Hello, Drinor here. I'm happy to publish a new Chapter of The Last Woodbender.
If you want to Read 9 Chapters Right Now. Search 'Drinor Patreon' in Google and Click the First LINK
Chapter 48 (Breaking Apart), Chapter 49 (The Princess, The Woodbender, and The Void), Chapter 50 (Aang Alone), Chapter 51 (Half Blind, Full Hearted), Chapter 52 (The Last Boy Avatar), Chapter 53 (Underground Heroes), Chapter 54 (Kill the Boy), Chapter 55 (Let The Avatar Be Born), and Chapter 56 (Blue Flames and Wooden Dragons) are already available for Patrons.
"Naruto!! Oh, thank God!" Toph cried out in relief, her voice breaking as she sprinted toward him. She flung herself into his arms, her face pressing against his chest, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. But Naruto remained motionless, his eyes locked onto the Dai Li agents, Long Feng, and the General. Their faces paled at the sight of his glowing red eyes, which shimmered with a dangerous, almost unhinged smile. Slowly, the crimson in his eyes faded as he blinked. When he reopened them, his right eye gleamed a bright, eerie emerald.
Katara's gaze drifted to Jet's lifeless body, and her breath caught in her throat. Four ice spikes jutted from his neck and back, blood still oozing from his wounds. Even in death, he bled out onto the cold stone. Her eyes filled with tears, and she quickly turned away, unable to bear the sight. She found herself rushing toward Aang, who stood frozen, his expression one of shock and horror at what he'd just done. Without a word, Katara wrapped her arms around him, offering silent comfort.
"Naruto?" Toph's voice trembled, a trace of fear creeping in as she noticed his complete lack of emotion. She could hear his heartbeat, which, much to her confusion, was steady—too steady, considering he'd been stabbed just moments ago. The wound had already closed, leaving behind only a faint burn-like scar in the center of his chest.
"Naruto, we need to leave!" Sokka yelled, rushing over with urgency, ready to drag Naruto away if he had to. Aang remained almost catatonic, barely responding to anything around him.
"No," Naruto's voice was deeper now, as though two voices were speaking in unison.
"Naruto, come on!" Toph pleaded, desperation creeping into her tone. "We don't need to stay here! We have to go!"
But Naruto didn't acknowledge her, his focus locked elsewhere. His hand slammed onto the ground with a resounding crack, and in an instant, trees exploded from the earth, growing at an unnatural speed. Their twisting trunks and sprawling branches wrapped around Aang, Sokka, Toph, Katara, and even the Earth King, lifting them and pushing them outside. The broken and battered walls were soon sealed off by a thick wall of intertwining tree veins. No matter how hard Toph tried to break through them, the wood held firm, unyielding.
"Naruto! What are you doing?!" Toph shouted, pounding the tree barrier, but there was no response.
Inside the now-sealed building, Naruto's gaze locked onto Long Feng and the General. The two men stared back, their fear barely concealed behind steely glares. The Dai Li agents, ready to strike, hesitated under Naruto's growing smirk. Before they could act, Naruto's foot shifted slightly, and the ground erupted with thick vines that wrapped around the General, dragging him screaming into the earth.
In the next instant, a wall of trees shot up, isolating Naruto and Long Feng from the rest of the room and leaving the Dai Li agents trapped outside.
Long Feng surveyed his surroundings, his eyes darting between the walls of trees. His calm facade didn't crack as he turned his gaze back to Naruto. "So this is your plan?" he asked, his voice smooth and calculated. You intend to fight me one-on-one? I thought you were smart enough to choose your battles wisely."
"Not really. The General still has a part to play, and as for your Dai Li agents..." Naruto's voice dripped with menace as he advanced toward Long Feng. "Their time will come soon enough."
Long Feng remained unmoved, his expression calm. "I don't fear death, Naruto. Whatever you think of me, all I want is what's best for this city."
Naruto let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "The best? You think I'm blind? I know what you've done. How many people did you make 'disappear' to protect your precious lie, Long Feng? How many lives in the name of this 'paradise'?"
There was venom in Naruto's voice, but Long Feng's face remained impassive. "I gave them all a choice," he replied coldly. "They could swear never to speak of the war again, and they would live. I relocated them, yes, but they were given a second chance. And those who refused, those who called me a madman? They were sacrifices, Naruto. Necessary sacrifices. So that the rest could live in peace. A small price to pay for paradise."
