Forward Unto Dawn Chapter 17: God Doesn't Bleed, a Naruto + Highschool of the Dead Crossover fanfic

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

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"I wanted to believe that after we decided to work together, when we agreed to help each other? I saw her... how she was with our people, with everyone around her. I thought that after all this time... I wanted to believe that we were the same." Naruto said remorsefully as he hung his head, turning away from the wake of fiery destruction laid out miles below him.

"In some ways you are." the purple haired Anbu captain said with a small smile that was invisible from behind her mask. Her eyes scanning out over the skyline from their location high in the sky.

"No." the blonde said firmly with the shake of a head, "I'll never be like her. We'll never be the same."

Naruto sighed heavily as he recalled the vivid memory of the past, as he hung his head in the shadow of the growing moon.

"So you think you are God hmm?" A fiery red headed vixen taunted in amusement, as she crouched down next to her blonde companion amidst the smoke, ash, and rubble in the darkness of the moon.

The blonde shinobi looked up towards the red headed woman for the first time, his bleeding arms hanging at his sides. "God doesn't bleed." the blonde replied coldly as he forced himself up off of the ruined ground.

Pieces of rubble had long since began floating into the sky, gravity no longer holding them down to earth. The sky was raining flesh and blood, pooling under the moon the was slowly but surely forming from tall skyscrapers coiling together like snakes to their prey.

A river of blood and flesh had formed, slowly moving in a stream, beginning to fill the bottom of the pit.

"Here, let me help." the woman in red said as she stepped up to the blonde before grasping his hand between hers.

"Don't!" Naruto bit out through his teeth as he yanked his hand away, "Please don't." he repeated in a low tone as he allowed his arms to hand at his sides, drops of blood slowly falling like rain from his fingertips.

Naruto looked on towards the forging moon, all the while ignoring the angered growl from the woman beside him.

"Why? You're going to kill yourself one of these days Naruto, I'm not going to be a part of it." the woman ground out angrily.

Naruto looked down to the ruins beneath his feet to pick up a single metal shard no more than six inches long and thick. It was undoubtedly one of the many remains of his shackle. "Not anymore Kyuubi." Naruto said calmly as he opened his palm, the metal shard slowly beginning to float upward to join the forming moon.

"On the other hand, he will have me." a voice called out with a confidence as she grew closer to the duo.

Naruto turned over his shoulder to look towards the blonde haired female's ghostly figure, standing there floating several inches off the ground.

"If you value what you have remaining of your mediocre existence, I suggest you leave us now." Kyuubi said coldly, not even bothering to turn around as she spoke. Her fiery hair flowing as if it was alive like flames. Her entire feminine body was shrouded in a thick red coat of energy, doing little to conceal her beauty and most private places.

The blonde haired female apparition gave a cautious glance towards the woman in red.

"Are they safe?" Naruto asked the blonde woman, not before giving Kyuubi a pointed look.

"You can't honestly expect me to believe you actually care for these people, and have any form of loyalty to them." Kyuubi spat out in disgust as she turned around to face both Naruto and the blonde haired woman.

Naruto didn't bother to spare Kyuubi even a glance at her statement as he spoke out, "I don't expect you to understand Kyuubi, as you have no concept of duty, no sense of loyalty."

Kyuubi's burning gaze turned upon the blonde, "Don't presume I have no sense of loyalty simply because I have no one left to be loyal to." she said in a low tone that was heard over the chaos that surrounded them.

Naruto visible faltered at the statement as he cast a sidelong glance toward the woman that had been with him his entire life before doing his best to hide the grimace at the thought of losing her.

"They're safe." the blonde youthful looking woman said as she appraised the two powerful warriors before her.

Naruto nodded his head as he closed his eyes, "Alright." he said before giving a deep breath as two clones immediately popped into existence. "Go get them."

The two clones immediately jumped out of sight in true shinobi fashion once again leaving Naruto, Kyuubi, and the ghostly woman.

"Leave us..." Naruto said tightly as he spared the blonde a glance before turning to Kyuubi.

She didn't need to be told twice.

"Tell me now." Kyuubi began painfully the moment the blonde woman left them alone. "Tell me how you can just sit here and do nothing? You needed to get home... yesterday!" Kyuubi said with narrowed eyes.

