First of all no, Inoue Shiori is in no way abandoned – my focus is just on different fandoms at the moment and I'm also rewriting the first 60 or so chapters – not the story line I'm just adding scenes so that the flow is better. – I'm also rearranging the chapters so that they will have a size of 6.000-10.000 words.

This chapter if for the great 'lost in details' and her OC Yamanaka Matsu. Check out her story A Fistful of Silence, she is a wonderful writer!

Chapter 73

Sasuke Interlude

"Come on Teme! We can 't let those pretty boys win!" Naruto cheered while he happily spammed his Kage Bunshin onto the training field and engaged those three ink monsters Sai had animated.

Sasuke didn't bother to suppress the snort but he grudgingly had to admit that the dobe was right, both Haku and this Sai had prettier than average faces, not that that said anything about their fighting prowess. They were exactly his usual fangirls' type if he went by Sakura's reaction at the start of the training session when Haku had smiled at her and she had turned beat red in the face. It was almost a pity that they hadn't been in his academy class, what would he have given for not being the only target of the fangirls?

Coming out of his thoughts Sasuke quickly scanned the area for Haku, where had he gone? He took special care to search the area Sakura and Tsukiko were sitting in, unlike Naruto Haku surely had no compunctions to hide in the kunoichis presence. The girls were sitting underneath one of the bigger trees and taking a break, until a few minutes ago they had been practicing their elemental attacks against Kakashi-sensei's Bunshin, trying to optimize their chakra output if he had heard correctly. Sakura was becoming scarily adept with using just the right amount for her techniques and never wasted an ounce more for those she had mastered. Her stores still weren't impressive, even with the training exercises she had been doing since before the Wave mission but Sasuke had the feeling that in a few years she would be utterly terrifying with her precision, he remembered the tales about his great aunt Yuriko that had thought in the third war who despite her comparatively small chakra stores for an Uchiha had been feared by their enemies, right to the day she died on the battle field. Before his thoughts could wander to his other deceased relatives Sasuke forcefully shifted his attention back to Sakura and their former classmate. If he had heard correctly they were now discussing poison application, the few words he had pick up on made him shiver. Something about immunization and long term preparations… why did he suddenly have the feeling that he and the Dobe would end up as Sakura's unwilling test objects sooner or later?

A nearly inaudible whistle pulled him back to reality. With a jump onto the river that crossed the training ground Sasuke escaped Haku's pesky ice senbon. The Yuki was scarily precise with them and Sasuke knew from his own experience how painful and effective they could be. With a graceful jump and some chakra control the Uchiha moved further down the river in a zigzag pattern. A glance behind his shoulder assured him that Haku was right on his heels. Now normally fighting an ice or water user on a river was just plain stupid but Sasuke had a plan. He had read that Fire Jutsu in combination with water had different reactions, so he wanted to test out his Gokakyou no jutsu reactions before he was caught in a serious fight again. Sasuke's theory was that if he sank his fireball quickly enough into the river the surface would transform into hot steam before Haku could reach him and would slow the ice user down. So Sasuke's hands quickly flashed through the signs for his fireball technique and initiated the chakra draw but then paused to wait for his opponent to come closer. The moment Haku was only a few feet away from him and clearly preparing a taijutsu attack for a change Sasuke spat his fire ball into the water.

The explosion that followed was probably visible from the Hokage tower.

Both shinobi found themselves sprawled out on the river side, dazed and somewhat disbelieving while they stared at the steamed up surroundings.

"Well… that didn't go as I planned." Sasuke deadpanned, he had the sudden urge to snicker, such mistakes normally only happened to Naruto.

The Uchiha had known that there was a possibility that his attack would trigger a different reaction but he hadn't quite expected an explosion of this size!

Above them Kakashi chuckled, clearly amused by what had just happened and when had their sensei even arrived?

"And now you know what happens when somebody shoots a Fireball into the Naka River." His sensei outright beamed at him.

Kakashi was far too cheerful, and he wasn't the only one. To their left a snickering Naruto leaned against a tree and Sakura and Tsukiko looked at him with raised eyebrows. Sai once again showed no expression at all. Sasuke nearly sighed, why was he surrounded by such weirdos? He magnanimously ignored that he himself could be counted as one as well. Beside him Haku quickly hid his smile behind a hand while his eyes shone in mirth, stunned but otherwise unhurt. Well at least Sasuke hadn't injured the ice user with his stupidity.

"Kakashi?" a voice suddenly interrupted Sasuke's musings.

"It's fine Kotetsu. My cute little Genin just had a practical lesson why using fire jutsu on a body of water can have unintended results." There sensei answered cheerfully.

The two Chunin that had showed up out of nowhere looked at each other and then snorted.

"Gotcha. We are going to warn the Chunin lounge that your Genin are testing out jutsu combinations and they should ignore any kind of noise. By the way why do you have six brats instead of three?" the one with the goatee, Kotetsu? asked curiously.

"Anko has to catch up on paperwork, I volunteered." Kakashi answered with a casual shrug before with a patronizing eye crease and a wave in direction of the forest he said, "Well then my cute little Genin, back to work! It seems as if we have a lot to cover."

Sasuke ruthlessly suppressed the groan that wanted to work its way out of his mouth, a chipper Kakashi-sensei was never a good sign.

Anko Interlude

It had been a long day. Tired and frustrated about the amounts of intelligence that they still hadn't made use off because too few people were working on it.

At least the kids were occupied by Kakashi.

With a muffled sigh Anko sunk into a free chair at the udon bar and closed her eyes while she waited for the waitress to finish dealing with the table across from her and take her order. Food. Her lagging brain supplied helpfully, she needed FOOD.

"Did you hear? Apparently three of the desk jockeys by the Naka River office thought we were being invaded."

A wet snort and than a cough were the answer to the strange sentence she had just heard from the Chunin kunoichi on the table beside her.

"Wha-what? What are you talking about." Her friend said between coughs.

Her blonde companion grinned cheekily at her, "You heard me. Apparently a group of Genin was testing out elemental attacks and what jutsus could be combined or whatever. Either way one of the Katon's landed in the Naka River."

Now the brown haired kunoichi snickered too, "That brings back memories."

"It sure does! Remember when Daichi made the same mistake and wasn't fast enough to escape the flames?"

"His eyebrows were gone, I KNOW! And that was the week before his sister's wedding too! She never let him forget that!"

Anko's lips twitched and her shoulders lost a bit of her tenseness. Coming here had been a good decision, stories like this always made her glad to be a Konoha shinobi.

"Do you know which Genin team?"

"Yes, Hatake Kakashi's brats."

"No way! He passed a Genin team? When?"

"Sachiko, where you living under a rock in those last few months? It was one of the most discussed topics, everywhere!"

"I was on border patrol, hun. There was really no time to do anything but sleep and then move on to the next post." came the annoyed reply.

"Oh… right sorry."

Anko twitched. Kakashi's brats… which meant her brats too. Normally she was open for all the mayhem and destruction anyone could plan but right now she just wanted her food, drink some sake and then sleep for eight hours straight!

XXXXXXX

It was about 40 minutes later when she shunshined to the roof of her apartment complex and let herself in through the hallway window. One quick scan assured her that all her little ducklings were safely tucked away in their apartments and resting in one way or another. Tomorrow she would make sure to get a full report about their practice and what they had found out about themselves.