Chapter 5

The last forty eight hours had been a nightmare. Takashi had seen his people breaking walls to seal frescoes eight hundred years old, taking apart ceramic tile floors older than that and seal the entire shrines of their gods. It was a nightmare, a highly organized, and coordinated nightmare. The archives and libraries had been the longest to seal: clan libraries, shinobi families libraries, public libraries, secret archives, forbidden archives, etc. Everything had been saved and sent, one scroll at the time, to the drop point in the Hidden district of Konoha. The shear number of sealing scrolls used to pack everything was simply astonishing. Takashi never realized that every family had specially made scrolls to pack their personal effect and the entirety of the content of their houses, at least before they started arriving at the drop-off point an hour after he used the Voice of the sea. He was however pleased to realize how prepared his people were.

The leadership of the city always thought that to truly evacuate the island, it would have taken them at least a week. The truth was startling. Six hours after the Voice had spoken, most personal residences had been emptied. Twelve hours after the Voice, most public buildings had been emptied, all except the hospital, the few clinics, the orphanages and the retirement homes. Twenty-four hours after, most classified locations had been sealed away inside transport scrolls and were on their way. It had taken the following twenty hours to seal everything else for transportation.

During that time, Takashi and the council had organized the order of which each people would be transported outside of the village. The first wave would consist of all children under the age of mandatory graduation from the academy. They would be accompanied by their guardians, academy teachers and all foreigners still inside the village. There was a few of them, most of them from Konoha, the Land of Wave, Benisu Island, the Land of the Sea and the Land of Medicine. A lot of Senju had been stranded in Uzushio because of the attack, a lot more than should have normally been in village. It was strange for so many of them to be in Uzu, especially as no other clans had members in the village. A few shinobi from Benisu Island were also in Uzu, they had been captured and would be released once in Konoha. The rest were civilians, mostly merchants and had been corralled for priority evacuation. The few civilians from Iwa, Kumo, Kiri, Kusa and Ame found had been executed, as no chances could be taken.

The second wave of evacuation was the elderly and the rest of the civilians. Most elders of the Clans would also be evacuated, which would guaranty that there would be people to raise the children in case the village could not complete the evacuation in time. Most shinobi families would have been evacuated by then, as most of them had children under graduation age. The childless shinobi families and those whose extended members had no children would then be evacuated. They were the third wave. They would be followed the Genin rank shinobi, their Jonin instructors and the specialized shinobi, those who were part of a specific department and were highly specialized. The chunin, the Tokubetsu Jonin, the Jonin, the Elite Jonin, and the Kanitsumo members would evacuate all in order.

"Our evacuation plan is the best we could hope for, we have been waiting for the portal to open on Konoha's end. It should be in the next hour, as we started sending the signal ten minutes ago. It will all depend on how many people Mito-sama has been able to recruit to help her. The First wave has been assembled and is waiting for the opening of the portal. We have included some seal masters specialized in space-time seals in the first wave. They will replaced the volunteers and Mito-sama on the other side of the portal so they can help with the relocation of the people."

"I was wondering... what will happen with our prisoners? The three prisons we have on the island will have to be evacuated as well."

"As you know Uzukage-sama, the lower security prison is mostly for civilian criminals, petty theft, minor assault, vandalism, temporary detention and the like. We have interrogated all of them and freed around half of them for good conduct, a third of the rest seemed to be nonredeemable, they have been summarily executed in accordance with the war time code of conduct. The remaining prisoners have not repented to the full of their capacity, but they are not deemed a threat to the people of Uzushio, and will remain in custody of Uzu for the remaining of their sentence. Fortunately, the Hidden district seemed to have a prison complex for them."

"What of the mid-security prison and the high security prison?"

"The prisoners in high security have all been executed, again in accordance with the war time code of conduct. All of them were deserters with bad intentions, genocidal criminal, murderers, rapists etc. As for the mid-security prison occupants, it gets a little more complicated."

"Complicated?"

"Uzukage-sama, you have to understand, the prisoners of that particular prison are all, without exception, shinobi guilty of a serious crime. Aggravated theft, repeated public indecency, stalking, etc. The problem we faced was the fact that most of them understand they committed a crime, did not regret it, but are still mostly loyal to Uzu as a whole. Their are a lot of deserters also incarcerated in that prison. Different solutions had to be organized. We pardoned a few of them who committed more minor crimes, the deserters will come with us and complete their sentencing, as will most of the rest. They will be moved with the fourth wave."

"Very well... Tadasu... what is the current estimate for the end of the evacuation?"

"We should be able to evacuated most people in the next 36 hours, just in time for the collapse of the protecting barrier. Quicker if the space on the other side is big enough to receive more people. It is the most pessimistic estimation however."

"That is perfect. Good job. Now, what about the retaliation measures?"

"Ah! My favourite part! The shinobi forces have started sealing shadow clones on every surfaces available. At least in the already evacuated sectors of the village. Our seal masters have also drawing all sorts of exploding seals, trap seals, space-time seal, etc. On as many surfaces as possible. From the reports have been receiving, a lot of civilians have also used some creative seals in their houses, mostly prank seals, but also pressure detection seals that activate the lights, water pipes, etc. The goal is to delay them and kill as many of them as humanly possible. We have also started reactivating the usual security seals around Uzu, making it extremely difficult for them to actually reach the centre of town, where the real trump card will be."

"We have a volunteer than."

"Three shinobi of the Arashishori Clan have decided to use the Umi no kamigami no arashi no jutsu."

"... Kami have mercy on their souls. The last time they used that Jutsu they obliterated a small nation... Wait... you said THREE volunteers?"

"They are using the cooperation version of the jutsu."

"... The enemy will never see it coming. That version of the jutsu has never been tested and is highly chakra intensive. The three shinobi will kill themselves just using it."

"They are aware, but feel like the sacrifice will be worth it. Our hope is that this attack will most likely kill a high percentage of the enemy forces. Enough to make it difficult for them to win the war on the continent."

"Keep me informed by messenger, especially has you had the council vote for me to go with the first wave. Behind my back might I add."

"Takashi... We need you safe. If something happens, only you can open the transportation scrolls. You have no children of you own and if your sister doesn't have any, we will need you to marry and have children. We cannot risk the First branch of the Uzumaki clan to perish and you are the only remaining member of that branch. You had to go."

"*sigh* I know, I know. I just hate it."

"Our people will need you on the other side anyway. Someone has to organize the refugee relocation."

As they finished their discussion, the portal suddenly shuddered which was a clear sign of activation from the other end. It took the teams on both sides of the portal a few minutes to established a stable portal and send the team of seal masters from Uzu's end. Takashi quickly made is way to the front of the evacuees, he was surrounded by children under the age of twelve and their families, but also the academy teachers and orphanage caretakers. Looking around him for a last time, he slowly made his way to the huge glowing portal and without hesitation, passed through the event horizon. It would be the last time Takashi saw his home. The land of his ancestors would later on slowly be eaten by vegetation, making the remaining traces their civilization. The children of the Eddies would never again live on this archipelago who would forever be known as the grave of their Mother.

The Great Exodus, the Trail of Tears, the Death of the Eddies' Heart, the Great Tragedy, the Death of the Great Mother. It would all mean the same thing. It would be the rushed evacuation of an entire nation in five days, something that had never been seen and would never be seen again.