Chapter 3: Innocence

Author Notes: Hey everyone, I'm back! With a new chapter as promised. However if you haven't read the newly updated chapters, then now you know I'm back after a long time. The explanation and what I'm going to do for the future are in the newly updated chapters, but I'm also gonna put them in the bottom notes if you're interested. I do advice to re-read the previous chapters because with the grammar fixes and paragraph edits, it'll really bring out more of the story. In any case, enjoy and I'll see you after!

In The Woods

The similarities he finds between the Elemental Nations and this new world are too many for his liking. It's not much, not noticeable—but still there.

The technology this world has is superior. Or that's what he learns from the explanations the girl, Sophia, tells him about whatever they stumble upon during their travels.

In three days he learned about cars and helicopters to daily household items like TV's and telephones. Guns and tanks are new but are somehow not surprising. These humans cannot use chakra to fight, it's obvious they'll find something to harm each other with.

Terrifying weapons, not because they're more deadly. They offer detachment to the attacker, being able to kill someone at distance without need of hard training. A battle to death doesn't seem to exist here. However battles for death do. Kurama hates this world even more than his own. It disgusts him.

Perhaps he's lucky he's met this girl. He obviously needs the knowledge to understand this world, to try and search for a way back home.

Not for his own sake of course, but for Naruto's. Naruto of course still wants to free everyone from the infinite tsukuyomi, but he'd miss all his friends and comrades if he couldn't make it back home. He doesn't need to see the idiot depressed all the time instead of his usual cheery self.

The language of this world is not different but the writing of it is. That alone would be detrimental for gathering some more information. He's no Naruto. He doesn't have the charisma to gain other people's trust so they can aid him. He's not him and doesn't want to. He knows torture is his only option, but… Naruto kind of screwed him over. With his words of friendship and easy smiles—his trust on him.

That smile before they separated, he knows it was for his sake. Naruto's actions before being thrown away to who knows where meant to comfort Kurama. And he doesn't want to torture or seriously hurt humans that don't deserve it because for some stupid, idiotic reason he doesn't want to let Naruto's faith on him down. He doesn't want that bright, warm, trusting smile, one that has been directed at him, turn into one of disappointment.

Not that he'd ever say it aloud. Or ever.

So… he really has been fortunate to have met Sophia first in this world. He hates humans, he really does, no matter which world they're from. He doesn't think he'd be able to remain civil with one. Or want to talk with one. However, kids are 'cleaner' in a way. Still innocent and not so full with those other darker human qualities. Dealing with kids it's easier and not only because information is obtained faster from them.

Light manipulation isn't recognized in their naïve minds after all.

On the other hand, sometimes they're too innocent, too indifferent from the horrors of the world because their eyes choose to ignore them even when they're surrounded by real life nightmares.

Naruto was like that once. Trying to protect his innocence with smiles and loud proclamations from the glares and harsh words of the civilians. But he did know. Oh, that he did. He tried to ignore it but it was impossible.

He needed a wake up call and it came in the form of a ramen vendor giving him free food for him to realize what kindness felt like, what he wanted to obtain. Then came his goal. His stubbornness did everything else.

This girl has a goal. What she needs now is her own wake up call. Naruto's was gentleness, what will be hers? The same thing? No, she's had a better life than Naruto and understands kindness. What she needs is a shove forward towards being a survivor.

"Can we rest? I'm—I'm hungry." Kurama glances at the little girl jogging next to him. Her face is flushed as she pants heavily, speed slowly weakening with every step she takes. Her shirt has wet spots in some parts and her arms are full of scraps from each time they had to go through bushes. Yep. She definitely needs that push.

They've been keeping a steady pace for about two hours because of the walkers they've seen near the lake, choosing to evade that horde completely and instead of getting completely surrounded by it. They've found two houses nearby and grabbed everything useful. Unfortunately for Sophia, those places had little to no food and scarcely any clean water.

Kids are easy to obtain information from but that doesn't make them easier to deal with. They require too much attention and maintenance.

He stops and the girl does the same immediately, slowly lowering herself to the ground as she tries to recover her breath sitting down. Her stomach rumbles, as it has been doing the past half an hour. Understandable considering her last food has been some cookies eight hours ago. Seeing her sweaty and tired makes Kurama decide to take some pity on her and let her rest.

