Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or Resident Evil
AN: A little later than I intended, but I was seeing if I can add a little more to the Raccoon City Incident since its two separate games. Be prepared for Naruto to be running around a lot around that time.
Now its time for Naruto and Chris to go searching for the Death Masks, meet up with Rebecca, and maybe Jill and Barry.
This is a long chapter just for a heads up. Lots of things happen in this chapter.
More development on the Naruto/Chris bond. I have to make sure I develop this well since its one of the most important friendships/relationships in the story.
Enjoy
Chapter 3- The Death Masks
Naruto leaned against the wall of the main room, his arms dangling at his side as he went to work twirling a kunai around with his finger. He took slow and deep breaths through his nose and out his mouth as he looked across where he was standing.
Chris was walking around and testing doors with the key they found, trying to see what it opened. So far, that key hadn't opened anything, just jamming in the locks of the two doors they tested. Chris was getting pissed, if the frown he had as he yanked the key out was any indication.
"You're gonna break the key if you keep doing that!" Naruto called from his spot by the main door, the sound of the dogs barking still fresh outside like it was when they were chased in here. Chris flipped him off and went towards the set of double doors opposite the ones that led to the dining room.
He and Chris found the key ten minutes ago and they were as lost as they were when they didn't have the key. They haven't made any progress in the hunt for the four masks, which was still baffling Naruto.
A mask that sees no evil, smells no evil, hears no evil, and a mask that's all three.
Saying it ten times didn't help Naruto in his understanding of it at all. It only confused him more than he was when Chris read it out of the book that Naruto had in his pouch.
He wished he could figure it out so he and Chris can be one step closer to getting out of here. This place with psycho dogs and cannibalistic monsters wasn't helping him with his emotional state.
He was so caught up in this predicament that he found himself in that he hasn't had the time to fully understand and embrace the fact that he was stuck in this world forever. He wasn't gonna see Konoha again. He wasn't gonna see his friends again. He wasn't gonna fulfill his goal and save his world from darkness.
He scoffed. His world was probably in ruins by now and his friends all dead at the hands of Madara and Obito.
He turned back his attention to Chris, seeing that the man had his hands on a doorknob and actually opened the door. They weren't confined in this space any longer, much to their relief.
Naruto jogged over to Chris, "Nice..." he patted his back, the S.T.A.R.S. member smirking just a little bit as he shrugged Naruto's shoulder off of him.
"Let's see whats behind door seventy," Chris muttered as he and Naruto took a step into the room, Naruto having his kunai up and ready to go while Chris held his Glock forward with his finger dancing over the trigger.
It was another empty room, some paintings over the wall and another door off to the right wall. There was also a corridor to the left, but Naruto's instincts was telling him to not go in there.
"So..." Naruto looked to the on edge adult. "Left or right?" He asked, gesturing to the directions as he asked.
Chris looked to the door before he fished out the golden key again. "Whatever this key opens, that's where I'm going." He stated, stepping in the direction of the wooden door to see if he can unlock it.
Naruto in the meantime was hanging back and waiting to see if Chris can find them a new direction to go. All this walking and not knowing if something was just around the corner, or even behind this door, ready to eat and kill him and his companion was tiring. Things could be so much easier if he could just use his jutsus, but Naruto wasn't stupid enough to try and kill himself over it.
As long as he had Chris to help him, the extra precaution wasn't necessary right now.
Chris made the door turn, the beautiful sound of the lock clicking making Naruto's ears and spirits brighten up.
The S.T.A.R.S. member gave a tired smile. "Hopefully we can find a way out of here now," he hoped as he and Naruto stepped out of the room they were in to a bright hallway with sets of windows and a nice tiled floor that made the one in the main room look terrible.
The two were still on edge as Chris shut the door and let Naruto take a small lead. "You think we'll run into any of your friends?" The ninja asked.
Chris sighed. "Believe me, kid, when I say that I hope for that every time we go into a new room." Chris was driving himself crazy worrying about his friends. Normally he would be confident in their skills and not batter an eye over whether they were okay or not, but this wasn't a normal case. Nowhere, as far as he knew, in the S.T.A.R.S. training manual did it mention that they'll be prepared for a zombie attack.
Naruto continued walking, "Yeah, things might not be as bad as long as we-"
He was cut off when the glass to the window he walked by cracked, making the blonde boy jump and hit his back on the painted wall, knocking down a few pictures as he connected.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" The boy held his hand over his chest to get his accelerated heartbeat back under control to normal speed. He noticed Chris smirking and holding in a snicker at his little display. "Don't laugh at me! You would've done the same thing!"
Chris shrugged. "Maybe I would have," he admitted before he fully grinned. "But its still funny to see it happen to someone else." He shrugged, holding a hand out for Naruto to grab and stand up with.
Naruto glared before he stood up on his own, Chris taking back his rejected hand. "If this wasn't a serious predicament we were in, I would have my hands around your neck!" He growled before the two resumed their walk through the hallway.
Chris let out another smirk when Naruto backed up to the wall when they passed by another window. Chris hid it, but he was waiting for something to happen like with Naruto. When nothing happened, he sighed in relief.
"You sound like my sister," Chris said in response to Naruto's threat from before. When he got a confused stare, he elaborated. "That threat you made sounds like something my sister would tell me when we were kids." He explained, a smile crossing his face when he thought of his baby sister. He quickly frowned when he realized that he wouldn't see her again if he died here.
Naruto stared interested and surprised at Chris' revelation. "You have a sister?" He asked, stopping just a few inches away from the door at the end of the hallway. He would wait since Chris had the key.
Chris nodded. "Yep. She's nineteen and obsessed with motorcycles."
Naruto didn't know what a 'motorcycle' was but nodded anyway.
