Naruto: Power in Play

Chapter 31

The cloudy sky blazed with bursts of orange and crimson as a massive fire dragon roared upward, its searing glow illuminating the battlefield as it surged toward the colossal platform hovering ominously over Konoha.

Renji Aburame stood in the shadows, his dark glasses reflecting the chaos unfolding around him. He briefly glanced at the attack before focusing his attention back to the village.

Each explosion brought about by the sky ninjas felt like a punch to his chest—not from fear, but from the destruction of his precious fire insects. These specialized kikaichū, bred and trained over years of meticulous effort, perished by the thousands as shockwaves rippled through the area.

He clenched his fists, burying the pang of loss deep within himself. His mission was crucial, and in the midst of war, emotions could not be allowed to dictate his actions. Orders had to come first. He had learned that painful lesson as a young shinobi, and tonight, the stakes were too high for personal grief.

From the shadows, other Aburame clan members moved in unision, their forms barely discernible in the foggy village. The air around them hummed faintly, a telltale sign of kikaichū swarms dispersing into the chaos, scouting the rubble for survivors, traps, or enemy movement. Renji gave a quick hand signal, and his team split into smaller units, each member vanishing into the ruins to execute their orders.

Renji himself led his team into the chaos, his insects serving as his eyes and ears in the thick haze of smoke. His heightened sensitivity to their signals allowed him to detect even the faintest disturbances. Insects swarmed into cracks in walls, burrowed into piles of debris, and slipped through doorways, relaying what they found back to him.

As they scoured the village, Renji felt something abnormal. His insects detected faint chakra signatures—too faint to be ordinary survivors or enemy soldiers. The patterns were strange, erratic, as though the source was barely clinging to life—or something else entirely.

In the remnants of a small merchant's shop, Renji's insects uncovered a peculiar scene. A hidden storage room beneath the rubble emitted a faint yet unusual warmth, as if something alive pulsed within. Kneeling down, Renji pressed a gloved hand to the cracked tiles, his kikaichū spiraling around him like curious fireflies.

"Unseal it," he ordered softly.

Two of his clan members emerged silently from the shadows, one of them weaving hand signs to dismantle the barrier seals that covered the hidden door. As the seals faded and the stone slab slid aside with a low groan, the room revealed itself.

Inside, a strange glow illuminated shelves lined with jars and scrolls, but it was the centerpiece that captured Renji's attention: a massive cocoon of some kind, pulsating faintly with life. His kikaichū instinctively recoiled from the object, something they rarely did. Renji narrowed his eyes behind his glasses, his mind racing.

"What is this...?" he murmured.

One of his team members stepped forward, but Renji held up a hand, halting them. "Don't approach it yet," he said sharply. He released a smaller swarm of kikaichū, their fire-infused bodies glowing faintly as they neared the cocoon. But they ultimately refused to touch the cocoon, despite Renji's commands.

The aburame's jaw tightened. "Mark this location," he instructed, his voice steady despite the unease crawling up his spine. "We'll report this to headquarters. No one touches it until further orders."

As the other Aburame began their preparations, Renji took one last look at the pulsating cocoon.

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