FicWad

Dead Rising

Chapter 4

This... this was insane. People were dying everywhere. The armed guards stationed throughout the facility were getting overwhelmed and devoured by the zombies that were somehow set loose. The screams. Oh the screams. There were so, so many of them. The siren that was sounding off in the background sounded like it was being drowned out by the screams.

The second Naruto and the others heard the screams and the siren going off Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo immediately banded together and pressed themselves up against the door to keep it shut when zombies began bashing themselves against it in an attempt to get in the room. Naruto on the other hand was looking under the mattress of his bed for a makeshift weapon he had smuggled in weeks ago.

He pulled out four combat knifes from beneath the mattress; he was lucky enough to have gotten these from how tight security was lately. These were stolen from soldier's who were unlucky enough to have been bitten by zombies who went berserk during the months they started experimenting on them. No one commented on where the knifes went. They never paid attention to bodies for some strange reason.

Smiling grimly at the knifes Naruto stood up and turned halfway to look at the others who were trying, and failing to keep the door closed. Eyes narrowing Naruto turned around completely and made his way to the others.

“Takeo, Nikolai, Dempsey.” He called to them prompting them to turn around halfway while keeping their weight against the door. He held the combat knives out to them hilt first.“Take this, they'll make killing those fuckers easier.”

“Where'd you get those?” Dempsey asked in complete astonishment as he and the others took the knives from Naruto.

“Stole them. They do tend to forget with dead people trying to bite your own head off.” Naruto easily responded. It was pretty easy stealing when the person you took the knife from was already dead.

“Just so we're clear on this: does anyone know how to kill something that is already dead?” Dempsey asked as he wanted to know if anyone excluding himself knows how to kill something that is already dead.

“I have seen Germans shoot hell spawn in head. Maybe we stab them there they will die for good, no?” Nikolai answered before grunting in exertion when the door almost gave in on them.

“That is something I too have seen from these, disgracefur peopre.” Takeo said his thick Japanese accent replacing the L's with his R's in his sentence. He bared his teeth in frustration as he felt his feet slip against the floor. “When I get out of here I wirr send these herr demons back from wince they came!”

“And I'll help!” Naruto exclaimed as he joined in, on trying to keep the door closed. “And as for me knowing how to kill them? Yes. I know how to put them down. Shooting or stabbing them in the head seems to do the trick.”

The four of them tensed up and held their breath when they heard gunfire close by. The zombies on the other side of their door stopping banging against it and walked towards the sound. The group heard the zombies stumbling away while at the same time the gunfire got closer and closer before it cut off abruptly. The gunfire started up again followed by the deathly wails of the undead shortly after.

Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo and Naruto shared a look with one another before they cautiously opened the door enough for one of them to peek outside. When they saw that the coast was clear the door opened completely. Takeo cautiously leaned his head out of the doorway and looked in both directions.

“You see anything?” Dempsey whispered.

“The path is crear.” Takeo replied stoically. “This is our chance to arm ourserves against these demons.” With that said and done Takeo beckoned the others to follow him as he cautiously moved out of the room and into the corridor.

“Fucking hell...” Naruto heard Nikolai and Dempsey say lowly in shock.

The corridor looked something out of a horror. The walls were sprayed with fresh blood either from zombies who were gunned down, or by the soldiers and scientists who weren't lucky enough to escape from them. Piled together on the floor are bodies of zombies, soldier's and scientists with chunks of flesh spread across the ground around and among them.

There was a trail of blood that led outside to their left and and their right a trail of bloodied footprints led to a staircase. Naruto tore his eyes away from the disturbing scene and looked in both directions.

They now have a choice; if they went outside there is a chance they would find a survivor(s) to join up with. But the likelihood of them encountering zombies is increased and with them being armed with only combat knives they won't survive for long. If they went up the staircase there is a good chance they will run in to more zombies' and would be forced to fight them with only a knife to kill them with.

However they all have been taken through the entire facility enough times they were able to discover rooms that contained weapons. However since they have been injected with doses of Element 115 regularly remembering where these rooms are is going to be the difficult part.

Seeing as they needed weapons they all made their way to the staircase. It would be on their weapons search that they would have their fated encounter with the future antagonist Doctor Edward Richtofen and team up with him in an attempt to 'save' the world.

X.X.X.X

In the Land of Hot Water, the former Hidden Village Yugakure one hour later...

As the newly arrival Jiraiya walked through one of the many empty streets of Yugakure, he could not help but feel dismayed at the piss poor condition he found it in. Mould. Erosion. Decay and more. This is what he saw. The former Hidden Village was well known for its hot-springs and its sights. Not it was reduced to a shadow of its former self.

As he came to the bridge leading to the Land of Frost he saw the Kumo team he had detected a while ago appear on the opposite end.

He snorted in amusement; he was right about what he thought a little while back when he was still making his way here. The group that were heading to Yugakure did arrive around the same time as he did. He noted with a small amount of surprise that the largest chakra signature out of them all was one of Kumogakure's strongest Jonin and second Jinchuuriki, Yugito Nii.

“What the- Jiraiya of the Sannin?! What are you doing here?” Konon asked in surprise. It wasn't everyday you meet a legendary figure like the Toad Sage of Konohagakure. He was rarely seen nowadays ever since the undead came out of nowhere three years ago.

“I came here because I was close by when I picked up an unknown energy signature that was found twice in the Land of Waves.” He told them briefly while he surveyed his surroundings. “And seeing that you're here I'm going to take a guess and say you detected the unknown energy from the border between the land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost?” He asked them.

“We have.” Yugito answered honestly while her comrades shared a nervous look with one another. The man's appearance alone made them nervous. Seeing as he had personally trained the Fourth Hokage himself, and they knew the man in front of them was in a league of his own. “I'm going to guess that you too have detected the odd chakra signature as well?”

Jiraiya nodded in confirmation. He wasn't surprised they found out about the tainted chakra. He was surprised they weren't expecting him however as they should have known he was nearby the second he came within their field of range.

“Yes. I was originally on my way to help you defend the border to the Land of Frost from an undead army that recently appeared not to far from here. But when that energy appeared I had to delay my journey to investigate it. The chakra signature appeared not long after.” He informed them before he started looking around again for the location of the source of the chakra signature.

Yugito, Taiki, Juro, Kanon and Akira shared a look. An unspoken question being transmitted amongst them. A minute later they all nodded simultaneously, seemingly coming to an agreement with something before Yugito stepped forward.

“With the threat of the undead looming upon us we have a limited time to be here. I suggest that we join forces so the amount of time we waste searching is lessened.” The Jinchuuriki of the Two-Tailed cat offered.

Jiraiya stared at the woman contemplatively as he thought about the pros and cons of her offer.

On one hand teaming up with them would decrease the amount of time they waste searching the one time hidden village. Not to mention they would likely have more success in searching for this chakra signature together than separated.

On the other teaming up would give them a chance to back-stab him when he would least expect it. Konoha and Kumo, after three years of being allies, still have tensions between them. With the zombies running about killing everyone in their path, no one would think him going missing would be suspicious since people are being zombified by the hundreds every day.

Right now the Toad Sage didn't have much of a choice in concerning what he wanted and what he didn't want. They were both here for the same thing and with the threat of an undead army bearing down on them didn't leave them much of a choice. With that in mind he made his decision.

“The walking dead are a threat to everyone and everything in this world. And being that we are here searching for the same thing, and knowing there is an army of zombies bearing down on us, teaming up would be the ideal decision. I will accept your suggestion to join forces.”

Yugito and the others looked relieved to hear that. “Do you know what we're looking for?” Taiki asked Jiraiya.

“Unfortunately not.” The man replied. “The chakra signature is close by but something is keeping me from knowing the exact location.”

“We're having the same problem. We know the person that owns the chakra is here within close proximity to us.”

While the ninja were busy discussing on how to proceed they didn't know they were currently being watched. Dempsey was peeking out from the window on the top floor of the building he and the others had taken shelter in. From where he was right now he had a good overall view on them. Ans while they were talking loud, the distance and the wind made hearing what they were saying a little difficult. Not to mention they were to far to read lips.

It was annoying for him. Because during the few hours he and the others were here, they were laying down some traps in advanced preparation for the zombies 'eventual arrival. But because of these ass-hats coming out of nowhere they would risk setting them off! Not to mention from what little he heard from them – thank god for them speaking English – they were here looking for someone who had a 'chakra signature'.

