Shino Aburame

is a ninja from Konohagakure and a member of Team 8.

Personality
Shino Aburame is a cool, collected, and solitary Chunin who is quite mysterious. He is portrayed as being somewhere between being 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 tells them that he expects them to do the same (both Kiba and Hinata lose their matches). He also has a tendency of holding grudges and being rather intimidating, such as seen when Naruto fails to recognize him in Part II, but easily recognizes Kiba and Hinata, despite him wearing clothing that covers much of his body.

Shino seems to be aware of these odd personality traits and is apparently proud of them; in the anime, when he eats food poisoned with a chemical that forces him to laugh, he menacingly tells Naruto to forget it. His interest in bugs only helps him strengthen this viewpoint; by spending most of his spare time watching bugs and often making analogies to bugs when talking, people have come to identify Shino as "creepy" and tend to dislike being in his company for prolonged periods of time.

Despite occasionally arguing with Kiba, Shino has a very strong sense of connection with his teammates and allies, first seen when he regrets being unavailable and therefore unable to help with retrieving Sasuke Uchiha. From that point further he resolves to work on his teamwork skills with Kiba and Hinata. He even helps 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 is 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.

Shino speaks in a curious fashion, as noted by both Naruto and Kiba: a rudimentary explanation of his syntax is that he will ask a question before explaining a point, whereas most people will leave the question unspoken. Also, he tends to restate facts in a more technically correct fashion.

Appearance
Shino has bushy dark brown hair and is the tallest ninja of his graduating class. Shino is regularly seen sporting the same style as the rest of his clan, consisting of dark sunglasses and a high upturned collar jacket. 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, making it harder for people like Naruto to recognize him initially.

Chunin Exams
In the first part of the Chunin Exams, Shino used his insects to read the answers on other people's tests. During the second part, his knowledge of insects allowed his team to take another team's scroll with little effort; when leeches attack another team (from the Rain Village in the anime, from the Leaf Village in the manga), they stumbled into a net trap.

During the preliminary matches of the Chunin Exam, Shino is matched against Zaku Abumi. Because one of Zaku's arms is in a sling, Shino advises him to forfeit the match. Zaku refuses, and instead attacks Shino with his one good arm. In attacking Shino, Shino is given an opportunity to box in Zaku with bugs, forcing Zaku to choose between attacking him or attacking the bugs, leaving the other to attack Zaku from behind. Zaku chooses to attack both, and pulls his other arm out of its sling. As Zaku prepares to blast the two opposing forces, his arms detonate, making them unusable and putting him in immense pain. (In the manga, his right arm is even blown off of his body.) As Zaku writhes, Shino reveals that the tubes in Zaku's arms had been filled with his bugs, causing the pressure of Zaku's attack to go outward when it couldn't escape.

Shino is scheduled to fight against Kankuro in the final rounds, but Kankuro forfeits before their match begins and the invasion of Konoha starts soon afterwards.

Invasion of Konoha arc
When Kankuro flees the village, Shino follows him, wanting the fight he had been denied. Shino catches up to Kankuro about to fight with Sasuke, allowing Sasuke to continue on ahead while they have their match. Kankuro attacks Shino from a distance with his puppet, and Shino uses his bugs to make otherwise impossible evasions. A poisonous gas attack, however, catches Shino by surprise, though he is able to avoid the worst of it. As the battle progresses, Shino uses his bugs to eat the chakra strings that Kankuro uses to control his puppet, forcing Kankuro to frequently relinquish and reacquire control of his only weapon. All the while, Shino directs his bugs to the scent of a female bug planted upon Kankuro's head, and upon reaching Kankuro they consume his chakra. As Kankuro collapses due to the sapping of his strength, Shino collapses too, the poisonous gas taking effect. After regaining consciousness, Shino finds his father, Shibi Aburame, standing over him, using his own bugs to draw out the poison in Shino's body.

