Author's note: We're deviating somewhat again! This is one of the first deviations I came up with when I started thinking about the alternate version

Thanks to the following reviewers: leighd1314; 666snoopy; Gloria (thank you so much for your sweet message!); TheBeauty; Iraheta 127; Richon; KitsuneJen; JaiJayce; Kalos

Warnings: Nothing in particular

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 3

"You mind taking these bags to Naruto-san and Gaara-san?" Father asked, gesturing towards the two bags piled in the corner. "They've been cleared; they can have their weapons back."

Danzo snorted harshly and rested his chin on his folded hands. "I think it's still a bit too early to decide we trust them enough to have their weapons back," he said sharply.

"They have proven themselves trustworthy so far," Father retorted without even glancing at the older man. He looked apologetically at Sasuke. "I would give them back, but I have to stay here to discuss a possible expansion of the compound. Do you mind?"

Extending the place seemed like asking to be overrun by a horde of zombies if you asked Sasuke. He had no idea how the Board wanted to accomplish adding more buildings to the compound when doing so would attract a lot of noise and by extension a lot of those dead fuckers. Well, that was why father was part of the Board and not Sasuke; they would figure something out, he supposed.

"No, it's fine, I'll take the bags to them," Sasuke reassured him and went over to the corner to pick up the bags.

They were packed to the brim with weapons which wasn't a surprise, of course. Anyone wanting to survive on the road for longer than a week would need a lot of weapons to tie themselves over. Naruto and Gaara weren't any exception.

Leaving father to deal with the rest of the Board, Sasuke walked outside, trying to recall where Naruto and Gaara would be at this moment. They weren't outside the walls, of course, but the compound wasn't that small either. Had they been put on field duty? He would check the fields first and if they weren't there, he would have to check the schedule. Worst case, he would have to wait until tonight and visit them at their apartment to return their weapons.

They were indeed at the fields. They appeared to have just finished their work because they were removing their gloves, talking to each other. So far they hadn't been assigned different tasks yet, mainly because some of the Board still wanted to keep an eye on them and it was easier to do so when they were together instead of working on separate tasks.

Gaara was the first one to notice him approaching and the red haired man raised an eyebrow. He touched Naruto's shoulder and the blond turned around, tilting his head as Sasuke drew closer.

"Those are our bags," Naruto observed, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Good eye," Sasuke said dryly and handed them over. "You have been deemed safe enough to have your weapons back."

Naruto eagerly accepted his bag, opening it immediately to grab his machete and dagger, practically cuddling them. "Oh my god, I missed you so much!"

Sasuke snorted at the sight, thumbing the loops of his jeans. "You need some time alone there?"

"Look man, can't help it if I missed my weapons, all right," Naruto said defensively, pouting slightly. He strapped the dagger quickly around his thigh before almost lovingly patting his bag. "These have kept me safe for nearly three years; I felt bloody naked having to walk around without them."

"Well, the Board decided you're safe enough to have them back," Sasuke told him.

Gaara, meanwhile, was riffling through his own bag with a narrowed gaze. He closed it then with a resolute nod. "Good, everything's still in it."

"We weren't planning on stealing anything," Sasuke sighed. "You'll have to start trusting us eventually if you stay here."

"I can defend your arses while still despising you," Gaara retorted and slung his bag over his shoulder. "Don't need any trust for that."

"True, it's like during those school projects where you had to work with people who didn't do shit," Naruto mused aloud. "You could hate their guts for being so fucking worthless but you still did the project with them."

"You might not want to repeat all that near a Board member," Sasuke informed them after a stilted pause. "They might take that the wrong way."

"That would be their issue then." Gaara shrugged.

"Well, good to know we are trusted enough to have our weapons back," Naruto said lightly. He stopped petting his bag and cocked his head to the left, studying Sasuke with slightly narrowed eyes as if he was contemplating something.

"What?" Sasuke eyed him in return, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto's gaze flicked towards Gaara and they seemed to hold a quick, silent conversation before Naruto turned to address Sasuke again.

