Shino Aburame (油女シノ, Aburame Shino) is a shinobi of Konohagakure's Aburame Clan and a teacher in the Ninja Academy. Together with Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Uzumaki, he is a former member of Team 8.
Background[]
Early Life[]
Shino at one time grew up alongside Torune Aburame as his family took him in under guardianship after Torune's father, Shikuro Aburame, passed away. Despite their different views about friendship, Shino grew close to Torune, viewing him as an older brother. Torune even revealed to Shino his unique breed of microscopic insects. One day, Danzō Shimura approached the two young Aburame with the desire to recruit another young member of a secret technique-using clan for Root. While Danzō had the authority to do so and expressed interest in Shino, not wanting Shino to live a life of loneliness, Torune offered himself, appealing to Danzō by revealing who his father was. Knowing that he would probably never see Torune again but wanting to remain close to his brother-figure in some way, Shino harvested some of Torune's insects and spent years refining his bug breeding technique to produce new beetles that inherited traces of Torune's insects.
During a training session at the Academy, he watched on alongside Kiba and Akamaru as Shikamaru and Chōji refused to fight each other even during training. When Kiba commented that Shikamaru, who had found the process to be too troublesome, would be a genin for the rest of his life, Shino noted that that may not be so as Shikamaru could go on to live a long life and many things could happen, but before he could finish his statement, he was cut off by Kiba who had become annoyed with the young Aburame's nitpicking.
Personality[]
Since his early childhood, Shino has been a calm, collected, and solitary person, who is quite mysterious. Shino is portrayed as being somewhere between merely stoic and matter-of-fact, rarely ever smiling or showing emotion at all; rather than thank his teammates for congratulating him on his victory in the preliminaries, he told them that he expected them to do the same. He also has a tendency of holding grudges and being rather intimidating, such as seen when Naruto failed to recognise him at the start of Part II (which is fair as the only visible part of his face were his sunglasses), but easily recognised Kiba and Hinata regardless. He still holds that grudge to this day.
Shino seems to be aware of these odd personality traits; in the anime, when he ate food poisoned with a chemical that forced him to laugh, he menacingly told Naruto to forget it had ever happened. His interest in insects only helps him strengthen this viewpoint; by spending most of his spare time watching them, and often making analogies to insects when talking, people have come to identify Shino as "creepy", and tend to dislike being in his company for prolonged periods of time. In his Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, Shino dreamt that he found a new giant-sized species of bugs and tamed it as his own.
Despite occasionally arguing with Kiba due to their personality differences, Shino has a very strong sense of connection with his teammates and allies. This was first seen when he promised Sasuke Uchiha to help him fight Gaara after dealing with Kankurō, but regretted not being able to uphold that promise after being poisoned.
Shino is also very brave as he and his teammates were terrified after seeing Gaara's powers during the second stage of the Chūnin Exams, but he still resolved to help Sasuke in any way he could with Gaara. He also regretted being unavailable and therefore unable to help with retrieving Sasuke. From that point onwards, he resolved to work on his teamwork skills with Kiba and Hinata. He even helped Hinata to improve her abilities, and is one of the few people, besides Naruto, who openly professes confidence in her. The fruits of his efforts are seen in the anime, where Shino was able to carry out a mission successfully while also keeping others safe. He also proves to be able to understand his teammates' inner workings, sensing when the slightest of things is wrong with either of them. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, he also went out of his way to keep his teammate's chakra flow active through the use of his insects.
Shino speaks in a curious fashion, as noted by both Naruto and Kiba. He speaks in a manner most simply described as "nitpicking" and uses the word 'because' (なぜなら, nazenara) a great deal. To others, his manner of speaking seems like over concern with the trivial points of a conversation which could be left unsaid, or, providing information that will leave questions that could possibly be asked — already answered.
Shino is fairly confident in his abilities and that he will win a battle, and tends to try to communicate this to an opponent for their own well-being. Still, Shino enjoys fighting, and dislikes being denied a chance to battle a skilled opponent, as seen when he went out of his way during the Konoha Crush to fight Kankurō, after the latter had forfeited to avoid revealing his puppets' secrets.
In the anime, it was shown that Shino will panic when confronted with insectivorous animals or plants (with Shino himself likening it to psychological torture). He will also fall into despair showing saddened expressions — atypical of him — to the point where he almost cries and even refuses to continue his mission to avoid losing any more insects. Similarly, in adulthood, Shino's passion for teaching shows a noticeable distress when his students fail to listen to him or damage happens to the Academy.
