FicWad

Dead Rising

Chapter 6

Samantha continued grinning at Tsunade and Jiraiya, finding them staring at her with their eyes wide in shock to be humorous. Normally the ANBU guarding the Hokage tower would have surrounded her the second she appeared. Why they have not is because Samantha was not there in the physical sense not to mention her powers do not require any chakra whatsoever and they therefore cannot detect her. And because of her not being there physically they wouldn't be able to hurt her either. It also helped that she was projecting a small barrier around them, so no one would know what was going on without her consent.

“What's the matter? You two are acting as if you have never seen a ghost?” Samantha stated rhetorically while her disturbing grin never faded from her lips.

Neither of the two in front of her said anything and the room had quickly filled up with tense silence. “...Samantha Maxis?” Tsunade said with caution in her tone and eyes. “You're the one Jiraiya said is friends with Naruto?”

Samantha stopped grinning and gave Tsunade a blank look. “I just said I was Naruto's friend a few seconds ago. Have you not been listening?” The girl with the glowing yellow eyes questioned.

“I heard.” Tsunade replied with a nod. “I just wanted to reaffirm what I had heard. Thank you for clearing that up. Now considering you are here right now, I can take an educated guess and say it is not for a social reason?”

“You would be right, Tsunade.” Samantha answered as she nodded her head in formality. She now stared at the Hokage with a serious look on her face. “Since Jiraiya already told you to not send people out to retrieve my Naruto, unless he is within the Land of Fire, I'm here to add onto that.”

Both Tsunade and Jiraiya narrowed their eyes slightly when they heard the slight obsessive tone in her voice when the girl said 'my Naruto'. It was heard again in Jiraiya's case. Neither of them liked it, as Samantha made it sound as if Naruto was her property.

“And what would you want to add to what Jiraiya said to me?” Asked a curious Tsunade.

Samantha's blank expression was replaced with a threatening scowl as her glowing yellow eyes began to glow even more ominously, along with her hair whipping and coiling itself wildly across her head in a dramatic manner. “If you send anyone after My Naruto when we are in your fucking country, and try to bring him to this fucking place by force, then I will personally kill everyone you send.”

Tsunade narrowed her eyes dangerously at the girl. Previous fear now gone Tsunade leaned on her desk and glared Samantha directly in the eyes. “Was that a threat, little girl?” She demanded fiercely. No one threatens her ninja and gets away with it. “Because if that is a threat, then when I get my hands on you, I will make you choke on it.”

Samantha sneered at the woman. “You? Threatening me?” She scoffed mockingly at the woman, causing her to grit her teeth in irritation at the audacity the girl had. “As if. But to answer your question: no. What I said was not a threat; it was a promise. And as for you getting your hands on me and 'making me choke on it'...” The girl trailed off before she literally walked in and through the desk and out the other side, with Tsunade backing away from her; her eyes not leaving the girl. “Good luck on trying to do that. Not only will My Naruto not stand for that, he will more than likely kill you. He does, after all, despise the place that ignored and neglected him.”

“What if we do send people out, but try to retrieve him through peaceful means?” Jiraiya quickly interjected as he saw Tsunade was about to blow a gasket and try to pummel a literal living ghost. “Not only would Naruto be given a choice to come home or not, but no one will have to die, and NO ONE would be able to force him into doing anything. Would that be suitable?”

Samantha was staring at Jiraiya as she rubbed her chin while she seriously considered this. Meanwhile Tsunade was staring at Jiraiya as if he had made a deal with the devil. The Toad Sage didn't see what the problem was; not only would Tsunade be able to send out teams, but they have to try to tempt Naruto in returning to Konohagakure through peaceful means rather than force.

No force equals no deaths. It's a win-win solution. Unless you consider Naruto can refuse and they can't do jack-squat about it; because that would be a win-lose situation.

“Those terms...are acceptable.” Samantha replied after she had finished with her thoughts on it. The girl stared between the two and gave them a hard look. “But I will not make any promises on Naruto not killing anyone you send after him. He does tend to get annoyed fairly easy and is a little... patient, when it comes to people he does not know who annoy him.”

“A little patient?” Jiraiya exclaimed with a sceptical look on his face. “He straight up murdered a Kumogakure ninja because he was taunting him.” He pointed out to the little girl, and reminding Tsunade of how different he is in comparison to the Naruto they remembered. “Sure the others that were with him said he was a prick and that he had it coming, but still! He murdered someone in cold blood! That does not strike me as someone who has little patience.”

“Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai annoy each other all the time. They sometimes drag Naruto into their fights and he never 'straight up murdered someone in cold blood' because they always annoy one another.”

Jiraiya snorted dismissively at her response. What a load of bullshit. Naruto told him he killed Juro because he felt like it. That alone tells him Naruto would have no qualms about killing people he doesn't know, or doesn't like that annoys him. When Nikolai threatened to kill him Naruto didn't react violently because he knew what the man was like. If it were someone that was part of his group he was sure Naruto would not hesitate to kill the person that threatened him.

“Naruto had been with you people for three whole years. Not to mention he was 13 at the time and wouldn't have been able to do anything to them compared to their sheer size and height. He had those years to warm up to you all, so he doesn't mind you arguing or insulting one another because he is used to it. Not to mention the four of you are close to him.” Tsunade was silently watching the exchange between the two as she found it interesting. She paid more attention to Samantha rather than her former team mate though. Seeing the state of the girl Tsunade's medical side was calling out to her. The glowing yellow eyes; the pale snow white skin; the lack of chakra; everything about this girl was screaming 'impossible'. She HAD to know how the lack of chakra was possible? Rock Lee is unable to use chakra, yet he still has enough flowing through his chakra points to live.

This girl did not. Which should be impossible as all living things needed chakra in order for them to live.

Neither Samantha nor Jiraiya saw the glint in the woman's eyes however as they were still arguing with one another. “He even straight up told me that the Naruto I knew is very, very unlikely to come back before threatening the other ninja along with myself with death. Therefore your argument is invalid.” Jiraiya stated with finality in his voice.

Her argument is invalid...? Samantha had a twitching eyebrow as those words kept repeating in her head. Her argument...is...invalid...? While she didn't have anything to refute those words, as she knew it was true, there was something she could do... Staring up at the man with squinting eyes, Samantha casually flicked her wrist. Jiraiya suddenly doubled over as his oxygen was exhaled forcibly from his lungs. It felt like he was punched. Then he was thrown off his feet and into the door behind him where he then slid down to the floor groaning in pain as he held his stomach. No one outside of the office had heard it thanks to the barrier Samantha had set up.

