"So that's how it is… Summoning contracts are anchored by the individual's condition, blood, and chakra signature. Ordinary Parasitic Rot Bugs basically don't have chakra of their own, so it's hard to target them precisely."
"No wonder the Aburame have to carry them on their bodies."
After a full day of studying the Summoning Technique, Yagyū Souma had a rough framework in mind.
Summoning wasn't just a space–time ninjutsu; it also involved complex formula theory. That was a hurdle for most people—but for Souma, this just happened to be his area of expertise.
Lately he'd been obsessed with barrier arrays and sealing formulas.
So…
As he dug into Summoning, an idea popped into his head.
A simple Summoning Technique would never bring out every Parasitic Rot Bug. He'd have to make a few… upgrades.
For example—
Borrow a little from Flying Thunder God.
Space–time ninjutsu might offer a few useful tricks, like…
Positioning and transfer.
"Really understanding all of this is a pain," Souma muttered, scratching his head.
It looked like he'd have to ask for help.
Kakashi's seven ninken weren't clan hounds—they were dogs he raised himself.
He had to have some insight into Summoning.
No need for sensory ninjutsu.
A quick Telescope Technique scan, and Souma locked onto Kakashi's location—
He was out with his new squad, doing a cat-catching mission.
Sasuke, Ino, and Chōji's lineup looked… interesting through the Telescope Technique.
And just as Souma expected—
Once Ino and Sakura got near Sasuke, their IQ dropped.
With Shikamaru, Ino was all about teamwork, putting the squad first in everything. But with Sasuke…
Chōji's suggestions went straight out the window.
She was basically a Sakura clone.
Souma closed the Telescope Technique and silently offered a moment of sympathy for Kakashi.
Then he turned back to Flying Thunder God.
Study first. Wait for Kakashi to "clock out," then go find him.
That afternoon, by the Memorial Stone, Kakashi sat alone, looking a little lost.
"Kakashi-sensei, you look pretty down," Souma said.
"It's nothing."
Kakashi let out a quiet sigh. "Just… thinking about an old teammate."
Souma understood all too well.
Once you ran proper tests and eliminated the variables, discovering that the problem wasn't Naruto or Sakura, but Sasuke—
That feeling was…
Delicate.
And it wasn't even Sasuke's fault.
Is it a crime to be good-looking?
Kakashi wasn't sure how things had gotten this bad. If he had to sum it up in one word—
Troublesome.
"Kakashi-sensei, it's a small problem. Don't overthink it. You have to trust your team," Souma said, clearing his throat.
Kakashi gave him a sideways glance.
Trust?
Right now he wants to replace Sakura with Chōji. The squad would probably argue less.
But giving up wasn't an option.
He shook his head. "You didn't rush over just to comfort me. What do you need?"
"I wanted to ask about Summoning."
"Summoning?" Kakashi blinked, then thought for a moment. "You made a contract with the new Parasitic Rot Bugs from the Aburame, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"That's good. If you want to customize a summoning formula, it shouldn't be too hard. Don't tell me you're trying to create a Summoning that calls out an entire swarm at once?"
Kakashi knew Souma too well.
If it were just standard formula tuning, Souma would finish it in half a day. No reason to look for him.
There had to be more.
"You got me," Souma admitted. "I want to integrate Flying Thunder God with Summoning—use the Summoning formula as a coordinate and do a group Summon."
Kakashi fell silent.
He didn't know Flying Thunder God at all. That technique was unbelievably deep. He'd heard it explained once back in the day, and all that remained now was a vague impression—
Completely broken.
And Souma was not only reading it, he was researching ways to combine it with Summoning…
Yeah, no. This exam was way above his level.
"I don't understand Flying Thunder God well enough to help," Kakashi said honestly. "But on the Summoning side, you're right—normal Parasitic Rot Bugs can't be accurately locked on. But for the evolved ones… maybe."
"If that doesn't work, I'll fall back to Plan B," Souma nodded.
Kakashi could summon seven dogs in one go.
He definitely had experience here.
"I'd try having a special Parasitic Rot Bug use chakra to temporarily assimilate the rest," Kakashi suggested. "Turn them into a single cluster of similar signatures, then summon the entire group in one go."
It was the best advice he could give in his own field.
As for Flying Thunder God—
Sorry. That was way out of his league.
Souma didn't push it.
His main goal in merging Flying Thunder God with Summoning was to create a one-shot Parasitic Rot Bug Army Summon.
