Mission Details:

Hayo leaned back in the wooden chair he occupied as he drained his container of tea, holding the cup out for Rokumaru to fill after the redhead finished pouring his own.

“I’m serious, dozens of ANBU and still they didn’t catch her,” Hayo said as though he didn’t believe it himself, taking a large drink that again drained his cup. Rokumaru scowled at his older friend’s thirst, not happy he had to bribe the man just to hear his stories. The heavy Chuunin held out his container for a refill. “And no one’s spotted her since, Roku.”

“Nothing’s happened yet though,” the teen reassured his paranoid pal. “Leave stuff like that to the Jounin and ANBU. We have petty criminals to catch,” Rokumaru added with a sneer and a sip. The two planned to take another mission together guarding a gate that afternoon, meeting before hand to relax a bit before long hours spent in the hot sun clinging to what little shade there was. A routine that the two fell into with gusto, one that they did at least several times a week. Today, their leisure time would not go uninterrupted.

They were aware of a distant ruckus far off in the village but had dismissed it as an unusually busy day at the Bazaar. It was only the sight of smoke trails wafting through the air that made the older Chuunin freeze in alarm, a massive plume of flame jetting high into the air alerting Rokumaru to what was actually happen. Now, they could hear it; distant screams that carried through the air, the sounds of battle drawing closer and closer.

At once the two Chuunin jumped from their seat and leapt for a nearby rooftop for a vantage point. From every direction Suna-nin were racing towards the sections of the village engulfed in flame, burned and bleeding shinobi carrying the charred remains of their comrades while others helped the injured navigate across the rooftops. A cloth-masked ANBU spotted the two gawking at the carnage and leapt closer. “You two! We need Suiton jutsu to put out those flames! Any building that’s burning you come across, put it out!” And with that the ANBU leapt off towards the scene.

Hayo and Roku followed after until they arrived on a rooftop adjacent to a burning apartment complex, one side’s wall completely broken through and scorched by a fireball. Flames flickered from every window they could see. The crackling and popping was almost enough to drown out the shrieks of those trapped inside.

While the younger Chuunin stood in shock for a moment, having his first glimpse at the true power of a high-ranked shinobi, Hayo immediately sped through a series of hand seals before raising his hand to his mouth in a trumpet gesture. A powerful jet of water sprayed from his lips into the burning hole in the side of the apartment; Rokumaru recovered in time to speed through his own seals and perform a Water Trumpet of his own. Two jets of high-pressure water beat back the flames they touched, the pair methodically extinguishing every fire they could see as they circled the burning building.

Two jets of water killed the flames erupting from the front entrance as they moved to street-level; almost immediately a flood of civilians exited the building with varying amounts of burns. A woman held a charred bundle against her breast as she wept unrestrained, falling to her knees in the street. The bundle in her arms collapsed into ash when she dropped it against the unpaved sand.

Hayo had a look in his eye that startled Rokumaru as the man turned to him; dead eyes, like there was no emotion or depth behind them at all. “Take ‘em to the gates Roku. I need to keep going.” Without waiting for a response the man blurred into nothingness- a Shunshin, perfectly executed. The boy never knew old Hayo had that level of chakra control.

Doing as his comrade said Rokumaru rallied the frightened civilians, clinging to him desperately at the sight of the headband loosely tied around his neck. The grieving woman he scooped into a bridal carry and let her soak his shirt in tears and mucus as they moved down the streets at a hurried pace away from the carnage behind him.

Along the way his group grew larger and larger as it picked up strays while moving towards the gate, Roku trying to be aware of every building and rooftop around him in case of an attack. None came, and the redhead and his throng passed under the heavy ochre sandstone gates of Sunagakure. The civilians joined a massive throng of onlookers as they watched sections of the village burn, low-ranking Suna-nin yelling orders at them as they worked to evacuate everyone.

Placing the woman in the arms of a larger civilian, face black with soot, Rokumaru sprinted back into the village with chakra powering every step to speed his travel. There were still plenty of people in the village; did anyone evacuate the Academy yet?

