Chapter 15: Warning
The afternoon sun was beginning its descent towards the western sky and Ino looked towards the direction that Naruto had left early that morning. She had been standing there for at least an hour waiting for Naruto to return with Shikamaru. Though she knew Naruto was going to be gone a while but she just couldn't help but to worry about him.
Choji, Kiba and Shino came out of the cave and were about to get some fish for the group's dinner. Choji noticed Ino just staring off towards the canopy and walked to her allowing Kiba and Shino to start fishing.
"Are you okay, Ino?" Choji asked. Ino turned her head to see who was standing next to her.
"I'm a bit worried about Naruto and Shikamaru," Ino replied.
"I believe they will be just fine," Choji assured. "After all this is Shikamaru and Naruto."
"Yeah, you're right Choji," Ino said.
She turned her head back but this time, with Choji's words, felt better and felt that Naruto and Shikamaru would be just fine.
Sasuke appeared on the branch beside Naruto. He felt a little robbed that the man who killed Yuki's grandson wasn't who was tailing him.
"What are you doing out here all by yourself?" Naruto asked.
"I was chasing someone," Sasuke answered. "Someone who killed two people that helped me."
"Killed?" Naruto asked confused.
"I guess I should start from the beginning so you can understand," Sasuke said, poking fun at Naruto.
Naruto caught it and nearly punched Sasuke.
"About a month ago, I was tracking down a group of mercenaries who were planning an attack on Konohagakure. I got into a battle with their leader, who I did manage to kill, but I used too much of my chakra and I was injured in that battle as well so I found one of Orochimaru's old hideouts in Kawa no Kuni and I stayed there to recover. After I felt I had recovered enough, I left that hideout to restock some of my supplies and found out the world turned into this shithole. These Roamers, as I call them, surrounded the hideout and I was overwhelmed by their numbers. Sure, I could have used my Susano'o to kill them all but I really didn't know what I was up against or exactly what was going on so I just ran. After days of running away and killing these Roamers, my body just gave up and I passed out. Three days later I woke up in Hotaru Village where an elderly lady named Yuki was caring for me. She told me her grandson's, who's names were Hashi and Ichigo, found me and took me back to the village. After a few days rest, I decided to go out and find food and medical supplies for them to show my thanks for helping me but when I returned to the village, I found the village ablaze. As I walked around the village and managed to find Yuki and her grandsons and tried to take them with me but Yuki ended up getting bit by a Roamer and Hashi and Ichigo were killed right in front of me by spears that looked like were made from iron and that's who I was chasing," Sasuke explained.
"So this man is on the loose killing innocent people for no reason?" asked Naruto.
"I think there is more of them," Sasuke continued. "Ichigo and Hashi told me there was a group that was calling themselves The Saints went into the village and killed everyone in Hotaru just because they wouldn't repent for supporting the ninja system that used to be in place as they said. I suggest if you have a hideout nearby, to stay hidden because this group is out for blood."
"If they attack our hideout, we'll defeat them," Naruto said confidently.
"Either way, make sure you protect Sakura at all costs," Sasuke said. Naruto looked to the ground.
"She's not with me," Naruto said softly but Sasuke heard.
"What do you mean she's not with you?" Sasuke asked, getting upset.
"The last time I saw her along with Kakashi-sensei was a little over a month ago when we were on a mission in Kusagakure. It was Kakashi-sensei's last mission as out team leader before officially becoming the Rokudaime Hokage. We were looking for a group of Missing-nin terrorizing the area when we were ambushed by said group and I got hit with a kunai laced with poison and eventually slipped into a coma. Three weeks later, I woke up inside some abandoned house near the border alone and found the world like this," Naruto answered.
"You're out in this shit alone too, huh?" Sasuke stated.
"I was for the first few days but I managed to make my way to Tanzaku Town where I was found by Shikamaru," Naruto replied. "We now have a hideout nearby that's up a hill and in a cave behind a waterfall with Choji and Ino with us as well.
"Sounds like a perfect place to stay hidden from The Saints," Sasuke said.
"Why don't you return with me to our hideout?" Naruto asked. "It isn't the most comfortable place in the world, but it keeps us safe from the threat of Walkers."
"Walkers huh? That's what you call them?" Sasuke asked, amused.
