Kajirama stepped into the ring to see his silver haired opponent step in with a much too serious look on his face. For Kakashi, he had heard of the Sarutobi clan's feared reputation in combat around the whole village by several adults and from his father. Led by the Sandaime's own work ethic, they were a clan that stood alongside the predecessors of the village, from which, on that era, Sasuke Sarutobi had been the personal advisor of the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage at the time, and that spoke volumes of their clan's heralding capabilities. And for Kajirama, what he had seen in the previous spar didn't quell the anticipation he felt for a duel against someone that's his age. Other than Asuma, Obito and a few times, their female friend: Rin, who he had sparred against in the past - Kajirama hadn't been able to test his utmost against someone that'll give him the sense of loss.
Don't get him wrong though, he was sometimes put on the tight spot on his Taijutsu duel against Rin, Obito and his little uncle - Asuma, but he won most of those matches. What he had in mind was, the sense of loss when Kajirama was against someone like, Biwako and his father, Jiraiya. When he saw the silver-haired boy in front of him take a deep breath to calm his nerves down as he looked over to him with a lazy and relaxed yet, pensive look. Kajirama smiled seeing that scrutinized eyes of his opponent. He remembered, Kakashi, the first time he met the kid was on that day of the competition, and if Kakashi was as he guessed, then he's expecting his opponent to be more remarkably compared to Obito and that Inuzuka's spar, even more lethal and the reason he concluded as such, was because of his opponent's deamor and calculative eyes, which Kajirama hadn't been able to perceive on his friends. Which was why he took this match very seriously.
"Let's have a good match." Kajirama spoke up, breaking the nervous silence between them by extending his hand for the silver-kid to shake, as a show of some good sportsman-spirit before the match unlike the previous one. Kakashi glanced at his hand, after a moment, Kakashi clasped the offered hand in a shake when they all heard a shout from the crowd.
"Go Kajirama, kick his ass." Obito shouted happily from the sidelines while shaking his hand to cheer him on, gaining incredulous looks from his not so minced words. Kajirama looked a little embarrassed at the amused smile marred on the faces of his classmates.
"You have quite an interesting friend there." Kakashi started, not at all hiding the mirth laced in his voice, which Kajirama nodded sheepishly in response.
"Yeah, he's a bit impulsive…" He replied, agreeing with him whole heartedly.
"Oi! I heard that." Obito shouted indignantly from the side lines, while Kajirama rubbed his neck sheepishly at his frowning friend and nodded his head apologetically which made the Uchiha smile as Obito continued to start rooting for him again.
"Alright now make the seal of confrontation…" The teacher finally interjected to break their antics. Both boys held the seal in front of their chest, before Kakashi dropped into his clan's classically balanced stance of being a bit offensive as well as defensive. Kajirama did the Taijutsu stance he had been taught by his grandmother, much to the confusion of all the crowd surrounding him.
...
Meanwhile, in the balcony on the second floor's hallways in the Academy…
Two figures stood there, with their elbows resting on the railing while their seasoned and veteran eyes stared at the battlefield.
"So why are we here again?" The man standing to the right with a stoic yet slightly menacing expression on his face asked.
"To watch the inaugural fights of the Academy year, what else." The man by his side answered his query equally stoically and almost instantly getting a grunt of exasperation from his former teammate.
"Well we haven't done this anytime in the past, might as well get used to this…" Hiruzen started dryly, quite enjoying the time here, seeing kids fight it out.
"There's a first time for everything then." The stoic man by his side retorted making the man by his side glance at him curiously.
"You're getting old Hiruzen." The intimidating man spoke, not at all reserved with the current reigning Hokage, one could see no ounce of fear in his eyes at who it was that he was talking to.
"I'm not old…" Hiruzen retorted, almost offended at the prospect of having his age mentioned. He wasn't old, he was merely… well past his prime, yeah that was it. The man by his side, much to his annoyance merely chuckled a humorous creepy laugh while shaking his head as he tapped the wooden crane he was holding on the ground.
"This is what old people like us do, pass their time while looking at those who would surpass us one day and take our reigns from us when our time finally comes. To nurture ones so young with all the care we can offer, that is our duty as adults of the village…" The man spoke, his voice suddenly serious and the wizened words laced with an air of experience.
"And you call me old…" Hiruzen murmured in an annoyed voice, clearly not at all happy at being called old. It was the only thing that got on his nerves, and not many had the nerve to talk to him with a straight face much less how his partner was taking to him.
