So I was trying to write something to follow up Lavender? And ended up researching the tree that’s in symbiosis with ants, human anatomy I vaguely remember from High School, and insects I remember better from college Entomology elective.
Wall of Text warning? Just wanted to get this out there.
The Aburame Clan ability is based on their unique bloodline ability to host domesticated chakra insects inside their bodies. These insects have all been adapted to use by the clan, and are controllable through manipulation of the host’s chakra.
I believe this means the insects have been domesticated to not only feed on chakra, but also to go through different evolutions or life stages based on chakra manipulation.
Kikaichu are the longest domesticated and most widely used type of insect in the clan. They actually look like newly hatched ladybug larvae? and are most notably missing any flat sections that could symbolize the wings they use to fly. They’re also too large to safely live inside a human being.
Going back a step, the most likely place for insects and humans to adapt to cohabitate is inside the human lymphatic system. This system has some distinct tubes and lymph nodes that you can see if you look up an image of it, but it actually consists of all the spaces between cells that aren’t taken up by something else (like blood or air). A small enough insect species, adapted to assist the immune system, could live inside the lymphatic system between the cells of a human body adapted to give them a little more room than normal. They would have to be the size of the world’s smallest fairyfly wasp, but could leave the body without damaging it at the lymphatic system’s exit points. The insects would need to have chemical nodes on their exoskeleton that told the immune system that they’re friendly, but it would be a good symbiotic relationship because the insects can get food from the host and a safe place to live. In return they help the host remove toxins and defend against diseases, or repair injuries. Even though they’re not as smart as we are, insects are better able to understand complicated things like ‘sick tissue’ than our immune systems.
Now, these Kikaichu ancestors are already chakra sensitive, they get at least some of their sustenance from spiritual sources. This is probably how the clan who has adapted to live with them first tempted them out of their ancestral habitat, because of a purer or more abundant form of food. They might have lived in the fur of chakra potential summons, or had a similar symbiotic relationship with a chakra tree like the one that started this mess. Either way the ninja now have achieved symbiosis and want to find more uses for their insect companions. They selectively breed their symbiotes until the resulting insects can be communicated with by manipulations of chakra that their family has evolved in their warped chakra pathways (because their internal systems were shifted slightly to leave larger lymphatic system space, so it works slightly differently now with the adjusted shaped chakra pathways). As a side effect the insects now subsist entirely on chakra.
After another few generations they discover a way to postpone or trigger the evolution of certain aspects of the insects. Rapid growth in size for instance, coinciding with a much harder shell than the soft shell the insects have adapted to have inside their bodies. This is a similar genetic anomaly to the transformation of grasshoppers into locusts, but triggered by a certain manipulation of chakra. This means that when the host is in trouble and sends a chakra ‘distress call’ the insects that are normally able to fit on the head of a pin in groups rush to the surface and pass through a thin field of chakra run just across the Aburame’s skin, causing them to become hundreds of times their size, develop vestigial wings (used as flippers) into a fully functional state their distant ancestors had, and create a thick defensive carapace. In this state they no longer have the refined, low chakra digestive system they possess inside of the host, and require much more chakra to remain alive. They live inside the layers of clothing the Aburame ancestors wore and feed on incoming chakra attacks. Some even latch onto an enemy and devour whatever chakra they can get that way, not hearing any instructions in the enemy because their chakra pathways aren’t warped the way the Aburame ancestors’ were.
To make the most of this system the Aburame cultivate two varieties of insects now. There are the immune system bolstering insects that they first cultivated, now refined and passed between Aburame as new sets of bugs in new Aburame gain experience with new diseases and poisons. And then there are the Kikaichu, which were deliberately mutated though the chakra trigger and the ones that could still reproduce carefully picked out and saved for breeding. Eventually this species that would become the Kikaichu bred only insects that would be able to breed even after the secondary metamorphosis. This allows the Kikaichu to be used in battle and adapt, with the bugs better able to survive certain attacks living to be bred specially for a rematch.
