Lianna Qianyu

Ninja were a combat profession that placed extraordinary emphasis on agility and speed, with an extreme focus on offensive capabilities. This one-sidedness could be glimpsed in the evolution of their battle attire. Take Konoha, for example: during the chaotic wars and the early days of the village, under the First and Second, ninjas—including the Hokage—wore armor from head to toe. But after the Second, their armor became simpler and more streamlined. By the middle and later years of the Third Hokage's rule, ninjas were no longer seen wearing any decent armor at all. At most, they might strap a guard onto one forearm.

This change might also have had something to do with the overall decline in ninja quality. Though the occasional exceptional talent would still emerge, on the whole, each generation was "worse than the last."

In any case, after the ninja village system was established, ninjas' living conditions were far better than they had been during the era of constant warfare. Killing was no longer as frequent or as brutal, so ninjas had grown weaker as well.

As far as Hanyu was concerned, the armor he'd just put on wasn't all that hard to get used to. If the war didn't add this extra weight to his burden, that would've been even better.

However, war was never that simple.

The day after receiving the personnel files, Hanyu summoned his squad to the training ground where he'd spent the most time before.

When he arrived at the agreed time, he spotted three figures waiting in the distance... Well, squad members were supposed to arrive before their leader. Seeing this made Hanyu realize that he was, to some extent, a "leader" now.

All right, the Hokage was basically just a village head. As a subordinate of a subordinate of a subordinate of the village head, what kind of leader was Hanyu supposed to be? He hurried over to them and said, "Good morning, everyone."

It was a little awkward that none of them responded. The three merely nodded to acknowledge him.

The three of them were around Hanyu's age, give or take a year or two. They seemed rather indifferent to his greeting... Not that they had anything against Hanyu as their squad leader. It was just that ninjas who hit it off at their first meeting were few and far between. Most ninjas only knew how to fight and weren't good at talking.

Some ninjas weren't good at talking or fighting.

It seemed they'd have to get along gradually... After meeting them in person, Hanyu realized he'd been a little presumptuous before. So he immediately changed tack, skipped the pointless pleasantries, and got straight to the point. "I called you all here for two reasons. First, as teammates in the same squad, we should at least get to know what each other looks like. Second, I need to inform you that we'll be leaving for the Land of Rivers front in three days. Make your preparations in advance, and don't be late. This is an order passed down through several levels from Konoha Combat Headquarters, so please take it seriously."

"I've already gotten a basic understanding of your backgrounds from the information compiled on paper. By comparison, you probably know nothing about me... Though that's not entirely true. You should at least know my name by now. But to introduce myself a little further..."

"I'm a ninjutsu-type ninja who knows several types of nature transformation. My taijutsu is so-so, and I know nothing about genjutsu. My specialty is combined ninjutsu."

Though he still hadn't found a good solution to his chakra endurance problem.

"I've completed high-level A-rank missions and achieved far more than expected."

Though he'd mostly just stood around doing nothing during his trip to the Cloud Village.

"I was also personally received by the Second and won his praise."

The Second had given him a thumbs-up from beyond the grave just before he died.

Hanyu's self-introduction was half-truth, half-concealment, and he exaggerated his abilities a little. It seemed he was trying to reassure his three squad members as much as possible, while also establishing his authority.

"Overall, I haven't been a ninja for very long, and my abilities are limited. But... judging by first impressions, we're not exactly an elite squad. We're just one of the countless mediocre teams in this war, cannon fodder at best. So from here on, I'll do my best to keep us from turning into an actual cannon-fodder squad."

"First impressions... how can you tell how strong a squad is?" someone couldn't help asking.

"How should I put it? Well, at the very least, elite squads are quite striking when it comes to hair color. Usually, the standard lineup consists of one blond-haired member, one white-haired member, one black-haired member, and one extra member who may or may not be necessary. By comparison, our squad is too plain. We don't make any visual impact at all."

"..."

The three squad members looked at one another, thinking Hanyu was making some kind of inappropriate joke. Only Hanyu knew he was telling the truth. His theory was based on actual examples...

Compared to those striking squads, their team, with nothing but black-haired members, was clearly a textbook cannon-fodder squad.

"All right, now that we've introduced ourselves, let me remind you once again not to forget our departure time... Dismissed." Hanyu announced the end of their brief gathering.

He shook his head. As expected, there was no chemistry whatsoever between the members of this newly formed squad. A truly well-coordinated squad should at least have an unspoken understanding. For example, when someone yelled "Ora," the others should yell "Muda." When someone called out "Steamed buns," the others should reply, "Four for a dollar." When someone said, "I'll take a six," the last person should call them an idiot... Never mind that one. It wasn't very polite.

Hanyu knew his new squad would need time and effort to develop good teamwork. Unfortunately, they didn't have that kind of time, so they'd have to train through actual combat on the battlefield.

Actually, aside from those basic details in the files, Hanyu was quite satisfied with his squad's composition. If they could coordinate their abilities, their combat strength and usefulness on the battlefield certainly couldn't be described as "cannon fodder."

Renjuro, Nara Nagisa, and Chichiwa Yagi were the three members of Hanyu's squad. There were two men and one woman, and their abilities complemented one another, each with its own strengths.

There was no need to say much about Nara Nagisa. He was from Konoha's Nara Clan and used the Shadow Possession Technique. His ability could prove extremely useful on the battlefield.

The second male ninja, Renjuro, was a scout with some ability to detect targets from a distance... Perhaps he couldn't match the Hyuga Byakugan's absurd long-range, wide-area scouting ability, but having a member who could extend the squad's search range was already a rare asset. After all, every bit of additional intelligence meant an extra measure of security on the battlefield.

The last member, Chichiwa Yagi, was a ninja with long-range attack capabilities. In ninja combat, distances under five meters counted as close range, five to ten meters as medium range, and anything beyond ten meters as long range. Chichiwa's range was even greater than that. She could attack targets more than fifty meters away.

Looking at it this way, the squad had offense, control, and reconnaissance. Aside from lacking a medic, Hanyu realized he had nothing to complain about... During this period, medical ninjas weren't assigned to squads. Instead, they were kept together and deployed as a group.

The great ninja who would revolutionize Konoha's medical techniques and advocate assigning medical ninjas to individual squads had been drenched to the skin by Hanyu just a few months ago.

Three days later, Hanyu left a note for Sanshao. Then, without alerting anyone, he met up with his squad and set off according to plan for the front lines of the Shinobi World War.