(Updated as of 6/21/18)

Hello again everyone and here is the next chapter of the story. Now there are a few questions that people have wanted answered and one in particular that everyone seems to be either overreacting to or taking out of context.

Several people have mentioned my saying Saya could be more powerful than Naruto. I want to make this clear. She CAN be more powerful than Naruto, but only in the HOTD world and only because Naruto is weakened already. Just think about it. Naruto has almost been reduced to low Genin level at first. With the last two chapters he was bumped up to low Chunin. Naruto is seriously weakened and partially crippled while in the HOTD world. Saya was born there and she's as smart as Sasuke, though not near Shikamaru. The fact is she does have the potential to become powerful, but if they returned to the Elemental Nations Naruto's abilities would skyrocket far beyond anything she could achieve.

So don't give me problems with Saya being strong. Besides I wanted someone besides Naruto who can actually kick ass.

Chapter 8

Truth of the Dead

Ooo

Ooo

The door to Naruto's apartment building closed as a small group moved silently out of the apartment building. There were five of them, walking along the sidewalk, two men and three women. At the front Naruto set the pace heading north. His face was still red and he refused to look behind him… lest he catch the somewhat smug expression on Saeko's face. He couldn't get her out of his head now… Before it was hard enough to avoid thinking about her in that way. Now it was damn well impossible. She had made sure of that!

Concentrating on staying alive was actually somewhat difficult… As much as he would dislike to admit it, he enjoyed their "slightly more than a make out session" way more than he should have. Whether it was his Uzumaki blood or just puberty deciding now was a good time to kick in, he didn't know. But as they stalked down the street, keeping on the lookout for the undead all the while, Naruto couldn't help but daydream a bit.

Fuck… he hated how right his sensei had turned out to be.

"Naruto-kun…"

Shit! He couldn't get her voice out of his head!

Naruto grimaced as he stopped everyone at a side street. This was not the time. He had to focus. Focus… Kurama idly supplied him with a mental image of Saeko just before he'd dragged her into the shower with him.

He almost tripped over his own feet.

"Naruto? You alright?"

Naruto glanced back at Saya who was giving him the suspicious rendition of the eyebrow arch. He shook his head then, realizing that was a no, nodded. She tilted her head to the side in confusion and he groaned aloud. "I'm fine…"

"Okay. Just checking. You were spacing out."

"I know…" He waved her off and turned the corner, poking his head into view long enough to scan the area. Right now they were a few blocks to their current target, that being the local market. They needed to get there without attracting too much attention.

"Shit…" Naruto spotted no less than twenty walking corpses to their left and there were half a dozen spread out over the road to the right. Evidently the chaos of the previous day had drawn some of the dead out of their homes and then left them stranded on the streets when the sound died down. At least he guessed that's what had happened, seeing how some of these recently deceased were wearing less than appropriate outfits.

Point in fact one of them was butt naked save for a now very bloody pair of socks.

He muttered under his breath, something about people who didn't have the decency to die fully dressed. "Okay…. What is the most economical and silent way to kill about two dozen zombies... I could sneak in and take them out, dropping each one silently and one at a time… Or we could all charge in as quiet as we can and cut them down quick. The question is how much noise that will actually make and who is listening." Naruto sighed quietly and gestured to those behind him to wait. Then he drew a long katana, running wind chakra up the blade to up the cutting power.

Ten minutes later the whole group was down and Naruto nicked a handsome orange scarf from one of his victims. A second after they were continuing on their way again.

Fortunately they didn't encounter any more of the undead, although this only made Naruto himself more suspicious. He assumed that there was some big horde of them lurking around the suburbs somewhere. He just hoped they weren't in a bad enough position to fight one any time soon. His power seemed to be coming back bit by bit. However he wasn't keen on taking chances.

Two blocks further on they spotted the market it's self. It was sitting on the corner of the block… with a large school bus straight through the front door.

Naruto grimaced as he took note of the bodies lying around. It looked like that whole lack of seatbelts thing wasn't paying off very well. Behind him Saeko moved up, flanked by Saya. Naruto's mind flashed back to the feel of her nude… hot… wet body, rubbing over his. He blushed crimson and looked in the other direction, forcing himself not to look in her eyes. Damn it… He wanted to taste her again.

