I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or Naruto. Just saying.

Toph awoke to blackness like every other day. It was nothing new.

However, her hands being chained above her was unfamiliar. So was having her legs tied and bound with some sort of really thick fabric.

She felt a spike of frustration. How had they known?

Toph tried to shimmy out of them, but whoever had tied them knew their knots.

"You awake?"

It was a strange voice she had never heard before, male, brusque, and solemn. Somewhere to her left. Toph stiffened. "Who's there?"

"Your name is Toph, right?" The speaker asked.

"You probably already know that," she hissed, pulling at the bands on her wrists. "Let me go before I come over there and smack that grin off your face."

"How can you tell?" The voice asked. "That I'm smiling?"

Toph didn't bother with a reply. "Either let me out or go away, your choice."

She could hear the speaker start to reply, but then a door opened and footsteps echoed on the floor.

"Tell me, Toph. What would you do with a threat to your hometown?"

Toph tried to squish the feeling of total relief that accompanied Shikaku's voice, drawling and irritating as it was.

She didn't even know him all that well! There was no reason for feeling anything.

She cocked her head, feigning nonchalance. "There's no one more powerful than I am."

When it came to Earthbending. King Bumi excluded. Toph added on the last bit in her head.

Shikaku let out a sigh. She heard him sit down, presumably in front of her. "Do you play any games? Shogi, or a different board game?"

She scoffed, remembering a short time when she'd earned an abundance of money by scamming scammers. "Only when I can see."

"Inoichi said you were definitely blind," the older man's voice was higher above her, now. Toph heard the clink of metal on metal and her hands were suddenly freed.

She rubbed her wrists, then felt for the stuff around her feet. It came off reluctantly, but once it was gone she tossed it to the side and touched her bare feet to the ground.

She could 'see' again.

There was a guard in the corner, playing with a small knife. There were no table or chairs in the small cell (It could be just a room, but cell sounded more dramatic), just Shikaku setting a board down on the ground in front of her. Them.

"What's this?" Toph asked. She tapped the ground to try and get a better view.

"Shogi," Shikaku was placing tiny, identical pieces onto the board. "Ever play before?"

At her shaken head, he began to explain, and held up a piece. "This one is the king; it has the kanji for king on... it."

Toph waved a hand in front of her face. "I can't read."

He cocked his head. "Could you make pieces you can tell apart?"

Well.

She could.

It only required a more precise touch. The question was, should she?

Toph turned it over in her mind, then pulled a chunk of stone from the ground. "What other pieces are there?"

▪▪▪

Well. She had complete control over her powers. She sculpted each piece from solid rock, the smooth surfaces giving way under her fingers like clay.

Any yet, when Shikaku touched them, it was cold, hard stone.

It was a very unique set she was making, too. He would name the piece, the way it moved, and it's importance, and she would make it modeled after tiny people.

Shikaku didn't recognise any of them. The gold generals were sturdily built older men, with identical armour and topknots. The silver generals were a hunched but muscular old man, shirtless, and bedecked with jewels.

The bishop was a woman holding a flask, her hair in a long braid. The rook was a young man holding a boomerang over his head.

Tophs fingers manipulated a small rock as she made a pawn. "Why are you here? I mean, it's obvious you want something."

Shikaku turned over the tiny woman. The detail was incredible, from her slit skirt to her odd hair loops.

"Where did you learn how to do this?" He asked.

"My Sifu was... unique," Toph set a tiny animal with huge ears on the board. "Even among earthbenders."

"What is this Earthbending thing you keep mentioning?" Shikaku began to set the pieces on the board.

Toph held up another piece of the floor. "It's a lot of things. I'm not exactly sure how to explain. Are you sure you don't know what it is?"

"Very." Inoichi's words echoed in his head. We may be dealing with a world jumper.

"Well," Toph handed Shikaku the last piece and he placed the final king on the board. It was shaped like a scrawny kid sitting in a meditative pose.

"You have to listen to the earth. Feel it, be it, but be stronger than it." Her brow wrinkled as she tried to explain. "Wait and listen and face it head on."

"Hmm," Shikaku put his hands into his sleeves. "Do you remember which pieces move where?"

She paused, then gave a slight nod. "The goal of the game is to capture your king, right?"

He nodded, then remembered she couldn't see and-

"Okay, then," Toph moved her first piece and the game was on.

Behind her rough facade he found a quick and sharp mind. She didn't know the game and lost to him over and over, but she was continually learning, and the last few games actually made him stop and think for a second.

The ninja in the corner had fallen asleep but was still sitting upright. Shikaku narrowed his eyes, but Toph seemed to be taking no notice of this. She kept tapping the ground and then pausing to think.

"Why did you untie me?" She asked suddenly, moving a lance.

Shikaku took it with his knight. "I told the Hokage that I can restrain you if you go crazy."

She paused and tapped the ground again, considering her next move. "How do you do that? You're not bending, right?"

"It's my Shadow Posession Jutsu," Shikaku saw absolutely no point in lying. She had somehow picked up on Shikamaru's lie back at the house, and he wanted to try and build a business relationship on trust. "I use my shadow to grab my targets and make them mimic me."

