The sun barely peeked above the ridgeline as the trio made their way through a quiet forest path. Morning dew clung to Sasuke's hood and Suigetsu's sighs filled the still air like a broken flute.
"I still can't believe it," Suigetsu grumbled, adjusting the travel pouch slung over his shoulder. "He didn't blow up. He didn't get killed by some jounin squad. He didn't melt by some experiments gone wrong. The bastard just… left?"
Kabuto didn't look up from the scroll he was reading as they walked. "He didn't just leave. He retired. There's a difference."
"To become a teacher," Suigetsu repeated with a flat look. "A teacher. In a country none of us knew existed until five days ago. The great Orochimaru—master of forbidden jutsu, outlaw of three nations—is now grading papers and sipping weird foreign tea in the Land of Freedom?"
"Lecturing under the name Mr. Orochi, apparently," Kabuto said, lips curling into a smirk. "Also, someone there calls him 'Solid Snake.' Seriously."
Sasuke chuckled under his breath.
"Oh, so you can laugh," Suigetsu noted, raising a brow. "I thought you left your sense of humor with the Uchiha clan."
Sasuke gave him a sideways glance but said nothing. They kept walking. Birds scattered overhead. The silence stretched.
"So what happens to the rest?" Suigetsu finally asked. "You know... the freaks. The other labs. Experiments. Shinobi who owed him. Who followed him like dogs."
Kabuto finally rolled up the scroll and tucked it under his arm. "Still out there. Most of them don't know he's gone. Some probably think he's just watching from the shadows, waiting to test them."
"That's creepy," Suigetsu muttered.
"That's accurate," Kabuto replied.
"Okay. So then... why not collect them?"
Sasuke glanced back. "Collect?"
"Yeah. I mean, why not form a company?" Suigetsu spread his arms like it was obvious. "They're strong. Ruthless. Trained. Sure, a bit unstable, but hey—we've worked with worse. Give them a flag, some contracts, a name. Boom. Instant mercenary corps."
"You do realize Sakura slaughtered half of one of my existing connections last week, right?" Kabuto added dryly. "They were screaming about a dancer in red with a metal whip before bleeding out on the rocks."
"That was your crew?" Suigetsu blinked. "Damn. Sorry, man."
Kabuto gave a theatrical shrug. "They were underperforming anyway."
Sasuke shook his head. "And who's going to lead them? You?"
"You," Suigetsu said without missing a beat.
"Me?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. You're the moody one with the mysterious past. All the best mercenary companies have one of those."
"And where exactly are we going to put them?" Sasuke replied. "Between Kumo and a land of bureaucratic nightmares? Hidden under Orochimaru's old couch?"
"We could float a fortress," Suigetsu said with a grin. "How about the sky? You said something about Skydwellers once. High up. Out of government reach. Sounds nice."
Kabuto gave a light laugh. "You do know building a mercenary company in the sky requires more than enthusiasm and sarcasm, right?"
"We've got maps. We've got secrets. We've got... whatever the hell you're carrying in that scroll pouch."
Sasuke let the banter wash over him. For a moment, it was peaceful—ridiculous, even. But beneath the humor was something real: possibility. And they were still walking forward.
"Let's just reach the coast first," Sasuke muttered. "Then we'll talk about mercenaries and flying castles."
---
The road sloped gently downhill, gravel crunching beneath their boots. A faint breeze carried the scent of sea salt, signaling their slow approach toward the distant coastline. The trees began to thin.
Suigetsu adjusted the strap of his sword. "Okay, hear me out—'The Fanged Dawn.' As a name."
Kabuto grimaced. "Sounds like a failed metal band from the Land of Earth."
"Fine, then you try naming a mercenary group that doesn't sound like a brothel or a boy band."
"We're not naming a tavern, Suigetsu," Sasuke cut in flatly. "Try again after puberty."
Suigetsu blinked. "Wow. That... hurt a little."
"I'm sure the emotional trauma will heal before we reach the coast."
Kabuto chuckled under his breath.
"Okay, then what would you call it, oh fearless ex-missing-nin?" Suigetsu asked. "Please, enlighten us."
Sasuke looked ahead, calm as ever. "Team Dysfunction."
"That's not bad," Kabuto murmured. "Catchy."
"Accurate," Suigetsu muttered. "But doesn't exactly inspire fear."
"Good," Sasuke said. "We inspire confusion first. Then we strike."
Suigetsu gave him a look. "Is that how you beat people? With tactical emotional damage?"
"It works on most people," Sasuke replied with mock solemnity. "Especially egomaniacs with giant swords."
Kabuto was openly laughing now, shoulders shaking as he walked.
"You've changed," he said to Sasuke between chuckles. "You're almost... likable."
