His vision suddenly shifted.
Yako woke up in bed, gasping for breath. Beside him lay the soundly sleeping proprietress, Kyoi.
Kyoi's back was smooth and soft.
It felt so good to be alive.
[Arc of the Full Moon activated!
The host has one chance to resurrect each month. Upon death, you will resurrect on the night of the previous full moon.
Awarding one lottery draw.
1 - A-Rank Sealing Technique: Self-Cursing Binding Seal (Entry Level);
2 - Chunin-Level Chakra Capacity (Stackable);
3 - Ninja Sword Techniques (Entry Level).]Yako caressed Kyoi's slender waist and beautiful back, savoring the feeling of rebirth while pondering his choices.
Entry-level ninja sword techniques. This option was quite practical.
He was about to escort Yuka Uzumaki's squad, and the Cloud Ninja they would encounter were all skilled in swordplay.
If he were also skilled with a sword, he could anticipate their movements and gain the upper hand in close-quarters combat, rather than dying to a ninja sword like last time.
Chakra capacity, especially a stackable chakra capacity, was also very practical.
His current chakra reserves were at the Chunin level. Without any bloodline abilities, his chakra wouldn't grow as rapidly as a genius's.
If he used the original Kakashi's chakra reserves as a unit of measurement, his own capacity was probably only around 0.1 Kakashis.
Ultimately, Yako chose the first reward.
Who could refuse an A-rank sealing technique?
A ninjutsu's rank didn't represent its power, only its difficulty to master.
The Uzumaki clan's Self-Cursing Binding Seal had incredible effects.
Even heavily injured, Yuka Uzumaki had used the Self-Cursing Binding Seal to completely immobilize two Cloud Ninja.
After a brief review, Yako understood the principles behind this sealing technique.
It could be inflicted upon an enemy through direct physical contact or by setting it up in advance beneath their feet.
The cursed seal of the technique locked all of the enemy's joints, rendering them immobile.
The system's reward was the entry-level Self-Cursing Binding Seal. When placed on the ground, its effective range was within a two-meter radius.
It was a powerful crowd-control ability and an incredibly well-hidden trap.
Not bad at all. He finally had a second ninjutsu.
Yako walked to the window, glanced back at Kyoi's back and legs one last time, and leaped out, vanishing into the breaking dawn of the Hidden Leaf.
While changing into their gear in the squad's locker room, Captain Antelope felt a bit puzzled.
For some reason, Fox had taken an extra look at him today.
Resentment burned in Yako's heart. When he died in his previous life, Captain Antelope hadn't shown the slightest intention of saving his team member and had simply turned and walked away.
If he couldn't resurrect, he would have died as worthlessly as weeds in a wheat field.
In this life, Yako resolved to save the three Uzumaki ninjas. Only by preserving their combat strength would they have a chance to handle the two Cloud Ninja squads.
The plot was all too familiar. His squad found Yuka Uzumaki's team in the Land of Waves.
This time, Yako brought better medical supplies in advance and bandaged Yuka Uzumaki much more carefully.
Yuka Uzumaki was deeply moved.
Uzushiogakure was truly fortunate to have allies like the Senju and Konoha.
The Anbu before her wore a mask, but she could still feel his care and concern.
To ensure the dressing held, the bandages were wrapped high up onto Yuka's inner thigh.
She had to spread her legs slightly wider, making her feel a bit shy.
Seeing her long, straight legs, Yako had a few stray thoughts, but not many.
These three Uzumaki ninjas needed to step up. They couldn't just die so easily, or he wouldn't survive either.
After carefully bandaging the wound on her leg, he moved on to treat the injuries on her hands.
Peering through the eyeholes of his mask, Yuka saw a handsome pair of eyes and whispered, "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I heard your captain call you Fox. What's your real name?"
"That's classified."
Yuka felt a bit disappointed. This Anbu was so attentive, yet he wouldn't even tell her his real name.
Once she got to Konohagakure, she wouldn't even know where to look for him.
After entering the Land of Whirlpools, Yako was more tense than anyone else.
