District 2, Hajimeni's bustling portion of the city designed to fulfill everyone's needs. There were general stores, weapon shops and even clubs for "entertainment". Naruto shuddered as he remembered his first trip through this district. It was then when the 6-year old learned how some adults try to spend their free nights and ever since, he made sure to avoid eye contact with establishments they spend their time at.

His stomach roared as he traversed through the district. As he looked around for a place to eat, Naruto could only lament how he couldn't eat from his favorite restaurant. "I should have asked for a few bowls of Ichiraku to go before leaving…"

Continuing to seek out an establishment that could help fill his empty belly, the child's eyes were soon drawn to a little girl shoving her way through many of the districts' denizens. She frantically looked up and down and side to side until nothing concern was plastered over her mauve tint face.

She quickly glanced into the bag strapped over her shoulder before continuing her search. Suddenly, her magenta eyes landed on Naruto."Hey, you!"

Her long, deep purple twin tails swayed from side to side as she ran at him.

"What?" Naruto replied.

"You're not human, right?" she asked.

"Not really."

An unnerving smile formed on the girl's face. "Excellent. Finally, someone who can actually be of some use."

"Huh?" the way she said "of some use" set alarms off in Naruto's head.

"I'll get straight to the point. My name's Chrome and I want your help with something."

"Help with what?"

"Tracking down a rat of mine."

"A rat?"

"That's right. I was performing an experiment with it until it ran off."

"Probably because it didn't like being experimented on."

Ignoring his blunt comment, Chrome continued. "I tracked it down to this city, but as soon as I found it, it ran off again. I'd like you to help me pursue and incapacitate it."

"You want to find a rat in this giant city?" Naruto blankly stared at the girl in front of him then turned to leave. "I'll pass."

He normally wouldn't mind helping a person in need, but something about the girl caused his intsicts to cry out to run and never stop.

"W-Wait!" she called, stopping Naruto in his tracks. "I'll give you a reward if you help me."

"Really?" he didn't even bother to hide his doubt as he questioned the legitimacy behind her words.

"Of course. I'll stake the reputation of my family name on it."

Such a declaration was all it took for Naruto to trust her claim. Anyone could have made a claim like that, but the way she said with such pride… It was hard not to take it seriously. But even though he believed it… "Even if I did help, how are we going to find a rat in this huge city?"

Chrome simply snickered. "Did you really think I came here unprepared? How'd you think I tracked the specimen here in the first place?"

She dramatically pulled a small device out of her bag and presented it to him. "I planted a device in it, in case something like this happened. All I have to do is press this button and it should give us its general location."

Chrome then activated the device, showing a red dot on a map.

"Um, Chrome… Isn't that a map of the world?" Naruto asked, perplexed.

The girl wordlessly shoved device back in her bag.

"No matter. My creation shouldn't be too hard to find," Chrome confidently declared.

"But it's a rat in a big city..."

"Trust me, it sticks out."

Before Naruto could express his disbelief in that claim, Chrome was suddenly pushed to the ground by a giant rat. The young fox couldn't believe what he had just witnessed, nor could he decide what was more surprising: the fact that they found the rat that easily or that it was a giant that looked like its entire body was a poorly put together puzzle

Each part of its body was a different color and held together with stitches. There was also a distinctive odor that surrounded it.

It ferociously growled at the girl beneath it before suddenly taking off into the city.

"What was that?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That was my latest creation!" Chrome quickly jumped on her feet. "Now, let's go-! uhm."

"I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto proudly introduced himself.

"Let's go, Naruto! We'll teach him that he can't escape its master!" Chrome declared.

Can't exactly blame the rat from running away if that's how she treats it.

The two immediately gave chase.

"How are we going to take that rat down?" Naruto asked.

"It's simple," another unnerving smile crossed Chrome's face, greatly concerning her partner. "I need you to be live bait."

"What!? Do I look like bait?!"

"All you have to do is catch up to it and lead it to the slums."

"Zero District?"

"Yep. I set a trap there that will definitely catch it."

"If you say so… It's time to go wild!" Naruto flung himself forward and latched onto his target's back.

In response, the rat rampaged wildly, shaking the child around before finally throwing him off.

Now possessing the rat's full, undivided attention, Naruto quickly took off for Zero District. Barely keeping ahead of the rat, he led the rodent into Zero District and found Chrome waving at him. Giving himself one final push, Naruto jumped lunged forward and landed behind Chrome.

"Now then…" A confident smirk formed on the small girl's lips as she watched the rat charge at them. The moment it was close enough, Chrome swiftly pulled a switch out of her bag and aimed it at her target. "Time to receive your punishment for running away!"

She flipped the switch, causing a hole to open up beneath her.

"Noooooooo!" the small girl cried as she fell into her own trap.

Witnesses to her failure, Naruto and the rat could only blankly stare down the hole before exchanging confused glances.

"So, that didn't work," he said.