Naruto nodded.
"It's fitting, I'll give you that," Sasuke said.
"So you going to come with me or not?" Naruto asked.
"I will follow you to your hideout but there is something I have to do before I stay with your group," Sasuke said.
Naruto was about to question it when all the memories of his bunshin that he sent with Shikamaru flooded his mind. Everything from their talks to finding Kotetsu, who turned without being bit, then more small talk then the bunshin getting hit by a projectile and dispersing.
"Damn it!" Naruto said outloud.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.
"I think Shikamaru is in trouble, my bunshin I had with him has been attacked," Naruto replied.
"Let's go then, it might be the same bastard I'm looking for," Sasuke said.
Shikamaru and Naruto's bunshin jumped through the trees trying to get back to their hideout, although, Naruto's bunshin was just escorting Shikamaru and would disperse when they reached the hideout.
"The real me found out the person he was chasing turned out to be Sasuke," the bunshin said.
"So that's what you meant by the real you was busy," Shikamaru said. "So he came across Sasuke."
"He just warned me about some..." the bunshin didn't get to finish the sentence when an silver-gray metal spear went through it dispersing it.
"What the hell," Shikamaru said to himself as he jumped through the trees a bit faster by adding chakra to his feet.
As Shikamaru hurried as fast as he could, he approached a branch he was about to land on and push off when a explosive tag went off, blowing up the branch which caused Shikamaru to land on the ground instead. As he landed on his feet, Shikamaru was about to jump back into the canopy when someone landed in front of him just a few feet away. A male with blue eyes and medium spikey brown hair with orange bangs. He wore a white cloak with a hood that he wasn't wearing that had blue stripes on the side. All Shikamaru could see at t he moment was his opened toe blue shoes.
"And who are you?" asked Shikamaru.
The man laughed, "Why should I grace you with my name when you're about to die?"
Shikamaru got down on one knee and made a hand seal. Whoever this man was came to fight not to talk.
"Kagemane no Jutsu!" Shikamaru yelled but nothing happened.
'What the hell? Nothing happened!'
The man began laughing again, "Did your jutsu not work? That's because I trapped you here on purpose. You're inside a four point invisible barrier that disrupts your chakra network to the point where you can't mold it correctly and causes all your jutsu to fail."
Shikamaru remained calm as he scanned his surroundings. Getting upset would not help him in this situation.
'This guy called it a barrier so there has to be special paper seals or kunai around here so if I can find at least one and destroy it, that should disrupt the barrier and I'll be able to use my chakra properly again.'
"Ha! I know what you're doing," the man said. "You're looking to see if there is any possible way to escape this barrier!"
The man's right hand began to glow red, it was chakra Shikamaru could actually see. His cloak opened up to show he was weaing a chained-mesh plated armor top and black Shinobi pants.
"Ninjutsu: Magnetic Field!" the man yelled and placed his hand on the ground.
The man held his hand on the ground for no more than a minute as silver-gray particles were pulled from the ground and formed a ball around his hand. Shikamaru realized what was happening. His chakra turned magnetic and attracted the iron in the dirt.
"The look on your face tells me you know what's going on. My chakra turns magnetic and I can force out all the magnetic metal in the world from within the dirt and then I turn around and transform it to whatever weapon I'd like," the man said.
The man used his left hand to perform a hand seal and the metal he had gathered with his right hand stretched out and transformed into a silver-gray spear. The exact same size as the one that hit the Naruto bunshin.
"But I like using spears the best," the man said.
'I'll have to avoid those spears he can make without my chakra. I'll just have to duck and roll until I can find whatever is creating this barrier,' Shikamaru thought.
The man threw the spear at Shikamaru. Shikamaru slid to the left to avoid the spear. He waited for another attack when he realized the spear the man threw was coming from behind. He dodged it, but the spear still managed to graze his left arm.
'How?'
Shikamaru looked back to find there was a bunshin of the man behind him.
'He used the Kage Bunshin to create a bunshin of himself to throw that spear back and forth.'
"You can dodge it all you want but you'll eventually get tired and you'll make a mistake and I will have pierced you and you'll die," the man said while laughing.
The magnetic-nin threw the spear again. Shikamaru jumped to the right as the spear went by. He turned his attention to the bunshin behind him. The bunshin grabbed the spear and threw it at Shikamaru and he slid to the left to avoid it.
