Chapter 8: Escape

Naruto stared at his beloved village, he was in disbelief as he stared at the empty picture in front of him. All the hope he had disappeared the moment he laid eyes on the ghost town that was Konohagakure. The village left abandoned, how could Tsunade-baachan allow this to happen? How could any Konoha-nin allow this to happen?

A few Walkers roamed the streets that Shikamaru saw, staring at the streets below. It was a sight he had never seen before in such a busy village. Business and people's homes left to rot. Why would everyone just leave like that? Questions that had no answers that would make any sense to them at this point.

Ino stared at the village and stared back at Naruto who she could see had lost that glimmer in his eyes that he did had when they finally reached the village. She too was sad to find her home empty. She was more sad that she almost had the real Naruto back only to lose him completely.

Kotetsu fell to his knees as he saw the village empty. He now had no idea where his best friend was now.

Choji didn't want to believe what he was seeing and turned to Shikamaru thinking maybe it was some sort of Genjutsu, but the look on Shikamaru's face proved it wasn't and that this was real.

Naruto, who was still staring into the village, clenched his fists and ran down the wall, going into the village.

"Naruto, wait!" Shikamaru yelled out.

Naruto didn't hear him and continued running down the wall, chakra on the soles of his feet sticking to the wall like suction cups.

"Naruto!" yelled Ino who instantly went after him.

"Ino, not you too!" Shikamaru yelled.

The blonde girl didn't aknowledge Shikamaru as the only thing that mattered right now was getting to Naruto.

Naruto ran down the empty streets of Konohagakure and stopped at his favorite dining establishment, Ichiraku. He pushed the curtains aside to enter. The place was dirty, dust had collected on top of the counter where he would sit and eat his favorite dish, ramen. Behind the counter, a pot on the stove was knocked over and several other pots littered the floor. Naruto could see the village had been abandoned for a while now.

Naruto tried to process the time, waking up three weeks into the world that turned to shit with the dead walking. After finding Shikamaru outside Tanzaku Town, he stayed in their hideout for a month before the cave was lost and it took nearly a week after that to return home. Naruto couldn't calculate how long the village was abandoned.

"How can this be?" Naruto whispered, his voice carried defeat. He turned when he felt arms snake around him.

Ino had followed him and she looked sad, he looked sad. The two just stared into each other's eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I know how much coming home meant to you, to all of us," Ino said.

Before Naruto could say anything, he heard grunts and growls coming from down the street. Naruto peekd out the curtain to see a small group of Walkers coming down the street. He didn't say a word as he came back inside the resturant and grabbed Ino's arm, yanking her to the back.

"What's going..." Ino tried to speak but Naruto put his hand over her mouth to silence her.

"Walkers," Naruto whispered into Ino's ears.

Ino nodded and stayed quiet. They listened as the small group of Walkers slowly walked past Ichiraku. Their grunts and growls began to fade away. Naruto did his best to keep Ino calm knowing she was extremely frightened by Walkers after nearly becoming their food twice so he held her tight and close. He knew she was afraid by how hard she was squeezing him back.

The two stayed quiet for a while longer as the sounds of the Walkers turned to silence. Naruto motioned Ino to stay put as Naruto made his way back to the front of the resturant. He peeked outside to see the small group of Walkers were gone. Naruto returned to hiding spot to find Ino holding her knees.

"They're gone," Naruto said holding out his hand to help Ino up.

Before Naruto could say anything else, Ino wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and kissed him passionately. Naruto, who had been conflicted in his feelings for Ino and Sakura, gave in and returned the kiss.

"What was that for?" Naruto asked, blushing.

"For keeping me safe," Ino replied with a sly smile. "Come on, we should find Shikamaru so we can see what we are going to do now."

Naruto nodded and followed Ino out of the resturant.

Naruto and Ino returned to the main gate and found that Shikamaru, Choji and Kotetsu were not on top of the wall.

"They must of went after us," Naruto said. "I should of said something instead of just taking off like I did."

