Aburame Muta was full of worries.
Even a fool could see something was off with her.
Yagyū Souma didn't call her out.
He could more or less guess what she was worried about.
But…
There really wasn't anything he could do about it.
For the Parasitic Rot Bugs to evolve, they had to understand what "Sage Chakra" was—and right now, only the sacred lands and Souma himself had access to that power.
As for the Aburame clan learning it… that was a big "maybe."
Even putting aside whether they could learn it, just getting official authorization from the Fire Temple wouldn't be easy.
They were a clan, not just one or two people.
Souma could only hope the Aburame clan would figure things out and let it go a little.
That evening, Aburame Shibi came to visit.
"Souma-kun, I hope dropping by at this hour isn't bothering you?"
"Not at all. I've been expecting you."
Souma didn't bother pretending—
He really had known Shibi would come.
Shibi wasn't surprised.
He knew Souma wasn't stupid—quite the opposite. Souma was very smart. He just couldn't be bothered to overthink things most of the time.
He walked into Souma's small room.
After a glance around, he couldn't help saying, "You're not exactly short on money these days. Haven't you thought about buying a new place?"
"Not really. I haven't seen anything suitable. And it's just me living alone right now. No rush."
Souma shook his head.
Housing…
Of course he'd thought about it.
He had plenty of businesses going already and didn't lack income. Buying a house would be easy. But he was likely going to be living at the research institute most of the time anyway. A new house would just sit there gathering dust.
Not to mention—
Land in Konoha was worth its weight in gold.
Even if you wanted to buy a place, whether you could actually get one was another question.
"If you're ever interested, our Aburame clan does have some properties," Shibi offered.
"No, no, it's fine."
Souma quickly waved his hands.
Shibi didn't insist.
He'd only brought it up in passing to show goodwill. Since Souma wasn't interested, there was no need to push.
They went inside and sat down.
Shibi was quiet for a couple of seconds, then decided to get straight to the point. He took out a scroll from his robes.
"Souma-kun, this is our Aburame clan's Parasitic Rot Bug contract."
"Thank you."
Souma stood up and bowed slightly in thanks.
Shibi waved it off.
"I promised you before. It's just that, until now, the Parasitic Rot Bugs hadn't shown any obvious progress in their evolution. Not even I could've convinced the clan back then."
Now, though, it was different.
The new Parasitic Rot Bugs were clearly stronger. They didn't yet know how they'd be used in the future, but…
When working with Souma, was there really anything to worry about?
Yagyū Souma's creativity was second to none in Konoha. The medical-use of kikaichū had been his idea too.
Shibi wasn't worried at all.
If anything, he worried more about Souma deciding not to keep working with Aburame.
"Souma-kun, do you have any thoughts on how to use these new Parasitic Rot Bugs in the future?" he asked, going straight to the crux of it.
The old playbook clearly wouldn't apply anymore.
"At the moment, there's just not enough data on them. I need time to observe," Souma said, a bit helpless. "Even I can't magically know all their traits in advance."
Shibi's tone always carried this faint "you must already know" assumption.
But Souma really didn't know.
"From what I can see so far, there's no way they can live in your bodies like before."
That much was obvious.
Take that beetle, for example. As an Insect King, it was already the size of a fist.
And it would probably keep growing.
No one could carry a bug that big inside their bodies. Not even the Akimichi could manage that.
"That part is what troubles me most," Shibi admitted, nodding right away.
"So you'll have to get involved with yourselves and test them step by step. The first thing is to see whether the new insects can strengthen your existing kikaichū."
"That part I considered," Shibi said. "As for hosting them, only the Summoning Technique will work now."
"Then it's not hopeless."
"Oh?"
Shibi immediately brightened.
There was a way?
He hadn't seen that coming.
He quickly asked, "What way?"
"Raise them like the Inuzuka clan raises their ninken," Souma said. "They'll need natural energy and Sage Chakra, yes—but it's not like they don't need normal chakra too."
He gave Shibi a weird look.
