A few hand seals later, a snake about five feet in length appeared under Anko's hand. Still kneeling, she held her arm out so that the summon could coil around it. Once it had finished, the tokubetsu jōnin rose to her full height with her arm still outstretched.

The summon's head was lifted over Anko's palm, its slit-pupils gazing directly at Sakura. She suppressed a brief shiver as its forked tongue flicked out at her. Summon or no, she had never been overfond of snakes.

"Extend your hand," demanded Anko. "And don't move it."

Sakura remained hesitant. "Um, Anko-san, don't you th—"

"C'mon, brat, let's get this over with!" barked the older woman. "I'll explain as we go."

Sakura did as instructed, fighting the instinct to jerk back as the snake summon struck at the fleshy part of the base of her hand, between her thumb and wrist. As soon as the snake released Sakura, Anko released the summon, and it disappeared into smoke.

"Stay with me, brat," commanded the tokubetsu jōnin. "This is a bit different than last time, alright? More potent but also less subtle so it works with a lot less finesse."

Sakura's head swam as she fumbled around trying to grasp at thoughts, but even her own emotions eluded her. Fear was a far off concept, blurry light funneled through her pupils, and echoes from what seemed like a distant place hummed in her ears. She was aware of some discomfort, but she couldn't tell whose it was – could you even feel other people's discomfort? Was that a thing? If it weren't for her superior chakra control, she wouldn't have noticed that her chakra was fluctuating, being expelled from her in force in one second and then replenishing itself at an astonishing rate in another. Something about the rapid draining struck her as important, but she couldn't piece together why.

The pinkette remained incoherent for longer than she could really tell before her thoughts began to structure themselves again. The first thing she noticed as her vision cleared was Mitarashi Anko staring down at her with her brown eyes. Sakura held back the tongue-lashing she wanted to give the tokubetsu jōnin for poisoning her again only because of the bile that boiled up from her stomach. That woman was psychotic. She swallowed, trying not to gag and tried to focus on what the older woman was saying to her.

"—was for, kid? Remember how to stop it."

It took longer than it should have for Sakura to interpret Anko-san's meaning. The earlier trial with the chakra poison – it had been to prepare her for this? She grappled and struggled to properly gain a foothold on her chakra coils. She could already feel the differences in how the snake's venom affected her in contrast to how the poison from before had. The biggest difference was that the venom was actually powerful enough weaken her chakra. Like before, there was chakra flow disruption, but it wasn't as complex, not as knotted in her system, spread throughout her chakra coils. Rather, the venom was powerful enough to detect easily – it was pulsing in a radial pattern right from the center of her core.

Sakura wasn't exactly sure how to combat the weakness of her chakra, though she guessed it was possible that the venom was so concentrated in her core that it was diluting her chakra? It didn't much matter if she didn't stop the venom from spreading. She started the process and swirled her chakra flow in small, concentric patterns around the edges of the source. Hopefully even with the potency of her chakra dulled, it would be enough break up the affected area.

Her stomach lurched and pain knotted in her abdomen, and Sakura decided to ease her way into Anko's more direct approach. The jolt of pain she received after pushing chakra through the center of the area made her cry out in pain, earning a raised brow from the jōnin that atched over her. For a moment, though, the mass of corrupt chakra pulsed and weakened so Sakura gritted her teeth and tried again. This time, as she blasted her chakra, she incorporated the circular motion along with the blast and found that it created weak points in the venom's hold. By using the smaller circular motions in the weaker areas as well, the method slowly whittled down the corrupt area until her chakra was clean again.

Though she was quite pleased with herself for managing a much more efficient method during this brush, it had evidently still taken her some time, if the dozing elder kunoichi was any indication. Tired as Sakura was, the girl spared some energy to kick at the woman's leg.

"Mn? Oh, you're back. You know, you should really work on that multitasking thing, kid. It's not good to get so wrapped up something that you can't tell what's going on around you," informed the jōnin helpfully as she sat up and raked her fingers through her hair.

The pinkette shot a glare at her superior. "This is the second time you've poisoned me without warning. I'm beginning to think you're just doing this to vent some sort of sick sadism."

The manic grin that broke out of Anko-san's face didn't do anything to abate her expressed feelings. She suppressed a shudder at the bared teeth. "So what if I am? You going to do something about it, kid?"

The teasing wink nearly sent Sakura over the edge. If the venom didn't kill her, this certainly would. She reminded herself not to make the mistake of bringing up this particular subject in front to Mitarashi again, lest she die of an aneurysm before she even made chūnin. She didn't want to know if the other woman was serious or just really good at deflecting the subject of blame. She had decided to ignore the comment and probe further about why she was poisoned when Anko burst out into raucous laughter.

