After running headlong into tens of thousands of Konoha ninja twice in a row, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen finally realized something was wrong. This plan had been improvised by the seven of them, so there was no possibility of information leaking. Nor could the Konoha ninja have set an ambush in advance—if their movements had truly been exposed, Konoha could have simply surrounded and killed them. Why go through all this trouble?
The only explanation was that Konoha had stationed large numbers of ninja to patrol every city!
But where had Konoha found so many ninja? The Seven Ninja Swordsmen quickly thought of the academic-track ninja policy they had once dismissed.
Afterward, they cautiously investigated and discovered that the patrolling ninja were indeed generally under thirty. Moreover, they lacked the murderous aura of Konoha's elite Shinobi Army. This confirmed their judgment: the patrols spread throughout every town and city were Konoha's so-called academic-track ninja!
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen's guess was not wrong. Dozens of days earlier, after Konoha's upper ranks received intelligence that Kirigakure was about to launch a surprise attack on the Land of Fire itself, they issued a mobilization order. All academic-track ninja in every town and city were ordered to prepare for defense and form patrol units to take turns patrolling their respective areas.
Although academic-track ninja were not as strong in battle as genuine combat-track ninja, they had still undergone several years of ninja training and possessed chakra, making them extraordinary beings. Their discipline and physical fitness far surpassed those of ordinary people, so with a little training, they could become a considerable force.
All patrol units were recruited locally, much like the flood-control mobilizations in Nawaki's previous life. They were nearby, patrolled in rotating groups, and received subsidies afterward, so local daily production was not