Rebirth

It was late in the evening and the sun was on the verge of setting as Sozin walked along the dirt road that led back to the Daihachi estate. Delighted by the day's events, he stared with a twinkle in his eye at a picture of him and Ikijo, one that they had posed for that same day only a few hours earlier in an artist's shop. The picture came in the form of a miniature scroll that could be rolled up for ease of carrying. Ikijo had his arm over Sozin's shoulder and they were both grinning in the drawing. Drawing with both hands, the artist had done it so fast, that it'd almost looked like he was scribbling. Despite the artist's speed, everything from Ikijo's grizzled beard to his receding hairline, which the man hated but Sozin thought only made him look even wiser, all of it had been captured perfectly in one incredibly realistic picture and done so in a matter of mere minutes.

Even though the picture didn't look like much to anyone else, to Sozin, he couldn't be more thankful as he now had a small token, a tangible snapshot of time, to keep for his memories and look back on for as long as he wished. Sozin rolled the picture up and held it close to his heart, treasuring what it represented. Not wanting to risk losing the picture, he decided to stash it away after he had his fill. Traditional robes didn't come with many pockets, if any at all, so slung across Sozin's torso and over his shoulder like a bandolier, there was a woven fiber thread that had a few cases and small purses affixed to it. Sozin stashed the picture carefully into one of them for safekeeping.

Without his master, Sozin didn't know where he would be now at this point in his life. Lost? Alone? Confused? There were a lot of terrible possibilites that he could've been forced to endure, too many for a boy like him to be comfortable with, but now there was a chance that he might actually be somebody. He had so much to be grateful to Ikijo for. Even if the rest of the world couldn't stand him, Sozin was glad to have at least one person on his side fighting for his cause when no one else would. For that, the man had earned his undying loyalty.

Sozin headed home, buzzing with all the good emotions he had only dreamed about just six years earlier. He went to bed early that evening, the case holding the picture held snugly against his chest.

He slept soundly until the distant voice of someone he'd forgotten about invaded his dreams and tried to stir him awake. Then a hand gripped his shoulder and shook with urgency.

"Sozin! Sozin wake up!" the voice implored.

Sozin cracked open his dreary eyes. He recognized the voice as none other than Ukon's but was a little surprised to find himself being disturbed at this hour. He turned his head to look behind him as he had slept on his side with his back to the door.

Sozin's gaze fell upon his older brother. "What?" he exasperated. "Why are you in my room?"

Ukon smiled innocently. "Father wants to see you. He's waiting for you in the tower lookout and wants to talk."

Sozin's brows creased. He didn't like the sound of that. It was pretty late for anything to be going on right now, so he wasn't sure why his father even wanted to see him, but whatever the reason was, his instincts were telling him that it probably wasn't good.

"I don't want to go," Sozin groaned.

"You have to go," Ukon said. "Father says it's real important."

"What does he want?"

"I don't know. Go up there and find out. Unless you want to stay down here and have him come get you."

Sozin huffed out of indignation. "Fine. Tell him I'll be there in a minute. Can you leave me alone now?" he said, pulling the bedsheets over him even more than they already were. He wanted to just hide under there, not have to see his brother's face, and be left to his own devices until morning came.

Ukon wordlessly left Sozin's room after that. A couple of struggling moments later, Sozin managed to overpower his langour by some strange means and clambered out of bed as though he was a zombie. He was sleepy but still took a moment to put on a fresh change of robes before deciding to leave.

Rubbing his eyes, Sozin made his way up the living quarters—several stories of room after room—until he had reached the double doors at the top. He slid them open and found both of his brothers standing silently on either side of the entrance. Danzo stood as well on the far end of the platform, taking in the view of the surrounding land and of Wakota.

Sozin glanced warily at both his brothers as he passed them and approached his father. The air being exuded sent red flags shooting through his mind.

"Father," Sozin said. "You summoned me?"

Danzo narrowed his eyes. "Indeed, I have..." He turned around to face Sozin with his arms crossed in scrutiny. "And do you know why, boy?"

Sozin picked his head up and met the man's harsh gaze. It was difficult to look him in the eyes. "No, father..."

"Oh?" he scowled. "You've been sneaking out every day—for several years, in fact—and you thought I wouldn't notice? You thought you could make a fool of me?"

Sozin's eyes widened.

"Yes..." Danzo continued, his face descending into a malign smirk as he saw what was happening to Sozin. "I've made sure to let your master know exactly what I thought of that."

The boy's face dropped. Shocked, he uttered in worry, "You know about him?"

"I've known for a while..." Danzo's smirk widened into an alarming grin. "I payed him a visit tonight. We didn't talk... but I don't think he would've taken too kindly to my sentiments..."

Sozin backed away from Danzo. His heart skipped a beat. He didn't want to believe it, but his father had no reason to lie about this.

"What did you do?" Sozin quavered.

