There are three types of White Zetsu.
The first dates back to the era when Ōtsutsuki Kaguya ruled the world a thousand years ago. They were created by transforming humans sacrificed to the God Tree—the genuine originals.
The second type was produced in Uchiha Madara's old age after he awakened the Rinnegan. By summoning the Ten-Tails' husk, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and combining it with Hashirama's cells, he created these high-quality knockoffs.
The last type consists of degraded copies cultivated from spores split off from a particular White Zetsu by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. They're nothing more than disposable tools and don't spend their time wondering what taking a dump feels like.
There had once been hundreds of thousands of the original White Zetsu.
None of them had fully matured, and while the Sage of Six Paths and his younger brother were beating up their mother, they wiped them all out as a side job.
Kaguya had established quite a few strongholds across the shinobi world. When the Sage of Six Paths later wandered the land disguised as a monk, one of his main tasks was cleaning up those leftover threats.
But apparently, he hadn't managed to eliminate them all.
At the very least, the White Zetsu possessed by Black Zetsu was suspected to be one of those ancient survivors. It may even have served as the template Madara used to create his imitation White Zetsu.
Because time had been short, the vast majority of the White Zetsu Nagato created were only half-finished products. They lacked the ability to move independently and couldn't become soldiers like the hundred thousand White Zetsu from Sasuke's original timeline.
However, thanks to the unique nature of their source, they could be fused with human shinobi and used as a form of biological armor.
The results were remarkably effective.
Even the Kage were interested.
Ōnoki held the corpse of a White Zetsu symbiote in his hand, feeling its strange texture—neither flesh nor not-flesh.
"This is good stuff. It would be a tremendous help to shinobi."
The Raikage knew his subordinates had already secured quite a few live specimens, but he still spoke stubbornly.
"Hmph. Nothing special. They're just external tools. A shinobi's true strength comes only from training their own body."
Terumī Mei disagreed.
"It can let a genin fight at the level of a chūnin—or even higher—and it provides incredible survivability. That's already terrifying enough."
Rasa said nothing.
Research was definitely worth doing.
He'd just do it quietly after returning home.
Now that Konohagakure had adopted an entirely new training system whose effectiveness was plain for all to see, every village was feeling the pressure.
Rasa, however, was probably the only one who felt completely at ease.
The moment you side with Konoha, the whole world suddenly feels a lot bigger.
Minato said, "It raises the lower limit but lowers the upper limit. It's useful for genin and average chūnin, but for tokubetsu jōnin and above, it's mostly just a portable medical kit and chakra supply. Still, it's very convenient."
Makoto smiled.
"Compared to shinobi, this thing would be an even greater blessing for ordinary people. It could easily be developed into a biological medical pod."
"With a little more research and refinement, it could revolutionize the entire medical industry, freeing humanity from the suffering of severe injuries and lost limbs."
"Wouldn't that be a huge step toward creating a better world?"
Minato smiled and nodded in agreement.
He had thought of the same thing himself. His earlier comments had simply come from a shinobi's perspective out of habit.
Terumī Mei looked at Makoto with admiration.
"Makoto-sama, you're truly someone who cares about the entire world."
Makoto blinked.
"Huh? You only noticed that obvious virtue of mine today, Mizukage-sama?"
Aside from Minato, the eyelids of the other four twitched.
Their understanding of Higashino Makoto had just been updated.
He was overwhelmingly powerful, surprisingly easy to get along with...
...and had skin thicker than fortress walls.
...
After more than half a day of pursuit, searching, and cleanup, the Allied Shinobi Forces completely eliminated every threat in the surrounding area.
The various divisions then advanced together, sealing off the region containing the Akatsuki base from every direction.
Nagato's White Zetsu symbiote army had been defeated.
Only a small fraction managed to flee back to the base in panic.
Now the area had been surrounded so completely by the Five Great Shinobi Villages that not even a fly could escape.
Those who had made it back could only pray for the god they worshipped to appear and sweep away every enemy.
Strangely, however, Nagato himself never appeared throughout the entire operation.
No one knew what he was busy doing.
Not only him—even the members of the Akatsuki had stayed out of the earlier battles, as though they were waiting for something.
None of them seemed anxious in the slightest.
By nightfall, the Konohagakure reinforcements led by Tsunade successfully rendezvoused with the Allied Forces.
Inside the temporary command headquarters...
Jiraiya was visibly surprised to see the woman he admired.
"Tsunade? What are you doing here? Are you sure you're okay? That condition of yours..."
Tsunade frowned.
"Condition? What condition? What nonsense are you babbling about now?"
Jiraiya immediately understood.
Tsunade's hemophobia had been cured.
"When did that happen? Why didn't I know?"
Tsunade snorted.
"And who exactly are you that I'd have to keep you informed about my life?"
"I thought all your attention was reserved for young women."
Jiraiya: "..."
The pain...
