"Aburame? But, why doesn't he have the same last name as you, Koda?" Jiro asked.
"That's our dad's last name. They separated when we were younger and Shino went with him while I stayed with my mother. But we still talk through letters and see each other on breaks and holidays. Shino took dad's last name to better fit with his clan." Koda explained.
"Clan?" Ashido asked.
"Th-they live in a traditional Japanese village called Konoha. They have a lot of the same technology we have and everything, but still use ancient weapons like swords and kunai. And they have ninjas there instead of heroes and live in big family clan units." The Anivoice-user elaborated.
"Fascinating. I believe I would very much like to visit this place one day." Tokoyami said, obviously a big fan of ninjas and ancient weapons like swords.
"Heck yeah! I bet they have all kinds of awesome secret ninja arts!" Tokoyami cheered.
"Yeah. And my dad's Clan specializes in using insects to help them in combat." Koda confirmed.
"How useful could a bunch of bugs be?" Bakugo scoffed.
"Insects are surprisingly talented and resilient creatures, Young Bakugo. Underestimating them would be a MASSIVE mistake. As I'm sure you'll soon see." All Might told the explosive boy.
A young man dressed in ninja-like clothing stood on a beach, looking out to sea nervously at a number of warships, before hearing something. "There's no need to worry about that." A quiet voice rang out as someone emerged from the water, fully dressed in similar ninja-like clothing with a jacket that covered up the bottom half of his face and goggles over his eyes.
"Whoa. That's Shino, I'm guessing? He looks cool!" Ashido exclaimed.
"Y-yeah, that's him. He learned to look good pretty early on." Koda confirmed, remembering when his mother gave his brother those shades to make his large eyes less obvious. The fashion sense was all him, though.
"Not exactly as magnifique as I, it must be conceded he pulls off that look well. It supplies him an air of mystery. As one would expect from a ninja." Aoyama admitted.
"He talks a bit more than you, but that was barely a whisper. Being quiet must run in your family." Hagakure said teasingly.
"Are you all somehow missing all those warships in the background?" Aizawa asked in annoyance, sighing as he wondered how his students could miss something like that.
"Oh, yeah. You're right, Mr. Aizawa! What's going on?" Uraraka asked nervously.
"They are enemy ninjas from the Land of Sky, those ships are their base just outside of Konoha. They attacked the village with paragliders flying in, shooting people with kunai launchers and dropping bombs to get revenge on the Leaf village for a devastating attack on them during a War fifteen years ago. So, it would be like if Japan attacked America for Hiroshima and Nagasaki after all these years." Sandra explained.
"Atrocious! It's understandable they'd have feelings of anger and resentment for travesties of the past, but this is an unprovoked act of terrorism, attacking innocent civilians! Unforgivable!" Iida snapped, doing his robotic chopping.
"And why NOW after a decade and a half of peace? They're just throwing that time of no conflict away for vengeance. It's not worth it." Asui said.
"Anger can stew for a long time before someone finally acts on it, children. You never know what might set someone over the edge." Midnight told them.
"Why, you ask? Simple... Because there's no way I'd fail." Shino declared as the warships could be seen in the distance behind them, clearly aiming to attack their shores.
However, the ships suddenly began to fall apart, with the crew of the ship falling from it and plummeting into the water below as the ships appeared to be getting eaten away at by something, to the point they even began to split completely in half and the front began to crumble away.
"Whoa?! What's going on with the ships?!" Mineta asked.
"They're breaking apart! Whatever Shino did, it was super effective!" Kaminari exclaimed.
"He's not over there fighting, so it must have been a sneak attack. Not manly, bro!" Kirishima complained.
"Well, they ARE ninjas, after all. Sneak attacks are their main deal. Not to mention, if he was the only member of this assault team, a direct attack on his own would be suicide." All Might told the Hardening Quirk-user.
"He fights with bugs, so I wonder what he could've done? Perhaps caused explosions through electrical failure by having the bugs chew through the wiring or..." Yaoyorozu pondered, before everyone was shocked when they saw what was happening to the ships.
"It almost looks like they're being hit with Shigaraki's decay Quirk. So that must mean... The insects are eating away at the whole ship!?" Midoriya realized in shock and slight horror.
Some of the crew of the ship ran over to the erosion happening on their ship and discovering what the cause was. "Bugs?!" He asked in disbelief as, indeed, it was shown that hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of tiny insects were eating away at the ship and causing them to become so weak they could no longer hold themselves together, crumbling to pieces and dooming the crew to a watery grave. [1]
"N-no way! Those are giant steel ships! No way bugs could eat through that!" Sero exclaimed.
"What he said! That's bullshit!" Bakugo snapped.
"Actually, no. There's a couple bugs that can eat through metal. Like pill bugs. A lot of people actually say those are great for gardens because they eat heavy metal deposits in the soil." Ojiro told him.
"Such power for such tiny creatures." Tokoyami said, impressed.
"The little guys just got my seal of approval!" Dark Shadow declared.
"Like All Might said, it's a big mistake to underestimate insects. You know what they say, big things come in small packages." Shoji said.
"This is NOT helping my nightmares." Present Mic squeaked out, remembering when he lost to Koda and Jiro, now imagining it was these bugs instead of the various selection Koda sicced on him, these new bugs reducing him to a skeleton in mere moments.
"That was awesome! He took those ships down like nothing!" Uraraka cheered.
"I am a bit disturbed those men undoubtedly lost their lives falling into the water in such a manner, but they did essentially commit an act of water and were likely preparing future strikes, considering those ships were meant as a base. They had to respond in kind to ensure their people's safety." Iida said.
"Still, it was pretty cool he brought down those huge boats with just a bunch of bugs." Asui admitted.
"Like Ojiro said, the pillbug is the best known insect for eating metal, but there's also the lead-cable borer, or short-circuit beetle. Those bugs did look more like beetles, but even then there's over 700 species of 'borer' beetles, so singling out which exactly he uses would be next to impossible without directly asking him, so..." Midoriya went into a classic mutter storm, before a light tap on the top of his head from Midnight's crop snapped him back to reality.
