As Kato Dan's soul tore through him, Aburame Tetsumaru plunged into absolute silence. Sound vanished, replaced by a vision of countless glowing spheres—familiar orbs of light.
Right before his eyes, hundreds of these light spheres grew dim; many shattered entirely and sank into the depths.
Is this the sea of souls? The same light-sea I saw before I transmigrated?
Before Tetsumaru could grasp what was happening, a powerful tugging sensation gripped him.
Sound rushed back. He found himself face-down on the ground, his entire body screaming in pain. Someone was pinning him down, making it impossible to move.
"After him! Kill him!" That was Lady Tsunade barking orders. Wait, the Jinchuriki didn't die? He escaped?
"Medics! Move everyone out of the blast zone!"
"Who's available? Get back to camp and call for every Genin we have! we need hands on deck!"
"Who has bandages? Who has an emergency kit?"
The voices gradually blurred into a low hum. His vision was overtaken by a red curtain as blood soaked through his hair and dripped from his forehead onto the dirt. Soon, Tetsumaru drifted back into unconsciousness.
The battle had been a joint offensive by the Stone and the Rain. The "Half-God" Hanzo of the Salamander had first crushed the combined Konoha-Iron Country forces in the Land of Grass, then defeated the shinobi army led by the Hokage's disciples at the border of the Land of Fire.
Simultaneously, Iwagakure had dispatched nearly a thousand ninjas—including the Jinchuriki Roshi and the Jonin Kitsuchi, the Tsuchikage's son—to coordinate with the remaining Rain forces for a sneak attack on the Konoha border camp. Only Kato Dan's accidental discovery had forced them to launch the assault prematurely.
Hanzo then swept westward. Collaborating with Ohnoki, he systematically dismantled three Suna units, including the puppet brigade led by Lady Chiyo. Together with Kitsuchi, he destroyed five Suna camps within the Land of Rain, driving every Sand ninja out of the country.
Finally, he led his legions to confront the Konoha forces once again. Winning nine out of ten skirmishes, he forced Konoha to abandon every border outpost and camp. Konoha was pushed all the way back to the interior of the Land of Fire before they could finally stabilize the front.
The first climax of the Second Great Ninja War had concluded. The nations of Fire, Rain, Wind, and Iron were all heavily scarred, forced to retreat and lick their wounds while rebuilding their strength.
Hanzo's fame reached a new, terrifying peak. He had carved a path across three thousand miles and slain countless foes.
How high was his prestige?
After defeating the disciples of the Third Hokage, he had spared them, bestowing upon them the title of the "Sannin of Konoha" as a "gift."
At first, everyone viewed the title as a mark of shame—the kind of thing the three recipients would punch you for mentioning. But as Hanzo's legend grew more exaggerated and his name became synonymous with "Half-God," the title of the "Sannin" evolved into a mark of recognized power. At the very least, if you called Orochimaru "one of the Sannin" to his face now, he wouldn't hit you; he'd just give you a cold, murderous glare.
Huh? I'm back here. Am I dead?
Tetsumaru, currently a sphere of light, felt a surge of panic. Did Kato Dan's soul knock mine right out of my body?
Why? How? Is it because I'm a transmigrator and my soul isn't perfectly fused with this body?
Steady. Don't panic. Deep breaths...
Wait, I don't have lungs. Breathing is a bit of a moot point.
Anyway, stay calm. Let's see what I can do.
Tetsumaru tried to remember how he had functioned in this state before. He lost track of time as he experimented, until finally, he felt that familiar tugging sensation again. This time, he was sure of it: the force was pulling him down.
Then, he woke up.
Utterly dazed, Tetsumaru listened to a nurse explain his condition. A cracked skull, seven fractures across his legs, right arm, and ribs. "Everything else is fine," she said.
Fine, my foot. My soul is having an existential crisis, but I can't exactly tell anyone.
When the medical ninja asked if he had any other issues, Tetsumaru could only shake his head. How could he speak of it? If he did, he'd either be dismissed as a lunatic or taken away for experimentation.
