"That was moving. I think I'm going to cry."
Amid the dust raised by the falling debris, the old man and the two girls saw a silhouette coming toward them, and from its voice, they had no doubt who it was.
"Siu…" growled the Dragon of the West, narrowing his gaze as he watched the general use a thin line of fire to slice through a table and several chairs that were in her path.
With a mocking smile, she blew on her fingers, which were still smoking after that shot. "Your technique for deflecting lightning is a pain in the ass for me."
"What are you doing here?" Iroh asked in a grave tone, knowing that the general's mere presence also meant the possible presence of an entire battalion backing her up.
"On vacation, old man. Seeing places, meeting people... relatives," she said that last word in a way that made Iroh frown.
"What have you done?"
"Bringing the family together for the same cause, something you never managed to do." The firebender's hand flashed with electricity, her disdainful gaze directed at everyone present: the blind brat, the water peasant, and the old dragon. "You are strong, old man, I must admit. Defeating you would be difficult and exhausting, and with those two little bitches trailing behind you, it would make all this even harder. It's a good thing I brought reinforcements."
Behind the fire mistress, they saw two people, two people they knew all too well.
It went without saying that Katara and Toph's blood was boiling at the arrival of the two princes, who stood to the right and left of their aunt, who had a giant smile on her face.
Iroh's reaction was difficult to describe. On one hand, he was serious, very serious, but his eyes seemed to well up with tears when he saw his two nephews accompanying the general.
"Uncle…" the prince was the first of the two siblings to speak, finding it difficult to look his uncle in the eye. "This is our chance to get everything back. We helped take Ba Sing Se. I know our father will forgive us, and everything will be as it was before."
"Please, let's do this together." Azula stepped forward, extending her hand to her uncle. She wished he would take this opportunity; perhaps the day would finally come when the whole family would be reunited.
Katara and Toph awaited the response of the old Dragon of the West. If he were to accept the offer, it would be the downfall of them both.
The silence stretched on as they waited for the answer from the Dragon of the West, who was lost in his own thoughts.
Iroh looked at his hands for a moment.
Were they always so wrinkled?
Shaking his head, he looked up and met his nephews' eyes. "Maybe... I was wrong." With a sad smile, he glanced over his shoulder at the two girls behind him, giving them a reassuring smile.
"Uncle..." Azula tried to say something, but was immediately interrupted.
"You are no different from your father."
Those words were like a knife to the hearts of both siblings, who had no chance to say anything before Iroh raised his right hand, and with just one blow through the air, all hell broke loose.
Half the shop burst into flames.
Siu, Zuko, and Azula were sent flying out the door by the sudden explosion of fire, which shattered the door and several windows and sent them crashing into the street.
Stunned, they got up as best they could, only to see a deadly serious Iroh walking through the flames of the ruined tea shop, grabbing the sleeves of his clothes and tearing them off.
Katara and Toph ran after the Dragon of the West, incredulous at such a display of the true power of fire.
"Go find your friends. I'll take care of them; this is a family matter."
Neither of them was going to contradict him, not after what they had just seen.
"You old fool," Siu grumbled, standing up and dusting herself off. She didn't bother trying to stop the brats; she was only focused on the old man. "Do you really think I would come here if I didn't know that victory was already ours?"
Exactly at the moment that question was asked, the entire city of Ba Sing Se shook.
Everyone witnessed a large part of the wall—a wall one hundred meters thick and almost five hundred meters high—collapse in an explosion that shook the entire city.
Siu's smile widened as she watched part of the wall being destroyed.
The real fun was about to begin.
...…
"Today's class will cover a sensitive topic, so I hope everyone will pay attention."
"Iruka-sensei, that idiot fell asleep again."
Several veins popped out on Iruka's forehead as Ino pointed at a deeply sleeping Naruto, who seemed to be trying to hide the fact that he had been reading a book, when in reality, he was deep in a ramen-related dream, judging by the drool he was leaving on the desk.
With heavy footsteps, the academy teacher arrived at the desk of his most troublesome and noisy student, who was sleeping peacefully in his classroom as if nothing were wrong.
"Hmmm."
"..."
"Ahem!"
"..."
"I said: Ahem!" Iruka's head looked like it was about to explode, judging by the veins throbbing on his forehead.
"Shut your mouth."
"Ha ha ha!"
The other students burst into laughter at that answer. Even asleep, the boy was a headache for Iruka, who took the heaviest book he had in his hands.
"Ouch!" The thud of the book hitting his head was enough to wake him up, and as if on autopilot, he stood up and grabbed the nearest book. "The village was founded by Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara in the year…"
He stopped as soon as he realized that his sensei was not at his desk.
He was about to escape, hoping to have a day off.
He stopped dead in his tracks, faced with a sinister presence looming behind him.
"Do you find my class boring, Naruto?"
"That's true, but don't take it personally, Iruka-sensei. All classes bore me equally."
Bang
A bump grew on the orphan's head as he heard the laughter of his classmates. He couldn't help but laugh too, even though his head hurt; it was good to be the center of everyone's attention.
"You're grounded for sleeping in my classroom! You'll stay after school for a week to clean the classrooms! All of them!"
"Hey! It's not my fault! It's hard to sleep when the witch in charge of the apartments turns off the heater. It's cold at night, and my sheets have more holes than my underwear." He had slept very little during the night and had almost seriously considered making a fire inside the apartment to warm his feet.
"Of course, Naruto, you always have an excuse," Kiba mocked. The blond always had an excuse to try to get attention.
"Stop lying. We all know you have your own apartment."
"Yes, Dad says you even get weekly child support. I bet you spend it on nonsense."
"What I would give to live alone and get paid for doing nothing."
"Yeah, stop complaining so much, Naruto. At least take the trouble to take a bath. Just because you're an orphan doesn't mean you have to stink."
"It's not my fault! I haven't had water for two days! That old woman is making my life miserable!"
"Uzumaki the stinky~"
"Uzumaki the stinky~"
"Uzumaki the stinky~"
"Uzumaki the stinky~"
Several of the children began to sing that in chorus. The boy sank into his seat, obviously very hurt by that treatment, but he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him feel bad.
"That's enough!" Iruka wouldn't tolerate this. Even though his resentment toward the beast within the child was great, he wouldn't let such behavior go unpunished in his class. "If you have the energy to sing nonsense, then you'll have the energy to write me a 50,000-word essay on the First, Second, and Third World Wars!"
"Hey! But we didn't do anything wrong!"
"It's unfair!"
"It's Naruto's fault!"
"You'd better watch yourself, Uzumaki!"
Obviously, the punished children, although not all of them, made up a large part of the class, and they wouldn't wait until after class to teach Uzumaki a lesson.
"SHUT UP!" Iruka had lost his patience, slamming his book against his desk to silence everyone in his class. "If I find out that anyone—anyone at all—picks a fight with Naruto outside of the academy, I'll make sure they're expelled!"
[ If you want to read advance Chapters then go to Pat reon and support me there.
PAT REON I'D:- Alzero ]