Naruto's lip curled in disgust, his fists tightening. "You really believe that, don't you?" he said, his voice laced with fury. "That you're some kind of savior. You talk about sacrifice, but what you did was murder. You slaughtered your own people to maintain a lie. A lie that you've wrapped so tightly around yourself that you can't even see how much damage you've caused."
Long Feng's eyes hardened. "And you think you're better than me?" he snarled. "Even if I fall today, people will die because of your and the Avatar's recklessness. Their blood will be on your hands."
"No war is won without sacrifice, Long Feng. I get that. I know people will die, and I feel for them. But this... this lie of yours? It's blinded you. You talk about doing what's best for the people, but you've become their tyrant."
Naruto's voice grew louder, more powerful with each word. "You've killed hundreds to protect a fantasy. People who wanted the truth to come out, who wanted freedom, and you silenced them. You forced everyone in this city to live how you see fit, to follow yourrules. Who gave you that right? Who made you God? You're nothing but a coward, hiding behind walls and pretending you're saving them, but in reality, you're condemning them."
He took another step forward. "Do you really think the Fire Lord cares about his children? The man who burned his own son's face? If you think capturing them will make a difference, you're more delusional than I thought. When Sozin's Comet arrives, your precious walls will crumble, and the Fire Nation will burn this city to the ground. But even if they don't, this place is already rotting from the inside. Civil war is brewing, Long Feng. You can't control people forever. The image of peace you've created will shatter like glass, and Ba Sing Se will fall."
Long Feng's face twisted, his calm composure cracking for the first time. Naruto saw it—the flicker of fear in his eyes.
"You're no hero," Naruto continued, his voice now a deadly growl. "You're no keeper of peace. All you've done is lock people inside a prison of lies while the rest of the world burns. This place isn't paradise. It's a joke, a puppet show. But not anymore. I'm going to tear down the walls of your lies. I'm going to show them all the truth."
Long Feng's expression shifted from fear to fury; his face contorted in rage. "I WILL NEVER ALLOW YOU!" he roared, hurling a jagged rock at Naruto with all his might.
Naruto sidestepped the attack with ease, his eyes never leaving Long Feng. His voice dropped to a menacing whisper. "Long Feng..." he snarled. "You're not walking out of here alive. I'm going to bury you where you stand."
Long Feng's expression barely shifted, though his posture stiffened. "You think you can challenge me here, in my domain? You're nothing but a foolish boy."
Naruto's anger flared. Without warning, he slammed his hands into the ground, and the stone beneath them trembled. Suddenly, thick roots and vines burst from the floor, winding around like serpents as they sought their prey. In an instant, a massive oak tree began to sprout, growing impossibly fast as it cracked the stone floor beneath their feet, its towering form dominating the room.
"This is just the start. You're not getting out of here alive!"
With a swift motion, Naruto made the branches lash out, sharp as spears. Long Feng ducked and rolled, barely dodging as the thick wooden branches slammed into the walls behind him, cracking stone and sending dust flying. He spun around, trying to gather his bearings, but Naruto was relentless. More trees erupted from the ground, their roots spreading like a living maze of death.
"You're slow, Long Feng!" Naruto taunted, his voice filled with venom. "Pathetic. You ruled this place with lies and manipulation, but down here? You're just another insect waiting to be squashed!"
Long Feng's face twisted into a snarl as he dodged another volley of sharp branches. "You're blinded by your rage, Naruto. You are no different from them."
But Naruto wasn't listening. His hands moved in a blur, summoning more and more wood from the earth, filling the room with towering trees and thick, deadly vines. The underground chamber groaned under the pressure, the ceiling cracking as Naruto's wood bending expanded. He made the branches curl around Long Feng, trying to crush him in their grasp.
Long Feng used his own earthbending to block and deflect the attacks. Stones shot up from the ground, forming barriers, but the wood kept coming, relentless and savage. A particularly thick branch smashed through his defenses, slamming him into the wall. He groaned in pain, blood trickling down his forehead.
"Is that all you've got?" Naruto shouted, his voice dripping with disdain. "After everything you've done, after all the people you've hurt, you think you can escape this?"
Naruto raised his arms, and the trees responded, their branches growing jagged, sharp like spears. With a roar, he sent them flying toward Long Feng, intent on impaling him where he stood. Long Feng barely managed to sidestep the attack, but one branch grazed his arm, cutting through his robe and drawing blood.
