A/N: Okay, so as much as I would like to say that updating early is a habit, it's not... So I am occupied for this Saturday, so I might as well just update this half a day early.

Beta'd by the joyful Alice J.

Chapter 22 - Serpentine

"Nothing unusual for the first thirty minutes, then a major disturbance broke out east of Kazekage's office. Kazekage seemed to be fighting the enemy using golden sand, whereas the unknown enemy or enemies is/are powerful enough to summon huge amounts of sand. From what I saw five minutes ago, the golden sand of Kazekage seemed to be winning." I reported in a monotone voice. In front of me, both Bear and Falcon had 'serious' written all over their faces. They were silent and tight-lipped; from their expression, they probably knew what the hell was going on, but they weren't telling me.

"Stay vigilant, Aohara, we will be staying inside until the situation clears. This is not a fight we should be anywhere near of." After a few moments of silence, Bear finally said.

"Team leader, if I may ask, what is going on?" I asked quietly. From the Suna shinobi running around, I sensed urgency, but I didn't sense the vast amount of panic that arose with the feeling of the unknown. The Suna-nins were either very calm, or they had been through the same situation before.

"What's the status around the building?" Bear suddenly inquired, and Falcon closed his eyes for a second, before responding, "All clear, most of the shinobi around the area are being dispatched away, the ones left are less than a dozen, all stationed at the front gate." There was another wave of silence before Bear finally spoke up.

"I guess your clearance is enough since you are in Anbu. There are some villages that practice sealing the power of a tailed-beast into children, so that the village may possess great power; those human sacrifices are called jinchūriki. Just like how Konoha has the Kyūbi, the nine-tail, Sunagakure has the Ichibi, the sand demon, the one-tail." Bear paused a bit and let the knowledge sink in.

Immediately, the image of a smiling Naruto popped up in my head. The jinchūriki of Konoha, who was the brightest kid I'd ever met, with his loud yells and unwavering determination to beat Sasuke. It was hard to equate him with the malicious aura from those sands. It was absolutely beastly, with killing intent spreading like a poisonous miasma.

"We had some reports that the Suna that the jinchūriki seemed to be unstable, but he was able to draw the tailed beast's power from a very young age, which makes him very dangerous. One of the greatest feats of the current Yondaime Kazekage is his multiple subjugations of the one-tail during his reign." My body tensed at Bear's description; a weapon as dangerous as a tailed-beast combined with emotional instability was just a sheer disaster.

Naruto was a perfectly bright kid, albeit a bit lonely and sad from all the discrimination he faced, but his sorta-working-but-not-really friendship was helping the problem. I couldn't help but take note of his pent up emotions from all the discrimination and isolation, and despite being a hypocrite myself on expressing emotions, I was concerned if he would be able to take the stress. If he couldn't, then I guess the Suna jinchūriki was a show of the result. Emotional instability coupled with great power equalled disaster, there was a reason why every Anbu agent had monthly or even weekly psych evaluations. At least in Konoha Anbu, you got a chance at recovery and counselling sessions and the worst punishment you could get was forced retirement (under the condition that you didn't kill the wrong people); at OLYMPUS, any sign of emotional stability or abnormal tendencies, and you disappear.

Suddenly, I had the urge to ask Naruto how had he done it? Staying so joyful and outgoing despite prejudice glare he had received from fearful people. It seemed so hard to keep your sanity when the world was against you. I was so very curious because I simply couldn't imagine the answer.

"I have dispatched Pakkun to warn Hokage-sama, and we are going to remain right here until the situation outside is over. However, be prepared to deal with any incoming danger." As if proving his point, just as Bear finished the order, there was a small quake. The building shook violently and Bear immediately used his wood release to create a dome over our bodies. Sand and dust smashed against the dome, creating menacing scratchy sounds against the thick wooden panels. The quake continued for a few minutes and eventually, the surroundings were quiet again.

"Holy shit, if this was just a small aftershock, then I don't ever want to see the whole thing." Falcon cursed at the rumble around us. With just that last surge of power, the Eastern quarter of the Embassy had gained a large new hole on its roof and half of the corridor was buried in wood splinters and heavy dust.

