Chapter 27 The Escape
The leaf Village was in a total panic as the civilians cowered in place while the ninja forces rushed to the three massive holes which had been blown in the outer wall. The command center of the leaf Village was in total chaos as they try to figure out what was going on and who was behind it. To make matters worse all their radios were down and they had to rely on old-fashioned human carriers to send messages and reports back and forth between them and the front lines.
"Ok what is the situation." ordered Tsunade as the first female Hokage stormed into the massive war room located under the Hokage Mountain. Normally from this one location she could send orders to every unit commander in the military but with the radios down she was limited on her orders. She moved to a central table all around her the different commanders.
"From what we know the outer wall was breached in three locations here… Here… And here." explained an ANBU as she pointed towards three locations on the map of the village. "We are standing forces to each location to defend them from any attack."
"Who would be attacking us?" asked Koharu as she and her teammate Homura stood across the table from Lady Tsunade.
"No idea only must secure the village first." Ordered Tsunade "everything else is secondary."
"Agreed." confirmed Homura "But who could have attacked us?"
"At the moment that doesn't matter." snapped Tsunade as she tried not to grin as she put two and two together as she realized what exactly was going on. She just knew that she had the buyer as much time as possible to give them time to escape. Suddenly an ANBU rushed into the room carrying a piece of paper in his hands.
"Lady Hokage we have determined that the blasts came from explosive charges placed under the walls." reported the ANBU
"That's the mark of an inside job." Confronted Homura "it must've been the jinchurikis is the only thing that makes sense they attacked us."
"If they attacked us that how come they are obeying the lockdown rules and staying in their homes." Countered Tsunade
"We don't have enough information to jump to any conclusions yet." added Koharu "Let's focus on the defense of our home."
"Agreed." confirmed both Tsunade and Homura
"I want forces to search the outer walls for any more explosive charges." ordered Tsunade as the ANBU headed out to carry out the orders from their Hokage.
While the Leaf village was clouded in smoke Ino Yamamaka was sitting in the enormous kitchen of the former Daimyo. She had spent the night in the guest room of the Daimyo mansion since she didn't feel comfortable sleeping in master bedroom of the former leader. She had made herself a cup of coffee using the personal supply that the Daimyo had left behind.
"God, I really miss Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan." complained Ino to herself as she took a drink of coffee only to suddenly hear a knock coming from the front door.
"It's open." yelled Ino as she sat listening as a two people moved across the entry way their footsteps echoing off the stone before entering the kitchen. Ino looked up to see the village councilor/miner representative and the city planner from yesterday.
"Sorry to disturb you so early in the morning." apologize the counselor as Ino stood up. To the counselor and the city planner amazement Ino didn't snap at them like the former Daimyo, instead she stood up and moved toward the coffee machine located on the counter top.
"No problem, can I offer you some coffee?" Asked Ino as she poured herself another glass.
"I would love some." admitted the Counselor
"Me…to." answered the City Planner as she yawned a bit "I have been up all night."
"Then can I offer you some wine instead, the previous Daimyo left a wine cellar full of some the best wine I have ever seen." offered Ino as she lifted a half empty bottle of wine up from the counter top "I helped myself to some of it last night."
"It is your wine Lady Daimyo you can do with it as you fit." explained the City Planner
"I guess but I don't understand this building for long." admitted Ino "I'm going to live on the island but at the moment this is the best spot. So why are you here?"
"My lady, I have finished playing out the city." explained the city planner as she stood up unfolding a large map onto the kitchen table.
"Already?" asked Ino stunned at the speed which the woman had made the plans. She walked up to the table expecting to see only a rough outline of a plan however instead she discovered an extremely detailed plan including plans for unities and even locations for swings in the city parks.
"As you can see, I have everything planned out including leaving an area open here for the bridge across the incased the village in an outer wall to defend against any attack from the land." Explained the City Planner "The cliffs will provide protection from the sea however with this plan we lost the harbor."
"No we don't, we can leave that part standing in the old village." Explained Ino "That place seamed to be the only place somewhat nice in that village. No offense."
"None taken, the city is in a horrible state of disrepair." admitted the councilor "Now can we go over the plans for the village."
"Go right ahead." Offered up Ino as she drank some of her coffee while the City planner laid out the plan which she had spent all night on. She discussed the placements of buildings to allow the best flow of traffic through the streets and the placement of utilities such as power and water removal.
"This is really good." admitted Ino amazed at the scope and design of the city plan which she had made in less than a day.
