The other day I accessed the site and went straight to check on one of the many new crossovers I've been working on, only to find that the document had been deleted for some reason. I was livid beyond words; mostly at myself for not having saved the story on a word document in my laptop. Said crossover was meant to be a three-shot between Naruto and Life is Strange, and I was really proud of that one. Now it'll probably never see the light of day.

Anyway… Just wanted to vent out some frustration before we merrily move onto what you came here to read today.

On a more positive note, here's chap 4. I was going to post this on Tuesday but since I'd already finished with it, I figured I might as well upload it earlier than announced. The events taking place at the St. John's dairy will be described into two parts to keep the word count where I prefer it to be.

~ Chapter 4 : Manhunters (part 1) ~

From his position over one of the higher branches of a random tree in the forest, Naruto Uzumaki couldn't shake the frown off his face. This was not going to end well. He just knew it. If only those stupid adults had trusted him back at the motor inn, Lee, Carley, Mark and Ben wouldn't be walking right into what clearly looked like a trap to the young shinobi apprentice.

Only Lee and Clem had supported his idea of staying, and apparently Kenny to a certain extent, something he appreciated somewhat but knew it wasn't enough. What's worse, most of them had lowered their guards the moment those weirdos had mentioned the words 'food' and 'fence', whatever that last one was. It was like they were begging to be trapped or ambushed.

Ah well, if they didn't want to see things his way, he wasn't going to waste his breath more than he already had. But that didn't necessarily mean he was just going to stand back and pretend he didn't care whether something happened to them, because he did. If nobody was smart enough to see all of this screamed danger, he'd have to step up and make sure nothing went wrong.

Even if it went against Lilly's wishes.

As soon as the group designed to go with the brothers had left, Lilly had told the rest to stay in sight and call out if they saw anything suspicious. Of course, Naruto had other plans, and he made sure only Clem knew he was going to go after Lee and the others just in case they got into trouble.

She had promised not to say a word if someone asked, though it didn't really matter if they found out what his intentions were. After all, by the time anyone noticed he wasn't there, he would be long gone.

He grinned. The good thing of being the only shinobi around made it super easy for him to sneak out whenever he felt like it, like right then.

Naruto made sure to keep hidden as he tailed the chatty group, jumping from branch to branch as quietly as possible. His azure eyes caught sight of Ben, Mark and the weirdos walking ahead and talking as if they were good friends. Trailing behind a bit closer to his position were Carley and Lee, both of them walking side by side.

They were talking about something Naruto didn't really get, though he noticed it seemed like a sensitive topic for Lee. Carley had placed a hand on his shoulder and given him a smile that the boy had rarely ever seen on her. She did smile often enough, just not that... much around the others.

He shrugged his shoulders. Right now, that barely even mattered. He needed to stay alert. At the slightest sign of trouble, he'd take them by surprise. Naruto doubted that kid Ben was a good fighter, but he knew he could rely on Lee, Carley and Mark to handle themselves if they needed to.

At some point during their walk through a man-made path that ran across the forest, Naruto saw the brothers slowing down to let Lee and Carley catch up to them.

"So, Lee, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

"Yeah", the younger one agreed. "Where are you from?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He hoped Lee wasn't about to tell them anything, no matter how harmless their questions seemed to be.

"I move around a lot these days", Clem's caretaker intelligently dodged the question as he looked forward, not meeting the brother's eyes. "Home is any place that's safe for me and the others."

The brothers seemed taken aback at that, but quickly recovered to ask him more questions. Naruto had trouble following their conversation, though he understood they wanted to get some info about who ran their group and made all the decisions, how many of them were there, stuff like that. Lee never gave any sensitive info away, not even when Andy St. John, the older brother, asked about Naruto did Lee say more than necessary, though it made the shinobi apprentice widen his eyes.

"So uhm, no offense but, what's the deal with that blond kid? What was his name again?"

"Naruto", Lee cautiously said, not liking where this was going.

"Right... that. Weird name, but okay", by his side, his brother Danny snickered at the comment, much to Carley's annoyance. She decided not to make her discomfort visible, and settled for rolling her eyes behind them. "He seemed so on edge, like we were some kind of assholes or something!"

"Oh, don't mind him. He's a good kid", as he spoke, Lee couldn't help but shrug his shoulders. He wasn't about to tell them he shared Naruto's mistrust any time soon.

"Yeah. He's just looking out for Clementine, you know, that little girl that's always with him", Mark casually commented. He missed the look Lee sent his way, though the brothers did pick up on that. "They are always together. Honestly, I think she sees him as a big brother."

