After everyone had eaten Kakashi begins dealing out orders to the group of genin he had been put in charge of "Alright Naruto, Sasuke you'll be with me protecting Tazuna today Sakura will stay here and protect Tsunami and Inari while Zabuza, Haku, and Utakata will be looking for Gatou" he looks around getting nods of acceptance from everyone but Zabuza so Kakashi sighs and looks questioningly at him "Haku can protect Tsunami and Inari I'd like Sakura to come with me and Utakata" Zabuza offers pleading with Kakashi to let Sakura go with him.
"Right you heard the man Sakura" Kakashi re-orders before ushering Naruto, Sasuke and Tazuna out of the house so they could get to the bridge "Ok Zabuza-san I'm guessing you'd like me to track Gatou the same I tracked Utakata-san am I right" Sakura bounces over to stand before him eagerly grinning up at him nodding and patting the girls head "Your right and your in luck I happen to have something of Gatou's that most likely carries his scent" here Zabuza chuckles darkly causing Sakura to laugh.
"Ok that is just weird" Utakata stares at them weirdly never having seen anyone other than Haku get along well with Zabuza like Sakura was "I'm sorry I've been told I'm not a normal genin" here Sakura grins cheekily before again summoning Tomo like she had the other day "Hello Sakura-sama do you have another job for me" he asks in his high pitched voice causing Utakata to edge away twitching slightly at the sight of a talking bug "Yes, I do Tomo-kun will you be willing to help us again" Utakata edges further away when Sakura talks back to it.
'Hmph look at him he's terrified of Tomo-kun unlike our Shika-kun who didn't freak out when we summoned Tomo-kun to help him look for Choji when he disappeared' Inner sniffs delicately and fade into the recesses of Sakura's mind causing Sakura to roll her eyes "Ok Tomo-kun can you tell me if there is any different scents on that" Sakura points to the walking stick because it couldn't be anything other than that and Tomo flies over to it flying over and around before flying excitedly back over to Sakura to eagerly tell her what he had found.
"Sakura-sama I've got the scent" Tomo squeaks happily hoping to please his mistress "Good work Tomo-kun" she pats him gently on his tiny body, standing from her crouched position eyeing Utakata who was on the other side of the clearing in exasperation before nodding at Zabuza "Tomo says he has a scent but as to whether it's Gatou's is still up to debate" Sakura says simply explaining as best she could "We'll just have to follow him then" Zabuza nods gesturing for Sakura to take off first before following behind her Utakata trailing behind.
Meanwhile Kakashi and his group had arrived at the bridge Naruto was using his shadow clones to help out seeing as Sakura wasn't there Kakashi was impressed because the other day all he did was complain but now he was being semi mature he was still an idiot but at least he wasn't hindering Tazuna unlike Sasuke who was standing stiffly and Kakashi briefly wonders what Sakura would do if she was here before dispelling the thought immediately and pulling out his orange book to read while keeping watch.
"Hey Senpai can I take a quick break" Naruto comes running up to him after several minutes dripping with sweat Kakashi nods and gestures for Sasuke to take over who glares at him rolling his eyes he tries another tactic "You don't want Sakura to know that you haven't been helping out now would you Sasuke-san or how about Mitarashi-san" Kakashi asks smiling triumphantly when Sasuke goes white at both names and jumps forward without complaint to begin helping with the work on the bridge.
"Ahahahahahaha" Naruto rolls on the ground laughing hysterically causing Kakashi to release a chuckle "I hate to admit it but if I didn't already know Sakura-chan and Anko-sensei I would be terrified into doing work like that as well" Naruto stands up after a few minutes grinning widely "What would she have done if she had been here" Kakashi asks in interest "She would just make him wish he was never born" Naruto says flippantly sitting on the ground and pulling out a storage scroll and staring at it quizically.
After a few minutes Kakashi was about to ask Naruto if he knew how to access the items within the scroll when the blonde perks up performs a handsign causing the seal on the scroll to shine and a puff of white smoke to appear Naruto grabs two of the items which turns out to be an apple and a bottle of water before resealing the rest of the stuff in the scroll and putting it back in his pouch while taking a huge bite out of the apple a few minutes into munching on his apple Naruto looks up to find Kakashi staring at him in surprise.
"mhat vs vt" he mumbles still chewing before swallowing and asking again "What is it Senpai" Naruto asks "Where did you learn to access a storage scroll like that" Kakashi asks genuinely wanting to know "Oh before we left this morning during breakfast Sakura-chan showed me for a few moments I couldn't remember the handsign she had assigned to the scroll but otherwise it was very simple" Naruto shrugs not really seeing the big deal about accessing a storage scroll but the way Kakashi made it sound it was supposed to be a lot harder than that.
