Disclaimer: As unfortunate as it may be, I do not own Naruto.

Key: "" is talking '' is thinking

Author's notes: Wow, that was a long lay off huh? Yep, just a little bit...haha. Ok, truthfully I forgot all about this thing until I got this email from somebody that just read all the other chapters! And, in that I forgot all about this, I also kinda forgot where I was going with it. Thus, this is basically a completely new take on whatever I was going for before! Haha, if its choppy...uh, my bad.

Chapter 6: Shadows of the Past

The winds blew uncontrollably now, biting viciously into the skin left uncovered by the rips in her battle-tattered clothes. These were unnatural winds, with strength of distorted enormity. But such realizations bypassed Suzume, her eyes focused with unwavering intensity upon her hated opponent. No forces or powers could distract her from the object of her absolute scorn: this physical representation of all that she detested. The winds bellowed and whistled, trees and rocks cracking undertow, escalating with each passing second, with each tightening of Shino's bug noose. Specs of black began to appear as its instigators, filling the skies.

'Genkaku Konchuu Teikiatsu.'

Instantly the darkness erupted, filling the skies. Specs turned to walls, and a swirling tornado of deadly destruction bugs swept Suzume powerfully into the air. Her concentration shattered irreparably, her limp victim thudded to the floor. She, trapped within the black vortex, shook off her temporary mental paralysis and prepared herself for a counter. But no such counter came. The dark bugs closed too swiftly, clamping her arms to her sides and overwhelming her body so fully that not a single bug could escape from her many bug exuding holes throughout her body. Her arms were bound, her bug emission holes effectively clogged, and her entire range of ability rendered completely and uselessly trapped within an immobile form.

'Dammit! This little idiot made me forget all about his father up there!' Suzume cursed viciously under her breath. 'Its over for me,' she thought, coughing viciously as her body reacted to her waning air, 'but at least I was able to delay and injure them for...' The air supply thinned further as the vortex of black overtook the last of the blue sky above. She gulped in breath painfully as darkness began to take her. She raised her head uneasily, shutting her eyes tightly and prepared to enter gracefully into death. 'I'll die in peaceful strength! Even my dead body will glow with my own vibrant light and passersby why revel at my continued grace. As a great protector of my clan and magnificent beauty I will be remembered and on my tombstone will be written...'

thud

"Ouch!" The young girl whined, the projections of her own melancholy funeral painfully jolted from her mind. She rubbed her arm ruefully and worked herself back into a seated position. Slowly she inhaled a much-needed breath before slowly and unsurely opening her eyes to investigate her surroundings. The world around her was familiar; she was still in the woods where she had done battle with her family's nemeses. It was darker now though, the sun long since having faded beyond the trees and into the horizon. The night was dark save the moon glittering above and the warm crackle of flame in the fire before her. Her eyes adjusted and her investigation continued, narrowing angrily as she noted her captors. Across the flames sat her enemy, the boy she had defeated, calmly chewing a piece of bread propped up to his mouth by his bug army. A little further to the left from him was the father, his piercing eyes seemingly magnified through the dark sunglasses, past the waves of flames, into her very soul. She shuddered slightly stirring the attention of the boy. Slowly a quiet sliver of black bugs trickled out of an open hole in her neck and back into his sleeves. The father nodded in approval.

"Good. Shino, the healing ability of your bugs has gotten quite advanced. Her wounds are mostly healed now."

"Shut the hell up geezer! I didn't ask for your help!" Shifting her focus she attacked her former adversary with her everlasting barrage of words. "How dare you send your vile bugs into me? Come my precious white bugs! Defeat my foe!" She clenched her eyes shut again, summoning her white bugs out of her body. After a moment she stopped, shocked at the inaction. She could feel them moving easily within her, but completely unable to escape from her bug holes. She looked down, realizing that the wave of black bugs remained constricting her arms and clogging all possible holes for her bugs to escape. Even on the newly formulated hole on her neck a large Monarch bug was posted, halting all progression of her white fleet. She tried again, but to no avail, and once again, only to fail and crumple to the floor helplessly. "Release me and fight me in a real battle!" She huffed angrily, her long locks drooping across her face slightly covering her imprinted sunglasses. The two remained in silent disobedience, completely ignoring her outburst. Sulking at her captors' inattentiveness, she sat back and pouted. In the cool silence of the night her mind wandered back to the fight. The last she remembered her entire form was engulfed into a cyclone of destruction bugs, enough to completely drain her of her chakra and, inevitably, her life. "How am I even alive...?" She wondered reflectively, inadvertently voicing her thoughts aloud.

