Following his meeting with Elder Shiki, Aburame Tetsumaru first negotiated the terms with the branch-family factions represented by the old man. Their goal was to transform the temporary "Giant Insect Squadron" into a permanent military fixture.
Soon, the Clan Head and Elder Shiki decided to allow ninjas from the mainline families to join. However, the mainline shinobi had their own prestigious legacies and techniques; they had little need for the "Giant Insect" style of combat. Their inclusion was mostly a political gesture—a bit of "sand" mixed into the mortar—and their numbers remained small.
A few days later, Konoha officially approved the establishment of the Giant Insect Squadron. The squadron consisted of ten squads, led by one commander and two vice-commanders, totaling thirty-three active-duty shinobi and thirty reserves.
Beyond the official roster, a head instructor and three assistants were assigned to teach the members the Swarm Control Technique. These were, of course, Tetsumaru and his three disciples.
Since the squadron's combat power relied on the swarm rather than the individual strength of the shinobi, Konoha established a "Giant Insect Ranch" near the Valley of the End. This facility specialized in breeding and pasturing various giant insects, Scythe-Mantis, and Explosive Flight-Locusts, serving as a strategic reserve for the village.
On the day the Giant Insect Squadron was formally inaugurated, the Hokage, his three advisors, and the newly appointed Jonin Commander, Sakumo Hatake, arrived to observe the ceremony. It was a grand affair.
Lord Hokage spoke first, praising the squadron as an elite force of Konoha—a cornerstone for the protection of the village and the Land of Fire. He expressed high expectations for the shinobi to contribute even more to the village's glory, and so on.
Even Danzo, the "Darkness of the Shinobi" who rarely spoke in public, stepped forward. His speech was curt, praising Tetsumaru's contributions to Swarm Control and expressing hope that he would develop even better jutsu for the benefit of Konoha in the future.
The Hokage and Danzo were indeed fond of this new unit. On paper, sixty-three ninjas were easy to suppress if they ever stepped out of line. But equipped with the swarm, they could rival an army of thousands. Most importantly, the breeding and cultivation of the insects were under the absolute control of the village.
It was perfect.
Even better, the Swarm Control Technique was not a secret technique. Any ninja could theoretically learn it. While the Aburame clan currently made up the majority of the unit, it was simply because they were more comfortable with insects and had a head start, given that the technique was derived from Aburame arts.
In the near future, more civilian ninjas would be integrated, diluting the Aburame clan's ratio and reducing their individual influence over the unit.
Lord Hokage liked this unit so much that the paperwork was processed at lightning speed. Office space, training grounds, breeding farms, and logistics systems were all granted special approval. Within just one week, the assembly was complete, and instruction had begun.
After grinding through the administrative setup and teaching for a week, Tetsumaru decided he'd had enough. He "laid flat," dumping all the instructional work onto his three students.
As for himself, he crawled into his laboratory and vanished from the world.
The recent campaigns had been incredibly intense. Tetsumaru was exhausted, but his spoils were magnificent.
He now possessed six live specimens of the Giant Ants and over a hundred biological samples. He had seventy-three fragments of Katsuyu's flesh. From Manda, he had one hundred and four scales, a full shed skin, and several vials of snake blood. From Gamabunta, he had a bag of skin scrapings, two bottles of blood, and a vial of the fluid from the sacs on the toad's back.
Because Manda and Bunta had foul mouths, explosive tempers, and incredibly grating, booming voices, Tetsumaru had conducted his collection silently. He hadn't bothered to say hello.
His only regret was failing to secure the energy core or the main cannon from the Sky Ninja's aerial fortresses. Every single one had self-destructed before hitting the ground. A true tragedy.
Perhaps because his swarm had intervened, not a single Sky Ninja had escaped. It seemed the "Sky Ninja Incident" of the future movie timeline would likely never happen.
...
On a secluded island, a young Sky Ninja who had changed his name to Shinno lowered his head in despair. He had waited for fifteen days. Not a single survivor had arrived. It could only mean that every Sky Ninja had been slaughtered by Konoha.
He returned to a cave on the island, gathering the even younger Sky Ninja children hidden there to break the news.
"The agreement I had with my teacher was seven days. Today is the fifteenth. Our seniors... they aren't coming back."
"How can that be?"
The cave filled with the sound of sobbing. Some children didn't know what to do; the younger ones simply wailed. The cave became a chaotic mess of noise.
Shinno had no experience as a leader, let alone dealing with a mob of children. He tried frantically to comfort them, but it took an exhausting effort just to get them to stop. Eventually, they only went quiet because they were too hungry to cry.
