Reincarnation of the Aburame God (Naruto Fanfic)

"Ritual is the perfect way to express our deepest thoughts without saying a word."

– Dr. S. A. Jones

...

Hand seals weren't exactly the answer to what I was looking for, but studying this subject gave me a better idea of a factor so fundamental to all jutsus in the Ninja World. It also made me think of what seemed like the ideal answer.

"Insects that can sense chakra? Well, that probably fits them all. Everyone, without exception, rejected getting close to Aiden until I arrived. My knowledge of this world changed that. Well, at least that total rejection is what I can remember..."

Aiden's memories of much of his childhood were scarce, especially of the time of the Kikaichuus ritual. This was probably because he was only a year old when the ritual took place.

As far as I knew, this was the normal age for all the men of the Aburame Clan to perform this ritual. Otherwise, it would be hard to feed insects, the chakra of newborn babies who could barely open their eyes. Even though the ritual was theoretically simple.

I knew that the key process was to insert a Kikaichuu Queen into a child's body. As this queen was the size of a mint, she was no more difficult to swallow than that. After that, the Queen would set to work spreading her eggs all over the Aburame's body. In order to hatch, these eggs fed on the host's chakra.

If Aiden had successfully passed at least this initial phase of the ceremony, in a few hours the kikaichuu eggs would hatch and the larvae from these eggs would consume more chakra to grow, strengthen, and help the host.

However, when it was Aiden's turn, instead of going toward him, the Kikaichuu Queen flew away from him after being released from the jar.

The Aburame Clan used kikaichuu insects most. They were versatile. But other insects would also live in a body full of chakra. So Shibi and the others tried to insert other insects into Aiden. They used cockroaches, ants, centipedes, and many other species. In the end, none of them agreed to enter Aiden's body.

This event became a great mystery within the clan itself because, unlike the women of the Aburame Clan, Aiden had awakened their Kekkei Genkai, the Meikyugan. This was something with no apparent answer, other than a sheer lack of talent and aptitude for being a host.

As the newly appointed head of the Aburame Clan, Shibi Aburame's position was called into question. After all, how could the head of the Aburame Clan have a male child who had no talent for being an insect user? It was absurd!

A short time later, Torune's father was killed on a mission and Shibi adopted him. After that, the aptitude and social gap between the two brothers grew wider and wider. Aiden was practically forgotten by the members of his clan, except for the rumors that circulated about him everywhere.

Knowing that my best option for helping Ayumi was to master insects, I grabbed the book of hand seals from my desk. Then, I left the room. When I went to the shelf at home to look for a book on insects, Torune was there. He was putting a book back on the shelf.

Torune turned his head slowly in my direction, and then I saw him staring with those yellow eyes at the book in my hand.

"Aiden, are you... studying hand seals?" he asked, looking at me again.

The old Aiden would usually reply snidely, something like "None of your business" or "Why do you want to know?". This was because Aiden couldn't control his emotions when dealing with his family. He was always trying to hide his envy that Torune was more talented than him behind anger.

As an adult, I had better emotional control. And my emotional intelligence was high enough not to resent Torune.

After pausing briefly in surprise, I continued on my way to the shelf.

"Yes, I'm studying the hand seals..."

I stopped next to Torune and put the book back where I had picked it up. Then I turned to him and said:

"By the way, I talked to our father yesterday. I told him I wanted to redo the Kikaichuu ceremony."

"Redo it?"

"Don't worry. This time, I'm sure I'll pass. That's why I'm already studying some hand seals." While I was answering, I started looking for a book I'd already seen on that same shelf.

Torune's eyebrows rose, but he said nothing. Instead, he stood there, clearly wanting to say something more and, at the same time, not having the freedom to do so.

Then I turned to him and saw the book in his hands. The name of the book was 'Kikaichuu and his relationship with the human body'.

"Do you intend to read this book?" I asked, pointing to the book he was holding.

Torune looked at the book and denied it with his head, then held it out to me.

"Thanks for that. We'll talk more later." I said as I took the book.

