The Shinobi Visitor

Chapter 6 - The Sage vs The Demon...

"HHHAAAHHH!"

"YYYAAAHHH!" shouted Naruto as he swung Tenkaichi horizontally to counter a overhead strike from Zabuza, creating sparks between the blades. Both warriors disappeared from sight with sounds of metal clashing echoed through the new battleground as well sparks appeared from different areas in the yard, signifying the two shinobi's brief locations.

Both Naruto and Zabuza reappeared close to the gates with the former swinging his black sword upward with two hands while the latter brings his massive sword over his head for another overhead strike in a double-handed grip too. A small shockwave occurred from their deadlock between their respective blades. "I'm glad that you've learned Kenjutsu. It makes my mission more fun," said Zabuza pushing back. "More fun than I thought!"

"So am I," said Naruto as he continues the deadlock against Zabuza and pushed back the latter and put some distance between him-self and his opponent. "All right, his strength and speed clearly rivals my own." The blonde Uzumaki smirked as he tightened his grip on Tenkaichi, "I'm going to enjoy this as long as I can!"

Naruto and Zabuza started another death stare contest as the rain continues pouring from the dark clouds above them, creating a number of water puddles around the two ninja. Then Naruto heard a chuckle from his opposing swordsman. "What amuses you, Zabuza?"

"Well," Zabuza resting his blade on top of his right shoulder, "From what you displayed with your sword just now, you would've made a fine ally and challenge to the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." As the former mercenary said that, water from a puddle behind Naruto started to ripple until it took a familiar shape of a certain Mist ninja and was also armed with the same large sword as the original.

Naruto then held his black sword in front of him in a diagonal position to prepare his next attack and was about to charge until he heard a distinct metal clang and sensed malice behind him and spun around to block a diagonal swing from a duplicate of his enemy. "A Water Clone! But he didn't make a hand-sign which means-" He stopped his thinking when he sensed malice from behind him and quickly removed his left hand from Tenkaichi's hilt, sprung a kunai from his sleeve in a reverse grip and caught a strike from the original Zabuza.

The ground below Naruto and the two Zabuzas started to crumble from the exerted force. "He caught both of our strikes without looking?" thought Zabuza as he and his clone continue pushing Naruto's sword and kunai back, causing the latter to feel the strength and force from both of his opponent and clone.

Naruto held his ground until he felt his feet sinking into the wet ground. He was about to jump and split kick the two Zabuzas when he saw another Water Clone of Zabuza appeared in front of him and gave a quick glance over his shoulder to see a third Water Clone behind him as well. "Fantastic," thought Naruto sarcastically as he was still holding the original and the water clone at bay until he sensed the Water Clone charged at him and assumed the clone behind him is charging towards him too.

"Okay then. Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" shouted Naruto as he released the technique. He wasn't by the shocked expression of the original Zabuza as the latter and his clones were blown around the strong gust of wind emitted from the blonde's body.

The water clones dispersed into water by the force of the technique, but Zabuza recovered mid-air and landed near to the gates before pointing his large sword at his blonde opponent. "Well, well, well. You know Wind Style Ninjutsu. You obviously underwent elemental training during the years…you really have gotten stronger since the last time we met. Not to mention that you didn't use hand-signs to execute the technique, so I'm guessing you have complete mastery over your elemental chakra." He saw a smirk on Naruto's face and took that as a yes.

"I could say the same thing about you. You used the Water Clone Jutsu without any hand-signs. That tells me that you mastered your elemental chakra too." Naruto pointed out, retracting his kunai into his sleeve before returning to a double-grip on Tenkaichi's hilt again.

The blonde Uzumaki tightened his grip just as Zabuza tightens his double-handed grip on the Executioner's Blade, indicating that both warriors are going for heavy strikes from now on. "Don't worry, I won't use my wind chakra unless it's necessary…Let's continue, shall we?"

Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind Zabuza, swinging Tenkaichi in a horizontal slash, but the Hidden Mist ninja jumped over the attack and swung the Executioner's Blade for a horizontal strike that aimed for Naruto's head. The teenager quickly ducked the attack and kicked Zabuza away before he started a barrage of fast sword slashes, putting Zabuza on the defensive.

"What the hell? All of the sudden, he's gotten faster," thought Zabuza as he continues blocking his younger opponent, before entering another deadlock between their weapons. Zabuza ended the deadlock and pushed Naruto away, putting some distance between them.

The Uzumaki jinchuriki breathed deeply and charged at Zabuza once more. Naruto swung his sword for another strike, only for his enemy to disappear so sudden. "He disappeared without a trace! So he knows that technique as well." Naruto stayed on high alert as he looked at his surroundings until his instincts took over as he sidestepped to the right, narrowly dodging a thrust to the midsection from the sudden reappeared Zabuza before swinging Tenkaichi horizontally, but the attack missed its target when Zabuza disappeared again.

Zabuza reappeared on top of the roof to recuperate and think of a new strategy and his eyes widen in surprise when he felt metal touching his back and glanced over his shoulder to see a smirking Naruto behind him. "How did he get behind me? I didn't sense his presence until I felt his blade touching me. Could he…" He saw Naruto leapt away from him, putting distance between them.

The swordsman turned to fully face the boy before a smirk appeared on his face. "That wasn't your natural speed. For you to get behind me without getting detected, there is one high-speed movement technique that has the capability to do it. You used the Body Flicker Technique, didn't you?" asked Zabuza.

Naruto remained undeterred until a smile appeared on his face. "You're right, but I'm not the only one who used it. You too used the technique to dodge my last two attacks just now and it's obvious that you're quite skilled with it," said Naruto still keeping his hands on Tenkaichi's hilt, prompting Zabuza to tighten his two hands on the Executioner's Blade again as the two shinobi entered another glare contest.

While the two superhuman warriors glare daggers at each other with their readied weapons, the walkers were relentlessly banging on the gates again when they arrived and eventually broke through them and entered the estate. Soon the rain ceased falling from the skies as well the lightning stopped striking across the clouds and the thunder.

