Zen Zen Zense

Kita sat on the beach in a simple pair of sweat pants, tennis shoes, and a hoodie, sipping casually on a vanilla soda as he watched the meteor shower with Gonk. It was a rare moment indeed where Kita was seen without his signature kimono and ninja gear, though tonight he had been hoping for some time to relax. It was peaceful here in all honesty, sitting on the sandy beaches of Kirigakure and watching the meteor shower that filled the sky like fireworks. Lord knows that the boy needed it. With all that he'd been suffering the past few days, and especially this morning, it'd been rough on the boy's mental health. Recovering from Hoshigakure, Bobo being hospitalized, heavy conversations from Murata, and this morning... This morning. Kita's mind flashed back to earlier in the day, when Gonk had invited him out to bear witness to the event unfolding before him.

It had been an ordinary day for the boy. He woke up from bed in his pajamas and got ready for the day, showering and dressing in civilian casual for once on his day off. He had made his way over to his fridge to get himself breakfast when he saw it. Opening the fridge, a gruesome sight had awaited the young shinobi. Before him was a single clay bowl, glazed black and intricately painted with a number of red runes along its side. Within the bowl was a small pool of blood, beginning to coalesce under the cold. Though the most disturbing thing was that there was a single eye floating within the bowl. One single, familiar, lavender eye. Kita gave a sharp yell and fell backwards to his butt, scrabbling away from the open fridge with a passionate fear. His eyes darted wildly around the apartment, searching for any threats that still might be lurking here. Kita hadn't put that eye in that bowl. His parents wouldn't have either, even if they'd been home within the past few months. His apartment now felt dark, cold, and oppressive. Threats could be lurking around any corner, and Kita didn't like it. Not one bit.

With trembling legs Kita returned to his feet. With light footsteps he made his way back towards the fridge. A shaky hand reached for a nearby knife holster and withdrew a kitchen knife , Kita holding it aloft in case he needed to defend himself from whoever put this thing in here. Tentative steps brought him back to the bowl in question, though Kita now took not of a bloodstained note beside it. Kita picked it up to notice large letters written in blood on the front, though they had smeared to the point it was almost illegible. What little Kita could make out was K, T, and O. K_TO. He flicked the letter open to reveal a simple message.

"A gift for your participation..."

Kita's heart beat quickly in his chest. A gift for participation? Participation in what? Kita's mind quickly flashed through what it could be, though he found no events in recent or long term memory for what he could've done to warrant sticking an eye in his fridge. Kita stared at the lifeless orb for a minute, pondering what it was supposed to mean. A threat most likely, though the message said it was a gift. It could be an antiphrasis though. Yet... something told Kita that wasn't it. It dawned on him that this was a Byakugan. With a hand Kita plucked it from the blood, still lukewarm to the touch to Kita's great displeasure and panic. Just as he thought... it was in perfect condition. Usable condition in fact. It clicked in Kita's mind that they were serious when they said "gift." Whatever he'd done, this was his reward. Kita was disgusted. He didn't want to get strong through cheap tricks like bloodlines. It was power unearned, and useless for it. Though... Kita couldn't bring himself to throw it away. Cursing his weakness Kita grabbed a nearby cloth and wrapped it up before sending it to his storage dimension with the Jugo Arm. He didn't want it. He really didn't. Though he couldn't simply dispose of it. After all, it still had to be returned to the proper forensic authorities so they could analyze it. Or at least that's what Kita told himself.

Kita was hard at work cleaning the bowl with bleach and other chemicals when Gonk had arrived at the door. He invited Kita to the meteor shower tonight, something Kita accepted graciously before promising to meet with him later that night. He spend the rest of that day cleaning everything he could, until there wasn't the slightest trace of blood or DNA left in that apartment. He met with Gonk later that night in casual clothes, ready for a mental break from the frightening scene that he had just borne witness to.

"Thanks for taking me out by the way. It's nice to catch some rest every once in a while. It's been a while since we've hung out one on one as well."

Kita spent some small time chatting with Gonk before the inevitable happened. It wasn't long before a chunk of the meteor shower broke off from the rest and began to plummet towards the earth. The young boy's brow furrowed in confusion as he watched its downward trajectory, puzzled as to why it seemed to be getting so close. Didn't they usually disappear before hitting the ground? Worse yet, it was remarkably close to their village... Gonk thought that it might hit a nearby island or the ocean, offering an extended hand to Kita, which he accepted. Being brought to his feet, Kita squinted out at the ocean.

"Well... I certainly hope it doesn't hit anything important. I think it might just be nothing. R&D'd have announced that this would likely be a dangerous event if it was going to cause a tsunami. Wouldn't they?"