"You all keep thinking about stuffing them full of natural energy. I know Sage Transformation… and I still live in Konoha, don't I?"
"...!!!"
Shibi opened his mouth but had no retort.
Fair point.
Raising them like pets…
Wasn't the simplest method just to do what the Inuzuka did and keep them at your side?
He thought for a bit, and suddenly understood why Souma had mentioned "strengthening effects" first. If the new Parasitic Rot Bugs really did boost the regular kikaichū, then—
Keeping one with you was like having a powerful "general" or "commander" on the field.
The Aburame's jutsu were strange and powerful, but their direct offensive power wasn't very high. If they had such a strong bug backing them up, their ability to break through enemy defenses would go up dramatically.
Two birds with one stone.
Shibi's mood soared. He wanted nothing more than to rush straight back to the Forest of Death and test things immediately.
But…
He knew it wasn't the time.
Right now, there was only one Insect King and a single subordinate. The rest would take time to raise.
They had to wait.
Wait a bit longer.
Shibi took several deep breaths in a row to calm himself down.
"Often, it's just us overcomplicating things," Souma said. "The solution itself isn't actually that hard."
"That's true," Shibi agreed, nodding.
Then he urged Souma to sign his name.
Souma didn't refuse, of course.
The Parasitic Rot Bugs were an excellent asset.
He wasn't planning to use them the same way the Aburame did, but having a contract with them would be hugely beneficial for both future development and research.
That much was beyond question.
After signing, Shibi chatted a bit more and then took his leave.
Meanwhile, somewhere else—
inside one of Orochimaru's hideouts.
"Orochimaru-sama, this is intel that just came from Konoha's side."
"Good."
Orochimaru's voice was hoarse.
He looked worse than before.
Might Guy's strike had been brutal. Even with Kabuto's medical ninjutsu healing his wounds, the strain it left on his body was hard to erase.
He took the letter.
Opened it—
"Oh?"
"How interesting…"
Orochimaru's eyes lit up, a smile curling at the corner of his lips.
Yagyū Souma wanted a chakra-absorption technique?
He remembered that one.
He'd helped Akadō Yoroi refine it, but it still wasn't particularly strong. In real combat, it was clumsy and inconvenient. Orochimaru had never considered promoting it.
And that boy was interested in this?
"That man asked if you were willing to trade," the subordinate continued. "If so, what jutsu would you want from him?"
"I'll speak to him myself. You don't need to worry about that," Orochimaru said. "And… take care of Mizuki. No loose ends."
"Yes, sir!"
The next day, Souma was about to head to the research institute to deal with the power setup.
Kabuto came to visit.
Behind him stood Akadō Yoroi—black sunglasses, face mask, utterly silent.
"Souma-kun, I wonder if you still remember our previous agreement?" Kabuto asked.
"Of course."
Souma looked at Yoroi with interest.
So Orochimaru had agreed?
"You're willing to trade?" he asked.
"I want to know what you're offering in return," Yoroi said evenly.
Souma gestured for them to come in, then sat them down and poured two cups of hot water. After that, he briefly described his own techniques.
The first was the Absorption Barrier.
He'd stripped this barrier technique out of Earth Prison Hall, then combined it with his binding array. Its practical value was quite high. Plenty of Konoha's elite chunin had already learned it.
And the feedback it provided Souma had been considerable.
In terms of pure utility, it was definitely more useful than Yoroi's current technique.
The second was Muscle Control.
"These two jutsu are both very useful for genin and chunin," Souma said. "You can choose one of them."
"…"
Yoroi was honestly tempted.
Either one would be valuable to him.
If he really had to choose, he would go for the latter.
Unfortunately…
This wasn't a decision he could make alone.
He fell silent for a moment, then said, "I heard you've studied Gentle Fist. I was hoping to learn that Gentle Fist style from you."
"Your technique isn't worth enough," Souma said, shaking his head. "I am interested in it, but I don't need it. If I raised the price that much, I'd have to refuse."