Just as I turned to go back to my room, Turne said:

"Good luck with the ceremony, oniisan."

I smiled out of the corner of my mouth and waved, still with my back turned.

-:-

I spent the rest of the day with my face in that book. I studied everything I could about the Kikaichuu and the ceremony. Not only that, I learned how they behaved inside their hosts' bodies, how they thought, and how the Aburames had used them in various ways for hundreds of years.

Other clans around the world also used the Kikaichuu, but none had as much knowledge as the Aburame.

Then, on the evening of that day, my father knocked on my bedroom door for the first time in a long time. Wearing a long robe and without the glasses he usually wore, he looked at me with those yellow eyes.

"It's time, Aiden. Come with me, please."

I nodded and followed him. We left the house through the front gate, and a group of hooded Aburame men with their faces covered by masks was waiting for us. The curious fact was that these masks covered everything on their faces except their purple eyes. They said nothing, and my father put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me slightly forward.

I walked side by side with my father, while the other six Aburames stayed behind us. We walked for five minutes inside the clan property until we came to a small slope. The staircase on this slope was long and went deep until it reached the mouth of a cave that I hadn't even known existed until that moment.

'Is all this still inside Konohagakure?' I asked myself. Because of the surrounding forest, I could no longer see the walls.

At the end of the staircase, I saw a path of torches leading to the back of the cave. An Aburame stood by each torch. They were all masked too.

I looked at Shibi, and he said:

"Don't worry, we're all family. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Without saying a word, I started walking, and my father didn't follow me this time. Following the path of the torches, I was being watched by yellow eyes to the right and left. I could feel something very different in the air. I would normally think this sensation was nervousness from the pressure. Or it might be the more charged environment. But I couldn't tell yet. It even seemed mystical.

During my walk inside that cave, I noticed how surprisingly dry it was for a place that was under a forest. You'd normally expect damp walls and many stalagmites, but that wasn't present here, and I couldn't explain why.

All I know is that when I reached the end of the path of torches, I saw a small altar marked by a larger pyre.

I walked up to the altar and climbed the three small steps. It was then that I saw that, on the altar, there was a glass jar with an insect inside. This insect looked and even sounded like an ordinary cicada. The biggest difference between this insect and a cicada was its black color, shorter wings, and ant-like head.

With no need to be told, I knew what I needed to do.

When I brought my hand close to the glass jar, I saw Queen Kikaichuu stirring inside it. When she finally touched the jar, the queen stopped and waited for her fate.

Carefully, I pulled the cork out of the jar. Unlike what had happened in Aiden's first ceremony, the Queen didn't fly out of the jar. She just waited to fulfill her role in the ritual.

I then brought the flask close to my mouth and stuck out my tongue. The Queen then walked out of the jar. She experimentally placed one of her paws on my tongue and then the other. This insect began to walk along the path my tongue took to my throat. So, I closed my mouth and, unable to chew, swallowed the Kikaichuu Queen whole.

Nothing significant happened after that. I felt essentially no different.

My father stepped out of the shadows of the torch, and he had a bigger smile than I'd ever seen before. It wasn't a smile that showed his teeth yet, but it was a proud smile. Without him having to tell me, I already knew that the ritual had been a great success.

Shibi slung one of his arms around my shoulders and escorted me out of the cave.

I hadn't felt any different after swallowing Queen Kikaichuu, but little did I know what awaited me.

That night was the worst night of my entire life, including my previous life. At first, when I was already in my bed, I felt the soles of my feet itch. They itched a lot and wouldn't stop no matter how hard I scratched. My temperature rose more and more, and when I got up from my bed to open the window and get some relief, I saw everything going away. I fainted from the fever.

Something plunged me into a fever dream so tormenting that it was more like an endless genjutsu. I saw my old wife, my children, heard Kim's laughter, and felt like I had relived my death a million times over. My skin burned and itched. Whenever I tried to scratch my face, it felt like my nails were so sharp that they made holes in my skin.

Surviving that night was like surviving hell. Until...

"Don't worry... everything's fine now." I heard a gentle, angelic voice.

*

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