A/N – Chapter Three of Lost and Found. Not much to say here other than sorry for the ridiculously extra long wait and that I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or The Walking Dead...

The next morning Naruto woke up before anyone else. The light, steady breathing on his arm let him know that Clementine was still out of it. Without even looking at Lee he knew that he was also fast asleep. That damned snoring of his would be the death of him one day, be it by those dead things or the hand of a wrathful otherworldly blonde ninja.

This was something that had annoyed him, no matter how tired he was all it would take was a couple of hours for his body to fully rejuvenate. Whether this was a by-product of Kurama or his own Uzumaki blood he had no idea, all it meant that he could never have as much sleep as everyone else. It was incredibly useful when he had started taking missions and they had to sleep in short shifts though, not even Kakashi had woken up as fresh-faced and energetic as Naruto.

Speaking of Kurama, the beast still remained as sickly as when he had first checked on him, nothing had changed and just like last time he'd taken a trip towards the cage there was no response. To be honest that worried him more than the issue with his Chakra, over time the massive energy construct had become one of his closest, not to mention most powerful, allies. Whatever had happened to him had obviously also affected the giant fox, more severely than it had affected him by the looks of things.

At the moment, all he had were theories, all more outlandish than the last. Kurama was likely his only way of finding a way home and until the day came when he was in a better condition, he was stuck here.

Dark thoughts attempted to worm their way to the forefront of his mind but they were quashed immediately. Home was a secondary long-term goal, he had plenty of time to prepare for the rematch with that red-eyed mad man.

If there was going to be one...

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind in favor of more present and pressing issues. Like his current conditioning. Or a lack of in this case.

Without so much as a yawn the blonde rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his free hand, the other one was occupied by a small breathing mass known as Clementine. The muscle tone was all but gone in his arm, all that was left was a flabby mess encased in several layers of skin. This would have to be rectified as soon as possible. He needed to be fit if he was to last in this world.

With his Chakra currently untouchable all that was left to do was the physical aspect of his training. He always woke up a few hours before everyone else anyway and it would be good to get some sort of routine going to prepare him for the days ahead. Make no mistake, if he was able to utilize any of his Chakra, then those things roaming the streets would be laid to waste by the hundreds, thousands even, if they tried to come between him and little Clem.

He spotted the familiar baseball cap of the aforementioned girl by his side and chose not to get up just yet. She looked far too comfortable and he'd feel bad for disturbing her much-needed rest. His training could wait another hour or so. All in all it looked like this was going to be a good day. He was going to get up, train, do some chores around the farm, train, spend time with Clementine, train, eat, train and then top the day off with some nice training.

The first rays of light had began to slip through the cracks in the barn, he probably wouldn't be able to lie here too much longer. Hershel would no doubt be up soon to put them to work. Well the farm was nice at least and it looked untouched from the horrors that took place beyond its pastures of green.

When Clementine shifted in her sleep Naruto slipped his arm out from underneath her head, making sure to shake the pins and needles out of his body as he stood up and stretched before creeping out of the temporary sleeping quarters.

Despite the suns slow ascension it was still pretty dark outside, the orange that bathed the skyline caused Naruto to smirk slightly. Even throughout all of this his love for that particular color was as strong as ever. It also looked like it was going to be a pretty good day, no potential rain clouds in sight; both literally and metaphorically. It looked like those things hadn't made it to the farm yet.

"Well, this looks a good spot." A short walk away from the barn found Naruto in an open area with a large oak tree to the left of the Hershel's spacious home.

Taking deep breaths and loosening himself up he began with all the basic exercises to get his blood pumping. After twenty minutes a single bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, it appeared he wasn't a never-ending source of energy any more. Not that it mattered much, he could still outrun anything this world had to offer, there was no doubt in his mind of that. Even whilst carrying someone he was still faster than those 'Car' things from what he had seen. Well that was with Chakra, without it he wasn't so sure.

An hour later he began to feel his muscles ache, the strain of being put through an intense work out so soon after only recently becoming functional again was almost too much. Naruto paid the pain no heed though, swiftly gliding through motions as if battling multiple opponents, twisting and bending in ways that would leave most professional dancers in awe.

