No one had come looking for Captain Brown Bear for the past two days, not even the Uzushio ninja. No one showed up by the shore.
During a dull moment, Yako took the chance to ask a few things that had been bugging him. As long as it wasn't related to Konoha secrets, Captain Brown Bear was willing to explain.
"Captain, isn't the Uzumaki clan supposed to be good at sealing techniques? Why don't they just seal their supplies into scrolls and carry them like that?"
Brown Bear thought for a bit, recalling how awful the Ninja Academy's teaching was. Knowing Fox didn't know a damn thing, he explained patiently:
"You're talking about item-sealing fūinjutsu—the kind of sealing technique that stores objects.
To use that, you need to inject chakra into the items being sealed.
Once the chakra inside the sealed object naturally dissipates, the seal breaks and the item gets damaged.
Which means, sealing supplies requires a lot of personnel just to prepare and maintain the scrolls.
Unless it's absolutely necessary, no ninja is going to keep a sealing technique like that running for long.
The Uzushio ninja we ran into—any one of them could be killed at any time. They don't have the energy to maintain sealed scrolls, so they just pile their supplies in a warehouse."
Yako nodded repeatedly. So that was it.
Item-sealing techniques needed constant chakra input and a sealing ninja to regularly maintain them.
That also explained the Kannabi Bridge battle in the original timeline.
Minato's squad blew up the Kannabi Bridge, cutting off Iwagakure's supply lines to the front. The Rock ninja had no choice but to retreat.
If sealing items into scrolls came without a cost, why even bother with supply lines? Just stick everything into a scroll and call it a day.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten days passed. A new month had begun.
Yako eyed Captain Brown Bear's back, itching for a shot.
Maybe this month, he'd die at the hands of Captain Brown Bear. At least the guy was an elite Chūnin—he might drop something good.
Other squads reported in to Captain Brown Bear from time to time.
They'd all suffered heavy losses.
At this point, in their four-squad unit: Fox had taken over Captain Antelope's position. The Blue Wolf Squad was completely wiped out—basically one squad down. Of the remaining two, one had two members, and the other had three.
The three-man squad's captain flatly refused to give Yako a teammate.
One less person meant one less fighter.
Ungrateful bastards—Yako had even gotten them soldier pills, and they couldn't even say thanks.
"Fox! Got a mission for you."
After listening to two squad reports in a row, Captain Brown Bear gave Yako his orders:
"Capture a prisoner. A Cloud-nin squad leader. I want to interrogate him for intel.
There are Mist-nin nearby, which is normal. Kirigakure's always eyeing the mission quotas in the Land of Waves.
But there are too many Cloud-nin around. We don't know what they're planning."
"Capture a prisoner? A Cloud-nin squad leader?" Yako swallowed hard. "Okay. Got it."
Good news: he'd done well on his last mission, and the captain trusted him.
Bad news: he'd done too well on his last mission, and the captain trusted him too much.
Leaving the beach, Yako tasted bitterness in his mouth.
Capturing someone alive was way harder than killing them.
Especially when it came to ninja—those lunatics fought like maniacs. No way they'd just let themselves be captured.
He touched the short blade strapped to his back. Cloud-nin were all strong in kenjutsu. He had no swordsmanship skills himself—he was basically using the blade like a long kunai.
After gathering intel on the Cloud-nin from the other squad leaders, Yako set off alone.
He reached a town road frequently traveled by Cloud-nin and laid a trap—an explosive tag ambush—then hid himself.
Just like Konoha shinobi, Cloud-nin were far from home. Once their soldier pills ran out, they had to get food from towns or fishing villages.
Waiting outside town meant a good shot at catching enemies.
He lay motionless in the bushes, patiently.
Soldier pills were compact. They didn't fill you up, and they didn't make you poop much. If you could just push through the gnawing emptiness in your gut, you could go a day or two without moving.
Until, finally, just before dawn—Venus barely risen on the horizon—
Three figures raced toward the town.
Then, in an instant, explosions erupted beneath their feet.
Boom!
The three shadows were blasted in different directions.
Yako leapt out, hurling kunai toward all three.
Two kunai hit—either the targets were injured or dead from the explosion.
The third dodged the kunai and charged straight at Yako.
Yako saw the forehead protector—Cloud-nin.
Lucky break. He'd run into a Cloud-nin squad. Judging from the guy's strength, he was probably the squad leader.
Yako flipped his kunai into a reverse grip and closed the distance, waiting for the right moment to use Self-Binding Curse Mark.
The Cloud-nin leader's kenjutsu was excellent. A single sidestep caused Yako to lose track of him.
As he stepped aside, he followed through with a horizontal slash from his ninja blade—nearly cleaving open Yako's side.
Back and forth they clashed—kunai against ninja blade.
Yako was having a rough time. The Cloud-nin's footwork paired with his sword made it impossible to get a good grip on the fight.
At one point, the squad leader suddenly ducked low, dodging Yako's kunai.
By the time Yako reacted, it was too late.
The ninja blade plunged into his abdomen.
At first, he felt nothing at the wound. Then came heat. Then came searing pain.
The Cloud-nin leader was just about to pull his blade free—when he saw an explosive tag.
Boom!
A loud blast. Both he and Yako were blown to bits on the spot.
The Cloud-nin's final thought: This guy's insane. Straight-up nuts. He used an explosive tag to go out with me?
Wait—could this be someone from the village who tracked me down? Just 'cause I cucked him?!
The world went black. His vision changed.
Yako reappeared at the moment of the last full moon—before he'd met Captain Brown Bear.
[Arc of the Waning Moon Activated!]
Host receives one resurrection per month. Upon death, they return to the night of the previous full moon.
Reward: 1 spin of the prize wheel:
-Lightning Chakra Nature
-Muscle Regeneration Technique
-Swordsmanship (Beginner)
Lightning chakra? Didn't really need it.
Muscle regeneration, huh—didn't expect that Cloud-nin squad leader to know a medical jutsu.
Still, medical jutsu wasn't his thing. Better to kill enemies fast than waste time healing.
Yako focused on the third option: swordsmanship.
To dodge enemy blades, you needed to be better at using them.
He didn't understand the angles, speed, or force of ninja swords—that's why he kept getting outclassed in close combat.
Without hesitation, Yako chose the third option: Swordsmanship (Beginner).
Beginner-level swordsmanship included two main parts:
First, basic techniques—slash, chop, thrust, lift, sweep, block, flick, hook, slice, parry.
Second, foundational footwork—used to match sword techniques with proper positioning and striking force.
It wasn't just knowledge—he suddenly gained muscle memory, letting him naturally perform these moves.
He drew his ninja blade and drilled the techniques over and over, until every strike flowed cleanly and smoothly.
With swordsmanship under his belt, he wouldn't be on the backfoot against Cloud-nin anymore.
No wonder that Cloud-nin leader's swordsmanship had been so good. Proper sword techniques were fast, and their angles were wicked sharp.
As for where he got his swordsmanship from?
Well, he had fought a Cloud-nin… just picked it up along the way.
Having a talent for insight—surely that wasn't too far-fetched.