"I'm kind of amazed he can coordinate with his bugs to pull something like that off, but it does make sense, if he's got a Quirk like Koda's." Yaoyorozu said.
"They're pretty cool, but I wanna see how they do in an actual fight! And what Shino himself is capable of! Let's go!" Kirishima declared.
"Very well, then. Here's a pretty good example of Shino fighting MOSTLY on his own." The hostess obliged.
Shino was facing off against another boy with one arm in a sling. "Very good. Now, if you're both ready, then we'll begin." The referee instructed as he backed away to a safe distance.
"They're letting him compete with a broken arm? That hardly seems fair." Midnight said.
"Riiiiiight, because you guys stopped the fight with Todoroki as soon as Midoriya broke a finger. Or when he almost MELTED Tetsutetsu." The celestial told them pointed out. "Oh, by the way, kid's name is Zaku, for future reference." She added.
"She's not wrong. You guys let him keep going even after he broke all the fingers on one hand. Sometimes multiple times." Todoroki admitted, deciding to leave out the mention of Tetsutetsu.
"But, in response to the actual question: yeah, this tournament got hardcore. Before one of the fights, one kid LITERALLY told everyone he would kill his opponent, so now was their only chance to stop him... and they just stood there." The Empress explained. [2]
"That's absurd! The instructors of this tournament should be ashamed of themselves!" Iida snapped.
"Well, they are ninjas, not heroes. Ninjas do some dirty stuff sometimes." Sato said.
"That's pretty messed up... but also totally punk rock." Jiro admitted.
"If you fight me, you won't be able to recover. Forfeit and withdraw!" Shino warned.
"Whoa, Koda. Your brother's intense." Uraraka said, a bit nervously.
"Y-yeah, he can be pretty harsh with his words to get what he wants." Koda agreed, equally nervous at hearing his brother say something so threatening.
"It's just good advice. Ninjas live dangerous lives, just like heroes. He'll likely run into people who will say very similar things in his life. And they'll mean them. Or they might not even give him a warning. If he can't handle that, it's better for him to give up now than to get into the big leagues and bite off more than he can chew." Aizawa told them.
"We should REALLY get him to talk to a therapist about Shirakumo." Present Mic quietly told Midnight, who nodded.
For a few moments, Shino and Zaku simply stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move. But eventually, Zaku smirked at this. "Well, what do you know? I've got a little movement in one of 'em!" He declared, revealing his left arm could still move. He then took some strange crouched pose. "One arm is enough!" He declared, rushing towards Shino and throwing a haymaker with his good arm.
But Shino blocked it with little effort. "You couldn't beat me using BOTH your arms." He told the injured boy.
"Nice block! And he's holding it back like nothing!" Kaminari cheered.
"Yeah, but you gotta give that Zaku guy credit. Even with a broken arm, he's not giving up! What a man! He's just like you, Midoriya!" Kirishima cheered, causing Midoriya to blush a bit with a smile.
"Yeah, except he came into the fight broken, not getting broken in the fight." Asui said, causing the broccoli boy to deflate a bit.
"Still, the taunt is highly unnecessary. He's QUITE LITERALLY adding insult to injury." Yaoyorozu said disapprovingly.
Zaku growled at this. "Yeah, well I've got news for ya!" He declared angrily, at which point, the boy in shades then noticed his opponent's hand, which contained some form of nozzle in it, which began to release highly pressurized air. "Try this! Slicing Sound Wave!" The boy declared, unleashing an explosion of air that sent Shino tumbling across the ground.
"WHAT THE?!" All the students cried out at once.
"SHINO!" Koda shrieked in fear for his brother.
"That hole in his hand. That must be his Quirk. He used it to create a soundwave with great enough air pressure to make an explosion! The power that would take isn't EXTREMELY far off from my Texas Smash." All Might said in shock.
"Man. That might actually be better than my Quirk, since he doesn't need any device to plug earphone jacks into to use it." Jiro cursed, not liking when her Quirk feels less useful.
"I doubt it. The fact he got up close to use it for a cheap shot probably means it's too weak for long range attacks like yours. It's only gonna work if you're not ready for it. Don't sell yourself short, ears. And definitely don't prop that kid up too much." Bakugo told his girlfriend, who smiled at him.
Zaku smirked at this, confident he had one, but that confidence was immediately out the window as the smoke cleared to reveal Shino on his feet. But not just that, a strange scuffling noise was heard. "What? He asked, looking for the source of the sound, along with the spectators of the match. And Zaku was then unnerved when he noticed countless insects crawling all over Shino's face and emerging from inside his coat to crawl over his whole body.
"Well, your brother's definitely tough to get back up after a point-blank blast like that." Ashido told Koda, who nodded in surprise.
But then, several of them shrieked when they saw the bugs crawling all over Shino. "Mon Dieu! I understand he relies on these insects, but to allow them to have carte blanche on his body in such a manner... Horrifying! Absolutely no panache!" Aoyama exclaimed in horror.
"Yeah. If this were anyone else, it would be a horror movie." Shoji agreed.
"It's STILL a horror movie! Nobody should be covered in insects like that!" Mineta cried out, knowing it would take far less bugs than the number that were currently on Shino to COMPLETELY cover him.
Then, to make matters worse for Zaku, he heard the scuffling noise behind him, too- and much louder at that. And so he turned around to see an entire army of these bugs behind him, to the point it almost looked like the green stone floor they were on was completely black behind him as they continued to crawl even closer to him.
"Aaah! He's got a whole army of them!" Hagakure shrieked.
"So, they don't have to be ones that were crawling on him in order for him to control them." Sato realized, disturbed.
"Then why does he HAVE a bunch of them crawling all over him when he can just get them from anywhere?!" Sero asked in disgust.
"It's possible it's meant to be a form of distraction, you are so focused on the bugs on him, you don't realize the bugs sneaking up on you. It could also be an intimidation factor on TWO levels: first, you wouldn't want to touch someone covered in bugs and two, if they don't mind being covered in bugs, what could you do to bother them?" Midoriya theorized.
