Chapter 43- Reaction

Takaniwa was walking his kids to the morning after festival with his wife when the first explosion hit. He was several hundred yards from the hospital, and it still threw his wife and kids off their feet; he remained standing only thanks to an acquired reflex to stick to the surface he was walking on when an explosive tag went off. Losing your footing was a death sentence for a shinobi.

He was still in the process of helping his family back to their feet when the second explosion rocked through them. They were much closer to the town square than the hospital, and even Takaniwa was knocked to the ground.

The pressure wave that slammed into him threw him backwards a good ten feet. he was helping his son up when it came, and he instinctively clutched his child protectively, shielding him from harm.

It worked, and young, little Tsuka got by without hardly a scratch. Takaniwa was unlucky enough to get tossed into the corner of a nearby building, his head making first contact and concussing him,

As Takaniwa opened his eyes, his vision was extremely blurry, but the second thing he noticed was the blazing inferno starting a mere 100 meters in front of him.

It was already towering 10 meters into the air, and Takaniwa knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he had to do something. The vast majority of Yugakure was built in timberframed buildings, and a fire was one of the most dangerous things that could happen to the village.

The fact that there had been two explosions had quite literally been knocked from his consciousness by his concussion, and he was wholly absorbed in fighting the fire.

As he struggled back to his feet, he found his wife with their other son in her arms, and he handed Tsuka over to her with a quick word.

"Horiko, take them away."

He paused for a second and looked at the smoke plume that had already begun to form, and he continued.

"The wind is southerly, take the south entrance away from here, go to your parents house, I'll meet you there within 3 days. Do you understand?"

His wife was frantic, covered in dust, and hair and clothing were in disarray.

"What's going on, Takaniwa? The explosions, the fire?"

Takaniwa grabbed his wife and gave her a hug and a quick kiss.

"Trust me, You need to go now, the fire is worsening."

Horiko swallowed all her questions back down and sterned her face, quickly pivoting on the spot and walking as fast as she could south, noticeably limping.

Takaniwa took a single moment to watch her go, thinking to himself that he was a lucky man to marry such a beautiful woman of action and grit.

He then recomposed himself and turned back to the inferno that was blazing ahead of him. With a quick shunshin, he found himself at the edge of the fire, and tried to peer through, seeing naught but flames.

To his right was an onsen, and he jumped straight onto its roof, where he looked down within its walls and saw what he was looking for. A water source.

The hot spring itself would provide water to fight the fire, and Takaniwa started casting his most powerful water jutsus, pumping as much water as he could onto the blazing fire. He would not live long enough to come to regret that decision. The spring water was still poisoned from last night's operation by the Cult of Jashin, and what he was doing was simply aerosolizing it and spreading it about the village. But Takaniwa didn't know that, he was simply a man fighting a fire through the haze of a severe head injury.

Within a few minutes, two more shinobi joined him, and in wordless cooperation they continued to fight the fire. They slowly progressed forward and eventually hit the town square itself.

They found carnage there.

Body parts and gore strewn about, coloring the stone slabs that made up the parade ground a rusty brown. Furthermore, the town square was surrounded by fire on all other sides, they had simply put out a small portion of it, and Takaniwa despaired as he saw the sheer size of the growing fire.

While there were bodies and parts everywhere, huddled in the very center of the square, as far from the fire as possible were 30, perhaps 50 survivors, people who were still whole enough to move.

Everyone else was either on the ground or gone. Takaniwa came here every year. The festival should have had hundreds. Her pushed those thoughts down deep and ignored them, instead focusing on the task at hand.

As one of the rare Jonin of Yugakure, he naturally had command of the area, and he started ordering the two shinobi that had joined him in firefighting.

"Start evacuating everyone! I'll maintain the path through the fire!

Prioritize everyone that can move under their own power, then start going for the least injured immobile people scattered about!

The fire is growing too fast! We can't save everyone here, just as many as possible!

I can keep the path open for a max of five minutes, That's all you got!"

The two nameless Yugakure Shinobi nodded their head, saluted, and instantly made their way to the huddled group of survivors and started directing them towards the single exit in the ring of fire that surrounded them.

Many were slow to move and get up, but Takaniwa was paying them no notice, he was using every scrap of chakra he could muster to keep the fire away from the path that had already been cleared.

