Just as Utakata was directing all of Kirigakure's forces to prepare for withdrawal, Sunagakure, which had been facing them off all this time, quickly noticed the unusual movements among the Mist Ninja and reported them to the higher-ups.
Pakura had been gone for two days and two nights without any news. The Kazekage and the two advisers had also received no reply from Kirigakure. They had originally worried that the matter might have been exposed, but only relaxed completely upon learning that Kirigakure was preparing to withdraw.
Although the three were deeply dissatisfied that Hozuki Zangetsu had not even offered them so much as a greeting after the deed was done, they had no thoughts of backing out, considering that he held leverage over them. Nor did they suspect that the assassination had failed. On one hand, Pakura had remained unheard from, and the six hundred thousand troops under her command had shown no unusual movements. On the other, since Kirigakure dared to withdraw right under Sunagakure's nose, they must have succeeded in the assassination and obtained leverage over them.
Thus, when the Kazekage and his two advisers, who had been waiting for a reply from Kirigakure, received the report from below, they were delighted rather than alarmed. In their view, the assassination plan had surely succeeded, and the Kirigakure Shinobi Army was withdrawing according to the original plan.
Believing that everything had gone smoothly, the Kazekage and his two advisers immediately summoned all the army's senior officers for a military conference. At the meeting, the Kazekage and the two advisers unanimously declared that the Kirigakure Shinobi Army could no longer hold on. They proposed a full-scale counteroffensive, intending to remove Sunagakure's outer defensive lines and gather all their forces for a massive counterattack against Kirigakure.
Sunagakure's higher-ups could not