The meeting within Root was still underway.
"My Lord, is it possible the thief has already left the village?"
Shimura Danzo shook his head. "Unlikely. I've consulted with the Barrier Corps; the village's sensory perimeter remains intact."
"A haul of that magnitude, even with Sealing Scrolls, would require a vast number of them. One person couldn't carry them all. They would have needed carts or a large team of porters."
"If they are still in the village, we have a way. Have C-3 and D-9 use the 'Greater Insects' to conduct a search. Shinobi might miss things, but the swarm will not."
"Furthermore, we should station lookouts at the gates. Strictly inspect any caravan transporting bulk goods and any individual carrying Sealing Scrolls."
Danzo nodded in approval. "Excellent. Do it. Also, if the target is found, do not engage at the gate. Set up an ambush outside the walls and wipe them out once they've cleared the perimeter."
"And if we capture them alive?"
Danzo didn't hesitate. "Recover the goods first. But regardless of whether we get the supplies back, kill them."
"If they are from within the village, their entire family shall follow them to the grave. Their clan will not be spared, either."
"Understood, My Lord."
Danzo added a final command: "A search conducted by only two people is too slow. Deploy everyone who has mastered Swarm Control. Do not fear causing a scene; be aggressive."
"Yes, sir!"
However, Root's plan was already too late. While they were still debating in their meeting, Aburame Tetsumaru had already moved over a hundred Sealing Scrolls and two hundred tons of unsealable goods out of the village through a secret tunnel.
The barrier-cracking techniques he had mastered while infiltrating Root's vaults were equally applicable to Konoha's main sensory barrier. That very night, a Shadow Clone had tunneled deep underground, silently breaching the village barrier at a depth of thirteen hundred meters with a hole 1.4 meters in diameter.
Tunnels on both sides of the barrier had been prepared long ago; the moment the barrier was breached, the path was clear. Tetsumaru's secret escape route was a long-premeditated project, consisting of no fewer than ten interconnected passages.
Once the tunnel was open, a literal "conveyor belt" of insects formed a transportation chain, moving the harvested "leeks" out of the village like a specialized logistics line.
The process went smoothly. The unsealed goods were mostly small components; the larger and heavier items had already been tucked into scrolls. For the swarm, the weight was perfectly manageable.
Once the transfer was complete, Tetsumaru backfilled the temporary underground warehouse, erasing every trace of his activities.
He then created several Shadow Clones and sent them toward the Land of Wind and Broodmother Island to bolster his workforce. Now that he could enter and exit Konoha at will, life had become incredibly convenient.
From now on, whether it was the lab on the island or the one in the village, nothing had to be mothballed. As long as the supply of Shadow Clones remained steady, his research could run indefinitely.
Tetsumaru marveled for the umpteenth time: The Shadow Clone Technique is an absolute cheat code. As long as you don't use it for combat, it is the ultimate, perfect tool.
The next item on his agenda was the most important reason for his return: spying on Minato Namikaze to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Late at night, the golden-haired Minato Namikaze returned to his apartment. Having finished his daily duties as an ANBU, he could finally relax.
After washing up, Minato changed into comfortable, warm loungewear and sat at his desk. He lit a wind lamp and spread out a massive scroll, along with several manuals and scattered sheets of scratch paper. He treated those scribbled notes with even more reverence than the main scroll, carefully smoothing them out, overlaying them with thin tracing paper, and securing them with paperweights before beginning his study.
Just then, a few small insects buzzed through the window. They circled the lamp, their tiny bodies pinging against the glass with soft, rhythmic thuds.
Hearing the noise, Minato looked up. He wasn't annoyed; instead, he offered a faint smile. He sat back, leaning his chin on his interlaced fingers with his elbows on the desk.
Zip. A spider plummeted onto the desk, a silk thread trailing from its abdomen. It had already snagged one of the flies. It gripped its prey tightly with its chelicerae, turned around, and began the climb back up its silk line toward the ceiling.
Two more spiders dropped down, each claiming a fly for themselves.
Minato smiled. This was the scene he had been waiting for.
The spiders returned to the corners of the ceiling, wrapping their prey into silk "cans" before starting a second round of hunting. Soon, the room was cleared of all buzzing intruders.
Once the hunt was over, the three spiders—possessing large, crystalline eyes—settled quietly in the corners, perfectly motionless.
