"You have to be able to feel your chakra and manipulate it properly. You have to make sure you know your limits... how much chakra you can use, and how much is needed for a jutsu. Like when I threw that kunai, I only needed a small amount of chakra for that. But another person may need more or less, depending. I really can't teach you how to do it. It comes with time. But the sooner you start learning it, the better."-Kanata Fujibayashi

Total Boredom/Kana's Lesson in Chakra

I got up early again, just as Kakashi told me to. And I have no idea why I bothered listening to him. He was not outside to meet me at a quarter to five like he said he would be. In fact, he was not outside to meet me at five, five-thirty, or even six o'clock, for that matter. Needless to say, I was beginning to lose my patience.

I was willing to bet those kids were already at the training area, starving and half asleep because Kakashi and I were so late. Finally, a little after six, I made the decision walk down by myself. I wasn't sure if I was technically allowed to do that or not, but no one stopped me, so I guessed it was okay.

When I came along the open field, designated for training exercise, I saw the three students. Sakura, rocking on her heels impatiently, Naruto, dozing in the grass, and Sasuke, standing around all brooding and whatnot with his arms crossed.

"Morning, guys," I said casually as I approached them.

Naruto jumped up from his horizontal position. "You're late!" he exclaimed.

"Not as late as Kakashi's going to be," I replied. "Sorry, looks like I wasted a lot of time waiting for him. I'm here now, though. Unfortunately, since he's the boss, we can't exactly start until he gets here."

They groaned. "Aw, come on, Sensei..." Sakura complained.

"Sorry," I repeated. "I'm just as annoyed as you guys, believe me."

"When is he going to be here?" Sasuke asked in a seemingly emotionless tone.

I shrugged. "Who knows? Kakashi does what he wants."

That hasn't changed.

"Hey..." Naruto said. "I got a question for ya."

"Sure," I answered.

"Are you, like, Kakashi-Sensei's girlfriend or somethin'?"

"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura growled, hitting him on the head with her fist. She smiled at me. "I'm sorry. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut."

"What...?" Naruto demanded, rubbing his head. "I just asked a question. Doesn't it seem a little weird to you guys that she's just hanging around and not doing anything?"

Well, excuse me.

"Loser," Sasuke mumbled.

"I'm not Kakashi's girlfriend," I said, only slightly amused. "I've been away for a long time and Kakashi's getting me re-adjusted to everything. So, I'm not just hanging around and doing nothing. I'm a ninja trying to adapt to a new way of life."

"What does that have to do with Kakashi-Sensei, though?" Naruto asked.

This kid certainly asked a lot of questions.

I let out a quick sigh. "Kakashi and I used to be good friends, way back when you guys were too little to walk. I guess you could say we're… rekindling our friendship..." In reality, that's not exactly what it was. We were stuck with one another against our will. But it was true that we had been friends once, and right now things seemed to be going pretty well between us overall, but I didn't trust him yet. And I could definitely tell he didn't trust me.

"Really, so you guys have a past?" Sakura asked, apparently interested.

I rubbed the back of my neck, in an attempt to hide my nervousness. "Yeah, I guess."

"Where'd you go?" Naruto asked.

I clasped my hands together. "I think I've had enough talk about myself for today."

"But-"

"Nope," I interrupted Naruto snappily. "Let's just say it's been complicated. I'm leaving it at that." I was not remotely interested in explaining my past to these children.

Naruto scratched his head, as if not quite understanding. But he let it go like I asked him to. And everyone fell into dead silence for what felt like much too long. I glanced at my watch every five seconds as I tried very hard to ignore Naruto's grumbling.

I pulled my water bottle out of my bag and took a sip. It was cool and refreshing. Because I felt so bad that these kids wouldn't be eating breakfast, I actually decided to skip breakfast, myself. A part of me thought it was only fair, even though I wasn't actually participating in this test. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Of course, now I was starving, so there was a part of me that, despite my effort to be fair and kind, was regretting my decision.

"Ugh, when is that Kakashi-Sensei gonna show up?" Naruto griped.

"He'll show up when he shows up," Sasuke said. "Now quit whining."

"How about this—what do you guys know about chakra?" I asked abruptly, deciding to try and stave off these kids'—and my own—boredom.

"It's the physical and spiritual energy that all Shinobi need in order to use jutsu, of course," Sakura stated as if it was nothing terribly important. "Why do you ask?"

"Well..." I said. "It's one of the most crucial things for a ninja to understand, isn't it? Maybe it's time for a little lesson."

"What is?" Naruto cut in. "What's this whole rakcha thing about?"

"Chakra," I corrected. "It isn't normally visible to the human eyes. It's life energy. And it's impossible to perform jutsu without it. Actually, it's impossible to live without it. Shinobi or not, everyone has chakra. But as Shinobi, it's our job to be able to harness and control it, so that we can use it in battle."

"What's your point?" Sasuke asked, clearly annoyed. "The only one here who doesn't know what you're talking about is Naruto, and that's because he didn't pay attention in class."

I smiled. "Do you guys know what chakra can really make a person capable of, provided the person can use it properly?"

"Of course we do!" Sakura said confidently.

"Do you?" I countered with raised eyebrows. "I think reading about it in a textbook is a little different than experiencing it firsthand. Of course, I'm sure all of you have used your chakra before for jutsu... but were any of you truly aware of what you were doing? How you were getting to the point of releasing that jutsu? Let me show you something." I stood up and pulled a kunai out of my bag.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Naruto asked.

"Just watch," I commanded.

"But... isn't this cheating or something?" Sakura tilted her head with worry.

"Giving you a lesson before the test starts?" I shook my head at her. "Why would that be cheating? It would only be cheating if I was handing out answers during the test. This is just a practice session. I'm trying to do something nice for you guys, here. Now be quiet and let me concentrate."

