Seclusion

Once Jackie landed and walked out of the airship, the group finally reunited again, though briefly.

"Jackie, good to see you… Honestly, I'm glad to see anything that isn't a book or made out of paper.." sighed Madara.

"Eh… It wasn't that bad…" shrugged Kaliya.

"You got drunk and slept most of the time instead of searching…" said Madara narrowing his eyes, to which Kaliya just decided to shut up to avoid being hit in the head again.

Lei chuckled, "It was also very boring for me Mr. Uchiha, honestly I'm glad that the airship is comfortable, otherwise I would've gone crazy due to isolation, but now I'm glad you two are back.. even you, brute woman… We can finally travel again."

Kaliya and Madara stood in an awkward silence after hearing that.

"W-what?" asked Lei a bit confused.

"I'm leaving with ye Jackie, boss is staying," Kaliya said.

"What? Why?" Exclaimed Lei.

Shaking his head Madara replied "Too little time to research everything I wanted to, I underestimated the amount of effort needed to get what I wanted… " sigh "now I need to stay for the foreseeable future, you two will have some a vacation from me for quite some time." He chuckled.

"N-no, Mr. Uchiha, if you are staying I will be staying as well! I can't just leave you here stranded, I'm your assistant!" shouted Lei.

"Damn Jackie, calm down will ye? It wouldn't make a difference, Boss will spend most of his time reading and practicing what he can, even I don't want to leave him alone here really… " sigh "But there's nothing here for us…" she tossed a bag to Lei, which he grabbed.

"And this is..?" asked Lei.

"Your next task, you will be studying those scrolls and learning what you can while I'm here, Kaliya got her own share of scrolls and books too. I want you both twice as strong the next time we meet, Kaliya will enhance her waterbending to a Master level, and will practice her bloodbending afterward."

Madara then pointed at Jackie, "You, on the other hand, will learn every combat technique in those scrolls, and you will double your efforts when learning the Chi Blocking combat technique. I want you at a decent level when we meet again as well."

A weird silence, Lei was trying to compute all the information that was just absorbed by his brain.

"Wait.. Bloodbending? Is that a thing? … what the hell is Chi Blocking?" He was rather lost here, understandably.

"We will have time to talk about this when we are out of here Jackie, let Boss finish."

Lei nodded and looked at Madara.

"I want you both to do a few errands for me, right now all we have is the money I got from the Beifong family, it's a massive amount but it will only decrease with time, so I want you to take this money and buy certain places for me."

Raising their eyebrows, both Kaliya and Lei asked at the same time, "What places?"

Madara grinned. "Only two really, one is by the Su Oku River, it's a resort known as Village Resort. It is a high-end facility, and the other one that I want you two to buy is the biggest plot of land in that Oasis town we came from."

Jackie was a bit skeptical. "I've heard of the Village Resort, it is considered a Fire Nation colony, I don't think they will sell."

Madara laughed "We will keep paying the taxes to the Fire Nation, of course he won't mind selling. They don't give a damn about who runs it as long as they keep getting their share."

Sighing, Lei replied, "What about the Oasis town plot of land? That place is worth nothing… We could buy half of that town while paying less than what we would pay for the resort."

Madara grinned "Then do just that… I have a feeling that… that place will bloom into a wonderful investment in the future."

At this point, Lei gave up and just shrugged, "It's your money, by the way, that will eat a very significant part of your fortune, Mr. Uchiha, if you are not 110% sure of this I wouldn't recommend it.."

Shaking his head Madara replied, "What's the use of money if it can't generate more money? What will I be using those gold taels for, then? Paperweights? As long as I have some reserves for the years to come, I have faith that my investments will pay off."

Madara was grinning from ear to ear, those two spots would make him possibly surpass the Beifong's in the future, the Resort would become part of the Republic City after the war, and its revenue and value would multiply absurdly, as for the Oasis Town? After the Hundred Year War that place would bloom into a trading spot through all the Earth Kingdom, plus with the advance of technology and airships, crossing the mountain range around the desert wouldn't be a problem anymore… not only that… Madara knows the true value of that place. The ice diminished, yes... but that's just the tip of the iceberg, quite literally, the ice is MASSIVE, and is still underground in the desert.

Having ownership of the land would give him ownership of the ice, spiritual ice that is considered one of the wonders of this world.

"Alright alright, so I will buy it under your name. There might be some issues with that since you are not there… But money solves everything, they probably won't care who is buying as long as we are paying." Shrugged Lei.

"Hey Boss, what about me? Is there anything ye need me to do?" asked Kaliya. Buying stuff was her thing yes, who didn't like shopping after all? But business and real estate? Nah thanks, too much complexity for her taste.

Madara retrieved a folded piece of paper from his robes and gave it to Kaliya, "While Jackie will be doing stuff under my name, you will be doing things under the name of our group. I want you to investigate a few possible events that might happen. First, I want to know about the outcome of Ba Sing Se, then I want you to keep your attention on possible gossip related to the Fire Lord's family, his children in specific. Your job is to gather information for me, remember?"

