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The training ground was as silent as a grave, the only noise being the blowing of the wind and the rustling of the leaves. In this specific training ground stood Kakashi Hatake and his three students. Sasuke and Naruto faced each other across the field, both of them in battle ready stances, their eyes set forward in determination. Kakashi stood off to the side along with his other pupil, Sakura. He held his orange book in between his fingers and watched the Uchiha and Uzumaki. Raising his hand in the air, he waited a moment before swinging it down, signaling the start of the sparring match.
"Come at me Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted before rocketing towards his rival, his right arm pulled back.
Sasuke smirked at his teammates recklessness and readied his left hand to divert the punch. His smirk disappeared when Naruto threw a left kick instead of punching with his right fist. 'Too slow.' the Uchiha thought before dodging to the right and then responding with a right punch to the blonde's face
Naruto quickly ducked and attempted a sweep kick but Sasuke was able to jump back, avoiding the attack. Naruto grit his teeth and followed after his rival, his mind racing in order to find a plan that would beat the Uchiha.
Sasuke just continued to dodge, parry, and deflect every blow thrown at him with relative ease. It was easy to see that Sasuke obviously had the upper hand despite being on the defensive. Try as he might, Naruto simply had no chance in a straight out Taijutsu match against his teammate. With each attempt at a hit, Sasuke continued to wear down the blonde. A quick jab whenever his guard was open, using the blonde's own strength against him, it was all part of the Uchiha's general strategy whenever he fought his self proclaimed rival.
Glancing from his book Kakashi couldn't help but smirk. "They've both improved," he muttered. It was true, as Naruto was beginning to last in his spars against Sasuke for longer periods of time. In the beginning, Sasuke was able to decimate his blonde teammate in no time at all with nothing but pure skill. Now the Uchiha had to actually plan and think whenever he fought Naruto. Sure, Naruto still lost in almost every spar session but all it did was make him more determined to surpass his teammate. The determination only served to push him further.
"Sasuke-kun!"
The sudden shout had interrupted Kakashi's thoughts. He looked at the battle once more and he couldn't help but chuckle at what he saw. Sasuke was wildly rubbing at his eyes while hopelessly trying to avoid his blonde teammate. Kakashi slightly winced as Naruto managed to send the Uchiha flying with a haymaker. Naruto had most likely gotten frustrated during the match and decided to throw dirt into Sasuke's eyes.
"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto just threw dirt into Sasuke-kun's eyes!" Sakura said, confirming what had happened. "Isn't that against the rules you set up earlier?"
Kakashi merely shrugged. "I said that no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu were allowed and that kunai or shuriken couldn't be used. I said nothing about using the environment to your advantage." Kakashi answered. A few underhanded tactics were useful in the field and it looked as if Naruto was able to figure that out at least. Sasuke was smart but Naruto was outright devious.
Then again, Sasuke was no slouch either. Unlike his two teammates the boy had graduated the academy at a high genin to lower chuunin level. A true genius they called him but Kakashi knew better. Every day, whether or not he had trained with his team or not, Sasuke would begin his own rigorous training regime afterwards in the privacy of his clan's compound. As far as Kakashi knew, he was the only one on their team who was aware of it since he had taken to the habit of trailing his students whenever he was bored(i.e avoiding Gai). It was one of the reasons that Kakashi had focused on training Sakura and Naruto more personally as opposed to Sasuke who he usually tutored in small sessions. Said small sessions were usually based upon the use of a new technique or general improvement of what the boy already had. It was why these team training sessions were so important. The fairly unbalanced skill levels among his students made joint training difficult so Kakashi had to improvise whatever he could. It certainly didn't help that this was his first time taking on a genin team.
With a sigh, Kakashi went back to reading his favorite book.
Of course his team simply couldn't let him engage in his guilty pleasures as Kakashi sensed a significant build up of chakra along with the sound of roaring flames. Taking his eyes off his book yet again, Kakashi watched as his shortest genin frantically rolled around on the ground, all the while shouting obscenities to the sky. The only indication of what had transpired was the suspiciously burnt grass and the smug look on Sasuke's face.
Finally, Naruto had managed to put out the flames on his body and slowly stood up, giving his rival a well deserved glare. "You lit me on fire you prick!"
Sasuke continued to smirk, "You threw dirt into my eyes."
"You set me on fire!"
"You. Threw. Dirt. Into. My. Eyes." Sasuke coolly replied, clearly thinking he was well justified in his attack. Hm, Kakashi would need to have another private lesson with Sasuke afterward on using dangerous techniques on his teammates. It was all fun and games until someone lost an arm, or had their manhood almost seared off in the case of Naruto.
Naruto's face turned an angry shade of red before he made his signature hand seal, "Oh screw this! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" And like that, a multitude of clones popped into existence around the blonde, each one in a battle ready stance, ready to swarm the Uchiha.
Sasuke activated his sharingan in response and drew out a pair of kunai, one for each hand. He settled into his own battle stance and prepared himself.
Both genin simply stood there, staring at each other for what seemed to be minutes and Kakashi continued to watch them both. Sure, both of them had more or less completely disregarded the guidelines he set for the sparring match but if they went too far then he could definitely stop them in time. So as both genin charged each other with much ill intent, Kakashi continued to read his book, Sakura continued to cheer for her crush, and Naruto along with Sasuke continued their rivalry. 'Just another day with Team 7' Kakashi thought.
A/N: Started this during class and finished it in a bout of boredom. Please R&R. It's my second story on this site so criticism is gladly welcome.