Troubled Wind Eleven

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of the second year.

Aburame Tetsumaru had completely adapted to a school life of sleeping through class. Occasionally, while half-asleep, he would ponder the problem of adjusting his chakra pathways.

The moment class ended, he became lively again. He chatted, joked around, and traded snacks with Inuzuka Tsuyoshi, Yamanaka Yu, Nara Kaya, and Akimichi Daito. They were the closest-knit group.

Aburame Tetsumaru's little circle, together with Uchiha Fūka and Hyuga Tokuma, formed the top clique of Class A. The gap between them and their classmates had become increasingly obvious.

In the third month after enrollment, Hyuga Tokuma received the "Caged Bird" seal. From then on, he became quiet and withdrawn, gloomy and unhappy, and began wearing a dark gray headscarf.

Moreover, Hyuga Tokuma took leave from school more and more often, and before anyone realized it, they had grown distant.

Over the past two years, Aburame Tetsumaru had focused on four things: cultivating his clan's secret techniques, adjusting his chakra pathways, collecting bugs, and modifying insects.

During that time, he had also tried taking a shortcut, hoping to escape the dead end of the Insect Swarm Plan's complete lack of progress.

He first tried making a crossbow, but just like the martial arts issue from his previous life, it could not adapt to the realities of the Shinobi World.

The arrows flew at around eighty meters per second, which was actually comparable to a shuriken Tetsumaru threw with full force. With its slow firing rate and bulky arrows, the few prototypes he made ended up becoming toys for five-year-olds.

After that, Aburame Tetsumaru put in considerable effort to build a short-barreled smoothbore musket. The cost of preparing gunpowder and forging the barrel alone had reached one hundred thousand ryō.

The finished product's specs looked decent on paper. Its muzzle velocity could reach two hundred meters per second, and it was powerful enough to kill any ninja.

But at fifteen meters, hitting the target depended entirely on faith. Beyond thirty meters, its power fell enough that a ninja could evade it. Aburame Tetsumaru had personally tested those figures.

Aburame Tetsumaru estimated that a gun capable of making a difference in the Shinobi World would need to be at least a bolt-action rifle. Used for long-range sniping, even Chunin and Genin would struggle to survive.

An automatic rifle could probably pose a lethal threat to Chunin at close range, thereby shaking the status of ninja.

However, the technical requirements for integrated brass-cased cartridges were far too high. They were beyond what Tetsumaru could accomplish with his current technological foundation.

Rifles and bullets were products of the Industrial Revolution, crystallizations of chemistry, material smelting, and mechanical processing. With an industrial system supporting them, they could be manufactured by the hundreds of thousands or millions. Without one, not even a single one could be made.

And do not bring up Afghanistan as an example. Whether raw materials or key parts, their hand workshops did not produce them themselves; they bought them from industrialized nations.

The Shinobi World's industrial foundation was completely blank. There was no possibility of hand-grinding a rifle into existence.

Yet ninjutsu's power did not stop at rifles. A C-rank ninjutsu could rival a 60mm mortar, while an S-rank ninjutsu was no weaker than a multi-ton bomb. As for Tailed Beasts, they were simply walking tactical nuclear missile launchers.

Ninja were not idiots. They would not tolerate the development of firearms capable of challenging their status. The Shinobi World no longer had any soil for firearms to survive in.

Unless one could skip every stage of development and leap straight to the mature level of the late Second World War, with firearms systematized and backed by an industrialized nation, it might be possible to use overwhelming production and a complete war system to fight ninja, eventually eliminating them through attrition.

How could that possibly happen? The gap between a musket and a modern warfare system was like a chasm, roughly equivalent to the gap between a newly graduated Genin and Senju Hashirama.

Giving up on modern weapons, Aburame Tetsumaru could only devote all his time to researching the plan and continue butting heads with Kikaichū and insects.

Chunin teacher Domoto Daibutsu walked into the classroom carrying the attendance roster.

"The next class is practical combat. Everyone, gather at the training ground."

"Yes!"

"Great! Practical combat is my favorite class."

"Jiro, I'm beating you this time!"

"Come on, who's afraid of who?"

The classroom immediately erupted into noise. The students chattered excitedly and ran out in groups of three or five.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Three figures jumped out the window, taking the shortcut.

