Chapter Summaries

Aburame Tetsumaru reflected on the political conspiracy behind the Third Kazekage’s death and the weakening of Sunagakure, while secretly keeping the Kazekage’s corpse for research. As the Third Shinobi World War widened and Konoha’s last peaceful period neared its end, Tetsumaru began considering how to survive the coming battlefield without destabilizing the Shinobi World.

• Orochimaru suspected Sanae had awakened the Sharingan and warned Aburame Tetsumaru to watch Danzo’s intense killing intent.
• Aburame Tetsumaru traced the Third Kazekage’s murder and Sunagakure’s war against Konoha to a conspiracy that benefited the village’s great clans and powerful nobles.
• Aburame Tetsumaru revealed that he had witnessed the Third Kazekage’s final battle, failed to kill Sasori of the Red Sands, and secretly taken the Kazekage’s corpse to his underground laboratory.
• Sunagakure’s clans fractured after the Kazekage disappeared, leaving the village too divided to choose a successor or fight effectively against Konoha.
• Aburame Tetsumaru anticipated that Iwagakure and Kumogakure would soon join the war and considered how to avoid being sent into battle or using enough force to reshape the conflict.

Uchiha Sanae graduated and headed to the western battlefield under Uchiha Taiko, while Aburame Tetsumaru prepared to invade the Land of Water. After two years of building his forces and planning, he launched an encroachment campaign against Kirigakure and the islands under its control.

• Uchiha Sanae registered as a ninja and learned that Uchiha Taiko would lead her squad to the Land of Rivers for battlefield experience.
• Aburame Tetsumaru traveled to his underwater Mother Hive, where seventy-two personnel gathered for a war meeting.
• Aburame Tetsumaru proposed gradually taking control of the Land of Water by subduing its rulers and letting them continue governing under his orders.
• Aburame Tetsumaru's forces revealed that they had built 241 Mother Hives and amassed 200,000 Mantis, 2,000 Thunder Giant Insects, and over 5,000 Wind Giant Insects.
• Aburame Tetsumaru marked three border islands as the first targets and ordered the invasion to begin, but his Avatars stopped him from promising it would end within three months.

Aburame Tetsumaru’s forces controlled islands across the Land of Water while trying to manage their inhabitants without provoking resistance. After Kakuzu encountered Kirigakure scouts, Aburame Tetsumaru prepared the Insect Swarm for a major battle and sent Thunder Giant Insects toward the front.

• Da Yuwan watched giant insects seize the lord’s Castle, distribute rice, and later enforce restrictions on fishing boats, while the lord celebrated the Insect Swarm and gold.
• An Avatar used Hostility Perception to check Da Yuwan’s attitude, then reported back as the Avatars discussed negotiating with captured lords and isolating islands whose rulers resisted.
• Kakuzu returned with the heads of two disguised Kirigakure Chunin, and Station Master determined that Genji had sent them to investigate missing merchant ships.
• Aburame Tetsumaru concluded that Genji’s scouts might alert the Mizukage and ordered the Mantis, Self-Destruct Insects, Cockroaches, and Thunder Giant Insects to assemble for battle.
• Hundreds of thousands of insects gathered toward Kirigakure, while three hundred Overlord Insects carried Thunder Giant Insects toward the Land of Water.

Genji persuaded Kirigakure’s clans and the Third Mizukage to unite against an unknown force occupying the Land of Water’s outer islands and to end the Bloody Mist Village policy. Uchiha Madara secretly manipulated the Mizukage and sent White Zetsu to investigate the enemy, while Kirigakure gathered its shinobi and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist arrived late.

• Genji told the clan heads that an unknown enemy had taken hundreds of islands, and he proposed forming a shinobi army to strike back together.
• Genji urged the Third Mizukage to end the Bloody Mist Village policy, and the Mizukage agreed to announce its end when the shinobi assembled.
• After the Mizukage fell asleep, Black Zetsu helped Uchiha Madara enter his office; Madara ordered an investigation into the unknown enemy and left with Black Zetsu.
• Kaguya Yoshi gathered the Taketori Clan and warned its shinobi not to charge ahead, while Genji rallied civilian shinobi with the promise that the Bloody Mist Village policy would end.
• The Third Mizukage and Genji assembled Kirigakure’s shinobi, who remained hostile and divided, and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist arrived late to cheers.