Naruto continued glaring at his opponent until he widen his eyes in surprise when water started swirling around Zabuza's body, indicating that he's about to use a variation of the Body Flicker Technique. "By the way, the water is swirling around you… I'm assuming that you're going to use the Water Body Flicker." Wet leafs on the ground started swirling around Naruto's body, "So I'll make this more fun by using my village's variation, the Leaf Body Flicker. Time to see which one of us is faster!"

The blonde sage and the former mercenary had smirks on their faces as they held their swords before Naruto and Zabuza Shunshined in swirls of leafs and water, respectively, from existence.

-With the Survivors-

"Man, how long does this tunnel stretch to?" thought Takashi as he follows Saeko and leading the civilians to the exit. The survivors managed the door that was beneath the kitchen and opened the passage that was fortunately big enough for all of them to pass through with no worries. They eventually found the exit, but Takashi stopped everyone and turned around to face them.

"Wait here, everyone. Saeko and I are going to check the outside if it's safe." He receives nods from his friends and mother before facing the door and opened it quietly and slowly as he can. He then went outside with his shotgun at the ready and Saeko drew her new sword as they slowly walked away from the door. They found themselves close to the streets and the port is not far from their location, just down the street about five miles away. Surprisingly, no walkers were present around them and not seen for miles ahead to the port where their ticket to safe haven is waiting for them. Only blood stains, burning cars and trucks were present along the road.

"Takashi, it's clear. Should we tell the others?" asked Saeko still on high alert while glancing at the boy. She received a nod from the boy and quietly walked back to the door to retrieve the others.

While walking back to the door, Saeko glanced up to see the hill where the Takagi Mansion is located and frowned as she thought about the safety of her ninja friend. "Please be safe," thought the swordswoman before getting rid of her frown and proceeded to the door where the large group of the survivors is currently waiting for them for news.

A few minutes later, the large group exited the passageway with the civilians falling into two-man columns. The people who were armed positioned themselves next to the columns, standing five feet from another armed person in front of him. As for Takashi and his friends, they positioned themselves on point 5 yards away to make sure the road ahead of them and the intersections from the sides are clear of walkers except Shizuka, Myra, Alice and Zeke.

After clearing the intersection, Takashi gave the hand motion to continue moving ahead with Souichiro giving the okay to continue onward. The group resumed walking to their way out of the living nightmare they're in.

-Somewhere in Town-

Sounds and sparks of swords clashing pierced through the night as Naruto continues his sword fight against Zabuza, disappearing in blurs and reappearing in different directions in the air. The sparks are seen moving away from the mansion to the city below with the walkers following them by listening on the metal clashing against each other.

Shouting war cries, Naruto and Zabuza reappeared with Tenkaichi and Executioner's Blade in swinging motion and entered in a swordlock for a moment before the both of them Shunshined to the roof below. The building they're currently on is 30 stories above ground and was surrounded by taller buildings that reached at least 10 or 20 stories higher. Both warriors stood 10 yards away from each other while taking deep breaths and observing each other's wounds.

The Leaf Jinchuriki had a cut with dried blood on his left cheek, one on his left bicep, another on his right forearm. But none of those mattered since his clan's and Kurama's healing abilities already took effect. As for the former Hidden Mist ninja, he has cuts on his left forearm, right bicep, left thigh and right cheek with dried blood near it, but Zabuza shows no pain meaning they're nothing to affect his fighting ability.

Naruto took in a couple more breaths before taking a quick glance out of the corner of his right eye before looking at Zabuza again. "By the looks of things, we're back in the city. Guess I've been too busy fighting to take notice," thought Naruto before he dashed at Zabuza, swinging Tenkaichi only for it to be blocked by the Hidden Mist ninja.

The Jinchuriki broke the deadlock and was about to launch another barrage of slashes, but was caught off-guard with a kick to the stomach from Zabuza, causing him to skid backwards a few feet.

The Hidden Mist ninja used this for his advantage and dashed at his young opponent. Zabuza spun around as he swung Executioner's Blade with the added momentum and full force with two hands. The boy blocked it the attack by instinct with his sword arm only.

"NO!" thought Naruto as Tenkaichi flungs out of his right hand, flipping through the air and over the edge of the roof, falling to the ground below. The boy recovered his footing and heard a distinct clang from the ground before he jumped backwards to dodge another swing from his older opponent.

The teenage ninja cursed him-self since he knew that blocking and countering an attack from a massive sword like the Executioner's Blade, he must have a double-handed grip on his sword unless he was in Sage Mode or his opponent was physically weaker than him, then that's a complete different story.

"Okay then. Let's make this fight even, shall we?" thought Naruto as he quickly Shunshined in front of Zabuza, briefly shocking the latter before connecting an hard uppercut to the man's chin which sent him flying up in the air. Naruto Shunshined once more and appeared in front of the dazed Zabuza and kicked the latter's wrist hard, forcing his opponent to let go of his sword.

As Zabuza briefly watched his sword fall to the roof below them, Naruto launched a right punch and a left punch to his opponent's face, followed with a few inside punches to the stomach before kicking him in the chin that resulted in Zabuza being sent higher into the air. The young Uzumaki Shunshined again, this time above the ascending the Hidden Mist ninja and hammer fist punched him, sending his opponent hurtling down.

Zabuza cursed him-self for letting his guard down for a moment as he falls down rapidly to the upcoming roof before regaining his composure and landed by crouching, causing spider-cracks around him. He quickly looked up to see Naruto Shunshined right above him with a blue swirling sphere in his right hand and his eyes widen when he felt the power emanating within it.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he thrusts his signature jutsu at his opponent.

Zabuza quickly Shunshined from his spot, narrowly dodging the air assault from the boy. The technique made contact with the roof and shook the roof while kicking up a dust cloud, causing Zabuza to cover his eyes from the destructive force of Naruto's jutsu when he reappeared several meters away in the cloud.

The dust cloud blinded Zabuza's sight of the boy while pondering about the latter's current display of the strange and powerful chakra sphere.

"He didn't have that technique the last time we met. Not to mention about his incredible strength in his attacks. He doesn't pull any punches." The Hidden Mist ninja thought before bringing his right arm to block a kick from the young Hidden Leaf ninja who Shunshined in front of him. Zabuza threw a right hook at Naruto who deflected the attack and launched a right hook of his own, but the former blocked it and threw a punch, only for the blonde Uzumaki to deflect it away.