"What any good father would've done to a man leading his own son astray," Danzo said.

Sozin's breath tremored. He glanced towards his brothers and their expression seemed to confirm the worst of fears. It was then that he truly realized the gravity of the situation.

There was no point in hiding his skills anymore. He needed to know the meaning of this and he needed to know now. Sozin immediately blew past Danzo, running off the building and onto the curvature of the roof beneath the edge of the lookout. With practiced skill, he jumped down several ledges of the pagoda until he was at the ground again, rolling to disperse the energy. He took off in a sprint towards Ikijo's home. Danzo watched from atop the tower lookout as his son bolted away.

"Shall we go after him, father?" Hakoda said, walking up from behind.

"No..." Danzo said, raising his hand. "He'll be back. Just wait... If he has my blood, I know he will..."

Danzo shut his eyes and returned to the spirit realm for the time being. His spirit animal, the raven, was one of the most observant animals in the animal kingdom, rivaled only by the likes of the wolf, the fox, and the owl. Like all those other spirits, the raven knew that it was a gift to understand others, although to know oneself, to truly know who you are in the most unadulterated light, was something else entirely. It was more than a gift, it was power of the rarest degree, and Danzo understood this. He was an a vile, selfish, and unforgiving man, but he made no mistake as he knew that better than anyone. He did not forgive and he did not forget. This philosophy, born partly out of his own nature and carved out over his entire lifetime of experience, had gotten him far as the world did not reward good behavior as much as it did bad. He also knew that three of his sons were the same way, even Sozin. Danzo could see it in him as well, that same hatred and vitriol, even if it didn't seem like it and even if the boy didn't realize it. The hatred he harbored had all been hidden behind a layer of softness, but it was still there deep within, pent up from years of maltreatment and just waiting to be released. Once those emotions were brought to the surface, the truest reflections of one's soul, so too shall his spirit animal. Pain and suffering was the quickest way to any meaningful growth, that much he knew.

Somewhere in the darkness of the night, the forest leaves crunched and the trees were a blur. Ikijo's home was only on the outskirts, but Sozin ran for what seemed like leagues upon leagues of distance as a storm of thoughts wreaked havoc upon his psyche. He didn't know what to think or feel and his legs moved on their own, catapulting him at blistering speed across the forest ground. Eventually, by some miracle of divine intervention, he reached the corner of the forest that he had come to recognize so much. He went just off the beaten path and through the bamboo passageway, running into the house.

"Master?" Sozin shouted as he threw the front door open.

There was no response.

"Master!" Sozin desperately shouted again.

Sozin fingers curled. He still didn't hear anything. Without thinking, he found himself bursting into the bedroom.

"Oh my god..." he croaked.

He could see it from the doorway. Ikijo laid there on the bloodied sheets, an enormous slit going through the middle of his windpipe—the mark of a blade that had been used without remorse. Sozin recognized it as a wound from his father's odachi. Ikijo's eyes were still slightly open, lifeless and staring straight ahead at the ceiling. Sozin grimaced, wanting to turn away as his insides shriveled up, but for the sake of his master, he remained strong. Drifting over to the bedside, Sozin kneeled down and gently shut both of Ikijo's eyes with his fingers. The man deserved at least that much of a courtesy.

"Forgive me, master," Sozin whispered as the tears welled up. "I couldn't be there for you like you were for me. You weren't my father... but you were my real dad..."

It looked like Ikijo hadn't even been given a chance to fight for his own life. There was no sign of a struggle— he had been stabbed in his sleep and was dead before he probably even knew what was happening. Sozin wasn't sure whether to consider that merciful or not, but his teeth grinded against each other all the same. He clenched his fist, the nails digging into his palm as his head drooped down in darkening anger. Unbeknownst to him, the sclera of his own watery eyes had begun to fill up as though a crimson red wine was being poured into them—red like blood, and rage, and hatred, and all the things that were coursing through his veins right now. He couldn't stand for this.

He wouldn't...

Eventually, nothing but the black, bottomless pits of his irises remained, and then Sozin rose to his feet. From beneath wicked brows, he leered silently at the wall as if there was something there. The turmoil building inside him knew nothing of limits or morals. All it knew was that he was tired of losing, and now, he was going to spend every ounce of his quaking energy making sure he gave back the proper answer. The only answer. In this rotten world, he had learned to accept many things, but this he would not.

Sozin's gaze fell upon Ikijo's motionless form. For the first time in his life, it didn't seem so scary to die anymore. Death was a distant thing, but pain was not. Thousands of atrocities go unpunished every day in the blink of an eye. It seemed scary to let yet another one of the few and precious things that existed in this world go to waste so callously. That was the real tragedy.

That...

Was unacceptable.

