Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Inner talking
Sakura talking to inner
A C-rank Mission
When Kakashi dragged himself back to the training grounds an hour after Sakura had hit him, he had told the genin they had passed and to meet him the next day for a training session. The group had seperated, ignoring Narutos' request to go for ramen for various reasons (needed to get home and didn't really feel like eating ramen, didn't want to spend time with the hyperactive blond, needed to lie down because his body was aching, I'm sure you can guess which is which).
At home Sakura had explained what had happened to her mother and Shizune, who had finished at the hospital for the day (or more precisely skipped out on doing anything more that day - Shizune of course under protest) and come home to see how her testing had gone. Both of the females had been outraged at some of the things the boys had done, and Tsunade had burst out laughing when Sakura ruefully admitted she had hit her sensei. Even Shizune giggled at it. Apparently a man named Maito Gai - who was according to her mother was a bit of a freak with weirdly thick eye-brows, wore a green jumpsuit and was always raving on about youth - and one of his students - who was a mini Gai - had dragged Kakashi (under protest) to the hospital to recieve treatment for his injuries.
Sakura had also started laughing when her mother told her that Gai always claimed that he and Kakashi were 'eternal rivals' and that she had accidently sent him flying into the middle of their team training session. Admittedly she should feel sorry for him, but she was under the opinion that he deserved it - especially since he didn't admit to what had happened.
After that they days took on a routine. In the morning Sakura would go to the bridge where the genins had taken to meeting Kakashi and meditate or read while Naruto ranted about something and Sasuke brooded until Kakashi got there and give them some lame ond obviously fake excuse. Then they would train for a couple of hours, usually just sparring. Kakashi had at first attempted to get Sakura to work on her chakra control while the boys sparred together, and give her easier excercises than he gave to them, but changed his mind after she pointed out that chakra control was important for a medic and therefore she had alreadly learnt it - demonstrated by her walking on water - and ignored him, simply doing the same amount of things the boys did, sometimes even more. Now when sparring they just had two matches at a time, one of them sparring with Kakashi and the other two facing eachother. The boys both learned quickly not to go easy on Sakura since, due to her advance training, if they did they would only get hurt - not that they didn't regardless.
Sakura would then heal any injuries they sustained and they would then do a couple of D-rank missions. With those finished Sakura would heal Narutos' injuries (though how he managed to get hurt while pulling weeds was something she still couldn't figure out) and they would either go to Ichiraku's or the Uchiha complex for lunch. She quite liked Mikoto, she was very nice and had taken instantly to Sakura - probably due to the lack of younger females around the complex - and while she didn't exactly like Fugaku, he hadn't done anything so far to make her dislike him either. Occasionally Shisui and Itachi would be there aswell and they always provided interesting conversation and sometimes good tips about missions or training.
They would split up after that and Sakura would usually go to the hospital for a while and help her mother and Shizune with anything they needed getting some good practice in healing trickier wounds that Sakura hadn't previously encountered during her travelling.
In the later afternoon she would go and find Hinata and they would train together for a while, occasionally with Kiba and Shino, working on different skills than the ones their senseis were teaching them. On the odd occasion Hinata wasn't around she would either train by herself or wander around Konoha getting to know the village and the people in it before going home.
Quite honestly Sakura loved her new routine, she had everything she hadn't had since she was five; a permanent home, friends her own age, waking up in a familiar place every day. But despite all of that it still made her slightly uncomfortable. She had been used to being on her own, with only her mother and Shizune for proper company, and now it was completely different. Because of their work at the hospital (aswell as Tsunades' more unsavoury habits) and her own training Sakura had little chance to have proper talks with them anymore which was more than a little disconcerting. She was slowly getting used to it though, but she still missed her old lifestyle at times.
Currently Sakura was sitting in a tree on one of the missions with her earpiece in once again slightly annoyed at her teammates inability to listen to her, well to listen to anyone really.
'What's the distance to the target?' An adult voice came through the communicater.
'Five meters, I'm in position.' Another voice crackled.
'Hn. Me too.' The third came through.
Sakura sighed. "I'm good. But you know it would be easier to just - "
Then she heard a yowl and saw a small black cat wearing a bell scratching at the boys faces.
