Love Amongst Survivors

Hi there! I thought that I would stray from the old routine and try my hand at a one-shot. The inspiration for this story was from the manga series Highschool of the Dead, and the story Only Human by fellow author Kid Klip. Unfortunately, Kid Klip has stopped updating the story, as he lost the drive to continue it. The story is up for grabs if you're interested, he would happily give it to you if want to take up the challenge, as well as his original plans for the story. Anyways, the main pairing for this story is (drum roll please): Naruto Uzumaki x Shizuka Marikawa. Why? Well, aside from Only Human & Outbreak, there were no other stories that featured this pairing. Plus, I see a lot of similarities between them, besides the color of their hair. But, where as those two stories had Naruto with a harem, this will be strictly Naruto X Shizuka, only. Like everything else, I unfortunately own nothing.

I

The stars shone brightly in the night's sky, and the people of Nami no Kuni were slowly beginning to wind down. It was Friday night, meaning that everybody from teenagers to adults were kicking back and enjoying themselves after a long week of school or work. But there was one person in particular that wasn't amongst the people enjoying the opportunities for fun and recreation that were available from Wave's night life. This man was currently standing on the bedroom balcony of a modest two-story house that was situated on the the coast, away from the central populace. But at the same time the building itself wasn't too isolated, as it was very close to the estate that housed the famous bridge builder Tazuna and his family.

The man was silent as he stood out on the balcony, wearing only a pair light gray sweat pants, he chest bare of any clothing. A light breeze brushed against him, his spiky sun-kissed blond hair swaying slightly with the wind, yet he showed no signs that the sudden draft discomforted him. He was tall, and had a thin build to him. He wasn't buff like some body builder that spent most of their life working out in a gym, but still had a lean-muscular figure hinting that he was physically active. Add in the triple whisker marks that adorned his cheeks, and it was easy for anyone to tell that it was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, former shinobi of Konohagakure, hero and protector of the Nami no Kuni. A lot of things had happened since his first high ranked mission in this land. The Fourth Shinobi World War had left an everlasting mark on the world and had changed the lives of numerous people, both shinobi and civilian. But it was the final confrontation between Madara Uchiha that changed everything for Naruto. Although he had emerged victorious against the megalomaniac after a long and arduous battle, the destruction of the immortal Uchiha's body had some unforseen side effects; it had created a portal similar to the ones that the eldest Uchiha used to travel long distances as well as become intangible to negate his opponent's attacks. But what was different about this portal was that it was larger and stronger than ones that were normally used, not to mention that it seemed self-sustainable. Naruto tried to get away from it, but the battle had depleted much of his strength, and he was pulled into the swirling vortex easily. Naruto had thought that he was going to die right then and there, but instead, he was met with a situation that he thought only existed in nightmares.

I

Flashback Start

"Ugh...Damn Uchihas, always so over dramatic. Even their own deaths have to be theatrical show-stoppers." groaned Naruto, his vision was still swimming from traveling through the rip in space-time that Madara's destruction had caused. "But, at least there's one last power hungry, wacko that we have to worry about."

As his equilibrium finally returned to him, Naruto realized that he was no longer in the destroyed forested area that served as their battlefield. Because last time he checked,the forest didn't have grungy brick walls normpsters filled to the brink with garbage. Dread suddenly consumed him as he had no idea how long he was unconscious, but he rationalized that it must have been for a long time, as he could feel that most of his chakra had returned to him. For a brief horrifying moment, Naruto thought that Madara had some how managed to cast some sort of unique genjutsu on him in his last moments alive. Quickly, he tried break it by surging his chakra, then by biting his lip, and even going as far as to cut his hand with a kunai. But still, his surroundings remained as they were.

"Oh-kay? Since this isn't some genjutsu, then the only other explanation is that I'm still in reality. But I guess what I should be worried about is where exactly am I." Naruto mused to himself, as he walked out of the alleyway. But what he saw once he was out in the open did little to settle the unease that was starting build up within him.

He found himself in the middle of what seemed like a road, but it was covered with several small black stones, and it had a white dashed line painted in the center. The buildings that he saw were larger and more cleaner looking than any of the ones he had seen in the Elemental Nations, giving off an advanced and more modern appearence. Even more puzzling was that there were many metal square carriages that were parked along the road, yet they were of the strangest designs he had ever seen; there wasn't any spot to secure a horse to it. But those sights were nothing compared to the dead silence that permeated the area. It chilled Naruto to the bone; it just didn't seem right for a city of this magnitude to be so silent. It was as if he were in a ghost town.

