Forward Unto Dawn

by Bleedndreamz

He had come so far in the shinobi world by the age of 17. However now due to the circumstances of battle against the Akatsuki, he finds himself in a place far from home. What he now knows is that all that he can do is move forward. Forward Unto The Dawn.

9. In the End? It Doesn't Even Matter

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Highschool of the Dead.

I haven't proof read this. Been busy at a funeral.

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If the outside world was coming under an apocalypse? Then Naruto appeared to be death, his advance unstoppable by any force at that moment. All he required was a pale horse and a scythe.

Naruto stepped outside, apparently shortly after a sleepy Takagi Saya whom was busy making her way down the steps.

"What is all this commotion about?" Saya asked in a tired voice.

Naruto made his way down the staircase suited up in his standard ANBU attire that he wore for years. He looked out to see something that mad his stomach clench lightly. Both Rei and Saeko were out there as well as the still upset brown haired girl. However what really hurt was that both Rei and Saeko, two people he felt he could trust in the group to be on his side were apparently in on this stunt as well.

"Something pleasant." was Rei's cheerful reply.

"Huh?" Saya said in confusion, rubbing her eyes a bit trying to make herself fully wake up.

"We realized that we're still human." Rei quickly commented in response. Even Saeko appeared to be smiling at that.

Naruto however decided to attract attention to himself by simply stating his honest opinion, "You were human before you decided to put the lives of all of your comrades at risk for one person. Now you are all just stupid." Naruto pointed out bitterly as he reached the ground floor. "I had enough trouble keeping both groups in the house together under these circumstances. There were even issues I had to deal with tonight." He gave the brown haired girl a pointed look which caused her to shrink back a bit under scrutiny.

"Now I have to find out that the people in the group I had formerly trusted can't follow the simplest of orders." Naruto said coldly, his faceless appearance adding a tense feeling to the conversation for the female students.

"What issues did you have to deal with Uzumaki-kun?" Saeko asked, her interest peaked.

Naruto turned to the brown haired girl in a bit of surprise figuring she would have mentioned what had happened to her. But then again... on the other hand Rei didn't even want to admit to there being an attempt on her.

Naruto walked passed the girls and up to the gate before calming himself as he crafted his plan. He inclined his head to the balcony, "The problem has been dealt with. Now please just go inside while I figure out how to solve yet another problem. Just please listen and don't do anything else... go inside." Naruto said through gritted teeth.

He didn't want to sound like a condescending asshole. However pretty much any and all patience left in him had faded. He was tired. Protecting civilians is always a hard situation, it never gets any easier. You are being expected to protect a group that cannot protect themselves often under stressful situations. You can try as hard as you want, protecting civilians that don't feel like they need to be protected or don't need to follow orders is virtually an impossible situation.

"Naruto-kun, we already have a pla- Oh my god!" Rei had been in the process of turning her head to the balcony, before what she had been saying had completely and utterly changed.

Naruto didn't stick around to answer questions. With a small chakra enhanced jump, he hopped over the gate perfectly fine as he made his way down the street. He got within thirty feet of the zombie, and it was then that he prepared for action.

Naruto gave a sneer at all of the walking dead before him. His mind wandering somewhere else as he gazed at his foes from beyond his mask. He wasn't too focused on the trivial encounter before him, or what he was going to do about it. Him utilizing barely any chakra in the process of unsealing an especially sharp combat worn ninja-to from his more prominent ANBU days solved that small mental question.

Naruto walked into the fray of zombies with his blade drawn, minimal amounts of wind chakra being channeled into it. He was more focused on looking to the shackle on his arm as he began to cut the zombies down with simple cleaving strokes, specifically aimed to cut the head in half, but leave the body in tact.

The shackle faintly glowed during the process of the chakra manipulation. The slightest glowing hairline fractures made their presence known on the metal. Every second the chakra was channeled, the more fractures appeared. Manipulating wind chakra wasn't like his simple rasengan like meditative state. The Rasengan used chakra to create it, this was true. However it use a set amount of chakra that in truth wasn't that high as people like to believe. It was just a ball generated by chakra that was forced into rotation. Only when you used it to impact on something, and grind away at it was the chakra ever spent in order to replace the chakra used to grind away.

Naruto could have compared it to the idea of taking away electrons, or whatever they were called, of an element in the process of grinding, and being forced to replace them with his own chakra. However he didn't have the time to learn of some form of elemental table. He was by no means a textbook genius. He was just any average shinobi that had worked their ass off. No different than anyone in his graduating class. Some were born into great families, others born with great chakra control... he was born with a demon.

Naruto's face turned into a blank one behind his mask as he cut down zombie after zombie, the sound of a thousand blades rustling against each other's edge was ever present but at the same time nearly silent. It was only a low hum in the cold of night. The faintest glow of chakra extending just ever so slightly from the actual blade.

Soon enough however channeling the chakra had caused far too many hairline fractures to appear on the metal. At least in his case it was more than he was really willing to risk having appear. He had already been spiraled through to another world. He wasn't keen on the idea of spiralling into another one, or worse, simply being killed.

Naruto jumped onto a ledge above the zombies, a stone wall that effectively separated the zombies from the houses behind them. He walked along rather casually. He was a ninja, he was always moving silently. It was an act that gets so engraved into a person's reality that it never really stops or just turns off. Often times in the shinobi world, a lack of silence in any form often meant death. This exspanded from the silence of one's feet to the ability to stay silent about various details or secrets.

It wasn't long before he found himself standing on a ledge watching the scene before him unnoticed. Komuro was frantically trying to defend himself, and the little girl and a dog with a baseball bat alone. It was silly and impractically. The bat was large, and got in the way. He needed to be extra careful to not make any extra noise by striking a nearby wall or something. That of course didn't stop the resounding thuds that would have been quite sick under different circumstances. The sound of skulls being repeatedly crushed only served to funnel more and more zombies in through the gate.

"I should let you die." Naruto said plainly from his spot on the wall as he overlooked the scene before him with a cold gaze.

"Naruto-san!" Takashi exclaimed in surprise, totally not registering the statement as he was now being alerted to the blonde's presence despite the chaos of battle. Although that surprise quickly turned into a look of slight disturbance seeing the blonde's current look. He had the same voice, but the look the blonde gave off was well... freightening.

"Papa..." the younger girl mumbled to herself with tear stained eyes in a state much like the one he had found Ayane in not long ago as she gazed upon her fallen father. The dog frantically trying to be a protector despite his small size.

Naruto's gaze turned to the gate briefly, before he walked along the ledge and simply kicked it closed, leaving a couple more zombies for Komuro to deal with.

It was barbaric and random in Naruto's eyes the way the brown haired boy fought. But truthfully it was most likely due to the lack of any training. He still remembered a time where he fought like a rampaging brute despite actually having training.

Takashi ran up to a zombie that was about attack the young girl before he viciously smashed it's head against his bat, before it rebounded against the concrete wall. Both impacts would have killed it.

However Takashi made a rookie mistake of an untrained civilian as he gave his back completely exposed to the enemy. Naruto let the fact slide that the creatures he was fighting had probably sub-animal intelligence. However that didn't stop his disapproval.

The walking dead stumbled up upon Takashi's exposed back, and he quickly spun around due to the helpful cry from the pink haired girl. However it was too late. The spot where the zombie had come upon Komuro was essentially his deadzone.

