Elsewhere that same night in a base that was carefully hidden were Zabuza and his apprentice Haku Yuki at that precise minute Zabuza was instructing Haku to prepare the medicine that he'd gotten off the pink haired brat, but the second he drank it, he knew he'd been played like a fool.
The following morning, remembering his vow, Sasuke started his day off by being nice to Naruto, it was during breakfast "Do…Naruto, I know your having trouble getting the tree climbing exercise down and I'm willing to help you if you want" Sasuke offered.
Forcing the words out, azure orbs rounded in surprise and in that moment Sasuke knew that he truly had been a terrible person and a teammate if that was Naruto's reaction to him being nice "Re..Really Te…Sasuke you'll help me" Naruto asked hesitantly.
Not sure if he could really believe his teammate any "Yeah you need to get it down especially if we're going to have end up facing Zabuza Momochi and whoever else is after Tazuna" Sasuke shrugged finding it a bit easier that time.
Guilt ate at him when Naruto bounced around in clear excitement when Sasuke looked to Sakura however he found her watching him already before she turned to help Tsunami cook breakfast for the whole group.
Since there were a lot of mouths to feed around the table but once everyone was done eating Sasuke and Naruto headed outside to train "Karin-chan you're a sensor shinobi right, mind accompanying me to the bridge to protect Tazuna" Kakashi requested.
Hoping Karin was more agreeable than Sakura "Its probably better that way" Karin nodded with a light smile, crimson and verdant met briefly before Karin followed Kakashi and Tazuna from the house leaving Sakura alone with Tsunami.
"Can't believe them they all left the clean up to us" Tsunami clicked her tongue at useless lazy males, but with Sakura's help all the dishes were washed and put away with the kitchen receiving a thorough scrub down.
Before Sakura decided it was time "Please don't think poorly of me Tsunami-san but I'm going to go out and scout for awhile, you won't be entirely alone, I'm leaving you a clone but I am not willing to let Gato's threat go un-dealt with" Sakura spoke up.
Tsunami looked extremely uncomfortable "Do what you need to then Sakura-chan" Tsunami relented a moment later knowing that it was the ninja's job to protect them and if that included killing then she couldn't complain.
With that Sakura formed the hand signs necessary and in a poof of smoke there was a clone of herself stood before Tsunami and she gave it the instructions to do whatever Tsunami asked of her before exiting the house.
Her goal was to find out where Gato was hiding and come up with a plan to take him out before anyone else got hurt but as Sakura found out it wasn't easy finding someone without Karin's help because she wasn't a sensor in the least.
So inevitably Sakura had to turn around and go back before she was discovered technically neglecting her babysitting duty and arrived fifteen minutes before Tazuna, Kakashi and Karin returned for lunch followed by Naruto and Sasuke.
Discretely Sakura made a hand sign to dispel her shadow clone and assimilated its memories just in case someone asked how the morning had gone "Is it just me or does the kitchen seem like its cleaner than usual" Tazuna commented.
Noting how some of the pans gleamed like they hadn't for years "You can thank Sakura-chan, she insisted on giving our kitchen a thorough scrubbing since you all left the clean up to us, she more than made up for your laziness" Tsunami admitted.
Effectively embarrassing her own father who flushed and spewed apologies about how he'd make it up to her by doing the dishes up for dinner "We'll help by doing the dishes for lunch" Sasuke commented.
Gesturing at Naruto who sulked "How come I have to help" Naruto whined doing his best to get out of his unwanted duty but neither Sasuke or Kakashi would hear of it this time, in fact Sasuke went so far as to try and take the boy to task.
"Listen Naruto you wouldn't want someone to come into your home, make a mess and leave it for you to clean up would you so it's common courtesy to help by cleaning up after yourself when in someone else home" Sasuke lectured.
Understanding why Sakura got so irritated with them, they were both childish and annoying, where as she was more mature, Karin to, though at the lecture Naruto thankfully shut up and grudgingly agree to the point that had been made.
By helping to wash dishes so Tsunami didn't have to clean up after them before heading back out to train some more when they were finished, it also signaled Tazuna, Kakashi and Karin's departure from the house as well.
Just before exiting the house though Karin paused, lagging behind deliberately and signed something to Sakura who nodded surreptitiously in response "Care to tell me what that was all about" Tsunami frowned.
Having seen Karin do something with her hand to quickly for her to catch on "Sign language Tsunami-san, she was telling me that on the north side of town she felt a large concentration of chakra which is likely where Gato is hiding out" Sakura explained.
