Chapter 14: They're Just Walls

Moans and grunts and growls came from a male Walker with deteriorating shinobi shirt with its arm patches missing and torn shinobi pants. It had red ooze leaking out of a hole in its chest as it moved forward. Where it was heading was stopped when a shiny steel blade of a sword pushed through its head, killing the Walker and staining the sword with red. The body fell the ground but behind the Walker was more Walkers slowly walking down the road.

A male with medium length black hair with bangs that covered his forehead and his left eye. He wore a black cloak and was holding the sword in his right hand. He grunted as he saw more Walkers were coming toward him.

"Where the hell did all these things come from?" he said to himself.

The man jumped backwards a couple of feet and was about to escape into the trees when several more Walkers came out of the forest on his right side. He took his Kusanagi and slashed the Walkers heads off with their bodies hitting the floor. While he was doing that, he didn't notice more Walkers came out of the forest on his left side and behind him. He heard their grunting and looked back with his right eye. The ones in front of him were getting clsoer and the ones behind him were just about on top of him so he slammed his Kusanagi into the ground and sent lightning chakra through it into the ground. The lightning traveled through the ground and up into all the Walkers near him and the raven-haired man continued sending his electricity into the Walkers into their heads exploded. He killed several Walkers which was just enough to allow him to jump into the trees above and get out of harms way.

He sat down on a branch trying to catch his breath as he reflected on all the Walkers he had killed since he left a hideout he had been staying in. He had been in that hideout for so long recovering from a massive fight that he had no idea the state the world had become. After leaving to get some water, he found himself surrounded by these undead people and cut off from getting back to where he was staying.

He looked down to see the Walkers surrounding the tree he was in as if they were going to climb up and get him but he knew they couldn't. He wasn't one-hundred percent yet and he knew it as the fatigue got the best of him and his eyes closed shut.

The raven-haired man opened his eyes to find himself staring at a ceiling. The last thing he could remember was that he was sitting in a tree before passing out from pain and exhaustion. Where the hell was he? He then heard drawers being opened and closed so he looked to his left to see an elderly woman with white hair tied up into a bun. She was wearing a kimono with sakura petals on it and she was placing white towels inside a drawer of a dark brown chest drawer.

"Where am I?" he spoke.

The woman was startled, she didn't realize he was awake.

"Goodness, you startled me," the elderly woman said. "I am, however, glad to see you are finally awake young man. You've been out for three days since Hashi and Ichigo found you."

"Hashi and Ichigo?" the man asked. "And where am I?"

"They're my grandsons and for where you are in my house in Hotaru, a small village on the southern edge of Hi no Kuni," the woman replied. "By the way, what is your name young man?"

"Sasuke," the man replied, "Uchiha Sasuke."

"Well, well, a man from the great Uchiha," the woman said, surprised. "My name is Yuki."

"The Roamers outside, how did you keep..." Sasuke started but was interrupted.

"The village is protected by a wall, similiar to that of Konohagakure, however, it's smaller in size but it keeps the Biters out," said a males voice.

The man had short, wavy brown hair and was wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt with a green vest and blue Shinobi pants but Sasuke could tell he wasn't a Shinobi.

"I'm Hashi," the man said. "Me and my brother found you up in a tree just a few yards away from the village enterance. You looked like you were in bad shape so we brought you here to rest."

"Come now Hashi, let our guest here get more rest," Yuki said, ushering Hashi out of the room. "Are you hungry or thirsty by chance?"

Sasuke shook his head no.

"What has happened to this country?" asked Sasuke. "A little over a month ago I was injured pretty badly fighting a group of mercenaries that were planning to attack Konohagakure and I stayed hidden for a while to let my injuries heal and when I finally came outside, I found myself fighting for my life against these living dead people. I have been fighting my way through hordes of these Roamers for the last month with no knowledge of what's really going on."

"I'm going out on a limb and say during those three weeks you were hiding to recover from your injuries is when all this started," Yuki began. "It started with some kind of viruus that was getting people very sick and they would get a very high fever that nearly burned the body up from the inside and when a person died from the illness, they would return to this world as those monsters we call Biters outside these walls."

"A virus caused all this?" asked Sasuke.

"That's what the Hokage believe it to be," replied Yuki.

"Whatever the virus is, somehow is affecting the brain because it seems the only way to kill these Roamers is with some kind of trauma to the head," Sasuke said.