An area where he could do nothing. He had a metal bat, an impressive one, but it was big and clumsy. Ninja preferred the kunai because it was strong and sturdy, it could effectively block even the largest of blades if necessary. Yet it was one of the smallest shinobi tools around. It was also why the idea of a Katana had quickly phased out in the shinobi world. While it was still wielded with skill by the Samurai of Iron country, it simply couldn't hold up against the deadly and dismantling properties a kunai could provide. Particularly if you had a skill you could perform with a single hand.

It was like slow motion, the zombie had opened it's mouth and was rushing in. Komuro was desperately trying to utilize his bat. He may have had a chance if he had tried to use it with both hands for defense. However it was simply the inexperienced mentality that people had that assumed the best defense was an aggressive offense.

"You are so set on hurting people that you just hurt yourself."

Naruto's lips thinned ever slightly as time was virtually stopped for his mind on the scene before him. He could only roll his eyes at the thought of one of his many lessons under his squad captain in ANBU. 'Takashi needs that lesson, I don't... anymore.' Naruto thought dryly.

Naruto sighed and flung the ninja-to in his hand forward, causing it to stick straight into the zombie's head, not even a second before what would have surely been Komuro's demise.

Takashi collapsed backwards in the shocking realization that he was mere moments away from him becoming one of them.

Naruto stepped forward with a frown beneath his mask, and withdrew his blade from the collapsed zombie. It was one of the utmost laws in the shinobi world that civilians are not to be harmed. It isn't always upheld. However it is always frowned upon when it is not. Yet at this present time he wanted nothing more than to let the brown haired headstrong teen die from the walking dead onslaught.

"Takashi what did I tell you?" Naruto asked coldly as he moved over to a line of hanging shirts. His blade had been completely clean through the use of chakra until that last kill, he wasn't going to let it remain that way. For that reason he gently and carefully used one of the shirts to wipe off the blood and brain matter on his blade.

Any thanks Takashi was going to formerly give to the blonde died on his lips at the tone of his voice. He tried his best to make light of the situation, "Well we saved the girl." he said a bit proudly.

Naruto stopped wiping off his blade at that, "And?" Naruto questioned in annoyance as he continued with the shirt.

Takashi opened his mouth before closing it. This process happened a few times as he worked out exactly what he wanted to say. "And... I don't know we saved a life right? That is whats important." he said with a frown.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at what he could only seem to feel was a naive boy with a big heart. In truth, Naruto knew that Takashi was pretty much him five years ago. It was for that reason he bit his tongue on some less than polite comebacks.

"Look around Takashi. Getting here to the girl was the easy part. She isn't saved." Naruto's statement felt all the more real as arms began to extend through the closed gate, as well as groaning from the dead. "You risked not only your own life, but the lives of our entire group as your mission forced Kohta to fire his weapon. The sound attracted easily over a hundred of these things, right outside on this street. A street that was previously empty." Naruto said as he finally turned to face the brown haired teen fully.

Takashi's hands clenched at his jeans as what he felt was formerly a great successful was shortly turned into what he felt was a pointless victory.

"I could, and frankly probably should have let you die." Naruto said quietly, and honestly.

Takashi's head snapped up at that, "You would just let me die when you could save me?" Takashi asked, his entire being filled with a renewed vigor.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, "I decided to be your leader. But not just you, everyone's leader. That means I need to protect them. I can't have someone running around that I can't trust." Naruto said, standing up completely straight looking quite imposing in his mask.

Takashi grit his teeth, "What? Can't trust me with what happened with Ryo?" Takashi said bitterly, his failure still a sore subject.

Naruto rolled his eyes beneath his mask, "You think that is why I can't trust you? I can't trust you because I specifically told you not to do this. Saeko told you not to do this, I was there. Yet you put the lives of everyone in danger for a little girl." Naruto all but spat out.

The said young girl began to outright cry, "Onii-chan saved me!" She cried out before returning to tears in the corner. "My Daddy is dead..." she quietly cried to herself. However she was heard quite clearly from the two teens in the yard.

"Busuj... Saeko-san approved of this." Takashi tried to reason.

Naruto shook his head, "I don't care if Busujima-san approved of this. I didn't approve of it. You knew that. Yet you went behind my back anyways."

"What the hell is so wrong with wanting to save a little girl?" Takashi finally questioned in an outburst, not caring in the zombies could hear him. "It has barely been a couple days Uzumaki-san, where the hell did your humanity go?" Takashi grit out, his fists clenched.

Naruto's eyes narrowed in anger at that, "You idiot!" he began loudly. "This argument will never be about the girl. Or humanity, particularly mine. I don't care about either. This is solely because I can't trust-" Naruto had since gotten in Takashi's face with the impressive speed of a ninja. It was then that he decided to deliver a rather solid punch to Takashi's face that would undoubtedly leave him with a black eye. "You to follow orders. So I can't trust you around our team." Naruto said bitterly as Takashi collasped to the ground with a loud cry.

Naruto squeezed his eyes closed as he ran a hand through his hair in irritation. He was simply doing his best to block out the young girl's frantic cries, Takashi's pained moans, the dog's constant barking. Even the zombies beyond the gate had grown to be beyond annoying.

Naruto growled lightly behind his mask as he walked over to the young girl and her puppy before lifting the two up under his arm with a surprised cry. He honestly doubted she liked him that much given what he had been saying recently. However he honestly didn't care. To him this was only the surface of the real mess that he had to clean up. The real mess was just beyond the wall.

Naruto then bent down and hefted the groaning Takashi onto his shoulder as he said, "Let the black eye you're going to have be a reminder to follow directions, and that you lived long enough to get that because I decided to save your life."

This action however didn't go unnoticed by the young girl, but also the watchful protector that was the ranged sniper located on an apartment balcony not far from them.

Naruto at that point was more than prepared to carry the two out of there. However just before he was about to make his jump, he had to hear the barking of the dog that had formerly been practically in the young girl's lap.

Naruto hung his head with a heavy sigh as he gently lowered the girl to the ground, "Grab the puppy." he said trying desperately to fight his annoyance. It was things like this that made him feel really tired. He knew he would love nothing more than to stay a few days at the apartment and just crash, and get some well deserved rest. The things he had done in this world and his own without sleep? Naruto snorted at the thought. He knew he deserved his rest.

The moment the puppy was in the girl's arms, Naruto stood up and leaped up onto the wall that bordered the houses. The "Luggage" he was carrying was truthfully not that heavy. Being a shinobi aside. It was more due to the fact that he had been in war, on battlefields. People were being killed or severely injured all the time. He had lost count of the amount of men and women from all countries that he had carried off the field. Whether it be himself or his clones. And frankly they often weighed a great deal more than the few in his arms.

Although while Naruto was absentmindedly carrying the few over what he felt was a perfectly safe path. He didn't notice the utter shock and surprise on Takashi's face, despite the tense and scared silence he and the little girl put themselves in.

Naruto had taken to the last leg of their journey past the zombies by simply walking on their heads, as if he was walking on solid ground.

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Naruto sighed as he touched down on the ground in front of the gate with a thoroughly surprised yet scared duo, and innocent puppy. His vision swam for a moment as the days he had been awake started to take a toll on him. He had been awake for two days before he even made it to this world.

Naruto pursed his lips at he looked to the horde of around a hundred-fifty zombies gathered around just down the street. 'And I doubt I'll be getting to sleep tonight either...' he thought to himself sadly as he looked down to one of his hands going through a spasm of twitches. Whether it was due to coming down from his adrenaline and partially anger infused high? Or simply his muscles spasming from constant use without rest.

