~A/N: Hello! I'm back from my trip! I had a wonderful time and enjoyed hanging out in Philadelphia, going to some baseball games, and relaxing on the shore :) But now I'm back, and with a new chapter for you all. I hope the wait wasn't too bad. I tried to update yesterday, but my internet was out :(

Hmmm...I feel like I had something else to tell you all, but I can't think of what it is. Other than that updates may only come a couple times a week for the next week or so. I've got about a week before I move back into the dorms, and I'm going to be busy with packing, the 2-day drive to school, and unpacking, but if I'm going to be gone from this story for more than a week, I will be sure to let you know!

Anyway, happy reading :D

Nineteen: Out of Options

Kakashi awoke the next morning to the sound of something rustling near their camp. Instantly he was awake and alert, rolling so Sakura was underneath him and his body was acting as a shield between her and their opponent.

Then a bird flew out of the bushes, and Kakashi let himself relax. He removed his arms from where they had been resting protectively around Sakura and sat back. The pink-haired kunoichi wearily rubbed the sleep from her eyes, looking at his questioningly.

"What was that all about?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

"There was a bird. I was worried it was going to attack us."

"Right," Sakura laughed. "I know you were just trying to put the moves on me, Hatake."

Kakashi shrugged. "What can I say? We did almost sleep in the same sleeping bag last night."

Sakura's face reddened at his words, and she started to scoot farther away from him, but she was still entangled in the sleeping bag, so her plan didn't work.

"Sorry about that," she mumbled.

Kakashi grinned, reaching out to ruffle her bedhead. "Don't worry about it. That was the coldest night I've experienced in a long time, so I was thankful for the extra heat myself."

"I hope it was a fluke," Sakura grumbled. "I don't know if I can take weeks of that. If I'd known it was going to be this cold, I would've packed a warmer shirt."

"It already feels warmer this morning than it did yesterday, so I think we should be okay."

"I hope you're right."

The next few days and nights were cold, but not nearly as uncomfortable as they had been. Luckily, Sakura hadn't had another embarrassing moment like the night before. She was just glad it was Kakashi she'd been on the mission with. Naruto or Sasuke would never have let her live it down. They would have teased her relentlessly about not being able to handle the cold.

Sakura turned back to the task at hand. Pakkun had picked up a group's scent a few days ago, and she and Kakashi were currently tracking it. According to Pakkun, the group hadn't moved, but he couldn't find them either, which likely meant they were using genjutsu to hide themselves. It was a promising lead, but Kakashi had warned her not to get her hopes up. It could be nothing more than a group of merchants with hired ninja. The Land of Silver wasn't exactly stable these days.

Sakura had a good feeling, though. Pakkun said the group had been stationary for days, and travelling merchants wouldn't camp out for that long under normal circumstances.

She was ready for some action. They had trained together a few times on the mission so far, but Sakura wanted a chance to really show Kakashi her new skills.

She grinned, flexing her fingers in anticipation. Now she finally understood how Naruto felt when he was ready for a big fight. Excited.

They made it to the site Pakkun had told them about in just under three hours. They hadn't pushed the pace too much, so neither of them was breathing that hard, but the pair still stopped to take a quick break and grab some water before they continued on into potentially hostile territory.

"So what's the plan?" Sakura asked, taking another sip of cool water from the stream.

"We'll go check it out together first, that way we can be sure that we're not going to accidentally assault some helpless merchants."

"They're hardly helpless if they're hiding under a genjutsu. There would have to be at least one decent ninja with them."

"Well, then we don't want to pick a fight by accident. Besides, you'd probably just punch him into the ground or something, and then we'd have that mess to deal with."

"Are you trying to say I have no self control, Kakashi?" she asked, rounding on him with a glint in her eye.

"No, I was simply saying that you're so strong that there's no way the other ninja would be able to defeat you."

Someone snorted, and the two ANBU turned around, forgetting that Pakkun was lounging on a rock in the sun behind them. "Nice try, boss."

Sakura grinned. "See, even Pakkun doesn't buy your lame excuses."

The silver-haired man just shrugged. "I try."

"Come on, let's go get this over with," Sakura said. "I'm itching to beat up some merchants."