Gonk motioned that they went to R&D, a notion Kita shrugged at. It certainly couldn't hurt, and it was better safe than sorry with tsunamis on little island villages like this. Kita took after Gonk, following the Hoshigaki close behind as he made his way through the misty village they called home. It wasn't long before they'd made their way to the R&D building and made their way inside. They both walked quickly through the clean marble floors of the research facility, their shoes clicking softly as they hurriedly rushed up to the keycard locked glass door of the astronomy hall. Gonk asked Kita if he thought his keycard would suffice, to which the shinobi nodded.

"It should. You're a Jounin, right? There shouldn't be too many things you're restricted from, outside of top level access programs."

Gonk slid his card into the scanner, causing a resounding beep and displaying his jounin status on the door before opening for the pair. Normally jealousy would worm through the boy's mind, though Gonk's increasing persistence that something might be wrong was causing Kita some small degree of nervousness. Besides, he had also been promoted recently to the title of Chuunin, something that brought Kita a great degree of joy and satisfaction. He was finally catching up with his peers, at least a little bit. Though the thoughts were quickly wiped from his mind when he saw the researchers in the room. Gonk and the head researcher had a brief exchange, where the man revealed that the piece of meteorite was going to hit the capital city. Kita cursed at that, not quite believing what he was hearing from the man.

"What do you mean a fragment of meteor broke off?! I thought this was going to be a light meteor shower, why wasn't there any warning that it was more serious than that?!"

The boy was promptly ignored by the scientists, who instead chose to keep conversing with Gonk. He confirmed that the capital city would be hit by meteor, to which Gonk sprung into action. He quickly informed the scientist that Kita and an ANBU agent would be on the case. Kita puzzled over who it was, before the realization struck him like lightning, and he froze. Gonk was the ANBU Agent Mako. They were both shark themed after all, and Gonk was the only other person here who knew about it. Kita's mouth gaped like a fish, yet before he could say anything Gonk was gone. Cursing his luck, Kita turned around and sprinted out as well, taking pace for home as fast as possible. Gonk said the docks in 10 minutes right? Shit, Kita just had to hope that he heard him correctly.

Using a substantial amount of body flickering, Kita managed to make it home and into his gear and back to the docks just in time to bear witness to the meteor crashing into the earth below, sending a roaring wave of air rocketing out from the point of impact. Seems those scientists weren't joking. Kita's face grew even paler than it was. How on earth were they supposed to save anybody from that? Gonk came over a minute later and explained the plan to the young boy, to which Kita nodded dumbly. They quickly made their way over to Gonk's boat, where Kita sat on the side as he waited for Gonk's orders, not knowing how to work a ship of any kind. Gonk set down his valuables and cast the ship off, asking Kita to hoist sail. The boy nodded and performed a set of hand seals, conjuring shadow clones to assist in the dirty work.

They quickly opened the sails, which immediately began to catch wind and send them rocketing forward towards the capital. The real Kita on the other hand decided he'd be on wave duty, ready to use his big techniques to blast away the waves that might threaten their little boat. Though there was one thing he had to do first. Kita turned towards the ship captain, and struggled to shout over the roaring waves.

"Why didn't you tell me you were ANBU?!"

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The wind roared in Gonk’s ears as he struggled with the wheel in order to keep the boat on a straight course. Each gust of wind and wave threatened to send the duo of Kirigakure shinobi to the bottom of the sea, although that would only be a problem for one of them. Regardless, Gonk wanted to get to the capitol as soon as possible. Or at least what was left of it. Gonk wasn’t sure what would be left to save, or if it would even be possible for them to do anything, but he figured he had to try. Gonk wasn’t taking his new position of anbu lightly, and he figured that with the power that came with it he had to take initiative on things like this. Or at least he hoped that’s what he was supposed to do. Murata hadn’t exactly made it clear what his new responsibilities were, so he was kind of winging it. Speaking of anbu stuff, Gonk briefly glanced over at Kita as he shouted his question, however, Gonk’s gaze didn’t remain on Kita for long, as he noticed a large wave rapidly approaching. As he fought with the steering wheel to avoid being capsized, he yelled his answer back to Kita, struggling to be heard over the loud winds and crashing waves. 

“Well it just happened pretty recently,” Gonk started, “and I’m pretty sure people’s anbu identities are meant to be kept separate from their normal ninja life. That’s why we have the masks and stuff right? Anbu corps can do some pretty shady stuff so I think it’s like to protect our identities and stuff. Either way I’m not worried that you know or anything and I wasn’t planning on keeping it a secret from you forever. I just didn’t know how or when to tell you. Murata wasn’t exactly specific with my job details when she promoted me.” Gonk shrugged. “Oh, also congratulations on getting chunin by the way, I meant to say it earlier but I got a bit distracted by the comet. After this shit is sorted we should go out and celebrate for both of us. Maybe we can try to get into another bar, although we’ll have to case it first to make sure Murata isn’t there.” 

