Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Highschool of the Dead.
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Naruto sighed, his bored expression evident to everyone around. They had been sitting on the stairs for five minutes easily, with a new smaller group of students now accompanying them.
Truthfully, Naruto felt they were nothing special. They didn't have any visible evidence of formal training like Rei or Saeko had. They didn't have any mechanical skills like Kohta or the doctor Shizuka. Even Saya had some element of genius to her. Although he personally would go as far as to call it genius to be exact, more so that she just knew a lot. He remembered quite clearly his genin days. Sakura was by no means a genius. She just knew a lot of stuff.
Takashi in Naruto's opinion was the odd man out in the group. He too didn't appear to be anything special. He was just an average and normal teenager thrown into circumstances that were anything but normal. Although Naruto could admit one thing. The fire he saw in the boy's eyes. If he had anything, the boy had a lot of guts, and a lot of heart.
So when Naruto rested his eyes on the new arrivals, he subtly wished that they had arrived a few moments later, when they would have been effectively turned. Not one of them even had a unique hair color that made them stand out. And given the group he had been with for the past thirty to forty minutes? That was pretty sad.
"Are we seriously going to sit here and drawl over how we are going to make our way down the stairs, and get past what? Eight of these things?" Naruto questioned, his irritation slowly growing. He was being polite sticking around with the group. The doctor had assisted him with Ayane, and even though that was her job. Shit had obviously hit the fan here, and likely a lot of obligations people formerly held went along with it.
And the fact that the girl was up and moving, albeit not talking was still an improvement from her former state.
Still... the longer they waited, only more of these living dead would appear. That wasn't something he was particularly fond of dealing with since he would be walking out of this place since he didn't have the slightest idea how to operate the technology that the group kept talking about. Whatever this 'Bus' or 'Car' thing were. They sounded like something similar to the trains located in Snow Country, but he would wait to pass judgment.
"Uzumaki-san, you and Takagi-san both seem to have they theory that these things react only to sound. Someone needs to go and confirm that theory." Saeko said in a quiet voice as she looked over the side of the railing to the hallway below filled with dead.
Naruto resisted the urge to get a bit defensive at the fact that he was being questioned. Particularly when it was two people with the exact same theory. Although he knew the older student was simply doing her best to take charge as the de facto leader of the group. She didn't want anyone to get hurt.
Although that wasn't a cure to Naruto's boredom and frustration with waiting. Naruto saw that the brown haired teen with heart was already ready to speak up and go down there to deal with the annoying little problem. Internally Naruto kept telling himself, 'Nope! Nope! Nope! Sit the fuck down. I'll handle this.' he thought to himself as he stood up and pushed Rei's spear out of the way while he made his way down the stairs.
He appreciated bravery Takashi was about to show, but the longer he stayed here, the darker it would get outside, and the harder things would become for him and his ward.
"I'll do it." he muttered as he walked past quickly. "Saeko, watch Ayane-san for me." he said slowly to get the point across as he stared at the from half way down the stairs.
"Uzumaki-san, please, I should go first." Saeko said abruptly turning to the blonde, having stopped looking over the railing. It was evident that she knew someone had to go down the stairs to check, but she was just checking the surroundings because she assumed it would be her. Now that it was not...
"I seriously do not have time for this." Naruto said seriously, his commanding shinobi tone bleeding over into the one he had used to speak to civilians and victims of the war. "I understand that you are all scared, but the longer we sit here, the darker it gets. The sun is already setting. And unless you all have a plan to see these things in the dark, we must go now." he didn't even wait for a retort that was potentially for his safety, or the fact that he was being rude, or whatever else he was prepared for. He frankly just didn't care. If he was going to keep his word, he needed to get the people here to this... bus or whatever it was called.
Naruto stepped down the stairs swiftly pulling out an elongated kunai often utilized by Mist shinobi. On missions around their country, they could tie a stick to the kunai and have a far more slick spear head for fishing than what could be achieved with regular kunai. He imagined there was more to it when he won it off the mist ninja under his wing in a game of cards. But he didn't care that much beyond that, often favoring a ninja-to over all else if he was forced to use a weapon.
Naruto once he was down at the bottom of the steps, special kunai in hand wait a couple seconds, his arms spread wide as if beckoning the things to attack him. However beckoning a blind person with a wave of the hand never worked before.
Naruto turned around with a deadpan look to the people on stairs, all of whom had moved down considerable to see the event unfold.
Naruto heard the slightest bit of shuffling behind him, and the tense panic that rose in the faces of those on the stairs only further served to make him roll his eyes. They were blind, and they couldn't feel anything. That meant if he didn't say a peep, they could repeatedly walk into him, and think of him as nothing but a wall under the sun's rays.
As if to prove his point, he turned to the creature slowly walking towards him. And while he wasn't looking at the people behind him, he knew what he was about to do would make them nearly yell out.
He gently placed his hand on the chest of the mindless student, and pushed it backwards. The dead student stumbled back a bit, and attempted to retaliate. But Naruto only had to take a step to the side to avoid the stumbling creature as it walked into the wall near the stairs.
