A/N: Notes at the bottom.
Summary: Even when the world is at the brink of death mankind finds a way to wage wars against each other. Nine had been destined for greatness, but will that greatness drive Death's sword deeper into mankind?
Pairing: Unknown / Undecided
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and/or Highschool of the Dead
Desolation – Chapter 1
Orders flew from one end to the other as people ran around the police station, the majority geared with guns of all kinds. Shots could be heard from time to time followed by the screams of death. Anarchy ruled in the police station, the desperate calls for help were subdued by the howling alarms.
A trooper ran down the hallway trying his best not to bump into the running officers or workers; some had a look of panic in their eyes, others had a look of determination as they were ready to give their life to protect others. The trooper ran up the stairs towards the offices, he tripped on one of them and scrambled back on his feet as fast as he could. He secured his rifle on his shoulder and continued running up the stairs.
As the reached the offices he immediately turned towards the hallway, he ran from one end of the hallway to the other. Upon reaching his destination he busted in the office breaking the lock in the process.
"Takashi? Is that you? Is Rei alright?" he heard the man in the room shout frantically in the phone, he was trying to relay information to someone but before he could the line was cut off. The man sighed heavily as he let the phone drop on the desk, he looked at it with hollow eyes.
"Sir." The trooper called out drawing his attention "We need to leave. Now!" he exclaimed as a scream reached their ears. The man shook his head as he took a seat down at the desk.
The trooper growled as he stormed inside, he moved towards the man and grabbed him by the arm. "Now!" he ordered, the man however looked at him and freed his hand before turning towards a picture frame in front of him. He took the picture out of the frame and handed it to the trooper.
"You have a job to do I believe, but…if you come across her, please take care of her." He begged the trooper. Said person took the picture and looked at it; in it he could see the man before him and a young lady around seven years younger than him. He looked up at the detective and then back at the picture. "Go, I'll leave for one of the sites." He said as the trooper nodded and turned around leaving the office.
Once more he ran towards the stairs and climbed them to the roof, he paused for a second as he saw the creatures they were facing starting to walk up the stairs and debated if he should ignore orders or not. Shaking his head the trooper continued running until he reached the rooftop, gunshots echoed around him as he opened the door, he saw his fellow squad members shooting down two officers and one of their own.
He didn't do anything, he ran forwarding shouting that he wasn't one of them and boarded the helicopter just as it took off. The trooper looked down in the street as the helicopter took height, the streets were filled with blood and dead, fires raged all around the police station as numerous cars had crashed into one another or into buildings.
"Fuck man, what took you so long?" one of the occupants shouted, a man dressed in SAT gear, his submachine gun resting in his hands.
"Everything is going to shit in the station." He replied shaking his head as he took his rifle in his hands, he brought it up to his face and looked down through the scope, testing it.
"And here I thought that today would be the day I could finally get some peace and quiet." Another one groaned as a cough was heard; the trooper looked towards the pilots and saw the copilot coughing.
"Is he alright?" he asked moving forward a little to get a better look at the man, the pilot looked towards his copilot and then back in front, he heard the man cough once more and turned his attention towards him once more.
"Hey man…" he shouted as he placed his hand on the copilots shoulder. "…you alright?" he asked as the copilot suddenly went limp. Seconds later he looked up towards the pilot who didn't have time to scream before the copilot lunged at him.
"Shit! Shoot it, shoot it!" the trooper ordered as the pilot yelled in pain and fright, the helicopter started losing its balance and rotating in all directions. "The cyclic, grab the cyclic!" he shouted, but it was too late. The helicopter lost balance and turned to the side, three troopers fell out of it, pummeling to the ground, the rest grabbed whatever they could to keep themselves from falling, their guns long forgotten as they all crashed towards the ground.
He yelled in fright as he fell from inside the helicopter, he grabbed the landing skid before he could pummel towards the ground like the other three. "Help me!" he shouted in fright, yet the others could do nothing but scream in fright as well as the helicopter suddenly rotated upside down and started crashing towards the ground.
xXx
"We've run several tests on him today…" a man said as he looked through the window into a room, inside the room stood a small child. Even though the window did not allow the child to see who was on the other side he kept staring towards the men like he could see them. "…the results were more than what we had expected."
The man besides him said nothing as he kept on looking towards the child. They had spent millions on the project and even more to get hold of those they needed for said project. He studied the child with great interest, he had been right to select him for the tests, the child was special.
"I want you to set him up for the next phase of tests." He said after a long silence. Several gasps followed by murmurs echoed around him, they were not expecting such an order. A few of them looked towards the child with remorse though they strengthened their resolve that this was the best thing to do, that this was the future they needed to attain.
"Understood, but what about the others?" the man questioned, his superior hummed a small tune as he began to think.
"Run them through the drill as well, those that survive will be the ones we need, the rest are expendable." He declared as everyone stood frozen in place, to talk so casually about human beings was something they could never comprehend. Their superior however had power, connections, they couldn't do anything against his decisions, they had to obey.
