The members of Squad Ueno had finished their meal and were feeling drowsy under the bright, clear morning sun.
Suddenly, Tetsumaru felt a wave of primal panic from his insects. The entire deployed swarm was in an uproar; even the Kikaichu inside his own body were restive and agitated.
He stood up instantly, forming hand seals to activate his Summoning Silks. Simultaneously, he released ten giant dragonflies and ten chakra-sensing insects, bolstered by a massive swarm of Kikaichu to maximize his scouting range.
As the insects took flight, Tetsumaru focused his mind. He activated Insight to monitor his own chakra fluctuations, pushing his sensory range to the absolute limit.
Having partnered with him for a long time, Ueno Hayato had never seen Tetsumaru this tense. He followed suit and stood up, ready for battle.
The two rookies, experiencing this for the first time, were utterly bewildered. Seeing their Captain and senior in such a state of high alert left them confused and out of the loop.
"Direction 1:12. Chakra combat signatures detected. One of those chakra signatures is... staggering."
"Staggering? How staggering?"
"At a minimum, it's forty times that of a Jonin." Tetsumaru's voice was grim. "Combined with the fact that my insects are paralyzed with fear, I strongly suspect we've found a Jinchuriki."
Ueno Hayato clapped a hand over his eyes and let out a long, weary sigh.
He steadied his nerves, rubbing his cheeks vigorously with both hands. "Well," he muttered, "are we lucky or just incredibly unlucky?"
Tetsumaru shrugged. There was nothing to say.
In a reconnaissance mission, bumping into a Jinchuriki was a "Grand Slam." Once confirmed, it counted as "obtaining vital intelligence," which meant the mission was successfully completed and they could retreat.
However, they had already fought a battle and executed a tactical retreat, which meant they had technically already satisfied the mission requirements. This was just overkill.
Still, one could not simply retreat upon a hunch. The intel had to be verified. Failure to do so would be professional negligence; in the worst-case scenario, it could lead to an execution for dereliction of duty.
But verifying the intel meant observing the Jinchuriki at close range. Once spotted, escaping from such a monster was a suicidal gambit. A total squad wipe was a very real possibility.
"Retreat! You two, get out of here now! Move!" Ueno barked the order. Seeing the two rookies standing there like deer in headlights only fueled his irritation. "GO!"
As he watched the two Genin flee, Ueno waited tensely for Tetsumaru's further scouting reports. They needed more accurate data. The rookies didn't need to know that; they didn't have to carry that burden.
Tetsumaru concentrated, using his Summoning Silks to maneuver dragonflies from various directions to get a visual. Simultaneously, he recalled all his fireflies and jumping spiders into his pack, replacing them with more chakra-sensing insects.
Using his Aburame secret arts, Tetsumaru rapidly switched his perspective, jumping between the visions of dozens of dragonflies.
Suddenly, he saw a bizarre ninjutsu. A mass of glowing red, viscous liquid—shaped into an orb by a specialized formula—shot out from the woods. The orb trailed red droplets as it flew, eventually slamming into a massive tree. The liquid splashed everywhere.
Tetsumaru watched as the liquid hit the ground and trunks, burning deep craters into the wood and soil. In the holes, the fluid boiled, bubbles popping as thick white smoke billowed out.
His heart sank. Lava Style.
While he had suspected a Jinchuriki, seeing the proof made his nerves frazzle. To a Chunin or Genin, a Jinchuriki was the single most dangerous enemy on the battlefield.
"Lava Style confirmed."
"We're dead. We're so dead," Ueno whispered. "Just one more bit. Confirm one more detail and we're gone."
Captain Ueno stood on a branch, squinting toward the target. He could see flocks of birds being startled into the air. He couldn't help but grumble: "What are the Stone-nin doing here? I thought we were fighting the Sand."
"No idea. That's way above our pay grade."
"Baka... damn it."
Tetsumaru opened his pack and released all his interference and offensive insects. Then, he reached deep into his bag and solemnly pulled out a slender, reinforced steel canister.
The canister was filled with liquid nitrogen. Because the metallurgy in the Land of Fire was still lagging, the canister had to be made with a diameter-to-length ratio of eight-to-one just to contain the pressure, making it look more like a short club.
He didn't have much. It was a vital material for his experiments, but since it was incredibly difficult to produce and expensive to maintain, he only carried a small amount. On Earth, liquid nitrogen was cheap—about the price of a soda. In the shinobi world, he had to manually separate, compress, and liquefy the gas himself. Filling one canister took seven or eight full nights of work.
Seeing the terrifying heat and power of the Lava Style, Tetsumaru had a sudden idea. He had a batch of prototype Hollow-Charge Locusts. If he injected the liquid nitrogen into the internal cavities of these insects, the sudden temperature drop upon contact might be enough to suppress the Lava Style.
He filled thirty specialized locusts with the nitrogen, draining the canister dry.