Relieved that Karin had managed to pass that message off to her before leaving, Tsunami visibly cringed "Go do what you need to then" instead Tsunami waved her off, probably eager to be done with Gato who had taken someone away from her and her son.
Sakura smiled sadly at her, made another clone then hurried off to scout the area Karin had sensed out for her, lo and behold when Sakura arrived the area was crawling with thugs "One would think he's afraid" Sakura rolled her eyes at the excessive amount of guards.
Mentally counting the amount of thugs Gato had in his employ, she nearly didn't notice one of said thugs heading her way until it was to late but with just a second to figure out how to hide herself Sakura very nearly panicked.
Until she saw a hole large enough for her to crawl through and without an ounce of hesitation dived for it and crawled to safety and the thug passed by her all the while none the wiser of her presence there where she shouldn't be.
When she was contemplating crawling out as she thought the danger was over another thug came walking in her direction so Sakura stayed put, it was also then that Sakura realized she wasn't alone as she sensed that she was being stared at.
Cautiously Sakura turned around and found that she'd crawled into a weasel den "Hello there aren't you cute" Sakura whispered drawn to the adorable creatures as she carefully held out her hand to beckon one of them to her hopefully.
One particularly brave weasel scurried closer and put his paw in her hand, followed by something happening that Sakura never thought would happen "Are you willing to sign our summoning contract" the weasel spoke.
Her mouth opened and closed in stunned disbelief "Uh…uh yes I am" Sakura stumbled over her words for a moment before nodding decisively in answer to the question the weasel had asked of her and a second later a scroll was in her hand.
Slowly just in case this was a big joke she unrolled the scroll and brought it to her face, there were three other names on the scroll that were faded or crossed out, then after biting her thumb Sakura signed her own name on the contract in blood.
"From this day forward we of the weasel summons are yours to command Sakura-san, you can call me Amin and I am the current leader" the weasel in front of her announced while at the same time introducing himself.
Sakura released the breath that she was holding "Then I'd like to give you my first command Amin, see down there where all those people are, I need to know how many there are exactly because their so bunched together its making it hard to sense out the numbers" Sakura requested.
Not exactly ordering because it wasn't really in her nature to demand something of such an adorable creature "Consider it done Sakura-san" Amin assured as he darted from his den and down towards where all the thugs were.
He was small and unnoticeable which was advantageous for her really as she squeezed herself out of the den now that the thugs were finished with their patrol for the time being anyway once out she began making her way back to the clients house.
Knowing that Amin would be able to find her no matter where she was in the world "There you are Sakura I was beginning to get worried you wouldn't come back" Tsunami greeted when the pinkette returned.
It was then that Sakura realized how much time had actually passed "What the….." Sakura scratched her head seeing that somehow she'd missed dinner after a moment she made a guess of how time passed differently when in a summons world.
"Sorry Tsunami-san I didn't realize until just now, it won't happen again I assure" Sakura apologized, taking the plate of food from the blue haired woman and creeping up the steps to the room she was sharing with Karin.
Her clone was dispelled and all the memories from the hours she'd been gone were transferred to her "Sakura-chan your back what happened please tell me you didn't face Gato already" Karin sat up sensing the rosette's chakra.
"Kinda got distracted when I crawled in a hole and somehow ended up in a summoning creatures world where time apparently goes by faster than it does here though I do have a summons now" Sakura shook her head.
And sat before digging into her cold dinner "Oh what kind of summons Sakura-chan" Karin inquired, rolling over onto her stomach so she wasn't staring at Sakura upside down who focused on eating first.
Before answering "Weasels, small and inconspicuous and adorably cute but I doubt they really want me to tell them that" Sakura grinned, putting the clean plate down off the side and standing to undress.
Karin giggled "Lucky I wonder if they'd let me sign on" Karin sighed wistfully, imagining what it would be like to have her own summons or rather a shared summons with Sakura who snorted softly in amusement then climbed beneath the covers.
Just as she got comfortable a poof of smoke filled the space before her "51 I counted" Amin relayed the information she'd wanted him to find out earlier, Sakura hissed in surprise at the amount of thugs Gato had hired.
"Thank you Amin, before you go, would you mind if another person signed the contract" Sakura inquired, motioning towards Karin with her hand, Amin turned and assessed the redhead before shaking his head sadly and vanished back to his den in another puff of smoke.
