Thank-you's to t-fly, celtic-pride, BIG BOY LLOYD (because cool people talk in ALL CAPS) chattingbox, narutodippy, edwardelric16, and Pyro Flare

Also, a BIG thanks to dooryishness for beta-ing again! Thanks for finding time in your busy schedule.

NARUTO ZOMBIES!

Chapter 4:

In which there is much discussion.

A steady wind blew away from the once-lively village, carrying with it the stench of death and decay. Not to far away, carefully concealed under several bushes, Kabuto watched over the remnants of Orochimaru's "experiment."

Kabuto had been there since the beginning, and after having watched the villagers be ripped apart by the zombie-nin, and the battle between them and the Konoha ninjas, who happened to have one of their own turned with disastrous results, he felt something growing in the pit of his stomach that he hadn't felt for a long time.

Fear.

There was no way Orochimaru could hope to control these things. Something that could turn the most powerful ninjas in the world into nigh-unstoppable instruments of death may sound like a useful weapon, but not if there was no way to control them! If this was allowed to spread…

A bit of movement coming from the village caught Kabuto's eye and he moved himself into a more hidden position. From his vantage point, he could make out two figures, but wasn't sure who or what they were. He adjusted his glasses a bit and after a minute of staring, he made out the most important feature of one of the figures.

It was staring right at him.

Sakura held Tenten's head as she poured water down the injured girl's throat. For the past hour, Tenten had been slipping in and out of consciousness from the amount of damage her body had taken from Neji's attack, and Sakura was being as careful as she could to keep her patient alive.

Naruto sat on a boulder not to far away; his eyes cast low to the ground. The loss of his friends had hit him hard and for past hour he hadn't spoken a word.

The rustling of leaves from behind them switched the two ninjas into battle mode, preparing themselves for whatever would jump out at them. But nothing prepared them for what appeared from the woods.

To their delight, Kakashi limped out from behind the trees, clutching his bloody stomach and leaning up against a tree. His forehead protector was covering his sharingan eye again, and his mask was back up, although it did look a little bloodstained (with a wound like that, Sakura figured, you would probably cough up a lot of blood). His hair was disheveled, more so than usual, and obstructed his other eye.

"Yo," he said casually.

""Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called out happily, smiling at seeing the first good news since this morning.

"You really have to stop calling me that," Kakashi said lightly.

"Where's Guy?" Tenten asked, struggling to sit up only to be pushed back down by Sakura.

"Injured," Kakashi answered. "The stress of opening the Gates was too much for him and he collapsed a while back. I would have carried him with me but…" Moving his hand he revealed the large wound in his stomach covered in blood. "It was hard enough to get here on my own."

"Are you going to be alright?" Naruto asked, his voice shaky with worry at the prospect of losing another person close to him.

Kakashi waved it away, "I'll be fine. Guy however needs help immediately. Sakura, I need you to come with me while Naruto takes Tenten."

Sakura nodded and grabbed her things "How far is he?"

"Not far…" Kakashi said as he looked off into the distance.

Naruto walked over to Tenten and hosted the girl onto his back. "Ready to go Tenten?"

"Guy-sensei…" the injured girl whispered.

"He'll be fine, don't worry." Kakashi said as he reached a hand out to Sakura. "Could you give me hand Sakura? I'm kind of having a little trouble here…"

Sakura reached out for his hand, only jump away when a flash of green jumped between them and aimed kick right for Kakashi's head. The copy-nin dodged the attack and jumped into the air, landing safely on a tree branch overhead.

"What the hell?!" Naruto yelled, his movement jerking the girl on his back awake again.

The three chunin looked up at a panting Might Guy, who stood before them with a bleeding shoulder and sweat dripping from his face. Tenten's face lit up at seeing her sensei, but his actions seriously confused her.

"Guy-sensei, what are doing?" she asked in a weak voice.

"Why did you attack Kakashi, Guy?!" Sakura asked, her eyes falling on his bleeding shoulder. The wound there looked…familiar.

