A Spirit of Elements Chapter 16 (Demonic Power) (Patreon)

Republic City

"Wow, I can't believe this is all for me," Korra said in awe.

The gala took place in Republic City's Qua-Yung Club. The club, named after its founder, was only used in the most important of events, and it provided all of the needs of the richest men and women attending the gala, such as expensive drinks, overly fancy food, and more waiters than one could count at their disposal. The place was big and full of glamorous decorations. Because this was her first attending to a 'high society' event, Korra supposed she shouldn't go in her usual clothes. Instead, she wore a simple yet elegant dark-blue water tribe dress.

"And I can't believe how good you look in that dress." Naruto complimented her. He had never seen her wearing a dress before, and she looked great.

Korra giggled and blushed faintly. "Thanks, Naruto. You don't look so bad yourself."

True enough, Naruto did look handsome. His attire consisted in the same pants and boots; a rolled up white shirt that covered his elbows with the first two buttons undone. The shirt was covered by his unzipped jacket and a couple of black wristbands. He also wore a blue necklace with the kanji for 'strength' on one side and the kanji for 'will' on the other. His shirt was tucked out, giving a sense of a more informal clothing fashion. Long story short, he looked dashing.

"I'm not sure what Tarrlok is plotting, but keep your guard up. It's not like him to throw a party just for the fun of it." Tenzin warned.

Just as Tenzin finished talking, Tarrlok showed up.

"Councilman Tenzin, Naruto, and Avatar Korra is good to see you," Tarrlok said with a fake smile; Naruto greeted him back, and so did Tenzin, despite not liking being close to Tarrlok.

"Quite a party you started, Tarrlok," Naruto said through clenched teeth, he remembered how much non-benders were suffering, and this party was like a slap in the face.

"Indeed, A party for The Avatar should always be a big one," Tarrlok said before pointing at the party behind him.

Korra blushed slightly at the thought of a party about her, but she knew this was just games; from the corner of her eyes, she could see Naruto keeping a calm look as if he fully agreed with Tarrlok's statement, but she could see through his mask.

"Come with me, Avatar Korra; there are some people I would like you to meet," Tarrlok said, smiling.

Korra reluctantly followed, but Naruto didn't stay far behind.

As he wandered around, Naruto saw Tarrlok introducing Korra to some of Republic City's most influential figures.

Korra soon came face to face with a man, followed closely by a woman around his age.

"Avatar Korra is an honor to meet you," The woman spoke first with a smile.

Korra wasn't sure how to respond since she didn't actually know them, but then her eyes found Mako with Bolin, followed by a beautiful dark-haired woman.

"Is good to meet you too... Who are you?" Korra asked, rubbing her neck nervously.

"My name is Hiroshi Sato; this is my wife Yasuko Sato," the man introduced himself and his wife.

While the man was keeping the face of the businessman, his wife was smiling brightly at Korra as if she had known Korra all her life.

"Naruto has talked a lot about you; we expect greatness from you," Yasuko said, smiling at the Avatar, who was startled; how did she know Naruto, from where??

Before Korra could ask from where they knew Naruto, her favorite blonde just happened to make his way over to them.

"Naruto is good to see you again," Yasuko said kindly towards the young man, who returned the smile, shaking their hands, Naruto turned to Hiroshi, who smiled back, but Naruto could tell something was wrong.

"Naruto, my boy, it's been a while. How is your project going?" Hiroshi asked, turning his attention towards the young man who frowned mentally, knowing his project wasn't really going anywhere.

Yasuko seemed to notice his discomfort; she wondered why her husband had to ask him that; they knew his Non-Benders project wasn't going good, deciding to change the subject. "Don't ask about business for once, Hiroshi; how about you ask how he has been or something else," She spoke with a stern tone towards her husband, who gulped before nodding his head in agreement.

Korra suddenly felt left out, she didn't know any of these people, and Naruto seemed to know all of them before she could try and talk with Naruto.

Naruto was about to talk to Korra about who the old couple was when...

A voice called...

"Naruto," Korra turned around in time to see the woman with dark hair and a long red dress approaching them, followed closely by Mako and Bolin, almost as if they were her bodyguards.

Korra then noticed the way the dark-haired woman was looking at Naruto; somehow, she felt uncomfortable with the way she was looking at her Naruto... Wait What?!

