better left unsaid

Chapter 40: Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a... Beetle?

I thought I hated Shino's bugs more than any others!" Naruto shouted as he, Shikamaru, Ino, and Fuu ran away from a swarm of larger than normal bees that were doggedly pursuing them through the trees, "Why is this happening?"

"I thought I hated my bug more than any other!" Fuu responded in kind, turning her head to see that they were still just out of range of reaching them and possibly stinging them. She didn't want to stop and find out if they could pierce her Tekiousei-Tai (Adaptable Body) as she had been dealing with too many surprises when it came to her natural defense after going to the chunin exams, "What are we going to do about this?"

Those bees weren't natural, they couldn't be. For an attack like that there had to be a hive, for there to be a hive there would have been way more bees, and these bees were bigger than even bumblebees but looked like hornets. They weren't swarming, and they seemed organized, like they had been given orders.

Yeah… because before that they were surrounding them, just looking at them and waiting on them to make a move. Normal bees did not act that way.

"These are summon creatures!" Shikamaru exclaimed, turning his head for a moment to glare back at the bees as they ran, "They have a ninja giving them orders, it's the only way this whole thing can keep being coordinated in real-time! But where? And how are we going to get to who it is even if…" He then stopped and took a glance at his two teammates, "Ino I need you to use your new jutsu and Naruto use your echolocation jutsu to nail this guy!"

"What?" Both blondes said before sparing each other a glance, Ino glaring at Naruto and Naruto turning his eyes away from her, wishing that someone that close to him wouldn't look at him the way others used to.

"Hurry up before we get stung by the stupid things already!" Fuu shouted authoritatively at them.

"Fine." Reluctantly, Ino hopped onto Naruto's back and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist to make sure her body would be secure, "Don't you drop me or I swear to Kami I'll-."

"I won't, I promise." What was with that? Ino had done this a million times with him and Naruto had never dropped her or let her get hurt while she wasn't in her body. He took that very seriously. He didn't want to think about Ino mistrusting or hating him that much, and simply put his mind to locating the summoner of the hornet swarm.

PING

He didn't feel just trees blocking his signal nor did he merely sense the hornets, he sensed a person's body.

"Ino-chan seven o'clock, behind us!" Naruto whispered to her, speeding up to make sure the added weight of Ino didn't slow him down and get them caught.

She turned around but couldn't see any person, just the bees and the trees that were there the whole time, "I can't see anyone! Are you sure?" Ino already had her hand-seals halfway formed and didn't want to leave her body just for mere speculation.

So now she didn't trust his senses when he used his jutsu? Naruto grit his teeth, but let his hands go from Ino's thighs to form a quick Kage Bunshin that ran with them a short ways before sharply turning around, "Follow the clone then, he knows where!"

Ino nodded and finished her jutsu, "Shinjoueishin no Jutsu (Mind Body Projection Jutsu)!" Ino's spirit jumped out of her body in visible specter form and she followed after Naruto's Kage Bunshin as it brazenly jumped through the wave of bees, pointing towards the unseeable person before being destroyed by the deadly stings. Ino followed the exact direction that the clone had been pointing in blindly, but smiled when she saw the leaves rustle, signifying him changing direction.

Now all she had to do was chase him, and she could fly through the tree trunks in that form. But just as she started chasing, her spirit disappeared from the forest with a pop, returning instantly back to her body which stirred with a gasp and a start, "I saw him! I almost had him but he bugged out and ran away when I started chasing after him." She said with a bit of regret as to her limited range when it came to her latest jutsu.