Chong Chong Evolves—Please Keep Reading!

"Chirp chirp!"

As if sensing Kagetsu's presence, a large green worm over a meter long wriggled toward him.

"Looks like you were fed pretty well while I was away." Kagetsu crouched down and stroked Chong Chong's body.

Though it looked soft, Chong Chong's skin was actually somewhat hard to the touch, with a texture like sandpaper. Kagetsu had tested it before—ordinary kunai met considerable resistance when stabbing it.

Chong Chong could also expand its body to form a massive insect shield.

Chong Chong merely rammed its head hard against Kagetsu's palm.

"Here, give this a try." After teasing Chong Chong for a while, Kagetsu took a scroll from his backpack. Once unsealed, it revealed what had been stored inside.

Two pieces of fresh-looking flesh.

Kagetsu placed one of the pieces beneath Chong Chong's mouthparts and fed it as usual.

At Kagetsu's command, Chong Chong opened its somewhat ferocious mouthparts, revealing an octopus-like mouth hidden beneath folds of skin. It slowly swallowed the meat Kagetsu offered into its belly.

After it finished one piece, Kagetsu did not rush to feed it the second. Instead, he carefully examined Chong Chong's body with Medical Ninjutsu.

The meat had been cut from part of Jugo's body after his transformation. It was similarly saturated with Natural Chakra. Kagetsu had obtained these two pieces after applying to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was also curious whether the insect Kagetsu raised could truly digest Natural Chakra.

Before long, Kagetsu sensed a familiar change occurring within Chong Chong. He had seen this kind of change far too many times over the past few months.

A transformation induced by Natural Chakra.

Shadow Imitation Technique.

Kagetsu's shadow instantly wrapped around Chong Chong, which was right beside him. One hand formed a sharp Chakra Scalpel, forcefully cutting a small wound into Chong Chong's tough outer skin. With his other hand, he injected a syringe from his backpack through the wound.

The injection helped the body better accept and adapt to Natural Energy, reducing rejection.

Very quickly, the violent Natural Energy within Chong Chong calmed under the effects of the injection. But Kagetsu knew this was only temporary!

According to the data left behind by the Test Subjects, the current medicine could only keep Natural Energy stable for a period of time. It could not truly tame it.

Splat!

Kagetsu instantly leaped backward.

Chong Chong had begun transforming. Black spikes burst from its rings of folds, making it resemble a hedgehog covered in layers upon layers of spines.

"Has it lost its mind?"

Chong Chong did not respond to Kagetsu's call. Instead, it focused on him. Though its body was tightly restrained by the Shadow Imitation Technique, the spikes covering it erupted like a torrential rain of needles.

Water Release: Water Formation Wall!

A wall of water suddenly rose and spun before Kagetsu, deflecting the incoming black needles elsewhere.

What surprised Kagetsu was that after the first wave of needles came another. Black spikes continuously sprang out from Chong Chong's body, then shot outward.

Again and again.

Even the reinforced walls of the Laboratory became densely embedded with black needles.

A coffin-like black rectangular prism rose from the shadow beneath Chong Chong, enclosing it within. Then, weapons condensed from shadows formed outside the black prism and stabbed into the coffin.

Shadow Coffin.

Shikaji maintained the Shadow Coffin as he came to Kagetsu's side.

"What happened?"

Shikaji, alerted by Chong Chong's earlier burst of Chakra, looked at the upright black Shadow Coffin and turned to ask Kagetsu.

"A minor experimental accident." Seeing Shikaji's expression darken, Kagetsu added, "The risk is under control."

Shikaji ignored him. At that moment, his entire focus was fixed on the direction where the Shadow Coffin was dispersing.

As the Shadow Coffin faded, Chong Chong reappeared before the two of them, bloodied and heavily wounded. Its skin and flesh had split open, with blood seeping out.

"Chirp chirp!"

Chong Chong's cries were full of pain. Then, beneath Kagetsu and Shikaji's astonished gazes, its battered body began healing at high speed.

"What is this?" Shikaji's eyes widened at the sight.

"The self-healing ability brought by powerful vitality." Kagetsu fell into thought. Chong Chong's Status Panel did mention that it possessed vigorous life force.

Was this healing ability the manifestation of that vigorous vitality?

