"Riku-sama will mainly be remaining within the palace grounds for the duration of his stay, due to the recent attempt on his life," Ginmaru explain to the group the day after they arrived. "He has made the request that only two of you at a time guard him, if that is acceptable?"

"So long as we remain within the palace grounds, I see no issue," Sakura nods. The Kusa nin guarding the place were powerful, according to Hinata, Masato and Shino, around Jonin level supposedly. Sakura was relieved to hear as such, since if Kakuzu came after them afterwards she doubted Team Three alone could handle him. Hell, they only managed to defeat Hidan because the man underestimated them for their entire fight before being caught by surprise.

"Good, then I'll escort whoever wishes to guard him first to his quarters now. I will also remain nearby for his protection," Ginmaru nods as Sakura steps forwards. "Hinata, Shino or Masato should come with me, having a chakra sensor on guard at all times is crucial."

A moment passes before Masato takes a step forward and follows behind Ginmaru. Sakura briefly turns around and makes eye contact with her teammates.

"Remember, Grass country are only tentative allies, do not reveal anything more than is necessary," Sakura warns, and the four genin being left behind nod.

______________

Guarding a Daimyo is relatively boring, Sakura finds out quite quickly. His day revolves almost entirely around meeting with important officials and members of Grass' Daimyo's family.

It was after a chat with one of the Grass Daimyo's daughters that a knock came on the door. Opening it, a job reserved for bodyguards in case of attack, Sakura found one of Riku's servants.

"A message has arrived from Konoha," the man declares, and Sakura nods and takes the scroll. It is addressed specifically to her.

"It is for me, Riku-sama," Sakura informs the man, "If possible, could I take my leave, and have one of my team members take my place?"

The Daimyo agrees easily enough, and the servant is sent off to retrieve Nanako. A moment later the kunoichi arrives and Sakura leaves with a nod of greeting and a wave of the scroll.

______________

Sakura read the scroll twice, eyes wide and mind racing as she did. She couldn't believe what it was.

She had expected to get this message near the end of their mission, if at all. Definitely not a month and a bit after having left Konoha.

But there it was, a scroll of promotion. Not just noting her own, but also that of each of her teammates, not one of them left behind.

It seems Riku's message to the Hokage had arrived, as well as Sakura's own and that of Shikaku's secret reporter. Sakura suspected it was Ginmaru, tasked with reporting their progress by Riku as his best warrior. She imagined the man had reported the names of their opponents after being told by Team Three and sent a report off to Konoha alongside Riku's message.

Sakura wasn't about to complain, aged thirteen and already a Jonin, but she definitely didn't feel ready.

She remembered back to her first lunch, more dinner than lunch though it was, with Shikamaru. About their shared feelings of inadequacy over their promotion, and how they helped one another through it.

She still didn't feel good enough sometimes, especially since the disastrous mission to retrieve Sasuke, but whenever those feelings slipped to the forefront of her mind, she just remembered Shikamaru.

The prince of Konoha he was called by the civilians, but to Sakura he was more like a normal person. He had fears, regrets, flaws, hobbies, and that's what made him Shikamaru.

Neither of them were perfect, but both of them were forced to pretend. Shikamaru by the villagers perception of him and Sakura by her own.

So, she forced herself to stand and held her head high. Jonin were the elite of the elite after all, and so long as she had the rank she would act the part.

______________

"Holy shit," Kiba gaped as he read through the scroll, "congratulations, taichou!"

Hinata echoed the sentiment alongside Shino then, and Sakura smiled at them.

"Congratulations to you three as well," Sakura replied, handing them the chunin vests she had unsealed from a storage seal on the scroll.

Sakura watched as they all filtered away to change, all proud of their achievement and wanting to show it off a little. Sakura couldn't wipe the grin off her face as she made her way back to the Daimyo.

______________

"Well congratulations," Riku was the first to speak after Sakura informed him, Nanako and Masato of the situation, "you are surely deserving considering the recent attempt on my life."

Sakura bowed, "thank you, my lord."

The man waved her away a moment later, and she did as commanded, making her way out of the room and back towards their accommodation.

______________

The remainder of their three month stay in Grass country was as boring as Sakura knew it would be. Training was sadly slow due to having to guard the Daimyo the entire time, and what little they could do amounted to simple spars.

It was as they were about to leave that Riku called her towards his litter. It was retrieved by Hinata's owls some time during their stay and then repaired of the minor wear and tear after having sat hidden near a road for weeks.

"Sakura," Riku said, surprising her. He rarely used their names directly. "I heard both you and one of your companion's weapons were destroyed during your confrontation with my attempted assassins?"

Sakura nodded in response, "yes, sadly we haven't had the time to purchase replacements yet either."

The man chuckled then, "well don't worry about that," he said, waving over a servant from a few feet away.

The servant then presented three sheathed swords. Two of them were Chokuto, although they looked thinner than Sakura's, whilst the third was a Katana.

"I was recommended a smith by the Daimyo of Grass during our stay, and I had these pieces commissioned as rewards for your stellar performance," he explained. "Supposedly they are made of some form of metal ideal for shinobi use, and take to chakra exceptionally well."

"You should ask Ginmaru for details if you're interested," Riku shrugged after a moment.

