Ryūchi Cave (II)

4 ½ years after leaving Konoha

The Land of Birds wouldn't have been her first guess regarding the location of Ryūchi Cave. Nonetheless, once she was there, she became more and more convinced that she was getting closer and closer.

The country was located between the Lands of Earth and Wind, but it had much more in common with the former than the latter. The main difference, however, was that instead of being spotted with rocky mountains and bare hills everywhere, the mountains here formed hundreds of valleys with abundant vegetation and dense forests.

Befitting its name, there were also birds everywhere. Day and night, their twitters could be heard no matter where you were, almost driving Anko crazy with their constant noise. It took all the self-control she had to not constantly kill every bird she got across.

The problem was that the area made it extremely hard to effectively search for that stupid cave. Ever since she managed to get here a bit over a year ago, escaping Suna patrols that weren't happy about an unknown stranger in their lands in the process, she fought her way through almost impassable mountain ranges and all-encompassing forests, but no matter how hard she tried, progress was slow.

Anko was just about to cut her way through some particularly stubborn undergrowth when her body reacted on instinct and jumped aside, saving her of the unpleasant experience of having a snake plunging her fangs into her ankles.

"Hey," she exclaimed angrily. "What did I do to you, asshole? Leave me alone!"

Initially, she had been happy about the insane number of snakes in the country and took it as confirmation that she was close to her goal, but she quickly grew annoyed at them for constantly attacking her. Were she not afraid of offending the White Snake Sage, she would squash every single one of them.

Fortunately, the snake did what she told it and slithered away after one last hiss.

Unfortunately, it was only then that Anko realized that the snake had been bone white.

"Dammit!" she cursed under her breath before hurrying in the direction the snake had vanished. "Hey, come back! I didn't mean it like that, I promise!"

For all that she had seen thousands of snakes since entering this country, this was the first time she had seen one with that specific colouring. In fact, this was the first time seeing a white snake since Orochimaru had left the village. Now, that could just be a coincidence, of course. Albinos were after all known to plop up from time to time. However, if what Anko believed was true, this snake might actual lead her to Ryūchi Cave.

Its unique colour had the advantage that it stood out from the rest of the environment and thus allowed Anko to spot it a few seconds into the hunt. That should have been the end of it; after all, there was no way that a small snake like that could escape a shinobi like her. However, to Anko's neverending frustration, the thick vegetation meant she couldn't move as quickly as she would have liked to while the snake with its smaller body could easily wriggle through obstacles without even slowing down.

Anko let out a frustrated cry as she jumped straight through some brushwood, ignoring the way its branches shredded her clothes and cut through her skin. All that didn't matter to her as long as she managed to keep her eyes on that annoyingly nimble snake.

She had no idea how long she ran after it, but when she finally broke through the treeline into the open just a dozen metres away from the wall of one of the mountains that encircled the valley, her entire body was covered with scratches. It had been worth it, though, as she had managed to stay close enough to her target to see its white form vanish into a nearby tunnel.

"Gotcha!" She immediately rushed after it, excitement bubbling in her chest at the thought that this was it, only to come to an abrupt halt when she crossed the entrance and came face to face with a veil of darkness and, more notably, a lack of white snakes. "Oh, c'mon! Seriously?"

Seeing no other way, she slowly walked in. Running would have naturally been preferable, but no matter how anxious she might be, Anko wasn't stupid enough to run when she could barely see her own hands in front of her face. Walking in into what could possibly be the lair of some predator like this was stupid enough, no need to risk falling to her death because she overlooked some hole in the ground.

She wandered through the darkness for what felt like hours, though it were probably only minutes. Anko had no way to know for sure, however; keeping track of time in such an environment was almost impossible. Then, when she finally saw light at the end of the tunnel, she was disappointed to note that what was on the other end was not the fabled home of the White Snake Sage but just another valley.

The white snake she had followed hadn't made another appearance either.