Naruto and Ino began walking through the empty village, searching for Shikamaru, Choji and Kotetsu. They walked down several streets, even passing Ichiraku again and there was no sign of the rest of the turned onto another street and Naruto and Ino were stopped dead in their tracks. They were staring at ruins of the Chunin Exam stadium. It was nothing more than a big pile of rubble.

"Who would do this?" Naruto asked, in shock.

"I don't know," Ino replied.

Ino grabbed Naruto who just kept staring at the ruins of the stadium and ushered him to keep going.

"Kami, where the hell did they go!" Naruto yelled in frustration.

Naruto and Ino turned onto another street and found themselves staring down a large group of Walkers. Luckily for Naruto and Ino, the Walkers were walking down the street in the other direction and somehow did not hear Naruto's loud voice. Naruto quickly grabbed Ino and ran before they were spotted.

"Fuck that was close," Naruto said after they came to a stop.

"Yeah," Ino said, trying to catch her breath.

After catching their breath, Naruto and Ino went back to searching for Shikamaru. Naruto felt like they searched the whole village and with being unable to find them, Naruto started to believe that maybe taking off on them pissed them off and they left the village. Naruto was so lost in thought he nearly didn't hear Ino screaming. Naruto looked up to find another massive group of Walkers walking around the street corner, heading right for them.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled. He grabbed Ino's arm and they began to run away.

Making sure she stayed safe, Naruto didn't let her go and created a few Kage Bunshin to kill some of the Walkers around them. He continued running away in a zig zag pattern through the streets of Konoha. As he and Ino were running, he spotted his apartment building.

Once they reached the building, he quickly ran up to the third floor and opened his apartment door. He and Ino made it inside safe and he closed the door and locked it. Naruto created two Kage Bunshin and moved his dresser in front of the door, barricading it in case Walkers made their way up the stairs and tried to break down his door. While they were doin that, Naruto moved to his window and closed the curtains so nothing could see inside.

"We're safe for now," Naruto said. "We just need to come up with a plan to escape this village, it's crawling with Walkers after all."

"Yeah, and I hope Shikamaru, Choji and Kotetsu are safe," Ino replied.

"Yeah, me too."

Naruto's apartment was a bit dusty but he wasn't surprised because was away from the village for nearly three months. At this point though, he didn't care because he wasn't going to be staying here much longer. It was just to keep him and Ino out of the Walkers' sight so they could come up with a plan to escape from the village.

Naruto went to his room and collected the last of his ninja tools that he had, which was just a handful of kunai and shuriken. He grabbed the last of his sealing scrolls and placed them all in his backpack.

Ino snuck into Naruto's bathroom and checked the shower, she turned the knobs to see if the water was still running and much to her delight it turned on. God she needed a shower, bad.

Naruto left his room and heard water running. He walked over to the bathroom and found Ino inside messing with the shower. Naruto was quite surprised the water was still working.

"If you want to take a shower, go ahead," Naruto said. Naruto's voice startled Ino.

"Oh Naruto, you scared me," Ino said. "I think I will."

Ino closed the door in Naruto's face. Naruto stepped back a bit thinking the door was going to hit him.

"And no peaking!" Ino yelled from the other side of the door.

Naruto blushed as he walked back into the living room. Naruto placed his backpack on his dining room table and walked over to his bed. He got down on his knees and pulled out a box from underneath the bed. He opened it up and pushed some things aside until he found what he was looking for, something that was rolled up. Naruto walked back to the dining room table, he grabbed his backpack and placed it on a chair and placed the roll paper he had found. Naruto unrolled it, revealing it to be a map of the entire village. Naruto began to study it searching for the quickest way to the village wall to leave.

Naruto heard the door to his bathroom open.

"Naruto, I need a towel!" Ino yelled.

Naruto walked to a closed he had in the hallway and opened the door, he grabbed a towel and made sure it didn't have a musty smell to it. The towel seemed fine and he walked to the bathroom door. He knocked and it opened just enough to allow Naruto to give Ino the towel.

Naruto returned to the dining room to examine the map once more. After a while, Naruto looked up from the map to see Ino coming out of the hallway, now dressed in a green and yellow t-shirt and blue capris.