They've rested for a day and have been on the move together for two days, mostly taking lunch breaks and sleeping in those houses after making sure they were clear. Although he could've made it there in half the time they were traveling as the lake wasn't that far, but thanks to Sophia's human needs, it was taking forever.

It's true she hasn't whined at all until now and he has learned a lot about this world's culture and what's actually happening thanks to her. Maybe he can throw her a bone. Positive reinforcement and all that. That one eyed teacher of Naruto did the same to train his ninja hounds, it should work with a little girl, right?

Turning his head around the clearing they stopped in, Kurama sniffs the air for a couple of seconds. "What are you doing, Nine?"

Kurama glances at her. "Stay here. I'll return shortly."

Sophia's expression turns to one of worry as the fox avoided her question. "There's no walkers nearby, right?"

"No." Was his simple reply.

"Okay then. I'll wait." Her previous sitting position dissolves with her words as she falls back against the ground. Her expression melts as well as she takes deep breaths. "Take care."

Kurama snorts and starts running into the woods. She's not as worried anymore in the way she was the first time he told her he was going to hunt and scout for an hour, so it's an improvement. He still needs to know more than what a kid can offer and also replenish his chakra.

He's no Sage by any means, but he can still retrieve energy from nature itself thanks to being a beast made from the ten tails. This world is tainted from war and pollution but he can still draw bits of what's left of the earth's power and turn it into something he can use.

As his chakra is still dangerous for others without Naruto to transform and control it, he needs a bit of space to work. It's hard to do it while sitting completely in this world of monsters but until he does have some secured base he won't be able to sleep and recover. He can only meditate.

This time he's not going off for a scouting run though. He sniffs the air once more and there's a rustle of leaves above him. 'Got you.' He's a predator. The one on top of the food chain. Fighting against a goddess is hard. Capture a simple animal to eat? Easy.

Now he only has to remember what little survival classes Kushina and Naruto took in the Academy. It's going to be hard because they're both knuckleheads that didn't pay too much attention. At least his first host, Mito Uzumaki, wasn't dense like those two.

With one quick chakra powered jump, Kurama then pounces into the tree baring his fangs. With a quick struggle, the fox nods as he keeps a tight grip on his prey and jumps down, rushing back to Sophia.

Moments later

"You want me to—what?" Human's kids are harder to work with than he thought. "You found that pocket knife, remember? You can skin the squirrels using that. The entrails will be harder to reach but still possible. The weather's getting colder so it'll last. "

The girl—The brat, because that's what she is now, she keeps giving him an horrified look as her eyes don't move away from the two squirrels with the necks bent in weird positions. Her head is slowly shaking, as if to erase what she's seeing in front of her.

Kurama growls. His body tenses as he pushes down the killing intent. She looks so similar but she's so weak. It disgusts him that someone with his traits can be this weak minded being. He doesn't like it. He wants to erase the evidence of it.

His tail darts forwards to grab the girl's right arm. She startles at first, her body leaning back and her doll falling to the ground. But those blue eyes, turning into a darker blue because of the unshed tears in her eyes, look directly into his red eyes. They anger him, but yet at the same time they manage to calm him down and he snarls, claws biting into the soft ground as he lets his temper recede, turning it into annoyance.

"Listen to me, brat. The world you knew is gone. You're alone now and you'll need to do and learn things you don't like. I won't deal with someone who can't even skin their food to survive, so tell me: Do you want to find your group?"

A couple of birds sing from upwards as the girl's lips tremble, unaware of the fact that her mind wanted to keep her naive and innocent. Her eyes become watery and she clutches the grip on her doll once but he doesn't back down.

His tail's grip tightens around her arm and Kurama wants to curse his lack of power.

Because his paws are too small to use his opposable thumbs right now to use instead of his tail, which agitated him more. "Do you want to find your group?" He repeats, his voice much more gentle this time.

Her head bobs slowly, shakily, a couple of tears falling down her cheeks. "Yes," she chokes but it's too weak for his liking. He can wait for her wake up call, or he can make one to help give her that push.

Kurama grabs the pocketknife from the ground where it fell and places it in front of her. He doesn't give her the squirrels yet as he drops them next to her. He then flexes his muscles and jumps up with a little chakra. It's easy to move from branch to branch, painful, but easy.

One second he's up; the next he's on the ground next to her, with a small bird's wing between his fangs.