In minutes everyone scattered, leaving the superior alone to stare at the boy who averted his eyes. It was as if he knew they were alone now, this always intrigued the man. It brought a sinister smile on his face as he stared towards the boy who moved around the room, trying to find a place to hide from his gaze.
In the end, the boy opted to hide under the bed sheets, even though he knew that it wouldn't do much.
He didn't remember how he got here; he barely remembered when he was taken away from his parents, it happened so fast that he didn't realize it until he was already inside that car.
For the first few months he had cried for his parents, but slowly, it began to stop. He had learned that the more he cried the harsher the treatments were, he began to learn that if he did what they wanted he would get fed more often, he would get more freedom and he would be allowed to interact with the other children.
He didn't know for how long he had been confined to this place, for how long he had been separated from his family. It seemed like an eternity, for a six year old it was only obvious that it would seem like an eternity; he had no concrete notion of time.
The people here, they all looked at him like he was just an animal. They didn't talk to him, they didn't teach him anything nor allow him to learn anything beyond what they wanted him to learn. The only emotions they showed was either anger or no emotion at all. If it was anger that they showed then he would either not eat that day or get locked up in the dark room. If they showed no emotion life would just carry on like nothing, he would be given food, he would be allowed to go back to his room, to interact with the children…but nothing more than that.
He couldn't really say that he had made friends, they didn't allow them to communicate that much. If they noticed two children get too attached the next day they would drill them into thinking the other was their mortal enemy. He had seen this happen before, countless times. They would jump at each others throats trying to kill each other, because of that he opted to never make friends in this place, he didn't want to fight someone to the death like that.
But, when the time to escape had come he needed to make friends, he had to try.
xXx
The darkness had long since taken hold of the city. By nightfall the screams had died down, one by one, the alarms had been shut and the streets had been cleaned of the living. No one would dare to walk these streets, be it day time or night time, it was no longer safe, nowhere was safe anymore.
The quiet night was pierced only in several locations, in places where people had gathered or were gathering to escape the madness and in several places around the city where those left behind tried their best to escape. However, in his case it was different. The sound of crackling fire and the helicopters main rotor slowly moving in circles gave away its location in the area, in a small radius at least.
But even so, it was enough to attract unwanted attention. In this case however, luck had been on his side.
The trooper groaned as he opened his eyes, the memories playing in his mind as he tried to get a hold of reality. He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. Behind him stood the helicopter, or at least what was left of it. Parts from it were scattered all around the field along with body parts of those unfortunate enough to be cut by the main rotor or crushed under the weight of the now metal junk.
He grit his teeth as his brain registered the pain coming from his leg, he looked down and cursed as he saw a part of the main rotor had struck through his leg and the ground underneath it. Luck had been on his side for only a few moments, he was allowed to survive the crash but that didn't mean that he would survive unharmed.
Luckily the piece wasn't long or very thick so there wouldn't be any significant damage to his leg, at least nothing that wouldn't be impossible to heal within a few days if he didn't put too much strain on it. Taking a deep breath he grabbed the object and pulled it out with a grunt of pain, throwing it to the side and crashing on the ground as he started panting.
There had been many things he prepared for, but to do something like this, to pull such a stunt and survive was not one of them.
He stood there looking at the sky for minutes, listening to the screeching movements of the rotor and the fire. As time passed he began to feel his leg healing, he could hear the unmistakable sound of his healing kicking in, but, it was a slow process.
With a sigh he rolled to the side and slowly stood up, looking around and trying to figure out where he was and where he should go. Staying in this place for too long would not be a good idea, it was fortunate that the dead hadn't appeared here yet, he had been laying in the grass for an hour or so. As he surveyed the area he noticed the guns, or what was left of them. The majority seemed to have been crushed under the remains of the downed helicopter. Even so, he inspected all of them; a few of them still had their magazines intact, he removed them and placed them in his backpack, he had found a HK UMP-45 with three spare magazines, his FNP 45 was still attached to his waist along with five spare magazines, the rest of the guns were in no condition to be used.
A total of ten pistol magazines had been salvaged, seven submachine gun magazines – though he could only use two of those as the remaining five were for MP5's – and a total of three assault rifle magazines used by HK G36's. Though the only rifle he found had been severely damaged, the operative that carried it had a total of five magazines in his backpack, three of which either had their bullets scattered all over in the wreckage or were unreachable.
He had to do with what he had; his first objective would be to find out where he was, get a hold of a map and plan a route towards his designated destination. With small steps he walked out in the street, limping heavily and using the walls of the nearby building for support.
As he looked around he noticed that even though the streets were devoid of life it looked like no one had been here when the outbreak started, the streets were clean, there were no traces of blood or any kind of corpses littered on the road. A few cars had been abandoned in the street; one of them had crashed in an electric pole while two of them had crashed into each other.