Minato, his mood bolstered by the little display of nature, turned back to his work with renewed focus.
Everything was being broadcast clearly to Aburame Tetsumaru. Through the six large eyes of the three spiders, he could see every word, diagram, and even the smallest scratch on the scrolls and papers.
Indeed, Tetsumaru had planted the spiders in advance, and the "prey" insects were his as well. In the dead of winter, there wouldn't naturally be so many active bugs; they should have been hibernating long ago.
These insects had been placed by a Shadow Clone before it dispelled itself, a move Tetsumaru felt quite smug about. I really am brilliant. No one would ever suspect a thing.
He allowed his mind to wander for a split second, and in that moment, Minato flipped through several pages of a manual. Tetsumaru jumped in alarm and forced himself to focus, desperately trying to keep up with Minato's pace.
After two days of observation, he understood one thing deeply: Minato Namikaze was a genius. A genuine, terrifying genius.
The scroll was indeed the Forbidden Jutsu: Flying Thunder God. However, simply looking at the scroll didn't mean one could learn it. The technique was monstrously complex, involving sealing formulas, spatial perception, curvature calculations, and more—far more than a single scroll could hold.
As a result, supplemental manuals were required for the foundational theory. Part of the main scroll was actually a Sealing Scroll containing the most vital components: several sheets of scratch paper handwritten by the Second Hokage himself. These were the formulas Tobirama Senju had used to calculate spatial fluctuations.
These messy drafts were invaluable because while the Shinobi World had a tradition of Summoning Jutsu, it lacked any formal academic tradition regarding spatial theory. This was the only existing record that explained the how and why of space.
The sheer volume of sealing theory and spatial mathematics made Tetsumaru's head spin. He had a solid foundation in sealing, so that was manageable, but the spatial theory was like trying to read a foreign language written in riddles.
Minato would be reading along when he would suddenly pull out a fresh sheet of paper and begin his own calculations. He would scribble furiously, shake his head in dissatisfaction, and start over on a new sheet until he finally nodded, satisfied.
"I see. The Second Hokage was truly incredible. The more I learn, the more I admire him."
Tetsumaru, watching from the shadows, felt his eye twitch. What? What did you see? Could you maybe explain it out loud for the rest of the class?
This was the agony of trying to learn from a "God of Study." They look at a textbook once and "get it," while you're still trying to figure out where the first problem even starts.
Tetsumaru had made it through graduate school in his past life. He might not have mastered advanced calculus, but after years of grinding, he knew enough to recognize when someone was operating on a different level.
He realized that Minato's frantic scribbling during that second round of calculations wasn't just math—the boy had essentially reconfigured or flat-out invented a mathematical tool on the fly to solve for twenty-four different variables in spatial flux.
But unless someone broke down that tool and explained it piece by piece, Tetsumaru had no hope of learning it.
Higher mathematics was one of those things: if you were born with the aptitude, you'd understand it at a glance. If you weren't, you could spend a lifetime trying and never grasp it. You'd be better off hoping for a better "spawn" in your next life.
So, Tetsumaru gave up on the "why." He decided to just memorize the final formulas and pray he could make them work.
However, in the final, crucial moment, Minato didn't finish writing out the formula. He was too excited, too happy, and moved immediately to the next associated problem without completing the last one.
This left Tetsumaru hanging in mid-air. He couldn't go forward, he couldn't go back, and he couldn't get down. It was agonizing.
Don't panic. Minato will have to organize his notes eventually. I'll catch it then.
Still, his chest felt tight, and his head throbbed. Everything felt "off."
Fortunately, the next set of problems involved Sealing Jutsu. Minato's pace slowed down significantly, which made Tetsumaru feel inexplicably better. Aha! So even you have to slow down sometimes!
He used the reprieve to double back and review the spatial theories he hadn't understood. This time, he didn't have to follow the genius's breakneck speed; he could chew on the data at his own pace. As he slowly puzzled out several key points, his headache eased, and the tightness in his chest vanished.
The next day, Minato continued to grind through sealing theory. He was clearly in "deep study" mode, as he didn't even touch the main scroll or the drafts.
Tetsumaru relaxed slightly, focusing his energy on deciphering the terrifying spatial math.
Suddenly, a knock at the door startled him. He focused his attention. Unfortunately, bugs weren't very active in the winter, and he didn't have a "sentry" insect stationed at the door, so he couldn't see the visitor.