"Naruto-kun… how are we doing this?" Saeko whispered.

He grunted and with and effort of will forced thoughts of ravaging her to the back of his mind. Then he pointed to the school bus. "That is blocking the front entrance rather conveniently. We'll have to take the side or back door. No telling if it's locked though. Either way it just means that we need to use caution… which is already in great demand."

They both nodded, Saeko stepping in behind him. Saya dropped back in line to follow her lead. Naruto just let out a long breath and moved forward. His eyes scanned for an alternate entrance. It was then when he remembered there was a door on the right side of the building where the delivery trucks parked. That would be a snap to open. One thing he loved about this world… their locks never had any defense against a small application of wind chakra.

"Hey Naruto, do you think we could stop by the drug store too?" He turned. Shizuka was smiling slightly, pointing to her medical bag. "We need some basic medication just in case…"

"Sure thing, but only if we don't accidentally stir up trouble. Otherwise it's fine." Naruto gestured for her to slip in behind him, which was the safest place to be at the moment. He growled inwardly as he stalked up to the bus, attempting to circle around it.

Then the corpses started moving.

The whole group watched wide eyed as the former passengers of the crashed bus shambled to their feet. It was a gruesome sight, but not dissimilar to what they'd already witnessed for the duration of this traumatizing event. The really disturbing part was that none of them had made a sound… and yet they were waking regardless.

Naruto motioned to Saeko and Saya. Both girls nodded silently to him and they closed in. "Just remember, when dealing with zombies… take sharp blade, apply blade to back of the neck, and repeat as necessary."

A few minutes later heads were rolling down the slight incline away from the market. Naruto's eyes were narrowed even as he saw a zombie stumble into view. The young ghoul had come from the very street they just left… "But the path was clear a second ago?" Naruto forced himself to ignore the eccentric dead and circled around the bus…

… just barely dodging around another corpse who decided to wait in the shadow of the crashed vehicle. Naruto quietly decapitated the creature and caught its head before it could thump to the concrete. He'd lifted his foot to prevent the body crashing to the asphalt, but now he let the body down slowly with his foot, making sure not to make any more noise than needed. Ideally he wouldn't be making any… but he had what accounted for a bunch of bumbling civilians in toe. Silence was not their forte.

Speaking of which.

Naruto turned around, his gaze on Shizuka… and mainly her feet. He'd been too distracted by his own ponderings and dealing with the dead to pay attention. Stupid really. He should have noticed the ever so faint clicking sound and scraping of her shoes on the ground.

He glanced at the rest of the group. Saeko and Saya were silent enough. Saya in her sneakers wasn't making too much excess noise, while Saeko's shoes were much more prone to click as she walked… she was sneaky enough to make up for it. Hisashi was wearing similar shoes to Saya…

Shizuka on the other hand with her low heeled shoes and rigid build… They were as far as one could get to sneaking. "And damn I must be losing my edge if I'm missing little details like this. I seriously need to get my ninja senses back. My combat skills aren't quite as rusty, and I don't need to be Jonin material to kill the walking dead. But I need my instincts to come back before I make some tiny mistake and get one of us killed."

He quickly bent down and motioned for Shizuka to stop. He then mimed slipping his shoes off and mouthed for her to do the same.

Reluctantly she complied, taking off her heels and setting them by the side of the bus. Naruto frowned as he considered what to do about the situation. This made her much more silent, but she was prone to stepping on all kinds of debris that would end up slowing them down.

A moment later he made up his mind and nodded for them to follow. They did so, Shizuka being as careful as she could not to step on anything sharp.

The side door to the market was a plain steel affair with a simple knob handle. This bothersome bit of metal came off with a small application of wind chakra. Naruto then cut the bolt in the same way and pulled the door open.

Inside it was understandably dark. There wasn't much in the way of illumination past the door.

As a ninja Naruto was used to this, but he knew the others wouldn't be. Which meant they needed a light source. Naruto paused and felt along the wall hoping that… despite the bus crashed into the front of the store and any number of other electronic issues… that the lights would still work.

