Chapter 31: Request
The laughter slowly died as Madara slowly walked towards Iroh and sat across from him. He then served himself some tea and took his time enjoying the taste.
"Jasmine tea, good choice.." said Madara softly.
"Jasmine tea, when well-made, achieves balance by bringing together different expressions of jasmine, fragrant flowers infused in rolled tea leaves." Said Iroh back.
Madara nodded. "But like everything else in life… balance is not easily achieved."
Iroh nodded and gently smiled. "If one can achieve balance while preparing tea, it is already a splendid start when searching for balance anywhere else."
Both of them smiled at one another and enjoyed their tea in silence after that small exchange.
The teen, Zuko, wasn't amused, though. He walked towards the duo sitting by the table and exclaimed, "Explain what is going on here!" while staring at Madara.
Madara just chuckled at Zuko's behavior "You should forget trying to act like that, intimidation may be your sister's talent, but you suck at it… stop trying to behave like her."
Iroh instantly raised his eyebrow, slightly amused, while Zuko got even angrier and was about to punch the table once again, harder this time, but was stopped when Lei caught his wrist.
"Please behave Prince Zuko, honestly… you don't want to ruin Mr. Uchiha's day… the last person who broke furniture here disappeared mysteriously… if you know what I mean…" said Lei with a serious tone.
Zuko was shocked, he by no means was a weak fighter, inferior to his sister yes, she was a monster and didn't count, but when compared to regular soldiers? He was always above them in skill, yet this random guy just caught his wrist like he was a child.
Shaking his wrist free, Zuko stopped his tantrum when he realized that these people are by no means ordinary, but he was still suspicious of them.
Iroh spoke to break the tension "You know Mr. Uchiha, I never heard of you. To see such a well-developed young man managing this resort… honestly, I wasn't expecting this, the last time I came here the owner was Mr. Feng."
Madara chuckled "Well, Liu Feng sold this resort to me three years ago, it seems you have been away for quite a while."
Zuko was shocked by the revelation "Three years ago? But you look so young.. you look like you are.."
Madara interrupted "I'm 16, you are not wrong, I bought this place when I was younger than you are now Prince Zuko." He said smiling and enjoying his tea.
Zuko was actually flabbergasted "How could the Fire Nation sell this place to a 13-year-old?!"
Iroh chuckled this time "haha Zuko, this place is not a military outpost, this place is private property... it pays taxes to the Fire Nation, yes, but the rights can be transferred willingly, Mr. Uchiha here is the true owner of this place since he bought it, and no one can legally take it from him."
Madara laughed "In the world of business, money talks louder than anything else, Prince Zuko."
Iroh nodded with a smile, and Zuko felt weird, as this guy came out of nowhere and is now all friendly with his uncle, and is treating him like a child, when they are just 2 years apart from one another.
Zuko shook his head and decided to change the subject "You are a firebender as well, what are you doing here? The Fire Nation is commanding all the firebenders to register in the army!"
Madara and Lei started laughing out loud at that comment, it was so loud that even Iroh stopped drinking his tea and raised an eyebrow.
Wiping the tears from his eyes Madara stopped laughing and turned to Zuko "Well.. here's the thing Prince Zuko… the Fire Nation has no authority over me, in fact… no nation does." He said that with a sunny smile on his face.
This shocked the duo of uncle and nephew, what the hell?! This guy is speaking pure words of treason out loud and he is doing it while laughing to tears?!
"You are committing treason!" Shouted Zuko.
"No, not really… you see I'm not a native from there, and even if I was, I would only obey someone stronger than me. And the last time I suggested an Agni Kai with the Fire Lord I was sadly dismissed… " Madara gave a regretful sigh before turning to Iroh "How is little Zhao nowadays by the way? Did he recover from the beating I gave him?"
Zuko's brain froze.
Iroh's tea fell to the floor, or almost did if Madara wasn't ready for that reaction and grabbed it.
"Be careful, such fine tea shouldn't be wasted like that." He said with a smile.
Iroh frowned "So it is you… to think we would meet after so long… you disappeared after that event and no one could catch your shadow, you gave this old man a lot of headaches back then, how do you plan on compensating me for years of headache?"
Zuko turned to Iroh in confusion, his uncle seemed to know who this guy was "Uncle, who is he? You talk like you know him…"
Iroh chuckled "Well you know him too, in fact, most of the Fire Nation knows him… just not by his real name… " he then turned to Madara "So which one do you prefer? Greedy Ghost? Red-Eyed Ghost or just Red Ghost?"