"On the bright side, the situation seems to be clear outside," I added, noticing that the feeling of menacing and malicious aura had disappeared.

"Yes, but we may need to contact the Suna diplomatic division, seeing as the residence for our Hokage, who will be arriving in around ten minutes, is completely not up to standards," Bear said with a straight face. Falcon groaned loudly, realising the fact that we then had to scout and mark another building.

Out of sheer misfortune, the Eastern quarter was the only place affected by the earlier battle. The jonin, Baki-san, returned and apologised profoundly with a "Don't talk about it" warning that we were totally going to ignore. Then he led us to the South-Western building, a smaller, but still presentable part of the Embassy.

"Okay, I'm going to make this quick, seeing as Hokage-sama should be arriving in five minutes. I will clear the courtyard and the surrounding area, Falcon will de-trap and re-trap the building, while Rabbit will go receive Hokage-sama." Without another word, we left for our posts. I had five minutes before I would be late receiving the Hokage, and I needed to run from the central of Sunagakure to one of the gates.

I was lucky that most of the guards were busy dealing with the aftermath of what happened earlier, so I arrived just in time to see Hokage-sama's team appearing over the sand dunes, gradually becoming bigger and bigger from a tiny little black dot.

"Hokage-sama." The moment they passed the village gate, I moved in front of the Sandaime and kneeled in respect.

"Chunin Aohara, it's nice that you are here. I assume that everything is in order?" the Hokage asked with a warm-hearted voice.

"There were some… disturbances with your temporary residence, but they should be all sorted out now." I answered in a professional tone, ignoring the awkward and rageful glares the Suna-nin leading the Hokage gave me. Pakkun should have briefed the Hokage about the jinchūriki incident, and any further detailed knowledge should be exchanged in private.

"Lovely, then shall we move on? I have travelled a long way, and I would really like to rest before the ordeal begins." I bowed again at Hokage-sama's lighthearted words and followed the team as the Suna-nin awkwardly tried to keep courteous smiles plastered on their faces while leading the Hokage to the South-Western Embassy.

By the time we arrived, Falcon had already managed to de-trap half of the area, which was an amazing feat considering that it has only been around twenty minutes from when he started. As Hokage sent some other members of his guarding platoon to scout and secure the area, Falcon, Bear, and I were summoned to his private room armed with numerous privacy seals and lethal traps.

"So, is there anything else I should know about other than the fact that there has been an unplanned jinchūriki battle in the middle of the Chunin Exam?" The Hokage asked with a smile, but I couldn't tell if he was saying that as a joke or not.

"According to Rabbit's observations, the fight lasted for about twenty minutes, and the Kazekage's gold dust was able to subdue it, but a small area East of the Kazekage's tower was destroyed," Bear answered. Hokage-sama looked at me for a moment before letting out a small sigh.

"Good work, the three of you. I imagined you are all very tired. The One-Tailed attack was probably not planned, but they also seem to be a normal occurrence in Sunagakure as well. Please go see your captain and let him assign you the guarding shifts. Then you may rest." At Hokage-sama's words of dismissal, we all bowed and exited the room.

I was assigned the same room as Otter since apparently we were the only females on this exposition. Together, we had our assigned shift in three hours. The moment I crashed onto the bed, of course after checking for all security and setting up my own traps, I closed my eyes in exhaustion. I hadn't slept for two days, and I had been on constant high-speed travelling from Konoha to Suna. Suddenly, I understood why Hokage-sama wanted to arrive in Suna early for a night at the lodging, at least I wasn't the one who had to deal with fellow Kages with clouds of political tensions in the air while relying on merely five measly hours of sleep.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

The tournament opened with loud cheers and continuous applause. Despite the incident yesterday, the enthusiasm from the audience was still over the clouds. This was the open tournament, the bi-annual event where new generations from the shinobi villages got to show off their prowess. For the participants, this was about recognition and promotions; for the spectators, this was about excitement and village pride; for the Kages and their villages, this was about the competition for clients, glory and status. In a way, this was a war in itself, just without as much bloodshed.

I stood at the back of the arena, watching the genin matches in a passive and critical manner. My attention wasn't really on the fights, but rather the changes in the surroundings, and with my Sharingans, details and movements were easy to record.

