"Shino, try using your bugs," Mizuki said. Regarding the tailed-beast-like energy shield outside his body, he truly had no solution. It was impossible to remain in a stalemate forever; at this moment, it was necessary to seek external assistance.
Upon hearing Mizuki's words, Shino Aburame hesitated slightly before asking doubtfully, "Try? Try what exactly?"
"Use your Parasitic Bugs. Take advantage of their characteristic of devouring chakra and help me suppress this…" Mizuki gestured toward the red-colored energy coat surrounding his body, "…damn thing I can't seem to withdraw right now. I need your help to restrain it."
After hearing Mizuki speak, realization dawned on Shino. No wonder Mizuki had asked many questions earlier about insect techniques and Parasitic Bugs.
"I understand."
"Then start quickly, before unexpected changes occur again."
The less that's out of control—especially when it comes to your own body—the better.
Soon after, Shino raised both hands, summoning a massive swarm of black bugs that floated toward Mizuki, quickly enveloping him entirely.
Just as expected, darkness swallowed his vision. The swarming Parasitic Bugs completely blocked his sight. Even so, with the eerie crimson glow and Mizuki's mutated eyesight, he could still barely discern the innermost layer of bugs beginning to gnaw at the energy shield—only to be instantly killed by the dominant Natural Energy and Shukaku's chakra. Fortunately, since the number of Parasitic Bugs was incredibly vast, as they continuously surged forward, one after another, Mizuki slowly started seeing a glimmer of hope.
"Shino, do you have any other types of bugs more suitable for this situation?" Concerned about the slow progress, an impatient Mizuki couldn't help but ask. "Bugs with stronger devouring power and greater survivability—like the Parasitic Large Bugs?"
"Parasitic Large Bugs? I didn't expect Captain Mizuki to know quite a bit about the Aburame clan's secret insect techniques." Shino showed some surprise over how well-informed Mizuki appeared to be. This unique form of insect manipulation wasn't commonly practiced within the Aburame clan itself, and very few outsiders even knew of its existence—some insect users within the clan themselves weren't especially familiar with it either.
"Being a ninja means information that isn't deliberately hidden isn't hard to uncover."
Mizuki replied with a casual wave, brushing off the question.
"I see." Shino nodded slightly; it wasn't really an important matter anyway, nor did he intend to investigate further. "Controlling Parasitic Bugs isn't easy to master. For now, I don't have the capability to control such powerful insects."
"Oh." Mizuki shook his head disappointedly, although this situation was somewhat anticipated. Their effectiveness was overly specialized—they were exceptionally effective against large energy-congregated creatures. Clearly designed specifically to counter enemies like the tailed beasts and giant summoned beasts—even capable of dealing considerable damage to the Ten-Tails, showcasing their terrifying power. Their ability to devour tailed-beast chakra absolutely surpassed that of ordinary Parasitic Bugs. However, when used against regular ninja, they would become somewhat impractical.
It's only natural that the Aburame clan places this technique much later in their training curriculum. After all, one can't realistically expect weaker clan members to charge headlong into battle against tailed beasts.
Without his Parasitic Large Bugs, Mizuki could now only hope his swarms of smaller Parasitic Bugs would somehow make up for the loss.
...
Meanwhile, after settling Gaara properly, Kankuro and Temari quickly came over to take care of their younger brother.
"How are you feeling, Gaara?"
"Everything feels broken... completely drained. My head's killing me, like someone bored a hole through it. I can't focus at all..."
"Nothing else bothering you?" An anxious Temari hurriedly handed him a water bottle. After drinking several mouthfuls of clear tea, the cool sensation temporarily revived Gaara slightly.
"I'm okay otherwise, though I've got no strength left to fight."
"Don't worry, the fighting is almost over," Baki reassured him, visibly relieved seeing Gaara wasn't seriously hurt.
Regaining his composure, Gaara looked around at those gathered nearby—Temari, Kankuro, and his teacher Baki. Then he glanced about cautiously.
"What about Jonin Yura? Why isn't he here?"
"It's unfortunate..." Shaking his head, Baki replied, "We suffered great losses this time."
