Chapter 37

All right guys, this one was really hard to write. I've got a lot of life decisions going on so I haven't had much time at all lately as you may well know if you've been reading for a while.

This is a sorry and a big thanks to my Beta Lucifer-Allheart, without who you would be reading this chapter for the first time in about a month.

If you want to show your appreciation to him you can check out his stories and drop a review or two, thanks and on with the story

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Shino was the next to face up against his opponent. Zetsu of the Grass.

Zetsu stood silently on the branch opposite him watching him quietly, his leaves bristling slightly in the wind.

Then the shock came, a large bolt of lightning shot at Shino who dodged it but his sleeve was burnt around the cuff. The lightning kept coming so Shino dived away from the area and threw a kunai with an explosive note attached and several shuriken at Zetsu. Zetsu dodged the kunai and the blast barely but in doing so, he was hit by several of the shuriken in his leg.

"Ingenious, you can shoot lightning chakra at me without using hand seals. A very advanced form of chakra manipulation." Said Shino watching Zetsu reject the shuriken from his body and a sap slowly covered the wound.

"You are weak, Aburame. You have so many ideas at your disposal but you choose to use basic ninja weapons, pathetic." Spat out Zetsu.

Shino took advantage of his distraction to let a few Kikai bugs emerge from his neck.

"An Aburame is never pathetic." Said Shino as he saw Zetsu melt back into the greenery.

'So… he can fuse with plant matter, this will be most interesting.' Thought Shino

Several kunai appeared from a tree above Shino and almost hit him but Shino dived to another branch, barely catching it but still holding on. The few bugs he called out made a small platform for him to stand on, which he did.

"I was told that the Akatsuki control a Biju each, if this a Biju then I have been working far too hard" said Shino to the plants.

He got no reply other than a large burst of chakra that knocked him off his feet, uprooting a large portion of the fruit trees that scattered the forest, making it into a very crowded clearing.

Zetsu made himself known rather quickly as he let out a lightning blast that almost got Shino in the chest, instead paralysing his arm. He saw Zetsu

"Aburame, I have the perfect defense. Even more so than the Jinchuuriki of the Sand. As soon as I touch plant life, I am bonded to it. Making myself withdraw or exude at will. I doubt even your clan has developed a way to separate living matter from plant matter." Mocked Zetsu

Shino said nothing, just waiting.

Zetsu wondered why.

Then he found out. Several legions of Kikai bugs had got next to Zetsu on his tree and were climbing up his plant parts. He was soon swarmed in the bugs but sunk into the tree to shake them off.

"That was just an insult to my skills, how could you think I would fall for that." Said Zetsu ignoring the blank look Shino gave him as he rose and fired more lightning.

"You didn't have to fall for it, my bugs informed me of your little trick."

'I took him as a ninja not a physicist though. He's not using chakra at all, that is just static electricity amplified by the hairs on his plant and carried on seeds he jettisons towards the opponent. Very ingenious but the Aburame's are scientists too.' Thought Shino

"Oh? Well SURPRISE!" yelled Zetsu as he sprung towards Shino with the trees branches giving him more thrust.

Before Shino could even react, he had already been caught in Zetsu's Venus-fly trap head, threatening to crush him while the two shinobi flew horizontally by the force of Zetsu's charge.

'Fortunately for me, this attack has 1 major weakness.' Shino thought, as calm as ever. He drew back his leg and kicked the plant shinobi in the face. The shock, more then the damage, caused his opponent to let go, allowing Shino to fight back. He quickly drew back his fist, using his bugs to harden his fists, and slammed it into Zetsu's stomach. The plant-shinobi countered his fist by kneeing him in the stomach. Their fight continued for a few seconds like that, Shino using his bugs to increase his power while Zetsu still had the advantage in speed, all the while still flying horizontally towards the edge of the forest.

Then, without warning, Zetsu grabbed another tree branch, escaping the battle for a second, and used it as a axel to spin around. With the added momentum to his kick, Zetsu send his opponent flying back some more, right into the wall of one of the buildings. It was then that Zetsu actually had the time to notice their new surroundings. Their short horizontal fight had moved them to the forest edge and near civilisation.

Shino took a few minutes to come to his senses but when he did come back, he stood stoically and looked around. Tiles, plastic, plaster, from that small list Shino could tell he had landed in someone's bathroom. And from the disgruntled scream that occurred, he assumed that the bathroom was occupied at the same time.

Shino looked at the source of the scream to find a girl not much younger than he was, couldn't have been more than 19, dripping wet from a shower with a towel dropped on the floor forgotten with her long brown hair barely covering her breasts. The only thing she had failed cover proved that she dyed her hair. She was a natural blond.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BATHROOM YOU PERV!" yelled the girl

Shino stood up straight and slowly walked downstairs with the banshee screaming at him all the way, forcing him to even use Kawarimi at times to dodge the projectiles but he didn't run. Just walked.