With a loud round of applause, the semi-final finally commenced. I looked down for a quick moment, seeing the most elite batch of children fighting their guts out not for the sake of survival, but rather for pride. That in itself was almost as lethal as a battle of life and death.

I didn't even need to look up to know who had arrived beside me when I felt the familiar rush of wind. I didn't greet him and he didn't greet me, we simply stared off at whatever we were supposed to be looking at in silence.

"Feeling a bit nostalgic? You fought in the same arena exactly five years ago" Kakashi whispered casually beside me. Yes, I remembered, as for nostalgia, that was a strong word.

"I'm glad that I forfeited in the semi-final." I suddenly voiced. Fighting, whether for survival or for pride, was something that exposed one's true nature and there was no way that I would willingly expose myself and my brother in front of all these people. I wasn't sure back then, but now, I was certain that if we had fought, there would have been more things exposed for the world to see than what I was comfortable with.

"It was the logical choice. I wouldn't have been able to beat him." I added, feeling the need to explain my strange comment. There was a brief silence between us that was drowned out by the cheering of the crowd.

"How would you know?" That was all he asked.

"We fought shortly after we got back to Konoha. He trashed me completely," I answered honestly, remembering his genjutsu. How had he been better at genjutsu than me when I had awakened the Sharingan earlier? The only logical reason would be that I slacked off in practice, and unlike me, he was a true genius and a hard worker.

"That's not very confident, or inspirational for what you want to do." The emotional colour in his voice was dim, but I could still hear a sense of confusion.

"No, it's not. Sasuke seems to get the idea that in order to kill someone, you have to surpass them completely. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. You don't have to surpass your opponent in everything to kill them, just certain areas, the correct ones." I paused a bit, then I continued, "Perhaps, it's because our conception of killing was different, and that caused our goals to deviate as time passed, or maybe it's never been the same to begin with."

A long silence ensued. It wasn't necessarily awkward or uncomfortable; it was much more calming and tranquil and gave us time to think and to compose ourselves.

"I used to think that I could surpass him in one particular area, but now, I am not really sure about that." I finally said, breaking the calming silence. I narrowed my eyes at the battle in the arena, the second battle of the semi-final was coming to an end, and one of the kunoichis had the other completely trapped, but the other one was not giving up.

"What area is that?" I paused a moment before answering, wondering if I could really say the answer out loud.

"A cold-blooded heart," I whispered for the last time and sealed our conversation shut as the semi-final ended and the final match began.

Itachi was a gentle child, one full of kindness and love. I used to think that it was so ironic of Kami to give him a genius aptitude for the life of a shinobi and yet, make his personality so full of kindness.

Maybe our conceptions of death, or pride, or even just the word 'shinobi', were different as well.

Perhaps, that was all there was to it.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

A Suna genin won the tournament. The Kazekage was happy, but the other Kages were not. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do, so they chose the next best option other than declaring war: they discussed the promotion of the chunin candidates. At least one genin for each major village was promoted as chunin. By three o'clock in the afternoon, two more Konoha military jackets were handed out, and two more chunins were born.

Hospitality really was rare in a foreign village, as the moment the announcements ended, Hokage-sama's team departed from Suna. One 'My pleasure', two "thank you for your hospitality (presence)", three light nods, and we were out of the Wind Country.

According to the route we were taking, we had to cross the Land of Rivers, a small country stuck between the Wind and the Fire. Just like Kusagakure and Amegakure, the Land of Rivers never had much influence in the presence of the larger villages. We traversed the grounds of a foreign country, but we were not nearly as tense as we had been when we were in Suna.

This is a flaw, I thought. Danger could be everywhere, but it was human nature to relax when we thought the biggest threat has passed. However, I did want to get out of Sunagakure; to stay away from the nostalgia that stirred up emotions before anything bad could happen.

"Team Ro, Please gather around." I followed the voice of Sandaime with curiosity. The mission so far had been quiet, excluding the little incident in Suna, but nevertheless, this was probably one of the better missions I had been on. No one died, no one got killed, and we all had our limbs still attached. Now that we were only a few hours from the Fire Country's border, I hadn't expected Hokage-sama to pull out an emergency meeting.

