Kapitel 50: Chapter 50: War on War
They had one day to arrange their army, where Kannin realized he was not used to leadership. Firstly, he was younger than most of this underlings by at least 5 years--something both he and they found strange. Secondly, he wasn't used to strategizing and command, but Shin simply told him that he would need to be a quick learner.
Looking over his command, Shin quickly organized them into five 100 man companies, with roughly equal proportions of close combat, ninjutsu, and healing specialists. He figure that this would allow a greater degree of fluidity against the enemy. He appointed one captain to each company, which he named after their captains: Kara, Mikoto, Hitori, Sara, and Oyake. All of them had sufficient battle experience and skills, and were put in charge
After putting his brigade in order, he was called to a general staff meeting with Team 4 and the other team, who he learned was called Team 30. He knew the name of their leader, Kirai, already, but at the meeting he was introduced to the other 3, Hotoke, Kawaru, and Maneshi. Hotoke was a fairly large man with orange hair and brown eyes; he wore a gi-like garment which was split-colored, black on the left side and white on the right. Kawaru was a petite girl who wore traditional medical-nin gear, but was adorned with strange, purplish tattoos which complemented her lavender hair--Kannin couldn't get a clue as to her combat specialty. The last one was the shinobi who went by Maneshi. Maneshi reminded Kannin of Orochimaru in that they looked quite androgynous. They wore a flowing black robe over what Kannin assumed was equally black body armor. They tied their flat black hair back, and they had two scars running from their cheek to beneath their deep red eyes.
They exchanged pleasantries, but Shin and Kirai quickly got them on track.
"We're heading southwest." Shin began, "Intel says Suna has sent an expeditionary force our way comprised of roughly 2000 ninja, which we need to either turn away or destroy, understood?"
They all nodded. They like their odds, outnumbering the enemy 2 to 1, but they knew not to get their hopes up.
"Right," Kirai continued, "because of our numbers advantage, we're going to keep 3 of our brigades in reserve, that would be Tetsu, and Kawaru's brigades along with my own. You'll watch the rear while Hotoke, Warai, and Shin fill out the middle. Kannin, you and Maneshi will be our vanguard."
They all nodded at their assignments, though Kannin was mourning being assigned to yet another advanced group. He envied Tetsu getting to sit in the back while he did the fighting.
Shin let them leave after one last thing, "Strategically, Kirai and I have both agreed that it would be best not to fight the Suna-nin in the desert. We plan to draw them into the Land of Rivers between us and them to nullify any terrain advantages. We're breaking camp at dawn tomorrow. Get your soldiers ready."
'Soldiers...' the word lingered in Kannin's mind as he returned to his brigade. 'I suppose we are soldiers now.'
Kannin gathered his soldiers and reported the plan, including their assignment at the front, at which point he saw many faces pale at the thought of being the first to fight. While Kannin certainly didn't want to fight, he did want to live, and a disheartened army was a dead one in his book.
He quickly added, "I know some of you might be worried about being placed at the front, and you're right to be worried. We'll be the first to encounter the enemy by all accounts, which makes our job the most important. HQ will be relying on us to stay off any advance forces and relay information about numbers, positioning, movement, etc. I won't tell you that you won't die--many of you will I expect, but what I can tell you is that if you stick with your comrades here, the chances will plummet. If ever you find yourself in truly dire straights, call for me," he let the words hang, "and I'll save you myself."
Satisfied by how cool he sounded, he was about to walk off before he remembered one last thing,
"Also, you will see a number of fox spirits popping in and out of the battle; those are mine, we will be using them to communicate more efficiently. If you have anything urgent to report, give it in scroll form and tell them who to deliver it to. Hopefully with better comms, we'll have a distinct advantage over any enemy."
Saying that, he left to his tent where he cuddled with Kiyo for the night. An hour before dawn, he woke up and organized his force to the left of Maneshi's, and waited for the signal to move out, which came, as promised, when the sun broke behind the horizon
They rushed from the forest camp to the Land of Rivers, the wind whistling at their backs. Kannin had quickly reorganized Kara company to have an excess of sensor types, and put them at the front, while he stayed in the middle to be able to see the whole force.
A few days march later, there were still no enemies in sight, but one of Maneshi's scouting parties came back with a report of the expeditionary force just a few miles to their north. Reading the report, Shin ordered the army to reposition. They chose a hill which was guarded by two moderately sized rivers running east-west in front and behind. They hill had decent tree cover as well. Kannin and Maneshi were placed on the other side of the north stream, and ordered to dig in along with the rest of the army.
It was nearly time to go to war again
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein