Suigetsu rested for what seemed like hours to Sakaria, who never complained, but was growing bored of making daisy chains. He eventually stood up and stretched his back, then looked down at her, extending his hand. "Well, let's go. We can't sit here all day." Sakaria rolled her eyes and took his hand to stand up.

"Where are we going again?" She said, taking one of Shikamaru's cigarettes that she had stolen and popping it into her mouth after blowing a small flame onto it to light it. Suigetsu raised an eyebrow at her.

"I didn't know you smoked," he stated, seeming slightly intrigued by how much it changed her appearance. Look at you, little miss badass... he thought, grinning a little at the sight.

"I don't do it often... but sometimes you need something to take the edge off right?" She said, exhaling and pulling the cigarette away from her lips. Suigetsu thought for a moment then shrugged.

"I just kill things when I'm on edge," he said honestly. Sakaria laughed a little but couldn't escape the memory of Shikamaru that flashed into her head as she inhaled the smoke from his cigarette. It was in that moment of remembrance that she noted Suigetsu was nothing like her friend back in the leaf village. He was crass and volatile. He often acted upon impulse without analyzing things... in fact, she wasn't even sure that the word "analyze" was in Suigetsu's vocabulary. The more she learned about her new friend, the more she realized he was going to take some getting used to.

That wasn't to say she didn't enjoy his company though. Suigetsu was definitely more adventurous than Shikamaru and he humored her childish habits a little more. Shikamaru would have never asked her to show him how to make daisy chains. She found herself laughing more often with Suigetsu around as well which made her ponder something else.

Am I just a copy of whoever I'm around...? She asked herself, thinking back to the way she acted around both men, There's no way I can fit in with both of these people. They're polar opposites... Maybe I don't know who I am... Her train of thought was interrupted by Suigetsu, knocking aggressively on her head like a door.

"Hellooo!" He called, "anybody home?"

"Ow! Ow! Geez!" She replied, coming back to earth and holding her head where his knuckles had landed multiple times, "What's your deal!?"

"I said we're headed to one of Orochimaru's hideouts," Suigetsu responded, looking at her closely. "Sheesh, you really don't listen." He stuck his nose in the air and crossed his arms to show disapproval. "What's going on in there that you can't focus, huh?" Sakaria rolled her eyes, smirked, and started walking as he continued, keeping pace with her and resting his hands on the back of his head. "I can't figure you out, girlie. It's like one second you're here and the next you're off in a different world. You should really try to pay better attention, especially when someone is talking to you. I mean, you could miss vital information if you keep spacing out like that. And anyway, what's so important that it takes all of your attention to think about it? I mean, it makes you seem really insensitive when you-"

"Shh!" Sakaria said, putting out her cigarette and suddenly putting her hand over Suigetsu's rambling mouth as they trekked further into the woods after coming down from the mountainside. He continued to talk, protesting her effort to silence him, but the sound was muffled by her hand, and Sakaria directed her ear in the direction of a noise she had heard in the forest. "Did you hear that?" She removed her hand from his mouth and reached to pull a kunai from the holster on her leg.

"Oh, NOW you can hear," Suigetsu complained, not paying attention.

"Hush!" Sakaria said, looking around. Near silence fell over the forest for a moment as the wind rattled the leaves in the trees. "Whatever it is sounds big..."

Suigetsu perked up for a moment, finally noticing what she was hearing, then grinned determinedly. "I know that sound... That's-" Before he could finish his sentence, Jugo came barreling at the two of them, half transformed from his curse mark and roaring like a wild beast. Sakaria managed to jump into a tree above her, leaving Suigetsu to fend off his rampage with his sword.

"Jugo!" Sakaria shouted, not understanding why he would attack them, "What are you doing!? It's us!"

"I don't care who you are, I'll tear you limb from limb!" He shouted, his voice deep and growling as a crazed laugh over took him. He swung at Suigetsu, who avoided the hit with a splash, then got behind him, attempting to pin him to a nearby tree with his arm which had mutated and quadrupled in size to hold his opponent.

