Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Don't steal and don't sue. Thank you *Phantomness bows*

Chapter 10: Fun and Games

The next morning dawned bright and sunny. Sasuke woke up and had an early breakfast with his family before heading to Azusa Park with Itachi. Judging by the sizeable crowd near the frozen lake, he and his friends had not been the only ones who had decided to ice skate. He waved hello to Team Seven and Team Ten, who had shown up together. Kiba and Shino were nowhere to be seen but no doubt they would be around soon enough. Hinata was there with Masaru and Katsuo, as well as Neji and his team, Tenten and Rock Lee, which proved that some things didn't change.

"So, you passed too," He asked Shikamaru.

"Troublesome, but yes," Shikamaru said. "Ino didn't manage to tag him with the poison darts, but I slipped the exploding cigarette into his cigarette case before we even started the exam while Ino was whining and when he lit it up it worked like a charm."

"That's not as funny as ours," Naruto said. "I totally got him with my Harem no Jutsu!"

"Did you have to pass a test too, Satsuki-chan?" Hinata asked.

Sasuke shook his head.

"Lucky," Katsuo said. "Ours was kind of tricky, but I rigged up this really cool trap with vines and Masaru told us where this quicksand pit was and we so got Kurenai-sensei."

"I guess having your big brother as your Jounin-sensei means you only passed out of pity, Satsuki." A familiar and unpleasant voice snickered. Sasuke could have cheerfully strangled the owner. Of course it was Fuki and Kasumi. Taro was also present with murder in his eyes, and Kasumi was clinging to Masaki's arm.

"Hey, don't talk about Satsuki-chan that way!" Naruto snapped.

"Ignore them, Naruto-kun." Sakura said wisely. "They're not worth our time."

Sasuke just tapped his headband, before turning his back on them. The group moved off, ignoring the taunts and jeers. Not moments later, Kiba and Shino caught up with them and they were soon skating on the ice. Granted, it wasn't as difficult as water walking, and it was good for chakra control as well as being fun. Hinata was very graceful, Sasuke thought, and she and Neji were skating together. Tenten was trying to teach Lee to skate – his taijutsu grace seemed to have abandoned him as he tripped again, sending them both crashing into a snow bank.

They spent the afternoon having another good old fashioned snowball fight, mixing up the teams every hour so it was all fair, stopping for lots of hot chocolate and apple cider and snacks from the many enterprising vendors who knew there was money to be made. Now that they had all graduated and become Genin, they had less time to spend with each other, but at least there were still the weekends!

Itachi had dealt with Kabuto, and carefully planted information on everything Satsuki had told him about Akatsuki and their abilities on him in the process. Now, the Hokage would probably recall Jiraiya so they could compare notes. He was not surprised when he was called into a private meeting with the Hokage a few hours later about that very subject. Itachi might not be Anbu commander yet, but he was high enough on the ladder that he was being considered for the position, and Minato had confided in him more than once about the possibility of being considered as his successor in the future. So, Itachi paid attention, and gave his opinion when asked, and was glad the Hokage was taking action.

On Sunday, they met up at the Akimichi Clan Compound for a potluck and movie marathon to celebrate all having made Genin. Team Gai had also been invited and shown up; pleased to hang out with their younger classmates despite an extra half year of experience. Shino had brought a dozen platters of honey and dried fruit based pastries that were delicious. Ino had come up with some flower-extract based sweets. Kiba's meat-filled rolls were very filling. Masaru seemed to have bought out half the ice cream parlor, and of course, Naruto had sheepishly hired Ichiraku ramen to cater for his portion.

Tenten was honestly surprised with how much she was enjoying herself. She'd expected them to treat her like, well, an outsider, since they had all been in classes together for the last five years. But Satsuki-chan had asked her about her what her specialty on Team Gai was and when she had mentioned it was with weapons, everyone had paid attention to her and she had been persuaded to give a demonstration and then Sakura-chan mentioned how she could try charging her weapons with elemental chakra and Tenten had never, ever thought of anything like that and now she was staring at a glass of water full of food coloring, trying to separate them. How come none of the Academy teachers had ever taught her anything like this?

So Katsuo didn't really like Pokemon, but it was better than watching a horror movie (he was secretly scared of those), the boys had vetoed the romantic comedy, the girls did not want to watch the giant killer robots versus the brain-sucking alien horde, everyone had already watched the historical ninja movies before, and this was the compromise they had decided on. He took another bite of the squid on a stick and leaned back against the couch. One good thing he could say about the Akimichi Clan – their couches were huge and comfortable, probably to accommodate their large extended family.

Pokemon, Sasuke thought absentmindedly. The movie was not that interesting. He was more interested in the actual attacks. When the movie ended, he noticed that Sai seemed to be more excited than the other Genin. "Sai-kun, you like Pokemon?" He asked when they had a minute alone.

Sai nodded, a little surprised at Sasuke's question. "Yes, I do."

"Are there more movies?"

"Actually, there's a very long-running animation series, and a manga too, but originally, it was a Gameboy game. Why the sudden interest, Satsuki-chan?" He was surprised. Had she liked the movie that much?

"It looks really fun." Sasuke explained.

"It is," Sai confessed. "If you'd like to come over to my house afterwards, I can lend you some of the videos and my old Gameboy games."

"Thank you, Sai." Sasuke smiled sincerely. "It means a lot to me."

