Chapter 62: Responsibility
Smoke billowing from the horizon, a sign of destruction and carnage left by the most recent disaster, or even tragedy, on the northern most part of the western side of the Earth Kingdom.
Honestly if it wasn't for the Airship that arrived ten minutes later, half of the Resort would've been swallowed by the flames.
Kaliya proving her worth as one of, if not the strongest known waterbender in the world, used her bending to bring a controlled wave from the ocean, cleansing every fire in the vicinity.
One would think that with such a turn-around situation where Madara fell from the skies and destroyed hundreds of mercenaries, he would be welcomed with cheer and happiness, or even fear due to his unprecedented level of power.
But no, reality is not that simple.
It's not about who wins, or about how spectacular the action is, that is an animation gimmick. All that could be felt was sadness.
The current Resort had around two hundred and fifty to three hundred employees, one third of them being guards and scouts, and of that one third… half perished in this tragedy…
The mercenaries didn't just want to rob, although they had gold in their eyes, they were following orders, orders that if followed would leave no one left alive to tell the tale.
They killed; they killed without remorse, on the contrary, they did it while smiling and laughing, thinking of the huge payload they would secure from the unofficial richest firebender in the world.
Forty-two dead guards, twenty-seven dead civilians in which ten were children.
This was a tragedy, and Madara was not happy even after destroying them one by one.
…
The sun was setting and inside a traditional Japanese office, a young man with long-wild black hair could be seen, flipping papers and reading documents while holding his forehead.
The door slowly opened to reveal a tall man with black chengshan robes, his hair was tied with a green hairband into a low ponytail, he had some bandages on his face but he was overall completely fine.
"Mr. Uchiha.." the man said, revealing his presence.
"How many Jackie?" Asked the young man who didn't even look up, still buried in the reports he was reading.
With a long sigh Jackie shook his head "Thirty-one wish to terminate their contract saying that it isn't safe for them and their families to remain here, seven families are now without any income because their husbands or fathers were among the casualties… "
Jackie was even more depressed than Madara, different from his boss, Lei actually interacted with everyone and always tried to help them in everything he could. Madara might not know the name of every single employee under his name, but Jackie knew, he would even go out to drink and eat with them from time to time.
And now many of his friends were dead, while some would be leaving for good.
"This was a tragedy, Jackie…"
"It wasn't your fault Mr. Uchiha…" Lei tried to help his friend, but Madara wasn't listening.
"Wasn't, really?" Madara asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice "If it wasn't for the fact that I am the owner of this place… this shit storm would never have happened… they wanted to hurt ME, and now my people paid the ultimate price for my folly…"
Lei stared at his boss for a few seconds.
"Mr. Uchiha, we live in a time of war… Something like this was bound to happen, sooner or later..."
"The war has been on hold since the failed siege of Ba Sing Se, Jackie… this wasn't an act or consequence of war, this was personal… and you know it"
"While it is partially true, yours isn't the only lands that have been invaded, and while I agree that it was personal… you destroyed the mercenaries, and the name of Rough Rhinos will never be heard ever again, you made sure of it."
"And how does that bring back what we lost?" Asked Madara with his sharingan active, staring at his friend and employee.
"It doesn't, nothing does... so there's no point in pulling yourself down like that."
With a dry chuckle Madara replied "You say that… but would you really behave like that if Nari or your future child were among the deceased?"
"..I…." Lei's eyes went wide and he even took a step back
…
"You don't know, right?" Madara stared at his friend "You would not be this nonchalant if they were involved, and Nari would be aiming towards the Fire Lord if you were gone as well… and you know it."
"I am not nonchalant!" Lei narrowed his eyes and even raised his voice by a little bit "They were friends of mine, Madara!"
It was incredibly uncharacteristic of Lei to use his first name directly, so much that even Madara had to stop for a second and stare at the Jackie Chan clone in front of him with wide eyes.
"Friends that I will never see again, and I have to deal with more friends also wanting to leave this place now… you are not the only one dissatisfied with this situation, but you need to remember, you can't calculate everything. Even if you know what will happen you will not be able to calculate every detail about it, life is unpredictable and we need to live with it!"
