A/N: What's up guys. Just letting y'all know that starting today, I'll post one extra chapter for every 40 Power Stones!
This will naturally reset every week and I'll post the chapter or chapters on sunday.
If you've enjoyed the story so far, please leave a comment or review, I'd appreciate it!
Advanced chapters on my pa*treon: @WavyWriter
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Shakily, Kuroichi stumbled into the closest tent, one hand tightly pressing his wounds in the hope that he won't lose too much blood. However, it seeped through his fingers, warm and sticky, and the fabric of his clothes clung to different wounds.
His legs shook with each step and his breath came in shallower, the adrenaline had faded and left behind pain and exhaustion.
The tent was poorly lit, just the unsteady glow of a lantern bringing some visibility. He haphazardly rummaged through everything, but didn't find what he needed, so he tried his luck with the biggest tent. It was obviously the rogue bandit leaders, since it wasn't only bigger, but also slightly more luxurious inside.
Kuroichi dropped to his knees beside a relatively small chest and yanked it open. Inside were pouches of coins and bills of money, 3 light and narrow scrolls, as well as some dried rations of food. In the bottom of the corner he found what he needed; bandages.
Without hesitation he grabbed them and used a kunai to cut off some clean strips. Gritting his teeth, he took some of the sake that stood next to the futon on the floor, and poured it over his wounds.
The pain was sharp, but he endured. His face was twisted into a grimace, but deep inside he welcomed it. Pain meant he was alive, as well as got him used to feeling it in the first place, improving his pain tolerance.
He wrapped the bandages around his wounds, pressing them as tight as he could manage. He sat on the ground and leaned against the tent pole, breathing heavily. His body trembled from the fight, from the blood loss and from the sheer weight of what he had done.
He had killed, not in defense or panic, but with a premeditated plan. And it had worked.
Barely.
If the rogue ninja had been a little stronger, he might've ended Kuroichi instead. And that final bandit? If Kurai hadn't warned him, if he had reacted even a little bit too late..
'I almost died…'
He clenched his jaw in frustration. The whole "surprise attack" was sloppy in his opinion. He had assumed too much and thought the bandit without chakra didn't pose a threat anymore.
Even though he didn't have chakra, Kuroichi had almost been completely caught off guard in his vulnerable state.
'Lesson learned. From now on I gotta actively stay alert of my surroundings, especially in situations where I am vulnerable. Since they hadn't awakened their chakra I didn't really sense them, particularly because in my mind the fight had pretty much ended.'
His hand unconsciously went to Kurai, who had perched on a broken crate on one side of the tent.
"Really, thank you." He muttered, but there was real sincerity in his voice.
Kurai let out a soft hoot, not loud or proud this time, but definitely acknowledging. She tilted her head in his direction, as if studying him more deeply. Her gaze lingered on his face, not his wounds. Kuroichi could almost hear the question behind that gaze.
Why? Why go through all this? What are you fighting for? Why don't you even eat your prey?!
He didn't answer aloud, maybe he didn't even know the answers to those questions himself. Either way, he was too tired and exhausted to think deeply about such matters, for now, he needed rest.
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The next time Kuroichi woke up, he was incredibly hungry. He saw Kurai's feather's fluttering out of the corners of his eyes as she let out a quiet hoot.
"Can you do me a favor and see if you find anything to eat?"
"Hoot!" Kurai understood and left the tent, taking off in search of something edible.
Kuroichi used the time Kurai was gone to prepare the fire, as it had gone out sometime during the night. Luckily, the bandits had already gathered enough wood, so he only had to find something to light the fire with.
Going through the tent which he hadn't the night before, Kuroichi found just what he needed; a box of matches. He quickly made some shavings from some bark and lit the fire.
He also thought about removing the corpses that were strewn throughout the bandit camp, but he decided against it. He didn't have the stomach for it, staying close to them made him feel queasy, and insects had already begun clattering about the bodies, plus a subtle smell pervaded the area.
