~Scroll 30~
"Uhhh..." Hayate coughted, "All right, everyone. It's time for the second match of the prelims to begin!"
The Oto-Nin stared at his opponent with both of his arms wrapped in bandages and in a sling.
"It's that Sound ninja..." Sakura whispered, causing Naruto to look at her curiously.
Eh... yeah... Shisui winced, Sasuke kind of broke both his arms.
Blue eyes grew wide. If that was true then how could it be possible for the ninja to continue to fight.
"I hope Shino's up to this..." The blonde heard Hinata whisper.
"He's pretty tough." Kiba replied, "Out of all the people here, he's the only one I wouldn't want to go up against..."
The comment made the petite Genin curious. What was it about the quiet youth with the cicada-based Heart Song that would unnerve the Inu?
He's an Aburame... Shisui commented, That Sound Nin already lost, and he doesn't know it...
Before Naruto could ask his ghostly companion further, Hayate's voice echoed throughout the arena.
"Okay... you may begin." The proctor commanded.
While all the applicants were focused on the fight, none - save for Dosu - noticed one of the Jounin-sensei had disappeared.
"If you go through with this," Shino's soft voice carried throughout the arena, "you'll get hurt so badly you'll never be the same. Walk away... while you can."
Zaku's left arm twitched as it slipped out of its sling.
"Hah." The Oto shinobi cackled "Looks like this arm still has some life left in it."
The dark-haired Sound lowered his stance as he darkly grinned at his opponent.
"And I'm betting I can take you with one hand tied... so to speak."
Zaku then charged.
Shino remained calm and still.
Reflexively Shino's right arm blocked the Sound's attack, surprising the Oto at the teen's speed and reflex.
"It'll take more than one arm to beat me!" The quiet teen casually stated. It was not a boast but a fact.
"Just shut up!" Zaku snarled then sneered, "See how you like... this!"
Shino blinked behind his dark glasses when he saw a hole in the Oto's palm and heard the sound of the wind.
"Zankuha!" Zaku crowed, "The Blast that Slices the Air!"
Shino's body went sailing across the ground, startling his teammates when the Aburame came to a stop.
"Hah!" The Sound Nin tauntingly laughed, ignoring his throbbing arm, "On your feet, loser!"
His laugh stopped. He watched in surprise as the teen actually got back up to his feet. Zaku's taunt was not a literal command, and he could not suppress a sense of apprehensive gripping hold of him. The Konoha teen just stood before Zaku as if he had not been attacked by the other. While watching the younger Genin warily, the Oto shinobi noticed something on the teen's face. At first, Zaku thought it was blood, but the flow was all wrong. Wh-what... the...?! The Sound Nin narrowed his eyes for a moment before shuddering in revulsion at the realization of what was moving over the teen's face.
B-BUGS?! Zaku shivered, They're swarming out through his skin... from inside his body!
Immediately the Oto snapped around when he heard the scurry sound of million little feet.
"Do you like my little friend?" Shino casually asked as he examined one of the bugs on his finger, "They're called Kikaichu - parasitic destruction beetles. They attack in swarms and devour the chakra of their prey."
Zaku snarled as he glared at the younger Genin.
"There's no way you'll survive an onslaught of this magnitude..." The young man plainly stated, "So... if you value your life, you'd better surrender. It's your only way out. Use your left-hand strike on me again... and they'll instantly be all over your unprotected back.
"Use your left-hand to strike against the Kikaichu swarm and your front will be open for my attack. You're finished either way. Unless, of course, you had the foresight to prepare a backup plan."
The Oto was seething in anger as he was consumed with a great sense of shame.
"Who do you think you're talking to?!" Zaku bellowed as he extended both arms, "You wanna see a backup plan?! How about this?!"
The only evidence that Shino was surprised was the furrowing of his brows. While in the distance, the teen heard his teammate shout in outrage at the deception.
"Take this!" The Oto shouted before a thick silence engulfed the arena.
Then in a blink of an eye, the arena was painted in bright red as the Oto's left arm suffered from a deep laceration just below the elbow. His right arm, however, was cleanly severed just below the elbow.
The balcony echoed in surprise and shock at the sight below. Coming out of the severed limp, a swarm of the Kikaichu scurried about.
"Just now," Shino calmly spoke, "while I distracted you with all the helpful advice, my little friends were making their quiet way to key points upon your body... creeping down the tunnels you blast your gale winds through. And that, my friend, is a true backup plan."
"Y-you!" Zaku shrieked as pain, fear and shame consumed him.
Without hesitation, the quiet teen backhanded his defeated opponent, who dropped with no fanfare.
Immediately Hayate appeared then slowly stood and announced the fight finished.
~o.O.o~
Up in the balcony, Naruto watched the quiet teen with a thoughtful and yet unsettling expression.
"That explains the cicada-like sound to his Heart Song." The blonde mumbled beneath his breath. The petite Genin shot his ghostly companion a look, hoping that Shisui would explain where the bugs had come from since the apparition had indicated that Shino would win the fight.
Konoha's legendary clan of Beetlemasters... The Uchiha began, for anyone born into the clan, a symbiotic partnership is formed at the moment of birth. The Kikaichu uses the host as a nest and feed on the host's abundance of chakra, and in turn, the host can use the Kikaichu to fight their battles and bend the beetles to the host's will...
Naruto shivered a bit at the thought of having bugs inside one's body.
"But why did his arms exploded?!" The blonde whispered as he watched the Aburame walk away from the arena.
It looked like the Aburame directed the beetles to plug-up the exit holes in the Oto's hand. When the Oto tried to unleash his attack, the pressure built up inside his arm with nowhere to go, until... like a gun barrel when the path of a bullet is blocked, the Oto blew his own arm off.
"The winner is Aburame Shino!" Hayate announced, "So... uhhh... *koff* we're moving on to the next match."