Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 7 Feeding the Insect Swarm and Clearing the Mountain Stronghold

Yu Nu Zhicheng erased the traces of his stay, replenished the floating insects with some water, and then boarded the insect cloud again, flying towards the valley where the bandits had been discovered.

In less than ten minutes, he had arrived above the mountain stronghold.

Although this place is nominally part of the Grass Country, the outbreak of war and the constantly changing situation have turned it into a no-man's-land, which has given rise to a large number of mountain bandits.

He sat atop the cloud of insects, looking down at the hilly area below, where abandoned villages could occasionally be seen among the sparse trees.

The atmosphere of decay is particularly strong here, with burned-down houses, barren fields, and scorched pits everywhere you look.

You Nu Zhicheng had no time for sentimentality. He simply shook his head slightly, watched everything indifferently, and continued flying upwards along the mountain path. Soon, he finally saw two bandits guarding the gate.

They were not particularly strong, their clothes were tattered, and their weapons were two rusty samurai swords, suggesting that they were not living a happy life.

Further inside, a noisy scene unfolded. A group of men of similar build sat together, drinking cheap liquor and eating dry rations. The few dishes of meat were placed in front of the burly leaders.

Their clothing was relatively better, especially the three in the middle, who were wearing gray-brown ninja vests.

Although they were not wearing headbands, Shisei Aburame could clearly sense that these three were ninjas, and that their chakra levels were above those of Chunin.

Judging from their clothing, appearance, and behavior, they are most likely ninjas from Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village). It is just unknown whether they are on a mission or have already defected.

But that was none of his business. At this moment, he only wanted to find some high-end prey to feed his insects.

Aburame Shicheng spread his arms, and hungry insects poured out from his sleeves, cascading down.

Undeniably, ninjas who survive on the battlefield possess a beast-like intuition. The three leading rogue ninjas instantly sensed Aburame Shisei's presence.

"Enemy attack!" The rogue Iwagakure ninja in the middle roared, forming three hand seals, and an earthen wall rose from the ground.

However, the swarm of insects did not charge head-on, but split into three groups in the air: one group made a feint attack from the front to attract attention; the other two groups circled around the ground and pounced on the two rogue ninjas on the left and right from the blind spots on both sides of the earthen wall.

As for the rest of the bandits, they had naturally already been overwhelmed by the swarm of insects.

"Watch out!" shouted the rogue ninja on the left.

He had barely finished speaking when he felt a numbness in his leg.

Looking down, he saw that gray insects had crawled up his calves, gnawing at his skin at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing flesh and bone.

Then, the insects began to gnaw upwards along the lower leg at an incredible speed.

"ah--!"

He screamed and tried to swat at the insects, but his arms were also entangled by them.

The rogue ninja on the right reacted faster, instantly using the Body Flicker Technique to retreat ten meters while simultaneously forming hand seals: "Earth Release: Earth Strike Bullet".

Fist-sized rock fragments shot towards the swarm of insects and the location of Aburame Shicheng, but were blocked by the walls formed by the high-speed rotation of the insects.

At that moment, a scorpion appeared behind him, its stinger piercing his body.

The rogue ninja in the middle was the strongest. He neither fled nor attacked blindly, but calmly observed the battlefield.

Three seconds later, he made a judgment: the enemy was powerful and there was no chance of winning in a direct confrontation, so the only way out was to run away.

He threw out several explosive tags, blasting away the swarm of insects, and turned to flee, completely disregarding the fate of his companions.

However, after running only a few steps, his vision began to blur and his body went weak.

In the sky, Aburame Shisei coldly watched all of this. His hands remained in a hand seal position, but the swarm of insects had already engulfed the last person.

The battle ended within forty seconds.

When the last corrosive insect flew back into Yu Nu Zhicheng's sleeve, there was no one left alive in the mountain stronghold. Forty-eight bandits and three traitorous ninjas had all been reduced to complete skeletons, retaining their final postures in life.

The returning swarms buzzed contentedly, conveying the joy of being full.

Instead of landing immediately, You Nu Zhicheng had Xiao Huaichong inspect the entire mountain stronghold first.

The insects burrowed into every wooden house and every corner, relaying the information back.

One minute later, he received the complete information:

The stronghold was divided into two sections: the front section was the living area, with warehouses, a kitchen, and a wine cellar; the rear section was the dungeon where prisoners were held and the storage rooms. The warehouses were filled with looted goods: cloth, grain, medicinal herbs, and some gold and silver utensils, which were not of high value but were sufficient.

There are still living people in the dungeon.

Aburame Shicheng landed in front of the dungeon entrance. It was a heavy wooden door, locked with an iron chain. He didn't use a key, but instead let the corrosive insects gnaw through the lock.

The door opened.

The dungeon reeked of decay and was dimly lit, with only torches on the walls providing faint illumination.

There were seven people in the cell on the left: four women and three boys. They were ragged, injured, and had empty, lifeless eyes. If you got closer, you could smell a faint stench on them; they must have been dead for a long time.

Aburame Shisei knew that those were the traces left after a long period of despair and filth, when life and spirit slowly extinguished.

The cell on the right resembled a torture chamber, with torture instruments scattered on the floor and several rotting corpses hanging on the wall. Judging from their clothing, they were likely guards of a caravan.

In the corner, four ninjas were imprisoned. They wore headbands from the Takigakure ninjas and their breaths were extremely weak, but they were still alive.

The oldest one, who looked to be a Chunin, had all four limbs severed, leaving only his torso and head, which were carelessly tossed in a corner.

The wound had not been treated or bandaged in any way and had already become infected and suppurated, emitting a foul odor.

The other three were all genin, no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. Their bodies were covered with marks of torture, indicating that they had been interrogated before. It was estimated that these Iwa ninjas wanted to extract information and ninjutsu from them.

These must be small merchants from the Land of Waterfall. Because they couldn't afford to pay high prices, they hired Waterfall ninjas at lower prices. Unexpectedly, they suffered a calamity along the way and ended up losing both their money and their lives.

Aburame Shisei was already used to this kind of thing; even in peacetime, such things often happened.

These events became even more frequent during times of war. They had no one to blame but themselves for their bad luck and lack of strength.

Aburame Shicheng released the insects, intending to send them on their final journey, but suddenly noticed that one of the three boys looked somewhat like him.

He approached and observed that although the boy's face was injured, it was not completely damaged.

Aburame Shisei suddenly realized that compared to creating someone out of thin air with no identity or background, it might be a better choice to take on someone else's identity and disappear completely from the ninja world.