The rat roared, sending fresh waves of fear down the child's spine. Confronted by a being he couldn't understand, all he could think about was staying on the defensive, narrowly avoiding the rat's strikes.

But as the onslaught continued, he eventually realized that the attacks he was barely avoiding was beginning to become harder to dodge. Keeping up with the rat's amazing speed was starting to take its toll on him and it would not be long before he would get hit.

"Dang it!" Naruto cried.

But before that moment could come, the rat froze in place before suddenly collapsing.

"You shouldn't have turned your back on me," beyond the unconscious rat was Chrome, now holding an empty syringe.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked.

"I injected him with an experimental sleeping drug designed to affect zombies," the girl looked down at her subject and smiled. "Seeing how quickly it took effect, I can say it's a success."

"Wait…" Shocked by what he just heard, Naruto looked down at the rat then back up at Chrome. "That's a zombie?"

"Of course. Before it was just an ordinary dead rat I came across but, after I was finished with it, it became true piece of art!"

Naruto blankly stared at the girl in front of him, trying his hardest to process what he just heard.

"ART?!" he exclaimed. "You took a dead animal and brought it back as a terrifying monster!"

"Impressive, isn't it?" Chrome boasted. "Increased power and speed. If I can get such a result from a mere rat, imagine what I could accomplish with humanoid corpses. Soon, the world will once again marvel at the Artiste name!"

"...You're not exactly a normal person are you?"

"What's so un-normal about my desire to perfect my craft?"

"The fact that it involves dead people."

"Don't you think it would be more un-normal if a necromancer didn't practice the black arts?"

"I think zombies are wrong altogether. It's already bad when people mess with others when they're alive, but isn't messing with their remains crossing a line?"

"I think what I'm doing is better than letting perfectly good material waste away; most of the time forgotten or were never thought about before. But you don't have to get it now. One day you'll understand the beauty of my craft when I eventually unveil my work to the world," Chrome assured him

"I think you'll get worse reactions than mine…" Naruto flatly stated.

"Anyway, you helped me out and gave me a chance to see my work in action, so it's time to give you your reward." Chrome dug into her bag, her face growing flustered as her search grew desperate. "What what happened to my-? Ah!"

The girl's eyes widened with shock as she realized her mistake. "That's right! I spent the last of my money getting that skull!"

"You paid for a skull…?" Naruto couldn't believe what he just heard.

"Well, the seller was shady, but I couldn't deny the deal she gave," Chrome said.

Naruto silently stared at her. He wasn't sure how much more of this entire scenario he could take. "…So, you don't have a reward for me?"

"I did stake my family's honor on it…" Chrome pondered a substitute reward. "I got it."

She dug into her bag and pulled out another syringe. Naruto felt a sharp chill shoot up his spine as the girl approached him with it.

"You seem like the type to make use of this so here," Chrome dropped the syringe into her helper's hands.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's a special remedy I created that can knock out any living creature out. I brought it along in case anyone gave me trouble."

Naruto glanced down at the syringe. He felt drawn to the slightly glowing purple liquid inside. Probably best that I got this from her… Who knows what would happen if this was left in her hands.

"Now then…" a third dark smile crossed the girl's face. "Time to return to my lab with my guinea pig."

Chrome turn her attention to the unconscious rat, her smile slowly replaced with dismay as she took in its large size. "I have to carry the subject back home…"

Naruto was sure that he could hear some slight whimpers from the girl as she steeled herself for the difficult task ahead of her.

"Naruto?" The whiskered boy curiously turned around and watched Smok approached him. "What are you still doing here? I thought you were off to District 2."

"I was at District 2 until I got roped into fighting a zombie rat," he explained.

"A zombie rat?"

"Yeah, that one," Naruto pointed at Chrome struggling to lift the rat off the ground. "That girl made a zombie rat."

"Really?" Smok curiously glanced at the girl, examining her from head to toe. "A succubus necromancer. Even for succubuses, that's still weird."

"What's a succubus?"

"It's a female monster that feeds on life energy. A lot of people can do it, but what's notable about succubus is how they usually do it."

"How do they do it?"

"They…" Smok whispered the answer into Naruto's right ear, causing a horrified expression to crash on his face. "And sometimes they get creative and…"

The child's eyes grew wider and wider with horror as Smok explained in great detail how Succubi drain energy from their victims. "What the heck?!"

"Though some have preferences, they will still drain anyone," Smok finished with an innocent smile.

Naruto shuddered as he processed what he had just heard. He never knew a simple verbal explanation could be so traumatizing nor did he know the things he just heard were even possible "Ugh… I feel dirty after hearing that…"

"Well, there's one thing that can get your mind off that. Let's get to District 2!" Smok jumped into the air and immediately crashed into the ground. "Right… Still can't fly."

Naruto effortlessly lifted her back on her feet and took the lead.

"Guess we're walking," Smok said with a chipper attitude.