Guy turned to face them, his face dead serious. "I'm sorry but…but…"

"Hmm, you where always one for a dramatic entrance Guy…" Kakashi said from above.

All eyes looked up at Kakashi, who was now standing straight up like the wound in his chest wasn't there. His uncovered eye now looked down at them; wide open and revealing a pale, gray pupil.

"No…" Sakura whispered, tears starting to build in her eyes.

"That's…that's not possible..." Naruto added, his entire body shaking.

"It happened while I was carrying him to Konoha," Guy explained, looking us at his friend. "He changed midway here. I think whatever causes the change was passed onto him when he was stabbed with a weapon that was covered in a zombie's fluids."

Zombie-Kakashi nodded in agreement. "I figured that myself. Seems being bitten isn't the only way to catch whatever causes this."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed, "Please, tell me it's not true!"

Kakashi looked down at his student, looking almost apologetic. "It's true. In fact, I was planning on eating you as soon as I got you far enough way from Naruto."

Sakuras throat dried instantly at the confession. Her sensei…her friend…had planned to kill her.

"He already got me on the way here," Guy said as he held onto his bleeding shoulder. "You three need to leave, now."

"No!" Tenten cried out weakly, "We can't leave you here to die!"

Guy chuckled, "I'm already finished. In a few hours I'll be just like them." He looked his pupil in the eye. "But I'll die before I let that happen."

"That can be arranged." Zombie-Kakashi said.

Gut gritted his teeth. "Sakura, Naruto, get out of here! I'll hold him off as long as possible! And Tenten?"

Tenten looked up at Guy, and the teacher looked proudly at his student.

"You're the best weapons-user in Konoha, man or woman" he told her, believing every word he spoke. "And I know with all my heart that you have what it takes to be the greatest Kunoichi in the entire village." With a smile, Guy added, "No offense Sakura."

The joke didn't take though, and with a grunt Guy moved forward to face off against his eternal rival. "Now get out of here! Get back to Konoha and send as much help as you can! And what ever you do, and let the Spirit of Youth always be with you!"

Sakura and Naruto both held themselves back, turning and running away from the scene as fast they could, their minds trying to deny everything that had happened in the past few hours. The entire way Tenten cried out for them to turn back and help, looking over her shoulder to watch her sensei give her a final thumbs-up before they faded from view.

With the others gone, Guy looked up at Kakashi, who was twirling a kunai on his finger. "Well my eternal rival," Guy said with a grin. "Looks like this will be our final battle."

"Looks like," Kakashi said as he pulled up his forehead protector to reveal his sharingan. "Can't say I'm too upset about that."

Guy chuckled, "You never did enjoy our fights, did you?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Eh, maybe a little."

With that, no more words were spoken, and the zombified copy-nin leaped down to fight Konoha's Green Beast for what could be the last time.

Kabuto ran as fast as he could through the forest, knowing fully well he was exposed but couldn't care less. All he cared about right then was getting as far away from them as possible.

The sound of a branch snapping triggered his instincts and he immediately came to a stop, giving him just enough time to dodge the green flash that tried to smash his skull in. The attacker showed him no mercy however and he went in again, and Kabuto found himself dodging punches and kicks that moved so fast they appeared only as green blurs.

A sudden hit to his chest sent him flying into the trunk of a tree, hitting it with a loud crack. His attacker moved in for the kill, but Kabuto got the best of him by pumping chakra into his hands and pulling himself up the tree, flipping himself over and jumping off the trunk so that he landed behind the enemy and was given enough time to create his chakra scalpels.

His opponent, none other than Rock Lee, stood proudly before him. Although he once could have been considered a green beast, the former ninja of Konoha could only be looked at now as an abomination.

