Fear the Walking Maelstrom

by CarLost

Naruto's life is altered as he is sent to another dimension by none other than Sasuke, to save him from harm's way in their fight against Madara. A year and a half later, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is still hopeful that the Uchiha finds him. But then, the dead begin to rise. What'll happen now to our favorite blonde and his newfound family? Rated M. Naruto x Alicia pairing later.

3. Chapter 3

Fear the Walking Maelstrom

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fear The Walking Dead. It would be nice, but unfortunately, it isn't my reality.

Author's Note: I got some pretty interesting feedback from the previous chapter and I'm glad that the majority of the readers are, at the very least, enjoying the pace of the story and how our favorite ninja is integrated into the lives of the FTWD characters. SOME THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND Y'ALL: #1. There is a REASON to Naruto being "nerfed" at the moment. That reason will be revealed as the story unfolds, so please, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the flow of the story! I'm just as excited as you guys are for when Naruto decides to just bust out his big-dick energy and shlap everyone in the face. #2. He will NEED his powers for the future. I'm not trying to reveal any details, for obvious reasons, but let's just say that Naruto won't be the last shinobi to enter the FTWD universe. Now, onwards with the story!

"Dialogue" - Normal speaking

Dialogue - Thoughts

"Dialogue" - Kurama

"Dialogue" - Over the phone/line

CHAPTER 3: COBALT

-x-

[Mid-morning - Clark Household front lawn]

"You better dodge!" Naruto, clad in black jogging pants and an orange shirt, chirped happily as he lunged towards his intended target, wooden knife in-hand.

"You- !" Alicia began to cry out, only to abruptly halt her words and perform a side-roll just as Naruto's wooden knife was about to make contact with her shoulder. Coming back up into a knee, the brunette, in her black leggings and maroon crop top, glared at the blonde and pointed her own wooden knife up at Naruto, "You jerk! I was catching my breath!"

Standing up to his full height, Naruto replied with a confident smirk on his face as he repeatedly twirled his wooden knife in the air and caught it, "What? It's a spar, Ali. Can't let you drop your guard down now, could I? Besides, this is also helping your reflexes! That side-roll was perfect!"

"You're a slave-driver, you know that?" Alicia sneered at the whiskered shinobi as she went into a crouched stance, her own wooden dagger at the ready, as she held it in a reverse grip.

Without another word, Alicia leapt into action.

In a sudden burst of speed, the brunette sprinted towards the seemingly ill-prepared blonde and, with the experience she's garnered within the last couple months of the shinobi's rather intense and grueling training-regimen, Alicia aimed and sliced at Naruto's abdomen. Or so she thought.

"That was really close to being a hit!" Naruto exclaimed as he stood by the side, having stepped back and completely evading the attack, smiling rather too sweetly at Alicia as he then cracked his neck and went into a defensive stance. Keeping his rather foreboding smirk on his face, Naruto looked at the now-cautious brunette and said, "My turn again!"

The blonde shinobi then threw his knife at Alicia. Deftly dodging to the side with a small hop, Alicia launched into action, never taking her eyes off of the rather unpredictable blonde, as she then sprinted towards Naruto and threw her knife at him as well.

"Oh, so it's a fist-fight now?" Naruto remarked as he grinned and dodged the trajectory of the knife, only to almost get hit by a jab to the face. Ducking down, Naruto saw Alicia's arm zoom past where his head was just seconds before, "Misdirection! Look at you! You almost got me!"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Alicia bellowed in frustration as she threw a low kick in an attempt to at least trip the Jinchuriki, but to no success. Dodging with a roll to the side, Naruto then went for a sweep kick whilst the brunette was off-guard.

"Oomph!" Alicia groaned in pain as she layed on the ground, slightly out of air and sweat gleaming off her skin, all the while glaring up at the sky.

"You alright there, Ali?" Naruto asked in slight concern as he stood next to Alicia and glanced down at the brunette, "Wait, hold on."

Walking back to the front porch, the blonde grabbed the two water bottles he placed there before the morning spar. Turning around, Naruto then headed back to Alicia's side and sat cross-legged beside her, "Here. Drink."

Sitting up, the brunette wordlessly accepted the bottle of water and opened it, whilst Naruto did the same as the both of them sat in comfortable silence.

"I hate how I keep getting my ass handed to me everytime we spar, Whiskers," Alicia said in mock irritation as she leaned back on her arms and looked at the blonde in question whilst trying to control her breathing, "Do you find some sort of enjoyment in kicking my ass?"

"I don't know what to tell you," Naruto crossed his arms in front of his chest as he grinned smugly at his adoptive sister, "I guess I'm just that pretty damn awesome…"

"Jerk," Alicia remarked as she playfully punched the whiskered shinobi's shoulder as the two of them laughed aloud.

"You should probably head back inside and freshen up, Ali," Naruto stated once the two of them calmed down as he stood up and patted his behind. Offering his hand down to the brunette still sitting on the front lawn, the shinobi asked, "Don't you have to go with Ofelia to the military announcement thing in an hour?"

Taking Naruto's hand, Alicia pulled herself up to her feet. Smiling slightly as she patted her behind as well, Alicia thanked the blonde and said, "Yeah, I think Ofelia heard from one of the soldiers that there was gonna be a public announcement for the people in the neighborhood. Gotta gather information and all that. It's been over a week since they settled in, after all."

"Still no news from the rest of the country, huh?" the whiskered blonde asked as the both of them headed towards the front door.

"Apparently, they're trying to establish some sort of connection with the East coast but it hasn't worked yet," Alicia answered as she opened the front door and the two of them entered the house, "I don't know, I'm hoping to find out more later. Anyways, I'm gonna go take a shower first."

"Alright." the blonde replied as Alicia went straight to her room, leaving Naruto in the living room. Heading into the kitchen, the blonde saw Madison sitting leaning on the counter, sipping on a cup of steaming coffee.

"Good morning, sweetie," the blonde woman spoke aloud as she sent a smile towards Naruto who mirrored the expression as he went by the sink, "How was your morning spar?"

"G'morning, Mom," Naruto returned the greeting as he turned on the faucet and began rinsing his face. Grabbing a small washcloth he had stashed in his back-pocket, the whiskered shinobi wiped his face and hands, "Same as usual, still beating Ali to the ground. What's the plan for today?"

"Today, we have to paint another layer on the wall," Madison explained as she made eye-contact with the teen. Naruto for his part only raised an eyebrow as he waited for his mother to continue explaining, to which the woman did, "I can still see the blood on the wall, Naruto."

Taking a deep breath, Naruto just nodded silently and went to the fridge, already knowing from experience that once Madison had decided about something, there's not a lot of things out there that could change her mind. Grabbing the jug of milk he was searching for, the Jinchuriki grabbed a bowl and a spoon from the cupboards and poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"Where's Travis?" Naruto asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence whilst he munched on his breakfast.

"He's out," Madison answered while she began taking ingredients out of the fridge, having finished her cup of joe, "Went for a jog. Says it keeps him calm."

"You know, for an English teacher, he's a very athletic man," the shinobi-in-disguise pointed out with a smirk and a spoonful of cereal, "Too bad, he's too shy to be intimidating. Otherwise, his figure could be used for other things than… Teaching…"

"Careful what you say, kid," Madison retorted with a bit of mirth as she began dicing up some onions, "He still has the power over your grades for English. Don't you still have that research paper he assigned for your class to do?"

"Shhhh!" Naruto whined aloud as he scrunched his face in frustration and shook his spoon in the air, "Don't remind me! I don't wanna do any homework! Besides, school won't be in session for a few more weeks even after things have died down. I got time!"

"So procrastinating, then?"

"Whatever, mom."

"What time does electricity get back up again? I'm trying to charge my laptop…" Naruto asked whilst he chewed on yet another spoonful of cereal.

"Where's your table manners…?" Madison mumbled to herself silently as she shook her head at her son's antics, "Apparently, 8 a.m. on the dot. That's what Travis said, at least."

"Alright, that gives me half an hour to shower and relax…" the whiskered blonde thought aloud, before he took on a slightly mocking tone and grinned at his mother, "Since I have a research paper to do and all."

"Research paper, my ass. You're just gonna try to connect to the internet. There's no WiFi and that ain't gonna change anytime soon." Madison remarked as she began washing the mugs and bowls on the sink.

"It's worth a shot, don't you think?" Naruto rebutted as he stood up and placed his bowl on the sink, having finished his breakfast, "Because, to be honest, I don't really trust these army dudes… Especially that Moyers guy… Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way he acts… He doesn't seem to care about the people. And I just don't like that."

Madison could only stay silent as she mulled the teen's words. She found that she couldn't disagree with Naruto. Not having an appropriate response, Madison could only look at the whiskered shinobi in contemplation, to which Naruto merely shrugged and turned around, heading to his room.

If there's one thing I know about that kid, it's that his intuition is always, somehow, spot on… Madison silently thought as she continued washing the dishes.

-x-

"Should you really have told her about your suspicions, brat?" Kurama's voice silently whispered in the back of Naruto's mind as the blonde sat on the bed, taking his shoes and socks off.

"Should I have kept it to myself?" Naruto asked softly in return, now taking off his shirt, leaving him in only his shorts, "You feel the same about him, don't you? From the moment he came into town and took 'leadership', the neighborhood feels less like a neighborhood and more like a… well, a prison camp. No real, concrete news about the rest of the world OR about the people they bring to their other 'safe zone.'"

" I know that, Naruto…" Kurama admitted, having been also suspicious of the military officer, "But it still doesn't change the fact that we don't have evidence. We COULD just… take care… of him, like I proposed, but that would be too 'ROOT-like' for you. You don't want to cause your mother unnecessary worry. I like her as she keeps you in line, and I don't want that to go away."

"You're such a sarcastic mutt, you know that?" the whiskered shinobi grumbled to himself as he took out a change of clothes and placed it on the bed. Having nothing to do aside from waiting for Alicia to get out of the bathroom, Naruto stood by the window overlooking the backyard and what seemed to be the floating form of Nick, in sunglasses, as he laid on a floatie bed in the pool below.

Speaking once more after a couple minutes of silently staring out his bedroom window, Naruto continued, "All I'm saying is, Madison is a smart woman. She won't panic over something like that. I just wanna keep our family safe, Kurama. Letting Madison know about my feelings towards that army douche might do us some good, you never know…"

Before the nine-tailed fox could respond, a knock on the door snapped Naruto out of his thoughts. Before he could even make his way to open it, the door opened slightly and Alicia's head popped in. With a smile on her face, the brunette spoke, "I'm done with the bathroom. You can take a shower now."

"Ah. Alright, thanks, Ali," Naruto responded as he took his towel from behind his door and smiled at the brunette still standing by the doorway with her arms crossed. Slightly confused, the blonde asked, "You need something?"

"Just thought that you need a haircut. Your hair's getting wilder," Alicia casually answered, getting a chuckle from Naruto in the process, "Also, were you talking to yourself just now?"

"Ah…" Naruto nervously laughed as he then rubbed the back of his neck, "Erm, yeah… I do that when I think aloud."

Stepping out of the doorway, Alicia headed to the kitchen with a teasing smirk on her face, "I knew you were a little crazy, Whiskers."

"Crazy is good, trust me."

-x-

Having taken a decent shower, Naruto came out of his room, dressed up in casual clothing, just in time to catch Madison and Travis bickering about Travis's apparent sucking up to the commanding officer.

"Stop!" Alicia bellowed rather angrily just as Madison and Travis began to argue over each other's voices, "Oh, my God, just stop it!"

Seeing how the two adults halted their argument, Alicia continued in exasperation, "This domestic bickering like it's normal, like you're normal people in a normal kitchen! It's not normal! Stop it. Stop acting like it is."

Just as the whiskered blonde was about to speak up from his place leaning on the other side of the hallway, Ofelia silently tapped his shoulder, an awkward smile adorning her face as she looked towards the trio arguing.

"Right on time, O." Naruto casually whispered as he made eye contact with the girl a few years older than him, "Best get outta here before it gets worse."

"I think you're right," Ofelia replied as she stepped past Naruto, the blonde tapping her shoulder this time, and waited for her presence to be known. Not a second later and Madison turned her head, prompting Travis and Alicia to do so as well. Turning to Alicia with a welcoming smile, Ofelia asked, "You ready to go?"

"Please." Alicia answered weakly, the exasperation evident on her face as she left the room without turning her head back to the two adults.

"It ain't even noon yet and the tension's already this bad, huh?" the shinobi commented from the same spot Ofelia saw him with his arms crossed, just as the two females rounded the corner.

"I'm really getting fed up with their bickering…" Alicia whispered weakly once more as she and Ofelia headed to the front door, Naruto right behind them.

"I'll talk to 'em later, how 'bout that?" Naruto asked, though it was more of a statement as he wrapped his arms around the brunette's shoulders and hugged her affectionately, "In the meantime, why don't we get this announcement thing over with?"

"I thought you had things to do today, Naruto?" Ofelia asked as she opened the front door and headed out, with Alicia and Naruto following.

"I can do it after, don't worry." the whiskered blonde replied as they walked down the driveway, "Besides, I wanna hear what other types of bullshit this Moyers dude has to say."

-x-

[Fifteen minutes later… - Near the Front Gate of the Quarantine Zone]

Alright, listen up here, folks!" the voice of Commanding Officer Moyers boomed with confidence amidst the radio chatter and the numerous civilians littering around the area, as the army man climbed up the back of a military pick-up truck, "As commanding officer of this detachment, I am proud to announce that we are infected-free for a six-mile radius around this perimeter. We are on the offensive! The tide has most definitely turned! Yeah!"

"He very much sounds like he's rehearsing lines." Kurama commented within the confines of the seal, prompting Naruto to slightly shake his head in irritation.

I really wanna sock him in the face, the shinobi replied to the Beast in his head whilst he stood among the crowd, Alicia and Ofelia on either side, He's literally just saying the same thing he said a week ago.

"Control your temper, brat," Kurama chided gently, knowing full well how Naruto was feeling, "You're emotions may be in the right place but this is not the time for your emotions to run wild."

Naruto merely stayed silent as Moyers continued while the crowd applauded.

"Alright, Command asked that I read from the following," the commanding officer continued after the applauses died down, pulling a clipboard from the wooden seats of the army truck, "'Be advised, the DZ remains off-limits while Hazmat teams dispose of any bio-hazardous material-'"

"What bio-hazardous material?" a woman from the crowd asked, interrupting the speech.

"Hey, I'm supposed to read this," the army man responded, the slight irritation evident in his tone, "You're supposed to listen, okay?"

"When will you get the phones up?" another voice, a male this time, asked from somewhere in the crowd, though he was promptly ignored.

"'Anyone attempting to compromise or circumvent the perimeter of this camp will be detained,'" Moyers continued, obviously uncaring of the questions now being thrown his way, unknowingly irritating the whiskered blonde further.

"Are we being relocated?" a middle aged, Caucasian man audibly asked from the crowd, interrupting the commanding officer once more.

"Sir, this is a secure position, so no, you're gonna stay put," Moyers answered a bit more forcefully, putting down his clipboard in obvious irritation. Reading from the clipboard once more, he continued, "'Curfew will remain in effect until further notice. The new health screening policy will continue. Sanitation, water treatment, and other services will return as we approach total containment.'"

"Relax, Whiskers…" Alicia whispered to the side as she took Naruto's clenched fists subtly, unclenching it and holding it in the process.

"Sorry…" the shinobi-in-disguise whispered back as he relaxed and turned his eyes slightly to look at the brunette's piercing, emerald eyes.

"I know."

"Sir, we need medicine," Ofelia spoke out loud, gaining the crowd's attention as she stepped closer to the military truck, "What about that?"

"We are working on that, so keep boiling that water," Moyers answered with nonchalance as he continued reading, "'You will also find several iodine tablets in your weekly rations-'"

"Where are the people outside the fence?" the Caucasian man from earlier interrupted once more as he pointed past the fenced gates, prompting the crowd to ask the same questions, "Where did you move them?"

Having finally had enough of the questions, Moyers set his clipboard down on the wooden bench of the truck, "Alright, folks, listen! You are in one of twelve safe zones south of the San Gabriels, okay? So you guys are the lucky ones. You guys-you get to stay in your homes, ride this thing out, all right? So relax! Count your blessings! Be nice! So I don't have to shoot you. Yeah."

Amidst the now silenced and slightly threatened crowd, another person just couldn't hold their frustration anymore. With a scowl and a rather menacing grin, Naruto stepped up to the back of the truck, "Is that a threat, Lieutenant?"

"You sure it's a good idea to pick a fight now, brat?" Kurama whispered softly from within the mindscape, though Naruto had the feeling the nine-tailed fox had a feral smirk plastered onto his face.

"Naruto…!" Alicia whispered to the side, in the hopes of dissuading the blonde from doing something stupid.

The smug grin still on his face, Moyers hopped down the truck-bed and stepped right in front of the teen, bringing the both of them eye-to-eye.

"That was a fact, kid." Moyers answered back confidently, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I mean, I do have command over a few dozen men, after all, don't you think?"

