Status Finally Improved

The Aburame Clan in Konoha was holding a meeting. The Clan Head and seven Elders had gathered together for the rare occasion to discuss the clan's situation this year and deliberate over a series of affairs.

This was the second year since the war had begun. Many members of the Aburame Clan had already perished in battle, with the new generation of ninja suffering the heaviest casualties.

There was still no end to the war in sight, and several Elders were deeply worried about the severe losses.

"Too many young children have met with misfortune. If this war keeps dragging on, what will become of the Aburame Clan?"

"This war is even more intense than the last one. Several of our Jonin have already been lost."

"There's nothing we can do. The scale of the fighting is getting bigger and bigger. There are more than four thousand people in both the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain. Against dozens of ninja at once, our clan's secret techniques no longer hold such a great advantage."

"The situation this year is indeed terrible. The Kazekage, Hanzo, and Chiyo are all far too threatening to the Kikaichū."

"No, the key is that those people have been active on the front lines all along. Nothing this exaggerated happened in the last war."

"The Land of Rivers is still manageable. With that brat from the Hatake family there, Chiyo is being completely suppressed and can't stir up much trouble. But the Land of Rain doesn't have anyone capable of holding things together. It would be great if Lord Hokage could go to the front lines as well."

"..."

The Clan Head hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Lord Hokage has his own difficulties..."

"Forget it. Don't talk about that." Elder Shihui cut him off directly. He disliked the Sandaime Hokage more than anyone, to the point where he could not even be bothered to discuss him.

Aburame Shihui had grown even older. His wrinkled face resembled dried tree bark as he said expressionlessly, "Today, we need to decide how to help the children. I propose that we give them the secret techniques they are capable of learning ahead of time. At a time like this, we should stop hoarding them."

The Clan Head exchanged glances with the other Elders, somewhat hesitant. The atmosphere immediately became tense.

That proposal directly targeted the conflict between the main and branch families of the Aburame Clan. Although the clan's internal contradictions were not particularly fierce, the division of benefits was still very clear.

The Aburame main family had three branches, each of which inherited an advanced Kikaichū Secret Technique.

The Clan Head and one Elder belonged to the Kikaichū All-Purpose Enhancement line. Three Elders came from families that inherited the Giant Insect Secret Technique, while two Elders came from families that inherited the Poisonous Insect Secret Technique.

The Poisonous Insect Secret Technique was precisely the venomous insect technique mastered by Aburame Shikuroo. He was currently researching the miniaturization of the Kikaichū, and had even chosen a name in advance: Micro Insect.

Once he succeeded, he would create a fourth main-family inheritance. Aburame Shikuroo was recognized as the leader of the new generation for more than just being the oldest.

As a genius who had become a Jonin at fourteen, his strength was the foundation supporting his position as the Aburame Clan's leader. Yet pioneering a new path was the key factor that truly convinced everyone.

The remaining two Elders were veteran Jonin from branch families. They had become Elders through merit and strength, representing the interests of the more numerous branch-family ninja. Of the two, Elder Shihui held the greatest authority.

After all, Elder Shihui was stronger and more senior. Moreover, in recent years, he had produced a Tetsumaru, who had opened a new path at only eleven years old and developed a new Insect Swarm system.

"Is this for Tetsumaru?" The Clan Head deliberately used a relaxed tone to break the silence.

"Shouldn't it be?"

Aburame Shihui grew angry. He raised his voice. "Has Shibi already learned the Insect Clone?"

"What about the Insect Cocoon? What about the Insect Wall Technique?"

No one spoke.

"We always say it's because the main-family children have greater talent than the branch-family children. I admit that Shibi is talented and has a large amount of Chakra." Elder Shihui's tone was full of mockery.

Indeed, ten-year-old Aburame Shibi had displayed formidable talent and strength, but that depended on whom he was compared to.

Before Aburame Tetsumaru, Aburame Shibi had only one advantage: his control over the Kikaichū was more refined. Yet even relying solely on Kikaichū, he could no longer win now.

One overwhelming force could defeat ten techniques. Aburame Tetsumaru's Chakra advantage had continued to expand as he grew older, and at eleven, it had finally reached the point of qualitative change.

To begin with, his control of the Kikaichū was only inferior to geniuses like Shikuroo and Shibi. Through persistent practice, it had reached a passing standard. But with ten times the Chakra, each wave of Kikaichū he sent forth could no longer be blocked by Shibi mobilizing three or four waves of Kikaichū.