"Genkaku bugs." The man answered abruptly. On his finger crawled a black bug, much like the normal Kikai bugs, but different. True, the bulk of its body was black, but its wings and back seemed sprinkled with golden dust and, upon closer inspection, its body was slightly rounder than that of normal kikai bugs, not bigger, but rounder. "They're of the same family classification as the ordinary kikai bugs, but these are known to extract a larger amount of chakra from their host which is used for more than nourishment. They produce powders from the excess chakra that are sprinkled from their wings when they fly at high speeds." The man took a sip of the drink before him and continued. "These crystallized powders of chakra cast different genjutsu spells on whoever inhales them. Yours was a combination of a sleeping and time distortion genjutsu. You've been asleep for two weeks now, if it wasn't for the nutrients you received by the injection of our kikai bugs you would have died of starvation long ago."

"Hmph...defeated by simple illusions..." The girl groaned pitifully. "Regardless! I demand my release and I hereby take you under my custody to present to my mother the Queen. If you cooperate your deaths will not be torturous." She ordered, straightening herself up into a dignified manner.

"Oh yes, release the spider and follow her into her web..." Shino smirked under his breath.

"What was that boy?!? I'll make sure YOUR death is long and painful!"

"Not even spiders provoke predators when they are helplessly ensnared." Shino stated in controlled defiance, his kikai bugs stirring dangerously within his left hand.

"Calm yourself Shino. It's not often that you are privileged with the presence of true Aburame royalty," his father ordered, all too coolly. "Plus, we need her for information." Shino glanced questioningly at his father.

"Aburame royalty?"

"The true origins of our clan: the great bug manipulators of the Hidden Village of Grass." With another sip of his drink he continued. "Many years ago we were a part of the ace clan for the Hidden Village of Grass," He paused slightly, moving over to the girl and tugging free a green forehead protector with the Grass insignia from a flap in her cloak. "She is obviously part of the remnants of that clan and, if her mother is the queen, she is Aburame royalty, one who has most strongly inherited the Aburame bloodline limit."

'Bloodline limit...?'

"Then how have we become a member of the Hidden Village of Leaf?" Shino wondered aloud.

"Your traitorous ancestors deserted the village and the clan during their greatest time of need! Yours is a history of cowardice and weakness!" The girl screeched angrily, unable to contain her hatred. Shino, disturbed at this development, glanced over at his father for a rejection to such an outlandish claim. His father's head lowered, and Shino's prideful vision shattered. The girl continued, driving the painful stake of truth deeper within Shino's broken form. "During the Amato War that upended the entire scope of political balance amongst the different countries, the Hidden Village of Grass was fighting a losing battle. It had once been a strong and prosperous country with borders that spread far into what is now the land of the Fire Country and the Sand Country, but is now reduced to the despicably small size of present days. During those times, the Hidden Villages of Leaf and Sand launched a dual front attack on the Grass Country. Being the strongest clan, our forces were split between the two fronts, a mixture of Aburame royalty and peasants to lead the defense on either side. The Sand border was being upheld, but the defenses on the Leaf side, the front under my grandfather's leadership, were being slowly pushed back..."

The sky was tainted red with bloodshed and even the light of the sun dared not shine upon these dark and evil times. The large plains of grass were dyed likewise and lined with the corpses of the ninjas who had already fallen there. It was night now, and the warring had temporarily stalled as the opposing forces returned to their camps. Behind one particularly large hill lied the hastily constructed compounds of the Grass Country forces, and the tense silence of night was clearly pierced by the screeching roars from the general's tent.

"Dammit! We can't stop their advance! Curse those bastard Hyuugas and Uchihas!" The general cried, his fist cracking the table beneath him in two. Sweat tore down his tense features and anger burned through the protective coverings of his sunglasses. His maps and reports of troop movements laid scattered across the floor now, without a table for which to hold them. He crumpled to the floor, exhaustion overwhelming his strength. The flaps of his tent fluttered open and an officer walked in. The man, aged by stress, rose into proper dignity before addressing his visitor. "Report Colonel Aburame Shinta." The officer, obviously near the same age as the general, humbly obeyed the command.