"The only problem is we don't have a reliable way to generate power." explained the city planner "if we put in a coal-fired plant we would become more like the land of Bronze was choked polluted skies. Also running power from an outside source say the land of Bronze or another nearby nation would put us at risk of a cutoff of service in a war."
"Not go, is there any other options?" asked Ino as the two others looked back and forth at each other. "Just tell me."
"There is one but it hasn't been used in a large scale and it isn't cheap to start." admitted the Councilor "However if it works we would have an almost limited source of power which couldn't be cut off from the outside."
"What?" asked Ino wondering what he was talking about.
"Have you ever seen Wind Turbines, Lady Daimyo?" inquired the City Planner as Ino nodded her head.
"Yes, the land of wind has some by its coast generating power for the port cities." recalled Ino as she remembered how big of a target those massive structures where "Are you thinking wind power?"
"In a way, it's called underwater turbines. It's pretty much placing a wind turbine underwater and having the tidal forces combine was just the movement of the water generate electricity." explained the city planner as she pointed towards a map of the channel between the island and the mainland "The tidal forces in the channel are extremely strong and almost without end and add to the fact that it is extremely deep soaking place the turbines far enough on the water that they will not interfere with shipping. Therefore they will be protected from any attacks from the outside."
Ino thought for a moment as she went through her options.
"Alright we will plan to use them but I want to think it over a bit more." Explained Ino knowing she wanted input from her friends.
"Alright now one of the main problems is that we will need a lot of labors to build everything including electricians, plumbers and stonemasons to name a few." Added the City Planer "Now we have some of those but not a lot. That isn't even counting the unskilled manual labor that we need."
"If I remember correctly we have a lot jobless people in the village correct?" asked Ino already knowing the answer as the two people nodded their heads in agreement "Well how about we make the same deal with the rest of the population food, work training and some money on top of a new home when everything is done. Will that work?"
"That is possible but not everyone can do the hard labor that we will need." explained the city planner
"We will need people to cook meals for the workers, to mend cloths and other light jobs they can do that." offered up the Councilor as everyone nodded their heads as suddenly a load ship horn filled the air.
"What the?" asked the city planner as the three of them rushed out of the house only to see four large cargo ships stacked high with shipping containers sitting in the harbor waiting to be unloaded. Flying over each of the ships was the orange with a black lion flag of the Land of Bronze.
"They go down here fast." observed Ino as she looked on as the ships turned and headed toward the series of docking ports which was built into the harbor "Well I guess a multiple million dollar contract makes them work faster. Good for us."
The sense of panic which had gripped the Leaf village after the blasts had vanished as more confusion set in. Investigation teams had been sent to each of the bomb sights as search teams spread out trying to locate any threats which could have been lurking in the thick woods which surrounded the village. Finally the all clear siren went off allowing the citizens to leave their homes after hours of confinement. Almost instantly the streets began to fill up as people breezed in fresh air for the first time an entire day as well try to figure out what happened. Only one part of the village remained abounded of any sign of life and that part was the area set aside for the jinchurikis which remains totally devoid of any sign of life. This did not go unnoticed as ninja forces on their own began moving into the ghetto kicking down doors only a find empty rooms.
"Those demons will did this." Snapped a young chunin as she glared at her jonin commander who said nothing even as if his face filled with rage
"We need to report to the Hokage at once." Stated the Commander
"Do you think that demon lover will do anything to stop them." grumbled the Chunin as they moved off to inform the Hokage however they were too late as Lady Tsunade along with the other leaders gathered in the command center already knew.
"So the Jinchurikis are gone?" asked the Daimyo who had joined the Hokage and the rest of the village council in the command center.
"Yes." Confirmed Lady Tsunade before looking down at the large map which was spread out over the massive table.
"Aren't you going to send forces out after them?" asked Hiashi Hyuga as he looked at the legendary Slug Sannin.
"There are three massive holes in our walls right now the village is extremely vulnerable to any outside threats." Explained Tsunade as she gave a death glare to the council members "Right now that is more important."
"More important than 7,000 demons roaming the country side?" Inquired the Daimyo as he raised an eyebrow at the Hokage's comments and the lack of urgency and in her voice to go after the demons. "At least send out some forces to hunt them down."
"I have over 50,000 people within these walls who would be left vulnerable if I send out any forces until our defenses are back up." snapped Tsunade "Or do you want some unknown force to storm through our defenses slaughtering everyone here while we are out hunting down 7000 people."
"Who would attack us?" Inquired Makya Yamamaka "We are at peace with every nation on Earth and everyone is tired of war."
"And we were at peace with the Sand before they launched a surprise attack on us years ago or did you forget about that." rebutted Tsunade "We can't afford to assume that there's no one out there who wants to attack. We have to remain at our defenses or risk losing it all."