They remained in silence for some time, staring at one another until Madara couldn't help but lower his gaze.
Jackie was right, one can't calculate everything, and not everything that falls under calculations will go as expected… hell even fucking Aizen was screwed with his plans, who is he to want to be flawless? He was just a hobo that had decent survival skills in a modern society...
Noticing his boss lowering his gaze, Lei's stiff expression relaxed, he even offered his friend a smile "The point is… life is filled with bad moments like these… you can either learn from them or be destroyed by them, and believe me Mr. Uchiha, neither me nor the girls will allow for the latter to happen, so pick yourself up… there are people waiting for you, so don't make us wait too long."
Without saying another word, Lei approached the desk, placed the reports about the people who wish to leave the resort on Madara's desk, turned around and left, sparing his friend only a single final look over his shoulder before closing the shoji door.
…
Hours went by as Madara kept reading everything, saying to himself that he was doing it because it was his responsibility, but in truth he was fleeing from his responsibilities.
He was scared of walking out of his place and staring at his people in the eye, what should he say to them? It was easy years ago when he earned their trust with his promises of wealth and delivered it, but now? How can he overcome their grief… how can he… redeem himself.
To make matters worse, his recent intel claimed that the Avatar was seen flying northwards on their Flying Bison.
Madara knew that the Siege of the Northern Watertribe was imminent, yet…
'I can't leave my people like this… after such a tragedy they need their leader more than anything! Especially after being attacked precisely because of my absence!'
Funerals needed to be prepared, rites needed to be had… yet he vouched to himself that he wouldn't let Yue die due to Zhao's stupidity.
On one hand he had his own goal, call it a vanity project even, prevent Yue from dying due to him considering her like himself, on the other hand his people needed him and he had a responsibility towards them.
"Heavy is the crown…" he mumbled to himself, clenching both his teeth and fists.
Many would say that he was just their employer, not their ruler, and that would be true in modern society, but in this era, he was no different from a feudal lord, and his employees were no different from subjects.
He didn't have long to think about these things, because suddenly he heard the door sliding open again, this time instead of Lei's heavy steps he heard soft gentle steps instead.
"Mr. Uchiha" Said Nari with a composed expression but a warm smile, there was pain in her eyes but she knew her 'son' needed strength, but that's not why she came here. "A ship has been spotted getting closer to the docks…"
Madara frowned "More mercenaries?" smoke came out of his mouth, threatening to burn everything and everyone.
"No, not mercenaries, they appear to be a merchant ship…"
"What would a damn merchant ship be doing here at a time like this?" Madara growled and stood up, pulling his haori over his shoulders imitating certain admirals from a certain pirate world, and walked out.
He was going to find out.
Standing in front of the docks, watching a fancy merchant ship finally docking properly. Madara's eyes narrowed.
'There's no banner, and they should've seen me and the remaining of my guards here before docking, so they are either idiots who considers themselves strong… or not enemies… the ship also looks way too expensive to be sent here for battle purposes…'
As the ship stopped, a tall man dressed in green robes walked out while carrying an expensive looking scroll, and went straight to Madara.
"Who are you and what do you want in my land?" Madara asked with narrowed eyes.
The man simply smiled once he saw Madara, which confused him. 'Do we know each other, mate?' he even raised an eyebrow while staring at the dude.
"We came here bringing you a message," The man said while extending his hand towards Madara so he could grab the scroll and read it himself.
Not wasting time, Madara snatched the parchment and started reading.
A weird shift of emotions appeared in Madara's eyes as he was reading, honestly, he didn't know what he felt… gratitude? Embarrassment? Happiness? Helplessness?
"… This…"
He looked at the man in front of him, and searched his memory for a few seconds until his eyes went wide. "You are… that guy… Gan?..."
The man grinned. "Aye, it's been a while, Instructor."
"Lao sent you here?" Madara asked incredulously, while watching more and more previous guards that he had trained in the Beifong Estate, the people he tormented, the people that he crushed and transformed into elite soldiers, leave the ship.
Gan just shrugged, and cheekily replied "Well, our contracts ended, and Master Beifong said that it would be better for our careers to be sent here now that the Earth Kingdom entered in a partnership with them, at least you would give us a stable job."
