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Naruto: The First Airbender

Disclaimer: This will be an Avatar: The Last Airbender X Naruto fanfiction. With that said, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 0: Avatar and Sage

Avatar Aang, who is no longer the last airbender with the birth of his third child, a son named Tenzin, was meditating as usual when he suddenly felt a strange spiritual presence followed by soft ringing like the striking of bells. Turning his attention towards the presence, Aang saw an elderly man with short hair that spiked up in the front to form what looked like a pair of horns and the most unusual purple eyes he had ever seen which seemed to have concentric rings or ripples around their pupils. The stranger also wore a cloak with a high collar, a necklace with six red magatama and was armed with a sheathed sword and a staff with rings hanging from the ringed top end.

Sensing the man's unusual aura, Aang asked, "And who might you be, stranger?" While he had met many strange beings in the spirit realm, Aang knew that the man was not a part of his world. Still, Aang knew that man held no malice hence his relaxed pose as he politely asked out of curiosity.

Smiling, the man replied, "I come by many names, young man, but most know me as the Sage of the Six Paths." Regarding Aang in a friendly manner, the man asked, "And you must be the Avatar of your world, yes?"

Nodding, Aang replied, "I am indeed the Avatar of this world. Are you… similar to be me by any chance?"

"Yes, I am indeed comparable to you from where I come from. Unfortunately, I lack the ability to reincarnate."

With his curiosity growing, Aang said, "I see." Offering the Sage a seat, he said, "Please, tell me more about yourself and your world."

Scene Change

After telling Aang about his world, a world which will eventually be populated by ninjas thanks to teaching his disciples and sons how to wield a type of energy called chakra, the Sage then concluded, "Alas, with my world progressing as it is, I fear that by the time my true successor arrives it may be too far out of balance to be saved. Already, the nine tailed-beasts which I consider as my own children are succumbing to the hatred and greed of humanity while my elder son's descendants still seek to wipe out the descendants of my younger son."

Hearing the Sage's conclusion to his story, Aang sighed as it reminded him of some of things he had experienced or at least knew off from the Hundred-Year War. Looking at the Sage, Aang asked, "What would you have me do to help your world?"

"While I'm aware that you cannot leave your world, as I myself cannot remain here for long, I am hoping that by providing your wisdom to me that I can somehow pass it on to my true successor. If all goes well, my successor will be able to gain the spiritual wisdom needed from elemental bending to save the world I come from."

Nodding in comprehension, Aang replied, "Very well, I will pass on the knowledge of bending to you. However, as the energies of your world run by different rules, they may not be affective as you hope."

Smirking slightly, the Sage replied, "While chakra does allow the user to create the elements, it can also be used to manipulate the elements as well. I'm sure my successor will find a way to use the full potential of bending."

"Perhaps, but I will only teach you the basics of bending the four elements as well as the theory of bending the fifth element. I will not have the bending arts be used for nothing else other than destruction, killing or war."

Hearing Aang's stern statement, the Sage sighed in understanding and replied, "I understand, I too wished that the people of my world would use the ninja arts for peace rather than war. However, please at least teach me the full spiritual aspects of each element."

"Do not fear for I do intend to teach you, and your successor by extension, the spiritual aspects of bending in full," replied Aang.

With the agreement in place, Avatar Aang taught the Sage of the Six Paths the art of elemental bending…

Scene Change

Konohagakure, the Hidden Village of Leaves located in the Land of Fire, is one of the major powers in a world where ninjas act as hired mercenaries, law enforcers and even soldiers of war. Guided by its Will of Fire, the belief in which love is the true source of strength which will bring people together and overcome conflict, the village is among the most prosperous and peaceful of the hidden ninja villages. However nothing in the world is ever perfect and Konohagakure is no exception to this universal rule…

Scene Change

A young blond boy with sun-tanned skin, cerulean blue eyes and two pairs of three whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks left the ninja academy with an expression of absolute dejection on his face due to failing his exam, which he needs to pass to become a ninja, for the second time. Treated as an outcast or worse by almost everyone in the village which is his home, the boy never understood why everyone hates him so. True, some of the adults have called him a demon brat when they thought he was not listening to them while others have outright stated that he deserved whatever cruel or cold treatment he got. However, none of their hurtful statements would explain the root of their hatred towards him, a hatred which other children had taken up as the norm as they either ignore him or, in the case of bullies, consider him the perfect victim for their misdeeds. To alleviate his suffering and loneliness, the boy did everything he could to get attention including playing pranks and boasting that he will get everyone's respect by achieving his dream which is becoming a Hokage, leader and the strongest ninja of Konohagakure. Alas, even the boy knew that becoming a Hokage is impossible without first becoming a genin, the lowest-ranked ninja.

