I just returned to Konoha and found that my entire clan was gone.

"Are we just going to give up on this mission like this?" Hidan asked, somewhat unwilling.

"Dealing with Uchiha Yelan would come at too high a price, so the leader told us to keep a low profile for now." He still had some respect for Pain, having personally experienced the leader's strength, which felt just like when he faced the First Hokage.

Although Hidan didn't directly respond, he understood Kakuzu's decision and refused to admit defeat.

"Brother Yelan, who exactly is the other party?" An unkillable monster, a ninja who can easily use compound ninjutsu, they don't seem like simple characters at all. I didn't expect to encounter them. Ino just used Mind Transfer to enter Kakuzu's body, but found that she couldn't control it at all. All she could see was darkness.

"I've never heard of such people in the ninja world. Judging from the headbands they're wearing, they're from Yugakure and Takigakure, but they have the mark of rogue ninjas on them." Ye Lan couldn't help but think of Akatsuki, but since the two weren't wearing uniforms, he wasn't sure if they were members of Akatsuki. If they were, Ye Lan didn't know what kind of strength this organization possessed, and he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive.

Chapter 46 Life and Death

"Hey, wake up!" Shikamaru patted the still-sleeping Sakata Masuke, who immediately sat up and said anxiously, "Miss Moko!"

He then observed his surroundings and noticed that Shikamaru and the other children were calmly watching him. At this moment, Moko's personal maid, Xiaona, came over and whispered, "Young Master Masuke, the other party has been driven away by Jonin Yelan, so you can rest assured."

After hearing Xiaona's words, Ma Jie's initially surprised and uncertain expression gradually eased. He hadn't expected that such a powerful ninja would target Mozi. If something really happened to Mozi, he really didn't know how to face Master Ito.

The carriage resumed its journey. The previous encounter had cast a shadow over everyone's hearts, and no one spoke until the group rested for the night. Ye Lan then asked Ma Jie, "Mr. Ma Jie, I know this is an A-rank protection mission, but you saw what happened today. I didn't expect to encounter ninjas of this caliber. They seem to be rogue ninjas from a ninja village. Do you have any leads?"

Ye Lan tried to phrase it tactfully, knowing that Ma Jie must know the reason. Since the employer hadn't clearly explained the mission details, and the mission was seriously inconsistent with the description, Konoha had the right to refuse the mission. After listening to Ye Lan's words, Ma Jie pondered for a moment, seemingly making a decision, and was about to say something when that bell-like voice rang out.

“Ye Lan-kun, let me speak. After all, I was one of the people involved at the time.” Kanagawa Moko got off the carriage at some point and walked directly in front of Ye Lan.

A fragrant scent wafted into their nostrils, lifting everyone's spirits considerably. Ye Lan silently distanced himself from the other person and gestured for Mo Zi to speak.

Mozi's beautiful face showed a rare hint of sorrow. "It's my fault, really. Last year, Ma Jiejun and I went back to my maternal grandmother's house together, but something unexpected happened that time."

"What happened?" Seeing Moko looking somewhat worried, Ino felt a pang of sympathy and couldn't help but ask.

Last year, I heard that there was a landlord near my maternal grandmother's house who forced my distant cousin's childhood sweetheart to marry him. My grandmother was furious and went to confront them, but they kicked her out...

"Wait a minute, Miss Mozi, with your background, your grandmother must have been from a noble family. How dare they do such a thing?" Ye Lan was not affected by Mozi's tearful appearance and directly raised his question.

“Although my maternal grandmother’s family was somewhat wealthy, they couldn’t be considered a noble family. The landlord’s son was a ninja from Yugakure. He brought a few ninja friends to bully us. We were completely helpless against them. Back then, Brother Ma Jie even stepped in to protect me and was injured by them. He had to stay in bed for a long time to recover.” Mo Zi spoke with tears streaming down her face, her eyes red. Even someone with a heart of stone would be moved by her. Ma Jie kept his head down, so his expression couldn’t be seen. He must have felt guilty for not protecting Mo Zi back then.

At this point, Ye Lan couldn't say anything more and could only listen to Mo Zi continue her story.

"It must be the goddess of the rabbit, because later I heard that a flash flood destroyed the landlord's house, and the whole family died in the flood. Even the girl they had kidnapped was drowned in the collapsed house. Only the landlord's son, who was away on a mission, survived. He blamed our family for their deaths, but we really did nothing wrong! We suffered this undeserved disaster."

At this point, Mozi covered her face and wept as if she had suffered a great injustice.

Ye Lan stroked his chin, pondering for a moment, and asked, "What's that ninja from Tangyin called?"