Walking forward he inspected his surroundings, always keeping his eyes peeled and his hand on the submachine gun's trigger. With one hand he leaned on the walls, using them for support and with the other he carried the gun, ready to raise it and defend himself with it if needed.
It seemed like an eternity, walking in the night, under the dim lights of the street illumination. It was quiet, too quiet in his opinion. It was like the monsters had all left and moved on towards other places, to areas populated by the living. If that was the case then he was in luck, he didn't have to fight, he wasn't in any shape to fight those creatures.
He needed to find a place where he could sleep, where he could patch himself up.
For a moment he stopped and looked up as he heard footsteps. He waited, waited for whatever was around the corner to show itself. When it did show itself he had to restrain himself from firing his gun, in front of him appeared one of them, a walking dead. It dragged its feel on the ground walking passed the blond, it hadn't noticed him. Another one had appeared, not far from the first one, going in the same direction as the first.
This intrigued the trooper; he tried to follow their path with his eyes and noticed a large amount of the dead moving towards a nearby gas station. From where he was he could see people there, he couldn't make out however if they were doing something, they just seemed to be standing there.
With a huff, he pushed himself away and started limping towards the gas station, holding his gun with both hands and constantly keeping an eye open for the dead. He was curious as to why they didn't notice him, it was like they couldn't see him or hear him. His movement was silent however, years of training had made him able to walk in the darkness and even during day time in complete silence.
A cry of fear had alerted him towards the station once more, he was close enough now and could see what was happening. His eyes narrowed behind his helmet as he realized that in front of him was something akin to a hostage situation. A rather large man was holding a teenage girl captive, with some sort of a sharp object at her throat; he couldn't be sure about it since they were with their backs at him. The only one he could clearly see was the teenage boy in front of them, looking like he was ready to murder the guy in front of him.
Quickly analyzing the situation he realized that even if the boy managed to free his companion – or at least he had assumed that the female was the boy's companion – they would still be swarmed by the dead and would make their escape next to impossible. He had noticed the bike, yet if they were in the gas station maybe the bike was out of fuel or low on it.
With a sigh he looked around, there weren't many walking dead close enough to finish him off if he gave away his position. He turned his attention back towards the gas station and raised his gun, he was around two hundred meters away, even with the red-dot sight it would still be hard to know if he does collateral damage.
Gritting his teeth he pressed forward, limping hard, his movement had been caught by the undead around him. The trooper counted the distance, he looked around and noticed some of the undead moving towards him. He stopped next to a car, one hundred and fifty meters away from his target and took aim. A resonating bang was heard as all movement from the undead stopped, their gazes turning towards the origin of the sound.
The man's grip on his hostage fell as he crashed to the ground, a bullet hole in his head. The girl yelled in fright as she ran towards her companion and embraced him. He however looked around, trying to figure out where the shot came from, he saw the undead were no longer moving towards them but towards a car in the middle of the street, whoever was there was surrounded.
"Rei" he said as the girl looked up at him. He pointed towards the car and as she looked at it she realized that whoever had saved her was there, getting swarmed by the undead.
"What do we do?" she asked, the bike could only hold two people, she couldn't see any other bike in the vicinity and at the same time they couldn't leave the person behind.
"Do we save him?" he questioned seriously, making her look at him with wide eyes. She then realized why he had asked that; on the way here they had been fired upon by the living, here she had been taken a hostage and then she had been saved by a strange person who they couldn't see or know what his intentions were.
"Yes…" she replied with a small voice, they couldn't brand everyone as evil or mad, some people might still be. The boy looked around and noticed a ladder that would allow them to climb on top of the gas station. He looked back down at the girl and explained to her the plan. A small grin appeared on her face as she nodded vigorously.
A sigh escaped the trooper's mouth as he looked around, he couldn't run, his leg was busted. Crawling under the car would be a dead end and going in the car would also be a dead end for him. He raised his gun and aimed, gun shots resonated in the night as each bullet leaving the chamber found its way in one of the undead's skulls. They went down one by one; with each shot he fired he counted how many he had left.
"If you are outnumbered, you will fight to the death, there is no retreat, there is no surrender, there is only the warm embrace of death!" the appointed general shouted towards the small children, some trembled in fear, others looked in curiosity and finally, some looked with interest.
The gunshots stopped as the trooper took out the empty mag and replaced it with another one in just a second. He raised his gun again and was about to open fire when he felt a presence above him. His eyes narrowed as he threw himself on the ground and turned to face the sky, he fired upon the undead that had been leaning on the car, killing it with a shot in the head. He had been right that going underneath the car was a dead end, as he lay on the ground he could see them crawling towards him, he fired on the first three he saw blocking the remaining ones from moving with such ease.
Once more he looked up and using his left leg he pushed himself away as one of them tried to bite him. It wasn't an easy task, but he had managed to get back on his feet, he held his position firmly as he unleashed hell on the assailants, there were too many to take aimed shots, they seemed to be moving too fast.