"Due to the confirmation of some information, I have an emergency mission for you." The Hokage said to the six of us, "Our intelligence department has evidence to believe that around this area, in the Land of Rivers, a secret base of a Konoha missing-nin was hidden." My mind was racing through a million possibilities right now. What are we going to be asked to do? Raid? Infiltration? Scout? Clean up? I was a bit concerned with the identity of the missing-nin, it wasn't every day that a missing-nin manages to build him/herself a base that made Hokage worry. Ah, maybe this was why we were sent on this mission. The point was not the escort, but rather as a preparation for this.

"According to the report, the base appears to be abandoned. However, this was deemed to be a high A-class mission only due to one single fact: the owner of the base is...Orochimaru." The Hokage finished the sentence with a serious dread. My teammates around me rustled in shock and discomfort. It was no chatters, but for Anbu, this meant all hell breaking loose.

"Orochimaru is an extremely dangerous S-rank missing-nin. Formerly one of the Legendary Sannin, he used to be one of my students." There was no denying the sadness and regret in Sandaime's voice, and suddenly, his voice felt distant, contrasting his usual kind voice for lectures, or his stoic voice for authority. There was a certain unsaid regret lingering in the air, but then it was quickly dispelled and the Hokage continued, "He defected and was marked as missing-nin after his immoral actions of human experimentation had been exposed. After that point, he was actively pursued by our village."

"The mission objective is to mark the base, clean up any remaining problems and bring the information to our R&D department," Hokage-sama ordered in his stern voice. An unsaid agreement reached the six of us, 'clean up' meant destroying any dangerous objects and eliminating any dangerous people. From what I'd heard, Orochimaru was a dark secret of Konoha, what he did bring were the shame to the village and their reputation. I could understand the village trying to keep his trace as secret as possible, wiping away any trace of his condemning actions.

"Hokage-sama, please clarify the order if we are to find the missing-nin." Our captain voiced despite the tension. I was very aware of the fact that Hokage-sama paused in hesitation, despite the clear policy of Konoha for its missing-nins to be killed on sight, just like other villages.

"It would be very unlikely, but there is no denying the possibility. You are to follow standard procedure and eliminate the target to the best of your ability." He answered slowly, as if chewing on each word until there were nothing left, "However, I'd much rather see all of you alive, and thus, you are allowed to disengage and report back if you find yourselves outmatched. Your team is set for an A-rank clean-up mission, not an S-rank hunting mission." I blinked in surprise at the unusual command, There was never an instance where the Hokage-sama was instructing us to step away from eliminating a missing-nin. The understanding in Anbu was that we would finish our objective even if we were to throw away our lives, so the thought of Hokage-sama specifically instructing us to act differently was… unsettling.

"Understood, Hokage-sama," I muttered coherently along with my other teammates. I stood behind my captain, watching the main entourage moving away at the lightning speed, leaving us behind in an air full of discomfort and tension. My teammates were observably nervous, Falcon stayed silent, Zebra was clutching tightly onto his medical scrolls, and Kakashi moved his hitai-ate up to reveal his scarred eye with the Sharingan. Automatically, my hands went for the swords on my back, lifting them out of their sheaths slightly, checking to make sure that it would only take less than a second to flash out the metals.

"To cover the large area, we will split off into three groups. We find the entrances - there's apparently three entrances that are likely to lead to different quarters, considering how Orochimaru usually built his hideouts." Kakashi analysed the intel scroll with precision, and from the concentrated gaze in his eyes, amplified with his Sharingan, I realised that he had most likely been to one of the hideouts before, possibly on a previous mission. He narrowed his eyes in deep thought for a few seconds, before speaking again, "I will be teaming up with Zebra, Bear will be with Otter, and Falcon with Rabbit. Once you find the entrance, investigate the inside with care. Orochimaru likes to trap the area." The rest of us nodded,

"Do not, I repeat, DO NOT engage in a battle with anyone without signalling the rest of the team for back up. Considering the size of Orochimaru's underground base, we will likely be quite far from each other. So anyone you see, including your teammates, could be an enemy. Orochimaru is a master of disguise, and a missing-nin of S-rank, you will not be able to fight him alone. Take this seriously." I had never seen Kakashi this serious before. He eyed us tensely, scanning our faces and bodies to make sure we had all heard what he said; to make sure we all had a reasonable amount of fear injected into us. "Ever since Orochimaru's defection, to my knowledge, fifteen Anbu teams were sent to recover him. Only five members survived." We stayed silent at the horrible revelation. I didn't particularly want to die, especially not before I got my answer. I came too far, fourteen years too far, to be exact, to throw my life away again.

