Responsibility

Smoke billowing from the horizon, a sign of destruction and carnage left by the most recent disaster, or even tragedy, on the northern most part of the western side of the Earth Kingdom.

Honestly if it wasn't for the Airship that arrived ten minutes later, half of the Resort would've been swallowed by the flames.

Kaliya proving her worth as one of, if not the strongest known waterbender in the world, used her bending to bring a controlled wave from the ocean, cleansing every fire in the vicinity.

One would think that with such a turn-around situation where Madara fell from the skies and destroyed hundreds of mercenaries, he would be welcomed with cheer and happiness, or even fear due to his unprecedented level of power.

But no, reality is not that simple.

It's not about who wins, or about how spectacular the action is, that is an animation gimmick. All that could be felt was sadness.

The current Resort had around two hundred and fifty to three hundred employees, one third of them being guards and scouts, and of that one third… half perished in this tragedy…

The mercenaries didn't just want to rob, although they had gold in their eyes, they were following orders, orders that if followed would leave no one left alive to tell the tale.

They killed; they killed without remorse, on the contrary, they did it while smiling and laughing, thinking of the huge payload they would secure from the unofficial richest firebender in the world.

Forty-two dead guards, twenty-seven dead civilians in which ten were children.

This was a tragedy, and Madara was not happy even after destroying them one by one.

…

The sun was setting and inside a traditional Japanese office, a young man with long-wild black hair could be seen, flipping papers and reading documents while holding his forehead.

The door slowly opened to reveal a tall man with black chengshan robes, his hair was tied with a green hairband into a low ponytail, he had some bandages on his face but he was overall completely fine.

"Mr. Uchiha.." the man said, revealing his presence.

"How many Jackie?" Asked the young man who didn't even look up, still buried in the reports he was reading.

With a long sigh Jackie shook his head "Thirty-one wish to terminate their contract saying that it isn't safe for them and their families to remain here, seven families are now without any income because their husbands or fathers were among the casualties… " 

Jackie was even more depressed than Madara, different from his boss, Lei actually interacted with everyone and always tried to help them in everything he could. Madara might not know the name of every single employee under his name, but Jackie knew, he would even go out to drink and eat with them from time to time.

And now many of his friends were dead, while some would be leaving for good.

"This was a tragedy, Jackie…"

"It wasn't your fault Mr. Uchiha…" Lei tried to help his friend, but Madara wasn't listening.

"Wasn't, really?" Madara asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice "If it wasn't for the fact that I am the owner of this place… this shit storm would never have happened… they wanted to hurt ME, and now my people paid the ultimate price for my folly…"

Lei stared at his boss for a few seconds.

"Mr. Uchiha, we live in a time of war… Something like this was bound to happen, sooner or later..."

"The war has been on hold since the failed siege of Ba Sing Se, Jackie… this wasn't an act or consequence of war, this was personal… and you know it"

"While it is partially true, yours isn't the only lands that have been invaded, and while I agree that it was personal… you destroyed the mercenaries, and the name of Rough Rhinos will never be heard ever again, you made sure of it."

"And how does that bring back what we lost?" Asked Madara with his sharingan active, staring at his friend and employee.

"It doesn't, nothing does... so there's no point in pulling yourself down like that."

With a dry chuckle Madara replied "You say that… but would you really behave like that if Nari or your future child were among the deceased?"

"..I…." Lei's eyes went wide and he even took a step back 

…

"You don't know, right?" Madara stared at his friend "You would not be this nonchalant if they were involved, and Nari would be aiming towards the Fire Lord if you were gone as well… and you know it."

"I am not nonchalant!" Lei narrowed his eyes and even raised his voice by a little bit "They were friends of mine, Madara!" 

It was incredibly uncharacteristic of Lei to use his first name directly, so much that even Madara had to stop for a second and stare at the Jackie Chan clone in front of him with wide eyes.

"Friends that I will never see again, and I have to deal with more friends also wanting to leave this place now… you are not the only one dissatisfied with this situation, but you need to remember, you can't calculate everything. Even if you know what will happen you will not be able to calculate every detail about it, life is unpredictable and we need to live with it!"

They remained in silence for some time, staring at one another until Madara couldn't help but lower his gaze.

Jackie was right, one can't calculate everything, and not everything that falls under calculations will go as expected… hell even fucking Aizen was screwed with his plans, who is he to want to be flawless? He was just a hobo that had decent survival skills in a modern society...

