Oh boy, it has been forever since this was updated. Well, it has been a though year and starting the new year with Covid was not what I had planned lol. So, I sat down and was like "I guess it's time to start updating old stories" and so here I am! And here is the next chapter to this story! Enjoy!
Ba Sing Se had seen much throughout its history. It was known as the impenetrable city, its walls so thick and surrounding the city, it was said that no outside invader could breach it and conquer it. The first fact was proven wrong when the infamous Dragon of the West breached the wall but failed the conquer the city. It was the bastion of the Earth Kingdom, the shinning city on the hill that overlooked it is subject. However, times had changed the city. The city had begun to centralize its power, with the King tightening his rule. Harsh restrictions were placed on far flung provinces and the taxes required from poorer provinces were greater than those required from richer ones, mostly due to noble families residing in there. Of course, the King found that keeping the peasantry oppressed was easier than dissatisfied nobles who had both the wealth and power to amass their own armies.
"Hey, did you hear? Apparently there has been some kind of revolt in some provinces." A drunken old man questioned his friend.
"Shh, don't talk about that! Otherwise, you'll be 'disappeared'!" His friend chastised him in a hushed tone. Rumors about a revolt were being kept as a tightly guarded secret and anyone who…talked…about the subject vanished. It was something that the King had wanted to keep under wraps.
"I don't see the big deal. News about the revolt has spread pretty much throughout the kingdom. But everyone here is pretending like everything is fine!" The old drunk commented. The life in the city was going on as usual, even the war did not seem to faze the city. People kept saying there is no war in Ba Sing Se and all the other nonsense. What were they gone do when the Fire Nation took over everything else and surrounded the city?
"Will you keep it down old man?! If you don't shut your trap you're be gone!" His friend time to keep him quiet. He did not wise to discuss this any further as he did not wise to deal with the consequences. The old man shrugged as he drowned the last of his alcohol before standing up and heading out.
"Yh yh." The old man replied as he left the tavern. He looked up and saw a full moon high in the sky.
"This late already? Damn, I better get back home." The old man thought as he stumbled down the small streets of the city. In his drunken confusion he took a wrong turn into a dimly lit city that was completely devoid of people.
"Talking about as if nothings wrong outside the walls. Huh, fools. If this city ever –" The man could not finish his sentence as the ground below him opened up, causing him to fall through before it closed. To the everyone else it was just another empty street, but there was much more going on behind the scenes.
Earth Kings Palace:
"Your highness, you must send in the army to quell this revolt before it grows any further!" An Earth Bende, dressed in fancy armor, stated as part of a council, which was dominated by generals and high nobles.
"I agree, we should stop these rebels before the situation worsens any further." A noble man agreed, but there were a few that did not agree with the approach, these few were in a very small minority, too small to have any influence or sway.
"I disagree, we need to listen to them and negotiate. Using force would only antagonize them. It'll also embolden the Fire Nation to strike!" Another general argued. While most Earth Kingdoms military officers and leaders consisted off educated nobility, there were those who elevated themselves up to high ranks through sweat and blood. The man looked at the map of the Kingdom and marked a few spots on the map.
"We have already lost contact with garrisons in the four southern provinces and we have reports that the rebels are already heading towards the Valu River Gates. Other river and sea crossing via boats, there is only a single land connection, the Serpents Path" The general pointed out as some of the nobles shrugged.
"Then fortify the serpent's path and fortify the river from Valu River Gates to the other end. We'll keep them boxed in the deserts before dealing with them." A noble stated as some of the others looked at him in shock.
"You'd give half of our kingdom to them? The Fire Nation has already set up colonies in our western lands and now you're willing to throw away our southern lands?!" A general shouted in outrage. For how long would the Earth Kingdom be on the defense?
"Give? Oh no! It's a simple containment before we take care of them." The noble replied as the general narrowed his eyes. How dare he!
"Enough, clearly the situation is too tense for it to be solved in a single meeting. We will deal with this at another time. For now, we need to rest and come back with cooler heads." The King, Kuei, finally spoke up, tired of their rambling.
"The King is correct; we shall convene at a later date." Long Feng agreed as he stepped forward everyone nodded. Long Feng was the Kings most trusted advisor, but most in the inner circle knew that Feng was more than just an advisor. While the King was the ruler of the Kingdom, Feng was the one who possessed real power. His influence on the King went far, so far that he had kept the King in the dark to most things outside of the palace. However, the revolt was something he was unable to keep hidden, a failure on his part. As everyone retreated to their chambers, Feng was wondering how he should deal with the situation.
"Maybe I can get the Avatar to…deal with this." Feng thought to himself as he smirked. A month ago, he got word of a strange creature captured by Sand Benders. To his surprise it was the Avatars pet! Capitalizing on the situation, he secured the Air Bison and kept it in prison. Now, that was going to pay off.
"I'll help the Avatar find his pet and he'll be indebted to me. Then I will use that to have him deal with the situation. If he dies, then nothing of value is lost." Feng thought darkly. Feng did not have much positive opinion of the Avatar, especially considering the relations between the Earth Kingdom and past Avatars, especially Kyoshi. With those thoughts, he headed off to his headquarters, there was much to do.
Omashu:
The city of Omashu was considered on of the most fortified cities in the Earth Kingdom. It was practically built inside the mountains and had only a single narrow bridge as an access point. It was key to suppling the Earth Kingdoms armies, but when the Fire Nation came knocking on its door, what did the cities King do? Surrender. To the shock and outrage of his soldiers and citizens, the man who was meant to lead and protect them, had surrendered the city without a fight. But that did not stop others from resisting Fire Nation rule. However, news of a revolt a month ago reached the Fire Nation garrison stationed there. At first, they were not concerned.
