Even though the kyuubi had only been inside the village for less than a minute before the Fourth Hokage teleported it away, the death toll was a staggering ten percent of Konoha's population. Every person knew someone who had died, and grief lingered heavily in the wake of the attack.

Regardless of the losses, the clean-up of the devastation proceeded at a swift pace. An interrogation of Mikoto when she finally arrived home and had a few minutes to spare yielded the information that these demons were actually malevolent spirits that were sealed into people, and that these seals can sometimes malfunction. Without an Avatar to pacify the spirit, Zuko supposed sealing them was the best option they had. He was rather glad that he hadn't voiced his thoughts on why the demon had appeared, as he admittedly may have – only slightly! – overreacted.

Despite the exhaustion the work caused all the people in the village, Zuko was highly impressed with the efficiency of the operation, and it wasn't long before key areas of the village were back in working order. Areas which, unfortunately, included the academy.

The academy was a special kind of torture with the class slowly slogging through a curriculum meant for young children that his over-enthusiastic clan had already taught him. Zuko felt he displayed great patience by lasting a whole week, before caving and sending a shadow clone to attend for him.

Best. Technique. Ever. There's nothing Zuko wouldn't give to have known it during his tenure as Fire Lord.

With his days now freed up, the reborn Fire Lord spent his time working through fire bending katas and creating lightning – a different thing from lightning release.

Bending didn't seem to exist in this world, likely because these people had weaponised chakra instead. Zuko vaguely recalled being told by Aang that unblocking his chakras had involved 'cryptic riddles, a lot of meditating, and too much onion and banana juice'.

In Zuko's opinion, even just the thought of onion and banana juice was too much, but who was he to question the expert?

The chakras Aang spoke of were the nexus points of chi flow, which is how bending works. The chakra they use here was another energy altogether with its own circulatory system; a system that seemed to prevent a person's chi from instinctively reaching out to its element, which was why temper tantrums here didn't result in cracked icebergs and drowned Sokkas.

Zuko was a fire bender and always would be; his chi would connect with nothing else. But now he had the power to mimic the bending that he'd seen preformed using chakra. He was very keen to try some of Katara's water bending dances, Aang's evasive air bending style, and Toph's frankly terrifying earth bending.

Aang was the Avatar, and consequently a monster of a bender to fight. Katara was terrifying as a person, and her bending only augmented her fright-factor. And while Zuko would unabashedly admit to being thoroughly intimidated by Katara, it was Toph's bending that he felt was the most threatening.

Most earth benders were straight forward - they attacked with the earth, they defended with the earth. It was a tool to be used, a weapon to be wielded. Toph however, was frighteningly adaptive and she moved the earth like it was simply another one of her limbs. She didn't attack or defend, there was no line between them to her. She simply moved, and the earth moved with her.

Zuko planned on working through the elements in the order of the avatar cycle, and was in the process of learning to cut a leaf. It was extremely tedious and explained why people simply learned handsign combinations instead of going through elemental manipulation training, but Zuko wanted to learn it properly and anticipated years of work before him. So while he diligently practiced it every day, he took breaks in which he got his fire bending back up to the standard it was before he died.

The winter sun was weakly shining down on Zuko as he stood in the middle of his favourite training ground located on the edge of the Uchiha complex. He sucked in a deep breath before releasing it slowly; green, purple, and red mixed in with the regular yellow-orange flames left his mouth, swirling up in front of him and coalescing into the form of a dragon. He flicked his wrist, a thin streak of flame whipping out and connecting to the head of his creation, and he guided it to fly around him. Another exhale and a second dragon appeared, this one joining in the dance joyfully, like a reunion of old friends.

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Memories of the Dancing Dragon he and Aang learned at the Sun Temple flickered through his mind, and he could almost smell the fresh mountain air, hear the crackle of the Sun Warriors' flames, the flap of the dragons' wings as they flew higher and spun around them in dizzying circles.

Zuko flowed through the steps of the ancient fire bending form smoothly, the dragons he'd created moving in sync until they reached the climax of the dance and they crashed together, dissolving back into formless flames around him before extinguishing.

Eyes opening and memories fading back to the depths of his mind, Zuko straightened and turned to the person who had arrived stealthily and was crouching on a tree.