Kirigakure’s army reached Empty Mountain Island and clashed with Aburame Tetsumaru’s forces, whose Avatars and giant insects were prepared to crush the village. The battle escalated into a full-scale advance as the Insect Swarm charged toward Kirigakure’s shinobi.

• The Third Mizukage ordered more than sixteen thousand Kirigakure shinobi to march on Empty Mountain Island, and the army learned to organize itself during the three-day journey.
• Aburame Tetsumaru’s forces prepared an ambush with giant insects, Thunder Giant Insects, and local lords posing as rebels against Kirigakure.
• The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist confronted the rebels, and Aburame Tetsumaru’s Avatars—including Kakuzu—fought and overpowered them.
• The Mizukage sent Kirigakure’s powerful clan shinobi into battle, while Aburame Tetsumaru’s Avatars revealed their Bio-Armor after taking attacks.
• The Mizukage ordered Kirigakure’s army to advance, and Aburame Tetsumaru sent the Insect Swarm charging toward them.

Kirigakure’s Water and Ice Release temporarily pushed back Aburame Tetsumaru’s Insect Swarm, but Kirigakure’s exhausted troops prepared a risky flanking attack. Aburame Tetsumaru’s forces tracked the maneuver and revealed that Kirigakure was moving into a larger encirclement.

• Kirigakure’s Water Release initially failed to stop the armored Mantises, so the Mizukage ordered large-scale Water Release and Yuki Clan Ice Release to slow and freeze them.
• Kaguya Yoshi noticed the unnatural calm over the sea, inferred that a vast number of insects were hidden underwater, and warned his clan not to charge forward.
• The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist inflicted heavy damage on the Mantises, while Aburame Tetsumaru and his allies relied on Kirigakure’s dwindling Chakra and lack of rotating troops to outlast them.
• Genji warned the Mizukage and Clan Heads that the front line was exhausted, then arranged for elite clan forces to flank the Insect Swarm with civilian ninja mixed into their units.
• The Overlord Insects monitored Kirigakure’s preparations, and the Station Master projected the enemy’s movements onto a map, revealing that Aburame Tetsumaru’s forces had encircled Kirigakure and positioned another force behind it.

Aburame Tetsumaru’s Insect Swarm overwhelmed Kirigakure’s army with successive long-range attacks after the Kiri Ninja mounted a fierce counterattack. The Mizukage and other leaders fled, and Kirigakure’s remaining force broke apart and routed.

• Kirigakure’s infiltration forces advanced around the beach, but Aburame Tetsumaru ordered the Thunder Giant Insects to fire Plasma Lightning Orbs, devastating the encircling troops and the frontal force.
• Wind Giant Insects bombarded the survivors while Mantis charged; Zabuza Momochi fought the insects until Kirigakure regrouped and used Water Release to push them back.
• Aburame Tetsumaru’s forces launched Missile Insects, Banelings, and Spore Bullets, disrupting Kirigakure’s formations and killing Hozuki Genkai with a corrosive spore attack.
• Aburame Tetsumaru rejected Kakuzu’s offer to break through and ordered a saturation attack with Missile Insects, Plasma Lightning Orbs, and Wind Cannons.
• The combined barrage killed nearly three thousand Kiri Ninja, after which the Mizukage, Genji, Kaguya Yoshi, and the surviving army fled in disarray.

The Third Mizukage used Ice Release and the Three-Tails’ chakra to hold off Aburame Tetsumaru’s Insect Swarm, but collapsed after escaping through a vast field of ice mirrors. The Terumi Clan Head found him and led a costly breakout as the insects closed in.

• The Third Mizukage froze the battlefield to slow the Insect Swarm, then used corrosive fluid from Banelings to create Frozen Acid Shuriken that killed Mantises and Cockroaches.
• The Aburame Tetsumarus bombarded the Mizukage with Wind Cannons and Plasma Lightning Orbs, prompting him to raise an ice dome and reveal that he was a Jinchuriki.
• The injured Mizukage unleashed Ice Release: White Root Mountain Technique and escaped through ice mirrors, but he collapsed unconscious at the edge of a glacier.
• An Overlord Insect spotted the unconscious Mizukage, and the Insect Swarm converged on him while the Thunder Giant Insects destroyed nearby ice mountains.
• The Terumi Clan Head reached the Mizukage and used Lava Release: Clever Mist Technique to corrode the Mantises’ legs, leading his clansmen through the encirclement after losing half their people.

