The first "skyrocket" Aburame Tetsumaru launched after returning to his base was a failure.
The orbital trajectory upon launch wasn't inherently wrong, but the path Tetsumaru had calculated himself was flawed. The Satellite Bug began its descent after only four hours, soon transforming into a streak of fire as it vanished from the sky like a falling star.
This was a classic case of "the grass being greener on the other side." In his previous life, calculating a satellite orbit wasn't particularly difficult; formulas were readily available online. However, the foundational data required for those calculations—planetary mass, gravitational constants, precise radius—were strictly guarded state secrets. Tetsumaru didn't just lack the data; he didn't even know how to begin measuring it.
The hardest part of an aerospace project in the Shinobi World was the geographic survey. With nations constantly at odds and ninja restrictions everywhere, he couldn't conduct a global survey. Consequently, he had no way of knowing how large the world actually was or what its mass might be.
In the absence of this foundational data, Tetsumaru chose the "brute force" method: launching rockets one by one and adjusting the trajectory based on the actual results.
He was like an ancient artilleryman who didn't understand ballistics, stubbornly adjusting the angle of his cannon with every shot. As long as he had enough shells, he would eventually hit the target. It just so happened that the "target" of aerospace was very far away, requiring quite a few launches.
By the afternoon, after tweaking the parameters, Tetsumaru commanded an Overlord Bug to take flight and launch the second Rocket Bug. This time, the Satellite Bug's velocity was a bit too high; it eventually drifted into deep space after nine hours, lost forever.
That night, a third skyrocket went up. This one had a mechanical failure within the Rocket Bug itself; it exploded forty seconds after ignition, turning into a massive firework.
The fourth launch took place at midnight. To Tetsumaru's surprise, the Satellite Bug nearly completed a full circumnavigation of the globe. Though it eventually fell, it provided a wealth of precious data.
The second day brought heavy winds. Fortunately, the launch method Tetsumaru had designed wasn't heavily affected by weather, though the Overlord Bugs required more time to ascend and descend. By the end of the day, only two launches were completed.
The third day was clear and windless. He launched four times.
The fourth day was cloudy. He launched four more times. These four launches successfully completed four to six full orbits. Success was within reach, but Tetsumaru had to reluctantly hit the pause button.
He had exhausted the entire supply of Rocket Bugs the Broodmother had produced over the last two months. The next batch of sixteen would take fifteen days to gestate.
More importantly, the Mushroom Bug had finally accumulated enough of Element 92 with a molecular weight of 235. To ensure the "Mushroom" sprouted on schedule, Tetsumaru had to leave immediately.
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In most cases, a bug involving such "strategic deterrence" shouldn't have been manufactured so early, but the Land of Tea happened to have the necessary materials.
Last year, Tetsumaru had received a sudden assignment to investigate a "haunting" in an iron mine. Initially, he thought it might be a literal ghost, ninja sabotage, or perhaps an abnormal gathering of natural energy.
However, when he examined the symptomatic miners, he found they all suffered from vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. Severe cases included hair loss and persistent high fevers, while a few even suffered from skin ulcerations, hemorrhaging, and organ failure.
These were clearly symptoms of poisoning, specifically mineral toxicity. In the Shinobi World, the master of such toxins was Chiyo of the Hidden Sand. Even though the Sand had surrendered, Tetsumaru suspected they were still causing trouble this far out. Gritting his teeth, he entered the mine to search for clues.
What he found left him dumbfounded. In the newly excavated tunnels deep underground, the walls were covered in a dense, olive-green fluorescent glow. Minerals that glowed on their own were almost always highly radioactive—that was common knowledge from his old world.
The workers weren't suffering from mineral or heavy metal poisoning; it was Acute Radiation Syndrome.
Tetsumaru scrambled out of the mine, fashioned himself a suit of heavy lead armor, and re-entered to collect samples of the fluorescent ore. He brought them back to his lab to verify their identity.
Spectral analysis confirmed it: it was a nitrate compound, specifically Element 92.
What truly shocked Tetsumaru was that among the mineral samples, he found a bug—a strange firefly larva that actually fed on the ore. An insect that could utilize nuclear energy?
