Sakura moved closer to her position, feeling her teammate's chakra signatures spreading out on the compound, each of them targeting one sentinel. She didn't bother staying away from any of them, simply walked towards the back of the compound where the room that held the three jounin and a chunin was. She trusted her comrades to take out the ninja outside.

Her blood was rushing through her veins, pumping hot with excitement as she approached a window. She didn't particularly like killing whenever she was ordered to but being there, right under the enemy's nose undetected was something she had rather come to enjoy. Every mission she completed, every enemy she outsmarted brought a sense of fulfillment to her like nothing else.

For the first time in all her life she could look at her accomplishments and be satisfied. Her training wasn't complete by any means but she had gotten good enough to not let her progressing skills hinder her in the field. She learned how to hide her disabilities in battles and how to use everything she had to her favor. She wasn't done, no, but she was good. Her mission success rate proved that.

Two men passed over the window she was looking through. One of them was short and stocky and looked like he could break her neck by squeezing it between two fingers. The other was only slightly taller but considerably skinnier. They wouldn't look like much if it weren't for the countless weapons strapped to their bodies and the dark brown paint on their faces. Like crusted blood.

Sakura frowned and molded her chakra to a thin string, directing it through the open window and letting it settle a perimeter on the floor, walls and ceiling next to it. The genjutsu she cast using that tiny amount of chakra wasn't enough to fool a jounin level ninja but it would be enough to make whoever came across that hallway suddenly have the urge to turn back around.

With that part over, she nimbly climbed over the windowsill and slipped inside the hallway. The two goons were still walking towards the end of the hall towards a windowless room where she hoped Anko and her team were being held.

Sakura was completely in her element at that moment, sneaking up to her prey in the cover of her genjutsu, preparing to knock them unconscious with another use of her affinities to the art of illusion. Just before they reached the door, she weaved the signs for two genjutsu simultaneously and stretched her arms forward to catch them when they feel back.

With chakra pumping through her muscles, she bound them both together, took their weapons and threw them outside the window. Sakura turned back to the door and rummaged in her pouch for lockpicks. She wasn't the best at it because she never really had to practice much, but the fact that she knew the mechanics behind the whole process and that it strongly resembled a puzzle helped in assuring she had it done in under two minutes.

She had to move fast now, before there was a shift change or someone noticed they were missing six ninja. She pushed the door open and almost cringed back. The smell of blood and decay was strong and if she hadn't spent some of her time at the morgue, she might have thrown up.

The room was bare but for the bodies on the floor. Two of them huddled in one corner, one of them laid down on the other corner with what looked to be Anko's coat covering them and the woman herself, only wearing her mesh shirt and pants, right in the middle of the room.

Sakura was surprised to find her conscious and even more that she had the strength to bare her teeth at Sakura.

She put her hands up and approached her slowly.

"I'm here to rescue you, Mitarashi-san," Sakura kept her voice steady as she prepared herself to start her triage and defend herself at the same time. "I'm here with Genma, Raido and Aoba."

Sakura thought that even if the woman before her hadn't been clearly dehydrated, she wouldn't have cried but the sheer, unadulterated relief that she felt was betrayed by how her shoulders relaxed and she swayed a little even while sitting down.

"The Hokage sent me a pink haired kid and three doofus." Anko's voice was raspy and her eyes fought against the weight of her lids. "Great."

"I'm sure you'll appreciate it better when you're safe back in Konoha, Mitarashi-san," Sakura quipped before finally reaching a hand to her wrist, instinctively knowing the woman wouldn't take well to being touched anywhere else. She concentrated on the feeling of Anko's week, barely there chakra network and coached her own through it, assessing the damage quickly.

"Cut that Mitarashi-san crap, Pinky." Anko coughed. "Name's Anko."

"Sakura," she replied softly, before she reached inside her pouch and gave her two pills. "Blue one first. Wait two minutes before taking the soldier pill. What's your teammate's status?"

"Kaito and Kenzou fell asleep a few hours ago. Hirako is dead." Anko's voice was blunt, the nutrition pill Sakura had given her already taking effect. "There is also the tiny fact that there is a — "

"Take three small sips," Sakura interrupted and handed her a water canteen. "You have too many wounds for me to heal right now. I'll work on damage control, enough for you to fight, and after we're gone I'll fix the rest of it." Even as she talked, her chakra was already doing as she said, coaching Anko's cells to reproduce and multiply accordingly. It was clear from her injuries that she had suffered through some type of torture. "About the other important factor concerning your teammates, we're already aware of it and we'll deal with it after we're all free."

Sakura got up and went to the other two huddled in the corner and healed them as best as she could without spending much of her chakra. If only there was a way to fight dehydration with medical ninjutsu. For now, they would have to make do with her nutrition pills and the soldier pills.

With all three of them woken up, healed and carrying the weapons from their guards, Sakura nodded at them.

"Yosh." Sakura adjusted her gloves. "As soon as I give the signal, we'll attack from this side and the others from the outside. Hopefully they'll attract more attention than us. Remember that the soldier pills and the patch up healing isn't enough to leave you to your full abilities, so I think I should take point on this one."

Sakura kept her eyes on the three of them as she talked, monitoring their chakra fluctuations and mannerisms.

"Once that wall," she pointed to the one that the corpse of their teammate was resting against, "is gone, we'll reach the main hall where most of the enemy ninja are awaiting. Be prepared for attacks on all sides."

Kaito was looking at her with fear and trepidation in his eyes while Kenzou tightened his fists around the katana he was holding. Sakura looked closely at them both for a second, noticing how Kenzou's eyes seemed to darken with something like anger and determinations, his whole body vibrating with nervous energy.

"We are greatly outnumbered, Sakura-san," Kaito said, his voice quivering just so.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Are you not shinobi of the Leaf?" Anko snorted but Sakura ignored her. "All three of you are jounin of Konoha, you have weapons and you can walk. You will fight and we'll get out of here." Sakura had taken Inner's proffered mask of fierce determination, the thrill of the impending fight rushing down her spine. She smiled at them, a dangerous smile that was more bared teeth than anything else. An intimidation tactic and reassuring gesture all in one.

Kaito squared his shoulders and nodded at her before tightening his hitai-ate.

It was deliberate. She wanted to see how they would react to her façade. She knew from experience that those against her cowered when faced with it but her teammates always stood up straighter at the sight of that particular smile. It was good to have a monster on your side unless… Her eyes zeroed in on Kenzou.

Unless you weren't really on its side.

"Kenzou!" She called out and threw a scroll at him. "Seal your teammate's body in that."

Kenzou stared wide eyed at the scroll, the nervous energy she had noticed before increasing by the second. He moved to the corpse hurriedly and sealed it up without a second look before taking his place behind her and slightly to her left, scroll firmly into his pouch.

She had expected to find only three team members inside that room, the other having defected to join the band of missing nin in the compound. Now, she knew exactly what had happened.

"You're not gonna blow that wall up, are you Pinky?" Anko scowled at her. "Because that would be really stupid."

Sakura snorted. "I'm not gonna blow it up, Mitarashi-san." Sakura enjoyed seeing the tick on Anko's eyebrow. Really, the woman deserved it for insisting on that wretched nickname. "You should still step back, though."

And without another warning, Sakura rushed forward. With chakra gathered on her fist, she let it collide with the wall before sending it to web out. The whole wall was instantly pulverized and the small particles of dust that resulted flew over the hall, obscuring their enemy`s vision.

Sakura immediately detected the closest chakra signatures, even with her vision impaired, and sent out four senbon to take them down. The sound of them hitting the ground was covered by her team's entrance through the front door. The dust cleared out and she could see all of them, weapons ready and fingers weaving signs for ninjutsu that only elite could do.

Her first year as a chunin and she had mostly been sent on missions in which she was team leader, only a few times serving under a jounin, so this was the first mission she got to see them truly at work. It was intoxicating.

Sakura's own skills seemed to improve, her senses sharpen, her blood pump faster. Being around better ninja made her reach that extra mile and she knew she had never fought like this. Her body was weightless liquid, changing forms and stances constantly, slashing down men with her tantou or just merely punching right through their chests.

The three ninja behind her barely had to do any work, only fight off the occasional ninja who came from different rooms from behind them. However, Kenzou — who was supposed to be taking care of Sakura's left flank — seemed to be lagging.