Surrounded by a large crowd of students, Domoto Daibutsu did not have time to react. When he saw Aburame Tetsumaru and Nara Kaya also following them out the window, his mouth twitched helplessly. He hurriedly used Shunshin to reach the window and stopped the other overconfident students. This was the third floor.

"Idiots! Last year, you morons broke three legs, and you still haven't learned your lesson!"

"Teacher Domoto, I'm not who I was last year. Please believe in me!"

"That's right, Teacher. You can't just keep an eye on us."

"..."

"Baka! Take the stairs!"

What could he do? Among those six unruly little bastards, four were straight-A academic geniuses. Add the gloomy Hyuga Tokuma, and they were precisely the top six in the class, the top ten of their entire year, each one from a major Konoha clan.

Led by Aburame Tetsumaru, every one of them was shameless and stubborn. They were either the grinning troublemaker type or the bitter, brooding type. They were definitely the hardest class to manage since the Ninja Academy had been founded.

Whoosh. Hyuga Tokuma jumped out too.

Domoto Daibutsu: ┌(.Д.)┐

The other students: (﹁﹁)(﹁﹁)(﹁﹁)

Silence spoke louder than words.

Then all the students got excited, howling as they rushed toward the windows. Domoto Daibutsu's rage surged into his heart, his reason was sacrificed to the heavens, and he raised his iron fists to suppress them.

More than a dozen students jumped downstairs like dumplings, while more than a dozen children lay in the classroom with lumps on their heads.

In the chaos, the classroom windows were squeezed loose, shoes were scattered everywhere inside and outside, and the children downstairs fell into a heap. Screams, cries, and even louder hysterical laughter rang through the sky, drawing students and teachers from across the school to watch.

More than ten minutes later, a large group of parents arrived.

Then the Sandaime Hokage arrived too.

Domoto Daibutsu was exhausted. He really wanted to retire.

The final outcome was not too bad. The students were much stronger than they had been last year. No one was seriously injured this time, and no one broke a bone. The worst injuries had all been inflicted by Teacher Domoto's iron fists.

Though it had been delayed, practical combat class still began, and there were now many more spectators.

Yamashiro, the other teacher responsible for taijutsu instruction, announced that this practical combat class would be held jointly by Class A and Class B. The combat results would count toward their total scores and form part of their final year-end grades.

Upon hearing "count toward their total scores and form part of their final year-end grades," every Class A student sucked in a sharp breath.

At that moment, the seven students who had caused the disturbance were being punished. They stood in a separate line outside the training ground, with Class A students on their left, Class B students on their right, and the teachers opposite them. The listless Aburame Tetsumaru stood in the middle of that line, completely inconspicuous.

But upon hearing "count toward their total scores" and "final year-end grades," Aburame Tetsumaru's lazy expression vanished. He snapped upright.

Standing straight, Aburame Tetsumaru was clearly much taller than the other children. He had grown especially fast over the past two years. At eight years old, he was already nearly one meter sixty, far surpassing his classmates' average height of one meter thirty.

Aburame Tetsumaru also pushed up his sunglasses, hiding his half-lidded eyes. The classmates familiar with him all sensed a killing intent and shivered.

Damn it, the score demon had appeared.

Over the past two years, Aburame Tetsumaru slept during academic classes, pretended to be sick during physical training, held back in practical combat, and zoned out during taijutsu sparring. He openly declared that what he hated most was taijutsu where fists met flesh.

However, whenever something involved exam scores or affected final grades, Aburame Tetsumaru became exceptionally serious. He would use any means necessary, had no bottom line, and was utterly terrifying.

During the first year's practical combat assessment, quite a few Class A students had been blasted in the face by this bastard's powdered salt. Later, he had used chili powder, pepper powder, and more. The only mercy he showed was using powdered sugar against girls.

This year, Aburame Tetsumaru had produced countless strange insects: Paralysis Moths, Itch Butterflies, Sleep Bugs, Scratchy Caterpillars, Drunken Longhorn Beetles, Glue Slugs, Bomb Stink Bugs...

Thinking of the practical effects of the Bomb Stink Bugs this scoundrel had created, the Class A students and Teacher Domoto Daibutsu shuddered together, recalling that indescribable smell.

