Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the Last Airbender, or the Legend of Korra.
Paragon of Korra
Chapter 56: Chaos and shades
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Konoha)
Itachi had no idea where he was. Actually that wasn't true. He did kinda know where he was. He was in the Uchiha clan compound. It just didn't look like the compound he knew. The first thing he noticed was that it was dark. That was wrong. Dark was like chasing fireflies in the summer nights. This is wasn't dark. This was utter blackness. If he looked up, all he saw a blackness that engulfed the entirety of the sky. There were lights on the walls and buildings but they cast an eerie glow. It made the place look creepier.
"Uh, hello?" he called out. His voice echoed out through the compound. "Uh, is anyone there?" Again, he heard only the echo.
He wondered how he got here. Mom had wanted him to bring something up from the basement for dinner. He was going to do that when he ended up here somehow. As soon as he came into this place, he turned around to go back but he couldn't. He was stuck here and he didn't know how to get back.
A part of him wanted to panic and cry for Mom. It was really appealing. But he couldn't let that happen. "Come on, Itachi," he told himself. "You can do this. What would Tsukiko say if you just gave up and cried for Mommy?" She would never let him live it down. He had to figure this out by himself.
There was only one way he could do that. He had to look around. He took a cautious step forward. He went to the building in front of him. It looked like his home, perhaps it was. But when he reached it, he saw that there was no door. "What the?" he said, staring at the wall where the front door should've been. "Where's the door?"
He heard footsteps to his left. He turned that way. The sound started to fade. He went towards the sound, curiosity moving him forward. Was there someone else in here beside him? The sound started to fade. He quickened his pace to a run.
But the sudden scream made him stop. It was a scream that made his heart stop and his brain to turn around and run away. It was a scream that was made from a person who being murdered, even though he didn't know that.
He didn't want to go forward but somehow, his feet pushed him forward. He came around the corner and saw a horrifying sight. His stomach heaved but although he wanted to throw up, he found that he couldn't. He was too busy staring at the dead body pinned to the building wall with kunai. Even though he had heard the scream just moments before, the man looked like he had been dead for a while.
He walked carefully up to the body. He wanted to be sure that he wasn't seeing anything. Maybe if he got close, he would be able to see the truth. His fingers reached up slowly, going to touch the body. "Please let this tell me this is a dream," he thought to himself.
Just as his fingers were about to touch the body, a black gloved hand stopped him. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you," the man suddenly standing next to him said, holding him in a firm but gentle grasp.
Itachi looked up at him with wide eyes. "Wha…? Who are you?"
"Someone who helps," he replied cryptically. "Look at the body now."
He did. The body was gone. There was no sign of it anywhere, not even a speck of blood. "H-h-how…?" he tried to ask the question but it would not come out of his mouth.
"It's a favored tactic of the Monster. It lures people in and attacks them when they least expect it. If you had touched the body, the Monster would have had you."
"T-th-the Monster?" he repeated.
The cloaked man nodded. "Yes, the Monster."
"What's the Monster?"
"…That is the question, isn't it?"
That wasn't the answer he wanted. He wanted to know who the Monster was. He wanted to know who the guy he was talking to was. "Who are you?"
"That depends."
"Depends?"
"On what you think of me," he said.
"But I don't know who you are," Itachi protested. "For all I know, you could be the Monster you're talking about!"
"Again, that depends."
He frowned. "You're not really helpful."
"I'm the most help you have right now. And if you to stay away from the Monster, you will want to come with me for help." He held out his gloved hand. "Do you want my help?"
Itachi looked at his hand. He didn't really know what to do. But it wasn't like he had much of a choice. He took the hand. "I'm trusting you."
"I would hope so." He walked back the way Itachi came, leading him to a different part of whatever this place.
(Location: Ba Sing Se)
The Upper Ring was burning. Even as they came out of the palace, Mako and the others could smell it. When they came out the front, they saw people running around, grabbing whatever they could. It was like any sense of order had left when the Earth Queen died.
But even though he could see it, Mako was having a little difficulty accepting it. "I can't believe it! The Upper Ring is in chaos!"
Yue could believe it. "Considering the way this city's been going, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner."
"Don't blame me for this,"Gāng said to her.
The way he said it, she was suspicious. She wondered what exactly did he do when he allowed out of his cell. He had said something about fixing the Earth Queen but that could've meant anything. "I'm not."
"It sounded like it."
They watched a couple of looters approach one of the guards. "Don't try to stop us; we're taking back what's ours," the lead looter told him.
"Stop you?" the guard asked, taking off his helmet. "I'm gonna join you. I know where the good stuff is." He pointed back into the palace and ran inside, leading the looters.
"And now the guards are going to the other side," Gāng muttered. He was such an idiot. Why didn't he see this coming? Zaheer would've done something like this even if he had been the one to kill the queen.
As one of the looters passed between them carrying a pot on his head and what might've been a screen cover, Bolin just had one question. "Should we do something?"
"This isn't our battle," his brother told him, going for the stairs. "We have to deliver Zaheer's message to Korra immediately."
"Right. Okay, find Korra, deliver message. Yeah, this should be easy. We just got to get out of the city and get to the desert, then somehow find her in the vast expansive wasteland that goes on for thousands, and thousands, of miles." He sighed in defeat. "This isn't gonna be easy."
"What do you expect?" Yue asked him. "They landed in the Si Wong Desert."
"How should we get there then?"
Mako saw an airship take off into the air. The Upper Ring citizens weren't even trying to protect their homes. They were fleeing for their lives while the looters took their things. Still, it gave him an idea. "We need an airship."
Gāng felt like that the best idea any of them had since things went to crap. "Let's get moving than," he said.
They race down to the docking area. The rest of the ships had already taken off. There was one left. When they climbed aboard, they saw it was because looters were trying to dismantle it, take the valuable pieces and leave the rest to rot, just like what they were doing to the rest of the Upper Ring.
Mako was the first to react. "Excuse me," he called out to them, "may I have your attention please? I'm with the Republic City Police and I need to commandeer this airship to help the Avatar."
They stopped to listen to him but once he was done, they went right back to work looting the place. "Okay, that didn't work," Yue said. "I guess we'll just have to beat them out of here."
"They don't feel like fighters to me," Gāng noted. They felt like ordinary people who were trying to do the best they could with a golden opportunity. They've never done any actual fighting. That was a bad thing for them.
Bolin stopped them before they stepped forward. "Let me give it a shot," he said to them. He looked at the looters and shouted, "Hey, the Queen's gold's on the third floor of the palace, second door on the right!" They couldn't have left fast enough. Once they were gone, he looked at the others smugly. "You just got to know how to talk to 'em."
"Nice job," Yue replied. "Now let's get moving."
They went to the controls but saw a problem. "They took everything," exclaimed Mako. He grabbed the wires for the transmission radio. That was the only thing left of it. "I mean, who rips out a transmission radio?"
"You'd be amazed at how much those things can sell on the black market," Gāng told him. He would know. He was the one who got the monthly reports on how the black market had been doing.
"Some folks just do not have respect for other people's property," Bolin remarked as he sat in the pilot's seat. He stretched out his fingers and said, "Now let's steal this airship!"
Mako eyed his brother suspiciously. "You know how to fly this thing?"
"Technically speaking, no," he answered. "But, c'mon, how hard could it be?"
Gāng leaned close to Yue. "Bet?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Not the time."
Bolin pushed a level forward with confidence. The airship took off, and then promptly went down to the ground. "Up! Up!" screamed Mako.
"I don't see any up button. I see levers and switches, oh, there it is." The airship started to rise back up into the air after that.
"Should've taken the bet," Gāng said to Yue.
"Not the time," she told him.
As the airship flew over the Inner Wall, they saw the rest of the city. It wasn't just the Upper Ring that was burning. The entirety of Ba Sing Se was burning. Gāng stood at the window. He couldn't feel the heat due to the glass and he couldn't see the fires. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see it. "How bad is it?" he asked.
"Bad," Yue told him.
Mako could see it. He really wished he couldn't. "The whole city is falling to pieces," he said.
"Mako," his brother said, "our family's down there."
The realization struck him too. Their family was done in that chaos. They had to be saved. "Move over," he ordered, shoving himself into the seat, "we're getting them out."
"Oh, you think just because you dated Asami, you know how to fly this better than me?"
"Yeah," he answered. She had shown him a few things about machines when they were dating. He remembered.
Yue was impressed by the Firebender as he flew the airship to the Lower Ring. "Now that's a kid who cares for his family."
Gāng heard something a little different in those words. "You still thinking about what Zaheer said in the prison?" he asked her.
She was quick to say, "No."
He didn't believe her. He remembered what the Airbender said too. He also remembered what Yue had said back. "If Ming-Hua had been there, would you have accepted the apology?" he asked Yue.
"No," she said back. "It would've been a lie."
"She did seem surprised about your womb."
"So what?" she asked him.
He asked a different question. "Are you really going to keep up hating her forever?"
"Are you going to be the same with Ghazan?"
That was a low blow and they both knew it. But he also knew something else. "That is different."
"You think so?"
"We both know so. I know the fully story between Ghazan and my dad." He knew because he had been there that night. "You have only your side of the story and it's beginning to look flawed and biased to me."
She stifled a snarl she so desperately wanted to throw him. Instead she said, "I'm not talking about this," and marched over to the other side of the airship. It wasn't a good distance but it was enough to satisfy her.
While they were arguing about her past, Mako found the apartment block his family was. Everything was on fire and it look like the block could go at any moment. He got the airship over their apartment, glad that they lived on the top floor. "Go!" he told Bolin.
His brother was already running for the cargo hatch. "Going!" he shouted back. When the cargo hatch opened, he slid down it and grabbed the ladder in the block. The metal was hot against his fingers as he slid down, even more so due to the friction. But he didn't let it bother him. He was more concerned about his family. They were more important than some slightly burned fingers.
He reached the floor and quickly checked the window. He saw his family. They were all still there, inside the apartment. "Bolin?" said Chow when he saw him. "What are you doing here?"
The Earthbender climbed through the window. "I came to get you guys out. This whole block is about to go up in flames. Come on, Mako and I have an airship on the roof."
"We can't," Tu said. "Grandma won't go."
Yin was adamant about that. "This place is my whole world. I will not leave!" she declared. She got up to her feet and went to her grandson's side. "Oh, but I'm so glad my little Bolin has come back to visit. Sit down, would you like some tea?"
He wondered if she was crazy. He saw the smoke coming through the front door and realized that wasn't important right now. "Grandma, we don't have time for tea."
"Mom, please!" Chow begged.
"No!" she said stubbornly. "I can't abandon the place where I raised my family. It's my home.
"Grandma," Bolin told her, "there's one thing Mako and I've learned from all our years on the street. It doesn't matter where you go. If you have your family with you, you'll always be at home."
What he said was touching. She knew it was touching because it had touched her heart. But there was still the matter at hand. She had raised her family in this apartment. She was going to die in this apartment whether they liked it or not! "I'm not going."
That was the last straw. "Fine!" declared her grandson. "You leave me no choice." With an easy motion, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. To the rest of the family he said, "We're rolling out!"
"Wait," Yin told him. She reached for the wall, grabbing the picture of the Earth Queen. "Okay, let's go!"
It was a little tricky getting up the ladder with his grandmother but Bolin was able to do it. He got her into the airship and guided the rest of them into it as well. He wasn't alone in doing it either. He was at the front and Tu was at the back, herding people up the ladder and making sure they got on board.
