The rain drops fell to the ground like a hammer's blow on molten iron to be shaped.

Pit, pat. Pit, pat. Pit, pat.

The sounds reverberated throughout the small cavern as a hooded figure stepped forward from the shadows.

"Soon, Konoha… soon."

"Ano… Nanadaime-sama?" A quiet voice trilled throughout the Hokage's office.

Looking up from his paper work, a petition to create an animal control force because Tora's kittens were loose in the Seitei district of Konoha, Naruto was met with the sight of young Sarada Uchiha, her head peeked through the door to the office.

"Ah, Sarada!" Naruto exclaimed, setting his work aside and giving the young girl his attention. "What can I do for you?"

Stepping through the door way, Sarada straightens her glasses. "There's… a rumor in the academy." She stammers, She never knew how to feel when addressing the Nanadaime Hokage. He would always put aside whatever he was doing to hear what she had to say, like it was no big deal to set important paper work aside in favor of her.

Naruto's eyes gleam as he steeples his hands and quirks an eyebrow. "A rumor, you say?" He asks, his voice solemn and grave, his every mannerism betraying nothing of the laughter he was holding back. "And what would that be?"

Sarada stiffened, her mind racing at his change in attitude.

"I-It's nothing bad!" She rushes to say before recomposing herself. "It's just… can you really tell when people are lying?" She asks, her voice quieting towards the end at the absurdity of her question.

A steely glint enters Naruto's eyes as he heaves a deep and drawn out sigh before taking off his hat and placing on the desk. Flickering his eyes back to the young Uchiha, Naruto is silent for a moment in contemplation.

He scratches his head sheepishly. "Geez, is that what they're saying these days?" He chuckles, blue orbs filled with mirth and optimism.

"Hehe! I guess I can." He laughs, having decided that he could, more or less, distinguish truth from lie.

"The taijutsu spars will begin shortly." The Academy's instructor addressed the class. "You are expected to show prowess in physical combat. Any style of taijutsu is permitted to be used, but your are encouraged to use the Academy's basic kata."

Sarada perked up at the announcement. She loved the Academy sparring sessions! Absentmindedly, her hand trailed down towards her left side, where a wrapped on the side of her leg held her tools. Maybe they could use weapons in the spars?

"… will be in attendance today, so make sure to preform well." The instructor finished, drawing Sarada out of her thoughts. Is someone going to come and evaluate their performance? "Proceed to the training grounds, class."

Sarada stood side by side with her classmates, all of them lined up and facing the instructor, waiting to be called forward to spar in turn.

"Kazuma Ishikaku and Shinjin Kurohara!" The instructor called the first match as Kazuma, the brown haired 11 year old student dressed in dark blue garb, stepped into the arena, followed by Shinjin, the grey haired 10 year old student dressed in a deep purple.

"No genjutsu or ninjutsu are allowed. If you leave the ring, you are disqualified. There is to be no use of lethal force, and the match ends when I call it." The instructor spoke, giving basic rules and explaining that maliciously harming the opposition in any way that was not disabling them or knocking them out would be dealt with harshly.

"Hajime!" Came the signal to begin as Kazuma dashed forward towards his younger opponent, taking the offensive and hoping to have the edge due to being older. Kazuma's charge was expected by Shinjin, as he took up a defensive stance and placed his right foot firmly on the ground to allow pivoting.

Kazuma threw a punch aimed toward Shinjin's left side before Shinjin pivoted on his right foot, dodging the blow and kicking off of the ground a few additional inches with his right foot, the pushing adding to the momentum of his rotation as Shinjin delivers a firm kick to Kazuma's unprotected back.

The force of the kick sent Kazuma to his knees before the force of the follow through sent him tumbling a few feet away, towards the edge of the arena. Standing unsteadily, Kazuma assumed a defensive stance awhile the younger boy charged towards him, appearing to go in for another kick.

Shinjin's feint kick served as momentum for him to roll onto the ground and under Kazuma's guard before Shinjin placed his hands on the ground and swung his legs in a circular sweep, knocking the older boy off balance, sending him tumbling out of the arena's ring while Shinjin stood.

"Winner, Shinjin Kurohara!" The instructor announced, and so went fight after fight until finally Sarada was called forth.

"Sarada Uchiha and Hiei Nomajikuchi!" The instructor announced as Sarada stepped forward into the arena, eyes focused on her opponent. Hiei Nomajikuchi was incredibly powerful in terms of physical prowess, and one year her senior. His attire, which was composed of a deep maroon and varying shades of brown, didn't hide his bulky figure, but despite his heaviness, he was light on his feet.

"Hajime!" Came the call that triggered the barrage of attacks from Hiei. As soon as the signal was given, he had dashed forward with impressive speed at 14 years old, and began to rain down side sweeping kicks and punches aimed for her right side.

Frantically, Sarada tried to dodge the attacks, her smaller form combined with her quick reflexes allowed only glancing blows to hit, though more and more of those glancing blows were connecting and soon she was forced into a corner of the arena.

She had been trying to analyze the attacks as they came, but they were coming too quickly and dodging was becoming less and less likely with more hits coming. Hiei's hits were coming slower, though, as he began to wear himself down from the constant onslaught he had launched.

In a moment of reprieve, Sarada glimpsed yellow hair and red robes out of the corner of her eye as her eyes widened in realization. It was the Nanadaime Hokage who was going to be observing them today! All too slowly she realized she had turned her head to confirm her suspicions, when she should have been concerned with the slowed, but continued, onslaught.

As her head turned back towards Hiei, the world began to slow down while a fist approached her face, Hiei having noticed the distraction and tried to take advantage of the opening. Suddenly, his attacks seemed to be coming a lot more slowly, and Sarada's eyes widened in amazement as she turned her body to the side, dodging the blow without moving from her spot.

Hiei, having expected the punch to connect, over extended. Sarada's eyes narrowed as her left fist balled up and lashed forward, hitting right below the outstretched arm's shoulder, striking at the nerve located there while providing the over extended and already off balanced Hiei to fall backwards and stumble.

Her hand flying to her left leg, Sarada took hold of her ninja wire and the kunai attached to both ends as she charged forward, throwing one of the kunai towards Hiei. She dashed around him as the kunai sailed through the air, and then she pulled on the kunai still in her grip while the ninja wire around the older boy tightened, securing him within the wires.

Turning at the end of the dash, she aimed a low, but powerful, kick towards the back of the boy's knees, bringing him down and then hitting the pommel of the kunai on the back of his head, causing Hiei to fall face first on the ground, out cold.

Rapidly, she turned around and threw a jab forward, only for her fist to be caught as her eyes focused in on the person in front of her.

"N-Nanadaime-sama!" Sarada exclaims in surprise, her face flushing when she realized she had, basically, attacked the Hokage. "I-I didn't… see you..." She stammered, embarrassed at her lack of tact in determining who she was attacking before she did.

Naruto released the fist, a sheepish look on his face as he crouched down, eye to eye with Sarada. "Excellent fight, Sarada!" Naruto exclaimed, having watched all of the fights from afar before approaching the arena near the end of the final fight, to address the genin.

Sarada opened her mouth to reply as her face heated at the praise from the strongest ninja in the whole of the Leaf Village, and the hero of the Shinobi Alliance in the last Great War. Before any words could come out, Sarada began to sway slightly on her feet as the adrenaline of the fight left her body. Black crossed her vision and she began to fall towards the floor of the academy's training arena.

Please, read and review! What did you like, what didn't you like, if the fight scenes were too much or too little!