Sea of Souls

When Dan Katō's soul passed through Aburame Tetsumaru's body, he fell into absolute silence. He could hear nothing. All he saw were countless light orbs—familiar light orbs.

Right before his eyes, over a hundred light orbs dimmed. Many of them even shattered and sank straight down.

Was this the sea of light of souls? The sea of light I saw before I transmigrated?

Before Aburame Tetsumaru could figure out what had happened, a powerful dragging sensation engulfed him.

Then his hearing returned, and he realized he was facing the ground, his entire body aching. Someone was also lying on top of him, leaving him completely unable to move.

"Chase him down! Kill him!" Lady Tsunade was giving orders. Oh, the Jinchuriki hadn't died—he'd escaped?

"Save them! Get everyone out!"

"Who can go to the camp? Call all the Genin over. We need more hands here."

"Who still has bandages? Who has first-aid kits?"

Gradually, the voices grew more and more muffled, while a red curtain slowly covered his vision. Blood soaked through his hair and dripped from his forehead onto the ground. Before long, Aburame Tetsumaru lost consciousness again.

The great war had been launched jointly by Iwagakure and Amegakure. Hanzo of the Salamander, a figure beyond even the gods, first crushed the Konoha and Land of Iron allied forces in the Land of Grass, then defeated the ninja army led by the Hokage's disciples at the Land of Fire's border.

At the same time, Iwagakure dispatched nearly a thousand ninja, including Jinchuriki Rōshi and Jonin Kitsuchi, the Tsuchikage's son. Together with Amegakure's remaining forces, they planned to ambush Konoha's camp at the Land of Rain border. However, they were discovered by Konoha Jonin Dan Katō and forced to launch their attack early.

Hanzo then marched west and cooperated with Ōnoki to crush three Sunagakure forces in succession, including the Puppet Master unit led by Chiyo. Working with Kitsuchi, they destroyed Sunagakure's five camps in the Land of Rain and drove every Sunagakure ninja out of the country.

Finally, he led his army into another confrontation with the Konoha Ninja Army. He won nine out of ten battles, forcing Konoha to abandon every outpost and camp along the border. They retreated all the way into the heartland of the Land of Fire before managing to stabilize their position again.

The first climax of the Second Shinobi World War came to an end. The Lands of Fire, Rain, Wind, and Iron had all suffered grievous losses and had no choice but to lick their wounds and rebuild their strength.

Hanzo, leader of Amegakure, had swept across three thousand li and killed countless people. His fame reached a whole new height.

How high was it?

After defeating the Hokage's disciples and sparing them, he even bestowed upon them the title of "Konoha Sannin."

At first, everyone regarded that title as a humiliation—the kind that made the three involved want to beat someone up whenever they heard it.

As Hanzo's record became more and more outrageous and his reputation grew ever louder, people began calling him the "Demigod."

With Hanzo's rise to fame, "Konoha Sannin" became an acknowledged title. At the very least, if you called Orochimaru "one of the Sannin" to his face, he would no longer beat you up. At most, he would glare at you.

Huh? I'm back again. Don't tell me I died?

Aburame Tetsumaru, now a light orb, felt somewhat panicked. Did Dan Katō's soul knock my soul flying?

Why? On what grounds? Was it because I was a transmigrator, and my soul and body weren't properly fused?

Steady. Don't panic. Take a deep breath...

I don't even have lungs. What the hell am I supposed to breathe with?

Anyway, don't panic. Let me see what I can do.

Aburame Tetsumaru tried hard to remember, attempting to figure out what he could do in light-orb form. He had no idea how long had passed when he felt that dragging force again. This time, he was certain—it was pulling him downward.

Then he woke up.

Utterly bewildered, Aburame Tetsumaru listened as the nurse explained his condition. His skull had cracked, and he had seven fractures across both legs, his right hand, and his ribs. The rest was fine.

Fine my ass. There was something seriously wrong with my soul, but I couldn't say it.

When the medical ninja asked whether he had any other problems, Aburame Tetsumaru could only shake his head. How could he dare say it?

If he told them, either no one would believe him and they would treat him as a lunatic, or someone would believe him and treat him as an experimental subject.

Like transmigration, the Sea of Souls was a secret that could only be buried deep in his heart. He could only explore it on his own.

A few days later, Captain Ueno came to see off his only subordinate. Aburame Tetsumaru's injuries had stabilized but could not be fully healed. He would return to Konoha with more than a hundred other severely wounded soldiers and temporarily withdraw from the war.