"Yeah and this virus spread quickly and the ones that never got sick would die and turn if they got bit by a Biter. What you see outside is like this everywhere in Hi no Kuni," Yuki added.

"Hi no Kuni isn't the only place that's like this, where I was hiding out to recover was in Kawa no Kuni," Sasuke replied.

"Oh my, this is a lot bigger than I thought," Yuki said.

Sasuke laid back down on the bed as his body still felt tired and sore. At least he could rest easy since he was safe from the Roamers for the moment. He looked out the window to see that it was late evening so he decided to try to sleep some more and hopefully he'd feel much better in the morning.

"I got some things I need to do in the other rooms, I'll come to check up on you in the morning," Yuki said and she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Sasuke opened his eyes thinking he would wake up in a tree only to find himself staring at a ceiling. Memories of talking to an elderly woman and her grandson flooded his mind and remember just where he was. Sasuke sat up and looked around the bare room as the morning sunlight filtered through the white, see-through curtains. Sasuke was about to get out of bed when he heard a couple of knocks on the door.

"I'm coming in to check on you," Yuki said on the other side of the door.

Sasuke stayed sitting up in the bed as the door opened and Yuki walked in.

"Oh good, you're awake," she said.

Hashi then entered the room with a tray in hand that had a plate with eggs and toast.

"Hope you're hungry man, Granny here made this with fresh eggs from our hens and the toast is made from breath she makes from scratch," he said.

Hashi placed the try in front of Sasuke and walked out of the room. Sasuke began eating the food that was given to him. He caught in the corner of his eye that Yuki was looking at him, specifically his missing left arm.

"May I ask how you lost your left arm?" Yuki asked. "Did you get bit and have someone chop if off before the infection could spread or...?"

Sasuke swallowed the food he had been chewing when Yuki asked her question. He didn't really want to answer but since she had been taking care of him since her grandsons rescued him from the forest, he felt obligated to answer.

"No, I lost it in battle before all this happened," replied Sasuke.

"Well if you travel to Konohagakure, the Hokage there is a great medical ninja, she could probably..."

"Actually, I am from Konohagakure," Sasuke interrupted. "I opted not to get a new arm from her, I took at it as a punishment for the sins I had committed in the past."

"I see," Yuki said. "So I'm guessing you're a ninja after all."

Sasuke nodded as he took in another bite of food.

"After you're done eating, our mayor would like to talk to you," said Yuki.

After Sasuke finished eating, he grabbed his lavender short-sleeve shirt and put it on. He then put his black cloak on, which he wore to hide the fact he was missing his left arm. Once he was done getting dressed, he grabbed the plate he ate from and opened the door to see right into the living quarters where Hashi and another male that looked younger than Hashi were sitting on the couch. On a chair, facing the couch, he could see Yuki's white hair.

The younger male saw Sasuke first and got up and walked over to the Uchiha, he put out his hand.

"I'll take that plate from you," he said. "Name's Ichigo by the way."

Sasuke handed over the plate to Ichigo who walked over to a doorway to the right side of the living room. During the exhange, Yuki got up from her chair.

"Are you ready?" asked Yuki. Sasuke nodded.

"Well I'm too old to be walking around town so Hashi will be taking you to see the mayor," she said.

Hashi got up from the couch and headed to the front door. Sasuke followed Hashi outside into the small village. The street they were walking on had about four houses. Sasuke looked at the wood wall that surrounded the village. Hashi was right, it was just tall enough to look over the village and it was definately smaller than the wall that surrounded Konoha but this wall also looked much weaker since it was made up of just wood. Konoha's was made of wood and stone.

"So why am I meeting the mayor?" Sasuke asked.

"It's nothing serious, he just wants to get to know one of the newest addition to the village," replied Hashi. "This place welcomes anyone trying to get away from the madness that's happening outside the walls."

Sasuke said nothing more as he followed Hashi towards what looked like the biggest building in the village which probably was the town hall and mayor's living quarters all in one.

"So where are you from originally?" asked Hashi.

"Konohagakure," Sasuke answered.

"Konohagakure? Sweet! So you're a ninje then?" Hashi asked.

"Yeah."

"You don't talk very much, do you?" Hashi continued questioning Sasuke.

"I don't like talking very much," replied Sasuke.

The two traveled in silence the rest of the way, but it wasn't very long since the village was small. Hashi and Sasuke reached the town hall within minutes.

They entered the mansion to a room where the walls were painted yellow. They had five chairs near a desk.

