As agreed upon the following morning when Naruto and Sasuke were yet again slated for Tazuna duty, Asuma informed Sakura of her unexpected tasks "He wants to teach me" Sakura asked, not sure she could really believe what she was being told.
"Not only that but for you to teach his partner how to recognize poisonous herbs and their symptoms and properly concoct antidotes and the like" Asuma nodded seriously, intending on taking it easy for the rest of the mission himself.
While Sakura sighed but accepted the negotiated terms with little complaint even though she did grumble for a moment "Great, nobody even realizes how hard that sort of thing is, I've been studying medicinal and poisonous plants, herbs and flowers since I was 5" the rosette groaned.
Relieving his concern a little that Sasori had, had her handling those plants at that age "Just studying them" the raven haired Jonin prodded, interested to hear the answer, Sakura heaved a sigh but nodded.
"Yeah, I didn't start learning how to craft antidotes until I was eight and handling poisonous plants and the like was much later after I got use to handling medicinal herbs and plants" Sakura explained, a far away look in her eyes.
Probably remembering her training under Sasori and he had to wonder if his Father had known what the double agent rogue had been doing his entire time in the Hidden Leaf Village "Anyway go on their waiting for you" Asuma nudged the girl off.
Sakura shot him a quick smile before disappearing in the direction that would lead her to Zabuza's hideout "You actually came, not afraid that I'll do you in" Zabuza commented when she appeared before him and she rolled her eyes at the threat.
"Can't fool me Zabuza, swordsmen are bound by honor and once you make a deal you never go back on your word for fear of being seen as dishonorable, plus I can tell by the tone of your voice that your not serious about that threat just now" the pinkette deadpanned.
Unafraid to say such things because she was right and he knew it "By the tone of his voice, you can really tell such things" Haku questioned, never having heard of such things, to his horror what came out of the girls mouth next made him feel sick.
Especially when she nodded "Mhm, Naruto, Sasuke and I, all part-time at the Torture and Interrogation Unit, I'm learning directly under T&I's commander to detect the slightest change in prisoners voices, to properly interrogate them and such and later on torture" Sakura shrugged.
Zabuza grimaced beneath his bandages "In any event, start teaching Haku" the Demon of the Hidden Mist Village growled, settling against a tree to watch for any funny business and tend to Kubikiribocho at the same time.
Leaving the brats to sit as well facing one another while Sakura pulled a scroll out of her medical pouch and unsealed a metal tray, followed by countless bags of herbs, both medicinal and poisonous, other plants, flowers, leaves, and roots even.
Then she arranged them all neatly on the tray and focused her gaze on Haku "Let's start with these Haku, the plants I used in my concoction that I used on Zabuza" the fuscia haired preteen began, pointing to several different bags.
Behind her Zabuza straightened, listening intently to the conversation himself as Haku tried to keep up with the lesson being imparted on him, in which manner over three hours passed by swiftly "Dare I ask how long you've been learning" the fifteen year old grimaced.
Head pounding, Sakura seemed to sense this and sealed all of her herbs away again "I've been studying them since I was five, working with them since I was eight" Sakura admitted for the second time in the span of a few hours.
Raising a glowing green hand to Haku's head, relieving the teenager of his headache "Can you teach me that to, I feel it will come in handy at some point" Haku requested, wanting to make himself more useful in any way that he could.
"Perhaps later Haku, the little brat gets to learn from me now and I'll tell you right now it won't be easy, any ninja worth their salt knows their element so we're going to see if you have an affinity for water elemental jutsu's, starting right now" Zabuza barked.
Earning an eye roll "Earth and Water, Zabuza, and I know several jutsu's for both my elements already, however I'm not opposed to learning more" the rosette informed, though there was an excited gleam etched in her emerald irises at the prospect of learning new jutsu.
Obviously Zabuza had underestimated her again for he went silent at her admission "How about your teammates do they know their elements as well" his brat apprentice inquired, not having thought their time here in the Land of Waves would be so different than imagined.
Sakura nodded "Yep, Sasuke has fire and lightning and Naruto, he's our wind elemental" Sakura said not giving away any more of their abilities than that, it was okay for her to do so because she wasn't a clan child, unlike her teammates.
"Whatever stupid brat, here's the hand signs to a unique water jutsu that only Hidden Mist Shinobi are taught, it's the water clone jutsu, have at it and I expect you to have it down within the hour understand" the rogue growled.
Clearly feeling out of his depth even if he'd been the one to demand the girl to learn under him "Okay then, I ask that you try not to be to surprised though…Suiton: Water Clone Jutsu" the pinkette sighed, flashing through the hand signs she'd just been shown.
And in a swirl of water there were five water clones stood behind her not a flaw to them "The hell, that was supposed to take you at least an hour or more, not five minutes" Zabuza snapped in an irate tone but did the little brat flinch.
Oh no she merely met his glare head on "For a normal fresh out of the academy genin sure, if I hadn't been trained by a Jonin for all my years in the academy yeah that would usually take someone an hour or more, but I honed my chakra control tirelessly" Sakura huffed.
"Basically what your saying then you have beyond standard control over your chakra that lets you learn jutsu's in half the time it takes everyone else" Haku hastily intervened before Zabuza could blow up like he so clearly wanted.
Thankfully this got another nod and Zabuza sighed "Exactly, I was learning how to make chakra ink when I was six, being in the advanced chakra control class as I was" the fuscia haired girl admitted and Haku stared at her in horror yet again.