At once, the shadow of a boy stood upon his own two feet and headed over to the closet where he found his master's old Ministry gear. His hands worked with unsettling purpose. Once he finished putting it on, he retrieved his master's sword from the main room where it hung on the mantle. Holding it gingerly in his hands, Sozin examined the workmanship, feeling the silk wrappings that were bound in a crisscross pattern around the handle. The aged steel hadn't lost its silvery luster. It'd been impeccably maintained throughout the years, and Sozin considered it fitting that he took this weapon for what he was about to do. He enclosed the sword into the sheath on his back.

Ikijo had trained Sozin in the use of many shinobi tools to go along with his outfit: firecrackers, kunai, shuriken, grappling hooks, and many more things that the clothing had been designed for. He had the repertoire of a walking arsenal, but unfortunately, all that was in the house were those four things, so he didn't have much of a choice about what he was going to be taking with him. He would have to manage with what he had.

Since he was right-handed, the grappling hook attached to the outside of his left forearm and allowed for independent use of one's blade. It was stained with oil, but that ensured that it would work properly. Although he was right-handed as a swordsman, Sozin had been intentionally trained to be left-handed thrower. Loaded into a palm-sized projectile wheel expertly designed for stacking, the shuriken were mounted on top of his right wrist like a watch so that the left hand could grab as many as it needed without compromising self-defense. As if that wasn't enough, a belt of small, tubular firecrackers ran down along the length of Sozin's left arm, splaying off to the side at the wrist so that it was in reach of his left hand if he twisted it back enough. The firecrackers were lined up along a thread in opposing pairs. They were designed to be torn off—igniting their delayed but short fuse—and then thrown upon which they detonated and dispersed gunpowder and smaller pea-sized explosives that disoriented the enemy with flashes and bangs. When the firecrackers were in place, Sozin also made sure to mount two trios of kunai on the outside of his lower legs, just above the ankles. It was a spot easy to forget about, and he didn't think he would need them considering everything else, but he was going to take advantage of everything he possibly could to win.

Sozin pulled out the picture of him and Ikijo and took one last heartbroken look at it before deciding it was time to leave. He headed back to the Daihachi estate, his emotions boiling through heavy and unconcealed steps. He made no effort to hide his presence even as he walked up the stairs to the lookout where his father and his brothers awaited. His brothers gave him a nasty look upon his arrival as he walked through the double doors again.

"That was quick. You run pretty fast for a coward," Ukon sneered as Sozin walked past them.

Sozin didn't say anything in response. He remained silent, seething on the inside with blistering anger that had already marinated a thousand times over during his journey here. He wanted to lash out but at the same time the presence of two trained shinobi and one grandmaster made him wary of the consequences. Sozin forgot about those feelings, only focusing on the ones that mattered. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have tried to confront his father, but his hatred had hardened his resolve and drowned out most hints of fear. Still, behind that stoic mask of confidence, he was struggling to muster the strength to speak out. Somehow, it came to him from some hidden crevice inside his soul, ready to be unleashed and urged on by the very darkness that was spreading its roots there.

"This is Ministry gear from early in the war," Danzo remarked, recognizing Sozin's outfit. "Your master was an Ishidan shinobi. How... interesting..." he noted, wondering if the man had served under his command. "So, you've returned... But for what reason, exactly?"

With courage he had never possessed ever before, Sozin looked his father in the eye and stayed there. "For you..." he murmured, voice rising into a growl, "You murdered him in cold blood! You killed him!"

Danzo gazed down at Sozin. "I did..." he said shamelessly. "And it felt good... It sounds like you needed him."

"But do I need you?" Sozin breathed.

Sozin pulled out his master's katana from behind his back. Immediately, Hakoda and Ukon both reached for their weapon.

Danzo chuckled, grinning in amusement. "If it's a fight you want, then your brothers are more than happy to entertain you. They've been learning as well." Danzo looked past Sozin. "Hakoda! Ukon! Show your younger brother what you've learned!" Danzo gestured behind Sozin with his head. "Go on. Get your anger out..." he added in a low, dark voice.

Danzo backed off, retreating to the edge of the arena to watch the carnage as it developed. He crossed his arms, a stony, judging look on his face.

Turning around, Sozin's eyes darted between both of his brothers. They were already closing in on him, stalking down the platform like a pair of predators. Sozin remembered what his master had taught him. Whenever facing more than one opponent, it was of the utmost importance to keep all of them within your vision. Should one of them get behind you, death was most likely certain for all but the most intuitive of warriors, as at that point, warding off attacks became a matter of sheer prediction. Sozin knew that they were going to try and exploit that fact. As Hakoda approached, Ukon began to flank, slinking along, trying to come in and around from the side to force Sozin to divide his attention, but he watched his positioning carefully and nullifed the flanking with movements of his own.

Out of nowhere, it began, and Hakoda made a beeline for Sozin.