Madara shook his head amused "Does it matter? It's not like one can control their nicknames once they spread like that…" he laughed, and Iroh actually laughed too, he understood it very well since his own nickname 'Dragon of the West' wasn't something that he actually liked, not anymore at least.
Zuko on the other hand was having a hard time. "T-this guy is the Greedy Ghost?! THE Greedy Ghost?!"
Madara just nodded, and Iroh just shrugged.
"W-what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be … I don't know… haunting the Fire Nation soldiers in the name of vengeance?" asked Zuko.
Madara coughed and spilled his tea, he was completely baffled "What vengeance? What the fuck are you talking about?"
Iroh chuckled and helped Lei clean the table "Many stories about you began to spread, many believe that you are not human but a vengeful spirit who's targeting the Fire Nation because they destroyed your homeland."
"What the actual fuck…" was the only thing Madara could say while staring at Iroh suspiciously.
Iroh just shrugged "You should blame the Fire Nation and not this old man, I had nothing to do with those stories… I even tried to denounce them… but who would believe me?" he displayed a mischievous smile.
Massaging his forehead "Jackie, bring me some Soju… I gotta have a few cups after hearing that…"
Lei chuckled amused and nodded "I understand Mr. Uchiha, I will be back shortly." He then turned around and left the main hall of the inn.
Zuko then sat beside his uncle and asked Madara "So, was your homeland truly destroyed by us? Or did the army kill your beloved family?"
Madara's eyes twitched "Okay, this is hurting my soul now… I just robbed the army because I needed some money to start my life… to think that people would spread such idiotic stories about me…"
Zuko's and Iroh's eyes went wide at that statement.
"Y-you attacked all those soldiers because you needed MONEY?!" Shouted Zuko.
Madara just shrugged and nodded.
The exiled prince then deflated in defeat, like he just finished reading the most exciting book ever but the ending was so bad that it ruined his whole experience "So many theories.. so many different rumors… and it was all just for money… " he kept mumbling while staring at the void.
Iroh chuckled in amusement, the chuckle escalated into full laughter "To think… that the one considered the most dangerous man alive… was just a thief… hahahaha!" He laughed so hard that his belly jiggled.
Zuko came back to his body and stood up "But.. the Greedy Ghost was active 5 to 6 years ago…"
Madara nodded "Yeah, I was just a 10-year-old when I started and 11 when I kicked little Zhao's ass out of that swamp."
"This…" Zuko was not only shocked, but he was also terrified now, an 11-year-old that could beat an elite imperial firebender! Those were the elites of the Fire Nation!!! Not even his sister, the so-called firebending prodigy, could achieve that at such a young age, and that's ignoring beating an imperial firebender who is leading over 100 firebenders in direct battle, Zuko doubted that even Azula could achieve such feat.
Iroh refilled his tea cup and looked at Madara again "And now you are just telling us your identity out loud like that…"
Shrugging Madara replied "Well… I have three reasons for that, one is that I doubt that you are likely to spread the word, and two is that I wanted to start an actual friendship with you Iroh."
"What about the third?" Asked Zuko.
"Well.. truth be told… the Fire Nation can't do anything to me anymore… And I like to believe that they are smart enough to understand that, I was 10 when I killed Captain Zhang's team, I was 11 when I defeated a battalion of firebenders led by Zhao… and now I am 16…"
Iroh's face turned serious, Madara said the truth… if 5 years ago he could single-handedly destroy a whole battalion of firebenders, now that he is 16 his skills should've evolved drastically, in fact, the Fire Nation also knew that and canceled the 'Ghost Hunt' a year ago.
Madara looked at Iroh and smiled "And I believe that they are smart enough to understand my silent message."
Zuko was confused and looked towards Iroh for clarification, who in turn coughed, fixed his beard, and spoke.
"The Greedy Ghost stopped his attacks on the fire nation after the swamp battle, and after years of silence the council took that as a silent message from him that he would stop hunting our soldiers and ruining our plans and decided to call off all the hunting parties, in short... they didn't want to antagonize him, in fear that he would join the enemy army to go against us."
Madara then continued "So I believe that even if they know who I am, and even if they know that I own this place... the odds of them hunting me here are extremely low, I bet they would actually be happy that I own this place, it ties me to them and gives them a reason to believe that I might join their ranks eventually, so unless I actively move against them again… they will keep the status quo."
'Until the war ends at least... well... until the war ends the way they are expecting it to end' Madara smirked.
