The Avatar's Will of Fire

Naruto's Awakening

"Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Korra, and make no profit from writing this.

Well, here it is. The last three chapters could be considered either setting the scene or build -up, and this is where the story really begins. Naruto finally wakes up! This is also the first extended action sequence I've ever written, so I'm not sure how well it turned out, but I hope you all enjoy it.

Chapter 3: Naruto's Awakening

The Air Temple burned tonight. The mission itself was relatively simple- sneak their way onto the island, infiltrate the Temple, kill everyone inside, and then burn the entire compound to rubble. Taro was especially looking forward to that third part; it had been far too long since he had been able to cut loose.

He understood the purpose of the mission, of course. They couldn't simply have all of their firebenders attack the Temple at once. No, their job was to use multiple different assault styles, to spread confusion amongst whoever it was that eventually investigated the attack, so that they would spend valuable time scrambling to learn who was responsible.

Lieutenant Taro, one of the strongest earthbenders alive, and the strongest earthbender in the Equalists, was a giant of a man, standing at well over six feet, and weighing in at close to two hundred pounds -all muscle, and coupled with his midnight black hair and earthbender green eyes, Taro was an incredibly intimidating man. And he was going to accomplish his mission with only seven other men.

While others would have brought at least twice as many as Taro was, these were some of the very best, and three benders and four Chi-blockers would be more than a match for the token White Lotus security force and one lone airbender, even if he was a master.

They had completed reconnaissance of the area last week, gathering Intel about the strength of any possible opposition that they would encounter, as well as the numbers that they could expect. If anything, the eight-man squad was overkill.

According to the latest reports, in addition to the master, there were three young airbenders at the Temple as well. They would be the second priority, and he had told his squad to capture them alive if possible, but if they died along with the others, well, that was just too damn bad.

In fact, perhaps they should target the children and the matriarch first- get the master angry, so he would come at them stupid, and then finish him. It was a strategy worth looking into, but only if circumstances and time allowed it.

They had already completed their first objective, covertly landing on the south side of the island in an Equalists ship designed for stealth, and were now observing the two White Lotus guards stationed at the front gate.

Taro gave the signal, and his forces began their infiltration.

Now, Taro gave a vicious smile. This was going to be fun.

000

Korra was worried. Really, it wasn't unexpected- the semi-final match would begin in a few moments, and most contestants experienced a few jitters before the game began. But this was something else; it was gnawing at her, a cold chill at the bottom of her stomach, and for some reason, she was starting to regret leaving the Temple.

Bolin and Mako had noticed, of course - how could they not? Korra had never been what one could call subtle, she almost always wore her emotions on her sleeve, and after having spent so much time around the two of them, there was no way they couldn't notice something was up.

In what was probably equal parts concern for his friend and worry about a teammate's performance, Mako had eventually asked her if something was wrong.

She had told them about the boy she had pulled out of the water, leaving out the part about her dream, and while Mako and Bolin were still clearly worried about her, Korra had assured them that it could wait until at least the end of the match.