Yo!

What's up lads, it's your coolest mate demon-knight.

I'm back with another chapter and ready to deliver, so let's get our bums on gear, shall we?

Start:

Even before the start of the outbreak, this was a conversation that Shizuka had been meaning to have with Naruto.

A conversation that could wield answers, many answers, to questions that she held onto for more than two years.

But it never felt like the right time to broach Naruto for answers back then, not after the first time where he had locked her out and regressed into a state of silence for a few days when she had questioned him two months after they had started living together.

They just weren't as close during their first six months of knowing one another, much less in the first three months and not wanting him to push her away when they finally started making headways with their relationship and more importantly, his mental health, Shizuka had held off on asking any too personal or uncomfortable questions for her fellow blonde.

That course of action, or lack of action to be more precise, along with her constant and consistent attempts to be there for him no matter how much he had given her the cold shoulder, would in time slowly warm her up to him.

Soon enough, they had become close.

And wanting to maintain and even improve the strides in both Naruto's mental health and their friendship, Shizuka had put off her curiosity, both the normal and medical kind.

Many months later, practically more than a year and a half after they had first met, Shizuka knew undoubtedly that they were on the level of closeness where they could comfortably share the skeletons in their closet without it affecting any of them in a negative fashion.

But eighteen months of putting it off had squandered much of her curiosity, and the school nurse just contented herself with knowing that the how's and why's of Naruto landing in the hospital didn't matter and that she was just immensely grateful they met.

Was she curious? Of course. But for as much as she would have liked to know about his life prior to when they had first met, Shizuka had figured that there was no need to reopen past scars.

Better to just appreciate what they have now and to look forward, right?

But then seeing him and what he did to those horde of undead in the school lot…

Suddenly, her curiosity burned with a vengeance, and questions that she had always wanted to ask him, questions that always lingered in the back of her mind, demanded answers and though Shizuka didn't want to reopen any past wounds, her desire to know more about the young man who had stolen her heart was greater.

The long talk that she had been planning to have with Naruto prior to the apocalypse was more of him… looking at her butt. And even then it wasn't meant to be a serious conversation as truthfully, she enjoyed having his gaze on her.

Even if it was considered inappropriate because of the whole age thing.

Only after the display and a few hours of contemplation in the bus did she decide to discuss his past with him in their talk.

She even had it planned out how to start the conversation, had considered the kind of replies she would give, calculated and thought of possible answers and reactions he would give, and she went over the theoretical conversation five-ten times in her head.

Only to forget it all as she sat side by side with her most precious person, practically tongue-tied as she tried to figure out how to best broach the conversation about his past.

Considering they've been sitting in silence for five minutes, it showed how successful she was in determining a method.

His gaze burned hot and Shizuka shied away, inwardly gritting her teeth before she sighed out loud and decided to trust her heart. "Naruto-Kun."

"Yeah."

Turning to eye him, the school nurse gave the male blonde one of her most serious stares to date. "I want to know more about you. And we both know what I mean."

She couldn't tell what he was thinking as only a blank face looked back at her, an unpleasant reminder of when he was still in recovery.

Pushing through before she lost her nerve, Shizuka released her heart for him, hoping against hope that he'd soon do the same. "I know that it isn't comfortable for you and I know I have no right to question you about this as it is your life, your past, but…"

She looked down at her lap, fists clenched in a mixture of worry and frustration. "I want to know more about you." She stated quietly.

…

…

Sigh.

Looking up with wide eyes, cheeks flushed from embarrassment after the long wait, Shizuka couldn't help but feel the tug of inquisitiveness within her soul. "Naruto-Kun?"

"I will tell you everything." Happiness flo- "But it's a very long story, and I don't know if you'll believe me after you hear anything of what I tell you."

A hurt expression immediately made its way across Shizuka's features and Naruto quickly explained himself. "I don't mean that in a bad way, but more like… what I have tell you is something that you'd hear from a mad man or someone deranged, it's very far-fetched and pretty much unbelievable."

Brimming with new found understanding, Shizuka raised a palm before she comfortingly cupped the side of his face, a gentle yet confident smile tugging at her lips. "You can tell me anything and I will believe you."

"Even if I say I am an alien?" He asked her in a humor filled tone, unable to resist lighting the mood.

