HSU: Ch. 287

On the road from Konoha to Yu, a long convoy of carriages belonging to nobles from the northern countries stretched out like a snake. These nobles, both great and small, hailed from the Lands of Rice Fields, Hot Water, Frost, and Lightning.

This Chunin Exam, which brought together the five great villages and all their allies, also attracted visitors from every country surrounding Konoha. They were both the targets to be protected by the ninjas and bargaining chips for Konoha.

Neutral countries were in a much better position in this regard.

For instance, people from the Lands of Iron and Waterfall didn't need to be "escorted" by Konoha ninjas. Their daimyō had already arranged protection, and the forces of Taki and the samurai army coordinated with the Fire Daimyō's orders to ensure their safe return.

No one attacked them.

All the major hidden villages now at war had no interest in complicating things further in this way. As for rogue organizations, they knew better than to offend the Land of Fire, Waterfall, or Iron at a time like this, that would be suicidal.

What's more, this current Great Ninja War had taken a bizarre turn. The long-lost forbidden technique, Edo Tensei, had resurfaced. And from Konoha's side, no less than four Hokage had returned to the battlefield.

Because of this, many ninja organizations, ranging in size and power, that had risen since the Third Great Ninja War and become major players in the shinobi world, were now being extremely cautious. None of them had dared to take sides just yet. At this stage, they were only willing to accept missions that did not involve direct confrontation with the great nations' ninjas. These kinds of organizations thrived in the small nations between the major powers. In countries without hidden villages, they had taken over many of the functions traditionally filled by ninja villages.

For small countries that still had strong ninja villages, such organizations didn't have much room to grow. But for those whose hidden villages had either disappeared or greatly declined, these groups were like a paradise.

The Land of Hot Water had become one such place.

A Konoha ninja force had already been stationed there for some time.

At the beginning of the Chunin Exam, Konoha had secretly dispatched three units to the Lands of Rivers, Hot Water, and Grass respectively. The largest force went to the Land of Rivers, the smallest to the Land of Grass. The unit sent to the Land of Hot Water was of medium size, but it was composed of elite troops, about 4,000 strong.

However, it had very few jonin. That gap was to be filled once the Uchiha and Hyūga jonin arrived.

In the meantime, Konoha leveraged its financial advantage to extensively hire the local ninja organizations active in the Land of Hot Water to supplement its forces. Since Konoha hadn't yet directly clashed with the Kumo ninjas, these local groups were still quite willing to earn some money doing security-type work.

That changed when the Kumo ninja army began gathering.

By the time Masashi led his forces into the Land of Hot Water, those hired ninja organizations had already begun informing the Konoha garrison that they were pulling out. The Kumo ninjas had amassed nearly 8,000 troops inside the newly repaired fortress. War supplies were continuously being shipped into the city through the coastal supply routes, and reinforcements were still en route.

The Kumo ninjas had not performed very well on the battlefield since the Third Great Ninja War, but that was only in comparison to Konoha, Iwa, and Suna.

Konoha's garrison remained stationed in Yu.

After being rocked by a major missing-nin incident, Yu had essentially lost its ability to function as a military force.

The Yu ninjas had been reduced to low-intensity security personnel, they could no longer be called ninja in the traditional sense. It would be more accurate to call them law enforcement officers of Yu.

At this point, the Yu ninjas couldn't even win a fight against the local ninja organizations in the Land of Hot Water. The only reason Yu still held onto its designation as a hidden village was because of its connection to Konoha.

After entering the Land of Hot Water, Masashi didn't pause for a moment. His army pushed forward swiftly and marched directly into Yu.

This force, composed of Uchiha and Hyūga clan ninjas, numbered only about a thousand. However, its combat capability far surpassed that of the original 4,000 Konoha troops stationed here. Both clans took this campaign seriously, sending only elite members, over one-third of the unit were special jonin or higher.

Not to mention that the jonin from the Uchiha and Hyūga clans already possessed considerable individual strength beyond their rank.

With the arrival of the White Ghost, the tense and unsettled atmosphere in Yu disappeared entirely. The previously hired local ninja organizations all fell in line.

After all, the Konoha force now included two Kage-level individuals, over thirty jonin, and more than two hundred special jonin.

There were no genin or regular chunin in the force at all.

Combined with the Konoha forces already stationed in the village, these 5,000 troops could easily take on an enemy force twice their size, and they weren't even heavily reliant on logistics.