"I didn't know they started promoting trigger-happy fuck-ups like you to Commanding Officer, Lieutenant," Naruto replied with the same mocking tone Moyers was using as he crossed his arms and pretended to think about something, "Its as if you only see the people who serve under you as toy soldiers and the citizens you protect as cattle… don't you think?"

The crowd went dead silent at that.

"That… was the most fucked up thing you have ever said to someone. Shit, that's something I would say…" Kurama whispered amusingly, "I like it! If he wasn't pissed then, he definitely is now!"

"You got quite a mouth on you, kid." Moyers said after a minute of silence passed, his smugness now gone. Narrowing his eyes, the C.O. continued talking, now resting one of his hands on the pistol strapped to his side, "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"It's alright, Lieutenant, my parents taught me how to be a better citizen so that I don't turn into a dumbass like you," the whiskered blonde replied rather nonchalantly as he smiled pleasantly at Moyers.

Before things could escalate even further, Alicia and Travis stepped in, with the former standing in front of Naruto and the latter slightly pulling the C.O. back so that Naruto and Moyers get seperated.

"Lieutenant, please calm down," Travis stated as he tried to pull Moyers back, along with one of his second-in-command, "He's just a kid."

"Naruto, back the fuck off before things get worse...!" Alicia irritatedly whispered as she pushed the sunkissed blonde back

"Was that your kid, Mr. Manawa?" Moyers asked as he watched the blonde teenager get dragged away from the now dispersing crowd.

"Yes… He's my step-son." Travis answered reluctantly as he saw Alicia and Naruto disappear from view.

"You better teach him some manners. That big mouth of his will get him in trouble." the obviously pissed C.O. stated as he glared at Travis, "Be glad I'm a forgiving man, Mr. Manawa. Otherwise, I would have put him in his place."

Although he could see some truth in Naruto's words, what with how poor Moyers treats everyone around him, Travis chose to hold his tongue for fear of making the issue worse. That, and for some reason, he just can't imagine Naruto-the boy who seemed to have an air of confidence and what seems to be experience about him-losing to the likes of this pompous douchebag.

"Of course, sir."

-x-

[Meanwhile - Half a block away from the public gathering]

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Alicia yelled audibly as she glared at the whiskered blonde.

Naruto for his part, at least had the audacity to look slightly embarrassed, although he didn't seem to be backing off as he stared the brunette in front of him down, "Look, I admit, I coulda handled that better, but I just couldn't hold it in anymore! That Moyers douchebag is a dick who doesn't give a shit about the people or his men! Someone had to put him in check!"

"And you're the one who can!?" Alicia pointed at the shinobi rather angrily, "Jesus, Naruto! No offense, because I get it, you trained in self-defense, but who do you think you are!? You're just a teenager! We're teenagers! Yet, there you were insulting and picking a fight with a Commanding Officer of the National Guard. A Commanding Officer!"

"I know, but-"

"No, Naruto, I don't think you do!" Alicia continued, not letting the Jinchuriki interrupt her now, "If Moyers decides that you're dangerous for the community, he might kick you out! He has the power to do that! Or worse, Mom and Nick might even get involved. Would you want that to happen? Put them in possible danger? All because you couldn't rein in your temper?"

"I-," Naruto started off, only to falter, understanding full well that his actions could've put his family in danger. Lowering his head, the whiskered shinobi rubbed the back of his neck in shame, "No."

"I thought so." Taking a deep breath, the brunette then seemed to relax as she looked at the blonde in front of her once more, "I'll see you back home, alright? Go home and see if mom needs help painting the living room. I gotta go back and wait for Ofelia."

Without waiting for a response, Alicia turned around and went back to the busy street, leaving Naruto to his own device.

"You know," The nine-tailed fox within him chimed in, amusement evident in his voice, "There's a word that describes you… what was it..?"

"What now?" the blonde asked in exasperation.

"Ahh, I know! Pussywhipped!" Kurama boomed out loud as he erupted in laughter.

Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned around in the direction of home, obviously irritated, "Shut up, you mutt."

"Whu-psh!"

A couple minutes of silence passed, until Kurama spoke up once more, the amusement in his voice gone, "In all seriousness though, I can feel some pretty negative vibes coming off of that girl, brat… Nothing so bad… more along the lines of sadness?"

"Matt's gone… She's probably trying to mask her pain and come to terms with that," Naruto explained to Kurama, as his mind wandered to the brunette, "… I mean, I don't need the Sage's ability to know that. I just don't know how to help her.."

Falling into silence the rest of the way home, Naruto entered the house and caught sight of Madison and Chris painting the living room wall.

"Hey, mom," Naruto called out as he entered the kitchen to grab a glass of water and walked closer to the pair, "Looks like you got all the help you need."

"Back so soon, sweetie?" Madison asked as she took a second to glance back at Naruto then went back to painting alongside the black-haired teen, "Chris here needed something to do so I asked for his help."

"Well, if you need anything, I'll be in my room," Naruto said as he patted Chris on the back and walked towards the hallway, "Ali should be back in a little bit."

Leaving Maddie and Chris to their own devices, Naruto went into his room.

What to do, what to do…, Naruto wondered silently as he sat down on the bed.

"You need to work on your Sealing Arts, brat," Kurama chimed in, having had nothing to do either, "You might as well do something productive. Until tonight, that is."

We got a long day ahead of us, don't we…, Naruto answered back as he got the necessary scroll out of his duffle bag. Unsealing the scroll, Naruto picked up the stack of blank sealing paper, a brush, and a small jar of ink, You better stay awake later tonight, you mutt.

"Tell me again why you're going outside the fence?"

Sitting down on his computer chair, the blonde shinobi got to work practicing his brush strokes and the symbols that his perverted teacher literally beat into him countless times, I don't trust Moyers at all. I need to see for myself how the area outside the fences really look like.

"That's fair I guess… Well then, just wake me up when it's time to go."

-x-

[Hours later into the night… Outside of the fenced neighborhood]

With the help of his famed Sage Mode to see in the dark, the shinobi jumped across rooftops, clad in his ninja garb as he traveled across town in the darkness of the night to cover his movements.

"To think that, only a week ago, this part of the city would still be bright with all the lights and people would still be walking around…," Naruto spoke softly under his half mask as he took in the emptiness of the street with his enhanced eyesight, whilst being perched on a street lamp.

"I mean, there ARE still some people walking around…" Kurama added his two cents in, both sensing and looking through his Jinchuriki's eyes, as he took in the surroundings whilst he collected Nature energy, "Although they might not exactly be living people anymore…"

"Thanks, your deduction has been of great help," Sarcasm evident in his voice, Naruto jumped down to the ground as he continued surveying one end of the street, "There's not a lot of the reanimations around in the area… some are a bit farther away…"

"At least these soldiers weren't lying when they said they did their jobs in clearing the surrounding areas of infection…"

"But something's weird…" Naruto wondered aloud as he then approached a dead body lying on the ground, a gun a couple inches from the body's outstretched hand. Crouching down on the ground, Naruto searched the body for bites.

"What's weird?"

Standing up once more, Naruto went to another corpse leaning on the side of a brick fence, a couple meters away from the previous body. Taking a closer look, his toad-eyes narrowed slightly as he came to a possible explanation.

"Hey, brat! I don't like being ignored!"

"Kurama…" the blonde spoke with a bit of confusion, anger, and dread in his voice, "...These two bodies… they weren't bitten."

Sensing the seriousness in the shinobi's voice, the fox prompted Naruto to continue, "What about it?"

"They weren't infected at all… the body on the street even looked like it was trying to run from something by the way it's positioned…" Naruto explained further as he walked back to the first body he examined. Looking at the small, dark hole on its forehead and the holes peppered all over the body, the blonde continued, "Yet… this guy was shot multiple times. Not just in the head. Everywhere."

"Are you implying that they were alive when they died?"

"No bites, Kurama." Naruto answered back as he looked at the direction of home, "The bodies are only a few days old… No one's been out in this area with that much firepower aside from Moyers and his men."

"But why would he kill the living, I wonder…" Kurama asked himself, reaching no conclusion whatsoever as the Bijuu and the Jinchuriki both pondered one sole question:

What's Moyers' up to?

-x-

Hours passed and Naruto just about scouted most of the areas surrounding the quarantine zone he and his family called home. Hours of investigation, and yet he and Kurama came upon the same conclusion.

Living people were shot to death as they ran for their lives.

Of course, the whiskered blonde stumbled upon a couple of the undead, to which he made quick work of.

Taking down an infected in the street a couple blocks from the fence, Naruto looked at the watch on his wrist, "It's 5 in the morning… Almost dawn…"

"Shouldn't you head back soon?" Kurama asked as he stretched his limbs from within the mindscape, "Gathering Nature energy is easy and all, but not moving isn't…"

"Stop your whining, furball," Naruto amusedly stated as he too stretched his arms and cracked his back, "We gotta get our work outs, isn't that what you said? Besides, you took a break the moment I started taking down the three reanimations."

"You're not allowed to use my words against me," the fox merely shrugged it off as he then went back to gathering Nature energy.

Jumping up onto a rooftop of an abandoned drug store, Naruto closed his eyes and waited for a second before he felt the familiar flow of energy course through him once more. Yet, just as he was preparing to make the mad dash towards home, he and Kurama both heard the sound of a car engine roar with their enhanced senses.

"Naruto…"

"I heard it too…," the blonde softly answered as he tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. Coming to a rough estimation of a couple blocks from his position, the Jinchuriki once again took to roof-hopping, the darkness of the early-morning still keeping him hidden.

Arriving exactly at the edge of the quarantine zone, Naruto decided to perch onto a tree, its branches hiding him, as he quietly watched and listened while a group of three armed soldiers handcuffed a rather round, curly-haired, middle-aged man.

"What do we do with him, Sarge?" A dark-skinned soldier asked as he and another army man pinned the middle-aged man on the top of a rather slick-looking muscle car.

"You know the drill, Richards. We cuff 'em and wait for Moyers to decide," another soldier answered back as he walked back into their military humvee. Taking a wired walkie and placing it near his mouth, the soldier spoke, "This is Sergeant Castro, over."

"Go for Moyers, over," a response came merely a second later.

"We found Mr. Thompson at the edge of the southern fence…" Castro spoke once more as he glanced back at the clearly emotional individual while Corporal Cole and Private First Class Richards held him down. Not knowing what else to say, Sgt. Castro asked, "What are your orders, Lieutenant?"

"You have your orders, Sergeant," Moyers answered matter-of-factly, "This one isn't any different. Cuff him and drop him off at the compound, over."

Glancing back at his squad mates, Castro gave them an almost regretful look, "Copy that. Over and out."

A compound, huh…? Naruto wondered silently as he watched the three soldiers push Mr. Thomspon into the humvee and start the engine, I guess our nightly adventure continues.

"Not gonna lie, this is the most exciting it's been since the end of this world almost two weeks ago," Kurama mused as Naruto began to tail the now-moving humvee through the rooftops, choosing instead to ignore the Tailed Beast's rather amusing thought process.

Around twenty minutes later, just as Naruto was about to lose patience in tailing the humvee, Castro's squad slowed to a stop in front of what looked to be a heavily fortified compound, complete with sentry towers perched on all sides. Deciding to hide himself on top of a nearby billboard, Naruto took in the sight of the base.

"So, they're using a community college campus as their main HQ…" the blonde surmised aloud as he watched soldiers and doctors walk the grounds, whilst sentry guards survey the surroundings from elevated platforms.

"So what's the game plan?" Kurama inquired, the excitement evident in his voice as he and Naruto surveyed the area, "We going in hard and fast? Maybe throw a Rasenshuriken and blow it all to hell? Or maybe do some shinobi procedure… plant bombs and such?"

"We won't be doing anything," Naruto calmly answered as he continued to take note of the surroundings, "Not yet anyways."

"BUT WHY?!" the Bijuu whined rather childishly, though it was a normality between the two at this point, "We're already here! Let's sack 'em!"

"For all we know, they probably have more civilians inside," the blonde shinobi explained as he stood up from his perch and looked towards the direction of home, "We're trying to save people, remember?"

"Fine, you damn brat…" Kurama gave in as he pouted, though the blonde didn't know that, "You and your hero complex…"

"You're just bored."

"Hmph."

-x-

[The next day - Clark household]

It was past six in the morning and the sun was beginning to light up the neighborhood when Naruto got back. With his years of shinobi training, the blonde slipped into his own window without a sound and snuck into bed after quickly ridding himself of his gear.

By the time he woke up, it was half past noon. Slowly sitting up, Naruto came to a conclusion.

"I was so tired by the time I got home, I didn't even clean myself up…" the whiskered shinobi mused to himself. Not hearing a remark from his tenant, Naruto assumed that Kurama was probably just as tired from their nightly activity.

Getting up from the bed, Naruto grabbed his towel and a change of clothes. Leaving his room as quietly as he can, Naruto was just about to head into the bathroom when he heard Madison and Daniel talk in the living room. Hiding in the hallway, the Jinchuriki listened in.

"Tell me what you saw," Daniel ordered more than asked, at least to Naruto, as the old man paused in cleaning his leather shoes.

Walking closer, Madison answered softly as she looked at Daniel with dread, "Bodies."

"Yes.." Daniel nodded, prompting the blonde woman to continue.

"The infected. But…" Madison began, only to falter a moment later, evidently a little shaken up.

"Go on." Daniel said as he set down his shoe and his cloth on the table, prompting Madison to continue once more.

Sitting down on the couch to Daniel's side, Madison took a deep breath and began to speak, "There was a man shot like the others, like the rest, but he… he wasn't sick. And there were others like that."

Taking a second to compose himself, Daniel took a deep breath, making Naruto lean in just a little more to hear what he had to say, "When I was young, these men… these men were from the government. They came to our town and they took some people away. And my father was someone of certain importance in the community, so he went to speak to the captain and asked, 'When will they return?' And the captain told my father, 'Miguel don't worry. They always come home.' And they did.

"I was standing in the river fishing. Just a boy. And I found them," Daniel continued, his story becoming something of a rather scary tale to Madison, "All of them. All at once. All around me. In the water. My father told me not to have hatred in my heart. He said that men do these things not because of evil. They do evil because of fear."

Where is he going with this? Naruto wondered as he kept on listening to the old man's tale.

"And at that moment, I realized my father is a fool for believing there was a difference. If it happens, it will happen quickly and you must be prepared," Daniel stated as he pointed calmly at Madison, the way an elder would when teaching a child.

"Yeah, if what-what happens?" Madison asked, slightly dreading the answer to her question.

"I must go with my wife," Daniel explained as he looked at Madison eye-to-eye, "If I don't return, you will look after Ofelia for me."

"She's a grown woman," Madison retorted, although deep down she understood where Daniel was coming from, "She doesn't need-"

"Please," at this point, the old man's desperation shone through, "You will look after Ofelia for me, please."

Madison could only nod silently at Daniel's steely gaze and subtle plea.

"Thank you," Daniel uttered genuinely as he began to gather his cleaning tools and his newspaper. Standing up from his seat, the old man spoke once more, "Keep your son close. And I don't mean the brave one. He's plenty strong and smart for his age. I mean you're… troubled son."

Sensing that Daniel was more than likely headed for the hallway, Naruto snuck inside the bathroom and silently closed it, making up his mind to talk to Daniel before he left with Griselda.

Spending the few minutes getting himself cleaned up, it wasn't long until the blond shinobi got out of the bathroom and into his room once more. Wiping himself dry, Naruto couldn't help but think about how brave and stupid his mom was for sneaking outside the fence.

"Not that I could say anything…" Naruto thought out loud as he finished drying himself. Grabbing a set of new clothes, he quickly dressed himself and grabbed his kunai pouch. Attaching it on the side of his thigh like usual, the blonde headed out his room.

Only to stop as soon as he took one step outside.

"Did you have a good shower?" Daniel asked softly as he leaned on the wall by the side of Naruto's bedroom door.

"D-Daniel!" Naruto cried out in surprise, not expecting the old man to be right outside his room. Composing himself a second later, the whiskered blonde continued, "Uh.. yeah. Thanks. Were you gonna use the bathroom..?"

"Your mother took a great risk in sneaking outside the fence, but I'm sure you know that, having heard our conversation earlier," Daniel spoke, completely disregarding Naruto's surprised reaction as he looked at the teen in the eyes, "I hope you have what it takes to protect your family, though I have little doubt you will do everything in your power."

Taking a deep breath, Naruto dropped the facade and looked at Daniel seriously, "Don't worry. Should things take a turn for the worse, I'll protect Ofelia."

Turning around and walking back into his room, Daniel nodded his head and a ghost of a smile adorned his mouth as he said, "I know you will."

-x-

With little else to do than laze around at home, Naruto spent the rest of the day in the backyard either working on his Sealing Arts or sparring within the confines of his mindscape with Kurama. It wasn't until after the sun had set that the blonde decided to head back inside.

"Hey, Trav," Naruto greeted as he entered the living room and saw the English teacher tinkering with his tools by the couch.

"Hey, kiddo," Travis looked up and nodded at the whiskered blonde for a second, then went back to cleaning his tools a teasing smirk on his face, "Got your 'inner peace' all situated?"