"I saw that too", Ben couldn't avoid voicing his own thoughts of the matter. In the short time he'd been there, he already knew those two were inseparable despite not being related by blood. "He's a bit strange, though."

"Watch it, Ben."

The aforementioned paled at the tone Lee used to address him, making him raise his hands in an appeasing manner. "T-That came out totally wrong, I-I didn't mean he's weird in a bad way, just different. But that's cool!"

As he kept on trying to find a way out of the predicament he had put himself in, Danny raised an eyebrow and said, "look, whatever is it that's troubling him, you don't need to worry. Once he finds out our place is safe, he'll be beggin' to come too!"

"Hmph. We will see about that", Lee mumbled under his tone, though both brothers, Carley and Naruto had clearly heard him saying it.

'You rock, Lee!', Naruto thought with a grin. Whatever was it he'd said, it was clear he didn't share their optimism just yet, which to the blond was more than enough proof Lee was being smart just like him and Clementine. You couldn't trust others right away, he himself had learned that the hard way in all his years as an orphan in Konoha.

Trusting the wrong people could get you into trouble, or even hurt, or killed. And he didn't want to see Lee or anyone else go through that.

The group kept making their way through the forest, with Andy talking about how hard it was those days to run a dairy with no other folks that could give them a hand around. Lee had inadvertently frowned at hearing he wanted everyone to come down to the farm, changing the subject with a subtle question about how many people they'd lost since the world ended.

At some point, Naruto was forced to stop himself from jumping onto the next branch ahead when he saw the adults suddenly crouching down behind some bushes, and looking alarmed at something.

It was then that he heard the voices coming from his left. 'Huh? Who are those guys?', he inwardly wondered, hiding behind the tree he was using to stay above the ground. Not too far from their position were two men, both wearing full head-masks that prevented Naruto from getting a look at their faces. One carried a kind of metallic bow and the other bandit had one of those weapons people of that place seemed to like so much. The firearm looked even heavier than Kenny's rifle, and the blond couldn't help but think maybe it was a more powerful version of said gun.

They were arguing, and rather loudly at that. It didn't look good. They seemed about to get into a big fight.

"Bandits", he suddenly heard Andy whisper from behind a bush, making Naruto frown in thought.

Huh, bandits... what could that word mean? He could ask Lee about it later, he guessed, but for some reason he didn't think it carried a positive connotation to it. Those masks were there for a reason too. Anbu wore them because their job required their identities to remain hidden at all times, though he doubted the same could be said about those guys out there.

They didn't even look strong. Just stupid. They could be ambushed by walkers and none of them would realize what was happening before it was too late.

"FUCK YOU!"

A loud BANG! abruptly interrupted Naruto's train of thought and forced him to lean his head to the right to see what had just happened. His azure eyes then caught sight of the bandit with the bigger gun, pointing it at his fallen buddy.

"FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU!", he repeated like in a trance, firing the weapon two more times on the other's chest. All birds in the vicinity flew away from the scene at the noise, but neither Naruto, nor the others down below could even think about moving or take their eyes off what was happening.

It was over in a matter of seconds. The surviving bandit just walked away after making sure his victim wouldn't get up any time soon, turning his head one last time to swear at him before calmly leaving the scene.

Naruto was in absolute shock. That guy had just killed his friend in cold blood. Even in the Elemental Nations, killing a fellow comrade and not in self defense was considered a serious crime and punished accordingly. He knew the moment you turned your back on someone or on your village, you became a rogue ninja, a wanted criminal.

But that was different. Right now, it didn't make sense to him. What could make a person shoot a fellow survivor in a world where it was better to stick with other people to have a chance at fighting the walkers? He thought about people like Lilly, Kenny, Larry... Would they try to kill each other if they got really angry some day? What about Clem, was she really safe with those people? Would they turn on her or Lee too, given the chance?

Could he really be sure they were going to stay good unlike the bandits? The thought made him afraid for a moment, afraid their little community would fall apart because of some silly dispute.

It was madness. All of it.

Naruto stood behind a few minutes; his azure eyes were fixed on the corpse of the fallen bandit as his mind pondered over these thoughts. Even when the others moved on, he remained still, trying to make some sense of it. He never really noticed the man slowly incorporating after a while with a low groan and walking away aimlessly.

The Uzumaki had managed to get over his previous state and head down the path the others were walking through. On the way he saw Carley and Ben coming his way, both making small talk as they headed back to the motel. 'Kuso! They are going to bring the others back! I have to hurry.'

