Haruno Sakura was undoubtedly the most talented medic the leaf was honoured with since Tsunade. Not only had she learned everything her mentor had to teach but she was also at the forefront of medical developments. Her skills were being requested by nations far and wide to cure illnesses and diseases.

Sakura wasn't just a talented medic, she was a fearsome kunoichi. Her brief time serving under Kakashi as her sensei and then with Yamato, allowed her to hone her monstrous strength in battle. In the hospital she was a leader and a teacher. It had been a few years since she'd been out on a mission, she missed it but didn't see herself ever returning to field duty unless there was another war.

It didn't come as much of a surprise to her when Tsunade summoned her via ANBU messenger, in the middle of the night, to request her presence. What did surprise her was that it was for an unranked medical mission.

"Sakura." She began. Her tone suggested she was in no mood to be actioning this request at this hour of the morning, but duty and want didn't often go hand in hand. "The Yondaime Raikage has fallen very suddenly ill from a suspected poisoning and Kumogakure have requested your urgent assistance in trying to save his life. Naturally, they are wanting us to analyse the poison and determine where the threat has come from. Needless to say, this is a crucial mission to fortify out already rocky relationship with them. They have requested you and an ANBU squad to investigate." Sakura wasn't sure if the elongated sentences were due to the time or if Tsunade was still drunk.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably in front of her mentor, both women in their lounge wear trying not to yawn.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you much more notice, I'm sure you can appreciate the urgency with this. I can give you 30 minutes to gather your belongings for a mission and I will have one of the nurses pull together a field kit and lab kit for you. The ANBU commander and his team will be waiting for you here to teleport with a transportation scroll to the edge of leave border. The more time we can save, the better. This is a mission as well Haruno and I will be promoting you to Jonin for this. Make sure you bring your uniform and battle gear. Any questions before you leave?"

Sakura blinked a moment as she tried to process the information. "No, shishou. Thank you, shishou."

"Well, get going girl." The Hokage shooed her out the office. Sakura turned to leave, forgetting to bow in acknowledgement to her promotion and ran back to her apartment. Tsunade smiled. She was damn proud of the young girl. Her smile quickly turned back to a stoic expression as she rallied the ANBU squad needed.

Sakura was still half asleep as she packed her bag. It had been months since she'd needed her ninja pouches. She was grateful for Kakashi's tutelage at that point. He'd always told them to restock and be prepared at any moment and so Sakura always did just that. Making sure she restocked and repacked her kit after any training session or mission.

She donned her green flak jacket and smiled as the realisation sunk in that she had just been promoted to Jonin. The first of her peers. Excluding Shikamaru, but really he didn't count, he was wise beyond his years. She gathered her own personal medical equipment and scrolls and sealed them with a packing jutsu along with clothing and extra weaponry. She slotted the scrolls into the pack resting in the small of her back and fastened her leg packs over her shorts. She tied her leaf headband around her head, something she also hadn't needed to do for a while. Her final item was her black gloves that had been a gift from Tsunade.

Kakashi and his team stood silently in the Hokage's office, waiting for their fourth team member. It wasn't unheard of to have a Jonin medic on an ANBU squad but it was certainly unusual. Kakashi wore his white travelling cloak and his team members wore black. Tsunade had a black one ready for Sakura.

Kakashi read the mission scroll to memorise the details, he was glad his mask hid his expression as he saw her name printed underneath his, Dr Haruno Sakura Jonin Medic-nin. A doctor and a Jonin. He felt a pang of guilt as he realised he hadn't congratulated her on either of her titles.

Sakura didn't knock to enter the office, Tsunade being her mentor afforded her that privilege. She glanced over at the hound masked captain with strikingly familiar white hair.

"We don't have much time for introductions, you can acquaint yourselves properly on the journey. ANBU Captain Inu, Dr Haruno Sakura Jonin medic, ANBU Tenzou, ANBU Karasu," they stood to attention as she stated their names. "This transportation scroll will take you as close to the leaf border as we can get you. I cannot stress the importance of how time critical the beginning of this mission is. You get her there, and quickly." She aimed at the ANBU and unrolled the scrolls, handing Sakura a cloak. By the time Sakura had finished fastening the clasp, they were already at the ANBU outpost on the border.

Kakashi quickly turned to face his team. "We will travel in triangle formation around Sakura straight to Kumogakure. The summons states we will be met at their village entrance with an escort to where the Yondaime Raikage is. We should make it in 4 or 5 hours at full pace. Sakura can you maintain that pace and perform your medical duties without rest?"