The two shinobi continued their taijutsu battle in the dust cloud that covers their surroundings, not letting one another to penetrate their respective defenses while thinking strategies on defeating each other.

Naruto ducked under a punch and delivered an uppercut to Zabuza, but the latter jumped back to dodge it while the Jinchuriki lost sight of his enemy when he took cover in the dust cloud. Naruto smirked as he channeled his chakra in the air around him and shouted "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The powerful technique blew the dust cloud away from the roof, revealing Naruto standing a few feet away from the huge hole on the roof that resulted by Naruto's Rasengan before and Zabuza standing close to the edge with his sword laying on the ground three feet behind him.

"He made the hole with that chakra sphere? I must be careful and avoid contact with it," thought Zabuza who was facing Naruto's back while making a hand-sign and channeling chakra in his mouth. "Water Style: Liquid Bullet!" He exhaled the powerful jutsu and watched as it made its way to the blonde teenager, but Kami wouldn't allow it.

Naruto quickly spun around while channeling chakra and inhaled air in his mouth. "Wind Style: Air Bullet!" He exhaled the technique in time to counter the incoming attack, causing the two techniques to clash when they made contact. Naruto took advantage of the cover and Shunshined behind Zabuza and launched a roundhouse kick at the latter who managed to duck under it and Shunshined away from him.

"Oh no, you don't," said Naruto as he Shunshined after Zabuza.

The two ninja reappeared close to the hole. Zabuza threw a straight right punch, but Naruto ducked under the attack and tackled the former, causing the two men to roll until they fell into the hole. The two men were free-falling inside the building through the hole while punching and head-butting each other. They continued free-falling until they hit the floor hard and bounced away from each other as well kicking up debris through the room from the contact.

"Oh…okay, that was a little rough," groaned Naruto as he got up from the floor and watched Zabuza as the latter did the same.

The Uzumaki Jinchuriki and the Hidden Mist swordsman glare at each other until they charged at each other and cocked their respective right arms, then released them when they got into close range of each other. The force of the clash shattered the glass windows in the level and pushed back the two superhuman warriors from each other.

The former mercenary glared at the younger ninja who returned the same look at him. Both ninja formed a hand-sign and called forth their respective elemental techniques.

"Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" Gallons of water from the coolers and pipes burst from the floor and walls around them before it surrounded Zabuza and formed into a waterfall.

Naruto inhaled in the amount of chakra and wind inside his mouth for his jutsu to emerge victorious for the upcoming clash between elemental attacks. "Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

The warriors released their attacks at each other. The two powerful air and water techniques clashed together with equal force, which was Naruto had expected to happen at first. What he didn't expect was the force from the powerful Pressure Damage pushed both him and Zabuza out of the room in opposite directions through the windows.

Naruto grunted when he collided on the wall of an adjacent building, creating a body-outline crater. The Uzumaki male managed to free him-self from the crater and landed on the ground level as his breathing got a little bit heavy than before. "Okay, that was more than I expected." He took a couple steps forward when he heard groaning around him.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" groaned Naruto as he looked around to see him-self surrounded by walkers. The boy assumed that the noise and shockwave of the battle must've attracted them to their location. "It can't be helped for these guys." Naruto sighed as he formed a hand-sign and channeled his chakra around him, "Wind Style: Air Bullets!" The blonde Jinchuriki formed multiple air bullets and shot them at the walkers with great speed, tearing them apart while unwittingly putting holes into the walls of a few adjacent buildings.

Naruto sweat-dropped at the result, "Was that too much?" His answer was the building in front of him collapsing and turning into dust and debris. The sweat-drop on the blonde sage's head got bigger, "Yep, it was too much."

The boy figured that the air bullets tore apart the support beams of the building, but felt relieved there wasn't a living person inside of it. He took a couple more steps forward when he heard a familiar voice across from him.

"My, my, Naruto. I thought you have control over your power," said Zabuza as he walked out of the dust cloud on top of the rubble.

Naruto smirked, "I do have control of my strength. Just I didn't intend for the building to collapse on it-" He ducked a fast punch and rolled to the left before leaping backwards, putting a distance between him and Zabuza. "self."

A sudden silence descended upon the two shinobi as a quiet wind pushed against their solid bodies.

Ignoring the cold feeling over their bodies, Zabuza quickly ran through fast hand-signs and finally finished with one hand-sign. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" The ground creaked below the ninja before limitless gallons of water broke through the ground and formed into a dragon. Zabuza made a gesture and the water dragon charged at its motionless target.

Naruto stood there and took a deep breath before countering the incoming attack. "Leaf Dragon God!" He initiated a right spin kick with great speed, forming a tornado around him before the tornado turned into a dragon with whiskers and charged at the opposing element dragon. The two techniques collided, crushing the nearby cars and shattering the windows with the impact force.

The stalemate lasted for a moment before Naruto's attack broke through the water dragon and headed straight to the Hidden Mist ninja. Zabuza saw the dragon opened its mouth as if it's attempting to swallow him and Shunshined out of its trajectory. The wind dragon continued its way on the parallel street, destroying everything in its paths from the rapid speed of the tornado until it crashed into a building on a T-intersection, destroying a good portion of it.

After his enemy reappeared via Body Flicker Technique, Naruto saw Zabuza's left pant leg torn and the leg was covered with lacerations from contact with his latest technique. "Zabuza, I just got to ask you this; why?" The boy received a raised brow from the older ninja. "Why are you serving the Ten Tails? Didn't you want to rest in the afterlife with Haku?" This question had been nagging the Uzumaki since the moment he laid eyes on the revived assassin and knew that this moment was as good as it gets.

"…Because I had no choice," replied Zabuza after a few moments. He took a deep breath before he continued, "The Ten Tails revived me and said if I don't do his bidding, he would forbid my soul and Haku's from resting in the afterlife indefinitely. He also said that he needed my specific skills to retrieve four specific objects located in other worlds."

Zabuza saw the shocked look on Naruto's face. "I see you know what I'm talking about. But before he sent me, the Ten Tails had already sent one of his followers to this world and found out that you defeated him."

