Aright, this is your last warning. This chapter is going to be a bit gory and is a sign of things to come in the following chapters. Turn back now if you're whole-heartedly against that.
And don't worry; I'm working on the next chapter of "A Few Second's Difference." I was working on it before I wrote this but had to pause to get his out of my system. Now that this chapters done I should be able to get that one done before the weekend.
NARUTO ZOMBIES!
Chapter 2
Dead Man Walking…
There had to be at least 30 of them up there, looking over the area presumable for survivors. You could see there sound forehead-protectors they wore, although where they came from was the least of Kakashis concerns.
"There's the one I pinned down!" Tenten whispered.
The one she was referring to was being carried on the back of a much fatter zombie-nin, his arms wrapped around the fatty's neck. His legs had been severed just below the waste, and the stumps hung uselessly in the air.
"What does it take to kill these guys?" she grumbled, looking over the zombie-nin in shock.
Their skin was a leathery and gray, giving them the appearance of weeks old corpses. Their bodies were covered in various wounds, both minor and severe. They all wore outfits reminiscent with the sound five, complete with those purple ropes worn by Orochimaru's followers.
The one in the middle seemed to be the leader, and out of all of them he seemed to be the worst off. Standing at an impressive six foot six he carried a large sword on his back about the same length as Zabuza's, but only half the width. His arms were crossed against his chest, but that didn't hide the numerous chunks of flesh he had missing from them, large enough so you could make out the bone underneath.
But the most gruesome thing about him though had to be his face. While one half of his face appeared normal aside from some decomposition, the other half had been torn to shreds. Bits of flesh and muscle hung from his bloody skull like streamers, it was a wonder his whole face hadn't fallen off.
By all accounts, this was the most fucked-up thing Naruto had ever seen.
Kakashi stared at them through the window, processing this new information. "There're zombies," he finally said.
Sakura looked strangely at her old sensei, "What?"
"Zombies," Kakashi explained, "I read about them in the 'Icha Icha Halloween Special.' The hero had to fight off a legion of people who had been raised from the dead as zombies. They couldn't feel pain of be killed, except by destroying the brain."
"So what happened in the book?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi patted her head, "I think you're a little young to be hearing about that sort of thing Sakura-chan."
"How can he still be perverted in times like this?" Sakura thought to her self.
Kakashi backed away from the window, motioning for the rest to do the same. "Alright then, we need a plan."
"We need to get word back to Konoha as soon as possible," Guy said. "They need to be warned of this, and we need to get Neji to a hospital as soon as…"
"That won't do any good," Sakura told him, "Neji condition is deteriorating rapidly. By the time we got him to a hospital it would be too late. The best chance I have of helping is here and now."
Guy reluctantly nodded, "Alright, but word still need to be gotten to Konoha."
Kakashi nodded, "I agree, this is obviously some new plot by Orochimaru and time could be off the essence." He turned towards Sai, "Sai, I want you to sneak out the back and make a run for Konoha while we distract the enemy outside. Avoid any…zombies… and don't engage the enemy if you don't have to, understand?"
"Yes sir," Sai nodded.
"Alright," Kakashi continued, "here's what we're going to do…"
"I'm telling you guys they came through here!"
"Whatever ya cripple," one of the other zombie-nin grumbled." I don't see anything here but our leftovers."
"Shame really," the fat one carrying the cripple said, "if we hadn't been so careless we could have made these guys last longer. Just look at all that wasted meat…"
"Well next time have more self-control fatty!" The cripple growled, almost getting himself thrown off by the fatty.
The group of zombie-nin stood on a house overlooking what was left of the village. The only reason they had come back here at all was because they found their legless comrade crawling on his hands yelling something about fresh meat, but so far though they hadn't seen so much as an insect.
"Can someone else take this guy? I'm getting tired of holding him." The fat one said.
"What the hell you complaining for fatty?" The crippled zombie asked, "You know we don't get tired anymore."
"I mean I'm getting tired of your constant whining!" Fatty shot back.
"Enough." The tallest zombie spoke, an air of authority about him. "Bickering isn't going to find our next meal any faster."