If that path disappeared, he and everyone else here would die, cooked to death. He imagined himself, his face baked into a loaf of bread, screaming and frozen in a rictus of pain and agony, and chuckled at the preposterous thought of it before schooling his thoughts. His wife had always nagged him about his critical inability to sense danger and impertinent gallows humor.

He lost count of how many water jutsu he cast, but that was more from the splitting headache that was starting to creep in on his vision, blurring and blacking out at the edges.

The first onsen he used ran out of water, but luckily, this was Yu, and there was always another onsen, another water source, and Takaniwa was able to continue the fight.

Goro Yusuke was currently panicking. He was no leader of men, and he knew it.

That was why he was simply an aide to the village head. He helped the man with his paperwork, but that was it. Nothing like this.

Why did that damn Jofu have to name him second in command? Yusuke was a competent man when it came to exacting and precise work, but he did not know the human heart, and did not understand the management of people.

He had come in to work a little early to get a head start on the paperwork for the year when the two explosions rocked the village. The first few minutes were actually somewhat calm since he was the only one at the city hall.

But then ultimate chaos descended. Every single shinobi in the village, on and off duty started to muster at his location, waiting for instructions, but it was a fucking shitshow.

Fractured teams here and there, missing command personnel, it fell upon Yusuke to start managing all the ninja and kunoichi that came to him asking for orders.

Jofu needs to show up as fast as possible because Yusuke was about to finish the last of 15 actions on the unidentifed or unnamed disaster protocol. Step 16 simply said "Combat the problem." and gave no further direction.

The first reports started to roll in, and Yusuke could've praised the Sage, because they were problems that they had protocols for, protocols he had written himself, and at that point, it was just a matter of execution, no decision making involved. Just follow the instructions. Easy right? Just need to hold yourself together and follow the instructions, right?

He initially got a report for a large fire near the Town Square, and he started executing the Fire protocols, luckily the direction was comprehensive enough that it even accounted for multiple casualties and loss of communications. He had already ordered several water brigades out, and they would soon be joined by a couple earth brigades, who would use mud and landslides to create firebreaks, limiting the spread of the fire to only a single portion of the city.

The next major report was an attack on the Hospital, and luckily that fell into the Terrorism Protocol since no foreign adversaries had been reported so far.

So Yusuke started going down his lists and giving exact orders to the present subcommanders who would be sent to the areas of concern and manage them on site.

This wasn't so bad was it? But where the fuck is Jofu?

Hiseo sat in his throne and looked directly into the eyes of Jofu, the "leader" of Yugakure. It almost made Hiseo want to throw up that the public head of Yugakure was a heathen. He couldn't fucking stand It. it just made him so fucking angry.

So irritating, so grating, so unforgivable.

Hiseo started to berate the man once again.

"YOU LOWLIFE. YOU DON'T EVEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE GLORY OF JASHIN!

YOUR HEATHEN BLOOD WILL BE GIVEN TO JASHIN AND IT IS ONLY THERE THAT YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE WILL EVER HAVE WORTH.

YOU SPIT UPON OUR FOREFATHERS WITH THIS DISGUSTING TOURIST VILLAGE!

YOU ARE NOTHING!

YOU ARE SCUM. AN INFIDEL!

WORSE THAN NOTHING!"

Jofu said nothing, but emptily stared back into the eyes of Hiseo.

Hiseo took a deep breath and sighed before calming himself and speaking to the Acolyte that was in the room with him.

"Okay, sorry about that Brother, this guy just upsets Jashin so much that I couldn't help it.

I'm done now, so please take that thing with you when you go."

The Acolyte bowed deeply and replied with a subservient tone.

"By your leave, Hiseo-sama. All Glory unto Jashin, Blessed be His Name."

Hiseo waved his hand dismissively.

"Yes, yes, Blessed be His Name, now go!"

The Acolyte walked up to the table set in front of Hiseo and collected the silver platter with the head of Jofu on it, and carried it away

Yusuke was starting to get the hang of things. It actually wasn't so bad. He had an answer for everything, he just needed to consult the protocols. An almost small and satisfied smile threatened to break through to his face, but Yusuke quickly hid it.

There would be time for that later. Maybe after everything was handled, he could bask in the glory. He really had stepped up hadn't he? At a bare minimum, he would be getting free drinks for the rest of his life.

