When Aburame Shigeo returned to Konoha, he finally remembered what he had forgotten—Hidan.
There was no helping it. He'd been too excited during his spar with Chōmei earlier, and afterward, he couldn't think of anything else.
Moreover, their battle had caused significant destruction to the surrounding terrain. Hidan, immobilized by the Golden Binding Technique, was undoubtedly buried somewhere in the rubble.
Shigeo couldn't help but sigh.
"Ah, poor Hidan. It seems he couldn't escape his fate of being buried alive after all."
In the original storyline, Hidan met this fate after killing Asuma Sarutobi. An enraged Shikamaru set a trap, blew his body to pieces with explosive tags, and buried him alive.
According to the *Naruto* timeline, that event would take place two or three years later.
Being buried alive ahead of schedule could be seen as a shortcut in life.
Shigeo felt a twinge of regret—not for Hidan's fate, but because this meant that the resistant blood insects he had cultivated would now become a relic of the past, their numbers unable to increase any further.
"If only my synthesized insects could reproduce on their own," he thought wistfully.
Sensing his thoughts, Chōmei's voice echoed in his mind.
"Though you didn't call my name, if it's about increasing the numbers of those strange insects of yours, I can help!"
"Really?"
Shigeo's spirits lifted instantly.
"That's amazing, Chōmei! You're a huge help. I was worried about this. Are you some kind of mythical insect queen who can reproduce endlessly?"
"That's so rude!"
Chōmei's indignant voice rang out in Shigeo's mind.
"I might look like an insect, but I am fundamentally a Tailed Beast! The lucky Tailed Beast No. 7, thank you very much!"
"Uh... my bad!"
"Apology accepted!" Chōmei huffed before adding, "And for your information, I'm male!"
"Ah… got it," Shigeo replied, nodding awkwardly. Then he asked, "So, how exactly can you help me increase the insects? Not through reproduction?"
"Of course not!" Chōmei responded. "Those odd insects of yours don't have the ability to reproduce. I can only increase their numbers through division."
"Division?!" Shigeo blinked in surprise. "Will this method harm the insects in any way?"
"It would for normal insects, but not for your peculiar ones," Chōmei explained.
"Under the influence of my power, normal insects would lose their ability to reproduce. However, your insects already lack that ability, so it won't matter."
"I see. Then I have nothing to worry about!"
Shigeo's tension eased, and he nodded again.
"Alright, then. Let's start by dividing the red blood insects. I want to see how it works."
"Got it!"
Chōmei released his chakra, enveloping the tens of thousands of blood insects inside Shigeo.
The blood insects, encased in the chakra, stopped moving. Their bodies began to swell, and the red shells on their surfaces gradually turned white.
When their bodies had doubled in size and turned entirely grayish-white, their backs split open, and two new blood insects emerged from each one.
The new insects repeated the process.
After two cycles of division, Chōmei withdrew his chakra, and the blood insects ceased dividing.
Shigeo now had over 100,000 blood insects within him!
These blood insects fed back a massive amount of chakra, replenishing what Shigeo had lost to his Yin Seal.
He quickly released a few blood insects to inspect them, finding no difference between the divided insects and the originals.
Even the resistance traits derived from Hidan's blood were perfectly inherited.
The only uncertainty was whether the insects' lifespan had been affected.
Testing this was simple.
Shigeo merged two blood insects and discovered that the chakra consumption was the same as merging two regular ones.
This indicated that not only had the divided insects retained their full lifespan, but the process had also refreshed their consumed lifespan, effectively extending it!
"This division method is incredible!"
Shigeo was ecstatic.
"Looks like I won't need to painstakingly synthesize insects anymore. Chōmei, having you as a partner is the best! Let's divide them again!"
"No way!"
To Shigeo's surprise, Chōmei flatly refused and explained:
"These insects can only divide twice a year. Those imbued with natural energy, like the sage insects, can only divide once a year, or problems will arise."
"There's a limit?"
Shigeo frowned but soon laughed.
"Haha, no problem! This is still far better than synthesizing them one by one. Chōmei, please divide all my insects!"
"Alright!"
Chōmei complied, enveloping all of Shigeo's synthesized insects in his chakra and initiating the division process.
This time, the process took over half an hour.
The sage insects, which Chōmei had mentioned, could only divide once.
After division, Shigeo had 12,000 Wood Release sage insects, 30,000 blood sage insects, and over 3,000 secondary blood insects.
The largest group, the regular blood insects, now numbered a staggering 160,000!
The doubling of insect numbers caused their chakra feedback to surge dramatically.
Although a third of this chakra flowed into the Yin Seals, the remaining amount was still overwhelming.
Shigeo felt his chakra pathways straining under the influx, with excess chakra even leaking from his body.
Without hesitation, he "dug a few more pits" and established nine additional Yin Seals.
With the new seals in place, the surge of chakra finally calmed down.
If anyone were to remove Shigeo's forehead protector at this moment, they would see a total of eighteen diamond-shaped marks on his forehead!
One of them had even darkened from light blue to deep blue.
After carefully assessing his physical condition and chakra levels, Shigeo let out a long breath.
"Phew… My current chakra reserves are roughly equivalent to my previous peak. It should be just enough for typical situations."
No sooner had he spoken than Chōmei's shocked voice echoed in his mind.
"Not counting the sealed chakra, your current reserves surpass the combined total of Shukaku and Matatabi! And you think that's just 'barely enough for typical situations'? Is the ninja world that dangerous now?"
"Well… maybe?"
"..."