmed," he said, then turned and started walking away form the two of them. "Come with me then, and I shall tell you what you need to know, as well as the process to gain what you seek."

"What I need to know?" Sasuke asked.

Wan Shi Tong's head snaked back around to face Sasuke as its turned darkened considerably. "Do you think that I would simply tell you the process of gaining power without including the reason for such a gift? Its purpose? Its history? Power without knowledge is the greatest recipe for disaster.

"Now, come," The owl ordered as he led them down the hallway.

For a moment Katara simply followed. Whatever was going on, the importance of it made Wan Shi Tong completely forget about her presence. If Sasuke's appearance was truly so disconcerting to the knowledge spirit, then Katara needed to learn about it.

But, she also had the sinking inkling that once the spirit calmed down and saw she was attempting to sneak some knowledge meant for another, Katara wouldn't ever be leaving the library.

In the end, caution won out. "Excuse me, great spirit, perhaps I should wait here while the two of you-"

"You're one of the Avatar's companions, correct?" Wan Shi Tong asked. "I do not forget anyone who has come to my library."

The boast got a dismissive snort from Sasuke, but Katara stepped in front of the young man to keep the spirit's attention. "Yes, and I must apologize for my brother's actions that day-"

"Your brother's actions have cost me years worth of collecting, I'm just now starting to make a dent in all the new works that needed to be filed," Wan Shi Tong told her. "However, now such actions are irrelevant. Since you are obviously here on the Avatar's behalf, I will allow you entrance to my inner chamber so that you may relay the information properly."

Deciding not to press her luck, Katara kept the questions rising in her mind, most of which inquiries as to what Wan Shi Tong thought was going on, silent. Thankfully, Sasuke didn't simply tell the creature he had only kidnapped her to get directions.

A few yards down the isle, the floor opened up, and the owl descended down an unlit stairway that had been revealed by the secret passage. Hesitant with no light to guide her, she stopped at the edge until Sasuke brought up his hand to create a flame above it.

The action brought Wan Shi Tong to a halt, and he extended his head to look back at the two humans. "How did you do that?"

The oddity of the question left Katara in mute confusion, while Sasuke at least managed to speak. "It's Firebending…don't tell me you don't know about-"

"Of course I know of bending!" the spirit said. "The question is how you could. The beast's chi taints your homeland. No spirit would dare send enough of themselves to forge a connection with a human there. Even if you have left that place, there is no way for you to forge such a bond so late in your life."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the spirit's comment and raised his hand to touch his chest, then shook his head. "People have adapted since then, although the effects are a bit different than bending. Several months ago, one of those people who can naturally draw on the energy around him replaced my lungs that had been damaged in battle with some of his own body. I'm guessing that, combined with my natural affinity to fire allows me to use these abilities."

The explanation seemed to satisfy the spirit, as Wan Shi Tong nodded his head and mumbled to himself before turning his attentions back down the stairway and continuing down.

"And while you're talking, I should tell you to skip this stupid explanations. I already know the legend of the Sage of the Sixth Paths; everyone does where I come from. Just tell me what I need to know."

They came to a dead end at the bottom of the stairway, and Wan Shi Tong pressed a wing up against the wall to press down on a stone and revealed another secret door. As they stepped through the doorway, Katara's need to know whatever the two were talking about brought through her cautious silence since it seemed not talking would only raise more question than answers. "What exactly is going on here? What is this beast you continue referring to, and what is the Sage of the Six Paths?"

Wan Shi Tong was silent as the doors slid open to allow the three entrance to a large room nearly one hundred feet high and half as large as the main floor of the library itself. Each of the walls were covered with expansive murals that depicted various events of which she couldn't identify.

The wall to her right showed a plethora of oddly drawn creatures on a multi-colored background that seemed to be just random splashes of color that made no definitive scenery. The most attention-getting detail of the wall was a creature more than twice as large as most of the others drawn in pitch black, with one of the smaller beings in his mouth and halfway swallowed. Beneath all of them, the figures of four people stood on wavy splash of green. The white one was surrounded in flames, a green figure in water, the third figure that was red had a rock floating above him, while the last figure that was blue was in the air and, strangely, drawn upside down.