Sakura took that as her que to take the weapons, and she immediately was drawn to the ornate designs covering the hilt of her Chokuto, as well as the sheath of all three.

One Chokuto had a blue dragon engraved into the sheath and hilt, its tail at the tip whilst its head emerging at the very hilt.

The second had a brown dragon, with the same design. Sakura realised they were in relation to her chakra nature's, and wondered if they meant anything more about the chakra flow into the weapons.

Shino's design was more straight forward, with dulled silver engravings in various patterns across the sheath whilst the hilt was wrapped in the same way Sakura had seen his previous weapon, although the material looked much more quality.

She made her way towards Shino after attaching the pair of swords to her waist. The Aburame noticed her approaching and turned to greet her.

"Riku-sama asked that I give you this," she said, handing the boy his Katana. Shino took it with a shocked expression.

"I didn't think he would be the type to give his employees gifts," Shino muttered, but attached it to his hip regardless.

"I imagine the fact we were given to him as a gift has something to do with his kind treatment," Sakura shrugged, "he also seems to be somewhat honourable, in a sort of samurai way."

______________

The travel back from Grass was much less eventful than on the way there.

Shino remained with the group this time, instead one Hinata's summons was sent to scout ahead. Nothing extraordinary came up, though, and they made it back slower than they had arrived.

Sakura wanted to suggest Hinata's owls take them, but she imagined the owls, Hinata and Riku would take offence.

"You can all go and get settled back into your barracks," Ginmaru said as they made it back within the gates of the Daimyo's residence.

Sakura smiled and nodded before leading her team back to the familiar bedroom.

______________

Shikaku sighed as he finished reading the newest report to land on his desk. He had already made the decision to promote all of Team Three, and sent the message already, but reading this made it clear that the decision was the correct one.

It had come into his office on the back of a scorpion summon and when he read the account of Haruno Sakura and her team's fight against a member of the Akatsuki, he knew that despite not being particularly experienced, she was ready.

She was prodigious, if anything. Having only read about the Hiding in Mist technique and seen it used a few times in her life, she managed to make use of it flawlessly during prolonged combat with an S rank Missing Nin. Not to mention her ability to lead the combat and how well their team reportedly worked together.

When he told Shikamaru about her promotion later that day, the boy seemed immensely proud, and somewhat more motivated to get back to training.

______________

"What are you doing?" Kiba asked as he entered the barracks. Sakura was sat on her bed, a number of scrolls taken from Kakashi's gift strewn about as she worked.

"I need to get stronger," she sighed honestly. "Think to every Jonin you know and tell me that you can think of any of them that doesn't have a signature technique."

Kiba pauses for a moment before shrugging, "I guess, but you're plenty strong already," he said, "I mean, you're the best water release user I've met, and your Genjutsu is pretty good too."

Hearing that from a student of Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress meant a lot to Sakura, but she didn't mention it

"Yeah, but my strongest water release jutsu is the Water Dragon Bullet, and every Kiri nin worth their rank can use that," Sakura complained, "plus my strongest Genjutsu is the Bringer of Darkness."

"That's an A rank Genjutsu, though," Kiba mutters, "Kurenai-sensei said that she didn't learn it until she was already a Jonin."

"Yeah, but I'm not a Genjutsu master. She can use it and still take part in a Jonin level battle. I use it and my chakra is being drained so fast I have to focus almost entirely on it or I'll die," she groaned, "it's why Sasuke got away."

Kiba stayed quiet at that, but moved a little closer, glancing at the scrolls laid out.

"So are you planning on making your own jutsu?" Kiba wondered, "I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be really hard."

Sakura nodded then, already knowing how difficult it could be.

"Yeah, I figured that if I couldn't find anything in here that I felt was good enough, I'll just make my own." She shrugged.

Kiba nodded at that. If anyone could make their own jutsu without real instruction, it would be Sakura after all.

"What if you tried adding nature transformation to a technique that doesn't usually have one?" Kiba suggested a moment later. "Like add water to your Samurai Sabre Technique?"

Sakura hummed at the idea but shrugged a moment later.

"I don't know, it doesn't sound strong enough." She sighed.

Minutes pass in silence then, both of them rummaging through the various scrolls before Kiba stands and begins to stretch.

"Well, let me know if there's anything I can do to help," Kiba eventually said, having come up with no new ideas. "I'm going to go patrol to perimeter."

______________

It isn't until a month later Sakura comes up with her idea, one that begins with a chat with Nanako.

A Nanako who was in the process of raising a full power Earth wall, a single hand formed into the final seal.

"Holy shit, Nanako!" Sakura cheered, causing the surprised girl to spin around and face her, "you did it!"

Nanako gave a small smile at that and nodded, allowing the wall to crumble.

"Yeah, I figured it out this morning, and I've been practicing the jutsu I know to make sure they all work," she explains.

"Nice, well I'm proud you managed it," Sakura said, patting her teammate in the back. "I actually came to ask for your help."

"Oh, with what?" Nanako questioned and Sakura smirked, begining to explain her idea.

"We'll, do you know the Water Prison technique?" Nanako asked, to which Sakura nodded.

"I can use it with one hand seal, I've been practicing really hard," Sakura told her excitedly. Nanako's face betrayed her own intrigue at the proposed new technique, too.

"Then let's get to work," Nanako replied.