The Land of Wind was the largest of the Five Great Nations.
South of the Yoshigane Mountains and north of the sea stretched a desert without end.
After breaking free of the seal, Shukaku savored that precious freedom and didn't waste time tangling with the Sand ninja. Instead, he fled deep into the desert.
In truth, Shukaku had existed before the Land of Wind did.
Sunagakure itself had only come into being in the last few decades.
For over a thousand years, Shukaku had lived in the desert, one of the ancient calamities woven into its legends.
Travelers who wandered too deep into the sands were said to die after disturbing Shukaku.
It was humanity's range of movement that had expanded over time, intruding into Shukaku's territory. Later, the First Hokage had gone so far as to capture him.
The Sand ninja couldn't find Shukaku.
That didn't mean Yako couldn't.
With his strength, it only took him two or three days to track Shukaku down.
In the eastern Land of Wind, the sea of sand looked no different from anywhere else.
Then the sand slowly swelled upward.
From a curtain of cascading grains, Shukaku's eyes appeared, staring at the figure in the distance that made his instincts scream in warning.
That person wore a black mask marked with lightning.
More importantly, the power coming from him made Shukaku feel something was very wrong.
"You hide behind some strange mask and skulk around—who exactly are you?!"
Shukaku's voice boomed across the desert night.
The sand on the ground shivered and flowed from the force of it.
Yako said, "Shukaku, your power is too dangerous. I can't let you do as you please, and I also can't hand you over to people with ill intentions."
"People with ill intentions?" Shukaku opened his huge mouth, and the very act of speaking stirred violent gusts. "There's only one person out here in the desert, and that's you. You're the one with ill intentions!
Wind Release: Practice Empty Bullet!"
Shukaku had a short temper. The instant he was displeased, he attacked with Wind Release.
Yako looked over the curse markings on Shukaku's body, already thinking about what ability he could take from him.
The One-Tail's abilities were valuable.
A massive sphere of wind, dozens of meters wide, roared toward Yako, dragging a huge tail current behind it and whipping up sand.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Yako formed a single seal and exhaled an enormous fire dragon.
Watching from afar, Pakura stared in shock.
Miqū had used nothing more than an ordinary Fire Release technique, yet it was suppressing Shukaku's Wind Release.
Yes, Fire Release could disturb airflow through thermal convection. Yes, it countered Wind Release.
But that was Shukaku's Wind Release.
When Shukaku saw his first Practice Empty Bullet smashed apart head-on by the fire dragon, his expression changed. He realized he was facing a high-level Fire Release user, and he immediately slapped his plump belly again and again.
Three more Practice Empty Bullets shot out in succession.
Yet the same Wind Release that could devastate an entire town was still no match for that Fire Release.
With terrifying force, the fire dragon smashed through all three bullets one after another.
At the dragon's head, its flaming mane whipped in the wind, radiating waves of blistering heat.
Shukaku had no choice but to leap high into the air to avoid it.
"Who the hell are you?! Why does such an ordinary Fire Release turn into something like a forbidden jutsu in your hands?!"
Yako said, "Use something else. Your Wind Release is worthless against me."
Stumbling backward through the air, Shukaku glared at Yako.
"Then you really want to die!"
He opened his mouth, and red and blue chakra gathered before it.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
Just as Shukaku prepared to unleash the Tailed Beast Ball, a wooden hand suddenly burst from the ground and grabbed the incomplete sphere.
Shukaku froze in disbelief.
The unfinished Tailed Beast Ball had been crushed in its grip.
What kind of strength was that?
Shukaku immediately retreated farther back.
Damn that Bunpuku. Every day he did nothing but chant sutras and never spoke to the guards, which meant Shukaku knew almost nothing about the current shinobi world.
Who exactly was this man?
Yako said, "You can't use Wind Release. It's too weak. You also can't use the Tailed Beast Ball. It's too strong. I don't like either of those. Try something else."
Shukaku landed in the distance, still shaken, then slowly brought one of his tails forward.
The tip of the tail narrowed and lengthened, becoming a massive spear.
"Shukaku's Spear!"
The spear shot toward Yako.
It was said to be the hardest absolute offensive technique.
From far enough away, Yako waved one hand and deployed Absolute Defense: Crystal Mist before him.
Under that immense resistance, the slowing of Shukaku's Spear was visible to the naked eye.
By the time it reached Yako, it had come to a complete stop.
Yako reached out and grabbed the spear's tip. The first squeeze didn't break it.
He nodded in approval.
"This one's good. No wonder it's called the hardest offensive technique."
On the second try, he crushed Shukaku's Spear with sheer force.
Pakura, watching from a distance, didn't understand what that casual grip truly meant.
But Shukaku did.
The man in front of him possessed monstrous strength, enough to crush Shukaku's Spear with his fingers alone.
No...
That strange faint mist also contained a huge amount of water. It had softened the spear.
Shukaku didn't panic.
The sand from Shukaku's Spear fell to the ground with dull thudding sounds.
A few seconds later, Shukaku suddenly slapped both hands onto the ground.
"Sand Hand!"
Using the sand from the shattered spear as a medium, a gigantic Shukaku claw suddenly rose beneath Yako's feet.
The claw slammed shut and seized him.
Under the effect of Absolute Defense: Crystal Mist, the Sand Hand was immediately drenched by a massive burst of water generated from the mist.
The surging water blew the Sand Hand apart.
It was like a sea wall collapsing—suddenly, a flood had broken out in the middle of the desert.
Yako jumped free of the sand.
Then, all at once, the light around him dimmed.
From behind him, above him, and from both sides, four more Sand Hands crashed down at once.
They filled the sky.
There was no blind spot.
Each palm was dozens of meters across.
Several colossal sand slaps struck Yako all at once.
Yako nodded in approval again.
This speed. This scale.
This one was worthy of joining his collection.
He dismissed all his defenses and let the sand kill him.
[Host death detected. Arc of the Waning Moon system activating...]
It had been a while since he last heard the system voice.
He found he had actually missed it a little.
When he woke again, he was back a few days earlier.
He was in the Kage-Level Suite created with Wood Release, with Pakura's bare back rising and falling before him.
He snapped his fingers, and the ceiling above them slowly shifted aside, revealing a skylight.
Moonlight poured in through it, washing over Pakura's back, her skin reflecting a soft silver glow.
Pakura deliberately increased her rhythm, making it harder for the moonlight to keep up with her.
In the end, Yako had to widen the skylight so the moonlight could fully cover the playful woman.
After a while, both of them were utterly spent and clear-headed.
Once Pakura had fallen asleep, Yako sat by the window and chose from the power the system had offered him.
[Arc of the Waning Moon activated!]
[The host has only one resurrection chance per month and revives on the previous full moon night after death.]
[Reward draw available:]
1 — Wind Release: Practice Empty Bullet
2 — Sealing Technique: Desert Layer Grand Burial
3 — Sand Release: Sand Manipulation Technique
Wind Release: Practice Empty Bullet was of little use.
Sealing Technique: Desert Layer Grand Burial also didn't offer much compared to Uzumaki sealing arts.
The third option, Sand Release: Sand Manipulation Technique, allowed free control over sand.
That was actually useful to Yako.
He chose the third reward immediately.
A gust of wind blew some sand against the window. Yako lifted a hand and spread his chakra outward, and the sand instantly obeyed.
It hovered before him, slowly revolving, then formed into a tiny sand pyramid.
Yako thought to himself that from now on, he too could fly by riding sand, just like Gaara or Rasa.
The ability to freely manipulate sand was extremely practical.
And beyond that, it could also be combined with his other abilities to create even stronger techniques.