Gonk laughed, recalling the events from that night in hoshigakure. One of the good memories he was able to make before things started going south. But now wasn’t the time to get lost in old memories. If he got distracted and slipped up, Gonk might very well end up getting the boat destroyed and Kita killed. Kita had made it this far, through imprisonment and abuse, so Gonk was sure as hell not going to let him meet his end to some stupid waves. Gritting his teeth and squinting his eyes against the abundant sea spray, Gonk continued to steer the boat towards the capitol with new vigor.

After what felt like days, but was probably only a couple hours, Gonk caught his first glimpse of the capitol, and Gonk didn’t like what he saw. 

“Shit,” Gonk murmured quietly as he gazed at the wreckage.

Gonk remembered the sight of a shiny bustling village that had greeted him when he visited the capitol the first time, and what he saw now couldn’t be anything further from that. The east side of the city seemed relatively intact. A few collapsed buildings here and there, probably due to the shockwave, and a couple fires scattered about. While these might be pretty serious, they were like mere scrapes when put up against the west side of the city. Or at least what used to be the left side of the city. Now there was nothing. If the meteor had hit somewhere on the continent it would have probably left a huge crater in the land, but the capital was an island. So when the meteor hit, it smashed through that entire section of the island and caused the remains to be swallowed by the ocean. There was were tons of debris floating around the area, and he could see a few people desperately clinging on, hoping to be rescued. 

As the boat drew closer, Gonk began to hear the sounds of the disaster. Screams. So many screams. There were people desperately calling out to be saved, little kids crying as they gazed at the dead bodies of their parents and friends, and the urgent shouts of the first responders who were doing everything they could to save people. But they simply weren’t enough. There weren't enough of them to deal with half of the city being destroyed and the other half thrown into chaos. As Gonk watched, a little kid, who couldn’t be more than seven years old, went under the water, nobody around to save her, or even notice her death. Gonk debated jumping out of the boat and trying to save her, but she was much too far away. 

“There are gonna be more deaths like this,” Gonk told himself. “If you want to save this city you’re going to have to freeze your heart. At the end of the day you won’t be able to save every person. If you’re sensitive and weak you’ll never make it out of here. Focus on saving the city, not saving every individual.”

Gonk shut his eyes tight, and after a moment when he opened them, he viewed the situation free of emotion. Or at least that’s what he tried doing. At the end of the day he was still a 14 year old kid, and even though he had taken his fair share of lives, he couldn’t keep a bit of sadness from trickling in as he gazed at the disaster. 

After a few more minutes, the boat arrived at the east port, which was relatively intact, although many of the boats had flipped over or been washed away. Gonk quickly tied his small vessel to one the the posts, and after grabbing his stuff, hopped down onto the dock. 

“Alright, you ready to go?” Gonk asked Kita. Then he froze. 

“Wait a minute, where should we go? I guess the mayor’s office…”

Gonk trailed off.

“You gotta be shitting me. I just remembered, the west side of the island had all of the government buildings!”

Agitated, Gonk put his hands to his head and started pacing in a circle. 

“Ok, I guess we have to figure out if the governor’s alive, and if he’s not, who’s in charge. They must have some kind of base of operations for the first responders, so we can probably find out there. So I guess we should just start heading towards the center of the city until we find it or find someone who can point us in the right direction.” 

Gonk took a deep, calming breath, then spoke again. “Alright Kita, ready to go?”

Once his friend answered, the anbu agent would begin running into the village, his feet splashing on the slightly flooded streets. As he noticed this water, it occurred to Gonk that some of the devastation on this side of the city was probably caused by waves set off by the meteor. When he was on the boat, it looked like only part of the meteor hit the island, and some of it overlapped into the ocean. Regardless, as Gonk ran he looked around for anyone who needed saving or could point the duo of shinobi in the right direction.

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Kita drank in Gonk's words silently, only halfway paying attention to them as his attention to the Hoshigaki's words as his attention was cast towards the turbulent waves of the swelling sea. A massive sea swell began to rise up towards the shinobi pair, something which Kita scoffed at. He walked towards the bow just as Gonk was finishing his sentence and weaved through three hand seals. He'd been working on a new technique recently, and he'd been hard at work ensuring that he needed as few hand seals as possible. He had no doubt that in time he could probably do it reflexively, almost as second nature before long, though for now he was still limited to weaving the signs. In truth he was proud of the fact that he'd managed to develop a technique he could call his own. He'd worked his fingers to the bone coming up with the signs and learning to harness the environment, though he'd managed to do it after significant time investment. Still, it didn't bring him nearly as much joy as it once would have.