It seemed his previous stop had taken longer than he'd thought, which meant he didn't have much time left to check the place out. That also made Naruto realize that Lee and Mark had stood behind with the brothers, another reason to pick up the pace.

As he hurriedly jumped from branch to branch, passing by the oblivious Ben and Carley, it didn't take long for him to see the forest stretching and giving way to a vast valley ahead, one filled with some buildings and crops like the ones he'd seen on Hershel's farm a few months ago.

The blond stopped just before exiting the forest, and crouched down on the branch he'd just landed. His eyes scanned the area, noticing there were two main buildings in the distance. The biggest one was like the place where Clem, Lee and Kenny's family had slept in at the farm, which his friend had said was called a 'barn' and that sometimes, depending on the kind of farm, cows, horses and other stuff would be kept inside.

To the right, not so far from the barn, Naruto saw what looked like a two-story house with multiple windows facing his way. It looked nice on the exterior, but he knew he'd have to take a good look around later to make sure there wasn't anything fishy going around in there or the barn. The crops all around the property were tall and filled with green leaves, which the blond felt could provide a good spot to move around the place without anyone noticing he was there.

He'd just have to be mindful of any walkers around.

Surrounding the whole farm was a long fence with metallic wires that stretched along it. He could see some occasional sparks flying from the wires, which made Naruto frown. 'That looks dangerous', he noted, thinking about how extra careful someone needed to be around that. One wrong step and you were done for. There was no way he was letting Clem or Duck get close to that.

Naruto squinted his azure eyes to get a better look from the distance at the people that were walking outside the house. He spotted Mark leaning over a wooden gate and looking around with a contented look. He seemed okay, for now.

A few meters away stood Andy. Naruto figured he was working on something that required his full attention, probably the stuff that kept the electricity powering the fence. But there was no way to tell for sure. For all he knew, that guy could be pretending to be working just to catch his friends off guard. He remembered one of the chunnin senseis who used to talk about how deceit was a shinobi's best weapon, and that one should always expect the unexpected, so that's exactly what Naruto intended to do.

Tearing his eyes away from the man, the blond didn't see the other brother around, but he did manage to spot Lee, cutting a piece of wood with a saw.

'What is Lee doing?'

It was hard to tell from his position, but it looked like he was also working on something. He saw him finish up there and head upstairs, to the house, and then slightly to the right where he crouched. He opened what looked like a chest and took some rope out of it, before going back in the direction he'd been before.

Naruto was honestly confused at then realizing he was repairing an old swing on a tree by the house. He watched him tie the rope to a rather wide branch and replace the broken base with the one he'd cut moments before. As he did so, the Uzumaki was reminded of the old swing he liked to play on sometimes outside the Academy's main building. The more he looked at it, the more memories of his lonely past did his mind show him. Whenever their parents weren't around, Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji would play around with him and challenge each other to see who could get higher in the air.

He smiled at the image of Shika yawning and calling them a 'troublesome bunch' as they proceeded to get on with their challenge, only for him to later join them with the excuse of showing how they were really supposed to do it. Naruto missed them a bit. They weren't really his friends per se, but they didn't mind playing with him when nobody else would.

That alone meant the world to a kid like him, who for as long as he could remember had been hated and avoided as he if carried around some sort of deadly plague. Like he himself was a walker.

"Oh my God, is that...? No, it can't be!"

The voice of a woman brought back Naruto to his senses, and he turned his eyes just in time to see a rather chubby lady walking down the steps that led out the house and towards the tree. He perked his ears and tried to listen to the conversation that was now taking place between her, Lee and Andy, but to no avail.

They were just too far to make sense of what they were saying. Though if anything was clear to Naruto, was that the brothers were not alone. They had yet another person there with them. Their mum, if he had to guess.

Naruto remained still for a while longer, planning his course of action, before he saw Andy gesturing beyond the main house. That soon got Lee and Mark to turn around and head down a different path towards wherever was it the weirdo had sent them off to.

'This is my chance.'

Standing up from his crouching position on the branch, Naruto jumped down and immediately made his way around the fence, walking low so that the crops would hide him from view. He figured he might as well head for the barn first, as he knew it'd be harder to move around the house with that woman and maybe even the other brother around. That is, if he wasn't in the barn to begin with.

Years of pranking civilians and shinobi alike allowed the kid to move around quickly and quietly, his feet not making even the slightest noise. At some point, he had to walk into the crops to get closer to the barn, as the fence didn't allow him to move in without having to walk that way first. He was extra careful as he made his way through, and soon enough his ears picked up some familiar voices talking about something not too far from where he was right then.

