Hey Hey Hey!
What's Up? Man, i missed writing stories (I've been writing but never got around to posting them :P
So...Here's the reboot of Dusk Of Mankind under a completely new name and idea. This will NOT be the same as Dusk of Mankind! Naruto will stay until Rick finds his family and then will leave off on his own adventures… enough spoilers though.
—
7/6/2022: Redone this chapter to fit the theme of the story im going to be going for and some recommendations from reviewers.
—
Hope you enjoy it!
"SASUKE!" Naruto shouted, holding a fully formed, one-handed Rasengan. This was his and Sasuke's first major battle to stop him from running away from the village to Orochimaru who only wanted him for his body and eyes.
"NARUTO!" Sasuke shouted, thrusting his Chidori forward, at the same time as Naruto did his Rasengan and when they collided, a huge sphere of energy and power erupted around them, destroying everything.
Naruto, while focused on trying to overpower Sasuke's Chidori suddenly felt a hand grab his arm and another on his left leg. Naruto glanced over his shoulder to see who or what was trying to stop his battle but saw what looked like a half-rotted corpse on the other end of the arm, reaching out of what looked like a tear in the sky behind him. Naruto tried to fight against them but focusing on stopping Sasuke's Chidori and trying to get them off of him at the same time was too much for him.
From Sasuke's point of view, it looked like Naruto's body was slowly disintegrating into nothing.
Eventually, Naruto was pulled into the portal and he blacked out. Naruto felt like he was falling immediately, but as he looked around, he saw nothing but darkness all around him. Everywhere he looked, he could only see the darkness of what seemed like a never-ending void, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel like something was watching him.
Finally, Underneath him, a bright white light appeared and he was approaching fast as he realized he was in fact falling. Once he reached the light, it overtook his entire vision, and inevitably passed out.
When Naruto woke up, he was on top of a large building. "Ow... what the hell happened..." Naruto muttered as he started to get up on his feet. when he was finally standing on his own two legs, Naruto walked to the edge and looked around. "what... w-where the hell am I?" Naruto shouted.
'Alright Naruto... calm down... what's the last thing I remember?' He thought to himself before trying to think back. 'I was fighting Sasuke and our Rasengan and Chidori's clashed, there was some weird living corpse that dragged me into a tear in the sky and now I'm here.'
He couldn't help but sigh. "My best guess is I'm no longer in the Elemental Nations," Naruto said to himself before taking a good look around. "This seems to be some form of town or village... or this place's version of a village" looking over the edge of the building he was standing on, Naruto saw a bunch of people wandering all over. All of them looking like the creature that dragged him here to begin with.
"Are those zombies?" Naruto asked to himself, remembering back to some silly book he read as a kid. "I'm going to avoid them just to be safe-" Naruto continued before hearing a loud boom come from down the road. 'what the hell?' Naruto thought before jumping off the building and running through the roads towards the booms which were getting louder and louder the closer he got.
Quickly turning a corner around a building, Naruto saw two people running through the streets away from a bunch of rotting people.
"Hey" Naruto called out to them and when they turned around, he had a gun pointed in his face. "Whoa!" Naruto said quickly and the man lowered the gun slightly but kept it in his hands just in case.
"Slow down there cowboy," One of the two said to the first. "He's human. They can't speak and he's not covered in blood and gore"
"I'm Glenn, this is Rick," the Asian man, now known as Glenn said, pointing to himself and Rick respectively. "It's nice to see another friendly face" he continued before closing a large metal gate behind them to stop the creatures from coming through.
"Listen, I'd love to chat but we got a bunch of zombies at my 6 o'clock," Naruto said, pointing behind him with his thumb. "So unless we want to be eaten by those guys, we better get a move on"
"Yeah. follow me! Quick!" Glenn said, before turning around and running for a ladder that went all the way up to the top of the building. When they reached the top, they ran across the rooftop and into another building. Two people ran out of the doorway they were going to enter and started killing two of the zombies on the roof before they followed the group and closed the door behind them.
"Come on Morales, let's go!" One of the men shouted as they ran inside. as soon as they walked inside, the two people that ran out and Glenn led them through the winding maze of halls before stopping in a large shop. almost as soon as they stopped, A blond woman grabbed Rick by the shirt and threw him up against a wall before holding another one of the strange weapons against his face.