Naruto sighed heavily and walked halfway back up the stairs to the now rather wide eyed group. Naruto fought the urge to snap at them and ask what the fuck they were staring at. But Naruto knew that they were look at him as if he was simply a civilian. And as such they were looking at him as if asking the silent question of "How does he walk around with balls that big?"
Naruto held his hands up to the side and and shrugged his shoulders, silently saying. 'I think I proved my point.'
He then turned to Ayane, and gestured with a finger, "Alright come on, lets get you out of here." he whispered quietly. However while mute, she still was perfectly capable of realizing what he just did.
She got up from her sitting position next to the doctor on the stairs, and for a moment everything appeared to be normal. That was until she got close to Naruto and took a deep breath before hitting him in the stomach.
The punch truthfully had no effect as the girl quickly snatch back her hand and waved it in the air a bit as if she had just hit a brick wall. She then looked at Naruto with narrowed eyes that quickly became softened and dejected.
The silence made it hard to have proper conversation, but the hushed whisper and some of the first words the girl spoke around the group were simply but telling, "Please don't do that again..." she said quietly her face casting into a frown.
Naruto was personally just surprised from the sudden boldness from the former mute. But he supposed that while she may have her own issues, the apple probably didn't fall too far from the tree in regards to her and her sister's personalities.
The group probably assumed that the girl was simply asking Naruto to by all of their standards, not be an idiot once again. But Naruto knew the unspoken meaning of the statement was she simply didn't want to lose anyone else. He knew the look she was giving him far to well for it to be anything but that.
Naruto nodded softly to the girl to ease her stress. He didn't know how long he could personally keep that unspoken promise. His idea of a risk was incredibly different than their idea of a risk. He didn't even know if it was possible for him to turn into one of these things. Not to say he was willing to try it. He still felt as if he was ever touched by one of these pathetic creatures, he should just turn in his shinobi license since his reflexes officially had degraded to being worse than a fresh genin's at that point.
He turned to look up the stairs before motioning to the only other person he could actually justify needing, "Shizuka-san, please follow me, I will clear the way." he spoke in a soft calming voice.
Although it did serve to create a deal of tension within the now larger group. To them it probably seemed that Naruto was playing favorites.
Naruto held back an laugh to not alert the downstairs residents. Hell, he was playing favorites.
Despite the bit of tension that developed from him beckoning Shizuka to follow him, it appeared that everyone else took that as the queue to suit up and prepare to move out.
Naruto grabbed onto Ayane's hand as he held her close to him while he prepared to walk. But before he even made two steps, Ayane had made one. Naruto had to take a few seconds to stop his twitching eyebrow. The otherwise silent girl had about the subtly of an oncoming train given how she moved in those heels she worse.
Naruto turned to her and rubbed the bridge of his nose before point to the girl's shoes. He then raised his finger in the common motions as if to say "One second, wait here." With a single finger before a full flat palm.
He may have been cocky earlier, but he didn't want to risk talking out loud standing only a couple steps from the walking dead with Ayane in toe.
The group seemed to catch this, and some even smiled at the delicate care the blonde seemed to take for the platinum blonde's safety.
Ayane seemingly understood, and took that time to move back up a few steps on her toes, using the railing for balance. She then proceeded to sit down on the edge of the first set of stairs as she took off her heels.
Naruto on the other hand hadn't opted to wait. He merely decided to take the safer route, the route he should have taken ten minutes ago. Killing the fucking things.
Naruto moved up, knife in hand, tired of the purple swordswoman's ideas of avoiding conflict. The first corpse he saw got to greet the nice clean mist shinobi steel directly to it's eye socket. There was virtually no sound heard as the knife cut through the eye like butter. Naruto proceeded to catch the crumbling dead student before softly resting it on the floor, not letting it make a sound.
To say some of the onlookers were slightly disturbed by the efficiency of the blonde would be a slight understatement. Saeko was efficient. She moved seamlessly from abomination to abomination cutting them down as if it took no effort at all, as if she had perfected an art form.
However the level of perfection the blonde before them was showing was somewhere between disturbing and disgusting. He had taken perhaps a minute tops to completely and utterly dismember and entire group of twelve zombies in complete and utter silence, all the while moving quick and seamlessly.
The very last creature he killed, he grabbed by the back of the head and roughly slid him down the hallway, his head sliding into the lockers. Securing their safety as the few remaining things proceeded to march to the locker and repeatedly bump against it as it if was their dinner inside.
"Alright lets go, no one make a sound." he said quietly as he gestured for everyone to make it down the stairs. However he knew. He just knew that somehow some way... one of these civilians would find a way to fuck up the simplest of orders.
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An old wise man would have said 'The urge to curse is strong within this one.' Naruto thought dryly.
A strong urge to curse simply didn't cut it. How damn hard was it to walk down a flight of stair silently. Sure he could have expected perhaps some honest slight slip ups. Such as civilians just not knowing how to move silently. Ayane's freight train footsteps earlier were evidence of that. It only made Naruto the slightest bit happy to notice she had seemingly took his silent request to heart as she had run across this 'parking lot' in her bare feet alongside the others.
Naruto was sure that other students were probably a good deal envious as she made her way across the lot, no weapon in hand, yet safer than everyone else. The sheer thought that Naruto would let any of the monsters come within ten feet of her was almost ridiculous after the promise he made. Particularly in a chaotic environment like this.
