Mimi's Cat

"Is no one coming?"

"Everyone, there's no need to be so shy. Let the teacher demonstrate first."

"My name is Ogawa Katsu. I like alcohol, dislike war, and my ambition is to become an excellent teacher."

"Does everyone know how to introduce themselves now?"

"Who wants to go first?"

With Ogawa's encouragement, someone soon began introducing themselves, and the atmosphere in the class seemed to return to normal.

Mimi, standing in the corridor, wasn't paying attention to the self-introductions in class. She appeared to be spacing out, but in reality, she had already entered another perspective—the perspective of an insect.

Through a mysterious connection, Mimi was using the insects' perspective to control a swarm of Kikaichū deep in Konoha Forest, capturing rare or unusual insects.

It was a marvelous perspective.

It felt as though she were right there, experiencing the sensation of controlling the swarm.

Unlike the other members of the clan, who needed to use secret techniques to control Kikaichū, Mimi could do it with ease and freedom.

With only a thought, every insect within her range would act according to Mimi's will.

It was as though Mimi herself were the swarm.

More precisely, Mimi was now like the ruler and brain of the swarm.

The swarm was Mimi's hands and feet.

At that moment, the self-introductions in class caught Mimi's attention.

"Tsunade. I like gambling, I hate losing money, and my ambition is to win money."

She was a very pretty little girl with pale yellow hair tied into a high ponytail.

Tsunade, huh.

Beneath her mask, Mimi's lips curled upward.

At this point in time, she hadn't yet begun studying Medical Ninjutsu.

Medical Ninjutsu was indispensable to her plans.

"I'm Jiraiya. I like big sisters, and I hate—"

Jiraiya looked incredibly stupid at the moment.

At a glance, he was clearly the kind of brat who was especially irritating.

There was no need to waste time on him for now.

However, Orochimaru didn't seem to be in the class.

He was someone Mimi had already decided must become her "friend."

There was no need to rush, though. There was still plenty of time.

"Aburame Mimi! Come in and introduce yourself."

At those words, Mimi walked into the classroom. After looking around at everyone, she said, "Aburame Mimi. I like insects, I hate people, and my ambition is the sea of stars."

What a strange child.

The teacher nodded and said, "Do you know what you did wrong?"

Mimi nodded.

Seeing how obedient Mimi looked, the teacher asked, "Will you do it again next time?"

"I definitely will next time," Mimi replied crisply.

She showed not the slightest hint of fear.

The teacher's head began to buzz. After a long silence, he waved his hand and gestured for Mimi to return to her seat.

What could he do? What else could he do? He could only despair!

"Teacher..."

The little girl from the Hyuga Clan timidly raised her hand, looking as if she was about to cry.

"Speak!"

"Can I not sit with Aburame-san?"

The Hyuga girl had already started crying, looking at the teacher with tear-filled eyes.

"Does anyone want to sit with Aburame?"

The entire class fell silent. Even the boys were unwilling to sit with someone whose entire body was covered in insects.

Seeing this, the teacher felt a headache coming on.

At that moment, a little girl indicated that she wasn't afraid at all and helped break the stalemate. "Teacher, she can sit with me."

The teacher's eyes lit up as he looked toward the blond little girl who had spoken.

As expected of the First Hokage's granddaughter, Konoha's Princess Tsunade.

Such courage was beyond that of ordinary people.

Mimi couldn't help looking at Tsunade. Given her personality, she didn't seem like the type to gently help someone out of trouble. She must have some other motive.

"Aburame Mimi, sit with Tsunade."

Mimi walked over to Tsunade. Throughout the entire process, Tsunade stared fixedly at her with an expression full of interest.

Children were like that. No matter what bizarre ideas they had, it wasn't strange.

Ignoring Tsunade's gaze, Mimi sat down naturally.

Mimi wasn't interested in Tsunade as she was now.

At least, it would take another year before Mimi became even slightly interested.

By then, barring any accidents, the Three Ninja would all be taken in as disciples by the Third Hokage.

"You're pretty strong," Tsunade whispered.

Mimi glanced at Tsunade. At a stage when everyone could not yet perform even the Three Body Technique, Mimi, who already knew her clan's secret techniques, could very possibly be the strongest person in the class.

As the First Hokage's granddaughter, Tsunade had some knowledge. Not half the class, perhaps, but only a few people had mastered Chakra cultivation.

The Hyuga girl who had cried was one of them. At her age, she could be called a genius.

"But I'm stronger than you. Hmph."

After the blond princess snorted, she turned her head away and stopped looking at Mimi.

"That's hilarious, but not hilarious enough to kill me."

As she spoke, a crisp crunch came from Mimi's mouth.

At the sound, a vein bulged on the teacher's forehead. He drew a deep breath.

Tsunade, meanwhile, sniffed. A faint, delicate fragrance lingered at the tip of her nose.

This fragrance is truly wonderful.

She gave a disdainful snort in response.

The teacher on the podium ignored Mimi's actions and began the formal lesson.

The day's studies ended uneventfully. The school did not teach anything related to ninja training.

As soon as school let out that afternoon, Mimi headed straight for the forest.

