The Avatar's Will of Fire

The Storm:3

"Naruto...

Naruto almost missed a step as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop. He could have sworn that he had heard someone call out his name...

He brushed it off and almost continued, but stopped again as he felt new emotions press against him. Naruto could honestly say he had never experienced anything like this before. It was hard to tell what it was that he was feeling at first, but after the abrupt shock wore off, Naruto could make more sense of it, and he could recognize two sensations that seemed to be stronger than any other; pain and fear. At first, Naruto had no idea what was going on, or even how he knew that he could feel these things, just that he did. And then he remembered the voice that had called out his name. It had somehow felt familiar, since he didn't actually hear it, and now some primal instinct within him knew who it was: Korra.

Naruto couldn't explain how he knew it was her, he just did. It felt as if his mind was no longer his own (though not in the bad way), and he could actually feel Korra's thoughts and emotions alongside his own. And right now, Korra was undoubtedly in pain.

Naruto saw red at the thought, his hands curling into fists so hard that they drew blood. Although he didn't notice, his eyes flashed red again, and his pupils turned into silts. For the most part he embraced the anger—Naruto had learned long ago just how powerful a tool anger could be—but a part of his mind was wondering why. It was clearly the thought of Korra in pain that caused this anger, but why did he care? He hadn't even known Korra for more than two weeks, so how had she come to mean so much to him? True, she was something of a friend, but even that was stretching things a little bit. He liked Korra well enough, but he still didn't really know that much about her personally. Though that was mostly because of his own hang-ups, which he was certain Korra had noticed despite his best efforts.

So again; why did he care so much?

Because, despite her faults—a truly astounding lack of patience that may have rivaled his own, her impulsiveness, and her short temper—Korra was still a good person, and Naruto knew that she didn't deserve whatever it was that was causing her so much pain now. She was a friend, and there was no way he'd let a friend—any friend, though for some reason her especially—go through something like this if he could help it!

Naruto pushed the foreign emotions aside—as much as he felt for Korra, focusing on them wouldn't help anyone right now—and attempted to calm himself, at least to the point where he could think clearly again. While emotions could be invaluable in combat, they could also be just as dangerous if you allowed them to control you.

Before he set off again, Naruto felt another wave of separate emotions, though this time much softer, less chaotic. The pain was still there, but it was distant now, and the fear had almost completely faded. It had been replaced by what almost felt like gratitude. The connection ceased, and he was on his own again.

Whatever that was, Naruto would worry about it later. For now, he would focus his energy on a new goal; finding whoever was doing this to Korra and making them pay.

He jumped once more, leaving a decently-sized crater in the rooftop behind him.

All Korra knew was pain.

Well, that might have been exaggerating things a bit, but not by much. She was aware that she was kneeling on the ground, paralyzed by pain, a stunned Tarrlok standing a few feet ahead of her. She was also aware of an endless void surrounding her, pulling her mind to... somewhere. It was similar to what happened when she meditated, but this time it almost felt like something was preventing her spirit from leaving the mortal world. The result felt like she was being torn apart from the inside, and the pain was so intense that she couldn't even control her own body anymore. The near-constant flashes—bending—Power—Dírén—were only adding to the chaos.