Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 227 Watch Me Perform a Lava Bath

Aburame Shisei said frankly, "It's okay, it's in your hands to study anyway."

"Didn't you guys want to create chakra armor but didn't know where to start? You can take these armors and study them; maybe they'll give you some inspiration."

"Really? That's great!" The brothers, Feng Hua Zao Xue and Feng Hua Nu Tao, lit up upon hearing this.

At this moment, Kazayuki Kazahana said again, "My lord, actually, there aren't many technical difficulties; the main problem is the materials. We simply can't find a suitable chakra-conducting metal right now, and traditional chakra metals are too expensive for us to afford."

"It's very simple. Mix chakra metal in a 1:100 ratio with iron ore and aluminum ore, feed it to the iron-aluminum bugs, and you'll get the results you want soon."

Actually, it was Kakuzu who discovered this secret formula, but the production of this alloy is currently limited and it is only supplied to people within the Land of Waterfall. Even Hanzo the Salamander of the Land of Rain has not been told about it.

However, it is most suitable for making armor, both in terms of cost and compatibility. After all, using pure chakra metal would be a waste given their strength.

After listening to Kazaka Saya's report, Aburame Shisei met with the trio one after the other.

Of the three, the eldest is doing the best. He married the Dowager Empress a year ago and had a son. He has long been living the life of a retired emperor.

As for the other two, one of them, after recovering from his leg injury, became a full-time office worker.

Furthermore, since Feng Hua Xue Yue now devotes almost all his energy to research, he handles all matters concerning the livelihood, politics, and military affairs of the entire Snow Country.

Currently, his strength is only at the level of an elite Chunin. However, he is no longer considered a combatant. Besides self-defense, his training is mainly for physical conditioning to prevent premature aging due to overwork.

As for the youngest one, he now goes to the underground palace every day and has become the keeper of those silkworms.

Those insects were also adept at adapting their behavior to different people. When Yu Nu Zhicheng was around, they were very diligent, practically living off their own efforts, and sometimes they would even pretend to be practicing very hard.

But after Shisei Aburame left, they stopped pretending.

Of course, it wasn't that she didn't pretend from the beginning. She pretended for the first few days, but once she realized that he wouldn't be coming back, she immediately stopped trying.

After all, with someone feeding you every day, wouldn't it be comfortable to just lie there and sleep? What a wonderful life that would be!

However, their happy life soon came to an end, because Aburame Shisei returned to the underground palace.

Seeing those fat worms lying lazily and carelessly in the underground palace, with one even boldly lying on his bed, Aburame Zhicheng was so angry he laughed.

"Very good. I thought you had all differentiated and transformed into immortal insects while I was away. I didn't expect you to have just gotten fat and degenerated into fat insects."

Yu Nu Zhicheng raised his hand and grabbed all the insects, poking their fat bellies one by one.

As soon as the insects sensed the return of the evil star, some immediately curled up and trembled; others pretended not to see anything, as if they were blind, but in reality they were just deceiving themselves.

Some are trying hard to do sit-ups, trying to prove that they have been working hard these days, but their obese bodies have made it difficult for them to lift their upper limbs.

After trying for so long, all he could do was lie limply on the ground, waiting for Aburame Shisei's final judgment.

Yu Nu Zhicheng shook his head as he looked at them, then sighed, "Since you don't want to improve, then leave it to the insects that do."

After saying that, Aburame Shichen put them aside and never looked at them again, and began to form hand seals.

Soon, a huge moth, tens of meters in size, appeared in the underground palace.

"Big Moth, this is your home from now on. You must work hard and strive to transform into a celestial beast as soon as possible."

"No, I misspoke. Actually, you're already considered a celestial beast. What I meant was that I hope you can cultivate ice and fire attributes soon."

The moth seemed to understand, but in the end it nodded its big head vigorously before diving headfirst into the ice cave.

After Yu Nu Zhicheng crawled into the laboratory, the big fat worms immediately panicked: Oh no, some worms have come to replace them!

At this point, they finally remembered the involution, because they had no choice but to involuntarily engage in it; if they didn't take action soon, they might be reduced from superior insects to mere raw materials.

So, some fat worms wriggled and crawled into the ice cave, while others, even more ruthless, stood trembling beside the lava, enduring the scorching heat from hundreds of degrees Celsius.

At that moment, Aburame Shisei's voice drifted from inside the laboratory: "Now you know how to work hard? What were you doing before? Let me tell you the truth, you've always been competitors. I'll only keep one Ice Worm and one Fire Worm. As for the rest who failed in the competition, you can imagine the consequences."

What? There are only two paths to success? Nobody told us that!

The fat worms, who were originally planning to cooperate, have now immediately gone their separate ways. They used to be good friends, but now I'll make sure they all get wiped out.

Deep inside the underground palace, a different scene unfolded: a large number of fat worms headed straight for the coldest place, crawling deeper and deeper, and even began to attack each other.

The same was true on the other side; even though they were burned, the insects ignored the danger and kept getting closer and closer to the lava zone.

One of the insects was moving too fast and slipped, falling directly into the lava.

The other insects were gloating, thinking that it was doomed and that they had one less competitor.

Who would have thought that after the insect fell into the lava and struggled wildly, it discovered that apart from the pain, it had not suffered any fatal injuries. It turned out that it could survive in lava!

It didn't pretend it wasn't injured; it kept writhing, because it was really in pain.

Of course, the most important thing is to confuse the opponent and transform oneself as soon as possible.

Little did the other fat worms know that when they saw it still struggling in the lava hours later, without turning to ashes, they immediately understood: This was all an act!

They disregarded the intense heat of the lava, and one by one, trembling, they leaped high into the lava.

Seeing this, Aburame Zhicheng, who had been watching from the sidelines with Xiaolai, couldn't help but shake his head.

"If only I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place?"

Of all his kind, the Ice Silkworm was the most intelligent, but also the most difficult to manage.

"However, this alone is not enough to transform it into a celestial insect; this is merely the preliminary work."

Initially, it's just about adaptation; ultimately, it still relies on accelerated time in the petri dish and the intervention of natural energy.