Escaping the Mist Ninja starts with backstabbing your teacher.

Chapter 159 The Anomaly in Sunagakure, Rasa, the Biological Father!

The laboratory door slid open silently, and Yekura walked in.

Her footsteps were very light, but they were still clearly audible in the empty laboratory.

She wasn't wearing her signature dark robe, but a plain white lab coat.

Her hair was casually tied back, with a few stray strands falling from her forehead, softening the lines of her profile. She held a steaming cup of tea in her hand.

"Take a break." Ye Cang placed the teacup on the operating table, his gaze sweeping over the culture tanks and instrument screens. "You've been standing for three hours."

"Three hours?" Izumi was slightly taken aback and glanced at the clock on the wall.

The clock had moved from nine in the morning to noon, but he was completely unaware, as if those three hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

"Time flies." He took the teacup, stirred the tea leaves floating on the surface with the lid, and took a sip.

The tea was at the perfect temperature, neither too hot nor too cold. It had a slightly bitter taste upon first sip, but a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste.

Yekura leaned against the edge of the control panel, arms crossed, her gaze fixed on the arm covered by the curse mark.

Her brow furrowed slightly, but quickly relaxed.

"Did it succeed?"

"7

"Half-successful." Izumi put down his teacup, walked to the culture tank, and gently tapped the glass wall with his fingertip. "It's stable, but its strength is insufficient, and its stability is poor. It's still far from what I want."

"How much longer?"

"I don't know," Izumikawa said honestly. "It could take days, weeks, or months."

He sighed softly, his gaze falling on the arm, and said calmly, "These things can't be rushed."

Ye Cang didn't press further, understanding that these things were all means to become stronger, and that once the research was successful, they would be given to them to use.

"The children are all settled in," Yekura said. "Kimimaro is at the training ground, Shiro is doing his physical fitness test in the medical room, and Momona is with him."

Neji and Yuki are studying with Sara.

"Sarah?" Izumi raised an eyebrow slightly. "She's already able to teach?"

"The royal education in Loulan is more comprehensive than you imagine." Ye Cang's lips curled up slightly.

Izumi was silent for a moment, then nodded. He didn't ask anything more, but just leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the light tube on the ceiling.

Yekura didn't bother him any further and silently left the laboratory.

The door closed gently behind her, and the sound of her footsteps echoed in the corridor, gradually fading away.

Izumi sat alone at the lab bench, with the arm covered by the curse mark in front of him and rows of silent culture tanks behind him.

He closed his eyes and mentally reviewed the data he had collected over the past few days, one by one.

At that moment, the door slid open again.

Ye Cang returned, walking faster than before, his face showing a hint of seriousness.

"There's something I need to report to you." She walked to Izumi's side, her voice low but clear, "It's news from Sunagakure."

"Hmm?" Izumi Kawa let out a soft exclamation, opened his eyes, and looked at her with some confusion.

What's happened in Sunagakure this time? Several thoughts flashed through his mind.

Is the Jinchūriki going berserk? Is there infighting among the higher-ups? Or has Rasa pulled some other stunt?

Ye Cang didn't say much, and handed over the intelligence scroll in his hand.

Izumikawa took it, unrolled the scroll, and quickly glanced at the text on it.

A few breaths later, his brows furrowed, and an undisguised look of disgust appeared on his face.

"That Rasa guy actually ordered Yashamaru to attack Gaara?" His voice was low but chilling. "That's outrageous!"

He put down the scroll and leaned back in his chair. In order to test the stability of the Jinchūriki, Rasa was willing to put his youngest son in danger.

He even sent his brother-in-law, Yashamaru, to carry out this mission.

This behavior of his "biological father" made him feel a deep-seated nausea.

He thought he had seen enough of the twisted nature of humanity in Kirigakure, but Rasa's actions still exceeded his expectations.

Izumi closed his eyes and quickly reviewed the current situation in Sunagakure in his mind.

While the research on cursed seals and sage chakra is important, it cannot be rushed and requires time and patience.

As for Sunagakure, if Rasa is allowed to continue causing trouble like this, Gaara will inevitably run into problems sooner or later.

That child was a pawn he had planted, and he couldn't afford to lose him now.

"Now that this has happened," Izumikawa opened his eyes, turned to look at Yekura, and said in a calm and determined voice, "then let's take this opportunity to take control of Sunagakure."

"Huh!?" Ye Cang was taken aback, clearly not expecting him to make such a decision.

A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, and her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to confirm whether she had heard correctly.

Izumi didn't repeat himself, but calmly met her gaze. There was no hesitation or impulsiveness in his eyes, only a clear-headed decision after careful consideration.

Ye Cang remained silent for a few moments, then slowly nodded, the surprise in his eyes gradually replaced by a more complex emotion.

That's trust, and also the tacit understanding honed through a long journey of walking side by side.

"Okay," she said, offering only one word.