Naruto gave a deep breath as the moon continued to float higher and higher into the sky, "I know."

"Really? I don't think you do. We're at war. Now while a bunch of little mortal men initially wanted to write that idea off and never admit that was a possibility? That time has come to an end. And with the way things are going?" Kyuubi gave a pause as she allowed her words to take hold.

"With all of the rest of us... gone? You are all that stands for the survival against the greatest threat the Elemental Nations have ever encountered. Yet here you are... babysitting." Kyuubi mocked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Naruto closed his eyes tightly, "I don't need the lecture now Kyuubi. Not today."

"Or perhaps this is the day you need to hear this more now than ever." Kyuubi fired back calmly, "Perhaps you are taking this adventure on your hands too seriously. You know what I think? I think you are getting too accustomed to this life. Too invested. After seeing those pictures on the wall? The way these kids treat each other? You believe that maybe... just maybe you could have a chance at a normal life."

"That's not it at all." Naruto said with a scowl as he turned to face the red headed woman, his eyes narrowed.

"Good." she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Because you can't have that life."

Naruto flinched at the bluntness of her words, even if it was a concept that he silently knew himself yet never wanted to address.

"Ever since you became not just their leader, but the general of the shinobi nations, you made a commitment. One to endure. You need to make a choice that no one else can make." Kyuubi said calmly as she admired the red river beginning to form a pool at the bottom of the pit.

"And what choice would that be? Would you have me condemn everyone here? People that risked their lives to protect me? You would just have me abandon them? What would you do?" Naruto asked.

"Abandon them? You want to know why throughout your entire life, people have risked their lives for you? You're not just anyone Naruto, the day will come where you will need to make a choice. Whether that be protecting the shinobi world, or saving the meager lives of the people here. I don't care what choice you make, I've known you for your entire life, I know you will make the right choice..." Kyuubi paused as she sensed a presence returning behind the two of them.

"And yet you never told me what you would do in my situation." Naruto said calmly, turning towards the oncoming presence.

"I'd kill them all." Kyuubi said bluntly, causing Naruto to halt his thoughts momentarily. "This life is no different than our own. No one deserves to live like this."

Naruto fought down a frown in the face of the beautiful demon. "So you would just kill everyone... you wouldn't even attempt to save them?" Naruto asked, masking his disappointment the best he could.

"I'm not like you. War changed you, turned you into a coward." Kyuubi began.

"What?" Naruto asked incredulously. People usually spoke to him with more respect.

"You need to know everything and be in control of the situation because you're afraid to be wrong, afraid of failure. You have been alone your entire life, and you're so afraid of losing people, so afraid of not being able to protect everyone that you will risk your own life. Yet deep down you know that when you run out of people you need to protect, you'll just run out of purpose. You'll run out of hope. You've turned yourself into a Martyr." Kyuubi said pointedly, her words like blades trying their best to cut deep.

"We Naruto... are nothing alike. I learned long ago that not everyone can be saved." Kyuubi said, her crimson gaze falling upon 'The Eyes of God' before she turned to move towards the oncoming presence.

Naruto pursed his lips at the back of the one person in the world that would ever attempt to speak to him in such a manner before giving a sigh and shaking his head. Naruto looked up to the moon, now fully formed hovering high in the sky, red rain continuing to fall. It was only in this moment that Naruto allowed his mind to temporarily wander to the subject of the red headed vixen.

"No Naruto... you won't ever be the same." Yugao confirmed before shaking her head. "But Naruto..." she began, "I at one point believed that perhaps similarly to the Kazekage, you may one day be separated from the Kyuubi. That one day you may be free of her."

"And now?" Naruto questioned as his thoughts drifted toward the red headed goddess.

"Now I fear that your paths are now joined forever." Yugao said with a heavy heart, "Do you remember your jinchuriki training Naruto?"

Naruto said nothing, but the small nod of the head prompted the purple haired woman to continue her explanation. However before she could explain, the Angel of Ame cut in from her position leaning against the wall off to the side, overlooking the burning world below.

"She is the darkness to your light, the hatred to your love."

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"Oh... my god..." Saya breathed out in amazement as she looked on the sight in the distance floating high into the sky.