"I won't be turning green and angry anytime soon, don't worry," Naruto answered with a grin mirroring Travis's, remembering how surprised Travis was when he first watched the blonde sit completely still under the shade of a tree for hours and how it's mind-boggling that a teenager can meditate, of all things.

Walking past Travis and straight to the sofa by the front window, Naruto took a seat next to Alicia who was quietly reading a book and drinking a cup of tea. Nothing was said as Naruto looked out the window and watched the quiet driveway while the brunette silently read.

"You missed your sparring practice this morning," Alicia uttered nonchalantly as she turned to another page, her eyes never leaving her book, "Where did you go last night? You know… after you snuck out?"

"Ahh…" Naruto could only rub his neck and look at the side in embarrassment as Alicia then brought her piercing gaze onto the blonde, "So you knew, huh?"

"Really?" Alicia replied softly, so as not to attract Travis's attention from the other room, "You have a small bed, Whiskers and I was literally next to the window when you opened it. Light sleeper, remember?"

"I went to the roof. I needed some air and I couldn't sleep so I stayed up there til morning," Naruto lied.

With that, Alicia put her book down and brought her attention to Naruto, "Are you okay? If there's anything on your mind…"

"No, no, I'm alright, I swear!" the blonde insisted as he gave Alicia her megawatt smile in an attempt to ease her of her worries, "Just hoping things could go back to normal sooner, you know? The tension's been getting to everyone lately and… I just worry about you, Madison, and Nicky."

Not knowing what to say, Alicia instead opted to simply smile and pat Naruto's thigh as she then went back to her book, the blonde just relaxing beside her. It wasn't until a minute later that she broke the comfortable silence once more, "I gotta use the bathroom."

Setting her book down on the center table next to her tea, Alicia stood up and headed to her bathroom by the living room, where Travis was working.

Opening the door, Alicia was surprised when she saw Nick standing in front of the dimly-lit bathroom dabbing ointment on what seems to be a bruise on his face

Seeing his sister open the door, Nick immediately tried to shut the door once more, "Go away. Leave."

"What the hell happened to your face?" Alicia asked, immediately locking in on the clear mark below Nick's eye, as she held the door open.

Pushing a bit harder on the door, Nick began to raise his voice louder, "Knock, for Christ's sake. Go away!"

"Stop, Nick, let me just have a look at it," Alicia pushed back, intent on getting inside, only for the older sibling to slam the door shut, "Nick! Let me in!"

Hearing the commotion, Travis and Naruto stood up from their respective seats and approached the brunette who was trying to open the door once more.

"What's going on?" Travis asked as he knocked on the bathroom door, "Nick. What happened?"

"Travis, stop, look…" Alicia said as she lightly took hold of the man's wrist, stopping Travis from knocking more, "Let me just… I got it, okay?"

Looking at Alicia, then at Naruto who nodded at him, Travis acquiesced as he nodded reluctantly at the brunette, "Okay."

With that, Travis walked away, passing Naruto as he did so, with the blonde nodding to Travis once more.

"Nick, he's gone," Alicia spoke through the door, "It's just me and Naruto now. Come on, let me in."

"You alright in there, buddy?" Naruto asked, just as soft as Alicia's as the two of them waited for a response. Not getting any response, the whiskered blonde continued, "We could always just get Mom, you know…"

Hearing as if a weight was lifted from the bathroom door, Alicia tried to open the door again, this time succeeding in doing so. Alicia looked back at Naruto in question.

"I'll stay outside. I can hear you guys from here anyways," the blonde stated as he then leaned on the wall next to the bathroom door and closed his eyes.

Grateful for the blonde's silent understanding, Alicia nodded and headed inside, leaving the blonde in the hallway.

It wasn't even a few minutes later when, all of a sudden, a squadron of the National Guard arrived and entered the house, escorted by Chris's mother, Liza.

"What's happening?" Alicia asked as she opened the door after a few minutes, finished with helping Nick calm down and attend to his bruise, as she and the older sibling stood by the bathroom doorway next to Naruto.

"They're apparently bringing Griselda somewhere they could help her better," the blonde answered softly, his hands by his pockets, as he carefully felt his kunai pouch and its contents whilst he took note of the grim expressions the soldiers had on their faces.

"That's Moyers' right-hand man. Castro, wasn't it?" asked Kurama from within the mindscape, having woken up from his nap after feeling the slight surge of anger and mistrust from his container.

That's him from the other night, alright, the Jinchuriki replied in thought as he took note of said soldier standing by the door, his assault rifle in hand.

"Hey, whoa, hey, hey," Travis loudly got everyone's attention as he stood by the front door, having come back from the garage with Madison in tow and saw Liza with another female and a bunch of soldiers in the house, "What's all this?"

Seeing her ex-husband, Liza stood by Travis and explained whilst the soldiers carried Griselda out the bedroom in a stretcher, "If we don't get Griselda to the surgeon, she's gonna lose her foot. You're in the way."

Understanding the situation, Travis stood to the side whilst he and Madison watched Liza and the soldiers step out the front door, "Alright, okay."

Just as the medics carrying Griselda exited the house, Daniel came out of their designated bedroom, jacket in hand, as he headed out the front door. Only to be stopped by Sergeant Castro.

"Sir, I'll need you to wait." the sergeant stated as he barred Daniel from leaving the front door.

"No, it's okay," Madison chimed in, trying to reason with the soldier-in-charge, "That's his wife."

"I have two names," Castro explained as he looked at a sheet of paper, then back to Daniel.

Pointing to the paper and then to himself, the bald man impatiently said, "Griselda Salazar, Daniel Salazar."

"No, not you," Castro replied as he held onto Daniel who was still trying to get through, "Nicolas Clark."

It was then, at this moment that hell broke loose.

Confusion all over her face, Madison asked, "What?"

One of the soldiers, Naruto noted, who's had his eyes trained on Nick the entire time he was in there, spoke to the brown-haired teen, "Come on, man. Free medical care of the U.S. Military."

Alicia then turned to her older brother, concern and fear in her eyes, as she uttered one word, "Run."

And Nick ran.

Past Naruto towards the backdoor, with the soldier who spoke earlier giving chase. Or he would be, if it wasn't for the blonde tripping him and sending him on the ground with a swift kick to the shin.

Following his adoptive brother, Naruto saw another soldier give chase behind Nick who turned around, sensing someone coming behind him. Just as the soldier was about to make contact with Nick's face using the butt of his rifle, Naruto caught said butt.

"You know, it's not nice to hit people," Naruto stated as he casually stood between Nick and the soldier, holding back the soldier's full strength as if he was nothing.

Kurama… Gimme a little juice…, the blond said as he smiled disconcertingly at the soldier, making said soldier confused and slightly nervous, I wanna put the fear of Kami in this fool…

"Oh, it'll be my genuine pleasure, brat!" the Biju gladly did so and, not a second later, Naruto felt the familiar surge of Kurama's undiluted demonic chakra course through his veins.

At this point, the armed men near Naruto trained their guns on the blonde, whilst Madison, Travis, and Alicia tried to tell the soldiers to calm down and for Naruto to let go.

His eyes turning feral on and off, Naruto's piercing gaze was a sight to behold as the soldier who was being held by him could do nothing but stare in confusion and fear at those demonic, crimson eyes, Am I seeing things?

"Wouldn't you agree, sir?" Naruto spoke very softly, still smiling menacingly, so that only the soldier could hear him, as his voice took on a more guttural tone. Then, he released some of his demonic killing intent and directed it to the soldier in front of him.

The effect was almost instantaneous as the soldier was now taking a knee, wide-eyed, a visage of a demonic fox, as tall as a skyscraper, baring its fangs down on him as its numerous tails swished about, plaguing his mind. Still, Naruto held onto the rifle, staring him in the eyes, whilst the soldier seemingly forgot how to unclench his hands from the rifle.

"Stand down! Stand down, kid!" Sergeant Castro bellowed as he and the other soldiers within the house trained their rifles onto the Jinchuriki.

"Naruto!" Alicia shouted as she stood beside him, panic all over her face, in an attempt to block the soldiers' line-of-sight, "Let go of the officer right now! These guys aren't kidding!"

Madison and Travis could be heard trying to calm the soldiers to no avail while Daniel tried his hardest to follow his wife outside, as Naruto then decided to let go, sensing another soldier standing by the backdoor, his rifle trained on his back.

"What's the move, kid?" Kurama asked, his excitement yet again rearing its head, "We can take these goons down for sure, but it's your decision. Should they start shooting…"

Ali and the others are gonna get caught in the middle of it, huh…? Naruto answered in his head as he weighed his options. Taking a deep breath, Naruto let go of the wide-eyed soldier and slowly stepped away from Nick, bringing his hands up in a surrendering manner.

Looking at Nick beside him, the blonde spoke softly "Don't run, dumbass. They're gonna hurt you. Or worse. Mom and Alicia might get hurt."

Sergeant Castro then got close and pushed Naruto into the wall as he began barking orders, "Cuff Nicolas Clark and take him to the truck. Richards, check on Mills. He seems paralyzed."

Meanwhile, Daniel and Chris had soldiers pointing their rifles on them. Fearing for his life, Chris could do nothing but stand beside Daniel and Ofelia, who were both confused and scared at the sudden development, "Dad!"

"Step back!" yelled the soldier as he trained his sights on the persistent Daniel, who was being held back by Ofelia and Chris.

"Take it easy!" Travis shouted as he got in between the soldier and the current tenants of the Clark household, "What are you doing? Take it easy, man! He's a kid! It's an old man and a kid! What are you doing!? This is our home!"

Meanwhile, Castro and Naruto were having their own conversation. Pushed up against the wall, Naruto could do nothing but be obedient, lest they hurt his family, so he listened, "What are you gonna do now? Shoot my entire family?"

"You think I like what I'm doing?" the Sergeant asked heatedly, his patience wearing thin, whilst he watched his men point their weapons at the civilians, "I'm just following orders. Now, answer my question. What did you do to Mills?"

"I gave him something to think about before he even tries to hurt someone else. That's all," the blonde answered cryptically as he smirked at Castro mockingly.

The sergeant for his part, turned the blonde around and got closer to his face, "I should shoot you where you stand."

Glaring his most menacing glare, Naruto answered back, "Shoot me and that'll be the last thing you'll ever do."

The sergeant was genuinely puzzled with this kid. He remembered the blonde teen from the announcement yesterday, how ballsy he was to stand up to Lieutenant Moyers so callously in front of everyone. Even now, he isn't backing down, even when there are literally guns pointed at him and his family. Not to mention his agility and strength, being able to catch Mills' rifle a second before it hit Nick and holding him back.

"You're either very brave or very stupid," Castro uttered as he then let go of the blonde, his facial expression suddenly growing weary, as if he hasn't slept for days, "You're gonna need that."

"What…?" confused, Naruto didn't know how to respond to the sergeant's last words, him and the beast inside him.

"How very curious…" Kurama commented, mimicking his container's confusion.

"Stand down!" Castro barked out to his men, making the soldiers within the house bring down their guns, "All right, clear out!"

Within a minute, the house was clear of the soldiers.

"Are you alright?" Alicia asked as she approached Naruto and checked him for any injuries, panic written all over her face. Not finding any, she looked at the blonde and said, "They took Nick. Naruto, they took Nick."

"I know. I know, Ali," Naruto muttered as he hugged the brunette tightly, feeling her cold fingers and the fear she was trying to hide.

"Mom…" Chris whispered, confusion adorning his face, as he and Travis looked out the window and watched as the truck Liza got in drove away.

Running out the front door, Madison shouted at the rest of the armed men milling about in her driveway, getting ready to move out, "Where is he? Where did you take him? No- Nick!"

"Ma'am, you need to go back inside," a soldier ordered as he and another armed man held her back from running towards Sergeant Castro. Just as she was gonna keep pushing through the armed men, she made eye-contact with the one person who made this happen. Liza.

As the rest of the soldiers cleared out the driveway, Madison headed back in, a scowl adorning her face, she spoke to Travis, who was by the door, "Liza. She did this."

Without another word, Madison turned around and headed back to the garage, where she frequently let her frustrations out with her alcohol, passing by Alicia and Naruto, who was trying to calm a silently fuming Daniel down.

Naruto looked around just in time to make eye-contact with his mother and he didn't need the Sage's ability to tell what she was feeling right about now.

Anger. Lots of it.

Mom…, Naruto empathized, feeling the same thing as he rubbed Daniel's back, whilst Ofelia brought a glass of water and handed it to her father.

"We'll get them back," Naruto declared, his voice resolute and full of conviction, making Daniel turn to him. Staring right back, Naruto repeated himself, "We'll get them both back."

-x-

[The next day - Perimeter gate of the Safe Zone]

With the events of the night before plaguing everyone's mind, Naruto was left to his own devices as it seemed like everyone wanted to be left alone. With nothing else to do, Naruto decided to scout the people who took his brother away. Though he wasn't alone in his sentiment.

"Tell me, you fascist pricks!" Ofelia shouted angrily as she hurled an empty beer bottle directly at the perimeter gate, shattering said bottle on contact.

"Cease your hostile action and return to your home," A man on a bullhorn spoke aloud, whilst numerous armed soldiers milled about on the other side of the perimeter gate.

"Tell me where she is, you asshole!" Ofelia continued, unperturbed by the sets of eyes that tensely watched her and the guns the soldiers held, as she banged on the fence gate. Going back and picking up another glass bottle from one of the recycling bins by the gate, she threw it at the gate once more, "Come out here, you coward! I'm gonna show you 'hostile!'"

"Why are we watching your friend here again?" Kurama inquired, evidently bored, while his container sat atop a big tree, half a block away from the perimeter gate, "We could be storming their compound by now. We know where it is, after all."

"Because, Kurama," Naruto began to explain casually in between bites as he munched on an apple, "I made a promise to Daniel that I'd watch out for his daughter. I'm doing just that. Besides, I don't wanna 'storm their compound' just like that. Majority of these soldiers… they don't agree with how Moyers does things. They're just following orders…"

"Like how your shinobi can't do anything but follow their Hokage… Now that you mentioned it, Sergeant Castro had that same vibe," Kurama contemplated, seemingly convinced with his Jinchuriki's reasoning, though Naruto knew the Biju would go to town should he be given the chance, in a blink of an eye, "But even so, what are you gonna do? The fact doesn't change that they have your brother."

"I intend to sneak out again tonight and scout the place a bit more," answered Naruto matter-of-factly. Just as the Biju was gonna reply, Naruto told him to quiet down, intent on listening to what was being said between Castro and another soldier who seemed to be trying to reason out with the Sergeant.

"Step aside, Corporal," Castro ordered as said Corporal blocked his way from confronting the emotional Ofelia.

"What are we doing here, man?" the 'Corporal' asked as he tried to stall Castro and hopefully stop him from whatever he's planning to do.

"What's it look like?" Castro retorted irritatedly, as he tried to keep the little patience he had, "Your girlfriend popped her top. She's inciting the natives. Lieutenant says I gotta nip this thing."

Out of frustration, the 'Corporal' laid the palm of his hand on Sergeant Castro's chest, stopping him from moving forward. Taking a second to look menacing, Castro spoke once more, "You got exactly three seconds to get your hand off my stripes or I will plant you where you stand."

"Screw Moyers, man," the 'Corporal' whispered softly, almost pleading for Castro to stop, "You don't have to do this."

"Three…"

"Listen, man, these are people here," the Corporal continued, to no avail.

"Two…"

Getting more desperate, the Corporal kept reasoning, "These are our people, okay?"

"Two…!"

Trying once more, the Corporal pleaded, "She just… wants… her mom. Look at her, Sarge."

"You think I like this shit?" whispering, Sergeant Castro's patience was just about spent and not knowing what else to do, he vented, "Acting like some power-tripping 5-0? Hmm? I have a family too."

Taking a breath of relief that Castro listened to his pleas, the 'Corporal' answered, "I know. Lemme handle it."

Looking once more at the emotional girl on the other side of the gate, Castro relented, "You better."

With Castro ordering the gates to be open, the 'Corporal' went through and approached Ofelia, his hands up in an appeasing manner, "Go ahead, I wouldn't blame you."

Her frustrations getting the better of her, Ofelia dropped the empty bottle in her hand and sat on the ground as she cried her worry out.

Kneeling next to Ofelia, the 'Corporal' spoke once more, "Hey. Look at me. Let me take you home, okay?"

With that, the pair went to the direction of home, the 'Corporal' holding Ofelia by the waist.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but they seem to be close," Kurama thought aloud within the confines of the mindscape, to which Naruto silently nodded as he watched the soldiers for any reactions, "Interesting…"

Just as the blonde shinobi was about to leap away, one of the soldiers spoke up as he unstrapped his rifle and turned around, "I'm not doing this anymore."

"Sergeant," Lieutenant Moyers, who was watching the altercation from the side, yelled aloud as he looked at his second-in-command, "Impress upon your man the importance of his duty or I will."

"Yes, sir," Castro responded as he followed the soldier-in-question, "Corporal, halt. Corporal Cole! I said stop!"

