Desert Flower

Hot Springs

  "Miso-flavor barbecued pork noodles and salt-flavor ramen noodles!" A woman called out in the small ramen shop.

  "So, you're Sayuri?" The man with tinted glasses questioned as he sat between Naruto and I. Breaking my chopsticks apart, I glanced up as a bowl was placed in front of me.

  "Yes."

  "I've heard a few things from your teachers at the academy, as well as Megumi and Kakashi." The man picked up some chopsticks and broke them apart while Naruto was already stuffing his face. "They each seem to have a different opinion of you." I turned my attention back to my ramen. "The academy teachers seem to think you're a rather average student with no mentionable weaknesses or outstanding strengths. Megumi and Kakashi, on the other hand, say nearly the opposite. Do you know why?"

  "Yes." I stated.

  "Want to tell me?"

  "I didn't want to stick out in school. I didn't show my full potential, nor pull my punches to the point that I was failing. I set an average standard, and I stuck to it unless I doubted I would pass a test with the abilities they believed I had." Adding some pepper to my noodles, I mixed it into the food and broth. "Megumi-sensei would probably speak negatively about me because she has witnessed some rather....dark sides of me. Kakashi, however, may see potential in me from the preliminaries to the third exam." It was quiet, and I glanced over to the other two. "What?"

  "That's a rather....well-thought response." Ebisu cleared his throat. "And, Naruto, having been shown your movements and having further analyzed what Kakashi has told me....it is clear that you cannot control chakra well."

  "Control....?" The boy's voice was muffled by his mouth full of food.

  "That's right. Now then, comparing you with Sasuke and Sakura....I shall explain your bad points in order. As you know, in the case of using Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and the like, Ninjas build up chakra and activate Jutsu."

  "I-I know that already!"

  "Is that so?" Ebisu set down his cup as I listened and ate. "Then, in the case of comparing the three of you, I shall explain specifically how you are inferior."

  "That's kind of an irritating way of saying it." Naruto mumbled.

  "I'm treating you to ramen as promised, so be quiet and listen! First, let's say that Sakura uses Clone Jutsu. In her case, her build-up control, as well as her control of chakra, is perfect, so she can make clones without using wasteful energy. Next, in Sasuke's case, he is somewhat poor at building up chakra. But, his control of chakra is perfect, so both he and Sakura can make five clones. But, he used a bit more wasteful chakra than Sakura." Ebisu explained.

  "Oh! So Sasuke's nothing special."

  "In your case, there's no time to be laughing at others."

  "Huh?"

  "You are very poor at building up chakra and controlling it, so you cannot make clones with the same amount of chakra. In the case where you strain to make clones despite that, after consuming a much larger amount of chakra than Sakura and Sasuke....you can barely make one clone at best." The man said rather calmly, and I raised a brow at Naruto.

  He didn't seem that bad during the exams as far as I saw.

  "By the way, Sakura and Sasuke can become ten with the same amount of chakra. Like this, the three of you are this different even using the same Jutsu. Well, this is a somewhat exaggerated comparison of you three, but you build up too much chakra, use too much physical strength, and your Jutsu activation is also unstable."