Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 3

WHAM!

My fu-, that hurts!

" Get up Moriko, and come at me again."

"I am. I am."

So, you know how I said I'll be the strongest. Apparently, nobody informed me that walking the road to be the strongest huurrrttssss. I am seriously being beaten by my own father like I owe him money, and I can't even complain about my situation because this is what I wanted. However it doesn't mean this doesn't suck.

CRASH!

once again im slammed to the floor

"Your attacks were far too feeble. You need to come at me with more intent to crush me. More intent to kill me"

'Easy for you to say.' I thought. I mean come on I'm still only 3.

I got up once again and engaged my father in a one-sided taijutsu spar with everything I had. It has been 1 year since I made my promise to become the strongest to my father, and let me tell you it has not been an easy year that's for sure. The day after I made that promise my father woke me up at the crack of dawn and told me that we are going to spar. As soon as we started, I ran at him only to have a fist meet my face. I nearly blacked out then and there. However luckily or unluckily I didn't, and he made me come at him again.

I think we all know how that turned out.

Dad sent a fist my way, and I managed to barely dodge it before sending my own hammer fist directly to his left side.

Taijutsu, I realized, is one of my father's strongest points. This man known as Akui Aburame is a beast. I can barely keep track of his movements half of the time, he hits like a freight train, his senses are so sharp it's scary, and his stamina is seemingly limitless. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try I can never make this man even break a sweat and while it is to be expected considering he has been fighting for 20+ years as a ninja. It doesn't make it any less frustrating.

What makes it even worse is that I know he is going easy on me. If my dad wanted, he could kill me with nothing but a finger. That's how weak I am, and it's what gives me the drive to keep attacking because while I fully believe that my father is strong, I know that there are people way stronger out there.

Once again, my father sent me crashing down on the wooden floors of the Aburame compound training stage.

"Are you finished?" he asked. I know I'm not, but everything hurts. However, I got up anyway. The key thing about my dad's fighting style I noticed, is that it is very sturdy. He is like an immovable steel wall. While I am merely a cat trying to scratch my way through.

That's a terrible analogy, but that's not the point. What I'm getting at here is that I keep trying to match him blow for blow hoping I will get lucky and finally get a strike in, but that's stupid. It is stupid because I'm literally a 3-year-old trying to beat a grown man in a test of strength and endurance. Even if I was fully grown, I wouldn't win and that's because I'm a girl.

As sad as it is. It's already a proven fact that men are physically stronger than women. This is because guys have way more testosterone in their bodies than women do which allows them to build way more muscle way faster. Women on the other hand are way more flexible than men. This is because of the curvature that takes place in our lower spine, over three vertebrae compared with the only two in men. The female joints are also larger and flare out further down the spine than those of men - improving their spine's strength.

While I can't fully utilize this power of my physiology yet because of my age. I can use it just a bit to give myself an edge. My goal is not to match his strikes, but to parry and redirect. In a match of strength, I will lose. I have to carefully observe the flow of power in his strikes and divert it away thus allowing me to land a hit.

Flexibility beats strength. Meaning Girls Fucking Rule!

With that simple conclusion, I charged.

He sent a quick fist to my left side, and I tried to employ my idea only to sadly realize that my idea didn't work. No scratch that it's not that it didn't work, it's just that the strikes were too fast for me to properly try to parry them, and only leaves me wide open as a consequence.

One again I was sent crashing to the ground so hard I left a dent in the wooden floors. This time I really couldn't get up. As I layed sprawled on the ground I took deep desperate breaths as i tried to regain my strength.

I keep forgetting I'm not in an anime. This is real life, and just like in real life I don't suddenly get a power-up.

I still stand by my conclusion though.

"You finally realized that you couldn't beat me by matching my attacks, so you tried to divert my attacks in order to build an opening and deliver a fatal strike. You had the right idea, but you lacked both the power and speed to execute that idea. Thus, ultimately failing in your endeavor"

Summed up my failure in a very accurate description. However I'm on to something. If I can't be extremely powerful then I need to be both extremely fast and extremely flexible. I have to be able to get within my opponent's guard and always engage a perfect, and lethal counter strike . That will be the basis of my fighting style.

However I need an edge, something that will always or at least most of the time enable me to be faster than my opponent. I have a few ideas but I will employ them later, and with that thought, I blacked out.

I love being an aburame! Did I mention that yet? While the consecutive beatings are not fun, and the constant reminders in the back of my head about impending world doom are still there. I still can do the one thing I truly love and that's to study and explore INSECTS!

AIYEEEEEEE!

