Kuroichi walked silently along an animal trail he found, the dense canopy above filtering the sunlight into thin strands.
Kurai flew up ahead, circling around in wide arcs. Every once in a while, he'd get a peek of her through the tree tops, her black feathered body clearly standing out against the blue sky up above.
Sometimes the both of them would go exploring like this. No training for that day, just some light hearted fun and adventures. The walk had been calm, no animals worth hunting or fighting in sight, and they were already a few hours away from the shelter.
Kuroichi had been following the trail, but hadn't seen Kurai above in a few minutes, so he quickly ran up a tree to see if she was still close by. As he reached the top of the tree, overlooking the forest that spread as far as the eye could see, his eyes widened when he saw tell tale signs of humans.
There was smoke rising up in the distance and it came from a single spot. He narrowed his eyes, the smoke rising up was too steady, no fire spreading towards any of the surrounding areas.
It was definitely a man made fire.
He saw Kurai flying some ways off, but when he noticed she had her gaze on him, he gave her a quick signal meant for her to know that she should return to him. She landed on a branch next to where he was crouching and stared at him in curiosity.
He was deep in thought, contemplating on what he should do now. 'There isn't any reason for me to get involved, the smartest thing to do would be to turn around. I need to survive, that's what matters most!
If they're shinobi, then I won't stand a chance. If they're bandits… I still might not.'
'But what if there's something to learn? Something I could use?
I've been hiding long enough and I won't grow stronger if I don't face any danger. The old me wouldn't have gone, but that guy didn't make it very far did he?'
'I'll just get close enough to see. No further. And I won't do anything reckless either, I'll be careful and just observe and listen.'
'Yeah. Fear is important, but I can't let it rule me. Like I did with the fogveil civet, there can't be this much hesitation within me. That isn't how I make it in this world!'
"Let's wait until the sun is down, and then we can see what is going on over there, okay?" Kuroichi asked Kurai, who nodded her head in response.
Time quickly passed, with a tilt of his head, he signaled to her, before she took off, swift and silent.
He crouched in a tree, now that the light was gone the smoke wasn't visible anymore, instead there was a dim but steady glow, which he saw as his eyes were trained on the fire's direction the whole time.
Kurai was flying back, he could clearly feel her once she came into his natural sensing range. He naturally hadn't tested out the exact length, he simply couldn't, but even then, without his sensing he almost wouldn't have noticed Kurai coming back when she landed next to him, that's how silent she was.
Without making any sounds, she raised one of her wings and lightly tapped it against his arm. Six people.
He exhaled slowly, his brows furrowing, 'What the hell is a large group like that doing out in the middle of nowhere?'
This time he really considered walking away again, but the thought of that many people within the forest unnerved him. Curiosity burned within, now he just had to know what was going on.
Night had fully fallen by the time he made his move. Kurai flew high, keeping just enough distance to signal danger if needed. Her body seemlessly blending into the darkness of the night sky.
Kuroichi tried to stay as silent as possible as he approached the direction of the fire. He slowly weaved through the trees, keeping low and avoiding any obvious twigs and dry leaves. Every step of his was calculated and measured, as he knew there were six people and he had to be very careful.. no he had to perfect.
As he drew closer, he began sensing a very distinct presence, like a second heartbeat. It was chakra, and a substantial amount at that.
Kuroichi's breath hitched. This presence, it was more intense than anything he'd ever sensed. It made his blood stir in a wild, almost euphoric way. He felt his dark release chakra roiling inside him, responding to his emotions. He radiated hunger and excitement.
He clenched his fists, he couldn't lose control here. The logical part of him screamed: "You aren't ready for this fight. If that guy really is a ninja, even a weak one, a small mistake means death!!"
Still, he had made a choice. He exhaled, sharp and bitter, and continued forward.
Eventually, he caught the faint crackle of the fire flickering through the brush. Four people were gathered around the flames, their figures illuminated in the orange glow. Three tents stood behind them, while one was larger than the others.
From where he was, he could faintly hear their voices, but not clearly enough to understand full sentences. Still he understood enough, they were bandits.
They spoke of fleeing a town. One of them joked about how much noise they'd made. Another muttered something about attracting ninja. Kuroichi's eyes sharpened. That confirmed it, they were hiding, and not for no reason.
His attention shifted to the man sitting closest to the big tent. That one barely spoke, but his presence radiated something else entirely. Kuroichi didn't need to see the man's hands form seals or feel a jutsu activate to know.
This guy was without a doubt a ninja. His presence was intense, dense and coiled like a predator waiting to strike.
He knew what bandits in the world of Naruto did, plus he could easily imagine it. They weren't just thieves. They raped, murdered, burned, and moved on. He stared down at his hands. 'Would I risk myself getting killed fighting such a person for reasons like that?'
The answer came to him easily, of course he wouldn't. However, he also wasn't in his old world anymore.
He was in the world of shinobi, a world where hesitation got people killed on the daily. A world where morals were luxuries and killing was simply part of everyday life.
'If I don't adapt, I die. Simple as that.'
'And it starts here and now!'
He was deep in thought, figuring out a plan for what he would do. There was only one guy with chakra, the others were non-chakra users. 'Since Kurai said she saw 6 people, there must be at least two more in those tents.'
His idea was simple, kill the non chakra users first, quietly and efficiently, no jutsu, no flashy chakra use, just his knife and silence, so he could then face the leader at full strength without distractions.
He waited until the fire died down to embers and most of the camp quieted. Only two stood watch now, circling lazily at opposite ends of the camp. Kuroichi crept around, as silent as possible, approaching one of the lookouts from behind
He held his breath, 'One. Two,' slowly releasing it. Then he threw the knife. It cut through the air and struck the guard cleanly in the neck. Kuroichi dashed forward, catching the man's collapsing body before it hit the ground.
Gurgle
However, Kuroichi's body was way too small to catch a grown adult without making any noise, letting some sounds escape which made the other lookout curious to see what was going on.
Kuroichi lowered the body into the grass, blood already pooling beneath it. He hadn't killed anyone before, at least not like this.
He swallowed down bile as his stomach turned. His mind screamed that he should puke, that this was wrong.
'Later!' He told himself. 'Can't afford to be distracted now!'
"Arata? Was that you?" He heard a voice that was coming his way. His breath hitched, the other guard had heard something. Panic surged, Kuroichi quickly picked up his knife, crouched low and looked at the direction the voice came from. He quickly formed the tiger seal.
'Shunshin no Jutsu!'
In a flicker of movement, he appeared right in front of the man. Before the guard could even register surprise, Kuroichi slashed at his neck in one clean motion, however a last effort attempt to dodge made the hit not as clean as it should've been.
This time the man cried out, "Ahh!!" before collapsing.
Kuroichi's eyes widened. He cursed under his breath. The noise split the night air and movement exploded in the camp. Shapes stirred in the tents.
'Fuck… Now it's too late..'
Not a split second later, the ninja was already in front of him.
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