Chapter 4: Asketorp

He was amazed. He had never seen such a village before. Buildings jutted into the sky by the dozens. The afternoon sun hit them, causing shadows to stretch out into the harbor. He had never seen buildings on such a scale, not to mention that the footprint of the city must be miles and miles wide. As the large ship steamed into the harbor, it was immediately set upon by smaller boats, pushing it left and right to line up with the long pier. About half an hour later, when the ship was about 100 yards from the pier, Oskar showed up on deck right next to Naruto.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Oskar asked and upon seeing Naruto's nod, he continued. "Welcome to New Haven, one of the last places that hasn't been overrun with infection. This city has stood for over 300 years, and it will be here long after we die of old age. We won't let it fall to those abominations." He said fisting his hand in front of his chest while looking over the city.

The ship bumped a little as it touched with the pier. The gangplank was lain across the water onto the dock and Naruto and Oskar stepped foot on the pier. Naruto was hit with a wave of nausea and steadied himself on one of the many crates that littered the ground. Oskar laughed, "Ha-ha, don't worry m'boy, I still get a little woozy after stepping on land after such a long time at sea; even though we were just out for three days. Just means you've got your sea-legs, that's all." He clapped Naruto on the back. "Anyways, just stick with me and you'll be alright. The city has been placed under Martial Law, so you'll need papers identifying that you are who you say you are, everywhere you go." Naruto nodded and followed Oskar down the pier and out onto the street.

"This village…how many people are in it?" he asked, quite subdued at the monstrosity of a village.

"Well last I heard it had around nine million people, give or take quite a few. But, lately we've had an influx of refugees to boost that number up to around fifteen million."

"Fifteen million…" Naruto breathed. "In my village we have around ten-thousand."

"Really? Well, don't feel too overwhelmed, I came from a town of around five-hundred. Now come on, we need to head for the Annex Depot." He gestured to a separated area that had rows of boxes on wheels.

"What are those?" Naruto asked, pointing to the strange things.

"Huh?" Oskar looked over his right shoulder to give Naruto an incredulous look. "You mean you don't have any vehicles over there?" he seemed to catch himself, "Oh right, the only tech that y'all have are trains."

"Trains? Oh right I've seen one of those." He shoved his hands in his pants pockets and looked off to the side, huffing, and muttered "Almost got squished like a bug."

Oskar threw his head back and laughed heartily, "Yea they'll do that to you if you get in their way. Anyways, we're here." He motioned to the guards who snapped to attention as Oskar walked up. He saluted them and asked where the Transportation Depot was. They told him, and he and Naruto were off again to procure a vehicle. "These are Humvees, our lightest means of transportation. We have larger vehicles that are used for fighting, such as the Bradley. They can't take as much punishment, but they sure can deal out a lot of carnage." He motioned to the smaller vehicles lined up with a smaller dome on top and a box on the side. "And then we have our Tanks." He motioned to larger vehicles almost three times Naruto's height with a bowl-shaped thing on top and had something sticking about ten feet out of it. He looked back to Naruto who was still slightly shocked. He motioned for Naruto to follow. "Come on, everyone should be assembled by now. We'll grab ourselves a helicopter. HQ is on the other side of the island and it'll be quicker to fly there."

Naruto's head whipped back to Oskar; "'Fly'?" Naruto was already starting to feel uneasy.

What had started out as the absolute worst, most nauseous and terrifying thing he'd ever experienced, soon turned out to be the most exhilarating. The pilot had taken to weaving in and out of the buildings, giving Naruto a basic view on what the capabilities for the "Blackhawk," as Oskar had named it, and Naruto immediately decided that he was going to learn to fly one of the machines the first chance he got.

He couldn't wait to tell everyone back home about what he was experiencing. He was having the time of his life. Of course, this could have been made all the better, had Naruto missed the looks the ninja from Iwa kept sending him. Almost as if he was familiar, but the Nin couldn't place him. However, this went largely ignored by Naruto who was having too much fun hanging halfway out of the chopper, imitating the door gunner who was looking slightly perturbed about something. Naruto didn't even notice the smell until a crow almost smacked him in the face.

