Hey there folks it's been a while for this story, hasn't it. Welcome back. We don't have a long chapter ahead of us today, but we are finally reaching what would be considered the canon period. I hope you enjoy it all.
On to the story.
Naruto glared down at the maps spread across the stump he had been using as a table within his command tent. Those before him displayed the region surrounding Fort Meikang. The installation was proving to be aptly named.
Haori Meikang had been an Earth Kingdom noble and general that had led the enemy across the northern fronts for roughly thirty consecutive years after the war began. She had almost singlehandedly united the Earth Kingdom nobles of the region into a formidable force that beat back the Fire Nation military time and again.
Her name sake had been doing the same for the last year. That was why Naruto and his men had been brought in.
Ostensibly.
Naruto suspected that it was yet another attempt to push his forces and himself to their breaking point. After all, the now Colonel Naruto and his soldiers were suddenly in high demand in every front all the time.
The longest period of recuperation his men had received was a total of two months and that was nearly eight months ago. The longest they'd had since then was nine days between the success of their last operation and receiving orders to march as quickly as possible to relieve the force attempting to besiege Fort Meikang.
"Colonel, another messenger from General Raiko reported in this morning. He says what resources the general can spare will be accompanying the next band of reinforcements sent our way." A young private reported to him as he stepped into the tent.
Naruto saluted and dismissed him. It was a new experience having soldiers under his command that were actually younger than him. The private was sixteen or seventeen and Naruto had just recently turned eighteen.
It made Naruto cringe slightly. Replacement troopers simply meant that he'd suffered casualties. He knew no unit avoided them entirely, but his had become rather common. Luckily the majority of casualties were wounded rather than dead and that was almost entirely thanks to the combined bending style of his force.
It was no longer a mere company.
Staring down at the maps he took measure of the forces completely under his command. The largest group was the Twenty-Ninth Infantry. They hadn't earned a moniker yet, though he expected that to change in time, yet the infantry battalion was beyond dedicated. Colonials trying to prove their value to the nation.
All of his soldiers were like minded in that regard. His force, roughly fifteen hundred strong, was filled with the twenty-ninth who wanted to prove they stood on par with those born on the isles, his original command in the mixed company, led now by Major Mulan, still had a chip on their shoulder towards the majority of military command, and his two newest units were composed of earth benders and waterbenders respectively.
They all had something to prove. Just like he did. Though his was more a statement directly to the Fire Lord. Something along the lines of 'still breathing.' Short and noteworthy. Something that he knew pissed the old man off by now.
"Sergeant, what is the disposition of our units on the northern approach?" Naruto asked one of his men nearby.
"No change, Colonel. The enemy is keeping them from successfully advancing up the ridge to the walls by creating pit falls and sudden changes in elevation. Their benders are too entrenched to locate and specifically target as well." The man replied.
Naruto nodded his head. He hadn't expected much difference. At least he could rely on them keeping up a slow advance to keep the enemy occupied. Mulan had both the mixed company and the infantry working toward that goal. All the while the Third Siege Squadron, his new unit of Earthbenders, were keeping the enemy benders from simply filling the trenches and burying Naruto's men alive.
With all of these forces engaged it left only one unit under his command available.
The newly promoted Lieutenant Kida, the only waterbender of officer rank in the whole of the Fire Nation military, stepped into the tent and nodded toward him. Naruto did his best to ignore the modified uniform that Kida and several of her waterbenders had adopted. It was incredibly revealing, to the point Chel would have approved.
"Is it done?" He asked her.
"Exactly as planned, Colonel." She happily reported.
"Good. Sergeant send word to the Major and the Unit Captains. We will begin the operation, await the signal." Naruto barked as he began moving toward his Lieutenant.
"Confirmed, Colonel. Operation is underway, units are to await the go signal." The Sergeant repeated back before taking off to give the orders to the various officers under Naruto's command.
"Lead the way Kida." Naruto said as he followed after her.
She bobbed her head and took off at a brisk pace through the ramshackle command trench that they had built roughly two weeks ago. It didn't take long before they were circling around out of the defenses and up a small deer trail in the steep hillsides and cliffs surrounding Fort Meikang.
As they climbed up the concealed slope Naruto could see a better view of the battle below. Fort Meikang was constructed in such a way that it had several defensive tiers arrayed along the rise of a steep set of slopes with one side facing a sheer cliff. It forced attackers to advance up the steep slopes directly under fire and attack from Earth Kingdom soldiers. It was an excellent defensive position.
