The Jinchuriki Was the Natural Nemesis of Insects

Everyone in the Ueno Squad had eaten and drunk their fill, and under the bright morning sun, they were growing drowsy.

Suddenly, Tetsumaru sensed a tidal wave of panic from the insects. The entire deployed Insect Swarm was in turmoil, and even the Kikaichū within his body were restless.

He immediately rose to his feet, formed hand seals to activate the Summoning Thread, and released ten giant Dragonflies. He also released ten Chakra-Sensing Insects, along with a large swarm of Kikaichū, maximizing his scouting capabilities.

After the insects flew out, Aburame Tetsumaru steadied his mind and activated Insight to observe the fluctuations in his own Chakra, sensing with all his strength.

Ueno Hayato had partnered with him for a long time. It was the first time he had seen Aburame Tetsumaru this tense, so he stood as well.

It was the first time the two newcomers had encountered something like this. Seeing their captain and senior so nervous, they were utterly baffled and had no idea what was happening.

"At the one o'clock direction, twelve minutes out, there are Chakra signatures engaged in battle. One of those Chakra reserves... is extremely alarming."

"Alarming? How alarming?"

"At the very least... forty times that of a Jonin."

"Combined with my insects entering a state of terror, I highly suspect it's a Jinchuriki."

Ueno Hayato covered his eyes with one hand and let out a long sigh.

He composed himself, then repeatedly rubbed his cheeks with both hands as he lamented, "Sigh, are we lucky, or are we unlucky?"

Aburame Tetsumaru shrugged, unable to say anything.

Encountering a Jinchuriki during a reconnaissance mission, so long as they could confirm it, counted as "obtaining critical intelligence and completing the mission." They could withdraw.

But they had already fought the enemy and undergone a retreat in front of them, fulfilling the conditions for mission completion. This was now the second time.

Yet they could not withdraw early in this situation. They had to confirm it, or it would be dereliction of duty. In the worst-case scenario, they could even be executed.

Confirming the intelligence meant observing the Jinchuriki at close range. Once they saw him, escaping from right in front of a Jinchuriki was extremely dangerous. The entire squad could be wiped out if things went wrong.

"Withdraw, withdraw, withdraw! You two withdraw first, get moving!" Ueno snarled as he gave the retreat order, deeply dissatisfied by the blank expressions on his two rookie subordinates' faces.

"Move it!!"

Watching the two Genin retreat, Ueno anxiously waited for Aburame Tetsumaru's further reconnaissance report.

They had to obtain more precise information. Naturally, the newcomers did not need to consider that; they did not need to bear so much responsibility.

Aburame Tetsumaru watched tensely, continuously using Summoning Thread to redirect Dragonflies from every direction toward the target. At the same time, he recalled all the Fireflies and jumping spiders into his pack, releasing more Chakra-Sensing Insects to replace them.

With the Aburame Secret Technique, Aburame Tetsumaru rapidly shifted his perspective, jumping between dozens of Dragonflies.

Suddenly, he saw a strange ninjutsu: a bright red, sticky mass of liquid shaped into an oval by the technique and sprayed from the forest.

The ninjutsu continuously scattered the crimson liquid until it struck a large tree, splashing the liquid everywhere.

Aburame Tetsumaru watched as the liquid hit the ground, scorching pits into the earth and tree trunks. The liquid boiled within those pits, bubbles churned, and white smoke billowed. His heart skipped a beat. Lava Release.

Though he had already judged that it was most likely a Jinchuriki, truly confirming it made him even more nervous. To Chunin and Genin, a Jinchuriki was the most dangerous enemy on the battlefield.

"Lava Release confirmed."

"We're dead. We're dead."

Ueno Hayato muttered under his breath. Just a little more. Confirm one more piece of information, then retreat.

Captain Ueno stood atop a treetop, straining to peer toward the target. He could already see flocks of birds taking flight in alarm.

