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Autopsy

Naruto held his sword ready. He and Yamato had been training just over an hour but Naruto was already a master. He wanted to try dual wielding but would settle for doing that next. Yamato charged forward and swung and Naruto easily blocked it then spun and hit him in the side of the neck with the butt of his sword and Yamato stumbled back and found Naruto's sword at his throat.

"Impressive," Yamato said. "Just over an hour and you're a master."

"My uninvited guest gave me his first host's sword fighting memories," Naruto said. "I forgot he could be helpful."

Yamato nodded then left to tell Tsunade about Naruto's new ability. Naruto created a clone and began dual wielding his chokuto and the clone wielded one ninjato.

"Don't get us killed," Kurama said.

Naruto and his clone began to fight and Naruto was sloppy with two at first but quickly improved. After around another hour of fighting, he was excellent at dual wielding and was able to hold his own against more than one clone.

"I am scary good," Naruto said.

"You are scary when it comes to how obnoxiously nice you are," Kurama said.

"Shut up," Naruto said.

He put his swords away and slung the chokuto diagonally across his back then put the ninjato vertically over them. He headed to his apartment and found the door cracked open about a centimeter. He silently drew a kunai and opened the door then stepped inside. Once inside, he looked around.

There was no one in the living room, which doubled as a kitchen, so he silently checked the bathroom carefully in case someone was using it. He finally moved the the bedroom and found a large box sitting on the bed. It was about the size of Choji and was wrapped in twelve rolls worth of paper.

Naruto kept his kunai ready but tore the paper off then opened the box. Inside was a pile of instant ramen bowls. Naruto smirked and tried to lift the box but it was heavier than it should be, proving that there was something else in it. he pulled out a few bowls of ramen until an off white hood was exposed. Naruto had a feeling he knew who it was but was confused about why she was there. he pulled out more, and got his answer. Hinata was bound and gagged in the bottom of the box and was unconscious. There was a mark on her forehead where she had been hit by something heavy and blunt. She also had blood running out of the corner of her mouth proving that she had put up a fight against whoever it was.

Naruto finished excavating her and lifted her out then untied her and removed the gag. There was a note in the bottom of the box.

The note read, "This is a preview of what's to come for your friends. It will only stop if you leave the Hidden Leaf Village and head to Otogakure. K."

Naruto turned the paper over and saw directions to Otogakure along with a last note.

"P.S. Come alone or I will finish the Hyuga Bitch off."

Naruto wrote down the directions then sent a clone to give the paper to Tsunade. Then he carried Hinata to the hospital where Sakura was just finishing.

"Oh my God!" Sakura said. "What happened?"

"I found her tied up in a box on my bed," Naruto said. "Can you heal her?"

Sakura did and Hinata stirred. She opened her eyes and sat bolt upright ready to fight but relaxed when she saw Naruto.

"You're okay," Naruto said. "Tell us what happened."

"I..." Hinata struggled to remember. "I was attacked by an enemy shinobi. I fought back but lost."

"Did you get a good look at him?" Naruto asked.

"It was a girl," Hinata said. "She looked about twenty three, beautiful, bright red hair, like Gaara's. She wore a green dress over a white shirt. And there was a huge bloody hole in her abdomen like she had been stabbed by something the size of a small tree or something."

"That's not possible," Naruto said.

"She had Sakura's temper," Hinata said.

"That sounds a lot like Kushina," Jiraiya said. "Except that she died years ago."

"Who's Kushina and what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Tsunade sent me," Jiraiya said. "And Kushina was a very skilled kunoichi from a clan that is very nearly gone. There are only three living members left. One is an exceptional sensory ninja from what I hear, one is very skilled in jutsu, and the last is rather headstrong and a bit of an idiot."

"Sounds familiar," Sakura said.

"Shut up," Naruto said.

"Oh, did you understand that one?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not really as slow as I act," Naruto said. "Not all the time at least. I'm no good at planning or understanding strategy, and I suck at following orders, but I can usually read people like an open book."

"Bull," Sakura said.

"I can," Naruto said. "I even know about that."

"Bull!" Sakura said. "If you do then why not say something?"

"Figured they should be able to first," Naruto said. "Anyway, I have to go to Otogakure. I'll see you guys soon."

"You're not going alone," Sakura said.

"Yes I am," Naruto said. "I'm not letting anyone get hurt trying to defend me. I can handle whatever I find."

"I'm going," Hinata said. "I have a score to settle with the girl and you'll need back up if you run into Sasuke and Orochimaru."

"Good point," Jiraiya said. "I'm going with you two."

"No!" Naruto said. "No one is going with me!"

"You can't change my mind Naruto," Hinata said. "I'm going."

Naruto sighed and stood then looked around.

"Fine," Naruto said. "We need to go now."

Hinata nodded and stood and Jiraiya looked at the nearby hot spring then nodded. The three of them left the village and began to make their way through the trees toward Otogakure. After about fifty minutes, they stopped at a stream because there was a body laying in it. The body was bleeding heavily and was wearing a black cloak with red clouds. He had long orange hair, metal rods forming piercings all over his body, and grey eyes with a ripple design.

"Rinnegan," Jiraiya said. "That's not possible."

"Jiraiya," Naruto said inspecting the body. "He was bitten."

Jiraiya looked closer and saw that there was exactly one bite mark on the side of his neck.

