Chapter Summaries

Orochimaru and Minato weighed the cost of attacking the Iwa Ninja, while Ōnoki and the Iwa leaders debated whether to continue the war. Fearing that Aburame Tetsumaru might possess the dreaded Mahākāla Insect, Ōnoki resolved to target him and then seek a chance to end the conflict.

• Orochimaru told Minato that the Iwa Ninja would not accept defeat until enough of them had died, but warned that their united forces would be difficult to overcome.
• Rōshi and Ōnoki argued before Ōnoki admitted that Iwagakure had lost its chance to win and could neither retreat nor advance without resistance from its ninja.
• Ōnoki, Rōshi, and Han suspected that Aburame Tetsumaru might possess Mahākāla Insects, weapons that had once devastated Iwa and remained a source of terror.
• Han’s Five-Tails Kokuō reacted fearfully to the Mahākāla Insect, recalling the explosion that had killed Kokuō’s previous Jinchuriki and left the tailed beast weakened.
• Ōnoki asked the Jinchuriki for support, and Rōshi agreed to help him target Tetsumaru while Han focused on holding back Minato.

Aburame Tetsumaru unleashed a vast swarm of giant insects against the Iwa Ninja defending an earthen mountain, overwhelming their defenses and forcing Ōnoki to order Earth Mountain Collapse. The Iwa Ninja’s final technique buried thousands of insects and swept both sides beneath the collapsing mountain, leaving the battlefield obscured by dust.

• Aburame Tetsumaru asked Orochimaru and Namikaze Minato to contain the two Jinchuriki while he attacked the Iwa Ninja with his insect swarm.
• Aburame Tetsumaru used Shadow Clones and a sealing array to summon a massive swarm of giant insects that advanced on the Iwa Ninja’s earthen mountain.
• Ōnoki and the Iwa Ninja fought off the insects with coordinated ninjutsu, but Rōshi’s lava moat and Ōnoki’s Dust Release only delayed the swarm.
• Ōnoki ordered the exhausted Iwa Ninja to activate Earth Mountain Collapse as another wave of insects approached.
• Aburame Tetsumaru sent the insects up the mountain in overwhelming numbers, and Ōnoki evacuated the younger ninja and elite fighters on a floating stone slab.
• The Iwa Ninja triggered more than six hundred detonations, collapsing the mountain and burying thousands of insects and the remaining fighters beneath a massive landslide.

Aburame Tetsumaru finished crushing the Iwa Ninja forces and discovered that a captured Kusagakure Jonin had recovered from serious injuries overnight. He traced the Jonin to a Kusagakure stronghold, found a captive red-haired woman with a healing ability, and took her away using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

• Aburame Tetsumaru used Self-Destruct Insects to break the surviving Iwa Ninja, and Konoha forces killed nearly all those who escaped the swarm.
• Orochimaru asked Aburame Tetsumaru what reward he wanted for his Giant Insect, but Tetsumaru decided Konoha had little to offer him.
• Aburame Tetsumaru recognized that the Kusagakure Jonin he had seen before had inexplicably healed, secretly marked him with the Flying Thunder God Technique, and followed a Kusagakure Genin to a hidden stronghold.
• Aburame Tetsumaru teleported to Jonin Xieli, killed him and the Genin who had abused a captive red-haired woman, then took the woman to a purple world.

Aburame Tetsumaru brought Uzumaki Tsumugi and her daughter Karin to New Tea, where they could live safely and Tsumugi would eventually assist with research. Meanwhile, Iwagakure surrendered to Konoha, but as the village celebrated its apparent victory, Sarutobi Hiruzen realized he had no experience planning an offensive against Kumogakure.

• Aburame Tetsumaru entrusted the unconscious Uzumaki Tsumugi and her daughter Karin to New Tea, where the children cared for them and explained their new home.
• Aburame Tetsumaru reassured Uzumaki Tsumugi that her surname was safe in his territory and told her to care for Karin, study, and later cooperate with research.
• Iwagakure’s forces failed to stop the Insect Swarm at Qiu-no-Hara, and Ōnoki negotiated a peace treaty with Sarutobi Hiruzen that ended the war between the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire.
• Konoha held a memorial ceremony for its fallen and celebrated Iwagakure’s withdrawal, while Hatake Kakashi remembered his father’s disgrace and buried goggles at Uchiha Obito’s grave.
• After the celebrations, Sarutobi Hiruzen considered the coming battle against Kumogakure and realized he did not know how to launch an offensive.