A click was heard and once more he let the empty mag fall from the gun as he placed the next one in. As he was about to open fire a bike's engine alert him of another oncoming threat, he turned around just as a bike crashed into an undead behind him, stopping next to him. The boy looked towards him, his eyes widening briefly before extending his hand.
"Get on!" he cried, the trooper didn't need to be told that, the second he had seen the extended hand he grabbed it and jumped on the bike. He held on to his rescuer as they moved away from the horde and towards the gas station. The boy stopped at one of the pumps, they both got off. "Follow me." Was what he said, running towards the side of the gas station.
The trooper did his best to follow, limping towards him. Luckily the teenager looked back to check on him and noticed how he was running, he ran back and grabbed hold of the adult, making sure that the man leaned on him for support as they moved as fast as they could towards the ladder.
Takashi allowed the trooper to climb first, he was amazed that the man was using only his undamaged leg to climb, jumping from one step to the other and using the strength from his arms to pull himself up. He too followed the man up towards the rooftop as soon as the he was out of sight.
A gasp caught his attention as he reached the rooftop, the trooper turned towards the source of the sound and noticed the girl that had been held hostage a few moments ago. She looked at him with wide eyes, interest and hope danced in those eyes. A small smile appeared on her face as she looked towards the ladder, the teenager had reached the top as well, he sighed in relief as he crashed down.
"A stunt like that…" he gasped out "…I'm never going to pull one like that again." He laughed as the girl giggled. He however stood quiet, looking at them, analyzing them. It intrigued him how casually they could act considering what was happening around them and what they went through just a few moments ago.
He didn't bother to ask them why they acted like this, maybe it was for the best, giving into despair was not a solution. "Hey…" he looked up towards the girl, he thought he recognized her the first time he saw her, but now, that she was this close to him, he knew who she was. The detective's words echoed in his mind as he stared at the girl, a small smile appearing on his lips, behind the mask.
"Can I help you?" he asked tiredly, she smiled at him, not bothered by his tone. She had seen how he limped, the damage on his leg, it was no wonder that he was tired.
"I was wondering, you're a cop right?" she questioned as the man nodded and pulled out his ID from one of the jacket's pockets.
The girl took the ID and looked at it with interest. Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, SAT, Lieutenant, age 24. She didn't bother reading the encrypted number, it was used to gain access to sealed areas in police stations and you would need the ID for the machine to check.
But the fact that she had been saved by a SAT operative, it made her look at him with wide eyes. She showed the ID to her partner and at that moment they both knew they hadn't made a mistake in saving him, the man was someone with experience, someone that could help them out. A thought then passed by Rei.
"Erm…can I ask from what station you come from?" she questioned the operative.
With a nod he replied to her question. "Number twenty-three, downtown." Her eyes widened as she moved closer to him.
"Do you know my father then? Detective…"
"Yes Miyamoto-san." He replied cutting her off and making the girl hold her breath in anticipation. "Last I saw him he was preparing to leave for a safe zone, right now I do not know his whereabouts." She looked down dejectedly but a smile still appeared on her face, she knew at least that her father was alright.
"Do you have any ways to contact the station?" Takashi asked after a few moments of silence, they both looked at him and then towards the blond operative. He however shook his head.
"My equipment was damaged during the crash, my teammate's equipment was also destroyed, I have no way to contact HQ." he stated as they once again looked at him with wide eyes.
"You…" Rei pointed towards him with fright. "…were you in that helicopter that crashed this afternoon?" she questioned as the blond nodded.
"I was the hanging on to my life on the landing skid, it's a miracle I survived." The girl crashed on the ground, amazed and terrified at the same time. Amazed that the man managed to survive such a crash, terrified as she realized through what he had gone through. She had seen the helicopter crash; she had seen that person that was hanging on to his dear life on that skid. She couldn't believe that said person was now sitting in front of her.
Takashi placed his hand on her shoulder, she looked at him and nodded, sighing and calming herself.
They stood on the rooftop for hours, looking at the mass below. Through Takashi and Rei, the blond had learned that the undead were blind and they could only hear, that sound was what attracted them. For several hours they had tried to use whatever objects they found on the roof to lure the undead away, by throwing them in the distance. They avoided hitting the car, if it was armed and the alarm went off who knew how many more they would attract.
They gave up after throwing all the rocks, pebbles and whatnot from the roof. The vast majority was still present, still lingering around the station. Naruto told them to sleep, that in the morning they would be gone most likely, something would eventually draw their attention. The teens however couldn't sleep, they stood watching the area, talking with the blond, though he wasn't in a talking mood.