"What the hell is that?" Yuuki cursed out as she ceased her rummaging through compartments of the boat to take in the sights in the sky.

"It's a moon." Kohta said simply as he lowered the rifle's scope from his eye, slightly disturbed. "It's made out of buildings... but something is leaking out of it." he said in a grim voice. Although the enthusiasm he formerly held while using his weapons had long since faded as he looked on with a frown.

"That's ridiculous, give me that!" Saya proclaimed loudly as she pushed up her glasses before stomped over, lining herself up with the weapon's scope, a weapon that was still slung around Kohta's neck.

Kohta however pursed his lips at the action, and the considerable view. A situation that he formerly would have loved seemed to have lost all of it's pleasure as he thought back to the nights encounter previously.

The young boy allowed his mind to wander while hopefully not allowing his pain to show. He knew he would never speak up about his problems. Secretly deep down he felt that if he ever spoke up, that he would be complaining. There is nothing he can say if his crush has a crush on someone else.

It was that fact that was painful to admit for the young boy.

He knew he shouldn't have said it, but he couldn't hold himself back from doing so. "Can't take me at my word?" Kohta said bitterly, the cold tone not lost amongst the group.

"Not now Kohta!" Yuuki said quickly, her eyes locking with Kohta, an unspoken conversation being told within them.

"What is your problem tubby?" Saya taunted with her usual name calling.

Kohta seemed to shrink under Yuuki's gaze as Saya's insult flew past him. "Nothing..." he muttered as he gently shrugged his shoulders as the pinked headed girl let go of his weapon with minimal care, not something a person who had utilized a firearm before would have done.

Kohta however did catch sight of Yuuki giving the young firearms expert a nod of respect to finish their unspoken conversation.

"Do you think Takashi and Busujima-san are seeing this?" Saya said as she held onto the side of the boat as she took in the sight of the large moon growing higher and higher into the air.

Kohta said nothing as he honestly had no answer. Although the fact that the pink haired girl had notably ignored the fact that Rei had gone along with their group's strongest close range fighters served to sour his expression.

It was hairline fractures, threatening to spread throughout Kohta's entire expression. The glue holding him together was merely Yuuki's silent shaking of the head pleading with him to keep himself together.

"Doesn't matter. We will find out soon." Yuuki quipped as she pulled herself up a ladder to where Ayane was doing her best to captain the boat with Saito's instruction. "Saya, make yourself useful, and actually find things we can use instead of gazing at things you can't explain." Yuuki finished without hesitation from the top of the ladder.

Saya instantly rounded on the older girl and tightened her jaw, her fists clenching in anger.

"In survival situations, you are only supposed to take what you need to survive. However we are surviving as a group are we not? Extra hands to carry things. Find something useful." she repeated seeing the girl's eyes narrow in frustration.

"If the task is so important Yuuki-san, why don't you assist me?" Saya retorted ironically not liking being ordered around in the slightest by Yuuki, despite her tendency to give orders.

"Yuuki-san! Please take the wheel. This isn't like a car!" Shizuka cried overhead as the boat immediately began to lean to one side dramatically.

"Because the dead are coming back to life and killing people!" Yuuki yelled as her face disappeared from view. "I'll be damned if I go down on a ship!" she continued. Her voice quieter but filled with annoyance as the ship straightened out once again, "And this is the helm Shizuka-san."

Saya scowled as she looked down to her feet, her hands clenched. It was only then that she looked around to where she could look for something before catching sight of the brown haired boy. "What are you looking at Tubby?" Saya taunted again, her frustration being taken out on the boy once again.

"Kohta! You should get up here! There is a better view from this vantage point." Saito called down loudly.

It was only moments later that the young pink haired girl found herself alone with nothing but the sound of crashing waves and distant sirens to keep her company.

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"It's barely getting light out, it's still too dark to see anything clearly. We will be sitting ducks if we journey far from the vehicle at this time." Saeko said quietly, although you could see that the exhaustion was beginning to show on her face. Although a darkness under the eyes was certainly not the most attractively look, it didn't take away from any of her beauty.