"The left flank has been overwhelmed. A young Hyuuga prodigy took command there and devastated our forces."

"A Hyuuga defeated our Aburame men?!? How is that possible?!?" the general interrupted, stress and anger written plainly on his face.

"Unfortunately, our Aburame forces could not spread all the way across our flanks and the left was left under a different command so that we could shore up our defenses in the middle. Likewise, the right was taken by an Uchiha commander. His fire-based jutsus were dually effective because of the grassy terrain and easily massacred millions of bugs. The middle was upheld but those forces are now surrounded on three sides because of the fall of both flanks, it would be wise to withdraw there." The man completed his report and stood at attention, expecting an order matching to his suggestion.

"Don't forget your place you peasant scum! Regardless of your position in this army, you will respect Aburame royalty and address me correctly and without your quaint suggestions!" Anger flared into the colonel's eyes and though hidden by his dark shades, its vibrancy was obvious. As quickly as it had come it was quelled, hidden below the mounds of restraint and calloused features. Its appearance, though, was not unnoticed by his superior. "We will not withdraw from that area. It is vital to our defense! You, colonel, will reinforce it with an army of your fellow Aburame peasant brethren and you will not lose that position or it will be your head to pay! Not only will you hold the defense, you will regain the flanks we lost in today's warring by launching a counter-offensive."

"But sir! It's not possible! To hold the defense with such minimal a force would be miraculous in itself, but those lands lost cannot possibly be recaptured! You order us to our death!" The colonel protested pleadingly. His hands trembled and his voice cracked in submissive request.

"Insubordination! Get out of my sight boy! Go or die by my own hand!" The general, with his dangerous buzzing allies surfacing throughout the entire tent, pressed menacingly. A glint from his shades flashed and instantly the colonel's legs were engulfed by a wave of deadly white Monarch bugs. A snap of his finger sent the bugs to work, and, despite the screams for mercy, they evilly emptied the man's legs of all forms of chakra and life. He unwillingly crumpled to his knees, only to receive the heavy boot of the general cracking powerfully into his face, propelling him forcefully out of the tent.

He landed with a thud, a pitifully weakened form sprawled helplessly on the mossy floor outside of the general's tent. His legs had been devastatingly drained, and though time with help from his bugs would heal their wounds, his crippling extended past simple physical destruction. His faith was gone: faith in his general, faith in his country, faith in his own strength. He fought this battle for hopes of a happier life for his family, his posterity. The royalty of his clan as well as the magistrates of his country had promised some levels of equality, not complete, but to an extent of mutual respect between the two groups, between royalty and peasantry. He had battled, motivating his comrades in arms, for dreams of a new future for his son, a new order of equality, but these were never to be. He realized it now. These optimistic hopes were fleeting, and this display of aggression, the sheer snobbish superiority in the general's voice proved beyond all doubt the irrelevancy of his hopes. Regardless of his army heroics, he and his brothers would never be given the respect he hoped for. To the Aburame royalty, peasantry and nobility would never be on level, would never meet, to them, he would always be but dirt and trash to do their bidding. The heavy foot of his general against his face had emptied all of these ignorant, child-like fantasies from his mind and replaced them with reality: he could never escape from this hell of subordination or from the foot of superiority. And now he was sentenced to his death; he was a pawn to die in this game between monarchies, he fought for a power that he would never hold or feel the benefits from.

"No..."

He wouldn't die this way; his existence would not be extinguished without meaning. If he had to die, he would die for his family, his future, and his ideals; his life would not be thrown away fighting simply for a country that hated him. He lied there awhile, his body motionless but his mind soaring, deciding, and convicting. Slowly he, with assistance from his dark destruction bugs, pushed himself to his feet, feeling refreshed, stronger, alive with his newfound understanding. He would not die here, like this; he and his brethren would rise and find a new order under which to live.

"Father!" A sturdy 10-year-old boy ran towards his father, his arms outstretched to support his obviously injured parent. A rather large gourd bounced heavily on his back as he sprinted toward his father's beaten form.