With a snick the overhead lights turned on, exposing the corridor to their luminescence. Naruto waved for the rest of the group to follow him and moved inside, all the while making sure to point out loose noise makers on the floor. Things like empty soda cans or tools.

Thankfully the place seemed decently clean. It was more than he could say for the front of the market, with the bus crashed in the front…

Naruto mentally prepared himself as they reached the end of the corridor. The door to the right proved that it was the stock room… while the door to the left must have led to the public portion of the market. Naruto had no interest in the public part of the place. While he doubted it had been looted with all the dead still lingering about outside… he was sure that it would just be easier if he took what they needed from the storage room.

With that in mind he reached for the door handle. It turned easy in his grasp and he pushed it open. Inside it was dark again. Naruto reached for the light and flicked it on.

Behind him Shizuka made a little cry of happiness. All the food stacked in neat rows along the far wall was a sight for sore eyes. Naruto smirked and entered. Behind him the rest of the group shuffled in.

"Close the door."

Hisashi nodded and did exactly that. He then stood by to keep an ear out for anything approaching from the other side.

Naruto nodded in approval and looked back to the stacks of food. He gave the whole room a quick once over. Then he made four shadow clones and removed the "food" scroll, handing it to them to fill. As soon as they pulled out the ink and brushes he turned to the others in the group. "Okay… so it's going to take a while to seal all the food away. Since each seal will have to be drawn manually the first time. I think… judging by how much is here that it'll take about two hours to finish."

He turned his attention to Saeko and Hisashi. Both of you are good fighters, but since Hisashi's skill lies with hand to hand combat he should be better to guard the door. Saeko needs more room to swing a sword." Naruto glanced to Saya. "You don't really have any style at all. I personally don't have much skill with a sword. It's mostly just sheer agility and strength for me. But I know the same Kenjutsu style that my friend Sasuke uses. I'm just not so sure that I can teach it."

Saya shrugged. "I'm good learning whatever you feel like teaching for now. I really don't know enough about chakra and all that to even know what I would want to learn." She glanced at Hisashi. "Although I'm not too fond of using my bare hands, especially on those things. Maybe you could teach me Ninjutsu or whatever you called it."

"I will, but there is the small problem that I don't know that many jutsu. Plus my main element is wind. That's the most uncommon elemental affinity there is so… most of the jutsu that I do know would probably be really hard for you." Naruto scratched his chin thoughtfully. As I said earlier, we're going to have to experiment to figure out your elemental release."

Saeko raised his eyebrow. "Isn't there some mystic… method… that you use to determine it when you don't have the ability to do it normally?"

"No." He shook his head. "Unfortunately even if there is something like that, I have no clue how to do it. As far as I know the only accurate ways to measure your elemental affinity is by using chakra paper or through trial and error. Don't worry. I know at least one jutsu from each element. It's just that they're kinda weak. Hell, the best Fire Jutsu I know won't do more than light a campfire."

"So to put it in more simple terms I'll try each jutsu to see which one comes more naturally?"

"Basically." Naruto nodded. "Learning your own element is far easier than learning one that you don't have an affinity for. My sensei Jiraiya, Kami bless his pervy soul, had two affinities. One for fire and one for earth although his earth affinity was pretty weak."

Saya walked over to stand next to him as he pulled out a couple of shuriken, spinning them on his fingers as a way to pass the time. She asked, "Two affinities? I thought you said…"

"That most people only have one. My friend Sakura only had one. My first sensei only had one. But it isn't unheard of to have a strong main affinity and a weaker side affinity. Even I might have two. You never know. Jiraiya told me that secondary affinities usually don't show using the chakra paper test method because your dominant element overrides the weaker one. My main element is wind… which means I could have for instance… an affinity for lightning, but if I did then the superior nature of the wind would mask its presence."

"I see. Is it possible to have three or more?"

