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.
"The first thing you must learn about firebending is that fire is the element of passion." I hesitated to cut in and tell the Master that I already knew that Kuonyo might not be half the firebender Jeong-Jeong was, but that didn't make him an incompetent teacher by any means.
"You know this. But what you don't know is that the flames you generate show where the passion comes from. To a discerning eye, at least. Your flames are sharp, near uncontrollable. Hatred, I suspect. Or deep rage, at the least. The first thing we will do is unlearn that."
"What?"
"Yes, sure. It makes you a more powerful bender in the short term. But in the long term, you will never reach your full potential," I stated at him, still doubtful. Wasn't this the technique the royal family and all the fire nation used? Was he going to tell me none of them ever hit their full potential? I didn't know too much about the canon lore beyond watching the series and the sequels, but I did know both Ozai and Azula were at least top 5 firebenders in the verse.
"I'm sure you're thinking of other firebenders you know who use such methods but are still great benders nevertheless. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about you. I've watched every lesson you've undertaken in the last month. You enjoy learning. You actually enjoy bending, but when it comes time to call upon your flames, all that changes," he said, his look turning severe.
"No. You might become a powerful bender in your own right, but never what you ought to be if you continue like this," he said, and I chose to trust in his words and bowed.
"Please teach me, Master."
"Well, that's what your Grandfather is paying me for. And quite handsomely, I might add. At this point, I suppose I am better paid than even the Prince's tutor," he said, trailing off at the end before plopping to the ground in the lotus position and gesturing for me to join him.
XXXXXX
A whole month under Admiral Jeong-Jeong's tutelage, and I had done virtually no bending outside of my private practice. I was still growing, and my flames felt like they were changing. Not calling upon my deep self-hatred meant I was much less powerful, but I could still execute most of my moves to an acceptable degree, so that was acceptable for the time being. I'd trust in Jeong-Jeong until he gave me reason to.
Speaking of Jeong-Jeong, a servant had told me he'd arrived, so I moved to join him in the garden set aside for my training. It said something about the home I lived in that beyond that garden, there were seven more.
When I entered, I found my Master already meditating, so I moved to join him. This time, unlike our last few lessons, he bothered himself to speak to me.
"Today, you will be doing your first bit of firebending. And consequently, all your independent practice must stop." I wanted to rebel, to say no. To refuse. But Grandfather trusted him. Even beyond that, he was one of the Top 5 most powerful firebenders in the verse. I would trust his instruction.
"Yes, Master," I said through gritted teeth, and he nodded like my acquiescence was little more than a formality before producing a leaf from the pocket of his robes. He was fond of wearing them, and today's was a splendid shade of purple that caught the eye.
He passed the leaf to me before opening his eyes and showing me another leaf. He set the middle of it on fire, but the fire remained where it was. It neither died out, nor did it progress any further. It remained right where it was at all times.
"Before you learn to burn, you must first of all learn how not to burn. We spent the last month meditating to purge your flames of the negative emotions you'd tainted them with. Flames powered by hatred would burn through this leaf in a second, impossible to control as they are. Now, you must be able to hold this leaf like this, neither consuming the leaf nor killing the flame, for an hour before we move on from this challenge to the next one.
I held the leaf in my hand and tapped the center with a finger from my other hand and tried my best to will the flame not to spread. When it ignored me, I panicked and snuffed it out before it could take the entire leaf. Jeong-Jeong just handed me another leaf with a sigh. When I ruined even that one, he just pointed me at a small tree growing in the garden before standing up.
"You will practice that day and night, every day. You must succeed in a month for me to continue to tutor you. Any longer, and I will decide my time is being wasted here and move on to other endeavors.
XXXXX
It took me a week to learn how to stop the spread. And it took another week after that for me to be able to hold it for the hour that Jeong-Jeong required. So two weeks in total. Far shorter than the deadline Jeong-Jeong had given, and so short that he'd actually been struck dumb by my success when I told him about it during our lesson.
I stared at the white-haired man, waiting for him to return to reality before he spoke out, "Show me." I smiled and took out a leaf from one pocket while flipping the hourglass a servant had helpfully procured for this lesson. We both watched the fire remain still, unmoving, but very much alive for the entire hour that the sand in the glass dropped for.
"Excellent," He breathed out as I killed the flame, leaving the leaf mostly intact.
"Well done, we will move to our next lesson now." He said, killing the excitement and shock that had been on his face.
