28 Recent Events

After three years and some months of nerding out inside the library, Madara was finally ready to get out.

In all honesty, things didn't really go according to plan, but since when did everything always go according to plan anyway? First, he thought he would need two months, maybe three to read everything with his sharingan and have it permanently recorded there, which was not wrong.

But the sheer amount of searching he had to do to simply find the information he wanted to study was abysmal, this library was roughly the size of fucking Ba Sing Se, so you can understand how many books and scrolls are stored inside.

On top of that, he is a human, he can't just pretend to be a machine and read through thousands of books with his sharingan, I mean he could but there's only so much information the human brain can healthily store, he can't just add an extra SSD inside his brain to expand his 'storage capacity'.

Then there was the problem of practicing, this one was a personal one for him. Every person has a different method of learning, some like to read everything, and only then do they start practicing each thing. Madara was different, his method was to study one subject and then practice it, after reaching an acceptable level of understanding and mastery he would then start the next subject, and so on until he finished everything he could.

He took Shinzu's words to heart, he didn't rush things, when he didn't have the will to keep reading, he would just sit down and nap or nag Wan Shi Tong to keep himself occupied, that Owl was very anti-social but it was always entertaining for him, and he had a slight suspicion that Wan Shi Tong also enjoyed their conversations, but they were just too much of a tsundere to admit it.

Sometimes when his crew came, he would spend from 2 days to a week with them, talking and catching up, he learned quite a few things that happened through the four nations that way.

Now it's 97 AG, two years ago, in 95 AG, also known as the year of the Rabbit, Prince Ozai inherited the throne and became the Fire Lord, turning Zuko into the Heir, this was also the year that General Iroh broke through the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se and had this son killed. Just like in the series Iroh gave up on the siege and his claim to the crown and took the shame of defeat like a champion.

Nothing of much importance happened in 96 AG, it seems that last year was the calm before the storm, although Kaliya managed to discover that the prince Kuei had become the 52nd Earth King this year, something about the previous Earth King dying due to his wounds after the siege, a very shady event if anything, but not much is known, Ba Sing Se has become a fortress right now and it's really hard to gather information about it due to the intervention of the Dai Li.

And then there's the events of early this year, 97AG, the Year of the Snake, a couple of months ago Prince Zuko was exiled and banished from the Fire Nation with his uncle Iroh, the Dragon of the West.

'Which means that in two and something years Aang will awaken… and the plot will start…'

Madara simply grinned 'I did regret coming to this world 10 years too early before… but now I'm very happy about my foresight…'

Looking around at the library once more he just sighed. 'If I did come one or two years before canon, I would've had to rush through this library like a crazy person to learn half of what I did before Zhao showed up and ruined my plans… '

The moment Madara thought of that person his eyes narrowed and his smirk grew more sinister. 'Clean your neck for me little Zhao, we have unfinished business, you fucking pussy.'

As Madara was distracted thinking of the past, current, and future events a gentle wing flapping sound echoed around him. He woke up to see Wan Shi Tong with his classic tilted head staring at him.

"… It seems… is time…. To part… ways…" said the Owl.

Madara grinned "You don't have to miss me that much, I will come to visit you at least once a decade so you have someone to talk to."

The Owl kept staring at him tilting its head from one side to the other "… Once a decade… is… acceptable…. If you come earlier…. I will kick… you out…."

Madara laughed as the Owl flew away from his sight. 'Yeah, fucking tsundere Owl… you love me and you know it!'

Then he shouted "Don't disappear on me then! I don't want to come here and spot an empty hole in the desert!"

To which he only heard "Cooo…." As an answer.

As he climbed up the tower and left, he was blinded by the sunlight for a few seconds, and when his sight came back he spotted his favorite airship right in front of the tower, with his favorite crew outside waiting for him.

"Ye finally leaving that place, eh? To think even the boss would need to spend 3 fucking years to learn a few new tricks," said Kaliya while giving a sarcastic smirk to Madara.

"Don't try to act cool you barbarian woman, you missed the boss dearly and didn't stop complaining about how boring it was to stand around doing nothing all day…" Lei intervened, giving Kaliya his own sarcastic smirk, which made Kaliya's eyebrow twitch 'this fucking cunt!'

Madara just laughed happily as he approached his group "It's been a long time since we traveled together, hasn't it? I missed it too, and honestly, if I never see a book ever again in my life it will still be too early."

The three of them laughed out loud and walked inside the airship, and after lifting from the ground they moved west.

Lei who was piloting the ship hummed happily "By the way boss, my contract with Master Beifong ended this year, so now being a free man I was wondering… could I work in your resort?" he asked coyly.

Madara was a bit surprised "Oh? What about your wife?"

Lei just let out a long sigh "Her contract was over last month. After you left Gao Ling… things changed inside the Beifong Estate… Mr. Beifong grew more and more paranoid about his daughter, Mrs. Beifong managed to convince him to get rid of all the maid personnel that had close contact with you to keep Young Miss Beifong out of your influence, so… neither I nor my wife is welcome there anymore."

Madara wasn't that surprised, what was meant to be was meant to be, but he was worried about something. "What about Toph? Did something happen while I was gone?"

Shaking his head Lei replied, "No, Young Miss has been fine… they did hire a pompous earthbending 'Master' to teach her the basics though." Then he grinned "But according to my wife it seems Young Miss has been evading them and escaping the estate in secret every week, not that they know about it."

