Danzo's Fur Exploded! Aburame Ryoma Exploded???

After leaving the Hokage Tower, Danzo returned directly to the Root base.

His mood was quite good.

By his reckoning, Ryoma should have already begun his move by now, shouldn't he? Aburame Ryoma, his most trusted right-hand man, the legendary shinobi of the Aburame Clan who commanded the Nano-Poisonous Insects.

Nano-scale poisonous insects possessed killing power and stealth far beyond ordinary Kikaichū! With just a slight touch, the Nano-Poisonous Insects within Aburame Ryoma's body would invade the enemy's flesh, destroying it from the cellular level!

Such injuries were nearly impossible to reverse.

Touch them, and death was certain! To maximize the potential of this terrifying ability, Aburame Ryoma had specially modified the Transformation Jutsu.

Even Root members skilled in perception found it difficult to see through his disguise.

With just an inadvertent brush while passing by...

Namikaze Mirai would...

The corners of Danzo's mouth almost couldn't be restrained from curling upward.

The mere thought of Namikaze Mirai, who had been throwing his weight around in the Hokage Tower just moments ago, dying the next second in some forgotten alley.

Danzo couldn't suppress the excitement stirring in his heart.

It was as if... he was about to climax...

Just then, a Root member entered to report.

"Lord, Lord Danzo..."

That Root's eyes darted away, his voice carrying a rare tremor.

"What is it? Has Ryoma returned? Has his mission been completed?"

Danzo smiled smugly.

A meticulous plan, the Nano-Poisonous Insects that killed on contact—Aburame Ryoma truly was his most prized arm.

A subordinate like that suited this old man perfectly.

"No, Lord Ryoma, he..."

That Root swallowed hard.

"He failed..."

Failed??? Danzo's pupils trembled, and great fury surged within him.

"Impossible! How could he fail with the Nano-Poisonous Insects?! What happened?!"

The reporting Root gathered his courage and spoke shakily.

"You should go see for yourself, my lord..."

In a hidden room within the Root base, Aburame Ryoma's corpse lay flat on a wooden board. His Root uniform had been stripped off, leaving him completely naked.

His eye sockets were empty, with two dried streams of purplish-black blood trailing from the hollow pits.

From his nostrils, ear holes, and even his mouth, large amounts of dried purplish-black blood remained.

Adding a layer of eerie horror to his current appearance...

Danzo stared at Aburame Ryoma in this state, the pupil of his Left Eye trembling.

His chest felt as if a boulder were pressing down on it, making it impossible to breathe.

His entire body was like stone, frozen stiff in place.

"By the time we arrived, we only found the corpse of the insects. All the cells in his body had been destroyed, and every Nano-Poisonous Insect was dead. Beyond that, we also discovered an extremely high concentration of metallic elements remaining in his blood..."

His teeth clenched, and the red bloodshot veins bursting from the corners of his eyes testified to the rage burning in Danzo's heart.

He couldn't understand! He absolutely couldn't understand!

How could Aburame Ryoma, with his Nano-Poisonous Insects, lose so miserably?! All the Nano-Poisonous Insects dead, and even in his blood, a large amount of metallic ele...

Wait?! Metallic elements???

Danzo's pupils quaked!

As if suddenly remembering something! "Fall back!"

Almost the instant he roared!

The body of Aburame Ryoma lying flat on the wooden board suddenly swelled violently in the abdomen, like a balloon inflating at breakneck speed. In the blink of an eye, it had already reached its limit!

"Protect Lord Danzo!!!"

This drastic change reflected in the eyes of the surrounding Root members.

Completely brainwashed as they were, they reacted almost instinctively, charging desperately toward Danzo's position!

The next second! Boom!!! The corpse, swollen to its limit, exploded without warning!

Viscous blood plasma, reeking of rot and thick with gore, splattered everywhere, like a crimson flower blooming within Root. Its spreading petals instantly engulfed the entire chamber! The walls, the floor, even the entire ceiling—all were splattered with scarlet blood! The whole room was transformed in an instant into a bloody hell!

Danzo's pupils trembled, trembling wildly!

His body was already stained red with Aburame Ryoma's blood. On his grime-covered face, a single tiny bead of blood dripped from the lash of his remaining eye, falling to the equally stained floor.

"Lord, Lord Danzo! Are you, are you alright?"

The Root member standing beside him asked in a trembling voice.

This sudden turn of events had completely exceeded their expectations!

"AAAAAAHHHH!!!! Namikaze Mirai! This old man will never rest until you're destroyed!!!"

Lifting his head, Danzo's eyes were bloodshot. A roar of rage laced with hatred echoed through the room.

"Quick! Medical Squad! Check Lord Danzo's body!"

"Where is the Medical Squad?!"

Root fell into chaos.

Supporting Danzo as they left the room, many members ran frantically in search of medical ninjas.

Panic, disorder... spread from this room in an instant.

Even now, they couldn't understand how Namikaze Mirai had done it! They had already inspected Aburame Ryoma's corpse in advance and found nothing unusual except for excessive metal concentration in the blood.

In the chaos, the room used to store Aburame Ryoma's body was gradually forgotten.

Only the bloodstains covering the walls and floor bore witness to the gruesome scene from moments ago.

A few minutes later.

The blood remaining on the walls and floor began to change.

At first, only a small trace of silver seeped out from the bloodstains. Then, that gleam of silver grew more and more, forming tiny silver droplets.

Until they converged into silver streams, gathering from all directions toward the center.

At the spot where Aburame Ryoma's body had exploded, the silver fluid accumulated more and more, gradually taking on a human form.

Golden hair, a face almost identical to Namikaze Mirai's.

His azure eyes swept across the empty room.

"Looks like it worked."

Magnetic Fluid Clone! After killing Aburame Ryoma, Namikaze Mirai had left a contingency in his corpse.

A portion of the magnetic fluid had not been withdrawn into his body but instead lodged in Aburame Ryoma's blood in its smallest possible form. This was also why those Root members had detected excessive metal concentration in Ryoma's blood.

The explosion just now was merely a diversion to lure them away.

With Root plunged into chaos, this was the perfect time to act!

"Too bad. To avoid Root detecting anything suspicious, and since I needed to conserve energy for the follow-up plan, the explosion's power had to be reduced..."

A hint of regret flickered in Namikaze Mirai's eyes.

If he had poured all his energy into that single explosion, he might have been able to blow Danzo to pieces! Of course, the difficulty was still too high.

Root was Danzo's stronghold. Even if severely wounded, countless medical ninjas would fight desperately to save him.

Moreover, he vaguely felt that Danzo wasn't as simple as he appeared on the surface.

Perhaps he had some special life-saving ability!

"Time to move. While the Root base is in chaos..."

Namikaze Mirai's azure eyes flickered faintly.

There was no better opportunity than this!