Chapter 25 By the Shore Part 2
They had split up, they had to split up to cover as much area as they had to as fast as they needed to. Their goals where simple and direct but as broad as possible, those goals where to gather anything and everything they could want or need. Since there was only so much a person could carry they had to use sealing scrolls to put items too large to be carried in scrolls. While every ninja was capable of doing this for small items such as weapons the larger the items the more skilled a sealer has to be. The number of items also had an effect so they only had a few of their numbers with the skills needed. Among the 17 members of their group only four of them had the skills, Naruto, Tenten, Neji and Meiko. They split up into three teams of four and a single five men team, since part of their mission was to gather personal items the teams had also split along gender lines. The first team was made up of Naruto, Sasuke, Sai and Suigetsu and their first target was a group of warehouses, which sat in the poorer area of the city where the workers lived. The second team made out of Sakura, Ino, Karin, Fu and Meiko where heading to the hospital to gather medical supplies before going after personal items. Meiko was on the five-person team since some still feared that she would try something. The third team was made out of Tenten, Hinata, Karui and Samui. Since Tenten knew her weapons and Karui's leg was, hurt they would search the police station for weapons. The last group made out of Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba and Shino where searching another group of warehouses on the other side of the village.
Naruto and his team moved toward a series of six warehouses on the far edge of the village, they had walked past the remains of people of people's lives. This was the working class area of the village where the people who severed the vacationers and the ultra-rich who used this village as their personal playground. Unlike the main streets these one showed more of the signs of a panic, broken windows, boarded doors and large amount of trash in the street. They stepped over a dead body who was lying in middle of the street, his body was not even totally intact wild animals had ripped off his arm and eaten parts of him.
The warehouses where large metal frame buildings with metal roofs, on the side of one of the buildings was the logo for a food company so they headed their first.
"We have a lock," said Sai as he looked at the thick metal padlock on the sliding door.
"I hope you don't intend to be stopped by a padlock?" inquired Suigetsu with a grin as he pulled out his large meat clever like sword, only to have Naruto extend his hand and stopped him. When he did Suigetsu turned to glare at him.
"No, but we can't go busting in like we are ninjas we need to make it look like none trained civilians busted in." explained Naruto as he picked up a large rock and brought it down on the lock, it took two hits but the lock broke. "So we can't cut the chain."
"He was right," admitted Sasuke as he pushed open the door only to jump back as the smell of rotten and spoiled food came out of the metal building. Even the normally reserved Sasuke gaged, as he smelled what remained off the warehouse full of food.
"God, I think it is safe to say that there is nothing of use in there." Said Suigetsu
"We still have to check it out." ordered Naruto as he pulled out a rag and placed it over his nose and mouth before walking into the building. There were multiple shelves full of crates and containers, which had labels of different food ranging from Apples to Pineapples where all rotten. The smelly liquid leaching out of their containers and dripping on the floor. Maybe if the power had not gone out causing the cooling system to fail the food may have lasted but in not in this case. It took some time but Naruto found something that was of some use. It took a few minutes but then he came out with bags of rice.
"Well let's hope the other warehouses have better supplies then that." Stated Suigetsu as Naruto sealed the food away.
If Sakura looked out from the top floor window of the hospital she would see Naruto and his team, however there was no window anymore. It had been busted open and the man who had busted it open was lying on the ground outside the building. At the moment she, Meiko, Ino, Karin and Fu where standing outside the front main entrees to the hospital. It was a good size hospital with six floors and a front made out of glass.
"A jumper." reported Ino as she looked down at the man, he was dressed in a doctors lab coat but he had hit the ground so hard that he had actually flatten out to some degree.
"I never understood jumpers there are easier ways to kill yourself. Pain killers that would be the way I would go." Countered Fu as Meiko looked between the two women having a talk about the easiest way to kill yourself as if they were talking about the weather.
"Either way it works for us." countered Karin as she leaned down and grabbed an ID badge from the doctor's blood stained white lab coat. "This will make getting in easier."
Sakura moved up behind Meiko who was still trying to figure out what was going on.
"Thinking about how you would want to end your life is common when you are surrounded by so much death." explained Sakura to Naruto's little sister.
"Have you?" inquired Meiko as she looked at the woman who she called her friend.
"I have. When you see how many people die screaming in pain or drowning in blood and puss makes you think of how you want to die." admitted Sakura with a semi distance look. "Just like I am sure your brother has too. Everyone who has seen the effects of this virus has thought about it."
"Come on you two." Yelled Karin as they walked through the main entrees of the hospital, to the side of the entrees was a large pile of half-burned bloody cloths and bodies. The sliding door wasn't working but they simply walked through the massive hole made when a gurney crashed through the glass door. The lobby of the hospital was a mess with overturn carts and empty medical cases, dried blood and the smell of death filled the air.
"It is kind of amazing that the rest of this village is in such good shape and this was a scene of panic." stated Meiko as she sniffed the air, the area smelled of death but the scent was strong but not fresh.
"Not really, everyone who got sick and likely everyone who was sick whenever the citizens where evacuated was left here." explained Sakura as they followed Karin up the stairs, Karin had lived in the village for some time and knew the layout of the hospital. "This was the center of the outbreak here. The hospital at the Leaf was the center of the outbreak until Lady Tsunade divided the village into sectors to stop the spread and set up mini hospitals in each sector."
"What are we looking for?" inquired Meiko as they headed up the stairs, on the stairs Meiko saw her third dead body. This one was not as bad as the first or the second; this one was long dead and past the point of smelling. It was not bloated and the skin had become tight and dry. The thing that stuck out in her mind was that he was hanging from a rope in the stairwell. It was the open eyes which stuck out to her, the eyes that looked out without seeing.
"Another suicide." explained Sakura as she looked up at the man in a blood stained white doctor coat. "He likely saw too much death, or had lost family members. It wasn't uncommon."
"More like common." Countered Ino as she pushed the man's legs aside and kept moving up the stairs. "They even had suicide parties."
"Suicide Parties?" inquired Meiko
"Yes, the sick who don't want to die alone all get together and then at the same time end their lives." explained Fu "The sex parties where popular and fun even if you weren't sick."
"Unless you find one on a search and clear mission," countered Ino as she shuttered a bit from the memory. "Because nothing is sexy about blood, pus and a bunch of naked bodies."
They reached the top floor and made their way to the main research lab. By the standard Sakura was used to in the Leaf it was primitive but this was just a local hospital. They entered the room to find another mess; paper covered the floor, overturn tables and machines on the ground. Blood samples had been left out and was now useless.
"Damn, I needed those samples." Said Karin as Sakura nodded her head, they did have samples from the Leaf but Shizune had touched each and every one. Those could not be fully trusted; Shizune could have messed with them so they needed pure samples.
"Maybe you should check the back wall," stated Ino as they turned to see a line of dry ice containers lined up against the back wall.
"My God, do you think they froze the samples?" inquired Sakura as she moved forward and looked at the labels on the containers. Each one of the containers had the symbol for blood storage on it, she opened one only to smile as a cold mist came out. "We have samples, hell they even have tissue samples."
"Alright demon do your work and seal them up," ordered Karin as Meiko glared at her but did as she was told. Sakura handed her each container one at a time checking to make sure they were still cold before she did. At the same moment, Ino and Karin searched the rest of the lab looking for computer hard drives and paperwork.
"I found some paperwork." reported Ino as she flattened some crumped up paperwork on the desk. She scanned the paper and quickly found the date that the report was printed. "Looks like the outbreak started here about three weeks ago."
"That is very early for an outbreak this far inland." stated Sakura as she looked gathered blood samples from the coolers which had kept them good and cold. "Three weeks ago, the outbreak was only in the land of water and along the coast."
"Seams that patient or should I saw patients zero was a married couple who came back home to their mansion from a cruise." explained Ino as her eyes read the report. "Well that makes sense they got sick on the cruise and came back home. Then they infected their home staff and the staff intern got their own family sick and it spreads like that."
"That is how it happened in my village, traders brought the sickness in." added Fu "Then it spread like wildfire."
"Sakura…" said Ino in a tone of voice that told everyone that it was bad news. "The ship that they where on it was the Ocean Sunrise."
Sakura blinked as her heart began to fill with dread that she had forced into a small corner for as long as she could.
"The Ocean Sunrise?" inquired Meiko
"The cruise ship, my parents went on before this all started," explained Sakura with a gulp. "I had hoped that their ship was one of those we heard about in reports, ships of survivors sitting off the coast trying to make it by."
"Most of those ships are floating death traps one person gets sick then they all tend to die," stated Karin coldly. "And your parent's ship was already infected so they were likely one of the firsts to die."
"I am so sorry, Sakura." said Meiko
"We don't know if they are dead," countered Sakura as she grabbed onto a slimmer of hope. "I made it through my infection with the red flu and maybe my parents will."
"But you had close contact with Naruto and his demon chakra gave you a better chance of making it." countered Karin.
"And I had close contact with my parents." snapped Sakura with tears in her eyes.
"Sakura, we need to focus to get what we need so that we can find a cure," explained Ino as Sakura nodded her head, as they went back to work.
Nysa's police station was located just off where the lake road and main street it was made out of red brick with iron lamp posts leading up to the stairs toward the Bronze door. It was the worse off of any building near the famous beach and boardwalk, the windows were broken and one of the bronze door was off its hinges. The old brick building not only severed as the police station but as the small prison where they kept the shoplifters and drunks.
"I don't see anything," reported Hinata as she scanned the building with her Byuckugan eyes. With some slight support from Samui they moved up the stairs and into the building. What they found was a bunch of maps of the city spread out all over the wall. The maps showed different evacuation routes as well as the numbers of dead found in each section of the city.
"This must have been a command center for the pull out." stated Samui as she placed Kauri down on a folding chair by the door. Kauri rubbed her leg where her wound was still healing.
"Why don't you two stand guard here while Hinata and I go check out the armory." advised Tenten as Samui nodded her head before turning back to the maps on the wall, studying the map with the eye of a high ranking ninja commander. With that done, Hinata and Tenten moved through the different rooms past a lines of offices which was a total mess and one which was perfectly clean aside from the dead body behind the chair.
They moved into the basement, which served as the jail, it had maybe three cells and behind a locked and reinforced door was the armory. The door was still lock but two small paper bomb charges on the hinges brought it down.
"Yes." said Tenten as she looked at the room; there was a multiple stacks of weapons ranging from swords and kunais, to police batons and tear gas. "Hinata, I'll start sealing this up, can you go see what else you can find."
Hinata nodded her head and moved off, only to come back a few moments later carrying a couple containers of bleach and cleaning supplies.
"We will need to clean our cloths," stated Hinata
"We need cloths first," countered Tenten with a small laugh. "But it would be nice to clean them once we get them."
"I can't wait to get something new." admitted Hinata
"Something to maybe get Naruto's eye?" inquired Tenten as Hinata blushed but unlike with others she found she could talk to her cousin's teammate and girlfriend. "Hinata, if you are going to make a move on Naruto you better do it soon before it is too late."
"Because of Sakura." stated Hinata with hate in her voice.
"Actually I was thinking more about how life is too short." explained Tenten before taking a breath. "In fact, I was going to force Neji's hand and I wanted your permission."
"What?" inquired Hinata kind of confused.
"I was going to find a ring and ask him to marry me," explained Tenten as Hinata's eyes widened.
"You have only been dating for a few months before all this." countered Hinata "You have permission of course, but you didn't have to ask me."
"You are head of the clan and like I said time is short and we don't know when one of us or both of us will die." explained Tenten "Hell we don't even know if by the end of this we will be human."
Above them, the two ninjas from the Land of Lightening watched the main entrees.
"I think we should leave," stated Samui as she looked over the map of the local area. "We can either hold up in one of these summer homes in the forest or try to make our way to a human village."
"If we go up to the hills we will die and if we go to another village it may very likely either be full of infected or no longer a human village." countered Kauri as she rubbed her leg where the deep cut was still healing. "No I think we are stuck here for the moment."
"These people have no idea what needs to be done, Naruto is too focused on connecting with the demon and the others are letting him do it." stated Samui "She needs to be restrained."
"And she is going to be, she doesn't have an access code to the base and if we had left her behind when we came out she could have escaped and locked us out." countered Kauri before shaking her head. "Also the demon is his little sister, can you blame him for wanting to get to know her."
"She is still a demon, if it wasn't that she can give us samples to help find a cure for the flu I would say kill her," stated Samui as Karui raised an eyebrow.
