You know, I always knew being a ninja was hard.
I just didn't realise how much of it involved embarrassing myself in front of children until our taijutsu training.
"Alright," Iruka-sensei said, clapping his hands. "Today we're doing basic taijutsu conditioning."
That doesn't sound scary, right? Wrong.
Let me tell you something incredible: my body is just as pitiful as my chakra.
It's not like I never trained before I got my memories back, but come on—what do you expect from a kid?
We started by running laps around the training field.
It seemed easy enough, but for my weak little body, it was anything but.
Naruto immediately shot ahead like he'd been waiting for this moment his whole life.
"Last one's a rotten egg!" he yelled.
I was already the rotten egg. I've been one from the day I joined the ninja academy.
By the third lap, my lungs were already burning. By the fourth, I couldn't quite feel my legs anymore.
Naruto passed me again, jogging backwards.
"Oi Takumi, are you okay?" he asked. "You look kinda dead."
"I'm conserving energy," I said.
That was a lie. I was fighting for my life. Praying to every god in this world and the next that this torture would end.
But it didn't end.
After running came exercises. Push-ups. Sit-ups. Squats.
Iruka didn't even give us big numbers, just fifty of each.
Naruto blasted through them like it was a warm-up; well, it was a warm-up.
I hit the ground halfway through the push-ups and just stayed there for a second.
The only reason I got back up was that my ego refused to accept getting laughed at by a bunch of kids, especially now that I had my memories back.
Then came taijutsu basics.
Stances.
Just standing there.
Feet apart. Knees bent. Hands up.
"Man, this is boring!" Naruto complained. "Iruka sensei, let's get to fighting already."
He got a knock to the head, but I was in no condition to enjoy it cause my legs were shaking like a leaf.
Eventually, my knees gave up, and I dropped on my ass.
There were snickers from some kids.
Iruka walked over and crouched in front of me.
"Takumi, are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said quickly. "Just… my legs."
He nodded. "That's fine. Stand back up when you can."
I really didn't want to get up.
But how was I supposed to stay down when even little kids were looking at me like that?
The old Takumi would've just taken the mockery and stayed on the ground.
Not anymore.
"Hey, don't give up. You can do it," Naruto said, stepping closer and holding out his hand.
"Don't worry," I said, and I grabbed his hand. "I'm not giving up."
Naruto grinned. "See? I knew it. I mean, even Kiba's still standing, so—"
"Oi," Kiba said, appearing right beside us. Akamaru barked in agreement. "What was that supposed to mean?"
Naruto opened his mouth, clearly ready to say something stupid.
I moved between them before it could turn into a fight.
Or at least, I tried to.
Someone bumped into me, and I stumbled sideways, my foot missing its step. The world tilted, and the side of my head met the ground again.
"…Ow."
At least I didn't black out this time.
Iruka-sensei was already there when I pushed myself up, his eyes narrowing as he took one look at me.
"That's enough," he said. "Takumi, sit out the sparring."
I didn't argue.
Honestly, it was a blessing. I didn't have a single ounce of strength left in my body, and the idea of moving any more than I already had sounded impossible.
I sat on the sidelines, watching the others spar, my head throbbing and my legs still shaking.
'Being a ninja is rough.'
'And this is just the Academy.'
I don't remember how I got back to the orphanage.
What I do remember is shovelling that awful porridge into my mouth like my life depended on it, then collapsing face-first onto the bed.
I was exhausted. So exhausted that sleep should've been instant.
But It wasn't.
Everything hurt. Legs, arms, and back. Every tiny movement made me wince. Lying still wasn't much better either.
After a while, I just gave up.
I grabbed a stack of paper shuriken and started spamming upgrades, draining my chakra dry until my head felt fuzzy and my vision blurred.
I was fully prepared to wake up to the worst muscle pain of my life.
Instead, I woke up feeling… normal.
I sat up slowly, expecting the pain to come any moment, but it never did.
"…There's no way."
Long story short, my cheat didn't just restore chakra. It fixed my body, too. Every bit of fatigue and every tiny injury from yesterday was completely gone.
I was so confused, I actually went and asked the people at the orphanage if I'd been unconscious for a week.
They looked at me like I was crazy.
Apparently, I'd just slept like a rock.
'I guess I haven't noticed this before, since I haven't really trained since I gained my cheat.'
I'd been too busy trying to cram all the academy theory, practising hand signs and throwing paper shurikens.
To be honest, I didn't think taijutsu training was worth it at this point.
Graduation was only a few months away.
With a body this weak, it just made more sense to focus on academics. If I couldn't be strong, I could at least be useful. Get placed on a decent team.
I was basically copying Sakura's strategy.
And in my defence, it made sense. My chakra reserves were growing. Slowly, sure, but they were growing. I figured I could just rely on ninjutsu to make up for my lack of physical ability.
But if I still didn't train my body, even with the cheat to recover completely by the next morning, I'd be a fool.
'Alright,' I told myself. 'Ten-kilometre run. Hundred push-ups. Hundred sit-ups. Hundred squats. Let's go.'
I was on my ass by squat sixty-nine.
I lay there for a bit, staring at the sky, wondering who invented numbers and why they went so high.
Footsteps crunched nearby.
A few Academy kids were passing through the training ground, probably heading home. They slowed down when they noticed me sprawled on the ground.
"Uh… is he okay?"
"I'm fine," I said, immediately proving I wasn't by failing to stand up.
Someone snorted.
"Wow. And here I thought I was out of shape."
Akamaru barked, clearly agreeing with him.
I clenched my jaw and pushed myself upright, shaking all the way.
Shikamaru glanced over as he walked past, hands in his pockets. "What a drag…"
That one hurt more than Kiba's comment.
I even caught Hinata looking at me with pity. It was embarrassing; some of the kids did this for a warm-up.
Still, failing on the first day didn't mean I was quitting.
That night, I spam-spammed paper shuriken upgrades until I passed out, as usual.
The next morning, I woke up completely recovered.
Which meant I could fail all over again.
With the strengthening of both my body and mind, my chakra points started rising faster than before.
Before long, I reached the level of an average Academy student close to graduation—about fifteen chakra points.
And that was average.
That number didn't include monsters like Naruto, or the various clan heirs. Those guys were in their own category and didn't count for normal standards anyway.
To put it in perspective, the Clone Jutsu took around five chakra points to use. Each additional clone costs about three more.
And those weren't even real clones—just illusions.
Which meant that with fifteen chakra points, I finally had some breathing room.
Unfortunately, with the increase in my chakra points, I uncovered some bad news.
-To be Continued...