"Hm, don't know who's in charge of keeping up the wall maintenance," he began and waved lazily at the wall behind Sasuke. His nonchalant act belied the sharpness in his eyes. "But whoever it is, should know that the part of the wall behind the fields? Yeah, that one's ready to croak any day now."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke questioned and frowned. They had enforced all the walls, including the one behind the field. How could it croak? Had that part become damaged somehow without any of them being aware of it?

"Exactly like he said," Gaara said dryly, but his eyes were solemn as well. "Shit's not as sturdy as you'd like it to be."

Naruto beckoned Sasuke to follow them and he did, pressing his lips together. They led him all the way behind the fields, barely sparing Iruka a nod when they passed him. The part of the wall they brought him to was right behind the shed in which they stored all the gardening tools.

"We noticed it last night while we were collecting the tools," Naruto explained and rested his hand against the wall before he brought his ear against it. "Listen."

Gaara crossed his arms, keeping an eye on the rest of the compound.

Quite confused, Sasuke nevertheless stepped closer to the wall and pressed his ear against it; the rough texture scraping his cheek uncomfortably. He picked up the sound almost as soon as his ear was against the wall and he froze; his mouth parting to breathe out quietly.

Naruto was watching him, nodding grimly when he saw realisation flitting across Sasuke's face. "Yeah, they sound a hell of a lot closer here compared to the rest, huh?" he said darkly.

"Not a sound you'll easily forget," Gaara murmured.

It shouldn't be possible to hear them. The walls had been enforced so much, layer after layer after layer, the sounds should be muffled at best, save for the parts closest to the sides of the gates where they couldn't risk enforcing more without damaging the tall gates themselves. Yet with his ear pressed against the wall, he could hear a zombie growling on the other side as if there weren't multiple layers between them. As if the zombie was standing right in front of him. The noise was so loud, sounded so close, Sasuke's hand had already flung behind his back to snatch his katana before he realised there was no immediate danger.

Yet.

"Shit," was his eloquent response.

"Yeah, we figured you might want to know," Gaara smiled humourlessly.

Naruto took a few steps away from the wall. "We wouldn't have really bothered with telling you, but we've both witnessed those suckers taking down entire fucking professional military grade fencing, man. They might be mindless, but if enough of them gather the wall is going to topple like it's made out of paper."

"And it wouldn't take long if enough pile up," Gaara added and pressed his lips together in a thin line.

"Maybe that earthquake of a few months ago messed with the foundation," Sasuke muttered distractedly, staring at the wall. It hadn't been a major earthquake by any means, no real cause for concern back then, but they had definitely felt it at the time. "Shit, we should have checked the walls after that," he said dismayed.

"Nah, no need to blame yourself." Naruto shrugged. "I don't think you'd have noticed anything back then, shit like this degrades over time. I'd say it's not an alarming level yet, but at the same time I wouldn't wait too long anymore either to fix this shit."

"Not unless you want to test your endurance against those fuckers," Gaara snorted without humour.

Sasuke side-eyed the pair. "Thanks for telling me about this."

Naruto shrugged again and linked his hands behind his head. Were it not for the machete plastered firmly to his side and his dagger strapped to his thigh, he would look like he was just relaxing and having a nice chat with friends.

"Mah, the jury's still out on whether we trust you lot, but that doesn't mean we're eager to see this place get overrun by dead fuckers either." He turned around and started walking away; Gaara falling into step with him, a slight limp visible when he stepped. "Now if you'll excuse us, we've got some fish to gut apparently."

"Yeah," Sasuke said distractedly and spun around.

He needed to find Yamato immediately, so they could fix this problem before it could become worse. The last thing they needed was one of their major defences against those dead bastards collapsing because they had reacted too late.

For all that Naruto and Gaara kept mostly to themselves and insisted they weren't sure yet whether they could trust them – which was quite ironic, considering they were the new arrivals and people here had more cause to distrust them than they had reason to distrust them – they actually fitted rather well into their small community.