Madara couldn't even understand what was happening and saw Gan chuckling, this prick will feel pain again for sure!
"But yes… Lao Beifong sent us here, but it wasn't just us…"
Gan said while stepping away, giving Madara the view of five people who he hadn't seen in a long while.
"It's been a while, Madara…" a cheeky female voice reached his ears.
"Who would've thought that you saying that you were a Firebender back then was no joke at all?"
..
Madara couldn't even reply as he stared at five mature women, wearing heavy green robes and samurai armor, carrying katanas on their waists alongside war fans. "Kira?!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
KojiSan
KojiSan Hello there ! i was without internet for quite a while. >_> and it was so awful guys, totally do not recommend!
Now, this chapter is a bit slow but i can't just disregard the previous chapter and what it entails, the world has more nuance than just "Sasuga Moments", no... this fight was in home territory, with his own people's lives as price...
Even if it was a badass entrance and a brutal destruction, it does not diminish the cost.
About the second part of it, it was something that i had in mind since the beginning, i like bringing things together doing a full circle.
Kyoshi Warriors welcomed Madara in their land. Now Madara welcomes Kyoshi Warriors in his land. Beifong Guards were trained by Madara, now Beifong Guards protect Madara.
I like doing things like that because it makes it feel that the world keep spinning on the background, that although the story is focused on Madara, the Gaang, and Zuko, the rest of the world also moves and have their own stories and journeys.
Honestly the chapter wasn't supposed to be this long, but again.. i guess i get lost in character interactions and just keep going x-x
ANYWAY, i hope yall are happy with the new chapter, i am already writing the next one :3 have a wonderful day you wonderful sausages!
Chapter 63: Decisions Made
"... What… How?... Why?" Madara didn't even know where to start his questions, which made the girls chuckle in response.
"Well… Long story short, we went to fight in Ba Sing Se years ago, we lost some sisters but ended up victorious… but …" Kira's eyes became a bit sad "In the end, we all judged that we did our part, and decided to leave it to the next generation of Kyoshi Warriors, Suki has been doing great from what I've heard…" the mature woman chuckled at the memory of that little bratty girl becoming a fierce Kyoshi Leader like herself in the past.
"We decided to retire in Ba Sing Se… and we did for awhile…" she sighed "But Ba Sing Se… it's not the place we expected it to be…" her eyes narrowed and a shadow was cast over her face "We would have just accepted it and lived with it… but then we received a generous offer from Lao Beifong a month ago…"
"Now imagine my surprise in knowing that the little brat Madara Uchiha became one the most feared men in the world…"
"The most feared man" Madara couldn't help but to correct her with a smirk.
"Oh? But what about the Avatar?" She asked with a smirk of her own.
"Avatar Who?" Madara just shrugged.
The Kyoshi Warriors and former Beifong Guards couldn't help but laugh, Madara was right. If what they heard was right, the current Avatar is still a kid who is more worried about having fun than fighting for balance, Madara on the other hand…
"Who needs the Avatar anyway?" Said one of the guards jokingly, making the others chuckle and agree.
Even Madara chuckled, relieving a bit of his grief and sadness.
"I wish I could offer you a warm welcome, with a festival and feast… but as you can see... things over here aren't in a festive mood, it's complicated… I'm sure Lao informed you all considering what he wrote to me."
"Yes, he did" Gan replied "He was aware of the attack and sent us as a support unit for you, but it seems we arrived late…" Gan's shoulders dropped with a bit of melancholy, they could feel and see the atmosphere of this place… Death...
If they arrived a day earlier…. Many of the guards and even the Kyoshi Warriors narrowed their
eyes at that thought, how many could've been saved?
"I can't believe that Lao would send you all to help me… specially after the whole thing with Toph…" Madara was still surprised about it.
"He considers you a friend… he gave you that sirship, how hard is it to offer a regular ship and some foot soldiers like ourselves?"
"You know about the airship?" Madara eyes went wide.
"Well… It was hidden for years, but eventually came to light."
"Won't that bring trouble to Lao?"
