Chapter 21: New Journey
Standing in an open space surrounded by low green grass on a warm spring day, Madara kept his eyes closed while breathing in through his nose and breathing out through his mouth.
Slowly opening his eyes, he spread his legs a little bit and his hands morphed, closing most of his fingers except for the index and middle ones in each hand.
Slowly moving his right arm first, in a circular pattern, a few sparks of lightning could be seen igniting on his fingertips, then doing the same with the other hand but in the opposite direction, the sparks looked more intense and stable. Suddenly he united the fingers of both hands in front of his chest and the sparks intensified, he kept his fingers united for two seconds as the lightning increased in intensity.
Noticing something wrong, Madara pointed one of his hands forwards and an intense cone of lightning erupted from his fingers, reaching and incinerating all the grass and other plants in its area of effect.
"Phew," he took a deep breath. "This isn't working…. I can make lightning but… I can't focus it on a single point, it always spreads… Great for attacking several people in front of me, horrible for a killer move like it was supposed to be."
It's been an entire month since Madara saw the airship, following Lao's request he decided to stay for a bit more as he had many things to get done and although he planned to leave the estate as soon as possible before, after seeing the lengths that Lao went to keep his friendship, he couldn't just deny it.
First, he went for the best blacksmiths possible to forge 100 kunai and 100 shurikens, he wouldn't be able to carry all of them but having spare weapons was a good plan for the future. He also requested a few extra weapons to be forged, one being a wakizashi for himself since an actual katana was still too big for him and he wouldn't be able to wield it to its full potential, and extra wires that followed the same design as before, just more professionally made, which made them extra malleable and resistant.
He also requested a set of very special, and absurdly expensive, silver-plated wires. Why? Simple, silver is a highly conductive metal and he had planned on using this wire to get more creative with his lightning bending.
He also spent some of his money to get Kaliya some new decent clothes, she was now part of his team and he didn't want her looking bad, although he doubted anything could make her body look bad, that woman was thicc on the right places while also being slim where it matters.
After that he planned out his next steps for his journey, first is going to the Si Wong Desert to explore a certain library, a lot of long-lost knowledge could be found there. Extra clues for him to learn energy bending, more details about the chakras and chi paths, and even good master-level waterbending techniques for Kaliya. And if he was lucky… perhaps some chi breathing technique as well, he wasn't going to share his with ANYONE that isn't family, that one would become the Uchiha Clan secret.
He still had a few days left before his departure, so he decided to use them wisely. Practicing chi breathing and learning the lightning, both of which caused him headaches, but for different reasons.
Chi breathing did indeed increase his chi pool…. By a very tiny amount… And only after reaching 5 hours of practice, he couldn't do more than that because the chi pool needed to adapt itself to the new growth, so he could only do it once every other day.
'No wonder all-powerful masters are old people… the sheer patience…' sigh
As for lightning, well, he couldn't find a way to figure out the proper amount of chi, he could properly separate the yin and yang energies and actually generate lightning, but he couldn't control it beyond that point, which frustrated him.
"…" grumbling noises.
Walking back to his guest house he was stopped by Nari, the Head Maid and also Jackie's wife.
"Hello there ma'am, how can I help you today?"
"Good afternoon Mr. Uchiha, could you follow me?"
Not waiting for him to reply she turned around and walked hurriedly towards a gazebo. Raising an eyebrow, Madara followed behind wondering what was going on.
Reaching the place, she bowed to him and instantly left, leaving him alone with the person inside.
"I can't believe you spent over four months without talking to me!"
Turning around towards the source of the childish voice he spots Toph, huffing and puffing her cheeks.
"I'm sorry Toph, I couldn't see you… You know…"
"Of course, I know!" She looked very angry. "And since when do you call me directly by my name and talk like that to me? Where is the Madara that I know? I want my big brother back!"
Madara stood there in silence for a second, she wasn't wrong… After being pushed away by the Beifong's he didn't and couldn't visit Toph anymore, the distance grew, and eventually, he thought that it would be better this way. He felt guilt for what had happened.