"Why you! We ought to kill you!" a blond woman shouted at him, but before anything else could happen, one of the guards that came to their rescue spoke up as he was getting out of his gear.
"Chill out, Andrea. Back off" Naruto assumed this was Morales since this man did not sound the same as the man that told Morales to 'come on.'
"Come on, ease up," a black lady said softly to Andrea.
"Ease up? We're all dead because of this stupid asshole" Andrea said, pushing the weapon against Rick's forehead.
"Andrea, I said back the hell off," Morales said. "Well go on then, Pull the trigger" he continued, finally making Andrea put the gun down.
"We're Dead- all of us- because of you," Andrea said, eyes tearing up.
"Wait, what do you mean because of me?" Rick asked.
"Well while you were popping off rounds, every zombie for miles heard you and now they're probably gathering around here, trying to break in," One of them said, and they did introductions really fast.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, who are all of you?" Naruto said. Naruto learned that the black male and female were named T-Dog and Jacqui. Suddenly they heard Gunshots coming from the roof of the building they were currently in.
"Is that Merle?!" Morales said, and he and everyone else ran up the stairs of the building to the roof. When they finally got there, Naruto saw a man with a larger weapon shooting down at the zombies from above.
"Hey, Dixon! What the hell are you doing man?! Are you crazy!" Morales shouted from across the rooftop as the group ran to him. Merle laughed and shot another zombie in the head before turning to the group.
"Hey, Y'all should be more polite around the man with a gun!" Merle laughed as he jumped down from his perch.
'So that's what they're called' Naruto noted, now knowing that the strange weapons he's seen people carrying are called 'guns'
"Man you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog said, running up to Merle and shouting in his face. "And you're bringing more of em' down on our asses. Man, just chill!"
(The words ahead may be offensive to some but please know that none of them are my own views or opinions. I respect all and every race and would never call them the words ahead myself)
"Hey! Bad enough I got this Taco Bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you?" Merle started. "I don't think so, Bro. That'll be the day"
"Huh, 'That'll be the day'? You got something you wanna tell me?" T-Dog asked before Morales started trying to break up the ensuing fight.
"You want to know the day?" Merle asked. "I'll tell you the day, Mr. 'Yo'. Is the day I'll take orders from a N*gger!" T-Dog swung his fist at Merle but Merle quickly leaned back to dodge the punch and butted him in the face with the stock of his gun before beating him ruthlessly and when he finally stopped, he pulled a gun out and pointed it in T-Dog's face.
Naruto, moving faster than everyone noticed, quickly knocked the gun from Merle's hand and grabbed him by the head before slamming it into the concrete floor, breaking his nose and causing severe pain if his cry of pain was anything to go off
"Stupid Idiot" Naruto said, before lifting him up and dragging him to the pipe on the roof. "Hey, anyone got anything to keep this idiot still?" Naruto asked and Rick nodded before reaching into his pocket to pull out a metal contraption. Unlocking it, Rick put one end on Merle's arm and the other on the pipe, taking away Merle's ability to move.
"Now listen up, Merle. Things are different now, there are no N*ggers anymore, No dumb-as-shit, inbred, white-trash fools either, only white meat and dark meat. There's us and the dead" Rick said.
"Screw you both" Merle said, looking at Rick and Naruto.
"I can see you make it a habit of missing the point"
"Yeah? Well screw you twice" Merle said
"Ought to be polite to the man with a gun" Rick said, cocking his gun and pointing it at Merle's head. "Only common sense"
"You wouldn't" Merle groaned out. "You're a cop"
"All I am anymore is a man looking for his Wife and Son" Rick started. "Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that" Rick started to pat Merle down after finishing his words.
After Rick patted down Merle, he pulled out a bag of Cocaine.
"Got some on your nose there," Rick said, flicking Merle's nose before standing up and throwing it off the edge of the building.
"Hey! What are you doing man!? That's my stuff!" Merle shouted. "If i get loose you better pray!"
Rick and Naruto walked off to the other side of the building before Morales followed them.
"You're not Atlanta P.D. Where are you from?" Morales asked Rick.
"Up the road a way" Rick answered, making Naruto chuckle a bit.
"Well, Officer Friendly, from up the road a way...Welcome to the big city" Morales said before turning to Naruto.
"Hey Kid, how old are you?" Morales asked, catching everyone's attention as they never noticed how old he looked. "You're what, 15? 16?"