"She's in university right now, trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Apparently its gonna be 'more awesome than my boring job as a S.T.A.R.S. member'." He raised his voice at the end, impersonating that of a girl.
Naruto laughed. "Your sister thinks your job is boring?" If Chris' job had been a snooze fest, that was most certainly not the case after tonight.
Chris shrugged. "She's just mad I made her learn how to fight, shoot, use knives, and all that good stuff that's been saving our ass tonight and likes to rub it in that all the stuff I taught her hasn't done anything to improve her life.." He explained. "But if I make it out of this, I'm telling her this story and she'll never call my job boring or doubt my teachings again!"
"You two sound close," Naruto said with a smile.
"Like you, our parents died young. I took care of her and raised her afterwards and we just... became close. We were all the other had growing up..." he shook his head, pulling out the golden key. "But enough about that, we need to find those four masks so we can get out of here!"
Naruto let the conversation drop, mostly because he can see Chris was growing uncomfortable with the direction it was heading regarding his parents. That was fine. He didn't like talking about his parents to someone he didn't know that well either.
As much as he loved his parents, he just hoped he didn't end up meeting with them again any time soon.
...
"That fuckin' guy..."
Naruto was currently outside in a fenced in area of the mansion. He and Chris branched off at the latter's request for him to scope out ahead and so Naruto can find anything worthwhile out here. The reason he was out here and not Chris was because he had broken the lock in the door and forced it open. Chris had said that whatever was behind this door was now Naruto's problem and that he'll look ahead and see if something amiss was there.
Needless to say, Naruto was pissed that Chris left him to fend for himself; even if only for a minute or two.
"So I broke the door..." he mumbled to himself as he looked around, enjoying the feel of the cool night air on his tense and blood covered skin. "Not my fault it was the wrong key," he thought of when he asked Chris for the key and he broke the lock from jamming too hard. Luckily the key didn't break or he would be dog food right now.
Chris' words. Not his.
Naruto examined the various plants that were growing in the cart. There were some sunflowers in the lot with common houseplants thrown in there as well. For a gardener like him, it was one of the strangest set of flowers he's seen together.
He eventually made it to a wall, no other direction for him to go in except the way he came where he was gonna meet up with Chris in a minute. There was a bench next to him with more green and red plants clamped together. Nothing bizzare from what he can see.
But something lying facedown caught his eye. He bent down and flipped it over, revealing a large sack with 'Chemical' implanted on the front. Naruto might've not been as smart or a brainiac like Sakura and Shikamaru, but he did know as a prankster that a bag of chemical can always come in handy.
He wrapped his hands around the sack and threw it over his shoulder, the gun Chris had given him tucked into his waistline for quick and easy grab if anything. He adjusted the sack so it was easier to carry, one hand holding the bottom and his other dangling by his side.
Something jumped over the fence, Naruto almost dropping the sack at the sudden arrival of what ever it was. He stared wide eyed and annoyed when he saw a dog that bore a large resemblance to the ones that attacked and chased him into this mansion in the first place.
"You're the one that cracked that window?" He asked, only getting a snarl as a response from the crazed canine. Naruto smirked as he placed a hand over the grip of his handgun. "This is payback for making me shit myself."
The canine took that as a signal to attack, howling as it lunged towards Naruto. Naruto quickly pulled out the gun from his waist and fired a single shot that ripped through the face of the dog as it jumped up to bite him. The body fell down like a sack of bricks in front of his feet.
Naruto took a step over it, looking back a second before he smirked at the fallen body of the dog. "Now if only I can find your friends that chased me here, I'll be really happy!" He taunted before he turned back around towards the direction he came in, walking towards it to meet back up with Chris.
Speak of the devil, he ran out the door and had his gun all ready and pointed it forward with a tense posture. He glanced at Naruto, the fallen dog, and the gun in his hand before he visibly relaxed and lowered his gun, giving Naruto a look that could've said 'You had me worried, asshole.'
Naruto gave a wave after tucking the gun back into his waist. "Nice of you to join," he saw Chris staring at the fallen animal. Naruto kicked the back of his heel into the dog. "Oh this? Just something that thought it can get me." He grinned. "But it didn't know that Naruto Uzumaki is too bad ass to be taken down by an angry animal!"
Chris rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure... whatever," he then noticed the large sack over his shoulder. "What the hell is that?" He asked, pointing to the giant bag slung over Naruto's shoulder.
"Chemical!" Naruto stated profusely. "Thought it might come in handy later..." Chris only blinked in response to Naruto's defense, but Naruto had seen the look many times throughout his life that he knew exactly what Chris was thinking. "Yes, Chris, it will come in handy!" He gave a small glare at Chris' bored look.
Chris shrugged his shoulders. "Okay... but you're carrying it," he said as the two entered back into the mansion to continue on with their search to find the four masks. The masks they still had no clue where to start looking for them.
"Didn't expect you to with that look you gave me." Naruto deadpanned as he held onto the sack tightly. "So what's ahead?" He asked.
Chris sighed in what Naruto guessed to be aggravation. "Doors, more doors, paintings, windows, and another door." He listed.
Naruto smirked as they made it to the windows, the ninja not seeing anything abnormal outside of them. He half expected them to crack too when he and Chris walked by.
"To think me and my sister always joked about living in a mansion one day," Chris mused as he stared angrily at the room he and Naruto were in. "Never gonna make those jokes again!"
Naruto nodded in agreement, "I lived in an apartment my whole life and always wished that I would someday live in a big house with a family..." he gave a shudder. "Now I'm sure I'll never be able to look at a big house again."
"I hear ya," Chris agreed as they reached a double door with another wooden door just behind them. Chris looked back and forth between the two before he turned to Naruto. "You wanna go to that door first?" He pointed to the single door. "Or through here?" He nodded to the double door.
