FicWad

Dead Rising

Chapter 5

They had been in this godforsaken zombie infested swamp for weeks now. After Takeo and Nikolai, Dempsey and Naruto had gotten out of Der Riese with the help of one insane German by the name of Edward Richtofen they were brought to a swamp Takeo had dubbed as 'Shi No Numa', which translates to 'Swamp of Death' in English.

And what a fitting name it is. The moment the five of them set foot in the swamp they were besieged by zombies almost immediately. Naruto in spite of unable to use a gun, had used a combat knife and a M1911 Colt. against them. He fought them off by his own well enough, and had Dempsey and Takeo to help him get out of trouble if he found himself in way over his head with how many zombies was around him.

When he got to the big guns to buy, he was filled with information on how to use them. While that happened, he thought he heard someone he recognised whispering to him. Telling him to beware of Richtofen. But it may had been a figment of his imagination. When the zombies would attack them in waves Naruto while fighting them off, would watch everyone how they use their guns and then copy what they do.

Takeo and Dempsey were helpful in teaching him how to effectively use the guns without knocking himself down on his ass because he wasn't expecting the recoil. It was a mostly daunting process because he was still young, and would therefore not be able to effectively use most of the weapons at his disposal; such as the M1A1 Thompson Sub machine gun, the B.A.R, the M1919 Browning and the MG-42. Mainly because of their sheer size, and the recoil they have when fired.

A few weeks and more zombie waves later Naruto was able to properly use handguns, and quickly found his favourite handgun; the .357 Magnum. He finds the recoil of it when fired somewhat irritating but controllable.

The Ray Gun is the only handgun he had not been able to use. In Dempsey's words the recoil is, “So fucking high that it felt like it would dislocate my wrist when it's fired rapidly.” so using that weapon at his age (he is still thirteen after all) was out the question. Not until his body had grown and matured enough to handle the strain of the recoil.

The swamp in total has five wooden and straw buildings. The Storage hut to the North West, the Doctor's Quarter's to the South West, the Communication Room to the North East and the Fishing Hut to the South East. The largest one having the ground floor and the first floor was smack right in the middle of them all. Each hut, or buildings, has one perk machine in them, along with a few chalk outlines for them to change their weaponry or to regain the ammo they lost.

Right now group is staying in the Doctor's Quarters to the South West from the main building. Just outside of the building was a zipline that serves to give the group a quick getaway to the main building. Giving them the option to avoid crossing the swamp altogether. It's a shame the other huts don't have quick getaways like the zipline. It would make traversing through the swamp a whole lot easier.

Standing guard at the doorway of the Doctor's Quarter's was Naruto and Dempsey. Both of them were armed with a .357 Magnum (Naruto) and a B.A.R (Dempsey). “So how long are we going to stay in this bug infested swamp?” Naruto asked as he turned to look up at his friend.

Dempsey helplessly shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno. Richtofen seems to be looking for something he claims can 'give us the edge' against these maggot-sacks. I'm not really sure what it is that insane psychopath says is out here, but we'll have to be prepared for the long term.”

“Maybe it's a weapon?” The 13 year old suggested.

Dempsey gazed up thoughtfully at the suggestion. “A weapon that can give us an edge on these zombies? That sounds plausible, the Germans were researching advanced technology the last time we were at Der Riese. But the likelihood of there being an advanced weapon all the way out here, in Japanese territory? That's very unlikely.”

“Very unlikely doesn't mean it's not impossible.” Naruto pointed out optimistically.

“I know that kiddo.” Dempsey calmly replied with a light frown pulling at his lips. He kept his eyes ahead of him. “Just don't get your hopes up.”
/]
X.X.X.X

While Nikolai and Takeo ditched Naruto and Samantha to help Dempsey after they heard several gunshots, followed by an explosion. The two teenagers after being ditched were doing their best to answer the questions as to how the perk machines got in Yugakure when they were never there during the past three years. Samantha was in the middle of explaining – aka: bullshitting with expertise – to the ninjas that the perk machines always made an appearance at locations they go to; and that they didn't know where they came from or why the things seem to follow them.

It wasn't a lie. Not completely at least. Because wherever her former enemies went the perk machines would be there for their use. It was even in that insane asylum in Germany where Tank Dempsey was trying to recover Peter Mccain. She didn't know she could control the Perk Machines until Shi No Numa.

And the people of this dimension are primitive in terms of technology, so they would not have these perk machines or anything similar for quite some time to come. The reason why she was bullshitting them was she didn't want to tell any of them that she is the one that brought the machines to this former Hidden Village in the first place. She didn't trust any of them and as Naruto said their ninja. They're more likely to stab you in the back once they got what they wanted from you.

The questioning was brought to an abrupt halt when Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo all ran out of the building; just as they heard an explosion and the building collapsing on itself.

“...You took down a building with a grenade?!” Naruto stated with a great amount of disbelief in his voice upon hearing what Nikolai said about using the grenade. He stared at Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey but mostly at Nikolai with incredulity. “What the hell caused you to do that!?”

Peering over his shoulder with caution and nervousness Dempsey replied in a dread-filled tone; “Gas crawlers.” With narrowed eyes the former marine, along with Takeo and Nikolai scanned the buildings around them. Given these crawlers can maneuver themselves over any surface, they would have to keep their eye on everything and every place they can get on.

“Gas crawlers?” At Dempsey affirmative nod Naruto widened his eyes and cursed audibly. “Oh for fucks sake.” He and Samantha then quickly aided them in surveying their surroundings through the sights of their respective weapons.

“Gas crawlers? What are gas crawlers?” Jiraiya asked, just wondering why the five of them were looking so nervous.

“Gas crawlers are zombies.” Naruto was the one to answer in a quick pace of speech. “A special type of zombie that can expel a green coloured gas upon its death that can disorientate us if it's inhaled.” The blonde added as he gestured to himself and his comrades.

