Quite so ti had passed since Kahn's last visit to the Royal Palace.
Now, out in the training courtyard of Kahn's ho, Kahn and Azula were locked in an intense back-and-forth exchange.
To be precise, it was a back-and-forth exchange of pure dodging.
Although Kahn was making rapid progress under Uncle Iroh's tutelage, he still hadn't entered the advanced stages of Firebending training.
Until he mastered the complex variations of Firebending, it would be impossible for him to directly contend with Azula's raw power.
However, he wasn't the only one who was rapidly improving.
Azula, an undisputed Firebending prodigy, was naturally progressing as well.
The advanced Firebending variations Azula had unintentionally mastered were certainly much more powerful than basic Firebending.
However, they also required much larger physical movents.
This indirectly slowed down her attack speed and created more montary openings in her defense.
Nevertheless, Azula's natural agility and her incredibly strong combat talent compensated perfectly for these minor shortcomings.
To any outside observer, this enhanced version of her Firebending would seem entirely flawless.
However, when facing Kahn, who had honed his evasion skills to their absolute limit, her flexibility suddenly seed insufficient.
Her tiny weaknesses were once again fully exposed.
This was exactly why she hadn't been able to land a single solid hit on Kahn during their previous spars.
After finally understanding this crucial flaw, Azula began to study basic Firebending forms with much greater seriousness.
Consequently, she imdiately began to suppress Kahn in combat once again.
Now, Azula's attacks no longer consisted entirely of overwhelmingly powerful Firebending blasts.
Instead, she preferred to break through his defenses using rapid, basic Firebending strikes.
She would then seamlessly transition into powerful Firebending to inflict actual damage.
She even began incorporating subtle feints to completely mislead Kahn's judgnt, heavily disorienting him at first.
Azula was not only a Firebending prodigy, but also a terrifying combat genius.
If Kahn hadn't been actively receiving Uncle Iroh's expert guidance, Azula's new combination of attacks would have easily crushed his forr self.
But even with his training, the sheer pressure Kahn felt when fighting Azula suddenly skyrocketed.
She allowed him absolutely no room for carelessness.
He could no longer simply rely on his shaless, mindless dodging tactics when completely outmatched.
He was finally forced to truly fight back properly.
Fortunately, as he continuously mastered fundantal Firebending, Kahn's own attack patterns also beca rich and varied.
Coupled with his highly flexible footwork, he could even launch unpredictable and precise counterattacks while actively dodging.
Facing Kahn's sharp counterattacks, Azula could no longer simply ignore them.
She had to actively dodge or defend against his strikes as much as possible.
And whether Azula chose to dodge or defend, the action inherently disrupted her relentless attack rhythm.
This briefly gave Kahn so desperately needed room and ti to maneuver.
So, the two young benders managed to maintain a fragile, high-speed balance, and it was entirely unknown who would be the first to break it.
"So amazing..."
Zuko couldn't help but swallow nervously as he watched the two of them ferociously fight.
Compared to these two monsters, his own Firebending seed like absolute child's play.
Azula's terrifying skill was one thing, but wasn't Kahn's rate of progress entirely too fast?
Uncle Iroh, standing quietly beside his nephew, also sighed with deep emotion.
"Young people nowadays truly are..."
Judging solely from the lethal combat skills and advanced strategy displayed in their current spar, many fully grown adults couldn't reach this level.
Even the professional instructors from the Royal Firebending Academy would probably feel deeply ashad watching this.
He tried to think carefully about what his own Firebending level had been at their exact age.
Never mind, he couldn't quite rember.
It should have been similar to theirs, Uncle Iroh thought shalessly to himself.
"Uncle Iroh, am I really as untalented in Firebending as Father says?"
"Am I really just a good-for-nothing?"
Because Kahn and Azula's intense battle was so utterly astonishing, Zuko actually began to deeply doubt his own worth, rapidly losing all his confidence.
"Of course not, Prince Zuko; you are already very good."
"It's just that those two... are a bit special."
Uncle Iroh affectionately ruffled Zuko's hair, sighing internally at the heavy hardships the young prince faced.
Who could have ever predicted that two absolute monsters like Azula and Kahn would appear at the exact sa ti, and even end up actively grouping together?