While he may not know much about chakra in general Tank Dempsey knew that Naruto is the only person in the entire group that is able to use chakra. And if that was the case, these people would be able to find out where he is if he stays in one place for too long. Fighting them was an option, but with Naruto telling him the ninjas here are capable of defying logic that was out of the window. Not to mention Takeo and Nikolai are at the moment somewhere else in this place, setting down traps in strategic positions where they would deal the enemy the most losses.

And this left him alone with Naruto and Samantha who were busy memorising the building so they would know where the quickest exit is when shit hits the fan. If these people were looking for Naruto then there is a good chance they would be looking for himself, Takeo, Nikolai and Samantha purely by association.

If they happen to be hostile and attack, well, he'll do his dammed best to make sure that would be the last thing they do.

“Dempsey? What's going on out there?” Said man quickly raised a hand to silence Naruto before he's alert the people outside to their position. Without turning around he gestured the teenage boy to come beside him.

Narrowing his eyes in confusion Naruto did as Dempsey asked of him and went to his side. He quickly took cover underneath the windowsill when he saw people outside next to the bridge. Taking a deep breath to calm himself the whisker face teen leaned up so he could peek outside.

“Who are they?” Naruto asked in a quiet whisper.

“How the heck am I meant to know? I never seen the six of them before in my life.” Was Dempsey's rhetorical response. He turned his head to the right far enough so he could see Naruto from the corner of his eye, while keeping the people outside within his field of view.

“I think they're looking for you though.”

“What?! Why would they be looking for me?!” Naruto asked in a harsh whisper.

“I think it's because they somehow found out we're here.” Dempsey replied in a dry tone as he returned his full gaze on the people outside. “I heard them talk about detecting a 'chakra signature' or some shit. And out of the entire group' you're the only one who can use this chakra thing they happen to be talking about.”

“So what's the plan?” Naruto asked after a moment of silence. If these people could detect chakra then they can track him down no matter where he is. That can't happen.

“We need to find out what their intentions are. Since they happen to be looking for the energy thing you can use, you will have to be the one that approaches them.”

“What?! Why me?!” Naruto demanded in protest.

“Because you're the only person in this group who is able to use what they're tracking moron.” Dempsey bluntly stated in a no nonsense tone. When he saw Naruto about to protest again, he growled in annoyance with the boys stubbornness and quickly added, “You're smarter than this for crying out loud! What do you think is going to happen if Takeo, Samantha, or god-forbid Nikolai or myself go out there?”

Naruto thought on this and not a second later he went pale in the face. If they can track chakra then any one except him going out there would be at risk. They might come to a hasty conclusion that Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai and Samantha are new zombie types or something.

It unlikely that will happen but, you know what they say, human stupidity knows no bounds. What's worse Nikolai and Takeo are still out there somewhere setting traps for the approaching zombies.

“Oh crap.” He muttered after he looked out of the window.

“Oh crap, is right kiddo. Since you barely remember anything about this world we don't know if they need this chakra shit to live or not.”

“No, not that kind of 'Oh crap!' Tank!” Naruto replied in a harsh whisper before he pointed outside in a frantic manner. “I mean, 'Oh crap, they're not out there anymore'!” He added conclusively; and

Dempsey blinked as the words slowly registered in his head before he snapped his head in the direction of the window hastily. “Shit! They were just there a second ago!”

“No, more like a minute ago.”

“...Naruto, don't be a smart ass.”

They knelt there behind the windowsill while keeping their breathing rate as low as possible so they are able to hear where they've gone to. Minutes went by and they heard nothing apart from their own steady breathing. It was like they weren't even there in the first place.

“So...” Naruto began, breaking the tense silence, while shifting on his knee to move to a more comfortable position. “...am I still going out there?” He asked as he glanced at Dempsey uncertainly. He did not want to go out in the open where he is open for an attack.

Dempsey nodded his head in confirmation. “Yep, you're still going out. My gut tells me their still out there somewhere. And if my hunch is right, then they'll be closer to us than we think.”

As much as he didn't want to go out there he knew he had little choice no matter what he said or did. If he choose to stay then Tank Dempsey would kick his ass in gear and shove him out in the open. He did that several times in Shi No Numa when he was to tired to move. But when he collapsed the second they made it to one of the huts, that made them walk through a swamp they were forced to take it easy until he had gotten his strength back.

Richtofen the psychopathic prick that he is, said he didn't like having 'liabilities' and threatened to leave him to the walking corpses as bait. Suffice to say everyone turned their guns on the mad doctor as if to dare him to push his luck.

“Alright, Tank. I'll get my assault rifle and go outside.” He sighed out in reluctance before going off to do just that. “Hopefully these so called 'ninja' won't attack me on sight.” He murmured under his breath as he made his way to the M-16 assault rifle he had placed next to the doorway before making his way out of the room and down the stairs.

He had to make this quick. While he couldn't hear anything the zombies were going to be here any moment now. And knowing Takeo and Nikolai, the explosions they obtained by two of the weapon outlines – the M18 Claymore Mine and the S-mine also known as 'Bouncing Betties' – spread across the village would be placed in spots where the zombies would be likely to funnel in the most. Which to be honest was practically anywhere and everywhere. Nevertheless both these mines would be used to alert them to the presence of the zombies and kill them at the same time. It was killing two birds with one stone.

Entering the front room Naruto immediately noticed that the front door was barricaded by the bookcase. Nikolai and Takeo worked together on throwing the door that blocked them from doing so, literally out of the building. The windows were bordered up from the outside with planks. Suffice to say Samantha was able to provide them with some help, even in her exhausted state when it came to keeping zombies out of the building. She literally materialised planks out of thin air and set put them on windows of every building on the ground floor. Samantha thought the look on their faces was priceless. She had a good laugh at their expense.

Sighing a little nervously to himself Naruto made his way to the back door. These chakra users are far more experienced than he is. He did not know they could trace it; and while they did not know the exact location he was at – which was a blessing – he couldn't use his chakra ability to trace them back as he had no idea on how to do that.

He could train himself on how to do it, or get someone else to train him and to do that he would have to go to any of the five major hidden villages. But lets face it; there was no way in hell he was going to tie himself to any of them. With what little he remembers, they aren't that all advanced, and knowing how militaristic they are they would likely stop at nothing to reverse engineer or possibly replicate these weapons once they manage to get their greedy little hands on them.

He won't put it past him if these morons tried to use his team as leverage. Which is why he will not trust any of them and would keep them at arms length.

Making his way out of the back door Naruto raised his assault rifle so he would be ready to fire at a moments notice. Quickly scanning his surroundings including the rooftops, Naruto cautiously made his way to the front of the building as he kept an eye on everything around him. With chakra allowing them to do supernatural and inhuman feats these people could be anywhere. Including the rooftops. Dempsey with Samantha with him should be safe where he is. Samantha is far beyond these so called 'ninja', she would be able to take care of any of them before they could blink if they try to pull a fast one on him. Then again his assault rifle fires small projectiles that goes faster than the eye can see. He would be able to cut them down if they do try to pull one on him.

Though he hopes they aren't smart enough to put him in a choke hold from behind. He wouldn't be able to defend himself from that.

After several minutes of walking and taking several turns, and having the feeling of being watched Naruto eventually came to the fence that Dempsey kicked down and walked out in the open with his rifle raised in front of him. Stopping near a few inches away from a railing that kept people from falling down the steep cliff, Naruto lowered his rifle a little so the barrel was facing the ground and straightened as he looked around for the ninja.

They were close by. Watching him from some place he wouldn't be able to see them. He could feel it. After taking another scan of his surroundings, and coming up with nothing, Naruto tutted when he still couldn't find anyone. Scowling visibly and feeling uncomfortable at the thought of being watched Naruto decided to go for the direct approach.

“I know your here!” The blonde loudly called out his voice echoing. “I saw you! Come out, before I make you!”

For a moment Naruto thought he felt the wind suddenly pick up behind him. “Jeez, kid, calm down would 'ya?” A rough masculine said to the left of the teen. “I'm right here. No need to get violent.” Upon hearing this unknown man speak all of a sudden behind him Naruto quickly spun on his feet, bringing up his assault rifle to aim at the person that had somehow snuck up on him with his knowing.

Naruto lowered his weapon slightly when he took in the man’s appearance. He is a tall man with waist-length, spiky white hair tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs framing both sides of his face. He also had red lines that ran down from his eyes and wore a horned forehead protector that had a kanji for 'Oil' engraved on it. He also has a noticeable wart on the left side of his nose. Jiraiya wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which he wore mesh armour that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit was completed with hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese geta, a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a scroll on his back.