Then there was the new art and decoration fund that was currently untouched. Maybe he could get a statue dedicated in his honor in the coming months?

Hell, maybe he could run against Jofu in the next election? It was indeed him, not Jofu that was currently handling everything, proving himself, finally. Everyone that had ever mocked him would be crying tears of blood once they realize, it was Yusuke himself that saved Yugakure on this day of reckoning.

He thought about every single missed night of sleep in the past two years as he revamped village policy, it was all worth it for this single moment, where the world had come crashing down, and it was his work that allowed Yugakure to handle the emergency.

Yusuke felt the warm glow about his persona and knew that it was his work, and his blood, sweat and tears, that allow Yugakure to still stand tall.

Another few reports came in.

The evacuation of civilians through the Northern Entrance had already started, and the city should be empty of non combat personnel within 3 hours.

The evacuation of village children had also already been started. The reinforced bunker beneath the Shinobi Academy was exactly for a situation like this.

Any children would be exposed to too much danger during a full evacuation, so they would shelter in place within the village.

Besides, the Shinobi Academy was perhaps the most secure place in the entire village, with a potential contender in the City Hall itself.

Yusuke felt perfectly safe where he was right now, though, so he didn't even bother worrying about the academy.

He made his way to the roof of the building and gazed out over his village. It was burning a little, but it would pull through, and the hospital was only smoldering.

See? His fire protocol had stifled the fire at the hospital, saving countless lives and medical equipment. All thanks to him.

It was that medical equipment that had allowed him to set up a new triage center in the auditorium of City Hall, another part of his protocol, but he had phrased it to his men like it was his decision in the heat of stress.

He remembered the way his voice hadn't shook at all as he belted out his orders.

"Shinobi, start setting up the Triage Center in the auditorium. We have medical equipment in supply closet 4B, and the hospital is compartmentalized enough that we will be able recover everything else from there.

Get to it!"

And they hopped to it! The men had listened to him! His mother had always said he couldn't lead a group of men out of a wet paper bag, but that Hag was dead, and here he was, leading Men in the hardest of times, and doing a fucking awesome job!

Another thought came to him, it wasn't really written into protocol as an action since it was assumed that this step would already be performed, but he felt like the king of the world right now, so he said 'Fuck it!"

Yusuke had brought up the Darkstar from Jofu's office to the roof, and he fired it into the air. The flare burned bright and black, and if there was a single shinobi that hadn't yet reported to City Hall for orders, they would see this and then come.

Yusuke felt comfortable enough leading that he actually relished the opportunity to have a few more men under his command. After all this is done, he might even have a woman or two under him as well! Haha. He would show everyone that ever doubted him.

Back in the new Triage Center, Subcommander Semete, a Jonin, was doing his best to run a cataclysmic disaster.

They had no medical personnel, They had little to no supplies, for some reason or another, every single medically trained individual that wasn't retired was at the hospital when it blew, and any reason why got blown up with it.

He had over a hundred people in here, all in various stages of dying. Shrapnel injuries, Crushes, Compartment Syndrome, Blood Loss, Third Degree burns.

Semete hadn't seen anything this bad even when he visited the front lines between Konoha and Iwa during the last war.

Semete then overheard two civilians that were talking to each other as they each bandaged one of the casualties.

"I fucking hate that weasel! What the fuck is his problem talking to us like that?

That fucking snake needs to shut the fuck up and let Jofu-sama handle this shit.

I mean what the fuck, where the fuck even is Jofu-sama? I bet that fucking shitter did something."

Semete roared at the duo.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP. IF YOU HAVE TIME TO TALK, THEN WORK FASTER YOU FUCKING IDIOTS.

PEOPLE ARE GONNA DIE YOU FUCKING MORONS. WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Semete hated that ratfuck Yusuke too, and Jofu had made a mistake putting him second in command, but regulation was regulation, and if there was one thing that was drilled into you as a shinobi, it was the chain of command.

So Semete finished his first aid at his current patient and scanned the room before barking more orders out.

"PROP THOSE FUCKING DOORS OPEN, WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO OPEN AND CLOSE THEM YOU RETARDS!

YOU THREE, I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE TIRED, GET US MORE SUPPLIES FROM THE HOSPITAL! FUCKING HUSTLE!

YOU, OVER THERE, IN PURPLE, STOP WASTING MEDICAL SUPPLIES ON THE DEAD!