"Shisui."

The perpetually cheerful Uchiha hopped down and landed silently, shaking his head and whistling.

"Damn Itachi! That's some serious fire style you've got going there!"

Zuko quirked a smile. "It's actually a two-person kata I was preforming. It's not quite the same with one person." He tilted his head in contemplation. "Want to learn?"

His cousin was undoubtedly capable of fire bending, as evidenced by the classic Uchiha tendency for being pyromaniacs of the highest degree.

The best people were, in Zuko's - completely unbiased - opinion.

Shisui bounced excitedly on his feet.

"Hell yeah! But I heard you already tried explaining it to the elders and no one could get it."

Zuko could feel his face scrunch up in irritation at the reminder and waved his hand dismissively.

"They're all old and stuck in their ways. No one really tried to understand. I'm sure you can get it though."

"Hah!" his cousin barked, grinning. "I'd better, or else I'll be the same as those crusty crustaceans, and that's just impossible!"

Shisui's cheer was infectious and Zuko grinned as well.

"Right then, step one. Forget everything you've ever learnt about fire manipulation."

Shisui nodded and straightened his posture, focusing on him with an intense gaze, all traces of his joking demeanour gone. He was already doing better than every Uchiha elder, Zuko thought wryly. So assured of their own knowledge even when faced with evidence that there was another way to do things.

"What is fire? At its core, what is it?"

Shisui thought for a moment. "Combustion?"

"Not quite. You're thinking of how it appears and what it does. What is it at its most basic?"

His eyebrows scrunched together. "Its… heat and light, I suppose."

"Yes. And both are forms of energy," Zuko nodded. "Essentially, fire is the elemental expression of energy. There is energy all around us, and just as nature takes this energy from the sun and repurposes it, we can too. Because we're alive, we also have energy within us. Fire bending is the art of understanding the connection between the fire within and the fire without. Learning to move your inner energy will allow you to guide any flame, any form of heat, whether you create it or not."

Messy black hair bobbed as Shisui nodded in fascination.

"So how do I start?"

Zuko's lip quirked as he remembered his uncle's endless lectures on the topic.

"You start with breathing."

"Right." Shisui took a stance and immediately breathed deeply while Zuko pouted at the complete disparity in Shisui's behaviour and his own at that age.

"Close your eyes, focus on the feeling of the sun on your skin. Feel the warmth heat your body and also feel the warmth of your body heat your surroundings. Just as the sun creates energy, there is also an energy source inside you. Not your chakra, don't touch your chakra at all. It's not the humming under your veins you're trying to feel. It a gentle stream, a flow of feeling, something intangible that you feel in your mind rather than with your senses. Contemplate this energy as you breathe."

Zuko plucked a leaf out of the air as a slight breeze sighed through the trees. A tiny sizzle and a singed hole appeared in the centre of the leaf.

"Power comes from the sun, and you use your inner energy to guide it. Focus on that power as well as on this leaf." He placed the ends between Shisui's fingertips. "A small amount of energy is in it, slowly burning away. Draw power from the sun with your inhale, and metaphorically breath life back into the smouldering edges of the leaf with your exhale."

His cousin continued his slow breathing and Zuko tapped his feet with his own, so they were further apart and planted solidly on the ground.

"Sink into a stable position, yes, like that, and feel your leg muscles work and use energy as they hold you there. Feel the sun and breathe in, guide the flow through your body to your hands. Breathe out, the energy is mingling with the leaf and igniting it."

Silence fell in the clearing, leaving only the faint rustling of leaves and the sound of deep breathing. Zuko slowly worked through his kata as he waited, aiming for perfection rather than speed. The Uchiha trained their children young in fire manipulation, and while it was different from fire bending, fire bending is more instinctive and should come quickly if they know to ignore the ever-present hum of the chakra network. And sure enough –

"Itachi!" Shisui yelped and flailed, his hands brandished in Zuko's direction.

Zuko grinned and laughed joyously, utterly delighted.

"Congratulations, cousin," Zuko smiled at the look of awe and wonder on Shisui's face as he cradled a small flame above his palms.

"You're a fire bender."