"You are a big idiot! Stop blaming yourself for what happened, I would've run away with or without you being here!"
Sigh. "Yeah, but without me, you wouldn't have to deal with the Fire Nation… That almost got you killed Top-"
"SHUT UP!" she yelled and stomped one of her feet hard on the ground, which cracked the stone floor due to her earthbending. "Don't call me by my name, I want my snarky idiot of a brother back!"
At this point, Madara could only chuckle wryly and scratch the back of his head "I just…" Sigh "Alright…" He walked closed and patted her head, which made her nod with a victorious expression.
"Now, when you go out and start traveling the world you better keep in mind, one day… I will find you... and I will kick your ass!"
Listening to her words Madara couldn't help but remember a certain meme from his previous life and started chuckling, the chuckle increased and became a full laugher when he imagined such a meme with Toph's cute face on it, his reaction made Toph actually confused, and pissed!
'Is this idiot making fun of me?! Just wait!' her eyes narrowed.
Madara finally managed to stop laughing, and while wiping the tears from his eyes he looked at her with a fond expression "I will be waiting for it little midget, don't keep me waiting for long, ok?"
"Humph," she snorted and looked sideways while crossing her arms, trying to hide a gentle blush on her cheeks.
"I will be leaving in two days, Kaliya should be coming back with the weapons I bought by the end of the day, that will leave one more day for her to rest and then we will set sail."
"Set sail? Will you go by boat?" she raised an eyebrow
"Something like that." He chuckled, he promised Lao to keep the Airship a secret, he didn't want others, especially the Earth Kingdom's government, to know that he got his hands on such a piece, it would cause him a lot of trouble. Hell, even to bring that thing inside, Lao spent a lot of effort and planning, it was moved under the cover of the night on a stormy day to muffle the engine sound and hide its presence. Even the earthbenders that modified the mountain didn't know why they were doing it, they just did as they were ordered to.
They kept talking for over an hour until Nari came back and told Toph that she had to get back now, otherwise she would be suspected of escaping again. This time their secret meeting was truly secret.
At midnight two days later, Madara was dressing up in his good fancy red and black robes he wore a lot during the last year and he proceeded to fully equip his hidden weapons inside the pockets in his robes before walking out of the guest house for the final time.
Walking towards the gate he spotted Kaliya already waiting for him, her clothes changed a lot, and after spending quite some time in the spa with Nari, her skin became more beautiful. Her new clothes were a mixture of black and blue with silver details, she kept her 'Pirate' style, wearing a blue tube crop top; but her new pants were black Hakama (Shinigami's pants from bleach) that got tight around her shins. She actually asked for shoes similar to Madara´s, with the shin guards and all, and he was very happy about it… But then he found out WHY… This bitch wanted to keep her newly painted aqua blue toenails on display. 'You kidding me, bitch?'
She also wore a long black sleeveless coat that reached her knees and was tied up on her waist like a Kimono with a blue sash. (Imagine a full black sleeveless captain jacked Soifon style.) And the final detail was her new eyepatch that hid her blind eye. It was fully black with 3 silver tomoe painted in the middle, this one was Madara's idea and she just shrugged not giving a damn.
'Well fuck you too!'
They walked to the 'hangar' only to find Jackie already waiting for them. He was wearing a long full black male changshan with a golden sash tied around his waist and common Kung Fu shoes.
Madara shook his head "Not this time Jackie, you have Nari to take care of. I can't be responsible for separating you from your wife."
Jackie just smirked smugly "You don't have to Mr.Uchiha, I'm here under Master Beifong's orders."
"Oh? And what does Lao Beifong want this time?"
Lei chuckled "He ordered me to tag along to guarantee that you don't go against the 'Beifong Family's interests,' as you know a lot about his estate and family after all." He said smugly. "So... you don't have to worry about anything."
Madara was shocked. "What about your wife, Jackie? You can't abandon her."
He shrugged. "I'm not abandoning anyone. Nari will be busy teaching Young Miss Beifong as she is already old enough to start learning history and many other important subjects for a rich young lady, so she wouldn't have time for me even if I stayed here."
