Sasuke walked for the entire night. On a horse, it would have only taken one hour. He beat himself up for losing a kill and then losing his horse. The sun was beginning to rise and he had nothing on him to eat or drink. Off in the distance, he saw the town. It would take him another hour or two to reach it and despite the bullet wounds he had in his shoulder and side, he could push himself to make it.

A little over an hour later, Sasuke finally entered the town. He made his first stop at the physician. He looked at the sign, not recognizing the name of the doctor. It was no matter. He just wanted the bullets taken out of him.

He entered the building, noticing a grey-haired man by the sink, washing a couple of tools. "Are you Kabuto?" he asked, causing the man to turn toward him.

"I am," the physician said, pushing his glasses up. He took immediate notice of the gunshot wounds. "Asking what I can do for you would be a waste of time," he smirked. "Come sit on the table. I'll get you taken care of."

Sasuke nodded. "Thanks," he mumbled, removing his hat.

Kabuto went to a back room to get some supplies he needed to extract the bullets. Kabuto did not look old enough to be grey-haired, but Sasuke was not going to pry too much into that. He moved toward the metal table, setting his hat down and hoisting himself up with some struggle. With a quiet grunt, he removed his vest and shirt and laid back on the table.

Kabuto returned with the tools he needed and put a wooden spoon in Sasuke's mouth. "This is for you to bite down on," he said. "It's going to hurt." Sasuke did not show it on his face that he was not prepared for this. He kept his expression as neutral as possible as he felt Kabuto wipe some cold liquid around the wound in his side. He listened as Kabuto said that on the count of three, he was going to pull the bullet out. He let out a loud pained grunt when Kabuto pulled it on the count of one. Kabuto put the same cold liquid around the bullet wound in his shoulder. "This one is going to be worse," he smirked. "Ready?" he asked as he pulled it out. "One."

Sasuke's grunt turned into a full scream, only quieting down when a different cold liquid was applied to the wounds and bandaged. "I appreciate it," Sasuke grunted once his vision cleared from the pain.

"Don't get shot too often, I take it?"

"It isn't something I'm experienced in, no." Sasuke put his shirt back on and slowly got off the table to button his vest back up. "How much do I owe you?"

"This one is on the house," Kabuto smirked, pushing his glasses up and sitting at his desk. "Try not to get shot much more."

Sasuke mumbled his last thanks and nodded as he put his hat back on. He left the building and moved down the street, looking for the sheriff's office. He passed the saloon on the way there and made a mental note to stop in there after his meeting with the sheriff. He was going to need a drink—or a couple of drinks—after everything he had just been through. He found the sheriff's office easily and stepped inside.

The sheriff was a silver-haired man and completely asleep at his desk, a book covering his face. Sasuke sighed, stepped toward the desk and reaching for the book. As soon as his fingers touched it, a hand was wrapped around his wrist. "Did no one ever tell you not to wake a sleeping man?" the sheriff asked.

"I need to know something," Sasuke said, not caring about the other man's naptime.

The sheriff sat up groggily. "What is it?"

Sasuke looked at the nameplate on the desk. The sheriff's name was Kakashi. Easy enough to remember. "Someone came here with a bounty," he started. "Hidan's bounty."

Kakashi blinked a couple of times, still not fully awake. "Hidan..." he hummed. He shuffled through a stack of 'WANTED' posters until he came across the one he was looking for. "Ah, Hidan," he said.

"It was a team of two people," Sasuke said. "I need to know who they were."

"That's personal information that I just cannot give out."

Sasuke clicked his teeth. "What do you mean?" he glared, putting a hand down firmly on Kakashi's desk. "It ain't never been personal information before. Who cares who collected the bounty if the guy is dead?" He leaned towards Kakashi. "Just tell me who they are so I can be on my way."

"Why do you need to know who they are?"

"Because that bounty was mine."

Kakashi frowned. "I see..." He sighed and leaned back in his seat. "They paid a good amount to keep their names hidden," he said. His eyes darted to Sasuke and he smirked. "But for a better amount, I can give you their names."

"How much?"

"Let's see...they paid twenty grand, so—"

"Forget it," Sasuke sighed. "I'll find 'em myself." He sucked his teeth as he turned to leave.

"You won't be able to find them," Kakashi smirked. "They're very elusive."

Sasuke scoffed, not giving the sheriff any more of his time as he stepped out of the building. He rubbed his face hard and growled to himself, frustrated with everything that had just happened. "I'm going to find 'em," he mumbled to himself as he started heading back up the road toward the saloon.

It was still mid-morning so not many people were in the saloon when Sasuke entered. He took a seat at the bar where a large man with long white hair stood, placing some bottles onto the higher shelves. He turned around once he heard Sasuke sit down behind him and immediately took notice of how roughed up he looked. "Someone do you dirty?" he asked.

"I'll have a whiskey...neat."

The man chuckled, pulling a glass up and placing it on the counter. "It was one of those nights, I see," he said as he opened a bottle and poured the liquor into the glass. "Name's Jiraiya. Let me know if you need anything else." He closed the bottle back up and turned to continue stocking the shelves.

