What If You Dig Into Root?

Ten thousand mythical beasts stampeded through his mind.

Aburame Tetsumaru had never imagined that after he left the Mineral Insect Swarm in the village unattended for over five months, it would develop to such an extent.

The worms had grown larger. The biggest were now forty centimeters in diameter, and the tunnels they dug were wide enough for an adult to crawl through.

Around ten meters beneath Konoha, those worms had excavated countless crisscrossing tunnels, while the mole crickets had dug innumerable branching passages between them.

Before leaving the village, Aburame Tetsumaru had considered that ninja were also a race skilled at and fond of digging holes, so he had imposed several forbidden restrictions on the insects: no horizontal digging within ten meters underground; no digging into cavities larger than one cubic meter.

The problem was that the insects had dug too many tunnels—far too many. From Aburame Tetsumaru's perspective, where he could see the entire insect tunnel network, every place the insects had not excavated was a cube, either straight or tilted, with the occasional cylinder.

What that meant could not have been clearer.

It had marked out everyone else's secret chambers.

"You guys are really something." Aburame Tetsumaru covered his face with both hands. His restrictions still had not been strict enough.

A secret chamber ten meters underground definitely was not some ordinary family's basement. It was absolutely a place concealing major secrets. If someone quietly expanded it and connected it to his insect tunnels, no one could overlook a hole thirty or forty centimeters wide. When that happened, far too many things would become impossible to explain.

The next five days of vacation were ruined. He would have to spend all of them filling the tunnels back in. At the very least, he needed to keep a distance of thirty meters.

But before filling them in, there was one more thing to do. Since they had already been dug, it would be a waste not to make use of them.

Aburame Tetsumaru ordered the mole crickets to get to work, digging narrow holes three fingers wide directly into the secret chambers, then investigating those chambers ten meters underground.

Peeping was always a bad habit that was difficult to resist. As Aburame Tetsumaru dug, he swore, Just this once. Only once.

Hmm, whose treasury was this? It was all gold. Don't touch it, don't touch it.

This secret chamber was wrapped up tightly. It had taken so much effort to dig through, only to find it stocked with fine blades. What a joke. It had no value at all.

Whoa, this chamber was good. It was full of scrolls and biographical records. Copying them did not count as stealing, right? It was not like they would lose anything.

Empty.

Another empty one. Damn, even the passage upward had been completely blocked. It looked like an abandoned secret chamber.

Holy hell, what was this?

A newly opened secret chamber was packed with coffins, layer upon layer. Every coffin held a corpse. The key was that these were not simple wooden coffins. They were specially made coffins sealed with freezing ninjutsu, practically ninja tools. Ordinary people would never use something like this.

He could not let the mole crickets investigate any further. They were too large.

Aburame Tetsumaru dispatched several thousand cockroaches into the secret chamber. They spread through every crack, searching every corner. Before long, the cockroaches found ventilation holes and swiftly traveled through the ducts into adjacent rooms.

The Secret Technique: Domain Barrier proved its worth. Through those tiny cockroaches, Aburame Tetsumaru clearly sensed every corner of the hidden complex: archives, laboratories, training rooms, a cafeteria, dormitories, prison cells, and storage rooms.

Its facilities were incredibly comprehensive. As many as one hundred and twenty adults were active within, along with thirty children under the age of ten.

A base with such complete functions had to belong to an official Konoha institution. The Interrogation Squad and Intelligence Squad had no need for this level of secrecy. The more confidential Sealing Squad and Barrier Squad had fewer than a hundred members, and their personnel were stretched extremely thin. They would not have more than a hundred people gathered in one place.

It could not be the Anbu either. Publicly, the Anbu had only seventy members, though everyone knew their actual numbers had long surpassed that. Still, the Anbu recruited only experienced Chunin and above. They would not take children who were not even ninja.

That meant this secret chamber could only belong to Root.

New evidence appeared soon afterward.

The cockroaches encountered Kikaichū and were attacked, with a large number killed. There were Aburame ninja recruited by Root.

Aburame Tetsumaru did not dare waste any time. He immediately ordered the mole crickets to seal the small tunnels, while the worms were brought over to block the larger insect passages. Now that he had confirmed this was Root's secret chamber, the seal needed to be fifty meters thick before he could rest easy.

Forget it. Make it a hundred meters. Root was still in its growth phase. Who knew where they might dig next?

Even after sealing it, he could not feel reassured. Aburame Tetsumaru simply set up several Meat Worm breeding sites as sentry posts. The mole crickets would periodically visit them to replenish their protein, and they would also be used to feed the Gold-Eating Insects and worms.

If ninja digging a basement found a nest of pale, plump Meat Worms, they would only find it disgusting. They would not think it was man-made, because those insects were already part of Konoha and could often be dug up.