"I still don't see why you volunteered to come. You're insane. You haven't slept. Did you even eat with the group Saeko-san? You're dead on your feet." Takashi said quickly to Saeko as he looked at her seated behind him in the rear view mirror of the vehicle.

"Spare me Komuro-kun." she said making a point of using his last name. "Naruto chose to do no different when he lead this group. I will rest when our group is safe, until then? I'm going to keep fighting."

"You're not Naruto though Busujima-san..." Rei said quietly, her words causing her to think about the blonde haired blue eyed boy... no... man.

Takashi frowned to himself as he caught Rei losing herself deep in thought at the mere mention of the blonde. "I agree Saeko, you need your rest."

Saeko's eyes narrowed as she inclined her head confusion while she looked between both parties in the front seats. "You both speak of Naruto like he is some hero or god or something. What is so special about him? Tell me, what do you think he can do that I can't?" Saeko asked defensively, her tired appearance seemingly disappearing in her defense.

A collective silence threatened to swallow the group whole. Rei turned away from the girl as she immediately was brought back to the blonde carrying her as he jumped buildings with ease, and moved faster than she could even see to kill someone... to protect her.

Rei took a deep breath, her chest felt tight at that thought. 'What if something happened to him?' she thought fearfully as she squeezed her eyes shut. The action only served to remind her of the form fitting black gear she was wearing that wasn't even her own, but was a soldier's from the blonde's other world.

Takashi's lips formed into a thin line as he equally went into thought on the blonde. Yet his thought was simple. 'No one is that brutal... fearless... and skilled...' he thought to himself as he remembered vividly the hardened fist that had struck him that night, before he blonde proceeded to run them across the heads of a sea of undead. He wasn't slighting Saeko. He just didn't think anyone else could do it. He doubted anyone would ever consider being that reckless.

"It's complicated Busujima-san." Rei said with a frown. There was no way she could begin to explain why it was complicated. She just hoped that the swordswoman would take her word for it.

"Complicated?" Saeko repeated lowly in irritation as she turned to Takashi, as if prompting him to give her a better answer.

"It's hard to explain Saeko." Takashi muttered, not wanting to mention the night he had run into danger half cocked and needed to be saved by the blonde that everyone seemed so willing to ostracize.

Saeko allowed a scowl to come onto her beautiful features. "Complicated? Hard to explain? It has always been this way between you and him Miyamoto, so I'm not surprised. Yet you Takashi? I expected you to be honest w-"

"What do you mean 'it has always been this way'?" Rei questioned with narrowed eyes. Although her question was drowned out by Takashi's louder voice.

"Saeko it isn't like that!" Takashi quickly replied, halting on the breaks in the car.

"Then tell me Komuro, what is it like?" Saeko said bitterly, the rare face of anger in place on her lovely features.

Silence once again fell upon the group which only caused Saeko to shake her head.

"I thought as much." she said bitterly before she kicked open the door beside her, grabbing her wooden blade. "I appreciate you both trying to look out for me. But I don't need your protection. I'm going to scout out the area and kill any of them I see. You both should go back, and meet the group. They should be here any minute."

"Saeko wait!" Takashi called out the window as she closed the door and began walking away. "I'll come with you!" he said as he quickly began unbuckling his seat belt.

"No!" Saeko replied as she looked over her shoulder to the duo in the vehicle. "Right now... I don't want your company Komuro." Saeko said, standing up tall and tightening her grip on her wooden blade.

"No! Saeko! You're not going alone." Takashi said despite the fact.

Saeko shook her head at that, "I'm better off alone Takashi." she finished lowly. She didn't care if the brown haired teen heard her or not as she moved to leave their sight.

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A boat moving at rapid speeds crashed repeatedly on the water as it leaped over every wave. The sun was rising in the distance, reflecting across the water. Yet they remained in the shade of an object soaring into the skies that didn't belong.

The boat was small and expensive. It was built for speed. It likely would have caused quite the commotion moving at these speeds under the countless bridges in the city they were in. Yet at this point in the silence of the day, the blonde haired blue eyed man at the helm could care less.

"So what... are you..." the purple haired trident asked in a low tone, seated beside the blonde, not keeping her eyes off him for anything.