For moment time seemed to stop as each of the councilmembers look back and forth at each other each slowly nodding their heads before turning to the Daimyo. The normally dimwitted Daimyo seem to know exactly what the Council had decided without saying a word to each other.
"Lady Tsunade it has become clear to me and your village council that you are unable or unwilling to carry out your duties at is the Hokage of Konohagakure effective immediately." Announced the Daimyo before turning towards Hiashi Hyuga "I believe our next step is to appoint the Seventh Hokage."
"Actually Danzo was Hokage in name only and hadn't taken the position yet so the next Hokage would be the Sixth not seventh." Correct Shikaku Nara as the other council members nodded their heads. "However we all know who is the next Hokage is going to be so lets just vote."
"Agreed." stated Hiashi "All in favor of my daughter Hanabi Hyuga becoming the next Hokage of our village raise your hand."
Tsunade watched as one by one each of the council members raised their hands in agreement as the vote was passed without any discussion at all.
"Then as the Daimyo of the Land of Fire it is my duty to appoint you Hanabi Hyuga as the next leader of Konohagakure, may the will of fire guild your hand." Announced the Daimyo as Tsunade looked over her shoulders to see that the 19 year old ANBU member had been standing behind her the entire time. The young woman paused for a moment before moving to stand beside Lady Tsunade. She lowered her head a bit before looking straight into Tsunade eyes.
"Lady Tsunade you are an inspiration to me and thousands of other people but your judgment here is wrong and I am sorry that I had to take over like this." Explained Hanabi as she turned to the council members "My predecessor is right that we can't send everyone out looking for the missing demons, it would leave our village open to any attack. Instead as my first order as the sixth Hokage of the village hidden in the Leaves I want the forces split into five forces. The first three will be stationed at the openings in the walls in case of any attacks and at the same time they can start clean up and rebuilding. The fourth force will be made up our best trackers and Hyuga clan members, they will spread out in search of the demons."
"And what of the last group?" asked the Daimyo
"They will remain here searching the demon's district looking for information on where they went and at the same time remain on standby in case of an attack on the village or we find the demons." Explained Hanabi as the councilors nodded their heads in agreement. "Also send out a message to all our forces that Lady Tsunade is no longer the Hokage."
"Well since I am not the Hokage anymore I guess I will be going." stated Tsunade as she turned and started walking away.
"Where are you going?" demanded the Daimyo as Tsunade stopped by the exit of the command center.
"I may not be the Hokage anymore but I still have the title of Sannin which means I can come and go as I please, so I am leaving." Explained Tsunade as she left the room.
"We have to stop her." demanded Tsuma Inuzuka
"We can't stop her from leaving and I am not going to arrest her." Explained Hanabi as she placed her hands behind her back as she looked straight into the older woman's eyes "Besides she may lead us to wherever the others went."
"I'll assign our best to follow her." Explained her father as Hanabi nodded her head confirming the order.
"Now let's get to work." Ordered Hanabi
An hour after the changing of the guard at the Leaf agroup of people lead by Sakura walked headed down a dirt road toward their destination. Suddenly out of nowhere fifteen armed ANBU and jonin members of the Leaf village appeared in front of them. Within seconds a dozens more appeared all around the group of demons. Everyone was dressed in traveling cloaks which ran straight down from their shoulders stopping around knee height covering the entire body hiding the arms from view.
"So you found us." stated Sakura as she moved to the front of the group so that she stood between the people and the ninja forces. "That was fast."
"Well you didn't cover your tracks." laughed an ANBU as she pulled her sword which glinted in the late afternoon sunlight. "Once we found the footprints of thousands of imprinted in the dirt it wasn't hard to run you down."
"Hell, we didn't even have to split up into a western search grid." Laughed another ANBU "I can't wait to tell the other search team commanders how we tracked you down so easily."
"I am actually pleased that didn't spread out." added Sakura as she moved closer to the ANBU "And that you arrived so quickly."
"Realized the error of your ways have we?" laughed a Jonin as an uncharacteristic grin covered her face.
"Not at all." explained Sakura as she suddenly bolted forward rushing past the ANBU leader for a moment nothing seemed to happen until the ANBU commander fell ground in two pieces. He had been split cleanly in half across the waist, within moments he was dead as his blood stained the bright green grass a bright flesh blood red.
"What the?" asked a stunned Jonin as he looked at Sakura, everything was wrong in her hand was a long black handled sword and her eyes where a deep jet black instead of green. While everyone stood around stunned at what had just happened as the rest of the demons which the Leaf village forces had surrounded disappeared in puffs of smoke.
