Aburame Ryōma was a genius of the Aburame clan.
In the past, he had been an elite of Root, renowned for his infiltration skills that stood out even among the generations of ANBU. It was said that his power had once rivaled that of Orochimaru in his prime.
Ambitious and hungry for strength, Ryōma had sought to expand the Aburame clan's influence. In his travels, he had discovered a new type of insect.
Unlike Aburame Shihei's nano-scale parasites, Ryōma's cultivated kikaichū didn't need physical contact to infect—they could spread directly through the air.
But when he began developing new secret techniques with them, his body suffered a severe backlash.
He started secretly killing his teammates, feeding their blood to his insects. The truth was soon exposed, and he was imprisoned.
And now, here he was.
Uchiha Akira tensed at once, quickly weaving hand seals. His chest swelled.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
Target—his own feet!
Boom! A torrent of flames spewed downward, exploding against the ground before surging back upward.
Akira stumbled out of the inferno, his skin scorched.
"Hmph." Ryōma snorted coldly. This Uchiha was ruthless enough to burn himself.
The invisible swarm of nano-sized insects that had already invaded was instantly incinerated.
He knew they couldn't be seen with the naked eye—yet this boy had the presence of mind to torch his own body.
Though badly burned, Akira had narrowly escaped Ryōma's airborne swarm. If those insects had latched on, he would've lost control of his body in seconds, his brain shutting down before he even realized he was dead.
"Will you come quietly, or should I carry back your corpse?" Ryōma sneered.
His nano-insects were spent. To breed more, he needed blood. For now, he released ordinary kikaichū instead.
With a wave of his hand, a massive swarm surged forward.
Akira, weakened by his burns, could only retreat desperately. Lacking ninja tools, he relied solely on Fire Style.
Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire!
Clusters of small fireballs shot from his mouth, colliding with the insect cloud.
Dozens of bugs dropped dead at once, while others were driven back as the ground burst into flames.
The commotion was loud. Ryōma darted past the fire with startling speed, reaching to strike.
Akira rolled aside, narrowly evading a punch, but Ryōma followed up with a brutal kick.
His foot landed—only for Akira's body to burst into smoke.
"What!?" A Shadow Clone? Since when?
The clone's pain and memory snapped back to the real Akira instantly.
He had known from the start he couldn't win. When he'd unleashed the Great Fireball, he had split nearly all his remaining chakra into a clone to flee.
It was an insane gamble. With his reserves so low, the feedback of the clone's injuries threatened to knock him unconscious outright.
Akira staggered, nearly collapsing. But he clenched his teeth and endured. For the clan—for the peace they had finally grasped—he refused to fall.
"Ugh…" A muffled groan escaped him, blood dripping from his nose.
Ryōma's footsteps closed in.
Kikaichū Secret Technique—
The buzzing swarm was already upon him.
Akira's eyes flared open wide, strength surging as if from nowhere. He leapt forward, escaping at the last instant.
Gasping raggedly, he felt it—his Sharingan spinning, transforming.
The tomoe completed their circle.
Three tomoe.
Ryōma's lips curled. "So, you had some bite in you after all. But now I've wasted too much time…"
His gaze sharpened at the sight of the evolved Sharingan. "Three tomoe, eh? Hah. What luck."
The swarm howled toward Akira once more.
"Am I going to die here?" Exhausted and out of chakra, Akira couldn't move fast enough to dodge.
Boom! A massive shockwave.
A skeletal giant burst forth, enveloping him in its ribcage.
"Well, made it in time." Natsuki gave Akira an approving nod.
"Captain…" Relief washed over Akira. Darkness claimed him as he collapsed.
"This… is Susanoo?" Ryōma's voice trembled. The sheer chakra pressure from even its skeletal form sent his insects wailing in terror.
Without hesitation, he turned to flee.
Natsuki's eyes narrowed. The giant arm swung with a thunderous gust.
The blow struck home—but Ryōma's body scattered into a swarm of insects, reconstituting a short distance away.
Half his kikaichū were gone. That technique had cost him dearly.
Natsuki dispelled Susanoo, flashing forward. His hands formed the Tiger seal.
Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!
A roaring sea of fire surged forth, engulfing the clearing.
Ryōma split into bugs again, but this time the inferno consumed everything.
His kikaichū shrieked as they burned away, leaving him exposed. The flames wrapped around his body in an instant, searing him black before he could even scream.
When the fire finally died down, only a charred husk remained.
Rustle, rustle—branches swayed as Uchiha clansmen finally arrived.
But all they found was devastation: scorched earth, half the forest ablaze.
"…Guess I overdid it," Natsuki scratched his head.
Fire was the natural counter to bug users. To be thorough, he had poured in more chakra than usual. The result? A battlefield-sized crater of smoldering ruin.
"Put out the flames, quickly!"
"Water Style: Waterflow Jutsu!"
"Water Style!"
Luckily, some of the arriving Uchiha wielded Water Style, or the fire would've been impossible to stop.
Natsuki lifted Akira. When the barrier array had been activated, he'd sensed Ryōma's intrusion immediately.
He had been at the scene all along—choosing not to intervene, to see how Akira would handle it.
And Akira had surprised him. First burning himself with the Great Fireball, then hiding within the flames to create a desperate Shadow Clone escape.
It was reckless, dangerous—but brilliant.
That gamble, combined with sheer willpower, had awakened his three-tomoe Sharingan.
The medics confirmed his injuries weren't fatal—burns aside, he would recover.
A blessing, in the end.
Natsuki glanced at the corpse. Ryōma.
That man had been imprisoned in the Leaf's Sky Prison.
Now here he was.
The Third Hokage hadn't had a proper reason to move against Danzō before.
Now?
This was more than enough.
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