Chapter-117

"You're gonna collapse under your own progress. You stopped getting better for yourselves, now you're just moving forward to wreck each other."

Humans always changed and got better. Wan Shi Tong saw them start clumsy, barely knowing how to walk or use tools.

Everything changed as they adapted to a world trying to destroy them with disasters, predators, and sickness.

In the end, they always came out on top, using only their imagination and hands to make the world they now ruled.

They stopped using mud for art on walls, instead creating beautiful paintings.

Their rock-wielding hands became skilled at using instruments for the loveliest music.

From writing with blood in caves to creating poetry and books full of wisdom, they treasured their knowledge.

But... humans were as smart as they were dumb.

They destroyed each other in endless wars.

"It's true..." Naruto wasn't a wise scholar; he just had his own ideas. "We're so focused on beating others and making better weapons that we forget to improve ourselves. We forget how to be better people."

The knowledge spirit looked at the boy, with a kind and calm smile. It had been a while since he'd met a human as curious.

"You're wise for being so young."

"And you're kind for a big bird that could eat me."

"…"

"Just a joke."

"Human humor is strange."

"Well, jokes aren't my thing; that's Sokka's."

A small wolf entered the room, barking.

Naruto saw the owl's feathers ruffle and a furious look.

He made his clone disappear, frowning.

"Here's a dumb Sokka."

"You betrayed my trust!"

The bird spread its wings, almost blowing Naruto away.

"Wait!"

"I trusted you, and you repaid me with theft!"

Naruto jumped to avoid the owl's attack.

He used a smoke bomb and escaped to find his friends.

With his clone's memory, he quickly found them.

"Hey!" Sokka didn't expect to be grabbed and lifted off the ground by the angry wizard.

"Did you really just say 'we'll use this information to bring down the Fire Nation' out loud here?!"

"Of course not."

*Punch*

"I deserved it," admitted the teenager from the tribe, rubbing his jaw in pain from the hard hit Naruto gave him.

"We have to go."

"Why?" Aang's response came with the explosion of a wall, and a furious Wan Shi Tong emerged. "Oh... I see."

"This will be the last time a human sets foot in this library."

The library began to shake, and everyone felt it sinking into the sand. Toph halted the collapse, holding the library from sinking from the surface.

"We must go!" Naruto pulled out a rope, tied it around himself, the teacher, and his classmates, and jumped, running across the roof.

Behind him, the big bird chased, causing destruction.

The chase was short-lived as the Owl cut the rope with its beak. Naruto quickly made copies to catch his other companions.

Facing the original, he held a spinning Rasengan but chose not to use it. Instead, he made it disappear and looked into the spirit's eyes. "I don't want to fight."

"It's too late to repent."

"Maybe so, maybe not." Naruto had a copy take Sokka's backpack and placed it in the paws of the Owl, who became smaller and calmer.

With a flap of its wings, the spirit made all the stolen books return. Without a word, it flew into the darkness of the library.

Sighing in relief, the avatar team may have felt calm, or maybe not. The library shook harder, and they saw the tower to the exit filling with sand.

"Aang!"

"Understood!" Aang used his glider to fly upward, taking Katara with him.

"I'm sorry," Sokka apologized to the sorcerer, realizing he had ruined things by taking so many books.

"If you're going to steal, do it quietly."

Confused, Sokka saw the sorcerer hand him the paper with the solar eclipse information. "When?"

"You don't always have to steal a book to have knowledge; you can copy it on a small sheet of paper."

"You're a great sorcerer!" Sokka was lifted out of the library by Aang.

Now only two people remained, and one of them was unwilling to leave.

"Teacher?" Naruto looked confused at the professor, surrounded by books. "We have to go out."

"I won't leave, not when I'm in the place I've been looking for all my life."

"But... he will die," Naruto said, looking at the sand filling the library.

"So what? I'd rather stay here and enjoy the short time I live with all this knowledge than live a long life with the regret of leaving it behind."

"You're crazy," Naruto was tempted to grab the professor and drag him to the exit.

But seeing him so happy, he sighed. "I hope you enjoy reading it, professor."

"I will."

Without further ado, Naruto made a powerful jump, reached the tower, and ran towards the roof. He created a Rasengan that crashed against the tower's roof, breaking free from the library.

Only to fall into a somber atmosphere with Toph sitting in the sand, head bowed, and Aang staring at the horizon with tear-clouded eyes. In a second, he realized the absence of a Team Avatar member; Appa had been captured.