Naruto looked back and forth. "Let's check out the double door first, then double back and check in this door." Naruto was so done with this place. He just wanted to keep moving forward and not worry about what was behind one of the many doors. In his mind, keep moving forward and you'll find a way out.
Chris nodded. "Yeah, sure," he agreed as he opened the door to reveal another hallway with, not shockingly, three more doors from what he could see. He was close to just yelling as loud as he could and losing his sanity. This place was like a damn maze. He knew mansions were big houses, but this was like a damn fort!
And to make things worse, there were two zombies in here that noticed them and started shuffling their way over to him and the equally as frustrated Naruto, although the latter was more open about his anger.
"Everywhere we go there's more of these damn things!" He bellowed as he stepped forward and held the sack of chemical with two hands. Chris watched as the zombie grabbed for him and Naruto, being creative, slammed the sack of chemical onto the zombie's head, the body violently falling down as its brains splattered over the floor.
"My feet!' Naruto whined as he dropped the sack. It was just then Chris noticed Naruto was wearing sandals. He almost laughed at the realization. "There's cannibal blood all over my feet!"
Chris rolled his eyes as he holstered his weapon and grabbed his knife, heading towards the second zombie that was all the way at the back of the hallway. Chris grabbed the fronts of its shirt before he plunged the knife into its head after bringing it in.
He dropped the dead weight as he turned back to Naruto, who finally grumbled and stood up from his spot; now dragging the chemical sack instead of carrying it.
Chris smirked. "Probably wishing you didn't do that, right?" He asked, gesturing to the drips of blood that flowed down the bottom of the sack.
Naruto glared. "You are five seconds from getting smacked in the face, Redfield!" Naruto warned with a pointed finger. Chris had to smirk at the similarly to Claire. "You dropped something by the way."
Chris looked down to notice that his wallet had fallen out of his back pocket when he reached for his knife. How that happened he didn't know. He picked it up and held it.
He looked down again and realized a picture of his sister had slipped out through the cracks of his wrinkled old wallet.
Naruto looked down at the picture that had fallen out of Chris' wallet. He only got two seconds to look before Chris bent down to pick it up and put it away.
From what he did see, it was of a young woman wearing a red vest with a black tank top underneath. A helmet was held under her arm as she leaned back onto a bike. Her face though was definitely one of the prettiest Naruto's ever seen. Her red hair was tied into a ponytail and she was smiling fondly, her brown eyes bright.
"If you don't mind me asking, who was that?" Naruto asked Chris as the latter put his wallet into his back pocket and tapped twice to make sure it would stay.
"My sister Claire." Chris answered. Naruto gave a simple nod, but on the inside he was thinking something completely different.
'Chris has one hot sister!'
"As for that threat you gave me before, she would definitely approve of you." Chris laughed. "Threatening me, being a smartass, oh yeah, you two would be best friends." He joked, needing and liking the small moment of ease that was given. He appreciated it to breathe normally instead of in clumps.
Naruto laughed too. "Really now? Glad to know I have a friend. The more the merrier I always say." He grinned, Chris seeing a twinkle in his irises that he hadn't seen from him yet. It intrigued him, but at the same time his protective side over his baby sister made him wanna punch Naruto in the nose.
"Yep. You and her would get along great plotting out ways to maim me." He said. "She was always the little troublemaker growing up."
Naruto smirked at that, making Chris stare perplexed at the small evil glint in his eyes. "Wow, what a coincidence," he said. "I was a troublemaker growing up too."
"You still are one," Chris said pointing to his head. "You've been giving me a headache since teaming up an hour ago."
"Hate to burst your bubble, but its only been twenty-five minutes." Naruto corrected with a look of smarts and a smirk.
Chris was more annoyed than he was shocked. "I gotta get out of here. This place is screwing with my sense of timing." He groaned as he and Naruto entered yet another door, but into the never ending cycle of hell.
...
"All we found was a dog whistle..." Naruto was too busy being pissed at the room they were in now to listen to Chris as the man stared angered at the dog whistle in his hands.
Naruto and Chris had entered a room with stairs and another room from the hallway where they killed those two zombies. After killing three more of them with a kunai and knife stab with Chris kicking and stomping on the last one, they entered another hallway of doors after climbing up the stairs and going through the door at the end of the corner at the second floor.
Naruto had opened one of the other sets of many doors they found while Chris stood guard. Naruto had ransacked the room and only found the dog whistle and a picture under it that showed the outside to a part of the mansion. He and Chris were annoyed but decided to see if they could open the other two doors.
They were both locked.
And the only other door that opened led them back to the main hall of the mansion where they started.
Naruto set the sack of chemical down. "We walked in a circle..." he realized, his anger rising higher and higher by the minute. "We walked in a damn circle!" He managed to confirm this when he looked down and saw the same doors from before.
Chris sighed. "Yes, I heard you the first time." He said as he balled his fist around the dog whistle. "But what the hell are we supposed to do with this!?"
"Don't ask me!" Naruto shook his head. "This whole place is like one giant puzzle from what I can tell. Find arrow to open back door to get key to come back here and open other doors! So many doors and only two of them gave us something new!" He wasn't counting the golden key that was sitting in Chris' pocket with his wallet. Keys allowed them to open new doors to see if they can find something else, and Naruto was pissed that this key brought them back to Square One.
"The picture you brought back with it doesn't help much,"
"No point in going back there since we apparently need another key," Chris said. He looked to the door at the other side of the balcony. "We haven't been back over there since we found the key..."
"Might as well," Naruto grumbled as he dragged the sack of chemical, not even thinking of putting it anywhere near his face with the dried blood on it. It smelled worse than Kiba and that was saying something.
The two reentered the second floor of the dining room with tired and aggravated footsteps. Chris and Naruto walked in a straight line as they slowly hopped over the dead bodies of the zombies they killed before. Chris took out the trusty golden key and, much to their small delight, opened the door that didn't lead back to where they found the arrow.