Shrugging the soldier just replied "He is wealthy enough to not have to worry about that kind of
stuff, the person who sold it to him is toasted though… "
"I am talking about his wife…"
"Oh… Yeah she tore him a new hole…"
"Oof… Well he kinda deserve it…"
The soldiers all laughed, doing the math Lei approached Madara saying "Mr. Uchiha, it seems that Lao sent us around a hundred soldiers and five Kyoshi Warriors…"
"LEI, IS THAT YOU!?" Shouted Gan while hugging the local Jackie Chan.
"H-hey Gan…. Glad to see you alive and kickin…"
"You fucker, you haven't aged a day!" Gan stared at this man that was clearly older than him, but looked now that they were the same age.
Lei chuckled.
As the day went by, the new soldiers helped with the work needed to repair the affected zone, they didn't even ask for instructions from Madara, and went directly to the workers and builders responsible for the repairs.
Madara trained them to be independent and a 'self-sufficient group', which means they grew accustomed to have the initiative to act as they saw fit instead of waiting for orders that may come with a pricy delay.
He couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of it all, he trained the Kyoshi just to get some start up help in this world, and trained the Beifong soldiers just because he was paid to do so, nothing was done for selflessness, every act had a purpose… but…"
"They said that no good deed goes unpunished but… " Madara couldn't help but stare at the large number of men working together, while enjoying his kiseru from his balcony, a smile appeared on his lips as he watched his proud little 'kingdom'.
The resort won't sleep tonight, everyone is working, and the next day… not a single soul complained about it.
The next day started with a very complicated morning.
He talked with all the people that wished to leave his lands and simply approved, and even gave them some supplies for their journey south towards Hotari, a Fire Nation town that the Avatar and his group just left a few days prior after enjoying the Fire Day Festival.
It was the closest safe colony for them, and the road wasn't dangerous, it was just a long walk… a few days long walk...
One would ask why would Madara help people wanting to leave his lands, and the reason is pretty simple.
First, Madara … kinda… owned Hotari and many other Colonies, not directly but at this point, his influence on the colonies were so strong that most governors reported to him and were under his wallet.
Second, he used this as an opportunity to send a few loyal men disguised as former workers to go towards other colonies and keep an eye on their rulers, he can't afford to have turncoats at this point.
After seeing them off, Madara went straight to the funeral rites, he ditched completely the speech about the Fire Lord and his family, and all their glory and bullshit like that, he avoided anything related to the Fire Nation rulers and military as a whole, but kept certain Fire Nation customs since all his people are technically from the Fire Nation.
The bodies were cremated, but instead of being covered in a fire nation flag while the fire engulfed them from below, it was a simple silky red cloth, no banner, no sigil, no brand. It respected their origin but didn't put them under their rule, and everyone understood the silent message.
Madara wasn't happy, and Lei, Kaliya, Nari and the employees weren't happy either. They were not dumb, no matter how much a mercenary band was bold, they would never attack a Colony, even if it was under the request of the Earth King himself.
To be so bold and directly attack the colony they were either under a suicide attack, which is very unlikely because there would be no point, or they received the green light to act, kill, pillage and destroy from someone that gave them insurances.
After that, Madara gathered the Kyoshi Warriors and his new group of elite soldiers.
"We have to leave again," Madara said with a somber tone, he had made his decision. Being a fence-sitter was never his thing, and he would rather try and fail than never try at all, his previous life was already filled with doubts and insecurities, in this life he wanted to change that.
"Do you think it's wise, Madara?" Asked Nari while sitting on her zabuton cushion "The employees won't like it, they will consider you abandoning them in their mourning period, it goes against the conduct of a governor and you will be disrespecting their customs."
The former Beifong guards and Kyoshi Warriors didn't care much, it wasn't their customs, and honestly neither did his own team, but they knew how important it was for a leader to lead by example, especially in trying times.
For a few seconds they could see reluctance in Madara's eyes, but it went away fairly quickly as he asserted himself. "If my intelligence is correct… a Fire Nation fleet should be heading towards the Northern Watertribe as we speak."
As he finished, Nari's, Lei's and even his own eyes went towards Kaliya, who displayed a shocked and worried expression.
"B-boss… are ye sure about that?" The pirate girl asked.
