Shino Aburame: The Silent Bug Master

Shino Aburame is one of the main supporting characters in the anime and manga series Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. He is a shinobi of Konohagakure’s Aburame clan, a clan of insect users who can control various bugs with their chakra. He is also a member of Team 8, along with Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and their leader Kurenai Yuhi.

All about Shino Aburame

• Birthdate: January 23
• Sex: Male
• Age: Part I: 12–13/Part II: 16–17
• Height: Part I: 156.2 cm–161.1 cm/Part II: 175.1 cm/Blank Period: 182 cm/New Era: 186.5 cm
• Weight: Part I: 45.8 kg–48.5 kg/Part II: 56.6 kg
• Blood type: AB
• Occupation: Academy Teacher/Chūnin Exams Proctor/Genin Exams Proctor
• Affiliation: Konohagakure/Allied Shinobi Forces
• Team: Team 8/Konoha 11
• Clan: Aburame Clan

Shino Aburame’s Background

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.

After enrolling into the Academy and being placed in Iruka Umino’s class, he met Kiba Inuzuka, whom he numerously became irritated at due to the pair having polar opposite personalities.

During breaks in between classes, he would let his bugs walk on his desk. During a class training session, he watched on alongside Kiba as Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi 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 Kiba cut him off.

Shino Aburame’s Personality

Shino is a quiet, reserved, and mysterious person, who rarely expresses his emotions or opinions. He prefers to observe and analyze situations before taking action.

He is very logical and rational, often relying on facts and evidence rather than feelings or intuition. He is also very confident and proud of his abilities, sometimes bordering on arrogance or overconfidence.

Shino has a strong sense of duty and loyalty to his clan, his village, and his friends. He is willing to sacrifice himself for their sake, even if it means putting himself in danger or harming his own body. He is also very respectful and polite to his elders and superiors, addressing them with honorifics and formal language.

Shino has a deep fascination with insects, which he considers as his true companions. He often communicates with them using his chakra, and treats them with care and affection.

He also likes to collect and study different kinds of insects, and learn about their behaviors and characteristics. He sometimes uses insect-related metaphors or analogies to explain his thoughts or actions.

Shino has a dry sense of humor, which often goes unnoticed or misunderstood by others. He sometimes makes sarcastic or ironic remarks, which may sound rude or insensitive to those who do not know him well.

He also likes to tease or prank his friends, especially Kiba, who he considers as his rival. He enjoys seeing their reactions or expressions when they are surprised or annoyed by him.

Shino Aburame’s Appearance

Shino is regularly seen sporting the same style as the rest of his clan, consisting of dark round 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, sharp eyes (which has only been shown in the anime). As with other members of his clan, Shino constantly keeps his eyes covered to others, as even his teammate did not know what his eyes truly looked like.

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 hooded-one.

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.

Shino Aburame’s Abilities

Shino showed great potential as a shinobi since early age, having drawn the attention of Danzo, 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. During the time-skip, he was promoted to Chūnin alongside his teammates.

During the War, he was able to fight and defeat several White Zetsu despite them being Jōnin-calibre in power, and was able to defeat the reincarnated Torune Aburame. A decade later was acknowledged by several individuals as being jōnin-level in skill.

Ninjutsu

Shino has shown considerable skill in shurikenjutsu, able to manipulate his shuriken’s trajectory mid-flight. By the Fourth Shinobi World War, he possessed Earth, Fire and Yang Release. He could also use the Summoning Technique,[4] which in the anime, he uses 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 this accumulated chakra into a new target.

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 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 the 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;[20] so to cultivate for this ability, Shino can 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 and later defeated him with one punch.

Shino was also fast enough to avoid a sneak attack from Kankurō’s Karasu puppet. In the anime, after training more with Kiba and Hinata, Shino’s taijutsu greatly improved to the point where he could fight on par with Suika and overpower him in their second encounter.[23]

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.

Part I

In Part I of the series, Shino plays a significant role in several events and missions. Some of his notable achievements are:

• Chunin Exams: Shino participates in the Chunin Exams along with his teammates Kiba and Hinata. He passes the written test by using his insects to spy on other examinees. He passes the forest of death by using his insects to protect his team from enemy attacks. He passes the preliminary round by defeating Zaku Abumi with his insect swarm. He advances to the final round by default after Kankuro forfeits their match.
• Konoha Crush: Shino helps defend Konoha from the invasion of Sunagakure and Otogakure. He fights against Kankuro again and defeats him with his insect bomb. He then joins forces with other Konoha shinobi to repel the enemy forces.
• Sasuke Recovery Mission: Shino joins the Sasuke Recovery Team along with Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Neji Hyuga. He fights against Torune Aburame, a member of the Root organization and a distant relative of his clan. He defeats him with his insect clone technique.
• Search for Tsunade: Shino helps search for Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage candidate. He uses his insects to track her scent and location. He also helps fight against Orochimaru’s minions along the way.

Part II

In Part II of the series, Shino plays a less prominent role in the events and missions. However, he still contributes to some important situations and battles. Some of his notable achievements are:

• Akatsuki Suppression Mission: Shino joins Team 8 in pursuing Akatsuki members Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. He uses his insects to sense their chakra and movements. He also helps fight against Kisame’s shark clones along the way.
• Pain’s Assault: Shino helps defend Konoha from the attack of Pain, the leader of Akatsuki. He uses his insects to protect himself and others from Pain’s gravitational attacks. He also helps Naruto defeat Pain’s Animal Path with his insect barrier technique.
• Fourth Shinobi World War: Shino joins the Allied Shinobi Forces in fighting against Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and their army of Zetsu clones and reanimated shinobi. He is assigned to the Fifth Division under Gaara’s command. He uses his insects to detect and destroy Zetsu clones that infiltrate their ranks. He also helps fight against Torune again after he is reanimated by Kabuto Yakushi.
• Kaguya Otsutsuki Strikes: Shino helps Naruto and Sasuke seal Kaguya Otsutsuki, the progenitor of chakra and the mother of Hagoromo Otsutsuki. He uses his insects to distract Kaguya while Naruto and Sasuke perform their sealing technique.

Epilogue

In the epilogue of the series, Shino becomes a teacher at the Ninja Academy. He teaches the new generation of shinobi about ninjutsu and insect techniques. He also mentors Boruto Uzumaki, Sarada Uchiha, Mitsuki, Sumire Kakei, Iwabee Yuino, Denki Kaminarimon, Metal Lee, Inojin Yamanaka, Chocho Akimichi, Shik Possible continuation of the paragraph: