26 Recovery Team
[Year 52, Iwa/Suna Border]
"What is that?"
Rasa looked at the direction of the finger that one of the chunin assigned to him pointed to. Rasa was currently directing some of the troops in the Suna camp by the bridge that connected the mainland to Kamino Stronghold. He was given command by Ishito Sensei and he made sure that no one slacked as they were still in enemy territory.
The injured were being taken care of by Rukia's dad in the medical tent at the center of the camp. Rock walls were raised near the borders of their camp for added defense and trenches were dug just in case of enemy attack.
He also made sure to do regular inspections to make sure that there were no spies that lingered in the area. It was on one of these inspections that one of the chunin that usually accompanied him made that remark.
Curious, Rasa followed his outstretched finger, only to widen his eyes at the massive explosion that covered the entirety of Kamino Stronghold and its surroundings. It didn't take long for the shockwave to suddenly reach them.
Rasa was nearly launched off his feet before he used his gold dust to hold him in place along with his comrades.
By the time the winds died down, Rasa could only stare in shock at the state of the stronghold. What was once a mighty base was now reduced to dust and dirt. He couldn't tell much from his position, but whatever happened caused the entire hilltop that Kamino Stronghold stood upon to now be nothing more than a large crater.
"What the hell is going on?! What happened to the attack team?!"
"Everyone get back to camp now!" Rasa ordered.
Gold dust then formed underneath him in the shape of a platform that carried everyone back to camp.
As soon as he arrived, he saw every ninja and worker in the camp muttering in panic and fear.
"What happened?"
"What was that shockwave?!"
"Is everyone okay?"
Rasa himself immediately went to the officer's tent to talk with the other captains and squad leaders.
"Rasa-dono, do you have any information about what happened? Kamino Stronghold is…gone!"
"No, I don't. I'm in the dark as much as you. The mission was for the attack team to secure the weapons and seize the stronghold for our own use. This was never part of the plan."
"Then…Ishito-sama and the others-"
"We don't know what happened, so don't assume anything as of yet. Start quelling the panic in the camp and prepare a force to go and investigate. Isshin Hoku and I will lead." Rasa conferred.
"Very well. I'll make the preparations." A Chunin saluted as he exited the tent.
'Souei, Rukia, Ishito-sensei. Be safe.' Rasa thought as he gazed out a flap in the tent towards the site of the explosion.
.
.
Han was lying on the ground unconscious when he finally came to. His eyes opened as he forced himself awake.
"Ugh."
He groaned as he felt pain on every part of his body. Judging from the state his body is in and the quickly growing headache, he immediately determined that he must've been turned completely and lost control.
It's a sensation that he's utterly familiar with after all.
Memories of the last thing that happened slowly trickled into his mind as he rubbed the back of his head. The fight with The Centipede, him using the second stage transformation, and then…nothing.
'Must've lost control.'
That was when he realized that his armor is in complete shambles. The upper part of his armor had been ruined leaving his muscled torso bare and his mask and hat had been torn apart. Luckily, his head band was made of sterner stuff, as it was just sitting there by the ground.
He idly picked it up and simply held on to it.
One thing he noted though, much to his quiet relief, was that most of his injuries had been healed.
Realizing that he's out of imminent danger, Han took a look at the surroundings. Everything around him was destroyed. There was debris of ruined massive rock wall and gorges of what he could only assume to be a tailed beast bomb.
'Not remembering anything when you turn is a pain.'
He followed the path of the projectile through the destruction and widened his eyes in shock.
For the very stronghold that he was supposed to protect, was now nothing more than a crater in the face of the earth.
He clenched his fists in anger at his actions, before unfurling them with a sigh.
Again and again. Years he had been a Jinchuuriki. Years had he trained to make sure he wasn't the monster everyone had made him out to be.
And yet again he proved that they were right.
"I'm done."
He threw the Iwa headband to the ground as it landed with a clink. He then turned around, and never looked back.
.
.
Rasa and a group of Suna shinobi flickered into the area of destruction.
"Spread out! See if you can find anything!"
As soon as they arrived, Rasa immediately hunkered down and spread his gold dust in every direction. The air, the ground, and even beneath it were soon covered in covered in flying and brilliant specks of gold that ordinary people would find enchanting.
However, sensing the situation at hand, most of them didn't even give him another glance as they spread out to investigate and look for survivors.
Boulders were upturned and rubble were swept away as they attempted to locate their missing allies.
It didn't take long for the first vestiges of death to be found.
"I found something!"
A chunin said aloud as he noticed a weird rock formation a few miles from the crater, which they assumed was the main point of impact to whatever the hell the attack was.
A few other sand shinobi gathered and looked into the rock formation that the person called about.
"Is that..?"
"You're thinking the same thing, right? This thing looks like it was made by Earth Jutsu."
"Do you think it was survivors? Our allies?"
"Don't get your hopes up. We're in a war, remember? For all we know, it could be Iwa ninja in there."
"Then keep your guard up. The rest of you, let's move!"
One of the Suna Jounin immediately ordered the rest as they slowly but surely removed the large boulders and cleared away any rocks and rubble that were in the way.
What they saw was a decently sized cavern that was obviously hastily dug up in order to protect themselves from the shockwave of the blast.
The Suna Recovery Team gave each other nods as they took a step to enter the cavern. It didn't take long for them to finally find traces of people. Luckily, it was the people that they were trying to rescue.
Injured and bruised Suna shinobi that were part of the attack force were all lying down unconscious amongst the stones and dirt. Rukia Hoku, among them.
"Check them all for injuries and begin transporting them back to ground!"
Isshin Hoku ordered as he immediately made his way to his daughter's side. He put a finger on her neck and let out a breath of relief as he could still feel a pulse.
'Thank the heavens.'
He then immediately checked her for any life threatening injuries, only to again sigh in relief as he found none. Signaling one of the Chunin to bring her back to the surface, he then proceeded to do his duty and check with everyone else.
However, he also couldn't help but note that Ishito and Souei were nowhere to be found.
Back on the surface, Rasa was still crouched with his eyes closed as he spread his senses using his gold dust as a medium. He sent his sand digging across the ground for any trace or clues of what happened or any trace of his missing teammates.
It took a while for him to reach the level of proficiency with his Magnet Release to be able to sense his surroundings using his dust, but constant training with Rukia and Souei did the trick. After all, the both of them had active sensory techniques and he didn't want to be left behind.
It was a sudden moment when his gold dust traveled across a section of the ground with tumbled rocks and a broken down thick mud wall did he sense something.
He whipped his head around in that direction before forming a golden platform and flying towards it.
Immediately after arriving did he use a jutsu that dug up the earth beneath him. As the earth cracked, it revealed two cocoons of string that were torn apart in a few places, but otherwise intact.
Rasa widened his eyes at the sight as he quickly created golden hands that picked up the two cocoons and brought them back up to solid ground. Cutting the threads was no issue since these strings were made to have a bouncy effect to protect from shock waves and blunt damage instead of the sharp or steel hard durable ones.
When it did, it revealed the faces of an unconscious Ishito and Souei. Rasa slumped back to the ground in quiet relief, seeing them in relative safety.
Rasa then looked back towards the large gaping crater.
'What type of enemy could do this to both Ishito and Souei? Just what happened in this fight that created this?'
All he knew then was he wouldn't get any answers until the two woke up.
_________________________________________
A few big consequences from the previous fight. Looks like everyone managed to get out relatively okay, however Han seems to give up on his village seeing the destruction that he caused.
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