"It doesn't matter who or what I am." Naruto said simply without taking his eyes off from in front of him. Although that didn't stop him from sensing the world around him. Notably the red headed woman sitting on the edge of the boat, her feet skimming the water as it rushed along. Or the blonde haired apparition that would occasionally fade in and out of existence. He could even distantly feel Ayane's energy swelling in a sea of darkness, steadily approaching as he grew closer.

"Miyuki seems to think you're some sort of god. I thought she was crazy and that you were just a man, but with what I've seen? I can't say that she was far off." Rika said tensely, holding her weapons close to her.

"There are no men like me." Naruto said as he allowed his situation with his powers coursing through him once again to dawn on him. "Not anymore." he finished quietly as he turned the boat toward the direction Ayane's presence was moving.

"You say that like there used to be a whole flock of you running around? I find that hard to believe." Rika said as she inclined her head towards the red headed woman hanging halfway off the boat without a care in the world. Like she had no sense of fear when it came to falling off.

Naruto chose not to answer as he looked forward to the dawn. The opinion of one woman would matter little in the coming days. He now had plans. He was going to reunite with those he swore to protect. And then? He would move on to protect everyone else.

"So what is next in your master plan? I mean you already decided to take control of my body to save a couple kids with your ghostly powers. Next you created a moon out of an entire city district. Don't tell me your next goal is world domination or holding the world hostage for a million dollars." Rika said as she whipped her pinky back and forth at the mention of the cash amount.

"I'm just going to reconnect with my group of idiot children, and hopefully help them find their families. Beyond that, it doesn't matter. I won't be sticking around long." Naruto said with a faraway look.

"If it is really just a group of kids you are going back to? What makes you so sure that they will survive if you don't stick around?" Rika asked with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto's lips formed into a thin line at the question as he was brought back to the memories of Jin, Saeko, Rei, and even Takashi. "Some of them are stronger than people would think. They will be fine."

"People are dying... my partner died. If a highly trained member of the military can't make it? What makes you think children will survive? They can be as strong as you want to think, but they aren't stronger than him." Rika said sourly, picking at the blonde's brain.

"Well anyone can be killed." Naruto replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Even you?" Rika asked pointedly as she moved to try and catch the blonde's eyes. The question even served to garner a certain red headed woman's attention from the edge of the boat.

"Anyone." Naruto repeated firmly, without fear of the thought.

"So if I were to... shoot you with my weapon right here..." Rika began slowly, but not moving with the potential threat.

"Just because anyone can be killed does not mean anyone can be killed as easily as someone else." Naruto pointed out as he turned his head from before him to lock eyes with the purple headed woman.

Rika held up her hands in defense. She wasn't trying to start a fight, even if she was intentionally trying to pick at the young man's brain. "So what? Save the kids, and then ditch them to what?"

Naruto said nothing as the silence fell over their conversation, allowing himself the time to weigh his response to the woman.

"What? To make the world a better place?" Rika suggested openly, as she gently leaned back as she crossed her arms over her chest, and promptly crossed her legs. There was almost a mocking condescending tone to the way she made the suggestion that probably would have set off a lesser person.

Naruto abruptly stepped away from the helm, causing it to begin spinning slowing in a direction, leading them on a crash course for the shoreline. An act which only served to cause Rika to spring out of her seat for the helm before she got her reply.

However the damage had been done. A sharp turn at this point would send the group sprawling into the water. And while she doubted it would have any real effect on her or the blonde. She knew that the unconscious forms of both Jin and Miyuki would certainly be worse for ware.

"No." Naruto's voice called out over her shoulder. Upon his shoulder rested Jin. Stacked on top of Jin was Miyuki's form. It actually made the blonde look like some imposing hulk of a figure despite his size being rather unintimidating.

The blonde placed his hand upon Rika's shoulder before gripping down on her firmly as the shore continued to approach closer and closer every fleeting second. As well as a collected group of the dead waiting there to welcome them with open mouths and arms.

"I'm going to make sure that things don't get worse."

It was at that moment that the boat crashed onto the shore, leaving behind a fiery explosion in it's wake.

The passengers were long gone.

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"We're dead... we're going to die here..." Ayane said out loud in a quiet voice that was easily heard by the people surrounding her. In her grasp was none other than the semi-automatic rifle the group was able to liberate from Rika's apartment.

