"My lord, Orochimaru, we did indeed extract a great deal of useful information from these Suna-nin's minds. Chiyo, Sunagakure's Puppet Master, is currently holding Sandstorm Town. However, she is the only member of the Suna-nin higher-ups who came to Sandstorm Town. The Fourth Kazekage is still mobilizing Supplies and manpower in Sunagakure and will not lead the Suna-nin forces to Sandstorm Town for at least another ten days."
The Yamanaka Clan Ninja slowly relayed the intelligence he had extracted to Orochimaru and the other Jonin leaders. Hyuga Mirai had been rather lucky. One of the Suna-nin happened to have an older brother who was a Jonin, and he had learned quite a bit of intelligence from his brother at home. Now, the Yamanaka Clan Ninja had read all of it from his mind.
Orochimaru asked, "How many Suna-nin are in Sandstorm Town?"
Yamanaka Ran replied, "According to the memories of these Suna-nin and the intelligence brought back by the other scouting squads, there are roughly eleven hundred of them. However, some are noncombatant Ninja, and the exact number is unclear."
Eleven hundred Suna-nin. Including the reinforcements, Konoha only had a little over seven hundred Ninja at Kikyo Castle. After excluding the Medical-nin, logistics personnel, transporters, and the like, Konoha had only a little over four hundred and thirty combat-capable Ninja.
However, Konoha Ninja were certainly superior to Suna-nin in average quality. Setting everything else aside, Konoha Ninja far surpassed Suna-nin in their coordination with elemental Ninjutsu. Even the cautious Nara Shikaku had to acknowledge Konoha's advantage in that regard.
After considering it carefully, Nara Shikaku felt that launching a surprise attack on Sandstorm Town would bring Konoha nothing but benefits. Even if the results were limited, the attack could still serve to intimidate the Suna-nin.
Still, Nara Shikaku could not