This wasn't to say that this type of situation was something foriegn to him. When he had joined ANBU he had to go through some of the most ridiculous training he had ever had to do. 'Hell week...' Naruto thought dryly as he opened the gate to the guarded house.

Uzuki Yugao was his ANBU captain when he joined ANBU. However the woman was stressed out and hurt. She had lost her husband not long before on a mission to Suna in order to gather intel. However it was quite evident at the time that the woman didn't like confronting her emotions and dealing with them. So she naturally went ahead and did the most logical thing.

Treat the new ANBU recruits like shit and to put the Hell in Hell week.

The program would bind your chakra for a week as you are forced to travel over 200 miles, through all elements. Whether it be over mountains covered in snow, flying off of those mountains with shinobi glide suits, through the seas to the east of fire country. All the while the recruits were forced to do some of the most grueling of workouts. Workouts that Maito Gai had done on a good day on a regular basis. Now truthfully just that amount, Naruto had to admit it sounded a bit fun.

However then he had to recall the pleasant memory of in addition to having your chakra bound, you aren't allowed to sleep... period. Yugao's own frustration manifesting it's ability to utterly write off the four hours of sleep recruits usually get over the course of the week.

It really just comes down to will power at that point. The first two days, he was there, and at the third he barely made it through that with his sanity. That feat alone was more than could be said for others. After that point, the body just goes into auto pilot struggling and pushing forward. The key no longer becomes surviving hell week. It just becomes surviving until the next meal, often inside enemy territory.

Naruto shook his head free of the horrors of hell week, something he had been forced to take part in on more than one occasion.

It was at that moment that Naruto took note of what was happening before him. Now he didn't like to curse often. However this was one of those few moments he felt warranted it. "What the fuck is this?" Naruto all but snarled out in a yell.

"Naruto!" Rei quickly yelled back as she hugged the young girl to her body, covering her ears.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Right let me rephrase that. What the fuck are you all doing?" he said spending extra time on his favorite word in the question.

Sure enough, the teenagers were scrambling around piling gear and various things outside and into the car as Shizuka was getting the large car ready as she sat in the driver seat. Although her interest in the car had been broken upon Naruto's angry tone.

Upon the silence of the frozen females in the drive way, Naruto was forced to repeat himself while looking around.

It appeared that everyone was outside, except for Shido and the young teenage girl he was with. Although he did feel that how everyone was spread out was of note. It told him a lot.

Rei, Saeko, Saya, and even Kohta were all surrounding the luggage, some even still holding onto some of it. It was rather standard stuff from clothes to food, nothing too special. It was obvious to Naruto at least that the majority of the group he traveled with at the school was prepping to leave for some utterly ridiculous reason. At least in his opinion.

Saito was sitting off to the side beside Ayane, with that plastic machine still on his lap as he scanned over the screen it had. He seemed rather uncaring about the entire situation. Although Naruto silently reminded himself to find out just exactly what Saito was doing. It was curious to say the least.

Then Jin and the girl he had been with were standing by the stairs. Naruto noted that Jin once again was carrying the crossbow. However instead of retrieving that from him, Naruto felt he had more important things to deal with.

"Rescuing the little girl made too much noise, we have to get out of here. We thought you would need help." Saya said with conviction as she tied her hair with one hand, grabbing a piece of luggage with the other to be loaded.

Naruto's lips formed a thin line behind his mask. "Funny... I told you all to go inside, and go to bed. And I didn't need help, I brought them both back safe and sound." Naruto drawled as he clenched and unclenched his fist. He didn't care if it was from frustration, or just to retain the feeling in his hand. Or perhaps he was simply remembering himself punching the brown haired boy in the eye.

Saya spared Naruto a glance as she hefted a suitcase up and tossed it into the trunk, "We still need to get out of here. It's not safe." she tried to say in a commanding tone.

Naruto's jaw tightened, "Stop loading things into the vehicle. We aren't going anywhere." Naruto commented as he unclipped and pulled off the mask from his face, palming it in his hand. He then shortly proceeded to make his way to sit down at the bottom of the stair steps.

Saya developed a glare as she turned to Naruto, "You don't get it do you?" she asked in a yell to Naruto's form. "We are in danger, we can't stay here. Those things are piling up on the streets."

Naruto snorted, he could kill those things over the course of the night without being touched. He almost wished he was back in the shinobi world, where there was more of a challenge. The challenges this world faced were pretty pathetic in contrast to armies of unkillable ninja, The Third Invincible Raikage as Naruto liked to call him, even Pein taking on an entire shinobi village by himself.

These things were less dangerous than a pack of wolves as far as he was concerned. At least wolves employed tactics, and moved quickly. These things moved slower than crawling children in most situations, and only followed sound. Although Naruto would admit that they may be physically strong in close combat. He personally reasoned the reason for that was likely that the area of the brain that registered pain had shut off, and as such they were practically willing to kill themselves and their muscles and bones to score a kill. It was almost akin to a shinobi throwing caution to the wind as they open up the eight gates of chakra.

However that didn't stop them from being virtually harmless to a shinobi as long as no one else got in his way. Although he absently abhorred the day where he would be fighting and every ally he has beside him starts making a loud racket instead of dealing with the situation with any level of shinobi skill or intelligence.

"I'll take care of them then. After becoming leader..." he snorted once again at that thought. They voted him leader, and then never followed him. "All I have ever asked was for people to just listen to me, and follow the simple orders I have given." Naruto grimaced at this thought and silently wished he was back in the middle of the horrors of war. He almost felt he was babysitting with how he had to explain himself seemingly all of the time.

"Don't leave the house..." Naruto began as he shot a pointed look at Takashi before turning his attention, "Don't hold the crossbow..." Naruto followed with an annoyed gaze. Jin sheepishly adjusted the crossbow a bit as he looked as if he was going to take it off. "Go inside and sleep..." Naruto drawled finally turning to the group of females outside.

"Do you want me to lead or not?" Naruto finally asked with a frustrated glance. "Because trust me, I would not be upset if you all decided to leave and not listen to me."

Naruto gazed around the group, all of their faces contorting into different emotions. All different emotions he didn't really care all that much about. The only person he really felt obligated to was Ayane. Then to a lesser extent would be Rei as the two of them had gotten rather close.

The tense silence that was following was well... tense. Everyone seemed to be weighing their own options in their heads. But truthfully, they didn't have the time to be doing so.

"Well?" Naruto asked in annoyance.

"We should go, its not safe here." Saya reaffirmed her opinion on the situation using her own intellect. Takashi nursing his eye with his cupped hand, the young girl, and sadly even Rei seemed to follow suit with that opinion shortly after Takashi walked there. Rei however spoke out as she saw the flash of emotion cross over Naruto's face.

"Saya is right. There are too many out there. This place will probably be overrun by the morning. I think that this is the best decision." she said out loud, but it was quite evident that it was a bit more personal as her gaze stayed strictly on Naruto.

That didn't stop a frown from appearing on his face as he took it as a more personal stab. 'Does she really think I would let any harm come to her... to anyone?' He thought trying his best to fight down the sad feeling that flooded him.

However that didn't last long as Ayane was quick to stand up following the statement, and stand right at Naruto's side, their skin virtually touching with how close she moved beside him. An action that Naruto felt almost the slightest bit comforting as he gently wrapped an arm around Ayane's shoulder and patted her gently in thanks.

