"What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."
- Napoleon Hill
...
"Don't worry... everything's fine now."
A distant, angelic voice said to me, literally pausing all my suffering. I took my hand away from my face and exclaimed:
"Who's there?!!!"
"It's me, the Queen... No more worries now, dear home. I'm sorry for the suffering you had to go through, but my children needed a lot of your chakra to feed themselves and survive." The voice was simple and feminine. "I hope you don't mind that... You have such intense chakra that they couldn't resist. The good news is that they've grown very strong."
By now, I knew I was talking to the Kikaichuu Queen I had swallowed, of course.
"Stronger? What do you mean?" I asked.
"I am one of Queen Kikaichuu's daughters who have lived inside her father, Shibi Aburame, for almost thirty years. I understand a little about human habits and those of your clan. I know that what you value most is family and the ability to protect those you love, so I think you understand me. We parasitic insects owe a lot to hosts like you. Your bodies are essential for our survival."
"I don't know if you know, but the Kikaichuu aren't able to live just anywhere. We are self-reproducing beings, but we need an ideal environment to reproduce. The insides of the bodies of humans are ideal for this and for our survival."
"That's why we agree to cooperate with you and also protect our hosts with our lives when necessary. For us, Kikaichuu, there is nothing more important than our home: our host."
"Is that why you called me 'dear home'?" I asked. At the same time, I was walking towards a white silhouette that I was seeing at the end of that very dark world I was in.
"Exactly. Over the last few days, I settled into your body, laid my eggs, my larvae, and they fed on your chakra, but you already know that, don't you? You studied us on the same day as the ritual."
"How did you...?"
"You're smart. You already know that we've been all over your body, and we've also looked at some of your memories."
"That means you already know what I am."
"Yes, but such human complexities don't concern us. All we want is to survive, procreate, and make our species more and more many. That means protecting you, our dear host, our dear home. I only ask that if you decide to harbor other insects in your body, please talk to me first. There's plenty of room at the moment, but in a few years the home will be full."
Talking to Queen Kikaichuu was like talking to someone older. I didn't understand how, but this being was much more intelligent than I had imagined. Also, this was much mystical.
-:-
When I opened my eyes, I saw the wooden ceiling of my room. Our house had a traditional Japanese look, so the brown of the wood was the only color we saw in most of the rooms.
I felt something heavy on my forehead, and when I touched it; I saw it was a towel that was soaked with sweat. Putting the towel aside, I sat down on the futon and looked around me. I felt physically exhausted. Even so, I tried to stand up. Silly idea. My body had reached its limit, and I felt my legs weaken.
'Oh, well done... Here I go into another deep sleep,' I thought, already imagining that I would pass out again.
However, I felt a force pull me back to my normal angle. It was then that I looked over my right shoulder and saw several Kikaichuus flying in the opposite direction from where I was falling. They were trying to make me stand up.
My eyes lit up at that moment. Then I could hear those dozen Kikaichuus shouting:
"Go! Do it! Go!"
They were really attempting to keep me upright, and they were pretty strong to resist my weight with so few of them.
My eyebrows rose automatically, and I attempted to help them help me. Soon, I was upright and stable.
"Pheww! This guy is heavy!"
"Thanks, fellas," I said as they flew into my shirt.
Being almost as light as air and quite small too, I didn't even feel them going in. When I pulled the collar of my shirt away from my neck, I saw that there were dozens of Kikaichuus living inside my shirt.
'Ah, yes. I read something about that in that book. The Kikaichuu divide into three fronts to help the host. There are those that don't stay inside the body, but in our clothes. It's a warm and dark place, so it's not uncomfortable for them, and they can also act quickly if I give them an order.'
While I was thinking about this, I approached my desk chair, took my white coat, and put it on.
"Ebaaa! That's what we're talking about!" I heard them say.
I smiled out of the corner of my mouth. 'They seem to like long clothes...'
Kikaichuu's other two 'fronts' were on the inside of my body, but in different areas. One of them was in the lungs, making it easy for them to come out through the airways if they needed to. The other was between the organs, and this was mainly used to heal wounds or, in extreme cases, if I received a very serious wound, it could come out through the wound for a surprise attack.