"Six, you were six…and what else were you taught" the Hidden Mist rogue prodded harshly, more than a little curious, this girl definitely wasn't normal and he understood that now, before she could answer though.
A short distance away from them a branch snapped under someones foot, followed by the sound of said person running away, Sakura was off like a projectile weapon, easily catching up with the eavesdropper and tackling him in one smooth movement.
Where they rolled for a meter or two, her ending up on top and pinning the intruder down with all her strength only to realize who her captive was in the next moment "Hi" Sasuke wheezed out, crushed underneath her as he was.
With a roll of her eyes Sakura stood and gave him an unimpressed look "Sloppy, if Kakashi-sensei had been here to see that we'd be going through hell because of you" Sakura scolded, Sasuke simply stood and took the scolding with little complaint.
Until Sakura finally ran out of steam "Your right, that was sloppy and thank kami I never want to be chased by his summons again" the Uchiha shuddered, casting an imperceptible glance at the duo stood behind his teammate.
"Kakashi, you don't mean Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja, the man whose copied over a thousand jutsu and possesses a sharingan" Zabuza interrupted further conversation between the two genin with a question.
That had Sasuke going rigid in response "What, there's no way that goofy idiotic man could ever….Sakura you knew this and didn't tell me or the knucklehead" Sasuke took notice of his teammates expression which wasn't nearly as surprised or shocked as his own.
"Oh Sasuke you know one of my passions is studying, so of course and you never asked, plus I knew how you'd react if you did know" the bubblegum haired girl giggled heartlessly, unsympathetic of his feelings obviously.
She never had been sympathetic of his feelings to be honest "This Kakashi is your real sensei, how come he didn't come with you on this mission" Haku asked in the resounding silence, wanting to learn more if he could.
Both genin turned towards him in unrehearsed sync "He said there was another mission that needed his specific skill-set, anyway Asuma-sensei sent me to bring you back for lunch" Sasuke announced before facing Sakura again.
And revealing the real reason he'd come there "Right, see you tomorrow then or if Asuma-sensei sends me back here after lunch, I'll see you then" Sakura waved at the duo, grabbed Sasuke's wrist and drug him after her back to Tazuna's house.
"Just where on earth have you been Sakura, surely you know it's dangerous to patrol on your own what with Gato and his thugs still lurking around right" Tazuna frowned, having been worried this whole time obviously.
While still not knowing that Gato and his hired men were no longer a threat, as well as Zabuza, Sakura shot a look to Asuma who chuckled "Relax, if I thought for a minute she couldn't handle herself I wouldn't let her go, but she was fine isn't that right Sakura" Asuma prodded lightly.
Still not revealing the truth quite yet, probably a little payback for endangering them on what was supposed to be an easy mission "Yeah Tazuna I was quite safe" the pinkette declared in the most serious voice ever.
Alleviating the clients concerns a little "Goodness, in any case lunch is ready to eat, Naruto-kun helped me" Tsunami directed the conversation back to the matter at hand which was lunch, so the lot of them entered the kitchen and sat around the table to eat the afternoon meal.
Then afterwards they all split up again though Asuma did have a suggestion "Patrolling doesn't sound like to bad of an idea, your unassuming Sakura so I'm leaving that job to you" the Third Hokage's son pointed out.
Keeping up with appearances "Understood Asuma-sensei" Sakura saluted with a wide smile, made sure not a single weapon could be seen upon her person and disappeared in the opposite direction they were heading to do a wide circuit around the outside of the village.
Making sure to actually patrol properly which included checking her surroundings thoroughly for any traps or enemy ninja in hiding, after an hour or so of this Sakura concluded that there was nothing really to worry about and headed back to Tazuna's for the rest of the afternoon.
And the next day she was back spending the morning teaching Haku all about medicinal and poisonous plants and their uses or symptoms "This is more of a chore than I thought it would be" Haku grimaced, once again feeling a headache pounding through his skull.
Sakura nodded solemnly "My tutor made me painstakingly memorize them and gave me tests on them sometimes just to make sure I remembered them, he even went so far as to randomly ask me what a specific herb was for during training" the pinkette admitted.
Grimacing herself before anger seared through her at his abandonment, even if it was to go on a mission, saying they'd probably never meet again was to much, especially after what happened to her parents, Sasori had known how she would feel and had still left.
In the next moment she forced those memories and that feeling to the recesses of her mind and sealed away all of her herb supply again "Today I'll teach you the Hidden Mist Jutsu, however before I show you the hand signs…" Zabuza smirked, bunching up the bandages around his mouth as he trailed off.
Vanishing into the thick mist that suddenly appeared out of no where, Haku suspiciously disappearing from her side as well and Sakura was left there in the middle of the clearing wondering what was going on.
Until she felt it, air shifting and the quiet sound of ruffling clothes, that had her on high alert, and had her ducking on reflex, avoiding the hands that came out of thin air, seconds later the mist dissipated and Zabuza stared down at her in open surprise.
Hands still held out as he blinked at her because nobody had ever escaped from him in that jutsu before until now apparently "How the hell did you do that, not even I can avoid getting caught while he hides in that jutsu" the fifteen year old gaped.
Just as shocked as his Master was "Err I trained how to rely on my sense of touch, smell, hearing and taste, my ears are super sensitive" Sakura said simply, it's not like that could really be used against her much.