He reached into his pocket in agonizing slow motion and pulled out a leaf(?). "Oh. Just joking," He said, setting the leaf on fire and getting to his feet before stretching. "Just come at me. We'll fight till your bending gets better," He said, stepping backwards to lean out of the way of the kick I sent flying at his head.
"You're quick," He said, leaning backwards again to avoid another kick I sent. I was using a firebending style I'd picked up in the library. This one reminded me of Capoeira in how it mixed a bunch of movements that honestly looked like dancing. It wasn't a complete 1 to 1 recreation of the Afro-Brazilian martial art, but it still replicated a lot of the dancing and spiritual elements. The dancing was what drew my eye to it. I'd done some (a lot) of dancing along with gymnastics in my first life to improve my flexibility and a way to cool down from my exercising.
He moved closer and sent a blast of fire at my head that I bent away from before sweeping at his legs, forcing him to jump and dodge the attack. In the air, I rapidly fired multiple blasts of fire at his airborne form and he was forced to spin his hands in a circle to form a shield that absorbed all the blasts. I was sweating already
. I felt for my chi, pulling on my inner flame and sending a blast at his head as he landed. He dodged out of the way, and I was sent flying from the impact of one of his fists flying. He rolled on the floor before jumping to my feet and sending another blast at him.
"Your flames are wasteful. You fight like a bender with much more power than you actually have." He said before bowing, signaling that the fight was over and also happening to dodge the very last blast that I sent his way. I returned the bow, even though part of me wanted to continue the fight to the end.
He flopped down in the lotus position, and I just laid on the floor. "Your flames lack passion. You pull on only the power within yourself. I didn't test it with my skin on the line—ladies across the fire nation would weep if you dared harm this sexy visage—but I'd bet a good sum that your flames would fail to burn any firebender with even middling skill in the art." He said, pinning me to the ground with a severe look on his face.
"You're the one who told me to remove the passion," I said, affronted at his words.
"What? When did I say that?"
"Literally our first lesson."
"Is your hearing deficient, brat? I told you to get rid of the hatred, not the passion. How will you bend without passion?" He stared at me like I was an extraordinarily obtuse rabbit he'd found in the forest.
The "fuck yous" were barely able to be kept from flowing out of my mouth and into the world.
"Passion need not be hatred. I find that the best bending comes from a desire to protect. When I fight on the front lines, my flames burn with the need to keep the war from reaching our borders. To spread the civilization of the fire nation across the kingdoms. When you find a reason to close your fists, then your flames will burn like never before," he said with a naked enthusiasm that I'd never have expected from the man. It reminded me of the Reddit post I'd seen in my previous life that basically stated that all the best benders were cracked in the head.
I nodded my head at him, acting like what he said made perfect sense, and waited for him to leave before staring at my hands in confusion. Reason to clench my fist? Desire to protect?
What did I desire to protect in this world? Myself? My life? That was profoundly selfish. Nothing like what the Admiral had just finished describing. Would the desire to protect my life over and above all give me the pure powerful flames he spoke about? Probably not. But I couldn't adopt his reasoning either. For one, I knew the war was bullshit. The fire nation might have been willing to feed its citizens with pure bull for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I, for one, would not be eating it.
If I couldn't believe in the fire nation, then what did I have to protect? Coughing from the balcony above drew my attention to my grandfather. I looked at the old man, and he just smiled down at me. "Don't let me keep you from your meditation, Natsu," He said before taking another sip of the bitter tea that had prompted the cough. One of his friends was getting into the tea business and had provided samples for him to taste and give feedback on. From what I could tell, each brew was actually worse than the last. I definitely wasn't jealous of him. I'd hate having to deliver that kind of bad news to a close friend. Shit like that could get messy, but lying could end up even worse.
I returned to searching for what I wanted to protect only for more coughs to distract me again. Grandfather, I thought with a sigh. No. Grandfather! Now, the thought came with amazement as I almost facepalmed.
The only one I cared about in this world. The only one that had ever shown me what it was like to have an actually supportive parent. Grandfather. I'd protect that man with all I had. Would I lay down my life for him? I don't know. But I'd definitely take another's for his. I'd destroy half of this world for him. I just knew it. That had to be enough.
I focused on Grandfather's face and punched out.
Needless to say, we lost a very expensive tree, and I lost my firebending privileges for a week.