The putrid stench hit him like ton of bricks. His bile suddenly resurfacing, he slapped his hand over his face. "What the hell is that smell?" he yelled to anyone who cared to answer.

"No need to yell, boy." Oskar said "the microphone in your headset can pick up your voice quite clearly. But, to answer your question: That" he pointed out his window to his left, "is what the stench is." He pointed out of his side of the chopper. Naruto made his way to the other side, being careful not to bump into any of the other Nin, most of who were also trying to get a peek.

Boy did he get an eyeful. Explosions rocked the streets a few hundred feet below him. The smoke trails crisscrossed back and forth, reminding him of those fireworks on the day he hated most of the year, October 10th. At Oskar's order, the pilot lowered the flying vessel to around one hundred feet, as to give the ninja a better idea at what they would be fighting against.

The creatures moved far faster than Naruto had originally planned. They seemed to hit harder than Baa-Chan too, seeing as how whenever they threw themselves into one of the "tanks" it rocked back and was left with a rather large dent in its side or roof. The ground almost looked like water; everything was moving and writhing around. People were screaming and running in terror, other zombie-like creatures were hobbling after them, and these giant beasts were attacking anything and everything in the area around a building that Naruto thought someone had taken a giant sneeze on it. It had large sacs hanging off of its side, and some were rupturing, giving birth to even more of the hideous creatures. Tanks had lined up about a hundred yards off to one side and were pouring fire into the building, tearing massive holes in the structure and drawing the attention of nearly every creature to them.

In a scant few minutes the tanks had been summarily dismantled, leaving just the ground troops and a couple of Bradleys. Naruto felt the chakra spike next to him and one of his companions formed seals, "Katon: Karyuu Endan."

The dragon, while a little distorted at first from the down draft of the rotors, roared down onto the street, incinerating much of the creatures down there, as well as setting the building aflame.

"You idiot," one of the ninja rebuked "now you've gone and gotten their attention!" As if to prove his point the pilot yelped and pulled up sharply, narrowly missing a large slab of concrete.

"Oh shit! Let's get the fuck out of here!" one of the pilots called as he tried to sharply pull up and out of the danger area. Naruto grabbed onto one of the Pilot-dubbed "Oh-Shit Handles" and peered out the open door at the creatures below. To his alarm, they were leaping up the buildings at a much faster rate than the helicopter.

"Uh, pilot?"

"Eh?" was the strangled response.

"You'd better hurry up, they're getting closer; THEY'RE GETTING CLOSER!" he yelled frantically as his grip tightened on the bar, causing it to bend under the pressure." From somewhere in the crew cabin he heard someone call "incoming."

The Blackhawk was just cresting the top of the buildings as the creature, the "Jötunn," slammed into the bottom-left of the aircraft, lurching it in the opposite direction and flinging two of the unfortunate and unprepared men out of the other side, they're bodies causing the other Jötunn to cease their assault on the helicopter and dive after the screaming men careening to their deaths.

"You Sons-a-Bitches!" Oskar so eloquently called out as he chattered away at them from the door gun. After he emptied his can of ammo, he turned to Naruto, "I hate those Fucks. They never play fair, always with the maiming and eating. Soon, m'boy, soon we'll wave our chance at striking back at them."

"T-that thing was scary!" One of the other nin, an Iwa Missing-Nin, called out. "How are we supposed to fight those things without touching them? This whole mission is suicide."

Oskar shook his head and looked out over the city to the giant flat-topped ship in the water miles away. "I'm not sure. But then again, my tactical expertise is limited to blowing up the whole building with missiles and keep doing that until they're all dead." He looked back at the 4 ninja who reciprocated; "However, that's why we have you: to augment our strength. If you are all as strong as the legends say, then you really should have no worries." He stated noting each of the looks on their faces; apprehension, eagerness, contemplative, and slightly fearful. "Although I'm sure the eggheads will have come up with a way to combat the virus by now. This war has been going on for about half a year now..." he trailed off.