Her Chakra control training for Water Walking and Tree Climbing had ended half a year ago. She traveled across rooftops and along tree trunks, arriving smoothly at her secret base.

Calling it a base was a bit of a stretch. More accurately, it was a dim Underground Cave.

Apart from candlelight, the only source of illumination was a type of flying insect that emitted a green glow.

Dark and damp, the environment was unpleasant for humans, but ideal for insects.

Strictly speaking, this was an Insect Nest. Its crisscrossing tunnels led to hidden locations on the surface. As far as ventilation was concerned, the entire cave was not stuffy.

The tunnels along the way were filled with dancing Kikaichū. The densely packed swarm made anyone feel instinctive resistance and fear. An ordinary person—or even an ordinary ninja—would lose all interest in exploring after one glance.

There was no need to worry about security or concealment. Besides, there was nothing valuable or illicit here.

According to her plans, this place was to be developed into a laboratory. It had taken half a year for the Kikaichū swarm to excavate a roughly two-hundred-square-meter hollow fifty meters underground.

For now, only the basic structure had been completed.

The main hall held the experimental specimens Mimi had captured, while the side room served as a place to rest.

Aside from tables, chairs, cabinets, and a bed, there was nothing else that appeared superfluous.

Glass bottles and wire cages were arranged neatly on rows of tall shelving. The bottles and cages contained the experimental specimens.

Various insects, small animals, and plants—most had already died. They had been treated with preservatives, soaked in preservative fluid, or made into specimens.

They weren't merely for collection. The cells of these Little Cuties had not completely died, and perhaps they would prove useful someday.

Surrounded by dim yellow light and eerie green fluorescence, the entire cave looked remarkably like the secret operating room of an evil lich.

It was terrifying, sinister, and straight out of the underworld.

It wasn't that Mimi didn't want to make it brighter and more futuristic. She simply had no money.

More precisely, Mimi had just turned six this year. She had no money at all.

It wasn't just the furniture and glass bottles. Practically every item here had been painstakingly scavenged and collected by Mimi through the swarm.

"Experiment begins. Record: infection progress test."

Holding a burning candlestick in one hand, she dragged out a small cage with the other.

Inside the cage was an adult black cat. It wasn't a Ninja Cat, but a stray.

The black cat was already on the verge of death in the cage, looking as though it could die at any moment.

Mimi fetched paper and a pen and quietly watched the black cat.

At a certain moment, the fear in the black cat's mind suddenly vanished, replaced by a feeling of calm.

"Infection complete. Progress: one hundred percent. Mental link established."

This was one manifestation of Mimi's ability. She could establish links with the insects under her command, sense their emotions, and freely control their actions.

The prerequisite was infection.

After repeated experiments, Mimi discovered that aside from insects, animals and plants could also be infected.

"The specimen's emotions are currently stable. Infection period: 366 hours. Compared with the infection experiments of ants at six minutes, mice at eleven hours, and kittens at sixteen hours, it can be confirmed that the larger the body, the slower the infection progresses. It may be related to the number of cells in the specimen."

As she spoke, Mimi made a note.

"However, compared with kittens, adult cats have an excessively large difference in infection time. Even if an adult cat has two to three times as many cells as a kitten, the difference shouldn't be this extreme."

"There's reason to suspect that other important factors are involved."

"For example, mental resistance."

Insects were not only small; they also had simple minds, so Mimi could infect and control them very easily.

Young animals, meanwhile, were still ignorant. As for adult cats, they were quite intelligent—honestly, about as intelligent as two- to three-year-old humans.

"That concludes the current observations. Further observation is required."

"Chakra-based biological specimen infection tests are still lacking."

Mimi did have one specimen that could barely be considered a Chakra-based organism.

Kikaichū.

The problem was that it wasn't completely one. It consumed Chakra, but could not produce Chakra itself. Through constant observation and experimentation, Mimi had discovered that the little creatures digested Chakra and converted it back into life energy to sustain themselves.

They were extremely peculiar organisms.

They could also serve as exceptionally excellent materials for conducting Chakra.

Mimi turned her head toward the other experimental specimens on the cabinet. Other experiments were still in progress.

This was another application of one manifestation of Mimi's ability.

By infecting a target, she could plunder and copy its genes, then re-optimize and recombine them.

In other words, evolution.

Or perhaps mutation.

In terms of its overall manifestation, the ability looked remarkably similar to the Zerg in StarCraft.

After instinctively discovering her ability, Mimi had almost immediately thought of this.

And she already had a finished product. The snacks Mimi ate in class were it.

In essence, they were Honeypot Insects based on a Kikaichū template. They had extremely short lifespans and no larval stage. With the aid of Chakra, they were born as adults.

After absorbing enough food and storing it, the honeypot, which had swollen to the size of a cherry, would detach automatically, and the adult insect would die immediately afterward.

They ate almost anything, and their preservation effect was exceptionally good.

They could be called delicious, juice-filled candy beans.

It was just that the processing method might be a little difficult for people to accept.

While accumulating experience, Mimi had already modified several varieties based on this foundation.

The next step was to make them larger.

However, Mimi's current plan was to turn the Kikaichū swarm into an ant colony.

That was, to transform them into a "Super Individual."