"Poison Veil" – By: Kiba Inubake


Chapter 2 turned out exactly as planned! Wow...that's a first, actually. Hahahah...!


Chapter 2: "Survival Exam"

Anko had led her new squad to the Forest of Death, or as she addressed it by its proper name, Training Ground #44.

"All right, listen up!" She exclaimed, attention turning to her. "I've taken you here to test your skills. I'll give you some time to roam around, but from then on, I'll be hunting you down…!!" She licked her lips, absorbing her kouhais' startled expressions.

"W-what do you m-mean, Sensei…?" Hinata managed to stutter out.

"I mean, I'll give you twenty minutes to get away from me, but once your time has run out, you'll have to elude me, or you'll have failed!" Anko explained. Hinata felt insecure, Sasuke smirked, and Shikamaru sighed. "Oh, and your head start begins…now!" In an instant, her team had fled into the forest.

Poor things. They never had a chance.


Anko stepped into the arena. "This is gonna be fun!" She took a scroll out from her side pocket. Opening it, she bit her thumb and smeared her blood onto the paper. With a puff of smoke clouding the surroundings, black and purple snakes invaded the scene. "Take off!" Their summoner commanded. They knew what she meant; the only time her snakes were called on in a group in this specific location was when she wanted them to find the only other human beings in the vicinity.


Now well into the dense training ground, Squad 7 had stopped to contemplate tactics in a clearing.

"Mmm…I think I have something," Shikamaru said. Despite his closed eyes, he felt attention beating down on him. "Hinata, you can use the Byakugan to locate Anko-sensei, am I right? If we can find her, I can paralyze her until you block her tenketsu. If we can utterly stop her chakra flow, we can win this battle." Within not even a second, his genius plan was accepted and applauded.

"Heh…nice, Shikamaru—but what's my role?" Sasuke questioned.

"Well…" His fellow prodigy started, "If you were to act, the only thing you could pull off is injury, and harming our sensei is pointless."

"Hunh…" Sasuke contemplated. "…Okay, but what if there's a variable? Anko is known for her ability to summon snakes."

Hinata actually spoke up. "S…snakes?"

"Yeah," Sasuke replied. "I'll take out any that come by, I guess."

"All right, then we've got a plan. Hinata…" Shikamaru motioned for her to act.

"Right." She activated her Byakugan, revealing veins that Sasuke secretly wanted to vomit at the sight of. Back to Hinata—she looked around, and picked up on a small presence quickly charging at them. Could it be a snake? She immediately reported to her teammates. "I feel something coming from over there," Hinata pointed directly in front of her.

"I'll take care of this!" Sasuke shouted, jumping into action. He leaped into the trees, and noticed something rustling through the underbrush toward his friends. He grabbed three shuriken from the pouch on his leg and thrust them, making sure the threat was caught dead in its tracks. And what better way to do so than to stab it with a wall of shuriken?

A tiny cloud of smoke came into existence, but faded away soon enough. Sasuke returned to the clearing and asked Hinata if she felt anything else heading their way. She responded no, but suddenly changed her answer to yes.

"Yes, I see it now! Anko-sensei is coming toward us, from the exact area you attacked the snake at," Hinata told him.

"Okay, then let's get ready. Sasuke, stand clear. Hinata, get ready," Shikamaru ordered. He made the rat hand symbol, and instantly his shadow extended. "Just a little closer, and…"

Right on cue, their violet-headed senpai charged into the scene, and landing right onto Shikamaru's trap. "...Gotcha!"

"Huh?! What…?" Anko couldn't believe she had been caught, or how disastrous this would be for her. Her pale female kouhai began poking her chakra points, delivering great pain, and further paralysis. "Ugh…!" She winced at what felt like torture. In seconds, she was completely immobile. And to Shikamaru's dismay, so was he. His teammate began to fix the problem she unknowingly thrust onto him, poking him all over a second time.

"You should consider learning medical jutsu, so you won't hurt Shikamaru next time," Sasuke laughed. This was the first time anyone had heard him laugh so playfully ever since the Uchiha incident.

"Heh…you got me…" Anko admitted. "You've successfully beaten me... You should hold your heads up high, because I officially declare you three real ninja!" She grinned, lighting up the faces of her students. "Now…could you help me out a bit, Hinata?" –End of Chapter!!


I had Squad 7's tactic planned for at least 3 weeks now, haha. I'm glad I could use it so early. Though, this means I'll have to think of new material... Heh, comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated, even from non-members.