“As the name suggests, these little-buggers crawl on all four of their limbs. It makes them difficult to spot if you don't know what to look for.” Dempsey picked up when it looked Naruto wasn't going to continue. “They're also able to move on all surfaces. That also includes being able to crawl on walls.”

Yugito narrowed her eyes as she scanned the rooftops warily. She never heard of these Gas crawlers before. The thought of them being able to move on any surface and difficult to spot was a call for concern. This had to be brought to the attention of the Raikage!

“I never heard of these 'Gas crawlers'. What does it look like? What is it able to do?” The woman asked; never keeping her eyes off the rooftops.

Then as if to answer her question nearby familiar roars, at least to Naruto and his group, sounded off challengingly to them. Then like a locust several hundreds of the things made their appearance by scaling along the walls from every direction in front of them. The ninjas having never seen them before during the past three years, unsurprisingly were shocked at their heavily mutated appearance. The large shark like teeth that took up most of their face had implanted itself in their minds for the rest of their lives.

As one Takeo and Dempsey, Nikolai and Samantha and Naruto all took aim and opened fire on them. The ninjas watched in fascination as the crawlers fell to the fire-power of their weaponry by the dozens.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as he analysed the zombies carefully in his head. [/“They're unhealthily skinny. Little than nothing more but skin and bones. There are some human characteristics to them but with how far they are mutated, the things barely resembled anything human.” The Toad Sage narrowed his eyes even more at the thought of their mutations. This is something Orochimaru would do if given the chance. “Their clawed hands and feet would give them the tools needed to allow them to move on any surface, just as Dempsey said they're able to do. Not to mention there seems to be a faint trail of green gas coming from them. The horrible smell coming from the gas, would be a dead give away to their presence.”

“When they're dying, they flip on their backs and curl up like a spider.” Jiraiya analysed further as the crawlers did just as he described. “And just like Naruto said, they then release a green gas of some sort upon their deaths.”

The crawlers were relentless. Despite them being killed by the dozens with every passing second they are steadily closing in on them from their front and sides. Something that was not missed by everyone. What was worse about their situation was the gas cloud spreading out in all directions. With heaps of Gas zombies being killed, the cloud of gas that is spreading at an alarming rate. If they don't back away, it will overtake and consume them.

Scowling at hearing the dreaded 'click, click, click' in his assault rifle, Dempsey began to move backwards as he reloaded his weapon. Several crawlers were now on the ground and approaching the group of ninja and zombie slayers at an alarming pace. This had forced everyone to back away slowly as the crawlers were getting far to close to them for comfort, not to mention the gas cloud was beginning to spread even further now that several more were dying on the ground than on the walls. At least if they died on the walls the gas would be limited as to where it can go.

To aid the group who are shooting at the crawlers, all ninjas threw kunai and shuriken at the assembling horde. The projectiles despite the level of accuracy they were thrown, had hit home but was not effective enough to kill them. The crawlers bloodied and having shuriken and kunai sticking out of their body continued their approach as if they weren't hurt at all.

“Don't waste your weapons like that!” Dempsey yelled gratingly at them when he saw the projectiles being thrown over his head.

“Do you have any other ideas then?!” Kanon snapped irritatingly at him while her eyes widened with maniacal panic. The stress of being surrounded on all sides by the enemy was beginning to get to her.

Growling Dempsey turned to glare at the woman. “For fucks sake woman, you can breath fire out of your mouth!” He snapped back at her with an annoyed snarl pulling at his lips. “Use your brain that is conveniently inside of your skull and use your godlike power to kick some pale undead ass!”

“That's the Tank Dempsey I know!” Naruto said with a genuine laugh, just before he unsheathed his combat knife, dodged a swipe from a crawler and after grabbing it by the back of its head smashed it face first in the ground. He then drove the knife in the back of its skull all the way up to the hilt.

Naruto seeing the others were getting a fair distance away from him quickly and brutally yanked the knife out of the now dead crawler and quickly regrouped with the others. “You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you lot are doing this on purpose.” Naruto said as he rejoined the others; let it be known that he was looking directly at the ninja accusingly as he said this.

“Doing what?” Taiki questioned as he narrowed his eyes at the accusing look Naruto was giving him and the other shinobi and kunoichi.

“You're not being as helpful as I thought you'd be.”

“In case you haven't noticed we're surrounded by these creepy crawling things. Not to mention these things can adapt to our every move with each encounter. So please forgive us if we're not using chakra as much as we should.” Jiraiya calmly explained while defending their lack of action toward' the zombies.

Samantha hearing Jiraiya's explanation could only shake her head. As she reloaded her MP-40 she turned to the man and asked, “You do realise zhey vill grow stronger even if you use chakra or not?” The surprised looks the ninja had given her answered her question and made her palm her face in disbelief. “How you all made it through zhis long vithout knowing zhat is very, very astonishing to me.” She deadpanned at him.

“It does explain why the hellpigs are stronger than ox!” Nikolai exclaimed, before yelling out in pain when a crawler swiped at his shin. Nikolai in retaliation stomped the crawler on the head with a deep scowl on his lips, before he took aim and pulled the trigger reducing the crawler's torso into a bloody mess.

Nikolai however forgot one important fact: they expel gas once they die. Something he remembered too late. Himself, Akira and Taiki who was close to him all let out a startled yelp when they were suddenly consumed by the gas. Nikolai being immune to the Element 115 contained within the gas was only irritated by it. As proven by his coughing and hacking, and slight blindness it brought to his vision before he got out of the gas cloud.

Akira and Taiki on the other hand were not as lucky as Nikolai. The two of them after inhaling the gas started coughing severely. The gas also blurred their vision, making it difficult for them to see where they were going. They began hacking up blood not long after and fell to their knees before slumping forward, laying flat on the ground with blood coming out of their mouths.

The others who weren't caught by the gas quickly moved away from it. Nikolai who was covering his mouth and nose with one hand was having a coughing fit as he hunched over. Kanon was staring at the gas that had covered Taiki and and Akira entirely in despair. She saw the two of them falling to their knees and slump to the ground and knew they were dead.