---

WC: 861/750
Mission Complete~

Chakra - 190/200:

Mission Details:

From the Gates of the village Roku sprinted towards the direction of the Academy building, hoping that an evacuation was already underway. His thoughts were everywhere, like a jigsaw puzzle thrown against the wall and all the pieces collected and  shredded. Who was attacking Suna? The fires that burned in the distance were moving outwards toward the high walls that surrounded the settlement; whoever was causing the damage was deep in the village, where the concentration of important buildings and individuals were based. Many of the most important districts were being burned; the administrative buildings, the clan compounds, all the high command of Suna. The thought that his Sabaku clan was caught in the eye of that firestorm almost made the boy dart off in that direction but he wanted to ensure the children were safe. Distant fireballs caused shards of glass to rain down on the adjacent sections of the village. The fact that Roku was more likely to be in the way rather than helping sapped his second-thoughts away.

He hopped across the rooftops until the Academy building was in sight; he could see crowds of frightened students being corralled by equally frightened instructors. The redhead landed in the street a short distance away, lungs greedily drawing breath and his legs sore from the use of chakra to enhance his speed. Nearby instructors whirled towards the newcomer as he kicked up a cloud of sand, ready to protect their charges, but the sight of his headband caused them all to relax from their combat stances.

Rokumaru approached a Suna-nin with long black hair that seemed to be directing the other instructors, the man turning his stressed-out state on the redhead. Roku offered the man a crisp salute. “Chuunin Sabaku Rokumaru. Please tell me you’ve evacuated all the students already,” the boy questioned with concern, eyeing the students that were very impatient to leave as soon as possible.

“Negative,” the raven-haired instructor shook his head, “the attack took us by surprise while in-between classes and we think some have fled into the village. We’ve already sent a few shinobi after them, but there are still five from my class missing.” Rokumaru understood what the man was asking, nodding sullenly. “I will search for them,” he said to the man. He pulled the straps of his flak jacket tight against him, using the motion to catch his breath a bit before he was forced to race off again. “Bring them to the gates when you find them,” the instructor ordered him before he called for his coworkers to begin the move outside the village. The children gave the redhead open looks of confusion as they passed.

Content that they were in safe hands Rokumaru used his chakra to leap into a building adjacent to the Academy, feeling the strain on his body due to his poor stamina, and wiped the sweat from across his brow as he scanned the streets and alleyways that weaved through Suna. The redhead felt truly unprepared for the current situation taking place, chastising himself for becoming complacent after his promotion. If he had even learned the Kage Bunshin like many others his rank did the task of searching for and retrieving the missing students would have been effortless. He had no illusions about his chances against those who had caused the attack on Suna; as much as he hated to say it, Roku was still little more than support for his more skilled peers and superiors, and he had no one to blame but himself. But, as easy as it was to blame himself for being so unprepared for this catastrophe, it should have never happened. This was what the Kazekage and their ANBU and Jounin were for.

No activity drew his eye as Rokumaru scanned between burning buildings, hating the way the heat melted any surrounding sand into glass that was resistant to his Sabaton. Grinding his teeth the boy hopped away in the direction of the Bazaar, having his own business to take care of there. Along the way were many residential buildings that could have been where some missing students went, so afraid and lost their first instinct was to flee for home, so he was not entirely shirking his duties.

The attack was sudden and unexpected, taking the village by surprise, but by now everyone had realized what was happening and a majority of the surviving civilians and low-ranked shinobi had evacuated; the streets below where Rokumaru was roof-hopping empty and eerily silent with the only noise being that of distant battle, the sounds of air being displaced in huge amounts that accompanied many high-level techniques, and the rumbles that sounded when those techniques reached their intended target.

Nowhere else was the complete emptiness of people more apparant than the financial district known as the Bazaar: the busiest marketplace in all of Kaze no Kuni for hundreds of years, the very core of Sunagakure’s prosperity. At a time like this the streets should have been packed with crowds of shoppers, each stall and store attended by wealthy merchants and the restaurants filled with people enjoying a midday meal. Instead, as Roku dropped from the rooftop onto the street, sand and chakra cushioning his fall, there were only the echoes of the village’s destruction in the distance that reverberated against the buildings around him.