He simply couldn't save everyone. Everyone ran on to the lot yelling and screaming, and making all other sorts of unholy racket with their choice of weapons. The only one Naruto didn't have the urge to strangle was the chubby Hirano kid. The kid had taken to simply whispering to himself as he moved around in a slow but nearly silent jog. His weapon in hand would take care of the creatures with long range dull thuds in a single shot. A great big difference in contrast to someone like Takashi who had taken up some unique kind of golden metal pipe, and proceeded to swing it around him like some sort of unintelligent bandit.
They had quickly filed on to the bus with as far as Naruto was concerned, realistic losses. His earlier assessment of the other students that had picked up being nothing special would have been right. In fact they were the reason this whole problem started. Then not to mention as far as Naruto was concerned the ridiculous display that he had never and would never be able to fathom. The idea of meaningless sacrifice. One of the young girls of their group, completely in the clear had opted to simply go back and die with her boyfriend, even after his dying words for her to run.
Naruto sat in the large contraption called a bus. He had sat Ayane down near one of the seats close to the front. As far as he was concerned, this thing was just one big death trap that they filed into. But he once again told himself he would wait to pass judgment until the thing was fully moving.
It was then as he gazed out the window and the group was ready to go that he once again got that sinking feeling in his gut, the feeling he had gotten as he stared down Kimeko and her group earlier that day.
A group of people were yelling for rescue as they ran across the barely cleared parking lot. Naruto would be lying to himself if at first glance he had the strong urge to let them die. An opinion he seemed to share with the brown haired spear wielder. Although he silently knew why he would let them die, and why she would were completely different reasons. He simply couldn't stand the fact that there were eight of them running, and not a single one of them was carrying a weapon. At least the idiots from earlier were smart enough to do that, however ill equipped mentally Naruto felt they were.
However the more he watched, his shinobi practice kicking in. Truthfully it was a practiced and instinctual surge of adrenaline most shinobi got when they were prepared to move. The foot steps of those out there running had simply slowed down as Naruto's quicker combat drilled mind sped up, side effects of the Kyuubi's presence.
It was in that moment as he stared at the leader just making foot fall after foot fall did his mistake with Kimeko become all the more apparent. It was not his lack of desire to help that got her killed. He had wanted to help. It was his questionable lack of action as he mulled over the value of helping that got her killed.
Naruto grimaced as he looked towards Ayane, the girl he had been saddled with sitting down with a worried gaze pointed to the running students.
'Not again...' Naruto thought as he quickly stood and made it to the exit of the bus, brushing past the brown haired bat wielder before many could react.
"Uzumaki-san!" The purple haired female protector of the group cried out as he stepped off the bus.
"Watch the girl for me." he responded dryly as he walked at a brisk pace to the oncoming group lead by a teacher with golden eyes.
"Naruto-san! We don't have to save him!" Rei had yelled out as she grabbed onto Naruto's arm, having followed him off the bus. She had since given up on trying to stop Takashi from saving this Shido, and his group. She had moved on to stopping the ballsy blonde haired, secret shinobi. "You will regret this!" she said quickly as she yanked Naruto closer to her by the arm.
Naruto grit his teeth, and turned briskly, stabbing a monster lunging at Rei's exposed and unmoving back. "So will you if you don't get back on the bus, now go! Get the hell out of here!" he said in a commanding voice to the now startled Rei.
Rei looked down to the ground where one of the creatures laid dead at her feet and paled slightly. She hated Shido. She hated him more than anyone else at this school could even begin to comprehend. But as the blonde before her played the most unlikely hero in her case, all she could do is remain silent and backtrack back onto the bus. The fact that the blonde had told her to do so as if it was an unquestionable order, made it a lot harder to dispute as well.
Naruto now broke into a light jog to meet up with the oncoming students. The leader of their group seemed to have quite a deal of speed to him if he was able to post up and usher them along with his hand before anyone else reached him.
It was then within these next few moments as he caught up to the teacher that his blood had run cold at the sight before him.
One of the students was running as fast as he could with a bag over his shoulder, that looked like it weighed quite a bit as well by the standard of a young civilian. In his hand he was clutching a large piece of paper. It probably would have been better off folded, but he imagined the weaponless squad simply didn't have the time.
Naruto resisted the urge to cringe at the boy's bad luck as he took a vicious fall, crying out how he sprained his ankle. Even his bag had swung around and landed on top of him. Although Naruto knew the kid would still be fine, the closest monsters were still at least fifteen feet away. More than enough time to be assisted on his feet, and get some help to be carried back.
And then it happened. His trained shinobi senses picking up every word.
"Oh, I see." The man said as he looked down upon the fallen student clutching at his pants leg. He then let a smile come to his face as he lifted his foot, "Well I guess that's it for you then." he said in a far too cheerful voice.
The image of the man's foot impacting on the top of the boy's head would be forever seared into Naruto's mind.
"The world we've known is over. The powerless don't deserve to survive." the man said quietly as he looked down at his former comrade. It was evident though that he had thought he was alone. Because the moment he turned around, the shocked expression that appeared on his face as the blonde came now rushing through, and shoving him to the side. It was another thing Naruto would never forget.
