With all the members of Taka gathered outside Orochimaru's hideout, the first thing Sasuke did was show the scroll of hints to everyone, laying its contents face-up on the ground.

"The first targets we look for are going to be the A-Class ones. What does everyone think of the top half of this list?" Sasuke asked.

"Hah! I bet Naked Swordsman is referring to Suigetsu!" Karin exclaimed.

"That's not funny, Karin!" Suigetsu responded.

"I do recall you being naked when I first freed you from your tube…" Sasuke said. Karin was bursting with laughter at the visualization.

"Naked Swordsman can't be referring to me!" Suigetsu objected. "…I'm only a B-Class…" he said as he was beginning to whimper.

"Wow! You really suck, don't you?" Karin sneered.

Sasuke faced Karin and gave her a dismissive stare. "Enough bullying, Karin. But you might be on to something. A swordsman without their sword could be considered naked, right?"

"You have a point there." Jugo said.

"And the most prolific swordsmen in the world are the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist…" Karin thought aloud. "Hey, Suigetsu! You know any Swordsmen who lost their swords but are still alive?"

Upon Karin's question, Suigetsu looked down at his own chest. "Other than yourself!" Karin added.

Suigetsu shook his head. "I don't know. All the Swordsmen from the most recent complete generation are dead; them being revived during the war is proof of that. As for former wielders…"

Suigetsu hesitated for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Oh! I think I know who Naked Swordsman might be!"

"Then explain your theory." Sasuke commanded.

"All right!" Suigetsu shouted. "During the Third Ninja World War, the Seven Swordsmen got into a fight with some bushy-brow Leaf ninja."

Bushy-brow Leaf ninja? But Might Guy would have been just a kid and Rock Lee might not have even been born yet! Must have been Guy's teacher… Sasuke thought.

"That ninja opened all eight Inner Gates and defeated them so soundly that they were forced to retreat. But before they did, Old Bushy Brows managed to kill two of them: Juzo Biwa, the wielder of Kubikiribocho; and Ikonokori Nashiken, the wielder of Hiramekarei. Or at least that's what was thought at the time; when Hunter Ninja returned to the scene of the battle to recover the bodies and the swords, they managed to recover both swords and Biwa's body, but…"

"But Nashiken's body was nowhere to be found?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah." Suigetsu nodded. "That means he might still be alive and without his sword. But I don't know where Hiramekarei is right now, so Nashiken might have found it…" Suigetsu's expression turned sour. "Big Bro Mangetsu became Hiramekarei's next wielder, and after he died, I ran away from the Hidden Mist. That was when Orochimaru abducted me, so I don't know who the Hidden Mist picked to be Big Bro's successor, or if Nashiken managed to defeat them and take the sword back…"

"Wait a minute!" Karin yelled. "Hiramekarei! What does it look like?!"

"It's a huge hunk of steel wrapped in bandages that you can transform into a hammer by sending your chakra into it. Why?"

Sasuke and Karin's eyes widened and they looked at each other in bewilderment.

"What's gotten into you two? Is it something I said?" Suigetsu asked.

"We know who has Hiramekarei." Sasuke said. Suigetsu's face went blank with shock.

"During the Kage Summit, when we got… split up," Karin began to explain, "Sasuke and I ran into the Mizukage and her bodyguards. One of those bodyguards had a sword exactly as you described!"

"Just my fucking luck!" Suigetsu shouted. "Kubikiribocho gets broken and you're telling me there was another sword in the same goddamn building and I MISSED IT?!"

Suigetsu's rage made him foam at the mouth and he passed out.

"At least we know our first stop." Jugo interjected. "We go to the Hidden Mist Village, recruit that bodyguard, and have him lure out Nashiken with Hiramekarei as bait."

"What about the other A-Class targets?" Sasuke asked.

"Silent Thunder… Maybe it's referring to someone who can use Lightning Style without making a sound?" Karin pondered as she held Suigetsu's unconscious body in her arms.

"That would be a rare gift indeed." Sasuke said. "My Chidori got its name because it makes the sound of one thousand birds chirping."

"The Hidden Cloud Village has the largest number of Lightning Style users in the world. That's the most likely place to find such an individual." Jugo concluded.

"And what about Desert Maelstrom?" Karin asked.

"A maelstrom is a very strong type of wind." Sasuke said. "And the Land of Wind is one huge desert. Desert Maelstrom is probably a former Hidden Sand ninja that has very powerful Wind Style jutsu. We'll need to head to the Hidden Sand Village at some point to check their Rogue Ninja records."

"But there's also a desert in the Land of Lightning." Jugo pointed out. "The chance is slim, but just in case, we should check the Hidden Cloud Village for Desert Maelstrom as well."

Sasuke nodded. "Then it's settled. We go to the Hidden Mist, then the Hidden Cloud, then the Hidden Sand. We deal with the other half when we're finished there. Karin, wake Suigetsu up. We're heading off."

"Heading off?" Karin said. "But how are we going to reach the Hidden Mist Village? The Land of Fire and the Land of Water are separated by an ocean!"

"With this."

As Sasuke said those words he bit his thumb, turned away from the rest of Taka, and slammed his hand into the ground, bringing forth a great puff of smoke. Out came a very large hawk equipped with a four-seated saddle.

"Everyone, meet our transport for this mission. Her name's Odaka."

"Why… that name, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked as he woke up.

"It's a portmanteau of Odama and Taka. Giant and Hawk. Thought it fit."

"That name is very simple, you know…" Karin commented.

"Simple names are the easiest ones to remember…" Sasuke said as he remembered the Fourth Hokage's overly-long and ridiculous naming conventions. "At any rate, I get the pilot seat and Jugo gets shotgun. Suigetsu and Karin, you get the back."