"He's on a rampage," Suigetsu said as Jugo ripped away from his grip and turned back to him, suddenly rushing toward him. Sakaria was frozen, unsure of what to think. She had never seen Jugo act this irrational and had thought of him as a fairly meek, easy going guy.

"Oy! Fireball!" Suigetsu called, jumping away from his opponent, "Now's not the time to visit Lala land, okay?" His voice was stern albeit sarcastic. "You need to get away from here." Jugo rushed at him, pinning Suigetsu against a tree and morphing the demonic side of his body into an axe-like weapon. Sakaria's eyes widened and she disappeared from the branch in shock.

"C'mon you crazy son of a bitch. Snap out of it!" Suigetsu shouted, holding his sword against Jugo's unchanged hand.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill both of you!" Jugo wailed, his eyes wild as a psychopathic grin covered his face.

Suddenly, his grin disappeared and was replaced with angry confusion. Suigetsu heard Sakaria shout from behind his massive attacker, "Suigetsu! Get out of the way!" Then moved as quickly as possible, watching from a distant tree as she quickly made a few hand signs. The air around them began to swirl aggressively as if the start of a storm was coming, and the purple eyed man stared down in awe as a whirlwind formed around Jugo, devouring him. "Wind prison!" Sakaria shouted, jumping back herself to escape the repercussions of the massive vortex that she had created. Her hair flew wildly behind her as she listened to Jugo's muffled yell from inside of it.

"You dumb bitch!" He laughed manically, "I've been locked up for ages! You think THIS is going to stop me!?" He attempted to bulldoze his way out of the eye of the cyclone, only to be smothered by the lack of oxygen as it receded further and began to suffocate him. As he started to choke, he could be heard still fighting inside although neither Sakaria nor Suigetsu could see him through the swirling wind. When Sakaria could no longer sense his violent chakra mixed within her storm with her sharingan, she released both jutsus, causing the trees around her to suddenly settle, and the leaves that had been ripped off and blown around, to flutter to the ground. As soon as everything settled, Suigetsu jumped from his place in the tree above to join Sakaria as she kneeled down by Jugo who was morphed back to normal and holding his head groaning.

"What... the hell... was that?" Sakaria gasped, more to Suigetsu than their disoriented teammate.

"A better question is, where did that come from?" Suigetsu said, still impressed by Sakaria's talent. "That was some quick thinking, girlie."

Sakaria huffed, obviously exhausted. "Thanks, but... don't expect it too often." She looked up at Suigetsu, forcing a smile. "That jutsu... takes a lot... out of me." She collapsed, and Suigetsu caught her, pulling her close to him, still kneeling on the forest floor.

"Is she alright?" Jugo asked, finally back to his usual self, but still holding his head. The oxygen deprivation had caused him a serious headache, but he was genuinely concerned about his acquaintance.

"She'll be fine," Suigetsu said, standing and tossing her over his shoulder. "She just wasted a lot of chakra on your crazy ass." Jugo's face was solemn as he absorbed the insult. He was used to Suigetsu's insensitive remarks and had accepted a long time ago that they wouldn't ever stop. He followed as his teammate started walking away and watched as Suigetsu carried the young girl who had stopped his attack just moments ago on his shoulder like a rag doll.

"Suigetsu," he said, looking down, "be careful not to step on her hair." His eyes were focused on the girl's long hair that nearly dragged the ground behind them.

The mist shinobi stopped and looked over his shoulder, then adjusted her weight as if she was a sack of flour and kept moving, her hair still draped over him. "She'll be fine," he repeated, unconcerned. Honestly, I'm just glad she isn't dead. Wouldn't that be fun to explain to Sasuke? He thought, Sasuke! Good news is, we found your long lost baby sister. Bad news is she's dead and its all our fault! Suigetsu shuddered at the thought of what would follow the hypothetical conversation, then sighed. "At least we're not too far from where we need to be," he griped, "I'm getting tired myself." Luckily, as if the sky was listening to his complaint, it started to rain, the hydration from it giving him a little relief

"Do you want me to-"

"No." He surprised even himself with how quick he was to deny Jugo taking over the privilege of carrying the young Uchiha girl, even if her dead weight was causing his shoulder to become sore. "We'll be there soon, anyway," he reminded his cohort, trying to cover his tracks. Jugo, of course, saw right through Suigetsu's ruse and shook his head at how attached his partner had apparently gotten to their new teammate while he was away. "So, what was going on with those Samurai?" He asked, attempting to change the subject, "And where the hell is my executioner's blade!?"

