Three months had passed since Kuroichi had read the scrolls and tried out using genjutsu. For him, time in the forest seemed to move differently, the sun and moon were his only clock and he lived according to it's rhythm.
He felt like it was roughly a little more than a year since he arrived here, reborn into a world of fiction. However, compared to a year ago, there was a huge difference between the two. He was sharper, stronger, more confident and deadlier.
Kurai had changed as well.
The black owl perched on a branch above was no longer the small, fluffy chick she had once been. She had grown rapidly in the last months, now standing more than half as tall as Kuroichi when upright. Her feathers had darkened, taking on a deeper sheen, her flight was faster, more precise, and her intelligence had only sharpened.
Kuroichi, for his part, had improved across the whole board. His movements were smoother, more practiced and natural, his taijutsu more efficient and unpredictable, and his chakra control became even more refined.
His physical strength had grown, and while not by much, his stamina was better than before. The biggest change, however, was in his speed. He invested a lot of time into mastering the body flicker, and had become proficient enough to finally use it without the hand seal. It was the first jutsu he could use like that, and he imagined it would stay that way for a while, since it only had one seal in the first place.
What truly set apart the past 3 months from the time spent in the forest before, though, was his mental development.
Over time, he made it a habit to continuously visualize his surroundings within his mind's eye. At first, it was simply part of his genjutsu training, however the more he trained, the more it became second nature to him.
To create illusions that could fool even experienced shinobi, he needed to understand and be aware of reality with terrifying accuracy. Whether he was walking, eating, or training, he was constantly mapping the world around himself, tracking movement, shapes, sounds, the position of trees, their different leaves, or even bugs skittering across the forest floor.
His inner world was never silent, constantly replaying details and updating his mental landscape to match the real one.
The training had another benefit, he definitely gained and edge in subtlety.
Sometimes when he was bored, he'd prank Kurai. A small illusion here or there would shift a rock, make it appear farther than it really was and catch her off guard. Once, he even tried to make her talons vanish from sight, however Kurai quickly chirped in alarm and spun in the air, flapping wildly before landing with a grumpy hoot, demanding to be freed from the illusion.
Afterwards, she refused to speak to Kuroichi for two whole days, until he apologized and made it up to her by teaching her how to break a genjutsu by herself.
He chuckled at the memory while packing the last of his supplies into his sealing scroll. The tent was too large to take with him, so he decided to just leave it where it was. He was ready. It was finally time to leave.
There had been no specific reason or signal, it was just a slow certainty that had built up over the past few weeks.
He had done and learnt what he could in the forest, carved out a life for himself in the wild, survived deadly threats and honed skills that most genin wouldn't possess. However, he couldn't stay in the forest forever, it was time to move on.
He clearly remembered how it all started, sleeping in the dirt, scrambling for food and trembling at every ominous sound. Now though, the forest was practically his home.
Still, he had no grand plan moving forward, other than learning calligraphy and fuinjutsu of course. He didn't have a map of the area either. The bandits he had killed were just as poorly equipped when it came to navigation as himself, not a single map, compass or written location. It was almost laughable.
Since that was the case, he decided to simply walk down the river and see where it took him. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was better than wandering aimlessly through the mass of trees. Civilization often times followed water, so he hoped that by tracing it's current he'd come across a road or a town eventually.
Kurai flew above him as he began his journey, gliding effortlessly through the air. Sometimes she'd vanish into the canopy, only to reappear with a low swoop shortly after.
The river guided him, it's constant flow sometimes growing louder or quieter, depending on the terrain. Kuroichi kept his senses alert, but still enjoyed calmly walking like this.
For days they traveled, eating what they had packed and hunted along the way, and sleeping in trees or makeshift shelters. They encountered deer, wild pigs and even a bear, but none had any chakra or attacked out of their own volition.
However one morning, just as the early mist began to vanish, he finally saw something in the distance. There was a small town, nestled in a valley. The houses built traditionally in Japanese style, wooden frames with shoji doors, thatched roofs, and walls of pale plaster.
Bamboo fences marked the boundaries of small vegetable gardens, and he saw smoke drifting from cooking pits and chimneys made out of stone and clay. Red paper lanters swayed in the breeze, hung along the main path that connected the cluster of buildings.
He could see some villagers, mostly older men and women, sweeping porches, carrying baskets, or leading oxen. Children's voices were heard across the town, reaching his ears as he stopped at the edge of the treeline.
Kuroichi silently stared at the town, thinking. The forest was were he felt safest, but it was finally time to really step into the unknown. He felt a strange sense of peace leaving the forest behind without any fanfare.
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A/N: Alright guys, just a reminder that I'll be posting an extra chapter for every 40 Power Stones this story gets!
If you liked the story this far, leave a comment or review, I'd appreciate it!
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