Though her admission tipped Zabuza off "That bat from the other night was it yours…whatever, anyway here's the hand signs" the rogue growled, getting a nod from the young girl, satisfied he finally showed her the hand signs to the hidden mist jutsu.
Leaving her to practice for the next several minutes until she could successfully execute the hidden mist jutsu, then it was back to the house for her and another patrol around the village at Asuma's bequest.
For the next several days after, into their second week gone from the Leaf Village, Sakura worked diligently splitting her time being teaching Haku, learning water style jutsu's from Zabuza, patrolling and even spending her time with Naruto and Sasuke when they asked it of her.
It was smooth sailing so far, but on one such morning Sakura knew it was going to be a bad day, they'd been gone approximately nine days and when she woke up, there was an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her to be wary.
"What's got you so on edge Sakura-chan" and of course Naruto was the first one to notice her fidgety actions as well as her increasing rigidity at the breakfast table immediately everyone looked at her and she grimaced.
Not sure what to really tell them beyond "Somethings going to happen today, I just know it" the rosette stated simply, to distracted to really focus on properly eating and by the time she left the table to make the trek to Zabuza's hideout, she'd eaten less than usual.
Proving that something was seriously wrong because she always had a good appetite "Do you think it would be best to stay in and not go out today" Tazuna frowned, worried that he was going to be attacked at long last.
Asuma shared a look with the two remaining genin "Sasuke, you go with Sakura, Naruto with me, keep your guards raised understood" Asuma said, making a decision to take Sakura's warning at face value instead of brushing it off.
"Got it Asuma" Sasuke nodded, cleaning up as Sakura had before disappearing from the house after Sakura who he caught up with five minutes later, seeing as she'd felt his chakra heading towards her so had decided to wait.
Before the two of them continued on their way "I didn't think you'd be bringing a tag along today brat" Zabuza growled, confused at the extra that was joining them that day, though Sasuke was eerily silent as he scanned their surroundings.
While Sakura was entirely to rigid for comfort "Is something the matter Sakura-san, your unusually tense" Haku questioned in concern as he to cast a wary gaze around the clearing, scoping out his surroundings just in case in response to the tension.
The two genin shared a quick look with one another "Just have a bad feeling in my stomach that somethings going to happen today" Sakura repeated to the duo, casting a look around as she did so, senses on overdrive.
However she did settle as comfortably on the ground as she dared, pulling out the necessary things to begin Haku's lesson, Haku cautiously joined her, leaving Zabuza and Sasuke to keep a wary eye out for any trouble.
And trouble did hit, less than an hour later might they add, in the form of powerful chakra converging on the little village in the Land of Waves, Sasuke was one of the first ones to recognize one of the chakra.
Followed by Sakura, who snapped to just as Sasuke let out a snarl of pure rage and turned on his heel darting off in the direction he felt the chakra "SASUKE UCHIHA IF YOU DON'T STOP RIGHT THIS INSTANT I WILL PUNCH YOU OUT" the pinkette screamed.
Channeling chakra into her vocal cords to be heard, Sasuke skidded to a screeching halt and she nearly slammed into him "But Sakura that's my murdering traitorous brother" the ebony haired preteen snapped rounding on her in the next moment his coal eyes alight with fury.
Hands clenching and un-clenching as he fought with himself to remain in place against his better judgement "Taking care of Itachi is not our responsibility Sasuke, regardless if he's your brother or what your goal is, Asuma-sensei is the Jonin here" Sakura spat back.
A dangerous glint in her eyes that told Sasuke he better wise up or he'd still be punted on his ass "Guys this is really bad" Naruto joined them in the next moment, barely acknowledging Zabuza or Haku as he latched on to Sakura, shaking like a leaf.
"We know, we know, damn it, I think this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do" Sasuke growled, pacing back and forth furiously, Sakura watched him intensely because she knew him and the moment she let her guard down he would be off she was certain of it.
Also watching intently were Zabuza and Haku, that's why they were the first ones to notice who else was there with them "Well look what we have here" a strangely cheerful man that looked creepily like a shark appeared when he realized he'd been found.
Sakura gripped Sasuke and Naruto's hands in a vice tight hold and kept them next to her "Hoshigaki, the fuck are you doing here" the wielder of Kubikiribocho growled, already unhooking his own massive blade from his back as he did so.
At the same time Haku inched his way over to the genin and took up a defensive stance "Blondy there is the reason I'm here" Kisame responded, giving a vague answer thinking the genin brats didn't know anything all.
Imagine his surprise when the lone girl straightened "Your after the nine-tailed fox sealed inside of Naruto, if you think for one minute I'll let you touch him, think again bastard" the pinkette glowered, KI oozing from her.
"So he's one of the Akatsuki guys my Father warned us about and let me guess my murdering brother is part of your organization as well" the Uchiha of Team Seven scowled, just glad that Sakura hadn't let him run off like an idiot now.
Naruto was who was most important here for the time being "Excuse me nine-tailed fox" the teenager stood before them frowned, obviously confused at the conversation, while Kisame was eerily silent.
Strangely enough Zabuza knew how the man felt because he was still baffled over the strangeness of the genin brats who knew things they weren't supposed to know like now clearly "In any event Hoshigaki, I won't let you take the brat anyway" Zabuza shifted into a stance himself.
Ready to uphold his end of the deal by saving stupid genin brats should they get in trouble "Hmmph like you could stop me Momochi, don't worry this was just a check up, we're not taking him yet" the shark like rogue smirked.