Just like his transmigration, the Sea of Souls was a secret that had to be buried deep in his heart. He would have to figure this out on his own.
A few days later, Captain Ueno came to say goodbye. Tetsumaru's injuries were stable but far from healed; he was to be sent back to Konoha with over a hundred other casualties to recover and withdraw from the war for the time being.
Ueno complained with a sigh that his squad had to be rebuilt yet again. He noted that once Tetsumaru recovered in the village, he was a lock for Chunin promotion. Sadly, the two rookies hadn't made it; they were killed in the Jinchuriki's final explosion.
Tetsumaru felt a twinge of envy. Captain Ueno was truly a top-tier "Lucky Star." In a battle of that scale where even Jonin were laid low, a Chunin had emerged with nothing more than a singed tuft of hair. It was ridiculous.
He couldn't help but feel that promotion to Chunin was a curse; clearly, the God of Luck stopped watching over you once you moved up the ranks.
After a long, fifteen-day journey, Tetsumaru finally returned to Konoha.
In the Sea of Souls, Tetsumaru couldn't weave hand seals as a sphere of light, but he found it much easier to construct chakra runes. Those runes could still drive jutsu.
Ninjutsu: Clone Jutsu!
Sphere-Tetsumaru produced a second orb of light. Unfortunately, it was just a visual illusion with no substance and dissipated quickly.
Tetsumaru spent some time reflecting on the experience before turning his gaze "upward." In the absolute darkness beyond the sea of light, faint pinpricks of brilliance flickered like a diamond-studded night sky.
After watching the "stars" for a while, he focused his will and allowed himself to sink. He fell through the dark and woke up in reality.
After half a month back in the village, his body was mostly healed.
While they say "a broken bone takes a hundred days," that doesn't apply to shinobi. For the Uzumaki or the Senju, a "minor injury" like a fracture took maybe three to five days to knit.
Tetsumaru's Kikaichu could help set bones, transport nutrients, and even secrete hormones to stimulate osteoblast growth. Consequently, it only took him thirty days to return to full health.
Despite his recovery, his mother banned him from training. With both Wafu and Tetsumaru deployed—one to the Water front and the other to the Rain—Aburame Aiko had remained in the village.
It was a tacit rule in Konoha: you don't send an entire shinobi family to the front at once. It prevented a lineage from being wiped out entirely and ensured the village kept an emergency reserve of combat power.
Since Tetsumaru had returned with heavy injuries, Aiko had taken a leave of absence to care for her son.
Bored to the bone, Tetsumaru tried to revolt. Half a year on the battlefield had kickstarted a massive growth spurt. At nearly eleven years old, he stood 171 cm tall and weighed 62 kg—he was significantly over-developed for his age.
However, Aiko—who stood only 150 cm—unleashed her ultimate technique: she showered his face with tears. Tetsumaru suffered an instant, crushing defeat.
And so, his days were reduced to sleeping in, taking walks, and reading.
Walking through the streets of Konoha, the changes were obvious. Since the war began, the village had entered a period of frantic prosperity. Massive amounts of military funding flowed from the capital into Konoha, converted into mountains of grain, raw materials, weapons, medicine, paper, and textiles.
Simultaneously, the high-rank missions on the front generated huge payouts. Beyond what the frontline ninjas spent on maintenance, a massive amount of cash was being sent home. Shinobi families were flush with capital.
Naturally, merchants from the Land of Fire and neighboring countries flocked to the village, bringing a variety of goods to exchange for high profits. As the merchants got rich, they hired locals, giving ordinary residents a respectable income, which they in turn spent, further stimulating the economy.
When the boredom became unbearable, Tetsumaru would head to the insect fields to help harvest ant-sugar or insect-wax. The only "real" work he was allowed to do was buy groceries and cook.
Cooking was his primary chore at home. Ever since he took over the kitchen at age six, the lady of the Aburame house hadn't touched a stove in years. Her culinary skills had regressed from "cooked but tasteless" to "not necessarily cooked, but definitely inedible."
