The scene of the disaster was, in brief, chaotic. A visual and auditory cacophony of chaos: raging fires, bleating animals, coughing, wheezing civilians hauling themselves through Daisuke’s bucket brigade or out of the village to safety. The visual spectacle of Shigure’s clone conjuring a massive Rasengan to protect the vulnerable Azarea and Koji alongside Eri’s puppet; the Jinchuuriki in all seven of her glories, her chakra arms moving in a blur as she worked with Daisuke and Sengo to put out the raging infernos as quickly as possible. Shigure barrelled through broken homes, his Eagles circling overhead as they pulled out body after body, survivor after survivor; Azarea’s massive swarm of Kikaichu flitting deftly around what flames still lingered to show those who were helping who still needed to be saved. Yaki and Okingshi toiled in sweat and darkness, dragging as many bodies free of the debris as they could, hoping to put those tormented souls to rest instead of letting them rot in the dark. Shosuke’s work was mechanical, repetitive: diagnose, set, bind, wash, plaster, hydrate, delegate. Rinse, repeat. The flood of scared, injured civilians seemed endless—too much for Shosuke to handle, even with the scant few volunteers he had to assist him.
It would be Shosuke, in his forward position outside of the village, who would first hear the signal. A loud
pop in the distance, and a column of vibrant orange smoke took to the heavens some distance away: reinforcements approaching.
A minute later, Kizumi tore past the medical tent. She overshot by a good few yards, twisting in place to adjust her direction, and let herself into Shosuke’s work station.
"This is—” Her eye was widened, the sweat of exertion dripping down her face and neck. Whatever she was going to say about the severity of the situation died in her throat; there was no point, and no time.
"There’s a team of med-nin and medical assistants right behind me. They’ll expand your station and take the critically injured to the hospital in Magamachi. I’ve already sent word, they’re preparing to receive the wounded now. Shosuke—” She smiled, a grim, flat thing, and pressed a flask of water and a food pill into his hands.
"Take a break, love. You’re doing great.” She clapped the boy once on the shoulder and took off again. One handseal, and two shadow clones poofed into existence at her side; once they were through the village gates, the three Kizumis dispersed, each searching for different parts of the rescue team.
As promised, almost ten minutes behind Kizumi, a team of six med-nin and some dozen civilian assistants with carts and supplies rolled into view of Shosuke’s station; they got to work immediately on arrival, loading the carts up with those in critical condition that Shosuke had stabilized, and setting up cots and more long-term infrastructure for caring for those more minorly afflicted.
Between Kiho, Daisuke, and Sengo’s efforts, the fires had been all but completely quenched; what few small embers remained posed no threat to anybody.
The first of Kizumi’s clones stopped close to the entrance of the village, waving her arms to get the airborne Kiho’s attention. At the same time, she tried to flag down Sengo and one of the several Daisukes running around; checking them over, passing out flasks of water and food pills, encouraging them, letting them know that reinforcements were on the way.
The second of Kizumi’s clones flashstepped to the opposite side of the village, where only smoke and the dusty remains of homes and the people who loved them remained. She found Yaki and Okingshi there, working in tandem to bring out the corpses, and she flagged them down as well: water, food pills, reassurance that a team en route would be able to recover what bodies remained.
Kizumi herself found the final pack of rescuers: Azarea, Eri, Shigure, Koji.
"Gods, Az—” she blurted as the redhead came into view, and alongside the water and food pill she forced a ration pill into Azarea’s hands—one of the few she’d been able to snag from the med-nin’s supplies, just in case.
"Take a breather, sweetheart. Koji, you too.” Kojirou, who looked just as exhausted, also got a ration pill, and a gentle pat on the head. Water and food pills were given to Eri and Shigure as well, gentle encouragement and the same information: help was on the way. They had done what they could; neither Azarea’s Kikaichu nor Shigure’s Byakugan could detect any more of the devastated village’s residents. None living, anyway. Their work was done.
Kizumi, for her part, wouldn’t take any refusal for an answer: her orders now were for the forwarding team to rest, and let the reinforcements arrive and do their work. Debriefing could happen later. She and her clones bounced between the ruined village and the medical tent, providing what aid she could to the medical team in setting up cots, carrying stretchers, entertaining the children.
Another twenty minutes behind the medical team was a much larger group, with bigger wagons loaded with rations, building supplies, tents, bedrolls: all the equipment needed to transition from an emergency response to short-term recovery. This group was mostly made up of Ashigaru, divided into squads with shinobi at their heads. As soon as the bulk of the reinforcements arrived, Kizumi went from providing support to barking out orders to her shinobi squad leaders: directing one team to the opposite end of the village to continue the work that Yaki and Okingshi had started; another to start clearing out the debris and ash from the town square; a third to begin putting together basic tents, cooking stations, wash stations; a fourth to coordinate with the survivors to identify the deceased, reunite families with their children, secure care for those children whose families had passed; a fifth to do a loop through the homestead, retrieve those deceased, round up any livestock that were still in the area.
The forward team could rest easy, now that the emergency had passed; though it was unlikely that the horror of what they’d witnessed today would ever truly leave their hearts.
Final Notes: Thanks so much for going on this ride with me, y’all! It was an absolute blast on my end and I hope you all had fun as well. I’m so grateful for your collective patience during my
many IRL upheavals while trying to run this; I learned a lot from the experience and I’m really looking forward to taking a crack at a new event in the near future with all the skills and knowledge I got from running this little heartbreaker of a scenario. If you have any feedback for this event or suggestions on what events you’d like to see in the future, please feel free to drop a note in
this Google Form or shoot me a DM, I’d love to get your insights! <3