Only to roll his eyes in the next moment "Kisame" in a flurry of crows Itachi was stood next to him, and suddenly it was difficult to breathe as Sasuke went white with rage and somehow managed to tear himself free of Sakura's white knuckled hold with a howl of fury.
Before he could reach his brother and before something else went amiss, a blue blur shot down between them stopping Sasuke in his tracks "I think I've heard enough" the unknown male spoke, followed by several more powerful chakra heading towards them at long lost.
One of which was familiar to Sakura's relief, despite her complete rigidity, poor Naruto simply continued to shake in fear and her heart ached for him "Let us go Kisame, our objective has been completed for now" Itachi spoke.
Ignoring those in the clearing as best he could, especially the unexpected that had suddenly appeared before them, with a grumble both missing nin were gone in the nick of time to as Asuma flew into the clearing.
Having ran obviously to get to them and stop anything bad from happening on his heels were three shinobi from an entirely different village, one they so happened to not be allies with and Sakura who'd been steadily relaxing went rigid again.
Caught up in the political side of village affairs courtesy of the sensei she wanted to punch "Ease up there Sakura, their allies for now" Asuma saw Sakura's suddenly defensive stance and saw fit to ease her mind a little.
Just a little out of breath from his run across the little village, even if he knew that Itachi was a double agent, things could have gone badly anyway "Heh smart little brat aren't ya girly" then the largest man they'd seen to date, barring Ibiki Morino suddenly threw his head back with a booming laugh.
Finding her actions funny which didn't amuse her in the least "Raikage-sama you shouldn't be moving around with that poison coursing through your veins, the only reason we followed him was because he said that there was a medic here who had the necessary herbs to get rid of the poison" the white skinned blonde frowned.
Sakura immediately snapped to again drawing his gaze "Ah that's right, Sakura if you'd be so kind" Asuma cleared his throat, glad that Sakura did know the things she did right then, otherwise the situation would be even worse he was sure.
The lone girl nodded, shot Sasuke a death glare for his reckless action earlier of rushing at Itachi like a madman, and marched forward with a determined glint in her green eyes "Idiot" she hissed under her breath as she passed by him.
Prompting Sasuke to flinch away from her on reflex "Kinda have to agree with Sakura-chan, that was a dumb move" Naruto, who was no longer trembling now that everything seemed to be calming down said as Sakura set to work.
Drawing blood from the Raikage and looking at it under a microscope while asking questions to determine what sort of poison was currently in his bloodstream, then ten minutes later after grinding up a variety of herbs and shooting another glare at Sasuke.
Who used his fire jutsu to heat the water to boiling point, the antidote was ready to be administered, just to check though Sakura dripped some of it on the blood she'd drawn from the Raikage, eyed it under the microscope for a second before smiling in satisfaction certain that it would do it's job properly.
Five minutes later the Raikage's skin color returned to normal, no longer pale or flushed or sweaty as had been the case "Quite the handy skill to have huh Kid" the remaining Cloud Shinobi, who'd been quiet since arriving on scene finally whistled.
Slightly awed at how quickly the poison had been dealt with and neutralized "If it saves lives yeah" the fuscia haired girl finally shrugged after a moment of eyeing him as she packed away her belongings and stored the scroll in her pouch again.
Asuma blew out a breath then focused on the other unknown shinobi "Was travelling with them, I don't know how I came back to be honest" the blonde that Naruto strangely eerily looked like said with a grimace as he straightened from his defensive crouch.
Alerting the others that it was now safe to do so as well, though Zabuza and Haku hastily retreated because they certainly didn't want to end up killed by Cloud Shinobi despite their deal with the Leaf Shinobi.
"Hmm interesting, anyway Sakura why don't you go check up on Tazuna, make sure he's okay after the scare of earlier, Naruto go with her, Sasuke I need you to send this message with your hawk to Leaf" Asuma rubbed his chin in thought before deciding on a course of action.
By assigning the genin some tasks to complete "Of course Asuma-sensei" Sakura smiled at him pleasantly, shot Sasuke one last death glare that had the boy going as pale as a ghost, grabbed Naruto by the hand gently and stalked off.
"Hehehe see you later" Naruto waved awkwardly, a moment later the duo was gone, leaving Sasuke alone to complete his own task while inwardly cursing himself for his moment of stupidity, wondering how he could have forgotten so simple like how Sakura would feel if he got injured.
A moment later Umo was flying off into the distance "So I couldn't help but notice that girly seemed to be mad at you boy, what did you do to get those glares" the Raikage couldn't help but ask in the resounding silence.
Surprisingly the answer came from the unknown shinobi that Asuma seemed to know "He tried to attack those two rogues from earlier, luckily I managed to get ahead of him before he got injured" the blonde chuckled dryly.
"Ooh your lucky Kid, otherwise things could have ended up not so good for you" the younger dark skinned male grimaced realizing how bad the situation could have been if the blonde had gotten there any later.
Sasuke grumbled in response "I know okay, I was stupid and idiotic, I guess I should be thankful she didn't punch me clear to the Leaf village for that stunt" Sasuke groaned, acting his age for once, for real this time to Asuma's amusement.
Clearly the boy was afraid of his female teammate even though he probably should have already figured that out given how Naruto and Sasuke do everything in their power to avoid upsetting her and did everything she asked of them without complaint.
The lone girl on the team held all the cards and both the boys knew it "Right if you don't mind we'd like to relax at your current accommodations if you don't mind" the onyx eyed blonde suddenly directed the conversation onto something else.
