The village of Suna was huge, about 60 miles around and there was one way in. Straight through the guards posted at the entrance. Sakura and Itachi approached the guards and handed them their papers. One guard stopped them and asked if they needed directions.

"Oh, thank you, that would be really nice!" Sakura said, pulling her bag further on her back.

"I just thought I'd offer, you two are the only people scheduled to come into town today." He said, grabbing one of each of their bags.

He took them to the south side of the village, also known as the Fru- fru part of town. (According to Sakura)

Itachi stayed close to Sakura and warded off curious eyes, even though she was young she was fit and had the beginnings of a figure.

The guard, whose name was Fujisaki, led them to a large motel-like building. Bidding them a farewell he left them standing there covered in road dust among people that were richly dressed and giving them dirty looks. Needless to say, they rushed into the building.

The woman at the front desk gave them separate keys and instructions to their rooms, which were on the same floor, 3 rooms apart.

Sakura threw her bags onto the large couch that sat in the middle of an open room with an entertainment center off to the right; there were three doors, one led to the master bedroom: king size bed, walk in closet and a big bathroom. Another led to a kitchen with a small dining room attached. The last one led into a small greenhouse, one that Sakura had requested.

After unpacking her few belongings, Sakura took her flower scroll into the greenhouse and sat in front of a trellis, wrought out of black silver and inlaid with jade; it was an object that stored chakra very well.

Removing the seedlings Sakura planted them at the base of the trellis and watered them thoroughly. The next 20 minutes she focused on pushing every ounce of chakra she had into the garden fixture.

Itachi knocked on the door as Sakura exited the bathroom, her hair pulled up into a bun behind her. Answering the door Itachi froze and stared at the room in amazement.

"Why is your room so much bigger than mine?" He asked walked over to one of the doors and peered inside.

"You didn't notice the dirty look the woman at the front desk gave you?" Sakura asked, giggling.

Shaking his head, he plopped down onto her couch and put his feet on her table.

"Chioba-sama wants to see us 5 o'clock." He said motioning toward the clock.

"It's 4:45! Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" she yelled running into the bathroom she came out with a portable blow dryer in one hand and a handful of makeup in the other.

It took her 3 minutes to artfully curl her hair and apply makeup. She dressed in her normal ninja garb and together they left the condominiums to the north side of the village. The meeting building was a traditional teahouse; Sakura and Itachi were led to a private room, in which Chioba-sama was already waiting.

Sitting properly they accepted the tea they were given and they exchanged idle chat.

Then the time finally came for their first assignment. In order for her to further her training, she needed to be given a task.

"I need you to remove Shukaku from Gaara no Subaka, before the full moon next month." She said slowly.