Two weeks later when there was only a week left before the Chunin Exams were to start Team Thirteen met Team Eight quite by accident on one of their proclaimed days off from training and missions.
As they were wandering the village, exploring it, Karin rounded a corner ahead of her teammates only to ram right into someone "You okay Hinata" someone asked prompting Haku and Sakura to hurry forward.
"Ye..Yes I'm alright i..it was an accident" Hinata assured just as two more unfamiliar genin joined the redhead she'd bumped into, followed by the pinkette helping the other girl up from the ground like her own teammates had done for her.
Once righted "Sorry for ramming into you I'm Karin" Karin introduced herself with a polite bow all while apologizing at the same time because she did feel bad about accidentally knocking the other girl down.
Hinata as she'd been named waved her hands and began stuttering so badly that it was impossible to understand what she was saying "Karin you said, one of the kunoichi who transferred from Cloud, I heard about you from my Ma, I'm Kiba Inuzuka" Kiba growled.
Becoming agitated and wary about having former Kumo-nin so close to his teammate, jade irises narrowed and hardened "So you think just because we're from Kumo that you think we're going to kidnap someone isn't that right" the pinkette behind Karin glared.
Kiba reeled back "Is it necessary to pick a fight with one another I mean they've been here five months and nothings happened in that time frame" the teenager at the rosette's side sighed quietly disliking fighting about something that was out of their hands.
Sakura backed down instantly "For the record Kiba, I'm Leaf born same as you and Karin is originally from Kusagakure" Sakura informed much calmer than a couple minutes ago because she didn't want to fight anymore either.
It was then the silent boy next to Kiba spoke "Your Sakura Haruno then, Ino Yamanaka use to talk about you often in the academy after you went missing and were thought dead, and I'm Shino Aburame" Shino guessed.
"Long story Shino, one I don't really feel like talking about at the moment" Sakura admitted, getting tired of repeating the same thing over and over, Shino nodded silently in understanding thankfully.
But that didn't mean it was the end of the conversation "What about this guy then where'd you come from and why did you come to Leaf" Kiba jabbed his finger in Haku's direction more curious about the mysterious teenager.
A quick glance at Sakura told him it was okay "My name is Haku Yuki and I came from Mizu no Kuni, I can't tell you the specific village and the reason I came here was so that I could live my own dream and find my own way in life" Haku explained.
With that Team Eight let them carry on until they stumbled across another team half an hour later, this one familiar "Hey Sakura isn't that the Hokage's grandson Konohamaru" Karin whispered having immediately extinguished her chakra.
When they'd seen what was going on "Mhm and it would probably be best if we helped out so here goes" Sakura rounded the corner and focused earth based chakra into her foot before stomping it on the ground.
The result was quite beautiful really as the unknown foreign ninja got dislodged as the earth rose up underneath his feet and unbalanced him enough to throw him right on his rear end, prompting him to release Konohamaru.
Free of his captor the boy ran straight to Naruto as all eyes turned to her "Sakura that was wicked how did you do that without hand signs" Sasuke dropped down out of the tree he'd been sitting in waiting for his chance to do something that would help.
Only to have his thunder stolen by the pinkette "Ever heard of the word Ninshu, no, well we derived Ninjutsu from it's teachings, basically Ninshu was jutsu without hand signs" Sakura grinned ignoring the foreign nin.
Because she guessed at the reason they would be in Hidden Leaf it didn't excuse their actions however so she thought it wise to impart a warning on the Suna genin "I'll warn you if you had hit Konohamaru you could have been disqualified from the exam, he's Lord Hokage's grandson" Sakura warned.
Immediately their faces paled "Do you ever relax Sakura" Nawaki sighed as the seven of them left the alley, though he was glad the confrontation ended on a slightly more peaceful note considering Sunagakure was Leaf's allies.
"Not to interrupt or anything but if we don't get going we'll be late" Naruto chimed in, reminding his teammates of what they'd originally been doing before getting sidetracked, Nawaki and Sasuke winced.
Poor Konohamaru was thrust into Sakura's arms and a moment later the whole of Team Seven was gone "Wow I've never seen them move so fast" Karin snickered in amusement, as they continued wandering.
Along the way they dropped Konohamaru off at his Uncle's house and hours later returned to their own place of residence and got a huge surprise upon arriving home for stood outside the house were several familiar people.
One of whom turned around and spotted them, charcoal orbs grew wide before he tapped on the redheads shoulder "Omoi stop that" Karui grumbled, irritated from having to wait for hours outside this house.