"War on the mind as well as the body." Todoroki realized.
Shino then lifted up his hand to reveal one of the bugs perched on his finger. "They're a rare species of parasitic beetle that attack their prey in a swarm, eating its Chakra." He explained, as the army continued to approach his opponent.
"Parasitic?! Why would he want those crawling all over him!?" Mineta shrieked.
"I-I mean, it definitely SOUNDS bad, but he's the one controlling them, so I guess it's okay?" Koda said, despite feeling equal levels of horror as Mineta.
"Chakra? What's that?" Uraraka asked.
"Well, a lot of martial arts and religions believe it to be energy centers in the body in the form of spinning wheels or disks of energy that correspond to major organs, nerve bundles, and areas of the body that affect emotional and physical well-being. So, in other words, it's like the life force of the body. But it's not a real, actual thing these bugs could eat!" Ojiro exclaimed.
"Actually, it is a real thing. There's all forms of life energy: Chakra, mana, ki, etc. and many people have learned how to channel it to gain powers greater than any Quirk. The people in power have just dismissed it or tried to cover it up. Because if Quirks caused chaos when they first appeared, imagine if people figured out there was a power ANYONE could have that make Quirks seem like toys in comparison." Sandra told them.
"This world of ours just keeps getting stranger." Aizawa groaned.
"An army of this size will suck you dry in less than a minute! Your only intelligent option is to forfeit the match. If you use your good arm against me, my friends will swarm you from behind. Conversely, if you use your good arm to keep THEM at bay, then you'll have ME on your blind side. Either way, your defeat will be certain. And unpleasant. It's wise to always have an ace in the hole." Shino declared, doing a ninja hand sign.
"A pincer attack. Genius. As he said, he can only deal with one or the other in this state. He has no options left." Tokoyami declared.
"Yeah. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Shino's got this!" Dark Shadow cheered.
"Maybe, but it's a huge mistake to let your guard down before the fight's over." Midnight told the students.
Zaku could only tremble in rage and growl at this. "That's it... That's never gonna happen again!" He declared, shouting in anger and aiming his good arm at Shino. "Now you've done it! Now you've made me MAD!" He screamed, pulling his bad arm from the sling and aiming it at the insect swarm, now having an option against the opponents on both sides.
"So, he was faking being hurt to make people go easy on him or think he wasn't a threat! That's a dirty trick!" Kirishima snapped.
"Preeeetty sure that's what ninjas are known for." Jiro pointed out.
"It may be unsportsmanlike, but it's not a terrible strategy. If you get opponents to let their guard down or go easy on you, it's easy to get one over on them." All Might admitted.
"The great Sun Tzu said it best, young listeners! All warfare is based on deception! Appear strong when you are weak and weak when you are strong!" Present Mic declared.
"I thought you would've learned that during your Work Study, shitty hair." Bakugo said rather harshly to Kirishima, having heard how a single thug got Kirishima to drop his guard multiple times, even after taking advantage of that lowered guard.
"Like you said yourself: always have an ace in the hole, RIGHT!?" Zaku declared. However, as he prepared to fire, air then began to burst out from around his elbows in all directions as if they were a machines suffering a critical failure and partially exploding or leaking fluid. "My arms! What happened?!" He asked in shock and horror, before looking down at his hands and finding several of Shino's bugs on them, even inside the holes in his hand.
"Oh, my god!" Several students cried out when they saw the air bursting out of Zaku's arms.
"That's GOT to hurt, ribbit..." Asui said, wincing a bit.
"But what happened?" Ashido wondered, before they all gasped when they saw the bugs coming out of the holes in Zaku's hands. "The bugs! They got to him!" She cried out.
"I suppose that is one of the main advantages of using insects. What they may lack in strength, they make up for in being difficult to detect." Iida noted.
Shino then zipped up behind him in an instant. "Earlier while I was distracting you with my helpful advice, I was also sending some of my little friends to plug up those bothersome wind holes in your hands. BOTH hands, just to be sure. You see, while an ace in the hole IS good, TWO aces are better." He declared.
"So, he's a strategist and a powerhouse with those insects. That's quite an impressive combo." Midnight said, impressed.
"Indeed. As Iida just stated, insects can be quite stealthy and difficult to notice if you're not paying attention to them. So, by keeping his focus on him, he took away Zaku's last advantage, in that he could've noticed the bugs if he was paying attention. He certainly isn't an opponent I'd want to go against." Yaoyorozu analyzed, while also hiding the fact she mainly didn't want to fight Shino because of his bugs.
"Aww, man. Another uber talented guy who keeps it cool. AND he has awesome one-liners! It's not fair!" Kaminari complained.
Zaku growled at this and tried to swing at Shino with his ruined arms, but Shino turned and swung his whole body while bringing his arm back for a powerful backfist that sent Zaku flying through the air, then crashing to and skidding across the ground.
"Just one hit. Guess Shino must be pretty strong." Shoji noted.
"And fast, too. We saw him zip up behind Zaku almost like a blur, so he could be as fast as Iida. And Zaku moved to attack first, but Shino hit him before Zaku could hit Shino, so he's fast in combat, too. With good reaction time." Ojiro added.
"Oh, man. We gotta stop seeing these guys with awesome powers! They're making us look bad! What if Aizawa tries to get them to replace us!" Mineta cried out.
"They'd still have to say yes, dude. And I kind of doubt Shino would be interested." Sato assured him.
"Alright, bug boy can hold his own. Even without the bugs." Bakugo said, acknowledging the ninja's abilities.
"And, even if they are pretty creepy, those bugs are really useful." Hagakure said.
"Indeed. If only they were butterflies with shiny scales instead of ghastly beetles." Aoyama agreed.
"Pretty sure that defeats the purpose of using them in the first place, since they're small and easy to miss, the OPPOSITE of those butterflies you want. Ribbit." Asui said.
"Yeah. And it's crazy that this Chakra stuff is actually real and bugs can eat it." Uraraka added.
"That's all well and good, but... where does he KEEP all those bugs? In some kind of special pocket or something? It looked like they were coming out of his clothes." Ashido asked.
"Oh. Well, I have the answer for that, but... You might not like it." The celestial told them.
Shino was laying in a hospital bed, being scanned by an X-Ray machine, while another machine monitored his heart rate and blood pressure.
"W-why was Shino in the hospital? Did something happen to him?" Koda asked worriedly.
"Uh... I THINK it was just a check-up after a mission? I don't know." Sandra admitted.
"You control and watch over the entire universe! Shouldn't you know this stuff?!" Sero questioned.
"Well, he keeps himself healthy, at least. Decent blood pressure and heart rate." Aizawa noted.
"What the hell does this have to do with the bugs?" Bakugo asked.
"Patience is a virtue~" The empress said in sing-song.
Meanwhile, the pink-haired woman observing the X-Ray over the computer was shocked and horrified at her discovery. It looked like the entirety of Shino's torso- bones, organs and tissue- were ALL full of holes or some other kind of black spots. Both of which were CATASTROPHIC for one's health. "Oh, my god! What is going on here?!" The girl asked in horror. [3]
"Oh, my god!" Was the reaction of most of the crowd, aghast at what they were seeing.
"Even my injuries can't compare to that." All Might said in horror.
"That's not... as bad as it looks... right?" Kaminari asked.
"The absolutely BEST case scenario I can think of is that he has spots of excess gas in those areas, or that he's been injured in a fight and those are only fractures that can be repaired. Worse case scenario... I'd say it's likely some advanced stage of cancer or pneumonia." Yaoyorozu said grimly.
"Shino..." Koda said, his eyes starting to fill with tears at the thought of his brother being deathly ill.
"But if his internal systems were that bad, no way his vitals would be as good as they are. Something's not adding up..." Midnight noted.
"There is no need to worry yourself." Shino assured her, causing her to look up from the screen to her patient. Then, all of the black spots moved away from Shino's vital areas and his insects began to emerge from his body in a sizeable cloud above him, much to Sakura's simultaneous relief and grievance.
No one had any words for this scene. Everyone's mouth simply hung open in shock as they witnessed all of these insects emerging from Shino's very body. "Well, it's a good thing there are no flies in here, or else you all would catch them with your mouths hung open like that." Sandra noted.
Despite being shocked- and disturbed- at where the bugs were, Koda couldn't help but sigh in relief that there was nothing wrong with his brother. "Thank goodness." He sighed.
Everyone else, however... "THE BUGS WERE INSIDE HIM?!" Hagakure exclaimed in disgust.
"That's so messed up! And disgusting!" Jiro gagged.
"And it CAN'T be very hygienic. Those bugs were crawling all over the ground." Iida noted.
"Well, they ARE parasites. Most of those are inside the body." Asui reminded them.
"That just makes it worse! What if they were feeding on HIS Chakra or whatever!?" Present Mic exclaimed.
"Well, they must have to get SOMETHING out of the relationship to work for him the way they do." Aizawa said.
"So, there's no way to cut him off from his supply of bugs, since they're inside him, awaiting his deployment. Between that and his own physical abilities, Shino seems invincible." Midoriya said.
"Oh, well... I wouldn't say that." Sandra told the broccoli boy, playing another clip.
Shino was stood around with a few of his friends and, presumably, his teacher, when he suddenly looked disturbed. "Strange..." He said in a unnerved tone.
Koda was surprised at this. "Huh. I think that's the first time I EVER heard Shino sound anything other than stoic and serious." He noted.
"I wonder what the problem could be." Shoji wondered.
"What's wrong?" The teacher asked.
"My insects aren't responding..." Shino said worriedly as he looked around, before gasping in fear as he witnessed something terrible- at least, for him. "Don't tell me..." He said as he witnessed swarms of his insects being eaten by giant venus flytraps.
"Huh. Take out the bugs to defeat him. It seems so obvious now." Yaoyorozu said.
"We were probably freaking out too much at the thought of being attacked by an army of insects." Jiro pointed out.
"So, the best option against him would be bringing some form of insecticide aerosol. Fire would also be a good option, since insects shrivel up and die when exposed to intense heat. But ice could also put them into hibernation, or water could be used to wash them away or drown them." Midoriya theorized ways to neutralize the bugs with a mutter storm, writing down the possibilities in his notebook..
"Those plants are insectivores!" He cried out in alarm as more swarms of his plants were eaten by more venus flytraps, a pitcher plant and another unidentifiable plant. "Kofura! Kobushi! Kamura! Kokoma! Kumuro!" He exclaimed in a panic, glancing around at all his doomed insects.
"Man, he's really freaking out over those bugs." Kaminari said.
"Well, they are his main method of fighting." Sato noted.
But then, they heard him calling out several names. "Wait, don't tell me..." Ojiro began.
"He names each and every insect!?" Iida exclaimed in disbelief.
"Aww, bro, that's so manly! They actually are his friends! Not just things he uses to fight and gets rid of later! And it's awesome that he can tell them apart!" Kirishima cheered.
"But, that just makes it sadder he's losing all those friends." Hagakure said.
"Hello, those friends are parasitic bugs!" Mineta cried out.
"Hey, calm down!" The teacher said, shaking him a bit.
"My poor insects! Half of them were eaten!" Shino said in horror.
"I never thought I'd feel bad for a bunch of bugs, but... I feel bad for those bugs." Uraraka said.
"Bugs have short-ass lives, anyhow! Most never live more than a year. He probably has to replace them all the time!" Bakugo said dismissively.
"Then feel bad for Young Shino. Looks like he's about to have a panic attack." All Might said worriedly.
A strange ostrich-like bird was seen laughing in the background. "You will not escape!" A boy with a bowl cut declared as he leapt up and chased after the bird.
"Why are they chasing an ostrich?" Present Mic asked as everyone looked to Sandra.
In response, the Celestial's glass like body went pure black instead of the beauty of space, before showing a scene of an animated anthropomorphic turtle and red panda looking up at something. "I don't know..." The turtle said, to which everyone facevaulted as Sandra's body showed the vastness of space yet again.