"Asami," Naruto smiled brightly in a way Korra had never seen before, his face seemed to be shining like a piece of jewelry, but before she could ask who the woman was or how he knew her, the dark-haired woman grabbed his hand before kissing him right in the lips...

.

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What!

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What Is Going On??

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Korra felt her world crumbling; her breath was suddenly stuck in her throat as if someone was holding her throat tightly, not letting her breathe.

She closed her eyes tightly for a second, opening them again; the same image was in front of her, Naruto returning the affection, not acting as if that wasn't supposed to happen or acting surprised.

N-N-Nar-Naruto..." she whispered, feeling her heartbreaking in pieces like a piece of glass.

Turning around, Korra desperately tried to catch her breath; she shouldn't make a scene in front of all these people; she took a huge breath before turning around, but no one seemed to have noticed the strange way she was acting. Maybe.

"Yo, guys!" Naruto exclaimed, turning to Mako and Bolin.

"Hey Naruto, good to see you," Mako said with an uncharacteristic smile. He and Naruto shared a handshake while Bolin and Naruto fist-bumped.

Naruto then turned to Asami, ready to introduce her to Korra. Grabbing her hand, they both turned to look at Korra.

"Asami, this is Korra," Naruto said, pointing at Korra, who was trying her hardest to act normal; the blonde noticed right away that something was off with her.

"Pleasure to meet you, Avatar Korra. My name is Asami; Naruto has talked a lot about you," Asami said, shaking the hand of the other woman who shook her hand before moving her hand away.

"Really! Because he hasn't talked about you, At All! How do you know him??" Korra asked with a tone almost as if she was interrogating her and not asking a friendly question.

"I wanted to meet you in person myself, and we have known each other for ten years now," Asami answered, gently holding Naruto's hand. Korra's eyes widened, and if things couldn't get any worse.

"Yes, and thanks to Naruto's girlfriend, Mr. Sato has agreed to sponsor our team," Bolin said cheerfully, thinking of this as one of the happiest moments in his life; Mako nodded in agreement; he knew he had quite a debt.

Korra's jaw fell to the floor; this couldn't be real; now she understood why Naruto was secretive about his friend; she was his girlfriend.

Korra suddenly grabbed Naruto's hand, almost dragging him away from them. This caught them by surprise, everyone except Asami, who understood what was happening inside Korra's mind.

After being far enough from the others, Korra finally stopped dragging Naruto away, glancing around as if to see if someone was looking at them. She turned around to meet Naruto's eyes, who were looking at her with a hint of anger, but at this point, she didn't really care; she wanted to clear a few things with Naruto.

"What's wrong, Korra?" Naruto asked, with a somehow calm tone.

"What Do you Mean 'What's wrong, Korra?' Why you never told me you had a girlfriend? How long have you been together???"

"Three years," Naruto answered; Korra's jaw fell to the floor, to think they had been together for three years and she knew nothing; Korra knew Naruto was rarely at the South Pole since he started helping. Tenzin with his jobs seven years ago, but...

"Why... Why Didn't You Tell Me?!" Korra asked, but more like shouting at Naruto, who tried to approach, but she stepped back.

"Korra, every time I came to the South Pole, I wanted to spend time with my family and you; I didn't think talking about my girlfriend to you would be an enjoyable time for you," Naruto said, feeling that Korra was hurt.

'But I Like you,' she thought bitterly before walking away, not wanting to see anyone.

"Despite everything, I told you four years ago about my...but you just thought I was joking," Naruto said bitterly; it had been four years ago.

Korra remembered what he was talking about; back then, she hadn't been sure what she felt about Naruto, and instead of accepting his invitation for a date for her birthday, she had just laughed, thinking Naruto was just making a joke as usual.

Silence took over, and Korra felt like an air bison was on top of her.

"Korra, I need to go back to Asami," Naruto said sadly, walking away from her; Korra saw him walking away and couldn't help but feel trapped in a way.

She had been ready for almost a year to show Naruto her feelings, and now, everything had gone down the hill.

Soon Korra saw someone she really didn't want to meet right now.

"Chief Beifong, I believe you and the Avatar have already met," Tarrlok said as Lin approached with a full glare on Korra.

Lin started speaking. "Just because this city's throwing you a party, don't think you're someone special. You've done absolutely nothing to deserve this."