Seven minuscule orbs of wind popped into existence 70 meters away from his location on the boat, directly in front of the encroaching waves, each spaced 20 meters apart from one another. They roared to life and quickly expanded to full size, creating a massive wall of razor sharp wind, ripping and tearing apart at anything that would collide with it. The massive wave was no match for the monstrously sized technique the newly promoted Chuunin had launched, sending the once mighty and proud wave into thin ribbons of water droplets, which fell harmlessly back into the sea. It quickly disappeared a moment later, allowing Gonk's pirate vessel to pass harmlessly through the area where it once had lain. With the immediate danger out of the way, Kita turned back to his Hoshigaki friend. He opened his mouth to speak, though closed it quickly after, his eyes turning downcast. A step forward, and a step back. He'd imagined that he'd finally managed to catch up with the Hoshigaki, at the very least a little bit, though he was quickly reminded otherwise. A Chuunin? Gonk had been promoted to ANBU. Next to that, a Chuunin was nothing. Kita turned his eyes back to the waves ahead, not wanting to say anything for fear of coming out hostile.

"It's fine. I just wish you'd told me before. Let's... Let's just keep going, okay? You keep focusing on driving the ship, I'll focus on keeping the waves off of us. We should get there faster this way."

It wasn't long before they reached the capital, and it was a mighty wreck by the time they had gotten there. It was clear to the two that the meteor that had crashed into the earth had torn most of the landscape on the west side of the island asunder. Small fires were beginning to spread amongst the higher, dryer parts of the city, while seawater flooded the lower parts of the city that had been closer to sea level. The entire thing was horrific to be hold, and even from this distance the bloated bodies of innocents long past were being tossed about by the intense waves that the ocean was kicking up. Their vessel got closer and closer, and the sounds of screams were clearly visible even from where the two shinobi stood. Kita winced slightly at the thought of how many people were likely suffering, though the same burning sympathy he would've felt long ago was burnt out by the Village Hidden in The Stars. Bits of debris with stranded citizens floated by Gonk's vessel, though the Hoshigaki did not stop to pick them up. Quite frankly, there were too many of them to save. Many called out for the boat's attention, though none received it. Some of them grew bold and jumped from their floating debris, casting themselves into the cold and cruel sea in hopes of swimming to their potential rescuers, though almost all of them were sucked under by the raging waves, the hidden riptides carrying them off to a watery grave. Oh if Kita had the lungs he would warn them to stay back, to stay away, though he doubted they would listen even if they could hear him. How people act when they feel they're at death's door.

Gonk expertly navigated the boat through the larger chunks of island debris and suicidal survivors, eventually pulling them in to dock at the eastern port, the side of the island that had suffered minimal damage. Kita turned to his clones with a grim and hollow look on his face.

"Go look for survivors. Help who you can until you run out of energy, do you understand me?"

The two clones gave a salute, before running off towards the western side to follow the young shinobi's orders. Gonk tied their boat to the dock, and Kita hopped down from above to join him. The Hoshigaki turned to him and asked what they should do, suggesting the mayor's office before realizing that it was likely destroyed when the meteor struck. He then suggested that they look for a base of first responders, or at least attempt to find someone who could direct them towards them. Kita sucked in and bit his lip, his eyes saddening a little bit. Truth be told, he wasn't sure that such a thing existed. And if they did, it might be better to go ahead and get the people to safety immediately rather than wandering aimlessly through the city in hopes of finding a first responder's center that may or may not even exist. Still... Kita couldn't blame Gonk for trying. And they would need to bring survivors to any sort of medical station that was available. Bringing them all to the hospital would result in overcrowding VERY quickly, so they would need some sort of place to put them...

"Okay, let's do it. You lead on, I'll follow behind you."

Gonk took off into the city, with Kita behind him in hot pursuit. The streets were heavily laden with murky water from the sea that had spilled throughout, and every once in a while Kita would notice some screaming civilian run by, either vanishing out of sight before long or taking shelter in one of the buildings still standing. For the most part the damage seemed to be as a result of spilling water, though the buildings seemed to be intact, save for some doors that seemed to have broken hinges, most likely a result of earlier gushing water blasting them open, or scared crowds of people rushing inside. Kita's mind was taken aback, remembering his first mission with Gonk. He remembered when they were both Genin, huddled aboard a little life raft with Kasumi and Murata, hoping against hope that they would find survivors of the flood that had overtaken one of their districts. That felt like a lifetime ago now... and the stakes were quite a bit more severe now if Kita was honest with himself.

