The birth of a new era for the Swarm was anything but smooth.
Once the Creep was established, it expanded in an orderly fashion under the Broodmother's command—toppling forests, hunting animals, and decomposing organic matter to supply the hive with energy and nutrients. With a steady supply of resources, the Broodmother's pupation and development accelerated significantly.
Seeing that everything was on track, Tetsumaru happily left the site. His first stop was to check on the Dune Scorpion, which was currently in a well-fed, predatory frenzy. Seeing the behemoth had regained its vitality made Tetsumaru even more pleased; he could finally harvest live tissue samples for research with peace of mind.
The scorpion's frantic attacks did nothing to stop him. The massive cavern was actually too small for a creature of its size; simply turning around took it ages. It had no way to prevent the "little bug" from drawing its blood, biting off its carapace plates, cutting into its flesh, or milking the venom from its hooked stinger.
In just ten minutes, Tetsumaru collected over four hundred samples, filling a large crate with test tubes, beakers, and jars.
Eventually—perhaps due to the blood loss causing its blood pressure to drop—the frantic, predatory red in the scorpion's small eyes faded. It was replaced by a look of fear and cowering. The massive insect huddled into a corner of the cave, trying its best to hide.
It's actually showing fear? That's a sign of learned behavior. Does it possess such high intelligence?
Tetsumaru licked his lips. He really wanted to dissect it to see if its nervous system had mutated a proper brain. Unfortunately, he only had one specimen and couldn't bear to cut it open just yet. Unless he could find another...
Actually, even then, he probably wouldn't. Not until he could breed them in large numbers.
Once the live tissue was processed, Tetsumaru departed.
On paper, his mission was to guard a mining operation in the Land of Tea belonging to Konoha. The ores and gemstones produced here were shipped to the Land of Fire, and a portion of the iron was sold to the Land of Iron in exchange for various ninja tools.
According to the grapevine, the metal mines were actually the private property of the Sarutobi clan, while the gemstones belonged to the Fire Daimyo. The Tea Daimyo had a share, of course, but it was just a dividend; he had no control over the operations.
Who knew for sure? The Land of Fire had plenty of high-quality mines of its own, so why come all this way to the Land of Tea? Regardless, since Konoha had stationed ninjas here for years, the rumors weren't exactly baseless.
Tetsumaru's responsibility was to replace the six previous squads and watch the three-hundred-kilometer coastline to the southeast, preventing "vulture" raids from the Hidden Mist or Hidden Sand.
Garrison duty came with rules. Tetsumaru was required to communicate with Konoha at set intervals to confirm he was alive and that the territory was secure. If a report failed to arrive on time, it was assumed the ninja had been compromised, and the higher-ups would deploy an emergency response team to investigate.
Tetsumaru felt like he was back at the very bottom of the ladder. Never mind his rank or "essential" skills; when you have superiors but no subordinates, aren't you just the lowest man on the totem pole?
Hmph.
He rehearsed a few reasons to be annoyed, then went to report to his superior with a practiced air of irritation.
He loved experimenting with the Creep and Broodmother here, and he knew this was the only place he could conduct giant insect research. But he couldn't let it show. If he looked too satisfied, someone would inevitably find a way to make his life difficult.
His original goal was just to leave Konoha for a sparsely populated area, but now that the Broodmother and Creep had taken root, it would be a nightmare if an order came through forcing him to relocate.
He arrived at the capital of the Land of Tea. The so-called "capital" was really just a fortress with a castle tower (tenshu) and a few streets of a castle town (jokamachi). It didn't even have a perimeter wall.
The Japanese-style castle tower looked imposing, but it was designed purely for war. The interior space was cramped and suffocating—stiflingly hot in summer and freezing in winter. The living experience was atrocious.
The Tea Daimyo usually lived in the courtyard estate beneath the fortress, but Tetsumaru wasn't looking for him. He was looking for the man in charge of the Land of Tea's defense: Ransai Jonin. He was usually stationed at the Konoha outpost on a mountain about two or three kilometers away from the civilian town.
Ransai was an old man in his sixties, long past his prime. His strength had waned considerably. According to the intel, even in his youth, he had been a "bottom-tier" Jonin within Konoha's ranks.
