Chapter Summaries

Aburame Tetsumaru helped establish Konoha’s Giant Insect Squadron, then spent months engineering a heavily armored, obedient Mantis for its forces. After learning that Dan Katō had died and his former teammates were dispersing, Tetsumaru reunited with friends before returning to research, where he discovered an important biological sample at home.

• Konoha officially established the Giant Insect Squadron and a nearby Giant Insect Ranch, with Aburame Tetsumaru and his disciples responsible for training its members.
• Shennong learned that the Sky Ninja forces had been wiped out, gathered the surviving children, and found a complete set of Aerial Fortress equipment hidden by his teacher.
• Aburame Tetsumaru spent months modifying Mantises, resolving their structural flaws and producing a large, armored, aggressive insect suited to charging into battle.
• Aburame Tetsumaru learned that Dan Katō had died in the Land of Rain, Kirigakure was embroiled in civil war, and Sunagakure was losing ground to Iwagakure.
• Aburame Tetsumaru held reunions and gatherings with his classmates, friends, and disciples as Team 121 came to an end.
• Aburame Tetsumaru returned to work on mass-producing Mantises, but set the task aside after discovering a more important biological sample in his home.

Aburame Tetsumaru investigated the Many-headed Slime Mold and began adapting it into a food-producing foundation for the Insect Swarm. After his research produced fourteen fungal strains suited to different diets, a long-term assignment to protect Konoha's assets pulled him away from the project.

• Aburame Tetsumaru struggled with the painful return of information from his long-running Shadow Clones and worried about the distant clones he had sent to the Land of Wind and beyond.
• Aburame Tetsumaru traced a new fungus that had devoured insects in his childhood laboratory to the Aburame family's Ant Sugar ranch, where the clans mounted a major effort to eradicate it.
• Aburame Tetsumaru named the spreading fungus Many-headed Slime Mold and moved his research to a laboratory sixteen hundred meters underground to develop it into Creep for the Insect Swarm.
• Aburame Tetsumaru discovered that the colony consisted of more than a dozen cooperating fungi, then fed it Mantis tissue until it could digest Mantises and serve as a basic Creep model.
• Aburame Tetsumaru produced fourteen fungal masses adapted to different diets and planned to crossbreed them, but a new Hokage assignment sent him away to protect Konoha's assets.

Shimura Danzō ruined Konoha’s strategy against Iwagakure by provoking a direct confrontation, forcing Konoha to spread its forces across several fronts. Aburame Tetsumaru protested his assignment to the Land of Tea, then helped Orochimaru develop sound-based ninjutsu and realized their work could shape Otogakure’s future Sound Release techniques.

• Shimura Danzō led Konoha’s forces through the Land of Rain to challenge Iwagakure, after which Sunagakure withdrew and Konoha lost the strategic advantage Nara Shikaku had planned to secure.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen deployed more than twenty thousand ninja across the fronts, assigning Aburame Tetsumaru to garrison the Land of Tea while his students went to the Land of Grass.
• Aburame Tetsumaru staged a public protest, but Orochimaru exposed that the protester was a Shadow Clone and confirmed that Tetsumaru would carry out his assignment.
• Orochimaru joined Aburame Tetsumaru in studying cicadas and sound-wave techniques, then asked him to gather intelligence about the Land of Tea.
• Aburame Tetsumaru connected his sound research with Otogakure’s future Sound Release ninjutsu and looked forward to learning from its techniques.

Aburame Tetsumaru transported an anesthetized Giant Scorpion across the Land of Rivers and reached a secluded island in the Land of Tea. There, he began incubating a full-sized Mother Hive and successfully created purple Creep with the Many-headed Slime Mold.

• Aburame Tetsumaru joined his Shadow Clones at the Land of Wind border, built a covered raft for the Giant Scorpion, and set off downriver.
• Valley Hidden Village ninja tried to stop and board Tetsumaru’s raft, but he killed the six attackers and later used Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave to pass a waterfall.
• After six days at sea, Tetsumaru reached a rocky island in the Land of Tea, moved the Giant Scorpion into a cave, and planned to use the island as a laboratory for giant insects.
• Tetsumaru placed the Brain Bug on the island and began incubating a full-sized Mother Hive.
• Tetsumaru released the Many-headed Slime Mold onto a sea beast, and the fungus spread across the island before turning into purple Creep around the Mother Hive.

