Kakashi was needed before they even got out of the village. Sakura would've thought that having had human blood already, she'd be able to control herself a bit better, but it seemed that the opposite was true. Three steps out the door brought her face to face with Kurenai. Before anyone could so much as blink, Sakura had already decided that she could easily pierce that thin layer of skin covering the larger arteries with her new abilities. After all, she should be much faster now, so no one could possibly stop her. With that in mind, the pink-haired genin darted behind Kurenai and prepared to bite through to reach the blood.

She didn't expect Kakashi to have by that time already picked her up and slapped the handcuffs back on.

Kurenai raised one eyebrow at the struggling girl before her. "Isn't that the Haruno girl?" She wasn't sure, but Kurenai thought that Kakashi had mentioned his female student as being quiet and, while not very strong, capable of planning things out. The attack she'd just witnessed was not at all thought out, but the power behind it was something else. It seemed more like she was looking at Kiba.

Kakashi nodded. "She's not herself today – she's going with me to bring back Uchiha Sasuke." Leaning down next to Sakura's ear, he whispered, "Get yourself under control or we'll have to wait. Don't make my decision to pick you be a wrong one."

Almost instantaneously the kunoichi's struggles ceased and the handcuffs came back off without Kurenai ever noticing they were there. Inner Sakura frowned and stuck her tongue out at where she currently had the demon pinned down. Stupid thing was going to get them caught, and then she couldn't save Sasuke from Orochimaru. Sakura smiled up at her teacher. "Yep! We're gonna rescue Sasuke-kun and bring back him and Naruto!" The genin pumped a fist in the air, allowing Inner Sakura to take control a bit. She seemed to be better equipped at handling the urge to kill people.

Apparently reassured that nothing much more unusual than usual was going on, Kurenai smiled and handed Kakashi a folder. "Hokage-sama wants to see you, but that can wait until you return. I take it this mission is a secret?"

Kakashi grinned, although it was hard to see with his mask once more covering his face. "Yeah. That kind of thing."

"I'll get Gai and Asuma. We'll keep people off your trail," Kurenai offered seriously.

Giving a short shake of the head, Kakashi pushed Sakura past the female jounin. "You guys get involved and Tsunade'll know. Just try to keep the number of questions down, all right? Pretty soon we're going to be getting a lot of attention, and I don't want anyone to have thought about us until then." He handed the folder back to Kurenai as he too strode past her. "Get Gai to take care of this. Tell him it'll help him get ahead of me."

Kurenai said nothing as the two ninjas walked away quickly. When she glanced behind her, she couldn't see them anywhere in the darkened street. "Good luck," she whispered, and then she too was gone.

Sakura turned to Kakashi, a suspicious look in her eyes. "Sensei, you did tell the Hokage about this mission, didn't you?" she asked. Not that she needed to. She could tell that Kakashi was using some extremely high-level jutsu, probably learned while he was an ANBU member, to keep himself hidden. When he didn't answer, instead merely giving her that laid-back smile of his, she was positive. This mission wasn't an official one, and probably would get them in a good deal of trouble if they got caught.

"Kakashi-sensei. . . ." Sakura started to ask why he was risking so much for Sasuke and Naruto then stopped.

"I won't let my teammates die."

How many times had she heard him say that? Yet here she was, about to ask him to say it once more. She changed her question. "Why aren't you having me use some sort of jutsu to hide?"

This time Kakashi actually stopped, only a few feet from the wall surrounding Konoha, and stared at her. "Why would I?" he asked a bit too casually.

Sakura frowned at her teacher and waved her hand to indicate his own jutsu. "Well, you are, and I think I'm far more likely to be questioned than you. After all, I'm still just a genin, and we've already got more than enough of us out there chasing Sasuke," she explained as if it were the most obvious concept in the world. And it was, at least to her.

Kakashi seemed to think otherwise though. Grabbing her shoulders, he leaned down so that he was almost face to face with her. "Sakura, how did you know I was hiding myself?" Not waiting for an answer, he pushed her away and started examining a section of the wall. "You don't need to do anything except stay quiet and not use too much chakra. The demon in you –"

"Don't bother with that, sensei," Saukra muttered, looking away. "I'm not someone you can easily convince of something like Naruto. I won't break if you tell me the truth you know."

The grey-haired jounin glanced at her. Because of her superior chakra control, the chakra that before had been burning all about her was now wrapped tightly around her making her shine with the glow of carefully restrained power. In the darkness, with the moon not visible and the sun not yet up . . . she was beautiful. He smiled slightly. Although it made it more difficult for him, he was glad that she hadn't believed his lie. "Fine. But if you want me to treat you like an equal, then start acting like one. My name is Hatake Kakashi, not sensei."

