Author's note: Had a shitty week. Sorry if that in any way shines through in this chapter.

Thanks to the following reviewers: Richon; solitare1; 666snoopy

Warnings: Character death

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

I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 33

Listening to the scream echoing before fading out was near terror-inducing, not necessarily because of how panic addled it was, but because it was a scream. Everyone living in the compound, from the youngest children to the elderly, knew better than to make too much noise because noise had become deadly in a world where the dead pounced on even the smallest of sounds. Silence was their best friend now, so what the hell had happened that had caused somebody to break the carnal rule of remaining as quiet as possible?

"Naruto-niisan? Sasuke-niisan?" Moegi stared at them with wide eyes; fear beginning to pool in them.

This morning was the first time she had been allowed to set foot outside, having spent the past couple of days recuperating in the infirmary. When Sasuke had stopped by yesterday to deliver some stock of bandages a group had managed to pilfer, Moegi had shyly asked him whether he and Naruto could lead her around the next day. He had been taken aback by her request, but had acquiesced because he hadn't had any immediate plans in the morning and if she felt more comfortable around them, who was he to snub her?

Having her step outside for the first time only for her to be confronted with a scream nearly immediately was not something they had planned on, however.

"Mei, can you take her over?" Sasuke asked hurriedly, gently but firmly pushing Moegi towards the older woman.

Mei – who was looking concerned – nodded, flashing a quick smile at Moegi before bending down to lift her up. "Hey there, sweetheart, how about you and I spend a bit of time together until they are back, hm?"

Moegi started worrying her lower lip between her teeth, but Naruto shot her a smile and gave her a thumb's up before turning around; his face instantly growing grim. Gaara was already running towards them, handing over Naruto's machete to him – a weapon Naruto hadn't thought he would need to carry around when they would just be showing Moegi around the place.

Sasuke himself wasn't carrying his katana, but he did have some blades with him so deeming that good enough, all three of them made a run to the gates, followed by other people brandishing their own weapons.

"What the hell happened?" Sasuke demanded when Itachi caught up to them right as they neared the gates.

"Don't have a clue," Itachi replied grimly. "I was just leaving the house when I heard it. Sounds like it came from right outside the walls."

"Doubt it's a hoard," Gaara muttered. "We would have heard more screaming then."

Which while disturbing was probably true, but that scream could be attracting an actual hoard if they were really unlucky.

"I don't think it's a hoard, but if we don't intervene soon the noise might attract one," Itachi said darkly, echoing Sasuke's thoughts.

"Who's even outside at this hour?" Naruto inquired; his eyes flickering towards the sky which was still painted with some pink-purplish streaks.

Dawn had passed, but it was still fairly early and before the scream had cut through the silence, not many people had been outside.

"Could be Kiba's group; they were going to check the traps early this morning," Itachi surmised.

Father and Kisame were already present at the gates, waiting for them to open. Father caught sight of them when he turned his head, beckoning them closer.

"You four are with me," he ordered before addressing Yoshino, who had just arrived as well, "Make sure the others stay here until we know more."

"Of course," she acquiesced and stepped forwards, holding out her hand to the other people showing up behind Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara. "Nobody leaves the gates for now except for these six. We wait here until we know more."

Some of them grumbled, irritated at being forced to stay within the walls, but they all knew better than to protest an order from someone of the Board. Even if someone actually was stupid enough, the guards on top of the gates would be quick to react. Already Iruka was making his way down the scaffold; his face shadowed.

Father, Kisame and Itachi slipped out of the gap between the gate and the wall first, Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara following suit. The gap was barely wide enough to squeeze themselves through properly, but considering they had no idea yet what exactly had happened that led to the scream, it was best not to leave the gates open too far.

Once outside, Sasuke glanced around him but there wasn't any sign yet of a herd of zombies aiming for the walls. It was rather quiet actually, almost eerily so, now that the scream had long since died out and animals were only just waking up properly. A soft breeze rustled through the leaves of the nearby trees; the thinner branches creaking with the wind's strength. This picture of near serenity had Sasuke frowning; next to him both Naruto and Gaara were on high alert as well. He had expected to spot at least a group of zombies, because what else could be the cause of the scream when everybody knew that silence was their best ally?

If he squinted, he thought he could see some dead arseholes ambling and shuffling their way over to them, their low groaning muffled, but with the distance between the dead group and theirs, these zombies couldn't have been the cause for the scream just now. Some of them would have to dispose of those zombies soon and they would have to be on high alert for at least the rest of the day just in case more showed up, but zombies couldn't have been the reason why someone had just screamed.

"No herd nearby," Kisame muttered, having just finished scanning their surroundings as well. His hand rested on his axe and a deep frown wrinkled his forehead, nearly cleaving it in two.

