"No." Jingxin shook his head. "I'm from another ninja village. I was ordered to bring you away from here. Are you willing to leave?"
A glimmer of hope flashed in Chinatsu's eyes, but quickly faded. "No! We're not going! We absolutely won't..."
"What if we promise not to force you to do anything you don't want?" Jingxin interrupted. "There isn't much time. Things are already chaotic outside. This is your chance."
"Why should we trust you?" Chinatsu asked warily, shielding Karin behind her.
The little girl clutched her mother's clothes, her big eyes full of fear, but also a trace of hope.
"Mom..." Karin said softly. "I want to leave... They're always drawing your blood..."
Jingxin took off his mask, revealing a kind face. "Exactly. People can always start over somewhere else. How much worse could things get? Give us a chance to prove our sincerity."
As Chinatsu hesitated, footsteps and shouts came from downstairs. "The medical center! Hurry, go check on them!"
The Grass Ninja were here.
Fear flashed in the mother and daughter's eyes. Chinatsu said to Jingxin, "Prove you're not Grass Ninja!"
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared in Jingxin's eyes.
Chinatsu's eyes widened.
The Land of Whirlpools had once possessed a vast storehouse of knowledge. Familiar with Kekkei Genkai, she knew that when it came to the Uchiha and the Byakugan, if the eyes weren't part of the person's original body, they couldn't control whether they opened or closed.
He was an Uchiha.
With no time to think, Chinatsu immediately pulled the tube from her arm.
In the next instant, Jingxin grabbed Chinatsu and Karin, one in each hand, hoisted them onto his shoulders, kicked open the window, and leaped out.
"This way!" Yeying called from the edge of the woods.
She had already taken care of the guards in the back courtyard and was waiting to receive them.
Jingxin carried Chinatsu and Karin into the woods.
Behind them, the Grass Ninja stormed into the medical center. When they found the women gone, they immediately began searching.
Jingxin and Yeying carried Chinatsu and Karin swiftly toward the planned rendezvous point.
Half an hour later, the four arrived at the meeting place: a hidden cave.
Jingxin and Yeying set the mother and daughter down, and Yeying used the medical supplies she had stashed there earlier to treat Chinatsu.
Karin sat beside her mother, gripping her hand tightly. Her gaze drifted toward Jingxin.
He smiled at her, then turned and went to the cave entrance to stand guard.
Before long, footsteps sounded outside. Shifeng had returned.
He was wreathed in killing intent, his massive body spattered with blood. Bits of flesh clung to his clothes and ninja tools.
Shifeng grumbled, "Damn it, that was humiliating. I couldn't use Earth Release and nearly got killed by that bunch of worthless trash!"
The moment he entered, Chinatsu and Karin turned deathly pale at the sight of him and huddled closer to Yeying and Jingxin.
Shifeng didn't seem to care. "Everyone's here, right? Let's move!"
The wilderness along the Land of Earth's border looked especially desolate at dawn.
Jingxin and the others stood atop a rocky hill, looking back toward the Land of Grass.
Behind them lay dense forests; ahead were the familiar barren mountains and cliffs.
Shifeng quickly assessed the situation. "The Grass Ninja won't give up easily. They'll send out a tracking team."
"We need to get back to Iwagakure as soon as possible." He looked at Yeying and Jingxin. "I'll cover our tracks. You two carry them."
Chinatsu was still pale. Her long imprisonment and escape had drained much of her strength.
Karin clutched her mother's hand, exhaustion plain in her eyes.
Yeying stepped over to Chinatsu, her gaze beneath the Owl Mask sweeping over Chinatsu's condition. "Get on."
Chinatsu hesitated, then climbed onto Yeying's back.
Yeying moved briskly, adjusting her position once Chinatsu was on her back to avoid putting pressure on any of her wounds.
Jingxin picked up Karin as well. The girl was light, and he stood with ease, supporting her legs with both hands.
"Move out," Shifeng ordered curtly.
The group set off.
Yeying led the way with Chinatsu on her back. Jingxin followed close behind with Karin, while Shifeng brought up the rear, clearing their tracks as they went and erasing their footprints and...
The wilderness was rugged, but it posed no challenge to these well-trained Anbu.
Jingxin kept a steady pace, all the while watching for movement around them.
At first, Karin was tense on his back, her small hands gripping his shoulders tightly.
But after a while, she gradually relaxed, resting her head against his shoulder.
"Um..." she began softly, her voice muffled through his mask. "What should I call you?"
"Just call me Blood Gold."
"Blood Gold... Brother?" she asked tentatively. "Thank you for saving us, Brother."
Jingxin: "..."
He had told Ōnoki about Karin and her mother only because he wanted to strengthen Iwagakure's future core.
He hadn't thought much more about it, but now Jingxin realized just how much this meant to them.
The group hurried across the wilderness.
Shifeng was experienced. Wherever they passed, the ground seemed to smooth itself over, as if no one had ever walked there.
At noon, the group took a brief rest in the shadow of a cliff.
Jingxin lifted the lower half of his mask and tossed a Military Ration Pill into his mouth.
It didn't taste good, but it quickly replenished his stamina and chakra.
Then he handed one each to Chinatsu and Karin.
Karin stared at the Military Ration Pill in her hand, then copied Jingxin and took a small bite.
Her face immediately scrunched up. "It's so bitter..."
"Bear with it," Jingxin said. "Drink some water when you're done."
Military Ration Pills weren't food. They were genuine strategic supplies.
They were meant to quickly replenish the body's energy in an emergency, and taste had never been a consideration during their development.
Chinatsu ate her Military Ration Pill too, and her complexion improved somewhat. The Uzumaki Clan's powerful vitality was already restoring her strength.
Jingxin sat down against the cliff.
Snuggled up beside her mother, Karin asked curiously, "Brother Blood Gold, does your name have a special meaning?"
To be honest, it sounded pretty scary.
But she had seen Jingxin's kind face, and he had saved her life, so Karin had managed to work up the courage to ask.
"It has to do with my Kekkei Genkai and strategic role." Jingxin's answer was perfectly accurate, though she wasn't necessarily going to understand it.
Karin nodded, looking a little bewildered, just as he'd expected.
Five minutes later, the group set out again.
What shocked everyone was that Chinatsu could already move around normally!
Was this the Uzumaki Clan?
In the time it took to catch her breath, one Military Ration Pill had restored half her health?!
Terrifying.
The afternoon's journey went even more smoothly.
They had already traveled deep into the Land of Earth, greatly reducing the risk of the Grass Ninja tracking them down.
Shifeng's tracking skills were superb, and the group left no trace.
Even if Kusagakure learned which direction the people who had taken the Uzumaki mother and daughter had gone, they wouldn't dare pursue them into the heart of the Land of Earth.
Before you continue