Chapter 36: Aburame Ryosuke, A Jonin Strikes
At Root headquarter, a ninja wearing a cat mask went down on one knee and greeted, “Danzo-sama.”
Shimura Danzo, who was sitting on a seat, looked down at him indifferently and said, “Aburame Ryosuke, your evaluation mission is to bring Uchiha Tonan here. If the situation deems necessary, you can kill him and dig out his Sharingan. But that will lower your evaluation score. Only after passing this test, you can officially become a Root member. But you should know the consequences of failure.”
“Yes, Danzo-sama,” Ryosuke responded, turned around, and left. After he was gone, Danzo tapped on the armrest with his finger. Another Root ninja walked out from the shadows and knelt on one knee in front of him.
“Torune, go and monitor from a distance. If this matter alarms the Anbu or the Uchihas, trigger the cursed seal. There’ll be trouble if this matter spreads.”
“Yes.”
……
The winter moon was bright and cold. It illuminated Konoha with ice-like white radiance. At this moment, Tonan was already in deep sleep. Outside the quiet Uchiha district, the officers were patrolling and chatting in groups of twos and threes.
Since the war had just ended, the Konoha ninjas had relaxed a bit.
“Did you hear about Tonan?”
“Hear what in particular?”
“Of course about his early graduation. If I’m not mistaken, he’s just six years old, turning seven in a few months. And he’s already a genin. That’s truly amazing.”
“The Uchiha clan bestowed him with the talent but not only does he maintain distance with clan members but he is closer with the Konoha higher-ups.”
“To be honest, I don’t think we can blame him completely. After all, anyone else in his shoes wouldn’t be able to bear what happened to him.”
“That had nothing to do with the Uchiha clan.”
“I don’t think you know. This is confidential so don’t spread it. I heard that Kotoura and Nanako were very stern with Tonan since he was a child because he was not strong enough. Tonan never got parental love. Later, he got close to Teno with great difficulty, but Tetsugo, also from the clan, killed Teno. If it was anyone else, they may even hold a grudge than just distance themselves.”
“That can’t be right. When Kotoura and Nanako were being buried, I saw that kid was grief-stricken. It even made me want to cry!”
“They are his biological parents. Their harshness made him look for love in other places, but that doesn’t mean he hated them.”
“When you put it like that, it does seem reasonable.”
“By the way, where did you hear all this?”
“The day before yesterday, my mother told me during lunch. She said that it was inside intel she got from a friend who holds a high position in Konoha.”
“The day before yesterday… wasn’t your mother shopping for groceries together with my mother that day?”
Slap~
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just a bug.”
Right above this patrolling team, under the night’s cover, a horde of insects silently entered the Uchiha district.
The district was divided into the inner and outer areas. The inner area, housing the more expensive and busy real estate, was like a small town with stores and necessities.
The outer area was similar to the countryside with large farmland and narrow roads. There were small courtyards scattered here and there. Most were occupied by the Uchiha clan’s civilians and some chunin and genin. Tonan’s courtyard, part of the fringe area, was also located here.
It was not that Tonan’s parents couldn’t afford a house in the central area. It was just that Kotoura was innately ambitious and proud. He wanted to purchase a house in the best location. Unfortunately, Konoha’s development was rather fast, and the property prices rose faster than his savings. As a result, purchasing a house kept being delayed.
A big insects swarm advanced closer to Tonan’s courtyard, hiding under the dense trees on both sides of the road.
The horde eventually gathered together on top of a big tree and transformed into Ryosuke, who was wearing a cat mask. He scanned his surroundings. According to his information, the kid’s house should be here.
Ryosuke’s gaze moved to a small courtyard at the district’s edge. In the next moment, he used Body Flicker Technique and disappeared.
The moment Ryosuke had appeared, Tonan, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly woke up, three tomoe spinning rapidly in his eyes.
“Is he from the Anbu or Root? If it’s Anbu, it’s fine. Sarutobi Hiruzen must have sent him. But if he’s from Root, then…”
Tonan recalled the Sharingan immersed in a test tube. In most instances, midnight visitors were rarely up to any good. The white pigeons lurking everywhere in Konoha simultaneously activated the Sharingan. And with Byakugan’s boost, Tonan checked several crucial positions like a searchlight.
“There’s no one in the Hokage office! Hiruzen isn’t looking for me.”
But he didn’t have the luxury of time to think because Ryosuke was already outside his room. The intruder slowly reached out and pushed open the door.
Suddenly, a shadow flew towards Ryosuke, and a cold wind blew against his face, making him feel tingling pain.
Ding
At the critical moment, he raised a kunai and blocked the attack. Just as he was about to release the parasitic insects to subdue Tonan, he saw Tonan look surprised.
Tonan took a few steps back, placed his hands on his knees, and said apologetically, “Sorry, Anbu-sama, I thought it was a spy from an enemy village.”
“Does he think I’m from the Anbu? It seems he has often come into contact with them before. This saves me a lot of effort.”
Ryosuke thought through things quickly and said in a deep voice, “Uchiha Tonan, Hokage-sama has asked for you.”
“Alright, Anbu-sama. I’ll follow you,” Tonan put away his kunai and looked relaxed as if he had completely dropped his guard.
Ryosuke walked over with vigilance and grabbed him. On the surface, it looked like he was preparing to use the Body Flicker Technique to take him away, but secretly, he was commanding parasitic insects to sneak into Tonan’s body.
This mission was going so smoothly it was unbelievable. However, the parasitic insects inside Ryosuke’s body suddenly emitted strange chakra fluctuations, which was a warning signal.
“This is bad! It’s an illusion!”
The very experienced Ryosuke reacted and broke free from the illusion in an instant. He was still standing at the doorway at this moment, and Tonan’s hand was just an inch away from him.
“Caught you.” Tonan’s eyes were ice-cold, and the moment his hand touched Ryosuke, he activated ninjutsu.
“Lightning Style – Ground Travel!”
Fire Style and Lightning Style were the best choices to deal with the Aburame clan. Tonan planned to use lightning style to paralyze Ryosuke, and then use the fire style to send him on his way.
Bang
Just after Tonan released Ground Travel, Ryosuke’s figure disappeared, and a substitution wood fell on the ground. The real Ryosuke had already appeared on the branch of a big tree that was burnt bare in the courtyard.
Swish
Whistling sounds resounded everywhere.
“This little devil’s movements are too fast.”
Ryosuke narrowed his eyes and used the Insect Transformation Secret Technique to change into a swarm of insects, and leap towards the sky.
At that time, four fuma shuriken flew over Ryosuke’s previous location from four different directions and cut the branch into shreds. They latched on the enclosing wall without losing force.
“What a powerful little devil.”
Ryosuke’s figure landed on the roof and looked at Tonan who had appeared in the courtyard at some point. The four fuma shuriken had almost blocked all his routes of retreat. If he didn’t possess the Insect Transformation Secret Technique, he might have fallen into his opponent’s trap.
After this short exchange, Ryosuke no longer took Tonan lightly. He regarded him as an enemy of equal stature and immediately began making hand seals.
“Secret Technique – Insect Tide.”
A large wave of parasitic insects poured out from Ryosuke’s body, condensed into a black wind, and rushed towards Tonan.
