DISCLAIMER: Whatever they say I still don't own Naruto or anything to do with the anime or the manga.
As soon as Iruka said begin, Naruto got down into his modified gentle fist stance and Sasuke got into his family taijutsu stance.
"What kind of a stance is that?" Sasuke asked. "You can't use the gentle fist without byakugan."
"This isn't gentle fist, it's my own form, I call it byakuzen." Naruto retorted.
"Well, whatever it is, it won't help you against me, I'm still gonna win this spar." Sasuke said.
"It doesn't matter what happens today Sasuke, this match means nothing in the long run." Naruto replied succinctly. "Ha! Shows what you know. This match will make me the top of the class. Once I get there nobody will be able to top me. And when I graduate at the top of our class, there will be nothing that can stop me in my rise to power!"
"You think that just by beating me you can become top of our class? That's pretty unlikely, and who said that you'll stay there even if you do beat me? There are four more years of the academy Sasuke, and anything can happen." Naruto said as they circled each other.
Sasuke was getting tired of Naruto's attitude. "Enough talk, Let's fight!" he shouted just before he charge the other boy.
Naruto activated his byakuzen, concentrating some of his chakra into his feet to enhance the vibrations he felt from the ground through his feet, doing the same thing to enhance his hearing as well, these two actions made up two thirds of his byakuzen, the other part was the advanced chakra detection jutsu found by Hinata, but it wasn't really necessary for this fight. Through his byakuzen he felt rather than saw the change in Sasuke's stance. When the other boy charged him he was ready with an answer to the attack. As Sasuke got nearer to him Naruto was able to analyze his movements and the vibrations created by the head-on charge. He could tell that there was something more to this attack than a simple hit. From the way Sasuke was moving towards him Naruto could tell that it was most likely a feint to get him to drop his guard. Instead of ducking the punch, Naruto shifted his position slightly so that the punch would miss him and cause Sasuke to over shoot and lose his balance. All of this was done in the fraction of a second before Sasuke's attack hit, he had waited so long to take action so that Sasuke wouldn't be able to change his attack. As soon as the attack missed him Naruto made an attack of his own, he hit Sasuke square on the chest with his knuckles, right at the center of the ribcage, he then used the elbow of his other arm to hit Sasuke in the back as the boy tried to recover from the missed punch that put him in the situation. Being hit in the back by Naruto's elbow caused Sasuke to hit the ground with an audible thump as Naruto flipped over him to get some distance and looked at Iruka for a second to confirm his double score before turning back to the fight.
"So you actually managed to hit me, I hope you enjoyed it because you won't be able to do it again" Sasuke said as he got up.
"You do know that pride comes before the fall don't you Sasuke? " Naruto taunted.
"I wish he wouldn't taunt him so much" Hinata said to nobody in particular as she watched the match. Naruto was clearly winning, and had been for the past ten minutes. Each time Sasuke attacked Naruto he would somehow miss and Naruto would score a hit. Sasuke was getting angrier and angrier with each passing moment, and it wasn't just because he couldn't seem to land a hit, Naruto kept taunting him every time he missed, and that just made him madder. For Sasuke this was unacceptable, nobody was allowed to be better than him, one of the elite Uchiha, and even worse than that, the boy seemed to be able to predict his every move, something only the sharingan was supposed to be able to do. But here was this boy, who didn't come from a clan and had no bloodlines to speak of, doing just that.
"Why won't you just stay still?" the Uchiha asked Naruto as he charged again, only to miss and get hit in the chest.
"Where's the fun in that? All you'll do is hit me, and I don't think that would feel very good. Of course I'm only guessing since I haven't gotten hit yet. What do you think? Does getting hit feel good to you?" Naruto taunted.
"What? Why would I think that getting hit felt good? " Sasuke asked, confused.
"I dunno you seem to be doing it a lot so you must like it."
"I do not like getting hit!"
"Then don't let me hit you." Naruto said simply.
Sasuke charged again and Naruto dodged just like he had all those other times. But this time when Sasuke missed he jumped over Naruto's expected attack and rolled before standing up behind Naruto and scoring his first hit of the match on Naruto's unguarded back. "Good job!" Naruto said, only infuriating Sasuke even more. But from them on the match went back and forth, both boys scoring several more hits before Iruka called an end to it.
"That's good enough" he said to them before turning to the rest of the class. "Now I hope the rest of you understand what we are looking for in your spars. I will pair you up and you will each fight one spar so we can evaluate your ability in taijutsu. Of course girls will fight against girls and boys against boys this year, but don't expect that to always be the case, in the following years we may mix it up just to see how you handle it. Now the next two to fight will be... Hinata Hyuga and Sakura Haruno. The two of you head to the center of the sparring circle, everyone else pay attention, you might just learn something."