Glaring at the groaning man, Samantha huffed to herself and nodded to herself in satisfaction. “First of all: I know Naruto better than anyone. So if I say he is a little impatient toward' people he does not know or that annoy him; then he is a little impatient towards people he does not know and that annoys him.” She stated calmly before her tone became threatening halfway through her sentence. “So I believe you need to shut the fuck up about something you know nothing about.” She said to the man dispassionately before she turned to the Hokage and glared darkly at her when she saw the glint in the woman's eyes. She recognised that look. Richtofen had given her that same look when he injected Element 115 into her. “And if I see you giving me that look again, I will make your life a Living. Fucking. Nightmare. Understand?”

Not wanting to end up like her team-mate, Tsunade rapidly nodded her head. She threw Jiraiya into her office door with just a flick of her wrist when she was irritated. She did not want to see what that girl could do if she was pissed off.

Samantha nodded her head once more in satisfaction before looking between the two. “Remember: if you send your people out to retrieve Naruto, I will not hesitate to kill them if they attempt to force him back against his will.” With her words said Samantha closed her eyes and dispersed into particles, heading back to her main body before Tsunade could reply.

Jiraiya groaned as he slowly got to his feet as he held his stomach in an attempt to ease the throbbing sensations from that mental punch. With squinting eyes Jiraiya stared at the Hokage, who was gazing at the place Samantha once was with an unreadable look.

“Tsunade?” He called out to her worryingly.

“Is she human?” The big breasted woman questioned suddenly without taking her eyes off of the spot Samantha once was.

“Pardon?” The Toad Sage questioned with squinting eyes.

Tsunade then brought her gaze to the Toad Sage and repeated her question while clarifying what she wanted to know from him. “Samantha Maxis; is she human? Is she an undead?”

Coughing into his hand to clear his throat Jiraiya looked at Tsunade in the eyes and gave her the honest answer; “To tell you the truth, I don't have the slightest idea.” He said with a helpless shrug of his shoulders. “The girl herself doesn't have the slightest clue as to what she is. Why do you ask?”

“I'm asking because that girl had no chakra. The only time when you don't have chakra is when you're deceased.” Tsunade made her way back behind her desk and sat in the chair and leaned on her desk with a tired sigh. This was stressing for her. Not only was she trying to keep the morale of her soldiers' up, she had to make sure Konohagakure had enough supplies being reproduced so they could last several months. Then Jiraiya came along without warning, and then Samantha Maxis herself appeared shortly after.

There was no way in hell she was going to tell anyone about this. She was so sure if she had told any of her ninja about Naruto's whereabouts, they would hound her to let them venture out there and bring him home. Either peacefully or through force. She was actually glad that war-hawk Danzo was killed during the first few months of the zombie outbreak. If he were still alive, and he caught wind of this, he would have sent out his Root ninja to bring the boy back against his will.

Jiraiya internally sighed as he scratched the side of his neck. If she found that out then he'd might as well tell her about the other three as well. “...Now that you pointed that out to me, Naruto did say the people he is with has no chakra at all. I could detect Naruto in Yugakure but not the other four.”

Tsunade stared at the Toad Sage with squinting eyes. “And you didn't tell me this... why?” She demanded from him.

Blinking Jiraiya merely shrugged his shoulders. “With everything that happened just minutes ago it slipped my mind.”

Tsunade groaned as she leaned into her arms. Slipped his mind her ass. She would bet all of her sake he wasn't planning on telling her of it until it was convenient. Then again, he did just get through a zombie attack, and was reunited briefly with his godson.

“So we're dealing with a group of people who does not use chakra at all. Which means they are similar to the zombies.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, Jiraiya.” Tsunade said, as she lowered her arms from her eyes so she could look at her friend unhindered. “The zombies don't have a working chakra network within their body. So most chakra based attacks won't do a thing on them. That would also mean most chakra based attacks will not work on the girl, or the other three who are currently with the brat.”

“That does pose a problem.” Jiraiya said while he rubbed his chin. “While we do have the advantage of being able to use chakra, they too have an advantage in the form of their weaponry. Are you going to attempt on bringing Naruto back home?”

The Senju woman shook her head negatively. “No. Not until he is in the Land of Fire at the very least. With Samantha being able to do that to you without the use of chakra, I shudder to think what that girl is capable of when she is directing her anger to someone that has earned her wrath.”

Jiraiya nodded in complete agreement with the woman. The force that impacted on his stomach felt like a really, really hard punch. Not to mention he didn't sense the girl using any chakra when she flicked her wrist. Jiraiya had a feeling Samantha was a similar to a sleeping dragon. Annoy her enough and she would explode and lash out at everything around her to a devastating degree.

He had no idea just how right he was in that regard. Samantha was a spirit/zombie/human that was in complete control of the undead in her dimension before Richtofen completely screwed everyone over. If Samantha were to snap and lash out at everyone around her in anger not only would everyone be in danger of her power, but only one person would be able to calm her down.

Not that he knew that; and he will most likely never know of that.

Life is a bitch like that.

X.X.X.X

Naruto let out a loud cry as he stabbed a gas crawler in the middle of its head before yanking the blade out. A little ways on his left, Tank Dempsey could be seen Spartan kicking a sprinter zombie in the chest, sending it staggering back before the marine took aim with his M-16 and blew its head off of its shoulders. Grinning with sickening glee Dempsey took aim at a crowd of approaching Runners and unleashed hell upon them; gunning them all down in seconds. Leaving a red mist at their demise.

On Naruto's right Takeo and Nikolai could be seen; Takeo was using his katana to fend off the zombies in close quarters. The limbs of the undead would fly off in several directions as they were cleanly severed from the main body of the zombies. With a thrust he impaled a zombie through the chest with the long katana blade, before in a great display of human strength dragged the blade upwards, cutting through bone and sinew like a hot knife through butter, essentially breaking the zombie in two from the stomach up.

Meanwhile Nikolai somehow, some way, was using his PPSh-41 with only one hand. The Soviet was firing his sub-machine gun in short bursts so the recoil wouldn't be too much of a strain on his arm. In his other hand was a bottle filled with gasoline that had a piece of cloth sticking out of the top. How he had managed to get a bottle with gasoline in it was anyone's guess.

The four of them were holding their own despite the overwhelming numbers pitted against them. If it weren't for the fact they had been doing this on a daily basis, the four of them would be overwhelmed and overrun by them by this time.

Working as a team the four covered each other as they slowly made their way back to the bridge where they were at the beginning. They all knew the zombies are coming at them in one direction. If they head toward' the bridge and keep their movements in the direction of the wooden structure they would be able to slowly back themselves toward the Land of Frost as long as they don't get out manoeuvred. They would have stayed and try to retake the Juggernog soda machine. But with a large army of zombies standing between them and it' they quickly abandoned that plan.

