Garrison

There are three thousand troops led by Jiraiya in the southeast of Konoha, plus two thousand reinforcements currently led by Minato, making a total of five thousand troops.

Judging by the numbers, this seems equivalent to the strength of the Northeastern defense line during the war between Konoha and Kumogakure.

However, the two situations are vastly different.

In the northeastern defense line, Konoha guards the narrow path between the Land of Frost and the Land of Hot Water.

If Kumogakure attacks from the land, they can only go through here. As long as they hold the line, not just one person but even ten thousand people could not break through.

However, the southeastern defense line is a long coastline, and its depth encompasses the entire interior of the Land of Fire, so the troops have to be dispersed.

Therefore, five thousand troops are actually far from sufficient.

But there is no choice; Konoha has already sent most of its soldiers.

There are ten thousand troops on the western front against Sunagakure, two thousand troops left in the northwest to defend against Iwagakure, two thousand troops left in the northeast to defend against Kumogakure, and only five thousand troops remain in the southeast.

If the battle continues, Konoha will have to deploy the reserve ninjas left in the village.

The troops arrived at the Headquarters of the Southeastern Defense Line.

Minato temporarily stationed the troops and took Fugaku, Tokuyo, and Tsukisho to the camp where Jiraiya was located.

"So it's Minato."

Jiraiya seemed to be reading some books at first, but when he saw Minato enter, he immediately put them back in the drawer and hid them.

"Jiraiya-sensei, what's the situation?" Minato asked directly.

"My situation is very good. I can eat three bowls of rice in one meal." Jiraiya said with amusement.

Minato laughed, then said, "Jiraiya-sensei, seriously, what's the situation on the battlefield?"

Jiraiya then became serious, stood up, and said, "The battlefield is not good."

"The battle line is too long. The three thousand people under my command are not enough. Even if we add the two thousand reinforcements deployed by the old man, they are still far from consolidating the Southeastern defense line."

"Kirigakure has two attack directions. One is to use the Land of Waves in the east as a springboard to harass the eastern coast of our country."

"The other way is to attack the southern interior of our country from the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools in the south of our country."

"It is very difficult to defend from both directions." Jiraiya shook his head wryly and suddenly asked, "By the way, why didn't Orochimaru come?"

Minato scratched his head and replied vaguely, "Orochimaru-sama didn't even come to the Jonin meeting. Something must be wrong."

Shintaro knew that Orochimaru's research had entered a breakthrough period, so he was naturally reluctant to leave his research institute.

Jiraiya sighed and expressed his regret: "It's a pity, I lost one of my combat abilities."

Minato looked at Shintaro at this time and said to Jiraiya, "I think Shintaro can stand alone. He made a great contribution on the northeastern defense line. I believe he can make the same contribution this time."

"I've heard that too." Jiraiya suddenly came over, grabbed Shintaro's hand, and said, "Defeating Hachibi alone and forcing Kumogakure's troops to retreat. You have a bright future!"

Shintaro was a bit embarrassed by the other's familiarity.

After a few more conversations, Jiraiya arranged the reinforcement tasks.

Minato led a thousand troops to the garrison of the southern defense line of the Land of Fire, and the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan each led 500 troops to the garrison of the eastern defense line of the Land of Fire.

Then these people led their troops to the garrison at the location for which they were responsible.

The two clans were placed on the outermost parts of the entire defense line, consolidating the defense line and responsible for reconnaissance and vigilance.

The two forces were like horns to each other and could also watch over each other.

Shintaro arrived at the garrison location, and beside him were his three team members, Sarutobi Asuma, Uchiha Tetsuo, and Uchiha Hamasu.

Needless to say, Tetsuo and Hamasu were both members of the Uchiha Clan, and Asuma applied to follow Shintaro as captain. It was said that he even had a fight with Hiruzen and insisted on staying in Shintaro's team.

"I wonder which is harder to deal with, Kirigakure ninjas or Kumogakure ninjas?" Asuma sighed.

Shintaro smiled at this and said, "The village of Kumogakure has strong military power, and the military power of Kirigakure Village is also quite strong."

"But their strengths are different. The strength of Kumogakure Village is based on military management and bold fighting style."

"Kirigakure Village is also known as the Blood Mist Village. Their strength is based on personal strength and brutal killing style."

"The Blood Mist Village?" Asuma seemed to have heard something.

Shintaro said, "Yes, it's the blood mist where graduates fight each other. The ninjas trained with such a system might be weirdos."

As he said that, he thought of a beautiful figure. Although Terumi Mei didn't seem to show the cruelty of her killings, Shintaro felt that this woman was quite strange.

When they first met, she fiercely teased him to start a conversation. Later, she kidnapped Kurenai but didn't hurt her and even kissed her for no reason.

Shintaro touched his cheek and thought, 'If we meet this time, I don't know what will happen. After all, I definitely won't let her kiss me again.'

"No matter what it is, it can't be a match for Aniki." said Tetsuo with a flattering smile on his face, not missing the chance to flatter Shintaro.

Shintaro had long been accustomed to this attitude, so he ignored it, and the four of them continued their patrol.

"It looks like something happened in the village ahead."

He sharply noticed something unusual.

After hearing this, Tetsuo immediately dropped the smile on his face, became serious, and took out a kunai.

Asuma and Hamasu each took out their weapons and prepared to fight.

The four of them quickly rushed to the village ahead.

The place was already in ruins, with the tragically dead bodies of the villagers everywhere.

The remaining villagers were so frightened when they saw Shintaro and the others dressed like ninjas that they thought they were the killers.

Some villagers, overwhelmed by hatred, rushed towards the four with raised weapons but were knocked unconscious by Hamasu.

Asuma's lips trembled with anger.

"Kirigakure, these beasts!"

Shintaro sighed and said, "It seems it happened before we were stationed. I only heard about Kirigakure's cruel methods before, but now I've seen it."

Hamasu asked, "Why don't we build a defense on the coastline and protect the civilians behind us?"

Shintaro said, "Set up a buffer zone to minimize bloodshed and avoid casualties. This is the strategy of the Third Hokage."

"Can civilians be exposed in the middle of the battlefield just to make a buffer zone?" Asuma said angrily.

"After all, no one knew that Kirigakure would have no restrictions and be punished for attacking civilians." Shintaro said calmly.

A kind of dissatisfaction arose in the hearts of Asuma, Tetsuo, and Hamasu at the same time.

Shintaro observed this from the side and thought to himself: 'I don't need to say anything, the seed has been planted. Let's see how the seed will sprout in the future.'