Madara was silently standing in front of a pile of corpses, staring at each one of them with a neutral expression and his sharingan glowing red in the dark, some scorched, some mutilated and some with a precise cut on their arteries, those didn't suffer much.
He was considering the information that he got from Captain Zhang, the only middle-aged man on the platoon, how did he get information out of them? Well by false promises of living of course, he is no Kyoshi Warrior, he won't follow his word in every situation… not only that, who will tell the others about it? Not a single soul. 'heh'
"So, they already started the early preparations for the siege of Ba Sing Se, huh? Not only that… it seems that I became quite a high-profile target now, is better to retire the 'Greedy Ghost' persona and stop my looting, I don't need more money and even if I did, I wouldn't risk it anymore, this was only the first of the many waves of problems that I would have to endure if I keep doing this…"
Walking around and collecting the kunai lodged on the soldier's corpses he can only sigh 'I really wished that there was a way to create storage seals in this world… carrying only 30 kunai is too few, but having too many of them will not only restrict my movements, will also weight a lot on my body…'
"Phew" cleaning his forehead's sweat with the sleeve of his kimono "This was tiresome but nowhere nearly as demanding as my duel with Lana… it just proves that one Kyoshi Warriors is way more dangerous than a Platoon of Fire Nation clowns… these people are the stormtroopers of the Avatar World after all."
Looking around the huge trees surrounding the massacre site he could only let out an exasperated sight 'Now to collect all these kunai and wires back… damn they don't tell you that detail on Naruto, do they? For fuck's sake…'
As he kept thinking with his head low, seemingly looking at the dead, a muffled sound… almost imperceptible… reaches his ear.
Crack.
Madara spins without thinking twice sending two waves, of five kunai each, towards the general direction of the sound.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIII
Mid travel the second wave hits all the kunai on the first wave, making them change direction.
Ting, Ting, Ting, Ting, Ting.
The Kunai with wires attached travels through the swam, the wires rotate around tree branches and trunks, shifting their trajectory slightly once again. That's when he hears a male voice from behind the trees, roughly 600 feet away from him.
"What the… Ugh!" that male voice again, surprised this time…
Keeping one arm fully stretched with many metal wires wrapped around his fingers, he quickly pulls them.
".. I-I can't move..." The voice is still low and muffled but Madara can now feel the fear of that person.
It was a very muffled voice but he heard it, he didn't know who it was, he didn't change his original posture, hell, Madara managed to do all that while still staring at the bodies while contemplating something.
"It seems I caught a little rat…." He grins and slowly turns around and with his other hand he throws a single Kunai, the wire seemed to come out from inside his sleeve.
The kunai traveled in fast speed towards the target, but when Madara's sharingan captured a single tiny detail of this rat's clothes, his pinky moved in a circular manner and extremely fast, sending a wave through the wire that slightly changed the direction of the kunai.
TUD.
The kunai sinks on a tree trunk, one side of the blade dripping blood that shined like rubies under the moonlight.
"YELP!" the sound echoes through the eerie silent swamp.
Madara slowly walks towards the source of the sound in slow and steady steps, until he finally manages to see a man hanging a few inches from the ground, with his limbs in X position, having metal wires rapped around each one of them, and another metal wire around his neck.
"Good evening my little rat friend"
The man looked like to be mid-20s, had a long blackish brown hair tied on a low ponytail and no bangs, he also had a slightly deep cut on his left cheek with the blood still flowing out.
The man felt dread when he saw those glowing red eyes staring at him, as if they were ready to claim his soul and send it to eternal damnation.
Gulp "H-Hello ther-"
He got interrupted when Madara pulled on of his fingers a tiny little bit more and the wire around his throat tightened.
"Tell me, rat, why are you spying on me?" he grins sinisterly "Do you want to dance too?"
The man mustered all his will to shake his head from one side to the other, answering on a raspy voice due to the wire around his throat.
"N-NO M-MR. GHOST. SIR!"
"Hoh? It seems you know a bit too much for my liking, it's better to settle your permanent residence here then…."