"Even if you say you are an alien." She repeatedly firmly before dropping her hand much to his inward disappointment.

"Well." Naruto smiled awkwardly. "I am, sort of, more in the sense that I'm not from here… from this earth."

Seeing the silent but expectant look on her face, the shinobi took that as a sign to continue. "You've obviously heard or read of those theories about how there are multiple universes or dimensions, I come from one of them, a world filled with a kind of power that everyone possesses since birth, known as chakra."

He shifted his gaze across the floor before releasing a hollow chuckle. "Sounds like the words of a crazy person, doesn't it?"

"I believe you."

"You do!?" He looked at her incredulously .

"Mhmm." She nodded, the expression on her face not betraying her words as she eyed him evenly. "I admit that there is a part of me that doubts you, but I know you Naruto-kun. You never lie to me whenever we talk about something serious. And I trust you, a lot."

"That's…" Saying he was touched was putting it lightly. "Good to know. Though I can imagine that some sort of proof would help my case."

She nodded, feeling a bit of guilt at her admission. "It would help, sorry Naruto-Kun, I do believe you because I trust you, as outlandish as what you revealed, but I-" "But seeing proof would help silence that small doubtful part of you."

"Yeah… I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's natural to be a little skeptical, as it is I'm grateful you believe despite how insane it sounds. My arrival in this world had damaged my chakra network beyond repair but I can still do this."

Eyebrows raised in curiosity, Shizuka watched as Naruto pulled out a combat knife, wondering what he'd do with it, only for her eyes to widen in shock as he slit his wrist with it. The blood spilling in waves from the cut. "What are you doing!?" She nearly yelled in horror of his action, just barely, barely keeping her voice down before she quickly stood up to grab some bandages.

"Wait." Naruto was perfectly calm as he grabbed her wrist, the mirror opposite of the nurse of the panicked nurse.

She tried to tug her forearm loose with no avail. "Don't tell me to wa-" "Look at this." He raised his wrist high for her to see and despite her feelings on the matter, she chose to heed his words, if reluctantly.

'What!?'

Was it her or was the cut emitting a little steam?

"I no longer have the ability to use chakra but because of my bloodline, us Uzumaki naturally have long-life spans, stronger bodies than the average human, and healing capabilities."

"…Healing capabilities?" Shizuka eventually questioned, having heard everything but finding herself transfixed with the steaming wound.

"Yeah, I unfortunately can't heal others, but I know someone from the same clan as me who could heal people by letting them bite her on her wrist, and we're talking about her healing people with extensive injuries that in this world would put people in hospitals for at least a few months."

Naruto shrugged. "As for me, I've been blessed with a strong healing factor, injuries that would go away after a few months would take only a couple of days for me, a week or two at most depending on how severe."

Thrown into such a state of bewilderment, there was nothing that Shizuka could offer for a response, only nodding with an admittedly dumb look on her face.

The cut was getting smaller.

"With the wound I gave myself and considering how long I've been talking, I estimate that I have another one to two minutes before this closes up and is good. So, what do you think?"

"Amazing."

Naruto blinked in surprise, of all the reactions he had expected, somehow this was the only one he failed to think of.

"Amazing." Shizuka repeated in awe before she diverted her attention to his eyes. "But I don't understand, if you possess such incredible healing abilities, shouldn't your body have already healed your… chakra you called it?" At his nod, she continued, "Your chakra network."

"Unfortunately no." He admitted, a small frown dancing at the edge of his lips. "I won't go into detail, maybe some other time, but what you need to understand is that getting transported from one dimension to another is a highly damaging process for the body, it's not something that should have happened in the first place and it was a miracle I survived at all."

"Add in the fact that I had been in an extremely lethal battle prior to me getting flung to this world and well… you saw how I looked in the hospital."

Gulping, Shizuka nodded emphatically. "I remember, no one including myself thought you would survive and such were the state of your injuries that even if you did, you would have been bedridden for at least two-three years."

"Pretty much, and that's where my healing factor came into play, rather than be in the hospital for two or three years as you said, it was only a couple of months instead. My chakra network had been damaged beyond repair during the travel and my injuries didn't help in the matter. Also heads up, my injury is fully healed."

A long glance at his forearm proved what Shizuka already knew to be true.

