Rise Of The Lightning General (CH 22)

A/N: This story is rated M for mature content not suitable for children.

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Chapter 22: The Avatar

Earth Kingdom [Ba Sing Se]

Earth King's Palace

Naruto was in his clown outfit entertaining the Earth King with some acrobatics to the man's delight; the lightning bender looked at the king, the Dai Li guards next to him, and finally at Long Feng, the city's Grand Secretariat.

Long Feng is a middle-aged man with the standard dark hair and green eyes most earth kingdom citizens do, he has a neatly kept bread and mustard.

The blonde had figured out as he observed the Earth King and those around him that the real ruler of Ba Sing Se is Long Feng; he controlled the Dai Li completely to the point that even when the Earth King gives an order, they would look at him discreetly to see if they should follow the order.

Naruto found it amusing and frustrating that, whether in his past life or this one, corrupt politicians and nobles always caused the majority of the problems in the world.

In this case, however, it presents an opportunity. With Long Feng being the corrupt coward that the blonde knows he is, the corrupt politicians, like many others, can be bribed or threatened into doing exactly what the blonde needs him to.

The only loose end is the Earth King. He is just a figurehead ruler, but he is of the rightful blood ruler of the Earth Kingdom. Some will no doubt back him for that one fact. That is why Long Feng has not just killed him and taken the throne for himself.

Maybe I should just see if I can get both of them to cooperate with me, Naruto thought. He knew just the way to do it. He created a technique that could help him in this kind of situation.

" Wonderful, just wonderful! You are the most skilled fool I have ever seen," The King cheered. Naruto didn't know if to be insulted or happy for the praise, but he didn't show his annoyance. The blonde just bowed deeply as he ended his act.

"My king, while this fool is indeed amusing, we have work to do," Long Feng said with an irritated voice as he looked at the man-child king. "Send him home so we can get to work."

Naruto knew how he felt when Long Feng called him a fool; it was a combination of rage and hatred. The man was an arrogant prick, and Naruto couldn't wait to get his hands on him.

"Aw, but I wanted him to do more tricks," The Earth King Kuei replied with disappointment, knowing that Long Feng would change his mind. "Fine, fool. You are free to leave, but come back tomorrow."

The blonde left the palace, and a plan came together in his head. Tomorrow, he would have to come back to entertain the king again, but the blonde knew that in order to succeed in taking the earth king and Long Feng, he would need to act swiftly; he would get word to his men tonight, then in the morning, he would go to the palace.

"I wonder how Azula and the others are doing," Naruto said out loud. "Kya and Sah should have given birth by now."

The Lightning bender wanted to finish up this mission and return home. The one hundred men he had with him had already infiltrated the city through the underground secret passages, slowly blending in among the citizens of Ba Sing Se and were waiting for his orders.

Ba Sing Se had around thirty thousand bender and another fifty thousand non-bending soldiers. To say the Lightning bender and his men were outnumbered was an understatement.

"That's the real issue," Naruto said to himself. "It's just that I don't want to get people like Song and Angela involved in a war that took so much from them already."

The blonde thought of the two women who were nothing but good to him since he came to the city. If there was one thing Naruto was going to regret, it would be hurting the feelings of the mother and daughter when they found out who he really was. But there was no helping it.

Naruto kept his senses on alert as he ducked into an alleyway and took off the clown outfit. The blonde made his way to a secret meeting spot he and his soldiers met in; it was just a rundown bar, but it served its purpose. He had orders to give.

Fire Nation

Naruto's House

"Damn that blonde bastard," Sah cursed as she was hit with a contraction. "I hurt so much. Why is he here? So I can break his hand."

"Calming down, dear, take long, deep breaths," Kya said in a calm voice. She was kneeling between Sah's legs while Mira held her daughter's hand.

"Don't tell me to be calm, just get this thing out of me now," Sah demanded as she screamed with another contraction hitting "fuck, I'm going to crush that son of a bitch's balls when he comes back."

