Torune Aburame

was a shinobi from Konohagakure's Aburame clan, as well as a high-ranking member of the disbanded Anbu faction: Root.

Background
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 Fū who despite his chastising, quickly formed a strong friendship with the Aburame as he taught Torune the workings of Root.

Personality
Like all other members of the Anbu faction, Root, Torune lacks a personality due to the gruelling training regimen Danzō had them undergo at a young age. As such, he acts merely as a tool that carries out Danzō's orders. The only discernible trait that he and the other members have shown is fierce loyalty towards Danzō and some degree of level-headedness. As such, he was willing to face Tobi with Fū and Danzō without reservation.

Despite his dutiful nature, in the anime, Torune still cared very much for others. While ironically finding it hard to get close to people due to his venomous insects, he believed strongly in reaching out to others, being truly grateful to have made friends with Fū. Even after years apart from Shino, Torune still felt very fond of his surrogate brother, glad that Shino found his own happiness.

Appearance
Torune was a fairly tall and lean-built man. He had fair-skin and short spike dull black hair. When first introduced, Torune's appearance was that of a regular Konoha Anbu, complete with a white cloak and mask. After removing the mask, it is noted that with the exception of a small area around his nose and mouth, his features were covered by a mask. His glasses were built into the mask, obscuring his eyes as is customary for members of the Aburame clan. He was also heavily clothed — seemingly another trait of the Aburame. He wore a short black jacket with red straps over the shoulders, as customary of all Root members. This most likely showed their allegiance to the organisation. He also wore a high collared, all black outfit with a red sash around his waist and what appeared to be an apron over his pants, similar to that of Neji's and carried several pouches with him and wore a pair of black gloves.

In the anime, when he was young, Torune wore a black long-sleeved and zipped jacker with a red slash around his waist and light grey knee-length pants with black shinobi sandals. He also wore a pair of black gloves and glasses, built into the mask.

Abilities
Danzō stated that he and Fū are two of the most skilled ninjas in Root. 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. His skills allowed him to hold his own against both Shino Aburame and Naruto Uzumaki in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

Aburame Clan Techniques
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 controlled the many nano-sized, venomous insects that covered his body, allowing him to infect anyone with a mere touch. 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 led to death. While in the anime, he lacked proper control of his nano insects as a child, Torune grown up could 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. He also possessed the normal breed of insects, able to use them for feats such as clones with them.

Other Skills
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 cannot 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.

Five Kage Summit Arc
Danzō selects Torune and Fū to escort him to the Kage Summit. Before leaving, Danzō instructs Torune to have some of his men watch Naruto Uzumaki. Once they arrive in the Land of Iron and the meeting begins, Torune comes to Danzō's defence during the Fourth Raikage's outburst and Zetsu's appearance. Zetsu informs them of Sasuke Uchiha's presence and Fū and Torune try to go and eliminate them. The Raikage goes instead, so they stay with Danzō. When Sasuke arrives at their location they flee. They are pursued by Ao, and Torune carries Fū's body while he deals with Ao.

Nearing Konoha, Torune, Fū, and Danzō are ambushed by Tobi. While Danzō prepares for battle he has them distract Tobi. When Fū is caught by Tobi, Torune throws a kunai at him, forcing him to release Fū. Fū and Torune try attacking from different angles, hoping that one of them will be able to attack Tobi while Tobi is attacking the other. Tobi sees through their plan but plays along, causing Torune to accidentally infect Fū with his nano-sized, venomous insects. Torune cures him, but Tobi quickly sends them both away with his space–time technique. At the last moment, Torune is able to infect Tobi's right arm, forcing him to remove it.

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

In the anime, Torune is 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 intends to use his pawn effectively by having him infect dozens of allied shinobi to execute his Jar of Poison Technique. However, Torune is surprised to find Shino appearing before him while learning that Danzō died. Notifying Shino of his forced intentions, Torune is forced to fight his childhood friend before one of Naruto Uzumaki's clone joins the fray. But during the fight, Shino reveals had breeding his insects with some of Torune's nano-insects, producing new insects that can repel Torune's toxins. As Shino uses his insects to pin Torune long enough to seal him, Torune expresses 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.

Creation and Conception
In designing Torune, Masashi Kishimoto noted that he wanted to create an American superhero lookalike, thus using a mask to cover everything but his mouth — something Kishimoto noted to be a novelty in the series. Kishimoto also noted that this way, he could express Torune's feelings using his mouth even with his eyes concealed.

Video Games
In Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations and Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Torune is a support-only character.

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.