Kurama puts the flailing bird at her feet. The animal tries to fly but the broken wing makes him unable to do so. "This will be your food. Kill it."

The girl openly sobs, eyes not looking at the struggling bird whose panicked sounds are getting louder with each movement it makes. "It's going to attract walkers if you don't do it. Show me how much you want to survive."

A trembling hand grabs the knife while the other hovers uncertainty close to the bird. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she murmurs when she grabs the bird. It screams louder, head moving to every direction it can to get away, but the knife then closes in on its neck and that stops all the bird's movements as it went still. She takes a shaky breath in and her head turns slightly away, eyes not daring to see what she's going on in front of her.

"Don't look away. It's a life you're taking. Don't you dare ignore it and shrug it off just to protect yourself. This is a part of life. You can't help feeling guilty, but you can accept what you did and move on." A whimper escapes her lips as she looks at her kill. And in that moment he can see it in her eyes; the innocence leaving, being replaced with something else, something essential. She's realizing, truly now, what this world entails.

Reality is crashing at her and she no longer has someone that will pat her head and tell her everything will be alright.

She gags and cries as she pukes out what little was in her stomach for what she's lost and what she took, but Kurama is proud. He remembers Naruto's despair as he watched his comrades dying before him in the war, going into a catatonic state. It's thanks to his past experiences and that one woman who loves Naruto, that he looked at his enemies and friends alike and said, "I want to change it. I'll change this world, a world in which shinobi can understand each other." Choosing to deny reality and embrace his innocence and naive idealism.

Sophia hasn't killed a human, but with this and watching those around her die, this will mark her. He's sure of this. What's going to happen to her next, he wonders. She's no Naruto, he doesn't expect her to do and say the same, but he's decided to accompany her and he isn't going to let someone that physically similar to him be weak.

"Now, I'll teach you how to skin a squirrel and pluck a bird. Then I'll teach you how to cook them" She timidly nods and stands up from where she threw up and moves closer. She notices her doll on the ground and goes to pick it up, but the left little arm was bloody because of the bird's blood, and she hesitates. Her arm extends momentarily before her muscles tense and she retreats the limb. She glances at him but he's simply observing her actions without commenting. Her lips thin and a frown forms before Sophia leans down and grabs her doll with firm grip.

'Good job, brat.' Not that he'd ever say this out loud, his pride counted on it.

A Few Hours Later

"You can walk on water?" she asks, her words filled with wonder. Kurama glances from where he's on top of the water. This is the first time in three hours she has spoken more than a single word, much less a sentence. When he was guiding her on how to skin an animal and how to cook it, she only gave monosyllables as an answer. Not even asking how he managed to light a fire without help.

"Where I come from, people can do this. They can also walk on solid vertical surfaces." Kurama responds bluntly

"Everyone?" She asks, the wonder in her voice increasing slightly.

"Just the warriors. They all have different kinds of abilities and powers. With others stronger than others. However walking on water and up vertical surfaces is something almost all of them can do."

"And that friend you mentioned, is he strong?"

He stops cleaning his fur and considers if telling her more will be counterproductive or not. She's a kid alright, but she'll grow. He looks at her and marvels at how strong a child can be. Bags are under her eyes and she's afraid and tired, but also determined.

"One of the strongest, actually."

"Really? He must be pretty cool, then." Sophia says quietly as a tiny bit of awe appeared in her eyes for a brief moment.

Kurama snorts. "He's an idiotic goof and a loudmouth. An over confident and stubborn bastard. The kind that goes face first into a problem without thinking first. He must be probably whining about food right now. He's a glutton." But he's also kind and warm, with an unwavering will and fierce loyalty even if one doesn't deserve it. He can change others; make others want to change and be better.

"That doesn't sound too cool. How's he like?"

"You share similar traits, actually. He has blond hair and blue eyes, too. His skin's much tanner though. He also has some birthmarks that look like whiskers. And an awful fashion sense because he loves the color orange and refuses to wear anything without orange on it."

He submerges entirely into the water before leaving it. He shakes his body next to Sophia and she scrunches her nose. "Maybe that's why he's friends with you then. You have all orange fur." Her words aren't meant to hurt, and he can't sense any malice coming from her, just curiosity. They still make him halt and look towards the water, now tinted bright because of the sun reflection off of it.

It's late; they should search for a place to stay for the night. "Yeah… maybe that's why."

A Couple Of Weeks Later

"Are you sure this is this way?" Kurama stops and lifts his head up to glare at the young girl standing next to him. "Kid, I'm lowering myself to follow this scent. Don't question me and remind me I'm acting like a mutt."

"…Sorry." The girl lowers her head a bit, a shy expression now clear on her face.

He snorts. He can already picture Naruto throwing reassurances and bright grins to lift the girl's spirits while yelling at him about the proper way to treat small kids. It makes his lips curl up in annoyance. He knows he should apologize. However, unlike Naruto, he doesn't care if he hurt her feelings at all. Her world is already in chaos and on the brink of collapse, if mere words will be enough to bring her down then she's done for as a survivor.

Though he's had to admit she's gotten better. The day after their trip to the lake she asked him if he could trace her group. He was honest and informed her of the possibility. It brought her hopes up and they spent a couple weeks like that with him teaching her how to survive and showing her the ropes of shinobi's ways. He may hate them but he admits that they know a couple of useful things.

It wasn't until two days ago that he found a scent similar to the one in her doll. They've been following it ever since. It's faint but his heightened senses are better than a ninken. He can follow it. He's slightly concerned about the weather though. It's getting colder as winter gets near. They need a better place to stay away from the cold.

"Nine?"

"Now what?"

The girl doesn't complain but she does talk. A lot. He kind of misses the days she was afraid of him and concerned about bothering him. But now she would constantly ask him questions. Such is the persistence of a child's curiosity.

He waits for her to talk again but she doesn't answer, keeping quiet. Kurama frowns because that's unusual for the curious girl. He looks over his shoulder and sees the urgent face the girl's wearing. Her legs are slightly bent and he knows already what she wants to ask. He mentally sighs. Human's bodily functions are so bothersome, especially a childs. "We'll stop for five minutes."

"Thanks." she murmurs before leaving to go behind a tree far away from him but not enough so he loses sight of it. Kurama looks around and inhales deeply.

He has been following the scent for so long that it's become familiar to pick it up and ignore others, that's why just then he realized how close they were from a horde of walkers. He doesn't know the exact numbers because the odor of rotten flesh is similar, its overwhelming stench of death filled his nostrils.

There's also another smell. One he's used to and can easily recognize. Sweat, dirt, and… blood. Kurama closes his eyes to sense negative emotions and they come to him clearly. Fear, exhaustion, hopelessness.

Other can always sneak around them so as to not get caught in the crossfire, but where the fight was taking place is where the scent leads. This is the strongest the scent has been as of yet.

It's already night and, if the clouds are anything to go by, it was gonna rain rather soon. Not only that but he can sense it in the humidity around him. They need to know if the scent keeps going forward or if it turns to another place. They could lose the trail thanks to the rain and he's not too keen on spending more time trying to find it again.

The kid returns and Kurama looks conflicted for a split second. These people don't matter to the fox, but… he promised Sophia he'd find her group. And they need to keep up with the trail in order to keep that promise. Damn that Naruto for that as well; never going back on one's word. He then quickly informs her of what he's found. She looks up and a drop of water falls on her forehead. It's starting.

"More people?" Not only does she doubt this, but she's also afraid. She has told him about her group meeting others before. Some were nice, but others were… not so nice as she put it. Kurama can guess what happened though. He's seen what humans can do when they're scared. It doesn't bring out the best in them. When humans have fallen to the true depth of hopelessness is when these desperate and evil people begin to surface. When a human doesn't have anything to lose, things they have hidden before because of frail rules and morals come to light.

And it'll get worse as desperation sets in. When they realize their only option is survival, they will become the real monsters.

"What do you want to do?" He asks the girl, knowing they're short on time. Then miraculously, Sophia put on a determined look that reminded Kurama of a certain blonde ninja. "I want to go forward. They probably don't know there are walkers ahead. We should… we should warn them."

Kurama gives her an incredulous look but she's already moving towards where he pointed. He shouldn't have pointed. He bites the back of her shirt and stops her. She scowls and is ready to protest, he can see it on her face. "It's too late, kid."

"We don't know that! If these are good people then we have to help!" With that proclamation, Sophia looks back at Kurama with a pleading look.

Letting her go, he turns towards the clearing as he hears someone yell in fear, followed by the sound of hitting. Then a woman comes tumbling from some bushes with five walkers in tow. She uses the shovel in her hands to stop the one near her right but it's a futile attempt, the others already noticed them.