'Yes, a new life for my boy, this I need to create.'

"Are you alright father? Allow me to send my bugs to help heal your wounds."

"No no, that will not be necessary. We need to hurry back to the lines, there's a special mission we must complete."

Left alone again to contemplate his failures, the general once again sunk to his knees. 'We can't stop them. Their strength is too great.' His mind gasped out painfully. The pressures of the world pressed heavily down on his wearied shoulders, and he could feel them breaking.

"I can't be weak..." he breathed out, each word seeming to sap life out of his form. "I can't...lose..." His voice cracked and sweat gushed down his face. "My reputation...my clan...my family...I have to protect them all..." 'If we lose that central point it's over...we can't come back from an all-out loss of that magnitude. But he's right, it's murder to send them there. But if I lose that point, everything I have built is gone, I will be immortalized as a figure of weakness, unable to even hold a single line. No, even if we are massacred, I can't just give it up! Death is greater than a life of shame!' His mind exhausted by the constant strain and stress, the general fell into sleep, in his position sprawled on the ground his eyes shut and his troubles drifted into that of dreams.

"GENERAL!" Instantly the quiet of sleep was shattered and, though his senses were dulled by the remnants of tire, instantly the man knew of the pressing dangers. Light tore into his tent as the flaps were pulled aside and a frantic private entered. "They've broken it! The troops from the Country of Fire are charging towards this camp at this very minute sir! They began their attack an hour ago; we need to evacuate now sir!"

"Impossible! How could they break our central defense so quickly? That area is dually enforced and this camp was specifically placed directly behind it. They couldn't have broken through it in an hour; they couldn't have broken it in a month!" The general, his face filling with panic and disbelief flooding his eyes, jumped to his feet, questioning the unfortunate private.

"They seemed to have faced no opposition whatsoever, sir! One of our scouts reported that the entire center of our defense was completely missing in action. We found this note wrapped around a kunai nailed to a pole in the camp." The general tore the strip of paper from the soldier's hand and read it, anger reddening his face as he went.

The seeds of revolution are hereby sown. Liberty's call draws us go...

"Curse that treacherous Shinta!" The general cursed, crumpling the paper into nothingness in his hand.

"We need to evacuate now sir! The enemy will be here at any time!"

'No, my legacy, the pride of my clan, I can't run. Be it death or torture that awaits me, I cannot run. The greater me cannot,' his heart and mind argued with vicious intensity within him. His face was a picture of distortion, confusion, anger, pain and all things ill, but finally it set. 'I'm sorry my family, but I cannot return to you in the shame of defeat! I will not die in failure! I will fall in the glorious light of battle!' Streams of tears burned their way down his set features. 'Live on my family, I do this for you.'

"Private, I will not run; prepare the soldiers that remain, anyone that can throw a kunai, today we fight for honor and glory! Collect the troops, we march into death!"

As the soldier scuttled away to do his master's bidding, the general stood, nearly alone before his camp, as the waves of enemy flooded forward like a tidal wave, intent upon the destruction of all that stood in its way.

"Feel the true terror of the Aburame Clan!" The man, a single rock against the powers of the crashing sea, reached his hand to his face and tore the wearied sunglasses from their indentions. His fist closed and crushed his longtime companion within the palm of his hand. His eyes snapped open....

"Father, where are we going?" asked the sturdy young boy to his father beside him. He pulled uncomfortably at the heavy pack on his back while looking up to the tall man beside him.

"To freedom son," Shinta said proudly, a glimmer of happiness flashing across his normally stoic features, "Today we lead our brethren away from the oppression of our history and into a glorious new era." The boy glanced behind him again to the large gathering of Aburame peasants trekking along, following his father's lead. Soon, they reached the exterior of a large camp with the large symbol for fire emblazed in red upon a flag waving proudly at the camp's front. Two guards, noticing their presence, called them to a halt.

"What business do you have here Aburame? Speak quickly before I choose to kill you." The larger of the two guards waved a hand, signaling for hordes of his fellow guards to appear from the darkness of the shrubbery.

Shinta answered calmly. "We wish to see your Hokage," he began, taking a slow breath before continuing, "and to join your ranks as a part of the hidden village of Konoha!"