Chapter 8: Visiting Shinobi

Reviews: Glad you guys like it. Though I don't plan on having this story be a harem one. Looks like I managed to get back to this story right at the two-month mark, started writing on the 17th. See if I can get it out before the day is done. Did it! Sorry to keep you guys waiting, I just wanted to focus more on the ones that are closer to done. Now I'm back to rotating five stories. But that will probably be 4 pretty soon.

After reconciling with Ino, Sakura headed home. She hugged her parents and told them about her long mission. Then it was a few days of well-deserved relaxation after successfully completely a mission that she was not qualified for at all. Kakashi told the Third Hokage about it, so he would send a letter to Tazuna saying they would have to pay for at least a B rank mission in time. Until then the Land of Waves would not receive any shinobi aid from the leaf. Though Sakura doubted they might need it, Tazuna agreed that the debt had to be paid. Now that the bridge was built, and Gato and his thugs were gone they could get their land back to prosperity. Perhaps in another few weeks, Sakura and her teammates would get around three times their original pay. That was a pleasant thought.

During her days off she looked at herself in the mirror. Noticing her long pink hair, Sakura gazed at it. While she liked it long, it could sometimes get in her eyes. That would get in the way. She'd grown it out because she heard Sasuke liked long haired girls. That was obviously not true though, she'd gotten to know him now and had made up her mind to go for Naruto instead. Time for a change. She took a pair of scissors out from her bathroom… she was not the same person as she'd been a short time ago after becoming a Shinobi. The person before had been a fangirl single-mindedly devoted to winning the heart of a cool boy, neglected her training to be a ninja, and turned her back on her best friend for it. She was now a girl that was going to take her training seriously to help her teammates and village. She wouldn't toss friendships aside anymore, she'd get a wonderful husband that would love her and be with her… someday.

After resting for a few days and spending time with her family, Sakura met Sasuke at the bridge by the river that went through the Hidden Leaf Village. It wasn't nearly as big as the one they'd protected in the Land of Waves, but it served as a good way to cross the river here.

"Hello Sasuke," Sakura greeted.

"Hmph." Sasuke grunted in greeting, noticing her haircut but didn't say anything.

There was silence, Sakura leaned against the bridge. Soon Naruto arrived, his eyes widening as he saw her hair.

"Uh, good morning Sakura!" he said in a slightly shocked voice. "What'd you do to your hair?"

"Got a haircut," Sakura said running a hand through it with a blush. "I hope it looks okay."

He quickly overcame his initial shock. "You look good with just about any style I'd say Sakura."

She blushed harder at these words. "Aw thanks Naruto!"

She felt a desire to kiss him in thanks but held back. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at them. He gritted his teeth. Why am I getting this feeling? Am I jealous? No, I can't be? Sakura was just an annoying fangirl! She's gotten better though. Not constantly chatting with me and asking for a date or fawning over me. But why am I getting this feeling seeing her choose Naruto?

Sasuke thought for a while and couldn't come up with an answer. Then Kakashi showed up.

"Well, hope you all had a good few days off?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah! But I'm ready to go for another mission!" Naruto shouted.

Sakura smiled at his positivity and eagerness, though wouldn't mind if he were a bit quieter.

"Well, alright. But we won't be doing anymore C rank missions for a while," Kakashi said.

Sakura was relieved to hear that. Even though she felt confident she could handle some thugs now, after that mission to the Waves which was easily B or maybe even A class, she was ready to tone it down a bit.

"Ah come on I want to do more like the one we were on!" Naruto complained.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed wacked him on the head. "You want to get us all killed!? We were lucky to get out of that alive!"

Sasuke nodded. "She's right… I was glad to get some real battle experience, but I think we better not push our luck."

Naruto sighed. "Alright. Guess we'll just do the lame missions then."

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Cheer up Naruto, we have something coming up soon that you'll probably like… if you survive."

That freaked his genin out.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"It's a surprise."

…

They did another few rank missions for the next couple of days. Getting herbs from a mountain top which was easy enough. Though there was a thug at the top of the mountain that was trying to hoard the valuable herbs for himself. Team 7 easily took him out without breaking a sweat. They then had to catch Tora the cat again. Naruto refused to go after the cat since he'd gotten a lot of her claws last time. That left Sasuke to do it and he got the cat without even breaking a sweat, holding it by the neck so it couldn't scratch him. He then smirked at Sakura who smiled.

"Good job Sasuke!" Sakura said, offering him praise not as a boy she had a crush on, but as a teammate.

Sasuke… smiled?

"Heh, nothing I can't handle," he said.

They returned the cat as Sakura looked at him. She'd never seen him give a sincere smile before. Naruto meanwhile just looked at Sasuke jealously.