Naruto was surprised that the Ten Tails knows he's alive and his strength which brought the question; is he being watched right now? He'll have a discussion about that with his partner after the battle. After taking a step forward, Naruto glanced at a car next to him where he saw a familiar sword stabbed into the driver's seat.

"Tenkaichi! Oh, am I glad to have found you!" thought Naruto as he grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled it out of the car. He inspected the blade for any strains or signs of stress, tear, wear or bending, but found none so far. The boy also inspected the hole in the car roof and the seat. "Boy, Shikaku was right. The sword really is durable and strong." Naruto was brought from his thinking when Zabuza cleared his throat and he looked at the latter.

"That's an impressive sword you possess, Uzumaki. I've been admiring it since I laid my eyes on it"

"Thanks. I named it Tenkaichi."

Zabuza nodded his head, "Interesting name for a sword." The mercenary cleared his throat before he continued. "As I was trying to say; after seeing you effortlessly beat Mizuki, the Ten Tails decided to train me for one day."

"What?!" asked a shocked Naruto.

"Yes, for one day. That one day… was the most excruciating and exhausting training I had ever done in my life and when the day was done, the Ten Tails told me to repeat the training regiment until he said enough, so I did…for two months. I've never felt so strong before and it shows that I can fight evenly against you now."

"And despite that we're enemies, I congratulate you on that, Zabuza. Al-"

"However, after seeing how this fight is dragging on longer than I expected and your strength and power supersedes my own by a bit…you've forced my hand to use this," claimed Zabuza as a familiar black flame-like aura appeared around his body, surprising the blonde teen.

"ZABUZA, WAIT!" Those words reached nowhere as Naruto covered his eyes with his free arm from the sudden eruption of chakra and the kick-up of dust and debris. The glass windows of the buildings along the street shattered from the incredible force and the cars flew away from the exploding force of the menacing chakra.

Naruto coughed a couple of times to rid any dust in his mouth as he puts his sword arm and free arm by his sides. He stayed on heavy alert as the wind blew away the dust, revealing his enemy cloaked in the menacing and dark chakra. The boy knows this battle had gotten hard for him to be victorious, but he stood his ground as Zabuza stood there with the dark chakra aura surrounding him. "There's something different with the chakra. It feels…stronger than when I fought Mizuki."

Sudden Zabuza stretched out his right arm that was pointing at the collapsed building, shocking the blonde ninja. A blur burst from the rubble and placed it-self in the Hidden Mist ninja's hand. It was none other than the swordsman's signature weapon; the Executioner's Blade.

Naruto assumed a Kenjutsu stance, holding Tenkaichi with two hands diagonally as he stares at his opponent before the latter suddenly disappeared from existence. His eyes widen in surprise as he blocked the reappeared Zabuza's upward slash…a very strong slash. The Uzumaki male was sent hurtling through the sky and crashed hard through the building that was behind him, causing a big hole in the process and kicking debris on the level he's currently on.

"…Oh, that hurts a lot." Naruto groaned as he lifted him-self from the ground. He slowly walked to the newly created hole and looked down to see Zabuza with his blade by his side, standing in the spot where he was.

After a moment, Zabuza leapt towards Naruto with Executioner's Blade in motion. The Toad Sage held Tenkaichi with two hands, ready to block the attack again, despite of the recent result.

A shockwave and dust cloud occurred from the contact between the two blades, shaking the building to its core and the surrounding buildings in the area.

-With the Group of Survivors-

Takashi cleared a lump in his throat as he and his group stood watch in a semi-circle around the survivors while Souichiro and his men were trying to force open the doors of the warehouse with crowbars since using their guns is out of the question. They had finally made it to the port after clearing the obstacles in the streets and the ports' doors. They then made their way to the doors of the warehouse of the Takagis' reserved spot and where their ticket to safety is awaiting for them on the other side of the door.

Then the group of survivors felt a powerful surge within the city and felt very demonic followed by a shockwave and tremor. As for Takashi and his friends, the feeling was very familiar. They felt the same energy two days before, when Naruto was fighting his old enemy. Some of them feared the blonde ninja would lose, but they pushed those thoughts aside and hoped for his victory and safe return to them.

"Come on, guys. What's taking so long?" asked an impatient Kotha while looking through his rifle's scope, trying to refocus the men's attention on the doors.

Souichiro looked at him. "Since the keypad to open the doors shorted out along with everything else in the city, so we have to open them manually. If you don't like how they do things; why don't you help them instead of complaining?"

"No thanks."

"Come on, guys. We got to keep quiet while you get the doors open," said Takashi as he stood watch. With that, Souichiro and his men continued working on opening the doors for their survival.

"Hey, Takashi," the leader turned his head to the marksman of the group, "How are we are going to get the boats starting? I mean—everything that is electrical is knocked out throughout the city," pointed out Hirano.

Takashi blinked until realization hits him. How were they going to start to vehicles since almost everything in the world was run by technology and no one knows how to jump-start a boat. A car, yes. A boat, no.

"That's easy," said Saya next to the duo, startling them a little. "There are two reasons the boats will start; the first one is that the warehouse is made of the same metal like the space satellites. An EMP is most likely to have knocked out the electricity around the city, but the warehouse will protect everything inside, including the boats." She received nods from the dumbfounded males and continued, "The second reason is that boats are not on gas or oil. They all have a solar battery and solar panels equipped on them, meaning they only need the sunlight from Sun."

"Wow, let me just say that I'm glad you're my friend, Saya," said Takashi with Hirano nodding in agreement. The girl nodded back at them and the trio resumed their duty as they waited for Souichiro and his men to open the doors.

Seconds turned into minutes and the minutes felt hours as the survivors and Takashi's group waited for the soldiers to open and the waiting paid off as they heard a clang. They all turned around to see the soldiers push open the slide doors and inside are their salvation; the boats. The soldiers and Souichiro ushered the survivors inside and not to make any noise.

Takashi was about to enter the building since he was the last one when he heard a distinct growl. He turned around to the origin of the growl and walked forward, gaining a little distance from the warehouse. This caught the attention of Souichiro and Hirano.

