With only a small amount of regret for having abandoned her new friend Kinoe of the Fire Country to her own devices during this calamity. Besides if she were to get a truly great account of this historical event she would need to see it with her own eyes, up close and personal. However, that does not mean that innocent children and civilians should have to die. Pausing only a moment to tie her hair up and out of her face, Izumi ran towards the Academy wanting to make sure all of the students were safe, many of them were young children and wouldn't know what to do if no one was there to tell them. Running down the streets surrounded by burning buildings and dodging falling, flaming, debris, Izumi moved as fast as she could, determined to save what innocents she could.  Izumi was grateful that the silk kimono she had chosen was suitable for physical activity, the loose fabric not at all interfering with her movements as she flew down the alleys and roadways towards her destination. She could hear screams of people trapped in burning buildings, the cries of people simply overwhelmed by the humanity of the situation and in sorrow of their ultimate fate becoming clear before their eyes. As far as Izumi was concerned, anyone who resisted Syekren and his party deserved to die, guilty of being complicit in the crimes of the council. While nervous for what this new world would bring and what it meant for her future, she was eager to find out even more so excited to be a part of the event itself.  When outside the village on the high dunes she had chosen to look over the village and observe its retribution the air was a cool 13C with a decent wind serving to make it feel even colder, however here inside the hell that was the battle of Sunagakure, Izumi could already feel the sweat on her body. Bright flames raged on all sides in many places raising the temperature on the streets considerably, Izumi again thankful for her light choice of clothing protecting her from overheating rushed on.  

Nearing the Academy now, Izumi could swear she could hear what sounded like children yelling. Obviously, these were no happy yells of children pitched in a game or simply being happy to be alive, no, it was the terrified yells of distress of ones who had given in to a total surrender to fear. They clearly had no hope of escape without the assistant of someone older than them, what's more there were yells coming from different parts of the Academy grounds, the panicked children not thinking to group together in case of rescue.  Up ahead, Izumi could see one child behind a small wall of flame cowering from the growing doom in front of her. The child was sobbing having resigned to her fate, not brave enough to do anything to advance her predicament's end. Now was the time to act, it was time for Izumi to what she could to save these children from an early end that they didn't deserve, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Looking around the area to see if there was a way to get to the girl without running through the flames, Izumi was in luck because not to far from where the child hid was a pile of debris that was smoking but flaming, tall enough and close enough for Izumi to use to vault over the small wall of flames surrounding the girl. The small area the little girl was hiding in was about two meters around and quickly shrinking, it was now never, Izumi had to act.  

Izumi charged towards the debris, knowing she only had one shot at this, this wasn't training anymore, failure was not an option.  Izumi used the debris pile as a vaulting point and leapt throw the air, landing just past the flames and rolling forward, sort of tackling the small child. Izumi looked around for a way out of her current predicament and realized that the child had despaired for good reason. It did not look like there was a clear way out other than through the flames. Thankfully, Izumi was a clever girl and had an idea, Izumi took a deep breath her lungs warming up and throat filling with chakra, she exhaled letting out an invisible, flammable gas that would soon reach the wall of flame. Izumi covered the child and turned away from the impending explosion. BOOM! The gas finally reached the flames and caused a brilliant fireball exploding a bit too close for comfort, singing some of Izumi's hairs. The good news however, as the chaos cleared it became clear her plan worked, the explosion had used the available air in front of her for a brief moment, extinguishing the flames. "How many of you are hiding here?" Izumi asked the young girl in a calm voice. The little girl continued sobbing for a few seconds before finally moaning a reply, "7." the single word was all Izumi could get out of the young girl, her follow up questions about where her classmates were falling on deaf ears. Izumi's heart sank, she wasn't confident that she would be able to save them all on her own.

Chakra Used:

[901]

There truly was no other way of describing the scene of horror before her eyes. Screams of agony and fear, terror and horror, filled the air. Flames were everywhere, debris falling here and there as structures and objects were burned away – the flames no discerner of person or property. Some lay dead from the flames having claimed them, and others the smoke. Still more fled in utter and complete terror. From the elderly and infirm to children barely able to walk. The flames seemed willing to spare no one. It was total chaos in Sunagakure no Sato, and Chou found herself smack dab in the center of it.

