---

Her attention shifting from the Totem to the goings on in the room, Kikue noticed Riku’s actions and reached out--as if to direct something at the arrow, only for Yuhi--one of the Tsuchikage’s bodyguards, to beat her to the punch. She pulled the arm back and straightened her hair and clothes making sure she was in order. She did a mental checklist--and then a sensory one--to see if all was well with her physically.

It was.

Shifting her focus, she spoke up, firing a glare at Riku, which she followed up with bits of crystallized chakra--with specific bumps in the fashion of braile--slipping nigh invisibly through the air and against the blind archer’s skin.

The braile read as follows:

Think before you act you imbecile!

It would be clear to him that she was not particularly pleased with his actions, do she did understand his suspicions. Luckily, Yuuhi excused the offense after which Kyoko acted promptly, essentially arresting Norio, if only to assuage concern and ascertain any involvement he might have had.

Kikue glanced out one of the holes in the council chamber and immediately saw Kujira doing as she’d prompted earlier, still assisting in the location and extraction of people from rubble as well as supporting structures with her companion’s chakra.

While she felt the drain it was really not very much given the sheer depth of her chakra pool, so she put it on the backburner and instructed Kujira to stop well before she used even 1/4th of Kikue’s chakra. Who knows, she might need it soon, and it would not be good to be caught unprepared.

She turned her attention to Kyoko and spoke, “What of me? Is there anything I might do to stabilize the situation? I have already bid Kujira to extricate any she can and stabilize any structures damaged by the attack. Is there anything further I might do?” Her words were only faintly hurried, though her tone was level and calm. While normally Kikue would be concerned with her own, here well…this was a matter of the Bijuu, and they were a thing that had taken two great women from her clan, two women who had meant much to her, even if she had never truly met her grandmother. As such she had every intention of minimizing their damage to all others she could, in addition to making sure that should they somehow escape…that her and hers would be prepared to deal with them.

This was not just a matter of pragmatism, but rather something more personal, for it was something that the tailed beasts had taken from her, it was a matter of family and so it was something that Kikue took very very seriously.

---

---

They’d finished acquiring sustenance and taken it elsewhere to eat, out of the sun, and into a building. However, oddly, Meirou hadn’t really noticed the presence of their senior…um, Han’you, until the explosion. The man’s movement--and eventually works--had brought him into the genin’s awareness, and he stayed there.

Barely reacting, aside from bracing himself and then looking to his friend, Meirou’s expression changed ever so slightly, shifting from deadpan to the slightest of frowns. The only reason he hadn’t been affected by whatever that blast had been, was pure coincidence…luck, but Toudai had been hurt, though it didn’t look too bad.

Han’you said something about flashiness and the Bijuu being the natural enemy of shinobi, and then Meirou properly tuned in to the man’s words, looking him in the eyes. Though Han’you would not have the connection that Toudai had with the young, often quiet and hard to read Meirou, he would nonetheless see the tells of worry, tension, and…was that anger, in the young man. It appeared that he did not like that something had hurt his best friend, or…perhaps more like he couldn’t believe that something had dared to do so.

It was odd, like he was taking the action as a personal attack.

Han’you asked him to tell him everything he knew about the Bijuu, and in response Meirou’s gaze intensified…and he narrowed his eyes, if only fractionally. A strange sort of darkness settled in Meirou’s gaze, and he spoke “Fix Toudai,” the boy said, and it was not a question or a request, but an order.

Having been around the two for some time, Han’you would know that Meirou had an understanding of the pecking order in the village, and that he was beyond intelligent enough to comprehend that what he’d just done was not just rude, but a sort of insubordination. Yet he would also know that Meirou did not treat anyone, not even his own clan, squad mates, or teachers, with as much respect and care as he did Toudai. He would know that the usually quiet, somewhat subdued and even apathetic Meirou was acting through emotion--not logic--and he would know that even given Han’you’s superior skill and power, that denying Meirou this would not benefit him.

