Front Lines, Provisions, Soldier Pills
Based on the experience of the two previous Shinobi World Wars, large-scale wars require two tasks: the deployment of ninjas and the arrangement of supplies, logistics, and frontline outposts.
First, the village will appoint Frontline Commander, along with an assistant and other staff members. They will then travel ahead to the Land of Fire Border to establish a base. This base is not chosen randomly, but rather is located near the starting point of the war supply line.
Aoba City is the largest city in the western part of the Land of Fire, closest to the Land of Rivers. It is less than 150 kilometers from the border and connects to other cities in the Land of Fire, making it a well-developed transportation hub.
Currently, Aoba City has gathered a lot of logistical supplies. Meanwhile, Orochimaru, the Frontline Commander of the Sunagakure front, arrived half a month ahead of schedule and set up a Konoha Ninja assembly point 20 kilometers outside Aoba City.
Once this forward base was established, the Third Hokage of the village began to allocate troops. He would form squads based on the synergy and characteristics of different ninjas, and then issue orders to assemble at the base.
Like Shuichi's squad, Konoha's most elite teams were the first to set off.
This is because the strength of each team is different. Teams with Chunin Genin have more members, but their marching speed cannot compare with that of Jonin teams, so they are considered the main force following behind.
Once the Jonin teams have assembled at the base, the Frontline Commander will immediately issue missions, most of which are reconnaissance and probing missions.
This illustrates the saying "with great power comes great responsibility." The frontline troops have already begun their operations, while the main force of "cannon fodder" may only be halfway there.
After leaving the Hokage's Office, Shuichi saw Hyuga Akiha and Aburame Shihei already assembled in Konoha Gate; the three of them were fully prepared and ready to go.
After quickly registering, they immediately headed towards Aoba City as fast as they could.
The next morning, Shuichi's squad arrived at the Konoha Stronghold Aoba City. The place was nothing special, situated on a wide-open plain.
Several marching tents had already been set up, indicating the number of teams that had arrived. Shuichi and his two companions walked straight towards the tent with the distinctive color in the center.
As soon as they arrived nearby, they saw several people coming out of there, and the two groups bumped into each other.
"Senior Minato?"
"Shuichi-kun? You arrived so quickly too?" Namikaze Minato said with a hint of surprise.
"Yeah, are these your teammates?" Shuichi looked curiously behind him: a Sunglasses Man carrying a bug jar, a big fat man with squinting eyes, and a middle-aged man with a big yellow dog.
"Haha, let me introduce you. These are Aburame Shibi, Akimichi Choza, and Inuzuka Tsume."
"Hello, seniors!" Shuichi said politely.
These are all outstanding ninjas from their respective clans, many of whom possess the strength of Jonin. It seems that Konoha's current strength is indeed very formidable.
After a brief exchange, the two sides parted ways. Shuichi's squad went into the commander's room, while Minato's squad prepared to return to their base.
"As expected, he lives up to his reputation. What a terrifying genius!" After they left, Inuzuka Tsume had a conversation with his dog. "Kibamaru told me that this Takeda is stronger than many Jonin. If I were a ninja from another village, I'd probably be very uneasy."
"My insects feel the same way," Aburame Shibi said. "He just arrived, and his chakra still ripples. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that a mere 10-year-old could have such chakra strength."
"Of course," Namikaze Minato said with a smile, "Shuichi-kun's talent is even greater than mine. You didn't quite believe it before, but I think you should now..."
On the other side, after Shuichi's squad entered the room, they saw Orochimaru in the middle, as well as three other people: two men and one woman.
"They're all big shots! The Sannin plus Nara Shikaku, this is truly an eye-opening day."
The man leaning against the side had long, white, spiky hair and red marks under his eyes; he was Jiraiya Sannin. The busty beauty organizing various documents at the table on the other side was, of course, Tsunade.
At this time, they didn't yet have the distinctive attire of the future. Jiraiya was wearing his battle armor, Jiraiya Tsunade, while not as formal, was still dressed in Jonin Vest. Shuichi glanced at it quickly and said that he couldn't measure whether it was really 106cm by sight.
"Teacher, this is my team roster."
"It's Shuichi-kun." Orochimaru took it and quickly examined it.
After Shuichi's squad entered, Jiraiya and Nara Shikaku immediately looked over. Tsunade, upon hearing their conversation, also curiously raised her head, showing great interest in Orochimaru, the genius disciple who had Jonin.
"This must be Jiraiya- senpai, and also Tsunade- senpai and Shikaku- senpai. It's a pleasure to meet you all." As a junior Shuichi could only greet them first.
Jiraiya and said, "Kid, I saw you during the Chunin Ninja Exams. Not bad, you have my style from back in the day."
Tsunade stared at him for a moment. "So you're the Shuichi the old man mentioned? He's right, Orochimaru really has a good disciple."
Nara Shikaku spoke very politely, "Nice to meet you, Shuichi-kun. It's a great honor that a genius like you knows someone as unknown as me."
"Not at all, I've long heard that Shikaku- senpai is Jonin with exceptional wisdom in the village. There's still so much I need to learn from you." Shuichi's words were full of praise; the other person truly had real talent and would be the future leader of the Jonin Commander.
In the course of their brief conversation, Orochimaru had already finished reviewing the team's ability report.
"I didn't expect you to have such outstanding reconnaissance abilities. No wonder the Third Hokage assembled such a team." Orochimaru was quite surprised and delighted by Shuichi's squad's capabilities; it was incredibly convenient for the commander.
After careful consideration, he realized that Shuichi and his two companions were actually the most valuable team among all the current squads. Although their strength was not as great as some Jonin squads, their intelligence advantage was far more important than individual strength in large-scale wars. Of course, having invincible strength was another matter.
Considering that they would be assigned an important mission later, Orochimaru summoned a ninja and asked him to lead Shuichi's squad to find out about the supply of provisions.
Following the ninja to a nearby makeshift warehouse, the three saw the types of food supplies.
"This is the only type of food we have for Konoha's logistics." The man picked up something and handed it to Shuichi.
The object in front of me was square like a small brick. Unwrapping the outer paper revealed food inside that looked like large chunks of cereal from the supermarket in my previous life.
"This is a dry ration made from a mixture of various meats, grains, and vegetables. It can be boiled with water while in camp, or eaten directly after being dipped in water during wartime, so it won't leave any taste or traces. This is the best marching ration we in Konoha have improved upon after the two previous major wars."
"I see!" After seeing the function of the rations, Shuichi immediately understood the whole problem of supplying ninjas during the great war.
Ninja Soldier Pill are also one of the main supplies. Every ninja carries a lot of them when they go on a mission. For example, Shuichi carried a whole bag of them.
A single Soldier Pill can power an ordinary soldier to fight for three days and three nights, but that's for ordinary people. For ninjas, the physical exertion from using chakra is astonishing; the physical energy expended in a single battle might require one or even several Soldier Pills to replenish.
At the same time, Soldier Pill have many drawbacks. When a ninja takes only Soldier Pill for several days without eating, the functions of the body's organs will be damaged. The longer the ninja does not eat normally, the greater the damage to the body will be, and then how can he fight?
Taking multiple Soldier Pill in a short period of time is also not good, as it exceeds the body's digestive capacity, puts stress on the body, and wastes a lot of energy.
Therefore, Soldier Pill are mainly used to replenish chakra during battles or to maintain one's condition after battles.
In Shuichi's words, even a super-compressed version of an energy drink from his previous life cannot replace the importance of normal food.