Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 86 The First Fairy Insect Travels to the Land of Grass

On a country path in the Grass Country, the young man continued walking. He had long, dark hair and a blue dragonfly perched on his shoulder. This man was none other than Aburame Shisei, who had long since changed his appearance.

In fact, he had quietly left the Land of Waterfalls several days earlier. He did not inform anyone, and no one knew his whereabouts.

Choosing to infiltrate the Grass Country and establish a hive was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather a long-planned strategy.

Firstly, there is the Seven-Tails. In the short term, it is no longer able to cultivate other suitable insect species. Rather than sealing the Seven-Tails and leaving it idle and wasting it, it is better to simply cultivate its own Jinchūriki.

The Land of Grass is the largest population center in the ninja world, and more importantly, it is home to the last survivor of the Uzumaki clan—the perfect candidate for Jinchuriki.

Secondly, there's the almost neglected Hozuki Castle prison. Not only is it an excellent base for rebuilding the insect hive, but it also provides the insect swarm with countless food supplies. Furthermore, every so often, various countries in the ninja world send in war criminals, making it a natural nutrient reservoir.

The most crucial reason is none other than the Box of Bliss.

The monster sealed in that box could very well allow him to cultivate alien insects capable of manipulating mental energy; even if he were to take a step back, he could still cultivate insects that grow stronger by devouring negative emotions.

Furthermore, the most dangerous place is the safest place. No one would have imagined that he would attack the Grass Country, which is so close by.

Seven days earlier, he had already quietly infiltrated that isolated island, the Hozuki Castle prison located in the sea above the Land of Waterfall and belonging to the Land of Grass.

After sealing off all exits with a swarm of insects, there were no survivors on the entire island except for the city lord, who was obsessed with his beliefs, and his young son.

After subduing the lord's son and extracting all the information, Aburame Shisei quickly found the secret weapon that Kusagakure had kept hidden for many years—the Box of Paradise.

This thing is square and made of an unknown black metal. Even before you get close, you can feel the dark aura inside.

At that time, in front of the city lord and his son, Aburame Shisei clearly explained the mystery of this mysterious treasure.

"You think that by feeding this box of bliss you can have any wish granted? That's far too naive."

"There is only one monster inside that feeds on chakra and uses emotions as bait. Once it is fed, it will break free and wreak havoc on the world."

"Rather than calling it a Six Paths Ninja Tool, it's more accurate to say that it's a Six Paths Sealing Tool that has been deliberately disguised."

Upon hearing this, the Wuwang father and son's expressions changed drastically. They couldn't believe that their years of persistence and effort had turned out to be nothing more than a meticulously crafted lie.

The city lord, in particular, even considered putting his own son into the box as a sacrifice.

If it weren't for the sudden appearance of Aburame Zhicheng, and if he hadn't manipulated the swarm of insects to devour all the prisoners and elders in the prison, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

"Impossible! This is all fake!"

At that time, the five-year-old boy trembled as he stood in front of his father, his little hands tightly gripping a kunai, his tender and weak body fiercely glaring at the intruder before him.

"You must be lying, trying to keep this treasure for yourself!"

"You simply don't understand, you have no idea what such a treasure means to us who are struggling to survive!"

"We are caught between powerful nations. If war breaks out, Konoha and Iwagakure will take us in and use us as cannon fodder!"

"Our only wish is for the Grass Ninja Village to become strong, so that the Land of Grass will no longer be bullied! But why... why did you have to shatter our last remaining dream!"

"There's no particular reason. I just feel that this place is more suitable for me to build my nest."

His tone was extremely indifferent at the time, but he was telling the truth, and besides, this was a dungeon, and there weren't many good people here.

In fact, speaking was also a way to undermine confidence. After achieving his goal, he was unwilling to get entangled with the two any longer. With a wave of his hand, countless insects surged forward like a tide, instantly binding the father and son tightly.

The next step is the simplest procedure—ingesting the insect eggs and using medication to exert mental control.

The Lord of Ghost Lantern Castle was resolute and, as an elite among his men, was not immediately and completely controlled; however, his five-year-old son was easily controlled by insect magic.

However, whether or not to control her, it didn't matter to Aburame Shisei.

In any case, they had long since left this isolated island.

The underground will soon be completely transformed into an insect nest, and layers of insect nets will be laid on the sea surface. He is just not sure yet how long it will take to cultivate alien insects that can survive in water.

But he was absolutely certain that his methods would be enough to intimidate and subdue the father and son.

First, he overwhelmed their defenses with overwhelming force, then he personally exposed their long-held ideals and lies. This combination of destruction and reconstruction, attack and defense, was enough to completely break down their mental defenses and force them to submit.

After completely controlling the city lord and his son, Aburame Zhicheng left a portion of the insect swarm to build an underground palace, while simultaneously deploying reconnaissance insects around the island for monitoring purposes.

Ghost Lantern Castle was already remote, and ships would only come once every few days, mostly just to drop off prisoners and transport supplies before leaving in a hurry.

To be on the safe side, he could have controlled some of the crew, but adhering to the principle of avoiding trouble, he did not go too far, only giving simple suggestions and hypnosis to the crew members coming and going.

With everything arranged, Aburame Shicheng dragged the Box of Bliss into the deepest part of the underground palace and sent out a group of special beetle-eating insects to slowly gnaw at the box.

As for the monster sealed in the box, he will ignore it for the time being.

Once the box is completely devoured, the monster inside will naturally appear—at that time, it will be used as excellent nourishment to cultivate a brand new, powerful alien insect.

The entire prison island was cleared in just one day. In fact, environmental cleanup didn't take much time; most of the effort was spent building the underground palace.

With the help of a massive swarm of insects working at full speed, two underground palaces were built in a single day, enough for the remaining insect swarm to continue expanding their nests.

The excess insects were then reabsorbed into his body.

He kept only one dragonfly by his side.

Next, he plans to use the dragonfly to continue to connect with natural energy and try to cultivate immortal techniques; and the wind-style ninjutsu he performs using the dragonfly as a medium is one of his trump cards at this stage.

In addition, he also needs to learn the unique swordsmanship and illusion techniques of the Grass Country.

The simplest and safest way is to join the Grass Village and gradually climb to a high position and make a name for yourself.

The purpose of all this was simply to divert trouble eastward, buying time for the forces in the distant Taki no Kuni to develop peacefully.

As for the real insect hive... he would never expose it within the current territory of the Grass Kingdom, at least not now.