Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-34436445-20180613173319/@comment-31099706-20180701151839

I think either one of the villages had more shinobi than one could think of, or the Samurai were the largest of the allience.

If anything, I would say, since the Fourth War was more than just a war, and that is, the fate of the freaking world, it maybe occured to the Feudel lords or Kages that they should use all the resources they have. Recruiting Missing Ninjas, sending recruitment requests from other small villages, since they do exist, and probably call for allied forces(Like allied villages other than of the great ones), it's literally the end of the world, maybe it should have been properly shown, it was a weird idea to have all the five village + Samurai to have 80,000 recruits, since that's already a crazy amount to think of, even when all the villages join together.

And we don't know much about the aftermath of villages like the Sound, Kabuto's village, and various such. Each village destroyed or still active has to have shinobi that have a leader to understand the situation of their whole world.

If I'm not wrong, Itachi once explained to Sasuke that the Uchiha clan may be low in population but they their pride and such, in the anime. And counting on all the eyes Danzo, Obito and Shin had in stock, it just shows how many Sharingan users were still there.

The Uchiha were obviously going to strike at the Leaf's most vulnerable point. Since the Leaf are really deeply loyal to their leader, Sarutobi Hiruzen, capturing him and controlling him will lead the villagers to abide to the Uchiha's control. Just think about it, with Shisui, The Uchiha can Literally control Danzo and Hiruzen. And to clear anyone's doubts, if you find it hard to believe, then just re-check Orochimaru controlling the Sand, and Obito controlling the Mist.

Plus, you guys are forgetting another thing, that is the battlefield advantage is to the Uchiha. They're already inside the village, their members can be all around the village, acting and appearing as someone else, slowly getting rid of the ones alone and if it comes to a head on battle, then the Leaf has to be quite concerned over the safety of the villagers, afterall that is their duty. The Uchiha can launch fire balls around the village, causing havoc among havoc all around, leading many of the opposite forces to help bring the villagers to safety. The Leaf can't obviously fight properly while protecting the villagers against the Uchiha. And the hostages that will be taken, Naruto, the old people, the elders, genin, they'll be forced to surrender. The win obviously goes to their hands.