Individually, the bugs were weak—barely any chakra of their own and entirely dependent on siphoning others' chakra.
But that was also their strength.
Small meant low chakra cost.
Dump an entire army out at once, add the Insect King and its personal guard, and you'd get some terrifying battlefield effects.
Of course—
The biggest reason was…
He wanted to actually use Flying Thunder God. Get those Flying Thunder markings leveled up as soon as possible.
Souma even thought of Orochimaru.
The Myriad Snake Formation was, in a sense, exactly what he wanted. Shame he wasn't close enough to Orochimaru to ask.
"Forget it. Let's hear your approach first, Kakashi-sensei," Souma said.
"Right."
Kakashi picked up a kunai, used it like a brush, and drew the formula on the dirt, explaining as he went.
Souma listened, nodding along—and new ideas kept clicking into place.
Back home, he started building a new formula from scratch.
The next day, Souma's room—
A mass of Parasitic Rot Bugs suddenly appeared in a cloud of black.
Halfway there.
Next step: integrate the Flying Thunder elements.
He wasn't good enough for true Flying Thunder God yet. But combined with Summoning—
It was doable.
Just time-consuming.
He didn't leave the house for days.
Tenten dropped by the research institute when she got off work to see what he was up to. One look at the pile of manuscript pages on the floor was enough.
He was at it again.
New research.
On the fifth day—
The formula was finished. Souma was about to test it when—
A sharp flash of insight burst through his mind.
The Bodhi Seed had gained another pattern.
The tenth pattern—
The feedback reward from Overlimit State.
Souma focused on the Bodhi Seed.
In his mind's eye, a luminous seed appeared, spinning slowly in mid-air.
Lines of glowing script like tiny Buddhist sutras and Daoist seals flowed across its surface.
Second metamorphosis.
He examined it carefully, and his eyes lit up.
For now—
He could feel that his mental control had become smoother and more delicate.
His control wasn't weak before, but a lot of that came from his sheer spiritual power and deliberate training. That's why he could outclass even the Yamanaka clan in that department.
Now—
He could effortlessly do things that were previously just out of reach.
For example—
Pure mental attacks.
He still didn't have any specialized mental offensive techniques. A raw psychic strike would work, but it wouldn't be overwhelmingly strong.
Combining it with other jutsu, though…
Now that has potential.
Like—
Chakra Absorption.
Souma's eyes brightened.
Ideas began to form.
"All that build-up finally paid off. Wonder what the next metamorphosis will be like. Will it actually sprout?"
He couldn't help feeling excited.
The Bodhi Seed was his greatest secret.
Up to now, it has helped him immensely. If it grew even stronger, all the better.
Souma took a deep breath and pressed the excitement down.
One thing at a time.
He picked up his notebook and carefully studied the formulas written there, cross-checking them with the Fourth Hokage's notes and the Flying Thunder Formation.
Everything looked good.
"No problem."
"Time to test it."
Souma tossed four tags into position, bit his finger, and slammed his palm down.
Summoning Array!
Using the Summoning formula as the coordinate, the four charms locked the space channel in place.
Chakra flooded into the array.
In moments—
Bzzzz!
Wings filled the air as dense black "mist" flooded the room.
"…Huh?"
Souma stared.
The Forest of Death only had so many bugs…
Where did all these come from?!
"Bzzzzz!"
The Insect King fluttered in front of him, spiraling and chirping. Through the psychic link, Souma caught its meaning:
"I did it! Amazing, right?"
Did… it?
Souma blinked, then remembered what he'd told it to do.
Build its own army.
But the Forest of Death wasn't that big. How had it found this many underlings?
Something was off.
"You all head back for now. Not much room here," Souma said.
"Bzz!"
The Insect King bobbed up and down, then dove back into the void, leading the swarm away.
The room fell silent.
But the mess left behind proved it hadn't been his imagination.
Souma sat for a moment, then shot to his feet and sprinted straight toward the Aburame compound.
Aburame clan grounds.
"Clan Head, I really think we should renegotiate with Souma-kun and the Fire Temple," Aburame Torune said.
He and Aburame Shibi sat facing each other.
Torune had inherited Aburame Shihei's techniques, capable of cultivating nano-sized poison bugs. As a direct subordinate of Danzo, his status in the clan was special.
On the matter of Parasitic Rot Bugs, he and Shibi didn't see eye to eye.