With two quick slices, Hakoda bore down upon Sozin who blocked the attacks, but then he followed up with a third horizontal strike. Sozin leaned back, ducking with skillful grace underneath Hakoda's blade. It cut across his vision, determined to sever him in half. From the side, Ukon came rushing in at the first opportunity, sliding and sweeping the ground with his katana to cut Sozin's legs out from under him as he evaded the other sword. If he blocked from this precarious position, Sozin knew he would get knocked off balance. He exploded into a backflip, pulling away from both of them as he tossed several shuriken in an arc at once.

Ukon and Hakoda bolted through the shuriken, deflecting them away as they advanced. It was two against one and obvious that they were both coordinating their movements well. There was no room for offense. Any offense would have to come from counterattacks for the most part. There were two of them, but that didn't mean Sozin couldn't win. He just had to play perfectly as no mistakes could be made fighting against one of them without being punished by the other. That was a tall order, but Sozin didn't care. Their battle was long overdue. It was time for his brothers to suffer at his hands for all that they've done to him.

Furious, Sozin slid into his combat stance when he hit the ground. His brothers reached him nearly as soon as he had landed, not giving him any time to breathe. Ukon started to flank again while Hakoda lunged forward, initating a combo of seven deadly hits that left a streaks of air in their wake. Sozin blocked the first one, easily getting into the groove and deflecting the next five that came in quick succession. Blistering orange sparks and resounding pings of metal shattered the air. Hakoda reared his weapon overhead for the final, finishing hit to end the combo. Sozin saw it coming, anticipating the attack within a split second. In the next, he had repelled the strike and reared back his sword for a deathblow on his stunned brother. By now, Ukon was on top of Sozin again, preventing a punish by forcing him to evade the slash of his sword.

Sozin snapped between targets. They were like two wild dogs, one making a pass and then the other following with theirs as the first recovered. It was impossible for Sozin to get his own offense going. He couldn't control the fight as it was, so he would have to stagger their coordination somehow and create an opening.

Sozin summoned his windbending skills. He kicked back, using a small pocket of air he created in front of himself as a platform to create distance between himself and his hounding brothers. They were intent on grinding him down with relentless attacks until he eventually made a mistake. Given enough time, it was inevitable for any warrior to slip up, no matter how good they were, and Sozin had to end the fight before that happened. He saw them coming in again, hellbent on locking him into a position where he couldn't escape and would be forced to contend with them. But Sozin kept his wits about him. He saw Ukon go around once more for another flank as Hakoda beelined for the third time. Without warning, Sozin threw a handful of firecrackers in Hakoda's direction. The firecrackers detonated with fiery, defeaning pops, and Hakoda shouted. Gunpowder and tinier explosives were going off, scattering around in a blinding symphony of flashes and bangs that engulfed Hakoda like a storm of light.

There it was. His window of opportunity would only last a few seconds. While the explosives continued to go off, Sozin locked his eyes onto Ukon. He summoned streaks of wind around his blade that propelled him forward like a trident, closing the distance between the two. Ukon side-stepped the attack, countering with his own slash, but Sozin was too quick on his feet and blocked. Deciding not to take any chances, Sozin telegraphed an overhead, but morphed the attack into a sideslash just before he released it. Ukon tried to correct his oversight, but it was too late and the sword cut across his chest, scraping through ribs and organs, until it had come all the way out on the other side.

Ukon gasped for air with a single, twisted breath, his eyes widening in terror. He would've spoke, but he couldn't. Cold and unforbidding, Sozin reeled back and plunged his blade into Ukon's exposed neck, his desperate noises warping even further into an unintelligible gargle of death. Blood gushed as soon as Sozin had extracted his sword and Ukon dropped his own blade, crumpling to the floor while grasping at the large slit in his neck, red cascading down his shaking fingers as he attempted to plug the leak. The life was still leaving his horrified eyes as he hit the wooden boards with a thud.

Sozin craned his neck in Hakoda's direction. The firecrackers had finished going off, giving Hakoda enough time to gather himself again. Knowing he wasn't going to make it in time, Sozin started running for his brother as he pulled out a single shuriken and held it between his fingers. Using the winds, he spun it up until it whirled around viciously, whirring like a machine. Sozin threw the shuriken. He knew his brother would recover just in time to block it, and he did, but that wasn't the point. The shuriken, spurred on by the winds, crashed into Hakoda's katana, unwilling to be deflected as it grinded relentlessly against the blade. Hakoda gritted his teeth, crying out as he held the shuriken there and struggled to throw it off onto a different trajectory, but its momentum was as determined as the warrior that had thrown it. Sozin quickly moved in from the flank for the kill while Hakoda was occupied.

"No!" Hakoda growled.

Sozin winded up for an attack, but without any options left, Hakoda, in a desperate bid to live, slashed his katana wildly at Sozin. Unimpeded, the shuriken burst into Hakoda's chest, shredding through his ribs and embedding itself deep inside as Sozin stopped his blow short like it was nothing. Hakoda's breath caught and their blades pressed against each other, Sozin easily resisting his older brother's now rapidly fading strength.

