Naruto In The Apocalypse

Chapter 18

Zetsu sighed harshly as he and Tobi walked through the forest, trying to find any sign of the others. So far their search wasn't going as well as he had hoped it would. He looked around the forest floor for any footprints and stopped suddenly when he noticed them. His sudden stop caused Tobi to walk into him, bumping him lightly.

"What is it, mister Zetsu?" Tobi asked curiously.

"Over here, there's about, six pairs of footprints," Zetsu said as he cautiously walked closer to them, kneeling down next to them. He noticed a wet spot in front of a pair and touched it, bringing his fingers up to his face so he could inspect them. He definitely wasn't expecting it to be blood.

"Come on, Tobi," Zetsu said gently as he stood, motioning for Tobi to follow after him. Slowly, they started following after the sets of footprints. Zetsu was concerned, they're search had taken up most of the day and it was nearing sundown, if they didn't hurry and find the others, they might be in a lot of trouble.

The footprints led them to the edge of an abandoned road, then stopped all together. Zetsu sighed again, looking around for any sign in which direction they should be going. He noticed a few droplets of blood to the right of him, indicating that they should go in that direction.

Zetsu took Tobi's hand and started walking at a fast pace, noticing a few zombies in the opposite direction. As they were walking they stumbled upon an abandoned car, Zetsu immediately noticed a small puddle of blood near the car, as if the person who was bleeding had rested against it.

"Now what?" Zetsu asked quietly to himself.
"Mister Zetsu?"
"The trail stops here, where do we go?"
"Mister Zetsu?" Tobi repeated.

"Considering that Itachi is with them, we would have to assume he took charge, therefore leading them to a place to stay for the night, but where?" Zetsu mumbled.

"Mister Zetsu??" Tobi tried again.
"Where would Itachi take them?"
"MISTER ZETSU!" Tobi yelled, finally gaining the other mans attention.
"What is it, Tobi?" Zetsu asked, turning around and facing the smaller boy.

"Mister Zetsu, Tobi thinks he knows where the others went," Tobi explained.
"Where?" Zetsu asked, curious about the boy's answer.
"The college, mister Zetsu," Tobi said.
"But why would they go there?" Zetsu asked.
"This road goes to the college," Tobi explained.

"It's worth a shot, we're not safe here out in the open, if they're not there, we'll just stay for the night," Zetsu stated, turning and glancing over his shoulder, waiting for Tobi to catch up to him so that he could hold the smaller boy's hand. Once the masked teenager was next to him, gripping his hand, they continued down the road.

Gaara groaned, pain stabbing at his chest all the way through to his arm. The sound caused Naruto to sit up, staring expectantly at the redhead. The others were sitting on the edge of Hinata and Sasuke's bed, staring intently at the unconscious boy. Gaara's eyes fluttered open, the first thing he saw was a head of blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes and a wide smile.

"Naruto?" He asked quietly.
"Your finally awake!!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Gaara groaned again as he forced himself to sit upright. Naruto scrambled to grab a few pillows, stuffing them behind the redhead so that he could rest against them.

"How are you feeling?" Itachi asked as he stood, walking over to the dresser where numerous things stood. He grabbed a bottle of pills and water, walking back over towards the others.

"Fine," Gaara mumbled, watching as Itachi opened the pill bottle, shaking it until a few of the pills fell into his palm. He took two, threw the other back and handed the redhead the pills and water.

"It's for the pain," Itachi said, turning back around once the items were taken out of his hands.

"Thank you," Gaara spoke before taking the pills in his mouth and swallowing them away with the water. It was silent as Itachi sat back down. Kisame cleared his throat, drawing the others attention.

"Do you think we should go look for the others?" He asked no one in particular.

"Yes, but we should let Gaara rest first," Itachi answered, closing his eyes. Suddenly, there was a loud bang that broke through the deathly silence, causing everyone to jump.
"What was that?!" Naruto yelled, his heart beating erratically.

"We should go have a look," Kisame said from where he stood in front of everyone, blocking them should anything come storming in. Sasuke nodded and stepped forward, brushing off the worried glances he got from his best friend, crush and brother.

Grabbing a weapon, he and Kisame slowly opened the door, careful not to let it squeak too much. Once out the door, they shut it quietly, carefully making their way down the hall. Shadows danced on the wall at the end of the hall, however, they couldn't quite make out how many there was.

Taking a deep breath, they rounded the corner, weapons ready and about to impale whatever it was, but stopped once a panicked scream echoed through the hall.

"Tobi?!" Sasuke asked in shock.
"Yes! It's Tobi! Don't hurt Tobi, please!" The masked man cried, pleading for his life.
"You scared us!" Kisame hissed, lowering his weapon.

"You scared Tobi!" The man defended.
"Whatever, where is Zetsu?" Sasuke asked, briefly glancing around.
"Tobi doesn't know. Mister Zetsu! Mister Zetsu?!! MISTER ZETSU!!"He screamed, calling for his lover.

"Damn it, Tobi I hear you!" Zetsu roared back, turning a corner.
"Mister Zetsu!" Tobi cheered, running and clutching onto the man.
"Kisame? Sasuke? You're actually here?" Zetsu asked in slight disbelief.

"Yeah, Itachi, Hinata, Naruto and Gaara are here too," Kisame said, a large grin plastered on his face.
"Which one of you is it that got hurt?" Zetsu asked.
"Gaara, but how did you know?" Sasuke questioned.

"There was a small blood trail, it's how we knew where to get you," Zetsu answered.
"Oh, well this way, c'mon," Kisame said, gesturing for the two to follow him.

Once back in the room, Kisame and Sasuke were almost instantly tackled into hugs. Having heard the panicked scream, they had thought that one of the two had gotten hurt, but was relieved to find them in one piece. Once Itachi pulled back from Kisame, he noticed the two that stood in the doorway.

"Tobi, Zetsu, glad to see that you are alright," Itachi spoke.
"Yeah, it took us a while to get here," Zetsu answered, pushing Tobi into the room before stepping inside himself, closing the door.

"Any idea of who survived?" Sasuke asked as he sat back down on a bed.
"We were with Tsunade, Jiraya, Orochimaru and his pet, but some things happened and now they're all dead," Zetsu said as he leaned against the door.

"Granny Tsunade?" Naruto asked, a saddened look taking over his features. It was silent as no one knew what to say anymore. Words of comfort might just do the opposite. They were living in a vicious, relentless world now. There was no time to mourn.