In their mad dash through the watery streets of the islands, it wasn't long before Gonk's theory was proven correct. There before them was a make-shift medical center, placed in drier ground. Impressive work considering that they'd had less than an hour to set it up, though Kita imagined that shinobi help would likely make the process move significantly faster. The commanding shouts and orders of what Kita assumed to be the ones in charge rang out, to which Kita cocked his head at Gonk, a silent question of whether they should approach or not. Should he say yes, Kita would run into camp to greet the heads of this little rescue operation...

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Total Word Count - 2982

Kita followed Gonk's lead into the encampment of bustling field medics and wounded civilians, making his way towards the one shouting orders in the center of the camp. A middle aged woman in white directed the various doctors and emergency response personnel, the one in charge of the operation most likely if Kita was to make a presumption. The pair made their way directly over towards her, and Gonk took the initiative, asking her if she was the one in charge.

She froze for a moment, most likely shocked by the fact that an ANBU member so young in age had appeared in front of her. Though looking around at the make-shift rescue center gave Kita some more insight as to the real reason behind her shocked expression. It was a sorry site to behold that little camp. They did well with what they had, that much was evident, though it was obvious that they didn't have much. There were far too many victims for the doctors to appropriately treat. Too many injured and wounded bodies to deal with. Even at a short glance Kita could see them choosing to abandon those most injured, leaving them in a pool of bloody rags on the cot they had been provided, choosing to cut their losses and treat those with less severe wounds in hopes of maximizing the number of survivors. A callous action performed out of sheer necessity. Though what was more disturbing was that Kita saw remarkably few medical shinobi. Sure there were doctors, but shinobi? Oh no, not them. It was bandages and stitches for those who had been wounded, not Mystical Palms and chakra based healing treatments. Kita scowled to himself as he took in the scene, his mind racing as he took note of their shortcomings and failings. Without an appropriate amount of doctors, the casualty numbers would spike due to lack of treatment. That combined with a distinct lack of the superior healing that medical ninjutsu provided meant that a good chunk of these victims wouldn't last until morning. A mass death in the making.

Kita's gray eyes flashed back to the woman in question, who affirmed her position as operation head. She asked quickly if they were the aid request they had sent for, a motion which Gonk quickly dismissed. Her disappointment was evident, and Kita couldn't say he blamed her. No matter how they spun it, this situation was bad. While Kita would assume Gonk's estimation of help's arrival was a bit off, considering that not only was the impact of the comet visible from Kirigakure but that high level Space-Time users like Travin would make the journey a lot more efficient, he couldn't deny that they would be waiting quite a while before any meaningful help would arrive en masse.

Kita closed his eyes and began to think of some potential solutions to their predicament as Gonk and the disaster relief head discussed the predicament, listening passively to the conversation as he did. Though each solution he came to arrived at a dead end. He was no healer, neither in a shinobi nor a civilian sense. Therefore, trying to help around camp would likely hinder rescue operations far more than he would help them. Kita could try using his speed to rush around the city, saving and rescuing those that he could, though there's only so much that a single individual can accomplish, even one as fast as Kita was. He would run out of chakra within the hour, and even if the boy assumed he could save up to a hundred, or even two hundred, it would still leave thousands out to die. Not a good option. Besides, Kita already had his clones doing the same thing. He could use his water style to put out some of the flames burning throughout the city, hoping to stop the spread before they lost any more buildings or lives to the raging flames, though that left him in a near identical position to the one he would be in in his last solution scenario. Too much chakra expended, not enough people having been saved. Kita would just have to hope that the raging sea water would keep them from burning too far.

Nothing coming to mind, Kita opened his eyes just in time to hear the most ridiculous solution that possibly could've come up emerge from Gonk's mouth. One so foolish that not even Kita's wracked and stress addled brain could've conceived.

"What the hell do you mean we're going to try to run the city?!"

Kita looked at Gonk incredulously, his brow furrowed as he tried to wrap his mind around what his friend had just said. Even the disaster relief head seemed a bit hesitant to believe what Gonk had just been saying. Though Gonk appeared unphased by the responses, instead giving a final directive to the woman to set up more tents. He turned to Kita and motioned towards the direction of the post office, which Kita begrudgingly nodded in kind, agreeing silently to follow Gonk's lead.

They had gotten just barely out of earshot when Kita heard Gonk ask himself what the hell he was doing. Kita's teeth were gritted, and anger began to run through his mind. He could feel his proverbial blood boiling, and rage began to cloud his judgement. The harsh lessons he'd been taught, and his own bitter prejudices polluted his mind.

"What the hell are you doing Gonk?! We can't run a city! It's impossible, especially now!"

