Two weeks passed since the confrontation with the chunin in the Jounin HQ; two incredibly busy, stimulating yet exhausting weeks. Between T&I, shifts at the hospital and working with Genma, Sakura had her hands full almost non-stop. She was also frustrated, because she kept running into the same problem over and over and over again at the hospital - she couldn't figure out how to sync up her chakra wavelength to that of her patient, so she kept ending up with fish with boiled internal organs or birds with fried nervous systems. Overall, she was tired, frustrated, and overworked, and the moment she got home, she would curl up on the sofa and either chat with Genma or, if he was on a mission, fall straight asleep.

So it was with no small amount of surprise when, one day, she greeted Anko at her doorstep when the woman popped by her house in evening, a maniac grin on her face.

"Back your bags, pinky, the old man gave us a mission!" she announced, almost bouncing on the spot. Over time, the rosette had realized that Anko had absolutely no respect for authority when not looking them in the eye, and had rather creative insults and nicknames for each of them. This particular one was code for Morino Ibiki, and Sakura, knowing the sort of mission the man was renowned for assigning, wondered why exactly her senpai was so excited. Then, she clued in to the fact that just as she had not been out of the Village since starting her studies under Tsunade, Anko had also been Village-bound since the rosette had been assigned as her student. Suddenly, her excitement was no longer all that surprising.

Still, something bugged her and she frowned. "I'm not allowed to leave the Village for another two months." She reminded her senpai, getting a careless shrug in response.

"'Cause it's a part of your apprenticeship, the Godaime gave it the green light." She divulged, then poked Sakura's cheek. "Now c'mon, be more enthusiastic! Your amazing senpai got you a ticket out of the Village!"

Rubbing her cheek in annoyance – Anko had used chakra in the poke and it stung – Sakura offered the woman a glare. "Why, thank you, oh amazing one." She snarked, getting a smack to the back of her head in response which she was too slow to dodge. "When are we leaving?" she asked instead, trying to dial back her attitude (she was tired, damn it, and this whole ordeal was taking precious seconds out of the small period of time a day she had to just relax.)

"Tomorrow morning! I expect you at the Gates by 6 o'clock sharp! Pack for at least a week!" and then Anko was off, and Sakura was left staring at the place the jounin had stood in wonder, before she snorted and shut the door.

Not thinking much beyond setting an alarm for five o'clock the next day, she bid Genma goodnight and collapsed in bed. She was out in a matter of seconds.

Once the shrill call of her alarm forced her to get out of bed, she packed her bags, made sure her scrolls and medical kit were in place, grabbed a breakfast bar and was almost out the door before she stopped to scribble Genma a quick note – 'Mission with Anko, don't know when I'll be back. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone.' She topped it off with a cute doodle and then she was off.

When she arrived at the Gates, a whole fifteen minutes before she was supposed to, she found Anko already there, along with a tall, unfamiliar blond who waited behind her.

"Morning, senpai." She greeted hesitantly, then asked something that had been bothering her ever since she woke up. "What actually is our mission, by the way?" she noted the mysterious blond stiffened in surprise at her words, but Sakura had long gotten used to following the 'obey and ask questions later' work ethic wherever Anko was concerned. The woman in question merely grinned.

"One of the subjects we interrogated revealed that there was an Iwagakure base near the border between Iwa and Kusa. He also said that it's the one that their resistance movement used, so Ibiki reasoned that we can find info about Iwagakure's future movement in regards to Konoha there." She explained, and Sakura nodded, accepting the reasoning. It made sense, although she did wander what strings Anko must've pulled to get her to tag along on this mission.

But the jounin was still talking; "Tamaki over here," she gestured over to the slim blond beside her, who flashed Sakura a cheery wave and a small grin, and the rosette couldn't help her responding grin back, nor the slight blush that rose to her cheeks, "is our 'reinforcement' as apparently, Ibiki doesn't think I'm capable of looking after your frail ass."

Ah, there it is. Sakura thought smugly. So this mission was more of a test for Anko than any favor from the Head of T&I. Really, she should've expected that.

