The following morning, a Jonin ergency eting was convened. This ti, Elder Ziying presided over the session, her primary objective being to convey Shisui's directives to the village's elite.
Of course, the village's young leader was not invited.
Having fainted during the initial confrontation before Shisui even entered the room, he remained as ignorant as the average civilian.
To him, the village simply seed to be flourishing: houses were sturdier, the soil more fertile, and the roads smoother. He didn't claim the credit, choosing instead to believe it was the collective result of everyone's hard work.
The elders had fed him a convenient lie: they told him that after the eting where he lost consciousness, a group of Jonin led by Upper Commander Saki—unwilling to live under the new administrative changes—had chosen to leave Takigakure forever.
The morning eting was a mix of relief and lingering anxiety for those who knew the truth. However, life has a way of smoothing over even the sharpest terrors. Autumn arrived in a flash.
The wheat in the fields turned a brilliant gold. Many ninjas traded their flak jackets for harvesting tools, temporarily setting aside their noble status to reap, thresh, and winnow in the sun.
Shisui had not been idle. As his mastery of Fūinjutsu grew, he systematically absorbed every sealing technique Takigakure possessed.
He adapted and re-engineered them, applying his new insights to the village's barrier. By the peak of autumn, the entire defensive network was firmly under his thumb.
With the changing of the seasons, he encountered a minor logistical issue: his Seven-Star Scout Insects were no longer camouflaged for the bare autumn landscape.
He began drafting new scout breeds tailored to seasonal shifts—though the internal chanics remained the sa, the external carapaces needed to mimic late-season fauna.
In the depths of the earth, the hive continued to expand.
Propelled by the rapid reproduction of the Construction Insects, the underground facility grew to twenty-five levels.
The massive roots of the great tree—the potential source of the Hero's Water—had been carefully excavated around, leaving the tree appearing as if it were suspended over a vast, subterranean cathedral.
Shisui also observed a fascinating mutation: a group of Erosion Bugs that had fed on the tree's sap produced offspring that were undergoing a tamorphosis.
They were growing larger and darker, evolving into a form resembling stag beetles. Their specific abilities remained a mystery.
Shisui refrained from using the Petri Dish to force this evolutionary line to its limit, as duplicating the "God Tree" sap required a prohibitive amount of raw energy.
Draining the tree to fuel thousands of insects risked killing the village's primary resource. For now, he allowed the mutation to proceed at a natural, leisurely pace.
His primary focus remained the Symbiotic Kikaichu and the study of the two White Zetsu specins. These rare materials had sat in his lab for months; only his fear of wasting them had kept him from dissecting them sooner.
Within Takigakure, Naoto's squad found themselves in a strange limbo.
With the harvest over, most Genin were unemployed, while a few Chunin squads were reorganized for dostic patrols.
The official word from the Four Elders was that while the barrier kept out civilians and Genin, enemy Chunin and Jonin—especially sealing masters—could still slip in undetected.
Though Naoto's original squad had technically disbanded, they were not the type to sit still. They spent their days helping the elderly with farmsteads, repairing roads, or "disciplining" shiftless ninjas who mistreated their families.
Shisui kept a constant watch on them. He never intervened, choosing instead to silently observe Naoto's every move.
Winter faded into spring.
Shisui's experints finally yielded a breakthrough. By synthesizing his research on White Zetsu cells, he successfully cultivated two revolutionary insect breeds.
Plankton Insects: Microscopic, dust-like organisms that can float in the air for extended periods or dive into the earth using Earth Release. This granted Shisui his first true "flight and burrow" capability; if he ever encountered an unbeatable foe, he could simply vanish into the crust of the earth.
Mimicry Insects: Inheriting White Zetsu's signature transformation ability, these could perfectly replicate a target's appearance and chakra signature, and even briefly mimic behavioral habits. The old scout insects were officially obsolete.
But the crowning achievent was the completion of the Refined Earth Grudge Fear, perfected after the "sacrifice" of several test subjects.
As the months passed, Naoto began to notice the wrongness in his own body.
At first, it was a blessing: his chakra flowed with unnatural ease, and his physical strength skyrocketed. During a house repair, he had single-handedly lifted a stone block that usually required ten grown n.
Naoto was righteous, but he was not a fool. He had initially suppressed his doubts out of trust for Shisui, but as the changes stacked, he could no longer ignore them.
Most terrifying was his appetite. It had beco ravenous, and recently, he had looked at the villagers—his friends—and felt a sickening surge of hunger.
He felt himself becoming a monster, a man-eater. No matter how much normal food he consud, the void in his stomach only grew.
Inside the village's only small tavern, Arisue and Naoto had just finished training and stopped for a al. The noise, the heat of the crowd, and the scent of humanity triggered a primal urge in Naoto that he could barely suppress.
He stared down at his plate of at, finding it utterly tasteless, his hands trembling.
"Naoto, what's wrong?" Arisue noticed his pallor and reached out to touch his shoulder.
Naoto barked a growl and slapped the hand away, his face twisting into a feral snarl before he managed to pull the mask of sanity back into place.
"It's nothing. Just go ho. I don't feel well... I need to be alone."
"Naoto, if sothing is wrong, tell us. We're friends, aren't we?" Arisue stepped forward, grabbing his arm in concern.
Naoto's restraint snapped. He spun around, seized Arisue by the throat, and slamd him against the wooden wall with bone-crushing force.
"Cough... ack..."
Hearing his friend's choked gasps, Naoto's eyes cleared. He let go instantly, horror dawning on his face. Without a word of explanation, he turned and sprinted out of the tavern into the night.
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