I woke up to a sliver of sunlight shining into the dusty, rundown room. Looking around, I saw Kurenai bundled up in her cloak, breathing gently.
Getting up, I stretched my stiff muscles, moaning at both the loosening of them and the cracking of bones in my back and neck. Yawning, I shuffled over to Kurenai, shaking her awake.
Like me, she stretched before grabbing her stuff. Giving her a quick kiss, I opened the door.
Looking over the lush forest glowing in the morning light, I took in a deep breath of the cool air, before looking over at Anko, who was perched on a small outcropping of rocks above the Outpost.
Making her way down to us, she smiled before saying "I have to say, the Land of Demons is much more beautiful than the name suggests."
I nodded at her, taking in the scene of the forest slowly being illuminated by the rising sun.
"Alright, I think we should look around the perimeter of the forest today, try to find any water sources or something that we could follow. Even if we find something, I think it might be best to keep using the Outpost as a base for the foreseeable future."
Kurenai added "Honestly it all depends on how dense the chakra is in the forest. I would guess it thickens towards the center, so the tribes should be somewhere near the center. We definitely should stay at the Outpost tonight though. Some of those animals are a little to large for my liking..."
I followed her gaze, watching as a wolf that reached my midriff slinked around the edge of the forest, hunting.
After making sure we had all of our gear, we set off towards the forest, moving away from some of the animals on the outskirts.
As soon as we took a few steps into the forest I realized how different it was from the normal forests. back in the Land of Fire. It felt like Training Ground 44, better known as 'Forest of Death'. The trees were thick and covered in lichen, and various mushrooms were growing from both the soft forest floor and the trunks of the trees. The brush around the ground was made up from a variety of different berry bushes, herbs, and shrubs. Rodents scurried about, and I could hear the buzzing of some insects from above.
The whole forest was alive, and it felt untouched. Forests back home never felt like this, completely natural and filled with life.
I took in a deep breath, smiling at the earthy smell mixed with the scent of herbs.
Looking around, I could see the various signs of wildlife. Branches snapped, shrubs pushed to the side, berries littering the ground.
We continued into the forest, before I said "I think we're far enough. I'll continued forwards while you two go to either side. Meet back here in half in hour or so."
They nodded, and we quickly looked at our surroundings, memorizing the small clearing we had entered.
I nodded to the two of them before jumping into the trees, making my way from branch to branch.
I passed a few birds nests, and I was surprised to see how large the eggs were. As I contemplated grabbing one, I saw a giant hawk land next to the nest, staring straight at me.
Moving slowly away from it, I continued my journey deeper into the forest, keeping my senses strained.
As I went deeper, the trees grew larger, and the few animals I saw were giant compared to what I was used to. However, the main thing that caught my attention was the chakra in the air.
I had been to chakra rich environments before. Some were just large swathes of nature, others were places that had special seals and materials used to attract chakra. Yet they felt pitiful compared to here. The air was thick with chakra, and it felt like a mixture of being submerged underwater and finally eating a good meal after weeks of living on pellets.
I could feel the chakra slowly flowing through me, refilling my reserves before simply passing over me. If I so wished, I could draw in more and more, however that would result in my chakra pathways bursting.
Taking in a shaky breath, I smiled at how refreshing and interesting this land was.
Shaking myself out of my reverie, I continued forwards, observing the wildlife and forest floor as I quietly made my way from tree to tree.
Sadly, although the further in I went the more chakra permeated the air, I couldn't find any source of water, at least not a large source that could sustain a large group of people.
I felt like I had traveled far enough, so I turned around, making my way back to the clearing.
As I jumped between trees, I heard a few low growls come from below me. Looking down, I saw three wolves circling each other, their hackles raised as they snarled at one another.
Stopping on a branch, I observed the wolves, taking note of the differences.
They stood to around my shoulder, and instead of the typical browns, blacks and grays in the Land of Fire, their fur was a pale green. Their eyes shone with malice, and their long fangs looked sharper than some kunai.
They continued circling one another, before I noticed them gathering wind chakra towards themselves. Furrowing my brow, I watched as one wolf ran chakra to it's hind legs, lunging towards another wolf in a flash of green light. However, the two other wolves gathered wind chakra in their jaws, one firing a barrage of wind bullets while the other strengthened it's teeth with the chakra.
The wind bullets impacted the first wolves shoulders, sending it stumbling into a tree, while the one with strengthened fangs bit deep into it's neck.
Hearing the wolf whine in pain, I watched as the fang wolf tore it's head back, blood splattering on the ground.
A large chuck of meat was spit onto the ground, and the first wolf tried to take in air, only to choke on it's own blood. Falling to the ground with a thud, I watched as the remaining two wolves looked at one another before howling.
Their howls were loud and grating, making me wince and cover my ears.
Moments passed, and the two wolves looked at one another again before turning separate ways, leaving the corpse bleeding out on the forest floor.
I waited a few minutes before I dropped to the ground. Approaching the corpse, I took a scroll and stored the body before looking around. Sighing in relief, I jumped back into the trees.
~~~
Landing in the clearing, I saw both Anko and Kurenai pacing around. When I appeared in front of them, they rushed over to me.
"What happened? You took over an hour to get back!"
Hearing the concern in Anko's voice, I just gave her a quick kiss before doing the same to Kurenai.
Grabbing the scroll, I dropped the wolves corpse to the ground, making the other two jump back in surprise.
"Holy hells..."
"By the Sage..."
I chuckled, before drawing a kunai. Approaching the corpse, I tried to see how deeply a kunai could pierce or slash into the wolves hide.
Stabbing forwards into the front leg, I grunted in pain when the kunai barely entered the wolves flesh, sending reverberations up my arm.
"That is some strong flesh..."
Anko took out her tanto, saying "Let me try..."
Stepping back, I watched as she thrust into the wolf as well. Her tanto dug a bit deeper, however it was still pitiful considering our strengths.
Sighing, I placed my kunai back into my pouch before placing the corpse back into the scroll.
"Did either of you find anything?"
Anko shook her head, saying "Just trees and shrubs. No animals as large as that wolf either."
Kurenai took a deep breath, before saying "I think I may have found the start of a river. A couple streams were all flowing in the same direction, so..."
Smiling, I nodded. "Well, I think we should get a few more animals so we can compare how different they are from the edge to the center. Also, I really just want some actual food..."
Kurenai smiled at me, before saying "Thankfully the streams are only around ten minutes away, so we can get an early start tomorrow."
Nodding, we started moving back towards the forest's edge, with Kurenai and Anko keeping an eye out while I managed to snag a few rabbit's on the way back, as well as some kindling, edible mushrooms and herbs.
Exiting the forest, we quickly made our way up to the outpost, before double checking the surroundings.
Finding nothing, Kurenai and I entered the building, setting to work on the rabbits while Anko kept watch.
Skinning them and butchering them took much longer, as the meat was tougher than normal. However, eventually we had skewers prepared, made from the various mushrooms and greens I found as well as the meat. Calling Anko in, I set up a small fire in a corner near a hole in the roof, getting Anko to cook them while set up our bedding.
Eventually, we had a hearty meal. Sharing stories and our experiences with one another, we talked until evening, when Anko dragged me to bed, with Kurenai joining us shortly after.