Academy spars

Shikari went to the Academy with bags under his eyes having slept little due to him getting too 'emersed' in his calligraphy training.

<hiruzen POV>

I didn't expect this.

I was surprised by what happened over the course of the past months.

the academy had opened, housing a new generation of students to become Shinobi.

but that year was different.

because most if not all young future clan heads are in one class.

the Hyuga clan as in Hinata Hyuga, the Uchiha clan as in Sasuke Uchiha, the Nara, Akamichi, Yamanaka as in Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, the inuzuka as in Kiba, the Aburame as in Shino, and other civilian clans like the Haruno, and lastly and the most unknown one the Uzumaki and Namikaze as in Naruto.

large pressure was put on the teachers of that class, from most of the clans to teach their upcoming clan heads well, and Iruka didn't disappoint at least in my view.

but that wasn't what surprised me, what did is the number of geniuses in that class.

most were a given like Sasuke, Shikamaru but there was a boy that surprised me greatly.

his name is Shikari.

an orphan boy who seemed like a nobody in the starting months of the academy started showing talent and potential nearly rivaling geniuses like Kakashi, Itachi, Minato, and others.

he wasn't on the same level as those monsters, but the boy seemed more talented as each month passed.

something no other genius showed.

"Cat!" I said.

immediately an Anbu with a cat mask appeared in front of me.

"I want you to raise the amount of allowance the orphan boy Shikari gets." I ordered.

"Yes Hokage-Sama, but may I ask why?" the Anbu, Yugao asked respectfully.

"see it as an investment in a promising genius." I calmly explained

"Yes, Hokage-Sama!" Said Yugao before using the Shunshin no Jutsu (body flicker technique) to disappear.

I smiled then took out a crystal ball and started viewing the happenings at the academy and what I saw made me smile.

<General POV>

Shikari had just arrived and looked around when he saw an empty spot beside a certain blonde he sat next to him.

"hey, Naruto." Shikari decided to start the conversation between himself and the blonde Jinchuriki.

"hey, Shikari!" naruto returned the greeting.

"what have you been up to?" Shikari decided to ask, as there was still time before Iruka arrived.

"oh, you know the usual. pranking people, and eating ramen!" Naruto said especially proud of the 'pranking people' part.

Shikari frowned, naruto had once told him that his dream was to get recognition from the people by becoming the Hokage, however, pranking people isn't gonna help him so Shikari said just that.

"Naruto, if you want to get people's recognition and respect you need to stop pranking them."

"but-" naruto tried but Shikari cut him off.

"not buts" Shikari firmly said.

"but you didn't have to cut me off!" naruto nodded and then said.

;)

Shikari cringed on the inside at naruto's sentence (that was a meme from his past life).

"I will consider your advice Shikari!" Naruto decided to humor him.

Shikari nodded then hit naruto with his elbow two times, a secret sign they agreed upon if one of them saw Iruka coming and the other didn't.

after getting threw the boring lessons the students were surprised by what Iruka announced.

"class today we are going to have taijutsu spars!" Iruka grinned at the reaction of his students most cheered but being a chunin Iruka heard a few students say this among the loud cheering:

"what's the point if we are going to lose to clan kids?!" of course those words came from civilian students.

Iruka frowned then he decided to motivate the students by saying: "Whoever wins their match gets no homework for the week AND bonus grades!"

the class cheered even more and the previously hopeless kids got motivated, nobody wants homework.

...

students were arrayed in a circle around a white circle, while Iruka was calling out the names of the students in order to announce their opponents, Iruka still decided to start with the civilian kids first but he counted out Shikari as an exception.

after all the uninteresting civilian spars finished, the students were excited to see the clan kids in action and they did not disappoint.

"Sakura Haruno vs Shino Aburame

Kiba Inuzuka vs Chouji Akamichi

Hinata Hyuga vs Ino Yamanaka

Shikamaru Nara vs Shikari

Naruto Uzumaki vs Sasuke Uchiha" Iruka announced the matches in one breath.

'why is Shikari a civilian kid like me sparring against a future clan head!' many civilian kids questioned, already knowing the answer but not accepting it.

Shikari looked at Shikamaru catching him while he was stealing a glance at him.

'troublesome'

'winning is gonna be hard'

each boy thought.

'Other kids might look at Shikamaru like he is lazy, in fact, Shikamaru isn't lazy because he is no he is lazy because he doesn't need to train to beat people he only has to use his mind for that' Shikari secretly praised the Nara heir.

while Shikari was thinking that, the spar between Sakura and Shino commenced.

as everyone expected Sakura is on defense while Shino is on offense.

'hmm..... Sakura has multiple weak points that I can exploit....there is her fear of insects and her small chakra reserves' Shino was an observer type as he thought of a way to quickly defeat Sakura, he decided to use her second weakness.

Shino stretched his hand as more bugs came out of his sleeve.

Iruka observed the bugs closely and discovered that those were no normal bugs they were Kikaichu!

'know an opponent's weakness and capitalize on it impressive Shino' Iruka thought as he smiled.

'however on the other hand Sakura is completely surrounded but is just waving her kunai wildly she is put in an unfavorable situation and she panics' Iruka frowned.

that isn't a quality a ninja should have but Iruka couldn't blame her much she is still six and in her first year at the academy.

back in the circle, Shino decided to have mercy on Sakura and just beat her by making her step out of the ring.

"Shino is the winner! now make the Seal of Reconciliation!" Iruka announced then instructed.

the two make the Seal of Reconciliation and walk out of the circle.

"Next is Kiba vs Chouji."

the two boys walked to the center of the circle and made the Seal of confrontation.

"Hajime! (begin!)"