"Takashi/Komuro!" The survivors and Takashi's group members heard the shouting and looked at the lone teenager.

"Wait, I heard something. Just listen," said Takashi. Everyone stayed quiet for a few moments and as those moments passed, no growl was heard of again. Takashi sighed and rolled his hair with his left hand, "It must have been nothing." He turned around and took a few steps forward when he heard a growl, causing him to stop since it sounded closer…a lot closer. "Do I dare to turn around?"

Takashi fully turned around and was appalled by the sight of creature before him. It was a German Shepard dog with blood-stains around certain parts on its fur, baring it yellow and red teeth, but the most distinguishing feature is the white shot eyes.

The Komuro teenager took a step backwards and the dog took a step forward, licking its mouth with its tongue as if he found a good meal to last him for a while.

"What's wrong with its eyes? Saya?" asked Shizuka clutching Alice in her arms and Zeke close to her legs while growling at the Shepard.

The pink hair genius fixed her glasses and replied, "With the chaos that's happened these last few days, the dog must've been feeding on the flesh of the walkers. By the way that it's looking at Takashi, it's most likely that it got infected and now it craves for human flesh like the walkers."

"Great, just what we needed; zombified dogs," replied Hirano pointing his rifle at the dog.

"What can we do?" asked Rei obviously concerned for her childhood friend.

Saya put her hand on her chin, thinking for a solution. "Well, we could shoot it, but we risk attracting the other walkers with the sound or…

"Or?"

"Or Takashi should just run for it."

After a few minutes, the group came to unanimous decision. "RUN TAKASHI!"

"No need to tell me twice!" shouted Takashi as he turned tail and ran for the warehouse with the dog gave chase after him.

One of men lifted his weapon and prepared to fire, but was stopped by Souichiro. "Hold your fire! We can't risk attracting the walkers. Men, close the doors!"

Takashi's eyes widen when he heard Souichiro's order and pushed him-self to run even faster. Each step he took, the boy hears the dog barking behind him and saw the doors closing along with his friends and mother telling him to go faster. He was a few feet and dived inside the warehouse in time as the doors shut closed, blocking the dog's path.

"Takashi!" cried Myra as she ran toward her son. The mother dropped to her knees when she got closer and wrapped her arms tightly around her son, crying on his shoulders after almost losing him.

Takashi hugged his mother back after closely losing his life from a zombified dog. After a few moments, he let go of his mother and got up from the ground and helped Myra to her feet. "Sorry about that, Mom. I'll be more careful next time."

"You should be," replied Rei with a scowl look. Takashi sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with his left hand in response.

Souichiro stepped forward after helping his men secure the doors and windows to prevent the new threat coming in from outside. "Next time, don't stray far from the group. Understand?"

"Yes sir." Takashi deadpanned.

"Ah! Here we are," said Yuriko pressing a button on a console. A moment later, lights burst into life inside the warehouse. The large group covered their eyes from the sudden light and took a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the brightness. Everyone's eyes widen in surprise before smiles and happiness took over them since their tickets are right in front of them; the boats floating on the water.

There are many styles of boats; yachts, speedboats, party boats, etc. However three boats stood out from the rest; they were white, had black/blue plates on the back on the rear and lastly, they were bigger than the others.

Takashi recognized the panels. "So those are the boats that Saya mentioned. I hope they work like she said."

"Everyone!" The group turned their attention to the origin of the voice. They found Souichiro standing in front of large supplies of food and water. "Grab all the boxes and carry them onto these boats. We'll separate into three groups of 12.

"Wait, why can't we use the other boats? Why those three?" asked a survivor.

"Because-" Everybody turned to Saya's direction. "These specific boats are run by solar energy. As I told my friends recently, the boats have solar batteries that the engines are powered up by. The solar batteries can store and reuse solar energy from the sun. Also, these boats are very durable out in ocean and in case we don't find an inhabitable island."

Souichiro and everyone nodded in agreement. "We leave in 5 minutes!" With that, everyone scrambled and helped getting their vehicles ready for a journey across sea.

Rei was helping Shizuka and Saeko move a bag of food to one of the boats when one of them suddenly stopped. "Saeko, what are you-"She saw the purple hair female looking out at one of the upper windows and knew who she was worried about.

"Saeko." The female swordsman looked at Rei. "He'll be fine. He is a superhuman ninja who came from another dimension. He can take care of him-self." The spear martial artist received a small smile from her friend, causing her-self and Shizuka to smile as well. They continued to moving and readying the ships to set sail.

Five minutes later, the group had finished readying the three boats. The assigned groups were on their respective boats with three of Souichiro's men being at the helm on each boat. They started the boats, much to the overall group's happiness, and made their way out of the warehouse and the port.

With Takashi's group on their boat, they were beyond happy to be finally away from the city of the undead, but one person was on their minds. Takashi, Rei, Shizuka, Saeko, Alice, Saya, Asami, Kotha, Zeke, Myra and Rei's parents were standing on the boat's deck while the rest of other survivors are inside. They were gazing at the city with deep concern for their ninja friend, especially Saeko.

After a few moments of silence, Kotha broke the silence among them. "So do you guys think Naruto won by now?" His question was about to be answered.

"GUYS, LOOK!" Tadashi pointed up in the cloud-filled sky, causing the teens and adults of Komuro's group on the boat to look up in the sky to see a blur smashed into the ocean several meters away from them. The blur caused big waves that shook the three boats when it reached them, causing the passengers to scream when they all lost their balance.

The marksman groaned and shook his head to regain his senses. "What was that?!" demanded Kotha before he regained his footing and stood on the deck with everyone else recovered their balance moments later.

"I don't know. Let's find out," said Takashi as he walked to the edge of the boat along with his friends to see what caused the waves. The Komuro teenager looked at the rest of the survivors on the other boats and saw they were all right, considering that their sea transports almost capsized on them.

"Guys, I think there is something in the water." Saeko pointed as she directed everyone's point of view at the object in the water. The purple hair swordswoman then looked at Kotha and said "Kotha, can you use your rifle scope and tell who or what that was?"