"Is there something wrong with that" he asks in concern "Well no it's just that genin aren't supposed to learn about that until they are jonin" Kakashi shrugs "Oh should I tell Sakura-chan that" Naruto asks which prompts Kakashi to stare down at him in horror "Absolutely not Naruto there is nothing wrong with learning things early on just be careful how much you reveal to someone you don't know" Kakashi sighs patting Naruto on the head before returning to reading his book while Naruto finishes his apple and water.
Jumping up after putting his apple core and empty water bottle in a scroll made for storing trash Naruto stretches before creating a bunch of clones and leaps back into helping out the workers which prompts Sasuke to stumble back over to Kakashi and slide down the wall dripping with sweat and utterly exhausted 'Man Anko really isn't working enough with this kid' Kakashi sighs before pulling out an apple and water from his own storage scroll and sets them next to Sasuke who sighs in relief.
While the others were working Haku was bored he wasn't used to being demoted to babysitting "Haku-san could you go out to the garden and pick some herbs for me please" Tsunami says over her shoulder at him as she passed by him on her way to the kitchen rising from the table he sighs and heads out the back door to Tsunami's little herb garden and bends down picking several herbs before heading back in Haku calls out to Tsunami who comes from the kitchen and takes the herbs patting Haku on the head before going back into the kitchen.
Back with Sakura, Zabuza and Utakata Sakura had stopped on a branch when Tomo had paused mid-flight very abruptly "What is it Tomo-kun" she asked eyebrows furrowed in concern "Open your senses further Sakura-sama" Tomo orders and Sakura does so feeling the large group of people from the other day "Tomo can you go spy on them come back after a few minutes and tell me if there is a short man among them" Sakura orders feeling uneasy about this all of a sudden nodding Tomo flies away to do as his mistress bid him.
After a few minutes of the three standing around Tomo comes flying back in a hurry "Sakura-sama he's there" he squeaks out "Good job Tomo-kun" Sakura bows her head politely before dispelling Tomo "Alright so what's the plan Zabuza-san, Utakata-san" she turns around on her branch to face the two males behind her "Sakura how many of those moths can you summon and are all of them poisonous" Zabuza asks Sakura watching her carefully as she falls silent for several minutes.
'We shouldn't have dispelled Tomo-kun' Inner whines throwing herself around the confines of Sakura's head in a fit causing Sakura to roll her eyes "I can summon a larger horde than yesterday but it should be enough I'm guessing you don't want Gatou poisoned hence why you asked but unfortunately all my moths are poisonous on the bright side I can order them to stay away from Gatou and take out maybe five to six of the enemy at a time" she ticks off Zabuza listening closely to what she says.
"How long does it take for the poison to take affect if it's just one or maybe two of those moths on a person" Zabuza asks "Oh well if it's just a couple of moths on a person at a time it usually takes around 20 to 25 minutes" Sakura recites what she had learned long ago "That's a better idea place two to three moths on every person except for Gatou and then we trail them back to their hideout" Zabuza suggests a plan after contemplating for several minutes causing Sakura to nod in acquiesce.
"That's a brilliant idea Zabuza-san" Sakura exclaims clapping her hands excitedly as she summons a smaller horde of moths than yesterday and begins doling out orders to them too which they fly off and land on a person leaving Gatou alone and begin emitting their poison causing the person they land on to inhale the gas as the group of people and Gatou begin walking back to their base unaware that they were being tailed and that it was already to late to even defend themselves.
20 minutes later Gatou notices something wrong with his henchman they were lagging behind him instead of surrounding him like before "What the hell is wrong with you" he snarls turning around and glaring at the men growling in frustration when they lag further some even falling on the ground gasping for air as the poison in their bodies reach maximum potency and begin killing them off one by one until none of them are left and Gatou is alone realizing the trouble he's in starts running as fast as he can only to be stopped by a smiling Sakura.
"Hey pinky wait up" a menacing voice sounds from behind him and Gatou hesitantly turns to be faced with Zabuza Momochi and even worse Utakata and begins sweating profusely in fear what was even worse was the pink-haired girls smile it was spine-chillingly scary "Zabuza Momochi huh where's your apprentice don't tell me you've traded him in for little miss large forehead over there" Gatou straightens smirking after insulting Zabuza and Sakura all in the same sentence.
'Why that bastard' Inner grinds out attempting to take over Sakura's movement so that she could kill the man who dared insult their rather large forehead while Sakura inwardly struggles to keep her Inner self under control 'Inner stop we can't kill him remember' she tries to reason with Inner while outwardly remaining still and silent that smile still in place 'Fine' Inner pouts sulkily 'But if he insults our forehead again no one is gonna stop me next time' she fades causing to breathe a sigh of relief.
"I'd be careful Gatou about who you insult pinky over there is just as deadly as us Mist Nin who do you think it was that killed off all of your men" Zabuza calls out wiping the smirk right off of Gatou's face and causing him to turn and look at the pink-haired girl again sweat pouring of him now as his fear increases "Oy look at that Utakata pinky has him terrified" Zabuza and Utakata snicker as Sakura's smile widens at his words causing Gatou to fall on his ass now begging for his life to be spared.