"These revolts are but another day in the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdoms army will crush them. We have nothing to fear." Were the words of the Fire Nation governor of the city, but he was wrong. The revolt began to spread out into neighboring provinces and reports of whole Earth Kingdom garrisons revolting and joining the rebellion were common and it did not help that the rebels were moving towards Omashu.
"Come on! Get a move on! Take anything that's not nailed down and burn the city!" A Fire Nation officer barked orders to his men. The Fire Nation was well aware that the city could not be defended with the meager garrison they had provided, and reinforcements would not be an option. The Fire Nations armies were simply stretched too thin across a large front and thus their logistics would not be able to lift a potential siege. Thus, the order was given to evacuate the city, take anything of value and raze it to the ground.
"The Governor and his family have already evacuated sir, what of citizens?" A soldier questioned as the officer looked at him confused.
"What about them? We cannot afford to evacuate them; they would only slow us down." The officer responded. The soldier did not look pleased.
"But what about Fire Nation citizens?" The soldier questioned. Fire Nation citizens had been brought in-order to bolster the available manpower and boost the local economy.
"We cannot afford to evacuate them." The officer responded once more and now the soldier seemed shocked.
"But sir, if we leave the civilians here, they will all be burned when we raze the city. There are women and children here sir!" The soldier shouted. He may be a loyal soldier of the Fire Nation, but what the officer was suggesting was barbaric.
"Are you questioning orders? Need I remind you I am in charge here and my word is law. Now get back to work!" The officer barked loudly as the soldier stiffened and balled his hands into fists.
"Yes…sir." The soldier responded. If he talked any further, he would only dig himself into a deeper grave. Best to keep his mouth shut. He would try to aid the civilians in secret.
"It's the rebels! They are blocking the bridge!" A soldier shouted as he ran down the street.
"What?! They are already here?! Man, the walls!" The officer ordered. He had thought that they at least had a few days or so. The vanguard was meant to keep the rebels back until they had finished in the city!
"S-sir! You may wanna take a look at this!" A soldier stated as he called his officer up to his section of the wall. The officer frowned as he walked up the steps and peered over the wall and his eyes widened in shock.
"T-That's the vanguard force!" The officer shouted in shock as his fellow Fire Benders also appeared shocked by this news. Why was the Vanguard force with the rebels? Had they joined the rebellion as well?
"People of Omashu! Your King has betrayed you! Your King abandoned you!" They heard a voice calling out to them as they looked over and saw a…a kid?!
"What's that kid doing out there?" The officer questioned as he saw the kid standing before the gates of the city.
"You King surrendered your city without a fight to the enemy. The Earth King did nothing when your city fell! He sent to help, no aid! He abandoned you! And now I stand here, not to fight, but to free you!" The boy proclaimed as the officer chuckled to himself. This kid has some guts to march up to a city defended by Fire Benders and make such a bold statement.
"And to the Fire Benders I say there, where are your reinforcements? Where is your help? The Fire Lord does not care about you. You are merely pawns to him, disposable pieces in his mad war! Who was the first to run from this city? The governor! And your commanding officer? A coward who sent his mean to die in the mountains so that he may escape while murdering innocent civilians! I ask you this; why continue to serve them when your lives mean nothing to them?" The boy continued as the officer frowned. He was being made into an enemy!
"Don't listen to him! He's just a kid!" The officer shouted back, but his mean seemed unconvinced.
"Does that make what I say untrue? Ask him what he intends to do with the people of this city? To murder them! So, I ask you to look within yourself and find your humanity and to prevent this senseless bloodshed! I guarantee you that no one will be harmed if the city surrenders peacefully! And your fellow Fire Benders of the Vanguard force is proof of that!" The boy stated as the soldiers looked at one another, a silent conversation between them before they nodded.
"Hey! What are you doing! Get back to your post!" The officer ordered but his men refused as the quickly subdued him and just like that, the gates of the city were thrown open. Just as the city had been captured by the Fire Nation without a fight, so too did it fall to the rebels without a fight. The rebels began to march into the city as the Fire Benders quickly surrendered. There was no point in fighting as there was no help coming.
"I have to say Naruto, you do have ways with words." Naruto chuckled as he felt a girl walk up next to him.
"Well, I only aid the truth. You should be able to tell a lie with ease Toph." Naruto replied as Toph shrugged.
"Eh, I couldn't be bothered." She replied as Naruto sighed at that. It had been about 2 months since their little revolt and he and Toph found great success in finding supporters. Whole garrisons had joined their cause as they grew tired of Ba Sing Se's rule and were quick to throw in their lot with another rebellion.
"Who knew we would be taking Omashu so fast. You even managed to get those Fire Benders on our side." Toph said as Naruto nodded. It was not hard convincing them to join them. They were young soldiers who were reminded about the fact that not only were they sent to die to stall the rebels, but they were never going to get help. Naturally, they had felt betrayed and while they could have left the rebels pass, they instead chose to side with them. Many of them had family that had move to Omashu to be closer to them.
"This is just the beginning Toph. Once we secure the coast, we will mark to Ba Sing Se. The Earth Kings days are numbered." Naruto stated, as if it was a fact and Toph agreed. When she had first agreed to teach the Avatar Earth Bending, she did not expect to end up leading a rebellion.
"I guess following Naruto wasn't such a bad idea." Toph thought with a smile. Naruto was like her. Both were blind, independent, and hardheaded. Guess being a rebel was something that they shared too.
"Then let's get going already!" Toph proclaimed causing Naruto to sweat drop. She was more fired up about this then anyone else, even himself.
And that is it! Now go wait for the next chapter. Hopefully, you don't have to wait over a year for it.