"What are you doing?" Ino asked

"I was looking at this map of Konoha, I was looking for the fastest way to get the village wall so we can get out of the village," Naruto replied.

"We're going to run across the rooftops, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to do that for a long period of time," Naruto replied.

Naruto looked back at the map one last time and he figured out the fastest route, he would only have to jump and run across about ten rooftops are so to get to the western wall to make their escape.

"Alright, I got it," Naruto said. "We can exit out my window and head west, we'll only have to jump across maybe ten roofs are so and we'll reach the wall and be able to escape."

Ino nodded, "Where are we going to go after that?"

"I'm thinking it might be safe to head to Nami no Kuni, it's a place defended by the ocean where the Walkers couldn't get across. If they're smart enough, they'd destroy the bridge that connects them to the mainlaind to keep Walkers away from their village," Naruto replied.

"So when do we leave?"

"I think its best if we use the cover of night, less chance of Walkers spotting us," Naruto replied.

"What about Sakura?" Ino asked, her insecurities were getting the best of her.

"I think I'm getting over her," Naruto admitted. "What are the chances I'm going to find her now? I think I'm falling in love with you."

Ino was speechless. Getting over Sakura, he said. Falling in love with her, he said. She couldn't believe it then she smiled.

"I think I'm falling in love with you too," Ino said.

Naruto stared into the blonde's eyes and leaned in and the two shared a passionate, loving kiss. It was the kind of kiss Naruto had dreamed to be giving Sakura at one point, but now, he was glad he was doing this with Ino. He saw the real Ino, unlike the Ino her team saw. Naruto used to think she was just a spoiled brat with a short temper but he just misunderstood her. At least to him, she was a nice, loving woman now.

Naruto woke up and noticed night had fallen. He tried to move but realized there was weight on top of him. He looked to find Ino asleep on top of him. He smiled as he witnessed how peaceful she looked sleeping. It just may have been the first time in a very long time she had slept peacefully like this. He would love to stay like this just a little longer but he knew if they were going to make it out of Konohagakure alive, they had to leave now. Naruto sighed and shook the girl gently.

"Hey Ino, it's time to get up," Naruto said still shaking her gently. "It's time we made our escape."

At first Ino just snuggled into Naruto deeper but her eyes opened up when Naruto kept shaking her gently. She saw his deep blue eyes staring at her.

"So it wasn't a dream," she whispered but Naruto didn't hear her.

"What did you say?" Naruto asked. Ino shook her head and blushed.

"N-nothing, what time is it?"

"I don't know but it is night," Naruto answered.

"We still making our grand escape then?" asked Ino.

"Yeah we are," Naruto said.

Ino got off of Naruto and they both got up from Naruto's dusty couch. Naruto walked to the dining room table and grabbed his backpack. Ino grabbed her stuff as well. Naruto walked to the sliding glass door in the back of his apartment that lead to his balcony. He opened the curtains just enough to open it. Naruto unlocked the door and slid it open. He motioned Ino to follow. She was hesitant because she was a bit afraid but she knew they couldn't stay with the large horde of Walkers around.

Naruto and Ino walked onto the balcony and jumped to the apartment rooftop. Naruto took a good, last look around his home village. He gainted his sense of direction to where the village wall was the closet and he looked at Ino to see if she was ready. Ino nodded her head and the two jumped to the next rooftop and started running across it. Their feet made a loud thump as they hit the metal roof of the building. Naruto stopped when we saw more Walkers, even more than what they had ran away from earlier.

"What the fuck?" Naruto questioned, "They're everywhere."

"Come on Naruto, let's not worry about them, we need to get out of the village," Ino said.

Naruto nodded and proceeded to jump to the next building. Ino followed and they continued to run and jump across the rooftops as the village wall got closer and closer. After jumping over nine buildings, they finally reached the last rooftop they needed to get to the wall. Naruto gathered chakra at his feet as he was running across the rooftop and jumped onto the wall and started climbing the wall. Ino, who was lagging behind a bit, jumped onto the final building as well but as she was gathering chakra to her feet to jump onto the wall, the building she was on began to shake and then it collapsed.

"Naruto!" Ino screamed as she fell with the collapsing building.