Masashi had, more than a decade ago, accomplished the astonishing feat of destroying the fortress single-handedly. It was said he used the legacy of Muzo to summon an Edo Tensei army.

But… remaining skeptical of everything was the way these independent ninja organizations survived.

Who knew if that "legacy" was even real?

What if the White Ghost didn't like their attitude and decided to kill them all just to resurrect them with Edo Tensei as cannon fodder? It wasn't exactly impossible.

In any case, all those messengers from ninja organizations who had originally come to Yu to see if they could negotiate better terms suddenly became very cooperative.

Unlike the ninja organizations from countries like the Land of Hot Water, Iwa, River, or Whirlpool, the ones from the Land of Hot Water firmly believed Konoha would win. They were already prepared to side with Konoha; they just hoped to bargain a little for better payment. Konoha had a reputation for being generous to its allies, after all.

In short: their attitude was extremely polite.

They had come to understand the Konoha ninja style very well, which made things difficult for the previous commander.

They were diligent in fulfilling their contracts and meticulous about client needs, but when it came time to settle payment, they became extremely difficult.

When Masashi arrived, no one was happier than that commander.

So, once reinforcements from the two great clans arrived, he had already been waiting eagerly at the village gates. As soon as he saw Masashi from afar, he rushed forward to greet him.

"Masashi-sama! You must be tired from your journey. We've already prepared your command post, please inspect it!"

This commander was a family ninja, and also a jonin.

In Konoha, of every ten "civilian" jonin, nine were actually from ninja families. These families had formed after the dissolution of the old ninja clans.

Both the Senju clan and the Shimura clan had followed this path. The Shimura clan had fully integrated into the civilian population.

After the Senju dissolved, many members quit the shinobi world entirely. But some merged into the civilian sector, and the families they formed helped bolster both the number and quality of Konoha's civilian ninjas.

Most of these ninja families actually lived more comfortably than they had during their time as formal clans.

"No need to be so formal," Masashi replied with a smile. "By the way, before we arrived, has there been any trouble?"

As the other man greeted him enthusiastically, Masashi asked this while shaking his hand. "I heard there were some disturbances?"

The commander hesitated slightly, then decided not to speak ill of anyone.

After all, even if some of those hired organizations were difficult, they had completed all their assignments and hadn't disrupted Konoha's strategic position in the area.

"No real problems. It's just that the Kumo ninjas have gathered in inside the fortress, and with their overwhelming numbers, people have been a bit nervous."

"Good," Masashi nodded. "But there's no need to worry. If numbers alone decided the outcome, Iwa would've already unified the shinobi world. Even though this is my first time commanding an army, I at least understand that much."

Before setting out, he had already mapped out his operational objectives. The mission Minato gave him was to destroy the three strongholds along the coastal route, crippling its logistical capacity and thereby increasing the cost of Kumo's land-based warfare. The ultimate goal was to make it too expensive for them to sustain prolonged campaigns, allowing Konoha to contain the enemy's ground offensive in this mountainous region with only a small number of troops.

In other words, his main task was to eliminate the three fortress towns along the coastal route.

But he felt there was no need to be so conservative.

As the jonin in all of Konoha who disliked Kumo the most, and the ninja world's number one Kumo-hater in this timeline, he could confidently say that no one understood Kumo better than he did. He had already scrambled the original plot thoroughly, but truth be told, the talents across each village hadn't changed much compared to the original timeline.

Over the years, he had worked tirelessly to undermine Kumo's talent pool, sometimes through official channels, sometimes through his own personal means. If it weren't for the fact that Darui was such a cautious person, he would've long since taken the chance to neutralize him.

Still, Masashi wasn't too disappointed. After all, Darui only appeared laid-back. In truth, he had both brains and brawn.

Those Six Paths tools were no joke, definitely not something just anyone could wield. Hopefully, Darui would show up to this war.

With his troops in tow, Masashi arrived at Yu. Compared to his last visit, the village, definitely felt a lot more alive.

He'd heard that Yu had dropped all pretenses of being a real ninja village and gone full-on tourism. And now that he saw it firsthand, it wasn't just "opened up for tourism" anymore.

It had taken off.

All the military facilities here were makeshift constructions. The village hadn't spent money on real defenses in a long time. They didn't even bother maintaining what they had.

He didn't ask who footed the bill.

No need.

As the commander of this war zone during the Great Ninja War, he wielded immense authority. Within the borders of this battlefront, he could make decisions in Konoha's name and only needed to report back after the fact.