"Look Karui I know your tired but if you turn around all your anger will melt away I guarantee it" Omoi insisted enough that Karui rounded on him, raising her fist to probably punch Omoi but froze as she caught sight of what he was pestering her so much about.
Gold irises filled with tears just before Karin and Sakura were crushed into a hug by Karui "Sounds like you've been standing there for awhile sorry Karui-chan" Sakura apologized feeling terrible about making her friends wait.
Karui shook her head "Doesn't matter anymore your here, both of you, but can we go in so that we can finally sit" Karui asked, releasing the two from her restrictive hold reluctantly, Haku didn't have to hear that twice.
Merely unlocked the door for them to file into the house and five minutes later they were seated on furniture in the living room "It's good to see you Sakura, Karin and you must be their teammate Haku right, I'm Samui" Samui greeted.
Bowing and got a bow in return "Not that we're not happy to see you guys but what are you doing here" Karin questioned, coming back from the kitchen with a tray of sandwiches and a pitcher of tea with cups on it.
Samui furrowed her brow in confusion "For the Chunin Exams of course, we were sent to commemorate the treaty between Leaf and Cloud" Minori scowled, unhappy that she'd been stuck on Karui and Omoi's team even temporarily.
"Uh since when did Leaf have a treaty with Cloud" Sakura quirked a brow, seriously confused because none of them had been told about the treaty and now Samui's furrowed brow made sense, she was more up to date than them.
As the woman answered "The treaty went through about two weeks ago, you mean no one told you" Samui frowned, wondering if it was Leaf's policy to not inform its shinobi of new allies and the like.
On the couch next to Sakura, Haku shook his head "Unfortunately no though now I know why Raikage-sama was in Iron with us" Haku sighed, rubbing his temples tiredly, Fugaku was a difficult man to understand.
"Well you know now, also I have a request to make of you three, would you mind if Karui and Omoi imposed upon you for the duration of the exams, it was their request while Minori and I stay in a hotel" Samui put her hands together.
Karui and Omoi stared at Sakura and Karin hopefully "All up to you Sakura" Karin said, even if it would mean possibly sharing not that she minded it anyway, Karui and Omoi were their best friends so it wouldn't be a problem to put them up for a month or so.
Neither she or Haku were surprised when Sakura conceded to the request easily "Of course you can stay though you'll have to share a room since we've only got one spare" Sakura informed, looking between the two.
Who visibly cringed at sharing a room "Fair enough I guess, as long as we have a way to halve the room so each of us have our own space" Omoi nodded, luckily a solution was made easily by Sakura as she showed them the room.
It was nice and spacey to their surprise, sealed away the stuff that was stored in the spare then attached a divider to the wall with chakra halving it as requested "Before I leave you all Raikage-sama asked that I give you these" Samui said.
Pulling out three scrolls from her pouch then with Minori on her heels left "I'm not sure why I received something" Haku raised the scroll to eye level but there was nothing distinguishable on it that would tell him what was inside.
"Just have to open it I guess while those two unpack and get comfortable" Karin suggested, leading the way back into the living room where they got comfortable on the furniture again before unsealing the scrolls.
Tears filled Sakura's eyes almost instantly, Karin however gasped out loud and Haku, he stared at the items that came out of the scroll in stunned silence "Geez Raikage-sama" Sakura hastily dried her eyes and picked up the Kumo-hitai-ate and the ambassadors badge.
It was difficult to simply not put the hitai-ate on instead Sakura stood and placed the headband next to the picture of her, Karin and Cee "Oi any of you brats home" Tsunade hollered before barging right on into the house.
Where she found Team Thirteen in the living room "What do you need Tsunade-sama" Haku met her gaze evenly while Sakura set to work on sewing the ambassador badge to her hand made storage pouch.
Tsunade took a deep breath "I really hate to do this to you but the hospital is in need of a bunch of herbs, I came to ask on behalf of those idiots if you'd share your herbs with the hospital at the promise of being reimbursed for them later on" Tsunade inquired.
Sakura pursed her lips "Even if we shared we don't have near enough to stock the hospital" Karin frowned, not to mention they needed those herbs to for their business, a spike in the woman's chakra made her suspicious that this might not be Tsunade.
And her suspicion was right on the mark when "Well right now the hospital needs those herbs more than you do for your illegal business" the Tsunade impersonator scoffed, outing herself unintentionally.
"Okay Shizune-san you can stop pretending to be Tsunade-sama now and did she actually send you or was this another attempt at trying to scold us where you have no business doing so because what we do is none of your concern" Sakura scowled.