"I was right," Naruto meanwhile stayed as he watched Castro and his man shout at each other, "These men… they're just about done with Moyers and his way of doing things. Some more than most."

-x-

It wasn't long until the blonde was in the vicinity of the Clark household, having been jogging on the way back. Just as he was about to head through the side yard, Daniel popped out from the Tran's driveway and caught his attention.

"Naruto, come," Daniel beckoned as he waited by the side yard, "There is something we need to discuss."

"Daniel?" the blonde asked, clearly puzzled as to why Daniel was standing in front of the wrong house. Approaching the bald man, Naruto spoke, "Are you alright? You know you're in front of the neighbors' house."

"I know that," Daniel said as he turned around and went back into the backyard, "Follow me."

The old man was not giving Naruto time to ask anymore questions, so the blonde simply did as he was told and the two made the trek through the maze-like backyard and into the back door.

"This way," Daniel hollered as Naruto stepped inside the Trans' house reluctantly, whilst the old man turned the corner and down what seemed to be a set of stairs.

"Where are we going? And why are we inside this house?" Naruto asked as he followed down the stairs, into a dark basement hallway, "This is giving me the creeps, gramps."

"Be quiet and follow." Daniel replied in his usual curt responses as the two of them reached a door. The old man opened it and stepped through.

"Honestly, what is this pl-Holy shit," the blonde asked as he began to look around, only to make eye contact with one of the Moyers' men, the one who walked Ofelia home, "Why is one of Moyers' soldiers tied up and gagged?"

"We didn't know what else to do," Ofelia, who was leaning by a table on the side, answered as she listened to chatter on a walkie-talkie, "We just want my mother back."

"And you-you think," Naruto responded as he angrily pointed at the gagged soldier, "This is the way? If Moyers finds out about this, there'll be hell to pay!"

"What do you suggest we do then!?" Ofelia yelled back in frustration as she and Naruto glared at each other, "Sit around and wait for them to take another one of us? Maybe my father or your sister!?"

"I'm not saying don't do-"

"Then what, Naruto?" Daniel interjected as he walked up to the whiskered blonde and rested a hand on his shoulders, "Do you want to get your brother back?"

"Of course I do." Naruto answered softly as he looked away in frustration.

"Then this is the way." the old man simply answered as he began his interrogation.

"I know you don't agree with this, kid," Kurama spoke softly whilst his Jinchuriki silently took a seat beside Ofelia and watched as Daniel got to work getting into the soldier's head, "But as it stands, you need all hands on deck. This old man… Daniel has the eyes of someone who went through war. You know this. Let him do his job and we'll do ours, alright?"

I know… I just… torture never really sat right with me, is all, the blonde admitted whilst he watched Daniel lay out his 'tools' on a small desk in front of the soldier.

"It does with me," the fox nonchalantly replied, now satisfied that he was able to get through his stubborn container.

I know, dammit, the blonde answered silently.

Not even an hour later into the interrogation session, where Daniel repeated the questions over and over, only for the soldier named Andrew (Ofelia told the blonde after he asked softly) to not budge, the door to their little basement room to open suddenly.

"What is this?" Madison asked, confusion very much evident in the tone of her voice, as she noted the faces in the room. Looking from Ofelia, to Daniel, to Andrew, to Naruto, and back again to Daniel, "What the hell is this?"

"She's got a knife." Ofelia whispered to her father whilst he and Naruto stood next to Andrew.

"Wait," Daniel said as he stepped in front of Madison to block her and gently tried to wrestle the knife out of her hand, "Stop, stop."

"Answer me," the blonde woman pressed on, trying to get free and untie the army man, as she looked at both Daniel and Naruto, to which the whiskered blonde merely sighed in frustration, "What is this?"

Calmly, Daniel answered as he stood his ground, "This is how we bring them home."

"You knew about this?" Madison asked out loud, glaring lightly at her son this time.

"About an hour ago, yeah," the blonde answered, not wanting to gain his mother's ire, "I didn't know about it beforehand… But I see Daniel's point."

"And you thought this was a good idea!?" Madison rebutted, her anger slowly rising, as she got her hand out of Daniel's grip, "I thought you were smarter than this!"

"It's not the best of ideas, I'll admit," Naruto calmly replied as he rubbed his neck and looked to the side, his brows creasing in frustration, "But this is better than sitting around and waiting for whoever-knows-what. It's the only lead we have right now if we wanna get Nick back… and something tells me that we ain't getting him back otherwise."

All was silent after Naruto's words were said, as Madison stepped back and contemplated the truth in her son's logic.

Without another word, Madison stepped back next to Ofelia and Daniel got back to his interrogation. Amidst the countless questions, Andrew still didn't budge, opting to ignore the question and plead for his freedom. All the while, Naruto could see the reluctance in Ofelia's eyes.

Not being able to take it anymore, Ofelia stepped out of the basement and back into the house, followed by Madison and Daniel.

"Don't mind me, I'll stay here," Naruto whispered as Daniel passed him by, to which the old man silently nodded and closed the door behind him.

"So," Naruto began to talk as he stood up and stretched his limbs, "Bad cop is gone and we have maybe a few minutes to ourselves to get acquainted with each other, while the adults and the princess argue upstairs."

Andrew merely continued eye contact and stayed silent.

Taking it as a sign to continue, Naruto spoke once more, "While I disagree with Daniel's methods… I can't deny the fact that interrogating you will bring the most results. And while I'm somewhat against torture, I know for a fact that Daniel isn't. These tools…"

Naruto pointed to the little bag on the side table next to Andrew, where the zipper was slightly opened, and the handle of a hammer was sticking out.

"...aren't just for show. I promise you that," the whiskered shinobi smirked lightly as he pocketed his hands and leaned back on the counter by the door, "So, I'm gonna make you a deal. Once the interrogation starts, stick to the truth. Nothing but the truth. If you lie, I'll know. Trust me. Stall all you want, but know that Daniel won't be as patient as I am. And once you answer all our questions, I'll make sure Daniel doesn't touch a single hair on you."

"What happens… if I don't want to?"

"Let's just say…" Naruto crossed his arms and stared nonchalantly as he slowly leaked out his killing intent, definitely affecting the soldier's perception, "...that I'm the only one who can stop Daniel from doing this."

For a second, Andrew thought he saw the teen's eyes take on a bit of sadness-was it regret?-, though he chalked it up to the lights in the dimly-lit basement playing games in his mind.

"So… We got a deal?"

-x-

[Meanwhile… - With Travis]

"Let me get this straight," an army man spoke up as he and his squad, along with Travis, rode in their Humvee en route to the other facility where Griselda, Nick, and Liza were apparently being held, "You're going downtown, through this mess of DZ flesh-eating whatnot to get some kid who ain't your son, some old woman who ain't your mom, and some lady who ain't your wife?"

"Actually," Travis answered back as he breathed a sigh of embarrassment, "She's my ex-wife."

"No!" the soldier chuckled in amusement at how ridiculous the summarized version of the situation sounded, to which the curly-haired teacher couldn't help but agree.

"Yeah…" Travis merely went along with the reaction as he took in the appearance of the soldier, "What do they call you?"

"Me?" the soldier who was chuckling asked as he looked at Travis, then to Castro who was sitting in front of him, who ignored him in favor of just glancing to the side window, then back at Travis once more, "Name's Cole. Corporal Cole, at your service."

"Cole…" Travis repeated the name, as if to test it out, as he then noticed the slightly purple area around Corporal Cole's left eye, "What happened to your face?"

Taking a second to compose himself, Cole then went slightly more stiff and looked ahead, as if he was scared of something, Travis noted, "Nothing, sir. Momentary lapse of patriotism."

Just then someone knocked on the roof of the Humvee three times.

"Now?" Castro asked out loud, as he shook his head, "You gotta be kidding me."

"Hoo-ra!" Moyers exclaimed rather excitedly from the turret hole, "We got another one! Stop the truck!"

"Sir," Castro spoke up, "I don't think this is the best time for-"

"For what, Castro?" Only for Moyers to interrupt him, "Doing our duty? I don't know which side you're on. Corporal, summon the Mamba!"

With that, the Humvee stopped in the middle of the road, while everyone stepped out of the vehicle.

"She's a ripe one…" Moyers offhandedly made an observation whilst he looked through his binoculars, "How many points?"

Beside Travis, who was now standing beside Moyers, another soldier was setting up what looked to be a sniper rifle. Still, the English teacher had no idea what in the hell was going on.

"First floor," Castro shouted back this time, as he looked through a small scope on the roof of the Humvee, "East corner."

"Nine-hundred yards," Moyers spoke aloud as he made calculations and readjustments on the sniper rifle whilst he looked through the scope, "Five-mile-an-hour crosswind… Come on, Castro."

"Three points, sir."

"Three? You know I don't do anything for less than a touchdown…" Moyers then got off the rifle and turned his head towards Travis, "Alright, Mr. Mayor… guess you're up."

Suddenly realizing what was happening, Travis then nervously shook his head, "Me? No, no. I-I can't."

Yeah, you can," Moyers insisted as he nodded his head, It's easy."

"No. I can't," Travis reluctantly stood his ground, "I'm not a good shot."

Moyers chuckled in amusement as he explained matter-of-factly, "It's a tactical mil-dot scope on a bipod. Helen Keller could drill this thing. Hell, I bet that blonde kid of yours could shoot it with his eyes closed. Naruto, was it?"

"He don't wanna do it, sir," the soldier who set up the rifle on the hood of the Humvee reasoned out, taking pity on Travis.

"You a conscientious objector, Travis?" Moyers asked condescendingly.

"Okay, hold on-" Travis began but was cut off still by Moyers.

"Someone who likes to live under our protection…"

"All due respect, sir-"

"...and eat our MREs…"

"You're not listening, sir-"

"...and sleep in a cozy bed with his pretty wife, but when it comes to getting his hands dirty, he doesn't want-"

Unable to take Moyers' very obvious bullying, Castro exclaimed aloud, "I'll do it, sir!"

"HELL, NO, YOU WON'T!" Moyers shouted back, what seemed to be anger and malice in his facial expression, "HELL, NO! Travis I wanna know what it is. 'Cause you don't think that she's human, do you? 'Cause if you do, if that's what you think, then we're just a bunch of murderers. Is that it?"

"No." Travis answered softly, "No, that's not it."

"Okay."

Without another word, Travis walked up to the hood of the Humvee, where the sniper rifle was set up, and positioned himself to shoot.

"This is a .50 cal, so cheek on the stock," Castro chimed in as he instructed Travis on how to position himself, to which the curly-haired man complied, "Tight to the shoulder. Press the trigger, don't pull. Open your mouth."

Confused at the last instruction, Travis looked up, only for the soldier who set up the rifle to answer the unasked inquiry, "Pressure differential. You'll pop your damn retina, man."

Once more positioning himself the way Castro taught him, he looked through the scope of the rifle, where he laid an eye on what seemed to be a waitress. Someone who used to be a waitress. A person.

Dead...Not alive anymore… Naruto's words rang through his thoughts as the curly-haired man's heart began beating faster, They're, by all accounts, dead. Yet, they still walk around.

But they can still be saved. Right?

He's something between a dead corpse and a mindless cannibal. He isn't what we define as human anymore… Again, the voice of his blonde-haired step-son rang in his mind, his explanation for this… this bizarre pandemic. When he killed the thing that used to be Calvin.

"That ain't a person." Castro whispered, trying to show support for the poor English teacher.

But for him to pull the trigger himself…

You want to protect my mom, right? You can't do it with just your sweet kisses.

"I have to do it…" Travis whispered to himself as he took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, "For the people I love."

He steadied his hand, focused the sights on his target… A waitress, middle-aged. Brown-hair. She must have been a pretty girl before she turned into one of them… Now, she has pale skin, bloodshot, dead eyes. Her bloody clothes clung to her skin while her once neatly-tied hair now looked messy. Her name tag says Kimberly.

I'm sorry, Kimberly..., Travis silently thought as he fought the tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

Then, he pulled the trigger.

-x-

[Back with Naruto and Daniel… - Basement of the Trans' house]

For the past two hours, Andrew's been subjected to the rather gruesome torture that Daniel was dishing out. Still refusing to agree to Naruto's deal, the poor soldier was wheezing at this point, his tolerance for pain nearing its limit whilst his forearm bled from the numerous cuts from Daniel's razor.

"Please… Stop…," Andrew weakly murmured amidst the continuous chattering of his radio in the background, while Daniel cleaned his razor blade free of blood, having finished with his 'storytime.'

"This word," Daniel began talking once more, ignoring the pained expression of the younger soldier tied to the chair and picked up the radio, "It's used many times in your radio transmissions, so I know it's important. What is 'Cobalt?'"

Sobbing and groaning from the pain, Andrew could do nothing but silently weep and pray for this horrendous turn of events to end. All because of his damn feelings for that damned, sweet girl.

Taking Andrew's silence as a continued sign of defiance, Daniel sighed and went back to his mind games as he studied his bloody handiwork with the young soldier's arm, "The outer layers have less nerves. The deeper, the more sensitive. You need a steady hand. What is 'Cobalt?'"

"I d-don't know," Andrew sobbed out in pain.

Daniel took a deep breath and picked up his razor blade once more.

Goddammit! Andrew cursed within the confines of his already fragile mind, If only there was a way for this stop! God, please! I need this to st-

Then he made eye contact with the whiskered, blonde teenager sitting silently by the door, watching and… is that pity in his eyes?

To hell with Moyers.

"N-Naruto!" Andrew screamed out in desperation as he shut his eyes tight, waiting for the pain in his arms to continue once more, for the carving of his skin to resume once more.

It never came.

Slowly opening his eyes, the younger soldier could not be more relieved. Naruto was there, beside Daniel, holding his wrist and, by extension, the razor. Literally an inch before it made contact with his already bloodied forearm. Unbeknownst to the other two in the room, Naruto might as well have Shunshin'd (Body Flickered) from one side of the room to where Daniel was sitting with how quick he moved.

"I told you the waiting was gonna pay off!" Kurama boomed matter-of-factly, the boredom in his voice apparent, as he felt his container's sense of relief, "Sooner or later, loverboy over here was gonna give in."

Yeah, well, it still doesn't feel great, alright? Naruto retorted silently as he then made eye contact with Daniel. Speaking to the elderly man now, the whiskered blonde spoke aloud, a defiant gaze in his eyes, "Hey, old man, I think I got it from here."

Daniel, for his part, merely looked straight into Naruto's eyes, as if he was trying to gauge him or size him up. Then, as if he was satisfied, the elderly man got up, bringing his tray of bloodied tools, and headed for the door.

"Come find me upstairs when you are done," Daniel said just as he exited the room and closed the door behind him.

"Look, Andrew," Naruto began, now that it was only the two of them alone in the room, "I'm really sorry that you had to go through that. You don't deserve to be tortured… So far, only Moyers does, in my opinion. But I couldn't interfere until you, yourself, were ready to talk."

Andrew could only sob in return. Seeing the pained man's expression, the whiskered blonde went to the counter by the side and grabbed one of the spare towels that Ofelia probably brought down and wiped the sweat off of the soldier's face. Grabbing a bottle of water by the counter, Naruto opened it and urged Andrew to drink.

With that out of the way, Naruto sat down on the chair that Daniel was previously occupying and talked once more, "We just want our family back, Andrew. I hope you understand that. And, although I disagree with Daniel's methods, the same question is still unanswered. What is 'Cobalt?'"

Andrew still stayed silent.

"Come on, man…" the whiskered blonde pleaded, "My brother may have been a drug addict, but he doesn't deserve to be imprisoned for it!"

"..."

Without an uttered word, Naruto took out a kunai and cut through the rope tying down Andrew's good arm. Holding his hand, the shinobi used his free hand and placed three digits on his wrists, "I'm gonna ask you some questions. I'm gonna need you to answer them truthfully, because otherwise… Let's just say that I can be worse than Daniel when it comes to torture. Please, Andrew, for your sake… don't lie."

"You know, you don't need to do that wrist-thing, right?" Kurama chimed in from within the confines of the mindscape, "Though you're considerably weakened, you still have the old man Sage's passive ability of sensing negative emotions."

I know, dumbass, Naruto replied with a bite, as he took a deep breath, It's all part of the act. Don't worry, I kinda know what I'm doing.

"Tch," the nine-tailed fox grunted as he once more began to doze off, the current happenings not entertaining enough, "Wake me up when it's time to wreck shit…"

Without replying to the tailed beast, Naruto began the interrogation, "Andrew… You're scared of what Moyers will do if you spill the beans, aren't you?"

Shit! Andrew thought to himself as he slightly began panicking, I gotta stay calm…!

"Andrew… your heartbeat just got a bit faster…I hit it right on, didn't I?"

The soldier could only widen his eyes as he gazed forwards, at the mysterious blonde in front of him.

"Andrew, I promise you, I will protect you if that's what you're scared of. Trust me when I say that I can destroy Moyers," the whiskered blonde said with as much conviction as he can muster as he held on tightly on Andrew's wrist, "But please… PLEASE. Answer the question. What is 'Cobalt?'"