AND YOU, YOU'RE WORSE THAN USELESS! THAT'S THE THIRD PERSON THAT'S DIED WHEN YOU MOVED THEM.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY TRIAGE!

IN FACT, GO RUN AROUND THE VILLAGE AND FIND EVERYONE WHO HAS EVEN BLOWN ON THEIR KID'S SCRAPED KNEE AND BRING THEM BACK HERE!

WE NEED EVERY ABLE HAND WE CAN GET AND YOU AIN'T GOT ONE SO GO FIND SOME PEOPLE THAT DO!"

Semete then turned his attention back to his increasing number of patients and dwindling medical supplies and suppressed a scowl before getting back to work.

There were so many hurt around him, so many dead, and it seemed like no matter what he did, it didn't actually matter.

As Semete stabilized another casualty, he muttered to himself, quietly, like a prayer, like a mantra,

It matters to this one. It matters to this one.

Hiseo was standing with a large group of his followers about 3 miles from Yugakure's northern entrance.

His scouts had reported the first wave of refugees and civilians were headed this way.

It was great news, Jashin was surely helping them set up a splendid sacrifice.

And then Hiseo got some even better news, it was predicted as a possibility, but manpower had been stretched too thin in Yugakure due to the fire, and now the civilians were evacuating without any shinobi guards.

Hiseo couldn't help but laugh. It was providential.

He looked down from the top of the valley and visualized the path the refugees would take. The path took them through a bamboo forest where it was so thick you couldn't see 25 yards in front of you.

The valley was about a mile long itself, so he should be able to trap everyone within the valley before beginning the ritual.

It was a good day to be a follower of Jashin, and an even better day to be a heathen.

In the Shinobi Residential District of Yugakure, 20 followers of Jashin, split into groups of 4, each containing 1 chuunin and 3 genin, prepared themselves for their mission.

Their mission was one of the most important, they would be responsible for taking out the Jonin of Yugakure, and it would bring them ultimate glory.

Each team was responsible for about 4 or 5 households, and hopefully they would succeed at least two or three times. One couldn't be too sure with Jonin; it was particularly hard to take them down.

The five chuunin team leaders all nodded to each other before splitting up, each leading their team in a different direction. They all knew their orders, and Hiseo-sama himself had created their mission details and strategies.

It was about as close as guaranteed success as anyone could pray for.

Team 1 made their way to Target 1 as silently as possible.

Once they were about 100 meters out, the chuunin team lead started making hand signals to his team and ordered them to transition to sign language.

It was paramount from this portion onwards, that they maintain utmost secrecy and silence. The plan hinged upon it.

If their missions was exposed, it would all be for naught. So the four ninja of Team 1 all quieted their breath and silenced their footsteps as they crept even closer to the Target 1 residence.

Team Leader 1 held his fist up, signaling to his genin to stop and prepare for assault.

His next signs informed his teammates of the situation inside the house.

Target confirmed. Objective Alpha engage on my mark.

1 co-objective. Handle same as Target.

3.

2.

1.

Mark!

And the four ninja burst in through the various windows of the residence and took the Target and co-objective by surprise.

Team Leader took on the Target himself, more than strong enough with the advantage of stealth and ambush. The three genin went for the co-objective.

Team Leader 1 burst in through a window right above the kitchen sink, and his first attack caught the target square in the face, who then hurtled backwards and slammed into the counter.

She was knocked out cold instantly, but still breathing. Luckily, he hadn't punched too hard and accidentally broken her neck.

The genin were joined him in the kitchen 15 seconds later, carrying the co-objective.

Team Leader 1 smiled and asked his subordinates.

"Status report?"

"Mission success."

"Do you remember the handling procedure?"

"Yessir."

One of the genin stepped forward, his fist valiantly placed against his chest.

"It would be my honor and pleasure if I may perform this ritual in Jashin's honor."

Team Leader 1 chuckled and the enthusiasm of the new generation. It filled him with pride to see such devout followers of Jashin.

"Very Well. Go ahead, and remember, don't kill them!"

"Yessir."

One of the other two genin dropped the co-objective onto the floor, which landed with a thud, while the one that had just spoken took out a kunai and senbon before grabbing the woman that his team leader had knocked unconscious.