What the man perhaps would not realize, however, was that Meirou had already considered all of the above before he’d opened his mouth. It was a scary truth, that beneath the seemingly tactless exterior of the genin’s actions was a mind sharp enough to calculate all that in the space of barely a few seconds.

"Hey!" Norio cried, even though the arrow was stopped, "I don't need anymore wounds." Although, Norio was nearly finished by the first responders of Kyokujitsugakure's Medical Corps, one who flashed their badge at Kyoko before beginning to do a medical exam on Norio, which gave him authority to pause her authority until after the medical exam was completed, followed shortly by the rest of the Corp and Shiō, who quickly began organizing into teams to begin treating the wounded. Shiō pulled the arm of her young medical shinobi off of Norio, indicating that others needed his attention more.

"I know you are arresting me, but maybe do that afterwards? I can help look for survivors." he asked, indicating to Kyoko he understood the urgency of her request but pointing out that there may be other items required more pressing attention. "I'll willingly submit to whatever you want, I have nothing to hide." Norio had the sense Kyoko was not a woman to say nothing but the truth too and attempts to charm her would only result in something he dare not even attempt to imagine.

"Enough of that," Shiō chastised Kyūryū, addressing one problem at a time. "Your Kage needs medical attention by experts to survive. Let us do our jobs." She whistled one of the squads of her medical shinobi over to begin treating the Tsuchikage. However, based on her quick visual diagnostics, the prognosis wasn't good. Even if she could stabilize the Tsuchikage, it was likely there would be permanent health issues. The Tsuchikage had essentially been hit by a direct blast and the fact that even all of her limbs were still on her was a miracle in itself.

What worried Shiō was the status of the Sankage - at a time they could use her more than ever. However, not even their best sensors could sense Ayameko within the rubble. While Shiō was a gifted medical shinobi, the lack of her access to Yggdrasil, in a situation that needed the access to those powers more than ever, would force her to make some difficult decisions.

Shiō was at least grateful that Shien and Kyoko were able to manage much of the chaos, leaving her to focus on her job of dealing with the wounded.

It was then Shien, as well as some of the upper leadership of Kyokuitsugakure, would be reached out to by Yggdrassil. But if anyone had been observing the faces of the members, it would not be a message of hope. It was clear, despite the lack of words, that Ayameko could not even be found by Yggdrassil, despite the once thought boundless connection Ayameko and the tree had. However, there was at least some hope - if Ayameko was dead, her spirit would have gone to rest within the confines of the tree like all of the other Kage before her.

Shio kept her mouth shut about it, but she could tell instantly who knew what. Shiori seemed deep in thought and had begun scribbling away on a tome, likely to inform many of the Yuki clan what was going on and likely to relay a message to Tokumei. Shiori's position gave her that authority, as well as the Vows that many of the Yuki clan subscribed too which meant that the secret would be closely guarded within the clan's ranks.

Io opted to make an approach directly to Shien, a sour look on his face, "I insist that we have a council meeting immediately upon returning to Kyokujitsugakure. If Yggdrassil is unable to make a selection of Sankage, then we will return to the old methods and vote on leadership of the nation. We need one voice of leadership now more than ever."

Shiori shot Shiō a look of 'well the cat is out of the bag now'. Normally Shiō would be involved in this type of discussion, but she had to tend to the wounded and only had time to reply with a nod.

Chiyoko meanwhile was on the scene with Tokiko and Hitsujiki, having been summoned directly to the shrine. While usually expressionless, Chiyoko seemed confused.

"The seal is still functioning," Chiyoko said, "But it seems as if it was temporarily weakened enough to allow a bijuu to break out before it snapped back to normal." She wasn't really talking to anyone in particular, but she was aware that she had an audience of those who had arranged her summon. "I may have to go to the Pure World," she mused, taking a cross legged position as she thought about the problem, occasionally consulting with Hitsujiki on key spiritual matters, while still making sure Tokiko did not pick at any plants of flowers in the area with her puppet strings.