The shock of being figured out so quickly caused the woman to lose control of the transformation jutsu and revert back to herself in a poof of smoke "No you don't understand, what your doing is something no child should be doing especially with other duties that need tending" Shizune frowned.
Doing her best to get through to the girl "See that's what pisses me off, people trying to treat me and Karin like we're innocent kids, we've experienced death, I've killed, so stop trying to coddle us your not our mother and we don't need you attempting to fill that position either" Sakura snapped.
Shizune flinched back violently "Anyway if you don't have a valid reason for being here we'd appreciate it if you left" Karin waved her hand hoping the woman would take the hint and leave, a moment later Shizune was gone.
Back across the street to her shared house with Tsunade and Nawaki "Tried to tell you Shizune those brats wouldn't buy your act, I talked to Sarutobi-sensei awhile back and he told me their the most stubborn brats he's ever met" Tsunade snorted.
When her attendant entered the house fifteen minutes later "How could he allow them to shirk their duties like that, not to mention not assign them someone to take care of them, they need it especially with the trauma they've gone through" Shizune questioned.
Her mentor rolled her eyes "Your blind, those brats do missions and train nearly every single day on top of doing things for their company and that's none of our business, like I told you before they don't trust us and won't if you keep trying to order them about" Tsunade informed.
Meanwhile upon Shizune's departure Sakura rapidly calmed down again "Everything okay out here sounds like you about had an argument with someone" Omoi poked his head into the living room from the hallway.
Clearly a little wary about entering "Over and done with, anyway I'm kinda feeling like takeout or even going to a restaurant tonight for dinner, what do you think Sakura, Haku" Karin glanced to her teammates.
"Yeah we want to try Leaf Village cuisine and I'm starved despite those sandwiches from earlier, there you can tell us all that's happened in detail since you came here to Leaf" Karui piped in, flashing a hopeful smile at Sakura.
Knowing the pinkette wouldn't be able to resist indulging her "Guess we're going out to eat tonight" Haku chuckled when Sakura capitulated instantly to Karui's request, the girl was soft like that especially to important people.
Cheering erupted from Karui "First let us change out of our ninja wear into casual" Sakura said, vanishing up the stairs to her bedroom to change into the thick pink dress she'd made with a pair of white upper thigh length shorts.
She wasn't to surprised to see that Karin had, had basically the same idea as her but her dress was dark purple with black upper thigh length shorts underneath, it was Haku though that was the shocker he had taken his hair down for once.
And he was also wearing a pink yukata that had spirals on it, a thick light green obi tied around his waist "Whoa I didn't know you were a girl" Omoi blurted, Sakura and Karin clapped a hand over their mouths.
While poor Haku shook his head "You are mistaken I'm most definitely a boy Omoi-san I just have a more feminine appearance than most males so it's easy to mistake my gender" Haku assured vehemently.
Omoi turned a terrible shade of red in response that clashed with his skin color horribly and spluttered various apologies until Haku held up his hand "It's alright your not the first so I'm use to it unfortunately" Haku soothed.
Five minutes later the five of them managed to make it out the door where Sakura led them expertly down the streets to Yakiniku Q "Nice choice Sakura, this is one of the best restaurants in all of Konohagakure I believe" Karin grinned.
Pleased with the choice of restaurant as they filed in and claimed a booth that was empty and placed their order "So talk, I want to know all the gritty details that never makes it into your letters" Karui requested.
Narrowing her gold irises on Sakura "Well we don't leave out much just what we can't tell you even in person, mission details stuff like that but we can tell you we have a sensei now" Sakura admitted truthfully.
Karui sulked a little but decided a moment later it was better than nothing really "Is it true though what Raikage-sama said, that your uncle is the Head Samurai of Iron" Omoi inquired, still having trouble wrapping his mind around that tidbit.
Sakura nodded eagerly, before smiling thankfully at the waiter who brought their order and she quickly got started on grilling the various kinds of meat, chitchatting here and there as the food cooked before digging in once it was ready to be eaten.
Towards the end of their meal as they were finishing up someone stormed towards their table "Look who we have here some traitors and Kumo bastards having a nice little meal" a brunet sneered down at them.
With the pale eyes of the Hyuga clan, Karin nearly saw red at the insult but Sakura patted her knee forcefully "Hyuga-san don't you know it's rude to insult people" the pinkette met his glare with an unusual calmness about her person.
"You people killed my Father and I've decided to take revenge by getting even" the Hyuga snapped activating his dojutsu then simply lunged, he was unprepared for the senbon that hit several of his nerves.