Currently all three approaches had portions of Naruto's forces applying pressure. Occasionally a small team would charge a ways up under the protection of water and earth benders before letting loose a series of large balloons filled with a tar like oil that splattered and covered the fort's walls when thrown. His firebenders then went to work torching it and created massive pillars of smoke and flame to try and cover an advance.
Sadly the defenders had gotten wise after his forces had seized three of the tiers of the fort's defenses. The easiest tiers that had little if any incline between their walls. Now they were able to smother the flames and disperse the smoke before his troops could make a proper advance toward the walls and they were continuously beaten back.
"This had better work." Naruto mumbled to himself as he watched a pair of his soldiers be crushed by a boulder slung around by an enemy Earthbender.
"It will. You planned it yourself so have some faith in your plans, Colonel. They haven't led us wrong yet." Kida said cheerfully.
Naruto merely nodded in response. They had arrived at their destination after all.
On the far side of Fort Meikang was a narrow river valley, a perfect place to stage a force for further advancement into the Northern provinces of the Earth Kingdom. Unfortunately the fort kept any sort of deployment there from happening. That of course meant it had to be taken, but it really was seemingly impenetrable. A miniaturized Ba Sing-Se.
However, Naruto had noticed that pretty much all of the defenses of the fort were geared toward the three sensible approaches. The fourth was an impassible cliff face after all. Except for a few details.
Kida's squad of roughly a half dozen water benders all saluted Naruto crisply as he approached. They looked quite proud of themselves, and for good reason. They stood on either side of a small grate carved into the mountain itself. Not metal, otherwise Firebenders would have melted it long ago one way or another.
No, the bars were carved out of stone itself, but with enough time and pressure water can cut away stone with relative ease. Kida had been the one to show him it was possible in a previous operation. He was simply applying that to a new plan.
"The pipe is small, sir. A soldier with their equipment would never fit inside." Kida reported.
"But a bender stripped to just the necessities…" He said.
"A bit of creative water bending and we can all slither right up the pipe." Kida grinned.
"Excellent. Just tell me it isn't a sewage pipe."
"Thankfully not, it's an overflow for the Fort's fresh water collection. They have a natural spring somewhere in there that provides fresh clean water but it provides so much that they can't use it all. Well, normally. They are using a lot of water to put out the fires our friends out front are starting." Kida explained as she and the others all began stripping down to even less coverings than what they were initially wearing.
Naruto began to follow suit causing them all to pause.
"What?" He asked as they all stared at him.
"Nothing sir. " The troopers replied before hurrying to finish what they were doing. Naruto chose to ignore the lingering eyes of Kida though. The woman and Mulan had practically made themselves his personal bodyguards since they realized the Fire Lord was doing his best to get Naruto killed in battle. She didn't approve of him joining them on this task but she couldn't exactly argue it with him either. Not in front of the troops.
"Let's get moving, the longer we take, the longer the others are smashing their faces into the Earth Kingdom defenses." He said as he motioned for one of the water benders to take point.
"Yes sir." They chorused before the squad joined him and all of them slipped into the tight space of the drainage pipe.
It was cramped, warm, and humid. Not to mention the rough stone cut and scraped at them as they shimmied up it's length. To make matters worse, the pipe steeply rose up after a short distance and with no real hand holds to climb they largely scaled the pipe by pushing their backs against the opposite side as they climbed up with their arms and legs.
Exhausting didn't come close to properly describing the task. Naruto and his troops pushed on though and eventually the tube began to change angle again until they reached the end of it.
"Colonel, I can see the fort's water reservoir. It's about six meters below us, I can't tell how deep it is though." The man ahead of him reported.
"Good, try to lower yourself down and keep straight when you drop into the water. I doubt they will hear us down here but it's best to keep as quiet as we can." Naruto said as he readjusted his grip on the slick rock surrounding him.
The water bender did as ordered and slowly lowered himself as far as he could before releasing and dropping down into the water below with a splash. Naruto had shifted to the mouth of the overflow pipe and watched for any sign of the defenders checking things out. Luckily there didn't seem to be any suspicion of their forces entering the fortress this way.
