Anko approached where she remembered the hideout to be. Two years she had spent, not daring to return to Konoha, but she had kept an eye on that place. At first, she had gone to live in a civilian village the furthest from both her native village and the hideout, wanting to have a new life. But recently, she started feeling something was wrong.

She didn't have many memories of what happened when she was trained by Orochimaru. She knew she had started training with him when she was about thirteen, and stayed with him for about five years. But those five years were like a fog. He left her out of whatever he was doing because she was too weak. And she hated him for that. She hated herself also, for not being strong enough.

She pressed a hand to her neck, where that mark was. That mark she was never able to activate. It was just there, hurting her because she saw it every time she stared into a mirror. Her heart screamed for revenge, and for a few months now, she trained constantly. All in order to get back to that hideout of his and show her former master what exactly she thought of him.

Anko hadn't seen Orochimaru out of his hideout once in all the times she watched over it. Nor anyone getting in, and not anyone getting out. If he was experimenting on other people, he had another way to get them inside. Anko's stomach twisted. How many people's lives had been screwed because she hadn't been good enough?

Taking a deep breath and building up all the courage inside of her, she jumped down a tree to get to where she recalled the entrance to be hidden in. Today was the day. She had to find out why her memories were nonexistent, why she felt so much hate inside of her. It often felt like the Sannin had taken something from her, but she couldn't recall what.

She heard some noise coming from behind her. She took a step right and avoided a kunai at the last second. She looked up. An Anbu guard was in a tree, not very far from where she was a moment ago. How long had she been followed?

While she didn't know Anbu sign language, she recognized the uniform to be Konoha's. Were they after her, or after Orochimaru? How many spies were around?

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

She could feel the Anbu in front of her trying to modify his voice. As if she'd recognize anyone from the village she hadn't stepped foot in it for years. "Why are you going there? Are you one of Orochimaru's comrades?"

Anko started laughing hysterically. "Pfft! I'm hoping to kill him. I can't explain, but I feel like this man screwed my life. I know he ruined my life! Here to help me or no?"

The Anbu made a hand signal to what she assumed were a few others. Six masked people jumped down trees, or out of bushes.

"Is the entrance near here? Can you lead us?"

Anko grinned. She didn't expect them to be this straightforward, nor trusting her this easily. Did they not know how much time she spent with Orochimaru? She didn't know if she was being tricked. She needed to get more information.

"If it hasn't changed location in the last two years, I know where it is. You were sent here to kill?"

She didn't get an answer, but she heard one of them mumble that they were relieved to know she was alive. "Last thing we knew about you was that Orochimaru was testing something on you. On a secret report the Hokage just heard about. We feared you had died and wouldn't be here to report your story."

She frowned when they mentioned the experiment. They were probably unknowingly referring to the curse mark she had on her neck. But was Konoha just made aware of Orochimaru's actions recently? Were the leaders that stupid?

She didn't know why, but she felt like she had already seen the one who seemed to lead the group. She couldn't place his voice, and he had a mask and a standard uniform, but his posture, she was convinced she knew him. It was surely a man, but he didn't seem to be very old. Mid-twenties at the maximum. There was one Anbu that was smaller, Anko presumed them to be a teenager. Quite a few of them seemed pretty young for black-ops, but what did she know about working as a shinobi from Konoha, let alone the likes of ANBU? Anko left the village, after all.

"Before we head inside, we should scatter somewhere else and make a plan," one of them proposed. It seemed to be a woman. "I can see a bit inside, but it seems to be a labyrinth."

"Right, let's plan ahead. Anko, can you help us?"

Anko grinned. The Anbu, nothing else, wanted her help! What a great day!

Anko guessed the woman to be a Hyuuga, or having some sort of abilities which helped seeing places. Echolocation, perhaps. Or just the good old Byakugan.

They left the location and gathered further in the forest, in case Orochimaru was spying outside of his base of operation. Anko spotted a sandy-earthy area and took a broken branch to draw out how the hideout was made on the inside. The woman was not wrong when she said it was a maze.

"This is where he directs his experiment, here is the main lab. If we're lucky, Orochimaru will be in either one of these two locations." Anko said, pointing at her makeshift map. She then drew in another spot. "This place should be avoided. It contains dangerous products, seals, and explosives as well. Then, there is a section here." She pointed her stick to another place, putting pressure to press the sand inward in the area she chose. "There is where his test subjects are kept prisoners. Some might be worth saving, but most of them can rot."

Some of the Anbu men were trying to memorize everything she was telling them. She rolled her eyes as one of them made her repeat, this time slower. He was lucky the information was for a life or death situation, because usually, something Anko hated, was to repeat herself.