A Bad Premonition

Faced with the old men's scrutiny, Insect Sister looked extremely nervous. After glancing at Mimi, she assumed a guarded, attacking stance.

With the sound of blades being drawn, dangerous-looking spikes sprang out from her wrists.

This child resembled a beast more than a human.

"Mimi, tell her not to resist."

Old Man Shion instructed Mimi.

Mimi said coldly, "Don't move!"

At her words, Insect Sister froze stiffly in place, completely motionless.

"How fascinating. Is this child human or insect?"

Old Man Shiki clicked his tongue in amazement.

Old Man Shiho reached out directly. A Kikaichū crawled through a pore exposed in her outer shell and entered Insect Sister's body to examine her. Before long, he said, "This child can produce Chakra. The Kikaichū have already smelled it."

"However, she's still very weak, and produces Chakra very slowly."

After continuously examining Insect Sister, Old Man Shion said, "Strange. She has none of the characteristics of Kikaichū."

Though she stood upright in a humanoid form, the child had four arms—one pair at her shoulders and another below them at her waist and abdomen. The arms around her waist were much more slender.

Her taut, smooth exoskeleton was a reflective purple overall, looking like armor fitted tightly against her body.

Her small face possessed a woman's delicate softness. The hair on her head consisted of clustered keratinous feelers, while two broad, leaf-shaped plates extended from the back of her head and trailed behind her, reaching roughly to her abdomen and back.

Of her three pairs of compound eyes, one pair was about the size of normal human eyes, only slightly larger. They were adorably large, wholly golden, and possessed the texture of gemstones. They had no eyelids, replaced instead by transparent protective keratin shells. The other two pairs were much smaller, arranged in a row above the large eyes along her brow ridge.

Neither the feelers nor the eyes looked like mere decorations.

The feelers on her head were used to gather all kinds of information, while her eyes...

Mimi sensed them and was somewhat astonished.

In addition to X-ray vision and telescopic vision, they also possessed infrared Thermal Imaging and ultra-high-speed recording.

Everything in the world appeared in slow motion to Insect Sister.

The four abilities corresponded exactly to her four small secondary eyes.

She activated and deactivated the abilities by closing her eyes.

As for her primary pair of eyes, their perception of color was excessively rich.

In just a few seconds, Mimi felt severe dizziness. It was the result of her brain being unable to process such an overwhelming amount of information.

This girl's brain was even more advanced than hers.

After the dizziness subsided, Mimi realized this simple fact.

"Where are her wings?" Old Man Shion asked strangely.

"Try flying," Mimi said.

Although she did not look like she could fly.

As soon as she spoke, Insect Sister moved.

The two plates behind her head lifted, followed by streams of purple Chakra light drifting out.

As wind stirred inside the room, Insect Sister swayed as she floated into the air.

It was the jet-powered type.

Mimi noticed the pores arranged across the plates.

After only a short while, Insect Sister wobbled back to the ground and collapsed into a seated position, the two plates on her head drooping behind her.

She had run out of Chakra.

So far, this girl appeared to be a killing weapon born for battle.

"Big Brother, something's wrong."

At that moment, Old Man Shiho spoke gravely.

"What is it, Shiho?"

"This..." After hesitating, Shiho said, "This child has our clan's Nest inside her body, but there are no Kikaichū left in it."

"In other words..."

"She might be one of our clansmen, right?" Old Man Shion said in a low voice. "We can't rule out that possibility."

"Big Brother, do you remember the legend in our clan about someone being reborn as an insect?"

Old Man Shion pondered for a moment, then looked at Insect Sister. "To think she went so far as to do this."

Mimi narrowed her eyes in thought. So that was how it worked. It was the same as her own idea, yet the opposite.

Unfortunately, she had failed.

Still, it was worth learning from.

Mimi had never dared to perform genetic modifications on herself, precisely because she feared this situation. The worst possible outcome was genetic collapse and immediate death.

Even though Mimi was already capable of performing genetic modifications on herself.

This insect egg had been dead to begin with, though not completely. The lingering Chakra within it carried a fierce will to survive.

So Mimi gave her a hand, activating her ability and recombining the chaotic genes inside the insect egg.

Without Mimi, it would have been absolutely impossible for it to hatch.

The result looked fairly good.

"What should we do with this child?" Old Man Shiho asked.

"Treat her as a bug," Old Man Shion said. "She already belongs to the Insect Princess. Besides, judging by her appearance, she doesn't look like a little girl who can be easily controlled."

"That's the only way," Old Man Shiho said, looking at Mimi. "Insect Princess, I hope you can take care of her as you would your own younger sister."

Mimi looked at kind-hearted Old Man Shiho and nodded in promise.

"Don't worry. None of the cats and dogs I took care of ever failed to die."

Then she beckoned to Insect Sister and said as though calling a puppy, "Come here."

The three old men immediately went dark-faced.

Hearing Mimi's call, Insect Sister, who had collapsed weakly onto the ground, instantly got up and pounced over. She threw herself at Mimi and clung to her body.

She looked extremely fond of Mimi.

"Mama... Mama..."

She kept repeating those words.

Mimi firmly held down Insect Sister, who was about to start licking her face. Her mouthparts were the chewing-sucking kind, like those of Kikaichū, so Mimi kept them away from herself.

This child had two sets of mouths. Beneath her exoskeleton was a normal human mouth.

She looked terrifying.

Mimi did not give any orders.

She was somewhat disgusted, but not repulsed.

"Give her a name, Insect Princess."

Old Man Shion watched this warm yet bizarre scene and spoke with a smile.

"Peachy." Mimi named her without even thinking.

"Don't give her a cat or dog name!" Old Man Shiho roared.

"What a hassle. Then she'll be called Imohto. Mushi Imohto."

"Mushi Hime suits your name quite well," Old Man Shiho said with a smile. "You can do it properly if you put your mind to it."

"Get off!" Mimi shouted at Insect Sister.

Insect Sister dejectedly climbed off Mimi.

"Don't pounce on me again without an order."

Some of the Kikaichū on her body had already been crushed to death. Mimi instructed the remaining Kikaichū to deal with their companions' corpses.

By eating them.

Protein was an important source of energy. It could not be wasted.

"There's no problem keeping her at my house, but I don't have much money."

Mimi looked at Old Man Shion and held out her hand.

Mimi had long been thinking of an excuse to ask for money.

At that moment, a series of clicking sounds came from Mimi's body, strangely eerie.

"Insect Princess, this old man has no money," Old Man Shion said bluntly.

Mimi looked at Old Man Shiho.

Shiho shook his head.

Then she looked at Shiki.

The taciturn Shiki simply turned his head away.

Was this the treatment a princess got?

After a long silence, Mimi said, "Don't tell me the clan has no money at all."

"That's right," Old Man Shion said. "Since joining Konoha, the clan's financial situation has not been optimistic. The village now handles the clan's missions and takes a portion of the mission payments. The clan has not taken a cut from the money its members earn with their lives for a long time. Besides, the clan has no real industries."

"So everyone in the clan is just fending for themselves now," Mimi said.

"That's how it is," Old Man Shion said. "There is a fund specifically set aside to care for the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled."

"The previous Shinobi War cost the clan dearly. Many people died, and the clan has to care for the widows and orphans left behind."

"Doesn't this one count as an orphan?" Mimi asked, pointing at Insect Sister.

"I told you, she is already a bug. You take care of your own bugs. That is an ironclad rule in the clan," Old Man Shion said.

Mimi looked at Insect Sister, wondering whether she could afford to feed this girl.

In any case, she had a bad feeling about this.