The teacher growled at this. "Hey!" He yelled, chasing after the boy and the bird.
"Come on, let's go, Shino!" Naruto told him.
"I can't go any further... that's because... I just can't risk losing any more of my insects!" He said frightfully.
"Poor Shino. They may be horrid insects, but he had a connection to them. So galant! And now he's devastated. So tragic." Aoyama said sympathetically.
"Don't just leave him behind like that! He's vulnerable without his insects!" Midnight cried out.
"And, let's not forget, they're in the middle of a forest, where they could easily get lost if separated. And they don't have the Wild Wild Pussycats to come get them." Aizawa added.
"Find a way around those plants and catch up." Naruto said, chasing after the others.
Some time later, it seemed like Shino had caught up with the group and was sending a still decently-sized swarm after the bird, stood atop a cliff.
"Alright! Looks like Shino's back in action! Can't keep a good guy down!" Sero cheered.
"And it looks like he's still got a good number of bugs left. He's got this!" Sato exclaimed.
But suddenly, an anteater walked up beside the bird and lapped up a good handful of bugs.
"OH, COME ON!" All of the students cried out.
"Yikes. This kid just has no luck." Present Mic said.
"What is that?!" Shino demanded in alarm.
"An anteater!?" Lee exclaimed.
"Oh, no! That thing's an insectivore! My insects..." Shino wept in despair at losing his tiny friends.
"That's just not fair..." Uraraka said sadly.
"My deepest condolences, Shoji." Iida declared with a mournful bow.
"They served you well. Just remember the good times." Yaoyorozu advised.
"Poor Shino. He looked so freaked out at his bugs getting eaten." Ashido said sympathetically.
"They were bugs..." Asui said bluntly as ever.
"Yeah, but they were his bugs. They were special to him. He even managed to name ALL of them. I can't even IMAGINE having to come up with that many names, let along recognizing which bug is which!" Uraraka said sadly.
"So, they really are his friends, not just tools for him to use. Oh, the sweet innocence of youth!" Midnight exclaimed.
"It's also a nice lesson, for as powerful as he is, he clearly relies too much on those insects, to the point they might be handicaps. And getting rid of them puts him at a huge disadvantage. Which would be pretty easy to figure out for his opponents." Aizawa said.
"Getting rid of the insects would be my first priority anyway, not just because they're his main attack method." Present Mic said.
"Alright, then. We've got ONE more clip before we're done here. Arguably, the most iconic fight Shino's ever been in." The celestial declared, starting the final video.
Shino was stood on the branch of a large tree in the forest, faced off against a slightly older boy in black garb and purple face markings. The older boy put his hands together. "Puppet Master Jutsu!" He declared, before unwrapping the large object he carried with him, moving his fingers, which were now connected to strange blue energy threads, bringing the spinning item to a stop to reveal a disturbing, multi-armed and three-eyed giant marionette.
"What the?! What's with that creepy puppet!? Who is that guy!?" Hagakure asked.
"His name is Kankuro. He and his siblings are from the allied Sand Village and were competing in the Chunin exams you saw Shino fighting Zaku in before." Sandra explained.
"Chunin exams, what are those?" Kirishima asked.
"It's the exam to become a Chunin, which is a rank of ninja. The ranks are Genin, Chunin, Jonin, Special Jonin, Anbu and Kage, who is the leader of that village, basically the strongest person there. To go up a rank, you have to be approved by the leader of your ninja squad, then you compete in the tournament and a small handful become Chunin. So, it's like your Provisional License exam. Except the Kage, which needs the rank to be bestowed upon you by the governing body of the village, then the Jonin get a vote on it. But anyway, back to the exam, it's held in a different allied village each time. This time it was the Leaf Village's turn." The Celestial elaborated.
"Oh, so this is the tournament? But, why aren't they fighting in that arena Shino fought Zaku in?" Uraraka asked.
"Because the exams were interrupted. The Sand Village was secretly there along with a villain named Orochimaru to assassinate the village leader, the Hokage and destroy the village." The empress informed them.
"So, they suffered a surprise villain attack from the inside, like us at the USJ." All Might said in horror.
"Yes, but Gaara, Kankuro's younger brother, who was the strongest of the siblings, was severely beaten in the Chunin exam, so they fled when the attack started. So, Shino and his friends went after them." Sandra finished the explanation.
"Well, now you got him! Make that puppet freak pay!" Bakugo yelled at Shino on the screen.
Shino's insects began to cover his body and swarm around him. "I'm from the Aburame Clan of the Leaf Village... When we fight, we never underestimate our opponent." He warned.
Kankuro then waved his hand forward, sending Crow towards Shino, who leapt out of the way to avoid the puppet's extending hand smacking right into where he had just been. At first, this seemed like an easily dismissed weak attack that didn't connect, but looking closer, the bug-using boy noticed a knife coming from the puppet's wrist that stabbed where his feet had just been. What was more, it was absolutely DRENCHED in a purple fluid that, after only a few seconds of contact, left quite a sizeable puddle on the tree branch. (Poison on the blade!) Shino realized.
"Whoa, did you see that! He's controlling it with weird energy strings!" Sato noticed.
"One of the many uses of Chakra. In this case, they're Chakra strings to control his puppet and he can lengthen or shorten them as needed to give Crow- the puppet- greater range and, since the strings aren't real, solid objects, they can't get all tangled. And it allows him to control Crow's various weapons without touching it." The Empress explained.
"Weapons?" Everyone asked in concern.
Then they saw Crow's attack. "Decently fast, but not an extremely serious threat." Present Mic said dismissively.
But Yaoyorozu leaned in to look closer. "Wait, what's that?!" She said as she noticed something emerging from Crow's wrist. "It's a hidden knife!" She realized.
"And not just that. Look." Midnight said as they got a new angle to see the purple fluid. "Poison. And quite a lot of it. That ups the danger quite a bit." She said in concern for her student's brother.