While her husband and son were away, Aiko had suffered under her own cooking until she gave up, living off hospital cafeteria food, takeout, and restaurants. Thus, when Tetsumaru regained his health, the first activity he was permitted wasn't walking—it was cooking.
After dinner, he would walk with his mother, chat with relatives, and then wash up for bed.
Once he hit the mattress, his real work began.
Ever since being knocked into the Sea of Souls by Kato Dan, Tetsumaru had mastered the ability to enter and leave at will. Every night, he "logged in" to explore this strange world.
He felt a sense of "floating up" when entering and a heavy "pulling down" when returning, so he dubbed the process "logging in" and "logging out."
After dozens of explorations, he mapped out the basic geography:
The Sea has a verticality: Starlight above, black mist below.Death and Rebirth: Light spheres often cracked, dimmed, and fell into the black mist—likely representing death. Conversely, tiny sparks of light constantly rose from the mist and grew—representing new life.Hierarchy: The orbs varied in size, color, and altitude. Most were clustered on two distinct layers. Since Tetsumaru was on the higher of the two, he assumed the split was based on chakra power.The Elites: Higher up, there were hundreds of large spheres. Using his clone-orbs for comparison, he found the smallest of these was ten times his own size.The Gods: At the very peak, in a realm his clones couldn't even reach, sat over a dozen colossal light spheres.
These giant spheres were split into four groups with features so distinct he could guess their identities:
The Moon: The highest and largest sphere was a dim, dark gold. It radiated a faded brilliance—likely the sealed Kaguya Otsutsuki.The Slug: A massive white sphere sat alone—likely the Slug Sage of Shikkotsu Forest.The Toads: A giant yellow sphere was accompanied by two large and three smaller ones—the Great Toad Sage and his kin.The Snakes: A blue-green sphere accompanied by three large and three smaller ones—the Ryuchi Cave lineage.
But there were several other giant spheres he couldn't identify. Most mysteriously, deep within the black mist below, he could see the faint, shadowy outlines of massive spherical shapes. He wondered if those were the Sage of Six Paths and his brother.
Most importantly: He could manipulate chakra in the Sea of Souls.
Tetsumaru could expel chakra to rotate himself, but no matter how hard he "thrusted," his position remained fixed. He could also build jutsu through runes, though only Transformation and Clone jutsu had any effect. Transformation allowed him to change his color, while the Clone jutsu produced a transparent orb he could push away with chakra.
He spent his nights spamming the Clone jutsu and blowing them toward other light spheres, trying to gather more info through impact. Unfortunately, the clones were too fragile; they disintegrated before they could travel far. Even if they hit, they vanished without providing any feedback.
The "look but don't touch" nature of the Sea was driving his curiosity to the breaking point. He desperately needed a more advanced version of the Clone jutsu—the B-rank Shadow Clone. A Shadow Clone was not only sturdier, but it returned its memories upon dispersal. In this world, that would be priceless.
Under the 10:00 AM sun, Tetsumaru got out of bed lazily. He strolled out to buy groceries for lunch and dinner, as well as a large amount of insect feed.
After making lunch and eating his fill, he packed a bento box and took it to the hospital for his mother. After being teased relentlessly by the hospital aunties and older sisters—against whom he had no defense and no counter-attack—he delivered the food and fled as fast as his legs could carry him.
To counter that kind of "attack," one needs the right "hardware." Despite his height, he was still only eleven. He had a long way to go.
Leaving the hospital, he planned to go on a shopping spree. Raising ninja insects required more than just feed; charcoal, metals, reagents, and glassware were all high-volume consumables. Several of his species—Armor Beetles, Flight-Locusts, and Landmine Beetles—had exoskeletons made of metallic compounds. He needed a lot of raw material.
"A purchase limit?!"
"Yes, sir," the clerk said. "It's a wartime decree from the Hokage. All ninjas not on the front lines must comply. Since you're a Genin in the village, your monthly limit is five kunai or five kilograms of metallic materials."
