No suicide pill Raidou knew of left its user capable of flinging a kunai half a minute later. But he didn't have time to fall apart with relief. Sago's eyes, dark brown and calculating, pinned him as the big ninja gathered himself and rose to his feet, ignoring the free-running trickles of blood sliding down his neck. Raidou scrambled upright, shaking with pain and adrenaline, back-tracking as fast as he could. Genma was somewhere behind him, close to the door, and Raidou was all that stood between him and Sago's hammer.

He was going to get Genma out of here, whatever the cost.

Sago spun his hammer fluidly around one broad wrist; it was speckled with bright red blood. "How far do you think you'll get?" he asked softly, almost gently. "Really?"

"Far enough," Raidou grunted. He slid back another step and felt his bare hip catch against the table. Warm slickness oozed under his feet. Behind Sago, Green-eyes was staggering upright, catching his balance on his uninjured leg.

Raidou could feel the draft blowing through the door.

"Steel," said Sago softly, "is something you never forget."

He blurred as Raidou flinched, shimmering from there to right here, filling up the whole world with his massive frame. The hammer swung down--

And light lashed out as Raidou squeezed his eyes closed and snapped one final seal, forcing his hands to work despite the angle of his thumb. He threw himself down, knees hitting the floor as Sago yelled, blinded, and metal missed Raidou's head by inches. A kick took its place, but Raidou was already moving, flinging himself towards Genma.

His friend was light-blinded--there'd been no way to warn him--and flinched brutally when Raidou's left hand locked around his biceps. There was no time for gentleness; Raidou hauled him towards the door, taking the wild blow that cracked against his shoulder with a dull grunt. There was a seal on the other side; he hammered it with his right fist, lancing pain everywhere, and tried not to drop to his knees again. Tempered steel slammed into place, trapping the Mist-nin on the other side.

"Don't think--you'll forget me--either," Raidou gasped, and collapsed backwards against the door as something hammered it from the other side. Genma safe in his grip, still breathing.

For one shining moment, nothing else mattered.