"We will be gone for a while…"
"If you can at least come back from time to time and stay as a guest for a week or two, I would appreciate it a lot, but that's up to you… I'm here just doing my job… And you will also need someone to drive that thing, luckily for you, it so happens that I've been learning it for the past 2 months."
Madara smiled wryly. 'Jackie you lovable bastard!' He sighed. "Alright alright."
They were interrupted by a loud, and quite sexy, yawn.
"Are we taking Jackie with us? Where will he be sleeping?" Said a lazy Kaliya.
That made a vein pop on Jackie's forehead. "Can you not talk about me like I'm some sort of pet?"
She shrugged. "Ye are like a loyal dog Jackie, when I look at ye all I see are big puppy eyes."
"I'm going to kick your ass, you annoying bitch!" He lost it.
She did a fake rich lady laugh, hiding her lips with her fingers. "Hohoho, are ye still mad at me for discovering what happened inside that hole that ye fell befo-"
Lei shouted, interrupting Kaliya right away. "MR. UCHIHA, DON'T LISTEN TO THIS UNEDUCATED WOMAN!"
Madara at this point was looking like Saitama once again. 'What the fuck have I signed up for….'
But then he chuckled and smiled. "Alright alright, let's get inside. We have to leave before dawn."
"By the way Boss, what is that red cloud symbol?" asked Kaliya.
"I was curious about that as well," said Jackie.
"It's the symbol of our group." Replied Madara.
"On and what's the group name then?"
"Hmmm. Name…" Madara thought for a second. 'Calling ourselves Akatsuki would be cool but… That means nothing, it'd just be a weird word that no one would understand since it's not part of this world's language…' Raising his head "Why don't we call it just that then?"
"What?"
"Red Cloud."
Lei was unconvinced. "Red Cloud? Isn't that too simple of a name?"
Madara shrugged. "Well, people like simple names such as White Lotus."
Kaliya snorted "Yeah, right... White Lotus… What a terrible name, would never work."
Smirking Madara asked, "You think so?"
This time was Lei who responded. "I agree with this brute woman, White Lotus sounds more like the name of a group of scholars instead of a powerful group of benders."
Madara just laughed out loud.
Kaliya Laughed too.
"Why are you two laughing?"
"Ye aren't a bender, Jackie…" said Kaliya wiping her tears.
Jackie held back his tears. 'This fucking bitch!'
Madara who was laughing for another reason waved his hands "Alright, let's set sail… Our destination… Si Wong Desert"
The boiler was turned on, the engine roared and the airship lifted, once it reached the clouds it turned towards its first destination, Wan Shi Tong's Library.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
KojiSan
KojiSan This chapter is slow but theres a reason for it, it would be a stupid idea to move to another arc without properly closing the current arc in a satisfying way, yes last chapter we had Lao Beifong's conclusion but he isn't the reason why we like the Beifong family is he?
On top of that i also wanted to fresh out how the new crew will interact with one another, not just with Madara but among themselves too, it's a very needed thing to make believable and 'living' characters, well at least that's what i think.
On today's side note i will make a different thing, i will give you 2 fun facts.
Fun Fact 1: Jackie was supposed to be a 1 time gag, he wasn't supposed to stick around and join the crew, and this is exactly the reason why i don't plan romance ahead of time, sometimes the characters evolve themselves and become something that the author didn't plan, getting there naturally.
And i believe it would be a shame to prevent it from happening.
Fun Fact 2: My wife kept nagging me every 30 minutes, to the point of spying on me while i was on the PC to see if i was writing the next chapter because she REALLY wanted to know what happened next >_> it was a.. complicated... day.
I hope yall enjoyed this chapter, sorry for the delay today i actually spent hours researching the Avatar world and its locations to have a good roadmap for future adventures.
Have a great day you amazing sausages!
Chapter 22: Oasis
A black-colored airship navigated above a vast desert with sand as far as the eye could see, and the only notable landmark was a huge flat mountain on the horizon.
It was already sunset and the temperature was already dropping.