“Aw, shit.” Dempsey cursed dejectedly when he saw the two Kumogakure shinobi hacking up blood before they collapsed. That was a horrible way to go. Your last moments before you die being coughing up blood as the gas infected you from the inside.

“I thought you said the gas disorientates you!?” Jiraiya exclaimed as he rounded on Naruto.

“Yeah, it does. To us!” The blonde exclaimed as he gestured to himself, Takeo and Nikolai, Dempsey and Samantha. “I never said anything about it disorientating you.”

“You could've said that earlier!” Kanon yelled at him.. “They wouldn't be dead otherwise!”

“I think I made it perfectly clear when I said, 'it can disorientate us if it's inhaled'.” Naruto calmly replied despite the situation. “For fucks sake woman I even gestured to my group as I said it. So if you didn't pick up on that, then you're fucking stupider than you appear to be!”

As the gas dispersed in the air Dempsey saw the still as a statue bodies of Taiki and Akira with blood coming out of their mouths. He knew, he just knew that they were dead, and with Element 115 flowing freely through their entire body it would not take long for them to reanimate. So to make sure they wouldn't get back up and try to take a chunk out of them the former marine redirected the barrel of his assault rifle and aimed down the sights directly at their head.

Just as he was about to take a shot the two twitched. Dempsey hesitated and narrowed his eyes. They twitched again and slowly began to stiffly get to their feet. Takeo not hearing Tank fire his weapon turned to address him and saw Taiki and Akira getting back to their feet. The two of them noticed Taiki and Akira had their eyelids closed.

“C'mon. Open your eyes.” Dempsey murmured, his eyes were narrowed so much they looked like slits. “Open your eyes you two. I need to know if you're reanimated before I do something I may regret.”

Takeo was gazing between Dempsey, Akira and Taiki with an uncertain look. But he raised his sub-machine gun at the two ninjas nevertheless. The second the two opened their eyelids, Takeo and Dempsey opened fire on them. The two without warning had seemingly teleported. They were there one second, and the next, they were straddling Takeo and Dempsey after the two had been tackled to the ground. The guns just out of reach. Both Takeo and Dempsey had their forearms pushing up against their throats. The two of them were gritting their teeth as they put all their might in keeping the two zombified ninjas from getting their teeth sunk in them.

The two struggling men were quickly relieved of their life-threatening situation when Nikolai and Naruto shot Taiki and Akira both in the back of the head, allowing Takeo and Dempsey to shove the now permanently dead men off them.

Jiraiya and Yugito providing support in keeping the zombies back with fire techniques. Jiraiya using his Flame bullet to incinerate the crawlers as they approached, and Yugito using her Mouse Hairball technique.

Mouse Hairball is literally a blue flaming ball of hair that takes on the form of a mouse. Naruto's group who didn't know of it heard Yugito Nii shouting out her technique behind them, after Jiraiya yelled out his own and were surprised to see the fiery projectile fly over them before splitting into several more projectiles and hit the crawlers dead on in the head and set alight. This was followed by Jiraiya's oil enhanced fire technique setting up another wall of fire that engulfed the crawlers on the other side who were unlucky enough to get caught in it.

“Three people dead.” Jiraiya stated with a despairing shake of his head after the wall of fire was set up. He was surprised that Taiki and Akira suddenly came back to life and would have helped Takeo and Dempsey in getting them off, but the two were killed before he could do anything. “We need to get out of here before we take anymore loses and get overwhelmed by those things!”

“Normally I don't agree with people I barely know.” Dempsey said with a grunt as he grabbed his M-16 from the ground and checked to see if there was any dirt lodged in the gun muzzle. Seeing the muzzle was clear the marine nodded his head in satisfaction and turned to the others. “But in this case I have to agree with him. This place is a death trap.”

“Oh? So you're changing the plan of using the buildings to our advantage?” Naruto questioned him with an arched eyebrow questioningly.

“That was when we were dealing with runners and sprinters. Now we're dealing with a possible super zombie out here along with these creepy crawlers. Using the buildings is not an option. We need to get the hell out of here before we really get in over our heads.”

Takeo frowned thoughtfully as he checked the condition of his Type 100. “If we are to do this choice, do we go our separate ways? Or accompany them?” The samurai questioned as he gestured to Yugito, Kanon and Jiraiya.

“Why not come back with me to the Village Hidden in the Leafs?” Jiraiya offered to them as he wanted Naruto to be back in the place he belonged while at the same time getting the opportunity for the Konoha ninja to confiscate their weaponry and replicate them. Seeing the blank look on the face of his godson, Jiraiya knew Naruto wasn't going to accept his offer so before the whisker face teen could fully make his decision tried to tempt him. “There are a lot of people in Konoha you had made friends with that think you're dead. They miss you. They would be extremely happy to see that you're alive again.”

“I am afraid I have to refuse your offer.” Naruto replied and frowned as he felt a little guilty as he saw the hurt look Jiraiya was giving him. Sighing Naruto scratched the side of his head and said as to further explain his reasoning, “You have to understand; I grew up in a place that ignored and neglected me. A place where every single day, people would act as though I never existed. If I go back there I don't think I will be capable of keeping myself from killing them.” Naruto thought his reasons for not wanting to go to Konohagakure was pretty sensible. And truth be told if he agreed to go to Konohagakure and met anyone there from his academy days, he would have a feeling that he would have to restrain himself from pulling the trigger.

They also tormented him during his childhood even if they didn't know it, since they always listened to their parents and would never think to ask them just why they should avoid him or why they called him a troublemaker. Not to mention the children would often chase him away when he tried to join in with their games, or tried to become friends with them.

Out of them all, however, the most likely person he would kill is the pink haired girl. He doesn't remember much about her but what little memory of her he still has is she would punch him on the back of the head for the littlest of things. Even though he was a complete moron back then and kept pestering the girl for dates. So he deserved getting hit by her for the pestering. Everything else on the other hand he did not.