The man by the Hokage's side merely smiled eerily, but one could find compassion in them.
Both adults watched the first mock fight in the rings come to an end, seeing the result, Danzo Shimura scoffed.
"Typical Inuzuka clan members, easily riled up and lose their heads before the fight even began. Stupidity runs in their genetics." He admonished unrestrainedly, not at all impressed by the fight while the Hokage standing by the side nodded in some sort of an agreement. Danzo runs his fingers on the coarse wood of his crane, his coal black eyes narrowed at the boy exiting the ring on his own feet.
"Typical Uchiha, all arrogant on a style seemingly bastardized off of some other true taijutsu stance for their almighty Sharingan, only to make themselves seem original and deceptive. How far has the great clan fallen from its true glory…" Danzo commented with a hidden meaning behind his tone, getting a grunt of agreement from Hiruzen.
Both of the shaggy old men perked up at the mention of the second name in the announcement of the next fight.
Danzo glanced at his former teammate, watching the Hokage lean forward with eyes that had a hidden gleam of excitement making him smirk knowingly.
"So finally the fight you dragged me here for…" Danzo commented pointedly, and Hiruzen frowned at being read so easily. It was a wound to his pride as being hailed as a man who was a master at hiding his emotions and completely unreadable to his opponents, that white-haired grandson of his was going to ruin his reputation soon enough like this.
His partner followed his fixated gaze to the white-haired boy shaking hands with his opponent and his eyes narrowed on the small symbol embossed near the back nape of his neck making him raise an eyebrow and lean a bit forward himself.
"Well well well, so this is that Jiraiya's child, huh. I can see why he intrigues you so much, he's your grandson after all, this should prove to be not as boring as the other one…" He spoke, clearly a little interested himself, getting seemingly no reaction from the Hokage.
He glanced once more to his side, only to raise an eyebrow at seeing Hiruzen's eye smile. He turned his eyes back to see what had gotten him so happy, only for his eyes to narrow at the arena.
"Isn't that the-" He murmured, unsure until Hiruzen nodded affirmatively. A reminiscing look in his eyes.
"The Savage Vengeance Fist. The original taijutsu style of that wild late daughter of yours…" He murmured, nostalgia kicking in both of their minds while Hiruzen's face lit up with a small proud smirk. Both their gazes rested on the crest embossed on his shirt now, the clan symbol of the Sarutobi Clan donned proudly on his garments.
"He certainly does his heritage proud…" Hiruzen murmured in praise, getting a curt nod from Danzo. The proud smirk is still not going off Hiruzen's face.
"That he does…" Hiruzen agreed though Danzo still couldn't get one thing.
"Where the hell did he come across that style? Wasn't Anzu the one who made that and it was seemingly lost with her since she didn't have anyone, much to say a student, to inherit it?" Danzo asked questioningly which once more got a nod from Hiruzen. Though the Hokage did have a pretty good guess where the child might have come across such a powerful style, who else but from Jiraiya? Jiraiya must have taught the kid on his limited time spent with his son in the village.
"I have no idea…" He spoke a lie smoothly, getting narrowed glances from his partner who had caught onto his lie but said nothing in the end. Now quite a lot interested in the fight himself.
-Back in the sparring center.-
Kakashi raised an eyebrow seeing the peculiar and seemingly quite uncomplicated taijutsu stance his opponent had dropped in. It had so many holes in it that it wasn't even funny. A person would most probably be required to possess unimaginable flexibility and endurance, coupled with keen instincts to evade or block all the attacks that would enter his guard virtually in no time whatsoever.
Though he kept the comments to himself, it would be an insult to question a fighter about his abilities on the style he uses.
He dropped in his own stance, legs widely stretched with both arms in a forward guard to either defend or block at virtually the same time.
The teacher saw straight through the holes in that style though didn't comment on them, it wasn't appropriate for him to humiliate Kajirama in front of everybody. He pulled his hand up as a gesture to get ready and both nodded at seemingly the same time when he brought it down, the whole clearing now in thick silence to await the pending fight.
"Hajime." The teacher finally called out, and Kajirama took this as his cue to charge his opponent head first and take the first hit and flow of the spar right from the start. His feet jogged through the small distance between them quickly and he wanted to exploit that huge gap in his guard up front right from the beginning, and end it as quickly as he could.