After the Kirigakure army collapsed, Aburame Tetsumaru reorganized its surrendering ninja and planned a gradual conquest of the Land of Water. His Avatars also discussed creating elite fighters and revived the idea of restarting the Princess Kaguya campaign.

• The Terumi Clan Head stayed behind to delay the Insect Swarm while the Mizukage and Terumi clansmen retreated toward the eastern coast.
• Munashi Jinpachi was surrounded by insects, surrendered, and was carried away by an Overlord Insect.
• Aburame Tetsumaru reorganized the surrendered Kirigakure Shinobi and planned to use them to build a decentralized Land of Water under his control.
• After assessing their battlefield losses, Aburame Tetsumaru's Avatars chose to conquer the islands gradually by building strongholds and avoiding guerrilla warfare.
• In the Spirit Sea, the Avatars discussed their shortage of elite forces and decided Aburame Tetsumaru should ask Orochimaru about his progress on Impure World Reincarnation.
• An Avatar proposed restarting the Princess Kaguya campaign, and Aburame Tetsumaru named him Man of Culture.

Aburame Tetsumaru learned that Danzo had left Konoha and organized an interception to kill him before he could return. After Dice landed an experimental Orbital Drop Pod near the border of the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain, Tetsumaru took Aburame Masao and teleported to the Sealing Array.

• Orochimaru dismissed Aburame Tetsumaru’s questions about the progress of Impure World Reincarnation but gave him updated Wood Release research materials.
• Aburame Tetsumaru brought the Land of Water’s island lords under his control and destroyed a resisting island, prompting Kaguya Yoshi to offer the Taketori Clan’s surrender.
• After hearing that Danzo had left Konoha with thirty-six elite Root Ninja, Aburame Tetsumaru decided to intercept him and kill him outside the village.
• Aburame Tetsumaru’s Avatars drew lots to choose ten participants, and Dice won the first slot to deploy the Flying Thunder God Sealing Array.
• Dice’s Orbital Drop Pod landed nineteen kilometers from its intended position at the border of the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain, and Aburame Tetsumaru teleported there with Aburame Masao.

Aburame Tetsumaru led his Avatars and Masao into the Land of Rain to investigate Danzo and Hanzo’s ambush on Akatsuki, but arrived too late to intervene. As the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path appeared, Tetsumaru ordered everyone to retreat.

• Aburame Tetsumaru revealed that he had stolen the Flying Thunder God Technique and summoned nine Bio-Armor Avatars before leading the group into the Land of Rain.
• Satellite Insects tracked Danzo’s forces to a valley, where they joined Hanzo’s Rain Ninja to set an ambush for Akatsuki.
• Aburame Tetsumaru decided not to save Akatsuki, judging that risking a future battle with Uchiha Madara was not worth the cost.
• The group saw Akatsuki enter the valley and learned that the fighting had begun as they flew toward the battlefield aboard the Overlord Insect.
• A violent force shattered the Overlord Insect near the battlefield, and Aburame Tetsumaru ordered everyone to deploy Wind Wings and flee from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

Aburame Tetsumaru’s group tracked down Shimura Danzō and killed him after discovering he could use Izanagi to revive once. They waited until nightfall, and Danzō did not return.

• Aburame Tetsumaru regrouped his Bio-Armor units after the storm, restored communications, and continued searching for Shimura Danzō.
• Shimura Danzō limped toward the Land of Fire, blaming Aburame Tetsumaru for his defeat and worrying about how to explain Root’s destruction.
• Aburame Tetsumaru and his group surrounded Danzō, who attacked first but failed to harm the Bio-Armor units.
• The group killed Danzō once, then recognized his Sharingan and waited for Izanagi to revive him nearby.
• Aburame Tetsumaru severed Danzō’s hands, and the group disabled and brutalized him before Aburame Masao delivered the fatal blow.
• After Danzō’s body was torn apart, the group waited until nightfall and confirmed that he did not revive.

Aburame Tetsumaru captured Shimura Danzō’s soul after killing him and recovered Danzo’s remains and a stored Sharingan. While negotiating the Kaguya Clan’s surrender, Tetsumaru learned that the recovered eye had been a Mangekyō Sharingan, leaving the group with a major prize for their research.