Sasuke stared into the glass for a moment before picking it up and taking a long sip. He sighed quietly to himself, trying to figure out how he could find the two bastards who stole his kill. "This is unbelievable," he mumbled to himself, taking another sip. A couple of silent minutes went by as he finished his glass. Without asking, Jiraiya turned around and refilled it. Sasuke did not object. He needed it. He appreciated it as well.

Someone else entered the saloon and sat down at the counter, a couple of seats down from Sasuke. He glanced at them for a brief second and then turned his attention to Jiraiya who grinned when the new patron sat down. "Azumi!" he boomed. "How are you? It's been a while," he chuckled. "How's your father?"

"He's doin' fine," Azumi grinned. "Not exactly happy that his little girl left for somewhere so far away, but he'll get over that once I bring home all the money I earned."

"I hear that," Jiraiya smirked, dipping a shot glass into a bowl of salt and then pouring tequila into it for her. "My wife wanted to thank you for getting that snake out of the room upstairs, but you were gone before she could."

"Oh, it was no problem. Anytime you guys see a snake, you can always call for me."

Sasuke looked over at her as she took her shot and squinted hard. Something told him the woman sitting by him was suspicious.

"Where's your partner?" Jiraiya asked. "I hardly see you two not together."

"Mm, Suigetsu went to the stables to feed the horses," she hummed. "We have two extra ones now and we're tryna sell them for some extra cash."

"Two extra horses?"

"Yeah, ya need one?"

"No, thank you," he laughed. "I have no need for a horse when I barely leave this town. I have a business to run."

"Suit yourself."

"How much are you sellin' the horses for?" Sasuke asked.

Azumi looked at him. "Five hundred each," she answered. "You lookin' for a horse?" Sasuke nodded. "Well, come take a look at them and see which one is best for you." Sasuke nodded again and went back to his whiskey. He needed to look at the partner of this suspicious woman to clarify some things. She took a couple more shots of tequila and paid Jiraiya. "I'll be seein' ya soon," she grinned at him. She looked at Sasuke as she got off of her stool. "You have a couple of admirers up top," she said quietly, discreetly pointing to the top level of the saloon at four prostitutes leaning on the banister, smiling at him and giggling. Sasuke let out a quiet groan of disgust. "Meet me at the stables when you're done," Azumi smirked, winking at him and leaving.

Sasuke sighed, finishing off his glass and letting Jiraiya fill it one more time. "You don't have to go up to the girls if you don't want to," Jiraiya said. "They won't be offended."

"I wasn't afraid of offendin' 'em," Sasuke muttered. He finished his glass quickly and paid Jiraiya. "I may be back."

"You're always welcome here."

Sasuke nodded his thanks and headed out. He squinted as he stepped into the sun. It was later in the morning and significantly hotter outside. He looked around, trying to figure out in what direction the stables were. He noticed a road sign that pointed in the direction of them and headed that way.

It only took him a couple of minutes to make it to the stables. As he approached it, he saw Azumi holding the reigns of two horses, feeding both of them sugar cubes. She glanced at Sasuke and grinned. "You made it," she said. "Thought maybe you were just fuckin' with me." She tied the two horses to a post and nodded for him to follow her into the stables. "The two for sale are in here." Sasuke followed her, looking at a couple of horses in there as he passed them. Azumi stopped in front of one of the stalls. "This one was found just beneath a mountain," she said. "The one in the stall next to him followed me and my partner to town. Don't know who he belongs to and I don't really care. Just wanna find a good home for him."

Sasuke looked at the second horse and was immediately full of rage. It was his horse. Then one he lost last night when he was shot. He looked at Azumi. "That's my horse," he said, almost growling at her.

"You want that one?" she asked. "Five hundred."

"I shouldn't have to pay for my horse," he said in a dangerously low tone, stepping close to her.

"It'll be your horse when you pay for him," she said, imitating his tone and leaning in closer. "Five. Hundred."

They glared at each other for a couple of moments, their faces inches apart. Sasuke growled quietly. "Fine," he said. "Five hundred for the horse."

"That's a good boy," she smirked, stepping back as he reached for the money he had in his small bag. She turned to open the stable gate and walk the horse out of the stall. Sasuke handed her the money, making sure he gave her the amount he intended to give her before taking the horse's reins. "Pleasure doin' business with ya," she said, stepping past him to tend to the two horses she left outside.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, unable to believe he just paid someone for his own horse. There was something he needed to find out, though. He needed to see what this Suigetsu guy looked like to clarify if these were the two he was after. He walked with the horse outside. Azumi was talking to who Sasuke assumed was her partner between the two horses.

"Sold one of 'em," he heard her say.

"Now we just gotta get rid of the other," her partner said.

Sasuke moved closer to the two horses and then approached the people that were between them. They immediately halted their conversation and looked at him. "Is there somethin' we can help ya with?" she asked.

"You two," Sasuke growled, stepping closer. "You two stole my kill and collected my money."

Azumi and Suigetsu looked at each other and then back on him. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talkin' about," Azumi said as both of them casually mounted their horses. "We make our money by finding horses with no riders and selling them to riders with no horses."

"An honest business," Suigetsu smirked. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have more riderless horses to capture." Sasuke watched as they commanded their horses to start walking.

"See ya 'round," Azumi smirked, winking at him as she passed him.

Sasuke let out another growl, knowing exactly what they were doing to him. He quickly got on his horse and as soon as he did, Azumi and Suigetsu's horses took off.