FicWad

Dead Rising

Chapter 8

It was raining heavily in Japan. Rain would fall to the ground in a downpour, drenching everything in its wake. Lightning could be seen flashing dramatically in the skies above. Underneath the pine trees something strange was occurring.

Near a large glowing green rock that was pulsing with energy and had electricity racing around it, a large white looking sphere, with lightning shooting out of it had suddenly formed. It expanded drastically, and exploded in a brilliant flash of white before it vanished just as quickly as it appeared.

In its place was a young and bloodied boy in orange clothing floating on water and was slowly drifting toward the glowing rock. The boy was completely unresponsive to his surroundings, including the rain that was pelting his face and washing away the dried blood on his face and in his hair. The water was also washing away the blood that dirtied his jumpsuit. On the right side of his jacket you could see a fist sized hole on it, showing the bare skin that was underneath.

If the boy was conscious, then he would have felt his every fibre of his body in agonising pain. Like several muscles had been torn, healed, and torn again to shreds; he also would have felt his skin being scorching hot. Almost as if he went into a furnace. All of this because of what had happened to him before he managed to find his way to Japan.

Stopping next to the giant glowing green rock, the pulsing energy it was emitting was being absorbed by the boy. After a few long minutes several heavily armed people, in uniforms with a swastika on their right arms appeared on the scene.

A man with grey side burns and a scar on his left cheek stalked toward the unconscious boy with with an unstable glint in his blue eyes. His attire consists a light brown jacket, black breeches with a strip red line running vertically on the outside and thin high boots, an officers cap with an emblem of an eagle in the front and a pair of black gloves. This is Doctor Edward Richtofen a member of Group 935 who is stationed for a limited amount of time in Japan to design, develop and build his invention, the Wunderwaffe DG-2.

Edward knelt beside the boy and looked him over with keen calculating eyes. They narrowed analysingly as they darted between the unconscious boy and the large rock he was floating beside. “An unknown boy? In zhe Swamp of Death?” Edward muttered under his breath. Then he smiled a sinister, joyful smile. “Ja-ha, I cannot ask for a better gift! You vould be good for mien Super Soldier experiments. I'll vill have to make sure you contract enough of the Element 115. I cannot have you remembering everything of your past life, now can I?” He sinisterly muttered the last sentence under his breath so no one else could hear him.

X.X.X.X

Tsunade stared stoically from behind her office desk at the two teams assembled before her. She had to review them and their past relationship with Naruto Uzumaki for this to work. And out of ten people these six are the more likely ones Naruto is least likely to kill out of annoyance. On her desk were copies of the report that Jiraiya had filled out for her a week ago.

Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, Neji Hyuga and Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and lastly Tenten. Out of all of them together Tsunade was reluctant to add Tenten to the team given her fetish for weaponry. It was well known that Tenten had a fetish for weaponry. And would become borderline obsessed to add new and exotic weaponry to her collection if she didn't have it already. Because the weapons in Naruto's team are exotic, she may annoy Naruto enough to the point of them offing her for good.

Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi were there too and were standing behind the six teenagers as they awaited Tsunade to begin.

“Thank you all for coming.” The Fifth Hokage began in a formal tone. “I brought you all here today because of some information I had received from Jiraiya about Naruto a week ago.” She quickly raised a hand and gave the teenagers a fierce glare when they opened their mouths to start questioning her. “The reason why it took a week was because I had to analyse which person would be the least likely to be killed by Naruto. Out of them all, you all are the least likely to be killed by him.” She then proceeded to see if anyone had any questions for her. Seeing that Shikamaru did have one Tsunade gestured for him to speak.

“I'm assuming that Jiraiya had given you some information regarding Naruto that made you do this. Why would we be the least expected for him to kill us?”

It was here that the Hokage sighed. Leaning forward on her desk Tsunade rested her elbows on the desk and interlocked her fingers as she stared at the Chunin. “As you all know, Naruto has amnesia. However, it wasn't until Jiraiya came back until I knew how bad it was.” She paused a moment to let her words sink in. “He has regained some of his memories if what Jiraiya has told me is correct, but, his personality is completely changed. He is not the same boy we've come to know him as. In his new state of mind Naruto will kill anyone he does not know that annoy him.”

“That's why the others are not here.” Shikamaru deduced in realisation. “Because of their personality and quirks, in Naruto's new state of mind he would be more likely to kill them than us!” He added in conclusion prompting the others to stare at Tsunade in shock who nodded in confirmation.

“Yes. Sakura, despite her past relationship with Naruto tends to speak before she thinks. Not to mention she would often hit Naruto for every little thing he did. Her insults and hitting would get her killed. Sasuke, despite him not being here, do you really need to ask?” She said to them rhetorically. “Rock Lee, his personality quirks would get him killed. No question about it. Ino Yamanaka despite not hitting Naruto is in the same boat as Sakura. She used to belittle him every chance she could get so Naruto would likely kill her. Kiba, he was similar to Naruto before he disappeared. In his new state of mind, Naruto would not hesitate on killing him if he is annoyed enough.”

“So what're we going to do? Are we going to try and bring Naruto home?” Tenten asked. She was rather curious as to what they're going to do regarding Naruto.

To their surprise Tsunade shook her head negatively. “No. From what Jiraiya had told me, Naruto is fairly close with the group he is with. And they along with Naruto himself WILL kill you without hesitation if you try to force the issue.” She warned them, the tone she was speaking in was showing just how serious she was with this. “If Naruto is within the Land of Fire, then you are to try and convince him to return home. If he refuses, then do NOT try to force him to return. Do NOT try provoking him either.” She then swiped her hand on the documents on the desk, spreading them all out in front of her before pushing them out for the two teams to take and read.