"You're nothing, Long Feng! Nothing!" Naruto bellowed, his voice raw with fury. "I will kill YOU!"
The walls of the chamber began to crack under the strain of Naruto's power, the sheer force of the woodbending causing tremors to shake the entire underground palace. Long Feng struggled to maintain his balance as the ground beneath him shifted and buckled. He tried to retaliate, raising the stone floor to throw Naruto off balance, but the wood moved too fast, too unpredictably. Naruto's fury fueled his power, twisting and turning, always striking where Long Feng least expected.
Long Feng stumbled again, one of the roots grabbing his ankle and yanking him off his feet. "Look at you, crawling like a worm!" Naruto taunted. "I told you—you're going to die here!"
With a savage motion, Naruto clenched his fist, and the root tightened around Long Feng's leg, dragging him toward the center of the room where a massive tree stood. "Let's see how you like being crushed," Naruto growled, sending more roots to wrap around Long Feng's body, pulling him closer and squeezing tighter.
Long Feng grimaced, his breathing ragged as he struggled against the roots. "You think... this will make you... a hero?" he spat, his voice hoarse. "You're becoming... just like the fire nation..."
Naruto's eyes flared in anger. "Don't compare me to THEM!" he roared, slamming his foot into the ground. The roots tightened further, and the pressure grew unbearable.
Long Feng gasped for air as the wood constricted him. "You're... blinded... by hate..." he choked out, his voice barely a whisper now.
"Maybe I am!" Naruto shouted, the trees growing even more menacing around them. "But you deserve this! You deserve every second of it!"
With a final, savage motion, Naruto raised his arms, and the tree above them shifted, its massive trunk splitting open to reveal sharp, spear-like branches. They hovered above Long Feng, ready to strike the final blow.
"You die here," Naruto said coldly, his voice quiet but filled with venom. "And no one will even remember your name."
As Naruto prepared to deliver the final blow to Long Feng, a sudden tremor shook the underground chamber. The sound of footsteps echoed through the narrow corridors, growing louder and louder. Before Naruto could react, the doors to the chamber burst open, and fifty Dai Li agents stormed in, each one clad in their dark, imposing uniforms. Their faces were emotionless, and their hands were already moving in sync to control the earth beneath them.
Naruto's eyes widened, his fury flaring even hotter as he saw the reinforcements arrive. "You think fifty of you can stop me?" he growled, stepping back as the wood around him trembled in response to his rage. "I'll crush all of you like I'm about to crush him!"
The Dai Li agents moved in perfect unison, their hands glowing as they bent the earth, sending jagged slabs of rock hurtling toward Naruto. But Naruto was faster. With a furious roar, he thrust his hands forward, and thick roots exploded from the ground, intercepting the rocks mid-air. The roots shattered the incoming projectiles, sending debris flying in every direction.
"You're all just throwing yourselves into the fire!" Naruto shouted, his voice booming through the chamber. "I'll break you all!"
The Dai Li responded in perfect synchronization, launching wave after wave of earthbending attacks, trying to pin Naruto down. But he was too fast, too powerful. The trees obeyed his every command, growing thicker, larger, and more savage. He sent entire walls of roots and branches toward the agents, crashing into their formations like a tidal wave.
"Is this it?!" Naruto taunted as he leaped to avoid an earth spike aimed at his chest. "I've met garden gnomes that are scarier!"
Two Dai Li agents were caught in a massive root that shot from the ground beneath them. The wood twisted violently, crushing them before they could react. Naruto didn't stop. More trees erupted from the earth, wrapping around agents, slamming them into walls, and piercing them with sharp, spear-like branches. The chamber shook as the battle intensified, the walls groaning under the weight of Naruto's relentless assault.
One by one, the Dai Li agents fell, their numbers thinning, but they kept coming, more determined than ever. They tried to trap Naruto with earth walls and stone cages, but his woodbending ripped through their defenses like paper. The chamber became a chaotic battlefield of earth and wood, with Naruto in the center, his fury giving him strength.
As he fought, his anger only grew. Every time another Dai Li agent entered the fray, it reminded him of Long Feng's manipulations, his lies, and the pain he caused. Naruto's woodbending became even more savage, the trees growing thicker, the branches sharper. He no longer fought defensively—he fought to kill.