The man's body shook "N-NO P-PLEASE! I… I WAS SENT TO FIND YOU!"
Madara raised a snarky smirk "Oh yeah? So were they…" he said, looking over his shoulder towards the pile of corpses a few hundred feet away.
The man was sweating buckets at this point, he was so afraid of his possible outcome that even the nasty cut on his cheek made him feel pain.
"N-NO, J-JUST LISTEN, P-PLEASE, I WAS SEND BY M-MASTER BEIFONG TO F-FIND YOU!" he yelled.
Madara was surprised, raising one of his eyebrows "Master Beifong? As in... Lao Beifong?"
"D-do you k-know about the Patriarch of Beifong family?" asked the man shocked. The Beifong family was very high profile yes, but the name of the patriarch was only known by people of the high society.
Madara got a bit pissed and pulled his fingers a tiny bit again. "Answer the damn question, rat!"
"Y-YES, ITS MASTER LAO BEIFONG!!!" he yelled the top of his lungs.
Madara nodded "And what does the esteemed patriarch of the Beifong Family wants?"
"HE... HE SAID HE HAD A DEAL FOR YOU... THAT YOU WOULDN'T REGRET!"
Madara could only smirk 'Would you look at that… when God closes a door, he truly opens a window….' He nodded "Alright then, you will live… for now" moving his hand he loosened the wires tying the man.
He man went on his knees and coughed for a whole minute before calming down "D-do you believe me? Just like that?"
Madara pointed to the flying boar sigil on the man's robes "That is the sigil of the Beifong Family, I just didn't know your intentions… if you didn't have that sigil on you… "quickly pulling his other hand and another kunai flew back to his grasp, this one was partially stained in blood "It wouldn't be just a cut on your cheek…"
The poor man could only thank his wife for demanding that he wore his best robes when doing this job, she said he needed to display the elegance of the Beifong family when dealing with other people, that woman is a genius! I will send her for a whole week spa on the hot springs free of charge!
Madara turned around. "Alright let's go"
The man was confused "But... Mr. Ghost Sir, Gao Ling is the other way…"
"Who said anything about going to Gao Ling? Its time to collect my weapons back."
The man saw enlightenment "Oh! I see you will collect your things before going!"
Madara snorted "I won't be doing a thing!" he tossed the man a small bag "You are… now go... chop chop… we can't let Lao Beifong waiting can we?" He said with a charming smile, but all the man could see was a devil's smirk.
GULP.
As time passed the poor man had to climb trees, walk on muddy waters and crouch under bushes to recover all his kunai and wires, he couldn't stop sweating feeling Madara's blood red eyes staring on his back all the time.
Madara on the other hand was confused, this man's face and voice… he saw it before… it was way too familiar.
"HEY!" he shouted.
The man trembled and straightened his posture "Y-yes?"
"Your face looks familiar and I seem to recognize your voice… have I've threatened you before?" Asked Madara with a curious and suspicious gaze.
"N-No sir! This is the first time we've ever met Mr. Ghost Sir!"
Madara could only nod "Ok, go on… "
Time passed and all the kunai and wires were already inside the pouch that was handled back to him, that's when something in Madara's head clicked and his eyes widened 'This man… he looks and sounds a lot like Jackie Chan!' he couldn't help but grin.
"Alright, Mr. Ghost… everything is properly recovered, shall we go to Gao Ling now?"
Madara shook his head "No, no… I have many things in my hideout, if I'm leaving the swamp, I'm taking all of it with me… come, follow me… this way Jackie"
The man could only follow "But… s-sir my name is Lei."
Madara just shrugged "Whatever you say Jackie, lets quicken the pace… can't keep your beloved Master Beifong waiting."
And just like that poor Lei became a pack mule, carrying all of Madara's loot for miles, the poor man's legs were already trembling and sore when they finally arrived at the Beifong estate, it took them a week to reach there by foot.
Madara didn't have a problem with the idea of bringing his loot here, the Beifongs were FILTHY RICH, they wouldn't bother about some petty pocket changes that consisted his full 'wealth', to them… what he earned in half year was less than their daily profit.