"Ransai Jonin, I've come to report," Tetsumaru said, bowing politely. Regardless of the man's strength, he was his superior and an elder. Respect was mandatory.
"Ah, Aburame Jonin is here. Any enemies at your station?" The old man tremulously pulled out a scroll. His routine consisted of three questions: No enemies? No accidents? Need anything?
Tetsumaru answered "no" to all three. The old man recorded the entry and the time, and the work was done.
Then, Ransai invited Tetsumaru to stay for tea. Tetsumaru didn't refuse. The old man's combat prowess was lackluster, but his reputation for tea artistry was significant, making him very popular among the nobility.
He was led to a tea room behind the outpost. Outside was a small but exquisitely crafted courtyard. Ransai began the service.
After a grueling series of rituals—purifying hands, admiring the utensils, warming the pot, adding the leaves, rinsing the tea, brewing, and sealing the pot—it was finally time to drink.
The tea ceremony in the Ninja World differed from the powdered matcha of his past life; they used brewed, pan-fried leaves. The rituals and steps were different, but the sheer, mind-numbing tediousness was identical.
Tetsumaru waited patiently for the old Jonin to finish the performance before finally receiving the first cup: Initial Bitterness. The brew was thick and heavily bitter, though the aftertaste was strong and sweet. It was okay, but not to his taste.
Another round of fussing led to the second cup: Long Source. This time, the flavor was much lighter. Tetsumaru finished it in three sips.
Finally came the third cup: Sealing the Vessel, signifying the end of the session. This last cup had been infused with something that gave it a lingering floral fragrance. Tetsumaru liked it and downed it in one go.
Then, he bowed and took his leave. After an hour and a half of ceremony for three tiny cups of tea, he was actually getting hungry. He decided he'd decline next time.
The Land of Tea really is a place for retirement.
Actually, Ransai had no intention of inviting him again. Tea masters are experts at reading people. Even though Tetsumaru kept a neutral expression, how could the old man miss the impatience radiating off him?
Tetsumaru was a famous Special Jonin whose strategic importance outweighed most regular Jonin; that was the only reason Ransai had the patience to finish the full ceremony. If it had been a Chunin, the old man would have kicked them out before the first cup was even drained.
This was the influence of status and strength—and perhaps, physical height.
The old man was actually quite annoyed, but every time he thought about snapping, he'd look up at the giant sitting across from him. Even sitting cross-legged, Tetsumaru was taller than Ransai standing up. Looking at those fists, each larger than his own head, the old man would recall the reports of Tetsumaru's combat record, swallow his pride, and force himself to keep brewing.
Tetsumaru visited the castle town, bought some local specialties, found them mediocre, and left without looking back.
Next time, I'm sending a Shadow Clone to check in. This is a waste of time.
Shadow Clone: [Censored], Original! You [Censored]!
When Tetsumaru returned to the island, he was stunned.
The entire Creep had turned snow-white and looked wilted. Several patches had even died off. Even the Broodmother's pupal sac was swaying feebly.
Tetsumaru rushed up to inspect it. Had the Creep been invaded by a rival fungus? Surely I'm not that unlucky.
The diagnosis was simple: poisoning. Sodium chloride poisoning—too much salt.
The problem was straightforward. The growth of the Creep required a massive amount of water. Tetsumaru had assumed the island's fresh water could neutralize the seawater, but he underestimated the demand. The freshwater was sucked dry in a single day. The Creep then had no choice but to draw in seawater. This resulted in a massive accumulation of salt within the Creep's tissue.
The fungi responded by metabolizing the salt out of their systems, but the salt simply piled up on the Creep's surface. This created a high osmotic pressure that sucked the water out of the Creep, which then evaporated, further worsening the dehydration and forcing the Creep to suck in even more seawater.
It was a vicious cycle. The problem wasn't complex, but the solution was difficult, especially since the Creep was already integrated with the Broodmother.
Tetsumaru knew this was caused by his own lack of foresight. He couldn't cut corners anymore; he had to fast-track the Marine-Version Broodmother.
The key to a marine hive was a dedicated salt-processing system. He needed to build a functional Zerg structure for this, rather than leaving the burden on the Creep. The Creep just needed to transport the waste to the structure.
