Mako Aburame

Mako Aburame from the Fan novel Konoha Children's Crusade

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Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Excerpt:

Another stiff breeze blew down on Mako. It knocked the wasps around and they all buzzed angrily trying to stay in their search pattern. This latest gust apparently was too much for Number Eleven who was spinning down to him in a tumbling dive. He caught her in his cupped hands and gently blew on her to warm her up. She preened happily for a moment, grateful to be out of the wind.

After giving her a minute he asked her for a report. He lifted his eyebrows in surprise and snuck a quick peek over the tops of the trash cans. So... the crazy chunin and the 'not boyfriend' were wanted by the ANBU. He had no problem imagining that. "She deserves to be locked up for sure," he muttered.

Another round of quick study ruined that theory. The ANBU were guarding two kids. One he recognized. She was that jerk Jiraiya's twin sister, Kusumina. She was an okay kid, but then compared to Jiraiya, practically everyone was. The other kid... he'd never seen him before, which was weird because he was pretty remarkable. He had a scarred up face and was holding a long staff. Mako made a mental note to ask the swarm for a flyby of this kid. If he was connected to the crazy chunin, he might be worth gathering intel on him too. Wasp Number Eleven acknowledged the command and asked if he wanted her to continue her report. Mako told her to go ahead.

The wasp reported that the Nara kid had finally run into Inoji. Number Eleven then paused delicately and asked if the Nara kid was a member of the hive.

According to wasps everything in the world fit into one of four categories. It was either part of the hive, a predator, an object, or food.

Mako was always part of the hive. Any bee, wasp, or hornet would just fly right up and accept him. After a little bit of talking on his part he could convince the nest that his friends were part of the hive as well. This usually took some convincing for Akakaru's sake, the dumb mutt had a bad habit of chasing small buzzing things. A predator was always something bad. A fight or flight response was always elicited by a predator designation. An object was just stuff. Uninteresting and dull, you could ignore it or go around it. Of course, an object could suddenly became a predator if it moved suddenly. Anything alive could either be declared an object or predator depending on its actions. And then there was food. Food was simply the greatest thing ever.

Mako thought about it for a second and then shrugged. "I don't know yet," he told Wasp number eleven. "He might be part of the hive, he might just be an object. I don't really know him well enough to make that decision yet. Why?"

The wasp replied that The Nara boy had buzzed up to Inoji of the hive and together they had danced with each other (talked) for a while before he buzzed away again. A few other minor questions convinced Mako that their meeting had gone well. Wasp number eleven told him that Inoji seemed happy (Dancing like she was telling the hive where to find a dead rat carcass was the phrase Number Eleven actually used. Translating from wasp was less of a science and more of an art form.)

Mako nodded with approval and tentatively added Shikasu to the hive. There was another cool breeze that gusted down the alley. Number Eleven started to get agitated and buzzed threateningly at the chill. She said she had an important question to ask. When Mako told her to go ahead, she asked what the big windy thing buzzing around in the sky was. She said it was annoying and couldn't fly straight. She said it was too windy and was making everything too cold. She asked if it was a predator. Then she asked if she and her sisters could go sting it until it went away.

Mako looked up. There was a large homemade kite dancing over the plaza. He followed the string back to where a group of kids were standing on an adjoining roof. They were all very eagerly watching the kite.

He smiled at Number Eleven. "That's just a flying object. You can ignore it." The wasp acknowledged the order but complained some more about the kite being too big and too chilly and that maybe they should just try stinging it anyway just to see if they could make it go be cold and windy somewhere else.

Mako laughed. "No, don't waste your time and energy. Go and scout the new kid." He held her and gave her the image of the boy holding the staff. "Try your best to find out who he is."

The wasp acknowledged the order and then sat there rubbing its antennae for a moment. That was the insect equivalent of a polite cough. Mako looked down at the insect. "Was there something else?" he asked Number Eleven.

He stared at the wasp, confused. She had wanted to know if the Nara kid who was made of wood was also part of the hive.

He almost took Number Eleven and tossed her into the air telling her to quit asking silly questions and get going and do her job. But something about the way she asked made him hesitate.

"Wait," thought Mako, "You know the wooden Nara boy is, well… Made of wood right? You do know that wood is an object right?"

The wasp quietly answered in the affirmative. "Then why are you asking?" thought Mako, quite confused.

The wasp did a tiny little dance. "Because there is a predator hunting it," she buzzed.

*******

Mako chewed his fingernails and listened nervously as one by one the wasps reported in. There were four shinobi (predators) dressed all in black following the decoy Shikasu. There was a team of four more watching the group of ANBU. There was a third group of black ninja's observing a group of girls who had just come out of the girls bathroom, and there was a fourth group that had split its attention between the group of girls and a group of boys flying the infamous wasp bothering kite.

This was definitely not good.

The wasps reported that a young girl had just approached the group of ANBU spoken to them and then half the squad had quickly run off to the roof full of kite flyers. One member from each group of black Ninja quickly gathered together for a short conversation, and then went back to their respective teams. The black ninja teams conferred, and then split so they made a wide semicircle. He didn't have to be an intelligence gathering genius to read that formation. Ambush.

This was really really not good.

Mako quickly started to call in his wasps. The last few reported that the black ninjas were beginning to ready weapons. He didn't even wait for them to get back in the nest, as the last one landed and gripped his hair, he started to run. Whatever was going to happen, he did not want to get caught in it.

*******

Link to full story: Table_of_Contents

Author's note: This piece of gift art was yet another amazing present from You should all go encourage her to color more!