Chapter 3: The Art of War Final

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague."

Marcus Tullius Cicero


Naruto watched the warm morning sun rise above the hills to the east, sitting outside the camp on a large boulder that had no doubt been there for a hundred years, still dressed in his sleeping robes and with a hot pot of green tea resting on a small white flame in front of him. The hours before a battle were always quiet for Naruto, a time for him to let the world's troubles slip from his mind and for him to find his focus one more. Off in the distance he could hear his men begin to prepare in their own way, with officers shouting at those they commanded while their own superiors ordered them around. Yet here Naruto still sat, his breath show and steady while the ever shining shun continued to slowly rise higher and higher into the air.

Calmly Naruto reached out and gripped the tea pot, the white fire traveling with it, before pouring the warm water into a cup that already had ground up tea leaves and herbs in it. The water darkened ever so slightly once Naruto was finished pouring, but it was only after he stirred it with a small wooden stick that it became properly mixed and ready to drink. Iroh had taught him many things during their time together, but nothing more so than how to prepare a good cup of tea. It wasn't just for the natural herbs that helped keep the body strong, or even the end result of simple enjoyment, but for the relaxation it brought by simply going through the precise motions over and over again.

Clapping his hands together, Naruto closed his eyes and began to pray as he once did in the temple so long ago, "Agni, chief God, giver of fire and wealth. Salutations and salutations, to the holy flame of the lamp, which bestows on me all that is good, health as well as wealth, and destroys all my enemies. Give me the wisdom to protect those I command, give me the strength to fight for them as they fight for me, and give me the resolve to do what must be done."

With his prayer now complete and his tea naturally blended, Naruto reached down and took a careful sip so as to not burn his tongue. Warmth filled his body from his stomach outwards and the General let out a more than content sigh; one of these days he'd surpass even Iroh's skill at making the perfect cup. It was rather odd to others, or so Naruto had been told, that he didn't possess the eagerness that most young people did and instead took joy in the simple things in life.

One more hour passed before Naruto decided to return to his tent and continue to prepare for the day, which got him odd looks as he casually strolled through the busy camp in just his sleeping robes and a teapot hanging loosely from his fingers. Once he entered, giving a brief nod to the two Imperial Firebenders standing guard, Naruto found his meal waiting for him and Shui standing beside his armor stand with her hands clasped in front of her. With practiced ease, Naruto knelt down at his table and calmly began to eat his meal with no rush at all.

Once his meal was completely finished, down to the last grain of rice, Naruto rose from his kneeling position and approached the patiently waiting Shui. Their eyes locked for only a brief moment, a silent conversation taking place in just a few seconds, before Shui reached out and began undoing the bindings of his sleeping attire. Now standing as bare as the day he'd been born, one could see many different scars littering Naruto's arms and torso; many of which looked to be caused by blades or even arrows of many different kinds. Shui then went through the long process of dressing her master in his white armor, beginning with an under layer of robes and ending with attaching his breastplate. Once finished, with his sword firmly strapped to his side, Naruto reached out and gently stroked his servant's cheek with more affection than anyone had ever seen him give in public.

"Thank you for standing by my side all this time," Naruto said softly as Shui reached up and coverent Naruto's hand with her own, a small smile on her face but one that was filled with worry and concern.

"You will return unharmed," Shui began, blue eyes gazing deeply into one another, "I'll have your tea prepared and wait for you."

"Be safe" is what she wanted to say, "Don't leave" is what her heart demanded she cry out before he could even so much as exit the tent, "I adore you." were the words that could not be spoken when there were so many that could be listening in. It was the first time Naruto would ever be put in any danger during the war, where his entire life of training would be put to the test and where his plans would either bare fruit or burn away.

"Thank you, Shui," Naruto gave in, just this once, and leaned down to gently press his lips against Shui's; she tasted of strawberries.