"Possible… but super rare. Once when I asked my sensei he told me there was once a clan in the southeast… in a country called the Land of Water. The entire clan was born with three affinities. Supposedly they were lightning, wind, and fire… which makes plasma release, a Kekkei Tota. But the whole clan was wiped out during the first Great War." Naruto shrugged. "Otherwise there isn't a single living user of a natural Kekkei Tota. And… there is only a single artificial user… but he was taught by the one who had it naturally."

"Wow… so their like super powerful I take it?"

"Well…" Naruto grinned. "The Tsuchikage, who is the only man alive who uses three elements in perfect combination, uses a Ninjutsu style called Dust Release. Pr particle style if you prefer. I wouldn't even have anything to compare it to back in my world."

Saya coughed nervously. "And here?"

"He could basically break stuff down at the atomic level. Think of it as this little ninety year old man who could make nuclear warheads out of thin air."

Saeko, Hisashi, and Saya all looked at him like he'd grown a second head. Saeko blinked owlishly for a moment and said what everyone else was thinking. "Holy shit."

Saya and Hisashi just nodded.

"And just think how powerful the original user was? The Tsuchikage only did what he did through pure skill. Imagine what he could have done if he was born to do that. But anyway… His attacks were only small scale from what I remember. Although they were pretty much certain kill techniques. I have attacks that did more actual damage… but I can't use them right now since they take and insane amount of chakra."

"You can use an attack as powerful as a nuclear bomb?!" Saya demanded. "How is that possible?!"

"Well… When you have a giant demon trapped inside your gut that is made of pure chakra... there are a couple of perks to take advantage of. One of the perks for me is that I have a ton of chakra to draw on." He chuckled inwardly. "But now that I think about it there are problems with it. Since I've been trapped here my chakra is barely enough to keep me going at Chunin level. So… for the first time in my life I can actually use low level jutsu. Normally I have too much chakra and overpower weaker jutsu."

"That sounds reasonable… I think…"

Saya seemed to be having a hard time believing that a "lack of minor jutsu" was a just consequence of having that much power. Apparently she wasn't aware of the potential those small jutsu had. The Clone jutsu was potent. Compare it to the Shadow clone and it didn't stack up very well… but normal clones were still immensely useful. You just needed an active imagination to make them deadly.

Saeko on the other hand… she was watching him with a slightly predatory look. He had a hunch that she was considering him her boyfriend at the moment… or something close to it. And that currently she was thinking about her boyfriend being powerful enough to compare himself to a nuclear bomb. She obviously liked the idea.

After all, how many other girls in this world could boast to that? He thought the number to be quite low… somewhere near zero.

Then again could she really consider him to be her boyfriend?

No. No she couldn't, but…

He blushed hard and looked away from her, trying hard and failing not to dredge up the mental image of her naked body. That creamy skin glossy with water, her pink lips inches from his own… Naruto swallowed hard as he was perfectly aware that she was smiling now.

Obviously she'd noticed he was thinking about her.

He turned his focus to his clones who were busy drawing seals. Ever few moments a can or bag would disappear into a seal and they would move onto the next item. He frowned, debating as to whether or not he should create a few more clones and speed up the process.

It might not be a good idea though. As it was Shadow clones were still a huge drain on his chakra. Six was most of it all in one go. He could make, at the very most, four more clones. If he did that it would cut down significantly on the amount of time it took to seal all this food. But at the same time he would be reduced to manipulating the chakra inside his own body to make himself stronger and faster. He wouldn't be able to do any Ninjutsu techniques with his chakra reserves mostly exhausted.

However the real issue was that these clones would each last only a few hours at most. He couldn't afford to make clones that lasted for three or four days like he could back in the Elemental nations. That shit just wouldn't fly with his current chakra reserves as shot as they were. So once the supplies were sealed these clones would be toast and his chakra would be shot. Of course that meant if they were attacked by a large group of the dead on the way back… he wouldn't be able to spam clones like the last time.

Back home he never felt chakra exhaustion except in the most dire of circumstances… and never like he did here. If he wasted his chakra here then he would feel the repercussions as an intense wave of lethargy, making it difficult to fight. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it would be fighting another ninja, but if he slipped up here and got bitten… well he'd probably be fucked five ways from Sunday.

-snick-

"Hey Naruto, did you hear that?"