“Then why not come with Kanon and I to the border leading to the Land of Frost?” Yugito asked once Naruto finished giving his reasons for not going with Jiraiya. “We could use some help in fighting back the undead once they reach the wall our forces made.”

Naruto to Yugito's disappointment shook his head negatively. “Not to offend you Miss, but I don't think that's a good idea.”

“Why is that?” Kanon questioned demandingly.

“It is because of how primitive you are in terms of technology.” Nikolai bluntly stated as stared at the remaining three ninjas with a stern expression. “I may not be smart like my comrades' but it's truth. The chances of your leaders confiscating our weapons and replicating them is to high. No it is not ideal for us to accompany you.”

When Nikolai finished speaking those who know him were staring at him in both surprise and astonishment. “I don't believe it.” Dempsey began as Nikolai stared them with growing bewilderment. “Nikolai actually spoke in a clear, coherent sentence and made sense at the same time!”

“Good, god! He's not sober is he!?” Naruto questioned, staring at Nikolai as if he were an entirely new entity in mock alarm.

Nikolai stared at everyone with a blank face when everyone – except Takeo who was mature enough to not react – began overreacting to him saying something that was intelligent. Nikolai as he stared at his group with squinted eyes, simply gave them the middle finger and gave Naruto a slap to the back of the head to relieve himself of the pent up annoyance. It felt good when he expelled his annoyance through physical contact. It made hearing Naruto letting out a surprised cry at being hit worth it.

The Russian gave Naruto a stern look as he said. “Unless you to end up dead like fourth wife, do not provoke this Soviet, eh?” Nikolai threatened lightly as he drove his fist in his palm. It was a complete bluff of course. Naruto. He would NEVER hurt the boy and killing him is something he would never do.

His comment had earned him a glare and wary looks from Yugito, Kanon and Jiraiya. Yugito and Kanon were looking at Nikolai warily because of him mentioning killing another one of his wives, and threatening to kill Naruto the same way as he did to her. They were even looking at the rest of the group and to their hidden disbelief saw they weren't concerned at all of the threat Nikolai had made. It was as if this was an every day occurrence for them which disturbed the two of them greatly.

Jiraiya on the other hand was outright glaring at Nikolai for threatening to kill his godson and would have delivered him a chakra enhanced punch to the nose. But with how different Naruto was than he remembered him, the Toad Sage has a feeling Naruto and his friends would not hesitate on killing him if he tried it.

To the disbelief of Yugito, Kanon and Jiraiya, Naruto scoffed at the threat and gave Nikolai a knowing smile. “Riiiiight. You threatening to beat me to death? We both know you would never do that. Sober or not.” The blonde teen pointed out.

“...Bah!” The Russian exclaimed, throwing up his arms. “You always could see through my bluffs.”

“Ve all could see through your bluffs.” Samantha unhelpfully pointed out to him with a closed-eyed smile.

“Hmm, it seems the creepy crawlers have backed off for the moment.” Dempsey stated as he surveyed his surroundings. His statement had unintentionally brought everyone's attention back to their current predicament.

Takeo after hearing Dempsey's statement raised his Type 100 and scanned his surroundings. There were no crawlers in sight. Redirecting his gaze to the ground Takeo once again scanned his surroundings, and apart from the burning to death crawlers in the wall of fire there are none of them in sight. “It appears you are correct, American.” The man added in support after he looked at the rooftops around them

“What makes you so sure?” Kanon questioned.

“We have been standing here in this very spot talking for the past five minutes. These things could have crawled on the walls to bypass the wall of fire Jiraiya had set up. Instead they seem to have backed off.” The tone Dempsey spoke in sounded as if Kanon should have known.

“If that is the case then you three can get out of here!”

“What about you and your group Naruto?” Jiraiya questioned his godson with narrowed eyes and a light frown.

Naruto looked at everyone in his group for a moment, silently conveying a question to them. Takeo and Nikolai, Dempsey and Samantha all saw what he wanted to ask from the look in his eyes alone and gazed at one another. After a few seconds of tense silence they brought their gaze back to Naruto and nodded their heads simultaneously in agreement, conveying they would agree with what he wanted to tell them.

Nodding back the teenage blonde turned to Jiraiya and with a small confident smile pulling at his lips replied, “The five of us are going to stay here, and try to kill as much of these zombies as possible. Lessen the amount of zombies you will have to face later on.”

“Are you out of your mind!?” Jiraiya exclaimed at Naruto with disbelief lathing his voice. “You will be greatly outnumbered by them. The chances of you getting out of here will be slim!”

“It won't be the first time that happened.” Dempsey replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Seeing Jiraiya, Kanon and Yugito giving him curious looks the marine elaborated. “For the past three years, the five of us have been in some of the most gruelling places you can imagine. All of them were overrun by the undead, similar to this place, and we survived that. It also helps that the five of us are immune what ever is bringing the dead back to life.”

“Not to mention we had to do some pretty inane shit. Like freeing some guy from some kind of dimension he had managed to get himself trapped in.” Naruto added with a mildly irritated look, as he reminisced when he and the others had to free some Russian guy from some other dimension he had gotten himself trapped in. Another thing they did was travelling back in time several times to do some very long and complicated tasks, just so they can change the outcome of two men who kept on dying to zombies. In the end their attempts to save the two men had gotten them stuck in a time loop. What were their names again? Brock and Gary? Yeah, that was it. Their likely still in that loop right this moment.

“...Really?” Jiraiya, Yugito and Kanon simultaneously asked in a sceptical tone, to which Naruto and Samantha, Takeo and Dempsey and Nikolai nodded in confirmation as a response.

“The five of us. And a seemingly limitless amount of zombies. That grows stronger and adapts to the way we fight with every encounter.” Naruto stated as he looked toward his group with a smile. “Samantha, you know what you need to do.” The blonde teen said as he motioned his head toward Jiraiya, Kanon and Yugito.

The girl squinted her eyes at Naruto confusingly for a moment before they widened in realisation at what he was trying to convey to her: take Jiraiya and Kanon and Yugito out of here. Nodding her head Samantha turned to the three ninja and transformed. To the shock, astonishment and surprise of the ninja they saw Samantha's skin turn a pale snow white and her dark eyes turned to glowing yellow. Just like the zombies.

