Summons

In mere moments, Scarface's eyes turned glazed and vacant. His arm felt like it was under some sort of meat tenderiser, getting smashed over and over. At first it was just the bone around his forearm where the mosquito bit him feeling like that, but the feeling was spreading along and quickly reached all the way to his hand and fingers!

Realising that this 'poison' would leave his entire body under that feeling once it takes a roundtrip through his bloodstream, Scarface ignored the Root Anbu entirely and grabbed the kunai next to his throat. Since Scarface didn't get re-sealed by the curse, the Anbu didn't struggle or move to kill him but rather let him take it.

Bracing himself, Scarface quickly forced out almost all the chakra in his entire body, congealing it over the Kunai's edge while applying the Added-Weight Rock Technique in full force onto the Kunai. Holding his grip steady and clenching his teeth, he swung it at his own infected arm just above the elbow.

'Swoosh, splat, clang!'

The arm fell to the ground with a hearty thud, while Scarface heaved air and almost blacking out from the pain. That 'poison' gave him a 'certain-death'-type of feeling, if he didn't cut off the arm he was certain he'd die a horrible death. Looking at his severed arm, he inspected the bones he could spot where he did the cut. They had already started turning black, as if rotted underground for months or years!

Realising the dosage was nothing more than what was inside the sack of a single mosquito, Scarface couldn't help but feel cold sweat running down his back. 'Unless a shinobi has absolute control, and massive amounts of chakra - this poison would be certain death for anyone!' he thought.

Malaria was furiously scribbling down notes in his notepad, pulling Scarface out of his thoughts from the sheer noise the pen was making. Looking over, Scarface saw the evillest smile he had ever seen in his entire life. There was no fear, no disgust, nothing but endless malice portrayed on that grinning face.

"Oh, I suppose we should continue the questioning." Malaria came back to himself; this test went beyond anything he ever could've expected. "How did the 'poison' feel as it went through your system? Any aches in your bones, any muscle- and skin irritation?" Looking at this demon in a human childs skin, Scarface shivered.

"I don't know how to express it; when the bruise appeared, I felt nothing. Soon after, however, the bone in my arm felt like termite infested wood - crumbling apart as if crushed under a rock." Glancing back at the severed arm, the bone had basically turned completely black at this point. "Muscle and skin felt essentially unaffected, but I couldn't stop my instinct telling me to cut off the arm."

Nodding along as he scribbled on his note block, Malaria glanced at the Root Anbu while hinting at the other arm. Immediately, Scarface got his other arm cut off without warning by the silent Anbu member. Howling like a beast ready for slaughter, he was suddenly armless! How could he live like this!?

Malaria stepped forward and covered the newly severed arm with a full bottle of repellent. Those infected mosquitoes are too dangerous for anyone to control, except himself of course. Calling out to the 'Eyebrow'-mosquito, Malaria inspected it to see how it fares. The two dots on its head were very faint at this point, clearly losing most of the virus during injection.

Nodding and humming a little tune, Malaria wrote down these things in his notes as well. After brief thought, he called out a few dozen additional mosquitoes. Commanding them to 'feast' on the infected arm, to see if his idea to multiply his 'source' this way was feasible.

Just a couple of minutes later, they returned to rest in the palm of his hand. Each and every one of them got eyebrows, but they too were very faint. It seems the purity in the arm was several magnitudes lowered, but the quantity had increased greatly. Nodding, he sent out a small swarm to devour every droplet of blood in the severed arm.

Turning around Malaria looked at Scarface, who had blacked out due to blood loss, or perhaps, arm loss? Malaria simply ignored the man, asking his Anbu to follow the agreement. Release the guy, remove the seals and finally, don't let him suffer an armless life. One could say, it's good to give someone a hand, right?

Stepping out of the tent full of happiness, Malaria noticed how most of the tents in the encampment were being demolished and returned to backpacks. The army was about to move out towards the Land of Grass once again, in the cover of night. Glancing around, he soon found his way back to his teammates, skipping along after a very productive day.

'Now I also have a trump card in a few mosquitoes carrying the virus. Though, I'm running out of a good source for the bone rot. I really should petition to join the Kirigakure front once those water-for-brains Kaguya clansmen joins the war.' Malaria thought to himself, planning ahead.

'If I'm not mistaken, Mist will be played like a fiddle by Uchiha Madara at some point. I wonder if Dobito can re-enact Obito's sorrow if Himawari gets killed by Boruto in front of his eyes…' Unable to hold back a chuckle, Malaria shook his head. 'Impossible. If anything, he would be laughing happily seeing it happen. Oh well.'

—

Entering his teams mud hut, Malaria saw Yamana and Hikari reading a book of some kind, murmuring in low voices. It reminded him of what adult Kakashi would take out whenever he was bored. Have the girls turned into perverts? Did Jiraiya already complete his masterpiece?

Sneaking up behind them, Malaria approached and read the title aloud: "How to Deal with Stalkers?"

"When did you get in here?" The girls, surprised, hurried to close the book, and hid it in a backpack while glaring at Malaria with wary eyes. "Just came back a second ago." Malaria shrugged and grimaced.

