While Madara held his plow guard stance, he sensed a presence slowly closing in on him. This caused him to tighten his grip on the wooden sword. Moments later, he noticed movement in a bush to his left, prompting him to sharpen his focus in that direction. A wild boar emerged from the bush, roughly the size of a Shetland sheepdog, with a wound on its left ear. Despite this, Madara kept his guard up, as the presence he felt—an aura of qi—seemed to be coming from that very spot.
Then, from the same bush, a dire wolf appeared. As it stepped into view, the wild boar bolted behind him. Yet, Madara’s gaze remained fixed on the dire wolf standing before him, never wavering from his stance. The dire wolf snarled, drooling with its tail raised and fur bristling as it locked eyes with him. Madara, in turn, remained in his guard position, gripping his wooden sword infused with sword qi. The injured wild boar stayed huddled close to Madara, as if seeking protection from the dire wolf.
In this tense standoff, the only sounds were the rustling of the wind and the chirping of birds as both sides waited for the other to make the first move. Moments passed, and the dire wolf began to slowly back away—not because of Madara himself, but because it could sense the concentrated qi radiating from his wooden sword. Instinctively, it knew it was outmatched, prompting it to gradually retreat.
After sensing that the dire wolf had finally retreated, Madara glanced down at his left side and noticed the wild boar gazing up at him. He spoke to it softly, "You can go now; the one chasing you is gone." Upon hearing this, the wild boar quickly dashed away in the opposite direction. However, before it got too far, it paused, turned around, and looked back at Madara, giving a small nod before disappearing into the forest. This made Madara smile slightly, and he resumed his interrupted lunch.
Once he finished eating, Madara continued his training, focusing on his riposte technique. From the parry position, he stepped forward with his left foot, launching a counterattack against the dummy (enemy) using his wooden sword in his left hand. He practiced this maneuver 100 times. The next morning, he followed the same routine, dedicating time to practicing his three basic sword techniques. However, he didn’t neglect his physical training and continued to maintain his fitness.
...
After 3 months
That morning, the canopy had transformed into a vibrant mosaic of red, gold, and orange leaves, glowing with a mystical light. The air was crisp and carried the sweet scent of ripened fruit. The forest floor was covered in a colorful carpet of fallen leaves, and the wind whispered through the trees. In his training area, Madara sat cross-legged in meditation, with his wooden sword lying in front of him. Occasionally, he slowly opened his eyes. "My three basic sword skills have now reached the foundation stage," he said, referring to thrust, parry, and riposte.
He then glanced to his right, where a calendar he had made from one of the trees was hanging. It displayed (0-0-9-8), marking Day 98. "Winter is approaching, and I need to stock up on food," he noted, observing the trees as they began to shed their leaves. He had learned from his sister that they experience four seasons each year.
So he decided to put his basic sword training on hold to search for food, as his stored meat was running low. Standing up, he started walking and running through the forest in search of something to eat. After several hours of foraging, Madara stopped when he felt a faint tremor ahead. Driven by curiosity, he moved toward the source of the disturbance. After a few minutes of walking, he arrived at a clearing and saw that a battle was unfolding nearby.
Madara saw a group of fur-covered beings attacking five enormous creatures. The attacking beings were roughly his height, about 5′ 6" (167.64 cm), and he could sense that they were in the early stages of qi condensation due to the qi they were emitting. The five large creatures, on the other hand, were as tall as a two-story building and displayed signs of being in the middle stage of qi condensation because of their strong qi. As he observed the battle, Madara was struck by how similar the creatures were to animals from Earth. He quietly muttered to himself, "Gorilla... Chimpanzee?"
...
A group of red chimpanzees was fiercely attacking five large gray gorillas. As they charged, the gray gorillas' powerful blows caused tremors in the ground. Despite the gorillas' slow attacks, their strikes were devastating, crushing the unfortunate red chimpanzees who couldn't dodge them, leaving their bodies mangled like crushed cans.
When a gray gorilla raised its hand, the crushed bodies of the red chimpanzees would spew out blood, internal organs, and broken bones. Despite the horrific sight of their fallen comrades and the relentless power of the gray gorillas, the red chimpanzees continued their assault without hesitation, just as the gray gorillas remained fiercely engaged in their defense.
From his vantage point, Madara observed that all the red chimpanzees were moving in the same direction, towards a tree laden with fruit. Upon seeing the fruits, Madara quietly exclaimed with a touch of excitement, "Yellow Apple."
--- Yellow Apple: This is a low-grade fruit known for its limited qi regeneration properties and its ability to provide sustenance. It is commonly consumed by monster beasts.---
...
He identified the fruit as a yellow apple because it was listed as an ingredient in one of the recipes from the cookbook his sister Xiao Yun had given him. Realizing that both groups were fighting over the yellow apples in preparation for the coming winter, Madara decided not to waste any more time. He quickly ran and used his body-flicker technique, reappearing directly in the midst of the battle between the two groups.
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Upon reappearing, he immediately charged toward the tree. As he ran, he condensed silver-colored qi in his feet to increase his speed. While sprinting, he kept his focus straight ahead, though he could see out of the corners of his eyes the gray gorillas pummeling the advancing chimpanzees. Despite the intense chaos around him, Madara remained determined to reach the tree and secure the fruit.