As Shikamaru and Choji, Neji and Hinata, Shino and Tenten and Asuma and Kurenai took the documents and began to read its contents, Tsunade added. “In those documents is the information, provided by Jiraiya, that you need to know about Naruto. This includes his new personality, his relationship with the other members of the Mysterious Five, and what we currently know they're capable of. You all have strict guidelines to NOT go out of the Land of Fire if he is spotted out of the country. Disobeying these orders will count as treason, do you understand?” Seeing them nod their heads hastily Tsunade nodded to herself in satisfaction before gesturing the files in their hands. “Read those documents, memorise them and then burn them. Dismissed!”

“Yes, Lady Hokage!” The eight sounded together before turning and walking out of the office.

“This is such a drag.” Shikamaru said once he and the others were out of the office. “Naruto being more likely to kill anyone who annoys him? Seems pretty unthinkable.”

“I k-know. The N-Naruto I know would n-never kill anyone out of annoyan-nce though. He's t-to kind for t-that.” Hinata stammered in denial.

“Naruto is more likely to kill anyone for annoying him. Why? Because of his amnesia, his personality has changed drastically. And if his personality has changed drastically, then the Naruto you know Hinata may no longer exist. Therefore, it is best if we find out as much information as we can before we do anything else.” Shino told them as he absent mindedly scrolled through the pages of the file.

Tenten made an interesting noise as she came across something fairly interesting. “What is it Tenten? Neji asked.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds before saying with interest, “It says in here that the other members of the 'Mysterious Five' do not have chakra and are therefore similar to zombies.”

THAT had gotten their interest that they stopped walking and quickly turned to the page Tenten was on. “You're right! If they have no chakra like zombies, then mine and Hinata's Gentle Fist will be useless against them.” Neji said in exclamation. Because if they don't have chakra then they won't have any chakra points to seal off. The Gentle Fist would be useless because that is what the fighting style revolved around: closing chakra points.

Now they understood why Tsunade was so determined on telling them not to force Naruto in returning if he refused. Without chakra they would not be able to sense the other four and would literally be at a disadvantage. Not to mention their weapons would likely be able to kill them before they can react.

“I can see why Tsunade didn't want anyone else apart from us taking this mission.” Asuma said to them as he read through the document with a serious frown. “The reports say Naruto had killed someone from Kumogakure in cold blood. While the reports say that the man was a prick, Naruto had still murdered the man just for taunting him.”

“Indeed. It would be wise if no one here were to provoke him.” Kurenai added her input.

The ninja and kunoichi gave each other nervous looks. If Naruto did that because he was being taunted, then they would have to be careful on what they say or do otherwise they would end up the same way. Suffice to say they were glad they were given the documents. Because they would have time to prepare themselves for the eventual encounter with Naruto, if the Jinchūriki was in the Land of Fire.

They would have to make sure that Sakura would be kept out of the loop. Considering her tendencies to speak before she thinks – while not as bad when she was younger - she would get herself into trouble with her superiors.

Kurenai and Asuma shared a worried look with one another. They were uneasy on how Kakashi would take this once he finds out. Ever since the man found out Naruto was still alive, he had taken it upon himself to train everyday so he would be ready for the time he would be able to bring Naruto back to Konohagakure no Sato.

They knew one thing: once Naruto has been located, things were going to kick off.

X.X.X.X

The search for the entrance to the underground – and any possible location that could hold the power generator - was under way. The group had never left the courtyard and had searched every nook and cranny for possible locations for the generator. When they found nothing the five of them had spread out a little.

As the temple was surrounded by the mist the group made sure to never venture outside. However they were able to find a few more locations that were untouched by the mist. Right now, Tank and Nikolai, Takeo and Naruto and Samantha were at a lake just behind the temple itself, and were walking along its shoreline. The lake was a decent size and it had a waterfall on the other side.

However, they had been searching around the lake for nearly 30 minutes and during that time they had come up with nothing. There was nothing to fight either so none of them had bothered to arm themselves, which was completely stupid of them to do as there was literally an army of undead animals lying in wait for them in the mist.

“Where the fuck is this entrance?!”

Suffice to say all of them were beginning to get annoyed and rather fed up with their lack of progress.

Samantha though she too was getting fed up with their lack of progress, had put a hand on Naruto's shoulder to placate him. “Calm down, Naruto. Ve should find an entryvay soon if ve keep searching.” She calmingly said to him.

Naruto couldn't help the frustrated growl that came from the bottom of his throat. “We've been doing this for the past 30 minutes. It's even longer if you count us searching through every nook and cranny in the courtyard.” The teen replied with a light scowl pulling at the corner of his lips. “I'm just frustrated at the lack of progress is all. Normally, we would find something by now or have something to fight.”

“No kidding.” Dempsey said while nodding in agreement. “Normally we would be fighting zombies while we're searching for whatever we need to search. But here there is nothing for us to fight. Since there is no mist, if those monkey things come out of it they'd die.”

Which was totally and completely true. They have seen a monkey literally melt when it leapt out of the mist in an attempt to attack one of them. So if there was no mist, then there would be nothing for them to fight against.

“Perhaps we are not looking for the right thing?” This prompt everyone to stop walking and look at Nikolai questionably and interest.

“What do you mean?” Naruto questioned with a look of interest on his face. The teenager was interested to know what the Russian had in mind, because if they weren't looking for the right thing then that would be a good call out.

“Have we been looking for anything out of ordinary? Something that looks out of place?”

“We haven't.” Naruto replied with a frown. “Nor have I seen anything here that looked remotely out of place.” He added with his frown deepening.

“Actually... I think I may have found something that did not belong in this place.” Takeo spoke up. Hearing that Naruto and Nikolai, Samantha and Dempsey all gave the asian expectant looks. “There have been a few... stone 'crates' with skulls engraved onto the surface we have passed.”

Dempsey stoked his stubbled chin as he frowned thoughtfully. “Yeah, now that you mention it we did pass a few of those when we were walking along the shoreline.” He turned to look over his shoulder and pointed in the direction they came from. “I think we went past one back there, in the tree line around five minutes ago.”