"Never mind." she murmmered as she walked forward to where Naruto was desperately trying to keep a hold of the cat. Reaching out she carefully took her from the boy and placed her comfortably in her arms where the cat instantly calmed down and started purring as Sakura stroked her.
"Eh! No fair! That cat is evil towards us, why does it like you?!"
Sakura responded by giving the blond one of her becoming increasing common are you an idiot looks. "Because, Naruto, animals are much more perceptive than humans when it comes to some things. I didn't harbour any ill-intent towards her so she obviosly would like me better than she does you. Plus animals in general seem to like me."
Back in the Hokages' office everyone in the room was feeling decidedly sorry for the cat as the fire daiymos' wife walked out gushing about her precious Tora and nearly strangling/suffocating/squashing the poor cat.
The Hokage coughed softly. "Now then, Kakashis' Team 7, your next mission is...babysitting the Elders grandson, shopping in the neibouring village, and helping with the potato digging, -"
"Tora come back!"
"- or catching Tora again."
"NO, NO, NO, NO!" Yelled Naruto, obviously disgusted with the jobs. "I want to a you know, more incrediable mission! Find us a better one!"
Sakura sighed. She did agree with him - who would enjoy their current missions - but that was rather the wrong way to go about getting something better.
The was a scraping of chair legs against the ground as Iruka stood up. "You idiot! Your just a rookie! Everyone starts off with the simple missions and works their way up!"
"But! BUT! We keep getting the crappiest possable duties!"
Coughing softly Sakura cut off Irukas' reply. "With no disrespect Hokage-sama, would you mind if I put something in before the boys continue with their yelling match?" she inquired politely.
Said boys flushed as the Hokage nodded his assent while chuckling.
Inclining her head in a gesture of respect Sakura began speaking. "While Narutos' method and reasoning were a bit...different...he does have a point. We have been genin for a couple of months already and we have yet to go on any missions appart from D-ranks, admittedly this is understandable for our rank, but lower C-rank missions are also allowed for genin. Participating in a C-rank would allow us to get a better idea of what is required for higher level ninja...and it would also mean you didn't need a repeat of this for a while."
Kakashi sighed in relief, he had thought that he would be getting yelled at for this later, but Sakuras' well reasoned arguement may have saved him from that, nearly the entire room seemed to have been convinced.
"Well in that case. Team 7 I am assigning you a C-rank mission. It is to protect a certain client."
"YAY! Who is it?! A feudal lord?! A princess?!"
"Calm down, I'll introduce you to him now. Will you come in now."
Through the door came a relatively old man with a large backpack and a sour-looking face. "What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats. Especially the blond one with the stupid face. Are you really a ninja?" Naruto blinked a couple of times before realising what the man had said and lunging at said man.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Kakashi held Naruto back by his collar.
"Calm down. There's no point in killing the one we're supposed to protect."
"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to provide super protection until we reach my home and I complete the bridge." And then he took a swig from his beer bottle.
Oh great. Another drunk.
This is going to be a looonnng mission.
Since they were leaving the next day early in the morning Sakura went home first and found anything she might need, including her full medic kit, and sealed it into two medium-sized scrolls that she could easily fit in her pockets before dropping by the hospital to inform he mother just in case neither her or Shizune made it back that night. After that she decided to go to the training ground located by the Hyuuga compound where she and Hinata usually met up.
Since she was rather early that day, due to her being let off hospital duty in order to prepare, Hinata wasn't there yet. Instead of wasting the time Sakura started to work on a new technique she had developed with some help from Shizune that would probably come in handy since they were going to the wave country.
The technique had been inspired by the way some sand kunoichi used fans to manipulate wind. Sakura had loved the way it worked and wanted to learn herself. The problem with this was that her chakra nature wasn't wind, but water and earth, the same elements needed in order for her to use the wood element. While she was still determined to learn to use it for air, at the moment she had found a way to use it in the same way for water. By infusing the water with a very small amount of her chakra, and lacing her two fans with it she could make the water follow the movements she made. Hinata had also helped her to add the finishing touches to the technique with her byakugan in return for Sakura showing her the basics, since she also had a water element affinity as they had discovered, and teaching her how to walk on water.