Lei came back with the Soju bottle and Madara drank it alone since Iroh refused, he preferred tea, and although Zuko was actually interested in trying he was stopped by Iroh who said he was too young for that kind of stuff, Zuko tried to throw a tantrum but Iroh was surprisingly firm and serious when it came to alcohol.
They talked a bit more until the sun was setting on the horizon, Madara then stood up and said his goodbyes and walked out after giving another warning to Zuko about his anger issues, if he broke anything it would cost Zuko an arm, and at this point, Zuko believed him.
Once the duo of uncle and nephew saw Madara's figure disappearing, Zuko turned to Iroh.
"What should we do about the things that we just discovered?"
Iroh just stood up and stretched a bit "What do you mean? We should take a bath and sleep, of course, tomorrow he promised to show me his new Pai Sho tables that he ordered to be built and I'm rather excited!"
Zuko shook his head "I'm talking about him being the Ghost.. a man like him…"
Iroh interrupted his nephew "I've been observing him since he walked in here, the way he walks, talks and behaves… I can't quite judge the level of his skill, that much is very telling, isn't it? I can judge how strong your sister, and even your father, is but I can't do the same about him..."
Zuko's eyes went wide and he stood there in silence for several minutes after Iroh went towards the new Hot Springs that he heard so much about.
The next morning Madara was reading the report of the recent buildings and orders, 'For fuck sake Jackie, I'm literally paying you to do this for me… where the fuck are you?!'
A knocking sound came from his door and a maid's voice echoed "Mr. Uchiha, Prince Zuko is here to see you."
Madara raised his eyebrows "What the… let him in."
The door opened and Zuko walked inside, and before any words could be said he made a martial arts greeting, bowed, and asked "Please, teach me firebending!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
KojiSan
KojiSan Good evening wonderful sausages! i hope you all had a great day!
I want to let everyone know that i posted 2 actually finished artworks made by me of Madara and Kaliya on the chapter 0, so check it out :D i plan on making Jackie by tomorrow >_> it takes a while....
Other than that i wanted to address the people complaining about spread smoking and gambling in the avatar world saying that is wrong because the world is too pure for that.. all i have to say is ... are you freaking high?! Avatar world have slavery, brain washing, genocide... and smoking + gambling is where you draw a line?!?!?!?!?!
To everyone else, i hope you liked the chapter :3 and i hope i didn't just foreshadowed the ending of my own novel in this chapter >_> would be ironic and very sad >_> ugh....
Chapter 32: Teacher
Madara stared at Zuko with a poker face and answered swiftly,
"No.."
Zuko refused to stand back up and stayed in the same position "Please reconsider, I understand that we don't know each other and you owe me nothing but I really need you to teach me firebending!"
Madara kept silent for a few seconds "Why do you need to learn firebending from me, exactly? Your uncle is a legend, he can teach you better than I can."
Zuko shook his head "My uncle doesn't understand me! He doesn't try to help me improve my strength, it's all about his philosophies and nothing about actual firebending!"
"But why me?"
"You are strong, probably the strongest firebender I will meet that won't try to attack me on sight considering my…. Circumstances…" sigh.
'To think this angsty hot-headed kid calmed down and came here to ask my help with such humbleness'
"And what is your goal?"
Zuko was kind of caught off guard "What?"
"Don't 'what' me, tell me what you want."
Zuko clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes "I want my honor back."
Madara stood up and stood in front of Zuko, "Explain."
Zuko stared deep into Madara's eyes and answered "I committed a sin against my nation and I'm being punished, I need to capture the Avatar to regain my honor."
Madara raised his hand and swiftly caught Zuko's hairband, pulling it and letting his lonely ponytail fall loose.
"G-give that back!" Zuko tried to grab it from Madara, that hairband was important to him, it was a gift from his mother.
Madara kept dodging Zuko's attempts and spoke, "You speak of honor like it's this little thing here… an item that was taken and must be given back by the person who took it…"
Zuko stopped in his tracks.
Madara tossed the hairband back to Zuko, "You behave like honor is something that can be taken when convenient and given back when desired… you know nothing about honor, kid."
Zuko caught it but didn't tie his ponytail right away, he kept staring at Madara for several seconds in silence until his anger got the best of him.
"And what do YOU know about honor?! You … a criminal!?" He shouted in anger.
Madara kept a calm serene face "Was Zhao's honor ever 'removed' from him after he got back to the Fire Nation, the way it happened to you?"
Zuko raised an eyebrow "Not that I'm aware of, why?" he calmed down a bit.
