The capital of the Land of Water was formed from several islands.
Seven or eight smaller islands surrounded a central main island, and on that main island stood the Daimyo's castle.
Commoners had no right to set foot on Castle Island.
More than four thousand Mist ninja were laying traps outside it.
As the disciple of the First Mizukage, Elder Gensui's eyes were dull. He found himself feeling increasingly old.
The repeated heavy blows had left not a trace of vitality in his gaze.
The battlefield had retreated from the Land of Hot Water to the Land of Waves, then from the Land of Waves to the Land of Water, then from the coastline of the Land of Water to its capital.
The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, had died in the war.
So had the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Kirigakure's young and middle generation had been nearly wiped out in the Third Shinobi World War.
The castle in the capital of the Land of Waves had been destroyed. The Daimyo family of the Land of Waves had been uprooted. Konoha now pointed its blade directly at the capital of the Land of Water.
The Daimyo had been scared out of his wits and demanded that Kirigakure protect the capital at all costs.
But what could Kirigakure rely on to protect the capital?
Kirigakure had over eight thousand ninja. During the wars in the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Waves, more than three thousand had been killed by Konoha.
The four thousand Mist ninja Gensui had brought with him were already Kirigakure's remaining strength.
Less than one thousand ninja remained inside Kirigakure itself. If someone attacked the village now, it would have no ability to resist.
Hadn't Konoha suffered terrible losses too?
Mitokado Homura, Shimura Danzō, Utatane Koharu, Hatake Sakumo—high-ranking figures had died one after another.
Even Sarutobi Hiruzen was dead.
So why, after all this fighting, did Konoha's battle lines continue advancing?
The Mist ninja used the most traditional method, setting traps outside the capital in hopes of delaying Konoha's attack.
Gensui walked toward the shore.
On a small boat by the shore, a child was imprisoned.
The Three-Tails had been killed by Fox and would take several years to revive. The Six-Tails had escaped, and Gensui had led the Mist ninja in paying a terrible price to seal it once more.
The Mist ninja of the Sealing Team checked the seal one final time and said:
"Elder Gensui, we can release the Six-Tails at any time. It's just… if we release the Six-Tails outside the castle, I don't know whether the castle will be affected."
Gensui said, "We can no longer care about that. Konoha has not only sent Jiraiya, but also Fox and Orochimaru.
Against enemies like these, we can only place our hopes on the Six-Tails. The Six-Tails is our only chance to turn defeat into victory."
At that moment, a voice suddenly appeared.
"Oh? Turn defeat into victory? A chance? Gensui, why don't you listen to yourself?"
Gensui whipped around and saw a fox mask.
Yako had been carrying out routine battlefield reconnaissance. He had not expected Kirigakure to have sealed the Six-Tails again.
Last time at Ryojō Port in the Land of Hot Water, even the Three-Tails and Six-Tails together had failed to defeat Konoha. Now, after paying a heavy price to recapture the Six-Tails, they somehow believed they could win again.
Yako raised his head and glanced at the moon.
A new full-moon cycle had arrived. It was time to use the system to draw another ability.
He ignored Gensui's grave expression and the trembling Sealing Team captain. His gaze fell on the Six-Tails Jinchūriki.
This Jinchūriki was only a child. Their strength could be ignored.
The Six-Tails' abilities were very unusual, mainly involving corrosive acid gas and acid fluid.
After mastering Dust Release, Yako could particleize Earth, Wind, and Fire chakra. The Six-Tails' ability was a special form of Water Release, worth collecting.
Water Release and Lightning Release were key priorities in Yako's Shinobi World Collection Plan.
"Stop him!"
Gensui realized Fox was staring at the Six-Tails Jinchūriki and shouted.
However, Fox moved too quickly. He appeared before the Six-Tails Jinchūriki with Body Flicker Technique.
The child was only six or seven years old. He only felt the light before him darken as someone blocked the moonlight.
"Tailed Beast Seal Release!"
