Let's start this from the beginning

Swordsmen of the Mist

XI

A bit earlier…

However, his problems unfortunately didn't stop there. Barely five minutes after he had found the corridor, Itachi reached a crossroad with three different paths he could take.

With no sign of which of these paths Zabuza might have taken if he had even been here at all, Itachi decided to create two crow clones to cover all three of them.

- Chapter 36

While the original and the other clone took the left and the middle corridor respectively, he took the right one without a second's hesitation. With how things were at the moment, they couldn't afford any delay.

Unfortunately –or fortunately, depending on how one looked at it- he didn't find anything of note. No matter how long he ran and in how many rooms he looked, there wasn't a sign of Zabuza to be found anywhere. Furthermore, were it not for the fact that there was no dust on any of the sparse furniture, he would have believed that the hideout was deserted completely.

He wondered if the other two were more successful but somehow doubted it. With how maze-like the entire complex was, it was doubtful that either of them would find anything in any reasonable amount of time.

It was only a few minutes after thinking this that he ran past a particularly conspicuous piece of wall.

On second thought, calling it 'conspicuous' was probably not quite right. After all, nothing about it stood out in any way. On the surface, it looked just like every other part of the wall he had run past for who knew how long now. Nothing appeared out of ordinary.

That was only true if one didn't possess the Sharingan, though. If one did possess its ocular powers, however, the lines of chakra that rippled inside of it behind a thin layer of stone were impossible to overlook, and while Itachi wasn't an expert by any means of the world, he clearly recognized Fuinjutsu when he saw it. It was probably fortunate that the wall that hid it wasn't thicker than this because then he might actually have missed it.

Now, this put him in a rather difficult position. While his primary mission was to find Zabuza, Itachi couldn't just leave this alone. Not when someone went through great lengths to make sure nobody would find whatever these seals hid.

It was also important to note that nothing he knew about Kushimaru and Jinin indicated that either of them had any skill in Fuinjutsu whatsoever, meaning they must have an ally who created these seals for them.

Ultimately, he decided to further investigate his fund rather than continue his search. This decision was one of practicality above all else; the corridor he currently found himself was a dead end and he had already checked every single room on the way here, so he would need to backtrack quite a lot to find a corridor he hadn't searched yet. That would be several minutes that would be wasted and could be used instead to investigate something that might give him clues about a potential third enemy they had no idea even existed until now.

He also briefly considered creating a clone of his own before discarding that idea. While crow clones used notable less chakra than other clone techniques, he was just a clone himself and thus had considerably less chakra available than his original. Wasting the little he had would be foolish, especially when he would need every drop of it for this endeavour.

Decision made, he began working on bypassing the protective seals.

The part of the seal he could see was obviously only a fraction of the entire thing. If it protected something like a hidden room, it must encircle it completely, after all. Itachi needed to see the entire seal if he wanted to possibly break through it, though, so he had no other choice than to use the Hiding in Surface Technique to phase through the earth and observe the seal from every side.

What he found wasn't very promising.

Itachi was no expert in Fuinjutsu, but he recognized enough to realize that this was a powerful barrier. It wasn't the strongest he had ever seen –it didn't even come close to the one Kabuto had created during the Fourth Great Ninja War to hide himself, for example- and clearly focused more on staying hidden than actually keeping someone out, but still very powerful and well-crafted.

And he had no idea how to circumvent it.

The only option that left him with was breaking through it with brute force. Unfortunately, considering his aforementioned limited amount of chakra, that was easier said than done. He was sure he could do it if he used most of his reserves and aimed at one of the slightly weaker points he had found, but that would not only leave him defenceless in case of an attack but probably alert its creator as well.

Even more unfortunate, Itachi hadn't much of a choice. It was either this or giving up on getting through entirely.

Thus, once he found the weakest spot in the barrier, he concentrated almost all of his chakra into his right hand not too different to how one would create a chakra scalpel and slammed it into it.

There was a short moment of resistance before the entire barrier and the wall it protected crumbled into a thousand tiny pieces before vanishing altogether.

The room that revealed itself didn't look special at all. If anything, it looked just like any other study he had ever seen; the walls –including the one he had just blown a hole into- were packed with shelves full of books and scrolls, there was a big desk crammed with writing utensils, and a big comfy chair in front of it.

It took only a short look into one of the nearby scrolls to realize that this wasn't a normal study at all, however.

