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The Aburame clan was elusive and quiet. Often preferring to wear high-collar jackets and glasses to hide their figure. This was all meant to keep the bugs they kept under their skin safe and in the perfected environment for growth.
Kamakiri, the youngest of 6, was no different. From the moment her chakra levels stopped being fragile she was given the choice of starting her hive. The bug most of the clan tended to choose was Kidiechu, a parasitic bug that worked as a weapon. Some more peculiar shinobi of the Aburame clan didn't follow the same enthusiasm for these bugs, choosing to go for other insects.
Kamakiri has only seen five different kinds of bugs in her clan. This consisted of Butterflies, Rollie pollies, Cicadas, Silverfish, and even one very bloodthirsty clan member whom no one likes to talk about, used Mosquitoes.
Last she heard some kid really wanted to host bees…Yeah ouch.
Kamakiri just shivers thinking about it.
She really had no issue with Kidiechu, She did want to be on a Tracking and Capture team.
“Well,” Chou, her senior, mumbled “I wanted to be in a hunting team but at the same time I needed to be more on the offensive to pair well with Toa and Iruka.. So I chose butterflies, with my chakra and minor medical knowledge I was able to genetically modify them with Iruka” She pulled her hand out of her long coat, her skin bubbling and moving before a butterfly melted out of her skin.
“Their wings are razor blade sharp and they are poisonous to a certain extent.” She let out a chuckle “If I was to be cannibalized I would surely kill who ate my body” I shrank back as she explained the alterations to her body.
“O-Oh haha..How cool!” I sweat
“What I’m trying to say is Kamakiri is that you can choose whatever you want. The possibilities are endless” She ruffled my head and blinked off out of the trainground.
Watching her retreat I sigh a bit before making my way back home. The walk was boring but left me enough time to think more about genetically modified insects.
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“Well” Iruka sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose “When Chou pulled me and Tora- er Toa and discussed using medical ninjutsu to modify her butterflies for the chunin exams I was a little scared of what it would do to her body” He fiddles with an old and worn down journal it's old cartoonish print faded with age and ware. He began to flip through it, stopping at a chart.
“This is Chou's medical record and how this affected her body in the two months before the exam.” he flipped to a green tab. “And this is how it continues to affect her” Gently shutting the notebook he placed it on the table before me “Handle this with care”
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My feet dangle off the slide of the Hokage monument as I stare up at the sky. My wrist gave a subtle throb at the slight aim training I did early. The notebook book Iruka gave me was resting in my lap.
Chou had experienced a lot of sickness and even dietary changes as she was modifying the butterflies to not only possess sharper wings but also carry a stronger poison. She was almost too frail to participate in the exam.
I rubbed my wrist as it throbbed “I must have pulled a joint” I sighed as I moved to sit up but a shocking pain shot up from my wrist as I went to put weight on it. “Ow-what the fuck” I blurt out queasy as I watch the skin around my wrist shift around.
“Ewww” I subconsciously complained as I sat in mild amazement watching the skin lowered and went from a pale green back to a pale tan.
I raise a shaky finger to poke at my skin
“Huh” I blink
“It doesn’t hurt….should I be worried” I sweat a bit as I eye the previous body horror I had just witnessed.
“Worried about what?”
Shivers run down my spine as I turn to see my sensei
leaning over the edge of the monument, upside down like a lazy cat stuck to a wall.
“Sensei!” I yelp, clutching the notebook to my chest. “What are you doing?!”
“Me?” Sensei Hoshigaki drawls with a grin, his shark-toothed smile far too amused. “You’re the one squatting on the Hokage’s forehead poking yourself like a weirdo.” He flips off the edge and lands beside me with unnatural grace, crouching to examine my wrist.
I pull it back instinctively. “I-It was just… my skin, it moved.”
“Moved?” he repeats, eyes narrowing with interest. “Show me.”
Reluctantly, I offer my arm. The pale skin looks completely normal now, no sign of the unnatural shifting from earlier.
Sensei grabs my hand and twists my wrist gently, his brows furrowing. “Hmm. No bruising. No swelling. But your chakra’s weirdly active here.” He releases me and tilts his head. “Did you start your hive already?”
I shake my head. “No. I’ve been researching… other options. After talking to Chou, I thought maybe there’s something else I can do. Something… different.”
He hums, nodding slowly. “Different’s good. But sometimes different bites back.” He nudges the notebook with a knuckle. “Chou’s path wasn’t easy. Still isn’t. What she did to herself came with a cost.”
“I know,” I murmur. “But what if something already chose me?”
His eyes sharpen. “Explain.”
I hesitate. “It wasn’t just the skin. Earlier today, I saw a weird sack like foam and I touched one. And now this.” I gesture to my wrist.
Sensei is quiet for a long time before sitting beside me, staring out over the village. “Sometimes, Kamakiri, we don’t choose the bugs. Sometimes they choose us.” He looks at me, expression unreadable. “You might want to take a trip to the old garden. The one behind the abandoned Aburame lab. Some of the more… unusual hives tend to gather there. They can help you understand”
My eyes widen. “You mean the garden that’s been sealed off since—”
“Since your great-grandmother decided to breed blinding fireflies, yes.” He chuckles darkly. “That’s where the clan keeps its mistakes, and its miracles. Maybe the bugs there can help to be your guide”
I swallow hard, “What will happen if I go?”
“If they like you, they’ll show themselves,” he says, standing up with a stretch. “If they don’t… well, try not to let them eat your chakra core. You’re still my student, after all.”
“Reassuring,” I mutter, watching him walk off.
Beneath my skin, beneath the pulse in my wrist, I feel it again slow and deliberate this time. A flex. A twitch. Something watching.
I lift my sleeve slowly. The skin beneath shifts again, but this time… I see it.
A limb.
Long and spiked, green as wet moss and lined with tiny serrated edges.
A mantis.
My mouth goes dry.
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
The air around me stills, like the moment before a predator strikes. I can feel them waiting, dormant, but not sleeping. Praying mantises weren’t used by our clan. Not because they weren’t compatible but because they were too aggressive. Too hard to control. Too willing to lay waiting and watching for the perfect time to strike.
They didn’t follow orders.
They gave them.
I stand, tucking Iruka’s notebook under my arm. I have a garden to visit.