"13," Naruto said. "My birthday is October 10th"
"Ah, you've still got a little bit until your fourteen. last I checked, it was August 12th, it's been about 2 days since then so August 14th" Naruto was shocked inwardly but didn't show it at all. In his world, it had just turned October 10th and he had just reached 13.
'Just how long did I spend in that portal...or whatever it was' Naruto thought before coming back from his thoughts. "So can anyone explain what a 'cop' is, what those creatures are outside, and some other basic things about this place?"
Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. "Im not from around here" he muttered.
"A cop is a person who goes around and arrests criminals, people who break the law. They arrest criminals and protect the peace of cities and towns like this one." T-Dog said while tinkering with something in his hands. "what's going on outside is the zombie apocalypse. The Dead come to life. If you get bit, you turn into one"
Naruto looked down and began to contemplate everything going on around him, and when he tuned back into the conversation, Morales was asking T-Dog how the signal on a Walkie-Talkie was, which Naruto assumed was the thing he was tinkering with.
"Like Merle's brain, Weak" T-Dog answered, making Merle give him the middle finger.
"Well keep trying," Morales told T-Dog.
"Why? It's not like they can do anything" Andrea said, looking at Morales before going to her backpack. Morales turned to see both Naruto and Rick looking confused.
"Got some people outside the city is all," Morales said. "No refugee center, that's a pipe dream"
"Then she's right, we're on our own. Up to us to find a way out" Rick said.
"Good luck with that. These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what i hear" Merle started. "Ain't that right, Sugar Tits?" Merle continued, talking to Andrea
Morales looked to Rick. "Streets ain't safe...Now there's an understatement"
"What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick asked and Morales looked surprised for a moment before turning around and looking straight at Glenn.
"Oh Man, Hey Glenn, Check the alley, see any manhole covers?" Morales asked, making Glenn get up and run to the edge of the building overlooking the alleyway before running back to the group.
"No, must be all out on the streets where the Geeks are," Glenn said, before getting cut off by Jacqui.
"Maybe not, Old building like this? Built in the '20s? Big structures like this often have drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements"
"How do you know that?" Glenn asked.
"How she knows it doesn't matter anymore, we should just be happy she does," Naruto said, speaking up for the first time in a while. "Let's go check it out!" Naruto said, before getting up from his sitting position and running to the doorway.
"Well? Y'all coming?" Naruto said when he saw they were looking at him and hadn't moved yet. Finally, they all started to move along with Naruto and they followed Glenn to the drainage tunnel.
"This is it? You're sure?" Morales asked, looking over at Glenn while keeping his flashlight aimed downward into the tunnel.
"I really scoped this place out the other times I was here," Glenn said. "It's the only thing in the building that goes down- but I've never gone down it- who'd want to, right?" Everyone turned their heads to look at Glenn. "Oh, Great"
"We'll be right behind you-" Andrea started but was cut off by Glenn right as she finished what she was saying.
"No. No, you won't. Not you" Glenn said very quickly.
"Why not? Think I can't handle it?" Andrea said, slightly angry at Glenn.
"Speak your mind," Rick said, placing his hand on Glenn's shoulder for a moment before taking it off.
"Look, Until now, I've always come here by myself- In and out, grab a few things- no problem. First time I bring a group, everything goes to hell" Glenn spoke. "You want me to go down this Gnarly hole? Fine. But only if we do it my way. It's tight down there, if i run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed"
"I'll take one person, Not you either, Rick. You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass" Glenn said. "Andrea, you've got the only other gun so you should go with him. Morales and Jacqui should stay here in case something goes wrong, you both can yell down to us"
"Naruto, I want you with me, you and I are the smallest people here and I've seen you move, you're fast, like, really fast. You and I can escape quickly if we run into anything" Glenn said.
"All right, everyone knows their jobs," Rick said, patting Glenn on the shoulder twice when Naruto nodded. Glenn put his flashlight in his mouth and started his descent down the ladder.
"You be safe down there, kid," Rick said, patting Naruto on the shoulder as he walked away.
"Safety is my middle name" Naruto chuckled and started his descent down as soon as Glenn reached the bottom.