"This is getting boring," said the magnetic-nin.
The magnetic-nin transformed the rest of the metal he had around his right hand and created four more spears. He threw all five at Shikamaru. Shikamaru then tried to dodge them as he jumped around them. The fifth spear, Shikamaru couldn't dodge and it pierced him through the left shoulder. Shikamaru yelled in pain as blood trickled down from both sides of the wound.
"Now I have you right where I need you," the magnetic-nin said.
The magnetic-nin's bunshin threw a spear to the real one. The magnetic-nin smired as he threw the spear right at Shikamaru's chest. Before it could reach Shikamaru, a blade came into Shikamaru's line of sight and it pushed the spear into the ground. The person holding the sowrd was someone Shikamaru would never thought to see.
"Sasuke?"
"Hmm, what is this? There are more of you?" the magnetic asked with joy. He wa quite happy to have more victims.
Before the magnetic-nin could throw anymore spears at Shikamaru or Sasuke, Shikamaru managed to throw a kunai at the magnetic-nin's bunshin, dispersing it. Then out of nowhere, Naruto came up behind the magnetic-nin and kicked him hard in the back, pushing him forward into his own chakra disrupting barrier.
"Damn it, there was a third one!" the magnetic-nin yelled.
Naruto and Sasuke walked over to the man as Sasuke pointed his sword at the magnetic-nin's throat.
"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded.
The magnetic-nin began laughin, "What does it matter? You caught me off guard and now I'm dead. Giving you people my name wouldn't do anything to help my situation. Besides, The Saints will find you and they will kill you all!"
"Who are these Saints?" asked Naruto.
"You'll find out soon enough, you won't be able to hide from them much longer," the magnetic-nin said arrogantly.
While Sasuke had the magnetic-nin distract with his questions, Shikamaru began observing the area. He didn't want to move while he had the spear embedded in his shoulder. He noticed something odd, there were four trees that could form a square. That was it, the seal was in disguise and Shikamaru was leaning down right next to one. He placed his hand on the tree and tried to pump chakra, it was enough to disperse the genjutsu exposing a kunai with a tag on it. Shikamaru grabbed a kunai of his own and stabbed the middle of the paper seal, it broke the barrier.
"Sasuke, the barrier is broken, kill him now!" Shikamaru yelled.
Before the magnetic-nin could do anything, Sasuke pumped his lightning into his blade and stabbed the magnetic-nin through the chest. The magnetic-nin yelled out in pain as Sasuke forced through more electricity. The screams finally stopped and Sasuke pulled his blade out and kicked the lifeless body of the magnetic-nin to the ground.
Naruto walked over to Shikamaru after he noticed the spear that went through his shoulder.
"Shikamaru, are you alright?"
"Never been better," Shikamaru replied sarcastically.
"We need to pull that spear out and bandage up the wound and get out of here before anymore of this guy's friends show up," Sasuke said.
"Ready for this Shikamaru?" asked Naruto. Shikamaru nodded.
Sasuke pulled the spear out of Shikamaru's shoulder. He yelled out in pain as it was pulled out. Blood began pouring out of the wound. Naruto grabbed a couple of rags out from his backpack and placed them on the wound, applying pressure. Sasuke grabbed the bandages Shikamaru had in his backpack and wrapped Shikamaru's shoulder with the rags still covering the wound.
"Can you walk?" Naruto asked.
"I think so," Shikamaru responded. He got up to try and take a step, his legs wobbled and then he was brought to his knees again.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled and a bunshin appeared.
"My bunshin will just carry you back so you can save your strength," Naruto said.
Sasuke saw a horde of Roamers coming towards them, the noise of their battle had drawn the horde to them.
"We need to get out of here, Roamers are coming," Sasuke said.
Shikamaru didn't protest as Naruto's bunshin picked the lazy-nin up. Naruto signaled Sasuke that was ready to go and they jumped into the trees to get out of the area as fast as they could.
The sun, which had nearly set, painted the sky with pink, orange and red. Ino walked outside the cave and emerged from behind the waterfall and walked over to the ledge looking toward the south. Naruto had been gone since early in the morning and now it was nearly night time and he still hadn't returned with Shikamaru. She knew she shouldn't be worrying so much because she didn't know how long it would take them to actually find Kotetsu if they could even find him at all. She was startled when someone she never dreamed of seeing again was her old crush Sasuke as he walked up the hill.
