The walking Shinobi Rewrite Chapter 24: the blood moon, a Naruto + Walking Dead Crossover fanfic

Lee POV

Lee's mind was in turmoil, a chaotic mix of thoughts and emotions swirling. Lily's confession had left him feeling uncomfortable and scared, yet strangely happy. It had been so long since he had felt love; it was a foreign and overwhelming sensation.

There was a long silence between them until Lily spoke again, expressing her care and love for him and Clementine. "I just want to say I love you, Lee," she said, smiling at him. Lee, feeling overwhelmed, simply walked out. He needed time to think.

He realized he still had to tell Travis and Ben his secret. His mind raced with questions. How would he tell them? And what about his feelings? Should he truly love Lily, or was it a mistake?

Lee entered the bathroom, splashing water on his face, trying to compose himself and sort through his jumbled thoughts. After a moment, he stood up, determined to deal with his priorities: telling his secret and leading the group.

Leaving his room, Lee headed towards Ben and Travis's room. As he reached for the doorknob, the door swung open.

Travis's POV

Travis woke up from his bed, having had another strange dream. It was probably the weirdest dream he had ever had. He saw two people fighting each other, but when he got closer, he immediately woke up. It was terrifying because he saw the entire area, which was destroyed, as well as seeing dead bodies. But every time he woke up, he just felt weird all over.

Travis looked to see if Ben was asleep, but it looked like he was up, as he heard the shower. Travis took off the coverings, and that's when he remembered his leg was gone. So he grabbed his prosthetic that Doug had made a few weeks ago, put it on, and buckled it up. It was good that he was able to stand now; he was able to contribute.

"Now maybe I should get some coffee to wake up. Yeah, that sounds good," Travis said to himself, walking towards the table that had a coffee maker. The table had covers, and they luckily stored some creamer and coffee beans. He got the bag of coffee beans and one cup of creamer, poured them both into the machine, and watched it produce the coffee, or the "wake-wake serum," as he called it. Ben thought it was stupid, but what did he know?

Before he could pour his coffee, he almost spilled it because he was surprised when he heard a knock on his door. He quickly put down the now-finished coffee and poured it into a mug that he found. This mug had a picture of an orange orb with a star in the middle, specifically four stars. He felt like he had seen this thing before, but he couldn't remember when.

He heard another knock on his door, this time harder. "Okay, I'm coming, I'm coming, don't get your panties in a bunch," Travis said, still trying to wake up. He sipped his cup of coffee; it was hot going down his throat. He grabbed the doorknob and unlocked the door. "I was Lee, sorry for bothering you. What can we talk about?" he asked.

"I want you and Ben to know something," Lee said urgently, his voice making Travis nervous. But he let Lee in, regardless of his nervousness. "I see you made coffee, can I have some?" Lee said, smiling. Travis just shrugged, "Yeah, sure, it's already finished, just need to pour." He quickly got another mug out and poured Lee some coffee. Lee nearly downed it, which surprised Travis.

That's when Ben came into the room, surprised to see Lee. "What are you doing here, Lee?" Ben asked, surprised. "It's good that you're here. I need to tell you both something, and it's important, so listen carefully," Lee said. Ben sat down right next to Travis, watching Lee, who was taking a few breaths in and out, looking like he had a lot on his mind. Travis talked to himself, still remembering the recent attack that happened not three days ago.

"I'm a convicted murderer, you two. That's what I did before," Lee said, ripping off the band-aid and putting the words out. Travis was going to drink his coffee, but when he heard that, he spat it all over the floor, getting some on Lee's shoe. "What? Wow, I don't know what to say," Ben said, shocked.

"There's nothing to say. Ben, can you explain a little more so we can understand better?" Travis asked, trying to get more information out of Lee. Lee just sighed, "All you need to know is a man slept with my wife, and I got angry. I think we all know what came after that," Lee said seriously.

"I see," Travis said. It would make sense; it did make sense in his mind. If he was in that situation, he'd probably do the same thing. He would hate to admit that, but that would be the truth. "I don't know what to say, Lee," Ben said. He could see the sadness on his friend's face.