Returning back to his apartment, the boy could no longer hold back his tears as he silently wept in grief and frustration and asked himself, "Why… why me…?"

Scene Change

Looking at the crying blond boy, the spirit of the Sage of the Six Paths sighed in both sorrow and frustration. Sorrow in sympathy for the boy's unjustified suffering and frustration at the foolishness of the people of the boy's own home village, a village founded by the descendants of both his younger and elder sons. Taking out a scroll, the Sage left it on the boy's table and said, "May this scroll guide you down to the right path, my successor, Uzumaki Naruto…"

Scene Change

Meanwhile, from within the confines of its prison, a demonic nine-tailed fox known as Kurama, the Kyuubi no Youko, felt a familiar presence. Its eyes opened wide in shock as it looked out of the cage and asked, "Old Man…?"

Scene Change

On the following day, the boy named Uzumaki Naruto woke up from his sorrow-induced exhaustion. Rubbing the tear stains from his eyes followed by smacking his cheeks, the boy's eyes burned with renewed determination as he swore, "I will pass the exam this time to become the next Hokage, believe it!"

Suddenly, the boy noticed something on his dinner table, namely a scroll. Cautious, the boy approached the seal and, after studying it intently, gave it a light tap. Recoiling as though expecting it to suddenly explode, which is sadly exactly what happened the last time he accepted a gift from a stranger, Naruto realized that the scroll seemed harmless. Taking the scroll into his hands, the boy opened it and read its contents, "The history and basics of elemental bending, as taught by Avatar Aang…"

By the time the boy realized the passing of time, namely by feeling the grumblings of his hungry unfed stomach, the boy was shocked that he had read the admittedly engrossing contents of the scroll for almost three hours. "Better get something to eat." Keeping the scroll insider his jumpsuit, the boy proceeded to have a daily dose of the one kind of dish he loves eating the most, ramen.

Scene Change

Three months had passed after the previous schooling year at the ninja academy and it was now time for the beginning of the new schooling year. Umino Iruka, a young man with brown hair tied into a spiky ponytail and a scar running across his nose, was busy calling out the names of the students in attendance for the first day of the new school year when he noticed something was off. It took him a few moments to realize why as he asked, "Where's Naruto?" While the blond boy is undisputedly a troublemaker who would skip boring classes and goof around, the boy would never deliberately skip school unless he was committing a grand prank. Like the time he somehow managed to sneak whoopee cushion for the current Hokage to sit on, inside his own heavily guarded office of all places. Hilarity aside, the prank served as a reminder the even ANBU can be grossly incompetent at times.

Seeing that none of the other students knew, not that many of them cared, Iruka sighed and was about to mark Naruto as absent when a familiar voice shouted, "Sorry I'm late!"

Turning his attention, Iruka was shocked to see Naruto who was dressed in his favourite orange-blue jumpsuit and blue goggles. The reason, the boy suddenly appeared at the window while riding what looked like a spinning ball of air which is similar in appearance to the late Fourth Hokage's prized ninjutsu, the Rasengan. The boy was also apparently armed with a wooden staff but that was just a minor detail compared to the spinning ball of wind which seemed capable of limited levitation.

Seeing the boy leap off the diminishing orb of wind, Iruka asked, "Naruto, where did you learn that jutsu?"

Grinning from ear to ear, Naruto said, "One, it's not a jutsu, it is called airbending. Two, it's my personal ninja secret!" Of course, the current Third Hokage already knew about his airbending and how he managed to learn the art but no one needed to know that.

Confused, Iruka asked, "Airbending?"

Scene Change

Before long, Naruto's unexpected arrival on the ball of spinning wind which he called the "Air Scooter" became the topic of gossip among the students. The quickest to talk about was Ino, a pale-blond girl with pale-blue eyes and a slim body build as well as the undisputed current gossip queen of the entire school, as she asked Sakura, a girl with cherry-pink hair, green eyes and a prominent forehead, "So, any idea what that jutsu was?"

