The Avatar's Will of Fire

Interlude: The Truth

"Naruto shifted uncomfortably. This was not how he had imagined his night going. He had mostly planned on attending a party, maybe stay on the lookout for any 'suspicious types' as Lin had put it, and then simply return back to the island.

Instead, Korra had asked him to dance with her, there had been an all-out Equalist attack on the city, Korra had managed to unlock her airbending, and he had uncovered to other potential abilities as well; his altered Sage Mode and the yoki.

And it was yoki. Naruto had become very familiar with the energy during the war, and there was no mistaking that particular type of energy. But it didn't seem to be Kurama's yoki. On the way back to the temple, Naruto had tried to check his own mind, to see if the same mental plane he had used to contact Kurama was there again. It wasn't. There wasn't a single trace of the Bijuu. That meant that the yoki in his system was his and his alone, and he had no idea what to make of that.

But Naruto knew that he was only focusing on the yoki because it was the only way he could come up with to keep himself from outright panicking while they all waited for Tarrlok to arrive. Before they had gone back to the temple, Tarrlok had said that he needed to meet with some of his contacts and simply left.

Naruto, Korra, Lin, Tenzin and Pema—Tenzin had not wanted her to attend the meeting, but she had put her foot down on the issue—were currently in the main dining hall within the Temple—cleared to give them some form of privacy—waiting for Tarrlok to arrive from wherever he was now. At that point, Lin would undoubtably begin pressing him for answers. The woman was absolutely relentless when there was something that she felt was important and she didn't know. And since she clearly thought his transformation during the fight was important, Naruto knew that the older woman wouldn't let up until she was satisfied.

And that thought terrified him to the core. If Naruto had had his way, not even the others back home would have found out about his status as a jinchuuriki. The Akatsuki War had changed that, and while Naruto knew that the former Rookie Eight had accepted it, a part of him had always wondered if that was simply because there were few other options left for them if they wanted to win.

And now, he would have to explain what he was to people who had little idea what chakra was, let alone creatures like the bijuu. One wrong word, one bad impression, and that was it for him here. Granted, the fact that the others didn't even know about chakra could help him just as much as it could hurt him, but the thought was still terrifying.

Naruto felt something shift on his shoulder, and brought his attention to Korra.

That's right.

Korra had learned more about him being a jinchuuriki than any of the others likely ever would. He wasn't sure how or why it had happened, but it had, and more importantly, Korra hadn't cared at all. He'd been able to feel that too. Naruto would definitely have to look into that at some point. Even if he hadn't been able to feel Korra's emotions (the concept was still mind-boggling), Naruto would have little doubts now, since she apparently felt comfortable enough around him to rest her head on his shoulder and fall asleep.

Korra had seemed to be holding herself together well enough after the fight, but on the way back Naruto had noticed her eyes starting to droop. By the time they had arrived at the temple, she was clearly fighting to stay awake, and, perhaps unintentionally, her head had leaned against his shoulder.

After the first hour of waiting had passed, she had simply fallen asleep.

If Korra had been so willing to accept him after finding out damn near everything about it, why wouldn't any of the others? It was perhaps a weak hope, but Naruto would take it.