After recounting the information to Kakashi and the rest of the team, the only step that seemed to be next was to visit Tanaka Shinji's home themselves. This whole time they had avoided going there as undoubtedly there would be shinobi in the vicinity. However, as the team surrounded the home on the posh side of town, it became more and more evident that there was nothing out of the ordinary inside.

Sakura peeked over the back wall and found the garden bustling with activity. The servants were sweeping the deck surrounding the house and airing out the bedsheets. One man in tattered clothing rolled up his pants and began wading into the pond to clear out the leaves that had fallen in. Three other gardeners squatted nearby cleaning their tools as they had finished clipping the bushes that dotted the yard. Sakura quietly leapt over the wall and secured her position behind a bush. Looking over to the Eastern corner of the compound, she watched as Sai slipped in and landed without a sound. She smiled at the sight and marveled in the fact that he never seemed to make any rustling noises, even when they weren't on a mission.

As expected of an ANBU... she thought.

Naruto dropped down behind her and moved towards the opposite corner as Sai. When they saw Kakashi come around the house from the front and enter a side shouji door, they signaled to Sasuke waiting hidden in the trees as his team below him surrounded the house just in case. Nodding, he in turn signaled them to let them know they were in. Nobody was sure as to what they were going to find but as Sakura waited patiently in position, she began to notice something strange.

Sakura looked over at Sai who was now sniffing the leaves of his bush. She watched him pluck a leaf off and delicately touch its edges. A confused look crossed his face and he then crouched all the way down to the ground and began smelling the grass. He rustled its tips with his fingers before looking over to Sakura in alarm.

Nani? she mouthed at him.

Sai made his way over to her and put his mouth to her ear.

"The grass and bushes were cut yesterday..." he whispered.

Sakura looked at him in confusion before realizing that indeed the yard was vacant of the smell of freshly-cut grass. Looking up at Sasuke she signaled that it was a trap when Kakashi suddenly came bursting out of the back door and skid to a halt.

"It's a trap!" he yelled.

It was too late. By the time that they had figured it out they were already surrounded. The gardeners, the man in the pond, even the women airing out the laundry suddenly brandished weapons that were sharpened to the highest degree. What was worse was that there were shinobi lying hidden in the pond.

Kakashi bounded towards his team as shuriken came flying at him from every direction. As he came to a halt, the back shouji doors opened and a woman in an expensive kimono stepped out with shinobi and Shin.

"Well, well, well..." she said. "It seems the Konoha shinobi have figured it out."

Kakashi traced the woman's features with his eyes. Something about her was strangely familiar.

"I know you..." said Kakashi. "I've seen you before..."

"You should know me, Kakashi... I fought against you in the shinobi war."

Kakashi gasped as he then realized. Though the creases of her face were more pronounced and her hair was turning gray, there was no disputing that this was the very same shinobi that he had once fought so many years ago.

"Kin..." he whispered. "So you're the one."

"Why don't you tell your underlings to come out of the bushes so that I may greet them properly."

Out from behind the bushes stepped Naruto, Sai and Sakura. Spreading out on Kakashi's flanks, they began to size up their competition immediately.

"So... I see the girl escaped. Not one of yours, eh Kakashi?"

"Of course. How else would she have beaten your kohai so easily... I thought you were dead."

"I was... for a time... Taking orders and fighting in a stupid war just doesn't suit an entrepreneur like me. I ended up implanting myself here in the village in the end."

As the conversation went on Sakura felt lustful eyes upon her and immediately looked up at Shin. It sickened her to see the familiar slight grin on his face again, and she relished in the thought of actually getting the chance to beat it off his face permanently. However, when her eyes passed from Shin back to Kin, she realized something more.

"Oh my god..." said Sakura. "You're Shin's mother..."

Everyone went silent as Kakashi, Naruto and Sai made the same connection. The fact that Shin was born in Sake but had somehow become shinobi now made sense. He was trained from birth. Being that Kin was now the wife of Tanaka Shinji, she had both the crime and political realms covered.

Kakashi looked back at Sakura and nodded for her to proceed.

"Tanaka-san..." said Sakura. "Just so you know, I am going to kill your son."

The sudden harsh remark made everyone flinch. It was now evident that Sakura had claimed Shin as her own, making it so that no one else could touch him.

"He trained well," smiled Kin.

"I trained better..."

Sakura punched the ground and made the earth split with a thunderous sound. The crack that it created swallowed the pond and drove right up under the house. The lack of support made the floor collapse with everyone on it and the shinobi had no choice but to jump out towards Kakashi and his team.

An array of shuriken were shot from Kakashi's side as their enemies tried to escape the collapsing house. A few of the targets were hit but a few had escaped serious injury. Kin immediately shot at Kakashi as she knew she was the only one skillful enough to take him on, but the others were quickly surprised to find that Sasuke and his team were waiting for them as soon as they had tried to leave the compound.

"Don't let a single one escape!" yelled Kakashi as he locked kunai with Kin. "They'll alert the others!"

Sakura dodged a shinobi and threw him into the wall with incredible force. Turning around to look for Shin, she saw him wince at the sight of her strength and he looked as if he was going to run.

Fucking woose! she thought.

Seeing the deadlocked glare of Sakura's eyes made Shin freeze for a second before he collected himself. He knew he couldn't get close to her so he made hand signs that summoned two water dragons that shot at Sakura in a winding fashion. Bounding back towards the West end she concentrated her chakura so that her feet stuck against the wall. As soon as she saw her opening she shot forward through a space between the dragons just as they crashed in full force against the wall now behind her. Sakura rolled on the ground once before dashing straight at Shin with a blow to his face. The impact immediately made her stomach leap with joy as a few of Shin's teeth were now seen flying through the air.