The pinkette nodded again, then turned to face their third member. He was tall, and slim, and although his features leaned more onto the feminine side, there was a certain sharpness to his face and gaze that pieced together into something that made warmth bloom in Sakura's stomach. When she decided that staring any longer would've been impolite, she smiled kindly and bowed. "I'm Haruno Sakura, Tamaki-san. I'll be in your care." When she straightened, she noted that the grin on his face had shrunk into something smaller but far more genuine than before, and Sakura tried her hardest to ignore the little voice in her head that whispered 'he's pretty' – instead, she focused on his words.

"I look forward to it." He murmured, then reached out and lightly grazed her elbow with his fingers. "Pleased to meet you too, Sakura-san." And judging by Anko's amused chortle, her blush wasn't quite as subtle as she wished it to be.

But they set off regardless, travelling in relative silence, broken every once in a while with short breaks where Anko consulted the map. It was also during these breaks that Sakura learnt that their blond companion was an accomplished jounin, that his genin team had all been KIA and that he dreamed of being a poison master, of all things. She also noted the strange habit that Tamaki seemed to have, where every time they paused or stopped for a break, he ran his finger down the bark of a random tree in a short, about five-inch long line. When Sakura got over her nerves to actually ask him about it, he merely shot her that disarming grin of his and explained;

"When I draw my finger down, I also inject some of my chakra into the bark." He told her in a tone that implied he was imparting some big secret. Sakura unconsciously leaned in closer to listen. "I'm part of the Sensor Division, which is also why Morino-san enlisted me for this mission; my abilities will help with locating the exact whereabouts of the base. In regards to the habit, well... we have this... tradition of sorts, in the Division, that with every mission, we mark our trail, almost like breadcrumbs, on trees, so if something were to go awry, retrieval would be that much easier." Sakura stared up at him, surprised but also slightly awed, before the meaning of his words fully registered and she frowned.

"You think something is going to go awry?" she questioned, and nearly jumped when he let out a startled laugh.

"Not necessarily, although it is Iwagakure we're going to be dealing with, so I think it's better to be safe than sorry." He admitted, and Sakura nodded along, then, not quite willing to let the conversation drop just yet, she frantically searched for another thing to say.

"Have you had many dealings with Iwagakure shinobi then?" and she nearly groaned out loud at the question, but Tamaki merely looked amused.

"I actually did my Chunin Exams in Iwa, but that was over four years ago and I was still a genin then, so I guess I was a lot more impressionable. If asked what I learnt though, I would probably just say 'never trust an Iwa-nin'. Does that answer your question?" he asked, and though his tone never changed, Sakura got the distinct impression that he was teasing her.

She was about to nod and thank him, then stopped, ran through a bit of mental maths and narrowed her eyes. "You were a genin four years ago? But... wait..." she felt her eyes widen and noted the way Tamaki's eyes twinkled with mirth at her obvious befuddlement. "Just how old are you?" she blurted out before she could stop herself, then slapped a hand over her mouth in mortification.

But Tamaki merely chuckled and took it in stride. "Nearly seventeen." He responded easily, and Sakura's jaw dropped.

He looks way older! She cried inwardly, just as a part of her mind she hadn't addressed since she'd stopped thinking of Sasuke in a romantic way cheered; shannaro! I still have a chance!!

Embarrassed by her own thought process, Sakura scrambled for an appropriate reply, then had to settle for a stammered, "I-I thought you were older. Like, a l-lot older." To her utter surprise, the blond snorted, the first graceless, unguarded act she'd seen him make.

"Well, since we're being honest, I've got to admit, that with the way you look and your record, I initially thought you were my age." Then, to Sakura's utter shock, he picked up a lock of her hair and idly twirled it around his finger. "Then I realized that there's no way I would've missed someone like you in the Academy."

Sakura froze.

And then, she felt her face burn.