“Now it's time for me to do my part; let's get you three out of here.” Samantha told them in her American accent before she used her powers to teleport herself, and the three ninja away from Yugakure.

The group of four stared at where the ninja used to be in silence. Before Nikolai broke it with a question. “...So we went from staying, to retreating, to staying again?” He questioned the others with confusion lathing his voice.

“Yeah. Pretty much.” Dempsey replied before chuckling to himself amusingly. “We really got to have our priorities straightened out. We went from preparing for the freak-sacks arrival, to running away from them and then to staying to kill as much of them as we possibly can.”

Naruto laughed a little at that. “Yeah we did didn't we?”

“However, something tells me that man is going to be filled with anger when Samantha brings him to her designated location.” Takeo stated as he saw the shocked and surprised look on the man's face. Those feelings Jiraiya had felt at that moment could easily turn to anger at a moments notice.

“Then hopefully it will be far away in the distance where the concrete wall is. That would take the man some time in getting back here.” Dempsey paused for a moment before adding. “If he is suicidal of course.”

“Hopefully he isn't. He would be basically committing suicide since these ass-wipes are capable of adapting themselves to the way the people here fight.” Naruto sighed and looked into the fire that was beginning to snuff itself out now there was nothing to fuel it. “I still can't believe they're losing the war against these zombies despite what everyone in this world is capable of doing.” The blonde teen added in disbelief as he shook his head.

“Tell me about it.” Said Dempsey. “I never thought I'd see someone breathe fire from their mouths like a dragon!”

“And what is up with them shouting out name for attacks? That serves no purpose if they're meant to be ninja.” Nikolai said as he frowned. While he may not know enough about ninjas' since that was more along Takeo's area of expertise, he knew enough from stories that they were stealthy.

They were meant to be quiet and strike from the shadows. He did not see the point of them shouting out the names for their attacks as they did them. Because not only did it give away their location to the enemy, they also threw away their stealth advantage. As a former sergeant in the Red Army, giving away your location and throwing away stealth is not acceptable. Not to mention none of them appear to be ninja.

There area was filled with silence with the sound of burning fire being heard in the background. They found it particularly strange they did not hear the groans, the growling or the roaring of zombies they are used to hearing.

Naruto looked at Takeo and noticed something he hadn't before because of his attention being completely on the zombies to notice. “Takeo...” Said man silently turned to look at Naruto questioningly upon hearing him say his name. “Where's the Staff of Fire?” The blonde asked.

That was when Dempsey took notice of Takeo's missing Staff of Fire. The last time he was with the samurai, Takeo had the staff slung over his shoulder. Now it was missing. “Yeah, wasn't it with you the last time I saw you?” Dempsey pointed out with his eyes narrowed in confusion.

“It was, and still is.” Takeo answered admittingly.

Both Dempsey and Naruto frowned confusingly at the man. “What do you mean it's still with you? I don't see it.” Dempsey said as he gave the man the look over.

Naruto nodded his head in agreement with the man, as he didn't understand what Takeo was implying when he said he still had it when he obviously did not. Takeo sighed and after he slung his Type 100 over his shoulder, he held out his right hand in front of him as if he were holding the staff.

It looked ridiculous to them at first and then the Staff of Fire itself frickin' materialised in his hand in all its glory. Smiling softly at the sight of the Element Staff back in his grasp Takeo looked back at Naruto and Dempsey and couldn't help but smile a smug smile at the astonished stares they were giving him.

“Okay, that right there, that was awesome.” Naruto stated after a moment of silence. His eyes were doe like.

“Although I have no idea how that is possible – I suspect the author of this story – that explains where the staff went. However, how were you able to do that in the first place?” Dempsey questioned while ignoring the fact he pretty much broke the Fourth Wall.

He also wasn't surprised, astonished yes but not surprised, when the staff materialised out of nothing. Takeo shrugged helplessly as he was clueless as to how he is able to materialise and dematerialise the staff at will. He suspects it was because of him touching it back when they were in the Wave Village almost 6 to 7 hours ago. In the perspective of Dempsey and Naruto, Takeo and Nikolai and Samantha time had not past that long. To them mere hours had actually went by since they they were brought to that mysterious plane/dimension, and spent at least 10 to 20 minutes there before being brought to Yugakure by an impatient Samantha, while an entire week had past for the Elemental Nations.

“I have no idea. It is a mystery.” Takeo replied honestly. He really had no idea how it was possible.

“Oh, god, I hate mystery’s. Nothing good can come out of them.” Dempsey groaned out in complaint as he palmed his forehead and pulled down across his face. His past experiences with mysteries were filled with sweat, blood and a great deal of pain. And violence! He cannot forget about the violence.

“Takeo became younger when he got the staff. Perhaps he was able to do that because of the staff itself?” Nikolai had a very good point there. Maybe the staff did have something to do with it? It could possibly work in a similar way as the focusing stone they got from Shangri-la? That thing had somehow made them all stronger when they all had gotten their hands on it.

The zombies literally stood no chance against them since they retrieved the stone one by one by going through the loop. They were overpowered and could take on everything in their path. Then they were brought to Nevada, to Area 51 just outside of the teleporter that would teleport them to Griffon Station on the moon and they lost all of their advantages that had gotten from the focusing stone.

“It is possible Nikki.” Said Takeo with a nod before the staff dematerialised itself into atoms and went to god-knows where.

“Maybe we would get some answers if we find anymore of these staffs laying about?” Dempsey questioned, and everyone nodded at it with a thoughtful look on their faces. If there was one of these staffs then there maybe more of them out there somewhere. “How close are we to one of the major 'hidden villages' Naruto?”

Naruto frowned and stroked his chin in thought as he tried to recall the tactical map in that odd dimension they were hours before. “Right now we are the closest to Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning. And to get there we would have to get past the concrete wall that is directly on the border of the Land of Frost and the country we are in as of this moment.”