Naruto was gone moments later, his face set into a calm and collected mask as he exited his tent and found the whole of his fighty force already in formation with Lieutenant General Yamashita and the others waiting for him. It should be noted that none of the higher ranking members were in proper combat armor, instead wearing the set specifically for basic leadership; meaning they wouldn't fight unless the battle came to them.

"General Uzumaki," Yamashita and his young counterpart greeted at the same time, given the proper bow of respect that one gives a superior officer, and was quickly followed by the rest of the senior staff.

"Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Lieutenant General Lee Horoshi," Naruto greeted back with a nod, as demanding of his position of ranking officer, "Is everything prepared as I've requested?"

Lee seemed hesitant, more than likely thinking it was a bad idea but was bound to his orders regardless, "Yes sir, down to the smallest detail."

"Good, then let's end this once and for all."


The sight of the Fire Nation army marching out onto the field of battle, almost like a parade, was quite a sight to behold from the gates of Durjayan where General Yue Fei stood with his six personal guards. His informant within the ranks of the enemy army had dutifully informed him of this new General's plan to take hostage the villages he protects, which was why he'd ordered all villagers to be brought within the city and the tunnels collapsed. It had been a close call, they only received the information that morning, and more than a few of the villagers had to be forced to leave their homes. Still, the spirits appeared to be on their side once again, but this new general was going to pose a problem if not dealt with right away. Yue knew that they had to break the Fire Nation...today!

"General Fei, sir!" one of Yue's oldest and most loyal soldiers spoke up, having come to report to his commanding officer, "The men report the tunnels have been dug under the field. As per your orders, a quarter of the earthbenders have been deployed while the rest await further orders with the standing army."

"Good," Yue mumbled, stroking his facial hair while his gaze never broke away from the approaching army, "I'll lead the men myself. It's time to crush this Fire Nation dog."

And so the Earth Kingdom General moved over to a pair of twin war hammers, his weapon of choice to compliment his earthbending, and was followed down to the main gate by his guards. It wasn't very often that Yue Fei entered the battlefield, instead trusting in his men to see each battle to victory, but every time he did fight he won. In this instance, he had no room for error. With but a simple gesture, the gates to the city opened and the two opposing armies were now destined to face.


LTG. Yamashita watched from his position, next to the several catapults loaded with massive boulders covered in oil, as his commanding officer marched at the head of the army towards what would no doubt be a bloody battle. A battle that would no doubt be a massacre, but not for the reason General Yue Fei no doubt believed. A small smile stretched across Tomoyuki's aged face; it was all thanks to the General that they found out who the spy in their ranks was and changed the plan without alerting him in the slightest. He didn't know how someone so young managed to break an assassin so fast, to be quite honest he didn't really want to know, but it was impressive nonetheless.

"Hm, so they decided to charge out and meet the General head on," Tomoyuki spoke aloud upon noticing the gates to the city open and quite a few Earth Kingdom soldiers come marching out, but the sight of General Yue Fei was a bit surprising.

"Sir?" the artillery commander questioned, itching to give the signal.

"We wait for General Uzumaki's signal," Tomoyuki grunted, taking notice as to how the back ranks of the Fire Nation soldiers shifted behind the first few rows of men; the longbowmen taking position near the rear while the komodo rhinos moved towards either side of them.

Sure enough, the enemy began their charge while the General commanded everyone to stop and take formation. Like a well oiled machine, the heavy shield spearmen formed an impenetrable wall of death between the charging forces and their more vulnerable comrades. At the same time, the cavalry units charged out to the right and left of the main battle, with their only objective being to incircle the enemy once the two armies collided. Tomoyuki had to applaud the soldiers down below for their unwavering dedication and trust in the General's plan, even if almost all of them had no idea what that plan truly was.

"Hm, it would appear the signal has been given," Tomoyuki pointed out, noticing the way the once dull orange torch flame in front of him suddenly turned the purest of white, "Ignite the oil and launch. Let us see if General Uzumaki really can take the city by the end of the day."