Ugh, the nausea was coming back.

Practical combat class proceeded smoothly amid the trembling fear of Class A and the bafflement of Class B. Aburame Tetsumaru entered the field twice, and each time, he knocked out a kid with one punch.

This year's elite class did not have chosen geniuses like Itachi or Minato. Everyone had received roughly the same education, trained for roughly the same amount of time, and none had mastered powerful ninjutsu.

When skill and tactics were similar, physique naturally became the heaviest factor in actual combat. One meter sixty against one meter thirty was just that simple.

Aburame Tetsumaru's third opponent was a formidable one: Uchiha Shūnen from Class B.

The name Shūnen sounded somewhat like a monk's Dharma name. No one knew whether his parents believed in Buddhism, but Uchiha Shūnen was a highly talented ninja.

Aburame Tetsumaru and Uchiha Shūnen stood in the field and formed the Seal of Confrontation.

"Aburame Tetsumaru, first in our year—the second bug user after Aburame Shikuroo to suppress the Uchiha."

Uchiha Shūnen swaggered a few steps to the left, radiating an intense air of adolescent delusion as he planted flags like mad.

"The Uchiha will not lose to the Aburame clan. Today, I'll show you what an Uchiha genius is like."

After saying that, Uchiha Shūnen rapidly began forming hand seals.

"Idiot Shūnen, why are you forming hand seals? Rush in and fight him, rush... huh?"

From outside the field, Uchiha Fūka reminded Shūnen that the best way to deal with an Aburame was close-quarters combat. Then he suddenly noticed that after taking a few steps, Uchiha Shūnen had begun using Fire Release—and he was somehow facing directly away from him.

Even more terrifyingly, over Shūnen's shoulder, he saw Aburame Tetsumaru reaching into his clothes and rummaging around. Tetsumaru was facing directly toward him, and a chill immediately shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

"Aburame, you bastard, stop!" X6

The six academic geniuses of Konoha Year 27 Class A panicked. The cold-faced, gloomy Hyuga Tokuma instantly broke character, cursed loudly, and fled in frantic disarray.

The teachers and students of Class B were utterly confused. The Class A students collectively backed away, while Teacher Domoto Daibutsu immediately jumped in front of his students and formed hand seals.

Earth Release: Barrier.

In the field, Uchiha Shūnen completed his hand seals, puffed out his cheeks, and spat out three fireballs the size of human heads.

Fire Release: Flame Bullet Barrage.

"Wow, that's a D-rank ninjutsu."

"And it's an improved version of Flame Bullet. It's much stronger than Flame Bullet."

"As expected of an Uchiha genius. He can master such a powerful ninjutsu at eight years old."

Those were the words of the Class B students and teachers. For the Class A teachers and students, however, things were entirely different. Their hearts had only one sentence: Idiot Uchiha, damned Tetsumaru.

At the same moment Uchiha Shūnen spat out the first fireball, Aburame Tetsumaru took out his secret weapon.

Mirror Gu.

After nearly two years of effort, he had finally gained at least a tiny bit of progress.

A palm-sized spider crawled out from his sleeve. Its eight legs tightly gripped the back of its master's left hand, while the spider's back gleamed like a mirror.

Facing the three fireballs, Aburame Tetsumaru remained completely calm. He rapidly formed hand seals.

Wind Release: Troubled Wind Eleven

Then a powerful wind appeared out of thin air and blasted forward.

At that moment, the two furry hind legs of the Mirror Gu on the back of his left hand released Tetsumaru's arm, bent backward onto its back, and began rubbing together. Countless body hairs were scraped off and scattered through the air by the wind.

Wind Release collided with Fire Release. The Wind Release, infused with more Chakra, overwhelmed the fireballs. One fireball was extinguished, while the other two were blown away.

The Wind Release carried smoke, dust, and sparks as it howled forward, knocking Uchiha Shūnen off his feet.

Troubled Wind Eleven and its sister techniques were actually all the same. They had no sharpness or cutting properties. The technique itself simply blew wind and possessed no direct killing power.

The technique's entire strength was concentrated in the wind force. Its destructive power was nearly nonexistent. Its true core lay in what it mixed into the wind.

For example, what Troubled Wind Eleven blew out was the body hair of the Mirror Gu spider.

