Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 299 The Eternal Time Cage

Sarutobi Asuma fell into the sandpit again. He looked up and spat, "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! This sand tastes awful! Ugh, Master..."

Before he could even utter the words, "Where is my master?", the sword of benevolence on his body began to heat up, and a figure in black flashed into view.

The three of them were immediately on high alert, but just then, their master, Minato Namikaze, appeared before them with another young man they did not recognize.

Kazuya Senju said, "Uchiha Mamoru, don't make another mistake. We can solve any problems together; there's no need to go down a dead end."

"You don't understand, you don't understand, there's no way out!"

He used the Flying Thunder God Technique to dodge the two and rush forward, but Minato Namikaze wouldn't let him have his way, because they shared the same coordinates.

"I will not let you succeed. You are my disciple, and they are my disciples too. I will not allow any of you to get hurt!"

"Is that so? But you can't save anything!" Uchiha Mamoru didn't shout with all his might, but his voice was hoarse and weak.

"Even you have died dozens of times in front of me."

That's right, this isn't the fifth cycle. The previous times he always tried to kill himself, but he never succeeded.

He knew that Kazuya Senju and Minato Namikaze would come to stop them, and he also knew that their fight would soon attract Shisei Aburame, who would also join in, and the final outcome would be the same.

Minato Namikaze was cut in half, and Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma Sarutobi were too weak.

After Minato Namikaze's death, he was unable to care for her and was instantly devoured by swarms of insects until he was reduced to a skeleton. His past self would awaken in terror, and time would begin to loop.

"It's too late!" Uchiha Mori said weakly after a quarter of an hour of fighting.

Just as he had expected, Aburame Shisei arrived, and the ending was already sealed.

This time, his expression was not the same as before, but more composed than ever, because he had experienced it countless times and his heart was no longer stirred by it.

Again!

He shouted in his heart.

Time can start over...

Kazuya Senju: "Stop! We can face this together and stop it together!"

"You don't understand... Only by killing him can we keep him here permanently."

"Who? Me?"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Momo's body stiffened. Something was wrong. Why was he so much faster than before?

At this moment, Aburame Shisei didn't give him any time to think, and said directly, "Since you're so eager to kill yourself, then I'll give you a hand."

In fact, Aburame Shisei didn't appear suddenly; he had been waiting there all along. He simply wanted to see with his own eyes what would happen if someone killed him.

With Shisei Aburame blocking their way, Minato Namikaze and Kazuya Senju were unable to break through the defenses.

Uchiha Mori didn't care what kind of scheme he had up his sleeve; perhaps the other party just thought he had victory in his grasp!

That insect demon is truly arrogant.

At that moment, he almost burst out laughing, because he wanted to trap the other person here forever!

He successfully teleported to his past self.

Sarutobi Asuma and Yuhi Kurenai blocked his way, forming a protective formation and shouting in unison, "We will protect him! We are your comrades! We will not let you get past us!"

However, Uchiha Momoko was too fast; a dozen or so Body Flicker Techniques knocked the two unconscious.

Then, he appeared before his past self and whispered, "I'm sorry!"

He then inserted his hand into the other man's chest.

Before his death, the Uchiha Mori of the past faced a pair of red and white eyes and a face that was all too familiar—his future self.

A strange emotion surged within him, and bloody tears began to stream from his eyes, while the surrounding air swirled wildly.

Seeing this, the future Uchiha Mori gave a wry smile: "Why... is it like this again?"

After dealing with the other two, Aburame Shige appeared behind him with a smile: "As expected, it awakens when subjected to strong stimulation. After all, your eyes have already awakened multiple times beforehand. Next time, you can try knocking him unconscious first before killing him; perhaps you'll succeed."

As the white light flashed, time began to rewind once more.

This time, when Shisei Aburame saw the word "cycle" again, he opened his petri dish and found that it contained more than a dozen newly cultured insect eggs.

Three of the sets were empty, but the last set of eggs contained a recording—although it was only a few sentences, it was enough to explain the gist of the matter.

"Interesting... In that case, let him try a few more times until he gives up."

This time, Uchiha Morimaru listened to Aburame Shisei's advice and decided to knock out his past self before taking action.

With the help of Shisei Aburame, he succeeded!

When those hands pierced his chest, even now, he felt as if his heart was stopping!

It's over, it's all over, disappear!

He closed his eyes, quietly waiting for himself to disappear, but he did not.

Time was indeed frozen, but he did not disappear. The corpse on the ground was still warm. He turned around and met four pairs of hateful eyes.

"I...I did nothing wrong!"

"I just... I just wanted to trap him here." Uchiha Mamoru said calmly, then put his hat back on and disappeared into the desert.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the game has begun. I'll give you one day to start the escape. Now I'm going to start counting..."

Aburame Shisei smiled and turned around. He didn't kill the child; he simply took away the small corpse lying on the ground.

He had previously felt that his research was too slow and that he needed materials.

He made a bold guess and decision: time here should be eternal, and the way to stop it is to dismantle the first explosive point in advance.

Of course, it would be even better if Uchiha Mori died, then he would have enough time to research the Time Worms. As for whether the future would be changed because of their disappearance, he really wanted to know.

Sure enough, there is no day or night here, and people do not get tired or hungry.

Time seems to stand still here; for every second that passes outside, countless years have passed inside.

Uchiha Mamoru thought he had succeeded, but he himself did not disappear; instead, his former comrades had turned against him.

Where could he possibly escape to?

This space consists of only the desert within fifty miles of the dragon vein.

On the other side, Aburame Shisei reclaimed the underground palace and cultivated another kind of insect—the sandworm—using the sand.

Sandworms hollowed out the sand and rebuilt it into a castle. He then used various glass products to build a laboratory, and the body of Uchiha Mori from his childhood was placed in the center of the laboratory.

At this moment, he had endless time to develop the Time Worm.