The slight stinking smell of human blood followed by grunts of agony made the interrogation room create a draining atmosphere. Having encountered this kind of situation for countless times already, it shouldn’t affect your senses at all. Let alone your mood to deal with the Leaf agent had gradually shifted from impatient to aggravated.

“I’ll never talk! And you can’t make me!” the agent roared, whilst struggling on the chains that bound him.

You smirked and nodded your head at his stubbornness, hiding the fact that you are already itching to drive a bullet into his skull and end all this bullshit. You stood up, crossed your arms and walked towards him.

“Here we go again,” you mutter under your breath. A loud sigh escaped from your lips, unmasking the frustration that bugged you since the past hour.

The agent was seated on a metal chair. His wrists are bound on both armrests with each side having a protruding knife that points on his wrists. His chest and back are also chained and a shockwave device is on his head. He is definitely sitting on nothing but torture.

You held the shockwave remote and ran a thumb over it, taunting the agent that you will not hesitate to push the button if he still refuses to talk. However the agent, as skilled and trained he was when it comes to capture and information extraction, your move did not emit a single word from him.

“Why do I have to go over the same things again and again?” you put two fingers on your forehead and angrily pressed the button of the remote.

The agent let out a distorted cry of pain. His body wriggled on the metal and the knives cut his wrists. Witnessing this kind of event for the nth time didn’t bring any emotions to you other than frustration. Looks like you’re gonna be failing on this one too if he chooses to die rather than talk.

After about half a minute, you stopped his agony. The agent is now heavily breathing and droplets of sweat became visible from his face to his arms despite the cool environment caused by the air conditioner. He struggled to get free, cursing you under his breath and the metal chair clanged. You watched him with amusement as his blood dripped down the knives.

At any moment, he’s going to lose consciousness with all the blood draining from his wrists. You rolled your eyes and bent down to face him. “The more you move the deeper the knives will cut. Why can’t we just take this the easy way by you telling me about Squad Seven? And you know by that, I mean their names and their weaknesses,” you knew you sounded too blunt but you’re tired of beating around the bush.

“Go to hell…” the agent almost spat in your face, still struggling.

You let out a short laugh as you stood up and ran your hand on your hair before setting it on your hip. “Why don’t you go ahead?” in less than a second, you had pulled your gun out of your back and shot the agent right on the head, causing him to stumble down with the chair and spilling more blood from him.

“What the fuck, (Y/n)?! Why did you kill him?!” Kabuto roared from the corner, his eyes widened in shock at the fallen agent.

“I thought you already saw that coming. Anyway, he’s useless,” you said in monotone as you turned your back on the mess you made on the interrogation room’s floor. “You know we really need to work on the truth serum next time.”

“He was our only hope of knowing about the enemy!” Kabuto ignored your suggestion.

“I doubt that, doctor. And shut it before I let you join him,” you now pointed your gun at Kabuto. His habit of talking senseless things was causing you to feel frustrated again.

“You can’t kill me. And Sir Orochimaru will not be very happy with this,” Kabuto narrowed his eyes. Clearly he isn’t afraid of you and he sounded so sure that your dearest boss will ground you for what you’ve done.

You let your gun down and started to leave. “I don’t care.”

Kabuto’s presence annoys you. Why did he always have to be there whenever you deal with your mission inside the quarters? True, he’s the only skilled doctor in the institution other than Orochimaru. But scratch that. You could easily learn his skills from your boss and then take Kabuto out so his annoyance won’t bug you anymore.

“For damn’s sake, (Y/n), that was the fifth agent from the Leaf that you killed without getting information about Squad Seven and without Sir Orochimaru’s permission!” the doctor sounded all worked out at exclaiming a very long line for the first time in the day.

You slightly turned your head but not enough to fully face him. “I don’t like repeating myself. But I’m telling you. I. DON’T. FUCKING. CARE.”