He stood, leaning against a wall and looking at the horizon, a worried look in his eyes. They didn't ask him what he was thinking about, he was mostly likely worried for his family as well, they all were.
xXx
He cringed as the man yelled at him, throwing his papers at him, calling him worthless and a waste of budget. This was the first time that he had been yelled at like this, the first time he had actually pissed off someone so bad that they were going to kill him. He hadn't had time to react, those large hands had grabbed hold of his neck, choking the life out of him. No matter how much he flailed his arms he couldn't do anything about it.
"Stop." The choke on him lessened but didn't give in, someone was approaching, the aura that he knew all too well made him shiver. "What do you think you are doing?" the newcomer questioned as the scientist glared towards the boy, and replied in a low, but angry, tone.
"This shit wasted our budget for that experiment, that serum was the only one and it was wasted on him." He growled out as his hold on the boy's neck strengthened. "Years of research, years of documentation, all down the drain in one go!" he howled as a gunshot echoed in the hallway.
The grip lessened as the boy's throat, he wanted to scream in fear, but instead, he was rooted in fear as he watched the scientist slowly slide down, his hands leaving his neck and falling on the ground with the whole body. Timidly he looked up, at the gun barrel, smoke coming out of it and behind it, that sinister grin that he had come to fear so much.
xXx
His eyes snapped open as he stood up straight, a look of panic in his eyes as he surveyed the area. Both Takashi and Rei were at the far end of the roof, surveying the ground below, he looked up at the sky, it was morning already. A sigh escaped his lips as he rubbed his eyes, the past constantly haunted him, always reminding him what he wanted to forget.
The man inspected his leg, he took off the bandages, the wound had closed. A reddish aura still lingered around his wound, he took out fresh bandages from his backpack and sealed the wounded area once more. Finally, he stood up and walked towards the two teens, limping from time to time.
The two turned towards him as they heard movement and were surprised to see the blond operative moving better than last night. "What's the situation?" he questioned as Takashi spoke up.
"The majority left, there are only a few of them left, a total of five or six, maybe three more inside the station." The blond nodded as he also looked around, he could see four of them, walking on the street in silence.
He walked over towards the left side and leaned down, he pulled himself forward and looked down, underneath the roof at the pumps. The bike was still there and there was only one zombie next to the pumps, he spotted movement inside the station, three silhouettes. Finally, the pulled himself up and looked around for another transport, he couldn't be confined to walking all the way to the rendezvous point, he would tire out.
His eyes rested on another bike, not far from where they were. He would have to jump over a few fences but he couldn't see any undead in the area, so in theory it would be a walk in the park.
"Namikaze-san." Rei called out as she walked towards him. "Me and Takashi are going to meet up with our friends, but the bike can only carry two people and we'd like you to accompany us." She said making the operative turn towards her with interest. "I mean, if you weren't going anywhere in particular, you most likely have an objective, if you are going to follow it…"
He raised his hand stopping her and pointed towards the bike he had spotted. "I'm going to grab that and follow you two until I can get a radio or something. My objectives are really far from here, I need clarifications before I proceed further."
Miyamoto nodded with a small smile and sat down next to him. "How are you going to get the bike?" she questioned him as the blond thought of a plan.
As he was about to reply he turned his head to the side and looked at the approaching teen. "I'll go down first, make my way to the bike, half-way there you two will grab your bike and meet me at the entrance there." He pointed towards the entrance where the second bike was, in front of a flat. "I can start it without keys so all I need to do is get there and be careful of my surroundings."
"But going in alone?" Takashi questioned "I do not doubt the skills of someone your caliber but these are not your everyday opponents." Naruto had to give him credit, he nodded at that but reassured them that he was prepared for anything.
Strapping the submachine gun to his shoulder, he pulled out his gun and walked towards the ladder. After making sure there were no targets in the vicinity he descended and made his way towards his objective.
The two teen's watched as the man ran towards the first wall and climbed it with ease, landing on the other side and making his way towards the next wall. Takashi was amazed that someone who had such a serious injury could move so freely now, yet Rei noticed the blond was still limping, he was putting a lot of strain on his leg to get the speed he needed to climb the walls and run.
Half-way to his destination both Rei and Takashi stood up, they made their way to the ladder and descended as well. She prepared her improvised weapon and ran towards the bike, closely followed by her companion. With a swift move she dispatched the target standing next to the bike just as Takashi climbed on, moments later she jumped on and grabbed hold of her friend as they drove off.
Naruto worked relentlessly on the bike's wires, trying to get the damn thing to work. His head snapped up as he felt something approaching; with a swift motion he pulled out his gun and aimed at the oncoming threat. He fired without hesitation, the loud noise shattering the eerie silence. The zombie fell on the ground, a bullet hole in its head.
There was no time to waste now, the shot attracted them once more, he was certain of that. He heard Takashi's bike stopping front of him just as he finished starting the engine. The blond nodded to himself as he strapped the pistol in its place and looked up.
"Lead the way, I'll follow." He called out as the boy nodded and drove off, closely followed by the blond.
xXx
The things he had witnessed as he followed the two teens was unimaginable, they had been fired upon by civilians. Even though they had seen him, an officer of the law, they still opened fire on them. He didn't stop to fight back, not when he was supposed to follow the two, he pressed onward.