After her fit of delirium ceased, she looked at Sakura, amusement still clearly playing on her features. "Sorry, it's just too fun watching you squirm!"

The pinkette stared back flatly in annoyance. 'If this is how Naruto is going to turn out…I may just have to kill him now before he becomes this insufferable.'

"Ease up on glare, brat. You need to loosen up," said the kunoichi, leaning back and propping up on her elbows. "Alright, now back to business so listen up!"

The younger girl squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, trying to readjust, though whether or not the adjustment was to being coherent again or to Anko's rapid mood shift, she wasn't quite sure. Either way, she gave curt nod of affirmation, ready to hear about what this exercise had been about.

"How much do you know about summons, Sakura?"

The kunoichi did a quick mental rundown of everything she'd read about summons or seen with Kakashi-sensei's ninken. "Summons are nin-animals, usually born into a realm of their species. They form contracts with shinobi and aid them with various tasks, depending on what the summon's abilities are suited for when working in conjunction with the summoner. Summons are often associated with familial lines and once a contract is signed, the summoner often—"

Sakura's eyes widened as she narrowly avoided a dango stick that was flicked at her face. "I know what a summon is, I was just asking if you did. Geez, kid, I'm not an Academy teacher, all I wanted was a 'yes' or a 'no', not a textbook definition."

Sakura reddened at Anko's rebuke. It was true, that she was always a bit bookish, with theory being one of her strong points. Anko quickly moved on from the subject, however, and ignored Sakura's embarrassment.

"It's not always as simple as that," informed the older woman. "Snakes in particular can be a pain in the ass to contract with. Arrogant little bastards think they're special or something so there are a lot of 'requirements.' More like the pretentious, scaly, cold-blooded, little—"

The kunoichi exhaled violently, clearly worked up about the subject. The woman's venting was slowly pieced together by Sakura while she recovered from her frustration.

"So you're teaching me how to summon snakes?" inquired the younger girl, head tilted quizzically. This assignment was getting stranger and stranger. She still wasn't sure exactly how all this was going to help her with any assignment – besides, if Anko already had the knowledge and was trained by the Snake Sanin, then why weren't the higher ups using her?

Anko grimaced, nodding. "Yeah, that's the idea. You're going to need to be a little better at that, though."

"Better at what?"

"Dealing with the venom! Geez, kid, I thought you were supposed to be smart or something."

Sakura suppressed a flare of irritation. "So then that's prerequisite of contracting with the snakes?"

"Sort of. It isn't a hard and fast rule, but they look down on 'prey animals' so it's better if you have a head start. You'll need to work up a resistance to regular venom as well. And as time goes on, your tolerance will be more solid than pretty much any other shinobi's."

"Doesn't that sort of thing normally take a while?"

"It'll move faster 'cuz you've got me! Besides, you won't need to be totally immune just to contract. The rest will come after you've successfully formed it."

Sakura nodded slowly. It was a daunting process and sure to be a grueling one, but that was simply the life of a shinobi – she'd surely face worse than this if she were to continue to work with ANBU. Once Anko saw that the younger girl had accepted the ordeal, she reached for her pack and pulled out a manual of some sort and a leather case of vials and a syringe.

"Normal venom keeps better than chakra-based venom, so this will be the easy part," she said and tossed the equipment to the younger girl. "For the next few months, use the manual to make the cocktails to inject yourself with. Won't be fun, but this ain't fun for me either."

Sakura had the suspicious feeling that it would be hurting her a lot more than the older kunoichi, but she kept the thought to herself. The safety of self-administering venom cocktails with minimal instruction seemed questionable but that also seemed also seemed like a good way to earn a caustic response. "So what about the chakra venom?"

Anko sighed. "We'll meet here to work on that, I guess. I thought I may show you summon of mine, but – that'll have to wait."

Sakura winced inwardly. Had she done something wrong or—

"It's not you, kid," said the older woman, as if she had read Sakura's mind. "It's my thing – don't worry about it."

Sakura nodded. "So should we go ahead and try with the chakra venom again?"

The other woman shook her head. "Nah, I need to check on something. Just get back to the town and administer that cocktail. Be sure to read that manual or you'll, well, just read the manual, kid."

And with that helpful parting advice, the tokubetsu jōnin shunshined away. Sakura shook her head and wondered if the superiors she was assigned were handpicked to show her how not to behave when she had subordinates of her own.