"Okay, this is just nuts. Shouldn't this place be teeming with people?" said Naruto, as he tried in vain to sense anyone within his vicinity. He would have gone into Sage Mode or tried to access the Kyubi's chakra, but he was still recovering from his last battle. "Well, I might as well see what I can find. It's better than just standing around here." And with that, Naruto ventured up the road, but he soon wished that he hadn't. For as he traveled further down the road, he realized that that the smell of blood was steadily growing stronger. Fearing the worst possible outcome, Naruto quickened his pace towards where his second most hated scent was heavily permeated, only to realize that his destination was heavily permeated with the one smell that he hated most of all: death.

'I hope it's not what I think it is.' thought Naruto, desperately trying to convince himself that it wouldn't be as bad as he made it out to be. But it was just wishful thinking on his part. As he got to a four way intersection Naruto was treated to a sight that he would never forget. Blood was splattered all over the area, most of it looked pretty fresh. Small fires were burning all around him, burning severely wrecked buildings or the mangled four-wheeled vehicles, shooting black smoke up into the air. Then he saw the several corpses of people, savagely mutilated and dismembered, as if some wild beast had attacked them. He nearly vomited at seeing what had once been human beings reduced to such an utterly destroyed state. And it didn't help calm his already frazzled nerves that he heard people screaming, unintelligible moans, and sounds of explosions frequently occurring further ahead of him. Yet these explosions were not like the ones he had become used to from explosive tags; they were more of a sharp bang, with an echoing aftershock.

Nonetheless, it made Naruto all the more wary of his current predicament. Preparing for the worst, Naruto unfurled the only weapons storage scroll that he had in tact, and replenished the shuriken and kunai that he had lost with his battle against Madara. Figuring that it was better to be safe than sorry, he also unsealed a pair of sheathed ninjatoes and secured them on his back in an overlapping X pattern. And as a final touch, he untied his headband and sealed into the scroll. While he was normally proud to wear his Konoha headband for all to see, he recalled one of Jiraiya's lectures about how there were a few territories outside the Elemental Nations that didn't take kindly to shinobi. And by now, he was beginning to think that he had somehow been transported to one of those regions, thanks to Madara.

As he made his way further into the unknown territory, the more his unease increased. There were more and more maimed corpses littered all over the street, and yet there was still no clues as to what could have caused devastation. Suddenly, he heard a moan from behind him. He stopped to see what it was, and was surprised to see a man that he had previously seen face down on the road staggering towards him.

"H-hey buddy, are you alright?" he asked nervously. The nameless man said nothing as he continued to slowly make his way towards the ninja.

"Buddy?" Naruto asked again, not liking this little confrontation one bit. The man's eyes were glassed over, had numerous deep slashes on his body, and his clothes were stained with blood. But what was the final clincher for Naruto was the fact that this person seemed to reek of death. Seeing that he wasn't going to get a response from this person, Naruto turned his back on him and continued on his way. That proved to be a big mistake, as the man lunged at him with his jaws poised to attack. Luckily, Naruto sensed the attack quickly, and managed to evade before his assailant was even close to striking him.

"Dude, what the hell's your problem?" demanded Naruto. But he got no answer, as the dead man struck again. Like the first time, Naruto had no trouble dodging, but was soon taken by surprise when the man's strikes became faster and more wilder, as if he were a starving beast desperately trying to kill his prey. After one instance in which he was close to losing a finger, Naruto unsheathed his right ninjato, and sliced through the man's left arm, severing it in a shower of blood. But to his surprise, the man didn't show any signs of pain or even awareness that he was down one arm; he had just continued his assault. The being before had degraded into nothing more than savage beast, thrashing and snarling at him with the intent to kill, as if it were close to dying of starvation. A near miss with one of its claws was the final breaking point for Naruto, as he retaliated by beheading the decaying creature with a swift swing of his ninjato. In a geyser of blood, the living corpse collapsed to the ground, still and lifeless, with its head laying beside it. Not wanting to take any more chances, Naruto brought his foot up and smashed the severed head into the pavement.

"I...I don't believe it. Was...was that actually a zombie? What the fuck?" exclaimed Naruto in disbelief. Not wanting to stick around in case there were more of them waiting around to attack, he sped off in the direction that he was previously going.