Naruto stood like a statue at the very front of his army, at least ten feet in front of the wall of spears his men formed, and watched the charging enemy with an almost passive gaze. He wasn't afraid, even though he knew he should be, but he had faith that his plan would work. Which he would find out soon enough as the sight of massive flaming boulders greeted him from behind, their arc indicating that they would land just where he thought they would.

It saddened him that so many would have to die because of his plans.

Azure eyes narrowed when the boulders slammed into the ground and widened slightly in satisfaction when said ground suddenly caved in from the impact. It was the same trick General Yue Fei had used against his predecessor; having men tunnel under the battlefield and come charging up within the enemy ranks. Another volley of flaming death came down in between the two armies, both nearby obscure from one another by thick black smoke and the screams of those men still alive. The smart play for the Earth Kingdom would be to fall back within their walled city and make the Fire Nation come to them, but it would seem the enemy General wanted to finish the battle now.

General Yue Fei and his men came running through the smoke and flames like a horde of angry demons, most of their minds lost to battle rage to stop their charge and make a proper formation, and it wasn't until the majority of them were through the flames that Naruto himself acted. Just as he'd done with every flame in his presence, from the Fire Lord himself to the simple candles he used in the middle of the night, the orange symbol of consumption turned pure white.

He could hear the soldiers whispering behind him, their minds not understanding how fire could turn white, but then they remembered their General. All their eyes locked onto him and each man came to the same conclusion when they saw him standing there with his arm outstretched. Divine fire, white fire, said to be a gift from Agni himself to those deemed worthy of it. Somewhere among the hundreds of Fire Nation soldiers, a young woman and a young man respectively, fanatics had just been born.

"Archers, loose!" Naruto's shout covered the distance between the front ranks and the back, even over the screams of men being burned alive and Earth Kingdom soldiers charging.

Death rained from the sky in the form of metal tipped wood, killing those that either couldn't bring their shields up in time or were unlucky enough to not have a shield in the first place. Naruto wanted to look away, by the gods he wanted to, but he would not insult his enemy in such a cowardly way. If they needed to die, if they absolutely needed to, he would force himself to watch their final moments.

WOOSH!

A rock about the size of Naruto's head came within a hair's breadth of hitting him, but still Naruto didn't even so much as flinch. General Yue Fei had just attacked him and so Naruto would return that gesture in kind. Yet it wouldn't be by the allconsuming white flames, but by the sword slowly being drawn from Naruto's side!

Another rock came at him and Naruto responded with a swing of his sword! The metal should have been dented beyond repair the very moment it made contact, but it was the rock that gave way first. It left quite the sight to behold, with Naruto standing there, almost like he was striking a pose with the way he stopped at the end of his swing. The blade of his sword, so beautifully crafted, was coated by divine flames without melting the blade itself.

Artillery shook the ground, Naruto could hear the sound of his cavalry colding with the enemy flanks, and so the massacre was about to officially begin. Naruto could see the whites of Yue's eyes, the spit flying from his mouth as he let out a warcry, and for that one glorious moment everything froze. It was like a painting, a beautifully horrific painting that the world would never bare witness to again.

A moment later there would be only blood.

It was only through a lifetime of military service, serving on the front lines with his own men, that gave Yue the skill and forethought to move out of the way of Naruto's downward strike instead of trying to block it. It was also at that exact moment that the charging Earth Kingdom forces slammed head first into an impenetrable wall of Fire Nation shields and spears. Some of them were lucky enough to duck out of the way or slip between the instruments of death, but for those that were unlucky a painful death quickly embraced them. There was no way for Naruto to tell the difference between the screams of dying men and all the other cries, not when he also had to focus on battling someone more than twice his age and three times his military experience.

Three hammer blows came at him in rapid succession, each one aimed to cave his skull in with a single mighty blow, but each one missed thanks to some impressive physical skills. Naruto returned the attack in kind, his blade singing through the air with a trail of white fire briefly left in its wake, and nearly slit Yue's throat if the older man hadn't backpettled away out of sheer survival instinct. Instead Naruto managed to ruin his beard.

"You aren't half bad, for someone so young, but in battle, experience trumps youth!" Yue shouted, stomping his foot on the ground and lifting an even larger rock into the air before slamming his hammer into it and sending it right at Naruto.

Naruto moved out of the way at the last minute, allowing the small boulder to slam into the backs of Yue's own men that were still trying to get through the Fire Nation shield wall. The General didn't even seem fazed by what he just did to his own men and instead charged back in once more, swinging his hammers far faster than a man his age should have been able to do. Yet, like with all great battles between two giants, this fight was ended in a single instant.

Spinning low to avoid having his head taken off, rolling to get behind the Earth Kingdom General, Naruto thrust his blade forward with both hands! Yue was in the midst of spinning around himself, his arm raised high to bring down a devastating strike, when the feeling of cold metal greeted his heart like an old friend. Yue half expected to feel the burning sensation of Naruto's white flames, the pain and agony that came with it would have given him the energy for one final blow, but when he looked down he saw the flames had vanished.

"You don't deserve to suffer," was all Naruto said to the already dead old General, even if the man's brain hadn't quite caught up with that little fact yet, before ripping his blade free in a spray of blood.

Naruto didn't have time to think about the life he'd just taken, not when the enemy around him noticed their General lying dead at his feet and turned on him. He prepared himself, eyes already locked onto the next man meant to be cut down this day, as his white flames ignited around his blade once more and burned away the blood.

Suddenly movement surged from around Naruto, the familiar sight of black and red armor greeted him as the shield wall extended forwards to protect him from those that would see him dead. Their General ensured they would win this day, Yue Fei was dead and the threat he posed along with him, so now it was their turn! This battle would be won! The city would be taken!

In the end, the massacre lasted for maybe an hour before the enemy finally succumbed.

They would tell stories, stories of the white flame dancing on the ashes of his enemies!


Most armies, after fighting a battle of any kind, would often retreat back to their camp to rest and recuperate instead of moving right to trying to break down a city's gates. It would also take time to set up a battering ram with the proper amount of protection or move the siege equipment within range. No matter which way you cut it, at the end of the day, taking a city isn't something you can just do by walking up to the front gates and strolling in like you own the place. Not to mention soldiers of the Earth Kingdom are particularly stubborn.

So when the battle was over and the wounded were taken back to camp, Naruto ordered his men to retake formation. They were approaching the city gates, well within range of their archers by now, and yet no action had been taken against them in the slightest. Not only that, but soon enough the gates themselves began to rise up. A massive slab of stone, the kind only a group of earthbenders could lift or heavy artillery could smash through, was now no longer in their path.

Waiting for them on the other side of the archway was none other than one of Naruto's Yuyan archers, blood splattered over his uniform and at least half of his arrows missing. Despite it all, Naruto couldn't help but smile.

"The soldiers that were manning the walls?" Naruto asked as his archer knelt before him.

"Killed or detained, but most chose death."

"The citizens?"

"Unaware."

"Very good. Take to the rooftops of the city and help ease the transition. Without General Yue Fei here to help keep things civil, there may be a few unfortunate deaths. Also, any soldier your men see stealing, raping, or senselessly killing civilians is to be brought to me once we have full control of the city," to the Yuyan archers under Naruto's command, his words might as well have come from the Fire Lord himself; they would obey without question.

"Sir!" and like that the archer moved to inform the others.

Naruto didn't even wait, "Take the city."

It was over by the end of the day, with minimal loss of life given how unprepared the former Earth Kingdom citizens were to suddenly being dragged out of their homes by Fire Nation soldiers. The leader of the Yuyan archers reported that no less than twenty men had to be put down, with thirteen for attempted rape, five for ignoring three different warnings about stealing, and two that lost their temped and struck down panicing civilians. It was a much lower number than Naruto expected, but much higher than he'd hoped for.

