"Haru, Toshi, time to go, we have what we came for." She stated tersely into her com unit, leaping soundlessly from her hidden perch in the trees.

Nodding to each other, the two men quickly filed suit, propelling themselves through the canopy of leaves and taking up the flank positions on either side of their captain.

Traveling through thick brush, the trio moved in unison, seemingly anticipating each other's intentions and steadily gaining ground. Once they had put a fair amount of distance between themselves and the underground drug syndicate they had been surveilling for the last 3 weeks, they slowed their pace.

"Alright boys, let's take a quick rest and get a few hours of sleep. Then we need to get going; run straight through to the village on the off chance one of those idiots realize someone was tailing them for the last month and come after us. We need to get this intelligence back to Konoha."

"Captain, it's not fair! All I've heard since I joined Anbu was all these stories about how much ass you've kicked, but I've yet to actually see it! You avoid conflict like its the plague! When am I going to see you punch through a tree dammit!" he bemoaned.

"You wanna see it? Really Toshi? Was me kicking your ass across the training grounds last week not enough of a demonstration for you?" She laughed hoarsely.

"You know what I mean! Training is totally different. All we've been on lately is recon missions, nothing that has required us to engage with any enemies!"

"You do know you're a part of the intelligence corps right? Most of our missions rely on our ability to stay undetected so we can gather intel." She deadpanned.

"Yes, yes I know, it's just that….well I heard all of these amazing stories about the HARUNO SAKURA when I was a trainee. It was amazing, I had never heard of someone with chakra control like that! Then low and behold, I got assigned to HER as my squad captain! I couldn't believe my luck! But here we are, six months later, and I've yet to see you punch through any buildings!" He whined.

Sakura just smiled, shaking her head fondly at the younger man. Ito Toshi, or Tiger as he was known in Anbu, was an overly eager 23 year old who had recently been assigned to Sakura's team.

Her other teammate, Watanabe Haru, had been with her much longer. Haru was 25 and had been one of her teammates for the last 2 years.

"Haru, what do you think? Should I punch through a tree for Toshi when we get home? Let him see just how good my chakra control is so he will shut up about it?"

"Ehhhh, unlikely," Haru muttered, "If he sees you put your fist through a tree, his fetish is only gonna get worse."

Sakura laughed hoarsely at the man's candid statement, looking over she could see Toshi's entire face turning red.

"Captain that's not! I didn't mean! I don't! God Haru, why are you such an ass?!" he huffed.

Both teammates laughed good naturedly at their younger friend, Haru reaching over to give him an affectionate hair tussle.

"I'll take the first watch, I have run you two pretty hard over the last few weeks." She stated, leaving no room for argument.

Haru seemed to accept her directive and unrolled his mat to settle in for a few hours of rest, while Toshi looked less than happy about his orders, he quickly followed suit.

Resting her back against the trunk of a nearby tree, Sakura sat down and centered herself, allowing herself to push her chakra through every cell in her body, to feel and hear everything around her. After only a few hours, Sakura felt a surge of energy.

"Get up, now" she whispered tersely, shaking Toshi awake. Haru already stood ready and alert, most likely having sensed the spike in chakra at the same moment she had.

"Something is amiss," Haru stated, steadily scanning the area for any signs of movement.

"Hn" was all Sakura replied, a bad habit she had picked up in her genin days from him.

There's something coming, I can feel it" She whispered tersely, "You two need to get to the Fire Country border Now" She ordered. "I'll hold whoever it is off. The intel has to make it back to Konoha no matter what."

"My rough estimation is that there are four enemy ninja just south and another three to the west of us. We don't have time to outrun them, so we are gonna have to stand our ground and fight our way out" Haru replied grimly.

Toshi nodded his agreement while Haru took his place next to Sakura.

"Captain, we aren't splitting up" Toshi argued, looking resolved in his statement.

"Do not argue with me, I am your captain and this is a direct order! You two need to head west Now" she growled.

Haru and Toshi exchanged weary glances, "Yea that's not gonna happen Cap. Ya see, you have a bad track record with the whole self sacrifice thing and we've become rather fond of you. So it looks like you need to come up with a Plan B that sees all three of us making it out of this alive" Toshi stated, his mask shifting slightly, a telltale that he had a smug smile across his young face. Haru simply nodded, the only indication she would receive that he agreed with Toshi's statement.