"Where are they?"

"I sent them out to check the fence. The poor bastards. They'd do anything for a hot meal. That guy Lee even went on his own to fix that ol' swing we used to play at when we were kids."

"I don't like them, Andy, I think we should just hurry up and do it..."

"Slow down, man", Naruto heard the older one said, his tone cautious. "Let them bring that whole group first, and then we'll see."

The blond didn't know what was it that they were planning, but the way they were talking about Lee, Mark and the others sent a shiver down his spine. Those guys were up to no good, he just knew it! But who would believe him if he accused them anyway? Only Clem and Lee, probably Kenny, but that was it. No, not yet, he thought to himself. First, he needed to find concrete evidence, something that would prove his suspicions right.

"For now, go clean up that mess you left in the barn. And do it fast. I don't want those idiots see you gettin' outta there before you're done."

"Don't worry, Andy. I don't plan to."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as the conversation came to an end, getting back on track. He heard the barn door creaking open but never closing afterwards. That was bad, he thought, pushing some of the crops out his way. He'd expected the brothers to go in a different direction, not right where he was heading.

It was too late to turn back now. For all he knew, the group could already be on its way, so he didn't really have time to sit around and wait for a better chance at slipping through undetected. He'd have to do it the hard way.

The Uzumaki successfully managed to get to the fence without being seen. As soon as he got there, he was able to see Andy kneeling around by the generator and filling it with gas, his back turned.

'Hehe, they'll never see me coming.'

A bit more confident at his current odds, Naruto climbed over the fence while being extra careful not to touch anything just in case. There were no sparks this time, which meant the wires didn't have power at the moment. The blond landed on the other side and immediately slipped away towards the big door on the red barn, hiding behind a couple of hay panes to the right.

He raised his head over it, making sure Andy was preoccupied with the machine, and then risked a glance towards the entrance door. He couldn't see or hear anything in there, only the cow that was currently lying on the ground by the entrance, its head low. Naruto had never seen one of those from up close, and as curious as he was at finding out how it felt to pet said animal, he shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. Now was not the time for that, he realized, finally making his way through the door, though not before he looked inside to see if anyone else was coming his way.

The interior was just as big as Naruto thought it'd be, and pretty spacious too, unlike the barn at Hershel's farm. As he stepped inside, he saw several enclosed spaces on both sides that no doubt once served as houses for the many animals that lived there, though he was unable to hear anything else other than the cow by his side, who mooed at the stranger who'd just entered her home.

"What's wrong, Maybelle? Feelin' sick again?"

Naruto froze for a moment and hid inside one of the compartments, crouching down and holding his breath. He heard someone pass by there, dragging a heavy bag on the floor as they made their way to the exit. The Uzumaki slightly pushed the door open and saw Danny, Andy's brother, leaving the bag on the floor as he proceeded to pet the cow.

What made him widen his eyes was not seeing the man show empathy towards the animal, but rather taking notice of the pale hand that was sticking out the bag, which was filled to the brim. Naruto paled as he thought about what could possibly be inside, going back into his hiding spot when Danny stood up.

"Aww shit, I shoulda used two bags instead of one."

"Hey Danny, you done back there?"

"Not yet. I have to go get rid of this."

"What about the door? Did you lock it behind you?"

"Gotta get back to pick some more trash. One bag wasn't enough..."

"Well hurry up then, and don't let mama see this. You know she hates it", Naruto was surprised at hearing the barn door closing behind Danny, though their following conversation was still audible even through the wood. "Meanwhile, why don't we give our friends a little somethin' for all their hard work? Make sure they are all warm and cozy before they return."

"Heh, let's see if we can zap the fuckers."

Naruto frowned at hearing their annoying laughter but nodded to himself the moment he didn't hear them anymore. Whatever was it they got behind the back, they didn't want anyone to see it, that's for sure. But those idiots never counted on him sneaking past them and discovering the truth.

Like he was about to do.

The blond finally exited his hiding place and noticed that the barn stretched up until a set of sturdy doors with a paddle lock on it that had been unlocked by Andy's brother, Danny. The doors led to a back room where the blond saw all kinds of strange tools and sharp machinery. It was a bit dark inside, but even from his position, he could not ignore the insane amounts of blood that were splattered all around the room.

He gulped but went in anyway, only taking a moment to prepare himself before finally stepping inside. What he then saw lying on a table with all kinds of knives, blades, and other equally dangerous stuff, almost made him spread the contents of his stomach on the floor.

Two pairs of chopped human legs, a bunch of human hearts and all kinds of organs alongside two decapitated heads was all Naruto could withstand seeing before he turned around and ran away from the scene, jumping through a tall window to the left of the barn. After getting out, the blond jumped into the nearby forest and knelt down, fighting the sudden urge to throw up.

He couldn't believe what he'd seen back there. It was a human slaughterhouse! They were killing and cutting people up and throwing away what was left of them. But what for? No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find an answer to that question nor was he sure he wanted to anyway.

Naruto sat against a tree, facing the way of the dairy. His eyes were still wide open because of what he'd just witnessed a few minutes ago. Those people were sick to the head. It didn't matter whether those organs, limbs and appendages once belonged to humans or walkers. What kind of monster could do something like that?

The blond paled even more at realizing the others didn't have a clue what was going on. He needed to warn them. The brothers were no doubt planning to do the same to his friends, and that probably would include him if they could catch him. He thought about getting up right away and find Lee or Kenny and tell them about what he found, and then go all together to confront the owners of the place and unmask them.

He shook his head. No, that would only expose Clem, Duck and the whole group to more danger that they were already in. Andy and Danny would just deny his accusations and be on high alert around him. Or maybe even start shooting the moment their whole facade was dropped.

That didn't leave him with too many options. He wanted to remain off sight for as long as possible so that he could catch them off guard if they tried something, but Naruto had to talk to someone. 'Lee. He's the only adult that believes me', the blond thought to himself, standing up with a determined look. 'I need to find him.'

"What kind of shit is this!?"

To say Larry was dumbfounded would be an understatement. They'd just arrived at the dairy, and the very first thing they saw was Mark hunched over in pain – an arrow of all things stuck firmly in his shoulder. He'd been taken away by both Katjaa and Brenda, who insisted on taking care of him at her own house.

Lee folded his arms over his chest. "Some bandits attacked us while we were out checking the perimeter", he said simply, gesturing towards the silent pair of brothers.

"Bandits?", Kenny scowled. "I thought you two said this place was safe!"

Lee saw the way both Danny and Andy looked at each other. It was only for a moment but he clearly noticed they were hiding something from them.

"They gave us a lot of problems in the beginning, killed a bunch of our farmhands. We were able to make them stop by making a deal and-"

"So you knew about these people!?", Kenny interjected before the older brother could finish his sentence, his anger visible on his face.

Danny inclined his head in confirmation. "Yeah. It was food for protection, but they did stop hassling us."

All the while, Lilly, who had remained silent and try to make some sense of what she'd just witnessed, shook her head. "Christ. It seems Naruto and you were right after all", she didn't notice Clementine glancing her way at that, or Duck hiding behind his dad in fear.

"L-Look, I… We are sorry, we never expected 'em to screw us like this. Not since we started givin' them food", Andy said in a reassuring tone, one that did not serve to appease the group standing before them. If anything, it just made Lee and Kenny more suspicious. "But rest assured, we will NOT stand for this shit!"

"You know where these assholes are?"

"The sons o' bitches are hard to pin down, but I think I know where at least one of their camps are", Danny's tone was grave as he spoke, and it grew even more so as he turned the way of Lee. "I can take ya there and scope out that bandit camp, just let me know and we'll head out."

And just like that, the St. John brothers turned around and walked away from the group, ignoring the many stares they got their way. Lee let out a sigh the moment they were out of hearing range, unable to ignore the bad feeling those two were giving him.

"Maybe we should've just stayed back at the motel like Naruto said. It'd have been safer that way."

"Maybe", Kenny reluctantly conceded, placing his hands on his hips. "But this place is way better than the motor inn anyway. It's like a goddamn fortress! We could even take it by force if we had to."

"Hey, cool your jets there Rambo. From what I can tell, these are good people, so let's not do anythin' stupid."

Not many seemed to share Larry's opinion, not even Clementine who was quietly standing to the side and looking anxious for some unspoken reason. Lee only needed one look her way to see she was worried, probably about Naruto, who wasn't there among the others.

Just thinking about him gave Lee the feeling he would probably not sit around and do nothing while they all strolled around the dairy. If anything, the boy clearly suspected something was wrong about the brothers, and was no doubt going to try and find a way to prove said fact to the rest.

Lee Everett clutched the rifle on his hand and looked through the scope, moving from left to right. He tried to keep his body hidden as much as he could behind a rather old tree just outside the camp. "Do you see anything?"

"It looks empty. But keep your eyes open", was all he told his companion before lowering the gun a bit. To his right, Andy's younger brother, Danny, nodded before slowly making his way out of cover and into the camp.