The center wall's picture made much more sense to Katara. It depicted a red wasteland of dead trees and burnt sand. In the center of the painting stood a shadowy figure with long hair and a staff. The only non-silhouette part of his figure were the eyes, which displayed a multiple circular pattern akin to a colorless archery target. Three somewhat humanoid figures floated above the silhouette: one the color of gold, then silver, and the third of an organ-ish red.

The third picture on the left wall made more sense to Katara, as it depicted a map of the Four Nations on its western half, while she guessed the other continent on the eastern edge of the map was Sasuke's supposed homeland. Painted on top of the map were two symbols: the eastern one bearing a striking resemblance to the first form of Sasuke's eyes, while the one over her own homeland was simply the four elements grouped together; easily recognizable as the symbol for the Avatar.

"To answer your question girl," the spirit began, "the beast was a living catastrophe brought about by greed, and the Sage was the human responsible for the creation of the Avatar."

-Shinobi Continent-

Sakura finished bandaging the man's foot with the makeshift dressings she had made from one of his older shirts and washed her hands in the nearby bowl. Performing medical work without clean running water or something to keep it properly heated made it feel like everyone who'd taught her anything about medicine was scowling down at her, but Sakura managed not to let her unease show.

"Well your foot is healing nicely," she told the villager before securing his clean bandage. "Just stay off it for another week, and you should be able to go back to the fields by then."

"Thank you Lady Sakuya, if you hadn't come along-"

Sakura held up her hand to stop the man's praising as a false show of modesty. "Thank your good resilience, and the cut wasn't that deep, you would have healed just fine on your own," she lied.

In truth, the man had nearly sliced off his foot with an axe while chopping wood and had gotten the wound infected. If she hadn't been looking around the village for food and other supplies to buy, he would have died quite the painful death. Sakura had managed to treat the injury with her medical jutsu while downplaying the severity of it to avoid being found out as a free shinobi.

While the small village had someone who at least knew what herbs were good for small things like stomach troubles, no settlement outside of the larger cities had anything approaching a real doctor. Even then, none of those had chakra manipulation. That severely crippled their treatment options.

A second after she stood up and left the hut, Sakura was followed by the farmer's wife as she called the ninja's false name. "Lady Sakuya, please take these in payment for your help," she said as she handed the woman a wrapped sack.

Sakura looked inside to see a few jars of preservatives inside. Then, she smiled at the woman's kindness and handed them back. "No, it was my pleasure to help your husband."

Although, it had taken longer than expected. Sakura had planned to be halfway to the remains of Konoha by now. The treatment had waylaid her a good three days. It was bad enough she had to cut through the woods to avoid any other ninja traveling by roads, but confrontation was not a priority for her at the moment.

"Please, I insist," the woman said a little harshly as she pushed the sack back towards Sakura, then shifted her eyes past the medical ninja. "I-oh damn it, you were all supposed to wait!"

While doing her best to keep an eye on the woman, Sakura turned to see a trio of shinobi coming from the edge of the woods outside of the village. Still, she could make out their protectors. "You sent a message to the Grass Village about me?" Sakura demanded.

"Of course I did! Information on medical ninja is worth ten thousand ryo if it leads to your capture!" the farmer's wife told her with venom in her voice. "I knew you were one of those things the second I saw you looking down at us when you stopped to buy food from our neighbors. You people think you're so much better than us, as if we're pigs that roll around in slop! I should have poi-"

Sakura didn't let the woman finish before she raised her fist to backhand the farmer hard enough to shatter the woman's face. Her corpse flew back half a meter into the hut, and Sakura ignored the terrified screams of her husband coming from inside the home as she focused her attentions on the three ninja in front of her. "Well come on then, let's hurry up and get this over with."

"No need to be hasty" the lead ninja said as he approached with the other two trailing behind him. " My name in Genji Moribeto. You've been discovered, and its three against one. You'll be well fed and free of torture, as long as you divulge any secret techniques in your arsenal of course. You could even be kept around after that, medical ninja are one of the few things that can be put to use for our village even after we have their knowledge."