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts as Hiashi stepped away from the door. "Huh? No I didn't hear anything odd if that's what you mean. Why? Did you hear something?"

"Yeah." Hisashi frowned. "It sounded like a click… like if to tap on glass with your nail… except it was louder."

"On the other side of the door?"

"Yep."

Naruto moved across the room, drawing a kunai as he did so. "Okay… I'll check it out. You stay here. The clones can protect you if need be."

Saeko adjusted herself. "Can I come with?"

"There isn't really a need for you to come…."

"But I want to." She smiled and turned on her heel to move to the door as well. "I'll watch your back Naruto-kun."

He swallowed audibly and nodded. "I… guess so." Naruto stepped past Hisashi, who'd backed away from the door. Taking a deep breath he opened the door slowly and entered the hallway. He glanced down the hall first then peered at the door across from the store room. It didn't seem as though anything was out of the ordinary… or at least outside the typical everyday zombie apocalypse.

Another step out of the room and he heard it.

-snick-

Although the sound was more like a tap than anything else… and there was a metallic quality to the sound he couldn't quite place. He frowned and left the room, quickly followed by the wary form of Saeko. The samurai girl held her blade at the ready, fully prepared to lop heads off at a moment's notice.

Naruto felt something pricking the hairs on the back of his neck. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. It was one of those feelings like when he was still a child, staring up at his ceiling in the middle of the night. A soft clicking coming from his closet…. Or under the bed. His gaze hardened as he clutched his kunai tighter. He hadn't felt this primal tension crawling up his spine since he was first made a Genin. That night in the forest of Death facing down Orochimaru.

But even then he was more powerful than today. Right now… he was weak. Sure nothing existed in this world that he couldn't kill… but compared to how he once as, some caution was called for.

A soft crunch of debris under foot caused him to wince. Saeko had just stepped on something.

-snick-

Naruto's eyes darted to the right and left, scanning the corridor and the light of the outside world ahead of them.

Why did he feel this… was it fear? No it wasn't that, but something close. It was apprehension. As though there was something to be afraid of, something to step lightly around. Naruto growled within the confines of his own mind and stepped forward quickly, pacing down the hallway in complete and utter silence. Behind him Saeko made no move. Her own movement had stopped when she heard the sound come again.

He put thoughts of her on the backburner and focused ahead, attempting to pinpoint that sound as it came again… slightly louder with proximity to the source.

-Snick-

"What is that?"

Naruto arrived at the entrance to the building and peered out into the bright sunlight. His eyes adjusted quickly, showing nothing overly wrong. The outside of the market was the loading zone for supply trucks. Beyond that the street lay… Not even the living dead or birds could be seen. He sighed and was about to turn away when something caught in the corner of his eye.

He froze.

-Snick-

Naruto held his breath as he stepped forward into the light.

He stared.

To his right, couched atop the totaled school bus was something straight out of a low budget horror movie. It looked humanoid, save that everything was… just wrong. It had the appearance of a naked man with the palest alabaster skin… like slick wet parchment. Its skin seemed to be pulled roughly over withered muscles and protruding bones. The neck, forearms, and legs were all sickeningly long, appearing stretched. The worst part was the ribcage.

The creature's chest was… gone. It didn't even look like it had organs, save that he could clearly see the beating heart just under its skin. The ribs poked out, protruding far more than looked possible. The cartilage was rotted away, leaving curved spear points.

Naruto wanted to do nothing more than vomit just looking at it.

In his mind he could only compare it to a zetsu clone… except they didn't look as though they'd rotted for a few months and then been resurrected.

-snick-

Naruto's eyes were drawn down the grotesque body to its rear… from which a long tail protruded. It was bony, just like the rest of it. And the tip was swinging by the side of the bus, tapping the glass of one broken window every few seconds… occasionally scratching against the metal.

That was what had alerted him to its presence. Otherwise he would have never noticed it. The thing had almost no presence in the flow of nature… He couldn't feel it.

The rest of it made no move what so ever. Its body, crouched there like a predatory cat, was utterly still. Only the tail's sweeps… and the deep set blind eyes showed it wasn't a stone statue.

Naruto blinked.

