The first to move was a young woman holding a child.
Without asking anything else, she turned and ran home with the child in her arms. Then an old man slapped his thigh and shouted over his shoulder, "What are you standing around for? Pack up!"
The chaotic crowd finally began to disperse.
Some rushed home, some helped elderly relatives outside, some hurried to fetch their cattle, and some ran out weeping with bamboo baskets of medicinal herbs in their arms. The whole village sprang into motion. Footsteps, shouts, animal noises, and the opening and closing of wooden doors all mingled together.
Shizune hurriedly spread out the paperwork and began registering households with several literate young people from the village chief's family.
"Zhang family, five people, one elderly person, two children-line up over there first!"
"Anyone with mobility problems, go to the left!"
"Tether the livestock in a line! Don't let them run loose!"
"Take the essentials first! Stop carrying that pot! Konoha will replace it later!"
One woman's eyes were red from crying. "My dowry-"
Shizune took her hand. "Stay alive first. We'll figure something out afterward, all right? Stay alive first."
Meanwhile, Chisen had already led Kakashi, Shikamaru, Tenzo, and several Anbu deeper into the village.
As they walked, Shikamaru looked up at the houses and alleys.
"The village is more tightly packed than I expected."
"Mm."
"Easy to plant charges, but a chain fire could start too early."
"That's why we aren't blowing everything up."
Chisen kept walking, his gaze sweeping over every roof beam, courtyard corner, woodshed, wellhead, and bend in the alleys.
Most houses in the village were built of wood and stone, with shallow foundations but plenty of cellars and storage pits inside. The gaps between courtyard walls were narrow, too. Medicinal herbs hung