The laboratory fell silent again, with only the occasional popping of bubbles from the culture tanks and the low hum of instruments running in the distance.

Izumi stood up and walked to the ninja world map hanging on the wall. The light fell on the desert of the Land of Wind, and he remained motionless for a long time.

It's time for the winds of Sunagakure to blow in a different direction.

Izumi turned away from the map, his gaze falling on the row of silent culture tanks on the lab bench.

Obito was able to control the Fourth Mizukage and secretly take control of Kirigakure, so why couldn't he do the same thing?

The Sand Village had no Rinnegan, no Pain, only a disorganized leadership and a Fourth Kazekage eager to prove himself.

He possesses methods that are more subtle and thorough than illusions.

With optimization, the Yin Seal is no longer a simple chakra storage technique.

It is both a lock and a thread, locking away the freedom of the implanted person, while the end of the thread is held in his hand.

As long as the Yin Seal is implanted into Rasa's body, the Fourth Kazekage will become a living puppet in his hands without even realizing it.

No need for a lengthy infiltration, no need for a bloody coup, just one well-timed contact.

"It's time to get going."

Izumi took off his lab coat and hung it on the clothes rack by the wall.

He glanced at the arm covered in the curse mark in the culture jar; the black lines shimmered slightly under the light, like a sleeping eye.

The experiment can wait, but the situation in Sunagakure cannot.

Since Luo Sha dared to harm his own son, it shows that his patience was running out, and an impatient Feng Ying is most likely to reveal his weakness.

He formed hand seals, and chakra surged within him. Two clones separated from his body, one on the left and one on the right, their faces identical to his.

The clones each went to the experimental table. One opened the experimental log to continue recording data, while the other began to check the concentration of the nutrient solution and the dosage of the inhibitor in the culture tank.

"The lab is now in your hands," Izumi said to his clone, his tone flat, as if he were entrusting a trivial matter.

The clones nodded simultaneously, without saying anything more.

He turned to look at Ye Cang, who was already waiting at the door.

She didn't need to prepare anything; for her, fighting and traveling were the same—she could set off at any time.

"Let's go."

The two walked out of the laboratory, through the base's corridor, and pushed open the door.

The skeletal dragon was already waiting in the open space in front of the gate, its bone wings folded and the eerie light in its eye sockets shimmering faintly in the sunlight.

The hatch in the dragon's belly opened, and the two stepped inside. The skeletal dragon spread its wings, gave a sudden flap, and its massive body soared into the air, flying southwest.

The Snow Country base on the ground grew smaller and smaller until it became a black dot on the earth and disappeared into the horizon.

A few days later, in the Land of Wind.

The boundless desert stretches out in the field of vision, like a golden ocean, with undulating dunes slightly twisting in the heat.

The sun shone down without any obstruction, baking the entire earth until it was scorching hot, and the air was so dry that it seemed as if a single spark could ignite the whole world.

The skeletal dragon glided through the sky, its bone wings casting long, thin shadows in the sunlight, like a giant white shark swimming in a sea of ​​sand.

Izumi stood by the window in the dragon's belly, gazing at the familiar desolation below.

In the palm of his right hand, a skeletal spider lay quietly, a means of communication between him and Yashamaru and Maki.

Spiders may be small, but they play a vital role in transmitting and receiving information.

For the past few days, it has been emitting faint tremors intermittently.

That was Yashamaru relaying a message. The message was short, but every single one pointed in the same direction: Rasa's patience was almost exhausted.

Izumi looked down at the skeletal spider in his palm, and gently flicked one of its legs with his fingers. The spider's leg retracted slightly, as if in response to his touch.

Sunagakure, Kazekage's office.

All that could be heard inside was a faint, intense argument that finally subsided after a long time.

Bang!

The door was slammed shut, sending sand and dust flying off the walls.

Yashamaru stood at the door, his chest heaving violently, speaking with resentful anger.

"You'll regret this, Rasa."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying an extreme sense of coldness.

The wind blew in from the end of the corridor, ruffling his robes and carrying his words back to his office.

There was a moment of silence inside the door.

Behind the desk, Luo Sha sat in the high-backed chair that belonged to Feng Ying, his fingers resting on the armrests, his fingertips slightly white.

His face was horribly ugly, not the red of rage, but a sullen, ashen color, as if he had been offended.

His eyes narrowed slightly, his pupils reflecting the slammed door and the figure behind it that hadn't yet disappeared.

His lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but then he swallowed it back.

The wind and sand howled outside the window, making the afternoon heat in Sunagakure even more irritating.

Yashamaru's footsteps gradually faded into the distance, leaving only an empty echo in the corridor.

Luo Sha withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, and looked at the open document on the table.

The document, densely covered with writing, is a project proposal for "human column stability testing".

The time, place, participants, and a name he circled himself: Yashamaru.

He was silent for a long time.

A resolute look appeared in his eyes; he had to do this to gain more support.

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