After all, how many studies had writings about human experiments and forbidden techniques stuffed into it?

It didn't take a genius to realize whom this study belonged to.

Itachi didn't let that revelation distract him for long, though. Instead, he went right to work and skimmed over as many manuscripts as he could in as little time as possible. After all, if his theory was correct, someone –probably Orochimaru himself- would already be on their way here to see who had broken into the room and dispose of the intruder.

What he found quickly confirmed what he already suspected; while this was indeed a study of the Sannin, it wasn't his main working space. The works here might describe vile experiments and theories, and even include some insight into techniques he worked on, but none of them was in much detail or about truly important things. There were probably dozens of such rooms hidden all over the hideout to make sure that not too much information fell into an enemy's hands if they found one of them, all only keeping small pieces that wouldn't be too helpful on their own without the rest.

But it was still better than nothing. With that in mind, Itachi hurriedly took an empty scroll and began sealing everything he found into it, not even bothering anymore so look at its content. There was no time to be selective now; someone else could sort this all out at a later point.

After all, there wasn't a thing as too much information.

Once he was done with that, he would need to search out his original immediately and handle the scroll to him to make sure that it didn't get lost when he himself ran out of chakra and dissolved. It wouldn't be easy to find him in this maze of corridors, but if he-

The memories of another clone being dissolved by the claws of some deformed figure hit him like a punch to the face. So the original found out about whom this base belongs to as well, he thought. That would explain why nobody came for me yet. Someone breaking out a test subject surely bothers Orochimaru more than someone breaking into a mostly meaningless study.

However, it was all the more reason to hurry and get back to the original.

With that in mind, he sealed away the last book before running out of the room without a look back, rushing back to where he came from and hoping that this was the right way.

This was not the time to walk around cluelessly.

Anko had been hurt many times throughout her career. Whether it was cuts, broken bones, or even poisoning, she had endured it all. Not always in grace, sure, but endured nonetheless. At the end of the day, she had gotten over it, recovered, and moved on.

And yet the pain that shot through her veins at this very moment was like nothing she had ever experienced before.

She wasn't the kind of person to give up in the face of hardship, but as things were now, she couldn't do anything but wiggle on the ground in agony and hope for the sweet release of unconsciousness. Not death, she wasn't that far gone yet, but the black numbness that engulfed one's mind when their minds shut themselves down.

Spreading from her neck, flames spread through her body, destroying and remaking everything in their path as they reached further and further into the innermost parts of herself. Her muscles spasmed, her bones ached, and her skin felt too tight on her body. And as if that wasn't already enough, it also grew so sensible that even the softest breeze felt like being stabbed by a thousand knives.

"Kukuku, I wonder how someone who mastered Sage Mode will handle the process."

Anko heard him even with the all-consuming pain that lay over her senses like a dark blanket, and she even managed to throw a heated glare at him before once more succumbing to the pain and burying her head in her arms while grinding her teeth to avoid a scream when a particularly strong wave of anguish shot through her.

"Rejoice, Anko-chan. I suspect that your experience with senjutsu chakra will significantly increase your likelihood to survive."

She growled. "Go to hell you-" However, she didn't manage to finish that sentence before a new surge made her gasp.

"Now, that isn't very nice of you, is it? I went out of my way to grant you such an amazing power and you're not even appreciative of it! How rude."

Anko wanted to scream "It doesn't feel amazing in the slightest", but she knew better than to try speaking again when she probably wouldn't be able to finish the sentence anyway.

"I look forward to what you will be able to do with this gift of mine," he continued, apparently uncaring whether she could reply or not. "Until now, I didn't even think it possible that I would one day be able to observe my Cursed Seal interact with a true Sage. Will you be able to stay in Sage Mode indefinitely? Will you get even more raw power than with either technique alone or will they cancel each other out? Will these two opposites flourish or will they wither away?" He chuckled. "Oh, my dear, there is so much the two of us will learn from this, I promise you."

Anko had stopped listening to him halfway through his monologue and instead tried to focus on what was going on inside her body.

Needless to say, she was confused.

At first glance, what he had injected in her felt like a small, concentrated amount of his own chakra, and that was definitively part of it. However, aside from that, there was also another chakra signature she didn't recognize but that seemed to be the adhesive element between Orochimaru's chakra and the third component:

Natural energy.