They are skilled; not suicidal.

Steadily backing away Naruto re-aimed his M-16 toward a horde of zombies on his left flank where Tank Dempsey was. The teen quickly shifted his aim so the former Marine Raider would not be within his line of fire. Naruto pulled the trigger and watched as the zombies were cut to pieces with Dempsey soon joining in. The combined fire power of Naruto and Dempsey had put the horde down in seconds and left a bloody red mist in their wake.

“Molotov!” Nikolai yelled out warningly; Takeo, Naruto and Dempsey hearing the warning all moved out of the way. Having a clear way to throw Nikolai drew back his hand that held the bottle and threw it. Only to realize a mistake he had made just after he had thrown the bottle. “Oh-shit! I forgot to ignite the cloth!” He exclaimed frantically, just as the bottle shattered against one of the zombies' head. The now gasoline drenched zombie staggered back from the impact and was quickly over taken by the other zombies.

Both Naruto and Dempsey stared at Nikolai incredulously, while Takeo stared at the Russian with a deadpanned look before bringing his attention to the zombies. The Imperial Soldier continued hacking, slashing and beheading any zombie that got within the range of his katana' blade.

“You moron!” Exclaimed Naruto and Dempsey simultaneously. “How could you forget something like that?!” Dempsey added before he smashed the butt of his assault rifle on the face of a zombie that had tried to take him by surprise by latch onto him. He Spartan kicked the zombie in the chest, flipped his rifle so the barrel of the gun was facing the correct way, and took aim at the zombies' head before pulling the trigger. The zombie fell to the ground on its back with a large chunk of its head missing.

“Hey! This Russian was under too much pressure!” Nikolai exclaimed defensively before he and the others quickly began to back up as the zombies renewed their approach. The four of them were getting pushed back and the fact they could change that by actually using their assault rifles and sub-machine guns was not lost on them.

“Your lack of thinking ahead is of no consequence Nikki.” Takeo said as he carefully examined the crowd of zombies for the one that was hit with the Molotov. Quickly moving back so he could stay ahead of the fast moving zombies Takeo reached for his M1911 before holding it out in front of him. Taking aim Takeo squinted his eyes as he tried to find a zombie that was drenched. Which was rather difficult considering just how many of them there are and how many times he had been forced to take care of any zombies or crawlers that tried to blind side him with his katana.

Seeing as he was about to get overwhelmed on his side Naruto quickly jogged backwards, taking turns to look over his shoulder to see where he was going, and in front of himself to see just how close the zombies were to getting their cold dead hands on him.

“What do you mean there is no consequence?” Naruto questioned the moment he was beside Takeo. “There's nothing to inflame them with!”

“Tell me Naruto, what do we use to fire our bullets?” Takeo questioned the teen as he raised his hand gun and closed one eye so he could take aim better.

“Gunpowder, what does that have to... Oh... Ohhhhh...” He said in realization. The gunpowder in their guns can be used to ignite anything flammable. And gasoline is a flammable liquid and is very, very hard to get off. Even blood wouldn't be enough to get it off. Aiming his M-16 at the zombies Naruto said with confidence in his voice; “I get it now. We find the one that is drenched and shoot it, then it and everything around it will get caught in flames.”

“Indeed. Nikolai's blunder can still be taken advantage of.” Takeo squint his eyes, as he searched for the zombie that got drenched by Nikolai's failed attempt at burning them. Seeing the drenched zombie he was looking for Takeo opened fire. The bullet missed its mark; it had instead put a hole in another zombie that had conveniently gotten in Takeo's line of fire.

Naruto cursed when he heard his gun give out the dreaded 'click' when he pulled the trigger. The magazine was out of bullets. Growling Naruto hurriedly removed the empty magazine, tossed it to the ground, and got a fresh one from his ammo pouch. Taking aim once more Naruto opened fire and easily laid waste to the zombies. He saw a gas zombie crawling to him, and it was surrounded from all sides by the sprinters and runners. Naruto smiled a grim smile and redirected his line of fire to the gas zombie and pulled the trigger. The gas zombie after being riddled with bullets, flipped onto its back and curled up on itself like a spider before the green gas exploded from it. All the zombies around and in close proximity of it inhaled the gas before they collapsed to the ground dead seconds later. The only ones being unaffected by the gas were the other gas zombies who kept crawling toward the zombie slayers uninterrupted.

Still squinting Takeo spotted the drenched zombie through the gas cloud and took the opportunity to fire in the large gap Naruto had provided him. The bullet connected to its target and the zombie was set ablaze before the flames quickly spread to the other zombies given the close proximity they were to the now burning to re-death undead.

Nikolai and Dempsey both took a quick glance at the zombie covered in flames that was beginning to spread the fire among its brethren in a rapid pace. Turning to look halfway over his shoulder Dempsey bellowed out, “Everyone fall back and regroup at the bridge! Let's go!” While he was in close proximity to the other members of his group, they were still among a large horde of zombies. So Dempsey had to yell over the moaning, grunting and howling of the undead just so the other three could hear him. Hearing his order' Takeo and Nikolai, Naruto and Dempsey all turned around and retreated to the bridge in a full sprint.

To buy them some time Naruto grabbed one of his grenades' inside one of his ammo pouches, removed the pin and held it for two seconds before tossing the cooked grenade over his shoulder and at the burning zombies. The four were a respectable distance away when the grenade exploded taking several zombies with it.

Several minutes of running and twists and turns later we find the group of four back at the bridge where they first came to Yugakure. They were all nervous and edgy; even though they didn't look like they were. They could hear the moans and groans from the runner and sprinter zombies' and even the howls of the gas zombies in the background.

“I should have gotten the Juggernog soda when I had the chance.” Naruto exclaimed in bitter complaint. “This would have made fighting the zombies' a lot easier.”

Takeo grunted lowly as he removed the magazine from his Type 100 to weight it in order to see how much ammo he had left within. It did not weight as much when it was completely full, so if Takeo had to guess the magazine was somewhere around being half-full/half-empty. “Opportunities come and go, young one. You will receive your chance to obtain the perk in the nearby future.” The Asian man stated in a wizen tone, all the while placing the half-empty magazine back in the slot on the side of his weapon.

“I agree with Takeo. It is not end of world.” Nikolai said in agreement with Takeo's statement.

“So what's our plan here? Does two of us take care of any zombies that show themselves on the rooftops, and the rest takes care of the rest on the ground? Or do we fight them wherever they show themselves?” Questioned Naruto as he gazed at each of the three men individually.

