"It seems we're doomed, Hiashi-san," Fuyue Uchiha grimly said, knocking away a White Zetsu. His feet were already surrounded by corpses, but more and more White Zetsu kept coming endlessly!
Hiashi Hyuga and Fuyue Uchiha stood back-to-back.
Since Konoha's fall, Hiashi had brought the Hyuga clan here for refuge. In truth, they weren't the only ones—ninja from other hidden villages had come here too.
Killer Bee and Gaara were both present!
Deidara angrily rained Explosive Clay from the sky. After Ye Liang's departure, he took the role of vanguard, not only holding the defensive lines alongside Itachi, but also successfully repelling several waves of Fake Ye Liang together.
"Itachi! Do you think that impostor will come today? This time, I'm definitely taking him out!"
"Don't even think about it. Last time you almost died when you met him. If the Hyuga clan hadn't just shown up for shelter at that moment, things would've gone really badly," Itachi said, sitting behind Deidara.
"Oh come on! Now you're giving him more credit again! Just some low-budget imitation—how strong could he really be? This time, I'll make sure he tastes true art!"
Seeing Deidara's enthusiasm, Itachi Uchiha shook his head.
In truth, he'd already noticed—Fake Ye Liang was actually injured.
During their previous fight, he noticed that Fake Ye Liang's movements were somewhat stiff. Not only was his chakra circulation impaired, even forming hand seals seemed difficult.
If it hadn't been for the overwhelming number of White Zetsu, they might've actually killed him back then!
But things had changed now.
Fake Ye Liang's body appeared to have recovered. Every time they fought him, Itachi felt increasing difficulty. Eventually, they'd needed everyone's strength combined to barely drive him away.
This was their final battle.
There were more White Zetsu than ever before. Itachi had a feeling—if they failed to kill Fake Ye Liang today, there would be no hope left!
As Fake Ye Liang's strength recovered, the last sanctuary in the Naruto world would cease to exist.
"Itachi, look! There's a masked White Zetsu up ahead!"
Deidara became excited. He quickly controlled the [Explosive Bird] toward it.
Masked White Zetsu were elites among the White Zetsu—ordinary ninja couldn't handle them. But for someone like Itachi, they made the perfect training target.
"Be careful. These guys have special abilities. Don't fall for any tricks."
"Right."
Quickly approaching, Deidara soon reached the masked White Zetsu.
This White Zetsu was unusually large, easily standing at least ten meters tall. In the past, Deidara and the others would have been shocked by such a sight, but now they were expressionless.
They'd long since grown tired of killing these things!
Deidara immediately threw an Explosive Clay bomb, while Itachi coordinated midair. Just as the bomb approached the Zetsu, Itachi activated Amaterasu to ignite it.
The clay exploded around the White Zetsu, spreading the burning black flames of Amaterasu everywhere, instantly killing numerous White Zetsu.
The masked White Zetsu was startled!
Immediately after the explosion, he noticed the Explosive Bird. Opening his mouth slightly, he spat out a [Tailed Beast Ball].
"Whoa! First time seeing a White Zetsu that can shoot a [Tailed Beast Ball]!"
"Be careful, this guy was once a Jinchuriki," Itachi warned. All White Zetsu here were created from human experimentation — the stronger their original human forms were, the more formidable the resulting White Zetsu became, even capable of mastering part of their former abilities!
As soon as Itachi finished speaking, that White Zetsu slid its arm — the Tailed Beast Ball it had just spit out was instantly split in two, attacking from different directions.
"No way! So the Tailed Beast Ball can actually be split like that?!" Deidara gasped in shock. Lucky for him, he dove out of the way with his Explosive Bird — too bad the guys behind him weren't as quick.
When the separated Tailed Beast Balls fell, they exploded, killing many resistance troops — even a few regular Jonin got caught in the blast — dead before they could react.
"Damn it!"
Deidara cursed furiously.
Because of this, the resistance army suffered heavy losses again.
Itachi stared at the White Zetsu, eyes narrowing as if seeing something unexpected — then he suddenly spoke up, "Deidara, get me close to its mouth."
"What for? You figured out a way to deal with it?"
"Right." Itachi nodded.
Although this was the first time he'd encountered such a White Zetsu, Itachi had already clearly noticed its weakness — during the moment it spit out the Tailed Beast Ball, its jaw visibly trembled.
This meant that although this White Zetsu inherited its former owner's abilities, its current physical strength was nowhere near capable of withstanding the power of the Tailed Beast Ball.
All they needed to do was attack its jaw the next time it used the Tailed Beast Ball.
The White Zetsu's technique would immediately collapse, possibly even backfire on itself!
"Got it!" Hearing Itachi's words, Deidara quickly controlled his Explosive Bird. Though they hadn't been partners in Akatsuki, after repeated battles, they had become extremely well-coordinated.
The bird flew near the Masked White Zetsu.
Deidara immediately made a face at this guy. Although the White Zetsu had been modified, it was still originally human, and naturally had emotions.
Seeing Deidara making a face at it, it immediately launched the second Tailed Beast Ball!
"It worked!"
Itachi immediately felt delighted.
Taking advantage of the White Zetsu's attack, he instantly used Tsukuyomi to immobilize it, then formed a single hand seal. [Massive Fireball] flew straight toward the White Zetsu's jaw.
With a loud "Boom!"
The White Zetsu's jaw dislocated on the spot! The Tailed Beast Ball it had been charging up slipped out and landed heavily by its mouth, immediately exploding.
A mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
The White Zetsu was blown to bits in an instant.
"Nice! Next target." Deidara exclaimed joyfully, quickly flying toward another area. Just then, from where the Masked White Zetsu had been destroyed, a tall figure flew out.
Expressionless, as soon as he appeared, he directly charged toward Deidara.
Deidara didn't notice the attack from behind because he was at the rear. Itachi spat out a mouthful of blood — the man's heavy palm strike had landed squarely on his back!
His clothes exploded from the impact!
It was a Rasengan!
This man had actually used the Rasengan!
"Long time no see, Deidara..." the man said coldly.
Instantly, Deidara felt something was very wrong.
Itachi was wounded when a man suddenly appeared behind him, riding the same Explosive Bird!
"Damn you, impostor! How dare you ambush us!"
"Haha! What if I ambush you? You're just NPCs anyway. Isn't it better for you to be turned into White Zetsu? Once this is over, I'll naturally resurrect you all using the Wheel Reincarnation."
"What utter crap are you spewing!" Deidara snapped.
The Wheel Reincarnation? Bringing the dead back to life?
In his eyes, this fake Ye Liang was just talking nonsense. How could the dead possibly come back to life, especially after being transformed into White Zetsu?
"Hmph! You're just being stubborn and stupid! Since you're still so foolish, don't expect me to hold back!" The shadowy figure roared furiously and struck a palm toward Itachi.
Itachi was hit hard!
He spat out blood and fell from the Explosive Bird.
"Itachi!" Deidara bellowed furiously, turning his head to glare at the shadowy figure. He swung his palm fiercely, hurling several Explosive Clay figures forward.
"Die, impostor!"
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