Naruto grit his teeth as a life lesson he learned played through his head.
You can judge the character of a person by the way he treats those that can do nothing for him.
Shido's shock did not last long though, he needed to get onto that bus. And he wasn't going to stick around with the suicidal blonde to do it. It was then that he had opted to turn tail and run from his disgusting act of treachery.
The blonde shinobi leader however did not. 'Three seconds.' he said softly in his mind as he knelt down with the students despite the oncoming monsters.
It was in the first second that he allowed himself to take in the appearance of the boy. Broken, crying, and betrayed as he knelt there on the ground sure of his oncoming death. Clutched in his hand upon closer inspection was a map, now quite worn out from the fall he took. His glasses seemed to have cracked as his face impacted the concrete. But it was evident by the minimal damage that he didn't impact it too hard. Not enough to cause any sort of concussion. The the slight few cuts from loose gravel had appeared on his forehead.
'Two seconds' Naruto told himself once again. Naruto grit his teeth and hefted the boy up along his shoulders.
'One second' Naruto could literally smell the breath rolling off the dead students at the close of a distance. He may have been in trouble if he continued to do his best to hide the fact that he was a shinobi. But... he was a damn shinobi. And the most recent treachery didn't even serve to brighten his mood.
"Shinra Tensei." He muttered quietly. Only the boy on his shoulders would have effectively heard it. It was then that the six creatures that had come to surround the two were viciously blown back. This wasn't the 'please move from the doorway' Shinra Tensei as he liked to call it, such as the one he used earlier against the abomination in the school. This was a full fledged, bone crushing, organ melting forceful push that was used for combat.
The creatures rocketed off in all directions, the amount of force shown to all of the onlookers as over in the bus. One of the monsters had propelled right into the school. His body slamming hard against the contructed walls, impacting with enough force to make an actual crater in it. A feeling he knew far too well from his battle with Pein. Another creature blew off in another direction, rocketing at the fence before spring boarding face first harshing into the cement.
Naruto absently wished that he had the opportunity to see one of them fly off at such a force that upon reaching the fence, they simply slid through it like a cheese grater made of Samehada teeth.
Although despite all of the onlookers, there was only a single cold gaze from Naruto reserved for the treacherous teacher.
He was brought out of his gaze, and let it soften a bit as he heard the quiet weeping on his shoulders.
"Thank you..." the boy muttered between the sounds of nearly choking on his own fear.
Naruto clenched his fists a bit as he came to realize what type of world he had been dropped in. A world where all obligations and senses of duty in life had gone out the window. When honor and loyalty to one's comrades had become a foreign concept. As Saya had said during their brief break. A world without order.
Naruto simply nodded his head in response as he came to the realization of what he was going to do. 'They need a leader!' he told himself with conviction as he thought back to the shinobi in his home under his command before gazing as the bus as he began his march.
He shrugged the boy on his shoulders a bit higher before officially responding to the boy's statement. A reality and promise he had come to terms with just now, for himself.
"No man gets left behind." he said in a cool tone as he made his way to the bus.
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"We need a leader!" Tsuchikage said with conviction as he sat in his chair that was slightly higher than everyone else's.
"I must agree." Sarutobi Hiruzen said in a calm but aged voice that demanded respect. His cool and collected way of speaking only served to remind those in the room that they were in the presence of 'The God of Shinobi' a title only shared by one other. The Sage of the Six Paths.
His mere presence was imposing in his own right. But the moment he had strolled into the meeting room with his students Jiraiya, and Tsunade flanking him as his escorts. Both of them worthy of the title of Kage in their own right. To say the powerhouse that was Konoha was still ever present and ever intimidating would be an understatement. It was considerably unnerving when three shinobi stroll into the room, and it was common knowledge that they could likely force the rest of the entire room into a stalemate. Their summons were unmatched, small and big.
The only summon that could ever considerably oppose that sheer might of the ones the Sannin used would be those of the late Salamander Hanzo. Although after his supposed death, the contract had all but vanished.
There was also the fact that the famed Monkey King of legend was said to be even stronger than Hiruzen himself. The famed trickster was said to have fought against the legend of Juubei and lived through sheer skill and trickery. It was a feat that could never truly be confirmed. And when the Monkey King was seen, it wasn't so he could simply boast. It was often so he could cripple you unless you were a Konoha ninja. Still it was unnerving because the older generation of shinobi had come to realize that even most legends have some truth to them. That was only further shown by Konoha's report on their battle with Pein.
The fact that they could even get information on the enigmatic Akatsuki leader spoke volumes for their resources. Many shinobi they had sent in to Ame for information had simply died. They had long thought that to be due to the overly security conscious Hanzo. However the found that to not be the case most recently.
Hiruzen continued with his statement, "And we should surround them with the brightest, the toughest, and the deadliest allies we can find."
"You sound as if you are gearing for a suicide mission old friend." the Tsuchikage snorted briefly at the idea. He had no love for Konoha, particularly their former Hokage. But he had grown up alongside the Third Hokage. Through war, and various chunin exams and celebrations. Not to mention he held a great deal of respect for The Professor.