"How did you get so... strong...?" Hakoda gasped out. He gave one, last dying breath—a whimper of defeat—before he collapsed onto his back.

Sozin drifted over to his fallen brother's side. He glowered down at him mercilessly. With a flick of his wrist, blood splattered off Sozin's sword as Hakoda's eyes glazed over like a candle being snuffed out by the dark.

But it wasn't over just yet.

From the background, a pair of uproarious hands began to clap, approaching with the sound of boisterous laughter. "Well done, my boy!" Danzo grinned heartily, indifferent to the fact his first two sons had just been killed by another of their own kin. He continued to laugh until he had walked up behind Sozin. Then his voice died back down into a murmur. "That was fast... but it was well worth watching."

A large hand gripped Sozin's shoulder from behind. Sozin stiffened up, silent and still wound tight with anger as a humorless look washed over his face. He didn't move a muscle, but the hair on his neck stood up as though to warn him of impending doom.

"As I suspected, you've gotten stronger. Much stronger..." Danzo continued, circling around like a shark until he was in front of Sozin. "I've been watching your training for a long while now. Your brothers were just a test. I already knew your skills far exceeded theirs. And now..." he said, taking note of Sozin's red eyes, "you have succeeded them where they have failed me. It seems the emotional trauma was enough for you to touch upon your spirit animal."

"That's why you did this..."

Danzo remained unconcerned about his actions. "All in accordance with my design." He started towards the doors leading back down into the living quarters. "Come, son. We have much to discuss and many things to do."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Sozin said in defiance.

Danzo stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder. "What?" he huffed, taking the comment as a personal affront.

"My master is dead because of you. You thought I would just follow you so easily?" Sozin murmured darkly. "You!" he snarled, voice rising in disbelief as he pointed a raging finger. "The same man who has done nothing but stomp and shit on every effort I have ever made to make him proud! You don't deserve to call me your son and I never will be!"

"Your master?" he chuckled arrogantly, turning around to face Sozin's challenge. "Is that what's bothering you? Remember the first rule of the Shadow's Code," Danzo warned. "As your father, I order you to forsake your master!"

Sozin tightened his grip on his master's katana. Fear marked his face, but it was tempered by a grim anger. "Blood... is irrelevant."

"This is what you've decided?" Danzo's odachi grated with a harrowing rasp as he removed it from the sheath on his back. "Hmph," he grunted in dark dissatisfaction. "Have it your way, boy. If you want to be free so bad, then prove to me you're a worthy successor! Give me your all!"

The gap was quite big between them. Seeking an opener, Danzo pulled out a shuriken from his tunic. In the blink of an eye, he threw the shuriken at Sozin and immediately followed up with a powerful, chasing slice with speed unbefitting for a man of his size. Gritting his teeth, Sozin barely managed to move his blade fast enough to block the blow, nearly losing grip of his sword when it made contact. The power was there as well despite his father only wielding the heavy odachi with one hand. Stumbling backwards from the sheer force of the attack, Sozin rolled out of the way of an overhead that struck the floor, sending dust and chips of wood scattering. He doubled back immediately, creating distance to contemplate his strategy.

Sozin recovered his posture, settling his feet into the floor as Danzo went on the offensive. He had a split second or two to think a little. It was clear that his father's strikes were much stronger than either of his brother's, and Sozin knew he wouldn't be able to compete in that aspect. Not only were his father's attacks powerful, they were also faster than he had expected them to be. His father had nearly punished him for blocking his slice with an overhead, a play that had obviously been calculated beforehand. If he was going to win, then blocking wasn't an option or he'd risk getting knocked down from the incredible force of the attacks or losing his weapon which was even worse. He would have to deflect from this point on since he wasn't strong enough to stop the attacks directly, and both of them knew that. Deflection, unlike simple blocking, required a precise and guided contact between blades to divert the momentum from an attack. It was a more demanding response to an attack that required great focus to perform successfully. With that in mind, Sozin figured Danzo would probably try and throw him off with mix-ups until he eventually slipped up on a deflect, so he readied himself for the strategy, awaiting Danzo's next move as he came rushing in head-on.

Sozin watched his father's blade intently, anticipating its movements but deciding not to commit to a deflect until he was sure it was a real attack. As he suspected, Danzo feinted a slash and followed up with an elbow jab and a slice. Metal pinged against metal and sparks went flying everywhere, lighting up the night air with flecks of orange in all directions. Danzo continued to pressure Sozin with aggressive offense, moving him around the arena and controlling the space like he was trying to box in prey. It was a battle of mind games and physical skill. His father was no joke. His blade cut true, always as intended and was never swung wildly—a telltale sign of a distinguished master that planned every move and knew what they were doing. The experience gap was wide, Sozin had gleaned that much, but the gap could be closed in many ways. He just had to look for an opening, however small.