"Watch my back, Lee. I'm gonna check that tent out."

The aforementioned narrowed his eyes and gave a quick look around in case of any bandit hiding amongst all the stuff that was lying around. Danny cautiously approached the only sleeping tent in the camp as Lee stood not so far behind, both ready to act at any moment's notice if somebody was planning to jump on them from the sides or back.

Andy's brother only hesitated for one moment before opening the tent, rifle ready to fire.

But the place was empty.

"Nobody's here."

Lee let out a sigh at that. He was hoping they'd find some of the bastards that had shot Mark. Not because he wanted revenge, but rather to find out why they had done it, and what that supposed deal between them and the St. John's brothers consisted of. He didn't buy the whole 'we are awful sorry that you almost got killed' act Andy had put on the moment Lee and Mark had made it back, or the fact the dairy owners feigned ignorance about the reasons behind the bandits' attack.

Back there, when he and Mark had been forced to take cover behind a tractor to avoid the arrows being shot at them, Lee had seen how pissed the bandits were at the brothers, and it didn't sound like they were faking it. There had to be some bad blood between them for some reason, and he was going to find out one way or another.

"This camp doesn't seem abandoned", Lee noted, staring for a moment at the remnants of a fire that had been boiling water in a pot not so long ago. "There's lots of stuff here."

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "See if you can find anything useful around."

The man didn't need to be told twice to get onto it. He tried to keep Danny on sight at all times as he moved around the camp, checking the empty cans lying all around, the shopping carts, and finally the many boxes that the bandits had over two tables on each side of the place. To the right, Lee found nothing but a bunch of expired food and empty bottles, so he moved on to examine the left table.

Most of the boxes had the name of 'Save Lots' written on them, but they were all empty or contained garbage. He thought about commenting onto it to Danny, when suddenly his dark eyes caught sight of a box from the dairy. "St. John's dairy", he read aloud, drawing the other man's attention. There were some milk bottles and egg cartons inside. None of these contained anything inside. "These boxes are from your farm."

"Oh, yeah", Danny said dismissively. "We used to give them food at first."

"Hm."

Lee pushed more boxes out of the way to take a look at the ones in the back, but as he did so, he noticed the small device lying right on the center of the table. It was a camcorder, he guessed after a closer inspection. Though no matter how many times he tried turning it on, the screen on it remained black.

"What you got there?"

"It's a camcorder, I think."

Danny inadvertently widened his eyes and turned around in Lee's way. "L-Let me have a look at that", his tone sounded more anxious that he'd have liked it to be, something that Lee didn't fail to notice.

It was with a raised eyebrow that the man shook his head. "It doesn't work. The battery's dead."

"Oh, good", Lee eyed Danny carefully as the latter tried to conceal his relief behind an annoyed facade. He noticed Lee staring at him and quickly turned around. "H-Huh, those boxes look promising. Imma check them out."

The farmer walked away from the tent and towards the boxes on the right table, avoiding his companion's stare for the moment. Lee knew something was wrong, but opted to keep quiet about it for the time being. He then realized he had yet to inspect the tent and headed there, poking his head inside.

There were two sleeping bags. One bigger than the other. Lee saw some dried blood on the smaller one, and also an old bunny plush toy sitting in a corner. He tried to ignore the bad feeling that sight gave him, but ultimately couldn't. The thought of that blood belonging to a kid had his face twisting into a somber expression, one that was deepened at finding a family picture lying atop the sleeping bag.

'My god... There was a mother and a child living here', he took it in its hands and stared long and hard at it. The girl didn't look older than 10, maybe even 11 or 12. It reminded him of Clementine and Duck. Two kids being thrown into a fucked-up world where people getting eaten by zombies or killed by other humans was as natural as the act of breathing. It was a world in which you needed to be strong or have someone else looking out for you if you wanted to have a slight chance at surviving, and even then, you were still in constant danger no matter where you went or hid.

Naruto, on the other hand...

Lee shook his head. He was worried about him. The last time he'd seen him was before leaving for the dairy, and when Lilly and the rest got there, she said she didn't know where he was. Not even Clem, Kenny or the others had any clues about his current whereabouts, the former just claiming he'd probably gone out exploring like he usually did. Now, Lee knew Naruto sometimes tended to leave without telling anyone he'd be doing so, but after hearing what he'd said back at the motor inn about the brothers... It was hard not to think he may have wanted to take a look at the dairy without the St. John's brothers seeing him.