"Please spare me" he begs kneeling before Sakura who stared down at him "It's not me you should be asking for forgiveness from" she smiles sweetly at him causing Gatou to gulp in fear while gesturing to Zabuza and he quickly turns around begging again while Sakura has a debate with Inner 'Look at him he's so freaking pathetic' Inner scoffs and Sakura agree's 'I know it's sad that we scare grown men so much that it causes them to beg like that' she says causing Inner to laugh wildly before fading again.
Grabbing Gatou after knocking him out Zabuza stares at Sakura looking her over critically "Tell Kakashi that if the Leaf Village ever finds itself in need of help we of the Hidden Mist will gladly lend aid" Zabuza bows his head politely after his small speech "I will thank you Zabuza-san" Sakura smiles at him before leading the way back to Tazuna's house so that Zabuza and Utakata could pick up Haku and be on their way back to the Hidden Mist Village while Sakura stayed in Haku's place to watch over Tsunami and Inari until her team got back with Tazuna.
5:00pm Tazuna calls out to his crew to pack up for the day while putting away his own tools he looks over at the group of shinobi that were his protection and sighs knowing that he was putting a lot of people in danger including the kids "Alright Kakashi I'm done for the day I'm sure Tsunami has dinner ready for us and I'm sure Zabuza and the others have returned" he leads the group of three back to his house finding Sakura had returned but the other three had disappeared so he asks Tsunami but it's Sakura who answers.
"Ah well we caught Gatou and his men are dead so Zabuza, Haku and Utakata have returned to their village and Kakashi-senpai when you turn in our mission scroll tell Lord Hokage that Zabuza said that anytime we of the Hidden Leaf Village needs help that they of the Hidden Mist Village would gladly lend their help" Sakura recites before standing and hurrying over to Naruto and Sasuke recognizing the signs of chakra exhaustion in both and placing a hand on both boys lends a little of her chakra to them.
"Thanks Sakura-chan" Naruto hugs her while Sasuke glares at her disappointed in himself moving passed to her without a single word while Sakura rolls her eyes at him before sitting next to Naruto as Tsunami brings out the dinner they had finished preparing while the guys were gone for the day "Oh Sakura you'll be going with us tomorrow since there is no longer a threat" Kakashi pipes up from his seat next to Sasuke who was eating and scowling at the same time still upset that Sakura helped him.
The next few days pass by in a blur as the bridge is finished and soon the group of four are on their way back to the Leaf Village once again Sasuke and Naruto bickering and Sakura sighing in exasperation Kakashi has deja vu as Sakura swings her head around and with out stopping scares the two boys into shutting up before mumbling under her breath about idiotic boys and about why she couldn't have gotten two female teammates instead of two males as girls were much more mature than boys.
Chuckling Kakashi ruffles her hair causing Sakura to quit muttering and swat his hand away while looking up at him pouting "Now, now Sakura" Kakashi's eye crinkles indicating that he was smiling as he raises his hands in defense causing her to roll her eyes and quit pouting "Senpai your strange" she says before quickening her pace seeing the village gates after several hours of travel she was eager to get home and tell her dad and Shino all about her mission not mention Sakura couldn't wait to sleep in her own bed.
"Alright you three you can head home I have to report into Lord Hokage" Kakashi gives them a two fingered salute before poofing away in a cloud of smoke "Well I'll see you guys tomorrow for training with Anko-sensei" Sakura says taking off in the opposite direction heading straight home entering the compound the maids welcome her home while her old caretaker tells her that her dad was eating lunch and Shino was still out training with his team and Sensei and Sakura hurries into the dining hall.
"Welcome home" Shibi says after pausing in eating after she had charged through the dining hall doors "I'm glad to be home that mission was a tough one" Sakura says plopping down in a chair and massaging her aching shoulders "Is that so you'll have to tell me later as I have to get back to work" Shibi stands causing her to pout and he chuckles "Later Sakura perhaps during dinner" Shibi offers and Sakura brightens before digging into her own lunch happily as Shibi exits the hall.
Later on after Sakura had taken a shower she heads back down to the dining hall for dinner with Shino and their father Shino had been surprised to see her home after several days of being out on a mission secretly he was a little jealous that her team had gotten a higher ranked mission and had gotten to leave the village while the rest of the genin that had graduated still had to do D-ranked mission but he wouldn't tell her that because Shino knew exactly how she would react and exactly what she would do.
After telling the two males about her mission outside the village and everything she had done Sakura finished her dinner and headed up to bed glad that she could sleep in her own bed that night the next day when Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were gathered in front of Anko waiting for their next order she shocs them "Well you three I've nominated you for the chunin exams" Anko grins at them cheekily as they stare at her in shock after a few minutes they burst out in a loud exclamation "WHAT"!