Aburame Tetsumaru told Orochimaru that Sarutobi Hiruzen had passed him over as Fourth Hokage to preserve a balance of power and pave the way for a Sarutobi successor. Orochimaru was left alone in the laboratory, troubled by Tetsumaru’s claim that Hiruzen planned to establish a Sarutobi dynasty.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen decided not to put Orochimaru in charge of Konoha’s final war against Kumogakure, while Konoha and Iwagakure ended their war and redirected their forces toward Kumogakure.
• A’s plan to defeat Iwagakure was disrupted when the Iwa Ninja forces in the Land of Rice Fields doubled, while Konoha lacked a suitable commander for its forces in the Land of Hot Water.
• Orochimaru exchanged the latest version of the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu for Aburame Tetsumaru’s knowledge and asked why Sarutobi Hiruzen had not chosen him as Fourth Hokage.
• Tetsumaru argued that Hiruzen maintained a balance among Konoha’s powerful ninja and selected Namikaze Minato because Orochimaru was too strong to control as a successor.
• Tetsumaru claimed that Hiruzen intended to weaken the Fourth Hokage and prepare Sarutobi Asuma to become Fifth Hokage, pointing to the Sarutobi Clan’s growing strength as the basis for a dynasty.
• Orochimaru considered Tetsumaru’s conjecture and remained alone in the laboratory, despondent and lost in thought.

Aburame Tetsumaru finished memorizing and uploading the Uchiha materials, then learned that organizing the Erduo civilization’s vast archives required enormous effort. The Erduo Star Road Map revealed both the Otsutsuki’s likely travel time and Grand Yang Fish’s suspicion that the cosmic highways had been artificially constructed.

• Aburame Tetsumaru stunned Orochimaru by arguing that the Sarutobi Clan’s enormous population could not have grown without dishonorable sources of wealth.
• Aburame Tetsumaru completed memorizing the Uchiha materials by March of Konoha’s forty-eighth year and uploaded them into the Spirit Sea.
• The Avatars showed Aburame Tetsumaru their far larger workload and explained the scale of the Erduo archives, translation, and unit-conversion effort.
• An Avatar proposed assimilating the Erduo People by converting their measurements, unifying their writing, and rewriting their history, and Aburame Tetsumaru encouraged the plan.
• The Avatars reviewed the Erduo Star Road Map and estimated that the Otsutsuki would need more than ten years to reach them.
• Grand Yang Fish argued that the Star Roads’ carefully planned routes suggested the cosmic highways had been artificially built, silencing the Spirit Sea.

Aburame Tetsumaru and his allies studied evidence that the Star Road had been built by a vanished super-civilization, then planned how to expand their own civilization and prepare for the Otsutsuki. After outlining a new education system and discussing the Spirit Sea network, they realized their civilization still lacked an official name.

• Grand Yang Fish and the Aburame Tetsumarus concluded that the Star Road and its seeded life-bearing worlds likely came from a vanished super-civilization, and they estimated they had at least ten years before danger arrived.
• Aburame Tetsumaru and Dragon Heart agreed they needed more educated people, while the Avatars reported progress on the Spirit Sea Server and persuaded Dice's Tactical Group to help test it.
• Aburame Tetsumaru introduced Weary Bird and Shooting Star as successful new Advents, ordered mental health evaluations for future Advent attempts, and discussed the Star Road and the approaching Otsutsuki with the assembled group.
• Aburame Tetsumaru explained plans to use Brain-Insert Chips to educate children and offer them a choice between serving as administrators or undergoing the risky Advent Ritual.
• Politician pointed out that their civilization had no official name, leaving Aburame Tetsumaru and the others wondering what to call it.

Aburame Tetsumaru and the others decided to incorporate the Erduo People's Advanced Clones into their civilization and use them to reform the Land of Water. After learning how the Erduo nobles' destruction of the middle class led to millennia of decline, Aburame Tetsumaru ordered the group to prioritize settling the clones and begin the reforms.

• Man of Culture asked what had happened to the captured Sky Ninja, and an Avatar said they had been eliminated because they were too old and entrenched in violence to teach.
• Station Master proposed incorporating the Erduo People's Advanced Clones, and Aburame Tetsumaru and Grand Yang Fish agreed that the clones could become citizens through education and cultural integration.
• Aburame Tetsumaru assigned twenty thousand Advanced Clones to New Tea and the rest to the Land of Water, while Weary Bird volunteered to use the retiring Insect Swarm to carry out sweeping social reforms.
• Station Master explained that the Erduo nobles' elimination of the middle class led to infighting, shrinking territory, and stagnation until religion helped preserve the civilization before the Otsutsuki Invasions drove its last six noble families to flee.
• Aburame Tetsumaru ordered work on Erduo records slowed in favor of settling the Erduo People and exchanging for Advanced Clones, then gave Weary Bird all mobile forces to reform the Land of Water quickly.