It wasn't as if Sasuke was specifically keeping an eye on them; that was impossible with his guard shifts, supply runs and helping father oversee any decision that needed to be made. Both Naruto and Gaara were rather hard to ignore, though, once they were in your field of vision. Their bright blond and red hair made them already difficult to ignore, of course; Naruto's being more unruly, as if he either had just rolled out of bed or had finished running his fingers through it.

While they both did their best to blend in with the shadows, Gaara succeeded more in that than Naruto. Gaara was more subdued; in contrast there was this undeniable energy thrumming around Naruto, pulling everybody in. It certainly had Sasuke gravitating towards him without him even being aware of it; burning curiosity filling him for the man who could joke around like zombies weren't a thing one minute, only to turn as reticent as Gaara the next, putting up walls around him that were even higher than the actual ones surrounding the compound.

This burning curiosity spurred Sasuke on every time he caught a glimpse of Naruto, making him seek out the other man during the brief moments he saw him. Even with the towering high walls Naruto had put up around himself, he was still more approachable than Gaara was. Every time Sasuke talked with Naruto, he was aware of Gaara's heavy gaze on him and he knew that one wrong move would have the red haired man showing just how protective he could truly be. It was somewhat annoying, because it wasn't as if Sasuke had any bad intentions with Naruto; at the same time he could understand the other man. With how long they had been on their own, the overprotectiveness was normal.

"They are fitting in quite well, don't you think?" Itachi commented idly and came to stand next to Sasuke.

"What?" Sasuke was only half focused on the conversation; most of his attention on the maps Karin had brought him. He was back on the roster for a supply run this week and he was attempting to figure out how far to go and most importantly: with whom.

The matter of who would join him normally wouldn't be an issue, because the teams for the runs were decided upon two weeks in advance. This week, however, Kiba had managed to injure himself when checking his own damn traps in the woods and Ino had taken over multiple guard shifts from other people this past week, leaving her unable to join him as well. She had barely been able to remain upright when she had apologised to Sasuke yesterday for having to miss out on the supply run. Her exhaustion would be a complete liability, especially if they needed to go out as far as he feared they would have. They couldn't take that risk, so she couldn't join him.

Shikamaru and Karin were out as well; each of them had their own duties to attend to this week, same for the others. If he couldn't find at least one other person to accompany him soon, the run for this week was veritably fucked. A week without a supply run wouldn't necessarily put them at risk, but they were inching closer and closer into winter and the more supplies they could find, the better off they would be.

"Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun," Itachi spoke, attracting Sasuke's attention at once. "They're fitting in well."

"Already that close with them?" Sasuke snorted at hearing the affectionate suffixes.

"Just as close as you are to them, no?" Itachi said before contemplatively adding, "Well, at least close to Naruto-kun, I guess. Gaara-kun appears a bit more distant."

Sasuke frowned and stared at him. "What the hell are you on about?"

Itachi smiled faintly and placed a hand on his hip. "I couldn't help but notice that you've been talking a lot to them. Well, mainly to Naruto-kun."

"Not that much," Sasuke denied instantly and frowned harder. "Besides, wasn't aware we couldn't talk to them."

"Never said you couldn't," Itachi said calmly. "Just interesting that you're willing to talk to them without it having to be about duties."

"Now you're making it sound like I'm a dick to everyone else," Sasuke sighed and punched his brother half-heartedly in his arm.

"Not a dick," Itachi smiled; his eyes sparkling lightly. "Just not a people person – unless it's Naruto-kun apparently and Gaara-kun. I'm glad you could become friends with them."

"We're not friends," Sasuke sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. It figured that even during a goddamn zombie apocalypse his brother would still be hung up about Sasuke having friends. He always had had shrew priorities for sure. "At best they tolerate me. Pretty sure they still don't trust me even though they've been here for four weeks now."

They definitely weren't going out of their way to really integrate themselves into their community. After their assignments of the day were done, they retreated to their apartment and didn't come out until the following day Sasuke knew from others. They didn't cause any problems, didn't instigate any fights, but they weren't approaching others out of their own volition either.