The big airship navigated through the desert until nightfall, finally landing at safe distance from the rock. No one would ever go close to that place, not unless they had suicidal tendencies.
Kaliya exited the airship while stretching her limbs, then did a small warm-up before starting to run. It was a common exercise for her at this point, every night when they landed the pirate girl would go out to do her workout routine.
Lei went to their stock room and grabbed supplies to prepare their dinner, he had the habit of humming songs while cooking or doing anything related to it.
Madara on the other hand was sitting in his cabin with a huge frown on his face, he huffed and stood up, walking out and closing the door with a bang.
Lei just gave him space, not commenting on it.
'What the hell am I doing wrong?' thought Madara as he sat on the stairs of the airship's exit point, staring at the starry sky.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and tried to meditate again, wasting a few hours on it until a female voice broke his meditation.
"Still having issues, Boss?"
Sigh. "I don't know what I am doing wrong, Kaliya." He massaged his forehead with a troubled expression.
She shrugged. "Ye been stuck inside that cabin for three days now, why don't ye tell me what ye are trying to achieve? Perhaps I can help."
Closing his eyes and considering for a minute he just nodded. "Have you ever heard of the chakras?"
Kaliya made a thoughtful expression. "Aye, not much but I know I heard the old healer from me tribe talking about it once."
Opening his eyes and staring at the dunes, Madara explained. "I'm trying to open my chakras, I discovered the method but… I can't do it"
She chuckled. "That's understandable, I am rather relieved that you are having trouble with it."
Madara stared at her with a confused gaze, she noticed and explained. "Ye are a little monster Boss, ye managed to generate lightning in half a month without a proper teacher, ye learned the most impressive firebending technique that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot, on top of that…" She pointed to him "Ye are what... 11? 12?"
Madara just chuckled
She continued "That's not normal, even prodigies aren't like that… " Kaliya sighed and sat beside him. "People want to be geniuses, who doesn't? Talent dictates a lot, it means a good future, it means potential… but…. what people forget is that excess of anything is also an issue, it makes you look less like one of us… regular folk."
She turned to him and asked "Is that what ye want to become, Boss? Someone so above everyone else that no one will be able to understand you, no one will be able to befriend you? It's like they say, when two people have similar talents and one is better than the other, it generates envy. When two people have vastly different talents and one is better than the other, it generates acceptance… but... when you have two people that have vastly different talents and one is absurdly above the other… it generates rejection, apathy, and depending on the circumstances… fear."
Madara raised one of his eyebrows "I'm pretty sure that's not exactly how it works, I met many people that didn't fit that pattern at all."
Kaliya spat on the floor "Stop that nitpicking will ya? There's no 100% in the world, every rule has exceptions, obviously what I'm talking about would have it too, I'm not talking about the top 1% that would never give up and always try to improve, I'm talking about the masses. The other 99% that don't have faces and are just considered numbers."
Chuckling again Madara gestured for her to continue.
"Everyone has dreams Boss, and people tend to empathize and surround themselves with people that have similar dreams and goals. When I look at Jackie I can clearly see his goal in life, he wants to help ye, he respects ye, but above all… he is a family man, he wants the best for his wife and his goal in life is family."
"Then what's your dream, Kaliya?"
She grinned "Freedom."
He chuckled "A very pirate-like answer, ironic that you accepted working for me though."
She snorted "As I said, there's no 100%, obviously, it's impossible to be 100% free and only an idiot wouldn't be able to see that. We are all bound to something. But I like to believe that I'm free, I got to choose following ye, make no mistake Boss… I'm here with ye because I want to be, exploring the world sounds exciting even though I have no clue about our future, in fact, it makes it a bit more exciting, every day is a new surprise."
"That's why you left the Northern Water Tribe?"
She closed her lips and stared at him for a second "One day we will talk about why I left me home, make sure to bring me a lot of booze. But that day ain't today."
He nodded in silence.
"But I have me dreams and me goals, what about ye Boss? What is the grand goal of Madara Uchiha, the legendary Greedy Ghost?"
