Yako's vision shifted—he was back on the night of the previous full moon.
At that moment, he was hidden high in the crown of a great tree, watching over the Senju clan compound.
'Damn it, the ANBU are too dangerous. I didn't even get to see the Nine-Tails' sealing transfer before I got killed during intel gathering.'
Every month he acted with extreme caution, yet not once had he made it safely to the next full moon. Since arriving in this world, he hadn't even used his first lottery draw.
[Arc of the Waning Moon activated!
Host has only one revival chance per month. Upon death, you will revive on the night of the previous full moon.
Reward: one lottery draw—
1 – B-Rank Earth Release: Earth Longspear (Beginner)2 – Physique: Giant Rock Body (Strength Enhancement)3 – A-Rank Earth Release: Earth Substitution (Beginner)]
His first chakra nature was Earth, and now three rewards perfectly matched it—making the choice difficult.
B-Rank Earth Release: Earth Longspear created hardened stone spikes to impale enemies.
Right now, Yako only had one Earth Release jutsu—Hidden Fish in Earth Technique—purely for escape. Earth Longspear was exactly the mid-range offensive technique he lacked, something that would broaden his combat repertoire.
The second option, Physique: Giant Rock Body (Strength Enhancement), also looked tempting.
Many Iwa-nin were towering, heavily muscled, and frighteningly strong—clear proof of constant physical training.
If he took this reward, his own body would gain a noticeable boost in raw power.
The third option, A-Rank Earth Release: Earth Substitution.
He thought back carefully to the battle before his death in the previous life.
When he had leapt toward the Iwa-nin jōnin, that man had still been maintaining a dense forest of Earth Longspears—absolutely his real body, not a substitution.
When his blade struck the Kumo-nin jōnin, the latter raised an arm to block with the iron bracer strapped to it.
But in complete silence, that Kumo-nin jōnin had switched places using Earth Substitution—it had an eerie, almost supernatural feel.
After only a moment's hesitation, Yako chose the third option.
To live was to have output. Defense was the best offense—improving his survival was more critical than anything.
So far, he had always died before the full moon.
He wanted, just once, to survive a whole month and die on the fourteenth—on his own terms.
If he could make it through safely, he could deliberately provoke a target on the fourteenth and claim a lottery draw.
The Senju clan head, the Uchiha clan head, the Third Hokage—which of them wouldn't yield a powerful ability?
Unfortunately, every time, he died on a mission.
Yako had grown ever more cautious. Each time he revived, he hid even more carefully, waiting for the full moon.
A-Rank Earth Release: Earth Substitution—the pinnacle of substitution techniques.
Once he made the choice, his eyelids drooped.
Knowledge of Earth Substitution flooded into his mind.
'...Jackpot! This is huge!'
Earth Substitution—channel chakra into the ground beneath your feet, and in danger, swap places with that section of earth to evade damage or dodge attacks.
Among all substitution techniques, Earth Substitution was truly top-tier.
D-Rank Substitution required transforming a log into your likeness with Transformation Technique while you hid in cover.
The key to D-Rank was exploiting the instant your enemy lost sight of you.
But Earth Substitution needed no such setup—like flipping a page, you could swap places with the soil underfoot at any moment.
Only half a single Boar seal with one hand, and it was done.
Stealthy, fast, hard to predict, and low in chakra cost.
Paired with Hidden Fish in Earth Technique, it would let Yako execute a perfect bait–ambush–flank combo.
Just as before, in the days that followed, the Fox Squad used a Senju kunoichi to leak the date of Princess Mito's funeral.
Purple Cat had long since fallen for Yako. Time and again, he enjoyed the shy blush on her face.
Men were always fickle—these days, he lingered over Purple Cat's freshness and rarely visited Kyoi at the Tsurugetsu Tavern.
The Fox Squad was once again dispatched to hunt down a Yamanaka defector. This time Yako didn't waste pricey explosive tags—he used Earth Release to infiltrate and killed four naked Yamanaka-nin in their sleep.
This time, he'd planned ahead—Ironstag didn't die.
Being able to live again each month had its perks; his squadmates' survival rate had gone up.
On the night of the fourth, Princess Mito and Princess Kushina left in a carriage under cover of darkness.
Captain Black Ape's unit was sent to gather intel.
But this time, Yako already knew much of what was coming.
A stone dragon charged at Captain Black Ape's squad.
The Fox Squad and White Ram's squad were cut off on one side, Captain Black Ape and Leaf Monkey's squad on the other.
White Ram spent three rotations of Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Rotation, plus a teammate's life, to finally give the Fox Squad a chance to strike.
Yako still used Cloud-Style Kenjutsu, slicing at the Iwa-nin jōnin's throat.
The jōnin turned to mud—Earth Substitution.
Everything went exactly as before, down to the detail.
Yako twisted at the waist, dodging the jōnin's kunai with his unusually fast reflexes.
The jōnin was surprised—this Konoha ANBU was strong.
But a single Earth Longspear shot out from behind, piercing Yako's lower back.
Two ANBU charged the jōnin without fear for their lives.
Hearing the sound behind him, the jōnin spun to respond—
And in that instant, the dead Fox melted into mud.
The real Yako emerged from the ground behind the jōnin and drove a blade into his lower back.
The jōnin was mid-seal, eyes wide with shock.
'What…?'
When he turned, he saw the mud clinging to the Earth Longspear—and the fox-masked ANBU.
'This ANBU knows Earth Substitution—an A-Rank jutsu?!
Since when has Konoha's Earth Release been this strong?'
Even in Iwagakure, Earth Substitution was rare and extremely hard to acquire.
Yako had scored a clean hit. He was just about to press the attack when the jōnin finished his seals.
A forest of Earth Longspears erupted!
If Yako hesitated for even a second, he'd be skewered.
Without pause, he formed half a Boar seal, swapping his body with the soil beneath him again.
Burrowing away, he escaped underground.
He had done his job—gravely injuring the jōnin.
When he surfaced again, only White Ram and Purple Cat were left standing, leaning on each other.
Five Earth Longspears shot toward them from different angles.
Terror filled their eyes behind the masks.
The Byakugan already looked unnerving, like a ghostly cataract—but now, wide with fear, they were even more chilling.
Purple Cat's heart sank. She was still going to die.
When Danzo's people had come to her clan demanding someone serve in the ANBU, every elder and clan head knew the division's casualty rate was staggering.
They didn't know what missions ANBU actually undertook—only that chunin went in and squads came back dead.
Yamanaka Riko, the eldest of her generation, had volunteered for the ANBU to spare the younger ones.
Her mother had wept red-eyed.
Her father had died for the village, leaving her mother to raise her and her younger sister.
For her sister's sake, Riko had stepped forward.
And now, not even six months in, she was about to die on a mission.
The Iwa-nin jōnin was too strong—jutsu after jutsu, chakra unending.
Even with a sword through his gut, he could still kill them.
At the very moment Purple Cat was about to give up—
The Fox Squad's captain appeared!
His back made her want to cry.
'Does this mean… I won't die?'
Yako thought quickly—White Ram's Byakugan was crucial. With it, the unit could spot enemies in advance and boost their survival odds enormously. He couldn't let them die.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
A wall of water encircled Purple Cat and White Ram's, snapping the Earth Longspears in half.
Yako's brows lifted slightly—their strength had weakened. That meant the jōnin was far less dangerous after the stab.