Chapter 38. Three Tomoe

Ryoma Aburame, a genius ninja of the Aburame clan, once served as an elite member of the Roots.

His infiltration skills were exceptional, and he was rumored to rival Orochimaru in strength during his prime.

Ambitious, he sought to expand the Aburame clan, traveling to collect unique insects.

His discoveries included nano-level poisonous insects similar to those of Aburame Shiguro, but with the added ability to release them into the air for widespread dissemination.

However, his ambitions took a dark turn. To enhance his techniques, Ryoma began secretly killing his teammates to use their blood to feed his poisonous insects.

The heinous acts were swiftly uncovered, leading to his imprisonment.

As he recognized him, he reacted swiftly, forming seals and unleashing a Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

The fireball erupted at his own feet, creating a blazing inferno that engulfed the surroundings. He emerged from the flames, his body scorched but still intact.

"Hmph!" Aburame Ryoma snorted, acknowledging the Uchiha's decisive response.

The multitude of invisible parasitic insects that had invaded moments ago were incinerated instantly by the intense flames.

Despite sustaining burns, he had successfully evaded Ryoma's nanoscale parasitic insect attack.

If Aburame Ryoma's poisonous bugs managed to attach themselves to him, he would lose control of his body within seconds, leading to an inexplicable death.

"Will you follow me obediently, or should I take your body away?" Ryoma questioned, as his nano-level poisonous insects were all consumed and now required blood to hatch.

Consequently, he resorted to using ordinary parasitic insects for the attack.

Waving his hand, Ryoma summoned a large group of parasites, provoking him, with his badly burned body, to leap back with all his strength.

Without a ninja tool in hand, he relied on the Fire Release technique, unleashing balls of fire from his mouth—the Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.

Charging into the swarm of parasites head-on, he triggered a series of explosions as the fire consumed the insects.

Several more parasites fell to the ground, igniting a fire instantly.

Witnessing the substantial commotion, Aburame Ryoma deftly dodged past the flames and caught him.

Evading the punch in an embarrassing manner, he rolled twice on the spot. Ryoma stepped forward for another kick, but he stepped lightly.

"Bang!" He exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"Huh!?" It turned out to be a shadow clone. When?

As the shadow clone dispersed into smoke, the memory of the damage suffered by the clone instantly returned to Hitoki at his original location.

He knew from the beginning that he couldn't beat Ryoma. When he sprayed the fireball toward the ground, he separated almost all his chakra into another shadow clone—a risky maneuver where insufficient chakra could lead to the clone being seriously injured and disappearing.

In those moments when the injured memories returned to the main body, he found it challenging to bear and almost fainted.

However, he fought to stay on his feet, recognizing that the family had finally escaped the ravages of war.

Any accident involving him might trigger significant repercussions.

Despite staggering and almost falling, he gritted his teeth to suppress any groans. Blood flowed from his nose, a physical manifestation of the toll the ordeal had taken on him.

As footsteps approached, indicating Ryoma's imminent pursuit, he knew he had to endure. The family's newfound peace was at stake.

Just as Ryoma's parasitic secret technique, "Parasite," buzzed in the air, he heard the sound of large groups of flying parasites closing in.

In a surge of anger and determination, he dodged the impending attack, feeling a sudden burst of strength.

Breathing heavily, his Sharingan evolved from a second tomoe to a third tomoe during the intense struggle. Though exhausted, he managed to avoid Ryoma's assault.

Annoyed by the delay, Ryoma noticed the evolution of his Sharingan and couldn't help but feel intrigued. The flying parasites around him signaled a looming threat.

With chakra depleted and no time to escape, he faced coming danger. However, a sudden explosion of smoke and dust revealed a giant skeleton enveloping him, saving him from the impending peril.

"Bang!" The smoke cleared, and a familiar figure emerged. 

"Oh, luckily I caught up." Natsuki gave him a thumbs up.

"Captain..." He felt relieved, his eyes darkened, and he collapsed.

"Is this Susanoo!?" Ryoma sensed the surging chakra on the other side.

Although Susanoo was only in the form of a skeleton, its oppressive force had already caused the parasites on Aburame Ryoma to recoil in fear.

Aburame Ryoma immediately turned around and fled.

Natsuki glanced at him, and Susanoo delivered a powerful slap, generating a strong wind!

"Buzz...!" Aburame Ryoma immediately exploded into a swarm of insect clones.

He quickly reappeared nearby, but the number of parasites had been reduced by more than half.

It was evident that this substitution technique had consumed most of Ryoma's chakra.

Natsuki dismissed Susanoo and stepped forward.

He formed a Yin seal with both hands.

Using Fire Release, he unleashed a potent stream of fire!

Puff! Boom!

Huge flames erupted, turning the ground into a sea of fire. Aburame Ryoma once again exploded into insects, and all the parasitic insects were incinerated by the intense flames.

The violent blaze and high temperatures cleared the area completely.

As Aburame Ryoma's parasites burned away, he reappeared and was suddenly engulfed in flames.

The intense heat charred him instantly, leaving no time for a lament.

A black humanoid figure fell to the ground.

Rustle, rustle, rustle—the sound of rustling permeated the forest, and many Uchiha members arrived at the scene.

However, upon reaching the site, they found the ground in disarray, with many trees ablaze.

Oops, it seems the game got a bit out of hand, Natsuki scratched his head.

To handle such a bug player, the most fitting choice is the Fire Release.

To ensure that all the parasites were eliminated, Natsuki utilized ample chakra.

Consequently, while the fire was extinguished, a significant portion of the nearby terrain was scorched.

"Put out the fire first! Quickly!"

"Water release…"

Although Uchiha excels at Fire Release, it doesn't mean they can't use Water Release. After all, the Sharingan allows for versatile jutsu replication.

Natsuki helped Hitoki up. While performing the defensive detection barrier technique, he was inputting chakra experiments and learned about Ryoma's invasion promptly.

He had already arrived at the scene but chose not to take immediate action.

However, his actions surprised him. First, he burned himself with a fireball, distributing all the chakra to his shadow clone in the flames.

He swiftly concealed his body, escaping with the aid of the flames.

A proud smile appeared on his face.

However, it was undeniably risky.

Casting shadow clones is dangerous because, when the chakra is insufficient, after ending the shadow clone, the memory returns to the original body. The original body may struggle to handle it and may faint.

The technique of multiple shadow clones is even more forbidden.

Except for Naruto, the reincarnation of Asura, no one else would dare to separate a bunch of shadow clones to attack.

Unexpectedly, Hitoki relied on sheer willpower to overcome the shadow clone issue and awakened the three tomoe at the critical moment of life and death.

The Uchiha medical team had just conducted a preliminary examination and found that, aside from burns on his body, he was fine.

That's a remarkable feat.

As Natsuki looked at the body lying on the ground, he recalled that this guy should be locked up in a dungeon.

Didn't the Third Hokage find no reason to deal with Danzo? Now he had a reason.