Noticing his boss lowering his gaze, Lei's stiff expression relaxed, he even offered his friend a smile "The point is… life is filled with bad moments like these… you can either learn from them or be destroyed by them, and believe me Mr. Uchiha, neither me nor the girls will allow for the latter to happen, so pick yourself up… there are people waiting for you, so don't make us wait too long."

Without saying another word, Lei approached the desk, placed the reports about the people who wish to leave the resort on Madara's desk, turned around and left, sparing his friend only a single final look over his shoulder before closing the shoji door.

…

Hours went by as Madara kept reading everything, saying to himself that he was doing it because it was his responsibility, but in truth he was fleeing from his responsibilities.

He was scared of walking out of his place and staring at his people in the eye, what should he say to them? It was easy years ago when he earned their trust with his promises of wealth and delivered it, but now? How can he overcome their grief… how can he… redeem himself.

To make matters worse, his recent intel claimed that the Avatar was seen flying northwards on their Flying Bison.

Madara knew that the Siege of the Northern Watertribe was imminent, yet…

'I can't leave my people like this… after such a tragedy they need their leader more than anything! Especially after being attacked precisely because of my absence!'

Funerals needed to be prepared, rites needed to be had… yet he vouched to himself that he wouldn't let Yue die due to Zhao's stupidity.

On one hand he had his own goal, call it a vanity project even, prevent Yue from dying due to him considering her like himself, on the other hand his people needed him and he had a responsibility towards them.

"Heavy is the crown…" he mumbled to himself, clenching both his teeth and fists.

Many would say that he was just their employer, not their ruler, and that would be true in modern society, but in this era, he was no different from a feudal lord, and his employees were no different from subjects.

He didn't have long to think about these things, because suddenly he heard the door sliding open again, this time instead of Lei's heavy steps he heard soft gentle steps instead.

"Mr. Uchiha" Said Nari with a composed expression but a warm smile, there was pain in her eyes but she knew her 'son' needed strength, but that's not why she came here. "A ship has been spotted getting closer to the docks…" 

Madara frowned "More mercenaries?" smoke came out of his mouth, threatening to burn everything and everyone.

"No, not mercenaries, they appear to be a merchant ship…"

"What would a damn merchant ship be doing here at a time like this?" Madara growled and stood up, pulling his haori over his shoulders imitating certain admirals from a certain pirate world, and walked out.

He was going to find out.

Standing in front of the docks, watching a fancy merchant ship finally docking properly. Madara's eyes narrowed.

'There's no banner, and they should've seen me and the remaining of my guards here before docking, so they are either idiots who considers themselves strong… or not enemies… the ship also looks way too expensive to be sent here for battle purposes…'

As the ship stopped, a tall man dressed in green robes walked out while carrying an expensive looking scroll, and went straight to Madara.

"Who are you and what do you want in my land?" Madara asked with narrowed eyes.

The man simply smiled once he saw Madara, which confused him. 'Do we know each other, mate?' he even raised an eyebrow while staring at the dude.

"We came here bringing you a message," The man said while extending his hand towards Madara so he could grab the scroll and read it himself.

Not wasting time, Madara snatched the parchment and started reading.

A weird shift of emotions appeared in Madara's eyes as he was reading, honestly, he didn't know what he felt… gratitude? Embarrassment? Happiness? Helplessness?

"… This…"

He looked at the man in front of him, and searched his memory for a few seconds until his eyes went wide. "You are… that guy… Gan?..." 

The man grinned. "Aye, it's been a while, Instructor."

"Lao sent you here?" Madara asked incredulously, while watching more and more previous guards that he had trained in the Beifong Estate, the people he tormented, the people that he crushed and transformed into elite soldiers, leave the ship.

Gan just shrugged, and cheekily replied "Well, our contracts ended, and Master Beifong said that it would be better for our careers to be sent here now that the Earth Kingdom entered in a partnership with them, at least you would give us a stable job."

Madara couldn't even understand what was happening and saw Gan chuckling, this prick will feel pain again for sure!

"But yes… Lao Beifong sent us here, but it wasn't just us…"

Gan said while stepping away, giving Madara the view of five people who he hadn't seen in a long while.

"It's been a while, Madara…" a cheeky female voice reached his ears.

"Who would've thought that you saying that you were a Firebender back then was no joke at all?"

.. 

Madara couldn't even reply as he stared at five mature women, wearing heavy green robes and samurai armor, carrying katanas on their waists alongside war fans. "Kira?!"