Torune Aburame

Torune Aburame (油女トルネ, Aburame Torune, Viz:Toruné) was a shinobi from Konohagakure's Aburame clan, as well as a high-ranking member of the disbanded Anbu faction: Root.

History

In the anime, Torune's father, Shikuro Aburame, died while he was still young. With no other close family members left, he was taken in by Shino Aburame's family. Due to the unique nature of Torune's insects and his lack of control over them, Torune could not attend the Academy without risking the well-being of his peers. Despite their different views about friendship, Torune and Shino grew close, forming a brother-like bond. One day, Danzō Shimura approached the two young Aburame with the desire to recruit another young member of secret technique-using clan for Root. While Danzō had the authority to do so and expressed interest in Shino, not wanting Shino to live a life of loneliness, Torune offered himself, appealing to Danzō by revealing who his father was. Soon after joining Root, Torune was partnered up with Fu Yamanaka who despite his chastising, quickly formed a strong friendship with the Aburame as he taught Torune the workings of Root.

Danzō selected Torune and Fū Yamanaka to escort him to the Kage Summit. Before leaving, Danzō instructed Torune to have some of his men watch Naruto Uzumaki. Once they arrived in the Land of Iron and the meeting begins, Torune came to Danzō's defence during the Fourth Raikage's outburst and Zetsu's appearance. Zetsu informed them ofSasuke Uchiha's presence and Fū and Torune try to go and eliminate them. The Raikage went instead, so they stay with Danzō. When Sasuke arrived at their location, they flee. They were pursued by Ao, and Torune carries Fū's body while he deals with Ao.

Nearing Konoha, Torune, Fū, and Danzō were ambushed by Tobi. While Danzō prepared for battle, he had them distract Tobi. When Fū was caught by Tobi, Torune threw a kunai at him, forcing him to release Fū. Fū and Torune tried attacking from different angles, hoping that one of them would be able to attack Tobi while Tobi is attacking the other. Tobi saw through their plan but played along, causing Torune to accidentally infect Fū with his rinkaichū. Torune cured him, but Tobi quickly sent them both away with his space–time technique. At the last moment, Torune was able to infect Tobi's right arm, forcing him to remove it.

Death

To alleviate some of his unease surrounding Kabuto Yakushi's motives,Tobi demanded that he demonstrate the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation technique. With Kabuto lacking the necessary sacrifices, however, Tobi released the captive Torune and Fū Yamanaka. Bothmentally and physically restrained, Torune's neck was unceremoniously snapped by Tobi to be provide the corpse and the sacrifice. Using akunai, he stabbed into Torune's corpse, Kabuto wiped the blood-stained weapon on a scroll and began the ritual whilst tossing his body aside. With Fū killed as the ash forms around the sacrifice, a disoriented Torune was bought back from the dead and questions his whereabouts before Kabuto plants a talisman into the ninja's head. As Kabuto departed, a coffin envelops Torune and then vanishes with him inside.

In the anime, Torune was deployed by Kabuto alongside the "lesser" reincarnated shinobi to the Land of Lightning desert in order to retrieve the sealed Toroi and the Third Raikage. Though the other reincarnated ninja were defeated and sealed by Temari's group, Torune escaped with Kabuto expressing how impressed with what he thought was a weakling and intended to use his pawn effectively by having him infect dozens of allied shinobi to execute his Jar of Poison Technique. However, Torune was surprised to find Shino appearing before him while learning that Danzō died. Notifying Shino of his forced intentions, Torune was forced to fight his childhood friend before one of Naruto Uzumaki's clone joined the fray. But during the fight, Shino revealed had breeding his insects with some of Torune's nano-insects, producing new insects that can repel Torune's toxins. As Shino used his insects to pin Torune long enough to seal him, Torune expressed his joy in seeing how well Shino turned out as the Jar of Poison Technique is cancelled.

Later with the release of the Impure World Reincarnation, Torune's soul, like the others, was returned to the afterlife.

Jutsu

1. Jar of Poison Jutsu: Using his rinkaichū, Torune gathers multiple infected corpses and contains them within a barrier where the decaying flesh will release a gas that in time will ignite an explosion and release the venomous insects in a huge swarm that could cover the surrounding landscape. According to Shino, the barrier accelerates the insect's multiplication.

Powers

Danzō stated that Torune and Fū were two of the most skilled ninja in Root.^[3] In the anime, although Kabuto initially viewed Torune as irrelevant, after summoning Torune to battle in the Fourth Shinobi World War as a reserves member, he quickly changed his opinion, greatly impressed by Torune's abilities.^[4] His skills allowed him to hold his own against a large portion of the Allied Shinobi, Shino, and Naruto Uzumakiin his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

Torune was part of the Aburame clan, and like the other members, he was skilled at using insects in combat. However, his bug techniques were rare even among the Aburame; he possessed the nano-sized rinkaichū. Once they covered his body, it allowed him to infect anyone with a mere touch.^[5] In battle, Torune's fighting style incorporated the use of his entire body, and as such he would remove parts of his attire such as his gloves. Physical contact with him would cause the insects to spread onto the opponent's skin, causing severe pain which could potentially lead to death. In the anime, while he lacked proper control of his nano insects as a child,^[2] Torune's skill increased in adulthood, being able to call off the insects with a touch of a finger and remove the venom using an antidote as he matured.

In the anime, he could produce a small cloud to launch his nano-insects from a distance. The pinnacle of his skill was seen from the Jar of Poison Technique, one of the Aburame's ultimate and most forbidden techniques. With it, he could infect a large radius with his nano-insects, effectively wiping out a large number of enemies.^[2] He also possessed the normal breed of insects, able to use them for feats such as clones with them.

Like many other Anbu and Root members, Torune carried a tantō on his back, though he was not seen using it in the manga. In the anime, he could wield the blade in a flurry of slashes for a quick assassination strike. He was also versed in barrier techniques, having erected one as part of his Jar of Poison Technique.

While his nano-insects couldn't last long outside of a host, Torune was also skilled in taijutsu to compensate for this, which combined with his nano-insects made him a dangerous enemy to face in close-range combat. Additional to this, he showed great strength, able to block a Rasengan for a short time with his mere fist. Even though he was eventually overwhelmed by the technique, he nevertheless attacked instantly afterwards again, giving even Naruto in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode no time to react at all.

Trivia

• When chapter 455 was first published in Weekly Shonen Jump, Torune's eyes are visible. This is corrected in later chapters and the tankōbon version of the chapter.
• Studio Pierrot's Settei sheets of Torune show that he was 150.3 cm when he left with Danzō to join Root.
• Torune and the Anbu Commander of Konoha share the same Anbu mask design.

• When written as 蠱毒, "kodoku" means "to poison someone". When written as 孤独, it means "isolation, loneliness, solitude".
• As stated by Torune, the Jar of Poison Technique was labelled a kinjutsu due to the sheer volume of corpses required to execute it and the indiscriminate effects of the poisonous cloud.
• The appearance of the barrier closely resembles that of the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier.