Chapter 13
Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331
Naruto and his brothers were crossing over the trail and saw the city of Omashu.
"Well that's depressing." Naruto looked at the entrance to the city.
On the front of the city was a giant flag; the Fire Nation flag.
"Well it would seem that the kingdom fell." Buddha chewed on his gum, "So does this mean that the Earth Kingdom is in trouble?"
Naruto shrugged,
"My guess is that as long as the capital lasts, they'll be fine." Naruto raised his hands above his head, "But either way we should head in."
Arriving at the front gate the brothers talked to the guards and soon were allowed into the city. Upon entering the city Naruto noticed that most things were working as before; the market was still flourishing, traders were still active, and it seemed the citizens were getting along well enough. Overall, it didn't look like anything happened other than the invasion coming to their door step.
"Huh." Buddha looked around, "It seems that there was no conflict here. Or at least the tension died really quick."
Beelzebub shook his head,
"No my guess is that the city surrendered before the forces arrived. Which is why I think we don't see any mass pile ups of corpses and dead people in the street."
Naruto tilted his head, "Makes sense; if you know you can't win a straight out confrontation throwing your lives away is stupid."
"True." Buddha looked and went over to one of the stalls talking to the owner and trading some money for more food. "I wonder who is running the city?"
"Word was that the city was ran by a King Bumi. I heard that he is known as the Mad King and herald as one of the strongest warriors in the entire city. Not just that but his Earth Bending skills are said to be second to no one in the world."
"Mad King?" Beelzebub raise an eyebrow, "How is he known as the Mad King?"
"From the rumors; he makes people think outside the box and comes up with the craziest ideas. But at the same time, he is known for his tactics that literally have turned the tide of war against someone in a flash. Plus I heard he is a talent at playing board games and is known as one of the top players of Go."
"You did a lot of research?"
Naruto shrugged, "Better to know the terrain and the people that run it. Last thing we need is another run in with a local warlord Buddha." He glared at him.
Buddha taking a break from his snacks gained a question mark, "What?"
Naruto sighed.
Walking through the market the brothers quickly got some supplies and materials while also getting info about the invasion and how it went.
Supposedly; Bumi surrendered. No fight, no resistance, he just gave up right off the bat. While the brothers were confused by this method of combat, Naruto had suspicions of why he did it. But he wanted to convey this with the king himself but he doubted that would happen. No doubt they have him locked up somewhere far out of sight and mind and have him under tight guard. Plus they probably are restraining him in a way he can't use his bending.
That was the one thing Naruto always noticed; if they couldn't move their hands or bodies in any shape way they can't bend. Plus in certain situations they can't even use their bending depending on their alignment. Such as earth bending, no earth, then you can't bend. Meaning that if you were put into a metal container or even a wooden one, there is no way out. But Naruto was sure there was a method of escape, but that was not important.
If Bumi did surrender Naruto was sure that there were others that didn't agree with the tactic and were planning on attacking the leaders to get their king back and take back their city.
Fools, that is all Naruto could think in the moment.
Naruto looked up and saw some fire nation soldiers decked out in their armor and they seemed to be escorting a woman carrying a baby and a teenage girl. She looked to be about his age and had her hair in buns while wearing a fire nation dress. The girl had a sour look on her face and seemed to be looking for anything interesting.
The woman was smiling at the girl and Naruto couldn't make out what she was saying but it would seem it was some kind of disagreement.
"Hey." Naruto turned and saw Buddha motion with his head.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and nodded. He swiftly pushed through the stalls and crowd and arrived near the end of the market district.
"Death to the Fire Nation!"
Men dressed in robes quickly bent some rocks and stones, sending them flying through the air.
The woman on the stairs gasped at the sight of the attack and the younger girl was pulling something out of her sleeve.
However, Beelzebub appeared in mid-air before holding out his hands.
The stones hit his palms and using his power, caused them to explode on impact. He landed next to the woman and her children.
"Are you three alright?"
The older woman smiled and held her son close,
"Yes thank you for saving us."
"Traitor!"
Looking down Beelzebub glared at the cloaked men.
"You're the ones attacking an innocent woman and her children. You would murder a toddler and a young girl just because of the nation they hail from?"