The difference in power between each of their Kikaichū waves had grown so vast that Aburame Shibi had to exert himself fully and mobilize more than ten waves just to barely withstand Aburame Tetsumaru's attacks. That was complete suppression, leaving him no room whatsoever to fight back.

Furthermore, Aburame Shibi was a standard Aburame Clan ninja. His Chakra was merely at the level of an excellent graduate. Since every defense required his full effort, he would exhaust his Chakra after only a few exchanges.

Thus, every claim about the superiority of main-family children was reversed when it came to Tetsumaru.

He was the strongest challenger to Aburame Shikuroo's leadership position. It was only because of his conflict with Shimura Danzō over the past year, and because the clan had sacrificed branch-family interests to protect the main family, that Aburame Tetsumaru had missed his chance for promotion. His reputation had suffered greatly as a result.

Ordinary clan members did not know the truth, but the eight people present naturally understood it clearly. Thus, faced with Aburame Shihui's mockery, no one dared retort. Facts had always possessed the strongest persuasive power.

"I understand this war less and less, but I know that it is far crueler than the last one. If we continue clinging to the distinction between main and branch families, the Aburame Clan will have a difficult time surviving this terrible war."

The other branch-family Elder stood and said, "I second the motion."

The other five Elders either looked around or lowered their heads to stare at their toes, waiting for the Clan Head to make a decision.

Yet their silence itself signified tacit agreement. They were merely leaving the most stubborn Clan Head some dignity and giving him a little more time to decide.

"Fine. We'll proceed according to Elder Shihui's proposal." After a long silence, the Clan Head finally made up his mind. "Since we have made the decision, we will change completely."

"Establish a set of reward standards. All ninja in the clan will obtain secret techniques according to those standards."

"That's more like it!" Aburame Shihui's old face blossomed into a smile like a chrysanthemum in full bloom. This had been his long-cherished wish for twenty years, and today it had finally been fulfilled.

The other Elders also smiled and voiced their praise for the Clan Head.

The Clan Head suddenly thought of something and quickly added, "This only applies to secret techniques jointly owned by the clan. Techniques inherited by individual families cannot be made public."

"Of course."

"That goes without saying."

Everyone present was an old fox. Only the Clan Head was younger. They understood the necessity of distinguishing between public and private matters.

The secret techniques inherited by each small family within the clan differed from one another. They were the fruits of generations of hard work and development, private property. Making all of them public would dampen the enthusiasm for researching secret techniques.

In truth, the Aburame Clan's public secret techniques had all been acquired this way. For secret techniques with outstanding combat effectiveness, the Clan Head would, with the Elders' consent, exchange clan property for them in order to strengthen the clan's ninja.

Once the decision to change had been made, the Aburame Clan began taking action. They distributed suitable secret technique training scrolls to clan members on the front lines and even arranged for them to return to the village to study.

This was a major change for the Aburame Clan. It would not only alter the clan's internal power structure, but might even directly affect the choice of the next Clan Head.

Aburame Shikuroo was specifically called back to the village to handle the matter.

"Insect Clone. Give that technique to Aburame Tetsumaru. He's nagged me about it so many times." Elder Shihui said to Shikuroo, "That kid is stubborn. He never asks for anything twice, but he's asked for this technique countless times."

Aburame Shikuroo smiled. "Tetsumaru knows when to advance and when to retreat. If he has asked several times, then he truly wants it. We'll choose this one."

"Besides, with his conditions and ability, he can learn every secret technique."

Several days later, Aburame Tetsumaru, who had been concentrating on studying his three basic moves, received the Insect Clone training scroll from Aburame Shikuroo. The sudden happiness made him grin so broadly that his back teeth showed.

So pies really could fall from the sky.

Right in front of Aburame Shikuroo, he opened the scroll and quickly skimmed through it before hurriedly putting it away.

"I'll learn it as soon as possible, then destroy the scroll."

"Good. Be quick about it. This is the front line, after all."

"Understood."

This was the front line, after all, where all sorts of accidents could easily happen. If the training scroll were lost, the clan's secret technique could leak out. Others who obtained it certainly would not be able to learn the Insect Manipulation Secret Technique, but the leakage of its core principles could allow enemies to completely grasp the technique's weaknesses.

And that was not even the most dangerous possibility.

The most dangerous possibility was that the enemy understood those weaknesses while the Aburame Clan itself remained completely unaware of them.

The Aburame Clan was not the Uchiha Clan. They did not possess the Sharingan's talent, nor did they have so many extraordinarily gifted ninja. They even lacked competitors from whom they could learn. There were too few inheritors of Aburame Secret Techniques, so there were bound to be overlooked flaws and omissions.

