The Avatar's Will of Fire

A New World

Chapter 5: A New World

"It had been four days since Naruto had woken up, and he had become a bit more familiar with the new world he had found himself in.

The time had gone about as smoothly as could be expected, given that something like this had probably never happened before. In either world.

Naruto didn't know any of them very well yet, but the people he had met on this island had so far seemed nice enough. He and Korra hadn't interacted much beyond basic conversations, but Naruto actually found comfort in something that was close to normality. Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo seemed to like him well enough. The guards, which he had learned belonged to an organization called the 'White Lotus,' still seemed leery around him, but Naruto couldn't really blame them for it. They were just doing their jobs.

He had had no idea what to expect when he had sat down with Pema for her first "history lesson," but he wasn't looking forward to it. Naruto had always hated studying history while he was in the academy.

If he had to be honest with himself, the things that Pema had told him were more than a little disconcerting.

A century of war. It just didn't seem possible. How could any one nation, regardless of size or power, actually gather enough resources to wage a full-scale war for a hundred years?

Naruto was no strategist -that had always been Shikamaru's thing- but even he knew that if any one of the major Hidden Villages back home had attempted something like that, they would have eventually collapsed in on themselves, unable to support such a prolonged engagement.

For his own peace of mind if nothing else, Naruto had decided that it would be best to not concentrate so much on the topic, and focus on other things instead.

Like his first session with Asami the other day. Naruto personally thought that it had gone well, but Asami had still seemed a bit shaken afterwards...

Their first session would be somewhere secluded, private. While Naruto was gradually adjusting, it was all still new to him, and he hadn't yet gotten comfortable enough to trust everyone on the island.

Pema had understood, and had been nice enough to find a small clearing, far enough out of the way that the two wouldn't be bothered unless it was necessary.

Asami had brought multiple scrolls with her, some written in her own language, the others written in Naruto's. She was hoping that by trying to find some similarities between their languages, she and Naruto could find a good starting point and work up from there.

Smiling warmly at Naruto, Asami said, "Well, I think we should get started."

Naruto agreed instantly, mainly because he wanted to get at least the basics down as soon as possible. Plus, this was starting to feel a little too much like homework, another thing he had come to hate at the academy.

"So, what do we do?"

After Asami explained her plan, Naruto brightened, already knowing how he could speed the process up.

He quickly created four shadow clones, which then grabbed most of the scrolls and carried them off, setting themselves in various positions around the area. Hearing something that could best be described as a "squeak," Naruto glanced over at Asami to see that she was staring at the clones in shock, eyes a good three times larger than normal, her mouth opening and closing a few times, but no words coming out.

"What was that?" she finally managed after a few more moments.

Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Naruto said, "Yeah, that's the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone). Basically, it allows me to create solid copies of myself that are capable of somewhat independent thought. Once they're dispelled, I can absorb all of their memories as if I had experienced them for myself. This way, I should be able to learn your language a lot quicker."