"And just why do I have be sitting with him, huh?!" Karin shouted.

"Yeah, Sasuke, I actually agree with her on this! Why does Jugo get the front and not me?!" Suigetsu also shouted.

"No way! I should have the front with Sasuke! I'm the clear second-in-command of this team!"

"Jugo's in the front…" Sasuke interrupted, "… because he can talk to Odaka and let me know when she needs rest. You two have important jobs as well. Suigetsu, you're our lookout who'll let us know if there's anything of interest happening below us. Karin, you'll be using your sensing ability to keep our blind spots in check."

"Wait, Sasuke." Suigetsu objected. "I have to be… looking down the whole time?"

"Yes. I hope you aren't afraid of heights." Sasuke smirked and winked. Suigetsu shivered in response.

"Any more questions?" the Uchiha asked.

"Just one." Jugo said. "Why aren't we using your Susano'o to travel? It's probably a little faster than Odaka…"

"Because I can't use Susano'o for travel anymore." Sasuke revealed as all the others' jaws dropped. "Karin, you were there when I first awakened my Rinnegan. Think about how much chakra I had right at that moment." Karin took a moment to remember it upon Sasuke's request. "Now compare that with the amount of chakra I have now that I've lost my left arm." Karin then used her Mind's Eye of the Kagura technique to scan Sasuke's chakra capacity.

"It's… only about 80 percent of what it was before…" Karin stated as worry crept into her voice.

"Precisely. I'm not as strong as I was when I fought Madara. And on top of that, since I lost my left arm, my body has to re-balance its energies. That makes molding and sustaining chakra much harder than it usually is. So until I get used to fighting with only one arm, I can't hold Susano'o for any more than a few minutes at most. And that's if I'm not using any large scale Ninjutsu while it's going on. If I did that, then Susano'o might not even last long enough for me to land safely. I learned that lesson the hard way yesterday; I used Amaterasu during Susano'o, Susano'o ended a few seconds later, and I had to summon Odaka in midair in order to survive the fall."

Suigetsu's, Karin's, and Jugo's faces were hard with concern, just now fully realizing how much losing his left arm had hampered Sasuke's ability to fight.

"And… you always used Chidori with your left hand, didn't you?" Karin asked.

"Yeah. I can't use Chidori for now. But I'm sure I'll be able to use it with my right hand eventually. So don't worry about that. I left the Hidden Leaf to earn the world's forgiveness, not its pity."

"It's hard not to worry…" Karin started crying into Suigetsu's shoulder.

"Hey, can we start riding Odaka now?" Suigetsu irritably asked, walking with Karin to the back seats.

"Yeah. It's time to fly. Follow me, Jugo." Sasuke declared as he repacked the hint scroll then walked up to Odaka's front seats with Jugo just behind him. All four members of Taka boarded Odaka and at Sasuke's instruction, the large bird took off south-east, towards the Hidden Mist Village.

[X-X-X]

Several hours after Odaka took off they passed the east coast of the Land of Fire. Shortly after doing so, Suigetsu spotted something worth comment. He saw a fairly large island with a ruined city on top, and several fast water currents and whirlpools surrounding it.

"Hey, what's that?!" Suigetsu asked.

"That's… that's the Hidden Whirlpool Village!" Karin shouted when she looked down to check what Suigetsu saw. "That's where the Uzumaki Clan lived! That's where my ancestors lived!"

Here's a sight: Karin being this excited about something other than Sasuke! Suigetsu thought.

"Can we please drop in for a visit, Sasuke? Pretty please?!" Karin asked, just barely able to remain seated amidst her excitement.

"No, Karin." Sasuke answered without looking back.

"Why not?! The ruins might contain some advice about how to use my chains!"

"We need to focus on our mission. We're only landing if we reach our destination or if Odaka needs rest."

"Fine!" Karin crossed her arms and pouted. "Just promise to take me there when the mission is over!"

"Alright. We'll go to the Hidden Whirlpool Village when we've finished our mission."

[X-X-X]

Once it was nearing dusk, Jugo informed Sasuke that Odaka was tired; they needed to land to give her a chance to sleep. Unfortunately, there was another dilemma Taka faced that made such a landing difficult…

"Oh god, this mist is so thick! My glasses are fogging up just being around it!" Karin shouted.

"We must be getting close to the Hidden Mist Village." Sasuke said. "Is the mist always this thick, Suigetsu?"

Suigetsu stroked his chin. "No, it shouldn't be… I mean, it's always a little foggy, but this kind of thickness is unnatural. My best guess is that someone below is using the Hiding in Mist Jutsu."

"Like what Zabuza used?"

"Yeah! Like that!"

"Then we've got to fly lower for better visibility. Naked Swordsman might be right underneath us as we speak! Karin, start sensing for any hostile chakra!" Sasuke ordered as he commanded Odaka to descend using the reins.

As Odaka was descending, Karin sensed five bodies of chakra under them, one alone and with murderous intent, the other four together and without it. Sasuke assumed the one lone hostile chakra was Naked Swordsman and hunting the other four, so he steered Odaka closer to the quartet to warn them.

When Odaka landed, Sasuke noticed a nearby wooden house, which Karin confirmed the four docile chakra sources were coming from. Taka got off Odaka, with Sasuke cancelling Odaka's summon to keep her out of danger, and proceeded toward the house on foot. When they reached the door and Jugo knocked, someone quickly opened the door without revealing themselves and demanded the four of them come in. Among the faces that greeted Taka, only one stood out. Sasuke and Karin were taken aback since they recognized him immediately, and Suigetsu was taken aback for a different reason altogether.