• Aburame Tetsumaru bound Shimura Danzō’s falling Soul Light Orb and kept it as a subject for Impure World Reincarnation experiments.
• Aburame Tetsumaru and the Avatars recovered Danzo’s remains and discovered a well-preserved second Sharingan.
• Aburame Tetsumaru returned the Avatars to their posts, and Politician hurried back to Konoha to educate Uchiha Itachi.
• Kaguya Yoshi wept over the burden of managing his clan, drank heavily, and entrusted the Kaguya Clan’s fate to Aburame Tetsumaru.
• The Station Master explained that Danzo carried his fortune because Tetsumaru’s group had repeatedly robbed Root’s hidden treasuries, and that Danzo had feared Tetsumaru would destroy Konoha.
• The Station Master identified the recovered Sharingan as a Mangekyō Sharingan when it was removed.

Aburame Tetsumaru’s forces drove the Insect Swarm’s campaign deeper into the Land of Water as Kirigakure’s defenses collapsed across the islands. With the enemy nearing the main island and its leaders divided, Kirigakure faced possible destruction.

• Aburame Tetsumaru and the Avatars examined the stored Mangekyō Sharingan, then learned Shimura Danzō survived the battlefield by hiding in an underground cave.
• Zabuza Momochi led a Kirigakure ambush against the Insect Swarm, but red-scarf rogue ninjas arrived and helped the insects overwhelm the defenders.
• Zabuza ordered the remaining Kiri Ninja to flee the island, and they abandoned a Chakra-depleted young ninja before escaping over the waves.
• A shark-faced ninja killed the Kiri Ninja attacking him, then fought underwater and disappeared after killing six Squid Insects.
• Kirigakure’s Clan Heads and department managers argued over the war and whether the Third Hokage should be replaced, while the Insect Swarm’s control spread across more than half the islands and reached the main island.

After the Water Daimyo fled to the enemy, Kirigakure’s leaders approved Genji’s plan to break out westward and seek refuge in the Land of Waves and the Land of Whirlpools. Meanwhile, Aburame Tetsumaru visited Orochimaru to see his improved Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, and Kirigakure began its breakout with the Mizukage leading the vanguard.

• An Anbu ninja reported that the Water Daimyo’s family had fled with help from the Kaguya Clan, leaving Kirigakure’s leaders fearing mass defections.
• Genji urged the leaders to consider how the enemy had dismantled the Kaguya Clan, then proposed a breakout to the Land of Waves and the Land of Whirlpools; they approved the plan.
• Aburame Tetsumaru visited Orochimaru, praised his revised Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, and learned that Orochimaru had resigned as commander amid suspicion over Danzo’s disappearance.
• Kirigakure’s leaders struggled to choose a breakout spearhead as the Seven Ninja Blades had been depleted, while Hozuki Mangetsu joined their ranks with Hiramekarei.
• The Mizukage volunteered to lead the Sealing Squad and Karatachi Yagura, intending to release the Three-Tails and make Yagura his successor, and Kirigakure began its westward breakout.

Aburame Tetsumaru prepared to stop Kirigakure’s westward breakout while suspecting Uchiha Madara was involved, and he mobilized overwhelming orbital firepower. He ended by ordering the Daimyo and Lords to gather so he could take them to watch the meteor shower that night.

• Aburame Tetsumaru learned that White Zetsu activity had surged and Kirigakure was assembling, then deployed 120,000 insects to intercept possible escape routes.
• Kirigakure’s Mizukage ordered the village’s forces to break out west, while Karatachi Yagura and Terumi Mei departed with the others.
• Uchiha Madara questioned Black Zetsu about the rebellion and enormous insects, then ordered him to investigate their source and planned to head west.
• Aburame Tetsumaru requested rapid-response forces from the Satellite Group, Zero-Gravity Factory, and Moon Base, then prepared 1,200 orbital Thunder Giant Insects and 680 weaponized Meteors.
• Aburame Tetsumaru ordered the Daimyo and Lords to gather so he could take them to watch the meteor shower.

Kirigakure’s breakout plan fell apart when the enemy counterattacked, but the Mizukage restored order and led the Kiri Ninja west. As the Insect Swarm closed in, he unleashed a massive Ice Release technique to clear their escape route, then ordered Karatachi Yagura to carry him onward.

• Kirigakure’s feint attacks captured islands but suffered heavy casualties, while Aburame Tetsumaru coordinated an insect-and-shinobi counterattack against the main island.
• The Mizukage emerged from his office, killed a Clan Head who declared he was defecting, and ordered Kirigakure to abandon the southern attack and break out west.
• The Mizukage froze the sea into a road and led the Kiri Ninja toward the western front as Aburame Tetsumaru mobilized the Red-Scarf Kirigakure Shinobi and Insect Swarm to intercept them.
• With the Insect Swarm and Red-Scarf Kiri Ninja pressing forward, the Mizukage told Karatachi Yagura to gather the Sealing Squad and prepare to take the Three-Tails if he lost consciousness.
• The Mizukage unleashed Ice Release: Super White Root Mountain Technique, freezing the Insect Swarm across the western route, and Karatachi Yagura led the Kiri Ninja onward while carrying him.

