Both Team Eight and Team Ten arrive at the barracks just in time for the Jonin exam
A/N – Missed me? I know I did. I missed writing this fic, but somewhere along the road, university happened. And I apologize. So here is what might be the last chapter of the story. I enjoyed writing this very much, and I thank everyone who have followed the story, and waited patiently for the concluding chapter.
Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto, or any of its original characters and plots.
--
The Aburame clan is notorious for their use of bugs as weapons in combat. They have a symbiotic relationship with their destruction bugs, also known as kikai, where the shinobi provides nourishment to the kikai in the form of his or her own chakra, and the kikai serve as tools of war in return. This give and take relationship between organisms result in what is arguably the most formidable and fearsome family in all of Konoha.
- Yondaime's Guide to famous clans of Konoha
--
Both Team Eight and Team Ten arrive at the barracks just in time for the Jonin exam. Among us are a handful of other ninja units from other villages, notably the Sand. There seems to have been a renaissance in talent ever since Gaara became the Kazekage. Thinking of him now reminds me of how much I want to become a strong ninja as well, and to succeed my clan with the greatest of strength and honour. He reminds me that I must protect others that are close to me, particularly those who are with me right now.
Ino stands in front of me as she inspects a pile of brochures at a table set up at the entrance to the examination buildings. She begins to peruse through one of them.
"What are you looking at?" I ask her.
"Oh. It's an information booklet regarding the exam. I want to see if they will be doing any written component."
She seems nervous about the written exam. She was never the academic type of student, the kind who had a knack for theoretical and rhetoric when it came to the shinobi arts. She would always rely on Shikamaru to push her to her mental limits, but having studied with me for the past while, I doubt that she has the same confidence. Don't get me wrong, I consider myself a pretty learned person, but compared to Shikamaru, I don't think I'll ever assure Ino the same way he could.
We continue to converse about the written exam, trying to give pointers and such to each other. The others take notice of our isolated banter, and are quick to get our attention.
"What the heck are you guys talking about?" asks Kiba.
"The written exam," I respond.
Kiba and Shikamaru laugh. Akamaru barks agreeably, as if he were laughing as well.
"Didn't Kurenai-sensei tell you?" Shikamaru says, "We're not taking a written exam this time around."
WHAT?
"WHAT?" Ino exclaims with an irritated tone.
"Y-yeah." Hinata interjects, "While you both were off on your bug mission, Asuma-sensei told both our groups that the exam was going to be a tournament format."
I snap. "WHAT? Kurenai-sensei! Why didn't you tell me?"
Kurenai begins to sweat. "Uh, I guess we forgot?"
Ino sighs, but shrugs her anger off.
"That's ok, Shino. At least we don't have to worry about it, right?"
"I suppose."
As the group settles down on a bench outside the main examination building, I stroll away to take a breather. I wander around for a bit, until I run into Shikamaru, lazily sitting on the grass by himself, looking up at the clouds.
"Yo. Sit down, Shino."
Shikamaru's tone of voice sounds a bit more serious, even though he's usually quite relaxed in his speech. It's almost as if he anticipated my arrival. Reluctantly, I sit down beside him, leaving a subtle distance between the both of us.
"That Ino is a strange girl," He starts, "isn't she."
I nod.
"And you can say that she's quite the girly-girl, am I right?"
I shake my head in agreement, trying to hide inside my coat, behind my sunglasses. It figures that I should be having this sort of conversation with Ino's father, but with the laid-back nature that he has, I suppose it's more appropriate that it comes from Shikamaru instead.
"I'll tell you this, Shino. But don't tell Ino that I told you, because that would be troublesome."
I stare cautiously at him, awaiting the next words that would come out of his mouth.
"She's obviously crazy for you, but these exams mean more to her than anything. I'm sure they mean a lot to you too. So don't forget that. It's best that you wait until after the exams to make your move."
I remain silent, and a few seconds pass with an awkward air between the both of us. For some reason, after having hearing him say that, I'm even more motivated to confess to her than before. But at the same time, I'm reminded of what I came here to do, and I've become equally motivated to pass these exams.
"Thanks, Shikamaru." I nod at him.
He nods back, and signals me to go away. He probably likes being alone like this. He tells me to come back and go get him when the exams start.