All in all, the man was weird and frickin' awesome looking at the same time. Seeing him for the first time Naruto was getting déjà vu vibes just from looking at him. He felt like he knew the man somehow, but for the life of him he could not remember. Similar to the Wave Village.

X.X.X.X

Jiraiya while he kept his cool on the surface was inwardly having something of a panic attack. When he saw the teen stepping out of the building and got a really good look at him thought he had almost went in catatonic shock. While he dressed and acted differently, the teen looked like an older and mature Naruto. He had the eyes the whisker marks and the same spiky hair.

The Kumo ninja were just as shocked as the Toad Sage. To them the teen looked like a miniature Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash and the late Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure. Both the Kumo ninja and Jiraiya had almost managed to confirm where the chakra signature was emitting from. Jiraiya knew who the boy was, and thankfully the Kumo ninja were still clueless on the boys parentage. Unsurprisingly they found the chakra signature they were tracking to be moving exactly where the boy was moving.

They saw him moving through the many alleyways of Yugakure, while keeping an eye on his surroundings for any activity before making his way to the open. Next to the bridge where they were previously in fact.

They watched as the teen lowered the odd looking launcher in his hands, and straightened himself as he took another scan of his surroundings. After a minute the teen scowled visibly before calling out in a loud demanding voice; “I know your here! I saw you! Come out, before I make you!”

Seeing the Naruto look alike call out to them in a demanding tone. Jiraiya made a quick second decision. He had to know if that teenager was actually his godson. To the shock of the Kumo ninja the Toad Sage wordlessly body flickered down off the roof and on the ground a few yards to the boys left.

“Jeez, kid, calm down would 'ya? I'm right here. No need to get violent.” Jiraiya told the teen in a placating manner after he appeared on the ground next to the Naruto lookalike.

Jiraiya quickly raised his arms in a non-threatening manner, when the teen swiftly turned on the soles of his feet, while raising the advanced looking kunai launcher at him. The boy lowered his weapon slightly as he gave him a full body look over. While the boy did that Jiraiya did his own examination on the boys appearance.

On his upper boy the teenage boy wore a light green jacket, with the sleeves rolled up to show off his bare arms. Underneath the jacket he wore a short sleeved low-cut black shirt. Clipped around his shoulder was a hand arm holster containing an engraved M1911 that had a silver cameo on it. The hand arm holster itself was located at the right side of his waist for easy access. For his lower body the teen wore olive coloured trousers, and a pair black boots dirtied with mud and the dried blood of zombies. Strapped around his waistline was a belt with two medium sized pouches on it.

“Those are most likely containing projectiles like kunai or shuriken.” Jiraiya incorrectly stated under his breath incoherently. Not knowing those pouches contained magazines for Naruto's M-16 assault rifle and M1911.

He was what Naruto would've looked like when he was older. He had the same coloured eyes as his godson although they were dulled than he remembered. The three whisker marks are there on both his cheeks. But that was where the comparison ended. He was calm and in control of himself while the Naruto he knew was brash and exuberant.

Jiraiya was taken out of his thoughts when the boy started with squinted eyes. “You... you look familiar.” The boy slowly said with squinted eyes much to his shock. “I think I saw you somewhere before. But I can't quite remember. I think I saw you at a place that had a lot of steam.”

Jiraiya stared at the boy with wide eyes. While the boy admitted he doesn't quite remember, what he said almost confirmed his identity for him. Those last words at the end no one else, apart from his late teacher knew he had met and trained with Naruto for the first time at Konoha's Hot Springs.

But he had to know. “What's your name?” He asked while he slowly made his way over to the teenager. He immediately stopped moving and raised his hands when the teenager raised his weapon at him.

“Don't. Move.” Naruto firmly told the man with a fierce stare.

“Ok. Ok, no need to get violent kid.” Jiraiya said calmly before he slowly lowered his arms. “I just wanted to know your name is all.” He added after his arms were at his sides.

“Why do you want to know my name?” Naruto demanded hotly.

“Because you said I looked familiar to you, and, you have claimed to have seen me before.” He told the teen. “And for me you look exactly what someone I knew three years ago would appear if he wasn't missing now. Not to mention your chakra signature is very familiar.”

Naruto stared hard at the man; the déjà vu vibes from before acting up again. Then he winced as he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. And just like that he remembered who this man is. Jiraiya a perverted man who happens to be a living breathing legend in the Elemental Nations, whose origins come from Konohagakure. He had found the man peaking at women from behind a fence in a hot spring he was brought to by someone in black clothing and glasses, before proceeding to knock the said man out.

He suddenly started chuckling to himself shaking his head and lowering his assault rifle completely. While he doesn't like people from Konohagakure in general he knew he could trust this man. Doesn't mean he'll let him get close enough to touch him though.

“I remember who you are now.” The blonde began, immediately capturing Jiraiya's interest. “I met you for the first time at a hot spring, when you were peeking at women from behind a fence that blocked off the women's side. You easily knocked out a creepy looking guy who wore clothes that was all black.”

And that was all he remembered. He saw Jiraiya knocking out the man, and after training him to walk on water for a bit he found there was something wrong and told him to lift up his shirt. He then touched him on the stomach that had some kind of swirling tattoo on it with blue glowing fingers. Then he told him to walk on water. After that he can remember nothing else. It was blank.

“Only a few people know of that. One of them, my own teacher, is dead.” Jiraiya said lowly, staring at the teen with unblinking eyes as if taking his gaze off him just for a second would make him disappear. “The other one was the man I had knocked out. Another one was one of your old teachers. And lastly there was you, Naruto Uzumaki.”

“Nice to know someone from my past is around.” Naruto said, giving Jiraiya a small yet confident smile. “Maybe now I can get some answers.”

“Answers? Kid you're talking as if you barely remember me.” Jiraiya laughed thinking Naruto was doing one of his pranks he was famous for. However that humour slowly changed to shocked disbelief when Naruto did not deny his statement. “Naruto, please tell me this is one of your pranks. Because if it is then it's not funny!” He asked pleadingly.

Naruto stared at Jiraiya incredulously. “Prank? Dude, why the fuck would I prank about something as serious as this? Because of this fucking amnesia I have had for the past 3 years I can barely remember anything about my past.” He said before raising a hand. “My birthday, I don't remember.” He lifted a finger to tick it off. “My age, I don't remember.” His middle finger was next. “Where I was born I can barely remember.” His ring finger was the next digit to go up. “I just barely remembered you a few seconds ago.”

Every word Jiraiya listened to was like a punch to the gut. While he did not want to believe that his own godson and student does not remember him it did make sense. When they were still a team Tsunade once said a person with a severe case of amnesia can under go a change of personality and preferences.

Taking in his earlier analysis, the Naruto he knew was brash and exuberant. If he took what Tsunade said about amnesia and the side effects it can possibly have then the Naruto in front of him has a severe case of it. He was calm and had a mature air around him. He also seemed fairly intelligent in comparison to his previous self.

“Naruto, what do you think of the colour orange?” Jiraiya asked suddenly, wanting to know if this Naruto still thinks orange is a cool colour.

Naruto looked at the man questioningly but decided to humour him. “Orange is a nice colour to look at when the sun is going down. It's a fucking terrible colour when the tone of it on your clothes is very high though.” Seeing the questioning look Jiraiya was giving him Naruto sighed and elaborated. “If you want to wear orange, make sure it is not so bright that the fucking dead can see it from miles away.”

Jiraiya nodded his head as he inwardly sighed in relief. Profanity aside, his preference for the colour orange is still there only not as much as it used to be. He now hates the blaring brightness of the colour.

“So are you going to stand here and have a conversation that I cannot be bothered with? Or are you going to get the other five to come out?”

“Other five? What are you talking about?” The Toad Sage asked as he acted clueless about the Kumo ninja being called out.

“Do you take me for an idiot?” Naruto said in a flat tone. “I SAW the OTHER PEOPLE out here with you before you all suddenly vanished.” He added while yelling out at certain parts to allow the Kumo ninja know that their cover was blown.

Just because he can't see them right now doesn't mean he can't let them know, that he knows that they are currently watching them from their hiding spot. Sighing Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose before he turned to the buildings and did the universal signal to come out.

