Atsuko poked at the darkening circle above Sakura's heart that was forming quicker than she'd thought it would. Another two weeks and she expected it would be fully formed.

"You're making extraordinary progress Sakura. How is your stamina going?"

"I'm able to make three laps around the village in an hour Bāchan and I'm up to fifty pounds on each limb. I can do a hundred push ups, fifty pull ups and, eighty squats at this weight."

"Good. Are you remembering to stretch?"

"Hai Bāchan," she replied around a mouthful of rice.

"And your genjutsu lessons, how are they?"

"We're working on external genjutsu first. Morino-san said that my layers are nice and light and are difficult to detect but I'm being too nice. That I go for distraction and misdirection more often than not. He says there's a time and a place for that, but I should also learn how to employ crippling fear."

"He's not wrong. Distraction and misdirection work if the enemy hasn't noticed you're there, but in the rush of confrontation, adrenaline is pumping and they're that much more aware of their surroundings, that makes it harder for a genjutsu to hook into their senses."

Sakura paused and rolled that thought around a bit. "I hadn't thought of that." Atsuko watched her carefully. She really was proud of the girls progress and if she regularly happened to hear her crying at night, well, she wasn't one to judge the grief one felt after losing one's family.

"What does everyone fear?" Sakura mused, her mind turning inward as she mindlessly ate breakfast. Atsuko knew the answer to that. Sakura knew it unconsciously too, but the discovery would have to be found on its own.

"What about your team?" Sakura snorted derisively.

"They're the same as always. The boys are so determined to advance individually that they've ignored teamwork. Our missions are divide and conquer, we all have our bits to do, but somewhere along the line it turns into a competition for them and I end up picking up the slack just to get it completed. I'm getting to the point where I'm willing to have a failed mission just to teach them a lesson. It's not like I haven't picked up more solo's to show that I'm not the problem."

"It will be a valuable lesson for them to learn. Not all missions are fun, or align with your beliefs or morals. But you are being paid to do a job and you ability to stay on task no matter your personal feelings reflects not only on you but on your village. A good reputation sees the village hired for more jobs. A good personal reputation means that you'll be able to fit into any team you're asked to join. It's unlikely that you will stay with your genin team forever, so your future teammates need to be able to trust you to do your job so they can do theirs, just as you need to be able to trust your future teammates for the same reason."

Atsuko watched her nodding along. "You also need to be able to trust your team leader to step in and put them back on track. These things aren't always up to you to fix."

Sakura stilled and her shoulders slumped. "I know," she said. "Kakashi-sensei concentrates on the boys, especially now that Sasuke-kun has unlocked his Sharingan, and Naruto is loud enough to get some attention."

"You just need to remind him that he has three students."

"Well I might just get my chance today." She swallowed the last of her breakfast and took her dishes to the sink.

"Off you go, you'll be late if you don't leave now."

"I'll end up waiting for Kakashi-sensei to arrive anyway. We always do. Might as well tidy things away here first."

With that same thought she strolled through the village instead of running to their meeting spot and took a seat up against the rail and settled in to meditate while they waited for Kakashi.

"You're late," Sasuke stated, glaring at her.

"So? Kakashi-sensei isn't here, and I had had better things to do than wait for him to take an interest in us."

"You're supposed to be on time. We're a team."

That's a freaking joke and a half.

"Are we?" she asked. There was part of her that was squealing that he was talking to her, was paying her attention, but more and more recently, she just couldn't help but wonder why she liked him. It was obvious that he didn't like her back. He didn't like any of the girls that chased him.

So why am I wasting my time and effort on him?

About time you thought of that. Sakura brushed Inner's voice away into a corner. She didn't need her snark on the topic of Sasuke-kun.

"What are you talking about Sakura, of course we're a team!" Naruto yelled.

"If you say so," she dismissed with a sigh and turned her concentration to her chakra.

Her pool of chakra was low, most of her chakra was being shoved into her seal, but her reserves were significantly larger. Even with a low pool, she had at least five times as much chakra available to her as she used to have when she had a full pool.

Atsuko was teaching her how to mask her chakra and sense others. Technically they were both chūnin level skills, but she was doing rather well. She was able to mask enough to appear to have a little more than half of what her reserves were when she returned from Wave, and she was slowly building up a chakra sense of the people she interacted or crossed paths with on an everyday basis.

Sakura had even started building up a chakra sense of the ANBU that she saw hurrying out of the village or running to the nondescript building on the other side of the Hokage tower. She was able to sense a hundred meters out from her person when she was walking through the village. That shrunk to about thirty meters when she was concentrating on something else, and when she was meditating she could push her circle out to half a kilometer.

She couldn't sense what they were doing in detail, but she was able to sense their presence and if they were relaxed or if they were fighting.

She gently pushed out her senses and picked up Kakashi standing at the memorial stone.

Again.

He was there regularly when he was supposed to be training them, when he was supposed turning in reports to the Hokage, and when they were supposed to be on missions. D-rank was far below his usual pay-grade, but he was still being paid to be their sensei to make up for not being out on other missions.

Any chance we can ask for a new team? Inner asked and Sakura got the feeling that she was gritting her teeth.

We can ask. It's unlikely to happen. We get taken off the team and suddenly Sasuke and Naruto don't have a third team member and can't advance their rank. The only reason we're on this team is to give them the chance to excel. I doubt we are a priority for anyone in terms of actual fighting. Sakura spat back.