Instead of giving them a reply, Sakura reached into her tool bag to pull out a pair of kunai with explosion notes tied to them by wire. Then, she focused her chakra and slammed her fist into the ground with her free hand.

The resulting impact disturbed the ground around her in a ten meter radius. She was barely aware of the screams coming from the farmer's house as it collapsed around him to send the man to join his wife in death. As the ninja in front of her were unprepared for the attack, they lost their balance for an instant. It was long enough for Sakura to throw the kunai with the paper bombs attached at Genji's teammates, as well as for them to get close enough for the detonations to be lethal.

The added shock from the explosions even kept the lead ninja stumbling as Sakura leapt forward to grab the man's arm. She pulled on Genji's arm to keep him from gaining a foothold and struck him in the stomach at maximum force. The resulting attack blew away his chest and separated the man's lower body from what was left of his upper torso. A few seconds later, gore rained down from the sky as the remains of the shinobi's intestines and some of his spine were brought back to the ground by gravity.

With the last of the ninja dead, Sakura turned back around to look at the village. The remaining villagers exited their huts to see what was going on. Some screamed in terror and ran back inside, others foolishly grabbed weapons, while some simply stood mute at the display.

Sakura glared at the crowd watching her. It hadn't been the first time she had come to stay in a village to be found out as a ninja and then attacked, reported to another village, or simply poisoned in an attempt to kill her before any trouble could start. The experiences had long since told her what to do in order to avoid further troubles.

She focused as much of her killing intent as possible at the people and point a finger towards them. "If I run into a single Grass ninja in the next week, I swear I'm going to come back here and demolish each and every one of you," the young woman shouted before reaching into her bag.

To help put the point across, the grabbed another explosion note from her pack and tied it to a kunai, then tossed it into the village's miniature aviary to kill their messenger birds. The display had the few villagers holding weapons quickly return to their homes to hide, giving Sakura plenty of time to search through the dead body of the three shinobi for supplies before she left.

Once her ninja tools were restocked thanks to what was on the attempted abductors, Sakura headed out. For a brief moment she wondered if just surrendering to one of the remaining village's hunting squads wasn't a bad idea. A few rumors said that Rain was even trying to assimilate some of the Shinobi Alliance into its main ranks.

Then Sakura came to her senses and tossed such foolish notions aside. All of the former 'lesser villages' were killing anyone who had been associated with the alliance in an attempt to stay the major military force of the land. But that was having major consequences for everyone.

The simple fact was that while Grass, Rain, Frost, Waterfall, and the others were going about unchallenged when it came to carving out new territories for their respective nations, they simply didn't have the necessary amount of shinobi to take care of all the bandit problems that came with the power vacuum caused by the Alliance's destruction.

Then there what was left of the territory belonging to the Five Great Nations that weren't being swallowed up by the smaller nations that had villages…Sakura didn't even like to think about the rumors that were floating around about what happened in those completely lawless lands.

None of that concerns you right now, Sakura told herself to get her mind off such things…despite the fact that it very much was a worry in the back of her head. After all, she was headed right for the heart of that unclaimed territory. The place where the Village Hidden in the Leafs once stood.

Author's notes with what are probably spoiler: So yeah…made another chapter after a long time. I had been really wanting to finish the Sasuke part up this chapter but even rushing to get everything in place this stuff is just so damn LONG. Not to mention all the other stuff that has to happen: Amon VS Tarrlok, Korra VS Amon, just what the hell is this Amon's back story AND what is the back story for the Ten-Tails of this fan fiction, plus Sasuke (and the readers) finding out just what has to happen for an Uchiha to gain the Rinnegan, AND Katara getting into a fight with Sasuke (yeah right) or having to talk him out of his master plan for revenge.

So…yeah, probably looking at another 30+ page chapter after this one, and an Epilogue to the Sasuke arc before Korra gets thrown into the NEXT third of the saga that I had planned out when I first made this thing. The making of which will probably take quite a long time.

But if you ABSOLUTELY can't wait and just want some kind of closure or something, send me a PM and I can respond with the outline to the whole story.