Inside Sunagakure's medical room.
"How is he?"
"His vital signs are all normal..."
"If everything's normal, why hasn't he woken up?"
"Well... we don't know either."
After the brief conversation, the doctor shook his head and left.
Only Baki, Maki, and Mālé, who lay motionless in the hospital bed, remained in the room.
For unknown reasons, Mālé had remained unconscious ever since they brought him back to the village.
Maki was worried, but there was nothing she could do to help.
"Don't be too pessimistic. It was already no small feat for you to make it back alive."
Baki offered a stiff word of comfort.
It was unclear whether Maki had taken it in; she merely murmured an acknowledgment.
"By the way, Lord Kazekage seems to have obtained some very important intelligence. Perhaps next time, we'll be able to capture 'Sand Wraith' Saibote. Then we might be able to find out exactly what he did to Mālé."
There were things he could not casually reveal, but as long as he disclosed no specifics, mentioning this to Maki to help restore her confidence was necessary.
After all, the recent string of incidents had cost the Sealing Squad dearly.
Mālé was still unconscious. If Maki lost heart as well, things would be even worse.
Hearing this, Maki nodded with determination in her eyes.
If Mālé still could not wake up, then the problem had to lie with "Sand Wraith" Saibote. Finding and subduing him was the only way!
Seeing this, Baki felt considerably reassured.
In addition, because of this string of unexpected incidents and Mālé's continued unconsciousness, no one was paying attention for the time being to the fact that the people Mālé had sent to watch the two Rogue Ninjas had yet to report back.
This also meant that the wanted