Chapter 102

A wide smile broke across Sakura's face, a feeling of joy welling up from inside of her. It had been her deepest wish now that Sasuke had returned that Team Seven would get back together, and now Tsunade had just fulfilled that desire without her even having to ask. To keep herself from giving a loud, joyous outburst, Sakura moved her hand along Sasuke's arm until she grasped his hand. Giving it a squeeze, she watched as Tsunade went back to the pages she had marked.

"Alright you two, I've come up with a number of C-ranked and D-ranked missions you can take on," Tsunade said after a moment, "I'll let you choose."

"D-ranked?" Sasuke said impassively, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Well, Sasuke," Tsunade looked over at him, a mischievous tone in her voice, "no matter how strong you became while trained by Orochimaru, or how much Sakura has helped restore your skill, you still haven't taken the chuunin exam, and are technically still a genin."

Putting a hand over her mouth, Sakura covered her smile politely—she could tell that Tsunade was having fun pointing that fact out to Sasuke. Next to her, Sasuke growled grumpily and muttered something inaudible under his breath.

"The Chuunin Exam is taking place in the Wind Country this year—but the finals are just now taking place," Tsunade mused lightly, "But I don't think you're quite ready for the Chuunin Exam quite yet. Based on what Sakura has told me about your training progress…you might be able to try for the one in January."

"Where is that one being held?" Sakura asked curiously. The Chuunin Exams had been wandering around now that there was less tension between some of the other countries. Six months after Sasuke had left, it had been held in the Lightning Country, and six months after that in the Earth Country. Sakura herself had taken the exam when it was in the Water Country, and now that she thought about it, she had been in a group of traveling genin with a couple of examiners who were going along to strengthen foreign relations. Mitarashi Anko had been with them on that group, but she had spent more time with the jounin who were team leaders—becoming good friends with Kakashi.

"It's being held here in Konoha," Tsunade replied flipping to another one of the sticky notes in her book, "It's about our turn to have it here again. The Raikage was slightly displeased—he wanted to have it in his village this time around… Anyways, missions."

"What missions do you have set aside as possibilities?" Sakura asked, getting back on topic.

"Okay, I have for D-missions: picking herbs for the Konoha Pharmacy, Kakashi has been bothering me about having someone washing his summoned hounds, fixing a broken bicycle, a moving job, and lawn mowing," Tsunade recited with amusement; Sakura herself wasn't particularly pleased with the notion of doing D-ranked missions, and she knew Sasuke wouldn't be either. Naruto would definitely complain loudly—he complained when he was sent on C-ranked missions, claiming they were too easy.

"Do you have anything more…difficult?" Sakura ventured, and Tsunade sighed and flipped through her book, putting on the look of mock disappointment.

"Well, I have a C-rank mission," the Hokage stated slowly, her over-dramatized expression unchanging, "A farm outside town is experiencing difficulty with missing livestock."

"That's it?" Sasuke stated, speaking for the first time in a while.

"Missing livestock…" Sakura bit her lip; while it was not a difficult task, the new terrain would be difficult, especially if it was on the more rocky side of the village. With her help he could perhaps manage, but it would be a hard mission for him, however she knew Sasuke wouldn't be pleased with that level of mission. "I am inclined to agree with Sasuke."

"…No? Well, do you think that you could handle a B-ranked mission?" Tsuande asked, looking at the both of them perceptively, "I have one that borders on C-rank. You should be familiar with this kind of mission—especially after your experience in the Wave Country."

"An escort mission?" Sakura replied curiously; memories of Team Seven's first big mission returned to her mind. Traveling for Sasuke wouldn't be too bad, and he could always guard their client if required—a smaller patch of ground to defend was much better than a whole area, hunting for an animal that was eating some livestock.

"We'll take the mission," Sasuke said, and Sakura turned her head towards him; she had confidence in him that he could manage the task, but in all honesty, he was the one who was going on the mission—he had a right to say whether he felt he was up to the job.

"Alright then," Tsunade spoke with a satisfied tone in her voice, marking something down in her book, "Well, he's going to be staying in Konoha for a while, he's a delegate from Kumo, and he needs protection on the way home. I'll provide you with more details when you are to leave, which will be in October."

"Hai," Sakura said dutifully.

"Dismissed," Tsunade stated automatically, waving the both of them off; Sakura turned with Sasuke to leave, when the Hokage called out to her in an afterthought, "Sakura, does this whole incident mean that you're going to start doing missions again?"

Pausing, Sakura cast a smile over her shoulder at the Hokage, "I guess so."

"I see—since Team Seven is reuniting, I guess there's only one more thing left to do," Tsunade replied with a smile, "I was going to graduate you at the end of the year with the other graduates who have completed the five-year program—but I think it's best that you graduate now."

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