"Good luck Hinata, and have fun with it." Naruto whispered to her as she passed him. " Thank-you Naruto, and don't worry, I will" she said back.
The fight between the two girls was a lopsided match-up, that much was clear from the start. But Hinata decided that she would allow Sakura a few hits, and even a chance to show her skills, or rather lack of them, before she started to use her gentle fist moves and showed her true skill level. They started out with Sakura charging and trying to overpower the smaller Hinata, assuming as most people did, that her size and quiet demeanor was also an indication of her lack of skills. But Hinata just parried her blows and stood her ground, the sloppiness of Sakura's fighting led Hinata to decide that allowing her any hits at all would only hinder the other girl rather than help her. After Sakura's second attempt at breaking through Hinata's defenses, most people could tell that Hinata wasn't trying at all.
Naruto ended this by shouting to her, "Alright Hinata! I think she's had enough of a chance to prove herself! Show her the true power of the Hyuga clan!" As soon as Naruto said that Hinata ended the confrontation and flipped backwards to the edge of the circle. Activating her byakugan she charged back into the fray and began to use her gentle fist to great effect. But Sakura wasn't going to go down easy, she kept trying to gain the advantage. After five minutes of showing her true skill Hinata ended the bout by forcing Sakura out of the circle. After Iruka named Hinata the winner Sakura came over to her and said, "Thank you."
Hinata was surprised. "For what?" she asked.
"For allowing me to show what I could do before you beat me, I know that you could have beaten me in ten seconds but you gave me a chance and didn't hurt me even though you could have." Sakura answered.
"Well you're welcome. Iruka-sensei said that these matches were to determine our skill levels, and I decided that if he can't tell that I was holding back at the beginning then I would just work my way up."
Hinata said in reply. "Oh Hey do you want to sit with me and Naruto?" she asked. "No thank-you, not today anyways." Sakura replied before she went to sit with Ino.
The rest of the spars went in much the same way as the first two had. One of the opponents almost always far outclassing the other, but the other students took their cue from Hinata and allowed the weaker student a chance to show their skills before winning the spar in a show of strength and skill.
Afterwards Iruka addressed them as a group, "I am proud of all of you, tomorrow there will be a list of sparring groups posted on the bulletin board. These will be your groups until I say otherwise, they are based on your current level of skill not your physical ability and you will have to prove to me that your skills have progressed to the next level before I will let you move up to the next level. Likewise if I feel that your skills have stagnated or the rest of the group have progressed beyond your level, I will move you down one level. Now before I dismiss you for the day, does anyone have any questions?"
Sasuke raised his hand. "Iruka-sensei, what about weapons and physical training?"
"A very good question Sasuke, we will deal with those subjects tomorrow. Now if there are no more questions, you are all dismissed for the day."
Hizashi was outside of the academy waiting for them when Fugaku Uchiha walked up to him.
"So I guess the rumors were true after all, the Hyugas actually were arrogant enough to allow the kyubi brat to become a ninja."
Hizashi gave him a stern look. "You know better than to speak of him like that in public Fugaku, the Third's law is still in effect. So I take it that your youngest excuse for a son is now enrolled at the academy as well?"
"You will show me the proper respect!"
"I only show respect to people who deserve it such as my brother or the Hokage or Naruto. You however do not deserve my respect so long as you hold to your current doctrine of natural Uchiha superiority without any hard work to back it up. Until such time as you deign to reconsider this foolish idea I see no reason to even try to speak to you, let alone give you my respect."
Fugaku was indignant at this offensively true statement. "Why you!..."
"This conversation is now over, I must pickup my sons and my niece from the academy and conduct them home." With that Hizashi walked away towards the waiting children. He would need to tell Hiashi of this conversation before the next council meeting. He would certainly get an earful about it, so it was only right to warn him.
That night Hinata couldn't sleep, she was worried about Naruto. She had seen the look that Sasuke was giving him after their fight, and she didn't like it, he looked ready to kill, and it was only the first spar. What would happen if they ever fought again? Nothing good, of that much she was sure, but Naruto kept telling her not to worry about it, that he would be fine. Hinata wished that she could believe him, but he could be extremely naïve sometimes, and this seemed like one of those times. She came to a decision, if Naruto was too naïve to be worried about his own safety then she would just have to worry for him, and do the one thing that he never could: ask her father what to do.
