Hey everyone, so I was away for the past 6 days with no internet and that's why there were no updates. But now I'm back and here's the next chapter!

Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi: Viper's Nest (chap.1)

When Kumiko opened her eyes she wasn't sure is she had dreamt her escape or not. The room she was in looked just like her prison in the Akatsuki. But it wasn't quite the same: the pattern on the walls was different and torches instead of candles were hanging from the fixtures. Kumiko tried to sit up but her head began to spin and her body felt as though it was filled with lead. She resisted the urge to throw up and fell back down onto her pillow.

"It's only a sedative to keep you from escaping."

That voice…I know that voice.

Something flashed in the corner of the room and fingers pushed glasses up the bridge of a nose. Kabuto grinned with nothing but morbid satisfaction lurking behind his pearly whites. Kumiko wondered how anyone could ever have fallen for his deceptive tricks when he wafted such malice. The two shinobi stared at one another for a few tense moments before Kabuto leaned away from the wall and approached Kumiko lying on the bed.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" he asked. "I stuck out my neck to get you away from that criminal."

Kumiko continued to watch him silently as he sat down on the bed.

"No? Well that's alright because I did it only so I could kill you myself."

Kumiko flinched when Kabuto absently traced his fingertip up her arm, then placed his hand gently around her throat.

"You were right, though, that time in Konoha. It wasn't a fair battle. You had just become a chunnin and I was the assistant to the infamous snake Sannin." He chuckled. "But now," he said and squeezed her throat tighter. "You've made quite an impressive name for yourself. So I've decided to set up a little game to test your skill against mine."

Kumiko grabbed his wrist and managed to pry his hand away from her throat. Kabuto scowled and pinned her wrists to the bed and swung a leg over to straddle her laying figure.

"Don't be ungrateful Kobayashi. I could just choke you to death right here, but I'm giving you a chance."

Kumiko struggled but couldn't break free from Kabuto's grasp,

"Here are the rules: if you can find your way out of Orochimaru-sama's labyrinth in two days, than you win and I'll let you go. But if you don't," he said, and leaned down so close that his face was merely inches above hers. "Then you're mine."

Kumiko growled and spat at his face. Kabuto sat up, surprised, with a thick glob of spittle dripping from his left lens. He took off his glasses and calmly wiped them clean.

"Ah yes," he sighed, putting them back on and pushing them up the bridge of his nose. "That's also part of your reputation."

He stood up off the bed and walked toward the door and opened it, then turned around before exiting.

"That'll wear off in the morning. You time starts then so make sure you don't sleep in too late. I salvaged your pack for you in the woods, a ninja needs her tools. Oh yes, and if you should encounter anyone else in the lair…it's not my fault if they try to kill you."

The door shut and Kumiko was alone.

……………………………………………………………..

The next morning she was awakened by the door opening and closing. She peered over the end of the bed and saw that someone had left her a lunchbox with enough food to last her two days. She was surprised that Kabuto had even bothered, and figured he must really be serious about putting them on equal terms.

Kumiko wasted no time and swung herself out of bed. She noticed that he had wrapped up her ankle and wrist and fixed the breakage so she could walk without pain. She took a quick inventory of her tools but there wasn't much; Kiseki was ruined, and most regrettably her infrared goggles were back in Konoha. Kumiko took out a rag and polished one side of her wrench so she could see her reflection, set her stop watch o count down from 48 hours, then slowly opened the door.

Holding the wrench at an angle, she peered around the corner, than when deeming it empty stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. She rummaged through her bag for a small black-light flashlight that she used to check her shed for leaks of hazardous substances and ran it along the ground and walls, searching for any clue of something out of place, then began walking forward.

She had heard rumors about Orochimaru's lair. Not only was it an enormous underground labyrinth, that housed hundreds of rooms, some of them empty and other full of who knows what, but it was also full of traps. Naruto and Sakura had barely escaped from it and they were accompanied by the Sannin Jiraiya. And another thing, they had been sneaking in, and Kumiko was sneaking out with a very angry medical shinobi doing whatever he could to keep her there.