Tetsumaru was floored. His plan was to buy 100 kg of iron, 20 kg of copper, and another 5 kg of lead, tin, and zinc. That was only a ten-day supply.
Ever since Sarutobi Sasuke led his clan to join Konoha, the Sarutobi had monopolized the Land of Fire's iron mining business. Once Hiruzen Sarutobi became Hokage, the monopoly on all metallic materials became absolute. There were many shops selling tools, but to buy raw metal, you had to go through the Sarutobi.
Thus, the rationing decree was being enforced with ruthless efficiency by the Hokage's own kinsmen.
There were likely black-market channels, but since the Land of Fire was an exporter of raw metal and an importer of finished tools, the volume on the "dark side" was low while the price markup was likely infinite.
Damn. The Sarutobi are trying to squeeze me dry. I wonder if the Third is in on it. Hmph. Even if he isn't, it's still his fault.
He decided to try the official channels first and apply for a special purchase permit. He drafted a detailed application letter, explaining his combat style and the necessity of high metal consumption, requesting an exemption from the limit.
He finished and realized it was too long—over 18,000 words. He knew the Third Hokage didn't have time for that, so he painfully edited it down to less than a thousand.
Then he hit another wall: as a Genin, he didn't even have the authority to submit a petition to the Hokage.
In Konoha, only a Jonin could formally petition the Hokage, and even then, it had to go through a screening process by civil servants. Only individuals personally granted special privileges by the Hokage—like that red-haired girl currently in the village—could skip the line.
Elder Shiki, who was close to him, was retired, and his petitioning rights had been revoked. The Aburame Jonin didn't have special privileges either; if they submitted it for him, it would just sit in the Hokage Tower until it was eventually filtered out. It might take months to move an inch, and more likely, some clerk would decide it wasn't important and throw it in the trash.
Even if it reached the Hokage's desk, it would depend on whether Lord Hiruzen valued Tetsumaru's combat power enough to make an exception.
Despite the low odds, he asked an Aburame Jonin to submit the letter for him while he looked for other ways. He started visiting his recovering comrades in the village; not every ninja needed that much metal, and he could pay them to buy their unused rations for him.
After days of effort, he managed to scrape together 107 kg of various metals. He gave up. It was too much trouble. Rations weren't transferable, so he had to ask person by person and buy piece by piece. Was he really going to do this every month?
A few days later, more rationing decrees were issued. Chemical reagents, medical potions, explosive tags, soldier pills, and even textiles were now restricted. Glassware remained unrestricted—but only because there were no more sellers in the market.
Tetsumaru was at a dead end. His combat power relied on massive swarms, and his swarms were metal-heavy.
Take his most consumed bug, the Flight-Locust: the hardened casing of its head alone contained 40 grams of iron. In the battle against the Jinchuriki, he had lost 540 locusts in one go. That was over twenty kilograms of iron evaporated in minutes.
In a way, Tetsumaru was like the future Tenten—his combat power was tied directly to his wallet. But now, even with money, he couldn't buy the "bullets."
Three days later, he ran out of his final stock. Backed into a corner, he finally remembered the three core skills inherited from his "Red Star" industrious spirit: cultivation, replication, and self-reliance.
Tetsumaru pulled out his Encyclopedia of Insects. To date, he had recorded over 20,000 species.
Due to the influence of chakra and the presence of the Kikaichu, the mutation rate in the Aburame woodlands was incredibly high. Combined with a harsh natural selection process, the insects evolved at an staggering pace. Before graduation, Tetsumaru had noticed that of the first 600 species he'd recorded, over fifty no longer existed in the wild.
To preserve the genetic stock, he kept a "seed bank" in his hut—large glass tanks for each species, maintaining the minimum population needed to prevent extinction. If he found a species valuable, he'd invest in breeding it. If a species proved it could survive on its own without being out-competed, he'd release it to make room.
He flipped through the Encyclopedia, circling a few candidate species, and began his experiments.