By late February of Year 41, three days before her due date, Aburame Aiko was admitted to the hospital.
Aburame Wafu and Tetsumaru had returned home to rest, hoping to gather their strength to welcome the newborn. To their surprise, Aiko went into labor that very night. When the notification arrived, both men were in their deepest sleep; the Aburame household instantly descended into a state of absolute, frantic chaos.
"Quick, quick, quick, quick..." Wafu stood in the center of the living room, chanting "quick" like a broken record while spinning in circles. He had no idea what to do and hadn't even bothered to change out of his pajamas.
Tetsumaru stepped up, assuming command of his flustered father.
"Go change! Check the delivery bag!"
"The bag! I've got the delivery bag!"
"Check the list: hat, socks, slippers, oversized clothes, toiletries, large and small basins, urinal, portable toilet, thick blankets, swaddling cloths, utensils, straws, bibs, diapers, umbilical cord tape, formula, and bottles!"
"All here!"
"Then let's go! Move!"
Two ninjas—one a Chunin and the other a Jonin—sprinted toward the hospital, the supplies in their bags clattering and banging with every step.
By the time they reached the hospital, the natural birth was already over. It was done.
Half an hour later, after being scrubbed and sanitized multiple times, the two were finally allowed into the maternity ward.
Wafu leaned in gently, looking at his wife's exhausted face as she slept while cradling the baby. A wave of guilt washed over him, and he softly brushed a stray hair from her forehead.
Only then did Wafu look at his second son. His face immediately contorted into a look of pure disdain. "Why is he still so ugly?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to rouse Aiko from her light sleep. She shot him a withered look. "He's certainly doing better than you were twenty years ago. At least you didn't faint from terror this time."
"I did not faint! Stop making things up!"
The family had grown; it was a boy.
A crowd of friends soon arrived, eager to see the new arrival and offer their critiques. Everyone praised the baby's beauty. Unlike the wrinkled, red, and pale mess he had been at birth, the little one was now fair-skinned, chubby, and incredibly cute.
Inuzuka Takeshi had arrived with plans for a "revenge" critique for his own son, but one look from Wafu sent him retreating. He's not Tetsumaru's kid... whatever, I'll let it slide.
The following weeks were the most difficult for Wafu. The "stinky little brother" was healthy; he ate, he slept, he woke up to eat again, and he filled the intervals with various bodily functions. If he was unhappy, he cried; if he was satisfied, he smiled.
Aside from needing a new "cycle" every hour or two, there were no issues. But the twenty-four-hour continuous loop left Wafu looking like a ghost.
Tetsumaru eventually took pity on him and helped out with the night shifts, finally allowing his father a few hours of precious sleep.
"You're losing your edge, Dad," Tetsumaru teased. "How did you manage to raise me back in the day?"
"Back then, your grandfather and grandmother were still around. I didn't have to lift a finger."
Ah. Topic dead.
Tetsumaru stayed with his father to look after his brother until the "Full Moon" celebration. Once his mother had fully recovered, Wafu was finally liberated.
With his duty done, Tetsumaru said his goodbyes. He had earned a cool hundred million Ryo from various clans and departments through his telecom venture, and now he was heading back to the Land of Tea.
With money in hand, it was time for a spending spree. Tetsumaru had no personal hobbies or daily needs, so he spent a fortune on high-end laboratory supplies.
The market for such equipment was tiny. After Tetsumaru dropped nearly thirty million Ryo in a few days, the prices for related materials skyrocketed.
The price hike doubled his expenses, but it also attracted the attention of the industry's "big fish." Tetsumaru took the opportunity to network and establish long-term supply lines with several major cartels.
Finally, upon reaching the border of the Land of Fire, Tetsumaru let out a cold snort. He hadn't been followed. Had Danzo learned his lesson, or was he simply too busy with other schemes?
He crossed into the Land of Tea and headed straight south. It wasn't until his boots touched the purple fungal carpet of the Creep that Tetsumaru truly felt he was home.
The birth of his brother had rekindled his parents' romance, and the small house he had grown up in was once again brimming with life. But he found he could no longer fit into that world.