XXXXXXX
"Follow my lead," Jeong-Jeong said as we went through several kata together, moving in sync and bending at dizzying speeds in complicated formations. A week ago, the admiral had given up on teaching me any kata or movement, proclaiming me a martial arts genius. So now, we worked on my bending itself. Today was endurance training. I had to match the Master firebender's speed, pace, and power for as long as I could and even longer.
A fireball shot out of my fist before a fire blast from my left leg followed, and I dropped to the ground, spinning two arcs of fire. Another jet of fire from my palm joined the flames we created as we moved. My practice had since been moved from the garden. That tree had been one of Grandfather's favorites, so now we practiced in a more sparsely decorated, less aesthetic garden. I had no idea why my firebending practice had been happening in such a beautiful garden in the first place, but I missed the view I could enjoy.
Now, when my mind wandered, it just went to my thoughts. I only had two more months of Jeong-Jeong's tutelage until his shore leave ended, and he was sent back to the front lines. After that, I didn't know how the last year of my home training would go, but I knew I'd be shipped off to the Royal Fire Nation Military Academy once I turned 10. Every member of my family for the last two centuries (the school's entire history) had attended and graduated from that academy. I would be no different, as Grandfather never hesitated to remind me.
As things were now, I doubted there was anything in a school designed to turn children into soldiers that would have to teach me that I'd find interesting or worthwhile, but we'd find out when the time came.
XXXXXX
"Your acrobatics. Let's turn that into a firebending style," Jeong-Jeong said out of the blue one day while we meditated. I looked at him in shock.
"I don't honestly have much left to teach you, and I have seen your practices. Let's turn all that jumping and twirling into something worthwhile. You won't use it much on the battlefield, but it would be a useful tool in Agni Kais," he said, sweetening the pot as if I was ever going to say no. I'd found ways to implement my dancing into firebending, but never my gymnastics beyond the odd cartwheel or jump to reposition.
"Yes, Master Jeong-Jeong," I said, agreeing with him.
"First of all, show me what you can do," he said, and I wasted no time in flipping off of my seated position and getting into a stance.
XXXXXX
"Our last lesson, boy. What do you want to do?" The Admiral asked me as we meditated together. I couldn't actually believe a whole year had passed since I started learning to firebend from the Admiral. A year, and so much progress had been made.
"A spar?" I asked him, doing my best not to make my excitement too obvious. After so long, I felt I was ready to give him a good fight at the very least.
"Are you sure about that?" He asked me, smiling like there was something I didn't know about.
"Yes. Yes, I am," I said, feeling my cheeks stretch as I smiled in anticipation of the battle to come.
"Then yes. Show me what you have, Natsu." He finally said after going silent for a minute or two.
I stood up, waiting for him to take his own stance before I moved on the attack, feet light and body quick. One thing that I hadn't taken long to learn was that bodies in this world were much different from what they were in my old one. No 8-year-old could do the things I could. Hells, I'd made it to the Olympics and was well on my way to winning gold in my past life, and this 8-year-old body would put my old one to shame in terms of strength, coordination, and flexibility.
I ran across the space separating us, using the explosive properties of fire to accelerate my movement and boost my jump in a move similar to the jet propulsion the royal family would show off in the later seasons. In the air, and with fire helping me to maneuver, I had an easy time avoiding Jeong-Jeong's opening salvo.
He couldn't hurt what he could not touch. When I landed, I dropped to a split to dodge another blast of fire and switched to a handstand to send several spinning arcs of flames at the man as I twirled with my legs while my hands provided a stable base. The Master just stood with his wide stance and lifted his hands to shoulder level sharply, creating a wall of flames that swallowed all my attacks.
Pressing down on my body and coiling, I boosted myself into the air once again, sending several blasts at him from my new vantage point. The wall of flames bent and curved on itself to block even my airborne attacks. I tsked to myself. This was the first time Jeong-Jeong was whipping out his wall of flames, and while I was conversant with the move from the series, I had no idea how to fight it.
So, I'd just take it head on. I ran, moving with light steps and propelling myself forward with flames as I ran straight for the wall of flames. Of course, all my expectations were broken when the wall disappeared, and I ran headfirst into a massive blast of fire. Only an instinctive shield saved me from serious injury, but I was still sent flying by the explosion.
When I opened my eyes, it was to Jeong-Jeong standing above me. "Did you get the plates of that train?" I asked.
"What?"
"Nevermind. How long was I out for?"
