A Measure of Darkness - indefinite hiatus -

EIGHT

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Garden Village Troubles: A Pain in the Grass
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I get some sleep that night and wake up alright. We chow down on quick breakfast, make our plans, and get moving. Since we're so close, we walk quickly through the knee-high grass.

The landscape is made up of very few flowers and countless mushrooms. There are large patches of yellow grass, dried from the sunshine. The grass does not seem disturbed by any animal of any kind. There are hills and there are sudden dips in the ground that nearly breaks our ankles.

I end up telling Uro, "This place is giving me bad vibes. There's no animals, no bugs, no nothing. That's not right."

"You are correct. There is a distinct lack in animals."

"Do you think they just ran away?" Shisui interjects. "If they all died, we'd probably see some remains."

"Who knows," Uro says.

I sniff the air a few times. "They weren't hunted. I didn't see old weapons or blood stains."

"Did they run away?" Shisui holds his chin thoughtfully. "What could be so terrible that it makes all animals run away?"

"Something that predates without distinction," Nahime, of all people, responds. Her tone isn't as chilly as usual and she even looks back at Shisui and me. "Obviously, there has been no catastrophic weather here, so it must have been a creature. I've never heard of a creature that causes this much terror aside from humans."

"That's why we're here, huh, Uro-sensei?" I say. "It's our job to find this creature?"

"Correct."

Then there's no doubt about: we're looking for the kikaichuu-like insects.

We're looking for small, aphid-esque bugs that eat the chakra and can hide their presence in the body unlike the usual kikaichuu. Never knew these bugs could be this terrifying-though I've only ever seen them pacified and controlled. Honestly, the fact a chakra-eating bug exists is unbelievably overpowered. Practically everything has chakra or natural energy. Even animals have chakra-I confirmed that myself during my early experiments with Ninshuu. Their system isn't nearly as refined or complicated as a human's, however, and it lacks the selfishness of ninjutsu.

"Isn't this kind of interesting," I comment with a smile. "Since we're the Leaf's track and search team, we're looking for something. Care to tell us what this mission is, Uro-sensei?"

"Naturally, it is our goal to find something. However, this may be very difficult for you three. Little is known about our target. What is known is that it will kill you if you are not careful."

Her words would sound sweet if she lost the monotone.

"Beating around the bush, Sensei? But aren't you blunt? What could be so bad?"

Maybe she's not worried about us, but about her status. From a clan that is assumed to have full control over chakra-eating bugs, finding more in existence that are uncontrolled is not good for the Aburame's reputation. What if another Aburame-like clan or insects formed? How many lives would be claimed by the bugs?

"We are searching for deadly insects," Uro says, effectively informing us without us knowing the truth. Excluding me. "If we do not find these insects, many will die."