"Oh stop acting all high and mighty Deddo!" Fatty told him, "Orochimaru may have put you in charge, but as far as we're concerned it's every man for himself!"
In a flash Deddo held the insubordinate ninja by the scruff of his shirt, holding him up to eye level. He growled into his face, revealing his blood-stained teeth. "Care to repeat that fatty?"
"Hey watch it! I'm trying to hold on to him here!" The cripple yelled.
Fatty just gritted his teeth and shook his head no; not wanting to get his body messed up more than it already was.
Deddo grinned, "That's what I thought." He let go of the fat zombie and turned his attention to the rest of his men. "I want the rest of you to scout the area and let me know if you see anything, you understand?"
"Right away sir!" The zombie-nin replied in chorus, saluting their leader.
"Good, now as for me I'll…"
Deddo was interrupted when a kunai suddenly came soaring out of the house just across the street, embedding itself in fatty's gut.
"Hey Deddo, I see something," one of the other zombies said, getting a chuckle out of some of the others.
Deddo wasn't laughing however as he saw the little scrap of paper attached to the kunai suddenly bust into flames.
"Shit, it's an exploding tag!" The cripple shouted, pushing himself off his ride.
The zombie-nin barely had time to react as the tag went off in fatty's gut, creating a huge explosion that sent the zombies flying and incinerated fatty. The groups were thrown violently into the air and hit the ground like rocks.
Tenten burst out the front door of the house, getting the attention of the fallen zombies as she pulled out a pair of scrolls and tossed them in the air.
Deddo landed on his feet in front of the remains of the building, staring at the kunoichi with a look of hunger in his eyes. Ignoring the scrolls she threw he shouted to his comrades "LOOKS LIKE MEATS BACK ON THE MENU BOYS!"
The other zombie-nin gave various shouts of approval and joined their leader in the attack; only to be caught by surprise as Tenten took to the air and joined her scrolls.
Tenten spun in the air, twirling her trademark scrolls around her body. In an instant a barrage of different weapons filled the air, raining down on the zombies below.
Deddo looked up in the air and saw several bladed weapons honing in on him. "Aw shit," he muttered, dodging a pair of sickles and deflecting a number of shrukin with his sword.
The other zombie-nin weren't as lucky. The sound of metal piercing dead flesh filled the area as various swords, sickles, axes, and other sharp instruments pierced the undead ninjas throwing some to the ground and cutting of body parts on others.
Tenten landed gracefully on the ground, letting the empty scrolls fall around her. She looked up, not as surprised as she would have been to see the zombies getting to there feet again, her weapons still embedded in their flesh.
Deddo pointed his weapon towards Tenten. "Dinner time" he said, much to the delight of his comrades.
Tenten only smirked, and before the zombies had a chance to rush her she pulled her hands back, giving them a view of the strings she had connected to her fingers.
As if on there own her weapons began to move again. The blades ripped themselves out of their targets, dealing more damage as they sliced through muscle and bone and severed the limps of most of the zombies, sending them collapsing to the ground.
She jerked her hands upwards sending her weapons flying into the air and prepared to send them crashing back down on her undead opponents until a voice from above cut her off.
"Missed one."
Tenten looked up in shock to see Deddo in the air, having jumped too quickly for her to see. In one precise move he severed the strings connecting her to her arsenal which caused the weapons to fall useless to the ground, although they did impale a couple more zombies.
"You're mine!" Deddo shouted as he fell towards her, his mouth opened wide and sword ready to cleave her in two.
Tenten sudden smile caught Deddo by surprise, and just as he was about to come with slicing distance of her Kakashi burst up from beneath the ground and dealt an effective uppercut into Deddo's jaw, sending him flying into the air.
"They had this planned?!" Deddo mind screamed as he went flying into the air. Before he had a chance to compose himself however he saw the form of might Guy jump from the roof, landing a terrific spinning kick into the side of his face sending him soaring horizontally through the air and crashing into a cart of vegetables.
Guy landed next to Kakashi on the ground and struck his "nice-guy" pose, "Hear me legions of the undead! You have no hope of defeating we who are filled with the vitality of the springtime of youth!"
