""Wake up." Toph was less kind to the ninja boy and gave him a hard kick in the stomach to wake him up.
And he achieved it.
But she doesn't expect him to get up and take her shoulders.
"Toph, now my understanding goes beyond what my limited mind could ever have! Reality and space warp before my eyes into a quantum field showing me the truth of the universe!"
"What is a quantum field?" Toph asked, strangely feeling too tired to complain about Uzumaki, who was holding her shoulders.
"There are different access routes to reality, which are determined by the knowing being, methodological instrument, object of study, epistemological axis, among others. Reality presents several faces; what is observable is what is sensory perceived, and the empirical data obtained correspond to the visible. The main thing is to discover the hidden side, what is behind the perceptible or the data. The epistemological constitutes the entire process of obtaining scientific knowledge, which goes from pre-knowledge to achieving knowledge of the hidden side. 'One thing is what is seen and is not, and another is that what is not seen is really what it is!'"
"Eh?"
None of those present understood a single word of what their friend was saying, as he released Toph to let her fall into the sand.
"Don't you understand?! Our reality is just the invention of a higher being! He only did it because he was bored! He knows everything we do! He tells us what to do, and we can only obey!"
"Do you want me to hit him?" Toph was already forming a sand club to hit his lunatic friend's head, who was now drawing strange things in the sand.
"You won't hit anyone, Toph," Katara had to be the voice of reason and made the blind bandit put down her club. "What is Nickelodeon?" she asked herself worriedly as she saw one of the many words written in the sand.
Who was Alzero?
"I can see the past, the present, and the future. My understanding goes beyond what any human has ever achieved." That Naruto said that while still drawing meaningless things in the sand made him look like a potential psychopath. "But 'What's the point... if I'm just a puppet.'"
"Naruto?" Katara was scared when the boy appeared before her, holding her shoulders tightly. She was very worried about his eyes that did not stop looking at her.
"We have to break the cycle, Katara! They control us and see us! I have to do things they don't expect!"
"They don't understand-"
Katara couldn't continue when she was holding his waist and being close, too close to Uzumaki, who collided his lips with hers in a deep tongue kiss, which lasted almost a minute.
"What's going on? Hello?" Toph on his side only heard silence and strange sounds that he didn't know what they were.
As for Sokka, his mouth was open just like Momo when he saw how his sister was kissed by the sorcerer.
The kiss ended with a blushing Katara, who felt her knees tremble and a heat that not only spread to her cheeks.
"What did you think of that?! You probably already knew what would happen!" Naruto was far from finished; he felt too hyped up, wanting to reveal himself to the gods watching him. "How about this?!"
"Kyyaaa!" Giving a strange, high-pitched screech, Katara covered her eyes as she watched the boy now tear off his clothes until he was naked.
"What's going on? Tell me!" Toph felt like he was missing out on all the fun.
"Of so many worlds... Why not Fairy Tail?!" Naruto went from fury to near tears, looking at the sky. "It's a more fun world! And the girls there... their breasts! Mirajane! Cana! Juvia! Lucy! Erza! For God's sake! Erza!"
The Uzumaki's crying ended when he received a hard blow to the head from a club carried by an angry Toph, who got tired of hearing the boy cry while repeating names of girls and tits.
Everything was silent in the desert until Aang arrived and saw everything strangely.
What happened while I was gone?
....
"Is he alright, my lady?"
"...?" Azula stopped eating the fish meat, feeling a strange feeling of annoyance. She always felt angry, but now more than usual, and she could only think about a certain hyperactive mouthy blonde.
"They say that a woman feels upset when her soulmate is with another person," Iroh said with amusement as he continued drinking his delicious tea.
"That explains why women are always angry." The soldier who said that was hit by his boss; she sent him to sleep with one blow.
"Wow..." Despite having the murderous gaze of many women on him, the legendary dragon of the west didn't even flinch. "Don't you think it's a nice night?" he asked, smiling at the peaceful panorama.
All the refugees had set up a large camp, sharing the little they had among themselves so that everyone at least had a plate of food.
And sitting around a campfire was the small group of firebenders and their companion/self-proclaimed servant of Azula.
"Do you have a soulmate, Lady Zu?"
Sōkō couldn't help but imagine the lucky man who had his Lady's heart; he had to be a full-fledged warrior, large and intimidating, who with his mere presence makes even the strongest bending masters tremble.
She wished to meet him, just to test him and see if she was worthy of her Lady's hand.
"I don't have a soulmate," Azula spat furiously. She now had to deal with the image of that boy in her head for just mentioning him. "I would never have someone so different from me as a soulmate."
"Oh yeah?" With a playful smile, Iroh shook his head. "Many believe that the soulmate is only the person who looks like you, shares your way of thinking and lives, or the opposite, who is completely different from you. You know that rare phrase of 'opposites attract'?"
"And what is a soulmate to you, old man?" Azula asked mockingly at the beginning of one of her uncle's long philosophical talks, which always managed to catch the attention of all the peasants.
"Complement and bring balance."
"…?"
"Like the most beautiful dance, a relationship between two people must have two things: passion and patience. If the boy you love is tenacious and abrupt, you must give him tact and affection. At the same time, you learn from him. This will do for both of them to complement each other and improve, to be the best version of themselves with the person who helped them be who they are..."
"…"
"I was once a soldier hungry for adventure and glory, but very reckless and ignorant, until I met the woman who changed my life." Smiling nostalgically, the old man remembered the face of the woman who, until now, continued to love her like he did the first day. "She was just a school teacher from a small town. She was so smart and funny, she always managed to make anyone smile."
"..." Azula listened to everything carefully. Her uncle had never spoken about her aunt, who, if she remembered correctly, had died with the birth of her son.
"Although unfortunately many abused her kindness, she always just wanted to help, and many times people failed her. I had to teach her something simple..."
"..." Everyone around the campfire was silent, listening to the old man, from the smallest child resting in his mother's bosom to the most exhausted old man clutching his cane.
"If someone needs help, first see if they deserve it. There's no point in helping someone who doesn't even appreciate something as valuable as offering your hand as support and guidance." With a soft sigh, he lowered his cup of tea. "It is disappointing to see how those people we help do not value your gesture of good faith towards them."
"..." Azula felt those words go through her chest. Even if she kept an expression, she knew that her uncle could be giving her a message. He offered everything for her—help, support, and faith.
She... Could she disappoint him?
She stopped thinking about that to just focus on the campfire at her feet.
Those that complement and balance us?
It sounded… good.
In silence, the girl settled down to sleep, unable to avoid thinking about the hard-headed Uzumaki.