[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
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The sound of swords began to echo through the area. As the blades continued to clash against each other. Cirilla had her hair tied back and wore leather armor as she focused on every movement of Madara, who was attacking her from the sides, trying to break her defense, but Cirilla's green eyes followed every motion.
They continued fighting each other without a clear winner, as Cirilla demonstrated her current skills to Madara, who wasn't using his Sharingan since they had begun their training in this place. Madara tried to push the girl, watching her react quickly to him, unable to suppress a smile when she broke from her defense and tried to counterattack him. For a girl nearing 13 years old, it was incredible to see her move this way.
He had subjected her to rigorous training the entire time, and after Madara initiated such strict discipline, results were finally starting to show. As they clashed, their swords ringing in high-intensity combat, Cirilla felt her strength had grown significantly. Her training this month had been tough, but she had never wanted to give up at any point, feeling her body reacting with every fall she took. Madara didn't seem to show her any mercy during training, causing her to get injured many times.
Even so, she was treated by Madara every day as he applied some ointments to help her recover, and Cirilla didn't mind receiving a bit of care from him. After all, he always took care of her, and she knew it.
Cirilla also disliked showing weakness and sometimes cried alone, remembering the fate of her grandmother and her home, but she didn't want to show this to Madara, feeling guilty about her outburst of rage that nearly cost her relationship with him.
She tried to help him in any way she could, but he always made it clear that she should focus on her training while his clones would handle everything else.
And that's what she did—no matter how much she got hurt, no matter the pain she felt or the stress he put on her, she didn't give up. She saw that her blood was strengthening all the time. She didn't know what Madara was doing, but his method was working as she felt herself enduring a few milliseconds longer in every fight or movement. With each defeat, she could last a little longer. It was strange, after all, even though she fell countless times in ways she would never have in Cintra. Her grandmother would have gone mad if she saw her taking such a beating. Madara would have been sent to a dungeon, but here she was unleashing her potential.
She quickly had to interrupt her thoughts because she lost control of the fight, and that opened an opening as her sword was pushed aside before she received a kick to the stomach from Madara, sending her flying several meters before rolling on the ground of the arena.
"That's fine... but you seem distracted... don't do that and just focus on the fight and everything around you," Madara said, looking at her and analyzing.
Cirilla quickly placed her hand against the ground, standing up with some difficulty while holding her stomach, feeling short of breath.
"I was thinking about this last month... wait a minute, I'm a bit out of breath..." she said, but Madara shook his head.
"On the battlefield, your life will be in danger at all times... your enemies won't wait for you to recover, so learn to deal with all kinds of situations." He said these words, and in the next moment, he dashed forward. Cirilla saw him disappear, and all her instincts screamed for her to turn to the side, which she did quickly while pointing her short sword, though with some difficulty due to her lack of air.
"I'm above you..." she heard Madara's voice and looked up, seeing him running toward her upside down on the ceiling, then leaping toward her.
She prepared to defend as her sword clashed disadvantageously against his. Besides his greater strength and speed—things he usually held back—he also used gravity to his advantage, with the impact being greater due to him moving directly at her.
She took a few steps back, trying to regain her balance, while her emerald eyes never left Madara, attempting to defend herself from his next moves.
Madara buried his sword between the stones on the ground and crossed his fingers, making Cirilla widen her eyes. In the next moment, clouds of smoke exploded around them, and several Madaras surrounded her.
She quickly found herself encircled, the first clone using those knives Madara often wielded, trying to catch her from the side. Another one appeared as soon as she defended herself, attempting to strike from above, forcing her to spin her body to retreat and dodge.
She had to evade a third from that side but was struck by a kick from a fourth, making her groan in pain as she limped, feeling the muscle numb and struggling to stand.
"So, can you keep up?" the original Madara, the only one with the large sword buried in front of him, asked calmly, watching the girl as she tried to recover.
"Of course! You said my enemies wouldn't have any mercy..." she replied this time, not wanting to show any weakness, especially since he decided to test her in such extreme conditions.
"..." Madara didn't respond but nodded and glanced at his clones, waiting for his command. With a tilt of his head, all of them began to move around the still-injured Cirilla.
They started to circle around her as she readied herself. The first came from the right, attacking once more. As she defended, she had to dodge the one coming from behind, but she managed to do it just in time. While she moved, she was nearly hit by the one from the front, and the one on the left kicked her legs, throwing her off balance. She fell straight to the ground, groaning.
Another clone advanced, trying to strike her. Quickly, she rolled to the side to dodge while using her legs with great effort. Gritting her teeth, she jumped up, leaping backward to distance herself from the one that had attacked her and analyzed the enemies before striking. She saw the four Madara clones waiting for her, with the original still standing behind them, yet to make his move.
She tightened her grip on the sword and braced herself. This time, it was her who advanced. "AHHH!!!" She charged, screaming in fury, trying to strike the first Madara, who swiftly defended with a kunai. The others also began attacking her from all sides.
