It was that time again, the Chuunin Exams. All had retaken the test as only Shikamaru advanced last time. This year it was in the country of rain, which was quite different. With Sasuke somewhere with Orochimaru and Naruto somewhere training with Jiraiya, Sakura had no team and was therefore put with Ino and Chouji who also needed a third member to participate. Once again there had been some very talented ninja coming from all around to advance and the Konoha ninja exceeded in their talents, as well as the sand ninja. The hidden village of sound had also entered in a talented team of ninja and the rain ninja were surprisingly good. This Chuunin exam was a little different from the one they were used to. The first test was not a written exam, it was a scavenger hunt with many things to accomplish and find before the end of the test. The second test was like the forest of death but in the underground bunker caves the hidden village of rain used many times to escape to continuous monsoons. The last test was about to commence, it wasn't a tournament, but one fight with whomever they were paired against. One fight was all they had to show the examiners they were ready to be promoted to Chuunin ninja.
First to step up to the plate, was Aburame Shino. He
was matched against a ninja from the hidden valley of the mist in the
water country. They hadn't had the opportunity of seeing each other
in the preliminary fights this year as the Rain examiners believed
all should have a right to battle it out.
Shino stepped forward
after getting words of good luck from his team and even a nod from
Kankuro. The battleground was soft and muddy with the continuous rain
which was coming down lighter than normal for this village. The
conditions and weather would make things interesting and very much in
favour of the water ninja and rain ninja who had made it through to
this round. The field referee officially began the match and both
fighting ninjas prepared themselves.
The Water ninja threw a kunai at Shino to get things started; Shino stayed where he was and deflected it with his own kunai. The ninja had more coming though and came in to follow up the attack. He threw a punch, which Shino was able to avoid. As he dodged and created some distance, the ninja threw some ice crystal looking daggers at him. If they hit, it would surely create a lot of damage and because Shino had just dodged, he wasn't in the best position to move again so all he could do was jump. There was one tree on the battlefield and there was a branch that Shino could reach, which he did. Shino realised this ninja from the Mist country used ice attacks. He didn't have too long to think of a plan though as a huge chunk of ice was fired at him. He threw a kunai at it, breaking it up into smaller pieces, but it seemed he had been tricked. The ice chunk was hollow and filled with poisonous gas. The enemy had counted on him to break the ice for the poison attack.
Shino held his breath as it was all it could do and had to jump down from the branch. As he came down, the ninja was already there waiting for him. Shino grabbed his within his arms like a hug to restrict his movement but left himself vulnerable to a knee in the stomach. He was sent flying backwards with a winded stomach and crashed into the mud.
The
crowd applauded the bout, which Shino had just lost, but he was ready
this time as he prided himself on never underestimating an opponent.
He stood up and didn't say a word. At the present moment, time was
better for him as the longer it lasted the more advantage he would
get. Until he noticed his competitor look around. The ice ninja
glanced over his shoulder onto his back where he saw bugs on him,
"What do we have here? They are eating my chakra aren't they?"
Shino had left some bugs when he was holding him before hoping they
would go unnoticed, but things were not finished yet. When the ice
ninja batted them off with his hand, Shino charged forward. He moved
in quite quickly to punch the ninja in the face with a clean shot.
The ninja didn't fall, but broke up into a puddle of water. It was a
water clone. Then a ninja came up from hiding and once again kicked
Shino in the same spot, Shino didn't fall though but broke up into
thousands of bugs. The bug clone technique gave Shino and opening to
move in and properly send the enemy ninja flying backwards. The crowd
applauded louder this time from the show, Shino managed to get one
back and needed to stay a few steps ahead as he wasn't confident on
beating this ninja on speed and power alone.
The ninja got off
the ground and smiled, "So you Konoha ninja are quite good, I am
glad to face one of the genin from the great shinobi nations."
Shino didn't answer, he didn't care for talking, he just wanted to
win. The ninja did some seals, "Aufeis Ice technique".
Shino looked at his feet where the puddles of water from the rain
were quickly turning into ice. He was only just able to get out of
the way before sharp ice crystals sprang up from the ground, which
could have ended things there. The enemy ninja used this opportunity
to come in for his taijutsu again. Shino was ready and waited, as he
came in and threw a punch Shino noticed something with his face. The
look on his face he had seen before and it was lucky he recognised
this as he would have been cleaned up by the ice knives that were
spat out of the ninja's mouth at him. The ninja dropped to the
ground, "How did you know about my Pagophagia Technique?" Shino
didn't answer, but he had seen Sasuke use his fire breathing
technique while he was still a part of the village and the expression
was the same. He had left some more bugs on his opponent which were
crawling in underneath his garments, but unfortunately they had been
noticed. "Too bad bug boy." He did some seals and the icicles
formed on his skin, killing the bugs and without taking his eyes off
Shino. This displeased Shino, he would now be aware of this and be
able to avoid having his chakra sucked out.