Nearly two hours into the exercise Naruto's muscles begged for mercy, they were being pushed harder than they had in a long time. His body was now literally dripping sweat, his t-shirt having been discarded somewhere along the way allowed the crisp morning air to flow around his bare upper body. Despite being more exhausted than he had in a long time Naruto had never felt better, the wind rushing through his hair, the aching of his muscles, the sweat dripping from every pore of his body, he loved it. All of that just let him know that he was pushing himself to the limit and that's exactly what he wanted.

Perhaps he had gotten to carried away though, as his spatial awareness all but disappeared. After a particularly vicious looking aerial roundhouse kick he spun as he landed with the momentum and unleashed a devastating elbow into the trunk of the large oak tree. He froze like that for a moment, his elbow still embedded into the bark, he couldn't have hit that cleaner if he tried. Then his eyes widened as a sharp cracking noise filled the area and the tree began to shake.

Still in a state of disbelief he could only watch as the bark splintered and cracked, chunks of it falling to the floor. Nothing moved after that for what felt like hours, but in reality was only seconds.

"Well I'll be damned."

Standing behind him on his porch, looking calmer than he should have been was Hershel. He had his shotgun pointed right at the blonde. His hands were as steady as a surgeons as he kept a trained eye on him. A pitch fork by his side on one of the support beams, it appeared as though he had just gotten up to do the chores.

"Hershel... How much did you see?" Naruto cursed himself for getting carried away. His first day on the farm and he'd already nearly knocked over a tree.

"Enough to know that you're dangerous." His tone didn't change. It was almost conversational and might have been if he wasn't lined up to blow Naruto's face off.

"Look, I can explain..." He slowly held up his hands in a placating manner, the fatigue was starting to get to him now, his movement were more sluggish and it felt like he was trying to move underwater.

"Don't try me with that bullshit boy, that ain't something you can just explain."

There was something in Hershel's eyes that Naruto couldn't figure out, if he was going to shoot him he would have done it by now. It was as if he waiting, but for what? The ex-ninja didn't know yet, but he was certain he'd find out what it was soon enough.

"If you would just let me..." Again Hershel cut him off, not allowing him to continue. This was starting to look bad.

"Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't kill you now and throw those friends of yours off of my property and leave them for dead." That look in Hershel's eyes only increased in intensity. It was almost as if he pushing him.

Did he already consider Lee to be his friend? And what about Clementine? Maybe it was his hero complex but he couldn't deny that he felt the need to protect them at all costs.

Naruto completely disregarded that though, he was more focused on what had just been said. Was that a threat? It certainly sounded like one. Well, no matter what, he couldn't let that stand at all. Making threats against his life was fair game, he had trashed his tree, it could have had sentimental value or something. But to threaten Clementine? And Lee? Wrong move old man.

Hershel couldn't see it, but as Naruto bowed his head in what he assumed to be resignation, beneath the bangs that shadowed his eyes something ancient stirred within those icy glaciers. Something that lasted the barest of seconds but it burned with the intensity of a thousand suns.

"You can try... But you better be damn sure you kill me. Miss and you're going to find out that there are things far scarier than a couple of dead people walking around." Naruto's eyes locked with Hershel's at that point and even through the anger he saw the change almost immediately, where there was once uncertainty there was now only reluctant acceptance.

With a grunt, Hershel lowered his firearm and relaxed. It took a few blinks from the blonde to process what had just happened. One minute he was about to be blown away by the old guy's gun and now he was smiling at him?

"That's good. I apologize for that but I wanted to test your character. You didn't disappoint me."

"Test my character?" Now Naruto was confused. He may have had street smarts and matured throughout the war but he still wasn't the brightest. He'd take a good old fashioned brawl over any intellectual challenge any day.

"The girl you're taking care of, Clementine. You and Lee are the only people she can rely on now. I don't know what I just saw you doing, I've never seen anything like that in all of my days, but that doesn't matter. You could be the strongest man in the whole world but it wouldn't count for nothing if you were a coward."

Now he got what this was about. This was about his ability to take care of Clementine. Hershel wanted to see if he'd back down and allow harm to come to her. Despite the situation Naruto found himself beginning to smile.