Especially as they walked along the narrow ridge paths weaving through the wheat fields.
Recalling the scenes from his previous life, Yako identified his reference points and pinpointed the location of the explosive tag traps.
The Cloud Ninja were highly skilled, hiding the traps flawlessly. Who knew how many days in advance they had planted them here?
Drawing three shuriken from his ninja tool pouch, he hurled them far into the depths of the wheat stalks along the road.
The others looked at Yako in confusion, having no idea what he was doing.
A moment later, the explosive tags detonated!
It turned out Yako had discovered a hidden explosive tag trap.
Captain Antelope couldn't help but give Fox another look. Fox's observational skills were quite impressive to spot explosive tags that even he had missed.
"Ambush!"
Eight Cloud Ninja stood up from the wheat field. In an instant, kunai and shuriken filled the air.
Following Yuka Uzumaki, Yako charged into the wheat field.
A Cloud Ninja raised his sword and viciously slashed down at Yuka.
Yuka quickly formed three hand seals, then raised her kunai to block.
With a sharp clang, the Cloud Ninja suddenly froze.
The struggle between the ninja sword and the kunai abruptly halted. Cursed seals spread across the Cloud Ninja's body—it was the Self-Cursing Binding Seal!
Yako watched from the sidelines, mesmerized.
So that was it. This sealing technique was incredibly practical in actual combat.
Immobilized, the Cloud Ninja was fatally stabbed by Yuka's kunai.
Another Cloud Ninja lunged straight for Yako.
While parrying the ninja sword, Yako baited the Cloud Ninja closer to Yuka.
With Yuka lending a hand, Yako smoothly drove his weapon into the Cloud Ninja before him, killing him.
His decision had been brilliantly sound. Saving Yuka Uzumaki truly did increase his chances of survival.
A Cloud Ninja squad captain locked his sights on Yuka Uzumaki.
Seeing the predatory excitement in the Cloud captain's eyes, Yako feigned moving to help Purple Cat and quickly backed away.
A battle between captains was not something he wanted to be caught in.
Killing one Cloud Ninja meant he had met his KPI; the rest of his time would be spent slacking off.
If he could slack off, he would; if he couldn't, he would just keep trying to.
Yako leaped around Purple Cat frantically, looking incredibly busy. In reality, he was just intimidating Purple Cat's opponent without doing anything genuinely useful.
Even so, the pressure on Purple Cat was greatly reduced, and she steadily gained the upper hand in her taijutsu clash with the Cloud Ninja.
Seeing Purple Cat wound the Cloud Ninja, Yako hurriedly stepped up. Flanking the enemy from both sides, they plunged their blades into the Cloud Ninja's ribs, killing him.
The two exchanged a glance, finally feeling a bit like real teammates.
Just then, a woman's tragic scream rang out from behind them.
Yuka Uzumaki was sent flying by a kick from the Cloud captain, bearing two fresh sword gashes on her body.
'This is bad,' Yako cursed inwardly. 'This woman is hopeless! I helped you so much, and you still can't carry me? Wasn't all my help for nothing?'
The Cloud squad captain wasn't entirely unscathed either. His abdomen had been pierced by a kunai and was bleeding profusely. Seizing the momentum, he continued his charge, intending to hack the fallen Yuka to death.
Yuka formed hand seals, unleashing the Self-Cursing Binding Seal with all her remaining strength.
The Cloud captain's sword had already fallen, halting a mere thirty centimeters from Yuka's wrist, bound firmly by the cursed seal. He couldn't move an inch.
Trembling, he squeezed out his final ounce of strength, desperately trying to chop off the kunoichi's wrist and eliminate her ability to fight back.
Seeing the deep sword wounds on Yuka's body, Purple Cat judged that she was no longer worth protecting.
She rushed over, aiming her kunai straight for Yuka's throat with lethal intent.
'Oh no,' Yako thought frantically. Yuka was still useful. If she died, wouldn't he be doomed to die too?
Even with Purple Cat's help, there was no way he could defeat the Cloud captain!