All of these thoughts made her stop in her tracks and crouch down against the wall. Her calm was nearing its limit. Just how much fear and despair could one endure? She was up against something way beyond her; what chance did she have? As she clenched her hair in her hands Lee's voice came into her mind.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "You are the famous gadget nin. There's no problem you can't solve. You just blew up an entire Akatsuki hideout; you turned a mountain in a volcano. Not just anyone can do that."

"I just want to go home," Kumiko sniffled into the empty air.

"I want you to come home too."

Kumiko stood up and wiped her eyes.

That's right, Lee an everyone else is waiting for me. Giving up now means nothing but death.

She switched on her black-light and spotted a tripwire a hairs breadth away from her toe. She stepped over carefully and continued to wander through the corridors.

...

By the time her watch read 36 hours Kumiko had found a pattern. It was impossible to keep track of where she had been because the only way to mark the wall was to hack at it with her wrench. Doing so would attract unwanted attention. She had to be wary, Kabuto said there were others in the lair… A chill ran up her spine as the face of the dangerous snake Sannin came into her mind. If there was anyone she hoped to never lay eyes on, it was Orochimaru.

Kumiko reached a fork in the road and started down the right passageway, and kept careful track of the complexity and diligence of the traps laid there. Then she turned around and entered the left passageway. The second fork's traps were concealed more cleverly, so Kumiko continued in that direction. This was how she had decided to choose her way. It was risky, but the only pattern she could find and follow.

She round a corner and felt a second chill run up then back down her spine. Quickly, she turned around and gazed down the darkened corridor, then again in front of her. Kumiko returned to searching the ground and spotted a particularly tricky one hiding high up on the wall. She stepped to the side to avoid it when she heard distant footsteps. Panic stricken, she fumbled to switch off her black-light and looked around for somewhere to hide. The corridor was dim but bright enough so she couldn't crouch within its shadows, and she had not passed any doorways down this particular corridor. With nothing else to do, Kumiko switched he light back on and as quickly and quietly as possible continued forward.

She moved away from the direction she had heard the footsteps, not allowing her fear to cloud her judgment and eyes. Just as she came upon another split she heard the footsteps again, this time close, but she was already rushing down one of the passageways and couldn't stop.

Her black-light clattered to the floor.

Orochimaru had stopped walking and seemed just as surprised to see Kumiko as she was to see him. She trembled slightly as they stared at one another. Suddenly his tongue shot out and wrapped around her neck and she struggled vainly against its hold.

"Who are you?" he said.

Kumiko coughed and sputtered, unable to answer, not knowing what answer would the right one. But then her neck was released and she gasped.

"Oh that's right, you're Kabuto's new toy," he said. "Hmph, he's still a child after all."

Kumiko held onto her neck. Without giving her another glance Orochimaru continued walking by. "I have no interest in you," he said, and though insulting, it was music to Kumiko's ears.

Once his footsteps had faded into the distance Kumiko let out the breath she had been holding and continued on. The encounter was frightening, but left her more confident of her escape than before.

……………………………………………………….

"Where are you?"

"Over here!"

Lee ran through darkened corridors, hopelessly lost in an unknown maze. Pakkun had found Kumiko's scent once again after two full hours of despair in the forest, and then continued on a straight course to where they were now. Whoever had taken her didn't even try to conceal his or her tracks. The four shinobi had become separated after a trap scattered them in all directions.

"Neji I cannot find you!"

"Follow my voice, I can see you."

Lee skidded around corners and bounded down hallways following the sound of Neji's voice who guided him through the maze.

"I see you Neji!" Lee shouted and increased his speed.

Suddenly the ground below him fell away. Neji lunged forward but missed Lee's hand by a hair's breadth. When the corridor was once against silent he called down into the pit.

"Lee, where are you? Lee!"