Beifong

Madara was silently standing in front of a pile of corpses, staring at each one of them with a neutral expression and his sharingan glowing red in the dark, some scorched, some mutilated and some with a precise cut on their arteries, those didn't suffer much.

He was considering the information that he got from Captain Zhang, the only middle-aged man on the platoon, how did he get information out of them? Well by false promises of living of course, he is no Kyoshi Warrior, he won't follow his word in every situation… not only that, who will tell the others about it? Not a single soul. 'heh'

"So, they already started the early preparations for the siege of Ba Sing Se, huh? Not only that… it seems that I became quite a high-profile target now, is better to retire the 'Greedy Ghost' persona and stop my looting, I don't need more money and even if I did, I wouldn't risk it anymore, this was only the first of the many waves of problems that I would have to endure if I keep doing this…"

Walking around and collecting the kunai lodged on the soldier's corpses he can only sigh 'I really wished that there was a way to create storage seals in this world… carrying only 30 kunai is too few, but having too many of them will not only restrict my movements, will also weight a lot on my body…'

"Phew" cleaning his forehead's sweat with the sleeve of his kimono "This was tiresome but nowhere nearly as demanding as my duel with Lana… it just proves that one Kyoshi Warriors is way more dangerous than a Platoon of Fire Nation clowns… these people are the stormtroopers of the Avatar World after all."

Looking around the huge trees surrounding the massacre site he could only let out an exasperated sight 'Now to collect all these kunai and wires back… damn they don't tell you that detail on Naruto, do they? For fuck's sake…'

As he kept thinking with his head low, seemingly looking at the dead, a muffled sound… almost imperceptible… reaches his ear.

Crack.

Madara spins without thinking twice sending two waves, of five kunai each, towards the general direction of the sound.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIII

Mid travel the second wave hits all the kunai on the first wave, making them change direction.

Ting, Ting, Ting, Ting, Ting.

The Kunai with wires attached travels through the swam, the wires rotate around tree branches and trunks, shifting their trajectory slightly once again. That's when he hears a male voice from behind the trees, roughly 600 feet away from him.

"What the… Ugh!" that male voice again, surprised this time…

Keeping one arm fully stretched with many metal wires wrapped around his fingers, he quickly pulls them.

".. I-I can't move..." The voice is still low and muffled but Madara can now feel the fear of that person.

It was a very muffled voice but he heard it, he didn't know who it was, he didn't change his original posture, hell, Madara managed to do all that while still staring at the bodies while contemplating something.

"It seems I caught a little rat…." He grins and slowly turns around and with his other hand he throws a single Kunai, the wire seemed to come out from inside his sleeve.

The kunai traveled in fast speed towards the target, but when Madara's sharingan captured a single tiny detail of this rat's clothes, his pinky moved in a circular manner and extremely fast, sending a wave through the wire that slightly changed the direction of the kunai.

TUD.

The kunai sinks on a tree trunk, one side of the blade dripping blood that shined like rubies under the moonlight.

"YELP!" the sound echoes through the eerie silent swamp.

Madara slowly walks towards the source of the sound in slow and steady steps, until he finally manages to see a man hanging a few inches from the ground, with his limbs in X position, having metal wires rapped around each one of them, and another metal wire around his neck.

"Good evening my little rat friend"

The man looked like to be mid-20s, had a long blackish brown hair tied on a low ponytail and no bangs, he also had a slightly deep cut on his left cheek with the blood still flowing out.

The man felt dread when he saw those glowing red eyes staring at him, as if they were ready to claim his soul and send it to eternal damnation.

Gulp "H-Hello ther-"

He got interrupted when Madara pulled on of his fingers a tiny little bit more and the wire around his throat tightened.

"Tell me, rat, why are you spying on me?" he grins sinisterly "Do you want to dance too?"

The man mustered all his will to shake his head from one side to the other, answering on a raspy voice due to the wire around his throat.

"N-NO M-MR. GHOST. SIR!"

"Hoh? It seems you know a bit too much for my liking, it's better to settle your permanent residence here then…."

The man's body shook "N-NO P-PLEASE! I… I WAS SENT TO FIND YOU!"

Madara raised a snarky smirk "Oh yeah? So were they…" he said, looking over his shoulder towards the pile of corpses a few hundred feet away.

The man was sweating buckets at this point, he was so afraid of his possible outcome that even the nasty cut on his cheek made him feel pain.

"N-NO, J-JUST LISTEN, P-PLEASE, I WAS SEND BY M-MASTER BEIFONG TO F-FIND YOU!" he yelled.

Madara was surprised, raising one of his eyebrows "Master Beifong? As in... Lao Beifong?"

"D-do you k-know about the Patriarch of Beifong family?" asked the man shocked. The Beifong family was very high profile yes, but the name of the patriarch was only known by people of the high society.

Madara got a bit pissed and pulled his fingers a tiny bit again. "Answer the damn question, rat!"

"Y-YES, ITS MASTER LAO BEIFONG!!!" he yelled the top of his lungs.

Madara nodded "And what does the esteemed patriarch of the Beifong Family wants?"

"HE... HE SAID HE HAD A DEAL FOR YOU... THAT YOU WOULDN'T REGRET!"

Madara could only smirk 'Would you look at that… when God closes a door, he truly opens a window….' He nodded "Alright then, you will live… for now" moving his hand he loosened the wires tying the man.

He man went on his knees and coughed for a whole minute before calming down "D-do you believe me? Just like that?"

Madara pointed to the flying boar sigil on the man's robes "That is the sigil of the Beifong Family, I just didn't know your intentions… if you didn't have that sigil on you… "quickly pulling his other hand and another kunai flew back to his grasp, this one was partially stained in blood "It wouldn't be just a cut on your cheek…"

The poor man could only thank his wife for demanding that he wore his best robes when doing this job, she said he needed to display the elegance of the Beifong family when dealing with other people, that woman is a genius! I will send her for a whole week spa on the hot springs free of charge!

