Sakura felt her stomach lurch as she and Minato landed on the forest floor. Resisting the urge to vomit she noted that it was only slightly better than the first time it had happened and that Minato's stomach had to be made of steel. Looking into the man's blue eyes she scowled, "I hate that jutsu."

"Except when it saves your life?"

She didn't dignify the question with an answer and instead asked her own "Where's Kato and Chōza?"

Minato smiled. "Hopefully on their way."

Sakura glanced around, "We're at the border." It was a statement not a question; her scowl deepened. "You shouldn't use so much chakra at once. What if A and Bee catch up?"

Minato smiled. "I guess you'll just have to protect me."

Sakura rolled her eyes and sat down against one of the trees, while Minato sat on a rock. The man had been forming this plan for days, having received the details early on; in fact she wouldn't have been surprised if he had not only thought of every plan possible on their journey but every possible outcome as well. The man could strategize, taking into account terrain he most likely hadn't seen before. It reminded her eerily of Kakashi or perhaps Shikamaru. Finally she spoke up, "A's fast, even accounting for the head start you gave them he could have very well caught up to them."

Minato smiled "You've encountered A before?"

Sakura snorted, "You could say that." She had met the Raikage several times during the war, mainly after Shizune had been killed and she had been forced to take up the part of leading the medical corps. She had worked together with C as well as Kankuro to build him a new hand, something to make his other jutsu just a tad bit easier to work with. The hand had been a success and was perhaps a step in the right direction for prosthetic. She had earned the man's trust with that act. She had earned his respect however when she had disrupted B's central nervous system leaving the jinchūriki to find out what made what move; something that without extensive medical knowledge would take several hours to figure out. The eight tails jinchūriki had glared at her for hours but had never rapped during an official meeting again, something A had been trying to figure out how to do for years.

B had gotten his revenge however stealing all her clothes except her scrubs while she was in the shower, refusing to give them back until she, in his words "busted out a rhyme." She had never truly considered killing an ally until that moment, but that wouldn't have gotten her clothes back which had led to her reluctantly rapping using medical terms that rhymed. Those two encounters had set the pace of their acquaintance which consisted mainly of them bickering and Tsunade and A telling them to shut up.

"Fond memories?" Minato asked, breaking through her memories.

"A necessary evil, and you never answered my question; what's to keep A from going after the guys?"

"They ran in the opposite direction of the island. Our guys sent the signal via the summons channel."

"Their cue to leave, while mine was a signal from you; you wanted them to see me."

Minato nodded. "A knows talent when he sees it, always has. We need his curiosity peaked. He and the Raikage will know that if you were sent on this mission then you've passed the standard and the pink hair will make you memorable, yet they've never seen you before, at least in this time and that will throw them off balance. A also has to investigate the island even with the highly probable chance that the blueprints were stolen even if it's only to try and get a trail. On the off chance that he does decide to follow Kato and Chōza all they have to do is throw or send a jolt of chakra through one of the kunai I gave them and I can get them out, or at least help them fight."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Any particular reason I didn't get one?"

"I never planned to be separated from you, like I said I had a plan."

"And if that plan went to hell?"

"I had several back up plans, but I also know that you're more than capable of taking care of yourself."

Sakura grinned, "Nice recovery."

"I mean it."

Sakura nodded. "Still it will take them a while to reach the boarder."
Minato nodded back at her, "Most likely."

Sakura leaned her head back and looked up, the sun was beginning to set and night fall would be on them by the time Chōza and Kato caught up to them at which point they would be forced to start traveling again. It was never a good idea to stay in enemy territory too long, which was a basic academy rule. Still she found that the woodlands of Kumo provided a certain amount of comfort she had never dreamed of. She supposed that in a way Kumo had become a second home and a part of her, a small part, wanted to go into the village, go to that little stand that sold Imagawayaki and sit down and eat. And eventually Naruto would find her Kakashi and Sai trailing behind him; Kakashi would order his own and stick her with the bill, while Naruto would try to steal one of hers and Sai would undoubtedly say something to make the entire situation awkward.

Staring up at the sky Sakura allowed herself to get lost in her memories until the sky was all dark except for the star, that's when she spoke up, "Kumo really is a pretty village. It's not green like Konoha, in fact it probably has as many rock formations as we have trees but it's still pretty. It's just like its name, just like being in the clouds."

She didn't expect a response which was why she was just a tiny bit surprised when Minato started speaking. "I've never been to one of the other great shinobi villages, or at least not long enough to look around. Tensions between the villages have been running tight since I was a kid, and most of my missions had more to do with towns or tracking down rogue shinobi.

Sakura smiled. "I think that's the first time you've truly shared something about yourself with me. How old were you when you became a chūnin?"

"Eleven, Jiraiya-sensei was a bit to confident about our team. Shikaku, Fugaku, Hiashi and I were the only ones from Konoha to pass."

Sakura hmmed, "I didn't pass until my second try. I was unbelievably weak as a child."

Minato smiled. "I highly doubt that."

"Trust me, it was bad."

"The end result's pretty good though."

Sakura smiled back. "I suppose so."

A sharp jolt of chakra stopped the conversation as she and Minato moved to their feet, meeting in the middle kunai drawn. Then Minato relaxed, putting the kunai away as Chōza and Kato burst through the trees, Chi trotting behind them. Both men looked a bit weary and Sakura quickly noted the bruises and scratches on them. She surged forward quickly and efficiently. She went to Chōza first, his injuries being a bit worse. Taking his face in-between her hands she allowed her chakra to surge through his body, making sure that he hadn't been poisoned; she had know quite a few Kumo shinobi that had specialized in poisons. Finding nothing she withdrew her chakra and focused on healing the gash in his side while Kato filled Minato in on what happened "We ran into a patrol, I suppose they've stepped up security since the message about the blue prints came in. There were five, we were forced to kill two of them and we were able to knock the other three unconscious.

Minato frowned. "How close to here?"

Kato grimaced. "Only about an hour."

Sakura moved to Kato checking his system for poison finding nothing she turned to Minato "They weren't poisoned; a stroke of luck if you ask me, with the exception of the gash on Chōza's side it's all just scratches."

"Is Chōza okay to move?"

Sakura nodded, briefly noting that Minato was back in captain mode. "I've already healed the gash."

Minato nodded "Let's move."

As one the team moved, taking to the trees they ran. They were only an hour from the Land of Lightning's boarder, where they would cross into the Land of Frost but there was always a chance that Kumo shinobi would follow them; dead comrades never did anything to help a war. Crossing the border they continued on stopping only after a day of running. Allowing Kato and Chōza to get some rest Sakura and Minato stayed on guard, neither of them quite comfortable with letting their guard down. Sakura knew how far Kumo nin would go for one of their own; the memory of Karui punching Naruto coming back full force. They were still about two hours outside the Land of Hot Water which they would need to cross into to be somewhat safe, Konoha had border patrols going in the Land of Hot Water and they would know to be on extra high alert following this. After all, the small country had allied with Konoha during the war.

Keeping her guard up Sakura's eyes scanned the perimeter taking in account the shadows and the eyes staring at her from the trees. She didn't hesitate as she flew forward, tackling the man in the tree; they fell from the trees, separating long enough to land and then fly at each other again. He aimed a punch for her gut which she took before landing one of her own that sent the man flying. She didn't wait for him to recover she moved forward pinning him and summoning chakra to her fingers in a scalpel she cut the man's spinal cord. The struggling stopped, the man's eyes still open, his Kumo headband barely visible in the dark; and for a moment she was back in the war, with the smell of death surrounding her.