Thanks to frequently synthesizing bugs, Shigeo Aburame had developed precise chakra control. As a result, he avoided a "misfire" situation with the Tailed Beast Bomb. However, his execution was a bit slow, and the distance the attack could reach was limited, incomparable to a Tailed Beast's Tailed Beast Bomb.
Still, Shigeo wasn't discouraged. In his view, mastery came with practice.
After all, even an ordinary person couldn't expect to spit several meters on their first try—it takes practice.
"Alright, let's keep practicing. Hah... *ptooey!*"
*BOOM!*
Shigeo continued his practice, creating bursts of water and explosions on the lake, their echoes reverberating across the desolate surroundings.
Fortunately, this was in the abandoned Uchiha Clan grounds, situated on the village's outskirts. After the Uchiha Clan's annihilation, the area became virtually deserted, making it an ideal place for training.
Every day after work, Shigeo came here to train on the Tailed Beast Bomb, practicing until nightfall before heading home.
After months of this routine, he finally mastered the technique.
Now, Shigeo could quickly form a baseball-sized Tailed Beast Bomb with just an open mouth and shoot it hundreds of meters away in one breath. If he needed to form larger bombs, however, the time required would increase exponentially, and their range would decrease. In return, the power would grow geometrically.
Shigeo, however, preferred smaller, cherry-sized Tailed Beast Bombs.
These mini bombs had three significant advantages:
1. **Speed of Formation:** They could be formed almost instantly—one per second!
2. **Accuracy:** Being small, they traveled at supersonic speed, reaching targets within 300 meters almost instantaneously, leaving no time to evade.
3. **Power:** Even at this size, the effective blast radius reached tens of meters.
Short cooldown, high speed, and devastating power—these qualities made the mini Tailed Beast Bomb a formidable weapon in Shigeo's arsenal during battles.
Of course, there was a drawback: rapid chakra consumption.
With Shigeo's chakra reserves and recovery rate, he could only maintain continuous mini bomb usage for about ten minutes, firing approximately 500 shots in total. Afterward, he'd need to rest for at least half an hour to fully replenish his chakra.
This level of output was sufficient for most battles, but for large-scale conflicts, like the Fourth Shinobi World War, it wouldn't be enough.
To address this limitation, there was only one solution: **The Yin Seal**.
Passed down from Mito Uzumaki, the wife of the First Hokage, this sealing technique stored chakra within the body for later use. When activated, it released massive reserves of chakra in an instant.
It was like building a reservoir: storing unused water for times of drought.
Tsunade, leveraging the Yin Seal, developed the medical forbidden techniques *Creation Rebirth* and *Strength of a Hundred Technique.* But Shigeo didn't need these medical jutsu. Thanks to the influence of Wood Release's Sage Bugs, his body was akin to that of a Sage—a high-level regenerative powerhouse. Thus, all he required was the chakra storage function of the Yin Seal.
Currently, his body hosted five types of bugs: Sage Bugs, Blood Sage Bugs, Two-Pillared Blood Bugs, Ordinary Blood Bugs, and Phosphor Bugs. Except for the Phosphor Bugs, the other four types could all generate chakra—and in considerable amounts.
However, once the chakra production exceeded Shigeo's meridian capacity, the surplus would leak out through his acupoints, dissipating into the air.
There was no helping it. His meridians had already reached their limit in capacity, making it impossible to further increase his chakra reserves. For now, he could only watch the excess go to waste.
This situation was unimaginable for most shinobi, whose chakra recovery was slow and barely met their needs. Only entities like Tailed Beasts or anomalies like Shigeo could afford such "waste."
A Yin Seal, though, would change everything. By creating a massive "reservoir," Shigeo could store excess chakra and release it all at once when needed, achieving extraordinary results.
But Shigeo wasn't overthinking it at the moment. He just wanted to learn the Yin Seal quickly, so he'd have enough chakra stored to unleash hundreds more Tailed Beast Bombs when it mattered.
With this goal in mind, he approached Tsunade.
"Fifth Hokage-sama, I'd like to learn the Yin Seal. I understand this is a bold request, so—"
"I agree!"
Before Shigeo could finish his sentence, Tsunade agreed without hesitation—even before he could offer any conditions.
Seeing Shigeo's stunned expression, Tsunade burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahaha! I'm the Fifth Hokage, you know. Don't underestimate me! And that banner you sent? I loved it!"
She handed him a scroll. "I originally prepared this for Sakura, but since you asked, take it. Just return it when you're done!"
"Understood!" Shigeo nodded, taking the scroll and opening it right there.
Tsunade had expected him to study it at home, but she was surprised to see him dive in on the spot.
"The Yin Seal is an S-rank sealing jutsu… this kid must be pretty confident," Tsunade thought, her interest piqued.
As she went about her work, she occasionally glanced at Shigeo, who was absorbed in studying.
By evening, as the sky blushed with twilight, Tsunade stretched and prepared to leave for the day. Meanwhile, Shigeo placed the scroll back on her desk.
"I've got it. Thank you, Lady Tsunade!"
With that, he turned to leave.
Tsunade frowned slightly and called out, "Wait! If you're done, demonstrate it now. That way, I can give you some pointers."
"Uh… sure!" Shigeo nodded and began forming the chakra reservoir within his body as per the Yin Seal's method.
The difficulty of this jutsu lay in the precise control of chakra, which was why it was typically mastered by medical-nin.
But for Shigeo, it was no issue. His chakra control was even superior to that of many medical-nin.
Under his deft control, a pale blue diamond-shaped mark soon appeared in the center of his forehead.
"Did he succeed? That quickly?" Tsunade's eyes widened in shock.
What happened next stunned her even more.
Barely a minute after the first mark appeared, a second diamond mark formed, followed by a third, a fourth, and a fifth...
Tsunade's jaw dropped, her expression one of utter disbelief.
"This... How is this even possible?!"