Recovery - An icy retreat

Why? Why was it always fire? Every time. Taigakai was staring over the hot molten masses blotting out sections of the village. Every time something happened, it was always around heat. He sighed. Most were safe, a quick skim earlier and he found his parents were fine. He let out a huff, there was a good chance this was an omen for him. What a nasty thought.

The place was a mess as were the people. Some shocked, some grieving, some trying to hide things and be a pillar to support others. Children screaming and crying as much as some others were. Adults moaning out in pain with burned or broken bodies. Houses were in ruin, flames lighting up the cavern in a brilliant orange, embers rising with the smoke and escaping out the cavern's vents. For the most part, the inside of the village was a hazard. There was a bit of a shelf for evacuation so they remained hidden, but there was a threat of smoke and molten rock below.

Shinobi were assigned on shifts namely focussing on cooling lava, putting out fires, and forcing smoke out, while parents and teachers were there to comfort students and children too young to comprehend or help with the issues. Taigakai was off shift for now, and all anyone could really do was stay alert for anything else that would endanger the people here.

Spoiler:

Dust and smoke blew past Seiko as she looked over the ruins of her home village. Her lips pursed into a tight frown, her eyes flicking around to check for any obvious structural weaknesses nearby but it seemed like things were starting to be under control. She shook her head and let out a sigh, taking off her glasses for a moment so that she could clean them on her sleeve, the dust veil she wore kept the worst of the surrounding miasma away from her. She slipped her glasses back on and turned towards the metal construct at her side.

"I'm glad Kohai was spared such devastation, however I can't yet let myself feel happy, can I?" She told Primaris who simply knelt there, waiting for her command. Talking to it was pointless due to her control over the Golem but it still felt nice to speak words rather than be stuck in her own head. She put her foot on the side of Primaris' knee and hopped up onto his shoulder, sliding down his back and steadying herself by lodging her foot into an armour plate and gripping the back of his torso. The Golem rose up to its full height and then moved down into the Village itself, grinding against the rock face before hopping off to land heavily and straight into a run.

The long, loping movements and small leaps of Primaris allowed it to clear any fires or lava flows that were nearby, its heavy metal feet striking a beat out against the stone that helped focus Seiko's thoughts. As her Golem moved, the motions slaved to a simple subroutine in the back of her mind, the rest of her senses were sharp, staring out around her. Every time she came across a group of people she'd check them for shinobi and white hair before moving on.

Eventually, with a massive leap from Primaris, dropping down onto another ledge with a group of fire relief shinobi and she finally spotted the long white hair which marked out a Toketsu, they weren't exactly common in Hakagakure after all. She hopped off Primaris and sent him to help with moving rubble as she jogged over to her cousin and a small smile slid across her lips. "Taigakai, you're safe. How is your mother?" She asked, keeping her arms slightly out in case Taigakai wanted to hug her. "Kohai mostly survives, there was a lot of damage but the village still stands. I've been sent to assist relief efforts in Nazogakure but I had to check here for... I believe obvious reasons. I had no true worry that you would have died, you're smarter than you give yourself credit." She told him once he was closer, her voice lowering slightly.

Amongst the noise of everything else going on, Taigakai didn't notice Primaris' bounds. He jolted and turned around to see Seiko, a bit surprised but happy she came to check on homes base. The boy got up with a bit of a tired smile. "A bit shaken up but she's okay. Only some rock fell on our place thankfully.", he said, stepping over to give his cousin a hug.

"I swear fire is going to actually catch up to me one of these days if things like this keep happening around me though." That stuff was cursed. He rested his chin on Seiko's head and saw Primaris doing some heavy lifting and moving rubble to an area where other shinobi were piling splinted wood and rock. "Your parents are okay too. But they're like, up there so I knew they'd be okay. They're a little preoccupied right now though." He made sure he was quiet enough so prying ears didn't hear anything. He let go of Seiko and stepped back, raising arms to stretch. "I'm sure Kohai would be fine with you around. You're more than solid with defending.". Taigakai said, giving her a little nudge on the shoulder.