“Really, now?” Naruto looked in the direction Dempsey was pointing with an interested look. “Let's check it out.” He declared, before walking back in the direction he came from. Watching Naruto walk off with determination, Samantha shrugged her shoulders and shoving her hands in her trouser pockets, she followed him.

Nodding approvingly Takeo turned around and followed after the the two teenagers. He unslung his type 100 sub-machine gun from his shoulder and held it in his arms. Just in case something unexpected were to happen. Seeing as most of the group were now walking in the direction they came from both Nikolai and Dempsey turned around and followed Takeo, Naruto and Samantha. Like Takeo they too had unslung their weapons from their shoulder. Nikolai would use his Scavenger rifle to scope out their surroundings.

In approximately five minutes the group had found what Takeo had described to them: a crate made entirely out of stone and had a human skull engraved on the front. Not to mention it fit the bill of being 'out of place'. It was placed in between some shrubbery and right in front of a tree. It had blended in quite well with its surroundings' which wasn't surprising considering it was easily mistakable for a ruined pillar if you took a quick glance at it.

“That was surprisingly well hidden.” Naruto said. “No wonder we went past it. So what do we do with it?” He asked, looking at the others around him to see what their answers would be.

Takeo walked to the crate and stopped when he was in front of it. He touched the lid of the crate with one hand and brought it back sharply when it suddenly gained a faint glow. Quickly back peddling away, Takeo and everyone else saw the eyes of the skull were now glowing a dark blue. The lid opened up almost instantaneously, and a faint pillar of light shot out of the crate and into the sky.

“What the hell?” Naruto muttered out with confusion and worry, as low ambient music began to play out of nowhere the second the lid opened up. It was dark and coarse sounding, and it put everyone on edge.

Feeling unnerved by this Naruto unslung his M-16 from his shoulder and held the assault rifle in his hands, preparing himself for whatever is going to happen. Samantha seeing what Naruto was doing quickly did the same thing. The group as one turned around with their weapons raised and scanned their surroundings when they heard the familiar sound of bodies digging their way out of the ground.

“Well, at least I can't complain now about having nothing to fight.” Naruto said to himself under his breath, as the acquainted sounds of moaning and groaning zombies along with the smell of decaying flesh filled the air.

It wasn't long until the first zombie made its appearance. It was wearing heavily rusted samurai armour that was falling apart, with many tears and gaps in the armour along with many broken arrows sticking out of its body. They could see a half of its face through the broken helmet, and glowing orange eyes glaring at them through the eye holes.

No one hesitated opening fire on the zombie. Bullets tore through the rusted armour like it was nothing, ripping off its limbs and leaving its intestines exposed. The undead samurai managed to it make a few steps towards the group before it stumbled the rest of the way with its arms outstretched and fell to the ground unmoving.

Finally expiring expired thanks to the large amount of damage its body had suffered. With the bullets being freshly made and not suffering under the effects of time, unlike the armour the undead samurai was wearing, it was of no surprise that the bullets were able to rip through the samurai armour with little resistance.

To the surprise of everyone after the zombie fell to the ground, an orb of light emerged from the corpse. It was a faint orange colour with a mixture of black and red. The group kept their eyes on it and watched as it flew pass and went inside the crate behind them.

“Okay, that seems familiar.” Dempsey said.

“Where we had to kill zombies near tubes by pyramid?” Nikolai questioned, recalling them having to fight against hordes of zombies' on the moon where they had to kill the undead near these tubes' that was around a pyramid. They had to fill each of them separately with every zombie they killed, which was hard to do given they kept getting stronger and stronger as time went by.

Dempsey nodded his head in confirmation. “Yeah, only this time we need to kill zombies near the crate.” Just as he said that, another undead samurai walked out of some shrubbery to their left. Naruto and Samantha upon hearing the foliage being disturbed turned to their left and unloaded on the walking corpse. The zombie after getting torn to shreds by the more powerful and healthy bullets of Naruto's M-16 and Samantha's MP40, had stumbled a few steps before falling to the ground flat on its face.

Like the zombie before it, an orb of light emerged from the corpse and flew into the crate. It wasn't long until more zombies started to appear from the foliage around them. At first it was only one or two of them. Then they started to come in groups of five or six. Shortly after they came in groups, they started to come in hordes. Like several encounters they had with the undead, the group took care of the walking, stumbling armoured corpses like the pros they are.

Nikolai if they all were in a tough spot would use the hyena infra-red – the upgraded Scavenger – to take out some of the more bigger groups and hordes. Thankfully, the explosive round would explode several seconds after the bullet had met its mark or not. As such, several zombies would be killed at a safe distance away from them. And as they were in close proximity to the crate by the time of their re-death the floating orbs that emerged from their body would be added to the crate.

It wasn't until nearly 20 minutes of this has passed that the last group of zombies came. Naruto and Samantha, Takeo and Dempsey and Nikolai quickly put them down and watched as the orbs of light emerged from their bodies and flew inside the crate. Once the last of the orbs went inside the lid of the crate shut.

“Whoa! I think we did it!” Dempsey exclaimed, as the ground began to rumble as if something were moving around under the earth. The crate also began to shake and float off the ground before it broke apart and shot towards the sky.

“Something has happened here.” Gersch said to them with astonishment in his voice. “I don't know what you did but I felt a sudden influx of energy flow within this terrible place. There has not been any changes here unfortunately, but, whatever you did must have sent that energy somewhere. If you do whatever you did again I'll try to see where the energy goes.”

“Influx of energy? Would that reason be because of the crate?” Dempsey asked aloud jerking a thumb to the last place where the crate was. Waiting several long seconds for a reply Dempsey scoffed when he got nothing. “Figures. These people never seem to reply to our questions. Only expect us to do what they want.”