"Ah Hashi, is this our new guest?" asked a woman with long, jet black hair and wearing a red dress as she came out from a door behind her desk.

"Yes it is Aoi," Hashi said.

"Come this way, the mayor is expecting you," the woman said.

Sasuke walked over to where the woman was standing, two double doors and she opened them to reveal on office. Sitting at a desk was an elderly man. His head was shiny bald, he was wearing a brown suit with a black tie.

"So you're the one Yuki's grandsons rescued a few days ago," said the man.

Sasuke nodded.

"Well my name is Sato and I am the mayor of Hotaru," Sato said. "What is your name son?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"An Uchiha, wait, weren't you labeled as a criminal by Konohagakure?" asked Sato.

"I was at one time but I made my amends with the village and I was pardoned. I now travel and protect the village from the shadows," replied Sasuke, "Or I was until all of this happened, I'm not even sure if the village still stands."

"I'm not surprised you didn't know that the forests between here and Konoha are full of Biters, in fact, it's amazing you even made it to Hotaru alive," Sato said. "I digress, but I like you, you were honest by admitting you were once considered a criminal by your village. I just have one more question."

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Would you want to stay here? Seeing how you're a ninja, I could use a ninja to help, hell I'll even start a squad and let you recruit whoever you want and lead them. So are you up for it?" Sato asked.

"No," Sasuke said.

"No? What do you mean no?" asked Sato.

"It's not safe here," Sasuke answered.

"Not safe? Of course it is safe, we have this wall that was built to protect this village from any invading forces from the south," Sato said disagreeing.

"It's just a wall," continued Sasuke. "If something wants to get in, it will find a way."

"I guess I can't convince you to stay then, can I?" Sato asked.

"No," Sasuke answered.

"Very well, I'll let you leave but you'll have to pay for what Yuki has provided for you. We are running out of food and medical supplies. If you can go to the outside world and get some for us, seeing how you're a ninja and better equipped to handle the Biters, after that your debt is cleared," Sato said.

To say he wasn't angry that Sasuke didn't take up his offer to stay in the village and help start up a ninja squad for protection and supply runs, would be a lie. Sato was fuming with anger on the inside that this kid said no.

"Fine, I'll do that one task, then I'm going," replied Sasuke. "But I'm not going anywhere until I'm fully rested."

"Fair enough," Sato said.

Sasuke walked out of Sato's office and headed for the front door. Hashi got up from the chair he was sitting on in the lobby and followed Sasuke out.

"He just wanted to see if you would stay in the village, didn't he?" Hashi asked.

"And I told him no," Sasuke said.

"Why would you do that?" asked Hashi.

Sasuke stopped and pointed at the walls, "Those walls aren't going to hold up forever, they're just walls. If something wants in, they're going to get in. Especially if the Roamers surround the village and put enough weight on them, eventually something is going to give and the village is doomed."

Hashi couldn't think of anything to say after what Sasuke had just said and then remembered about Konohagakure's walls.

"Well you'd be a hypocrite if you go back to Konoagakure because your village has walls too," Hashi said.

"The walls in Konoha are stronger but I'm not going back to Konoha because I don't even know if it still exists and if it does, it's going to be what's on the inside that will be dangerous," Sasuke replied.

Two days passed since Sasuke spoke to the mayor. He finally felt he was ready to venture outside to find some food and medical supplies for Hotaru. He had to admit to himself that he didn't get much rest as he wanted since he was worried about the walls collapsing allowing Roamers to get inside the village. After placing his black cloak on, he was ready to go.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Yuki asked.

Sasuke was surprised the elderly woman didn't knock first like she had done during his entire stay at her house.

"Yes I am sure, there is someone I need to make sure is still okay but I'll return once more with food and medical supplies for the village," Sasuke replied.

"How long will this journey take?" asked Yuki.

"About two weeks, I know of a place in Kawa no Kuni where I can get what this village needs," replied Sasuke.

"Be careful," Yuki said.

Sasuke nodded and walked to the front door. He opened the door but before he walked out for good, he turned to Yuki.

"Thanks for everything."

He turned and walked out the door and stepped onto the street. Sasuke headed for the main gate which of course was closed to keep Roamers from getting in. Since the village was small, he was at the main gate within minutes.

"It's dangerous out there today, there's a whole mess of Biters walking around," said a townsman wearing a brown t-shirt and jeans, his brown hair tied back in a ponytail.

"I'll be fine," Sasuke said.