On several occasions he had been tempted to stop as he had seen other police officers, though their radios wouldn't have been the ones he was looking for. He needed to find other operatives to get in touch with the real HQ, not the ones used by the police to direct the civilians. The bridge would also be a bad idea, or so the blond considered. He doubted that any operatives were there, he had seen the layout of the groups, the closest ones were supposed to be heading towards the Mall or towards the Hospital.
As they passed by the bridge they had stopped for a second, the teen wanted to know if the blond could get them past the bridge. However, as he looked at the setup there, he could only shake his head. It was most likely that he alone could get passed but he would not be allowed to bring them with him, it would cause uproar among the civilians waiting at the gates. He didn't have to tell them that, as soon as the civilians noticed them they started flocking the blond, asking for help, asking him to let them pass.
They left, leaving those people behind and their cries for help as well. He couldn't help them, there was nothing he could do for them.
As he looked forward he noticed the boy stopping, he also came to a halt next to him as the girl got off and ran towards a group of four, hugging the oldest amongst them.
"Friends I assume…" he said as the boy nodded. The blond stood back and watched as Takashi also walked forward and greeted them all.
"Wow!" the blond turned to the side as he heard the exclamation, he noticed the chubby member of the group staring at his submachine gun with sparkles in his eyes. "UMP-45, I can't believe our police force use this kind of guns!" he exclaimed. "It has red-dot sights, tactical frontgrip, flashlight!" he shouted just like a little girl that had gotten the present she had always wanted for her birthday.
"Umm…" the blond wasn't sure how to approach this.
"Don't worry, Hirano is harmless." He heard one of the girls say. The blond looked towards her, a girl with long, straight and shiny black hair with a triangular fringe at the front that barely touched the ridge of her nose, a pair of blue eyes looking directly into his.
"I see..." he muttered as he noticed the wooden sword she was carrying, a close range fighter he assumed. One look at the boy named Hirano and he had already realized that he was a long-range fighter considering the makeshift gun he was carrying. He had to give him credits, creating something like that out to protect himself and those around him.
"Though, what is a SAT operative doing with you two?" the same girl questioned as the boy also looked at that with interest.
"He appeared last night and saved me." Rei replied with a smile on her face as the group looked at her with wide eyes.
"He saved you?" a girl with long pink hair kept in two pony tails on either of her head asked. Her fierce orange eyes looked towards the blond, a calculating gaze. He did not falter however as he gave a small glare, making her shrink realizing who she had been looking at. "Wasn't Takashi with you?" she asked opting to glare towards the teen who shrunk back with a nervous smile.
"They were surrounded." The blond spoke up drawing their attention, Rei and Takashi's in particular. "The undead would have finished them off if I hadn't intervened; they both had their hands full." They seemed to take that for an answer as they nodded and let the subject drop, Rei smiled towards him, she wasn't ready to talk about what had happened.
Naruto stood on the bike, waiting for them to discuss what they had to. He tuned them out, he didn't need to know what they were doing next, it was none of his concern. Though he debated now on what to do next, the detective had asked for the favor to look after his daughter, he was torn between respecting the man's wishes and completing his objectives. The man was the only reason he was still alive right now, the only reason he still had a family for his teenage years and the beginning of his adulthood.
"Excuse me." He opened his eyes and looked in front of him, towards the blond woman, she was leaning forward giving him a good view of her chest. Naruto fought down a small blush that was forming on his cheeks and made eye contact with her.
"Yes?" he questioned as she smiled.
"We are going to my friends place to rest for the night, would like to join us?" she questioned as the blond nodded nonchalantly. Resting in a bed, or in a futon would be better than on the cold ground. Hell, even the floor of a warm house was better than the ground.
"Can you come with us then?" Takashi questioned as he got on the bike, the woman following him and getting on the bike behind him, grabbing the boy and hugging him tightly. Naruto held back a snicker as he saw the teen trying to fight back his own blush as the woman's breasts pressed on his back.
"I can come, what do you need me to do?" he questioned as the boy looked at him with a smile.
"We are making sure everything is clear there for everyone." He replied.
A nod was all it needed for them to leave, the woman said that the house wasn't far away and that it was spacious enough for everyone. She was right, it was only fifteen to thirty minutes of walking away from where they started, they had arrived in just under five minutes.
The first thing he noticed was the car, a humvee. He looked towards the woman with a questioning gaze. "What exactly does your friend do?" he questioned her as she began to ponder. A small smile appeared on her lips as she looked towards him.
"I have no idea." She said making the blond want to fall on the ground in shock. He only shook his head however; there would be time to investigate this later on.
"I'll take a look around." He said as he got off the bike and took out his pistol, he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a thick barrel that he attacked to the pistol. "I'll return in ten to fifteen minutes." He said as Takashi nodded.
