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
.
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)
.
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.
.
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.
.
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
Chapter 33: Zuko
Zuko arrived at the Uchiha Manor's courtyard to see an already set up training area with wooden poles, water buckets, and spots covered in sand and charcoal. He instantly understood what some of these things were for, but some of them made him sweat.
"You are right on time, come," said Madara, wearing a red sleeveless kimono top, black pants, and his shinobi sandals with white shin protectors.
"T-teacher, what is all of this?" Zuko was already scared. If Lei's reaction wasn't enough… seeing what was waiting for him turned on his danger sense.
Madara grinned. "This will be your playground now… and I will teach you how to play."
Gulp.
Madara grabbed a bamboo stick roughly the size of a katana and walked towards Zuko.
"Now, let's have some fun, shall we?" There it was! That evil smirk again! FUCK!
First was push-ups. Easy, right? Well, regular push-ups would be, but Zuko had to use a specific method. There were four small wooden poles, roughly 30 inches tall, and each of those poles was for a limb. He barely had room to move his feet or hands, which was not even the worst part…. He was right on top of a bed of charcoal on the ground that was surrounded by sand.
"T-teacher, why are you using charcoal?" he gulped again.
Madara chuckled. "Well… The stick is to incentivize you to go down… and the charcoal…" he made a stance and punched flames on the charcoal, igniting a bed of flames "… Is to incentivize you to go back up…" he grinned even more sinisterly.
And thus, Zuko's hell started, for hours he kept training his body. No techniques were taught yet but Zuko already wanted to quit, not even his late grandfather demanded such a level of training, and that man was just cruel!
Iroh on the other hand was quite shocked at the brutality of the physical training, but at the same time he understood the reason, Zuko being a prince had the best techniques available to him but was never pushed beyond his limits.
"GRRRRRRRRR…" Zuko pushed himself to do sit-ups, which obviously weren't regular sit-ups either, he was tied upside down on a tall wooden pole, there were buckets full of water on the ground and one empty bucket behind his feet up high; he was given two small tea cups and his goal was to bring water to the empty bucket until it was full.
"You are slowing down!" a loud slap sound could be heard when Madara hit Zuko's abs with the bamboo stick.
"Argh!" Zuko instantly picked up his pace and continued, he kept his angry face while making growl sounds as he moved his body.
SLAP, another hit on his abs with the bamboo stick.
"If you have the energy to act angry then I will add some weight to your wrists! I will train you so hard that you will come to forget that anger!"
Iroh, who was sitting comfortably at a distance, enjoying his tea, couldn't help but hum happily. "Such a wonderful chilly day to enjoy some good Ginger Tea!" he slurped his tea slowly as Zuko kept suffering.
By the end of the first day, Zuko had to be carried back to his room by Iroh and some of his soldiers who were enjoying the Resort.
After being placed on the bed, Zuko slowly opened his eyes. "U-uncle… I think I regret my decision…"
Iroh chuckled "Don't be like that, it was a good first day of training! To think that such a fine young man would be a demon trainer… no wonder some of our soldiers called him Demon before.."
Zuko sighed, which just made him feel pain in his chest.
"Easy now Zuko, you will need a good bath and sleep to regain your strength for tomorrow's training!" Iroh made a muscle pose with one of his arms.
"I… regret… everything!"
Like that, the first day ended and the training continued. After a whole month of suffering Zuko finally could keep up with his training without feeling like dying, so Madara decided to increase the intensity and start teaching him some techniques, and oh boy, that man was aiming to destroy Zuko's body.
"FUCK THIS!" said Zuko standing on top of a 10 feet wooden pole, trying to maintain balance while holding one of his feet high in a crane kick position with heavy stones tied to his ankle, if he lowered his leg even by an inch, he would be whacked by that damned bamboo stick!
"Prince Zuko!" shouted Iroh, with a disappointed face "Don't curse! You are a prince, and should behave properly!" he concluded with a gentle smile and went back to his snacks and tea.
'Easy for you to say that while you are treated like a king and I'm treated worse than a slave!'
After another 3 months, Zuko could be seen jumping between tree branches, running shinobi style, and doing high-speed dodging when a kunai came from out of nowhere aiming for his heart or head. Madara told him that he would learn and improve or die trying, and you know what... he believed him now!
After full four months of training Zuko's agility and strength soared, he was more of a shinobi than anyone else that Madara taught since he didn't have any foundation that he was trying to maintain like the Kyoshi Warriors, and differently from Beifong Guards he was an actual apprentice of Madara, not just under a contract.
During this time, he talked and practiced more with Lei, he was shocked that even after such a torture training regime he still couldn't match the attendant; he also wanted to speak to Kaliya, but she seems to be in constant meditation like she was trying to achieve something.
Even Iroh was curious about Kaliya's goal here since just by looking at her he could pretty much tell that she wasn't someone that valued meditation and inner peace, but he never asked since it would be intruding too much.
The training ended 5 months after their arrival at the Resort. Zuko knew that he didn't learn all he could, hell that would take years, but he had his own goals and he needed to go back to sailing through the four nations chasing his target.
Before leaving, he saw Madara coming toward him with a simple wooden box and a small booklet on top of it.
"Here, you are my first true apprentice, Zuko. This is my parting gift." He handed him both.
Zuko first opened the little booklet and inside was written 'Saitama's Training Regime' he raised an eyebrow and read through it and saw that it was a daily exercise that his teacher was demanding from him… 'What a great gift….' His face went full deadpan.
Then he opened the box and saw a fancy long kimono (just the upper part) that was full black and had a red cloud with white borders on the back. He saw that symbol before, and once he asked Lei, he learned that the Red Cloud was the symbol of their team.