The thing licked its lips, a deep purple swollen tongue, darting out to taste the air.

It was somehow very wrong that it did that. The movement looked so… repulsive, but it was the feeling that flooded him afterwards that made the action nauseating. Naruto let out the breath he'd held and began drawing on his chakra.

The instant he did so the creature, turned away and leaped. It leaped like a cat, moving on all fours. But that wasn't what startled Naruto. It was the fact that the thing landed on the roof of a shop across the street that freaked him out. Naruto watched as it straightened and turned back to stare intently at him. Those white eyes reminded him of a Hyuuga, but the unrestrained hunger lying in them scared him.

Yes… scared him. Beyond anything else he'd ever seen in this world those eyes made him shiver.

The thing…. Smiled… as if sensing his unease and taking pleasure in it. Naruto's eyes narrowed and in a burst of motion hurled his kunai with all the force he could muster. The creature tried to move but it was too slow to dodge the chakra enhanced projectile at that range. Naruto was a master of wind manipulation by now and he'd made sure the kunai was going fast enough to catch anything below Jonin rank even if it tried to evade.

The kunai blew through its chest and out the other side. A spray of black blood could be seen coming out of it on the other side. Then it was in motion, leaping away as fast as it could. Naruto watched it go, less than satisfied with his aim. He'd intended on sending the kunai through the thing's heart… but he missed.

A second passed and it was out of sight. Naruto quickly turned on his heel and sped into the building, grabbing Saeko by the back of the shirt as he went and dragging her into the supply room. He didn't realize he'd gone as pale as paper until Saya spoke up.

"Naruto?! What's wrong?!"

He swallowed hard and let go of Saeko. He shivered again. "I saw something… something completely unnatural. It looked like a monster out of a Resident Evil movie. And it was just sitting on top of the bus… staring at me like one of those freaky dolls from the horror films. It could see me which was even worse."

"W..wait! You're saying that there's some kind of super zombie out there like in the video games?!" Hisashi looked quite pale now as well. "That's messed up. We didn't even bring guns since we didn't want to make noise!"

"No, settle down. I have guns sealed away that I carry at all times. What I'm worried about is the fact that jumped from the top of the bus… all the way to the roof of a building across the street. Which means it must he far stronger physically than the usual walking dead. This thing could tear someone apart with ease…" He glanced around the room for a second, taking in their uncertain looks. Then he turned to his clones. "How much food have you packed?"

"About enough for a week and a half, considering the size of the group."

Naruto didn't really like the sound of that. "Saya, how long would it take for our group to reach your parent's estate traveling in the bus… assuming there are no detours?"

"I don't know two hours at most."

"And how long would it take on foot?"

She frowned. "Most of a day probably, but if we had to go around populated areas and the like it might take a few days to get there. It's not far really… it's just that conditions aren't good for vehicles. And the bus isn't maneuverable."

"Yeah.. I know." It didn't sit well with him that their only means of quick transportation was a bus of all things. Even if it wasn't as big as the main school bus it was still twice the size of any vehicle on the road. And with how quick this all started… there were a lot of cars and trucks crowding the roads. In some places a bus would simply be a waste of time. Meaning that if they did use the bus… then in all likelihood they would be forced to abandon it.

"Well… how much food do we really need? You said we had enough food already for at least a week, maybe even two. Plus this makes three weeks right? That would be more than enough to get us to Saya's house complications or not."

Naruto scowled. "Maybe not… I'm considering the possibility of having to go far out of our way as well… along with the issue that we need water as well."

"So what is the issue?" Saeko asked. "It's not as if we can't resupply easily. With this sealing ability we can restock our supplies to a far greater extent than usual. Instead of only taking what we can carry, we can bring everything we have time to pack… right?"

"Yes…"

"Then what's the problem? Are you thinking that whatever you saw just now may do something?"

Naruto's stomach churned at the mention of that… thing. Yes… That was what he was thinking. He didn't know why… but he had an almost… surreal idea that the creature was going to do everything in its power to kill them. It wasn't a feeling he'd felt in a long time and what was worse… its presence in the world around it… It had blended in completely. Looking directly at it, into those milky white eyes, they seemed like sunken pits. He could feel its malice.