Naruto walked away, entering the house across the street. The windows were broken and blood was splattered all over the floor. Gently, he pushed the door open with the gun barrel and took aim, there was nothing in the hallway, only a line of blood leading upstairs.
Carefully he walked inside, making sure that he made no sound at all, if they were indeed attracted to noise then he should be safe if he was as quiet as a mouse. A smirk appeared on his face at that thought.
The first place he checked was the kitchen, on the table stood a corpse, face forward and a butcher's knight in its skull. A day old he deducted by how it smelled. The radio next to the refrigerator caught his attention; he walked over to it and inspected it. Naruto removed the batteries and placed them in one of his pockets, he would need them for his flashlight, he didn't have any spare batteries, and leaving in such hurry had made him forget some things behind.
The radio was the only thing in the kitchen that the blond could loot for batteries, the clock he had checked didn't have the required size. He walked out in the hallway and made his way towards the living room, it was clean, like nothing had happened here. The first item he checked was the remote, it had what he needed, he checked another clock and to his luck it also had batteries that would fit his flashlight.
With those he had enough reserves to last him a few days should he be moving in the dark, or in dark locations. He made his way towards the hallway and stopped as he heard footsteps.
Naruto took aim and waited for the creature to come down from upstairs, he doubted that there was another living soul in this place and he was right, as soon as the footsteps appeared in his line of sight he could see the creature, the walking corpse of a fifteen year old boy, who was missing its lower jaw and had several knives in its back. He didn't stay to think where he had gotten those knives from as he took out his own knife and threw it, hitting the zombie in its head.
The body dropped on the ground with a loud thud.
He scoffed taking back his knife and walked out of the house. While he was scavenging through the place it seemed like the rest of the group had arrived and they were preparing to move in to clear the house of the undead.
"Leave it to me." He muttered as he walked passed them and raised his silenced pistol. With one shot he took down the first undead that had appeared in front of him. The dampened noise attracted the attention of the rest of the zombies that moved towards the newly opened gate. One by one they shambled towards him as he got a clear shot of their heads, blowing their brains out one at a time.
In mere seconds the entire yard was nothing but a puddle of brains and blood, the corpses of the dead laying on top of each other. He shook his head as he grabbed the first one and began to pull it out, throwing it in the street. Takashi and Hirano soon joined to help the blond in clearing the place, a feat that didn't take more than a few minutes.
"If this friend of hers is who I think it is I might find a radio here." He thought to himself as he pulled his and Takashi's bike inside the yard, beyond the fence and locking the door behind him.
xXx
The house was clean and tidy, or at least the majority of the house. The kitchen was a mess; it looked like the person who lived here had left two days ago in a hurry. Plates were in the sink and on the table, the ashtray on the table was full with cigars and to Naruto's surprise a radio used by SAT was on the table as well, plugged in and ready to use.
Without a second thought the blond walked forward and sat down in the chair in front of the radio grabbing the attention of the black haired girl and the blond woman which he had accompanied.
Naruto analyzed the radio first, inspecting it. He moved his hand towards a button and pressed it, static echoed in the kitchen as he began to fine tune the radio towards the frequency they use. It took just a few seconds to set the radio on the required frequency, yet all that came from the radio was static.
Carefully, he took the speaker in his hand and moved it to his face, just as the rest of the group entered the kitchen upon hearing the static coming from the room.
"This is Zulu four-five to base, come in." he said and waited for a few minutes. There was no reply.
"This is Zulu four-five to base, please respond." He said once more, this time the reply was instant.
"Zulu four-five? You're still alive?" the voice asked shocked "We've received reports that Zulu had crashed in Grid five-six, what happened?" he questioned as the blond sighed.
"One of the pilots had been compromised, he turned and attacked the other pilot midair, he lost control before we could kill it." For a moment no reply came from the radio, no sound, not even static was heard.
"Damn...status update!" the voice ordered as Naruto nodded and closed his eyes.
"Zulu team heading to objective M-four, zone Bravo. Casualties ninety percent, equipment loss seventy percent, distance from objective roughly one hundred kilometers. Requesting order update."
Once more the man grew quiet, for several minutes he didn't reply leaving the blond and those around him to wonder what was taking so long to reply.
"Understood, considering the high number of casualties your mission is terminated. Mission requires three full teams, Alpha and Omega will be backed by Epsilon now. You are to proceed to Foxtrot and await further orders. Maintain radio check-up every three hours."
"Understood base, Zulu four-five out." With that the blond placed the speaker back in its original location and closed the radio. He looked up at the group and raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you wanted?" he questioned as they all stiffened realizing they had been listening in on the conversation without permission. He however just waved his hand dismissively while standing up and leaving the kitchen.
Naruto stood in the living room watching the sun set and thinking. Whatever his objective was he hadn't been informed at the start that his team would link up with other two teams and that it cannot be completed by one team alone. Maybe there was more to it, maybe there was more about that location that he hadn't been informed from the start and he needed to learn only on location.