Kiba rounded the corner just then, appearing pasty white even in the dim morning light. "Uchiha-san, you need to see this," he said and swallowed audibly.

His uncharacteristically subdued behaviour had Sasuke furrowing his eyebrows and almost automatically he reached out for Naruto's hand, engulfing it and feeling it close around his own. Gaara tilted his head to the left, studying Kiba with an unreadable face.

"What is it?" Father demanded, striding over to him. "Who the hell screamed just now and why?"

"Yua was the one who screamed," Kiba replied apologetically. "She didn't mean to, promise, but well – you'll see why soon enough."

"She better has a damn good reason for basically acting like a siren to all those dead fuckers," Kisame mumbled darkly.

Sasuke didn't know Yua personally, having never even talked with her before. He thought she was a brunette who lived close to Kiba; not that much older than they were. She was quite experienced with setting up traps, so she usually ended up joining Kiba's team if they needed to set up new ones. She had also been put in charge of training the dogs who lived at the compound, trying to teach them how to signal if they came across hidden zombies. The idea behind it was that eventually they could take the dogs with them on runs and literally sniff out any zombie hidden from sight before they could attack, but it was a slow work in progress. The latest report given to the Board had mentioned something about the dogs slowly becoming attuned to the rotting stench of the cadavers, but they were nowhere near ready yet to accompany them during runs.

Even though Sasuke had never spoken with Yua before, she didn't struck him as someone who was easily frightened from the couple of times he had seen her. Yet something had just managed to make her scream in terror. He couldn't help but feel worry creeping up because whatever could have a composed person like Yua screaming out couldn't be anything good.

They walked around the corner, following Kiba to his team which was hovering around something near the wall. Yua faced the wall and was being comforted from the looks of it by Kiba's sister. Their heads were bent closely together and she was rubbing Yua's back, whispering something to her.

"We've got no clue how it happened or if someone's behind this," Kiba began in a low voice, "but it looks like we have a problem."

"Instead of beating around the bush, just tell us what's wrong," Sasuke said irritated, Kiba's hesitation getting on his nerves.

Surprisingly Kiba didn't become annoyed in return. His mouth twisted into an odd grimace, he led them to a high patch of grass and silently pointed down.

Sasuke followed his finger and stilled. Naruto halted next to him, growing as still as a statue when he also got a good look at what laid in front of them. Gaara blinked, Itachi clenched his jaw, father closed his eyes and Kisame released a string of rather colourful curses.

Right in front of them laid Danzo; dead eyes staring up at the sky, reflecting it in the glassy orbs. A pool of blood surrounded his head, slowly growing bigger; his head had been cracked open against a rock jutting out from the ground, the uneven surface absolutely drenched in the red liquid.

Danzo was dead.

"This was how you found him?" Father inquired, being the first one to break the heavy silence.

"Yep, exactly like this," Kiba confirmed; his shoulders tense and his arms crossed. "We found his walking cane a bit further in a patch of tall grass. Can't tell you how long he's been here, but I doubt it's been longer than a couple of hours at most. Mum and her group only came back from their run around three in the morning; if she had seen something odd, she would have mentioned it before I left."

Father sat down on his haunches, examining the ground around Danzo intently. "It doesn't look as if a struggle happened here. I don't see signs of other shoeprints and the earth itself is quite undisturbed. If he had been in a fight, the earth wouldn't be so flat now."

"What are you saying? He slipped, fell and had the bad luck to crack his skull open on a rock?" Kisame said incredulously. "Why was he even here to begin with? It's not like he was part of a scouting team."

"That's a very good question," Father murmured thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes. "I can only assume someone lured him out, but again I see no signs that he fought with somebody here."

"It's possible someone did lure him outside and then hit him from a distance," Itachi suggested, studying Danzo's corpse with clinical objectivity. "If we follow that assumption, though, that then begs the question: how did this person succeed in luring him out? It's not as if he left the compound that often."

As a matter of fact, Sasuke couldn't even remember the last time Danzo had set foot outside the compound since the walls had been erected. While part of the Board, Danzo had actually never participated actively in keeping the compound running, leaving the dangerous tasks of scouting, collecting food and getting rid of the zombies to other people.

"Let's see he did get hit, how are we going to figure out where the hit came from?" Sasuke asked, gesturing at the vast expanse of trees surrounding them on all sides. "We don't exactly have a forensic team waiting in the compound."

"More's the pity," Gaara said idly.

Naruto snorted quietly in agreement. "Here I was thinking the compound had it all. Truly a disappointment," he droned.

Neither of them seemed particularly disturbed at the sight of Danzo's dead body, but then again they had spent more years on the road than any of them and there was that fact that Danzo had tried to get them killed. If anything, they might be silently cursing whoever had taken their chance of revenge away from them.