The horrible stench seemed to grow increasingly worse the further he went, but he persevered. He didn't know how far he went, or how long he was on the move before he came across something that made him stop in his tracks. He saw several of them storming through the gates towards a building that was called Fujimi Academy. What he assumed to be administrators or teachers were out in the court yard attempting to prevent the intruders from entering the building and attacking the students, completely unaware of the severity of what they were facing. And given the fact that they were not armed with any sort of weapons, they were quickly overpowered, and devoured by the living dead. Cursing to himself as he saw them break through the doors and swarm into the school, Naruto stealthily made his way to the side of the school. Seeing that he wasn't spotted or noticed by large group that was still bottle-necking through the narrow entrance, he dashed up the building as if he were running up a tree, stopping at every window to see if he could beat the decaying predators to their intended prey.

But things were looking grim, as he ascended the levels of the school. He saw that despite being decomposing corpses, they were just as deadly and proficient hunters as any predator he would find in the wild. Classrooms were either filled with them already tearing up students and teachers alike, or they had just barged in and immediately began their attack. Soon the entire school was filled with guttural snarls, terrified screams, and the horrendous sounds of flesh and bones being forcibly torn apart. Desperate to find someone that wasn't under attack, he had nearly missed the window of the room of what appeared to be school's clinic. Backing up to get a closer look at the sole two occupants, which turned out to be a male student and an adult woman, he was pleased to see that the two were unharmed. But, his ease was replaced with trepidation when he remembered why he was scaling the wall, and then panic when he saw eight of them break through the door and instantly attack the student before setting their sights on the woman. Having finally had enough of watching from the sidelines, Naruto smashed his way through the window, unsheathed his twin ninjatos whilst channeling his wind chakra through the blades, leaped in front of the woman and unleashed the wind chakra from his blades in a twin wind-enhanced sword slash. The invisible blades of wind flew silently as they easily cut the horde into thirds, and through the wall as well as the adjacent wall behind it.

Seeing that none of them were moving after his attack, luckily because the attack had destroyed their heads, he sheathed his blades and turned to see if the woman was hurt. Yet, he was left speechless upon seeing the woman for the first time; she was...beautiful. Long yellowish blonde hair framed her flawless unblemished face, and flowed behind her back in a ponytail that reached to the small of her back, tied off near the hair's ends. Her brown eyes were currently wide, no doubt due to what she had just witnessed. Her hourglass figure was heavily accentuated by the white lab coat she was wearing. She had amazingly shaped hips that were covered by a black skirt that seemed to be painted on, and long skinny legs. But the most prominent trait that Naruto noticed was her impressively large breasts that were pushing her white blouse to the breaking point. It was like she was the perfect nurse that Konoha Hospital never had. Hell, if he had ever had nurse like her whenever he was in the hospital, he would've been more than willing to stay instead of trying to sneak out like he usually did.

"So...beautiful..." murmured Naruto, not knowing that he had actually said that out loud. But the blonde nurse did hear it, which broke her out of her fear induced catatonic state. She looked up from where she had collapsed to her savior, noticing him for the first time.

"Hm? Do I know you?" she asked with half lidded eyes, with her head tilted in a slight angle. That brought Naruto out of his inner...musings..., and thus turned his attention back the the woman before him with a slight blush adorning his cheeks. She was looking at him with a curious expression.

"Sorry about that." he said awkwardly, his hand scratching the back of his head. "But you sort of remind me of someone I know. Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" he asked as he helped the woman to her feet, and noted that he was a few centimeters taller than her when she was standing.

The woman shook her head "No, you got them before they could bite me."

"Bite you?"

"Yes, that's how the infection spreads. If an infected manages to bite a person, it'll only be a matter of time before the victim reverts to a state similar to their attacker." she explained, her gaze nervously darting back and forth from him to the corpses on the floor.

"Shit! So it really is like those horror movies." grumbled Naruto. "Just how did all of this happen anyway?"

But before the voluptuous woman could answer him, a girl ran into the clinic wielding a bokken. She had long purple hair, blue eyes, and was wearing what looked like the school's uniform that complemented her figure. She eyes quickly surveyed the room, taking notice of the trisected bodies and the two deep long cuts that went through the walls. Her steeled gaze then settled on Naruto once she saw the two swords that were strapped to his back.

"You there! Who are you, and are you doing with Marikawa-san?" interrogated the the swordswoman, as she readied herself to attack the stranger, in case he was going to get violent. Naruto was about to answer when the nurse placed herself in front of him.