"This war is a suicide mission." the elder Hokage said ominously which immediately attracted the attention of the considerably younger Kage's in the room.
There was something to be said about the power of villages that were still on their Third Kage's, whilst other village's were on their fourth and fifths. The only exception being that Konoha had a Fourth in the past, but he died. However... that Kage practically single handedly won a war with his fighting skill, and shortly after defeated the strongest of Biju. Once again single handedly with sealing techniques far beyond comprehension from multiple villages.
The power the two villages held over the other's was considerably unnerving. Even the proud Raikage was willing to admit that. His father was powerful. He would be able to make a solid argument for his father beating the Kages before him in a fight, some quite easily. However he was not his father, and he still had much to learn despite his strength.
"Our enemies have found out a way to recreate my former sensei's ability to bring back the dead. All of our mentors, everyone that has ever taught someone in this room can, and will be used against us." The aged Sarutobi chewed on his pipe a bit, blowing smoke from his nose as he looked around.
"The Third and Forth Kazekage. Washing over battlefields with gold dust and iron sand." he said as he gestured to the youngest Kage alive.
"The seven shinobi swordsman, of all generations." he said with a pointed look to the attractive Mizukage.
"Your father." he said as he stared the Raikage in the eye, a visible tension suddenly locking up his form.
"Your sensei." he said cooly as he gazed at the shorter man beside him. The shorter man didn't seem visibly tense or scared at that notion. But there was an unspoken level of fear for a few in the room. Few knew about the capabilities of a bloodline expansion, or the Second Tsuchikage's mastery over it.
"That Akatsuki, Hanzo, The gold and silver brothers. Fallen jinchuriki..." he took a pause during his speech, "Every powerful shinobi that has fallen can and will be used against us in this war. A strong team is necessary."
"You speak as if you have already been decided as the leader." The Mizukage noted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I was under the impression that you lost your Jinchuriki in Konoha's most recent battle."
A voice from the upper balcony made everyone tense and turn, ready for action. "Not quite." the voice called out.
There was Uzumaki Naruto, in his Konoha ANBU gear. Accompanying him were none other that his former ANBU captain Uzuki Yugao, and former Akatsuki member Konan, The Angel of Ame.
Although while the appearance of the shinobi was certainly surprising. There was nothing they could do to hold back their surprise, and fear as they gazed up at Naruto's eyes.
Jiraiya was the first to speak what everyone had on their minds, "The Rinnegan..." he said quietly in awe, his mind drifting away to a prophecy about a world's savior he had heard long ago.
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Naruto snapped out of his memories he had fallen into while looking out of the window of this 'bus'. He had to admit this was a rather useful piece of transportation in this world. At first glance it was probably incredibly useful. However as they drove further down the road, he had seen the types of transportation on fire, and quickly squashed the idea. It just meant any katon or raiton expert could send the car up in flames during war times. Still if it was a time of peace, and they repaved the dirt roads around the village. These could be excellent transportation and trading vessels.
It wasn't long before their blonde driver had taken them by the side of a cliff. During the act he had actually gripped Ayane's hand a bit tightly from his seat next to her. Although that was more due to if he needed to escape the vehicle quickly upon loss of control. Much less so the speed they were traveling. He would admit it was fast. It was probably a tad faster than shinobi chakra enhanced traveling in a straight up race. But the fact that it was confined to roads simply made it inefficient in comparison to traditional traveling in Naruto's eyes.
Although that was merely his personal opinion. He didn't really ever get tired. He could understand someone with lower stamina such as Sakura appreciating this sort of transportation.
Naruto on the other hand had his favorite, and as far as he was concerned it was forever set in stone. Konan using paper to create herself angel's wings, and then would proceed to drop him into a battlefield from high in the clouds. A tactic he had developed in the war with creative use of both of their innate abilities. Nothing was better than the panic in the eyes of the enemy as he was coming upon them from the sky.
"We managed, I guess." Naruto rolled his eyes a bit at Takashi's comment. It wasn't very morale boosting if you talked like you were barely scraping through encounters. Naruto stood up, and went over and grabbed Shizuka's medical bag.
"Yeah..." Kohta said quietly as if he couldn't believe it himself.
Naruto turned to go back to the injured student clutching his face in a deal of pain, his bag in the chair beside him. He was right across from Saeko, which that in itself wasn't a problem. If anything it was quite pleasant as she was the closest thing to a warrior he had found in this world. But the fact that the man dubbed Mr. Shido had taken to standing up beside her irritated him to no end.
Naruto marched forward, an intimidating feat in itself as everyone had not forgotten the display the blonde had shown during his rescue. However there was just no simple conversation started of "I know you were the one that cause all of those monsters to fly away from you, do you have special powers?" in a civilian dominated if not completely civilian world.
Shido backpeddled a tiny bit, but as far as Naruto was concerned, kicking him off the bus wouldn't get him far enough away from the man. And as such, it was quite a push from Naruto that sent him stumbling back to the back of the bus that gave Naruto some deal of satisfaction. Despite the fact he nearly pushed the teacher onto the unsuspecting short haired busty female in the back of the bus.
Naruto rummaged through the medical bag while quietly saying, "Show me your face." while masking his irritation. "What's your name?" he asked doing his best to keep an even tone.