“We should fight them whenever they show themselves.” Dempsey replied as he kept an eye and ear out for the zombies. The moans and groans weren't getting closer to their position for the moment so the four of them had some time left to plan a strategy. “It's going to be completely chaotic when they get here anyway so choosing whose going to shoot where isn't going to make too much of a difference in the long run. Do any of you two still have any bouncing Betties or Claymore mines left?” The marine added, looking at Takeo and Nikolai expectantly for an answer.

To his disappointment the two of them shook their heads negatively. “We used them all. From how there are no more explosions going off in the background I think they are all destroyed.” Nikolai was the one that provided Dempsey the verbal answer.

“Dammit.” The marine cursed with a disappointed scowl. “We could've used them right about now.” He sighed before shrugging his shoulders. “Oh well, nothing we can do about that. We can only guess the trap mines you two had set up had taken out a couple of hundred of those maggot sacks. Add on the amount of zombies we personally put down, they must've lost a good chunk of their numbers.”

“Not to mention the explosions must have damaged some of the buildings here. A lot of them ARE made out of wood after all. Some of the zombies may have to backtrack.” Naruto pointed out to remind them.

“So that may give us even more time.” Dempsey said with a thoughtful look on his face. Narrowing his eyes Dempsey began to search through his ammo pouch. “Out of the five magazines I had for my assault rifle, I have one left, excluding the one in the chamber. The ammo for my Remington Model revolver is full.” The marine stated before he looked at the others. “What about you guys?”

Seeing the need to know how much ammo they had for their weapons, all three of them had quickly gone through their ammo pouch to see how much ammunition they had left for their guns. It didn't look good for them. “I have two for my PPSh-41, including the one I am using. I have five, including the one already in the chamber for my Colt.” Nikolai answered as the first of them.

“I have one left, including the one in the chamber of my M-16. Like Nikolai my pistol ammo is full.” Naruto answered seconds after Nikolai had.

“I have three, including the one in the slot of my Type 100. Like Naruto and Nikki, I have five magazines for my sidearm.” Takeo grunted out. He had been fighting off a majority of zombies without the use of his sub-machine gun or side arm. He had been using his katana; so the fact Takeo had wasted only one magazine made sense.

“Ok so we have enough ammo to last us for a while. Everyone apart from Naruto and Nikolai has two grenades to be used. With those we can hold our ground here for the moment.” He paused to catch his breath and looked toward the bridge. “If we're about to be overwhelmed then we have to head toward that bridge; make sure we don't get flanked.”

Naruto had a smirk pulling at the right corner of his lips. “Heh, I have the confidence in us when I say we will pull through this situation. We have been in worse situations than this after all.”

With that said Dempsey and Takeo and Nikolai and Naruto all got themselves into position; standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder, the group of zombie slayers all aimed their guns in the direction they came from. With the bridge on their fight, if they were about to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers they would be able to cross it to get themselves out of danger.

It wasn't long until the first zombie showed its ugly decaying head. Naruto fired the first shot. The zombie jerked back and fell to the ground dead when the bullet easily tore through its skull. Not long after the first zombie died several more started to show themselves. Naruto, Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai knowing they had to be careful with their ammo all fired in bursts. They also special care to make sure they were aiming at their weak spot: the head.

They also redirected their attention to the gas zombies immediately when they showed themselves, since they kill any other zombies around them once they expel the gas upon their death. Despite having runners and sprinters coming at them the group was able to stand their ground. Sometimes only one or two zombies' managed to reach them, but they were easily taken down by a stab to the head before they could cause problems for them. When there was a big crowd of them, the group would deal with that by tossing a grenade among them as to split them up.

So far there had been two of these zombie crowds, and Takeo and Dempsey were the ones to have taken care of them with their own grenades. Like before the corpses began to pile up in a heap, forcing the zombies to move slower as they tried to climb on and over the corpses or go around them. After several minutes of this the zombies did something that took the group by surprise.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me!” Dempsey exclaimed with wide eyes.

They leapt. They literally leapt over the pile and keeping their momentum as they landed on the ground, they rolled along the floor before shooting back up to their feet and continued making their way toward them. They were taken down by a well placed shot to the forehead. However' seeing as more and more zombies were now leaping over the bodies of the fallen the zombies were much closer to reaching them.

Seeing they would not be able to hold their position any longer Tank Dempsey, Takeo Masaki, Naruto Uzumaki and Nikolai Belinski in that order started making their way towards the bridge.

They provided covering fire for one another as they slowly made their way to the bridge and to give them a head start on Naruto threw his remaining grenade at the zombie crowd. He laughed with sickening glee when he saw the limbs go flying when the grenade exploded. Once the grenade went off the group turned on their heels and started running for their very lives. All the while they changed the magazines for their guns.

Once they got to the other side they all stopped, turned, took aim and pulled the trigger. They all had forgone using burst fire since there was no need for them to do so anymore. The zombies were funnelling their way over the bridge; and with nowhere for the dead to go except back or off the railings, all they had to do was aim at their heads and unleash hell on them. Since the zombie slayers were aiming at the heads the zombies were going down like flies and Nikolai sped up their demise by throwing his last grenade among them. Given the structure was rather weak from the decomposition of time the wood had given away to the force of the explosion. Not to mention the wood had caught alight and put the bridge in flames.

Everyone couldn't help but stare at Nikolai incredulously. First Nikolai brought down an entire building with a grenade; though the structure itself was completely weak, because of the quick speed decomposition the earth was suffering for the past three years. And now Nikolai had set a bridge aflame with yet another grenade. It's like the Russian is an instigator for disaster.

They redirection their attention back to the flaming bridge when they heard something move slowly across the bridge. While slow in pace the footsteps sounded more like stomps and was heard even over the moaning and groaning of the dead. It gave them an ominous feeling. Looking unsure the zombie slayers shared a look with one another, then turned their gaze back to the burning bridge and took aim. They didn't open fire. Instead they waited for whatever was making its way across the burning bridge.

The four winced and took a few steps back when the heat of the flames had drastically risen all of a sudden. It wasn't long until they saw a literal burning corpse slowly make its way through the flames.

“No... No, not these guys again! I thought we were done with them after Shangri-La!” Dempsey distress-fully said in exclamation. He and the others were slowly backing away from the flaming zombie as it slowly walked to them with a low growl.

The Napalm zombie, or Pyro zombie as it is commonly known among the zombie slayers, is a fifth type of undead. Very dangerous; very difficult to fight without the right equipment. The Pyro zombie is a humanoid undead; it overall has a very charred appearance and is missing its lower jaw leaving the mouth to be gaping open. It's only decency is wearing a pair of ragged trousers. There was a massive opening in its abdomen, and had large chunks of skin and muscle missing on its body, including the facial area; allowing everyone to see the fire burning underneath its surface.