"You think you're protecting something?!" Naruto screamed as he sent a tree crashing through a group of agents, impaling them on jagged branches.
The chamber above them began to crack, the pressure from Naruto's wood bending too much for the structure to handle. Massive roots and branches pierced the ceiling, pushing upward and bursting through the palace above. Stone and debris rained down as the fight raged on, the palace beginning to crumble under the force of Naruto's power.
The Dai Li agents looked up in horror as the ceiling buckled, cracks spider-webbing across the stone. But they had no time to react. Naruto sent another wave of roots surging toward them, smashing through their ranks. The palace above groaned and shifted, entire sections collapsing as Naruto's relentless assault continued.
The fight seemed to last forever. Dai Li agents threw everything they had at Naruto—earth spikes, stone fists, walls of solid rock—but he countered it all. He moved like a force of nature, the wood around him responding to his every command. He pierced through them, crushed them, and shattered their defenses. No one could stand against him.
At long last, Naruto stood alone in the ruined chamber, his chest heaving with exhaustion. Around him lay the bodies of the fifty Dai Li agents, their lifeless forms crushed beneath his trees, impaled by branches, or buried under the rubble of this segment of the destroyed palace. The once grand chamber was now a twisted forest of broken stone and splintered wood, the ceiling entirely caved in, and the right side of the castle had crumbled down, with giant, thick trees sticking out of the rubble.
And there, in the center of the destruction, lay Long Feng. Bloodied, broken, and barely conscious, he looked up at Naruto with wide, fearful eyes. He coughed, spitting blood onto the ground, his body trembling from the pain.
Naruto stood over Long Feng. "You're still alive?" he asked coldly, his voice like ice. "I can change that."
Long Feng, barely able to speak, tried to raise his hand in a futile gesture of defense. "You... don't have to... do this..." he rasped, blood pouring from the corner of his mouth.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. "After everything you've done? After all the people you've hurt?" He raised his hand, and the wood around Long Feng shifted, the roots tightening around his body. "I should have killed you from the start."
Long Feng's eyes were filled with terror as he stared up at Naruto, the realization of his impending death sinking in. He was beaten, broken, and utterly at the mercy of someone who no longer had any to give. "Please, don't harm my Granddaughter. Pleaseee. She. Deserves. A. Good. LIFE." Long Feng gasped out weakly as more blood splurted out of his mouth.
This gave Naruto a little pause; he stopped moving his hand, and the tree stopped closing around his chest, but Long Feng had stopped breathing, his eyes red with blood, and so was his nose and mouth.
Naruto looked down at him before looking at his hands, the blood on his hands. His hands started shaking as he breathed heavily. Then he looked at the bodies around him—too many of them.
It needed to happen. It needed to happen, he told himself. As long as a single one of them lived. There was still danger, they could not be trusted not to stab us in the back.
Naruto thought back at their faces, trying to remember them, but he couldn't. They had no faces, and soon, they would be feasts for worms and crows. Naruto looked around at the carnage.
I caused this; all these people are dead, and I did it, Naruto told himself as he breathed heavily.
I did this, but it needed to happen, he told himself again. His hands stopped shaking, and he felt himself calming down. But as he did, he noticed something that he had not noticed since he had been brought back.
Naruto looked down at the puddle near his feet. His reflection stared back at him, but it wasn't the face he was used to seeing. His right eye glowed a vivid green, the color of fresh grass under a summer sun. His left eye had changed too, no longer the familiar blue, but a cold, pale silver, like the frozen surface of a moon. He blinked, trying to process what he was seeing.
Naruto closed his right eye, and the world around him plunged into darkness. He opened it again, and light flooded back, but when he closed his left eye, nothing changed. Nothing at all.
It's gone, Naruto thought, swallowing thickly. He touched the wound on his chest, and the moment his fingertip touched it, it felt like a trail of fire, and he winced loudly from the sudden pain all over his chest.
Naruto grunted loudly, the burning pain slowly going away but leaving behind a bad memory. Naruto stood back on his feet, reminding himself that now wasn't the time to think about what he had done. He needed...
A sudden gust of wind swept through the place, clearing the dust and debris in a single, powerful motion. Naruto's instincts flared, and he turned his eye narrowing.
A moment later, Aang landed nearby, his airbending keeping him afloat before he touched the ground lightly. His eyes widened in shock as he took in the scene—the crushed bodies of the Dai Li agents, the rubble, and the mangled figure of Long Feng.