"Not find a way to turn her and the others back to being humans?" inquired Karui
"We find a cure for the flu and then if we can't find a way to turn them back then we kill them," stated Samui as if it was the clear answer to the problems.
"Damn I thought you would be more understanding, you have a brother." Inquired Karui as Samui looked first at her teammate.
"I had a brother, I had family, I had a home, I had a sensei, I had friends, I had a home and I had duty." countered Samui "Beside you, I don't have anything."
"Fuck, I am in the same boat as you, so is that girl Fu and everyone has lost almost everything or in most cases everything." countered Karui.
Back at the hospital they had finished their search and a checked the pharmacy only to find it totally ransacked and nothing of use. Since the pharmacy was near the back entrees, they decided to leave out that door, when they did Meiko stopped in her tracks as she looked out at a mound of dead bodies piled so high that they were taller than she was. Some of the bodies where in body bags while others where open to the air. They had been out in the sun and elements for so long that they were far along in their decomposition; the only reason why she had not smelled them was that a strong wind was blowing the scent away from her.
"We should have burned these bodies," advised Sakura "However smoke would bring any flying demons here."
"They should have burned them on their way out of the village," countered Karin as Meiko blinked at how used these women who were only a few years older than she was used to death on such a scale. They walked down the sidewalk passing by the wall of the dead; Meiko's eyes were looking at them, at their faces. They were of all ages, sexes and judging from their cloths social classes, her eyes widened as they passed a dead woman holding a dead baby to her chest. Both of them had been attacked by birds and other scavengers.
"Don't look at their faces it makes it easier." whispered Sakura behind Meiko as the mound of the dead began to lower as they reached the end.
"You are used to this?" inquired Meiko
"Yes. We have all seen far worse." confirmed Sakura as they turned a corner and left the mound of the dead behind them. "Come on let's get our mind off the dead and get some stuff to make things livable in the base."
Less than two blocks away the last team entered, a small series of warehouses located opposite of the group of warehouses that Naruto and his team was searching.
"Shikamaru, what do you hope to do when you get to send a message to the wind?" inquired Shino as the group moved between the warehouses. Shikamaru lowered his head, he knew what Shino was talking about but he did not want to admit it. "You can't tell Temari where we are, or arrange a meeting because she could be a demon or someone who is could be listening in."
"We will need to spread word about the Leaf and what is really going on," countered Kiba, suddenly he raised his hand calling the entire group to a halt. "I hear something."
"What?" inquired Neji as he scanned the area; he saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"My bugs hear it too," explained Shino "It sounds like a generator but there is no way a generator can be running for so long."
"Let's go." ordered Neji as they moved toward the sound only to find the largest of the warehouses. As they neared the humming sound grew loader and loader until they were sure that it was in fact a generator. The answer as to how the Generator was still working came when they saw the multiple different pipes and cords, which ran to the warehouse. Whoever had left the place had jerry-rigged it so that the backup power for the other six warehouses all powered this single warehouse.
They pushed open the door only to get a blast of cold air, every breath became visible as they walked into the warehouse only to find row after row of meat and fish. Somewhere full body waiting for a butcher while other where precut pieces of meat waiting to be grilled. There were whole tuna and other fishes sitting in ice waiting to be eaten.
"We hit gold," said Kiba as someone who loved his meat and who had gone without it for so long imagined the feast that they would soon be having.
They had hit pay dirt with the third warehouse, as it was full of canned, dry goods and while they had some back at the base they could always use more. Naruto was sitting on the concrete floor with a long scroll open sealing everything the other three brought him.
"Well my row is done," reported Suigetsu as he dropped a bag of rice in front of Naruto.
"Same here." confirmed Sai as he put his last box of supplies, canned tomatoes on the ground.
"Why don't you two go check out the next warehouse, while the two of us finish here." ordered Naruto, both of them quickly left the building leaving Naruto alone with Sasuke. Naruto waited until Sasuke came back with his second to last load of food before asking the question.
"How are you alive?" inquired Naruto as Sasuke looked down at his kneeling former teammate. Naruto raised his head to look up at him, his eyes where silted as he saw through the hedge. Sasuke's skin was covered with small boils surrounded by red skin, he was clearly in the early stages of level 3 but before he had been a very advanced level 3. "You were on death's door but yet now you are not? How?"