Seiko didn't even seem concerned about her own parents, she knew they were capable and if they died they would have done so for a good cause. A cold outlook perhaps but that was what they had trained into her. She spent a few moments close to Taigakai before shaking her head. "It's unfortunate that you weren't born with the Toketsu water release, it'd be a great boon here. I'm hoping this will inspire strength and solidarity..." She said looking around at the destruction. Heroes were forged in flames or so they said but she knew it was possible that such things could destroy a community as easily as it could build one.

"I am capable, Taigakai but I'm not yet capable enough to fight toe to toe with a Bijuu." She told him before smirking and adding. "Not yet anyway. I just done the best I could moving people, shoring up defenses and healing the most injured. It's actually been quite invigorating to have so much to do, very little time to rest or fret about things, lots of practical experience for my Medical Exams. Is there anything you need, Taigakai, any injuries that I can patch up or anyone you wish for me to check on in Nazogakure? I won't be able to stay here for too long before I need to move on." She turned to look at him, resting her hands behind her back.

The rubble was a reminder of his failure and Alan could not help but think that if he had done a little more that the outcome could have possibly been somewhat better. He was outside the village early so he was not harmed just a little shaken and he would make his way into the remains overlooking everything and everyone; the ninja were doing there best but the kage was dead and it was more than likely going to be some time before the village voted for another one.

Alan would stop on what used to be the central street and overlook everything, still pieces of lava payed in areas and with the dust in the air it almost looked like a graveyard.

Considering he was on his feet Alan could help with the efforts of salvage and clearing the rubble his ability would be well suited for such a task but he was already broken looking down at the ground he knew that once he decided to give up that being a ninja was not for him.

He would wipe a tear from his face and drop his golf club and baseball bat on the ground along with the custom sheathes before moving toward some rubble and starting to push. He would help a civilian.

"Water's great for fires but ice seems to help lower the temperature a bit anyways." He shrugged, it’s not like that was totally in his control. He gave her a look, overdramatic but a look nonetheless. "I don't know. Big-rock-no-jutsu might work against at least one bijuu."

He looked over at the city. It was a mess, a hot mess. Some shinobi were scattered around, namely moving rubble and dragging bodies out whether or not they were living bodies. Some were scavenging and salvaging precious items as tasks for other civilians unable to retrieve these things themselves for one reason or another. "Nah, I'm fine." He only walked in and out of a burning house a few times and got a bit singed and sooty, but he was for the most part completely fine. He took that as some kind of miracle given his disposition against fire. "Buuuuuuut... It was good of you to visit and check up on us. We'll rebuild Haka as fast as we can, hopefully looking as good as new before your next visit.", he said glancing back at Seiko with a grin. Rebuilding was going to be a lot of work.

Although Seiko knew it to be a joke, she couldn't help but consider what kind of physical impact she'd need to use to actually deter a Bijuu. Her eyebrows furrowed as she remembered what she had seen of the fight against Shukaku and how even supposedly the weakest of the Bijuu could weather blows like no other creature she had even heard of. Eventually she just sighed quietly and mumbled, "It'd need to be a particularly big rock."

She came to her senses pretty quickly though and turned towards Taigakai, giving him a smile and a nod. "You better be careful, I'll head back this way and perhaps help out once my work in Nazogakure is done. It's going to take time to get these villages back but... Unity is a good motivator." She nodded and gave her cousin another quick hug before recalling Primaris to herself and hopping onto his back. "I'll see you soon, cousin." She nodded and then with a mental command, Primaris leaped and started its ascent back to the surface so she could move onwards to Nazogakure.

[exit]

Exit for alan

Hakagakure was a wasteland for the most part and everyone was moving to start the rebuild and for the most part is was going well; there were numerous locations still covered in rubble and also still plenty of places that held mass fires and water shinobi attempting to combat them. Despite their best efforts there was still a heat in the air from the lava present.