In the aftermath of the Sasuke Retrieval arc, Shino regrets being away with his father on a mission and therefore unable to help. Shino feels that, had he been able to help, the mission's outcome may have been different, and Sasuke may not have been able to abandon the village. Putting the past behind him, Shino resorts to working on his teamwork skills with Kiba and Hinata, helping the latter to improve her abilities.

Bikochu Beetle Hunt arc
Shino led Team 8 and Naruto to find the Bikochu Beetle, a rare insect with legendary tracking abilities, in the hopes that it could be used to find Sasuke. During this arc he displays his improved teamwork skills, recognizing how much effort Hinata is putting into her training. Despite their best efforts, defeating the Kamizuru clan and even finding the Bikochu, Naruto farted on the Bikochu, causing it to follow his scent, and rendering it useless.

Land of Sea arc
Shino is paired with Naruto and Ino under the command of Anko Mitarashi. They were ordered to find out what was terrorizing the country and defeat it if possible. Shino engaged Yoroi Akado in battle during the group's raid on the laboratory, and fought him alone so that Naruto and Ino would be able to reach Amachi. His battle resumed outside, during the battle over the ship carrying the payment, and he defeated Yoroi with Ino's help.

Motoyoshi Village arc
Shino was sent on another mission with Naruto alone to Motoyoshi Village, where Shino was to be a stand-in for a man named Futa. The goal of the mission was to not laugh during a funeral. Futa would lose his inheritance otherwise, and the ever serious Shino was sent as the perfect weapon for this task. However, due to sabotage (being drugged with a poison that causes one to faux-laugh), Shino had to sit out - leaving Naruto to attend the funeral in his place. Shino, unable to play his original role, learns that the man the funeral is for wasn't actually dead, and conspired with him to get everyone at the funeral to laugh, posing as the old man and using bug clones to take the form of the man's children when they were young. The man had staged the funeral to get his family to laugh once again. At the end of the mission, Shino threatened Naruto to keep him quiet about his discovery of Shino's sense of humor though he never actually mentioned what he would do if Naruto told anyone.

Kurama clan arc
Shino had a supporting role in the Kurama clan arc, as while Kiba complained about Kurenai leaving the team, Shino suggested that it was her decision to do so. He also correctly guessed that Kurenai was lying when she said that she sealed Yakumo's abilities out of jealousy, noting that while her hands were trembling when talking about her past, they stopped when she gave her reason. His bugs proved useful against the genjutsu used by the Kurama clan members and Yakumo, as according to him, insects' simpler nervous systems are harder to manipulate. Shino sent his bugs into the room where Yakumo was holding Kurenai in order to save his sensei, only to see them come back. He reunited with Kurenai after the Ido's defeat.

Part II
Two-an-a-half years later, Naruto goes looking for help in another mission to find Sasuke. He runs into Shino who he at first failed to recognize, only remembering him from his "annoying way of talking". When Naruto immediately recognized Kiba and Hinata, Shino took to sulking with his back turned, apparently hurt that Naruto didn't remember him. Neither Shino nor his teammates were able to help Naruto, as their team had already accepted a mission.

Three-Tails Arrival arc
In the anime, Team 8, under Kakashi's leadership, is sent to investigate one of Orochimaru's hideouts. It is destroyed upon their arrival, and they search the surrounding area in search for clues. When they find a number of people encased in crystal, a fate shared by some of Shino's bugs, they send a sample to Konoha for analysis. While waiting, Shino discovers that some of his bugs are resistant to the crystal, so breeds them to increase their numbers. Doing so requires that he separate from the team.

Later, he reunites with his team in time to help them avoid a trap. Though the enemies retreat, Shino discovers that his bugs have yet to develop a complete immunity to the crystal. Soon afterwards they are trapped by Guren, the source of the crystal, and Hinata is captured and encased in crystal. When back up arrives and saves her, she reveals that she survived the crystallizing process by encasing herself in chakra. Shino's bugs had done the same, which is why he had been unable to selectively breed an immunity. The team pursues Guren but is distracted by the appearance of the Three Tailed Beast.

