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A/N; I am entirely reader-supported. Here are my special thanks to those of you who enjoy my writing enough to support me with your hard earned money on my pa-atreon page. Not just them though, special thanks to everyone who even just reads this story, reviews it, favourites or follows it. You're the reason I keep going. Thank you. Welcome to this new story, feel free to check out my other work if this is your first.
What does it mean to be strong? Truly strong? That was the question Grandfather had asked me before I left the home for my first semester, and as I prepared myself to return back to the manor, I bothered myself with thinking it through. Was I any stronger than I was six months ago when I'd gotten in here? Well, my body was much stronger, at least. If Hiroshi had any talent, it was in strengthening bodies. I hadn't even gone above and beyond, just sticking to the regimen he made all of us go through ,and my body had seen steady but consistent change over time.
The first day I was here, I considered jogging around the academy to be a form of cruel and unusual punishment, but now? I was making good time near the top of the class as we made our way across on our third and final lap. Of course, it would look like I was the one in front, but that was nothing but a lie. Yes, I'd gotten so much better, but Toji had started out so far beyond me that with daily workouts, he'd turned into some sort of monster out of a story. Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration. His development was nothing beyond possible parameters in this universe.
The problem? Possible didn't always mean probable. What did that mean? Fourth and fifth years, who were years older than us, often found themselves shamed by Toji's athletic prowess. It had gotten him, and me by extension a few months ago when the bastard had snuck into one of their own classes and amused himself by proving better than most of them. Toji himself had managed to turn himself into some sort of legend in just a few months of being here. Turns out, he was going to hit the record for most detentions achieved by any student in just his first year at the school.
It was funny to some, and infuriating to others. He was a walking reminder of the inequality in our society. Anyone with a different last name would have found themselves expelled so quickly, they wouldn't even have had the time to heat up their tea. The whispers among the upperclassmen had become more and more negative as the days went by and it became clear that Toji Zenin would suffer no consequences more serious than detention for all his antics. Of course, I was not spared the judging eyes. Simply from the fact that Toji refused to leave me be, and I was from the family I was, meant that we were lumped together more often than not. Never mind that beyond us, our families had little in the way of dealings, and I'd been a model student since that very first night. Even Shin hadn't managed to get me to do anything monumentally stupid with all his snide comments and looks.
One day, I would not be able to calm the fire in my blood. One day, sooner or later, I would fight him. Only when I could win, however. The thought of defeat held me back. If I ever fought Shin it would be in Agni Kai, and whatever thoughts I had about my name sparing me from consequences, challenging a teacher to an Agni Kai and then losing would not end well for me. Even if I wasn't expelled (unlikely), I'd still suffer serious injuries. Shin might even go ahead and kill me as was well within the rights of those who participated in Agni's glorious combat.
Because of that, I trained. Day and night. My body got stronger, and my firebending followed. More lung capacity from breathing exercises and increased physical fitness meant my breaths could go even deeper, and I could stoke my flames even more. I'd kept up with every single kata I'd ever learned, keeping a weekly schedule that saw me practising each one at least twice. My body would keep growing over time, and if I didn't ensure I was familiar with every inch of it doing every possible movement that I'd ever need to, I might find myself caught lacking when the moment of truth came. I wasn't just studying for grades and classes. I'd be right on the front lines in Eight years as a commissioned officer. It was my duty. I would not fail. Never.
Today's classes would be our last ones before the break, and nothing was going to affect my mood. The fact that we had a double period with Hiroshi to set things off even made things better. I'd never have taken myself for someone who would enjoy exercising till I could no longer stand, but the feeling was good. Besides, after I'd shown off some of my flexibility in the first class, the Master was keen on helping me get even better. The exercises I knew from my first life had been designed for bodies and around limits inherent to that universe. In this one, those limits were pathetic. Even an unfit adult would probably have run circles around the best olympians of my time. It was just the benefit of living in a world where physics and biology decided to fuck off and take a collective smoke break. Either way, after we finished our run for the warm up, the Master had us splitting up into groups to carry out the personalised exercise regiment he'd made for us.