If the mole crickets found a breeding site destroyed, they would send an alarm. The alarm would be recorded, and he could see it when reviewing the logs, allowing him to make a new response then.

In short, now that he had confirmed Root's location, he would avoid it in the future and spare himself the trouble.

Thinking back to the archives and storage rooms he had just discovered, he had not found anything particularly special. At least, he had not seen any bright red Sharingan. It seemed a certain eye-obsessed man had not begun targeting the Uchiha for slaughter yet.

But several corpses in those first coffins had been turned woody. That was evidence that experiments with Hashirama Cells had already begun. Still, it made sense when he thought about it. Perhaps Nidaime Senju Tobirama had even started those experiments.

It was better to be cremated after death. Otherwise, being experimented on would be far too disgusting. If someone used Impure World Reincarnation on him, he would be unable to live or die.

After laboriously filling in the insect tunnels around Root, Aburame Tetsumaru continued investigating the other secret chambers the next day.

One after another, he confirmed the Barrier Squad's Barrier Nexus, the Hyuga family's archives, the Uchiha family's secret chamber, and many, many chambers whose owners he could not identify.

The Barrier Nexus's location had to be clearly marked. Once he mastered Sealing Technique in the future, he would come back and find a way to install a back door. That would make entering and leaving Konoha much more convenient.

The Hyuga family's archives lay directly beneath the center of the Hyuga Main Residence. Out of caution, Aburame Tetsumaru did not dare do anything. He immediately sealed the insect tunnel. That family was full of people with X-ray vision, and quite a few of his insects had runes inscribed on them. They were no longer transparent. He would have to avoid that family from now on.

The Uchiha family's secret chamber lay beneath the extremely remote Naka Shrine. That broad, flat stone tablet was a famous sightseeing landmark in the Shinobi World. Aburame Tetsumaru even crawled in personally to look at the legendary tablet. Without a camera to leave a memento, he could not resist carving, "xxx was here."

Yes, exactly "xxx."

Not only did he not dare write his own name, he had deliberately written three x's to confuse anyone investigating.

There were also a great many small, unnamed secret chambers. There were no obvious landmarks above them, making it difficult to determine which families they belonged to.

Some of the chambers were clearly well maintained and still in use, so Aburame Tetsumaru left behind some insects to find out who owned them. He directly sealed the insect tunnels. He had no plans to retrieve those insects anyway, and it did not matter if he never discovered the owners. He had only done it on a whim.

Some chambers had fallen into disrepair over the years and had most likely been forgotten. Aburame Tetsumaru simply dug through, cleaned them out, then filled them back in along with the insect tunnels.

After busily working for five days, Aburame Tetsumaru gained quite a lot: over two thousand copied scrolls of information, more than four hundred rusty kunai, over five thousand shuriken, and three fine ninja blades. He also found a jar of ancient gold coins and several small baskets of silver coins, worth a total of three million ryo. There was no way to sell them for the moment, though, and melting them down would likely leave them worth less than one million.

All in all, he had made a small fortune.

Rumors began spreading through the village. Supposedly, the Uchiha family's forbidden grounds had been invaded, and Uchiha Clan Head Uchiha Setsuna had flown into a rage. They dug three feet into the ground without finding any trace of the intruder.

When Aburame Tetsumaru heard that, he looked utterly unconcerned. Everyone thought the same thing: it was probably just a rumor. The Sharingan was best at finding subtle clues. If there had truly been an intruder, how could they fail to find even the slightest trace?

What Aburame Tetsumaru thought was: Mm, even if you dig a hundred feet down, you're still a little short. I filled in a full fifty meters.

He sighed, hoping his little act of mischief would give the Uchiha family a warning. Their forbidden grounds were not secure.

Honestly, the Uchiha Stone Tablet truly lived up to its reputation. It was genuinely sturdy and wear-resistant.

Aburame Tetsumaru had spent a tremendous amount of effort carving those few words. He had used acid, King Kong powder, and even a corundum sharpening blade. Only with great difficulty had he carved those words into the tablet, leaving a warning: do not blindly trust what is written on that stone tablet.

Aburame Tetsumaru felt he had done enough to repay the goodwill of Uchiha Kei and Uchiha Fūka. Any more than that would make it far too easy to attract the attention of a certain Battlefield Rose.

The leader of Uchiha's Four Laughing Heroes was not someone to provoke. The farther he stayed from those lunatics, the safer he would be.

As Aburame Tetsumaru packed his things and prepared to return to the battlefield, his father came home.

The stubbly old man embraced his son, who had grown taller than him, then tried to rub his beard against his son's face—only to be mercilessly rejected.

That evening, father and son went to a barbecue restaurant to celebrate. During wartime, having the whole family reunite safely was worth celebrating.