"In any case, we can't stay here. Our food is gone."
"We're leaving. There are boats in the mangroves outside. We'll head to the mainland, find a village, kill everyone, and take over."
Seven of the older children sat around him. One of them dared to ask, "And then? What do we do after that?"
"We lie low. We grow up. We will rebuild the Aerial Fortresses, recreate our flight gear, and then... we take our revenge."
As the older children led the younger ones toward the hidden boats, Shinno walked deeper into the cave. After several turns, the cavern widened, and the ground became suspiciously level—clearly man-made.
In the center of the clearing sat a massive structure the other children wouldn't recognize. But Shinno had seen it several times by his teacher's side. It was the core of an Aerial Fortress.
"So, Teacher hid a spare core here... He knew from the start he might not leave the battlefield alive."
"Konoha... one day, I will have my revenge. I will destroy it utterly."
...
Back in Konoha, Tetsumaru was staring at a mountain of work. With so many samples and combat data from two major campaigns, the workload was staggering. But he was energized.
He started with the Giant Ants again. He analyzed their physical structure and mapped their genome. In the controlled environment of his laboratory, he could perform more detailed work on exoskeleton density and elemental composition.
Nine days later, a Shadow Clone entered the lab to nudge him.
"Original, it's time to wrap it up. Mom's coming home today. It would be incredibly rude if you sent a clone to the first reunion dinner."
"Oh? Right. Okay."
Tetsumaru yawned, looking at the creature forming in the pupation tank. It was looking more and more like the monsters from his memories. He was satisfied with the progress.
He had discovered numerous physiological structures in the Giant Ants that allowed them to adapt to their massive size. After careful comparison, he had completely abandoned the Scythe-Mantis template. He was now transcribing the relevant genes into a standard mantis base and redesigning it from the ground up.
Respiratory, lymphatic, circulatory, nervous, muscular, digestive, and immune systems—all had to be overhauled for gigantism.
The mantis grew rapidly. After eleven generations of continuous mutation, the strain finally stabilized, locking the "Giant" genes into its DNA. Its size quickly approached and then surpassed the original Scythe-Mantis.
"Good progress. Time for a break."
Tetsumaru went home for a full family dinner. Afterward, he left a few Shadow Clones to handle the administrative busywork and dove back into the lab.
A month later, the first finalized Mantis stepped out of the pupation tank, walking unsteadily.
However, its skeletal structure was flawed. When it tried to run, its legs snapped. Even though the elemental ratios in the bone were identical to the Giant Ants, the strength was worlds apart.
Usually, when the elements are the same but the properties differ, the answer lies in the microstructure—the difference between graphite and diamond.
Through long hours of Insight, he finally found the culprit. The Giant Ant's exoskeleton contained ultra-long molecular chains. Essentially, it was a silicon-based polymer, similar to carbon-based graphene.
Knowing the cause allowed him to seek a solution. Tetsumaru could synthesize "Silicene," but only in a laboratory crucible heated to 3000 degrees Celsius, requiring manual stirring and filament drawing.
The Giant Ants obviously didn't have the ability to raise their body temperature to 3000 degrees. They simply ate sand and, through a series of complex internal transformations, manufactured the Silicene at normal body temperature.
This was a standard application of Biological Nanotechnology. It was the "Phase 3" technical standard Tetsumaru had dreamed of, and he had stumbled upon it within the Giant Ants.
Beyond the exoskeleton strength, the Mantis had other issues. Its supporting limbs were too spindly, and its "scythes" were shaped more for grappling and hooking than for killing. They lacked the "one-hit-kill" lethality he required.
Everything had to be adjusted.
As Tetsumaru toiled, time flowed into the year Konoha 38. He finally identified the specific gene sequence responsible for the Silicene synthesis.
Though he still didn't fully understand the cellular process of how it was manufactured, he could now "cut and paste" that gene into the Mantis. Finally, the creature gained a hardened shell, evolving from a "glass bug" into an agile hunter.
This was the final hurdle for the individual unit. With this solved, the Mantis could run across flat ground and scale vertical cliffs with ease. It was a mature Ninja Insect.
However, as a "base fodder" unit for the swarm, it still failed. It couldn't be tamed. It wasn't that the 1.3-ton beast had a "free will" or a strong ego—it was just stupid. Other insects could have their instincts suppressed or utilized, but this thing knew nothing but eating. Even its survival instinct for self-preservation was almost non-existent.
He had to start a second round of debugging. He streamlined the internal organs, thinned the profile, and thickened the shell to improve survival rates against Ninjutsu bombardment.
...