She had almost not recognized it at first with how different it felt from what she was used to, but once she concentrated exclusively on it whenever the pain somewhat ebbed away, she realized that it couldn't be anything else. There was something unnatural about it, yes, and it felt much more sinister than natural energy had any right to be, but considering who Orochimaru was and what he had done in the past, it wasn't too much of a stretch to conclude that he had experimented with it in order to become a Sage after the usual method didn't work out for him.

Unfortunately, this knowledge did not help her in any meaningful way. She might be skilled in shaping natural chakra, but this was far too different for her to be able to apply her knowledge to it.

I'm sorry, she thought as the faces of Itachi, Aoda, Yukio, and Tanaka-sensei flashes before her eyes. I don't think I will get out of this. Her only hope was that Itachi's team would launch a rescue mission for her, and Anko couldn't let that happen. Not when it could result in all their deaths.

No, the risk of that was simply too high.

However, that didn't mean she would let herself be captured either. Not only had she no interest in becoming a test subject for whatever vile experiments Orochimaru would come up with, but she was also too proud to let that happen. It was a shame that she didn't have the energy to stand up and use the Twin Snakes Mutual Death Technique for a last-ditch effort in taking him with her, but alas, you couldn't have everything. As long as she could kill herself and destroy the syringe in her pouch to avoid letting it fall into Orochimaru's hands, she would be happy.

Anko was just about to put her plan into action when a whizzing sound reached her ears.

A second later, the probably biggest blade she had ever seen cut right through Orochimaru's torso before continuing its trajectory until it embedded itself into a nearby tree, serving as a platform for the person that appeared on it a heartbeat later.

Anko, however, focused her blurry sight solely on Orochimaru. The Sannin had made no peep when cut in half, and it quickly showed why; before his upper body could even hit the ground, both halves sprouted dozens of snakes that quickly entwined with each other and then pulled the two parts together again. The entire process lasted less than three seconds, and at the end of it, Orochimaru stood there as if nothing had happened.

"Ah," he said, his grin never even faltering. "Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist. I take it your presence here means that Jinin is dead, then?"

"Orochimaru," the other man replied in a mocking imitation of Orochimaru's voice. "So you're their ally, then?"

"I offered them shelter and they brought me new subjects for my experiment in return. If you want to call us allies because of just that, you're free to do so."

She stopped listening after that as an idea began to take shape inside her head. It was crazy, but with Orochimaru momentarily distracted by the new arrival as he was, she might actually be able to pull it off.

And if she did, she might even get out of this with her life intact.

Verifying that he was indeed not looking at her, she carefully slipped her hand into her pouch while trying her very best to stop the shaking that had engulfed her entire body at this point and pulled a small syringe out of it.

At Ryūchi Cave, the first thing someone who wanted to learn Sage Mode needed to do was to let themselves be injected with the venom of the White Snake Sage as it contained a large amount of natural energy. Only those that manage to not only survive but also avoid transforming into a snake when injected with it were allowed to study there.

Before she left, Anko had asked permission to take some of it with her, and the Sage had agreed.

Who would have thought that I would use it so soon already?

Without any hesitation, she took the syringe and injected herself with the venom.

If the pain earlier had been intense, then Anko didn't know what she should call this. It felt as if her body was torn apart while two different forces fought inside of her, clashing like fire and water and destroying everything around them in the process. She felt her body squirm and cramp while it changed as it always did when she used Sage Mode, though it felt worse than usual, and she felt her chakra skyrocket with an intensity that brought tears to her eyes.

Anko didn't really notice the two currently present men jerking around to look at her with similar expressions of surprise and confusion on their faces, nor did she even really notice herself standing up. All she knew was that she needed to move now before her body gave up on her.

She kicked off with enough force to make the ground explode beneath her, barely even feeling when the bones in her foot broke and the muscles in her leg tore under the pressure, and almost instantaneously appeared in front of Orochimaru.

The Sannin didn't have time to do as much as widen his eyes before her in green chakra coated fist smashed into his guts, making him throw up blood while her own fist was pretty much annihilated by the impact of it as well.

His body curled around her first for a moment before he was sent flying with a sonic boom, tearing through trees and rocks without even slowing down and vanishing from sight in an instant.

A loud explosion several seconds later announced that he must have hit an obstacle that didn't just give way and instead served as a hard stop for Orochimaru's flight.