A chuunin would walk up and hand people scrolls which would detail how they could help in the rebuild efforts. No one would be getting extra pay for this but it was expected that all of the civilians and shinobi would help in some way shape or form.

Mini Missions:

Taigakai gathered one of the scrolls and read it. Fight fires, clear rubble. One of those was arguably a bit more doable for him. So first things first, he’d go to help tackle the heat problem. He headed over towards the teams involved that were preparing to fight fires. Stopping those fires to an extent also took priority so that the village can safely move rubble and rebuild anyways.

The fires were raging over there buildings with the one in the center fueling a spreading fire, there were multiple Shinobi doing water justu in a attempt to combat the fire and once the young Shinobi arrived no one would approach her everyone here was sent and anyone randomly arriving would join the water line if they could not use water justu.

Spoiler:

Taigakai was unsure of how well ice would fare against fire but he'd give it a shot. He built up chakra and gathered some metal snow, packing them into snowballs and lobbing two at one of the fires to see how effective it was. Alternatively, he could use earth releases and try to move rubble to snuff out the fire, but he wanted to see if ice would be just as effective and also tamper with the already tortured village less.

Spoiler:

The fire hissed and steamed at the touch of the strange snow as it lightly fell into the flames. Initially, it seemed as though nothing much happened, the snow being consumed instantly by the blaze before Taigakai. However, as the snow settled at the base of the flames, it began to rob the inferno of its most precious resource, oxygen. The flames quickly began to weaken, like a candle being capped they slowly faded to nothing before Taigakai. While he hadn't taken care of the entirety of the fire, this was the reprieve the other shinobi needed, allowing their water release jutsu to finish the job and snuff out the remaining fire. They nodded eagerly towards him, their weary faces thanking him and Kami above for not allowing this fire to do more damage than it already had.

With the fire under control, that just left the rubble that needed moving. While mostly only the naturally strong shinobi reported to this job, there was more than one way to skin a cat and if Taigakai could get a little creative, he'd be able to figure out a way to help in this task. Besides, the people in charge weren't exactly being picky with who took which task. If you were able-bodied, start working, there was no time for debate.

Taigakai certainly wasn’t known for being physically strong, but he did his best. If anything, he’d start tagging some objects that he was sure he’d be able to use his EM tagging with and not carry on his own and drag it to a pile where other bits of rubble were being relocated. There were piles for everything. Splintered wood and broken stone were in one pile, toys and other belongings in another. Any food that could be salvaged were piled with each other. Then there was just a garbage pile for disposal or recycling, where nothing could really be used from whatever remained. Any rubble that he could carry, Taigakai made sure that it was something that more or less matched with anything being dragged along through tagging as much as possible so more was being carried to where it needed to go. A large portion of whatever was tagged would be rubble or furniture.

Some of the toys were broken beyond repair, some dolls were singed and torn apart, crayons splintered, paper scorched. There was another team of civilians working their craft to fix toys as best they could to remedy crying children. There were others who were damaged less aiding the mednin team and running errands to help both person and animal alike. Pets that were still showing signs of life were hurried to the medical staff, and those that didn’t make it were sent to be identified and given a proper send off.

Spoiler:

Some of the more tired looking laborers nodded in thanks to Taigakai after his sorting job. While they had no problem moving the heavier chunks of rubble and rubbish, they also had no interest in afterwards being a part of the finer clean up. That of course being organizing the smaller, potentially valuable objects and discarding the worthless ones. Taigakai's help was truly invaluable in getting these laborers home before nightfall today. As Taigakai wrapped up, an Elite Chunin would appear amongst the laborers and approach him, Oi, thanks for your help. It might not seem like much, but that was honestly huge. Last I heard, they needed help in the next neighborhood over. Seems an apartment building collapsed and while they're sifting through the rubble as quickly as possible, well, I dunno if you'd be much help but it couldn't hurt to try, right? If they knew specifically where to dig it might save a lot more lives, or at least provide closure to the families. The chunin said, offering up Taigakai another task if he was so inclined.

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