"Move out." Kakashi's voice cut through the air sharply and within the blink of an eye, the area where we stood a second ago was now empty. I followed Falcon as we searched through the rocky jungle terrain of the Land of Rivers. Captain already gave us a general location for one of the entrances, however, it was up to us to find the hidden doorways to the doom.

"Say, Rabbit, Captain told me your trapping skills are not that great. In fact, I think his words were 'any hooligan with any kind of alertness will be able to get through'." Falcon said as we searched the ground for any traces. Despite his seemingly serious tone, I knew that Captain did not say that, at least not those exact words, since Kakashi never used the word "hooligan". It was way too straightforward for him. So I ignored him and kept my Sharingans on the details of the dirt.

"I think it's probably due time for me to give you a lesson on traps, or more accurately, how to dispel traps. Count yourself lucky, we got a wide variety of samples to study from." I perked my head up in interest. I never turn down an opportunity to learn something that could potentially save my life. Though I could feel his voice being unusually tense despite the humour. Some people use humour to deal with nervousness.

"Tell me Rabbit, what kind of traps we tend to use the least in residence." I thought about Falcon's question and immediately answered, "Explosives."

"Correct. Explosives are dangerous, they are powerful, but they can hurt anyone. However, tell me one situation where they would be the most efficient trap." Falcon asked with a smile. After a second of thinking, I answered with realisation dawning on my face, "To destroy a deserted base along with all of its information." Falcon nodded at my answer and pointed behind him, slightly to the right. I followed his gesture, seeing a hidden underground cave, just enough for one person to slide in at a time. When I looked closer, I could see a thin black line across the cave entrance. If Falcon took one more step behind him, he would have crossed the line. Given the lecture he just gave me, I doubt it would have been a pretty scene.

"There are two main types of explosive traps. One, the chakra infused kind, where the whole trap is made of a large amount of concentrated chakra that when activated, they could cause huge damage, and they don't have any visible signs. However, the downside of it is that the chakra would be so concentrated that for a sensor or those who could see chakra, they are dead giveaways." Falcon smirked, and just like what he said, my sharingan detected no concentrated chakra, that was probably why I couldn't find the entrance as fast as he did. As a seasoned scout and tracker, Falcon's eyes were trained to pick up those types of marks.

"The second type, which is the kind behind me, is the chakra triggered type. This type utilises natural explosives such as explosive tags and dynamite, which can be easily activated by even a tiny hint of chakra. Once someone unfortunate triggers the trap, they go ka-boom with no idea why." Falcon bent down and ushered me forward. I looked over his head and watched him carefully work on the thin black line. His finger followed the line carefully until it reached some kind of web design hidden a few meters away.

"That black line you just saw is the trigger line, and usually it's connected to the chakra entry point. However, this particular design has a complicated design to confuse whoever wishes to de-trap this. Only one of these lines is the correct chakra entry line, while all the others are trigger lines. If you touch the wrong line, the chakra will be released, and I'm sure that the abundant amount of explosive tags buried around here would blow us all up to pieces." Falcon instructed with an awfully cheery voice despite the morbid content, and he patted me on my back and invited me forward, waiting for me to make a decision that could potentially blow us up.

With a sigh, I squatted down beside the trap and laid my eyes on it with concentration. It was complicated, thin black lines overlapping each other, but Falcon mentioned that trigger lines had to be connected to the chakra entry line. My eyes scanned frantically for the line of connection, black tomoes spinning furiously in order to solve the puzzle. Some of the lines were muddled together, they seemed to connect, but in reality, they missed each other by only a fraction of millimetres.

Slowly, I raised my hand and pointed towards one of the lines, but quickly, I retracted my fingers. "You can't be unsure when you are asked to dispel the explosives. Careful, yes, but confidence is key." Falcon whispered behind my head. I bit my lips for a moment and glared over the trap one more time.