When the last of them were on board, Bolin took over the controls from Mako. "Let's get out of here!"
"Up," Mako reminded him.
"I know that! You don't have to remind me!"
The airship rose up into the air and flew away from the apartment block. The family at the windows watched it burned down. The home they had known all their lives was gone. But they were still alive. That had to count for something.
Tu stood next to Bolin, watching the same burning view he and Mako were. "Thanks for getting us out of there," he told them. "I mean, I probably could have handled it myself if you guys didn't show up, but, thanks."
"Boost in one breath but accepts help in the next?" thought Gāng as he listened, "How very interesting." This merited further investigation.
Yin went to the wall and hung the Earth Queen picture there. "May she rest in peace," she prayed. If she heard the quiet scoff from the blind man in the room, she didn't pay any attention to it. She looked over at Mako. "This airship is nice. Is it our new home?" she asked.
"No, Grandma," he told her. "I'm not sure where we're gonna take you, but right now, we need to find Korra."
Chow came over. "Did something happen to the Avatar?" he asked.
"I'm afraid so." He opened the map in his hands. It was a map of the Earth Kingdom flight routes. "Her airship went down somewhere in the desert. She was coming from a military base near the Misty Palms Oasis and heading to Ba Sing Se. If we retrace her route back to the base, we should find the wreckage."
"Then let's get to it," Tu declared.
"I'm already flying us there," Bolin told his cousin.
"Well, fly us there faster. I want to get out of here and not look back." Practically everyone in his family agreed with the sentiment.
(Location: Konoha)
Tsukiko had raced home to help find Itachi. According to her mom, he had been sent to get some things from the basement for dinner and hadn't shown himself since. At first Mito didn't think anything about it. But as time went on and Itachi didn't reappear, she got concerned. She started looking around and couldn't find him. She started calling the other houses in the compound, seeing if he was there but none of them had seen him.
She was really beginning to worry that he was gone. She had been on the verge of calling her father when her daughter came back and looked around the house herself, just to be sure. That was how Tsukiko noticed something in the basement. If she hadn't come from her mission, she wouldn't have given it a second thought. She got out of the basement, told her mom to keep everyone out of there until she said otherwise, and called her team.
She was glad to see Arashi's and Hiro's concerned looks when they came through the front entrance. "Tsukiko, what's the matter?" Hiro asked.
She looked past them. Their teacher was missing. "Where's Rin-sensei?" she asked.
"She took what we learned from the crack on the playground to your dad."
"Did you guys learn anything new about it?"
Arashi shook his head. "Not really, no. The best we could come up with was to have the playground cordoned off until an actual solution was found." It wasn't an ideal situation, they all knew that. But it was the best they could come up with. "So why are we here?"
"Follow me." She led them into the house and down into the basement. They walked past the food storage, the workshop (that anyone could use but no one did), to the way back. There, layered against the back wall like it had always been there, was another crack. "That," she said, "That's why you're here."
"Oh boy," the dyed redhead amongst them said.
Hiro looked at the crack and then at her. "That hasn't always been there?" It was a redundant question, but a necessary one.
She frowned at him. "You know that it hasn't."
"Sorry, had to be sure."
Arashi took a step towards it. "Have you gotten close to it?"
"No, not yet," she told him. That could've been what happened to Itachi. He got too close and the crack swallowed him whole.
"So you don't know what's on the other side." He started for the crack.
Both his teammates reached out and grabbed him. He had done that same move back on the playground. They weren't going to let him do that again. "None of that," Hiro told him, pulling him back.
"Come on," he said. "This is something we have to do."
"We do not have to do that."
"How else are we going to find where Itachi is?" he asked him. He looked at Tsukiko. "Back me up here, Tsukiko. You know I'm right."
He was right. That wasn't what made her stop him. "What happens if you get lost in that…that thing?"
"Make sure that I don't?"
"Oh, just like that?" she asked with sarcasm tinged with worry.
"Then hold onto my hand or something," he retorted.
Hiro sighed. They were starting to fight again. Either that or it was flirting. "Guys, it's not about you right now," he told them both.
That stopped them cold. Tsukiko looked at Arashi. "Are you serious about the whole hand thing?"
"Yeah, I was. Hold onto my hand and don't let go while my head's in there. You'll be there to pull me out."
She folded her arms. "In other words, I'm your emergency support line."
"Yeah, that's about it," he said.
She gave him a long look so he could think about what he had just said. Did he even realize the words that he had said? They could have a really big interpretation. He wanted her hold onto his hand. Did he have any idea what that meant? But he kept staring at her, looking he didn't know what he was talking about.
Hiro looked at them both and sighed. "Why do I have play the third man here?" he asked no one in particular. It was a job that he did not sign up for. "These two need to start dating or something. This is getting both annoying and ridiculous." Of course, he didn't say that out loud. What he did say was, "I'll hold onto Arashi's hand too. That way, we know that he'll come out of this with his head still intact."
"There, you see?" Arashi asked Tsukiko. "Hiro will help too."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, you idiot," she told the dyed redhead. "We'll hold your hand so you don't get lost. Happy?"
"Yes."
"Great."
"Guys, we don't have the time for the usual stuff," Hiro reminded them. "Itachi is missing." That shut them down quickly.
Tsukiko felt like an ass for arguing like this while her baby brother was missing. What the hell was she thinking? "Right, let's get moving." She took Arashi by the hand and tried not to think about her hand fit into his.
Arashi was secured by both of them holding his hands. Tsukiko's hand fit rather well into his. It was smooth and a little small. When did that happen? "Bad Arashi," he scolded himself. "Bad. Do not think about the hand. Focus on the crack. That's what's important. Focus on the crack, nothing else." It was rather hard to do so but he had to try.
They walked up to the crack, taking cautious steps. As soon as they were a few steps outside of touching range, Arashi took the lead. "When I want you to pull me back, I'll squeeze your hands," he told them both, looking at Tsukiko. "Got it?"
They both nodded. "We got it," she told him.
He walked forward and leaned his head out. The crack opened up and swallowed it whole. Both Hiro and Tsukiko did their best not to panic at the sight. They had seen it happen before. Arashi's head would come back out. It was just a matter of time. It probably wouldn't even take long for it to happen. It might just take a couple of seconds.
A second passed…
Two seconds…
Three seconds…
Four…
Five…
Their hands squeezed and they pulled hard. Arashi's head came free. It was still attached to his body. "Well?" Tsukiko asked him, letting go of his hand. "What did you see?"
He looked at her, "I saw the compound," he said, letting go of Hiro's hand too. "It was different."
"How was it different?" the Hyūga asked him.
"It was dark, almost scarily so. I didn't see anyone but I got a feeling I wouldn't want to."
Tsukiko looked at him. "You think it's still this Spirit World?"
"Yeah, I do. It may be modeled after the compound but it's definitely the Spirit World."
"Why would it model the compound?"
"Location?" offered Hiro.
"Or perhaps it is something else, something darker," said a fourth voice from behind them.
They turned around. Sasuke was standing there, looking quite serious and grim. It was a different picture from what they were used to. "Jiji, what do you mean?" Tsukiko asked him.
"Arashi, what kind of feeling did you have in there?" he asked, ignoring his granddaughter.
The dyed redhead shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It was just a bad feeling."
"Was it a feeling that you didn't want?"
"Isn't that what we want with all bad feelings?"
He scowled. It made him look harsher. "Be serious, boy."
He was a little surprised by the snap but answered all the same. "No, I wouldn't want it."
"Was it a feeling of fear, that if you went any further, you would see something that you wouldn't want to see?"
"What's with these questions?" Tsukiko asked. She looked over at Hiro but he had no idea either. Whatever was happening, they had to know.
Arashi frowned as he thought about it. "Uh, I wouldn't say it went as far as that."
"How far would you say it went?"
That was a weird question. He wanted to point that out but the look on the old man broke no arguments. "I'd say…apprehensive."
"Like you had a suspicion that something was happen, you just didn't know what that was?"
"Yeah, that would be it."
He sighed. It seemed to make him a little feebler. "I was afraid of that."
"What's going on, Jiji?" Tsukiko asked him, going over to him.
He looked at his granddaughter. There was a somber seriousness in his eyes. "Your teammate is right, Tsuki. That crack does lead to the Spirit World, a part that has molded itself to a dark memory of the Uchiha clan, an event I was believed to be the sole survivor of."
As soon as he said those last words, Tsukiko knew what he meant. "The Massacre?" she asked in a horrified whisper.
"Yes. And your little brother is there, right now."
The cloaked man led Itachi through the streets. They were the only ones out there and it was creepy as hell. Itachi didn't like that his only source of help was some cloaked guy whose face he couldn't see. But he didn't have any other actual options. There was something following them. He didn't know what it was and he couldn't see it. It was at their backs like someone watching from a distance, gaining ground on them. He had to guess that it was the Monster.
They moved fast but the Monster stayed on them. It never wavered. The further they went, the more it felt like it was getting closer. Itachi could actually feel it on his back, crawling up to lick at his back. "We're going to die, aren't we?" he thought in a near panic. Could he even die here? He didn't want die!
"We're here," said the cloaked man, stopping in front of a single door in the wall. It looked like it belong there but it also stood out because of it.
Itachi looked at the door. It didn't have any kind of handle and it also looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time. "This? This is a safe spot?" he asked.
"No. What's beyond the door is a safe spot. Just push it open."
He reached out and gave the door a push. It opened without a sound. What he saw beyond it was nothing but darkness. "What's there?"
"Safety for you," the cloaked man told him.
He looked back at him. "You're not coming?"
"I can't."
"Why?"
A cold sound echoed from the street. It sounded something like a chuckle mixed in with a hunting howl. Whatever it was, it made Itachi's spine shiver. It was coming. It was coming for him. "There's no time," the man said. He pushed Itachi towards the opening. "Get inside, now. I'll fend him off."
"But—"
"Go, now!"
He moved at that command. It sounded a lot like his dad. But as soon as he stepped inside, the door closed behind him. He was engulfed in darkness for a moment. But then a staircase appeared in front of him. It led downwards, spiraling down into the darkness.
He had nowhere else to go. He went down the steps, going down on at a time. "Man, I really wish that I had a kunai." Why didn't he have one?
When he reached the bottom, there was an old screen door. He pushed it open and saw more darkness. "Uh, hello?" he called out, stepping inside.
Lights flared into brightness, hurting his eyes. He turned away, covering his eyes to protect them. "Who are you?" a hard voice demanded.
"What?" he asked. He took his hands off his eyes. The light was bright, piercing. He had to blink a few times before it calmed down so he could see.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?" he asked back.
"We're asking the questions here, boy! Who are you? Are you with the Monster?"
"No, I've been running from him!" He looked back at the room and came to a complete stop. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
The room was full of people, but not just any people. They all carried the crest of the Uchiha on their shirts. They were clansmen but they weren't any clansmen he recognized. They all were all eyeing him with suspicion, waiting for him to make a move. They were split down the middle of the road, providing a clear path to a man and a woman sitting. It was clear they were in command. It showed in how they sat, firm yet fair.
He looked at them all. "You…you guys are part of the Uchiha clan, right?"
"We are," said the man in command. "I am the clan head, Fugaku."
As soon as he heard that name, he looked at the woman beside him. "Then that makes you Mikoto."
They were both surprised when he said. She recovered and said, "I am. How is it do you know that?"
They were his great-grandparents. "Wow, is this what the twins are going to look like when they grow up?"
They looked at each other, clearly confused. "Twins?" said Fugaku. The clansmen around them had the same bafflement on their faces.