Sakura blinked, confused, and nodded. "Kakashi-san," she tried slowly. She grinned. "Then, why don't I need to hide, Kakashi-san?"

"Because," he said, shrugging slightly, "as that demon, you're naturally hidden to the rest of the world. Of course, if you start talking to someone, or use your chakra, anyone could see you. That's why it's important that you don't call attention to yourself." As he talked, he began pressing seemingly random points on the wall, small flares of chakra appearing with each strike. It didn't look like anything was happening. "Sakura, I need you to wipe some of your blood across here. When I was in ANBU, we used this when we needed to avoid people noticing us leaving or arriving. However, since I'm no longer an ANBU member, this probably isn't keyed to my blood anymore."

Without thinking, the genin bit her thumb and pressed it against the wall where Kakashi had indicated. She frowned. "Kakashi-se, I mean Kakashi-san, why would my blood work then? I wasn't ever in ANBU."

He winked, or at least Sakura thought he winked. It was hard to tell with his forehead protector covering one eye. "I'm hoping that since you're a demon, your blood will confuse the seals enough to let us through. If not, we'll just have to break through."

"Break through! How the hell are we supposed to . . . break through?" Sakura trailed off as the wall began to glow slightly. Then, ever so slowly, a hole appeared. Before it was finished expanding, Kakashi pulled her through, planting an exploding tag on the wall. Immediately the wall closed back up with a small shudder as the tag exploded inside.

Kakashi grinned as he tore off his mask and forehead protector and, not bothering to ask, slipped off Sakura's hitai-ate as well. "Well, that's all done. That door won't open anymore, so if they look for us, they won't think that we went out through there. It should buy us some time. Anyway, from now on we shouldn't wear anything that relates us to Konoha," he explained as he dug through a bag that had been sitting outside the wall for some reason. After a few seconds he pulled out a vest and pants that seemed more like something a shopkeeper might own than a ninja. The clothes were dark-colored and covered in dust. "I haven't worn these for years," he murmured. Skura turned away as he slid his chuunin vest off and began changing.

"Kakashi-san," Sakura started, trying not to blush. Oh my god. . . . My teacher's right behind me changing! Should I act casual? Does it just mean that he trusts me or maybe he . . . he doesn't like me, does he? Or maybe he just doesn't think of me as a girl since I'm a demon now. Inner Sakura growled at the last thought. If things were that way, she'd have to take care of that idea quickly.

"Did you want something?" asked Kakashi, sounding as if he were right behind her.

Sakura jumped and covered her eyes, face burning up. Quickly she focused all her attention on keeping her chakra normal so that no one would spot them. "That it, I mean, why would anyone be chasing us? Tsunade-sama won't declare us missing-nins, will she?"

Kakashi stepped in front of her and, putting one finger under her chin, lifted her head so that he was looking into her eyes. "You're a demon now, Sakura. Right now, people who have been watching Sonoda-san for years because of that are realizing that you should be their new target. Amongst those people are organizations like Akatsuki." He let go, watching as she backed up some. "There's something else you should know. The Kyuubi now resides within a host, and from that organization Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are now after him for the Kyuubi's power. If they discover you instead, there's no way to stop them."

Sakura's eyes widened. "That's Sasuke's brother, right? He's after Naruto?"

Now it was Kakashi's turn to be surprised. "You knew about Naruto?" he inquired, walking towards her.

Sakura nodded, taking her place next to him as they slipped into the forest. "When we were in the Forest of Death, Naruto saved us from Orochimaru, but something happened to him because of a seal that Orochimaru put on him. It seems to be gone now though, judging by the way he fought at the third exam. Also, the only way he could have possibly defeated Gaara is with a demon of his own." Glancing at Kakashi's surprised face, she smirked. "None of us say anything about it, but it is kind of obvious that there's something weird with Naruto. I wouldn't be surprised if Shikamaru and Neji have figured it out as well."

Kakashi nodded some, no longer focusing on his student's words. It only made sense that the smartest of the genins would figure out something as big as that. It wasn't as if the adults in Konoha did a very good job trying to keep the secret. Instead, he studied Sakura's face. Although she seemed to be in control, the smirk that had passed over her face for a moment was identical to the one that Aki had worn at times. That expression was the demon, and that she was already using it so casually was a bit worrisome.

"Kakashi-san?"

The jounin blinked and looked back at the path they were walking on. "Ah, it's nothing."

Her eyes were still green.