The man in the lead growled,
"They are murderers! They entered our home and took over our kingdom! They have no right to be here! Especially when it is her husband that is oppressing us!"
Naruto picked his ear and appeared near one of them in the back.
"How are they oppressing you?" The man turned and soon he shouted they were surrounded. "I mean; you guys aren't out of your homes, no one was pointlessly killed, and you can do what you like if you don't cause trouble. It seems to me that you're the one's creating trouble for everyone here."
"No one asked you outsider!" He threw a punch at Naruto's face. He just slapped the punch down before poking him in the shoulder making his arm go limp.
"What did you-" Naruto poked his neck causing his to stiffen and fall over in a heap.
"Well that was disappointing. Was hoping for more when it comes to the benders in this nation."
The other men roared and rushed him.
Naruto swatted away all their punches and pivoted around their movements.
'Man these guys are slow but then again Earth Benders have to be firm and direct. So, I guess they wouldn't be anything but strong. Just, they could be a little faster.'
He hits the others in points of their necks, flips one of them, stomps on his throat, chi-strikes another opponent, and then knocks out the last guy beneath him.
By the end of the confrontation Naruto and his brother's managed to capture five men in total. Naruto had them all stunned on the ground.
The crowd had dispersed and the woman and her children approached them with Beelzebub.
"Are you alright?" The woman had a frown on her face. What was supposed to be a nice stroll around the city, getting some fresh air, turned into a near assassination attempt. She was horrified that children no older than her daughter had to step in and save her and her children. But she was grateful nevertheless.
"We're fine how are you and your children?" Naruto looked over at the kids with one twirling a knife on her finger with a somewhat bored expression. But he could see she was on edge, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"We are fine." She bowed her head, "Thank you for saving us. I know that those men were coming to harm us."
Naruto shrugged while Buddha walked back over,
"Hey bro, looks like the rest of them escaped."
"How shouldn't you have been able to catch them quickly?"
Buddha shrugged at Beelzebub, "Apparently someone made a water attack and I was busy blocking it that they managed to escape. Too much activity in that area, which means I can't track them."
"Water?" Naruto was confused; what was a water bender doing in town?
He would think on that later, turning back to the family, and bowing. "Please forgive us for acting out in town."
"It is fine and don't bow please." She smiled, "I owe you my life."
"Yeah it was cool how you jumped in." The girl with the knife smiled slightly, "Got to tell us how you stopped those boulders though dark and gloomy."
Beelzebub raised an eyebrow,
"Your one to talk."
The girl laughed lightly.
"True."
"Mai please." She sighed, "Please forgive my daughter she can sometimes be very blunt."
Naruto waved it off, "I welcome it, sometimes it is nice when people tell you how they feel instead of hiding it."
"Well either way thank you. My name is Michi and these are my son Tom-Tom and my daughter Mai. We are the family of the current governor of New Ozai."
"New Ozai?" Naruto looked at the family, "You mean Omashu?"
The woman sighed, "It is called New Ozai now due to the politics that be and my husband who is hoping to suck up to the Fire Lord."
"I see." Naruto sweatdropped, he was pretty sure that the lord didn't care what he called the city. Only that he could hold the city and do his bidding without question.
"I'm currently trying to find something interesting in town to do."
"Mai," her mother gave a forceful warning.
"Well, I guess then it is time for our introductions." Naruto pointed to his brothers, "These are my brothers Buddha," he waved while holding a bag of chips, which no one knew where he hid it, "And Beelzebub," the black hair teen nodded. "My name is Naruto."
Mai looked at them.
"You guys sure don't look like brothers."
"Mai!"
"Its fine." Buddha waved it off, "We get that when people learn we are brothers. We aren't blood related but to us, we are family. We stick together no matter what."
He put his arms around his brothers who both gagged at his breath, he apparently went with another weird flavored chip set.
Mai smiled, it kinda reminded her of Azula and Ty Lee. While most would think that their relationship was built more on fear, the truth is that she did love those two as her sisters. Ty Lee was always energetic and willing to drag her into things even if she didn't want to do it. But she always found some way to have fun.
Azula on the other hand, while she was cold and calculating there was a time she found out the reason for it. Since then she tried her best to be there for her friend but sometimes her cruelty came out and it was something that bothered her.