Captain Ueno complained regretfully that his team would have to be rebuilt yet again. Once Tetsumaru recovered back in the village, he would surely be promoted to Chunin. The two newcomers he had treated had both failed to pull through, dying in the Jinchuriki's final outburst.

Aburame Tetsumaru was so envious he nearly drooled. Captain Ueno really was a top-tier lucky star. In a battle of that scale, several Jonin had been taken down, yet a Chunin had only had a lock of hair burned off. It was absurd.

It seemed becoming a Chunin had far too many downsides. He would no longer have the god of luck watching over him.

After a long fifteen-day journey, Aburame Tetsumaru returned to Konoha.

In the Sea of Souls, Aburame Tetsumaru could not form hand seals in his light-orb state, but constructing Chakra Runes was much more convenient. The runes activated the jutsu.

Ninja Art: Clone Technique

Light-orb Aburame Tetsumaru split off a second light orb. Unfortunately, it was only a fake orb with visual effects, and it dispersed shortly afterward.

Aburame Tetsumaru savored the experience of the Clone Technique for a while, then turned his gaze "upward." In the extreme darkness far away above the sea of light, specks of radiance flickered like a brilliant night sky.

After gazing at the starry sky above the sea of light for a while, Aburame Tetsumaru sank his consciousness and deliberately fell downward. Then he woke up in reality.

Half a month after returning to Konoha, Aburame Tetsumaru's body had basically recovered.

They said it took a hundred days to recover from injured muscles and bones, but ninja certainly did not need that long. For example, fractures and other "minor injuries" for the Uzumaki and Senju only took three to five days.

The Aburame Clan's Kikaichū could help set bones, transport nutrients, and even secrete hormones into wounds to stimulate bone growth. As a result, Aburame Tetsumaru regained his health in only thirty days.

Although he had recovered, his mother still forbade him from training. After Aburame Kazekazu and Aburame Tetsumaru, father and son, had been sent respectively to the Land of Water and Land of Rain frontlines, Aburame Aiko had remained in the village.

Sending every member of a ninja family to the front lines was against Konoha's unwritten rules. First, it prevented extreme tragedies such as a family being wiped out. Second, it preserved a reserve fighting force for emergencies within the village.

When Aburame Tetsumaru returned to the village severely wounded, Aburame Aiko happened to take leave to care for her son.

So bored that his bones itched all over, Aburame Tetsumaru rose up in rebellion. Yet after struggling on the battlefield for over half a year, the harsh life had greatly accelerated his growth. He was 171 centimeters tall and weighed 62 kilograms—far too developed for a boy who was nearly eleven.

However, Aburame Aiko, who stood only 1.5 meters tall, unleashed her ultimate move. She sprayed Tetsumaru's face with tears, and he was instantly defeated.

Every day, Aburame Tetsumaru could only sleep in, take walks, and read.

Just by walking through Konoha's streets, he could clearly feel the changes.

After the war began, Konoha rapidly prospered. Vast military expenditures flowed from the capital into Konoha, then were converted into enormous quantities of food, materials, weapons, bladed tools, medicinal herbs, cloth, paper, and every other kind of supply that could be used for war.

At the same time, the many high-level missions issued during the war generated enormous mission rewards. Aside from covering the expenses of ninja stationed on the front lines, a great deal of money was sent back to Konoha, leaving ninja families very well-off.

Merchants from the Land of Fire and neighboring countries were drawn in, bringing all sorts of goods to sell for massive profits. The merchants made piles of money, while their hiring also gave ordinary residents substantial incomes. Those residents began spending as well, further stimulating Konoha's economy.

Whenever he was unbearably bored, Aburame Tetsumaru would visit the insect fields and help harvest Ant Sugar and Insect Wax. The only work he could do was buy ingredients and cook.

Cooking was Aburame Tetsumaru's main household chore. Ever since Tetsumaru began cooking at six, the mistress of the Aburame household had not entered the kitchen for years.

Her cooking had deteriorated from edible but unpalatable to not necessarily cooked through, but definitely terrible.

While her son and husband had gone off to war one after the other, Aburame Aiko had been driven to despair by her own cooking. She had no choice but to eat at the hospital cafeteria, order takeout, or dine out.

Thus, after Tetsumaru recovered, the first activity he was permitted to do was not take walks, but cook.

After dinner, he would walk with his mother, chat with relatives, then wash up and go to sleep.

Only after getting into bed did Aburame Tetsumaru begin another round of busyness.

Ever since Dan Katō's soul had knocked him into the Sea of Souls, Aburame Tetsumaru had learned how to enter and leave it at will. Thus, every night, he entered it to explore that strange new world.