With that Asuma found himself leading not one but five people back to Tazuna's, where they all settled comfortably on couches "Who are you anyway" Naruto asked after an uncomfortable silence had descended over them.
Eyeing the unknown shinobi in their midst, Minato gave a jolt and looked to Asuma, who nodded with a chuckle "The names Minato Namikaze and I am or rather was the Fourth Hokage" Minato introduced himself.
Probably never having imagined that he'd be where he was right now, alive and talking to his preteen son due to some unforeseen circumstance that he wasn't even sure about, his life could be temporary for all he knew at this point in time.
"Fourth Hokage, you mean your the guy who sealed the stupid nine tailed fox inside of me" the younger blonde spluttered in outrage, clearly having been told by someone, before he could do anything reckless though.
Sakura shot him a glance that had him freezing in place, Asuma smiled, glad that at least one of the genin could subdue both of her teammates with ease and that she had the patience of a saint sometimes while on the other hand having a fiery temper that she wasn't afraid to unleash.
Naruto settled quickly at her stare though even if he was sulking now and she returned to quietly reading from her book "In response to that question Naruto-kun, yes I'm the one who sealed the fox inside of you" Minato sighed, eyeing Sakura in confused curiosity.
Much like a certain blonde Cloud Shinobi was doing, her skill in antidote crafting had probably left him feeling quite unsure of his own skill most likely "Just so you know Sasuke, your helping with dinner and dishes tonight" the rosette chimed in again.
Keeping her gaze focused on her book as she spoke, Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose and despite the various complaints that were on the tip of his tongue, kept his mouth shut and simply flared his chakra in silent confirmation to the demand she made of him.
It was better than being punched in any case, Asuma shook his head at their antics "Nonsensical aren't you girly" the Raikage commented and got a nod in response to his surprise as she raised her gaze to meet his head on without flinching.
She was the most gutsy brat he'd ever met, not counting the genin brats in his own village, most of them could barely be in his presence barring two of them "Don't let Naruto and Sasuke fool you though when their not goofing off their just as bad as Sakura" Asuma chuckled.
And the girl in question simply huffed at him "Really now that's interesting and how long have you three been genin, before we forget, I'm Cee, one of Raikage-sama's personal bodyguards and personal medic" the onyx eyed blonde from Cloud chimed in.
Finally introducing himself, Sakura raised a brow at the medic part and most likely wondered why he hadn't simply dealt with the poison himself "A month, though we've all known each other since our academy days" Sasuke answered.
Train of thought going in the same direction as Sakura's no doubt as he to eyed Cee with a little confusion in his gaze "A month, a bloody month, your greenies and yet your already going on outside the village missions, my names Ay and I'm the Raikage" Ay spluttered.
"Well you can thank our usual sensei for that, Kakashi-sensei's the one who decided to send us here on this supposed to be C Rank mission, but Tazuna-san over there lied about the mission rank and it turned A rank on us" Sakura sniffed, throwing a half-hearted glare at Tazuna who sweat-dropped.
Laughing sheepishly as he did so, speaking of, he still didn't know that Gato and his thugs were dead and Zabuza was no longer a threat to he and his family, he was probably a nervous wreck on the inside "Oh Father" Tsunami shook her head with a giggle.
Amused at the genin's antics "Your sensei is Kakashi, Kakashi Hatake, then why may I ask is Asuma-san on this mission" Minato asked incredulously, more than a little confused at the turn of events, especially since he now had a chance to get to know his son.
"That's Kakashi-sensei's fault to, he had another mission so assigned Asuma-sensei as our temporary sensei for this mission only probably because we were driving him crazy and he wanted a break from us" Naruto sniggered.
Minato sighed at the answer "Before you go on I'm Darui, anyway how did you classify this mission as A Rank" the last remaining Cloud Shinobi interrupted the current conversation with a question that was bothering him.
Immediately the genin straightened "Gato of Gato corps was after him for building the bridge, we encountered rogues and had to fight them" Asuma admitted and something about the way he said that tipped Tazuna off.
As his expression turned into one of confusion "Was, don't you mean is after me…..wait the morning after our return you acted pretty weird, said something about a clean up, do you mean to say he's been dead this entire time" Tazuna caught on surprisingly quick after that.
"Zabuza and his partner are also no longer after you, haven't been since the day after Gato's death alongside all those thugs in his employ, that doesn't mean however that I won't be including everything that happened here in our mission report when we go back" Asuma informed.
Serious for once, usually having a very laid back attitude concerning most events that had gone on so far "It would have been nice to know that we were no longer under threat, however I think I understand why you didn't say immediately" the blue haired civilian woman spoke up suddenly.
Having an inkling, it was a little payback for endangering the genin, she could understand that, they were just children despite how serious they got about things "Right, one thing I don't understand, who killed them" the bridge builder asked.
Dead silence followed his question, "More like what killed them but I'm sure you don't want to hear the grisly details" Asuma finally sighed after several minutes of uncomfortable silence, keeping his gaze firmly ahead.
"No, no even I'm curious I have to admit, what do you mean what killed him are you saying it was some sort of animal attack" Tsunami prodded curiously, and he wished she hadn't asked in the first place because realization overcame Tazuna in the next moment.
For he immediately shot Sakura a horrified glance because despite her best efforts he'd heard her admission about her summons "Your bats killed Gato" the gray haired elder exploded practically having an aneurysm.
