Takaya Rain's long blade sliced across Shino's chest, but the moment it made contact, Shino—who had just been speaking—instantly transformed into a swarm of tiny insects scattering in all directions.
"Eep!"
Takaya suddenly let out a startled cry and rapidly leapt backward, disappearing to a safe distance away from the bugs in an instant.
"Why are you screaming? You seem really scared!"
A large cluster of bugs regrouped into Shino's form. Seeing the unmistakable fear in Takaya's eyes, Shino couldn't help but feel puzzled. "Insects are so cute. Why would you be afraid of them?"
"Who said I'm afraid of bugs?" Takaya snapped at Shino irritably. Yet, recalling the sight of those densely packed crawling insects earlier, her feet instinctively took another step back.
"You stepped back when I mentioned bugs, which clearly means you're afraid of them deep down!"
Shino pushed up his sunglasses slightly, his tone carrying a hint of disappointment. "I think bugs are adorable little creatures, yet most people tend to dislike them."
"It's not bugs that I hate," Takaya's smile was stiff. "I just hate the way they gather in tight, crowded clusters!"
"You mean..." Shino suddenly recalled something Sakura had once casually mentioned. "...you have trypophobia?"
"What do you mean by trypophobia?" Takaya blinked, trying to grasp what condition this referred to.
[Trypophobia] refers to the fear or discomfort some people experience when seeing tightly clustered small objects. It often causes symptoms like dizziness, nausea, sweating, and tingling skin. People with this condition usually try to avoid such sights—it's a type of phobia!
What you described—disliking how swarms of tightly-packed creatures look—is clearly due to trypophobia.
"Well, I guess I have to admit it now—I probably really do suffer from trypophobia."
Thinking back on her experiences, whenever Takaya saw groups of tiny things gathered tightly together, she felt an indescribable sense of fear creep inside her heart, always making her scalp tingle and compelling her to flee. For example, while many Cloud Village ninja admired Killer Bee in his Eight-Tails form, she found those eye-like holes on the Eight-Tails' tail legs particularly unsettling and even gross. Looking back on it now, it was most likely Takaya's trypophobia acting up again.
The air between them grew still again. Suffering from trypophobia, Takaya dared not come too close to Shino, choosing instead to watch him carefully from a distance to prevent another sudden transformation into a swarm of bugs. Meanwhile, Shino—who rarely had someone keep such close eyes on him—wasn't eager to end the fight just yet. So they both stayed frozen in place, locked in a silent, intense stare-down.
"What exactly are they doing?" Sakura glanced back and forth between Shino and Takaya, observing from the spectator stands. Suddenly, she remarked, "Don't tell me these two have fallen for each other mid-battle and are about to kick off a wild romance right here on the arena?"
"Try reining in your imagination a bit."
"Hinata shot a glance at Sakura and said, 'Didn't you catch what Shino said earlier? The Cloud ninja, Takaya Rain, has trypophobia — and then there's Shino's fighting style...'
'That's a perfect counter,' Sakura twitched her mouth and shuddered involuntarily. Even normal people like them felt deeply unsettled by Shino's fighting style up close — no wonder this Takaya Rain had such bad luck. What were the odds that a trypophobe would end up facing Shino? She must be feeling awful right about now.
'Hey, you two down there! Are you going to fight or not?'
Someone from the spectator stands couldn't help but shout. These two just stood there without making a move, staring at each other. It was incredibly boring.
'Do we still want to continue?' Shino asked.
'Fight.'
Takaya tightened her grip on her sword. Though her hand trembled slightly, she finally summoned her courage. She didn't want to give up so easily.
'Close combat is way too disgusting. If that's the case, I'll use Lightning Release from a distance to find an opportunity for one decisive blow!'
After thinking for a moment, Takaya decided that if she engaged Shino in close combat again, she wasn't sure whether she could endure another round of nausea. So instead, she immediately chose to stay at a distance using Lightning Release to create opportunities, hoping to finish things with a single strike.
[Lightning Release: Ground Crawl]
Takaya formed hand seals. Her lightning chakra spread outward, transforming into dazzling arcs of electricity.
'You're trying to create an opening with Lightning Release? Too bad — it's still not effective enough.'
Shino's fingers moved slightly. A giant beetle burst forth from underground, emerging to stand before him. The lightning struck the beetle's body, leaving it charred black. However, Shino himself remained unharmed.
'Tch! Blocked by bugs already? Rumors say the Aburame clan controls insects for battle. Looks like those rumors are true after all!'
Frowning, Takaya formed hand seals once more, releasing another Ground Crawl. Lightning appeared again. 'Let's see how many of those giant beetles you can keep summoning!'
'The same move won't work on me twice because...' Suddenly the back of the charred beetle corpse in front of Shino split open. A slightly smaller beetle crawled out from the crack. On its surface were visible blue stripes. '...these bugs keep evolving!'
The lightning attack was blocked yet again. After resisting the lightning, the beetle died; however, this time its corpse looked much better than during the first attack. Obviously, the damage inflicted by Takaya's Lightning Release had greatly decreased.
'What's going on?' Takaya opened her mouth slightly, her mind filled with confusion.
Chapter 236: Evolving Bugs [Part Two]
'My insects can continuously evolve. Your lightning technique earlier killed the first generation beetle. From its corpse evolved the second generation beetle whose genes have already developed some resistance to lightning techniques. Therefore, the damage your Lightning Release inflicts upon the second generation beetle has significantly lessened.'
Pushing his glasses habitually, Shino softly explained to Takaya.
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