Heat rising up her neck, Sakura grumbled at the two of them, "Fine, but if you two idiots die, I'll bring you back and kill you myself for not following orders. Toshi, I want you back to back with me. Haru, I want you in the trees, use your kekkei genkai to take out as many as you can. Remember, don't do anything reckless." She finished, turning and getting into position.

"Sure, sure Cap….Whatever you say" Toshi winked as Haru nodded rather enthusiastically.

"Idiots" she muttered under her breath, releasing two kunia from her side and moving into a crouch. Seconds later, Sakura could feel the ground vibrating beneath her feet as pebbles lifted off the ground, indicating that something BIG was entering their vicinity. Suddenly rock splintered up from under her and shot rubble in all directions.

"Tiger! Hawk! Go NOW!" She bellowed, as the earth beneath her cracked and split apart. Recognizing that something was rising up from the fissure, Sakura quickly moved toward the source.

Running at full tilt, She amassed a huge amount of chakra in her fist and slammed it directly into the epicenter of the crumbling ground. Tremors shook the surrounding area, as She threw herself into the nearest tree and searched the area for surviving chakra signatures. Sensing a presence to the west, Sakura motioned to Haru. Nodding his head in understanding, he leapt from his perch and started his pursuit, leaving herself and Toshi to face who, or what remained. Sakura refocused her attention as she felt an icy dread pool in the pit of her stomach. She knew this chakra signature; had studied it for weeks. The dust slowly cleared and she got her first clean look at the source of the calamitous energy that charged and crackled in the air. Standing there in the ruins, completely unruffled wasTanaki Usui, second in command to the leader of the drug syndicate they had been surveilling for the past several weeks. Sakura's stomach twisted, Tanaki was no normal thug. The tall, well built man had previously been a Water Country hunter nin turned deserter and was on every bingo book known in the five nations. He was the definition of lethal. Sakura kicked herself for not making her boys leave, Tanaki was lethal and she knew they would be lucky if they made it out alive.

"Fuck" she swore under her breath. She was going to have to come up with a plan quickly if they were going to have even a remote chance of survival, and even then chances were slim to none. Sakura knew from studying his multiple profiles that any genjutsu would be relatively useless against him. Tanaki had a superior ability to create and break genjutsu at will, rivaled only by the sharingan. If she was to face him, it would have to be head on. Tensing, she began channeling massive amounts of chakra into her fists.

"Oh now this is just too good" Tanaki laughed with delight, "The delicate little Anbu is going to fight me, how positively delicious" he finished, a saccharin smile spreading across his face. "Now, now my sweet, I hate to waste a perfectly good female body by plunging my fist through it, how about we have some fun first?"

Sakura didn't respond, choosing instead to scan the area, quickly locating Toshi who was a few yards away, already engaged in battle with one of the syndicate members.

"Come now my dear, you can't honestly tell me you would rather die at my hands than enjoy my hands, hmmmm?"

Grimacing, Sakura stalked forward, moving into a sprint and readying herself for what very well could be her last fight.

"Ughhh, how disappointing." He bemoaned, "Well if it is to be death first, I want to assure you I won't let that body of yours go to waste my sweet."

Bile rose in her throat as she reached him and struck out with her legs, drawing his hands toward her as he blocked her kick. Swinging with the force of his block, Sakura turned in full pirouette and brought her fist up, making contact with the man's chin. Tanaki flew backward, but quicker than she prefered he was back on his feet and standing before her.

"Fuck" was all she managed to get out before he was pelting her with kunia and throwing impossibly fast jutsu combinations at her. It was all Sakura could do to stay on her feet and keep her wits about her enough not to die, forget actually returning any of his attacks.

"Tsk Tsk my sweet, is that really all the fight you are going to give me? I expected better from someone who's been following my movements so closely for weeks now. You had to have learned something useful in all that time." He taunted her.

Growling, Sakura continued to deflect the more lethal attacks, unfortunately allowing some of the more shallow strikes to land. She needed to figure out a way to put him down and fast. She couldn't afford to expend too much chakra on the chance that Toshi and Haru would need her to do some serious healing. She would have one shot to land a hit strong enough to get her team out of there.

"Shut your fucking mouth" she stated calmly, "You run that mouth of yours far too much for someone who doesnt have the stamina to do even half of the damage you promise."