Kakashi sighed, "Must you always say something like that?"
Out of the original 35 zombies, only 21 were able to get back to there feet after Tenten's attack, the rest were either trying to crawl on severed limbs or just not moving altogether.
"Who the hell are these guys?" One of them asked, pulling a knife out eye socket.
"No idea," another answered, "but I call dibs on their brains."
The zombie-nin rushed forward, the various weapons imbedded in their bodies doing little to impede their progress. Kakashi and Team Guy got ready and prepared themselves for the fight.
"Remember, don't let them get a hold of you," Kakashi reminded his teammates.
Guy nodded, "Don't worry about us, we can handle these creatures." He flashed a smile towards Kakashi, "My eternal rival, what say we see who can subdue the most zombies! If I lose I'll do 600 one-armed pushups!"
"And I will do 600 sit-ups if I cannot keep up with Guy-sensei!" Lee added as he came out of the house, posing in the same manner as his idol
Kakashi rolled his eyes just as the first zombie-nin approached him, and with a swift movement grabbed him by the arm and flipped him over his back and landed a swift kick onto its neck, effectively breaking it. The display did little to slow the other zombies, who by this point were too hunger-crazed to care about anything else.
The battle continued like that for awhile with Kakashi, Guy, and Lee punching heads and breaking bones while Tenten took out enemies from a distance, landing kunai is places to slow down the undead attackers.
While the zombie-nin weren't very skilled, they more than made for in their stamina. No matter what was done to them they kept coming, and the four man team was finding things a bit more difficult than they had expected.
Kakashi blinded another zombie with a pair of kunai and made a quick scan of the area, not seeing a particular zombie joining the fight. "Where did that one with the sword go?"
Tenten was the first to spot him, "Lee, behind you!"
Lee turned to see Deddo's sword being swung right at him and ducked just in time to avoid it, back flipping away as Deddo made another swing.
"You have no chance against the springtime of youth!" Lee shouted as he dodged another slice.
Deddo snorted. "Oh shut up already."
With a surprising amount of speed Deddo dodged one of Lees attacks and, using his sword like a pole vault, followed up with a powerful kick of his own into Lees chest and sending him crashing to the ground.
Lee hit the ground hard and looked up to see Deddo ready to stab his sword into his gut. Lee rolled out of the way just in time, missing the blade by a few centimeters and aiming a precise kick into Deddo's face.
To Lee's surprise Deddo dissolved into a pile of water, "he was a water clone?" He though as he turned around to see the real Deddo aiming his sword for his chest, too close to avoid.
Deddo attention suddenly shifted to the right and he quickly moved his sword to block an attack from Kakashi, pushing him back several yards and putting Lee out of harms way.
"I got this," Kakashi told Lee.
Deddo looked at Kakashi, the flesh covered side of his face forming a half-smile. "Underestimating me, don't you think?"
Kakashi just pulled out a kunai and twirled it on his finger, "Not really, not too difficult taking down a beaten up corpse."
Deddo chuckled. "Yeah, you did a good job taking down the others," he gestured towards Tenten and Guy who had a group of dispatched zombies lying around them and were taking down any others that came there way. "But how many more of us do you think you can take?"
Kakashi paused as he saw Deddos half smile grow wider, and took a glance down the street. As if on cue a group of fifty more zombie-nin appeared at the end of the street, each running on their rotting legs towards them, crazed looks on their faces.
"So, still think you're going to have any easy time with us?" Deddo asked.
Just then, an orange blur jumped down from rooftops and separated into several dozen orange blurs, each one landing in front of the hoard and cutting them off from Kakashi and the others.
The zombies paused for a minute upon seeing the small army of Naruto clones, half of them trying to figure out a strategy to combat this new obstacle, the other half trying to figure out which one was the real flesh-covered one.
"Your all going to pay for what you did to this village," Naruto (well, one of them anyway) growled, his face contorted in rage.
"Hey, can you eat a shadow-clone?" One of the zombie-nin asked.
Another shook his head. "I don't know but I'm gonna find out!"
