No one could have expected that the person who attacked them would be one of their own from the same village.
The Aburame clan's secret bug manipulation technique was not in the scope of consideration either.
At a time like this, the only person who could send out shinobis of the Aburame clan to test out Manoshi was Danzō.
Manoshi never thought that Danzō would target him.
Wouldn't he even spare Uchiha's blind dud?
He also sent two Jōnins at once. This was a lot of attention towards a blind man.
Numerous insects crawled on Manoshi's body, face, hands, places exposed to the air and wrapped in clothes. The many insects made dense wounds.
His chakra was running out. Those parasites were drawing energy from the meridians in the wounds.
Shit!
Unable to ensure the flow of chakra, it was naturally impossible for him to use jutsu.
Manoshi could only try to release the power of the divine dragon externally as a way to disperse the swarm of insects wrapped around his body.
"Stop struggling, Manoshi Uchiha. "
Tatsuma Aburame and Aoba were standing in front of a vaguely humanoid figure wrapped in bugs.
"No one would be able to use chakra under my Insect Sphere Jutsu. Aoba, end his life with a kunai!"
Because of Danzō Shimura's request to keep Manoshi's body as intact as possible while ensuring the kill, instead of waiting for Manoshi to be drained alive, Tatsuma made Aoba step forward to end his life.
However, the kunai he stabbed into the swarm didn't feel like the dull sensation of entering flesh but rather seemed to pierce a wooden log.
"It's too much!"
Manoshi's voice came out of the swarm, somewhat muffled under the enveloping insects.
Aoba subconsciously withdrew the hand stuck in Manoshi's body and pulled out the kunai in the process. A blazing red light spread out from the gap formed by the kunai.
"This... this is!?"
Tatsuma felt something familiar about this chakra but couldn't remember where he had seen it before, but his instincts told him he had to strike first.
"The situation has changed. Use a large, powerful jutsu strike!"
"But your insects ..."
"Attack along with the insects!"
Aoba formed a seal and released an extremely strong Wind Release jutsu - Wind Cutter Technique.
The subtle wind blade, which was hard to see with the naked eye, cut Manoshi, wrapped in worms, and cut him into several sections.
The sharp wind blade broke through the "shell" formed by the insects and hit the chakra covering Manoshi's body with a crisp sound.
"How is that possible? The Wind Cutter Technique had no effect at all! Manoshi Uchiha has been concealing his strength, and his intentions aren't small. Pass the message to Danzō-sama quickly!"
Aoba then released the Wind Cutter Technique again. However, the result made no difference; instead, the insects continued to die under his slashing blows and by Manoshi's fiery energy.
At this time, Manoshi's voice came out again, but with an ethereal quality this time, "Murderers will always be killed, sooner or later!"
"To strike at a colleague simply because of Danzō's own selfishness. Do you guys realize that you are going to be killed?"
With a loud dragon roar, all the insects on Manoshi's body died.
Manoshi, who had risen from the insect pile, with the bandages that wrapped around his eyes already reduced to shreds, and the power of the divine dragon overflowing from his eyes nearly solid; the crimson divine dragon coiled around him as the long-lost sense of relaxation returned to his body once again.
"So that's how it is? Is there actually such a thing?"
The image of this divine dragon coiling around finally made Tatsuma connect what was in front of him with that secret mission ten years ago.
"Aoba, run! Bring the information back to Danzō-sama!"
Tatsuma shouted towards Aoba. He himself began to use his chakra to accelerate the parasite eggs' time to hatch. Soon, a large number of parasites gathered like a dark cloud in front of Tatsuma's body.
"For Konoha's sake, I'm ready to sacrifice. As long as Danzō-sama remains, the will of the Root will be alive and well. Manoshi Uchiha, Danzō-sama will surely crush your plot!"
"Secret Technique - Insect Sphere!"
"Fire Release - Dragon Fire!"
At this time of Fire Release, with the enhancement from the power of the divine dragon, was far from the same.
The flame dragon spewing out from Manoshi's mouth was wild and aggressive, slammed into the wall made of insects. A large amount of Fire Release chakra mixed with the power of the divine dragon turned half of the sky red.
This feeling was too powerful.
Even after releasing such a powerful jutsu, he seemed to feel no consumption.
Manoshi was certain that this was exactly the result he was seeking, an advanced use for the power of the divine dragon, an obliterating flame that burned everything!
'Wait, why do I have such a chūnibyō idea?'
Not caring about it too much, Manoshi formed another seal, and another dragon headed for Aoba. The fallen leaves ignited by the blaze, swept by the heatwave, shot up like dragon scales.
Seeing that the fire dragon was about to catch up with Aoba, who was speeding towards Konoha, he had no choice but to turn around and slap his hands on the ground. Then, a wall of water came out of the ground in front of him.
The fire dragon and the wall of water collided, but the flames vaporized the water that should have restrained Fire Release. In the fog formed by water vapor, a fire dragon that was only slightly smaller broke through the fog and advanced.
However, Aoba himself had long since lunged aside after finishing the seal.
The Fire Release, which was almost white-hot, couldn't be stopped by the Water Release.
Tatsuma Aburame's insects were replenished, so he directed the insects to form a wall between Manoshi and Aoba.
"Don't even think about attacking Aoba until you kill me!"
Saying that, Tatsuma Aburame took out a small bottle from his pocket, hesitated for two seconds, but poured the purple-black fluid in the bottle into his hand.
Tatsuma Aburame then opened his hands, which were stained purple, and ran towards Manoshi.
"Planning to fight in close quarters? Does the stuff painted on your hands give you confidence?"
Destroying what the enemy wanted to accomplish was Manoshi's most fundamental logic in combat.
Since Tatsuma wanted to get close, he naturally had to stop it.
"Fire Release - Dragon Flame Release Song!"
The jutsu, which was improvised by Manoshi, transformed into a derivative of the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, spewing fireballs in succession from the power of the solid divine dragon that surrounded him, each of which was comparable to the Fireball Technique used by ordinary shinobis.
"Don't underestimate my determination!"
The running Tatsuma didn't slow down; he just dodged left and right and gathered insects to fend off the deadly fireballs.
A short distance of a few dozen meters, Tatsuma's body was grazed by fireballs several times. The burns from the fireballs were everywhere, on his arms, waist, and so on.
But it didn't matter to him.
Since he had already arrived in front of Manoshi, his scarred body lunged at him defenselessly.
"Fall with me into the abyss!"
This was a forbidden poisonous insect that no one else could manipulate except his own best friend, Shikuro Aburame, a nano-sized poisonous insect - Rinkaichū. So, without Shikuro Aburame present, the moment Tatsuma poured the Rinkaichū insect in the bottle on his hand, he had given up the possibility of surviving.
Raised within his own cells, he used his own chakra to accelerate the reproduction. His only goal was to kill Manoshi Uchiha in front of him.
This moment seemed like an eternity. As soon as the arm covered Rinkaichū touched Manoshi's body, the Rinkaichū, acting on instinct, would spontaneously infest his body, and no one could save him.
"But I haven't lived long enough. " Manoshi took a deep breath. "No matter what it is, the Aburame clan's insects are always afraid of fire, right? "
"Fire Release - Great Fire Destruction!"
The flames covered Tatsuma Aburame's body and swept through the surrounding trees, turning the entire forest into a sea of fire.