I was with Toji. I always was. For some reason, everyone seemed to assume we were friends or even worked well together. Our first bit of exercise? Good old fashioned free climbing to get the blood flowing. It exercised most of our body parts at once, and we'd made something of a race of seeing who would be able to scale the academy building the fastest. It was a tall castle, so it usually took us quite a bit, but it was getting easier with every attempt. And the best part was that this was one exercise where Toji didn't just leave me completely eating his dust. Sure, he won more often than not, but I had better balance than he did and that mattered when we got to the more difficult, unstable areas of the castle's walls.
"Last one up cleans up the room" The bastard said and ran straight at the wall. I scowled before following right behind him. It wasn't like I wouldn't end up cleaning the room either way. Toji spoke a great deal of not being like the rest, but he was a pure spoiled noble through and through. If I ever left him with the duty of cleaning the room, the place would be inhabitable by the time we got back from the break. The first bit of climbing was always the easiest. I couldn't do what Toji did to start himself off, but I was close. He ran at the wall before jumping and latching on to the first bit of rocks he could reach. He was already up almost a whole floor. More conservatively, I started from the bottom, boosting myself with an initial burst of speed as I moved from platform to platform as surefooted as Sun Wukong himself.
"Slow as ever, Natsu"
"Shut up"
Toji's lead was beginning to disappear over time. Physical superiority was all well and good, but it couldn't match up with experience and better balance and flexibility. Experience? Because I came back here every evening and climbed the wall over and over again. My goal was to be able to do it one-handed like Kakashi and Gai could in the Naruto anime. I knew my body would eventually become the limiting factor of my bending skill, so I needed that body to be as strong as it could get. Climbing was one exercise that helped everywhere.
When I was close enough that I knew I could reach out and touch his foot, I spoke out from beneath him, "Getting slower, old man?" I asked, eliciting a scowl and muttered curses as he tried to speed up. I matched his pace, chuckling to myself all the while.
Rumours had begun to spread of Toji being years older than us and being held back because of terrible grades. Far removed as we were from everyone else, Toji and I would never have heard of the rumours if Lee hadn't actually walked up to us and asked in a display of balls and boldness. Only the fact that Lee was a pseudo-friend made me get in Toji's way instead of allowing him to suffer the consequences of that particular bit of stupidity.
I was at his knee level now, and we only had two floors to go. I could do this. I just had to focus. Left hand, left leg, right hand, right leg, I recited to myself mentally as I scaled the walls and made my way up. From his knee to his waist, and then his elbow. One floor to go. I was close. Oh so close, and Toji knew it.
The taller boy just turned to me with a smile on his face and said, "Better luck, Natsu. This one is mine" I was confused for a few seconds before the madman actually dug deep on his platform and pulled himself up in a jump that couldn't be realistic.
I'm not ashamed to say my mouth was wide as I watched him sail through the air, passing over the last bit of the castle and landing right on the roof. What. The. Actual. Fuck. When I got to the roof, it was to a laughing Toji. "You'll have to explain that stunt to Master Hiroshi, you know that right?" I asked, taking joy in the way he paled and the laughter disappeared.
"Didn't see that one coming, did you?" I asked the boy, ignoring his expletives as I turned back to the way I came. I stared down at the floor, and felt myself being overcome by an urge. It was stupid. Very fucking stupid. I was over 12 floors high in the air, and the castle was probably over a hundred feet tall. Still, I wanted to do it. To test my capacity. I jogged backwards a bit, ignoring Toji's screams for me to wait as I ran right to the ledge and took a swan dive down.
The wind in my face. The freedom of being in the sky. When I got good enough at gymnastics to become an olympian, I'd been banned from skydiving by every agent and coach, so I hadn't gotten this feeling for a long time. It was just as exhilarating as I remembered, if not more so. The lack of a parachute made it all feel better.
When I gauged myself close enough to the ground, I flipped and pointed both my hands and feet at the ground before I shot out jets of flames from all of them, dialling up the explosive power to slow down my descent enough for me to not become paste on the ground. Some small part of me was actually surprised that it worked. I slowed down, almost immediately and glided for a bit before landing on the floor with a roll. The moment I stood up, it was to a backhand from a pissed off teacher. After that? I couldn't tell you what happened next. I was out before I even hit the ground. I never saw Toji who had run down the stairs jump right at the man after he hit me. I never saw Lee send a bolt of red hot flames at his face. All of that was unknown to me.
