The Allied Shinobi Forces held an overwhelming numerical advantage. They had marched in full of confidence, convinced they would steamroll the Akatsuki base in a single assault, then head back to their respective villages and carry on with their lives.
Instead, they were met head-on by the White Zetsu Cyborg Legion.
In an instant, every battlefield devolved into a brutal stalemate.
The Ame and Oto shinobi, who were outnumbered and individually weaker, had donned incomplete White Zetsu bodies like stripped-down versions of biological powered armor, causing their combat strength to skyrocket.
They no longer feared injury, nor did they care about chakra consumption. With Nagato—their god—as the pillar of their faith, they fought the shinobi of the Five Great Villages to the death.
Everyone knew that chakra was created by combining physical energy and spiritual energy.
The more unwavering and pure a shinobi's conviction, the greater the strength they could unleash.
Nagato was a textbook case of a middle-aged chunibyo. Over the years, he had spread the message throughout Amegakure and Otogakure that he was the savior god of a new era, the successor to the Sage of Six Paths. He promised to lead everyone into a shinobi world of everlasting peace and stability.
The shinobi of the smaller nations, who had spent their entire lives trapped between the great powers and suffering constant oppression, bought into it completely. They believed every word Nagato said with unwavering faith.
Especially after Nagato gave them White Zetsu bodies that dramatically enhanced their strength, they became even more convinced that they had become proud warriors of God.
The White Zetsu bodies strengthened their flesh, while their faith fortified their spirits. Armed with an unshakable belief that they would change the world, they charged fearlessly into open war against the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Their former fear of the great nations had long since vanished. In their hearts, the Five Great Villages had become the very source of the world's chaos.
Thanks to White Zetsu's successful infiltration beforehand, they avoided being wiped out by the Allied Forces' large-scale combined ninjutsu barrage at the opening of the battle. The moment combat began, both sides were already tangled together in close-quarters fighting.
That was exactly the kind of chaotic battlefield that favored them most—and it had been their strategy from the very beginning.
In a head-on clash, they stood no chance against the Allied Forces. Their only hope was to strike without warning and exploit the unique properties of the White Zetsu bodies to overcome a stronger enemy.
It could only be said that they were far too naïve.
This force represented only a fraction of the Five Great Villages' military strength. Each village still had massive reserve forces waiting on standby.
Once the Allied Forces identified the head as the White Zetsu bodies' critical weakness, the cyborg legion immediately reorganized into countless small squads that coordinated with one another to avoid being isolated and surrounded.
Whenever someone was wounded, they would immediately sink underground using the White Zetsu body. After recovering, they returned to the battlefield at full strength.
Both sides suffered constant casualties, but the Allied Forces were taking heavier losses.
The shinobi of the Five Great Villages had only recently been forced into a single coalition and still didn't truly trust one another. But after taking heavy losses, their instincts as professional shinobi took over. They naturally began forming mixed squads, coordinating their attacks, and supporting one another.
At a time like this, staying alive and winning the battle mattered more than anything else. Any grudges between villages would have to wait.
...
Once the initial chaos subsided, the tide of battle gradually began to shift in the Allied Forces' favor.
If sheer determination from the smaller nations were enough to defeat the great powers, the Five Great Villages would never have maintained their dominance for so many years.
The great villages possessed far more than larger numbers, stronger shinobi, and deeper reserves for war. They also had generations of tactical expertise cultivated through mature training systems.
The White Zetsu Cyborg Legion Nagato had assembled could only gain an early advantage through the element of surprise. It was never enough to decide the outcome of the war.
On the battlefield of the Third Combat Division—
Kaiu of Kirigakure severed an enemy's neck with a single slash. Just as he prepared to catch his breath, he failed to notice a White Zetsu-wrapped figure silently emerging from the ground behind him.
A flash of cold steel.
A kunai thrust straight toward his heart from behind.
At that critical moment, a Konoha shinobi lunged in from the side. In desperation, he threw up his left hand to block the attack, allowing the kunai to pierce completely through his palm and preventing his teammate from being killed in a single blow.
Enduring the searing pain, the Konoha shinobi clenched his left hand tightly around the weapon, forcibly dragging the enemy toward himself. Then, with his right hand moving like lightning, he drove his own kunai into the opponent's temple.
Even with a White Zetsu body, having a hole punched through the brain meant only one outcome.
Instant death.