He turned the woman onto her back and felt around for her c7 vertebrae, which stuck out with a little knob in the middle of her upper back. He counted three vertebra upwards, finding the c3-c4 joint, and jammed the senbon in, transfixing the spinal cord.

The woman, who was limp, shook once as her eyes flew open and her mouth gasped open as she prepared to scream, but the genin immediately clamped his hand over her mouth before taking the kunai he had in hand and moving it to her neck.

The fear she felt was palpable, and delicious, and the genin savored it as he stared into her eyes.

What would happen next was the best, and he had been looking forward to it all day.

He took his kunai and slowly, methodically, pierced her trachea and cut a large hole in it, bypassing her vocal cords.

The woman started to gurgle quietly, and her eyes screamed in pain, but her body was still limp and paralyzed.

The genin had very carefully avoided any major blood supplies, and the woman wouldn't die from the throat injury, she was now simply mute and paralyzed.

A sadistic grin was plastered across his face, and the chuunin team leader noticed the slight tightening in the young genin's pants before scoffing and thinking to himself.

These young ones get too excited, though I wasn't much better back in the day!

The Chuunin then spoke up.

"Okay, do the kid now, I'll do the explosives, remember these things got hair triggers, so don't fuck around here.

We're onto the next target as soon as possible."

Team Leader 1 made sure the woman, the wife of the Jonin they were sent to eliminate, was lying on her back, hiding the senbon in her neck, but exposing the hole in her trachea.

He then primed the explosive tag and placed it on the back of her head, and he quickly set her head back down.

"Remember kids, that thing will explode if you even touch her, so no funny business."

When team leader look over at the Jonin's child, he was surprised to see the task already complete except for the explosive tag placement.

One of the other two genin smirked and replied.

"Sorry, couldn't wait?"

The chuunin knelt down and inspected the other kid's handiwork. The Jonin's teenage daughter was perfectly incapacitated, senbon between c3 and c4 vertebra and with her voice disabled.

He would have to let it slide this time around.

He took another explosive tag out of his equipment pack and primed it before placing it on the back of the young girl's head.

With any luck, the Jonin would come home and try to render first aid to his wife and daughter, however, as soon as he touched them, the explosive tag would go off, and if the pressure wave didn't kill him, the bone shrapnel from his family's skulls should do him in.

The Chuunin didn't even bother looking around the house, just left and ordered his team.

"Fall in punks, we got 4 more targets, and I want to beat every other team in speed!"

Yusuke savored his time on the roof of city hall until two genin came up to interrupt him.

One of them stepped forward and spoke.

"Yusuke-san, your presence is required in the Triage Center in 15 minutes."

Yusuke huffed to himself before speaking.

"About what?"

"Semete-san, commander in situ, thinks that the Triage Protocol is flawed and wants to make a few changes."

"I spent 3 weeks on that! What the hell does he know, that bastard?

15 minutes you say? Okay, just enough time to grab the unabridged protocol from my records and bring it.

That will surely answer all his questions."

And with that, Yusuke quickly waddled off in that weird gait that had gotten him odd looks and unkind words since childhood.

The two genin then looked at each other once they realized they were alone on the roof. One spoke to the other.

"Was it really supposed to be that easy? He really left just like that?"

The other one shrugged.

"I mean, the psychological profile on him that Kumo made is pretty advanced shit. Goes to show what the major villages can do when they put their mind to it."

"Yeah, I know, but for real. I was expecting the infiltration part to be the hard part."

"Whatever, lets find this water tank already, I'm kinda fucking tired of these heathens trying to desecrate our sacrifices.

My brother was at the market square, and to see his prayers getting saved by those no-name idiots down there really grinds my fucking gears."

"Amen Brother, Amen."

The two split up different ways to search the roof and within thirty seconds, one called out to the other.

"Over here. I found it as well as the drain valves."

"Coming!"

The original genin had already got the drain valves open, and water was pooling on top of the roof by the time the other genin got there.

The second genin made a few hand seals to cast a simple water jutsu which sped up the process, and in less than ten seconds, the ten thousand gallon water tank was fully empty.

They duo then went about shutting the drain valves and they both clambered to the top where they found the two fill valves, which were both connected to some large funnels.

"Okay, here's your sealing tag, I got mine. They both got 5 thousand gallons in them, so we should take about the same time."

"I bet you 500 ryo mine's faster!"

"You're on, dipshit!"