"I looked for it..." Jugo said, halfheartedly. "I didn't see it anywhere." Suigetsu slammed his palm into his forehead, almost unable to believe he had lost the first ever sword he had found to add to his collection already. "Maybe one of the samurai took it to use during the war... They weren't there when I went back to check."

"No," Suigetsu sighed, "that sword requires elite skill... and anyway, I wouldn't think a samurai would want to wield a weapon so big to begin with." He trudged forward, deep in thought, while he attempted to figure out where it could possibly be.

"Easy come, easy go," Jugo said, shrugging.

With that, Suigetsu snapped, "Easy for you to say! You didn't have to run Sasuke's stupid race to get the damn thing. Do you even know how hard it is not to kill people!?" He silenced himself as Jugo cut his eyes toward him and raised an eyebrow at his dumb question. Suigetsu turned back toward the direction they were walking and let out an aggravated sigh. "At this rate, I'll be ancient by the time I collect all seven swords."

Jugo looked up at the entrance to Orochimaru's laboratory, suddenly uninterested in the conversation they'd been having. "Suigetsu..." The white haired man looked up after lowering his head in frustration and realized they had arrived at their destination after seeing the large, stone snake head before him.

"Finally," he sighed, walking over and leaning Sakaria against the wall by the entrance. He was sure to set her under the roof of the snake's mouth so she would stay as dry as possible.

"You're going to leave her out here?" Jugo asked, looking down at the small, black haired Uchiha girl. He couldn't help but think how easy it would be to run off with her, especially while she was unconscious.

Suigetsu, still kneeled down to be sure Sakaria's head was set gently against the rock wall, looked up and replied, "She'll be okay out here. This shouldn't take long... Or at least I hope not." He almost second guessed her safety, but remembered how she handled Jugo's rage earlier and decided that she would be okay. "And, even if she gets into some trouble, I'm sure we'll hear her." Jugo decided not to press the matter any further since Suigetsu seemed so sure of himself. "Besides," he said, walking inside while Jugo lit up the hallway, "Why would you care if she's okay? You tried to kill us just a while ago." Jugo scoffed slightly as they continued walking down the hallway.

"The size of this hideout is ridiculous," Suigetsu continued, trying to change the subject again. He looked back to Jugo after hearing him grunt and realized he was holding his head in pain. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. My head just started hurting," Jugo said, still wincing.

Is he going to go on a rampage again, Suigetsu thought, looking at his partner with disdain. Sasuke, Karin, Jugo... Hebi, Taka, or whatever... I'm the only normal one among us... well, not including the little Uchiha outside... but, if she's anything like her brother, then she's crazy too. He turned back, smirking to himself at the last thought.

"Suigetsu..." Jugo said, stopping to hold his head in hopes that his headache would soon subside.

"What is it?" Suigetsu stopped and turned his head again.

"Something's always bothered me about you..."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm always concerned about you... you keep me on pins and needles," he replied, unfazed.

"I'm here because I made a promise to Kimimaro. Why are you here? Are you in team Taka just to cause trouble with Sasuke and Karin?"

"Why?" Suigetsu asked, repeating his question to be sure he understood what he was asking.

"Yeah, Why?" Jugo nodded.

"Why huh?" Suigetsu needed time to think about this question himself. Sasuke had released him from the tank Orochimaru had kept him in for all that time... but why did he stay to help? Especially with that damn Karin around, always swinging at him and getting under his skin. The question rattled in his head momentarily before he answered with a laugh and an evil smirk crossing his face, "I would love to break those two losers up for good! I can't help it! I just want to break everything in two!" His voice sounded crazed, but Jugo stood listening, unbothered by it.