Only then did Kaiu finally react. Terror washed over him.
But when he saw who had saved him, he froze.
It was a Konoha shinobi named Hiryū—the very same man he had clashed with earlier that morning.
Kaiu's emotions immediately became a tangled mess.
His father had been killed by Konoha during the Third Shinobi World War. He carried the hatred of a son whose father had been slain by Konoha.
And yet now...
His own life had just been saved by a Konoha shinobi.
Gratitude and vengeance clashed inside him, leaving his heart unable to reconcile the two.
Though he had no idea what to say, his body acted before his mouth did. He hurried over, pulled out a small bottle of medicinal solution, sprayed it onto Hiryū's wound to disinfect it and stop the bleeding, then quickly wrapped it with bandages.
As he worked, Kaiu felt he ought to say something—anything—to ease the awkward silence.
"Are all you Konoha shinobi idiots? Couldn't you have just kicked him away? Why'd you block it with your hand? Why not use your heart while you were at it?"
Hiryū grinned.
"Heh, that was the only way to pull him in close enough to finish him off."
"Idiot. You could've just thrown your kunai and killed him anyway."
"Then you'd have been dead, wouldn't you?"
"..."
Kaiu paused for a moment before snorting.
"Hmph. Don't expect me to thank you."
"As if I needed your thanks!"
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
The squad captain, Iwaze, arrived just in time and blasted away two enemies attempting to close in with a single jutsu. Forced to retreat underground to recover from their injuries, they disappeared from sight.
Iwaze turned and glared at his subordinates.
"What the hell are you two doing? Filming a tearjerker? The enemy got that close and neither of you noticed?"
Hiryū gave an embarrassed laugh.
Kaiu immediately apologized.
"Sorry, Captain. I let my guard down."
"This is a battlefield," Iwaze snapped. "Stay focused. Hiryū, can you still fight? Do you need to be sent back to the medical unit?"
"I'm fine, Captain. It's just a scratch. Their weapons weren't poisoned. Everyone's risking their lives out there—I can't pull back now."
Iwaze didn't hesitate.
"Good. We're regrouping with the others. Don't get separated again. Those bastards won't last much longer. The battle's turning in our favor."
Similar scenes were unfolding throughout every combat division.
Once the initial chaos had passed, everyone began fighting in coordinated teams. No one had the luxury of caring which village their comrades came from—or whether they had once been enemies.
Where there had once been nothing but hatred between villages, the struggle against a common enemy had begun forging the camaraderie of comrades-in-arms through countless acts of mutual rescue.
Little by little, many people's hearts began to change amid that inner conflict.
...
Third Combat Division, Allied Shinobi Forces.
Temporary Rear Medical Station.
Many shinobi wounded during the opening clash were receiving treatment there.
Medical ninja and the wounded were the most vulnerable people on the battlefield, so a considerable force had been stationed there to guard against surprise attacks.
Outside one of the temporary tents, Gekkō Hayate was receiving intelligence reports from the front lines.
Ever since getting married, Hayate had left the ANBU. Taking over from the gradually retiring older generation, he had become one of Konoha's core shinobi and was now serving as the commander of the Third Combat Division, fighting on the front lines of this war.
After hearing the Intelligence Unit's report, the worry weighing on his heart eased.
The Allied Forces had weathered the initial chaos and stabilized their formation.
Victory was now within sight.
Even so, he refused to lower his guard, remaining fully alert.
At that moment, his advanced Natural Energy Training gave him a sudden warning.
He instantly drew his sword and slashed vertically to his right.
A massive invisible wind blade shot diagonally into the ground, carving an abyss-like fissure across the earth.
Faint screams echoed from within the crack.
The shinobi guarding the area immediately realized someone had been trying to launch an underground sneak attack. Several Iwa shinobi joined forces and unleashed Earth Release techniques, flipping the split section of earth completely over.
Seven enemies burst out from underground.
Now that they'd been exposed, they made no attempt to flee.
Instead, they charged straight toward the area packed with wounded shinobi.
The maniacs clearly intended to drag as many injured people as possible down with them before they died.
But Hayate moved faster than anyone else.
With a single downward slash, his attack split into seven wind blades, each one striking an enemy with flawless precision and incredible speed.
None of them died.
Hayate had deliberately held back, intending to leave them alive for questioning.
Fearing the prisoners might escape underground again, the nearby shinobi immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to rush forward and restrain them.