Madara turned around. "Alright let's go"

The man was confused "But... Mr. Ghost Sir, Gao Ling is the other way…"

"Who said anything about going to Gao Ling? Its time to collect my weapons back."

The man saw enlightenment "Oh! I see you will collect your things before going!"

Madara snorted "I won't be doing a thing!" he tossed the man a small bag "You are… now go... chop chop… we can't let Lao Beifong waiting can we?" He said with a charming smile, but all the man could see was a devil's smirk.

GULP.

As time passed the poor man had to climb trees, walk on muddy waters and crouch under bushes to recover all his kunai and wires, he couldn't stop sweating feeling Madara's blood red eyes staring on his back all the time.

Madara on the other hand was confused, this man's face and voice… he saw it before… it was way too familiar.

"HEY!" he shouted.

The man trembled and straightened his posture "Y-yes?"

"Your face looks familiar and I seem to recognize your voice… have I've threatened you before?" Asked Madara with a curious and suspicious gaze.

"N-No sir! This is the first time we've ever met Mr. Ghost Sir!"

Madara could only nod "Ok, go on… "

Time passed and all the kunai and wires were already inside the pouch that was handled back to him, that's when something in Madara's head clicked and his eyes widened 'This man… he looks and sounds a lot like Jackie Chan!' he couldn't help but grin.

"Alright, Mr. Ghost… everything is properly recovered, shall we go to Gao Ling now?"

Madara shook his head "No, no… I have many things in my hideout, if I'm leaving the swamp, I'm taking all of it with me… come, follow me… this way Jackie"

The man could only follow "But… s-sir my name is Lei."

Madara just shrugged "Whatever you say Jackie, lets quicken the pace… can't keep your beloved Master Beifong waiting."

And just like that poor Lei became a pack mule, carrying all of Madara's loot for miles, the poor man's legs were already trembling and sore when they finally arrived at the Beifong estate, it took them a week to reach there by foot.

Madara didn't have a problem with the idea of bringing his loot here, the Beifongs were FILTHY RICH, they wouldn't bother about some petty pocket changes that consisted his full 'wealth', to them… what he earned in half year was less than their daily profit.

He was well received, first they led him to a guest house… or at least that's what they called it… for him though? This was a fucking palace! 'God fucking dammit! Who said that money can't buy happiness!? Shoot that guy!'

After taking a shower and putting on clean robes he was led to the main building of the Beifong estate, he had to admit, this place was a work of art… it felt like a xianxia clan house, perfect gardens, beautifully decorated koi ponds, all so clean and sparkly that it felt like another world for him.

The maids led Madara towards the office where Lao Beifong would receive him, once they reached the door, they heard a youthful but imposing voice.

"Come in."

The servants left and Madara stepped inside the office. 'Okay now these people are just showing off…' rolls and rolls of scrolls on bookshelves that not only had extremely detailed carvings, but also had gold ornaments as extra details, a long desk with piles of documents and gold teals, many shelves made of carved wood with golden handles behind the comfiest looking sofa chair ever, and the fanciest fucking rug he ever saw in his life 'are these threads made of gold?!'

Madara calmed himself and walked towards the desk, behind it sat a man with brown eyes and a long black hair 'heh, it seems he still uses a 'youngster' hairstyle, well he should be roughly 20 years now give or take'. The Man had a slightly tanned skin, he wore long palace robes in shades of yellow and gold, with some green details here and there.

"Hello there, Mr. Greedy Ghost, welcome to my humble estate."

Madara could only use his full willpower to not roll his eyes at that comment 'this fucking prick…' taking a deep breath he sat down facing Lao Beifong.

"Madara, my name is Madara"

"Oh? So, its Mr. Madara then? Or do you have a family name?"

Madara could only stop a few seconds to consider if he should openly say about his family, it was a big deal in the Avatar World, after all, you could count on one's fingers how many characters had a family name.

"Uchiha" was all he said.

"Very well then Mr. Uchiha, i sent one of my servants to find you in the Foggy Swamp a few weeks ago, honestly, I thought that he would take way longer."

Madara could only shrug "There was a small party happening in the swamps the night that Jackie showed up, I think he just followed the sounds."

"Jackie?" Lao raised one eyebrow but quickly dismissed it "Anyway, as you should already know, the Fire Nation is on your tail, your bounty was set for 200 Gold Taels for anyone that could lead them to you, not only that they are searching every village and town on the southeast side of the Earth Kingdom for you, in a month at most they will make a perfect barricade around the area to trap you inside"

Madara was rather surprised, not at the Fire Nation's action because he already considered that possibility, but at the Lao Beifong's intelligence gathering "And what I'm here for? I honestly doubt that you would go through so lengths for merely 200 gold taels."

Lao could only smirk "You are right, we don't need to spend that much time and effort for such tiny amount, but I consider you way more valuable than the gold they offer, you see Mr. Uchiha, the Fire Nation had plans, plans that were slightly pushed back by your actions. They won't accept that at all, if captured you will serve as deterrence and example to the population, you know what I mean right?"

"Public execution." Madara said understandingly.

Lao nodded "You are a smart young man Mr. Uchiha, although other's might see you as a young boy, me along anyone that resides on the top of their respective fields can see what's bellow the surface, you are a good future investment and we the Beifongs have an offer for you. You will be obviously well paid for you assistance and we will provide something that no one else can, a trustworthy alibi."

Madara noded "I'm listening"

Lao smirked "Tell me Mr. Uchiha, how good are you in doing business?"

Madara smirked back "Oh… you have no idea…"