"It's alright, he's not dangerous. In fact, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be alive right now." said the nurse, trying to calm the girl down. This seemed to work, as the kendo enthusiast relaxed her grip on her wooden sword but her hawk-like eyes still lingered on him.

"Is this true? Did you really help Marikawa-san?" she asked.

Naruto looked affronted at her question. "If I wanted to harm her, I would have done so the moment I got in here." he said.

"And how exactly did you get here quick enough to help? I was two floors below this one, and there was already a mass of them heading towards this room."

"Well, would you have believed that I swung down from the floor above this one, and managed to get to this room merely by luck?" said Naruto, his expression betraying the panic he was feeling at the girl's sudden interrogation. He had a feeling that things would only get worse if he told the truth.

The girl just stood there staring into his eyes, trying find any hint of deceit. The stare-down lasted for nearly a whole minute before the girl's posture relaxed, and gave the outsider a courteous bow.

"Forgive me for jumping to conclusions, but with the current predicament, one can never be too careful. My name is Saeko Busujima. Thank you for saving our school's nurse." she said politely.

The nurse got next Saeko, and bowed as well, which Naruto noted made her...assets... move in a particularly enjoyable way. "And I am Shizuka Marikawa, Fujimi Academy's nurse. Thank you for saving me."

Naruto, not wanting to seem rude, he bowed as well. "Naruto Uzumaki. It's pleasure to meet the two of you."

Before anything else could be said, the trio heard low moan coming from the floor, which turned out to be the boy Naruto saw get attacked by them. He was in a terrible state: deep and gaping flesh wounds all over his body, and he was laying in a pool of his own blood. Saeko and Naruto shared a brief look of understanding before Saeko went over to the downed student, whilst Naruto turned his attention to Shizuka, making sure that she didn't look back where Saeko was.

"Hey, uh, Marikawa-san?" started Naruto, getting the busty blonde's attention. "I think that it would be best if you closed your eyes and covered your ears for a while."

"Hm? Why?" she asked, oblivious to the conversation Saeko was having with the downed boy.

"Just trust me on this, okay?" said Naruto pleadingly, as he saw Saeko raising her bokken for an overhead strike. Luckily, Shizuka humored him with his request just as the purlpette brought down her sword on the boy's head, destroying his brain and therefore permanently killing him.

Seeing that there wasn't going to be a follow-up, Naruto gently pulled one of Shizuka's arms away from her ear. "Okay, it's safe now." he said gently.

After Saeko closed the poor boy's eyes in a sign of respect, she peaked out of the scarred doorway to see if there were any of them lurking around. Seeing that the coast is clear, she turned her attention back to the blonde duo.

"It looks like the coast is clear for now. But it will only be a matter of time before more of them find us. And to make matters worse, we don't know how exactly they can track us. But from what I've observed, a blow to the head is the only sure way to kill them. Any other wound inflicted on them will be useless." she explained.

"So what's the plan? We stay hear and clear up all the zombies in the school? Because I really hate being cooped up in a building that's already been broken into; there's no surer way to get killed then staying here." added Naruto.

"Agreed. So our best option is to gather up as many medical supplies from here, sneak out of Fujimi, and find shelter elsewhere." said Saeko.

"Wait a minute! I've already gotten the first part taken care of." interrupted Shizuka, as she displayed a large brown hand bag. "And can't we just take my car? It would be much better than getting out of here by foot, wouldn't it?"

Naruto remained silent; he didn't know what the hell this car was. Saeko, on the other hand, looked somewhat relieved.

"That would be more favorable to our chances of survival." she said.

"Oh shoot! I had forgotten in all of this chaos that I don't have my car keys with me. We need to go back to the faculty room to get them." she said despondently.

Saeko frowned slightly. "Then we'll have to make a small detour, but we'll have to be quick about it. Alright then, we'll travel in a single file line. I'll lead the group, with Marikawa-san in the middle, whilst Naruto covers the rear. Does anyone have any objections to this?"