Though everyone felt extreme puzzlement over Yura's unexpected death, no one had yet reached the point of suspecting him as a traitor. And Baki, who knew the truth, temporarily concealed the facts. Important matters like this were better dealt with upon returning home. Besides, since Yura was already dead and had been their longtime comrade, some things were better kept under wraps for now.
"I see." Gaara lowered his head. "So we still ended up suffering heavy losses. Did I do something terrible after losing control?"
"Nonsense!" Baki comforted him. "If it weren't for your chakra, we'd still be trapped inside that barrier. Later on, your strength helped us significantly too."
Although somewhat deviated from exact details, what Baki said wasn't fundamentally incorrect.
"If that's true, then good." Looking slightly less dejected, Gaara eased his furrowed brows a bit.
"Don't think too much about it. Get some rest now; there shouldn't be any danger anymore." Saying this, Baki turned to Temari and Kankuro. "You two look after Gaara and others carefully. I'll go check how the other villages are doing."
After all, they were allies who had fought side by side—the earlier disrespect needed to be handled carefully.
What pleased Baki most was Gaara's recent changes—clearly fewer gloomy moods and gradually more signs of positivity. His relationships with Temari, Kankuro, and others had also begun showing improvement.
『At least there's still a flicker of hope. As long as Gaara is with us, there's always a chance to change our fate.』
Given Gaara's talent and his identity as the Jinchuriki of One-Tail Shukaku, with proper cultivation, sooner or later he would certainly become Sunagakure's pillar of support. This transformation in personality and spirit particularly delighted Baki.
...
Even before leaving the village, Mizuki had harbored serious doubts about this Sage Mode concept he himself had concocted—an approach seemingly reasonable in principle but rather questionable in actual implementation.
Leveraging Shino Aburame's parasitic bugs' ability to devour chakra, creating a failsafe in case of an unintended energy surge had been part of the original plan. And just as Mizuki had anticipated, there were too many lingering damages inside his body. When one system failed, the natural energy ran wild. The surging, turbulent power immediately ignited the powder keg within Mizuki, unleashing a force that made him feel the crushing weight of uncontrolled power—but it also brought him dangerously close to self-destruction—playing with fire without getting burned wasn't an option anymore.
Fortunately, the parasitic bugs proved effective. After a thick carpet of their dead bodies formed on the ground near Mizuki, the risk of another outburst was finally contained.
"Shino, how are you feeling? Do you need to rest for a bit?" The danger hadn't completely passed, but at least the urgency had lessened. He had time for a breather now.
"I'm fine. I can still hold on…"
Summoning such a large number of parasitic bugs had already consumed a huge amount of Shino's chakra. With so many bugs having died, this situation had become extremely taxing for him.
The deceased bugs constituted a significant portion of those normally maintained and controlled by the Aburame clan. As supplies became critically low, Shino had no choice but to consume an immense amount of chakra, activating the secret technique—[Bug Cocoon]! In a short time, through an extremely energy-intensive process, he generated new parasitic bugs in great numbers, which he then manipulated back into the swarm consuming natural energy and tailed beast chakra.
With Shino sparing no effort in consumption, progress accelerated noticeably.
As Mizuki anxiously waited, finally, the external energy thinned enough to drop below the critical threshold necessary to maintain physical form. Visibly, the crimson energy began to disintegrate into fragments before vanishing entirely into the air.
Seeing the problem solved, Shino, who had nearly reached his limit, relaxed slightly—and immediately collapsed from exhaustion. The swarms of bugs surrounding Mizuki started to dissipate. Weakened from extreme depletion himself, Shino almost fell to the ground in fatigue. Fortunately, Aoba Yamashiro reacted quickly, catching the barely-standing Aburame before he could collapse.
Witnessing the resolution of the biggest crisis, Mizuki exhaled deeply in relief.
"Shino, thank you. You did great. Rest well for now."
"Hmm." Shino didn't say much, but he meant it.
"Mizuki, is your problem resolved?" Seeing the unnatural red glow around Mizuki disappear, Aoba couldn't help asking.