The Ninja World moved from autumn to winter, and winter eventually faded as the spring thaw began. Tetsumaru finally resolved the last of the Mantis's issues.
The new generation was no longer a "mutt"; it was a finalized product. Tetsumaru was immensely proud of his work.
The finalized Mantis looked remarkably like a Warrior Bug from the Arachnid species of his past life. It stood 2.3 meters tall and was 3.4 meters long. The long, elegant neck was gone, replaced by a head shielded by massive mandibles, sacrificing much of its visual range for protection.
Its four walking legs were thicker and more robust. The two "scythes" had become twin piercing spikes, sacrificing grappling for pure killing power. The grappling function was moved to the mandibles; once those massive hooks and serrated teeth bit into an enemy, there was no escape.
The internal organs were minimized to the extreme. He even removed the excretory system; the bug could only consume "nutritional meals" that left zero residue. It was a miserable existence for a bug.
But this sacrifice dropped its weight from 1.3 tons to a lean 940 kilograms, drastically increasing its speed and agility.
Considering the eventual rise of Magnet Style, the Mantis contained zero metallic materials. Its defensive shell consisted of six layers of integrated chitin, reaching a staggering thickness of 210mm on the torso. Its mandibles were practically solid, hooked horns.
Visually, the finalized Mantis barely looked like an insect anymore, leaning closer to an arachnid appearance.
To make it easier to command, he spliced in wasp genes, giving it a baseline level of judgment. However, it remained a very "simple-minded" creature.
Tetsumaru loved its stupidity. A "stupid" bug wouldn't hesitate in the face of danger. As long as it had an order, it would throw itself into the fire without a second thought.
Cannon fodder should never be too smart. Otherwise, they'll end up getting their master killed.
...
With the Mantis finalized, Tetsumaru decided to take a vacation. He needed to adjust his mindset and spend some time "disciplining" his three disciples.
He found his Shadow Clone to ask about recent world events.
The clone curled its lip. "There's quite a lot. I'm too lazy to explain it all. Just take the feedback yourself."
"Wait, hold on—"
Before Tetsumaru could protest, the clone formed the "Release" seal. Poof. It vanished in a cloud of white smoke.
In an instant, four months' worth of memories, insights, knowledge, and experiences flooded Tetsumaru's brain. He froze in place, paralyzed by the mental load.
During the winter, Kato Dan had officially confirmed his relationship with Tsunade, becoming a core member of the Senju clan. Then, he had mysteriously died in the Land of Rain.
The event caused an uproar. He was the second core male member of the Senju to die "mysteriously" during this war.
The Senju had lost another heir. Following this, Tsunade had rarely appeared in public, gradually fading from the sight of Konoha's shinobi.
It seems my influence isn't enough yet, Tetsumaru thought grimly. I couldn't change Kato Dan's fate.
Then there was the Hidden Mist. Someone had lit a fuse, and the Mist Civil War had begun. The internal conflict in the Land of Water was proving far more brutal than any external war. Because of this, a large number of Konoha ninjas were freed from the eastern front.
Finally, the war between the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Sand continued, growing more intense by the day. However, the Sand was slowly being pushed into a corner.
Rumor had it that Konoha was secretly "transfusing" the Sand, sending supplies and quietly releasing several thousand Sand prisoners of war.
...
It took a long time for Tetsumaru to digest the four months of memories and break out of his catatonic state. He gasped for air, poured a glass of water, and gulped it down to settle his churning stomach.
Konoha had worked hard to beat the Sand into submission, and now they were free from the Mist. Next, they would likely be clashing with the Stone.
While everyone was still off the front lines, it was time for a reunion. If he missed this chance, he might never see some of these people again.
That evening, Tetsumaru took the lead and invited his old classmates for their second official reunion.
The next day, he contacted Ueno Hayato and Might Duy for a feast at the Akimichi barbecue restaurant.
On the third day, he looked for news of Yukimura Saburo, but found he was away on a mission.
In fact, his own three disciples were out on missions as well. They had each begun leading Genin, forming their own squads.
Squad 121 was officially a thing of the past.
Over the next few days, Tetsumaru reconnected with everyone he knew, spending his days eating and drinking. He even managed to catch Saburo and his three students when they returned, hosting a massive barbecue by the river where they used to hang out in their youth.
After seeing off his disciples, Tetsumaru finally felt he'd had enough fun. It was time to get back to work.
His next task was to write the genetic code of the finalized Mantis into the Larva, allowing them to develop directly into Warrior Bugs for mass production.
But this work was suddenly shelved.
Because, inside his own home, he had discovered an even more important biological sample.