A Tough Life
Chapter 28
The world comes crashing down
It was a week after her fifteenth birthday, and Nia and Koori were walking through Konoha looking at gowns and dresses, naturally the blonde wanted to go all out with a big poufy ball gown with sequins and glitter, but Nia wanted something a lot simpler. She'd seen a simple white halter top dress that would stop several inches below her knees and loved it. Koori was not so impressed with it, but after twenty minutes of sulking and longing stares at the simple dress Koori relented and immediately Nia went to try it on. She'd never been more in love with any article of clothing than she was with this dress, it was perfect, the fit of it was snug at the waist however the material gave no matter what direction she moved in, it was as if the dress was made for her.
The brunette was completely overwhelmed at the sight of herself in the dress, she could imagine herself wearing the very garment the day she married the red headed Kazekage. She hadn't realized how long she'd been standing in the dressing room looking at her reflection until her aunt knocked and opened the door gasping at the sight.
"You look beautiful Nia, now take it off, we're buying it right now." The blonde said giving the closest thing she had to a daughter a hug hurrying from the room beaming. They had purchased the dress, and Koori was so excited to show her husband that they went straight to his job in the greenhouses, today he was in the mountain cave greenhouses dealing with the very finicky and temperate cave dwelling flora. Little did they know that going to the caves would save their lives.
As they walked down the mountain path leading to the very edge of Konoha where the caves had dwelled, Nia suddenly felt very on edge and tense, freezing in place looking around for the source of her discomfort. She wasn't sure how to explain it as her aunt looked at her questioningly but something felt weird to her, then she could sense it the malevolent dark chakra that was scattered throughout the village.
"Auntie, something's wrong down there in the village, something's happening." Nia said watching as a figure could be seen rising high above the village.
"What is that?" The blonde asked stepping forward and squinting her eyes. Nia was nervous and her heart was pounding, every sense in her body was telling her to get away from the village, and grabbing her aunt she did just that as they ran towards the caves. Just as they reached the entrance both women could feel the shockwave ripple through the ground as a hard gust of air blew them deeper into the rocky tunnels as they tumbled along the ground slamming into the wall and gasping in shock at the impact that knocked them both out. Some time had passed before the two awoke, the blonde pushing herself up as Nia looked around in confusion.
"What in the world was that?" Koori asked rubbing her head as Nia pulled herself from the ground as it all came flooding back to her.
"Auntie, go find uncle Kaji, I'm going back to Konoha to see what happened." The brunette said handing her dress to her aunt and running from the caves as she headed towards Konoha.
It seemed as if all hell had broken loose, the village was utterly destroyed and the majority of the buildings were completely flattened. Nia had no idea where the heck to go first or what to do to help, but as she raced through the demolished village she could hear someone calling out for a medic and quickly hurried towards the sound. Rounding the corner she saw the special Jonin, the famed dragon woman of Konoha Mitarashi Anko and was immediately recognized by her.
"You! Kaji's niece! Come here I need a medic now!" the purple haired woman said hurrying over to her.
"Lead the way." Nia said simply as Anko took off across the debris. "Can you tell me what happened here Anko-san?"
"It's probably the Akatsuki, the same people who attacked the Kazekage and Killed Sarutobi Asuma, their after Naruto. I can't think of anyone else who would be able to cause this much destruction singlehandedly." Nia stared in shock. The Akatsuki? AGAIN? The same people who killed her Gaara and caused her so much pain and torment, they were after Naruto too? Nia shook her head and to her things had just begun to settle down. They raced across the wreckage and finally came across a pair of teens, one a young blonde male and another a young brunette female who seemed to be impaled by a rusted metal rod through her shoulder, it was obvious the girl was panicking because the boy seemed to be doing his very best to keep her calm as possible.
"How's she doing?" Anko asked the blonde who looked worriedly up at her.
