Genius

This child was a true genius!

After watching the match, Mimi's shock had already left the Third Hokage with no interest in the matches that followed. He only glanced over occasionally.

The Third Hokage was not lacking in knowledge about the Hidden Leaf Clan's Aburame clan.

Judging by the scale displayed by Mimi's technique just now, it was in no way inferior to that of an Aburame Jonin.

Due to the special nature of the Kikaichū, there was no fundamental difference between the Kikaichū of different members of the Aburame clan.

In terms of attack power, Mimi could be said to be an Aburame Jonin.

The problem was, how old was she?

Furthermore, she had not even formed hand seals. Although she had formed one with a single hand, the Third Hokage's eyes were extremely sharp, and he could tell at a glance that she had been perfunctory.

Rather, this girl was simply too lazy to hide it. She was completely showing off her talent.

On this point, the Third Hokage was certain that among all the members of the Aburame clan he had met, not one had been able to do it.

This made the Third Hokage think of the late First Hokage. Whenever he clapped his hands and called for something, it would appear. Even the Second Hokage could not do that.

As someone known as the god of Ninjutsu, he found this particularly astonishing.

As for controlling insects, although he understood the Aburame clan, their secret technique was too special, so the Third Hokage did not know its true details very well. He only knew that, judging from its manifestations, the Aburame clan's technique belonged to the Yin Release Secret Technique.

Thus, he could not figure out how this little girl Mimi had done it.

He could only sigh and say that she truly was a genius, and an extraordinary one at that.

At this moment, Mimi watched the children fighting from the edge of the field. Part of her attention remained on the nest, and her eyes swept over the insect corpses left across the field every now and then.

A vast expanse, as if a carpet had been spread out.

Still too weak.

The Kikaichū.

These insects had been crushed to death. They were insects, after all. Even if they were Kikaichū, one could not expect them to be very tough.

An ordinary person, even a child, could crush an insect to death with one finger.

The Kikaichū were ferocious, but they still fell within this normal range.

Their bodies were what they were, so in terms of mass, they were certainly unable to win in a collision.

Therefore, a single Kikaichū was not frightening. What was frightening was the swarm's suicidal attack tactics.

They could be broken down into four types of attacks.

The first was chakra absorption. This was the Kikaichū's basic ability.

The second was biting, cutting, and chewing through their powerful mandibles.

The Kikaichū had extremely complex mouthparts. Apart from the mandibles used for chewing, the middle tongue, outer lobes of the maxillae, and labial palps merged to form a food canal, through which they sucked chakra.

This was a chewing-sucking mouthpart.

They usually tore open a wound large enough to pass through, burrowed into the subcutaneous tissue, and settled there, or continued onward to destroy tissue and absorb chakra.

That was why it hurt so terribly.

The third was raising their body temperature and forming clusters, using this to kill their target through heat. They usually remained still after forming a cluster, raising their body temperature by feeding and absorbing chakra. In an enclosed space, they could rapidly raise the temperature. Once the cluster was successfully formed, they could pull the temperature above forty degrees within a mere ten seconds. When the human body rose to this temperature, the usual result was heatstroke and unconsciousness.

The extreme temperature approached sixty degrees. At that point, the insects themselves would also die from the heat.

Under enclosed conditions, this temperature was already enough to cause continuous burns, and its destructive power was no weaker than Fire Release.

As for the fourth, it was the cruelest and most terrifying.

Suffocation.

They likewise formed clusters to block the circulation of air. The swarm inside the cluster would quickly find openings and burrow inside. The lower body and head were their main targets. They would surge in large numbers to block the throat, namely the esophagus and trachea, and, together with the enclosed space formed by the cluster, rapidly cause death by suffocation.

The manner of death was extremely agonizing.

Generally speaking, members of the Aburame clan would choose one or two of these methods.

It was not a problem of control precision, but of chakra consumption.

This kind of attack was far too extravagant.

As for Mimi, she could employ all four methods at once.

She could maximize the Kikaichū's destructive power.

The clan members had to expend chakra to control their insects. The larger the scale at one time, the more complicated the commands, and the more they had to pay.

This was because the clan members needed chakra to understand the Kikaichū, while the Kikaichū needed chakra as well. Chakra was the bridge connecting them.

But for Mimi, it was merely a matter of thought.

She had barely expended any chakra on this part, which was why Mimi could create such an unusually massive swarm.

However, this did not mean Mimi was a Jonin.

There was a basic principle common to the Aburame clan: raise as many insects as one had chakra for. They had to plan the use of their chakra, using some to raise insects and more for battle. Depending on their own circumstances, raising an excessive swarm would only lower their combat strength and weaken their ability to fight continuously.

Therefore, the larger the swarm, the stronger it was. Mimi did not need to set aside chakra for battle and could even use all her chakra to raise insects, giving her a great advantage.

The Aburame clan would only decide whether to increase the size of their swarm according to the situation after the existing swarm had been depleted.

After all, raising Insect Eggs did not consume chakra.

At its core, the Aburame clan's strength depended very little on the individual. What mattered was how well the insects could fight. Mimi's insects were just as capable as those of the clan members, and perhaps even slightly stronger.

And just now, Mimi had used only one of the Kikaichū's abilities. She had yet to display the terrifying aspects of the Kikaichū by far.

The corpses left by creatures attacked by the Kikaichū were truly horrifying.

However, Tsunade had lost because she lacked a Ninjutsu capable of attacking over a wide area, such as Fire Release.

Pure Taijutsu was at an enormous disadvantage against a swarm of insects.

Otherwise, things would not have looked so bad just now. She could at least have maneuvered for a while.

Or rather, she could have made Mimi feel heartbroken.

Mimi could not help looking toward Tsunade.

At this moment, Tsunade squatted alone outside the field, hugging her knees.

Her body was covered in the bodily fluids and tissue left behind by the dead Kikaichū, giving off a peculiar smell.

The child had already shut herself off.

The corners of Mimi's mouth curled beneath her mask. As an interlude, it had been quite enjoyable.

The combat tests continued. Logically speaking, there was no need for this kind of examination at this stage. Ordinary children without a foundation were at an extreme disadvantage in such tests, with nothing to show at all.

They should have undergone training for a period of time, had some of their potential unearthed, and only then taken this kind of test to determine their individual talent on that basis.

In Mimi's view, that was a more reliable method. If the Fourth Hokage, Yondaime, were here right now, he would clearly be misjudged.

Moreover, a result at a single moment could not prove anything. Might Guy and Son were proof of that.

This operation that defied common sense, along with the gazes spying from the shadows, clearly indicated that someone wanted to see something.

Then why?

Did they simply want to see everyone's potential?

The Third Hokage.

Mimi glanced at Tsunade without revealing her thoughts. Was this the secret, earnest expectation of an elder?

However, that was perfect. It was time to establish a genius persona.

At this stage, she would gain quite a few benefits, openly or secretly, while facing no danger. Useless Danzo had yet to become as extreme as he would later.

A match with little to see came to an end, and Mimi looked over.

Her attention focused.

Because Uchiha Osamu had entered the field.

There was a saying Mimi strongly agreed with: a child's future could be seen at three years old. A true genius was different from ordinary people from childhood.