Aburame Tetsumaru ordered orbital bombardment and sent Giant Insects to delay the Kiri Ninja, who battled their way through the ice field. The chapter ended as blue Shooting Stars began falling toward the battlefield, revealing the Falling Meteor to the Kiri Ninja and the captive audience.

• Aburame Tetsumaru's command team held back from confronting the Kiri Ninja directly after White Zetsu movements suggested Uchiha Madara or Black Zetsu was nearby, and they ordered Meteor into bombardment orbit.
• Aburame Tetsumaru ordered Plasma Lightning Orbs and Meteor bombardment to reveal his forces to Uchiha Madara, while Thunder and Wind Giant Insects moved to delay the Kiri Ninja.
• Genji urged the Kiri Ninja to keep moving, and the Mizukage backed his orders as they advanced through the fog.
• The Kiri Ninja killed thirty-two Wind Giant Insects, then fought the Thunder Giant Insects; Zabuza Momochi's greatsword became stuck in one insect's shell, but the Kiri Ninja eventually learned to target their body-segment connections and brought them down.
• A huge Plasma Lightning Orb struck nearby and dispersed the fog, and Aburame Tetsumaru's Avatar pointed out the Falling Meteor as blue Shooting Stars descended toward the battlefield.

Uchiha Madara used Tengai Shinsei to summon a gigantic Meteor against the Insect Swarm’s island, forcing Aburame Tetsumaru’s bombardment plan to change. The Mizukage protected the Kiri Ninja from the resulting tsunami with an Ice Dome, then sacrificed himself to extract and seal the Three-Tails as a second Meteor shower drove the survivors into a panicked retreat.

• The Mizukage ordered the Kiri Ninja to keep moving through the scattered Plasma Lightning Orb strikes while Aburame Tetsumaru’s Avatars adjusted the bombardment and prepared Mantises to ambush them.
• Uchiha Madara used Outer Path: Tengai Shinsei, weakening himself as he sent a gigantic Meteor toward the island where the Insect Swarm had gathered.
• Aburame Tetsumaru and his Avatars identified the attack as Uchiha Madara’s technique and realized the Meteor was aimed at their island.
• The Meteor struck the island, flattening its mountain and sending a vast tsunami toward the Kiri Ninja; the Mizukage used the Three-Tails’ Chakra to create an Ice Dome that shielded most of them.
• The Mizukage ordered the Sealing Squad to extract and seal Isobu, then died after leaving the Kiri Ninja an order to retreat.
• A shower of hundreds of fiery Meteors appeared, and the terrified Kiri Ninja broke formation and fled in every direction.

Aburame Tetsumaru consolidated control over the Land of Water through a new political structure and rebuilt Kirigakure, but Konoha’s decision to send a legion against the scattered Kiri Ninja forced him to return. After overhearing Konoha’s war council, he learned that Orochimaru would command the force and that the “Insect Master” was being assigned to it.

• After the Kiri Ninja broke through, Aburame Tetsumaru avoided a full pursuit and Kirigakure reopened two days later with red scarves distinguishing its new shinobi.
• Aburame Tetsumaru rejected the Daimyo’s invitation to the reopening ceremony and made him the Land of Water’s ruling figure, balancing his authority against the northern and southern regional Lord alliances.
• Aburame Tetsumaru established Kirigakure’s administrative system around its Ninja Academy, Taxation Office, and Intelligence Office, then received an urgent message that Konoha planned to conscript his Avatar.
• Aburame Tetsumaru returned to Konoha and eavesdropped on the Hokage’s meeting, where Sarutobi Hiruzen declared Danzo killed in action and took direct control of Root.
• Orochimaru was assigned to command a five-thousand-man legion against Kiri Ninja in the east and secured Hyuga, Inuzuka, Aburame, Uchiha, and other Konoha forces, including the “Insect Master.”
• Aburame Tetsumaru realized Konoha was fighting the Kiri Ninja who had fled the Meteor Bombardment and entered the Land of Fire, where they had clashed with Konoha’s weakened eastern defenses.