"Okay, I see the head. Push when I give you the signal," Kya said, not at all angry at the younger woman for her outburst. She had been the same when she gave birth to her first child, Sokka. With Katara, she was the same, but with her newest body girl, who hadn't been named yet because she wanted to wait for Naruto to return first.

"Push," Kya ordered, and Sah was more than happy to comply. She wanted the baby out of her and the pain to stop now.

Mira was standing at her daughter's side, getting her hand crushed. She silently cursed Naruto and vowed to get her revenge as she felt the bone in her hand break as her daughter pushed out her baby.

"I see the head," Kya exclaimed. She examined the baby's neck to make sure the umbilical cord was not wrapped around his neck. "You're almost done; just give me one last big push."

"Oh fuck," Sah screamed to the heavens, his voice was soon joined by the cries of a newborn.

"Congratulations, you are now the mother of a healthy baby boy," Kya announced joyfully as she handed the newborn to his mother after she cleaned and examined him.

Sah weakly held the baby who fell asleep, making cute baby noises. The earth kingdom citizen let out a sigh of relief as Kya healed her damaged private parts.

"Have I even taken you how much I envy your healing ability," Sah said in a tired voice as she was drifting asleep like her son.

"You are dear, but you'd better catch some sleep while you can; your journey as a mother has just begun," Kya said, knowing what it's like to be a new mother. Sah wouldn't get a proper night's rest for a very long time.

"Do you want me to heal that," Kya asked Mira, who was clutching her broken hand, "you don't look too good."

Mira nodded and gave her hand to the water bender; she soon let out a breath as his hand was back to normal. She looked at her young daughter and grandchild and couldn't help but feel anger towards Naruto, even though she knew all this wasn't exactly his fault.

Kya could see the difference emotions played on Mira's face and knew what she was thinking about, the water bender couldn't fault her, but this situation was messed up for everyone, so they had to make the best of it.

During her own childbirth, Kya didn't trust anyone other than Sah to help her deliver her baby; she, with the water bender being more experienced in giving birth, didn't do all the work, and Sah just had to catch her baby girl.

"Let's leave the new mother to bond with her baby," Kya said as she finished cleaning. "You should get some rest too so you can help Sah take care of her baby."

Mira didn't answer but just sat next to her daughter and watched her and her grandson sleep. Kya gave up and left to see about her own child.

Fast Forward

Ba Sing Se

Naruto was in front of the Earth King yet again with Long Feng next to the man whispering in his ear. The blonde wondered if Long Feng was even next to the king.

"I think we should cut the show short today. I have a meeting with the Avatar later," the Earth King said cheerfully. He believes the Avatar can help them defeat the Fire Nation.

Naruto, under his clown disguise, was surprised by what the Earth King said. If the Avatar were here, then that could complicate things. Why was the Avatar here? Was it to get allies to attack the Fire Nation or something else?

The blonde had to know but in order to do that he would have to be in the same room as the avatar when he meets the king.

"My Lord wouldn't the Avatar like to watch my act too," Naruto suggested to the king, who didn't have to give it much thought before agreeing to Long Feng's frustration.

"Are you sure about this, my king? This fool might offend the Avatar," Long Feng said with a grumble, trying to change Kuei's mind.

"it's fine, I am sure the Avatar will like his act as much as I do," the earth king replied, dismissing Long Feng's concern.

Long Feng sighed but didn't say anything else. He shot a look of disgust at Naruto, then at the king, who didn't see it, but the blonde did.

Fast Forward [Night Time]

Earth King's Dinning Room

"Wow, do that again!" Aang cheered happily, temporarily forgetting why he was here, as he watched Naruto do tricks and acrobatics.

"He is amazing, right?" the Earth King said as he cheered alongside the Avatar, but looked like idiots, making the others in the room sweat.

Everyone except Naruto and the Dai Li was sitting at a long table that could serve at least 20 people, servants filled the table with food of the best quality.

"My Lord and Master Avatar," Long Feng said, getting a headache from dealing with those childish morons "don't you two have something important to discuss."