I'm squealing like the little girl that I am (silently of course). One of the main priorities of the Aburame clan is to both practice and teach the fundamentals of the kikaichu to the younger members of the clan. My father has really been adamant on that just as much as he has been on Taijutsu. The Kikaichu are the pride of the Aburame clan, and as I am just a child, I am supposed to know all this as well.

They also teach us the laws and the fundamentals of the clan, and as my father is teaching me one day.. I learned one shocking fact.

We all know about the fierce protection and devotion that animals are known to show for their offspring. However, did you ever wonder to yourself if insects care for their young. Much of an insect's life consists of laying eggs and moving on. Most of the species aren't really attentive parents. There are some that are good parents like the wood roach or the spittlebug, as well as the standard ants, bees and wasp, but I would say a good 80 to 85 percent of the insect population leave their kids to the wolves.

An insect's way of protecting their young basically involves genetics. They basically just give them the proper tools to survive, but it is up to them to learn how to use those tools both properly and efficiently.

Apparently that's how the aburame clan have operated for years as well. An example of this is when they introduced the kikaichu children, and made them learn how to control them by themself even if it took years.

Yup the Aburame have tried to the best of their ability to mimic the insects' entire being. Once a child is deemed to know the basics they are left to their own devices to do whatever they want. Whether it is to be a civilian accountant or a ruthless ninja in order to learn how to do those things you have to figure it out yourself. That why alot of our members while deadly don't necessarily stand out like the other clans do.

THE HELL!

My father said this has been going on since the clans warring states era. This is supposed to forcefully make the kids grow up and teach them about the ways of the world, and how it is not a basket full of roses.

It creates individuality and strong character, and although it is emotionally damaging, and possibly fatal it has created strong individuals of the Aburame both civilian and ninja alike. I may not have been in this world for long, but I have seen a few other aburame and they all look like they have their life together.

I don't get it. I thought Aburame would stick together, and support one another through thick and thin like a colony. Isn't konoha all about teamwork.

Apparently the question must have been plastered on my face because my faster was quick to reply

He told me that when konoha was founded. In order to get so many prominent clans one of the main agreements that hashirama made to the current clans heads of the time is that the hokage can not interfere with clan affairs.

They do things how they always have and the hokage can't say anything to them. My father said that once I turn 5. I will also be expected to follow this rule.

This was all shocking information, but if you really look at it really doesn't seem bad. I was told that I would have to fend for myself at age 5, but that's not really a bad thing. My father said we are left to do whatever we want. He never said that the adults will no longer teach and support the children. Just that they will leave us to our own devices.

That's when I figured it out. The purpose of putting the children through all this is to give them something that a lot of people lack, motivation. The adults want the children to want to succeed and thrive themselves. It is up to us to determine our paths. If a person suffers long enough then they will do all in their power to make sure that they will no longer suffer.

The Aburame have already proven this by giving the kikaichu to babies and having them learn to control the kikaichu by themselves. The children were tired of being immobile so they decided they wanted to move and by doing so they forcefully learned how to control the kikaichu, and make them stop eating their chakra.

If people saw this practice back in my old world it wouldn't be a stretch to call this borderline child abandonment. Still I get it. This is the ninja world where only the strong can make it to the top on both the ninja side and civilian side. By doing this they are ensuring that they can make it in this world and strive to be whatever they want all while having the will and drive to do whatever is necessary.

Overall, it is a scary practice, but an effective one. It even has an unofficial name. They call it "the breaking of young". My father has already given me a lot of freedom, and I'm currently using that freedom to explore the Aburame library.

I'm currently reading the aburame database on all different types of insects. After the beating I received from the dad from our daily training. As soon as I woke up my father told me he would be away for a couple of days for a mission. I was fine with this and just told him to be safe. While he was away I limped my way to the library. This is where I repeat myself. I love being an aburame. They have so much up close and personal data about insects in their library it's ridiculous, but it is also amazing.

This isn't just for fun of course this is also part of my own training. By learning about as many insects as I can. Still I'm having fun though.

Anyway, the point of these visits is to learn both the strengths and weaknesses of many insects, therefore I can try to apply these strengths to both my kikaichu and myself as well as cut off our weaknesses.

I even have my first idea. I already know that I want to be a close combat fighter. The reason for this is because even though kikaichu are able to fly long distances and attack enemies. There are plenty of ways to avoid them. One common example is to just spam jutsu on them, preferably fire style. And if that happens the enemy will confront me and my only means of defending myself was burned to an even blacker crisp.