Aburame Tetsumaru happily memorized the entire three-thousand-word secret technique, then stuffed it into his summoned Insect Hive and sent it back to the clan. He had thought it through clearly: until he mastered it completely, memory was never reliable enough.

He could even misremember an eight-digit number in daily life. How could he be sure he would not misremember a three-thousand-word instructional scroll?

Once something was forgotten in such a lengthy text, the brain would fill in the gaps on its own, but there was no guarantee that what it supplied would be correct. In the end, the errors would only multiply until no one knew what the technique would become.

He had obtained what he had dreamed of, but he had no time to practice it.

After a period of preparation, the Rain Ninja and Iwa Ninja had recovered their strength. Taking advantage of the Suna Ninja's defeat, they launched an attack and smoothly defeated them.

Konoha had been busy with struggles among the higher-ups and replacing commanders, and had actually failed to notice this major change. Even Aburame Tetsumaru's squad had accepted a mission from the village to hunt down rogue ninja.

The new commander had only just taken office and had not even had time to familiarize himself with the personnel when the combined ninja forces of Iwagakure and Amegakure came charging in.

Amid the chaos, war missions were distributed like snowflakes, bringing all manner of confusion and conflict. No matter how the higher-ups resolved matters, the ninja squads at the bottom suffered terribly.

The Aburame Squad received two missions in succession: one to head east and deliver documents, and another to head north and conduct reconnaissance. After rushing about for three straight days, Aburame Tetsumaru could only carry Kurama Yun on his back as he ran back to camp to report completion.

That was what the front lines were like. Accidents were everywhere.

They were actually among the luckier ones. They had merely been pressed for time and gone three days without sleep.

Some squads received two missions at the same time while in camp: one to patrol outside, and one to guard the camp. Those were the ones who truly stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.

The crucial part was that there was nowhere to appeal. Even the commander himself was completely confused. Who had time to care about a mere Chunin squad leader like you? If you failed the mission, it naturally meant you were incompetent.

In fact, the commander's words were not entirely unreasonable. Clone Techniques truly existed in the Shinobi World. Who told you that you did not know the Shadow Clone Technique?

When faced with such rotten luck, the people involved could only accept it, bear the punishment, and have a mission failure recorded against them.

After being busy for three days, they then had no missions for two consecutive days.

Aburame Tetsumaru took the opportunity to learn Insect Clone. The three thousand words on the scroll gave detailed explanations of the secret technique's origins, usage methods, training methods, and numerous examples of its use in battle by predecessors.

In particular, those battle examples involved many secrets of the clan's predecessors. Being allowed to study them shocked Aburame Tetsumaru. So my status has risen quite a bit.

With those battle examples, he could understand the reasons behind the techniques' methods of use. Only then could Aburame Tetsumaru deeply comprehend the various usage methods described on the scroll and truly master them.

The Insect Clone Secret Technique was an excellent top-tier technique. Unfortunately, it had not been developed from the Shadow Clone Technique. Instead, it was a supreme secret technique formed by combining the Clone Technique with the Kikaichū Secret Technique.

"I thought I would get the Shadow Clone Technique. I still need to find a way to exchange for that technique."

The Insect Clone Secret Technique had developed from the Clone Technique. It could fight, perform Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, and even endure a considerable amount of damage before disappearing. In this regard, it greatly surpassed the Shadow Clone Technique.

The problem was that Insect Clone was still fundamentally based on the Clone Technique. It could not travel far away, nor could it transmit experience and memories back. That was why Aburame Tetsumaru wanted the Shadow Clone Technique: perhaps it could explore the Sea of Souls.

Now, whenever Aburame Tetsumaru fell asleep, he would involuntarily rise into the Sea of Souls. He had to sleep for an average of one-quarter of every day, yet he could do nothing during all that time. It had become a fixed daily confinement in a dark cell.

The key was that he could not avoid sleeping, nor did he dare sleep less. Not sleeping would leave him mentally exhausted, and that was far too dangerous on the perilous battlefield of the Land of Rain.

Therefore, no matter how unbearable being confined in a dark cell after falling asleep was, he could only endure it bitterly in exchange for fully recovering his mental strength.

There was no other way. Aburame Tetsumaru did not want to die, so he could only struggle with all his might and push his efforts to the limit.

After learning Insect Clone, Aburame Tetsumaru still burned the scroll.

The information within the scroll involved the clan's predecessors, which made the consequences of theft even more serious. It was not a risk he could bear, so he burned it to be safe.