"No longer than a minute. Any longer and I suspect those servants would have run straight for your grandfather. And I wouldn't want to spend my last days on the shore running from a pissed-off Butcher of—"
"Ahem." A cough interrupted the charming Admiral. "I would prefer you didn't fill my Grandson's head with tall tales," Grandfather said before covering the space between him and me at a speed I never expected from the old man. He stood above me for a few seconds before bending to touch my clothes.
"Your bending control has improved, Little Firecracker. You didn't even burn his clothes," my Grandfather said to Jeong-Jeong.
"Thank you, Master," The Admiral replied. Wait. What the fuck just happened?
The confusion must have been a sight to see on my face because both men burst into laughter.
"I trained Jeong-Jeong a bit during my time in the military. Back then, the army and navy were far more fused, with the latter being more or less an offshoot of the former."
"A bit? Humility does not suit you, Master. You taught me everything I know," The Admiral replied, and I just watched both men as they bantered back and forth, resisting the urge to facepalm at the fact that I was just noticing the friendship. Jeong-Jeong stayed behind more often than not to have tea with Grandfather, and I'd never even questioned it.
Disadvantages of getting stuck in my head so much, I guess.
XXXXXX
"So, who do you have for me this time?" I asked, taking a seat across from my Grandfather in the seiza position. Jeong-Jeong had left yesterday after he and Grandfather had spent hours trading jokes, banter, and telling stories. It was the kind of thing that I counted myself lucky to witness and that I'd included in my list of treasured memories.
"Nobody," The old man said, and I watched him astounded as he sipped his tea. Surely, he didn't want to just leave me to flounder and waste time. I needed to get better.
"Kuonyo was useful for teaching you the basics of firebending. No greater master exists for turning coal into iron. Jeong-Jeong took over where Kuonyo stopped, harnessing you and molding you from iron into well-forged steel. Right now, in terms of pure firebending technique, there are perhaps only fifty better than you. But in terms of things like power, experience, and endurance, you rank lower than even the lowest of commissioned officers in the military," he said, pausing to take a sip of his tea. I nodded along with his words; I was not surprised about any of his words. It all made sense.
"Some of it is due to your age. We cannot change that. We must work with the bodies Agni has gifted us, but some of it is also due to deficient instruction. Jeong-Jeong has turned you into fine steel. Now, it falls to me to forge that steel and turn you into the finest sword the Fire Nation has ever seen, aimed at the necks of its enemies. While your father works to end the war with the Earth Kingdom, your role will be more simple. You will guide a unified world into the next century at the side of Princess Azula," he said, and there were so many questions I had that weren't being properly answered. For one, where did Lu Ten and Zuko fall in this equation? Sure, I knew Lu Ten was doomed to a short life and a shallow grave, but he shouldn't. How would I lead the Fire Nation when the wife he sought for me was only third in the line of succession?
"Now, leave your head. You've spent more than enough time there already. We will begin your first lesson now. Tell me, where does power in firebending come from?" he asked.
"Within. A firebender summons fire from his inner flame given to him at birth by Agni and uses it through muscles strengthened by his training," I answered, quoting a scroll from the library.
"Master Shifu's treatise on effective firebending, I suspect?" he asked without asking, and I nodded.
"Hmmm. A good answer, but wrong. Our ancestor was both right and wrong. Yes, every firebender is blessed with an inner flame, but the flame is a weak thing. If a bender relied only on his inner flame, he would struggle to produce anything more than the faintest of embers," he said, and I struggled to follow his train of thought.
"Power in firebending comes from the breath. Not from within. The breath becomes energy in the body. It stokes the inner flame. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire," he said, demonstrating by taking a deep breath before literally covering the roof in flames as he did his best impersonation of a dragon. The heat made me move backward. Flames poured out from his open mouth, slamming against the marble ceiling and spreading.
He cut it off after a minute, taking another deep breath.
"You do it reflexively. Every firebender does it reflexively, but knowledge of the breath is what will take your bending to the next level. Natsu, my boy, I will continue your education, and our first lesson will be breathing. After I teach you how to breathe, I will teach you how to fight. Is that fine by you?" At the end, he was shouting.
"Yes, Grandfather," I shouted back.
"When we train, you call me master."
"Yes, Master."
A/N: Now, this chapter is complete. Timeskip incoming. How's it looking?
Can't believe I forgot to upload this yesterday. So sorry, guys. We've got the next five 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.