His musings were cut short as the blond haired woman appeared in front of him. "Namikaze-san, can we talk?" she asked as the blond nodded. She smiled and sat down in front of him. He watched as she took a deep breath and smiled. "First, I'd like to apologize if we offended you by listening in on your conversation."
Once more the blond waved his hand in a dismissive manner, it really seemed like he didn't care that they had listened in on him.
"Ah right, we never introduced ourselves." She giggled as the blond let a smile creep on his face. "I'm Shizuka Marikawa, Fujimi Academy nurse." She said with a smile.
"Saeko Busujima." Naruto turned towards her and the group that came into the living room and nodded at her.
"Kohta Hirano." The boy said with a smile and a thumbs up.
"Saya Takagi." The pink haired girl said, her arms crossed over her chest and a small smile on her lips. The name rung a bell in the blond's head as he immediately knew who she was, yet he said nothing.
"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, I've already met Rei and Takashi here." He said looking towards the two who nodded.
"Namikaze-san, could we talk about something?" Saeko said as she walked forward and sat down in front of the blond. He looked at her and shrugged, he was curious about what she wanted to talk and as long as it wasn't something he wasn't allowed to say he didn't see any problem with it.
"Do you know the cause of this outbreak?" she questioned as he merely shook his head with a sigh.
"I have no clue whatsoever. I was in the station when it happened, heard a scream and then the alarms went off, I geared up and ran out, on my way out my superior called me and ordered me to move to the roof. Giving me a brief overview of my now canceled mission." He replied as the girl sighed and began to think.
"What kind of mission did you have?" Kohta asked curiously, yet the blond remained silent, not answering or looking at him. They understood at that moment that he wouldn't answer all questions, only those that weren't related to his mission and maybe more.
"Do you plan to leave tomorrow?" Saeko finally asked as the blond leaned on the couch and looked up at the ceiling.
"Most likely, I have to reach my destination as soon as possible. Which reminds me…" he said as he leaned forward and looked towards the busty woman "…would your friend mind if I borrow her radio?" he questioned as she shook her head with a smile.
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind helping someone from SAT."
"That or a fellow operative." The blond mused in his head, while he didn't know who her friend was it was perfectly obvious that the resident of the house was a SAT operative. "Thank you." He gave her a courteous bow.
"Um…wouldn't it be possible for you to join us?" Rei asked drawing everyone's attention. "You must know a lot about the city layout, secret passages, ways to move around undetected. We need help."
The blond sighed. "Contrary to most beliefs we don't know the in's and out's of the city, not all of them. We also move like normal people in the streets, there are no secret passages that we can use." He told her, feeling a bit sorry as he saw the deject look on her face.
"I will help you as much as I can, but not for long." He told them, making the girl smile a bit and nod. It was better than nothing, someone with the blond's experience would prove invaluable to them for a few days, they could learn a lot on how to survive this new world.
After that they couldn't think of what else to ask, they didn't talk about anything else and just opted to carry on with what they had planned. The girls went to prepare the bathroom for their use while the two teens proceeded to look for weapons of any kind that they could claim and use.
Naruto, he just stood on the couch looking outside towards a school in the distance. His heart hurt as he looked towards the location and occasionally he turned towards the television, looking at the news to forget what was there. But as he kept looking between the two, the words of an old friend rang through his mind constantly.
"What is more important to you Uzumaki? Orders or your friends? Friends or family? Orders or family?"
A sigh escaped his lips as he closed his eyes. The end had come to this world and he didn't know what to do. There were three paths in front of him and he didn't know which one to take, his situation made it hard for him to pick a path.
xXx
Notes: Alright, what you just read is a rewrite of a story that I had written about two and a half years ago after reading the manga. Never uploaded that story and its already lost forever, but this time I am uploading this for two reasons:
a) I really need to get all these ideas out of my head so I can actually finish a damn story
b) It's still a fresh crossover section with a lot of room to move about so its fun to write
There are a few points I'd like to clarify: this is not your typical Naruto, meaning that he wasn't "resurrected" in the HOTD universe, he was born here, like everyone else. He doesn't have special powers (read ninja powers) but he will have something that will set him apart from normal human beings.
Kyuubi? Present...in a way...its not the Kyuubi you will expect (know) but at the same time it will be good (no, not good Kyuubi or stuff like that, so don't ask)
During the entire chapter keep in mind that Naruto didn't take off his helmet or facemask.
Finally, there will be OC's in this story, a lot…mostly because HOTD is on hiatus for quite a while it seems so I will have to actually create my own story at one point and somehow end this story. That or if you guys want to wait a year or two until HOTD gets updated for me to continue writing just say so (heh)
Now that this is out of the way, I think I can finally write the next Demon's Curse chapter. If not…be prepared to read more of this until I finally have my head clear.