Ueno could not help grumbling, "Why are Iwa Ninja here? Aren't we fighting Sunagakure?"

"I don't know. This isn't something we can handle."

"Bastards. Damn it."

Aburame Tetsumaru opened his pack and released every interference-type and attack-type insect, then carefully took out a long, slender steel Container.

The Container held liquid nitrogen. Because the metal material was substandard, he had no choice but to make it with a length-to-diameter ratio of eight, making it look more like a short club.

There was not much liquid nitrogen. It was an important experimental raw material, and he carried it only because it was so difficult and expensive to produce. On Earth, liquid nitrogen cost 800 yuan per ton, roughly the same as carbonated cola. But in the Shinobi World, everything had to be manually separated, manually pressurized, and manually liquefied. Filling a single bottle of liquid nitrogen required working through seven or eight full nights.

Seeing Lava Release's terrifying power and extreme heat, Aburame Tetsumaru suddenly remembered a batch of prototype Hollow Payload Insects. If he filled their internal cavities with liquid nitrogen, the rapid cooling upon contact with Lava Release might suppress its power.

After filling more than thirty special Hollow Locusts with liquid nitrogen, he had used up the entire bottle.

In truth, these insects capable of withstanding liquid nitrogen were not cheap either. Building a cavity inside a fist-sized insect that could withstand high pressure and high temperatures required extraordinarily expensive materials.

The Hollow Locusts were only fist-sized and had originally been designed to carry explosives. They lacked dedicated insulation layers, and once filled with liquid nitrogen, their lives began counting down. They were one hundred percent disposable consumables.

Once all the insects had been filled, Aburame Tetsumaru threw away all kinds of Containers and even abandoned his large pack, traveling as light as possible. He packed the important items into a small backpack, then picked up the emptied liquid nitrogen Container and shook it. In the end, he still stuffed it into the backpack. This thing cost ten times more than a Ninja Blade; he truly could not bear to throw it away.

At that moment, the Jinchuriki entered the insects' field of vision. He wore an Iwagakure forehead protector, had a muscular build, dark red medium-length hair, and a large beard of the same color.

Aburame Tetsumaru quickly checked the ninja handbook's records and confirmed that the features matched perfectly. Iwagakure's Jinchuriki, Rōshi.

The information was confirmed. Retreat.

Aburame Tetsumaru sent the confirmation signal to his captain, and the two fled in a panic.

This time, Ueno Hayato took the lead to clear the way, while Aburame Tetsumaru followed ten meters behind him, constantly releasing various insects. They were all autonomous insects filled with Chakra, capable of following simple commands and attacking independently.

The command Aburame Tetsumaru gave was to attack moving humanoid figures while excluding those with Konoha forehead protectors. Three commands were the limit of complexity the insects could execute.

Autonomous insects had been developed to compensate for his own shortcomings. Aburame Tetsumaru's insect formation had one weakness: when fully deployed, it formed a circle, with Tetsumaru at its center.

Ninja with broad vision and quick wits could easily determine his position, then hit him hard.

After suffering that loss once, Aburame Tetsumaru had no choice but to reduce the scale of his insect formation, greatly suppressing his combat strength and forcing him to develop autonomous insects.

The combat strength of autonomous insects left unattended after deployment was mediocre. Their value lay in confusing and disrupting the outline of the insect formation, making it impossible for enemies to determine his position.

They were even more effective when used against pursuing enemies.

Rōshi had secretly led an Iwagakure force into Amegakure, preparing to cooperate with Iwagakure's main force on the northern front to launch a surprise attack on Sunagakure from the flank and rear. Somehow, they had been discovered by Konoha Ninja.

The one who discovered him was Konoha Jonin Dan Katō. The Forbidden Technique he cultivated, the Spirit Transformation Technique, was impossible to guard against. Before the ambush began, no one had noticed that Rain Ninja was under control.