In his shoes, he'd have probably done the same thing. Too bad he didn't have Naruto's skills to lay low and move about undetected. That kid not only claimed to be a ninja like those Lee'd seen sometimes in movies, but acted like one too. Always hiding in the darkness and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. That's what he'd told Glenn and Clementine back when he first met them, and for some reason Lee was starting to think that may not have been a kid thing like he first believed.

Recalling that Danny was still outside, Lee decided to proceed with his inspection. He left the picture back where he'd found it and headed for the second sleeping bag, where he saw a small bundle beneath the sheets. Crouching down, the man pulled the cover away and gasped at what he saw.

It was Clementine's hat.

"What the...?"

"Don't you fucking move!"

"Oh shit!"

Lee had only time to put the hat in his pocket, turn around and exit the tent, before he caught sight of a filthy looking, middle-aged woman pointing a crossbow at him. She was covered in dirt and her hair looked dishevelled; she also had bags under her eyes, as if she wasn't getting enough sleep lately.

The woman was dressed as the people who worked in Save Lots, a supermarket Danny had mentioned earlier.

"Put your guns down, you're not going anywhere."

Neither Danny nor Lee heeded her warning, and kept their rifles aimed at her. "Don't you dare move a muscle, or we'll shoot ya!"

But the woman didn't even seem to pay attention to Danny's words as she kept blabbering about not leaving. "I ain't going back", she grinned madly, her eyes wide. "Tell 'em Jolene ain't goin' back. Never!"

"Hey! We had a deal! No shooting as long as we gave you food! Why the hell did you break it!?"

"You had a deal with THEM", she spat, moving her bow until it was aimed at Danny. "I ain't them. But oh, I know you. I know what you are. I know what you do."

That had Lee narrowing his eyes, even as his companion tried to make it look as if he didn't know her, Lee knew better. He could feel that there was something that woman knew he didn't, and by the way Danny kept on raising his tone the more she spoke, Lee knew he was getting nervous for a reason.

"What? What the hell are you talking about?", Lee questioned.

"She's crazy, Lee! Don't fall for her tricks."

"Oh hehe, wouldn't you like to shut me up right now", the woman had a deranged look on her face as she chuckled maniacally. "That's right... I used to bring them meat. Fresh and plenty. We all did for a while. But no more!"

Lee glanced at Danny out the corner of his eyes. He was shaking, eyes wide and finger on the trigger. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"No, you shut the fuck up! All men are monsters. They just take what they want and leave nothin' behind", as her visage contorted into an angry scowl, she moved her bow every two seconds between Andy's brother and Lee. "Did ya tell him what ya'll planning to do with him? Ahh, it ain't gonna be pretty, I can-"

Right before she could say what she was about to reveal, a bullet carved its way through her forehead, creating a perfect hole from where blood burst out. The woman's brown eyes widened in shock instantly before the light flew off of them and she fell to the ground.

"God dammit!"

Lee's orbs grew wide as his mind caught up with what had just happened, and immediately turned the way of Danny. "What the fuck did you just do!? You murdered that woman!", his heart was still pounding madly on his chest as the aforementioned merely shrugged, not looking remorseful about it in the slightest.

"It was self defense", he argued nonchalantly. "She had a crossbow pointed at my forehead."

Lee scowled. After being so close to finding what that woman knew about the St. John's brothers, he felt Danny had just looked for an excuse to silence her before she could reveal whatever he was hiding so vehemently. If earlier he had a bad feeling about the farmers, now that had skyrocketed.

"Phew. A clean shot, right through the forehead. That's good shootin' right there. She ain't comin' back", at a furious look from Lee, Danny lowered his head. "S-Still, what a mess."

For some reason, he wanted to punch that bastard's face right now. Not only had he shot the crazy woman, but he didn't even have the decency to show some respect and instead boasted about his shooting skills. Lee shut his eyes and turned away, trying to get his emotions in check. He was going to have a word with Kenny about this when they got back to the dairy, make a plan and be ready to leave that place as soon as possible.

"Whatever you say", Lee shrugged. "So, that's it then, we are going back?"

He half expected his companion to mention other nearby camps they could take a look at before heading to the dairy, yet Danny merely kept quiet, making Lee frown in confusion.

"Danny", he insisted, turning his way. The moment he did so, his mouth allowed a silent gasp to escape from it.

Andy's brother was lying out cold, face down on the ground, and standing before him was none other than Naruto Uzumaki.

"Naruto! What are you doing here? What's going on!?"