"Ayane! Don't say things like that!" Takashi quickly yelled out as he took aim with the shotgun in his grasp before unleashing a metallic hell upon the dead approaching them.

"She's right. We may have the weapons, but we don't have the ammo to keep this up forever. We are going to tire before they do." Saito said as he had taken to positioning himself down by the hood of the car. "Even if we do survive this, our resources will be useless at that point. We won't survive the night." Saito finished. He was armed with no more than a kitchen knife to complement his lanky form, and was doing well to stay back, only moving in when absolutely necessary.

"Everyone shut up! Think like that, and it will happen. Hold this line. If even one of us falls, we can all fall!" Takashi called out, kicking a zombie back as it approached, prompting it to stumble and tumbling unintentionally tackling a group of it's brethren.

Although meanwhile the young brown haired teenage boy could only curse the events that had led them to where they were now.

"Takashi! You all wait by the fence, I am going to gather them and lead them away from you all. But you need to be quiet. We can meet back up at Takagi's place."

"Over here!"

"No one make a sound... this is our best chance."

Takashi grimaced. To think a random car exploding in the background of the group would turn into the sole reason that they were now down their best melee fighter, who was forced to leave the group.

"We already lost Saeko to these things. We aren't losing anyone else. Understood?" Takashi said, trying to rally everyone together as a single unit. Yet his hopes were slowly turning to ash. They had been fighting the dead back for hours. They knew that they couldn't last much longer. No one could.

"We need to make a break for it through this fence. Otherwise, we will fall!" Yuuki yelled out as she pulled herself through the roof of the vehicle, wiping sweat from her brow. She had been working hard all day. "Hate to leave this baby behind." she began as she went to a knee on top of the car, "But we are going to have to."

Takashi clenched his fists at that thought. He desperately wanted to believe that things would be better, that things would have gotten better. He wanted to believe that he wasn't a terrible leader... but everything he had done had torn, split, and lead the group astray.

"I'm sorry everyone." Takashi said as he lowered his shotgun in the face of danger. Even with the dead in front of them, he honestly couldn't even bring himself to care. His shoulder was aching in pain from the hours of constant recoil. He was nearly dead on his feet due to the constant running around and mental exhaustion. "You all should go on, I'll hold them off."

"What?" a chorus of yells resounded.

"Takashi!" Saya's voice called out from the back of the group. She was doing her best to keep Shizuka and a young pink haired girl, Alice, behind her. "You can't!" she pleaded.

A grimace appeared on Kohta's face at the plea as he actually missed his target for rare occasion.

"I have to. I'm the leader. I have to make sure everyone is safe." Takashi muttered, swinging his shotgun up lazily to fire off around blast, sending an entire group of zombies sprawling backwards from the spray.

"So you are just going to let yourself get killed? You're just going to die? What if we need a leader later on?" Saya said loudly.

Takashi shook his head, "You have Kohta!" Takashi said loudly, turning briefly to look over his shoulder to the sight of the surprised chubby dark haired boy. Takashi gave the teen a nod of the head, with a determined look in his eyes.

Kohta had to shake off his initial shock to return a nod of his own, even with a frown slowly forming on his face. Although it didn't stop him from taking another shot.

Bullseye!

"I have faith in him. And Saeko will return to you all. She is too stubborn to die." Takashi said with a smile, trying his best to lighten the mood.

"We owe you a lot Komuro!" Yuuki said quickly, as she hopped off the roof of the car before moving to the bed of the vehicle.

Takashi nodded silently before saying, "Get them out of here." he muttered to the large group they had gathered, before he looked down and shook his head.

"Taka-" Saya was cut off by the brown haired boy himself.

"Saito... I'll trade you." he suggested, handing the shotgun toward the lanky boy, leaving an open hand for the bloodied kitchen knife.

"You're serious about this?" The tall lanky computer expert asked with a raised eyebrow as he exchanged the knife with Takashi, before promptly taking a shot to keep the slowly marching dead at bay. "Saeko already tried something similar. Didn't work before."

Takashi shook his head, "Get them out of here Saito. Don't let me change my mind. It's our only shot. Besides, Yuuki is fine with it."