The Kumogakure ninja came out of hiding several minutes later by body flickering Kumogakure style (which is basically lightning striking the ground they appeared at) with the kunoichi Yugito and Kanon appearing first in that order and the shinobi Juro, Akira and Taiki appearing last in the order they have been listed.

Juro tsked when he stared down at the whisker face blonde. “This is one member of the so called 'Mysterious Five'?” The ninja scoffed in arrogant, yet dismissive manner after he gave Naruto a full body scan. Looking at Naruto as if he were beneath him. “This boy doesn't look like much. I don't see how he became famous in a small amount of time.”

Naruto looked at Juro with narrowed eyes. “What's the matter little boy? Didn't like me saying that? What are you going to do about it?” The man arrogantly demanded with a sneer pulling at his lips.

Yugito turned a glare at Juro. “Juro! That's enough out of-” Her reprimanding was abruptly cut when a resounding 'bang!' took everyone by surprise and made them jump figuratively jump out of their skin. Juro fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes; a large portion of his head missing.

Everyone was staring at the corpse with shocked eyes before they all redirected their gaze to the culprit. Naruto was staring at the corpse with a detached look with steam coming out of the barrel of his assault rifle.

“Naruto!?” Jiraiya shouted turning to his godson with a furious glare. “What the HELL did you do!?”

Naruto looked at the shocked Jiraiya with the same detached expression. “He was taunting me. So I killed him.” He answered in a straight forward manner. Killing someone for something as petty as that is a terrible thing to do. He knows that; but there was no way in hell he was going to allow any of these ninja rejects to taunt or annoy him and get away with it without repercussions.

“You didn't have to do that though dammit!” Jiraiya shot back heatedly with his glare becoming more menacing. “The Naruto I know would never murder someone in cold blood!”

Naruto then glared up at his former teacher. “News flash Jiraiya; I am NOT the Naruto you knew. And the chances of him coming back are very, very slim.” He said with his teeth bared in a nasty scowl. The blue eyed blonde then glared at the remaining four Kumo ninja and pointed his rifle at them in a threatening manner. “I'll make this clear for you all: if any of you try something, my team along with myself will put you down faster than you can fucking blink!”

Kanon while surprised at the murder of one of her comrades did not feel angry with his death. From her own personal opinion Juro had it coming. “There are others here with you?” The kunoichi questioned as she keenly scanned the buildings with squinted eyes. “You have to be lying; I can't sense any other chakra signatures.”

“Of course you can't.” Naruto grunted out dismissively. “Unlike you ninja rejects, who are so dependent on your chakra it's not even funny, the guys I'm with don't have it. And if they don't have it...” He trailed off allowing them to fill in the blank.

“Then we will not be able to detect them.” Jiraiya concluded with restrained anger while ignoring the jab Naruto took at their profession. He was angry, no, borderline furious that his godson had murdered someone in cold blood. All because of something as petty as being taunted.

The remaining kumo ninja on the other hand were at first surprised to see Juro die in front of them but easily shrugged the surprise off. Remembering that when Juro was in front of his superiors he would be polite and well mannered. He was an arrogant son of a bitch to those below him in rank. Yugito herself when she became a fully fledged jonin saw how Juro would abuse his jonin rank in front of those who are of genin or chunin status.

Even the genin and chunin at the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost were complaining about his disrespect and abuse of rank. He had made a lot of enemies in his ninja career, and, suffice to say he would not be missed by the majority of Kumogakure's shinobi forces.

“Did you have to kill him though?” Akira asked as he stared at Juro's corpse that now had a pool of blood around the body.

Naruto turned his narrowed gaze to Akira and replied. “I didn't have to kill him. But I wanted to kill him. So I did.” He narrowed his blue eyes at the kumo ninja and kunoichi's in confusion as they didn't seem to be all that upset at him killing one of their own in cold blood. “You four don't seem to be angry that I straight up killed one of your own people.”

“That's because the four of us are not upset.” Yugito replied as she took her eyes off the corpse. “Juro was an arrogant bastard and almost everyone back in Kumo that worked with him disliked the prick. He made a lot of enemies during his career, and so, a lot of people won't bat an eyelash at his passing. In fact I'd say you have done us a favour of killing him off yourself.”

“Just like that?” Naruto and Jiraiya asked at the same time with great disbelief in their voices.

“Just like that.” Yugito, Akira, Kanon and Taiki all replied concurrently. Naruto unsure of what to make of this looked at the Kumogakure ninja warily but nodded in acceptance.

“Right. Well.” Naruto began, nervously clearing his throat before bringing their attention to the situation they're going to be facing at any moment. “Now that is out of the way. I take it you five already know about the zombies who are on their way here as we speak?”

“We know of them. Since they're type 1 zombies we still have enough time to try and get you and your team out of here and back to the Land of Frost before they arrive.” Taiki answered.

“Now that, right there, may be a problem.”

X.X.X.X

Upon hearing a voice none of them recognised the Shinoibi and Kunoichi quickly turned to meet and engage the person. They quickly halted their engagement when they finally got a look at the man.

A middle aged man was walking to them with the same weapon as Naruto's. His blue eyes had the look of a war veteran and has military cut blonde hair. His attire consisted of an open buttoned light green military grade jacket with the sleeves rolled up. Underneath he wore a black shirt with dog tags hanging loosely from his neck. A cartridge belt was over the jacket with a sheathed combat knife held securely underneath. His combat trousers which were the same colour as his jacket. His leather leggings and brown boots were covered in dry mud and blood. He had three pouches around his waistline for his guns.

Walking beside him was a teenage girl with wild and unruly dark hair who is about the same age as Naruto. Her attire consisted of a pair of dark brown trousers, a short sleeved jacket and a light purple blouse underneath. She wore a pair of shin length boots and had a combat knife, currently sheathed, strapped to her left arm for easy access. Slung over her shoulder was her MP-40 and like Naruto the girl had a belt with two medium sized pouches strapped around her waistline.

Jiraiya and the team from Kumo noticed neither of the two possessed any chakra just like Naruto said they wouldn't. They also fit the description they had received of them from Konoha. Three members of the 'Mysterious Five' were in front of them right now and two more were still unaccounted for. While their appearances may be deceiving they knew better than to pick a fight with people they have no knowledge of.

I mean look at where it got Juro. Lying on the ground with a large section of his head taken off.

Samantha tutted with her head shaking in disappointment upon seeing Juro's corpse. “Really Naruto? Are you murdering people now?” She questioned, while ignoring the stares she was getting from Jiraiya, Yugito, Kanon, Akira and Taiki for her thick German accent.

Naruto looked affronted Samantha's question. “Hey! It wasn't my fault! That one guy looked like a zombie!” He exclaimed in protest as he recounted shooting some poor homeless looking man in the head. He was splattered in guts and blood and from where he stood the man looked like a zombie. It was an easy mistake, honest! “Besides, that guy down there was pissing me off, so I stopped him from being a pain in my ass.” He jerking a thumb at Juro's corpse with a look of indifference. “Besides, what I did, would have been tame to what Tank would have done in my place.” He added as an afterthought.

Jiraiya was almost hesitant to ask. “What would he have done?” He did ask anyway and saw the Kumo-nin were almost interested in knowing who this 'Tank' person would have done in his godsons place.

The five all looked at Dempsey who was chuckling lowly in a sinister manner. “I would have torn his guts out and then force fed them to him.” Tank said with a sneer. “I would have made him watch himself eat his intestines too, if he lived long enough that is.”

The Kumo ninja and Toad Sage were staring at Dempsey with horrified looks. The image he provided was rather graphic and made them question the man’s sanity. Jiraiya on the other hand was staring between Naruto and Dempsey, with worried and suspicious eyes. Worry for Naruto and suspicion for Dempsey. That look Dempsey had along with his sentence was enough to make him worry for his godson's sanity. Having amnesia with little recollection of his past, he would be easy to influence and from what he saw of the foreigner some of his influence had already gotten to Naruto.

“I'll give you a '9 out of 10' for the drama. And a '5 out of 10' for the execution.” Naruto suddenly said, breaking the tense air that was around them all. The Kumo ninja plus Jiraiya stared at the two as if they were insane, as they saw he and Samantha were actually holding up score cards with numbers 9 and 5 on them respectively.

Where they had gotten them was anyone guess.

And just like a switch had been flipped, the sinister aura was gone. Dempsey stared at Naruto in disbelief. “What!? Why the hell was I given a 5!? I had them by the balls for fucks sake!” He exclaimed even as everyone was staring at the three in mounting disbelief.