“I know. It is complete bullshit.” Nikolai complained.

Takeo stroked his bearded chin in thought. “Perhaps we should go and see what has changed after we have completed the side objective?” He suggested to them referring to the rumbling that happened moments earlier underground after they had filled the box up with those glowing orbs.

Dempsey gestured for Takeo to lead them. “Lead the way, Tak.” He said to the man. Takeo nodded and motioned for the others to follow him, reloading his Type 100 as he moved, because the magazine he was using was close to being empty.

Naruto, Samantha and Dempsey had done the same thing as the magazine they were using in their weapon was close to being empty too. Nikolai still had three shots left in his Hyena Infra-Red and because the bullets were pretty darn powerful when exploding, the drunk didn't see any reason to change the magazine when it still had three more rounds in it.

As they were following Takeo to find out what that crate thing had changed. Naruto held his head as he started to unsteadily sway on his feet. Samantha being beside him quickly took note of this and held his shoulder to balance him.

“Vhat's wrong?” She asked with concern showing on her face and in her voice. Hearing this the others stopped walking and turned to the teenagers and saw Naruto was holding his head, as if he were in pain.

“Are you able to continue, Naruto? Do you need to rest for a minute?” Takeo asked.

Naruto shook his head with a grimace. “No. It's just a minor headache. Nothing I can't handle.” He told them, waving off their concerns as if it were no big deal.

“Are you remembering something?” Dempsey asked.

“I... I think so?” Naruto replied, sounding unsure. “I think I'm remembering... the month and day I was born on...? The hell...? Why would I remember the day and month I was born on?” He questioned to himself, sounding a little incredulous toward the end of his last sentence.

“When is your birthday?” Nikolai questioned a little too quickly. He along with everyone else in the group were curious as to know when Naruto's birthday was. Don't question him! When you know your own birthday, and not the one you spent three years befriending, you would be pretty curious to know when his or her birthday is!

Besides, they'd spent three years with Naruto without celebrating his birthday. For once it would be good to know when Naruto's birthday is. And not because they would be able to celebrate it. No... nothing like that... really...

“It's on October 10th... Why?”

“Nothing much...” Naruto didn't look to convinced though, if the deadpanned look he was sending Nikolai was any indication. Shaking his head Naruto shrugged and put the conversation at the far back of his mind. The group then continued on their merry way to find out what had changed after they had filled the crate with those orange, red and black combined coloured orbs.

After several minutes of walking back in the direction they came from Naruto feeling bored decided to start up an conversation to pass the time. “I'm curious, how many of those stone crates did we walk pass?” He directed the question to Takeo who was the one who had spotted the crates in the first place.

“Around two or three. We're about to come up to the next one now.” Takeo replied and sure enough they came across the next crate. This time it was well hidden in-between some trees and it had some foliage around it. The only reason they were able to see it was because of Takeo pointing out where the crate was.

They agreed to deal with that crate so they won't have to do it later on down the line and touched it. And like the one before it they heard ambient music sounding in the air as the box gained a faint glow. The eyes of the skull on the crate also glowed dark blue. The lid opened up and a faint pillar of light shot out of the crate and into the sky. Then the samurai zombies walked, limped and stumbled their way out of the foliage around them. For their own safety Nikolai wisely changed his Hyena Infra-Dead for his PPSh-41. Knowing what to do the group of five formed an arch, and opened fire on the samurai zombies when they were close enough.

It wasn't long until first orbs of light came out of the zombies after they were killed again and flew inside of the concrete crate. However, the group took notice that the bodies furthest away from them did not have the orbs floating out of their corpses and into the crate behind them. Singular, groups, and hordes followed and just as before they were taken down by the combined and superior fire-power of the 'Mysterious Five'.

The box closed once it was completely filled up. Like the one before it, it began to shake and float off the ground before it broke apart and shot to the sky. They all felt the ground rumble again as they heard Gersch speak to them once more, only this time he had excitement in his voice.

“That influx of energy has returned!” The Russian scientist exclaimed. “I am following it now. I just need to keep up with it a little more.”

“Yeah. Sure. Follow an energy source that we caused why don't you? See if I care you useless fucker.” The others stared at Dempsey with blank expressions as he casually waved off the man's excitement while insulting him at the same time.

“I found where the energy is going!” Gersch exclaimed after several minutes had passed. “The energy was leading to the gateway! I can see it is weakening as there are a few cracks on it. But the cracks is unfortunately not wide enough for me to escape through. There needs to be more power. Perhaps if you send more of those energy influxes into this dark place, it can create a hole large enough for me to slip through in order to escape?”

“Send more energy to make a hole for you to slip in? Sure. Why the hell not? I mean, it's not like you're going to give us all death machines when we're all finished here.” Dempsey replied with fake enthusiasm.

For those who have no idea what a death machine is; simply put it is a mini-gun. After they freed Gersch from the Casimir Mechanism, the former trapped scientist had given Dempsey and Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen a gift in the form of a death machine to use for at least a minute. Yes, that's right, a minute. Naruto was unable to use a death machine however because he was both too short, and not strong enough to carry the weight of the thing. So he was left out.

“Maybe he can give us something more useful?” Nikolai suggested to them.

“Like what? Another death machine that lasts for two minutes instead of one?” Naruto dryly asked, because if Gersch did do that, then seriously, that man was a troll of the biggest sort. Giving them the same fucking reward they got the first time only with a minute increase.

Nikolai shrugged his shoulders and rested his sub-machine gun on his shoulder. “I was thinking along the lines of getting another Elemental Staff. But that would be fucking annoying.” The drunk replied blankly, before agreeing with Naruto with annoyance in his voice in the second sentence.

“We got two of those crate/box things done. So does that mean there is another two for us to do Takeo?” Naruto asked as he turned to the man in question who was looking toward' the sky with a thoughtful look on his face.