With that the zombies all charged forward, clashing head-on with the army of Naruto-clones. The clones tore through the zombie, slicing away at the dead flesh while the zombies tried to get a firm grip on something, biting into whatever clone they could get their hands on to and cursing when they disappeared into a puff of smoke.
"You were saying?" Kakashi asked Deddo.
Deddo just cursed and charged forward, his sword ready for the kill.
Meanwhile back in the house, Sakura was trying her hardest to keep Neji alive. She had healed his wounds completely with her chakra but nothing she did seem to able to fight back the infection circulating through his body. At the rate this was going Neji was going to…
"Don't think about that," Sakura told her self, "focus on the now. You can do this!"
Neji had completely passed out of consciousness awhile ago, and his breathing was becoming more and more rapid by the minute. Sakura placed her hands over his forehead and used her charka to try and lower his fever, but for whatever reason it seemed useless!
"Come' on Neji, you can fight this!"
"I haven't had a fight like this in a while," Deddo smirked, slicing the spot where Kakashi was standing. "Do you have any idea who I am?"
"Some deadbeat ninja from Kirigakure?" Kakashi answered, dodging Deddos blade and aiming a kunai for his throat.
"Close," Deddo said as he avoided the attack and started performing a series of hand signals. "I am Deddo, formally one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." With a deep breath he let loose a high pressure stream of water from his mouth, aiming right for Kakashi.
"Really?" Kakashi asked, unimpressed as he copied the attack with his sharingan and countered with a stream of water of his own.
Deddo nodded as their jutsu's ended, "Yes, but those days are over." He dodged another attack and swung his sword at Kakashi midsection. "No more slavery to a village that sees you as a weapon, no more fighting for unknown reasons, no more pointless killing." Kakashi jumped over his sword and let loose a volley of shurukin, which Deddo let hit him in the chest. "Now I have a new reason to exist, one given to me by the great Orochimaru. Now the only reason I exist Kakashi, is to feed my insatiable hunger for…GLUK!"
Deddo was silenced as Kakashi drove a kunai into the bottom of his jaw and through the roof of his mouth, effectively nailing his mouth shut.
"You talk too much," Kakashi said as he watched Deddo stumble away trying to remove the weapon.
"Dammit Neji stay with me!" Sakura shouted as she felt the pulse on the Hyuga steadily weaken. A few seconds ago the genius had stopped breathing and was giving no response to any kind of stimulus.
She placed her hands onto his chest and frantically pumped chakra into him in a futile attempt to get his heart pumping, but no matter how much she pumped in, his body seemed to reject it.
"Don't die Neji, whatever you do DON'T DIE ON ME!" Sakura screamed at him as she felt his heart grow weaker and weaker until finally…it stopped beating altogether.
With a sob Sakura punched him in the chest, yelling out every curse she knew. Tsunade had warned that warned her that losing a patient wouldn't be easy, but she never said the first one she let die would be a friend.
Sakura slowly got to her feet, tears falling from her eyes, the fighting going outside barely registering in her ears.
She and Neji had never been close, hell she had barely ever spoken to him. But damn it he didn't deserve this!
With a scream of frustration Sakura punched a nearby table, causing it to collapse into a pile of splinters. The tears kept falling from her eyes as she tried to compose herself.
"You need to get a grip on yourself; the others need you out there!" She chastised herself, wiping the tears away. With a grim nod she gave a look towards Neji, silently begging that he'd be able to forgive her.
Then, as if by some miracle Neji's eyes opened again.
Sakura gasped, "Neji?!"
Outside the fight still raged with neither side gaining the upper hand. Through combined efforts of Tenten, Lee, Naruto and Guy had taken care of two thirds of the remaining zombies, taking them out with head shot or just damaging there bodies beyond use. Of course this had taken a lot longer than expected, and the Konoha-nin were beginning to feel the pressures of fatigue.
Kakashi was still occupied with Deddo, and although he had nailed him with dozens of shurukin, nailed his mouth shut, and nearly broken his arm the swordsman just wouldn't quit.
"How many more of these things are there?" Lee said as smashed another's zombies head into the ground.
"Hang in there Lee!" Guy called from his position some distance away, "We only need to old out for little while longer!"