"You don't need to say anything bad; it's in the past. I just wanted you guys to know. We're all a part of this group; we can't keep secrets from each other," Lee said, about to take his leave. Travis let him leave; he did have a lot to think about with what Lee told him. It was a lot to take in; he'd need to ruminate on it like he had been doing ever since he lost his leg. So this would be no different, probably.

Mark's POV

Mark had his rifle in hand and was walking through the forest. He and Doug were hunting, taking turns throughout the week. He didn't want to hunt today, but he knew when it was his turn, he had to do it. Maybe I'll finally catch something quickly and then get back to that sweet, sweet bed, he thought. He hadn't gotten much sleep lately and was exhausted. Despite all his complaining, he knew he needed to do this. He needed to put everyone else's needs before his own if they were going to thrive. Sure, he wanted to thrive more than anyone.

Before Mark could finish his internal monologue, he heard something crack beside him. He quickly dropped down into some bushes and saw a big buck, probably the largest deer he had ever seen. Mark readied his rifle and was about to go for a headshot when he was interrupted by a tremendous explosion. The bright light blurred his vision and made his ears ring. Of course, the buck ran away. Fortunately, he was on a hill and could see everything.

Mark was surprised to realize he was close to the Motor Inn, about 20 miles to the north. He was only about 5 miles away from the explosion site, so he quickly ran towards it, eager to investigate. Could this be Jackson's doing? He didn't remember Jackson being capable of creating huge explosions, but then again, he truly knew nothing about his old friend.

As Mark ran towards the site of the explosion, he saw flames everywhere. A tree almost fell on him, but he ducked and rolled out of the way. He then got up and kept running, his rifle in hand. He saw a huge crater, about one mile in diameter and probably a few feet deep. All the grass was burnt and charred. He saw a person in the middle of it and thought for a moment that it could be Doug, which made him panic. But then he heard a familiar yell to his left.

Doug came running over. "Holy shit, man! I thought that was you down there," Mark said, relieved.

"It could have been me if I was just a few miles closer to the blast," Doug said, nervous.

"Well, I guess I'm glad you're okay," Mark said. "Should we check it out, or should we go back?" he asked.

Doug paused. "There's a person down there, but we don't know if they're friendly or not. They could be hurt, though, just an innocent bystander. It's a risk."

"Fuck it, let's go in," Mark decided. He quickly walked down towards the crater. Doug grabbed something from his pocket and started collecting burnt rock samples in a plastic container.

"Hey, dude, what are you doing?" Mark asked.

"We can find out more about the blast from these samples. With my equipment back at my room, I'll be able to tell what type of weapon caused this," Doug said, putting the container back in his pocket.

Mark remembered that when they went back to the Air Force Base, they had given Doug some scientific equipment. It wasn't anything big, just some microscopes and small science equipment. Mark was curious about how Doug could use such limited equipment to determine the nature of the blast or weapon.

They finally got to the person, and Mark immediately knew it was a kid, a boy probably about 8 years old, the same age as Clementine. This terrified him. He quickly checked for a pulse, and luckily there was one. But the most disgusting thing he had ever seen was a strange burn symbol seared into the boy's flesh. When he touched the boy's neck, it was burning hot, like he was on fire with a fever, but it didn't make sense. At that temperature, it should have burned his insides.

"Doug, do you have a thermometer or something?" Mark asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Doug said. He grabbed a mouth thermometer from his pocket. Despite the boy's burning temperature, Mark quickly moved him onto his back. Doug put the thermometer in the boy's mouth, and it quickly reached the top of the scale. Doug looked at it, shocked.

"This boy's temperature is surpassing the thermometer's limit. He could easily be past 50°C, maybe even higher. The thermometer is melting in his mouth. We have to cool him down," Doug said.

Mark was stumped. He didn't know what to do, but luckily, or unluckily, it started raining, and it rained hard.

"Run!" Doug yelled.

