In the Land of Wind, in the ruins of the kingdom, Rōran, Mukade is attempting to unleash the power of the ley line, but is being hampered by an unlikely duo.

“RASENGAN!!” Mecha-Naruto yells as he plows the ball of chakra into one of Mukade’s puppets, destroying it. “BELIEVE IT!!”

“Try this on for size, you pile of scrap!” Mukade yells as he hurls a dozen of his puppets at the robotic ninja and the cloaked figure.

Mecha-Naruto runs at the small army of puppets and forms two chakra blades with his hands. The mechanical ninja does a front flip while making slashing motions, destroying three puppets. Mecha-Naruto then uses his rockets to jump high into the air, turns upside down, and spins the upper half of his body clockwise with his arms and blade stretched out, destroying the remaining puppets.

“NARUTO SABER!!” MECHA-NARUTO says triumphantly as he lands. Mecha-Naruto proceeds to point at the rogue sand ninja and orders, “MUKADE, SURRENDER NOW AND YOUR DEATH WILL BE DIGNIFIED.”

“I’ll never give up!” Mukade declares as he throws even more puppets at them.

Before the puppets can even get near Mecha-Naruto, they’re engulfed in black flames and destroyed. The cloaked man teleports behind Mukade and puts his hand on the rogue sand ninja’s head.

“No time for fooling around.” The cloaked man says as he uses the Rinnegan’s Human Path to yank the soul out of Mukade’s body. The cloaked man obtains all of Mukade’s memories and knowledge while Mukade’s lifeless corpse falls to the ground. “Interesting…”

“HAHAHA!! WE ARE NUMBER ONE!!” Mecha-Naruto laughs as he walks over to his master.

“It’s too early to celebrate, there’s still much work to be done.” The cloaked man explains.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, after meeting up with Karin, Sasuke ordered Jin, Rito, and Suigetsu to free the prisoners, but not before stopping for Jin to get some new clothes. As they walk down the hallway, Rito makes an expression that says something’s on his mind.

“What is it, Rito?” Jin asks his friend as he happily zips up his new shirt. “What are you thinking about?”

“You didn’t have to be such a jerk to that girl and the other leaf ninja.” Replies a perturbed Rito.

“Oooh... now this, I have to hear.” Remarks an interested Suigetsu as they continue to walk through the hideout.

“You’re still on that…? I was upset and they happened to be close by.” Jin argues as they turn a corner. “And as for Yuno, I’m just not interested in her. She wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“You have a right to feel angry, you have a right to reject them, but you didn’t have to be a dullard jerk about it.” Rito continues. “If you keep acting like this, people will hate you and you can kiss your dreams and ambitions goodbye…”

“I… uh…. W-wh--...?” Jin stutters as he is left speechless, unable to give a response. Dammit, he’s right…!

“Alright, you’ve made your point…” Jin replies after a moment of pause. “I’ll… apologize when we cross paths again.”

“Hey, enough with the sappy melodrama...” Suigetsu announces, bored by their conversation. “We’re here.”

Suigetsu squats in front of the cell containing the prison with Jin and Rito standing right behind the rogue mist ninja. Some of the prisoners look up at their visitors, one even walks up to the bars of the cell.

“Hey... a-are the rumors true...?” The closest prisoner asks while clutching the bars. “Did Sasuke really kill Orochimaru?”

“Yes, Sasuke killed the bastard…” Jin answers with a smirk. I mean he does come back in the war, but that doesn’t really matter right now…

“S-so, what’s going to h-happen to us…?” The prisoner asks nervously. Sweat can be seen running down his face.

“You get to go free, duh.” Suigetsu answers while holding up the key to the cell.

“Really?!” Another prisoner asks, all the other prisoners look up and face the three with hope gleaming in their eyes.

“Yep, I just need you guys to do one thing.” Suigetsu asks with a poker face.

“Anything, you name it!” A prisoner in the back replies.

“Let the world know that Sasuke killed Orochimaru and freed us…” Suigetsu iterates as he inserts the key into the lock. “He is a hero that will bring peace to the world.”