"He brought over 100 soldiers, he attacked an innocent blind girl, he surrounded me and lost most of his soldiers and ran away with his tail between his legs instead of fighting me to the death while I was alone… tell me kid… does this kind of person have any honor?"
Zuko's eyes widened along with his mouth, he couldn't find an answer to that.
"His honor was never taken from him because honor is not something that can be taken… he just never had it in the first place." Madara just shrugged.
"B-but… my honor was taken from me!" Zuko tried to shout but his words came out weak.
Madara shook his head "No, your honor is within you… what was taken from you was your dignity." After saying his words Madara turned his back and walked back to his chair "And dignity cannot be given back, it needs to be taken back… by your own efforts."
Zuko couldn't say anything, part of him understood and agreed with Madara, but the other part of him couldn't accept it, because if he did… it would mean …. He didn't even want to think about it!
After closing his eyes and clenching his teeth Zuko pleaded, "And what's the difference?"
Madara smiled "When you figure that out, come to me, and I will teach you firebending."
Zuko turned and started leaving but was interrupted.
"Tomorrow at dawn, come to my place," Madara said.
Zuko was confused "But you said-"
Madara raised his hand and interrupted "I won't teach you firebending, but I will teach you how to fight but be warned … it won't be pleasant, it won't be comfortable… and if you dare to cry in pain or complain in front of me, I will kick you out and never teach you anything ever again!" then he displayed his classic sinister smirk.
GULP.
Zuko gulped and nodded and left the place in a hurry, that smirk scared the shit out of him!
Iroh who was outside the place listening to the whole conversation while waiting for his nephew smiled and nodded in satisfaction. 'Perhaps all that Zuko needs is an outside perspective from someone whose power he respects… it's even better that their age is so close.'
Once Zuko came out Iroh walked closer to him.
"So, how did it go?"
Zuko looked at Iroh "Since when was the Ghost this scary?"
Iroh shrugged "If you saw the aftermath of the swamp battle you wouldn't ask that question." He chuckled "But how about we go and check out these new games that they are making? Mr. Uchiha's accountant, Lei, told me that we can go and test the games without having to worry about actually betting money since they are still teaching the employees."
Zuko's eyebrow was raised "Who is Lei?"
Iroh looked at his nephew with a weirded out expression "That man that followed Mr. Uchiha yesterday to meet us."
"Wasn't his name Jackie? Mr. Uchiha calls him that…"
Iroh shrugged "Perhaps they are just weird."
Zuko couldn't help but chuckle and nod, which made Iroh even happier 'Good to see you smiling again little Zuko, perhaps stopping here was the best plan that I ever came up with…'
As the duo walked through the fancy 'village' near the Uchiha Manor they spotted a well-decorated medium pond with what seemed to be a small ice platform right in the middle, but what made Zuko stop in his tracks was the woman that was sitting there with her eyes closed.
The moment Zuko saw her he instantly touched the burned part of his face.
"Who is she?" asked Zuko.
"Lei.. or.. Jackie?... told me she is Mr. Uchiha's second in command, some of the workers said they have an ambiguous relationship." Iroh then shrugged "The only thing I know about her is that she is a powerful waterbender that once lost against Mr. Uchiha and then decided to join him."
Zuko nodded "Do you know what she is doing there?"
Iroh shook his head "No, I can feel that she is trying to find peace within herself… but it seems that it's not going smoothly… judging by how her muscles are twitching every now and then."
"Finding peace within…" mumbled Zuko as he turned away and started walking… thinking of those words as the duo went towards the Koei Tower.
Iroh noticed that and kept silent but he saw something in his nephew's eyes and nodded satisfied.'Yes, it was indeed the best plan that I have ever come up with!'
Once they arrived, they were surprised by how fancy and expensive this place looked, everything was carved by professionals, the walls, the chairs, the curtains, even the gaming tables, and the employee's uniforms were of the highest quality!
"Hello there Mr. Iroh, Prince Zuko," said a lovely woman with long robes and yellow eyes.
"Oh, what a lovely young lady, what should I call you?" Asked Iroh politely.
The woman smiled "My name is Nari, Mr. Uchiha requested for me to give you these," she gave them a small wooden box, which, when opened showed what looked like coins, but they were made of wood and had fancy carvings and different drawings with numbers on them.
"What are these?" asked Iroh.
"These are betting chips, the currency used inside the Koei Tower, clients will have to exchange their money for these coins and once they are done with games they can exchange back when they leave the place."
Iroh whistled "Smart! That way, it'll be hard to actually rob this place, since these chips have no value outside and all of the actual money remains secure inside."