"Look, what you just did, I'm not old and senile enough just yet to think that was normal but everyone has their secrets. Not everyone is as understanding as me though, for all I know you could have been sent here by God himself. I once witnessed a mother lift a two tonne truck off her child like it was nothing. I'm no stranger to miracles but something tells me you're different."

"Even if I told you, which I won't, you wouldn't believe me. No offence." He didn't mean to come off as sounding rude even if it may have sounded that way.

"I thought that might be the case. Listen Naruto, you're going to have to keep what you can do close to your chest if you don't want common folk freaking out."

Naruto could understand that, now he knew for certain that he was an anomaly within this world. Stood here being lectured off of this old guy made him feel like he was back in the academy, being scolded for his stupid mistakes by Iruka.

"Can I give you one more piece of advice?" Naruto had a feeling that regardless of his answer he'd hear it anyway so he played along and nodded, all of his other words of wisdom had been pretty sound so far.

"Sure."

"Let's say things don't get better back in the cities. Or they get worse before they do. You're going to have to depend on the honesty of strangers if you're going to make it. And if those same people get to questioning yours, you're going to be in trouble."

That made sense. He was actually pretty lucky that Hershel had taken the sight of Naruto and his training pretty well, he didn't want to think about what could have happened if he had of shot first and asked questions later.

"Enough of that though, you folks are welcome to stay as long as you behave. Now, help me get everyone up, its time for you to earn your keep, go wake up those friends of yours and then use the shower. Boy, you stink." With those parting words Hershel left to his home, probably to wake up his children. Naruto watched Hershel leave before turning towards the barn himself, stopping only to pick up his discarded shirt.

Waking the others up had been a pretty easy ordeal, Clementine had been stirring herself and the other family seemed to be getting prepared for the day ahead.

"Hey Clem, time to get up." It took a few gentle shakes of her shoulder but slowly the little girls eyes blinked open, appearing dazed and lost for a few seconds before they gained focused and snapped on to Naruto's, still somewhat blurred, silhouette.

"N-Naruto?" Her eyelids fluttered rapidly as she tried to make sense of the mess of shapes and colors that knelt beside her.

"Stop sounding so surprised will ya? I told you that I'd take care of you and that's what I'm gonna do." He smiled warmly as he picked stray bits of straw from her hair before ruffling it as best he could with the cap still firmly attached to her head.

"Sorry..."

"You don't need to apologise Clementine, no harm done. Listen, I'm gonna need you to look after Lee for a little bit while I clean my self up, can you do that for me?" As if on cue Lee let out a loud snore, Naruto sighed and shook his head in amusement as Clementine tried to stifle a giggle behind her small hands.

"I think so." Although her body language seemed to contradict her words Naruto found himself smiling again. He hadn't felt like this in months.

He couldn't help it, Clementine was so innocent; like a lamb running with the lions she was forever surrounded by danger. The lone blonde planned on preserving this for as long as he possibly could, although he was not naïve enough to believe that she could be protected from the harshness of the outside world forever. Someday, she'd have to learn to defend herself. Lucky her then that she'd be learning from the best.

When the older man from the top of the barn slowly made his way down the ladders Naruto had started introductions immediately, making sure to skip over some of the major details about himself. He learned the three other outsiders were planning on heading out in the near future and were actually going to pass by Lee's home town of Macon.

Kenny appeared very likable at first glance, he was passionate about his family and his mildly scarred hands hinted he was a hard working man. Katjaa, whose name sounded weird even by Naruto's standards, was the doting wife of Kenny. A very pleasant woman who seemed to radiate nothing but a friendly warmth. The last of the three was Kenny Junior, or Duck, as he was nicknamed by his father. The small boy was incredibly excitable immediately bombarding Naruto with questions so fast that he didn't have an answer for most.

Despite everything that was happening around them, the small family somehow managed to remain upbeat, as if this was nothing but a small bump in the road. Naruto found himself envious. It looked as though they hadn't been exposed to the travesties the world could throw at them and because of that they seemed happy. Content.