"Sir" the pilot interjected, "we're approximately three minutes out from HQ."

"Okay, thanks." He replied "Look, when we touch down, just follow my lead. I'll do the talking. Don't speak unless you're spoken to; don't want anyone causing an international incident. Just remember that you're ambassadors for your country."

The helicopter descended, landing on top of the large building that served as the army's main command station. As Naruto stepped out, he took in his surroundings. To his back was the water, with that ever-present, huge flat-topped ship. To his front there was a large park with a statue in the center. Encircling the statue were smaller roads, and travelling around those roads were more soldiers who looked to be garbed in the same -in Naruto's opinion- cool-as-shit camouflage that Oskar wore. He also saw a few "tanks" sitting farther away towards the road.

Oskar led the group of Nin down the stairwell to a room with a large oval table in the center of it. On the table there was a small square computer and another small box, which Naruto could not decipher what it was. There was a pitcher of water and small notepads and pencils. The wall directly to Naruto's eleven o'clock was windowed to show the ocean. A man dressed in a camouflage similar to Oskar's stood at the head of the table, to Naruto's one o'clock, with a large white screen behind him. Oskar took his position at the man's right side, as the shinobi filtered in and stood behind a chair each.

"Gentlemen; May I present General Asketorp, and Doctor Rut Havsdotter." He gestured to the man. Naruto eyed them. He had short, clipped white hair which sat atop a wrinkled face beset with deep age-lines. His deep-set blue eyes spoke of the experience that he has seen in combat and the scar running from his right jawline up through his scalp only proved to validate that fact. His uniform, while like Oskar's, looked to be a bit for formal; it lacked the body armor and he had black badges on his left breast while 3 stars sat on each shoulder. On his right breast there was a white dragon with two black axes crossing in front of it. "He is the highest in command in this city and is charged with eradicating the Jötunn from our lands. From now on I will translate what he is saying directly." He turned and spoke in a low tone to the general for what Naruto believed was a few short sentences. The general spoke.

"I am very glad that you could make to my home. We are deeply honored that such fierce warriors can find the courage to fight alongside of us. Please have a seat. Well, as Sargent Suno has already stated, I am Commanding General Lorenz Asketorp, and I am in charge of this city. For a brief history of myself, I have been a warrior for the past forty-nine years. I am sixty-six years old and I plan on being a warrior until the day I die. Never in all my years have I seen creatures such as these." He took a slight pause and looked over to his left hand, which was placed on the back of his chair, then back to the assorted men. "Before I continue, there is something we must get out of the way first. Before I turn on the projector and start your In-brief, are there any who wish to leave? If you do, then now is the time," a pause. "Let it be known right now, that you are all in this to the death. We have been very secretive about our weapons and capabilities to your lands, and will continue to do such until you have proven yourself trustworthy in my eyes. There will be no backing out halfway down the road. We are faced with an all-or-nothing bet and I will see this through to the end." He gave them a minute to think it over before breaking out into a smile and laughing, "Ha! I thought you all looked like strong men; except you." He pointed to Naruto. "You know I wasn't much older than you when I joined up."

"Well, I've been a soldier ever since I was twelve, and I'm celebrated among my fellow warriors as one of the strongest in my village. It won't be too long before I am capable of leading my fellow soldiers in battle, and eventually, become the leader of my village." Thank god for Ero-sennin pounding manners into my head. Oskar translated and Naruto was receiving varying looks. If anything the Iwa-nin's look sharpened at the blonde.

"Well then, let me say that I look forward to seeing your skills on the battlefield." Asketorp said with a slightly dubious look. "Back to the matter at hand; let me introduce you to our enemy." He clicked a little device and an image sprung up of the wall.

"That's what we have to fight?" One of the ninja questioned; Naruto identified him as a Kumo ninja. "She can't be more than sixteen years old!"