The townsman was about to open the gate just enough for Sasuke to get out but Sasuke motioned for the man not to open the gate. Sasuke focused chakra to his feet and climped up to the top of the wall. He looked to the road below and sure enough there was a horde of Roamers walking across the roadway from the left side of the forest to the right.

'Looks like they're headed towards the direction of Konoha.'

"They've been moving through here like crazy since the explosion that was heard yesterday!" yelled the townsman.

Sasuke didn't say another but took in the knowledge that somewhere nearby something happened. Sasuke decided he'd have to travel through the trees in order to avoid the horde of Roamers. Using his chakra, Sasuke leaped to a tree near the wall and continued through the trees heading towards Kawa no Kuni.

Sasuke continued leaping through the trees, he hadn't stopped since leaving Hotaru and it was now evening. At first he had no real intentions of returning with any kind of supplies for that village. How were they supposed to force him into doing such a task if they didn't have any ninja to trail him to make sure he even got supplies in the first place? Then Sasuke thought about Yuki, the one that took him in and nursed him back to health so to speak and decided he'd do it but he was only going to sneak in and give supplies to Yuki only. Why the hell would he repay the village for helping him when no one else lifted a finger but Yuki and her grandsons?

Sasuke finally had to stop, he was trying to reach Kawa no Kuni in record timing but his body just couldn't go any further. Sasuke sat down on a branch and leaned up against the trunk. He realized where he was at was quiet. He didn't hear any grunting or groaning from Roamers and he looked down at the ground below and found nothing moving around. As much as he'd like to find a good place to hide to sleep on the ground, Sasuke knew he'd be safer up in the trees just in case another horde of Roamers came through the area.

Sasuke got himself as comfortable as he could in the tree and closed his eyes and allowed his thoughts to wonder back to the day he realized the world had changed. After battling a group of ninja mercenaries that left him injured, he returned to an old hideout of Orochimaru's to recover. He remembered spending at least a week locked up inside that hideout letting his wounds heal.

Sasuke remembered Karin asking him if he was okay to go out and get any medical supplies in the town nearby and Sasuke decided he could do it. He walked outside the hideout and thought nothing of the world until he came face to face with his first Roamer. He didn't know what was going on as he tried to kill it but nothing was working and it just kept coming after him. Finally landing a blow to the head with his Kusanagi, it fell to the ground dead.

Sasuke turned to return to his hideout only to find more of the Roamers surrounding him. He tried to fight his way through them to get back to the hideout to get his group but there was just too many and they kept pushing him further and further away from the hideout.

Sasuke opened his eyes when he heard the grunting and groaning of Roamers below him. He looked to the ground and saw three of them slowly walking through the forest. Sasuke made sure he didn't make a sound so he wouldn't draw their attention to him. He knew they wouldn't be able to get him up in the tree but he didn't want to hear them making noise all night as he tried to sleep. Sasuke rested his back on the back on the truck again and closed his eyes since tomorrow he was going to try to travel as fast as he could.

A week of traveling as fast as he could had tired out Sasuke significantly but he finally reached the border of Hi no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni. Sasuke jumped down from the three and killed a Roamer that was in his way and made his away across the river. When Sasuke reached the other side, the bodies of all the Roamers he had killed trying to get his way back to the hideout where still lying on the ground. He reached a giant tree that looked to be hundreds of years old with a boulder in front of it.

Sasuke made a single hand seal and the boulder moved aside, revealing a stairway made of stone leading underground. Sasuke walked down the stone stairway until he reached a darkened hallway. The torches on the wall were not lit which alarmed Sasuke, it meant that no one had been here for weeks.

Sasuke made a couple of hand seals to create a small fire jutsu to light the torches on the right wall. He grabbed the torch and started walking as it illuminated the first few feet in front of of him as he carefully walked down the hallway. Sasuke was worried about walking straight into a Roamer and since he didn't have his left arm anymore, he couldn't have his Kusanagi ready and hold the torch at the same time.

Sasuke held back the urge to call out anyone's name because if there were any Roamers that might have found it's way inside, he didn't want to draw their attention to him. Sasuke reached a room on the right and opened the door slowly since he couldn't quite remember where he and his group kept the supply scrolls they had collected. Once the door was fully opened, he just stood in the doorway and listened for any grunting or groaning from Roamers before he entered. Sasuke heard nothing so he slowly walked into the room allowing the torch light up the room only to find there was nothing in it but a bed.

