The Avatar's Will of Fire

Cries of the Past

"Taro liked the new base.

Whereas the Equalists' former headquarters was stationed on an island, an island which would have been spotted by just about anyone with a small amount of effort, the new headquarters within the vast networks of underground tunnels beneath the surface of Republic City negated that little concern. In addition, the Equalists could now carry out any future operations more effectively.

Overall, he couldn't complain about the place.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about their new 'ally'.

Taro had never liked Hiroshi Sato from what he had read about him in the papers, and after meeting the man, he disliked him even more. To Taro, everything about Sato just screamed weakness.

Well, the businessman was one of their main economic sources, so Taro could put up with him for as long as he had to. Though he still wanted to kill the man every time Sato started talking. Like he was now.

"You assured me that our people would be prepared to fight a war. We haven't even put a dent in our enemy's forces." He said in that self-assured, pompous way that Taro had quickly come to hate.

"My people. Remember that you were the one who came to me." Amon shot back instantly. Apparently Sato tested even his patience.

Sato clenched his jaw, but accepted the rebuke silently.

"And it is not something you need concern yourself with." He continued. "Once you deliver the rest of your weapons, things will change."

It was utterly patronizing, and it served to remind Sato of his place, and the man left as quickly as possible, fists clenching in anger.

It was some of the best entertainment Taro had had outside of a fight in years.

He became serious again when he felt Amon's gaze land on him.

"We're almost ready." He said, and Taro was sure there was a hint of excitement in his voice.  He raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were going to wait a few more months." While he had no doubt they could at least do some serious damage as they were now, he had thought the plan was to wait until they had gathered more of their forces.

"The situation has changed." Amon answered.

Taro had no response to that, and so waited for him to continue.

"The metalbenders have our people," Amon began, and Taro had to fight the urge to grind his teeth at the memory that sprung up so he could focus on what his boss was saying. "I believe we need to correct that."

000

Naruto had to say, the metalbenders had some good training grounds. Maybe not quite as good as the ones back home, but very close.

In fact, they were surprisingly similar to Team 7's old training area. Apparently some things really didn't change, even in different worlds.

He was broken out of his musings when one of his shadow clones charged towards him, kunai drawn and aimed at his throat. Naruto sidestepped and drove a fist into the clone's chest, which would have immobilized any real opponent, but simply caused the clone to disperse.

Which meant now he only had to deal with the eight—formerly twenty—clones remaining.

He wasted no time and dashed to the other clones surrounding him. He would not be using any jutsus or weapons during this spar—aside from the obvious. For now, he wanted to focus on his stamina, speed, and endurance, which for some reason seemed to have weakened a bit ever since he had first come here. He still hadn't worked that one out.