One by one the team slipped into the reservoir of water below. It was more like an underground lake, deep enough that Naruto wondered just how deep into the mountain if extended. Not that it mattered. Besieging the fort was obviously more of a futile gesture than initially thought.
"There is a locked grate on the door. The only other ways out are the wells" Kida pointed out to him, pulling his eyes up to the ceiling where several narrow holes with chains or the occasional rope hung down. One or two even had buckets deeply sunk into the water.
"We can cut through the door like we did with the grate at the base of the mountain but it will take time. Not as long though. This one is a lot thinner." One of the benders commented.
"Meant to keep saboteurs or something maybe?" Another pondered.
"Army regulations, don't need to make sense. We have the same." Another snorted before sinking slightly in the water as they remembered they were in the presence of Kida and Naruto.
"Heh, sounds about right. Deal with it as quickly as you can. Can any of the rest of you move up through the wells up there?" Naruto asked.
The water benders all looked up at the ceiling a bit warily. The chains and ropes were far too thin to hold someone's bodyweight but the wells were just wide enough for them to perhaps move through side by side in pairs.
"It's pretty narrow sir. We would need a lot of force with the water and we could end up slamming into the stone of the cavern ceiling." A sergeant said with a frown.
"The others should be able to make quick work of the lock. I can head up that well there if you wish to take another, Colonel." Kida said with completely confidence in her accuracy at essentially launching herself at a hole in the stone face.
Naruto stated at her for a moment trying to weigh out whether or not it was simply to try and make it easier for him. The dark skinned woman grinned at him after a moment and realizing his staring could be taken another way he cleared his throat and rapidly nodded his head.
"That's what we'll do then." He said and the water benders got to work.
He floated on the water watching them for a moment. The door to the reservoir was on a raised stone platform where the waterbenders all now huddled together as they worked together to pump water up for two of their comrades to funnel into high pressure blasts to slowly cut through the stone. Coupled with the earlier climb, as well as the upcoming fighting, the squad would definitely be earning some rest. He just hoped he could actually give them some before they got new marching orders again.
"We'll go up when they are halfway through." He said.
"I'm ready when you are, Colonel." Kida said before grinning as she made a point to stretch in front of her commanding officer showing off that like Naruto, she had been maturing during her time in the military.
"Spirits save me from the women under my command." He quietly murmured as he recalled Mulan making a point of doing similar things over the last year.
"Colonel. We've passed the halfway point." One of his troopers announced.
"Good. See you up there everyone." He commented, making a brief glance at them to check the multitude of knives and water bags strapped across their forms. That must have made the climb all that much worse. Still they had completed it all the same.
"Kida." He said, turning to her.
"Here I go." She replied before twisting briefly in a painful looking manner before rocketing upward on a pillar of water straight up toward the opening above her.
His propulsion took a little longer as he had to bend jets of flame from his hands to clear the water before he added his feet to it and took off at dizzying speeds up another well.
Briefly his mind conjured the image of some sort of grate or lid settled over the top of his exit that would kill him in the most humiliating way possible if it was blocking his path. Luckily he instead emerged in the middle of a small courtyard surrounded by stout buildings and shocked Earth Kingdom forces.
With a spin the gouts of flame propelling him upward changed shape and became deadly lances of fire as they shot out toward the multitude of targets around him.
Mulan grimaced as another boulder smashed into the defenses her forces were temporarily taking refuge behind. Shards of stone fragmented and peppered the troops with tiny splinters that caused the men to hiss and curse in pain. They didn't leave cover though and thankfully none were severely injured from that attack.
Casualties were mounting gradually as the retaliatory attacks from the fort's defenders kept Mulan from making any proper push for the next line of defenses. That was expected though. They were as far up the mountain as the Colonel had expected to get without major reinforcements or some sort of new weaponry to turn the tide.
Again, this was fine. Fort Meikang would never fall to anything short of completely overwhelming numbers or something completely unexpected.
As she saw the first bursts of flame and plumes of smoke begin rising from the crest of the mountain she knew that the unexpected was being pulled off at that very moment.
"Lieutenant Xihan!" She roared calling up one of her subordinates.
"Ma'am!" A young lieutenant, probably a year or two older than herself truthfully, responded making sure not to salute. Some of the earthbenders had already proven incredibly skilled with sharp eyes and precise bending of small stones. As had their archers.
"Send word to the siege squad and the few pieces of artillery we have, they are to target the next two tiers of the fort with everything they have." She commanded.