She was absolutely certain that her cheeks now matched the colour of her old quipao dress, and she was completely incapable of stopping her reaction. If she didn't know otherwise, she'd have said Tamaki was- that he was-

"Oi, kids, if you're done flirting, we should get back on the road!" Anko snapped at them from the other side of the clearing, and Sakura would forever deny the squeak that left her mouth as she scurried over to her senpai, staying as far away from Tamaki as she was able without attracting any more attention to just how flustered she was. Judging by Anko's sly, knowing smirk, she was going to get teased to hell and back once they were back in Konoha.

By the evening of their first day on the road, she had gotten over her embarrassment enough to dare striking up conversation again, and she was relieved to note that Tamaki didn't seem to think any less of her for her reaction. Though Sakura made sure they didn't get close enough to each other physically for him to be able to repeat that move again, she felt as though they had definitely gotten to know each other a lot more. When they located the base, Tamaki pronounced that there were only five ninja in there, and they all seemed to be on rotating guard shifts by the entrance. Anko's declaration that they were in for a few days at least of stakeout to work out the best timing to infiltrate was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because Sakura had grudgingly accepted that she might be developing a fledgling crush on her blond teammate, and a curse because, well. She was crushing on her older, male teammate.

But in the end she knew that acting on those feelings so early on would've not only been unprofessional, as they were still on the job, but also very, very daring of her. Luckily, she didn't have long to despair – towards the end of their second day of stakeout, and the fourth day of the mission overall, Anko announced that they were going in.

Chakra cloaked and concentrating on the camouflage genjutsu she'd thrown over the three of them, Sakura waited for the moment they were close enough and weaved the strongest genjutsu in her arsenal on the guard. She was thankful that Tamaki had the foresight to quickly catch the nin before he could hit the floor and alert those inside, then winced when he swiftly slit his throat. Anko eyed them bemusedly, but merely nodded and flashed through the seals she'd observed the guards making when they had to access the hideout; before Sakura's eyes, what had previously been a rocky cliff transformed into a neat, square entryway, which Anko didn't hesitate to step through, followed by Sakura and Tamaki.

But then, the gate slammed shut behind them, and in the utter darkness that enveloped them, Sakura could just about hear Tamaki's startled intake of breath, followed by a panicked spike of chakra and a curse. "Fuck!" he swore, reaching out frantically, fingers closing around Sakura's shoulder in a bruising grip as he tried to explain, "It's a trap, there's more of them, there must've been some suppressant jutsu on the walls there's at least a dozen-!" and then, a brilliantly-timed flash of light from a Raiton jutsu illuminated the cave enough for Sakura to see a split-second of over ten grinning, savage-looking faces that surrounded them in a semi-circle, before she was being forcefully yanked aside from the path of a crude, albeit airborne version of Kakashi's Chidori.

The rest was hell.

The Iwa-nin's attack had been powerful enough to breach the barrier of solid rock and let in a shaft of light, enough for Sakura to realise that Anko and Tamaki were both fighting five shinobi each and that there were three heading straight for her, blades and teeth glinting ominously in the scarce light. A break in the commotion allowed Sakura to glimpse Anko pulling away from her attackers and hear her frantic yell; "They're after the mission scroll!"

And then, it clicked in Sakura's mind. The Iwa-nin who'd given them the coordinates for this hideout must've intentionally led them into a trap, but for the interrogators to take his word as the truth, he'd have first had to feed them some legitimate info on Iwagakure's movements and plans. This elaborately set up trap that they'd stumbled into must've been a failsafe of ensuring that there would be no proof of anything they'd managed to extract, since most of the information was contained within the mission scroll that Anko had on her person.

It was more instinct that sight that allowed Sakura to catch something hurtling towards her face; the shaft of light caught the steely but determined expression on her senpai's face as she snapped, "Take it and run!" just as snakes erupted from her sleeves and dug their teeth into various body parts of their enemies. Sakura only took a moment to compose herself and hear Anko's last, frantic "Run!" before she turned on her heel and fled deeper into what she now realized was a maze of corridors and underground passages.