Kankuro waved his hand again and Crow deployed another knife on his upper left wrist and again tried to stab it where Shino was, but the boy leapt back to another tree a good distance back, but with another wave of the master's hand, the puppet shot forward again, stabbing at Shino again with its blade, which the boy narrowly dodged, descending into the leaves of branches below.
"Smart, hiding in the leaves to make him hard to see. Then, if he's careful enough, he can change position to try and get closer to Kankuro. I'm guessing since he sends out the puppet to attack people at mid-to-long range, his close-range combat is probably lacking, so closing the distance would be essential to beating him and capitalizing on the combat range where he's most vulnerable. Not to mention, this would also let Shino sneakily deploy some of his bugs in order to do his own long range attacks, which would be a lot less conspicuous than Kankuro's big, creaky puppet and..." Midoriya analyzed, before going into a mutter storm.
"Maybe. But a buzzing swarm of bugs is pretty hard to miss, too." Shoji noted.
"And Kankuro saw where he leapt to, so it's going to be hard to just leap to new cover without being spotted. If we're to assume Kankuro has similar physicality as Shino." Iida noted.
"I won't let you get away!" Kankuro snapped, sending the puppet after Shino, causing it to deploy scythe-like blades from its torso.
"Scythe blades! Why is a puppet this crazy!?" Ashido cried out.
"For exactly this reason. A simple puppet is rather unassuming at first, so you wouldn't consider it a threat. So, to reveal any form of weaponry, let alone such an extensive arsenal, would leave anyone in shock." Tokoyami explained.
"Leaving them ripe for the kill!" Dark Shadow declared.
"Man, I never thought ninjas would have so many different and CRAZY ways of fighting. I thought they just threw shurikens and kunai, or snuck up and gutted you with a sword. I never thought I'd see them fighting with bugs and puppets." Jiro said in awe.
Shino threw a pair of kunai at it, hitting it in the chest and head, causing it to reel back. But then, it vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a small log behind in its place. "A substitution?!" Shino exclaimed in surprise.
"What the!? How!?" Hagakure asked in shock.
"Oh, that's one of their most basic techniques: Substitution Jutsu. They grab something closeby, usually a log, but sometimes another enemy if available, then use their Chakra to make a puff of smoke to run off while the substitute takes the hit." Their hostess explained.
"Wow. Chakra is really versatile. Maybe I should figure out how to use it." Ojiro said.
"Maybe we ALL should." Uraraka suggested.
"Nah. I prefer to go up close and personal, like a real man!" Kirishima declared.
Suddenly, the branches below him rustled and he leapt to safety just before a bladed arm shot from the leaves below in an attempt to stab and poison him again. But then, Kankuro smirked as the puppet opened its mouth to reveal some form of projectile launcher, firing two darts at Shino, which hit him in the chest and the head. "All right!" Kankuro declared in victory.
"Dart projectiles as well!? My, my. It might not be flashy, but the puppet is quite versatile. If only it had more beauty, even I might consider using one." Aoyama noted.
"I never thought a simple wooden puppet could be so advanced." All Might said in shock.
"That's a lot of machinery at work in that puppet. I hate to admit it, but it's impressive he managed to scale it down enough for the puppet to look inconspicuous." Aizawa admitted.
But then, they saw Shino get hit with the darts. "Shino!" All of the students cried out.
"Shino..." Koda said, tears starting to form once again.
However, this victory declaration was premature, as Shino's form dissolved to reveal it was actually a mass of bugs, which fell to the branch below and dispersed. (Insects?!) The puppet master thought to himself, before narrowly dodging as Shino leapt out from nowhere and almost decked him with a left haymaker.
Everyone's jaws dropped when they saw the clone made of bugs. "No way... That shouldn't be possible." Sero said in disbelief.
"To perfectly form to look like his body with no distinguishable gaps that might be a giveaway is already unbelievable enough, but changing their colors to actually look like him should be impossible!"Todoroki said in disbelief.
"And where the heck do they go when they pull this substitution shit!? How do they make it look like they ACTUALLY got hit before the clone or substitute takes their place?!" Bakugo demanded.
"The way of the ninja is a mystery to all..." Kaminari said dramatically.
Then, they saw Shno rush in and almost connect with the haymaker. "Yeah! Alright, Shino!" Hagakure cheered.
"He missed the attack, though." Sato pointed out.
"But with moves like that, all it should take is another good opening for him to land the real one!" Ashido declared.
"Maybe... But the same could also be said for Kankuro. Those darts were way too close for comfort." Uraraka pointed out.
"To think you could make a clone out of insects and wrap around behind me... Not bad!" Kankuro said, impressed as he landed safely on another branch.
But then, the puppet reemerged from the woods below. "The real terror of Crow... My puppet of warfare!" He declared as Crow turned towards Shino with its upper left arm raised, which bent back to reveal its elbow was a cannon, firing some type of explosive at Shino, unleashing a large cloud of purple smoke upon impact.
"Oh, come on! You've got to be kidding me! A knife in each wrist, scythes in the chest, a dart launcher in the mouth and a cannon in AT LEAST one elbow?! Does every joint in its body have a weapon!?" Jiro asked.
"I'm becoming worried that might ACTUALLY be the case." Yaoyorozu said in concern.
"Wait... That smoke is purple. That must mean there's something else to it besides normal smoke." Asui pointed out.
Shino was inside the smoke cloud, covering his face with his arm. "This is... a Poison Smoke Bomb!" Shino realized. He leapt above the could of smoke to another branch, but still fell to one knee. "Did I... Inhale a bit?" He questioned to himself.
"Poison... No..." Koda said in horror.
"He should retreat. The best thing for him right now would be to escape and hope to catch Kankuro another day. It's better that than to risk dying. Making sure everyone survives is the most important thing." Midoriya said.
"Screw that noise! I'd rush in and give him everything I got! If I'm going down, he's coming with me!" Bakugo snapped.
"But, being active and getting all worked up would just make the poison circulate faster. You might die before you even reached him." Mineta said nervously.
