In the thick fog, Aburame Torune knelt on one knee. His right shoulder had been burned, charred flesh mingling with shattered insect shells in a gruesome sight.
The three remaining Root ninja immediately closed in around Aburame Torune, forming a circle with their backs to one another.
Aburame Torune used his left hand to remove his gloves, slowly peeling off the black fabric to expose his palms.
His chakra began to surge. Dense purple patterns appeared across his palms, writhing beneath his skin like living creatures.
"Be careful. Don't get too close to me in a moment." His voice was terrifyingly calm.
His body began releasing vast numbers of kikaichū, but these were no ordinary kikaichū.
The insects emerging from his skin glowed with an eerie purple fluorescence.
Rinkaichū-nano-sized venomous insects that could eat away at all organic matter. Touching them meant death; inhaling them meant death.
This was his final trump card, his killing move.
Aburame Torune closed his eyes, concentrating his senses on the kikaichū spreading outward.
As long as Hyuga Tianyi showed himself, as long as he knew nothing about the rinkaichū, as long as he dared approach-Torune would have a chance to strike.
The fog grew thicker, swallowing the charred trees, the still-smoking ruins, and the bodies of his comrades.
Cold sweat beaded on Aburame Torune's forehead. His right shoulder was still bleeding, but his left hand remained steady as he continued pouring in chakra.
His insects had spread across a fifty-meter radius. As long as that man landed, as long as he entered this area, his insects would-
The fog lit up.
It was neither firelight nor moonlight, but a dazzling, blazing-white laser that shot out from deep within the fog, too fast for his insects to react or his body to dodge.
The beam