Torune and Fu stare up at the giant ant queen. "Don't make any sudden moves," says Torune, slowly moving his hand towards his kunai pouch.
"What kind of ant is that?" asks Fu, standing as slowly as he can.
"A really big ant," says Torune, his mind going blank. "And we are snack sized…"
"Is it...is it poisonous?"
The ant scuttles forward and makes a grab for Fu with her mandibles. Fu jumps out of the way, into a nearby tree.
"There, there," says Torune, reaching out and petting the ant's leg. "Calm down. There's a good girl." He releases a few of his poisonous beetles into the ant's exoskeleton. While the beetles search for a way under the ant's armour, Torune, tries to soothe the ant.
The ant ignores him in favour of sniffing around the empty food containers. When she finds nothing, the ant turns on Torune and tries to grab him.
Torune leaps back.
Fu throws his kunai at the ant, hitting her in the leg.
Turning on Fu, the ant rears up and spits a stream of acid at him.
Torune sends his beetles out to make a wall between Fu and the ant's acid. Fu leaps away from both, heading over to Torune. "Have you infected her yet?" Fu asks.
"My beetles are trying to penetrate her armour," says Torune, beginning to grow worried.
While they are speaking, the acid and beetles connect. Torune's beetles absorb the poison like they are supposed to, but then they fall to the ground.
"What?" Torune runs over to his beetles. They are dead. "Now way...how?"
"Ah, Torune," says Fu, staring at the ant. "I think the beetles you planted on the ant are dead too…"
Torune turns towards the ant, sending a swarm of beetles at her. They hit her, find a weak spot and infect her with the poison. Meanwhile the ant spits another round of acid at Fu. Fu dodges away, pulling out a round of shuriken and throwing it at the ant.
Torune's beetles fly away from the ant, and report that the ant is immune to their poison. "Fu! This ant is immune to my poison!" Torune calls out.
"Then we'll have to find another way to beat it," says Fu, drawing his sword.
Torune draws his sword too. Their swords are standard Root issue tantos, and the boys kept them after leaving Root. Torune is not very proficient with his yet, but he and Fu have been practicing diligently.
Fu and Torune attack the ant from opposite sides. In order to avoid them, the ant flies up into the air to rain down waterfalls of deadly acid on their heads. Fu and Torune dash for cover, desperately trying to come up with a plan.
"What do we do?" asks Fu. "That thing spits acid, can fly and is immune to your poison."
"Um…" Torune thinks hard about the problem. "We haven't used your special jutsu yet. Maybe you could use the mind transfer to get it to fly away and leave us the heck alone."
"You'll need to distract it while I cast my jutsu," says Fu, peeking around the tree they are hiding behind. The ant is hovering in the air, trying to locate the two boys. Torune makes two clones out of beetles: one looks like him and one looks like Fu. The two clones step out of the tree and draw the ant's attention away from the real Fu and Torune.
Fu steps out of the cover of their hiding place and makes the hand signs for his jutsu. "Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
Torune catches Fu as he falls over sideways. "Please work," Torune mutters.
The ant turns towards Torune and Fu.
Fu snaps his eyes open. "RUN!" he shouts.
The ant flies at Torune and Fu's hiding place, crashing through the trees to get to them. Torune leaps away, dragging Fu with him. As the ant passes, Torune grabs onto her, pulling himself and Fu onto her back.
Trying to shake them off, the ant flies high into the air, twisting a turning. Fu and Torune hold on for dear life.
"What the hell happened?" Torune shouts, over the wind roaring in his ears.
"It didn't work!" Fu shouts back. "All I did was give away our position!"
The ant stops trying to shake them off and hovers in the air, high above the forest. She seems to be unsure what to do next.
"Well we still need to get her to leave us alone," says Torune, thoughtfully. "She's too strong to beat, so we'll have to find another way."
"Well she crashed our picnic," says Fu. "And she tried to eat us. Maybe she's hungry? Do you think she'll leave us alone if we find her some food?"
"Oh yes," says a female voice. "I am hungry."
Fu and Torune look at eachother, then down at the ant, then back at each other.
"YOU CAN TALK?!" yells Fu, making the most incredible face.
"Why didn't you just SAY you wanted some food instead of attacking us like that?!" demands Torune.
"I only learned to speak when Fu used that strange technique on me," says the ant queen. "Provide me with food and I will leave you be. Otherwise I will eat you."
"So no pressure, then," says Fu, sighing.
"Oh, that's easy enough," says Torune, sending out a swarm of beetles. "My beetles will locate something big enough to satisfy your hunger." A few minutes later, some of the beetles return with the location of a couple of wild boars.
Torune guides the ant down to the boars' location. It is kinda fun to ride the ant, and Torune is enjoying himself. Fu is terrified. When they are close enough, Torune leaps down off the ant's back and stabs one of the boars in the head with his sword. The boar never sees him coming the other one barely has time to react before Torune kills it too.
The ant lands and Torne gestures to the boars with a flourish. "Your dinner, my lady," he says.
Fu slides off the ant and runs to hide behind a nearby tree.
The ant gobbles down her dinner.
When she is finished, Torune sidles up to her and asks, "Would you like to make a summoning contract with me? I would love to have a friend and ally who can resist my poison."
"And what would that entail?" asks the ant.
"Well, we would make a blood contract," explains Torune. "And I'd be able to summon you to aid me in battle. You'd also be able to summon me if you learned how, but summons don't usually need to summon the shinobi they bond with. Of course, you'd need a place to serve as your base, where you live and train to get stronger…"
"I'll do it," says the ant. "Let us make this summoning contract."
So Torune and the ant make a summoning contract while Fu hides in the trees nearby. When they are done, Torune and his new summon bid farewell, and the ant queen flies away to find a place to turn into her new summoning base.
When the giant ant is gone, Fu creeps out of the trees. "Please tell me you don't intend to be best friends with that thing," says Fu.
"Of course not," says Torune, smiling at Fu. "You are my best friend. The Ant Queen is my summon now."
Fu breathes an exasperated sigh of relief. "Let's go find our stuff."
The boys head back to their picnic site and gather their scattered belongings. Thankfully, the ancient book is safe and sound. The two boys hoist their bags back onto their backs and climb down to the bottom of the waterfall. Torune pulls out the map and studies it carefully. "It shouldn't be too far now. We just need to follow the river downstream and explore the general area until we find the Guards."
"Do you think maybe the townspeople know exactly where we are trying to go and didn't want to help us?" says Fu, as they head off downriver.
"I hope we find them soon," says Torune. "We've been searching for-" A swarm of insects hits them out of nowhere. The insects knock the book out of Torune's hands, sending it flying into the river. "NO!" Torune leaps after the book, trying to catch it before it hits the water. He is too late, and the book hits the river with a splash.
"Dammit!" says Fu, swatting at the swarm of insects. The swarm backs off and begins to circle around the boys, making a black, buzzing wall.
Torune and Fu stand back to back, their swords drawn. "Something's not right…" says Torune. "These insects don't act like this normally."
"That's very sharp of you, boy," says the farmer from the village, stepping out of the swarm. "I told you to stay away from Chomei's Guards. Outsiders are not welcome there. Since I retired, my role has been to keep snoopy little outsiders away."
"Retired?" asks Torune. "Retired from what?"
"I was a member of Chomei's Guards," says the farmer. "There never was a final marker! Only a guard living in the village to point the way for those who are worthy enough to proceed. And you are not worthy!"