The next few weeks with Anko went about the same. Though they continued to meet in the same place, they never did anything other than work on her ability to combat chakra venom. Sakura's progress went fairly well, though every time she made substantial progress, Anko would summon a different snake whose venom worked in a different way. It was a tedious, frustrating process, but she was definitely becoming proficient at the practice.

Her time with Ocelot, however, was infinitely more miserable. Between the strain with her chakra from her training with Anko and and physical toll taken by the venom cocktail, she was put at an even greater disadvantage when training with the frosty ANBU kunoichi. Sakura was prohibited from sharing the details of her time spent working with Anko, and despite the fact that Ocelot knew that she was training elsewhere, the woman refused to give any leeway.

Sakura liked to think that if she were solely focusing on Ocelot's tasks, it would have been fairly easy for her to handle. Unfortunately, she had less chakra to work with than normal and the deftness of her control had been dulled as well, making it difficult to manifest chakra threads at all, much less manipulate them. Given her unhappiness with Sakura's performance, Ocelot had also heaped genjutsu practice on the younger girl as well. Evidently, it was part of Ocelot's 'subversive' fighting style. It also happened to be something that required good chakra control. The pinkette supposed she shouldn't be overly annoyed at her predicament – her control on a bad day was better than the average chūnin's on her best.

That being said, she wasn't being evaluated on a chūnin's scale. She was being evaluated on the scale of a conceited, dismissive, pretentious, cat-mask wearing ANBU operative. And she evidently wasn't up to par.

"Again."

"Ocelot-san, I—"

"Again."

She suppressed a sigh and opened up her eyes to dimly lit room. It was a familiar scene, not overly different from the one she had been seeing for the past three and a half hours. But more than that, it was her bedroom from back home, when she lived with her parents. To her left, a few feet in front of her was her mother. She beckoned to Sakura, bidding that she follow, probably to come for breakfast, if it was like the previous times.

The pinkette ignored the woman, actively blocking out the sound. Normally, a genjutsu like this attempted to mask the fact that the target was in a genjutsu at all. And Sakura had to admit, Ocelot was very good at it – it used sensory input that the target was already receiving and simply filled in details with memories that were easily at hand. Sakura was in the dark, the genjutsu placed her in dimly lit room. The room she was in was small, it placed her in her bedroom, which was equally small. Ocelot's voice was in a certain pitch and tone, one that happened to be similar to that of her mother. And so on.

However, after about two thirds of the way through their session, even the skilled use of the illusion by Ocelot had worn off. Besides, that wasn't the object of the exercise anyway. Rather than recognize and dispel the genjutsu, the goal was to navigate herself successfully as if she weren't under it at all.

Normally, there wasn't much point in such a practice – the Academy didn't consider it necessary because it was much more practical to attempt to dispel a genjutsu and trying to operate while under the influence of one was a shaky thing at best. Not to mention that if you couldn't get out of genjutsu, chances were that you were done for, even if you could somehow manage to navigate while under its effects. Ocelot, however, thought that was immensely shortsighted and given her penchant for making use of the element of surprise, it seemed to suit her. She also mentioned that this practice also helped with the construction of genjutsus. Which is why Sakura found herself attempting to snake her chakra threads to a kunai to the right side of the room. The goal was to pick it up and send it to the other side of the room.

The fact that Ocelot had opted for an exercise that required Sakura to make use of two techniques she had yet to master had not gone unnoticed by the pinkette. However, she had to admit that it was efficient, which was something she could appreciate. She also happened to be determined not to let Ocelot wear her down – she would win, dammit. Haruno Sakura would not be beaten. Shannaro!

Sakura backpedaled a few feet back from her position and then started to snake a chakra thread along the wall behind her, intent on simply following the wall until it led to the kunai she was after. The visage of her mother stalked closer, and Sakura shrank away. As long as she kept track of her chakra thread, it didn't matter where she was.

Her surroundings shifted. There wasn't a room anymore, just a small, dark area surrounded by tall trees, and this time the figure opposite of her was that Otogakure girl that had been part of the team that ambushed her in the Forest of Death. Sakura's mind bent, trying to reconcile the feeling of a hard surface she could feel her chakra thread pressed against with the wide open space her eyes saw. A senbon sailed her way, and she stretched her neck to the side to avoid it, still trying to pay the least amount of attention to the other figure that she could. It was best that she didn't pay too close attention – the more focus placed on the details of her surroundings, the easier the genjutsu could take hold and tailor itself to her mind. And even when not taking that into consideration, she couldn't actually be sure that the figure was merely forming itself around Ocelot anymore – it may just be pure illusion now.