Eventually the man nodded and as he gestured for the others to follow him, Takeo said to them. “There are around two more left. Once we fill them both up with the spirits of the ancestors we can see what else has changed.”

Seeing as they weren't going to get anything done by standing around, Dempsey and Nikolai and Samantha and Naruto all followed after the man.

“What makes you think they're spirits?” Dempsey asked after he had caught up to Takeo.

Samantha sniggered at the question. It was obvious that those orbs of light were spirits of the dead that formerly inhabited the body. “Vhat? Glowing orbs of light zhat come out of the corpses after zhey are dead again is not much of a hint for you?” Dempsey give Samantha a stern look; she sounded as if she were mocking him, acting as if he should know of this.

“I'm not religious kid. So sue me.”

“And yet, you were shocked that my people are capable of summoning a god.” Naruto rather unhelpfully pointed out with a smug looking smile on his face.

“Kid, your people are capable of breathing-fucking-fire. Not to mention you told me to expect the unexpected. Heh, I won't be surprised if pigs were capable of flying in this dimension. Or being able to talk.”

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. He had to give Tank that; he remembered seeing Jiraiya sitting down cross legged on top of a giant ass toad the first time he had met the man. And that some of the other toads – giant and small - are capable of talking. So flying pigs isn't that far fetched in this dimension.

After several more minutes and talking later the group found another crate. This time it was out in the open. How the hell any of them apart from Takeo had missed it the first time around was beyond their comprehension. They spent several more minutes killing the samurai zombies who were instead of walking to them were now running. The box closed once it was completely filled up with the souls of the undead and it began to shake and float off the ground before it broke apart completely and shot up to the sky. They all felt the ground rumble once again and went to find the last crate as they reloaded their weapon.

They found the last concrete crate near the lakes entrance. It was ironically just to the side, when you first walk through an archway to get to the lake section of the temple that was made completely out of trimmed shrubbery. And again they were wondering just how they had missed it. Or why Takeo never told them about it, which Naruto had asked Takeo that very question.

“Because I thought it was part of the scenery.” Was his reasoning for not telling them. Which was understandable since this was something they never did before, so it was understandable if Takeo had thought it was part of the environment.

This time it was Nikolai who activated the box. But before they turned it on, Naruto and Samantha, Takeo and Dempsey all took position around it in preparation for the zombies that would surely come for them. Once everyone else was in position around the crate Nikolai touched the lid and joined the others as it came to life. Since there was no shrubbery around them, the five of them saw the earth several feet in front of them get torn open as zombified samurai's dug their way out of the earth. Narrowing his eyes Nikolai was able to spot several of the undead dragging themselves out of the ground were grouped together.

Seeing an opportunity to lessen the numbers that would be going against them Nikolai switched out his PPSh-41 for his Hyena Infra-Dead, and took aim through the scope. The corpses of the undead were lit up as green on the scope showcasing the Element 115 that flowed through their decaying veins. Nikolai fired the sniper rifle for the second time and the explosive round landed in front of the crowd of zombies. The bullet quickly blinked on and off for a few moments before it exploded in their faces. The ground in front of the zombies was torn apart in the resounding explosion, and the zombies themselves were reduced to body parts.

Unfortunately, the zombies were not close enough to the crate for their souls to emerge from the corpses.

Those that had managed to get out of the earth were now running to the group assembled in around the crate. Taking aim through the sights of their assault rifles and sub-machine guns they all opened fire. Nikolai quickly switched back to his own sub-machine gun now that the zombies were coming at them. The first several samurai zombies that died were not close enough to the crate for their souls to go inside when they died. However seeing as they're trying to swarm the group from all sides', getting souls to go inside of the crate was not a problem for them. They didn't know how many zombies were killed by the time the crate was completely filled, but they had lost count when they reached twenty.

“Alright. That's that done. Let's see what changed, shall we?” Dempsey said to the others with enthusiasm in his voice, as the crates lid shut and started to shake and float off the ground before breaking apart completely and shot to the skies and out of sight.

The ground began to rumble and shake as something moved nearby. “Well that doesn't seem suspicious in anyway.” Nikolai stated with sarcasm in his voice, even as he and the others walked through the archway and into the courtyard of the temple. They all stopped mid-step when they saw the earth giving way as it literally rose up in the middle of the courtyard. What was rising out of the ground was one of those old tomb entryways churches have.

“Yeah.” Began Dempsey in a bland tone. “That right there is most definitely not suspicious.” He finished in the same bland tone once the entryway had finished coming out of the ground.

Naruto glanced at Samantha who elbowed his lightly in the side and saw her jerking her head between Nikolai and the underground entrance with a firm look in her eyes. The message was clear: get Nikolai in there first.

Pursing his lips Naruto stared at the Soviet with squinted eyes. The Russian did have a sniper rifle that lights up the enemy when you look through the scope, so sending him in first would be a good idea since he would be able to spot any enemies before they get the drop on them. However considering Nikolai had blown up a building with a fricking grenade, and took down a bridge with a single Molotov he wasn't all that eager to let Nikolai go in first.

Before Naruto could say anything Nikolai spoke up. “I'll go inside of tomb thingy. Scout out area.” The man volunteered as he reloaded his PPSh-41, just in case the barrel magazine he was using was running low. It wouldn't do if the magazine he was using was suddenly empty when he was in the middle of shooting.

“I'll go with you!” Naruto exclaimed almost immediately after Nikolai had finished. “What? Someone has to make sure he's alright.” He added when he saw the looks he was being given by Takeo and Dempsey.

“Ah-ha! The Russian and the Asian! Good team, no?”

Naruto stared at Nikolai with a deadpanned expression. “Don't be racist, Nikolai.”

“How is that racist?” Nikolai asked as he looked at Naruto with confusion. How was being enthusiastic about having two Nationalities working together being racist? Was there something he missed?

