"Tsunade-sama," Shizune called on to her. "Just what are you thinking about? You've been so quiet the whole way here."
"...Need you ask? I'm worried about her and how she's holding up. You were there, you've seen how she acted her first time back after so long. She froze on me and I had to take over before the poor fish died."
Shizune looked straight, thinking back a few months ago. "To be honest, I have to. Just wanted to see if I was the only one."
Tsunade scoffed."Of course not." It was silence between the two again before Tsunade spoke. "I have faith in her, after all, she is my student, and my students don't break." She winks at Shizune.
"Sakura-san is a strong woman, I've seen her grow from when she was a mere child up till now. That girl may get pushed down, but she never stays there, she's a fighter. Naruto's death rocked her world but these last few months, it's as if she's a totally different person, or rather, has gained her old self back. I believe in her, she'll make it through."
Tsunade substituted her reply with a smile, a smile the other knew it meant.
A puff of smoke, followed by a man emerging, appeared beside the two women. "Hokage-sama, we've arrived."
"Excellent."
It's been two weeks since Sakura. Neji, Tenten, and other volunteers arrived at Shimura Village and things look to be picking up.
Upon arrival, the village looked to be in ruins. Those that were once beautiful buildings were now former shells of themselves. The constant wars and raiding from neighboring villages all the way to barbaric savages through the years defiantly took a toll on the appearance and, most of all, the people. So many broken promises, betrayal from outsiders and so much more plagued the minds of these people. That is until Naruto stepped in.
This reoccurring process all came to be once Naruto took office. His cause has been the same ever since he was a teenager, as told by the prophecy, he wanted to bring peace to the nations. That meant abolishing forcing children to be child soldiers and being on the frontlines of war to essentially be the shield for the adults who started this bloodshed in the first place. He'd seen too much, been through too much, and didn't want the next generation to go through what he and his generation went through. To ensure this newly found peace, he made deals with other neighboring villages like Suna and the Cloud to go through with a plan to help smaller villages affected by the constant war within their own countries and help them rebuild and share resources that huge villages like the leaf have that they don't have access to.
Before he died, he was in the process of arranging a meeting with the village leaders that included Watanabe Taka and Yuta at some point but that never came to fruition. The meeting was supposed to take place a week after the mission but because of Naruto's death, it was pushed back and forgotten about. That is until Lady Tsunade, still looking as youthful as ever, along with her former student and current assistant Shizune took his place back in office until someone worthy came to take the mantle. It would have been Kakashi but he was traveling with Gai and obviously didn't take a liking to the job. so, naturally, it went to Tsunade. It was a process getting back into office after grieving the loss of Naruto and getting the paperwork done but as soon as she did, she picked up where he left off. Starting with helping the humanitarian work being done in these rural villages affected by war.
These villages had a population ranging from five hundred-one thousand citizens so they were a pretty small bunch and unknown in some cases. With that being said, it was no surprise that these villages were hit the hardest and ignored. These small villages relied on natural resources to survive, unfortunately, the war damaged their natural resources, which, before were abundant, but now scarce. As a result, many people became ill with a disease they've never encountered before. Not to mention the dangerous environment they had no choice but to inhabit made everything worse. This resulted in a lot of death and, for some, famine to spread. The only reason why none of the other villages did anything was that they didn't know they existed. But one day, Naruto was signing bills, as always, and came across a letter written by Nakamura Yuka, Kage of Hui village, describing the state of her village and the people and practically begging for help. He couldn't ignore this and immediately set up a team consisting of himself, Kiba, Lee, his wife Sakura, and Tenten to visit and see what they can do. Following the directions of Yuka, they arrive there within two and a half days. Once there, he met with Yuka, who was surprised he showed giving he gave neither a heads up nor a reply to the letter she sent weeks ago and talked more in-depth about the state of the village. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew traveled through the village attempting to introduce themselves. Instead, they were hit the cold shoulder and eyes full of fear. The village definitely reflected what they received, it was all a pile of rubble. Some buildings or shacks were standing but just barely. You could say they were hanging by a hair. It was heartbreaking. Seeing this, Naruto and his team along with Yuka devised a deal right then and there to return in three days' time with a team of medical experts and volunteers to help this village and its people.
This experience is what led Naruto into creating a bill, which included the Kages' signature and participation, called the humanitarian bill which obligated major villages like the leaf to always lend a hand to smaller villages. After it was signed, Naruto continued to lead the charge right up until his death. Before then, with the help of Yuka, he'd helped a dozen other villages recover and continued to provide assistance.