It was hard to place exactly where the tip of her probing thread was, and she wondered whether or not the jutsu could interfere with her ability to sense things of that nature as well. Filing the question away for later, Sakura redoubled her focus while she drew a kunai in case of attack. Cold metal touched her neck and she jerked back, raising her left hand in defense and slamming the kunai backward with her right. She felt her attacking arm get trapped at the elbow and twisted at the wrist. The pinkette released the kunai as her attacker continued to go on the offensive, intent on locking her arm and forcing her into submission. She smirked to herself, as she pulled a finger on her right hand and directed the fallen kunai up toward where her opponent would be.

Sakura was briefly aware of a constricting sensation before she crashed to the ground. When she looked up, she noticed the appearance of the training room had returned. Senses back in full once more, she noticed the probing thread she had sent out had actually snaked over the kunai that she was meant to retrieve.

"Better that time," came a voice from behind her. "Your awareness still isn't as acute as needed, but your defensive trap with your kunai showed some promise."

Sakura brightened at the praise. It wasn't often that the ANBU taskmaster had anything positive to say. As a matter of that, this may have actually been the first time—

"Not that it counts for much, since you let me get the drop on you in the first place. Or do you think that an assassin is really just going to hold a blade to your neck for fun before they off you?"

'No, but I know what I'd do to you if I ever had you under one,' thought the young kunoichi, irritation taking precedence over the wilting disappointment that had come along with Ocelot's words. What she would give to have a sane, helpful mentor.

"Oh, and your thread control still isn't anything to write home about. I expect it to be noticeably improved by next meeting. Regardless of whatever else you may be doing, it really should be second nature," drawled Ocelot condescendingly. "You're dismissed."

Sakura rolled over off her stomach and lied on the floor for a while after Ocelot left. Had it been a few months ago, she would've cried – tears streaming, puddles on the floor, body-racking sobs – the works. By now though, it wasn't even exhausting anymore; she was just numb to it all. Not living up to anyone's standards was just the norm – she hadn't even lived up to her own since she graduated from the Academy. Evidently, someone had seen something in her; she supposed she wouldn't have been training with ANBU because she was a no talent, lifelong genin. Shimura-san certainly didn't seem like the type to place a losing bet.

'Who are you trying to convince, Haruno?'

"Maa, is this room taken?"

The lazy drawl was unmistakable, even as it was filtered through the ANBU mask that was no doubt covering his face. She didn't even bother turning her head to confirm. "Ne ne, Kakashi-sensei, it's all yours as long as you don't step on me."

"It's a breach of protocol to name anyone with their mask on, you know?" came her (former?) sensei's easy rebuke.

She was never quite certain whether or not he was serious when it came to things like that. Sakura rolled her eyes anyway. "Be sure to file a report. I could use a break bought with a minor infraction."

"Ah," he said, no doubt taking note of her pity party. "Surely you wouldn't be wishing extra paperwork on me?"

She allowed herself a small smirk. That was Hatake Kakashi all over – he probably wouldn't think twice about accepting an S-Class mission, but triplicate sent him running off like a cowed puppy.

The pinkette wondered how long the shinobi had known about her affiliation with ANBU. It was not secret that Sharingan no Kakashi was an ANBU member so it was likely that he had connections within the organization that would have notified him of a student's involvement. It wasn't exactly the first time he had spoken with her since the unofficial dissolution of Team 7, but it was the most relaxed the man had been in conversation with her since then. Though, with Kakashi-sensei, that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"Of course not. The horror," she said in dry placation. She wondered whether or not it would be appropriate to ask when he found out about her. Or if it'd scare him off if she asked how he'd been. Part of her was still resentful that her sensei that abandoned her after the others left, but she'd come to understand in the months following that he was hardly without his own scars. Sakura settled for a safer topic. "So is it just training or are you here for an assignment?"

"Just finished debriefing," came the succinct response.

The details of his assignment were sure to be confidential, but she wasn't eager to let conversation die. Four whole exchanges from her sensei – what success. "Run into much trouble?"

"Just a tracking mission," sighed the jōnin. She heard shifting that sounded suspiciously like the removal of a worn, yellow book from a back pocket. "You know it's unhealthy to wallow. You should pick up a hobby."

Sakura suppressed an eye roll. She was torn between reminding him of the time when he had once inquired as to whether or not she had any hobbies and asking whether or not the rustling of his book had been intentional. "You mean like the public reading of porn?"