By the time Anko's head hit the ground, she had already drifted into the welcome numbness of unconsciousness.

"You let her face Orochimaru on her own?"

"She seemed confident that she would be able to stand up against him for at least a while."

"And what if she's wrong about that?"

Itachi didn't bother with a reply. They both knew what would happen if he had judged the situation wrong and he saw no reason to speak out the obvious.

Furthermore, he still believed that he had made the right decision. While he and Anko together would most certainly be able to best Orochimaru, the Sannin's ability to wriggle his way out of even the most desperate situation remained the same and would probably result in him fleeing once the table turned against him. Without the element of surprise on their side, trying to take Orochimaru was almost destined to fail. No, it was wiser to retreat for now and confront him at a later point when Itachi and his teammates were in better condition.

Speaking of his teammates' condition…

"You have been lucky, Kakashi," he said while channelling some more chakra into to wound on his chest to make the flesh slowly snitch back together. "These wounds might be deep, but they wouldn't have killed you even without my aid."

Kakashi gave a humourless chuckle, thankfully not mentioning the obvious change of topic. "I guess, but forgive me if I don't feel particularly lucky right now."

Itachi nodded. As nonlethal as the wounds might be, they were certainly still very uncomfortable, and things weren't improved by the fact that Itachi couldn't do much to lessen the pain. In fact, even if he actually knew how, he wouldn't be able to do it under these circumstances because he wouldn't dare to numb his teammate's sense when there were still enemies around.

Still, Kakashi really had been lucky. The cuts didn't actually go deep enough to have harmed any organs, for one thing, and also cut cleanly through flesh and muscles instead of messily tearing them apart like it regularly happened when one got hit by a clumsy attack. If there's one advantage in fighting one of the Seven Swordsmen, Itachi thought, then it's that all their attacks are very precise. As long as they only graze you, the odds are that the wound won't be too bad.

The fact that there was a third Swordsmen present, however, was very concerning. It made one wonder what else they had overlooked. There couldn't be any other of them lurking around considering Ringo's corpse had been the only one of the group's dead members that had been unaccounted for and the only other surviving member was Kisame who never liked Orochimaru and would rather let him die than help him even if he was in the area, but that didn't mean that there couldn't be any other opponents left.

Any other opponents aside from Nakamura, that is, Itachi silently conceded in the privacy of his mind.

The nuke-nin was sneaking around the edges of Itachi's awareness, clearly just waiting for his chance to rush in and kidnap the unconscious girl that lay a few metres to his right. Itachi had actually hoped that he would have tried something by now simply because that would have given him the opportunity to take him out and possibly even take him prisoner, but unfortunately, he seemed smart enough to realize that he was completely outclassed.

And yet he doesn't seem to understand what it means that Orochimaru sent him after me even though there is little to no chance for him to succeed or even survive the attempt.

"Do you still have Ration Pills left?"

Kakashi raised a brow at that question. "One, yeah" he said. "What about you?"

"I lost my pouch when I fought her," Itachi said with a tilt of his head towards the motionless form of the girl to their side. "There was not enough time to go look for it before I retreated, so I don't have any with me anymore."

"Do you want me to give it to you?"

"You are the one who will need them when we retreat from here," Itachi said. "I might be able to heal your wounds for the most part, but you still won't have much energy and we can't let you fall behind."

Kakashi grimaced at that -aware of not only their taste but also their side effects as he was, Itachi couldn't say he blamed him- but didn't disagree with him.

Both of them suddenly tensed while their heads jerked around when they felt a chakra signature quickly heading straight for them, only to relax a moment later when they recognised who it was.

"This entire mission is a complete shitshow."

Usually, Itachi might have been amused by such an entrance, but right now, both that sentiment and his relief at seeing Zabuza alive and mostly well became meaningless in favour of what he saw who the Swordsman carried in his arms.

"Lay her down," he said, and for the first time since he knew the man, he didn't resist something that could be interpreted as a direct order.

Itachi immediately raised to his feet and rushed over to Anko's side. His treatment of Kakashi was pretty much finished anyway and she was clearly in much more need of medical assistance.

Kakashi was right next to him. After all, even if he did barely know Anko, he still cared about every inhabitant of Konoha. "What happened to her?" he asked while Itachi kneeled down to check on her. "And what about Orochimaru?"