Mikoto looked at Itachi. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean the twins." He had to stop before he went any further. They probably didn't know about his family. "My little brother and sister," he explained. "They're named Fugaku and Mikoto, after you guys."
The room filled with whispers as they all talked with each other. Fugaku raised his hand and the whispers fell silent. "Who are you?" he said to the boy.
"An Uchiha, just like you," he said, making it sound so obvious.
He frowned, making him look sterner. "I meant your name, boy. What's your name?"
"Oh, right. It's Itachi."
The room buzzed with angry words as they all gave him death glares. He didn't know why they were all glaring at him like that. What did he do? All he did was say his name. He tried to shut out the words but they burrowed into his ears and refused to stop.
"Fucking—"
"I can't believe—"
"Who would dare name their kid—?"
"It's a fucking disgrace!"
"The clan has fall—"
"Why hasn't he changed his name?"
"He doesn't know?"
"Bullshit! He has to have known!"
"Look at him! He's a kid!"
"He has the name!"
"Silence," Fugaku said, his voice clear across the room.
They all looked at him with outrage and shock. "Lord Fugaku!" one of them protested.
He would've said more but his lord glared at him, Sharingan blazing. "I said silence!" he said again, his voice rising. The clansmen quelled at that voice. "We do not judge someone on their name alone. Their actions define judgement. You would do well to remember that, Shin."
"Yes, Lord Fugaku," the accused clansmen said, lowering his head so he didn't look at the man.
Itachi watched this all happen with a stunned look. "Is this how it happened back in the old days?" he wondered. Or did his dad snap at clansmen when he wasn't in the room?
Mikoto looked at him. "Your father, child, is it Sasuke?" she asked him. She sounded hopeful.
He didn't know why. "No, my dad's Madara."
"Madara?" repeated Fugaku. "That's your father's name."
"Yeah, that's his name." He said it with pride and for good reason. He was proud of his dad.
He looked at his wife. "I can't believe that name has been used again. Do they know nothing of our past?"
What was that supposed to mean? "Hey, are you making fun of my dad?"
"I am questioning his father's ability to name his children."
He scowled at the man. "You take that back," he ordered. "You take that back right now. My dad is the best dad in the whole of the village. He's the Hokage too!"
The clansmen were stunned. He could see it on their faces. "Hokage?" said Fugaku, "An Uchiha the Hokage?"
"Yeah, he is. So you'd better respect him!"
They all looked at him like he was crazy yet made sense. They were trying to figure the words he had said. Mikoto started to smile as she looked at her husband. He started chuckling. The others looked at him. "My lord," said one of the women, "What's so funny?"
"The irony, Harumi," he told her. "You have to appreciate the irony?"
"What irony?"
"The irony of an Uchiha named Madara being the Hokage. We never believed that the latter would happen, especially with the former's name."
"But there is still the name, my lord," another clansman protested.
"As I have said before, Shiro, the name is not important." He glanced at Itachi. "Even if it is a name that leaves us with bad memories," he said.
That felt like an insult to Itachi. He wanted to retort but the guy had no idea what their relation was. He would've thought the mentioning of the twins would've done that. "My dad named me the same way his dad did: to redeem the name and make it better for the future. And Grandfather Sasuke was right."
That got their attentions. "Sasuke?" repeated Fugaku. "Sasuke's your grandfather?"
"Yeah, I thought it was obvious when I told you about the twins and how they were probably going to look like you when they grow up."
Mikoto thought about it and laughed it quietly. "When he puts it like that," she said to her husband, "It is rather obvious." He chuckled too.
"So, what are you guys doing down here?" Itachi asked. "Are you hiding from the Monster too?"
The air stilled and turned grim. So did the clansmen. "We have to," one of them told him. "It hunts us down and rips us to shreds, only to reform us so we can do it again."
That didn't paint a nice picture for him. In fact, he felt rather sick just from listening to it. "What about that cloaked guy out there?" he asked. "He's fighting against the Monster." They didn't answer him. It left him with a bad feeling about the cloaked guy outside.
(Location: Si Wong Desert)
As soon as the airship flew into the desert, Mako and Bolin asked their family to start searching for any sign of an airship wreck. They took turns doing that but it was a thankless job. They flew for days and they saw no wreckage. Not only that, but seeing the endless amount of sand day in and day out, it reminded them of Ba Sing Se burning. It was being destroyed and there had been nothing they could do to stop it.
They weren't the only ones who were thinking about Ba Sing Se. Gāng and Yue were at the back of the bridge, talking to themselves. "Do you think the city will actually stand or they will burn it all down?" Yue asked him.
"No, they won't destroy the city," he replied. "They live there too. They'll just loot the Upper Ring and occupy it. They won't burn it down." They'd probably burn down the royal palace but he didn't care about that place so much. There were too many bad or annoying memories.
"You're quite callous about what's happening."
"It was a long time coming, we both know that. Besides, as soon as I heard Zaheer's speech, I made a guess as to what was going to happen next. So I ordered the Dai Li to take steps."
She wondered how he made that guess, just like she wondered about what he did after freeing himself. She had a suspicion but she didn't say anything about it to him. What point would it make if she did that? Nothing that would help them, that was for sure. "What did you have them do?" She had not seen any Dai Li when they had fled.
"I told them to secure the government and move them to safety underground."
"The government?" she repeated.
"Yes. The people and the paperwork that made the Earth Kingdom go, despite the Earth Queen. If we had lost them, we would've lost the country entirely."
"I think that's going to happen either way." To the people who didn't know, the Earth Queen was the ruler of the Earth Kingdom. She died and all order across the country would break down. The lands would fracture and fight amongst themselves.
As she ran through all this in her head, she also noticed that Gāng wasn't really focused on her. It was hard to tell with a blind man when his attention was on the people around him but she had figured out when it was or wasn't. "What's got your attention?"
"A new perspective," he replied.
"Guys," Tu called out from the window, telescope in hand, "it's the wreckage! I found it!" His cousins joined him as he pointed it out to them. "There!"
"Tu?" asked Yue.
Gāng nodded. "He would make an excellent apprentice, wouldn't he?"
"Apprentice is one thing. Actually becoming the Paragon is another." They might've nagged Naruto about him taking too long to find an apprentice but they understood and applied his caution. Yue herself spent years before finally choosing Tahno and she had a lot of prospects before him.
"He can cut it. He hides something from his family, something that he doesn't want them to know."
"What's that?" She looked at him and saw no idea of a hidden secret. It looked a bulky kid who thought he was a tough punk.
"He's a fighter, an actual fighter. I would bet money that he fights in the underground battles in Ba Sing Se to try and bring home some extra cash for the family. He's got some understanding of Earthbending stances but not the full concept. He's not a good fighter at the moment but that doesn't matter to him, so long as his family is taken care."
As the airship flew closer to what Tu pointed out, Mako checked out what he had seen. "That's a Ba Sing Se airship, all right," he declared. "But where's the rest of it?"
"I don't know," said Bolin, "But there's some tracks." From the wreckage there was a line in the sand that led somewhere like a road in the desert. All they would have to do is follow it. That was easy enough to do.
Yue and Gāng were still busy focusing on Tu. "How did you figure that all out?" she asked him.
"It's all how he stands and moves," he told her. "Watch him and see."
She did that and saw what he was right. Tu did move a little bit like a fighter. It wasn't obvious because he tried to hide it and whoever taught him left him with an incomplete tutelage. "What are you going to do about it?" she asked him.
"I'm going to see how he shapes up."
"Meaning what? You're just going to attack him."
"Hm, not a bad thought." Now he was already beginning to think about to attack the boy once they had landed at their destination. He couldn't just outright ambush the boy, not in front of his family. They wouldn't react well to it. No, he would have to get the boy away from them and then attack him. That should be simple enough.
The trail led them to the Misty Palms Oasis. Mako took over the controls, despite his brother's protests, and tried to land the airship. He had done it, somewhat successfully. The somewhat came from the fact that the ship landed heavily, knocking everyone down, and also scaring off the dragon who had been resting outside the gate.
"See, I told you," Bolin told his brother from where he had been thrown against the controls. "Landing is hard."
"Shut up," he said back.
Yue stood back, making sure that she could still do that. "Guys, how's about we all make sure we're alive and get off this thing?" she suggested. Everyone happily agreed with the sentiment.
No one had been injured, only rattled. That feeling left them as they got out of the airship and walked into the walled oasis. Both Bolin and Mako saw the looks of wonder on their family's faces. This was their first time being somewhere they didn't know. The brothers shared a knowing look. They also wondered if they had looked the same when they had gone to the South Pole for the first time.
Their family saw the iceberg in the center of town and saw the spirts lounging on it. They were surprised and shocked to see them. "Spirits!" one of the women said in a voice showing how surprised she was.
Mako didn't think much about the spirits on the iceberg. They were just spirits, nothing that important. But then he realized that they had probably never seen a spirit before now. "When did I get so dismissive about spirits?" he asked himself.
"Okay, guys," Bolin said, turning to face the family. "We think Korra found her way back here. Now let's split off into teams and scour the town." As he had talked, Pabu crawled up his leg and settled on his shoulder, chirping in his ear. "Yes, we'll need your help too, Pabu, now just give me a second while I—" He froze when he realized just what he was saying. "Wait, Pabu? Pabu!" He hugged the fire ferret close to his chest while he laughed joyously.
Yin watched her grandson act like a loon as he held that animal. She only had one question in mind. "Why is Bolin hugging that big rat?" she asked Chow. He just shook his head. As the scene went on, she turned away in disgust. "Eww, now he's kissing it!"
He was kissing Pabu on the nose and he didn't care if people could see him or not. "I'm never gonna let you go again!" he told Pabu happily.
Tu watched this all happened with a confused look. He was sure that there was more than he thought happening but he didn't know what. He saw something coming towards them. One look and he knew he wouldn't be able to beat it. So instead he called out, "Guys, look out! Giant dog beast thingy!"
He and the family got clear, leaving Mako to get pinned by Naga. She started him licking right away and he tried to stop it. "Okay, all right, Naga," he told her as he tried to fend her licking off. "It's good to see you, too. Gah! Stop! You're licking my mouth." She finally backed off and he started spitting out dog licking.
Bolin heard feet coming towards them from a cantina close by. He looked and saw the two people they were going to search for. "Asami!" he called out, "Korra!"
His brother got to his feet as they came running towards them. "You guys are okay!" They ran forward to meet them. He caught Korra in a hug while Bolin did the same for Asami, lifting her off the ground.
It took a moment for Mako to realize just what he was doing. He quickly broke off the hug. "Sorry. I was just—" he tried to explain. "It's so good to see you."
"It's really good to see you, too," she said back. She looked at Bolin and said, "Both of you."
Lin came out of the cantina with the others. "Good," she said as soon as she saw Mako. "You guys aren't dead."
"Don't get all mushy on me, Chief," he replied, smiling at the chance to talk to her again. He bowed his head to Korra's father. "Tonraq. Sir."
Meanwhile, Bolin had figured out who the fourth person standing there was. He had to get in close, just so he could be sure. His eyes weren't lying to him. "Oh my gosh, it's Lord Zuko!" he whispered back to his brother. "I can't believe it." He did try to keep his excitement under control, which was why his excited laughter came out as a fan-like giggle.
Zuko looked impassively at the kid. He glanced once at his brother-in-law. "Sorry, can't," Naruto told him. "If hitting him upside the head would fix him, I would've done it."
