A Hyperzoan

The gathering was just for everyone to get acquainted. They were all children around the same age, and all connected to the Hokage line.

It would be unreasonable to say they had no feelings for one another without even knowing each other.

In fact, when the Third Hokage took office, the greatest force supporting him from behind could not be said to have been the Senju Clan.

It was Uzumaki Mito herself.

At the time, the Shinobi War was nearing its end. With the Second Hokage dead and a new leader urgently needed to take charge, Sarutobi Hiruzen had been personally appointed as the Third Hokage by the dying Second Hokage. But he could not have taken office so easily with nothing but his own words.

The Sarutobi Clan did not have the power to support Sarutobi Hiruzen's rise, either.

Taking the conservative view, the village's various clans would have preferred an experienced, sufficiently respected elder to serve as the Third Hokage.

Uzumaki Mito was the most suitable candidate under the circumstances.

What was more, she was terrifyingly powerful.

But Uzumaki Mito felt that the new era no longer had a ship capable of carrying her.

The village needed to be led forward by the young people of the new era. As the Second Hokage's disciple, Hiruzen was a boy she had watched grow up. Though still immature as a Hokage, he could continue to grow.

Besides, the village's various clans did not want her to continue serving as Hokage.

The Senju did not think so, of course.

But Mito did not particularly care what the Senju thought.

She was not a Senju, after all. As for Tsunade, being the Senju princess meant that even if she had no such intention, pressure from all sides would force her forward.

As a grandmother, all she wanted to do was protect Tsunade.

A little selfishness was hardly excessive.

But the affection she gave was genuine.

All Mimi could feel from this woman was sincerity and love.

It was obvious from the way she acted.

Mito did not mind the stiff relationship between Mimi and Tsunade at present. Instead, she found it amusing.

At the dining table, she made no attempt to ease the tension between Mimi and Tsunade.

With a kindly, aunt-like smile, she repeatedly piled meat into every child's bowl, as if afraid they might not get enough to eat.

In that respect, she especially resembled an ordinary grandmother.

She handled nearly all the grilling herself.

Tsunade was still fuming. She stuffed her mouth viciously and glared at Mimi from time to time.

That girl was stealing her grandmother. Tsunade could clearly feel it.

The love had not disappeared, but it had been divided.

Jiraiya was the simplest of them all, doing nothing but burying his head in his food.

Orochimaru, sitting beside him, kept looking at Mito as if he wanted to say something.

He could never bring himself to say, Grandma, I can't eat this much.

Chiri nibbled at her meat and quietly guarded her bowl.

No more. Any more and she would have trouble digesting it.

Whenever Mito picked out meat for her, she could only look at Mito with watery eyes before obediently offering up her bowl.

Hinata Hitomi, however, did something that surprised Mito.

She picked the meat from her own bowl and put it into Mito's, then gazed at her expectantly.

Was she worried that Mito had not eaten much? Mito felt a warmth in her heart.

Tsunade could never do something like that.

It was still too early to expect her to be considerate of others.

And Mimi...

Her appetite rivaled Tsunade's.

Mito could not help looking at Mimi a few more times. After focusing her senses, she could not help laughing.

Tsunade could eat so much because of her constitution and naturally good appetite. This child, on the other hand, clearly could not eat any more and had secretly been feeding the meat to the insects.

How sly.

And rather cute.

Mito saw through it but did not expose her.

In the end, the only person anxiously trying to keep things lively at the table was the Third Hokage. He forced a laugh and kept making cheerful small talk so the atmosphere would not grow too cold.

"Hiruzen, you've become more long-winded." After listening for a while, Mito finally spoke.

"Lady Mito..." Hiruzen shut his mouth, aggrieved and depressed.

Once the meal was over, everyone naturally went home to their own families.

The Third Hokage wanted the six little ones to stay a while longer.

Mito refused.

Some things were best left to happen naturally.

The two adults left first, and the six children each turned to look at the others.

Tsunade seemed ready to say something.

Mimi gave her no chance.

She turned and left at once. Chiri glanced at everyone before following her.

Tsunade ground her teeth in fury.

It was not that Mimi was deliberately targeting Tsunade, nor that she disliked her. Mimi simply did not want to talk much with the Tsunade of now.

Talking to her was exhausting.

Once Tsunade matured a little more, Mimi felt they would be able to communicate normally.

She could coax Tsunade a little, but Mimi was not in the mood.

If she had the time to make Tsunade happy, would watching Tsunade suffer not be even more satisfying?

Seeing Mimi and Chiri leave, Orochimaru put on a cold expression and turned away without saying goodbye.