He was well received, first they led him to a guest house… or at least that's what they called it… for him though? This was a fucking palace! 'God fucking dammit! Who said that money can't buy happiness!? Shoot that guy!'
After taking a shower and putting on clean robes he was led to the main building of the Beifong estate, he had to admit, this place was a work of art… it felt like a xianxia clan house, perfect gardens, beautifully decorated koi ponds, all so clean and sparkly that it felt like another world for him.
The maids led Madara towards the office where Lao Beifong would receive him, once they reached the door, they heard a youthful but imposing voice.
"Come in."
The servants left and Madara stepped inside the office. 'Okay now these people are just showing off…' rolls and rolls of scrolls on bookshelves that not only had extremely detailed carvings, but also had gold ornaments as extra details, a long desk with piles of documents and gold teals, many shelves made of carved wood with golden handles behind the comfiest looking sofa chair ever, and the fanciest fucking rug he ever saw in his life 'are these threads made of gold?!'
Madara calmed himself and walked towards the desk, behind it sat a man with brown eyes and a long black hair 'heh, it seems he still uses a 'youngster' hairstyle, well he should be roughly 20 years now give or take'. The Man had a slightly tanned skin, he wore long palace robes in shades of yellow and gold, with some green details here and there.
"Hello there, Mr. Greedy Ghost, welcome to my humble estate."
Madara could only use his full willpower to not roll his eyes at that comment 'this fucking prick…' taking a deep breath he sat down facing Lao Beifong.
"Madara, my name is Madara"
"Oh? So, its Mr. Madara then? Or do you have a family name?"
Madara could only stop a few seconds to consider if he should openly say about his family, it was a big deal in the Avatar World, after all, you could count on one's fingers how many characters had a family name.
"Uchiha" was all he said.
"Very well then Mr. Uchiha, i sent one of my servants to find you in the Foggy Swamp a few weeks ago, honestly, I thought that he would take way longer."
Madara could only shrug "There was a small party happening in the swamps the night that Jackie showed up, I think he just followed the sounds."
"Jackie?" Lao raised one eyebrow but quickly dismissed it "Anyway, as you should already know, the Fire Nation is on your tail, your bounty was set for 200 Gold Taels for anyone that could lead them to you, not only that they are searching every village and town on the southeast side of the Earth Kingdom for you, in a month at most they will make a perfect barricade around the area to trap you inside"
Madara was rather surprised, not at the Fire Nation's action because he already considered that possibility, but at the Lao Beifong's intelligence gathering "And what I'm here for? I honestly doubt that you would go through so lengths for merely 200 gold taels."
Lao could only smirk "You are right, we don't need to spend that much time and effort for such tiny amount, but I consider you way more valuable than the gold they offer, you see Mr. Uchiha, the Fire Nation had plans, plans that were slightly pushed back by your actions. They won't accept that at all, if captured you will serve as deterrence and example to the population, you know what I mean right?"
"Public execution." Madara said understandingly.
Lao nodded "You are a smart young man Mr. Uchiha, although other's might see you as a young boy, me along anyone that resides on the top of their respective fields can see what's bellow the surface, you are a good future investment and we the Beifongs have an offer for you. You will be obviously well paid for you assistance and we will provide something that no one else can, a trustworthy alibi."
Madara noded "I'm listening"
Lao smirked "Tell me Mr. Uchiha, how good are you in doing business?"
Madara smirked back "Oh… you have no idea…"
As you all must've noticed by now, i'm really using his Shurikenjutsu to the limit, why? well because i always thought it was a shame how all the other Naruto related novels that i had the pleasure to read only talked and talked about how awesome and legendary the Uchiha Shurikenjutsu was, but only used for practice and to make the MC do the 'Itachi's Shuriken' maneuver'.
Now i can't really blame them, Naruto reached a point that Shurikens were more useless than Sakura, people could just spam Susano'o, Bijuudama, Rasenshurikens and any other Nuke No Jutsu that they came up with, but Avatar is a way more 'grounded' fantasy setting than Naruto, so i really wanted to take advantage of that.