He closed the distance between them in a matter of seconds, slowing down when he was within arm's reach of Kakashi who still stood as relaxed as a breeze and let him come in for the strike.
Kajirama slid his right foot in to get into his guard, when Kakashi suddenly changed his stance as he slid his left foot back almost instantly, negating Kajirama's attempt.
Though Kajirama was having none of it, as was shown when he slid his left foot in a small arc into his guard and once more Kakashi slid his right foot back in the same arc to mirror his movement and render his charge virtually useless.
Kajirama finally had enough and brought his left fist near his waist and pulled it forward to Kakashi's stomach which was blocked by the silver-haired boy's right palm easily. However, it was as if Kajirama's fists were in synchrony, Kajirama cocked his right fist back to follow up and pulled his left back when Kakashi blocked it with his left palm quite efficiently, however, the force of Kajirama's unusual movement made Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise as he felt a stabbing pain from his palm, realizing he should counter the assault of his opponent, Kakashi retaliated by twisting his body in a 360 degree motion to bring his left elbow for Kajirama's gut which was caught by both of Kajirama's crossed palms to brace the force behind his blow.
Kakashi then brought his left knee up to his waist and pushed it towards Kajirama's right bicep who curled up his arm to block it with his forearm and put his hand behind the limb to brace for the strength behind it.
At that moment, Kakashi's eyes widened in horror when he saw the Kajirama smirk ever so slightly and realized how open his own guard was now, while he was trying to defend himself from his opponent's seemingly continuous weird barrage of katas, and was lost on his retaliation, Kajirama had open his guard up by playing on the defensive.
Kajirama crouched down on his right knee, circling his body in a 270 degree arc to swipe off the boy's lone right leg from underneath him, as was the counter he had learned from the constant sparring with his friends and family.
Only the efforts of his past training gave Kakashi the required time to hop a little and let the smooth swipe pass underneath him harmlessly while he stumbled back, a little off balance which wasn't lost to Kajirama. Nonetheless, Kajirama didn't lose his composure, realizing that rushing ahead would only give up the defenses of his Taijutsu's particular movement.
That time of pause was enough for Kakashi to stand up straight and rushed ahead instead, cocking his left fist back and pushing it forward to the white-haired boy's face. Kajirama tilted his head to the side letting it slide past harmlessly, which Kakashi pulled his fist back, following up with his right which was slapped back by Kajirama.
Kajirama saw him twist himself in a complete circle and through his previous spars, knew what would follow next so he knew his chance was now. Kakashi pushed his arm in a horizontal arc to aim for Kajirama's cheek but only met thin air which made the Hatake's eyes widened in surprise.
'Where is he-' Kakashi's thought trailed off mid-way when a strong swipe from underneath him took his legs away and dropped him flat on his back. He coughed when his back and his head hit the rough ground harshly, not expecting the counter of the blow on their engaging, it didn't take long for him to feel his arm being caught in a hand when his eyes were closed momentarily.
Kajirama twisted his arm and threw him around, to make him fall down face first on the ground and painfully put it near his spine, getting a moan of pain from his opponent to make him stop lest he snap it. He flicked out a kunai from his holster and placed it on his opponent's neck to signify Kakashi's defeat undoubtedly to the instructor who called the match.
"And that's the match, winner Kajirama Ogata!" The teacher clapped proudly, which prompted the signal to Kajirama, as he let his opponent's hand free.
"That was awesome…" All the tone on the crowd of children on to turned amazement from the bout. However, Obito didn't let go of the chance to snide a remark at Kakashi, who he somehow hated with a passion.
"Being sprawled face first in the dirt while your opponent sits on you. Never thought a cool kid like you would be able to lose so badly to someone..." He finished his sentence with a smug look, as if he was the one who defeated Kakashi instead of Kajirama.
Rin, who was at the side, nudged Obito's side hard, which made the boy groan in surprise. "Stop making fun of Kakashi, Obito. You won't be able to fare better against Kajirama."
The words of ridicule from Obito seemed to be pierced through Kakashi's chest like a hot knife as the boy sat up, his hair shadowing his eyes while he clenched the dirt in his fists tightly. Completely oblivious to the white-haired opponent of his holding a seal of reconciliation for him to complete behind him.
"Hey Kakashi, you alright? You're not hurt are you?" Rin got close to Kakashi as her voice showed that of concern, unlike Obito's mirthful words. A couple few of girl also took this chance to show their 'fan girling' concern on Kakashi. Which they only received a simple:
"I'm fine."