"Stow your weapon, Archer of the Mist, or you will be shackled and punished duly under article 6.6b of the Three Nation Accords. We do not attack any parties in a time of crisis unless there is a clear motive that does not equate to unjustified suspicion - please be mindful of the rules of the Kyuuseishu during your stay here."

Riku didn't move as he concentrated on expanding his sphere of detection, though it did not mean he did not hear the accusation.

"Forgive me for speaking, but doesn't Article 13c state all security measures shall be handled by Kyuuseishu to ensure a safe environment for the meeting? And meeting next to the Totem is in accordance to that how? I do believe I violated the accords second.

More pressing, those arrows were blunt, and not a weapon, more like a detention technique. I shall store them after I have rescued more of the injured. Specifically our genin, that takes priority to me."

Riku's eyes uselessly popped open as he finished Mind's Eye of Kagura. Holding the bow out the hole in the wall, he began a spray of arrows, some flying quite far into the distance. Some he actually had to draw his bow back most of the way. As he fired, he noted there was one signature he could not find.

"I can't find the Sankage. She is beyond my perception, or well hidden."

His bow creaked at the strain of some of his final shots. After a breath, he walked away from the breach, by his mistress, the Mizukage.

"I prefer to think while I act, otherwise, I may be too slow. What are your commands my mistress?"
He made his way to the medic nin nearby, and reached his hand into the quiver by his side. It instantly refilled with arrows. Riku reached in, and grabbed a handful, smelling them.

"Smells like ink."

He undid the seal on them, several people appearing on the ground injured before the surprised medic-nin. Most of them were kids. While Riku had claimed to only be gathering his village's genin, he had gathered many from various villages.

"Hey, that smells like Mifune. How'd you get caught up in the blast? Well, that's alright, it's going to be fine. You're parents here to watch? My, my, that's got to be exciting."

Riku hung around his few rescuees, awaiting further orders from Kikuë.

As the actions of her colleagues and subordinates went on around her, Kyoko was once again deep within the recesses of her mind. She controlled an unfathomably vast network of spies and informants - unwilling or otherwise - and could tap into the various nexuses of these networks to determine the state of the island and obtain real-time updates as to what was happening. Despite the Sankage's disappearance, Kyoko elected not to activate any of her sleeper agents - though they would be useful, the present was a time for willing co-operation and fostering trust. It was not a time to display her hand early in the unfolding game they all found themselves a part of. Between Riku's sensory abilities, assurances from Kinjiro, her own spy network, and the general consensus of the Kyokujitsugakure shinobi there was only one clear outcome: Sankage Ayameko was missing, but not dead.

No matter how many times Kyoko replayed the instant of the attack in her mind, even with her own exceptional sensory techniques (albeit in short range) she could not explain what had happened to the Sankage.

Relaying her thoughts to Yuhi via the mental network shared by high-ranking members of the Kyuuseishu, Kyoko made clear the plan for action. Yuhi relayed the order further, and in a matter of moments the entire island would be abuzz with members of the Kyuuseishu co-ordinating rescue efforts in three teams: Midare, Setsu, and Gekka. With that, the namesakes of the teams would show up - three fairly average looking shinobi, each co-ordinating various rescue efforts mentally.

"Riku, aid Midare with your sensory abilities. Relay the locations of those wounded, but take no further independent action without direction from a Kyuuseishu operative. Kyūryū, assist Midare with the excavation of any debris and the relief effort in general."

"Setsu, aid Shiō with the wounded - fetch Kinjiro and ask her to activate the medical facility. Shiō, you will find all medical tools necessary within the medical facility, as well as beds for those injured. You have my express permission to make use of any and all resources, as well as to give orders to others via Setsu. Please save as many as can be saved."

"Gekka, please enact the remainder of the crisis protocols. Any who wish to assist with the logistical efforts should join him."