Kuroichi simply made the fire where he didn't have to see them anymore and decided to forget about huddling them all together or burying them.
The fire was already lit when Kurai came back with a sizeable rabbit, and he didn't stand on ceremony as only a few minutes later there were only bones left.
"Hoot!!"
Kurai gave a firm hoot, before fluttering to the ground and pecking at a weapon that had fallen nearby.
Clink Clink Clink
'Does she want that thing..? No, that isn't it.'
He gave her a smirk, "You want to get stronger too huh?"
"Then we need to train a lot!"
He stood up slowly, the pain still lingering in his body. He couldn't stay here for long, he needed to recover and that was best done at his own shelter. However, there were too many useful things the bandits left behind for him to take it all with him.
At least for now, he decided to take the most important things and perhaps come back in a day or two if he felt better by then. That fight nearly cost him everything, he wasn't going to give up his loot and just walk away empty handed like that.
He moved from tent to tent, making sure he didn't overlook anything potentially valuable to him.
From the biggest tent he retrieved the scrolls, clearly valuable, as well as all the money. He used a specially made belt he scavenged from the ninja to secure his new short sword on his back, as well as put the ninjato he used at the end of the fight back into it's sheath, intending to take it, even though it was more weight added for the journey.
He took whatever else he could carry from the tents, namely clothes, bandages etc. and stuffed everything into a makeshift backpack he had fashioned from torn shirts and pants of the bandits.
The kunai he found were arranged neatly and packed into what looked like those specific ninja holsters.
For a brief moment he stood at the edge of the bandit camp before he left, overlooking the aftermath of last night. So many dead, but he didn't actually feel any regret at all. Was that concerning? Who knew. What mattered to Kuroichi was getting stronger, his resolve only burning brighter than before.
---
The journey back to his shelter was slow and tense. He felt incredibly weak still, and every shadow that seemed to deep, or every cracked branch underfoot that was too loud made his paranoia flare up.
Once finally back at his own shelter, he dropped everything in a corner and slumped down in another. Kurai landed beside him as he stared into the distance, just thinking.
He was replaying the whole fight in his head, each mistake, as well as success.
His speed wasn't enough, not when up against someone who knew how to press their own advantage. His strength was naturally lacking too, but that would improve by itself over time, especially if he kept up his physical conditioning.
He couldn't match older and more experienced opponents with pure force, yet at least, but swords?
While that ninjato felt foreign in his hands, his swings being too wide, his grip and footwork all wrong and lacking the strength to properly wield it with either two or only one hand, he didn't dismiss the possibility of really learning how to wield a sword.
However, there was something else he realized after that fight, while he needed more experience for sure, he also needed sequences which he could use systematically one after the other to create favorable situations during battle.
He needed to think ahead a move or two, being proactive instead of just going through the motions, being reactive instead.
Moves that chained together, actions leading into the next with purpose. Efficient, fluid and effortless, that's what he envisioned.
He sat up and pulled out the scrolls he took with him. Opening them one by one, he discovered what was inside.
Fire Release
It detailed the two fire jutsu the rogue ninja used during last nights battle, as well as a D-rank jutsu called Spark Technique, which seemed useful for not only lighting fires, but also for training chakra control and perhaps even form transformation.
He compared what he knew of water jutsu to fire jutsu and while the process was mostly identical, some aspects clearly differed. Fire was more volatile which affected not only the different hand seals being used, but also the state of mind and visualization necessary.
Controlling fire seemed a lot more unpredictable than water to him, but he decided to give it a shot when he was ready for it. Maybe he'd start on it after he recovered, for now though, he had time to recuperate, study, plan and improve himself.
Kuroichi looked over to Kurai and threw her some jerky as he ripped off a piece for himself and began chewing.
'This time I won, but I can't count on luck like that again.' He thought, his mind already spinning with new and improved ways to kill.
'For now though, I should just rest!'
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Want to read ahead?
Advanced chapters on pa*treon.com/WavyWriter