Dawn painted the highest peaks in fiery hues, but the air biting Kaito's lungs was thin and brutally cold. He followed Jiraiya up a treacherous goat path, the world dropping away dizzyingly below. The Sannin moved with deceptive ease, his sandaled feet finding purchase on crumbling rock where Kaito needed hands and concentration. The << Sky-Cling Moss >> sketch felt heavy in his pouch beside Saisei. Not just a plant; it was Aiko's next meal, the roof over her head.
"Here," Jiraiya grunted, stopping on a narrow, windswept ledge. He pointed upwards. A sheer cliff face rose another hundred meters, scarred with deep fissures and shadowed overhangs. "See those dark cracks? Near the top, where the ice meets rock? That's where it likes to grow. Sheltered from the worst wind, but gets the morning sun. Like a stubborn bastard clinging to life." He fixed Kaito with a hard stare. "Your control gets tested now, brat. Not just shaping water or dodging pebbles. Fine work. Surgical. One burst of chakra too strong, one tremor, and you turn valuable moss into worthless dust. And falling turns you into worthless paste. Remember the sister."
Kaito nodded, tightening the straps on his worn pack. He activated << Namikaze Perception >>. The world sharpened: the minute texture of the rock, the sigh of wind through distant crevices, the faint thermal signature of a nesting hawk far above. He scanned the cliff face. High, near a jagged overhang, a cluster of shadowed cracks showed the tell-tale fuzzy grey-green patches. << Sky-Cling Moss Located! >>
"Found some," Kaito said, his voice tight with focus.
"Good eyes," Jiraiya acknowledged. "Now get it. I'll be... around." With that, the Sannin melted back down the path, leaving Kaito alone on the precipice with the wind and the weight of expectation.
The climb was agony. << AGI: 13 >> was pushed to its absolute limit. Footholds crumbled. Handholds were icy and treacherous. He used << Chakra Enhancement >> sparingly, a faint thrum in his limbs for critical bursts of strength or adhesion, each pulse a drain on his precious << Chakra: 55/55 >> and << Stamina: 90/90 >>. He couldn't afford to be exhausted when he reached the moss. << Void Step >> was useless here; the cooldown was too long, and the precision required for landing on a tiny moss ledge was beyond him. This was pure, grueling physicality and nerve.
Halfway up, clinging to a frost-slick outcrop, he felt a tremor in the rock. << Perception Check: Success! >> He flattened himself just as a section of cliff face sheared away, crashing down the mountainside in a roar of dust and stone. His heart hammered against his ribs. One moment of inattention… He took slow, deliberate breaths, forcing calm. For Aiko.
Finally, he reached the cluster of cracks beneath the overhang. Nestled deep within, sheltered from the worst elements, grew the Sky-Cling Moss. It was smaller than he expected, the vibrant green tips Jiraiya described looking incredibly fragile against the dark stone. He anchored himself as securely as possible, wedging his feet and one hand into a solid fissure. With his free hand, he drew a tiny sliver of wood from Saisei, hardening it with a whisper of will into a fine, needle-like probe. This was the tool. Not his fingers, too clumsy.
He extended his senses, not just sight, but chakra sensitivity. He needed to feel the moss, its connection to the rock, its delicate structure. << CC: 10 >> became his entire world. He focused a thread of chakra, thinner than spider silk, impossibly precise, down the wooden needle. It was like trying to perform microsurgery while dangling from a skyscraper in a gale.
He touched the chakra thread to the base of the first vibrant green tip. He felt the minute resistance, the faint life-force within the moss. Too much pressure, and it would crumble. Too little, and it wouldn't sever. He adjusted, a fractional shift in concentration. Snick. The chakra thread sliced cleanly. The moss tip remained intact. He carefully guided it into a small, lined storage pouch Jiraiya had provided. << Sky-Cling Moss Acquired! >> << EXP +15 >>
Relief warred with the intense focus required. One down. He repeated the process. Slow. Meticulous. Each pluck was a battle of concentration against the wind, the cold, the precarious perch, and the desperate need to hurry warring with the absolute requirement for precision. << Chakra: 45/55 >>. << Stamina: 75/90 >>. He harvested five more tips.
As he reached for the seventh, a sharp screech echoed. A large, slate-grey raptor, disturbed from its perch higher up, dove towards him, talons outstretched. Territorial. << Mountain Raptor (Level 8) >>.
No time for complex jutsu. No safe footing for dodging. Kaito's mind raced. << INT: 18 >> combined with << Tactical Fuinjutsu (Rank F) >>. He flicked a << Crude Explosive Tag >> from his pouch, not at the bird, but at the cliff face above it. He channeled a spark of chakra mid-throw. WHOMPH! The blast was small, but the sound and the shower of rock fragments startled the raptor. It veered off with an angry cry, circling but hesitant to dive through the falling debris.
Kaito used the distraction to sever the seventh moss tip and stow it. He was breathing hard, sweat freezing on his brow. << Chakra: 40/55 >>. << Stamina: 70/90 >>. He had eight tips. Enough for a small payment? He scanned. One more promising cluster, slightly further along a treacherous traverse.
The traverse was a nightmare. A narrow, downward-sloping ledge slick with frost. He moved inch by inch, back pressed to the rock. << AGI: 13 >> screamed at him. One slip… He reached the cluster, anchored himself again. Three more tips. He harvested them with trembling focus, the strain of maintaining such fine chakra control for so long taking its toll. << Chakra: 32/55 >>. << Stamina: 60/90 >>. << Sky-Cling Moss x11 >>. << EXP +50 >> (Bonus for successful harvest under duress).
It was enough. He couldn't push his luck or his reserves further. He began the agonizingly slow descent. Every downward step felt more dangerous than the climb up. Fatigue gnawed at him. Near the bottom, his foot slipped on loose scree. He started to fall backwards, a cry tearing from his throat.
A strong hand clamped onto his arm, hauling him back onto solid ground. Jiraiya stood there, having materialized silently. "Took you long enough, brat. Get clumsy at the end?"
Kaito slumped against the rock, gasping, holding the precious pouch tight. "Eleven... tips," he managed.
Jiraiya took the pouch, opening it carefully. He examined the vibrant green moss tips, each intact, undamaged. A rare flicker of approval crossed his face. "Hmph. Clean work. Control held. Didn't turn it to dust." He tucked the pouch away. "Broker meets me at dusk tomorrow near the hot springs valley. I'll handle it. You'll get your cut then."
Kaito nodded, too exhausted to speak, but a fierce warmth bloomed in his chest despite the cold. It wasn't much, but it was a start. He'd scaled the mountain and wrested something valuable from its grasp with nothing but nerve and hard-won control. He'd earned Aiko's next meal.
<< LEVEL UP! Shade is now Level 6! >>
<< Attribute Points Available: 5 >>
<< STR +1 >> (Climbing demand) -> 9<< AGI +1 >> (Precarious traversal) -> 14<< VIT +1 >> (Endurance) -> 12<< INT +1 >> (Tactical solution under pressure) -> 19<< CC +1 >> (Sustained precision harvesting) -> 11
<< Chakra: 60/60 >> << Stamina: 100/100 >>
<< Void Step Cooldown: 20s >>
The notification was a welcome pulse, but the real reward was the pouch Jiraiya carried. Level 6. Still leagues away from Level 40 and freedom from the mountain. But he'd taken the first, perilous step on the path from survival to provider. The mountain wasn't just his crucible anymore; it was his mine. And he had a lot more harvesting to do.