"Sasuke is late..." - Ukon was scratching his back while sitting in a Shiki Ryuu teahouse branch with Eiji in a small village.

"He has to carry a coffin, so give him a break..." - Eiji looked at the vast amount of letters and sighed.

Chisato was nagging him to return to their headquarters since he essentially dumped all his current Shiki Ryuu work on her.

But saving the world was more important in his mind...probably.

Anyway, this village was on the way from Sunagakure to the location of the meeting with Orochimaru, while the headquarters were in an entirely different location, so he decided to meet up with Sasuke here.

"...but I'm bored...I want to fight someone..." - Ukon

"That's why I always say tell you to settle down and find a wife..." - Eiji resumed their conversation half-heartedly and absentminded.

"A wife? Why would I need something like that?" - Ukon

"You know...to do - " - Eiji stopped since someone entered the teahouse.

"Welcome, dear cust-" - an employer rushed in to greet, but the person just ignored her and went to the table where Eiji and Ukon were drinking tea.

"It took you a long time, Sasuke..." - Ukon complained.

"Hmph." - without really answering, Sasuke put the coffin down he was carrying on his back and set down next to them.

Eiji gulped down and only stared at the coffin.

"Sasuke...is this really it?"

"Of course."

With hesitation, Eiji stood up and approached the coffin.

But before he opened it, he looked around.

Currently only they and the employers were inside the tea house, so Eiji said: "Guide us to the VIP room and don't let anyone come in!"

"C-certainly..." - since Eiji didn't reveal his identity, the employer was suspicious if they had enough money to pay for the VIP room, but she kept silent.

The employer showed the way and Eiji and Sasuke started to follow her, while another employer carried the coffin reluctantly.

When they were in the VIP room and the employers left, Eiji stood in front of the coffin.

"What are you waiting for? He isn't alive if that's what you scared for." - Sasuke

'Scared, huh? If he knew what kind of monster that is...wait, Sasuke is a monster himself."

With a sigh, he finally opened it.

'It's really him.' - Eiji just continued to stare at the corpse in the coffin: 'If I destroyed the corpse now...I could save a lot of future trouble...sigh, unfortunately, I can't do that or else the future will be doomed...'

"Who's that?" - Ukon couldn't read the atmosphere, or he just didn't care.

"Madara Uchiha...Sasuke's ancestor." - Eiji

"So just another Uchiha? What's so special about him?" - Ukon

"In my clan's history, he is considered the strongest of all Uchiha's to ever exist..." - Sasuke

"Strongest, huh...even if that's the case, what do we need a corpse for?" - Ukon

"Well, currently other than a bargaining chip, he doesn't have that much worth. But with Orochimaru's Edo Tensei..." - Eiji

"Orochimaru..." - when Ukon heard that name, the air seemingly freezer around him.

"Yes, as I told you already, we gonna meet up with him, so you'll get your revenge there." - Eiji

"I won't go with you. You said that with Madara's corpse, I could get Itachi out of Akatsuki - so I will take the corpse and go on my own if you want to waste time with Orochimaru instead." - Sasuke

'I only said that, since he wouldn't listen otherwise...' - Eiji started to think of a way to get Sasuke to join him.

"But how will you find Akatsuki? You know, Orochimaru is an ex-member, so he probably knows a way to find them." - Eiji shamelessly didn't mention that he knew that Pain was in Amegakure or other ways to find them.

"Hmph, you think I wouldn't know? I have my own ways of finding them, so I won't waste my time with you guys anymore." - Sasuke

"But you won't be sure that they would honor the deal." - Eiji

"I'm strong enough to deal with every one of them." - Sasuke

"I know that...I was rather referring to Itachi...are you sure you could ensure his safety? Because I doubt that they would just let one of them go just like that." - Eiji

"Then...why the hell did I go through the trouble of finding that corpse?" - Sasuke started to get angry.

"Well...I have a plan." - Eiji smiled.