Shaking her head, Sakura replied, "I have read a lot of books but even the library has limited knowledge about wind-based jutsu."

Sighing, Ino said, "I suppose that's expected, there aren't many wind users in our village if what my dad says is true."

"Wait, does that mean that Naruto-baka can be considered special because he can use a wind-based jutsu?" asked Sakura.

Looking at the blond boy, both girls dismissed him almost immediately, "Nah!" The two girls, who were once best friends, then proceeded to do their daily routine of bitter rivalry for the affections of a certain rookie of the class named Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke, a brooding black-eyed boy with black hair that has blue highlights, quickly dismissed Naruto's technique as useless for fighting and thus ignored it.

"Say, Shikamaru, you're not going to ask Naruto about that technique?" asked an overweight boy with brown hair and two swirls drawn onto his cheeks.

A lazy-looking boy with his black hair tied into a spiky ponytail on top of his head named Nara Shikamaru opened one narrow brown eye and asked, "What makes you think I would want to do something as troublesome as that, Chouji?"

Shrugging, the larger boy named Akamichi Chouji replied, "Well, riding on something so that you don't have to walk around so much seems like the kind of thing you might do."

Peering at the boy, Shikamaru sighed and said, "Alright, you got me there, but even I have limits. Besides, my mom would never let me get THAT lazy." Chouji could only snicker in understanding.

A boy with wild brown hair, slit pupils, pronounced canines and red fang-like markings on his cheeks on the other hand was paying keen attention to Naruto as he wanted to learn that fun-looking technique. Sitting on top of his head was a small puppy with shite fur and floppy ears. Grinning toothily, the boy named Inuzuka Kiba said, "Akamaru old buddy, we've got to learn that Air Scooter jutsu." The puppy named Akamaru yipped in agreement.

Another boy, who has brown bushy hair, pale skin and is among the tallest in the class, simply adjust his sunglasses as he mused, "It appears that Naruto has learnt his elemental affinity, and at a younger age than most too at that." Named Aburame Shino, the boy made a mental note to further observe Naruto's so-called airbending.

Among the female student population of the class, only one was happy that Naruto had not only recovered from his slump after failing for the second time in the previous year but also somehow managed to learn a new ninja technique which he called airbending. Dark hair, pale lavender eyes which lacked pupils and fair skin, the timidly meek girl named Hyuuga Hinata smiled at Naruto as she silently thought, "It's good to see Naruto-kun again." She then thought curiously, "But I wonder where he had been for the whole time." Unbeknownst to Naruto, Hinata can be a bit of a stalker, albeit a shy one with no ill intent.

Scene Change

Meanwhile, in one of the many training grounds in Konohagakure, two people we weeping dramatically as they hugged each other. One of them was a tall man with a shiny bowl haircut, impossibly bushy eyebrows and was dressed in a green spandex with orange leg warmers and a typical Konohagakure jounin jacket. The other was a boy who had recently been promoted to genin in the past schooling year and has almost the exact same appearance as the older man except that his eyes are perfectly round, has slightly less bushy eyebrows, wore bandages around his hands and lacked the jacket. Hugging the man tightly, the boy cried, "I'm going to miss Naruto-san!"

Nodding, the man said, "Indeed, despite the pain and suffering of being alone, the boy's Flames of Youth is among the brightest I've ever seen!" Placing his hands onto the boy's shoulders, the man said, "While his time of training his taijutsu with us have come to an end, we must not let this unfortunate parting of friends dampen our Youthful Flames!"

Nodding, the boy wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "As expected from your youthful wisdom, Guy-sensei!"

The man named Might Guy, who is also known as the Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey, said, "Lee!"

The boy known as Rock Lee, hugged the man again and cried, "Guy-sensei!"

Somehow the pair managed to create a sunset-themed atmosphere at the beach with frothy seawater crashing against the waves, thus scarring the minds of anyone who is not already used to their eccentric ways and was unfortunate enough to witness it. Even now no one knew how the pair manages to do their "Sunset of Youth", which has to be an illusion of some sort, and had little doubt that not even the Sage of the Six Paths can accomplish it. Somehow Naruto just knew that the pair was at it again as he shivered at the mere memory of it.

