The golden light of the setting sun filtered through the filtered through the canopy, casting shadows on the floor. Kuroichi could hear a lot of different insects buzzing in the underbrush, little birds chirping in the trees as Kurai flew up above.
The leaves rustled in the breeze, he adjusted the strap with which the knife was tied to his person, and kept a casual pace as dry twigs crackled beneath his feet when he walked.
Slowly Kuroichi started getting more attentive, his gaze flickering from one spot to the next. The further they went, the quieter the place got. The stillness, however, didn't give him any peaceful feelings, instead he felt like something was seriously off.
The moment he came to that realization, Kurai let out a sharp, but not too loud warning cry, also feeling that something in the surroundings had changed. It was a signal they had established beforehand, she recognized the danger just as he did.
The light that was just previously coming through the branches dimmed faster than it should have and shadows were pooling wherever he looked. They were no more twigs snapping as he walked or birds chirping in the distance since the ground started feeling soft, swallowing any sounds he made while walking.
While Kuroichi's senses weren't bad, the definitely weren't yet experienced or good enough to know the difference between the feeling of trouble, danger or death. His curiosity made him keep going in the same direction. Kurai let out a troubled Hoot as she silently followed behind.
Suddenly, with his awareness dialed up, Kuroichi started noticing something distinct, and focused on it more deeply. In the distance, he vaguely sensed something he had only once sensed before.
Chakra.
He couldn't tell the amount from such a distance, but he clearly remembered what happened the last time he was in the vicinity of chakra. The moment everything became too overwhelming, he entered a half conscious state in which he acted purely on instinct and cared about nothing more than absorbing chakra.
He wondered if that was something that commonly happened for other shinobi. He imagined that people sensitive to chakra might also feel similarly, but in all likelihood, they didn't have dark release.
This time, he would be smarter, not just rushing straight ahead. He signaled Kurai to keep moving a little bit further, until he could very clearly feel the chakra in the distance.
It started as a small pinprick in the back of his mind, with a faint hum as if pressure were building up behind his eyes. However, as he got closer he noticed how the presence wasn't just there. He could feel it pulsing, as if breathing.
'This is similar to last time, but this chakra is a lot bigger and more noticeable than the chakra of Kurai's mother.'
The moment he started focusing too deeply on the chakra presence, he started feeling a slow pull in his gut. Deep within him something stirred, his body tingled and he instinctively knew what was going on. 'I could use it now,' he thought. 'I feel like I could rip the chakra right out of the air if it were any closer.'
Before, even after he activated it for the first time, he couldn't even get into the right state where it was possible to release that specific dark release chakra. Now, however, he felt like it just needed a thought.
Slowly he lifted his hand, focusing on that feeling deep within him. In a matter of seconds dark, inky black chakra pulsed forward, as if liquid, and started coalescing in his hand. Eventually his hand was completely enveloped, and he knew that he only needed to reach out now to drain the chakra of others.
He practiced this a few times, activating and deactivating it, making sure to become completely familiar with the process so he could replicate it whenever. 'It wouldn't even make sense to use it when there isn't any chakra around, but I still need to master all aspects of my power,' he thought, as his confidence in moving forward and heading toward that chakra presence significantly improved.
As they got closer, Kuroichi's senses started going haywire. He had somewhat expected that happening eventually, but since they moved forward only when he got acclimated and had himself fully under control, under the specific intensity of the chakra at that distance, he thought he'd continue to not be affected that much.
However, as he and Kurai got closer and closer, the presence changed. It hard turned from being in one specific spot, into being spread out over a larger area, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
He felt like he briefly sensed multiple presences within the area, but he couldn't be too sure.
As he got ever closer to the chakra, Kuroichi's heart that had started loudly thudding in his ears began to steady when he forcibly controlled his breath. The cool air filled his lungs and he stopped worrying about the what-if's, totally immersing himself in that moment.
His focus slid into place as he told himself, 'Don't fight the nerves, just let them pass through and do what you gotta do!'
He centered himself, not just physically, but also mentally. He let his awareness not just flow outward, but also directed it inward towards his limbs, softening clenched muscles and lightening his stance.
He left Kurai behind as he rushed forward, right to where the chakra presence came from. There was an ever pervasive mist in that area, and once Kuroichi rushed inside, his senses focused on a particular faint presence within the spreading misty area that he could barely feel when he deeply focused on it.
He didn't know what the animal was called, but it was about 1,5x – 2x larger than a normal cat, with unnaturally elongated limbs and a low, sinewy body that moved fluidly.
It's fur was dark gray, with oily smoke like patterns dotting it's coat, giving it a mirage like quality within the mist. It's eyes were a pale silver that shimmered ever so slightly whenever it was visible.
Razor sharp claws and teeth, as well as a long whip-like tail, with tufts of fur that shivered slightly at the smallest agitation, similar to a cats tail when it hunts birds, came into view as a haze of chakra surrounded it, like thin vapor. When it moved, the mist clung to it and slowly spread outward, probably creating the area of chakra filled mist in the first place.
Kuroichi knew he had to be careful, he had learned quite a lot so far, but this chakra beast didn't seem simple at all. The way it seemingly controlled water vapor and chakra meant this would be a difficult fight.
The chakra mist started feeling denser and more invasive, subtle at first, but clearly noticeable.
He gripped the knife in his hands, his knuckles turning white. Enhanced with chakra, he lunged toward the beast. His first attacks "hit", but nothing bled. The beast he just sliced through was only an illusion, and it grinned in a terrifyingly human way as it vanished into the mist.
Unsettled, Kuroichi tried sensing the faint presence of it's body again, however that somehow seemed impossible for him in that moment. He couldn't sufficiently concentrate and focus, leaving him to just react to whatever the beast's next move would be.
The beast came back into his vision, but this time he didn't just attack immediately, since he wasn't sure whether that was the real one or just an illusion.
Instead, the beast attacked him. With unusual speed, it pushed itself of the ground and lunged toward him, ready to tear him apart. He blocked it's first strike, however the following ones started coming in faster and faster.
'I need to plan, fighting like this won't work for long', he thought as he jumped back to gain some space. He realized that when he got attacked, the illusions didn't actually have any real weight to them, however they were still able to become tangible enough to easily injure and damage him.
'Maybe the mist enhances it's real attacks and it simply vanishes as soon as it can't hit me anymore? Or does it use the mist to attack somehow… I need to figure out what's happening!'
The mist thickened even more, messing with his ability to sense chakra and it seemed that even all sounds had started completely disappearing, or at least had been silenced.
Even so, he forced himself to stay calm and think about his options. He needed to force the beast to appear in it's real body, and the only way to do that would be to force it to exhaust it's chakra.
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