"KABUTO!! WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?" Tobi's angry voice echoes in the cavern.
Kabuto patiently waits for Tobi to calm down.
"I know you are still there!" After a few seconds, Tobi opens his mouth.
"Why didn't you send your more powerful Edo soldiers into the war? What are you planning?" Tobi questions Kabuto's motives.
"Well, I didn't expect the allied shinobi force to deploy their elite shinobis so soon. The various Kages were supposed to be the reserve force to decide the ending of the war. But to think, the allied shinobi force will take a risk and deploy them so early in the battle. They must be really desperate to win an advantage in the war." Kabuto calmly replies to Tobi in a serene tone.
Tobi, who is on the other side of the communication, calms down a little. Since Kabuto can think of this point, he also considered it in his judgment.
However, Kabuto's movements were suspicious from the very beginning. His motives unclear and his over-the-top friendliness, everything seems like a deadly trap. However, he had no choice but to risk it all with Kabuto and cooperate with him.
During the time of war, it's better to have an ally with common interests than more enemies with opposite goals. Also, after Kisame's death; he and Zetsu are the only surviving members of the Akatsuki. It began with them and it also ended with them.
Fighting against the entire world isn't a small undertaking, and Kabuto offered him what he needed the most; a supply of immortal elite shinobis.
Akatsuki had an army of a hundred thousand Zetsu soldiers. But almost all of them were cannon fodders and even a single elite shinobi could easily take down ten and a hundred of them. At that rate, the battle would end within a single day with Akatsuki's total defeat.
He alone couldn't fight against the elite shinobi of Five Great Nations with their years of foundation. However, Kabuto's Edo-Tensei filled that gap and now he is stuck with that choice.
Tobi slightly regrets his action, but he had no choice in the matter since Kabuto already knew about his plans. And leaking the details of his plans to the Five Great Nations before completing the necessary preparations was the last thing he wanted to happen.
"Kabuto, we suffered heavy losses in today's battle. Almost one-fourth of the Zetsu army got wiped out in today's encounter. Not only that, the enemy was aware of our strategy and was prepared for our ambush. If only we had your Edo soldier to support the army!" Tobi gives a sour reminder to Kabuto.
"Now… now… don't be so unrelenting. I had my difficulties too. After the first day's battle, I lost most of the Edo Tensei soldiers and wasn't able to replenish enough shinobis to summon many Edo soldiers for today's battle. However, I have enough Edo soldiers for tomorrow's battle."
Kabuto licks his lips and stares at multiple unconscious shinobis around him. These shinobis are in a comatose state from Kabuto's poison.
"So, rest assured for tomorrow's battle." Kabuto has a not so assuring smile on his face.
On the other side of the communication spore,
"Damn snake!" Tobi grits his teeth and turns to Black Zetsu.
"What are the chances that he can truly control him?" He asks Zetsu a random question.
"The possibility is very low. However, I have countermeasures in place." Zetsu assures him.
'I can't let anyone foil the centuries of my planning. I have waited for this day for so long,' Black Zetsu thinks to himself.
"Then I will put my trust in Kabuto for just this once. Once the third phase of the Eye of the Moon Plan is put into action, we will get rid of him."
Mm…
Black Zetsu nods at him and enters the ground and disappears. Only Obito is left alone in the hideout.
Obito takes out a torn picture of himself and Rin from his pocket. He gently caresses the picture.
'Rin, it won't be long before we reunite.'
---------------------------
The second day of the war ends with the Allied Shinobis force's victory. A group of shinobi teams scouts the outer perimeter of the camp in anticipation of any ambush like the previous night.
The various commanders and vice-commander gather in their camps and prepare for the War Council meeting.
A few minutes later,
Fwoosh…
All respective personnel arrives within the virtual space of the war council meeting. All of them take their respective seats and patiently wait for Shikaku to finish the report on today's war.
"After tallying the number of missing people and casualties in the war, we lost a total of one thousand shinobis in today's war. The enemy forces lost a total of twenty-seven thousand soldiers and around three hundred elite Edo soldiers." He places down the report on the table.
"A total of two hundred shinobis are missing from today's battle. Looks like Kabuto is up to no good again." He adds.
Hmm…
Onoki, who was silently sitting with closed eyes, opens them.
"Today's battle allowed us to witness the true strength of the Allied Shinobi forces' brain, Shikaku Nara. With his immaculate planning, meticulous eyes for details, and intricate strategy; today's battle was a huge victory for the allied shinobi force." Onoki praises Shikaku to no end.
"Lord Tsuchikage overpraises me. If not for the sacrifice of the Infiltration and Reconnaissance Party to deliver the intel, we wouldn't have won today's battle by such a margin." Shikaku shakes his head.
A also opens his eyes and glances at the commander of the Recon Team.
"Any progress on the whereabouts of Kabuto and the missing shinobis?"
"Unfortunately, not!" The Recon Team leader shakes his head.
"A few of our teams were ambushed and captured by Kabuto's Edo soldiers and we have lost track of his whereabouts. Even the trackers we placed on our shinobis led to a dead end."
Tch…
A clicks his tongue in disappointment.
"Deploy more forces in search of Kabuto. We must find him at all costs." Minato issues an order.
"Now, let's focus our attention on tomorrow's battle strategy." Minato retreats and lets Shikaku take the lead.
Everyone turns their attention to Shikaku as he speaks.
"Akatsuki suffered a huge loss in today's battle. They won't sit back and let us win this war. Kabuto has probably successfully replenished his Edo soldiers and he might even deploy Kage-level shinobis in tomorrow's battle. So, in tomorrow's battle, we will deploy a defensive formation to resist the enemy's fierce counterattack."
For the next hour, Shikaku designs a defensive battle formation around Onoki's defense division. The meeting ends and the various commanders and vice-commanders return to their respective camp for the night.
Back at the secret underground cavern,
Kabuto draws a series of runes on the ground to form a giant complex Fuinjutsu formation. He takes out multiple vials from a storage scroll. Next, he places down multiple Fuinjutsu scrolls with a summoning seal on the ground. He splashes the contents of the vials on the various scrolls and makes a series of hand signs.
"The Edo Tensei is a summoning technique at its very core. I have already modified its Fuinjutsu seal to the very extreme. However, just like the summoning jutsu, the quality of the Edo also depends on the amount and quality of the chakra infused at the time of summoning.
The Nature energy from the Sage Mode yields the best result. However, it takes quite a lot of time to infuse the necessary amount of chakra for the summoning. Earlier, I was struggling a lot with the chakra requirement. However, ever since I met her…"
Kabuto raises his head and glances at an unconscious shinobi with orange hairs held by the white snake.
"The members of the Kenja clan are a natural source of the constant Sage chakra. With him, I don't have to worry about running out of nature energy."
The fangs of the white snake sink deeper into the body of the orange figure.
Clang… clang… clang…
One after another, multiple coffins gather around Kabuto.
Kuku…