The teen had always lived away from the Sabaku clan compound, enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere that came with living with the general population, and in this case it made retrieving his possessions much less dangerous than having to enter that war zone. With shaky hands Rokumaru unlocked the many deadbolts in his front door, entering the small apartment and happy to see there were no signs of damage in this district yet. From his closet the redhead retrieved the sealing scrolls he had purchased months ago before throwing them both on his bed, doing the same with his heavy container of sand that every Sabaku carried and the puppet wrapped in gauze, still unused since he had commissioned it from that puppet master. The scrolls themselves were already inked with the esoteric characters and designs that accompanied sealing; Roku simply formed a string of hand signs and concentrated. Two clouds of white smoke that mixed into one before being waved away by the coughing Chuunin signaled his gourd and puppet were safely sealed, and the two scrolls were stuffed into a satchel that Rokumaru filled with his valuables. Pictures of his family were taken from the walls, his houseplant- a short, round potted cactus named Saboten-sama- was put into the scroll alongside his gourd, and the ryo he was saving up taken from it’s spot in his sock drawer alongside a few pairs of clothes. All through this Rokumaru knew he may not get the chance again before his apartment was burned down with everything in it.

Stepping outside the house, not even bothering to shut and lock his door, Rokumaru adjusted the satchel that hung behind his back, focused now on finding any missing students that were in the area. Taking again to the rooftops the boy ignored his fatigue that weighed down every jump. Now he moved into the designated residential districts of Suna, knowing there was no way for everyone to have evacuated in less than an hour.

Immediately his efforts were rewarded: two children were accompanied by what he assumed were their parents as they carried bags of belongings packed until the seams were nearly bursting, making a mad dash for the direction of the East Gate. They were startled by the redhead landing in the street close by, too filled with joy at the sight of the hitai-ate around his neck to see him wince from the poor landing, and without words placed two heavy bags in the hands Roku had out. It was slow, moving at the pace of this family as he helped carry their things to safety, and again he wished he had learned the Kage Bunshin technique. Thankfully their path was unobstructed by the normal throngs of people, and along the way they had even stumbled across a missing student from the Academy. Her hands were nearly blackened they were so badly burned, and Roku only needed to look at her tear-streaked face to know she had went home, and that home was likely charred stone and glass now.

The group arrived at the East Gate, guarded by a small number of Suna-nin that watched their village burn with anger but too weak to make a difference, just like himself. The family joined several others that huddled together in terror, being herded by the older members of Suna’s forces away from the burning village. Handing back their bags Rokumaru turned to enter the village again when a thick, fat hand grabbed his bicep and pulled him in the opposite direction, nearly dislocating it with the sheer force Hayo used to pull the teen away. Yelping in pain, and a bit of surprise to see the man he was having tea with half an hour earlier so black with soot it would have been funny in another circumstance. Roku wiped away the black handprint of ash around his arm.

“No more,” Hayo said sharply in a scratchy voice, likely having suffered from serious smoke inhalation. “The fires are spreading too far. Those below Jounin rank are to guard the citizens.” The heavyset Chuunin anticipated the indignation Roku felt at that order and before the boy could disobey it, already turned around to run back inside, Hayo had his hand around the redhead’s bicep again and yanked hard. This time the boy’s arm was pulled out of its socket, immediately crumpling him in pain he had yet to experience as he gasped, and grabbing his other arm Hayo dragged the boy a few yards away to reset the injury. With a hard shove, and a strained scream as Roku bit the strap of his satchel that was placed in his mouth, Hayo pushed the ball of his arm back into its shoulder socket and unhanded the boy, letting the redhead sob in more than just pain.

He was lucid enough to register Hayo’s family behind the man, his wife and daughter too entranced by the flames that flickered in the distance. Through his tears Rokumaru pulled himself into a sitting position, turning around to watch his home burn. He hoped that those two missing students were in this crowd somewhere, and not in there.

---

WC: 1775/1500
Mission Complete~
Thread Exit~

Chakra- 185/200:

Both missions are Approved~ and PAID~