Chapter 65

Given my knowledge of the canon, it's a disheartening observation. Is Hiruzen really starting to quietly reduce the number of clan shinobi? Sending out those who haven't fully recovered yet so quickly could significantly impact survival statistics right from the first clash. If someone's hand trembles from pain in a fresh scar, that's one less person. They'll say it was due to lack of strength or experience.

It might seem like a natural loss, and the Hokage wouldn't be blamed for it, but gradually, the strength of the clans will diminish. After two bloody wars, the balance of power between hereditary clan ninjas and those trained from scratch will shift decidedly in favor of the latter, considerably easing Sarutobi's control over village governance.

Some clans might even disappear altogether. Currently, there are about six minor clans in Konoha that I haven't even heard of. Even the Hatake aren't entirely wiped out—besides Sakumo's family, who currently leads, there are still a couple of individuals left.

After turning my head a bit, searching for friends and realizing that finding two relatively short people in such a crowd would be tricky, I scrambled up the nearest pillar and began scanning for my team from its top. This method bore fruit immediately—I spotted them near the wall to the right of the gates, in the company of our sensei.

Descending, I skirted around the group of conversing people and hurried towards mine—our departure was imminent, and I wanted to be among the already established group. Who knows, we might still be ambushed on the way to the main camp, and having reliable comrades at your back in such a case is preferable.

"Hey, folks! Have you been standing here long?"

"Yeah, it's been half an hour since we arrived," replied Rotaro, turning at the sound of my voice. "But you didn't seem to be in a hurry."

"That's how it turned out," I shrugged, not elaborating on the reason.

Indeed, I couldn't exactly say I had to calm down my mother's nervous breakdown about this very deployment.

"The main thing is I showed up right on time," I smirked, noticing Tsume's grimaced expression.

Hmm, she's still brooding over my appointment as leader, and she clearly wanted to say something nasty about my tardiness, but a stern look from Kanade interrupted that impulse.

"Arriving precisely at the appointed time is good, but showing up a few minutes early is even better," neutrally remarked Hyuga, explaining to my questioning glance, "I was just discussing with your teammates the procedure for moving large groups of shinobi through hostile territory."

"You don't need to worry, sensei," I waved off lightly, "we covered this topic in detail at our clan sessions, in all its nuances."

The positioning of support shinobi, sensor insurance in reconnaissance squads, the absence of allied groups larger than nine within three hundred meters, and similar conditions. Actually, military actions among shinobi can't even be called warfare in the sense it was understood in my previous world.

Here, it's not armies against armies but our small mobile groups against the enemy's small mobile groups. Large gatherings of people in one place almost never happen because it's very convenient to wipe out such a target with a high-level shinobi technique. The same Tsuchikage with his kekkei tota can easily accomplish the task of destroying a small mountain with one blow, not to mention more vulnerable targets in one place.

In this world, personal strength rules the battlefields, along with a bit of tactics and strategy. And thank the gods for that. Though those who use chakra for destruction have long departed from ordinary people, only a handful can compare to them in terms of destructive power.

With the weapons that the kage and daimyo wield here, you can order coffins for the entire continent's population—given the bloodthirstiness and vindictiveness of the locals, only units out of tens of thousands will survive.

"Well, yeah, you're a Nara after all," Kanade nodded understandingly, "sometimes I just forget about that."

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