Shino is assigned to help the members of the team that are trying to seal the beast. When Guren attacks in a n effort to stop them, Shino, knowing his bugs are the best chance at defeating her, stays back to prepare his insects. Once giving them enough chakra to coat themselves in, the bugs are able to completely overpower Guren's crystal techniques. Shino continues to protect the sealing team for the duration of the arc, in the process defeating Nurari.

Hunt for Uchiha arc
When Kakashi needed to build a squad for the hunt for Itachi Uchiha, he added the members of Team to his Eight Man Squad. When the squad encountered Tobi, Shino took charge of the fight to make up for not having been available to retrieve Sasuke. Even though he was able to completely encase Tobi in his bugs, Tobi escapes and is subsequently able to get to Sasuke before them.

Invasion of Pain
During the invasion of Pain, Shino joins other members of his family in fighting Konan. Later, he went back to celebrate Naruto's defeat of Pain.

Naruto Shippūden 2: Bonds
Shino played a brief role in the movie. He came to aid Kakashi, Sai, and Shikamaru by sending all his insects to the enemy base and destroyed it. In the end they watched Naruto destroy the ruins with the Guts Rasengan.

Abilities
In battle, Shino is able to take great use of his intelligence, being able to use his analytical and observational skills to make shrewd judgments with pinpoint reasoning. Like Shikamaru Nara, Shino prevails in battles by systematically staying several steps ahead of the enemy, as well as keeping a good distance to avoid enemy attacks. Because of this, 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 goes out of his way during the invasion of Konoha to fight Kankuro after he forfeited to avoid revealing his puppets' secrets.

Bug Techniques
As a member of the Aburame clan, Shino was infused at birth with a special breed of insects that feed on chakra, usually his own. In return, the insects attack and do other tasks as he commands. In battle he relies heavily on boxing an opponent in with his bugs and then consuming their chakra once they cannot escape.

Shino has found a number of other uses for these bugs, and as such has devised a number of jutsu that utilize them for varying purposes. The first of these jutsu that is seen is his Bug Clone Technique, which uses the bugs to create a copy of himself that is able to reform once struck. He can also use Bug Wall Technique to create a protective wall of insects to shield himself.

A female bug can be left on a target, which then can be tracked by its' scent by the male bug, or scout bugs can be sent out and return to tell the host information about the area. Shino can communicate with the bugs, and the bugs specialize in stealth because they make no noise or motion during combat, making Shino highly adept in espionage.

Additionally, as seen in the anime, it is demonstrated that the bugs are always undergoing evolutionary adaption through mutation and natural selection. While the Kikaichū only have a lifespan of a few hours, their life cycle ensures that there will always be females with eggs. Any variations that prove useful to the individual bug, (and consequently the bug-user) in combat will be passed on to the next generation, which can then be cultivated for their success against dangerous opponents in combat.

Other Media
Shino is a playable character in the most of the games from the Clash of Ninja and Ultimate Ninja video game series.

Trivia

 * "Shino" is the given name of the samurai Inuzuka of Hakkenden, a novel about a dog samurai. Kiba Inuzuka, too, is based off of Inuzuka of Hakkendan.
 * Abu can mean "Horsefly" and Rame can mean "Lame". His last name can mean "Lame Horsefly" or "Oil Woman".
 * Shino was ranked as the 26th most popular character in the sixth and most recent Naruto character popularity poll. He was the 21st most popular in the fifth poll. 25th in the fourth poll. He achieved his highest ranking, #12, in the third poll.
 * Shino, like Tenten, has never had his background explored.
 * His favorite foods are wild grass salad and winter melon.
 * During Naruto episode 149, Shino's eyes are momentarily seen. However, it was a side view that had too much distance to tell what the eye-color was.
 * According to the databooks:
 * Shino's favorite food is wild grass salad and winter melon, and his least favorites are tofu balls and any strong-smelling foods.
 * His favorite phrase is "Trump card" ("Ace up the Sleeve" in the English version).

Quotes

 * "This is what a real trump card is."
 * "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."
 * "Never underestimate your opponent, no matter how small they may seem."
 * "If you fight me, you won't be able to recover. Forfeit and withdraw."