While Nawaki led the Konoha Shinobi Army in conquering cities and claiming territory, the atmosphere within Kumogakure's forces far away in the Angel Mountains was exceptionally grim. Though the Cloud Ninja were carrying out their duties as ordered, a closer look revealed that the entire army, from top to bottom, was distracted and mechanical in its movements. Their expressions ranged from fear to numbness to despair, like walking corpses.
The Cloud Ninja's morale had reached the brink of collapse. Forget counterattacking Konoha—they would be fortunate just to hold their ground.
The reason the Cloud Ninja had become like this was that news of the annihilation of the hundred-thousand-strong Shinobi Army had spread just over ten minutes ago! Ordinarily, to stabilize morale, the higher-ups should have strictly sealed off such news. Even if they could not keep it hidden, they should at least have delayed it long enough for those below to prepare themselves mentally. But why had everyone learned of it so quickly?
It began half an hour earlier. At the time, Commander-in-Chief A had suddenly returned alone. Although the Cloud Ninja found it strange, none of them thought the entire army had been wiped out. They assumed the battle had merely gone poorly, or perhaps that they had even managed to repel the Konoha Shinobi Army.
Yet after returning to camp, A only briefly described the situation before swiftly issuing an order for the entire army to descend the mountain and provide rescue. He wanted to save his sworn younger brother, Killer B!
This order met with fierce opposition from Advisor Dodai and part of the upper command! Dodai had already sensed that something was wrong when A returned alone, and the subsequent news of the hundred-thousand-strong army's crushing defeat dealt him an immense blow. Still, he forced himself