Before the man had a chance to respond, she had a vision of Kakashi reading Icha Icha aloud from the rooftops of Konoha to a scandalized audience and dissolved into a giggle fit. After she recovered, she craned her head to find her sensei in an ANBU dog mask, flipping through his book, seemingly impassive as ever. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei, how's your reading voice?"

If she hadn't have been looking for a reaction, she would've missed the momentary cessation of movement as Hatake Kakashi froze mid-page flip before continuing on as if she hadn't said anything at all. A small thrill of delight shot through her, amusement playing on her lips beneath her mask. Small victories.

She allowed herself another snigger before she moved on from the subject. "So has Naruto been drowning you in letters as well?"

"Mm," hummed the grey-haired shinobi, as if he were actually deep in thought about matter. "I'm afraid I lost my letter opener some time ago. I keep forgetting to buy a new one."

"Uh-huh," remarked the pinkette. She would have scolded him if she hadn't been negligent with her responses as well. "Well, there must be a thief about. Mine's gone missing as well."

"Tragic," he somberly remarked, all deadpan.

She sighed. "One of us should respond. You know how – how Naruto he can be."

Her sensei nodded sagely behind his book. "Yes. Very Naruto."

She playfully glowered before remember she was behind a mask. Most inconvenient. "Are you hungry, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Actually," he said as he put away his book. "I have an appointment I should get going to."

The pinkette forced down her frustration. And they had been doing so well too. "You? Eager to get to an appointment? You wouldn't be coming down with something, would you?"

"Hm. If I wait longer than an hour or two, the Hokage has an ANBU detail sent after me."

'Just finished a debriefing. Right.'

She relented. It wasn't like she could push him into it, and she didn't want to enable any of his procrastination anyway. "Hai hai. You should get going, then."

The grey-haired ninja flicked a lazy goodbye before he shunshined away. Sakura briefly thought about ambushing the jōnin outside of the Hokage's office later before she decided that she needed to get out of her sweaty clothes before she entertained doing anything else. Maybe she ought to take a break? The hot springs? Or maybe just a nap. Sleep sounded nice.

She delayed her plans long enough to stop by the library to find some sources that outlined the extent to which genjutsu could affect sensory input. Afterward, she headed straight for her room and collapsed on her bed, falling asleep before she even got around to changing clothes.

She awoke about two hours later to a knock on her door. She forced her sore body up and tried to shrug off the grogginess. One the secretaries she recognized from the complex was waiting for her.

"Haruno Sakura. You are expected in Conference Room 9A three hours from now exactly in ANBU dress," informed the man flatly. She nodded and gave verbal affirmation, prompting the secretary to take his leave.

'Huh. Well, this is strange.' Orders were normally given out at the start of her day when she reported to her office to work on her reports. There hadn't been any new developments in them of which she was aware, and there hadn't been anything else that had been out of the ordinary either. Whatever it was, it evidently involved multiple people since a conference room was being used. From what she'd picked up in the months working here, it'd become clear to her that briefings were normally held for team missions in those rooms. 'But I'm not even a full ANBU member yet.'

The kunoichi decided that the best course of action was to simply put it out of her mind – she'd find out what was needed of her in a few hours. A quick half hour later, she was clean and in her ANBU get-up sans masks. She passed the rest of her time studying the readings she'd found on genjutsu and sensory input. Evidently, she was right in her observation – most genjutsu were aimed at the physical senses rather than a target's chakra senses. 'Hm. I wonder if that means sensor types have an easier time of breaking genjutsu.'

The readings she had didn't give her any insight into that particular question, but it did cite a few other pieces that dealt with the subject. She filed the knowledge away for later usage – with luck, there'd be more specific information in the other pieces. She had gotten to a fairly interesting section on the mechanics of exactly how the chakra sensory system slid under the radar of genjutsu when she glanced up to find that she had fifteen minutes until her meeting. The kunoichi donned her mask and left to go seek out the room.

It didn't take her overlong to find the it. Steeling her nerves, Sakura opened the door and strode through.

AN: Hey look, a cliffhanger. Anyway, sorry length of time between updates. I'm hoping to get on a schedule for my fics, but I don't want to give any hard dates until I work out a reasonable flow for myself. This is especially true, as I hope to start having chapters at least 5k words now rather than just 2-3k. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this one.

Feel free to comment, whether to ask a question, give a critique, or simply correct any typos I made. Thanks for reading!