That came unexpectedly from the unassuming teenager "This is neither the time or place for a fight, and your anger is aimed at the wrong person, these two had nothing to do with that incident as they weren't in Kumogakure at the time" Haku informed.
"And for another matter Leaf and Cloud are allies now" Haku announced, removing his throwing needles and sitting the Hyuga down in his vacated seat as Karin paid for their meal "By the way you'll get feeling back in ten minutes" Haku stated.
Unbothered by the hateful glare he was getting "That was kinda hot how you took him down with just a couple of senbon" Karui commented once they'd exited the restaurant, heading back to the house now that she was nice and full up on food.
Haku sent her a half smile before glancing at Sakura to see her reaction to Karui practically flirting with him only to sigh inwardly when he saw that the rosette was focused on simply getting them back home in one piece.
Since being out this late usually led to encounters 'Guess I'll be waiting awhile before Sakura even knows I exist as a potential love interest' Haku sighed again 'Well at least I know she won't be interested in anyone else' he mused thinking of the pro's of the situation.
Thankfully a few minutes later they made it back to the house without further incidence where they settled in the living room to chat for awhile longer amongst themselves before finally going to bed for the night.
To Omoi and Karui's chagrin the following morning after breakfast the whole of Team Thirteen vanished from the house for training so the two set out and found Samui and Minori to hang out with them while their friends were busy.
As for Team Thirteen they would never make it to training that day because a few blocks from the house the entirety of Team Seven ambushed the trio and haggled them down the streets to Naruto's cramped apartment.
"Please you have to tell us what we should do, Kakashi-sensei nominated us for the Chunin Exams but I'm not really sure we're ready despite Sasuke saying he is" Naruto rambled once crowded in his tiny living room.
Sasuke grumbled under his breath "What about you Nawaki-kun how do you feel about actively participating in the Exams" Karin focused her attention on the silent member of Team Seven who had only been on the team for a month at this point.
Nawaki grimaced "My Big Sis doesn't think I should take part but Shizune-san, sorry about her by the way, seems to think that I should at least try and I know if all of us don't show up no one gets to participate" Nawaki admitted.
Seeing that his teammates were genuinely conflicted about this whole Chunin Exams business Sasuke swallowed his pride "I'll follow along with whatever you two decide" Sasuke declared being considerate of their feelings.
Sakura couldn't hide her smile at Sasuke's generosity "You know I don't believe it's a rule for teams to well team up during the exam so we can do that if need be" Sakura offered, relieving the boys even more.
"Just one more thing, I overhead some people saying something about a written portion and the thing is I'm absolutely awful at written tests so what if I fail and we get disqualified" Naruto butt in with more worries.
Who knew the blonde had so many concerns "Hmm I bet if Sakura asked Ino she'd be able to help you out though that's a pretty big favor" Haku suggested only able to think up that one idea unfortunately.
But it was enough for now "Got a question, why did you guys wait so long to talk to us about this, you've had the past two weeks" Karin frowned suddenly, confused at their supposed laziness in regards to the exam.
Only Sakura could guess what had happened as Team Seven shared a look "Kakashi-sensei didn't tell you until yesterday isn't that right, that's what had you all in such a hurry" Sakura questioned with a roll of her eyes.
Trust Kakashi to wait until almost the last moment to inform his students of potentially life changing exams "Pretty much, I never really realized it before but Kakashi is kind of lazy and rarely teaches us anything" Sasuke nodded.
"I don't blame you now for getting so upset back then considering everything you know and stuff, I really am truly, deeply sorry for behaving like such an idiot" Naruto apologized, having done some major growing up since that mission.
And the time Sakura had come to his rescue when he'd gotten kicked out of that store, his gaze flickered to the shelf he had the stuffed Kurama stowed on since he knew the nine tails name now "By the way Sis said that she saw some people outside your house yesterday" Nawaki said.
Karin and Sakura nodded "Friends from Kumogakure, Karui and Omoi, their sensei Samui-san and teammate Minori-san I believe, they're gonna be staying in the house for the duration of the exam" Haku explained.
With that the conversation kind of faded a little bit before Sasuke spoke again "Can we train with you, if we're gonna possibly team up during the exam we need to be able to work in sync of one another" Sasuke asked.
Sakura shrugged not seeing a problem with it "Don't expect any of us to take it easy on you guys if we have to fight one another at some point though" Sakura warned, leading the way out of Naruto's apartment.