"That one." I pointed at one of the thin black lines. Only this line was connected with all the other trigger lines, this was the only pathway that made sense. With a smile, Falcon cut the chakra entry line with a kunai quickly, and for one second, my heart raced at the possibility that we were going to blow up.

"Good job, with more practice, you should be able to identify it in half the time." I let out a breath and stood up, Falcon had already walked back to the cave as he let his words trail behind. He stood there for a few seconds in concentration before he spoke up again.

"Follow me closely, I can feel a few chakra infused traps inside. For those, it's usually easier to just leave them be." Just like that, he quickly descended into the cave. Immediately, I followed him into the unknown.

The cave led to a tunnel, which had a rusted metallic ladder built on the inside. Falcon was about one meter below me, but when he reached the bottom, he did not step onto the ground. Instead, he jumped up and swung onto the strangely placed bars on the ceiling. With one swing, he landed on the ground, about half a meter away from the bottom of the ladder. I could only guess that there was a trap placed at the bottom of the ladder. I copied his movements and landed right beside him. Without a single word, we moved deeper into the hideout.

We dispelled a few traps on our way, mostly weapon traps and a few explosives. The frequency of explosives was so high that it would be very impractical for a hideout, and most of them were unavoidable ones that require a lot of careful work to dispel. I guess the hideout really was abandoned, and the traps were added for the sake of blowing any discovery into pieces.

As we entered deeper and deeper, the light was snuffed out. My Sharingan was fine on its own in the dark, but Falcon had to pull out a flashlight to light the path. I stepped carefully onto where Falcon had stepped on previously. He had taken the time to explain all the different types of traps we encountered, but because we were kind of short on time here, he took care of all the easy traps, and for those that would take too long to dispel, he simply marked it on a map and walked away.

Finally, after an excruciatingly long walk in the tunnels, I finally saw an arching door leading to a dark room. Carefully, I took a step to where Falcon had walked before. It only took a fraction of a second for my instinct to scream 'DANGER'. I felt a light click where my foot touched. Without a second thought, I body flickered a few meters back. The moment I was out of the range, a shower of kunais rained down onto where I used to stand. I stared at the kunai filled the floor, if I had been a fraction of a second late, it would have been me impaled with kunais, and I had no idea what triggered it.

"Double trigger. This is tricky. I didn't know they used that method anymore. It was supposed to be triggered on the second step so that the first time one passes through it will appear to be normal. Lesson number whatever in de-trapping, always stay calm when you trigger something. The first one might not kill you, but the second one you triggered in panic will definitely kill you." Falcon said calmly as I carefully made my way to him. His voice was so dispassionate that I guess I should be honoured that he placed so much faith in me for not dying.

"Shall we, let's see what Konoha's most notorious criminal has hidden in his nest." His voice hinted a cold laughter. We both knew it was no invitation, we might as well have been walking straight into a venomous nest; even if the snake was out, it didn't make the venom in the lair less dangerous.

When I stepped into the huge room, it was a sight I couldn't unsee. It was a scene filled with carcases. Literally, body organs filled the shelves, lining the floor, some of them scorched and some of them in pieces, some of them were still in their broken containers, the usually clear liquid that was used to preserve organs for medical purposes was muddled with substances I didn't want to know. There was absolutely not a speck of blood, but that only made it so much more disgusting and horrifying. Involuntarily, I closed my eyes to stop the Sharingan from receiving any more of this image.

Falcon was also speechless beside me, and for a second, he seemed unsure of what to do with this. The strong smell of disinfectant and preserving chemicals filled the room, mixed with a light smell of something sickly rotten. Despite the display in front of us, all the organs were well kept using preservation methods. The sickly smell must have only started in the past few days, which meant that the hideout must have been abandoned recently.

"We should start the de-trapping." I managed to say, my voice was so small and raspy it sounded like I hadn't used it for a while. Our job was to assess for threats and remove them to the best of our abilities. As for the content of the hideout, those are for the Research and Development Department to handle.

Carefully, I stepped towards the wall, it was always best to start at somewhere, and the wall and the ceilings were usually where most traps were placed in a room. I stepped around a pool of … something, it was charred to pieces. I couldn't identify it, and I didn't want to either.