'They think strategically and independently, but when I ask them mentally...'
I stretched out my right hand to the door, aiming to open it, and a small test of Kikaichuu came out of the sleeve of my blouse to open the door.
'As I had imagined, I can give them simple orders without having to speak. That's very useful.'
The only annoying thing was that I was hearing a constant, low-pitched ringing in my right ear. Yet, I hoped that once I got used to the fact that I was coexisting with insects now, I would stop paying attention to it and thus stop hearing the buzzing.
The Kikaichuu opened the sliding door to my room slowly and with a lot of effort after my command, and this made me realize I still only had a small amount of parasitic insects at my disposal. I still didn't want to worry about it. The numbers increased more and more.
Walking through the corridors of my house, I stopped in the dining room, with its long, empty table. It was then that I heard something whisper in my ear:
"The grown man is coming."
An instant later, heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs. Then I saw my father coming down the stairs. Shibi's eyes widened in surprise when he saw me, and he blinked twice.
"So, you're awake," Shibi said, putting a hand to his head and looking away a little.
"Oh, yes. It's only been five minutes or something like that, I think."
"The ritual was a success. I mean, in case you still doubted it. You did it this time."
"I know," I said, raising my right index finger and pointing it upward.
As I did so, a few Kikaichuu rose to the tip of my finger. Commanding them was as simple as thinking or activating the system because it was merely a matter of strong intention.
"You woke up five minutes ago, and you can already give them orders? That's surprising."
"I just... I don't know. Things are still confusing for me."
"It's totally normal to feel disoriented. After all, you've been awake for five days. Sit down. I'll ask them to bring you breakfast. You need to eat well."
That was the second-longest exchange of words I'd ever had with my father, second only to the day I told him about my chakra control and wanting to do the ritual again. Still, at the end of the conversation, only two of his words remained in my mind.
'Five days... I slept for five consecutive days. That explains how those feverish dreams seemed to have no end. By the way, what about the Genin exam?'
This question remained in my mind.
Soon, my father returned to the dining room and sat down at the table with me. With a milder tone of voice than ever, he said:
"Breakfast will be here in five minutes. How are you?"
"Better now that I've sat down... Sir, I've been wondering: what happened to the Genin Exam?"
With the help of a middle finger, Shibi adjusted the sunglasses resting on his nose and sniffled. "As for that... I don't think there's time for you to take it this year."
"What do you mean?"
"Aiden, don't get me wrong. Your grades in common subjects are great. I know you could even pass the theory tests on basic tactics and ninja history, but it's a different matter with practical ninja skills." He said with his hands folded on the table. "To become a genin, it's essential to know three basic jutsus: they are Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu, and Kawarimi no Jutsu. As far as I know, you've never practiced them properly."
Shibi listed the techniques of Shadow Clones, Transformation, and Substitution, respectively. Indeed, looking through Aiden's memories, he had never attempted to learn these jutsus. That was also one reason he was ridiculed even more by his colleagues, but he didn't care.
"I know you've changed your mind about becoming a shinobi, but all the progress you missed out on during your years at the Ninja Academy can't suddenly be made up because you have Kikaichuus now," Shibi explained. "It's best that you use this next year to train hard and improve yourself."
What he was telling me may have been partly true, but in theory I already had the knowledge to do these techniques. Aiden never gave it the importance it deserved, except that he had heard about it since he entered the academy. If I wanted to, I could put in twenty-four hours a day and achieve a performance that Hizashi-sensei and the others could judge as satisfactory. Especially since I had the talent [Perfect Control of Spiritual Energy], right?
"Sir, has the Genin Exam taken place yet?"
"No. It will take place on Saturday, in two days' time... Aiden, you're not thinking that—"
"Yes, sir. I think I can manage. However, I'm going to need your help with something. Do you have time after breakfast?"
*
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
P-atreon.com/palmer1998
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
First Week Discount with Code: FIRSTW20K
Discord: https://discord.gg/2pn9Twxrng