While Xuanye's battle raged, the fighting in the Land of Rivers was every bit as fierce.
It was Obito's first time commanding an army, and he had no idea that numbers sometimes meant nothing on a battlefield.
The allied forces assembled by the Four Great Nations and the other Small Ninja Villages numbered fewer than fifty thousand. Yet apart from being caught off guard early on by the White Zetsu's ability to burrow underground and copy chakra and appearances, they subsequently displayed exceptional tactical discipline.
Once they understood the White Zetsu's abilities, the leaders of the Four Great Ninja Villages immediately met for a top-secret conference.
The Akatsuki Organization's targets were the tailed beasts. They also had to guard against Konoha suddenly swooping in to reap the rewards and steal their villages' tailed beasts.
For those reasons, the Four Great Ninja Villages had hidden all their jinchuriki behind the lines rather than letting them join the fighting.
Apart from the four Kage, no one knew where the jinchuriki were hiding.
Creatures like the White Zetsu brought more than casualties to the Allied Shinobi Forces. They brought panic.
Many shinobi now knew that the enemies they were fighting could transform into the people around them, disguising not only their appearance but even their chakra signatures.
Their own comrades might suddenly stab them in the back. Once that fear spread, the morale of the entire Allied Shinobi Forces would collapse.
But that did not mean they had no way to deal with these unusual creatures.
The White Zetsu could only imitate appearances and chakra signatures. They could not copy memories or strength as well.
The Allied Shinobi Forces' leadership decreed that anyone going out had to travel in groups of at least three. The number of night patrols was doubled, and even