Second thing i wanted to say was about people that might complain about Madara's strength against the Kyoshi Warriors. idk how others did it, but in my fanfiction the Kyoshi Warriors are considered one of the top fighters in the world, they are not canonfodder by any means, each one of them have the skills to take down teams of regular soldiers, and i wanted to display that, they went toe-to-toe with Zuko on the show ffs, and took down his entire squad, and that was the 15 year old new gen, the current gen is 18+!
Third and final, this one is tied to the first point, some people asked "why not level up the Avatar World power scale and give Madara full power then?" the problem in doing that is simple, it would remove the tactical and strategical combat like using enviroments and tools, it would only become who have the biggest power multiplier, thats damn boring for me.
Anyway i hope you like the chapter, see yall on the comment section!
The room was brightly lit, although it was dark and cold outside the candles and braziers inside the room kept a good warm atmosphere as Madara and Lao stared at each other.
"I want to employ your services to work for the Beifong Family for the forseeable future, what do you think?" Asked Lao with a classic merchant smile.
"Interesting" said Madara leaning back on his chair, maintaining silence for at least half a minute, now this became a battlefield, and Madara won't accept defeat here, everything can be used to gain advantages, even silence.
Lao waited but didn't get any response, instead, he kept the silence going, he knew exactly what Madara was trying to do.
Madara kept staring at Lao, then suddenly the corners of his mouth curled up in a smirk "You gotta be more specific than that if you want to do business with me, Mr. Beifong."
Lao closed his eyes and rubbed his chin "I want to hire you to work under my instructions, the period may vary… there are many things that someone with your skills can be put to a good use, and many of our projects and goals will take and undetermined amount of time…"
Madara chuckled "What a lovely way to say a lot and explain nothing at the same time"
Lao shrugged "It's part of being a Beifong, but since I value you that much let's see… I would offer you a 10-year contract, but judging by your expression you wouldn't accept, so let's settle for… 8 years."
Shaking his head Madara replied "3 Years it's my limit Mr. Beifong"
Chuckling, Lao replied "Now you are driving a hard bargain Mr. Uchiha, 3 years is the same as nothing, very few of our projects can be done in such amount of time, if any. 7 Years is the standard time in the Earth Kingdom, we can work with that, right? It's not like you can find a better place that will hire you, others will only see you as a 10-year-old boy, and I doubt anyone can pay nearly 10% of the wage I will be giving you."
Madara suddenly grins as he stares at Lao "Not really Mr. Beifong, you see someone with my talents have the whole world available to them, even if I won't be paid as much, it's not like I will lack opportunities… you See, Mr. Beifong there's something that I am 100% sure that your intelligence network didn't manage to discover about me."
Lao's raised one of his eyebrows, as Madara extended one finger and a small flame ignited on top of his fingertip "I am a firebender… so I will say it again… 3 Years, what's going to be Mr. Beifong?"
The gears inside Lao Beifong's head were turning at mach speed, in not a single report about the Greedy Ghost there was anything related to him being a firebender, in fact everyone, Lao included, believed that Madara was just someone with superb unique martial arts, which was the reason why Lao wanted to hire him in the first place… if on top of his martial arts skills he also had an equal level of proficiency with firebending… his value just soared!
Narrowing his eyes Lao puts Madara in check "Five years and I will double your pay, believe me Mr. Uchiha, this is the best contract ever made in the Four Nation for the past 300 years."
Now it was Madara's turn to narrow his eyes "Oh really? Then let's break that record…" he took an envelope from his robes and handled to Lao Beifong, who was curious.
After opening and reading it Lao frowned "To think that you taught the Kyoshi Warriors and even got a letter of recommendation signed by all of them… you truly know how to do business, Mr. Uchiha."
Madara grinned, that was the letter that Kira handled to him when he was leaving the island that day, he knew it would come in clutch.
"Same offer, also I will add a temporary residence inside the estate for you, we will also offer you resources in case you need it, you won't have to pay for food, drinks, even your clothes will be on us for the duration of the contract, and we will have a dedicated location for your firebending practices away from prying eyes."