Appearance[]
Shino is regularly seen sporting the same style as the rest of his clan, consisting of dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar. While Shino was in the Academy, he wore a similar outfit to the one he does now in Part II except his jacket then was of a light grey colour. Shino is a fair-skinned man and the tallest member of his graduating class. He has dark, bushy, brown hair and dark, narrow eyes (which has only been shown in the anime). In all of Shino's appearances, he has been shown wearing his signature round and dark glasses. Even Hinata, his teammate, did not know what his eyes truly looked like. However, for a brief moment, Shino's eye profile was shown.
During Part II, his appearance became even more mysterious, with his jacket hanging down to his knees and the addition of a hood that obstructs his face even more and a satchel on his back. This current appearance makes it harder for people like Naruto to recognise him right away. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, he wears a flak jacket under his jacket.
Two years after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Shino sports a flak jacket with his regular shinobi attire and a new set of sunglasses. His outfit consists of a grey shirt with matching pants under his light-grey button-up jacket. The jacket also has a hood which he keeps over his head. He also changes his forehead protector to a bandanna-style.
As an adult, he wears a flak jacket with two bug-like emblems on the neck, and a full-body suit underneath. While on duty he wears a three-strip optic visor which wraps around his head, and while off duty he wears sunglasses.
Abilities[]
Shino showed great potential as a shinobi since early age, having drawn the attention of Danzō, a man with exceedingly high standards, in the anime. As a genin, he easily managed to defeat Zaku Abumi, and later fight Kankurō, a skilled shinobi to a stalemate. In the following years he was promoted to chūnin, and a decade later was acknowledged by several individuals as being jōnin-level.
Ninjutsu[]
Shino has shown considerable skill in shurikenjutsu, able to manipulate his shuriken's trajectory midflight. By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, he possessed the nature transformations of Earth, Fire, and Yang Release. He also could also use the Summoning Technique, which in the anime, he used to summon a Giant Insect.
Aburame Clan Techniques[]
As a member of the Aburame clan, Shino was infused at birth with a special breed of insects, called kikaichū, that use his body as a nest and feed on his chakra, living in a form of symbiosis. In return, they attack and do other tasks as he commands forming his main fighting style: in battle, he boxes in opponents with his bugs and then consumes their chakra once they cannot escape. In the anime, Shino is able to transfer chakra his insects have accumulated through them into a new target. The insects also protect him from most genjutsu.
Shino has shown to be able to create insect replicas of himself, which can reform once struck. Offensively, Shino could encase his enemies in a cage of insects, preventing them from moving and depriving them of their chakra; as well as could use a special breed of insects called kidaichū to devour the chakra and even flesh of their victim. In the anime, Shino could also use his bugs defensively by having them swarm around himself and his allies, creating a dome.
Shino could use his bugs to spy and gather information. Since the bugs make little to no noise, Shino have them scout an area and return with any useful information. Shino could also leave a female bug on his target to track them down by the scent picked up from a male bug. To stop himself from being tracked, Shino could use his clan's Insect Jamming Technique to create false chakra patterns, which would confuse sensor-type opponents.
While the kikaichū only have a lifespan of a few hours, their life-cycle ensures that there will always be females with eggs. In the anime, it was demonstrated that his bugs are always undergoing evolutionary adaptation through mutation and natural selection; so to cultivate for this ability, Shino has could accelerate the growth of his insects.
Also, having bred insects with the rinkaichū of Torune, Shino cultivated insects that can simulate the same toxic effect as Torune's, or even produce antibodies against the said potent toxins.
Taijutsu[]
Although favouring the use of his insects in battle, Shino is shown to be quite capable in taijutsu. During the Chūnin Exams preliminary matches, he calmly blocked an incoming strike from Zaku with only his arm and later defeated him with one punch, sending him backwards several feet. Shino was also fast enough to avoid poison-tipped darts launched at close-range from Kankurō's Karasu puppet, as well as get into striking range and nearly hit Kankurō after distracting him with an insect clone. In the anime, after training more with Kiba and Hinata to better handle close-combat situations, Shino's taijutsu greatly improved to the point where he could fight on par with and defeat Suika, a proficient taijutsu user, in their second encounter. He even created the Iron Mountain Leaning technique, where he and an insect clone knock the enemy high into the air.