"Not good sensei, Hanabi's having a full blown panic attack, and she's hyperventilating, but I'm calming her down." He turned back to the brunette. "Good breathe...The medic's gonna check you out, alright? I'm going to move so she can work, keep breathing, I'll be right next to you ok?" Hanabi nodded her head breathing like she had been instructed to. The pale blue glow of Nia's hands lit up the dim area. She was relieved a bit there was no major damage, technically it was just a flesh wound, the problem would be removing the metal rod. Standing the brunette turned and walked out of ear shot with Anko.
"This is really risky." She stated.
"How bad?" Anko asked looking from Nia to her student. Nia sighed as she too looked towards Hanabi.
"There's a seven in ten chance she'll bleed out if we mess this up. While the pole it's self has only caused a flesh wound, but when removing it we could hit her heart, or one of her arteries. This does not bode well Anko. The slightest screw up and we could lose her. We need either Shizune or Tsunade to do this, and with the crisis we're in I don't think that'll happen."
"What about Sakura? She's Tsunade's apprentice, can you go get her?" The Nia nodded hoping that she'd be able to find the Pinkette somewhere in this destruction.
"As long as she doesn't move, she'll be ok. I'll try to find Sakura." Nia said bounding off. Sakura would definitely be helpful in this situation, especially since she focused more on physical healing. Nia knew some tricks sure but she definitely wasn't the best person for the job. Nia made her way to where the hospital used to be and found the Pinkette barking orders and healing dozens upon dozens of wounded individuals.
"Nia! Awesome I've been looking for someone in your family with medical knowledge. We have herbs but I'm not so sure which ones are for what particular healing type."
"I've been looking for you too Sakura, the Hyuga head, Hinata her sister, I think her name's Hanabi is really hurt she's been impaled by some of the wreckage, it could be life threatening if we try to move her." Nia said quickly as she grabbed the herbs showing Sakura how to make the healing paste by simply grinding up each particular leaf with different roots and stems.
"Nia I can't leave here, but I can show you a more powerful healing technique." The pink haired girl said as Nia nodded. The sooner she got back to Anko and Hanabi the better. Sakura quickly flipped through the hand signs and Nia followed them memorizing them. "You'll want to practice that on a few people here first so I can be sure you've got it right and so I can alter your technique a bit if I need to." Nia nodded and did as she was told healing smaller injuries under Sakura's scrutinizing eye. "Excellent. So it's these four plants, leaves from this one and roots from these two and the stem from the last one?"
"Yes, thank you Sakura, I've gotta go now."
"Thank you Nia, just remember that that technique takes a lot more chakra than simpler healing techniques." Nia nodded as she took off heading back to where she'd last seen Anko. Nia returned once again, but was unable to bring Sakura. She noticed however that in the time she'd been gone Hinata arrived, this would be very beneficial for the both of them and Nia watched as Hinata steeled herself as the brunette teen pulled her over. Nia could see the look of recognition. She and her family would make healing salves and grow medical herbs for the hospital, they were often known by sight and not name by a lot of shinobi.
"I know you aren't a medic Hinata, but I'll need your help. Use your Byakugan and try and pull her off that metal rod. Normally this would be a thing you absolutely never do, but with your eyes and dojutsu you will be able to see and avoid any vital points. I'll heal her to the best of my ability, but she'll need to get seen by a doctor." Nia said calmly. Hinata was nervous that much was obvious, but after a moment and a deep breath the bluenette responded.
"Ok, whenever you're ready I am." Hinata said. The process was slow grueling and painful and lasted about 10 minutes. Once Hanabi was free, Nia immediately began healing the younger girl to the best of her ability with the technique Sakura had just taught her. Once Hanabi was declared to be out of the danger zone, Anko turned towards the older Hyuga.
"Hinata we can handle it from here, I'll keep these guys safe. Other people will need your help as well." Anko said softly. Hinata nodded she was right, giving the group one last look Hinata ran off towards the sounds of battle.