Seeing Ye Lan's lack of romantic understanding, Jingye gave him a disapproving look and went directly to Mozi's side to persuade her.

After a while of persuasion, Mozi finally raised her beautiful face. Seeing that her makeup was smudged from crying, she slowly said, "That ninja is called An."

Ye Lan silently memorized the name, then rose to take his leave.

Seeing that Ye Lan had already left, Shikamaru thought for a moment and then chased after her, far away from the resting place, until he found Ye Lan at a slightly raised earthen mound.

"Senior Ye Lan." Ye Lan did not deliberately conceal his whereabouts, otherwise Shikamaru would not have found him so easily.

"I feel that woman..." Shikamaru walked up to Ye Lan, hesitated for a moment before speaking, but was interrupted by Ye Lan.

"Shikamaru, you don't need to say anything more." Ye Lan didn't look at him, but looked into the dark night in the distance. "The truth has nothing to do with our mission. Don't forget that our mission is to protect Miss Mozi."

After hearing Ye Lan's words, Shikamaru remained silent. He understood that Ye Lan had noticed something was wrong with Mo Zi, and the situation at the time was definitely not as that woman had described. But so what? The other party had issued a mission to Konoha, and Konoha had to carry it out.

...

"Finally back! It's so much more comfortable here!" Hidan kicked open the door of the bounty office and stretched his arm, which had just been stitched up.

"Shut up, Hidan! I should have left you in the first place." Kakuzu really couldn't stand this noisy companion anymore. If it weren't for the fact that finding another teammate was too much trouble, he would have had enough of Hidan long ago.

"Calm down, Kakuzu! Let's see if there are any other valuable missions worth doing!" Hidan understood that this time it was all thanks to Kakuzu, and he unusually softened his stance.

Kakuzu ignored Hidan. He was also a little annoyed that the mission had not been completed successfully. He pushed through the noisy crowd and went straight to the front desk of the bounty office. When the bounty hunters saw Kakuzu, they quickly made way for him. Kakuzu's reputation in the bounty office was not ordinary.

"Oh my, Lord Kakuzu is back!" The receptionist's face immediately lit up with a professional smile when he saw Kakuzu's arrival. "It seems you've completed the mission again. I'll take you to collect your bounty now."

Seeing that Kakuzu remained unmoved, the receptionist wiped her sweat awkwardly. This task wasn't particularly difficult, so could it be that Kakuzu hadn't completed it?

"Let me see if there are any other missions with higher bounties!" Kakuzu said, feeling somewhat humiliated.

"But...but Lord Kakuzu...that..." The receptionist remembered the customer's previous instructions and didn't know how to explain it to Kakuzu.

"Hmm?" Kakuzu wasn't in a good mood. His job, which was supposed to earn him some extra money, had fallen through, and he looked at the front desk with some dissatisfaction.

"Lord Kakuzu, please come with me!" The receptionist was desperate, gritting her teeth and saying this for the sake of the bounty agency's reputation.

Upon hearing the receptionist's words, Kakuzu felt a little puzzled. He followed the receptionist to a morgue he was familiar with, and Hidan looked around curiously.

The receptionist pulled out an ice coffin, inside which lay a man that Kakuzu found somewhat familiar—it was An, the one who had issued the mission.

Kakuzu recognized An's appearance and said with an unfriendly expression, "When did the bounty agency start doing this kind of thing, not even sparing the life of the person who posted the bounty?"

"Lord Kakuzu, you have misunderstood us!" The receptionist said with a bitter expression. "Mr. An committed suicide."

"Suicide?" Hidan, intrigued, stepped forward and laughed. "I've tried to commit suicide before, but I've never succeeded."

“Mr. Hidan, please don’t joke around. Didn’t Mr. An tell Lord Kakuzu that as long as you complete the mission, his life would belong to you?” The receptionist sighed. “A while ago, Yugakure issued a notice about rogue ninjas, which offered a bounty on Mr. An. The bounty wasn’t much, only 200 million ryo. After Mr. An found out, he committed suicide and instructed our bounty office that his bounty would go to Lord Kakuzu who completed the mission.”

Seeing that Kakuzu didn't seem angry, the receptionist became bolder and took out a box from next to the freezer, saying, "These are Mr. An's belongings. He said that this is all he has left and asked me to give them to Lord Kakuzu."

Kakuzu's green eyes turned to the box, the most striking thing on it being the headband of Yugakure, with the same scratches on it as his own, indicating that he had admitted to being a rogue ninja, along with some miscellaneous ninja tools.