"However true that may be, make no mistake that she is probably the most dangerous thing ever to walk this planet. She was part the research project designed to create a general vaccine for any and all ailments. However, we created something else. Patient Forty-Eight, or what our soldiers have dubbed "Loki" has many abilities that make her our top priority in elimination. Her abilities include: regeneration, absorption, supper-speed, the ability to climb walls, fall from hundreds of feet without a scratch, shape shifting - and when I say that, I mean the ability to turn her hands into giant claws, ar blades, or giant sock-like fists. She can also transform into any human she touches.

"When you say 'absorption,' how is the process done?" a nin from Suna asked.

"Form what we have learned from the footage when they escaped, the scientists said that she 'injects' an enzyme to break down the cellular structure to absorb the biomass of the victim.'" He read from his notes on the table. "They also said that at some point through the process, she is able to gain their memories and impersonate them perfectly."

The Suna-nin questioned, "So, when you say she can impersonate anyone perfectly, then you really don't know where or who she really is. If she has absorbed numerous people, then she could be anyone. She could have even breached this facility."

"Yes, that is a possibility that we have deduced; however not one we have not planned for. We have sentries stationed at various points in this and many other strategic points throughout the city that are sensitive to her specific brainwaves. If she comes within a certain range of our facilities we can detect her by her thoughts and by the infection within her body. But, you shall get a further briefing on her later. This meeting was originally planned to give you an overview of the enemies you will be facing. You do not know our customs and our methods of operation, so we cannot expect you to be able to locate her within a crowd; we are going to teach you how to defeat the Jötunn and the Flukes, as well as the other sub-species. I shall leave the technicalities to the professionals. Doctor Havsdotter will brief you further." He sat down and the occupant in the seat to his right stood. She looked to be around her late forties and wore a white lab coat over a dark shirt and a tight skirt that ran down to her shins. She had blonde hair done up in a bun and dark-blue eyes.

"Hello and thank you for coming to aid us. My name is Rut Havsdotter, and I am the Head of Research for Project Genesis. I took over from the previous Head after the accident that released the virus." She spoke in heavily and oddly accented Japanese.

"So it's a virus now; not just creatures?" the cloud-nin asked.

"Yes. The virus strain that has been dubbed the Jäkel Strain is introduced," she clicked the slide showing the process of mutation "and it immediately reorganizes and reengineers the DNA to something more suitable to its purposes. It alters the genetic makeup of its host for self-preservation. We have determined that only a select few sub-strains are capable of injecting and replication themselves inside of new hosts. The others must be incubated and hatched, like birds."

Asketorp cleared his throat and stood. "As informative as this is, it is late. Perhaps you should retire for the evening. Tomorrow we shall continue with the briefing as well as squad placements. Sergeant Suno here should show you to your rooms." Oskar translated. The nin stood as the general left.

"Then, if you'll follow me." Oskar strode out of the exit of the room. He took them into a wing where there were no occupants. "Now you will be sharing a room with one other. He divided them up into pairs and put Naruto with a man who seemed to be in his early thirties. The man had already white hair, despite his young age. Underneath his Rain forehead protector, he had deep green eyes and wore a black shirt with a white coat over it with a Caduceus on the left breast and black pants with dark blue ninja sandals. On his right wrist there was some sort of storage seal that had the kanji for "Scalpel" on the top.

"So are you some sort of doctor?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. I have trained for over twenty years in the medical arts, becoming one of the foremost doctors in my land. That is all I will say. Now about you; despite how young you are, you have been sent on this mission by your Hokage. I will have you tell me of your fighting style, so I may better prepare my works."

Well, isn't he the epitome of politeness. Naruto thought sourly. "Well I'm a close-range fighter and I specialize in using high-powered jutsu and large-scale combat. What is your name?"

"Noguchi Hideyo. I am an expert on viruses, snake poisons and various toxins. There; our introductions are over with; now I suggest we sleep. I believe tomorrow will be a trying day." And with that he went inside their room and into his bedroom.

"Yeah, good night to you too." Naruto soon followed and went into his Spartan room which consisted of a bed, three-drawer dresser, and a mirror. After setting his stuff out he crawled into bed and fell into a sleep fraught with nightmares of his home.