"There's nothing with Bolin," Asami told her sensei, a little offended on his behalf. "Why would you say that? And why would hitting him on the head do anything?"
"Long story," he replied.
Zuko smirked. "Good story." Naruto smirked too.
Mako finally pulled Bolin away from the living legend. "Uhm, forgive my brother," he apologized. "We're just really honored to meet you, Sir." He bowed his head in respect. His brother did the same.
He gave them the same respect. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well." He had heard tales about the new Team Avatar. In a way, the boys reminded him of Katara and Sokka.
Yin saw the most beautiful girl she had ever seen and came to a conclusion. She walked up to Asami and said, "You must be the Avatar. Mako told me so much about you. You are even more beautiful than I imagined."
As soon as she heard those first words, an awkward smile appeared on Asami's lips. "Crap, help!" she thought in a near panic. She started signaling Mako with her eyes, begging him to come over and stop this from going any further.
He got her message and quickly came over with Korra. "Uh, actually, that's Asami," he told his grandmother. "This is Avatar Korra. Korra, this is my grandma, Yin."
She took her by the hand and checked out her arm at the same time. "You are very muscular for a woman."
"Uhm, thanks." How in the name of Akela was she supposed to answer that question? "You too?" she replied. She kicked herself for making it sound like a question when it wasn't. She hoped that she wasn't called out on it.
But Yin didn't care about that. "What lovely young women," she said, holding both their hands. "Mako, why aren't you dating any nice girls like them?"
Both girls looked at each other and then looked away. "Long story," they both thought, "Really long story." And they weren't that inclined to talk about it, especially in front of new-found family.
Asami quickly changed the subject. "Uh, so what happened to you two?" she asked Mako. "Where have you been?"
"We were captured by Zaheer and taken to Ba Sing Se," he explained to them. "We were there when the Earth Queen was overthrown." Bolin joined them, turning somber when he heard the topic.
Korra was surprised by that. "What?" she asked. "How did you escape?"
"Gāng freed us but Zaheer let us go."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because he wanted us to find you and deliver a message," Bolin told her. The others joined them, listening to what being said.
Mako looked at her. When he spoke, his voice was serious. "Zaheer is headed to the Northern Air Temple as we speak. He said he's gonna wipe out the new Air Nation and everyone in it. Unless you turn yourself over to him," he finished.
Korra couldn't believe that it would come to this. "Zaheer's threatening innocent lives just to get to me." Even when she said the words, they didn't sound any better.
"He could be bluffing," Tonraq said, looking at Lin.
"He's already taken out the Earth Queen," Mako reminded him. "I don't think he bluffs."
"Not in these situations," Naruto agreed with the Firebender. "June taught Zaheer how to be a bounty hunter as well as a Paragon. One of the most essential things there is about a bounty hunter is when to be completely ruthless. He's doing that right now."
She understood what the old man was saying. "We need to radio Tenzin and warn him that the Red Lotus is coming."
"I agree," said Mako. "Unfortunately, we don't have a radio on the airship."
Tonraq offered a somewhat solution. "There's a portable radio on the jeep, but the signal will never make it to the Northern Air Temple."
Lin saw another piece to the solution. "We need to get to a place that has a strong radio transmitter. The Metal Clan will have one."
The Avatar saw a plan in their suggestions. "Let's go," she told them. "We'll radio Su on the way. Hopefully she can get a hold of Tenzin at the air temple by the time we get to Zaofu."
(Location: Konoha)
"The Uchiha Massacre?" repeated Madara as they gathered in the living room. He looked at Rin, her team, his parents, and his wife. He had come home as soon as he had been able and he came to the news they were telling him right now. "That's where Itachi is right now through the crack?"
"Well, not exactly," Arashi told him. "If anything, it's likely a representation of the Massacre in the Spirit World. Itachi hasn't traveled back through time."
That was probably supposed to comfort him. It didn't. He fixed the boy with a hard level stare. "Arashi, my son is missing in a time that had all but killed my clan, and from what I've heard from my father, being in the Spirit World will not make it better. It'll just be worse because who knows what else is there, hunting and stalking him?"
The dyed redhead knew that this was the perfect opportunity to keep his mouth shut. And not being an idiot, he took it. The only thing that he said was "Sorry."
His teammate was burning with impatience. "We can't just stand around doing nothing," she told everyone there. "We have to go get Itachi back."
"That's what we intend to do, Tsuki," her father said. "But we need a plan first."
"What plan? He's in there. We need to go get him back." How could it be anything else?
Arashi looked at her. He understood what she was thinking. If it was Natsumi in there, planning be damned. He would be going right into that crack. Hell, he would already be moving for it, regardless what the others were talking or thinking. But he was able to think calmly about the situation. "We don't know what would be in there," he said, going over to her side. He didn't reach out to hold her hand but he was there to make sure she didn't just run off for the crack. "We have to be sure we know what we're getting into."
"I do know one thing," said Sasuke. "I will be going through that crack."
That got all the eyes on him. "What? Dad, no," Madara said instantly.
"Yes, Madara," he replied. "I will go into that crack. There's nothing you can say or do that will stop me." He was firm and sound stronger than what his appearance would have people believe.
"I'm going too," Tsukiko said as well.
This time, her parents, grandfather, and sensei said together, "Absolutely not."
She fumed at the rejection. "He's my baby brother!"
"And you're both my kids," Madara said. "I won't lose you too, Tsuki."
"You should've stopped me from becoming a kunoichi then."
Hiro stepped in before the situation got any worse. He was on his teammate's side. "She would not go in alone," he said to the adults. "We would go in too."
Mito gave the Hyūga a long, hard look. "And what on earth makes you believe that we would allow this to happen?" she asked her.
"We are shinobi. Going to dangerous areas is what we're training for. If we can't go there, what would be the point of being shinobi?" He had them with his words. He knew it and they knew it. He also could tell by their looks that they didn't like it.
"Besides," said Arashi, "I'm the closest thing to a Spirit World expert we have right now." That was probably pushing it a little far but they had to push every line they could use to get in.
Sasuke eyed him. "You've never been in the Spirit World," he said. "What you know is just from what you've read."
"Crap, he has me there." He was really hoping that the old man wouldn't call him out on that. His ground got shakier. But he held it all the same. "It's what we've got. Besides, we're still on mission." He looked at the Hokage. "You wanted us to examine and study the cracks. We would've had to go through them eventually."
"A more experienced team would have gone through them," Madara countered. "Do you think I would send fresh Genin on something that dangerous?"
"We're not so fresh."
He did not scoff at the boy, no matter how tempting the idea of it was. "You're still fresh, Arashi," he said instead. "You've been barely out of the Academy a year and you think that you can do all these big things."
"I never said that. What I'm saying we know that we can handle ourselves. If we come against something we've never seen before, we know not to panic or to charge headlong in."
"Then what do you do, hm? What do you do if you come against something that you've never fought against?"
Sakura looked at how the lines were being drawn between the adults and the children. It had to stop. She knocked hard on the coffee table, silencing them all. "Good, you're done talking," she said. Now it was her turn. "Madara, we don't know how much time we have to get Itachi back so don't waste it. You and your father will go through the crack, along with Rin and her Genin. If you're concerned about their safety, remember who they're with: the Hokage and the Kurojishi no Sharingan. They will be fine."
She was right, of course. But it was still the principal of the matter. They were still kids, even if they were shinobi. But he also knew that it would be a bad idea to argue with her now. She had her serious face on, the kind that only came when either her children were in trouble or she had a serious patient at the hospital. "Alright," he conceded. He looked at the Genin. "Get packed. We leave in five."
"We're already good to do," his daughter told him. He couldn't help but smile at that. She was driven.
Itachi found Fugaku in a private room, something that looked like a mix between his parents' bedroom and a living room, and said, "Hey, Gramps?"
His great-grandfather turned around and looked hard at him. "Gramps?" he repeated. "Did your father teach you nothing of respect, boy?"
"He did. But Grandfather is already Grandfather and calling you Great-Grandfather just sounds like a mouthful. Have you tried saying it five times fast? It gets stuck in your mouth." He had done that. It did happen.
He looked at the boy and saw how serious he was. He sighed in tried exasperation and shook his head fondly. "What is it you need, child?" he asked.
"Well, can I come in?" He was standing at the door. He wasn't sure how many rooms there were in this underground system but he knew his manners. He had to ask to come in.
"Of course," he said.
The kid stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "It's about that meeting in the hall." After they had made sure he was an Uchiha, everyone had left. He had been left there with questions, so he went after the clan head.
"What about it?"
"The cloaked man, do you know about him?"
The door on the other side opened and Mikoto walked in, a tray with two cups in her hands. "Itachi," she said in surprise.
"Hey there, Granny," he said.
She frowned. "Granny?" she repeated.
He wasn't going to explain it again. He would end up doing it every time he called them that in front of someone else. And he wasn't going to call them out. He looked at his great-grandfather for help but the man looked back at him. He wasn't going to help. In fact, it was like he was silently saying, "You said it, you explain it."
"Come on, Gramps, help me out here," he pleaded. He got nothing back. He was going to have to explain it himself. "Great-Grandmother is a bit of a mouthful," he said.
That didn't help him. "That's not a good excuse," she told him.
"Sorry?" What was he supposed to say?
"Mikoto, the boy has a question," Fugaku said. "I don't think this is the time to worry about what he calls us."
She looked at him. "What does he call you? Gramps?" she asked. He frowned and she smirked. "He does, doesn't he?"
"He has a question."
She looked at Itachi again. "What is it?"
He said, "Who's the cloaked guy out there?" and watched their expressions change from pleasant to uncertain and then strained.
Fugaku looked at him and said, "What do you mean?"
"You guys know who that cloaked guy is." They might say differently out before the clan but he could tell that they knew who the guy was.
"We don't."
He frowned. "You do too."
"You mistake me, child. The 'we' was the view of the clan. In their eyes, that cloaked man doesn't exist."
"But…that doesn't make any sense."
"Perhaps, but you must consider the situation we are in."
"Situation?" he repeated in his own head. What kind of situation were they in? They were hiding from some kind of monster that killed them and waited for them to come before killing them again. That was gruesome, he knew but he didn't how else it was. It seemed rather simple to him. "What do you mean situation?"
"The times we have seen the cloaked man have been few. Each time he has been sighted, it is usually after the Monster has been killed a good amount of the clan. Some believe that these sightings are not a coincidence."
"But he said he fights the Monster."
"Did you see him fight the Monster?"
"Well…no." All they had done was run.
"Then how can you know that he does fight the Monster?" he asked the boy, crossing his arms. He wanted to hear what he had to say.
"I…don't."
"That is why we don't believe there is a cloaked man."
That was one thing but he didn't think that was it. "You know him," he said.
"Is that a fact?"
This was annoying! "Come on, Gramps! You know who the guy is!"
Fugaku scowled at him. "Watch your tone with me, boy!"
"My name is not boy!" he almost screamed. "You know my name! Say it!"
Mikoto placed a hand on her husband's shoulder before he could say anything. He looked at her and the scowl on his face lessened. "Itachi," she said, almost struggling to get the word out of her mouth. "Do you know our history?"
"I do."
"Then you know why your name is hard for us to say."
He did. It calmed him down but he was still mad. "It's my name now."
"That may be but it still means something different to us. We have a suspicion about who the cloaked man is. But we can't say or do anything about it."
"Why?"
"What good would it do?" she asked him, looking at him with sad and patient eyes. "The clan sees your name and think of our son, the one who betrayed us."
He chose not to think about that. "That cloaked guy is fighting the Monster and you guys are doing nothing."