“Tank we don't have the right equipment to fight this thing.” Naruto said nervously; he never liked those things. They were virtually impervious to damage, unless you had a Wonder Weapon in your possession. And neither of them had any of those powerful guns and devices.

“I know that. Just keep your distance and it won't explode on us.” The marine advised. No one argued with that; they knew how dangerous one Napalm zombie was and none of them were eager to fight it, knowing just how difficult they are to kill.

“The other undead are backing off!” Nikolai exclaimed when he noticed the lack of runner, sprinter and gas zombies moving across the bridge. He saw them standing at the edge of the cliff that blocked them from getting to their side. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he was wondering why they weren't coming over the bridge as well. It's not like the flames are able to kill them right away. They would be weaker than they normally are but the flames will not off them instantly.

Then it came to him. “They're using tactics!” The Soviet said in sudden realization. His exclamation got everyone's attention on him as he continued. “They got us to waste our ammo so we would not be able to deal with this bastard!”

“It's like Shangri-La all over again. They got us to focus on them so we were unable to take care of the Pyro zombie! Just fucking great.” Dempsey added in a deadpan toward the end; basically saying what Nikolai had just said only in much longer and unnecessary words.

The bridge began to creek and crack as the flames finally withered the supports down. Then with a snap the burning bridge finally collapsed and tumbled down the cliff, destroyed beyond repair. There was no way for the zombie crew to get back to the other side now that the structure was gone. Not that they would have since it was now completely overrun. And seeing as they were no longer within close proximity, the four zombie slayers saw flashes of light raising to the sky in various sections of Yugakure and the perk machines being lifted to the atmosphere by some invisible force until it had left their line of sight, followed by a another faint flashes of light that signalled their final departure.

He and the others were a fair distance away from Yugakure when that happened and was still backing away from the pyro zombie that never let up on its slow paced approach. It left flaming footprints with every step it took.

“Well there goes the bridge, perks and weapons.” Naruto said offhandedly after the light show was done. “So...who wants to be the one to get it to blow itself up??” He asked as he glanced at the others; he was hoping one of them would do it instead of volunteering himself. The last several times he volunteered he got scorched from both the heat and fire when the dammed thing blew up.

When they were almost 20 yards away from the cliff side, 14 patches of flames suddenly appeared on the ground. Naruto, Dempsey and Nikolai all audibly cursed as they saw 14 pyro zombies make their appearance. Takeo merely growled and scowled at their appearance. This was just unfair. The 14 pyro zombies pulled themselves out of the ground from within the patch of flames and once they were free from the earth they started their slow pace stalk like walk to the four heroes.

“Yeah...” Naruto began in a deadpan when he saw one pyro zombie turn to fifteen. “...totally not doing that.”

Before any of them could make a reply everyone yelled out in startled surprise when they were unexpectedly blinded by a flash of light. This was followed by them feeling weightless as if they were floating in mid-air. The four grunted when they felt their feet touch solid ground and bent their legs to absorb the impact.

The energy signature that is associated with Naruto and Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai and Samantha was felt throughout the Elemental Nations with their departure. And being the closest to them, the defence unit at the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost were the ones to have felt it first. It would be some time before the Raikage himself had felt their departure from the Elemental Nations.

Following shortly was the blindness they had suffered fading away from their vision, allowing them to see the familiar endless dimension they were in before. Looking down at themselves Naruto and Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai all noticed any blood they may had gotten from the fighting on the surface world was completely gone, and their weapons excluding their side arms which was still in the holster were now gone.

“We're back?” Naruto said in relief. He had not been eager to take on a pyro zombie again. Let alone 15 of them at the same time. “Samantha! You around here somewhere?” He yelled out, looking around their surroundings when he realised they were a person short.

“Ja, I am here Naruto...” She tiredly replied in her normal German accent. The group all looked to their left when they heard the girl's voice originate from. Only to find no sign of Samantha being there. Then just as Naruto opened his mouth to ask her where she was, they all saw the teenage girl materialise herself out of particles. “Sorry I vas late in getting you four out of zhere, but I vas preoccupied vith something.” She apologized to them once she had fully materialised.

“Don't worry about it.” Naruto replied waving off her apology as if it were no big deal. Which it wasn't in his eyes. However, what had gotten her occupied enough to make her late in getting them out of there had peaked his interest. “What were you preoccupied with?”

There was some hesitance from the girl; and after a moment of thought Samantha relented with the knowledge of keeping this information from Naruto and the others would do more harm than good. “Konohagakure is planning on sending out teams to retrieve you.” She started getting wide eyes from everyone. “Originally zhey vere planning on trying to convince you to come back, and, if you refused zhen zhey vould bring you back against your vill.”

Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Samantha...I want you to tell me everything.”

And with a tired sigh Samantha proceeded to tell them everything she knew. From Jiraiya telling Tsunade about his amnesia, to his personality change, and his closeness to the rest of the group. And when that was done she then explained that Tsunade was originally going to send out a team or two to retrieve him if they had gotten a location on him. However Jiraiya to denied that plan and give her a reason on why she should not. So she settled for sending out teams if they happened to be within' the Land of Fire. Then she go through with it and after some thought on the man’s, and likely her own, reasons decided to not send people out to bring him back unless he was in the Land of Fire itself.

After that was done, Samantha then told the four about how she revealed herself to Tsunade, after she declared she would not send anyone to get Naruto back unless he was in the Land of Fire, and threatened to kill anyone she sent after her friend if they attempted to force him back against his will.

She kept out some minor things however. Such as her being a little territorial and obsessive when it came to Naruto and his safety. There was no way she was going to let some stuck up pricks take her friend away from her and get away with it. At the end everyone was surprised and stumped at what they had been told. But none was more so than Naruto himself who was staring at the girl with wide astonished eyes. He knew he was good friends with her but he never expected Samantha to go that far. He was touched.

“So let me get this straight and see if I got this right; they pretty much want Naruto back and were going to send people out to bring him back. That old man, Jiraiya, told the boss lady to not send people out unless we were in their territory.” Dempsey paused for a short moment to regain his breath before continuing. “Then you came along, and pretty much said to them that you were going to kill anyone they had sent after Naruto if they tried to bring him back against his will if the peaceful way didn't work. Did I get that right?” Dempsey asked after he summed up what Samantha had told them.

“Ja. Zhat is zhe bases of vhat I had said.” The girl nodded her head in confirmation.

“Something tells me that is not the entire story.” Takeo stated thoughtfully. “They are perhaps using the retrieval of our comrade as a cover to seize our weaponry, and replicate them for their own use.”