Rei flushed red a bit as a whole slew of emotions flew through her suddenly very conscious of which side she was standing on. The extending spear and her clothes suddenly felt very heavy. The bruises on her body, their pain all the more prevalent. It was then that she realized that she hadn't had faith in the one person that she had been forced to trust the most. Yet more importantly? He hadn't let her down once.

"I'm stickin' around here. No way am I going with that idiot." Jin said as he stepped forward, crossbow in hand, the girl following behind him closely.

Naruto shot a look toward the tall teenager vividly remembering a period in time where the closest thing he had to a nick name was idiot. He had certainly hoped that the teen hadn't made the mistake of calling Naruto that. Although his mind was quickly put to rest as he saw Jin's gaze pointedly being shot at Takashi. Naruto didn't quite know what to think of an ally not actually there to be on the team, but simply there because he didn't like someone on the other team. That often wasn't the best means of teamwork. It was only when someone had near fanatical reasons to not work with the enemy team that it was truly helpful. Such as Sasuke's situation.

The young brown haired girl that Naruto had saved earlier was rather quick to move in and stand right beside Naruto. It didn't go unnoticed that the girl was acting as if she was a young girl being shown around by an adult as she gently clung to a portion of the blonde's fabric despite him being unmoving.

Naruto also noticed the action and a bit of his frustration faded as he realized that there were others around him that had far more significant reasons to be upset.

Naruto glanced at Saito for a few moments, an action that went relatively unnoticed by the rather absorbed teen. However to the surprise of most around, Saito quickly lost his spotlight. Saeko had stepped into the middle of the two groups effectively pointing out she had yet to choose a side. Despite whatever predetermined notions may have been held against her.

"Naruto-kun, why is it you feel we should stay?" Saeko asked trying her best to play the older, calm mediator for the groups.

"You mean why I am staying, and could care less if a group splits off because they don't want to follow simple directions?" Naruto questioned in an annoyed tone. Not following extremely direct orders gets people killed. He had seen it happen before. If this was how the teens were going to act every time he proposed something, he didn't want them around.

Saeko frowned at Naruto's response. And Naruto would admit he knew why, he was being a bit of an asshole. However as far as he was concerned most of the people around had already made up their minds.

"Oh you mean hypothetically like everyone hasn't already made up their mind?" Naruto asked once again, wincing as he didn't really think before he spoke. Oh yeah, he was definitely being an asshole.

"Many reasons. We have physically injured people. We have emotionally stressed people. We are all about to go on our third day without sleep, except for some of us." Naruto gave a pointed look towards Saya at this note. "When one goes on their third day of sleep, the brain starts telling the body to shut down and collapse so it can go to sleep. You will start hallucinating, dreaming while you are awake. Some with a strong will can press on if they are getting enough food to keep the body active. However I doubt anyone wants to deal with someone perhaps falling asleep in the middle of combat, standing in front of a group of them." Naruto finished as he recalled his ANBU training. That had happened to him. But he was training to be an elite ninja. These were just... well kids...

A great deal of tension flooded the air at that bit of knowledge that most did not know about. The idea of falling asleep when fighting against them wasn't very appealing.

Saeko however seemed to get over this bit of information rather quickly as she followed up with, "Naruto-san, what happened with him." Saeko said as she gestured to the body of the teenage boy having over the side of the balcony.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he looked at the boy and silently hoped that he suffered when the last bits of life faded from him. He had been tempted to just toss him off the balcony without a rope, and hope the boy survived the landing. Then he could have his screams of pain attract a horde of zombies to be eaten alive.

"What about him?" Naruto said as he looked to the young brown haired girl who was seemingly getting a bit shaken up at the topic of conversation. Naruto gently wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder, something the girl seemed to cling to.

This action didn't serve to help the creeping bit of jealousy that had pooled in Rei's stomach from across the way.

Saeko's eyes narrowed ever slightly at Naruto's response, before she gripped her wooden sword with both hands. "You killed him?" she asked in a dangerously low tone that did not faze Naruto in the slightest.

Naruto held back a snort and his amusement at the purple haired girl thinking she could best him. The truth was she could probably best anyone here in melee combat, so there wasn't much reason for her to think she couldn't best him as well.

"I prefer the term executed." Naruto drawled a bit, and relished in the looks he received from the group. He silently hoped that the group before him wouldn't simply just write him off as a killer... although he was. He would like to see the group go through a 'Look underneath the underneath' lesson. Although he doubted that would happen.

Saeko drew her wooden blade higher at that note, more than prepared to charge and start some sort of battle to defend her comrades from a killer. However before it could escalate, the young brown haired girl stepped forward, with her hands open.

"Stop..." she said in a quiet voice. A voice that was more than loud enough to carry over the silent night. She then turned to look at Naruto silently pleading to not have to continue in order to simply prevent a fight. Although she knew he was one of the few that truly knew what happened.

Naruto crossed his arms across his chest as he raised his eyebrow. He knew exactly what the girl wanted him to do. However his personal feeling was that people have to control their own situation and destiny. He cared about Rei quite a bit despite she was standing on the other team. However outside of her, he had rather weak attachments to the other members of that team.

He respect Kohta quite a deal as the young boy seemed to keep his cool, while at the same time having impressive skill. He even found the weapons in the house.

Takashi, he was personally at odds with the boy. He understood where he may have been coming from emotionally. However it annoyed him to no end that he didn't listen to him. Even if he saved a young girl. He should have at least talked to him about it.

He wasn't the biggest fan of Saya, but truthfully he doubted many were big fans of Saya. The world for them had shifted from peaceful to chaos overnight. Yet the pink haired girl continued to act superior to others based on her grades she gained in school. Was she intelligent? Sure, probably a bit more intelligent than others on a broad scale. However that didn't mean her intelligence was more valued than others. Rei, a police officer's daughter that seemed street smart and a capable spear fighter? Hirano a long ranged expert with a bunch of various bits of knowledge, particularly on military protocol?

Saya reminded him a bit too much of Sakura after they had become genin. Belittling him due to her book intelligence. However not very capable outside of her intelligence where as everyone else was.

Perhaps it was because she reminded him of Sakura, and he just didn't like that. He didn't really know.

Naruto was forced to break his train of thought before he could go over everyone as Jin seemed to take pity on the girl.

"He..." Jin began as he gestured his head to the hanged teen. "He was raping Nana." he then gestured with a nod of a head, quite a deal of shame in his voice. "Naruto came down and saw it, and well..." That was as far as he got as the outcries drowned out his voice.

Naruto noted the girl's name down for later. However the situation seemed to diffuse any division in the house as Saeko lowered her weapon. Saeko had gone up and given the girl a warm hug, similar to the deal she had done not long before with Saya.

The girl fell into tears at that, and the act seemed to strike close to home for everyone, particularly the females present. Naruto even noted that Saito had closed his machine as the scene unfolded. It was the reality that it could have frankly been any girl in the house under that situation that truly blew any heat that was formerly on Naruto away. That was not to say that people had forgotten, just that people had momentarily stopped caring about it.

Naruto frowned as the scene played out before him. He had never been good with expressing emotions, or emotions for other people. Most of the time when he tried, it often just ended up with him projecting his own emotions out onto others. Particularly in the cases of Zabuza or Gaara.

Naruto looked away from the scene, and turned around to the gate. "Make sure everyone gets inside to rest. I'm going to take care of things out front." Naruto said quietly so only the people standing next to him could hear. He just hoped that they would listen to him this time around as he was just moments from being ready to just leave the group to their own devices, and spend his time actually trying to find a way back home.