It wasn't that Gentle Fist absolutely had to be hidden.
Gentle Fist · Burst was his own creation. It didn't involve any Hyūga clan techniques at all; it wasn't on the same path as the traditional Gentle Fist. So even if he explained it, there wouldn't be much of a problem.
But—
The values weren't equal.
Even if he wanted to study chakra absorption, he wasn't about to make a losing deal.
Yoroi stayed quiet for a few seconds. He almost turned to look at Kabuto, but remembered his position in time and forced himself to stop.
"Souma-kun, my other teammate, has some unique insight into taijutsu," Kabuto said at the right moment. "If we add that taijutsu ability, trading both for a Gentle Fist technique—how about that?"
Souma knew what that teammate could do, but he wasn't interested in soft-body modification.
Still…
After thinking for a bit, he said, "I'm not interested in your teammate's jutsu. If you really want to trade, let's change the terms. You demonstrate your technique once, and I'll demonstrate mine once."
"Uh…"
Yoroi looked at Kabuto.
Kabuto was torn.
As genin, their best option by far was to accept the previous trade. Just one demonstration wouldn't be enough for them to really grasp the essence of Souma's taijutsu.
More importantly—
Orochimaru had already fallen for this kind of thing once. There was no need to walk into the same trap again.
Kabuto could only sigh.
"In that case, we'll choose the Absorption Barrier," he said.
As for Muscle Control…
He believed Orochimaru's research was far beyond Souma's in that field, so he didn't even consider it seriously.
The deal was struck.
Souma wrote down the hand seals and effects of the Absorption Barrier and handed it to Yoroi.
Yoroi accepted it, then said, "My technique is a special ability. It doesn't have hand seals, and I don't really know how to teach it…"
"That's fine. Just try to absorb my chakra directly."
Souma gestured for him to begin.
Yoroi nodded and reached out, beginning to draw chakra from Souma.
Souma cranked his sensory ability to the maximum.
The way Yoroi absorbed and converted the chakra unfolded clearly in his perception.
In just a blink, quite a bit of Souma's chakra was siphoned away.
After roughly twenty percent was gone—
"Okay, that's enough."
"…All right."
Yoroi withdrew his hand, hesitated, then asked, "Should I use it again later?"
"Uh, no need. This is plenty. Thank you for agreeing to the trade," Souma said.
"…Mm."
Yoroi lowered his hand.
Kabuto said his goodbyes, and the two of them left together.
They walked down a street. Once there was no one around, Yoroi finally muttered, stunned, "Just… one demonstration, and we got a full jutsu out of it?"
It felt absurd.
Kabuto, however, wasn't surprised at all. He smiled.
"For ordinary people, an impractical technique like yours isn't worth as much as a complete jutsu. But for a genius, it's different."
"Can he improve it?"
"Obviously. The jutsu he gave you is a chakra absorption technique, isn't it?"
Kabuto pushed up his glasses with a small smile.
"Souma's actually pretty straightforward. He didn't hide anything—he laid out his needs and his sincerity right on the table."
"Yeah…"
Yoroi thought over the Absorption Barrier.
That jutsu…
In some ways, it really was more practical than his own technique.
"Now that he has your skill, he can use it to patch up holes in his own jutsu, maybe even create an entirely new one," Kabuto said. "Still think he's the one losing out?"
Yoroi had no answer.
Kabuto chuckled softly, then sighed with a hint of emotion—
"That's the difference between a genius and a mediocrity."
A genius could create something from nothing.
A mediocrity could only pick up the scraps others left behind.
Although honestly…
Calling Yoroi "mediocre" was already generous.
Kabuto pushed up his glasses again and smiled.
"We're not really losing out either. We didn't get Gentle Fist, but it can't be helped. I'm sure Orochimaru-sama will understand."
"And this jutsu…" Yoroi asked quietly.
"You learn it. If you can master it, great."
And if he couldn't, it wasn't a big deal.
Because very soon—
They wouldn't be needing it anyway.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/pikachu614