Kuroichi woke up the next morning with mixed feelings. Sleeping on the floor right in the middle of the forest was definitely something he would have to get used to, on the other hand, he was still alive with all his limbs intact.
His back hurt, plus his muscles felt stiff all over, but he knew he had a difficult day ahead of him so he stopped thinking about it.
'Okay let's check.. I need to train with an actual plan from now on. Just doing everything willy nilly is not going to cut it. I've got general, basic body strength to work on, however things like agility, endurance/stamina, dexterity etc. are also really important so they will each need to have their own workouts as well.
Then I need to work on everything chakra related. For now, that will only be spamming the leaf balancing exercise until I actually mastered that.
I also need to figure out how to get food and water to drink. I need to get good at hunting, so knife throwing important... and finding a water source that is relatively close is also essential. Now what should I do first..?'
For today, he decided, to do everything in an order which made sense to him. First, he would work on chakra control, then practice his knife throwing while also trying to catch some food, after that he would work out his body, and then after everything is done eat his food. In the future, once he wouldn't have to worry about pure survival anymore, he could switch around his schedule.
Ripping a handful of leaves from a tree nearby, Kuroichi sat down cross-legged and concentrated. He carefully held a leaf up to his forehead and while doing that deeply focused on the chakra flowing inside his body and around the area of his forehead. The scroll described little points knows as tenketsu from which he would need to direct his chakra outwards.
Having done this before with the tenketsu on his hand, just for sealing and unsealing the scroll, he was already a little familiar with the process of manifesting chakra outwardly, however little that may be.
As the chakra on his forehead connected to the leaf held in front of it, for just a short few seconds, it attracted the leaf and stuck to it.
A giddy smile came upon Kuroichi's face, it was only his first try and the leaf stuck just a tiny while, but using his chakra just made him feel so excited.
Right away, Kuroichi tried again. And again. And again.. He got completely absorbed in his task, trying to hold the leaf a little longer each time.
'Keeping the balance of not too much or too little chakra is harder than it looks. I need to really concentrate deeply to get this right, even a little distraction is enough for the balance to tilt.'
Usually, doing something so repetitive might have become boring after a certain amount of time passed, and sure enough that might happen eventually, but for the current Kuroichi, seeing improvement after improvement no matter how small, had him totally obsessed with what he was doing.
'I don't have a way to check the time, but by now it already feels like I can hold the leaf 20 to 30 seconds.' He thought to himself, proudly, as the leaf once again fell to the ground.
Since he built up a bit of mental fatigue, enough for him to notice, he decided to take small break and perhaps start his search for something edible.
He relaxed for a few minutes, just taking in his surroundings, the chirping of the birds, the rustling of leaves on the trees, and the occasional unintelligible sound coming from who knows where in the forest.
'That's enough doing nothing for now, I really need to catch me some food!' Kuroichi thought as he made up his mind to get to work.
Carefully, he moved through the forest underbrush, scanning his surroundings for anything that made a sound as he walked. With his steps light and his breathing controlled, he learned a little from yesterdays failures, patience was definitely key.
Holding the knife tightly between his fingers he stalked through the foliage, his eyes scanning for movement. He spotted a rabbit in the distance, crouching a bit lower, Kuroichi carefully aimed, and then threw the knife at it, only for it to miss completely. The rabbit bolted and he sighed in disappointment at his failure.
As things started to take a similar turn to yesterday, each attempt started to gnaw at his confidence, making his stomach twist in frustration.
Then something new came into his sight. A small boar, all alone, foraging in the dirt. 'This is perfect' he thought to himself, a small smile already on his lips. Unlike the rabbits from before, with their nimble bodies, the boar's body was bigger and it's hearing less sharp.
Kuroichi deeply inhaled, steadily took his aim and threw the knife.
Thwuck
The blade buried into the boar's side. It squealed, staggered, and collapsed. It was a clean hit. Kuroichi exhaled in relief, stepping forward to retrieve his kill, but just as his fingers reached for the body, a deep, guttural snort echoed through the trees.
His blood ran cold at the sight before him.
A massive mother boar burst from the underbrush, eyes wild with fury. Before he could even react, it had charged, tusks gleaming in the light aimed straight at where he was standing.
Kuroichi barely threw himself out of the way in time. His heart pounded, he could practically feel the air shift as the boar barreled past him. He wasn't strong enough to fight this, he knew no jutsu, wasn't physically strong, and also didn't have any weapons capable of handling a beast so much bigger than himself.
There was only one option, and that was to run!
He sprinted through the forest, weaving between trees, adrenaline pushing him forward. The boar was right behind him, tearing through bushes and stomping down branches in its path. Kuroichi's legs burned, his breaths came fast and ragged, but he refused to stop.
A large tree came into view, 'My only chance!' he thought. With a desperate push, he leaped upwards, grabbing onto a low-hanging branch and hauled himself up just as the boar rammed into the trunk with a furious grunt.
Kuroichi clung to the branch, his body trembling as he held on with everything dear to him.
The mother boar circled the base of the tree, snorting and scraping at the exposed roots and dirt, but no matter what she did, she'd never actually climb. Time dragged on, the sky darkening little by little, until finally, the beast lost interest and trudged away. He didn't move, not yet. He waited until the forest had gone almost completely quiet, the only sounds the occasional bird call, his own breath and the rustling of leaves.
When he finally climbed down, he retraced his steps, heading back to where he had left his kill, but the spot was empty. Something must have had taken it.
Frustration burned in his chest, but there was nothing he could do. He had lost his meal, his energy was spent, and the hunger gnawed at him worse than before. With no choice left, he turned and made his way back to 'camp,' empty-handed of course.
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