Itachi hummed contemplatively. "Well, I'd say at least Naruto-kun seems to trust you just fine considering he makes an effort to talk to you."

"Is there a point to this or are you just trying to annoy me because you've got nothing better to do?" Sasuke demanded exasperatedly, barely restraining himself from punching his brother again.

He had to remind himself that he was twenty-one years old and thus too old now to get wound up by his brother's bullshit. But goddamn if Itachi's cryptic bullshitting didn't annoy the hell out of him at times.

Itachi shook his head, finally dropping the topic. Instead he turned towards the maps and studied them intently. "You found someone to back you up yet?"

"No, not yet," Sasuke muttered and grimaced. "Everyone else has their own tasks this week; it's a bitch trying to see who can switch with whom."

"The Board came up with a solution," Itachi said unexpectedly.

Sasuke blinked, taken aback and looked at Itachi. Even though he had just said there was a solution, he didn't exactly look happy about it.

"What's their solution?" he asked slowly, resting a hand on one of the maps.

"Taking Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun with you."

Sasuke waited for the punchline of the joke, but Itachi just stared back at him blankly. He scoffed and crossed his arms, shaking his head. "Are you serious now?"

This had to be a joke. There was no way the Board would allow two newbies to join Sasuke on a supply run so soon. Especially because at least Danzo was still wary about them.

"Yes, I'm serious." Itachi raised an eyebrow. "They decided that they are best suited to join you on the supply run."

"But you don't look happy about it," Sasuke observed, which was rather an understatement. Itachi wasn't scowling or in a foul mood, but neither did he appear really okay with the plan either. "You don't think they are suited for it?"

"It's not that I think they're unsuitable," Itachi denied, shaking his head. "If anything, they might be the best suited considering how long they survived out there. They don't have any fixed jobs inside either and apparently they are rather antsy about getting outside the walls again from what I've heard."

"They want to leave?" For some reason that made Sasuke frown and he darted a glance at the aforementioned men on the other side of the street. They were helping out old Tanaka fold her laundry with Naruto smiling at whatever she was telling them and Gaara offering the occasional nod as a sign he was listening.

It wasn't as if they could force them to stay, at best they could only urge them to keep quiet about their location. Why would they want to leave, though, when this might have been the first time in three years that they didn't have to fear for their lives on a daily basis? Safe places like this one weren't exactly a dime a dozen anymore.

"That, I don't know for certain, because they haven't confirmed it as far as I know. It wouldn't surprise me if they want to go outside again, though," Itachi said pensively. "They are probably feeling rather cooped up after having been on the road for so long. They went from open roads to a walled in compound after all. That takes adjusting. Joining you on the run might be good for them."

"So if you think they are suitable enough, why don't you look happy about the idea?" Sasuke pressed, because that light furrow between Itachi's eyebrows had yet to leave.

"Because the idea mainly came from Danzo," Itachi said clipped.

"Danzo?" Completely taken aback by that, Sasuke stared wide-eyed at his brother. "I thought he didn't trust them?"

Honestly he had got the impression that if it had been up to Danzo solely, both Naruto and Gaara would have been kicked out the same day they had arrived.

"He considers this a test for them," Itachi said curtly; his hand on the table curling into a loose fist.

"A test?" Sasuke repeated bemused. "How would this be a test for them? Clearly they don't suck at supply runs because they are still alive."

"Not a test of their skills," Itachi said and shook his head; his eyes darkening a notch. "A test of trust."

"A test of trust?" Sasuke mumbled confused.

How could this supply run be a test of trust for Danzo? Did he want to test whether they would steal shit for themselves? Did he want to see whether they would pull their own weight? No, he never cared about how trustworthy newbies had been during supply runs, so how could this be a test of trust …

Wait.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and looked at Itachi. "Is this a test to see whether they're going to try shit with me?"

"Got it in one," Itachi said grimly. "He didn't say it exactly like that, but everyone knows he is convinced that they are just biding their time. He wants to use this supply run to prove whether his suspicions are right."