In simple terms, with the Hokage not present, he was the one in charge. Aside from actual combat, all military expenses and logistical matters were under his command as well.

Power came from strength.

In the shinobi world, a ninja's authority stemmed from personal strength. Just like the Five Kage, leaving political acumen aside, the most basic requirement was to be one of the strongest in their village during that generation.

Of course, in Konoha it was "one of," but in other villages, it usually meant being the strongest. Kumo, with its obsession with strength, made that completely explicit. Which was why he felt he and Kumo were actually quite a match.

Kumo revered strength, and valor was considered virtue. As for him, he preferred to win people over with virtue. This wasn't really a lie. He had plenty of friends who could testify to that.

The Konoha command center was established in the best hot spring hotel in Yu. This large building also served as the quarters for the high-ranking jonin. The local hot spring ninjas didn't bother charging Konoha rent, they understood clearly that helping Konoha was helping themselves.

If Konoha lost, none of them would have a good ending.

So, operating under the principle that if they couldn't contribute manpower, they'd offer funds and resources instead, the village supported the war effort to the best of its ability.

He walked into the hotel. Once a facility meant to host tourists, it had now become a temporary base for Konoha ninjas, who could be seen everywhere, moving through the halls. This place served as the nerve center, coordinating all personnel and logistics for Konoha's northern war front.

The jonin from the two allied clans accompanying him also settled in, becoming part of this temporary military residence. The other ninjas were temporarily arranged to rest in nearby inns.

They were already reorganized and structured down to individual squads, so there was no need to worry too much about their coordination.

Led by the previous commanding officer, he arrived at the office that had been prepared for him.

"Masashi-sama, is there anything you'd like adjusted?"

"No need, everything necessary is here. There's a place we can hold meetings, right?"

"Yes, there's a large conference room in the center of this floor."

"Good. We're all on the same side, so there's no need for formalities. Let's hold a meeting right now. Call all the section leaders to the conference room, and notify all the jonin as well. This time, aside from discussing combat strategy, we also need to finalize the handover arrangements for the nobles of the Land of Frost and Lightning."

"Understood." The previous commander nodded and hurried out to gather everyone.

Masashi walked out of the office and found the large conference room the other had mentioned. He opened the door and took a look inside, it was quite spacious. While the Yu ninjas were no longer any good at fighting, fate had closed one door and opened another. When it came to architecture, especially interior design, they were truly skilled.

This conference room was excellent.

Once the jonin he had brought arrived and were joined by the existing stationed forces, Konoha had about forty jonin in the northern war zone. In terms of jonin numbers, this zone was on par with other fronts.

Considering the battlefield effectiveness of the Uchiha and Hyūga jonin, Konoha's jonin strength in the north actually surpassed other areas. Though the number of chunin was lower than in other war zones, they had more special jonin, which stabilized the mid-level structure.

The main shortfall was in the number of genin. And that was where high-level combat strength had to make up the difference.

Clearly, Konoha was very confident about defeating the current Kumo forces.

Still, Masashi wanted to avoid large-scale pitched battles between full armies. After all, at the genin-to-chunin level, numbers meant overwhelming advantage.

He had no problem charging the main camp of the Kumo army on his own, but when two villages go to war, that's not how things are calculated. In wars between ninja villages, the ultimate goal wasn't to destroy the enemy village or seize land, that had no real meaning for ninjas.

What ninja seek was power, and wealth.

Power brought influence; wealth brought comfort. They didn't swear allegiance to any nation, nor did they care whether the world was unified. They were loyal only to themselves. A world that was disunified but orderly was a good world, for ninjas.

Every war in the shinobi world was about postwar redistribution.

In direct battle, Masashi didn't find the idea of killing thousands of Kumo ninja difficult. As long as they didn't retreat, he could wear them down. But he couldn't replace the postwar role of thousands of Konoha ninjas, not even thousands of genin.

A one-man army was only possible if the enemy politely bunched up for you.

Even Hashirama and Madara had to follow proper tactics when they went to war. Their strategies were all designed to force the enemy into tight formations so they could go all-out.

Masashi was sure the Kumo army wouldn't just sit still and let him wipe them out. Worst case, while he was out attacking the fortresses, the Kumo main force might sneak past and march straight to the outskirts of Yu. And if they really wanted to play dirty, they might even go full guerrilla warfare.

That tendency had already shown up when they fought Iwa, their tactics had shifted significantly.

He found a seat and sat down. Although he had a rough plan in mind, he still needed to hear what the Land of Hot Water had to say before finalizing anything.