Around the divergence of the Kikachu from the Immunity beetle a genetic variation in Kikachu created the ancestors of the Kidaichu. These few beetles were more unstable when exposed to chakra than the beetles that would become the Kikaichu, with the smallest incorrect amount of non-communicative chakra causing them to begin an uncontrolled growth metamorphosis. Any further chakra, even communicative chakra, causes the growth to continue (though they will still listen, useful if you’re trying to get them away) eventually destroying whatever chakra source they’ve ended up inside. (Kidaichu are implanted in an enemy still in their tiny form, beginning the mutation to get them inside in large form would be suicidal.)
This mutation is also how the Aburame learned the Kikaichu have usable mouthparts after their secondary mutation. It’s much easier to see what parts are in your bug when it’s larger than you are. Kikachu were trained to chew through things after this, as well as drain them of chakra.
Rikaichu are the most recent development in the Aburame’s internal insect repertoire. An enemy clan during the Clan Wars period discovered the closest living relatives to the Kikaichu, breeding a microscopic parasite that devoured human cells when prodded with chakra. Unfortunately they were unaware of the genetic similarity between their insect and the Immunity Beetles, and their first attempt to take out an Aburame attack group failed when one of the infected happened to have a few Immunity Beetles with throwback chemical indicators on their exoskeleton. The Immunity Beetles managed to drive out or assimilate the invaders at the cost of all the Aburame’s Kikaichu Beetles. In an effort to call out their dead Kikaichu in defense (as the only Aburame alive) they accidentally sped up the inbreeding between the genetically similar species. The hybrid produced was the ancestor of the Rinkaichu. Their continued possession of the throwback Immunity Beetles (which were also breeding) enabled them to host the Rinkaichu ancestors without harm, but infected the enemies who tried to take them captive, eventually eradicating the enemy clan after the Aburame escaped. The Aburame, used to disastrous mutations after discovering the Kidaichu, were able to isolate the infected member and create countermeasures until they could be trained in their new abilities.
Outside their bodies the Aburame have tamed several other insect species of use to them. These insects tend to be carried in portable nests such as gourds or vials, because they are too large to live inside the human body, but are adapted to respond to the Aburame’s unique chakra manipulations as well (through careful breeding). Species such as Muta’s Shokaichu do not eat chakra, instead needing to be fed by their Aburame keeper. Their ancestors were chakra positive insects (aka animals which can use chakra: potential summon animals), and - being larger in size - using chakra as an energy source isn’t viable because of the amount that would be required. An ‘interpreter’ insect, the Shokaichu are ‘imprinted’ on an Aburame’s chakra and can only communicate with or be controlled by that Aburame. After living beside these beetles long enough an Aburame can learn to understand their chakra pulses, as the colony evolves to respond to chakra pulses the Aburame understands, creating an entirely new ‘language’ known only in this bonded group. New larva added to replenish a decimated group will still ‘learn’ this language from the survivors, allowing for communication to survive even without any larva belonging to the old generation (in case of infertilization by radiation or some such).
I also think, personally, that the Shokaichu are a very interesting insect because of their sensor capabilities. Kikaichu can apparently use pheromones to report back where they are (sometimes) and if there’s chakra around them, but Shokaichu can actively search out chakra signatures, report back on location, type, power, and help find specific non-shokaichu signatures. And this is just the larval form. If it evolves into something like a moth, with the huge sensory antennae the males use to find females they would be able to work like radar or echolocation but for chakra. So my headcanon Shokaichu pupate and turn into white plume-moths with gypsy-moth style antennae. (I’m imagining Muta holding his outer-layer coat open to reveal rows of pupae now…)
If you can’t understand the mechanics, make them up? I guess?
All the bugs other than the Immunity Beetle are canon. Feel free to use this idea. I wanted to see if I could organize this into something like sense and I think I’m happy how it came out.
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