But he could sense nothing with his natural talent for such things. That thing wasn't stupid or blind like the rest of the zombies. It had acted like nothing so much as a feral cat, stalking its prey and fleeing when caught.

Was there a real tangible reason why he suspected it was intelligent? No… not really. It was just something in its eyes that made him very uneasy.

Or… no. There was something that made him think it was more than just some instinctual creature. That smile it had flashed him… lips, cracked and dry peeling back to show white teeth, slowly turning yellow.

He couldn't explain why, but he knew he'd see that thing again… soon.

"Well what do we do Naruto?!"

Naruto gritted his teeth, hating the fact that something could unnerve him like this and hating his own weakness even more because of it. If he had even a tenth of his usual power then that creature would have been toast. Hell even if he could have used Sage mode just now he probably could have killed it..

But he wasn't as powerful as he once was. And that monster was something that would push him to his limits in a fight. Just knowing it was strong enough to propel itself nearly twenty feet in the air and across a street mean it was several times stronger than a normal human. Probably Chunin or low Jonin level strength.

Caution had been needed before. But from now on he was convinced that paranoia would be his MO until further notice.

He turned to the group around him. "This is what's going to happen. We'll wait here until we finish packing all the food we can. Then we hightail it back to the apartment."

Shizuka whined a bit at that. "But we need medicine. You may be able to heal fast but we can't."

"I know…" He closed his eyes for a moment. "But I don't feel safe going around town even by myself. That thing, whatever it was, could easily kill someone who doesn't have my level of skill. I couldn't live with myself if any of you died simply to get a few drugs."

"Naruto…" Saya swallowed hard after hearing him voice those words aloud. "…I didn't realize you cared that much about us? Shouldn't…"

"I don't care about any of that Saya-chan. You're my friends and I while I couldn't save most of the others at the school… or really anyone else in this whole town, I'm determined not to let any of you die. I promised myself a long time ago that I wouldn't let any of my friends lose their lives because of me." He glanced at each of them in turn. "And I always keep my promises."

Ooo

Ooo

By the time Naruto and his scavenging party returned to the apartment they were all rather weary and Naruto personally was starting to hate the walking dead as much as burnt ramen. Which was saying something because he absolutely despised burnt ramen.

It seemed to him that the zombies of this particular apocalypse were even more troublesome than they were in movies.

Like seriously! The horrific zombie thing was all but driven from his mind as their trip back was the polar opposite of what it had been. Since it seemed that there were more dead around every corner. Honestly how were so many dead able to move into the area they had been in not three hours before?! On the way there they'd encountered less than three dozen… and on the way back they'd maneuvered passed more than two hundred!

And near the end of it he'd ended up cleaving through about fifty of them just to clear the area in front of the apartment building.

He just couldn't understand… where had they all come from all of a sudden? It was like they were a fucking plot device being used by a TV show director with no sense of logic! For god's sake they could have at least been moaning like the damned! At least then Naruto would know where they were instead of having to constantly backtrack.

Anyway, now that he was back in the apartment there were things to take care of and plans to discuss. He'd already told everyone about the… whatever the hell it was… that he'd seen on the bus. Most of them were understandably freaked out at the thought of a super-zombie. Not that he wasn't. And the undeniable fact was that he might be mid Chunin level as far as reserves went right now.

That wasn't a lot. And he wasn't healing the way he used to either. All it would take is one reckless decision on his part or a careless act by one of his group and he could be injured. Admittedly he could still take on a horde of the walking dead even missing an arm or a leg, but that really wasn't the point. Taking chances now was like signing your own death certificate.

Maybe if he could boost his strength back up to Jonin level he could stop worrying so much, but at it was… he was still in the red.

"Hey… Naruto-san? Are you out there?"

Naruto turned to see Hisashi walking out onto the building's balcony. "Yeah? What is it?"

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you. You know I didn't think so much about you back in school. You always put on this act of being an antisocial punk. But I can see now why you did that. You were afraid of making friends weren't you?"

