He genuinely hadn't recognized the opponent standing before him, wrapped head to toe in a dark blue, high-collared coat and wearing black sunglasses in broad daylight.
Aburame Shino: "..."
His eyes behind the sunglasses revealed nothing. After a few seconds of silence, he raised his hands and formed the Seal of Confrontation.
"Begin!"
The moment Qiushui's words rang out, Naruto sprang into action, opening with the Shadow Clone Technique as usual.
Ten Narutos appeared at once. Shuriken rained toward Aburame Shino, and then all ten figures charged in together, their momentum fierce.
But Aburame Shino was faster.
His collar shifted, his sleeve flicked, and in an instant, thousands upon thousands of Kikaichū swarmed out like a black cloud.
The insects knocked aside every shuriken with pinpoint accuracy, then changed direction and rushed toward Naruto's clones. They crawled all over the clones, biting and devouring them.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
The clones vanished one after another in puffs of smoke.
"These bugs are amazing." Naruto stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide as he watched.
Aburame Shino gave him no chance to catch his breath. Under his control, the swarm surged toward Naruto's real body like a black tide.
Naruto turned and ran, but his hands kept moving. He formed another set of Hand Seals, and ten more clones appeared.
All ten clones stopped in unison and turned to face the approaching swarm. They drew in a deep breath together, raised their hands, and called out in low voices, "Wind Style: Gale Palm!"
Eleven shock waves erupted at once. The powerful gusts swept through like a hurricane, scattering the airborne insects in an instant. The black mass of Kikaichū was blown away, most of them tumbling to the ground with a clatter and struggling to get back up.
"When did Naruto Uzumaki,