Father ignored them both. "I need to discuss this with the rest of the Board." He rose up, looking grim again. "I prefer it if word about this doesn't come out yet. We don't know yet for certain if someone else is involved and we can do without any panic this might cause. Kiba-san, are you and your team still going to continue your assignment or do you want to postpone it to later this week instead?"

Kiba looked questioningly at his group. His sister gave a stiff shrug in return but didn't look particularly bothered. Yua meanwhile breathed in deeply and rubbed briskly over her face.

"I'm okay," she stated; her tone sounding firm enough to be believable. "I just got … taken by surprise but we can handle the traps. I'm good, I promise."

"If you're sure," Kiba said and after sharing a look with father, he and the group left them behind, melting into the shadows of the woods.

"Which do you think is more likely, father?" Itachi murmured while Kisame bent down and swiftly pushed a knife through Danzo's head, ensuring he couldn't come back as a zombie. "That Danzo tripped and died through sheer bad luck or that someone else is behind this?"

"The problem here is," Kisame began before father could even open his mouth, "that if someone else is behind this, we're going to have one hell of a time proving it, let alone finding a suspect in the first place. I know you shouldn't speak ill of the dead, yada, yada, yada, but let's face it: Danzo wasn't exactly Mister Popular."

"Especially not after the shit he tried to pull," Itachi said darkly, throwing a quick look at Naruto and Gaara.

The two friends for their part were regarding Danzo's corpse with a neutral look on their faces. If they were happy about his demise they were good at masking it. If they were, though, Sasuke couldn't blame them for that. As far as he personally was concerned, Danzo's death was karma being a bitch and more importantly: good riddance. This way at least he couldn't try to get either of them killed again.

"I have to talk to the Board first," Father reiterated and gestured for them to follow him. "Maybe one of them knows something more. It's possible that Danzo mentioned to one of them why he was going to leave the walls last night."

"And what if they can't tell you anything?" Sasuke asked.

Truthfully while father was great at interrogation, Sasuke couldn't imagine him being successful in asking the Board why Danzo had went outside last night. Not because the other members would act difficult or were likely to withhold information, but even within the Board Danzo had never been popular. Quite frankly Sasuke very much doubted even one person in the compound would take the time to mourn his death. They might be shocked that he had died, but actively mourning him? He couldn't imagine that happening.

"Then we'll keep up our guard for a while, try to discover if this was part of something bigger," Father answered and stopped walking right before they would turn the corner. "And if this isn't part of something bigger, if Danzo did simply die because he tripped, well … I can't exactly claim he will be terribly missed."

"I certainly won't," Gaara mumbled.

"Did you manage to find evidence that proved he was the one to send me and Gaara to those towns on purpose?" Naruto asked abruptly; his fingers twitching around Sasuke's.

"I did, yes," Father replied and his face turned unreadable. He turned around and began walking to the gates again. "I had actually planned to confront him about it today but obviously that isn't necessary anymore."

"No, that's clear," Sasuke muttered.

He guessed Danzo himself had made it infinitely easier for all of them to deal with this betrayal. One part of Sasuke was happy with that, relieved that Danzo would no longer have the chance to attempt to go after Naruto or Gaara again. Another part of him, however, felt cheated. Now that Danzo was dead, he would never have to own up to the crimes he had committed. Essentially he had got the easy way out.

Then again with Danzo no longer around, at least Naruto and Gaara would be safe from his insane ministrations. Naruto's safety – and in extension Gaara's – was more important to him than witnessing Danzo get punished for what he had attempted to accomplish. Karma had really come through this time: while Tobi's life had been lost because of Danzo, the old bastard had paid for that with his own life, whether that had been on accident or not.

Sasuke decided he could live with that.

"Any ideas as to what happened?" Naruto crossed his arms behind his head, smiling faintly when Moegi started oh-ing and aw-ing as Mei showed her their selection of children's clothing.

With father stuck in a Board meeting, they had decided to pick up Moegi and continue with their original plan of the morning: showing her around. Currently they were in the storage room, in the section where they kept all the clothes. With Mei having made this section her personal area of expertise, both men had been happy to hand over the reins to her temporarily. The older woman seemed to have a lot of fun dressing up Moegi as a doll and the girl herself was giggling up a storm, so Sasuke saw no reason to continue the tour immediately.

"Father was high up the police hierarchy before all this shit went down, so he knows what he's talking about when he said there weren't any traces of a fight," Sasuke replied, keeping his voice low enough so that it wouldn't travel over to Moegi.

They had made up a quick lie about how a woman had been startled by the sight of a rat, which was why she had screamed. Moegi had scrunched up her nose in disgust, but had easily accepted the lie, going back to being chipper and asking for the tour.