Naruto raised his hands in a placating manner, his score card now gone. “Hey don't blame it on me Tank. It was Samantha who gave you the five for the execution.”

“You traitor!” Samantha cried out as she looked at her friend with a look of exaggerated betrayal. She looked back at Dempsey and saw him staring at her, arms crossed, with an expectant look. “Oh, very vell...” She uttered out reluctantly, before like magic she quickly changing the card so it showed an 8 instead of 5. “I vill instead give you an 8 for zhe execution.”

“That's better.” Dempsey said, nodding his head with satisfaction in getting his own way.

Throughout this the ninja were staring at them in disbelief that increased with every passing second. Their thoughts were unknowingly similar to one another; wondering if the others members of the 'Mysterious Five' were like Dempsey, Samantha and Naruto. They had no idea how right on the mark they were. Considering one of them they have yet to meet is a violent alcoholic, whose antics are almost hilarious to witness once he is hammered enough; the other is a former samurai who slaughtered his entire family because they were insolent to him.

“So...Tank would not have done that then?” Kanon slowly asked as she stared at the former Marine Raider with wariness.

“What? Tear his guts out and force feed them to the guy that's dead?” When he received nods from Yugito, Akira, Kanon, Taiki and Jiraiya, Dempsey scoffed and said in a dry tone of admittance. “I would have ripped his guts out, yeah. But I wouldn't have force fed them to him. I'm not THAT sick in the head.”

“You sure about that?” Naruto asked, bringing everyone's gaze back to him. “What about that time you mentioned you gnawing your way through your captors, once you escaped from a bamboo cage after gnawing your way through that.”

“Don't remind me.” Dempsey replied with a light scowl. “That was a major pain in my ass. My jaw was throbbing in irritation for weeks.” He said rubbing a hand against his jawline. “Not to mention there was not much I could use to fight off my captors with. So I to improvise on what I had at my disposal.”

“Improvise?”

Dempsey gave the kumo ninja that spoke a grim look. “Let's just say that anything and everything around you can be used as a weapon, if your imaginative enough on where to find it and how to use it and leave it at that.” He answered in a tone that brokered no argument. This is true in the case of him being armed with only a bobby pin and his metal of honour, which he used against his heavily armed captors from the Imperial Army.

“Long story short: don't piss him off. You'll live longer that way.” Naruto told them warningly prompting them to nod their head in understanding while they stared at Dempsey with disturbed looks on their face.

Having seen a lot of disturbing things in the past three years from an enemy that was already dead you would have thought they would be immune to such things by now. However there were things in the world that they have not seen as of yet. Meeting a small group of people who don't have a shred of chakra in them was a disturbing thought. They would be invisible to just about everyone in sight. They're just like zombies in the sense they cannot be harmed or affected by chakra based attacks.

Dempsey seeing their expression smirked darkly at them. As if he knew what they were thinking. And seeing they had somehow trailed off from their original conversation Dempsey got everyone back on track.

“We need to get back to the original point here before we got carried away.” Dempsey said. “If you had planned to get us out of here with you, then I'm sorry to tell you that your mission is going to be difficult.”

“Why would it be difficult? Are we not just dealing with an army of walkers?” Akira asked with a questioning look on his face.

Naruto, Dempsey and Samantha shared a look before bringing their gaze back to the ninja. “Ve had better bring you five up to speed.” Samantha told them all with a serious expression. “Ve are not dealing vith valkers. Ve are now dealing vith runners or sprinters zhat came almost an hour ago.”

“We also spent the past hour or so fortifying and booby-trapping the surrounding areas for the eventual confrontation with them. Seeing as they swarm from every direction they can get through we are setting traps any place we can.” Naruto added.

“That explains why there are only three of you instead of five. I'm guessing the other two are setting up the traps?” Jiraiya asked oddly calm in spite of the fact he was told there was an army of possible type 2 or 3 zombies coming.

“They are. And with a lot of traps already set up we'll know when they've arrived.” Naruto replied with confidence.

“How do you figure that?” Kanon asked.

As if answering her question several explosions went off in the background signalling the arrival of the zombies. Several more explosions were heard and was followed by sub-machine gun fire from Takeo and Nikolai's respective weapons. Without as much as a word Dempsey, Samantha and Naruto quickly shared a look, nodded, and as one they spun on the heels of their feet and rushed in the direction of the explosions. Their weapons were raised and ready to fire the second the zombies put themselves in their line of sight.

Jiraiya, Yugito, Kanon, Akira and Taiki meanwhile were taken by surprise at the explosions that suddenly came out of nowhere and thought they were under attack. However they all remembered being explained just a moment ago there were traps planted just for the zombies and they would know when they would arrive once they were set off.

Without a word the five of them sent chakra to their legs and leapt to the rooftops; and quickly followed Naruto, Dempsey and Samantha as they ran through the streets as more and more of their traps went off in an explosive fashion. Seeing as only Naruto has chakra they would have to keep Dempsey and Samantha within their line of sight other wise they would lose them.

Which was a lot easier considering they were on the rooftops and the three they were keeping an eye on was on the ground. Not to mention they had chakra, so they would be able to keep pace with the three zombie slayers. As they kept their pace the gunfire was getting louder and louder. The explosions were also getting closer. They could faintly hear the moans and groans of the zombies too in between the gun fire and the explosions.

Several minutes later the ninja finally came across the last remaining members of the 'Mysterious Five', who are wearing clothing just as outlandish as the other three. The two of them were working together in fighting off the zombies and are slowly being pushed back into a corner. In front of them was a large pile of corpses that had most of their torsos' torn off, revealing their rib-cages and intestines, their limbs ripped off by bullets. Their heads were blown off their shoulders' too showing how deadly rapid fire from their automatic weaponry are.

However despite how many zombies the two of them killed they were close to having their position being overrun. Naruto, Samantha and Dempsey once they found their comrades being close getting overwhelmed quickly stopped moving, took aim and unloaded on the walking corpses. This effectively brought most of the hordes' attention away from Nikolai and Takeo and on to them.

The zombies which were revealed to be a combination of Type 2's and 3's, were able to close the distance to their new found targets at a shocking pace before they were cut them themselves from the Naruto's, Samantha's and Dempsey's combined firepower.

Narrowing his eyes as the zombies made their way to his godson, Jiraiya quickly went through hand seals for one of his offensive techniques, and using his chakra he changed his saliva into oil before he leapt off the rooftop and on top of another building on the other side as he spat the oil out of his mouth.

“Fire Style: Flame Bullet!” He bellowed out as he used his chakra to ignite the oil before landing on the other building safely.

Naruto, Dempsey and Samantha were taken by complete surprise as they saw a massive torrent of flames come out of nowhere from the sky and completely engulf the zombies approaching them within seconds. However knowing from personal experience they weren't dead, and would still move even if they were on fire, the five continued unloading their magazine in the flames; even as they listened to the zombies 'screams.

Fire Style: Flame Bullet acted similar to the flame-thrower. Once you're caught in the oil, the flames would continue to burn you until you manage to put the fire out. Considering how difficult it is to put out an oil enhanced flame, it only takes a matter of seconds for someone who was unlucky enough to get caught in it to die from having their skin literally melt off of their bones.

Given how zombies ignore their injuries as if they weren't even there, flame-throwers were not as effective on them as they are to living things. Not to mention it takes a bit of time for the zombies to drop dead. It is the same case here. However while the oil-enhanced fire didn't kill them, the flames had done enough damage to the zombies that they were easily taken down by the advanced weaponry of Takeo and Dempsey, Naruto and Samantha and Nikolai than they normally would have.

Jiraiya seeing as he took out the horde that were heading towards his godson turned his attention to the rest that were intent on overwhelming Takeo and Nikolai. Quickly going through the same hand seals for Fire Style: Flame Bullet, he spat the oil out of his mouth and on the undead that were funnelling their way through the alleyway they were coming from and ignited the oil while loudly calling out the name of his technique once more.

“Fire Style: Flame Bullet!” The flames like the last time had completely consumed the zombies within seconds. And since they were all coming in from one direction it served as an ideal barrier to burn any other undead that attempted to get out of the alleyway. They were easily cut down by Takeo and Nikolai who had just finished reloading their sub-machine guns and provided more fuel for the fire to burn.

Dempsey, Naruto and Samantha coughed and covered their noises as their nostrils were overtaken by the smell of rotting, burning flesh.