"I get it... And the caster of the Jutsu hides, eh?" He noted, panting heavily as the poison was starting to get to him.
And just as he thought, Kankuro was hiding in another bushel of leaves with a smirk. (It looks like the poison has slowly started to circulate.) He said, proud of his delish tactics.
"Oh, come on! Be a man and fight for real! Stop using cheap tricks!" Kirishima complained.
"It's an effective strategy, Kirishima. As much as I hate to say it, there are things to learn here. You need to learn to fight smarter, not harder. Be strategic and come up with plans to get around an enemy's strength, not ALWAYS try to power through them." Aizawa said.
"He's not wrong. Honestly, this isn't too different from how I use my Quirk. Just more lethal." Midnight admitted.
(I'll finish this!) He declared, holding his hand out and making Crow raise up behind Shino.
"SHINO, LOOK OUT!" Everyone screamed.
The Bug Master quickly turned to face the puppet, but not quick enough as he was impaled by the marionette...
"NO!" Everyone shouted at once.
... Or so they thought, but in reality, it was yet another bug clone.
Those cries of fear soon turned to sighs of relief. "Thank goodness..." Midoriya sighed.
"I don't think my heart can take much more of this." Koda groaned.
(Insects again?! But he shouldn't be able to move so much in that state?!) Kankuro thought in annoyance and concern as he scanned around for his foe. (Fine. I'll make things easier for you!) He declared, trying to pull Crow back, but found his puppet unmoving as he struggled to pull back on the strings. "Hey! What's wrong?! What's happening?!" He demanded as he tried to pull the wooden figure back, but to no avail. And the reason why soon became apparent, as Shino's insects started to crawl out of the gaps in Crow's joints.
"Alright! He jammed him up! Just like he did with Zaku's wind pipes!" Uraraka cheered.
"And hopefully, while they're in there, they're chewing up all the mechanisms that let it use its weapons." Asui said.
"They're not termites, but they are beetles, so even if they only eat Chakra, maybe they could still chew through it like Wood Boring Beetles." Yaoyorozu pondered.
"It's futile. He can't move anymore..." Shino said, hanging upside down from the underside of the branch Crow was on as he sent a massive number of insects out of his arms and towards the puppet, even more bugs beginning to crawl out of the puppet, to the point they completely obscured the joints they were emerging from. "I had the beetles burrow into every joint." He explained.
"Oh, yeah! No way that things moving again!" Sato declared.
"Right? Even if the joints could still move, the range of motion would be way too limited because of the resistance from the bugs." Shoji agreed.
And Kankuro was quickly concerned as he noticed something else. (The beetles are passing through the threads of my Chakra... Why?!) He demanded in his mind, before coming upon the answer. (That's right! I recall their food is Chakra. At this rate, my location will be found!) He realized, quickly severing his strings so the insects couldn't reach him.
(He cut the Chakra threads himself?) Shino questioned in his mind.
With his strings severed, Kakuro fell down to his knees, seemingly no longer of use...
"That's right! Can't use your puppets when you got no strings!" Mineta taunted.
"Yeah! What's the plan now, Kankuro?!" Kaminari taunted as well.
"Dumbasses! With all the other crazy shit that puppet can do, who knows if it still has some kind of attack options.
"Oh, come on, Kacchan! He cut the threads already AND Shino already sent bugs into all of its joints. No way it can do anything else!" Ashido said confidently.
... That was, until his head popped off, rocketing away and flying through the air, a poison-coated dart out and ready from its mouth. (It's a big mistake if you think this has ended...) Kakuro declared in his head as the head curved around and shot straight towards Shino.
"OH! COME! ON!" All the students shouted at once.
"ONE! How are there ROCKET BOOSTERS in this WOODEN PUPPET!? SECOND! I thought Shino blocked all the joints so it can't move! THIRD! How is he still controlling it without the strings?!" Iida questioned incredulously.
"Maybe it had some residual Chakra in it he could control? Because apparently Chakra and these ninja weapons can do anything!" Ojiro asked, equally exasperated.
But thankfully, the head came to a stop mere inches before the massive dart in its mouth could impale Shino, falling to the ground. (What?!) He demanded.
"What?" Everyone asked in confusion as well.
Shino then climbed back up onto the branch, looking back to Kankuro. "Just like that, the insects... found their prey..." Shino declared as Kankuro looked down at his hand to see a good number of insects crawling over it.
"He's got him!" Midoriya cheered.
"But when did they get on him?" Ashido asked.
"Well, to be fair, I believe the only time Kankuro moved was after Shino attempted to hit him. It likely wasn't very difficult to discern his location. Especially after the bugs found his Chakra strings. They at least had a general direction to check." All Might theorized.
He leapt out of the leaves in order to get away from the insects. But, to his horror, a massive swarm of them were already on his back. "What?! Why?!" He cried out, falling to his side as the insects began to cover the entirety of his body.
Several members of the crowd looked on in horror. "It's my nightmares come to life..." Present Mic said in fear.
"I'll never be able to sleep again!" Mineta cried out.
"I almost feel bad for him." Hagakure said nervously.
"I pretended to miss and stuck one of those beetles on you." Shino explained, as Kankuro's eyes widening in realization as he thought back to the punch Shino had thrown at him at the very beginning of the fight.
"Aha! A feint! Genius strategy!" Aoyama declared.
"It's perfect. During the act of throwing a punch, no one would ever notice a single beetle being thrown on them." Asui agreed.
"But it also takes an incredible amount of patience. Clearly, it took a while for that many bugs to collect on Kankuro like that. Shino did a great job staying calm and not springing his trap too soon, especially under all those attacks and being poisoned." Aizawa praised.
And with that, the bugs had completely overtaken Kankuro, who let out a scream as he fell off the branch and to the ground below.
"Nightmares..." Present Mic, Mineta, Kaminari and Hagakure all said fearfully.
However, victory was short-lived as Shino collapsed onto all fours. "The poison has circulated through my body, huh?" He realized, falling to his side as consciousness left him.
"Shino... No..." Koda said, finally crying all the way.
