After the air raid, most of Sanpo City had been reduced to rubble. In some places hit directly by Clay Bombs, not even the remains of buildings could be seen above ground—only enormous craters.
The surviving residents of the Land of Rain began organizing rescue teams of their own accord. Groups of three or five spread out across the city, searching for signs of survivors.
Uzumaki Kuming, Uchiha Fugaku, and Hyuga Hiashi hadn't joined Jingxin on the mission to hunt down the enemy. Like most of Konoha's Genin, they had nothing else to do, so they were sent to help the residents of the Land of Rain search for survivors.
Outside Sanpo City, the Stone Ninja special forces returned to their unit after completing the air raid. Having received the latest intelligence, the Stone Ninja commander began assembling his forces, hoping to take advantage of the chaos and storm Sanpo City. The massive allied force packed up camp and began advancing toward the city. Mitokado Homura's reconnaissance team also discovered the allied forces' movements.
As the Earth-Rain Allied Forces began to move, numerous Ninja Hawks circled over Sanpo City, their piercing cries filling the skies.
"Jiuming, that's the signal to assemble. Something's happened!" Hyuga Hiashi said gravely, his Byakugan activated as he searched for survivors and watched the Ninja Hawks circling overhead.
"They're here sooner than expected. The Stone Ninja must be making their move!"
"After an attack on this scale, they wouldn't just sit back and let us recover."
"Let's go!"
Uchiha Fugaku had just emerged from the rubble, carrying a bloodied casualty on his back. When he saw the Ninja Hawks circling overhead, he handed the injured person off to someone else and walked over to Hiashi.
The three exchanged glances, then quickly left and ran toward the