“I don't know.” Naruto replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “But, it is to me.” There was a brief pause and Nikolai suddenly stared down at Naruto blankly, realising that Naruto called him a racist for no apparent reason. “Don't question my logic.” He concluded lamely as he pointed at Nikolai accusingly.

Dempsey looked at Naruto with confusion. “So let me get this straight; to you, being enthusiastic at having two nationalities working together is racist?”

“Well... when you put it like that... Hey! What did I say about questioning my logic?!”

Dempsey was unfazed by the glare. He stared down at the teenager with a dry look on his face. “Kid, no offence, but your logic is shit. So of course I'm going to question it.”

“Yeah... well... at least I am not based off of a stereotype!”

“Kid, I'm a video game character that is based off of a stereotypical war hero. In movies years ago we were filled with so much stereotypes it wasn't even funny. Like Rambo.” The marine dryly replied, while effortlessly breaking the fourth wall without a care in the world. “And let's not forget about you, my whisker faced friend, you were based on several characters during your creation. One of them being Son Goku the main protagonist of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. So you yourself are technically a walking talking stereotype.”

His well thought out conclusion was filled with so much intellect that it had left everyone speechless. So much so that they were looking at Tank as if he were a whole different person. Samantha after giving it some thought quickly came to realise something...

“Now zhat I think about it, ve are all stereotypes.”

“How do you mean?” Asked Naruto with Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo sounding their agreement. As they all unknowingly began to break the fourth wall once again.

“Nikolai is a drunk Russian. A stereotype you can find almost everyvhere nowadays.” She started, pointing at Nikolai. She then pointing at Takeo. “Takeo is zhe strong and silent type, vith a strong sense of honour and discipline. Another stereotype zhat is based around samurai's of zhe past.” She added before lowering her hand so she was holding her MP-40 with both hands. “Uncle Edward, is an insane sociopath; a stereotypical enemy you often find in movies and books.” She added once again, this time with a dangerous scowl pulling at her lips at the mere mention of the traitorous man she had once – and still does in a way - looked up to as an uncle. “I myself am an redeemed enemy zhat is based on chance, a motivation and a dark past.”

Naruto suddenly sniggered with amusement. “I just love how the conversation veered from racism to stereotypes.”

Dempsey chuckled. “I know. That's one of the main reasons why I like this group. We talk about things and then it just, veers off to something completely random and has no relation to what we were talking about before.”

Naruto and Dempsey both sighed in amusement before bringing their attention back to the main reason they were here with an aura of seriousness around them. The tomb like entryway. Naruto looked at Nikolai and patted the man on the shoulder. “C'mon, let's see what's in there.”

The Russian nodded and accompanied Naruto, whose previous nervousness was now gone, who was walking toward the entryway with his M-16 raised and ready to fire. Using military like tactics both Nikolai and Naruto pressed themselves up against both sides of the entryway. Taking a peak all Naruto saw was pure darkness. Squinting his eyes at the lack of visibility Naruto gazed at Nikolai who was staring at him expectantly awaiting instructions.

Naruto mouthed the words, “Lack of visibility. Use scope to see if you can see anything.”, to him and Nikolai nodded his head showing he understood. Getting down on one knee Nikolai brought the rifle up and peered through the scope. The upgraded scope had shown him everything in night vision and he saw nothing through his scope. No enemies, no activity of any kind, just nothing.

Nikolai relayed this to Naruto who nodded his head before making the gesture to follow him as he pushed himself off the wall and went inside. Grumbling to himself under his breath Nikolai followed Naruto in. He peered through the scope of his sniper rifle and saw Naruto illuminated with a faint green outline on his body, the remains of Element 115 that was flowing through his veins.

“See anything?” Naruto whispered to Nikolai when the man stopped beside him. Naruto kept his audibility down just in case there was something lurking in the shadows. He didn't want to alert them after all, although that may be redundant considering the noise when the entryway was rising out of the ground. So they may already be compromised.

“No. It is clear.” The Russian whispered back for the same reasons as Naruto.

Naruto nodded even if Nikolai couldn't see it. “Alright. I'm going further in; keep an eye on our surroundings and watch my back.”

Meanwhile with Takeo, Samantha and Dempsey...

“Should we follow in after them?” Dempsey questioned as he stared down the staircase that led into darkness. “I mean Nikolai and Naruto are only two people after all. Who knows what kinds of trouble they'll find themselves getting into without us backing them up.”

Takeo looked at the American with an arched eyebrow. “Are you saying they don't get into trouble with us being there?”

“Nein, zhey alvays get into trouble.” Samantha giggled.

“Yeah, what she said.” Dempsey added in agreement.

“I still think we should go in after them.” Said Takeo as he stared down the staircase with narrowed eyes. “It is dishonourable for us to stay out here like cowards, while our comrades are facing possible danger.”

Dempsey waved off his concern. “Naruto is a big boy Takeo, he can take care of himself as you know. Not to mention he has Nikolai there with him; and we all know what that man is capable of when his life is threatened.” He replied unconcerned although he suppressed a shudder when a past memory of a protective Nikolai came to the forefront of his mind.

He almost pitied the zombie that almost killed Naruto back in the Swamp of Death. Who knew that the barrel of a rifle can be shoved that far up someone’s ass?

And anyway, why should he be concerned for them both? He fully knows Nikolai and Naruto can take care of themselves as they had proven it several times before in the past. Not to mention the two are highly compatible together as a team. Just like Samantha is compatible with Naruto too.

However, after Dempsey's response left his mouth the trio heard a loud screech before Naruto started yelling and cursing loudly as his M-16 went off as well as Nikolai letting out a startled yell before he too opened fire.