Physically, there was a twenty-year gap. Mentally and physiologically, his massive size and otherworldly aura made him feel like an outsider. That feeling of being a stranger in his own home had only intensified, driving him to flee Konoha as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, he probably could have fleeced the village for another hundred million Ryo or so.
The only place that offered him peace now was this purple grassland. This was his new motherland.
Arriving at the Central Broodmother beneath Mount Takatai, a ninja was waiting to greet him. He wore a Leaf headband and a set of black tactical gear.
"Lord Tetsumaru."
"You've finally made up your mind? Aburame Masao."
This man, Masao, was the Root squad leader Tetsumaru had captured. He was the only squad leader left alive and the sole survivor of Tetsumaru's "Anti-Fuinjutsu" experiments.
After capturing the Root team, Tetsumaru had thrown them all into transparent vats to attempt seal removal. He used simple chakra pulses to slowly wear down the seals placed upon them.
However, as the experiments progressed, Tetsumaru discovered that the ten "robotic" ninjas were actually normal people whose frontal lobes had been suppressed by powerful seals, leaving them in a permanent stupor.
The damage to their brains was irreversible. As the seals collapsed, the ten ninjas regained their sanity, but they also spiraled toward death. Their final moments were a haunting display of raw emotion—some felt relief, some broke down in tears, others spat curses. There wasn't a single numb face among them. The sight of life venting its final feelings before the end was spine-chilling.
But that scene hadn't hit Tetsumaru as hard as the reaction of the sole survivor. Masao's world had shattered. After his seals were removed, he remained a wooden, unresponsive shell for weeks.
When Tetsumaru finally questioned him, he had only one response: "My name is Aburame Masao."
He was indeed a clansman, and the name rang a bell in the depths of Tetsumaru's memory.
During his trip to Konoha, Tetsumaru had asked the Clan Head to check the family records. There were nine "Masao"s listed—some living, some missing, some dead. Two were close in age, but one was already carved into the Memorial Stone.
If this man's name was correct, he was Tetsumaru's cousin who had "gone missing" during childhood.
Seeing Masao waiting at the gate, it seemed he had finally climbed out of the shadows.
"How old are you, Masao?"
"Twenty-one."
Age checks out.
"You know you can never go back to Konoha, right?"
"Yes," Masao replied. "According to Root protocol, being missing for seven days is a declaration of death. A 'dead' ninja found alive is treated as a rogue."
"Then stay here and work for me. I happen to have a task for you."
"Understood." Masao reached up to remove his headband and drew a kunai.
Tetsumaru quickly grabbed his hand. "What are you doing?"
"Aren't we defecting?"
"I am not a rogue ninja. I'm independent, yes, but I'm still on Konoha's active roster. You can keep wearing that headband if you want, or take it off. Just don't put a scratch through the symbol."
"I understand."
Tetsumaru led him deep into the Broodmother, finally arriving at a residential zone. Inside, over a hundred children were gathered, their voices creating a constant, chirping din.
These were abandoned children from Tetsumaru's territory. Although his swarms found them the moment they were discarded, Tetsumaru always waited until the last possible second—giving the parents a final chance to change their minds. Only when a child was on the brink of death would a Mantis pick them up.
They were orphans with living parents. Over eighty percent of them—more than a hundred—were girls.
This was the first generation of ninjas that would belong solely to Tetsumaru. His original plan was to assign a Shadow Clone to them, but now, he had Masao.
Masao's face darkened as he scanned the room, his eyes eventually landing on a toddler standing in a puddle of his own making. He turned his head slowly toward Tetsumaru. "Is it too late to say no?"
"What do you think?"
"They're all yours, Headmaster Cousin." Tetsumaru patted Masao on the shoulder and tossed him a Snail Phone. "I'll send you a batch of assistants in a couple of days."
He was referring to the Sky Ninja youths he had captured. Since their arrival, they had been undergoing rigorous "Boot Camp" training. Through extreme collective activities designed to overwrite their previous ideology, the results were promising.
Most had been broken by the daily exhaustion and the four high-quality meals provided to them. Only a few "hard cases" remained defiant, but even they were wobbling under the pressure of solitary confinement. They wouldn't last much longer.