Naruto was pissed when he saw another door staring at them in the face when they entered. Walking over, he jiggled the knob and found it to be locked. He got even more pissed when Chris tried the key and got nothing as a response.
"That's it!" He put so much force behind his kick that, like last time, he broke the hinges off the door; bringing them to a outside balcony of the mansion.
Chris glared at him. "You idiot! There could've been a bunch of zombies behind this door!" He scolded, although he was close to doing something like this as well.
"I'm tired of all the doors!" Naruto whined, not doing a good job of defending himself. "The locked doors are mocking me! I don't want to find more keys, Chris, I just want to get out of here and figure out what the hell I'm gonna do with myself!"
Chris was a little lost at what Naruto was saying, but the latter just wanted to figure out what he was gonna do with his life here in this new world. He already had a hard time accepting he was stranded, but to be thrust into a place like this mansion on top of that?! It made him angrier just thinking about it.
"We will find a way out of here," Chris promised. "I'm telling you that I'm not dying in some godforsaken place like this! We'll find my team and we'll find a way to escape from here!" He swore as he patted Naruto on the back. "We'll work together to do so."
Naruto took a relaxed breath before he gave a grateful smile to Chris. "Thanks... I'm glad if I have to be stuck here with someone, its you."
Chris smiled back before he took another look and noticed where he and Naruto were. He pulled out the picture and confirmed his silent question when he saw that it matched where he and Naruto stood right now.
"I think you found the spot where we're supposed to use this whistle!" Chris praised Naruto as he took out the dog whistle from his back pocket. Chris blew into it, no sound being heard from them but being heard from dogs around the area.
Rounding from around the corner to the path in front of them, two dogs came a running towards them. One of the dogs wore a collar with something sparkling in the front.
"I think we need that collar!" Naruto guessed as he and Chris each pulled out their guns, knowing facing these things head on wasn't a good idea with how fast and dangerous they were.
"I think so too." Chris nodded as he fired two quick shots to stun the canines. They both fell down, but were still alive. Naruto took that as his window of opportunity to aim down his sights and fire two shots through the head of the mutts.
Chris kept his gun in his hand as he walked over to them and unhooked the collar from around the dog's neck. Imprinted onto the collar as well was a name.
"Doug..." Chris read before he took the object, a small coin, from the front of the collar. It just hit him that the animals that were trying to kill him and Naruto were actual dogs at one point in time. It was horrible to think something had happened to them that they turned into... well, whatever they were now.
Looking at the collar's name again, he sighed heavily before he hooked it back onto Doug's neck; giving some form of humanity to the deceased dog.
Naruto watched the whole thing, but never opened once to comment. He was being reminded of Kurama and his long undetermined slumber. In a way, Kurama was dead too like Doug and it hurt Naruto to be reminded of that.
Chris examined the coin. "Doesn't seem to be anything weird..." he made a humming noise when he saw something on the front. He ran his finger over the surface until he put enough pressure on the coin to press something.
Imagine his and Naruto's surprise when it folded outwards and turned into the shape of a key.
"Is it...?" Naruto asked hopefully, his excitement rising. It died when Chris shook his head.
"Its just the shape of a key. Its fake." He answered. He tapped it against his hand in a small beat. "But what do we need it for?" Chris was starting to agree with Naruto about this whole place being a giant maze and puzzle. Everything from the start was go to Point A with Item F to get to Point C.
Naruto sat on the sack of Chemical as he tried to give it some thought. Leaning backward so his head was upside down, he stared at the broken door that he was responsible for. He knew that there was something he was missing. He just couldn't put his finger on it.
He jumped up from the sack when he thought he got it, surprising Chris. He stared at the creeped out S.T.A.R.S. member with a grin. "Remember when you said you found a key in that room, but there was a trap?"
Chris' eyes brightened when he indeed remembered that. "Naruto, my friend, you are a genius!" He praised, getting a larger grin from the ninja. "I'll be right back! Just don't go too far!" Chris warned as he took off into a sprint back to the area where Naruto found the arrow.
Naruto reentered the house slowly after Chris left, dragging the sack with him by his feet. He was starting to get exhausted lugging this thing around and hoped he found a reason to use it soon or he was gonna throw it away somewhere.
Looking to the left after getting inside, he saw that there was a stairwell that led back down to the first floor. His curiosity peeked, he pressed his back against the wall and looked around to see that there was nothing up here. No zombies and no dogs. There were of course more doors, but as of threats, nothing was in sight.
He walked around the railing to the top of the stairs, his shoulders slumping when he saw that there was a zombie slowly walking up the stairs.
"You guys just don't quit," Naruto shook his head as he waited for the zombie to get closer. Once the zombie was within arms reach, he kicked it down the steps; watching it roll down like a tumbleweed before colliding with the floor face first.
"And that's that!" Naruto grinned before walking down the stairs to the bottom floor. Passing over the body of the zombie, he stopped mid step when he saw another body lying facedown on the floor.
He waited but nothing happened. He didn't hear any noise coming from it. He finished stepping over the body of the zombie he had killed before he decided to drop the sack to get a better look. He needed to make sure that this thing wouldn't get him or Chris later.
He opened the door in front of the zombie just a crack, poking his head in to see that it was clear as day. There were some bottles with labels on them, but he wasn't the biggest expert when it came to medicine stuff. That was Sakura's field of expertise.
He almost shit himself when the zombie got back up when he took another step back from the door and started running at him! Naruto didn't think these things could run!
"Damn it!" He cursed as he sidestepped to avoid the claws of the super zombie. "Were they holding out on us the whole time?!" He asked before he took out a kunai and got into a stance. When the sprinting zombie turned and ran again, Naruto sidestepped once more; but adjusted his wrist so his kunai plunged into the skull of the zombie as he finished stepping.