He chuckled "They changed to Red-eye Ghost now, with some just calling me Red Ghost. The survivors of that day surely couldn't keep their mouths shut."
"Answer the damn question, Boss."
He sighed "I'm… doing a job…" he didn't go into details, obviously.
"A Job? What job?"
"Tracking someone"
"Like rescuing or bounty hunting?"
"… Yes…"
She closed her eyes "I see, but that's just a short-term thing, that's not what ye want in life, that's just a job, which means it's something that was imposed on ye… that ain't yours, so tell me... what is YOUR dream or goal, Boss."
He couldn't answer that, he didn't know how… the closest thing would be 'To enjoy life' but that would be EVERYONE's final goal, the question is… 'what do I want to do so I can enjoy life?' because just living one day at a time without goals and dreams is not living, it's surviving.
"I don't quite know …"
She nodded "That's good then!"
"What?"
She shrugged "Acceptance is the first step to fixing an issue, ye lost… and now that ye know that, ye can work on finding yeself."
Madara started chuckling "You are very wise for a pirate, aren't you?"
She nodded with a prideful expression "Of course I am! I'm wisdom incarnate, people just can't see that." she chuckled too.
He laughed at that.
"So… my goals and dreams are related to my chakras…"
"Aye, ye need to know yeself first before working on it, but have no hurry and take ye time, live a life worthy of being lived, and when ye finally find out… hopefully, we won't be old bones by then…" she laughed while standing up "I will be going to eat something now, don't stay out here too long or Jackie will come to nag ya, I swear that man behaves like a housewife… it's obvious who wears the pants in his marriage" she laughed loudly as she walked inside the airship.
Madara chuckled and stared at the horizon "Live a life worth being lived, eh?" he grinned "Now that's a nice dream, the question is… how to achieve that?"
Feeling like he took a huge boulder off his shoulders, he stood up and walked back inside the airship before Lei came to annoy him ... 'that man does behave like a fucking housewife, doesn't he? God dammit…'
Two days later they landed inside a hidden canyon northwest of the Misty Palm Oasis, a town located on the southwestern edge of the desert, the buildings had a unique square design with bulb-shaped roofs, it was built around an oasis that was considered to have spiritual properties.
"Alright Kaliya you will stay here to protect our things," said Madara
"Mr. Uchiha, with no offense but… Kaliya can't pilot the ship, I believe I am a better choice for the job."
Both Madara and Kaliya stared at Lei with deadpan expressions.
"What?!"
Kaliya answered, "Ye aren't a bender Jackie, ye are a good fighter I admit it, but if sandbenders discover this place ye won't be able to hold long, ye won't even have time to turn on the engine and fly away considering how stealthy they can be in the desert."
Madara nodded "She is right, the town is only 30 minutes by foot from here, if any situation occurs, she might be able to hang in there until we get back, I don't plan on staying for long."
Sigh "Alright Mr. Uchiha I will do as commanded," he said while trying to hide some mixed emotions that he felt.
"OH!" Kailya exclaimed while catching the attention of both men. "I get it now! That's right ye hate sand, Nari told me that one time-"
"ALRIGHT, MR. UCHIHA, LET'S GO!" said Lei cutting Kaliya off, before turning to her and staring at her eyes with a flame of hatred "We don't have time to listen to your nonsense stories, you brute."
Madara just shrugged and walked away.
Lei was about to do the same but before leaving he turned to Kaliya and made the 'I have my eyes on you' sign, to which she displayed her smug grin 'heh'.
They walked out of the canyon, Madara used his firebending to jump between rocks and reach the top before throwing a rope down so Lei could climb.
They walked for a half-hour before crossing the Misty Palm Oasis' walls and what they saw was a rather… depressing… sight, the town looked very dilapidated, not quite falling apart but it could be seen that it has been years since anyone did proper maintenance around here.
People were sitting under cloth awnings to enjoy the shade with empty gazes. Very few cheerful people were around, even the bazaar was quite devoid of life, only a handful of vendors had anything slightly interesting for sale, and the others just sold scavenged items they found around the desert hoping for some profit.