"So what? He wants them to join me to see if they will kill me the first chance they get?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

What kind of fucked up plan was that? He could trust his own gut instinct enough to know that they wouldn't try to harm him, but how was this the right way to test them?

"Basically," Itachi said and pursed his lips. "Again, not in so many words, but you can imagine father isn't happy with his reasoning for this idea."

"So if I happen to get attacked by a zombie," Sasuke started.

"Please don't," Itachi said mildly.

"And die because of one of those dead fuckers, how are Naruto and Gaara supposed to prove that they weren't the ones at fault?" Sasuke demanded, spotting the glaring issue with this plan.

During a supply run anything could happen. When they visited new places without a thorough reconnaissance beforehand, they had no idea whether they would encounter zombies or not. They could be as careful as possible, but shit could still happen and if Sasuke was truly unlucky, he could get bitten and die there. If that did happen, how would Naruto and Gaara prove their innocence if they were the only ones joining Sasuke on this run? They would only have their own word to fall back on and who would trust the word of outsiders like them? They weren't integrated enough in the community yet to enjoy the people's trust here. If they returned without Sasuke, everyone here would be more likely to believe that they had killed him than that it had been an accident.

"They won't be able to prove that," Itachi said simply and dragged a hand over his face. "And Danzo is more than aware of this fact."

"Why the fuck is that fucktwat even part of the Board?" Sasuke asked darkly. "This is some major bullshit. What the hell does he have against them? They haven't done anything to deserve this kind of distrust!"

"I have no idea," Itachi sighed heavily and crossed his arms. "Father and him got into a spat about it. Father knows what he's aiming for with this idea, but he couldn't do anything but agree. If he refused, that would just prove Danzo right that we don't trust Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun."

"Do you trust them with me?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Danzo was a major fucking douche for using this supply run as a test and Sasuke was more than happy to prove that fucker wrong. He was always careful during runs and he had plenty of experience fighting off zombies if it came down to it. Clearly Naruto and Gaara were skilled enough as well, so Sasuke rated their chance at both success and survival rather high.

But every run carried a risk and knowing that Danzo was essentially hoping that something would happen just so that he would have an excuse to kick out Naruto and Gaara … Itachi was never really happy about Sasuke leaving the walls without him, but now it might actually be worse because Naruto and Gaara were still essentially strangers trying to find their place here.

Itachi had never been fond of letting newcomers join Sasuke on a run so soon. Even though they were both adults now, Itachi still had the urge to protect his little brother from any harm in spite of the fact that he was aware that Sasuke could take care of himself just fine. Danzo's plan being like it was, there was no way Itachi would be at ease now.

Itachi's features softened and he clasped Sasuke's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "If you seek them out on your own volition that much, they can't be bad," he smiled and this time there was not a hint of teasing audible. "So I trust them with you. I know they won't do anything to bring you or themselves in danger and like I said, they are the best suited to help you on this run given their skills. But if you want to delay this run, nobody would blame you either."

"No, it's fine," Sasuke reassured him and patted his hand once. "Unlike Danzo, I trust they won't stick a knife in my back. I'll do the run with them."

Because even though Gaara could utter quite the callous comment at times and easily had his back arched like an offended cat, he also did all his assignments without complaining once. Both he and Naruto might be rather withdrawn still, but they weren't bad people. Sasuke was sure of that.

"All right, I'll inform father the run will happen," Itachi said. "You tell Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun about the plan."

Sasuke watched him leave and tapped his fingers on the maps. Just like Itachi wasn't fond of having newcomers join Sasuke on a run, normally Sasuke wasn't fond of that either. Especially not now, knowing what Danzo intended with this plan. But when leaving out Danzo's involvement, it only made sense to ask Naruto and Gaara to join him. They both could fill in the gaps without causing problems with the roster and their time on the road made them arguably amongst the best fighters. Sasuke knew that they had joined Kiba during some of his hunts and Kiba, being hard to impress on any given day, had had actual awe in his voice when he had told the Board how efficiently Naruto and Gaara had dealt with some zombies who had honed in on them. Apparently rather bloody, but quick and efficient and none of the zombies had ever got close to any of their people.