XXXXXX
When I woke up, it was in the hospital wing, with Grandfather leaning over me, eyes wide with concern. My waking must have startled him, and him being startled startled me. Luckily, neither of us had screaming as our first reflex, so all that happened was us staring at each other through wide eyes.
"What happened?" I asked him after I'd calmed down and my memories began to return to me one at a time.
"Hiroshi attacked you. He claimed it was a result of mental infirmity from his time on the front lines. When you landed, instead of you, all he saw was a former member of his platoon who had gone mad with the flames and slaughtered most of his former team." Grandfather said, face impassive, but still managing to express that he didn't believe a word that had been told to him. I kept staring until he harrumphed and gave his own opinion.
"I think that even if he had been mentally infirm, there is no reason for him to ever be in a school teaching. The Principal and Governors do not agree however, they believe that as neither you nor your friends suffered permanent damage, the whole thing should be covered up as an accident and swept under the rug."
"My friends?" I latched on to the most important part of the statement.
"Yes. I was told that after the brute attacked you, they flew most valiantly to your defence and were dispatched by the man. Not the Zenin though. The boy managed to break the brute's hand on his own, even at the cost of a rib or two" I nodded at his words, feeling something strange and alien worm its way across my chest. It was a warm feeling. The feeling that people cared.
"What are we going to do now"
"We? You are going to do nothing. I will handle the brute myself."
"Grandfather no."
"What?"
"You mean to challenge him to Agni Kai" I said to him, sussing out his intentions quickly.
"Yes. Yes I do. The insult can not be allowed to stand."
"Allow me do it"
"What?"
"I was the one dishonoured by his actions. I am the one who must fight him"
"You just passed your eleventh year, Natsu. There is no shame in me fighting this battle for you. In fact, it is expected."
"Yes. Expected of lower families. Of our ancestors, how many had others fight their battles for them"
"I am your Grandfather." His voice raised a bit at the last word, but I would not be deterred.
"I was dishonoured. It is my duty to reclaim that honour. Besides, think of the acclaim when I manage to win"
"When?"
"You've been teaching me to bend fire in one way or another since before I could even walk. I can defeat a disgraced Captain. Were you not the one that said I have the skills necessary to become a firebending master in my own right"
"Skills comparable to those of a firebending master in terms of form and knowledge. Do not get ahead of yourself. Any true master will roast you to death"
"But Hiroshi isn't a true master, is he?" I asked, sensing that his resistance was beginning to falter already.
"No. No he is not."
"Then, please Grandfather. Allow me regain my honour with my own hands. Let me do it as Agni intended."
"Fine. I will allow you to proceed with this, but not now. You will challenge him when you return to the school for the next semester. I must first of all make you ready for this challenge you have set for yourself. Now, stand up. Let us leave."
I looked around, wondering if the Hospital Matron was going to intervene, but in the absence of any objections, I got out of the bed and began to follow Grandfather as we walked out of the Hospital wing. I noticed the curtains around some of the other beds drawn and wanted to say goodbye to my friends but Grandfather was not slowing down in his movement at all so I hurried to catch up to him. It took little time for us to leave the school building itself and arrive at the carriage that was to take us to the manor. It was pulled by some of the finest Eel hounds in the fire nation. Nothing runs faster over land or swims quicker than a giant Eel hound, I remembered Grandfather saying to me when I asked why we spent so much on our mounts instead of using Ostrich horses like the rest of the nobility of the fire nation.
The most impressive part was that we weren't even taking full advantage of the speed by forcing the creatures to pull a carriage instead of riding them directly. I guess some comforts couldn't be spurned in favour of speed, after all.
XXXXX
"Faster" Grandfather commanded as I did all I could to ward away the barrage of fire blasts he was sending flying at me. "More efficient" He said as a crescent wave of fire I sent at him in reply was cut in half with a negligent fire blast and he continued to barrage me.
"Is this how you want to become a fire bending master ?" He asked as I backflipped out of the way of one attack and ran across the barren zen garden to dodge the remaining blasts. "You are a firebender, not an airbender. A son of Agni. Stand and fight" He commanded as the flames increased in intensity. I felt their heat as I dodged and weaved past them.
I stomped a foot on the ground to settle my stance and brought my two hands together in a wedge shape to cut a hole in the wave of fire he sent flying at me. Thanks to that, the flames passed to my left, and to my right, but did not damage me. A kick and a punch were all I could send at him before he tore the initiative of the fight right out of my hands and continued to hammer me down.
