{"id":"pildoras","name":"Soldier pills","japanese":"兵糧丸","category":"tools","subtitle":"Energy at a price.","summary":"Pills that restore strength in combat. The three Akimichi pills are a far more extreme clan variant that turns fat into chakra.","facts":[["Tipo","Support and training"],["Portadores destacados","3 in the archive"],["Límite","The weapon does not define the user"]],"lvl":0,"sections":[{"h":"What they are","t":"Soldier pills, or hyōrōgan, are tablets passed down among shinobi for generations. They pack stimulants and nutrients the body absorbs almost instantly, restoring strength and some chakra in the middle of a fight. According to tradition, they let a user keep fighting for three days and three nights without rest, though in the end they leave the user completely drained. They give a temporary boost: they do not heal wounds or replace rest. Besides the common version there are recipes particular to some clans, like the Akimichi clan's three pills, far more extreme, which turn body fat into chakra.","lvl":0},{"h":"Kiba and Akamaru","t":"In the Chūnin Exam preliminaries, Kiba shares soldier pills with Akamaru before going on the offensive against Naruto. With the boost, Akamaru turns reddish, transforms into Kiba's double with the Beast Mimicry Technique, and the two attack together with Fang Over Fang. The scene shows the pills' ordinary use: a combat resource that speeds up the pace and helps endure a demanding fight. Even so, Naruto wins with cunning, disguising himself to confuse them, and makes it clear that a chemical boost does not replace strategy.","lvl":0,"ch":"naruto-76","ep":"naruto-44","pos":76},{"h":"The three Akimichi pills","t":"During the pursuit of the Sound Four, Chōji is left alone against Jirōbō. First he hands out ordinary pills so the team can recover chakra; then he takes out his clan's three secret pills, reserved for an extreme case. The green one, spinach, puts him on par with his opponent; the yellow one, curry, multiplies his strength when Jirōbō activates his curse mark; and the red one, chili pepper, burns all his fat and turns it into an enormous amount of chakra. Chōji wins, but ends up at death's door: the third pill is, in practice, a last resort that can cost the user's life.","lvl":0,"ch":"naruto-191","ep":"naruto-114","pos":191},{"h":"Saving Chōji","t":"After the mission, Chōji reaches Konoha in critical condition. The village's medics, led by Shizune and drawing on Tsunade's knowledge, manage to save him, something that at first seemed impossible after using the red pill. The case leaves a lesson the series respects: the Akimichi pills have a very serious physical cost and are not a free upgrade. Shikamaru, who blames himself for leaving his teammates behind, receives the news along with that of the other wounded and decides to take his role as leader seriously. The scene closes the arc and explains why Chōji never uses them lightly again.","lvl":0,"ch":"naruto-235","pos":235},{"h":"Trivia","t":"The pills are inspired by the Japanese field rations of the Sengoku period, between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, made with rice, flours, dried vegetables, seeds and other ingredients easy to carry. In the series they keep that idea of concentrated war food, and in the anime they also appear in the hands of characters like Rock Lee, Temari or Mirai. The colors of the Akimichi pills are not decoration: each corresponds to a spicy or strong ingredient, and the order marks the escalating sacrifice. It is easy to miss that Chōji carries all three from the start, kept in a small case, knowing what they cost.","lvl":0},{"h":"Beyond the pills","t":"In the Fourth War, facing the revived Asuma, Chōji hesitates to fight his teacher. Ino and Chōza remind him of his oath, and then he spreads the butterfly wings, the chakra state that could once only be reached with the red pill, this time without taking it. It is a very clear close to the idea that true power comes from training and determination. In the anime, Sakura makes her own version of the pills for Naruto during his training: milder and meant as medicine, but with a taste so awful that Sai compares them to mud balls.","lvl":1,"ch":"naruto-533","pos":533}],"characters":["kiba","akamaru","choji"],"related":["expansion-akimichi","akimichi","inuzuka","chakra"],"reference":"Naruto, chapters 75–78 (Kiba in the preliminaries) and 189–191 (Chōji against Jirōbō).","sources":[{"title":"Guía oficial de anime: Naruto y Shippuden","url":"https://naruto-official.com/en/anime"}],"figures":[]}