Fortunately, the hot-tempered Four-Tails felt that Rain Ninja had looked at it twice too many times and attacked without distinguishing friend from foe. It accidentally exposed Konoha's infiltrators, leading to this pursuit.

Because he bore a secret mission, he had to pursue the enemy to maintain secrecy. But to maintain secrecy, he could not use ninjutsu that caused too much commotion. It was suffocating for Rōshi, especially since both he and the Four-Tails were hot-tempered by nature.

The four Konoha Ninja were exceptionally good at running. As he chased them, they somehow became eight. Although Rōshi immediately used Lava Release to kill three of them, the remaining five ninja had already exchanged intelligence and could split up and flee in several directions at any time.

The hope of killing them all was shrinking by the moment. The mission was about to fail, and Rōshi's fury was close to exploding.

Before long, Iwagakure's forces reached the trap zone where Aburame Tetsumaru had left behind the autonomous insects.

An Iwagakure ninja following Rōshi's pursuit leaped from a tree trunk, and the vibration startled a beetle perched in the canopy. He paid it no mind and casually flung out a Shuriken.

But the beetle suddenly shot half a meter upward and zipped away, moving so fast that it produced a piercing whistle through the air.

Every Iwagakure ninja nearby noticed the abnormal whistling sound. They immediately realized that no ordinary insect could reach such speed. It was a Ninja Insect.

"Careful, enemies!!"

"Buzz~~"

Suddenly, swarms of insects rose into the air from grass, burrows, and tree trunks. Every twelve formed a row, three rows formed a group, and nineteen groups of insects launched orderly attacks against nineteen ninja.

At the same time, hundreds of moths took flight ahead, fluttering their wings and scattering scale powder. A dense fog of scales, thick enough to obscure vision, drifted toward them.

"A Konoha insect user?"

"Not sure. They're not Kikaichū. Which clan's insect user is this?"

Water Release: Water Shockwave

Water Release: Water Blade Slash

Water Release: Water Barrage

The pursuers were ninja from Amegakure and Iwagakure. Aside from Rōshi, none excelled in Fire Release or Wind Release. Faced with a large-scale Insect Tide attack, they could only have the Amegakure ninja barely cope with various Water Release techniques.

Seeing that the situation was bad, the Iwagakure ninja quickly gathered together and jointly used Iwagakure's specialty, Legion Ninjutsu.

Earth Release: Rock Hail Bullet Formation

Dense clusters of thumb-sized rocks showered down upon the insects, with fairly good results.

After one wave of ninjutsu, the insects had not been completely wiped out. The ninja drew various weapons to block and kill them. Autonomous Summoning Insects were far less agile than controlled insects, moving stiffly, and were soon all shot down.

Before the Iwa Ninja and Rain Ninja could catch their breath, another batch of Summoning Insects arrived, continuing the layered, multi-stage attacks and leaving them scrambling to respond.

The fleeing Konoha Ninja let out long breaths. Having reinforcements was truly wonderful.

"Summoning Insects that aren't Kikaichū, and an attack on this scale... 'Giant Insect' Aburame Tetsumaru is nearby."

Aburame Tetsumaru, who controlled large numbers of giant Ninja Insects in battle, had insects that were highly recognizable. He was quite famous among Konoha's lower-ranking ninja, especially for this reputation...

"Ah, it's that Aburame who 'never encounters the enemy.'"

"He kills without meeting you, keeping enemies a thousand meters away."

"I can hit you, but you can't hit back."

"Hahahaha!"

The Konoha Ninja who had escaped death experienced an intense emotional release and could not help exposing all of Aburame Tetsumaru's old stories.

Who could they blame? They could only blame him for his sharp tongue. Who knew how many "famous sayings" he usually spouted?

The two Jonin in the group, Dan Katō and Kunugi Mokume, looked at each other. Had Konoha produced another remarkable ninja? How had they never heard of him?

Dan Katō quickly gave the order. They were not completely safe yet.

"All right, everyone, continue retreating. With our current strength, we're no match for a Jinchuriki."

