Chapter 17: Scared No Longer

The sound of dirt being moved echoed around Naruto as he threw dirt into a hole. At the front of the hole was a cross made out of small tree branches was placed and etched into the cross was the name of Yamanaka Ino. Naruto continued to silently move dirt from a pile into the grave. The attack by Father and The Saints fresh on his mind. Naruto went over the situation over and over again in his head hoping to find any way he could have changed the outcome.

While Naruto was deep in t hought, he didn't realize Shikamaru had walked up and grabbed a shovel to help Naruto fill the grave. When Naruto realized Shikamaru was helping, he looked at him.

"I don't need any help," Naruto said coldly.

"I'm helping you anway," Shikamaru responded.

"I don't need any help!" Naruto said sternly, growing angry.

"Damn it Naruto, you don't think I'm no uspet?" asked Shikamaru. "She was my teammate; she was like an annoying sister to me..."

"Please just shut up," Naruto said. "If you're going to help then go ahead but just shut up."

Shikamaru stopped talking and just shoveled dirt into the grave.

Up on the hill by the water pool, Kiba, Hinata and Choji looked around the destroyed cave to salvage any of their belongings that may have survived.

"Since Naruto destroyed our shelter, where are we going to go now?" asked Kiba. "It's not like we can stay here anymore."

"W-why don't w-we ask N-Naruto-kun when h-he gets back?" Hinata suggested.

"I really don't think Naruto is in a good talking mood right now," Choji answered. "He's sad, angry, frustrated and guilty. It's a bad mix of emotions for him right now."

"P-poor Naruto-kun," Hinata said to herself.

Naruto fell to the ground, throwing the shovel aside. Shikamaru sat down next to him and eventually laid back. He stared at the clouds as they slowly moved across the sky; it was something he hadn't done since the end of the world came.

"All this shit we've been through has been so troublesome," Shikamaru spoke. "I can't remember the last time I could just lie here and watch the clouds go by."

Naruto didn't respond to Shikamaru's statement; he just stared at Ino's name etched in the wooden cross that marked her grave. That moment when the kunai sliced open her throat, it was playing over and over in his head like a movie. So many what if's surrounded the situation at hand.

"You're supposed to be the advisor after you gave leadership of the group to me, right?" Naruto asked. "When that sick bastard kept asking me to denounce my loyalty to Konoha and join them, why the fuck did you stop me and try to diffuse the situation, huh?"

Shikamaru was taken by surprise by Naruto's questions. He thought about it but couldn't come up with a solid answer.

"Why didn't you help me?" Naruto asked, now yelling. "Why did you let me make a fool out of myself and piss that bastard off?"

"Naruto, I..."

"If you helped me as my advisor, maybe Ino would still be alive and not in this fucking grave!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the freshly dug grave.

Naruto got up from where he was sitting and walked toward the hill. If this was any other time, Shikamaru would punch the shit out of Naruto for his outburst, but this time Naruto was grieving and he was right, why didn't he help Naruto from losing his cool and diffusing the situation with Father. If he had, it could very possible be Ino would still be alive.

Naruto reached the top of the hill and growled under his breath when he saw the rest of the group looking for anything salvagable in the rubble of the cave. He thought it would be empty so he could get away and clear his head.

"Yo Naruto, since you destroyed out shelter, where are we going to go now?" asked Kiba when he spotted Naruto.

"Leave me alone," Naruto answered and walked away.

"Come on Naruto, you can't expect us to stay here man, the cave is all..."

"Would you shut the fuck up and leave me alone?" Naruto yelled. "I'm not in the mood for your fucking questions right now."

"I told you that it wasn't a good idea to talk to him right now," Choji said.

"Yeah, whatever," Kiba responded.

Naruto didn't notice the sun was getting closer to setting. After his run in with Kiba, he had found himself in a tree nearby that was quiet. While he sat in this tree, nearly half the day, he shed tears, threw things out of anger and killed a couple of stray Walkers in an attempt to blow off some steam. Now he sat, his anger gone but his sadness and guilt for getting Ino killed returned and weight heavy on his heart. Suddenly he heard screams coming from the waterfall.

