As the moonlight gradually faded, the first rays of dawn pierced the clouds and shone down on the earth, dispelling the chill of the night.
After a night of spreading, the news that Uzumaki Kuming's team had successfully captured the Four-Tails had reached the entire Konoha camp, greatly boosting morale at the Konoha stronghold. At Kuming's deliberate prompting, the news also reached the Stone Ninjas in the Land of Birds.
The previous night, when the Stone Ninjas discovered that their leader had vanished after being attacked by Konoha Ninja, Kitsuchi's first instinct was to suppress the news completely.
But when news that "Konoha Ninja captured the Four-Tails" reached the Stone Ninja camp that morning, it caused an immediate uproar. Even though Kitsuchi had already ordered the news suppressed, there was no way to keep it under wraps. The Stone Ninja camp was plunged into unprecedented panic.
At that very moment, Uzumaki Kuming led a large force of Konoha Ninja into the Land of Birds, beginning to eliminate the Stone Ninja strongholds throughout the country.
Badly wounded, Kitsuchi chose not to continue fighting Konoha in the Land of Birds. The news that Roshi had been captured had destroyed the Stone Ninjas' morale, so Kitsuchi decided to gather all the Stone Ninjas in the Land of Birds and retreat swiftly toward Iwagakure. He planned to consolidate their defenses, shifting from their previous offensive to a defensive stance. He also sent word to Iwagakure at once, awaiting Ōnoki's orders.
The battle had reached a point where Kitsuchi could no longer keep it under control. Young as he was, he didn't dare issue orders recklessly.
On Konoha's side, Uzumaki Kuming's team easily captured two strongholds. But when they reached the third, they discovered that the Stone Ninja guards had vanished. Realizing that the Stone