Before going there, I need to improve my skills a bit. Also, I needed to find ways to increase my food and nutrition. I could still hold it, but my body kept getting weakened.
As a child, I really needed enough nutrition to grow properly so I could become stronger and have enough power to even fight those Chunin-level enemies.
Right now, the easiest option for food beside rice is Bamboo Shoot. The villagers often dig them in the bamboo forest to be eaten together with rice. It's good, but I also needed protein.
I tried to get fish from the river once, but Takeshi told me that the water is poisonous, so most of the fish has died. The ones that survive have poisons in their bodies because of the contaminated water.
All the poisons in the water came from the factories' wastes. That's why the trees and even grass near the river die. Even wells have started being contaminated as well, causing people to not have enough water.
That's why rain was a great blessing to them because they could get good water. They stored rain water and used it sparingly. That's also why almost everyone never washed themselves because their water was too precious.
Anyway, I went with Takeshi very early in the morning to look for Bamboo Shoots. We also planned to get some bamboo to make some tools. But I have another aim, Bamboo Worms.
There weren't many big animals around here because they couldn't get enough water. But I realized there were many small critters here because there weren't many predators. One of them is Bamboo Worm.
They might look repulsive and disgusting as food, but they were absolutely edible. If I could also find traces of other small animals like forest rats or rabbits, then I could also make traps to catch them.
But I haven't explored the bamboo forest much, so I hadn't found any traces of those animals. Hopefully I could find them so we could get some protein on our plates.
Talking about bamboo shoots, actually, villagers were limiting the gathering of bamboo shoots. They relied on bamboo for a lot of things. Even their houses and some clothing were made of bamboo fibers.
But I personally thought it was quite stupid when they were starving. Sure, limiting it would help in the long term to avoid killing all the bamboo. But they should at least make the limit higher so no one would die of hunger.
Besides, bamboo was growing very fast. If they wanted to make them grow faster, they could fertilize them. Even if it's disgusting, they could throw their poops to the forest instead of the already polluted river so they can fertilize the bamboo forest.
They could also avoid harvesting the bamboo shoots when they were still underground. These bamboo shoots would still be edible even if they were let to grow a little above ground. They would just be a little harder, but I personally thought they were just crunchy.
By waiting until they were bigger, people could get more food. There was a risk of worms eating the bamboo that already shot out of the ground, but those worms are edible, so it should be fine, maybe.
Well, I could give them some of the advice I have when they start to trust me more. But now I could only thought about my own wellbeing.
Takeshi and I explored the Bamboo Forest. As I've told Takeshi, we only harvested big bamboo shoots that others wouldn't take but still perfectly edible.
Takeshi was unsure at first, but when he cut the big bamboo shoot I pointed at, he was immediately convinced because it really hasn't turned into hard bamboo.
"It will be very crunchy, maybe a little hard to eat. So we need to cook it longer than usual. But they are perfectly edible. We can't be picky about food when we are starving."
Because the bamboo shoots we harvested were big, we filled out baskets very quickly. Just 3 or 4 of these big bamboos were enough to fill a big basket to full while it usually took 10 of underground bamboo shoots to achieve the same.
While collecting these bamboo shoots, I also observed the bamboo trees. It would be easy for me to find these worms inside the bamboo if I had my sharingan, but now I needed to find the signs on the bamboo books themselves like small holes or abnormally small growth, which was difficult for untrained eyes.
"What are you looking at, Obito?"
"The ones invested with worms."
"Oh, that one right there, there, there, and there."
Takeshi pointed at 4 bamboo trees around us calmly, which surprised me.
"… How do you know?"
"Haha, just because I'm used to it. In the past, I often found bad bamboo with worms in them when I helped my dad. But because those bamboo trees were bad for crafting, I was taught how to find these bad bamboo invested with worms so I could avoid them. Why are you looking for them though?"
"To catch the bamboo worms. We can eat them."
"… WHAT?!"
Takeshi was really shocked.
"O-Obito, no matter how hungry you are, you shouldn't eat them. What if they eat your insides?"
"Don't be stupid, they can't eat anything if they are killed by heat when we cook them. On the other hand, I should tell you to stop being disgusted by anything that can fill your stomach. Takeshi, we are starving. We are facing death every day because of our hunger. Do you think we are in the position to be choosy of what we eat? Anything that's edible should be our option. Worms, crickets, grasshoppers, or even wasps larvae. If they are edible, we should eat them. Until we can eat real meat, we won't limit our options. We only avoid ingredients that can make us sick or die. Your father needs nutrition and these bamboo worms are packed with protein. Even if they won't cure his illness, they can make him more energized."
"… Really?"
"Really."
After thinking for a while, Takeshi finally agreed to collect the bamboo worms. With this, some sources of protein were secured.