Should I answer him? Andrew asked in his head amidst the continuous throbbing of the pain from his wrist, Moyers will kill me if I spill and he finds out…

"Someone like Moyers doesn't deserve the genuine loyalty that you hold, Andrew…" Naruto mumbled weakly as he glared to the side in frustration, "Someone so willing to threaten the people he leads… the people he's supposed to protect… and enjoys what he's doing… he doesn't deserve your trust and loyalty."

Fuck it… Moyers could suck my left nut.

"C-Cobalt…," Andrew began to talk out loud, wincing as he did so, and looked straight into Naruto's piercing gaze, "Is the command code… the command code to ini-initiate evac from the L.A. basin."

"Evac?" Naruto asked aloud, "For everyone? When?"

"Not for you… the evac isn't for civilians…" Andrew answered shamefully, looking down onto his lap as he did so, "It's for the troops… just for us."

"What…?"

"To top that shit off," Andrew continued, noticing the disbelieving expression on the shinobi's face, "Cobalt…includes 'procedures for the humane termination of…'"

Noticing that the soldier trailed off and merely stayed silent after, Naruto snapped out of his stupor, "Dumb it down for me, Sherlock! What do you mean 'humane termination!?'"

"They're gonna… they're gonna bomb the whole place after the troops have been evacuated."

The Jinchuriki could not help but adorn the horrid expression on his face as he gently let go of Andrew's wrist and leaned back on the chair out of pure shock.

"That's the same face…" Andrew weakly commented as he shook his head in a shameful laughter, "Castro made when Moyers gave the order out… That sonuvabitch even had a smile on his face as he spoke to us… I'm sorry, Naruto… about your brother… Ofelia's mom… I'm really sorry for all of this."

"It isn't your fault."

The way Naruto said that so resolutely, Andrew was stunned for a second as he looked up once more.

"People at the top… those who have the power to protect but use it instead to bring about pain… those people are the lowest of the lows. They're scum. That's what Moyers is. He doesn't deserve that kind of power over people," the whiskered shinobi uttered aloud, his voice devoid of weakness as he stood up and began untying Andrew's bindings.

"What are you doing?" the soldier asked.

"I'm letting you go, dumbass," Naruto answered matter-of-factly as he got around to untying the rope around the feet of the chair, "From here onwards, your destiny's your own. Don't let scum like Moyers make the decisions for you. You can run away and never look back… Or you can help me and your beautiful girlfriend find and protect our family…"

Finishing his task, the blonde stood up to his full height and extended his hand down to the sitting Andrew, who currently had his eyes widen like plates, brimming with unshed tears.

"What do you say?"

-x-

[Meanwhile… - With Daniel on the ground floor of the Trans' house]

Being sent away by none other than the adamant blonde, Daniel decided to wash the blood away from his tools. Zoning out as he rinsed the bloody knife in his hand by the kitchen sink, he was unaware when his daughter entered the room.

"Papa…?" Ofelia asked aloud, snapping Daniel out of his daze, as she got a closer look at the bowl containing what seems to be bloodied water on top of the tray he was using, "Is-is that Andrew's… blood…?"

"Ofelia…" Daniel murmured, shame evident in his voice as he set the tool in his hand down, pushing away the memories of his past experiences with torturing to the side, "I can explain-"

"You said you wouldn't hurt him!" the brunette shouted angrily, cutting her father off as the tears in her eyes began to fall, "You promised!"

"He is okay, trust-"

"Trust you!? It's like I don't even know you!" Once again, the daughter cut her father off, her expression a mix of confusion, anger, and sadness, "We agreed that we would interrogate Andrew! Not… not torture…"

Just as she began walking towards the hallway leading to the basement, most likely to check on the soldier, Naruto came around from the corner, Andrew-in-tow.

"I was wondering whether you were in agreement with the whole torturing thing…" Andrew playfully teased, though the exhaustion in his voice was pretty evident, as Naruto helped him sit down on the small coffee table by the kitchen, "I'm glad I was wrong."

"Andy…!" Ofelia blurted out, along with a sob, as she rushed Andrew and hugged him, "I am so sorry…! Had I known my father was gonna do this to you…"

"Oof!" the soldier made a sound, clearly not expecting the rather fierce hug, but welcoming it all the same, "Don't be sorry… Although it was painful… I understand why your dad did it. If it was me in his shoes, I would've done the same… Besides…"

With that, Ofelia let go and took a seat beside Andrew as she held his hand whilst the soldier looked at the whiskered blonde now standing next to Daniel, "Someone told me that I shouldn't let scum like Moyers control my life and… well, the end of the world as we know it seems like a good time as any to start making my own decisions."

Wiping the tears on her cheek, Ofelia nodded with a smile, "I'm glad… I'm glad you're alright. But, what do you mean by making your decision?"

"If you all don't mind," Naruto butted in before Andrew could explain, for which the soldier nodded in agreement, "I want everyone to be around before Andrew and I start explaining so that we discuss everything at once. Will that do?"

"That is fair," Daniel agreed calmly as he began working a bit faster at cleaning his tools, "I'll clean up here… Ofelia… could I ask that you… assist Mr. Adams in cleaning up?"

Without so much as a grunt, Ofelia stood up and began to help Andrew up, "Naruto, is it alright if I help him clean up back in the house?"

"Knock yourself out," the blonde answered back nonchalantly as he handed a water bottle to the soldier, "Also, I have some fresh clothes inside the cabinet beside my bed. Just grab some in my room if you want. Andrew looks like he's my size anyways."

With a grateful nod, the couple went on their way and snuck back through the backyard, leaving Daniel with Naruto. Sensing the frustration from the elderly man, Naruto spoke up, "Give her some time. She's still wrapping her head around the fact that her father is more than just a simple barber."

Looking out through the window, Daniel weakly began talking, "She was nine years old… when she first asked me about the war… and why we came to America. I told her, in detail, about the violence, what was done, how we suffered…

"I told her everything," Daniel continued as he turned the faucet on once again and continued scrubbing his tools with a sponge, "Except which man was me. Do you think… she will u-understand...that it was necessary then… to survive!? That it is necessary again!?"

By this point, the tears on Daniel's face were flowing, much to his displeasure.

"I've always had mixed feelings with torture," Naruto began talking as he leaned on the kitchen counter a bit away from Daniel, "In the… village… that I came from, I knew someone from our local police department, in charge of the Interrogation division. She was really good at her job. She explained to me the importance of information gathering and why torture is sometimes the only option. Naturally, at first, I disagreed. I believed-and still do-that we don't need to torture to gain information… But I found myself unable to argue against results. In the end, though she had some… sadistic tendencies, she helped me accept that fact.

"I guess, what I'm trying to say is that, if it's any consolation, I understand why you did what you did and why you think it's necessary. You just have to come clean to your only daughter and actually let her get to know her father. To at least try and make her understand, y'know?" Without another word, Naruto headed out, leaving Daniel to his thoughts.

Leaving through the front door and walking back into his own house after what felt like such a long day, Naruto was greeted with the confused expression of his mother.

"I couldn't help but notice that there's a U.S. soldier taking a shower in our bathroom," the older of the two blondes stated as she crossed her arms on her chest, "That wouldn't be your doing, would it?"

"It was either that or what Daniel originally had in mind," Naruto replied with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck in weariness, "Besides, it worked out for the best. I talked to Andrew and convinced him to join us on our little rebellion."

"Did we get what we need outta him?" Madison asked as she let Naruto in the house, to which the whiskered teen did so after closing the front door.

"Thankfully, yes," the whiskered blonde confirmed as he went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Taking a pitcher full of cold water out, he went to the counter and grabbed a clean glass, "I'll explain more in detail what information we have later once everyone's back home. Where's Alicia and Travis?"

"Alicia went and spent some time with Chris because she felt bad for him, or so she says," Madison answered whilst her adopted son drank his glass of water, "Travis went to talk to Moyers this morning… I don't know, he hasn't been back yet."

"Alright, well, Imma go look for Chris and Alicia," Naruto decided as he bent down and gave his mom a peck on the cheek, and made for the door, only for said door to swing open.

"Maddie, I'm back!" shouted Travis as he stepped into the front door, a rather shaken expression adorning his face.

"Travis," Madison stood up and made her way to him, noticing the rather distressed state he was in, "What happened to you?"

"Moyers…" Travis began to explain, his distraught expression only deepening, "Moyers is gone."

"What?" both of the blondes in the room uttered in sync.

"While we were on the way to the other facility, we received a distress call from the nearby library… Moyers responded and his whole unit went in. A few minutes later, only his men came back out. No sign of Moyers."

"And the library?" Naruto asked as he wrapped his brain around Travis' tale.

"It was being overrun by the dead when we drove away… Sgt. Castro dropped me off by the gates and then he and his unit drove off."

"So the likeliest outcome is that Moyers was overrun… and his men might have made the decision to leave the douchebag to die.. Or maybe I'm wrong," Naruto thought aloud as Travis took a seat across Madison, "Anyways, I gotta go look for Alicia and Chris. Mom, explain to Travis the… development from the past few hours. Travis… try to calm down, alright? We'll talk more when I get back."

With that out of the way, Naruto left through the front door, leaving his adoptive mother and English teacher.

Travis then turned to Madison, "What happened?"

-x-

[With Alicia and Chris… - Somewhere in the neighborhood]

Wearing what seemed to be an expensive, beige designer dress paired with equally expensive jewelry and heels, as well as blood-red lipstick and make up to top it off, the beautiful Alicia was staring off into space as she took her time in studying the people in the photos above the fireplace.

"Where did they go…?" the beautiful brunette thought out loud, evidently lost in thought, whilst Chris picked up a picture frame and studied it closer, "Do you wonder what happened to them?"

Realizing Alicia was talking to him, Chris snapped out of his own thoughts-There's a really beautiful girl wearing an almost backless dress and she's talking to him!-and blurted out, "No."

Turning around and walking off to the side, where a grand piano sat undisturbed under its quilted cover, "These are real people…"

Grabbing the edge of the cover, Alicia pulled it off, revealing the slick, shiny form of the grand piano, "... Built a whole life here."

Sitting down on the leather bench and opening the cover of the keys, Alicia took a deep sigh, "And now…"

All of a sudden, the brown-haired boy dropped the frame on purpose, shattering it. Taking note of her companion, Alicia then picked up the bottle of wine she set down by the foot of the piano bench and downed the remainder of its contents. With the bottle now empty, Alicia mirrored Chris' actions and threw the bottle across the room.

With merely a grin on their faces and the rebellious glint in their eyes, the two companions silently made the decision to… 'redecorate' the place.

Picking up an iron poker next to the fireplace, Chris got to work by swinging it around the furniture. Alicia, on the other hand, was content with merely walking around the house, carrying plates and tossing them on the ground, or knocking over expensive vases and decorations.

"You two seem to be enjoying yourselves."

Clearly startled, the beautiful girl slightly jumped in place as she then turned around to the owner of that familiar voice, "Naruto! W-What are you doing here!?"

I used my Sage mode to track you down, duh! The whiskered blonde-in-question thought silently as he kept on leaning by the door frame, his arms crossed on his chest, "I've been going around the neighborhood, asking if they've seen a pretty brunette and a bratty kid man-child."

Chris physically bristled at the blonde's rudeness towards him, "My name is Chris."

"Oh, I know," Naruto grinned teasingly as he then stood straight and walked further into the room, taking note of the mess the two in front of him had made, "You guys went ham with the place, didn't you? Anything of value we should take?"

"I mean there was a safe up in the room I got this nice dress in… I don't know what's in it though," Alicia answered as she then began walking past Naruto to the staircase, "I'll go and get dressed first."

With a nod, Alicia was gone to the second floor, leaving Naruto and Chris in the living room. Looking at Chris, the blonde spoke, "Go get dressed, kid, everyone's waiting for us."

"For what?" Chris asked, rather annoyed that Naruto was bossing him once more.

"We got some info on where your mom and my brother are," with those words, Chris' annoyance disappeared, replaced by pure attentiveness towards Naruto's words, "Daniel and I have a plan, but everyone has to be there so that we only say what we needa say once. Now go."

Without another word, the brown-haired teen went to a different part of the first floor, leaving Naruto to follow Alicia upstairs. Reaching the second floor, it was easy enough to find where the brunette was with the rather loud noise she was making.

"God...dammit!" Alicia cursed just as Naruto entered what would seem to be the master's bedroom of the house.

"You good, Ali?" the blonde asked whilst the brunette in front of him struggled to reach her back to no avail.

"I had Chris help me zip and clasp up the back earlier… I forgot I couldn't reach it," Alicia admitted bashfully as she then smiled in embarrassment at Naruto, "Can you help me?"

With a chuckle, Naruto got closer, "Turn around, dum-dum."

Calm yourself, Naruto! The blonde shouted aloud in his mind as he unclasped the hook from the dress and began unzipping the zipper slowly, We're just helping Ali get… out of the dress. Nothing to it!

Unbeknownst to the whiskered blonde, Alicia could see the blushing expression on Naruto's face from the reflection of the mirror right in front of them. With a slightly nervous stutter, the brunette spoke, "H-Hey, Whiskers, you're turning a bit red. Are you feeling alright?"

Clearing his throat and mentally berating himself, Naruto straightened up and stepped back as he began looking around the room, "Uh, yea-yeah, I'm good! It's just a bit hot in here, isn't it?"

Trying to stifle her giggle, Alicia couldn't help but be amused at the rather innocent reaction her adoptive brother was displaying, "It is, just a bit."

"By the way," Naruto spoke up, trying to steer the conversation into less-awkward territory, as he turned around as if to guard the bedroom door, "I saw the tat on your arm. You did it yourself?"

"Yeah…" the brunette glanced rather sadly at her arm and the meaning of the tattoo she made herself while she got out of the dress, leaving her in only her undergarments, "Just a few days ago… It's a reminder, I guess."

Knowing full well that she was talking about her most likely deceased lover, Matt, the whiskered blonde nodded, "I see…"

The next half-minute or so was spent in relative silence as Alicia finished dressing up and Naruto stood guard with his back turned from the brunette.

"Okay," Alicia spoke once more as she began to tie her shoes, "I'm good now. The safe's right in the closet, by the way. At the bottom right corner."

Following the instructions, Naruto made his way in front of the cabinet and sat down on the ground as he took a closer look at the safe. Lifting the small safe, the whiskered blonde then set it down on the little side-table by the bed and pressed his ear on the safe.

"What are you doing?" the brunette asked, having finished dressing up seconds ago, as she took a seat on the other side of the bed.

"Trying to crack it…" Naruto answered weakly as he then began directing chakra towards his ear and began slowly turning the knob that will unlock the safe.

After a few minutes and a rather aggressive 'Shhhh!' from Alicia when Chris came barreling into the room dressed in his regular clothes, Naruto was able to open the safe.

Thank Kami for the one time I actually listened to Anko-san's lessons! The shinobi thought silently while he slowly opened the safe as his two other companions stood up for a closer look, "Alright, let's see what's inside…!"

As the three pairs of eyes took note of the contents on the inside, Chris was the first one to comment, "Damn… that's a big stack of money…"

"Is that…a gun?" Alicia asked in slight trepidation as she watched Naruto grab the gun and skillfully inspected it, taking out its empty magazine.

"Yeah, it's a…," Naruto spoke nonchalantly as he then read the words inscribed on the side, "Smith & Wesson Compact semi-auto."

"Cool…" Chris whispered, slightly awed by how Naruto just seemed to calmly inspect a handgun.

Grabbing the hip holster in the safe, Naruto placed said gun in it and grabbed a little backpack. Shoving the gun in the backpack, the blonde also grabbed the roll of money as well and put it in the bag. Noticing Alicia's questioning gaze, Naruto turned to her and spoke, "We can definitely use the gun. The money, we can maybe use later."

"Hey, these seem to be a pair of SAT phones!" Chris excitedly exclaimed as he took the pair of devices out and turned them on, "They're both working too!"

"How can you tell?" Alicia asked, as she took out a couple small boxes of what seemed to be bullets.

"I, uhh.." Chris looked to the side in slight embarrassment as he turned off the devices and placed them in the backpack as well, "I play Call of Duty a lot… and I'm into tech stuff."

"Oh… that's cool," Alicia nodded with a smile as she then handed the two boxes of bullets to her adoptive brother, "Here, bullets for your real-gun-that's-definitely-not-a-toy."

"Thanks," Naruto zipped the bag up as he then stood, having cleaned out the safe for anything useful and placed it on his back. Turning to the other two, the whiskered blonde nodded and walked out of the room a second later, "Let's head back. Our guest is waiting."

With that, the trio left the expensive house and headed home.

-x-

[A little later… - Clark Household]

As soon as Naruto, Alicia, and Chris got back in the house, Madison and Travis quickly gathered everyone around the living room. With the rather frustrated expression on Travis' face, Naruto assumed that his mother already filled him in about Daniel's rather grievous approach towards their problem at hand.

"So...Now that everyone's here," Naruto began talking as everyone got seated on the couch, excluding Daniel, who was leaning on the wall behind him, Andrew, who was seating on a stool to his right, and Ofelia who was standing beside the soldier, "We have some pretty serious problems on our hands."