"Orders received, Artillery and Siege squadron to target next two tiers with everything they have!" He repeated before selecting a handful of men to act as runners. The Siege and artillery teams were spread all along the three approaches to the fort so they had to deliver the message to multiple officers to actually respond properly. Hopefully this new pressure would keep the enemy busy while Naruto and Kida handled the inside of the fort.
Mulan herself intended to seize the next tier right now though.
"Xihan, signal assault!" Mulan barked.
Xihan nodded and immediately began propelling a set of flames in a specific pattern into the sky which was soon copied all along the line. Telling troops to charge the enemy was far easier to simply signal with a burst of flame than specific targets for ranged attack after all.
Mulan herself drew her sword and jumped over the barrier shielding her and her men. She didn't bother looking back to see if they followed after her. She could tell by the sudden crescendo in men and women letting out war cries that the charge was beginning.
Naruto had cleared the first courtyard with a rapid intensity that had made sure nothing could properly respond to his sudden assault. Charred remains and smoldering corpses were all that remained of the garrison in that part of the fort. By now though the enemy had figured out that the Fire Nation had somehow gotten forces within their walls.
Naruto slid on his knees across the now muddy ground to avoid a trio of spears being thrust into the space his abdomen had previously possessed. He didn't need to bother attacking the spearmen in retaliation though as Kida separated their heads from their shoulders with the sudden strike from a razor thin blade of ice.
He took just a moment to watch as the blade reformed into it's liquid state before blasting another man hard enough in the face to knock him onto the ground and force it's way into his mouth and nose and even his eye sockets as it pulverized the soft tissue inside them.
The moment passed in a flash and he was back on his feet forming a blast of fire that he hurled down a corridor within a section of the fort's innermost walls. Terrified screams told him he had chosen a good target and so he poured on a little extra flame to engulf the entire hallway and make sure those inside were dealt with.
By the time he had dealt with them, the rest of the water bender squad had rejoined him and Kida and the keep of Fort Meikang had fallen. Now they just needed to enact part two of his plan.
"Drown them." He commanded and Kida and her team immediately set to work bending a good portion of the water inside the reservoir up the stairs the team had used before forcing it out the main gate of the fortress keep.
It wasn't near enough water to literally drown the entire force of defenders. It was more than enough to create a sudden mudslide though, right into the main body of defenders who were right in it's path. The best the Earthbenders could hope to do would be to slow it down and with attackers advancing from the outside now and Naruto happily following after the wave of viscous muck hurtling down the slope, the defenders were truly feeling the pressure now.
Pushing himself up in the air and willingly making himself a target, Naruto shot up above the defenders in clear view of both the defenders and his own army. A loud roar of approval from the advancing forces of the Fire Nation welcomed him, along with a flurry of arrows and stones from the Earth Kingdom forces, nothing well aimed though so he easily dodged around and avoided the attacks.
He smiled as he saw the tiers of the formidable Fort Meikang falter and surrender under his troops. His waterbenders sewed chaos among the bulk of the defenders and kept them from supporting their brothers in arms and his main force streamed over the defenses like a ravenous colony of ants.
His mood quickly began to sour though. The battle wasn't even over yet but he could already pick out the messengers from high command cresting a hill near his base camp.
New marching orders were already being delivered.
Naruto made the rounds at the victory celebration to show his support for his men. He hadn't even had time to properly clean himself up and so he was still covered in soot, mud, and more than a little baked on blood. If anything it seemed to thrill his men to know he had been in the middle of the battle with all of them.
He wished he could enjoy the victory just as they were. Instead his mind was solidly wrapped up on the rows of boxes lined up alongside one of the captured walls. The numbers weren't crippling for his force but they were always more than he was comfortable with. Nothing shook his belief in their cause quite like that sight.
It also made him wonder how many rows just like it had been formed over the last century. How many more would be formed before the war was over? Would they win before they ran out of men to lay into boxes like that?
He kept all his thoughts regarding such things locked carefully behind a smiling but tired face as he walked among his men. That and the very potent rage bubbling in his chest at the new orders to begin marching south once more after capturing the fort.
How the hell that bastard Ozai knew to send his messengers when they were just finishing up their operation was anyone's guess. Even if the orders no where stated the Fire Lord, simply the orders of the command staff, he knew they came from the man himself.
