To be honest, in the three-on-one fight between Mirai, Kimimaro, Haku, and Uchiha Itachi, if Yagoromo had not been watching from the side the entire time, the three of them would have been defeated very quickly.
The three of them naturally did not know that the earlier battle between Yagoromo and Itachi had only been an act. Therefore, when they attacked, they could be considered to have gone all out, one hundred percent. But three rookies were still somewhat lacking against a Kage-level powerhouse like Uchiha Itachi.
This was not merely a question of strength. More importantly, it was a question of experience and fighting style.
In many situations, Uchiha Itachi's attacks were coordinated with genjutsu, carrying an extremely strong element of suddenness and lethality. Because he could make an enemy fall under genjutsu without them knowing when it had happened, when dealing with him, avoiding eye contact with the Sharingan was common sense among common sense. After all, not everyone could instantly break free of Uchiha Itachi's cheat-like genjutsu through an equally cheat-like method the way Yagoromo could.
Avoiding the Sharingan's line of sight sounded simple, but in reality, it raised the difficulty of the entire battle. Under these circumstances, forget a rookie like Mirai having trouble adapting; even shinobi with rich combat experience would find it difficult to pull off.
Observing changes in an enemy's face—especially changes in their gaze—was one of the main ways to gather information on their next move during battle. A shift in the opponent's line of sight often meant a change in their point of attack. But this method did not hold true when applied to Uchiha Itachi. Forget observing what that poker face would do next; basically, looking at him once meant the battle was over.
Therefore, in this three-on-one battle, there was nothing difficult to understand about the side with the numerical advantage being suppressed. After all, this kind of battle was far too restrictive for rookies.
Sure enough, grinding experience should still begin with elite monsters whose strength had some flexibility, such as Hatake Kakashi and the like.
More than thirty minutes had already passed since Mirai and the other two had officially entered the battle. Acting to this extent was already enough. Just as Yagoromo was considering how to wrap things up, the distance between the three of them and Uchiha Itachi widened once again.
Mirai extravagantly used a Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique to extinguish Uchiha Itachi's Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique… This was the difference between a shinobi with abundant chakra and an ordinary shinobi. Although the battle had gone on for a fair amount of time, and Mirai had also been continuously releasing high-level ninjutsu, she was still full of energy even now.
Fighting a war of attrition against the Uzumaki clan and competing in chakra consumption was absolutely not the correct approach.
In terms of the basic chakra nature transformations they had mastered, both Mirai and Haku had mastered three natures, and their attributes were the same: Lightning, Wind, and Water. The difference was that, for Haku, Wind and Water were innate attributes, while Lightning was cultivated later. For Mirai, Wind was her innate attribute, Lightning came from training that had begun at birth, and Water was cultivated later.
As for Kimimaro, his nature transformation was mainly Lightning Release. After all, he was fundamentally a shinobi who used taijutsu as his main combat method. For the current him, the only issue was that with the use of his Shikotsumyaku strictly limited, it was difficult for him to fully display his true strength.
As for Uchiha Itachi, he was proficient in Water, Fire, and Wind.
Therefore, if they really continued fighting by relying on mutually countering ninjutsu, there would be plenty to play around with.
Due to the difference in the scale of chakra used in their ninjutsu, Uchiha Itachi's Fire Release was extinguished by the waves of the Great Waterfall before it could pull off anything fancy.
Facing the surging water rushing straight toward him, Itachi did not choose to resist it. Instead, he chose to retreat quickly.
By the time the water completely settled, Itachi had also opened up enough distance from Yagoromo's team.
At that moment, Itachi did not turn around to counterattack. Instead, he stopped in place, because half of a White Zetsu had emerged from the ground beside him.
"Itachi, the battle was much simpler than we imagined. Looks like the White Yaksha wanted to use you as practice for his team before dealing you a fatal blow. Unfortunately, things won't go the way he wants anymore…"
This explanation rather clearly accounted for Yagoromo's intentions and the reason he had not acted again. Having seen the battle between the two sides, White Zetsu did not need anyone else to explain. He had already filled in the cause and effect himself.