"You're reprehensible, you know that?" He replied flatly.

Suigetsu suddenly collected himself, "On that scale, Sasuke is the worst of all."

"What?"

"Well, he beat Itachi so, I thought he had reached his goal already," Suigetsu's mind flashed back to attacking Killer Bee, "I mean, give me a break. Teaming up with the Akatsuki to capture the jinchuriki of the eight tails? He got us mixed up in one outrageous mission." He looked back on the moment he had to fight the eight tales alone and snarled a little, "All of us nearly died that day... Somehow we managed to finish the job, but the next thing we knew, we were crashing the Five Kage Summit...We ended up in a battle Royale against Raikage and the rest of them." He crossed his arms at the thought of his executioner's blade being broken in two by the Raikage. "Then, when the fist fight was over, he razed the ceiling and didn't give a damn about us. Thanks to him, we ended up as prisoners in the Land of Iron." He put his hand to the side of his head, his brow twitching in frustration as he thought of the loss of his beloved blade, then crossed his arms again and closed his eyes, still annoyed. "I hate all of you! I lead you idiots to water, and you just splash it in my face instead of drinking it. That's why-" He was interrupted by a loud scream coming from Jugo. When he opened his eyes, Jugo had transformed again, half of his body covered by his curse mark. "Yikes! He's on a rampage! Is he out to kill!?" Before he could think straight, Jugo rushed toward him, attempting to take off Suigetsu's head with his mutated arm, but of course, only splashed through him and hit the wall behind.

In a moment of quick thinking, Suigetsu remembered Sakaria's attempt to suffocate him, and used his water transformation to form a sphere of water around Jugo's head in an attempt to drown him. "I hate you most of all!" While Jugo struggled against the water, he fell against the wall he had weakened previously and it came crashing down around him, revealing a secret room. "Huh?" Suigetsu released the jutsu, leaving Jugo on under the ruble of the wall to recuperate as he gazed inside. "This is..." He began walking in, still in shock, "I've been here lots of times. I never knew this existed...Is this one of Orochimaru's secret rooms?" He hopped through the hole Jugo had created with his arm and landed on his bare feet, looking around.

After fighting through some cobwebs and dust, a chalkboard hanging over a desk caught his eye, then he looked down at the scroll that was sitting in front of it along with several pages of notes. "Huh?" He started glancing through the words, piecing together information. The more clarity he gained from the writing, the more shocked he became. This is... Orochimaru planned all of this? If so, this intel could change the outcome of this entire war! He thought, his eyes wide as he scanned over the papers before him.

In that moment, his reading was interrupted by Jugo, who sat up grunting slightly in pain, "What are you doing?" He managed to ask as he looked into the hidden room.

Suigetsu grinned and rolled the scroll back before stuffing it in his cloak, "This might be another very nice present for Sasuke. We found another incredible thing by chance!" First, the Uchiha sister, and now this. Boy, we've sure gotten lucky without Karin around! Jugo coughed some of the water he had taken in earlier, and Suigetsu cut his eyes at him, still smiling, "Jugo, that punch is water under the bridge..." He started to walk out but noticed Jugo still coughing as he attempted to stand, "Snap out of it, Jugo," he flared, jumping from the hole in the wall, "We've got to find Sasuke quick!"

With that, the two walked out of the hideout to find Sakaria still resting quietly against the stone mouth of the entrance. "Oy," Jugo said, kicking her slightly.

"No, don't do that," Suigetsu griped, protectively. He was pleasantly surprised she was still out there, and that nothing had happened to her while he was spelunking. "Just let her sleep." He kneeled down and threw her over his shoulder again. "If I know anything about women, it's that they're a pain when they're awake... but an even bigger pain if you don't let them rest." He adjusted the girl on his shoulder, and started walking out into the rain. They both looked as the birds in the sky flew in haphazard directions.

"The birds are uneasy," Jugo said, trying to make sense of what they were all saying. He looked in the direction of the calamity and mumbled, "This way." They started in the direction Jugo indicated, walking away from the hideout and ready to finally find Sasuke.