Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 46: A Frenzied Push on the Edge of Losing Control After the Carnage

The next day, the sun shone on Takigakure Village once again.

The villagers woke up feeling as if they had slept exceptionally well the night before.

The ninjas woke up yawning, most of them genin and chunin had no idea what had happened the night before.

Only a few elders and the vast majority of high-ranking officials knew the truth, but even then, only a portion of them had a vague understanding, knowing only that they had fallen into a deep sleep after being caught in an illusion halfway through.

Many people were curious and tried to find out what happened last night, but they got nothing.

The only certainty is that last night, all the spies in the village launched a coordinated attack, and the leader of Takigakure Village was killed in battle last night.

That large-scale illusion was orchestrated by spies, whose aim was to steal the village's tailed beast—the Seven-Tails.

Tomorrow is the funeral for those leaders and fallen heroes. But before that, the village needs to elect a new leader, and the elders are debating and arguing about it.

On this very day, the female elder who guards the Togo Shrine discovered that the bronze tripod they had been worshipping for generations had disappeared.

This means that the Seven-Tails has been taken away.

Upon hearing this, many elders felt a sense of relief for a moment.

Tailed beasts were something they found neither appealing nor worth discarding. Now that they had been taken away, they felt a sense of loss, but mostly relief, as if a pressure had been lifted from their bodies out of thin air.

"So what should we do next?" The oldest elder in the village, Sheshui, suddenly asked.

"I think the grandson of the Shibuki family is quite good. He has completely inherited the will of Chief Shibuki, and he is exceptionally talented among the younger generation."

"But his father is, after all..."

"What does that have to do with him?" Elder Tsuchihara said. "On the contrary, I think he has definitely inherited his father's talent, and his future strength will be no less than ours."

After some discussion, the boy, who was not yet fourteen years old, became the new leader of the village according to the bloodline succession system.

In reality, he was a puppet jointly selected by the four elders, Liefeng, Tuyan, and Sheshui, as well as Ziying, the female elder who also served as the temple keeper.

Three days passed in a flash. All the ninjas in the village dressed in black, offered white flowers to dozens of cenotaphs, and held a funeral.

With the burial of the cenotaph, a new leader took over.

You Nu Zhicheng also resumed her daily life, tending to the flowers and plants in the yard in the early morning, while also renovating the house next door, turning over the soil and leveling it to make farmland.

When Morita Chunin passed by during his free time, he saw him and came over to chat: "Takikawa-kun, let me tell you, the truth about that night is not what the elders and the leader said at all."

Many villagers reported that their husbands and wives disappeared without a trace overnight. They could not believe that the people they had been with day and night were spies, let alone that people from the village could do such a thing.

They suspected that the villagers had angered the gods and spirits. "This morning I even saw quite a few people going to the Togo Shrine to worship."

You Nu Zhicheng pretended not to know, looking completely bewildered: "Really? I slept very soundly that night and don't know anything. But my good friend Uncle Shi really did disappear."

"Sigh, he was a very good person. If he really was taken away by the gods, I hope they will release him to the Pure Land."

After hearing this, Morita didn't know how to answer: Why not just let him go back to the village? Is it because you've already taken his house and land?

However, he only muttered these words to himself.

The two chatted for a while longer, until he finally got down to business just before leaving.

"I forgot to tell you, Takikawa. Your team members are back. This time, they brought a businessman with them, saying they want to discuss cooperation with Takigakure Village. He's currently being questioned."

"Has the village's barrier been opened again?" Shisei Aburame asked.

Morita shook his head and said, "Not so fast. Naoto brought back some news this time: Konoha's Hatake Sakumo went deep into the enemy camp alone a few days ago and killed several high-level puppeteers. Two of them were actually Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law. This high-ranking official of Sunagakure is furious and personally led a group to hunt him down. He even openly defied the orders of the newly appointed Third Kazekage."

"Sigh! I wonder when this ninja war will finally end. The ninjas in this village are probably going to have to endure some hardship again."

"I'm off to patrol now. I reckon your squad will be joining the patrol team after today. I'll treat you to drinks sometime."

"Definitely." Aburame Shisei nodded and replied with a smile.

The second basement level is below the courtyard.

Aburame Shisei's true form released Natsumi's body and took out one of the two unverified insects, placing it on her cheek.

Just as he suspected, the insect crawled into her brain through her breath.

"what……"

"Takikawa-kun, what's wrong? How did you end up like this? I really didn't mean it, I just didn't expect it..."

To her surprise, Aburame Shisei simply looked at her calmly and said, "What you're saying has absolutely nothing to do with me capturing you for experiments. And even now, you still haven't realized that I'm not the real Takikawa Hide, which is enough to prove that your affection for him is nothing more than that."

"No, that's not it. How could Xiujun die so mysteriously?"

"Nothing is impossible. Especially in the ninja world, isn't it normal for things like this to happen?"

"Shh, you're too noisy. I need you to be quiet now." Aburame Shisei put his middle finger to his lips and whispered, as if chanting a spell or forming a hand seal.

Soon, Xia Ri's expression began to fade, and the milky-white worm, after tireless wriggling, finally crawled to its proper place and settled in her cerebrospinal fluid.

When Shisei Aburame placed another insect on another ninja, the two approached each other and a strange reaction occurred.

The two insects seemed to be intentionally attracted to each other, especially when the male and female ninjas approached each other. Their wriggling bodies stimulated the brain nerves, causing them to release endorphins and dopamine.

Such brief contact can generate pleasure and lead to mutual attraction between the man and woman.

When they are separated and prevented from meeting, the insects stop moving and reduce secretion.

When they lose pleasure, they fall into loneliness, and their brains will actively cooperate with the insects, imagining the sweetness of the past and helping the host to deepen their longing, beautifying it layer by layer.

And summer, in just three short days, once again changed its affections.

As Aburame Shisei watched the two people embracing and pouring out their hearts to each other in the cage, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up.

"Look, this is your true love. So cheap... so worthless."

Perhaps those so-called friendships, bonds, and even mutual understandings are also like this?