He went in a different direction from Mimi. Although he was interested in her, Orochimaru was still pure and shy at this age.

The true genius Sarutobi Sensei spoke of was someone he still wanted to see for himself, to discover where he fell short by comparison.

Seeing this, Tsunade could only leave angrily.

Only Jiraiya and Hinata Hitomi remained at the scene.

Jiraiya awkwardly rubbed his head and looked at Hitomi.

You see...

What are you looking at?!

Hitomi glared at Jiraiya before turning and leaving.

Jiraiya rubbed his head.

Girls were impossible to understand.

Hinata Hitomi wanted to catch up with Mimi and Chiri. They were classmates in the same class now, after all.

There was nothing strange about playing together.

But what should she say?

No matter what she said, she felt that Mimi would ignore her.

At that thought, Hitomi hesitated and slowed her pace.

How did Chiri become friends with that Mimi girl, anyway?!

Chasing after them shamelessly was something Hinata Hitomi felt she could not do!

Dragging her somewhat dejected feet, Hitomi turned and headed home.

I should train. As long as I train, I can forget everything!

Come to think of it, Grandma Mito had arranged for them to go out and play tomorrow.

Hitomi's steps grew light again.

As for Mimi and Chiri, they were wandering around the Forbidden Forest.

More accurately, Mimi was wandering while Chiri followed behind.

Before long, a figure rushed out of the forest and pounced at Mimi.

Mimi stepped aside and looked at Insect Sister sprawled across the soft grass.

Insect Sister nimbly rolled to her feet and cried out at Mimi.

Then she raised her head and opened her mouth toward Mimi.

Because of the angle and the mask's hood, Chiri did not see Insect Sister's extended mouthparts.

"What is she doing?" Chiri asked curiously.

"Nothing." As she spoke, Mimi stepped forward and pressed down on Insect Sister's head. Insect Sister took the opportunity to hug Mimi.

Chiri eyed the two suspiciously.

She had not seen Insect Sister many times, but she always felt that something about this younger sister was strange.

Mimi pushed Insect Sister away and issued several commands through her thoughts.

Hugging her isn't comfortable. That exoskeleton is too hard.

And that strange behavior earlier was...

Many animals behaved this way. Nursing—or, more accurately, feeding one another.

Elephants, birds, monkeys, and humans, for example.

This phenomenon was most common among ants. It was a highly specialized form of social division and cooperation. Only some ants went out to forage, while most had to rely on other ants to feed them.

The advantage was that the food being passed along was absolutely safe, effectively preventing pathogens and food poisoning.

After all, an ant that ate poisonous food would die immediately.

Secondly, this feeding mechanism allowed the other ants to remain at their work stations. Other ants were specifically responsible for delivering food to them.

Among humans, feeding one another was an expression of intimacy. In the cruel natural world, food was among the most precious things there were. Offering someone one's own food was profoundly meaningful.

The intimate act of lovers feeding each other was simply the surface expression of this phenomenon.

I'm giving you the best I have.

It was difficult to say which category Insect Sister's behavior belonged to.

She was not asking Mimi to feed her. She was preparing to feed Mimi.

The taste of the food depended on what she currently had in her stomach.

But most of the time, it was nectar.

It was a sweet liquid Insect Sister secreted after eating plant buds, tender branches, young leaves, and flowers.

She liked it, so she stored large amounts of it inside her body.

After observing Insect Sister for a long time, Mimi had discovered that many aspects of her were truly wondrous.

Even Mimi found her wondrousness incredible.

Strictly speaking, Insect Sister consisted of two lives.

The first was the core that controlled her behavior—in other words, the human body inside the exoskeleton.

The second was the exoskeleton itself: a symbiotic insect with no thoughts, only instincts?

It was probably still an insect.

The classification of insects could no longer define what she was.

Mimi did have a suitable term to describe her.

Stronghold Armor, Guyver, Hyperzoan Weapon.

And Mimi's definition of a Hyperzoan was this:

A life-form that surpassed ordinary biological forms.

Ordinary life developed all kinds of unique forms in order to adapt to its environment.

Some flew through the sky, some ran across the land, and some swam through the water.

For the sake of survival, evolution left them no choice. What equipment they received depended on the whims of fate.

Some became apex predators, while others ended up on the dinner table.

Those that survived were species supremely suited to the natural environment.

They must never be underestimated.

A Hyperzoan, however, was a life-form that evolved toward the extreme for the sake of a particular function. Such an extreme strategy left them unable to adapt to the harsh and ever-changing natural world.

From this perspective, Kikaichū were exactly the same.

They were ultimate tool life-forms.