Chapter 2: The Lonely Road
Naruto struggled to stay asleep as the bright sun could be seen even with his eyes closed. The warmth of the sun also played a factor for the blonde to wake up. Naruto opened his eyes and sighed, what a horrible nightmare he had, waking up alone in a strange house, finding a village filled with dead people that walked. It was one crazy nightmare. However, Naruto realized something, why was he sleeping in a tree? He looked down to the road below him and found his answer. He didn't wake up from a horrible nightmare because it was true as he saw a group of Walkers slowly wondering down the road. All of them with decaying flesh and blood dripping from their mouths and wounds and the smell, oh the smell was disgusting.
Naruto just stayed in the tree quietely and let the group of Walkers pass. For the last few days, Naruto kept running into group after group of Walkers. He learned to just stay moving through the trees so they couldn't get to him. It seemed to Naruto the closer he got to the border to Hi no Kuni, the more fear he had that whatever caused all this had spread there as well. He pressed his back up against the tree, he was too exhausted to keep going today. He'd been traveling only stopping for a couple of hours to sleep then headed back out again.
The last two days Naruto noticed the Walkers would walk more at night than during the day which made it hard for him to get much sleep. There had been a couple of times he had been spotted by Walkers, but lucky for Naruto, they couldn't climb to get to him. Naruto dug through his backpack and pulled out a bag of barbeque potato chips and quietly munched on them as he took a picture out of his back which was far more precious to him. It was his old team picture that was taken the day after his instructor passed him and his teammates to become Team Seven. He smiled a bit as he focused on the pink-haired girl of the team. He hoped to Kami she was okay. He then saw the other teammate that betrayed them four years ago, he wondered how he would fair in a mess such as this now. Knowing just who he was, he was probably fairing way better than himself.
Naruto sighed because all he's been able to do since he woke up to this shit was stay hidden. He tried to kill a couple but nothing worked, the dead kept coming. Naruto heard some more of their grunting and groaning and looked down and saw another group of Walkers. This is why Naruto was so tired because group after group of Walkers kept coming and Naruto was trying his best to stay out of their sound range. In the two days of his travels, he learned their movements were triggered by a sound and they would aimlessly wonder in that direction long after the sound was gone so now Naruto would try his best to stay quiet.
Naruto chose to move between groups of Walkers just so they wouldn't swarm around whichever tree he was in. Naruto sighed, he was going to just sit here for the day but decided to keep moving. He got back up and began moving through the trees at a steady pace so he wouldn't catch up to any groups of Walkers. Naruto only traveled maybe a mile up the road by hoping through the ocean of tree branches when he heard grunting and groaning from behind him. It was time to stop and be silent to let the group pass. He pressed his back up against the tree and sat down on the branch and rested while he watied for them to pass.
As the Walkers passed by, kunai came whistling through the bushes and hit several Walkers in the head and they dropped to the ground. Naruto watched as more kunai whistled through the bushes and into the heads of Walkers and watched them drop to the ground. Out of the bushes came a female with long, vibrant orange hair that went down to her lower back. She was wearing short brown shorts and a white and orange tank-top. Naruto couldn't help but stare at her beauty. Her light-toned skin and her orange eyes just spoke to him.
"You, hiding in the trees," yelled the girl. "Come down here."
She must of sensed his chakra but Naruto sighed and tired to stay quiet and mask his chakra so the girl would go away. Even though there were Walkers around, he was still in enemy territory at the moment. It wasn't good that a Konoha-nin was wondering around.
"Quit pretending you're not there!" yelled the girl. "I know you're there."
The girl was tired of waiting and threw a kunai up into the treets where Naruto was hiding. Naruto yelled and stumbled and fell out of the tree. He landed on the ground hard on his back. The girl walked over to the blonde.
"Are you okay?" asked the girl. "Why didn't you just come out like I asked?"
"Because I didn't know if you were an enemy or not," replied the blonde.
"I don't think who belongs to what village matters anymore," the girl said, smiling. "The name's Orenji. I used to be from Kusagakure, but it doesn't exist anymore. Just a bunch of biters trapped inside the village now."
"I'm Naruto, from Konohagakure," Naruto said.
"Konohagakure?" the girl asked, "Why are you all the way up here by yourself?"
"Me and my team were on a mission; Kusagakure asked for our help in finding some of their notorious Missing-nin. We were attacked by them and I was wounded severly that it put me in a coma and when I woke up, I woke up alone in an abandoned house to the world like this," answered Naruto.
Orenji turned to see a couple of Walkers coming their way. Naruto looked as well and grabbed a couple of kunai out of his pouch and threw them at the two Walkers. The kunai hit both Walkers in the head and they dropped to the ground.
"We need to get off this road, groups upon groups of Biters wonder down this road," the girl said, motioning for Naruto to follow her. She turned around only to have a Biter right in her face. The Biter, who was missing an arm, grabbed her with the one. Naruto ran up to it and stabbed the Biter in the head with his kunai.
"Thanks," Orenji said. However, Naruto was horrified and more Walkers were walking out of the bushes.
"I don't think we can go that way anymore," Naruto said and he grabbed Orenji by the hand and ran up into the trees.
Naruto and Orenji were on a branch, high above the road as several Walkers swarmed around the tree trying to get to Naruto and Orenji. Naruto sat down, needing to take a break because of how exhausted he was. Orenji sat next to the blonde to rest herself. Almost dying took most of her energy. The two sat in silence for a while, only listening to the grunts and groaning of the Walkers below who were still trying to get up the tree so they could feast.
"So where are you headed?" asked Orenji.
"I'm going back to Konohagakure in hopes of reuniting with my team or anyone I know," replied Naruto.
"You think it still stands?"