Before Naruto continued, however, Travis turned to his son, who was sitting next to Alicia, "Chris, can you go to your room for now?"

"What?" Chris asked, clearly puzzled and not wanting to, as his temper began rising at his dad, "No, if this is about mom-"

However, Travis was rather adamant, "Chris, please-"

"Enough!" Naruto yelled aloud, his frustrations getting the better of him as he stopped the father and son from arguing further, "Travis, like it or not, your son isn't a child anymore! He's one of us and he needs to hear this! You want him to start acting like an adult? Start treating him like one!"

Without any more interruptions from his audience-though the smirk on Alicia's lips and the rather grateful expression on Chris' face was clearly evident-the whiskered blonde took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Andrew, please, tell them about 'Cobalt'…"

The soldier was, at first, reluctant to talk, but Ofelia offered him support as she rested her hand on his shoulder, and so the next few minutes were spent by Andrew explaining about 'Cobalt' and Moyers' order for the troops.

"You mean to say…," Madison asked, wide-eyed, as she tried to make sense of the information, "Our own military decided to bomb Los Angeles?"

"As far as I know…," Andrew admitted, ashamed of the one thing he swore to believe in, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Clark, but we have to get your family outta here."

"But what about Nick!?" Alicia asked aloud as panic began rising in the pits of her stomach.

"Dad, what about Mom!?" Chris, mirroring the brunette's reaction, asked as he turned to his dad.

"Calm down," Naruto cut in once more before the emotions in the room took control, "That's where Daniel, Andrew, and I come in."

"What do you mean?" Travis asked as he and Madison shared a slightly worried and confused look.

"We'll pack it up here. We have to leave the city, maybe follow your original plan, Mom," the shinobi began explaining as he went into detail whilst he looked at each and everyone of the people in front of him, "It's an hour before sun down, so we have time. Once night-time rolls in, we're gonna sneak into the other compound that Andrew spoke of."

"How are we gonna sneak into a heavily-guarded place?" Madison asked aloud, voicing everyone's question.

"I was getting to that," Naruto answered back as he started thinking, "The compound is literally just the community college that Alicia was looking to transfer to after graduation. It'll be tricky but I think… with the right diversion, we'll be able to get in while the personnel are busy…"

"I can help with that, I think," Andrew stated as he gained everyone's attention, "There's a… a stadium full of the infected a couple blocks from the compound… If we let them out and, maybe, lead them to the compound…"

"That's a bit on the crazy side…" Chris commented weakly as he imagined in his mind a horde of ghoulish brain-eaters, "What if the compound gets overrun?"

"So that's where the smell was coming from the other night…!" Kurama's voice boomed from within the mindscape, making his container slightly jump in place.

Shit, you startled me! The whiskered blonde thought in return as he composed himself once more, Glad to see you're awake though.

"Couldn't help but hear the apparent gears in your mind from turning," the nine-tailed fox replied as he grinned, though Naruto couldn't see that, "Don't mind me, I'm just here to listen in on the plan and for the inevitable time when it's your turn to let loose again!"

You destructive furball, you! Naruto teased as he focused on Chris' question once more and answered, "It would be unfortunate… But those people already abandoned us."

"Each for our own now…" Travis mumbled, though it was loud enough for everyone to hear, as anger flashed in his visage, "The people that swore an oath to protect us…"

Ignoring Travis' muttering, the whiskered blonde continued, "Andrew's plans, while a bit dangerous, has its perks. While someone draws the horde towards the compound, Andrew leads a couple people through the compound to find Nick, Griselda, and Liza."

"I will lead the horde to the compound," Daniel volunteered as he got closer to Naruto.

"Papa!" Ofelia protested as she turned to her father, "It's not safe!"

"Do not worry," the bald man placated his daughter with as much confidence as he can muster, "I am strong enough to fend for myself."

"It's alright," Andrew chimed in, "The road from here to the compound has been cleaned out of any stragglers since there's always patrols around, especially the area near the compound."

"Then it's decided," the whiskered blonde spoke aloud, "Daniel will lead the infected to the front gates, while we sneak into the back, through the parking garage that leads into the campus. Andrew, how's the map looking?"

Just like that, the next few hours were spent ironing out the plans for tonight as well as packing up all the essentials they'd need for the long trip ahead.

-x-

[A few hours later…]

"Alicia, get in the car," Madison ordered her daughter, who was leaning on the side of the sedan, whilst she carried the last baggage to the trunk, "We're leaving in a few minutes."

Following her mother's words, the brunette took a seat in the back, beside Chris, who was quietly waiting. Just as Madison finished loading the last bag in the trunk, the sound of a dog barking caused her to turn around.

"What is it?" Ofelia asked as she walked down the driveway and stood by Madison, who was quietly watching someone from the neighborhood walk his dog.

"My neighbors don't know," Madison answered, slightly worried about the neighborhood's residents.

Scoffing to herself with what seems to be bitterness, Ofelia walked towards the SUV next to the sedan and placed her bag in the back seat, "They did nothing when they came for us."

"That's not their fault and you know that," Naruto chimed in good-naturedly as he walked his motorbike down the driveway from the garage, "Chill, O. We're gonna get your mom and then we're gonna ride off into the sunset!"

The older brunette couldn't stop the smile forming on her face due to the blonde's contagious positivity as she went back inside the house, followed by Naruto.

As the two of them entered the house, Daniel sat on the couch next to Madison, now wearing a tan jacket with fur collars and a neutral look on his face, "It's almost time."

"Right, before I forget," Naruto went to his room to grab a duffel bag and a backpack and came back out quickly, "I have some goodies."

Just in time, Travis and Andrew walked back in from the backyard. Seeing them come in, Naruto beckoned for Andrew to come closer, "Army dude, come take a look and choose your poison."

Slightly, confused, Andrew stood beside the whiskered blonde and looked through the open duffel bag, "These… These are military-grade weapons! Where'd you get your hands on these!?"

Rubbing the back of his neck, Naruto answered weakly, "It's a… long story. I'll tell you more once we get far away from here."

"Fair enough…," Andrew nodded, sensing the blonde's reluctance to answer, as he picked up the M27 rifle and inspected it, while Daniel stood up from his seat and took a closer look at the bag.

"There's a shotgun in here and a couple shells," Naruto stated as the old man merely nodded and picked up the gun, inspecting it as well.

"Travis, where's the gun I gave you and the shotgun from the Tran's?" the whiskered blonde asked, prompting the curly-haired man to go and grab it from the side yard, where his truck was.

A minute or so later, Travis walked back in holding the shotgun and the pistol, "Here you go…"

Making their rounds inspecting the guns, Andrew and Daniel worked quickly to make sure they were all in working condition, while Naruto took out the contents of the backpack he and Alicia looted from the rich-people house.

Turning his attention to Andrew, who just completed inspecting the shotgun and reloading it, Naruto spoke, "There's some stuff that I looted from an abandoned house the other day. See if we can use it."

"You know how to use this?" Andrew asked Travis as he handed the shotgun to the curly-haired man and took the other hand gun and holster from Naruto.

"I, uhh, I know how to use them," the English teacher admitted as he slung the rifle over his shoulder and placed the extra shells in his jacket pocket, "My dad used to take me hunting when I was young. I just never felt comfortable with guns is all."

Nodding at Travis' admission, Andrew quickly inspected the gun and loaded its magazine with the spare bullets from the boxes Naruto gave him, the soldier gave it back to Naruto. Thanking Andrew, Naruto then took out the two SAT phones and handed them to Andrew, "Here ya go, you seem to know your way around military equipment. There's a pair of SAT phones in there too, or at least that's what Chris called 'em. I'm gonna go double check my room."

With that, Naruto left the four to decide what to do with the guns.

"Is it time yet?" Kurama asked, just as Naruto closed his door and began changing into his more battle-oriented gear, which he took out from the storage seal on his left forearm.

Just about, bud. You up for this? The whiskered blonde asked as he put on his long-sleeved turtleneck shirt, tightened the belt on his black cargo pants, and worked on his boots.

"You kidding me?" the tailed beast asked rhetorically while his container secured the holsters for the tantos strapped on his shins, "It's either take a nap or help you beat up people. Trust me, I'm up for it."

Good to know, Naruto nodded his head as he put on his steel-plated gloves and forearm guards. Making sure it's tightly secured, the blonde strapped his kunai pouch on his right thigh and resealed the rest of his equipment he won't be using back in the scroll and into the storage seal, 'Cause I have a feeling Sage Mode will be needed a lot tonight.

"Oh, brat, whatever would you do without me?" Kurama asked mockingly while his container took out the last remaining 'valued' piece of clothing, an orange puffer vest, he left in his closet and put it on.

Probably dying on contact as soon as we were sent to this world, Naruto replied in turn, a reminiscent smile gracing his face as he picked up the final piece of his ensemble: his forehead protector. Bringing it to his forehead, the Jinchuriki tied it tightly on his forehead and exited out his room, picking up his duffel bag full of spare clothes and essentials.

"You got all your scrolls?" Kurama asked in teasingly, as if to act like a parent reminding his child.

It's in a storage scroll on my other forearm. Don't worry, Kurama-Sensei-Sama, I made sure to sweep my room this morning, Naruto answered in an equally mocking tone as he approached Andrew, who was the only one left standing in the living room. Taking note of his military jacket and vest on, the shinobi spoke, "Y'all decided who gets what toy?"

"Yeah, Mr. Salazar took the shotgun and one of the pistols, Mr. Manawa kept the guns he had before. I have one of the SAT phones, while Mr. Salazar has the other. I'm gonna take the rifle if that's alright with you," Andrew said, earning a nod from the blonde. Taking in Naruto's attire as the both of them exited the house, the soldier couldn't help but notice the metal pieces on the blonde's arms and forehead, "You a part of some black ops operation, kid? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're a soldier."

Chuckling softly as he reached his motorbike and sat on it, "Something like that. Maybe I'll tell you more later. Let's get outta this predicament first, shall we? You remember the plan?"

Opening the driver's door of the SUV, Andrew answered while Daniel rolled down the backseat window, "We'll drop Mr. Salazar off near the stadium where the infected are locked up. While he leads the horde away, Mr. Manawa, Mrs. Clark, and the rest of us are to go the long way around and enter the compound through the garage."

"I will meet you through the garage once I make sure the infected are distracted with the front gate," the bald man chimed in from his seat behind the driver's spot.

"Alright, let's do this," Naruto stated as he started the engine of his bike and revved it a bit. A few seconds later, Andrew's SUV began moving forward, followed by Madison's sedan, and finally, Travis' pick-up truck, with the curly-haired man nodding at the blonde shinobi as he exited the driveway and followed the sedan.

Before Naruto began moving forward, however, he made his familiar 'plus' sign with his pointer and middle fingers, and whispered, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)."

Barely a second later, six exact copies of Naruto either stood or was down on a knee beside him, all of which were looking at the original. Speaking calmly, the blonde shinobi gave his orders, "Three of you go and make sure the infected that Daniel will be leading are thinned out. Make sure the old man's safe."

Just as he finished his last word, three of the shadow clones Shunshin'd (Body Flickered) and were instantly out of sight.

Turning on his headlight, Naruto spoke once more, this time a bit louder due to his engine, "You three sneak into the compound and make sure that, once we have Nick, Liza, and Griselda, everyone else gets out safely. Be seen if you need to be, but stay alive as long as possible. Dispel if there's an emergency you can't handle."

With that, Naruto drove off, increasing his speed as his motorbike easily caught up to Travis' pickup truck.

Not even a few minutes later, their little convoy came to a stop, making Daniel and Travis get out. Seeing this, Naruto asked out loud as he made eye-contact with Travis, "We clear?"

Looking at the front gate, where the soldiers were usually all stationed, Travis looked back at his step-son once more, "Looks like. There are no guards at all."

With Daniel operating the gate controls, the one thing separating the Dead Zone from the Quarantine Zone slowly swung open. Within the next minute, the little convoy was once again back on the road.

Once again, before the blonde moved forward, he made his cross-sign and uttered the familiar words, making another set of six.

"While I realize you're saving your chakra… I do believe the two-thirds you already have from your original amount are enough. Just thought I'd share, in case you were dying of anxiety," Kurama stated matter-of-factly, earning a sigh from the blonde out of what seemed to be relief, "You've been progressing a lot with regaining your abilities, gaki. Trust in yourself."

Thanks furball, Naruto uttered gratefully to his tenant, his worries assuaged for the moment, as he turned to his second set of copies, "I want you six to try and go around the neighborhood. Let everyone know about the situation."

With a consecutive nod, the copies went about their different directions, leaving Naruto to once again ride forward and catch up to Travis as the blonde thought to himself, It's unfortunate that I can't help everyone. This is the best I can do, but it, at least, gives those people a chance. We can't save everyone but we'll do our best. Right, partner?

"Damn straight."

-x-

[A little later… - The Compound]

"They're saying Edwards is taking over after Moyers," a soldier stated matter-of-factly as he leaned on the railing of the little lookout tower overlooking the north gate of the compound he and his fellow soldier were stationed in.

"Who's saying Edwards?" the other soldier asked as he scoffed and blew the smoke from his cigarette and stretched his limbs.

"Superiors, who else," the previous soldier answered haughtily as he looked beyond the gate and surveyed the area.

"There's no superiors left, man," the other soldier scoffed, "There's no one."

Just before the previous soldier could retort his cohort's comment, a bald man waltzed in front of the gate with a flashlight in his right hand casually, as if he was strolling in the park.

"The hell is this?" the soldier with the cigarette asked aloud as he straightened up and flicked his cancer stick to the ground below and shined the industrial lamp beside him towards the middle-aged man, "Is he turned?"

The other soldier squinted his eyes and pointed the business-end of the mounted machine gun he was holding towards the casually walking civilian, "The dead don't use tools, man… He could be infected."

Just then the bald man stopped in front of the gate and looked up to the soldiers, smiling as he did so, "Nice night, gentlemen."

"Sir, you're entering a restricted area," the soldier who had the cigarette yelled below towards Daniel, "Stay where you are. I don't wanna have to shoot you, old man."

Undeterred by the clear threat, Daniel yelled back mockingly and cupped his mouth with one hand, "You should save your ammunition."

Then the old man walked away towards the other direction from where he came from, looking back from where he came from as he did so. Following the old man's line of sight, the soldier with the machine gun paled as he recognized the growing volume of groaning and snarling. As his companion shined his light towards the direction, both the soldiers wore expressions of fear.

There were infecteds. Lots of them.

"Oh my god…" the soldier with the machine gun whispered once as he slightly began shaking, "Oh, god!"

"Holy shit!" the other soldier with the lamp exclaimed as he radioed in and reported, "Multiple infected northwest corner!"

Unbeknownst to the soldiers firing at will, three fast-moving figures decimated the hundreds of reanimations in the back, moving in-between the dead who were too slow to react to their chakra-induced movements as the figures moved in tandem.

Using the cover of darkness to thin out the herd, they're chakra-coated tantos effortlessly severed their intended targets, while the alarms within the compound blared.

Yet it seemed the horde of undead was never-ending.

-x-

[The parking garage on the other side of the compound]

"I led them to the north gate," Daniel said as he jogged towards Ofelia and the rest of the group, stopping as he reached his daughter's side, "So all the soldiers are distracted. We can go now. We should move."

In the distance, shouting and gunfire were heard. Taking notice of this, Andrew checked his magazine once more and loaded his rifle, turning the safety off as he did so, "We need to move quickly and quietly. I'll take point. Mr. Salazar and Mr. Manawa, if you would, cover my six. The rest should stay here."

"I'm coming with you," Madison declared, the look in her eyes showing that no amount of talking-to would change her decision.

"I go where my father goes," Ofelia stated as she stood beside her father and pleaded to Andrew silently with her eyes.

Sighing as he relented, Andrew spoke once more, "Fine. Mr. Salazar, right behind me with O and Mrs. Clarke. Mr. Manawa, cover our rear."

With a nod, the 'adults' grabbed their firearms and prepared to move, while Travis approached his son.

"Chris," the father began talking as he looked his son in the eyes and held both his shoulders, "If things go sideways, if you see anything, you drive. Take the SUV and you drive to the campground. If we're more than thirty minutes, drive."

"Dad, don't leave me here," Chris pleaded as he felt his father's worry through the look Travis was giving him, "I can help. I want to. Let me."

"Bringing him a little closer, Travis wrapped one arm around his son, "We'll find you, I promise."

"I don't even drive yet…"

Hearing their conversation, Madison approached the two, "Alicia can drive if it comes to that."

"And I'm here to beat up anyone who even thinks about approaching Ali and the nerd," Naruto chimed in as he casually flipped a kunai in his hand whilst he stood next to Alicia.

"You're gonna be okay, son," Travis assured Chris as he squeezed his son's shoulder one last time and walked towards Andrew and the others.

"You kids take care of each of each other, you hear me?" Madison asked of Chris as she looked between the three teenagers. Turning around and hugging Alicia, Madison whispered softly, "Take care of the boys."

"Mhm," was the brunette's only reply.