Sure enough, the beautiful shorter haired teen was wasting no time in shuffling Shido out of the back of the car. His braided haired accomplice following shortly behind the man who was having significant trouble breathing. Nana on the other hand Yuuki was being more delicate with due to her severe blood loss. Yet Yuuki didn't seemed phased in the slightest with their situation.

"Komuro. You're going to live with this forever..." Saito said, his lips forming into a thin line.

"Well it's a good thing that forever won't be that long after this then right?" Takashi said as he flipped the blade in his hand around, getting ready for any incoming attackers.

Saito shook his head, "You don't know that." he began, "You don't know what it is like for them... in there..." He said as he pointed to one of the fallen corpse's brains laying across the ground.

Takashi stiffened abruptly at the thought as he realized that this situation could very well lead him to a life of death and excess. A life where his body was no longer his own, but a slave to his hunger.

Takashi's hand tightened around the blade, before he yelled, "Everyone get out of here now damnit!"

Silently he knew after that bomb Saito had dropped on him, any longer and he likely would have wanted to back out on the plan.

The group, despite the protests quickly made their way through the wired fence in an orderly fashion.

"Why are you doing this?" Rei asked quietly as she was one of the last people to go through, bringing up the rear with her spear. "You don't need to hold them off, we can run. We can find another way."

Takashi smiled as he shook his head, "There is no other way."

"There is always another way." A voice said from above the duo, sending a condescending grin downward.

"Wha-" Takashi began, only to be cut off by someone far more passionate.

"Naruto!" Rei cried out.

There the blonde 'stood' floating in mid air beside a red headed woman, stacked upon his shoulders and under his arm were none other than Jin, Rika, and Miyuki.

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Alright another chapter. I will be perfectly honest. I finished this like 3 minutes ago (as of me writing this). And I am really just too lazy to go over it. I didn't really like the chapter again. There is a checklist of things I need to do in these coming chapters, while moving the plot along. And it is getting a bit annoying with longer chapters that are like 5-6k words long, or sometimes even longer. I feel that if I keep going over important events in single chapters, then you don't really get a feel for "Okay this chapter was important because X." Not "This chapter was important because of X, Y, and Z, and in the distant future A, B, and C will make it important again."

Naaaaahhhh...

So from this point on? Expect chapters to be a lot shorter. This isn't going to cripple the story. Admittedly if you are the reader that loves plopping down and reading 6-12 thousand words in a sitting while your bored, rather than a shorter 2000 words. Well then I'm sorry. However from a writing standpoint there is one major thing I would just like to say.

When I started writing this story, and was on a roll? Chapter length didn't matter. I knew the scenes, how they were to be written, and the character's dialog was just flowing out onto the keyboard easily. Yet now much later on into this story? Things aren't as simple. The flow and scenes just aren't as vivid as they were before(Kind of a lie, but the way I would word the scenes is harder because I know them better). I can no longer make super long flowing scenes like you saw with Rei and Naruto earlier in the story, and then slam them all into one chapter.

So for now I am going to try a different style in writing. Hopefully this just means chapters come out more consistently, and the scenes are done better. We will have to see.

On another note? If you all are curious about where this story is headed in the next few chapters? Here is some bullet points (Not in order purposely so you don't know what's next).

Naturally arrival at the Takagi household. That arc begins. Ideally everyone you only vaguely know right now should be expanded on. This includes, (Yuuki, Saya, Kohta, Rika, and Shizuka. Perhaps Nana.) To be honest, I don't know how big of a focus Naruto will have at the Takagi household.

Shido recovers and you get to see him take a more prominent role in the story.

This is huge: A lot of the characters in Highschool of the Dead have shitty backstories, or just lack backstories entirely. So some of them I just decided to rework from the ground up. (Example, Rika). I have no idea what I am going to do with Shizuka. However Saeko is essentially completely being reworked/built on in this story. Hopefully you like it.

Finally, there have been a couple one liners in this story that hint to a MAJOR twist in the plot. One of them namely points to who this blonde ghostly figure is. Kudos if you can find out who it is, and not just guess, but actually find the line that hints to it.

Have fun everyone.

Since the next chapter is going to be highly focused. No preview today.