The fear in the air was as thick as the smoke threatening to choke her, and she found herself shifting the gray colored scarf she had been wearing to protect her fair skin from the brutal sunlight of the desert so that it wrapped over her mouth and nose, protecting her as much as possible from the smoke she would otherwise be inhaling. With all of the flames and the debris everywhere, and the items scattered and littering the street, she was fairly happy she had stuck with a light cotton long sleeved shirt of a white color, and light gray pants made out of the same light cotton material – allowing her to be cool and yet covered, especially as she began to walk – the flames heating the air that would otherwise likely be chilled.


There was little to no doubt in her mind who was behind this – or rather, one of the people she thought might be involved: surely this level of carnage and insanity would take more than one person to accomplish after all. She knew of the reasons, the things that Syekren had told her, and yet she couldn’t help but feel a bit shocked nonetheless. It was one thing to kill evildoers, or criminals, those who were corrupted and dangerous. It was something else entirely to murder the innocent ones who had done no harm – who had simply been trying to live their lives in peace. Especially when those innocent people were the elderly and infirm, or children who had done no wrong in their lives.

This can’t be just Syekren, he wouldn’t do this. He took me in without a second though, he’s been nothing but good to me. Surely he cannot be behind this – not the innocent lives that are being risked and lost. The thoughts played across her mind even as she kept moving, finding that staying in just one spot wasn’t a wise idea.


Yes, she just had to help. She had to get the children out if nothing else. They didn’t deserve this. They had done nothing wrong. A sudden explosion off to the right of her caused her to pause, screams filling the air once more – the screams of children. It took her a moment to realize what she was looking at but once she did she didn’t hesitate to carefully enter: the Academy. ”Hello? Anyone there? I’m here to help.. don’t be afraid..., she tried to be reassuring as possible as she moved, the darkness from the smoke and unfamiliarity of the place in general causing her to move slowly but purposefully. She couldn’t help but wonder in the back of her mind though who would think she could honestly help: she was ten, these people didn’t know her, and save for the Konoha headband worn and visible between the folds and overlapping of the her scarf there was no telling what she, a child, was truly capable of. Perhaps her size would work to her benefit though? Perhaps being as young as some of the children likely hiding inside would work in her favor.

Chou found herself having to peak through a few rooms before the outline of bodies became visible, one larger than the rest, clearly more adult than the rest. She moved carefully, noticing a smoldering area which looked as if it had been on fire only moments ago. ”Hello? I’m here to help… we should get out of here before the building collapses...” It was only as she neared that she would realize she knew one of the people inside: Izumi. Of course, this was no time or place for a ‘hey, how are you’ so Chou kept it strictly to business find as she did so that she wasn’t quite so shy when it came down to handling things, ”How many are there? Is anyone missing?” Even as she waited for answers she found herself running through in her head all that she had, and all jutsu she was capable of, cursing herself in a way for having no medical supplies – not that she was a medic, but still, that kind of training and supplies would have likely come in handy in a situation like this. Maybe it was something she’d have to change one day, for now though she wanted to help get these Academy students to safety.

Word Count: 880

In the chaos following the explosion created by Izumi's technique, she swore she heard a familiar voice say, ”Hello? I’m here to help… we should get out of here before the building collapses...” Izumi dismissed it, There's no way Chou is here. Instead focusing on the issue in front of her, it appeared that the small girl in front of her was injured, a burn on one of her arms. The burn didn't look too serious however, something that Izumi was confident that she could deal with. As she gathered chakra in her hand to sooth the girl's wound she decided to look around and assess the situation. To her absolute surprise, she saw Chou, Syekren Uchiha's daughter. She was coming towards her looking more confident than usual, ”How many are there? Is anyone missing?” Wanting to ask the girl what she was doing her, but still glad for the help Izumi decided to address her questions while at the same time holding the ball of chakra in her hand over the small girl's wound, while the wound wasn't that bad in reality, to a girl so young it was excruciating. Running her hands over the affected area and soothing the pain of the girl, "Chou! There are six more children and our little friend hasn't been too helpful up to this point due to her owie. We need to find them and get them out of the Academy, don't worry about tending to any injuries right away, you're right the building might collapse at any moment. Focus on getting them out, carrying them if you have to. I can treat minor injuries like this little one's burn. You go check the classrooms down that hall," Izumi pointed to the right, "there are a total of four classrooms and a closet for cleaning supplies that way. Check all of those rooms. I'll go the other way, hopefully we can save the other kids before the building comes down.  