He got to work. First, he used Water Style to rinse the Broodmother and Creep and replenished the freshwater source to ensure the hive didn't die.
Then, he immediately dug a cave at the foot of the mountain to build a lab, bringing out half-finished insect templates for further research. To speed things up, he summoned ten Shadow Clones to assist him, launching several parallel research tracks for waste-disposal methods.
Since he had decided to commit to the marine version, he needed to maximize the ocean's resources. The sea had no shortage of water, sunlight, or organic matter.
The waters around the island were rich in life: fish, shellfish, and crabs were all excellent sources of protein. Predatory organs were a must.
However, the largest scale of organic matter in the ocean belonged to plankton. Therefore, sub-aquatic filter-feeding organs were essential.
Furthermore, the mineral resources on the seabed were immense. Drilling and mining organs could not be ignored.
If viewed through the lens of a game, Tetsumaru had "restarted" a new base on the island and opened five parallel research bars. Back at the Konoha base, a dozen more progress bars were moving at various speeds.
The Shadow Clone Technique was truly a "cheat code" for scientific research. As long as the chakra reserves were sufficient, one could produce an endless supply of assistants. There was no more worrying about being in two places at once, nor worrying about whether an assistant was a fool.
Even better, he didn't have to worry about a "lab dog" making a mistake and blowing up his hard-earned facility.
As for the risks of the technique, they were manageable. As long as he didn't slack off and stayed actively engaged with the research progress, the mental shock upon dispersal was minimized. It was the perfect setup.
Soon, the Abyssal Pool was developed. After several rounds of testing, it was urgently implanted into the Creep. The Abyssal Pool was massive, capable of storing dozens of tons of waste fluid.
But it wasn't just a "bladder" for the hive; it was a digestive organ with powerful decomposing capabilities—a stomach. The salt transported by the Creep was processed by digestive enzymes into hydrochloric acid and free chlorine molecules. The acid served as the pool's digestive fluid, while the free chlorine was processed through complex reactions into toxins. The Creep used these toxins to better hunt prey and defend against predators.
Indeed, local rodents had already appeared on the island that were capable of nibbling on the Creep; their evolution and adaptation speed were remarkably fast.
The digestive fluids processed animal carcasses and bones more effectively, decomposing all organic matter into nutrients which were then absorbed by the Abyssal Pool's lining.
A few days later, Filter-Kelp was successfully grafted onto the Creep, replacing the organs previously used for drawing water. The Filter-Kelp had a massive surface area; while absorbing seawater, it filtered out plankton, small fish, and shrimp. This food was compressed into spheres and transported by insects to the Abyssal Pool for processing.
A month later, Tetsumaru found that the predatory organs were no longer necessary. Because the Filter-Kelp was so efficient at stripping nutrients from the water, it caused a small-scale ecological catastrophe.
With the plankton population decimated, the small animals that fed on them were forced to flee or starve. The larger predators followed the small animals in a mass migration.
The waters around the island were now filled with a dense "Kelp Forest," but almost no animals remained.
It had to be said that the creatures of the Ninja World adapted quickly. After the rise of the land rodents, the marine life followed suit. Sea snails, urchins, shrimp, and crabs—all generalist scavengers—began to gnaw on the Filter-Kelp. Even the toxins could only suppress them, not eradicate them.
Tetsumaru adjusted the Kelp, sacrificing some filtering efficiency to significantly increase its surface hardness and add silica spikes. Combined with the toxins, he finally beat back the invaders—except for one species of small shrimp that resisted every method. They officially became the natural enemy of the Filter-Kelp.
In the end, Tetsumaru could only breed a specific insect to hunt these shrimp, suppressing the Kelp's nemesis rather than hoping for extinction.
Despite a few imperfections, the complete Marine Broodmother was finished. Aside from defensive forces, all the hive's needs were managed by its own sub-systems. It was self-sufficient.
Next, he would use this successful template to quickly build a purely terrestrial version.
After that would come the deep-sea version powered by hydrothermal vents, and finally, the zero-gravity space version. Those two, however, felt a long way off.
Step by step.
Tetsumaru looked up at the star-studded sky. He reached out and closed his hand, as if grasping the countless stars within his palm.
In this life, I will sail across that sea of stars.
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