Chapter-127

His head felt really heavy, and so did the rest of his body.

It took him a while to open his eyes and figure out where he was—lying on the ground among the broken pieces of the house he was thrown into.

The taste of his own blood wasn't nice, but it was better than the pain on his face.

Naruto slowly got up, brushing off the debris, trying to stand up clumsily. He touched his face and immediately winced in pain, feeling a big bruise covering the whole right side.

All from just one hit?

"Naruto!"

Toph's scream made him snap to attention. A shadow covered him, and he jumped out of the way, but it was too late. Looking up, he saw the warrior with a fist just centimeters from his face.

The creaks of Naruto's jaw were nothing compared to how his body crashed through the walls, finally landing in the middle of the street with a thump.

"What's happening?" He couldn't see, couldn't defend himself, overwhelmed by the stranger's strength and speed, even faster than Rock Lee without his weights.

No, even faster.

Naruto turned just in time to avoid being stepped on, refusing to be just a punching bag. Quickly pulling out a kunai, he threw it at his opponent's head.

The weapon broke into pieces on impact, leaving Naruto gasping for air as a fist buried itself in his stomach, making his insides feel crushed.

The Uzumaki's whole body shook from that blow, leaving him on his knees before his opponent, who raised his right hand to finish him off.

"Leave him alone!"

Shòukǔ was barely disturbed when a large rock hit his head. The rock broke into thousands of pieces, and he didn't even have a wound.

Turning his head, the ultimate warrior focused on the blind girl, running up and jumping to hit his feet against the ground.

Immediately, the marked warrior was lifted by a pillar of earth, sent flying hundreds of meters high into the sky, and falling into the distance.

"Toph! Naruto!"

Katara didn't have time to help when a golden fire almost burned her face. She turned around and looked at the general, who had a dark look.

"Let them have fun, as for us..." the firebender's smile grew when several soldiers appeared behind them, one of her best soldiers from the Fire Nation, "Let's have fun-"

*Blow*

Everyone was shocked as one of the soldiers was knocked down by a shot that hit him squarely in the chest.

Katara, Aang, Azula, and Iroh looked in surprise at a serious Sokka, who slowly lowered the gun and immediately began loading it again.

"What? Don't look at me! Fight!" Loading the projectile, Sokka raised the weapon and aimed this time at the general, who had to bend down and use one of her men as a shield to avoid being hurt.

"Kill that bastard!" Siu was not happy that a member of the Water Tribe had one of his nation's weapons and would use it against him.

His soldiers did not hesitate and launched the attack, firing large bursts of fire, which merged to form a tsunami of fire.

Which was responded to by an attack of the same magnitude.

"These old bones will hurt tomorrow morning," complained the old man, who moved his shoulders and made them crack. Calmly, he began to walk towards the soldiers, who stood on guard.

The Dragon of the West was not to be taken lightly.

Everyone saw how Iroh ran against the soldiers, and to their disbelief, the old man shot fire from his feet and propelled himself to fly several meters and fall among them.

Azula smiled when she saw how her uncle fought several soldiers alone, who did not expect the old man to be so good at close-range combat.

"Get down!" Azula reflexively did so, and a jet of water passed over her back, hitting a soldier who wanted to attack her from behind.

For a few seconds, the firebender looked at the waterbender, then raised her right hand and shot a ball of fire, protecting Katara from a wave of fire fired by three soldiers.

They were trapped by ice by Katara, who had to turn her back to Azula. Both girls were surrounded by several soldiers.

"I hope you do more than splash peasant water," the banished princess muttered mockingly, causing blue fire to envelop her hands.

"I don't want to hear that from a crazy pyromaniac." Katara emptied the remaining water from her backpack, creating a sphere that divided into five ice spheres, knocking out helmeted soldiers with the blow.

The counterattack came swiftly. Despite Katara's attempt to create a water barrier, Azula quickly raised a dome of blue fire, shielding them from the soldiers' shots.

"Take my cantinflera!"

Katara took the cantinflera from Azula's belt, released the water, compressed it, and knelt on the ground.

"Lower the barrier!"

Azula complied, and facing a barrage of attacks, a jet of water shot out, hitting soldiers, and the compressed water hit others, incapacitating them.

The soldiers stood no chance against the two skilled benders.

In a tense silence, Azula dryly remarked, "This doesn't change anything," receiving an equally cold response from Katara, "No change anything."

As the last standing soldier prepared a final attack, a bullet from Sokka on a distant roof knocked him down, saving the day.

That was Intense.

Sokka held his gun tightly, lifted by Aang's miniature tornado away from the golden flames.

Lowering Sokka, Aang focused on Siu, displeased with the defeat of her supposed elite soldiers. "The quality of these soldiers is worse every year," she grumbled, contemplating punishing the Fire Lord for providing useless soldiers.

"I recommend you retreat, Siu, don't force me to kill you," advised Iroh, having easily dealt with the last soldier.

The fight resumed, and the old man prepared to confront the golden flame general. If Iroh had to choose between his niece and sister-in-law, he'd protect his family.

"I don't remember you being so arrogant, decrepit old man," Siu stepped off the armored train, taunting Iroh, "That's the problem with the powerful; they think they're on top of everything. You were once the greatest soldier our nation had, but look at you now... taking care of a little failure."

Azula clenched her fists, held back by her uncle's hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have a chance. We are five against one. Please surrender," Avatar Aang requested, but Siu wore a sinister smile.

"I always had a vision that the Avatar would be wiser... also more imposing," she taunted, flames engulfing her hands, "Isn't this fun? We have the best of each nation here!"

"Why does she seem so confident and arrogant in her current position?" Everyone wondered, feeling uneasy about Siu's demeanor.

"We have one of the best and perhaps last waterbenders of the Southern tribe!" Siu pointed to Katara, who had a water ring spinning around her, "One of the most talented firebenders we've seen in centuries!"

Azula narrowed her gaze, hands ready to attack.

"To the Dragon of the West! A legend that left his name marked in history!" Iroh was pointed out, "And finally, to the last airbender! The Avatar! So much talent and greatness gathered in one place, I feel so small and irrelevant before you."

"Hey! What about me?!" Sokka felt offended.

"And who are you?"

"I'm Sokka! A warrior of the—"

"I don't care." Siu cut off Sokka, enjoying his frustrated look.

"What are you playing, Auntie?" Ignoring Sokka, Azula gave her aunt a piercing look.

"Isn't it obvious, niece? I'm not like you, quite the opposite..." Siu's smile faded, her expression turning colder, "The golden fire among firebenders is a weakness. It burns poorly when in contact with oxygen, producing less heat and more carbon dioxide, affecting me more than I'd like with extended use."

"And why do you say this like it's nothing?" Azula knew about these details of firebending; her father had always praised her for having the most destructive and hottest flames.

"Why? I transformed my greatest weakness into my greatest strength."

Everyone watched in astonishment as Siu shot a thin line of golden fire toward them, hitting Sokka. His weapon shattered, and flames hit his chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Sokka!" Katara was horrified. She threw water to extinguish the remaining flames on his chest.

"Hmm... the weapon prevented it from going through him." Siu shrugged it off, uninterested in Sokka. "You're a bitch!" Enraged, Katara attacked with a compressed jet of water, but Siu easily dodged and propelled herself against her three opponents.

They didn't hesitate to attack her.