"That was Hinata," Naruto said to himself.

He stood up and jumped through the trees. As he got closer to the destroyed waterfall, he heard the grunting and groaning of Walkers.

'That doesn't sound good,'

When Naruto arrived to the waterfall, he found Hinata crying in Kiba's arms.

"What happened?" asked Naruto.

"Hinata was looking for some wood to start a fire when a Walker nearly bit her," Kiba answered, surprised to see Naruto in a better mood.

"Then all of a sudden, there was a bunch of them," Choji added.

Naruto could hear them and it did sound like there were a lot of them. Naruto walked over to the edge of the rocky hill and saw a horde of Walkers as far as he could see. They were trying to get up, but luckily for the group, the hill was a bit too steep for them to be able to walk up it. Naruto watched as they began surrounding the hill. He had never seen so many Walkers like this. It was an even bigger group then the one that made its way into Konoha.

"I think the blast of your jutsu to kill Father lured them here," Shikamaru said.

"We have to leave now, Shikamaru!" Choji said.

"Naruto, I'm sorry I didn't step in to help you with father," Shikamaru said. "You know why I handed you leadership of the group after I took off to find Kotetsu, right?"

"Not really," Naruto answered.

"Well like I said in the note I had left that you were handling this situation better than anyone else and because you came up with some better ideas than I had. Leading us to Konoha and then finding this place and you already wanted to go to Nami no Kuni because the protection of the ocean would keep us safe. So Naruto, I ask, what do you want to do now?"

'I didn't want to leave this place until Sasuke came back,' Naruto thought. 'Damn it, I have no choice.'

Without answering Shikamaru, Naruto went into Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and made a hand seal.

"Hey man, what are you doing?" Kiba asked.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled and thousands of Naruto bunshin came to life.

Again, ignoring Kiba, Naruto and his bunshin jumped into the sea of Walkers and began stabbing them in the head with kunai.

"He's fucking crazy!" yelled Kiba.

Shikamaru watched as Naruto and his bunshin killed Walker after Walker. As Naruto kept killing them, he noticed moere kept coming. This group was big and there was no way Naruto was going to be able to kill them all on his own. He'd eventually run out of chakra before killing them all. Shikamaru decided it was time to stop being afraid of Walkers.

"I think it's time we started fighting back," Shikamaru said.

"Fighting back? Are you kidding? These Walkers aren't like the undead army we faced in the Fourth Great Ninja War, these things are capable of just ganging up on you and ripping you apart, there is no way!" Kiba protested.

"Yeah, Kiba's right, I'm not going to make myself a meal for these Walkers," Choji added.

"Guys, we don't need to be afraid of Walkers anymore. For God's sake, we're shinobi from Konohagakure. With our abilities, we should be able to kill Walkers with ease," pleaded Shikamaru.

"You think we can?" asked Choji.

"I know we can," Shikamaru answered. "It's time to take back our home land!"

Shikamaru and Shino were the first into the fray to help Naruto. Shikamaru captured about eight of them in his Kagemane no Jutsu. He grabbed kunai out of his pocket, while the Walkers imitated his movements, but they had empty hands while Shino, feeling his bugs would be useless in this battle, just used his own kunai to kill Walkers.

Shikamaru threw the kunai, the walkers imitating this movement, and hit all eight of them in the head, killing them. Shikamaru then caught more in his Kagemane no Jutsu. Kiba and Choji watched as Shikamaru, Shino and Naruto continously killed Walkers from the enormous horde.

"Akamaru, come here!" Kiba called out.

Akamaru came out of hiding and ran to his master's side.

"I think it's time we join and help Shikamaru, Shino and Naruto out," Kiba said to Akamaru.

"Woof!" agreed Akamaru.

Kiba gave Akamaru a red food pill which turned Akamaru's fur red.

"Shikyaku no Jutsu!" Kiba yelled.

Chakra began emitting out of Kiba as his features turned more feral.

"Jujin Bunshin!" yelled Kiba and Akamaru transformed into a perfect copy of Kiba.

