Escaping the Mist Ninja starts with backstabbing your teacher.

The girl, now fully awake, looked around and realized she was in a cave. She looked down at the bandages on her chest, and felt a growing pain in her back and thighs.

Suddenly, the memories before I lost consciousness came flooding back: the image of the old man and his granddaughter stabbing me in the back with knives, and the impression that I was eventually rescued.

"Did you save me?" The girl asked, looking at the two people slowly walking out of the cave.

The two people's appearances gradually overlapped with the impression she had before fainting. The girl showed a hint of gratitude and tried to get up.

However, this movement aggravated the wound on her back, causing her to show a pained expression. At the same time, a hand pressed her back down.

A gentle voice rang out: "Your wound was just healed, don't move around, or you'll tear it open again."

Yes, the voice was exactly the same as the last voice she heard, along with that somewhat frightening older sister.

Ye Cang stood behind with no expression on his face, but his aloof demeanor had already made him seem intimidating to the girl.

Izumi picked up a bowl of water and asked, "Do you want some water? You've been unconscious for a day and a night."

When the girl was asked this question, she realized her mouth was dry. She nodded slightly and reached out to get some water, but was refused again.

Seeing the water in front of it, it had no choice but to accept the feeding with some shyness and drank the water in the bowl clean.

"Want more?"

The girl shook her head slightly, regaining some spirits. Looking at the two men again, she noticed their clothing, demeanor, and posture, and a vague guess formed in her mind.

"Thank you for saving me!"

"It's nothing, I only followed you because I needed something from you."

Izumi went straight to the point without any politeness, and continued, "Judging from your hair color, you must be from the Uzumaki clan, right?"

A flicker of panic crossed the girl's eyes. Thinking of the tragic fate that would befall her people if their identities were exposed, her already pale face was filled with even more fear.

With her mouth slightly open, she quickly denied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Izumi saw the girl's fear and reassured her, "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. I just want your clan's sealing technique."

"If you have any sealing techniques you can teach me, in exchange I can protect your safety."

"After all, without me, you would probably have died at the hands of that old man and his granddaughter long ago."

The girl fell silent. Indeed, she was too naive. Despite being taught countless times, she still couldn't listen.

You can't learn by being taught, but you can learn by experiencing. It is through experience and pain that you can truly understand and learn to be afraid.

Finally, the girl slowly nodded and said, "I am indeed a member of the Uzumaki clan, but I haven't learned much about sealing techniques; I've only learned the basics."

"If you want to learn, I can teach you everything."

This made Izumi's lips curl up slightly. It didn't matter that he hadn't learned much; learning anything was enough. For him, the basics were more important.

"No problem, then the contract is complete. I will protect your safety until you wish to leave."

"My name is Izumikawa, and her name is Yogura. What's your name?"

"Momona!"

"A nice name!"

Izumi nodded slightly and asked a few more questions before being interrupted by Momona's rumbling stomach.

This made the girl look a little embarrassed, while Yecang turned around and brought over a few rice balls and some wild fruits.

"Eat up. If it's not enough, you'll have to wait a little while."

"Thank you, Sister Yecang!"

With Izumi's help, Momona sat up, took the rice ball, and ate it in big mouthfuls because of hunger. She almost choked and had to drink several mouthfuls of water before she could swallow it.

He devoured the rice balls in one go, then ate some wild fruit, looking like he hadn't had enough, clearly not full yet.

Seeing this, Ye Cang said, "I'll go get some food."

Izumikawa nodded: "Yes, thank you!"

Getting food here in the cave is indeed a bit of a hassle, so it seems we should stay in the Grass Ninja Village first.

You can also gather some information while you're at it; you won't hear any news here.

"Momona, do you know where the rest of the Uzumaki clan are?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. Not long ago, the place where we lived was hit by war, and my parents were unable to return. So, I followed my original escape plan and fled towards Kusagakure."

"Moreover, apart from my parents, I have never met any other members of my clan."

She wasn't born when Uzushiogakure was destroyed; she only heard about it from her parents.

At a very young age, she was always taken by her parents to hide and was no longer in contact with other members of her tribe.

Momona's eyes were slightly moist with tears. She didn't know whether her parents were alive or dead, but she already had the answer in her heart. She just didn't want to believe it.

"Okay, I understand. You get some rest, I'll go brew some herbal medicine for you."

"Thanks!"

Izumi reassured Momona, after all, the destruction of Uzumaki Village was over a decade ago, almost twenty years ago.

What exactly happened back then is impossible to verify, but Kirigakure was probably one of the participants.

He shook his head slightly and headed towards the cave entrance, where he saw that Ye Cang had already started a fire and was cooking some simple food.

"Finished talking?"

"Um!"

He asked Yekura to help him start another fire, and began to brew some herbs to help heal his injuries.

The smell immediately brought back unpleasant memories for Ye Cang, who had drunk quite a few of these medicinal soups.

The thought that Izumikawa clearly had better healing methods and that he should have asked her sooner made him snap the branch in his hand.

This surprised Izumi Kawa, who glanced at Yekura in surprise. Yekura responded with only a cold snort, leaving Izumi Kawa somewhat bewildered.

So he said, "Tomorrow we'll go to Kusagakure to resupply and gather some information."

"The war is almost over, and you'd like to know the current situation in Sunagakure, wouldn't you?"

Yecang didn't speak, but her thoughts, which had already flown away, were already quite obvious.

This matter remained a thorn in her side; she desperately wanted to know what kind of role she had become in the Sand Village.

Was he sacrificed?

Or did he become a traitor?

Ye Cang revealed a cold smile. No matter which way it was, it couldn't change the fact that she had been betrayed.

……

On the other hand, the Cloud Ninja found no information about Izumi and Pakura, which annoyed the Fourth Raikage.

He slammed his hand on the table and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Damn those Mist Ninja brats! Where did they run off to with the Byakugan? We haven't heard a thing!"

He sent people to the land of rivers to conduct a secret investigation, but they did not get any good news and came up empty-handed.

So they used other methods and found that the Mist Ninja pursuit team had failed. They found traces left by the enemy, but the people had completely disappeared.

Similarly, it was learned that the Hyuga clan of Konoha had already taken action, but it ended in failure.

This surprised the Fourth Raikage, who couldn't help but scoff at the Hyuga clan's worthlessness, making people even more concerned about whether other villages had spotted them.