"We should help them!" Sophia persistently

whispers when two men come running forward from the foliage, followed by an older woman and a teenager. Coming after them however was another ten walkers.

"And then what?" Her body is ready to spring forward but his words stop her. "You have some food, water and other supplies in that bag. Not to mention a weapon. What do you think they'll do once they know this?" She bits her lower lip, action that makes her look younger. "They're in a group…"

"And you're searching for your own. Just because they're together doesn't mean they'll care for others outside their group. You don't need them." The boy falls to the floor and he tries to kick the one crawling towards him. The others are busy themselves but one man uses his own weapon to open a path and move towards him. "Ben!"

"They need us, Nine." She repeats for the last time and exclaims the words out loud, seemingly helping her make this decision. She puts her bag on the ground and shoves a hand inside to pull a couple of fireworks they found in a house. Grabbing a lighter from her pockets, she runs to some trees near the action.

Should he feel offended that she hasn't asked what he wants? Considering he's the one who's guiding her, he should get a say.

Too late to protest though, she's already throwing the fireworks into another bush and runs towards the other side. He should leave her. He's been trying to teach her but she's ignoring her words easily now. Kurama doesn't even exactly know why he's helping her. "Come on, Nine!"

He looks at her and remembers why. The next time he sees Naruto, he's going to kick him so hard in the face. Damn blond haired, blue eyed brats.

The fireworks only work on the closest dead to the fireworks. The other infected are more distracted with the humans close enough to pay attention. Even so, it still distracts them enough for Sophia to use that skewer they found inside a grill of one house to stab the one on top of the teenager in the head.

Though this place doesn't have enough chakra for him to use his surroundings to reform his reserves (he'll have to wait for Naruto to do that), Kurama has spent enough days resting and meditating so he has enough energy to run and attack. He's nowhere near close to his actual speed by any means but it's plenty to fight these weaklings, even if they're only weakness was their heads. They're seven against fifteenth walkers. It's difficult, but not impossible considering they have him.

He then runs in front of the group and jumps onto one the dead, ripping its head off its shoulders. The new group was surprised by the pure force the fox could make, but it inspired them to fight even harder. Luckily it didn't take long to cut down the large group of walkers. From the melee, shooting, and sneaking behind some unexpecting walker, the clearing became silent except for the panting and heavy breathing from the survivors.

"Are you okay, Tyreese?" Asks the younger woman once the clearing is free of walkers. He lost the handle of his hammer when said weapon got stuck in a walker's skull momentarily and she had to step in to save him from the last walker.

"I'm fine. Though we wouldn't have made it without you." He trails off, looking at the new girl who was panting near him. "Sophia. My name's Sophia." The woman steps forward. "Name's Sasha. This is my brother Tyreese."

"I'm Adam. My wife, Donna, and Ben, our son." The other man of the group, now named Adam, introduced his woman Donna goes to thank her for saving her son Ben, while the said boy does the same in a subdued way. Kurama can sense his shame and unease in the same way he can feel the sense of accomplishment coming from the girl.

They continue talking, relaxed now that no walkers are near, sharing what they did before the outbreak happened and asking how Sophia survived for so long on her own. Not that they questioned her survival, she did save them so she was pretty tough. She does answer, although she didn't give details. She does tell them enough however for them to not to ask for more as the fox taught her.

He had been breaking necks instead of biting or using his claws to help rip off the heads, but Kurama still doesn't move from where he is. Mostly because there's blood everywhere and he can't walk without stepping on some. Why? Because he doesn't have the chakra to spend in cleaning his fur, or walking on top of the blood as he did at the lake. It's all the old way now apparently and water is scarce.

He's still clean from his trip to the lake and he isn't going to dirt his fur so soon. Especially with a rotten, dead body's blood. The cleanest way for him to walk away from the gore is if someone turned over the dead guy to his left so he can jump on top of him and go to the cleaner ground. These humans did use weapons that left the surroundings bloody so everything's a mess.

Kurama's still debating if he's going to degrade himself and ask some assistance when the Sasha woman spots him while doing her self-appointed mission of checking if every fallen walker is really dead. "A fox?"

Her voice is loud enough to make the others turn and he can see their eyes widen at his form. "I've never known they could be this big," Donna adds, her hand moving to cover her mouth. "Explains why he was strong enough to rip off a walkers head. Damn." Tyreese said in awe.