The boy replied with a stiff lip, "Kaji Saito." he said in a deal of pain.
Shido however despite the look of fear in his eyes momentarily at being pushed around by the blonde. He took his fall gracefully and stood back up, "Thank goodness!" he cried out a bit dramatically before walking back forward. Although paying keen attention of standing outside of the blonde's reach as he tended to the student's wounded face with swabs and checking for potential rocks or glass that got stuck in his wounds.
"So would you be the leader Busujima-san?" Shido asked slowly keeping mindful eye on Naruto.
Saeko whom was more busy paying attention to Naruto do his work barely even recognized being addressed. She was instead far more interested in while a man like Naruto did not have the slightest bit of calloused fingers despite his skill with a blade. Even she gained rough hands from time to time, and she took extreme care of them despite her practice.
"There's no such thing." she finally replied. "We just work together in order to live, that's all."
"That's not good..." he teacher replied slowly in a rather condescending tone. "In order to survive, we definitely need a leader." His eyes raised in excitement as he said this, "A leader who bears everything."
Naruto had heard enough as he finished up with the student he tended to before quietly grabbing the map he had been clutching earlier moving to put the medical bag at the front of the bus with Shizuka-san. Although he was stopped by Rei almost violently grabbing him, and pulling him down to the a knee. However he settled for the seat across from her.
"You'll regret this." she said in a harsh whisper.
Naruto gaze back with a cold look. He wasn't in the slightest bit a fan of her repeated man handling on this subject. However he did gather a deal of respect for the girl as she continued to keep eyes locked with him, not faltering in the slightest.
"I guarantee you'll regret that you helped him!" she said with the same intensity, her voice hushed despite her conviction.
Naruto pursed his lips as he gave a sideways glance to the teacher returning to his seat before turning back to the brown haired girl. "I know." he said quietly not entirely paying attention to how he was speaking to the girl and he let slip, "I should have killed him when I had the chance." he whispered so only she could hear despite Takashi's close distance.
Rei appeared shocked for a moment that he would say such a thing before she began to look at Naruto in a new but wary light.
"But..." he continued, no longer caring since the metaphorical cat was out of the bag with her at the moment. "It's not about him, it was about all of them." he said quietly gesturing to all of the students that Shido had brought with him. "I doubt you wanted all of them to die simply because you don't like one person either." he said quietly before he sat back in his seat giving Rei the time to think and feel the weight of those words.
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"It's like I said!" a tall teen spoke out to the ground having stood up after they drove by a small convience store. "It's only dangerous if we keep going! First of all, why do we have to go with Komuro?" the large teen with two different hair colors all but spat. "You guys are the ones who decided to go back to the city. Maybe we should have just looked for a safe place inside the school."
Naruto resisted the urge to scoff at that. To him that seemed like a personal problem considering they only met them because they were running to the bus out in the parking lot.
A shorter and lankier new arrival further back in the bus seemingly agreed with the ridiculous statement though. "He's right." the teen cried, "We should barricade ourselves somewhere. Like that convenience store we just saw."
This only prompted the bus to come to a screeching halt, and nearly throw the standing passenger off his feet.
"That's enough!" the blonde doctor yelled down the bus. Although Naruto personally found it a bit hard to take the rather aloof big chested doctor seriously, when he chest swayed back and forth while she tried to make a statement.
It was one thing being a big chested doctor like Tsunade Senju whose skill in healing is virtually unmatched as is her strength, and the fact that she could kill most people with a finger flick if she so desired. It was another to be a like well... Shizuka-san, whom was pretty much the exact opposite of how Tsunade carried herself.
"I can't focus on driving with all of this commotion!" she continued to yell.
"Yeah... whatever..." the standing teen said slowly. The stress visible on his face told Naruto the teen was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"Tell me what you want to do then." Saeko spoke up, always trying to play the resident peace keeper and protector of the group.
"I just can't!" he the teen yelled before pointing a finger toward Komuro. Naruto was sure there was some sort of story there. But the way Komuro acted, he didn't seem to know what it was. "I just can't stand him!"
Out of the corner of his eye he saw to his amusement, Saya stopping Kohta from firing off a nail at the yelling teenager.
"Why?" Komuro asked as he stood up, not willing to back down and take what the multi hair colored teen was saying. "When did I ever say anything to you?"
A flicker of anger showed in the guys eye's. Whether it be Komuro not remembering, or just white hot rage. Naruto couldn't pinpoint. "You bastard!" he yelled as he started to charge with his fist cocked. Naruto almost grimaced at how much the scene reminded him of his childhood bouts between himself and Sasuke.
Although the encounter was over just as quickly as it started as Rei was quick to stand, and slammed her makeshift spear into the bigger teen's gut causing him to crumple to the floor.
"Asshole..." she muttered. Naruto could read in her body language her patience with the situation was wearing thin. Far more frustrated with the newest arrivals that Naruto was. 'Although... I have been through training to supress my emotions in stressful times like these...' he mused to himself.