Sasuke walked out of the room and continued walking through the hall. The hideout was smaller than the other ones in other countries so he was thankful for that. Sasuke came to a second room that was on the left and he slowly opened the door and waited and listened for anything but there was silence. Sasuke slowly walked into the room and the torch lit up the room and jackpot, the scrolls of sealed supplies. There weren't as many as there was when he left so that meant his group had taken off in search for him.

Sasuke placed the torch in the holder on the wall on the right side of the room. He took his backpack off and placed it on the ground and began grabbing scrolls and placing them inside. After his backpack was full of the remaining scrolls, he began placing the remaining scrolls that had sealed up medical supplies. Altogether Sasuke had about eight scrolls that he placed inside his backpack.

Sasuke picked his backpack off the ground and put it back on and grabbed the torch of the wall and walked out the door. He stopped when he heard grunting coming from the hallway. He froze as he saw a shadow walk slowly into view. He tried to stay still and quiet as possible but the torch he was holding gave him away as the shadow stopped and turned towards Sasuke.

'Shit,' Sasuke thought.

He was noticed and there was nothing he could do. Sasuke quickly placed the torch into a holder on the wall and he grabbed his Kusanagi out of its holder and prepared to stab the Roamer in the head but he froze when the torch lit up the Roamer's face. It was a girl with long red hair that was spikey on the right side and straight on the left. She was wearing oval glasses. This shocked Sasuke.

"Karin, no..." he whispered.

Sasuke could see there was a large stab wound running from her chest down to her stomach and Sasuke knew only once person who could have done that.

'I'm going to kill him if I see him again!'

Sasuke sighed as he had no choice but to kill her. As Karin got closer to him, Sasuke lifted up his Kusanagi and reluctantly forced it through Karin's skull, stopping her. Sasuke pulled his Kusanagi out and watched as Karin's body fell to the floor. He noticed scracth marks on her back and a bite mark on her left shoulder. She had been bitten and Sasuke could now see why there was a large stab wound in the front of her body, that person of Sasuke's team tried to put her down before she turned but it was obvious he failed.

Sasuke walked out of the room still stunned, the person he came to look for was gone and he felt like it was his fault because he didn't fight harder to get through the horde of Roamers to make his way back to the hideout. Sasuke couldn't understand why she would let anyone kill her in the first place because of her ability to heal anyone that bit her. Could that virus have been much stronger than Karin's healing abilities? He was going to have to find him for answers because her death just didn't make sense to Sasuke at all.

Sasuke walked back to the stone stairway and carefully made his way outside. Before he completely exposed himself to the outside, he made sure that there were no Roamers and didn't find any. He finished climbing the stairs and was now outside of the hideout. He made a hand seal to close the boulder and then destroyed the seal to keep it a final resting place for Karin. Sasuke took one last look at the hideout and sprinted towards the river.

Another week of traveling through the dense forest of Hi no Kuni had passed and Sasuke was nearing Hotaru. Karin and her death was still weighing heavy on Sasuke's mind and admitted to himself that over time he finally came to fall in love with the girl and was ready to rebuild his clan before all this shit happened and now she was gone. Maybe it was just another punishment for the sins he had committed in the past. Sasuke decided after he delivered what he had left in Kawa no Kuni to Yuki, he would hunt down his former partner and get some answers from him.

Sasuke's train of thought was stopped when he saw a massive plume of smoke rising into the air and it was coming from over the horizon and it was in the direction of Hotaru. Sasuke focused chakra to his feet to speed up his jumping. As he got closer to the village, the black smoke blocked out the sun, nearly turning into night and Sasuke could see an orange glow coming from the distance.

Sasuke reached the village and stared at it in horror. The entire village was engulfed in flames and Sasuke became concerned as the front gate wasn't open. He jumped to the trees to the left of the village and came to a hole in the wall. It looked like it collapsed into the village but that wouldn't of started a fire unless...

Sasuke noticed three shadows nearby run off intot he forest. Sasuke quickly jumped through the trees to catch up to them. Luckily for Sasuke, they weren't running fast enough where he couldn't catch up at all. He was able to get ahead of them and got into position and jumped down from the trees and landed in front of the three shadows he had been pursuing but who they were surprised him.

"Sasuke," one of them said.

It turned out to be Yuki and her grandsons Hashi and Ichigo.

"What happened to the village?" asked Sasuke. Yuki looked terrified and wouldn't talk.

