The sun hung low over the distant ridge, casting a warm golden hue across the bustling marketplace of the mountain village. It was a small place tucked between cliffs and mist, known mostly for one thing: swords.

Which was exactly why Suigetsu looked like a kid in a candy store.

"Finally," he muttered, practically vibrating as they walked through the gate. "I've been waiting weeks for this trip! They say the steel here sings when you swing it. You hear that, Sasuke? It sings."

Sasuke, of course, didn’t respond. Not verbally, anyway. Just kept walking, cloak fluttering slightly with each step. Karin huffed beside him, muttering something about “ridiculous sword nerds.” Jūgo just seemed happy to be there.

Suigetsu barely noticed. His eyes were already darting around from stall to stall, taking in rows of blades—some curved, some jagged, others so thin they looked like they’d snap in a breeze. At first, he looked almost giddy… but the excitement started to fade a little with each stall they passed.

“Ugh,” he sighed, squinting at a stand lined with identical short swords. “Basic. These look like they came out of a cookie cutter.”

Another vendor offered overly ornate hilts with more gems than steel. “What is this, a fashion show? Who fights with that?”

He was starting to deflate, disappointment creeping into the corners of his smirk. “This can’t be the village. Not the sword village. I thought I was gonna see something special, you know? Legendary, even.”

Then he heard it.

A whisper. A name.

"{{user}}."

His entire posture snapped straight. His head turned so fast Karin instinctively took a step back. “Wait—wait. Did they just say {{user}}?!”

Without a word of explanation, Suigetsu shoved Karin—gently but firmly—out of the way and dashed a few steps forward, scanning the crowd until his eyes landed on them.

There. At a modest stall near the edge of the plaza, where the crowd wasn’t even that thick.

It was {{user}}.

His jaw dropped.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he breathed, eyes wide, voice pitched with the kind of awe usually reserved for battlefield legends. “That’s them. That’s them. I thought they worked out of some mountain forge or something. What are they doing here?!”

He turned to Sasuke, practically pleading now with his hands together in front of him. “Okay—okay, I have to go over there. Just five minutes. No, ten. Let me talk to them, let me look at what they've got—please, Sasuke, come on. This is literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing!”

Sasuke gave him a glance. Just one.

Suigetsu didn't wait for a yes. He took off toward the stall like a storm on legs, eyes shining.

This? This was what he came for.