After a few days in the hospital, Ko was finally released and was allowed to go back on missions with the rest of her team. They all waited for Kakashi to arrive but of course he was late. Ko looked at her three teammates seeing they were all separated doing nothing making her sigh.

"Hey," she called catching their attention, "can we train or something instead of sitting around doing nothing? We don't need Kakashi sensei here to tell us what to do."

"That's a great idea!" Naruto cheered, "I can show you all how much I've improved." He chuckled giving everyone a grin.

"Hmph, I guess we can." Sasuke agreed walking closer to the group.

"S-sure!" Sakura replied feeling a bit unsure about training without her sensei.

"Alright, how about we work on taijutsu. Our first session will be me and Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. To help us improve, point out mistakes your partner is making or suggestions. Don't be mean about it Sasuke okay? This will benefit everyone in the long run." Sasuke scoffed at her remark while the other two were happy Ko was actually interacting with them for once. Ko turned to Sakura who gave her a nervous smile. "Ready Sakura?" She questioned the pinkett who only nodded in response.

Sakura and Ko were at one end of the training field while Sasuke and Naruto were at the other. Sakura got into a fighting stance which Ko noticed had a few flaws. She walked over to her teammate gently moving her back leg further behind her.

"Your legs are too close together. It would be easy for your attacker to knock you off balance." Ko took noticed of Sakura's arms as well seeing that they are positioned on each side of her body. "Bring your arms closer to your center making it harder to leave an opening to your chest." Sakura did as she was told creating a shorter distance between her arms. "Good, that's much better."

"Hey guys, I got lost." Kakashi lied as he appeared in the middle of their training session.

"Stop lying with a straight face! Give it a rest!" Sakura shouted as she tried to catch her breath. Ko had been a bit strict with training, but Sakura was grateful for helping her improve.

Kakashi looked around at his students noticing that they had been training. He felt relieved seeing they were attempting to get along and not stand around while waiting for him.

"Hey hey! Kakashi sensei!" Naruto shouted marching up to his sensei. "Lately all of our team missions have been too easy! I want a more, you know, hot one! Where I can shine! That follows my fellow ninja path! And my heart like..." Naruto couldn't finish because Kakashi covered his mouth with his hand.

"Yea yea," he sighed, "I pretty much know what you are going to say." Kakashi was already expecting this from Naruto. He then proceeded to read out their missions for the day.

When Ko heard their mission list, she already wanted to go back to the hospital. They started with dog walking which caused Naruto to walk into a dangerous area because the dog was too large for him. Cleaning the river wasn't Ko's favorite task but the water cooled her off from the sun that shined above them. Naruto almost falling down a waterfall was amusing also. When they had to pick weeds, Naruto wanted to show off by picking everything in sight causing the client to scold him for picking her plants.

"Is this seriously what you've been doing since we got back from the Land of Waves?" Ko complained as the team walked down the main streets of the village. It was only late afternoon and all they wanted to do was do anything else but missions.

"Unfortunately," Sasuke scoffed indicating he was sick of the missions also.

Naruto's groaning was heard behind her. Sakura was holding him up because of the injuries he had suffered throughout the day.

"It's because you push yourself too much." Sakura scolded then repositioned his arm so she was more comfortable.

"Pft, can't you take care of yourself?" Sasuke's tone had changed into a condescending one as it always did when he talked to the blonde.

"Can you not?" Ko spoke up feeling annoyed at their behavior. "We're all tired and bored of these missions; don't make it worse."

"Sasuke!" Naruto growled attempting to pull away from Sakura who then pulled him back.

"If you don't calm down, I'll finish you!" Sakura yelled at him.

"Teamwork seems to be suffering lately." Kakashi sighed then continued to read his book.

"Yeah! Yeah! You're the one ruining our teamwork Sasuke! Always hogging the spotlight, you bastard!"

"That's you moron. If you want me to stop making you look bad. Then just become stronger than me." Sasuke challenge with a smirk.

"Come one guys we have one more mission left." Kakashi interrupted.

"What is it this time?" Sakura asked.

"Babysitting." He answered making everyone groan in protest.

"Hey, it's only for a few hours. The parents need to run errands and need someone to watch their child."

The four genin dragged their feet to the home of a young women who they were babysitting for. They had to watch her three-year-old daughter while she was out running errands and her husband was on a mission. Ko looked up at the sky noticing the dark clouds that were rolling in. The wind started to pick up making it push them in the direction they were heading. After introductions, they found themselves facing a girl with brown hair pulled up into pig tails wearing a purple and white sundress.

"I'll be back in a few hours. Take care of my little girl." The mom said as she exited the house.

"I'm Hanan, play!" The girl cheered dark blue eyes glistening with happiness.

"Naruto, Sakura, you're up." Ko waved her hand in the direction of the child not wanting to play with a toddler.

