4 A Warm Welcome

Through the forest that spreads bellow the Patola Mountain Range, the mountain range where the Southern Air Temple is located, the blurr of a 9-year-old Madara can be spotted.

Jumping from tree branch to tree branch to tree branch, he is smiling from one ear to the other. 'I knew it would be fun but damn, traveling like a Shinobi is awesome!'.

After a eight-hour long travel, he finally stops by the beach, caring on his back an improvised bag made with the old ropes he found at the temple, he would never trust those to climb up and down but using them to help him carry things, especially food, was more than a good deal.

Taking a deep breath, he sits down and puts what he was carrying on his back on top of a rock.

'Running through the forest for eight hours straight is quite exhausting, that and running down the mountain's surface drained my chi like crazy! Why can't they just add a manual to these things? Learning through experience isn't always pleasant!'

Sigh. "Eight long hours and not a sign of civilization, I REALLY didn't think this through, there must be a way out of this place that isn't a flying bison or a ship, I doubt I will find either of them around these parts and I don't know if I can run on water as much as I can run down the mountain, on Naruto those two did not follow the exact same rules, I feel that water walking will drain me way more, and the closest civilization is quite far away.. I'm already very tired.."

Looking around enjoying the view of the ocean during the sunset and eating some fruits that he picked on his way here.

"Not a bad life" he grins. "At least no civilization means I don't need to worry about being robbed while sleeping outdoors…"

After eating he found himself a comfortable spot to rest and used his firebending to light up a campfire to keep himself warm, since snow is starting to fall again, after that he sat down and leaned back on a rock. 'Tomorrow, I need to find a way out of this island otherwise I will have to go all the way back to the temple, I didn't find a single lake or river down here, luckily the fruits help me a bit with my thirst as well.' And just like that everything went dark and was welcomed to the dream lands.

On the next morning..

YAWN~ waking up and rubbing his eyes after stretching himself he looks around scanning the area with his sleepy eyes, looking at the sky he notices that is dawn and get himself ready to get up, that's when he hears splash sounds on the water.

Alarmed he looks at the sound direction and see something that bring a huge grin to his face.

"Yeah .. that will work… not only that, but it will be fun as hell!"

On the sea he spots a school of fish, not just regular fish but MASSIVE bright-colored Koi fish swimming freely on the water. 'Now that I remember, Aang had a favorite spot in the island to ride Elephant Koi, Ohhhh this will be really fun!'

Grabbing his makeshift bag and tying it to his back, he rushes towards the water.

'C'mon don't let me down.. I already ruined my image with the mountain debacle.. don't let me fail here surface walking!'

Without thinking twice, he jumps from the sand towards the water and it worked! 'HA! I knew I could count on myself!'

A joyous laugh could be heard as long black-haired child ran on the water towards the school of koi fish, once he was close enough, he jumped and used firebending through his feet to propel himself even further, landing directly on the back of a massive elephant koi.

"Hello there, my newest best friend, could you take me to Earth K-"

Before he could finish his request, the elephant koi launched itself at full speed towards the ocean, young Madara instantly grabbed the huge fins and used his Chi to keep his feet stabilized on the koi's slippery back.

He tried to sit down on the back of the koi but once he did the koi splashed around almost throwing him out, it seems that standing up had no issue but they didn't like when people sat down on top of them.

"Aye Aye Captain! I apologize."

And just like that a small school of elephant koi traveled through the southern sea, young Madara didn't know but those fish were actually migrating to Kyoshi island, those koi fish were one of the top export products from there.

_______________

It was another calm afternoon on Kyoshi island, many fishing village people were already counting how much fish they managed to get for the day, the boats were already docked and everyone on the docks was already preparing to go home.

That was the plan for most of them except for the ones in Oyaji's village. By the coast many villagers were aghast while watching what I was coming towards their docks, a school of elephant koi!

Now, although they were famous all over the earth kingdom by their product, Elephant Koi was not a common catch, not at all, it was considered a luxury food all over the world, to put in perspective, that kind of fish was one of Beifong's family favorite dish, it was cheaper to buy a set of armor than buy Elephant Koi meat.

As uncommon as it was, what made it ever more shocking was the fact that there was a boy riding on the top of the koi in the lead!

As the school of fish drew closer and closer, more and more villagers arrived by the docks, old veterans that resided on the village already grabbed weapons, they were an isolationistic island, fearful of strangers and hated the fire nation to the core.

"Let me see, let me see!"

"Wooooo someone is riding the big fish! Someone is riding the big fish!!!"

"I bet I could do it better! Humph."

A bunch of kids were having fun watching the show, giggling, yelling and pointing fingers, the adults.. not so much, they were worried and prepared to strike at a moment's notice.

The crowd parted ways for a stout old man with a fluffy long beard and a … unique.. hairstyle, partially tied on a high ponytail and partially loose on the back, and a 'huge forehead'.

"Village leader, give us the order and we will strike as soon as that kid set foot in here!"

"That's probably a Fire Nation spy!"

The stout old man let out a sigh "Relax everyone, that's a kid.. spy or not we will have no problem in capturing and interrogating him"

He barely finished his sentence and other grown ups in the crowd started yell at each other

"BRING THE ROPES!"

"WE SHOULD USE SHACKLES! REGULAR ROPES CAN'T HOLD A FIREBENDER YOU IDIOT!"

After roughly one minute they saw the school of fish stop moving towards the docks and the boy patting the big koi on the lead before he jumped towards the water, what happened next left everyone gawking with wide eyes, the boy started running on the water.. wait WHAT?!

"Wow.. he runs on the water?! That's so cool!"

"Can you do that better than him as well, Kelo?"

"Humph!"

The kids went crazy and the adults brains stopped working.

"That's impossible…"

"Is he a waterbender or something…?"

"HA! A WATERBENDER! MY ROPES WILL WORK ON HIM, WHO'S THE IDIOT NOW HUH?!"

"SHUT UP YOU MORON, HE CAN CUT ROPES WITH WATER AS WELL!"

"I GOT THE SHACKLES! I GOT THE SHACKLES!"

The old village leader kept staring at the young boy running towards them on the water surface 'since when does the Fire Nation employs children from other nations? That's some scary possibility… anyone can potentially be a spy after all...'

_______________

Madara kept jumped towards the docks, he was very careful to never use his firebending knowing that anywhere in the world other than the Fire Nation itself, firebender wouldn't be welcomed at all.

He even openly used his water walking to give people the false impression that he is just a powerful waterbender and be more welcoming.

Knowing that as long as he kept his firebending secret he wouldn't have much problem socializing and meeting people from this world, very few places would be hostile towards him regardless just for being a new face around. That was the reason why he chose an isolated empty temple in the middle of nowhere, he could practice firebending away from the fire nation's watch and without being judged by the rest of the world.

"Phew that was exhausting.. at least they were quite fast.. I almost fell many times.." said Madara talking to himself while shuddering as he remembers the many times he almost fell off and was left behind, but now he is finally enjoying the feeling of stepping on land after so long, happy to have found a village! Proper food, new clothes, decent bath, and more importantly, a comfy bed to sleep!

But once he looked around and saw a massive crowd of villagers holding weapons, from swords to pitchforks, the first impression was of an angry mob hunting down a vampire or something .. 'What the fuck?' … but once he spotted the old man that look like the leader of the group and remembered who exactly that old man is, it finally clicked.

"Oh crap.."

Of all places he could've landed, of all villages and locations those damn fish could've taken him, it had to be the one place in the world that would shoot first and ask later just for being a stranger, regardless bending or anything else.

Kyoshi FUCKING Island!

"You gotta be kidding me.."