"Son, your old man made a huge haul on this mission. Order whatever you want, eat whatever you want. It's all on me."

"Don't brag, Dad."

"Eat up. Eat as much as you can."

"You're not using this chance to hide some private money, are you?"

"You really know how to talk nonsense. Your mother is close with the Akimichi family. Even if I wanted to fake the bill, I wouldn't do it at a barbecue restaurant."

"Hehehe, true."

The barbecue sizzled with grease. Aburame Tetsumaru picked up a perfectly grilled slice of meat, dipped it in braised meat sauce, sprinkled it with spices and chili, then wrapped it in a lettuce leaf.

He inhaled the rich aroma, stuffed it into his mouth in one bite, and chewed heartily.

After wolfing down a pile of food, Aburame Kazekazu finally had to slow down. He picked up a glass covered in condensation and drained it in several gulps, then let out a long, satisfied belch.

"Awesome!"

He slammed his glass hard onto the table, picked up a slice of grilled meat, dipped it in sauce, and tossed it straight into his mouth. Then he poured himself another full glass of beer. The bursting bubbles carried a rich aroma of malt and hops, making Aburame Tetsumaru swallow.

He was still underage. What torture.

After eating and drinking their fill, Kazekazu happily paid the bill. Back home, the two set up lounge chairs in the courtyard, brewed a pot of tea, prepared a few plates of dried fruits, jerky, and other snacks, then chatted and bragged about anything that came to mind.

The Aburame family courtyard had one advantage: there were absolutely no annoying flies or mosquitoes. Any that appeared would become an extra meal for the household insects.

Father and son tacitly agreed not to mention their own missions or ask about the other's.

Even though Aburame Tetsumaru could smell the heavy scent of blood, disinfectant, and hemostatic medicine on his father through his insects, he did not ask what had happened or how his injuries were.

No matter how dangerous it had been, it was already over. Talking about it would only make his family worry for nothing.

As long as someone was alive and healthy, that was better than anything else.

By midnight, they had talked to their hearts' content. The tea was gone, and the snacks had been eaten. Only then did Aburame Kazekazu finally ask about Aburame Tetsumaru's schedule.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow. First, I'll go to the mission center and take a task heading toward the Land of Rain, ending my vacation. Then I'll head straight to the Land of Rain and report to Lord Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru?" Aburame Kazekazu was surprised. "Does he seem reliable?"

"Mm. I've been Lord Orochimaru's subordinate for nearly three months now. It feels pretty good."

"I learned quite a bit of ninjutsu knowledge and traded for plenty of ninjutsu too, though unfortunately none of it is useful to the family."

"Ah, you can't put it that way." Aburame Kazekazu hesitated slightly. "Elder Shihui once said that now that the family has money, we should collect ninjutsu and broaden the paths for clan children to become ninja. We should not limit ourselves to Insect Manipulation Secret Technique alone."

"Huh?" Aburame Tetsumaru froze. Was this not reform? Could it really be this easy?

He scratched his head and said, "There must be a lot of opposition, right?"

"Mm, many people oppose it, but none of them are particularly firm about it. After all, no family can guarantee that their children will achieve anything on the ninja path of insect manipulation."

Aburame Kazekazu continued, "Actually, everyone's main concern is that even after spending the money, we still might not obtain truly top-tier ninjutsu. Back then, we were simply too poor, and no one had ever considered it. We missed the perfect opportunity when Nidaime was in office."

There was no need to say the rest.

The ninjutsu Aburame Tetsumaru had obtained from Orochimaru was absolutely top quality, enough to become a foundation for the family's inheritance.

But Aburame Tetsumaru would definitely demand an equivalent exchange of knowledge. What could the family offer in exchange?

Simply asking for it was definitely impossible. Doing that would shake the cohesion of the entire family. In the worst-case scenario, it could even split the family into three or four separate families, leading to their complete decline.

Overall, the family owed Aburame Tetsumaru. The money from Ant Sugar was a minor matter, but when they fought Root last year, branch-family members like Aburame Tetsumaru had suffered greatly in order to protect direct-line descendants such as Aburame Shibi.

The secret techniques taught this year were not enough to make up for that debt. Aburame Tetsumaru was relatively fortunate. Several Aburame ninja had died on deliberately more dangerous missions before receiving any compensation. The family's branch lines still had not let go of their resentment.

To obtain a ninjutsu inheritance from Tetsumaru, they would have to offer something of sufficient weight in exchange, such as the three great direct-line inheritances: Giant Kikaichū, Micro Insect, and Energy Kikaichū.

But the direct line was clearly reluctant. They would not be the greatest beneficiaries after the exchange, and making such a self-sacrificing decision was especially difficult. So the matter was discussed again and again, yet could not move forward.