"Not really. Let's say the most dangerous aspect has temporarily passed," Mizuki replied with a shake of his head.
"What should we do then? Do you need our help?"
Aoba glanced toward the exhausted Shino. "Unfortunately, I don't have any special techniques for controlling chakra, nor do I know any Medical Ninjutsu. I'm afraid I won't be much help."
"Don't say that. Your help might actually come in handy later."
Indeed, as Aoba himself admitted, none of those troublesome abilities belonged to his strengths. However, he certainly possessed distinct advantages of his own.
"Alright, let me know if you need anything. What should we do next?"
"You guys rest for a while. I'll figure things out." Mizuki turned to Neji Hyuga as he spoke. "Especially you, recover as soon as possible."
"I understand." Though unsure of Mizuki's intentions, Neji still nodded carefully.
Aoba Yamashiro and the two Genin started resting, while Mizuki wrestled internally with his complex condition.
"What a troublesome situation! I definitely won't recklessly absorb any strange energy into my body ever again!"
Ultimately, everything in the ninja world rooted in chakra and natural energy. Therefore, most elements in the ninja world ultimately stemmed from chakra and natural energy, and thus were inherently interrelated. Especially regarding the Sage Mode Mizuki developed and the Cursed Seal's Sage Transformation — they actually originated from the same source. The difference was that the cursed seal was an incomplete prototype, while what Mizuki carried was an experimental prototype that had undergone mutations due to Mizuki's interference. As for Sage Mode, its core component — Sage Chakra — could essentially be viewed as the perfected version of the Cursed Seal. Although their appearances differed greatly, their principles were quite similar.
Originally, Sage Chakra and the Cursed Seal remained separate with no interaction between them. In fact, the cursed seal had been under strict control by sealing techniques, leaving no opportunity to cause trouble, maintaining stability all along.
This time, however, both changed under Shukaku's overwhelming pressure — something Mizuki really didn't want to happen.
Centered around natural energy, these two forces began developing strange connections. The summoned beasts' collective willpower that Mizuki intentionally introduced to balance Yin and Yang imbalance and the very culprit causing this imbalance — the cursed seal — now entangled together and couldn't be easily separated.
If they weren't so tightly linked, Mizuki could have sorted them out one by one — this wouldn't even have been a real problem. But now, the situation resembled pulling one hair that moved the entire body. With so much power within him, a single misstep might cause Sage Mode to collapse, letting natural energy rampantly erupt inside his body — a consequence too terrible for Mizuki to contemplate.
"What should I do? Natural energy serves as the central connection, making separation impossible. With the Yang Attribute-biased cursed seal entangling with Yin Attribute spirit entity, there seems no way to resolve this at all."
This difficult challenge severely tested Mizuki's abilities and caused him great headache. Do it right, and disaster might become a blessing. Do it wrong, and you'll just end up with lasting complications.
The Yin and Yang imbalance issue alone had already troubled him for over two months.
Eventually, Mizuki decided on forceful separation to eliminate the threat of tailed beast chakra. The next pressing issue was his dwindling chakra reserves — even Breath-Sealing Art was beginning to strain. After so many battles in a row, just being able to keep going was impressive enough. Since sustaining Sage Mode wasn't viable long-term and no good ideas came to mind, he might as well take proactive action — perhaps something unexpected could happen.
"Neji, how are you feeling?"
"Very well, no problems at all."
"Neji Hyuga, you're up," Mizuki called out.
"Then what's next? You help me..."
"How should I proceed?"
"Don't overthink it. Have you mastered the One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms of your Gentle Fist?"
"I have."
"Good." Mizuki nodded—no surprise he was considered a prodigy.
"Your pressure point technique should also be quite advanced by now..." Mizuki said solemnly.
"Just wait," Mizuki continued, "use your [Byakugan] to carefully observe the flow of Chakra within my body. If there's any abnormality, especially an uncontrollable surge somewhere, immediately cut off its external release and movement."
Neji Hyuga blurted out in surprise, "That would require me using the pressure point technique. However, according to Captain Mizuki's plan, it might damage the meridians and acupoints—the channels that carry energy through the body. The consequences could be serious."
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>