“Holy shit.” This came from Tank Dempsey as he, Naruto and Samantha stared wide eyed at Jiraiya using his ninja skills to utterly decimate the zombies within seconds. Blinking his eyes repeatedly Tank brought his gaze to Naruto. “Okay I know you said these people are able to defy logic, but how are they are losing ground to these freak-bags if they're able to do that!?” From start to finish Dempsey's tone changed from shocked to incredulous, with his facial expression matching the second tone as he wildly gestured to the carnage in front of them.

Naruto looked between Dempsey and the burning corpses. “I have no clue. Three years is a long time Tank; you have to remember these zombies, are likely not affected by most chakra based techniques the ninja here are capable of. Not to mention they changed minutes after Samantha detected them. It's like they 'changed' when they were discovered...”

Seeing the contemplative look on the teens' face Dempsey frowned as he turned to glare at the burning corpses. “These flesh addicts are like the ones back home.” He growled. And for them that was a very bad thing.

“Yeah. Seems so. And we all know how THAT turned out.” Naruto said softly remembering how they, by the persuasion of Ludvig Maxis, blew up the Earth in an attempt to deduce the amount of zombies' Richtofen would be able to control. Only to make things worse by almost destroying the planet itself and breaking it into several large pieces.

“Then lets hope it vill not come to zhat.” Samantha told them before staring at the burning zombies in front of her with a thoughtful look.

She was wondering just what caused them to start running all of a sudden. Having zombies running at you before you did anything? That wouldn't happen unless there was something out there to buff them. If that is the case then they are dealing with a Type 6 zombie(s). She should know. She made George A. Romero into a Type 6 zombie in Siberia to fight against those actors who had inadvertently helped Richtofen in dooming the world.

One of Romero's few special abilities was being able to turn runners to sprinters by just yelling. He could also buff up their attacks by giving them electricity to give them an extra kick when they attack.

If they are dealing with one of those, then killing it is going to be very difficult. And the weapons they have at the moment will not do a thing to them. They will need some powerful weapons to take them on.

“Something on your mind?” Dempsey asked, seeing the thoughtful expression on the girls face.

Samantha nodded her head in confirmation. “I think ve are dealing vith more than valkers and sprinters.” She said looked up at Dempsey with narrowed eyes. Seeing the prompting look he was giving her Samantha continued. “Ve may be dealing vith a type 6 as vell.”

“A Type 6? Like those fucking astronaut zombies you were sicking at us on the moon?” Dempsey asked as he observed the flaming in front of himself, Samantha and Naruto finally dying out. He gestured Naruto and Samantha to follow him as he walked through the dying flames while talking. “Those meat-sacks are tough to kill. If one of those wankers are here, we'll need better gear to take them on.”

“You need to take what on?” Jiraiya asked as he landed in front of them in a crouch to absorb the impact of the leap he took from the rooftop. Behind the three Yugito and her comrades landed on the ground from their leap off the rooftops.

“We believe there is another zombie type here, instead of runners and sprinters.” Dempsey replied with a roll of his shoulders.

“What makes you think that?” Taiki asked with curiosity.

“Walkers without outside interference do not suddenly run.” Takeo expertly said as he approached the assembled group, while joining in the conversation at the same time. Nikolai was following him, while keeping a close eye on the flame barrier with his PPSh-41 in case the zombies try to make another attempt at getting in. “Therefore the actions of a powerful enemy is at work.” The Samurai concluded as he and Nikolai stopped in front of the group.

“Nice to see you kept yourself alive Takeo.” Naruto said with a smile that was filled with relief.

“It will take more than an army of dishonourable demon spawn, to defeat a warrior such as I.” Takeo replied back with a smile of his own.

Nikolai scoffed lightly at Takeo's boasting as he checked the drum magazine for his PPSh-41, but never said anything. Takeo scowled lightly as he briefly glanced at the Soviet before redirecting his attention to the ninja in front of him.

“Are these people who came from the large wall?” He asked Naruto and Dempsey and Samantha in a questioning manner; referring to the large concrete wall that appeared at the border between the Land of Frost and the Land of Hot Water.

“These five did.” Replied Tank as he gestured to Yugito, Akira, Kanon and Taiki respectively. “This guy on the other hand did not.” He added jerking a thumb to Jiraiya. “Apparently he and Naruto knew one another from before.”

“What is his relationship with Uzumaki?” Takeo suddenly asked in a demanding manner, all the while he was glaring dangerously at Jiraiya who was alarmed at Takeo's sudden aggressiveness. Even Nikolai had stopped what he was doing to glare at the 54 year old man.

The four of them know a little of Naruto's past treatment in his home. It wasn't surprising for Naruto to see the two of them get a little aggressive and protective of him.

“Well...” Dempsey and Samantha trailed off at the same time as they turned to look at Naruto.

“...What? Why are you lookin' at me for?” Naruto asked in bewilderment upon seeing Tank and Samantha staring at him expectantly. He blinked in confusion and his expression became flat when Samantha pointed at him and then at Jiraiya. “Oh for gods- I can barely remember him. But with what memories I have regained, that man-”

“Jiraiya.” The man corrected.

“--I mean Jiraiya is someone who once taught me before everything went to hell. He isn't like the majority of those people in the Village Hidden in the Leafs that ignored me and acted as if I didn't exist.” Naruto stated to them with honesty in his voice while correcting himself by adding Jiraiya's name.

“In case you need help Nikolai I'll dumb things down for you: the oddly dressed looking guy used to teach Naruto; and isn't like the rest of the people in his birth place.” Dempsey added for Nikolai's benefit. He knew the drunk would need someone to dumb things down otherwise he would likely not understand.

Nikolai squinted his eyes at Dempsey for a moment before redirecting his gaze to Jiraiya. After several minutes of nerve wrecking silence the alcoholic nodded his head in acceptance. “Okay. That is good. I won't have to kill him like I did to second wife.” Nikolai said with bluntness.

“Second wife...? What happened to the first?” Yugito asked as she stared at Nikolai with a wary expression.

“Killed that bitch by blowing her head off! Bang! Her fucking head exploded and went everywhere!” Nikolai exclaimed as he did a fairly poor mimic of someone having their head blown off their shoulders before laughing uproariously at the memory.

Dempsey and Samantha, Takeo and Naruto did not bat an eyelash at Nikolai's admittance. “Funnily enough Nikolai was married nine times. And he murdered at least five of them. Rather brutally I might add.” Dempsey said with a pointed smile.

“Those were good times.” Nikolai said, reminiscing to himself about the times he had murdered his wives for any viable reason. From being a bitch to him to being annoying.

There was an awkward silence as the ninja stared at Nikolai warily. Yugito and Kanon were very disturbed when they learnt Nikolai actually enjoyed killing five of his wives in a brutal manner. While they knew these people had no chakra to use, they couldn't underestimate them either as they saw the five of them killing zombies with their advanced kunai launchers with efficiency. Not to mention Juro had most of his head missing when Naruto shot him. Being beside Naruto when he fired his M-16, Jiraiya didn't see any projectiles coming out of the gun's barrel, nor did he see the projectile connecting with the man's head.

Underestimating these people because of their lack of chakra would be the worst thing they could do right now. They make up their lack of chakra for the effectiveness of their guns.

Seeing as the awkward silence was making the ninja nervous Dempsey quickly asked Takeo and Nikolai. “So, did you two find anything of use out here?”

“Found a perk machine. The one that gives us increased strength or something?” Nikolai answered before trailing off at the end in confused thought.

“Increased strength? Don't you mean Juggernog?” Naruto asked.

“Dah! Juggernog Soda! That was the one!” Nikolai said. “Found it in building over there!” He added as he pointed to the building in question.

The structure is a two floor house. The windows on the ground floor are boarded up just like every other building in Yugakure. And like all the other buildings in this place the outside of the structure is covered in fungus and was being corroded by the exposer to time. Beside the fire was the wall of flames that was still burning thanks to the brainless undead that are stupid enough to try and run through the flames, while stepping over the burning bodies of the formerly walking corpses that were cut down by Takeo's and Nikolai's combined fire power.

Dempsey as he followed the direction Nikolai was pointing wondered why hadn't the fire spread to the other buildings yet. Then he remembered it was a part of what he had dubbed 'plot convenience'. What this meant is you can't expect things you think would happen to actually happen because of the story plot.

Why? Because fuck logic!

“There is also a weapon outline within as well.” Takeo added when Nikolai wasn't going to include the other discovery.

