"Great rivalries don't have to be built on hatred. They're built on respect, on a respect for excellence."

— Coach K

 

Tanaka had a big smile on his face as he watched his class pour out of the academy building onto one of the unused training grounds. The pairings for his little impromptu sparring sessions were difficult to decide on. This difficulty wasn't entirely because of their skill levels, but also because of their various temperaments. Some of them were a little bit more unstable or sadistic than others, especially the little Uchiha heiress.

As far as knowledge went everyone besides those with clan training had failed miserably at his little pop quiz. While the clan children had greater knowledge of the subject, some of the questions stumped them. It would have been strange for a bunch of 7-8-year-olds to ace his exam, even with their prior knowledge and better resources. This didn't matter to him as he expected the results to turn out like this. He just wanted to gauge where everyone's knowledge was so he could prepare for future lessons. It also didn't hurt to gather more data on his student's potential. He could give this info to their future instructor and help to set the field for their lessons. 

 

"Alright everyone, gather up!" He shouted as he watched the final student exiting the building, "You all did wonderfully! So as a reward, I have decided that we will allow you to apply what you just learned about taijutsu in a controlled but practical setting."

Tanaka was excited to see the results of this test. He knew that it might be too early to put these kids through this kind of exercise, but he hoped that it would ignite their fighting spirit and help to drive them to greater heights. Some of the children might be discouraged by a loss, but Tanaka knew that the world of the shinobi was harsh, and learning to accept defeat and retreat to live another day was an important lesson to learn early on.  You could always improve yourself. You could not learn to come back from the dead. 

He wanted this to be a clean and friendly exercise, but just in case the academy had supplied him with a chunnin level medical-nin to address any of the more serious injuries. He would have liked to have a higher skill medical-nin on hand, but how much damage could a bunch of children do? 

 

"When I call your name I would like for you to come to the center of the field and face your opponent. All fighting will be referred by myself and I reserve the right to jump in if I feel that you have lost control of the situation. I don't want to have to deal with a bunch of angry or disappointed parents because one of you maimed or disfigured one of your classmates, " Tanaka said this as more of a precaution and to add a sense of danger so the kids would be more excited about this exercise, " Am I understood?"

 

"Yes, Sensei!" The students replied in unison with varying levels of enthusiasm.

 

"Don't worry, I have selected your match-ups based on several factors. You should all receive a challenge but it shouldn't be an overly difficult experience. Just focus on your knowledge and try and execute what you have learned as best you can. If you need to surrender please do it!" 

 

Tanaka gave a stern glare to his students as he scanned their formation with his eyes. 

 

"First up I would like Sakura and Ino to step forward."

 

The two girls glanced at each other with a smile, uncertainty ringing their expression, but a fair dose of excitement as well. They were best friends and they were both looking forward to the chance to test their meager skills on each other. 

 

"Oh this should be entertaining," Sasuke said with a bored sound. 

 

*Papf*

 

"Ow! What, Moriko? Why?" Sasuke rubbed the back of his head in the spot where his sister slapped him.

 

"Don't be such a prick," Noramori smiled at him and then glanced over at the two girls, "I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, show us what you've got!"

 

Ino and Sakura blushed a bit at the attention, but both of the girls grinned while nodding in excitement. 

 

They approached the center of the training field and both took a shaky stance. 

 

Tanaka watched this all with a look of amusement. He put this match-up somewhere at the middle of the pack as far as skill and strength went. That was including the rest of the students with a civilian background. Out of all the students that didn't claim clan affiliation, Sakura was likely the strongest.  He hoped that pairing her off with a friend who was also a weaker clan-affiliated ninja would help to inspire the rest of the students from civilian families that were a part of his class. 

"Begin!"

 

Sakura dashed forward with a burst of speed and planted her fist in Ino's stomach. She didn't even hesitate for a moment as she punched her friend. As a student with a civilian background, she had something to prove and her mind was focused only on this goal. 

 

Ino was a bit surprised by her friend's ruthlessness, but it only lasted for a moment. Sakura had always had an aggressive side to her that she did a terrible job of hiding. 

Using the force of Sakura's punch she stepped backward and pivoted to the side. Bringing her first up she let it arc out in a spinning back fist that struck the side of Sakura's chin where she still leaned forward from her reckless dash forward. 

Sakura was flung sideways but managed to keep her footing, stumbling a bit as she righted herself. 

 

Spitting out a bit of blood Sakura looked up at INo and grinned. The two girls were getting into the spirit of rivalry. 

 

Sakura pushed off her back foot and ran at Ino flinging out a roundhouse kick that Ino easily dodged. She attempted to follow up on her kick by planting her foot and executing a straight punch from hours stance but Ino was simply too fast. Sakura had practiced these moves diligently after Noramori had dressed her down. Sakura was incredibly focused on her studies, but Noramori could see that she was neglecting her physical prowess due to a crush that the young pink-haired girl didn't even realize was beginning to form. Sakura was too self-conscious and felt that she needed to prove herself to the clan-born ninja. That was already bad enough, Noramori couldn't stand to see Sakura neglect her future due to a budding infatuation just because Sakura had misguided beliefs about what made a kunoichi beautiful. Especially when the crush was focused on her brother. Ew. 

 

Unfortunately, Sakura's practice wasn't good enough. Ino was raised in one of the less violent clans, but she was raised in a Ninja clan by a highly skilled intelligence officer. Her father was the head of their clan and wasn't a slouch despite not being very combat-focused nowadays. He treated his daughter with kiddie gloves, but Sakura didn't have even that level of personal training. The best she had gotten was Noramori wailing on her every once in a while.  