Naruto didn't mind but Sakura did a little until she realized she could show off her motherly skills in front of Sasuke. Ko and the Uchiha sat on the couch watching them play while the two were bored out of their minds. Ko watched Hanan and noted that she was talking but couldn't actually understand what she was saying; sounded like gibberish. She saw the innocent smile on her face as she played with building blocks with Naruto and dolls with Sakura at the same time. Ko couldn't help but wonder what a normal childhood was like. With Orochimaru, once she was old enough to walk properly, she has been in training or at least being taught about how to be a shinobi.

Sometimes she wished she grew up in the Leaf village. She's grateful what Orochimaru had done for her but she can still wonder what her life would have been like if she were...normal. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud crack of thunder making everyone jump in surprise. She looked outside and saw that the dark clouds were now over the village bringing the rain that started to flood the streets. Hanan started to cry loudly making everyone cover their ears. They were not prepared for a crying child and didn't know what to do.

"Someone do something!" Naruto shouted in panic then attempted to make silly faces at the kid hoping that would work.

"I don't know what to do!" Sakura shouted over the screams not bothering to calm her down.

"We gotta do something this is annoying." Sasuke complained as he leaned forward on the couch glaring at Hanan.

Ko got up from her seat, picked up the crying child holding her close to her body then started to sing a lullaby (Song on side). Her voice wasn't terrible nor good but, it was decent enough to calm the kid. As she sung, everyone else sat on the couch relieved that Hanan had stopped screaming. Her screams turned into muffled cries as Ko sung to her. Hanan finally calmed down so Ko put her down. She ran into her room without saying a word leaving the four to themselves.

"Ko that was awesome!" Naruto shouted but was shushed by everyone. When he realized his mistake, he mouthed the words 'sorry'.

"Yeah Ko, where did you hear that song?" Sakura asked with a low voice not wanting Hanan to know they were talking about her.

"I don't know, I just sang it. I knew it would calm her down." Ko answered also confused about the song, but she knows she has heard it before.

Hanan ran back into the living room with more dolls for her and Sakura to play with making her nervously chuckle. The storm had already calmed down making its way towards the west. Storms never lasted long in the village which Ko was thankful for so Hanan didn't cry again. The rest of the mission was spent listening to Hanan's stories and laughing at her terrible jokes. Naruto was enjoying himself laughing at all the corny jokes everyone has heard before while everyone else fake laughed until her mother came home.

"How was she? She hates storms." The woman was soaked to the bone from the rain and was out of breath from running.

"She cried but we calmed her down." Ko answered getting up from her seat then headed towards the door wanting to get out of there.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." She sighed with relief then carried the rest of her bags into the kitchen.

The other three followed Ko's lead and exited the house into the light rain. They were walking towards the academy where their sensei told them to meet. Kakashi inwardly chuckled at his students seeing how annoyed they were from their babysitting mission.

"Ok that's it for today." He spoke clapping his hands together. "I have to go submit this mission report." Without another word, he vanished.

"Then I'm going home." Sasuke announced turning on his heel with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey Sasuke, wait." Sakura shouted as she ran to catch up with him. "How about right now we can work on our teamwork just the two of us?" Sakura giggled then winked hoping he'd agree to her proposal.

"You're the same as Naruto. If you have the time to bother me, practice a jutsu or two. Frankly, your ability is below Naruto." Sasuke coldly said to her.

"Ha burn." Ko mocked from in front of them making Sakura shoot dagger glares at her.

"Same as Naruto? Below Naruto!" Sakura was fuming at his comment and Ko's mockery but then as she thought about it, she looked down with a saddened expression. "He's right, in every mission, I do the least."

"Sakura-chan! Forget Sasuke, let's train together!" Naruto shouted waving his arms around attempting to get her attention.

Ko walked away from her team deciding to train after spending days in bed. As she walked, she couldn't help but think of that lullaby she sang. She's never heard it before in the village and knew she couldn't have heard it at the hide out, so she wondered where she knew it from. On her way towards the forest, she heard shouting which made her look up seeing Naruto, Sakura, and some kids with some sand ninja. She saw that the male was picking on the kids to which Naruto defended making him the target now.

She jumped onto the roof of a building to get a better look at the foreign shinobi. There was a blonde woman with him who had her hair tied up into spiked pig tails along with a fan strapped to her back. When the male slightly turned to his teammate, Ko was able to get a better look at him. He wore a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. Covering his head was a black hood with cat-like ears and his forehead protector sewn into it.

"Hm he looks like a cat with that hood on." Ko chuckled to herself.