"S-Sasuke?" she stuttered.
"Hmn," was the sound that escaped Sasuke's mouth.
Naruto's bunshin, who had Shikamaru on his back, jumped down from the trees. Ino saw the bandage on Shikamaru's left shoulder.
"Shikamaru! Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said.
Ino was about to give Naruto a bone crushing hug, but he dispersed into smoke, revealing him to be a bunshin. The real Naruto was last to jump down from the trees and landed next to Shikamaru. Naruto was about to tell Ino to use some of her medical ninjutsu when he was basically tackled to the ground by Ino.
"Naruto, I'm so gald you're safe," she said into his chest, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.
Sasuke looked at the two and was very confused because the last time he saw Ino, she was drooling over him and he thought Naruto was very much in love with Sakura.
Naruto lifted Ino's head from his chest and wiped away her tears and leaned in and kissed her passionately as if he hadn't seen Ino in weeks.
"I love you," Ino whispered to Naruto.
"I love you too," Naruto whispered back.
Ino got up to allow Naruto to get back to his feet. The two walked over to Shikamaru and Naruto pulled off the bandages and moved the rags out of the way. The rag was soaked in blood but it seemed like the bleeding had slowed down.
"Ino, can you heal Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.
Ino nodded and gathered charka into he hands. Her hands began to glow in a green color and she placed them near Shikamaru's wound which began healing. After about twenty minutes, Shikamaru's wound was closed up. Naruto wrapped Shikamaru's shoulder to protect it while the remainder of the wound healed up naturally.
"Come on, we need to get inside before we get spotted," Sasuke said after Ino and Naruto finished tending to Shikamaru's injury.
"What? Why?" Ino asked.
"Come on, we'll explain inside," Naruto said.
Naruto walked into the cave, Ino beside him. Naruto had another bunshin help Shikamaru walk inside with Sasuke covering the rear. The first thing Naruto spotted was Hinata and Kiba.
"Kiba? Hinata? What are you guys doing here?" Naruto yelled.
Kiba and Hinata looked up, suprised to see Naruto.
"Naruto? Is that really you? I'm suprised you're not dead yet!" Kiba joked.
"N-Naruto-kun, I- I can't believe you're here," Hinata said quietly.
Hinata noticed Naruto holding Ino's hand and felt heartbroken.
"Am I just chop liver to you? You notice Kiba and Hinata, but not me?" Shino asked.
"Shino!" Naruto said nervously, "I, uh, well you see, uh..."
'Oh great, Shino is sulking again,' Kiba thought.
"Akamaru led us to them this morning, they were surrounded by Walkers," Ino said.
"What were you guys doing out there anyway?" asked Naruto.
"We were sent out on a recon mission to make sure to keep the Walkers away from the village. We were out there for at least a few days and when we returned to the village, the west wall had collapsed and the village was abandoned. We've been wondering out here for weeks trying to find anyone from the village," Kiba explained.
"N-Naruto-kun, you wouldn't k-know why the village is a-abandoned, would you?" Hinata asked.
"No I don't, we found it abandoned too and while we were there investigating, the village became overrun by Walkers," Naruto answered.
"Last question, where's Sakura and Sai and Kakashi-sensei? Ino said you would explain when you returned," Kiba said.
"I don't know where they are," Naruto began. "While we were on a mission in Kusagakure, we were attacked by a goup of Missing-nin we were supposed to dispose of. I was hit with a kunai laced with poison or something far more potent because I ended up slipping into a coma. When I woke up, I woke up alone and found the world like this."
"Damn dude, sorry to hear that man," Kiba said.
"Now that we have all our questions answered," Ino started and then turned to Naruto. "Why do you usher us into the cave in such a hurry for?"
"While I was returning from Kawa no Kuni to Hotaru Village, where I was getting supplies for an elderly woman and her grandsons, was attacked and burned down by a group called The Saints," Sasuke answered.
"One of those Saints people attacked me in the forest on my way back here," Shikamaru added.
"In order to protect ourselves from these bastards, we need to stay inside this cave," Naruto finished.