"Alright, which is the way we gonna go?" Naruto asked, looking at the two paths. "No way we're splitting up, that increases the likelihood of us both being killed when we have no one to rely on"
"Good Thinking. Let's go through the North Tunnel" Glenn said, pointing to the tunnel straight ahead of them and Naruto nodded and followed Glenn into the small space that was just big enough for them to walk comfortably in. As they walked through the tunnel, Glenn asked Naruto something.
"So Naruto, I've been meaning to ask, what's with that pouch on your thigh? Weapons or something?" Glenn asked and Naruto nodded, hand reaching in it.
"Yeah," Naruto said, pulling out one of his Kunai knives.
"Whoa…" Glenn said with a grin.
"Whoa is right, These babies can be thrown by me over 50 feet away and I'd still hit my mark," Naruto said, right when they reached a barred area in the tunnel.
"Well Jacqui was right, this is a sewer tunnel," Glenn said, shining his light through before a zombie appeared in the vision of the light. Thinking quickly and before the Zombie could react, it had a kunai embedded in its forehead.
"Whoa...Nice hit. Now how are we going to get through?" Glenn asked, making Naruto smirk. He grabbed ahold of the bars and channeled chakra through the muscles in his arms, giving him the necessary boost in strength he needed, and he began to pry them apart, one by one until there was a decent-sized hole they could get through to continue on.
"What the hell?" Glenn asked and Naruto looked at him over his shoulder. "Tell you later"
They both squeezed through the hole and continued on until they reached a manhole cover going into what they assumed was the main street.
"Should we look?" Glenn asked and Naruto nodded.
"Be my guest" Naruto said, swiping his arm upwards to point at the manhole cover above them. Glenn climbed the ladder and pushed the manhole cover up just enough to see out of.
"Were in a construction site!" Glenn yell-whispered to Naruto and quickly moved the Manhole cover so they could climb out.
"There's a Truck!" Glenn said. "They always keep the keys on-site in construction areas. We should grab them and collect the others and drive back to basecamp" Naruto quickly ran off to search for their keys while Glenn looked for anything else useful.
"I found them!" Naruto shouted to Glenn, just loud enough for Glenn to hear but not loud enough for the zombies outside the gates to hear. He quickly grabbed a set and tossed them to Glenn. "Truck Number 3!" Naruto said and they quickly found it and got in, starting it up. It was then that Glenn noticed a red muscle car.
"Hey, Naruto. Can you drive this? I have an idea!" Glenn said, making Naruto look at him confused but he nodded anyway. Glenn got out of the car and smashed the window of the red muscle car before hot-wiring it and driving off with the alarm blaring.
"Everyone! Get to the garage area of the department store and be ready for Naruto!" Glenn shouted into the walkie-talkie he had on him to contact the group, as he drove past the doors of the Department store, driving all the zombies away.
"Alright, Naruto... you got this" Naruto said, trying to push away the nerves he felt as he turned the truck on and drove off towards the tower.
When the group reached the Garage, they opened it and saw a truck bed, open and waiting for them.
"Get in!" Naruto shouted as he got out of the driver's seat and helped them get in. "Where's T-Dog?" Naruto asked.
"Don't Leave me!" Naruto heard a second later and turned and saw T-Dog running to the truck.
Naruto grabbed T-Dog by his outstretched arm and pulled him in before jumping out himself.
Everyone couldn't help but look at him in confusion." T-Dog, where is your camp?"
After T-Dog told him the general location, Naruto nodded. "I'll meet you there later" Naruto smiled softly at them as he watched their eyes widen. He quickly shut the back of the truck and slammed on the side.
"Rick! Drive!" Naruto shouted and he watched as the truck drove off. Naruto sighed again and looked up at the top of the skyscraper and began to gather chakra at the bottom of his feet before running up the side of it. after a moment of running, Naruto finally reached the top and saw Merle still chained.
"MERLE" Naruto shouted. "Hold your arm straight out and don't move," Naruto said and watched as Merle jumped in surprise at hearing his voice.
"How the hell did you get back up here?" He asked and Naruto just glared at him.
"Do it" Naruto said before Merle held his arm out. Once Naruto saw the chain straighten, he quickly flicked a Kunai at it, which shattered it, setting Merle free. running over, Naruto picked up his Kunai and helped Merle up. "Merle I need you to trust me, okay?"
