Contract

The room was brightly lit, although it was dark and cold outside the candles and braziers inside the room kept a good warm atmosphere as Madara and Lao stared at each other.

"I want to employ your services to work for the Beifong Family for the forseeable future, what do you think?" Asked Lao with a classic merchant smile.

"Interesting" said Madara leaning back on his chair, maintaining silence for at least half a minute, now this became a battlefield, and Madara won't accept defeat here, everything can be used to gain advantages, even silence.

Lao waited but didn't get any response, instead, he kept the silence going, he knew exactly what Madara was trying to do.

Madara kept staring at Lao, then suddenly the corners of his mouth curled up in a smirk "You gotta be more specific than that if you want to do business with me, Mr. Beifong."

Lao closed his eyes and rubbed his chin "I want to hire you to work under my instructions, the period may vary… there are many things that someone with your skills can be put to a good use, and many of our projects and goals will take and undetermined amount of time…"

Madara chuckled "What a lovely way to say a lot and explain nothing at the same time"

Lao shrugged "It's part of being a Beifong, but since I value you that much let's see… I would offer you a 10-year contract, but judging by your expression you wouldn't accept, so let's settle for… 8 years."

Shaking his head Madara replied "3 Years it's my limit Mr. Beifong"

Chuckling, Lao replied "Now you are driving a hard bargain Mr. Uchiha, 3 years is the same as nothing, very few of our projects can be done in such amount of time, if any. 7 Years is the standard time in the Earth Kingdom, we can work with that, right? It's not like you can find a better place that will hire you, others will only see you as a 10-year-old boy, and I doubt anyone can pay nearly 10% of the wage I will be giving you."

Madara suddenly grins as he stares at Lao "Not really Mr. Beifong, you see someone with my talents have the whole world available to them, even if I won't be paid as much, it's not like I will lack opportunities… you See, Mr. Beifong there's something that I am 100% sure that your intelligence network didn't manage to discover about me."

Lao's raised one of his eyebrows, as Madara extended one finger and a small flame ignited on top of his fingertip "I am a firebender… so I will say it again… 3 Years, what's going to be Mr. Beifong?"

The gears inside Lao Beifong's head were turning at mach speed, in not a single report about the Greedy Ghost there was anything related to him being a firebender, in fact everyone, Lao included, believed that Madara was just someone with superb unique martial arts, which was the reason why Lao wanted to hire him in the first place… if on top of his martial arts skills he also had an equal level of proficiency with firebending… his value just soared!

Narrowing his eyes Lao puts Madara in check "Five years and I will double your pay, believe me Mr. Uchiha, this is the best contract ever made in the Four Nation for the past 300 years."

Now it was Madara's turn to narrow his eyes "Oh really? Then let's break that record…" he took an envelope from his robes and handled to Lao Beifong, who was curious.

After opening and reading it Lao frowned "To think that you taught the Kyoshi Warriors and even got a letter of recommendation signed by all of them… you truly know how to do business, Mr. Uchiha."

Madara grinned, that was the letter that Kira handled to him when he was leaving the island that day, he knew it would come in clutch.

"Same offer, also I will add a temporary residence inside the estate for you, we will also offer you resources in case you need it, you won't have to pay for food, drinks, even your clothes will be on us for the duration of the contract, and we will have a dedicated location for your firebending practices away from prying eyes."

Now it was Madara's turn to frown, he wanted a 3-year contract, he wouldn't have much free time if it was longer than that, but Lao's offer… that was not something that he could simply deny, no one would… are you kidding me?!

The silence remained.

"I also want permission to leave the estate for a specific amount of time, I hope that you can sponsor it for me, if you agree then we have a deal related to the duration of the contract."

Lao wasn't amused "You will need more specific than that, how many leaves you want, what type of sponsorship you want, and how long will you be away?"

Madara stopped to think for a bit, then he raised 2 fingers "Two leaves, the first one it's just a fetch trip, I will require a ship and a crew it should take a couple weeks at most."

"If it's just a fetch trip you don't have to go, give me the specifics and I will send my people to retrieve whatever you want to retrieve." said Lao

Shaking his head Madara replied "Won't be possible unless they can climb up the Potala Mountains and reach the Southern Air Temple"

Lao was shocked "You want to go to that abandoned place? And can you even climb up there?"

Madara smirked "Of course I can, I was the one that left that thing up there in the first place."

Then there was silence again, but this time Lao broke it quite fast.

"Sounds fair, what about the second one?"

"Si Wong Desert…"

Lao raised his voice "What?! You want to go to that lawless place? For what?"

"There's an interesting library there that I really want to visit" Madara grinned "This trip should take roughly 2 months though, and you don't have to lend me a crew, resources would be welcomed though."

"If you want books we can get them for you, there's no need to waste 2 months in a trip"

Shaking his head Madara replied "No, you can't… these are my terms Mr. Beifong, the ball is in your court."

Lao narrowed his eyes "If you disappear after going towards that desert and break the contract I will release your information to the Fire Nation, you better not try to trick me Mr. Uchiha."

Madara just shrugged "I don't plan to, only an idiot would cross the Beifong family without an equally scary background, and I can be many things but an idiot I am not."

Lao nodded, although Madara kept his firebending secret, Lao had 100% sure that he didn't have a background to support him, if he had he wouldn't be in his current situation.

"Now that we settled the terms of the duration, lets talk about your obligations."

"I will protect this place with the best of my capabilities, but I won't accept to be sent as an envoy or assassin to do dirty jobs, I will teach your people some of my martial arts, but not all of them, believe me they will be twice as strong when I'm done with them… at least they won't be cannon fodder like those Fire Nation soldiers that came to annoy me during my stay in the swamp."

Gulp. Lao could only stare wide eyed at Madara's proclamation 'Those soldiers are considered cannon fodder? They go to the Fire Nation academy for half a decade to learn the art of battle!!'

But then Madara continued "Of course I am open to side jobs, but let me tell you right here and right now, if you request me to be a bodyguard outside the city of Gao Ling or play babysitter, I will charge 50% extra on top of my wage, how does that sound?"

Lao could feel a cold sweat running down the back of his neck 'h-how did he know?!?!?!?!'

A Sinister grin appeared on Madara's lips "So how about that, deal?"

Lao could only nod "Deal…"

"About my payment…"

"10 gold taels a day."

"Sounds fair… wait what... HOW MUCH?!"

The contract was signed by both parties, Madara was incredibly satisfied with the end results… yes, he would have to stay here for longer than he had planned but at least he would live like a king and be paid like a god, as for his future plans all they needed was to be adjusted to his new timeframe, nothing too serious, sinse one of his goals was to work for the Beifongs in the first place, that was the reason why he requested that letter to begin with.

As he walked out of Lao's office a demonic smile appeared on his face 'all according to the keikaku'.

Lao Beifong could only stare at the back of the 10-year-old boy walking out of his office while thinking 'What the hell are they feeding kids these days?!'