Another path

The Swamps - 2nd night

< Hi everyone, I hope you're having a wonderful day ! I'm in a great mood because I can rest, I aced my exams and I can finally be back on my work ! I missed you guys but now I'm back on schedule. Updates are to be expected on Sunday or Monday, probably around 11 P.M in my country (I live in France) because I still don't know how to sleep.

The drawing is Mitsuba btw, I'm going to upload more of those from now on !

On another note, happy pride month to all the LGBTQ+ community ! Be proud of who you are and don't hesitate to talk to trusted people if anyone bothers you.

That was too long so let's wrap it up, have a nice day and I hope you'll enjoy ! >
_____

Red, fractal-like markings marred the tan skin of a panting shinobi. Black burns covered his left hand and tremors still shook his entire body.
It had been a day since Lee had been electrocuted but his body hadn't really recovered yet. He still felt weakened and had had to limp away from the tree that gave him an uncannily strong shock, only to realise that he was on an island of sort and that the water body in front of him was coursed by electricity as well. Not being able to modulate his chakra, it was impossible for him to just run on the water so he had to wait until he felt a bit stronger so he could kick down a tree to get across.
Lee made sure to be extra careful this time because last time he touched the bark of one of these, he got some insane lightning shock and he wouldn't bet on his chances of surviving that twice.

He had thankfully not met a single summon on his way to the dense forest ahead of him, not even animals. That struck him as odd but he shrugged it off and climbed up a tree to rest.
With the state his body was in, he didn't wake up until three hours later. Once again, luck might have been on his side because no one attacked him. Or maybe it was that his chakra was so weak right now that it could hardly be detected. Either way, he was thankful for the rest that helped replenish his energy a lot.
The fractal scarring was still imprinted on his skin, from the fingertips of his left hand to his jaw. He wondered if it would eventually disappear...

A loud rumbling caught his attention. Was it an animal ? A summon ? Maybe even another tree for all he knew !
A familiar ache in his stomach informed him that it was neither of those.

" I guess I should eat... I was so focused on escaping and resting that I didn't even think about food, but if I want to fully recover, that's going to be necessary."

He started carefully searching the forest and found something that caught his eye.

" - A trap ?" He wondered out loud, confused by the discovery.
He wouldn't have expected anyone to use such a strategy in a place like this for it gives away your presence way too obviously (and that was Lee saying that). He then noticed how here was no bait on the trap and that just made him even more confused. He quickly left, feeling like staying too close to this would eventually lead someone to him. He never noticed a pair black eyes staring at him from the shadows.

***

The Raijin tree (complement) : while the Raijin tree in itself is mostly harmless, it still features one more deadly trap, one perhaps even more dangerous than its ability to electrify water. That would be the electrostatic discharge. To put it simply, whenever the bark of the tree is exposed to high voltage by an unknown mechanism, it switches from an insulating material to a conductor. This phenomenon is called dielectric breakdown and may cause electrostatic discharges to occur. Because of the very high voltage, current intensity and energy dissipated, the ESD resulting from said breakdown is similar to a lightning strike. While the reason for this event is yet unknown, it has been observed mostly in areas where the Raijin trees were abundant and close to each other.