Zabuza shrugged. "Fuck if I know. She was already lying on the ground and writhing in pain by the time I found her after I killed Jinin, though it must have been a hell of a fight before that judging from the destruction all around. Next thing I know that girl stands up and punches that snake with enough power to make him fly away faster than I could follow. I sent a clone after him before I took her here, so we will know soon enough if he's still alive or not."

All three of them noticed the presence of their silent watcher -Nakamura- vanishing at these words, most likely to check on his master, but none cared enough to go after him of even mention it.

"Her left leg and foot are heavily damaged," Itachi said. "Her right fist as well. She must have put a lot of power into her attack if the backlash is-"

He abruptly stopped when his eyes fell upon the dark markings on her neck, his mouth going dry. He knew what it was, of course, and thus understood exactly what it meant. This is bad, he thought, whatever idea he might have had about confronting Orochimaru later all but forgotten. Even if she survives this, she will not take that well.

"Itachi, what-"

"You know the Evil Sealing Method, don't you?" he interrupted Kakashi while pushing the fabric of Anko's clothes a bit away to reveal the Cursed Seal on her neck.

Kakashi's demeanour instantly became even more serious. "I do."

"Good." Itachi quickly created a Crow Clone before channelling chakra into his hands for his medical Ninjutsu. "I will heal the worst of her injuries to make sure they don't become permanent and then you will suppress that seal Orochimaru put on her." He turned towards Zabuza. "In the meanwhile, my clone will heal your wounds as much as time allows."

While none of his injuries appeared to be too threatening, they would still slow him down, especially the burns on his leg. Considering they needed to move as quickly as possible, that couldn't be allowed.

Fortunately, Zabuza seemed to think along the same lines and didn't resist.

As much as Itachi would have liked to check Orochimaru's status personally, there simply wasn't any time for that. Sending a clone would need to do for now. However, the most important thing right now was to make sure that everyone in their group survived, and considering both their targets were dead, they had already successfully finished their mission and thus had no reason to stay here any longer.

Distracted as they were, none of them noticed the other pair of eyes that watched them with great interest from a safe distance away. Although to be fair, it was unlikely that any of them would have noticed this figure even if they paid closer attention to their surroundings.

"Huh, so did that little girly really beat Orochimaru? I told you we should watch that fight instead!"

"Unlikely. He probably just let himself hit to get away."

"She has his Curse Mark, though. Wouldn't he want to take her with him?"

"Who knows. Maybe he wants to observe her from afar first."

The first person chuckled. "Oh, yes, he always liked to play his little games, didn't he?"

The other person didn't reply, and a few seconds later, the plant-like extensions that emerged from their sides enveloped them once more before they sank into the ground.

Healing Anko completely was way beyond Itachi's current abilities. As it was, he could do barely enough to stabilize her enough to make sure that none of her injuries would become permanent before some more proficient healer could look her over -or at least that's what he hoped. With how severe her arm and leg were harmed, there was no way to be sure.

Still, once he had done everything he could, he could finally concentrate on the uneasy feeling in his stomach. Shinobi generally had a sixth sense for when they were in danger that developed more and more the longer they lived, and right now, his instincts told him that there was something very dangerous and oddly familiar close by. In fact, it wasn't as much the fact that he felt something directly that made him sure about that but the fact that he didn't feel anything specific at all.

If something could put him on edge as much as this while still being almost imperceptible, it was definitively a threat.

"Kakashi-"

"The wind is blowing in the wrong direction," he interrupted him, predicting what he was going to ask. "I'm reasonably sure that no one is behind us, but it's impossible to say whether someone is in front of us or not."

That wasn't reassuring at all. Not only because there could appear someone right on top of them without any notice, but also because the fact that Kakashi had felt something as well ruled out that Itachi was just imagining things. Not that he really thought that was the case, of course, but it would have been nice to be the case.

"I can't feel anything," Zabuza added, his voice sounding marginally more serious than before. "I can usually feel when someone dangerous is close because I'm good at it myself and know all the tricks, so that I can't do so now must mean someone is hiding really well."