"Man why are you able to get that cat without getting scratched up?" he shouted at the Uchiha.

Oh boy, here we go again. Sakura thought.

"Because I'm better then you!" Sasuke said. "Unless you've got what it takes to prove me wrong!"

"Hey, I'm the one that beat Haku back in the Land of Waves!" Naruto retorted.

"Oh yeah? Well let's see you use that power you did that with come on!" Sasuke said extending his hand in welcome to the challenge.

Naruto gritted his teeth, but no red chakra appeared.

Sasuke scoffed. "I don't what power that was but if you can't call upon it at will then you're not worth my time."

"Sasuke that's enough!" Kakashi said. "If you two start picking fights with each other I may have to reconsider applying you for the Chunin Exams."

They all looked at him in shock.

"Oops!" Kakashi realized his mistake, he'd meant for it to be a surprise.

"The Chunin Exams?" Naruto exclaimed. "You're gonna make us Chunin!"

"But Kakashi Sensei we've only been Genin for less than a couple months!" Sakura said.

"That's true, normally we'd wait for a year before letting Genin apply, but you three have shown remarkable prowess already. Taking on experienced ninja looks good on your resumes."

Naruto grinned, Sasuke smirked, and Sakura… was nervous.

"I don't know about these two, but I don't think I'm ready," Sakura said looking down.

"Well, it's up to you Sakura," Kakashi said. "You might not be, but it could be good experience that you can benefit from anyway. And that could help the next time."

Sakura thought about it. They returned Tora to the Fire Daimyo's wife at the mission room. While the lady smothered her cat with affection. They were then given one more mission by the Third Hokage himself.

"I'd like you to babysit my grandson and his friends tonight, Naruto!" Hiruzen said.

"I don't babysit!" Naruto grumbled.

"Naruto!" Kakashi said in a warning voice. "Behave yourself I might have to reconsider. These missions maybe boring but they are necessary."

"Fine," Naruto said with his arms folded.

…

They went to the Hokage House where Konohamaru and his two friends, Udon and Moegi were. Konohamur had tall spiky dark brown hair and a long scarf that he could trip over, Udon was a kid with glasses who had a snotty nose and Moegi had a pair of orange pigtails and red cheeks. All of them wore goggles on their heads like Naruto had before getting his headband.

"Hey boss great to see you!" the grandson of the Third Hokage said.

"Hey shrimp!" Naruto said patting the kid's head.

"You two know each other?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, I spent a little time with him after getting my picture taken," Naruto said.

"And you better watch out cause I'm in the academy now and I'm gonna learn all there is to be a ninja and become Hokage someday!" Konohamaru stated.

"Well, we'll just see about that!" Naruto said.

Konohamaru noticed the rest of Team 7 behind Naruto. "And who are these guys? Your minions? Oh I bet that's your girlfriend there!"

He looked at Sakura who blushed.

"Uh…" Naruto blushed as well. "Well you're sharp kid! Yeah she is my girlfriend, or at least might be soon enough!"

Sakura turned red as a tomato. "Hey don't just go saying embarrassing stuff like that just because I went on a date with you!"

She hit him on the head again.

"Ow!" Naruto said. "Sorry Sakura!"

"I swear you get on my nerves so much!" Sakura growled. Why did ever start liking you? Her inner self asked.

Sasuke glared at the younger kid. "And I'm not Naruto's minion! If anything, he's my minion… but he's too weak to even qualify for that!"

"What'd you say jerk?!" Naruto roared.

"You heard me loser!" Sasuke retorted.

"Alright that's enough. Put a lid on it you two!" Kakashi said.

There was silence then Konohamaru said, "Well let's go out and play Ninja!"

He and his friends all pulled out paper shuriken that were used to play as ninja doing battle since they didn't have the real combat ones yet. Sasuke and Sakura both felt a bit of embarrassment. Ninja playing Ninja. This was gonna be embarrassing.

"Lame. I'm just gonna hang back," Sasuke said.

"Well, if you want to do something else Sasuke, we can take turns watching the kids and train in between. Naruto, Sakura you two take them out to play and then we can switch around dinner," Kakashi said.

"Alright! That sounds fun!" Naruto said. "Come on Sakura!"

He took her hand, seeming to completely forget about her hitting him just a moment ago. She blushed as she was pulled along and saw his bright smile, everything seemed to go white around her.

They lead the kids through the village, playing tag as well as the ninja game, throwing the paper shuriken at each other. It was fun. They switched teams frequently with Naruto and Sakura being on each other's team first, then Naruto went with Konohamaru and Sakura went with the other two. Naruto won both times though, managing to dodge the shuriken thrown at him and retaliate.

"Alright what do we play next?" Moegi asked.