Intelligence[]
Shino has shown himself to be quite intelligent, being able to use his analytical and observational skills to make shrewd decisions with pinpoint reasoning. Like Shikamaru, Shino prevails in battles by systematically staying several steps ahead of the enemy, as well as keeping a good distance away to avoid his enemies' attacks. Shino can also tell the number of people in an area by putting his ear to the ground. Since becoming an Academy teacher, Shino has become well-versed in the various basic attack patterns and battle methods of shinobi combat, able to easily anticipate most tactics his opponents launch on him.
New Era[]
Academy Arc[]
Ten years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Shino becomes the homeroom teacher for the new year's Academy students. During the entrance ceremony, he and the other instructors were left mortified when Boruto Uzumaki crashed a train into the Hokage Rock. Two weeks later, after Boruto's suspension was over, Shino put Boruto through a series of practice drills to having him catch up with the rest of the class, ultimately ranking him as second in the class. Later, as Shino began to start class, he was shocked to see all his students were missing, having gone to watch a fight between Boruto and Iwabee Yuino. Later, Shino began teaching his class shurikenjutsu only to be discouraged when they weren't listen to his instructions and merely began throwing around their shuriken. After Boruto caused a commotion with a Fūma Shuriken, which he ultimately dragged Inojin Yamanaka, Shikadai Nara, Metal Lee, and Iwabee into, Shino decided to send the students to perform community work on aiding repairs to the Hokage Rock.
Later during a class designed to introduce students to summoning techniques, Shino had Konohamaru Sarutobi summon a giant toad to demonstrate the more advanced applications of this technique. After getting their attention, Shino began instructing them on the more basic tool-storage method of summoning. As boy students began bickering more with the girls, Konohamaru broke up the squabble. Later Shino voiced his dismay at the students' continued bickering, Konohamaru noted that Shino's own fellow students had a similar squabbling back in the day, Konohamaru also noted that such drive helps one mature. This inspired Shino to organise a combative race to capture a flag pitting the girls against the boys. During the contest, Shino began assessing students' respective progress. By the end of the competition, while it succeeded in making peace between the students, much to Shino's dread, the Academy suffered great damage.
Later, the class gained a new transfer student from Otogakure named Mitsuki. As tension started to rise between Mitsuki and the other students, Shino went to Kurenai for advice. She assured him that while teaching isn't his specialty, he knows from experience that one must persevere using their own strength. Inspired by this, wanting the students to warm up to Mitsuki, Shino organised a welcoming party for the new student the following day. When Shino's efforts for the party backfired with his insects, the class began to freak out, with Denki begging someone to make the insects go away, which Mitsuki did with his Wind Release: Breakthrough, causing even more damage to the Academy. As the students began absentmindedly belittling Shino's worth as a ninja and teacher, a distraught Shino took the day off. Upon his return, he was horrified to see that the Academy suffered even more damage. As Shino continued to doubt himself, wondering how he can effectively teach the students, a dark spectre suddenly possessed Shino, making him give into his darkest impulses. The following day, he told Mitsuki, Boruto, and Shikadai to meet him in the training field. Once all there, he voiced his plan to get rid of them.
Shino then encased the entire area with his insects, forcing the students to flee. After a prolonged chase, Shikadai devised a plan to stop the rampaging sensei. While Shikadai and Boruto distracted Shino and lured him into the water, Mitsuki ensnared Shino and electrocuted him, expelling the spectre. The events proved too taxing on Mitsuki, who began drowning in the lake, along with Boruto who tried to save him. Shino, coming to his senses, quickly went to save his students with his Giant Insect Later, as Shino voiced his decision to resign as teacher despite being possessed, the students convinced him to reconsider, apologising for their earlier statements. Afterwards, Shino reported to Naruto and Shikamaru about the experience. He noted that while he remained completely aware of his actions, he felt and overwhelming desiring to attack his students. This caused concerned to the Hokage, deciding to start an investigation. Later, Shino assigned his class choose a workplace within Konohagakure to better understand non-shinobi life. Knowing that Boruto, Mitsuki, and Shikadai were determined to continue patrolling the village for their own personal mission, he subtly convinced them to try the postal service.