You did not wait for Kabuto to respond. You left the room and headed to Orochimaru’s quarters with only one goal in your mind. If those useless agents won’t tell you a damn thing about Squad Seven then you’re gonna have to find out for yourself. It’s time to go out and take the job solely in your hands. All you need to do to get started is take Orochimaru’s approval.

Normally an assassination group leader’s quarters could be located at the topmost floor of the building. But take Orochimaru differently. His quarters are located ten floors underground. You will need to get on a steel cage that would lower you down there. Basically your hideout is located under a twenty-story building with only the ground floor of the assassination department visible to other people on level ground. The owner of the building didn’t seem to know that his premise extends another ten floors underground that served as your hideout.

You got on the steel lift and pressed the button, bringing you down gradually. The familiar smell of rust and medicine met your senses, making you groan.

It had been a slight surprise for you. You grew up and had lived these areas for twelve years already yet you still can’t stand Orochimaru’s habits of creating and experimenting new poison. If Kabuto could hear your thoughts now, he’d probably scold you for calling their so-called “medicine” poison. Orochimaru wouldn’t even dare to have this place renovated or even wash the rust off, lest it will cause suspicions from the upper building.

You wondered, why didn’t Orochimaru have this hideout built in a place where there is no host on top? It would’ve saved him the trouble of not cleaning and improving this place.

You shrugged the matter off when the lift came to a halt. Perhaps you’ll finally get used to it one day.

You made your way out, your boots making a low tapping sound on the steel floor. As soon as you got in front of Orochimaru’s quarters, or more like experimenting lab, you knocked.

Usually you’d hear a faint, deep and coarse response after knocking but now, there was only silence. You tried tapping the door again.

You waited but after a minute or two there was still no response. You put your hand on the snakehead-like doorknob and decided whether you should open it or not. You had never entered Orochimaru’s quarters without his response after the knock before, let alone during a time he had to put off your consciousness when he made you one of his test subjects.

He may get mad at you for intruding so you decided to let go of the knob and tell him about your decision later. You would kill a Leaf agent without orders rather than enter Orochimaru’s space without permission.

Just as you turned your back, the door opened. This never happened before. Orochimaru opening the door for you was very rare. You quickly turned and saw your boss standing at the doorway and grinning at you as if he had already known your purpose for going down.

“Orochimaru-sama,” you said with a bow. As you lifted your head back up, you noticed that something was off. Orochimaru was not alone. Next to him stood a guy who is about five or six years younger than you. He had black spiky hair and deep dark eyes. You couldn’t tell from the look on his face if he’s a new friend. Or a snake that crept into another snake’s lair to destroy you all. The suspicion reminded you of how Orochimaru trained you as his most skilled and trusted assassin.

Your gun was at your back and your hand slowly moved to take it but Orochimaru’s voice stopped you. “Glad you’re here. We don’t have to go all the way up. This is Uchiha Sasuke. He’s going to be your partner from now on.”

“Uchiha?” you wondered out loud, with your hand back on your side. “I heard that one of Squad Seven’s members is an Uchiha. That can’t be you.”

“It’s him,” Orochimaru bluntly said.

“What?” you gasped and your eyes widened in shock. Your goal to tell Orochimaru that you are about to leave to hunt down Squad Seven by yourself is meaningless now, with one of their members right in your lair. You moved your hand again to get the gun.

“I am no longer a part of Squad Seven. I am here to become Orochimaru’s apprentice,” Sasuke said in monotone that sounded like yours.

The look you gave him clearly showed that you don’t trust him a bit. Hell, you don’t trust anyone. That’s how Orochimaru raised you.

Sasuke put a hand on the sword strung on his back. “Squad Seven members are weak. I will destroy them all.”

You put your hand back down again, seeing that Sasuke had sensed your distrust in him. He can’t blame you nonetheless. You’re just gonna have to see for yourself if he was true for his words.

Your lips curved into a smirk at the thought that your job might get easier.