Scene Change

Sarutobi Hiruzen, an elderly man who is also the Third Hokage of Konohagakure, was busy rereading a copy of the mysterious scroll Naruto had somehow obtained on the day after he failed his academy graduation for the second time. While he knew that the boy would not lie to him, unless he's playing a prank or avoiding getting caught for it, the old man still found it hard to believe that anyone would just leave behind anything for the boy to claim as his own, let alone something so valuable. Hiruzen had to repress a sigh as he thought, "The boy is more likely to receive a present of goodwill from a citizen of Iwagakure than the majority of the people in this village." Considering that both Konohagakure and Iwagakure were bitter rivals during the Third Ninja World War, Hiruzen's statement is shamefully depressing to say the least.

Deciding to take his mind off the topic, Hiruzen continued to study the scroll for what must be the umpteenth time. As he is the leader of an entire ninja village, being able to see underneath the beneath is essential. Teaching an unusual style of martial arts, which the ninjas term as taijutsu, called bending, the scroll can almost be considered a Holy Grail as it combines taijutsu with elemental-release ninjutsu seamlessly. Unlike normal ninjutsu, bending does not require handseals although it does require taijutsu-style body movements to "bend" the elements one can control to their will. Once mastered however, elemental bending can be done even with the most minimal of movements. Another limitation is that bending cannot create an element, only manipulate it to their will. Fire seems to be an exception although it can be theorized that it simply manipulates heat to generate fire as it is noted to be less effective during the night-time when the sun is down. However, if done right, it is possible to "bend" an enemy's own elemental attack against them as long as one can control it.

Hiruzen wore a smile as he recalled that day when Naruto showed him the mysterious scroll and begged him to at least try elemental bending. Unable to deny the boy, not to mention he was quite curious himself, Hiruzen decided to have the boy receive help from the best taijutsu specialist in all of Konohagakure, Might Guy. Both Hiruzen and Guy were amazed when Naruto, upon learning the basic stances of airbending and its spiritual significance, was able to really bend the air around him to his will, thus validating the art of elemental bending. It certainly helped that Guy suggested that bending probably requires the use of chakra manipulation as one executes a taijutsu stance to actually bend a controllable element. While eccentric to say the least, Guy is not considered the best taijutsu specialist for nothing not to mention that he understands the basic theory of Jyuuken, a specialized form of taijutsu which uses chakra to disable or even kill opponents. It was also later confirmed that Naruto has a natural affinity with wind, thus further explaining how he could airbend.

The memory of Naruto's unbridled joy at being able to do airbending for the first time lifted the old man's heart which had been growing heavier of late due to the boy's continued mistreatment. While he is both the leader and the strongest ninja of his village, Hiruzen is ultimately still just a single old man, one who should have retired long ago at that, against the combined scorn of almost every adult in the entire village who would not hesitate to use unscrupulous political measures to abuse the boy and get away with it.

After grasping the basics of airbending, Naruto quickly grew under Guy's tutelage, at least whenever the eccentric specialist and his protégé are present, to the point that the boy can already be considered an adept disciple in the art of airbending. The old man chuckled at the memory of how Naruto was able to somehow "dance" around the people that tried to catch him for committing his latest prank, including ANBU who are supposed to be elite ninjas. Their frustrated expressions and humiliation was, as far as Hiruzen was concerned, divinely comical punishment. At the thought of divinity, Hiruzen mused, "Avatar Aang… I wonder…" Shaking his head, Hiruzen said to himself, "Even if he is a relative to the Sage of the Six Paths, it still does not explain how Naruto found the scroll, not that I am ungrateful for it regardless." Making a mental note to thank the mystery donator of the scroll, Hiruzen kept it inside a safe and continued with his regular duties as the leader of the village…

Scene Change

In the spiritual realm of Naruto's world, also currently known as the Ninja World, the Sage of the Six Paths smiled at the boy's progress and said, "You'll face many difficulties in the future but I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to restore peace and balance to this world, Uzumaki Naruto…"

-Chapter Fin-

Note: Seems like I have a BAD habit of using the same time period for Naruto to gain help. Hope the twist of how he is getting help from the Avatar is original though. As for anyone who questions his intellect, do not forget that the boy managed to learn the Kage Bushin after just a few hours or even minutes of reading from the Forbidden Scroll. As for his spiritual development, the fact that the boy can put up with the suffering without going mad by just having a VERY rare few people who cared for him should be a testament to his spiritual strength. It certainly helps that Naruto is naturally attuned to the element of wind. A warning though, depending on how much attention I'm paying to my other fanfictions and my work, I may not be able to update this as often as some would like it.