It was hard to tell what his face looked like with all the purple paint outlining his features. Purple eyeliner, purple lipliner, lines traveling down from his forehead, brow, cheeks, and chin. It was an odd look, but she had to admit, it was pretty cool. It looked like his weapon of choice is whatever was strapped to his back. He turned towards Naruto who started to march up to him followed by suddenly falling to the ground. Ko's eyes widened only able to see the male's fingers slightly move which made her jump into action.

"What another one?" The male questioned as she appeared between the two. He was much taller in person and they were so close up making Ko have to strain her neck in order to meet his eyes.

She glared at him making him glare back but then he smiled down at her with confidence making her raise a brow. She had never faced someone before who smiled like that before a fight. Ko knew for a fact that she was emitting a killing intent which usually caused others to back away or go on the defensive, but he was different. His body language indicated no intent to defend himself or even prepare for a fight.

"Fast one eh?" His voice sounded cocky as he looked down at her making Ko's face turn into a scowl; she did not like being looked down on.

"Not really, you're just slow." Ko disappeared then reappeared on his left.

He growled as he turned then started to run at Ko but a pebble was thrown at him by none other than Sasuke.

"What are you bastards doing in our village?" Sasuke questioned as he crushed a pebble in his hand.

"Ah another guy who pisses me off." The sand ninja grumbled shaking off his wounded hand.

"Get lost!" Ko looked up at Sasuke with a glare wanting to handle the situation by herself.

"I hate show-offs like you the most." He scoffed then grabbed his weapon that was strapped to his back.

Ko sensed someone in the tree on the other side of Sasuke. She looked up to see a younger boy with red spiked hair and seafoam colored eyes with dark rings around them. He wasn't afraid to emit a terrifying aura which made her glance at the older male again seeing why he wasn't affected by her; his teammate was more terrifying.

"Why are these sand ninja here? Are the chuunin exams coming up?"Ko thought to herself as she observed the three shinobi.

"Kankuro stop it," the red head commanded with a harsh tone making his teammates cower. "You're an embarrassment to our village."

"Ga..Gaara," Kankuro stammered in fear.

"Losing control of yourself in a fight, how pathetic. Why do you think we came to the leaf village?" He said with no emotion in his voice.

"Listen Gaara, they started it and.."

"Shut up or I'll kill you," he said with a murderous intent causing everyone to freeze in fear.

Ko stared at Gaara knowing that he wasn't bluffing. She sensed he was dangerous and extremely powerful making her wonder if he was also had a tailed beast. The affect he had over his teammates made sense, they looked older and stronger than him yet he is their fearful leader.

"Ok, I'm sorry, I'm also sorry really sorry." Kankuro apologized.

Gaara turned his attention towards Sasuke. "Sorry to you guys," Gaara apologized then disappeared and reappeared near his team.

"To be able to hit Kankuro with a stone he's good." Gaara thought.

"It looks like we got here too early but, we didn't come here to play around." Gaara turned away from everyone starting to walk away.

"I know that." Kankuro grumbled as he put his weapon back onto his back.

"Let's go,"

"Hey wait!" Sakura shouted taking a step forward

"Sakura leave them be, they have no interest in you." Ko sighed wishing her teammate would just let it go.

"Judging from your head bands you guys are ninja from the hidden Sand village right? You may be allies with the Leaf village but, it is forbidden for shinobis to enter each other's villages without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go." Sakura said all smart like ignoring Ko.

"Hey talk about clueless; don't you know anything?" The sand girl asked. "You're right; we are genin from the Hidden Sand. We have come to your village to take the Chuunin selection exam."

"Chuunin selection exam?" Naruto asked stupidly.

"Naruto, the Chuunin exams is where Genin from sand, leaf, and neighboring villages assemble to take an exam to become a Chuunin." Ko told him.

"Why do we take it together?" Naruto asked.

"The main purpose is said to be to improve relationships between the allies and to raise the shinobi level but also each country likes to maintain a power balance and..." The sand girl was trying to say.

"Hey Konohamaru! Think I should enter this Chuunin exam thing?!" Naruto rudely interrupted making Sakura hit him on the head.

"Naruto! Don't be so rude moron. She was in the middle of talking." She scolded.

They started to walk away; then Sasuke came out of the tree next to Naruto.

"Hey you, what's your name?" Sasuke asked pointing at Gaara.

"Who me?" The girl asked with a blush.

"No, you with the gourd."

"Gaara of the desert; I'm also interested in your name." He replied.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said.

"Hey! What about me?!" Naruto said pointing to himself.

"Not interested. Let's go." Gaara said turning away.

"Heh, this is getting interesting," Sasuke thought.

Ko felt a presence in the tree above her and her team. She looked up seeing three people, one sitting and the other two were standing looking at them. She recognized them instantly from the academy back home. They saw her and nodded then disappeared.

"So what do you think?" One of them asked.

"Nothing serious but that black haired leaf girl and the sand with the gourd, let's keep our eyes on them."

Edited April 5, 2020