'Oh great, I just entered Mos Espa…'
Walking around only two places caught his attention, one is obviously the "Pristine Natural Ice Spring" which was supposed to be a huge block of ice around which the whole town was built around, but calling it disappointing would be an understatement, the block of ice had nearly disappeared after centuries.
The second one was a calligraphy school, a rather small building that had only one person inside, a man in his late 20s or early 30s with a buzz cut, clean shaved face, and long beige and green scholar robes. When they passed by it Madara saw the man holding a long stick and writing on a small square white-colored sand garden, and when the man saw Madara he gave him a gentle smile with a nod, which Madara returned in kind.
Tired of looking around, the duo decided to go towards the cantina, they wanted something to drink and today was a rather hot day.
Reaching the place they were met with a crowd.
After walking through the crowd, they saw a man crouched on the floor, the markings on the sand in front of the cantina's entrance told Madara everything he wanted to know 'This man was tossed out' he was not that interested, to be fair.
"You fucking rat!" yelled the man crouching, he had long loose black hair, parted in the middle, with a strong build and youthful face, probably around 16 years old. He wore a green sleeveless shirt and knee-length black pants, with straw sandals to complete his look.
"Get out of here Shen, master Huang Fu already told you that you aren't welcome in this place after what you did!" said a slightly fat man with a long Chinese mustache, receding hairline tied in a high ponytail, and a VERY punchable face.
"Jiang, you bastard! It was you who ratted me!" said the man named Shen while getting up. "I hate rats!" he glared at the man and stomped his foot on the ground, a large rock floated up, and after he did a spin in the air and a kick motion the rock flew towards the fat man who simply smiled as two bodyguards moved their hands and a rock wall protected him.
The conflict escalated and eventually, Shen was taken out by some guards and carried to the jail.
The murmurs echoed through the crowd and Madara kept a thoughtful expression as he heard.
"I heard that Shen used the money to buy food for some children instead of paying the full value to Huang Fu, it seems the fatty there ratted him out."
"Yeah, I heard Shen is actually a good man…"
"... I heard…"
Ignoring the gossip, Madara and Lei walked inside the cantina, and they were received like nobles. Just looking at their fancy robes, the owner of the place treated them. With a lowered head, he served them himself, kicking the poor waiter towards some other customer.
After sitting down and ordering the famous Frost Mango beverages that this particular cantina was known for, Lei looked towards Madara who still had a thoughtful expression, and talked.
"You are thinking about that Earthbender? He seemed powerful and with a right heart… and considering what we heard, if we help him, he would have no issues in joining the team."
"Since when are we looking for an Earthbender?" Madara grinned.
"Since you decided to name a group of people to follow you around during your adventures, Air Nomads are out so we would only need a powerful Earthbender."
Madara nodded "That's true, you are smart Jackie.. "
Jackie puffed his chest with pride and continued "I will talk to that Shen guy, leave it to me, Mr. Uchiha!"
Madara raised an eyebrow "Shen who? Oh, that kid? Nah I don't give a fuck about him."
Jackie instantly deflated "W-what….t-then what?"
"That calligraphy master… when I looked at what he was doing, I noticed something…"
"You noticed what?"
"That I want him in our team at all costs!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
KojiSan
KojiSan
You guys probably noticed that i slowed down a bit, it may lead some of you to believe that im losing my steam and starting to give up the fanfiction, i want you guys to know that it's not true.
The reason why i slowed down is the sheer amount of information that i have to research about different locations to make this story better, seriously i researched everything i could about Si Wong Desert >_> and that led me to research about the Earth Kingdom in general and damn that's a lot of information XD
2 Trivias of today.
1 - Did you know that Kaliya was inspired by Yoruichi and Esmeralda? those two characters were the primary inspirations i had when i created the character.
2 - She was supposed to die, but i found it distasteful to spend two chapters of the story just to display the power of his Great Fire Annihilation and move on without adding anything to the narrative, that is the very definition of filler! so i changed that and worked on her personality to make her a more compeling character.
Now i hope you enjoyed the chapter you wonderful sausages, have a great day and see you in the comment section!
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