Kotha nodded in response and adjusted the settings of his scope before he looked through it. A few moments later, he started to tremble and stuttering nonsense from his mouth while looking through the scope and this didn't go unnoticed by everyone, especially his friends.

"Kotha. Kotha." Takashi said to his friend, knocking the latter out from his brief petrified state. "Kotha, what did you see out there?" He received no response from the marksman. "Kotha!"

Silence took over the boat as everybody waited for the chubby teenager to tell them what was that almost capsized their safe haven of transportation. After a few more moments, Kotha broke the silence and hesitantly told them. "I-it was n-not an o-object. It was a p-person."

"Was it that Zabuza guy? If so, that means Naruto won, right?" asked Shizuka with everyone in Takashi's group have happy smiles and Zeke wagging his tail and barked a couple times. However their expressions changed from joy to fear when the marksman shook his head.

Rei was the one who spoke next. "You don't mean-"She couldn't finish the sentence as she and the others realized who it was floating on the ocean surface.

-With Naruto-

"Oh," groaned Naruto as he opened his eyes to see the thunderclouds still above in the sky. The boy felt water touching his body everywhere and looked around to find him-self floating in the ocean before he channeled chakra to his feet and slowly stood up on the water. "Uh, what happened? Wait a minute…Oh, I remember now," thought Naruto as he panted heavier than earlier and felt his arms stinging.

The Uzumaki male reminisced about Zabuza pushed the young ninja around the city like a rag doll each time the teenager tried to block the mercenary's slashes. Also Naruto couldn't keep up with Zabuza's increased speed with his natural speed, so the former tried to use the Body Flicker Technique to even the odds, but that didn't work even in the slightest.

"Oh, boy…let's fix this real quick," said Naruto as he popped his joints to relieve them of the tension and strain. "Oh yeah, that's much better." The blonde Uzumaki silently thanked to his improved durability he received from the Six Paths' training, since he was tossed through several buildings and cars before crash-landing in the ocean and his torn attire is proof of that. His uniform was missing his entire left sleeve and his right forearm portion along with the flak jacket now opened in the middle since the zipper was gone.

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when his senses went off and jumped backwards to barely dodge a thrust from a reappeared chakra-covered Zabuza and his terrifying Executioner's Blade. Naruto landed a few yards away from his opponent and held Tenkaichi with two hands before charging at the Hidden Mist ninja and swung a horizontal slash at the latter.

Zabuza blocked the strike with little effort and pushed Naruto back before disappearing and reappearing behind the young ninja for a horizontal slash, but the Uzumaki male quickly spun around for block it, only to be pushed back by the tremendous force behind the slash. Naruto was sent skidding backwards to the city, specifically the harbor part of the city.

"Damn it! All of his strikes are too strong for me to block or counter." Naruto said after managing to stop him-self skidding any further. "Finally someone else, other than Kurama, has pushed me enough to use it." The blonde Jinchuriki chuckled as he was about to set the technique into motion, but his unique sixth sense alerted him of killing intent from above in the sky and looked up to see Zabuza with his sword next to his side, indicating that he's going for a horizontal slash.

"Perfect! I can launch an attack from here or…" Naruto quickly sheathed Tenkaichi on his back and formed a familiar cross-seal, creating two identical Naruto clones beside him. "…Three attacks for that matter." The two clones underwent a series of hand-signs while the original prepared his right leg for his technique. Soon the clones finished their respective sequences of hand-signs and looked at their creator who nodded at them.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" shouted Clone #1 as the water around the clone burst before shaping into a giant dragon and launched itself to its target.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" shouted Clone #2 as he puffed out his cheeks and exhaled a dragon head-shaped fireball from his mouth.

"Leaf Dragon God!" shouted Original Naruto as he spins around rapidly with an upward kick, initiating the destructive and powerful dragon-like tornado attack once again.

The two ninjutsu and taijutsu techniques roared as they charged at the airborne ninja, seemingly at a disadvantage. Zabuza said nothing as his sword was suddenly covered with the black and sinister chakra before swinging his blade and launching a big black chakra wave towards the three techniques before disappearing from his current position.

The chakra wave cut through the three attacks like nothing, shocking the blonde Uzumaki and his clones as the black chakra wave dispelled their techniques and now approaches them with frightening speed. Naruto Shunshined away from the attack's trajectory and reappeared 10 yards away in time to see his clones was not as fortunate as him when they got caught in the blast.

"He countered three very powerful attacks with just a chakra wave. Is this how far the Ten Tails' chakra increased Zabuza's power?" thought Naruto to him-self as he redrew Tenkaichi with his sword arm while looking for his opponent.

"Looking for someone?" Naruto's eyes widen as a big water sphere formed around him. The blonde ninja tried to move his arms and legs, but the sphere slowed down his movements because the water is so dense with chakra infused with it. Despite of this, Naruto managed to turn around to see Zabuza with his free arm stretched out…standing 5 yards from him. "Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu." Zabuza said simply as he put his left arm to his side before starting walking over to his younger opponent.

"So this is what a Water Style master is capable of. Although his water elemental skill pales in comparison with the Second Hokage's," thought Naruto as he tries to swing his black sword, but the water sphere was still slowing his movements. The boy then noticed that the sphere has a black outline around it and it was the same color as the Ten Tails' chakra.

"What? I can't move!" thought Naruto gritting his teeth when he tried to move again, but this time to no avail.

Naruto could do nothing inside the water prison as he helplessly watched his enemy approach him with each step until the former was standing a few inches away from the sphere. Zabuza stopped in front of the trapped teenage ninja and held his Executioner's Blade with two hands across his body to his left before swinging it to decapitate the latter or so he wanted his opponent to think that.

With a twist of his hands, Zabuza instead struck the sphere with the flat side of his large sword, sending the boy flying across the sea towards the buildings on the shore, but the Hidden Mist ninja wasn't finished with his young opponent as he disappeared with his increased speed. He appeared in front in front of the entrapped Naruto and struck him with the flat side of the sword again, this time to the sky above.

Then, Zabuza reappeared on top of the water sphere and struck it again towards the ground before disappearing and reappearing on the ocean surface once more and attacked it with a strong spinning kick.