Kiba handed a kunai to Akamaru

"Alright buddy, use that kunai and aim for their heads, got it?" Kiba asked.

Akamaru growled in acknowledgement to his master. Kiba and Akamaru jumped into the fray and began killing Walkers. Choji and Hinata watched as they were still afraid of the Walkers. Choji specificaly watched as Kiba and Akamaru stabbed the heads of Walkers. He looked at Shikamaru who was using his shadows to capture and kill Walkers and there was Naruto and his bunshin, they were killing Walkers the fastest.

"Shikamaru's right, we can't be scared of these things anymore because if we stay scared, we'll never be able to return home," Choji said.

Choji walked to the edge of the hill and performed hand seals, "Baika no Jutsu!"

Choji expanded his body to be as tall as a sky scrapper. He began stomping down on Walkers with his large size, crushing their whole bodies which included their heads.

Hinata watched as everyone got brave and entered the horde of Walkers to kill them. Her knees shook as she wanted to help Naruto but was so frightened. She was nearly bitten earlier and now everyone was out there killing them. The bodies of Walkers were stacking up but there still seemed to be no end to them. Then she saw something that made her jump into action, a couple of Walkers were walking up behind the real Naruto. She knew it was the real one because she had been watching the real Naruto since he had jumped off the hill and began killing the Walkers.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and jumped into the fray. She quickly caught up to the Walkers that were about to bite into Naruto and she pushed chakra into their brains, which caused their brains to explode on the inside, killing them. Naruto looked back and saw what happened.

"Thanks Hinata, for having my back," Naruto said.

"Of course," Hinata said, smiling and blushing.

Sasuke jumped through trees as fast as he could. He was trying to make it back to the waterfall as quickly as we could. Five days in the wilderness and he managed to find what he was looking for. As he got closer to his destination, he came up to the massive horde of Walkers and they were all heading in the same direction. Sasuke climed up the tree to get a better look to see the waterfall Naruto and the rest of the group were sheltered and saw it destroyed and that all the Walkers were heading there.

"Naruto, what the hell happened over there?" Sasuke asked to himself. "I need to clear a path to that waterfall."

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and poured his lightning-natured chakra out of his body.

"Chidori Nagashi!" Sasuke yelled.

The current of electricity hit the ground and up through the Walkers into their brains where their heads exploded, killing the Walkers. He killed hundreds in one attack as he cleared his way to the waterfall and hoping Naruto was alright.

Sasuke continued pushing through the horde of Walkers as he inched his way to the waterfall. As he got closer, he could hear the group fighting them off. He especially heard Naruto, which meant that watever happened to the their waterfall shelter was an afterthought because it sounded like everyone was alright.

Naruto and his bunshin continued stricking down Walkers with kunai, stabbing them clearly in the head. However, Naruto could feel his body getting tired and soon he would be forced out of Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. Suddenly he heard it, the sound of birds chirping as all the Walkers heads in front of him exploded. When the bodies fell to the ground, Naruto saw Sasuke.

"Sasuke," Naruto said.

Naruto's Nine-Tails' Chakra cloak faded away and Naruto collapsed to the ground. Sasuke helped Naruto back up the hill. Everyone was exhausted and Sasuke looked around to find piles of bodies surrounding them and the destroyed waterfall.

"What happened here?" asked Sasuke.

"The Saints attacked us yesterday," Naruto replied. "I ended up destroying the cave to kill their leader who was some nut job that called himself Father."

"How many were there?" Sasuke asked.

"Eight altogether," Naruto replied.

"And where's Ino?" Sasuke asked but Naruto ignored the question.

"Did you find their hideout?" Naruto asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I found The Saints hideout," Sasuke answered.

"Where is it and how many are there?" asked Naruto.

"They're using Konoha's old prison as their base of operations," replied Sasuke. "From what I saw there were only fifteen."

"The Saints are just a bunch of prisoners then?" Shikamaru asked.

"They might be but I don't really know," Sasuke replied. "If they're not, then they're smart because it's a good place to keep Walkers out."

"You know exactly how to get there and fast, right?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, why?" Sasuke answered.