He grunted. "Coming back on topic, perhaps my chakra network could have healed, but it was impossible with my injuries back then and even without the injuries, the odds weren't in my favour. Not even close."

"I see…" Shizuka bowed her head in shame. "I'm sorry, Naruto-Kun."

"Hmm? What for?"

Moisture began to build in her eyes before she wiped them away with a hand and looked at her lap. "For making you think and talk about this, you lost your powers, your home, your family and friends, everything, and I made you recall it all. I'm sorry."

"Well, I'm not."

"W-What?" She whirled back to him in startlement. "But you lost everything!?"

Naruto smiled, a small uplift of the lip, and yet one that lacked its usual warmth. "Shizuka-Chan, you seem to be thinking I had a good life in my home world, but that wasn't the case."

It took a few seconds before the meaning of his words could sink in, but once it did, dread was among one of the first feelings to surge from within as her imagination kicked into overdrive.

"Don't worry, I probably made it sound more ominous than what it actually was." He chuckled before allowing himself to fall backward, back softly impacting the mattress.

"To put it simply, my parents died on the night I was born, so no family. I wasn't the most popular kid in my village too, combine the two and it meant my childhood wasn't the happiest. Now, friends… I made quite a few, so I miss them, but not all were great, one in particular, someone I once cared about, was responsible for this."

Removing the shirt on his person, Naruto pointed to the left side of his chest where a scar that baffled all the doctors that had seen it lay, doctors from both the elemental nation and this world, and one that never failed to stun Shizuka into silence.

A fist shaped scar just an inch above his heart and one that could be found on his back.

Words failed to describe just how horrified she was as she took it all in. His parents died when he was a toddler! People already judged him as a child! And his friend had done that to him!? "I-I, th- what? That's…"

Seeing her struggle to form sentences, Naruto figured he'd continue as he sat back up while dressing himself with his shirt.

"Now I did have some dreams that I had desperately wanted to achieve, so it sucked that I couldn't fulfill them, and yeah it sucks that I no longer have my powers, but I'm fine with all that. Sometimes you just gotta accept the hand you've been dealt with and make the most of it. That's life."

Still at a loss for words from the bomb he had dropped on her, Shizuka did the only thing she could think of that could help lessen the pain.

"Ooof?" Naruto's eyes widened in surprise before they softened.

The reason?

Shizuka burying her head in his chest and crying while at the same time wrapping her arms around him in the tightest hug to date.

Smiling, Naruto hugged her in turn while softly caressing her back, nearly laughing good naturedly at her trying her best to comfort him when she was the one in tears.

Still, he could really appreciate the thought, another reason from the long list of reasons for why he had fallen so hard in love with the kind-hearted nurse. "If you ask me, I'm happier here than I ever would be back in my world, and it's because of you, Shizuka-Chan."

The nearly imperceptible shift in head movement and the way her sniffles quieted down was a good indicator that she was listening.

"Yes there were people and dreams I cared about in my home world, that I still care about, but they never brought me the level of peace and comfort that you provided to me, all of them combined can only produce a mere fraction of the peace I feel that you effortlessly bring just by living."

He gently removed her from his chest so that she could peer into his eyes, to understand the depth of his confession and feelings. "I was terrified when I couldn't find you in school, the thought that something happened to you shook me to my core."

"Yeah…" Shizuka sniffed. "I know how you feel, I felt the same."

"Which was why." Naruto smiled brightly. "I just had to tell you that I love you when I got the chance, even if it was in a school bus of all places."

She snorted, a giggle erupting past her lips much to his delight. "I could think of worse places."

"True." He nodded sagely.

"Naruto-Kun, I-" "I don't expect a similar confession." Naruto gently interrupted while placing a finger to her lips. "I just wanted to let you know how I feel. I love you Shizuka Marikawa, and arriving in this world and falling for you was the best thing that could have ever happened to me."

His words summoned another round of barely suppressed tears and Shizuka found herself emotionally dazed, gaze unconsciously shifting to his lips before she slowly moved in, eyes closing as a feeling of intense desire enveloped her heart.

Recognizing her motion, Naruto grew surprised before a sense of hope and anticipation gripped him, leaning in just as slowly as he shut off the world with his eyes.