Now it was Madara's turn to frown, he wanted a 3-year contract, he wouldn't have much free time if it was longer than that, but Lao's offer… that was not something that he could simply deny, no one would… are you kidding me?!
The silence remained.
"I also want permission to leave the estate for a specific amount of time, I hope that you can sponsor it for me, if you agree then we have a deal related to the duration of the contract."
Lao wasn't amused "You will need more specific than that, how many leaves you want, what type of sponsorship you want, and how long will you be away?"
Madara stopped to think for a bit, then he raised 2 fingers "Two leaves, the first one it's just a fetch trip, I will require a ship and a crew it should take a couple weeks at most."
"If it's just a fetch trip you don't have to go, give me the specifics and I will send my people to retrieve whatever you want to retrieve." said Lao
Shaking his head Madara replied "Won't be possible unless they can climb up the Potala Mountains and reach the Southern Air Temple"
Lao was shocked "You want to go to that abandoned place? And can you even climb up there?"
Madara smirked "Of course I can, I was the one that left that thing up there in the first place."
Then there was silence again, but this time Lao broke it quite fast.
"Sounds fair, what about the second one?"
"Si Wong Desert…"
Lao raised his voice "What?! You want to go to that lawless place? For what?"
"There's an interesting library there that I really want to visit" Madara grinned "This trip should take roughly 2 months though, and you don't have to lend me a crew, resources would be welcomed though."
"If you want books we can get them for you, there's no need to waste 2 months in a trip"
Shaking his head Madara replied "No, you can't… these are my terms Mr. Beifong, the ball is in your court."
Lao narrowed his eyes "If you disappear after going towards that desert and break the contract I will release your information to the Fire Nation, you better not try to trick me Mr. Uchiha."
Madara just shrugged "I don't plan to, only an idiot would cross the Beifong family without an equally scary background, and I can be many things but an idiot I am not."
Lao nodded, although Madara kept his firebending secret, Lao had 100% sure that he didn't have a background to support him, if he had he wouldn't be in his current situation.
"Now that we settled the terms of the duration, lets talk about your obligations."
"I will protect this place with the best of my capabilities, but I won't accept to be sent as an envoy or assassin to do dirty jobs, I will teach your people some of my martial arts, but not all of them, believe me they will be twice as strong when I'm done with them… at least they won't be cannon fodder like those Fire Nation soldiers that came to annoy me during my stay in the swamp."
Gulp. Lao could only stare wide eyed at Madara's proclamation 'Those soldiers are considered cannon fodder? They go to the Fire Nation academy for half a decade to learn the art of battle!!'
But then Madara continued "Of course I am open to side jobs, but let me tell you right here and right now, if you request me to be a bodyguard outside the city of Gao Ling or play babysitter, I will charge 50% extra on top of my wage, how does that sound?"
Lao could feel a cold sweat running down the back of his neck 'h-how did he know?!?!?!?!'
A Sinister grin appeared on Madara's lips "So how about that, deal?"
Lao could only nod "Deal…"
"About my payment…"
"10 gold taels a day."
"Sounds fair… wait what... HOW MUCH?!"
The contract was signed by both parties, Madara was incredibly satisfied with the end results… yes, he would have to stay here for longer than he had planned but at least he would live like a king and be paid like a god, as for his future plans all they needed was to be adjusted to his new timeframe, nothing too serious, sinse one of his goals was to work for the Beifongs in the first place, that was the reason why he requested that letter to begin with.
As he walked out of Lao's office a demonic smile appeared on his face 'all according to the keikaku'.
Lao Beifong could only stare at the back of the 10-year-old boy walking out of his office while thinking 'What the hell are they feeding kids these days?!'
I know this is a very short and not that exciting of a chapter, but as i always said, i wont sacrifice character develpment for the sake of action, just like a couple chapters ago this one is a bit of an interlude that became too long to be part of another chapter, so i developed it a bit better and turned it into a small chapter instead.
I hope yall enjoy, you beautiful people. Thank you for all the support, it really inspires me to keep writing! ^_^
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