"I am sorry about that," Aang said, his mood dropping as he remembered why he was here "I am here because my flying bison was kidnapped by some sandbenders, and I believe it is in Ba Sing Se."

Long Feng looked briefly at a Dai Li agent for less than a second, but Naruto caught it. It would seem that they had somehow gotten their hands on the Avatar's pet. Now, what are they going to do with it? They might blackmail him into serving them. That was a laugh.

Naruto's mind then came up with a plan that would not only distract the Avatar but also put him at odds with Long Feng and the Dai Li.

"I haven't heard any reports of a sky bison being in my city," the Earth King stated, making Aang's face fall with sadness, as he hadn't seen his partner for so long. "But you can look if you want."

"Thank you, sir," he replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "If Appa isn't here, we'll move on to the next city. I have to find him," he added.

"Non sense, I am sure your friend is fine. What we need to do is talk about what to do about the Fire Nation," Long Feng said. He hoped that the Avatar would agree because the next step is to use that sky bison as a host so that he could control the Avatar.

"I am sorry again, but I have to find Appa first. When I do, we can talk more about the war," Aang replied, he was tired emotionally from having his only remaining friend for 100 years again away from him.

"How can you be so selfish? The world waited for you for 100 years, and you want to forsake the world to suffer yet again," Long Feng declared, wanting to guilt Aang into helping them against the Fire Nation.

"Hey, that's enough, Aang has been through a lot. Cut him some slack; he's still a kid," Katara shouted at Long Feng. She had been silent this whole time because she could see that the king and all those around didn't really value the opinions of women; all the guards and high-ranking officials were all men.

Sokka watched it all, but he didn't say a word, mostly because he agreed with Long Feng. Aang should focus more on the war and not on Appa. Don't get him wrong; he comes to love the sky bison too. However, what is the life of one pet compared to that of the thousands that suffer under the Fire Nation?

"That's enough, Long Feng. Leave the Avatar alone. He is free to do as he wishes. If he wants to search for his sky bison while people die, it is his right to do so," The earth king said, stopping that argument. Meant to comfort Aang, but his words made the Avatar feel worse.

The room got silent as the Avatar got up with Sokka and Katara behind him and left, Naruto used this time to follow after them without anyone noticing.

While following Avatar, the blonde noted two Dai Li agents following closer behind the group. So, he used his metal bending to freeze the agents in place and caught up to Aang's group.

"Hey, wait up," Naruto exclaimed as he ran up to Aang and friends. "I want to talk to you about something."

"Oh, it's you, the clown," Aang said with a small smile, his mind still focused on Appa.

"What do you want," Sokka asked, ready to attack if the clown tried anything funny.

"Calm down, I just wanted to tell you something," Naruto responded with his hands raised in surrender.

"What is it? Spit it out then," Sokka said, watching the clown every movement. Whoever he was, he seemed to put on a show in the Water Tribe man's head.

"I don't know if you're sky bison, but you should check Lake Laogai," Naruto declared, "I've heard rumors of citizens being taken there and brainwashed. There's an underwater prison there if someone wants to hide someone or something."

Naruto acted as if he was afraid to ever say the Lake's name; he looked over his shoulder and played nervous all to sell his story to the Avatar and his friends.

"Why are you helping us," Katara asked. She was not paranoid like her brother, but this seemed too convenient. "What do you want?"

"I have a friend who was taken there; she hasn't been the same since," Naruto said, his voice tinged with sadness, though his eyes betrayed a hint of curiosity "I want you to close that place down; it's inhuman."

The group looked at each other and then nodded. "Fine, we will take a look. We might even get a clue about Appa," Aang said. He and his friends turned to leave. "Thank you for your help."

"That went well," Naruto said, thinking about what should happen. The Avatar gang should get into conflict with the Dai Li, and with that, the King and Long Feng would have least protection.

"Then I will swoop in and capture them," Naruto stated. "I will use a trick to get the Earth King and Long Feng under my control."

Chapter End

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A/N: Next time, Lake Laogai and much more.