"Give me some credit, sensei." She grumbled.

"Yes or no?" He barked, in full captain mode.

"Yes, sir." She rushed, embarrassed.

"Let's go." He led them in their formation at full speed. It had been a while since Sakura had matched pace with someone as fast as Kakashi, fortunately she was used to it having been in his team many times. Her perfect chakra control allowed her to run and push chakra through her feet without wasting any of her energy.

They arrived in good time without problem and as predicted, they were met by an escort who hurried them to their former leader.

As soon as she walked into the makeshift clinic her demeanour completely changed. Kakashi quickly realised that this woman in front of him was no longer the young naïve girl from his Genin squad, she was in charge here.

"Ok, fill me in. Quickly. Can someone find me some clinical wear please?" She read through the chart and took a verbal handover from the medics in the room as she tied her hair up. An assistant approached her with gloves and plastic cover to protect her front. She removed her jacket to swap and handed this to Kakashi. He took it without hesitation. She scrubbed her hands clean and snapped the gloves on.

Tenzou and Karasu stood at the doorway to attention, guarding the area. Kakashi stood close to Sakura making sure he could protect her from anyone if they turned out to be foe.

She analysed his urine output, his breathing, his heart rate and brain activity before assessing his body with her chakra infused hands.

After 6 solid hours of analysis and blood tests, she finally managed to isolate the poison in his system. It had entered through the base of his foot via a needle, a deadly toxin which fired up the neural network of the target to make them more susceptible to interrogation. At the rate his body was declining she concluded that he only had 48 hours from the point of injection until death. She also suggested that due to the likelihood he was targeted to gain intel, he should have also been kidnapped. The ANBU didn't like this as it meant he was still a target.

"Dr Haruno," one entering the nurses was stopped from the room until they were cleared as a threat. Sakura waved them through.

"The third test sample antidote was successful on the blood poison sample taken 30 minutes ago. I think you've done it."

"Great prepare the IV kit. We need to administer it quickly."

She was stopped by one of the lightning ANBU. "No," he said. "You will test this again in this room before administering."

She let out a frustrated sigh. "I need you to understand that this poison is working quickly and growing in strength like a virus. The antidote may be ineffective after another test or if he goes into organ failure, it might be too late."

"I suggest you test it quickly, doctor."

She got to work as directed and showed them it worked and that it hadn't been tampered with in transit.

It took nearly all her chakra and the antidote to stabilise his condition. She worked tirelessly cleansing his blood and repairing the damage to his heart and lungs. She did what she could on his brain, but wasn't sure if it was enough.

Finally, she took a step back. "It's done. I want hourly observations recorded and someone notify immediately if there are any changes."

"Yes doctor," was the last thing she heard.

Kakashi could sense her depleted chakra and caught her as she collapsed. They took her to the doctor's office next door to recover from the chakra exhaustion. "Sleep, Sakura-chan," he muttered softly. He commanded Tenzou and Karasu to focus their attention on Sakura. Their mission was to save the Raikage and figure out who had poisoned him. They had saved him and their own guard could watch him now. She took priority.

Kakashi went to report in with the current Raikage to advise on their progress.

Sakura blinked awake and remained still as she tried to recall where she'd fallen asleep. She jolted upright once she remembered what had happened.

"Woah, Sakura." Yamato stopped her. "You're still in the Kumogakure clinic. You're safe," it was a simple yet effective sentence all ninja were trained to state to anyone waking from unconsciousness. "The Yondaime Raikage is still stable but not awake. You've been sleeping for 4 hours due to chakra exhaustion." He continued. She relaxed back into the wall next to her so she was sat on the bed opposite him.

"Thank you, taichou." She smiled.

The other ANBU approached. "He's not the captain, you know? You'll give him a big head."

Yamato hung his head and deadpanned. "Karasu."

"You'll always be captain to me Y-Tenzou." The raven masked ninja suddenly realised that maybe she wasn't that much of an outsider on this team. Referring to Inu-taichou as sensei as well Tenzou as taichou.

"Can I get you anything Haruno-hakase?" her teammate offered.

"Kiss ass," Yamato mumbled at his choice of honorific.

"Water, please. I need to see my patient." He poured her a drink and offered it her as she stood to leave.

She was happy with the progress but was hoping to see changes in his brain activity by now.

The poison samples had been sent to every known contact to try and obtain a lead.

Kakashi returned from his mid-mission debrief to update his team on their next stages.