"Have you seen—?"
He was beginning to see red at the repetitive questions. "He already asked me that question!" he shouted, pointing at Fugaku. "Why aren't you guys doing something about the Monster?"
"What can we do?" Fugaku asked him. "The Monster is stronger, faster, and deadlier than anything we can be. It sees our Sharingan and laughs mockingly at it. We've tried fighting it but it only ends in a slaughter that is traumatizing to those who survive and are remade."
"But you can't stay down here. The Monster will find you all, won't he?"
He nodded grimly and said, "That it will. Once that happens, we will have to scatter and regroup, find a new place to stay safe."
"And you'll keep doing this?"
"It's all we can do."
He shook his head. "No, I refuse to believe that. There has to be something we can do about the Monster." He refused to think that his clan wouldn't be able beat this Monster. He knew they could do it. They just had to try.
Suddenly the ground shook violently, a faint booming sound echoing from over their heads and far away. Fugaku's face turned grimly serious. "Damn," he thought to himself. "I thought we had more time."
The booming sound happened again, getting a little louder. "What was that?" Itachi asked, looking up at the ceiling.
"That would be the Monster trying to find us. We're going to have to move, now." He stood up and his wife did too. "Come along," he told his great-grandson. "We have to sound the alarm. If we all move fast, we should be able to escape the Monster."
(Location: Zaofu)
Both the airship and the dragon landed in Zaofu without any harm, something they were all glad for. When Korra disembarked from the airship, she saw Suyin waiting for her. She came down the ramp as quickly as she could. "Did you have any luck getting through to Tenzin?" she asked right away, Lin and her father coming to her sides.
"No one's answering," Suyin told her, obviously worried about what that meant. "What if Zaheer's already up there? I should never have let Opal go."
Lin went to her sister's side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Su."
"I hope so."
Once they had gotten the family from Ba Sing Se settled in one of the dormitories (which Mako had to keep telling his grandmother that it wasn't a hotel), they went to the nearest radio station. Yin came along because she wanted to see more of the city and see her grandsons with their friends. She ended up staring out a nearby window while absently listening to the conversation nearby. "We have a strong signal, but no one's answering," the radio operator told the rest of the people in the room.
Korra didn't like hearing that kind of news. It made her impatient. "I can't just sit around here while a madman is on his way to the Northern Air Temple," she said, "We have to do something."
Suyin agreed with her. "I'll ready my airship. With a full force of the Metal Clan security backing us, we can take them." She left before anyone could stop her.
Mako felt like he had to point out the obvious fact, just so it could be heard. "We'll never make it up there before Zaheer."
There was that but she had an idea. "There might be another way to stop him. It's a long shot, but Zaheer is always meditating into the Spirit World. And I know exactly where he goes: Xai Bau's Grove. If I can find him there, maybe I could somehow trap him."
Lin quickly said, "We can't protect you in there. I don't like it."
"I'll be fine. I have to try."
Asami saw how the adults still weren't sure about the idea. Naruto looked at her. It was a questioning look. He was silently asking her what she would do about the situation. She would do the only thing she could do: help out. "I'll watch over her as she meditates," she said aloud.
"I guess, in the meantime, Mako and I will stay here and try to get through to the temple," Bolin offered.
Tonraq said, "We'll help Su ready the airship."
"I will deal with a prospective," Gāng told them, already leaving for the door. He was gone before anyone could ask him what he meant by that.
It was the cue for everyone else to leave. Mako and Bolin were left alone in the room, along with their grandmother. They looked to but she spoke first. "I'm going to take a nap." She could certainly use one to help with all the worrying she would have later on.
As soon as she appeared in Xai Bau's Grove, Korra looked around for Zaheer. But he wasn't there and she got angry. "Zaheer! Come out! Face me! Leave the Airbenders out of this!" But all she got was silence. She kept looking for the man. She stilled when she heard footsteps through the fog behind her. She whipped around and saw a shadow coming closer. "There you are." Now they would be ready for a fight.
But it wasn't the person she had been expecting. "Please don't hurt me, Korra. I'm just an old man," said Iroh's familiar voice as the fog cleared to reveal his presence.
She was surprised to see him, lowering her guard. "Iroh?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just out searching for a new teapot to add to my collection. But instead, I found you." He chuckled as if it was a small joke. "In the Spirit World, you always seem to find something you don't know you were looking for." He had a warm laughter, the kind that made a person laugh along with. But she didn't laugh with him. He also noticed something else about her. "You look troubled."
"I am."
"Sit," he told her, gesturing to the ground. They both sat down on the grass. "What is on your mind?"
"There's a maniac on the loose and he's threatening to destroy the new Air Nation. I don't know what to do." It was frustrating how it seemed like she could do nothing at all.
"Just because you are the Avatar, doesn't mean you will have all the answers."
That was true. There were always people she could look to for guidance. But there was also a problem in that too. "I know many Avatars have needed guidance. But I'm the only one since Avatar Wan that can't get help from my past lives. I wish I could talk to Aang." Talking to her predecessor would make her feel a lot better. She would probably be able to come up with a plan. But she couldn't contact Aang through her connection and she didn't know if she could find him here in the Spirit World.
Iroh had an idea. "You know, Zuko and Aang were close friends."
"Lord Zuko, of course," she said, realizing what he was saying.
"Yes, my nephew. Their relationship started off a little rocky," he shook his hand for emphasis, "but they grew to become lifelong friends. Best friends."
"Thank you! Thank you so much," she told him, glad for the help. "You're right about the Spirit World. I came here looking for someone else, but I'm glad I found you."
Asami could tell when Korra was in the Spirit World. It always left her body looking a little rigid, like she was a statue. But when her body relaxed and became more fluid in motion, she knew that she was back. "Did you find Zaheer?" she asked the tribeswoman right away.
"No, he wasn't there," she replied. "But there's someone I need to talk to." She got up and left Asami behind. She went looking for Zuko and found him at the landing pad, securing the travel pack on his dragon's neck.
She was a little surprised by that. "You're leaving?" she asked him as she came close. "Aren't you coming to the air temple with us?"
Zuko turned to look at her. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm going back to the Fire Nation. If it's true that the Red Lotus is targeting the nations' leaders, I need to protect my daughter and my grandniece."
"I understand. You have to keep the Fire Lord safe. But before you leave, I was wondering if you could help me with something."
"I was often Aang's counsel and I'd love to be yours." The idea made him smile a little.
"That just it," she replied. "You knew Aang better than anyone. I was wondering if you knew what he might do if he were in my situation."
"Hmm. Rebuilding the Air Nation was Aang's biggest dream. He would be beside himself with joy with what you've done. And if he accomplished that goal, he might have sacrificed anything to protect it."
"So he would give himself up to save the Air Nation?"
"Provided he was able to get away from the Paragons so they wouldn't be able to stop him," he answered. Of course, he knew that had never happened. "But aside from that, I don't know for sure. The Airbenders might have been closest to Aang's heart, but, as the Avatar, he was concerned with people of all nations. No one knew better than Aang that in times of turmoil, the world needs its Avatar the most," he told her, reaching out and placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Thanks. Your uncle was right. It was helpful talking to you."
It took a moment for him to realize what he just heard. "Wait, you spoke with my uncle?"
"Yes. In the Spirit World. A couple of times actually," she added. She could never forget the first time she had gone into the Spirit World.
"Guys," called out Mako as he came running towards them. "We got through to the air temple."
They all raced back to the radio room. There they found Bolin massaging his forehead in irritation. The reason for the massage was because of who he was talking to. "Who is this?" Meelo's voice demanded through the microphone.
"I told you, it's Bolin!" he almost shouted back.
"Bolin's not here right now. Can I take a message?"
"No! I'm not looking for Bolin, I am Bolin! Gah, look, I need you to find your dad."
"He's outside with the bison. Did you know we found a whole herd full of baby bison?"
"No, a whole herd?" he asked, losing his irritation, "Really?"
"We're getting off topic and we don't have the time for this!" thought Korra. She pushed Bolin aside and grabbed the microphone. "Meelo, this is your commanding officer. Go get your dad, now!" she barked.
"Yes, sir!" the boy replied instantly. She was also certain that he saluted.
Naruto had one question. "Since when has Meelo acted like that?"
"I believe he's taking after his uncle more," Yue told him.
"Does he plan to join the military?"
She smiled. "Not if Tenzin has anything to say about it." They both knew that the Air Nomad would never let his son join the military.
The silence from the radio stretched out longer than Korra wanted. "Come on, come on!" she muttered, saying the words like they were a prayer. She hoped that Meelo was running as fast as he could to get his dad.
"Hello? This is Tenzin."
Relief poured through her. "Tenzin!" she said, "Listen to me carefully. Zaheer is on his way to the temple. He's coming for the Airbenders. You have to get everyone out of there immediately. Drop everything. Leave! Now!"
"Oh no," he replied. It was filled with a sudden fear and uncertainty.
She didn't like the way his voice and she didn't have to look around to know that the others felt the same. "What? What is it? Tenzin! Tenzin, what's happening?!"
"It's too late. He's here."
(Location: Konoha)
As soon as she stepped through the crack and saw what was on the other side, Tsukiko couldn't help but stop and look. "Whoa," she said, "This is just like the compound."
"Hey, Iron Claw, you mind not hogging the entrance?" Arashi asked from behind. He was trying to come through the crack. It was hard to do with her standing right there.
"Oh, right, sorry." She did as she was asked, getting out of their way.
The rest of them came through the crack. They were six in total. "Wow, this place is weirdly similar," Hiro remarked as he looked around too. Things were different but only in the details. The general layout was the same.
Sasuke looked at the boy. "We are not here to sightsee," he told him shortly. "We're here to get my grandson back."
"I know that, sir," he replied respectfully. "But still, this place is something."
The old man looked at the place. It looked the same to him as his childhood. No, it was more than that. It looked the same it did that night. It had been a long time since he had ever thought about the night of the massacre. Now it seemed like this day would be full of its memories. The difference was that he was not going to let it end the same way.
Madara looked at his father. "Where do we go?" he asked. He might be the Hokage and clan head. But Sasuke would know what to do best in this time.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOO!"
The sudden scream pierced the air, making the Genin jump a little. It was full of pain, horror, and fear. What followed was something between crazed laughter and a bestial howl for blood. "Follow the screams?" Rin suggested.
Sasuke nodded. "Follow the screams."
They took off running through the street, going to where the scream had been. But they had arrived too late. There was only a body in the middle of the street, savaged almost beyond recognition. The man's chest was ripped open and his organs had been destroyed. Tsukiko felt bile rise up in her throat, though she tried not to throw up.
"Good Kami," Rin said as she looked at the body. "What did this?"
Hiro edged a little closer to the body. He didn't know why he was doing it. Perhaps it was out of curiosity or fascination. But then he noticed something. The body's sides were moving. "Holy shit, this guy's still alive!"
Those words made them all run to the body. "Hey, hey, can you hear me?" Madara asked the man, taking hold of his bloody hand. He didn't know how it could be bloody if they were in the Spirit World like Arashi said. But he chose not to focus on that.
Hiro went for the medical pack he had brought. He paused when he realized that there was nothing in it that would help what he saw in front of him. He looked at Rin. "What do I use?"
"There's nothing you can use, Hiro," she told him.
"Right," he replied, taking his hands away.
The man's eyes looked up and found Madara and his daughter. "Clan…smen?" he asked them.
Madara nodded. "Yes, we're clansmen. What happened?"