The blonde Uzumaki grunted in pain as he was sent hurtling through the air. He managed to sneak a glance over his shoulder to see a warehouse-like building on the harbor and waited for the inevitable pain that is about to come. The water sphere, that contained the Leaf Shinobi, crashed through the building's wall. The building crumbled and collapsed into rubble and debris due to the damage to the supporting structures.

Zabuza appeared on the port with his sword in hand as he stood 20 yards away from the large rubble of the warehouse. "How disappointing you turned to be after all, Naruto." Zabuza said while wielding the Executioner's Blade over his head with two hands. "This attack should end our battle." The Hidden Mist ninja then swung his sword that unleashed a vertical chakra wave towards the rubble.

Victory was seemingly at Zabuza's grasp when a sudden explosion and smoke erupted from the rubble and out came a vertical and equal sized blue crescent-like chakra wave that collided with the black chakra wave. A huge explosion occurred as a result, causing Zabuza to cover his eyes with his sword from the smoke as well braced him-self for the shockwave that caused waves in the ocean.

"This battle…" Zabuza's eyes widen as he put his blade down while the smoke cleared and revealed a standing Naruto. That's when Zabuza noticed a change or changes with the Uzumaki jinchuriki as his eyes took on an orange pigmentation around them and toad-like pupils with yellow irises that replaced the blue eyes before. "…is not over yet." Naruto stated calmly as he stood in a newly created spider-webbed crater with Tenkaichi held in his sword arm. Rain started pouring from the skies above once more with thunder booming and lightning flashing across the clouds as if nature was responding to the boy's transformation.

"His chakra…it's different than before," thought Zabuza as he stares at the transformed Naruto, "It's huge and more powerful than before. Not to mention that his attention had changed as well. I should be cautious…No, I have him on the ropes and I should not let up now!" With that last word, Zabuza disappeared from the boy's sight.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he sensed chakra behind him. Spinning around, Naruto simply parried Zabuza's slash to the left side and in that direction a building's roof was completely leveled by the redirected slash. The two shinobi jumped away from each other, putting some distance between them.

"Impressive block," Zabuza complimented as he suppressed his surprise. "Before this… transformation, you couldn't parry, let alone block any of my strikes. This will, most likely, make up for your earlier performance." He silently grew irritated when Naruto didn't reply as the latter just stood there with a nonchalant look on his face like he didn't care about this battle or his life at all. "Let's see how you handle this," Zabuza formed a single hand-sign with his free arm.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" The water dragon formed around the ninja. Like the Water Prison Jutsu, the dragon had a black color outline around its form. The dragon then charged at the blonde shinobi who stood there with no sign of defending him-self. As the water dragon got closer, Naruto suddenly pointed Tenkaichi's blade at it, causing the water the technique to fork around him and therefore inflicting no damage.

When the technique ended, Naruto saw a shocked Zabuza with the latter gazing at the Sage's calm and nonchalant face. The veteran ninja then initiated another, but a wordless and faster Water Dragon at the blonde ninja.

Naruto simply put his left arm up and cocked it with an open hand. He waited for the dragon to get closer to him and when it did, the Uzumaki released his punch while whispering, "Frog Strike." The strike slammed on the dragon's head as it sent ripples of natural energy through the dragon's entire form before it dissipated.

Zabuza was again shocked by the boy's new power and couldn't stifle the anger expression on his face, so he decided to do what he does best; he charged at the blonde for a barrage of slashes.

Naruto parried, blocked and countered each of the Zabuza's slashes with ease while leveling the ground below with craters and surrounding buildings. "We've only begun our true battle!" An angry Zabuza shouted as he swung his sword for another strike, only for Naruto to disappear with his Sage Mode enhanced speed. The blonde Jinchuriki reappeared on the close to the edge of the port floor while looking for his opponent.

"You won't escape with that kind of speed!" Naruto turned around to find Zabuza descending in the air towards him with his sword in overhead motion before the Leaf Toad Sage jumped back to dodge the slash, causing the Hidden Mist ninja to kick up a big dust cloud when he struck the spot.

The Uzumaki Sage landed on the ground and narrowed his eyes when he sensed chakra from behind. Spinning around, Naruto blocked another of Zabuza's strikes that led into a sword-lock, causing a shockwave to blow away the dust from them. "Interesting," said Zabuza after he managed to calmed him-self from his anger before continuing, "Each time our blades clashed against each other, I was expecting your sword to break, especially since I've powered up." The former Mist ninja inspected the black sword wielded by Naruto. "Is there something else about your sword that only you know about?" A evil smirk appeared on the Mist swordsman's conceled face.

"What's so funny?" asked Naruto as he pushed against Zabuza in the sword lock before the latter started to push back, leading into a stalemate between the two superpowers.

Zabuza then replied, "Just that I can break your sword anytime I wanted. Like that warehouse's roof that was leveled by my sword, I can easily break your blade if I wish it so." The Mist swordsman broke the sword lock and charged for another swing while Naruto stood there with Tenkaichi by his side. Zabuza thought the boy was a fool to let his defense as the Executioner's Blade gets closer to the Jinchuriki, but that's when he was wrong.

Naruto simply lifted his left hand from his side and grabbed the blade, shocking Zabuza of this action. The ground behind Naruto crumbled and cracked from the exerted force of the swing before a stunned Zabuza retracted his sword from the former's hand and quickly jumped back 15 yards away.

"H-how? How's that possible?" asked Zabuza to himself. He expected the boy to dodge and block with his sword, but to actually block the attack with his bare hand.

Naruto calmy replied, "You still haven't figured it out, Zabuza?" The boy started walking towards the still shocked swordsman. "The swing that destroyed the building earlier…that was my sword." Zabuza's eyes widen at this new revelation. "Let's go, Zabuza." Naruto leaped towards his stunned opponent and swung Tenkaichi at the latter, spouting blood from him and injuring him as a result.

"Gah!" Zabuza exclaimed before regaining his composure and disappeared to put some distance between him and his young opponent. The Hidden Mist swordsman reappeared on Naruto's left side, standing 20 yards away from the latter before the former inspected the new wound he received on his chest. The slash was deep and started from the middle of his upper torso and ended at the right shoulder with blood spouting from it.