To be honest, Tetsumaru trusted the "hard cases" more. The ones who surrendered immediately were unreliable. Still, he had to be wary of any "deep-cover" types hiding among the compliant ones.
Next came the most important breakthrough: the Senjutsu Bio-Armor.
This was an upgraded version of Bio-Armor Unit 1, modified to safely transfer Senjutsu chakra to the wearer, replenishing their reserves.
Under the watchful eyes of a hundred Shadow Clones and the real Tetsumaru, a clone whose chakra was nearly depleted stepped forward. He equipped the Senjutsu suit and began to slowly draw energy.
"I think we can go faster," the test subject requested, gauging his own limits.
After a quick analysis, the team agreed. The transfer speed increased, ramping up until the clone himself throttled it back.
The process lasted for a long time before finally tapering off. The clone de-summoned the armor and announced: "Recharge successful."
To prove it, he immediately performed two high-consumption Water Style jutsu. Just minutes ago, he had been on the verge of dispersing from exhaustion.
"Wood Style! Can we do Wood Style?!" several clones shouted. This was their greatest obsession.
"I'll try, but no guarantees." The clone closed his eyes, savoring the new energy. After a long period of concentration, he knelt and pressed his palms to the floor. Chakra surged into the ground... but nothing happened.
"Booo!" The clones let out a collective jeer and began to disperse. The final test would last a month; they needed to see if today's test subject developed any major issues during that time.
"Regardless, today's experiment is a success. We've clearly found a way to extend our lifespan."
"Next, the Main Body needs to experience the Senjutsu chakra personally. I wonder what the effect will be on a genuine human body?"
"Tell me... once we all have Senjutsu Bio-Armor, will we ever go back to the Main Body?"
"Of course we will. It'll just take a very, very long time."
Hahahaha! A group of clones left the testing ground laughing, filled with anticipation for the day they'd get their own suits.
A few more sensitive clones, however, noted a problem. If the clones lived longer, the time between their creation and their return to the Main Body would be massive.
The new problem: How do we synchronize the diverging thoughts of the Avatar and the Main Body over such a long period? How do we prevent the "Soul Return" from boiling the Main Body's brain into tofu?
The answer was to develop a new "Avatar Technique" based on the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The primary feature had to be a Soul Link capable of direct information transfer, though the priority for this was currently low.
With the first step of the Avatar Project complete, the Moon War Plan moved into high gear. Every other project had to yield to the lunar mission.
The Moon War Plan was divided into three stages: Positioning, Scouting, and Landing.
Positioning: Use the satellite grid to calculate precise orbital data for the Earth-Moon transit.Scouting: Establish a lunar satellite network to gather data, identify landing zones, and gather intel on the enemy.Landing: Launch the invasion, defeat the Otsutsuki clan, and occupy the moon.
The entire plan relied on massive Earth-Moon transport capacity. The first two stages alone required the launch of 316 satellites.
The third stage was the biggest variable. The lunar Otsutsuki possessed a Giant Tenseigan and a massive army of puppets.
If they couldn't utilize the Tenseigan effectively, Tetsumaru would use the "Standard Zerg Inversion" mode: quietly drop a few Brain Worms onto the moon to build Broodmothers. They would expand silently until the swarm reached a critical mass, eventually overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers.
But if the Otsutsuki had a firm grasp of lunar airspace via the Tenseigan, he'd be in trouble. The war wouldn't allow for a stealthy Zerg infiltration; it would require a massive deployment from the Earth-Moon orbit downward.
In that scenario, he would have to produce a swarm legion in the Land of Tea, launch them into orbit, and then perform a planetary landing. An interstellar D-Day.
In such a war, the 300+ satellites of the first phases were a mere rounding error. Transporting tens or hundreds of thousands of Scythe-Mantises was a terrifying task.
Transport capacity was the foundation of the war. If he couldn't get across the void, all his strategies and specialized units were meaningless.
Following the principles of an amphibious assault, Tetsumaru had to prepare overwhelming fire superiority to suppress the enemy. Only with enough firepower could he ensure the swarm wasn't annihilated during the atmospheric entry.
That firepower also needed transport. And history had taught him one thing: humans are very good at making bigger guns, but moving them is always a nightmare.