Naruto couldn't help but shake his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose. That assumption made a whole lot of sense. The Elemental Nations is behind on the times of technology. The remaining kunoichi from Kumogakure and Jiraiya saw their guns in action. Plus Nikolai did say there was a very high chance the leaders of the Hidden Villages would take their weapons and replicate them; that was one of the reasons why Naruto did not choose to join any of them.

There was no way in hell he was going to let any of the Hidden Villages get their hands on his things they were already capable of dangerous things without guns. There was no need for them to add onto that.

Naruto sighed in irritation. “That's just fucking great. We're going to have to keep an eye out for any ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village if that's the case.” The teen let out another irritated sigh as he shook his head. “If they try to bring me back against my will, can I count on you to help me when I need it?”

“Bah, if they were to try and force you to go back, then they will get face full of Russian steel!” Nikolai loyally exclaimed while he dramatically raised his fist and clenched it in front of his face.

“I'm with Nikolai; you're my friend, and you've been with us from the very beginning; helping us through thick and thin. I'm sticking with you.” Said Dempsey to Naruto in a moment of rare seriousness.

“I am not one for words, but, I will stand by you when they come before us.” Takeo said when Naruto had turned to him to see what he had to say.

Naruto didn't bother to ask Samantha as she had told them her answer already. Not to mention she said to them all that they already heard what she was going to do if the Leaf ninja tried to force him back against his will.

“Thanks you guys.” He said. “And girl.” He hastily added when he heard Samantha let out an unamused huff when he called her a guy.

“And don't you forget it.” Samantha said while nodding to herself with satisfaction on her face.

Naruto let out an amused snort and crossed his arms as he shook his head. After calming himself the blonde looked at Samantha with all traces of past amusement gone. “It's about zhe Napalm zombies is it not?” She questioned when she saw the serious look on her friends face.

“Yeah. How did you know?” To answer Naruto's question Samantha merely pointed behind them; following the direction the girl was pointing Naruto and Nikolai and Takeo and Dempsey all saw the tactical map that conveniently appeared behind them. Naruto blinked dumbly for a moment before he began nodding in understanding. “So that was how you knew.”

Since the group had left for Yugakure the tactical map had not left the last place it was on. Which was Yugakure. The tactical map was still processing in real time showing the group the now overrun Yugakure. They all saw just how lucky they were to have gotten out of there unharmed. There was thousands of them, Sprinters; Runners; Gas zombies all of them could be seen running through the alleyways, buildings and streets of Yugakure. The former Hidden Village was completely overrun.

A fair distance away, where the bridge used to be was a small army of Napalm zombies. What was 15 was now a staggering 30 and was slowly building. Not far behind them the zombies were preforming an inhuman feat by jumping over the cliff and landing on the other side before making their way toward' the direction of the Land of Frost.

Dempsey shook his head in disbelief as he stared with wide eyes. “Fucking hell. I knew there was an army heading to that place, but Pyro zombies and the creepy crawlers combined with Runners and Sprinters? If they manage to break through that wall they are going to have a tough time holding their position.” As he said this 4 red circles appeared on the map with name tags attached to each circle that had the words 'Gas Zombies', 'Runners', 'Sprinters', 'Napalm/Pyro Zombies' to show the five where each of them were. Then several arrows started to extend from the circles, all of them leading to a single place; the Kumogakure defence force.

“We didn't even slow them down. They're just jumping over the cliff and continuing on their merry way.” Naruto said frustratingly.

With no bridge allowing them to pass over the cliff, instead of turning back and trying to find another way around they were instead jumping over the cliffs edge. The zombies have indeed gotten smarter.

“It seems your earlier assessment was right Samantha.” Said Dempsey as he tore his eyes away from the tactical map and brought his gaze to the girl in question. “Before you went away with those ninja, there was no sign of any Napalm zombies; and then shortly after you took the ninja away, they appeared out of nowhere. There is something going on here and I don't like it.” The marine concluded his assessment in a rather grim and edgy tone.

“Could it be someone like Samantha?” Naruto questioned with curiosity showing on his face and in his voice before expanding his clarification when he saw the looks he was being given. “You know, before she and Richtofen switched bodies?”

“Oh god; I sure hope not.” Said Dempsey as he rubbed the side of his neck as he pulled a face at the thought of someone similar to Samantha in control of the dead. “Because – no offense to you Samantha - if we're dealing with someone like her before she and Richtofen switched bodies, then I hope beyond hope that we don't have to go all the way to the fucking moon just to stop all of this from happening.”

“Maybe we would have to do something that is incredibly and unnecessarily complicated? Something that is similar to what we did in Shangri-La?”

Everyone turned to stare at Naruto with questionable looks on their face. “What? Where we had to go back in the past several times just to change the fate of some nameless people?” Dempsey asked as he narrowed his eyes in thought.

“Well... Not exactly like that.” Naruto slowly said as he shook his head from side to side. “What I was thinking was us managing to find a way to teleport ourselves to the past, before the zombies came along. However instead of saving two people from a horrible fate, we would be trying to stop the zombies themselves from bringing the Elemental Nations into the sorry state we find it today.”

“I can see five of us doing that.” Nikolai said after a moment of silence had passed.

“I can see us doing that too.” Dempsey added with a nod to Nikolai's statement. His eyes went wide when he remembered them talking about the Elemental Staffs and their possible locations. “But before we do that however, we still need to know where the hell the other Elemental Staffs are.”

The other three simultaneously said “Oh....” in remembrance of what they were walking about before they got here. The Elemental Staffs; they were planning on finding out where they are located in the Elemental Nations and retrieve them once their location has been found.

“This map of the continent can provide us with possible locations.” Takeo stated as he gestured to the tactical map.

“If only there was a way for us to discover these locations though.” Added Dempsey. The man was staring and analysing the tactical map with focused and keen, yet squinted eyes while rubbing his roughly fuzzed up chin. “If you all remember what I had said before, the Staff of Lightning could possibly be in the Land of Lightning; the Staff of Wind in the Land of Wind, and lastly, the Staff of Ice in the Land of Water.” As the marine said that, the locations on the tactical map were marked off, both showing and reminding the group where each country was in case they had forgotten where they were.

“You forget the staffs can be anywhere in the Elemental Nations. Not just in the countries you mentioned.” Naruto pointed out with a raised finger. He bit his lower lip as he stared at the tactical map with analysing eyes. “Unless we find a way to find them, then the search would be similar to looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Takeo with a thoughtful frown held out his hand in front of him. The Staff of Fire materialised out of particles and the samurai gripped it tightly in his hands when it fully assembled. Everyone was looking at him with furrowed brows now. “Perhaps the answer which we seek lays with the staff itself?” He said to them all as he examined the Staff of Fire with curiosity.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Nikolai said with a light frown as himself and the others stared at the Staff of Fire in Takeo's hands. “But it will not hurt to try and see.” The Russian concluded as he brought his gaze to the tactical map.

