Souma wasn't just talking pretty to fool Aburame Torune.
Did he want to use nano-sized poison bugs? Of course he did.
But spend time and effort raising them, training them, tuning them?
Yeah, no thanks.
Not only would it cost a ton of energy, they weren't invincible either.
If they were truly unstoppable, Torune wouldn't die later on.
No matter how strong the Parasitic Rot Bugs became, they were still external tools at the end of the day.
Souma preferred to treat them like summoned beasts, not parasites living in his own body. That was why he'd spent so much time studying Summoning in the first place.
Fortunately—
Effort paid off.
His current Summoning Formation fit perfectly with what he and the Aburame needed. Once it was spread through the clan, there was a good chance he'd even get another pattern feedback on his Bodhi Seed out of it.
And for both the Aburame and Souma, the meaning of this wasn't just "shared access to the Forest of Death swarm."
It went beyond that.
For example—
Medical bugs.
Souma's ultimate goal was to unify all of the Aburame's Parasitic Rot Bugs into one shared system—a single, clan-wide "bug pool" that everyone could draw from.
That was the real plan.
Aburame Shibi invited Souma inside.
"Souma-kun, about your Summoning Technique—can it be…?"
"I came in a rush and haven't written a scroll yet," Souma said. "But I can explain it roughly. I combined standard Summoning with the Flying Thunder Formation, using tags for substitution and positioning…"
He started breaking down the logic.
But after a while, he noticed both Shibi and Torune looking completely blank.
He stopped.
"Is this a bit much?" he asked.
"Ahem. You know our clan almost never studies things like this, so…" Shibi coughed, a little embarrassed.
Calling it "a bit much" was being generous.
Past the basics of the Summoning Technique, everything else—barriers, formulas, spatial channels—sounded like a foreign language.
They didn't understand any of it.
But they couldn't just walk away either. They had to listen and at least try to follow along. After only a short while, both men were already dizzy and seeing stars.
Luckily—
Souma really was a decent person. He saw their struggle and cut off the knowledge bombardment in time.
Shibi sat in silence for a moment.
In the end, he spoke first.
"Souma-kun, how about this—explaining the theory is wasted on us. Just give us the jutsu directly."
"That works too," Souma nodded. "I'll write it out on a scroll later and send it to Aburame Muta at the institute so she can pass it along."
He added, "But this technique does require some foundation. If you need notes or books, feel free to come to me."
"Understood. Thank you very much," Torune said, bowing deeply.
Shibi could only sigh inwardly.
The best decision he ever made was agreeing to work with Souma without hesitation.
Now…
Reality had proven that Souma really was an extremely generous partner. When it came to his own side, he genuinely handed out benefits.
Still—
He only allowed himself a moment of sentiment.
Right now, the most pressing issue was the future of the new Parasitic Rot Bugs.
The Summoning Formation solved a big logistical problem, but the bugs' potential and development path were still a complete mystery. Their new traits were promising, but what they truly meant was anyone's guess.
Shibi reported Aburame's recent experiments.
They hadn't done much.
Most of it was communicating with the Insect King, building trust. Second to that was work with the medical-type bugs.
On that topic—
"Have the medical bugs shown any new evolution?" Souma asked, curious.
The Parasitic Rot Bugs had shown astonishing potential for evolution. Medical chakra and normal chakra weren't the same. Over a long period, that difference could push a branch to mutate.
Shibi himself hadn't worked directly on medical bugs.
He thought for a bit, then turned to Torune.
"How are things on your side? Any results?"
Shibi hadn't pried, but he knew Torune would've done research.
Torune hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Our Parasitic Rot Bugs have evolved in some cases. Their new trait is a better fit for medical use—they can store chakra for much longer."
"I see. That's a very good sign…" Souma said. "I have an idea. Hear me out first."
He paused a second, then continued.
"What if we tried directing some of the evolved bugs toward a focused medical-bug path? Specialized, large-scale medical strains."
"Directed for medical use…?" Shibi repeated, stunned.
So he wanted to…
Breed oversized medical bugs?
What was the point?
No matter how you cultivated them, the bugs weren't likely to manifest stable chakra on their own.
"Can Parasitic Rot Bugs generate their own chakra?" Shibi asked.
"As of now, the Insect King already has its own chakra," Souma said. "We've confirmed the new strain's intelligence is far beyond the originals. And if we can create one special medical-type bug like that, we can use the Summoning Formation on it."
"I see," Shibi said slowly. "You want to unify everyone's Parasitic Rot Bugs around the new strain, then Summon through that."
Shibi and Torune had both done deep work on the bugs. They quickly understood the meaning behind Souma's words.
Link every individual's Parasitic Rot Bugs to the new strain and treat them as a whole. As long as a ninja was raising a new-type bug, their swarm would be included in the Summon's range.
That meant—
Any Aburame proficient in Summoning could carry an entire army of bugs without physically having them on their body.
Shibi sucked in a sharp breath.
But the more he thought about it, the more he realized Souma was right.
The Parasitic Rot Bugs' main advantage was numbers.
Group tactics were their true strength. With the Summoning Formation, the Aburame would no longer be limited to only the bugs they personally carried.
Not only that—
They could mix and match types as needed, calling out specific configurations of bugs for different missions.