"Bitch!" Tanaki screamed, prowling forward and swiftly moving his hands into a jutsu, "I'll show you just how much stamina I have when I'm relieving you of your pathetic life!"

"Good" Sakura thought to herself, the fucker was getting good and riled up just like she expected. If he was wondering if she had learned something over the past few weeks, she had. Tanaki had a volatile temper. One that often caused him to stop fighting with tact and skill. A temper that caused him to see red and lose all rational thought. She was counting on her carefully chosen wording to throw him into a rage and create an opportunity to catch him off guard. Moving quickly through various seals she shouted, "Earth Style- Mud Wall!"

In a fraction of a second, a giant wall had emerged from the ground, effectively separating her from Tanaki. Before she could think too much about it, Sakura plunged her closed fist into the ground with as much chakra as she could spar. The ground split and a fissure opened beneath them, pulling the wall and pushing it towards Tanaki. Sakura sprang forward and placed all of her weight onto the wall, guiding it to cover the hole that Tanaki had fallen into within the earth.

"That should hold for a few minutes….hopefully" She thought to herself, moving to jump into the cover of the trees, needing to find her boys and retreat as quickly as possible. Gods she was incredibly thankful that her historically lazy sensei had shown her his Doton: Doryuheki. Unable to help herself, Sakura's mind briefly flashed to floppy silver hair and pale gray eyes. Shaking herself, Sakura crouched low , "Tiger, Hawk, Come in" She said into her coms system.

"Hai Captain" a low voice responded, undoubtedly the voice of Haru.

"Here" replied her other teammate.

"Move west and converge in about 300 paces, we need to get some distance, Tanaki is still alive" she stated, passing over branches.

Assuming the radio silence meant they were following her orders, Sakura continued on, moving as swiftly as she could despite the obvious damage she had taken during her brief, but deleterious fight with Tanaki.

Looking ahead, Sakura spotted her boys moving just beyond her current position. "Good, they were better off together where they could watch each other's backs" she thought.

Suddenly, multiple shuriken flew past her face and embedded in the nearest tree trunk.

"Oh no you dont, you bitch!" Tanaki screamed.

"Holy hell" Sakura breathed. That jutsu had not bought her nearly as much time as she needed it too. Motioning to Haru and Toshi to get into position, Sakura stopped and moved to face the man head on.

Blood dripped down her uniform, several of the shallow cuts looking much worse than they actually were. It really pissed her off when someone landed a hit on her, even more so when someone managed to draw blood.

"That's it shitbag, I'm tired of messing around with you!" She screamed, breaking off a branch that more closely resembled a small tree, and swinging at the man.

Jumping back, Tanaki appeared to reassess his opponent.

"Ohhhh hoho, little sweet! It looks like you are more entertaining than I previously thought!" He shrieked with delight.

Sakura could feel Toshi and Haru land at her back. Without looking over her shoulder, Sakura quickly began threading jutsu through her fingers and flying towards Tanaki. "Water Style- Eternal Plunge!" She shouted, as a torrent of water opened up from the sky and captured Tanaki in a sphere of swirling, dark water. Vaulting backwards, Sakura leveled herself between Toshi and Haru, using their joined hands to create tension and propel herself forward. Hurling herself through the air, Sakura punched through the sphere of water and landed a direct hit on Tanaki's face. She could feel ripples of impact moving across his face, shattering bones and destroying connective tissue as it moved through his body and dispersed out into the water. The impact of the force displacement leaving her hand and moving into Tanaki threw Sakura backwards. Luckily, Haru and Toshi softened her landing with their own bodies.

Panting, bright green eyes opened and looked into two sets of honeyed eyes, "We need to go, Now" she exhaled, feeling the telltale signs of chakra exhaustion radiating through her muscles.

Both men nodded, Haru shifting her onto his back and taking the flank position, while Toshi took the lead.

"Thanks boys" she sighed, "You both did good today"

Haru only cleared his throat, characteristically choosing not to respond with words, but giving her calf a reassuring squeeze. Toshi however looked back, moving his arm across his chest in a gesture conveying his gratitude and commitment to their team, their family.

"Let's get home" she stated, feeling her eyes begin to slide close, unable to stop the black curtain that was quickly overtaking her vision.

A softly whispered, "Hai" was the last thing she heard before night swept in.