Zabuza's grandstanding completely shattered Baki and Sharan's defenses.
Of course, being mentally broken didn't help. They had already been exhausted by the genjutsu. While they had not truly spent much chakra, mental fatigue was even harder to recover from than physical exhaustion.
That Sand Puppet that had crumbled under a single blow had already been their final act of defiance.
As for Maki...
To be fair, the female ninja with bandages wrapped around her head and paint on her face had not even had time to react before her two teammates were already on their knees. Her gaze shifted between her teammates and Zabuza before she ultimately chose to follow her heart. She gave up on trying to fight six people alone and turned back to help her teammates up.
"Gathering intelligence on Sunagakure's genin, complete!"
Zabuza softly uttered those words, signifying that they had already completed half of today's mission.
Upon hearing that, Mei Terumi raised a hand and lightly rubbed her forehead. "If I'd known things would turn out like this, I never would have let you take Sunagakure."
Clearly, who wouldn't want targets that came knocking on their own door?
But it was too late to say any of that now. Mei Terumi did not dwell on it any further and called out to Hua Bing and Ringo Ameyuri. "Come on, it's time for us to get moving too!"
The six of them split into two groups and left in different directions.
Behind them, Baki and Sharan, who had finally been helped to their feet by Maki, watched the six figures disappear into the distance, hatred blazing in their eyes like raging flames.
Still, perhaps because Zabuza had scared them too badly earlier, they did not even dare look directly at his retreating figure. Instead, they focused