Assassin!Zuko + Zutara
Have any of you guys come across Assassin!Zuko stories or even posts about why it makes so much sense?? If not, you should really check them out and then come back and write fanfics for this trope but making them Zutara instead. I would do this myself but unfortunately I suck at writing stories.
First let me give the gist behind this trope. We all love writing about Blue Spirit Zuko. Even without his firebending, he is by no means helpless. He has masterful control over blades such as the dual dao and knives. He is insanely acrobatic, can scale all kinds of structures with relative ease, excellent at hand to hand combat, especially with his kicks capable of shattering metal chains and large tables. He shows amazing endurance under stressful situations such as when he swam in the frigid waters of the tunnels to break into the Northern Water Tribe. He is just great at stealth operations like when he broke into Pohuai stronghold that was considered impenetrable and guarded by the elite yuyan archers.
There is the fact that no one seems to know Zuko has such skills which is why no one even considers him being the wanted Blue Spirit. Also his mother Ursa came from a florist family and it is mostly believed that she is the one who killed Firelord Azulon. So this too fits in with the vibe.
These are only few of the points. Let me link some posts that explain the thought process in more details.
Assassin Zuko by the-turtleduck-pond on tumblr
Another tumblr post that lists all of Zuko's insane skills
There are about 27 fics on AO3 centred on this premise. You can look up the Assassin!zuko tag to find them. Some of them are incomplete, some are Sokka/Zuko and rest are general fics.
My favourite out of them is this series of loosely connected stories by LizaGreen
The premise for this set of stories is based on the fact that initially Zuko was fourth in line for the Fire Nation Throne and that Firelord Azulon was more cunning than both Ozai and Iroh ever thought. The throne was supposed to go to Iroh followed by his son Lu Ten. Zuko being so far removed would probably have not received the same sort of education in navigating politics and courtly ordeals that the Crown Prince would be tutored in. So what if Firelord Azulon had instead had Zuko and a few OCs trained in other forms of arts, perhaps by Master Piandao to form an elite band of deadly guards loyal to Lu Ten for when he eventually takes charge. Training that was kept under wraps from both Ozai and Iroh. Ozai who never paid that much attention to Zuko when his firebending didn't progress the way he wanted and ofc Iroh being away on military campaigns. With the siege of Ba Sing Se, many of those plans were ruined. Iroh, in his grief abdicates the throne and Azulon, who had always suspected Ozai's usurping nature puts a contingency plan in place. These are the basics. I won't spoil any more of the fun.
The fics in this set really expand on the lore in interesting ways, introducing different clans and sects and the Fire Nation Politics of it all is delicious. It is fascinating to see how a Zuko with this kind of background would navigate the events of ATLA. You should definitely check these out.
My only gripe with this series in particular is the way Katara is treated. Since it's an AU, in many of the fics Zuko never joins the gaang and the events unfold in a different way. So the beautiful friendship between Katara and Zuko never develops the way it did in the show, which definitely explains the sheer animosity Katara shows towards Zuko. However, I do think some of them are a bit too harsh.
The Assassin!Zuko tag in general is lacking in the Zutara department and I am left daydreaming of the possibilities of combining such unique background for Zuko with Zutara.
Basically, all of this is to say, all the talented writers of the Zutara community, if you like the idea of Zuko being initially trained to be an Assassin, please bless us with more fics that mash this with Zutara!!! I am starving!