Ninja have limits.
Konome had known that for a long time, but as Iruka continued, the boundaries grew painfully clear.
Insufficient chakra is the hurdle every shinobi meets. Taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu, all run on chakra, yet most training ignores the root problem.
How does chakra grow?
Iruka gave the final word that the academy teaches on the matter: chakra is almost impossible to increase by will.
Chakra is the feedback produced when the core absorbs energy. The body's energy and the mind's energy both spring from a person's life force. That life force is innate. It cannot be changed.
But if everything worked exactly as Iruka said, how do we explain the common truth that the more you eat and the stronger your body becomes, the more chakra you have?
Konome had barely formed the question when a hand went up.
"Sensei, then why does getting stronger give us more chakra?" Sakura Haruno asked, the first to speak.
Iruka nodded, pleased, and motioned for her to sit.
"That is an excellent question, Sakura, and it leads into a core point, a correction first articulated by the Third Hokage, the Professor of Ninjutsu. It overturns a thousand years of mistaken belief.
"It is not that a stronger body produces more chakra. It is that only if you already have more chakra, only if your life force is robust, does your body get the chance to grow strong.
"Some people say, then we can just eat more food and get more chakra. That is completely wrong.
"Food must be digested and absorbed before it becomes energy. Only those with vigorous life force and healthy function can convert that energy. Otherwise you will just burst your stomach."
More chakra gives you the chance to grow.
Konome straightened. Her worldview took another hit. That would mean every person's growth ceiling is locked at birth. Without a great well of life force, all training crashes into the limit of total chakra and runs down the day your life force runs dry.
She turned sharply to the blond boy next to her.
Naruto was sprawled over his desk, restlessly copying notes.
Inside him, chakra blazed like a sun, so dense it looked almost liquid. The terrifying vitality of the Uzumaki line. The seemingly bottomless power of the Nine-Tails. The yang nature associated with Asura.
Some people begin life already standing above the clouds.
Then what about me?
Konome felt the surge and roll of her own chakra. After devouring a piece of the Three-Tails, her reserves had doubled.
Could tailed-beast chakra have strengthened my life force?
It felt too simple. There was a missing piece she could not yet see. She would have to hunt it down later.
Coming to the academy had been the right call.
Iruka really did have something to teach. No wonder he mattered in the story she remembered. No one who holds a speaking role is ordinary.
Her eyes on the lectern held no trace of earlier condescension.
"Because of these limits, shinobi divide themselves to make the best use of their chakra. Three broad types. Ninjutsu type, taijutsu type, genjutsu type.
"Taijutsu shinobi train the body and use chakra as fuel to feed that growth. They usually have the least total chakra, but taijutsu spends very little, so they excel at prolonged combat.
"Ninjutsu shinobi avoid overtraining and store more energy to unleash techniques. They specialize in short bursts and breaking through.
"Genjutsu shinobi are the rarest. They use chakra to bolster the mind. They are more mysterious and more dangerous.
"The three types are not fashion. They are a compromise, forced by the simple fact that most of us do not have enough chakra to develop in every direction."
The bell rang.
Iruka had timed his finish perfectly, but he did not get the words class dismissed out before half the room sprang to its feet. He could only shake his head and step into the hall. He had once been the same, bored out of his skull. Only later, when you run into your ceiling and cannot take one more step, do you realize how important this lesson was.
As soon as he left, the room grew louder.
Curiosity about the beautiful, mysterious transfer student was boiling over. Yet Konome's reputation and yesterday's display kept everyone from marching up to her desk. They hovered and stared.
Which made Naruto the obvious target.
He was still copying. Pencil scratching, dog-crawl characters filling the page.
"What are you writing? Let me see."
The tall boy who had clashed with Naruto that morning yanked the notebook out from under Naruto's arm. The pencil gouged a long scar across the paper.
"What are you doing?"
Naruto shot to his feet. He had copied a whole period for Konome. If he lost it because of this jerk, she would hate him for sure.
A friend who did not hate him was too rare to risk.
"Give it back."
"Make me. So stingy, Naruto."
He held the notebook high. Naruto hopped and still could not reach. Panic spiked, and Naruto drove a fist into the boy's stomach.
"Guh."
The tall boy folded and dropped the notebook. Naruto snatched it up.
"You hit me. Get him."
Two friends rushed in. They tackled Naruto to the floor, then the three of them set to punching and kicking.
"You hit me, freak."
Fists thudded in a messy rhythm. At first Naruto fought back, then realized it did nothing. He clutched Konome's notebook to his chest with one arm and threw the other up to shield his face, letting the kicks land where they would.
Hinata, who had been peeking this way, bit her lip until it went white. The violence made her shake, and there was also the girl sitting right there beside him.
Choji and Kiba could not stand it. They moved at once.
Shikamaru stopped them with a hand, and with a glance he kept Ino and Sakura from jumping in too.
He sat directly behind Naruto and Konome. The fight had started because of her, and Naruto was guarding her notebook with his life. They knew each other. They seemed close.
So why was she not moving?
Shikamaru could not read Konome's intent. He held his friends back and watched to see what this girl meant to do.
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