Not wanting to waste any more time, Izumi took off in the aforementioned direction in search of the missing kids, she could definitely hear yells coming from that direction but couldn't tell exactly where. Wasting no time, she kicked down the first classroom door on her left, scanning the room for any children in need of rescue.  Izumi was about to move on when she thought she saw one of the cupboards move. Not wanting to abandon even a ghost child in this inferno, went to check and sure enough, found a trembling but surprisingly not crying, child. Luckily this one was uninjured, the child looked to her, begging for leadership "Go out the front, and get out of the building it isn't safe in here, run for the village gates and get out, don't stop for anything. Nothing at all. Take your classmate and make sure she gets out, you're brave. You can do it." Izumi pulled the boy to his feet and gave him a gentle push in the right direction, he had a determined look in his eyes. Izumi was confident he would do what he was told. Izumi kicked down the other two classroom doors and opened the closet but to no avail, no more children were found here. Izumi came to the final classroom and noticed to her horror that while she was taking to the little boy the yelling had stopped. That couldn't be a good sign, frantically Izumi charged through the door and started rummaging through every hiding spot she could think of, cabinets, under desks and tables until finally, she came to the classroom's closet. On the verge of tears at not finding any more children when there had been screams from this direction not minutes ago, Izumi found a pyrrhic victory. For on the floor of the closet laid two children, one sobbing over the bloody, motionless body of the other. The sobbing child lightly shaking him and telling him to wake up. Unable to contain her emotions any longer, Izumi began to cry and wordlessly lifted the other child and hugged him close to her chest and ran for the exit wanting to save the young one that she could. Izumi exited the building and set the child down next to her. To her satisfaction the first to children were long gone hopefully near the edge of the village by now. Izumi needed to take a moment to gather herself as well to wait for the results of Chou's journey. Izumi let herself cry while she waited, the young boy doing his best to comfort her, his childish kindness having the unintended consequence of just making her feel worse. When Chou finally did arrive, Izumi would lift the child up again and follow her where she led, still haunted by the site of the dead child.


[824|Total Words: 1725]

Training:

There was no doubting what she was watching; the girls wounds who was being treated were being healed, the distinct look of the medical chakra more than telling along with the way the wounds were fixed. "Chou! There are six more children and our little friend hasn't been too helpful up to this point due to her owie. We need to find them and get them out of the Academy, don't worry about tending to any injuries right away, you're right the building might collapse at any moment. Focus on getting them out, carrying them if you have to. I can treat minor injuries like this little one's burn. You go check the classrooms down that hall," Izumi spoke before pointing off to the right. “There are a total of four classrooms and a closet for cleaning supplies that way. Check all of those rooms. I'll go the other way, hopefully we can save the other kids before the building comes down.” Chou found herself nodding to the other females words, snapping back to attention to the task at hand rather than the medical technique she had been watching. ”I’m on it, no worries!” Chou found herself responding confidently, heading off to do exactly as instructed and keeping in mind as she did so just how many children were missing and in need of being rescued.


As she headed off to check another classroom she found the door stuck but cool to the touch, meaning there was no fire yet behind it. Frowning to herself she did the first thing she could think of, throwing her weight and strength against it. The first hit caused her to grunt, yet she felt the door budge. The second caused it to fly open, the door giving away to the pressure forced upon it. Chou stumbled but righted herself before she could fall, glancing around. ”Anyone in here, I’m here to help… I want to get you out safely.” It took a second, Chou having to step several more feet into the room before she could hear a whimpering. Following the sound she found one of the Academy students curled up in a ball in a corner. She held her hand out, leaning down slightly, and simply waited: she had no words of comfort to offer up, no false promises to give, just simply her promise of help. It took a moment before the other child took her hand and she helped them to their feet. ”Come on, lets see if we can find your friends.” Before pausing Chou found a red marker with a thick tip and made quick work in crossing an X over the door, the universal sign that that room had been checked and found empty – a way for her to keep track of the places she had looked thorugh.


The next classroom that was checked was entirely empty: even the cabinets that were checked were devoid of anyone, whoever had been in that particular classroom had evacuated already. Just as she had done with the previous location she marked an X over it to mark that she had checked thoroughly through it. The final doorway was pushed open up on where she located several children. With coaxing from herself and the other child she had saved she was able to convince them to follow her too. It was a slow and careful process, but they made it into the streets and headed towards where Izumi had mentioned: to safety. It was there that she found Izumi and the other children safe and sound – though in tears. Tears Chou was in too much shock to shed for now – but which surely would come later as she remembered these horrors.

Word Count: 650 | 1,530