"Sakura," Kakashi interrupted her fourth attempt at reversing the coma. He beckoned her into the side room with a glance so they could discuss their mission privately.

"As you know, this was only the first part to this mission. We already have some possible leads on the source from the sample you pulled which I want to investigate promptly. I am not comfortable leaving you alone with the patient until your 48hour window is over, in case they do try to come back for him. Is he stable enough to leave with their medics now?"

"He is stable, for now. I would rather not leave until we see changes in his brain activity." Sakura told him.

"Is it crucial to the completion of this mission?"

"It's crucial to the welfare of my patient." Her doctor tone was beginning to push through.

Kakashi sighed, her heart was too big for ANBU missions. "We will report in to the current Raikage as a team, to obtain further instruction then. We will not continue the investigations as a fractured cell. "

The Raikage was happy his own doctors and medics could handle it from here and asked them to proceed with their investigation into the poison.

He offered them a suite in one of the hotels not too far from their research centre.

Sakura was grumpy. She never handed off her patients unless it was absolutely critical or they were in recovery.

"I want it noting that I'm objecting to this decision, sensei."

"Yep, duly noted." He disregarded her as he'd done many times before. "Come on so we can plan in the room."

Karasu smirked at their interaction.

"I need to collect my things from the clinic at least and give a proper handover," she insisted.

"Fine."

They collected her things and she pulled back on her flak jacket and rolled up her storage scrolls. After instructing them on after care she was satisfied that all anyone could do now was wait and see what the long term damage was.

The suite had two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living area with a pull out sofa bed. As soon as they'd swept and secured the room, Kakashi moved his mask to sit on top of his head. His teammates took this as permission to remove their own. They quickly got food and drink and sat around the table in the living area to discuss the next steps.

"I'm sorry to rush everything like this but we want to move with haste to try and catch the bastard before they cover their tracks."

"Inu-taichou," Karasu addressed Kakashi, "are we catching the person who's behind this or just tracing the source of the poison. I haven't had sight of the mission objectives." He asked, almost apologetically.

"It was eyes only on the summons." Kakashi reassured his teammate he hadn't missed any intel. "We're focussing on tracing the source to locate them as the Raikage isn't being very forthcoming about a possible motive."

They strategized on the best place to start taking into account Sakura's expertise and the intel gathered. Kakashi allowed his team a few hours to rest up but wanted to head out at 3am.

Sakura was the first to stand from their gathering. "I need to shower," she informed them, heading into the bathroom.

After she was clean, she redressed in her uniform and sought out Kakashi. "I'm guessing you're still a stickler for always having a man on watch?" He turned to look at her. "I've already slept if you all want to get some shut eye first."

He hesitated, "ok. Wake me after and I'll take second watch." Sakura and Kakashi agreed to take the couch so they could swap over on watch duty easily. The other two retired into the rooms.

"Sakura," he called over once he was comfortable.

"Yes?" she called back.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around much to see you succeed."

She smiled over to him, not showing how she really felt. "Don't worry about it, sensei. ANBU clearly keeps you busy."

"Yeah, well, still. I always was a shitty teacher, eh?"

She laughed and smiled back at the man sat on the sofa over from her. She didn't want to make him feel worse by agreeing but she didn't want to lie to him.

"When did you make Jonin?" He asked her. Something was urging him to keep their conversation alive.

Sakura looked over at the clock hanging on the plain wall of the hotel room. "About 22 hours ago. So I don't blame you for missing that one."

A look of relief flashes over his face. "Thank Kami. Well I'm honoured to be on your first mission as a Jonin, Dr Haruno."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei. Sorry, Inu-taichou." She quickly corrected herself, embarrassed about making such a basic slip up. Kakashi didn't seem to care. He didn't have much of an identity to protect anymore, he was famous across the nations. "You know you weren't that shitty. True, I learned most of my techniques from Tsunade-shishou, but your lessons are still at the front of everything I do. Give yourself some credit."

He wasn't a ninja that ever needed validation from anyone but hearing her say that meant everything. "Thank you Sakura." He said earnestly.

"You should get some sleep." She stood and moved away from him, ending their brief conversation. Sakura wasn't sure how to feel about what had just happened. She had always seen Kakashi as her mentor and had never once considered them anywhere near being equals but that last exchange made her feel closer to him than she ever had before.

He traded with her after getting about 90 minutes sleep. She was still recovering from the chakra exhaustion so was grateful to him by the time her watch ended.