For Tetsumaru, the combination of uranium ore and firefly larvae instantly translated to "backbone." To someone from a culture with a terminal case of "firepower deficiency phobia," this was something he absolutely could not refuse.
He would build it even if he had to go without food.
The process turned out to be exceptionally smooth. Tetsumaru began to wonder if he'd spent all his bad luck elsewhere just to save his fortune for this.
The fireflies did indeed use nuclear energy as a power source, a trait with immense future potential, but for now, Tetsumaru only needed their tolerance for radiation and heavy metal toxicity. By splicing the firefly genes into Mole Crickets, he created miners capable of working in high-radiation environments to extract the ore in bulk.
Then, using fluorides, he extracted the uranium from the uranium oxide in the ore to form uranium tetrafluoride (UF_4). By adding fluorine gas, he obtained uranium hexafluoride (UF_6).
Once the $UF_6$ was heated into gas, he purified it through gaseous diffusion. After four stages of enrichment, the compound reached a purity of 92.3%. Finally, he used hydrogen reduction to regenerate $UF_4$ as the final weapon payload.
The final step also produced hydrofluoric acid—a lethally toxic material Tetsumaru had wanted for a long time due to its terrifying corrosive properties and incurable toxicity.
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Tetsumaru couldn't help but marvel once again: Ninjutsu was a magnificent cheat code. With the aid of four Shadow Clones, he had completed the entire manufacturing process without relying on any industrial infrastructure.
This was a massive advantage. The process described above skipped a vast number of steps, including the critical production of "yellowcake."
Without Ninjutsu, every step would have required a massive industrial base to complete, consuming as much electricity as a city of a million people and causing inevitable environmental devastation.
The only issue was the yield. It had taken six full months to accumulate the necessary twenty kilograms of payload.
For the detonation trigger, he used Ninjutsu as well. Tetsumaru used a steel cylinder eighteen centimeters in diameter to store two separate five-kilogram payloads, separated by lead. Between them, he placed a Sealing Scroll containing the remaining ten kilograms of material.
The moment the seal was released, the ten-kilogram mass would instantly punch through the soft lead layers and combine with the other two masses. This would immediately exceed the 17kg critical mass threshold, theoretically triggering a detonation.
Of course, this detonation method was entirely Tetsumaru's own design. By removing the need for conventional high explosives and thick reflectors, the entire weapon was only forty centimeters tall and weighed just thirty-six kilograms—extremely compact.
It was hidden perfectly within the belly of the Mushroom Bug (a modified firefly), which was tasked with releasing the Sealing Scroll.
Now, Tetsumaru was setting off for a remote, uninhabited desert island to conduct a detonation experiment, testing whether this design—a hybrid of knowledge from two worlds—would actually work.
Tetsumaru arrived at the coast and summoned a Water Strider Bug. Sitting on its broad back, the insect's four long legs blurred into motion, carrying him south at a speed of 25 knots.
Five days later, he reached the target island. He first created sixteen Shadow Clones and then opened his Sealing Scrolls to begin constructing the test site.
A signature thirty-meter iron tower was a must. The first Mushroom Bug would be detonated atop the tower to test the maximum blast effect.
He also had to build structures to simulate a ninja village, complete with mannequins. For test subjects to gauge the actual lethality, he used various insects.
Every corner of the test site was equipped with Slimes for recording. Some faced the tower directly, while others were hidden in bunkers to observe the aftermath. No detail could be missed.
Finally, he built a bunker for himself—far enough away and thick enough that he wouldn't accidentally "send himself off" during his own experiment. That would be too pathetic.
After a full day of construction, the "Mushroom Test Site" was ready.
Tetsumaru did one final check. Once satisfied, he summoned the Mushroom Bug via a Blood Covenant Summoning. A bug this critical was more deserving of a blood contract than even the Wind Giant Bug. Under no circumstances would Tetsumaru carry this bug on his person; he wouldn't even walk beside it.
At his command, the Mushroom Bug scurried toward the tower and began climbing to the platform at the very top.
As the bug neared its destination, Tetsumaru grew increasingly nervous. Suddenly, he felt his current bunker wasn't sturdy or thick enough.