Both Shizuka and Naruto shook their heads for different reasons. Shizuka was still shell shocked from what just occurred before her, and was in no shape to fight off any of them. Naruto, on the other hand, didn't know the building's layout, and knew that they couldn't afford to waste time. So without any further discussion, the trio crept out of the ruined clinic and started to make their way to the faculty room, ever vigilant and alert for any unpleasant surprises that may have been waiting for them. Luckily the hallways were empty, with nothing but the mangled corpses of students and teachers alike littering the floor. Unfortunately, they didn't travel far before there was already a problem. Shizuka couldn't keep up with the pace that Saeko was keeping, and had almost tripped a few times. But when Naruto finally heard her gasp and squeak out in surprise when she nearly fell, he immediately acted without thinking. He looped his arm around her waist preventing her from falling on the floor, but both were supporting blushes from the action.

"Oh jeez, what is this?" exclaimed Shizuka as Naruto set her down back on her feet, getting fed up with constantly tripping.

"Hm, this is taking to long." said Saeko, turning to face Shizuka. "Your clothing isn't really mad for running." Without warning, Saeko took hold of the left side of Shizuka's skirt, and ripped a huge tear that went up to the waistband to make slit in it,resulting in showing fair bit of the nurse's leg. Naruto's blush resurfaced, as he tried to keep under control.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing? This skirt was Prada!" exclaimed the nurse. She was most certainly not pleased with Saeko's actions.

"We're pressed for time, and your skirt is hindering your mobility. Which is more important to you: a clothing brand or your life?" she asked testily.

"Both!" answered Shizuka without hesitation.

Naruto just looked at the two girls in disbelief. 'We've barely made it out of the clinic, and already the girls are arguing about clothing. Oi vey, this is going to be a long day.' thought Naruto.

I

Naruto was normally ecstatic whenever he was right about something, but he wasn't this time around. On their way to the faculty room, his group had ran into four other survivors that were being attacked by them. The two boys (Takashi Kumuro and Kohta Hirano) were holding them off with a metal bat and a crudely assembled projectile weapon respectively. The girl with long brown hair (Rei Miyamoto) was fighting with a makeshift spear, while the girl who had her pink hair in twin pony tails (Saya Takagi) was fight them off with a cordless drill of all things. Quickly, he and Saeko rushed in to assist the four students, before they and Shizuka decided to join up with them, figuring that there would safety in numbers. But, that also meant that they wouldn't all be able to fit into Shizuka's car. This meant that they had to get the keys to something called a school bus. Naruto had no idea what they were talking about, but decided that it wouldn't be too tactful to ask what a bus was, in order to avoid suspicion from the group.

And even after they had gotten the necessary keys, they had to somehow make their way across an entire parking lot full of them in order to get to the bus. It was at that point that Saya mentioned how the zombies seemed to only react to sound, meaning that they used their sense of hearing in order to track victims. She also mentioned that while their bodies were decaying, the undead before them had the strength to rip off doors easily. With that in mind the group quietly crept towards the bus, trying not to garner any attention. At first, everything went swimmingly well, and it seemed as if they weren't going to have any trouble.

But then, some poor student that had managed to get out of the school on his own had gone and ruined everything when he accidentally hit the metal pipe that he had been using as a weapon against a pole. The resulting sound was all it took for hell to break loose. The lone student and the group were immediately attacked by them with frightening ferocity. The loner stood no chance, and was instantly ripped apart. Naruto's group, on the other hand, fared a lot better, partially due to the fact that they were already pretty close to their means of escape, and they had plenty of experience of fighting the undead already. Whilst Shizuka, Rei, and Saya went to go start the bus, the remaining four stayed behind to provide cover. Naruto had no problem holding his own, as he practically threw himself into thralls of them, slashing away with his twin swords.

Yet, he was not too preoccupied to get a few glimpses of how the others were doing. Saeko, he noticed, fought with the grace of a samurai, as she struck them down with her wooden sword. Even though she didn't wield an actual blade, she was still a force to be reckoned with. He could tell that Kohta specialized in long ranged combat, as he managed to shoot down zombie after zombie with frightening accuracy with his homemade weapon. The weapon itself reminded him of those kunai launchers that the Sky shinobi used. As for Takashi, well...he could tell that his heart was in the right place and had the right spirit, but it was obvious that the boy was just an average civilian thrust into a crisis situation. While he had the strength and stamina to fight, he was constantly left open to a possible sneak attack... such as the one that stalking up behind him!

"Shit! Takashi, behind you!" warned Naruto, as he threw a wind enhanced kunai at its head. The kunai went through the head like a knife through hot butter. By the time Takashi had time to act on Naruto's warning his attacker was falling to the ground with blood gushing out of a gaping hole where its blind left eye used to be. Takashi paled slightly at how close he had been to succumbing to Hisashi's fate.