Bang!

They jolted away, startled before even more sounds of gunfire erupted.

"The hell?" Naruto shared a quick look with Shizuka, both in nonverbal agreement to continue their talk at a more appropriate time before they simultaneously got up and sprinted out of the room.

Their dash took them to the guest room and the pair barged in before they spotted Kohta on the balcony.

Knowing that he wouldn't shoot unless it was for a responsible reason, at least… that's what Naruto hoped after somewhat getting to know the gun expert, he and Shizuka calmly but swiftly approached the sniper before they stood alongside him.

"What's going on Gunner?" Naruto questioned as he looked past the balcony only for his eyes to widen in utter shock. "Holy shit!"

There were hundreds, possibly even past a thousand of those undead who roamed the streets, moaning and groaning as though not being able to quench their thirst for blood disappointed them.

As confident as he was in his current state, Naruto knew that there was no way he could walk out alive if he jumped into the hoard.

Hell, calling them a hoard didn't do justice to the sheer number of walking dead that were squeezed into the street.

Naruto didn't know how it was possible but somehow, the many hundreds of the undead had managed to fit in inside the tight corridor of the streets, compressed in such a way that only gray-skinned heads with crimson stained maws gazed back in the world.

"T-There are so many of them." Shizuka whispered in horror.

The rest of the crew or the aptly named 'Naruto squad' barged in and the shinobi furiously whirled to them and quieted them down with a strong look before turning back to the sniper. "Why have you shot a few rounds and alerted everyone to our position Gunner? I trust it was for a good reason."

"Yes Naruto-Taichou, look over there." Kohta whispered while pointing past a few houses down the street and heeding his words, the former shinobi narrowed his gaze in that direction and found it landing on a heavily displaced Takashi comforting a young girl and her puppy.

"Forgive me for drawing attention to this place but neither I nor Takashi wanted to abandon this girl, especially after she had just lost her father an-" "Say no more." Naruto firmly interrupted before nodding approvingly at the shorter man. "Forgetting her circumstances, there is simply no way we could just leave a child to die. You both did the right thing."

"Thank you Taichou, fortunately, I haven't needed to fire anymore shots since the noise from the bullets has distracted those things from them, but now the question is, how will they come to us safely?" Kohta gritted his teeth in worry.

Rei frowned worriedly as she noted the absence of one of their members. "Where is Takashi?"

"What is going on Uzumaki-Kun?" Kyoko inquired.

He ignored them as he focused on the stranded pair plus dog, his forehead creased in confusion before recognition washed over him, resulting in a large amused smirk to appear on his visage. "Well, well, it seems the rotten cheese burger isn't so rotten after all."

Grinning excitedly at the sight, Kohta laughed heartedly.

Not everyone shared their amusement.

Adjusting her glasses, Saya fixated the male pair with an angry frown. "Do you realize what you've done!? There is no way we can stay here any longer now."

Naruto rotated and locked eyes with the pinkette before he shifted his gaze over to Kyoka and Rei. "I'll explain everything later, but right now, we need to pick up Takashi and leave this place. Shizuka-Chan, get all the medical supplies here and stuff them inside the trunk of the Humvee."

"Got it!" Shizuka immediately left the room and the remaining four women eyed the troublesome blonde expectantly. "Kyoko-Chan, the key to the Humvee should be in the drawer beside the bed in the room me and Shizuka-Chan slept in, take it, start the Humvee, and be ready at a moment's notice for us to leave.

Nodding, Kyoko followed in the nurse's footsteps.

"Saeko-Chan, Annoying orange, take all the food and water that we can, along with anything that you deem would be important for survival, have it inside the Humvee asap.

"Leave it to us." Rei declared before she and the swordswomen left.

Looking over his shoulder and back, Naruto alternated his gaze between the pinkette and the gun expert. "Howler monkey, you will be responsible for taking all the weapons and ammunition into the car, and during all this, Kohta, continue to supervise Takashi and if need be, shoot more shots to help if they need it."

"And what will you do Taichou?"

An excited grin tugged at the blonde's lips. "A few of those eccentric cannibals have entered the front yard, I'm gonna take care of them and clear a path for the Humvee."

Luckily for them, only around eight of them had entered while the rest simply contented themselves with staying in the streets.