Nari smiled "Yes, Mr. Uchiha came up with very interesting ideas… come…" she turned and led them through the place, they spotted several different tables with unique designs and weird trinkets on them.
They stopped by one that had a well-carved spinning plate with painted numbers.
"What is this one?" asked Iroh, Zuko was just tagging along at this point since he didn't actually care for games like his uncle.
Nari smiled and explained "This one is called Roulette a player may bet on single numbers, rows of numbers, or on adjacent numbers. A player also may play colors, odd or even numbers, among others. A bet on a single number pays 35 to 1, including the 0 and 00. Bets on red or black, odd or even pay 1 for 1…" she proceeded to explain the different bets and payouts and how everything worked.
"Ohhh, what an interesting game Mr. Uchiha came up with! We should try it a little bit!" Said Iroh excitedly, which made Zuko sigh with an exhausted expression 'this will be a long day…'
Initially, Iroh was mildly excited, then he started to win quite a bit and asked Nari if they could exchange the free chips for actual money, to which she nodded and said that it is courtesy of Mr. Uchiha.
After that, all hell broke loose, and Iroh went on a mad gambling spree. They easily multiplied the chips they started with by 10, which was enough to even make Zuko interested and excited.
But Iroh didn't know when to stop and eventually burned every single chip and lost everything, which led the duo to be quite depressed as they walked outside.
"I can't believe I lost it… everything was going so well…." Sighed Iroh with a sad expression.
"You wanted to bet everything on a single number…" said Zuko facepalming.
"Of course! It pays 35 to 1! With that amount of money, we wouldn't have to worry about buying tea for the foreseeable future!" Exclaimed Iroh.
"We already have enough to buy you enough tea for a while…" said Zuko.
"Well… the more tea the merrier!" Concluded Iroh with a sage nod.
The next morning Zuko woke up pretty early, he wore his training outfit (the one he wore during the Agni Kai vs Zhao scene from the series) and walked outside his room.
The sun was barely visible, it was a cloudy day and the whole sky seemed to be painted white and grey today.
He walked towards the training grounds but in mid-walk, he spotted Lei, who was talking to the lady they met last night, Nari.
Zuko was actually surprised that they were a couple, he saw them display their affection before going separate ways, probably going to their jobs.
Lei spotted Zuko and stopped "Prince Zuko? Are you doing your morning workout?" he said staring at the very classic Fire Nation training/combat outfit.
Zuko shook his head "No… Mr. Uchiha agreed to train me today and I was on my way to his house to start my first day…"
Lei stopped and sweat dropped, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck going stiff like he saw a ghost, even his face went pale "Y-you actually asked to be trained by Mr. Uchiha?!" he asked.
Zuko nodded and became suspicious "Yes…?"
Lei gave him a knowing nod and patted his shoulder "My condolences … your highness.."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
KojiSan
KojiSan
Hello there people! o/ i'm here to post this chapter now because i may not be able to post another one today, if everything goes according to plan i will be able to post the next one as well but... nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world... lol XD
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I want to let you guys know how i usually write my characters and how i feel about certain decisions and future POV chapters that will come to pass (Yes i will be adding POV chapters, no.. it wont be POV Fillers, it will be POV Chapters, its different)
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Theres 3 types of characters that can be written as protagonists in literature, there is the Everyman (Harry Potter, Frodo, Luke Skywalker are all here) they suck at the beginning but develop into something as it goes... theres the Paragon, usually they are not the main center of the plot itself but they are more like a mentor to others (Gandalf, Dumbledore, Obi Wan) why? because they have their own journeys that are not strictly tied to the plot itself, and they are already powerful enough to have little development in that regard, and then theres the third one Mary Sue/Gary Stu, is when the Author wants to keep the focus of an Everyman MC on a Paragon MC, they are already powerful but they are forced through the plot ... it sucks and it's boring... Madara is entering the realm of Paragon atm, why? because his Journey is not really tied to the ATLA main story so i'm slowly shifting POVs to display how he affect the plot indirectly instead of just going to the Fire Nation and winning, because that's not really his goal here, and although he will have his fair share of action during Canon.. stopping the Fire Lord is not HIS story.
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I know many people will be disappointed or angry at this, but hey my goal here is to write a good story, not a wish fulfillment with self-insert. I won't really be forsaking him for the sake of the plot, no he will have plenty of "screen time" but there will be many different POV chapters, like this chapter.
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I hope yall enjoyed the chapter and keep reading my work ^_^ it really makes me happy to see so many people enjoying my story :D you are all awesome sausages! see you in the comments :D
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