Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 51 The Great Underground Labyrinth

"That's enough!"

The elder slammed his fist on the table as he waded through the water: "When did it become your place to rule Takigakure? The village has just suffered a crisis, a large number of ninjas have been killed, and our old leader's body is barely cold. And you still want to get involved in this chaotic war? Do you think we haven't killed enough ninjas in Takigakure?"

"Elder, speaking of which, did our old leader leave behind any remains? Besides, it's been more than three months since the spy rebellion, and the ninjas of Takigakure have had enough time to recover."

The speaker was named Colonel Samura, a Jonin who had only returned to the village in recent months. He was also the strongest among the elders and had even considered taking over the position of the old leader.

Unfortunately, I was away from the village on an emergency mission last time and missed the opportune moment. And the elders didn't have the courage to reveal the specifics of what happened that day.

In fact, they had wavered in the face of huge sums of money, but compared to the safety of all the villagers, those things were nothing.

The elders exchanged glances, and the most prestigious shrine elder, Ziying, rose again, advising, "Samura, the Ninja World War is raging right now. If we send troops to wipe out the Touken Ranbu today because of the money offered by the Daimyo, tomorrow people from Iwagakure or Konoha might come to recruit us. What will we do then?"

"How should we respond?" Colonel Samura stood up and said, "Naturally, we should take the initiative to join the war."

Then, addressing the Jonin inside, he spoke passionately: "Gentlemen, you are all among the best Jonin. Look at the kind of life you've been living lately!"

"Have you ever had a good piece of meat or a good drink? Our village is too backward and too isolated. Even if we have money, we have nowhere to spend it."

Outside lies a vast and prosperous world. We clearly have the ability to strive for a better life for ourselves, yet we waste our lives on trivial matters like clearing land, farming, paving roads, dredging waterways, and building houses because of these inflexible conservatives and dead bones in their graves.

"These are things that even ordinary people without the ability can do, yet they insist on assigning them to us, wasting our time and wearing down our will. We are ninjas, and if we don't fight and don't train daily, we're like ninja tools stored in a warehouse. If shuriken and kunai aren't cleaned and polished regularly, they'll rust sooner or later."

"Everyone here, Takigakure shouldn't be like this. At the end of the Warring States period, we were the most powerful clan besides the Five Great Shinobi Villages. We possessed the Seven-Tails, distributed by Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, and we also had Jinchuriki, the weapons of war."

"But now, we're so cowardly that we don't even dare to wipe out a band of bandits. The reason is that these four elders have been holding onto power in the village. Aren't you awake yet? The so-called new leader is nothing but a puppet they've put forward. Now is the time to overthrow the old rule!"

After saying that, he grabbed the wine glass on the table, drank it all in one gulp, and then smashed it heavily on the ground.

However, his Chunin subordinates who were lying in ambush outside did not appear; instead, a peculiar aura wafted from inside the house.

In no time, all the Jonin felt short of breath and their bodies gradually went out of control. The weaker new leader was the first to collapse onto the table and faint.

"Oh no, enemy attack!"

Several strong Jonin tried to get up, but they quickly lost their strength and sat back down.

Just then, the door to the room slowly opened.

A man in black, wearing sunglasses and with long hair, slowly walked in. He approached Colonel Samura, whose body was already stiff, and patted him on the shoulder as if joking:

"I didn't expect you to have such a talent for public speaking."

"Who...who are you?" Colonel Samura asked with difficulty, his throat making a hoarse sound.

"You don't need to know who I am now. But you will find out soon enough."

After saying that, he reached out and grabbed the few who resisted the most fiercely. Then, a swarm of gray insects lifted them up and carried them out of the room.

Soon after, the oppressive pressure that had enveloped the area finally dissipated, and the remaining Jonin gradually regained their mobility.

"Who is that...?" a Jonin asked in a panic, panting heavily.

The four elders nodded helplessly, their eyes lowered. "That's right, just as you think. Alas, we also want that hundred million taels, but some money, you may earn it, but you may not live to spend it!"

"Everyone, go home. Starting tomorrow, do what you're supposed to do. Those who are farming, farm; those who are weeding, weed."

Autumn is approaching, and the wheat in the fields will soon be ripe. We will need your help with the autumn harvest then.

Anyway, the village is full of fertile fields, free from disasters and with favorable weather. As long as you work hard and don't slack off, you'll never go hungry.

However, you'd better not utter a word about what happened today, otherwise... you should understand the consequences.

Now, apart from the four elders, only twelve ninjas remain.

They were all from the village, and their families lived there. Knowing that the deity was still in the village, even if they had the courage, they dared not act rashly.

And those Jonin who had no children and no ties—coincidentally, they were the very people who had just been taken away.

As for what will happen to them after being taken away by that person, that remains to be seen.

The rebellion in the village was quelled quietly in just one day.

The price was seven ninjas with chakra close to that of Jonin, and more than twenty Chunin who had no relatives or friends.

The others were unharmed, but had already lost consciousness before the enemy arrived and knew nothing.

Takikawa Hideie, entrance to the underground insect nest.

To be precise, this is just the entrance to what is called an underground wormhole.

After 100 days of expansion, Aburame Shicheng has expanded the original three-story underground palace to the current eighteen stories.

The entire underground palace has an inverted triangular rhomboid structure: the first level is located 20 meters underground, the second level is 50 meters underground, and the third level—the real entrance to the wormhole underground palace—is 100 meters underground.

Each subsequent layer is three to five meters high, with layers overlapping and intertwined in a complex manner.

Without a guide, this place is a huge underground labyrinth, enough to trap and kill anyone inside.

Dozens of captured ninjas were now like fish on a chopping board, firmly bound to the bed frame by Shisei Aburame.

Their clothes and hair were completely devoured by the insects, leaving only their clean bodies.

"Shisei Aburame, what exactly do you want?" Colonel Samura, the most assertive among them, asked.

"I didn't expect you to know my name. Then you should know that I raise insects."

Aburame Shicheng replied calmly, "Recently, a bug has developed too quickly and threatened the life of one of my subordinates. As for you, you're here to help me complete my experiment. Lie down and swallow this bug egg. If you're still alive tomorrow, you can stay in the underground palace as guards."