It wasn't long before they arrived, and Gonk slammed the locked door open, shattering its hinges. Kita followed him into the depths of the dimly lit office, where Gonk took a seat at the head of where the post office head would normally sit. The Hoshigaki turned to Kita with heavy breath, and asked what they should do first. Kita's rage died down a tiny bit as the boy began calming himself. It was a curious thing in his mind, to jump so quickly to fury. Gonk had been nothing but helpful, and yet here he was about to turn his ally into a pariah. Especially when a few mere minutes ago he had felt nothing but... well... whatever it was, it wasn't rage. Kita supposed that desperation did horrible things to people, though seeing it up close, especially coming from himself was plain ugly. Kita's face was hardened as he looked into the Hoshigaki's eyes, and a moment of silence filled the room as Kita thought of what to say.

"I don't think it's possible to help from here if I'm entirely honest Gonk. To use political power you need agents to enforce your will. Look around us, there's nobody in here. We have no way to contact or communicate with anyone who could help from here, and even if we did it wouldn't make a difference. Neither of us have any idea who major political actors are in this region. We don't know who would have the resources to help, if they're alive, or if they would even listen to us. In short, we have no messengers or men. Without those we'd be better off running around and running ourselves ragged."

It wasn't a hopeful or helpful message, but it's true. To run the city from an empty post office when nobody else knows it's the head of operations is impossible. Kita turned to gaze out of a small nearby window, his eyes scanning the empty streets as he tried to think of a way to make this situation work. Then, out of the blue, it clicked for him. Memories came flooding into the young ninja's mind as his Shadow Clones dispersed, flooding Kita's head with the knowledge they'd acquired. He wished he could say he didn't learn anything he'd already anticipated, though that would be a lie. It was far worse than he'd expected. Mutilated and mangled bodies littered the waterlogged streets, and a good number of the few survivors they had managed to save were on deaths door anywho. They had only come back because they had drowned attempting to save a group of civilians trapped in a building flooding with water. Kita had to assume that the civilians didn't make it... They tried hard, but they just couldn't seem to find them. They heard the calls, the cries, but they just... didn't see them. Kita closed his eyes, a solemn mourning of the passing of those poor victims. Kasumi would've seen them. Kato would've them. Kato... a horrific thought crossed Kita's psyche, something Kita quickly brushed aside. There's no way that Byakugan he'd found belong to Kato. It's impossible. Besides, Kita had more to worry about than his old friend. With Kita's shadow clones having returned to him, Kita realized that he may have a solution to their predicament,

"So... that means that we'd need to get some men."

Kita's hands weaved through those oh so familiar hand seals, conjuring a new pair of clones next to him.

"We need efficient communication to get things moving. These clones can start us off, and find us volunteers who'd be willing to help out, either relaying messages or donating skills to save others. We can stay here while they work, and once they're done, they poof and return their memories to us. If we time this right, we should be able to get the men we need before long."

It was a dumb idea, but it was the only one that Kita had for now. Kita cocked his head and Gonk and scratched at the back of it, wondering what the young Hoshigaki would have to say about his foolhardy plan.

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Seems as though Gonk was on board. Gonk conjured his own set of clones for the efforts, and asked Kita if he had anything else to add. The young shinobi shook his head.

"None from me. The sooner we get this project underway, the better. I'll send my clones to cover the east and west sides of the city, if your clones go north and south we should be able to cover a lot more ground than if they all went in one direction."

Kita gave a curt nod and a small hand signal to his clones, causing them to begin sprinting out of the building. Whether they would be able to find anyone who could or would help was a different matter, but at the very least the duo had some fast messengers. Gonk asked Kita what he thought about the elites of the island, postulating they were likely segmented into several small factions with a measure of social support. Kita's brow furrowed as he began to think on that, mulling over Gonk's theory and his proposed course of action.

"If we could find people with men able to help, that'd be fantastic. However for the time being I recommend that we assume that they're all dead. Planning to do this with minimal help would allow us a solid backbone for rescue efforts. If the clones happen to find a couple of political actors along the way, all the better for us."

Kita's eyes drifted back towards the window overlooking the street. With a small sigh Kita walked over to it and began to unlatch it, opening it wide enough so that he could easily pass through. Kita began to climb through, taking a moment to stop and sit on the windowsill before he passed fully through. Kita tossed a look back at Gonk.

"I'm gonna sit on the roof and try to nab the attention of the people on the street. I'll leave the window open in case one of us needs to get ahold of the other. If you need me, just shout."

With that, Kita channeled chakra to the soles of his feet and pressed them against the side of the building. The stuck satisfactorily, and Kita stood straight, now standing parallel to the ground far below. The boy turned around and began walking towards the roof, determined to use a couple jutsu to get the attention of the citizens.