"Look Tazuna-san it's a dog eat, dog world out here, it's not rainbows and sunshine like kids our age are supposed to think it is, people die all the time sometimes for stupid reasons even, yes it was my bats because that was our duty to make sure you stayed safe" Sakura said in a flat tone.
"But your just a kid, how could you simply kill someone just like that" Tazuna whimpered in horror, the rest of them keeping silent, even his daughter, who looked down sadly, probably imagining her son as a shinobi.
The girl let out a long suffering sigh "Because we're shinobi, regardless of my age and rank I am a kunoichi trained in deadly arts, my personal feelings don't matter" the rosette said as gently as possible trying not to be to harsh since he was a civilian.
With that she promptly disappeared from the living room "Cynical little brat isn't she" Ay commented, probably thinking that the girl was unhinged when really it was the opposite, even if she was a bit cynical about things.
It was that distrust that drove Kakashi to ask him to accompany his genin on this mission in the first place actually "Just a little, but when you get down to it, Sakura's all heart, she's just been…I don't know to be honest" Asuma made a face at his own lack of knowing things.
"Hurt, when she was little she got bullied a lot because she wanted to be a shinobi while not being from any clan background, then someone came along and said he had faith in her" Naruto spoke up, knowing because he'd been there since nearly the beginning.
Sasuke nodding along with him "Then when she was ten her parents went missing, Sakura was devastated, the investigation is on-going but with who the likely culprit was, finding them is entirely unlikely" Sasuke butt in.
"Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, and then the person who'd been training us, left on an undercover mission the day we graduated from the academy and became genin, she considered him family to you know" Naruto finished.
Also having been hurt by Sasori's abandonment "Sakura-chan's an orphan, we had no idea" Tsunami gasped in horror at the admissions that had been given by the two boys on Sakura's team, while Asuma grimaced.
Not sure what to do with the information he'd just received "He is to but Naruto's never known his parents and I almost became one as well when I was eight, one of the rogues from earlier did it, my own brother, nearly eradicated my/our clan the Uchiha Clan" Sasuke informed further.
Off to the side Minato bit his tongue to keep from denying that little statement about how Naruto was an orphan, technically he was since Naruto didn't know who he was, but the rest of the statement horrified him as it did everyone else.
"Seems like to me that the brat has good reasons to be distrustful of people, though it's good to know she has her priorities straight" Ay sat back, mulling over the discussion that had just been had inwardly so no one asked him questions.
There was one question though that Minato wanted answered "If you and Sakura-san are orphans Naruto-kun, where do you live, surely not on your own right" Minato questioned seriously, a frown already working it's way onto his lips.
His son shook his head "Nope, me, Sakura-chan and Sasuke share a house that's twenty feet away from his parents house, they claimed us wards of the Uchiha Clan and all that jazz, without having total authority over us, it was the only way Sakura-chan would accept their offer" Naruto announced.
"Wards of the Uchiha clan, why not simply adopt the two of you since there's very little of the clan left, pardon my rudeness Kid" Darui creased his brow in confusion, not understanding in the least why the Clan Head didn't simply adopt the two orphans.
Sasuke snorted "Cause of me, in simple terms I like her quite a bit and not just as a friend, I know she'll never feel that way about me but she's still afraid that my parents are going to force a contract on her to get married to me, that's why they were simply claimed as wards" Sasuke intoned bitterly.
Making all the adults in the room cringe while Naruto kept his mouth shut "Back to an earlier question though, how exactly did bat summons manage to kill several people" Cee asked, going back to the previous topic of conversation.
Looking at Asuma as he did so and suddenly everyone was curious, barring the two boys who grimaced and also disappeared from the living room "Apparently their quite vicious and like to drink blood, I think she said their species was the hairy legged vampire bats" Asuma said.
Ay choked but looked intrigued while Tsunami decided that maybe it would have been better if she hadn't know how their tormentor had died "You mean to say she had her bats drain them of their blood" Tazuna felt faint.
But Asuma nodded a grim expression on his face as he did so "It was quite…..disturbing" the Leaf Jonin intoned flatly, trying not to be to descriptive with the details of the gruesome scene he'd witnessed, Tsunami headed into the kitchen at that.
Probably to start on lunch, Naruto scampered after her to Minato's amusement "They've been helping make breakfast, lunch and dinner since we got here about a week ago, Naruto and Sakura anyway, Sasuke's been doing the dishes" Asuma explained lightening the mood.
Tazuna heaved a sigh of relief glad that no more questions were being asked about Gato's rather disturbing demise "And now the brat has dinner duty and dish duty, not much of a punishment" the Raikage mused finally speaking again.
Until said girl returned "Maybe for most people but Sasuke positively loathes cooking, plus it's better than the alternative" Sakura snickered, taking her previous spot and relaxing now that she felt she could do so.
Cee raised a brow "Okay and what would have been the alternative to him cooking" the onyx eyed blonde prodded curiously while Sasuke shuddered, returning just as she had, already knowing what the alternative would have been.
"Getting punched out for his stupid action of charging at his brother like a crazy person" the rosette declared and Asuma bit back his laughter, but the amusement that glimmered in his eyes tipped her off as she grinned widely and laughed.
Oh yes Sasuke was quite terrified of her "What if he dodged though, being a clan kid he would have more stamina and chakra than you" the oblivious younger dark skinned shinobi said scratching his head as he did so while Sakura's temper immediately flared.