"Don't…recognize you."
"It doesn't matter. We're clansmen."
He frowned but it was pained. "Could be tri…ck."
"It's not a trick," Tsukiko told him. "We're clansmen. We're looking for my little brother. Have you seen him?"
"Little br…other?" he repeated before recognition colored his eyes. "Him?" he asked.
"You know where he is?"
He looked around and saw Sasuke. His eyes, uncertain for a moment, brighten again with recognition. "Sasuke?" he asked, "Sasuke, that…you?"
They all looked to him. "Father, you know him?" Madara asked.
He looked at the man for a moment longer. A memory started coming back to him, from his childhood. "Han?" he asked, remembering the man as a sergeant working in the Police Force.
He smiled. "You remember?"
The memories were getting clearer. Han had been a good man, both on the force and off. Sasuke had thought him as an uncle. "I do."
"Lor…d Fugaku will…be happy to see you."
He froze and looked at his son. His own father was here? Was his mother here too? The same question was in Madara's eyes too. They looked to Han. "Where are they, Han?" he asked. "Is my grandson with them?"
"Hurry," Han gasped. His breath quickened. It wasn't a good sign. "Monster…found hideout. The clan…scattered."
"We're losing him," Rin told the others. There wasn't anything they could do to save him and they were quickly losing the chance to ask questions.
Her teammate knew the same. "The hideout, where is it?" he asked. If they could find it, they might be able to find Itachi.
Han couldn't even speak. He pointed off to the right and then passed away. His arm fell limp against his chest. They stared at his body, offering a silent prayer. "Come on," Madara finally said to the others. "We have to move." They left the body behind. But when Arashi took a quick look back, it was gone.
All they had going was a direction. But it was more than they had a moment before. It turned out to be just enough. They came across a scene of chaos turning a corner. Uchiha clansmen were running everywhere, trying to get away. They weren't gentle about it either. Tsukiko and her teammates were shoved aside roughly. They would've been knocked to the ground if they hadn't pushed back just as hard.
"Hey, watch it!" Tsukiko snapped at a clansman who rushed past her. He ignored her for running.
Hiro stared at the chaos. "What's happening?"
"Didn't that guy say something about a monster?" Arashi asked as he avoided a clanswoman.
"I think he did."
"If there's one, where is it?"
"LOOK OUT! THE MONSTER'S COMING THIS WAY!" The Uchiha clan started running a little faster at those words.
Despite the situation they found themselves in, Arashi couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "If I'd to guess, it's where they're running from."
He frowned and punched him in the shoulder. "I didn't need the sarcasm."
Tsukiko frowned at them both. Another clansman pushed against her as he ran. She pushed back but kept frowning at them. "Guys, now's not the time for any of this."
"She's right," Madara said. "We need to keep moving." His father was already moving through the chaos. They followed after him.
The further they went through, the harder it became to keep together. The Uchiha clan was desperate to run away and would push through anyone to get free. The group was split into two the further they went, pushed away from one another by the clan. They tried to make their way back together while moving but the clansmen kept coming between them.
Their shouting and screaming was always overridden by the laughter of what the living assumed was the Monster. Each time they heard, it was preceded by a terrified scream and afterwards, the survivors would run faster. Tsukiko wondered what it was that could make the Uchiha clan, the clan she had always believed could stand against anything, turn and run like cowards.
"It must be one hell of a monster," she thought to herself. If that was the case, what the hell kind of chances did they have against it? She tried looking for her father and grandfather in the chaos but she had long lost track of them. She could only hope they would be safe.
Arashi tried looking for his teammates and his sensei through the chaos but had no luck. "Shouldn't we wait this out?" he asked the Hokage.
"No," Madara said, "We have to keep moving forward."
"DAD!" shouted the voice of his son.
He froze at that sound. Then he pushed forward, trying to find the boy it belonged to. "Itachi!" he called out.
"DAD, OVER HERE!" he called out, further down the street.
"Stay right there! I'm coming!"
"HURRY!" he shouted, urgently.
"Tsukiko!" called out Arashi, hoping that she and the others would hear him through the chaos.
"We heard him!" she called back. "We're going!"
"We are too!"
They pushed and shoved their way through the clansmen, coming clear out at the end. When they did, Itachi slammed into his father's stomach. "Dad, you've gotta help!" he cried.
Madara could see why. A creature that looked it was a mix of human and beast twice the size of the compound walls was fighting a man and a woman he recognized as his grandparents. They were fighting alongside someone cloaked. They were losing and it quickly became clear that they weren't fighting to win, only to delay. But the amount of blood splattered on the ground and the walls showed him that they hadn't been that successful.
Rin saw the same thing he did. "Holy fucking Kami," she breathed out. Even as she said that, her hands went for her pouch and holster. She glanced at her old teammate, a question in her eyes.
He nodded. "Itachi, get behind me," he told his son.
Itachi didn't want to move. "Are you going to help?"
"Yes."
"Hurry!" he urged. A lot of clansmen had been killed so he could get out. He didn't like how they gave up their lives for him. It wasn't right. None of this was right.
"Get behind me. Tsuki, take care of your brother," he ordered her. "If things go bad, you and your teammates take him and run for the portal."
She didn't argue with him, grabbing her brother instead. Sasuke strode forward. "It will not go bad," he told his son. His eyes were already shining red with the Sharingan. "Madara, give us an introduction."
That might've sounded odd to anyone else but he knew what it meant. He flew through the handseals with practiced ease. "Katon Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" he cried, breathing out the giant fireball, right at the Monster.
It turned and caught the jutsu with a large hand. All it did was squeeze and the fireball vanished with a puff. "What's this?" it asked. "Someone else trying to be brave?" It sniffed the air. "Wait, there is something different about you, isn't there?" It kept sniffing. It's eyes widened and its mouth peeled back to reveal a lot of teeth. "You're alive. Oh, this is going to be a lot tastier than I thought. It's been a long while since I've tasted the living. They don't last as long, but they so much sweeter."
Itachi didn't like what that meant. "You stay away from my dad!" he screamed at the creature. "Go away! Go away! Go away!" He didn't want to see anyone else get killed by the Monster in front of him. It was a horrifying sight.
The Monster just laughed gleefully. It took delight in the boy's screaming. "Oh, I do enjoy a futile resistance. I will have fun with you child."
Tsukiko grabbed her little brother by the hand, ready to drag him back to the crack. Her great-grandparents got in front of the Monster. Madara joined them. "You stay away from my son!" he shouted, Sharingan blazing.
The Monster looked at him and laughed. "Don't worry. He's going to be my dessert. You, on the other hand, are going to be the first." He lunged for the Hokage. The man rolled out of the way, popping back onto his feet with hands clasped together. "Ooh, hard to get. I love it."
Sasuke stepped forward. "I believe my grandson told you to go away," he said in a voice that was calm and focused. The clansmen who were still around stopped and watched what would come next. "Why haven't you left?" He noticed how his parents and the cloaked man turned their attention to him but he didn't pay attention.
The Monster looked down at him and its face filled with dismissive disgust. "Go away, old man. I don't have time for you. You're too old and brittle for me."
"I don't care about that. What I care about is that my grandson told you to go away. I'd like that too."
It laughed at that. "And are you going to make me?"
"Yes." His eyes morphed into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and they pinned the Monster in place.
The confidence bled out of the Monster like water leaking from a bag when it saw those eyes. "Those eyes, it can't be…" it tried to protest.
"You come to this place of rest for my clan, you destroy what peace they have, you take joy in making them suffer," Sasuke listed off, scowling more and more with each item. "You made a bad mistake coming here where I can touch you."
"You—"
"Be silent and burn!" His right eye began to bleed. "Amaterasu!" he cried.
Black flames, darker than the darkness in the sky, engulfed the Monster. It screamed in pain and tried to claw off the flames. It only spread them to his hands. As it was engulfed in the black fires, Sasuke walked towards it. Whatever he intended to do it, no one would ever know. The Monster saw him coming and turned and fled, screaming in pain. The cloaked man took after it at a dead run, vanishing just as quickly as the Monster had.
Everyone was left just standing there. "…Does anyone else feel like that was a little anticlimactic?" Arashi asked. He had been ready for the fight but now he just felt like he was standing around.
The ground suddenly shook beneath their feet as the Monster gave one last agonizing scream off in the distance. Their eyes were pierced by a sudden light, forcing them all to close them. "What's happening?" Tsukiko wondered. "Where did the light come from?" She could feel its brightness even though her eyes were closed.
When it subsided, she dared to open them. What she saw astounded her. She saw Uchiha clansmen, more than before, all looking around in wonder. It was because the sky above was as blue as she had ever seen it with a gentle sun shining down on them. Not only that, but she felt safe and secure, completely different from what she felt moments before. It was like waking up and finding that the nightmare was over.
When they realized this, the Uchiha clan began to cry out in joy. Everyone started hugging everyone else, happy that the nightmare was finally over. Tsukiko looked over at her teammates, ignoring the celebration all around her. "What happened?" Hiro asked, looking to both Arashi and Rin-sensei for an answer.
The dyed redhead shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he told them.
Madara was less concerned about what happened and more concerned about his father. He took out some cloth and handed it to him. "Here, Dad. Are you alright?" He had not seen Sasuke use Amaterasu in a long time. He was worried his old age would make more straining.
"I'm fine, Madara," Sasuke told him, wiping the blood off his eye.
"Sasuke?" said Mikoto as she walked to him, Fugaku close behind her. The sounds of joy went silent as the clan watched what came next. "Sasuke, is it really you?" She wanted to reach out and touch him, to know that it really was him. But she was afraid if she did, he would vanish.
He looked at her, saw her desire in her eyes. He reached out and took her hand, gently pressing it against his cheek. "Hi, Mom," he said to her, feeling like a kid with her hand on his cheek like that.. He looked at Fugaku and said, "Father."
It was enough to make them both start crying in joy. "My little boy," she said, "You've grown." She hugged him as tight as she dared. Fugaku didn't hug him but he did stand there with a happy smile on his face.
(Location: Northern Air Temple)
When Meelo had brought his dad back to the radio room, he didn't know what was going on. When his dad looked out the window and saw the airship, he still didn't know what was going on. "What is it, Daddy?" he asked.
Tenzin looked at his son. "We need to get everyone out of here," he said, grabbing his glider staff. "Stay close to me." He jumped out the window with ease, snapping open his glider like nothing was happening. Meelo was right behind him. They flew around the outside of the temple, trying to find the others. He saw the first group out in a training ground. Bumi and Kai were amongst them. He angled his flight downwards and landed there.
Bumi knew something was up when he saw the airship in the sky. When his little brother landed, he asked, "What's going on, Tenzin?"
"It's Zaheer. Round everyone up! We need to get to the bison and evacuate immediately!" No one argued with his orders. They all took off to find the other Airbenders. No one tried to pay attention the airship getting close to the temple. They had to think they had time.
Kai looked in the other training gardens. He lucked out when he found Daw and a few others training in the first garden. They stopped when they saw him running up to them. "Guys, we got an emergency," he explained. "We're evacuating the temple. Come on."
They started running for the exit, only to be cut by lava erupting from the ground. "Look out!" Kai shouted. He and the two Airbenders beside him blasted themselves away from the lava before it could touch them. "What's going on?" the former thief asked, looking around to see where the danger was coming from. Then he saw a man standing on the roof, looking down at them with a grim smile.
Meanwhile, Bumi was searching through the meditation rooms inside the temple. He didn't have as much luck as Kai did, having to search through more than one room before he found Kya teaching a class. "It's Zaheer!" he told her right away. "We have to leave."