"Huh." She moved her rook and captured one of his pawns. "That must be why I didn't see it."

Shikaku watched as she tapped the ground again, feeling something ominous. "How are you able to see all the pieces if you're blind?"

She gave him a small smirk before capturing his silver general with her gold one.

"I use my earthbending," she divulged. "I can sense the vibrations of a person or object in or on the ground."

Shikaku paused, considering.

"What was up with Mr Choza?" Toph winced as Shikaku took the gold general she had just moved. "His arms got.... huge."

Oh. Was that how this was going to go?

"Choza uses a body expansion jutsu that can increase his size." Shikaku let a tiny grin escape as she moved her king to avoid what would have been the end of the game. Last time they played, she would have just left it there.

She was a fast learner.

Toph gave an annoyed noise as Shikaku attempted to corner her. "Do all you weird lightfoots have magic powers?"

"Magic?" Shikaku gave a quiet laugh. "Jutsus aren't magic. We channel chakra-"

He started explaining it to her, nothing more then what was taught at an academy. She lost the game before he had come to the end of his impromptu lecture, and they started over again.

Her playing style was so straightforward. Shikaku could tell her every move from a mile away. She seemed to be learning the way he moved too, though, and was able to counter a few of his moves accordingly.

"So," he finished with his long-winded explanation. "How can you tell when someone is lying?"

Toph tapped the ground again. "By monitoring pulses, breathing, and fidgeting. With Earthbending."

That was.... interesting.

"There's only one person I've ever met who was able to lie to me without me sensing a thing, and she was.. well, different. Sick."

Hmm. "Why did you take action in the Hokages' room?"

She snorted derisively, then lost a pawn to his next move. "The old man smelled so strongly. It's almost impossible that you couldn't smell it, even with such a nose as you have."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shikaku asked, watching her as she attempted to set up a trap. Oh, well. If I crush her every time, she'll get discouraged. Might as well.

"He positively reeks of blood," Toph tapped the ground again and tried to hide her grin.

Shikaku didn't hide his own grin. She had almost finished setting up-

He took out her lance before she could use it to take his silver general. She scoffed, then abandoned trickery to attempt to brutally crush him.

"Then he asked me to trust him," Toph took his bishop with her silver general. "And you were doing the fingerbending and I'll admit I freaked."

"You did threaten the village." He reminded.

She waved her hand idly. "I was simply letting him know my hand. I mean, you could stop me, and so could Mr Inoichi, but since I know that, I would take you out first. Then I would be free to rampage."

This was actually a rather clever plan.

If it was only him and Inoichi who could use jutsus she couldn't sense.

"You know there are two whole different clans who have the same jutsus, right?" Shikaku almost laughed as she froze.

It was a lot less funny when her grip tightened on the knight she was holding until it shattered.

The sleeping ninja bolted awake, clutching his kunai. "Whazzat!"

Toph ignored him. "Are you kidding me? How many is a clan?"

"A lot." Shikaku grinned wider. "A whole bloodline. Could you deal with all of them after us?"

She did a twisty thing with her hand and another, more roughly hewn young man with shaggy hair and a scar over his left eye came out of the ground.

She set it down rather roughly. "Maybe."

Shikaku laughed, then instantly captured the knight she had just placed.

The game was coming to a close. In her anger, she had overextended herself, leaving her king vulnerable. The second she shifted one of her bishops, he went in for the kill.

Shikaku, 23. Toph, 0.

She promptly flipped the board. "AAAARGH."

Hiding his amusement, Shikaku stood. "Let's get moving. I'm going to show you where you'll be staying."

She rose as well, stretching. "Really?"

"We wouldn't just let such an interesting guest rot in a cell. Besides, I know just the person to stick you with." Shikaku hid his sadistic smile.

She wouldn't be able to be corrupted or put off by porn if she couldn't see, after all.

▪▪▪

The Hokage shuffled through a few pages, but his mind wasn't really on them.

It was on the shattered shambles that was his office.

It had been like Taijutsu and Ninjutsu at the same time, combined. She hadn't used any handsigns at all; instead, the earth had followed her movements.

And, though she had been blind, she had known where all of them had been.

It was so curious.

The Lord Third found himself unable to hide his grin.

This was going to be interesting.

▪▪▪

Bonus

The girl was unconscious on the floor.

Choza reverted back to his normal size and stretched, arching his back. "Phew."

Inoichi was breathing hard, holding his hand to his eyes.

Shikaku stood in between the two of them, both of his hands caught in a triangular chunk of rock. He obviously couldn't even move his fingers.

But Shikamaru was the worst off. He had a binding made of the reddish stone that had once been the floor. It pinned him to the wall by his ankle, an awkward position that required constant chakra usage to stay upright.

"So," Choza eyed the two Naras.

"How are we going to get you two out of that?"

▪▪▪

King- Aang

Rook- Zuko

Bishop- Katara

Gold General- Iroh

Silver General- Bumi

Knight- Sokka

Lance- Suki

Pawn- Momo