These insects weren't cheap, either. Constructing a cavity capable of withstanding both high pressure and high temperature inside a fist-sized bug required materials that were exorbitantly expensive. The "Hollow-Charge Locusts" were originally designed to carry explosives; lacking dedicated thermal insulation, their lifespans began a countdown the moment the liquid nitrogen was injected. They were 100% single-use consumables.
Once the insects were prepped, Tetsumaru discarded his various containers and his large backpack, opting for maximum mobility. He stuffed the essentials into a small rucksack. He picked up the empty nitrogen canister, weighed it in his hand, and stuffed it into the sack as well. It was ten times more expensive than a standard ninja sword; he couldn't bring himself to throw it away.
Finally, the Jinchuriki entered the dragonflies' field of vision. He wore an Iwagakure headband, had a brawny build, dark red hair of medium length, and a matching thick beard.
Tetsumaru quickly cross-referenced the image with his mental Bingo Book. The features matched perfectly: Roshi, the Jinchuriki of the Four-Tails.
"Info confirmed. Let's move!"
Tetsumaru signaled his Captain, and the two bolted.
Ueno took the lead to clear the path while Tetsumaru followed ten meters behind, constantly releasing insects. These were Autonomous Insects—bugs gorged on chakra that could follow simple commands to attack on their own.
Tetsumaru's command was simple: Attack any moving humanoid shape that does not possess a Konoha headband. Three commands were the absolute limit of complexity for these bugs.
He had developed autonomous insects to cover a flaw in his system. When his swarm array was fully deployed, it formed a circle with him at the center. Any observant, intelligent ninja could easily deduce his location and strike at the core. After taking a few hard knocks, Tetsumaru had been forced to reduce the scale of his array, which suppressed his overall combat power. This led him to develop the autonomous types.
While their individual combat power was mediocre, their value lay in their ability to blur the lines of his swarm, making it impossible for an enemy to pinpoint his true location.
In a retreat, they were even more effective.
Roshi had secretly led an Iwagakure force into the Land of Rain, intending to coordinate with the main Tsuchikage force on the northern front to launch a pincer attack on the Suna rear. To his immense frustration, they had been spotted by a Konoha ninja.
It had been Kato Dan. His forbidden Spirit Transformation Technique was impossible to guard against; no one had noticed the Rain-nin he was possessing until it was too late.
Fortunately, the short-tempered Four-Tails within Roshi had felt that the Rain-nin was "looking at him funny" and attacked indiscriminately. The freak accident had exposed the Konoha infiltrator, leading to this hunt.
Because they were on a secret mission, they had to kill the witnesses to maintain cover. However, they also couldn't use large, flashy jutsu that would draw attention. For Roshi—and the equally hot-headed Four-Tails—this was an agonizingly stifling way to fight.
The four Konoha ninjas were incredibly fast. During the chase, the four had somehow turned into eight. Although Roshi had immediately used Lava Style to kill three of them, the remaining five had already exchanged intel and were splitting up.
The hope of a total cleanup was fading, and the mission was on the verge of failure. Roshi's temper was reaching a boiling point.
Soon, the Iwa pursuers reached the trap zone where Tetsumaru had released his autonomous bugs.
One of the Iwa-nin leaped from a branch, the vibration startling a beetle resting on a twig. He didn't think twice, casually flicking a shuriken at it.
But the beetle suddenly hopped half a meter into the air and zipped away, its flight creating a sharp, whistling sound. All the Iwa-nin noticed the noise; they knew no ordinary insect could fly that fast. It was a ninja insect.
"Careful! Enemy presence!"
Buzzzzzzz—
Suddenly, swarms of insects rose from the grass, burrows, and tree trunks. They formed into ranks of twelve, three ranks per group. Nineteen groups of insects targeted nineteen different ninjas, launching an orderly attack.
Simultaneously, hundreds of moths took flight ahead of them, frantically fluttering their wings to scatter a cloud of scale powder so thick it obscured the view.
"A Konoha bug-user?"
"Unconfirmed. Those aren't Kikaichu. Whose insects are these?"
Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!Water Style: Water Blade!Water Style: Water Bullet!
The pursuers were a mix of Ame and Iwa-nin. Except for Roshi, none of them specialized in Fire or Wind Style. To deal with the massive swarm, the Ame-nin had to resort to various Water Style techniques just to keep the bugs at bay.
Seeing the situation, the Iwa-nin huddled up and used their signature teamwork jutsu.
Earth Style: Rock Hailstorm!
A barrage of thumb-sized rocks pelted the insects with decent results. However, a single volley of jutsu wasn't enough to wipe them out. The ninjas had to use their weapons to swat and crush the remaining bugs. The autonomous summoning insects weren't as agile as the controlled types; their movements were rigid, and they were quickly swatted out of the sky.
But before the Ame and Iwa-nin could catch their breath, another wave of insects arrived, launching a multi-layered offensive that kept them in a state of chaotic defense.