Sakura shot an apologetic glance towards Karin who shrugged "Eh I'll just have to find my own that are just as awesome" Karin waved her hand trying not to feel jealous or upset that she'd been rejected by a weasel of all things.
"And I'll help you, anyway now that I know how many I'm going to be dealing with I can come up with a plan to take Gato out, it will probably involve genjutsu and having a clone of you tag along to help me navigate the area" Sakura declared.
Pleased that her feelings hadn't simply been brushed off Karin smiled "Good thing Cee-sensei taught me some genjutsu before we left right Sakura-nee" Karin giggled as her crimson orbs twinkled in amusement.
Her lips twitched "Right Karin-imouto for now we rest, tomorrow we begin our task" Sakura announced as she lay down and curled up to get some sleep for the night and the next morning before leaving their shared room Karin created a clone that would go with Sakura that day.
Upon sitting down at the table however Kakashi rounded on Sakura "You left Tsunami with a clone yesterday and didn't get back until after everyone else had gone to bed, tell me you didn't go out and kill Gato" Kakashi demanded.
The pinkette smiled flatly in answer "I haven't yet that's today's goal but the reason I was late is because I accidentally crawled into a hole that led to a summons world where time went by differently, so what felt like a few minutes to me there was hours here" Sakura informed.
Deciding not to lie, it's not like she was hiding it or anything, she'd left the clone for safety precautions in case Gato tried to off Tazuna's family "Can you really do that" Naruto perked up, interest in his azure irises.
Kakashi nodded "Quite, in fact there are many well hidden places that lead to other worlds that belong to the various creature summons that exist and are you sure that's something you can handle by yourself Sakura" Kakashi explained.
Only to turn his attention on Sakura again "Well I won't be completely alone, Karin's left me a clone and everyone that he's surrounded himself with are simply thugs that can't use chakra and I didn't sense Zabuza nearby so he's elsewhere and not a problem at the moment" Sakura nodded.
Realizing that he couldn't argue with the girl nor tell her she couldn't do something since she wasn't his student Kakashi relented "Just come back alright and I'll be taking the clone if this is something you two have decided upon doing you need to be at full strength" Kakashi requested.
So when everyone left the house that morning it was Naruto and Sasuke going with Kakashi and Tazuna to the bridge, a clone was left to protect Tsunami while Sakura and Karin headed for Gato's stronghold to take out the villages biggest thorn.
"Zabuza's really not there I can't believe Gato would make such a stupid mistake as to have his only ace in the hole so far away from him" Karin whispered as they reached the area she'd sensed out yesterday and hid in tree's.
Like Sakura had said however Zabuza wasn't close by in the least so it was just the thugs surrounding Gato at the moment "There's no point in complaining since that's more advantageous for us" Sakura shrugged.
Focusing her gaze forward to watch how the thugs patrolled around the area "Okay got it, we'll start over here and work our way towards the center, taking out everyone that we can at the same time" Karin exclaimed five minutes later.
Having tracked their movements with her senses to calculate out the best path to their target, and after sharing a look with one another jumped down taking out the first of many thugs they would be killing that day.
The blue glow faded from Sakura's hands "Only fifty to go" Sakura declared, marching determinedly forward wanting to get this day done and over with already despite it having only just begun really.
Karin helped out by alerting her to whenever they were about to encounter another thug "This is some exhausting work" Karin said half an hour later when the sun started beating down harshly upon their backs.
By that point the others were beginning to catch on that something was happening after finding a few of their fellow thugs dead making it that much harder to concentrate "When has killing ever been easy work" Sakura snorted.
Inwardly rationalizing that these thugs had already killed people and she was doing more good than bad by getting rid of them so no one else got hurt "Very true, lets continue" Karin stated spreading out her senses again.
A second later a thug dashed by their hiding spot and Sakura reached out to tap him on the back of the neck with her chakra scalpel, he hit the ground already dead and they darted out into the open and ran towards Gato's stronghold.
Upon reaching it they cloaked themselves with the chameleon jutsu and slipped into the building as several thugs rushed out probably having heard they were under attack from an unknown source, lessening the amount of thugs inside.
Making their task a little easier now that they didn't have to worry about thirty thugs defending Gato "Damn bastard did he really have to hire so many" Sakura groaned under her breath as they had to hastily dodge more thugs running out to protect the area.
"Think of it this way Sakura-chan the more he sends out the less we have to kill to reach him" Karin deadpanned in no way finding their situation funny just stating the facts really as they inched down the halls.