"Don't spread rumors," Sasuke warned. "I have a reputation to keep."
"Yeah. Brooding statue with an aversion to joy," Suigetsu quipped. "People still think you sleep upside down in caves."
"Only on weekends."
Another laugh passed between them—lighter this time, easier. For all the weight they carried, for all the ghosts trailing behind, this moment felt human. And that was rare.
The path curved west. The sea glimmered in the distance, silver-blue beneath the rising sun.
Kabuto exhaled. "I know we're joking, but… what if we actually did it?"
Sasuke raised a brow. "The mercenary company?"
Kabuto nodded. "Orochimaru left a hole. A big one. And this world's not exactly... stable. Someone will fill it."
Sasuke looked out toward the horizon. "Then it might as well be us."
---
They stopped at a narrow ridge above a winding trade route. Below, a battered caravan was crawling across a dirt path, guarded by two shinobi in faded Kusa uniforms. One of them waved up toward the trio, more out of politeness than recognition.
"Locals look thin," Kabuto murmured, adjusting his glasses. "Too thin."
Sasuke scanned the group. "Not famine. Fear."
Suigetsu tilted his head. "Bandits again?"
Kabuto shook his head. "Worse. Lawlessness. Like no one's enforcing anything anymore."
Suigetsu leaned on his blade. "You think that's our fault?"
Kabuto didn't answer. Not directly.
Instead, he nodded toward a roadhouse farther down the slope—little more than a shed with a tattered cloth over the door. "We're overdue for tea."
Inside, the scent of bitter leaves and wood smoke clung to the walls. A few villagers sat hunched in silence, murmuring low. The shopkeeper—a sunken-eyed man with a nervous tic in his left eye—looked up as they entered and tensed slightly.
"You heard about the gathering in the East?" he asked, voice low. "Some strange bunch preaching under a black banner."
Kabuto tensed. "What kind of strange?"
The man shrugged. "All I know is they take the broken. The angry. People that got nothing left. Someone said they talk about freedom and ending the old world."
Sasuke glanced at Suigetsu. "Sounds familiar."
"Yeah," Suigetsu muttered. "Too familiar."
"They got a symbol?" Kabuto asked carefully.
The man frowned. "Red… something. Like an eye. Or a flower, maybe. I didn't see it. Just what someone said."
Sasuke exhaled slowly. "Right."
They stayed only a few more minutes. Enough to finish the lukewarm tea, enough to leave coin behind. As they walked out into the morning light again, the chill in the air felt heavier.
"You think it's them?" Suigetsu asked.
Sasuke didn't answer.
Not right away.
But his hand lingered near the inner pocket of his jacket, where Orochimaru's report—the one never submitted—rested like a weight.
"We'll see," he said.
The breeze tugged at the edges of his jacket, and for a moment, something shimmered in the distance.
A road forked ahead.
---
They walked in silence for a while, following the rise and fall of the road as it twisted through a sun-dried gully. Sasuke tugged the edge of his beanie a little lower, shadowing his eyes—not from the sun, but from the wandering stares of passing travelers.
Suigetsu glanced over. "Still wearing that thing?"
Sasuke didn't respond.
"Right, right," Suigetsu grinned. "Don't want to be called out by the Dancer from three provinces away."
"It's tactical," Sasuke said dryly. "Prevents assassination attempts…and childhood trauma."
Kabuto stifled a chuckle.
They passed a group of laborers moving in the opposite direction—silent, eyes sunken, hauling crates toward a village that didn't appear on any official map. One of the men wore a cloth band around his arm. Black, with something red smudged onto it. A petal? An eye? Just a stain?
Suigetsu saw it too. "That can't be coincidence."
Kabuto's voice dropped. "It's spreading."
Sasuke's eyes lingered on the man a second longer than necessary. Then he turned and kept walking.
---
Farther ahead, a jagged ridge rose above them. Nestled beneath the rocks was a familiar landmark—a fractured torii gate, scorched at its base. Years ago, it marked the edge of one of Orochimaru's smaller testing grounds. Now, it stood like a relic of some forgotten religion.
They stopped there, not to rest—but to listen.
The wind carried a faint sound. Faint but rhythmic. Like chanting.
Distant. Subtle. But there.
"What are the odds," Suigetsu murmured, "that it's not some creepy cult this time?"
"Zero," Kabuto said flatly.
Sasuke crouched near the edge of the cliff, scanning the terrain below. Nothing moved. But something lingered. The echo of something old and stirring.
His fingers traced the edge of his jacket sleeve, where dust had settled in soft gray outlines. One wind shift and it would all be erased again.
He stood. Adjusted his beanie.
"Let's move," he said.
And as they descended, the cliffside behind them whispered with the weight of hidden things, waiting.