Mark didn't think twice about it. They both ran as a huge steam explosion occurred. The cool rainwater meeting the extreme heat of the boy's body created a chain reaction. After the explosion, they saw the boy now looking more cooled off but still a little steamy. Mark quickly checked for a pulse and found that the boy's temperature was now just lukewarm.

"This gives us a chance. Let's go. We're not sure how long this rain will last," Mark said. They both started running back to the Motor Inn as quickly as possible. It was now midday, and they were getting closer to the Inn, still feeling the weight of the destruction behind them.

Naruto's POV

(Mindscape)

Naruto was enduring brutal training. Doxie's teaching methods were questionable, but the results spoke for themselves. When Doxie first told him he had to learn the basics of being a Shinobi, he laughed at her. However, now that he had mastered the basics, he appreciated his teacher's insistence. Ironically, Doxie, a beautiful woman with tremendous power who Shinobi tried to capture for their purposes, knew more about being a Shinobi than they did—or even he did. She was also a delightful person to be around.

Today, for example, they were drinking tea after a hard training session, and having a pleasant conversation. "So how old are you anyway?" Naruto asked, not used to the tea she kept giving him, and not wanting to know where she got it from.

"You are an idiot, aren't you? What man would ask a woman her age?" Doxie said, frowning at him and pretty angry, but she relaxed. She knew his antics by now. "Well, if you want to know, I'm exactly a thousand years old, give or take a few years. Of course, a thousand years ago, there wasn't even a calendar, let alone the exact date of my birth," Doxie said, smirking devilishly.

"Oh, is that so?" he replied, egging her on. The conversation continued like this, going back and forth for what felt like hours but was only ten seconds in the outside world.

"Do you think I'm done with the basics?" Naruto asked, eager to get to the cooler stuff.

Doxie sighed in tiredness. "Well, to my regret, you are unfortunately ready for more powerful techniques and jutsu. But we won't start until tomorrow. I want you to rest your body. I can't have you overwork yourself," Doxie said, concern in her voice. Her training methods were brutal, but she knew his body was just flesh and blood and would eventually break down. Unlike her, she was made of pure chakra, which is more durable than his flesh and blood body. "If that makes sense," Doxie explained.

Naruto knew she had a point. His body was aching, not painfully, but it was annoying. He knew he must rest, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong or already had gone wrong and they just didn't know it yet.

To get out of his mindscape, Naruto needed to leave Doxie's house. The front door marked the end of his mindscape. Before the young, rambunctious, and quite handsome ninja left, he gave his master and tenant, who was a pretty interesting person, a good old thumbs up and smile before leaving through the door.

Doxie smiled to herself, then frowned. She felt a dark presence every time he left like something was being replaced by something else each time he went inside the mindscape. Luckily, nothing happened when he was gone. Could there be another person in here? Doxie thought to herself. No, that can't be. Doxie dismissed her thoughts and stored them for later. She needed to put some maintenance in this place. This boy's mind was as dirty as, well, a preteen boy's could be.

Lee POV

Lee needed Carly's help more than ever now. The only person he hadn't told his secret to so far was Mark, and that was because he was on a hunting trip with Doug. Surprisingly, Doug was a pretty good hunter. When push came to shove, Doug always got stuff done. Lee also wanted to tell Carly who he had told, just to reassure himself that he made the right decision and to get her perspective on each person.

"Hey Carly, I told Kenny who I was before," Lee said, cutting to the chase.

"And how did he take it?" Carly asked.

"He was surprisingly cool with it. He was just worried about his family, but you know, that's just Kenny after all," Lee said, chuckling.

"That wasn't so hard, tough guy," Carly said sarcastically.

"After Kenny, I talked to Katjaa," Lee said, ignoring Carly's comment.

"How did she take it?" Carly asked, the anticipation evident in her voice.

"She was fine, I guess. She's more concerned about how different Kenny has been since the dairy," Lee said, sadness creeping into his voice. He didn't even want it to sound that way, but it just did without him meaning to.

"Because of the St. Johns? What exactly did happen at that meat locker?" Carly then asked, making Lee frown. How many times had he had to explain this?

