Chapter 11

"Ugh.."

"Uhh....hhh..."

The warriors of the water tribe groaned as they woke up. They sluggishly dragged themselves onto their feet.

"What happene-where is he!?" One of them exclaimed in panic, frantically looking down for the young assailant. The others joined him, quickly surveying their surroundings only to find out that they were back on their boat

"He's not here." A calm familiar voice rang through the air. They turned on the direction of the voice to see Hakoda sitting on the edge of the boat staring at the sea with his back to them.

"Chief Hakoda, what happened?" One warrior asked.

"Did you fight him off?" Another curious warrior asked looking pleased with his leader. Hakoda only sighed in response as he turned to face them with a grace expression on his face.

"No." He answered bluntly, answering the warrior's question but crushing his joy.

"Gather everyone around. I don't want to have to tell this twice." Hakoda said, getting off the boat in favor of dry land. His eyes shifted to Bato who still laid unconscious on the opposite end of the boat.

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"So that's what happened..." A water tribesmen said, deeply in thought. Beside him, the now awake Bato who had woken up just in time to hear the debriefing sat quietly with an unreadable expression.

"I can't believe it. A kid took all of us out like it was no issue." A man beside him said, his voice stuck somewhere in-between shock and wonder.

"As unbelievable as it sounds, it's what happened." Hakoda said with a tone of finality.

"So what do we do now, chief?" One of the warriors asked Hakoda. After the beating they suffered, they didn't know if it was best to still camp here or move somewhere else. After all, their only reason for stopping at this town was for rest and also to stock up on supplies before rejoining the battlefield.

Hakoda thought deeply before replying. "Nothing. We do what we came here to do. Rest and restock. After that, we'll see..."

"But Chief, what about that...that kid?" One of the men asked, both nervous and embarrassed. Him, a grown man, was afraid of a boy who hadn't even reached his teenage years. Hakoda sighed as the young assailant came to his mind.

"There's nothing we can do about him for now. If he wanted us dead, we wouldn't be here having this conversation. The best we can do is gather information. Seeing as how our boats are all accounted for, he should still be in town." He paused as he surveyed his men who listened with rapt attention.

"If you find anything report back to me. Don't. Take. Action." He stressed looking at everyone, his eyes leaving no room for complaint.

"For now we'll split the work. A select few will go into the town and gather info while the rest stay here and set up camp." He finished. The men took a few moments to digest his orders before springing to action.

Hakoda then chose the few who would go and gather information. After he did that, he joined his men in setting up. While doing that, he spotted Bato a distance away staring blankly into space.

He sighed as he saw the state of his friend. His ego had been dealt a very big blow with him being the first person to be taken out and so easily at that. He stopped himself from going on to meet him as it could backfire dangerously destroying his self esteem even more.

'Why do things have to be so difficult?' He questioned in his heart.

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Sasuke could be seen in his assigned room in the Shen house doing push-ups with his bare torso exposed to whoever cared to see. Anybody watching would see this as a young boy trying to stay fit...that would be if there weren't two small tags stuck to his body; one on his chest and the other on his back.

His arms trembled a bit as he pushed his body up and lowered it in a controlled rhythm. He had continually increased the quality of the weight seals to increase training efficiency. What he had on was equivalent to feeling the effect of three trucks weighing down on him.

He persevered and managed to keep up the pace for some time before finally crumbing to the ground. He quickly brought his hand up to form a seal, decreasing the weight forcing him down.

'It seems I still can't handle this much.' He thought discontentedly.

His body trembled even more before slowly calming down getting used to it. He sluggishly dragged his body into the bathroom and under the shower. He let the cold water pour over his body, letting the exhaustion wash off his body.

He let out a sigh of relief as his body involuntarily relaxed. His mind drifted to his escapade the previous night. After his run in with them, it would be difficult to figure out their next step.

'For now all I can do is wait and see what happens next and react accordingly.' He thought as he exited the shower.

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At the shores, tents were set up as the water tribe warriors had finished setting up camp and were waiting for the others who left to return.

Hakoda sat in his tent looking through maps and general information from the frontlines of the war. The fire nation seemed to be trying to expand their territory and were pushing hard in certain key regions.

Beside him were some letters requesting backup from the soldiers lacking manpower in the front. The resistance was losing with their only option being to fall back completely and retreat or hold them off and request for help.

Though it had the risk of failing, they chose the second option and requested for help. There was a chance that no one would answer them but no war was won without risks.

He sighed as he considered the next course of action. He could answer them and assist them in pushing back and maybe deal a blow-no matter how small-to the fire nation.

"Hakoda, the men are back."

He was brought out of his thoughts as Bato's head peeked into his tent, informing him of his soldiers return. Before he could respond, Bato exited as quickly as he appeared. Hakoda could only sigh as he got up to go and meet them.

Exiting his tent, he was met with four of his men dressed in inconspicuous clothing; probably to not seem out of place when they were out.

"What did you find?" He asked going straight to the point.

The men in front of him fidgeted a bit under his gaze at the question, which prompted a raised eyebrow from him.

"What?" He asked once again.

After a few awkward moments, one of the men volunteered to go forward and speak.

"Chief, we found some...disturbing news. The boy is still in the village just like you said and we know where he's staying." He started.

"Okay. What's the disturbing part?" Hakoda inquired. He hesitated a bit before responding.

"He's a fire bender!" He spat out, watching Hakoda's eyes widen.