Sakura dodged a swing of a kunai and dove under the enemy's arm before using her momentum to bury her tantou right into his heart, her lower stature making it easy to angle the blade up and bypass his body's natural protective bone structure. Without stopping, she picked Kenzou from the scruff of his neck and shoved him in front of her.

"Don't fall back!" She yelled over the sound of dozens of dying men.

They fought through another wave of ninja and it was over. Sakura didn't know who had been the one to kill the last missing nin but suddenly Genma was saying something and Anko was barking a laugh and Raido was grinning.

"You look like a complete psycho, Blossom," Genma laughed at her and he looked pleasantly surprised. "You and Anko will be best friends pretty soon, I'm betting."

"Oi!" Anko punched him in the shoulder. "I'll show you psycho, Shiranui."

"No fighting, children." Raido stepped between them, his hands in the air. "I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get back to Konoha."

Sakura sheathed her tantou and wiped her bloodied hands on her pants.

"We were supposed to take some of them in for questioning," Aoba said, his hand on his hip as he looked around at the bodies littering the floor of the hideout.

Sakura didn't really know how to feel about them treating the carnage before them so lightly. A part of her — the part of her that had been nurtured by her parents and that thought ladies shouldn't fight — thought it was appalling the sheer disregard for life they were showing.

She had squashed that part of her pretty thoroughly in her year and a half as a shinobi.

Now all that was left was a slight remorse for the people these ninja might have been and even then, it didn't really factor into her conscience because at the end of the day, those ninja were standing between her and ensuring her teammate's safety.

It was with that thought in her mind that Sakura stretched her arms and rolled her neck.

"I'm so tired." She whined in a soft voice. She saw Aoba, Genma and Raido looking at her questionably and the other shinobi's barely contained disgust when she gave a girlish giggle, soft and airy. "But you don't need to worry Aoba-san. I got that part handled."

"What did you do, Petal?" Genma's eyes met hers and she thought she saw recognition in their dark depths.

"I have a couple of guys tied up in the back." She winked at him. "I'll go get them and we'll meet up at our last camp?"

Genma frowned. "Someone should go with you." Oh, yes. He definitely had caught on to her tactics.

"I'll go." Kenzou approached her from the left and Sakura wanted to smile in satisfaction but didn't.

"Thanks, Kenzou." She started leading the way back to the room they had been held captive. "Come on."

They walked in silence until they reached the window she had climbed through and Sakura smiled up at him.

"Give me a hand?" She barely waited for him to reach out before enclosing his hand with hers, the tip of her middle finger finding his pulse.

"What the — " Kenzou fell to his knees.

"You know, it's really easy to lower someone's heartbeat if you know your way around the human body." Sakura's voice was low and steady. "Right now it's enough that with how dehydrated and tired out from the after effects of the soldier pill, your body can't handle standing up."

"You fucking bitch." Kenzou spat at her.

Sakura shrugged.

"Been called worse." She took his chin with her other hand and tilted it up so he would look her in the eye. "At first I thought the mole had been deliberately leading Anko's team into a trap because they were somehow affiliated with the syndicate but it wasn't until I saw you that I got it."

"How did you…" Kenzou slurred, his eyelids drooping.

Sakura slipped into her mask as easily as putting on your favourite coat was.

"You led them somewhere you knew they would be outnumbered but not outmatched and hoped that in the chaos you'd be able to run away, defect from Konoha." She laughed, the sound flat and cold. "Do you know the first important lesson I got as a ninja?"

Kenzou was still awake but slipping fast as Sakura bent down to whisper.

"Those who don't follow the rules are trash but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash." She bared her teeth at him, her eyes locking on his and relishing the fear she found there. "I hate people like you and I wish I could crush your throat and watch you choke on your own blood but death it's too merciful for you."

Kenzou's eyes, wet with tears of desperation, rolled behind his head and he slumped against her. Sakura sighed, let go of the tension on her shoulders and hauled him out of the window like she'd done the two goons from before.

Genma and the others were waiting for her.

"You know," he drawled. "You sounded just like Kakashi right there."

"Fuck off." Sakura scowled at him and moved to Kaito, her hands glowing green as she moved to heal him.