But he noticed Minato's face light up with an incredibly brilliant smile. The boy practically teleported across the room to throw the door open, his movements already showing a glimpse of his future god-like speed.
Through the spider's eyes, Tetsumaru saw a blur of red rush in the moment the door opened. With a loud thud, the figure crashed into Minato, knocking him over. The visitor lost their balance as well and tumbled forward.
Minato didn't even blink; it was as if he had expected this. He caught the person firmly and used his own back as a cushion to take the impact as they both hit the floor.
Tetsumaru's face darkened. I have a very bad feeling about this.
"Minato! Minato! It's been so long!" A girl with a mane of vivid red hair threw her arms around Minato's neck, cheering happily, completely unbothered by the fact that she had just tackled him to the ground.
The hug was... intense. Minato was suddenly unable to breathe. His face turned beet red, and his hands flailed helplessly, patting the girl's back to remind her to let go.
But the girl had her eyes squeezed shut, her head buried under Minato's chin. She couldn't see her boyfriend's predicament. In fact, she interpreted the frantic patting on her back as a loving embrace and squeezed even harder.
Tetsumaru: (ノへ￣,)
It looked as though Minato's soul was about to escape through his mouth. Poor guy, having such a violent and airheaded girlfriend.
Fortunately, the girl eventually noticed something was wrong. She let go of his neck and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him violently.
"Minato! Minato! Wake up! I didn't mean it!"
Minato came to. He offered a wry smile and reached up to stroke her favorite red hair, his expression melting into a look of pure, sweet adoration. "It's okay. I'm fine, Kushina."
"Thank goodness. I really didn't mean to."
"Really, it's fine. I'm a strong guy, remember?"
"..."
The young couple held each other, their voices dropping to a whisper—so quiet that even the acoustic sensors of the Domain Field Barrier couldn't pick up the words.
Yet the two of them were completely unaffected. Even without clear words, their communication was flawless. Even a simple exchange of glances was filled with endless sweetness.
Tetsumaru was hit by a massive wave of "dog food." This ten-thousand-point critical hit was devastating. It wasn't just a headache or chest pain anymore; this was a pain that radiated from his very soul.
Tetsumaru was nineteen in this life. He had spent his entire journey into adulthood amidst the chaos of war, and because he was obsessed with his swarms, he hadn't given a single thought to getting a girlfriend.
And today, he'd been force-fed a mouth full of PDA, dragging up all the bitter memories of being single from his past life.
Endure it. Endure. Learning is more important!
Minato and Kushina wouldn't be lovey-dovey forever. The proof was the Sealing manual left open on the desk and the fact that the Forbidden Scroll had been tucked away.
This thoughtful boy likely knew that the math-heavy spatial theory would be a nightmare for his "red-hot" girlfriend, so he had put the Forbidden Scroll aside on purpose.
Sure enough, after their moment of affection, the two sat on opposite sides of the desk and began studying sealing techniques.
Or rather, Kushina Uzumaki began teaching Minato. As the successor to Mito Uzumaki, Kushina was arguably the premier sealing specialist in the world. Her talent for seals was the equivalent of Minato's talent for math and space—a terrifying existence that mastered things just by looking at them.
"Dummy! Why don't you get it yet?"
"It's so simple! It's right there! Minato, how can you not see it?"
Kushina's complaints were a steady stream, her voice filled with a mix of disbelief and the desperate frustration of someone trying to teach a "slow" student. If this hadn't been her darling boyfriend, she probably would have smacked him.
Teach him? Why bother!
Tetsumaru wiped away a cold sweat. Kushina's "teaching" was actually incredibly beneficial to him, but her sharp rebukes felt like they were being aimed directly at him. They were so fitting it hurt.
This hot-tempered "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero" had zero patience for teaching. She was not a natural-born educator. If he hadn't been using this clandestine method, Tetsumaru would never have had the chance to learn the Uzumaki clan's secret sealing knowledge.
The most painful part was that even in their bickering and complaining, Tetsumaru could smell the "acrid scent of romance."
But the opportunity was too rare to pass up. He had no choice but to grit his teeth, stomach the "dog food," and continue his studies.
Without realizing it, Tetsumaru's left hand began carving three letters into the corner of his desk: F-F-F.
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