"I…" Naruto blinked stupidly for a moment, wondering where this had come from. But eventually he just nodded and looked back out over the streets.

Hisashi smiled bitterly and moved to lean over the rail with Naruto. "I keep thinking Naruto… why all of this happened… And why so suddenly? But I suppose that's natural right? To wonder why something tragic happens?"

Naruto nodded again. "You've got that right."

There was a long moment where neither of them spoke, merely looking out at the milling dead and deserted (at least of living people) streets. Then Hisashi glanced to the blond. "Did you mean what you said before? About possibly letting us come with you back to your world… if you ever found a way?"

"Yeah. It's a stupid idea though. My world is probably still at war. At least here you can fight but where I come from even the weakest child soldier could kill you easily. Unless you got lucky or something… I'm hoping that the war is over when I get home."

"Not a bad thing to hope for."

"No… not at all." Naruto sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "I'm just so tired of all this crap. Before… back in my world all I knew was conflict. Open war didn't break out until I was sixteen or so, but everything was still fucked all to hell. And then coming here… The politics, the useless pride of the leaders, the even more pointless wars. I mean… where I come from there are plenty of different religions. But we've never had even a minor religious war. Then if that wasn't bad enough, living in this fucked up world, the freaking zombie apocalypse had to happen."

Hiashi chuckled. "I know. When I was little me and my cousin used to play make believe and pretend we were fighting zombie hordes. Almost seems like god is playing a bad prank on us huh?"

"Do you believe in a god Hisashi?"

"Not really. I'm of the opinion that if god is supposed to give us free will then we should just live our lives and try not to worry about it. And if he doesn't and this is all there is then so be it. Looking for a deeper meaning in life is useless for the most part unless you're willing to lie to yourself or find your own purpose. I decided to go about my life and try not to get involved with it."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I never even went that far. Until I came here and saw how much everyone fights over gods I didn't even think about any kind of god. Not even on a weekly basis, unless I was cursing someone out. Then of course I'd tell someone to go to hell and all that."

Hisashi sighed. "It's strange isn't it? Even a week ago who would have thought this would be happening?"

No one… or well.. no one sane at any rate."

"So…"

Naruto glanced back at him. "So what?"

"So about Shido…"

There was a silence as they stared at each other, then Naruto returned his gaze to the street below them. "What about the guy?"

Hisashi shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to lean against the balcony rail. He stared forward for a long moment as if finding the right words for what he was going to say. It took a while, but eventually he started. "I'm not a violent person Naruto. I tend to go along to get along. But even I wonder whether it would be better to cut Shido loose. He has nothing to offer the group and I have no doubt he'll cause more than his share of problems."

"True enough. He gives assholes the world over a bad name." He shook his head ruefully. "I think I know what you're really asking. And to be honest I'm not sure."

"You know he's only behaving right now to keep up appearances."

"I'm not fooled." Naruto gripped the balcony rail tightly, his knuckles bleaching of color. "If he thinks he can earn my trust he's mistaken. I've already met men like him. If he does anything to hurt the rest of us I'll leave him behind."

Hisashi let out a long sigh. "I thought so."

"You think that's cruel of me? To throw someone to the wolves like that?"

"In a way yes… In a way no…"

Naruto released his grip and turned to walk back into the apartment. "Just help me keep an eye on him. Tell me if he does anything suspicious."

"And what about his flunkies? Most of the group would throw their lot in with you… myself included. Are you okay with leaving them behind too?"

"I promised to help my friends. I'll help Shido too, but I won't go out of my way to save them if they side with that ass."

"Just checking. Shall we go back in?"

Naruto opened the sliding glass door to the apartment, gesturing for him to enter with a sly grin. "Ladies first."

"Now who's the ass?"

Naruto grinned and pushed him inside.

Ooo

Ooo

And that's the end of this chapter! Damn it's been a while since I wrote on this story, but I got some inspiriation and I'm back on the case! Please don't expect another chapter for a week or so though. That's as soon as you can expect the next one. Lots of work to do ya know!

Anyway, as always reviews are appreciated and constructive criticism is a plus. Don't be a stranger! And remember. I never abandon a story. I just take a break for a while.