Important Note at bottom
Chapter 17 Anger and Rage
The Fire Nation flag hung from the walls of the Northern water tribe and Fire nation soldiers moved though the streets as the residences hid in their homes afraid that their doors would be busted down and their home raided for anything the soldiers found of value.
"We took the entire Water Tribe in half a night." Stated the general "With the lost of only fifteen soldiers."
"Send a message hawk to my father." ordered Azula
"We sent it after they surrendered with the proper winds the hawk should the northern part of the Fire nation by lunch then using massager hawk system it is only a few hour." stated the general knowing that the once the system of relay hawks was activated the great news of the fire nation victory here would spread across fire nation with half a day as dozens of hawks spread out to share the news.
"Good." stated Azula as she turned to leave the meeting of the general's and commanders on the royal airship
"Princess Azula you need to discuss how we are going to handle the civilians and benders." stated the General
"General, I believe we already have a standard procedure for dealing with civilians and benders." stated Azula "Carry them out I am going to go check on the person who took the city single handily."
"Yes, Princess Azula." stated the general as Azula walked out of the room.
"I am worried about the Princess; she is getting too close to this Sasuke Uchiha." stated a commander "I for one believe he is a threat."
"You are correct that he is a threat but he is a threat to our enemies." stated another commander "Most of our men and myself are happy to have him on our side."
"Still it is something to keep an eye on." stated the general
By the time the generals had finished talking Azula had reached the private room where Sasuke was being treated in. The healers were checking over his body making sure he was ok.
"What is his status?" asked Azula as she looked at Sasuke lying on the bed.
"His heart beat is normal and apart from a few cuts he is fine, I don't know why he is in this condition." explained the doctor
"It's called chakra exhaustion." explained Sasuke as his eyes opened and he tried to sit up only to be forced back down by Azula.
"No you stay down and rest as much as you can." ordered Azula as Sasuke nodded his head. "Now what is this chakra exhaustion?"
"Basically when I use too much chakra in my justus I push my body to the point of failure." explained Sasuke "If I had kept going my organs would have shut down and I would have died."
"I have never heard of anyone ever running out of chi." stated the doctor as he used the term for the energy
"A candle that burns two times hotter dies two times sooner." explained Azula "So please Sasuke rest."
"Thank you." Said Sasuke as he closed his eyes again
"Doctor whatever you need for him is yours." Said Azula as the doctor nodded his head as Azula left the room.
Down below in the conquered remains of the Northern Water below the feet of the paroling fire nation soldiers hiding in the network of water drainage pipes was the master water bender Pakku and a handful of other fighters.
"What are we going to do master Pakku?" asked a warrior "They have the chief and that fighter."
"How are we going to retake the city?" asked another
"I am afraid we can't." stated Pakku as he looked out over the battle worn faces "Not with the forces we have at the moment but there is still hope."
"What hope?" asked one of the few earth kingdom soldiers left
"I came here to gather forces for an army which is going to reclaim Ba Sing Sa." Stated Pakku as everyone looked at him "The army is already gathering made out of ancient order called the Order of the white Lotus, the best of the best from all the nations will be gathering."
"All of the nations?" asked a soldier "Even fire?"
"Yes, there are some who do not believe in the current ruler of the fire nation. They have been working for decades to undermine the fire nation, why do you think this war has taken a hundred years." Stated Pakku as the fighters just looked at him "The members of the white Lotus in there has been doing sabotage work passing along false reports of Water Tribe ships or raising the believed number of earth benders in a fort so the fire nation would hold off their attack."
"But they are still took our city." stated a warrior
"No system is perfect and they can't stall forever." explained Pakku "However that is all about to change we are going to retake Ba Sing Sa and then reclaim this city but it will be easier if you come with me."
For a moment Pakku held his breath as he waited for an answer from these young men.
"Alright master Pakku we are with you." stated a warrior
"Now we must move fast before we are found out." stated Pakku "If we can get to the port we can take a one of our ships out under the cover of darkness."
"But there is a fire nation fleet in the harbor." stated a warrior
"I have a plan for dealing with them." explained Pakku "But first we need to get to the port."
It was nearing noon in on the ember island as Katara moved though the busy market place gathering some fresh fruit and vegetables.
"How much are these?" asked Katara to the nearest fruit seller as she held up a large watermelon and muskmelon.
"They were picked yesterday afternoon." explained the seller as Katara nodded her head "Tell you what for a young lady like you, it will only be a single gold piece."
"Alright." said Katara as she paid the seller before moving back toward a figure who had his traveling cloak up over his head as his golden eyes scanned the crowed.
