The battle on the desert ended with heavy casualties for both Konoha and the Hidden Mist.
The two newly established ANBU units had once again been devastated. If they pooled their survivors together, they might barely make up a single unit.
Captain Black Ant returned to Konoha to report, while Captain Yellow Dog reorganized the remnants and continued hunting down survivors of the Uzumaki clan in the Land of Waves.
Captain Black Ape, who had lost an arm, now had new subordinates. Among them, he trusted Yako the most. Yako's new squad beca his personal team and stayed close to him.
Over the past ten days, their unit had traveled between various ports across the Land of Waves, searching for traces of the Uzumaki clan.
The full moon hung like a silver plate, its glow falling like white frost.
After days of fruitless searching, the full moon returned once more.
During a break, Captain Black Ape handed a scroll to Yako—docunts listing the new mbers of the unit.
Opening it, Yako scanned the nas, ages, and skills of over a dozen squad mbers.
These records helped the captain quickly get familiar with the team, making it easier to plan tactics.
"Captain, the turnover in ANBU is insane. Since I joined, I've already been under several different squad leaders and unit commanders," Yako comnted.
"The sa goes for the others. After every battle, so are gone. Before the next one, more get added."
Black Ape was balancing a boulder with one hand, working to rebuild muscle and recover his combat ability. He replied,
"I heard Lord Danzo is planning to establish a new division within ANBU called 'Root.'
Root's role is to train ANBU recruits and improve their combat capability, to avoid so many mass casualties.
It's honestly a great idea.
You're not alone. Since I joined ANBU, I've already gone through three different division commanders. Captain Yellow Dog was the longest—I had him for six months. That's impressive."
Ever since Yako had found the maid Black Ape in the capital of the Land of Waves, the captain had ward up to him.
The despair of losing an arm and waiting for death had nearly broken him.
Just then, Yako heard the sound of rushing water.
"Ambush!!"
With a shout, Yako leapt up.
A water dragon burst out from the forest, carving a deep trench into the ground.
It was the Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique—one of the Hidden Mist's signature jutsu.
Black Ape also jumped, hurling the stone in his hand into the trees.
Unknowingly, Yako had beco the strongest squad leader in the unit.
His sword style, developed from combat against Hidden Cloud shinobi, earned his comrades' respect.
Basic kenjutsu, the Cloud Flow Blade Style, combined with his fast reflexes made Yako's taijutsu top-class among chunin.
He drew a kunai tied with an Explosive Tag and threw it toward the woods, then unsheathed his blade and charged in.
He needed to get a water-nature chakra affinity—essential for countering Konoha's Fire Style users.
Weaving around trees, he spotted a Hidden Mist ANBU finishing hand signs.
That powerful Water Dragon Bullet had co from him.
The other Konoha ANBU had also entered the woods. Yako locked onto the Mist squad leader who had used the water-style technique.
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
Seeing the cold flash of Yako's blade, the Mist ninja quickly used a defensive water jutsu.
Black Ape entered the woods just in ti to observe the scene.
The first thing he saw was the "fox" slashing his blade at a water wall.
...Fox's sword skills were no joke. But cutting through ninjutsu with a blade? That was pushing it.
Yako's blade slashed low at the base of the Water Formation Wall. The water pressure deflected it upward.
Visually, it looked like he had sliced the water upward in a clean, diagonal arc.
The Mist ninja flinched.
A kunai slipped through the opening in the stream, piercing the Mist ninja's shoulder.
Such fast combo timing—how was this Konoha ANBU syncing blade and kunai so precisely in real combat?
Was his reaction speed really that sharp?
Luckily, the Mist squad leader had a backup plan.
He'd recently acquired sealing jutsu from the corpses of the Uzumaki clan.
Despite his injured right arm, he tossed a scroll with his left hand. It contained a massive quantity of seawater sealed inside.
With just one hand seal, he released the contents. A flood of seawater erupted and overwheld the Konoha shinobi.
Yako's expression changed.
The Mist ninja had stopped using water-style techniques and switched to sealing scrolls.
When a whale dies, all things grow.
The destruction of the Uzumaki clan had led to an increase in sealing arts across Kirigakure, Konoha, and even Kumogakure.
When the water receded, Yako found himself trapped inside a Water Prison.
Captain Black Ape tried to help, but the Mist unit captain intercepted him.
No one knew how long passed before Yako drowned to death.
Moonlight glead in Yako's pupils, and his dazed eyes slowly regained focus.
He coughed violently. The suffocating sensation from his last monts underwater still lingered.
[Arc of the Waning Moon activated!
Host receives one revival per month, resurrecting under the previous full moon.
You've earned one random draw:
1 – Water-nature Chakra
2 – Chunin-level Chakra Capacity (stackable)
3 – Sealing Technique: Water Seal Formula]
The Water Seal Formula was the sa sealing technique the Mist shinobi had used to store massive amounts of seawater.
For a water-style user, this was a huge boost—it ant no more wasting chakra to conjure water.
The chunin-level chakra capacity was tempting too.
But Yako picked the first option.
If you don't plan ahead, trouble will catch up to you. He had to prepare for inevitable conflicts with Konoha shinobi.
Water counters fire. He needed to master it.
The chakra extracted from one's organs determined chakra nature.
A warmth blood in his lower back. Yako could clearly feel his kidneys refining chakra, separate from the rest.
When this kidney-refined chakra mixed with muscle-refined chakra, it beca water-nature chakra.
His natural earth-nature chakra ca from his spleen.
Kidneys governed water; spleen governed earth.
To develop a new chakra nature, you had to constantly stimulate the organ with chakra—not only risky but also not guaranteed to succeed.
A few days later, Yako stood outside the forest where his squad was resting.
This ti, he was more cautious. As soon as he sensed the Water Dragon Bullet forming, he shouted to alert the team—gaining half a second of advantage.
In that mont, he ford the Clone hand sign.
Using the clone as a decoy, Yako had his real body sneak attack and seriously wounded the Mist water-style user.
In the battle that followed, Yako relied on his swordsmanship to swiftly kill three Mist shinobi.
His strength once again earned the recognition of Captain Black Ape and the rest of the squad.
When it was over, Yako slung the Mist ninja over his shoulder and left the scene.
Black Ape asked, puzzled, "Is there sothing special about that Mist ninja?"
Yako didn't hide it.
"Captain, I recently gained the ability to refine water-nature chakra. It's beco my second chakra affinity.
I want to see if I can extract so water-style jutsu from him tonight."
Black Ape didn't comnt.
Yako had just taken out an entire Mist squad on his own. That kind of power deserved special treatnt.
Torturing a Mist ninja wasn't unusual for ANBU. They might even extract valuable intel.
In fact, many Konoha shinobi learned jutsu this way.
It took four hours of interrogation before the Mist ninja agreed to talk—in exchange for a quick death.
Yako obtained the Water Style: Water Formation Wall jutsu.
Just mastering that one technique would be enough to counter Konoha's Fire Style users.
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