"Yes, and they have the numbers and…" He narrowed his eyes and stared at Kaliya "They have knowledge of the two friends your people keep behind the palace…"
As if struck by lightning, Kaliya instantly stood up "Don't tell me they are planning-"
"To get rid of them? I would love to say that no one is that stupid, but I know of one Admiral that actually is…" Madara interrupted her with a somber tone.
"And how will you deal with the aftermath?" Asked Kira, the former Kyoshi leader. "If you do that, you will be dropping all pretenses with the Fire Nation, and from what I've seen and heard today… that's the only reason why they went through the cumbersome task to gather mercenaries instead of attacking directly."
She wasn't knowledgeable of this place or the circumstances in details, but she was smart and cunning, one doesn't go to war, fight, kill and survive to tell the tale without learning a few things, and if there's one thing she knows it's how ruthless the Fire Nation was to their enemies.
"She is right," Nari agreed "If you do this, there will be no turning back, they will send their fleet here without second thoughts, and even if you kill most of them and keep killing… they won't stop until you are out of the game… you can't risk everything like this."
Madara couldn't help but chuckling "You are right…"
Everyone was quite relieved after hearing that, unfortunately…
"But…"
There it is, there's always a 'but' with Madara…
As they looked at him, they saw his eyes turning red and glowing crimson, with three comma shaped marks around his pupils. For the Kyoshi Warriors and the Elite Guards it was a shock, they never heard of that kind of ability ever!
"… how would they find out… if there's no witnesses left?"
"That…"
"Are you planning on…"
"Exterminating every single soldier that wears the fire nation armor?" Madara asked with a grin. "Why not? They wanted to exterminate my people… I shall erase theirs from existence."
The room was silent for a few seconds, stares being shared and thoughts being formulated inside their heads.
"How will ye do it?" Kaliya was the one to ask, she was from the Northern Watertribe, no way in hell would she live to see it fall, regardless of what happened in the past.
"Wrong question," Madara stood up and looked at his people "How will WE do it?... and to answer that…" He looked up, drawing everyone's attention to the stormy skies, covered in dark clouds that threatened to drown the land under heavy rain, ironically it wasn't even noon yet.
"The Moon is on our side tonight… don't you think, Kaliya?"
It was decided then and there, Madara would take only twenty people with him. His whole team, Nari, Lei, Kaliya, the five Kyoshi warriors under the leadership of Nari, and Gan would lead a 10-men team on their assault.
Xi was new to this place, so Madara never considered her as an aid in this battle, nor did he share with her anything related to what happened, the girl only knew that mercenaries were exterminated for being too greedy and attacked the 'Dragon Lord's land'.
"The plans are set, we leave in one hour under the cover of the storm… and Jackie…" Concluded Madara while standing up together with everyone else
"Yes, Mr. Uchiha?"
"Bring me my armor."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
KojiSan
KojiSan
Here's another chapter, so don't go thinking that i abandoned you guys! XD
I was writing this chapter before yesterday's chapter was even published! so yeah don't worry about it... i am not abandoning this fanfiction! i dedicated WAY TO MUCH TIME in research just to give up now!
Now it kinda... annoys....?... me that some people can't understand what a human character is, some people want the perfect MC, with no fears, no hesitation, no flaws... i can't write that, that is a shit MC... My protagonists needs flaws, they need all that stuff that some people call "Pathetic" and "Weak" and "Coward"... all i can say to someone that wants a shitty stoic, gary stu protagonist is.... bruh...
I want to write a growing character, that learn as his journey goes on. In terms of power, because he became Madara, that is pretty much a deadend. He is freaking OP. So i will approach that from a different side, which is his humanity, his personality, his fears, his worries.
He will learn and grow, and will NEVER be perfect, so if you expect him to just overcome everything eventually... give up, this story isnt for you. Human's arent perfect and will never be, so my MC wont be perfect either, he will work and evolve, but never reach the pinnacle of perfection, there will always be weakness to explore and force his growth in different directions.
For those who like what i write and dont cry about you, you guys are beautiful and i hope every single one of you get your desired Waifu harem in the afterlife... because being reincarnated in these fantasy worlds SUCKS...
Believe me... i know...
XD
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