A purple sea of Rinkaichu formed, blanketing the forest.
As they were incinerated by the man of fire at the center, they simultaneously devoured the surrounding vegetation, breeding at an insane rate.
Wave after wave of newly bred insects emerged; they were simply impossible to burn all away.
Several more towering trees collapsed nearby.
Within the sea of insects, Motomu was surrounded by purple, smoke-like bugs from all directions. Unable to discern his path, he simply sat cross-legged.
In the eyes of the caster, this was no different from waiting for death.
The sea of insects would swallow and reproduce endlessly, while human strength eventually reached its limit.
It wouldn't take long before his chakra was depleted and the Rinkaichu dissolved Motomu's flesh and bone.
Feeling his chakra dip toward the red line, the corners of Motomu's mouth curled into a slight smirk.
Although he hadn't located the enemy's true body, he had already thought of a new solution during this time.
Besides Fire Style and Psychokinesis, he actually had another area-of-effect technique.
However, he had always viewed this move as primarily utility-based, and he rarely used it in actual combat.
The enemies he encountered usually exceeded the conditions for direct activation of this technique.
To pull it off, he usually had to knock them out first.
Its frontal threat was practically negligible.
But against these bugs, the Hypnosis and Dream Eater combo was absolutely perfect!
With such a massive gap in strength, putting them to sleep was easier than taking candy from a baby.
The plan took shape.
In the next instant...
With Motomu as the epicenter, an invisible ripple of Hypnosis radiated outward.
The buzzing Rinkaichu suddenly froze mid-air.
They looked like rolling storm clouds.
As if poised to swallow the sky, they instead let out silent shrieks of agony and lost their lives.
A gentle breeze blew, and the purple sphere of insects covering a hundred-meter radius around Motomu crumbled into drifting ash.
Inside Motomu, the modest amount of life force returning from Dream Eater managed to sustain his chakra consumption.
While his chakra stabilized, his mind was utterly exhausted after firing off the wide-area combo hundreds of times.
Staggering to his feet, Motomu used a faint pulse of Psychokinesis.
He shook off the insect corpses clinging to his clothes.
He looked up and scanned his surroundings.
A massive clearing had suddenly appeared in the Forest of Death, with him at its center.
Within the circular clearing, there was only yellow soil covered in black insect remains; not even a single weed remained.
Looking at the giant tortoise nearby, which had been reduced to a mere shell, Motomu felt a chill.
Luckily he was a cut above, or under that kind of assault, he wouldn't even have a shell left.
Shifting his gaze toward the edge of the clearing...
A ninja clad in a full-body protective suit, identifiable as female only by her figure, stood there in a daze.
Judging by her incredulous expression, she was clearly shell-shocked by the sudden turn of events.
Motomu could understand her reaction.
After all, his current Big Eyeball was something no sub-insect lifeform could face directly.
Hypnosis plus Dream Eater had drawn an insurmountable boundary.
To these insects, this combo was like Cthulhu himself descending to hand out candy.
While Motomu was lost in thought, Aburame Ying's numb face twitched.
Since her return from the failed mission in the Land of Wind...
After undergoing multiple modifications by Lord Danzo and Orochimaru, she had finally mastered the ultimate secret technique recorded in her clan: the Rinkaichu Technique.
Investigating the cause of the previous mission's failure and testing her teammate Uchiha Motomu was her first mission since recovery.
But she never expected that the Rinkaichu she obtained after surviving Orochimaru's cruel and evil human experiments couldn't even handle a mere Genin like Uchiha Motomu.
How was she supposed to use these insects to defeat someone as powerful as Sasori of the Red Sand!
Behind her round goggles, her eyes glared intently at Motomu.
No, the clan's secret technique definitely isn't this weak.
The problem must be this man!
I must report this to Lord Danzo!
Uchiha Motomu is definitely hiding something!
Seeing him look up and reveal his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Aburame Ying became even more certain of her suspicions.
She stepped back with her right foot and landed.
The world around her instantly turned a deep, bloody crimson.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
The sounds of four steel stakes driving into flesh erupted from her limbs.
Ying immediately realized she had fallen into a Genjutsu.
Enduring the intense pain, she circulated her chakra in an attempt to break it.
Just as the world before her eyes returned to normal...
A fist wreathed in boiling, white-hot flames appeared right in front of her face.
The Rinkaichu acting as her automatic defense were incinerated by the heat.
The pressure of the punch tore through the air, slamming Ying's head deep into the ground.
The battle ended in a heartbeat.
Motomu pulled back the corpse's mask.
He felt she looked somewhat familiar.
A female ninja from Root that he knew, from the Aburame clan.
His thoughts cleared, and Motomu remembered her name.
Aburame Ying, the person whose memories he had broken once before.
He remembered she had been obsessed with using her insects against Sasori back then.
He hadn't expected her strength to grow so much in just half a year.
Now that she was dead, things were going to get a bit tricky for him.
He thought the business with Danzo had blown over.
He hadn't expected another incident like this. The origin of his strength definitely wouldn't hold up under investigation, even with his status as Orochimaru's disciple.
That status only reduced the overt troubles.
A covert investigation into him would definitely begin.
This is a bit of a headache.
Why have there been so many issues lately?
As Motomu frowned in thought...
A dozen figures suddenly darted out of the forest in the distance.
The two leading the pack were Kakashi and Obito.
The Mist Ninja following them were like rabid dogs, refusing to let go.
Looking at them, Motomu vaguely recalled being pursued by Mist Ninja in the Land of Water.
What can I say?
They really are my students; even their way of running for their lives is identical.
Seeing the group approach...
Motomu grabbed Aburame Ying's corpse from the ground and hurled it with all his strength.
Hozuki Mangetsu, who was in a state of fury after being charred by Lightning Style, didn't even think as he saw a figure flying toward him and slashed out with his blade.
Bathed in blood, Hozuki Mangetsu let out an eerie, cackling laugh.
"The Konoha ninja are already using corpses for cover! They can't hold out much longer!"
"Everyone, after them!"
The Mist Ninja, who hadn't even touched a hair on their targets after half a day of chasing, were reinvigorated.
They howled and picked up their pace.
Having completed the disposal of the body and the framing, Motomu met up with the arriving duo.
"Kakashi, how are you guys holding up? Can you still fight?" Motomu asked as he joined the retreat.
Obito didn't waste time and immediately described the previous battle.
After hearing the summary...
Motomu understood the current situation.
In their squad, only Obito had some combat strength left.
Kakashi was physically spent, and Motomu was mentally drained.
Furthermore, the enemy's strength was by no means that of ordinary Mist Genin.
These guys from the Hidden Mist—Kaguya, Ice Style, Hozuki—they had everything. With all those bizarre Bloodline Limits, they were at least Chunin-level in a real fight.
If they kept fighting, the risk would be immense.
"Motomu, the mission is complete."
Kakashi panted, pulling the Heaven and Earth scrolls from his tool pouch.
"Now, we just need to submit these to finish the exam."