Sozin feinted several attacks into a final, real one, but Danzo deflected it and Sozin felt nothing but air.

"You won't fool me like you did your brother!" Danzo shouted between clashes.

Sozin continued to block Danzo's blows by the skin of his teeth, barely managing to deflect any as he was constantly staggered and pushed around. His father's mix-ups made it nearly impossible to predict the old man's next move, leaving Sozin skimming by on the edge of his reactions and making precise deflects nearly impossible. Sozin felt himself begin to tire as he had with Ikijo so many times before. The strikes were pounding against his smaller sword like a sledgehammer and shattering through the bones in his hands.

Clash after clash came and went. An overwhelming sideslash from his father's odachi sent Sozin skidding back on the balls of his waraji-clad feet, forcing him to jam his sword into the floorboards to stop himself from slamming into the wall enclosing an edge of the arena. Hellbent on backing him into the wall where he had nowhere to go, Danzo scrambled to get to Sozin. Sozin saw him coming in and desperately threw a round of firecrackers, but his father was too nimble for that. Danzo dashed through the cloud of gunpowder just as it started go off behind him in a blaze.

"This is the first time we've done this! You honor me with your tactics!" Danzo yelled gruffly. He leapt forward into a somersault, coming down into an overhead with a dropping smash that quaked the floor as though a cannonball had landed.

Sozin rolled out of the way, tossing a futile shuriken in response. He decided to try firecrackers again and threw another arcing cloud between him and Danzo. It exploded, obscuring their line of sight on each other with blanket of blinding flashes. Danzo grinned, half amused and half insulted by the fact that his son considered him so foolish as to fall victim to such a ploy after seeing it used before. But then Danzo's grin faded as his son burst through the fire, his sword imbued with streaking winds that hurtled him through the air like a bird of prey. Danzo's eyes widened in that split second. He wouldn't be able to raise his sword in time. Desperately, he tried to whip his head back to dodge the attack, but the sword nicked his cheek, cutting into the flesh and drawing blood.

Sozin came out of the attack touching down on the other side of Danzo. He sunk into his defensive stance as soon as he did.

Danzo raised a shocked hand to his cheek, feeling the blood collect in splotches on his fingers as it oozed out merrily. His own son had outsmarted him and nearly gotten the better of himself. "Boy..." he muttered darkly. "It breaks my heart that you intend on killing me..." His voice exploded into a yell. "But I suppose it's fitting that I'm the one who gets to put you down! Allow me to honor your efforts by showing you the true power of the Great Mist Raven!"

Danzo leapt away from Sozin, creating space so he could perform his technique. He narrowed his purple eyes as he pressed his hands together and summoned the spirit of a raven from the great beyond. As dark as nightshade, the sinister bird materialized out of thin air from smoky wisps of arcane energy. It was much bigger than normal—around the size of a large owl—and it circled overhead above Danzo.

A malevolent smirk traced its way onto Danzo's face. In less than a second, he had dissipated into a cloud of iridescent raven feathers, taking control over the spirit animal. He rose, climbing all the way to the roof of the arena as a part of the bird before materializing and descending upon Sozin with an obliterating slam that blasted the floorboards. The very floor itself thundered with energy as Sozin tried to roll out of the way but was knocked off his feet and blown back in a tumble from the epicenter. He hit the wood hard, scraping the side of his face as his cheek grazed the rough texture. Sprawled all over the floor from the attack, Sozin's focus was in shambles, but the rapid pitter-patter of heavy footsteps shocked it back to life, making him glance over his shoulder in panic. Summoning all his strength, Sozin exploded upwards, bursting onto his feet just as Danzo closed in on him with several merciless slashes that rattled him like charging tiger.

On standby, the raven was circling overhead and watching the battle as it continued to unfold. With a spirit animal in play, Sozin knew he had to finish the fight now before it got out of hand. Things were barely within his grasp as it was, and he struggled to keep up with Danzo's relentless assault. He knew he wouldn't survive like this. It was only a matter of time before Danzo's experience, skill, and power got the better of him. He had to tip the scales in his favor somehow.

Danzo pulled back from Sozin, giving him a small breather. He raised his arm to call upon the raven. Seeing his outstretched arm, the bird dove down to Danzo, alighting on his wrist in await of his command. Eyeing Sozin, Danzo pointed with his odachi at him and the bird instantly burst aflame into a mass of pure and raging fire. Harsh like a cry of war, the bird screeched and went on the hunt, diving low to the floor and rocketing right towards Sozin, intent on running him into the ground.

Sozin's eyes flared with adrenaline, but he held his position and waited for the proper moment. Just before the bird was about to impact with him, he leapt forward, frontflipping over the beast as it shot out from under his body and rose back into the air.