"You're slipping. The men will notice if you aren't careful." Mulan's voice suddenly slipped into his ear causing his forced smile to become a bit more believable.
"I want to head back to my tent. We all need to rest and the reserves have the prisoners in hand already." Naruto said as he began heading toward the command area where he, Mulan, and Kida had all shared a large tent. Technically Kida's entire squad slept there too, but rumors circulated either way.
"We can't yet. The messengers came with reinforcements." Kida reminded him.
He clicked his teeth together but nodded before leading his small entourage of officers toward the gathered replacements nearby.
He was surprised by the numbers, more than enough to replace his losses as well as a whole additional battalion of infantry, like the first drawn from the colonies. Despite their numbers though he was rather unhappy to see the new soldiers were all woefully young and untrained. Not one was older than Mulan and most were younger than himself still. A few approached the age he had started his career at.
Unlike him they were not trained like he had been. At least not to the same extent.
Two thousand soldiers and nearly seven hundred of them were green recruits. Outwardly he welcomed them all warmly. They needed the numbers, but the time he would need to bring them all up to snuff was clearly not present as his orders were to leave Meikang in the hands of the reserves and immediately march south to reunite with Raiko for a new series of advances.
The men collectively grumbled about having to move out so soon, though it was a bit telling that the green new bloods seemed more annoyed than those that had just won a major battle. They were surely tired of marching for weeks on end, and they lacked the knowledge of their situation that the more veteran soldiers had gradually come to accept as the norm.
"Mulan, make sure the junior officers have their new guys paired up with more experienced ones and I want extra breaks as we march. It will add some time to the march but we can at least get some basic drilling into their heads before they embarrass me in front of the General." Naruto gruffly said as he ran a cold washcloth along his face to try and clear some of the grime off.
Mulan smirked at the thought before nodding and heading off to pass out his orders. Naruto let her go as he waved for Kida to do her thing. The white haired beauty was far too happy to oblige him and bend a current of water down over his head to help him quickly clean off the disgusting leftovers of a hard fought battle.
Just as he expected, their trip back south was taking time. He had sent a message ahead of them to Raiko to explain the situation and as he had expected the General had been accommodating. He even sent a few small units of veteran troops back with his reply to help whip Naruto's new bloods into shape.
They would need the men to be as ready as they could be. Raiko had been trying to get Naruto back under his command for a while. He was building up a force for another push toward Omashu. With the new status he wielded as a General, the hope was that they might actually get within distance of the legendary city to besiege it. As long as they could keep from getting hamstrung by their own leadership once again.
Tonight the force was resting in the ruins of Qidaoshi. Prior to the war it was already largely depopulated but the first twenty years had seen the populace displaced and the majority of the city pulverized in combat.
It was a big loss for the Earth Kingdom at the time. Qidaoshi had a huge temple complex that the city had sprung up around. Both were long abandoned by now though and little if anything remained of the once beautiful temple and city. At least the ruins provided some shelter for the army as it had decided to drizzle a small light rain that evening as they made camp.
Naruto had selected the inner sanctum of the old temple. It was a large open area that had once been filled with statues and had murals painted on the walls. Whatever images had decorated those walls had long been overtaken by the overgrowth and buildup of grime from a near century of disrepair and lack of maintenance.
A handful of the statues were partially intact though. Figures dressed in traditional garb from all four of the nations stood in a row against the back wall. It looked to Naruto that some sort of artillery had torn a large hole in the ceiling before smashing the majority of objects in the room. Those further back against the rear wall had been spared though, and even had a small section of roof still standing over them.
He'd assembled his tent in such a way as to use the wall and remains of the roof here as his personal quarters.
Or at least he would have if Mulan hadn't simply begun constructing her own tent tarp in a similar manner and connecting it to his own to make it a double length shelter. He of course said nothing about it. The Major had been sticking close by his side ever since that business with Yaorin, which felt like a lifetime ago some days.
"I'll start on a cooking fire, Colonel. Do you want rice or potatoes?" She asked him.
"We have potatoes?" He turned to her.
"Some of the homes in the city had overgrown gardens. The vegetables have outgrown their plots of land and most of the locals seemed to grow a lot of potatoes." She answered simply.
"Ah, then potatoes do sound pretty good. We've eaten bland rice for months now." He groused.