She walked out of her room and peaked into Hiashi's study, the light was still on. "Daddy?" This late at night there were no people in the main house so maintaining a sense of decorum was not required, she could call Hiashi whatever she wanted. "Can I talk to you?"
Hiashi looked up in surprise. "Hinata why are you still up? You should be in bed."
she shuffled over to him and climbed onto his lap. "I was daddy, but I couldn't sleep. I'm worried about Naru-chan, I think he made an enemy today, and I'm scared for him." She told him about the fight and about what she saw afterwards that scared her so much.
"I see. And Naruto isn't worried about this?"
Hinata shook her head. "No, but he didn't see the look on Sasuke's face when he lost or how angry Sasuke got during the match. Naruto was having too much fun to care. But I think Sasuke is going to try to hurt Naruto or get back at him somehow, and if he won't be worried for himself then I'm going to have to be worried for him."
Hiashi was surprised at what his daughter was saying. She sounded so mature as she said it, yet she was still a little girl looking for her daddy to fix something for her. He saw the glimmer of something in her eyes, something that wasn't there before, a maturity that was beginning to show through, in that maturity he saw the understanding of just what could happen to Naruto if Sasuke tried to hurt him. He couldn't let that fear come to life, not while it was still preventable.
"Alright Hina-chan I'll look into this for you, and find some way to keep Naruto safe. Now you need to go to bed so that you can stay awake in school tomorrow."
"OK daddy, just promise me that you'll keep my Naru-kun safe for me," Hinata said sleepily as Hiashi picked her up and carried her back to her bed. She was asleep before he even got out of the study. "I promise Hime," he whispered as he tucked her in.
As he turned to leave he paused in the door way. He had just realized what Hinata's worry about Naruto really meant, she had a crush on Naruto, she just didn't realize it yet, but soon she would be blushing and acting shy around Naruto. He would have to prevent that, it would only hinder her in the years to come, perhaps he could have Hinali talk to her once it started, she would know what to say. After all Hinali had been the same way, Hinata was definitely her mother's daughter. He smiled as he went to tell Hinali about their daughter's new crush.
Two months had gone by since Hinata came to him with her concerns, and Hiashi had done something about it. The next day he went to Hizashi's house after breakfast and talked to Naruto. He told him not to antagonize Sasuke, and not to draw too much attention to himself. When Naruto started to protest about not doing his best Hiashi told him that at least for him it would be safer to be in the middle of the class, causing people to think that he was an unremarkable ninja, at least for now. When Naruto asked why that was Hiashi couldn't tell him, he just told him that it had to do with who his parents were and the reasons why he was being raised by the Hyugas. He promised to tell Naruto when the time was right but not before then. Naruto had taken his words to heart, he didn't excel in anything except for sparring which couldn't be helped since he had already demonstrated his skills. But what Hiashi hadn't expected was Naruto's methods of practicing his skills since he couldn't excel without drawing attention to himself. Naruto had become a prankster, using each prank as a way to informally practice the skills he was concealing. After the first report of this reached his ears Hiashi had barely contained his laughter, once he got it under control he called Iruka to have a meeting with him.
Iruka walked into Hiashi's office perplexed, normally it was the teacher who had to call these meetings.
"You wanted to see me Hiashi-sama?"
Hiashi did his best to maintain his composure. "Yes, I wanted to speak to you about Naruto's recent behavior. I trust that you are aware of his special circumstances?"
"Yes Hiashi-sama, I was informed of his...prisoner...as soon as it became apparent that he was in my class."
"His prisoner is the reason that I told Naruto to hide his skills. The problem is that apparently he got bored with hiding his skills so he started using them to become a prankster."
Iruka was confused, "Wait a minute you're telling me that Naruto is even more skilled than he is letting on?"
"Of course, why do you think it took you two months to figure out who the prankster was, Naruto got bored so he made it harder for himself."
"And what exactly am I supposed to do with this information? I can't let him get away with these pranks now that I know it's him who is responsible."
Hiashi smiled, startling Iruka who thought that Hyugas were incapable of such an action. "On the contrary Iruka. I expect you to punish him severely each and every time that you catch him. Of course that means that you have to be able to prove conclusively that it was him who did it, you can't just assume that every little thing that goes wrong is his fault, that just wouldn't be fair. In Naruto's mind this is a challenge, a way to exercise his skills without drawing undue attention to just how good he is, but now it is also a battle of wits between him and you. Try to enjoy it. And don't worry, after his birthday the pranks will be slowing somewhat, I'm sure that his birthday present will be keeping him quite busy."