She hopped to her feet and motioned for the others to do the same. They left the building as quickly as they could. For a moment, when they got outside, Bumi felt they were safe. Then the moment passed and Opal screamed in shock from the back. "No!" he cried, whirling around.
Opel was still alive. But Ming-Hua held her by the throat with one tentacle and an ice hook posed for decapitation on the other one. "No one's going anywhere, or she gets it," she threatened.
He tried to find a way to get around this, to save Opel and keep everyone moving. But no matter what he looked for, it wasn't there. He knew that Kya saw the same thing he did. They only had one option. They surrendered.
All the Airbenders in the temple, including Tenzin and his family, were forced to go one of the larger courtyards and wait there. Ghazan and Ming-Hua kept watch over them. They didn't wait long as Zaheer walked up to Tenzin. "It's a pleasure to finally meet a true Airbending master," he said with actual respect. "I do not believe that we had met before now, Master Tenzin." He looked to Bumi. "It's good to see you again, Bumi."
Bumi scowled at him. "I wouldn't say the same." He had thought of the man as a friend when he was a kid. He had even looked up to him. But now, he was a dangerous man who probably should've been killed.
He shrugged it off. "I am glad that June passed the Paragon to a worthy successor. How did she pass on?"
"I'm not telling you." It might've sounded petty and childish but he didn't care. Zaheer betrayed their sifu by stepping away. He didn't deserve to know how she died.
Tenzin looked at the rogue Airbender. Despite the fact that Zaheer had been a friend to most of them, he hadn't been one of them. His father had been taking him around the countries for training. "What is it you want from us?" he asked.
"Nothing at all," Zaheer said, "In fact, if everyone cooperates, you will all walk out of this situation unharmed."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I want Korra, and I'm tired of chasing her."
The Airbender knew what he meant by that instantly. "You're using us as leverage."
"Yes."
He got to his feet in defiance. "I will never let you get to Korra."
"Unfortunately, you don't have a choice."
"Yes, I do." He quickly blasted the three of them back, slamming them against the wall. They were momentarily stunned. He and the others would have to act fast. "Jinora!" he barked, "Get everyone out of here. Bumi, Kya, help me hold them off!" He heard the explosive shot only P'Li could fire from above. He looked up and saw it coming right down at him. He jumped back and bent a shield to deflect the blast. "And stay out of her line of sight! Go, go!"
They turned and ran out the other exit. P'Li started blasting them but her shots went wide. She followed them. Meanwhile, her friends came out of their stupor and approached the children of Aang. Zaheer moved first, blasting them with air from his staff's tip.
Tenzin deflected it upwards, swinging his hands up to catch and redirect it. His next move was an air blast at Zaheer's group, intent on blasting them back through the door. They scattered, avoiding the blast. It wasn't what he wanted but Bumi and Kya went after their targets, leaving him with Zaheer.
They faced each other, mirroring Airbending stances. In that moment, Tenzin looked at Zaheer. He saw how good his stance was. The man might've been relatively new to bending the air but he knew the stances and the steps. This wasn't going to be an easy fight. Then the moment past and they attacked.
Both Kai and Jinora were leading the Airbenders to the stables. If they could make it to the stables and saddle the bison, they could make it to the valley below. It would put more distance between them and the airship. That way, they could get away easier.
Their hopes were raised when they reached the exit and saw the stables at the far end of the courtyard. "Come on," said Daw.
He started for the stables. Kai stopped him. "Wait."
He looked at the former thief. "Why? They're right there."
"She could be waiting for us." He crept to the edge and snuck his head out, trying to see if there was any danger. He didn't see any and it was probably the best chance they would have of getting to the bison.
He motioned them forward. P'Li opened fire as they came out. Kai felt the explosion's heat wash over his face. That was all he needed to start screaming, "Back! Back!" They all ran back for the corridor's cover.
"It's too dangerous," Pema said to them all. "We'll never make it to the stables with her up there." If there was one thing she used to know about P'Li, it was that she was very good at accuracy. If she wanted to hit them, she would.
Kai looked to her and then back out to the courtyard. "There has to be something that we can do to get out of here," he thought. Unfortunately, he wasn't having any ideas.
Tenzin was forcing Zaheer back with each air blast he bent. The rogue Airbender kept leaping away from the blasts. When he hit the wall, he jumped to the level above him. Tenzin saw what he was trying to do. He was trying to get to the roof, to get a better vantage on him. That was where their experience different. He bent the air underneath his feet and shot upwards while Zaheer was still climbing.
As he flew, he saw Zaheer jump the last piece of distance, trying to copy what he was doing. He knocked his leap out from under him, sending him crashing to the rooftop. He landed and immediately bent air at Zaheer.
The rogue Airbender had already gotten to his feet and started running when he felt the blast hurtling towards him. He twisted to the side, allowing it to fly right past and just flapping his clothes. He avoided the next and leapt for the buildings attached to the high wall nearby.
Tenzin followed him, landing right behind on the first structure. He turned and started bending air at his opponent. It quickly became a fight between the two. They swung limbs as much as they bent the air. Anyone who could've gotten close would've been thrown back by the amount of wind they were generating.
As they fought, Zaheer realized that Tenzin could hold his own. Everything he did was practiced and fluid, wasting no energy. He truly was an Airbending master. But that meant Zaheer was on the losing end of things. The way he saw it, he only had one option. He had to run and stall.
He broke off the attack and leapt the rest of the wall, using the buildings as jumping points. He landed and started looking around, waiting for the attack to come. Tenzin leapt up behind him and knocked him to the floor. He landed and recovered, swinging his legs up into kicking air blasts.
Tenzin avoided the blasts and bent his own. They moved closer to each other with each bending. They got close for another fight but Zaheer ducked under Tenzin's blast and somersaulted over him. The space between their heads was only a few inches as he passed over. He landed behind the Air Nomad and kicked a blast at him. He turned and blocked it, twisting off into the open space.
"You are truly skilled," Zaheer told him, "Worthy of being the son of Avatar Aang."
It felt odd to be praised by the man who had attacked the temple. "Thank you." It was the only thing he said before they fought again.
Kya was trying to deflect Ming-Hua's water. But the continuous stream was forcing her. She didn't have a chance to fight back. Fighting against the Waterbender was tricky and difficult. She tried to bend the stream against her, only for it to bubble up and explode, knocking her back. She got back to her feet and saw Ming-Hua was airborne, coming down on her.
"Crap!" she thought, leaping away. The tentacles missed her by inches, slamming into the ground.
Ming-Hua pulled them up and started spinning. The tentacles trailed the edges. She hardened the ends into icy blades. As she moved towards her opponent, Kya had to duck and jump to avoid those tentacles. They would cut her to ribbons if she let them.
As she backed up, she could feel the wall behind her. She get caught there, Ming-Hua would have her. She had to do something. As she watched the next blade coming, she had an idea. She leaned back, just enough to avoid it, and bent the blade off.
One quick twist and she threw the blade back at Ming-Hua. She caught it easily and threw it at her again, along with the second blade. For good measure, she whipped around and bent another third at her.
Kya blocked the first two blades but the third got through her defense before she could catch it. She was slammed into the wall by it. "Ow," she thought in a slight daze.
It lasted only for a second. But it was enough to Ming-Hua to bend a water column and hopped on top of it. She bent the right tentacle into a large blade, longer and heavier than what she wielded before. The column surged and moved under her feet. She had it under control, just like the Waterbending master she was.
Once she had her sights lined up, she moved in for the kill. The lance was pointed right at Yue's heart. She intended to bury it there. But Kya saw her coming and moved in to cut her off. She bent the water out of a nearby fountain and knocked her right off her column.
The force of the water carried Ming-Hua out through the nearby exit, out over the edge. Kya walked out to the edge. The water splattered all around the floor and walls suddenly leeched backwards, pulling over the edge and vanishing from sight. Kya watched in horror as Ming-Hua rose back up above the edge, six tentacles holding her there. "No."
"What's the matter?" Ming-Hua asked her, smirking sadistically. "You've never seen something like this before?" She swung once and sent Kya flying right back into the building.
While they were fighting, Bumi was running. He quickly figured out that his close-quarter fighting skills wouldn't do much to a Lavabender who could see him coming. His initial plan was to back off and find a way around Ghazan. But the man came after him instead and it turned into a chase.
Despite the situation they were in, Ghazan was smiling. He couldn't help it. He was enjoying this. Bumi was proving to be a clever enemy. He knew that his skills as an Airbender weren't as great as his brothers but he was using what he could to get away. Ghazan liked that. It made the chase more interesting.
They had somehow managed to run all the way to the top and then back down to the bottom, Bumi staying just one step ahead while Ghazan melted the stones to reach him. Even when Bumi reached the bottom level, he melted the stones underneath him. They were getting close to the end.
As soon as Bumi felt the heat start to rise underneath his feet and the cracks glowed red, he knew what was coming. He moved at the same time Ghazan did, bending air to push out of the hot spot just as it was erupting. Ghazan bent the lava out of that melted spot and threw it at him. He ran for the wall, jumping into it.
In the same instant he landed on the wall, he twisted his body and dove off it with a yell, right at Ghazan. It was something that his sifu had taught him, a way to catch a target off guard. It was also meant to be used when the target was really close but he figured that he could use his Airbending to cover that little problem.
And it turned out that he was right. His Airbending sent him flying right at Ghazan and then under him, through the legs. Once he was through the legs and on the other side, he hopped to his feet and leapt onto Ghazan's back. His arms looped around his neck and tried to tighten up.
Ghazan realized what he was trying to do. He was trying to cut off his air, make him either suffocate or fall unconscious. He had to get the old man off his back. He moved around, trying to throw him off but nothing was working. To add insult to injury, Bumi also pulled his hair and then actually bit him on the shoulder. "Alright, that's it!" In his fury, he reached for the earth instead of lava. He bent a column out of the floor. It struck Bumi in the rear and sent him flying through the air, landing hard on the ground.
"Okay," Bumi thought to himself as he got back to himself, "Maybe biting himself was going a bit too far." He had thought it was a good move when he did it. The more Ghazan wasted air in gasps and shouts of pain, the quicker he would've fallen unconscious. He should've considered that he would've used Earthbending to get him off. "Damn it, I'm getting slow." If he survived this that was something he needed to fix.
Kya got swatted back towards him by Ming-Hua. They stood back to back/ "I see you're having as much fun as I am," he said.
"Oh yeah, having a blast," she replied. "You wanna swap?"
"Somehow, I don't think that they're going to let us do that." Already Ming-Hua and Ghazan were converging on them, ready to keep the fight going. "You think Tenzin's doing okay?" Out of the three of them, their little brother was the one unused to combat.
"We don't have time to worry about him."
"Good point." They split apart and the fight went on.
Kai was beginning to go stir-crazy inside the corridor. The Firebender up above was blasting the courtyard to rubble, yet taking time between each shot. She was tempting them to try and come out, make a run for the bison. But if they did that, she would hone on them instantly and slaughtered them. All they could do was wait it out.
But Kai's patience had run out. "I can't wait any longer," he proclaimed, grabbing Daw's staff and taking it for himself.
Jinora was instantly concerned. "Wait, what are you doing?" she asked him.
"Whatever I can," he said before running out into the courtyard. "Get to the bison! Get out of here!"