 

Ino caught her elbow and headbutted Sakura in the nose, instantly breaking it and causing blood to bloom all over her face. 

 

Sakura's eyes were filled with tears and Tanaka moved to stop the fight.

 

Before he could say anything Sakura grabbed her friend by the back of the neck and slammed a fist into her face causing a similar wound to Ino. Seeing that the two of them looked like they were ready to keep going Tanaka decided to stand down. A broken nose was an easy fix and it looked like the two of them were having fun. Who was he to stop them? 

 

Ino and Sakura jumped back from each other after Ino reached across herself with a downward chop to dislodge Sakura's arm from the nape of her neck.

 

They glanced at each other. Big smiles on their faces. A spark of challenge ran in their eyes and blood streamed down the lower half of their faces. 

 

They rushed at each other again and exchanged a series of vicious blows. Sakura landed a few hits around Ino's ears and Ino landed a nasty kick into Sakura's solar plexus knocking the wind out of the other girl. 

Recovering Sakura kicked dust into the other girl's eyes and tackled her to the ground. Her fists were raised and she proceeded to try and rain blows onto Ino's face and upper body. Ino managed to deflect most of them not really because she was good at blocking, but more because Sakura was throwing punches without really aiming. Sakura's arms resembled more of a charging bull or a runaway windmill as she attempted to capitalize on her advantageous position. 

 

Ino finally realizing that her friend was running out of steam waited for the perfect moment to catch her right arm with her right hand and pulled it across her chest. Tucking her left leg against Sakura's right thigh she twisted and ended up on top of Sakura. 

 

Both girls now huffing as their meager stamina ran out began to continuously trade places as each of them tried to get in as many blows as they could. Their flagging energy lent reckless abandon to their technique. What little technique they had at the start of the fight had gone out the window and both of them just wanted to "win" this friendly sparring match. 

 

The fight devolved from there, both of the children while having displayed fighting abilities that were commendable for their age and skill level were frankly, sloppy. Their defense was wide open. They rushed headlong into strikes and executed all of their attacks poorly. Tanaka was glad that they were going at this exercise with such gusto but he knew that the two kids had a long road ahead of them before they could truly be considered shinobi. 

 

"Alright, enough!" Tanaka called for a halt to the match.

 

"You heal the two of them up," Tanaka grimaced as he looked at the two girls' swollen faces and arms. 

 

'Yeah, I'm definitely gonna hear something tomorrow from their parents. Ino's dad might even interrogate me for organizing something that left his little princess in such a state.'

 

He shivered a bit at the thought. 

 

"Shenshei, dId I win," Sakura gave him a toothy grin that looked pretty gruesome coming from her swollen face. 

 

'Those little girls are vicious,' Tanaka thought to himself. 

 

"Win? This wasn't a tournament. I blame myself for not stopping this earlier it just seemed like both of you wanted to continue and while the damage looks terrible it's all mostly surface injuries, " Tanaka said while receiving a flare from the medical ninja that was attempting to heal the two exhausted girls. 

 

"Whaseber you shay shensei, I know I won," Ino challenged her friend. 

 

The two girl's attempted to jump at each other again and received a scolding from the medical ninja who promptly pushed both of them to the ground to ensure that neither of them would be able to continue the fight. 

 

They didn't mind they were still riding the high from their scuffle. 

 

Glacning over at each other the paused and promptly burst out in pained giggles. 

 

"Oh owe yous oogly, " Sakura got out in between her giggles. 

"Who as yous carring oogly, oogly," Ino quipped back. 

 

There was no heat in their comments. They were both feeling exhilarated and felt a new flame beginning to kindle within their hearts and minds. Tanaka didn't know it, but he had created the catalyst for what would one day turn into an intense rivalry. 

 

Tanaka looking at the two girls with a healthy dose of amusement and concern simply shook his head at their antics. 

 

Moving them off the field he looked toward the rest of the class. 

 

"Next up we'll have Kiba and Sasuke," Tanaka thought this matchup would do nicely since both boys showed a healthy level of skill in taijutsu even at this young age. 

Just before the two boys approached Kiba's path was cut off by the blurring form a blonde boy wearing an orange jumpsuit. 

"Sensei, please let me fight that brat Sasuke, I have a few things I need to teach him, " Naruto was glaring at Sasuke with an almost obsessive challenge in his eyes. 

Sasuke scoffed but returned the same challenging glare to the Uzumaki kid.

"Hey, it was my turn Naruto, back down!" Kiba growled out to the other boy. 

"Don't get your panties in a bunch dog boy, this is my fight, I'll show this little Uchiha brat whose boss, believe it!" Naruto had a wild grin on his face as he didn't even bother to look at Kiba's angry scowl. 

 

"Naruto, I don't think this is the best Idea ..." Tanaka hadn't seen Naruto fight before and he absolutely tanked his pop quiz on the fundamentals of Taijutusu. Tanaka had very little faith in Naruto's actual fighting ability even if he was aware that the two boys got into minor scuffles often and Naruto spent a lot of time sparring with Noramori. 

Sasuke walked out toward the center of the field.

"Bring it on weakling!" Sasuke matched Naruto's energy and sent it back at him. 

"Alright well if you two insist, take your stances," Tanak had raised an eyebrow expecting this to at least be a lesson for Naruto even if it wasn't a challenge for Sasuke.

Sasuke and Natuo raised their hands and fell into a fighting stance. 

"BEGIN!"