Both girls found the technique to be usable, and since they used small fans which could easily be folded and hung on their belts it would be useful for missions where they were unable to bring weapons.
Standing in the middle of the conveniently located lake Sakura snapped open her fans, which were a deep blue and decorated with tiny silver stars, she began to move. She was just about dancing on the surface, large streams of water following the tiniest movement of her fans. Just about finished Sakura heard a loud squeel, signifying Hinatas' arrival.
"Saku-chan that was amazing!" Hinata had dropped her stutter a few weeks after they had met - only when she was around Sakura alone though.
Said pinkette spun around to face the girl. "Thanks Hina-chan. I thought it would be a good idea to practise this today since I'm going to the Wave country tomorrow."
Her pearl eyes widened in alarm. "Your leaving?!"
Realising her mistake Sakura hurridly explained. "My team has a mission to escort a bridge-builder there. We should be back in a week or two though."
"Oh."
Noticing and understanding Hinatas' disappointment, afterall it was the first time either of the girls had had a proper female friend she smiled reassuringly at her shy friend. "I promise I'll come find you as soon as I tell my mother I'm back. I would come beforehand, but can you imagine her reaction if she found out that I was back and didn't tell her?"
Hinata giggled. Since becoming friends with Sakura she had met Tsunade several times and was well aware of both her temper and her protectiveness of her daughter. She had thanked every star out there that Tsunade had decided she liked her, even coming and help train the two girls when she got the chance. Although she wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing, Tsunades' training sessions were hell. After suffering through a couple of them Hinata had realised the reason behind Sakura being much more advanced than most ninja her age - privately she was pretty sure that Sakura could beat her cousin Neji in a fight, probably several chuunin aswell.
The rest of the session was spent with the two girls standing some distance apart on the lake and attemting to hit eachother by manipulating water. Sakura did win their mini-battle, but both girls ended up taking multiple hits.
The next morning Sakura changed into the travel outfit her mother had picked out for her. Tsunade loved playing dress up with Sakura as her doll, but most of the time Sakura didn't mind, while the clothes were usually a bit...girly, they were also practical.
The outfit she had chosen this time was made up of a form-fitting black long-sleeved shirt with a scoop neck, a short rusty-red skirt patterned with pale pink flowers, and the same red-coloured covered ninja-shoes with knee-high black socks topped off with a little white bow on each side.
Making her way to the gate Sakura paused. This was going to be a relatively long mission, so it would be a bad idea to start off on the wrong foot with their client, which would be bound to happen if Kakashi was left to get there by himself. Sighing a bit she searched for his chakra and started to make her way towards it.
It only took her two minutes to get to him, and when she did she paused. She had half expected to find him reading his novel, but instead he was standing infront of the memorial stone, his eyes fixed upon it. Suddenly what he had said to them when the first became genin rang through her mind. 'My best friends name is on there' Oh.
"Who was he?" She asked him softly, causing him to start slightly. He obviously hadn't noticed her there. "Your best friend I mean?"
Kakashi regarded her with his one visable eye for a few moments before replying. "Uchiha Obito."
Something clicked in her mind then that she had been wondering about for a while. "So that's why your called Kakashi of the sharingan."
He chuckled softly. "Your a smart girl Sakura."
"I try. It nearly always make things easier in the long run."
"What else do you know?"
"Alot. Should we get going? I don't really want to make our client wait since we have to put up with him for a while yet." Then her face split into a wicked grin that no-one who hadn't seen it - as well as several who had - would ever believe could cross her features. "Plus I can't sense the boys chakra around there yet, and wouldn't it to be fun to tell them that they're late."
The jounin looked at her with something like shock. "Aren't you supposed to be the nice one?"
"Oh I am." She quickly assured him, using her most innocent voice. "But that doesn't mean I can't be evil when I want to be. It can be alot of fun at times, and honestly, considering the amount of time I have to spend with the three of you, and how much you try my patience, it's only fair that I get to mess with you boys at times. Wouldn't you agree sensei?"
He actually laughed.