"Karin." answered Sasuke "She has a healing ability which she can pass on to people and she uses it to heal me. It is the only thing keeping me alive in truth. We all got sick, she and Suigetsu recovered, Jugo died and I am only alive because of Karin is keeping me alive."
"I see, but it doesn't cure you?" inquired Naruto
"No, and in return for keeping me alive she wants me to sleep with her." explained Sasuke with a slight chuckle. "I don't understand why, hell I look like shit without a hedge but it is a win, win for me I stay alive and I get sex."
"But you don't care for her?" inquired Naruto
"Sex is sex and I admit have found her more enjoyable then most women." Explained Sasuke "But do I love her? No and she knows that and she still wants my child. She is a fan girl but a fan girl I can stand and that can keep me alive."
"What about Sakura-chan?" inquired Naruto as Sasuke laughed coldly.
"You as pathetic as I remember." laughed Sasuke with mocking venom in his voice. "You work so hard all because you want the women you love to be with another man. That is just pathetic. I don't want her and it will not matter even if I am cured, in order to stay alive I have taken so much of Karin's chakra that I couldn't live long without it."
"I see." said Naruto "You will destroy her, she loves you."
"Do I care?" inquired Sasuke
"You don't deserve her love," growled Naruto as his he stood up, Sasuke actually had to blink. Not only was Naruto's eyes silted but orange marks surrounded his eyes. His teeth where pointed and each of his fingers nails had sharpened and turned black. His whisker marks where black as well. Red chakra was dancing around him as a sense of power came over Sasuke. "You are a heartless monster."
"I know that," confirmed Sasuke as he stood his ground, for the first time he saw killing intent behind Naruto's eyes. "And I don't want your Sakura-chan, if she will have you take her."
Naruto blinked as the orange marks around his eyes which showed that he had entered sage form disappeared. At the same moment his whisker marks lightened, his teeth returned to normal and his nails became clear before shortening to their normal length. His silted eyes lingered for a while but they too returned to normal.
"Sakura-chan, will never have me." stated Naruto as if he was stating a law of nature.
"Then take Hinata, she will jump on you in a heartbeat. I don't really care what you do but I don't want Sakura." Explained Sasuke as Naruto blinked at Hinata's name. "If you don't Hinata, take Ino, take Tenten or Fu, hell take anyone you want. The world is ending it isn't like there is a large supply of women who are still alive and still human."
Just than Sai and Suigetsu returned.
"The last warehouse has nothing, looks like it was in the process of being built when the virus hit." explained Sai as Naruto nodded his head.
"Alright, then I think we can head down town and get personal items." explained Naruto
To the East of Nysa the young ninjas of Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon made their way through the woods with the elder jonnin ninja Tsume Inuzuka. Every so often, a demon would fly overhead causing all four of them to cover themselves. As time went on more and more demons appeared in the sky but none of them spotted the small band of ninjas.
"Why are so many in the sky now?" inquired Moegi
"They have finished turning the village and now they are spreading out searching for those who escaped." explained Tsume as another flight of demons flew overhead. "They also have their ground bond demons searching."
"If that is the case why are we heading North, toward the village?" inquired Udon
"Because the strongest search is always in the front," explained Tsume "If you want to hid in the field from an enemy you get close to them. They spend all their time searching ahead of them instead of behind them."
Before the younger generation could say anything, the sound of movement in the brush caused all of them to tense. For a moment, nothing happened then three figures stepped out from the brush, one was dressed in a Leaf ninja uniform but was unknown to any of the younger ninjas but Tsume lowered her weapon.
"Tsume." greated the man who wore blue under his green vest, "I see you have found some more survivors, young ones at that."
"Yes, but not my children." explained Tsume with sadness in her voice. "Kiba was out of the village when it fell and Hana is a survivors I know she got out."
"You will find them." reassured the man as he looked at the two others figures behind him. One was a woman holding a small child to her chest and the other was an older man his beard turning white. "I found these two hiding in the woods. You want me to take your three to the hid out?"
"No, Utakata five people may mean you need my help," stated Tsume as Utakata pulled out a small bubble maker and quickly made a small bubble. The three genin watched as the bubble moved off into the woods. "Now they know we are coming so we will not be attacked when we arrive."
Well I hope you liked this chapter, they have now gathered everything that they need and are now going onto to get person items. Until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.