During the fight the team was unfortunately separated by the marauding zombies, their numbers forcing them apart from one another and making it difficult for them to regroup. So far this hadn't been too big a problem but it still made them a bit nervous.
The wall of the house holding Sakura and her patient suddenly exploded in a barrage of splinters as a white form was thrown violently from the inside of the house and sent crashing into the wall next to Lee.
"Neji?" Lee gasped as he saw his teammate pull himself out of the wreckage of the wall. "What happened?" He asked as he reached down to help.
"LEE DON'T!" Sakura screamed as she came running out of the hole Neji had made, only to be stopped as a group of zombies made a lunge for her.
Neji looked at Lee and grabbed his hand, letting Lee pull him up and to his feet. Without warning Neji suddenly activated his Byakugan and Lee, fearing an attack, turned around to see the threat.
"What is it Nej-AGGGH!" Lee eyes screamed in agony as Neji grabbed him from behind and bit into his neck, ribbing out a large chunk of flesh and spraying blood everywhere.
Lee bashed Neji in the side of the head with his elbow, freeing himself from his grasp. Lee stumped back and grasped his heavily bleeding wound, turning around to face his teammate.
"Neji…why…?" He asked, trying to block the pain from the wound.
Neji didn't say anything in response, instead entering his gentle fist style and hitting Lee over and over again blocking his chakra points, an attack Lee was helpless to fight off.
With his chakra points closed off Lee fell helplessly to the ground, his entire body paralyzed. Not wasting a second Neji went down with him, grabbing his arm and sinking his teeth into the warm flesh.
"LEE!" Guy called out, seeing his student hit the ground. With a roar he began plowing though zombies left and right, bashing them out of his way with enough force to instantly break bone as he fought his way towards his pupil.
By the time he got there other zombies had joined with Neji, ripping and tearing at Lee's body to get a piece of the meal. Guy charged forward and grabbed two of the zombies and smashed their heads together, cracking their skulls open. In a berserker's rage he attacked the others, breaking skulls and snapping necks in his anger.
Finally, when all of them were dispatched he knelt down to his student and felt the tears fall from his eyes. It only took one look to know nothing would save his student.
Lee was barely alive by this point, coughing up blood and breathing in short pants. His left arm had been ripped off and blood poured from the large wound on his shoulder. His stomach had been torn open and his insides strewn about so badly Guy could see his intestines hanging out from the hole.
"Guy-sensei…?" Lee whispered, coughing up a more blood as he tried to talk.
Guy held his student to his chest. "Don't talk Lee…I…I got you."
Lee tried to look up at his sensei, "I'm sorry I wasn't able to become a strong Ninja…"
Guy let out a sob, "You were always one of the strongest Lee…"
Lee's body suddenly went into a series of spasms and he looked straight into Guy's eyes. "Guy-sensei…!"
Guy held lee tighter, his tears falling to the boys head. "Lee, hold on, you…you…" he suddenly felt his student go limp in his arms and he felt the pressure on his heart suddenly tighten, "LEE! LEE NO!"
Guy cradled his student's body in his arms, calling out his name and letting the tears fall form his face. He didn't want to accept it, he couldn't accept it, that after all their hard work, all their time together, Lee was…dead.
The sound of someone chewing caught his attention, and Guy looked up to see Neji standing a few feet away holding the severed arm of Rock Lee. He had nearly cleaned it to the bone and was in the process of eating some of the remaining flesh.
Guy stared at his student, a mixture of shock and horror on his face. "Neji how…how could you?
Neji finished swallowing the last piece of flesh and looked at his teacher, licking some of the blood off from around his mouth. "I'm sorry Guy…but I was really hungry." He tossed the skeletal arm away and entered the gentle fist fighting stance. "And I still am."
To be continued…
Please review! I love hearing from readers! Even if you don't have something good to say, say it! Really, I don't mind.
I really like the words "zombie-nin." Could you tell?
I feel bad for Lee and Guy, they are some of my favorite characters. Writing them is tough, hope I was able to stay in character for them.
For those of you throwing up right now, I did warn you ahead of time,