This time it was Sasuke's turn to reign in an unruly teammate as she opened her mouth to snap back that she was just as if not better really than any clan child "Sakura" Sasuke warned and her mouth snapped shut but she was clearly not happy with Darui's comment.
It took a moment or two before she managed to speak in a calm tone "Just so you know Darui-san, Sasuke could try to dodge but in the end it would do him little good, I may not be from a clan background but I have raw natural talent that I honed tirelessly for over seven years" Sakura said.
Rather bluntly sure but they got the gist of it "Unfortunately she's right, even when we were all six she was kicking my ass and all the other clan children's asses to in taijutsu, she could run circles around us on laps, throw better, basically do everything better" Sasuke nodded.
Asuma didn't comment but he knew who'd taught Sakura to do all that, Sasori Akasuna and he decided that he would be having words with his Father about what the man had been doing while he was stationed in the Hidden Leaf Village, certain that his Father didn't know.
Little did he know but that was for a later time "Interesting and now I see why the Uchiha Clan Head would be interested to put you in a marriage contract with his child, you would refresh the clan, make it stronger so to speak" Ay nodded in understanding.
While Sakura huffed "But my life and any choices I make are my own, therefor it's moot" she stated then to absolutely no-ones surprise pulled out a book to read, this one on herbs in a country well known to the Hidden Cloud Shinobi.
"Is there a reason your reading about herbs native to Lightning Country" Cee inquired, inching closer to the young girl who'd definitely surprised him earlier at how quickly she'd managed to neutralize the poison in his Kage.
Her gaze flickered up for a brief moment to meet his eyes before she nodded quietly "Just in case, one never knows where they'll be sent on a future mission with a weirdo sensei like Kakashi-sensei after all" Sakura deadpanned.
Minato felt like his brows were about to launch into space at the comment and Asuma chuckled under his breath "That doesn't sound like the Kakashi I know" the former Hokage creased his brow in confusion.
Obviously wondering if it was a different Kakashi entirely "Yeah probably because he became so freaking goofy it's unbelievable, even I have a hard time believing he could be serious about anything considering the hell he's put us through" Sasuke scoffed.
Still a little miffed that Sakura had already known that information and hadn't told him or the knucklehead, Minato simply looked more confused than before "What he means is that from the time we met him, he's been late, by three hours" the rosette sniffed.
"He also made us go through three weeks of torturous D Rank missions, sicked his summons on us and overall tried to drive us batty, by the way lunch is ready" Naruto poked his head into the living room participating in the conversation a little.
Sakura rolled her eyes "Because that's what genin are expected to do, we have to start at the bottom and work our way up remember knucklehead" the pinkette rapped the blonde gently on the head, though there was a twinkle of fondness deep within the depths of her viridian orbs.
Plainly seen by Sasuke "Cause you want to be Hokage which means no shortcuts" the Uchiha smirked, and Naruto's blue eyes flashed with determination as he nodded seriously, all of them missing the surprise Minato showed at the statement.
"Right, right I know but still those D Ranks are awful, if they'd been even remotely more interesting they wouldn't be so bad, but they were boring and I hate that stupid cat Tora more than anything" the youngest blonde shuddered.
Mind flashing back to the ridiculous amount of times they'd had to capture the Daimyo's wife's runaway cat, fortunately Sakura and Sasuke seemed to agree with him on the last one "Are you saying you had to catch a cat for a mission" Darui asked.
Feeling as if it was safe to speak again after nearly getting snapped at earlier "Probably over thirty times and it's always the same cat, Tora's a menace and a freaking escape artist and we always have to come up with something new just to catch him" the fuscia haired girl grumbled.
Looking quite the sight, Asuma choked "Thirty times, not even I'm that cruel, though I did wonder who kept taking that mission any time I thought of trying to get my actual genin to straighten up their acts" Asuma grimaced.
Kakashi was playing as a sadist it seemed and he definitely pitied those kids a bit "Just how is it you got Kakashi Hatake to even be your sensei in the first place I imagine it was quite difficult" Cee inquired more than a little curious.
As was Minato who focused his gaze on the genin, all of whom shared wide grins with one another "He gave us something he called the bell test and tried to pit us against one another" Sasuke began, that moment would be forever etched in his mind after all.
"Of course it wasn't until after he told us that, that we started fake arguing with one another and split up anyway to lower his guard and when he thought he'd had us beat we trapped him in an illusion and knocked him out with knockout gas" Sakura grinned.
"Yeah cause the whole point of the test was to see if we could work together as a team" Naruto bounced earning amused smiles from his teammates, he'd always been excitable, now was no different, even if he could change his personality at the drop of a hat.
Though their answer left the adults with more questions "Knocked him out with knockout gas, trapped him in an illusion how on earth did you manage that" Minato furrowed his brow while Asuma chuckled knowing exactly how probably.
While the genin shared another grin with each other "Kakashi-sensei underestimated us, especially after the staged argument, he thought we were naive, childish newly graduated genin, so after he defeated us so to speak, we teamed up with one another to get the bells" the rosette said.
Emerald orbs twinkling with mischief "So I distracted him with some clones, Sasuke his jutsu and then Sakura caught him in a genjutsu before he could break out though she threw a smoke bomb which had her knockout gas in it thus allowing us to accomplish our task" the blonde finished.
"Even if there were only two bells and he tried to give us some spiel about how only two of us would pass his test" the raven of team seven snorted, not having believed that lie for even a minute it seemed.