"Thanks, Naruto-san! I owe you one!" yelled Takashi, before launching himself back into combat against them. Despite killing a majority of the horde there were still several more dragging themselves closer to the group. Naruto could hear the the three young women inside the vehicle becoming frantic as they continued to try and get the bus started.

"Damn it! Just how many more are there? I don't think I have enough ammo to keep going like this!" shouted Kohta.

"What's taking so long back there?" shouted Takashi.

"Just hold on a bit longer!" Rei shouted. We've almost-" Whatever she was going to say was drowned out by the loud roar of the bus's diesel engine, nearly making Naruto jump.

"That's more I like it!" said Takashi.

"WAIT!" came a voice in the distance. That's when the zombie smashers saw a group of students lead by spectacled man dressed in a striped suit. Right away, Naruto felt that something was off from this man. From the way he carried himself to that fake expression on his face, it felt as if he was facing Orochimaru all over again.

"Hey, who is that guy?" asked Naruto, as he beheaded another zombie.

"That's Koichi Shido. He's a teacher at Fujimi Academy." answered Saeko, her eyes narrowed at the man.

"Don't let him get on!" Rei shouted angrily from the where she was standing on the bus's entrance.

"What? But Rei, there's-"

"Trust me Takashi, you'll regret saving him." answered Rei, as she sneered at the approaching man like he was the worst kind of criminal ever to exist. Sure enough, a boy from his group tripped and sprained his ankle. Shido stopped by him, as his group continued on towards the school bus. But instead of helping the boy, the smiling man kicked him further away before walking calmly to the bus, not even glancing back as the downed boy was eaten alive by them.

'That bastard!' raged Naruto, glaring at he man as he thanked Takashi for waiting for him and his group before stepping on board. He had just met the guy, and already Naruto wanted to gut the son of a bitch. Putting those hateful thoughts aside, Naruto made sure that he was the last board the bus before Shizuka drove off. But as the younger blonde was about to make his way to a seat further back, he noticed from the corner of his eye that the nurse was constantly trembling and flinched whenever she hit one of them. Even though they were dead, she was technically running people over.

"Hey, Marikawa-san?" said Naruto quietly.

"Y-yes?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"Look, I know that this isn't easy for you. But you need to remember, none of them are human beings anymore. They have all died a long time ago, reduced to mindless shells of their former selves. So don't try to avoid hitting them, they can't feel anything anymore." said Naruto. He felt terrible for saying something so harsh to her, but she needed to keep her head on straight at a time like this. "Look, I know this sounds heartless, but-"

"It's alright, Naruto-kun. I understand where you're trying to say." she said with a faint smile. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." Something about the way she had said that made Naruto think that she was just putting up a brave face for his sake. But since he couldn't offer to drive for her, he decided to humor her and let her go on as she was.

He walked over to where the five teens he met earlier were gathered. Near the very end of the bus sat that Shido guy with his group of students. But even from where Naruto was standing, he could see how thecollection of students looked at the cruel man as if he were their god; their savior, as if he was their entire world. That just made Naruto hate the man even more. It was just too similar to when Nagato had adopted his Pain persona, or with Tobi/Madara; they were so full of themselves and had no problem using other people to accomplish their own goals.

"-uto-san?"

Naruto broke out of his thoughts to see that the boy named Kohta was talking to him. "Uh, I'm sorry, could you repeat that Kohta? I sorta zoned out for a while."

"I said, that you were pretty cool out there, hacking away at them with those swords of yours. And you made it look so easy, too!" the glasses wearing gun expert said enthusiastically.

Naruto couldn't help but smile. "Thanks. You did well out there yourself. Especially with that weapon of yours. Did you actually make that on your own? That's pretty impressive."

Kohta just grinned, and affectionately patted his crafted gun. "Yep, made this baby from scratch! Sure, it's not like the guns I've trained with before, but it gets the done job done!"

"Ugh, not this again! Yes, we know that you're a firearms expert, you don't need to remind us every five minutes." muttered Saya. She then turned her sights towards Naruto. "I don't remember seeing you around before. What school do you go to?"

"Uh, well, the thing is I'm not from around here. I guess you can say that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time." he said sheepishly.

"Really? What kind of person walks around with two swords strapped to his back?" she continued, her eyes taking on a hardened stare.