Korra winced from her words, feeling even worst than before.

Seeing things not going well, Naruto approached Lin and went straight into her wrinkled face. "And you'd be wise to back off now, Granny," he said, deadly serious.

Chief Beifong didn't expect to run into Naruto but kept her angry face on. "What do you want, brat? You want me to beat your teeth out?"

The Airbender smirked and slowly raised his arms with his palms open in a defying gesture. "Go for it, granny."

Everyone except Korra was surprised. Lin was known for her temper and her skills, and now Naruto was taunting her. If it wasn't because of the situation she was in; Chief Beifong would have gladly kicked the crap out of that disrespectful little punk. However, that would only give her more paperwork to do, and she would have to deal with Tenzin. In the end, she just 'hmpfed' and left.

After a while, Tarrlok presented Korra to the reporters, who were ready to make questions. This didn't make sense to Naruto. Reporters should be waiting outside the club like they always did. If they were inside, that was because the host let them in. And the host of the party was...

'Tarrlok.' Naruto mentally growled. Oh, he so was going to have a talk with him.

"Avatar Korra!" a random reporter started to say. "You witness Amon take away people's bending first hand. How serious of a threat he is to the innocent citizens of Republic City?"

"I think he presents a real problem," Korra responded after clearing her throat.

"Then why have you refused to join Tarrlok's task force? As the Avatar, shouldn't you be going after Amon?"

"Well... I-"

"Why are you walking away from this fight?"

"What? I've never backed away from anything in my life!"

"You promised to serve this city. Are you going back on that promise now?"

"Do you think Pro-bending is more important than fighting the revolution?"

"How do you think Avatar Aang would have handled this?"

"Are you afraid of Amon?"

"I am not afraid of anybody!" Korra shouted. "If this city needs me, then... I'll join Tarrlok's task force and help fight Amon."

Tarrlok smirked. "There's your headline, folks!" he said as he looped an arm around Korra's shoulder, a perfect pose for the cameramen's to photograph. Tenzin closed his eyes in sadness while Naruto was breathing hard out of anger.

'That bastard.'

Once all the reporters had left, Naruto followed Tarrlok to the bathroom. He found him washing his hands with a big triumphant smile on his face.

"You set Korra up, didn't you?" Naruto asked, furious.

The councilman had the audacity to feign ignorance. "I must say I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me. You made those reporters ask Korra those questions so you could make her nervous and get her to join you. Your gifts didn't work, so you came up with this."

Tarrlok laughed and kept his smile on. "Well, what can you do? Reporters nowadays can be quite... persuasive," he said as he walked pass Naruto by his side. Naruto immediately grabbed him by the collar of his blue suit and slammed him hard into the wall.

"I'm gonna say this just once. Something happens to Korra, and there will be no task force, no bender, no Spirit that will save you from ME." Naruto said with red blood eyes before dropping Tarrlok and leaving the bathroom.

The little incident didn't affect Tarrlok. He now had Korra on her side, and his plan was going perfectly.

However, something in the eyes of Naruto almost reminded Tarrlok of his own father, the way he would scare him.

A week had passed since Korra joined the task force. She had been spending less and less time in the Air Temple, and her absence was instantly noticed. No more airbending training, no more Pro-bending, just the task force.

Naruto didn't try to hide that he didn't like the idea of the Task Force; Tarrlok had control over it but not the city; he could do whatever he wanted with it.

Tonight, she had a press conference about her current progress on the campaign against the Revolution.

"Avatar Korra has bravely answered the call. With the two of us leading the charge, Republic City has nothing to fear from Amon and the Equalists." Tarrlok said as the conference began.

"Question for the Avatar! Amon remains at large. Why have you failed to locate him?"

"You want to know why? Because Amon is hiding in the shadows like a coward! Amon, I challenge you to a duel. No task force, no chi-blockers. Just the two of us at midnight at Avatar Aang's Memorial Island. Let's cut the chase and settle this; if you're man enough, face me." Korra challenged before walking away.

Air Temple

"SHE WHAT!?" Naruto asked/roared at his aunt. He just couldn't believe how stupid Korra was!

"Please, Naruto, you have to stop her! Who knows what Amon will do to her." Pema pleaded to her nephew.

"Where is she now?" Naruto asked as he made his way to Sozu's nest along with Pema. He needed a fast ride to catch her on time.