He summoned the Wind Giant Bug—the one that had blasted the Raikage with a Gale Cannon. The withered behemoth crawled tremulously over Tetsumaru's bunker, acting as a thirty-meter-thick layer of living cover.
The giant bug was dying—not from injury, but from old age. As the only combat-capable version of the Wind Giant Bug series, its biggest flaw was a lifespan of less than a year. Furthermore, engaging in combat consumed its life at ten times the normal rate, and using the Gale Cannon was even more taxing.
It took three months for a larva to pupate, and after emerging, it required another two and a half months of manual chakra rune carving to enable the Gale Cannon. Investing half a year for such a short operational window was inefficient; the species was far from "mature."
Now, it would serve its final purpose: acting as his shield and testing the lethality of the "Mushroom."
Clink, clink, clink. The Mushroom Bug finally reached the top platform. It was visibly exhausted, the fluorescence on its tail dimming.
Tetsumaru activated his Secret Technique: Domain Field Barrier and the Eye of Truth's dynamic vision. He triggered the recording function of all 2,440 Slimes across the site, which transmitted signals to the Satellite Bug, then to the Broodmother, where every image was recorded.
"Begin."
Atop the tower, the Mushroom Bug shuddered. Its abdomen convulsed once, and then a blinding white light filled the world. Tetsumaru's Domain Field was instantly incinerated as the information flow vanished; only the Giant Bug and the Slimes continued to transmit data.
The Gadflies scattered in the air were instantly vaporized by the intense light. With not a single bug surviving, the Domain Field naturally lost its sensory nodes.
As the light faded, Tetsumaru's dynamic vision clearly saw an orange-red plasma fireball expand rapidly at the tip of the tower before slamming into the ground.
The earth rippled like water, sending waves in every direction. The seismic peaks leveled every building and insect in their path, tossing them high into the air. Then, these airborne remains were struck by the blast wave; some were pulverized instantly, others torn apart, and the sturdier debris was sent flying like toys.
Inside the bunker, Tetsumaru's legs went weak from the seismic shock, and the vibration of the blast wave made him feel nauseous. Every signal in his Domain Field had gone dark. Even his connection to the Satellite Bug and the Broodmother was lost, likely due to a massive electromagnetic pulse (EMP) disrupting the signals.
Tetsumaru waited patiently until the tremors subsided and the roar of the blast-induced winds faded. Only when the world was deathly silent did he cautiously release a few Gadflies he carried with him, sending them out through a vent to investigate.
Once he confirmed the flies weren't dying, Tetsumaru opened the hatch and stepped onto the surface.
His attention was immediately seized by the massive, red-and-black mushroom cloud at the center of the site. The black smoke had already reached an altitude of over a thousand meters and was still roiling upward at high speed.
It worked. My backbone is straight now.
This great mushroom looked so much like the ones from Lop Nur, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki—except it was larger and saturated with a sun-like intensity of chakra.
Wait... Chakra?
Why would a nuclear explosion generate such intense chakra fluctuations? This intensity far surpassed a Four-Tails Jinchuriki; it was even beyond a full Tailed Beast transformation.
Tetsumaru was electrified. This phenomenon had to represent a secret—a profound secret regarding the very essence of chakra.
Next time... next time, I must be better prepared for observations.
Tetsumaru suppressed the urge to immediately begin designing a way to observe chakra transitions. He still had heavy work to do.
First, he summoned a specialized Hive and released six giant Dragonflies and several Slimes. The Dragonflies, pre-equipped with vacuum test tubes, flew directly through the mushroom cloud to collect fallout dust. The Slimes took over for their fallen counterparts, continuing to record the cloud's evolution.
An Overlord Bug drifted over, beginning to survey the test site and photograph the ground.
Just then, the island was struck by a powerful earthquake. Fissures and mud pots appeared on the surface. To the south of the epicenter, a massive amount of volcanic ash erupted, followed shortly by lava.
The volcanic ash and the "Mushroom" soon merged, forming an even taller, more ominous cloud.
Seeing that the data collection was nearly complete, Tetsumaru quickly left the island, dove into the water, and used Water Style to make his escape.
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