Growing up in the direct shadow of these two prodigies, one could easily imagine the crushing pressure Zuko would have to endure.
However, he firmly believed that Zuko's resilient character would carry him through.
As the old saying goes, blessings and misfortunes are deeply intertwined.
With Kahn and Azula acting as his seemingly insurmountable goals, as long as Zuko could withstand this imnse pressure, he would certainly grow to be even more outstanding in the future.
"If you truly don't want to be left behind by them, then you will simply have to work much harder from now on."
Uncle Iroh smiled warmly.
"Understood!"
Zuko responded firmly; he had indeed been deeply stimulated by this harsh reality check.
Moreover, Uncle Iroh harbored a secret hope for the distant future.
When Zuko inevitably beca the Fire Lord, Kahn and Azula would definitely serve as his strongest and most trustworthy allies.
Thinking of this grand possibility, Uncle Iroh looked back out at Azula in the training arena.
If it had been in the past, he probably wouldn't have dared to include Azula in that hopeful vision.
But now...
Uncle Iroh revealed a deeply knowing smile.
This massive shift in destiny would entirely depend on Kahn's future performance.
When he and Kahn had secretly talked about Azula before, he honestly thought they were just playing together normally.
He never expected their unique relationship to develop so quickly.
That was entirely true; ever since Zuko's movents were no longer restricted, Azula's flagrant wall-climbing behavior had beco even more brazen.
Originally, she would actively hide from Uncle Iroh and only sneak over to see Kahn when the old man wasn't around.
But now, she seed far too lazy to even bother hiding.
She would directly climb over the courtyard wall right in front of Uncle Iroh and Zuko's thoroughly astonished gazes.
Aside from their initial shock, only Zuko had briefly argued with Azula about it before finally just accepting it.
Uncle Iroh didn't even utter a single word of complaint.
He simply directly welcod Azula to the house on Kahn's behalf.
Huh?
This is my house, okay?
Why are all of you acting so incredibly familiar?!
And a literal Royal Princess is secretly climbing over civilian walls and sneaking out of the Royal Palace; aren't any of you going to do sothing about this?!
Facing Kahn's completely justified internal accusations, Uncle Iroh simply laughed heartlessly and claid he couldn't control the youth.
anwhile, Zuko just looked at Kahn with a highly strange, sympathetic expression.
Azula was even less polite.
She directly gave Kahn a highly annoyed, forceful kick, although he easily dodged it.
Damn it, there is absolutely no justice in this world!
Regardless of Kahn's dramatic reactions, his quiet life slowly began to change.
Gradually, besides just Azula, Uncle Iroh, and Zuko, even Mai and Ty Lee were frequently brought to his house to play.
His family had once been quite prosperous.
Their private courtyard wasn't massively large, but it certainly wasn't small either, and it had absolutely everything one could possibly need.
Although it couldn't even begin to compare to the opulent courtyards inside the Royal Palace, or the super luxurious noble estates with their own ornantal turtleduck ponds, it had one massive advantage.
It was infinitely freer.
While the Royal Palace courtyards were massively large, the constant, oppressive thought of palace servants and Royal Guards lurking everywhere, combined with the terrifying presence of the new Fire Lord Ozai whom no one liked, invisibly made everyone feel deeply constrained.
The most important aspect of Kahn's humble courtyard was that there were absolutely no palace servants, no Royal Guards, and no Ozai.
Everything could be done exactly as one pleased, and this liberating feeling was incredibly good.
These naive, energetic young ladies even spontaneously started aggressively cleaning his house as if it were a fun ga.
Besides Kahn's original bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, and even the storage areas were all thoroughly cleaned and completely reorganized, looking brand new.
They eagerly discussed exactly what kind of room they wanted to transform into what, completely treating Kahn's civilian house as their own personal secret base.
Even Uncle Iroh beca highly interested in the renovation project.
He happily prepared to convert one of the empty spare rooms into his own personal, dedicated tea room.
But Kahn actually didn't dislike this sudden, chaotic invasion.
Because his quiet ho had finally beco lively once again.
It was finally filled with the warm, comforting presence of human life.
And this feeling was surprisingly good.
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