He looked around as if in thought while the girl still screamed at him. Then it hit him like a kunai. He ran into one of the rooms to a yell of "GET OUT OF THERE", grabbed something and jumped out of the window leaving the girl yelling out the window without he top on still, then she went indoors screaming more.

Shino jumped back into the forest and sent out some Kikai sensing bugs. They returned back to him almost immediately when he told them to find Zetsu, it then clicked in his head.

'He's underneath me!'

As if on cue, Zetsu emerged from the tree behind Shino and latched onto him with his giant Venus flytrap head, this time making sure that he couldn't kick him in the head again. Shino struggled against the mouth, banging his hands against the top of the mouth. Zetsu finally let go when Shino sent a load of Kikai bugs into him making him splutter and cough.

"That was low Aburame, but a little lightning will make you pay," cackled Zetsu as he moved into the stance he used to attack with his lightning. The only thing odd was that it didn't happen. "What the hell?!"

Using Zetsu's distraction to his advantage, Shino sent a variety of Shuriken and Kunai at him pinning him to an apple tree behind him.

"You were distracted Zetsu and now you will pay." Said Shino as he sent several waves of Kikai bugs at the half human, half plant.

Zetsu looked at the Mushi-Nin with an odd glare.

'This Aburame is definitely smarter than most. He managed to stop my lightning but how? Kami… I swore I'd only use this in emergencies but if I don't then I may be killed here.'

Zetsu summoned a few vines out of his body and released his hand from the Kunai holding him there. He put his ring to his lips and kissed it.

Energy suddenly erupted from the plant thing as his chakra spiked higher than a giant's volleyball. Shino immediately called off his bugs but it was too late for some as they became charcoal. Zetsu started grinning wildly as he freed himself from the weapons as if they were toys, smashing them into pieces as he closed his hand into a fist.

"You are not worth the effort of killing Aburame, I shall make you suffer under the reign of the Akatsuki" rasped Zetsu as his stance became a lot more loose, he could go into a defensive, offensive or assassination technique very easily. He was now a hybrid of fighters.

He charged at Shino who put up a standard block as he approached but Zetsu curved around the block and kicked him in the stomach like it was nothing.

'This power… it is far greater then what I could ever manage.' Thought Shino 'one, two, three, FOUR! He has the Yonbi inside him. Just great, a multi elemental demon with someone who was already unpredictable'

Zetsu continued to pummel him through several trees so fast it might put Lee to shame. Giving Shino a finishing kick to the jaw, Zetsu found he had forced Shino into a branch on the tree above him. Seeing his chance, Zetsu jumped up and grabbed Shino's ankle. Shino was too dazed at this point so he couldn't really do much about it, Zetsu had bound his body to the inside of the tree, he was a part of the tree now.

Shino was seeing red. The red of his blood as it dripped over his eyes. He had a large gash across his forehead and several broken bones and teeth.

'I cant take much more of this, one more big attack like that and I'm finished'

"HEY, BIG CACTUS THINGY, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" came a squeaky yell

"What the…" muttered Zetsu

'Not her again' thought Shino

"I WANT TO KILL THAT BASTARD FOR LOOKING AT ME NAKED" came the yell as the girl came into view.

She had scrambled up the tree resulting in various cuts on her chest and legs as well as sweat and bark marks on her skin. Fury in her eyes and naked as a jaybird are not the best way to be but she didn't care because she had her frying pan. She threw said frying pan at Shino's head poking above the branch and hit him dead on.

Zetsu looked around at who threw the frying pan and saw the twin peaks of pleasure pointing straight at him. The nosebleed that followed was not a normal nosebleed, it was literally explosive as his nose went from whole to Rest In Pieces in less than a second. His body fell to the floor, convulsing and twitching.

"YOU….YOU GOT A NOSEBLEED FROM MY BODY. YOU PERVERT! YOU WILL DIE AT THE HANDS OF NANAKO OTSUME!" Yelled Nanako as she drew a large comedy mallet from god knows where and rose it above her head. She slammed it down, splintering Zetsu's head and letting the blood fly all around the forest they were in.

"And now for you…." Said Nanako oh so ominously as Shino physically shivered and blacked out, seeing only two figures in black cloaks appear and restrain the girl before he completely blacked out.

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Naruto got hit with another blow to the stomach as he recoiled from the last one. Hiketsu had just gained another 4 tails of power as he punched Naruto the last time and he saw the difference.

"So…. Zetsu was taken down. It seems I really underestimated your ninja."

Naruto looked up from his position on the floor, blood dripping from his mouth.

"The ninja of Konoha will never give up, we all have the Will Of Fire inside of us!" yelled Naruto as Hiketsu smashed his foot into the back of his head

"QUIET FOOL!"

Naruto growled lowly as a small layer of red appeared around his body.

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A/N: What do you think guys? Leave your reviews and tell me. See you next chapter and don't forget to check out Lucifer-Allheart's stories. His best are Triple Identity and Naruto: Arashiodori. Enjoy them too.