"Why?" Zabuza looked up from his wound to gaze at Naruto. "Why did you get away from me? Was it because… you finally realized that you can't beat me now?" That sounded more like a statement instead of a question.

The swordsman's blood boiled once more when the boy simply stated the former was weak and won't be able to land a strike on him from now. "You…" Zabuza spoke angrily again, "Are you proud of yourself to block my swing? To injured me with your sword? While in my powered up state?" He gripped his sword's hilt with two hands so tightly that blood was about to leak out. "You're dead!" With that, Zabuza charged at the blonde who held Tenkaichi up with his sword arm like he has been doing since he entered Sage Mode.

-10 Minutes Later-

Naruto still stands in the same spot with Tenkaichi's Uzumaki symbol dangling in the wind. During the past ten minutes, he blocked, parried and countered each of the Zabuza's strikes without being moved at all, despite of the Executioner's Blade's large size while tiring out the older swordsman with each action.

With swift action, Naruto brought Tenkaichi with its blade down to his right and blocked another horizontal slash from an angry Zabuza before the young Sage pushed back the older ninja away from him.

Zabuza panted very heavy with short breaths coming in and out as he glares at his young opponent before he charged him again while shouting, "Take me seriously!"

Naruto looked to his right before turning his body to the same direction and waited as his opponent got closer to him with double-gripped Executioner's Blade, intending to pierce through the heart. As his opponent got within range, very close range, Naruto swiftly sidestepped the thrust attack and swung Tenkaichi at the now frightened Zabuza who realized his mistake too late.

Blood spurted on the ground around Zabuza while Naruto was behind the latter, their backs facing each other with their respective swords in hand. After a moment or two, Zabuza dropped his sword before his forearms fell off with the latter falling forward before revealing his body been severed into two halves.

Naruto then turned his body around and walked until he stopped in front of the gasping Zabuza and crouched down. The Senjustu master looked down at the swordsman who gazed up at the former who had regret in his toad eyes. "I'm sorry that it came to this, Zabuza."

Zabuza coughed out blood. "I-it's n-not your f-f-fault. It w-was that de-demon. T-that cursed T-Ten Tails." He looked at the blonde with determination. "I-I hope t-that you s-succeed i-in your m-mission." The older ninja coughed out more blood than before, letting him know that his time is almost up. "B-beware, Naruto. He w-will kkeep sending o-others for y-you and the keys. Others w-who a-are your friends that you m-made over the y-years." With that, the Demon of the Hidden Mist's head went limb and ceased breathing as life was extinguished from him.

Naruto sighed heavy as his dead opponent turned to dust before his very eyes. He looked at the Executioner's Blade before it disappeared like its master before the young Uzumaki stood up from his crouching position. "Well, I guess I should head back to the others and let them know that I'm okay," said Naruto as he deactivated Sage Mode before the latter started to pant heavy again from the exhaustion that came with the Senjutsu art. "Okay, is there anything that I'm forgetting, Kurama?" He received no answer from his Tailed Beast partner, which caused a raised eyebrow.

"Kurama?"

"…"

"Kurama?"

"…"

"Hello! Kurama, are you there?!"

"…ZZZZ…"

A big sweat-drop appeared on Naruto's head. "Seriously?! He's been asleep this entire time?! Why that unbelievable fox-" The Jinchuriki took a couple of deep breaths to calm him-self. "Oh, well. I'll talk to him about my battle later on." After saying that last word, Naruto sensed his friends' chakra while he flicked his sword to get the blood off and sheathed Tenkaichi in its scabbard on his back. The blonde Uzumaki suppressed his chakra level before the latter Shunshined to the boats.

-With The Others-On The Boats-

Saeko had her hands over her well-endowed chest as she gazes at the smoking area where her secret crush was fighting for his life. They didn't know what was happening since a shockwave from the battle shook the boat again and this time, it broke Kotha's rifle scope when the latter harshly dropped it on the deck.

When the fighting died out, she assumed the worst and closed her eyes while praying for the shinobi's return. She felt several presences standing near, so she opened her eyes to find Takashi and his mom, Kotha, Shizuka, Alice who carries Zeke on her right side and looked to her left to find Rei and her parents, Saya and Mei gazing at the battle scene. The swordswoman couldn't help but smile for the support of her friends.

The group continued to gaze at the destroyed harbor until a familiar blonde teenager flickered into existence behind them. The boy stood behind them for a few minutes until Kotha glanced over his left shoulder.

"What's up, Naruto?" asked Kotha to Naruto.

"Nothing much. What are we watching?"

"Just waiting for your return."

"Cool, cool, cool."

Kotha and Naruto faced forward as the rain continued to pour down from the clouds in the sky. Realization hit everyone and they turned around to a smirking Naruto.

"NARUTO!" shouted Takashi's group.

"That's my name." Naruto replied before he was pulled into a group hug with his friends and Zeke wagged his tail happily. They didn't let go of him for several moments until he begged for oxygen and complained about his injuries. "How are you everyone?"

"We're okay. But we were really worried about you, man. We thought you were dead when you crashed into the ocean," replied Kotha

Naruto chuckled at this as the rain stopped once again. "Come on, I'm the Hero of the Hidden Leaf. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to rest right now." The boy took a seat on the deck and laid down on it to let his aching body to relax from a good fight. Naruto then closed his eyes as sleep took hold over him.

Saeko and the others smiled at the sleeping boy as they silently thanked him for saving and protecting them. They observed Naruto's torn attire and noticed blood on his left cheek before exhaustion took over their bodies, so they laid down the floor with Saeko lying next to the shinobi, causing her to smile before she closed her eyes and let sleep take over.

(Naruto Universe)

-The Island-

"Well, that was a disappointment. I hoped that he would defeat the boy, but it turns out that he is strong. Really strong." The Ten Tails said as he looked through Zabuza's memory, specifically the latter's fight with Naruto. The demon flicked his right claw and ten figures appeared in front of their master with their heads down, causing the towering figure to chortle. "However, those two were just experiments. I want to see that Uzumaki brat handle those who can really use my chakra." With that last word, the Ten Tails chuckled a bit before he started laughing manically with the echo booming across the island and to the main land.