Aburame Tetsumaru met Uchiha Itachi, judged his understanding and ideals worthy, and welcomed him into their civilization. Itachi agreed to travel to the Land of Tea for a medical examination, then learned that the civilization he had joined did not yet have a name.

• Politician recommended Uchiha Itachi to Aburame Tetsumaru, who agreed to meet him after hearing that Itachi’s thinking met their standards.
• Aburame Tetsumaru watched Itachi train, introduced himself, and asked the boy to explain his understanding of the Shinobi World.
• Itachi described the causes of past and future conflict and said he wanted knowledge, power, and companions who shared his ideals.
• Aburame Tetsumaru welcomed Itachi as a comrade and told him to arrange a visit to the Land of Tea for a medical examination.
• Aburame Tetsumaru left using the Flying Thunder God Technique, and Politician told Itachi their civilization had not yet chosen a name.

Uchiha Itachi returned from training healthier and more confident, while Konoha’s political struggle over the Fourth Hokage exposed how thoroughly Sarutobi Hiruzen’s power had faded. Aburame Tetsumaru and Politician took Itachi to the Transfer Orbit Space Station to attend the launch of satellites carrying the completed Spirit Sea Servers.

• Uchiha Itachi trained with Politician, received treatment for malnutrition, learned the Chakra Pathway Technique, and returned home eager to meet his soon-to-be-born sibling.
• As Namikaze Minato and Orochimaru competed for the Hokage position, Sarutobi Hiruzen’s support weakened, and his era effectively ended.
• Aburame Tetsumaru learned that Orochimaru was completing Living Corpse Reincarnation and preparing to defect, while Politician explained why he had rushed his plans.
• Aburame Tetsumaru and Politician met Uchiha Itachi, and an Avatar disguised as Itachi to conceal his departure from Konoha.
• The group traveled to the Transfer Orbit Space Station, where they prepared to watch the launch of satellites carrying the completed Spirit Sea Servers.

Uchiha Itachi awakened his Sharingan after seeing the Shinobi World from space, while Politician explained the Otsutsuki and their civilization to him. Meanwhile, Aburame Tetsumaru restarted Chakra Rune research and oversaw the successful launch of Cosmos, an interstellar virtual world that opened the way for the civilization to grow beyond its population bottleneck.

• Uchiha Itachi awakened his Sharingan aboard the space station, and Politician congratulated him as the Otsutsuki praised and gifted him.
• Politician explained the Otsutsuki, the Advent, and the wider civilization to Uchiha Itachi, who became captivated by the moon, Spherical Sea, and Purple Thunder Star.
• An Avatar delivered new Chakra Rune research results to Aburame Tetsumaru, and the Avatar chose the name Turing before requesting an Advent Ritual.
• Turing and the Avatars activated ten Insect Cocoons containing Cloud Servers, and experiment participants used Key Jade Pendants to connect their Mental Marks to the Spirit Sea.
• Turing confirmed that participants from the space station, moon, Spherical Sea, and Purple Thunder Star had entered the virtual world Cosmos without lag.
• Aburame Tetsumaru and the Advent celebrated the successful interstellar network, which allowed the civilization to expand its membership and accelerate its use of the Erduo Civilization's legacy.

The launch of ten Insect Cocoons ended with their routes scattered unpredictably, and Uchiha Itachi was diagnosed with a severe Bloodline Disease caused by his Sharingan. After the researchers proposed a treatment, Itachi returned to Konoha and grew more dissatisfied with his father’s political maneuvering, while Aburame Tetsumaru considered using Itachi to remove Fugaku as Clan Head.

• Aburame Tetsumaru ordered the ten Insect Cocoons launched, and randomized Spray Bugs scattered their flight paths across the Solar System.
• Doctor New Tea diagnosed Itachi’s Bloodline Disease, and a laboratory avatar proposed curing it with a medicine tailored from Hashirama Cells.
• Politician told the avatar that Itachi had mastered the Chakra Pathway Technique, and Politician and Aburame Tetsumaru forbade experiments on him.
• Aburame Tetsumaru returned Itachi to Konoha, where Itachi learned his father was visiting the Aburame Clan Head and reflected on Fugaku’s failed attempt to unite the clans.
• Aburame Tetsumaru judged Fugaku an obstacle and considered using Itachi to remove him as Clan Head.