Merle looked like he was about to argue but sighed and nodded. "Okay. get on my back" Naruto said kneeling down. After a moment, Naruto felt his weight settle onto him. "hold on tight" Naruto said as he ran to the edge of the building and stuck to the side right as the zombies broke through the door.
"what the hell kid!" Merle shouted as Naruto ran down the side of the building. "How the hell are you doing this?"
"I will not be answering questions about my abilities and you will not be telling others about them, okay?" Naruto said, glaring slightly at Merle over his shoulder, and was satisfied when he felt Merle nod onto him.
"good" Naruto said as they finally reached the bottom. "You can get off now"
Naruto began to lead Merle back to the construction site he and Glenn found as there were more trucks and keys there.
[TIMESKIP]
Merle groaned as they walked through the forest. "How much longer are you going to complain about your legs hurting" Naruto muttered while rolling his eyes.
"As soon as we get back to camp and I can sit my ass down" Merle growled as they walked through the dark. Not long after, they reached the top of a hill and saw a campfire not far away.
"well go sit your ass down then, Merle" Naruto snorted as he watched Merle walk over to everyone sitting around the fire and chuckled softly when he saw everyone's shocked faces. Naruto, however, stayed back, content with just watching them for now.
After a few moments of watching, Naruto saw Glenn look in his direction and his eyes widened. He quickly got up and ran over.
"Naruto! why are you here all by yourself man?" Glenn asked. Naruto smiled and he could see over Glenn's shoulder that some others had noticed him too.
"Just trying to figure out what to say" Naruto smiled.
"well come on then!" Glenn said, grabbing Naruto by the wrist and dragging him over.
"You must be the boy wonder everyone was talking about," A man said, standing up and walking over. "I'm Shane," he said holding out his hand to shake.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said with a smile as he reached out and shook Shane's hand. After that, everyone started talking and doing introductions, asking what happened, and before long, they could only see the fire and themselves from the darkness of night.
"Disoriented, I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, Confusion- all those things but...Disoriented comes closest" Rick said.
"Words can be meager things," Dale said. "Sometimes they fall short"
"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while i thought i was trapped in some Coma Dream, something I might not wake up from ever" Rick continued.
"Mom said you died," Carl said from Rick's lap.
"Your mother had every right to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it" Rick responded.
"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta...and it never happened," Lori said.
"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell. And from the look of that hospital, It got overrun" Rick said.
"Yeah well, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, Y'know?" Shane said.
"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it" Rick thanked Shane.
"There go those words falling short again" Dale spoke. "Paltry things" Naruto chuckled but after a moment, everyone heard wood clatter suddenly and turned to look in the direction it came from.
"Hey, Ed. Might want to rethink that log?" Shane asked and Ed grunted out a response.
"It's cold, man" Shane sighed at the response.
"Cold doesn't change the rules now does it?" Shane asked. "Keep our fires low, just embers, so we cant be seen from a distance, right?" once again, Ed grunted out a response.
"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once" Ed looked over at Shane, who had gotten up and walked over to him.
"Are you sure you want to have this conversation, man?" Shane whispered out to Ed
"Go on, pull the damn thing out. Go on!" Ed said, motioning to the slowly growing fire due to the log Ed added. Shane reached down and pulled the log out before going to sit back down. Everyone stayed and chatted for another fifteen minutes or so, before Dale spoke up.
"Well we all should get some rest for tomorrow," Dale said, as he and Naruto both got up.
"Hey, Dale. You got a piece of paper and something to write with?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah. why do you need it?" Dale asked, halfway in his RV.
"I want to write a letter. I've been doing it since the beginning of this apocalypse, just writing about my day and what I did" Naruto said, making a lie up on the spot. "Today has been an eventful day and I need to get started"
"Of course, Naruto," Dale said. "One second" Dale walked into the RV and returned a few seconds later with a small journal.
"Here, you can have this" Dale said, handing the journal over to Naruto along with a pen.
"Thank you, Dale. Have a good night" Naruto said, and Dale nodded as Naruto walked away and over to the truck where he would be sleeping.
Naruto wrote a quick note and placed it in the truck and waited for everyone to go to sleep before sneaking off, away from camp under the cover of night.
What'd you guys think? I know someone reviewed about not letting him have Chakra but I feel the need to let him have it as a memento of his old world. Thank you to GuestGuest for the kind reviews! (whoever you are)
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed it!
Peace!