Aburame Tetsumaru discovered that seawater had poisoned the Creep with salt and rushed to develop an oceanic Mother Hive to save it. After building and testing new subsystems, he completed the island’s self-sufficient Mother Hive and planned land, deep-sea, and space versions.

• Aburame Tetsumaru collected hundreds of tissue samples from the Giant Scorpion before reporting to Jonin Lan Sai in the Land of Tea.
• Aburame Tetsumaru returned to the island and found the Creep and Mother Hive weakened by salt buildup after exhausting the island’s freshwater.
• Aburame Tetsumaru used Water Release to clean and replenish the Creep, then created Shadow Clones to research oceanic waste-processing systems and other organs.
• Aburame Tetsumaru implanted Abyss Pool to process salt and organic matter, then grafted filter-feeding kelp onto the Creep to harvest food from seawater.
• Aburame Tetsumaru found that marine animals were eating the kelp and cultivated insects to prey on the shrimp that resisted its defenses.
• Aburame Tetsumaru completed the oceanic Mother Hive and planned to build land-based, deep-sea, and space versions.

Aburame Tetsumaru traced his headaches and fever to memories returning from Shadow Clone Orbs he had launched into the Sea of Souls three years earlier. After reviewing his failed experiments and the strange effects they had on the Three Sacred Grounds sages, he decided to try colliding with the silent, greatest light orb again.

• Aburame Tetsumaru discovered that memories from three hundred Shadow Clones had caused his headaches and fever, and learned the clones had endured three years of madness or silence before returning their experiences.
• Aburame Tetsumaru recalled how his early Sea of Souls experiments revealed that Shadow Clone Orbs could orbit, collide with other souls, and return only faint or chaotic feedback.
• Aburame Tetsumaru's repeated collisions with light orbs suspected to belong to Gamamaru, the White Snake Sage, and the Katsuyu Sage produced strange dreams, suspicion, and confusion for the sages.
• Aburame Tetsumaru repeatedly struck the largest dim light orb and learned that its consciousness seemed frozen behind layers of barriers, then spent months launching sealed clones toward distant stars without feedback.
• Aburame Tetsumaru returned to his insect research and, after realizing three years had passed since his last collision attempt, decided to target the silent, greatest light orb again.

Aburame Tetsumaru established contact with the sealed Otsutsuki Kaguya in the Sea of Souls, but fled after discovering that the Sage of Six Paths had reinforced her seal. He turned to developing a Wind Giant Insect, and as he worked on overcoming the clone body’s limits, time advanced to Konoha Year 39 and the front lines changed.

• Tetsumaru conducted 144 Shadow Clone collision tests before receiving a response from the dim light sphere, then gradually awakened and began chatting with Otsutsuki Kaguya.
• Tetsumaru limited himself to sixty Shadow Clones per night and shared broad information about the Shinobi World while withholding sensitive details from Kaguya.
• Tetsumaru noticed chains sealing Kaguya’s light sphere and logged out, fearing the Sage of Six Paths had detected their conversations.
• Tetsumaru began the Wind Giant Insect project, studying the Giant Scorpion’s internal skeleton and hydraulic systems to support its massive body.
• Tetsumaru’s first two cloned giant insects survived for only three and seven days, so he began experimenting with producing insect eggs from somatic cells.
• Tetsumaru worked for months on converting somatic cells into reproductive cells, unaware that the year had reached Konoha Year 39 and the front lines had changed.

Konoha stabilized its two-front war under Orochimaru’s defensive strategy, but Kumogakure’s Raikage and B broke through Konoha’s defenses after Shimura Danzō failed as a reinforcement. Aburame Tetsumaru received orders to join the northeastern battlefield, then traveled with Aburame Eiji and discovered that months of isolation had made him a chatterbox.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen removed Shimura Danzō from command and appointed Orochimaru to lead the forces fighting Iwagakure, while Mitokado Homura held the line against Kumogakure.
• Orochimaru’s active-defense tactics stalled Iwagakure, and Hatake Sakumo drove Ōnoki and Rōshi from the battlefield.
• The Raikage and B broke through Konoha’s defenses, and Shimura Danzō’s failed counterattack forced Konoha to surrender territory and retreat.
• Aburame Tetsumaru received orders to reinforce the northeastern front, sealed his insect projects, and returned to Konoha before setting out.
• Aburame Tetsumaru met Aburame Eiji and traveled with him, enthusiastically agreeing with Eiji’s complaints until Eiji fell silent.