It reminded Kagetsu of the S-Rank Forbidden Technique Tsunade had once demonstrated for him—Creation Rebirth!

"Do you need me to activate the Shadow Coffin at full power?" Shikaji looked at Kagetsu and asked tentatively. He had controlled the Shadow Coffin's intensity before, but now he intended to eliminate this trouble completely.

Still, he knew how much effort Kagetsu had put into this insect, so he had to ask what Kagetsu wanted first.

"Just help me restrain it." Kagetsu began forming hand seals with both hands while releasing his own Shadow Imitation Technique.

Shikaji immediately took over control of Chong Chong's body with his own Shadow Imitation Technique.

After Kagetsu finished his seals, countless fan-shaped tadpole-like runes snaked out across the ground before his hands. They spread over Chong Chong's entire body before sinking beneath its skin. Shikaji was slightly surprised.

A Sealing Technique!

And a profound Sealing Technique utterly unrelated to the Nara Clan's style. Looking at the transformed insect again, even Shikaji, who had never liked restricting Kagetsu, could not help growing curious about the time Kagetsu had spent outside the village.

Covered in Sealing Technique runes, Chong Chong finally quieted down. It fell into a sleep-like state, lying motionless on the ground. The black spikes on its body had not receded, however, and its skin had turned pitch-black, with a texture as hard as steel.

It made Chong Chong look somewhat ferocious and ugly.

"Is it done?" Feeling the struggle transmitted through the Shadow Imitation Technique rapidly weaken, Shikaji immediately realized that Kagetsu had successfully restrained Chong Chong. Still, he asked to make sure.

"It's fine now." Kagetsu nodded, letting out a breath as he rose from the ground. The Cursed Seal Jutsu taught by Orochimaru would last a long time at minimum—long enough for Chong Chong to digest that piece of flesh.

"What a hassle." Shikaji withdrew his Shadow Imitation Technique, yawned, and lazily scratched his head. "How am I supposed to explain this to your mother later?"

Kagetsu ignored his supposedly biological father, Shikaji, who had begun muttering to himself. He looked around his Laboratory. That continuous barrage of black needles had damaged quite a few things.

In the past, he might have felt pained over the cost. But when he returned to the village, he had already received Orochimaru's approval and permission to use Orochimaru's Laboratory alongside him.

Compared to his own crude, entirely handmade Laboratory, Orochimaru's equipment was downright luxurious.

Now that he had better facilities available, he naturally did not care much about this one.

A night passed.

When Kagetsu woke and went to check on Chong Chong, he found that it had returned to normal. Its skin was still somewhat dark, but it was no longer that glossy pitch-black shade. The black spikes had also retracted, restoring its seemingly harmless, "pale and plump" appearance.

When Kagetsu approached, he once again sensed Chong Chong's delighted and affectionate mental fluctuations. The Chakra in its body had also settled down, no longer carrying the violent frenzy and loss of control from the night before.

Rather than immediately releasing the Cursed Seal Jutsu's restraints, Kagetsu first carefully examined Chong Chong's body with Medical Ninjutsu.

Everything was normal.

Placing a hand on Chong Chong's body, Kagetsu called forth the Status Panel linked to it, wanting to see whether any new changes had appeared.

Name: Unknown Larva

Quality: Blue (You have chosen an evolutionary path for it. Once its cultivation is complete, it will form a cocoon and evolve when advancing to the next stage+)

Traits: Entirely ordinary. Its only traits are powerful vitality, exceptional adaptability, and excellent modifiability.

Skills: Wriggle (Crawl), Eat, Spin Silk, Expansion (Hidden), Needle Storm!

Evolution Path ①: Natural Energy (Can absorb wandering Natural Energy from its surroundings and digest it within its body. Natural Energy will allow its life to evolve and leap to higher levels.)

Effect: Currently unavailable.

Split Body: Born with a great appetite, it can digest all items it devours. If it cannot digest something or becomes overly full, it will split off individuals to bear the entire burden.

Evaluation: How far it can grow depends on its cultivator's skill and feeding.

Conclusion: It is currently just an insect with barely passable combat power. It is still not worth expecting too much from.