“Okay, so we found the Staff of Fire in the Land of Fire. Or maybe on the outskirts of the country.” Dempsey said as he nodded to himself. He made a thinking sound as he thought of possible locations on where the other staff may be located in the Elemental Nations, if they did happen to exist. “So we take that into consideration, my theory is that the Staff of Lightning could be in the Land of Lightning. The Staff of Wind could be in the Land of Wind. The Staff of Ice? I have no idea where that could be. Maybe the Land of Water?”

Everyone took Dempsey's theory into consideration, and after giving it some thought, they came to the conclusion it had some merit to it. Right now his theory made the most sense and it had a pattern to it. If the Staff of Lightning was indeed in the Land of Lightning, then it is indeed possible the other staffs are in their country counterparts.

Naruto with his mind made up nodded and said, “It's worth checking out. But we should take down as much of these fuckers first before we move on.”

“Oh, yeah, sure, take down as much of them as we possibly can. What these ninjas ever done for us?”

Everyone stared blankly at Nikolai. He had been here when Jiraiya and Yugito completely decimated them in a matter of seconds. “They took down two groups of zombies in a matter of seconds. The first one had saved your and Takeo's lives. Not to mention that Yugito chick completely decimated them with her own technique the second time.” Dempsey pointed out to the Soviet.

“Bah! We could have done better.” Nikolai exclaimed boastfully.

Dempsey deadpanned and as he shook his head said, “Yeah, we could have done better, if we had a Gersch Device on hand.” He stated once more to the Soviet.

“Now is not the time to be starting an argument!” Both Takeo and Naruto said in exclamation at the same time. The both of them knew if Nikolai and Dempsey were to continue as they were, then an argument between the two would be inevitable.

Just as the two of them said that, the group of four heard the crawlers roaring out in challenge to them just as they made their reappearance on the rooftops. Getting his weapon ready Takeo and Nikolai, Dempsey and Naruto all aimed their guns toward the rooftops where the crawlers were.

Then suddenly they heard the familiar moaning and groaning' of the undead sounding out in front of them; and steadily grew in sound and volume with each passing second. The sound of hands bashing against a wooden surface was heard for a moment before they heard a crashing sound, along with several hundred footsteps.

Redirecting their line of sight away from the rooftops, the four all saw a massive horde literally jumping on top of the remains of the collapsed building that Nikolai had accidentally caused to collapse in on itself.

Being surrounding on their front and sides, and with the runners and sprinters descending on them on their front rapidly, Naruto uttered three words that summed up what everyone was thinking at that moment.

“Oh, fuck me.”

X.X.X.X

It had been nearly 8 hours since Asuka had been left in charge by Yugito. She had been doing well so far. She had been holding the fort until Yugito returned, and would only get herself involved in matters she had deemed worth her attention. In spite of all that nothing of interest had happened as of yet; something Asuka was thankful for because despite what everyone thinks no one is prepared to fight the undead even if you had fought them in several engagements in the past.

So given that nothing had happened for the past 7 to 8 hours, it was understandable why everyone would be startled when Yugito, Kanon and Jiraiya suddenly appeared before them out of thin air with no warning. They didn't take notice of Samantha because all of their attention were on the three ninja who had reappeared all of a sudden.

“We're... back at the border...?” Kanon stated in astonished uncertainty as she looked around her surroundings. “But how is this possible?”

Yugito after looking at the familiar environment brought her attention to Samantha. She felt her eyes involuntarily widen in astonishment when she saw the girl floating in mid-air away from the wall. Her hair was defying gravity the locks coiling and uncoiling around on themselves like tentacles. Her skin which was a healthy colour before, was now an unhealthy pale snow white. Her previously brown eyes were now a glowing yellow.

“You... You're not human are you?” Yugito questioned Samantha with a wary look. Her question had brought everyone's attention to Samantha and they too were shocked at her appearance. Her glowing yellow eyes as she gazed between each and every individual in front of her, felt as if they were peering into their very soul.

Samantha didn't reply to the question for the longest time and it was making everyone tense at the silence. Narrowing her eyes Samantha stared at Jiraiya when she saw the angry expression he was sending her.

“You are partially correct.” She finally answered; her voice soft, low and somehow echoing. “I am human, yet, not human just as the other four are.” She added cryptically, as she referred to Takeo and Dempsey and Naruto and Nikolai, while secretly enjoying the confused looks everyone who didn't know she was talking about was sending her and the ninja she brought back.

“What do you mean by that?” Jiraiya demanded as he glared suspiciously at the floating glowing eyed girl. “Naruto looked as human just as I remember him being! Including the other three!”

Samantha merely smiled something that Jiraiya didn't like if his growl was anything to go by. Kanon however was squinting up at her, gears were connecting in her head. “Those eyes...” She began, prompting everyone's attention to shift to her. “...You're a zombie aren't you?”

Samantha stroked her chin as she regarded Kanon's question seriously. “Hmm, that is a pretty good question. Despite my appearance I am most definitely NOT a zombie. I can assure you all of that.”

“If you're not a zombie... then what are you?” Yugito questioned.

Samantha give Yugito a bitter smile. “Ever since I became like this I often wondered what I have become.” She replied before she turned her head sharply toward Yugakure with a worried look plastered on her face. “I have to go now. The others need me.”

Samantha was about to teleport herself away to the others when she heard Jiraiya shouting out to her. Pausing her attempt to teleport Samantha turned halfway to stare at the Toad Sage who was now standing at the edge of the wall, and was staring up at her imploringly.

“Can you at least bring me back to Konohagakure?” He requested of her. Internally he was sweating nervously. Those eyes of hers were creeping him the hell out. This is most definitely not a normal girl.

Samantha stared down at Jiraiya with suspicion in her eyes before floating down to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. Jiraiya widened his eyes when he suddenly found himself in a n endless white void. Jiraiya looked around his new found surroundings with narrowed eyes. It seems to go on forever. Suddenly Samantha materialised in front of him, catching him by surprise and making the man take a few steps back instinctively.