Shino
couldn't use his bugs in frontal attack s as this ninja would be
able to kill them all off in great numbers and be a wasted attack. He
had dropped a number of bugs on his competitor but they were finding
it difficult in the cold conditions that surrounded the enemy with
the array of ice attacks. He would have to use taijutsu, which was
not his strength but he did have a plan. Putting bugs onto his
opponent wouldn't prove useful anymore so there had to be another
way to get the desire effect. Then he thought of a solution. First he
had to check the area around him, his opponent noticed this. "What
are you looking for? Wherever you and your bugs go I will find and
beat you." Shino as usual said nothing, he would win and he knew
it.
He ran to his right and his opponent came at him with a
kunai. He slashed at Shino who was able to dodge and counter attack.
Another water clone, Shino turned to see the real one behind him but
he was able to jump out of the way and dodge the attack and left the
ice ninja standing in the same spot. They stood there looking at each
other for sometime, before the ninja made some seals. "Ice
Fortress technique." This seemed to be the enemy's main attack.
Shino ordered his bugs come out for his bug wall technique. Shino
knew his bugs spinning around could hold off the ice for a time, but
they wouldn't be able to last forever. They were tiring and Shino
looked to his feet and noticed the ground underneath him was freezing
over. The ice ninja wasn't trying to go through the bugs, but
underneath them. Shino could have put a bug clone in amongst the bug
wall, but he had decided to stay where he was. It was a little more
time before ice sprang up from his feet and covered his ankles
trapping him to the ground. The ice shackles were quite hardy; he
wasn't able to move out of this one. He ordered the bugs to fly a
little longer, and then return to him as the ice fortress technique
was quite terrible. The ice had made its way up to Shino's knees and
stopped there, Shino ordered the bugs to return to him and wait for
the enemy to act. When the bugs stopped, Shino was able to see what
was going on around him while he wasn't able to see through the bugs.
It really was an ice fortress around him; he was trapped within it,
with the enemy ninja, frozen to the ground. "You're trapped bug
boy with nowhere to go. It is time to finish off my attack, unless
you want to give up and save your life." Shino smiled, he
actually smiled, "I believe you should be the one giving up so I
can spare your life. The ninja laughed in his face, he began to set
up a final attack to finish Shino off.
Kiba was watching the match through the rain. He could see everything quite well and although Shino looked like he was in a bad position, Kiba trusted that he had some kind of plan. He just needed to hurry up and use it considering the ice ninja was planning to finish him off right now.
A huge ice crystal formed around the ninjas hand in the shape of a very sharp object. It would easily pierce straight through Shino's body but he waited. The ice ninja seemed to be taking unusually long to set up for his final attack. He looked as if he was struggling with his chakra moulding to produce solid enough ice as what he needed. Then he couldn't make any ice at all-he was getting weaker. It wasn't until he looked on his back and he found out why he was gradually getting weaker and could no longer continue the fight. There were some bugs that had been left by Shino. Because Shino was trapped, he put every ounce of energy into batting them off, but still after they were gone he was getting weaker. "What is happening to me?" Your bugs cannot survive this cold?"
"In cold winters, bugs can create protective coats around themselves called galls to protect themselves from the cold conditions. These bugs I dropped on you created these galls and sucked out some chakra to slow you down while my real finishing move was taking affect. You see I could have avoided you ice fortress technique but I purposely got captured to trap you in my plan."
"Your bluffing?" The ice ninja said not sounding too confident.
"Lift
up the legs of your pants and see if I am bluffing." The ninja was
fatigued and tired but was able to lift them up and see bugs crawling
up his legs. "These were the bugs that done the real damage to you.
Before when I was looking for ground not too flooded from rain and
not frozen over from your techniques, I found this area which was
good for my bugs to burrow into the ground which is another winter
survival technique. I only had to reach this point and when you met
me there you did my work for me and they did the rest while you
thought you had me in your trap." The ninja had been beaten, he
could no longer move and if they kept going had a possibility of
dying, "I give up." He managed to say and the referee
officially awarded Aburame Shino as the winner.
The crowd were
quite impressed with the effort and smarts Shino displayed. As usual
being steps ahead of the enemy proved useful against the ice ninja
from the water country.