Shota sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor of the Anbu training room. His hands rested on his knees. His eyes were closed. Sweat rolled down his forehead even though the air was cool.
Spider walked slowly around him. "Pull all your chakra to the centre of your body. Picture a small, tight ball. Now build a thin wall around that ball. Remember that nothing must leak out from that ball."
Shota tried. He really tried. His chakra felt like a wild horse that wanted to run everywhere at once.
"If even one tiny hole appears in your wall, a sensor will notice the anamoly and he would immediately know that you are a spy or doing something that is not legal," Spider said calmly. "Keep it perfect."
Shota groaned inside his head. The task was really hard and it felt like he had a headache.
Spider kept talking. "When you suppress your chakra like this, you cannot use any jutsu. Not even a simple illusionary clone. That is the price. But once this becomes natural, no one will feel you coming. Missing-nin will never know death is walking behind them. You could get close to your target and since they would think that you are just a civilian, You would be able to assassinate them by releasing the hold on your chakra and taking him or her by surprise."
Shota nodded without opening his eyes. He pictured his chakra as water inside a bottle. Spider had explained it earlier. The more water in the bottle, the tighter the cap must be. Shota's bottle was huge. He already had jōnin-level reserves at age ten. One day it would grow even more.
"So you are telling me this stupid exercise will get harder every year?" Shota asked through clenched teeth.
Spider laughed softly. "Yes. Welcome to the fun part."
Shota wanted to cry as he finally managed to suppress his chakra to the level of a civilian.
Spider clapped once. "Good. Keep holding that suppression. We are moving to the next lesson. You will practise this every day until you can walk, eat, and sleep while staying perfectly sealed."
Shota opened one eye. "Even while sleeping?"
"Especially while sleeping."
Shota closed his eye again and accepted his fate.
Spider continued the lesson. "Suna has the best poisons in the world. Our desert grows plants that can kill with a single leaf. Our scorpions and snakes make toxins that stop a heart in three seconds. Our poison masters never stop creating new recipes."
He pulled out a small glass bottle filled with pale green liquid. "Before you use any poison on a target, you must build immunity. That starts today."
Shota's eyes snapped open. "Wait. You are going to make me drink poison?"
Spider smiled like a kind teacher. "Only a tiny drop at first."
Shota stared at the bottle. His imagination ran wild. He pictured himself turning green and growing extra arms.
He pictured his hair falling out. He pictured the Matron crying over his grave while Shizu used his tombstone as a table for rice balls.
"No thank you," Shota said quickly. "I am allergic to death."
Spider ignored him and put one drop on a small spoon. "This is mild sleep poison. Don't be so dramatic. You will just feel sleepy for an hour. Open."
Shota opened his mouth before his brain could stop him. The drop tasted sweet, like candy. Ten seconds later the room started spinning gently.
Spider patted his head. "Good boy. We will do this every week with new poisons for the next two years. When we finish, you could drink a cup of scorpion venom and only feel a little tingle."
Shota lay down on the floor because standing felt too hard. He grumbled, "Great. So for the next two years, I will have poison instead of milk that a growing boy like me should have?"
Spider laughed and let him rest for a while.
When the sleepy feeling went away, Spider stood up again. "Next lesson. Introductory lesson on Hidden weapons. And I even have a gift made for you."
Shota sat up slowly. Hidden weapons sounded fun. Maybe a cool wrist blade or exploding kunai.
Spider reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small metal device. It looked like a mouth guard with tiny needles inside.
Shota tilted his head. "Is that a senbon launcher for the mouth?"
Spider nodded proudly. "Exactly. I made it myself. You wear it like a retainer. When the enemy thinks you are finished, you open your mouth and fire poisoned senbon at point-blank range. Straight to the eyes or neck. Instant kill."
Shota stared at the thing. "You want me to put sharp needles in my mouth? What if I yawn? What if I sneeze? What if I eat rice balls too fast and one of these needles go inside me?"
Spider waved away the worries. "You will learn how to use this without harming yourself. That's why I am here. Watch this."
He put the device in his own mouth and made a tiny movement. Three senbon shot out and stuck perfectly in a training dummy across the room.
Shota's eyes went wide. That was actually cool. 'He better wash it before giving it to me. No way I am putting it in my mouth after it has been in his month.'
Spider took the launcher out and held it out. "This is my gift to you. A present for my first student."
Shota looked at the gift, then at Spider's happy face, then back at the gift. "So your idea of a present is something that can kill me by accident? Thanks, sensei. Next time just get me a pillow."
"And if it's so good and lethal, why doesn't anyone else use it?" Shota asked
Spider smiled wider. "Normal shinobi cannot make it lethal. You can. Shinobi especially chunin and higher rank ones need less than a second to cover their body with chakra and block the needles. But with you?" His smile turned evil.
"You take away their chakra. They stand there like normal people without the ability to protect themselves with chakra. One senbon to the neck and good night. Anywhere else on the body, the poison would take the person out."
"Of course, you can't use it regularly since that would take away the suprise factor and people would know that you have such a card in your arsenal that would make the hidden weapon not so hidden."
Shota looked at the tiny launcher again. He imagined an enemy laughing at him, thinking the fight was over. Then surprise senbon to the face. The image was beautiful.
A matching evil smile slowly spread across Shota's face. "Now that's a gift, sensei."