A clan like that…
Would be fully omni-capable.
Shibi's face flushed with excitement. He clenched his fists, then let out a very long breath.
"Excellent. We'll need your help with the initial cultivation, though," he said.
"Of course," Souma nodded.
He'd been the one to propose a shared-bug system. Naturally, he'd carry a big part of the workload.
But—
There was something else to do first.
He should give the whole system a proper name.
Souma thought about it as Shibi said, "Have Muta cooperate with you. She's been studying medical ninjutsu lately."
"Perfect."
The Forest of Death was ideal for absorbing natural energy.
As one of the Guard Squad's captains and a medical-nin in training, Aburame Muta was absolutely the best candidate to host the new medical bug strain.
Souma left the Aburame compound and headed for the research institute.
Partly to let Tenten know he was alive—
She had gone all the way to his house to check on him earlier.
And partly to—
Write out the Summoning Formation scroll and arrange for Muta's new medical Parasitic Rot Bug.
Tenten visibly relaxed when he finally appeared, then brought up another matter.
The institute is fully powered now.
Some equipment hadn't arrived yet, but they no longer needed Yamato and Tenten on daily duty.
It was time to reshuffle their old squad.
"Where's Yamato-senpai?" Souma asked.
"He already went back," Tenten said. "He asked me to let you know."
"Got it. The Third already talked to me about it," Souma replied, pen scraping across his notebook. "He asked whether I wanted to stay in the village to do research or join an active squad."
Tenten's heart clenched. She took two quick steps forward.
"What did you tell him?" she asked.
"I still prefer being an active shinobi," Souma said. "Besides, who can guarantee there won't be a Fourth Great Ninja War? If it falls to our generation, and I haven't tempered myself in battle… what, I just sit back and watch you guys go to the front?"
He said it lightly, like a joke.
Tenten didn't take it seriously.
A Fourth Great Ninja War?
After three previous wars, all the big villages needed rest. A full-scale war in the near future was unlikely.
Minor skirmishes, sure. But a world war?
Most shinobi would've laughed that off.
Even so—
She just gave a crooked grin and said, "You're right. If you don't fight, even geniuses get rusty."
"Exactly."
Souma checked the scroll one last time, then lightly blew to dry the ink.
"Done."
"What jutsu is that? If it's not convenient, you don't have to say," Tenten said. She caught herself halfway through, realizing she might be prying, and quickly corrected herself.
"It's not classified," Souma said. "It's a Summoning Formation. I combined Flying Thunder God theory with Summoning—lets you lock onto a new-type bug and call an entire group of Parasitic Rot Bugs."
"Oh. Yeah, that really is only useful for the Aburame. No wonder you said it's not a big secret," Tenten said.
She understood.
She'd been learning plenty of space–time theory herself lately. For regular summons, the standard Summoning Technique was more than enough. No one needed a complicated formation for their toads, snakes, or slugs.
Only the bugs were special.
Ordinary Parasitic Rot Bugs were parasitic, with no stable chakra signature of their own. You couldn't lock onto them for a Summon.
But—
The fact that Souma had created a new jutsu like this in only a few days…
That level of talent was—
She couldn't help thinking of herself, and a faint shame crept in.
She'd barely made it through one quarter of the notes in his book. Three-quarters still loomed over her like a mountain. Compared to Souma, she felt hopelessly slow.
Souma took the scroll to Muta and explained the situation. Her hands were shaking as she accepted it.
The scroll was far too valuable.
Then he laid out the plan for the medical bug cultivation.
Muta grew even more excited.
Like Torune—
She bowed deeply to apologize.
In this, the Aburame really were quite simple. If it were someone like the Third or Danzo, they'd never feel "embarrassed" over such small things.
Once the bug arrangements were made, Souma checked on the institute's layout, distributing areas as needed.
Here would be a training field.
There, a dojo.
Another section, reserved for Aburame drills…
One zone after another, he marked off most of the space.
The remaining spare rooms would be kept in reserve for future expansions when more people joined.
After giving his instructions, Souma went back to his own lab and began cultivating the new "medical bug" strain using Sage Chakra.
With a few rounds of practice behind him, he was getting pretty smooth at it.
Before long, a fresh batch of bugs were hatched.
Of course—
Just being successfully catalyzed didn't mean all of them would make the cut.
That part would depend on how well Muta raised them.
Once he was done, he headed into the forest and gave the Insect King a name.
He suggested options like "Buzzy," "Little Black," and so on.
The beetle raised its newly grown claw.
"Ao!" it chirped.
That was the name it chose.
Ao.
Its form was completely different from an ordinary beetle now. It had grown new pincers it hadn't had before, and its shell had become unbelievably tough.
In just a few days, its size had doubled.
Souma wandered through the woods and realized almost all the insects in that patch of forest had been transformed into Parasitic Rot Bugs. The chakra they required was currently being supplied by him and the injured bug that had once lost a claw.
But that was only temporary.
As the Insect King—
So long as it lived in the Forest of Death, all Parasitic Rot Bugs there would obey its command. Newly spawned or evolved ones as well.
And not only that—
Souma discovered they'd also go and "rub chakra" off Aburame shinobi when they could.
All in all—
These bugs were far smarter than he'd originally thought.
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