The Eyes of Fate

Chapter Four: Recruitment

"Say, Sasuke." Suigetsu walked with his hands behind his neck, his eyes remained closed but he never stumbled.

"Hn."

"I never said I would join you, did I? I wanted out of that place and you complied rather quickly, but I didn't give you my conditions."

Sasuke stopped and turned to him, he raised his eyebrow and glanced at Hinata who shrugged. "What is it you want?"

"The Executioner's Blade, I heard Zabuza was killed a few years ago by your team. I don't suppose you know where it is, right."

"Haku took it with him, remember? I don't think we'll find him here, or wherever it is he's living now." Hinata picked up Kairi on her back when he tugged on her shirt to let her know that his feet were aching. "Unless he decided to settle down in that village."

"Awe, someone else has the sword? That sucks. I guess I won't—"

"We'll take a quick detour and see if Tazuna knows where he is." Sasuke turned around.

"Do you think Tazuna would help us? We're no longer Leaf ninjas, who's to say Tsunade hasn't warned him of our betrayal."

"Are you scared?"

Hinata shook her head, "just worried. If we go there, he might tell Tsunade."

"She already knows Orochimaru is dead, but she doesn't know our plans other than me seeking revenge. If we go to Tazuna, by the time we leave and he notifies the Leaf and their forces, we'd be long gone."

"Hey, we don't have to go through all that trouble just for the sword." Suigetsu laughed nervously hearing about the trouble they could possibly go through just to find it.

"Do you want it or not?" Sasuke stared at him with lazy eyes.

"Yeah, but—"

"Then hurry up, it's going to take a while to get there."

The small group took a quick detour on their original path. Cutting through the Rice Country to avoid the borders of the Land of Fire, they spent five days switching between running and walking to accommodate the child they had with them.

As they sat in a fisherman's boat, Kairi dipped his hands into the water and watched the fish swim around them. Through the mist, his vision was quite clear, having no issues whatsoever as he studied the other boats they passed.

"What if we did this for nothing?" Suigetsu worried, the closer they got to land, the more unease he felt. "I mean, this is all just a theory that this Haku guy is around here, right?"

"We're already here, we can't turn around now." Hinata helped Kairi out of the boat, ignoring the daze in his eyes before he blinked rapidly.

"Yeah, but still."

"Come on, we should get there before midday." Sasuke instructed, ignoring the anxious man who followed him.

"Why didn't we take that massive bridge then?" Suigetsu wondered out loud. "We didn't need to take the boat."

"Do you want to walk through an entire village and get spotted? We're taking a hidden route to Tazuna's house." Hinata explained quickly.

"Who's Tazuna?" Kairi asked, curious as to what everyone was talking about.

"Someone we did a mission for when we were younger." Sasuke answered, "he's not very nice though."

"Don't say that, he was drunk half the time he was with us." Hinata rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling.

"He was insufferable."

They made it to the drunkard's house and stood there awkwardly. Suigetsu watched as the couple in front of him looked at each other but made no effort to move forward.