This body hair was a protein crystal. When large, it was exceptionally brittle and could be crushed easily. Once shattered into fibers nearly invisible to the naked eye, however, its properties abruptly changed, becoming extremely hard.

The fiber needles were very sharp and could easily pierce human skin. Their special protein structure strongly stimulated the skin's nerves, producing an itchy sensation.

If one could not resist scratching, the hard fiber needles would use the force of one's hand to pierce cells, causing injury and burning pain.

The fiber needles of Troubled Wind Eleven dissolved easily in water, so they were not especially harmful. No lasting effects had been discovered during experiments, so it was used for internal sparring among teammates.

Its Variant Twelve and Variant Thirteen were for enemies. Twelve used asbestos; anyone struck would inevitably suffer chronic lung disease and, without treatment from an advanced medical ninja, would be forced to retire.

Troubled Wind Thirteen used crystal needles condensed from neurotoxin. The instant it hit, it caused intense pain. The overwhelming agony could lead to unconsciousness and even cardiac arrest.

The toxin acted too quickly. Within one minute, the poison's effects would be fully unleashed. Whether the victim lived or died depended entirely on their constitution, making antidotes meaningless. It was an exceedingly vicious thing.

Unfortunately, the lethal versions had never been tested in actual combat. They were merely guesses based on animal experiments, and ninja had exceptionally strong constitutions. The neurotoxin might very well fail to be lethal against a ninja.

Class A had reacted so quickly because they had personally experienced five versions of Troubled Wind: the itchy Type One, the fiery Type Four, the numb and tingly Type Five, the tear-inducing Type Seven, and the sneeze-inducing Type Ten.

The most disgusting part was that they might leave aftereffects. For example, Type Four's aftereffect was acne. What girl would not be afraid of that?

Uchiha Shūnen was hit. Besides him, the Class B students standing near the left side were dragged into the disaster as well. Standing farther outside, the Sandaime Hokage was fortunate enough to witness the bizarre sight of more than twenty students rolling across the ground.

Even Aburame Tetsumaru was shocked by the effect. It should not have been this intense.

In an instant, he understood. There was a flaw in his experiment. The rabbits used as test subjects had thick fur that effectively blocked most of the needles, while he himself had only tested it with a single spider hair.

Clearly, discussing toxicity without considering dosage was nonsense. When hit by a large number of fiber needles, the increase in itch intensity was outrageous.

Aburame Tetsumaru did not dare waste time and hurriedly shouted to the teacher, "Teacher Daito, use Water Release to wash them off! Rinse them with water and they'll be fine."

"You bastard, I can't use Water Release."

"Who can use Water Release? Hurry and use it on the children."

"I can!"

As the other teachers on the scene hurriedly began using Water Release, a massive wave surged over.

Water Release: Great Water Shockwave.

The Sandaime Hokage, standing in the distance, instantly unleashed a Water Release ninjutsu. The Sandaime in his prime was at the peak of his strength. Before the group of Chunin had even finished their hand seals, the normally slowest-paced Water Release technique had already arrived.

Just as the wave approached the edge of the training ground, the Sandaime formed the monkey seal again. "Release."

The five-meter-tall wave immediately lost its force and scattered into a downpour over the training ground.

The fiber needles rapidly dissolved upon touching water, and everyone naturally stopped suffering. The only result was that the entire Class B had turned into drowned rats.

The troublemakers of Class A ran back and blended into the larger group, joining all their classmates in fiercely berating Aburame Tetsumaru alongside Teacher Domoto Daibutsu.

Though he looked eight on the outside, the old rogue with a fifty-year-old core was an outstanding man among men. He was especially good at reading the situation. With an excellent attitude, he lowered his head and admitted his mistakes, never talking back when cursed at and never fighting back when hit...

Well, none of his classmates dared hit him. They were afraid the king of brawlers would retaliate.

The teachers also felt too embarrassed to lay hands on him. No matter what, hitting students was going too far.

Otherwise, Aburame Tetsumaru would have vanished long ago. The small suffer a little, the big suffer more—did they not understand?

In short, with things having turned out like this, the Class B students needed to change clothes immediately, and the training ground had become a mud pit. There was no way practical combat class could continue.