Poor boy really needed a bigger space than this but there wasn't anything she could do at the moment "Wouldn't expect any less than that Sakura-chan" Naruto flashed her a whiskered grin, following Team Thirteen to their usual training grounds.
Upon arriving Sakura, Karin and Haku disappeared for ten minutes "Oh that's right you didn't know that we finally got our armor and swords huh" Haku chuckled at the whole of Team Seven's flabbergasted expressions.
When the three of them emerged from the treeline decked out in armor, swords tied at their waists "That is cool, you guys are so lucky" Nawaki announced shaking out of his awe induced stupor after a few moments.
As Sakura gestured them closer, relaying the plan that would help them get in sync "Right on you Naruto" Karin smiled, readying herself with a few stretches, Naruto made the hand sign for his multi-shadow clone jutsu.
In a poof of smoke there were over a hundred Naruto's that transformed into bandits on his command then at Sakura's signal the six of them attacked en-masse after charging her sword with chakra and slashing through at least two clones.
Half an hour later they were still fighting the army of transformed clones because Sakura, Karin and Haku thought it would be a good idea to add their own transformed clones into the mix for variety and slightly more difficulty.
This had prompted Nawaki to get thrown into Karin by a possible transformed Sakura clone "Well that hurt, kind of felt like getting punched by Big Sis" Nawaki shook his head and stood with Karin's help.
Who waved her fans and unleashed a volley of senbon while Sakura's boomerang made an appearance by mowing through a crowd of clones to Naruto's horror "Duck Naruto" Karin called out to the blonde.
Naruto didn't hesitate merely did as told and dropped to the ground as a giant fire ball from Sasuke sailed through the spot his head had just been a moment prior "Sorry" Sasuke apologized but thankfully didn't have to worry.
As Sakura went to check on Naruto and found him just fine "Yikes, here Sakura" Naruto held out his hand, the pinkette took it and he threw her into a bunch of clones that were starting to crowd around them.
Immediately upon impact Sakura began punching "Out of the way Sakura I've got the rest of them" Haku declared, appearing in a rush of air and rapidly forming hand signs to use his crystal ice mirror jutsu.
"Thanks Haku" Sakura smiled, grabbing clones and throwing them into the dome as Haku pelted them with throwing needles, seeing this Naruto, Sasuke, Karin and Nawaki joined her in the effort of tossing the clones into Haku's jutsu.
Until finally after another hour and a half because the transformed Sakura, Haku and Karin clones hadn't made capturing them and taking them down easy, nearly depleted of chakra Teams Seven and Thirteen slid to the ground backs supporting one another but triumphant.
Because not only had that defeated a literal army of clones they had also worked in sync of one another easily "Never again" Sasuke groaned, feeling sore all over, resting his head on someones shoulder at the moment he didn't really care what it would look like to any passerby's.
He was exhausted "Agreed that was a nightmare and I thought evading Kakashi-sensei's summons was bad this was worse" Nawaki grimaced, poking his arm where a bruise was only to hiss and have Karin yank his hand away.
"Leaf really babies its genin no offense" Karin huffed, hands glowing green with the mystical palm as she began healing Nawaki of the cuts and bruises he'd sustained during their two hour long fight.
Sakura got to work on Naruto "Seriously how do you still have the chakra for that" Haku rubbed his face tiredly, still confused despite knowing his teammates for almost three months at this point, minus a week and a half.
The pinkette smiled "Chakra control, I've been working on it since I was seven Haku plus just before we took a food pill and converted the calories into chakra that we can use" Sakura explained simply.
"One of these days I want to take a trip to Kumogakure and uh find out how much harder it is there for myself" Naruto commented, knowing that there was a lot that he still had to learn before he was ever Hokage material.
Eventually Karin finished healing Nawaki and switched to Sasuke, while Sakura switched to Haku and then they healed themselves after taking a second food pill, just as Team Thirteen was walking away probably to return home to make and eat lunch.
Naruto grabbed Sakura's hand "Um I was wondering if you'd all like to eat lunch at Ichiraku with me, Sasuke and Nawaki, you can invite whoever else you want if you want to" Naruto offered, a bit nervous as he extended offer.
"Sure Naruto, Karin want to send a clone to find Karui and Omoi" Sakura shot a look in Karin's direction who grinned and did just that before the six of them headed for the Ramen Stand, five minutes after arriving.
Omoi and Karui came trailing down the street and thus Team Seven got the full introduction to Karin and Sakura's best friends from back in Kumogakure, they ate and had fun before going home for the night, and before they knew it, it was time for the Chunin Exams.