Later, Shino checked on some of students after learning that they were hospitalised from a recent attack. While blaming himself for putting his students in that situation, Chōchō insisted there was no way of knowing this would happen. Afterwards, as Naruto realised that his son and his friends were conducting their own investigation on the attacks, he insisted that they stay out of matter. Shino however, having seen firsthand how capable his students were, insisted that Naruto trust them as kids have a way of surprising adults. After Naruto finally agreed, Shino added that his students not be reckless in their efforts. When the culprit behind the attacks on the village was revealed to be Sumire, a unit was deployed to apprehend her. The rogue student unleashed Nue onto the village. While Kakashi organised the unit to defend from its attack, Shino worked with a unit to treat the injured.
Several weeks later, Shino decided to change up the three-man teams for their next challenge to determine the optimum pairings for graduation. After class, Shino went to talk to Iruka about Sumire's fate, as she turned herself in as the culprit behind the attacks. While Shino insisted to let her return under his supervision, Iruka noted that even with the leniency she got, the choice to return is ultimately up to her. Shino afterwards went to meet with Sumire, who was still in a detention cell. While Sumire was ashamed to look at her teacher, Shino made clear he holds no ill feelings towards her. He encouraged her to find her own path now and offered to help. The following day, as the new teams in class began a challenge of capturing a flag, Shino was then called aside concerning Sumire. He happily reintroduced Sumire to his class.
Later, Shino began preparing his class for the Tree Climbing Practice. On the day of the test, Denki and Iwabee were late for the test. When they finally arrived and explained how they helped save children from a burning building, Shino was amazed at the story. Proud at how the two so effectively applied their studies of chakra-induced climbing, he chose to pass them without any further testing. The class moved on to Water Surface Walking Practice, Shino stirring the water to simulate river and ocean currents.
Sarada Uchiha Arc[]
As graduation exams approach within a week, Shino begins explaining to his students the significance of it.
Versus Momoshiki Arc[]
Several months later, upon being put in charge of the second phase of the Chūnin Exams with Tenten, they watch the competing genin from within the monitoring room.
Trivia[]
- The name "Shino" means "of faith" (志之), which is also the given name of the samurai Inuzuka of Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, a novel about a dog samurai. His teammate, Kiba Inuzuka is also based off Inuzuka from the novel. His family name "Aburame" literally means "oil woman" (油女), while it may also be a variation of "Aburamushi" which means "cockroach" (油虫), referring to his family's use of insects as weapons.
- In Naruto character popularity polls, Shino was ranked 12th in the third, 25th in the fourth, 21st in the fifth. He finished 26th in the sixth and most recent.
- In the anime, Shino has been shown to name his insects.
- In the anime, Shino's eyes are momentarily seen.
- Shino is the only one of the Rookie Nine not to be on a manga cover before the time-skip.
Quotes[]
- (To Zaku) "Fight me, and you shall never recover. Forfeit and withdraw."
- (To Zaku) "This is what a real trump card is."
- "Never underestimate your opponent, no matter how small they may seem."
- (To himself) “The sky is too vast for a person to live life alone.”
- (In his conversation with Kankurō) "You use puppets, so you're a mid- to long-range type. It looks like you're weak at close combat. Why you ask? Because you must concentrate on operating your puppet. So it seems that the Puppet Technique… can easily create a chink in the user's own defence…" (「お前は人形を使う中・遠距離タイプだ。接近戦は苦手と見た。 なぜなら 人形の操作に集中しなければならない。その傀儡の術とやらは…術者自体に隙が生じやすいからな…」, "Omae wa ningyō o tsukau chū-enkyori taipu da. Sekkinsen wa nigate to mita. Nazenara ningyō no sōsa ni shūchū shinakereba naranai. Sono Kugutsu no Jutsu to yara wa… jutsusha kitai ni suki ga shōji yasui kara na…")
- (To Kankurō) "I hate explaining the same thing twice."
- (To Naruto) "Even if it's been a while, you should remember your comrades' faces. Why? Because otherwise you will hurt their feelings when they call out to you."
- (To himself) "I will flawlessly support Naruto with my ninjutsu… Why you ask? Because… there's no need for a reason!" (「オレの忍術でナルトを完璧にサポートする…なぜなら……は必要ない!」, "Ore no ninjutsu de Naruto o kanpeki ni sapōto suru… Nazenara… wa hitsuyō nai!")