And the two genin, after placing their sealing tags in the funnels, simultaneously activated the sealing arrays and watched the funnels fill with liquid.

The two sat there for another minutes before the silence got to them.

"Man, these fumes are something else. What did those Kumo guys say this shit was?"

"I don't know, apparently its a bit like lantern oil except more flammable."

The other genin whistled.

"This is gonna be a doozy then, huh."

"You fucking betcha."

...

...

"You know, this building is the only one besides the hospital with this thing installed in it."

"Makes sense I guess."

Yusuke stormed into the Triage Center, arms full of the unabridged triage Center Protocol, and he was all fired up to let Semete have it. That guy wouldn't know good policy if it hit him in the face.

Hmm, that was actually a good idea, maybe throwing the policy at the stone-headed idiot's face would help alleviate this argument.

Yusuke found the man tending to someone that had a few burns, and stood in front of him, waiting for Semete to acknowledge his presence.

When Semete did not after 10 seconds, Yusuke cleared his throat to give the man another chance.

Another 10 seconds went by, and Yusuke decided to let him have it, full bore, no punches pulled.

"Excuse me, Semete-san, I heard that you may have some questions about the Triage Protocol.

I brought the unabridged version here, and I would be more than happy to help you understand what it says.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help."

There, that should show him.

But Semete continued to ignore Yusuke, who was starting to get antsier and antsier.

"Another thing I noticed is that all the doors in this building are propped open. Those doors are fire doors, and it could be very bad if~"

Semete interrupted him.

"I ordered them wedged open. We can't have any obstructions while moving patients."

"I understand that Semete-san, but the fact of the matter is that~"

"I don't give a shit. Now why are you here? I didn't ask for shit about your protocol?"

"Two young genin informed me that you required my~"

This time, Yusuke was interrupted by the fire alarm. It was one of the things that he had campaigned Jofu for.

It had a flashing light and audible alarm in every room of the Hospital and City Hall, and would ensure that they would never burn down, and could still be used as a HQ during firefighting operations in the rest of the village.

Semete yelled over the noise.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

Yusuke answered.

"IT'S THE FIRE ALARM. SOMEONE MUST'VE ACTIVATED IT~"

And then the sprinklers turned on, which instantly enraged Semete.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS WATER? THE PATIENTS CAN'T GET WET!

THEIR CORE TEMPERATURES ARE ALREADY TOO LOW!

TURN IT OFF NOW!"

Yusuke tried to speak up but no one was paying attention to him.

"You can't turn it off right now, Semete-san, you have to wait until the whole ten thousand gallon tank on the roof is drained.

After about 3 seconds of operation, the water that had been left stagnant in the pipes of the fire sprinkler system was used up, and the system started pulling from the reserve tank on the roof.

As soon as the smell hit Semete, he froze, and an extremely bad premonition hit him.

He whipped his head back to Yusuke, and his voice was deadly calm.

"Is this supposed to be water?"

Yusuke frantically nodded.

"Yes, I don't know what's going on though!"

Semete palmed his face and then rubbed his hand through his tangled hair.

"Fuck."

The two genin that had been up on the roof were standing outside City Hall, watching the new fangled "Fire Alarm and Fire Sprinkler System" operate flawlessly, well the only flaw was intentional so it wasn't really a flaw. It was not spreading water.

The two looked at each other, and one of them bowed and gestured to the other.

"I believe the honor goes to you, good sir. I owe you 500 ryo, and you should also be the one to dedicate this to Jashin."

"How could you say that, we both had a part to play in this?!"

"Yes, but you were assigned as my superior at the end of the day."

"Bah, that's just some bullshit Church Seniority things. We're partners in this.

We fight together, we pray together, and we bring Jashin glory together."

"Do you really mean that?"

"I really do. You're my best friend."

The genin then held out his hand, offering to perform the last rite together with his comrade.

And so, they both held onto, they both aimed, they both pulled the string, and the both of them launched the flare into the building with ten thousand gallons of aerosolized gasoline.

When the City Hall went up in flames is when morale finally crumbled. All the Shinobi that were still fighting the fires or handling evacuations within the village survived, but the rest of them, well.

Well, the rest of the shinobi were mainly in the City Hall running the command structure, the Triage Center, awaiting orders, or readying themselves for battle.