Immediately after she gave the orders, Kyoko walked past Norio and waved her hand at him as she strode past. He would immediately collapse in a heap into the guards Ayameko had assigned to him, knocked unconscious by a powerful genjutsu that would keep him completely comatose until such a time as he could be thoroughly investigated.

"Kikue, I know that the matter of the bijuu are something you hold very closely to your heart - assist whomever you choose in whatever fashion you deem most appropriate. I will continue to co-ordinate efforts while interrogating Norio, but I would ask that you offer leadership and guidance in my physical absence. Please work with Shien, her entourage, and Yuhi to aid your own as best as you can." she spoke, before snapping her fingers and continuing to walk out of the room. The two bodyguards picked Norio up and carried him slightly behind Kyoko. Kyoko had nothing further to add in the rescue effort - her delegation would certainly see to that - but none other than she could unlock the secrets of Norio's mind.

After a few moments of walking, Kyoko placed her palm onto an otherwise ordinary section of wall, dispelling a potent Genjutsu placed upon it, and instructed Norio's guardians to bring him through to a plain room. The only real defining feature of the room was a chair, which had various shackles and restraints placed upon it. She instructed the guards to strap Norio into the chair, and begun the real work of delving into his mind.



As soon as Riku offered what Yuhi was sure he thought was a witty retort, he was prepared to open his mouth and correct the fool, but Kyoko spoke to him using their mental relay and he immediately set upon doing as she commanded. He was full well prepared to verbally spar with anyone, but when Kyoko used their mental network it meant that things were more serious than they seemed - and the current crisis already seemed similar.

Moving alongside Gekko, Yuhi took a stack of papers from him and animated them, creating paper aeroplanes sturdy enough to carry the wounded and fly with an imbuement of potent Fuuton chakra. For convenience's sake, he sealed them into another sheet of paper that their bulk might not fill up the entire room, and handed them to anyone who volunteered to assist Midare (or was ordered to) to help them with their task. After that, he left the room in order to co-ordinate efforts on Kyoko's behalf. He also wanted a chance to look at the shrine himself, as despite the nature of the crisis he was still extremely curious about Kinjiro and Chiyoko's analysis.



"Hm. Pray inform me at once when you have determined precisely what the cause of the malfunction is. I am required elsewhere." Kinjiro noted, before going over to a seemingly unused building. Impressing into it a fiendishly complex primer seal, Kinjiro willed the building to life and it responded in kind, raising itself out of the ground to reveal what was essentially a fully stocked hospital. Using the same microphone as before, Kinjiro asked the entire island to bring all medical personnel, as well as the wounded, to the new building for treatment.

As he was chastised, The Bubble Ninja let his Bubble Barrier pop as he saw the squad of medics swarm into the hall they were all currently in, he stood up and looked around at all the debris and other assorted mess and people. His thoughts were about to turn to what he could do to help the effort before one of the other people started issuing orders; he turned towards the person who was giving orders and rallying those who could still move.

That person was Hyakune, a powerful looking woman (as were all the other Kages), who had requested/ordered him to assist Midare with the evacuation of anyone who did not need immediate medical attention. With a small bow with his right hand in a fist over his heart and a 'Hai!' he made his way to find Midare.

Having spotted the group forming shortly after the orders given, he walks over to said group, giving another of his small bows. "I am here to help with evac - I am no sensor and I am quite ungraceful but I will assist how I can."

Despite the commanding tones of the Kyuuseishi leader, the trauma seemed to have paralyzed even some of the best trained Shinobi.

Kakugyō, however, was not one of those people.

"Kyokuijitsu will be sending out teams to search for the Sankage," Kakugyō stated, arriving with a number of the squad leaders from Kyokujitsu, "We would appreciate those with only combat and tracking skills to volunteer to help search. Second, after consultation with Chiyoko, we are also seeking volunteers to enter the Pure World with Chiyoko to determine why the seal malfunctioned."

"Those with healing skills should assist Shio and the other medical shinobi," Kakugyō added, just to reinforce some of the previous points.