---

The eastward clone began sprinting away from its brother into the pristine east side of the island. The earlier clones had struggled to find people in the west, so he just had to hope that he could find some people to the east. The further and further he got, the less destruction he saw. There was less fire, less water damage, the buildings were more pristine, less dusty smog filling the air. A good sign in the clone's mind. That meant there were likely a good number of people still left alive here. Yet just as it had that thought, it heard a call from someone to its left.

"Hey! What's going on over there?!"

The clone turned. Standing before it was a small group of men in hard hats and construction uniforms. If it had to guess, they were probably working in the east side of the island when the impact occurred.

"There was a meteor. Almost completely wiped out the west side of the island. Everyone's in a scramble to figure out what's going on over there, and the mainland is still organizing rescue efforts. I'm one of the very small few that managed to make it over to help."

The man cursed under his breath and turned back to his group. They looked heartbroken, and the clone couldn't blame them. Unfortunately though, it couldn't afford to be polite.

"If you want to help, report to the post office. We need citizen support, or else a lot more people are going to die very quickly."

They nodded, and they took off in the direction of the office. The clone nodded. There were about five people in that group of his. Not much, but enough to get the efforts started. With that, the clone turned back and began its run towards the east, determined to find more.

Word Count - 712

Total Word Count - 5310

Gonks clones headed north and south, towards where they hoped they could find safehouses or something of the sort. A place where people went in the event of a disaster. Surely a place like the capital had such a thing. Afterall, they would have had to prepare for things like hurricanes and tsunamis. The north clone looked around, trying to determine where the place could be. 

“If I were planning the city, I would have put it at the highest possible ground while still being easily accessible by a road or path. Actually I wouldn’t build just one, it would be much more practical to build several.”

Then something caught it’s eye. In the distance, slightly away from the most bustling part of the city, was a large hill, and while he couldn’t make it out very well due to the distance and dust in the air, he thought he made out a building. Deciding that this could very well be it, the clone started splashing through the streets, heading towards the distant hill. After a few minutes, the area shifted from the towering skyscrapers that formed the heart of the city, to smaller apartments, and eventually, some houses, clearly the residential area. He began to see people now, checking their homes for damage, or conversing with their neighbors in low murmurs. As he ran by anyone, the clone would quickly give a message.

“If you want to help the city report to the post office.”

It was brief but gave the people most of the information they needed, while allowing the clone to keep moving. He simply couldn’t afford to stop and talk in detail with each and every person he passed. Luckily, the message seemed to be doing the trick, as he saw a good amount of people heading towards the post office. It obviously wasn’t everyone he talked to, but it was enough to help bolster their numbers.

Eventually, the clone made it up to the top of the hill, and as he had hoped, the words “Severe Weather Shelter” were written on the squat cement building. It was nowhere near as pretty as the rest of the city, however, it’s construction was ideal for its purpose. The clone slowed to a walk as he neared the heavy metal doors, glancing around for any signs of people. He realized perhaps a bit too late that there wasn’t likely to be many people in there, as the news of the meteor was quite sudden, in addition to the fact that it came in the middle of the night, and a fair amount of time had passed since the impact. But luckily, as the clone pushed the door open, it was greeted with the sight of a fair amount of people, some sitting down in clumps, others pacing back and forth. It wasn’t as much as Gonk had hoped for, but it was still some.

“Hey everyone listen up,” the clone called out. “The meteor has left the city in bad shape. The western half of the island is completely destroyed, and much of the eastern half is being ravaged by flooding and fires. We’re trying to save lives and put a stop to this destruction but we need some support. Anyone who is willing and able to help out in any way, be it medical assistance, rescuing people, putting out fires, sending messages, or anything else, please report to the post office.” 

Upon completing his speech, the clone turned around and walked out the building, hearing the murmurs of the civilians behind him as the door shut behind him. 
“Alright, now to find more people I suppose,” the clone thought, heading back down and into the city, ready to find more people to recruit. 

In the meantime, the southern clone had a very different area to explore, due to the fact that most of the mansions on the island were there. Just by looking around, the clone guessed that the beach was probably extremely nice under normal circumstances. But now, the water was stormy grey and viciously pounding at the sand. The wind ripped through the palm trees that lined the streets and blew trash through the streets. The clone figured that the rich neighborhood had to have some useful people among it, but the problem was getting in contact with the important ones. He couldn’t exactly just knock on every door and talk to each and every person he came across. Most of them probably wouldn’t be willing or able to help. He needed someone who could identify the most important and most useful people so the clone could speak with them directly. Or a way to make themselves known and to make the people want to reach out to the shinobi. The clone frowned. This was a difficult task indeed, with the mansions sprawling out before him, the clone decided that it wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything on it’s own, so it turned around and started back towards the post office. It had only made it a step when it heard a voice calling out behind it.

