Aburame Koji 2

"Based on the direction of the investigation, it should be around here. Let's go take a look first."

After escaping the Cloud Ninja headquarters, Muzan headed in the opposite direction. Following the route they had taken, his efforts finally paid off when he found traces of carts and horses.

This was already the fourth day. It was possible that other ninja had discovered the Cloud Ninja's provisions, and just then, Muzan sensed that something was wrong.

"Hmm? Someone passed through here."

The Stone Forest was eerily silent, without even the faintest sounds of birds or beasts. That was clearly abnormal. Someone must have cleared out the area around the battlefield in advance.

He leaned halfway against a stone wall, sniffing the lingering scent in the air.

"So I arrived too late. Konoha has already sent powerful fighters here."

He had wasted a full four days. Naturally, Muzan did not rashly enter, since this area might be within the battle zone of both sides.

The ninja of the Hidden Cloud Village were not fools. Such an important task as transporting provisions would certainly be accompanied by ninja, perhaps even powerful ones.

Just as Muzan was preparing to wait for an opportunity, he lowered his head and noticed insects crawling out. They carried an extremely faint layer of chakra. Only Konoha's Aburame Clan cultivated chakra insects like these.

Elsewhere in the Stone Forest, Aburame Koji had sent out his chakra insects to scout the surroundings. As the insects returned one after another, he received different pieces of information.

The structure of the entire Stone Forest gradually took shape in his mind, determined from the pheromones left behind by the insects. When one insect returned, Aburame Koji was slightly taken aback.

"I didn't expect Muzan to be nearby. His timing is rather unfortunate."

On the evening of the third day after the ninja squad had set out, ninja had already returned with information. They had located the Cloud Ninja's provisions unit, and Sakumo Hatake immediately decided to dispatch an elite squad to destroy their supplies!

This task fell to Aburame Koji.

He did not want Muzan involved. After all, this mission could be rated S-rank!

There were certainly Elite Jōnin in the enemy provisions unit, perhaps even some of the Hidden Cloud Village's few top experts.

Although Muzan was strong, he had not yet reached the level of an Elite Jōnin.

With that in mind, Aburame Koji made a gesture, his voice murmuring beneath his mask.

"You two, block them ahead. Use explosions to cut off their route and prevent the provisions from being transported out!"

"The rest of you, once you hear the explosions, charge in with me immediately and launch a surprise attack!"

"Remember, our mission is not to defeat them. It is to destroy their provisions!"

He first ruled out a sneak attack. Leaving aside whether there were sensory ninja among them, the Cloud Ninja would certainly stay close to the provisions convoy.

However, no matter how elite the ninja were, the instant they heard an explosion, they would undoubtedly protect the vital provisions first.

That would give the Konoha Ninja an opportunity. They only needed to hold back the Cloud Ninja at the moment of the explosion. As long as one person reached the provisions, a single Fire Release could burn all of them to ashes!

Following Aburame Koji's orders, the five people split into two teams and laid a large number of insects around the area in advance, ensuring they could launch an attack immediately.

Muzan, who was in the combat zone, still knew nothing about the Konoha squad's plan.

As Muzan observed the situation from outside, he suddenly heard a massive boom. The Stone Forest at the center began collapsing over a wide area, the rumbling sounding like dominoes falling one after another.

"As expected, the Hidden Cloud Village also sent powerful fighters to support the front lines."

A deafening roar erupted as a mushroom cloud bloomed outward with flames. This was the result of using a large number of Explosive Tags.

He stopped hiding, gripped a kunai, and immediately rushed into the Stone Forest.

At that moment, Konoha's elite squad was fighting the enemy.

Their opponent was a middle-aged man.

The Konoha Ninja unleashed Fire Release together, but their attacks were neutralized at once. "Lava Release: Rubber Wall!"

The accompanying ninja coordinated by first using Earth Release, reinforcing it on that foundation and directly blocking the flames filling the sky.

At this stage, Dodai was not yet the middle-aged man he would become during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

He was in his prime, and the fact that he could assist the Third Raikage was enough to prove his strength.

"The Aburame Clan..."

Dodai recognized his opponent immediately from his attire.

"Konoha ninja, I knew you would come, so I have been waiting here for quite some time!"

"If I can kill you, it will not be a small blow to Konoha."

After sweeping his gaze around, he saw that Konoha had sent one Elite Jōnin along with four ordinary Jōnin this time!

As one of the Hidden Cloud Village's rare strategists, Dodai understood the importance of provisions to an army. Therefore, he had not concealed his tracks.

It was not thieves that were troublesome, but those who kept coveting what you had.

It was better to hide within the convoy and wait for Konoha's rats to take the bait.

He knew they would send powerful fighters, but he had never expected the Aburame Clan. He had hooked a big fish.

"All Cloud Ninja, pay attention! Watch out for the insects around you! These insects can devour your chakra!"

After hearing Dodai's words, everyone's first reaction was to clear away the insects around them.

Although the Aburame Clan had little presence in Konoha, no one dared underestimate them. Especially on the battlefield, even an insignificant insect could take their lives.

"Dodai..."

Behind his black sunglasses, Aburame Koji stared intently for a long while.

Looking at the man standing atop the earthen wall, he had naturally heard of the Hidden Cloud Village's famous Lava Release Bloodline Limit. To protect the provisions, they had actually dispatched a ninja like him.

He slowly stepped back. The gourd at his waist opened, and a layer of pale blue chakra emerged around his body.

"Secret Technique: Insect Deception!"

Parasitic Destruction Insects like an ocean surrounded him, capable of devouring chakra.

But this time, they had run into trouble.

The Parasitic Destruction Insects could devour the rubber that had formed as well, but the process was extremely slow.

There was not enough time to break through the enemy's defenses. If they were delayed too long, the Hidden Cloud Village's main force would likely arrive to reinforce them.

"Lava Release... This rubber is truly troublesome!"

Earth Release combined with the powerful adhesive force of rubber created a natural wall that rendered most ninjutsu ineffective.

"Then I can only expand the scale!"

Aburame Koji released all the insects inside his gourd. In an instant, the densely packed swarm actually blotted out a small portion of the sky.

"Secret Technique: Insect Tornado!"

He created a tornado from Parasitic Destruction Insects. From afar, it looked like a black line, but no one dared underestimate this technique.

Any ninja caught in the Insect Tornado found their bodies slowly disappearing.

"Worthy of Konoha's insect master, but you underestimate us too much."