"Nice one, Sakura-chan!" yelled Naruto.

Though Naruto hadn't seen what it was that Shin had done to her, he knew very well that look on her face. Sakura only produced that deathly look and made such a deathly threat whenever he himself had tried to come on to her. The fact that Sakura was out for the kill meant that the offense must have been extremely serious.

Sakura looked around for her next target and saw that everyone was quite busy with the battle. However, just when she thought Shin was down for the count she saw him pick himself up and climb over the wall.

"Shit! He's going to get help!" Sakura yelled as she raced after him.

Kakashi looked towards Sakura for a split second, just in time to see her hopping over the wall. Though he trusted her with every fiber of his being, he could not help but look. Suddenly a kunai came back at Kakashi and he found himself once again locked with Kin.

"What are you looking at Kakashi? Afraid that's the last you'll see of your student?" she said.

"Actually, I wanted to get one last look at your son before his face is deformed permanently."

Kakashi kicked back Kin so hard that it sent her flying backwards. By a bit of luck, she ended up tripping on the uneven ground that Sakura had made. Taking advantage of the moment he immediately moved to finish her off.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no jutsu!" he yelled.

A giant stream of fire burst forth from Kakashi's mouth and blasted Kin. Though she had begun to move away, her expensive kimono caught fire and she was unable to unravel it. Putting hand signals together she made an effort to bring water from the pond to her but in turn found it to be her enemy. The moment that the water splashed on Kin, Kakashi was waiting.

"Chidori!"

A shock of electricity shot up the jet-stream killing Kin within a matter of seconds. Though Kakashi knew that fire was something much easier to deter, moisture wasn't as easy to escape from if you were drenched in it. He also couldn't perform both elemental juitsu back to back fast enough for someone like Kin, so he waited for the perfect moment when she would aid in his attack. When her felt her body go limp from the attack he released his juitsu and let her dead body fall to the ground in front of the others.

One look at Kin's body could only mean that the battle had been completely lost. Without her help in controlling the political world, the entire plan had gone up in flames. Every shinobi that was left was now trying to escape but it was no use. Just as they were about to reach the walls of the compound they found themselves pulled back the moment they took their eyes away from the target. An Uchiha and Hatake were considered overkill now that Kin was out of the way, but as soon as the last shinobi was taken care of, Kakashi ran towards the Eastern wall and hopped onto it to scan the street just outside it.

Kakashi found a trail of blood leading down the road followed by what could only have been Sakura's tiny footprints. He was right about to jump down to chase after her but spotted her pink hair coming around the corner. In a split second his heart relaxed to find her unharmed. Though his face and posture didn't show it, his stomach had been turning in anxiousness ever since she had scaled the wall.

"Everything ok?" he yelled towards her.

Sakura gave a smile and threw two thumbs up. She waited until she had just reached him before putting her hands on her knees and catching her breath.

"He collapsed a block away. I checked him, and he died of a severe concussion that took a little while to kick in... How's everything here?" she asked.

"Ok... Just a bit of a mess. Good job. Let's start the clean up," said Kakashi right before he jumped back into the compound.

"UGH... I hate clean-ups."

The rest of the team's time spent in the village of Sake was short. After saying their goodbyes to Jotaro and the rest of his family, it was unfortunate that they could not stay to attend the funeral. They had simply spent too much time in Sake and it was time for them to get back to Konoha.

"Ugh..." said Naruto as they marched the dirt road. "Why do I have to carry Tsunade-baachan's sake bottles?"

"Well... maybe if you didn't call her 'baachan' all the time, she wouldn't have ordered it to be so," said Sakura. "Besides, you're special."

Everyone giggled at Sakura's remark. Even Karin couldn't help but give out a tiny chuckle as she watched Naruto shrug his pack. It had been a long mission of constant vigilance, and though one might not think it exhausting, keeping attention to detail can often wrack your brain if you do it long enough.

The weather was cooler that day and the sky was full of soft cottony clouds that made them want to lie in the grass. They couldn't have asked for better timing as they didn't feel like hurrying back for another mission assignment. Listening to the leaves brush against the branches were like a soft humming of a mother's voice to her child as they breathed in the crisp forest air. It simply was a beautiful day to be alive, but even with the beautiful surroundings before her, Sakura could not help but wonder as to what was going to happen with her and Kakashi.

Sakura snuck a look at the back of Kakashi's neck and her heart leaped. Her hands were remembering the feel of it as she brushed her fingers through his hair. His shoulders were tough and well defined with muscle that even though he wore a vest, she could still make the shape of them out with her eyes. She knew the exact width and every curve of his back muscles. In truth, it was throwing her into a heat and distracting her thoughts entirely.

Up front Kakashi was feeling on edge. He really didn't know what it was that he had done. He was nervous of what Sakura was expecting from him and in truth, he really couldn't make any kind of commitment. What was worse was that for a man who was so comfortable on missions, he suddenly found himself with a weakness.

Kakashi's mind had been slowly wrapping itself around the fact that seeing Sakura in a fight was now making him nervous. In his heart he knew that he could have taken out Kin much quicker if he hadn't been so distracted by Sakura's fight. Though he was always looking out for her, somehow he found himself worrying for her safety more so than ever before. Typically he'd just finish up his fight before checking to see if she needed help, but now he was surveying her from the very start.

"Sakura, are you okay? You look flushed," said Naruto suddenly.

Sakura shook her head and caught herself. Looking around, she found everyone except for Kakashi looking back at her.

"Oh! I'm fine. Just tired, that's all..."

Karin gave her a raised eyebrow with a look of doubt on her face. She knew that look very well because she had it very often.

She's blushing over Sasuke... thought Karin. Hmph... Don't even think about it.