Chapter 20: Red Cloud
Lao Beifong was sitting in his office holding his face with both hands, if anyone could see his facial expression now, they would be able to see his worry and guilt.
Three days ago, his daughter showed up intact, clean, and proper, guided by Lei who said he spotted her running around Gao Ling, lost and trying to find her way home.
Toph also claimed that she discovered her earthbending and tried it without knowing what it was.
He sent his guards to search for proof of their claim but it was impossible to confirm or deny it, as there are many children that run around Gao Ling every day. It would be impossible for him to know the truth, but the key point is that she came home clean, without any serious bruises, perhaps there were some here and there, but nothing serious by any means, which made him believe their words.
The problem is that 8 hours later, Madara showed up being carried by a very… well developed… young woman, with an incredibly nasty vocabulary, who ignored everyone on her way and went straight to the guest house while being guided by Lei.
Just looking at his circumstances, Lao could see that Madara fought to the death against the Fire Nation for the sake of rescuing his daughter, a fight that he now believed was completely unnecessary since Toph was in Gao Ling all along.
His people went to examine the area and when he got the report he couldn't believe it, that young boy killed more Fire Nation soldiers in one night than the Earth Kingdom managed to kill in the past month!
To make matters worse he had promised his wife that Madara would be removed from his job and kicked out, a clause on their contract was that if he caused direct or indirect damage to the Beifong family, the contract would be terminated and consequences would be deliberated, his wife argued that Madara's behavior was in line with such clause.
'He fought through a battalion of soldiers just to rescue my daughter that wasn't even there… and even if she was…." He paused and closed his eyes. "And I was the one who sent him there, to begin with… and now I'm supposed to kick him out?'
"To think that I would be forced to behave ungratefully by my own family…" shaking his head, he looked through the window, staring at the sunny day outside 'And he's been out cold since he arrived… How am I supposed to do this?! The level of loyalty that he displayed is not something that can just be bought with money'
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes "…I'm sorry…"
A few hours passed since he decided to play statue on his comfy sofa chair, when a sudden knock on the door woke him up from his thoughts.
"Yes?"
"Sir, this is the Head Maid Nari, Mr. Uchiha has awakened." Said a mature female voice from behind the door.
Lao stood up at lightning speed, making his expensive chair fall to the ground, though he didn't care as he hurriedly walked out towards the guest house.
Madara slowly opened his eyes to stare at a fancy familiar ceiling while a gentle breeze moved the yellow-colored curtains near the window in and out of his field of view.
"Ugh.." was the only sound he could make, to put it simply… he was feeling like shit.
"Ye finally decided to wake up, eh princess?" a soft chuckle was heard and he moved his gaze to the side.
"Did ye have a good nap?" Kaliya grinned while eating some sliced fruits near the bed.
Cough "Weren't those fruits supposed to be for me?" he could only ask with a wry smile.
"Oh, is that so? I didn't know that…" she said while placing the last slice inside her mouth and chewing it "they taste great though, totally recommend ye trying it."
He chuckled "Glad that you enjoyed it."
A comfortable silence was maintained for a few minutes until a knock came from the door.
"Miss Kaliya, Mr. Beifong is here to see Mr. Uchiha." The Head Maid's voice echoed.
Kaliya turned to Madara and said "Can ye believe that? I'm Miss Kaliya now! HA!" she chuckled, and he followed suit.
The door was opened and revealed Lao Beifong beside a beautiful woman wearing fancy grey and green long robes, she had shoulder-length light brown hair with almost yellow-colored eyes.
Madara looked at Lao for a few seconds before sighing "Mr. Beifong, I…"
But Lao interrupted him by raising one hand as he took a step closer "Don't say anything Mr. Uchiha, Toph already told me that she was never in the Foggy Swamp, she was in Gao Ling the whole time, lost on the streets, and Lei found her and brought her back… I…" sigh "I'm sorry for giving you the wrong information, I also didn't know."
Madara was VERY confused right now, but when he looked at the maid, she smiled at him and winked with one of her pretty yellow eyes. 'Oh?! What a cunning little Jackie… heh.. I like it!'
Sighing, Madara asked, "So… what now, Mr. Beifong?"
Lao kept staring at Madara in silence for a bit before turning to the two women "Care to leave us alone for a bit?"
Kaliya shrugged and stood up, walking towards Nari who chuckled "Alright, I'm going out... come Nari, tell me more embarrassing stories about Jackie! I'm curious about what happened after he fell in that hole…"
After both women left the room, silence prevailed.
After mustering his courage Lao said, "You don't have to worry about anything, you can stay and recover as long as you need."
Madara chuckled "Is that a Beifong way to say that I will be kicked out once I'm better?"
Lao lowered his head in shame "I'm sorry, Madara… I can't keep you around my daughter anymore… My family…"
Closing his eyes Madara just sighed. "It was nice to work for you, Mr. Beifong."
Lao couldn't say anything else, he was very ashamed of his behavior right now, so he just nodded and walked out.
Looking at his own body, Madara noticed he was covered in bandages, especially around his torso though he didn't look like a mummy since he didn't have any broken bones, just some cracked ribs. Still… What a shameful sight for the mighty Uchiha Madara.
Deciding to go back to his rest, he drank some water and closed his eyes for a few hours until a maid brought in his meal.
Two weeks passed as Madara was recovering, he came to terms with the fact that he would be kicked out of the Beifong estate eventually, although he was pissed that there was nothing that could actually be done… Toph would've run away with or without his existence but that didn't matter, his presence created a catalyst for it to happen, he was to blame and he knew it.