Of course they should have known that not everything about their carefully constructed plan would go well as just when they thought it was safe and had dropped the cloaking jutsu five thugs showed up out of nowhere and charged them.
Karin grabbed frantically for her fans while Sakura slapped a hand to one of the thugs legs cutting through muscle and bringing him down to his knees, before clenching her hand into a fist and punching the thug in the face.
His entire body was thrown backwards with enough force as he slammed into the others with him that it knocked them down to, followed by a barrage of senbon needles "Sorry but I have to kill you now" Sakura apologized.
Using the chakra scalpel to end their lives because she didn't want to make a huge mess "Come on I don't think there's anymore, not even around Gato" Karin grimaced not sparing the thugs another glance as they hurried towards their target.
Who was indeed alone "I was wondering who it was that was somehow managing to evade my thugs, just two little girls…..no your ninja aren't you how cute like wet kittens who can't do anything" Gato taunted.
Probably realizing his situation was dire as one of the kunoichi stood in front of the door the other with ridiculous pink hair of all things coming straight for him "If you kill me those thugs are going to start killing everyone in town" Gato warned.
"Unfortunately those thugs have already forfeited their lives just by working for you, so your attempt to stall the inevitable is pathetic Gato, so much fear from a man who can't even defend himself against a single fresh out of the academy genin without fifty thugs" Sakura shot back.
Clearly not intimidated "And a rogue ninja who was tricked by that very same genin who gave him fake medicine to poison him to make sure he couldn't come after the client we swore to protect" Karin chimed in.
Gato glared at them "What if I pay you more than I'm paying Zabuza and those thugs would you let me live" Gato tried to negotiate with them attempting to pay them off, the girl shook her head and raised glowing blue hands.
True fear filled him as the rosette lunged at him and a moment later the man who'd been terrorizing the little village for so long was dead "Now the clean up then we can go back to the house rest and deal with Zabuza another day" Sakura breathed.
Exhausted from constantly using the chakra scalpel though her work wasn't done quite yet so she took a soldier pill to replenish her chakra and with Karin's help they went around taking out the rest of the thugs so they couldn't present a threat to the townspeople.
By the time they actually finished it was dinner time "Karin, Sakura what took you so long" Sasuke met them at the door when the kunoichi of Team Thirteen returned to the house after being gone all day just to kill one person.
Sakura heaved an exhausted sigh "Can it wait until we're seated at the table Sasuke so I don't have to repeat everything" Sakura requested, obviously tired and looking like she was about to collapse where she stood.
So with Karin's help they helped Sakura into the kitchen and sat her down "Sakura-chan are you alright, surely it didn't take nearly all of your chakra to get rid of a man who can't even use chakra to defend himself" Kakashi asked.
Somewhat alarmed at how Sakura was practically exhausted of chakra "Yeah one man and fifty thugs he'd hired to protect him, they weren't much of a challenge it was how I took them out that drained me of chakra" Sakura snorted.
And almost face planted the table "Fifty thugs that's insane Sakura-chan, if you knew there was going to be so many bad guys why didn't you ask us to help you and Karin-chan out" Naruto stared at the pinkette in horror before frowning.
Wanting to know why she hadn't considered the possibility of asking for his help "Sure Naruto next time I'm going to go kill a tyrant and his hired thugs I'll ask you to help me go kill people" Sakura rolled her eyes.
Causing the blonde to flinch in response "Sakura does have a point Naruto, neither of us have killed, we wouldn't have it in us right yet to do so but you still could have asked Kakashi to go along" Sasuke scowled.
"Round and round in circles anyway he's gone now, all that's left is Zabuza who shouldn't be a problem for five more days if he hasn't figured out an antidote or a way to purge the poison faster from his body" Karin interjected.
Because she knew that the more tired Sakura got, the more harsh she became with people "One last question Sakura how did you kill them, surely you didn't bring a change of clothes with you on your little trip" Kakashi asked.
Knowing the girl had to be tired "Chakra scalpel, its a testament to my mastery over chakra, well it's not complete yet but I'm getting better at it every day anyway" Sakura yawned, gratefully accepting food from Tsunami and digging in.
Eight minutes later she was done, Karin to and both washed their dishes before disappearing up the steps to the room they were sharing to get some rest after their long day "There's no way Gato's dead" Inari proclaimed before running off and soon the others went to bed as well.