"I have an idea," Konohamaru said. "Rescue the hostage! We tie up the boss's girlfriend and take her away and he has to rescue her!"

Sakura heard this and imagined herself being tied to a pyre.

"Arrgh! Help! Help! Help!" she imagined herself screaming and kicking as fire approached her.

"I'll save you Sakura!" Naruto appeared in her fantasy as a knight in shining armor, cutting her bonds and pulling her onto his horse.

Sakura smiled at the thought for a moment… then thought of herself being tied up by three little kids. The embarrassment was too much!

"Oh no you don't! How about we have a different hostage!? Like the Third Hokage's grandson?" she asked with an evil grin as she took out a bit of rope from seemingly thin air.

Her shadow fell on Konohamaru who shivered as she closed in still grinning.

"Arrgh!" he screamed and began running.

"Come back here you little brat!" Sakura yelled as she chased after him.

"Hey wait up!" Naruto yelled as he and the two kids chased after them.

Konohamaru ran, yelling. "You know I'm surprised the boss even likes you! You got a really big forehead! And you're ugly too!"

That multiplied Sakura's rage tenfold. "Oh, that's it you're dead!"

But their chase was cut short. Konohamaru rammed into a young man in a concealing black outfit. He had something wrapped in bandages on his back, the black outfit concealed his entire body, leaving only his purple painted face visible. Next to him was a blonde girl with a fan on her back. Both of them had headbands, the man on the top of his mask, and the woman around her neck. But they weren't leaf shinobi. Their symbol resembled an hourglass with a line above it.

"What's this? Hey, watch where you're going squirt!" the man in black said.

Sakura stopped, Naruto soon catching up with the other two. Their eyes widened as the man picked up Konohamaru by the shirt.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the kid said.

"Hey let him go!" Naruto shouted.

The man looked at him. He looked only a couple years older than them. He saw Naruto's headband.

"Heh, you a ninja too? You look pretty weak to be."

Naruto gritted his teeth. "You wanna fight? Bring it!"

"Kankuro, no need to go picking fights!" the blonde woman with the fan said.

"Don't worry Temari. This will be easy," the man called Kankuro said.

He stepped forward. But before he could move, a pebble landed in front of him. They all looked around and saw Sasuke in a tree.

"You want to pick a fight, you should go for bigger prey then kids and losers."

Moegi looked at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes. Sakura couldn't stop herself from getting a little blush as well. Even though she'd given up on Sasuke, she still admired him a lot. With him around she felt safe. Naruto was strong of course but Sasuke was still stronger… for now.

"Kankuro!" a new voice said, surprising everyone, even Sasuke.

A boy with red hair and a similarly shaded outfit with a gourd on his back appeared on the other branch next to Sasuke. He had the same headband as the other two newcomers on the strap of his gourd. His eyes were narrow and expressionless, cold. There was a read mark of Kanji above his left eye. The Uchiha eyed him, who was he? Trouble was the first thing that came to mind. He hadn't made any sound when he moved, only a Jonin of Kakashi's level could pull that off.

"Oh, hey Gaara," Kankuro said, backing down. "Sorry I was just a little agitated."

"Shut up or I'll kill you," Gaara said rather casually.

"Uh… right little brother," Kankuro said.

Gaara suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to the two foreign Shinobi.

"Sorry for any trouble he caused," Gaara said without a change in expression.

Sasuke leapt in front of his team. "It's fine."

"We'll be on our way," Gaara said.

"Wait!" Sasuke called as they turned. "What's your name?"

The girl with the fan, Temari looked back. "Hmm? Me?"

"No, the one with the gourd on his back," Sasuke clarified.

"My name's Gaara of the Desert. I'm curious about you too," Gaara said looking back.

He'd been impressed with Sasuke stopping Kankuro with a mere pebble. Gaara could that Sasuke was obviously skilled. The other two didn't appear so… they were probably as weak as the little kids they were with.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said.

"Bet you're dying to know who I am?" Naruto asked trying to sound cool.

"I couldn't care less," Gaara replied coldly.

That left Naruto dejected. Sakura looked at him.

"Don't worry Naruto. He just doesn't know you're actually worth it," Sakura whispered.

Naruto smiled at her words. "Thanks Sakura."

"What are you guys doing here?" Sakura asked the foreigners now. "You're not from around here."

"No, we're from the Hidden Sand Village, here to take the Chunin Exams," Temari said. "Later."

The new trio walked off, with Team 7 watching them retreat.

"That guy is strong," Sasuke said watching Gaara. "If we're gonna enter the Exams… we got our work cut out for us."

Okay, they've met the Sand Siblings. Hope you guys liked my modified version of those episodes. Just decided to go with a little freestyle writing. Let me know what you think and please review. See you again in three weeks.