Lee's body was an absolute wreck. His green training suit now hung off him in rags and was so blood-stained it looked more red than green. Where his left arm had once been there was now a bloody stump with bits of muscle and bone hanging off it. His chest was ripped open revealing some of his ribcage and most of his organs had been ripped out of his chest cavity, but you could still see his small intestine hanging out from him, swaying with his movements. His remaining arm and legs were still in pretty good condition however, and that was they only reason he was still able put up a fight.

Zombie-Lee looked at Kabuto with grey eyes. "You're pretty good! But don't think that just because I have one arm that I'll lose!"

Kabuto could feel the sweat sliding down the back of his neck. "This doesn't make any sense," he thought. "He was only bitten a few minutes before he died. Can the virus really work that fast?"

The feeling of another presence behind him caught his attention, and Kabuto looked up to see another zombie looking down at him.

Neji stood on one of the larger tree branches above Kabuto, his arms crossed over his ripped up chest. After his brush with Guy's fist, the Hyuuga prodigy's face now resembled a smashed-in eggshell. His nose had been driven back into his skull and his face was now a pulpy, bloody, mess. Lucky for him his eyes were still intact, and they now looked down at Kabuto with a hungry stare.

"You should gib ub now," Neji told him. "You're already sdarding do swead, and we haven'd eben begun to ged dired."

"What did he just say?" Kabuto thought at his mind raced, trying to find an escape route.

"Hey, let me take him Neji! You already got the chance to feed!" Zombie-Lee yelled at the Hyuuga, gesturing towards his missing arm.

"I barely god anydhing with all dhe hands grabbing ad you!" Neji shot back.

Lee scowled, "At least you…!"

"He's gedding way." Neji interrupted.

"Huh?" Lee attention turned back to the fleeting form of Kabuto, who was taking advantage of the momentary distraction to escape.

Both zombie-nin ceased their argument and immediately took after their fleeing meal, but the medic had already managed to put some distance between them so he already was starting to disappear from sight.

"Quick Neji, activate your Byakugan!" Lee shouted as he tried to keep up with the zigzaggingmeat sack ahead of them.

"Id IS agdivaded," Neji replied, "Deh viens jusd arn'd bumbing any blood."

"Oh yeah," Lee said, forgetting about their undead state. "Hey, why does your voice sound funny?"

"Guy-sensei," Neji said with a frown, "he smashed by nose in. Mages id harder to dalk."

"Huh?" Lee asked.

Neji ignored the comment, instead keeping himself focused on his dinner.

An hour passed before Kabuto felt he was safe enough to stop. He had lost sight of the zombies half an hour ago, but that didn't mean he was safe. From what he had seen, they would chase him to the ends of the earth.

He kept his back to a large tree, trying to catch his breath as reached for a solider pill. Popping it into his mouth he sighed in relief, letting the chakra enhancer work itself into his system. Little did he know how soon he would need it.

A huge cracking noise from behind him caused him to jump back in shock. Behind him, the tree he had been resting against shuddered and cracked in half, the upper half almost landing on the medic before he rolled out of the way.

Kabuto gritted his teeth as he saw Lee standing behind the tree, apparently having cracked the tree in half with an impressive display of strength.

"Aha! Found you!" Zombie Lee shouted triumphantly.

Kabuto activated his chakra scalpels and prepared for the attack, only to be caught off guard when it came from behind him.

Neji jumped out from the fallen treetop and grazed Kabuto on the arm with his gentle fist technique, nearly paralyzing the medics left shoulder.

The medic grimaced and retaliated with his own attack, trying to slice at something that would slow the zombie down. Of course, up against a person who excelled in hand to hand combat, he found it difficult enough to avoid being hit himself.

Lee charged forward, sliding underneath a distracted Kabuto and laying a well-placed kick to the back of his knees. Kabuto toppled over backwards but saved himself at the last minute by flipping over on his hands and righting himself back up. Disappointed, Lee rolled to his feet again as Neji once again went in for the kill.

Kabuto ducked and dodged the attacks, trying to find an opening in Neji's defense. Neji wasn't giving him one though, and after a few seconds Kabuto felt the pain of one of his chakra points being closed in his shoulder as Neji struck him. Kabuto gripped his teeth in pain and slashed at Neji with his chakra scalpels, but it was too late.