Kaliya had displayed loyalty and he was actually surprised about it, after everything that happened on the sea, she had a legit reason to strike him when he was vulnerable and still, she chose to help him. 'Good woman.'
Lei also visited him constantly, always bringing him food and drinks, new pillows, and thicker blankets in case he was feeling cold. Madara couldn't help but wonder 'Where was this person during canon?' No, he didn't think Jackie was the reincarnator, in fact, he was sure Jackie wasn't, because if he was, he would've recognized Madara right away. Even if he had the best poker face in the world, he wouldn't be able to hide the minute changes from the sharingan, Uchiha Madara was a very famous fictional character after all.
Three months later Madara was ready to leave, he put his old black robes on and walked out of the guest house without looking back. When he closed the door, he turned around to see Lao coming toward him.
It was the first time since the day he woke up that he saw Lao.
"Oh! Mr. Beifong, I was about to head toward your office, I'm finally feeling good enough to go back on the road again."
Lao hurriedly replied "Are you sure? You can stay longer if you want, you might not be my employee anymore, but… " he wanted to say 'but you are a friend of the Beifong's' but he couldn't, not after what he did to Madara, that's not what a true friend would do.
Chuckling Madara replied, "Don't worry, I don't want to overstay my welcome, I will go find Kaliya and start my journey anew."
Lao stood in silence, Madara was actually curious about what this man was doing here… There was nothing to be said, the Beifong's decided to cut ties with him, what did he want?
"Could you please follow me, Mr. Uchiha?"
Curious Madara nodded and followed him.
They walked outside the estate, toward his training 'hollow mountain', and he noticed that the mountain looked different this time, it was as if the earthbenders removed the top and it made it look like a small volcano instead of a mountain.
As Lao led Madara inside the place, the moment he stepped inside his mouth went wide open, his eyes went wide and he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"… is that?...." Madara couldn't even complete his sentence anymore, he was THAT shocked.
"Yes, I called a few favors and got my hands on one of these a couple of months ago, it was rather troublesome, they are still in a prototype phase after all… but… heh." Lao grinned "Money has the power to do many things."
In front of Madara was a huge Fire Nation airship, just like the ones used by Ozai when he went to strike the Earth Kingdom before the final showdown with the Avatar!
But instead of red, it was black, and instead of the Fire Nation flag on the sides, it was just a blank canvas.
"This is my gift for you, Madara. I know what I'm doing is shameful, disrespectful, and ungrateful… But I wanted you to know that regardless of the outcome, I consider you a trustworthy friend, even if my actions somehow display otherwise…"
Madara stood in shock for several whole minutes, WHAT THE FUCK?!
Lao chuckled "Take your time, I was also very impressed by the Fire Nation technology."
"But… The Fire Nation would never accept to part with one of these… so… how?"
Lao laughed "You know Madara, having money gives you a lot of privileges, and one of them is the power to completely disregard what others like, dislike, accept, or reject…" he shrugged "It's yours now."
They both walked around the airship, then went inside where Madara spotted the decor as very 'Beifong decoration style', everything was so lavish and comfortable looking, there were even four big cabins for people to sleep, completely furnished, and a fifth huge room for supplies, and it was packed to the brim with fuel and other resources.
"Why go to such lengths? I'm-"
Lao interrupted "Let me stop you right there. Listen, Madara, I'm no idiot, I know that Toph and Lei's words were shady, for all I know she could've very well been in the swamp. It's just that there's no proof of it. The point is, you ran head first into certain death to save my daughter, you faced over a hundred soldiers for the sake of my daughter when you could've run away, in fact, ANYONE in your position would think about their own life first, but you didn't… that's above loyalty, that's true friendship" he said while pointing to the warship "And so is this, you displayed your friendship towards us, I'm displaying mine towards you."
Madara once again stood in silence for a whole minute, then he chuckled.
"Your wife will hate me even more when she finds out."
Lao chuckled "IF she finds out."
They both laughed out loud for a while.
"Well, I guess I will take the fancy robes you gave me with me now.."
"Yeah, you do that, there are many others inside the ship even if you didn't, they will last you for a LONG while, also… that weird weapon that you brought back is also in there, I prepared everything while you were asleep."
"You know what, Lao, you are a nice person… Just promise me that you will never grow a stupid mustache on the sides just because your wife finds it fancy and traditional."
Lao chuckled awkwardly "O-okay…" but internally he was 'How the hell does he know all these things?!' but quickly changed the subject. "By the way, your payment is also inside."
Raising one eyebrow Madara asked "What payment?"
Shrugging Lao answered, "Well I hired you for 5 years, and you stayed for a whole year, so I decided to give you a 5x bonus on your one year of good work, to display how appreciative we Beifong's are of your efforts."
"You didn't have to do that…"
"Oh, but I did… By the way, I didn't request them to paint the symbol on the sides, do you want me to paint your family sigil?"
Thinking for a minute, Madara shook his head "It would be way too pretentious to paint my family sigil on the airship, I won't be using it alone, I would rather paint the sigil that represents my team."
Raising an eyebrow Lao asked, "And what sigil would that be?"
Grinning, Madara replied. "A red cloud with white borders on a black field."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
KojiSan
KojiSan Hello guys! Here we are hitting the 20th Chapter! HURRAYYY!!
i hope i'm keeping yall entertained, i hope that my novel is bringing as much joy to you guys as it is bringing me, honestly i didn't think i would love writing this much!
On a side note, did you guy's check our rank?! damn we are ranked high!!!! i didn't even know how the ranking system worked until yesterday when my wife pointed it out to me, i went to check and HOO LEE SHEET! i can only thank you all for the support you have been giving me!
Thank you, you lovely handsome sausages, and have a great day!
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!
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