Once people numbered over ten thousand, they stretched boundlessly.
The elite shinobi of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, along with the Waterfall Ninja and Samurai from the Land of Iron, totaling eighty thousand, formed different formations according to their respective units, creating a sea of people.
Truthfully, perhaps because the scene was chaotic, Naruto felt that these eighty thousand people lacked the imposing presence of the ten thousand-plus soldiers in the National Day parade.
Naruto had already arrived at the assembly point with Kakashi and the others, receiving the Shinobi Allied Forces Forehead Protector designed by Mifune of the Land of Iron.
Calling it a design was an overstatement; it simply replaced the symbols of each village's Forehead Protector with the character 'Endure' (Shinobi).
With the great war imminent, it was remarkable that they could produce them so quickly. Perhaps this was something the villages had agreed upon long ago, and even Minato felt it was absolutely necessary.
Amidst the distinctive shinobi uniforms of each village, seeing everyone wearing the same Forehead Protector might create a sense of camaraderie?
The entire Shinobi Allied Forces was divided into the Intelligence Unit, Sensory Unit, Medical Logistics Unit, and Combat Grand Alliance according to their functions.
The Combat Grand Alliance was further divided into long-range, mid-range, and close-quarters combat teams based on the shinobi's attack methods and Ninjutsu characteristics.
Notably, Naruto's Kakashi Squad and Tenten's Team Guy were assigned to the Rapid Mobile Force, responsible for supporting battlefields where the situation was unfavorable.
This unit would be led by Kakashi, who would remain at headquarters after the war began, acting based on the battle situation obtained by the Intelligence Unit and Sensory Unit.
Kakashi led Zuo Zhu and Sakura towards the formation, while Naruto was summoned to the temporary command center.
The Five Kage and the surviving Jinchuriki gathered, but the one who attracted Naruto's attention the most was Killer Bee.
The others were also staring at this Eight Tails Jinchuriki, who was rumored to have been killed.
"Yo~" Killer Bee, being watched by everyone, not only didn't feel uncomfortable but even struck a rapping pose, wanting to use a rap to explain his experiences during this time. This was inspiration bought with his life. Although losing Eight Tails made Killer Bee feel bad, he believed he could definitely save it, so Killer Bee's rapping soul would never stop!
"Shut up, Bee!" The Raikage's fist landed on Killer Bee's face, stopping him from further embarrassing himself, and explained, "Now that everyone is here, I'll get straight to the point. As you can see, Bee escaped from the Akatsuki alive, but the Eight Tails has been extracted. Thanks to the Octopus Tentacle it left behind, Bee's life was saved."
Ōnoki said, "Even without the Eight Tails, Killer Bee is still an excellent shinobi. At this time, having a little more combat power is a good thing."
Yagura agreed, "That's right, at least the situation hasn't continued to deteriorate. Although Utakata and I were attacked, the Tailed Beast were not taken away."
"No, the situation is not that optimistic." Minato said in a deep voice, "According to the latest intelligence, they don't necessarily need complete Tailed Beast; as long as they have enough Chakra, they can awaken the Ten Tails."
"What?" Yagura's expression was ugly. "I was once absorbed of Chakra by White Zetsu."
Utakata added, "I was absorbed of Chakra by Samehada when I was in Tailed Beast form."
"Have the Three Tails and Six Tails... and others been absorbed of Chakra by people related to the Akatsuki?" Ōnoki asked.
Naruto and Kushina shook their heads, and Fu even raised her hand and shouted, "Not at all!"
"No, you have." Before the others could breathe a sigh of relief, Gaara's words made them frown.
"Huh? When?" Fu didn't remember anything like that.
Gaara said, "During the last Chunin Exams, both you and I were absorbed of a lot of Chakra by the Lute Playing Monk. Some time ago, that guy was kidnapped. I originally thought it was a plan against me, but I didn't expect it was for the Tailed Beast Chakra."
Fu suddenly realized, revealing a 'crap' expression: "Ah! You're talking about that Lute Playing Monk!"
Gaara nodded: "That's him, which means they should already have the One Tail and Seven Tails Chakra."
Yagura frowned: "If that's the case, it makes sense. Only the Nine Tails Chakra is missing, no wonder they would risk all their core members to attack the Land of Fire."
"So, only the Nine Tails is left?" Ōnoki looked at Naruto and Kushina, who were standing quietly behind Minato, and the others were also hoping that there would be no more bad news.
Minato said, "They seem to have backup plans for the Nine Tails Chakra as well, but they won't use them easily until the last moment. They hope to get the complete Nine Tails as much as possible."
"Then we absolutely can't delay any longer." The Raikage slammed the table. "Is there any information on the Akatsuki's location? The teams that went to the Rain Country to investigate all came back empty-handed!"
Minato said, "Our situation is the same. Because almost all of the Akatsuki's core members have been captured, it's too easy for the remaining Zetsu and the man who calls himself 'Madara' to move around. And they don't seem to plan on using the Rain Country's ninja as their main force."
Ōnoki folded his arms. "The information on my side is similar. Those guys are too nimble. Maybe having fewer people is a good thing for them."
"Dong, dong, dong." A knock sounded on the door.
Naruto whispered in Minato's ear, "It's Uncle Inoichi."
Yamanaka Inoichi wasn't a reckless person. Coming to knock at this time meant he definitely had something important to report.
Minato nodded. "Come in."
Sure enough, Inoichi pushed the door open and immediately said, "Lord Hokage, and esteemed Kage, I apologize for disturbing you at this time, but there is urgent information."
"Nearly 100,000 enemy troops have entered the Land of Fire in three directions. Judging by their appearance, the enemies are White Zetsu... and ninjas who have passed away from various Shinobi Villages!"
The Raikage said urgently, "What did you say? What's going on with the deceased ninjas?"
Minato had expected this. Since the Chunin Exams, he had people keep a close watch on the Konoha ninja cemetery. After getting information about Orochimaru from Nagato and Konan, he had specifically confirmed whether there had been any grave robbing incidents recently.
In fact, to be absolutely thorough, he could dig up all the corpses and re-cremate them, but the problem was, if he issued such an order that offended the corpses of the dead, what difference would there be between him and a grave robber?
Minato explained, "That's a Forbidden Jutsu developed by the Second Hokage called Impure World Reincarnation, which can summon the souls of the dead from the Underworld Pure Land to the present world. If there are no accidents, the caster should be Orochimaru."
"Impure World Reincarnation!?" Gaara, as a participant in the Konoha (crossed out) Sand Destruction Plan, naturally knew about this Jutsu.
The others were shocked to hear this. Konoha actually had such a Ninjutsu!
Ōnoki, being knowledgeable and experienced, had heard of Tobirama Senju's reputation and exclaimed, "To be able to develop such a Ninjutsu, the Second Hokage is truly a terrifying man."
-----------
This high quality machine translation is powered by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
To read the full translation, as well as more than 444+ fanfic and original translations or request new translations, check out: https:// randomtranslator.com/
You can also join the RandomTranslator community on Discord to connect with other readers: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------