Drifting by AlphaDelta1001

Part 6 - From Great to Genin

Drifting

From Great to Genin

Two years later...

It was a lovely, warm summer day out in the woods, conditions that all of the animals and insects living in the forest could agree with as they went about their early morning routines. This sort of went double for one Shino Aburame as he too was out mingling with the common folk. Being a weekend day, the boy had decided to live it up by pursuing his favorite pastime; scouring Konoha's surrounding forests for the most diverse and exotic bug life he could find.

Whether to add them to his arsenal, his collection or to his research it was uncertain, but whatever the case was the young man was so intent in going about his business he was almost completely submerged in the serenity of his environment. Without any need for a log book for documentation, the boy in the high-collar jacket and sunglasses moved from trunk to trunk across the wide expanse of land checking every possible place his friends or targets could be hiding. As expected of someone of his discipline and character, he was incredibly thorough.

Brushing past a couple of branches, the young academy student spotted a golden cicada perched atop of a fallen log resting against a large oak. The song of the insect filled the air with a deafening hum, adding to the sounds of the forest and luring Shino to its position. Glasses flashing, the teen reached down to pick it, only for the insect to suddenly fly off when a cluster of twigs and leaves fell around it.

Blinking, Shino looked up.

In the brush of the tree above, silhouetted against the sunny sky peaking through the canopy, the Aburame spotted a series of small figures leaping and swinging through the upper branches. The teen raised an eyebrow at the commotion of creatures dashing across the heights, which he quickly identified as a family of Gibbons.

It was a common sight; nothing out of the ordinary and nothing to get too excited about. But when an even larger figure darting in amongst the group rushed past Shino's point of view the boy recoiled a little and followed the group of monkeys more intently.

The larger animal was so damn quick he barely had any time to identify it.

"That's no monkey," Shino murmured to himself. "How do I know? Because monkeys don't wear orange..."

It was a fact he and many others knew all too well.

The massive beast leaping through the vines and treetops like he was flying, was wearing an orange jacket with a hood pulled over his head and short, blue sleeves with orange arrow marks on either side pointing forwards. He also wore a pair of orange cargo shorts that stopped at his knees, blue sandals, and a pair of goggles slapped over his eyes for protection. Furthermore, to accompany the massive grin that he wore, his short, blonde spiky hair waved in the wind as he tore past the family of Gibbons he was playing with and ascended the canopy at high speed.

Shino continued to follow the strange figure with his eyes till the young man was gone from sight, moments before the Aburame returned to his task and once again went about foraging for insects.

He didn't need a photo lineup to know who that person was and neither did anybody else who knew that person.

Jumping from branch to branch, making tight corners, impossible climbs and long strides through the canopy, the boy in orange eventually reached the tallest tree in that neck of the woods, which was situated at the top of a very large hill. With fleetness only a wild animal could possess, he clambered up the tree till he arrived at the very tip, allowing him a clear view of his surroundings. The chattering gibbons that had been pursuing him arrived seconds later, crowding around the branches beneath the winner and looking up at him as if he were the big boss himself.