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Naruto huffed in annoyance as he continued the work he had delegated to himself. Work that had formerly been extremely easy earlier in the night had turned into work that was quite frustrating, with actually some level of threat to it. The fact that he was tired and he had already been beyond the wall for over a half hour wasn't helping either.

Personally, Naruto doubted he could even contract whatever disease or sickness these zombie things were passing around. He had been subjected to some of the nastiest of poisons and hadn't broken a sweat. Not that he personally wanted to try getting himself infected though. He really doubted jinchuriki could become sick at all. Perhaps one of the world's sick perks. Everyone hates you during your childhood, so the demons make sure you can have sick days?

Naruto snorted at the sad but amusing thought as he cut down another zombie. A clean cut, right through the head of a dead female. He made note to quickly bend forward and catch the top half of the head by the hair as to make minimal amount of noise as possible. Although it didn't silence everything. It was quiet enough for the zombies not to take notice over their own footsteps.

It was quite interesting he had to admit as he watched them walk along the street. They were like a school of fish that lacked any intelligence. Naruto wasn't entirely sure, but he figured the way the zombies actually moved through the streets was through large groups like this. They then proceed to key in on the sound other zombies walking around, and they follow them. Eventually the sound becomes virtually an unnoticable rhythm for them, and as such any living walking around that made any significant amount of noise would break the pattern, and proceed to be chased.

Naruto mulled over the idea of inserting himself into the middle of a wave of zombies, and falling in step with them and seeing if they noticed. However he quickly realized that the pros didn't outweigh the cons of the situation... no matter how funny it would be.

Naruto hefted the body up by it's clothes and proceeded to fling it backwards onto the wall he had made earlier with a few zombies. He wouldn't quite call the situation theraputic in his exhaustion. However after having been in combat for the past couple years almost constantly, any amount of fighting to break away from what he felt was borderline babysitting was a welcome change.

"Naruto-kun." Naruto heard the voice call out the moment he had turned to get another zombie. He didn't turn around, but was quick to adopt a look of annoyance on his face as he looked up to the sky.

'Even you... followed orders better Yugao-chan...' Naruto thought before looking over his shoulder and asking, "Seriously?" before he stepped over the wall, not too much caring about the sickening crunhing and squishing sounds from the pile.

It was Busujima Saeko, now surprisingly dressed in a black shirt that was a bit big on her, as well as some sweat pants. She seemed to not mind how big those were on her either as the seemed to be a temporary solution given that they were tied to stay up with a shoe lace. Although perhaps more surprisingly, she was carrying her wooden sword in one hand, and a small tray of food in the other quite gracefully.

Naruto almost felt a bit bad at how he initially reacted to her presence from beyond the wall he had built. Although that feeling was quickly crushed as he recalled virtually no one listening to him the entire night.

"That for you or me?" Naruto asked getting straight to business. He probably could have asked more politely. However he needed to secure the place, let everyone sleep. And hopefully catch some shut eye of his own perhaps in the early morning.

Saeko frowned heavily at the blonde's attitude. It was obvious that if she didn't have her hands full, she likely would have crossed them. "Both of us." She said with her lips in a thin line. "Come on." She added as she turned and made her way inside the gates.

The small journey the two shared up the ramp as she lead the blonde to the car was in complete silence. She had even taken to setting her sword down to open the boot of the car before Naruto could even get there to be of assistance.

Naruto didn't quite know what he felt about all of this, and what to really make of any of it. Saeko was the closest thing to a ninja this group seemed to have. And while she may be a long shot stretch from being an actual ninja. She thought a bit like one.

Naruto didn't know if she was eating with him here to keep him away from the others. He didn't know if she felt he personally wanted alone time. He didn't know what the significance of eating in the car instead of eating inside was. Given her protective nature it took a moment for Naruto to register that he may be walking into a trap.

But it was then when he got to the boot of the car himself, only to see the girl gently sliding the tray in before crawling in herself that he fought down a frown. Had he really been a ninja so long that the idea of someone simply wanting to spend time with him was such an obscure concept that it was one he could overlook? He didn't spend time with anyone that wasn't on his ANBU team or had particularly unique ties to him like Konan. Naruto wanted to tell himself that 'Some Brotherhoods can't be broken' an ideal that had been ingrained into him during ANBU. However that simply didn't explain his former concern. At least not all of it.

Naruto climbed into the car and still gave a bit of a wary stare at Saeko, and then the two containers laid out on the tray in front of her, along with a couple bottled drinks. "So you want to eat with the big mean killer leader eh?" Naruto asked as he situated himself from across from her, trying to bring some humor to the tense situation. At least it was tense in his perspective.

Saeko gave a smile at the light joke, "Yes well I figured you could use something to eat. I imagine it has been quite a taxing day for you and Miyamoto-san both. Although you are still out here working, and since I was already cooking..." she left the thought hanging in the air as she stopped to simply observe the blonde who was no longer wearing a mask.

It was quite a few moments of silence between the two before Naruto raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is there a problem?" It wasn't that he hated the silence. It was more the fact that there was silence while her arms roamed his body. He had to stop his mind from immediately jumping to the idea of Saeko being a seductress, because he knew that simply wasn't possible.

"You have the strangest eyes..." She voiced her thought out loud before going wide eyed and covering her mouth. "Oh my! I'm sorry! That was rude of me!" she said in a bit of a panic realizing what she had done.

Naruto nearly laughed at the usually polite robotic tone Saeko being reduced to saying something so blunt, he would have thought it was his twelve year old self talking. "It's fine. Frankly I'm surprised most don't really notice them." 'Most in this world anyways' He added to himself silently.

Saeko seemed to still be recovering from her own embarrassment, but was capable of speaking. "It is probably because people are too busy looking out for them that they aren't really paying that much attention to small details on people that are actually alive."

Naruto smiled lightly at the thought of his eyes being a small deal. The reality is that they were anything but that. He was thankful that Nagato had opted to simply give him those eyes, because Naruto was quite certain he would have chosen to take them by force if he absolutely needed to. The idea of any of their enemies out there becoming "Kakashi of the Rinnegan" was not a fun idea. The safest way to prevent that was to just give himself the Rinnegan.

There was also the small fact that it came with an entire village of people by simply implanting those eyes. No one had actually seen Nagato since what he learned to be the old Akatsuki lead by Yahiko had disbanded upon the defeat of Hanzo. Nagato had taken to becoming "God" of Ame with Konan as his "Angel", although they never saw his face. All Naruto needed to do was to go to Ame, pull off a couple miracles after he learned the basics of the Rinnegan, and then he was pretty much nearly worshipped in that village.

"You didn't have to do this you know?" Naruto said trying his best to be polite, despite his suspicion.

Saeko kept up a smile on her face with a renewed sense of vigor, "Yes but sometimes Naruto-kun, people do things they don't necessarily have to do. But because they want to do them or sometimes they are the right things to do."

Naruto's lips formed a thin line at that. She sounded as if she was trying to make him see some point in her choice of words. "I see, and you learned that where?" Naruto said once again forcing himself to be polite and keep the conversation going.

"My father." Saeko said with almost a sad tone lingering in her voice.

Naruto chose not to directly respond and nodded his head, before reaching to the containers. "Do you mind if we..."

"Oh, by all means, go ahead." Saeko said cutting the blonde off. Although she was obviously just trying to answer his question.