He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, taking fast and uneven ones afterwards after the jump scare he's just had. What just happened here?! When the hell could they run?!
"Naruto!" Chris came running down the steps after seeing him down there. Naruto was right when he said that he needed to use the fake key to take the spot of the real one so Chris could keep it. But after leaving, a supposedly dead zombie jumped back up and ran after Chris at a speed that would make a marathon runner proud. Chris barely managed to get a shot in before the zombie got a bite. He ran back to get to Naruto so he didn't have to waste more time.
The still freaked out ninja turned to look at Chris. "The thing fuckin' ran at me! Yeah, that's right, it freakin' ran at me like someone stuck a propeller in its ass!"
Chris grimaced. "You too, huh?" Naruto looked wide eyed at the man. "Yeah I got attacked by something just like that too. I think these things are evolving or at the very least, getting tougher. It might have something to do with whatever infected them to turn them into zombies in the first place."
Naruto got onto his feet, grabbing the sack once again. He looked at Chris' hand and brightened when he saw a new key in it. "Is that an honest to God new key?"
Chris nodded with a smirk. "Oh definitely. You were right in that we had to switch keys to get this one." He looked on behind him to see another door at the end of the hall. "Since we're down here, we might as well keep going." Chris offered, trying to go the easiest possible route at this point to avoid as much problems as he can.
Naruto nodded. "Yeah I agree. We haven't checked down here yet. Might be something here we can use later." He and Chris shared a nod before they walked down the corridor and to the wooden door at the end that Naruto swore was just the same one as all the others they've seen up to this point.
...
"Okay... I stand corrected for the fifth time..."
Naruto was grinning like a fool as he held a mask in his hand, dangling it in front of Chris' face as the latter swatted him away with a annoyed frown as they returned back to the main hall of the mansion from the dining room.
Naruto and Chris had gone through the door and found their way to the back of the mansion where there was a plant that had a mind of its own. Chris had seen through the giant roots and saw, much to their up most relief, a mask. They had finally found the first mask.
Chris had stupidly tried to walk to it and grab it, but the plant swatted him away and forced Chris to retreat back to Naruto. But as he fell back, he saw a machine that was pumping water into the plant to keep it alive.
Naruto had seen it too and, smirking at being right in keeping the sack of chemical, and mixed it in with the water before flipping the switch to spray the now poisoned water over the plant. The plant died instantly from the poisoned water and Chris had tried again to get the mask, succeeding this time and grabbing the mask.
It was the mask without all.
The Mask that tastes, sees, and smells no evil.
They were one-fourth of the way done. They just needed three more masks and then they can go back to where they found the first key and the book and continue from there.
Chris frowned at the grinning face of the teenager next to him. "I'm not saying it again..." Naruto had been making him say that he was wrong and Naruto was right about keeping the sack of chemical since they left the room.
Naruto shrugged. "That's cool... But I was right about the sack." He grinned again as they started climbing the steps back to the second floor.
"I'm gonna jam my foot in your ass if you don't shut up." Chris warned, stopping on one of the steps and holding his foot up to show that he would follow through on that threat.
Naruto looked from the top step back down to Chris. He liked this guy. He reminded him a lot of himself at times with the whole sarcastic tone and the bad ass ways he's killed zombies so far. Naruto felt a connection to Chris because, whether the officer knew it or not, Chris was Naruto's only friend here in this new world with the hibernation of Kurama.
The teenager smirked down towards Chris. "Sure you will," Naruto taunted, continuing walking up and to the second floor, Chris lagging behind after mumbling how Naruto was a 'Carbon Copy of Claire.'
The two were heading back to the hallway where they had found the dog whistle. Chris mentioned past all the repeated praise of Naruto's keeping of the sack if chemical that it might be a good idea to see if this key would open the two locked doors there.
They walked back in the hallway, both holding either a knife or kunai as they stayed on guard. With the encounters of the running zombies, they weren't taking any chances and were more on their toes than they were before.
They made it to the two doors, the two men looking back and forth to see which door they would go in. Shrugging, they decided to go in the double door and almost cheered when the new key unlocked the door.
Chris slowly pushed the door open, that ominous sound of the squeaking of the hinges ringing through the dark and empty hallway. Naruto looked around them to see if something was coming before he followed Chris inside the room.
There were four statues of knights that were pushed out. A small cage was seen at the end of the hallway with a small box stuck inside. A switch was underneath a plack that was directly in front of Naruto and Chris.
Chris took the steps forward to read the writing that was engraved on it. "Woe to those who disturb my sleep." He stared confused and perplexed of the whole thing. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Don't ask me," Naruto shrugged. "There's a switch, so maybe if we press that, it'll 'disturb' the sleep and we'll get screwed somehow."
The two men could agree on that. It seemed obvious enough. Naruto looked at the knights, pressing a palm onto the surface of one. "Maybe these knights have to-?"
He was stopped when he put pressure on the knight and pushed it in, falling to the ground from the unexpected movement of the statue. Naruto was lying tangled up on the ground and groaning from the fall.
"I. Hate. This. Mansion." He growled out slowly as he picked himself up from the ground. "Something is always hurting me."
Chris almost snickered. He stared at the statue that Naruto had accidentally pushed in, his brain clicking as he looked to the other three that were still pushed out.
He smirked over to Naruto. "Looks like you're little fall solved the problem..." Chris said as he went to the statue across from where Naruto was still standing. Chris put all his weight on the statue as he pushed it in. They heard a click that made them think they had gotten closer to opening the cage.
It quickly turned to confusion when the statue Naruto had pushed in rolled back out and smacked the jinchuriki back to the ground.
"That's it!" Naruto jumped back up. "I'm really pissed right now!" He kicked the statue back in, but the one Chris pushed in came back out; the police man moving out of the way after Naruto got hit in the back.