Every conflict always comes down to hand to hand combat in the end. So what I want is my kikachu to assist me by fighting the enemy while I engage them in close combat. It seems so simple yet I barely ever saw it done by Shino. The only time I can remember seeing him do it is during the chunin exams. Every other time he just stood there and sent his kikaichu to attack from a distance.

However, while Shino was weak in close range combat, that doesn't mean he couldn't have learned. If he did that he could have been a much more dangerous and relevant character. Sadly that wasn't the case, but I'm going to be different. I said I wanted my kikaichu to assist while I fight the enemy however I didn't mean swarm them. That's only asking the enemy to kill them in one wide range attack that I have seen happen so many times in the anime.

I want my kikaichu to be little sneaky monsters that subtly but crucially help me during a fight. They already have the tools necessary. Their chakra absorption ability.

My idea was to have my kikaichu stay inside me while I fight and while I'm engaging an opponent, every time one of my limbs make contact with the enemy even if they block my kikaichu will absorb their chakra. I have thousands of them inside of me so If all of them absorb at the same time a good chunk of my enemies chakra will be drained. The more chakra they drain the more stamina they lose and the weaker they will become until they either are knocked unconscious or die.

I thought the idea was perfect and simple, but nothing in life ever is. When I tried to employ this idea in a spar with my father my kikaichu only absorbed my chakra instead. Turns out kikaichu can only absorb the chakra of the person they have physical contact with. Not only that but it takes time for them to start the process. A whole 4 seconds. Way too long to suck out the chakra of my enemy with each hit I make. The chakra absorption needs to be a start and stop process in sync with each strike I make.

Finally there is the timing. My kikaichu needs to be able to suck chakra from my enemy the moment my fist or legs strike the body of my opponent, and be able to suck my enemies chakra if and when they are able to hit me. That not only takes incredible timing but precise control.

My first step to solve this problem is to make a breed of kikaichu that Can absorb chakra from a distance. It doesn't need to be a lot, just a couple of inches. If I am to do that, I need to start from now.

I don't need to actually selectively breed my kikaichu with another insect for them to get this ability, thank the stars. Since they already possess the ability to absorb chakra all I need to do is have them practice using the ability then slowly, but forcefully make them absorb from a distance, and the best part is that I don't need a training partner for this since I can just have them absorb my chakra.

"What a simple yet effective idea." It seems my queen kikaichu likes the idea. I have to say it is still kind of weird to have a voice talk in my head but I'm nearly used to it.

"So you approve of my idea to have the kikaichu enhance the range of the chakra sucking abilities." It always feels good to have support no matter who it comes from after all

"Yes this is a very effective idea. If we practice this ability the newer generation will gain an instinctive knowledge on how to use this ability. Far better than the previous generation. However, it will take time." I'm so glad my queen is quick on the uptake.

You see, kikaichu have very short lifespans. No more than 3 months really which makes it even easier for the older generation to pass on their skills to the newer generation. Once they do that the newer generation will practice their evolved skills and pass it on to the next generation rinse and repeat.

This is my plan, and now that I have figured out what to do with my beetles it is time to figure out what to do about my jutsu. I already know ninjutsu is not an option for me. It's just a rough estimate but my kikaichu needs about 50 percent of my chakra to survive any less than that and it will be a slow death. However, that is just to survive. Every Aburame is different with how much chakra they give, but I want my kikaichu to thrive and so I usually give them about 70 percent of my chakra. That. Leaves 30 percent for me, and since I hail from a clan my chakra reserves are higher than normal.

30 percent of chakra for me is like 80 percent of chakra from a first generation Shinobi who is the same age as me. However that still doesn't mean I can just spam jutsu all willy nilly. That's why I'm going to be a genjutsu user. It not only takes less chakra but with only 30 percent left, chakra control should be easy. Not only that, but if I mix it with taijutsu along with my beetles, I have a promising setup.

Finally, there is just one more thing I need to do. I need to figure out a way to enhance my body. Nothing like drugs obviously, but some type of skill or technique that will allow me to outperform my opponent. There are a couple of ideas that come to mind. Tsunade has her explosive strength that she uses along with her precise chakra control, then there's Gai and his eight gates. Sadly, neither seems like an option for me not only because I doubt, I could get either of those techniques for myself, but also because it relies on chakra which is something I can't afford to give.

What else is there? Come on, think. In the Hidden Mist all they cared about were their swords and Kekkei Genkai. The Stone only really had earth style and explosions. The cloud had had enhancements. I remember the Raikage always enhanced their body with lightning style, but that's ninjutsu which I can't rely on. The only thing left is the sand and I can't remember any notable close combat users from their village if anything they only specialized in long range combat.