"Shadow clones." Reported another jonin as everyone apart from Sakura disappeared in puffs of smoke.
"It was getting kind of weird being pinky even if it was just a hedge justu." Laughed Sakura as suddenly her pink hair turned jet black as she transformed into Sasuke Uchiha.
"You're Sasuke Uchiha." Exclaimed a Jonin as his blood became as cold as ice in fear as Sasuke smiled as he active his Sharingan. Every one of the Leaf Jonin took a step back in fear knowing the stories of what Sasuke did during the war.
"Yes, see you walked into our trap." confirmed Sasuke as he took off his traveling cloak to reveal his black Aldhard jacket "And none of you are leaving alive."
"There is fifty of us and only one of you." stated a young Jonin defiantly as Sasuke rolled his eyes before throwing a kunai so fast that no one could see it. The Jonin stood no chance as the Kunai landed right between his eyes ending his life in a split second.
"Now shall we begin, I have to meet up with the rest of my people." Confirmed Sasuke
While Leaf village ninjas where being massacred the real refugees from the Leaf kept moving down one of the multiple side roads heading toward the sea port of Lawom was a mass of humanity which was spread out across miles. Near the middle of the group two women walked side by side who only days ago where at each other's throats.
"My legs are killing me." complained Rin as she moved as slowly as any of the civilians not like the trained ninja she was.
"Well you did spend years in coma." Explained Shizune as she walked beside her pattern only Kakashi was missing in their three way but he was back near the end of the group. "I guess that is a good excuses for lack of endurance, we will work on that."
"Endurance in what way?" asked Rin
"Your still not ready for bedroom actives if that is what you're talking about." explained Shizune "Speaking just doctor you spend years in a coma you can't expect to jump on the horse right away."
"I don't want to jump on a horse I want to jump on Kakashi." Laughed Rin as Shizune smiled a bit.
"Don't worry if Kakashi and I talked and we have agreed to wait to do anything until you're up to it." Explained Shizune as Rin smiled a bit.
"Thanks." resounded Rin as she placed her hand on Shizune's shoulder. "Question you know Lady Tsunade right."
"She was like a mother to me after I lost my last family member my uncle and Tsunade lover, Dan." Explained Shizune as Rin nodded her head.
"I am sorry to hear that." Said Rin
"It happened years ago so I am pretty much over it." Explained Shizune as she took a breath "But you want to know something about Lady Tsunade."
"Yes, do you have any idea what is in the scrolls that she gave Sakura for us? Because I am wondering what is in it." explained Rin as Shizune shook her head a bit before laughing.
"You're like a little kid on their birthday aren't you? Just wanting to dive in and find out what you got." Laughed Shizune as they kept walking.
"Yes, aren't you?" asked Rin as Shizune shook her head "Why not?"
"Because I helped Lady Tsunade set everything up so I know what is in them." explained Shizune as Rin stopped in her tracks.
"So you know what is in them?" asked Rin
"Yes, well I don't know what you have since she must have rushed to get one done for you and Sasuke's other woman in time." admitted Shizune forgetting the name of Sasuke's other mate "But I have a feeling you will love what is in there."
"What is in it?" asked Rin as Shizune smiled before winking "You are not going to tell me are you?"
"No." answered Shizune "Now let's keep moving we still have miles to go until we reach the port."
Hours later nightfall was quickly falling over the Land of fire as the real Sakura Haruno sat down at a small camp fire by the side of the road. Her rival for Naruto-kun's heart was currently making a quick field meal while Kakashi and the other ninjas kept watch. They were the rear guard for the evacuation so they would be the first to come into contact with any member of the Leaf ninja core.
"We have to move all night don't we?" asked Hinata already knowing the answer.
"Yes, we have to make our deadline." Confirmed Sakura "I personally will not feel safe until we are out of the land of fire and I am in Naruto-kun's arms."
Hinata was preparing to respond when suddenly Kakashi pulled a kunai from his vest, for a moment everyone was on edge as they scanned the darkening forest around them.
"Calm down old man." Stated Sasuke's voice as he walked out of the darkness and right past Kakashi and the others "It's just me."
"So is it done?" asked Sakura as Sasuke nodded his head, his shoes where stained with blood and a few speckles of blood could be seen on his jacket however it seemed that he was unharmed, in fact he was smiling a bit.
"Its done." confirmed Sasuke as he tossed the broken handle of his snake sword, the sword was covered with drying blood "And you owe me a new sword."
I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, now I will not be posting a new chapter until the New Year. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep reading. So until 2014 Thanks Wilkins75.