"Forgive me, I'll endeavor to make it more flavorful from here on." Mulan replied demurely.
"What? No that's not what I meant…Your sense of humor is starting to grate on my nerves, Major." He said with a sigh as he saw her grin when he thought he had insulted her.
"I will go get started on cooking a meal then." She said with a more prominent smile, knowing that he didn't really mean it.
They had grown ever closer as of late. Mulan was making her intentions known to him and while he wasn't against such a thing he couldn't help that his thoughts drifted back to Azula more often than not.
While he and Mulan had grown closer, Azula and he had slowly communicated less and less. Part of it was no doubt the increase in their responsibilities. He felt as though he spent more time marching and inspecting his troops than he did breathing. She too was being bombarded with tasks in her role as the crown princess.
Worse however was the looming fact that Azula was being made to entertain suitors on a regular, sometimes daily basis. In her last letter she had even mentioned her father's growing agitation with the fact that she had taken to dueling any that she couldn't find a way to dismiss for other reasons.
Half of the men sent her way were nearly her father's age as well.
Unfortunately, despite both of them clearly detestign the situation, Azula had sent him a letter a few months detailing their situation so that they were both on the same page. It had unfortunately concluded with her proclaiming the dream that they might have had to one day be a couple was dead.
He'd nearly burnt the letter when he'd seen the personal seal of both Azula and the Fire Lord stamped upon the paper.
Still, Naruto had known this would happen in the long run. He knew the moment that the two of them had shared a kiss that word would get back to the Fire Lord and not only would Ozai do all he could to separate the two permanently, he would also be sending Naruto's force into the worst fighting that he could find.
At least it promised quick promotions for himself and his men. Ozai couldn't just have him outright killed either. Naruto was practically a household name by now. Even the Fire Lord would face repercussions for simply murdering a hero of the nation. It made Naruto a perfect candidate to martyr on a 'desperate' campaign for the homeland though.
His thoughts continued to circulate around dour subjects as he changed into a more comfortable set of under clothes and he settled into a place on a dusty stone bench between two towering eight foot statues.
Mulan joined him before long and after handing him a bowl of stewed potatoes and rabbit, she leaned against his side much closer than a commander and his subordinate should be. Not that he would ever imagine reprimanding her for it. Having the familiar weight of her body pressed against his side was comforting, especially as they enjoyed a meal together in the cool air of the evening.
He knew she wanted more but he couldn't take that step yet. Her head on his shoulder was as far as he could take himself yet, otherwise he felt it was unfair to both Mulan and Azula as his mind still circled around thoughts of the latter.
That wasn't truly fair to any involved though. There was no happiness there, and he had made it clear to Azula that no matter what, she had his support.
Support.
He had to go elsewhere for something more than that, and it wasn't far.
"Mulan…" He began.
The older girl leaned back up and turned to face him with full attention. He could tell with the way her eyes were locked onto his own that she had a pretty good idea with what he was struggling with right this moment.
"You've been by my side since I joined the army. Every step of the way. You're an amazing soldier and commander and a better comrade. Honestly I couldn't imagine trying to do any of this without you. I-" He let the words spill out, not trying to control them, just letting them express what he was feeling as best as he could.
At least until he was interrupted.
All around them the statues began to glow a bright bluish white color and panic began rising through the ranks of the soldiers outside as the temple seemed to light up with ethereal energy. Naruto and Mulan quickly backed away from the statues and stared in shock at the sight before Naruto realized what was happening.
Every nation had temples and shrines dedicated to the Avatar. Even the Fire Nation venerated the bridge between the physical and spiritual world. This was no doubt one of the Earth Kingdom's temples dedicated to the Avatar. That it was activating in such a way meant only one thing.
"What is this?" Mulan asked as the light began to fade.
"The avatar has returned. This war just entered a new chapter." Naruto said grimly. There was no way the Fire Lord could simply ignore this. Things were going to become interesting to say the least.
We will end it there. I was tempted to add a small section where Naruto finally reunites with Raiko and his forces but that seems like a good start for the next chapter and what I have planned there.
I hope you enjoyed this one, we are finally moving into canon territory. This roughly coincides with the Gaang going to the Southern Air Temple, as that is when the world more or less gets a good confirmation of him returning since he used the Avatar state nearby to the temple and caused the other temples like for the Fire Sages to warn them that the Avatar had returned.
Anyway
Till Next Time