"I was at a martial arts tournament when things went south. I just figured that they would be more useful tied to my back than in their carrying case." Naruto lied. "And besides, I'd think that two ninjatoes would be more effective against them than a cordless drill, wouldn't you?" he teased. Saya looked like she wanted to explode at him, but someone decided to interrupt their little conversation.

"Now, now, let's all calm down." oiled the voice of Koichi Shido as he approached closer to the six teenagers, that sickening grin still present on his face. "Where our young friend had gotten his swords isn't something we should worry about. Our main focus should be on surviving through this disaster. And to ensure our survival, we'll need a leader. After all, it was you that led your group to this bus in the first place, right Busujima-san?"

Saeko's eyes narrowed at the teacher. "No, we got this far by working together. There was no leader in our our group." she said evenly.

"Well, that may have worked for your little group of seven, but that won't cut it now that we have more people." Shido said, his smile growing wider as he turned back to the students that had followed him. "If we are to survive, we need a leader."

"And I take there's only one person that's qualified for that responsibility?" scowled Saya.

"Well, I am a reputable teacher, so that should ease everyone's doubts." he said, to which his followers broke out in applause. The whole situation from there on then just degraded horrendously. The moment Shido was made leader due to a majority vote, Rei exploded with rage on the grounds that she would never follow a slime ball like him. Naruto suspected that Rei had a bad history with the teacher, considering how she was so vehemently against him, but filed that away as something to ask later. Unfortunately, Rei's outburst gave the bastard an opening to practically oust her from the bus, which his brainwashed cult readily agreed was the best idea. Takashi was about to physically show how much he was against the idea, when one of the more violent Shidoists stepped up to defend his leader and possible kill Takashi as well. Luckily, Rei managed to bring down the attacker with a well placed jab from the dull end of her spear before he could even get close to Takashi. Before even any more violence could erupt, Shizuka managed stop everyone in their tracks, yelling at them all as if she were scolding a bunch of misbehaving children. Unfortunately, she had left the wheel of the bus to do so, temporarily making it go out of control. But on the bright side, no one else was willing to lash out violently again.

All the same, that didn't mean that Rei was willing to be in the same bus as Shido any longer. She demanded that Shizuka stop the bus, and marched right off with Takashi trailing behind her, who was trying his best to calm Rei down before she did anything irrational. That was when a bus filled with survivors and them came hurtling at them, forcing the duo to take cover in a tunnel, which was soon blocked by the bus. Luckily, Saeko was able to confirm with Takashi that they would meet up at the police station by tomorrow at seven if they didn't find away to rendezvous with each other. Once Saeko was back on the bus, Shido tried to "console" their small group by saying that they had tried their best, and it wasn't their fault the the two "traitors" had left, in which his cult vigorously agreed with him once again. Naruto was about snap at the man whom he considered to be the reincarnation of Orochimaru, but a flying nail from Kohta had beaten him to the punch. The nail came exceptionally close to piercing his cheek, which caused the teacher to scream in fright.

"That's it! I've had just about enough of your voice that I can take! You so much as say either Takashi or Rei's name again, and it'll be the last thing you ever do!" roared Kohta, his eyes blazing with unadulterated rage.

"N-now, now, Hirano-kun, let's be reasonable about this." said Shido, as he slowly backed away from the nail gun wielding boy. His hands were up in front of him in a placating manner, and a bead of sweat was slowly sliding down his brow.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" roared Kohta, his eyes taking on a sort of manic look. "I utterly despised you when everything was normal, so what makes you think that I'm gonna listen to you now that everything's gone to hell? You always bullied me whenever I was in your classroom. Everyday, you made sure to make me feel miserable. And on top of that, you encouraged the other students to pick on me as well! I've put up with your and everyone's abuse because I knew that there was nothing that could've been done about it, and that you'd just weasel your way out of any trouble like you always did. But now that the world we know no longer exists, I won't put up with for a second longer! Did you know that I've killed several of them on my own without flinching, Sensei? And how that despite the the fact they were already dead, they looked like regular people? That's helped dull the shock a lot. So now, I won't have any problems with killing a person that's still alive!" Kohta then leveled his nail gun at the man's head, a dark grin forming on his face. Naruto couldn't help but be impressed at the boy's loyalty to his friends, and his courage to stand up against Shido and his students.

"I-I-I-If you wish to leave, Hirano-kun, then you're free to go." Shido said, his smile still on his face, as his gaze settled on Shizuka, who was still standing by the wheel. "But I request that Marikawa-san stays behind."

