The Land of Steam
“If we start walking now, we can make it to the land of steam by tomorrow morning,” Sasuke said, looking at his map for guidance.
“The land of Steam, we’ve been there before right, with Karin and Suigetsu?”
“Yes, the nearest village is in the land of steam, it's the hot springs village.” All of Taka had gone to the Land of steam about a year or so back, and they all stayed at the hot springs. Sasuke shuddered, remembering the harassment he got from Karin, and how she decided to steal his toothbrush.
“Ah, I see... I guess it would be nicer to sleep in a bed at the village than on a cold cell floor.” Jūgo recalled his sleeping arrangements back at the hideout. It was too dangerous to provide him any furniture, so he just slept on the cold floor. However, this decision wasn’t forced upon him by Orochimaru, in fact, Jūgo himself was the one to suggest it. But he was with Sasuke now, he wouldn’t hurt another innocent person.
“Hn.”
The pair packed up their few belongings and started heading towards the village. They walked on in comfortable silence.
_
Sasuke and Jūgo dropped their bags at the entrance of their room at the inn. The trip went by faster than Jūgo initially thought, with neither of them really engaging in conversations and all. It was a nice place, with lots of room. Jūgo looked at the two folded up futons, and he suddenly remembered that he hadn't slept the night before. He felt tired, but he wouldn’t sleep until night came.
“I really only need to stock up on some supplies, but we can go do other things as well. You don’t ever get the chance to go to a hot spring correct?” Sasuke inquired, he didn’t know why he was trying to be so considerate.
“Yes that sounds nice, it has been a while since I’ve been anywhere nice.” Jūgo really looked forward to some relaxing time.
They decided to go out into town to stock up on some useful supplies. Jūgo couldn’t help but notice that he and Sasuke were getting stared at. He couldn’t tell if it was because of how gigantic he was, or if it was because they knew who Sasuke was. It didn’t look like Sasuke really cared, or maybe he just didn’t notice.
_
After stocking up on supplies, the pair decided to find a suitable place to eat. Eventually, Sasuke settled on a place that looked oddly like Ichiraku ramen.
“I thought you didn’t like ramen?” Jūgo remembered that Sasuke always seemed to show a great distaste for the dish.
“I’m in the mood for some now,” Sasuke replied and Jūgo nods.
The meal consisted of idle chatter with brief words from Jūgo, and nods and “Hns” from Sasuke. The ramen was good, but Sasuke didn’t think it was as good as Ichiraku's. He would never admit that he actually liked the ramen back in the leaf, Naruto would have a field day. The sun was already starting to set.
They finish their meal and Jūgo offers to pay, but Sasuke insists instead. He was the one to suggest the meal after all.
On the walk back to the inn, they walked past some shady looking goons. It seemed that they were running away from something, something that they caused, and they smelled like smoke and ash.
Jūgo frantically tapped Sasuke on the shoulder. “Sasuke, look at that!” Jūgo pointed upwards to a burning apartment building. They could both hear it now, there were screams of terror coming from the building. They suddenly both knew that the men that had run past them were the culprits. They probably set the building on fire so they could rob the place.
Sasuke wanted to run the other way, but he knew that it wasn’t the right thing to do and that Naruto and Sakura wouldn’t be happy with him.
“Emergency services are already trying to get the victims out of the building, let’s follow those guys, I know they did it.” Jūgo nodded, Such an act of kindness was out of the ordinary for Sasuke, he could tell that Sasuke really was trying to change and atone for his sins.
_
Sasuke wasn’t the best sensory ninja, but from the faint chakra signatures he had gotten earlier, he was able to pinpoint the locations of the bandits. They finally come across them near a waterfall, they were all laughing and showing off the belongings that they stole from the apartment. It was disgusting even to someone as indifferent as Sasuke.
Sasuke signaled for Jūgo to move in, but Jūgo wasn’t moving. He looked out of it.
Jūgo felt a rage coming. Those bastards took pride in terrorizing people when he himself sacrificed everything in his life to keep others safe so he wouldn’t hurt anyone. Those guys just flaunted what they did to those poor civilians like it was nothing. How come they got to be happy when all Jūgo did was suffer for the fear that he would hurt others? He was beginning to see red. He could barely feel Sasuke shaking him, trying to get him to snap the hell out of it, but it was too late.
Jūgo leaped into view, fully transforming into his Sage mode. Sasuke jumped out after him, but Jūgo's destructive abilities had already taken their course. He was pummeling them one by one.
“Jūgo! Snap out of it!” Sasuke yelled, his Sharingan was activated now. The swirling of the Mangekyo Sharingan was at last able to pull Jūgo out of his trance. He finally came to, and what he saw in front of him were at least 5 guys writhing on the floor in pain.
“Jūgo, don’t think about it, let’s just take these guys to the police.” It was like their roles were reversed, Jūgo was usually the voice of reason.
“I..I... lost control again, and I hurt someone.” Jūgo looked disgusted with his actions.
“They deserved it, you’re a fool if you think what you’re in the wrong. I realize now that what they did probably struck a chord with you..” Sasuke gave his best attempt at coaxing, but It sounded more like he was scolding the giant man.
Jūgo knew it was necessary to stop the bandits, but he was disappointed with himself for losing control like that. ” I’m an adult, I need to be able to control myself..” He thought to himself. For now, he preferred not to say anything.
_
After dragging the bandits to the local police station, Sasuke and Jūgo were greeted with a pleasant surprise. Although they were minor criminals, the sheriff paid them both a substantial amount of money for their kindness. Sasuke would be lying if he said that it didn’t feel good to help another person. He’d always been caught up with revenge on his brother, maybe he should start being nice for a change. It sounded kinda hard.
Jūgo still hadn’t spoken since he lost control, and Sasuke figured he should let Jūgo have some peace and quiet to think. If Sasuke were in the same situation as him, he certainly would’ve wanted to be left alone.
Once they arrived back at the inn, Sasuke decided to turn in for the night. He figured Jūgo was going to sleep as well, but he was surprised when Jūgo left their room at the inn with a towel in his hand. It seemed that he really did want to bathe in hot springs after all.