"Calm down Zuko." whispered Katara as she placed the two pieces of fruit in the large bags that Zuko held. "No one is looking for us here."
"Still." said Zuko as looked at a group of fire nation soldiers sitting at a small food stand eating their lunch. "We have to be careful."
"Well that is the last thing I need, so we can head back." explained Katara as she somewhat wished Suki hadn't been feeling under the weather so that she and not Zuko could have come to the market but another part of her was happy that he had come.
"Alright." said Zuko as they started to leave the market, as they were nearing the exit a load cheer rose up from the crowd of people behind them. Both of them turned around only to see everyone celebrating something. Some of the people had fallen to the ground in tears of joy.
"We won…we won!" yelled a lot of people "We took the Northern Water Tribe."
That phase hit Katara like a boulder as her eyes widened as tears began to fall from deep blue eyes as her knees felt weak. She would have fallen to the ground if it wasn't for the fact that Zuko grabbed her held her up.
"Katara I know this isn't easy, you're angry and sad but we have to get out of here." explained Zuko as he provided Katara some support as they headed back toward the beach house. Katara's mind was racing so fast with worry about her sister tribe that she didn't even notice how much time had pasted until they reached the beach house.
"Katara what happened?" asked Sokka as he rushed over to his sister, soon everyone even Naruto who had been training with Fukasaku.
"What did you do to her?" yelled Aang as he moved toward Katara
"Aang he helped me." explained Katara as she stood up and looked at Sokka and Aang "While we were in the market they announced that the Northern Water Tribe has been conquered."
"By the spirits." stated Suki as rage began to build up inside Sokka.
"How…how could this happen?" asked Aang
"I knew that they were planning an attack on the Northern Water Tribe." said Zuko as the Avatar gang looked at him.
"You knew!" yelled Katara
"I knew that they were planning an attack but at the last war council I went to they pushed back the date of the attack until after the comet comes." explained Zuko as Katara relaxed a bit "If I had known that they changed their plans I would have told you."
"Why did they push back the attack?" asked Sakura
"They knew that it would take a lot of forces to take the Northern Water Tribe and they wanted to save them for the day of the comet." explained Zuko
"Did they say how they took the city?" asked Toph
"No…only that it fell." explained Katara as Sakura and Naruto looked at each other "What? What are you two thinking?"
"That maybe they were looking for us and Sasuke took the city." explained Sakura as the avatar gang lowered their heads.
"So we caused the destruction of an entire nation?" asked Suki
"There is nothing you can do about it now." explained Fukasaku
"He is right there is only ten days until the comet comes and my father has to be stopped." explained Zuko
Night had just fallen over the now conquered Northern water tribe as Pakku and his small band of fighters reached the harbor. What had only twenty four earlier had been full of their soldiers and their warships, now instead the fire nation fleet sat in the harbor and fire nation air ships in the sky above.
"So what is the plan?" asked a fighter as Pakku looked up into the sky and the full moon.
"Wait here." said Pakku as he moved into the water forming a pocket of air around himself as he moved into the water.
"What is he doing?" asked an earth kingdom soldier
"We will see." said the water tribe warrior
Under the water Pakku moved under the first of the fire nation warships which blocked their escape. Looking up at the massive dark shapes which was framed by the moon light, that light allowed Pakku to spot his target the massive rudder which allowed the ships to control which directions they moved. It took all the skills of the master water bender to keep the pocket of air intact while he destroyed the rudder control all without the fire nation soldiers knowing what was going on. With the first one done Pakku moved onto the next ship in the massive fleet.
While Pakku was damaging the fire nation fleet Naruto Uzumaki was wide awake. Slowly he moved out of the beach house and toward down toward the beach.
"What are you doing up brat?" said the Kyuubi's voice in Naruto's head as Naruto moved onto the beach, the only sound was the crashing of waves.
"I need to master the Rasenshuriken." Explained Naruto as he looked at his hand the same hand which he had badly hurt when the Rasenshuriken tore apart the chakra connections in his hand, if it wasn't for the Kyuubi's healing power he would have lost most of the use of his hand.
"So you finally decided to kill the only thing standing in the way of you and the pink vixen?" Responded Kyuubi
"No…I will bring Sasuke back to Sakura-chan." responded Naruto
"Fine but I am not so sure she wants him anymore." said Kyuubi
"What are you talking about?" asked Naruto
"That maybe she wants a different mate then the black snake." explained Kyuubi
"Who…Shikamaru, Neji…"started Naruto "Please tell me it isn't Lee."
