Just as preparations were nearing completion, White Zetsu brought bad news.
The forces of the Five Great Ninja Villages had assembled in the Land of Fire, they were already united.
"This makes capturing the Nine-Tails a lot tougher," White Zetsu said, eyeing the Rinnegan in Ye Zi's left socket. Black Zetsu narrowed his eyes, lost in thought.
"It doesn't matter. The cards in my hand aren't bad either. Can you slip inside?" Ye Zi asked without expression.
"Probably not. Konoha's eaten losses from us too many times, and now with all five villages together, they'll be guarding against me… and against you," White Zetsu chuckled. He was best suited to lurking in the dark and observing, but after so many operations with Ye Zi, most of his tricks were already exposed.
"Try anyway," Ye Zi said calmly, looking at him.
The odds were obviously low, but information... Any information, might still help.
"You trying to send me to my death?" White Zetsu pouted.
"You can use a clone," Ye Zi replied coolly.
"Fair point." White Zetsu grinned. "But are you planning to keep stalling?"
"Of course not… I'm just a little short on prep," Ye Zi said mildly.
"Got it. I'll make another run," White Zetsu said.
"Go."
With that, Ye Zi turned and left.
They were nearly out of medicine materials. The number of clones would, as expected, reach around seventy thousand. That was why the news didn't faze him. The clones weren't strong, but with the medicine's boost, they could erupt with power the enemy couldn't ignore at critical moments.
If the clones were "soldiers," then the Edo Tensei were "generals", and the outcome of a war often hinges on the generals…
Watching Ye Zi depart, White Zetsu melted into the ground and vanished. Using Mayfly, he surfaced outside the base, traveled a few more kilometers, and stopped.
"Should we split up?" he asked.
"No need," Black Zetsu replied coolly, his half-face icy. Ye Zi was slipping, ever so slightly, out of grasp. Not enough to worry him, just enough to make the future cloudy.
White Zetsu, unaware of Black Zetsu's thoughts, smiled silently and sank into the earth again, heading for the Land of Fire.
Fortunes change.
At first, the reason to unite the five villages was Amegakure, and the hidden purpose behind Akatsuki.
But in the end, though the Five Great Villages truly formed an unprecedented ninja coalition, their original goal had completely changed.
This time, the allied army did not aim at Amegakure or Akatsuki. Their target was one man: Ye Zi.
A child of the Land of Rain, a Konoha defector, and now the enemy of the shinobi world, this was the label given him after his aims were uncovered.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
With Konoha as the hub, letters flew to coordinate each village's obligations in the coming war. Every village accepted and carried out its share without objection.
Food, tools, equipment. Every wartime necessity, regardless of national strength each village would shoulder its portion.
Then, prepared forces marched and concentrated within the Land of Fire.
The original rally point was set at Evening-Fall Hills, a rare barren plain in the otherwise fertile Land of Fire.
But plans never keep up with change. The assembly point was ultimately moved to Konoha itself.
Devastated by Nagato's assault and nearly razed to the ground, Konoha became the staging ground for the allied army.
With greater matters looming, there was no time or strength to rebuild the ruined home. Choosing the village as the muster site also sent a message.
First, a Konoha so grievously wounded was not diverting funds to rebuild, but committing them to the coming war, proof enough of how seriously they took it and a call for the other villages to do the same.
At the same time, the village's current ruin served as a warning to all.
Seeing the once-strongest village in this state was not a cause for schadenfreude, it begged the question: who would be next?
Setting the assembly in Konoha indeed had an effect.
The once lush Hidden Leaf was now a wasteland. Soldiers from every village pitched neat rows of tents across the barren ground. Organization by specialty was not yet set, and the villages still clustered in separate zones. Mist here, Stone there, Cloud in the middle, making the "alliance" look a bit like an empty shell.
Pakura of the Sand walked the gravel-strewn paths, filled with emotion.
She had visited Konoha before; back then it was the most prosperous village she had seen, every street alive with laughter. Now, it looked like this.
Sunagakure had once suffered at Akatsuki's hands too. Shukaku unleashed, a "Bloody Night" during wartime... It was a wound no Sand shinobi could ever forget.
That was Akatsuki's threat.
Seeing mighty Konoha reduced to rubble, the old scenes in her mind blurred. She couldn't help but wonder: if it was Konoha today, could it not be her own village tomorrow?
"Damn Akatsuki… damn Ye Zi!"
She lifted her gaze to the iconic Hokage Rock, or more precisely, to a cantilevered building jutting from the cliff face just below it.
Supplies were stocked, personnel assembled. Next came division by ability, merging the Five Villages' strength into mixed units.
Right now, the Kage representing each village were meeting in that suspended building.
Not only Pakura, elite shinobi from every village stood at various spots, heads tilted up toward that house beneath the Hokage Rock.
It was one of the few relatively intact structures left in Konoha.
The interior wasn't spacious, but it could hold a dozen people comfortably, and more if needed.
One table. Five chairs.
Five people sat; ten stood nearby.
There weren't many inside, but the guards surrounding the building were numerous.
Just as White Zetsu predicted, not only here but throughout the village there were precautions specifically against him, but how effective they were are was still up in arms.
At this moment, the leaders of the Five Great Villages had gathered for a single reason: one man.
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Currently on Chapter 614 - The Truth She Overheard