"Ahggg…"
"Bananas will help your cramps."
The day had passed too quickly, or too slowly.
Different points of view for Aang and Naruto; the former had barely realized that he had spent several hours meditating, while the latter could barely move now after spending hours immobile trying to meditate and bring out his elemental chakra.
It must be said that he did not succeed, but at least he put his effort into it.
Lying on the ground and looking at the bonfire, Naruto continued eating the bananas brought by the monk, all to relieve his sore muscles. He did not know that staying completely still meditating could be more exhausting than strenuous physical training.
You always learn something new.
Something new that hurt.
"For your first attempt at meditation, you did well," Aang said, in an attempt to cheer up his friend, who grunted in pain still on the ground.
"How long did it take you to master this exercise?" she questioned raising her head from the ground.
"An hour." The monk smiled shyly at the blank stare of the blonde, who sat down heavily.
"And I'm not even advanced," he thought, watching one of the many leaves fly over them; in this place, the wind always ran, and since there were many trees, the leaves kept flying in the air.
"Naruto..." caught the Uzumaki's attention, the monk looked him in the eyes, "What you said to Long Feng was... it was the right thing to do."
"I hope so, although I can't deny that maybe he's right, if I had the courage I would go right now to end this war, I could do it, but..."
"A genocide is not a good end to a 100-year war, is it?"
"Yes... and to be honest I never killed anyone, although I know that one day I will have to do it, sooner or later, after all I am a shinobi," he said with resignation.
"I was raised with the idea that all lives are precious, even with all the sins one can have... the idea of ending a life..."
"Do you think you can kill the fire lord when the time comes, Aang?"
Naruto didn't need to hear an answer; he could see the doubt in his friend's eyes. He couldn't blame him for doing so; what he had just asked went against all of his beliefs.
It was like someone asking him to destroy Konoha, to save the rest of the world. He couldn't do that to the place he considered his home, even with all the shit he experienced there; his loyalty was to his village.
"To be honest, I don't know what I will do when the time comes to face the fire lord. Who guarantees that defeating him will end the war? What tells me that there won't be more soldiers who will continue fighting even with their fallen leader? What if I fail?"
Naruto didn't have the answer, but none of those questions; he didn't even know what to say to make the Avatar feel better. To think that all that responsibility and weight of the world fell on the shoulders of a single person.
"You won't fail, Aang."
"..." the monk looked up from the campfire, to meet the bright smile of the Uzumaki, who slowly rose to sit and be face to face with him.
"Because I will be there, we will all be there to end this silly war, once and for all and for people to live in peace, I give you my word that we will do it, all together."
"…" Without being able to help it, the boy smiled, grateful for the words of encouragement. He was lucky to have a good friend.
"And then you just concentrate on having many children with Katara; these temples are not going to fill themselves, you know?" The blonde's smile grew, seeing how red the Avatar turned.
"You-u know that I like-a?!"
"Come on buddy, I may seem like a moron, but I know when there's love in the air."
For some reason, he felt like the world was screaming hypocrisy in his face, but he ignored that feeling.
"Well... uh... I guess we have to repopulate, right?" The bald man said with a shy smile, that he couldn't help but imagine what his children would be like in the future. "Do you think you have someone special?"
"Mhe, girls hate me, I don't think there's a girl crazy enough to like me."
Again Naruto felt the strange feeling that the world wanted to punch him in the face for what he had just said, but again he ignored it.
"Well, you and Toph seem very close."
"We're friends, that's how it is."
"I think she might like you more than just a friend." Even Aang had noticed how sometimes the blind bandit acted strangely or was very attached to the shinobi; there was definitely something.
"Well… I think she has a pretty face," he admitted with a soft blush on his cheeks. He couldn't help but have the image of a smiling Toph in his mind, making his blush become more intense.
"Are you blushing?" the monk asked mischievously, making his friend only look to the side.
"It's the heat."
"As you say."
Smiling, both teenagers enjoyed the moment of peace, while they watched the potatoes boil in the small pit next to the fire, which they would accompany with a good salad.
It wouldn't be the best meal ever, but it would fill your stomachs tonight.
"What was your home like?" Naruto was curious to know what this livelier and cleaner place would have been like; it seemed like a good place to grow up.
"Well, the little children stay in the monasteries of the West and the East, which are run only by women; they were good at taking care of the little children. And when you turn 4, you are taken to the other monasteries, North and South for boys, and East and West for girls."
"Why did they make boys and girls live separately?"
"It is a way to avoid carnal temptations until we are of the right age to think more reasonably."
"Wow, that explains why you're so dense sometimes."
"I don't think you're the right one to say that."
"True."
"Well, before we leave the monasteries where we were born, we are allowed to have a companion, a guide, someone who will always be with us when we need him, a bison."
"You chose Appa right?" The mention of the bison discouraged the monk, but he didn't show it, he just continued with the story about it.
"No, he chose me... when we were taken to the Northern Air Temple, we were greeted by one of the greatest air benders of all time, also the one who would be my teacher, Master Gyatso, he taught me everything."
"That sounds like a great guy."
"Yes, he was, he personified what it was to be an airbender, happy, fun, free and always on the move, he always said that 'The secret of being a good airbender is just to stop thinking, why once you are flying in the sky, only that moment matters, and you must value it."
"I would have liked to meet him."
"They would have been friends, he would have liked you a lot... well, every day at the temple was fun, we were all friends, we always made everything fun, even cleaning the temples... it was good while it lasted."
"…"
"The revelation of the Avatar is supposed to be at the age of 16, so that the next Avatar can live a normal and humble life, valuing the life of being just one more, before taking the responsibility of being the new Avatar... to me they revealed to me that I was the Avatar at 12."
"It sure was a difficult moment."
[ If you want to read advance Chapters then go to Pat reon and support me there.
PAT REON I'D:- Alzero ]