"Imouto," Itachi knocked on Satsuki's door a few nights later, having felt her chakra flare. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke glared down at the Gameboy Color he had purchased; glad he hadn't accidentally damaged it in his anger. Apparently, the rules in this game were quite different from those in the shinobi world. Earth – rock and ground – were weak to, not strong against water, and electric was weak to ground. And that definitely did not match up with the anime episodes he had watched, either. When would that useless Magikarp prove its worth? Why, as a water type, could it not even learn the Water Gun technical machine he had found in the cave? Misty's Starmie was a beast…

Itachi let himself in, a little perplexed as he watched his little sister frown at the Gameboy screen. "Don't stay up too late, Satsuki-chan." He reminded her. "We still have missions in the morning."

"I know." Sasuke replied. He saved the game and turned it off, before getting up to give Itachi a hug.

"I did it!" Kiba cheered. While he was more of an offensive sort of guy, he had managed to raise a simple earthen barrier. Itachi nodded approvingly. Next to Kiba, Shino nodded. He was still trying to erect a barrier of his own without it collapsing. Once Shino could competently create barriers, Itachi had another idea for him. He had come across a type of trapping dome in an old report, that absorbed chakra, and combined with Shino's kikaichu it would be a good way to capture other ninja.

Out of sight and at the pond which was kept cleared of ice to ensure a fresh supply of water, Sasuke and one of Itachi's shadow clones were practicing. Sasuke was slowly exhaling a stream of bubbles. At first glance, it was utterly childish and unworthy of being a ninja technique. Itachi had had the misfortunate of being hit with them in the eyes with them in the Garden of Paradise last night after Sasuke had pulled him in close with the Deva Path's power. They weren't as innocuous as they appeared.

Team Eight soon settled into a comfortable routine. In the mornings, they would run a D-rank mission or two, depending on how time-consuming they were. In the afternoon, Itachi trained them separately on ninjutsu three days a week, having them spar with him or each other on the other two days. It made sense, as their elemental affinities were different. He made sure to rotate who was with him and who was with a shadow clone so none of them were slighted. In any case, shadow clone Itachi was as good a teacher as the real Itachi.

Naruto tried to ignore the way the overweight civilian man was obviously leering at him as he handed him a folded towel and a pair of sandals. Nearby, Sai shot him a sympathetic look. Their mission for the day was to help out at the hot springs, and, as Kakashi-sensei wanted to train them in maintaining their disguises under pressure (and perhaps as revenge for that Harem no jutsu – couldn't he drop it already? It had been two and a half weeks ago…) both he and Sai were teenage girls. Sakura, of course, was a boy, and still trying to figure out how to walk with something between her legs.

Sakura had to admit that while it was totally embarrassing, it was also a good idea. If she ever had to pass as male on a real mission, out of Konoha, she couldn't very well be fumbling around not knowing how to even walk. How did boys do this? Unfortunately, she couldn't very well ask without breaking character. Seeing former classmate Yukiko walk in made her grit her teeth slightly, but fortunately, Yukiko didn't recognize her. It was only when a shy blush spread across the black-haired girl's cheeks that Sakura realized she was in deep, deep trouble.

So she was a little gruff when she gave Yukiko her towel and sandals but at least Sakura did not fall flat on her face, and hearing the barely muffled giggles from Sai and Naruto did not help her temper in the least. Those two were going to get it when this mission was over. The analytical part of her mind noticed that they had done a good job disguising their voices. That part of her mind was not paying very much attention at all. But hearing Sai squawk when another customer pinched his butt was well, kind of satisfying. Not that she'd ever admit it out loud, of course…

Katsuo was giving a little boy a piggyback ride. Team Nine's mission for the day was babysitting a group of children. Having two younger siblings of his own had certainly prepared him for dealing with younger children. He was just glad he had kept his brown hair short so the kid couldn't pull on it. It had at least stopped the boy from crying after another boy had stolen his cookie earlier. Even giving him another cookie, plus an extra one, hadn't stopped the crying. Nearby, Hinata was reading an adventure story to a group of children seated in a circle. Masaru was supervising a few others building a block castle together. Kurenai-sensei looked pleased as she watched them. Maybe once the mission was over, she could show them that cool genjutsu that messed with their perceptions again…

Chouji's oversized fist smashed into the fleeing man's jaw, sending him crashing into a wall long enough for Shikamaru's shadow to trap him. Their mission for the day had been to locate and capture a pickpocket. While this sort of thing could have been left to the Konoha Police department they were currently very busy investigating a string of grisly prostitute murders out in a neighboring city's red-light district. Ino, who was still a little traumatized from having been used as bait, was at least professionally still maintaining her disguise as a pretty older teenage girl while Asuma-sensei patted her on the shoulder, complimenting her for not dropping it despite having been groped prior to having her fake wallet taken.

"You'd better teach me a really good technique after putting me through this, Asuma-sensei," She hissed out from between her gritted teeth.

"I will," He promised. "Now, let's go back to the mission office."

"You'll be buying us lunch too, right?" Chouji asked as he and Shikamaru finished tying up the man.

"Of course, after we drop him off at the police station." Asuma promised. "Let's go."

Shikamaru smiled.

End Chapter

Started 2/26/16

Completed 2/28/16

I admit it. I'm a Pokemon fan, and being uncreative in making up attacks, I decided to lift some from the games… Sasuke, of course, is only playing Pokemon for the technical knowledge. If anyone is interested, he started with Charmander, got a Pikachu in Viridian Forest, bought the Magikarp and caught a Geodude in Mt. Moon.