The situation in Konoha was rapidly deteriorating. Sarutobi Hiruzen realized that if they could not replenish their manpower in time, Konoha would face a severe shortage of combat strength.
Under such circumstances, he had no choice but to consider sending genin who had not yet completed their training to the battlefield—even the younger generation that had only just graduated from the Ninja Academy, such as Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, and Nohara Rin.
This decision sparked widespread debate within the village. After all, these children had yet to fully master combat skills.
However, the grim state of the war allowed no further delay. Any ninja with basic combat ability had to be thrown into this war.
The Ninja Academy's curriculum was also drastically accelerated. Courses that originally took years to master were now reduced to the bare minimum required for graduation: the Three Basic Jutsu—Transformation Technique, Clone Technique, and Substitution Technique—along with shuriken-throwing techniques and the use of explosive tags.
As long as a student could protect themselves on the battlefield, they could be approved for graduation and immediately sent into combat.
This was different from the vision Senju Hashirama had held when he founded Konoha—the dream of protecting children from the flames of war had now been shattered by the brutal reality of war.
Though it was not as cruel as the Warring States Era, young ninja now had to shoulder the responsibility of defending the village as well.
Meanwhile, Konoha's hospitals and logistics departments were also under immense pressure.
Large numbers of wounded returning from the front flooded into the hospitals, pushing medical resources close to their limit. Fortunately, through the efforts of Uchiha Ying Yue and Senju Tsunade, Konoha had expanded its medical facilities before the war. The newly completed First, Second, and Third Konoha People's Hospitals effectively