This sequence continued for a while until she fell again, groaning in pain. She stood back up and resumed fighting against multiple enemies once more but fell again after some time. As she rose again and they continued to fight, with Madara observing, she was eventually struck by a kick to the head, sending her crashing to the ground, rolling several meters before falling unconscious.
Madara sighed and quickly dispelled all the clones. He approached her, activating his Sharingan, to check if she was alright externally and internally. Blood was trickling from her forehead. After checking her body, he picked her up, unconscious, and left the area, heading to their quarters. He laid her on the bed and gathered a few first aid kits he had taken from Cintra before the invasion. He began bandaging her wounds, using some herbs and healing ointments to enhance her natural recovery.
Madara knew that her ancient blood was already powerful on its own, but somehow, beyond being able to stimulate her with this intense training, as he began to enhance her adaptability, Ciri was developing extremely quickly. He had also triggered a regeneration ability within the girl.
This made Ciri heal much faster than a regular person, so much so that, by the next day, she could barely feel the minor injuries, which healed overnight. It was incredible, to the point that even Madara was impressed with her capability.
He left her lying in bed and went back to a part of the laboratory that was used as a kitchen, ordering his clones there to prepare something to eat. Then, he went to check a few things in another area of the laboratory, where he would study. He passed by some of his clones, who were busy with various tasks here and there. The only thing Madara missed was a metallurgical chamber in this place, as he didn't have infinite weapons and would need to start making new kunai. He had even learned how to forge his own weapons after spending a few days with that dwarf in Cintra's capital. After all, he only needed to use his Sharingan to copy the dwarf's forging skills. The man had been terrified the entire time, but he still completed what was asked once Madara offered him a substantial amount of gold.
Learning to make a weapon the size of a dagger was easy now, but he didn't have a forge here. That would have to wait until he left this place.
Meanwhile, Cirilla woke up a few hours later, as she always did, feeling a bit groggy. She felt her head bandaged after the slight pain she experienced but quickly knew her body would heal easily.
She saw the soup, which was likely left by a clone, beside her bed. "Sometimes, I wish I could ask him to go easier on me, but he always takes care of me," she couldn't help but murmur.
However, she didn't eat. Instead, she got up and went looking for Madara, still feeling a bit weary and limping. There were several clones of him around the place, but she knew none of them was the real Madara. Somehow, she always managed to guess which one was the real Madara. And as always, she found him, studying those strange symbols he often told her weren't mage seals or magical runes but something called fuuinjutsu, something she still didn't quite understand.
"How are you?" Madara asked, noticing her as she entered, his gaze first checking her injuries before meeting her eyes.
"You were tough... You've never used the clones this month," she murmured.
"It was time to put a different kind of pressure on you, Ciri. There are countless mages, soldiers from all the kingdoms, and if my prediction is correct... even witchers, coming after us, especially you. You know you won't be facing just one enemy at a time. But I'm proud of how well you're adapting, though it's still not ideal. For a thirteen-year-old girl, you're not half bad," Madara said, smiling.
"Hearing that, it sounds like you're mocking me," Ciri muttered, pouting.
"It was just a joke. You're doing very well," Madara admitted.
"You, joking? What happened to the real Madara? And what are you doing here, pretending to be him?" she complained, sitting down beside him as she glanced at the symbols he was studying, understanding almost nothing aside from the scribbles. "What are you doing there?" she asked.
"I'm studying to develop one of the techniques that's incomplete for me," Madara explained. It was a combination of seals and chakra that he hadn't been able to focus on before but had made much more progress on this month than in the past six months. Before, he had to learn and perfect summoning and storage contract fuuinjutsu, which were equally complex.
"Those are the papers that explode..." she recognized as he nodded, trying to develop the exploding tags, which were difficult to make. He couldn't even use chakra ink while relying on his own blood to draw the symbols.
"You do things that break the logic of this world and would even make the most skilled mages envious," she murmured softly.
"We do what we're capable of, and you will do many things that apply this same phrase in the future," he said, as she nodded hopefully, eager to meet his expectations. After all, Madara always said she would be powerful. "Anyway, we're leaving soon," he added, and she nodded again when she heard those words; it was time to depart. "You're more prepared than before. I may not need to worry about you as much," Madara commented, beginning to pack his things.
"You didn't even eat your meal, did you?" Madara glanced at her.
"Of course not. I was waiting for you," she admitted, trying to get closer to him, while he simply smiled and moved away, standing up, knowing the girl's intentions.
She immediately pouted upon seeing him stand up. 'Why is it so hard to get close to him...' she murmured internally, a little dissatisfied as she stared at him.
They had kissed before, but Madara kept his distance—not because he didn't like her, but because he didn't want to take things too seriously while they were on the run in the middle of a war.
'I'm going to make him fall in love with me!' she declared internally, as Madara waited for her to get up. Madara's indifference only seemed to motivate her to pursue him even more, while he tried not to laugh at his own thoughts, seeing the girl trying to get close to kiss him whenever she could.
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Raccoon Here:
I know I'm being tough, but this world isn't a bed of roses. She has to learn to deal with extreme situations.