Aburame Tetsumaru’s squad discussed how to hold off the Raikage after his attack devastated Konoha’s front line. The Raikage challenged Tetsumaru by name, and Tetsumaru was summoned to headquarters while his clanmates secretly arranged to protect him.

• Aburame Shibi lamented that the clan remembered Shikuroo and Tetsumaru but forgot him.
• The Raikage recognized Tetsumaru as the insect user who had escaped him years earlier and ordered Yuan Jing to find him.
• Konoha formed Jonin mobile squads, but the Raikage ambushed the Hyuga squad, defeated Konoha’s forces, and caused the loss of seven Jonin.
• Tetsumaru and his Aburame squad planned to use Insect Clones to delay the Raikage while keeping their real bodies safe.
• The Raikage carved a challenge for Tetsumaru into a stone, and Commander Mitokado Homura summoned Tetsumaru to explain himself.
• Tetsumaru’s squadmates refused to accompany him but sent word to the clan and wrote to Orochimaru in case he was in danger.

Aburame Tetsumaru accepted a mission to lure the Raikage into a Konoha ambush and survived the Raikage’s first strike using his reserve Bio-Armor. The ambush turned into a slaughter, and Mitokado Homura called for Hatake Sakumo as Aburame Tetsumaru watched from the forest.

• Aburame Tetsumaru equipped his improved reserve Appendage Insect Bio-Armor and negotiated higher payment and Sealing Technique knowledge from Nara Shikaku for serving as bait.
• The Raikage learned of Konoha’s plan and prepared to use the ambush to wipe out Konoha’s Jonin, while warning his forces about the unstable Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.
• After the Raikage failed to appear for five days, Konoha’s advisers continued the operation, and Aburame Tetsumaru signaled the ambush when the Raikage entered his field of vision.
• The Raikage shattered Aburame Tetsumaru’s armor with his first strike, but Aburame Tetsumaru escaped as Uchiha Setsuna and more than sixty Konoha Jonin surrounded the Raikage.
• The Raikage broke through the encirclement and killed or injured several Jonin, prompting Mitokado Homura to call for Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang.

Aburame Tetsumaru watched Konoha’s Jonin nearly seal the Raikage before a Kumogakure ambush forced them to retreat and suffer heavy losses. When Mitokado Homura brought a new group of Konoha reinforcements into danger, Tetsumaru finally stopped pretending to be weak and struck the Raikage.

• Konoha’s Jonin used coordinated attacks and horse-trap pits to slow the Raikage, then followed Jonin Kong Nü’s plan to trap him in an Earth Prison Dome and begin a Ninefold Mountain Seal.
• Kumogakure Jonin ambushed the Konoha force while the Raikage was confined, forcing Jonin Kong Nü and the others to abandon the seal and escape.
• The Raikage broke out, killed seven Konoha Jonin, and stopped to recover as Aburame Tetsumaru escaped the encirclement underground.
• Mitokado Homura arrived with more than three hundred Konoha Chunin and Genin, prompting the Raikage to charge at them and the surviving Jonin to turn back to protect them.
• Tetsumaru raised a wall of insects to block the Raikage, then punched him in the jaw and sent him flying.

Aburame Tetsumaru held off the Raikage long enough for the Konoha forces to survive, then used a giant summoned insect’s Wind Cannon to drive the Raikage from the battlefield before collapsing from his injuries. After waking in Konoha’s hospital, Tetsumaru reunited with his father and learned that the Hokage had promoted him to Jonin.

• Aburame Tetsumaru joined the Konoha Jonin in battle, using his Insect Swarm and Bio-Armor to occupy the Raikage while the others fought the Kumogakure ninjas.
• Yuan Jing cleared much of the swarm with Storm Release, allowing the Raikage to strike Tetsumaru and damage his Bio-Armor.
• Aburame Tetsumaru summoned the Wind Giant Insect, whose Wind Cannon swept the Raikage away from the battlefield, then fell unconscious as the Konoha forces retreated.
• Aburame Tetsumaru woke in the hospital, where his father, Aburame Kazekazu, and a stream of visitors celebrated his survival and thanked him.
• Aburame Tetsumaru told Aburame Kazekazu that he had faced the Raikage because he could not watch his father die after raising him for seventeen years.
• Aburame Kazekazu told Tetsumaru that the Hokage had promoted him to Jonin, while Tetsumaru suspected the Hokage was troubled by his sudden prominence.