However, what made this valley at least somewhat interesting was the modest housing that stood barely a hundred metres from her position at the exit of the tunnel.

This wasn't the first time she had encountered people in this country, of course. For all that it was relatively sparsely inhabited, there were villages and towns, and while she hadn't been there herself, she knew that the capital was said to be rather impressive. All that being said, most of the lands were firmly in the hands of nature. Anko had spent over one year here and so far only found one single village and half a dozen families living on their own at remote locations.

Decision made, she moved towards the building with deliberate steps. She didn't have any trouble with the people of this country yet, but in her opinion, no one who lived this far out here on their own could be completely sane. Humans simply needed some contact with other humans if they didn't want to wilt away.

Her attention snapped to the door when a person stepped out.

"Oh my," the woman said with a friendly smile. "What a wonderful surprise! It has been a while since we had a visitor. Say, what are you doing here all on your own, my dear? Don't you know that it's dangerous to travel all on your own?"

The woman appeared to be in her late fifties, with hair that was more grey than black and a forward bent stance. She wore simple black robes that were stitched at several places and going by the calluses on her hand and the sun-kissed, wrinkled skin, she had spent a lot of her life outside.

All in all, she looked just like every other inhabitant of this country she had met so far.

Furthermore, while she tried to hide it, Anko could see the tension in her limbs and the apprehension in her eyes; everything pointed at her being afraid of Anko and what she would do to her. Not unreasonable considering civilians were pretty much defenceless against a shinobi. There was nothing this woman could do to stop Anko if she had bad intentions.

"I can defend myself just fine," she replied, making sure to stand as unthreatening as possible while keeping her voice calm. "I'm just exploring the region and stumbled over your home by accident. I mean no trouble."

The woman relaxed. Anko could be lying, of course, and she obviously did, but she had no need to trick her as she was already superior in every single aspect. To her, that meant that Anko must be telling the truth.

"Exploring the area? That must be so very exhausting! Our country is lovely, but the vegetation and all these steep hillsides…" She shook her head. "These days, we can't even travel to the nearest village on our own anymore."

"I'm terribly sorry," Anko said as sincerely as she could. "That sounds very harsh."

The woman waved her off. "Oh, don't you worry, my dear. You get used to it. Now, why don't you come in, clean a bit up, and let us give you something to drink? It's such a hot day and -forgive us for pointing that out- you look terrible."

Anko looked down her body to see that running through the underbrush in her pursuit of that white snake had done more damage than she initial thought; while the scratches themselves were harmless in and of themselves, there were a lot of them. None has bled too much, but as she was literally covered in them, her clothes were full of bloodstains.

And anyway, she thought as she looked upwards with a frown. It is very hot today. I must have been too distracted by that snake to notice, I guess.

"I would really appreciate it, ehm…"

"Our name is Tagorihime, but please, call us Obaa-san."

She gave the woman a warm smile. "Of course, Obaa-san."

The house was just as modest from the inside as from the outside; there was one large room that seemed to serve as the living space and had one door leading to what Anko assumed would be Tagorihime's bedroom. As there was no other door, you probably had to do your, eh, business, outside.

Anko moved to the middle of the room and sat down on a cushion the other woman's pointed at before gratefully accepting the offered cup of water and taking a large gulp.

"Ahh," Anko sighed in delight. "I really needed that. Thank you, Obaa-san."

She gave her a grandmotherly smile. "Oh, there's no need for that. Now, just wait here while we get you something new to wear. You really can't walk around in such tattered clothes, you know. It's indecent!"

Anko chuckled. "Of course, of course. You're right, it would be really embarrassing if someone saw me like this!"

She would honestly find it more hilarious than embarrassing, but there was no need to say that out loud.