Namikaze Minato won the Jonin vote and became the Fourth Hokage, while Aburame Tetsumaru discovered Orochimaru was preparing to leave Konoha and resolved to recruit him. Jiraiya returned too late to witness Minato’s selection, and Minato’s public appearance marked the start of his era as Hokage.

• The Jonin voted overwhelmingly for Namikaze Minato, but Aburame Tetsumaru and several others voted for Orochimaru to spare him a humiliating near-unanimous defeat.
• Orochimaru left the conference by teleporting inside a giant python, and Sarutobi Hiruzen formally gave Minato the Hokage hat.
• Aburame Tetsumaru found Orochimaru’s hidden laboratory, traded money for the python teleportation technique, and concluded that Orochimaru was preparing to defect.
• Tetsumaru decided to recruit Orochimaru by stopping and wearing him down after his defection, then forcing him to join Civilization.
• Jiraiya returned to Konoha and learned that his student Minato had already become Hokage, then fled in shock.
• Minato donned the Hokage’s haori and hat and appeared publicly as the Fourth Hokage.

Aburame Tetsumaru’s research produced a life-saving Elixir Insect and new Shikotsumyaku-based insects, while Namikaze Minato struggled to build a power base as Hokage. The chapter left Tetsumaru with a possible way to save Minato and Kushina, alongside a powerful but unfinished new weapon.

• Namikaze Minato discovered that Sarutobi Hiruzen, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura were blocking his authority, so he began building support among Konoha’s clans and ninja.
• Aburame Tetsumaru’s Insect Cocoons formed a mysterious connection with the Insect Swarm, and a new insect appeared in the Cosmos World.
• Tetsumaru’s laboratory developed the Elixir Insect, which could rapidly heal injuries and keep even a mortally wounded person alive.
• Tetsumaru realized the Elixir Insect could help save Uzumaki Kushina during the Nine-Tails’ attack and allow Namikaze Minato to face Uchiha Obito.
• Research on Kaguya Kimimaro’s genes produced the giant Hydralisk, nicknamed Spit, and the underground-attacking Lurker, nicknamed Earth Spike, though the Lurker remained unfinished.

Aburame Tetsumaru completed the Third-Generation Insect Swarm by introducing the Thunder Beast, redesigned ground units, and powerful new explosives. After Dice questioned whether it could face Shinobi World’s strongest fighters, Tetsumaru argued it could survive and stalemate them, then revealed that progress toward creating heroes was close.

• Aburame Tetsumaru equipped the Thunder Beast with Ash Bone Giant Scythes and redesigned it as a mobile giant combat unit capable of launching Explosive Locusts and using ranged attacks before charging into close combat.
• Aburame Tetsumaru replaced the Mantis with the heavily armored, regenerative Jump Bug and retired the ground-based Wind Giant Insect and Thunder Giant Insect.
• Aburame Tetsumaru synthesized stable All-Nitrogen Particles and used them to improve the range, size, and destructive power of Explosive Locusts and Self-Destruct Insects.
• Aburame Tetsumaru completed the Third-Generation Insect Swarm, and Dice challenged its lack of air and space units and its inability to defeat top-tier fighters.
• Aburame Tetsumaru told Dice the new swarm could withstand Six Paths Madara and force him out of the Shinobi World even if it could not win outright, while Jupiter warned that they still needed Six Paths-level power.
• Grand Yang Fish lamented that the swarm had no heroes, and Aburame Tetsumaru said he already had breakthrough progress and that August was the season of harvest.

Aburame Tetsumaru completed Heroic Spirit Reincarnation, a technique that used captured souls to animate blank bodies, and Shimura Danzō's soul finally dissipated during the experiments. As signs of the Nine-Tails attack appeared in Konoha, Tetsumaru prepared to protect Kushina but remained uneasy that he had overlooked something.

• Aburame Tetsumaru demonstrated Heroic Spirit Reincarnation, explaining that its sealing array drew captured souls into blank bodies and showed Shimura Danzō reincarnated as a Blade Mantis.
• Aburame Tetsumaru and the other Avatars used the technique to study Chakra, concluding that Chakra existed throughout life and that Princess Kaguya may have imposed control over it.
• Shimura Danzō's soul dissipated, so Aburame Tetsumaru captured a Suna Ninja's soul to finish the experiments, while Doctor prepared a body for Hero White Fang.
• As the Third Hokage and Fourth Hokage's factions competed for clan support, Orochimaru attacked Root Ninja and White Zetsu sightings surged beneath Konoha.
• Aburame Tetsumaru suspected Black Zetsu and Uchiha Obito were preparing to target pregnant Uzumaki Kushina, so he monitored likely targets and secretly positioned forces and a Thunder Beast in Konoha.
• Aburame Tetsumaru finished his preparations but felt that he had overlooked something.