Naruto looked down to see the building he had just jump from had collapsed and Ino was trapped in the rubble. The Walkers that were nearby had turned from the noise of the building collapsing and Ino's scream.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled and sprang into action, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Hundreds of bunshin formed and formed a barrier around the building as they started killing Walkers before they could get near Ino. While the bunshin held back the horde, the real Naruto created four more bunshin to help him get Ino out of the rubble. With the help of the bunshin, Ino was out of the rubble quickly.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked as he examined Ino for any serious injuries.

"My back hurts that's it," Ino said then she screamed.

Naruto turned around to find several Walkers had broke through the barrier of Naruto's bunshin and was about to bite into Naruto. Naruto took out a kunai nearly in a blink of an eye and stabbed the Walker in the head. The body fell to the ground but more were coming.

Naruto didn't say a word and grabbed Ino's arm and took off running. Even with Naruto's Kage Bunshin, they were way too many Walkers to fight off so he thought it was best if they ran and find another part of the wall to get out of the village.

As Naruto and Ino continued to run, every turn they tried to make they had to stop and go back since there so many Walkers down every road. Naruto was starting to believe they wouldn't make it out of the village alive after all. Naruto decided he would just make a path to the wall because they were going to get tired of running sooner or later. Naruto stopped and Ino looked at him with fear. What the hell is he doing? As Walkers were coming straight at from all sides, Naruto created his distraction.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as hundreds more Naruto bunshin appeared in a barrier around Naruto and Ino.

As Naruto's bunshin fought through the Walkers, Naruto stayed still to enter Sage Mode. When Naruto's bunshin created enough space to get to the wall, Naruto opened his eyes, his eyes turned into yellow toad-like irides with orange pigmitation around his two more bunshin. One of them began forming a spiraling ball of chakra into Naruto's right hand while the other pumped in Naruto's chakra nature forming the spiraling ball of chakra into a spiraling chakra shuriken.

"Rasenshuriken!" Naruto yelled, throwing the chakra shuriken into the the Walkers.

The rasenshuriken hit its mark and expanded, devouring everything around it. Once the burst of energy was finished, all that was left between Naruto and Ino was a crater and the wall. Naruto grabbed Ino's arm again and ran to the wall. They quickly climbed up the wall and reached the top. Naruto and Ino then jumped into the trees of Konoha's forest and jumped through the trees to get as far away from the village as he could. As he jumped, tears formed as the thought of just having lost his home forever overtook him, it was just too much. All of this was too much. First waking up alone in enemy territory, then the first two people to help him escape he couldn't save and they ended up dying and now this, no home to return to. Naruto had become so overwhelmed that he didn't even realize how far he'd ran. He looked back to see if Ino was okay but was horrified when he saw she wasn't there.

"Ino?" he called out.

No answer.

"Ino, where are you?" he called out again.

Still no answer.

"Come on Ino, this isn't funny!" Naruto yelled.

There was still no answer. Naruto was starting to get scared. He frantically looked around his surroundings but the girl he was falling in love with was no where to be found. He blamed himself for getting too emotional over everything and not paying attention to where he was going and now he was alone again.

"God damn it!" he yelled and punched the ground.

He stood still, even shallowing his breathing as he heard the trees nearby rustling and it wasn't the wind. He heard feet landing on the branches above him. He tried his best not to move and look up.

"Naruto, you made it too!" a familiar voice called out.

Naruto looked up to find it was Shikamaru who landed on the branches above him. The relief hit Naruto like a ton of bricks.

"Man, I'm so glad to see you," Naruto said. "Where's everyone else?"

"There was so much commotion that I couldn't keep tabs on everyone," replied Shikamaru.

Naruto sighed as he looked to the ground, once again he felt like a failure for not properly protecting someone, especially it being Ino. Ino was right behind him and then she wasn't.

"Should we go looking for them?" Naruto asked.

"There's no need to go looking for them, we go to the rendevous point I designated, don't you remember?" answered Shikamaru.

Naruto shook his head, "I forgot, come on, let's go then."

Shikamaru sighed, "he's so troublesome."