Kaliya smiled, "Aye captain, I will take my payment from Jackie since you will be busy." She said before chuckling.

Madara just laughed, she never once demanded payment and he doubts that this will be a first. Since the rescue, Kaliya joined his side fully, not as a paid grunt, but as a trustworthy sidekick.

Saying their farewells, Madara left them with his final words.

"Please bring me food and clothes once a month, enough food to last the whole 30 days. I don't want to die of starvation down there, and I don't want to smell like those hobos from the lower districts of Ba Sing Se."

"Got it Boss/Mr. Uchiha!"

Watching the airship lifting from the ground, Madara shouted.

"Say hello to the Little Midget for me! And enjoy your time with your wife Jackie, she deserves it!"

The Airship left, and after a few seconds, Madara couldn't even spot it on the horizon anymore.

Sigh "Now… time to go back and study…" a shiver ran down his spine just by saying those words out loud. 'Great now I'm Madara the Nerd…' sigh "How the powerful have fallen…"

Climbing down the tower, Madara went straight to the library where he saw Wan Shi Tong doing.. whatever spirit Owls do…

"Oh…. You didn't …. Leave…."

Shaking his head Madara replied, "Nah, I have a lot to learn from this place, I don't know when I will have this chance again in the future, so now is the best time to enjoy it."

The Owl's head tilted sideways.

"You talk…. Like… you know… what the Future.... holds…"

Madara just laughed out loud, trying to mask his nervousness, "How could I? The future is everchanging, it's just that I do not have any responsibilities now, so I can do whatever I want and spend as much time as I need down here… can't say the same about the future, I might get married and stuff…"

The Owl kept staring at Madara for several seconds.

"Yeah…. And… stuff….."

Coughing, Madara changed the subject, "So, now that it's the two of us here, I don't want to treat you as a servant or anything like that… but can you show me where the Energy Bending records are kept? I doubt that they are freely available."

The Owl turned in a certain direction and started walking.

"Come with… me…."

Madara nodded and followed.

"I don't know how long I will stay down here, is that a problem?"

"No… problem… just don't….. expect….. room service…"

Raising an eyebrow, Madara asked, "You know what room service is?"

"Of course…. My name…. is Wan Shi Tong… and it means…. The one who knows… ten thousand things…."

"Impressive, I have no idea what my name stands for."

"What…. Is the …. Point of this…. Talk?" Asked the Owl while leading the way.

Madara shrugged "I don't know, I will be staying down here for the foreseeable future, months? Years? Who knows, and with not a single soul to talk to but you… I figured that it would be great for us to have a good bonding experience, talking and stuff."

The Owl spirit suddenly stopped and turned to Madara to reveal his incredibly deadpan face.

"Please... Don't….. I will even….. help you find…. Things…. So you…. can leave…. Faster…"

Madara grinned, "Don't be like that, we can become good friends by the time I'm done."

The Owl had a more depressed deadpan face.

"…..Please…. Stop…. "

The Owl led Madara through the dark tunnels of the library, showing him everything he wanted, helping him find specific knowledge, and even giving him some tips, just so Madara could leave earlier than planned.

Madara's research in the library lasted for a long while, the first six months flew by quite fast, he managed to read every book related to Lightning and Combustion, and he also discovered quite a few pieces of Chi Breathing techniques that he will certainly copy since Wan Shi Tong wouldn't allow specific items to be removed, and those techniques were rare enough to be within that collection.

After the first six months, Madara kept training in a specific empty spot within the library so he could at least master, to a superficial level, a few of his new ideas. His lightning control grew exponentially, the combustion was troublesome though. He had NO plans on tattooing his head with a 3rd eye just to be able to create laser beams.

'A forehead eye is a real Madara thing, let him have it, I'm happy being normal.'

He came up with some ideas to work with combustion bending, the problem is that it took him a long time, a very long time to even make it work. The first few times he almost exploded himself, luckily, he didn't cause any permanent damage.

But what really took him almost two years to actually start to be able to use it, as a complete scrub… was energy bending. 'This fucking bending is almost impossible! I can only do it because of my Sharingan, and I can only use it with the Sharingan activated!'

He was really glad to have chosen Madara at this point, the Sharingan opened the doors of energy bending for him. It took him two years, two fucking years to achieve something far inferior to what Aang did to Ozai, just because a damn Lion Turtle didn't decide to poke him in the chest and forehead to give him some asspul- ahem…enlightenment.

And now after a full three years of seclusion inside the library, learning all that he could.. it was finally time for him to get back to the world of the living.

The only thing that kept him from going crazy was the monthly talks with his teammates when they came every month to deliver stuff for him, three years changed many things.. the world has changed, and he has changed even more… knowledge, mastery, power…

'Let's not even talk about my Chakras… heh…' Grinned Madara as he walked towards the exit.