Aaand when we return, we’ll kill the mood on Karin’s failed attempt to seduce Sasuke. Jin thinks to himself, chuckling as the prisoners run right past him and Rito.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minutes later, the three ninja return to the room where Sasuke and Karin are located. As Suigetsu reaches for his sword, Jin stops him.

“There’s no need, I got this.” Jin says as he infuses chakra into his feet.

Jin proceeds to kick down the door, revealing Karin sitting next to Sasuke on the far side of the room, kicking up some dust in the process. Karin instantly jumps up from her seat while taking a few steps away from Sasuke, her face turns red with anger.

“Did you convince Karin to join us yet?” Suigetsu asks as he pops his head through the opening.

“Yes, she’s changed her mind.” Sasuke answers while maintaining his cool and indifferent demeanor.

“Great! So all that’s left is to recruit Jugo.” Jin coughs as he dusts off his clothes.

“J-Jugo?! You want his help too?” Karin shouts in shock as she adjusts her glasses.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DAN DAN kokoro hikarete ’ku Sono mabushii egao ni... Jin sings in his head as the group walks through a desert with rocky and mountainous terrain. ...Sukoshi dake furimukitaku naru yô na toki mo aru kedo Ai to yûki to hokori o motte tatakau yo…!

“Aren’t you guys tired?” Suigetsu mutters as he sits down and drinks some water to rehydrate himself. “Let's take a break.”

“You are so lazy!” Snaps an annoyed Karin. “The North Hideout is still a long ways away!”

Amazing, I forgot how much those two fight… Jin thinks as he and Rito watch Suigetsu Karin argue like cats and dogs with deadpan expressions.

After a few more minutes of walking, the group discovers a wounded man lying on the ground, barely alive. As Karin, Sasuke, and Suigetsu go to investigate, Jin keeps back and pulls Rito aside to warn him.

“Yes, what is it?” Rito asks in confusion.

“We’re about to fight a large group of curse mark users. You have to keep to the rear with Karin...” Jin explains in a matter-of-fact tone. “I’m gonna level with you… Yes you have a curse mark, Crystal Style, and I’ve taught you a few jutsu, but you just don’t have the killer instinct or a warrior’s mindset--you’re kind like Gohan in terms of personality.”

“Then why did you bother to teach me how to fight in the first place...?!” Rito leers.

“Good question…” Jin replies. “This is actually pointed out in Attack on Titan, the better you are at fighting, the better you are at running away.”

“Alright, alright, just hurry it up then...” A dejected Rito responds, slumping over as the man in question succumbs to his injuries and dies.

At that moment an enemy crash lands before the group, the dust clears to reveal he is one of Orochimaru’s experiments and is now in the curse mark’s second state. Sasuke with his sword and Jin with a kunai immediately blitz past the cursed marked berserker, cutting him down in the process.

“That’s the Northern Hideout, up there.” Sasuke informs, looking at a structure atop a small rocky mountain. “Let’s go...”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the group arrives at the entrance to the hideout, they are greeted by an army of curse mark prisoners, all of which are in their second state. Sasuke has just ordered Karin to look for Jugo using her sensory abilities.

“The guards are all dead and Jugo’s not among these monsters.” Karin informs the group as she surveys the area.

“Meaning we can cut loose with these guys.” Suigetsu points out as he draws his sword, the Executioner’s Blade.

“Just don’t kill them.” Sasuke orders.

“Haha… You’re such a softy, man.” Suigetsu playfully mocks. “You should’ve kil--”

“Let’s just get this over with already…” Jin interrupts as jumps into the army of curse mark users.

The red-haired rogue lands in the middle four enemies and with a single roundhouse kick, knocks them all away, unconscious. Another prisoner tries to sneak up on Jin, but is quickly taken out by Suigetsu.

Jin remarks, “I could’ve--”

“Could’ve what?” An annoyed Suigetsu snaps, interrupting Jin’s explanation.

“...Thanks.” Jin responds after a brief pause. Jin and Suigestu then proceed to jump back into the fray.