Chapter 79 – Helping Iwa II

"Talk"

'Think'

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei.

"Well, luckily for you, we might have a solution for that" said Kakashi with a smile.

"What do you mean?" asked Kitsuchi.

"You'll find out soon" answered Kakashi as he gave a nod to Noriko.

Noriko nodded her head and activated her byakugan (Kitsuchi was surprised but remained quiet). Immediately she gave a loud gasp, deactivating her byakugan and turned her head while shutting her eyes.

Fū, Naruto and Tenzō quickly went to her sides while Kakashi kneeled in front of her and asked her gently "What did you see?"

"People…trapped…some are not moving…" said Noriko in small voice.

"I know this is hard, and what I am going ask you is even harder" said Kakashi is low voice "I need you to use your both of your dōjutsu-" Noriko's face gone white "-yes, the sharingan is going to make you remember, and that's the point. Time is of the essence and we have to work efficiently and effectively"

"Now, I want you to create imaginary gridlines as you search, and look grid by grid" continued Kakashi "I would suggest the closest to us first. Then you relay your information and look in the next grid. Fū, Naruto and Tenzō can help with the rubble removal while I'll stay by your side. Can you do it, Noriko?"

Kakashi's eye never left Noriko's as he gave his instruction. He noted the fear that lurked behind her eyes; fear of remembering, fear of failing, but there's also determination as Noriko nodded her head.

"Good" said Kakashi. He pushed himself up and looked at the others "Naruto, if you want to make clones to help, I would recommend five only at a time, quality over quantity (Naruto nodded). Tenzō, these three are on a different level than you, chakra-wise (Fū looked surprised; she knew that there's one jinchūriki in Team Kakashi, not two). This is not a competition; if your chakra is depleted, take a break" Kakashi gave Tenzō a stern look before added bluntly "You won't be much of help if you exhaust your chakra on the first day"

Tenzō nodded and said "Hait, sensei".

Kakashi turned to Fū "Fū, I do not know your skill; is there anything you can do that is differed than what the others are doing?"

Fū thought for a moment before clapping her hand and said "Hait, Fū can fly and Fū can produce chakra-thread to wrap around injured people and carry them to Shizune-san"

Kakashi nodded and said "Very well, Noriko, ready to begin?"

Noriko nodded and activated her dōjutsu. She looked from left to right, scanning the first five metre from her, pinpointing delicate areas before focussing on them for further assessment.

After few minutes, she took out a scroll and drew a rough diagram "The big rubble here is unstable, it needs support (Tenzō nodded to himself) or you need to remove it first (Fū grinned as she had an idea)…this area has ten people, they look alright, judging from surrounding walls, I believe there's at least one shinobi there, protecting them with Doton jutsu…and here…(Noriko's voice broke though she tried to recover)…needs immediated attention, two people, one squashed by a rock, the other…his legs"

Naruto gripped Noriko's shoulder to give her support; Noriko patted Naruto's hand as her way of saying thank you. Kakashi looked as the others moved to begin excavating before turning to Noriko; he saw that she had already scanning the next area. Kakashi looked at Noriko and then, turned his head to Naruto and Tenzō before smiling to himself 'I'm proud to have you guys'.

Once words got out that there's a Hyūga or somebody with byakugan amongst them, Iwa shinobi quickly rallied themselves to form smaller groups; First group targeted sites with victims that required urgent medical treatment, Second group for sites with victims that were unharmed or suffered minor injury, Third group to remove any danger from the area and a Fū+Gaara group due to their abilities to fly or levitate.

Seeing that Noriko had to pause to draw a diagram, Kitsuchi 'supplied' Noriko with an assistant to jot down what Noriko had seen to speed up the process.

Fū and Gaara moved amongst the groups; mostly they were called to transfer the victims to the sickbay (those who are injured but capable of walking, walked to the sickbay by themselves), although sometimes they were called to lift down a medic who assessed an immobile victims before lifting them up to the sickbay.

It was a happy moment for Gaara when Naruto shouted that they've found Temari. Apparently, during the fight, she saw a couple of kids was about to be hurt by one of Sasori's puppet thus she defended them. She was bringing the kids to the nearest Iwa shinobi she could found when the avalanches began. The Iwa shinobi immediately raised earth walls using Doton jutsu to protect from the avalanches and his name was Akatsuchi.

End Chapter 79

A/N: This reminded me of a funny FanFic by Lucillia, "Akatsuchi's Lament" =D.