"What are we going to do about food?" Choji asked. "We only have a few scrolls of food sealed left and we fish in the water pool outside!"
Naruto smirked, "I got that covered."
Naruto created a kage bunshin and then the bunshin transformed into a bear.
"My kage bunshin will use this disguise to catch fish for us during the day," Naruto finished.
"So we are stuck inside this cave for the rest of our lives then?" Kiba asked and Naruto tried to answer but was beaten to the punch.
"I am making it my mission to find their hideout," Sasuke answered. "Once I do, I'll return and we'll all go and take them down."
"Sasuke, it's too dangerous..." Naruto started but didn't finish.
"You and me are the only one's capable of doing this mission but you need to stay here and protect everyone here," Sasuke continued. "I'll look for their hideout and when I return, we'll make plans to attack them."
Naruto understood, his duty was proteceting the group and Sasuke was the only one that wasn't tied down to the group and able to search.
"So no Kiba, we won't be stuck inside forever. We're just tied down until Sasuke gets back," Naruto said to Kiba.
Sasuke walked to the cave enterance and looked to the left side of the waterfall. He didn't see any sunlight which meant the sun had finally set. Naruto walked over to Sasuke alone and knew Sasuke was about to leave.
"I'll only travel at night and I'll stay well hidden during the day. I don't know how long it's going to take me to find their hideout but I will be back with that information as soon as I can," Sasuke said.
"When you do, we'll be ready for the attack," Naruto said.
Sasuke nodded and left. Naruto walked back into the cave where they began cooking fish Choji and Kiba had caught earlier in the evening. Naruto grabbed a stick with fresh cooked fish and sat down where he and Ino had been sleeping. Ino sat next to him and they ate in silence. Once they finished eating, Ino was the one to break the silence.
"I know I shouldn't have been worried about you, but I had been all day," she said.
Naruto looked into her eyes and smiled, "Well you don't need to worry anymore, I won't be leaving like that again."
"Good," Ino said.
The two stared into each other's eyes and slowly got closer to each other until they kissed. Hinata, who was staring at Naruto in the background, watched the two share a long kiss. A tear formed in her eyes and fell and felt her heart break even more. Once Naruto and Ino broke the kiss, Naruto's face turned serious which Ino noticed right away.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Shikamaru and my bunshin found Kotetsu," said Naruto.
"Bunshin? why did you have a kage bunshin with Shikamaru?" Ino asked.
"The real me saw someone in a black cloak heading here so I followed that person until I found out it was Sasuke," Naruto replied. "But Shikamaru and my bunshin found Kotetsu as a Walker."
"A Walker? So he survived his injury and ended up getting bit?" Ino asked.
"No, Kotetsu had no signs of being bit. He only had the wound in his stomach," Naruto explained.
"That's not possible though!" Ino protested. She covered her mouth when everyone in the cave looked up at her. "Sorry!"
"You only turn if you get bit, how is that possible?" Ino asked, whispering.
"Shikamaru couldn't understand it either and now he believes there's something bigger going on and we just don't know it yet," Naruto said.
"When are you going to tell everyone?" Ino asked.
"We're not," Naruto answered. "Shikamaru decided we couldn't risk telling you and Choji about it because we didn't want to worry you guys. Of course that was before we knew Kiba, Hinata and Shino were here too."
"Yeah, I understand," Ino said.
"Let's get some sleep," Naruto said.
Ino nodded and both of them lied down on their blanket. Ino rested her head on Naruto's chest as he wrapped his arm around her. Both closing their eyes to drift off to sleep.
The magnetic-nin's body lied motionless on the ground as the faint moonlight eluminated him. Four shadows jumped from the trees to his body. The darkness kept the figures from being identified.
"It's Kinzoku," a female said. Her voice was young
"I'm not surprised, he was a bit reckless," said a male, his voice deep and sounded old and wise.
"Who could of actually killed him?" asked another male, his voice was not as deep and kind of cracked like that of a teenager.
"It's obvious a ninja did this," said a second female voice, her voice was a bit raspy. "There's a wound in his chest that looks like a katana and the burn marks around the wound indicated whoever did this, had used a lightning-based jutsu."
"Let's go, we need to inform Father," said the older male.
The four shadows picked up Kinzoku's body and disappeared into the night.