"You are my apprentice, and thus you are an honorary member of my team, if you ever need any help you can come to us," Madara said while patting his shoulder.
Zuko trembled, he had forgotten how it felt to have others who he could depend on. He lowered his head, bit his lip, and nodded in silence.
Iroh who saw this was even more pleased, Zuko never had any friends or anything and since his mother's disappearance he hid from the world, only Iroh knew Zuko's pain and loneliness.
'Would you look at that… to think that being exiled from the Fire Nation would be the best thing that could happen to little Zuko.' Thought the old man with a smile on his face.
Zuko choked a bit "T-teacher, I will come back to visit in the future to complete my training" he tried to keep a serious face but anyone could see he was very emotional.
Madara smiled gently, "You are always welcome in my place, firecracker." He chuckled.
Zuko's emotional face was instantly replaced by an embarrassed face. "Y-you said you would stop calling me that!" he shouted.
Madara shrugged "Oh yeah? Well… I remember my promise was to stop calling you that, only after your training is finished… you just admitted yourself… you haven't finished it yet!" That damn cunning smirk on his face!
Everyone laughed, well.. everyone but Zuko.. who was embarrassed and tried to hide it by huffing like a little tsundere, it just made Madara laugh even louder.
"Come Prince Zuko, we have to go back on the road… ah how this old man will miss this place…" Iroh just sighed with a depressed face.
"Of course, you will… they were treating you like royalty with free tea and snacks during my training." Zuko snorted and grinned.
"Oh, that's not true at all! I had to suffer from watching my beloved nephew suffer every day, it broke my heart each time!" said Iroh with an exaggerated expression.
Zuko snorted again,"How about joining your beloved nephew the next time?"
Iroh coughed "Of course I will, I will always be by your side... cheering you on with all my spirit!"
Zuko's eyebrow twitched 'You old man….' After giving a final snort he smirked and walked towards their ship.
Iroh just nodded and followed behind with a huge smile on his face, before going up the ramp of the ship he turned towards Madara and gave him a sincere smile, nod, and even a small bow.
Madara saw that and grinned, returning the bow and waving his hand to the royal duo. 'Life will be quite boring now without someone to tormen- I mean train… ' sigh.
"Now we have one and a half years to go, time to speed up some things around here so I can travel around the world when it's time… I can't be rooted here when things start happening.."
"Mr. Uchiha?" asked Lei, he heard his murmurs but didn't quite understand.
"I was talking about the Sozin's comet, Jackie, it will be coming back soon…" Madara achieved his legendary save while looking seriously at the sky.
"Yes, if it really comes once every 100 years then it will be soon… the world will change after a single day…" said Lei while looking at the sky.
Madara was very happy that things were going smoothly, canon was being pretty much preserved at this point, he avoided the South and North pole like the plague, he didn't want to have anything to do with those places before canon, especially the south one… who knows how things will change if he shows up.
His thoughts were interrupted by a soft female voice "Mr. Uchiha, Miss Kaliya is asking for your assistance." Nari said.
After nodding Madara gave a final glance at the parting Fire Nation ship and turned back to his Resort walking towards the Ice Pond, that was what Kaliya decided to call it after claiming it as hers, till this day Madara still chuckles about how cutely she pouted when she said that back then.
Madara walked at a slow pace, enjoying how well his business was going, after 4 months this place finally completed all the needed buildings, and training areas finally opened to clients.
Let me tell you… those rich fucks were burning money faster than the Fire Nation burns oxygen.
In a single week after the Koei Tower was opened and announced, many rich nobles from both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom came here to check things out… and now he earned what took him a whole month, in seven days… hurray gambling! No no no.. hurray UNREGULATED gambling!
Madara gloated on his genius idea of creating a gambling place for the rich, well they are rich and they have a source of income so it's not like he is ruining their lives… much…
He walked through the small fancy village outside the main resort building and reached the Icy Pond where Kaliya was still sitting right in the middle.
As he walked close a small section of the pond froze, creating a small ice bridge that allowed Madara to reach her easily.
"Hi there Kaliya, you disappeared for a while…"
The hot girl gave him a smirk "Oh, did ye miss me? I get it I get it… "
Madara chuckled and sat beside her. "Well, I did miss you, what you gonna do about it?" he asked in a teasing tone.
Her mouth went wide open, she couldn't muster an answer "… To think that cold little boy that almost burned me to death would flirt with me like this… how times changed…"
Madara just shrugged in response.
She then turned serious "Anyway… I called ye here because I need ye help, I managed to unlock many of me chakras… but now I'm stuck… it seems meditating won't be enough…"
Leaning forward, Madara listened, "You can always count on me to help you, Kaliya… at this point, you are family, tell me what you need."
Kaliya resolved herself and stared at Madara's eyes "I need to go back to the Northern Water Tribe."
..
…
'.. Fuck my life…'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
KojiSan
KojiSan
Good evening you beautiful sausages.
I'm sorry that yesterday i indeed couldn't post my chapter, but i decided to not have a day off today and give you guys a chapter :D you deserve it!
I know i'm late and for this... i shall toss all the blame on my wife, i sent her the chapter hours ago to review... and she fell asleep.... >_> so yea... blame her!
Nothing much other than that, just the same old whinny comments about people who disagree with some things Madara did and some of his choices... yeah who would even think that someone that is not you would behave different from how you would, am i right?!
I swear these people don't come here to read a story... i just don't know why they come here... will be forever a mystery to me.
I hope yall enjoyed the chapter, tomorrow i shall post another one, have a great evening and see you on the comments!
Oh yeah rq, i posted the updated & colored artworks of all 3 Red Cloud members, :D Jackie is there as well now!
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
14 Power
stone You may also Like
Paragraph comment