Looking at the text on the Status Panel, Kagetsu immediately noticed the differences. Compared to Chong Chong's previous Status Panel, aside from some changes to the existing data, two new entries had appeared: Evolution Path and Split Body.

The former proved that Chong Chong was following a path of evolution through Natural Energy. By absorbing and accumulating Natural Energy, it could evolve and advance to a higher level of life.

It sounded somewhat like the path taken by the high-level Summoning Beasts of the three great sacred lands.

The latter, Split Body, completely resolved the possibility of Chong Chong overeating or upsetting its stomach. With this entry, Kagetsu could be much more daring when feeding Chong Chong in the future.

At the very least, he would no longer need to worry about feeding it something it could not endure and causing it to collapse.

Had these changes arisen from the evolution brought by Natural Energy? Or had Chong Chong's own constitution sensed danger and adapted by evolving accordingly?

Kagetsu could not distinguish between those possibilities for now, but that did not stop him from offering Chong Chong the remaining piece of Jugo's transformed flesh, still saturated with Natural Energy thanks to its special preservation method.

The familiar scent of flesh seemed to stimulate Chong Chong. It wriggled backward in resistance, seemingly feeling that the meat had made it uncomfortable yesterday.

Yet under Kagetsu's soothing insistence, Chong Chong hesitated before finally opening its mouth. It revealed tooth-filled mouthparts, savagely tore into the flesh as if venting its frustration, and greedily gulped it down into its body.

Then, nothing happened.

The Natural Energy flowing through Chong Chong's body accumulated peacefully, without the violently uncontrollable explosive sensation from before. Other than its color deepening toward black, Chong Chong underwent no further transformation.

Under Kagetsu's gaze, Chong Chong's body even slowly shrank, becoming slimmer, longer, and shorter. From last night until now, its body had lost a quarter of its bulk, as though it had gone on a diet.

When Kagetsu poked it with a kunai, Chong Chong's skin retained its original toughness and hardness, but its surface had also become somewhat slick, as if coated in oil.

Even his highly condensed Chakra Scalpel had become much more difficult to use for cutting.

Combat Form!

Kagetsu wanted to test Chong Chong's current combat ability. After issuing the command through their Chakra and mental connection, Chong Chong immediately raised itself upright from the ground.

Like a bare little tree trunk.

Then, dark black spikes burst from beneath Chong Chong's skin. As its body turned, the black needles followed its motion and shot in every direction.

After just one wave, Kagetsu immediately used the Shadow Imitation Technique to stop Chong Chong. Sensing that its body had been restrained, Chong Chong did not struggle. It withdrew the spikes protruding from its body and flopped softly onto the ground. Once the Shadow Imitation Technique was released, it wriggled and wriggled all the way to Kagetsu's feet, rubbing against his legs ingratiatingly.

Using a hand wrapped in Chakra, Kagetsu pulled a black needle from the nearby ground.

The needles carried toxins accumulated in Chong Chong's body. If someone was struck without protection and had no antidote, they posed a tremendous threat to most ninja.

And if Chong Chong used the Natural Chakra within its body, then even some ninja with established reputations would suffer an unexpected loss if they faced the black needles enhanced by Natural Energy head-on without dodging.

Kagetsu stroked Chong Chong's raised head and praised it a few times. After raising it for several years, this insect that had once feared being snatched up and eaten by birds finally possessed some combat strength. It could now be called a ninja beast.

At the same time, a certain idea began forming in Kagetsu's mind. If Chong Chong's digestion and absorption abilities could truly achieve effects similar to Devouring and absorption, could he perhaps give it more genetic material?

For example, Wood Release?

Could Chong Chong's digestive and Split Body abilities withstand the Devouring and assimilation of Wood Release?

After thinking it over, Kagetsu temporarily suppressed the idea, though it tempted him greatly. Starting with such high intensity would probably really upset Chong Chong's stomach. What if it was ruined from eating it?

Besides, Orochimaru would have plenty of Kekkei Genkai and all kinds of materials in the future. There was no need to rush.

The situation was not yet bad enough to require him to go to war or face some dangerous circumstance where he needed to increase his combat strength.

He should first gain a certain amount of prestige and status, then consider how to realize these tempting ideas.

PS: Please keep reading! Please keep reading! Please keep reading! It's very important! Thank you, everyone!