I narrowed my eyes and searched for the easiest target. We were surrounded by trees, so it wasn't too difficult to zero in on one of them. I watched the tree intently, lining up my kunai with its trunk. My muscles loosened. I could feel my chakra flowing through me, gathering strength and focusing on its target. My whole body hummed as my chakra moved with me, and I didn't need to stop to think. I pulled my arm back and released the kunai, right ahead. It flew in a straight path for less than a second, and connected with the bark of the tree, hardly even making a noise.

"Wow!" Sakura cried. "That was amazing, Kanata!"

Meanwhile, Sasuke just grunted and looked away, and Naruto watched me with a dumbstruck expression on his face.

"Now, you guys try it," I said. "I want to see where you are with this."

Each of them pulled a kunai out of their pockets. "This'll be easy, believe it!" Naruto declared, already moving in on his target. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto all threw a kunai at their own tree, in approximately the same moment. I decided to check their work, one at a time.

I inspected Sasuke's kunai first. His inspection probably took me longer than the others, because, originally, it was tough to determine whether I was impressed or not. He certainly hit his target. Even I had to admit that he was farther along in this area than I was at his age. But... I wasn't quite satisfied.

"It's sloppy," I stated, tapping the kunai.

Sasuke shot me a glare, as if he was insulted that I could criticize him. But I blew it off. "It is. I mean, your aim was perfect. You hit your target, sure. But there was way too much friction in that throw. Your chakra was unstable. Look at the way it hit the tree." I traced the spot where the kunai connected to where it ended up. "See how it hit at an angle? And the kunai connected with so much force that it actually pulled the kunai down and made a larger gash in the bark? Precision and accuracy are key when it comes to hitting a target." I removed the kunai and tossed it at Sasuke. "Imagine you were on a mission and had to capture an enemy. Perhaps you wanted to immobilize him. You target his leg. Now, you may very well hit, but with what you just showed me there, I can tell you that you'll do more than immobilize him. Likely, you'll accidentally hit some vital artery and he'll bleed out."

After I was done, Sasuke didn't say anything. "Don't worry, Sasuke!" Sakura said, in an effort to cheer him up. "I think you did a great job! I'm sure you'll get it perfectly, next time."

"Don't take it so personally," I said. "I'm just trying to help, you know."

Sasuke only grunted and turned away, so I moved quickly toward Sakura's tree. It took me less time to figure out how I felt about this one than Sasuke's. It seemed that Sakura had just about the opposite issue that Sasuke did. "This is all right..." I murmured. "I could tell before that you have a pretty decent understanding and handle on chakra control. But... I get the feeling you were a little timid. Is that true?"

She looked at the ground. "A little, maybe."

I nodded. "Unlike Sasuke, who overshot and used too much force, you undershot and didn't quite use enough. You hit the target. But I hardly even need any strength to pull this out." I removed her kunai and handed it to her. "With a stationary target, this is acceptable. But consider a moving target. That throw would have never gone far and fast enough to hit a moving enemy or object. But... not too bad."

"Yay, Sakura!" Naruto cheered. "Great job!"

"Now for you," I said, glaring at Naruto. "You didn't even hit your target." I walked over and picked up the kunai that ended up in the bushes instead of on the tree.

Naruto lowered his head. "It's an off day for me. I can do better than that."

I sighed. "Naruto… do you know how your chakra works, at all?"

"Of course not," Sakura cut in. "Like Sasuke said, he never paid attention in class."

"How are you supposed to be become the Hokage if you don't pay attention?" I asked.

"I am gonna be Hokage!" Naruto protested. "I am! One day, I'm gonna be the greatest ninja who ever lived! Believe it!"

"Well..." I said. "Before you can be the greatest ninja who ever lived, you have to learn how your chakra works. Believe it."

"Yeah, yeah, it's my life energy and I need it to do jutsu and stuff. I get it."

I supposed I wasn't surprised that chakra control didn't come naturally to Naruto. It didn't all have to do with the fact that he slacked off in class. Although he didn't know it, he had two types of chakra within him. One was his, and one belonged to the Nine-tailed Fox. I was certain that played a part in his struggle.

"Guys." I directed my attention to all of them. "This stuff—it isn't easy to master. It took me years to be able to have accuracy and precision like that." My finger pointed to my own kunai, still sticking out of a tree.

"How'd you do it?" Sakura asked.

I looked across the field. "Hmmm... it's... hard to explain. It works a little bit differently for everyone. Aim is something that just gets better with practice. But... the hard part is focusing the appropriate amount of chakra into your move. You have to be able to feel your chakra and manipulate it properly. You have to make sure you know your limits... how much chakra you can use, and how much is needed for a jutsu. Like when I threw that kunai, I only needed a small amount of chakra for that. But another person may need more or less, depending. I really can't teach you how to do it. It comes with time. But the sooner you start learning it, the better."

"I'm gonna start right now!" Naruto declared, pulling out more kunai knives.

"Wait!" I said as he ran over to start training. "You should be saving your energy for Kakashi!"

"Don't bother," Sakura said dismissively. "He's not going to listen."

"Loser," Sasuke murmured once again.

I placed my palm to my forehead in frustration as Naruto continually threw kunai at trees, determined to hit his target.

As Naruto mumbled, grumbled, and cursed himself, Sakura smiled at me. "Well, thanks a lot for the lesson."

"Just trying to keep everybody occupied," I told her, unable to resist smiling back.

Sasuke grunted again and shoved his hands into his pockets, and as I watched Naruto continue to struggle hitting trees, I found that I was actually enjoying myself for once.

I think I'm starting to like these guys.