Sasuke could use people with their skills in case the plan got dicked to hell and back. He could trust them to not be dead weight at least – literally and figuratively, hopefully.

He released a soft sigh and glanced down at the accumulated maps one more time before he rolled them up and grabbed them. He walked over to the two friends and overheard Naruto waving off Tanaka's offer to brew them some tea.

"No, thank you, we're all right," Naruto was saying and slowly inched away from her. The smile on his face was bland but polite enough while Gaara had already moved several steps back.

"Naruto, Gaara, can I talk to you two for a sec?" Sasuke interrupted them.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, clearly bemused, and exchanged a glance with Gaara before he offered Tanaka one last wave and one more apology. He and Gaara followed Sasuke back to the table.

"What's up?" Naruto asked curiously; his gaze briefly flickering towards the maps in Sasuke's hand.

"You know how we do weekly supply runs here?"

"Hard not to know considering we see people leave every week," Gaara said dryly.

"Well, the people I was supposed to do the run with this week are both unavailable and everyone else is stuck with their assignments," Sasuke continued.

Naruto looked a bit befuddled for a moment before comprehension flashed up in his eyes and he smirked. "And now you've got no other choice than to take the risk and take the newbies with you, huh? That desperate?"

"Not desperate." Sasuke rolled his eyes and on a whim he smacked one of the maps against Naruto's arm, which elicited a short but surprised chuckle. He remembered too late about Gaara's protectiveness, but a quick glance at the man showed him unbothered.

"It's a decision from the Board. After thinking about it, you two are most likely the best suited to join me. We need to cross a larger distance than we usually do and from what Kiba told the Board, you two aren't shabby with your weapons," Sasuke went on.

"Please don't hurt yourself by giving an actual compliment," Naruto said dryly.

"The Board has suddenly decided to trust us already?" Gaara said sceptically and lifted an eyebrow. "After barely a month?"

Sasuke pursed his lips together and debated for a moment whether it would be smart to inform them about the real reason why they had been selected. Doing so might come back to bite him in the arse, but at the same time they would realise how much was at stake here.

"All right, what's going on?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Look, not everybody on the Board trusts you yet," Sasuke began and lowered his voice, quickly looking around them. There was nobody close by that could overhear them. "And the suggestion to take you with me is more like a test for you two. A test to see if we can trust you."

"You mean, it's a test to check whether we won't shank you the first chance we get," Gaara surmised immediately and narrowed his eyes.

"Got it immediately," Sasuke smiled humourlessly.

Naruto followed the same train of thought instantly as well. "So what happens if you get bitten by one of those dead fucks and end up dying there?" he asked warily.

"You'd have a really hard time proving it was an accident," Sasuke replied grimly.

"Well then, in that case you better make sure you don't end up dying there," Gaara smiled thinly.

"Not dying is always a preferable option," Naruto agreed.

"So you two are up for joining me on the supply run this Thursday?" Sasuke asked and couldn't help but look a bit dubiously at Gaara.

Gaara caught the look. "What's that look for?" he demanded sharply.

Sasuke raised his hands in a pacifying gesture, not wanting to piss off the other man. He rather didn't want to prove Danzo right before they even left the compound. "Just that I've noticed you have a limp occasionally," he said carefully.

It didn't appear to be a permanent limp or if it was, it wasn't that noticeable most of the time. Sasuke had only caught him limping a couple of times so far and it always seemed to tie in to how strenuous his assignment of that day was. If he had to work on the field for a while, he seemed to be bothered by his limp more than if he was helping out elsewhere. Sasuke had no idea how he had got the injury that led to the limp and he wasn't sure whether it was appropriate to ask – or whether Gaara would even be willing to answer.