As the gray gorillas attacked, Madara expertly dodged their strikes using his basic footwork techniques. He employed side steps, both left and right, back steps, circling steps, and other maneuvers to avoid their blows. Despite his skill, he couldn’t shake the anxiety, knowing that a single mistake could be deadly. As he neared the tree and the danger of being caught increased, his heartbeat quickened. In this high-pressure moment, he remembered the fear he had felt when facing the three men in black. To himself, he murmured, "This fear, I need to overcome it."
After several minutes of dodging and evading the gray gorillas, Madara finally reached the base of the tree. However, a gray gorilla was stationed right in front of him, and the fruit he was aiming for was high up, at an estimated height of about 8 meters (26.2467 ft).
As he approached, he initially thought about how to reach the fruit but quickly shifted his focus. "I shouldn't worry about how to get the fruit just yet; my priority is figuring out how to get past the gray gorilla in front of me." He realized this was crucial because he was the only one who had made it this far alive. The base of the tree was strewn with the bodies of red chimpanzees that had fallen victim to the gray gorilla.
As Madara ran, he carefully examined the gray gorilla, looking for any potential gaps through which he could slip past. He knew that fighting the gorilla directly would be futile and might even cause a disruption between the two groups. Although he considered using his body-flicker technique to quickly grab the fruit, he was unsure if the gorilla could also jump to such heights.
Recalling a scene he had seen earlier, where a red chimpanzee had climbed onto the shoulder of a gray gorilla and the gorilla struggled to reach it, Madara remembered that the gorilla had rolled on the ground to dislodge the chimpanzee. With this in mind, he muttered to himself, "Whatever the outcome, I have no choice but to try this."
Madara increased his speed as he approached the gray gorilla. When he was directly in front of it, the gorilla attacked with its left hand, infused with qi. Madara swiftly dodged to the right, and seeing this, the gorilla immediately followed with a strike from its right hand. Madara evaded that attack as well. The gorilla roared in frustration and raised both its hands to strike Madara directly in front of it.
Reacting quickly, Madara performed a backstep to avoid the incoming attack. The gorilla's powerful strike created a crater and caused a minor tremor in the ground. While in mid-air from his backstep, Madara executed a backflip. As he landed, he swiftly jumped onto the crouching gorilla, positioning himself on its back between its shoulders. Using this position for leverage, he leaped again and reached for the fruit on the tree. The force of his leap made the gray gorilla bend forward slightly.
While in mid-air, Madara quickly drew his wooden sword and infused it with sword qi, as he was just a few yards from the fruit. As he closed in, he executed his basic sword-cutting techniques with his left hand, swinging his wooden sword in various directions—upward, downward, and diagonal slashes to the left and right, as well as horizontal strikes—to sever the fruit from the tree.
With his precise strikes, the yellow apples were simultaneously cut free. Seeing this, Madara swiftly aimed his right hand towards his storage ring to collect the fruit. With a simple command, the ring released a silver-colored qi thread that wrapped around the yellow apples and quickly pulled them inside. After securing the fruit, Madara performed a front-flip in mid-air to accelerate his descent and ensure a quick landing.
Upon landing, Madara swiftly used his body flicker technique as an enraged gray gorilla lunged at him from behind. In the blink of an eye, Madara vanished from his spot. When the gray gorilla landed and saw that Madara was no longer there, it stomped the ground and roared in frustration. The red chimpanzees and the remaining four gray gorillas stopped their activities, realizing that all the fruit had been taken. They quickly began to pursue him to recover the fruit.
In the distance, Madara reappeared and felt the tremors of the approaching creatures. He immediately used his body-flicker technique again to evade them. To avoid leading them back to his camping site, he deliberately chose a different path to escape. Every time Madara appeared, he used his body-flicker technique to quickly distance himself from his pursuers. After several hours of constant evasion, he finally stopped and leaned against a tree branch to rest.
While resting, he remained alert, listening for any signs that the gray gorillas and red chimpanzees were still tracking him. Once he was certain that he had lost them, Madara sat cross-legged on the tree branch to meditate and restore his depleted qi. After a few hours of meditation, his qi was fully replenished. He then resumed his journey through the dense forest, making his way back to his campsite.
By evening, Madara had returned to his campsite. For dinner, he decided to sample one of the yellow apples. As he bit into it, he felt qi flowing through his body, and he noticed the fruit had a pleasantly sweet taste. After swallowing, he felt a satisfying fullness in his stomach and commented, "That really filled me up." After finishing the apple, he checked the number of yellow apples he had collected in his storage ring. To his surprise, there were about one hundred. He marveled, "I didn’t expect to collect this many."
The next morning, after having a bland breakfast of meat and warming up, Madara sat down and crossed his legs to meditate. He dedicated his meditation session to studying the Wood Release: Four-Pillar House Technique, preparing himself for the upcoming winter.
---Wood Release: Four-Pillar House Technique (Mokuton: Shichūka no Jutsu) : This technique allows the user to create a fully furnished house from nothing by manipulating the growth and shape of wood. The house can be generated instantly, providing shelter and protection in various situations. The size and shape of the building are taken from the user's imagination or memories.---
After two hours of meditating, Madara opened his eyes, stood up slowly, and began to search for a suitable spot to build his house. He eventually chose a location near the lake and close to his training area. Once he had selected the spot, he bent down slightly, placed his right hand on the ground, and spoke the command, "Release."