Because entering the Sea of Souls felt like surfacing, while leaving it to return to his body brought an intense downward pull, Aburame Tetsumaru called the two actions logging in and logging out.

After dozens of explorations, he had grasped some details about the Sea of Souls:

The Sea of Souls had an upper and lower region. Above was starlight; below was black mist.

Light orbs often shattered, dimmed, and fell downward into the black mist, perhaps representing death. Correspondingly, small light orbs continually rose from the black mist below and gradually grew larger, likely representing new life.

The light orbs in the Sea of Souls varied in size and color, and they also occupied different heights.

Most Soul Light Orbs occupied two levels with a difference in elevation. Since Tetsumaru himself was on the higher of the two levels, he guessed the difference was caused by Chakra.

At an even greater height were several hundred large light orbs. By comparing them with his clone orb, Tetsumaru discovered that even the smaller ones were ten times larger than himself.

Higher still, at heights the clone orb could not reach at all, were more than a dozen giant light orbs.

These giant light orbs were divided into four groups, their characteristics distinct enough that Aburame Tetsumaru could make guesses based on his memories.

The largest and highest was a dim dark-gold light orb. It was most likely the sealed Princess Kaguya.

The second-largest white light orb existed alone, and it was most likely the Katsuyu Sage.

The third-largest yellow light orb was accompanied by five giant light orbs, two large and three small. They were likely the Toad Sage's clan.

The final blue-green light orb was accompanied by six giant light orbs, three large and three small. It should have been the Ryūchi Cave lineage.

However, there were several other light orbs whose identities Aburame Tetsumaru could not guess at all.

Most baffling of all, huge spherical outlines could vaguely be seen within the black mist beneath the Sea of Souls, and there was more than one. Perhaps the Sage of Six Paths and his brother were among them.

Most importantly, Chakra could be mobilized in the Sea of Souls.

Aburame Tetsumaru could spray Chakra to turn freely, but no matter how hard he sprayed, he could not move his position even a fraction.

He could also construct ninjutsu through runes, though only the Transformation Technique and Clone Technique had any real effect. The Transformation Technique could change his own color, while the Clone Technique could create a transparent light orb that he could then blow away with Chakra.

He repeatedly used the Clone Technique, then blew the copied light orbs away with Chakra, trying to gain more information by making them collide with other light orbs.

Unfortunately, the clone orbs were too fragile. They fell apart before flying very far. Even when they occasionally collided and were destroyed, they had no effect whatsoever on their targets and provided no feedback.

This tantalizing but unattainable situation made Aburame Tetsumaru's curiosity explode.

He desperately wanted an advanced version of the Clone Technique—the B-rank ninjutsu, Shadow Clone Technique. Shadow Clones were not only sturdier, but their memories returned after they shattered. That was simply too valuable.

Under the ten o'clock morning sunlight, Aburame Tetsumaru lazily got out of bed and slowly headed out. He first bought ingredients for lunch and dinner, along with a large batch of Insect Feed.

After returning home and preparing lunch, he ate his own portion first, then packed another into a bento box and carried it to the hospital for his mother.

After being teased by the hospital aunties, older ladies, and young women, Aburame Tetsumaru was unable to withstand them. His counterattacks were useless, so he could only deliver the lunch in a fluster and flee as quickly as possible.

Launching a counterattack in such matters required hardware support. Although he had grown tall and strong, he was still only eleven. He still had a long way to go before truly growing up.

After leaving the hospital, Aburame Tetsumaru planned to make a major purchase that afternoon. Raising insects consumed more than just Insect Feed; charcoal, metal, chemicals, and glassware were all bulk consumables.

Several of Aburame Tetsumaru's insects had an especially great demand for metal, such as Locusts, Self-Destruct Beetles, and Armored Beetles. Their shells were made of metal, so he needed to buy a great deal of it.

"Purchase limits?!"

"Yes. The Hokage has issued wartime restrictions, and ninja who are not at the front must obey them. Sir, you are a Genin in the village. Each month, you may only buy five Kunai or five kilograms of metal materials."

Aburame Tetsumaru was dumbfounded. His plan had been to buy one hundred kilograms of iron and twenty kilograms of copper. Lead, tin, zinc, and the rest would add up to another five kilograms. And that was only ten days' worth of consumption.

Ever since Sarutobi Sasuke had led his entire clan into Konoha, the Sarutobi Clan had monopolized the Land of Fire's iron-mining business. After Sarutobi Hiruzen became Hokage, the Sarutobi family further monopolized all metal materials. There were many shops in Konoha that sold ninja tools, but metal materials could only be bought through the Sarutobi Clan.