"I'll take him back to the-" Jiraiya began before the previously dead body shot out of the water and grabbed Jiraiya by the throat.

"HUNGRY!" the body roared opening its mouth until it was about two feet wide, revealing several rows of razor sharp teeth.

Naruto smashed the thing in the back of the neck knocking it out then tied it up.

"Move fast," Naruto said.

Jiraiya nodded and ran back to the village with the creature. Naruto and Hinata continued toward Otogakure. They continued through the night and finally stopped in a clearing to rest for a few hours. Naruto could keep going but Hinata was clearly at the end of her energy.

"Rest," Naruto said. "I'll keep watch."

Hinata nodded and crawled into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. She drifted off fairly quickly so Naruto sat in a tree to keep watch. They would be at Otogakure by noon the next day. As Naruto sat in the tree, he sent several clones out to help then stared at the sky. He didn't know why but he felt at peace staring at the night sky. Especially away from the lights of the village. He made out the constellations he knew then sighed and looked around then at Hinata. She was fast asleep and he had to admit that she was beautiful. He would never say so out loud but she made even Sakura look like an old hag.

"Sakura would pound me into paste for saying that," Naruto said grinning.

The thing that he had known about that Sakura hadn't believed him was that Shino was gay. It was the single most shocking thing he had found out since returning to the village.

Naruto watched Hinata sleep for a little while longer then left a clone so that he could go relieve himself. When he returned, he released his clone and sat in his spot in the tree again.

After a while, Naruto woke Hinata up when the sun began to rise and they continued. The trip was uneventful until noon when they arrived. The first thing they noticed was that Kabuto was standing next to the redhead that Hinata had described.

"Working with girls willingly now Kabuto?" Naruto asked.

Kabuto opened his mouth similar to how the body with the Rinnegan had and had similar teeth.

"It would be contagious," Naruto said then looked at the woman. "That looks painful."

"Just means I can eat more," the woman said in a raspy voice. "Go Kabuto. Do our master's bidding."

Kabuto turned to leave but three Naruto clones arrived in front of him and drew their swords. Naruto drew the two black swords and dashed forward. Hinata was right behind him and Naruto tossed her the white ninjato. Then he ran past the woman and attacked Kabuto. Kabuto was faster than before but there were simply too many Narutos. Kabuto slashed one Naruto and bit a second then threw him into a third. Then the last Naruto removed his head. All three clones, the injured Narutos, disappeared and Naruto turned toward the woman and Hinata.

Hinata had lost her sword and was trying to fight the woman with her Gentle Fist but the woman simply spit out ever organ Hinata damaged. Naruto cut the woman in half then walked over to Hinata. They turned to leave but heard a groan.

"What the-" Naruto said when he turned back and saw the woman's top half dragging itself toward them.

He drove one sword into her face then pulled it out and the woman dropped dead.

"Weird," Naruto said.

He knelt and drew a kunai and began to cut the body open. Miles away, Shizune was doing the same to the still alive body with the Rinnegan with a scalpel. They both discovered the same thing. The inside of the bodies were rotted so bad that they were black sludge. The only organ with anything possibly living left was the brain. The brain was mostly rotted as well but the section for base instincts and speech were both intact. They could still think and plan on small levels and they had a base instinct to eat any and all living things that had a heart and to spread whatever virus had done the damage to them. Shizune found the virus in a toxin in the teeth. Naruto found the virus sitting in Kabuto's veins.

"I want to try something," Naruto said cutting his hand with a fresh, clean knife.

Shizune killed her body by stabbing the brain. Then she did the same thing as Naruto but only cut her fingertip. Both let some of their blood drip onto their body's tongue and Both bodies sprung to life lunging at Naruto and Shizune only to be killed again.

"Interesting," Naruto said. "Come on. We need to get back."

Hinata nodded and handed Naruto back his sword before they began to run. This time, when Hinata got tired, Naruto carried her piggy-back style. When they reached the village, they went straight to Tsunade's office and arrived in the middle of Shizune's report.

"Oh, hello Naruto," Shizune said. "As I was saying, the body came back to life when my blood landed on its tongue. The only way to kill it was to damage its-"

"Brain," Naruto finished. "Hinata was attacked by a redhead kunoichi and when we found her, she had bitten and infected Kabuto with a virus that turned him into whatever it was she was. We killed him by beheading him."

"Brain stem works too huh?" Shizune asked.

"What are we dealing with?" Tsunade asked.

"Zombies," both of them said.

Naruto shivered at the thought but didn't react any more than that.

"Perfect," Tsunade said. "Send out the call Shizune. Five Kage Summit."

"Yes Ma'am," Shizune said bowing then left.

"Have you spoken with Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked.

"No," Naruto said. "Why?"

"Because I know the first guy we found," Jiraiya said. "I met him on one of my travels. Now he seems to have been turned into a puppet through those piercings he had. The Rinnegan was the trademark jutsu that one of my students had. I don't know how but he was controlling that man. At first. I want you trained in Senjutsu on Mount Myoboku like I was."

"Sure," Naruto said.

"Naruto," Tsunade said. "You need to go find all of your ruling friends besides Gaara. That means Temujin, Koyuki, Shion, and any others that you can think of."

Naruto nodded and he and Hinata left. They found Sakura and the three of them left for the Land of Ogres.

THE END

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