Meanwhile, with Leaf nin.

Their situation wasn't exactly ideal but Sakura had to admit it could've been worse. She stood between the two rogue ninjas in front of her and the rest of her team behind her, in a ready pose. Behind her, Konohamaru was nursing a cut on his thigh that was bleeding quite badly. Nothing Sakura couldn't fix in less than a minute but with the enemy right in front of her, she was otherwise preoccupied.

The cut happened when the kids bravely tried to go after one of the rogues while Sakura was busy with the other. Moegi tried to rush in to what she thought was the enemy but ended up being duped by a simple Substitutionjutsu and stabbed nothing but a log. The real rogue nearly cut her in half with his sword but was saved when Konohamaru managed to shove her out of the way just in time. Sakura had told them to be careful and hang back, but they were just too excited a minute ago.

Now they were nervous. Konohamaru was leaning against Udon because the pain in his leg wouldn't allow him to stand up steadily. Moegi was doing her best to look brave while holding a kunai out at ready.

"You shouldn't bring kids to a real man's fight," said the first rogue nin. "Then again, look who I'm speaking to."

A vein popped up on Sakura's temple. "Oh, you're one of those. Oh, yeah, I'm gonna enjoy beating you to the ground."

"Not before we slice you to ribbons."

Sakura evaluated her chances at this fight. Her two opponents are experienced nin who were a few years older than her. They seemed to be most proficient in sword usage, making them formidable close range fighters. The logical tactic would be to keep their distance and use long-range attacks...problem is they didn't know any long-range attacks outside of throwing a shuriken or kunai, and they doubted that would work well.

Sakura herself was a close-range specialist so for her it was only a problem of being two against one and not the aforementioned two having weapons.

"Let's get this over with already," said the second rogue. "We have a schedule to keep and I prefer not wasting time with a bunch of children."

Konohamaru reacted badly to this. "Come here and say that to my face you-"

He tried to charge but was held back by his two teammates. The enemy just laughed. This revealed to Sakura another advantage they had, albeit a subtle one: their enemy was underestimating them. But that might be just enough. Sakura gave it some thought and she figured it was time to try out a little trick that Shizune once showed her. If this works, it'll definitely improve their odds.

"Okay, you bastards," she said. "If you want to end this, then let's end this."

Sakura made it obvious that she was reaching into her shuriken pouch and took out a handful of the projectiles. She held them ready to throw, and the two rogues prepared their defence. The three genin behind watched closely.

Sakura threw a batch of three shurikens at the enemy who expertly parried the projectiles away with their swords. The grinned at the rather amateurish and naive attack towards them. Sakura followed up with another batch of shurikens and again none of which met their targets on the enemy's bodies.

"That the best you got, girlie?" mocked the second rogue.

Sakura, without missing a beat, tossed in yet another batch. And just like before all of the spinning projectiles met with the enemy's swords. The two rogues were almost laughing now at the pointlessness of all this when suddenly they spotted something strange with one of the shurikens at the last possible second, just before it hit one of their blocking swords.

A typical shuriken in designed to be a four-pointed star shape with a circular hole in the middle that was primarily there to save weight and material. Most ninja don't really give much thought to that hole but a great ninja is nothing if they're not innovative. Shizune once accidentally discovered for herself that a typical smoke bomb, generally a small back ball, actually fits snugly into the hole of a typical shuriken and the combination made throwing smoke at the enemy at distance that much easier. Shizune passed on this trick to a few of her juniors, including Sakura, who chose very moment to use it to outsmart her enemy.

The trick worked. The enemy noticed too late and the moment the smoke loaded shuriken hit the blade, the impact detonated the smoke bomb and visibility was down to zero in a heartbeat. The two rogues were completely stunned for a second simply out of pure surprise. But that second was all Sakura needed to use her other advantage: her speed.

Utilizing the same method behind her signiture Cherry Blossom Impact technique, Sakura kneaded a concentrated amount of chakra in her feet and used it to launch herself like a cannon shell fist first towards where the second rogue, who was hit by the smoke loaded shuriken, was standing, still hidden in the smoke.

The impact was so tremendous that it actually blew way the smoke in that small area. Sakura's fist had hit the rogue right in the center of his chest, likely destroying his ribcage in the process. The rogue went flying backwards and crashed, nearly embedding himself, into the side of a thick tree. If his spine was broken before...

The other rogue, having just witnessed his friend get flattened like that, jumped back in a automatic reaction. With his defenses down, Sakura moved quickly and clasped her hand around the ninja's sword, just above the handle and with her chakra concentrated in her thumb, snapped off the blade. She quickly followed this up with a back spinning kick that knocked the guy onto his back.