As soon as he was out in the open, P'Li fired at him. The explosion barely missed him, thanks to his quick feet and Airbending. The next shot, however, sent him flying over the ledge. He was able to recover and opened up the glider staff. A third shot exploded just above him, making him fly downwards. He recovered and angled his ascent up to the airship.
P'Li fired at him again, missing his tail by inches. "That's right, come after me," he thought to himself. If she did that, it would give the others time to get away. He flew past the airship, waiting for the next shot. But there wasn't one. He looked back. She wasn't paying attention to him. She was still looking at the people below.
He turned back and flew right for her. She arched her head back to fire and he struck, bending an air stream at her midsection. She was knocked back just as soon as she fired. Her shot went wide, hitting the cliff instead.
She looked up at him with a glare. "Alright, little boy, you want to play?" She lined up her shot and fired once. She watched as he saw the shot, tried to shield himself with the air, only to still get caught in the explosion.
Jinora heard the explosion, the same as everyone else. But when she looked back and saw his body falling, her heart clenched and it felt like the world had stopped. "Kai!" she screamed, tears already forming in her eyes. "No." He plunged down too fast for her to grab him. She turned for the bison and thought that if she could saddle one, she could go find him.
But her plan and the hopes they all had of escaping vanished when P'Li opened fire at the bison, forcing them to take off and leaving them stranded. All they could do was look up at the airship, hoping that she wouldn't blast them off the mountain.
The fight was not going well for Bumi or Kya. Instead of separating off, their opponents had banded together. They had been driven out to the ledge, close to the broken wall. They were so close that Bumi almost lost his footing at the edge. They were trying to make a defense but it wouldn't last.
Ghazan ended by bending the ledge to jut out massive columns towards them. They were hit by one and fell over the edge. For a moment, they hung in freefall, unable to do anything to stop what came next. But then the moment past and Bumi reacted. He bent the air to push him towards the ledge's underside, grabbing one of the artistic holes there, while also grabbing Kya with his other hand. "I got you," he said to her.
Her weight was pulling him down, straining his grip against the hole. His grip on her was also not good. It felt like he could lose her at any second. For a moment, he wondered if things could get worse. That's was when P'Li showed up in the airship, ready to open fire.
Kya saw the same thing. She also saw one way out of this. "Bumi, let go!" she ordered.
"But we could die!" he protested. In spite of living in the temple, they didn't know the mountainside. That lack of knowledge could kill them.
She had a better counterpoint. "We're gonna die if we hang on!"
He watched as P'Li readied another blast. He closed his eyes and offered a quick prayer to whoever was listening. "This is going to hurt." He let go and they started to fall again. Their screams followed them down and they quickly turned in shouts of pain as they hit tree after tree attached to the mountainside. When they finally stopped falling and landed on a small path on the mountain, they were alive but also unconscious.
Tenzin had Zaheer on the ropes and they both knew it. Whatever the rogue Airbender threw at him, he was able to dodge or deflect. He pressed Zaheer back across the wall, making him almost dance to avoid his Airbending. But one shot got him, knocking him down to the ground. Tenzin rushed forward, ready to press the attack.
But an explosion knocked him off balance and sent him falling down to the ground below. He recovered and softened his landing with a quick blast of air against the ground. He landed in a stance, watching for Zaheer and P'Li, who he was certain fired that shot. But a blast of water from the right knocked him down him and when he got back up, a large rock from the left did it again. Ming-Hua and Ghazan had joined the fight against him.
He tried to fight back, bending at Ming-Hua to force her away. But the combination of ice and rocks got through his guard, something that was also broken when a hard blast of air hit him in the sides. He didn't need to look to know that Zaheer was with them now.
They surrounded him. He moved first, blasting Ghazan away. He defended himself against Ming-Hua and Zaheer, knocking the latter away with a hard air blast. He spun away from Ming-Hua, trying to bend the air around him for greater speed, only for P'Li to blast him again. It sent him right into a wall.
He fell to the ground with his body aching all over. He tried to stand up and had to use the wall for support. Zaheer and the others surrounded him. It was clear what would come next. "Give up," Zaheer told him. "It's over."
"As long as I'm breathing, it's not over," he replied. He tried to push the rogue Airbender away. Zaheer avoided it easily and pushed him back against the wall. He, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua converged on him, pummeling him with their Bending. He tried to fight back but at that point, he had no chance.
Kai's world was a bit hazy, not to mention dark. He felt a little out of it and didn't know how to come back it. Then something rough and wet started licking his face. The sensation brought him back to the world and he found he was upside down, hanging from a tree via his foot. "Woah!" he exclaimed at the situation. He looked to the side and saw a bison calf floating there. It had been the one to lick him awake.
The calf moved just underneath him and he got himself out of the tree, landing on its back. "Thanks, buddy," he told the calf. Now, he had to go find the others. "Yip, yip!" he urged. Together, they flew away from the mountain.
(Location: Konoha)
Once the Monster had vanished and the danger had passed, things quickly went from a nightmare to a surprise family reunion. The star of that reunion was Sasuke. Most of the dead clansmen had only seen him as a small child who had just entered the Academy. Now they were looking at an old man who had been a shinobi for plenty of years. What was more, with each spirt that came to talk to him, he remembered their names. They smiled every time.
That wasn't to say he was alone in the reunion. His son and granddaughter were being swarmed a plenty. The fact that an Uchiha was the Hokage was something they didn't believe until they saw Madara himself and how he acted with the authority of the Hokage. They stared at him with wonder in their eyes. It was a little uncomfortable for him but he shrugged it off and talked to them like he was another clansmen.
Tsukiko wasn't quite sure what to do with all the attention being poured on her. She looked to her teammates for help but they were content to stay back and watch this happen. Both Arashi and Hiro watched her trying to talk to dead clansmen with identical grins. This was just one of those moments that have a camera should've been brought for. They were praising her left and right, saying that she was going to be the looker when she got older and how she must take after her father and grandfather. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to it all.
Itachi wasn't that bummed the dead weren't talking to him. The way he saw it, he had done enough talking to them. They were his family but he felt like he had been here long enough. He wanted to go home.
Something flickered in the corner of his eye. When he looked that way, he saw a cloak disappearing around the street corner. "Hey, isn't that…?" he thought. He didn't finish the question because he knew it was. It was that cloaked guy. He was leaving. Why?
He went after him, making sure that Dad didn't see him leave. "Hey!" he called out when he reached the guy.
He turned back and looked at him. They were alone in the street. The sounds of the reunion could still be heard but it became background noise. "Yes."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving."
"Why?"
"What I've tried to do is done. I don't have any place here."
"Of course you do!" he protested. "You're an Uchiha. You belong here!"
He didn't show it but he gave the impression that he was smirking slightly. "What makes you think I'm an Uchiha?"
Itachi told him, "Who else would stay around fighting that Monster to keep the clan safe? Anyone else would've given up a long time ago and leave them to it."
"Perhaps I'm a very tenacious person."
He frowned. Why was this guy doing this? "You're an Uchiha. I know you are."
"You do?" the cloaked man asked, sounding like he was amazed. However, he made it sound like he was talking to a toddler who just discovered walking.
He had a strong urge to stamp his foot but that wouldn't do anything. "Yes, I do. You're an Uchiha, that's way you've stayed this long to fight that Monster."
"Perhaps," he said, almost dismissively.
"No! Not perhaps. Definitely," Itachi told him. "You're an Uchiha! And I think I know which Uchiha you are!"
"Oh?"
"Yes, you're—"
Sasuke walked up behind him. "Itachi," he said. "Go back to your father. He's looking for you."
The kid looked up at his grandfather, then at the cloaked man. "Grandfather," he started.
"Go, I'll talk to this man. We'll be leaving soon."
"But he's—"
"Go, Itachi."
"Aww," he moaned. But with his grandfather's stern look, he still went.
Both the old man and the cloaked man watched walk away. Once he was gone, they stared at each other. Nothing was said for a long moment. They just looked at the other. "He's a good kid," the cloaked man said.
"I know," replied Sasuke. "I'm proud of him and my family."
"Are there more than just them?"
"Yes, much more."
"You've been busy." There was a slight humor to his tone, like he was making a quiet joke.
Sasuke smiled quietly at it. "I had to. The future of the clan was put on my shoulders." His words made lose the smile and serious. "That Monster, what was it?"
"The fears and suspicions the entire clan during that night folded into one being," the cloaked man answered, turning somber.
"Has it always been here?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"…When you say the fears and suspicions, you mean what they had about you." He knew it was the truth. If the Monster was what he said, the focal point could only be one person. "It's why it showed fear of me."
"Yes," he said quietly.
"Because I was the only survivor," Sasuke said.
He paused for a moment but then shook his head. "No, not just that," he told the old man.
He made another connection and understood. "I was the only one who could defeat you, right?" He didn't get an answer but took the silence to mean he was right. "That's what I thought."
"Is that all you have to say?"
The old man looked at him silently. He walked up to him, grabbed the hood, and pulled it down. "Hello, Itachi."
His brother smiled his old smile at him. "Hello, Sasuke. It's good to see you again." He didn't look the same as he did. He looked older, like he was a father and the burden of that night didn't rest on his shoulders. There was grey in his hair and crinkles around his eyes that showed he was used to smiling.
He let go of the hood. "Are you really not going to stay?" he asked.
Itachi shook his head. "No, I've done what I could to keep them safe but they won't let me back." As he spoke, his voice showed how he saddened by the prospect, but he would be resolute.
Sasuke looked back to where the others were. "Do Father and Mother know?"
"They probably suspect."
"Don't leave without telling them. You owe them that much." They deserved to know that their son was leaving. He saw doubt and hesitation in his brother's eyes. "I never thought you were a coward, Itachi, to be cowed by our own parents."
Itachi looked at him. "I know what you're doing, Sasuke." He trying to rile him up and act impulsively. But even so, he had a good point. Their parents deserved to know that he was going. "You're right." He would wait until Father and Mother were alone and go to them.
He smiled quietly at that. "Good." Now came the hard part. He forced himself to step back and turn away. He wanted to stay and keep talking to his big brother but they couldn't stay. This was the Spirit World, the land of the dead. They were still alive. "Goodbye."
He walked away. "Sasuke," Itachi said, stopping him. "There's one question I have: how did you come here?"
Sasuke looked back at him. "There was a crack in the basement that led here. We don't know how it got there."
"Then that could mean there is more than one."
He realized that too. What it could mean for both worlds, he didn't know. What he did know was that they would have to keep an eye out for others and see if they can be contained. "We will do something about it."
"Good. Then I will see if I can find answers here in this world."
The old man couldn't help but smile. "Even after all this time, you still help."
"It's who I am." They smiled at each other, taking a moment to enjoy a rare brotherly moment between them. But when the moment was gone, the smiles faded. "Goodbye, Sasuke."
"Goodbye, Itachi. I'm glad I could see you again." He turned around and walked away. His brother watched him until he vanished beyond the wall. Then he vanished too, waiting for the chance to speak to his parents. He realized that it was something probably long overdue.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
Gāng might be angry enough to kill the Earth Queen just so he wouldn't have to deal with her anymore but he's not stupid. He would make sure that the government would be protected. He's worked with these people for so long, he's not going to let them hanging in the wind.
And it's probably time that Gāng got an apprentice. That is, if Tu is able to impress him. That's going to be fun to write. Of course, the real clash will be between him and Yin just by their opinions of the Earth Queen alone.
I knew that the Uchiha dead would come somehow into this story, if only for a chapter. I knew it was going to happen because I wanted Itachi to meet Itachi. It just kinda moved on by itself from there.
I'll see you all next chapter!