"Does anyone else need any kind of medical attention?" Nia asked softly pulling out a capsule from her pack. "This will boost your immune system making it harder for infection to set in. You'll need antibiotics though, my aunt will have some made in a few days, I'll be sure to find you and give you a round then, though you'll probably need a liquid version." Nia said wondering if Gaara and Suna would be willing to send them some medical supplies. That was a foolish thought they might not send much but they'd help as much as they could. Nia was relieved that Temari had already returned from Konoha to Suna, her ambassador's trip finished for the time being. Nia made her way through the demolished village looking for people to help and sending them to the safe houses in the mountains.
Hours had passed and finally Nia sat down on the brink of exhaustion the majority of her chakra had been used healing the wounded and now she had just enough left to fix a broken finger or an infant's arm. Just as the thought entered her head Nia noticed a messenger bird with an awkwardly bent wing with the symbol for Suna carved on the carrying case. 'Or a bird's wing.' She thought to herself. As far as she knew none of the other villages knew of the state of the leaf or what had happened, and right now Sand was their closest ally.
Carefully Nia scooped up the bird and mended its wing with her healing chakra and watched as it flew around before once again landing on her shoulder. Quickly Nia shifted through her bag until she found an empty scroll and something to write with, and after penning out her letter the brunette placed the message in the pouch and tossed the bird into the sky watching as it flew towards the great deserts to the east. She knew it would be a week tops before help of any kind would arrive, Nia just hoped that the survivors of the destruction could survive that long.
O0o0o0
Gaara sat at his desk working on paperwork when a young woman knocked on his door.
"Kazekage-sama, you have an urgent marked scroll signed N.K. It's not clear where it's origins are located however it's being checked for any kind of traps or Justus." Gaara blinked the initials finally registering in his head.
"I know exactly who its' from please bring it to me immediately."
"Yes sir." The young woman said bowing before quickly making her way from the room. Gaara was worried, if Nia had sent him an urgent scroll something must have happened. The woman returned handing the scroll to the Kazekage and after waving her away Gaara quickly opened the scroll, it was filthy and there were blood stains on it and he was hoping to any higher power that they weren't Nia's.
Gaara
Today on the 18th Konoha's been attacked by the Akatsuki, and the entire village is destroyed and in ruins, the village is in desperate need of any kind of help that can be offered, medicine, shinobi to help clean up anything at all. I don't know if you've received any kind of messages or scrolls about this yet but were in dire need of help please, I know this means putting your village out of supplies but anything you'd be able to offer us would be tremendous. I'll send a follow up letter once I find another messenger bird, to let you know what's going on here, be safe.
Thank you, I love you.
Nia .K
Gaara stared in shock at the short letter, Konoha was attacked? The village was destroyed? ! Was Nia and her family alright? What about Naruto and his friends? Were they ok? Gaara stood and walked to his secretary.
"Who's available to go to Konoha on a reconstruction mission?"
"We have twenty-four genin teams available right now for work, there are eighteen Chunin squad cells with Jonin leaders, thirty-six individual Chunin, forty Special-Jonin, and fifty-eight Jonin without teams available in Suna ready for deployment."
Gaara quickly did the math in his head.
'72 genin, 90 chunin, 40 special Jonin, and 100 Jonin. That's 302 available ninja currently in Suna that aren't away on any kind of mission not including ANBU. I could send twelve genin teams, five chunin teams, six chunin, and eight Jonin. Four special Jonin will go to the land of waves, I know they have a lasting peace treaty with Konoha, they can bring supplies and defend the caravan of supplies…so that's 25 Jonin, 36 genin, 21 chunin, and four special Jonin. That's 86 ninja leaving us with 216 to defend Suna not including ANBU or me to protect the village and defend our boarders. Not to mention the ninja still currently away on assignment as well.'
"How many are away on assignment currently?"
"Twenty genin teams, thirty-seven chunin, twelve chunin cells with Jonin leaders, fifteen individual Jonin, and eleven special Jonin." Again Gaara did the math in his head.