I walk back to the group with a bit of excitement in my blood, and the kikai inside are following suit. The prospect of an opponent's chakra always gets them excited.
I see Kiba by himself, taking Akamaru for a walk before the tournament starts. I wave to him from a distance, and approach him. They seem to have stopped in front of one of the sidewalls of the tournament arena. He has a weird grin on his face as he reads a bulletin board with a bunch of papers tacked onto it.
"Shino, the tourney's about to start, eh!"
I nod as I continue to approach, and then stop right in front of them. He continues to gesture towards the bulletin board.
"I think you should look at this," Kiba says, directing my attention to one of the papers.
"It's the schedule of matches that will take place today," he explains, "and you're the first one to fight."
Initially, I beam with excitement at Kiba's words, but upon closer inspection of what he was pointing at, I can see why he was so amused.
Round 1. Aburame Shino versus Yamanaka Ino.
"So you two lovebirds are going to fight eh?" He grins idiotically, now aware that I have discovered the identity of my opponent.
In unconvincing denial, I try to reason with him that there's nothing going on between Ino and I, or at least nothing official. He laughs heartily with Akamaru, and assures me that things will work out.
"Don't sweat it, bug-boy. You're going to kick her ass. She's a girl after all."
I know that Kiba didn't mean to be sexist with that remark, and that he was just trying to calm me down. I don't know how, but it works. I don't really care, that's how it is between friends.
We continue to have our "best friend banter" as we enter the building. A huge field lies in the middle of the arena, surrounded by a multitude of seats, occupied by spectators and other tournament participants. The others are already seated among but Ino is not with them. The tournament has not yet officially started, so she must be in one of the hallways leading to the main floor.
I find her in the main lobby connecting to the centre stage. The officials and referees are with her, talking to her. As I approach them, they leave Ino and I in the lobby, making their way outside.
"So I guess we're going first then." She says.
"Yeah."
She turns quiet, staring off into the distance, in the direction of the main tournament staging area, where the officials and announcers are giving their opening speeches.
"Look, Ino," I say, deciding to go against Shikamaru's advice, "I just want to-"
"Yeah, I know." She says.
It suddenly feels really awkward. This is perhaps the first time I've been in a situation like this.
"So what, then?" I ask.
"Well," she says, smiling at me with her trademark charm, "let's wait until after I beat you. Then you can take me out to a bar afterwards! I'm in the mood for some alcohol again."
For a conversation that's supposed to be the definitive moment in our potential relationship, I find it to be a little too anti-climactic for my taste. Where's the drama? Where's the adrenaline?
All I can muster at the moment is a simple "Hn."
An official enters the room, signalling us to follow him. We walk together side by side down the narrow hall behind him. I put my hand around Ino's back, and give her a quick squeeze with my arm.
"When I beat you, Ino, drinks will be on me."
--
So here I stand in the middle of the arena. In front of me is the woman I must defeat in order to become a Jonin. She stares back at me with intent eyes. It is her defining moment as well. She must defeat me to fulfill her dream of being a superior kunoichi.
We stand in the way of each other's goals, yet we fight for each other.
I turn to my left and nod to the referee. A ninja from the sand village, he adjusts his cloak as he raises his arm to signal the beginning of the match.
"Combatants, are you both ready?"
I nod.
"Hell yes." Ino smirks, drawing her hand closer behind her back, perhaps to a pouch of concealed weapons. I follow the same.
"Begin!"
Without hesitation, I whip my hand into my cloak's breast pocket and grip the first thing that I can find. I feel the shape of a shuriken, and grasp it swiftly. With short motion I throw towards Ino, along with a kunai thrown with my other hand. They both dart towards my opponent.
Both collide with Ino's own projectiles, and they fall to the floor. Ino draws another kunai as soon as they hit, and runs to my right as she launches it towards the floor space in front of me, to prevent me from pursuing her.
I can't let her get away. I run towards her, attempting to sidestep the kunai, but notice the tag trailing behind it. I can't tell if it was an explosive device, but I can't take the gamble. I roll away from the blade as it hisses contacting the ground. It doesn't explode, but smoke begins to fill the floor around me. I get up, and take a defensive stance.
Squad 1, radar!