"I have no idea why Danzo would decide that going outside the compound last night was a fantastic idea when he barely left the walls to begin with, but honestly? Can't say I feel sorry for him. Fucker got what he deserved."

"What Itachi said could be true. Someone could have hit him from a distance," Naruto remarked, pondering over it as he crossed his arms in front of him this time. "He was an old sack of shit – it wouldn't have taken much to bring him out of balance with a good hit."

"Well, if that's the case you know what they say: the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Sasuke retorted and shrugged. "I doubt anyone will miss that douchebag."

Naruto snorted quietly. "I, at least, am not going to miss him one bit. Gaara won't either."

Gaara had returned to the apartment to remove the old bandage around the bite wound and exchange it for a fresh one. He might still join them on their little tour if he finished quickly.

"So any plans for the rest of the day?" Naruto questioned, quirking a smile when Moegi jumped in front of them, showing off her pink dress.

"Look, Naruto-nii-san, Sasuke-nii-san! I look like a princess!" Moegi exclaimed and beamed up at them.

"That you do, Moegi-chan," Naruto chuckled. "You're going to wear that now?"

"Hm, maybe, Mei-ba-chan says I can try out a couple more!" she said happily before practically zooming to the back of the storage room where Mei was waiting with more clothes.

"I have guard duty this afternoon," Sasuke replied, bracing his shoulder against the doorjamb.

He normally would have had it this morning, having nearly completely forgotten about it when he had made the promise of the tour to Moegi yesterday, but he had managed to exchange his guarding shift with somebody else.

"Aren't you lucky?" Naruto said sourly, pouting slightly.

Ah, of course. "She still not letting you do anything, hm?" Sasuke said knowingly.

Tsunade had been extremely quick in letting father know that under no circumstances was Naruto allowed to participate in anything that would require him having to move his leg too much. That essentially meant that Naruto was supposed to be housebound at this point; the only reason he wasn't stuck in the apartment right now was because he had been too stubborn to be left behind and Sasuke hadn't been in the mood to start arguing about a tour of all things so early in the morning.

Naruto had actually seemed relatively okay with the order to rest the day before yesterday, having remained on the couch until Sasuke had visited him that evening, but yesterday he had already started to whine that he was bored. He had jumped on the chance to join the tour the second Sasuke had been stupid enough to mention it. Apparently he had tried to persuade Tsunade into being less strict and allow him to do something. To the surprise of exactly nobody, though – not even Naruto's because he knew her just as well as the rest knew her by now – she had utterly refused, reiterating the fact that he needed to rest his leg for a full week.

Gaara had also got the order to rest, but he was allowed to do more activities as long as none of them put any strain on his injured arm. It was very commendable of the red haired man that he hadn't lorded this permission over Naruto. Naruto on the other hand was less than impressed with the 'freedom' his best friend was allowed to have.

"No, she isn't," Naruto muttered and scowled at the nearest metal storage rack as if the rack had offended him. "Not even taking up a guard shift and no offense meant, but it's not like that's strenuous work. It's why I can't join the full tour, because no doubt that old hag is just waiting for a chance to bust me."

"You know her so well," Sasuke smirked before sobering up. "You wouldn't be able to sit during a guard shift. There's no way for you to rest your leg with that assignment." One could hardly look over the walls whilst in a chair after all.

"I could lean against the wall instead – that's not moving my leg either, so what's the big deal?" Naruto huffed annoyed. "I'm going to bug the hell out of her for as long as it goddamn takes, mark my words!"

"Or here's a thought: you could wait until the week's over," Sasuke suggested, but knew it would be useless. "You only have four more days to go after today."

"I've got an idea too: people could just fucking listen to me when I say I'm fine," Naruto smiled dangerously; his eyes glinting warningly. "That would work splendidly as well, you know."

"Be good," Sasuke admonished. "She's just looking out for you. The last thing we want, is for you to end up tearing your wound open again."

"That was just once and it happened on the same day, night, whatever," Naruto muttered petulantly. "Since then it's been two days without any bloodshed, so I doubt the wound's going to reopen again."

"Don't test your luck," Sasuke riposted dryly. "Especially not with her. She might actually kick your arse this time and then you'll end up stuck at your apartment for much longer."

"She'll need to catch me first," Naruto sneered.

"I mean it, be good."

"I'm a motherfucking angel at this point."

Sasuke concealed a sigh, putting on a smile instead when Moegi skipped over to them, having decided on wearing a bright green jumpsuit with flowers stitched all over it. He could only hope that Naruto wouldn't succeed in annoying Tsunade too much. He might have 'charmed' her somewhat, but her patience was far from limitless.

AN2: So any idea what might happened to Danzo?

Now I'm off to bed because it's beyond late at this point and clearly I make wonderful life choices every time.

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.