Sophia seems confused at first. She looks at them, following their line of sight before locking eyes with him. She grins slightly seeing her friend as she opens her mouth to talk when the older, thin man approaches him with his weapon, a club. That makes her react as she quickly runs over to stand in front of the fox.

Kurama wants to scoff. It's not like he needed the help but the fact he doesn't want to move, mostly because of pride. Sophia's actions are enough to make Adam stop though. The girl glances briefly at him again, this time in the same way she did when he saw that look to help this very group. "He's Nine. We've been traveling together for a while."

"That's a fox. You do know they're wild animals, right?" says the teenager with a slight condescending tone. "He's right, Sophia. Foxes are not pets." This time he does scoff. Damn right he is not one. Sophia shakes her head. "He saved my life. He's my friend."

The words bring an odd sense of deja vu that makes it easier to ignore her motions for him to stand next to her as if he were a mascot, and saw it as genuinely asking him to come over. When she notices he hasn't moved, she turns around completely. "What's wrong nine?" She's smart enough to know it's not going to improve things if the big fox suddenly turns into the big talking fox, so he doesn't answer, choosing to point with his tail at the less bloody dead body. "Oh."

She tugs on the body and rolls it so he can use it as a bridge and smiles brightly at him, opening her arms wide to hug people behind her gasp but she ignores them. 'That smile…' He then shakes away that very thought knowing where it would lead. Kurama then gives her a raised eyebrow, unimpressed, before jumping with regal movements. He then hops off the body going right past her, making sure his waving tail smacks straight on her face. Looking over his shoulder, he nods mentally at seeing Sophia rubbing her face. "That was mean, Nine."

He smirks briefly and gives the others a nod of acknowledgment as he continues walking towards the scent. "Nine, where are you going?" Kurama ignores the murmurs going at his back as he gestures to the girl ahead.

"Maybe we can stay for a while?" she says throwing a glance at the others. Kurama pointed his tail upwards. "Yeah, I know it's night. We should make camp and—"

Growling, he points upwards for a second time until she realizes what he means.

"The rain... The scent is that way then?"

He nods and she turns to the others who stayed silent while watching their strange interaction. "I can't stay, sorry. Nine's helping me find my mom and her group. With the rain coming soon it can erase the trail so we need to go."

Tyreese is the one who steps ahead. "You're just going to follow that fox?"

"We're near. That's why we need to find it before it's too late."

"That direction leads to the highway, doesn't it? We were going towards it so we could follow it and find some stores or houses. Maybe we can go together?" says Tyreese, glancing at his group. "Well, she's just a girl," adds Sasha, looking curiously at him. "It'd be better if we helped each other for now. You said you've already been in the south. We came from the west, so some info about what's going in there would be helpful."

Donna sighs. "It's true, besides winter's close and it can be difficult to be alone at that time. What do you say, Sophia?"

She glances at him and Kurama simply shrugs. He would prefer to be around less humans but if Sophia's group is already dead then he can leave her with them and then search for Naruto by himself. He knows that's a morbid thought but right now the blonde idiot is his top priority. Sophia nods and smiles at them. "Okay then."

A Little While Later

"So how did you meet this fox?" Sasha asks. They've been walking for half an hour together, mostly in silence in case there are walkers near, but they've not sighted anything dangerous so they've relaxed a little bit.

"Well, I was trying to get to some houses near this lake because I hoped to find food. Some walkers surprised me and I ran, but Nine helped me. I think I remind him of his real owner." Kurama who's in front of the group suddenly stops and turns his head to growl at Sophia. The group step back, startled, as they unconsciously press their weapons close.

Sophia is unfazed as she looks at him with a frown. "Um… I look like your idiotic friend then?" Kurama nods and continues walking forward, ignoring the hushed whispers of how a fox could understand what humans were saying.

After a couple more minutes, Adam pushes his soaked hair away from his forehead. "We should search for a place to cover from the rain. We can't afford to get sick at this time."

The others start nodding, making sounds of agreement and plans for the night. Sophia looks at him and Kurama points his head towards a hill. They're really near. The scent is not strong but it's clearer than before. As if they've been more than a couple times there. It's mixed with some kind of smoke and dry plants he can really recognize thanks to the rain but it's there. He dashes forward.