A small group of kikai hover outside of my body, and spread out in all directions. They quickly reach the walls of the arena and relay a signal back to me. The signal is weaker from the back, and I roll left in anticipation of Ino's attack. My dodge is timely, as her flying kick grazes me, and sends her rolling slightly behind me.
I turn around to face her, but the smoke from the previous tag completely envelops her from view.
Shit, I need to get out of here. I sprint out of the smokescreen as fast as I could, calling back the radar squad.
As I emerge from the cloud, the recon group arrive in reduced numbers. The others must have been slain by Ino. She understands my battle strategy well. Continuing to evade the smokescreen, I remain in an alert defensive stance, trying to anticipate Ino's next attack. I can't lose all my bugs to her, but I'm confident that she can't kill every single one.
Another tagged Kunai comes at me from my left. She's fast!
Squad 2, clone!
I retreat to a safer distance, watching my doppelganger take the hit. I get out of the way in time, but she probably knows right away that it's a clone. I order the squad to retreat back to me before the smokescreen is set off from the kunai.
It explodes instead. Shit! That squad is gone. I can't waste my troops like that. I roll away in recoil of the explosion, but the impact should have cleared the previously laid smokescreen. She must be hiding there! I throw a kunai at the cloud.
She nimbly jumps out of the way, and out of the smokescreen. She lands in a battle stance about a few yards in front of me. She catches her breath while her eyes remain fixated at my form on the floor. I get up quickly back into stance.
A good chunk of the stage is whittled into debris from the explosion. There's less room to manoeuvre, which is to my disadvantage. I'm going to have to stay away from her as much as I can, while I can find an opening to spring my trap.
"Ino," I say, "you are more skilled than you give yourself credit for."
She darts towards me with her right hand, with incredible speed. "Save your speech until after I beat you!"
I intercept with a rising right block. I quickly attempt to plant a female onto her hand. She withdraws her punch quickly, anticipating my plan. She comes in with another flurry of jabs and low kicks, and I match them with my own blocks.
I ward her off with a timely shove to her midsection. She stumbles back slightly, but readies into another stance. There! She's positioned perfectly for my assault!
Squad 3, intercept!
A modestly sized group emerge from the debris to her left and advance on her personal space. She panics and retreats with a series of back flips. She lands with kunai in her hand, and begins to assault the squad, landing successive blows without getting hit.
Squads 4-6, intercept! Squads 7-10, position around her!
About a third of my reserves have been withdrawn from within me. A gourd would have helped me with more insects, but my agility wouldn't be good enough to keep up with her movements. I'm going to have to make do with what I have for now. I have to make every soldier count.
Now she's on the defensive, and trying to fight her way through the initial rush, and successfully defeats squads 3 and 4. 5 and 6 come in from her side and above her. She won't survive the harassment much longer; she's going to have let them make contact.
Her movements are graceful, her strikes deadly. She musters squad 5, and struggles with 6. 7-10 are set in place for my next attack. Now's the time to finish this match.
Squads 7-10, surround!
Ino becomes engulfed by a giant black cloud of bugs, and with squad 6 taken care of, is now in a defenceless position. It ends now!
I perform the seals. Horse. Ram. Monkey.
"Secret Technique: Insect Globe!"
The cloud bunches closer towards Ino and begin to cover every part of her body. The excited hiss of my army drowns out faint noises of her struggling and gasping for air. With my signal, I can order them to consume enough chakra to disable her, but not kill her.
"Consume."
Ino drops her stance, struggling to fend off attempts to feed into her chakra. She tightens up her body, and reaches into her pouch. She removes a capsule from her pouch, and launches it down onto the underneath her. The capsule shatters, releasing a lightly coloured gas around her. Ino's body relaxes, and my bugs begin to crumble off of her body as if she were a snake shedding skin.
Just like that, my initial wave of attack is literally repelled. Ino brushes herself off, and heals off various wounds inflicted by the previous assault.
"Dammit, Shino." Ino coughs. "You're more dangerous than I gave you credit for."
Shocked by her statement, I find great difficulty evoking a response. She was creative enough to douse herself in a poison cloud just to ward off my attack. We continue to stare each other down, trying to figure out the next steps in our respective battle strategies.