“But HOW do we do it?” Dempsey asked as he stressed the word 'how' to them. “You do have a point, that the staff can give us the answers we need in order to know where the others are, if they happen to exist. But what I want to know is how do we use the staff to give us the needed answers?”

The group shared a look with one another wondering if any of them has an idea on how to get the information they need. Scratching the side of his head Naruto exhaled softly and said, “Well it's not like we can have a pedestal similar to the one we found in the Land of Waves appear in front of us.”

As if someone had answered to his request a pedestal similar to the one they had found in the Land of Waves suddenly materialised in front of them. They all blinked once, twice, thrice. Then all had brought their gaze to a wide eyed Naruto, who was staring at the pedestal that had materialised itself out of nowhere.

Cue the silence that would last for nearly ten minutes. The silence was eventually broken by Naruto. “Well... I guess the term 'ask and ye shall receive' was literal in this case.” He then got close to the stand and examined it with keen eyes. They narrowed when he noticed there was a slot right in the middle that appeared to fit the Staff of Fire. “Takeo, come here for a second and take a look at this.” When Takeo walked beside him Naruto pointed at the slot in the middle on top of the pedestal and said, “Can you insert the bottom of the staff in that slot?”

Nodding wordlessly Takeo raised the staff with both hands and making sure the bottom part was aligned correctly with the slot, the samurai brought the staff down and watched as the bottom was inserted in the slot. Takeo and Naruto looked at one another when they heard a mechanical 'clunk' sound out from within the pedestal when the bottom of the staff was inserted in the slot. Releasing his grip on the futuristic staff Takeo along with Naruto took a few steps back and and brought their eyes to the tactical map to see if anything new appeared.

At first nothing happened for a few minutes; then just when they were about to give up three images, looking very similar to the Staff of Fire appeared. The first image is on the Land of Water, and was of an Elemental Staff shooting out lightning. The second image was in the Land of Earth and was of a staff shooting out ice. The third and final image was in the Land of Lightning, and was an Elemental Staff shooting out a blast of wind. With the images processed and now on the tactical map the pedestal ejected the Staff of Fire from the slot, prompting Takeo to reach out and grab it expertly, where it and the pedestal dematerialised into particles.

They stared at the tactical map in silence. Analysing the images and imprinting them to their memory. The silence was eventually broken by Nikolai who said in exclamation; “That was convenient. Having pedestal appear out of nowhere and then putting staff on top of it to show where other staffs are!”

“Well it did the job.” Naruto replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Yeah. And now we have our locations narrowed down to three.” Added Dempsey.

Nikolai whistled as he took in the sure three locations that is holding the Staves of Lightning, Wind and Ice. “That is a lot of miles to cover though.” He said referring to the Lightning, Earth and Water countries. “Would we be teleported in these villages, or some random location where no one knows where to go?”

“Knowing our luck we'd be teleported in the middle of nowhere, where we would then have to do a series of tasks just to get from 'point A' to 'point B' before getting what we finally need.” Dempsey stated in bitter complaint. Takeo, Nikolai and Naruto all nodded in grumbling agreement since that had happened to them ever since they had left Kino Der Toten and the amount of tasks, and the way they have to do them seemed to get more and more complicated and even more ridiculous with every new place they visited.

They did travel back in time several times to prevent two guys from being killed by zombies. And to do that, they had to actually go back in time by pushing in some pillars' and then preform a series of weird and outlandish tasks such as finding and matching a pressure plate that had the same images to goading a Napalm zombie into following them and trick it into inflame a gas pipe.

They all turned to Samantha when they heard her sigh out in annoyance. “Hello? Little girl vith zhe power to teleport you to different areas over here?” She flatly said to them while pointing to herself as her face became blank of expressions.

“We know that.” Dempsey replied in an annoyed tone as he stared down at Samantha with a look of irritation. “But considering our luck so far it won't be far fetched to say we WILL have to do a bunch of steps before reaching our objective.”

“Tank does have a point of you think about it, Samantha.” Naruto said with agreement in his tone. “Ascension; Shangri-La; the moon, in those places we had to do a series of tasks in order to reach an objective. Not to mention in almost all the places we have been to, we had to turn on the power first before we could use the Pack-A-Punch and Perk Machines. What's to say we won't have to do something like that in any of these three places?” He concluded in a questioning manner while gesturing to the map in order to refer to the Lightning, Earth and Water Countries.

Sighing in defeat Samantha crossed her arms and nodded in acknowledgement. “You have a point vhen you put it zhat vay. Very vell, I shall concede vith zhat reasoning.”

“Now that is out of the way, shall we see the condition of these countries before we choose our next location?” Takeo suggested. Unsurprisingly everyone agreed with him and redirected their attention back to the tactical map now they were no longer distracted.

The Tactical map zoomed out of Yugakure and showed the group an aerial view of the entire battered looking Elemental Nations. The first place the Tactical map went to was the Land of Water, and zoomed in on it.

The group was taken aback on what they saw.

“That's... a lot of mist. That wasn't there before was it?” Dempsey's question went unanswered as everyone else was so focused on the Tactical map to hear him. The field of sight the map was providing them was an incredibly thick mist. They could see nothing through it and that was problematic for them.

With the mist blocking their view that place was a literal death trap. With it so thick that it completely impaired their sight, they will not be able to see the zombies and would have to rely on their hearing and other senses in order to find out where they are. And they knew the undead would not have that restriction.

The Tactical map zoomed out so it showed the entirely of the Elemental Nations once more. Not long after it then zoomed on the Land of Earth. The group was shown a lot of rocky mountains, and they noted they would block off communication with the other countries. The map zoomed out a little and the group was shown the border runs along a rocky mountain range. The land outside and inside the border was dead, reduced what was once a lush green landscape into a barren wasteland, and the death and decay was slowly creeping in on Iwagakure a Hidden Village with buildings that appears to be made of rock and stone; all shaped from large, overhead placements of rock into tower-like structures. Many of its buildings are on cliffs which are connected to a network of bridges.

“Rocky mountains, good defensible position.” Nikolai stated in approval. But that approval quickly changed to one of dissatisfaction as he continued. “But it is a living death trap; the inhabitants have nowhere to go if they are attacked. Not to mention those rocky mountains would block off communication from the outside, just like Land of Water.”