"Well," Michi smiled, "Please I would like you boys to meet my husband I'm sure that saving my life will grant you a reward."
Naruto looked at his brothers and they shrugged their shoulders figuring there was no harm.
"Sure." Naruto smiled, "Please lead the way my lady."
Michi smiled and guided them to what use to be the castle which held the King of Omashu.
Aang and his group (entering the city hours before)
Aang looked on in horror.
Omashu had fallen.
"No."
Katara walked over to Aang,
"Aang, we need to get moving. With Omashu conquered only the capital city is safe now."
Kurenai frowned,
"She's right we need to get moving. Chances are someone might have seen us flying through the sky and if it is a spy or someone from the Fire Nation they'll know soon we are here."
Hinata nodded. "Which means we might have attackers coming for us if they saw us land."
Aang shook his head, "No, I have to go into Omashu I need to find my friend."
"Aang, we don't even know-"
"What Sokka!" He turned glaring at him with Katara giving him a stink eye.
"We don't even know if he is alive." Sokka held his hands up, "Look, I know he is your friend but if we go into that city and they find out who you are, we are going to be in more trouble. Plus, we don't know everything going on in there and the last thing we need to do is start a riot."
Shino nodded. "Sokka is right if we end up starting something in the middle of town or something happens, we could potentially put the civilians in danger. They would suffer at the hands of the Fire Nation."
Aang looked down,
"I know there is a risk but I can't just leave him here. I need to see him and make sure he is okay."
Sokka sighed. Sometimes Aang's desire to be a friend was a curse and he knew this is not going to go as well as they hoped.
Walking to the city they found a way in through the sewer system while avoiding the slugs that seemed to pollute the sewer. Aang mentioned they were harmless and just covered you in their slime and guck. Nothing more but that still didn't stop Sokka and others desire to get out of the sewer faster.
Entering the streets, they slowly move through the crowds of people and started looking for possible sights for where Bumi is hidden.
Until they reached the market and saw a couple of fire nation soldiers guarding a woman and her children.
"Must be the relatives of the current ruler." Sokka frowned, "We should get out of here before-,"
"Death to the Fire Nation!"
They turned and their eyes widened when they saw earth benders wearing cloaks sending boulders at the woman.
"Are they insane!?" Kiba growled, "If they kill them then the city is going to pay for it!"
"Their patriots." Shino frowned, "They are too blinded by the idea of defeating their enemy they don't think of the consequences."
Kurenai was about to do something until she saw a black hair teen appear in front of the family and stop the boulders just by touching them. She then sensed chakra exploding out of the palm of his hands causing them to fall to pieces.
"What?" Kurenai couldn't wrap her head around it. What are chakra users doing on this side of the world? As far as they knew, only benders were here, not chakra users?
'This could complicate things.'
While she was confident with their skills they could deal with the benders if necessary since they have no resistance to illusions and alike, she was more worried now that other users were here.
But then she saw the other benders attacking someone. He was swatting away their attacks and after dispatching one he was dealing with the group. He seemed to be winning the fight easily and was hitting certain points on their body leaving them immobile while standing on the throat of another.
'Wait that body type and that hair,' she narrowed her eyes, 'It couldn't be.'
"Guys!"
Everyone turned and their eyes widened when they saw Aang leading some of the earth benders away from the fighting. "We're leaving!"
Kurenai cursed.
"Everyone retreat!"
The group took after the airbender and the attackers but they soon sensed someone behind them. Turning their heads they saw a young man with large white hair chasing after them while maintaining a bored expression.
Kurenai tried doing some hand signs but Katara bended some water from nearby spots and quickly casted them at the man.
He just dodged and weaved under the attacks and was keeping pace but then when she formed an ice wall he stopped.
The group quickly ran down the street and into another part of town. Following Aang and the earth benders, who apparently were remnants of the king's guard, and headed to a hideout of some kind.
Once they showed them the secret entrance they entered with Aang the first to ask,
"Who are you guys?"
The man in the cloak glared,
"We're the resistance kid. We are trying to take back our city from those fire bending bastards."
Kurenai frowned, "And killing that woman and children is part of this?"
"You wouldn't understand outsider." He gripped his fist, "Those three were the offspring and wife of that bastard governor. If we took them out then we would have a chance to take back our city!"