She could hear the sound of pursuit even after she managed to move away from the main battle, and a hasty glance back let her glimpse the silhouettes of six shinobi who'd managed to escape Anko's snakes and were currently on her tail. Still running, she sacrificed the slightest bit of speed to flash through the handsigns for the Hell Viewing technique. She heard more than saw one slow down, but the rest persisted, and one even laughed derisively. "You can't use something so impersonal and hope it'll affect us!" he jeered, and Sakura felt the cold claws of panic squeeze around her heart.

Then, she almost stumbled when one nin appeared in front of her, rising out of the ground before her and swinging his sword in what would've undoubtedly been a decapitating blow had she not ducked. In that moment, Sakura was brutally reminded that Iwagakure shinobi were ninja who were used to this setting, and tunnels and thoughtless Doton manipulation was in their blood. Not seeing a way of going past the man other than fighting, she unsheathed her daito and darted towards him, but only managed a glancing wound down his arm before another nin snuck up to her and knocked her blade out of her hands.

Cursing when she realized there wasn't enough room to unroll the storage scroll which held all her weapons, Sakura was left with the unpleasant realization that she'd have to rely on her hand-to-hand combat. She managed to twirl out of the way of a side-kick from the second nin, but the sharp, almost debilitating pain of a barrage of shuriken embedding themselves in her back made her freeze and bend over in pain, before she bit her lip and barreled onwards because, more than even her need to be able to see her attackers, she needed space.

In a move which she wouldn't have ever performed otherwise, she pumped chakra into her legs and took advantage of the high ceilings of the tunnels by jumping over her attackers, and using the time when she was airborne to flash through the seals for the Temple of Nirvana. She felt viciously victorious when she heard two telltale thumps and realized that one of the ninja the closest to her was caught. Sakura didn't hesitate: panic giving her movements an almost animalistic edge, she darted over to the fallen nin and stamped on his trachea, feeling the cartilage give and collapse beneath her foot.

Five to go, she thought grimly.

And then, two were onto her, anger giving them an edge they hadn't shown before, and the rosette screamed when one of them swung an urumi, and, unable to dodge, Sakura felt it dig into her side so viciously her vision blacked out for a second.

Barreling on despite the pain, she threw two smokebombs on the ground and jumped to cling to the ceiling, muffling her cry of pain when the landing jarred her torn side. She squinted and saw one of the silhouettes separate from the group in an attempt to escape the smoke, and she didn't think, didn't try to calculate, just jumped down to land in front of him, and, taking advantage of his momentary confusion as he tried to identify her, darted into his personal space and chopped at the delicate skin underneath his Adam's apple with the side of her hand. He gasped, hands flying to his throat, and Sakura used that moment of vulnerability to dig out a kunai and slash, first over his eyes, then a vicious, jagged tear from his bellybutton to where the cartilage of his lower sternal region stopped her knife's path. She let the kunai go and watched the nin topple to the ground, knowing that if not shock, then the bloodloss would surely kill him.

Four left.

Then, she felt a familiar chakra signature draw close and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt two of her pursuers turn to deal with Tamaki, who'd appeared on the other end of the corridor from her.

Suddenly though, the terrain was shifting, the smoke from her smokebomb dispersing as air flow was allowed into the cave, and with it a single ray of light. Enough light, at least, to illuminate her position and give the enemy ninja an opening. Gritting her teeth, Sakura pulled out two kunai and turned on her heel towards the other two, blocking and ducking under the punches and weapons of the ninja around her. But a treacherous part of her mind whispered what she had already realized; she was slowing down.

Inwardly, Sakura cursed. She'd never had to fight in such a confined space, with so many people at once.

Against Ino, she'd hardly broken a sweat, ending the fight before the other could even properly react.

With Temari, despite the other kunoichi's clearly superior overall skill, there were still moments where she was allowed a breather, and it hadn't all been intensive combat. Not to mention that the arena was far wider than the two metre wide by three metre tall corridor she was currently stuck in.

In her spars against Izumo and Kotetsu, she always had the space to maneuver, to run or to retreat.

But here? Nothing of the like.

And just like that, Sakura was struck by the realisation that she'd severely miscalculated. She'd tried to do too many things at once, never having a strong foundation to fall back on to begin with. She was