Chapter 8

After some more hours on the road, Kakashi finally brought the journey to a pause. The sun was already setting and the woods were quickly becoming dark.

"I think that's far enough today," I heard him say, stopping. He looked around before giving a confirming nod.

Actually, I'm kinda glad we get to camp out before we get back to the mission tomorrow. I have a lot of things I want to know about this world and Kakashi is always one to be up to date with history. I don't like the idea of walking around ignorant of what can happen next.

I scanned the spot with my eyes. It was a part of the forest that was close to a running stream. I guess somewhere on the outskirts of the leaf village. We weren't far from the Hidden Sand.

Carefully, I left Hinata down from my back.

"Thank you, Sukuna," she said again with a happy smile. "I won't forget this kindness."

"It's nothing."

I turned to her and the bruise on her left ankle caught my attention. It was taking longer than it should to heal. The swelling made me think it was getting worse. She walked away, limping as she moved.

A part of me didn't want to care, but there was this other part that made me worried that if I didn't do something about this potential problem, it'd become something irritatingly worse later on. The last thing I need right now is someone to ruin this mission.

I can't have someone this weak for a wife…

"Hold up, Hinata,"

She turned, "Huh?"

"Your ankle. Let me see it."

I sat her by a rock and knelt on the grass to have a look at her ankle. I have to admit, it does feel nice rubbing on her soft fair skin. Don't worry, I'm not having any absurd ideas yet. After a while of examining the wound, a thought came to mind.

I hadn't completely mastered the Healing Jutsu Tsunade has been trying to teach me, but maybe I can steal heal the wound through Reverse Cursed Technique. I took a long breath in as I placed my right hand above her ankle.

"What are you doing?" Hinata asked, curiously.

Using Cursed energy in this world was hard, but not as hard as trying to use Reverse Cursed Energy. I needed a high level of concentration to be able to tap into the Cursed Energy around me. After a few seconds, a red aura-like glow appeared beneath my hand, on her ankle. A few minutes passed by and I lifted my hand.

"There, doesn't that feel better now?" I asked, getting up.

"Wow, Sukuna how did you?" Suprise was all over Hinata's face. I had completely healed her wound and by the relaxed look on her face, I'd say she was no longer in pain.

"You're welcome." I walked away with a wave. Ino who had been watching us from afar started heading in our direction.

I passed Kakashi and heard a whispering voice.

"Impressive, but don't get distracted."

I must've heard wrong because that wasn't his voice. It was the Dark One's.

"Kakashi sensei? Why are we stopping now?" Naruto asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. "The Hidden Sand isn't that far from here. If we push further some more, we should get there before the moon comes up."

As you would expect, Naruto wasn't one to analyze the situation. Always in for the move without a plan.

"Not everyone has your kind of stamina, Naruto," Kakashi replied with a chuckle. "You need to think of the others in the team and by others, I mean Ino and Hinata. We can't risk rushing into what could be the enemy's territory with a weakened squad. We'll all rest here tonight and continue the mission tomorrow."

"Alright. I guess that makes sense." Naruto scratched the back of his head with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Now that's settled, everyone. Let's make camp."

Not giving a fuck about what Kakashi said, I headed deep into the forest to do some training. They don't need my help in gathering firewood and all that shit. I have better things to do with my time.

I need to increase the ability of my body to utilize Cursed Energy in this annoying world. It's as if all my abilities have been caught down by a thousand. When I was sure I had gotten far enough from the others, I searched for the biggest tree I could find. It was 20m tall and 1m wide.

I gave it a nice solid punch, and instantly, the bark broke, splitting it into two vertical halves. Each half cracked and broke into several small pieces. There was a great disturbance in the air in the direction of the punch. Even though I didn't use a lot of force, I still wasn't satisfied with the result. I searched for a bigger tree. This one should be 25m tall and a few centimeters wider than the former. I meditated for a while then gathered a lot of Cursed Energy into my fist.

I stretched out my hand to punch the bark, but before I could even touch it, the tree felt the impact of the cursed energy. It instantly split into two vertical halves like the other, but it didn't just break into small pieces. Within a few seconds, there wasn't a single sign of life in it; the leaves and every vegetative part wilted to a crisp. Not long after, the entire tree down to its roots had decayed and turned to an ask-like substance spread across the grass.

I looked behind it and the same happened to seven more trees behind it. This is pitiful, even Saturo Gojo can cause damage ten times worse than this. I stayed out for two hours more, training to improve the amount of Chakra and Cursed Energy my body could absorb.

"It's late, Sukuna. If you keep making a hell of noise with these trees you'll end up attracting the attention of the Sand Ninjas at the border." I turned to see Kakashi sitting on a fallen log. Considering how relaxed he looks, he's been observing me for a while.

"How long have you been sitting there?"