"We're going to kill them all so they don't hurt another innocent person again," Naruto stated.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Sasuke. "I know that's what I want."

"I have to, for Ino," replied Naruto. "The Saints, they killed her right in front of me."

Sasuke was at a loss for words. He wasn't expecting Naruto to tell him The Saints had killed Ino. Naruto wanted all The Saints dead and he was going to help Naruto do it, even if the rest of the group was not on board.

"If you guys don't want to join us for this, I understand. I'm not pressuring you to come with us to end The Saints," Naruto trailed off.

"No, I'm with you on this one," Shikamaru said. "This is for Ino and all the innocent lives they've taken before her and to make sure no other innocent lives are taken after Ino's."

"If Shino's in, I'm in," Kiba stated.

"I'll go, it could have been any of us that they killed yesterday," Shino said.

"Alright Akamaru, better get ready because we're in it too," Kiba said.

"Arf!" Akamaru barked.

"If Shikamar's going, then I am too," Choji said.

"I-I'll go too," Hinata said.

"Are you sure Hinata?" Naruto asked. "You don't have to go through with this if you don't want to."

"No, I'll fight with you," Hinata said with confidence, her slight stutter not present.

"Well Sasuke, looks like we're all on board to finish the war these bastards started with us," Naruto said. "Let's go!"

"Naruto, how about we let everyone rest before we head off to The Saints hideout," Sasuke said. "Did you forget you all just killed probably at least a thousand Walkers?"

Naruto began laughing nervously and rubbed the back of his head, "Oh right, I forgot about that."

Sasuke shook his head.

"Alright Sasuke, what's your battle plan then?" asked Naruto.

"We'll rest tonight and most of the day tomorrow. We'll head out in the late afternoon and we should make it to the prison from here before nightfall. Once we arrive, we'll wait in the trees until after dark and once things have quieted down in the prison, we'll strike," Sasuke explained.

"So tomorrow night, it'll be the last battle between us and The Saints, we all need to make sure we kill every last one," Shikamaru said.

Naruto turned to Hinata, she nodded her head as she looked more determined then ever. Naruto was surprised the determination she was radiating.

'Wow, is this really Hinata?'

Hinata blushed as Naruto's gaze was too much for her to take. Her love for him still hadn't gone away and it was probably stronger than ever.

"Get some rest Naruto, I'll need you at your full strength," Sasuke said.

"Right."

Naruto felt like he just fell asleep when he woke up to daylight. He looked over to his left with a smile but that smile faded when he realized Ino wasn't there. He clenched his fists, tonight was the night he made sure no one would get hurt by The Saints ever again. He took inventory of what he had, which wasn't much. He only had a few shuriken and two kunai left.

"I'm going to have to fight these people with just my jutsu alone," Naruto said to himself.

Everyone else in the group were also doing inventory on their ninja tools so they knew what they had exactly and not be wasteful when they attacked The Saints compound.

Naruto took it upon himself to check out the dead bodies of the eight Saints they piled up in the ruins of the cave. He looted their shuriken pouches and kunai holsters, moving the bodies. Most of them still slowly bleeding from the holes in their heads where the group stabbed in the head to keep them from turning.

"What is Naruto doing? Choji asked Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked up from counting his remaining kunai and watched for a moment. Shikamaru smirked and turned to Choji.

"He's using his head for once," replied Shikamaru.

"He's checking the dead bodies of The Saints for any weapons," Sasuke added since Choji still looked confused.

Naruto counted all the kunai and shuriken he had found on The Saints' bodies. He also found a kunai pouch full of smoke bombs with the chakra disrupter agents The Saints used against them.

"So what do we have here?" asked Sasuke.

"Twenty kunai and eight full pouches of shuriken," Naruto answered. "And one shuriken pouch of those smoke bombs they used against us."

"We can give everyone one full pouch of shuriken and we'll have one leftover to act as reserves," Sasuke said. "As far as the kunai go, only about six of us will get two while one will only get one, that's not good enough."

"What are we going to do?" asked Naruto.

