88 Survival of the Fittest

The next morning, Natsume completed her run in two hours once more. However, she ran comfortably and with significantly less noise than the previous day. Notably her comprehension of the sword strikes showed the most improvement. With the previous day's practice, Natsume spent a short time summarizing her practice before preparing to release her chakra.

Natsume closed her eyes and focused on her chakra flow. Since her chakra had already reached such a terrifying quantity, her fine control had actually decreased over time. This was a hidden danger in her growth that she never realized before. Whenever she attempted to move a small amount of chakra, it would instead draw forward ten times as much. She furrowed her brows and repeated the process slowly.

Eventually, she reduced her minimum chakra release by half and drew it into the wooden sword. Unfortunately, it exploded after a second. Natsume couldn't help but think of a certain lineage of Raikage that did not use weapons. Was it because they preferred hand-to-hand combat, or were their chakra control so poor due to their insane quantity? She sighed, realizing that she was trying to comfort herself for her failure.

Whoosh!

Natsume jumped to the side and grabbed the nearby wooden sword. She had left her chakra sword with her stuff in the tent, so this was the only nearby weapon. The reason she reacted so quickly was that she sensed something approaching. From around the rock, a crab about 2 meters tall slowly walked over. Natsume frowned 'This is the Giant Crab terror?' She stepped forward and released a powerful kick, causing the crab to die instantly due to the blunt force trauma.

'Wow, the shell didn't even crack…' Natsume examined the body and marveled at the defensive capabilities. Fortunately, such hard armor had its own weaknesses. She hauled the body over her shoulder and jumped up onto the pier. Yori saw her approach with a crab and came to her side hurriedly.

"You ran into a newborn? That's not good. They will be here soon. Everyone, prepare for battle!"

"Yes!" The group shouted together. Natsume nodded before pausing in confusion. 'Newborn?'

However, her worries were quickly answered when a giant water column shot toward the pier. A crab thirty meters tall with a claw as big as a carriage rose from the depths. Several crabs ranging between 15 to 25 meters tall came up around it, and hundreds of crabs from 5 to 15 meters stormed the beach. They seemingly had no coordination, but the direction of their swarm would lead them directly to the red seaweed farm.

Without needing to be ordered, the samurai group broke off evenly into teams. Yori directly blocked the largest crabs by himself while the other samurai began to kill off the smaller crabs. Natsume went to her tent and retrieved her sword. She joined the other samurai and began to kill off the smaller crabs, trying to reduce their numbers. Occasionally, she would glance up at Yori to see how he was doing.

Seeing him fend off several gigantic crabs with ease made her glad she didn't fight him their first meeting. Although he was just defending and blocking their way, it was only to conserve energy. In order to do that, the samurai's skill level had to be very high. She focused on killing all the smaller crabs first. After cutting through a dozen of the smallest, she found herself facing a crab in the next stage of growth. Not only was it bigger, but its shell was incredibly hard.

She saw the other Samurai were already using chakra blade techniques against these larger crabs and realized that just sharpness and strength wasn't enough. After three failed attempts to cut through the thick chitin, she attempted to channel the least amount of chakra into her sword. Fortunately, the chakra metal was designed to handle strong chakra and it did not shatter. Seeing the white glow of her blade, her confidence soared.

Remembering the sword training Yori showed her, she portrayed the three moves. Hardness! The first strike cracked the shell of the crab, causing it to stagger backward. Sharpness! The second strike severed the giant claw. Control! She stepped forward and thrust the sword directly at the crab's mouth, instantly forming a fist sized hole through its head. The crab still moved for a while before it eventually fell into the water. After more than half the crabs were killed, a strange thing occurred.

The remaining crabs began to snatch the dead crabs' bodies and retreat into the deep sea. The larger crabs used their large claws to grab several dead crabs all at once. Yori did not interrupt and let it flee with the dead in its claws. The group sighed in relief and returned to the pier. Natsume was unsure of the situation and followed along with them.

"Suzume, you did well. However, your chakra control still needs work."

"Yes, sensei. Are the Giant Crabs empathetic enough to take back their dead?" Natsume asked curiously. The behavior was strange to her, and it seemed like a defeated force taking their casualties back for their rites.

"This… in the end, its survival of the fittest. These beasts were driven down here in search of sustenance due to overbreeding." Yori saw the naïve look in her eye and didn't want to directly say it. However, his words were enough for Natsume to understand.

"In a way, they are no different to humans… if resources were not monopolized by the few, would there be a need for so much bloodshed?" Natsume thought about the future. Despite the village system creating a faux peace, it was just another faction system with more brutal means of waging war.

"If only it were that simple. You would need everyone to trust each other or have absolute rule." Yori chuckled at the notion. Even if one generation could achieve the prior, would the next generation not wish for the latter, and vice versa? It was an endless loop. "You should rest, it won't be long until they come again, and with greater numbers. The other teams should return tonight."