'With the 36 genin gone that would leave Suna with 96 available genin, 47 available Special-Jonin, 127 available chunin and 47 available Jonin. That Leaves Suna with 533 ninja out of its 619 available for work…not counting medic ninja or those with permanent jobs inside the village. So that would be 533 ninja out of the 893 total shinobi in Suna.'
"Have 12 genin teams, 5 chunin teams, six chunin, eight Jonin, and four special Jonin report to my office especially those with histories of construction and those with jutsu abilities that will benefit clearing out debris and aiding in repair."
"Yes Kazekage-sama that would be…"
"Eighty six ninja, yes. Have them report to my office immediately, the leaders only, and the four special Jonin I wish to see first as they will have a different mission."
"Yes Kazekage-sama." The woman said hurrying off.
Gaara walked back to his office wondering how Nia and her family was doing, that letter was dated the 18th, it was the 19th now. Almost two days have passed since the destruction, it was nerve wracking he couldn't lie. He loved the sweet brunette and was far more worried for her that he'd ever admit to himself. He settled in his office and began writing a letter for the leader of the land of waves. He'd finished quickly and decided to rest his eyes. He closed them for not but a moment before four figures knocked and entered facing their Kazekage.
"You four are going to the land of waves, you will be delivering a scroll to the head of the village. Then you will guard a caravan which will be loaded with supplies as it makes its way to Konoha. Our ally has been attacked and it's our job to help them as they would and have helped us." He said simply handing the scroll to the man he'd dubbed leader. He watched as the four special Jonin left, and after that waves upon waves of ninja cells arrived at his office. Deciding to save time and space he called in the leaders of all the cells and explained the situation and what their jobs would be, and after writing a letter for each cell stating that they were here to help and not to invade he sent the teams on their way, their jobs would be to help re build Konoha and to defend it should they be attacked by foreign shinobi.
His hand was tired and his head hurt and Gaara wanted nothing more than to lay his head on his desk and go to sleep, but he had two more letters to write. Flexing his tired hand he put the pen to the paper and began writing.
Lady Tsunade (5th Hokage)
I was informed of your plight by a reliable and loyal leaf shinobi and I have sent teams of Shinobi to work under your command as Konoha is rebuilt, they will build and defend the leaf's boarders under my orders. There are 86 Suna shinobi in total. I have sent twelve genin teams, five chunin teams, six chunin, and eight Jonin. Four special Jonin will go to the land of waves with a letter explaining your plight, and they will be guarding a caravan with supplies for your village, afterwards they will word on boarder control or rebuilding, again your choice. The Chunin and Jonin are guarding medical supplies, we could not give too much or risk our own village's people. I hope you understand that I have offered and done all I was able to do. May your village continue to prosper, I know your will of fire will burn bright.
Sincerely
Gaara Sabaku (5th Kazekage of Sunagakure)
Gaara rolled this letter and put it aside marking it urgent before reaching for an empty scroll, once again he began to write.
Nia,
I'm hoping you and your family are well. I've received your letter this morning on the 19th and have immediately sent out ninja with medical and building supplies. I worry for you and I'm hoping you're ok. I'm sorry I couldn't do more than what I was able. I love you as well and more than you'll ever know. Stay safe always,
Gaara
After concluding his letter to the brunette Gaara sent them out to Konoha hoping that some way somehow they managed to get to whom they belonged to. There was nothing classified in either letter, and nothing that would give away the leaf's position, everything was kept quiet enough without giving away too much information. In a few days though he'd be making his way down to Konoha, he wanted to be sure that his shinobi were doing as they were told, and he wanted to personally make sure his fiancé was doing well.
Sorry it's a bit short guys, I had loads of stuff going on, summer job searches, babysitting, I accidently deleted Microsoft word…..but totally managed to magically fix it…idk how so don't ask lol. I had a bit of writers block too…oh well all gone now. This story's coming to a close soon guys, but that reallllly wont be the end lol. Don't worry, I'll update sooner than you think!
Peace out! H~09 =)