Clapping however brought him out of his muses as he turned to Mr. Shido now standing. "Bravo!" he began, "That was outstanding teamwork, Komuro-kun and Miyamoto-san. However at any rate, a conflict such as this only serves to prove my point." He grinned as he leaned forward to the two shorter teens, "We need a leader."
Naruto narrowed his eyes realizing what was going on.
"Oh? And we've got only one nominee?" Saya asked as she pushed her glasses further on her nose.
"I'm a teacher, Miss Takagi. And you guys are students. That alone makes it very clear who's more qualified. I can make sure we don't run into problems."
"What do you say, guys?" He asked. Naruto had to admit the man did have some deal of charisma. However as far as Naruto was concerned, he was dangerous. He would kill the man before he allowed him to lead the group.
Some students stood up clapping at his speech like mindless drones. Until the majority of the back end of the bus stood and began clapping.
"I suppose it's decided that I'm the leader, from now on. By a majority of the vote."
It appeared Rei had heard enough and jumped out of the bus at that, already seeing the eyes of students lighting up.
"Rei!" Takashi cried out to the girl abandoning the bus.
"No way!" she turned with a fire in her eyes, "I don't want to be with him! I refuse!"
Naruto in the mean time had been looking around the bus, and realized one important detail that Shido had apparently overlooked. The real majority wasn't on board.
"No you wont Shido-san." Naruto spoke out as he stood up, a cold glint in his eyes. "I will be the leader. And unlike you, I wont leave people behind to die." Naruto looked around at everyone looking at him in surprise.
"Some of you, I have saved your lives outright." Naruto said as he gave pointed looks to Saya, Ayane, and Saito. "Others I have risked my life for you." Naruto convienietly left out that there was really little risk involved in the stunts he pulled, in order for his personal little speech to hold any weight.
"However one thing is certain, I have not turned my back on any of you."
Everyone took a moment of pause as the looked over Naruto's form as he stood near the doorway of the bus. Even Rei was surprised, and had stopped walking off. She hadn't started walking back, but it was certainly a start.
The group he had been traveling with started looking around at each other in surprise, before an unspoken agreement was made between all of them that was somewhere between.
I want him as my leader and He is better than Shido.
One by one Saya, Saeko, Kohta, Takashi all spoke up. "I vote for Naruto as the leader."
This was followed by Rei, despite her being outside the bus, she wanted nothing more than to see Shido getting kicked to the side for once.
The blonde doctor looked on in surprise at the students that she was traveling with before she agreed with them, "I vote for Naruto-san." this came as a bit of a surprise to the group, the school doctor siding with a student over a teacher. But they personally couldn't complain.
Shido could only watch in horror as he realized that his fate as leader of the group suddenly rested on the fate of the next two votes.
Saito stood up and leveled a cold glare that was holding back an untold wrath for Shido. And Naruto understood completely why. Rei was angry with Shido. But if anyone truly had a bone to pick with the man, it was Saito, who was formerly left to die due to Shido's actions.
"I stand with Naruto." He said, gently removing his glasses and cradling them in his hand before standing. There were on their last legs at it was. He desperately needed them fixed.
Suddenly it was like a wave of relief washed over the entire front side of the bus as they realized the last person to cast their vote was none other than Ayane. "I vote for Naruto-san." she spoke quietly, once again few words.
Naruto glared at the treacherous man before speaking out in a commanding voice. "Then it is decided. I will lead!" he spoke out loud, before pointing his finger directly at Shido, "And you will follow!"
Shido flinched but leveled a dangerous glare at Naruto at the teen upsurping what he deemed as his leadership.
He whispered to himself so no one could hear, or so he thought. But what was said caused Naruto to tense a deal realizing he was only commanding a group of civilians.
"The one who follows is forever at your back Naruto-san."
Naruto clenched his fists at that. He wasn't in the slightest bit afraid of Shido. He was merely afraid of what the crazed man would do to the people he now proclaimed were under his protection.
A loud noise however broke everyone from their thoughts as Saeko yelled out, "Dr. Marikawa!" Sure enough an oncoming bus was rushing at the tunnel at full speed.
"Rei!" Takashi yelled to his childhood crush in fear as he tried to get himself off the bus in time. Although there was no was a civilian would make it in time.
A ninja on the other hand.
Naruto vaulted over the seats and people was an impressive display of quickness and agility, before he was out of the bus. He barely even made contact with the ground as he had jump out and scooped up Rei. And then in order to avoid the oncoming bus that was tipping over in mid air, he allowed his momentum to take him into the tunnel before him with the girl in his arms.
As the bus crashed into the tunnel he quickly covered the smaller girl under him as rocks and flaming scraps flew past them.
"Damnit..." Naruto said in frustration, quickly sitting up after the initial impact and looking at the entrance.
"Rei!" they heard Takashi's voice yell. Shortly after it was followed by another.
"Uzumaki-kun!" yelled Saeko in a deal of fear, "Are you all okay?"
Naruto grit his teeth at how awful the situation turned out. Even flaming monsters were piling out of the crashed vehicle.
"Find a place to stay for a couple nights!" He yelled. "You are Komuro are in charge, use force if you need to!" he added the last half as an after thought. "Protect Ayane!" He yelled the last bit. He honestly doubted though they would ever understand why.