Classic Danzo mentality.
"Has Souma ever treated our clan unfairly?" Shibi asked. "He doesn't owe us anything in this matter."
"But…"
Torune was about to press further when both men suddenly fell silent.
They looked at each other, then rose to their feet and stepped outside.
Souma was running toward them at full speed.
Even someone as calm as Shibi was momentarily shocked.
"Souma-kun?!"
In Shibi's impression, Souma had always been composed—cool-headed, sharp, never flustered.
If he was this rattled—
Something had happened that even he hadn't seen coming.
Could it be…
The Insect King was dead?
Shibi and Torune's faces both changed.
They'd jumped straight to the worst possible outcome.
Souma landed in front of them.
"Have you released any new Parasitic Rot Bugs into the Forest of Death recently?" he asked.
"Of course not. You told me not to," Shibi said immediately. "You wanted the existing insects to rest and recover for a while."
"What happened?"
"It's not exactly bad news…" Souma said. "I'll summon them. You'll see."
He tossed out the tags, bit his finger, and formed the seals.
The Summoning formula lit up.
Before Shibi and Torune could even process the word "Summoning," the world in front of them had already changed—
A black cloud rushed out of the array.
Parasitic Rot Bugs.
They shared one stunned look—and then even that was swallowed by the swarm.
They couldn't even see each other anymore.
There were…
Too many.
"How is this possible…? H-how can there be this many?" Shibi's voice shook.
Torune was just as dumbfounded.
Not five minutes ago, he'd been arguing they should get tough with Souma and the Fire Temple, make them hand over secrets.
And then—
Souma showed up with this.
There was no way Souma had raised this many himself.
The bugs were uneven in strength and aura, clearly not cultivated one by one. They looked more like wild stock.
The strange thing was—
Torune could clearly feel his clan's contract link inside them.
These Parasitic Rot Bugs were bound to the Aburame too.
Then…
It had to be that one.
Shibi figured it out faster.
"Souma-kun… you're saying it—the Insect King—spawned all of these?" he asked.
"Yeah."
Souma dismissed the swarm.
Once they were gone, he nodded. "You haven't released any new bugs into the Forest of Death, so it must have created them itself. I did tell it to 'recruit underlings' before."
"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable…"
Shibi was trembling with excitement.
He didn't know how they'd managed it, but there was no doubt—
The Parasitic Rot Bugs had learned to transform, reproduce, and grow stronger on their own.
The original Parasitic Rot Bugs were more like parasites.
But these…
These were an independent species in a truly communal ecosystem.
"Souma-kun, your Summoning Technique…?" Shibi asked.
"I created a Summoning Formation," Souma said. "It needs a bit of space–time talent, but once you learn it, you can directly summon the Insect King and all nearby kin."
It had always been his intention that Aburame learn this technique.
So he didn't hide anything.
Shibi shot Torune a look, then bowed slightly to Souma.
"Souma-kun," he said sincerely, "the thing the Aburame clan is most grateful for—
is choosing to cooperate with you."
"I don't believe in hoarding everything for myself," Souma said with a smile. "If we're working together, then everyone should win."
He knew Shibi's position was difficult.
Up to now, every Aburame involved had done their duty, maintaining a polite front. That alone was impressive.
"Souma-kun, I am truly ashamed," Torune said suddenly, bowing at a ninety-degree angle. "You've been so generous, yet I was slandering you behind your back."
"I am deeply sorry."
He straightened and looked at Shibi.
"Clan Head, I'm willing to share part of my father's research to make up for my mistake."
"This…"
Shibi's heart leapt, but he hesitated. Agreeing too quickly felt a little greedy.
After thinking for a moment, he turned to Souma.
"To be honest, Souma-kun, before you came, we'd been discussing a possible negotiation with you and the Fire Temple to obtain some of your secret arts," Shibi said. "We never imagined… this. Since Torune insists on compensation, how about you decide?"
"Torune's father developed nano-sized poison bugs," Shibi explained. "Even partial data would be extremely valuable."
Souma thought it over and shook his head.
"I am tempted," he admitted. "But people have limits. I may have a contract with the Parasitic Rot Bugs, but I don't plan to devote too much focus to that path."
"But…"
"I don't think you've offended me," Souma continued. "If you really feel bad, then integrate some of the nano-bugs into the Insect King's colony. That way, everyone can use them."
"You truly have the heart of a great shinobi," Torune said, utterly convinced.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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