A gun outline? That is a relief! There was no way he was going to pass up on getting a new weapon! If the pattern was the same then this outline should either be an M-14 battle rifle or an Olympus shotgun. “If that's the case I'll check it out.” Dempsey loudly declared before running off toward the building without a care in the world. The crew knew better though. Dempsey is always keeping an eye on his surroundings. Always listening for the slightest disturbance even when it looks like he isn't.

“What is a 'weapon outline'?” Taiki questioned as he watched Dempsey quickly running up to the building and entering it. He unknowingly voiced the thoughts of everyone that was not part of the dubbed 'Mysterious Five'. “Also, what is a Perk Machine?” He added as an afterthought.

“A 'weapon outline' is a chalk outline on a wall. We use them to either change our weapons for something more powerful, or we can use them to resupply ourselves when we're running low on ammunition.”

Takeo seeing Naruto wasn't going to continue speaking picked up where the teenager left off. “A Perk Machine, is a mechanical device that grant us abilities that increase our chance of survival against these unholy demon spawn.”

That had instantly gotten their attention. “When you say abilities, what do you mean by that exactly?”

“It depends.” Naruto began after giving Takeo a pointed look. “There are a lot of them. The one Nikolai mentioned kind of acts like a flak jacket. Juggernog soda once you drink it boosts our endurance to let us stay on our feet longer.”

“Can you tell us of any others?” Jiraiya asked, as he began to think of a way to find these 'perk machines' and get them to Konoha. From what he was told of this Juggernog and what it is capable of, it is to much of an asset to ignore and if these other perks provided similar effects then it is crucial that he gets them to Konoha to replicate and reproduce.

Naruto turned and stared at Jiraiya with an unreadable look on his face. “I could. But I won't.” He told the man in a firm tone that brokered no argument.

“What? Why!?” Jiraiya demanded in exclamation. “They can be a major asset to the Hidden Villages and give us a better fighting chance in combating the walking dead!” The kumo ninja excluding Yugito were nodding their heads in agreement.

The reason Yugito wasn't was because she felt there was something more to these perk machines than Naruto was letting on. She had proved herself right right when Naruto answered, “Because if I tell you, then you will want them to be placed in the Hidden Villages where everyone can gain access to them. Sadly for you there is a chemical inside the drinks that can kill you if the person is not immune to it.”

He was referring to Element 115. The perk machines were developed with Element 115 as the core ingredient. Originally the perk machines were meant to be manufactured by Group 935 and distributed to the front lines, in the late year of 1943 to aid the German War Machine. After several experiments it was discovered that 4/10 people that drunk from the soda bottles became sick and would eventually die almost two weeks later.

Those who survived were able to do things they were unable to do before. Such as being able to drop to the ground from a lethal height and walk it off as if nothing had happened, being able to dive to the ground from a tall place and letting out a lethal explosion around you once you touched the ground, to being able to heal people twice as fast than you normally are. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on which side of the war you were on, the distribution of these perk bottles was cancelled because the losses were unacceptable to Adolf Hitler the Führer of Nazi Germany. Since then the perk machines were only found in places Group 935 were once located.

The others were taken aback by the revelation. There was something in the drinks that could potentially kill them?! “Please tell me that isn't true, Naruto. I'm begging you to tell me that it isn't true!” Jiraiya said pleadingly to his godson.

“It is true.” Naruto replied with a sigh much to the dismay of Jiraiya. “But I along with Takeo and Dempsey, Samantha and Nikolai have been drinking the stuff for three years and we're still alive and kicking.” That was a partial lie of course; Samantha got with them recently but she too was immune to Element 115.

Not to mention it worked best with people who are immune to the negative effects of Element 115. Before Dempsey was captured and experimented on by Group 935 it was proven that he was immune to the soda's negative effects. Proven when he and his recon team had used the perks in Verruckt when they were sent to recover Peter McCain.

Jiraiya sighed in frustration. That was a major kick to the balls if he ever saw one. Those sodas with the advantages they had would've benefited them greatly in this war with the undead. However, with them losing more and more people every day, and having them to lose even more people because of the sodas' it is not worth the risk.

If only there was a way to know who is immune and who isn't. Then they would be able to minimise the loses they take. Jiraiya blinked his eyes as he came to realise something. “What a minute; how can there be perk machines if they weren't here during the several times' I came past this place?”

Naruto and Samantha, Takeo and Nikolai all gazed at one another in awkward silence. Something that was not missed by the ninja around them.

X.X.X.X

When Dempsey made his way through the door and into the building he immediately began his search for the Juggernog machine and the chalk outline. The chalk outline was the first thing to be found. It is on the wall in the worn down front room where Dempsey literally walked in the second he came through the front door.

He was a little annoyed when he found out the chalk outline was for a sidearm. He didn't know what type it was though. Though it was a little different than anything else he had seen...

The Juggernog machine was located elsewhere. Out the back where he would be exposed to being attacked from behind annoyingly enough. Knowing having more effective fire-power was a must right now Dempsey went to change his sidearm first. Knowing his Colt. M1911 would be ineffective against the likes of runners and sprinters.

Walking in front of the chalk outline the former United States marine slung his M-16 over his shoulder and pulled out his M1911 out of its holster, knowing if he didn't he would lose his assault rifle and gain a new side arm in its place. And he did not want that to happen.

Sighing Dempsey placed his palm flat against the chalk outline. He felt the familiar energy being taken from his body as he purchased his new weapon, and his M1911 being taken and quickly replaced. Looking down at his hand that held his new weapon Dempsey was surprised to see a Remington Model 1858 revolver in his grip. A weapon that has not seen action since the Franco-Prussian war back in the late 1900s.

He was one of the few people that used this weapon in the First World War. It was a reliable weapon and then it was replaced by the more advanced sidearms such as the Colt. M1911. Nevertheless, the revolver sidearms are easily the most powerful weapon you can have. Except for the wonder weapon known as The Ray Gun. That sidearm is in a class of its own and trumps all other weaponry apart from other Wonder Weapons.

Nodding in approval Dempsey skilfully twirled the Remington revolver in his palm before putting it in the holster that has conveniently changed to fit it. Dempsey long ago stopped questioning why the holsters would change every time he gained a new sidearm. It was deemed best if no one thought on it because no one knows how it was possible in the first place.

With his new sidearm acquired Dempsey made his way through the building and out the back garden where the Juggernog machine lay. The machine is thin with a red and white paint job. On the front, on the top white half had the quote “Drink Juggernog.” in bold letters. On top is a circle that that has a image of a shield with a medic symbol with a bullet crossing over it. The Juggernog machine was up against the wall to his left.

Smiling to himself Dempsey made his way over to the machine and spent the needed amount of currency he had built up from the recent zombie kills.. He hummed to the jingle that would activate every time someone bought a soda from it.

While Dempsey was busy getting the bottle from the machine, he never noticed something climbing its way over the fence and into the garden and slowly make its way over to him. It was a skinny looking thing, and had some human characteristics to it. However it was mutated to the degree where it bared little resemblance to humans at all. The creature when moving would use all four of its limbs like an animal, where its fingers and toes would be now had claws in their place. It had a slimy, greenish grey shade of skin and wore only a pair of torn black trousers. It had no eyes and taking up most of its face was an over-sized angler mouth that showed a row of shark like teeth.

It was constantly emitting a faint trail of green gas. This is what is known as a Gas crawler. A type 5 zombie that releases a special toxic gas that can disorientate you and kill other zombies upon its death. There is another type 5 zombie that has its exact appearance. It is known as the Phasing zombie that can literally teleport in front of you without warning.

Sniffing the air as he drank from the bottle Dempsey narrowed his eyes as he picked up a nasty scent he had not smelt since that Theatre in Germany. Taking one last mouthful Dempsey took the bottle away from his lips and looked to his left from the corner of his eyes. Suddenly Dempsey spun around and threw the bottle the bottle at the crawler who tried to sneak up on him. The bottle hit its mark, smashing to pieces when it collided with the crawlers face the pieces cutting into its face and mouth.

The crawler roared in anger as it staggered back using one of its hands to claw at its face in an attempt to remove the glass pieces from its mouth and face, only to make it worse than before. With a deep scowl pulling at his lips Dempsey took his Remington Model Army revolver out of its holster, took aim and pulled the trigger. The Gas zombie let out a death like roar as the bullet entered through the front of its head tearing through it and exiting through the back like paper. Its last action was to flip on its back, curling itself up similar to a spider, and release a cloud of green gas.