Aburame Tetsumaru decided to avoid becoming a rebel ninja by establishing a semi-independent base in the Land of Tea, and Sarutobi Hiruzen agreed to let him remain stationed there. After recovering from his wounds, Tetsumaru began preparing to leave Konoha and build his own territory.

• Shimura Danzō asked Sarutobi Hiruzen to transfer Aburame Tetsumaru into Root, but Hiruzen refused and drove Danzō out of his office.
• Aburame Tetsumaru concluded that Konoha had become a constraint on his research and planned to settle permanently in the Land of Tea without formally defecting.
• After two weeks in bed, Aburame Tetsumaru recovered at home, studied Sealing Techniques during his medical leave, and waited for the Hokage to visit.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen visited Aburame Tetsumaru, and Tetsumaru offered to leave Konoha and remain stationed in the southern Land of Tea.
• Aburame Tetsumaru hinted that he wanted freedom to study Sealing Techniques, and Hiruzen praised his dedication before leaving without objecting to the plan.
• Aburame Tetsumaru delegated his studies to a Shadow Clone and began preparing supplies, laboratory equipment, and other resources for his journey.

Aburame Tetsumaru celebrated reaching Mother Hive Island by launching the Overlord Insect and Rocket Insect, which successfully sent the Sky Eye Insect into orbit. After Hatake Sakumo’s suicide, Tetsumaru captured and stabilized his soul as a satellite, then finally received his transfer order and left Konoha.

• Aburame Tetsumaru launched the Overlord Insect carrying the Rocket Insect, and the Rocket Insect sent the Sky Eye Insect into orbit.
• Aburame Tetsumaru’s discovery of Kamizuru Clan bees helped trigger Konoha’s battle against an invading force of Iwa Ninja, which Aburame Shibi led to victory.
• Hatake Sakumo led Konoha’s campaign against Kumogakure, killing many Jonin and forcing the Raikage to withdraw and abandon occupied territory.
• Root spread rumors that helped break Hatake Sakumo, who committed suicide, and Aburame Tetsumaru captured Sakumo’s falling sphere of light with Sealing Technique.
• Aburame Tetsumaru made Hatake Sakumo’s sphere of light rotate steadily as his satellite, then received his transfer order and left Konoha.
• After Aburame Tetsumaru left Konoha, the Hokage removed Shimura Danzō from his position in Root.

Aburame Tetsumaru spent months developing a compact nuclear weapon from radioactive ore and tested it on an uninhabited island. The weapon detonated successfully, but the blast triggered volcanic activity and revealed extraordinarily powerful Chakra fluctuations that Tetsumaru wanted to investigate.

• Aburame Tetsumaru’s first satellite launches failed, but successive tests brought the Satellite Insect close to completing an orbit before he ran out of Rocket Insects.
• Tetsumaru recalled finding uranium-bearing ore and firefly Larvae in the Land of Tea, then using Insects and ninjutsu-assisted processes to produce twenty kilograms of weapon charge.
• Tetsumaru traveled to a remote island, built a test site, and placed the Mushroom Insect atop a thirty-meter iron tower.
• Tetsumaru detonated the Mushroom Insect’s weapon, which destroyed the test site, disrupted communications, and produced a vast mushroom cloud.
• Tetsumaru observed intense Chakra fluctuations in the cloud, collected samples and recordings, and watched an earthquake and volcanic eruption enlarge the cloud before escaping underwater.

Aburame Tetsumaru tested underground Mushroom Bombs, discovered that their explosions generated vast amounts of Chakra, and encountered a mysterious flying Otsutsuki. While he waited for the Otsutsuki on the moon to notice him, the moon’s Branch Family prepared to seize the Giant Tenseigan from the Main Family.