Chris looked back and forth thoughtfully between the statues. "I'm guessing maybe we need to push them all in a certain way to get the cage to open." He deduced. He might've not been as smart as Jill when it came to any kind of puzzles, but he was sure he was right about this. At least, he hoped he was.
Naruto glared at the statues before he turned to Chris. "We don't need both of us in here to push in statues. Give me the key and I'll check out the other room." Naruto just didn't want to be anywhere near these statues anymore. He was growing increasingly more frustrated with these statues and knew that another incident like the one before and he was gonna attempt a Rasengan on them.
Chris seemed to see the logic in what he was thinking and handed him the key before he turned his back to him to focus on the puzzle on hand.
Naruto bid him farewell before he left the room.
...
Rebecca Chambers was not having a good night. Her hands were moving shakily over Richard's body, trying to do the best she could with what little equipment she had on hand after the man got bit by a snake that was easily the biggest animal she's ever seen in her life. They had barely managed to get away before holding up in this room.
His blood oozed down her fingers as she tried to apply pressure to his wound. His slow breaths of agony hid her scared and exhausted ones. They've been stuck here for a good half hour already and nothing was getting better, only worse by the second.
Rebecca felt things couldn't have gotten any worse for her after the previous night where she was teamed up with Billy Coen, an ex-marine turned fugitive, to survive something that was a horror story come to life. They barely survived and Rebecca was sure that she would get a break.
How wrong she was.
Richard moaned again, Rebecca doing her best to try and ease things for him by rubbing his bite wound. It was the best she can do without any serum on her. All she had was a piano script that she found in the room behind them while helping Richard get away from the snake. If this place was anything like the Umbrella Training Facility she was in last night, and from what she's seen so far it was, then this piano script might be needed later.
"Hang in there, Richard..." Rebecca consoled the poisoned man. "I'll think of something." She promised, although the words came out in a whisper like if she was lying when she said them. She was silently encouraging herself that she could help and save Richard. After last night, she felt like she could do anything.
Plus, she wasn't gonna lose him like Edward.
She turned her head quickly when she heard the door click. She wasn't prepared right now to take on any zombie. Any gunshot sound would bring them in over this way and Richard would definitely not make it. Still, one hand found its way to the grip of her gun.
The door opened, the face of a blonde boy around her age appearing in the doorway with a sharp knife in his hand. He let his body in next, his stained black shirt darkened with what Rebecca could easily identify as blood. His orange pants were stained with some blood at the helm and Rebecca spotted blood spots on his face. He looked exhausted as well.
He spotted her hunched form, looking to be shocked at seeing her. The feeling was mutual as Rebecca didn't expect to see someone else alive that wasn't a member of her team.
"You're alive, right?" He asked her, his hand tightening around his bladed weapon with his face scrunched up into one of focus. Rebecca quickly saw that he was ready to attack if anything was or wasn't said that he didn't like.
"Wait!" She held her hands up. "Yes! Yes I am alive!" She said in a rush, taking hard breaths to get air back into her lungs. Richard moaned again next to her, causing the blonde boy to look at him. Rebecca quickly covered her teammate. "He wasn't bit by a zombie! He was bit by a snake!" She revealed, seeing the new arrival's eyes and posture relax, which made her relax slightly too.
The blonde boy looked at the bite wound. "Damn!" He stared shocked. "Must've been one giant snake!" He rationalized, jogging forward to get a better look at the wound.
Rebecca nodded. "It was... It was bigger than anything snake I've ever seen in my life." Although she's seen a bat and a scorpion the previous night that were other candidates to the biggest animal she's ever seen. Rebecca looked over to the kneeled form of the boy intrigued. "Who are you? I wasn't expecting to see anyone else here that wasn't a part of my team."
He looked at her quickly, which surprised her. "Team?" He noticed the logo on her vest that read 'S.T.A.R.S.' on her shoulder. "Are you by any chance the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team?"
Rebecca nodded. "Yeah... Why?"
"Alpha Team is here looking for you guys." He revealed, wincing slightly when he got a better look at Richard's arm where the snake had taken a large bite out of him.
Rebecca gasped. "Alpha Team is here?!" If they were here, then that meant that they must've found out about their helicopter going down and the lack of contact from them. It didn't really surprise Rebecca now that she thought about it. She couldn't even get in contact with Enrico and the others anymore.
"One of them, Chris Redfield, is in the next room over," he revealed with a jab of his thumb behind him. "He'll be here any second now. I'm just scoping out ahead for anything bizzare." He said, finally looking away from Richard and sighing. "Poor guy... with this wound he isn't gonna last much longer..."
"He just needs serum for the poison!" Rebecca said, not so ready to write Richard off just yet. She can patch the bite itself easily. It was the venom in his veins that terrified her and where she had nothing to work with to fix.
"Serum?" Something seemed to click in his head before his eyes widened and he smiled. "There's a room on the first floor with a bunch of medicine in it! Maybe there's serum in there?!"
"Really?" Rebecca was thrilled to hear that. Finally a piece of good news was given to her that she so desperately needed after all the horror and crap she's seen in the past two nights.
The door opened again, this time a slightly older man wearing a green vest appearing in the hallway. "Naruto?" He called as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.
The boy now identified as Naruto turned to look at him. "Chris! Good thing you're here, we got a bit of a problem here!" He gestured to the bitten and agonizing Richard, whom was struggling to get his eyes to open.
Rebecca looked up to him. "Chris Redfield from Alpha Team?" She asked to make certain that this was a member of the task force.
Chris nodded. "Yes. Me and the rest of Alpha Team were sent in to find you guys after communication went down," he eyed her confusingly though. "But I don't recognize you."