Takeo with his lips thinning gave Tank who was chuckling sheepishly an 'I told you so' stare. Sighing audibly Takeo with a shake of his head slung his Type 100 over his shoulder, and after that was done the samurai held out his hand where the Staff of Fire materialized in his palm. He rushed down the staircase to aid Naruto and Nikolai with the Staff of Fire in hand, with Samantha quickly following after him. Shaking his head Dempsey went in after them, but instead of rushing down he took his time considering how dark it was down there. As he made his way down Dempsey could hear the gun fire going on and off at times, as well as hearing more and more screeches coming from wherever they came from.

By the time Dempsey reached the bottom of the staircase the gunfire and the screeching had stopped completely and his vision came back when the underground coven brightened. The light source came from several torches that were on the walls, and several of them suddenly lit up by themselves. He saw Takeo and Samantha shifting their weapons in all direction. In front of them was Naruto and Nikolai; the two of them were sitting on the floor.

Narrowing his eyes Dempsey walked to them. “What the hell happened to you two?” He asked with bewilderment as he saw scratches on their face. It was like a cat had scraped them with its claws.

“We got jumped by these short, imp, looking, things.” Nikolai explained as he pointed at said creature. It was about two feet tall and had a head that was much larger than its body as well as larger than normal eyes. Not to mention it was completely bare, but had no genitals. Its feet were like a monkeys and had three four long toes, most likely made for grabbing and on its hands had three fingers and a thumb, and lastly it had a lot of jagged teeth.

“What the fuck are those things?” Dempsey asked as he stared at the imp like creature in awed disgust.

“Dunno. Never saw them before in my life.” Naruto replied as he grabbed his M-16 that was a few metres away from him and slowly got back to his feet. He had lost his grip on the assault rifle when the imp leapt on him. The imp that was in front of him had several stab wounds on its face.

Nikolai on the other hand had managed to keep his grip on his PPSh-41. When one of the imps leapt onto him, instead of dropping it Nikolai instead smashed the butt of his sub-machine gun against the imp to knock it off. When it was sent to the ground the Russian finished it off by firing on its face. It didn't manage to let out a screech as the bullets tore its face to shreds before it could.

“They were annoying buggers.” Nikolai spat out with a snarl as he stood up. “Fucking annoying screecher’s.”

“Screecher's, eh?” Dempsey said looking at the dead imp creatures thoughtfully. “That's a good name for them. It fits.” He then looked around the room they were in. There was a lot of coffins around. Some were open, some were broken in half, and others were completely untouched. Looking around even more, even going far as to stroll around the room he grunted in surprise when he found something that was out of place here. A bunch of cables leading to somewhere.

“Have you discovered something, Dempsey?” Takeo upon hearing Dempsey letting out a surprised grunt, questioned with curiosity though he made no move to go where the American was to see what he had found.

Dempsey nodded as he turned to look at the Asian. “Yeah. A bunch of cables. I wonder where they lead too?”

“Shall ve go and see vhere it leads?” Samantha asked as she tilted her head to the side with a look of curiosity.

Dempsey nodded in confirmation. “Of course. It might lead us to a way to turn on the power.” He then gestured for the others to follow him as he followed the cables.

Naruto and Nikolai, Takeo and Samantha all shared a look before following the American, who was following the cables. Although Naruto and Nikolai were more cautious than the other three because of the dubbed screecher's jumping out at them and latching themselves to their heads, where they began to scratch at their faces like cats.

After following the cables, and having torches light up the way for them, the five heroes reached the end of the cables and saw it had indeed led them to a generator. A fairly big generator that almost took up the entire room it was based in. It was on a metal platform that made up the ground, and there was a single tube that looked it needed to be filled with something.

Naruto let out an impressed whistle upon seeing the contraption. “Okay, now that is one cool looking machine.” The teenage blonde walked around the generator to see where the switch to turn the machine on was located. “I wonder how it can be turned on? I don't see a lever anywhere on it.”

“Maybe you need to press a button or something?”

Naruto stopped walking around the generator and looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful look upon hearing Dempsey's suggestion. “Maybe. Care to help me find it?” He turned to look at the marine as he asked.

“No need.” The marine replied as he walked to a control panel that was near the bottom end of the room, to the right of the generator. “Something tells me we have to use this thing to turn on the power.” He added, turning to the others before he leaned against the control panel in a cool looking pose.

“Then what're you waiting for?”

“Push the big red button!”

Naruto and Nikolai exclaimed simultaneously, before Nikolai sighed in irritation when he saw Tank stare at the buttons with hesitation. Sighing again Nikolai walked to the control panel, and unceremoniously shoved Dempsey out of the way and pushed, (read: smashed) the big red button that was in the middle of the panel down with an audible 'click'.

The generator whirred to life and to the surprise of everyone, more so for Samantha, they heard the voice of Doctor Ludvig Maxis speak through an unseen speaker in the room.

“Initiating conversion sequence.”

Before any of them could comment on how that was possible, the group swiftly turned on the heels of their boots when they heard loud noises coming from screecher’s from all directions. Surveying their surroundings warily, everyone apart from Naruto backed themselves up until they were at the generator. If they had that machine behind them then they wouldn't be able to get outmanoeuvred by those imps.

The first few minutes they stood there. Waiting for the screecher's to show their ugly faces. The generator was powering itself up automatically as a blue liquid of some-kind filled the single tube that was connected to the machine. In the next minute the screecher's finally showed themselves, by rushing out to them from all directions before leaping at them with their arms and legs outstretched. Having been through this before, both Naruto and Nikolai shouted out “Hell no!”, and opened fire on the screecher's.

Samantha and Dempsey opened fire on the screecher's a few seconds after Nikolai and Naruto did and managed to shoot quite a few of them out of the air. Naruto and Nikolai switched targets the second they could; changing from the ones who were leaping at them to the ones still running to them.