"You really are that thick the answer is right in front of you and you can't see it." said Kyuubi "And I thought Kushina was hard to deal with?"
"Kushina?" asked Naruto
"A story for another day." said Kyuubi "Focus on mastering the Rasenshuriken."
Up in the cold north Pakku finally came out of the water after damaging the rudder of a large part of the fire nation fleet.
"Are you guys ready to go?" asked Pakku
"What is the plan?" asked a warrior
"We take one of our ships and head out to sea." explained Pakku as he pointed toward one of the Water Tribe warship which still sat in the harbor.
Above their heads Azula was taking a late night stroll around the airship, as she walked past the bridge she spotted a figure standing out by the edge of the airship.
"Sasuke what are you doing out of bed?" asked Azula
"I spent the entire day in bed." explained Sasuke as he looked out over the massive fleet "Something I am not used to doing."
"I understand sitting around doing nothing isn't something I like to do either." explained Azula as she went to stand beside him. "I love looking out over my future military force, it allows me to realize just how powerful the forces under my command are."
"Together your forces are strong but apart they are weak." explained Sasuke
"Well they all can't be as strong as you or I alone." explained Azula as Sasuke took a deep breath
"I don't say this often so listen carefully." started Sasuke "Thank you for saving my life when that Earth Kingdom general sent that rock at me."
"No problem." said Azula with a rare smile "Thank you for helping my nation take this city."
For a moment neither one of them said anything as suddenly flashes of light from multiple fireballs appeared around the fleet below them.
"What is happening?" asked Azula as she looked down only to see a small ship moving fast across the water powered by water bending. She watched as her fleet tried to move to cut off the escaping ship only to crash into each other.
"I can stop them." stated Sasuke as he prepared to go after the small boat
"No." ordered Azula as the boat moved out of the main ring of fire nation fleet "You are still weak and a single ship isn't worth your heath."
"Very well." stated Sasuke as he looked toward the south and the disappearing boat. "If you are worried about them don't worry we will get them in time."
"No…it isn't that." Explained Sasuke as he looked out over the mass of cloads in the distance "Call it a feeling but I know something is out there."
"Any idea what it is?" asked Azula
"Probably nothing." explained Sasuke as he looked up at the full moon before turning away and heading back into the airship
Thousands of miles away near the spot where Sasuke last saw Naruto a small squad of fire nation soldiers were sitting in their tents trying to stay dry as a sudden rain storm kept falling.
"Freak weather we are having one minute it is a clear night sky the next we have this rain." stated a soldier as he and his buddy stood guard.
"That is just life." answered his buddy as he noticed a figure walking toward them. Even at a distance they could see that the figure was tall man with short hair and that he wore a black cloak.
"Stop who goes there." yelled the first soldier as the picked up a spear while the second got into to a fire bending stance however the figure just kept coming toward them.
"This is your last warning!" yelled the second as the figure kept moving.
"Burn him." Stated the first as the second sent a wave of fire toward, both soldiers eyes widened as the flames died before they could reach the figure. It was as if the rain itself had started to come down harder the moment the fireball was sent and just long enough for the fire to be put out.
"In the name of the spirits what happened." Stated the first warrior as the figure came even closer so close they could see that the man had deep orange hair and red clouds on his cloak.
"Alarm!" yelled the second warrior only to be suddenly lifted off the ground and pulled toward the figure.
"Tell me where is Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha." stated the figure
"I don't know what you are talking about." stated the soldier as he looked into the strange ringed eyes of the figured. Suddenly a flash of lightening filled the sky as five more figures dressed the same to the first appeared; each of them had orange hair and the same eyes.
"We shall see." stated the first figure as he pushed the soldier toward the outstretched arm of another. The soldier's eyes widened as the figure placed his hand on his head; suddenly it was if his mind as an open book and the figure was reading it word for word.
"Stop right there!" yelled the commander of the squad
"You are fire nation soldiers of the 134th regiment." stated the first figure "You have been waging a war for over a hundred years."
"You know us but who are you?" asked the commander
"We are the six paths of Pain and we will bring peace to your world while we hunt for the nine tailed and the Uchiha so that we may bring peace to ours." Stated Pain as the human path of Pain ripped out the soul of fire nation soldier who's mind he had just been reading. "You will not make it through the night."
Yes, I brought Pain to the Avatar universe he is in the top ten of my favorite villains in all of media and I have plans for him in this story. Now next week I am spending most of the my free time next week helping a family member move so I will likely not be updating on next Friday. Sorry but there isn't anything I can really do about it. I hope you can forgive me. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75