“Where are we?” He asked the girl as he surveyed his surroundings.

“We are nowhere. And we are everywhere.” She replied cryptically. She did not have the need to tell the Toad Sage that this place is where the tactical map of the Elemental Nations is. She had removed it just in case the old man in front of her got the wrong idea.

“Back to the reason as to why you are here: why do you want me to bring you to Konohagakure?” Samantha questioned the man as she crossed her arms with her eyes narrowing at him in suspicion. “What are you planning to do once you get there? Are you going to tattle on us? Because that won't be a healthy thing to do if you tattle on us.” She questioned him again, as her voice becoming more and more childlike with a disturbing undertone toward' the end that promised a great deal of pain for him if she didn't like his answer.

“Everyone in the Elemental Nations already knows of your existence. We discovered your presence one week ago in the Land of Waves.” Jiraiya answered her truthfully, knowing that lying to her at this point would be the stupidest thing he could do at this point. “Also there is a possibility that Tsunade, the leader of Konohagakure, already knows of Naruto's return as she sent several teams to the Land of Waves to get details of what had happened after you disappeared. It won't be long until she sends out teams to retrieve Naruto and send him home. Either peacefully or forcefully.”

“Really? You really believe that you can bring my Naruto back to the place he despises?” She questioned rhetorically before glaring at him with her eyes narrowing dangerously. The Toad Sage noticed Samantha had said the words 'my Naruto' a little to possessively for his liking. “You try to take him by force, and I will murder every insignificant person your Hokage sent after him!” She exclaimed with a scowl.

Jiraiya quickly raised his hands to placate the girl. He could tell she was completely serious about killing anyone that is sent to bring his godson forcibly back to Konohagakure. “I can assure you that Tsunade will most certainly NOT send people to forcibly bring Naruto back to Konoha.”

“Really? And how do I know that you are telling the truth?”

“Because I'm not the kind of person who would lie!”

Samantha stared at him as if he had said something stupid. Which in her eyes he did as what he said contradicted his profession. “You are not the kind of person who would lie?” She questioned rhetorically as she gave the elder a bland look. “You're a ninja, moron. Lying, cheating, plotting and killing is in your job description. And if you seriously expected me to believe you would not manipulate my friend, then you are dumber than I thought you'd be.”

Jiraiya sternly glared up at her in defiance. He had nothing to say to refute her accusations as she was telling the truth. He was a ninja, and, as a ninja what she said was literally his job. If he had to back stab someone just so Konoha would remain safe, or to kill someone so they would not become a future threat, then he would do so gladly.

“However...” Jiraiya slightly leaned back with wariness in his eyes when he saw a disturbing smile grace Samantha's lips. “...I think I'll send you back to your... Hidden Village.” She nodded to herself as she tapped her chin in thought. “Yes... that seems like the ideal thing to do.” Her grin widened in disturbing glee as she nodded to herself once again.

He didn't like that look on her face as she stared at him. He really, really didn't. The last thing Jiraiya heard before his vision was blinded by whiteness was Samantha saying in a low whisper, “I'll be watching you...”

The next thing the Toad Sage knew he found himself in the familiar room of the Hokage's office, in front of a desk that had an astonished Tsunade staring up at him with wide eyes. The room had entered an awkward silence with a stunned Hokage and a nervous looking Toad Sage.

Jiraiya nervously raised a hand and weakly waved at his leader in greeting. “Hi.” He greeted her weekly.

Tsunade blinked her eyes repeatedly before they narrowed. “Jiraiya...” The Fifth Hokage slowly said as she stared at the nervous man in question. “...How the hell did you get in here...?” She asked him, with her narrowed eyes now squinting at him. First she was finished with doing her paperwork and then all of a sudden he appeared in front of her desk in a flash of light. His answer had better be a good one otherwise she'll deck him in the face!

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his neck as he started to laugh nervously. He knew that look and knowing Tsunade is a medic first and foremost, she would be able to tell if he was lying or not. Swallowing the saliva that was beginning to build up in his mouth, Jiraiya decided that telling her the truth would be his best bet to NOT get punched in the stratosphere.

“Would you believe me if I said, I had just encountered the 'Mysterious Five' and was teleported here by one of them?” He asked her in a meek tone.

For a moment nothing had been said between them. Jiraiya standing nervously in front of the desk waiting for Tsunade to make a response. And the Hokage herself was sitting behind her desk while staring up at her former team-mate with a blank look on her face.

“You had encountered the Mysterious Five at the Land of Hot Waters?” She questioned him for confirmation.

Jiraiya nodded in confirmation, though he found her being this calm to be strange. She considered Naruto to be like a little brother to her. And knowing just how close she was to him, Jiraiya thought she would be more... eager? Demanding? To know of his exact location.

He also wondered how she knew the Mysterious Five were at the Land of Hot Waters. But then felt like hitting himself in the face. The strange energy he had felt before he went to Yugakure would had been felt throughout the Elemental Countries. So of course Tsunade would know where they are!

Tsunade leaned back in her chair as she thought on her possible actions. On one hand she could send out people to bring Naruto back where he belonged, but those people she sent would be in constant danger in getting attacked by an overwhelming number of zombies. On the other she could leave Naruto where he is and wait for another time, but she would risk losing a great asset to Konohagakure. But before she can decide on any of those choices she needed more information.

“Jiraiya when you were there, what was the overall status of the Land of Hot Waters?”

“The country was bad. Very, very bad.” He replied honestly, as he knew Tsunade wanted as much information as possible. “When I got to Yugakure, an army of Type 1 undead, that quickly evolved into Type 2s and 3s was there to prepare an invasion of the Land of Lightning. When I had entered the former Hidden Village I had encountered a small band of Kumogakure shinobi and Kunoichi, being led by Kumogakure's second Jinchuuriki Yugito Nii and knowing of the situation and knowing what we were looking for--”

“The Mysterious Five.” Tsunade interjected.