Now it was time for adjustment. The new Fire Nation citizens would need to grow accustomed to the new laws, which would take time, and resistances would need to be dealt with before chaos could descend upon them once more. Men that were once charged with attacking the city were now ordered to patrol its streets and keep the peace. Citizens were kept in their houses for the majority of the day, except for those that proved to be of use or had trades Naruto deemed harmless enough to continue. Sure the city had been fully taken in a week, but it took no less than six months for any true danger to pass.

Which is why, after those six months, it was time for Naruto two wrap up some loose ends before returning to the Fire Nation. Fire Lord Ozai requested his presence and one did not disobey such a man.

"Master, your tea and evening meal," Shui spoke up as she walked into the former General Yue Fei's office, having been taken over by Naruto since it had one of the best views of the city and thus he could see almost any danger, with another familiar slave following behind her carrying a tray of food.

"Thank you Shui, Shi, you may set them down on the table," Naruto ordered as he read over some classified Earth Kingdom documents that had been in the late General's possession and was thus now in his.

Shi followed Shui closely, like a shadow, and just briefly glanced at Naruto with both of her eyes. The scar on her face, one that Shi thought she'd die with, was now completely gone with no sign of ever being there to begin with. Naruto was aware of her gaze, but ignored it in favor of a rather interesting bit of news that he'd yet to hear from his own nation. It would appear, some time during the last six months or so, that the Avatar had returned.

"Zuko, be safe," Naruto whispered as he finally pried himself away from all this new information, information he'd take back to the Fire Nation at the end of the week, and moved to eat his meal.

Sitting down on the large cushion, Shui took up her traditional position behind him and began rubbing his shoulders to ease their tension. No one had noticed, or rather no one cared enough to look, but the air had changed between the master and servant ever since that battle six months ago.

Shui would often place herself much closer to Naruto when in public, bordering on improper in some cases, and in private she'd always try and be touching him in some way. Naruto, likewise, seemed more at ease when she was around and was more forgiving if someone stepped out of line when they shouldn't have; at least to a point. Shi had noticed it; how could she not when Naruto placed her in Shui's charge? In fact, Shi found herself changing after just six months of being her new master's slave. He wasn't cruel to her, or any of the other girls, and that was starting to make it hard to hate him. Why couldn't he have just killed her that night?

"General Uzumaki," a guard called after politely knocking on the door; Shui did not stop her hands for even a moment.

"Enter!"

The guard stepped in and saluted before speaking, "Lieutenant General Horoshi is here to see you, as requested, sir."

"You may send him in and return to your post, thank you," Naruto took a sip of his tea, closing his eyes to savor the taste, but when his eyes opened they were sharper than blades.

Lieutenant General Lee Horoshi entered a moment later, saluted his superior officer, before taking a seat at the other end of the table after Naruto invited him to with a gesture of his hand. Lee , the youngest of the two Lieutenant Generals under Naruto's command, looked like he'd rather be anywhere else at the moment.

"Would you care for some wine, LTG. Horoshi?" Naruto offered politely, already motioning Shi to pour the man a cup.

"Ah, yes, thank you sir," Lee thanked, taking the cup and a sip from it without much of a second thought; the wine was good.

"Of Course, good and loyal men should be rewarded for their service," Naruto said offhandedly, his smile kind and compassionate until it suddenly wasn't, "And traitors get to look their General in the eye before they die."

Lee didn't feel a thing, the poison acted too fast, and before he knew it he was already dead. The young man's body collapsed in a matter of seconds, blood flowing from his mouth and onto the hardwood table, and his eyes had rolled up into the back of his head. It was a shame, the young man had such a promising future ahead of himself even if he was the son of two Earth Kingdom workers that had managed to buy their freedom and move to a small village.

"Shui, call one of the Yuyan and have them dispose of the traitor outside the city. A shallow and unmarked grave will do."

"Yes, master."

"Oh, and Shi, I'd like some wine if you would be so kind."