"I think she's in the docks of the city. Tenzin already went to talk to her, but I don't think she will listen to him."

Naruto nodded. When he approached Sozu, the Raven-Eagle could already sense Naruto's tension. That meant there was no time for jokes. 'What's the matter, brat?' Sozu asked.

"We need to go Republic City fast. I'll explain later." was the only thing Naruto said to him as they started flying.

Along the way, Naruto was thinking about Korra and her decision to challenge Amon publicly. Needless to say, he was mad at her. This happened because Korra was too proud to admit she was scared. He understood she couldn't announce it to everybody in Republic City. After all, she was the Avatar, and she was expected to be brave and to take action. The thing he was angry about was that she couldn't bring herself to admit it to him. Instead, she decided to put on a mask of security to hide her fear and go all out against the one that terrified her. Once again, this situation confirmed to Naruto that people made stupid decisions when they were scared.

Before they landed on the docks, Sozu talked to Naruto. 'Hey brat, there are a couple of unknown humans there. Are you sure it's wise to let them see me?'

"It's not very wise, but this is an emergency," Naruto replied.

Finally, Naruto reached the docks. He saw Korra was ready to go on a boat as Tenzin and Tarrlok argued.

"This is all your doing!" Tenzin shouted at Tarrlok.

"I tried to talk her out of it too, but she's made up her mind." Tarrlok defended himself.

Just before Korra could leave, Naruto reached her. "Korra, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to face Amon once and for all; what else?" Korra replied angrily.

"Do you even know what you're up against? You have no idea what Amon is planning to do! I know you're scared, but this is not-"

"I AM NOT SCARED! WHY DON'T YOU JUST FORGET ABOUT ME AND GO TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND," Korra shouted at the top of her lungs.

"YES, YOU ARE!" Naruto shouted back even harder, ignoring what she said about Asami. He had enough of her attitude. "In fact, you're not just scared; you're terrified! But the problem is that you are far too proud, stubborn, and immature to admit it! And because of that, you made a ridiculous decision!"

"What part of saving Republic City from the Equalists is ridiculous!?"

"Facing Amon all by yourself when you don't know what he's going to do is ridiculous! Actually, it's not just ridiculous; it's downright idiotic!"

Korra just stood there in silence. "You don't know what you're talking about," she muttered.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. "You know what? Do whatever you want. It's obvious that you don't give a damn about the people who care about you." he said before leaving with Sozu.

The Avatar left as well, waterbending her way to the Avatar Aang's Memorial Island. As she was reaching her destination, Korra was pondering about the things Naruto had just told her. She had never seen Naruto so angry before. It really made her sad, but there was no turning back now. She was going to fight, and she didn't want anything distracting her.

Avatar Aang's Memorial Island

One hour had passed since midnight, and Amon was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess you're a no-show, Amon. Who's scared now?" Korra thought out loud as she stood up and started to leave.

When she was near the exit, Korra suddenly felt something in her legs and tripped. She looked down and saw a whip coming from the shadows. Korra was pulled over by the whip into the darkness. She burnt the whip by firebending with her feet and quickly stood up. There were a total of twenty chi-blockers surrounding her with glowing red eyes. Before she could react, two other whips caught her hands and separated them, leaving her with only her feet to defend herself. With the use of her legs, she used earthbending and firebending to keep at bay as many chi-blockers as she could, but then two chi-blockers caught her off guard and started hitting her chi points, leaving her unconscious.

Korra woke up seeing nothing but blurry images. She tried to move, but no part of her body would respond. Some chi-blockers grabbed her arms and forced her to look up at the man standing in front of her.

Amon.

"I received your invitation, young Avatar," he said with a voice so life-less and monotone that Korra began to panic. Amon lifted his right hand and started moving closer to her.

Korra was petrified. It was literally her nightmare coming true. She couldn't do anything but watch how Amon was going to take her bending away. Closing her eyes, she remembered everything that Naruto had told her. He was right. She made a terrible mistake, and now she was going to pay the price.

"Amon!"

Everyone turned around to see a young man at the entrance. The young man was wearing black pants and boots along with a sleeveless grey jacket. His face had a murderous expression.

"N-Naruto." Korra gasped.

"If you want to take away someone's bending, how about you try taking mine?"