Therefore, the Hokage's purchase restriction on metal materials would be enforced very efficiently. The enforcers were all his clansmen.

There definitely had to be channels such as smuggling, but the Land of Fire generally exported metal materials and imported ninja tools and weapons. The quantity available through underground channels could not possibly meet his needs, while the markup would likely have no upper limit.

Damn it, the Sarutobi Clan is trying to squeeze me dry. I just don't know whether Sandaime is involved. Hmph, even if he isn't, it's still his fault.

He would first follow official procedure and try to apply for special purchasing privileges. After pondering for a long time, Aburame Tetsumaru decided not to risk buying through underground channels for the moment.

Aburame Tetsumaru wrote an application letter detailing his combat methods, his immense demand for metal materials, and the necessity of that demand, applying for an exemption from the purchase limits.

Only after finishing did he realize it was too detailed—more than eighteen thousand words in total. Tetsumaru thought about it and decided Sandaime probably would not have time to read it all. No matter how well he wrote it, it would be wasted effort, so he painstakingly cut it down to under a thousand words.

After completing the petition, Aburame Tetsumaru discovered that as a Genin, he had no right to submit a letter to the Hokage.

Only Jonin in Konoha had the right to express opinions to the Hokage, and even they had to follow procedure, with civilian ninja reviewing their submissions. Only individuals personally granted special privileges by the Hokage could bypass the process, such as the red-haired girl currently in the village.

Elder Aburame Shihui, with whom he was relatively close, had long since retired, and his right to submit letters to the Hokage had been revoked.

The Aburame Clan's Jonin did not possess special privileges either. Even if they submitted a letter on Tetsumaru's behalf, it could only be sent to the Hokage Building, where it would undergo layers of screening before it might reach the Hokage.

Not only would the process take dozens of days, but the greater possibility was that some civilian ninja would decide the matter was unimportant and toss it into the trash, never to be heard from again.

Even if it fortunately reached the Hokage's office, it would still depend on whether the Hokage thought Aburame Tetsumaru's combat power was worth his attention and whether he was willing to make an exception for him.

No matter how slim the chances were, Aburame Tetsumaru still asked an Aburame Jonin to submit the letter on his behalf, then began considering other options. For example, his comrades who were recovering in the village. Not every ninja needed so much metal, so he could pay to buy the portions of their quotas they could not use.

After spending many days gathering the unused portions of his comrades' purchase limits, he bought 107 kilograms of assorted metals, then Aburame Tetsumaru gave up.

It was too much trouble. Quotas could not be transferred, so he had to ask each household one by one and buy bit by bit. Was he supposed to do this every month?

A few days later, more purchase restrictions were issued. Chemical reagents, medical medicines, Explosive Tags, Military Ration Pills, medicinal herbs, and even cloth were all restricted. Valuable goods such as glassware were not restricted, but no one was selling them on the market anymore.

Aburame Tetsumaru was completely out of options. His combat power relied on large quantities of Summoning Insects, and breeding them consumed vast amounts of metal.

Take the Locusts, which suffered the greatest losses, as an example. The hard, sharp shell on a locust's head contained forty grams of iron. In that battle against the Jinchuriki, he had lost as many as 540 Locusts at once—that was more than twenty kilograms of iron.

In a sense, Aburame Tetsumaru was similar to the future Emperor TenTen. Their combat power depended on throwing money around.

And now, even money could not buy metal.

Three days later, Aburame Tetsumaru used up his last reserves. With no way out, he finally remembered the three great skills passed down by the Black-hearted Red Star Rabbit: farming vegetables, imitation, and self-reliance.

Aburame Tetsumaru once again found Aburame Tetsumaru's Insect Compendium. By now, the total number of insects recorded in it had exceeded twenty thousand species.

Influenced by Chakra and Kikaichū, insects in Aburame Forest mutated at an unbelievable rate. Combined with the high elimination rate, this caused insects to evolve at an astonishing pace.

Before graduating from ninja school, Aburame Tetsumaru had discovered that of the more than six hundred insect species originally recorded in the Insect Compendium, over fifty no longer existed.

To preserve genetic stock, Aburame Tetsumaru kept insects in his small house, one large glass container for each species, maintaining their minimum breeding population.

If Aburame Tetsumaru discovered a species' value, he would put great effort into cultivating it and expanding its population.

Or, if a species proved it had strong survival ability and would not be eliminated, Aburame Tetsumaru would release it into the wild and free up breeding space.

After flipping through the Insect Compendium, Aburame Tetsumaru selected several insect species and began experimenting.