“You’re a shinobi, aren’t you?”

The clone turned to find a portly man standing there, dressed in an exquisite suit and leaning on a gold tipped cane. 

“I’m ANBU agent Mako of kirigakure,” the clone replied. “Well, a clone of him. Who are you?”

“My name is Chikao Okada,” the man stated. “I’m a politician here in the city.”

“This could be perfect,” the clone thought. “This man could give us the backing we need.”
“Go on,” the clone said, “is there a reason you approached me?” 

“Ah you see right through me,” Chikao replied with a charming grin. “I couldn’t help but notice the fact that you shinobi seem to be organizing a rescue effort of sorts at the post office, and I wish to lend my assistance. Not physical of course, but political. I imagine you already realized that if you want your operation to have any long term success you’ll need backing from a major political actor, such as myself. You see, I’m one of the leading members of the Crab Party, and I have a quite substantial following. The Crab Party is all about safety and security, so both on a political and personal level, I support your little takeover.”

The clone observed the man carefully. Everything he said was perfect, which was what made the clone so suspicious. He just so happened to run into the exact person he didn’t even know he was looking for. What were this man's motives? Did he truly yearn for the safety and protection of the citizens of the island? Somehow, the clone doubted this, after all, he was a politician. But, the clone was getting ahead of himself. He would leave all the scrutiny up to the real Gonk.

“I’ll escort you to the post office then,” the clone told the man with a slight inclination of his head. 

“Excellent, I can’t wait to speak to the shinobi in charge,” the man said with another charming smile before starting to walk towards the post office at a brisk pace, his cane tapping against the wet pavement. 

Meanwhile, the original Gonk was busy dealing with all of the people that were being sent in by the clones. At first there were few enough people where Gonk could speak with each one personally about what skills they had and where they could help. But as time passed, more and more people started arriving, making it hard for Gonk to keep up. Realizing the inefficiency in his method, Gonk recruited a few people to act as assistants, and briefed them on what kinds of people should go where and how many people were needed. Once this system was in place, things started to go much more smoothly, and Gonk was able to sit back and begin thinking of strategy again. Overall things were beginning to seem much more professional, and it gave Gonk hope.

A knock sounded on the door of Gonk’s office. 

“Come in,” Gonk called in response, glancing up from the map of the city he was studying. 

The door was opened by the clone, and in walked Chikao, followed by the clone, who shut the door behind them. Chikao glanced at the clone, then back at Gonk in confusion. 

“Wait a minute, are you the one running this operation?” 

“That would be me, yes,” Gonk replied. “Who are you?”
 
Chikao’s brow furrowed, unsure of how to feel about someone who seemed so young running the operation. Granted, he couldn’t see the face behind the ANBU mask, but the voice pretty much gave it away. After a few moments of consideration, the man introduced himself in the exact same way he had to the clone, explaining his political power and desire to help.

Gonk was of course left with the same suspicions as the clone, and wasn’t sure he trusted the man. But in the end, Gonk decided that they needed all the help they could get, and they would need to utilize Chikao, but not completely trust him. 

“Well, I’m glad that you’re willing to lend your influence to the cause,” Gonk told the man. “Let me call my partner in and we can begin with a plan to win the support of the people.”

Gonk jerked his head towards the window, causing the clone to walk out of it and up to the roof, informing Kita of the visitor and asking him to go down. 

The strategy the trio come up with would be crucial if the shinobi want to stand any chance of keeping their power after the immediate crisis was dealt with. Their takeover obviously wouldn’t be permanent, but Gonk at least wanted to keep the city under control until the city had become completely stable and a new mayor could be decided on. Things were coming together, and if they played their new card right, things would be set up for success.

[WC=1670]
[TWC=6577]

The rest of the plan was simple: get the public to support Chikao and use him as a puppet leader to keep the city together. Luckily Chikao turned out to be the perfect man for the job, and he managed to add many more citizens to his already large support base through a confident speech assuring the public that he could keep things under control. Together, the shinobi and Chikao managed to organize short term relief and recovery efforts, as well as long term reform to the city to rebuild better. Gonk continued to watch over the project for months, keeping his true level of involvement a secret from the public the entire time. He made a few trips to Kirigakure throughout, but for the most part he lived in the capitol. Around six months later, the city had been almost completely rebuilt and the social, political, and economic situation had stabilized. While Gonk didn't agree with every single one of Chikao's ideas, he had proved to he a strong leader who overall, Gonk could trust to do the right thing to protect the city and nation as a whole. So, after six long months, Gonk found himself sailing back to the main island of Kirigakure for good, unsure of what would await him after being gone for so long.
[Exit]
[WC=220]
[TWC=6797]

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