Without missing a beat, Neji tapped his fingers on Kabuto's chest, blocking his chakra points and paralyzing almost his entire right side. With his prey down for the count, Neji grabbed Kabuto by the shoulders and opened his mouth wide, biting the junction where the shoulder meets the neck.

Kabuto screamed in pain as Neji ripped out the hunk of flesh sending torrents of blood flowing from the wound. The medic had no time to even heal himself as he felt Lee bite into his leg, causing Kabuto to collapse under his own weight and hit the ground.

Lee and Neji wasted no time and started feasting on Kabuto, sinking their teeth into his flesh. The air was filled with Kabuto's screams of agony as the zombies ripped him apart, tearing out organs and muscle. The screams continued as Kabuto tried in vain to heal himself, but the damage was far too extensive to do anything for him. Eventually the screams dues down and all that could be heard were the sounds of feeding.

Not a few feet away a tall figure stepped out from behind the trees, several chunks of flesh missing from his body and covered in blood. He waved cheerily at the duo. "Ah! Good to see you up and about Lee! I should have known the Spirit of Youth would not keep you down."

Lee looked up from the dying form of Kabuto, his mouth stuffed with the sound-nin's liver. "Gu-fefei!"

The green beast of Konoha shook a disapproving finger at Lee. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Lee."

Lee swallowed, almost apologizing before turning his attention back to warm carcass.

Neji gave a nod towards the two, "Guy-sensei, Kakashi."

"Yo," Zombie-Kakashi said in reply as he stepped out from behind Guy, although his real attention was focused on Kabuto. "Where did you find him?"

"He was running thought the woods," Lee explained as he ripped off a piece of leg, "We chased him down."

"Ged your own." Neji told them as he watched the hungry eyes of Kakashi and Guy look over their meal.

"Now that's not how I taught you, Neji!" Guy scolded. "Share and share alike remember?" Of course, he was more upset over the idea of having to fight for his next meal.

"Let them have him Guy," Kakashi said as he took out a familiar-looking scroll. "I just got a better idea."

An hour later, the four zombie-nin found themselves sitting around the skeletal remains of Kabuto, surrounded by several sets of smaller bones. They were pretty much finished with their meal, having picked most of the flesh off their prey and were now using the opportunity to talk about what happened.

"I really don't understand Guy-sensei!" Lee said as he sucked the marrow out of Kabuto's femur. "What happened to us?"

Guy sat across from him, sitting against a tree and apparently deep in thought. "I'm not exactly sure Lee, but it would seem for all account, we are dead. Normally after a fight, I feel that my muscles feel fatigued, but I can't seem to feel anything at all."

"We sdill hab our ghagra abbarendly," Neji pointed out. "I can see id flowing dhrough us. Id's bracdically bouring oud of you Lee."

"Huh?" Guy asked, not understanding a word Neji said.

"He said we still have our chakra, and that he can see it." Lee explained.

"Yeah bud's id's weird," Neji told them. (Tried to anyway) "It doesn'd flow lige normal ghagra, and id's an odd sord of color."

Guy shook his head, "I'm sorry Neji, but we're going to have find away to fix you voice."

Neji just scowled and went back to picking through bones.

"I don't see how you plan on doing that," Kakashi commented as he scooped some more brains from the skull of Pakkun. "None of us seem to be healing at all, not that our wounds are slowing us down at all,"

"Very true! Just look at my arm!" Guy lifted his right arm, pointing to a large bite above his elbow. "You managed to tear out a large piece of muscle there, I yet I don't feel a thing! And poor Lee, he…well, he…"

"Has a hole in him big enough to fit the Hokage monument," Kakashi said as he finished off the eyeball he had managed to pry out of Pakkuns skull.

"You know," Guy said, "I don't think the ninja dogs that got away are going to let you summon them anytime soon."

