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While the ninja world was waiting to see Konoha's response, three thousand Konoha ninjas gathered in the third training ground. Following the orders, everyone began arranging themselves in an orderly manner.
Facing this massive army were 6 ninjas, Nara Shikaku, Suzuki Fujin, Senju Renjiro, Hyuga Hoka and two more figures. While the ninjas moved, Shikaku said, "While they arrange themselves, I'll tell you about the army composition."
Fujin and others looked at Shikaku as he continued, "Needless to say, you're the commander-in-chief of the entire army. From the moment you leave Konoha to the moment you return, everyone in the army must follow your orders.
Renjiro will be your second in command. He'll basically serve the same role as you due to your inexperience in this regard."
Fujin and Renjiro already knew about their roles. Due to Fujin's performance the other day and several rumors floating around, pretty much everyone knew he would be the Commander-in-chief of the new army.
Shikaku continued, "Directly under you two would be the three Generals of your army. The army will be composed of 3 divisions, each led by one of the Generals. They are Hyuga Hoka, Sada Konomi and Kurama Illumi. You already know Illumi and Hoka very well, and I'm sure you have heard of Konomi too."
Fujin nodded and glanced at them. Having entered his 40s, age was visible on Illumi's face. However, he looked even more imposing than before. On the other hand, Konomi was a beautiful lady. She was from a civilian background and was a couple of years older than Kakashi's batch.
Fujin said with a smile, "Of course. It's good to see you again, Illumi-san. It's nice to meet you, Konomi-san. Belated congratulations on your promotion."
Illumi smiled and replied, "I always had high hopes for you, but I didn't think I'd be serving under you so quickly, haha. It's quite an honor to be a General in your army on your very first assignment."
Konomi also smiled and greeted, "I have heard so much about you. It's good to finally see you in person. Your performance on the battlefield yesterday was phenomenal. I never saw anyone fight like you did."
Fujin smiled while thinking, 'It looks like the entire leadership will be new, with the exception of Renjiro. Hoka's experience in leading armies is just as bad as mine. Konomi was promoted to Elite Jounin around a month ago. Illumi was also promoted a few months ago. Though they have experience from the previous wars, neither has led an entire division before. It looks like Shikaku wants to develop new army commanders.'
It was just exactly how Fujin speculated. Since there wasn't going to be much danger, Shikaku wanted to give an opportunity to the newly promoted ninjas. Even most of the leaders of smaller units were leading such large units for the first time.
Shikaku said, "Normally, the position of Generals is only given to Elite Jounins. However, you will be promoted to this rank after the dust settles down, Hoka. So, consider this as preparation for the future. We have a lot of hopes for you."
Hoka nodded and said, "I won't disappoint you."
Shikaku nodded and replied, "Good."
He turned his gaze to Fujin and said, "I am sure you must have read how Konoha's army is formed, but I'll explain to you either way in case you or others missed something.
The basic unit of any army is a normal four-member squad led by Chunin while the other members are either Genins or Chunins. In this army, all the squad members are Genins and they make up the majority of your army.
The reason why we always form 4-member squads when a student graduates is due to this. However, on a battlefield, four ninjas generally can't do much. If they're isolated, any competent enemy would eliminate them with ease.
That is why, a single squad never moves alone on the battlefield, unless it is a specialist squad. Four squads will move together, forming a platoon. They'll be led by a Captain, who'll be an Elite Chunin and have his own squad consisting of 3 more Chunins.
As such, every platoon in this army will have 1 Elite Chunin, 7 Chunins and 12 Genins. With such a force, they can do varying types of missions and can look after themselves even if they're isolated."
Fujin and others nodded as Shikaku continued, "Of course, even a platoon is too small of a force to make a major impact in a war. Hence, 4 platoons together make up a company. It'll be led by a Major, who'll be a Jounin. And, he'll be assisted by 7 more ninjas, including 1 Jounin and 6 Special Jounins. So, every company will have 88 ninjas.
A company is where you can see the real impact of an army. Since there are as many as 88 ninjas in a company, they cover all the bases and a company can act independently. It'll have sensors, several ninjas who know secret techniques, they'll be masters of every type of nature manipulation as well as ninjas who specialize in different things like Taijutsu and Genjutsu.
As such, a Company is a force to reckon with and if used properly, could also force a rank S ninja to withdraw. Of course, that's too dangerous and it'll be better if the Commander-in-chief deals with such opponents, but you get the idea."
Fujin nodded. Not every rank S ninja specialized in massacring weak ninjas like he did. A company had enough numbers to continuously use combination jutsus to keep the weaker rank S ninjas at bay for some time. Of course, that depended on how good the coordination between the ninjas in the company was.
Shikaku continued, "There are 27 companies in your army. One of the important tasks for all four of you is to learn how to handle the companies. If you face an enemy army that is as strong as you, then this becomes the deciding factor. Hence, focus on mastering this as we can't do such large-scale exercises often."
Shikaku saw everyone nodding and continued, "Above the company is a battalion, which consists of 3 companies. A battalion is led by a Colonel, who is a Veteran Jounin. They'll be assisted by a group of 15 other ninjas, depending on what purpose the battalion will serve. Since this is just a training exercise, I have assigned a similar force to everyone.
Among these 15 ninjas will be another Veteran Jounin, who can replace the Colonel if something happens to him or command a company if they need to split. There will be 4 more Jounins, 6 Special Jounins and 4 Elite Chunins to assist the Colonel in his duties.
While there is a lot a company can do, a battalion can handle a flank by itself. If the enemy is weak, then it can even hold an entire front. They'll be the main force of any army.
Every General will have 3 Battalions in their division, meaning that you'll lead 6 Veteran Jounins, 30 Jounins, 72 Special Jounins, 48 Elite Chunins, 252 Chunins and 432 Genins.
And, this is just the core army. You'll also have several specialized units under your command, to ensure that your division can function properly and independently of any reinforcements.
The special units will include a few Medical units, 1 Logistics unit, 1 Communication unit, 1 Seal unit and a couple of Trap setter units. You will also have a few reconnaissance units, assassination units and demolition units, but their numbers will depend on the circumstances. As such, the total number of ninjas in each division generally varies from anywhere between 900 to 1200. Each of the three divisions under you will have exactly a thousand ninjas."
Hoka, Illumi and Konomi nodded. While Illumi had plenty of experience and felt comfortable, Konomi and Hoka were slightly overwhelmed by the situation. The fact that the lives of a thousand Konoha ninjas depended on their decisions applied a lot of pressure on them. Both were relieved that this was just a training exercise.
Shikaku glanced at Fujin and said, "Adding the four of them, you'll be leading 3004 ninjas. However, this isn't a set number for a Commander-in-chief. During wars, you can be leading anywhere from a single division to the entire Konoha force. Though we can only hope that circumstances don't deteriorate to that level."
Fujin nodded without any hesitation. For a single person to lead the entirety of Konoha's forces would mean either all other rank S ninjas in Konoha were dead, or all of Konoha's enemies had come together and faced off Konoha on a single battlefield.
Shikaku asked, "Do you have any questions?"
Fujin immediately asked, "How many medical ninjas do we have?"
Without a hint of shame on his face, Shikaku answered, "6 squads along with 6 backup medical ninjas."
Fujin and the three Generals were surprised. Hoka frowned and asked, "So few? That's less than 1 per 100 ninjas! How will they be enough?"
Shikaku immediately corrected Hoka, "Well, technically Fujin is an excellent medical ninja. So, it is slightly more than 1 per 100 ninjas."