Shimura is on the larger side but still considered a small village. Originally, they had a population of two thousand people but, not only the war but a rivalry between a neighboring village ultimately led them to have a current population of one thousand three hundred. War not only damaged their natural resources, like other villages, but it also brought about a disease. Again, somewhat like other small villages, they've never seen this kind of illness. Though some citizens were trained nurses and doctors to a certain extent, this was new and it was spreading fast and they didn't know how to handle it. Citizens that had this disease started off with a rash, which was common among the people considering their environment, but it was different. Usually, rashes get itchy and or burn a little, they may even spread if not treated, but as for this strain, it was something totally different. The rashes spread throughout the body but instead of both itching and burning, each patch burned and was a lot more painful than usual, some described the feeling as being sunburnt. Skin constantly peeled off and, as it progressed, cause the affected to cough and throw up blood and eventually, pass all within a period of a week. This new strain was affecting these people and killing them at a rapid pace.
The medical staff consisted of Hao Rai, Towzowa Tsumagi, Amari Nori, Fukumoto Akira, and Fujii Hina. Hoa was the team leader as he knows more than the rest of the team, and mostly works with the children of the north wing. one other, Fukumoto, took their place by his side, while the rest of the team, Towzowa, Amari, And Fujji tended to the minor injured patients. One day, Hao had the idea of combing certain herbs after going back through his old notes to see if it help clear up the virus and concocted a natural medicine using leaves and local herbs and it seemed to work just fine, for adults affected at least. Unfortunately, it did very little for the children. For the adults, the virus wasn't as bad so with the herb-based medicine, their patches and blood-filled coughs cleared up within a few days, a week at most. However, for the children, the only thing that was cured was the coughing. Other than that, the rashes and burning sensation still raged on.
The limited medical staff tried their best at trying different combinations but nothing worked. The burning sensation was getting worse and more children rather than adults were getting affected more and more at this point. The leaders, Taka and Yuta were getting desperate and the citizens were getting restless. By this point, a couple years in, still. nobody knew what or where this strain came from. The only thing theory everyone agreed upon was that this was the result of the Fourth Shinobi War. The only result that came out of those two years was of a temporary pain reliever medicine that is used regularly on the kids. Other than that, nothing good has come out of this. Since the start of this virus up until the present, there have been more child funerals than ever. Of the eleven children affected, only five remain as of right now.
Though things were looking pretty grim, around that time, Tsunade got in contact with Taka and Yuta, hearing about their situation from another village located not too far from Shimura, and quickly made arrangements to not only help heal the sick but rebuild their homes which brings us to the present.
During the last few weeks, Sakura and Neji have damn near stayed awake their entire stay so far. There's little rest going on between the both of them identifying and healing the minor injured and researching and investigating the virus. It didn't make sense how these kids could be affected by something so deadly and yet have no connection to each other, at least genetically. Even so, Neji and Sakura keep pushing on.
Tenten on the other hand had a better time. While helping rebuild the citizen's houses, she managed to bond and grow close with so many, especially the children. At first, it was rough. The people didn't trust them as much and as a result, acted rather cold towards the volunteers, including her. Eventually, after spending so much time with everyone, the village people began to slowly warm up to them. Some became so comfortable they told Tenten about their past/childhood at the one breathtaking village and shared how this all came to be. It used to be so beautiful and peaceful. See, back in the day, as the woman named Lady Misako described, this place was small and quiet and travelers passing by would have their breath taken away at the sight of their beautiful fields filled with equally beautiful flowers. There was a place in those fields, up past a hill, where you could see the sunrise and sunset. She and her late husband and children would watch every night as the sun goes down, only she'd watch the sunrise, and each time, she felt a wave of bliss fall over her. But after the war, it didn't feel the same.
Where the once beautiful field of flowers stood now patchy spots of grass and dirt, hard and rocky in some places. even though it rained regularly and the sun shined bright, the flowers never grew back. Not only was the field destroyed but the hill as well. Dirt and rocks plagued the once secluded spot and closed off the spot to watch the sunrise and sunset up close. Lady Misako had told Tenten that she always had been a very optimistic person but this is something she knew she couldn't see good in. She told her that after that day, things weren't going to be the same for a very long time.
Tenten hearing this, and many other stories, made her even more determined to get this place back to what it used to be for her newfound friends, When she found the time to tell her boyfriend and close friend the villagers' stories, she could tell it lit a fire in their eyes. Everyone was determined to get these people back to what they were and nothing was going to stand in their way. Not a damn building and surely not a damn virus was going to stop them.