Letting go of her daughter, Madison walked towards her adopted son as he looked her straight in the eyes, Naruto's cerulean orbs seeming to burn brightly.

"Alicia and Chris will be safe," the blonde declared as Madison reached up to Naruto's head and ruffled his hair affectionately, "I promise."

"I know," with a nod, Madison turned around and followed Travis, gripping what seemed to be a hatchet in her hand.

"Naruto," Daniel spoke aloud before he followed Madison, earning the blonde's attention. Chucking a device towards Naruto, the old man spoke once more, "Here's the other SAT phone. We'll radio in when we get our people back."

Then, Daniel disappeared into the door leading into the campus, leaving Naruto, Alicia, and Chris in the garage.

-x-

[Outside the Compound… - with the Shadow Clones]

Thinning out the herd wasn't working.

Between him and the two other copies, trying to fight what seemed to be the majority of El Sereno's former residents was becoming impossible.

"Fucking Kami…," the Naruto-clone whispered softly to himself as he finished off another reanimated corpse and breathed heavily, jumping on top of a tree branch to catch his breath, "the Boss sucks."

"Stop your whining," another one of the clones softly chided him as he landed next to his fellow clone, seemingly just as spent, "If we don't do this, the compound will fall and the people inside will be in danger."

Then, the other clone jumped back into the fray, leaving the previous clone alone once more.

Just as the other clone could retort, the whirring of helicopter blades overhead reached the Naruto-copy's ears, making him look up to the night sky, "That's a rescue chopper…"

Barely a few minutes later, the aircraft that was seemingly reluctant to land in the compound turned around and flew off into the other direction, its whirring disappearing in the distance.

"Looks like the army abandoned its people…" the Naruto-clone reckoned as he made yet another clone and spoke, dispelling the clone a second later, "The Boss needs to know this."

-x-

"Ah, shit."

Hearing the whiskered blonde curse from the backseat, Chris turned his head from the driver's seat and looked at Naruto, "What is it?"

"Nothing…," Naruto weakly replied as he shook his head and made eye-contact with Alicia on the passenger's seat, who slightly looked unconvinced.

Taking the blonde's words at face value, Chris sat back properly in his seat and stared ahead. Not even a minute later, his impatience getting the better of him, he opened the door and stepped out, "This is crazy."

"They'll come back," Alicia reassured the brown-haired teen in the hopes of making him stay in the car, to no avail, as Chris closed the door and walked in front of the SUV.

Deciding to follow the troubled teen, Alicia and Naruto opened their respective car-doors and stepped out of the vehicle, with Naruto going over to his bike and leaning on it while Alicia continued speaking, "If they can't get in, they'll come back."

His worries still quite there, Chris responded, "And leave the others?"

Not knowing quite what to say, the brunette used her default response to just about everything-sarcasm-as she replied in kind, "Would you rather they all died?"

Shaking his head in frustration, "I don't want anyone to die. I don't want that."

"You sound like your dad…"

"Yeah, well, he tries."

Just then, a rather loud thump rang out from somewhere within the garage, followed by the now-slightly louder echo of the undead. Somewhere close by.

Though she knew her words wouldn't exactly help, Alicia continued speaking, as she looked at Chris solemnly, "You… You can't save everyone."

The brunette's pessimism now getting to him, Chris asked, "Why the hell would you say that?"

"Because you can't.," Alicia admitted, as the face of her probably-dead lover appeared in her mind, "Sorry, it's just the tr-"

"You two," Naruto's voice interrupted the brunette, making the two turn to the blonde, who was looking past beyond the SUV and at the other end of the floor they were on, "In the car. Right now."

Following Naruto's field of vision, Chris and Alicia could barely make out the shadows slowly appearing from the other side, where the wall was being shined upon by a light.

Naruto called out to them once more as he cracked his neck, "Ali, Chris. Right now."

Without another word, the two followed the blonde's orders as they both got into the front seat and closed the door as silently as they could. Looking through the windshield, Ali mouthed to her adoptive brother, "Come inside!"

Taking note of this, the blonde merely sent a confident smile and a thumbs up to the brunette as he leaned on his bike once more and mouthed back to Alicia, motioning with his hand as he did so, "Alive. Get down."

The two teens, though confused, understood what Naruto told them and did as they were told. Whispering to Chris, "If they're dead, they'll just keep walking, right? I mean, Naruto's out there to take care of them…"

"He said 'alive', Alicia," Chris reminded the girl as they both tried to hide themselves from the windows, "It might be the soldiers."

With both of his charges quietly hiding in the car, Naruto stared ahead and waited for whoever-whatever-was heading towards them. Barely a second later, three armed soldiers walked into view, the lights within the garage illuminating their faces.

One of the soldiers, a middle-aged man with an unkempt beard, aimed a rifle at the blonde, who was casually leaning on a motorbike, and spoke aloud, "Is that an infected?"

Mirroring his friend, the other soldier, shorter than the previous army-man, aimed his rifle at Naruto, only to relax his arms a second later, "Nah, that's a kid, man."

"What are you doing here, kid?" Their final companion, probably the tallest one out of the three, asked as he got closer to Naruto and stood beside the van. Looking into the window, he recognized two more teens inside, trying to hide themselves in vain, "These your friends?"

"We're waiting for some people from inside the compound," Naruto answered casually as he crossed his arms in-between his chest, "Those two kids were told to stay behind. I'm watching over them for the time being."

The soldier with the scruffy beard chuckled as he then knocked on the driver's seat, where Chris was in, yet the brown-haired teen, though he and the brunette next to did sit up, refused to open the door. Seeing this, the scruffy soldier irritatedly glared at Naruto, "Kid, you better tell your friends to open the door and get outta the car if you know what's good for you."

"Sir," the blonde smiled as he stood up from his seated position and pocketed his hands in a relaxed posture, though he was anything but, "With all due respect, this is our car and we need this to get back home."

"I won't ask again."

Sighing, the blonde Jinchuriki then looked at Alicia and Chris and nodded at them as he motioned the two to exit the SUV, "Come out!"

Fear slightly bubbling up from the pits of their stomach, the two teenagers stepped out of the vehicle and were pulled by the two other soldiers to stand beside each other in front of the car.

"What do you guys want?" Chris asked out loud as he tried to hide his fear, though it was to no avail.

"Transport," the shorter soldier answered, "Son, just give us the keys."

Shaking his head slightly, Chris replied, "No."

Chuckling at the boy's stubbornness, despite being obviously scared, the scruffy soldier insisted, "Come on, man. We'll take you with us."

"We're not going anywhere," declared the brown-haired teen.

"Should you really just stand there while the kid over there gets closer to pissing his pants?" Kurama asked as his container silently stood by the side and watched the altercation unfold.

I'll step in if I need to, don't worry, Naruto silently answered back as he fingered the kunai behind his forearm, out of the soldiers' sights, I'm not always gonna be around to fight their fights. This way, they slowly learn to stand up for themselves. Look at Alicia, silently feeling out the situation.

Naruto was right, for the brunette, though slightly fearful, was subtly taking note of the soldiers' firearms and the space between them and her. Just like Naruto taught her.

"Suit yourself," the sort soldier arrogantly nodded as he then stepped into Alicia's personal bubble and rested his hands on her shoulder, "What about you, girl?"

Seeing this, Chris lost his temper and tried to take the soldier's grubby hands off the brunette, "Hey, you leave her alone. Leave her-!"

The short soldier violently pushed Chris back towards the tall one, who in turn, pinned Chris on the hood of the car.

"Stop it!" Alicia yelled as she made eye contact with Naruto, who silently nodded his head, "I have the keys!"

The brunette then took the keys out of her pocket and handed it to the scruffy soldier, making the tall one let go of Chris.

Yet, not quite satisfied with Alicia's reaction, the short soldier placed his hand on Alicia once more, this time a bit more suggestively, "You sure you don't wanna come with-"

Just then, his hand was suddenly slapped away from Alicia's shoulder and, as if he teleported, Naruto stood in-between her and the soldier, "The lady said no. So back off."

Slightly unprepared for the blonde's interference, the two other soldiers were speechless as they both thought the same thing:

When did he move?

The short pervert of a soldier, however, wasn't quite happy with the defiance in the whiskered blonde's eyes and cocked his fist towards the Naruto, "You little piece of-"

The fist never reached its target.

Instead, Naruto acted ahead of time and, with a chakra-induced kick, sent the soldier flying back towards the wall. Then, acting faster than the other soldiers could keep up with, the whiskered blonde sent a kunai flying towards the tall man's hand who was going for his sidearm, earning a yelp of pain from said soldier.

Not finished yet, however, Naruto then rushed the scruffy soldier and delivered an uppercut, jumping to the side merely a second later to avoid the army man's swipe with his rifle. Unfortunately, Naruto's hit didn't take the soldier down, as the scruffy man then aimed his rifle towards the blonde, though he groaned from the pain, "Stop-ugh! Stop or I'll shoot!"

Snarling as he did so, Naruto halted his movements, though the other kunai from his other hand was ready to fly at any second, as Alicia and Chris ran for cover behind one of the pillars next to the SUV.

The soldier surveyed his two companions: the short one lying on his stomach, unconscious, while the tall one sat on the ground writhing in pain while he clutched his bloodied hand. Looking back at the blonde teen, "Goddamn you! All we wanted was the car!"

"You should've controlled your soldier friend then," Naruto responded in turn as he leveled his own glare at the soldier, "His perverted ass shoulda kept his hands to himself."

"L-Let's just go, Doyle," the tall soldier blurted out as he stood up and slowly walked up to the scruffy man with a rifle, trying to calm the tension in the air, "Collins was a dick anyways! Shooting your rifle will just draw 'em here! They're kids! Let's leave them kids and go!"

Reluctantly, the soldier named Doyle slowly lowered his rifle and looked at his unconscious companion. Taking a deep breath, he then walked up to Collins and heaved the sleeping pervert up to his feet, "Pickard, go and hotwire the pickup truck over there. I'll put this fool in the back seat."

Before he followed Pickard, who walked off towards the other end of the garage where a pickup was, Doyle turned around and looked at Naruto, "We'll go. I'm sorry about this dumbass. You guys needa hurry up and get outta here. The compound will be overrun by those infected soon."

He then turned around and dragged his sleeping friend to their stolen vehicle. Within a few minutes, the three soldiers drove away and were out of sight, leaving Naruto, Chris, and Alicia in the parking garage.

With the soldiers now gone, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he turned around to his two companions who were making their way to him from behind the pillar they were leaning on, "You two alright?"

Merely nodding in confirmation, Chris and Alicia were still quite anxious about what happened, as Alicia looked up to the blonde, "W-What now?"

"Now, we wait."

-x-

[Meanwhile… - With Andrew and adults]

Silently sneaking into the compound was easy.

The lack of guards manning key positions, like the set of the doors they came through, made it easy for Andrew to quickly get Daniel and the others into the compound.

"The holding area's through here," Andrew whispered as they approached a door just like all the others, "There might still be guards so we'll have to stay quiet."

Seeing his newfound companions nod, Andrew opened the door, as silent as possible, and stepped through.

"Good, you're here."

Poised to strike merely inches from his face, stood none other than Naruto, as he then loosened his stance and brought his tanto down to his side, earning a surprised gulp from the soldier.

"Naruto?" Andrew uttered, quite confused-and frankly fearing for his life in that single second-as he tried to make sense of how the blonde was here. Hearing the name aloud, Madison and Travis pushed Andrew through and entered after him.

"Naruto? How are you here?" Madison inquired, confusion and worry forming on her face, as she noted the dozens of people behind Naruto hugging the wall, "What's going on here? Where's Chris and Alicia?"

"Look, mom," Naruto rested his hands on the older blonde's shoulders, "They're safe… probably with the Boss. Right now, we gotta get to safety. Find Nick and get outta here. Follow the other one over there."

Pointing towards the middle of the holding center, Madison saw another exact replica of Naruto, trying to calmly tell the remaining 'prisoners' to fall in line. Before anyone else could ask their questions, however, the Naruto in front of them spoke once more, "I will answer all your questions later. I know you're all confused. But time is of the essence. Follow the other clone and find Nick."

"What about you?" Travis asked, still quite confused, but reluctant to let the Naruto-clone go, "Don't tell me you're gonna go somewhere else."

"I can handle myself, I promise," Naruto insisted as he then looked at Daniel, Ofelia, and Andrew, "Keep 'em safe. I'll see you guys later."

Without looking back, Naruto began prompting the people behind him to follow as he and the rest of the 'prisoners' left from the door Andrew and the 'adults' came in from.

Trying to focus at the task at hand, Andrew began walking down the stairs and approached the other Naruto replica, "Hey… Naruto's twin? I don't know what the hell is going on, but we need to get going."

With his previous task now done, the blonde shinobi-clone nodded at Andrew and the rest of his group. Turning around a second later, he took out one of his tantos and, infusing it with chakra, sliced through the chains holding the gate leading to the backdoor, "Griselda, Nick, and Liza aren't here, but a couple of the detainees mentioned someone. A rich guy in a suit escaping with a teenager who kept on puking."

Exiting the holding area with the clone and Andrew taking point, the group entered the hallways of the school. Looking around, Daniel spoke up, "Where to next?"

"I don't know…," Andrew admitted as he tried to think of anywhere else the soldiers could put the detained civilians, "Maybe the upsta-"

"Shhh," Naruto prompted as he rested a hand on the soldier's arm, as he closed his eyes and pumped chakra to his ears, "You guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ofelia asked softly, trying to listen to whatever the blonde was hearing, with others doing the same.

There was knocking and banging.

"I hear it!" Andrew yelled as he began jogging towards the hallway to their right, "This way!"

As they all got closer to what seemed to be two adjacent doors, Travis, who was keeping up with Andrew at the front, recognized the boy on the other side of the closed door, "It's Nick!"

"Mom! Naruto!" Nick yelled from the other side, though it was coming through weakly due to the door and the little window's thickness, as he repeatedly rapped on the window, "Mom!"

"Nick!" Madison yelled back as they reached the doors and tried to open it from their side, "Open it! Travis, open it!"

"I'm trying!" Travis shouted back as he, Andrew, and Daniel tried to pull the door open.

"We'll get you out!" Madison continued on as she tried to find a slit on the door, or maybe a button on the wall beside it, anything to get the troubled child, "Nick, no!"

"Look out, they're coming!" Ofelia shouted from the back as she watched through the window, the dozens of infected slowly getting closer to Nick and the rich guy.

Realizing that there might not be an escape to this, Nick looked at his mother from the other side of the door and spoke aloud, his eyes wide and tears threatening to fall down, "Mom. Go."

"Madison, look out!" a familiar voice shouted as the rushing form of Liza reached the side of the door, key card in hand, "Move!"

"Hurry!" the blonde woman shouted as she saw an infected mere yards away from Nick.

"It's not working!" Liza bellowed as she repeatedly swiped the keycard, to no avail.

Just then, the wind slightly began to pick up from around them and a blue glow emanated from what seemed to be Naruto's palm, where a spiralling sphere of pure energy spun. Holding his wrist with his other hand, Naruto looked at Nick and at the door, as he then hopped back a few steps, "Everyone, outta the way!"

Andrew, Ofelia, and Madison pulled Daniel and Travis to the side, while Nick did the same with his new companion, as the whiskered blonde then rushed to the door and slammed the spinning ball of chakra on the door's surface. Exactly where the locks would be.

An audible explosion happened next, and a second later, Naruto was swinging the door wide open from the hole he somehow made and pulled both Nick and the suit-clad man from being undead snacks, shouting as he did so, "Let's go, let's go!"

"What was…?" Madison asked as she and the rest of the group looked at Naruto and the spinning ball of energy that was now dispersing into the air on his palm.

"I'll explain later!" the blonde stated as he looked at everyone for a second and then pointed ahead of them, "Let's go!"

Acting fast, Liza ran towards the staircase to their right and headed downstairs, "Follow me! This way!"

While Naruto and the rest of the group followed Liza, the blonde then felt a surge of energy enter his body, as the familiar sensation of Nature energy invigorated him, "Shit…"

"Looks like one of the copies made a call," Kurama mused as he started gathering Nature energy himself in case his container needed it, "Meaning it's getting worse out there if your clones decided to use Sage Mode."

Deciding to focus on getting out of here first, Naruto and the rest soon reached the ground level as they arrived into what seemed to be the kitchen.

"Hush up," Liza whispered as she walked into the room first, with Madison Travis, and Andrew right behind her.

Sneaking around the place, the group tried to stay as quiet as possible, making sure not to cause any loud noises. All of a sudden, just as Liza walked around the corner, an infected appeared as if out of nowhere and attempted to pin her on the kitchen surface.

"Ahh!" Liza shouted whilst she fought the growling reanimation from taking a bite.

"Papa!?" Ofelia yelled as another infected appeared from another room, blocking the path she was about to walk into, while more entered from behind the undead.

Years of experience making him think rationally, Daniel cocked his shotgun and aimed at the undead's forehead and pulled the trigger, splattering its remains on the wall. All around the group, dozens of infected seemed to filter into the room, barring the potential exits as everyone with a firearm then began to openfire, with the rich man even pulling out his own handgun and dropping a couple infected.

