Power, once seized, must be sorted.
That was the lesson Ba Sing Se had taught me.
The Dai Li were not an army in the traditional sense. They were an idea—fear given structure, loyalty enforced through secrecy. Left unchecked, they would fracture. Left unexamined, they would betray.
So I examined them.
One by one.
I walked their halls slowly, hands folded behind my back, posture relaxed. No threats. No bending. No visible intent. Just presence.
They didn't know it—but I already did.
Blood told me everything.
I could feel it now, effortlessly. The subtle rhythm inside every body. The way it shifted when someone lied. The hesitation in flow when fear crept in. Even those who hid—behind walls, behind breath-control techniques, behind false calm—were illuminated to me as clearly as lanterns in darkness.
I didn't need to look.
I didn't need to move.
Sitting calmly, standing idly, even facing away—I could reach them. A gentle constriction. A reminder. Not enough to injure. Just enough to assert reality.
Kneel—or freeze.
Most knelt.
A few resisted.
Those were removed.
Not publicly. Not dramatically. They simply… stopped being part of the Dai Li. The organization adapted instantly, like a body shedding diseased tissue.
When I was finished, there was no doubt left in the system.
Loyalty was no longer enforced.
It was assumed.
Only then did I visit the Earth King.
The palace was as untouched by truth as ever—ornate walls, gentle servants, a ruler wrapped in ignorance like a ceremonial robe. He greeted me politely, unaware that the most dangerous man in his kingdom had already been erased.
We spoke calmly.
Of stability.Of peace.Of Ba Sing Se's future.
Then I met his eyes.
The Sharingan turned.
Memories shifted like sand.
Long Feng did not disappear—he was simply… replaced.
In the Earth King's mind, it had always been me. The advisor who had guided him. The voice that warned of threats. The hand that steadied the city through uncertainty.
No gaps.
No confusion.
The mind accepted the correction willingly.
When it was done, the Earth King smiled warmly.
"I'm glad you're here," he said. "Ba Sing Se has never felt safer."
I inclined my head respectfully.
"Of course, Your Majesty."
When I left the palace, the city felt different.
Not louder.
Not brighter.
Quieter.
Like a machine that had finally stopped rattling.
Ba Sing Se still believed in its walls.
Still believed in its traditions.
Still believed it was free.
And in a way—it was.
Because now, the hands guiding it were steady.
I stood atop one of the inner walls that night, looking out over the sleeping city, its countless lives flowing beneath me like blood through veins.
This was not conquest.
This was integration.
And when the Avatar finally returned—
He would find a world already shaped.
Not by chaos.
But by design.