Dawn pierced the thin mist, gilding the Akimichi Clan with a soft golden rim.
Konoha Village awoke beneath a pale blue sky. Wisps of cooking smoke rose from the densely packed rooftops, mingling with the lingering mountain haze.
The streets grew busier as people came and went, but one little girl had stopped by the roadside, waiting and looking around.
Yamanaka Ino finally spotted Akimichi Choji. Smiling brightly, she went up to him and greeted him.
Akimichi Denji nodded in reply.
Naturally, they ran into Nara Shikamaru on the way, too.
The children of the Ino-Shika-Cho families headed down from the Ninja Academy together.
Akimichi Choji's round steps were a little unsteady. Faint dark circles shadowed his eyes, and he looked as if some of his vitality had been drained away. Yet his mouth was spread in a blissful, slightly foolish grin.
After draining his chakra the day before, Akimichi Denji had made him some Tangciba.
"Hey, Choji," Nara Shikamaru said, lazily lifting his eyelids. His voice carried its usual exasperation, along with a hint of curiosity. "What's with that face? You look completely drained, but you're grinning like an idiot who just found a gold nugget."
Akimichi Choji warily glanced from side to side. Then, as if presenting a priceless treasure, he carefully pulled a small square wrapped in oil paper from an inner pocket and showed it off. "My big brother made me a new snack yesterday... um... after that."
Inside the oil paper was a glistening, soft, chewy piece of Tangciba, coated in fine sugar and soybean powder.
Then, apparently afraid Shikamaru might covet it, he instinctively shoved the Tangciba into his mouth with blinding speed.
After Akimichi Denji had taken one of his Three-Color Dango yesterday, he was still a little traumatized.
"Denji-kun made a new snack?" a voice as clear as a silver bell rang out.
Yamanaka Ino rushed over like a gust of wind, eyes shining, only to find Akimichi Choji had already stuffed the little piece of Tangciba into his mouth like a hamster.
Ever since Akimichi Choza had hired a cook for Akimichi Denji, Denji had rarely cooked for himself, which meant Ino and the others no longer got to try his cooking.
Akimichi Choji thought to himself that he'd been wise. He'd known someone else would covet his snack.
He chewed as fast as he could and insisted through a mouthful, "There's none left! Just that one!"
"You've definitely got more, right?" Yamanaka Ino said, baring her teeth as she made to pounce and search him.
Akimichi Choji instinctively covered his pocket and said, in a futile attempt to hide the truth, "I don't have any more."
Yamanaka Ino made a grab for it.
Just as Ino's fingers were about to touch Choji's collar, a slender hand reached out, holding a paper bag that was clearly much bigger and more elegant.
"All right, Ino." Akimichi Denji's cool voice rang out. "I made this one for you."
Ino froze, then turned to look at Denji and the bag of snacks. The anger on her face melted like snow, and her eyes curved into crescents.
She looked like she was thinking, "I knew you cared about me."
"Denji-kun! You made this yourself? And you saved some just for me!"
Akimichi Denji's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. Actually... only Choji's portion was an experimental batch he'd made himself.
That morning, he'd merely shown the cook how to make it. After that, he'd left the rest to the professionals to make in bulk. It was quicker and easier that way.
Seeing how moved Ino looked, as if she were about to cry, he let the words "The cook made it" turn once on his tongue, then swallowed them.
He silently resolved to teach the cook one dish from his past-life memories every day from now on. The food in this ninja world was mostly delicate, with miserably small portions. It really didn't suit his Eastern palate, used to stir-frying, pan-frying, deep-frying, and generous servings.
Akimichi Choji stared at the bag of Tangciba in Ino's hands, as if he'd turned to stone.
Wasn't I the only one who got any? I gave up all my chakra to get mine...
And hers is so much bigger than mine...
Nara Shikamaru just thought they were noisy.
The Ninja Academy still had theory lessons that morning, though the subject matter was a little different.
Umino Iruka stood at the front of the classroom, pointing his pointer at a diagram of human anatomy on the blackboard. His voice was steady and clear. "...So, among all the organs, the heart has an especially unique and vital role."
"It's not just a 'pump' that drives the flow of blood and provides the source of power for Taijutsu. More importantly, it's also one of the body's most important chakra limiters! It constantly monitors and restricts the overall flow of chakra, preventing an excessive torrent of chakra from overwhelming the chakra pathways and causing irreversible damage or even death."
"That's why prioritizing the destruction of the heart in combat can yield tremendous benefits."
As expected of the ninja world—even six-year-olds were already taking anatomy lessons. It was hardcore.
Iruka's words, "chakra limiter," made Akimichi Denji think once again of the Taijutsu that burned through one's life in exchange for a fleeting moment of glory—the Eight Inner Gates.
The final gate of the Eight Inner Gates was the Gate of Death, located in the heart.
During the Second Shinobi World War, Might Duy had opened the Eight Inner Gates and fought the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, killing four of them.
But the one who made the best use of the Eight Inner Gates was "Konoha's Blue Beast," Might Guy. He'd nearly kicked his way to the ending.
"Besides the heart, which is a core limiter," Umino Iruka continued, his voice echoing through the quiet classroom as he pointed to a diagram of the body's chakra pathways, "the many acupuncture points spread across our network of chakra pathways are also key nodes in the flow of chakra. Under normal circumstances, they function like precision control valves, working together to guide chakra smoothly through the body and nourish every part of it, supporting a ninja's movements and techniques."
His tone grew more solemn. "However, if these acupuncture points, which maintain the balance of chakra, are struck or damaged with precision, the consequences can be just as severe. At best, they can cause localized chakra disruption and numbness in the limbs. At worst, they can completely block the flow of chakra to a particular organ."
"And the art of striking acupuncture points and the chakra pathway system has been brought to its utmost perfection by..." Iruka's voice held a hint of admiration for the ninja arts. His gaze naturally fell, as if to demonstrate the lesson, on a seat by the classroom window. "The secret art passed down by one of Konoha's prestigious families—the Gentle Fist of the Hyuga Clan!"
Almost as soon as Iruka finished speaking, every gaze in the classroom was drawn as if by invisible strings and focused on Hyuga Hinata.
Curiosity, scrutiny, anticipation, even a trace of barely perceptible judgment...
All those gazes converged into an invisible pressure.
As the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Main Family, Hinata's identity was well known. Yet most of her classmates had never actually seen her perform the famed family Taijutsu.
Feeling dozens of gazes fixed on her, Hinata felt her face flare hot in an instant, the burning heat spreading all the way to her ears.
She instinctively lowered her head, letting her bangs fall forward to hide her Byakugan.
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