Takeo on the other hand used his Staff of Fire to melt the fuckers on the ground with a single burst of molten rock. The three rocks had in effect caused any screecher's that were not able to avoid the impact zone, where the rocks had landed, to burn to death because of the widespread fire that exploded outwards and consume them entirely.

Takeo seeing that stared at the Staff of Fire in his hands in awe at the amount of carnage it had caused. The balls of molten rocks must have killed a little over than 10 with that single burst. It was indeed a powerful weapon, and if his memory is correct, there is another three that are just as powerful with one of them being within their grasp.

The samurai was taken from his thoughts when a screecher was about to latch itself to his head. Gritting his teeth and silently cursing his stupidity to lose himself in his thoughts in such a critical time, he was about to use his staff to knock the imp out of the air. He knew he wouldn't get the chance too do that since it was literally a few seconds away from latching onto his head. Just before the screecher could attach itself to the samurai's face however, it was shot out of the air by Samantha who saw the direness Takeo found himself in.

“Thank you Samantha for the aid you have provided.” Takeo said, nodding his head to Samantha in thanks for killing the screecher before it could latch itself onto him.

“Don't worry about it.” She quickly took aim and fired at two more screecher's that were about try and attack her at the same time. “Can you use zhe staff again?” She asked glancing at Takeo from the corner of her eyes.

“I can.” The man replied in confirmation, twirling the staff in his hands before holding it horizontally. His face was set in fierce determination as he glared at the screecher's. “As they burn and blister, these unholy demons will feel the flames of hell coursing through their veins!”

Takeo fired the staff again, the molten rocks melting the screecher's that had made direct contact with while burning those that were close to it. When it exploded on the ground, ten or so imps that were close or directly at the impact zone had been consumed in the flames that expanded outwards.

Naruto and Nikolai were holding their own; any of the imps that tried to get close the former Konohagakure ninja had shot them before they could leap into the air. Any that was close to latching onto him Naruto slashed with his knife in a well timed attack, before stabbing them in the face to put them down for good.

Nikolai instead of using his Hyena Infra-Dead was using his PPSh-41. He fired the SMG in short bursts to keep himself from wasting his barrel magazine like water doing down a drain. Any that got close to latching themselves onto him he knocked them out of the air by either shooting at them, or bashing the butt of his SMG in their face before stomping them on the head. Then he would proceed to crushing their skull underneath his boot like a grape.

Tank Dempsey was kneeling down to aim and shoot at the annoying little buggers in short bursts. It was better shooting if you were kneeling than standing up. The imps were nowhere close to getting close to him; and because of him being smart in the usage of his ammo he was able to keep himself from running out considering the annoying like things were easy to kill.

Samantha was doing well in holding back the imp creatures. She like Dempsey was now kneeling down on one knee and was firing her weapon in short bursts too. She came to realise the imps were easy to kill as they were fairly week compared to the foes they normally face. However, they were fast as well, so if any of them were not paying attention then the imp things would be on them before they could even blink!

To them it felt like they were defending their position for hours. In reality it was close to a minute. Then suddenly the generator made noises; just before a pulse of electricity shot out of the machine and went through everything in the room.

Nikolai and Takeo, Samantha and Naruto and Dempsey all gasped in shock as they felt the electricity pulse out of the generator behind them phase through their body. They felt a little energised. Any tiredness, or stress they may have felt before coming here was gone. As if it were just taken from them. However the screecher's that were hit with the pulse all screeched out in pained agony before they slumped to the ground. Dead.

“Conversion Process Complete. Generator 1 is now activated.” They heard the voice of Maxis say through the speakers.

Taking a quick look through the room the group all saw the imps lying on the ground. Their impossibly wide eyes were completely empty. Lifeless.

Everyone waited for a moment. To see if the imps were going to make another attempt to attack. When there was none, the group exhaled through their mouths in relief, and those who were kneeling down stood up.

“Finally! The fucking power is on!” Dempsey exclaimed with relief evident on his face. As he leaned against the generator the marine added, “I never thought that would get done. Felt like it took a long time!”

“Tell me about it.” Naruto grunted as he reloaded the ammo magazine in his M-16. “Those things were annoying as hell, but weak in comparison to what we normally face. I never saw them before.” He shook his head. “Samantha, you've been in control of the zombies on earth. Have you ever seen those things before when you were in control of the undead?” He asked her, turning to look at her with a hopeful expression; hoping their former antagonist did know what those things were and could provide them some insight.

To his dismay Samantha negatively shook her head. “Nein. Zhose are zhe first time I have seen zhem too. Perhaps zhey appeared after Richtofen took over my original body?” She suggested helplessly with a shrug of her shoulders.

Dempsey tsked at that and gestured for the others to follow him as he made his way to walk out of the tomb. They're not going to get any answers as to how those imp things came to be any time soon, nor were they going to get anything done, so what was the point in staying there? “Let's get to the box and trade our weapon for something more powerful. God knows we're going to need it.”

Of course no one disagreed with him. They are going to need some better weaponry for when the zombies get stronger anyway; so why would they argue with that? There is no logic behind it.

As they made their way up the staircase Naruto asked a question that everyone would have forgotten if not for him bringing it to their attention. “Does anyone find it weird we all heard Samantha's father through the speakers when we turned the generator?”

“It is weird now that you mention it.” Dempsey replied as he stroked his chin in thought. “Maybe all of this got here in a similar manner Gersch did?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But the coffin like box. The generator. Things that shouldn't be here considering how primitive this place is. Something-- something is going on here and I don't like it.”

This had prompted everyone to stop on the staircase and look at Naruto. “And what're we going to do about it?” Takeo questioned.

Naruto shrugged. “I dunno.” And that was the truth because he truly did not know what to do about it. “But we need to free Gersch before we do anything else. So, lets do that first before we try to find out how all of this got here.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Dempsey said. He was liking that idea; he wasn't good at solving mysteries. “Now let's get out there and open that box.”