"Well that was underwhelming," she said. "I would've thought you guys were faster than that."

The rogue ninja was trying to get back up. Sakura quickly drew and threw a kunai that intentionally missed the rogue's head by a finger's width. He froze in that position, halfway between getting up and lying down. Sakura quickly walked to him and slammed him back down onto the ground with her hand around his neck.

"Since you're friend over there is obviously not in a talking mood, I'm gonna have to stick with you. Now if you cooperate with us, we'll leave alive with at least one limb that's partially usable."

The rogue didn't respond but the nervousness in eyes spoke enough. He glanced over to his partner who was completely unconscious from the impact.

Sakura continued. "Now my friends think you have one of their own kidnapped and imprisoned. Tell me where that person is and how we can get to them."

"I don't know anything!"

Sakura tightened her gripped. The rogue choked for about ten seconds before Sakura loosened her grip enough to let him breath. Heavens know she didn't want to.

"Let's try this again. And keep in mind that in my village, I'm not exactly known for keeping my temper."

"I swear. Yuuto-san never told us where he took her!"

"Then tell me where you are based at."

"You'll never get through there alive! We have over a hundre-"

Sakura tightened her grip again. "Right now it's your well-being that's in question, not mine."

Her grip choked for a slightly longer period this time and the rogue nin struggled desperately for breath. For extra emphasis, Sakura grabbed the kunai she threw a moment ago from the ground next to his head and held the tip threatiningly close to one of his eyeballs. To the side, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon watched with nervous fascination. They had gone into a few c-class missions with their Ebisu-sensei where they witnessed him interrogate a few bandits before. This shouldn't be new to them.

But for them, especially Moegi who looked up to Sakura in a way, felt an odd sense of displacement. They had never seen the otherwise big sister figure of Sakura, show such tenacity before. Oh sure, Sakura was know for her temper tantrums, but this was not her signature angry side showing right now. This was a professional, textbook, kunoichi that was in front of them that they had not yet seen before.

And speaking of professional ninjas...

"There's no need for that anymore, Haruno-san" came Yuudai's voice as he came out into the light along with Satoshi next to him.

The kids were a little surpriseed as they have yet to develop their ability to sense other chakra signatures. Sakura glanced sidways at him while keeping her hold. "What do you mean?"

"We managed to find a more reliable source of information...this little guy here." Yuudai pointed to the rock that was currently balanced on top of Satoshi's head.

Udon raised a skeptical look. "A rock?"

Again, to the surprise of the kids, the "rock" suddenly grew legs and claws as Iwakami fully revealed himself. The kids thought they really needed to work on that chakra detection thing.

"Not just a rock, boy," said Iwakami regarding the new faces of the Leaf nin then turning to Yuudai. "Are these the friends you were talking about?"

"Yes. And since we're all here now we can proceed with the rescue."

Sakura nodded, taking in the situation. "Alright, I get it now," she said, before promptly choking the rogue nin again, this time cutting off his air completely until he completely lost consciousness. She released her grip and and put away her kunai. As she stood up, Yuudai moved next to her.

"I'll take care of these two," he declared. "I'm the most senior here. It's my responsibility."

Sakura regarded him for a second until the message sank in. Her eyes widened slightly for a moment but she gave him a look and a nod of understanding. She knew what had to be done. Ninjas do not leave loose ends. Sakura moved away towards the kids while Yuudai picked up the unconscious rogues and quickly disappeared into the woods.

"Konohamaru-kun, let's see that leg of yours," she called out.

Udon and Moegi eased Konohamaru into a sitting position on the ground, careful not to aggravate the deep cut. Sakura knealt beside him and gave the injury a once over. The was indeed deep. Normally, it would need stitches and weeks to completely scar over. Then again that's what Sakura was here for.

She pressed her chakra filled palms onto the cut. Her chakra stimulated the body's natural regenerative abilities to superhuman speeds. The kids watched in fascination, especially Satoshi who let out an impressed "whoa..." without thinking. He had never seen healing jutsu in a combat situation before now. Within second, Konohamaru's leg was healed without leaving a trace...well, except maybe for the hole and the blood staining his pants but that can be sewn and washed off, at least.

"That was some fine healing," said Iwakami, who hopped dwon from Satoshi's head onto the ground. "Probably one of the best medical jutsu performance I've ever seen...and I've seen a lot."

"Uh, thank you. I do my best," replied Sakura. "By the way. Nice to meet you...um..."