The boy was holding a rock on his hands, one that he tossed away after realizing the man was not getting up anytime soon. He dusted off his hands and saw Lee approach him with a worried look, the older man only giving a passing glance to the unconscious man. That's when his face became desperate. "Lee! Lee! Listen!", the blond began, looking agitated all of a sudden.

Clem's caretaker knelt down by his side and left the rifle on the ground, his eyes wide. "W-What is it? Are you okay? Did something happen to you!?", Lee had never seen Naruto so afraid before, it was like he'd seen something horrible. Something worse than a walker.

"I'm okay", the Uzumaki managed to calm down a bit, though he still felt the urge to talk to Lee and fast. "Lee, I saw...! Barn, dead people!"

"D-Dead people? You mean, walkers? At the dairy?", Lee gasped in horror. If Clem or the others went in there without knowing...!

He was relieved at soon seeing Naruto shake his head, though the look on the boy's face still kept him on edge. "No. People. Killed! Brothers killed people!"

"What!?"

For further emphasis, Naruto gestured towards Danny and said, "yes! I saw. They...", he struggled to find the word he felt would best describe what he'd found out, and hurriedly looked around the camp to find anything that would help. When he didn't, he turned to a shocked Lee and made cutting gestures with his hands on his limbs. "They... They...!"

"I d-don't... I don't get it. They cut people?"

The blond's visage brightened for a brief moment. "Yes, that!", before him, Lee turned pale at the revelation, and his expression grew more and more horrified as Naruto proceeded. "I saw... Blood, legs, hands, eart!"

"A heart?", at seeing him nod sharply, Lee gasped. "Oh my god... No, that's... Are you sure about it, Naruto?"

For a moment, the man hoped Naruto had made a mistake, imagined the whole thing, but when he slowly inclined his head and confirmed his worst fears, Lee knew he was telling the truth. He stood still for a second, his mind in overdrive. What he was hearing was beyond insane, but it did make sense the more he thought about it. That was what that crazy woman was trying to tell him about earlier, before a shot to the head silenced her forever.

Danny had tried to cover it up by going as far as to kill that poor lady, Lee realized and glared daggers at the younger brother's bleeding head. Naruto was silently eyeing the dead woman with a somber look, no emotion reflected in his azure orbs whatsoever. It was as if he was becoming desensitized to seeing death from up close.

Lee took a deep breath and tried not to panic. It wouldn't help to act without a plan first. "You did great Naruto, I'm so proud of you", Lee told the boy, trying to get him to look at him instead of the corpse bleeding out a few meters away from them. "Thanks to you, we can keep the others safe before they get in trouble."

"We need help Clem. The group. You tell Kenny. He can help."

Lee nodded in agreement. "Yeah, good idea. We shouldn't tell anyone else yet, at least not until we come up with a decent course of action. We can't let the brothers know what we are planning."

He wasn't sure whether Naruto understood all he said, but he'd seemed to grasp the gist of it and said, "I hide. Wait."

"Agreed. They won't know you'll be there, and I can say some bandit ambushed us and nearly killed Danny. That should get them off my back for the time being", Lee hoped this would work. They were lucky Danny hadn't seen Naruto knocking him out unconscious, so that bought him a little more time to move around and warn Kenny. Maybe even Lilly, who was a pretty good shot herself. He couldn't know what her reaction would be, but he had to try. "Keep an eye on the brothers. Me and Kenny will meet you later."

"At barn", Naruto simply said, already having a place he could hide without the brothers knowing.

"All right."

Having come up with a course of action, Lee and Naruto gave each other a nod, before the latter turned around and started walking away, looking around all the time. The older man followed him with his eyesight until the boy disappeared behind some bushes, leaving him and an unconscious Danny alone.

"Shit. How will I carry this fucker all the way to the dairy?"

He wanted to leave him behind and allow walkers to feast on him, but he knew it wouldn't look good if he was to come back on his own. After learning what those brothers did to people, he was terrified at what they really were capable of if provoked.

To be continued...

Confrontation seems inevitable at this point. A fight will take place and lives will be lost, but not exactly the way things happen in the original game.

Now I wanted to answer a specific question I got the other day, which was 'how much are you going to spin things around and/or stick to the WD's plot?'. My plan, like I mentioned in the AN at the bottom of chapter 1, is to start introducing small changes at first. But over time, make Naruto's presence and influence more significant the longer he stays with the group. There will be some key moments from the games that will take place regardless of Naruto being around, whereas others will not occur and different outcomes will be explored.

You'll see what I mean as we go further with the story.

I wish you all a good day. This is Luke, signing out.