"If we can get at least three to four squads," Kakugyō continued, "We can send groups out in each direction. It is urgent was canvas the immediate area in case the Sankage is still on the island. This should be able to be done within a few hours. Once we have eliminated that possibility, we will have to figure out what to do from there."

Despite his concern over the presence of the bijuu, Kakugyō did not show it. What was not common knowledge at this point was that Chiyoko had not determined a reason for the seal to have failed. The preliminary diagnosis, at least translated from Chiyoko's spiritual gibberish, was that it was like someone had tried to open a lock with the wrong key. This weakened it and allowed the bijuu to temporarily escape from the confines. However, there were very few people with the skill or ability to perform such a feat. Chiyoko was the only common interaction they had with the Land of the Moon - although she had said her powers were not necessarily unique to her, but she had been considered the most adept at wielding them.

"If you wish to take on the mission into the Pure World, please place your hand on the scroll near the table. It will transport you to the shine and Chiyoko will take you along with her."



Norio's guards had done as instructed and pulled him into the room to be examined. They were a bit unnerved with the display of power by the Kyuuseishi leader, but they knew that Sankage Ayameko would not want them to disobey and Lady Shien had not said otherwise. They only placed him in the chair though, opting to leave the usage of the restraints for Kyoko to put on.

Seeing everyone standing around as a few of those gathered start to rally the troops; Better them then me, I'm not cut out for being bossy and nagging as they are the bubble ninja thought to himself, he began to walk up to the ninja that was talking about sending out search teams to the four compass points of the island.

"I'll take the North, I am not much for tracking but I may have someone who can help."

Biting his thumb and swiping his opposing palm with a streak with blood, Kyūryū went through the hand signs for the Summoning jutsu. As his hand hit the floor he was engulfed in a plume of smoke which only lasted a few seconds as a breeze from outside blew it away to reveal the bubble ninja standing next to a 4 foot 5 inch tall panda wearing a full length trench coat (which was currently buttoned/zipped up) and a hat which seemed to have two bits of material sticking away from it as well as something that seemed to be tied to the top of it(*), the panda was also holding a magnifying glass in one paw which had cloudy glass as opposed to the normal clear kind.

"Well hello there, how may one be of assistance today?" The Panda spoke in what was quite a posh/upper class gentry type of voice.

"We are on the hunt for the Sankage who vanished during the commotion that occoured a short while ago, I need your help as I am ungraceful with such things."

The panda nodded once, before using his magnifying glass to look for something and started to mutter something about the game being afoot and that they had no time to loose as he continued to look around, somehow managing to weave around the others who were still there without getting in their way.

As his summon was doing what he did best, Kyūryū took the time to walk back to the hole in the wall as he lent back against the wall, turning his head a bit so that those still inside could hear him if not at least tell that he was talking to them.

"If anyone wants to assist that would be welcome, but I must warn you, I am quite ungraceful."

(*) just to note, this tracking panda is meant to be a bit of a sherlock holmes rip/clone lol

"And that's that for this part of town. Looks like everyone else has the other places taken care of." Měihóu dusted her hands off, as another collapsed building seemed to flow reversed through time as it rapidly fell upwards and snapped back into place as if it had never been hit by a fireball. A rather large chunk of the road that had been under the collapsed building mysteriously missing, but Měihóu needed to get her extra mass somewhere to make up for what was burned and reversing entropy. Then, she spotted a man, or, well, maybe it was a woman, who was now clearly visible seeing there was no longer a building on top of them.

"Hmm, you still alive?" Měihóu poked the person, before lower her head to take a listen. Soft breath tickled her ears. "Well, aren't you lucky." Měihóu ran a hand over their body. Didn't seem to be any large scale structural problems.

Unfurling her staff/scroll thing, it turned almost effortlessly into a stretcher, which she hauled the person onto. She picked up one end of the stretcher, and the other end seemed to pick itself up as well. She started walking towards wherever all the other injured people were being taken. Surely there'd be a doctor or something around.