The Uchiha and Hyuga were, after all, Konoha's two largest clans. They could each field hundreds of elite ninja at once. By comparison, some smaller clans couldn't even scrape together a hundred ninja.
Here, "elite" meant that an Uchiha had awakened the Sharingan, or a Hyuga had awakened the Byakugan. It didn't matter how many tomoe their Sharingan had, or whether they knew the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. As long as they had awakened a Kekkei Genkai, they were elite compared with ordinary ninja and civilian-born ninja of the same level.
This was what you called a rigid hierarchy.
To completely disperse fifty Uchiha ninja throughout the force, they would need to form at least fifty squads. At the usual size of three or four people per squad, the total force would come to nearly two hundred.
To gather that many people without disrupting Konoha's normal operations, Sarutobi Hiruzen had even transferred some Anbu into the force. Handing such a substantial force over to Lady Tsunade showed just how much he trusted her.
The force had assembled. So, at that moment... what was their commander, Lady Tsunade, doing?
" Kiyonari! Kiyonari! Promise me you'll master this technique as soon as possible!"
Tsunade produced a huge scroll and urged Hyuga Kiyonari to sign his name on it. This was the contract scroll of Shikkotsu Forest, one of the Shinobi World's Three Great Sage Lands.
Shikkotsu Forest, Mount Myoboku, and Ryūchi Cave. These were the three places in the Shinobi World where one could learn to cultivate Natural Energy. The native creatures living there weren't human, but slugs, toads, and snakes.
Unlike the other two, Shikkotsu Forest wasn't a gathering place for slugs. There was only one slug there, named Katsuyu. The slugs summoned by her successive contractors were all parts of Sage Katsuyu. The more chakra they supplied, the larger the portion they summoned.
"I've already spoken with Sage Katsuyu. If you're in danger, just use the Summoning Technique to activate this mark, and Sage Katsuyu will use the Reverse Summoning Technique to bring you to Shikkotsu Forest."
"One more thing! Until you've completely mastered the Summoning Technique, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely don't use it recklessly. Otherwise, you'll end up like that idiot Jiraiya and get sent somewhere strange!"
As though she didn't think she'd made herself clear enough, she repeated "absolutely" three times.
Hyuga Kiyonari wrote his name on the scroll, took the smaller scroll containing the Summoning Technique, and nodded like a pecking chick.
Only then could Tsunade leave with peace of mind.
Ninja were astonishingly efficient when it came to carrying out missions. The order had gone out the previous night, and by the next morning the force was ready to depart.
Tsunade stood at the front of the formation. As agreed, her two aides, Shizune and Shisui Uchiha, stood behind her. He wore Anbu gear, but had removed his mask, revealing a youthful, energetic face.
Tsunade inspected the neat ranks before her and nodded with satisfaction.
"Everyone, listen up!"
Her voice rang out, clear and strong. After all these years away from the village, she was speaking to the younger generation for the first time.
"Objective—the northeastern border of the Land of Fire! Move out!"
Ninja weren't in the habit of raising the roof with a battle cry. They simply turned into silent shadows, following close behind Tsunade as they disappeared into the forest beyond the village.
The ninja remained silent along the way. The only sound was the ceaseless patter of countless feet leaping from branch to branch.
Unless a fight was about to break out, ninja generally didn't stop while marching. Running all day wasn't a big deal to them. When they grew tired or hungry, they could just take out a soldier pill to tide them over.
It wasn't until dusk that the force finally reached its destination.
It was an open clearing in the woods with good visibility and a few makeshift wooden houses around it. Evidently, Konoha ninja had been stationed here before.
Tsunade turned around. Everyone fixed their eyes on her, waiting for orders.
"Before we take a break," Tsunade began slowly, "there are a few things I need to tell you. They're important, so I want you to listen carefully."
Shisui Uchiha immediately pulled out paper and a pen to record the key points. That was his job. As for the other aide, Shizune, most of her work still involved taking care of Tsunade's daily needs.
"Back in the day, ninja fought in units based on their clans. The Uchiha, the Hyuga, the Aburame... each fought their own battles. Although there were alliances like Ino-Shika-Cho, clans were still the basic combat unit for ninja as a whole."
"After the hidden villages were established, so many different types of ninja gathered in one village that organizing them by clan alone no longer seemed sufficient. So people tried grouping ninja of the same type together. The Explosion Corps of Iwagakure is one example."
The Explosion Corps was a specialized ninja force created by Iwagakure. In theory, the unit had enough firepower to deal a devastating blow to any enemy.
Other villages had similar units, such as Fire Release and Water Release corps...
"But the Explosion Corps didn't perform especially well in the last few Shinobi World Wars. Why?" Tsunade posed the question, her gaze sweeping over the crowd as she took in their reactions.
"Because their overall skill isn't good enough to set them apart from other ordinary ninja forces."
"In that case, why not make an elite squad? For example, Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen."
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen were an elite force formed by Kirigakure, whose members wielded seven special Ninja Blades. Only sufficiently powerful ninja were eligible to become candidates.
"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen were indeed strong. They even made it deep into the Land of Fire, not far from Konoha itself. Until... they met that man. A man named Might Duy traded his life for theirs, killing four of the sword-bearers. The other three fled in disarray."
"By then, Might Duy had burned himself out. The few who remained would've been easy to deal with, but they still fled. Why?"
"Because they were isolated and without support! Might Duy had held them off long enough that Konoha reinforcements could arrive at any moment. Even a moment's hesitation could've left them all dead on the spot!"
Every word she spoke struck the formation like a boulder dropped into still water. The ninja exchanged glances, their confusion mingling with thought.
Large forces failed to stand out. Elite forces couldn't get support once they suffered losses.
So what was the right way?
Shisui Uchiha dutifully wrote down every key point Tsunade made. He was thinking about the answer, too, but then he remembered a personal order from Clan Head Fugaku before they set out.
[Your mission is to obey—to obey Tsunade's orders. If any clan member refuses, you must ensure that they obey "with dignity."]
[If you can't understand, start by accepting it. If you can't accept it, start by agreeing with it.]
[If you understand, carry it out. If you don't understand, you'll come to understand as you carry it out.]
[Understood?]
Before you continue