Naruto stayed silent for a while before answering, "I- I don't even know anymore, the closer I get to the border of Hi no Kuni, the less and less I believe Konohagakure still exists. I'm probably on a fool's quest and my team is probably dead and Konoha became a graveyard of Walkers just like your village."
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but from the last I heard, this shit spread far east as Kirigakure," said Orenji. "It originated somewhere up north near Iwakagkure and spread fast southward, eastward and westward."
Naruto sighed, "If I went as far easy as Kirigakure, then I don't have a village anymore either."
"I would still go, maybe you'll find people you know hiding out somewhere nearby," said Orenji.
Naruto got up from where he was sitting, "Yeah, I'm still going to go check it out, thank you Orenji."
"Do you mind if I go with you? I had a few people with me but they've all been devoured by Biters and it's only me now," the girl pleaded. Naruto nodded, allowing her to accompany him back to Konohakagure, he jumped to the next tree. He looked back to see Orenji still on the branch behind him.
"Are you coming?" asked Naruto.
"I definately can tell you're from Konohagakure alright, you're the only ninja I know that can travel through trees without difficulty," said Orenji. "I'm used to concealing myself in tall grass and bushes."
"It really isn't that hard, it's just using a little chakra to push yourself off branch to branch," said Naruto. "I know we just met, but I can just carry you if need be."
The girl blushed at the last comment, but nodded. "Okay, but at least let me attempt this one jump."
Naruto nodded and moved towards the trunk of the tree to allow room for the girl to jump to the branch. Orenji pumped some chakra into her feet and jumped onto the branch. She landed without a problem and smiled at Naruto, feeling victorious of her accomplishment. Below them, the Walkers moved to the tree they were on now. Naruto go into position to allow Orenji to get on his back so he can take off and get as far as he could away from the Walkers below. However, the unthinkable happened. As Orenji was about to climb onto Naruto's back, her feet slipped from the branch and she fell.
"Orenji!" yelled Naruto as the girl fell to the ground below. Quick thinking was to distract the Walkers, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Several hundred Naruto bunshin littered the land in hopes of distracting the Walkers so he could get Orenji. Orenji hit the ground as the Walkers came to her. She screamed out to Naruto for help but Naruto didn't know what to do, the Walkers didn't take the bait of his Bunshin and continued for her. Naruto started throwing his kunai at them in order to get his Bunshins through to get to the orange-haired girl to safety. However, he only had three and realized he was out.
"Fuck!" Naruto yelled, panicing as the bunshin tried to fight off the Walkers and get Orenji to safety.
Everything he did proved to be an utter failure as Walkers grabbed her legs. She screamed and cried for Naruto's help. Without kunai and the fat Walkers were not going after his bunshin, Naruto was stumped. It was like the Walkers knew his bunshin were not real blooded people. Naruto saw the Walkers begin to bite into Orenji, ripping open her stomach and blood just pouring out of her. She was still screaming for help and Naruto went white. He could do nothing for her. He failed to protect his new friend. He dispersed his bunshin and fell to his knees on the branch, unable to get himself away from the group of Walkers. The girl's screams died off and Naruto couldn't take it anymore as he let the tears he had been holding back for days fall. This world Naruto woke up to was ntohing like the world he used to know. His ninja tactics failed. No wonder there were so many people dead. Naruto managed to get himself to rest. He closed his eyes as tears continued to leak out hoping when he wakes up, this could all be a nightmare and he'll be back home in the hospital.
Naruto opened his eyes to dim light and he realized night had fallen. The moon was bright so he still could see the ground bit. He looked down to see if he finally woke up from the nightmare only to find himself still in this hell. He saw what was left of Orenji's body, mainly bones and pools of blood. Naruto cursed himself for not being able to do anything to help the girl. The failure was still too fresh for him but at least the group of Walkers were gone, they had their feast of a living person and moved on. This world had become so fucked up.
Naruto sucked it up and began traveling again. He should be at the border in another day, he hoped. It only took a day and a half to get to this country but it was taking far longer to get back because of having to stop every so often to keep himself hidden from Walkers. He continued to press on, moving through the trees but Naruto was getting real tired of traveling alone. After being alone for so long during his childhood, it was something he didn't want to experience ever again and here we are, Naruto was alone yet again.
Naruto stopped, thinking about his friends possibly dead and home lost, he asked himself why and he punched the tree he was standing on out of frustration bringing blood to the surface of the skin where he was cut. Naruto then saw a sign stating the territory that he was entering was Hi no Kuni. Naruto finally made it to his home country for the first time in four weeks. Naruto didn't dare travel on the road just yet just in case Hi no Kuni was indeed overrun by Walkers. He traveled for a couple of miles and he hadn't seen any Walkers as of yet. Feeling it was safe to travel on the road, Naruto jumped out of the tree to the solid ground. He looked around his surroundings and nothing. He started walking down the road and was starting to feel relieved thinking maybe Orenji's claim that this disease spread as far as Kirigakure weren't true after all. Naruto continued walking down the road and he saw up ahead were town lights. It wasn't Konohagakure, but he remembered the place.
"Tanzaku Town," he said to himself.
Naruto remembered the mission he went on with Ero-sennin to retreive the old hag so she would become Hokage. The lights brought comfort in Naruto thinking maybe Hi no Kuni was spared from the disaster that was plaguing Kusagakure's country. Naruto began walking, making his way to Tanzaku Town so he could get himself a good night's rest before making the grand trip back home to Konohagakure in hopes of sleeping in his own bed and finally reuniting with his team.
I can't have one person travel with Naruto, can I?
On another note, there is one thing about this story that will be the golden rule: NO CHARACTER IS SAFE.
That's right, I said it. No original character I make up nor any of characters of Naruto that I put in the story wil be safe, even Naruto himself.