"You two have stalkers, in the army? It's not a problem at all. So long as you have a boyfriend like me, no stalkers will dare to approach you ever again." Malaria grinned with a smug look on his face. He was fully capable of causing nightmares in anyone at this point.

The girls rolled their eyes in frustration. Did he really not understand it was him they were trying to avoid, or was he feeling too good about getting recognition from the higher ups? Pah, what a shameless scoundrel.

—

As the evening sun finally set beyond the horizon, it was time to move out. The entire army, now short 230~ men leaving a bit under 400 to keep on marching to the border. This time they had Shimura Danzo's Root covering the entire border in an iron grip and shouldn't get ambushed again.

Malaria stretched his arms, feeling somewhat tired but giddy at the same time, he walked out of the mud hut and ready for the upcoming march. Now, he could face anyone with confidence (except the Kaguya) in the entire Shinobi world without any fear.

The three members of Team Suzuki joined the ranks and started moving out with the rest of the army. Malaria sped up a little to be closer to Orochimaru to tell him of his success. If he could butter up Mr. Snake and get into his good books, research in the future would go without a hitch.

After he left, Hikari couldn't help but ask, "Yama-chan, I feel that Malaria isn't such a bad person. Did everybody in the academy misunderstand him? He didn't cross any strange lines at all these few days, did he?" Starting some conversation on the road couldn't hurt.

Blinking her eyes, Yamana thought for a moment and said, "I only think he behaved and did those things for two reasons. Firstly, he was a poor sod thrown out of his own clan, left without any money to do research; secondly, he's trying to lull a sense of security in us to 'get' us more easily in the future."

Greatly enlightened by her more 'experienced' friend, Hikari raised her thumb for Yamana, feeling that she did have a good point. As they rushed onwards, chatting a little more about the possible methods that little devil could use to create bonds with them, something happened once again.

'Hiu…'

Suddenly, Hikari and Yamana heard a noise and turned around, only to see another damnable Kunai rain covered in explosive tags flying at them. "Not good! It's an enemy attack, again!" Yamana unsheathed her Chakra Sword and put it before herself and Hikari to try and deflect the incoming kunai.

'BOOM!'

A deafening and continuous explosion rose to the sky. Similar explosions were going off further away, indicating that this wasn't just a little ambush, but rather an attack. Malaria quickly rushed back to his team, covered in dust and mud.

"Malaria, are you alright?" Hikari shouted and turned to look at him, only to scream the next second. "Ahhhh!" Malaria had lost his pants in the opening of the initial engagement! He was happily rushing along to tell Orochimaru about his achievements when the ground beneath him simply exploded. He came out mostly unscathed, but his pants turned to smithereens.

As he came closer to the girls, Malaria looked around angrily. Who the hell puts such weak versions of explosive tags under the ground? Do they not realize how much power is needed to kill someone with a tag? Who can fight in just their underwear? Was this engagement just some sort of prank!?

"Hika-chan, what happened to the scoundrel?" asked Yamana in a hurry, surveying the surrounding forest, about to turn around to check. Hikari blocked Yamana's eyes and said, blushing, "Don't look back, he's not wearing any pants."

"He's indeed shameless as always," Yamana couldn't help but spit through clenched teeth. "They're coming! Be careful!" Hikari hastily put on her armoured gloves, activated her Byakugan and parried the first person charging at them.

"Hehe. I've been holding myself back since yesterday. Today I will take down some Iwa-scum myself!" With a thirst for vengeance for being turned into a useless casualty the day before, Yamana leapt and slashed with her Chakra Sword.

'Clang!'

After a sparking collision of sword and kunai, the attacker was instantly flung back. Everybody was dumbfounded, is this guy made of nothing but air? Getting flung by a little girl with a sword just like that? Wait, could it be a Shadow Clone!?

'Hooooo!!'

Suddenly, a deafening roar burst forth from the frontlines as their attackers poofed into smokes. Everybody turned around, only to see a gigantic man made from rock. It looked like a gargantuan stone construct with larger than average arms, and a single eye on its left side.

'Isn't that the summon of the fat guy from Sound-Four?' Malaria thought inquisitively as he put on some new pants. Was this where Orochimaru managed to obtain the contract scroll for that creature? It explains why and how that guy Jirōbō managed to get his hands on something so useful.

Feeling somewhat jealous that others had summons, while Malaria did not - he wasn't certain he wants anything to do with Ryūchi Cave through Orochimaru. Those snakes demand sacrifices every now and then, not something he wants to comply with.

"A super-size beast summon of the earth element! This isn't something we can fight!" Yamana paled somewhat, not sure if retreating just like that was allowed. Before she could contemplate the issue further, another summoning happened; Manda made his entrance, dwarfing that little pebble 3 to 1.

In the blink of an eye, Manda tail-whipped the rock far out of sight. Before the astonishment could settle properly, command from the front was to continue marching as if nothing happened.

"Phew, good thing Orochimaru-sama is the commander of our campaign. Not only is he handsome and a genius researcher, but also extremely powerful!" Yamana practically had stars in her eyes, continuing to march with joy in her heart.

Malaria couldn't help but feel contempt, wasn't he just as good, if not better than that creepy snake? He really needs to get his hands on a good summoning beast soon. The cars and vehicles of the Shinobi World could somewhat be translated over to summons, but should he really go for the snakes?