It was clear this was a research facility since it was filled with strange and familiar scientific and surgical instruments. There were pipettes, beakers, and tubes, some resting on the metals tables, some broken on the ground. There was also some equipment I had never seen before, not that I was very good with research equipment in the first place, but their design was so unique they were most likely to be something specific to the world with chakra.

Falcon was quick to work as soon as he was out of the shock. By the time I finished a wall, he was already done with two. "This is so inhumane." My head snapped towards Falcon's whisper of words. He stood in front of a broken water tank, staring at it with wide and horrifying eyes.

I followed his gaze, the first thing I saw was the murky water filling up to the large crack in the tank, then I saw the human figure hanging limply in the glass tank. Instinctively I brought my hands to my mouth to cover it, forbidden it from making a sound, pushing the sickening feeling down back to my stomach.

Human experimentation, the very act of taking away one's freedom, rights and identity. I was afraid to look any further, even if I thought I was prepared for anything, I wasn't. Orochimaru was something I had not prepared for, just like the human puppeteer, his action was even more repulsive. Just like the night of the massacre, I thought I was prepared for the worst, but it wasn't until I saw the racks of bodies with blood that I realised, I was so very wrong.

"Let's finish this quickly. I don't want to stay any longer. This place is sickening down to the soul." Falcon finished with anger in his voice. I nodded my head and went back to work, chanting the calming phrases in my mind to keep the sickening image out of my head.

We covered the room and any adjacent facility we could find, in total, we covered an area at least a few hundred meters squared. We couldn't find any other exits besides our entry point, Captain's suspicion was mostly correct, the three entrances seemed to be leading to separate facilities, maybe there was hidden passage in between, but we were not planning to stay to find out.

Quietly, we exited the hideout, still processing everything we'd found today. Falcon threw a few scrolls he found in the hideout into a sealing scroll, but other than that, we didn't touch anything. When we saw the lush jungle and the blue sky again, we both greedily took a large breath, trying to shake off the smell of disinfectant.

It was supposed to be a simple and straightforward mission, we enter, we get rid of the traps, we search the area and we meet up with our teams again. It was very unlikely that any point in the timeline could have resulted in unexpected events.

However, as Lady Luck willed it, it was never that easy.

Suddenly, Falcon's body tensed, his eyes closed in concentration. I was very familiar with that stance, Shun used it every time when we were trying to focus on sensing. Before I could ask, he spoke up.

"There is someone here, hiding, invisible, fifty meters north of us," Falcon said coldly, one of his hands rested the Anbu sword while the other pulled out a kunai. Immediately, my eyes darted towards the direction he mentioned, and I pulled out my twin swords. I didn't even need to know if that's one of our teammates, the simple answer would be no; there was no way our teammate would be alone at the moment, let alone hiding from us.

"Well, well, would you look at that. Looks like my gamble has paid off. Sharingan, and just the pair I was looking for." A devious voice was the first to come before a man seemed to melt out of the ground, emerging from the soil like it was water.

My breath hitched, it stuck in my chest just from the sheer pressure of the atmosphere. Despite the man's wry smile, the killing intent he spread was so concentrated that if I wasn't so used to the bloodshed, I would have been paralysed in fear.

However, the real fear and shock stemmed from recognition. There was no way I could not have recognised that ash white face with purple marks around his eyes, nor that large purple rope tied around his greyish-yellow garb. This was an image straight out of the Konoha Bingo book. The one man who had taken the spot as the most infamous traitor of Konoha for more than a decade.

"Children shouldn't poke around the venomous serpent's den, you never know when the serpent will return. What does serpent do when he find preys in his lair?" Orochimaru murmured with a chilling smile, his eyes landing right on me, and I resisted the cold that permeated my body, leaving the barest hint of shivering.

"He plays with them until they are dead."

A/N: [counts with fingers] Ah, three years before the Chunin exam, it's about time for Orochimaru to show up. Oh, now that I think about it, the next update would probably be on Friday as well, since next Saturday is the Christmas eve (maybe I should just change the update schedule to Friday, we'll see). Look at that, the Christmas update will be directed by Orochimaru! (Now, whether that was a good thing or not, it totally depends on the perspective ;)