“He has bugs that drain Chakra and his body is a freaking hive”: Masashi Kishimoto Gave Broken Powers to a Friend of Naruto but Underutilized Him

SUMMARY

• In Naruto, there were many characters who had great potential but were ignored by Masashi Kishimoto.
• Shino Aburama is one such character who barely had any fights throughout the series, and the ones he had were lackluster.
• It's a shame that Shino’s abilities weren't explored well in the series when his bugs were capable of leaving his opponents utterly defenseless.

Masashi Kishimoto crafted many memorable characters with their unique motivations and goals in Naruto. Whether you like characters with a combination of cool and powerful like Kakashi or beauty and brute like Tsunade, Naruto has them all. However, some of these characters never reached their true peak or potential. This is simply because the cast of the series was full of talented yet underdeveloped shinobi.

Shino Aburame in a still from Naruto Shippuden | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.

There are numerous examples of such characters, from Rock Lee to Yamanaka Ino, but the most underrated of them all is undoubtedly Shino Aburame. Even in the original series, when the young genins had their moments to shine during the Sasuke rescue mission, Shino was pushed to the sidelines. And that’s a shame because many of his abilities were overpowered, capable of leaving the strongest shinobi defenseless, but we never got to see any of that.

Shino’s character arc throughout Naruto 

A still from Kankuro vs. Shino | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.

Shino was introduced in the series alongside the other genins. Just like everyone else, he passed every stage of the Chunin Exams up until the last one. He defeated Zaku during the one-on-one match and was supposed to fight Kankuro. But the latter pulled out from the fight to keep his abilities concealed. Shino pursued Kankuro at the end of the arc and fought him as they were supposed to. 

The sand shinobi were exceptional as we had already seen with Gaara and Temari. Kankuro was no different, but Shino managed to defeat him by countering his attacks and draining his chakra with the bugs. However, he was also poisoned by Kankuro and was unconscious by the end of the fight.

Shino in the original series | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.

After the showdown with Kankuro, there were barely any moments where Shino went all out or made use of his abilities. In Naruto Shippuden, he had brief spars with Konan and Tobi. While he encased Tobi completely with his bugs, Tobi was too powerful for him. As for Konan, the fight was off-screen. Looking back, Shino wasn’t given any proper fights after the Chunin Exams arc. 

The untapped potential of Shino Aburame 

Shino’s main weapon was the bugs. He has primarily two types of bugs: kikaichu, the chakra-eating ones, and kidaichu, the specialized breed of bugs that could even devour the opponent’s flesh along with the chakra. The bugs allowed Shino to deplete the chakra of his opponents, rendering them useless in fights.

Shino’s bugs could trace his opponents | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.

The specialized bugs were even more threatening for his opponents. In this way, Shino has some overpowered abilities that were never explored properly, as one Reddit user pointed out. 

Moreover, Shino was smarter and more strategic than most of his peers except for the likes of Shikamaru and Neji. While he was not strong enough for the top-tier characters, Shino could easily pose a challenge to the mid-tier ones. It would have been good to see him use his abilities at full throttle. However, Masashi Kishimoto seemingly had other plans or more accurately, no plans at all for the character in mind. 

Naruto is available to stream on Netflix.

Written by Laveena Joshi

Articles Published: 440

Laveena holds a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism with a keen interest in entertainment journalism. Known to defend Naruto with her life, her love for anime has turned into great appreciation for the Japanese Culture. Besides considering herself a veteran weeb, she's also a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur. Better if the perfect brew is paired with a random video essay from YouTube. Blending her love for anime with the know-hows of content writing, she is now an anime content writer at FandomWire.