Danzo saw his opportunity with a hungry gaze. His son had jumped, and now, he had nowhere to go but down. Having anticipated this maneuver, Danzo reeled back his odachi to kill Sozin upon touch down, but Sozin created a pocket of air beneath his feet and jumped a second time over and behind Danzo.

"Never seen that before. Did your master teach you that?" Danzo goaded.

Sozin was too busy with himself to consider talking back. It was two against one again, and his terrorizing blood shot through his veins, slowly grinding his resolve like rapids against the rocks. As though it was careful dance, a balancing act of life and death that everything hinged upon, Sozin carefully micromanaged the flaming raven by using the firecrackers to keep Danzo at bay every time it came in for a pass. This way, he only had to focus on one opponent at a time. He was almost out of firecrackers in doing so, using them as sparingly as he could, but still, he was running out quicker than he'd hoped. They were only to buy time, but in a battle that was going downhill, he knew he would need a lot more than just that. Time would only delay his death. He needed a solution to go along with it.

Sozin's prospects grew more dire as each second passed, but all was not lost. The heat of battle and depleting options seemed to sting his thoughts into overdrive. As part of his martial arts training, Ikijo had taught Sozin how to incapacitate opponents with a forbidden paralysis technique. One strike alone would not allow for total paralysis, the body was simply too complicated of a machine for that, but the technique could disable a critical portion of it that might change the way the fight was going. The crux of the technique was that you had to get within hand-to-hand range and hit precise nerve points on the body in order for it to work. Considering the length of Danzo's odachi, getting in close enough to perform a strike was a tough gambit to make, but this plan was all Sozin had to go on at the moment. It seemed like it would work. The same as him, his father was also right-handed swordsman, and if he took out his main hand, it would mean everything for Sozin's success in direct combat. Simple tricks like feints and mix-ups, especially Sozin's rather rudimentary ones, weren't going to work against a man as smart and predictive as his father, so overpowering him through direct combat was the only viable answer. He was going to have to risk getting in close to turn the tides or die helpless. On the plus side, his father probably didn't know about this technique or the fact that Sozin had learned it since it was forbidden—it was a wildcard he couldn't possibly expect.

With no tools left to delay his father any longer, it was time to put the plan into action. Sozin threw the last of his firecrackers, timing things so that by the time he dodged the bird, they would come to end, and Danzo could engage him immediately. Right on cue, as soon as Sozin had leapt out of the way, the flashes and bangs ended and Danzo came darting in for his opportunity now that Sozin was finally out of options. Danzo reeled back his weapon, Sozin's eyes following his father's blade, trying to decipher whether it was a feint or a real attack all in the matter of a split second.

Sozin's eyes flashed.

It was real!

Sozin dashed in to arm's reach as the odachi came down, driving his momentum into an upwards swing to smash their blades together and halt them into a deadlocked clash. Sozin braced his feet against the ground, weight digging into the wood as the blades collided. The boom of steel against steel broke the air. They both gritted their teeth, vying for leverage against the other in a sudden death power struggle, but Danzo towered over Sozin and had size and strength on his side. He was quickly going to win out, and he focused exclusively on overwhelming Sozin with his brawn, not realizing what was going to happen. Twisting in his hands, Sozin's sword was nearly about to give way under the pressure, but before his father could overpower him, Sozin let go of his sword with his left hand and pressed all his fingers together into one point, as though they were forming the head of a cobra, and jabbed Danzo at the pressure point in his right shoulder all in one lightning-fast motion. Growling in pain, the force of the jab twisted Danzo's torso around on a swivel and sent him wobbling back. His right hand let go of his odachi, falling limp along with his arm.

The odachi clattered against the floorboards. Sozin tried to capitalize, but in the background, the spirit raven had realized what was going on and tried to help a weaponless Danzo. Just then, it began to come in for another swoop. Hearing a familiar screech coming from his side, Sozin was forced to evade the flaming raven once more by backflipping.

Danzo was able to pick up his weapon with his still-working left hand. Without any more firecrackers, Sozin was going to have to divide his attention between the two of them, but things would be a bit easier now that his fathers attacks were less of a problem. Timing it in his head, the bird would swoop in for a pass and then take a few moments to come back around. He would have several seconds between each pass to go on the offensive.

"It's only a matter of time before you die!" Danzo yelled. "By my hand or theirs! Once the Ministry finds out you killed me, they won't stop until you're dead!"

It was now or never! Moving in with haste, Sozin charged at Danzo, unleashing a flurry of attacks that his father was now struggling to keep up with. In a futile attempt at offense, Danzo raised his weapon for an overhead, but Sozin wasn't afraid to block anymore. He stopped the attack head-on, pressing into Danzo with all his strength for another clash. The blades divided them, but their gazes met for a brief but chilling moment. In that fleeting second of time, the burning in their lungs, their struggling grunts, and the screeching of the raven, it had all stopped for both of them.

Sozin knew then that it was over.