Madara just laughed "Worthy of being considered my little sister, but I'm very disappointed with Lao…tsk… that wife of his…." Then he remembered something "What about the guards I trained? Did they just kick them out as well?"

Lei laughed this time "You think they would have the balls to do that? Each guard you trained is an asset to any army, if they kick them out like that those men could just band together and go against them just to vent their anger… no … they didn't get kicked out, but they can't interact with Young Miss… not that they ever did anyway," he shrugged.

Madara chuckled and relaxed on his comfortable sofa chair "Well at least the Beifong family served my plans well." He grinned while looking outside "What about my investments?"

Lei answered, "Well, your Resort is generating more profit than anything I've ever seen, although nowhere close to Beifong level of money you can be considered a very wealthy young man Mr. Uchiha; all members of the high society among the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation stop there to enjoy the services provided, you recovered already half of the initial investment after only 3 years."

Madara grinned even more, half of the investment in 3 years might not sound like much, but let's consider this for a bit, Madara's whole fortune was equivalent to a 5-year job payment, not any job, but the highest-paid job for over half a millennium at LEAST, and to recover half of that in 3 years? That's more money than 99% of this world's population could even see in their whole lives, he is on par with the Fire Nation high nobility at this point.

"I take it that the Misty Palm Oasis didn't generate much profit?" Asked Madara.

Lei nodded "That place is worthless and I told you Mr. Uchiha, yes you get some revenue due to renting, and considering that you basically own 60% of that town it's quite a decent profit, it can't hold a candle to the Village Resort, I would say… 10%.. But again, it was considerably cheaper, you only don't own the whole place because some stubborn people didn't want to sell their land."

Madara just shrugged "Well it is what it is, I'm betting on the future here Jackie, I feel that the Misty Palm Oasis will become a gold mine in the future."

Lei just chuckled "Well you haven't been wrong so far so I will just wait and see… oh by the way there's a bunch of things related to your investments that demands your attention, I've been handling that in my spare time but you are the owner… so…"

"Let me stop you right there! I've been buried under the desert reading more books in 3 years than anyone has ever seen in their entire life! I'm at a point where if I learn anything else, I will start forgetting stuff that I already know…" Madara said massaging his forehead, a headache is coming.

"Then you will need an administrator Mr. Uchiha, a steward to take care of your things while you enjoy your …. Retirement…" Lei chuckled

Madara chuckled too "Alright then, Jackie, you are formally hired!"

"W-what?"

"What 'What?' you have been handling this for years now, you know more than anyone… I can't pay you as much as the Beifong's but I won't screw you. Bring your wife too.. she will work with you as your assistant, I didn't spend so much time with Nari but she always seemed to be a very intelligent woman."

Lei's eyes went wide, he was hoping to get that job and he wanted his wife to be by his side now that both of them are jobless, but to have her as his assistant?! 'Heh… some of our … roleplay.. will get very real now.. hehehehe'

Kaliya's expression was full-on Saitama deadpan mode when she was looking at Lei and his perverted chuckle. 'Why am I not surprised?'

Then she turned to Madara with her best puppy eyes "What about me Boss? Ye can't leave ye second in command jobless right? Ye are a rich man now."

Madara laughed and Lei raised his eyebrow in annoyance "Who the fuck said you are Mr. Uchiha's second in command?! Stop spouting nonsense, you uneducated woman!"

Kaliya grinned and stared at Lei "Well, different from ye I'm a bender, not just any bender.. but a bloodbender! What ye have? Chi Blocking? With me by Boss' side, that wouldn't even be needed! I can stop them from moving from a distance!"

Lei lost it "You fucking bitch! You only did that to me once and it was because of the full moon! We all know that you can't do that normally, I can chi block you every other day!"

She shrugged "So what? I still have me waterbending, the resort is on top of a river, it's me realm there! Not only that… who would pick a pervert man like ye instead of a beautiful hot girl like me to be by their side?"

Madara couldn't stop laughing in amusement as the duo kept spitting curses at one another.

"Alright, alright … Jackie, you have to understand that Kaliya is right here…"

Lei pouted "Tsk… if only that resort wasn't on top of a river…"

Madara raised an eyebrow "Oh yeah.. that too….."

Both Lei and Kaliya stared at Madara, Lei gave him an understanding nod and a wink, while Kaliya gave him a victorious smirk and a wink.

'Oh shit.. fucking puberty is hitting me hard…' sigh 'Well.. I can't deny the facts here.. she is pretty damn hot..'

Trying to break the awkward silence Kaliya changed the subject.

"Boss, what about ye firebending? Did ye get what ye wanted?"

"Well.. kinda…"

"Did ye finally achieve that Blue Fire that ye kept talking about?"

Shaking his head Madara just sighed "Nah, that one isn't for me, I guess…"

"What about the combustion bending Mr. Uchiha?"

"That one also isn't for me, I would have to tattoo my forehead for it, I had ideas of tattooing my hand but… in all of the records, I saw every combustion bender had the eye on their foreheads, so I assume there's a reason for that, I don't believe for a second that I'm the first one to consider another location, I may be smart but other people aren't dumb."

"So ye just improved ye fire and lightning?"

"Well about that…" Madara grinned sinisterly "What kind of badass older brother would I be if I didn't create my own unique bending like my cute little sister?"