• Aburame Tetsumaru returned to the island ten days after his first test and detonated a Mushroom Egg underground, recording the blast and sensing an immense Chakra surge when the plasma sphere briefly collapsed.
• Aburame Tetsumaru spotted a flying stranger inspecting the mushroom field, then identified him through his insects as a white-robed man who dismissed the Chakra-infused stones and flew away.
• Aburame Tetsumaru suspected the stranger was an Otsutsuki and suspended live-combat tests, but after two months without a visit from the moon, he angrily threatened the Otsutsuki Clan.
• Six Branch Family Byakugan ninjas planned to assassinate Qianyue, raid the Main Family compound, and seize the Giant Tenseigan.
• The Branch Family leader insisted that every Main Family member, including children, had to die or be sacrificed to the Tenseigan.

Aburame Tetsumaru returned to Konoha, reunited with Uchiha Hiroshi, and watched a golden attack tear across the moon. He realized the Otsutsuki Clan was fighting there and resolved to accelerate his lunar exploration plans, while the battle left both Otsutsuki factions devastated.

• Aburame Tetsumaru returned to Konoha on an Arachi Mantis and met Uchiha Hiroshi and his subordinates for a barbecue gathering.
• Aburame Tetsumaru reprimanded Uchiha Hiroshi for careless remarks about the village before the group resumed their meal and conversation.
• Aburame Tetsumaru saw the Tenseigan's Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion strike across the moon and decided to speed up his lunar exploration project.
• Konoha residents and Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the moon's flashes, while the Raikage ordered Kumogakure to begin large-scale weapons research.
• The Otsutsuki Clan Head blamed the Branch Family's Great Elder for devastating both factions, while the Great Elder lamented that events had gone wrong.

Aburame Tetsumaru reunited with his parents, then secretly raided Root’s expanded storehouses and carried off a vast haul, including Sharingan eyes. The explosion he left behind prompted a concealed investigation and a funding cut for Shimura Danzō, while Tetsumaru escaped detection and planned to raid Root again.

• Aburame Tetsumaru welcomed Aburame Kazekazu and Aburame Aiko home and hosted a feast for his reunited family.
• Aburame Tetsumaru studied Root’s upgraded barriers, found a flaw, and stole supplies from fifteen Secret Chambers, including twelve pairs of Sharingan eyes.
• Aburame Tetsumaru moved the stolen goods out of his courtyard, concealed his tracks, and left a crude bomb behind.
• An explosion at Root triggered an Anbu deployment, but Aburame Tetsumaru’s precautions kept the investigation from finding him.
• Shimura Danzō concealed the theft from the village and blamed the explosion on an accident, but Sarutobi Hiruzen scolded him and cut Root’s funding.

Aburame Tetsumaru smuggled his stolen supplies out of Konoha and secretly spied on Namikaze Minato to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique. When Kushina joined Minato to study sealing techniques, Tetsumaru continued observing them despite being painfully distracted by their affection.

• Shimura Danzō ordered Root to search for the stolen goods and kill anyone involved, but Aburame Tetsumaru had already moved the supplies out through underground tunnels.
• Aburame Tetsumaru used Spiders and flying insects to watch Namikaze Minato study the Flying Thunder God Technique and its spatial calculations.
• Namikaze Minato struggled through sealing technique material while Aburame Tetsumaru studied the spatial knowledge at his own pace.
• Kushina rushed into Minato's room, knocked him down, and hugged him until he nearly lost consciousness.
• Kushina taught Minato sealing techniques, and Aburame Tetsumaru secretly studied along while enduring their affectionate banter.

Konoha launched its final campaign against Iwagakure, but Mount Akagi Fortress stopped the advancing army with its maze of tunnels and powerful defenses. After conventional assaults and proposed strategies failed, Aburame Tetsumaru offered a new insect that he claimed could destroy the fortress, and Orochimaru approved the plan.

• After New Year, Konoha mobilized its forces for a final assault on Iwagakure, while the Aburame family received assignments across the front.
• Orochimaru and Nara Shikaku led Konoha’s forces toward Mount Akagi Fortress, where the Iwa Ninja used the mountain’s defenses and tunnels to halt their advance.
• Jiraiya led a force into the fortress tunnels but was forced to retreat badly wounded after the maze trapped and divided his troops.
• At a strategy meeting, Orochimaru rejected retreat, waiting out the defenders, bypassing the fortress, and blasting through the mountain as impractical options.
• Aburame Tetsumaru claimed his new insect could destroy Mount Akagi Fortress if it reached a tunnel entrance, and Orochimaru agreed to use it.