Knowing that they were only attracted to noise, the ex-shinobi figured he'd extend his greetings.

And he would make his entrance with style!

Whirling around, he suddenly jumped over the balcony rails and Naruto laughed as the startled yells of his teammate greeted his ears while he was falling down below.

Even without chakra, he was still stronger than the humans of this world, if he had to liken himself to someone, he would be somewhere between Captain America and Spider-man in terms of physicality.

Good movies they were.

But coming back on topic, a fall from that height wouldn't hurt him.

As it so happened, one of the numerous walkers who made it in looked up with a bloody snarl only for a boot to stomp on his face before his head met then splattered across the floor.

"Ouch, that doesn't look very pleasant." Naruto commented idly before he waved at the groaning masses of undead around him. "Yo, how's life?... or unlife? I guess?"

His easygoing attitude and him killing one of their own did not endear him to them.

In fact, they took it personally.

Combat knives now in hands, Naruto grinned cheekily as seven of the remaining undead lunged for him all at once, backpedaling while dodging only God knew how many flailing limbs.

Timing it perfectly, Naruto allowed an especially aggressive one to come for him before he stabbed the enthusiast in the head.

Six more to go.

Jumping to the side, not a sound heard as his shoes landed on the pavement, Naruto watched them continuing bumbling to where he had previously been, creeping up on them before he took care of the one furthest back.

His movements were swift, effective, and concise. As his second victim fell to the floor, he quickly killed another, reducing their number to a mere five before the remaining horde were finally alerted to the presence behind them.

Unfortunately for them, they weren't dealing with an everyday human, with unparalleled speed, Naruto sliced and diced, weaving through them before simply pocketing his knives.

"Well… it was sort of nice getting to know you, I think?"

Two seconds of silence and confusion passed before all five undead dropped to the floor.

He let loose a small grunt of disappointment before swiftly heading inside the complex and to the room that he and Shizuka had stayed in whenever they were here, taking all the required essentials before departing.

"Now to go check up on Gunner and the howler monkey."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Time-skip: Three minutes later.

Gulping as he walked on top of the wall, Takashi prayed to whatever deity was out there to help him as he carried Alice on his back with Zeke on the front.

By chance, he made the mistake of looking too downward and dread shot up his nerves as he lightly whimpered in fright.

Knowing that he couldn't stay rooted, he continued trekking through, mindful of the gray-skinned hands that lay on his path. Takashi didn't know if their sense of touch was dead, but what he did know was that he wasn't willing to find out right now.

The roars of a car engine suddenly ripped through the air, and much like the extremely fascinated cannibals, Takashi too looked up ahead only to grin at the sight. 'Alright! Now that's what I'm talking about!'

"Are they your friends?" Alice asked in a mixture of awe and curiosity.

Takashi grinned. "Sort of, they're very weird though."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Whoa! You have whiskers Onii-chan!"

Naruto laughed out loud. "I know. Pretty cool right?"

"Super cool." Alice agreed with star glittering eyes. "It's nice to meet you Neko Onii-Chan, I'm Alice!"

"And I'm Naruto." The former shinobi introduced himself before giving the young child a Might Guy like smile. "But Neko Onii-Chan works."

While he would have killed anyone who would have addressed him in such a way, Naruto supposed he could make an exception for her, he did have a soft spot for kids after the shitty childhood he had.

Saying everyone was smitten with Alice and the pup was putting it lightly, as Kyoko drove them through the streets, nearly everyone was chatting animatedly with the young girl or petting the newly named Zeke.

Even grumpy monkey (Saya) seemed to enjoy having the new additions in their group.

A small yawn escaped him, interrupting his thoughts and though he could have held on, the lulls of the dream world proved to be too enticing this time to ignore, causing him to slowly close his eyes as he greeted peaceful black.

End.

And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it.

I know it's not as exciting as the previous chapters but I figured I'd try get some of the reveal done with Naruto's past and origins to his soulmate.

Next chapter will pick it up and we will see more excitement before our group reaches the Takagi estate.

More Chapters are posted on my p.a.t.r.e.o.n Feel free to check it out lads, here's the link

www.#patr#eon.#com/Demon_Knight939 (Just remove all the hashtags)

Anyway, take care lads.

Peace.