Ino's too weak to mount a serious offensive, but she's still a superior close-combat fighter, and I won't be able to do any damage up close without using my bugs. If she's using the konoha standard pouch set, then she should only have 2 poison bombs left, which is more than enough to fend off my next two attacks. If I try to attack her cautiously, then I can order the bugs to retreat when she uses her bombs. They won't all survive, but it will ensure that I conserve as much as possible. If she uses her bombs on the offence, she will definitely take the advantage and defeat me easily.
I simply don't have enough reinforcements; I'm going to have to use up chakra to summon more bugs.
Squads 11-12, protect!
I put up a minor shield as I begin to form seals.
Rat. Ox. Hare. Horse. Horse. Rat.
"Secret Technique: Insect Environment Summon!"
Chakra flows fast throughout my body, and is absorbed into squad 13. They withdraw from my body, and hover above the stage for a few moments until they fly away from the stadium.
11 and 12 fly out towards Ino and mount an offensive. Hopefully, they'll buy time as I get recruit more guys to work with.
Ino pulls out a pair of brass knuckles and begins to form seals of her own, and she chants her technique.
"Secret Technique: Wind Infusion!"
A large amount of chakra begins to flow through her brass knuckles, and surround it, forming a sword-like shape around Ino's left and right hand. She charges towards the bugs and begin to slice gracefully through both of them. She downs them all while maintaining her momentum. She continues to plow through them, and charges right at me afterwards!
Shit!
I jump out of her way, and she keeps going in her trajectory, hitting a pillar on one corner of the stage. It gets decimated instantly.
Shit.
She turns around and charges at me again. I send out consecutive waves of squads to slow her down, but she slices through them all effortlessly. She slows down just enough, however, for me to keep a respectable distance. This keeps up for a few minutes, but I soon run out of bugs, and am in a desperate position. She lunges at me, and dodge her attack. I roll onto the floor, and instantly get back up to a defensive stance. She recovers from her miss, and readies another attack. Our eyes meet again, and I can sense ruthlessness in her that I've never seen before. She looks like she is seriously going to kill me.
"Shino," Ino says, smirking. "Remember how you once said that you should save your trump card for last? Well, I'm going to use mine before you get a chance to use yours."
With barely any of my reserves left (both bug and chakra), and with Ino at the brink of exhaustion using what appears to be her trump card, I am in a position of defeat. She begins to charge, and I only have enough energy left to make one final dodge. I experience this final exchange as it were in slow motion.
She inches closer and closer to me. I close my eyes and anticipate the moment to move away.
I feel sweat running down my back. I feel something land on my shoulder.
I look to my side, and a familiar form appears before me. Another one appears on my other shoulder. The answers to my prayer arrive at the most convenient time. As she draws past the point of no return, I make my final decision to react before she commits to another move.
I roll into her.
She is caught off-guard by my sudden movement, and our bodies impact with each other with incredible force. It doesn't hurt much from my vantage point, but the wind is knocked out of me. Ino falls over me with great velocity, and smashes into the floor, losing grip of her brass knuckles. She lays a short distance away from me, disarmed from her chakra blades. With the next move, I can end the match. Still doubled on the floor, I make my seals.
Dog. Boar. Monkey. Dog.
"Secret Technique: Pheromone Sedation."
The saffron-coloured bugs, still on my shoulder hover above the bodies of Ino and I, and perform an all-too-similar act of spraying over the both of us. In our weakened state, the full effects of the attack take hold. I begin to feel a familiar fuzzy sensation. However, I can't move anymore. Is this it? Is this the end of my journey to being the great successor to the Aburame clan? I stare across the floor at Ino, belly up a few feet away. She lazily shakes her head, and slowly brings herself up into a sitting position. Having used those chakra knives must have drained most of her chakra as well.
Disoriented, she stands up. Ino begins to stumble towards my immobile body. She can still land a finishing blow if she has enough energy left in her. She groggily looks down at me, and collapses down to her hands and knees. The arena is dead silent. She crawls towards me, and brings her face toward mine.
"Great match, Shino."
She kisses me on the lips, and passes out. I black out shortly after.
I guess we'll be splitting the drinks afterwards.
--
A/N - Well, there you have it. Symbiosis is finished! For sure though, I'll officially finish the story with an epilogue that will formally end the fic. Again, thanks a bunch for reading! Hope to see you around!