"Or you would have gotten more people killed." Kiba had his hands behind his head with Akamaru barking on confirmation. "If you killed them all you would do is put your citizens in danger and probably have some of them killed in the process."
"Then so be it, if that means Omashu is free then sacrifices are necessary!"
Aang looked around,
"Where's Bumi is he leading you guys?"
"No, he was captured when they arrived. We were ready, we were willing to fight for our king and our kingdom. But Bumi decided to surrender to them and he got locked up somewhere."
Kurenai frowned, "Probably somewhere under a lot of guards and probably where he can't bend."
Aaang frowned,
"I should still go looking for him."
"Aang how exactly are you going to do that?"
"Simple I'm going to get on my glider-,"
Sokka held his hand up, "Idiot." He looked at him, "Don't you think the Fire Nation troops are on edge after this? They are going to be looking everywhere and anywhere for the slightest disturbance. You can't honestly think that flying around the city looking for your friend is a good idea."
"Well," Aang started looking at his feet.
"Look," Sokka put his hand on his shoulders, "I get it, he's your friend and you want to find him. But right now, that doesn't seem like an option. You did come here originally just to make sure he was alive right? We'll we have confirmation so we accomplished that goal."
"I can't just leave Sokka!"
"We might not have a choice. An assassination attempt on the governor's family, they are going to be scrutinizing everyone."
Aang frowned and walked off, Sokka just sighed. "Sheesh he just needs to look at the facts."
"You could have been nicer about it." Katara walked up with a frown on her face. "He is just worried."
"Katara we are not in a situation where we can just be reckless. If you haven't noticed we are in the heart of a Fire Nation takeover and they are looking for anything that they can validate for killing people." He turned to the troops, "So what exactly is your strategy?"
The man frowned, "Not that it is any of your business but we are planning on launching another surprise attack against the Governor but we heard that the Princess is going to be here so we might take her out too."
Kurenai shook her head, "You do that and you might as well bury the city yourself. You kill them, all your doing is asking for the Fire Nation to murder and mutilate everyone you know. This city will be turned to rubble and nothing will be saved other than the screams of your people."
"As I said before who asked you outsider?"
Kurenai sighed, sometimes men are such block heads.
"Look," Aang held his hands up, "If Bumi is in the city there is a reason for it. He always has some kind of scheme or plan going on in his head. But the thing is we don't know if attacking will affect the plan. So instead lets do something else."
"Like what?"
"Leave the city."
"Leave this is our home! You're asking us to take the cowards way out!"
"No!" Aang held his hands up trying to dissuade the yelling man, "That's not it. Think about it, you guys don't have the means of winning this fight yet. So it would be best to get as many of your people out as you can. That way you can all regroup somewhere else and strategize how to take back your city."
The leader frowned harder.
"And how exactly are we going to do that? All the entrances to the city are under heavy monitoring and there is no way for us to just evacuate most of the city without someone noticing."
"Plus we need a valid excuse to get the civilians out of the city." Another pointed out.
"Suckers!" Sokka smiled, "I think I know the best way to get everyone out of here."
Team 8 just knew, it was not going to be that simple.
Governor's home
"Thank you three so much for saving my family. I'm truly in your debt."
"It was nothing." Naruto looked at the spread in front of them. "Please though forgive my brother he doesn't exactly do table manners."
Everyone turned to Buddha who was just eating wildly before looking up. "What? It is good food."
Tom-tom laughed at this and clapped his hands at the man and he just smirked.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah you're a genius to a baby, congrats."
"Still smarter than you."
Naruto smirked, "Keep telling yourself that."
The Governor smiled. "Be that as it is I do owe all of you a great deal of gratitude if there is anyway I can help all of you please don't hesitate to ask."
"I'll keep that in mind but do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"Who is the woman waiting outside the door?"
The room turned and as soon as the door opened the man got up and bowed to the woman with the others doing the same minus Naruto and his brothers. Standing there was a black hair girl with gold eyes, her hair up in a bonet with the Fire Nation symbol holding it in place. Her hair was immaculate and her body was well defined. She had a feminine allure but at the same time she showed she was ready for a fight.
Next to her was a girl with braided hair wearing a revealing pink outfit with a smile on her face.
"Greetings princess."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, this dinner was about to get more interesting.
Chapter End