Tension At The Academy

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The exam had begun. Everyone was hyper-focused on their paper, sparing no time to glance around. Shinji, on the other hand, was enjoying himself and leisurely looking around the classroom, while daydreaming about the next technique he would create. Iruka took note of this, and although he would normally suspect students of cheating for looking around as much as Shinji was, he knew Shinji was far too talented to do that.

As Shinji expected, Shikamaru and Sasuke were among the first to finish, while Shinji was one of the last. After they had completed the written exams, the Taijutsu movements and Shuriken throwing took place soon after. Everyone did fairly well, with Shinji and Sasuke being among the best. Finally, it was time for the Clone jutsu.

By the time the students had reached the Clone jutsu, the nervous atmosphere had dissipated. No one was scared of failing apart from one individual. That individual was Naruto. Everyone stepped up and easily created a clone, but when it was Naruto's turn, he failed severely. It was so bad that Shinji couldn't help but laugh aloud, "I was expecting it to look terrible, but it looks worse IN PERSON!" Shinji accidentally said. Fortunately for him, the whole room was also laughing, so he didn't stand out too much.

Instead of sticking around to comfort Naruto, Shinji turned around and started scanning the crowd that was around the door, looking for Sakura. "I can't interfere anyway, I don't want to risk completely distorting the timeline and being unable to predict danger," Shinji contemplated. He finally spotted Sakura who was busy laughing with Ino. She seemed to be in an incredibly good mood after passing the exam unlike this morning.

Shinji crept up behind Sakura, Ino had noticed him, but he put his finger to his mouth signaling for her to keep quiet. Ino nodded slightly, while trying to keep her eyes on Sakura, not letting on what was going on. "Boo!" Shinji yelled, pouncing on Sakura from behind. Sakura jumped as soon as she heard the loud sound. "Success! I made you quite startled, didn't I? Thanks, Ino," Shinji chuckled.

Sakura didn't seem to be too amused by the prank he just played, "Grow up, why can't you be more like Sasuke?" she said, pointing towards Sasuke who stood at the door as if he was waiting for something. Shinji put his sister into a headlock and began rubbing her head with his fist. "Those are some harsh words, you know…," he said with an irritated expression, dragging her along in a headlock.

When they got to the door and were about to leave, Sasuke, who had been standing there for a while, stuck his hand out, preventing them from exiting. Shinji released Sakura and looked at Sasuke, "What's your problem?" he asked in a stern tone, causing everyone in the room to look over at the two.

Sasuke got into Shinji's face and made his usual arrogant smirk, "I want to know who is stronger between us. I have a feeling I won't get this opportunity for some time," Sasuke said. Even Naruto, who was stressed about failing, was intrigued by the conflict between the two.

"So how do you recommend we handle this?" Shinji said with a smirk appearing on his face. Shinji was excited because he wasn't able to test his skills or the ninjutsu he developed, so Sasuke would be the perfect test dummy. Besides, he never really liked him; Sasuke always exuded an air of hubris.

"At sunset, by the training grounds," Sasuke replied. Shinji grabbed Sasuke by the collar and retorted, "Why don't we handle this now?" Before the two could exchange any blows, Shikamaru grabbed Shinji's arm that was holding Sasuke's collar.

"You two will not fight in a classroom," he said in a calm tone. "Agreed," Shino said, standing beside Shikamaru. Another individual stepped forward and smacked Shikamaru's arm off Shinji. It was Kiba, and he seemed to be displeased.

"Don't kill the fun, let them fight," Kiba snapped. The tension in the room was high, the reality of a battle kicking off at any moment lingered. So much so that Iruka, who was originally double-checking and looking through exam papers, had noticed what was going on.

He towered above the boys and began, "So instead of celebrating passing, you'd like to fight each other?" Iruka laughed. He then began separating the boys, making them let go of one another. "You two are free to fight, but it can't be in the classroom," Iruka concluded before going back to looking at papers.

"Fine, sunset near the training grounds then," Shinji conceded. Sasuke lowered his arm that was blocking the exit and left the classroom. "I wonder who'll win," Choji said in between bites of his potato chips. "The battle of two geniuses. How interesting!" Ino chimed in.

"You're at the top of the class, but do you really think you can beat Sasuke in combat? You've never had to face each other in your time at the academy," Shikamaru queried. Shinji, not being interested in proving he could win with words, decided to brush off Shikamaru's comments and prove it later on. He grabbed Sakura's hand and left the classroom with her.

The walk back home was silent. Sakura and Shinji hadn't spoken a word to each other. This was mainly because Shinji was deep in thought about which way he would prefer to defeat Sasuke. After finally deciding upon a method, he looked over at Sakura, realizing that she hadn't said anything since the whole incident occurred.

"Hey, at least you think I'll win, don't you?" he said, trying to lighten the mood a little. Sakura looked Shinji in the eyes with a defiant expression and said, "You can't beat Sasuke! Never in a million years, don't dream of it." Shinji's jaw dropped. He had forgotten how much of a fangirl Sakura was for Sasuke.

"I thought my sister would at least be on my side. To hell with blood is thicker than water!" Shinji yelled, making them both break into laughter.

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