"Call me Iwakami."

"Iwakami-san. We're told you could lead us to someone who needs rescuing, right?"

"Yes. I have a summoning contract with Yuudai's little sister, Kurage. She was captured late yesterday and is being held prisoner in a cave some distance from here. She summoned me to fetch help. It was lucky that we all ran into each other like this. I don't think Kurage-chan would hold out for much long."

"What do you mean, Iwakami-san?" asked Satoshi.

"They used the Devil Urchin's venom on her."

"What!"

While Satoshi was alarmed, the Leaf nin were a little lost. By Satoshi's reaction they could at least tell it was quite bad.

"I don't get it," said Udon. "What's the Devil Urchin and what's the deal with it's venom."

"I'll tell you," said Yuudai as he came out into a the light and rejoined the group. Sakura briefly took note of the small amount of blood on his fingers. "But we'll have to do it on the move. I don't want to waste anymore time. Haruno-san, is your team ready to move?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. We're ready when you are."

"Then let's be swift!"

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Back in the cave prison.

It's been a full day since she was injected with the venom. To mark the hour, Kurage vomited on one corner of her cell. At first, the venom only attacked near the surface of her skin causing a burning sensation that wouldn't go away. But now, after over twenty hours of it running around in her body, the venom was starting to affect her internal organs now.

Her stomach was convulsing due to the effects of the venom, causing random vomitting. Kurage knew this won't be the last time she will puke, even though she won't have anything left in her stomach to spill out. Soon, she knew, that the venom will start affecting other organs.

First her stomach. After that, it will start circulating in her liver and intestines and that will give her the worst belly ache of her life. After that, it'll climb up to her lungs. When that happens, every breath will feel like a nose full of wasabi sauce. Pretty soon after that, her heart will start to get affected. Every beat will feel like a knife stab to the chest.

Needless to say, she wasn't looking forward to the next several hours.

"Normally, I'm not one to be generous," said a familiar voice from to top of the pit. Kurage recognized it as the voice of that obnoxious, self-described businessman. "But we're actually on a tight schedule and I'd be immensely grateful if you would just give us the information we need. Where will the Aoigakure appear next?"

Kurage stared up into his shadowed form. "...Go away."

"Now don't be like that. As much as I don't like you, I hate watching people in misery. Ruins my appetite. So let's just end this for you and cooperate with each other."

"Go screw yourself."

A pause. And then a heavy sigh. "Yuuto warned me you'd likely be stubborn."

"As if I'd yield to scum like you. What the heck do you want from our village so badly, anyway?"

She could see a mischievous smile even in this lack of light. "Do you really want to know? Oh, might as well. I doubt you'll care so much once the venom is in full effect."

Kurage cringed. This guy was a bigger asshole than she had first thought.

"You see," he started, "you're village, to anyone who knows, is famous for raising unique species of plants and animals. From these, you harvest unique substances with varying application in both medicine and warfare...as I'm sure you know. And while you guys are known to sell a sample or two once every decade, when you feel like it, the world at large has yet to know about you village's grand advances with your unique wildlife."

"That's because the outside world is full of jerks like you!"

"Well, not accounting for myself. There's a great interest in your village's stuff from just about every warlord from here to the north pole. And like grandpa used to say, with great interest comes great business."

"Tell them to hire ninjas. That's what they're there for."

"Oh, that's the thing, my sweet. Try to think of this from a business perspective. You know why wars are expensive? Because ninjas are expensive! Why are ninjas expensive? Because they spend half their entire lifetime training themselves to the best of their abilities. Training that occurs in state-run academies walled behind hidden villages. Another reason why they're expensive is because ninjas are so rare. In the total world population, only a fraction actually posses the proper amount of chakra and ability to control it to become a career ninja. And of that, only about half actually receive formal training in ninjutsu. And since many ninja clans like to be isolated, premiums on ninja wares tend to shoot up whenever there's a huge demand for them."

"What does this have anything to do with my village's stuffs?"

"Your village's success in biological products, comes down to their ability to farm all these unique wildlife. And while not just any idiot can learn to become a ninja...any idiot can learn how to farm."

The businessman let that last statement sink in. Kurage slowly started to understand. He face twisted in a combination of anger and disgust. "So...you want to steal our villages secretes and mass produce biological weapons for quick and easy war?"

"So you understand?" asked the businessman. "If we can steal your village's secrets, we can mass produce all that wonderful, affordable, completely renewable, weapons of mass genocide. What warlord would not want such a thing? Ninjas will become passe."

"You people are insane!"