After Orochimaru defected, Aburame Tetsumaru confronted him, tested his strength, and then helped him fight off Root Ninja sent to capture him. Tetsumaru killed the pursuing Root squad and left Orochimaru to handle the scene as he continued his escape.

• Root discovered Orochimaru's laboratories and their dead Root Ninja, forcing Sarutobi Hiruzen to lead a failed pursuit and let Orochimaru escape.
• Tetsumaru gave Orochimaru an Elixir Insect that healed his injuries, then challenged him with two avatars; Orochimaru and Manda fought them for fifteen minutes.
• Tetsumaru refused to accept a Root leader's claim of authority without checking the Hokage's order, then took the order and challenged the Sarutobi Jonin over the Fourth Hokage's authority.
• Orochimaru scratched through the Konoha emblem on his forehead protector and handed it to Tetsumaru, who killed the Sarutobi Jonin and eight Root Ninja with Sound Release techniques.
• Tetsumaru left Orochimaru to handle the battlefield and returned toward Konoha, realizing he had apparently killed Konohamaru's father.

Orochimaru defected from Konoha, and Jiraiya left soon afterward to search for him, leaving Konoha without its Sannin. Meanwhile, Weary Bird’s sweeping reforms in the Land of Water crushed resistance and repelled Kirigakure’s counterattack, and he returned to building the country’s institutions.

• After Aburame Tetsumaru left, Orochimaru inspected the Meat Worm, then departed with young ninja after disposing of the Root Ninja corpses.
• Black Zetsu told Obito that Tetsumaru had mastered Senjutsu and could sense White Zetsu, and they decided to leave dealing with him to someone suited for the task.
• After learning of Orochimaru’s crimes and defection, Jiraiya searched Konoha, then left to bring Orochimaru back despite Sarutobi Hiruzen’s pleas.
• Weary Bird imposed land and political reforms in the Land of Water, confiscated resisters’ property, and forced captured lords into labor at Salt Fields.
• Weary Bird recruited and paid Water Ninja to fight alongside the Insect Swarm, while Kirigakure’s ninja defected and its counterattack collapsed after forty-six days.
• Weary Bird returned to organizing the Land of Water’s economic, educational, and examination systems.

As Uzumaki Kushina went into labor, Aburame Tetsumaru and his allies prepared for a possible attack, while Uchiha Obito and Pain infiltrated the secret delivery site. Obito released the Nine-Tails in Konoha, beginning the Night of the Nine-Tails.

• After Sarutobi Asuma joined the Anbu, Namikaze Minato and the Third Hokage began transferring power and preparing for war.
• Aburame Tetsumaru warned Uchiha Itachi to protect Sasuke and Lady Mikoto and keep the shelter calm if danger struck on October 10.
• Lady Biwako helped Uzumaki Kushina give birth as Namikaze Minato comforted her in the hidden delivery room.
• Uchiha Obito and Black and White Zetsu killed the Anbu guards, and Obito enlisted Deva Path Pain to help deal with Aburame Tetsumaru.
• Uchiha Obito summoned the controlled Nine-Tails on a deserted Konoha street, beginning the attack.

Aburame Tetsumaru watched the Nine-Tails devastate Konoha before sending Jump Bugs and Hydralisks to restrain it. Four Thousand-to-One Jump Bugs capable of using the Eight Inner Gates battered the beast, leaving the fight still underway as the Konoha Ninjas cheered.

• Obito summoned the Nine-Tails into Konoha, abandoned control of it, and went to stop Namikaze Minato from approaching.
• As the Nine-Tails killed civilians and destroyed the town center, Tetsumaru summoned Jump Bugs that pinned it down until its tails and shockwaves broke their hold.
• Hydralisks shot corrosive bone spikes into the Nine-Tails, and a Thousand-to-One Jump Bug opened the Gate of Limit and struck it with enough force to send it flying.
• Three more Thousand-to-One Jump Bugs joined the first, repeatedly hitting the Nine-Tails and drawing cheers from the Konoha Ninjas.
• The Aburame Clan Head found Aburame Kazekazu on the battlefield and ordered clansmen to take him to safety, while Tetsumaru turned his attention back to the fight.