"Well, someone has a sharp eye," Gaara smiled sharply. If looks could cut, Sasuke would definitely be bleeding in several places now. "Don't you worry about me, I can take care of myself just fine."

Sasuke didn't want to argue with him, but he also didn't want to put themselves and the run at risk. "If that limp is going to bother you during the run," he started, but Naruto interrupted him this time.

"Gaara knows what he can handle," Naruto said brusquely. "We've been on our own for three years now and we still have yet to croak. We can do this."

"All right, fine with me," Sasuke said, because there was no sense in keeping arguing about this. Gaara would know best what he could handle. "We leave at eight in the morning, but we'll need to stay there overnight. The trip there will take too long for us to make it back within one day. So you two are joining me?"

Not if they did a thorough sweep of the town anyways, which was what Sasuke was planning on doing. A mall could be found there and he was hoping to retrieve some baby related supplies amongst all the other stuff on their list. Entering a mall nowadays came with the added risk of encountering the dead naturally, btu the payoff might be worth it if they could find enough stuff.

"Well, I'm always up for not seeing the walls every day," Naruto said idly and crossed his hands behind his head. It was a gesture he fairly often did, Sasuke had noticed. His blue eyes were both sharp and jaded when he asked, "The real question now is, do you trust us around you?"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow. "I could ask the same thing of you, you know? You trust me to cover your backs with your 'I don't trust anyone in this town and you can't make me' attitudes?"

"I trust that I can slit your throat if you try to pull some bullshit," Naruto smiled thinly and Gaara snorted softly. A speculative glint shimmered in Naruto's eyes when he added, "And I think you can trust your own skills if we happen to try something."

Sasuke blinked slowly, wrapping his mind around the implication of what Naruto had just said. "So we agree to trust that we won't try to kill each other, because the fight would be pointless?"

Naruto snorted and at once the tension between them – minimal, but it had been there nevertheless – subsided.

"Exactly," Gaara said and the corners of his mouth twitched. "You want us with you on the supply run, that's fine. We'll join you."

"Gives us a chance to do something else aside from digging our hands through animals guts," Naruto added and shrugged before he and Gaara turned around. They started to walk away. "See you this Thursday."

"Yeah," Sasuke said slowly and pensively watched them walk away. "See you then."

"They agreed to join you?" Father asked when Sasuke entered the kitchen later that afternoon.

"Yeah, they'll be accompanying me on the run," Sasuke confirmed and grabbed a glass from the cabinet to fill it with juice. After filling it, he turned around and leant against the kitchen counter. "Told them the real reason why they were invited," he admitted.

Father sighed and rubbed his forehead. "At least they are aware of what's at stake," he said morosely. "How did they take it?"

"As well as expected, I guess," Sasuke replied and shrugged listlessly. "Didn't even need to spell it out for them; they realised it immediately when I said it was a test of trust."

"I don't like this," Father stated, which wasn't surprising. He studied Sasuke. "You trust them to have your back?"

"I trust them not to jeopardise their stay here," Sasuke said simply. "And they proved before that they will help out. Didn't Suigetsu have a close call last week? Kiba said Naruto smashed the zombie's head before Suigetsu even realised what was about to happen."

"True," Father said and drummed his fingers against the table. "I don't like what Danzo intends to prove with this, but honestly considering their background, they are the best choice to join you."

"At the very least I won't have to hold their hand," Sasuke smiled crookedly.

Father inclined his head. "There's that. Just be safe, okay?" he urged. "I definitely do not want Danzo being right this time."

"Don't worry," Sasuke reassured him. "I'm not planning on getting caught by the dead."

"You better don't," Father said and his drumming grew slightly more erratic. "I'm still not sure about this, but if you trust them, fine."

Sasuke wasn't really certain whether this was a matter of trusting them so much as not really having much choice. They were his best option to have this run happening this week and they had given him no reason yet to really distrust them.

All he could do was hope their run wouldn't get fucked to hell. He definitely didn't want to give Danzo that satisfaction, that douchebag.

AN2: Some shit's about to go down in the next chapter :D

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.