"Oh, don't you start," Lee warned, not wanting to tell the same story again. It would probably have the same result: nothing. It just felt pointless at this point, and to be honest, she was probably better off not knowing—or at least, that's what Lee told himself.

"I talked to Clementine about things," Lee said.

"How do you think she took it?" Carly asked, forgetting their last conversation had never even happened.

"I don't know. She's tough to read," Lee said, having doubts in his mind. Maybe Clementine did think he was a monster and just didn't want to say it out loud. It was like Carly immediately knew what he was thinking because she then softened her eyes.

"She adores you. Don't worry about it," Carly said reassuringly. It did calm him down; all those thoughts quickly went away.

"I then told Naruto after that," Lee said, smiling to himself.

"Let me guess. He said to shove it, that it doesn't matter who you are, it's whatever you do that matters or something like that?" Carly said.

"You were actually pretty close to the money on that one," Lee said, smiling. "I also told Ben and Travis," Lee said, hesitance in his voice.

Carly was also hesitant about it. "I can understand Travis, but Ben too? Interesting. Well, you can do whatever you want; it's your secret. But I guess it is good that they know who you are. It might create a bigger bond between you and the boys—something that might never be broken. Or nothing happens either," Carly said, liking to mess with Lee, and he knew this. He let it happen.

"I just thought it was a low-risk thing or something like that. Plus, after what Ben and Travis did during the dairy, I think they are true members of this group. So that's why I did it," Lee said.

Carly nodded. "Makes sense. Who else did you tell?" Carly asked, more interested than she was a few minutes ago.

"The only people I haven't told are Mark and Emily. The reasons why I didn't tell them are way different," Lee said, knowing he didn't need to elaborate for Carly to understand what he meant.

"Maybe you should tell the girl. Her family are a bunch of murderers, so she probably won't think any less of you than your family probably," Carly suggested.

"Maybe you're right. I think I'll talk to her after Mark," Lee planned out, making Carly amused.

There was a long pause, and Lee knew this entire conversation made him forget about Lily and what her confession meant to him. But he wasn't sure if the feelings he was experiencing were right, so maybe he should get Carly's advice.

"So, Carly, when I was going to tell Lily my secret, she told a secret of her own to me," Lee said with hesitance in his voice. He then put both of his forearms onto the metal rail, leaning on his arms and running his hands through his face, making Carly feel concerned.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense, Lee. Tell me what's on your mind," she asked, trying to help as best as she could.

"She confessed her love to me, and I don't know what to do. I feel love for her too, but it's been so long since the murder that I don't think I should love somebody else, if that makes sense," Lee said, cramming all the information onto Carly. She processed all of this information.

"Lee, listen, that is crazy. Do you love Lily?" Carly asked.

Lee had to think about it for a moment. "I do. There's a part of me that doesn't want to admit it, but it gets consumed by the other part that says I do," he explained.

"Well then, it's a no-brainer. Consider your feelings. Life's too short, especially these days. Plus, have some fun. You don't have to always be the leader. That's why you have me, Mark, and others to help you," Carly said, trying her best to help. Her efforts were working. He saw what Carly was talking about. She was completely right. He felt guilty after running away. He wouldn't make the same mistake again, he promised that. He would confess his feelings to her, even if it was the last thing he did.

And those last words popped into his mind as if some god heard his words and had a bone to pick with him because before Lee could get down the stairs, there was a huge earth-shaking explosion. It was like an earthquake. Everything at the Motor Inn was shaking. Everyone fell on their asses, causing a huge commotion.

"Holy shit, what was that?" Lee said. He then lost his balance and fell down the stairs. He cut his head open, but it wasn't too deep, just a little gash on his face. He quickly got up. Luckily, he didn't break anything. The worst he had was a sprained arm, basically his pointer finger. He could see everyone was coming out of their rooms, and now there was a huge meeting of them all. Lee knew he had to take charge. His secret and his relationship problems could be on the back burner for now. He needed to deal with this first, and that's what he was going to do.