"Hey!" Ofelia bellowed as she approached the reanimation pinning Liza down on the kitchen counter, earning said undead's attention. Acting fast, Ofelia then swung the hedge shear she held, effectively slicing through the infected head.

With an iron mallet in her hand, Madison aggressively bopped a zombie who tried to grab her shoulders, with Nick quickly coming to her side and delivering the finishing blow. Naruto, for his part, helped the gun-toting members of his group by taking down the ones who were shuffling a bit too close for a rifle or gun to be safely shot.

"Stay down!" the blonde shouted as his chakra-infused tantos cut through the air and the reanimations like hot knife through butter, "There's too many! We need to go now!"

With the path in front of them cleared, Liza beckoned for the rest to follow her once more as the group finally exited the kitchen, "Where's Chris?"

"He's safe," Travis answered as he and the rest of the group walked through the cafeteria, "Outside the compound with Alicia and Naruto… Well, with Alicia now."

"Don't worry, they're safe," the Naruto-clone answered, as he made sure to stay in the back in case there were more after them, "I promise you that, Liza. Right now, we gotta find another way out."

"We gotta go back to the medical ward," Liza said as they passed through the adjacent doors leading to the hallway, "We get back there, Exner will know."

"Block the doors," Naruto ordered as he went to the janitor's room beside the cafeteria doors, followed by the rich man, as he grabbed two mops and handed one to said rich person, "It won't hold them forever, but it'll give us some time to get some space away from the dead."

"So, who're you?" Madison asked the rich man as he and Nick made sure the door was secured.

"This is Strand," Nick answered for the person, named Strand, as they now tried to catch up to Daniel and the rest of them, "he saved my life."

"Less talking, more getting outta here," Naruto chimed in with a grin as he slapped Nick's back in a brotherly way, "I don't wanna spend anymore time in a school of any kind than I need to."

Meanwhile, Daniel, along with Ofelia, pulled Liza to the side as the group went through another set of stairs and asked her the one question he's been meaning to ask, "Liza, where is my wife?"

Averting the old man's eyes, Liza could do nothing but to shamefully look towards the floor as she replied solemnly, "I'm sorry, Daniel."

"Where is she?" the daughter asked, disbelief in her eyes, as Liza turned to her, "Tell me."

"The infection took her… Everything that could be done was," Liza explained, her voice slightly quivering, "It was just too late."

Tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Ofelia blurted out, "Where? I wanna see her."

Seeing her daughter slowly break into pieces, Daniel stepped in and hugged Ofelia tightly, "Ofelia…"

"No, Papa, no," the daughter weakly sobbed as she struggled to get herself out of her father's embrace, "No, I want to see my mother-!"

Placing a comforting hand on the young woman's shoulders, Liza whispered as her tearful eyes looked straight into Ofelia's, "There's nothing left to see."

With that, Liza went and followed the rest of the group, where, unbeknownst to the Salazars and Liza, Naruto stayed in the back and listened in on the sad news.

"It's not your fault, brat," Kurama whispered to his container as Ofelia and Daniel rejoined the formation, "You did everything you could."

Tightening his hold on his tantos, Naruto thought to himself as he stayed in the back, Did I? Do everything I can?

The few minutes of traveling to the medical bay were spent in silence as the members of the group made sure to make as little noise as possible. It wasn't long until Andrew and Liza reached the door leading into the med-bay, as the woman led while the soldier made sure to aim the business-end of his rifle for any shamblers.

"Doctor Exner?" Liza weakly called out, trying not to raise her voice in case there was any infected, while she and the group cautiously entered the med-bay.

With only the doctor sitting by herself in the middle of all the deceased patients in the room, the rest of the group scattered and made sure it was infected-free while Madison went straight for the medicine shelves, taking any and all useful ones and shoving them in her bag.

"Doctor…," Liza whispered as she approached the person who got her into the compound in the first place, "We need a way out."

Sighing tiredly, Doctor Exner responded as she slightly turned her head to Liza, "You should've gone when I told you to."

"Help us," Travis insisted as he stood beside Liza, "I'll take you with my family, but we need your help."

"Where do you think your family's gonna go?" Doctor Exner asked as she straightened up her posture and looked at Travis with her exhausted expression.

"There has to be somewhere," Travis answered reluctantly, unsure himself of where to go.

"There is a way out," the doctor admitted as she looked at her slightly shaking hands, "Past the ICU, the set of stairs down. Takes you through the sublevel. You can get out. But there's nowhere to go."

Hearing this, Andrew, Travis, Daniel, and Ofelia began to move towards where they came from, intent on getting out of the compound before more of the dead came in, while Naruto and Madison waited for Liza.

"Come with us," Liza insisted as she took one more step towards the dispirited doctor, "There are people you can still help."

"Liza…," Madison softly called out to the woman as she took in the doctor's saddened state, stepping closer towards Liza and resting a hand on her shoulder, "We have to go… She's lost. Come on."

"No one's lost until they're lost," Naruto spoke up as he passed the two older women and knelt in front of the doctor. Looking up at the woman's face, Naruto casually asked, "Miss, what's your name? It can't just be Exner, can it?"

Slowly focusing her gaze towards the blonde's cerulean orbs, the doctor weakly responded, "...It's Bethany. Bethany Exner."

"Bethany…," Naruto repeated the name as he then smiled up at the doctor, "Nice to meetcha, Bethany. I'm Naruto."

Getting no further response, the blonde took a deep breath and continued, wiping the casual smile on his face, "Look, I get it. The people you swore an oath to protect and serve were abandoned by the people you worked for. Now, it feels like nothing just makes sense. You don't know who to trust, don't know who you should point your weapon at, or who you should protect. The fact is, the world, as we know it, is gone. For some reason, the dead are coming back to life. And the ones who swore to protect this country and its people turned their backs on us.

"But this doesn't have to be the end, Doc," Naruto spoke as he held both of Bethany's hands and tightly squeezed it, prompting Bethany to slightly wince and focus at the blonde, "You can die anytime, but living takes true courage. It's not over until you give up, 'cause once you submit yourself to fate, that'll be the end of it. You may not have been able to save these people here… But there are still countless others out there who need saving.

Standing up once more, still holding onto the doctor's hands, Naruto smiled down at Bethany, "I believe you have that courage, Doc. You stayed behind while telling everyone else to get to safety so you can take care of the fallen, that they don't turn into those monsters. I don't wanna let someone like you go out like this. So whaddya say?"

Maybe this doesn't have to be the end…, the doctor thought to herself as she glanced from left to right, taking note of the people she worked with, along with those who tried to fend off the dead, only to get bit, both of which lay around her.

Bethany then chuckled softly as she slowly pulled herself up using Naruto's arms and sighed, "For a kid, you can give a pretty convincing pep-talk. I do hope that's not the only thing you're capable of."

"Does this mean…?" Liza trailed off, not wanting to change the doctor's mind, as she reluctantly asked Bethany.

"I'm coming with," Bethany declared loud and clear as Naruto smiled triumphantly and let her go, giving her space, "Our own government turned their backs on us in our time of need. Fighting to live on is the least I can do for the people we let down. That's the least I can do…"

"Alright then!" Naruto happily exclaimed as he began walking towards the door, followed by the older blonde, "Now, let's get the hell outta here before the bitey ones decide to check on the med-bay."

Grabbing the duffel bag she prepared for when they were supposed to be evacuated out of the compound beside the cot, Bethany Exner followed Liza's little clique out of the compound.

For those we have lost, the doctor thought to herself as she walked alongside Liza, For those we can yet save.

-x-

"So, what's the master plan?" Strand asked as he walked alongside Madison, "I assume one exists."

"What do you mean?" Madison asked in return whilst she followed Naruto and the others as the group made their way back to the parking garage.

"Have you settled on a destination, an end point?" the lavish-looking man reiterated to the blonde woman as they walked through what seems to be a maintenance shaft leading to the garage.

"We're heading east," the blonde woman responded curtly without looking back, "The desert. Should be safe there."

"It's not," Strand replied abruptly as he slightly smirked, as if he knew more than he let on.

Finally turning around to face the man out of annoyance, Madison asked rather irritatedly, "Then what do you suggest, Mr. Strand?"

"Go west," the silver-tongued man smoothly answered.

"What's west?"

"I have a home on the water. I have supplies. I'm prepared."

"Mom," Naruto interrupted as he reached the two adults, having been the one to keep an eye on their backs, "We can discuss all this when we get to the Bo-, I mean Ali and Chris."

Slightly confused, the two walked on, pausing their conversation for now.

-x-

"Chris?" Travis yelled out, though not too loud as to not attract any of the dead that might be in the vicinity, as he and the rest of the group entered through the door to the garage where the cars were parked, "Alicia?"

"We're here! Mom!" Alicia answered aloud as she and Chris got out of the backseat of the SUV and approached her mother and brother, "Nicky, you're alright. Where's Naruto?"

"Right here," the blonde answered from the back as he closed the door they all just previously passed through.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Naruto left Alicia's and Chris's side several minutes earlier under the guise that he would check the area just in case Madison and the others came through another way. Using the Clone Body Switch jutsu, Naruto quickly switched places with the clone accompanying Andrew and the rest of the group.

"Mom! Dad!" Chris exclaimed in relief as both Liza and Chris engulfed the teen with a hug.

"Not to be that guy," Andrew chimed in, interrupting the mini family reunion, as he wrapped one arm around Ofelia who was hugging his side, "But we gotta get outta here before we attract attention."

Letting go of the brunette he was currently embracing, Naruto took a deep breath and began heading for his bike. Mounting the two-wheeled vehicle, Naruto turned to his mother, "We gotta go. Mom, what's the plan?"

"West, apparently," looking at one of their newfound companions, Madison saw Strand nod slightly as she spoke, "You have a lot to explain later, mister. Just know that. Mr. Strand, you're with me."

"I know," Nodding softly at his adoptive mother, Naruto left it at that, deciding to wait for his mother to breach the subject.

"I call shotgun!" Nick yelled casually as he reached the sedan and got into the passenger seat.

"Mom, I'm riding with Naruto," Alicia declared as her mother shook her head with a small smile. Looking at the blonde she was approaching, the brunette got on the bike and encircled her arms around Naruto's waist, "You don't mind, do you?"

"Just hold tight, Ali," the blonde grinned as he started the engine of his motorbike.

With Travis taking Liza and Chris in his pickup, Daniel, Ofelia, and Andrew rode with the doctor in the SUV. Soon the convoy was on the road, with Madison's sedan leading the front, Travis' pickup behind her, followed by the SUV, with Naruto and Alicia bringing the back in the bike.

"Huh… I guess we didn't need to go all out this time," Kurama chimed in, his voice sounding a little disappointed, "Kinda anti-climactic if you ask me…"

I feel it, Naruto responded silently as he followed the convoy, his eyes scanning the road ahead and noting the infected here and there, Although I really think it's better this way… I don't think I'd be able to protect all of them in such a cramped space without using any destructive jutsu.

"Meh, I guess…," the tailed beast murmured, boredom evident in his tone, "I'm going back to sleep then."

Thanks for your hard work today, oh great Fox, Naruto teased in return, earning a growl from his tenant.

With Strand's knowledge of the many roads of Los Angeles, the convoy avoided all the highways and the freeways, assuming that said roads would be blocked by traffic or worse, the dead. Instead, they opted to take the man-made river-why it was called a river, Naruto never knew, for it was as dry as the main road-down to the sea.

"I really thought things would go back to normal…," Alicia uttered loud enough for the shinobi to hear whilst she rested her chin on Naruto's shoulder, as they passed by the wreckage of a helicopter, it's now-undead pilot stuck in his seat, "That, within a few weeks, we would be back to our lives, going to highschool and dying because of exams and finals… Yet, we're driving away from home."

Feeling Alicia tighten her embrace, Naruto leaned his head gently towards Alicia and spoke, "Home isn't the place, Ali. It's the people. But I understand where you're coming from… That's why, we'll stick together, no matter what. I promise."

"Mhm…," the brunette teasingly smirked, though Naruto couldn't see that, as she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, "I know."

-x-

It wasn't until almost an hour later when the convoy reached their destination: A gated mansion by the cliffside, overlooking the ocean.

Getting out of the sedan as soon as the vehicle stopped in front of the second gate within the driveway, Strand stretched his limbs and tightened his necktie whilst he made his way in front of the metal gate's keypad, "Come."

"Grid's dead." Nick chimed in as he got out of the backseat and surveyed the area, taking note that the other vehicles' passengers had also begun to unload.

"Generators kick on when the power dies," Strand explained nonchalantly as he swung the gate open and walked through.

"Alright, everyone," Madison spoke aloud after she saw that everyone was out of their cars, "Get all our stuff and bring it inside."

"Copy that," Andrew responded as he and Dr. Exner grabbed their duffel bags and followed the Salazars who were now headed for the main door.

Seeing everyone go inside, Alicia then looked at Naruto who was rummaging through the duffel bag he stashed on the back of the SUV, "What are you gonna do with your bike?"

"I'm… thinking about it…," Naruto answered a bit distractedly as he grabbed a storage scroll he prepared just for this, Like hell I'm leaving this baby here to get bombed! Not when mom, Ali, and Nicky got it for me!

"Alright, well," Alicia started as she stretched her arms upwards, "I'm hungry so I'll go ahead, see if there's any food in the house. Don't be too long, Whiskers."

"Save me some!" Naruto turned his face to the brunette and smiled until she was out of sight.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto then unfurled the scroll, making sure to do it smoothly, and laid it on the floor, between the front and rear wheels of the motorbike. Weaving the familiar hand signs he learned from his perverted teacher, Naruto concentrated and placed both palms of his hand beside the scroll, whispering, "Funyu no Jutsu (Enclosing Technique)."

Within a second, smoke burst forth from the scroll and the motorbike disappeared. Looking down, the blonde smiled triumphantly as the once-empty scroll now had ink-writings on it in an outward, circular pattern, with the kanji for motorcycle centered clearly on the scroll. Picking up the scroll and rolling it once more, Naruto returned it in his duffel bag and carried it as he headed into the house.

"Alright, everyone," Strand began speaking aloud as he stood beside Andrew, who was setting his guns and his equipment on the counter, "Freshen up, take a shower if you need, and pack any food or valuables you can find. Make yourself at home."

With that, he disappeared into a corridor of the house, as the rich man headed into his room to pack his own stuff, with Chris and Alicia raiding the fridge. Ofelia decided to take Strand on his offer and take a shower in one of the bathrooms, with Andrew in-tow. Daniel began to fiddle and reload his shotgun, making sure that it was in working order.

Naruto, for his part, decided to sit down on the couch while he watched Madison and Nick talk by the cobblestone terrace.

"You good?" Alicia asked as she stood beside the couch and sucked on a popsicle stick, offering another one to the blonde, "You look tired."

"Maybe just a little. Thanks," Naruto replied as he took the popsicle and ripped the plastic wrapping it. Putting it in his mouth, Naruto then glanced to Alicia's side and saw Chris holding a glass of water, "How ya holding up, kid?"

"You're not that older than me, 'Whiskers,'" Chris bit back, though there was no negative emotion in his verbal jab as he smirked at the blonde, "But, I'm alright. Just feels surreal is all. Can't believe the dead are actually coming back to life."

"Yeah…," Naruto softly murmured as he nodded his head. Then, seeing that the terrace was now vacant, as Madison came back inside, while Nick explored the house, the blonde stood up and made his way there, "Imma get some air."

"I'm coming with," Alicia declared as she saw Liza approach Chris and talk to him. Standing beside the blonde, the two entered into small talk and just spent time with each other, with Chris soon joining the two after a couple minutes, popsicle stick in-hand, joking around with each other and trying to have a sense of normalcy after what seemed to be the most intense night they've had since this pandemic began.

All of a sudden, a gunshot echoed from somewhere nearby, prompting the teens to stop their chuckling and look around in the area. Behind them, Daniel came out to the terrace, shotgun in his hands as he, too, surveyed the surrounding.

"Let's go," Daniel decided as he began jogging towards the sound in search of the noise, "Naruto, on me. You kids stay here, let Andrew and Ofelia know."

With Alicia and Chris doing as they were told, the two went farther from the house, following the gunshot that seemed to echo from down below to the beach. Eventually reaching the sandy shores and the graffiti-filled surroundings, Daniel and Naruto realized what happened as they saw Madison and Travis kneeling beside someone lying on the ground.

Liza was dead.

END CHAPTER 3

-x-

Author's Note: Holy hell, that was probably the longest chapter I've written… in ever! I do apologize for taking half a year to write this… After spending the first half of the half-year struggling through school, then the pandemic happened, then the switchover online classes… I also caught up with the show to top it off and, let's just say that, with the way the canon storyline is going, I don't have much love for it at the moment. Not gonna name names, but it really upset me that the show killed off two of its main characters. It just didn't make sense to me. Like, why? But that's just me.

There's not a lot of action, I know. I'm not that experienced with fight scenes to begin with, but I do try. Anyways, that's all from me, friends. Hope all y'all are doing alright in these trying times. Till next time!