"It's just good business ethics."

"No human ethics?"

"That doesn't make me money."

"We will stop you! My brother is out there right now and when he finds out about this. He will stop you! We will not allow you to pervert our achievements like this! Our village's proud legacy will not end up as mere terrorist weapons!"

The businessman chuckled. "So you say. But we did think of that. Yuuto is out there right now as well and he has back-up. We knew we were being searched for. You're here aren't you? Since we already have you, all we need to do is take care of your brother and that little annoyance of an student he has."

Kurage's eyes went wide. She tried to hide her worried look. "Do...Do not underestimate my brother!"

"And do not underestimate my men. Barring any interference I seriously doubt even someone as capable as you're brother can last long."

"You...yoo don't know that for sure."

The businessman laughed. "You really are an optimist, aren't you? As if you are in any position to say anything. But I can see you're still not willing to cooperate. Too bad. Well, I'll come back later then. I'm sure you'll be more willling to see things my way when the time comes."

"Wait! Hold it! Tell me more about your plan! What will you do to my village?"

But it was too late. The businessman was already walking away, ignoring her completely. Kurage could hear his footsteps echo as the get further away. In seconds, she was all alone again.

Kurage slumped down against the wall, defeated. There was nothing she could do now. He chakra reserve was next to empty, she didn't have any equipment. She had no choice but to leave her hopes out with Iwakami and that he finds some help soon.

While the venom was painful, the worry she felt for her brother and Satoshi was hurting all the same. They had been sent here to investigate some strange activity. Activity that their village elders noticed when suspicious amounts of bandit activity started up in the area and some of their villages rarest medicines were stolen. They had traced some of that medicine to the town and began investigations.

It was her fault she was in this mess. She had acted rashly, pursuing a suspected bandit by herself, assuming that the single bandit was no real danger. However, she never really counted on the bandits working together with rogue ninjas from her village. They were on to the team. The bandit she was following was bait that lured her into a trap. And here she was.

She felt shame. Her brother had taught her better than this and she let her overconfidence get the better of her. Now her brother and Satoshi could be needing her help right now and she could do nothing about it. She should've stick with the team. Always stick with the team.

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Meanwhile, in the woods.

The combined group of the Leaf nin plus Yuudai and Satoshi were tree-hopping all the way to their target destination. What distance Iwakami walked in nearly thirteen hours, the ninjas could tree-hop in less than two. In the east, the sun was beginning rise, coating the sky above them in a soft blue tone.

"By the way," said Yuudai to Sakura. "I need to thank you."

"For what?" she asked.

"That ambush back there was clearly meant for just me and Satoshi. Had you guys not been there I'm not sure if I would've made it out of there alive...Or if I did, I would still be able to help my sister."

"Well, those jerks did underestimate me. It's not like I didn't want to beat them like that. And besides..."

Sakura hesitated in finishing her statement. Yuudai threw her a pacing glance to see what was up. Sakura's expression showed a certain degree of sadness and regret. A lesser person wouldn't have picked up those subtle expressions.

"What is it?" he asked, hoping he wasn't being too rude.

"...Let's just say, I know what it feels like to loose a teammate...and then want nothing more than to bring that person back so that we could all be together again."

A silence followed. Yuudai decided not to press anymore and simply gave an understanding nod and the conversation ended there. Not that there was any time for conversation anyway since they had reach their target.

"Here it is!" exclaimed Iwakami, who was still on top of Satoshi's head.

The six ninja stopped and gathered at a tree top overlooking a sloping mountain face just as the woods were ending. Where the trees ended, the rocky mountain face sloped up about thirty degrees. Up the slope the, trees became sorter and were slowly replaced by bushes as you moved up.

At about two hundred yards up the slope, they could see it: A cave entrance guarded by four burly looking men carrying heavy looking weapons. Just as Iwakami described to them on the way, this was the bandits' hideout. This was where Kurage was imprisoned. The six ninja looked towards each other silently affirming that they were ready. They had already discussed a plan now it was simply a matter of pulling it off. The younger nin tried to hide their nervousness as much as possible.

"Okay," said Yuudai. "Let's move."

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Author's note: I was originally thinking of making Sakura's fight a little longer but I decided the story should be more of the focus of this chapter. I'll just save the best fight scenes for later. As you can see from the plot of the bandits about selling bio-based weapons, I am taking some story elements from the Resident Evil franchise. The character of 'the businessman' who Kurage talks to is actually loosely based on Irving from RE5 (which, believe it or not, was the initial inspiration for this whole story). More of him will be revealed later chapters.