Oh, wait, I do remember something. There was this one guy from the sand. I doubt many people would remember him because he was only ever shown in a couple of filler episodes. He fought Lee in the Chunin Exams. His name was Shira and he had a technique similar to the eight gates.

While the eight gates exist to limit the body, opening each gate lets out a burst of chakra that grants the user immense strength. Shira invented a taijutsu technique that could rival the eight gates. The seven heavens breathing method. By taking in large amounts of oxygen and increasing his lung capacity he is granted strength similar to that of the eight gates; they only ever showed three activations out of the seven, however the third activation was enough to rival the fifth gate, and the best part. Shira wasn't using chakra, just physical prowess alone which makes this technique perfect.

It is already a well-known fact that breathing creates tension throughout our body that will evidently increase the amount of strength we can produce, and more strength means more power at my disposal. From what I understand, to unlock each activation you need to take in one big gulp of air, and I would imagine that the amount of oxygen one needs to intake increases with each activation. Just unlocking one activation would require some serious training.

Oh my gosh, so many plans, so much to do. Alright I think I got everything. So just to get a recap.

First, I train my Kikaichu to absorb chakra from a distance, start them off by gradually touching the target and slowly pull them apart from each other until they are pushed to their absolute limit.

Next train Genjutsu. In order to do this, I need to first build up chakra control.

Finally, learn to breathe in order to unlock the 7 heavenly breaths. Probably the most difficult task. I know it's going to take years to achieve, but I will accomplish this. In order to reach my dream of being free to do what I want and study insects I will do anythi-

DREAD DREAD DREAD DREAD DREAD DREAD

What is this? I can't breathe, I can't move!

"Run away! Run away! The air permeates with death. We will die if we stay here" My queen is screaming at me to run, but I can't move. I want to listen, but I don't have the strength. Tears start streaming from my face. Am I going to die again? Am I going to be robbed of my dream one again? I don't want to die again. I don't want my second chance to be over without me being able to truly grasp it!

I wanted to call out to my dad, but I remembered that he is away on a mission. What should I do? What can I do? My mind was racing with ideas, and just before I could figure out what to do everything suddenly got lighter and lighter.

That disgusting oppressive feeling suddenly went away. I can't even feel a trace of it anymore physically at least. Mentally on the other hand.

My body still remembers. It still remembers that feeling of helplessness, the feeling that I could be killed anytime. Was that killing intent? I don't know what it was, or who it came from, but what I do know was that whoever did that was dangerous. I still can't move, but I'm slowly coming to my senses. Whoever did that must have done it to send me a warning no, a message.

What the message said I have a few ideas, but I can't think of that right now because I hear something. It's a small, almost cute sound that bounced off the walls of the room almost shaking it to its very core. It keeps getting louder and louder and it was soon that I recognized it as laughter.

It was a deep guttural sound that really sounded like it came from the gut, but what really concerned me the most was that it sounded almost psychotic in nature. Who could it be coming from? Was it the person that unleashed that awful feeling, was it somebody else in the compound?

Was it... Oh, it's me.

HAHAHAHA!

(-)

? Pov

Did I break her?

No, that's not it she found the trial she just went through amusing. What a strange child. I only sent some killing intent her way to see if she had potential.

I've been watching her for quite some time now. Ever since she learned how to control her Kikaichu more than a year ago she has always been training. Always fighting her father to seek strength and while that's well and good that the child wished to be strong. It raised the question why? She is only 3. She has yet to experience the harsh realities of the world that usually drive people to seek strength so why does she want to become stronger. Well, it doesn't really matter, what matters is that she has something that so many people lack, drive.

I'm not talking about the flimsy kind either that can be broken easily. This girl has true drive. One that burns in her very soul and can't be extinguished no matter how much you try to douse it.

That's why I find her laughter impressive. A normal eye would only be able to see the surface of her laughter only to think that she has gone insane after experiencing my killing intent, but someone with a keen eye can see much more in that laughter. They can see that she has realized how insignificant she is in the face of a true monster.

The purpose of making her experience my killing intent was to see if her will broke or if it would only be strengthened further. I'm glad that it was the latter.

I can see it in her eyes that she knows that she doesn't have innate talent. That she isn't special. She knows that she is nothing more than a fly when compared to the world, but she is willing to do anything to survive and carve her place, and that's something I can respect and something I can acknowledge. That's why I will be watching you, Moriko Aburame.

I really hope you don't disappoint.

(-)

3rd chapter for this story. I like how this one came out, it gives a little more insight into Moriko's plan for the future, as for the mystery person, I guarantee it's not who you guys think it is.

Thank you for reading Chapter 3 of long live the queen.