The man licked his lips, as he leered at the buxom blonde with poorly disguised lust. "Oh yes. It would be such a shame if we had lost our nurse." was the last thing he said before his world exploded into unimaginable pain.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" snarled Naruto, as he closed the distance between them in a second, and slammed a vicious right jab right into the man's his nose, breaking it and sending blinding waves of pain throughout his entire head. But the blonde wasn't finished with him just yet. Naruto's left hand snatched onto Shido's shoulder, which he used to keep the man from escaping has he landed two more jabs on him: another one to the already bleeding nose, and another to his throat, causing him to cough and splutter from the sudden disruption in his breathing.

"Brainwashing young impressionable minds into practically worshiping you, willing to sacrifice other people just to save your worthless life, seeing women as nothing more than your personal play things, scumbags like you give men everywhere a bad name!" thundered Naruto.

His right hand grabbed Shido's other shoulder, before he landed a powerful knee strike to his solar plexus, but gave the pitiful excuse for a man no chance to react before he reared his right knee again and slammed it into the bastard's crotch. He took some sort of grim satisfaction when he heard the pitiful wheeze/squeal of pain from the man whilst he crouched down to grasp his abused family jewels. Still enraged with the monster in human skin before him, Naruto finished his assault with another knee strike to the man's solar plexus that struck at the same time as the double overhead haymaker he landed on his back. Shido collapsed to the floor, gasping and coughing in pain.

The student that was downed by Rei earlier on scrambled from the ground and charged at Naruto, his right arm reared back as he roared with rage. As the punch neared Naruto's face, he simply batted the offending limb to his left, making the attacker stumble while leaving his left flank open. With a flick of his right wrist, a kunai knife slipped from his right sleeve and into his hand, before he flipped it in a reverse hand grip, and stabbed the blade deep into the boy's shoulder whilst twisting it a bit to give the screaming boy a little "souvenir". As quickly as he buried it, Naruto withdrew the kunai, before he grabbed the teen by his hair, and smashed his head against the metal side of the bus, knocking him out cold. Settling his glare back to the remaining Shidoists, he was glad that they were still seated in the back, staring back him with fear in their eyes.

"Marikawa-san, Busujima-san, Takagi-san, Hirano-san, I'll provide cover whilst you all get off the bus." said Naruto, his eyes never leaving the group of students nor their cult leader.

"And leave you alone with these psychopaths? No way, Naruto-san. I'm staying here with you." declared Kohta, as he got next to him, pointing his gun at the group, giving the cult more incentives not to try anything. The three girls, on the other hand, managed to get out.

"Thank you Uzumaki-san, Hirano-san, the both of you are truly honorable men." said Saeko, before she made her was outside, leaving Naruto and Kohta alone with Shido and his cult.

"Hey, Kohta," began Naruto, "do you mind waiting outside for a little while? There are a few things that I want to say to Mr. Cult Leader privately."

"What? But what if-"

"I'll be fine on my own, Kohta. Trust me." said Naruto. Kohta looked unsure for a moment before he finally conceded and walked backwards to the exit, his eyes and gun trained on the group until he was outside. Seeing that he was alone, Naruto kicked Shido onto his back, before he grabbed the collar of the man's shirt and lifted him off the ground with strength one wouldn't believe that a teenager could have. Shido tried to pry himself from the blonde's grip before a oppressing sense of dread overcame him and his students. As the beaten man slowly looked his assailant in the eye, he saw that that the whisker marks on his cheeks seemed to have deepened, and his once blue eyes had taken on a red color with slits for pupils.

"I'm only going to say this once, so you had better pay attention. If I so much as get the feeling that you are ever anywhere near our group again, make no mistake, I will personally slaughter your little following in front of you, before I SKIN YOU ALIVE AND THEN TEAR YOU APART LIMB BY LIMB! YOU GOT THAT, ASS-WIPE?" said Naruto, allowing the Kyubi's chakra to alter his voice. Shido, too scared to vocally reply nodded his head. In response, Naruto tossed him towards the back the bus, causing Shido to collide against his students. Whilst they were looking over their beloved sensei, Naruto quickly made his way off of the bus to join up with the four others that were waiting for him.

END OF PART 1

AN: I know that I said that this this was going to be a one shot, but at the rate I was going, it would just be too long to my liking. So I guess this will be a three-shot? Maybe a four-shot? I'll work on that and get back to you on that. Don't forget to Read and Review!