Kakuzu picked up a piece of paper that was placed next to his headband. It seemed to be a description of what had happened to him by An. Kakuzu glanced at it, threw it aside, and turned to leave.

"This kid's a ninja from Yugakure too! Just like me!" Hidan exclaimed upon seeing the headband, but then turned around and saw Kakuzu about to leave, so he shouted, "Kakuzu, where are you going! We haven't even accepted a mission yet!"

Kakuzu turned around, his green pupils devoid of any emotion, and said, word by word, "The previous mission is not yet complete."

Hidan, of course, knew what mission Kakuzu was referring to and exclaimed excitedly, "Great! I want to teach that Uchiha brat a lesson; I really hate him!"

"We don't need to fight Uchiha Yelan after completing the mission!" Kakuzu said in a deep voice.

"Not fighting?"

"No, Uchiha Yelan can't keep following that woman..."

Chapter 47 Mozi

Neither Ye Lan nor Shikamaru discussed the matter further. Ino and Choji didn't notice anything unusual; in fact, Ino's relationship with Moko gradually warmed up, and they would chat and laugh together every day. They encountered no more formidable enemies along the way, only a few hungry, shabby thieves, who were easily dealt with by Masuke in a few moves without Ye Lan even needing to lift a finger.

As if to prove that he wasn't just sitting around doing nothing, he always hit those petty thieves very hard when teaching them a lesson. If Mozi hadn't said a few words, he would have gone even further.

After walking and stopping, the group finally arrived at their destination. It wasn't a big city, but a relatively prosperous town. When they arrived, Ye Lan and the others noticed that the people here looked much better than the refugees they had seen along the way. They didn't see many fat people, but at least they seemed to be able to eat their fill.

"Mozi is back!" When Ye Lan and the others arrived at a large courtyard, they saw a plump middle-aged woman come to greet them. Judging from her unsteady gait, she must weigh at least 250 pounds. According to Mozi, this was her aunt.

At first, the aunt didn't pay attention to Ye Lan and his group. But after observing Ye Lan's appearance, she enthusiastically grabbed his hand and said, "This must be the bodyguard that Brother Ito hired for Mozi. I didn't expect that you, young man, are so young yet able to take on such an important task."

Ye Lan subtly withdrew her hand, offering only a polite greeting. Mo Zi, noticing Ye Lan's discomfort, interjected, "Where's Grandma? I haven't seen her in ages."

"Oh, look at my memory! Your grandma is waiting for you, come inside with me quickly." With that, he hurriedly pulled Mozi into the house.

Ye Lan and the others didn't join in the fun. Instead, they went to their lodgings as arranged by the servants. It was a small courtyard next to the main house, which was quite secluded.

Ye Lan thought that there would be nothing for them to do until the return trip, but Xiao Na came over in the evening and invited them to dinner.

Choji was quite pleased to hear this. He had observed the family's living quarters before. While not as luxurious as Ito's previous residence, it was still quite luxurious, so the food must be pretty good too.

Shikamaru glanced at Ye Lan's eyes, and after receiving her consent, he stepped forward to refuse, saying that everyone was tired from the journey and should rest. Seeing that she couldn't persuade them, Xiao Na didn't try to persuade them any further and returned to report.

The people in the lobby were chatting and laughing. Most of them were Mozi's maternal grandmother asking questions, and Mozi would answer from time to time. No matter how Mozi answered, her aunt would always say a few words of praise. They got along quite well. At this time, Xiao Na, who had returned, whispered a few words to Mozi.

Seeing that Mozi's smile had faded considerably, her grandmother asked, "It's just a few ninjas, is it really necessary for Mozi to be so concerned?"

“Grandma, they are ninjas from Konoha, and one of them is a Jonin. Your granddaughter’s safety is their responsibility,” Mozi said.

"From Konoha? Hmph, just a gatekeeper for the daimyo..."

"Grandma!" Before she could finish the last word, Mozi hurriedly said. Such words were absolutely forbidden. Although the Grand Master was the ruler of the country, he had no right to interfere in matters of force.

"Oh dear, why think about such troublesome things on such a joyous occasion? Come, come, have some food." Seeing that her mother's expression was not good, the aunt quickly stepped forward and said a few words of nonsense.

"Grandma, I was being rude. Please calm down." Mozi said a few words to soften her tone, and her grandmother's expression improved. However, she still muttered some uncouth words about the scoundrels and roughnecks, saying that she didn't need to lower herself to their level.

The meal ended amidst laughter and chatter. The next day, Mozi went to the town market with her aunt. Ye Lan, thinking there was nothing else to do, didn't go along. Unexpectedly, not long after they left, a servant came running into their yard, panting.