"You are younger than me. In the fullness of youth, and you still cannot outpace me? Shameful" He admonished as he kept the fire coming. At this point, I wasn't sure which would hurt more. The heat from the flames or the heat from the words.
"Is this your best?" He asked as he blocked a fireblast from me. "Six years of training, and this is the best you can do? I've fought earthbenders with more firepower than you" He said acidly, more flames being sent at me.
I focused my fire on my legs and used the explosive traits of firebending to give me the boost I needed to fly high enough in the air to land right behind the sole boulder in the garden.
"Hiding now, are you? Where is the fire, Natsu? You are named for a dragon. Show me the flames boy." He shouted as he seemed intent on melting the stone from the force of his firebending. It was already red hot, and only natural resistance kept me from being burned already. I focused on my breath. In. Out. Agni give me strength.
Fire on my feet to enhance movement and give me speed allowed me to virtually skate around the garden till I was in front of Grandfather with barely any time for him to react. I took pleasure in the shock on his face as I flew into the air and reared my kick back before kicking right at his head with an arc of flames following.
Of course, when I felt myself land on my back on the other side of the garden, I shouldn't have been surprised. "Do not believe what your opponent's face says so easily. War is deception, and the best fighters tend to be the best liars" He said and I nodded through my coughs as I kept hold of my midsection. That had been brutal.
"You were not bad, but we have a lot to work on. At least, now I know defeating Hiroshi on your own will be merely difficult and not impossible like part of me had previously assumed." He said as he began to walk back to the manor. That was intense. Very intense.
XXXXXX
Since Grandfather had introduced me to this section of the library, there was one piece of knowledge I was yet to explore. Lightning. The secrets of lightning were written down in one of the scrolls. It wasn't incredibly detailed, and had a lot of holes in its explanation. It had been written by the Ninth Family Head, and like everything written by that particular madman, it was unclear and vague. I could see why no one after him had been able to decipher his writings about 'separating the energies and lashing them together to make the skies sing'.
In fact, it was only Iroh's teachings from the series that allowed me to make sense of what he was saying. With the scroll in hand, I made my way to my chosen garden. At least, he'd drawn up the required motions so i didn't have to rack my mind too much to remember them. The first step was peace of mind, and that one was the easiest to achieve. Years of meditation made finding calmness and peace pathetically easy.
Circular motions were next. I went through them as I practised separating my internal energies; yin and yang. Positive and negative. Mind and body. I couldn't actually separate my mind and body, but using my emotions as the anchor for the energies seemed to work as it generated some sparks at my fingertips. I was right, but not right enough.
No, it wasn't enough to simply separate emotions into positive and negative. That wasn't what yin and yang were. Yin was peace, and Yang was agitation. Yin was calm, Yang was action. That was what I separated; those emotions that made me want to act from the peace that I'd summoned for myself. It was working.
Two fingers of each hand outstretched, I used my elbows as the catalyst for the circular movements while being mindful of my footwork. The sparks turned to a stream that followed my fingers as they moved. As my left hand passed in front of my face, I almost gasped at how beautiful it was. I spent what felt like hours there, doing just that, moving and admiring the flow, and then when I felt I was ready, I shifted my weight and pointed my left hand at the sky at an angle before forcibly combining both energies again and watching the lightning stream out of my fingertips and rip through the cloud I'd aimed at. Fuck. That was draining. My body felt like I'd been exercising for hours, like I'd just bench pressed a planet or something like that.
"Marvellous" I heard from behind me as a tea cup fell to the floor and shattered. I whirled around to see my Grandfather staring at me in shock.
A/N; Well, here you go. How is this looking for you? For the record, my character is a prodigy, but not too strange for the setting. Aang was a master at 12. Katara became a master-level combatant after only a year of training. Toph, well Toph is Toph. No formal training at all and an earthbending master at 12. Azula was pretty much the uncontested second strongest bender loyal to the fire nation by the time she turned 14. People in the verse are just built different, and my MC will reflect that as well. We've got the next three chapters of this story, along with the next five chapters of another fic that I uploaded at the exact same time as this one (an insert is into a version of Kal El, who gets tossed into the MCU) all available on pa-atreon, and you can read all of that right now just by heading to the link on my profile or searching for my username up there. Feel free to have a look.