With that said the Tactical map zoomed out once more and then changed the location before it zoomed in on the Land of Lightning. The country as the group saw was mainly flatland but in the centre are vast mountain ranges. The Hidden Village itself is located in the middle of the mountain ranges, and is quite literally hidden in the clouds. It made the group wonder how no one from there had died from asphyxiation yet. A fair amount of the Land of Lightning's landscape was reduced to a barren wasteland; they remembered there is a defence force at the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost so if they lost the defence over there then Kumogakure would be at a severe disadvantage.

Few minutes of examination later the Tactical map zoomed out again' giving the group the entire view of the Elemental Nations once more.

Dempsey being the badass Devil Dog he is already had his next location picked out.

“I vote we head to the Land of Water.”

The others – excluding Takeo – had looked at the marine with surprised expressions. “...Are you sure...?” Naruto asked with his surprised expression changing in to a hesitant one. “That place is a literal death trap; we won't be able to see a thing.” He warned the man.

“I know. But I think it's best if we do the difficult one first, so we don't have to deal with it later on down the line. Because even if we choose to go to the Land of Lightning or the Land of Earth, we will have to eventually go to the Land of Water once those two are over and done with.” Dempsey explained to them in a lecturing manner.

“That's a fair point.” Naruto said; he exhaled in acceptance and rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay if you're serious about going down there, we'll need to find a way to see through the mist. Otherwise the zombies will swarm us and rip us to pieces.”

“There vas one veapon that can do zhat, zhat vas being made by Harvey Yena. ” Samantha said suddenly prompting everyone to stare at her with interest. Seeing she now had their attention Samantha nervously cleared her throat before continuing. “It is called 'Scavenger', and from what I had seen vhen you all vere trapped in zhat room it is a powerful sniper rifle. Vhen it vas upgraded by zhe Pack-A-Punch machine, it allowed the user to see anything around zhem even through mist.”

“Harvey Yena? That name sounds familiar.” Said an interested Dempsey who was stroking his light stubbled chin. “Can't remember why though. I may have heard that name being thrown around when we were still in Der Riese. So what does this Scavenger sniper rifle look like anyway?”

To answer his question Samantha closed her eyes and began scrunched up her face in concentration. A few long seconds later a holographic model of the Scavenger appeared in front of the girl. Laying their eyes on the rifle for the very first time, Takeo and Nikolai, Naruto and Dempsey couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle at the mere sight of it. Since Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey came from 1940s and Naruto came from a different place entirely' the sniper rifle looked futuristic. As if it came from the future. Like most of the weapons coming from the 1960s, the weapon is made entirely out of metal and attached at the end of the barrel appears to be a large metallic looking suppressant of some sort. On top of the main body of the rifle was a scope attachment.

After seeing the weapon for the first time, even though it was a holographic image Naruto said what was on everyone's mind. “...That is one awesome looking sniper rifle...”

“And it will allow us to see through the mist?” Takeo questioned Samantha as the holographic image of the Scavenger disappeared.

“Once it is upgraded vith zhe Pack-A-Punch machine, zhen yes, it vill.”

“Is there anything we need to know about it?” Dempsey asked.

“It can fire only three rounds vhen it is not upgraded' and can fire six vhen it is.” She paused a moment and then snapped her fingers in remembrance, almost palming her face for nearly forgetting to tell them an important fact. “I almost forgot about zhis, it can also fire explosive rounds!” She exclaimed with child-like enthusiasm.

“Explosive rounds? Like the grenades Dempsey and myself can use when we upgrade our M-16?” Naruto asked her for clarification.

“Yep! Zhat is zhe primary ammunition for zhe Scavenger!” The girl chirped out with enthusiasm.

No one spoke at the declaration and Samantha covered her mouth with a soft giggle at the looks on their faces. They looked as if they were salivating at the mere thought of a sniper rifle firing explosive rounds.

Suddenly Naruto whirled himself around to look at Dempsey and Takeo and Nikolai before saying in declaration. “I don't care what you three say, I'm having that weapon!”

And why? Because, why the fuck not? He wasn't a 13 year old boy anymore; he can handle some of the big guns now! Just not the Light machine guns such as the RPK or the HK21. Or the MG42 or the M1919 Browning. Or the bazookas like the Panzerschreck. Or the M2 flamethrower... Actually, now that he thought about it- he still was unable to use any of the more powerful weaponry at their disposal.

So with that in mind Naruto quickly raised his hands and said. “Actually, I changed my mind. I don't want to use it.” Instead of asking him why the others merely shrugged it off.

“Okay, then I will take it!” Nikolai said in declaration.

“No! No you won't!” Naruto exclaimed in a panic.

“What?! Why!?”

“Do I need to remind you of the fact you brought down an entire building and made a bridge catch alight with a grenade?”

“...That was a fluke.”

“Oh, yeah, just a fluke.” The sarcasm in Naruto's voice was so strong only a deaf person could miss it. “A building just so happens to collapse in on itself when a grenade you had thrown blew up, and that happens to be a fluke. And a bridge just so happens to catch alight when the grenade you had thrown blew up, was another fluke.”

“The structures were rotting away. They were bound to collapse at any day now.” Nikolai was steadfast in his defence.

“Those structures were pretty solid from what I could see- Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Samantha that hurts, stop pulling on my earlobe!” He exclaimed painstakingly with a wince. Naruto's response started out normal, only for him to yell out in surprised pain when Samantha cut him off halfway through his response when she suddenly grabbed his earlobe with her thumb, middle and index fingers and pulled on it.

Samantha didn't let go of him. She just tsked and tightened her grip even more, prompting Naruto to let out another pain filled yelp. “Nein, you are beginning to annoy me Naruto vith your pointles arguing.” She exclaimed. “It looks like I vill have to...” She trailed off with a sinister - and somewhat perverted? He had no idea. It sounded really odd though. - sounding giggle before before she began to pull Naruto by the ear as she walked off in a random direction.

Samantha is someone who is more than human. Someone who is far beyond the realm of life and death. So it was pretty understandable that Naruto was really creeped out and began to panic when she began to giggle to herself in the tone.

“What do you mean...? Samantha! What do you mean!?” He asked his tone being shakingly calm before becoming panicky towards the end. Unfortunately for Naruto Samantha never answered and kept on pulling him by the earlobe; and through this exchange a bewildered Takeo, Dempsey and Nikolai was watching their retreating backs before the two teleported away leaving them to their own devices.

The three stared in the spot where Samantha and Naruto was before Dempsey stifled a laugh. He had a brief understanding what Samantha was going to do to him. And he couldn't help but find it hilariously funny.

“What a wimp.”