It hurt far too much.
After all these years, Jiraiya realized that, in Tsunade's heart, his place hadn't changed one bit.
He was still just that shameless little pervert from the side of the road.
For all his self-proclaimed reputation as a ladies' man, the guy who wrote those dirty novels had never actually known what he was doing.
The only experience he had was drinking in hostess bars. His attempts to catch the attention of the woman he adored were childish and painfully clumsy.
He was a complete amateur.
Other than the people from Konohagakure, no one else present understood the exchange between the two.
Ōnoki spoke up.
"Everyone, I think this is the perfect opportunity to wipe out the Akatsuki once and for all."
Minato shook his head.
"Let's rest for the night. The Allied Forces have been fighting all afternoon and aren't in any condition to continue. Besides, we have the numerical advantage. Night operations would work against us and could easily lead to confusion."
The Raikage snorted.
"Doesn't matter. They're already surrounded—they've got nowhere to run. This time, we're wiping out every last one of those bastards."
As he spoke, he deliberately looked at Ōnoki.
Among everyone present, the old man was the one most likely to pull something behind their backs. He still hadn't completely given up on his rebellious former student.
Rasa and Terumī Mei remained silent.
Even among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, there were clear differences in strength.
They could roughly be divided into the top three and the bottom two.
One leader was the oldest, another had the biggest muscles, and the last commanded the strongest village.
Naturally, whatever those three decided was what everyone else followed.
As for the rogue ninja Sasori and Kisame, who had come from their respective villages, neither Rasa nor Terumī Mei cared whether they lived or died.
In fact, they'd rather they died.
It would save their villages a lot of future trouble.
Makoto nodded.
"The Hokage is right. I'd also like to add one thing."
"Tomorrow, the main force only needs to surround the Akatsuki base from the outside. There's no need to get too close."
"The Akatsuki's leader and the Ten-Tails aren't opponents ordinary shinobi can handle. There's no point increasing casualties for nothing."
Jiraiya agreed.
"Exactly. If our troops are packed too tightly together, they'll be sitting ducks for large-scale ninjutsu. Having more people isn't always an advantage."
After all, he still wanted to bring his old friend Orochimaru back.
The last thing he wanted was for Orochimaru to slaughter too many shinobi from the Five Great Villages, leaving him with no path to redemption.
None of the leaders had any objections to Makoto's proposal.
With the plan settled, the success or failure of the entire operation would be decided in tomorrow's battle.
...
The next morning—the 15th—the Allied Forces advanced simultaneously under orders from headquarters, closing in on the Akatsuki base.
Before they even reached the encirclement line designated by the command staff, the White Zetsu symbiote army that had escaped the previous day launched another assault under the leadership of the remaining defenders inside the base.
Whether Nagato had personally reassured his followers or was controlling them through some other means, they fought even more ferociously than they had the day before.
It didn't matter.
After yesterday's battle, the Allied Forces had already developed effective countermeasures.
The remnants of the White Zetsu symbiote army were little more than a desperate last stand.
But in the middle of the fighting, something unexpected happened.
On the Third Division's battlefield, Kaiu had just finished defeating an enemy alongside his teammates when someone suddenly shoved him aside.
Even so, a ninja blade carved a long gash across his shoulder, and blood immediately poured from the wound.
The one who had saved him was the same Konoha shinobi from his company as before—Hiryū.
The attacker, however, was someone Kaiu knew from Kirigakure.
Clutching his bleeding shoulder, Kaiu stared in disbelief.
"Have you lost your mind?! Why are you trying to kill me?"
"...Wait, that's not right."
"Babuzo, you were gravely wounded yesterday. How are you already healed... and back here?"
Hiryū stepped in front of his injured teammate.
"Kaiu, something's wrong with his expression."
"It looks like he's under a genjutsu."
The Kirigakure shinobi named Babuzo said nothing.
He merely wore a strange grin before charging at them again.
Just then, Company Commander Iwaze flashed behind Babuzo and slammed a heavy punch into him, knocking him to the ground.
His intention had been to knock the man unconscious and break the genjutsu through brute force.
Instead, Babuzo's neck turned out to be unnaturally soft.
His head spun around several times from the impact, as though it had no bones at all.
The creature collapsed without another sound.
Moments later, it transformed into a white humanoid creature.
There was no human body inside it.
Kaiu's eyes widened.
"What the hell...? That wasn't Babuzo?"
Hiryū frowned.
"Obviously not. It transformed into him."
"But I couldn't sense any trace of a Transformation Technique."
"Captain... you didn't notice anything either?"
"No."
Iwaze looked around at the battlefield.
"This is bad."
Similar incidents were occurring throughout every division.
There weren't many of them, but they were enough to throw the Allied Forces into panic.
No one could trust the person standing beside them anymore.
No one knew whether the familiar teammate at their side might suddenly drive a kunai straight into their kidney.