Leaving Yūgao's room,
Shishou headed to Mikoto's room.
After witnessing the formidable strength of Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Mikoto, who had always wanted to prevent a conflict between Sasuke and Itachi, was deeply shocked.
She was in dire need of comfort.
"Shhh~"
Shishou gently slid open the wooden lattice door and entered Mikoto's room.
Mikoto, dressed in a beautiful kimono, was sitting in the small courtyard's pavilion, staring blankly at the moon.
Shishou approached her and gently embraced her shoulders.
"Don't worry, I'm here."
Mikoto didn't speak. Instead, she tightly hugged Shishou, pressing herself against him and initiating a kiss.
Everything was conveyed without words...
Perhaps to relieve stress,
or perhaps to please Shishou,
that night, Mikoto was extremely passionate.
The next day,
the morning sun woke Shishou from his slumber.
He lifted his head.
His gaze fell upon the disheveled room and Mikoto's elegant, beautiful face.
The two were tightly pressed together, covered by a large, warm kimono.
Looking at Mikoto lying in his arms, Shishou couldn't resist stealing a kiss on her cheek.
Last night was truly wonderful!
Not wanting to disturb Mikoto,
Shishou opened his system to check on the state of his chakra bugs.
[Phosphorus Poison Bug: Epic-grade nano-toxic bug that reproduces by devouring biological cells. It cannot survive in the air for more than thirty minutes.]
After six evolutions, the information about the phosphorus poison bug was short.
But its attributes had gained a significant boost.
Firstly, it no longer needed to parasitize living organisms.
Secondly, its survival time in the air had increased to thirty minutes.
These two enhancements combined brought a revolutionary change to the phosphorus poison bug.
Shishou took out a newly bred healing bug and commanded the phosphorus poison bug to devour it.
After consuming the healing bug,
the phosphorus poison bug, under Shishou's control, transformed into the appearance of the healing bug.
"Hmm, it retains the crawling and flying abilities of the healing bug."
"But it doesn't inherit the healing ability."
"It seems the phosphorus poison bug can only mimic physical forms, not special abilities."
"Which makes sense; if it could mimic abilities too, this bug would be way too overpowered."
Shishou quickly grasped the changes in the phosphorus poison bug.
Next, he checked the bug breeding space, and his expression fell.
"No way, there's only this much left..."
Seeing that only a tenth of the phosphorus poison bugs remained in the breeding space compared to before the evolution, Shishou looked displeased.
Each evolution of the phosphorus poison bug doubled the energy needed for reproduction.
Seeing that ninety percent were lost after one evolution,
Shishou realized the next evolution could take a long time.
Shishou felt like crying.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for successfully evolving an epic-grade bug species six times.]
[Bug Breeding Space +3]
[You have received a beginner's random bug species package, which contains a random mother bug of a random grade.]
[Cultivating an epic-grade or higher bug species to evolve once can further unlock the breeding space and grant reward packages.]
After the system's notifications, a palm-sized golden package appeared in front of Shishou.
He took it and examined it carefully.
It really was just an ordinary box.
Mikoto, lying in Shishou's arms, stirred and opened her eyes.
"Good morning."
Seeing Mikoto wake up, Shishou greeted her.
Mikoto, her head a bit fuzzy, stared at Shishou for a moment.
Usually, she would reluctantly have intimate relations with Shishou but never let him stay overnight.
Seeing Shishou now, she was momentarily confused.
The next second, Mikoto's face turned beet red, and she quickly covered it with her hands.
She clearly remembered her wild behavior from the previous night.
Seeing Mikoto's shy expression, Shishou couldn't resist and kissed her again.
Mikoto no longer resisted as she used to and began to respond to him.
After a few minutes,
seeing Shishou's increasingly bold actions, Mikoto, to avoid another round of indescribable activities,
pointed at the small gift box in his hand and asked,
"What is this?"
"A gift for me?"
She then reached out and untied the ribbon on the box.
"Uh..."
Shishou lifted his head from Mikoto's neck and was about to explain.
But seeing her opening the ribbon, he decided not to stop her and let her open the box.
As Mikoto pulled off the ribbon, the box automatically opened, releasing a semi-transparent, ethereal blue bug that looked like a cross between a butterfly and a moth.
"So beautiful..."
Mikoto murmured as she stared at the bug.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, host, for obtaining a legendary bug species: Nine Nether Luminous Bug.]
[Nine Nether Luminous Bug: A legendary bug species from the Nine Nether Realm. It cannot reproduce but can produce eggs with various effects, extremely precious!!!]
Hearing the system prompt,
Shishou was stunned, not immediately understanding the bug's use.
But the words "extremely precious" and the three exclamation marks that followed were clear.
Anything deemed extremely precious by the system was never ordinary.
Without hesitation, Shishou placed the Nine Nether Luminous Bug into the breeding space.
A legendary bug species, extremely precious!!!
Shishou, looking at the Nine Nether Luminous Bug in the breeding space, felt immense joy.
Then, he turned to Mikoto.
The more he looked, the more he liked her, feeling an urge to kiss her deeply.
"Where did it go?"
"Hey, the box disappeared too."
Seeing the beautiful bug vanish, Mikoto was momentarily stunned, then noticed the box in Shishou's hand gradually turning transparent before disappearing completely, along with the ribbon she held.
She was amazed.
Then she saw Shishou looking at her with intense desire.
"Uh, what's wrong?"
Shishou said nothing, just embraced her face and kissed her deeply.
They continued until noon,
when Mikoto finally escaped Shishou's grasp and appeared in the training room, with Izumi and Yūgao curiously watching her.
Meanwhile, Shishou returned to Konoha.
After feeding the entire snake corpse from the scroll to the phosphorus poison bugs,
he began studying the newly acquired Nine Nether Luminous Bug.
Through repeated research,
Shishou finally determined the method to cultivate the Nine Nether Luminous Bug.
Which was no method at all!
Because the Nine Nether Luminous Bug was not a bug from the ninja world, it wasn't listed in the family's bug records.
Although Shishou's Mangekyo Sharingan could promote its growth, the cost to his energy and stamina was too high.
So, Shishou could only entrust it to the breeding space, like the healing bug and the caterpillar bug.
In the breeding space, bugs would grow independently, albeit slowly.
This way, Shishou could focus on other things he wanted to do.