"It was a group of self-righteous ninja," Ichigo began. "They called themselves The Saints and they were talking all this nonsense about us being sinners because we supported the ninja systems place by the Five Great Ninja Villages."

"They tried forcing us to 'repent for our sins' but mayor Sato-san refused, saying our village hadn't committed any sins and that's when this group started killing people and eventually set the entire village on fire," Hashi finished.

Sasuke didn't know what to say about the situation. He couldn't find any words. Sasuke then noticed a Roamer walking up behind Yuki and her grandsons. He pulled out his Kusanagi but it was too late.

Yuki pushed her grandsons forward. They stumbled and fell to their knees in front of Sasuke. They turned to see why their grandmother pushed them only to see something horrific. The Roamer bit into Yuki's right shoulder, blood started gushing out of the bite wound. Sasuke took his Kusanagi and forces the blade into the Roamer's head, killing it.

"Sasuke, just go but please take care of my grandsons for me," Yuki pleaded.

"I will," Sasuke replied. He turned to Yuki's grandsons, "Let's get out of here."

Hashi and Ichigo were hesitant but their grandmother motioned for them to go. The two boys turned and began running with Sasuke. They didn't get far when Hashi stopped and looked back. Sasuke stopped and was about to tell Hashi to get moving when a spear came flying out of the bushes and pierced Hashi through the chest.

"Hashi!" yelled Ichigo.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Sasuke questioned but he didn't want to stick around to find out, "Let's get out of here Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned and began running too but he didn't get far as another spear came out of the bushes and pierced him through the chest as well.

"God damn it!" Sasuke yelled.

He quickly activated his Sharingan and scanned the area for any chakra signatures. At first he didn't see anything but then saw a flash of chakra and then a chakra rod come at him. Sasuke didn't move at all and allowed the spear to pierce him through the chest but when it did, Sasuke turned into a log.

The real Sasuke was hiding high up in the tree looking down, waiting. After a few minutes he saw someone, he couldn't make out who it was exactly, but he was examining Ichigo's body.

"Ha! Two for two! Piercing these sinners right through the heart!" the man praised his work. It sickened Sasuke.

The man jumped into the trees to leave. Sasuke waited a few minutes before following the man. Sasuke made it his mission to kill that bastard that just killed two kids. The amount of time Sasuke wanted to wait for had passed and he began his pursuit of the cold-blooded killer.

Sasuke made sure to keep a low profile from the man he was chasing, so he didn't go too terribly fast. He kept a close eye on his surroundings as he followed the path of small, broken branches which was a sign Sasuke was going in the right direction. What Sasuke wanted to do is allow the man to return to wherever he was hiding out and just take out everyone with one of his bigger lightning-based jutsu.

Sasuke continued jumping through the trees at a steady pace when suddenly the trail of broken, small branches stopped and he felt a presence behind him.

'Shit, he must of caught on that I was tailing him because now he's behind me,' Sasuke thought.

Sasuke kept going, deciding to use this to his advantage. His plan to find this guy's hideout went out the window but at least he would lure this guy into a trap and kill him to avenge Hashi and Ichigo's death. Sasuke kept leaping through trees and picked up his pace but didn't go too fast to make sure the presence he was sensing was still following. After pretending to be still pursuing, Sasuke made his move and abruptly turned left. To his success, the man that was now pursuing him turned too which is exactly what Sasuke wanted.

Sasuke continued leaping through the trees until he finally saw a clearing in the forest. He reached the clearing and stopped. Sasuke saw that there were a couple of Roamers in the clearing. One of them had a few kunai sticking out of the body which Sasuke believed was some ninja that didn't know how to kill a Roamer had thrown them. The other Roamer was missing a jaw and there was blood and dead flesh oozing off the upper part of its mouth.

Sasuke grabbed his Kusanagi and jumped to the ground. He stabbed the earth with his Kusanagi and pumped his lightning-based chakra into it which traveled into the ground and spread to the two Roamers that were walking towards him. Sasuke continuously pumped in his chakra into the ground through his Kusanagi until the Roamers heads exploded from the electricity. Dead flesh, blood and pieces of their brains splattered across the ground. It was a distraction to make whoever was pursuing him think Sasuke had left his guard down but his pursuer wasn't who he thought it was going to be when he heard that familiar voice call out.

"S-Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned to see his best friend standing on a branch above the clearing.

"Naruto!"

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone that's reviewed the story up to this point.