Kakashi stood up and walked away, completely ignoring his opponent's confused yet worried gaze on his back. He dusted his shirt and cleaned off the dirt and walked to the tap by the side for drinking water. He opened it up, drinking down a gulp from it before splashing some onto his face and ran his wet hand through his silky hair to make them glimmer brightly in the sun. He couldn't believe how badly he had been beaten, but not again. This was the last time, he promised himself silently. 'Only those who are weak are deemed useless, no point crying about what happened...'
"Hey…" A soft girly voice called out from behind him. Kakashi turned around to see Rin standing there with her hands behind her back and a warm smile on her face. Kakashi's hand pulled out his handkerchief and wiped off his face, staying silent to let her take her time to say what she wanted to speak.
"Don't worry about them, you were awesome out there. And you'll definitely win next time, I know it... Well, maybe?" Rin chuckled with uncertainty, Kajirama was a quote-on-quote hardworking friend of theirs, maybe hardworking may seem like an understatement for those who knew of his rules and behavior on his shinobi training. She focused on Kakashi once again and continued with comfort. "After all, we're here in the Academy to learn for quite some time, right?" She asked in her playful voice, making Kakashi look up at the unfamiliar girl with the same relaxed and detached look.
"Thanks. I'll beat him next time."
Rin blinked in surprise, in a moment she retracted her hand back and let out her usual cheeky grin.
"And don't be all mopey-broody, just 'cause you lost 'kay?" She asked him, and got a tilt of the head from him in honest confusion. She placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes making him shrink under her gaze. His mother used to do that, and it was still quite effective to Kakashi's mind seeing the mini-me of her right now.
"We are here for another six or seven years, so what if you didn't do good and lost? You have plenty more chances to show all of them up." She said firmly with a sage-like nod, finally making him smile, or an eye smile Rin supposed, and a nod.
"Oy Rin!" Obito called out when he noticed earlier that Rin was not on his side, he looked around to search for her, only to see her comforting that 'teme'. "Are we even on the same side? Kajirama's your friend y'know! Stop comforting that dude, he's his own person." Obito childishly gnashed his teeth in annoyance.
"Oh, Obito." Rin merely smiled. "Don't be like that, we're all classmates in the Academy after all."
"But-"
"Umm… Kakashi?" Their chatter was cut off when Kajirama came to their side, Kakashi looked on in confusion as his opponent came from behind Rin and Obito. Kajirama put his hand forward with two outstretched fingers for him to take.
"You didn't make the seal of reconciliation earlier as are the rules, and I don't want to ruin a tradition coming from generations on our first day here at the Academy." Kajirama spoke with a sincere smile.
Kakashi looked down on the outstretched hand and yet another eye smile broke on to his face while he nodded in return and stretched out his own hand with two fingers clasping his fingers in a perfect seal.
"It was a good match, you had me worried there for a few moments." Kajirama spoke in an honest tone, surprising Kakashi.
For Kajirama, he knew the boy was strong and would get even stronger in time, it was his gut feeling.
"I'm not sure if we are properly introduced, I'm Kajirama, Kajirama Sarutobi-Ogata from the Sarutobi and Ogata clan. It's nice to meet you." Kajirama introduced himself in a happy tone and extended his hand, this time for a shake and the start of a new bond of friendship between the two.
Kakashi once more looked down surprised at the offer of friendship and saw the genuine look in his eyes while his hand clasped the other one almost on its own.
"I'm Kakashi, Kakashi Hatake from the Hatake clan. It's nice to meet you too." Kakashi spoke in his ever soft voice getting a nod and a smile from his new white-haired friend.
Both stumbled when a black and blue blur barreled into them from their side, clasping their necks with her arms.
"I wanna be friends too! I'm Rin Nohara!" Chirped Rin with a cheeky smile and all of them laughed at her antics, although Obito did glare at how Rin and Kakashi were so close to each other, while Rin put out her tongue childishly. Kajirama looked at Obito with a raised eyebrow.
"C'mon Obito, don't be such a child, introduce yourself to Kakashi too." He drew out in a teasing voice and Obito sighed softly, he might be impulsive at times, but he knew that he might as well have a friendly rivalry, no matter how one-sided it is for now between him and Kakashi, than be enemies, they are residents of the same village, so why not?
