Chapter 82: The Ragtag Army's Counterattack
Various elemental ninjutsu rained down from above, causing the White Zetsu at the front to tumble over each other. Before the two sides could even close in, the White Zetsu had already suffered heavy casualties.
Su Xiao had anticipated this situation before, but what he absolutely hadn't expected was that the White Zetsu's team coordination would be so utterly terrible.
In a forest near the battlefield, inside an underground cavern, Kabuto's expression wasn't looking good. As the commander of the White Zetsu, he had tried his utmost to maintain their formation, but their team coordination was simply too poor. Each White Zetsu had its own independent consciousness.
The White Zetsu army consisted of replicas of the foolish White Zetsu, not clones. In other words, every single White Zetsu was an independent existence. This had both advantages and disadvantages.
The sounds of battle cries came from the battlefield. After the White Zetsu forces had nearly 3,000 of their numbers eliminated by the ninjas, they finally managed to reach the front lines of the Allied Shinobi Forces, and close-quarters combat began.
Something unexpected happened once again. The moment the two sides clashed, the chunin at the front of the Allied Shinobi Forces suffered a massive rout.
Although the battle formation Su Xiao had proposed couldn't be realized due to the White Zetsu replicas' terrible coordination and the lack of time for training, the wooden shields and wooden spears in the White Zetsu's hands played an absolutely crucial role.
The ninjas were all armed with kunai or shuriken. Kunai were short weapons with no handguard, making them dangerous to use. Their triangular blade edges meant they weren't suited for slashing at all, mostly being used for thrusting. One could imagine how terrible they were in a large-scale melee.
In truth, the Allied Shinobi Forces also knew that kunai weren't suitable for war, but what could they do? Over 90% of ninjas had used kunai their entire lives. Giving them new weapons would be sending them to their deaths on the battlefield.
On the other hand, the White Zetsu forces each had an exaggeratedly large shield, one meter wide and two meters tall, connected to their left hand.
When a kunai stabbed into a wooden shield, the best result was poking a hole through it, with the risk of getting stuck. Injuring the White Zetsu behind the shield was unlikely unless the ninja had considerable strength.
The White Zetsu's weapons were wooden spears about 1.6 meters long, not too long, but the advantage was they were relatively agile.
A kunai, only about twenty centimeters long, against a 1.6-meter spear—the outcome was predictable.
Pfft, pfft...
The sound of sharp weapons piercing flesh came one after another. Ninjas fell one by one. The cries of battle and the wails of the severely wounded were incessant.
Previous shinobi world wars had never been this brutal, because they had never featured such almost unfair weapons as shields and spears. Ninjas always fought in close quarters with kunai or directly with taijutsu.
Blood soaked the yellow sand. In the first clash between the two sides, the White Zetsu suffered around 4,000 casualties, while the Allied Shinobi Forces had about 2,000.
In an instant, the battlefield turned into hell. Compared to previous ninja wars, this was what war was truly supposed to look like.
"Kabuto, pull the White Zetsu back."
Su Xiao stood on a high vantage point. He knew Kabuto could hear him.
With a bang, a coffin appeared behind Su Xiao. It was the Second Tsuchikage, Mu.
"Why pull back?"
Kabuto was controlling Mu; it was Kabuto who spoke.
"The two sides haven't fully mixed together yet. Have the White Zetsu form a battle formation immediately. If their steps are out of sync, shout a command for each step."
"I'll try."
Kabuto began to command the White Zetsu to reform their battle formation. Or rather, he couldn't fully control them, only give them orders.
Soon, the White Zetsu on the battlefield began to slowly retreat. They indeed couldn't form a formation while charging, but now it was possible.
The White Zetsu at the very front held off the ninja offensive, while those behind gradually formed into ranks.
The Allied Shinobi Forces were baffled. Whether it was the sensing unit or people like Huang Tu, none of them could understand the White Zetsu's actions. They clearly had the advantage, so why retreat?
Although Huang Tu didn't understand the White Zetsu's intentions, he immediately gathered the ninja forces that were on the verge of being scattered.
After about ten seconds, the Allied Shinobi Forces stabilized their position. The disadvantage of short weapons had caused them to suffer greatly. But at that moment, the White Zetsu had already formed their ranks.
With a loud roar, each White Zetsu took a step forward. Their movement speed wasn't great, but their steps were remarkably uniform.
At this moment, the ragtag White Zetsu army actually had the momentum of a massive force bearing down. The ninjas, who had spent their entire lives in assassinations or small-scale skirmishes, had never seen anything like this. They instinctively took a few steps back.
"Don't retreat!!"
Huang Tu roared. He knew that if they retreated now, the war would be over.
The White Zetsu advanced in a sweeping formation. Their pace wasn't fast, but they were shielded by rows of wooden shields in front, and their synchronized roars were imposing.
The ninjas looked at the kunai in their hands, then at the White Zetsu's two-meter-tall shields. A million curses seemed to race through their minds. How were they supposed to fight this?
"Continue using combined ninjutsu."
Huang Tu had some command acumen. Upon receiving this order, the ninjas immediately began using combined ninjutsu.
Water currents surged up, flames raged across the desert, and the White Zetsu forces suffered another appalling number of casualties.
Yet the White Zetsu's advance didn't stop. They continued to press toward the Allied Shinobi Forces. Commander Kabuto knew that ninjas had limited chakra; they couldn't sustain these large-scale combined ninjutsu for long.
Sure enough, after the White Zetsu's casualties exceeded 6,000, they successfully pushed to the front of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
In a battle of this scale, a kiting strategy was impossible. One misstep could cause their own side to rout, which would be a complete disaster—like the kite string snapping. If the Allied Shinobi Forces retreated, the White Zetsu army would immediately abandon their formation and shields and swarm forward. At that point, this ninja force would be finished.
Bang, bang, bang...
Kunai stabbed into wooden shields, and what greeted them were long weapons—wooden spears. In just one exchange, a large swath of the Allied Shinobi Forces fell.
A brutal slaughter began. After about five minutes, the ninjas and the White Zetsu army were locked in close-quarters combat, completely intermingled.
Originally, the Second Division was supposed to hold off the White Zetsu. Most of them were taijutsu-type ninjas. If they could block the White Zetsu army, the rear long-range units could use large-scale combined ninjutsu to carpet-bomb the area.
Unfortunately, the rear units were also tied down by other White Zetsu forces. Those White Zetsu were nothing but cannon fodder.
Once close-quarters combat began, the Second Division couldn't easily withdraw.
Su Xiao leaped down from the stone pillar. He was ready to join the battle. It had been a long time since he had experienced the feeling of a chaotic melee.
With a thunderous crash, the stone pillar Su Xiao was on shattered. He shot down like a cannonball into the midst of the battle.
Boom!
Yellow sand sprayed into the air as Su Xiao landed in a large group of ninjas. Huang Tu, who had been closely watching Su Xiao from a distance, was visibly stunned to see him jump directly into the crowd. In Huang Tu's view, this was practically suicide.
"Kurotsuchi, Hyuga Hinata, Karui, Hyuga Neji, come with me to surround and kill the enemy's important member, Bai Ye."
"Yes."
Hyuga Hinata was already in the Hyuga style's starting stance. Strangely enough, her right forearm was intact. Su Xiao had cut off Hinata's right forearm during his last visit to the Naruto world. However, Hinata was now wearing a black glove on her right hand.