Naruto nodded and looked down at the two containers on the tray. He stared at them for a moment before grabbing the one closest to him, and handing it to Saeko. It was then that he grabbed the one closest to her and brought it to his side.

Saeko raised an eyebrow at the rather obvious action, and looked up hoping to meet the blonde's eyes. However they were currently cast down at the eating utensil.

"Shizuka-sensei's friend, Rika? She seems to only carry forks, and other American eating instruments. Sorry if you aren't used to it." Saeko said genuinely, but her mind was still stuck on the food swap. She knew if she was younger and still learning her manners she probably would have snapped and asked if the blonde wanted to swap forks as well.

Naruto nodded to himself silently as he picked up the fork. It wasn't that he didn't know how to eat with them or anything like that. It was more that he wasn't used to eating with them. For the last couple years unless he was lucky enough to be on a mission into a town, it was usually just ration bars, and often other nasty food in his opinion. Such as powdered eggs, powdered milk, plain oatmeal, plain rice, cheap meat with no flavor, just a lot of plain tasting nutrition. Nasty tasting nutrition if he was to give a more honest opinion.

A lot of the animals in the Elemental nations had been picked clean by shinobi. The balance of nature was kept formerly because there often weren't that many shinobi out and actually having to actively hunt for their food. They could just prep a ten day to a months supply of food in a scroll. However that option became less viable as time went on, numbers thinned, and more shinobi were forced to stay out in the field longer than usual.

"It's fine, I'm just hungry." He said dismissively as he looked up with a smile on his face. He called it his Itachi smile, dubbed after the best actor the Elemental Nations had likely ever seen.

It was only then when Naruto cracked the lid on the food laid out before him that he had a euphoric feeling wash over him. He couldn't even contain his laughter at the dish, as he set it back down on the tray as the smell filled the car.

This however was not standard table manners, so Saeko quickly got on the defensive. 'Is there something wrong with the food?' she thought to herself frowning slightly as she cracked open her own lid to silently check for any problems in her meal as the blonde laughed on.

The frown on the purple haired female's face didn't go unnoticed by Naruto, and his bout of laughter was forcibly crushed by his willpower. Although that didn't get rid of the tears of mirth that had formed in his eyes during the process. "I'm sorry." he began still with light chuckles in his voice. "This was my favorite food as a kid, I used to eat it all the time before the invasion and ANBU." Naruto explained as he had just dipped his fork into a plastic container of ramen before it registered what he had just said, and he froze.

'Walk it off... Walk it off...' Naruto told himself as he tried to continue eating without pause, and act as if he hadn't taken the liberty of tasting his own shoe before the meal.

Although Naruto knew he was being far too hopeful in the idea that anything he had just slipped past Saeko.

Saeko meanwhile was silent trying to put meaning to every word the blonde has just spoke. Her eyes had narrowed in concentration as she thought over the statement. 'What does he mean Anbu, invasion? Perhaps he means all of these creatures being an invasion, and Anbu means something? No, that doesn't explain why he said that he ate this when he was a kid. The invasion must have happened a long time ago... but there have been no invasion of anything in Japan in years...' during her time amongst her thoughts, she seemingly didn't notice Naruto shifting uncomfortably in the car, making his leave.

"Alright well thank you for the meal Saeko-san, I think it would be best if you get some sleep yourself tonight." Naruto said politely, but at the same time in a bit of a hurry. He allowed the plastic container to clatter on the tray, along with his fork as he quickly darted away before Saeko could say anything. He had quite effectively pulled a "Kakashi" as he left the empty dishes with what was technically his subordinate.

Saeko's head snapped up and her eyes darted to where the blonde had just been, and she quickly followed his voice out of the boot of the car. She quickly scrambled out of the car, dropping her container down in a rather careless fashion as broth splashed onto the tray.

It was only upon getting out of the car did the frown become all the more apparent on her face as she had to witness a top of blonde hair disappear beyond the closing front gate. She had come to get an explanation as to what had gone on surrounding the blonde over the past couple days, and was now forced to leave with even more questions about what happened with the blonde over the course of his entire life.

XXXXXXXXX

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Jin stood in the corner of living room leaning against the wall crossbow in hand after he had just assisted in moving all of the furniture around, unfortunately being forced to cooperate with Komuro in the process.

Jin glanced to his side for a mere moment to the short haired girl he had taken the time to get to know despite all of the chaos surrounding them. Yuuki Miku, a complete and utter headstrong hot-head. However she was a passionate one. He had learned that the girl's parents had passed away when she was a child, and she grew up with her grandmother, and an aunt that she felt was more like a sister.

The reason being was the "aunt" was only a couple years older than her, and they had grown up together. The grandmother slaved the two around the house as she fell into alcoholism at the fact that her first daughter had died. So Miku didn't seem to care in the slightest if she got home or not. She didn't explain much more about that. However she was a bit worried about getting to her "Sister" who was a bit of a punk rock chick that worked at a skateboard shop at the local mall.

If Jin was to be perfectly honest, Miku's aunt sounded pretty hot. However there was no way he was going to say that out loud given how his relationship with Miku developed within the past couple days.

Jin looked up from his gaze that lingered on his... partner to stare over at the brown haired girl pulling cushions off one of the couches. His gaze followed her every move for a good minute as she talked to both Saya and Komuro about how they should lay out the couches and cushions.

Somewhere along the line of everyone piling up inside, the group had decided upon everyone staying in a single room. None of them seemed too keen on the idea of there being separate groups in the house. They didn't want there to be a repeat of what had happened earlier in the night.

Jin grimaced at that thought. He should have done more. He stood a good head over pretty much every male in the house, even Shido. The only exception was the blonde who was also a bit tall, but given the fact that he was older than all of the students, it wasn't much of a surprise.

He could have fought off anyone in the theatre down stairs. Yet he didn't. He was too caught up in what he wanted to do that he neglected the help that others actually needed. He was almost sick with himself, and there was no remedy for it. There was no way for him to go up and say "I'm sorry I let you get raped." All he could do is swallow his failure and try and move forward.

"You like her or something?" Miku asked with a frown gracing her features as she crossed her arms.

"Like who?" Jin asked with a roll of the eyes. Before whatever kind of relationship both he and Miku had developed came to pass, she had dragged him into a game of twenty-one questions before hand. It seemed like the game didn't end after sex either.

"Miyamoto." Miku said simply, not looking up to meet the young man's eyes.

Jin quickly averted his gaze realizing he had been staring far longer than he intended. Then add to the fact that Rei's eyes were even occasionally darting his way? That didn't help the matter of believing that he went unnoticed while observing. "No..." he said slowly, but he knew it was unconvincing, quite evidently shown by Miku's face. "It's complicated." Jin said fighting down the bitterness in his voice as he spared Takashi a glance.

"No, surviving this shit hole is complicated." Miku said harshly but quietly as she glanced up to Jin, while not turning fully to face him. "What I just asked you is simply in contrast to what we've been through." she said clenching her jaw.

Jin's chest puffed up in amusement, 'Ain't that the truth?' he thought to himself.

He was saved from momentarily answering the question by Saya, "Yuuki-san! The girls are going to be sleeping on this side of the room." She called out from a corner with some cushions and a couple sleeping bags laid out on the floor in a large area.

"Great! I'll be sure to cuddle!" Miku bit back a yell to the pink haired genius, before muttering quietly to her nearby partner, "I hate that girl..."

Jin said nothing in response, he wasn't that huge of a talk about feelings type of person. He was more of a bottle them up inside, and then eventually drop a mentos in kind of guy.

Miku however didn't seem to mind voicing her opinion in the slightest, "She thinks she is hot shit just because she has rich parents, and walks around like some stuck up know it all bitch." she said grinding her teeth together.

Jin however noted that whenever Saya turned to face them as she scanned the room, Miku would put on the most sickeningly fake smile he had ever seen on her face. She would even throw in a disgustingly cheerful wave of the hand for added effect. It didn't help that he knew the girl quite well at this point and knew she was being a bit of a hypocrite.

Miku snorted as Saya seemed to buy it, or at least didn't seem to acknowledge it and turned back to her own task at hand with the other members in the room. "Seriously..." she said with a scoff as she rolled her eyes before turning to Jin. "So whats up with you Mr. Bigshot, how was America?" Miku asked in a haughty manner that had almost the slightest insulting condescending edge to it. However Jin knew it wasn't intentional... more so just how the girl talked.

Before Jin could even get a word in however, it seemed that his staring time had run out as Rei had walked over. "Homura-san? You went to America? Is that where you went during the second semester last year?" Rei asked politely with a smile, not noticing the grimace in his features with the way she addressed him.

"With my Dad." Jin confirmed with a weak smile on his face. For the two of them it was almost as if their encounter on the bus had never happened. 'For now at least' he added in his head as he glanced over at Komuro.

Rei's surprise seemed to show as did her genuine interest. A large portion of the world revolved, followed, and kept up with things that were going on in America. However that didn't mean that everyone had visited America. That much was evident when she could walk into a Sevenson that was playing Michael Jackson, but the store owner barely knows the slightest bits of english he learned in school.

"Wow what was it like? Where did you go?" Rei asked with a smile.

Jin grimaced, "California... look Rei..." Jin began but was cut off by the girl beside him.

"How about you piss off, he doesn't want to talk to you!" She said as she crossed her arms under her ample chest.

Jin pinched the bridge of his nose while Rei appeared quite insulted at that comment. "What did... Really?" Rei asked turning from Miku to Jin. "What did I do?" she asked with a frown, clearly put off by the girl's comment.

Jin shook his head, "You didn't do anything it's just... probably best that we keep some distance between us Rei."

Rei's fiery temper seemed to rise up from it's dormant status as she put her hands on her hips, "What the hell do you mean it's probably for the best?" she asked harshly, she probably would have shouted if she didn't care about drawing attention to herself. "What the hell is your problem Jin?" she asked pointedly.

Miku off to the side snorted, and mumbled under her breath, "Besides the fact that you nearly broke his ribs with a metal pipe..."

Rei clenched her fists at that, but wouldn't give the girl the satisfaction of actually lashing out at that. "Well?" She asked again to the large silent teen before her.

Jin rose to his full height from his position leaning against the wall. He was a good head taller than practically everyone in the room, and evidently kept his body in rather good shape. He was quite intimidating to look at. "My problem?" Jin asked sourly. "You of all people should know what my problem is!" Jin yelled gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. He shot a glare towards Takashi who was now quite aware of the interaction going on, along with everyone else in the room.

Rei however was not intimidated by any man, "I should know?" She snapped, "Well the fact is that I don't know what the hell your problem is! You going to tell me?" she said glaring up to the dyed haired teen.

Jin clenched his jaw shut tight before he shook his head and looked away, "Rei... just go away please..." he said with a huff. With his height he didn't need to look at the girl if he didn't want to. Or so he thought.

"Ow! What the fuck!" he yelled out. Rei had roughly poked the dark bruise that had formed under his shirt from her earlier attack.

"Don't keep and push me away Jin!" She said stubbornly. However despite her stubborn attitude, there was a genuine care in her eyes as she looked at the male in front of her.

Jin rolled his eyes at that and walked out of the room into the kitchen, brushing past Miku on the way. Although Rei didn't seem in the least bit deterred by Jin avoiding her. She was even more than willing to overlook Miku's covert attempt to trip her while she passed by without even sparing a glare.

"Jin stop!" Rei said as he continued walking only to stop at the fridge, and pull it open. Although he didn't say anything. "Quit running from me." she said firmly.

Jin pursed his lips at that as he reached into the frige and grabbed one of the few beers, before opening it in the palm of his hand and taking a swig.

Rei frowned at the teen's actions. "You shouldn't be drinking..." Rei said quietly as Jin finally stopped moving away from her.

Jin snorted at that before taking an exaggerated and long swig of his drink. He cleared his throat lightly after as the feel of a cold alcoholic beverage went down his throat, "Well hopefully your dad will cut me some slack." he said rolling his eyes before leaning against the table in the middle of the kitchen.

Rei sighed as she hopped up onto the table beside where Jin was leaning. "What happened to you." she asked bitterly as she gave a glance to the teen.

Jin bit his tongue stopping the reply he cooked up on the tip of his tongue, and took a pause. "Life happened." he said fighting down his earlier response.

"That isn't an excuse Jin..." Rei said, a sadness creeping into her voice. "We used to be close once. Just last year, we were best friends."

'Best friends' Jin repeated through his mind as he looked down at his beer before taking an extra large gulp of his drink. "Yeah well times change." he said dismissively. This wasn't a conversation he ever wanted to have.

Rei however seemed to perk up at this regardless. "Yes they do, but not without reason Jin. What happened between us?" she asked.

"Please, stop it." Jin began as he clenched his eyes shut as memories flowed through him. "There was never an us, you made sure of that Rei. You know what the hell happened between us." he spat out before going back to his drink.

Rei looked like she had just been slapped with a leather glove. However she hadn't quite made the jump, "What do you mean? You, Me and Takashi were inseparable. It was always like that. What are you even trying to say? You were... I still consider you my best friend, I always included you everything!" she said trying to make sense of it all.

"My god Rei! Lets not! Alright? This conversation is more than a year overdo. I've moved on. Lets not drag ourselves back down this road." Jin said bitterly as he hopped off the table, and walked up the stairs leaving the girl in silence.

It was a good couple minutes before she got her thoughts and feelings straight before she made her own way to the stairs.

"Rei..." Takashi said from leaning against the doorway. Rei turned to him only to be greeted by the brown haired boy shaking his head. "Leave him be."

"Leave him be. Leave him be. Leave him be! That is what everyone always told me to do. Then he left for more than half a year! And now he wont even talk me Takashi!" Rei said, standing up straight. However her eyes were starting to water quite a bit at that, despite the tought front she was trying to put off.

Takashi frowned as he saw his childhood friend, crush, 'Future wife' in such a mess emotionally. Although there was also a level on understanding as he glanced up the stairs. "Rei... come on." Takashi said as he motioned his head back into the room where everyone decided they would be sleeping.

Rei gave a glare to Takashi, narrowing her eyes stubbornly before she took off up the stairs. "You go." She said defiantly as she made her way up the stairs, leaving Takashi behind.

Rei took a glance around the moment she got to the top of the stairs. Her eyes fell carefully on Saito who was sitting on the bed, leaning against some pillows with his laptop situated right in front of him. Upon the two of them making eye contact, Saito motioned his head into the direction of the balcony.

Rei nodded thankfully to the teen, and didn't say anything. She doubted she could given how utterly horrible the conversation with her former best friend had went. Every footstep she took to the sliding door was painfully heavy. She almost thought that she wouldn't even make it to the door for a moment. She had to tell herself to continue to move one foot in front of the other.

She quietly stepped out onto the balcony. But it wasn't quiet enough in the silence of the night in a dying city.