Shoving his father off of him, Danzo stumbled sideways, planting his sword-wielding hand onto the ground to keep himself from falling. Danzo scrambled to pick himself up, trying to throw himself back towards Sozin in time to meet his next strike, but it was already too late. Sozin had already reeled his weapon back, and the next thing he felt was the feeling of cold steel running straight through his stomach.

Danzo dropped his sword.

It hit the ground with a deafening clank.

"Feel that?" Sozin whispered. "That's from Ikijo."

Sozin instantly felt his father weaken, his legs buckling like supports that had been kicked out from underneath him. He fell to his knees, holding his son's penetrating stare the entire way down. His normally harsh eyes glanced at the sword embedded in the middle of him. Startled, they quickly relaxed in acceptance of fate and were replaced by a deep weariness.

"He trained you well. Better than I ever could've..." Danzo grinned weakly. Huffing, he rested a feeble hand atop Sozin's blade. He chuckled as best as he could. "Well done... I'll take some pride in the fact that it took my own son to kill me..." he said softly. "The taste of defeat is not as bitter as I'd expected. Maybe even sweet..."

Solemn as stone, Sozin didn't say anything. He merely watched as Danzo examined his crimson irises with curious intent.

"Those eyes... I'd recognize them anywhere. You're a shadowborn just like your father..." Danzo continued, fascinated by his son. "I remember when I was your age. I sensed a dark spirit inside of me not unlike the one stirring inside you at this very moment. You can feel it, can't you, boy? I didn't know what I would become just like you don't now... Even if you hate it, you're more like me than you'll ever realize, now and in the future..."

"We are nothing alike," Sozin sneered.

"Don't underestimate blood, my boy. It is a powerful thing..." Danzo blinked with heavy eyelids. His energy was fading fast as a deep red stained the grey fabric around his stomach. "What are you going to do now?"

"Leave... I won't be coming back."

"It's a shame things have to end this way, but you have chosen this..." Danzo struggled to say, wincing in pain. "Before you go, don't forget the scroll in my room on the first floor. You know where it is. It'll help you evade the Ministry ninja..."

"Goodbye, father." Sozin was void and emotionless.

"Goodbye, Sozin..." Danzo said longingly. "I am proud to call you my son..."

The old man then began to chuckle again, but this time, in an eerie manner. In his heart, he knew he had kickstarted the creation of something even more terrible and monstrous than himself. The cycle could only continue from here, and no father could ever ask for any greater legacy than to be surpassed by one of his own. In a way, he had been immortalized.

Sozin snorted in disgust at his father's sense of humor. Yanking his sword from the man's gut, he drove the blade through the neck and into the spine, killing Danzo instantly. Danzo collapsed to the ground, lifeless like the other two bodies that Sozin had claimed.

There was the thud and then the bloody silence.

A grimace washed over, and something seemed to break inside of Sozin. He shut his lids tight, still trying to hold back when he couldn't any longer, and pinched the corners of his eyes. "A son killing his own father? In a perfect world, I would've never had to do this," he tremored in a mangled voice.

It was at that very moment that the doors to the tower lookout slid open.

Sozin gasped. It couldn't be anyone else other than his mother. He didn't need to look back to know it was her—the lack of words was enough to tell the instant it fell upon his ears. The first thing she'd noticed was a man in Ministry gear standing over her husband's dead body. Then her eyes darted to the corpses of her two eldest sons.

She panicked, shrieking at the top of her lungs. "Assassin!" she cried. "Assassin!"

But then the man in Ministry gear turned around, his slow and minacious gaze falling upon her robed form.

"Sozin?" Ursa blurted out in shock. Her voice hesitated and she backed away from the open area of the arena.

His eyes.

Red.

Red like a demon.

Sozin watched as she ran back inside the building. Knowing her allegiances, she was probably going to fetch the estate guards and have him arrested.

With no time to spare, Sozin made his way down the side of the tower all the way to ground level. He burst into Danzo's room, throwing open the door with wood-smacking slam. The sound of guards racing up the stairs met his ears from another part of the building. By the time he had dug the planks out of the floor and retrieved his father's scroll, he heard more guards and set of hostile voices stirring just outside the paper walls.

"Find him! Search the entire area if you have to. He couldn't have gone very far," one of the guards commanded.

Gripping the scroll tightly, Sozin snuck away from the voices through the halls of the living quarters. He slipped out the back of the building and into the darkened forest where he would have an easy time blending in with the shadows. Then he began running. It didn't matter where he was going; all that mattered was that he escaped with his life still in his own hands. Every now and then, when he thought he had gotten away, he would stop, look back, and see the torchlights of a search party in the forest and men on horses. He ran until he couldn't see anything anymore. He ran until his very legs began to give out and he started crying in the dirt, nothing more than a sobbing ball of tears.

He cried until the dark voice in his head told him to get off the ground.