Dark Phoenix of Konoha by White Angel of Auralon

Part 33 - Aftermath

Aftermath

Konoha had been hit hard, but not as hard as it could have been. The precautions that had been set up before the chunin exam finals had started had taken out a lot of opposition before it could reach the village. The lightning wire trap field around the village had only been overcome in the area where the snake summons had broken through. And as three fifths of the area had been trapped like that, over three hundred attackers hadn't even reached the village walls. Those that had been inside the walls had managed to disguise themselves perfectly as normal guests.

Estimations were that Suna and Oto had sent about six hundred to seven hundred ninjas to attack. The plan had been to unleash the Ichibi on Konoha to cause as much destruction as possible and kill as many of Konoha's ninja force as he could. But with Naruto taking out Gaara in his fight, that trump card had been stopped before it could be played. Some important persons had been taken prisoner, like the other two children of the Yondaime Kazekage. They would see what they did with them in the following weeks. Right now Konoha was in a very strong position. The attack had been soundly pushed back and with little loss on Konoha's side.

The ones most talked about were Naruto Namikaze and Tenten, who had been leading in getting rid of the ninjas that had managed to infiltrate the village or avoid the trap fields. Next to them the performance of many other clan heirs, especially Sasuke Uchiha, were discussed openly with admiration. While the evacuation of the civilians had been started way before the invasion was started, there had been some who had seen which people protected the village where. And the ninjas that had survived the invasion were telling others who had performed especially well.

The T & I department was overfilled right now with prisoners to interrogate. Anko and Kimie were very happy about that and went to work enthusiastically. The villagers had also caught a few glimpses of the mysterious seal master Dark Phoenix when ANBU inspected areas where the damage had been largest. Supposedly he was tasked to find ways to secure those areas better in the future. Nobody could make assumptions who Dark Phoenix was. He was clad in dark grey clothes with a mask like the Hokage to hide the lower part of his face and a hood that concealed his hair completely. And nobody ever got close enough to see more.

The Hokage meanwhile had put the village under lockdown for two weeks to take care of the most serious issues right away. There would also be a new policy for entrance into the village. Many grumbled about the additional hassle, but the ninjas could see the benefit of knowing exactly who got close to the village. That part had been in work for a long time and only the fact that the current surveillance seal barrier was very complicated and Jiraiya had taken a lot of time to completely understand the formulas, had prevented that it got ready in time for the finals. After an invasion like this one, it was only logical that security would be upped. Most were just relieved that the losses hadn't been worse.

Most injuries weren't bad enough to keep the ninjas at the hospital for more than a few hours to rest and recover at home. About fifty had to be treated a bit longer and stay for a week, but that was about the longest anybody had to stay there. The Godaime Hokage had made sure that all medics went through some remedial training to ensure that they were ready for the expected attack. He also had already ordered to check children at the academy for aptitude for medical training. There had to be a lot of potential that could be exploited and if they started early on, they could ensure that nearly all teams had a capable medic on them.

A few craftsmen had been let into the village to help out with reparations. There were lots of houses that had taken damage and that needed to be repaired as soon as possible. The main work force came with Tazuna from Wave Country. Thanks to the help the Godaime's team had given the country some months ago, they had offered to help with the work for a discount rate. It had been happily accepted. The genin teams were all given jobs to help with the rebuilding. It was a good chance to give positive PR to the ninja program.