Having been on the receiving end of that fucking gas many a times in the past Dempsey quickly backed away while covering his mouth and nose with his free hand. With the other he was using his revolver as he scanned his surroundings for any other gas zombies since his previous battle experience with them showed they like to travel in packs.

Dempsey narrowed his eyes even further as he heard more gas zombies roaring out challengingly nearby. Snarling aggressively Dempsey used the hand that was covering his mouth and nose to unsheathe his combat knife now that the green coloured gas was finally gone, and with the hand that was holding the revolver, he aimed in the direction of the fence just as several crawler zombies climbed over it. Getting down to one knee Dempsey knew he had to play this smart. The others would have heard the gun shot and would assume he was test firing it. They would come running if he fired more than once. Right now he only has five rounds left in the cylinder, and there are more gas zombies than he has bullets chambered. Not to mention the gas they let out once their dead can disorientate him if he breathes it in.

The second the first zombie came in his line of fire he pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the front and out the back of its head with little resistance. The zombie fell back off the fence, letting out a death howl. He saw the green gas raise up past the fence even as more and more crawlers appeared. He shifted his arm to take aim at the next crawler and pulled the trigger, firing the third bullet.

The crawler fell off the fence and to the ground where it landed on its back and curling up before the gas expelled from its body. Unlike the zombies that would die if they were close to the gas when it was expelled crawling zombies are unaffected by the gas as they're immune to it. Dempsey fired another three times, two of them hitting their intended destination while the third hit its one on the shoulder, dislocating it from its socket. Growling the marine slashed and stabbed his knife at the crawlers that managed to get to him. Easily killing them with a stab to the skull. The crawlers did flip to their back and curl up on itself, but did not expel the dangerous gas.

Getting to his feet Dempsey took a quick glance over his shoulder as he backed away from the approaching crawling zombies, to see where he was going and to make sure he doesn't accidentally pin himself down. At the same time he pulled the cylinder out of its slot and turned the gun upwards so the barrel was facing toward' the sky. The empty bullet cartages easily fell out the cylinder and to the ground and was quickly replaced by a new six ones. The cylinder was then pushed back in the slot and was now ready to fire once more.

By this time Dempsey who had to take a quick glance over his shoulder every few seconds because he was backing away was already forced in the house. He took aim at the crawlers who were funnelling their way into the building through the one doorway with his revolver and taking precise aim so the crawlers were lined up he pulled the trigger. The bullet of the Remington revolver tore through the crawlers with little to no resistance.

“Fucking creepy crawlers.” Dempsey cursed under his breath with hatred of the things lathing his voice. Sheathing his knife Dempsey grabbed a grenade, pulled out the pin and drew his arm back and held it there. “Let's see how they'll like this!”

Three seconds later Dempsey with all his might tossed the grenade through the doorway and into the crowd of crawlers that were making their way to the house. Two more seconds later the grenade exploded. Taking the crawlers with it. If the others didn't hear his gun firing then they had to have heard the grenade going off!

If they haven't then he was going to tear them a new one!

Tutting with annoyance at seeing more and more crawlers coming at him, even after he threw a fucking grenade at them, Dempsey quickly put his revolver in its' holster and grabbed his M-16 that was hanging harmlessly from the sling. Scowling the former marine got down on one knee as he raised his rifle so the butt of the gun was pressing against his shoulder, took aim down the sights and burst fired into the crowd of crawlers.

He heard footsteps rapidly approaching his position even as he burst fired on the crawlers that were determined on getting inside the building. Dempsey sharply looked towards his left when sub-machine gun fire was heard. Right there standing in front of the doorway, leading to the front room was Takeo Masaki himself, his Type 100 firing on the crawlers with no mercy.

Nikolai was there standing beside the Asian, unloading his entire drum magazine on the crawling zombies. He had a deep, fierce scowl pulling at his lips that showed his deeply engrained hatred for them.

Naruto, Samantha and the ninja were nowhere in sight. They were unknowingly to him ditched by Takeo and Nikolai who left them to appease the curiosity of the ninja as to how there are perk machines in Yugakure when they weren't there before. They would have stayed and help explain to them, but, being the helpful men that they were they decided to leave the responsibility of answering their questions to Naruto and Samantha while they went off to help Tank fighting off the zombies.

“You both took your time in getting here!” Dempsey yelled over the gun fire as he sidestepped his way over to them. He took the opportunity to replace the used magazine for a new one now that Takeo and Nikolai were taking the pressure off of him.

“Where did these fucking things come from American?” Questioned Nikolai, who also yelled over the gun fire as he changed out his now empty drum magazine for a full one for his PPSh-41.

Dempsey growled in anger. “I dunno. I saw them climbing over the fence after I finished drinking from the bottle.” He loudly replied even as he was standing directly beside the two men. “We gotta back off and regroup with Naruto and Samantha now that these creepy crawlers are here.”

“Indeed. Being able to scale over any surface would make them difficult foes for those which have not encountered them.” Takeo said in agreement as he referred to the ninja with Naruto and Samantha.

While those shinobi and kunoichi have faced zombies for the past three years, it is still possible they have not encountered these type 5 zombies yet. If these crawlers are like the phasing zombies they had faced on the moon then they were going to have problems. Being able to expel a gas that disorientates you once it is inhaled after they die is complete and utter bullshit. Then again the possible reason they didn't die when they inhaled the gas could be because they're immune to it.

Think about it; all zombies in existence – they have thus far fought – were made by the exposure to Element 115. The Wonder Weapons, such as the Ray Gun, the Wunderwaffe DG-2, the Thunder Gun, the Gersch device, the Winter's Howl all of these weapons were made by Element 115. The Perk Machines was made with Element 115. Takeo, Nikolai and himself, along with Naruto and Samantha were experimented on by Group 935 with Element 115 and had no negative side effects – like death and reanimating as a zombie – affecting them. Mostly. Everyone excluding Samantha had suffered from a severe case of amnesia, but were otherwise as healthy as a horse.

There is a pattern going on here. You'd have to be blind to not see it.

Taking a few pot shots at one of the crawlers that got through the doorway, Dempsey and Takeo and Nikolai backed themselves up in the front room while supporting one another and keeping the crawling zombies from advancing.

“Speaking of which why aren't Naruto and Samantha with us?” Dempsey asked when he finally took notice of their absence.

“The ninjas' were asking questions on where perk machines came from. So we ditched the two and left them both to answer their questions while we came to help.” Was Nikolai's straight forward answer.

Dempsey stared at Takeo and Nikolai with a bland look. “So in essence you threw them both to the wolves.” He flatly said to them before bringing his gaze back to the crawlers and opening fire on them. The three were slowly forced to back away when the green gas began to spread through the room before dispersing into the air.

Nikolai took a moment to think on his answer. “Da! We have!”

Dempsey had an eye twitching at the answer while Takeo rolled his eyes in annoyance. The zombies were still getting in the house. Crawling over the corpses of their own unhindered. They're speedy little buggers. And could cross several yards in less than 15 seconds. It was as if the bodies weren't even there.

Even as the crawlers were dying to them Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai were getting pushed back nonetheless. The green gas just helped speed things along in the crawlers favour. Getting sick of their relentless pursuit Nikolai pulled out a grenade, cooked it and threw it in front of the crawlers before turning tail and run.

Takeo and Dempsey saw the grenade being thrown in front of the crawlers. Instantly the two turned on the heels of their boots and booked it out of there just as Nikolai turned and ran away. And because they weren't sure of the stability of the house, the three of them made their way out the front to Naruto, Samantha and the ninjas' just as the house exploded.

Then the building collapsed on itself with a cloud that was filled with smoke and ash raised around it. Everyone in the vicinity all stared at the collapsed building with their eyes widened in disbelief and shock, before redirecting their gaze on Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey who were in front of said collapsed building. Their backs to them.

Slowly the three turned around and slowly walked away. “...I think throwing grenade was overdoing it a little?” Nikolai said aloud in a questioning tone.

The marine nodded his head. “...Yeah. I'd say it was, but, good work man.” Dempsey replied, as he patted the Soviet on the shoulder both in complementation and in thanks. Then suddenly he stopped in mid-step, prompting Nikolai and Takeo to stop and look at him questioningly. They became nervous and worried when they saw his eyes were blank and face devoid of all emotion. Suddenly Dempsey looked toward Nikolai and gave him the most scathing glare he was able to muster. “I take those last words back! You just destroyed the building that had ammunition for my Remington Revolver dammit!”