"Go away..." Jin called out.

Rei sighed as she turned and saw the teen sitting on the rail of the balcony, one leg over the side, one on the inside. In his lap he was the crossbow, tied to a strap around his neck. In his hand he was gently twirling a bolt with his fingers as he looked down upon the blonde shinobi working on the streets. His alcoholic beverage sitting only a foot or so in front of him.

"No. I wont." Rei said stubbornly as she emphasized her statement by planting her feet now.

Jin rolled his eyes, and didn't spare the girl a glance. "Go before I hurt your feelings." he said bluntly, not wanting to deal with the past in this current present.

Rei froze at that, her eyes still a bit watery from the end of her earlier encounter, but she kept her chin up and shook her head.

"Damnit Rei!" Jin called out as he finally spun to her realizing she wasn't leaving from out of the corner of his eye.

"No tell me! The entire year thus far you wont even talk to me. You wont eat lunch with me. You wont even say hi to me in class or the halls. You didn't even keep in touch when you went on your trip! Which I now know was to America of all places. Glad I found out after that slut Miku, that means a lo..." Rei shot off into a rant, until Jin cut her off.

"Oh come off it Rei. You never gave a shit if a girl was around me before." Jin said with a laugh.

"You're right. I didn't. Because I still had my best friend!" She said loudly, putting emphasis on her words near the end.

"Whatever." Jin scoffed as he looked away.

"Not whatever! What the hell happened?" Rei asked once again.

Jin pursed his lips as he squeezed the crossbow bolt into the palm of his hand. He thought over his situation rather carefully in his head as his former friend waited quite impatiently tapping her foot.

"What happened?" Jin said slowly as if weighing those words. "What happened was that I was always there for you, but you had your head shoved so far up Komuro's ass that you chose him over me!" Jin finally snapped back giving his answer.

Jin took a deep breath before lowering his tone as he said, "I never wanted to just be your best friend Rei. I liked you. You took Komuro's side. That's my answer. I have more important shit to deal with than pointless bullshit from a year ago."

Rei looked like she had just witnessed a puppy getting stepped on. 'He liked me... as more than a friend?' Rei swallowed heavily at that thought. 'I never knew that...' she thought as a wave of guilt washed over her.

"I didn't mean for it to be like that." Rei said, no longer caring if her tears were held back now. She wasn't crying heavily by any means, but there was a single tear going down the side of her cheek like a crack on a surface.

Jin shook his head with a shrug as if to say 'well it happened like that.'

"It's not like I'm with Takashi either though!" She said, finally coming to grips with why she had lost her friend.

Jin chuckled at that as he looked down from the balcony, "What is that supposed to make me feel better? You chose Komuro over me. Just because he is a fucking idiot and didn't end up with you doesn't mean that you don't want to be with him, or him with you."

Rei shook her head, "It's not like that." she said to the boy whom she still considered her best friend. "I've been with Hisashi, and I've been happy Jin. Things with me and Takashi just... didn't work out." she admitted with a frown.

Jin clenched his jaw, "Yeah, its a good thing your single now right? Got all the time in the world as you undoubtedly go try and save his mom." he said bitterly.

Rei felt like she had been stabbed with the reminder of her new situation, and absence of Hisashi. However before she could even respond, a voice sounded from behind her.

"Rei... everyone should be getting to sleep. We should go." Takashi said quietly, being mindful of the street below.

"Speak of the idiot." Jin muttered, earning him a glare from Takashi. Rei on the other hand seemed a bit too emotionally exhausted to really care all that much about the comments towards Takashi. Particularly since she now understood why it was going on now.

Takashi shook his head in Jin's direction before he gently wrapped an arm around Rei to escort her away.

"Please do leave." Jin said bitterly, now in a sour mood after the encounter. "Now on top of physical wounds you gave me, I need to lick my past scars as well."

Rei visibly flinched at that comment, and turned back to the taller teen. "Jin! I'm sorry alright!" She pleaded now desperately more than ever wishing things could go back to how they were in the past. Particularly with how things had ended up with Takashi. 'If I could go back...' She thought to herself sadly as she looked to the teen with dyed hair.

"Just go with your boyfriend and leave me alone." He groaned out as he grabbed what little remained of his beer.

Rei looked shocked at the comment before she realized she had willingly let Takashi wrap his arm around her. She straightened up and removed the boy's arm from around her. While it typically was more than welcome. Now was not one of those times. "I think that is my clue to leave." She said quietly as she made her way back inside.

Takashi however remained behind for a few seconds to quietly speak while Rei was out of earshot. "That wasn't right Jin. This is between you and me, we both agreed it wasn't her fault." Takashi said firmly as he looked at his former friend.

"Yeah well I agreed to that before you spat in my face three times in a row." Jin said not bothering to look at the shorter teen.

Takashi scoffed at that response, "You've changed." he said simply with a shake of the head.

Jin shrugged, still refusing to even look Takashi in the eye. "Life does that." he said quietly, a lot of his former anger fading.

Takashi could only shake his head once again as he stepped into the house.

Jin gave a heavy sigh with the end of the encounter. He looked down carefully at the crossbow in his hands, before looking down to the street below.

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Alright, slightly late I guess from normal. As I said was at a funeral. This chapter however is way fucking longer than I would have liked. So anyways you get some insight on Jin as well as some more interaction with the cast. As I am sure you are all seeing, Naruto's patience is waning thin and he is very tired. So that will play a role in the coming chapters.

A lot of people asked about the rape in the previous chapter. I answered those that directly asked and seemed slightly offended by it. However those that didn't ask, but were curious? Bottom line for me. In order to make a good story, it isn't about the characters, it isn't about the abilities they hold, it isn't even about the plot. The first, and most important thing is simply making the world they are in believable. If people can't believe the environment you craft for them? They won't believe the things you put into the environment around them.

It is the same thing for danger in a story. You know how you pick up a fan fiction story, and then you automatically know Naruto is never going to die because he has the plot shield? Then why be nervous when he gets into trouble? Why be worried when he has one on one battles? It is the same principal. If people can't believe Naruto is in legitimate danger. Or that they believe Naruto is too powerful to be in danger at that moment? They won't put much stock in the fight because they already know he is going to make it.

So death, rape, people turning on others. Etc etc etc. There is a reason that it is called a "Zombie Apocalypse". It may have initially started with zombies. However it became an apocalypse. While not religious myself, anyone that has read the bible will know of the Four Horsemen. The concept of chaos and destruction bringing apart the end of the world is not simply going to happen because of a few slow moving dead guys. It is going to happen due to the crazies that believe what they want to believe because the world has gone to shit around them, and as such they forego their morales.

The very crude reality of the situation to anyone reading this story is that... rape? Rape was in Highschool of the Dead. Just because the act wasn't fully performed didn't mean even the original authors of the story didn't know it was prevalent. The fact that it never happened to the main characters didn't mean it wasn't happening somewhere else in the world. Do you honestly think everyone on Shido's bus was some sex crazed fanatic? Unlikely. Do you believe they became sex crazed fanatics so they didn't get kicked off the bus in the middle of a horde of zombies? That is a bit more likely.

Anyways you now get a glimpse at a couple of the OCs in a bit bigger detail, particularly Jin. I asked you all how you felt about them earlier, and now with more information given. I am asking again. How do you feel about the OCs with the little bit that you know of them now? Good? Bad? Let me hear how you feel, and just give your honest opinion. I'm just trying to make them good characters.