Anko watched Tagorihime move into the adjoining room with an amused smile before redirecting her gaze towards the cup in her hands. She then twirled it for a few seconds with a thoughtful look before drinking the rest of it in one go. For the first time in months, Anko felt truly refreshed and comfortable as a pleasant warmth spread through her body. Finding her sitting position too inconvenient, she first stretched her limbs before burrowing her head onto her arms on the table in front of her. After such a long day, it was probably normal to feel tired, and closing her eyes for a few seconds until Tagorihimi came back shouldn't be a problem, right?

The room stayed silent for several minutes until the owner of the house finally returned. Slowly but steadily, she came closer and closer, the only sound being the quiet creaking of the wooden floor beneath her. Her eyes, previously warm and kind, were now cold and calculating as she lowered her head towards the crumbled form in front of her, mouth wide open and ready to-

Before she had the chance to react, Anko moved and sent a mule kick to her chest.

A second later, a serpentine body crashed against the wall with a 'boom'.

"Seriously," Anko said with a smug smile. "You didn't honestly think I would fall for that, did you?"

Tagorihime, her grandmotherly appearance now replaced by that of a big, black snake with white accents, hissed at her in apparent anger. "You drank the water, I know you did!" Her voice was much higher and shriller than before. "How-"

"Did I?" She took the cup from the table behind her without breaking eye contact and held it in a way that allowed her opponent to see the liquid inside of it. "You really should pay closer attention to your wannabe victims. I hate to break it to you, but it's really embarrassing to fall for someone else's Genjutsu when your own trap is based on one."

The rage the thing's eyes was impossible to miss. "You little-"

"Oh, and by the way," Anko interrupted her before summoning a kunai into her hand and swing it in one smooth arc to her left, seemingly aiming it at empty air. "You also shouldn't try something that already failed a second time, nor fall for the same thing twice. Really, such things make you look like an amateur."

Anko put the cup back on the table before using her now free hand to form a onehanded Ram seal. "Release!"

At her command, her surroundings began to disappear bit by bit while the illusion her opponent had tried to impose on her fell away from her mind like wallpaper peeling off a wall.

The house itself and all the furniture inside it aside from the table behind her with the cup of water faded away, and even the valley it had been located in was replaced by a rocky ground and walls of stone that came together in a roof far above her head. However, maybe the most interesting change was the fact that Anko's kunai no longer pointed at empty air but straight at the yellow eye of another snake. "Impossible!" the brown reptile hissed, its voice much deeper than Tagorihime's. "You saw through my Genjutsu as well?"

Anko shrugged casually in false modesty. "It wasn't that hard. Obaa-san over there referring to herself as 'us' all the time made it kind of obvious that she had either an accomplice or was insane. Being a shinobi and all that, I obviously assumed the former just to be safe." She smirked. "Also, I have a teammate who is much more talented in Genjutsu than either of you two. Compared to his techniques, yours were laughable weak."

Both snakes were obviously -and audibly- unhappy with her statement, but Anko didn't care. What she found much more interesting was the fact that where the tails of both snakes should be, they instead connected with each other, meaning it was actually just a single entity rather than two. "You know, I always thought Amphisbaena [1] were just a legend. Who would have thought you actually exist."

"Not many find their way to us."

"And even less ever have the chance to tell the tale."

Alright, Anko though. I gotta admit, it's kinda creepy if they talk like that.

Outwardly, she chuckled. "Is that so? I take it then that not many pass this little test of yours?" She gave both heads a piercing look. "That's what this is, right? A test to see who can pass and who can't?"

The two heads turned to look at each other -does that mean they can't communicate with their minds?- before simultaneously turning back at her.

"Congratulations, Anko Mitarashi, for you have passed."

"Congratulations, Anko Mitarashi, for you have passed."

As if on command, the earth rumbled as the wall not too far away from her gave way to reveal the entrance to another tunnel, and even from her position, she could feel strong chakra pouring from its other end.

Anko's expression turned into a genuine smile.

At last, she had found Ryūchi Cave.

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[1] Amphisbaena: The Amphisbaena is an ant-eating serpent with a head at each end that has its origin in Greek mythology.