"Naruto... what have you done?" Aang whispered, horror filling his voice as he surveyed the carnage.
"It needed to happen," he said, his voice rough and strained. "Long Feng deserved this. They all did. We could never trust them, Aang. The Dai Li agents knew and supported Long Feng's way of doing this. They could not be trusted to fight for us and not stab us in the back, and if we let them go. What if they decide to betray Ba Sing Se and give vital information to the Fire Nation? They would have been a knife in the dark that would stab us in the back when we didn't expect it. I'm sorry, Aang. I really am. I'm sorry it had to come to this. They left us with no choice, and I made the decision. The lives of those you see so that this War can end. If we are unwilling to sacrifice, this war will never end. To achieve victory, we must be willing to give up on the things that make us humans so we can fight the monsters of the Fire Nation.
Aang's face hardened, the shock giving way to anger. "This?" he gestured at the destruction around them. "You call this needed? You've killed dozens of people, Naruto! The palace is in ruins! This isn't the way!"
Naruto's eyes flashed with defiance. "You don't understand, Aang! You never have. You say you will do what is neccary for this world, but deep down you are still the small child that ran away from the air nomads—"
"—And this give you the right to do...THIS. You have become just like those monsters from the Fire Nation." Aang interrupted, his voice filled with sorrow. "Look at what you've done! You let your anger take over, and now... now this is all that's left."
Naruto's expression darkened. "Don't you dare compare me to them," he growled, taking a step toward Aang. "I did what I had to! They were all guilty—"
"No one deserves this! I agreed for you to kill Long Feng and his Captains but I never agreed to butcher the whole agency. How do you think the Earth Nation army here will support us when they learn what we have done to their fellow earth benders. They will think of us no different than the Fire Nation. They will never follow us." Aang shouted, his voice filled with emotion. His eyes blazed with a fury Naruto had rarely seen from the peaceful Avatar.
"You are wrong. The Dai Li agents were all traitors. All of them. They all decided to follow Long Feng and his lie. They all worked with him, willingly, they all kidnapped and killed how many people to keep the lie. They allied with someone who broke the most important law. They killed the very people they were supposed to protect. They all were traitors, and traitors were always punished with death, Aang. It's not cruelty. It's just law. Nothing else. Do you really think the Dai Li agents would be left to live after everything is said and done? They betrayed the king, they betrayed the rest of the Earth Nation. All I did was bring justice and punish them. If you don't want to see it, then crawl back to the Iceberg where you came from."
"No one deserves to die like this, Naruto. Not even them. And if you think killing is the answer, then you've lost yourself."
Naruto snarled, his anger boiling over. "You don't get it, Aang. You're too soft, too naive!"
"Naive? You think you're the only one who's faced evil, Naruto? My people were butchered like pigs, and burned. But this?" He gestured around the room, his voice filled with disbelief. "This is not the way."
Naruto's hands trembled, his frustration mounting. The trees around him stirred as if reflecting his agitation. "I did what I had to!" he shouted. "I'm not like you, Aang. I don't have the luxury of mercy! This war will stab us in the back if we show mercy."
Aang's eyes narrowed, his fury now evident. "Then I'll stop you myself."
Before Naruto could react, Aang shifted his stance, his hands moving fluidly as the air around him began to swirl with incredible force. The wind howled through the air, picking up speed and growing into a whirlwind of power. Aang's expression was one of steely resolve.
"Don't do this, Aang!" Naruto shouted, his own rage surging back to the surface as he braced himself.
But Aang didn't hesitate. With a sharp, controlled motion, he launched a powerful blast of air toward Naruto, its force so strong that it sent debris and rubble around them flying. The whirlwind roared toward Naruto, carrying with it Aang's fury, disappointment, and grief over what his friend had become.
Naruto gritted his teeth, planting his feet as he raised his hands. In an instant, the roots and branches around him sprang to life, twisting and coiling like massive serpents. He sent them forward to meet Aang's airbending head-on.
The wind quickly cut through the wood, and Naruto quickly jumped away. But then, a powerful wind wave collided with him, sending him to the ground. Above him stood Aang, surrounded by a circle of air, and his eyes were glowing.
"I WILL STOP YOU. ONCE AND FOR ALL."
If you want to Read 9 Chapters Right Now. Search 'Drinor Patreon' in Google and Click the First LINK