"Teme, I'm Obito Uchiha, Konoha's future Hokage...!" Obito finally relented as he also introduced himself, and Kakashi gave out another eye smile.
"Nice to meet you, Obito."
Obito was surprised when he saw Kakashi's friendly smile, which made him somewhat guilty for his actions to the boy. He sheepishly rub his head as he mumbled. "Nice to meet you too..."
"How touching…" Kajirama mumbled softly in sarcasms making Obito glare at him, while Rin simply laughed as she covered her mouth with her hand, Kakashi though, looked on in confusion, oblivious to Kajirama's sentence.
"What do you mean-" He was about to ask, but the teacher's announcement of the next match cut him off.
"Rin Nohara and Anko Mitarashi, please step into the rings…" Rin's ears perked up. She grinned nervously at having had her chance to finally come up, which she then pulled Obito and Kakashi behind her, almost dragging them like rag dolls behind her, Obito was quite used to it, but Kakashi wasn't, so he let her drag him while he blinked in confusion. Kajirama followed closely behind with a mirthful smirk on his face.
After they got close to the arena, they gave Rin their good luck.
...
While their friend - Rin, and their classmate - Anko Mitarashi were getting ready to their sparring Taijutsu match, Kajirama stood in-between Kakashi and Obito as he looked around to study his classmates, since they were going to be classmates in the academy for a whole four years from what he was informed of by his father and grandparents, then he might as well see if there's anyone he could identity.
He looked around and saw an Akimichi clan member, how he knew of this you ask? It was simple - from the the boy's eye catching big frame and the clan cross markings on his cheek that was known to be marked by every member of their family although it varied in design, he may be wrong as they aren't the only clans that had been doing this, but he bet on his guess from the boy's physique.
He also bet that with an Akimichi and a Nara - which had fought on the first sparring match earlier, Ensui Nara - that there might be a Yamanaka to structure the elite three-man-cell formation: Ino-Shika-Cho, which was quite infamous on the battlefield for their all rounded capabilities in either combat, intelligence and espionage, which was accounted for respectively by an Akimichi's techniques that resolved around the manipulation of their bodyweight, a Nara's high-level of intelligence, which had a drawback of being lazy, Kajirama added with humor as he thought with a smile. And lastly, a Yamanaka's sensory prowess that came from their clan's techniques. They had a long history of working together that these formations are designed to use each member's abilities in the best way possible that complements the others'.
He didn't know this from the books and scrolls in the Sarutobi compound, but was taught to him and Asuma by Biwako, because of the three clan's certain relationship with the Sarutobi Clan, the old woman found it necessary to teach them this lecture within their shinobi training since the three clans were some of the political party they were close ties with, and she concluded that Asuma and Kajirama would be bound to be introduced by any of the three clan's members later on.
After that, he continued to look around, he found Asuma hanging out with a red-eyed girl, although the Sarutobi was the one doing the talking as the girl would occasionally giggle from his jokes.
He also spotted Akio Inuzuka that Obito had beaten earlier, standing beside the Hyuga clan member, Kō Hyuga, which was still sporting a scowl on his face because of not being able to showcase his clan's Gentle Fist towards his classmates, courtesy of a certain Nara. Kajirama merely shook his head at this.
After he finished eyeing everyone of his classmates and found nothing that stood out particularly from the civilians, Kajirama brought his focus back to Rin and her opponent - Anko Mitarashi's sparring match.
The two girls were... duking it out with all they got, Kajirama's eyes slowly widened in amazement. Rin would sometimes join him and Obito's training sessions in their usual spot in the forest, so she wasn't that new to hand-to-hand combat than the rest of their peers even if the clan she hailed from were of civilian status, nevertheless, Kajirama and Obito knew of her dream on becoming a renowned medic-nin because of her fan worship towards - the Namekuji-hime[Slug Princess], one of the Sannin trio, Tsunade Senju. She wasn't the only one though, since Tsunade Senju was an icon for all the kunoichi of Konoha.
After a couple of minutes and seeing both girls exchanging fierce blows but never giving out any sort of weakness towards the other made Itamo Oba, their teacher, to stop them by going in-between the two girls, who were still raring to go even when they were seperated by him.
"Now both of you stop." Itamo Oba each showed both the girls a stern look, which made Rin and Anko paused abruptly but their eyes were still blazing with heat. When they looked at each other on the eyes, Kajirama and his classmates felt the sparks crackling between their stare, which made Kajirama and Obito shudder.