So it was all three of them that felt something was off, then. While Zabuza's way to conclude whether someone was close was certainly a bit unusual considering the situation, it wasn't unheard of. In fact, it was a good strategy to think like something was off when everything appeared to be just fine. Itachi himself preferred to have actual clues instead, but working with Kisame for years meant that he had come to appreciate that line of thinking. Furthermore, he-

Itachi suddenly stopped in his tracks when his brain made some very important connections:

There's someone very dangerous close by, he thought. Someone very dangerous that can stay hidden from not just Kakashi and me but Zabuza as well. Someone whose presence I can sense only subconsciously but still feels familiar…

The number of people to whim this applied wasn't very big, and it grew even smaller when one took into consideration whom of them might have a reason to be here.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that Nagato made them team up for a mission in this area. After all, Kisame might not want to help Orochimaru, but they're still both Akatsuki. And while he certainly wouldn't go out of his way to help him, Kisame would most likely be interested in fighting someone strong enough to fight Orochimaur and come out of it alive.

A short "stay here" was all the warning he gave his teammates when Kakashi was about to ask him what he was thinking before vanishing in a shunshin and reappearing on the tallest tree in the area.

The sight that presented itself to him was anything but reassuring:

While they were a good bit away from the capital, Itachi could see it in the distance. However, much more importantly, he could also see the plumes of smoke that rose to the sky as well as the flickering of yellow and red light that indicated that several places there were on fire.

He was sure he would hear terrified screams and anguished cries too if they were any closer.

None of this was evidence for Kisame being the one responsible, of course, but it at the very least was proof that their senses hadn't deceived them.

It also meant that the city was not a suitable place to go to. Furthermore, if he interpreted the growing feeling of tension in the pit of his stomach correctly, the source of all this chaos was steadily coming closer and would reach them sooner rather than later. Kakashi wasn't in any condition to fight, however, and while Zabuza's condition was marginally better, he too wouldn't be of much help against a powerful opponent even if he didn't need to carry Anko, and they both wouldn't be able to escape any pursuer as they were now.

There was only one way to go from here and Itachi didn't like it one bit.

His teammates would probably like it even less, though.

"P-please, just let me-"

The dead body hit the ground before the man could even finish his plea.

"Man," Kisame said, his voice a mixture of amusement and disappointment. "I thought the people that guard a daimyo would be a bit stronger than that. How are you guys supposed to protect that bastard when you're this weak?"

Not that there was anyone to answer him considering all the guards were either already dead or had fled when they realized how outclassed they were.

He honestly couldn't say which group he found more disappointing.

"And all this trouble just because you wouldn't leave me alone…"

All he had done was trying to find Kushimaru and Jinin to 'offer' them a position in Akatsuki just like Pain had told him to, though calling it that was probably not quite right. After all, it wasn't as if they actually had a say in that matter. Not that Kisame would care if they tried to decline anyway, mind you; he had long since wanted to kill these two and welcomed any opportunity to do just that. Pain might be unhappy with him, but what could he possibly do? It's not like Kisame was as easily replaced as some other members.

All the poor sods Kakuzu regularly killed off came to mind, for example.

Besides, there was no way he didn't expect Kisame to act like that. It was certainly no secret how the various Swordsmen stood to each other.

Unfortunately, finding them was easier said than done. He knew their approximate position, sure, but he hit a wall after that. When he first heard that some shinobi from Kiri and Konoha were here for a joint mission that had the same targets as he did, he thought it would be easy to just wait for them to find his former colleagues and then follow them before eliminating all of them at once.

It was just his luck that none of them were in the city anymore when he arrived there, or that some of the guards instantly discovered his presence and attacked.

Although to be fair, it wasn't as if he had tried very hard to stay hidden.

Hey, he didn't have a good fight in ages! Sue him for wanting to have some fun.

Not that it had truly been worth it. Fighting a bunch of weaklings just wasn't enjoyable, and even killing that moron that called himself daimyo hadn't made up for that. Furthermore, now he also had to deal with all the noises from the panicking people in the city.

"Maybe I should just have kept my head low," he mused with a casual glance over the roofs, watching with interest as the flames spread from building to building and the people in the streets tried to get away from them as fast as possible. "Or at least held back a bit more."

Well, nothing he could do about that now. Besides, there were much more important things to think about right now like when these shinobi would finally return and whether or not they would bring Kushimaru and Jinin with them.

It certainly would make his job a lot easier if they did.

It would also be pretty boring, though...

Maybe I should just go and search for them rather than further waste my time here?

... I'm a bit late, aren't I? Well, better late than never, I guess.