The former Shinobi tried to distract himself from the creeping memories of the war. Those times had come and gone. He was never one to give up but even he had to accept that as it stood, he'd most likely never see the peace had longed for in his own world. With a shake of his head he made to leave the barn, turning only to address Kenny as he left.

"Hey, err, Kenny? You mind waking up Lee over here?

Naruto thought it would be best if he allowed Kenny to wake up Lee, give them a chance to introduce themselves and get to know one another, Lee might have been interested in knowing that Kenny was heading past his home. Who knows, Lee might even be able to secure a ride or something.

"Sure thing kid. Go get cleaned up. After that, its all hands on deck. Can't have no slacking now."

With a nod Naruto left the barn; unaware of the impending danger beyond the small crooked fence of the farm.

About half an hour later Naruto stepped out of Hershel's shower, feeling refreshed and ready to go again. It didn't take him long to change into some clean clothes one of Hershel's girls had left out for him.

As he descended the stairs he heard what could only be described as a mechanical roar right before a scream of pain. Without so much as a second thought he sprinted down the rest of the stairs and nearly took the door off its hinges as he barged through.

Time seemed to slow down as he watched one of the undead grab Duck from beyond the fence, fully intent on making a meal out of the small boy. Trapped under the wheel of the Tractor was Shawn, several of the decaying corpses clawing at the fence, groaning desperately in need of the young man's warm flesh.

He saw Lee, followed by Kenny, making a desperate sprint for the older man's son, their choice seemingly made. This left Shawn at the mercy of the fallen humans, screaming for help that may not have come if Naruto hadn't intervened.

Hershel's earlier words about laying low didn't even seem to register in his mind as he sprinted over faster than most men could take a single step. The others didn't seem to notice his super human speed, too focused on freeing Duck to pay much attention to anything else.

Shawn desperately clutched at Naruto's arms as he looked for any way to escape his impending fate, the small fence bending and creaking with every second as the monsters pressed further and further into it.

With a tug the blonde tried to pull the older male from under the wheel of the tractor but it wouldn't budge at all. Letting go of the slightly older males arm he turned his attention to the machine responsible for his current predicament. Even as he pushed it with his enhanced strength it did nothing but give the creatures more time to break through.

His eyes darted from side to side looking for anything that might help him in his endeavor. They landed on an axe a few yards away and the sound of the breaking wood spurred Naruto into action.

With one mighty swing of the wood cutting instrument flesh and bone gave way to the power of the lost Shinobi, swiftly followed by the second. It was at this time Hershel ran onto the scene with his gun.

"Move!" Naruto dropped to the ground as the wood gave way allowing the third creature entry into the farm. It didn't manage to take two steps before the old vet ended its life for a second time with pinpoint accuracy.

After the gunshot sounded out across the land all seemed to fall silent, Shawn had passed out from the pain of having his leg crushed and only the heavy breathing of those with a pulse could be heard.

"Get out." It was spoken just above a whisper but they all heard it.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Hours seemed to pass before Hershel's angry eyes turned onto the so called guests of his farm, burning holes into each and every one of them.

Kenny tried to apologise but Hershel was blinded by rage, the sight of his sons mangled leg and narrow escape from death had made reasoning with the man completely out of the question. Young Duck had nearly gotten Shawn killed and there was no other way to look at the situation. Even Lee wasn't spared as he was grilled for his unwillingness to help him and his lack of a solid retort only made Hershel angrier.

Through all of this Naruto stood close to Clementine, trying to distract her from the wrath of the wronged father. The blood of the infected was paid no heed as it stained his clothing as he comforted the distraught girl with the axe still firmly held in his hand.

Having been kicked out of the farm Naruto and Lee accepted Kenny's offer of a ride into Macon, the town in which Lee was raised. They packed up their meager supplies and piled into his beaten up truck and drove into the distance, leaving the farm behind, with no intention of returning.

Note, obviously Naruto hasn't seen a car hit its top speeds so he isn't aware of just how fast they really are.

Well there you have it, hopefully I'll be able to update this more regularly now. If you still follow this story you may be excited to know that depending on how I end this story I may continue into the second series of this game and maybe beyond that. What do you think about that? Yay or nay? Let me know in the reviews or via PM.