"You don't have to worry, Koda. He survived." Sandra assured him.
"Oh, thank goodness. At this point, he's certainly lucky. If he passed out, it must have affected his nervous system or respiratory track. Both of which would be serious and need immediate treatment. Which he obviously can't get in the woods." Midnight said in relief.
"So, what wound up happening with Kankuro?" Aizawa asked.
"Well, despite everything that happened, relations between the Leaf and Sand villages were eventually repaired and Kankuro and his siblings became steadfast allies of the Leaf. Although, I don't know if him and Shino ever crossed the line of 'friends'." The hostess explained.
"Holy crap. I never thought a fight between a guy using a puppet and another guy with a bunch of bugs could be so intense!" Sero exclaimed.
"That just goes to show how both of them have mastered their respective styles." All Might said.
"Still, while most consider them unassuming, plenty of people are aware bugs CAN be deadly, depending on the number and species. NO ONE would ever expect a puppet to be that deadly." Yaoyorozu pointed out.
"Definitely. Assuming Kankuro was the one who made it, he did an amazing job making it as versatile as possible, making it even deadlier on top of its unpredictability." Midoriya said.
"Yeah. I bet Hatsume would like to take a look at it." Uraraka noted.
"Still, Shino's own abilities are nothing to scoff at. Using the bugs to make clones of himself was absolutely genius, as well as sending the bugs along Kankuro's strings to force him to release his puppet. Truly, those insects are worth keeping around." Iida added.
"Not to mention, his strategic mind. He won the fight from his very first move, intentionally missing in order to drop a bug onto him, using the rest of the fight as a distraction for more bugs to get onto him. A horrifyingly effective tactic." Yaoyorozu said as well.
"And even though the poison smoke bomb made him lose consciousness, it's amazing he was able to survive." Midnight pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess their village sent people after them that found him and brought him back for treatment in time." Sandra said. [4]
"Thank goodness..." Koda said, before looking up at their hostess. "Miss Sandra..?" He began.
"You want me to bring him here, don't you?" The Empress asked, to which the boy nodded.
A familiar white portal opened up and the ninja boy was dropped before the group. "What? Where am I?" He questioned, looking around.
"Shino..." Koda said as he stood up.
"Koji..." Shino said in surprise. The two paused for a moment, before walking up and hugging each other. "It's been a long time, brother." He said warmly.
"I know. I missed you." Koda agreed, before hugging his brother tighter. "I saw you fight with that sound guy, Zaku. I saw him blow you up. And how that puppet guy Kankuro poisoned you." He explained.
"I see. Zaku surprised me, but ultimately, he was no true threat. Kankuro proved to be a challenge, but I've grown stronger from it. And, although I can't say we get along, he is now an ally." Shino explained. "But also, I've heard of the tribulations you've gone through as well. The hero facility you were at being attacked and the same happening at your training camp. I only wish that I had heard of these problems as they were occurring. I would've come to your aid as soon as I could." He said in concern.
"They were both pretty scary events. But that's what I can expect as a hero. Just like you said, I came out from both of those events stronger and more prepared for the future!" Koda said with surprising determination.
Shino smiled under the collar of his coat and nodded at his brother in approval. "Indeed. Each conflict is another step on our paths to become the best versions of ourselves. Well done, brother." He said, before thinking of something. "Also, have you overcome your fear of insects yet?" He asked.
Koda looked a bit bashful at this. "I wouldn't say I've overcome it, but I have managed to talk to insects and ask them for help if they're the best option." He said.
"Excellent. Then you truly are on your way to becoming the best version of yourself." Shino told him, before turning to Sandra. "I apologize if this was brief, but may I be returned to the Leaf Village now? I was just assigned an important mission." He requested.
"Very well. Best of luck to you." She said, opening up a portal for him.
Shino looked back to Koda one last time. "Do your best in training and be safe in your hero exploits, brother." He told him.
"Yeah... You, too, Shino." He said with a smile, before Shino stepped through the portal.
"So, what now?" Uraraka asked.
"Well, after the low-key horror these bugs presented, I wanted to show you something a bit more up beat." The Celestial explained.
"You call that low-key horror?! People were being covered and attacked by bugs!" Present Mic shrieked.
"So, what was this up beat thing you wanted to show us?" Aizawa asked, ignoring his friend's panic.
"Oh, I was thinking of showing you a parallel universe to your own where a handful of universal observers like myself entered your world and participated in the Sports Festival." Sandra explained.
"What?! If they're anything like you, we don't stand a chance!" Kaminari complained.
"It doesn't matter for you, anyway, since you lost to Shiozaki." Jiro teased, to which everyone laughed.
The empress giggled at this, as well. "Well, don't worry, they limited themselves so they wouldn't be overwhelmingly powerful in your world. So, sit back and enjoy the exploits... of Recreyo as they participate in your Sports Festival." She declared.
A/N: Alright! Finally finished! And in a single chapter, I'm so proud of myself! So yes, next time, I will be showing them Recreyo's two-part MHA video, "Can They Survive My Hero Academia?" and "Can They Survive My Hero Academia | Fighting Bakugo. This was ACTUALLY what I originally planned on making them react to when I first planned on making an MHA reaction fic, but then I started seeing videos of people making them crossover families and decided to do that instead. But, now that Recreyo is coming to an end soon, it feels relevant again. So, that's what's going to be next, so I hope you guys will be looking forward to it!
[1] Sorry if this wasn't the exact audio or the detail became lacking towards the second half of that scene. There's a good number of people showing that clip on YouTube, but they ALL stop before the end of the scene, or before Shino's bugs are shown to be the ones doing the damage.
[2] At least I was told this, but I can't seem to find this anywhere. I figure the people who post the fights either started after that line was said, or they skipped it by cutting bits of the scene. But even without this point, Gaara was for sure gonna kill Lee if Guy hadn't interfered and the teachers were confused when he DID interfere.
[3] Again, apologies if this isn't what they're saying. I can't find the scene in English and there aren't even subtitles in the Japanese version I saw the clip in.
[4] I forget what actually happened.