"Rin Nohara and Anko Mitarashi's sparring match is a draw."
The young students murmured among their cycle of friends in their batch. The girls in their batch were eyeing the two warily, although it was with friendly competitiveness.
Obito and Kajirama looked over their friends's approaching figure. Obito started with. "You were great, Rin."
"Yeah, that classmate you were up against sure was tough though, I bet she had her own training done." Kajirama followed. He looked over Obito and Kakashi and asked curiously. "Do you guys know of any clan that had a surname of Mitarashi?"
Obito and Kakashi shook their heads in denial. Kajirama was a bit surprised.
Kakashi said after some thought. "Haven't heard of a Mitarashi clan, but you can somehow see she's a bit..."
"Clumsy?" Kajirama finished what Kakashi was about to say, which earned him a nod from the latter.
Obito added as he brought his hands up on his head in a laid-back manner. "Yeah, now that both of you mentioned it, she does seemed pretty awkward on her fight against Rin."
"Her punch are pretty heavy though..." Rin pouted as she raised her palms which she used to defend herself from Anko's attacks, her palms were noticably having some slight redness and a hint of purple on them.
Kajirama also have this thought in mind when he saw how their female classmate fought against Rin. The area between his brows tightened slightly, then after some thought, his eyes lit up with realization. "This is just my guess but, she may have trained on her own, but because she didn't have anyone to teach her, her katas and stances are simply basic punches, kicks and defending. Furthermore, if she's a civilian then it is likely that she don't have anyone to practice hand-to-hand combat also."
Hearing Kajirama's words also made Kakashi's eyes slowly widened in astonishment, his gaze on Anko, who was getting back to her place, were carrying some respect. Obito, however, seemed to be thinking otherwise.
"Then she isn't that amazing then."
Kajirama and Kakashi, even Rin who seemed to realize something from the words Kajirama uttered shook their heads at Obito's mindless remark.
"What?" Obito asked dumbly seeing them shaking their heads at his comment.
"You dumbo." Kakashi looked away with whisper. Which was heard by Obito who had reacted on impluse as he glared heatedly at the silver-haired Hatake. "Oy teme, what did you say to me!?"
"Obito, Kakashi's right, you are a dumbo." Kajirama added with mirth.
Obito took a step back dramatically as he pointed at Kajirama comedically. "I thought you were my friend Kajirama..."
"Stop with your antics, Obito." Kajirama finally filled his bird brain friend. "Anko didn't have anyone to teach her but was still able to fight Rin evenly, which we knew ourselves that Rin isn't exactly that of a beginner, however, unlike Rin who got us to practice with, Anko had no one but was still giving Rin a good showing."
Obito blinked comically. "What are you getting at exactly?"
Kajirama sighed helplessly at his friend's ignorant words. While Kakashi seemed to barely hold on to a chuckle behind his mask.
Rin chuckled but was kind enough to explain with words that Obito would be able to understand. "What Kajirama was saying was, Anko worked hard on her training by herself without any guidance, while me, you, Kajirama and Kakashi here-" Rin pointed at herself and to her friends. "-were trained by someone who had guidance..." Rin then saw Obito frowned, she grew tired of it so she ended with. "Which means that she's amazing even if she don't have anyone to tutor her."
Obito blinked once more, before a bit of comprehension finally dawned on him. "Ohhhhh!! So that's what you meant Kajirama."
"Yeah..." Kajirama nodded exasperatedly.
The kids then continued to chat among themselves with their new friend, in the form of Kakashi Hatake.
...
Meanwhile, back in the balcony on the second floor's hallways in the Academy…
"A shame really…" Danzo commented.
"Hmm?" Hiruzen hummed in confusion at his words.
"That Kakashi Hatake I mean, isn't that Sakumo's child? If he was trained a bit more by his father then he might very well be able to excel everyone else, even your grandson. That Mitarashi girl also seemed to be quite good, she seemingly had no experience in hand-to-hand combat before this spar. But the stance was quite clear in her mind, most probably from learning by herself, no matter how basic. She missed many chances to counter but her defense was still strong, likely from some physical workouts, a little more experience and she will be acing through the physical workouts in no time..." He explained making Hiruzen contemplate on his companion's words.
"Some fine kids in the academy we have this time don't we…" He finally spoke, getting yet another raised eyebrow from the smoking man by his side.
"Indeed. They intrigue me, that Hatake, grandson of yours and the Uchiha particularly..."