"Yes."

At the heart of the Insect Swarm's attack, Rōshi relied on Tailed Beast Chakra protecting his body and completely ignored the insects' attacks.

He reached out and caught a Dragonfly responsible for observation, crushing it in his hand. Then he grabbed another handful. Opening his palm, he saw a Kikaichū struggling there, confirming that his mission had failed.

"An insect-controlling ninja? Then my mission has failed."

"If the mission has failed, then I have nothing left to worry about. You can all die."

Several Iwagakure ninja noticed Rōshi's movements and were horrified.

"My lord, you can't."

"The Tsuchikage's orders were to retreat if exposed."

Rōshi's Chakra swelled explosively, and a violent aura shot into the sky.

"Since we're exposed anyway, let me vent properly."

Lava Release: Lava River

Rōshi spewed forth a Lava River. Grass and trees turned to ash wherever it flowed, while massive trees burned into torches. The forest instantly became a lava hell.

Everything was burning. Sparks rose into the air, and scorching poisonous fumes surged upward.

Crawling insects were directly submerged by the Lava River. The wings of flying insects were burned away by countless sparks, and they fell into the lava, turning into wisps of green smoke.

Four kilometers away, the fleeing Aburame Tetsumaru sensed the insect formation's destruction. Before the Summoning Thread was severed, it transmitted the terror of hundreds of Kikaichū and Summoning Insects dying. He hurriedly increased his pace.

"Captain, faster, run! The Jinchuriki has erupted."

Not long after, flames shot into the sky from the forest like an erupting volcano, and dozens of smoke pillars rose. Ninja within several dozen kilometers saw it all.

Amid countless flocks of startled birds, Swift Hawks, messenger birds, and signal flares continuously took flight. After sending their signals, ninja squads from Konoha, Sunagakure, and Amegakure scattered and fled, no different from beasts fleeing for their lives in panic before a natural disaster.

People always ran faster when fleeing for their lives. In just ten minutes, Aburame Tetsumaru and Ueno Hayato caught up with their teammates.

Seeing the desperate way their two seniors were fleeing, the two newcomers had their potential awakened by fear. They sped up and actually managed to keep up with Captain Ueno.

Half an hour later, the two newcomers were exhausted to the point of collapse, but the two veteran ninja had relaxed.

Who knew whether Iwagakure's Jinchuriki had lost his mind? They were already close to Konoha's camp, and he still dared to pursue them. Was he looking to get himself killed?

Before long, two Jonin squads passed the Ueno Squad and headed toward the Jinchuriki. The Jinchuriki was alone. How could they let such a good opportunity slip away?

Once word reached the camp, a large number of elite ninja would surely come to engage the Jinchuriki. Away from his own village and without enemy interference, this was a rare and excellent opportunity to kill a Jinchuriki. A Jinchuriki was an enormous amount of military merit.

The Ueno Squad was no longer on the straight line between the Jinchuriki and the camp. Instead, they traveled alongside him on his right. At this point, around eleven squads surrounded the Jinchuriki and kept him under surveillance.

Ninja tempered by war differed from ninja of peacetime. The eleven reconnaissance squads had originally all been fleeing, but as they drew closer and closer to the camp, they all realized the situation was about to change and tacitly formed an encirclement.

They were worlds apart from the Konoha Ninja after the story began. Konoha Ninja in Year 60 treated even missions undertaken by the elite Twelve like children's games. That included Kakashi, Might Guy, and a whole group of Jonin; none of them were professional.

The cries of Swift Hawks came from above. The encirclement force had moved out.

As Elite Jonin clashed with Rōshi, a fierce battle erupted within the encirclement. Another group of Anbu—or perhaps Root—formed a ring around the outer edge of the core battlefield.

The ninja responsible for surveillance at the outermost perimeter relaxed. Those squads had been running for their lives for so long that they were already exhausted. One after another, they collapsed to the ground without regard for appearances, panting heavily.