"We're near," Sophia says quietly. "You said that before but how do you know that, Sophia?"

"Nine says so, let's go!" She runs behind him but he's the first to reach the highway. There are lots of those cars she told him about before and he goes to the specific one with the scent of Sophia's mother. There's no other humans nearby, but he still jumps on top of the cars and hops from car to car. He then reaches something clearly left behind from Sophia's previous group. A small cache of supplies was left on one of the cars, with this he inhaled the various smells around the cars and ground alongside the cache so that he can catch the scent of other people, memorizing them before the rain erased them completely.

"We separated near here," She explains as the rest of the group walked up to where the fox was. "There were walkers and…" She left the sentence hanging as she came across the evidence of the previous group being there. "They left me food, water, medicine, and… a blanket." With this, Kurama could see the hope regain its strength in her. He just hopes it doesn't crash and burn later on.

Donna walks up to her and extends her arms to offer her a hug but Sophia turns around after grabbing the blanket and walks to where Kurama was sniffing while the others picked up the supplies from the car. She kneels down, blanket pressed against her chest as tears begin to form in her eyes, but it doesn't stop her from looking him directly in his eyes.

"It's raining. Are we going to be able to find them?" He frowns. Kurama's not the kind to give empty promises. Or pull a Naruto and work to turn the promise into reality with every fiber of his being. It's not him so he doesn't even try. But there is something that pulls on Kurama, to try to keep up with his friends' words.

"I memorized the scent," he whispers instead, softly enough for only her to hear. It's not a promise but a fact. At least he can give her that much. And it seems to help her regain her bearings. She slowly nods and stands. This time she does accept Donna's hug as she walks back over and embraces the older woman.

Around The Same Time, In A Small Town

Pervy Sage had always said that Naruto has a screwed up relationship with Lady Luck. That or he was her plaything. He has good luck with chance games, gambling, and just pure dumb luck, but whenever something that's supposed to be simple comes to him, he knows it's going to turn dangerous. He doesn't even remember being in a C-rank that hasn't turned into a B or and A. Sometimes even S.

He's never believed Pervy Sage's words to be true. But waking up in a new world only to find out he was unable to move, with every muscle in his being aching while his skin screams in discomfort. Well, it makes him question his luck this time around.

There are groans and growling from all around him, but when he looks from the corner of his eyes to take a look at his surroundings as he doesn't want to attempt to move his head. The only thing he seems to know is that he's on a rooftop somewhere. With him only being able to see his skin has turned as red as those times he came out of using the fourth tail.

His connection with Kurama's chakra is much, much better so he knows it isn't his chakra. Most likely is thanks to the sun shining annoyingly bright above him. Naruto wants to stand up and see what those groans are. He makes his fingers twitch and that action is enough to make him curse and roll his eyes in pai.

So moving is a bad idea then. He sighs and closes his eyes, ignoring the sounds nearby and letting the warm sun burn his skin even more. He hopes Kurama and Sasuke are faring better. "Because this really ducks, ya know."

Author Notes: Hey everyone! Okay to quickly summarize what happened to me, lets just say a whole lot happened throughout the year and it really put me off from writing. Enough said. However my plans are to focus on this story (meaning more constant chapters) and when I finish it, I'll focus on other stories. For now I need to get back into the groove of things. And this section of notes will also hold answers to the questions you ask me through your reviews!

Answers:

One of the most asked was this story adopted and how I'm changing it to conform to me? Well yes, I did adopt the story from an author named FlightOrFight. Reason being it was one of my favorite fanfics to read but it wasn't finished and she hadn't updated in a year. So, I wanted to finish that story but also had my own flare to it so you can see the difference. For example I'll add new sentences or paragraphs that I believe help tell the story. Not only that, I'll fix grammar mistakes or fix sentences if they don't make too much sense. Like the Sasuke fight scenes from Chapter 2, I rewrote them so that It flowed better.

Another question was if this story was going to be any different from the original. No, not really but like I said do add or take things away and edit them to make it fix. A fun way to look at it is if this was an alternative universe, in which some events change but the overall story is the same, and one of them reaches its end.

That's about it from what I remember being asked, so if you have any more questions I'll answer them in the next chapter. Probably more organized with specific people asking these questions lol. Alrighty then hope you enjoyed and keep a look out since new chapters will be posted soon! So, until next time… Until The Light Calls Again… peace.