The Equalist leader turned around to inspect the one challenging him. "I see, so Naruto has finally shown himself," Amon said and gestured for everyone to stay put.

Korra didn't understand why Amon wasn't trying to fight Naruto; even the blonde was confused.

"You know I have heard quite a bit about you; your project for Non-Benders is quite fascinating, even my own people talk about your deeds, especially how you tried to put a Non-Benders in a council, but you didn't get the votes," Amon spoke with genuine respect towards Naruto.

The blonde just narrowed his eyes at the masked man, wondering where he was going with this?

"You have seen firsthand how the Non-benders suffer, even a little boy whose dream will never be fulfilled because they don't accept Non-benders pilots," Amon said; Korra wasn't sure of which boy he was talking about, but the anger in Naruto's eyes showed he knew what Amon was talking about.

Ziyo

"Unlike the others, you actually care for everyone, join me, Naruto, and together we will bring true equality," Amon finished before offering his hand for Naruto to shake and accept.

Korra knew Naruto would never betray her; he was her friend since she could remember herself, please Naruto, I'm Sorry...

Naruto stood silent for several seconds, he, too, wanted equality between Benders and Non-Benders, but this wasn't the way to do it. There were too many technological things that depended on bending, not mentioning that it is impossible even if Amon tried, even in his best scenario, after his death, Benders would eventually be born again.

Taking a deep breath, his eyes found the mask of Amon

"I want Equality too, Amon, but taking bending forcefully is not the right way. Non-benders have already suffered; this thing you're trying to do will only make things worse; how exactly do you think technology will stay like this without the help of the Benders? Taking the bending away would make everything we have built so far fall apart." Naruto said with determination.

Amon thought of his words before a sigh escaped his lips.

"Such a shame," he said before gesturing for them to attack Naruto.

His henchmen started running towards the boy, ready for whatever bending he might try to defend himself with. It didn't matter if he was a firebender, a waterbender, or an earthbender. They were specialized to neutralize the ones like him.

What they didn't know was that Naruto was not the kind of bender they expected him to be.

Ten chi-blockers charged in a line formation. He clenched his fists and lowered them near his waist. Once his enemies were close enough, Naruto took a step forward and released a powerful gust of air out of his hands. The chi-blockers were not expecting this kind of attack and were violently pushed back a few meters, smashing themselves into the ground and the pillars around them. Some of them were unconscious, and the others were too injured to fight back.

Before the others could take action, Naruto blew a loud whistle. Seconds later, a giant bird entered the place and crashed into the remaining chi-blockers. The poor bastards were so taken by surprise that they couldn't defend themselves against the beast they were up against. Apparently, the Equalist chi-blocking academy didn't include lessons for how to fight an Alpha Raven Eagle. Too bad for them.

Soon more henchmen came, but one of them decided to do something that not even Amon saw coming.

Grabbing Korra's hair, he shouted, gaining the attention of everyone. "Take One Step Closer, and I will kill this Bitch," one of them shouted, holding a knife close to Korra's neck, so close that her skin started bleeding; everyone was taken aback, especially Naruto, before his eyes turned blood red, leaving out an angry growl like that of an animal.

"Henchmen, Stand Down," Amon ordered his men, knowing the danger it could bring if the Avatar was killed; he had no sympathy for her, but killing her could easily ruin everything, and killing her wasn't his intention.

"No, if the Avatar dies, so will The Hope of All Benders," the man shouted before raising his hand, ready to plunge his knife into Korra's throat. Who closed her eyes, expecting everything to end, but instead, she heard a bloody scream; suddenly, her hair wasn't being held anymore, causing her to fall into the dirt. And the sound of flesh being ripped apart was ringing in her ears like a bell.

Opening her eyes, she saw the man who threatened her was dead on the ground; his blood had splattered everywhere, but that wasn't what grabbed Korra's attention, instead was Naruto, whose eyes had turned blood red, his whole body was covered in a red substance that looked like bubbles, but the most horrifying thing was Naruto's claws that had ripped the man in two.

His guts were all over the grass and dirt; his head was almost ripped out.

"N-Na-Naruto," Korra whispered, worried; soon, a tail grew behind Naruto, causing a feeling of pure malice to spreading everywhere.

Her childhood friend looked at Amon and the others, who were frozen in fear, with a bloody smile.

"Who's Next?"