To the group Ayane was probably a quiet questionmark. She didn't display any unique talents or skills. She didn't even talk much. And given her anxiety it wasn't as if she was the best team member you could think of.
However for Naruto, Ayane's chakra reserves were essentially a giant homing beacon in this virtually chakraless world. It was the only way he was really going to find them again after issuing out such vague orders.
"Rei are you alright!" Takashi yelled his question over the roaring flames.
Rei still under Naruto blushed a bit from the position, but quickly rose up onto her elbows not exactly want to push around her savior. "I'm okay Takashi!" she yelled back a small smile knowing that he was worried about her.
The smell of gasoline spilling however caused Naruto to pull Rei up. "We need to run!" he said as he pulled the surprised girl along. Saeko and Takashi both seemed to take that as a warning to get the hell out of there as well. And the warning was sound as it wasn't even mere moments after that when a large explosion rocked the tunnel.
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Alright well I guess this wraps up another chapter of the story. I don't know how I feel about posting this quick and what not. I personally would have preferred to hold this chapter a couple days more, but I figured what the hell. People are reviewing and giving input, so I might as well post a bit quicker.
Anyways as you can see how I am writing a bit with this story. Naruto thinks over things a lot, and plays a bit more of a silent type in this story. You can see his thoughts, but the characters find him a bit more enigmatic. The reason for this is for a number of reasons, but first and foremost, this is not the type of Naruto that would put everything on the line for people he doesn't even know. You will get to see that more thoroughly as time goes on.
Anyways I got some interesting opinions on the pairing requests. However I have yet to have any of my personal opinions on them change. An example for me would be, just because Shizuka is innocent does not make her a proper candidate to be paired with this particular Naruto. Same can frankly be said for any generic answer. While some I admit a bit better with their generic answers(Ex: Saeko is a killer, and enjoys it) fits a bit better than(Shizuka is so innocent she would counter balance Naruto).
While they both may be reasons, Saeko fits outright, where as Naruto would essentially have to change to be with Shizuka. While neither options are bad ones. It is just how I am judging how you make pairing requests. So if you expand on your suggestions, and try and sway my opinion? I'll listen to it. I actually look forward to it. However simply stating a loose generic answer won't do that for me.
Finally if anyone is wondering? More dialog will be slowly working it's way into the story as Naruto slowly but surely gets more comfortable around other people. Right now though, he just isn't, and for that reason doesn't talk.
So all in all...
Please review, tell me what you think from big to even small details. I'm trying to make a good story here, and all input is welcome and appreciated.
Edit: Since I was still around on the site after posting, I'll respond to this particular review in case others have a similar question.
Darksnider05: "
"Shinra Tensei." Kinda had stop there that is beyond silly right now I have no idea who this story is about or who your character is.
He's some random guy with blonde hair who's called Naruto he's beyond weak can't handle a school full of zombies it's sad.
First thing no shinobi would hide their skills because where their from everyone has those skills or is able to gain them it's not rare or unusual.
So why would any shinobi think these people have never seen Chakra before. Why o why does he need the lameness that is the Rinnegan the most over powered bloodline that makes this even sillier for zombies.
You started this fic saying normal Naruto would of been a hero and tried to save the city which is true. The person your writing about has a bloodline that is literally nuclear bombs for eye balls. You wanna write about a quiet stealthy Naruto yet you've given him the loudest most showy bloodline of all.
There is no hiding the effects of that bloodline. Consistency urg. This person is just annoying and as a leaf ninja he's pretty much a failure.
I have already established at the start of the story that this Naruto would be different than the normal canon Naruto, simply because I felt that canon Naruto wouldn't fit in this universe. So the typical actions that a canon Naruto. The boy who was a paragon poster child benin, always fighting for what was right, learning under Jiraiya and saving Tsunade? This Naruto does not exist. The time line was changed as was his training. So choices that Naruto made in canon wouldn't necessarily be the choices this Naruto had made in his life.
For example in regards to the Rinnegan? The normal Naruto let Pein rest in peace, only for his eyes to be taken later on by Tobi. This Naruto however was trained differently, and would have acted differently because of it. Whether that be by asking for Pein's eyes, Konan's help, or even taking Pein's eyes by force. Whether that be to use him for his own, or destroy him. He would have handled the situation differently. And for that reason it showed.
As for Shinobi not hiding their skills. Why wouldn't they? Shinobi ALWAYS hide their skills unless they need to be used. A perfect example would be when Kisame and Itachi confront Naruto and Jiraiya only to be interrupted by Sasuke. Itachi didn't use a single skill he didn't personally dub as necessary. He didn't do anything flashy to stop an incoming Chidori, he just moved the arm out of the way. So when Naruto furthermore realizes that none of the people in this world have Chakra? That is an even greater reason to not want to showcase his abilities.
As for him having a loud showy bloodline? Just because someone has a loud showy bloodline does not mean they try to be loud and showy. It is like if Itachi was born with the Rinnegan. His bloodline may be loud and showy. However would that personally stop him from his pacifist ways? Would that stop him from being a silent Anbu, perfect example of shinobi? No it wouldn't.
Anyways I'm sorry you feel that way about the story, hopefully you get to see this, because you have your Private Messages are turned off.