Minato frowned, was it just him or was his son being purposefully vague about his and his teammates abilities, he'd thought the boy would be more like Kushina if he was being honest but that wasn't turning out to be the case.
Though he was just a tiny bit amused at the explanation given on how they got Kakashi to be their sensei "Hold on just a minute, if Gato and Zabuza haven't been a threat since day one, then why have you been continuously patrolling" Tazuna suddenly burst out.
Halfway through the meal as they were, looking straight at Sakura who smiled innocently "One can never be to careful, whose to someone else doesn't want to stop you from finishing your bridge, you have to look at all the variables and not just the obvious ones" Sakura announced.
Not sure if she should really say what else she'd been doing especially considering the company they were in, plus she had patrolled, a few times of course to give her cover a little more credibility and she wasn't lying either, anything could happen.
Tazuna blinked, then groaned and slammed his head on the table with a resounding crack "I think you broke my Grandpa" Inari sniggered, warming up immensely to the strangers now that he knew there was no more reason to worry about anything.
And the others simply shook their heads before eating the rest of their afternoon meal "This country from what I've seen of it, seems rather poor, so how did you manage to get all these groceries" just as they'd finished Darui asked another question.
Prompting the genin to raise their hands "We bought groceries enough to last each of us a month and shared them with Tsunami since we're staying here and all" Sasuke answered the question that the man wanted answered.
"Don't look at me, I met them the day of, when we were setting out for the mission, so I didn't tell them to pack or anything, Kakashi didn't either did he" Asuma saw the pointed glance cast his way by the Raikage.
Who was definitely more than a little curious about the genin temporarily under his command and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing right now "No, I just have a bad habit of over-preparing for things" Sakura scoffed.
"Try like crazy bad habit Sakura-chan and you go overboard with it to, ouch mean" Naruto sniggered only to get elbowed, pouting even though it hadn't really hurt, he just liked to tease her sometimes and she knew that given the smile on her lips.
In sync Asuma and Sasuke rolled their eyes "Now, now kids play nice" the Jonin temporarily in charge of them mediated, even if he knew that they didn't really need him to tell them that and that they wouldn't seriously be cruel to one another.
He didn't think they could even if they tried seriously actually to be honest "Your to laid back Asuma, no wonder Nara doesn't get motivated" Sasuke rounded on him in the next moment, a glint in his eyes.
Only to get elbowed "Sasuke, no giving Asuma-sensei lip or else and I'm sure Asuma-sensei would have figured out how to get Shikamaru motivated sooner or later, Choji and Ino-chan to" the pinkette snickered.
"Yeah incentives always work so well with those three, shogi for that lazy ass, food for food-boy and praise for Ino-chan" the youngest blonde ticked off his fingers, giving Asuma all the dirty details basically about his students.
And Asuma himself felt like slamming his head on the table next for not having figured that out and that basically he'd been given the information he wanted on a silver platter so to speak, instead he nodded at them in silent thanks.
Leaving the genin to disappear from the house "Just so you know Sakura, I really thin…." the last thing heard by the adults as the Uchiha of Team Seven started some sort of conversation that she was immediately engrossed in.
"Christ their a handful" Ay let out a sigh himself as he settled on the couch again, his bodyguards taking up the spots on either side of him, Asuma let out an exhausted sigh but didn't deny the statement.
Because they were "Very much so…but I think they grew on Kakashi and their good kids, just bloody complicated" Asuma snorted, getting comfortable himself, glad they'd headed out to spend time together and not driving him crazy.
Though he did have to give them the money he'd promised them from Gato still "Quite the adjective to describe them with" Cee commented curiously, but it didn't look like the man was going to be explaining any time soon.
When the genin came back it was an hour before dinner and they were completely soaked through to the bone "Heavens what on earth were you three doing, how did you get wet, you didn't fall in the ocean did you" Tsunami shrieked.
Rushing to get towels "It was Naruto's fault, he leaned to far over the edge of the unfinished bridge and fell, we were to far away to catch him so Sakura dived after him and I followed soon after and now we all know how to water walk" Sasuke cleared his throat.
Taking the towel that was held out to him "Shouldn't you learn the tree-climbing exercise first" Minato frowned, shooting a look at Asuma, who shrugged, clearly the man didn't know all their abilities himself either.
"Already knew how to, my advanced chakra control class sensei made the whole class practice the tree-climbing technique when I was ten, though it took them a few tries, they got it down in about ten minutes or so" Sakura answered.
By this point Asuma was no longer surprised at the ridiculous training regimen the girl had been on courtesy of Sasori Akasuna, though he was just a tiny bit surprised the boys had got the exercise down, he didn't say anything.
"What's the tree-climbing exercise Sakura-chan" Naruto asked predictably and as the three of them headed up the stairs she began explaining in great detail what the exercise was all about until he was able to fully understand.
They were back ten minutes later and when Tsunami headed for the kitchen Sasuke grudgingly followed her to help out and forty five minutes later, it taking a little while longer since he inept at cooking really dinner was ready.
And afterwards they headed to bed simply tired and exhausted from the days events though Sasuke and Naruto got stuck sharing a room with Minato, leaving the Raikage and his subordinates to share with Asuma, Sakura still had a room to herself.
Before they knew it the bridge was finished, Zabuza and Haku had taken their leave of the little village the day after the Raikage had appeared, so Sakura had been trying to teach the older teenager via summons, but most important of all she was happy to finally be going home after three agonizing weeks away.