The fleeing Konoha ninjas let out a sigh of relief. It was good to have reinforcements.
"Those aren't standard Kikaichu... with an attack of this scale, it must be 'Big Bug' Aburame Tetsumaru nearby."
Because he operated massive numbers of large-scale insects, Tetsumaru's bugs were highly recognizable. He was quite famous among the lower-ranked Konoha ninjas, mostly for his... peculiar reputation.
"Ah, the Aburame who 'Never Meets the Enemy.'"
"Kills without a face-to-face; fights from a kilometer away."
"Only I hit you; you don't hit me."
"Hahaha!"
The ninjas, having just cheated death, experienced a wild surge of emotion and couldn't help but air all of Tetsumaru's "dirty laundry."
They couldn't really be blamed; Tetsumaru himself was a bit of a motor-mouth, having dropped way too many "famous quotes" in camp.
The two Jonin in the group, Kato Dan and Mumui Isago, looked at each other in surprise. Did Konoha produce another remarkable ninja? Why haven't we heard of him?
Kato Dan quickly issued an order. They weren't safe yet. "Alright, everyone, keep moving. With our current strength, we're no match for a Jinchuriki."
"Yes, sir!"
At the center of the swarm's attack, Roshi ignored the insects entirely, relying on his Tailed Beast chakra for protection.
He reached out and snatched a scouting dragonfly, crushing it in his fist. Then he grabbed a handful of air and opened his palm to find a single Kikaichu struggling in his grip. He knew then that his mission had failed.
"A bug-user? Well, that's that. The mission is a bust."
He looked at the tiny insect. "Since the secret is out, I don't have to hold back anymore. All of you... DIE!"
The Iwa-nin were horrified. "Lord Roshi, you can't!"
"The Tuchikage's orders were to retreat if exposed!"
Roshi's chakra exploded in a violent surge, a tyrannical aura piercing the sky. "We're already exposed! Let me have some fun for once!"
Lava Style: Lava River!
Roshi spat out a literal river of molten rock. Where it flowed, grass turned to ash and massive trees became flaming torches. The forest was transformed into a volcanic hell in an instant.
Everything was burning. Embers drifted in the air as toxic, scorching gases billowed upward.
The crawling insects were swallowed by the lava; the wings of the flying insects were scorched by sparks, sending them spiraling into the magma where they vanished in puffs of blue smoke.
Fleeing four kilometers away, Tetsumaru felt his swarm being annihilated. Before his Summoning Silks snapped, he felt the collective terror of hundreds of Kikaichu and summoning insects as they died. He picked up his pace.
"Captain, run! Faster! The Jinchuriki has gone berserk!"
Shortly after, looking like an erupting volcano, fire lit up the sky as dozens of smoke pillars rose into the air. Every ninja within a dozen kilometers saw the signal.
Amidst flocks of panicked birds, messenger hawks, messenger birds, and signal flares rose in a continuous stream. Konoha, Suna, and Ame squads scattered in every direction, looking no different from wild animals fleeing a natural disaster.
Fear is a powerful motivator. In just ten minutes, Tetsumaru and Ueno caught up to their two teammates.
Seeing the panicked state of their seniors, the two rookies were also spurred by terror, their speed increasing until they could actually keep up with Ueno.
Half an hour later, the two rookies were on the verge of collapse, but the two veterans finally relaxed.
The Iwa Jinchuriki had to be a fool. He was already close to the Konoha camp and he was still chasing? He was practically begging for a fight.
Soon, two squads led by Jonin passed Squad Ueno, heading straight for the Jinchuriki. A lone Jinchuriki—how could they pass up such a prize?
Once the news hit the camp, a swarm of elite ninjas would surely descend upon him. Away from his own village and without interference from other enemies, this was a rare, golden opportunity to take down a Jinchuriki. A Jinchuriki was a mountain of military merit.
Squad Ueno wasn't directly in the path between the Jinchuriki and the camp anymore; they were flanking him on the right. At this moment, roughly eleven scouting squads were circling the Jinchuriki like vultures, monitoring his every move.
Shinobi tempered by war are different from those in times of peace. These eleven squads had started out fleeing for their lives, but as they drew closer to the main camp, they all realized the tide was turning. With a silent, professional understanding, they formed an informal encirclement.
The difference between these ninjas and the ones at the start of the series decades later was night and day. In Konoha Year 60, even the elite "Rookies" went on missions like they were playing house, and even Jonin like Kakashi and Guy lacked this level of gritty professionalism.
The cry of a messenger hawk echoed from above. The suppression force had arrived.
As the elite Jonin engaged Roshi, a massive battle erupted at the center of the circle. Beyond the core battlefield, a group of ANBU—or perhaps Root—moved in to form a secondary perimeter.
The scouts on the outer edge finally relaxed. These squads, having run for so long, were exhausted. One by one, they collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air and ignoring all pretense of dignity.