The whole tribe sought cover when a massive geyser erupted in the heart of their village. They cautiously relaxed when they recognized their own, specifically the Avatar accompanied by Niisa, the latter carrying a motionless Naruto on her back.

"We need help!" Aang cried out to the winds as he knelt beside his fallen friend. Several waterbenders swiftly arrived to tend to him.

"Naruto!" Katara arrived in a hurry and was horrified to see the golden-haired boy covered in blood.

"What happened to him?" Master Pakku urgently examined the boy, revealing numerous punctures across his chest, arms, and stomach that wouldn't stop bleeding.

"They used some strange weapons on him! I shouldn't have let him go alone!" Aang exclaimed, panicked and desperate to help.

"It's okay, Aang. This is not your fault." Sokka had to steady the distraught boy who seemed on the verge of collapsing.

"I've never seen anything like this." The elderly tribe healer inspected the bizarre wounds, resembling arrow wounds, but she noticed a small black object in one of them. Without hesitation, she pushed her fingers into the wound, extracting what appeared to be a misshapen metal sphere.

"Katara!"

Katara, still in shock, stared at Naruto's pale face, which showed no sign of movement.

"Katara!" The healer grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her out of her trance. "You and Niisa, help me! Use water to clean the wounds and remove the projectiles!"

"I... I don't know..."

"If we don't act, he won't make it."

"Stand aside." Without hesitation, Niisa knelt beside the boy, using water to flush out the wounds and extract the projectiles.

"..." Katara hesitated for a few moments until she glanced at Naruto's face. She bit her lower lip until it bled, then crawled over to the other waterbender and began to extract the projectiles from his body. It took them nearly two minutes to remove them all.

Once they were done, they used waterbending to do their best at closing his wounds. "This might not be enough to stop the bleeding," Niisa commented. She removed her jacket, tearing it into several strips of cloth. Katara followed suit, and together they applied makeshift bandages as tightly as they could to stem the blood flow.

They faced anxious minutes of tension until things quieted down.

"He's not breathing..." Niisa laid her head on the boy's chest, feeling for any signs of a heartbeat.

"No," Katara whispered, sensing an overwhelming burden on her shoulders. "Naruto! Wake up!"

"Yelling at him won't bring him back, girl!" Niisa growled as she started doing chest compressions to keep the blood pumping, "Give him mouth-to-mouth every ten seconds!"

Katara complied without hesitation. Covering Naruto's nose, she administered breaths every ten seconds. There were multiple attempts, and almost three minutes passed in deafening silence throughout the tribe.

"Come on, kid, you can do it." Niisa continued chest compressions, feeling the cold blood seeping onto her hands from the blood-soaked bandages.

"That's enough..." The elderly tribe member noticed the futility of their efforts, and the boy showed no signs of revival. She tried to separate Katara from Naruto, and the young waterbender resisted. "Enough is enough."

"No!" Katara vehemently opposed the older woman's attempt to stop. "He's not dead!" She wanted to continue, but Niisa had ceased. "Why are you stopping? You have to keep going!"

"He's gone."

"He's not!"

"Katara," her brother tried to comfort her, but she pushed him away.

"No! He has to live! He's just a child! A kind and happy child! People like him shouldn't die!" Katara collapsed to the ground, her tears streaming down her face as she struggled to bring him back. "Good people don't have to die! He doesn't! He... No...!" Her arms gave way to exhaustion, and she could only sit beside him.

"..." Aang looked away, setting aside his staff and slowly moving to Katara's side, taking a seat.

"..." Sokka followed suit, sitting beside his younger sister. The only sound was Katara's inconsolable sobbing.

It's all over.

"You guys are too loud…"

Everyone was astonished when they saw the boy once more. He still had his eyes closed but wore a faint smile on his lips. A red glow surrounded him for a brief moment before fading away. Slowly, Naruto settled on the snow, his expression fatigued, yet still wearing that characteristic grin.

"..." Katara, Sokka, and Aang remained silent, observing their friend seated in front of them.

"What happened?" Confusion furrowed Naruto's brow, and he scratched his head. "I'm sorry if I worried you, but don't fret. You won't get rid of me so easily. I won't die until I achieve my dream. That's a promise." He raised his thumb to his friends, offering his signature grin.

"Tu…"

"Hug?" Naruto tilted his head, perplexed, when Katara began crying again. He was about to inquire about what was wrong.

"You are a fool!" She exclaimed and slapped him hard.

"Hey! What did I do?"

In response, the waterbender wrapped her arms tightly around Naruto, hugging him with all her strength as she cried. "I thought... I thought..." Her voice quivered as she held him close and rested her face on his shoulder. "I thought you were gone..."

"..." Naruto gradually raised his arms to return the embrace, burying his face in the girl's chest. They remained in silence for several moments. "I... I'm sorry."

"You..." Smiling through her tears, the girl maintained the hug as if fearing that he would vanish if she let go. "Don't do this again, never... never do something so reckless again."

"I can't promise I won't do anything reckless... it's just who I am."

"Idiot."

[ If you want to read advance Chapters then go to Pat reon and support me there.

PAT REON I'D:- Alzero ]