"Eh?" Raido scratched at his scar. "You're Kakashi's genin?"

"She's not Kakashi's anything," Genma mocked her at the same time as she said, "I'm not Kakashi's anything."

Genma sent Raido a look that said, "See?"

Sakura sneered at him and moved to heal Anko only to have the woman bat her hands away.

"I'm fine, doc."

"I didn't ask," Sakura took the woman's wrist by force and used her chakra so she couldn't dislodge it. She was refraining from touching her anywhere else and she knew Anko appreciated it by how she relaxed a bit. "We need you in top shape when coming back to Konoha because me and Kaito will be busy carrying those idiots back. If we're attacked, I need you to have my back."

"The mission is over, Sakura-san," Aoba stretched. "There's no need to worry about an attack."

Sakura scoffed. "The mission is over when we hand our reports to the Hokage." She slugged Kenzou and one of the goons on her back like two sacks of rice, effortlessly. "If there's something I learned is that Team Seven has shitty luck when it comes to missions."

Sakura didn't miss the looks exchanged between Anko, Raido and Genma but didn't know what to make of it. There was something dark behind it, something that spoke of pain and loss and that held the heavy weight of past horrors. She analysed it, processed it and stored it away in her mind for further wonderings. For now, she had to get three traitors into IT.

Tsunade leaned her elbows on her desk and let her folded hands hide the smirk she was sporting. The shinobi in front of her was ragged and bloodied, having done two A-Ranks back to back wasn't exactly easy, even if they had been both successful.

"You didn't want to take Sakura did you, Shiranui?" Tsunade didn't miss the way his eyes travelled quickly towards Shizune before snapping back to her. How amusing it was to see them both skirting around each other. "I just heard from Ibiki that one of the shinobi you caught was a recently deserted Iwa ninja. I ought to give you a bonus for that. That is, of course, if you have anything to say on Sakura's performance."

Genma snorted, shaking his head a little bit.

"I knew she was good you know. There was never a doubt about her skills." He stepped forward to press a piece of paper into her desk. "This mission proved she could do more than be a good sparring partner, though. She can follow orders just fine but when she's in a leader position is when she shines. She works well under pressure, she can create and execute plans flawlessly and her gut instinct is strong. When we were out there, it didn't feel like we were a jounin squad trying to work around our only chunin member."

"What are you saying, Genma?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him and then at the paper in front of her. If he was implying what she thought he was…

"I'm saying it is my duty as a jounin of the Leaf to officially recommend Haruno Sakura for the Jounin Exams." He nodded at the piece of paper. "There are four signatures in there from the other jounin present in the mission."

"She's fourteen," Tsunade spoke before she realised she was going to. Her heart was constricting painfully in her chest for some reason and she fought hard against a frown.

Genma moved the senbon around his mouth a few times before answering. She was sure his eyes were seeing deep into her soul. She didn`t like it.

"She's a highly skilled chunin who stands a chance of passing the Jounin Exams," he said simply, like anything about it was simple at fucking all.

"The council will not—"

"Are you trying to find excuses for not making her a candidate?" He interrupted her before she could finish her sentence and it was enough to make her hiss.

"Get out."

Tsunade didn`t yell and throw things at him like she normally would and perhaps that was the bigger indicator of all that he should be getting the fuck away from there. She wasn`t surprised when he bowed his exit but she most certainly wasn`t expecting his parting words to hit her so hard.

"Forgive me, Hokage-sama. I only have Sakura's best interests in mind."

Hey, guys! Sorry for the wait, it`s been hell not having a computer, I'm currently posting this on a public on and let me tell you the keyboard is absolute rubbish.

I was so excited for this chapter, I hope you guys liked it as much as I did haha, please let me know what you think!

Poor Tsunade, yo, she's having to come to terms with the fact that she actually loves that pink haired brat and what it means for her as a Hokage. Sending your pseudo-daughter to missions was hard but imagine how much harder it would be for her with Sakura as a jounin? And a civilian borne one at that.

You guys, are so so so fucking wonderful in your reviews, it leaves me breathless sometimes the amount of support I'm receiving from people I don't even know! Please continue to do so, it's my greatest motivator and you know it makes me write faster haha Love you all 3