Sweat started to drip into her eyes, and Sakura became fairly sure that they weren't dealing with a group of merchants. She'd been trying to break the genjutsu for the past half hour, with little luck. It had weakened a bit—Kakashi thought he had seen a ripple with his Sharingan—but the illusion had yet to budge. It still looked like they were looking into another section of forest, and if Pakkun hadn't reassured them both numerous times that this was where the scent was coming from, Sakura would have thought that they were just wasting their time.

Then she'd felt it. It was small, but she could feel almost like she got a grip on something, but something intangible. In a way, it felt similar to the technique that Ino's family used, and Sakura wondered if the enemy could have a mind jutsu user among them.

She worried that they would be detected as she worked to dispel the jutsu, but Kakashi had assured her that she wasn't going to get caught.

"You're better at this stuff than me now," he said with a shrug. "They won't notice you doing it because you've got such precise control over your chakra."

Her brow furrowed in concentration as she worked on loosening another of the knots in the genjutsu. Or at least that was the best explanation she could come up with for what they were when Kakashi had asked.

The whole jutsu was intangible, but in her mind she pictured it like a bunch of tiny knots that she had to unravel. It was a painstakingly slow process, but Sakura just shut her eyes and willed herself to concentrate harder.

There!

Her eyes snapped open as she inhaled, performing the command that would release the genjutsu.

Kakashi watched as a slight ripple started through the air, revealing a small campsite hidden within. He was impressed. That genjutsu had been done by a very high-level shinobi, and the precision needed to break it was almost inconceivable. Sakura had really grown.

"Well done," he said, standing up and moving beside her.

"Thanks," she said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

The pink-haired girl moved over to where they'd stashed their packs, armor, and masks. The gear could too easily be recognized as Konoha ANBU—Sakura made a mental not to suggest to the Hokage that ANBU not wear standard, identifiable uniforms if they wanted to keep a semblance of being unconnected to the village—so they had left it behind for this particular bit of the mission. The all-black coloring of their current attire would be better suited for sneaking around anyway.

"We should each take one direction and meet up halfway," Kakashi said when she crouched behind him near the entrance to the camp.

They were lucky there was lots of foliage around to give them good hiding spots, and it didn't seem like there were that many guards out patrolling. The genjutsu barrier had given them a false sense of security, it seemed.

"Be careful, though," he said. "Just because we can't see the guards doesn't mean there aren't any here."

"Right." Sakura nodded. She knew it was a common tactic for a regiment to sometimes keep its guards hidden, to trick the enemy into being careless. "I'll go left, you go right?"

Kakashi nodded, and disappeared in a flash, leaving Sakura alone. She took a deep breath, telling herself to think of it as her first solo mission. She was ready for this.

Sakura realized quickly that she'd been nervous for nothing. She hardly saw anyone around the outskirts of the camp, and those she did see appeared to be total idiots. Once, two men had rounded a corner where she had been hiding, and she thought she'd be caught for sure, but all she'd had to do was flatten herself up against the wall and they'd walked straight past her. She hadn't even been masking her chakra.

Despite the fact that the camp seemed to full of idiots, Sakura hadn't been able to find a trace of where any important information or secrets on the rebellion might be kept. Even though she and Kakashi had agreed to only scout out the perimeter before meeting up on the other side of the camp, the pink-haired medic decided one quick trip into the heart of enemy territory wouldn't hurt.

Taking extra care to make sure she wouldn't be sensed in any way, Sakura crept silently through the shadows until she found a tent that looked larger than the rest. It was also guarded more heavily than the perimeter, and she knew she'd need Kakashi's help if they were going to break in there.

Silently moving back the way she came, Sakura finished her half of the patrol as quickly as she could while still doing an effective job. She wanted to find Kakashi and tell him about the tent.

Her ears picked up on the faint sound of voices coming from one of the back alleyways, and Sakura, deciding she wanted to eavesdrop while she waited for her partner, jumped into a tree, hiding herself amongst the leaves.

"…Hear about the new recruits?" one of the men was saying to his partner.

"Yeah. It sure sucks to be them. I'm glad we joined last year so we didn't have to go through all that."

The first man shuddered. "No kidding. I don't want that crazy guy digging around in my head."

Sakura frowning. That was an interesting piece of information. It seemed they did have someone among them who could use a mind jutsu.

"Ever since that Leaf guy pretended to be a new recruit to figure out the boss's identity, it's been ridiculously hard to get in. And even those who do have to pass all sorts of tests. If this keeps up, I don't know if there will still be kids who want to join."

The men were starting to walk farther away, and Sakura tuned them out now that they were discussing the likelihood of the rebellion meeting its new soldier quota. What she'd just heard was far more interesting.

If they were hoping to infiltrate the rebellion again to get their information, it was going to be a lot more difficult than last time. Unless she managed to come up with a medical jutsu that could grow an eyeball, there was no way Kakashi would be able to go with her. She would have to do this mission on her own. He probably wouldn't like it, but tough. She was perfectly capable of handling herself, and if she pretended to just be a medic, with no apparent fighting abilities, she was sure she'd be able to stay under the radar.

The two men were almost out of sight, and Sakura was poised to jump down from her hiding place when they heard the sounds of a loud commotion coming from within the camp. Both men drew their swords, instantly on alert.

Despite the noise coming from behind them, the men stayed their ground, making sure no enemy could take advantage of a distraction and sneak in from that side. Sakura gritted her teeth. The sounds were coming from the side Kakashi had taken, but with the two men standing guard like that, there was no way she'd be able to move from her hiding place.

She cursed the fact that she'd run into probably the only competent members of the entire rebel army right when Kakashi might need back up. If the men he'd run into were anything like the ones she'd encountered, Sakura would be shocked if he'd gotten himself into trouble, but with Kakashi she could never be sure. Trouble had a habit of finding him.

Her fears were confirmed when a boy—no older than fourteen—ran up to the two guards, panting excitedly.

"They caught him!" he said. "They caught that ninja who infiltrated one of our bases last week!"

"What? You're kidding me? He was stupid enough to come back and get caught?" the second man asked, and Sakura found herself agreeing with him.

The boy nodded. "Yeah. The scouting patrol found him sneaking around the outskirts of camp when they were coming back. I heard he killed half of them before they were finally able to take him down."

Sakura bit her lip. That sounded like Kakashi all right, but what was she supposed to do? There were no other ANBU squads even remotely close to them, so she had no way of getting any backup. She would just have to hope that what the boy had said about Kakashi taking out half a squad was true, because she was going to have to handle the situation by herself.

"Come on!" the boy continued. "They're holding him in the middle of camp and calling a big meeting. I think they want to make sure there's no traitor here, pretending to be one of us."

Sakura dropped silently from her perch as soon as the three soldiers had disappeared from sight. She would have to be quick. With Kakashi's reputation, and all that he knew about their leaders, there was no guarantee the enemy would leave him alive. They might decide he wasn't worth it and just kill him before he had a chance to escape.

She couldn't take that risk. She would have to hope she could take out enough of them to free Kakashi, and then hope the two of them would be strong enough to make their retreat.

This is going to be troublesome, she thought, thinking of Shikamaru. She was sure the master tactician would have been able to come up with a strategy for the situation, but Sakura just couldn't come up with another option. Honestly, she didn't think there was one.

"Think like Shikamaru," she whispered under her breath, looking around her to see if any miscellaneous objects lying around would be useful.

Suddenly a light bulb flashed in her mind, and she inhaled sharply, fingering a tiny charm-sized scroll she had hidden away in her pocket. It was a similar to a beacon of sorts. Shikamaru had gotten them made after the chuunin exams and made all the members of the Konoha 12 carry them, back when he was the sole chuunin of the group.

According to what he'd told them then, if they were ever in trouble, they could just activate the scroll and it would alert the nearest members to their location. No one had ever used it, of course, but Sakura figured it probably made Shikamaru feel better. He'd taken the responsibility of protecting his friends pretty seriously, even back then.