When the City Hall went up in flames, that's when the Shinobi Forces of Yugakure crumbled. That was when every ninja started to act as every man for himself.

Everybody knew that this was finally the end of Yu. There was no way to recover from it.

So what do people that start acting for themselves do?

Well one of the first thing they do is they check on their families and make sure they're safe.

The explosions in the Shinobi Residential District only reinforced the effect. Every explosion made each remaining shinobi more anxious about the safety of their family. Each explosion only built up the urgency with which people acted.

It made them panicked. And panicked people are known to overlook things that they may have noticed if a better mental state.

Hiseo really was a genius.

It seemed like everything was within the palm of his hand, but the man wouldn't agree himself.

He just like to make plans that worked even when things didn't come together.

Fool proof plans were good plans.

In the initial planning stages of the day of reckoning, one of his Cardinals had asked him.

"Do we need to take the weather into account?"

Hiseo laughed as he replied.

"That's the beautiful thing. We got fire and poison, so it works either way.

If there is rain, the poison in the air from the hot springs re-condenses and is administered that way.

If there isn't rain, the fire burns everything.

If its windy and the poison is blown away, its even better since the fires will burn that much hotter.

It works no matter what. That's what makes it beautiful and worthy of Jashin."

Currently, Hiseo was wading through a bamboo grove with crimson dirt. This valley would be fertile for years to come. Perhaps he could dedicate this place to Jashin?

It had been a while since any refugees had come by, so perhaps its time to sweep the city?

Children sat huddled in masses in the dark, clutching at each other in fear, reaching out for comfort and warmth. They didn't really know what was going on, but the stern and serious faces of their instructors were starting to scare them.

They had been funneled into this dark, underground, cramped cave, and no one had been answering their questions.

It wasn't actually a cave though. It was a bunker that was fairly recently constructed, hidden beneath the shinobi academy. It had 2 entrances and exits protected by chakra metal and expensive seals. The extra was simply in case of emergency.

There weren't that many rooms, one large common area with a kitchen, another largish room dedicated to training and teaching, and then a sleeping room with several bathrooms and showers. Various closets for storage dotted the walls as well.

Civilian and Shinobi children alike were in the bunker below the Shinobi academy. It was village doctrine that the children would shelter in place.

It just wasn't worth the risk to evacuate them, and even if the village fell, whoever took it over would undoubtedly refrain from harming noncombatants, much less children.

Neither Kumo nor Konoha were barbaric enough to do something that evil.

So the children waited for what felt like hours.

Eventually one of the kids, a young boy, came up to one of the instructors and asked with a shaky voice.

"Sensei, are we really safe down here?"

The tired old sensei chuckled good naturedly.

"Yes."

"You promise?"

"Absolutely. Once we accounted for all of the civilians schools and the shinobi academy, we locked the doors behind us and sealed the entrances.

No matter what is going on out there, it's not coming in unless we want it to."

"But what if they were already here?"

"They aren't."

"But what if they were?"

"Then we, the instructors of the Academy, would stop them with out life on the line."

"Okay, that makes sense."

"Look, Hidan-kun, just relax. It'll all be okay. I promise."

The academy sensei then reached out and tousled the gray hair of the 6 year old boy, who turned and walked away. The boy walked away from his teacher and went to the kitchen where he asked for a glass of water.

One of the civilian instructors got it for him and handed it over, which he received while saying 'Thank you'.

As Hidan sipped at it, he casually made his way into the sleeping room and found his bed.

He sat in it and reviewed the instructions his father had given him.

The instructions were very simple in reality. His father had given him 2 small water bottles, and he carried one in either pocket of his shorts.

All he had to do mix the two bottles in a glass, let it stand for 5 minutes, and then pour it on the ground.

His father had used some words that Hidan didn't really understand.

Hidan-kun, this is one of the most important missions for Jashin-sama. Okay? Do you understand how important this is? Good.

I'm giving you two bottles, the two components to a volatile Binary Nerve Agent. No you, don't need to know what it is.

Just listen to me. Once you're sure that everyone is there and the doors are locked behind you, follow my instructions.

Can you do that? Are you a good kid? That's why I'm so proud of you, my son.

However, Hidan didn't need to know the details. All he had to know, and all he did know, was that he was about to bring glory to Jashin.

Hidan mixed the two bottles, waited five minutes, poured it onto the tile floor, and then went to sleep.