"Indeed… How is the situation on Sasori's side? If this battle continues, forget the White Yaksha still watching hungrily from the side; just my chakra alone won't last much longer," Itachi replied.
This was not because Mirai had dragged him into her pace during the battle, but because only chakra could deal with chakra, and only powerful techniques could deal with powerful techniques. In the previous battle, without even realizing it, Itachi's chakra consumption had already far exceeded his own expectations.
"That red-haired girl is probably from the Uzumaki clan… However, your mission can end here. You can choose to withdraw. Leave what comes next to me."
This was still a rather confident White Zetsu.
Naturally, Itachi would not stand on ceremony with him. Since White Zetsu had said this, that meant Deidara and Sasori's side was already fine. From the standpoint of the mission, there was no longer any meaning in him staying here…
He nodded, then turned and left just like that.
"A new enemy?"
What was happening over there was clearly visible to Mirai's side. After a single White Zetsu appeared beside Itachi and the two briefly exchanged a few words, the Uchiha actually chose to leave.
"What do we do, Yagoromo?"
How things proceeded next still depended on Yagoromo's decision.
Yagoromo thought for a moment. Simply giving up on Itachi seemed a little deliberate, and it also did not match his usual way of doing things. So he said, "Pursue him a little, but don't go too deep."
In reality, though, Yagoromo's latter sentence was somewhat unnecessary, because the actual situation was that they had no way to pursue deeply at all.
Or, to be more precise, they had no way to immediately bypass that White Zetsu and chase after Itachi.
Because there was not just one White Zetsu there. Although Uchiha Itachi had left, he had left behind nearly three digits' worth of gay bros blocking the path in front of Yagoromo's team.
All right… White Zetsu was not a gay bro. He was merely a sexless organism. Although saying this felt somewhat unfair to spring bamboo shoots, at this moment, one White Zetsu after another was popping out of the ground like bamboo shoots after rain.
During the battle just now, a considerable number of White Zetsu had silently infiltrated the area. After all, White Zetsu did indeed possess traits that could hide from Mirai's perception… Looking at it now, Akatsuki's arrangement was fairly obvious. First, Itachi bought time for Deidara and Sasori to leave safely, as well as for White Zetsu to gather and set up. After that was complete, White Zetsu in turn set up an interception to cover Itachi's withdrawal. This could be considered a chain of interlocking moves.
Exposing White Zetsu's numerical characteristics was also something Akatsuki had no choice but to do. And as contact between the two sides increased, more of Akatsuki's traits would gradually be exposed one by one.
However, this meant Yagoromo no longer needed to agonize over what to do, although the unexpected development did make him feel a little gloomy.
"In any case, let's deal with these white radishes first… After that, we can retreat."
"Retreat?"
Mirai was even gloomier than Yagoromo. They had fought for half a day and still had not achieved any substantial progress. For her first mission, this probably counted as an "unfavorable start."
Yagoromo: "…"
That kind of thinking would not do. Surely she did not expect to take down a shinobi like Itachi the very first time she participated in a battle of this level, right? So Yagoromo earnestly advised her, "For shinobi, don't always focus on fighting and killing. Think about it. You still have poetry and distant horizons…"
Poetry and distant horizons, my ass. In any case, they should hurry up and deal with this crowd of naked radishes. Running out without even wearing clothes was far too unsightly and offensive to public morals. Moreover, with this number of enemies, handling them would definitely take quite a bit of effort.
So…
Now let us play a game called "Spot the Difference" and see what differences there were between the individual White Zetsu.
All right, this game had no difficulty at all.
Their differences were:
Some White Zetsu were already dead.
Some White Zetsu were currently dying.
And some White Zetsu were about to die.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Chakraflow789