"Rebecca Chambers; Medic and Rear Security of S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team!" She addressed, giving Chris the respect he deserved as a higher ranked member. "I just joined S.T.A.R.S. last month."
"Chris Redfield; Point Man and Co-Pilot of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team," Chris nodded before his eyes found their way to Richard's bite wound on his left arm. "Richard! What the hell happened to you?!" He asked as he kneeled down with Naruto and Rebecca to get a better look at him.
"He's been bit by a snake," Naruto answered for Rebecca. "And by the size of that wound, a freakin' huge one!" He said.
"He needs serum..." Rebecca said.
Naruto shared a look with Chris. "Remember where we found the fake key?" Chris nodded. "That spot where you found me after you found the new key, there's a room right there. Inside are a bunch of medicines and stuff."
Chris got where this was going. "Alright, I'll be right back," he promised. He dug into his back pocket to pull out a strange mask that was missing a nose piece. He tossed it to Naruto. "Another one down." He stated before he took off out the room for the medicine room.
Naruto pocketed the mask in his pouch on his back. Rebecca stared at him in confusion before he decided to answer her. "There's four of these masks hidden around the mansion. If we find them all, we can find a way out of here."
Rebecca was getting a small sense of deja vu due to the events of the previous night. At least finding masks seemed easier than getting a train to stop. She wished last night could've been as simple as this.
Rebecca nodded. "Let's hope..." she stared at Naruto for a few seconds before she asked the question on the tip of her tongue. "You're not in S.T.A.R.S." It wasn't a question. She could easily tell by the way Naruto looked that he wasn't involved in any kind of police work. He looked younger than her for gods sake.
Naruto shook his head. "Nope... I'm not." He confirmed, rubbing his cheek that had weird marks on them to scrape off some blood.
"So what brings you to a place like this?" Rebecca had seen the news report that stated that the Arklay Mountains were to be closed off to the general public until things were solved up here. It didn't make sense for someone not in S.T.A.R.S. to be anywhere near this place unless they had a death wish.
Naruto smiled. "Traveling." He sighed and leaned his head against the wall. "I'm not from around here. I just arrived in town... an hour ago? Maybe two?" He shrugged. "Its kinda hard to keep track of time around here when you're running for your life every five minutes."
Rebecca nodded with a small smile of her own. She knew that feeling all too well. Last night felt like ten instead of one.
"If I would've known about this place, I woulda stayed far away!" He laughed. "Actually I take that back, maybe I'm a little... I wouldn't say happy, but I'm kinda... what's the word I'm looking for?" He tapped his chin.
"Relieved?" Rebecca offered.
"Not exactly but I'll go with that for now," he smiled. "Yeah, I didn't know what I was gonna do when I got here, but now I guess since I stumbled on in here, I can help you guys get out of this death trap."
"Can never have too much help." Rebecca agreed. "Especially in a place like this." She gestured to the area around her, getting a laugh out of Naruto and a giggle out of her.
"I hear ya. Cannibal monsters, crazy dogs, apparently a giant snake, its all one giant horror story come to life. More help equals a better chance to survive..."
Rebecca nodded. "Let's hope our numbers are enough."
Chris came running back into the room shortly after, panting as he held the serum bottle in his hands. From the look of it, he ran like a man possessed to get there and back in record time.
He handed it over to Rebecca. "Its the right one?" He asked almost begging, not wanting to run all the way back again and waste more of what ever time Richard had left.
Rebecca smiled and nodded. "Yes. This is exactly what he needs." She poured the serum into his wound, making Richard wince weakly at the sudden touch on his arm. Rebecca poured a little down his throat as a precaution to make sure it went in. Can never be too safe in a zombie incident.
"Chris..." Richard's voice weakly spoke through the room. "Thank you..."
Chris nodded with a smile. "You don't have to thank me, Richard. That's what partners and friends are for." Naruto smiled in agreement.
Richard moved his unbitten arm to his belt to hand Chris a radio. "Here... You might need this later..." he said before he closed his eyes and fell into slumber.
Chris and Naruto started to panic before Rebecca eased their concerns. "He's just passed out. He'll be fine." She said. "We need to move him somewhere he can rest easily."
"There's a bed in the drug room," Chris revealed. "Its safe there too so we have nothing to worry about." Chris wrapped an arm around Richard's torso before he hoisted him up and over his shoulder.
The two S.T.A.R.S. members and Naruto headed for the drug room.
...
After making sure Richard was somewhere safe, Rebecca volunteered to look on after him until he was better; but not before handing Naruto the piano sheet that she found, saying that they might need it and mentioning that there was a piano in a room by the dining hall.
So after searching, they found it and were currently staring at the piano like a bunch of idiots. Naruto had stumbled across a music sheet that went accordingly with the piano sheet Rebecca gave him and set it on the piano. Still, it didn't help them figure out how to play the instrument.
"So..." Naruto tapped a few of the keys together, making a rythum that didn't sound pleasant. Chris had to move his hands off the piano to stop the horrid noise. "What do we do now?"
Chris shrugged. "Don't ask me. The only instrument I know anything about is drums. Something like this? I have a better chance flapping my arms and flying than I do actually playing this thing."
He sat at the bench and looked at the piano and music sheets that would've been laughing at him if they had any form of conscience. "Jill can play piano like a bad ass. She rocked the Christmas party last year playing some song I can't remember."
"It was Symphony 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven." A feminine voice spoke from the doorway. Chris and Naruto turned around fast to see Jill Valentine standing there with a proud smile on her face. "But thank you for saying I was bad ass, Chris."
"Jill!" Chris stood up from his spot on the bench to run up and get a better look to make sure he wasn't just going crazy from everything that's happened. He grinned when he realized that it was really her. "How'd you find us?"
"That awful piano playing from before," she answered. "I heard that from the dining hall."
Naruto frowned. "Hey! I wasn't that bad!" He said, even though he knew he was horrendous.
Jill smiled at him. "Nice to see you alive, Naruto," she nodded. She looked back to Chris. "Been watching him the whole time?"
Chris nodded. "Yep." He noticed the lack of a man in a red vest with a Magnum. "Where's Barry?"
"We split off a little bit ago to try and find a way out, Bravo Team, or you guys." Jill said before scowling. "After tonight, I am never living anywhere other than an apartment. All this running around like a douchebag killed my plans of buying a house of my own."
Chris and Naruto snickered at her declaration. "Well we found Richard and Rebecca of Bravo Team. Richard was bitten by a snake so he's resting in the mansion drug room. Rebecca is there watching him." Chris said.
Jill nodded. "What else you two been up to?"
"We've been looking for masks to unlock something at the bottom of the mansion." He tapped his foot in indication. "So far we only found two and we need four."
Jill blinked. "Wait... masks?" She dug behind her pockets before she pulled out a mask that looked oddly familiar to the two Naruto and Chris found. It was missing the mouth piece."Is it anything like this?"
Naruto jumped and cheered, spooking Jill just a little bit with his a little too much and out of place happiness. "Yes!" Naruto exclaimed. "Now we just need one more and then we're good!"
Chris ignored his cheering. "We almost got killed by a plant to get one and Naruto there is a little mad at statues that knocked him down while we were getting the second one." He explained.
Jill still was a little weirded out but nodded anyway. "Me and Barry found this one in a room filled with birds that tried to peck us to death when we solved the puzzle in there."
"It was easy for you, wasn't it?" Chris deadpanned.
Jill smirked. "Maybe just a little bit..." she pocketed the mask again. "But back on topic," she took the spot where Chris was sitting not too long ago. She cracked her knuckles. "Let's see if playing piano helps us further." She glanced over the music notes. "Moonlight Sonata... my favorite."
Chris and Naruto stood back and let Jill work her magic. Her fingers worked over the keys like magic, Chris staring amazed at the way Jill handled it while Naruto closed his eyes to enjoy the peaceful music. Jill concentrated on the notes while smiling to herself about her success.
Once she reached the final note, a piece of the wall opened up to reveal a secret passage. All three looked inside from where they sat or stood and saw that there was only a golden emblem inside.
Jill stood up from the bench with an accomplished smile. "Looks like my music skills came in handy." She blew on her fingers like if they were on fire and stood triumphant.
Chris could only nod. "Thank God you came here or else we wouldn't have been able to do that." He pointed to the wall that moved up.
Naruto agreed. "You bailed our asses out, Jill; both with the mask and now this."
Jill smiled. "Glad to be of service."
...
"Thanks a lot, Naruto..." Chris sarcastically said as he, the boy in question, and Jill, who was gonna be tagging along with them from here on out, stared down the giant snake Chris guessed bit Richard.
The golden emblem that they received, which they had to replace with the emblem in the dining hall, something they figured out when Chris went to get it and gotten trapped inside the wall after it came back down; activated the grandfather clock in the dining hall.
Jill had used her puzzle skills to make the two handles point in the desired directions and had gotten them another key, which after combining their knowledge on where they've been already; they realized went to a door somewhere upstairs.
They were went into the room where Chris and Naruto found Rebecca and Richard, the latter having seen another door while there. They entered the new door and found a dusty one that opened with the new key Jill gotten them.
Upon entering, Naruto's advanced senses helped him to see something at the far end of the room.
"I found the last mask!"
He was really wishing he hadn't yelled that because the moment the words left his mouth, the snake came slithering through the ceiling and hissed down at them.
"This looks like something Orochimaru would conjure up..." Naruto had muttered after Chris' sarcastic little comment.
Jill looked back and forth between them. "Boys, nows not the time to fight each other. We need to get that mask and get out." The two guys nodded slowly before the giant snake lunged at them. Chris helped Jill out of the way while Naruto dodged on his own, his pants being ripped slightly as he barely scraped past the snake.
The teen threw a pair of Shuriken in the snake's eyes, the giant animal hissing angrily and painfully at Naruto's little attack. Chris took off for the mask while Jill provided cover with two shots from her handgun.
Naruto was wishing he can use a Rasengan on the snake, but his chakra reserves were still recovering from his fall into this world. Despite a lot happening in the last two hours, he technically only just got here. His chakra wouldn't be back up to fighting levels until the next morning.
He settled for a paper bomb attached to a kunai instead. "Hit the deck!" He instructed, Jill listening as he jumped high and threw the kunai bomb down the mouth of the snake when it hissed again.
The boom went off and smoke started coming out the snake's mouth. It retreated into a hole in the wall, leaving the three alone in the dusty attic like room.
Naruto looked when Chris grabbed the mask. "Let's go!" The older man yelled as he took off in a run back to them. The three exited the room and breathed sighs of relief.
Jill smiled at Chris. "Good job!"
He smiled back. "Thanks, but Naruto really kicked it to that snake." He turned to the blonde, whom was leaning against the wall. "Hey, what was that thing you used?"
Chris was cut off when Naruto fell forward unconscious, Jill gasping in shock as their eyes fell to his ripped pants.
A bite mark was on his ankle.
End of Chapter 3 of The Never-Ending Battle
Yep, really long chapter as I wanted to get all Death Masks shit done with.
Naruto's seen Claire, even if it was only a picture ;)
Jill is staying with them all the way through so I can build a bond between her and Naruto that I can work with in the Raccoon City Incident. How I'm working that is Naruto will start off with Jill and eventually get separated from her and meet up with Leon and Claire.
I liked that scene with Naruto and Rebecca. I'm definitely making them friends in this story.
Now Naruto's poisoned. Little cliffhanger for all of you. Remember that Kurama is gone, so that means his healing is gone too.
Next Time: Lisa Trevor