"That's all right," Kakashi said as he finished off the rest of the summoned dog and threw the skull into a pile with the others. "I think all my bloods dried up by now anyways, so I couldn't even if I wanted to."

"That's another thing," Guy added, "Why do we need to eat? It's not like our bodies can digest this stuff. Lee doesn't even have a stomach and he's just as voracious as the rest of us."

Lee looked up at the mention of his name, swallowing a bit of muscle he had found stuck to a rib. They all watched as the piece of meat fell though his throat and landed in a pile in Lee's exposed chest cavity.

"Dhad's disgusding," Neji said before reaching over and grabbing a handful of meat from Lee's chest and popping it into his mouth. Lee, for the most part, didn't seem to care.

Kakashi shrugged. "Who knows? I'm more concerned with how far our bodies are going to decay."

"Why don't you try asking the sound ninja?" Neji said, holding up the severed head of Kabuto.

"YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" Kabuto head shouted at them; really pissed off that he wasn't able to push his glasses back into place in his current condition.

"Oh be quite," Kakashi told him as he got up to take the head. "What were you doing around here anyway?"

Kabuto just glared at the copy-nin, his dead eyes burning with hatred.

Kakashi sighed as he lifted the head up by the ponytail. "Not feeling talkative? Fine."

Using his hair as a rope, Kakashi tied Kabutos head to his belt letting him hang freely behind him until he was ready to talk, seeing as how torture probably wasn't a option at this point. "So what's our next course of action?

"I'm starting to get hungry again." Guy said as he stared at the pile of bones they had picked clean.

Lee stopped knawing on a bone he had picked up, throwing it back into the pile. "Yeah, me too."

Neji looked up at Kakashi, not sure how to proceed. "So…whad do we do now?"

All eyes fell on Kakashi, who stared down at the skeletal remains of Kabuto. His mind churned over the ideas going through his head, disgusted at what he was actually considering.

"There's a village not to far from here," he finally said. "We could make it there within an hour if we don't stop."

"Sounds good," Neji said as he got to his feet.

Lee nodded in agreement and joined his teammate, pausing when he noticed his sensei looking troubled. "Guy-sensei?"

Guy hesitated, not sure about what they were about to do. "Are we sure we want to do this? If we were still alive, we would kill ourselves before ever doing something like this."

The other zombie-nin stiffened. They all knew what Guy meant but the last thing they wanted to do was think about it. They stood in silence for a minute, each one weighing a decision in their minds.

"I…I say we go to the village." Lee finally said, much to the surprise of the others.

Guy stared at his student, not sure if he recognized him, "Lee?"

"I don't think we have much choice Guy-sensei," Lee explained. "I can feel the hunger starting to build up again, and I don't think we can ignore it forever. And besides…" Lee hesitated for a moment, his face becoming excited as he thought over what wanted to say. "I WANT to go to that village. I…I loved the taste of the man, the feeling of the flesh going down my throat, the warm blood on my tongue. I really want to eat those people."

"I'm with Lee," Neji added.

"My god…" Guy said as he got to his feet. "What have we become…?"

"Cut the crap Guy," Kakashi told him. "And let's just get moving."

Guy nodded and the zombie-nin took off with Kakashi leading the way, leaving the last vestiges of humanity they had behind.

"Hey Neji!" Lee exclaimed excitedly as they started to run, "How about we race to the village! If I don't beat you I'll do one-thousand one-armed push-ups!"

Neji shot Lee and annoyed glare. "Lee, I don'd dhing dhat will hab any affecd ad all."

"OK then!" Lee shouted, "2000 one-arm push-ups!"

Neji rolled his eyes; he was too hungry to deal with this.

Please leave a review. I love them so.

You remember how I said that this was going to be the last chapter?

Yeah, I lied.

I got BIG plans for this story, so expect more zombie goodness coming up, filled with more gore and violence than you can handle!

But first, I need to finish the next chapter for "A Few Seconds Difference."