Sakura had no idea if the scroll would still work. It had been more than six years since the chuunin exams, but she knew for a fact that every remaining member of the Konoha 12 still took them on missions. The tiny scrolls were almost like lucky charms to the shinobi now.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the scroll, nipping her finger and drawing a few drops of blood. Performing the hand signs to activate the scroll, Sakura hid it behind a tree and turned back to the camp. She had no clue if backup would arrive, but she didn't have anything to lose by trying.

If it worked, she had to remember to thank Shikamaru for being a paranoid thirteen-year-old when she saw him next.

"Hey! You! What are you doing out here?"

Sakura froze. Someone, a guard presumably, had just appeared around the corner. Luckily, she'd moved away from the scroll, so he had no reason to suspect her of anything—yet.

"I was out on the perimeter," she said vaguely, hoping 'scouting the perimeter' fell in line with something that was common practice around their camp. "I heard there was something going on. Some spy got caught, or something like that? They said I had to come back."

The man nodded, apparently buying her story. "Yeah. The boss is going to decide what to do with him."

Sakura simply nodded, not trusting herself to say anymore without giving herself away as an outsider. It seemed the various people stationed here didn't know each other all that well. She could use that to her advantage.

"Sato! There you are, let's go. We don't want to be late. Who are you?" Another man appeared around the corner, looking Sakura over and fixing her with a suspicious stare.

"She was out on the perimeter. Just heard the news," Sato said.

His friend's eyes narrowed, and Sakura got the feeling he wasn't going to buy her cover story.

"Kimiko's group was out today. I don't remember anyone in her battalion having pink hair. "

Sakura cursed the fact that she couldn't have been born a brunette, or at least a redhead. How many shinobi honestly had pink hair? It wasn't exactly a subtle color. She smirked, realizing that between herself and Kakashi, they made quite the recognizable pair.

Both men reached for their weapons, but before they had a change to move, Sakura had them each in a headlock. Sato was clearly struggling, clawing at her arm to try to breathe, but the second man was obviously a more seasoned fighter. He squirmed free of her grasp, taking advantage of the fact that the pink-haired girl had only one arm to subdue him with.

Unfortunately for the man, one hand was all Sakura needed to crush Sato's windpipe. With him out of the picture, she was now free to deal with the other.

His eyes widened as Sakura charged him. She could see that he was preparing to call out for help, recognizing that she was the superior fighter. He opened his mouth to yell for backup, but a well-placed shuriken to the throat silenced him for good.

As a medic, Sakura new he would bleed out if she just left him there. She had no qualms about killing her enemies anymore—even less when someone she cared about was in danger—but despite that she still wasn't careless, or cruel.

She walked over to the man and snapped his neck. The chances were almost zero, but she couldn't risk someone coming across him and finding out about her before she got to Kakashi. And just because he was her enemy didn't mean he needed to suffer.

The pink-haired girl unlodged the shuriken from his neck, wiping away the blood and putting it back in her pocket. She didn't know how many men she was going to have to face, so she was going to take all the ninja tools she had.

"Hold on Kakashi," she whispered, sprinting off in the shadows. "I'm coming."

Four ANBU agents were lounging around their campfire, enjoying their first semi-normal meal in weeks when one suddenly shot up, a hand flying into her pocket.

"What in the world…?"

The other three frowned, unsure of what was going on, before another shifted, reaching his hand into his pocket to pull out a tiny scroll. It was glowing pink. His eyes met dark ones behind a porcelain mask.

"This is…" he started.

"From the chuunin exams," she confirmed.

"Pink?"

"It must be Sakura."

The pair looked at the scrolls in the palm of their hands, then back at each other. The girl gave a tiny nod of her head, and he turned to their two confused teammates.

"Hold on to these scrolls for us. We've got a mission to go on."

"What?" the ANBU captain started. He had no clue what the two newest members of his team were talking about. He'd never seen a scroll like that before.

"Don't worry, we'll be right back. After all, we both got left out of the rescue missions in the past, so now it's our turn to show our friends we're not to be left behind anymore!" the girl said, before disappearing with a poof, along with the second member of the squad.

The captain remained standing for a few seconds, totally and completely unsure of what had just happened. He was thankful for the mask, so his remaining subordinate wouldn't see it mouth hanging agape. Finally he shut it, rolling his eyes.

"Those brats."