Jiraiya nodded his head in confirmation before continuing his report as if he had never been interrupted. “--she had suggested that we band together. Not long after we teamed up I had an encounter with Naruto himself.”

“How is he? Is he alright?” She immediately asked him with a pleading look. Jiraiya looked away for a moment to gather his thoughts on how to answer that. The second Jiraiya had done that Tsunade knew something was wrong. “Jiraiya... How. Is. He?” She demanded strongly.

The Toad Sage didn't say anything for a minute and just when Tsunade was about to repeat her demand the man answered. “...Naruto is fine. All things considered.” Jiraiya replied with a bit of hesitation as he turned to stare at her completely. “However he's changed the the lack of a better word. It was like he is a totally different person.”

“What do you mean?”

“He has amnesia and from what I remember you telling me, Naruto has a severe case of it.” He told her. Jiraiya then began to proceed to tell Tsunade almost everything he had found out about his godson so far. The amnesia, the personality change, the closeness between Naruto and the rest of his group. And him not hesitating on killing Juro in cold blood. The reason he did not tell Tsunade everything about what he had discovered was because of him remembering what Samantha had said to him before he was brought here.

“I'll be watching you.”

Seeing as that girl had teleported him from Yugakure, to the Land of Frost and then to Konohagakure, it would not be far fetched for him as to say she had other powers under her sleeve. Potentially dangerous powers that he was not willing to risk being a test subject on. He preferred living thank you very much.

By the time Jiraiya had finished almost an hour had passed and Tsunade was leaning on the her desk, while rubbing her forehead in distraught. “So Naruto doesn't remember us at all, and will not hesitate on killing us if we annoy him enough to so. And from how close he is to these people Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo and Samantha he trusts them all with with his life.”

The Hokage paused to gather her thoughts and to regain her breath before continuing where she left off. “The rumours of them using weapons similar to Kunai Launchers are true, and from you seeing them in action first hand 'all of them have different diversifications to them. The projectiles shooting out these weapons are small enough to be invisible to the human eye.” She paused once more before continuing. “There is now another zombie type that can move on all surfaces, and expels a poisonous type of green gas upon its death that can kill anyone that is not immune to it? And not only that, it can quickly reanimate those that had fallen victim to it. And just before you got here Yugakure was on the brink of being overrun by zombies. Is there anything else I had missed?” She questioned once she had finished recounting everything she had been told by Jiraiya thus far.

Jiraiya shook his head from side to side. “Nope, that is everything I told you that I had found out thus far.” He knew Tsunade could tell he was lying. He purposely neglected to mention Samantha and her powers and a lot of other things he had learnt about them. But what he did tell Tsunade was enough information to sedate her. He just hoped it would be enough to not bring down Samantha's wrath on him.

“I was thinking of sending a team or two to bring Naruto back home once we found his location. Do you recommend we send a team or two to bring him home?”

Jiraiya shook his head vehemently at the suggestion. “Considering Naruto's state of mind and that he will kill anyone that pisses him off in the slightest? No I recommend you do not send anyone out to bring him home unless he is within the Land of Fire itself. If you send anyone out to the Land of Hot Water to find him, by the time they get there, Naruto may already be gone.”

After hearing those words Tsunade nodded to herself in thought. If she were to send a team out to bring Naruto back Team Kakashi is most definitely out. From what she read from the Acadamy reports before she became Hokage Sakura would smack Naruto across the head for every thing she didn't like. Sure Naruto was a total moron back then but he didn't deserve to be hit across the head every single time Sakura was within hearing distance. Not to mention she would insult people without thinking of it. She sometimes still does that so sending her and Kakashi out to retrieve Naruto is out of the question. Sasuke himself is still with Orochimaru so he too was out of the question. Though the likelihood of Naruto killing him is quite high.

Then there was Shikamaru, Choji and Ino who all made up Team Asuma. Shikamaru and Choji would most likely not be on Naruto's shit list, since they were neutral to him and somewhat friendly toward' him as well. Ino on the other hand was like Sakura. She may not have laid a hand on Naruto but she did always belittle him whenever she had the chance, so the possibility she would be on Naruto's shit list was likely.

Then there was Kiba, Hinata and Shino the ones who made up Team Kurenai. Kiba was similar to Naruto. With Naruto's new personality likelihood of Kiba being killed by him was high. Shino and Hinata are the only ones' out of the entire group Naruto would be able to tolerate.

And then there was Rock Lee, Neji and Tenten the ones who make Team Guy. With Tenten's fetish and slight (Major) obsession for weapons the likelihood of her getting killed by Naruto for annoying him is high. Rock Lee... no questions asked he will be killed by Naruto the second he opens his mouth. Neji would have a chance. If he were still the same as he was during the Chunin exams then Naruto would kill him without remorse.

Six out of ten people; mix the members around a bit to get rid of the ones Naruto would likely kill and she would have two teams. And like Jiraiya said Naruto would have to be within the Land of Fire before she could send anyone out to retrieve him. Anywhere else and they would risk being attacked by zombies and would be too far to receive help.

With her thoughts and the reasons Jiraiya providing her influencing her slightly, Tsunade finally came to a conclusion. “I have made up my mind: I will wait until Naruto is within the Land of Fire before sending out any teams.”

Jiraiya sighed out in relief. “That's good.”

“I know, that was a very good decision.” Tsunade jumped up from her chair and in a feat of inhuman agility, leapt up and flipped herself over the table, and landed beside Jiraiya in startled surprise when she heard a voice of a teenage girl from behind her chair. She was so surprised that she was holding a hand to her chest to calm her rapidly beating heart.

Floating behind the chair was a teenage girl with wild and unruly dark hair that was currently defying gravity and whipping around her face, with yellow glowing eyes and pale snow white skin. 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. A teeny, tiny detail about her that had changed was that she was transparent.

“Hi I'm Samantha Maxis one of Naruto Uzumaki's friends!” She was grinning toothily at them which to be honest looked completely terrifying to Jiraiya and Tsunade considering her overall appearance.