Ouch, you've got claws after all. About time you showed them.

Sakura huffed out a breath of annoyance and tried to meditate again when her sensing web flickered and went out.

She knew exactly when Kakashi was about to arrive and got to her feet mere seconds before he appeared in front of them.

"Wow Sakura, that was so cool, how'd you know?" Naruto asked loudly, and even Kakashi looked interested in her answer.

"Coincidence Naruto," she waved it off. "I'd been sitting for too long I needed to shift positions," she added pointedly for her sensei but he'd already gone back to dismissively paying attention to her.

Their mission was to do both the laundry and the gardening of a sweet old lady, who Sakura had met before while doing a solo laundry mission. She could see it ending badly when after she boldly asked who the team leader was.

"Hmm, that's a good idea Sakura, you should all get the chance to take the lead on missions." Kakashi said. "Let's start with Sasuke."

Her not so big crush practically preened at being chosen first for all that he kept his expression neutral.

"Sakura you'll do the laundry and that garden bed behind the washing line while Naruto and I will mow the lawns and take care of these garden beds," he announced.

"Right!" Naruto cheered. The division of the tasks felt unfair especially if the laundry pile was as large as it had been last time but Sakura kept quiet. She knew that she'd be able to complete her tasks, and if she couldn't then good team members would help her complete her tasks once they'd completed theirs.

Sakura could hear them bickering when she returned to the line to hang out the second load of washing. If she wasn't mistaken, the clean white sheets from the first load of washing were in the direct line of fire if the boys got into it like usual.

She ignored them and got the last of the washing on the line before watering the garden bed she was to work on. She'd just finished turning over the bed and had a modest pile of weeds next to her when the owner of the house started yelling that they'd ruined her gardens.

Sakura felt a headache coming on because she had the sinking feeling that she wouldn't be getting paid today. The boys had gotten into a competition over who could clear their patch of garden of weeds before the other. Their 'weeding' had ripped out actual plants as well as the weeds, and in their 'enthusiasm' for gathering the discarded plant matter into a pile, they had been throwing it over their shoulders not taking in any of their surroundings such as the washing behind them or the fact that they were just scattering the plants, weeds, and dirt over the lawn.

Sakura rewashed the sheets that had been smeared with dirt, plant slime, and other greenery and folded the rest which were already dry. She then took a seat next to Kakashi and pulled out a horror novel she wanted to finish.

"Don't you think you should help them?" Kakashi asked lightly. "That's what a good teammate would do."

"A good teammate can be trusted to do their share. A good teammate would do what's tasked to them efficiently and effectively, staying focussed on the job without getting distracted. A good teammate is supportive of their team and actively works to help them improve their skills and abilities. Do you honestly think I have good teammates sensei?"

"They're not that bad."

"You are well aware that this isn't the first mission they've messed up because they got distracted or bored. This is just the first mission where I'm refusing to cover for them, to fix their mistakes while you separate them from killing each other, because if I can't trust them to weed their share of a garden then I can't trust them with anything more important."

"Tch whatever," Sasuke sneered. "Everyone knows you're the weak link of this team. Your taijutsu is pathetic, you can't keep up with us when we run, you don't have any ninjutsu. You have no skills at all."

Kill him.

"Now now Sasuke, Sakura does have a point. But Sakura, Sasuke has a point too."

"I've been working on my skills on my own because you seem to have forgotten that you have three students. I know I'm your last priority but you still have a duty to train me," she snapped. "Or are you waiting to pay attention to me when my name's on the memorial stone?"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed and she wondered if she'd taken it a step too far.

"That's enough Sakura," he said coldly. "Put away the book and start sorting out the plants from the weeds. Naruto, Sasuke prepare the garden beds, you're going to replant what you've pulled out."

Sakura stiffly stood and tucked her book away. She didn't rush to complete her additional job, but she didn't slack either. She gathered all of the weeds into the fire pit in the back yard ready for Sasuke to set them on fire and save on disposal fees once she had finished sorting. She sneered when Kakashi gestured for her to help the boys replant the uprooted flowers, herbs and bushes and instead cleared the last of the laundry that had finally dried and took it inside to fold ready for the owner to put away.

The owner walked with them back to the Hokage's office to file an official complaint once the three of them had finished replanting what the boys had torn out.

"Future requests can be handed out to Sakura-san solo or to any other genin team. I will not accept these two boys again. Completely unprofessional."

"What did she mean solo?" Sasuke hissed at her when they left the Hokage's office after being reprimanded.

Sakura sniffed. "I've been taking a few solo D-ranks." Naruto looked stunned that they could do that, and Sasuke just looked angry.

"Why didn't you include the team Sakura?" Kakashi asked disappointed.

"Because if I do them solo, I get the full pay and don't have to split it between the three of us."

"That's disappointing Sakura. Sasuke and Naruto don't have parents or a clan to fall back on like you do." She glared at him.

"You don't know anything about me at all do you? My clan is civilian," she sneered. "Worse they're civilian merchants. They're tight-fisted with their coin and are only willing to help out when they get something out of it too. A kunoichi doesn't bring a lot to the trader's table."

"You've still got your parents," Sasuke glowered.

"My parents were killed when their trade caravan was attacked when we were in Wave. I came home to two urns having missed their funeral. No Sasuke. I don't have my parents."

She stormed off, not in the mood to deal with them or Sasuke's woe-is-me bullshit.

I guess my crush on him is finally over.

Reviews please. You're making me beg.

~G