"Lord Yelan, something terrible has happened! Miss Mozi has been stopped by several Tangyin ninjas! You must go and see!"

It's Tangyin again. Could it be the An that Mozi mentioned before? Ye Lan called Shikamaru and the others and rushed over. Protecting Mozi's safety was their mission, and no matter what they thought, they had to protect their target.

"Kanagawa Moko!" Ye Lan heard someone shouting as soon as he arrived at the market. Walking forward, he saw a group of teenagers, around seventeen or eighteen years old, surrounding Moko. They were all wearing Tang Yin's headbands. One of them, a boy with a scar on his face, pointed at Moko, clearly the leader of their group. Moko, however, was smiling at him the whole time, showing no sign of panic.

"Don't think that no one knows what you've done! You're the one who killed An and his family! An is now a rogue ninja of Tang Village!" The boy with the scar on his face was agitated, and his companion's eyes were also gloomy, as if he could make a move at any moment.

"Jonin Xiu, please don't get agitated. The elders of Yugakure have already made their judgment. This matter has nothing to do with our family. If you want to slander me, please provide evidence." Moko said calmly and slowly. "As for Mr. An becoming a rogue ninja, I can only apologize. However, we have already reported to Yugakure that he burned down our house and killed our servants. You ninjas cannot attack ordinary people. I think Kumogakure made the right decision."

"You woman!" A female ninja beside Xiu gritted her teeth and stepped forward, looking like she was about to attack. Xiu, who seemed agitated, stopped his companion instead. "It was indeed An's fault for attacking ordinary people. I only blame him for being so impulsive and letting the real mastermind get away with it."

Only then did Mozi's expression change slightly, and she shouted, "How long are you going to keep watching, Ye Lan Shangren!"

After Ye Lan arrived, he held down Shikamaru and the others, who hadn't shown themselves until Mo Zi had already discovered them. Only then did he slowly walk out to Mo Zi's side and say, "Sorry I'm late."

"Hmph—" Mozi rarely threw a tantrum, turning her head away from Ye Lan. Xiu and the others were somewhat surprised to see Ye Lan, not expecting that Mozi's bodyguard was a boy even younger than them.

"Everyone from Tangyin, Miss Mozi is my target for protection this time. Please leave." Ye Lan had no ill intentions towards Xiu and the others; she simply stepped forward to block Xiu's view.

"Kid, you dare to take on any mission! Aren't you afraid of dying before you can enjoy them?" Xiu's other companion, a burly man, shouted. He didn't believe that the other party could become a Jonin at such a young age, and guessed that it was just Mozi bluffing him.

"You bastard!" Ino, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. She had wanted to help Moko earlier but was held back by Shikamaru. Now, after hearing someone insult Ye Lan, she finally couldn't hold back anymore.

"Ino is alright." Ye Lan stepped forward, the black in his pupils turning into three tomoe. Although the market was bustling with activity, Xiu and the others felt a chill assail them. At this moment, Ye Lan continued, "Let's get to know each other again, I am Uchiha Ye Lan."

Xiu and his companions immediately felt a sense of unease upon seeing the Sharingan. The boy's name was already known throughout Sunagakure, so of course he had heard of him. He never expected that Moko's bodyguard was him. None of his companions spoke, and they all took two steps back.

It was only then that Xiu noticed that the headbands the group was wearing were the symbol of Konoha. There was no way around it; except for Choji, who was standing at the very back, the headbands were not very conspicuous. Yoran simply hung them around his waist, Ino used them as a belt, and Shikamaru simply tied them to his arm.

"I didn't expect it to be people from Konoha." Xiu greeted them awkwardly, unsure of Ye Lan's personality.

"It's nothing, everyone can leave now." Seeing that the other party had lost their hostility, Ye Lan's pupils turned black again.

Xiu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Only after facing Ye Lan directly did he realize that he was no match for this boy. Seeing that Ye Lan didn't take it too seriously, Xiu dispersed his companions. As he left, he passed Ye Lan and said, "Be careful of that woman."

Chapter 48 Flames

Ye Lan was well aware that Mo Zi had a problem, but no matter what, Mo Zi had not violated any of the rules for issuing missions. As a ninja, he could not ask too many questions. Mo Zi probably sensed Ye Lan's situation and spoke up after leaving the market.

“Those few ninja from Tangyin were friends of that An from before. Now that An has become a rogue ninja and is not accepting their elder’s judgment, that’s why he came to me…” Before Mozi could finish speaking, Ye Lan raised his hand to interrupt her.