"We could go back to Konoha and raid some of the weapon shops but that would take too long," answered Sasuke. "We would have to push back our attack on The Saints compound and I want to hit them before they realize Father isn't coming back."

"If they haven't already," Naruto said.

Shikamaru, who had been standing with Naruto and Sasuke and listened to their conversation decided to speak up.

"The Saints might have an armory," added Shikamaru.

Shikamaru began digging through his backpack and pulled out seven radio headsets. Naruto and Sasuke were surprised we had them.

"Before we we forced out of Konohagakure by Walkers, I found these and thought they might come in handy one day," Shikamaru said. "We found our situation."

"Shikamaru, are you and Choji comfortable being the ones to look for the armory?" asked Sasuke.

"Actually, I'm already ahead of you there Sasuke," Shikamaru said. "Me and Shino would be the prime candidates to find that armor since we won't have to use ninja tools to get around. Choji is my teammate and much rather have him with me to find the armory, but I believe he would be the most use on the battlefield with you guys."

"Shino, come here," Sasuke called out.

"Yes Sasuke, what do you need?" asked Shino as he walked up to the group.

"Are you okay with joining up with Shikamaru to look for an armory in The Saints compound?" asked Sasuke.

"I'll do whatever needs of me," Shino replied.

"Then the battle plan is settled. Naruto, me, Choji and Kiba will lead the main assault on the compound while Hinata will be our medic. After enough noise is stirred up by us, you and Shino sneak into the compound and try and locate an armory. Once you find it, radio in its location and we'll all fight our way there so we can stock up on weapons and finish the assault," Sasuke explained.

"Are you okay with this plan Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes," Naruto answered.

"Alright, I'm going to explain the plan to Kiba and Hinata," Sasuke said and walked to Kiba and Hinata.

"We should keep resting, we're going to need all our strength tonight," Naruto added.

After resting all morning and the early part of the afternoon, Sasuke gave the signal it was time to move. Everyone jumped into the trees, following Sasuke. Naruto was second behind Sasuke and clenched his fists. He was ready to wipe out The Saints once and for all.

'I will defeat these bastards for you Ino and all the innocent people they have killed since they've been around,' Naruto thought.

The group pushed through the afternoon until they reached a stone wall that surrounded what looked more like a castle than a prison. The group stopped and concealed themselves in the canopy and waited. Afternoon turned into evening and were just waiting for nightfall before making their move.

Shikamaru took out the radio sets he had shown everyone earlier and passed them out to the group and everyone put them on.

"Make sure you keep these on, once me and Shino find the armory and secure it, I'll radio in so we can resupply ourselves," Shikamaru whispered.

"Shh, I hear someone coming," Sasuke said.

The group went quiet as two people came walking underneath where they were hiding. It was a male and female and they were wearing white cloaks and what they were talking about confirmed they were Saints.

"I'm starting to get worried, Father and his Enforcers have been gone longer than usual," said the male.

"Well we have a lost a lot of people in the last few weeks, Father is probably trying really hard to convince whoever Hikari-san found and get them to repent," said the female.

The two continued their conversation but as they walked away, Naruto and his group could no longer understand what they were talking about.

"Sounds to me like we're doing this at the right time," Sasuke whispered to Naruto.

"Maybe we'll be done with this in no time," Naruto whispered back.

As darkness fell over the prison, Sasuke signaled everyone to get ready because their invasion of The Saints compound was about to begin. Slowly it got darker and darker until there wasn't anymore sunlight left. Sasuke decided to wait thirty more minutes and they would strike. Naruto was starting to get anxious but thirty minutes passed by quickly.

"I will let you know when I feel it is okay for you and Shino to infiltrate the compound to find their armory, got it?" said Sasuke.

"Loud and clear," replied Shikamaru.

"You ready?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"Yeah."

"Alright everyone, attack," whispered Naruto.

Shikamaru watched as Naruto and his assault group disappeared into the darkness.

"Are you alright?" Shino asked.

"Yeah, it's all just so troublesome," Shikamaru sighed.

Just want to take the time to thank everyone that's reviewed the story.