Gensui watched in terror as Fox's five fingers pressed against the Jinchūriki's abdomen.
According to their intelligence, Fox had deep connections with the Senju and Uzumaki clans and possessed high-level sealing techniques.
Just like that, he undid the Six-Tails' seal.
Tailed beast chakra erupted violently, and a huge amount of corrosive chakra appeared.
The small boat carrying the Jinchūriki was swiftly corroded by acid vapor, its planks turning into liquid.
The pier by the shore and the stones along the bank melted rapidly under the acid gas.
Gensui and the others hurriedly fled.
The complete Six-Tails appeared—a slug-like body dripping with slime, with six thick, fat tails.
After appearing, the Six-Tails lowered its head and saw Fox on the shore.
It had crossed hands with Fox before at Ryojō Port in the Land of Hot Water, and Fox's strength made it extremely wary.
"Leech Gap!"
The Six-Tails immediately used its strongest ability, spitting strong acid from its mouthparts.
The acid swallowed everything along the shore. Anything that touched it dissolved.
Yako stood within the acid, allowing it to corrode his clothes. His flesh hissed under the acid's attack.
After sensing the strength of the Six-Tails' acid, Yako said:
"Not bad. Dissolving power of this degree qualifies for my collection."
The Six-Tails heard Fox's inexplicable words and did not understand what he meant by collection.
But it knew this was some form of humiliation. It exerted more strength and spat out even more acid, completely swallowing Fox.
[Host death detected. Arc of the Waning Moon system activating…]
Yako returned to several days earlier.
At this moment, he was on the road to the capital of the Land of Water.
Looking at the Konoha squads sprinting quickly at his side, Yako said to Blossom Deer beside him:
"We need to keep building teleportation shrines. Traveling on foot is exhausting even for ninja. It wastes far too much time."
Blossom Deer said, "Leader Hidan is carrying out sacrifices in nearby towns. He said he will regroup with us before we arrive at the capital."
Yako nodded.
Hidan was passionate about sacrifices. His work attitude was beyond reproach.
[Arc of the Waning Moon activated!
The host has only one resurrection chance per month. Upon death, the host resurrects on the previous full-moon night.
Reward: one draw opportunity.
Water Release: Leech Gap;
Water Release: Strong Acid Gas;
Water Release: Leech Gap.]
These three techniques were all corrosive Water Release techniques belonging to the Six-Tails, Saiken.
He chose the strongest one—Leech Gap.
Yako raised his hand, and a water sphere floated above his palm.
A special chakra fused into the water sphere, turning it from transparent to milky white.
Pressing the acid sphere against a nearby stone, Yako carefully sensed the stone's changes.
The chakra was extremely active, attacking the stone at the molecular scale. The stone's structure changed, and like sugar dissolving into water, the stone rapidly melted.
This was the Six-Tails, Saiken's special ability—
strong acid.
Blossom Deer, standing nearby, saw that Lord Fox had developed a new Water Release technique. After carefully observing the process, he realized it was very similar to the ability of Kirigakure's Six-Tails.
However, Blossom Deer said nothing.
Lord Fox was so strong that he could even replicate Iwagakure's Dust Release. Replicating some of Kirigakure's abilities was only normal, right?
What Yako wanted was not strong acid itself. This ability did not supplement or strengthen him in any meaningful way.
He dispersed the acid sphere, and the acid fell to the ground, making soft corrosive hissing sounds.
Chakra appeared in his palm once more. This time, there was no water as a medium—only pure Water-nature corrosive chakra.
He subdivided this corrosive chakra infinitely, turning it into particleized chakra.
When the particleized chakra touched stone, it corroded and dissolved the rock just like acid.
Yako then tried creating particleized chakra of other natures.
Dust Release was a barrier composed of particleized Earth, Wind, and Fire chakra.
Yako's chakra control, ranked from strongest to weakest, was Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, and Lightning.
He created the three particleized chakra natures he was best at: Earth, Water, and Wind.
Particleized Earth-nature chakra could break objects down into dust.
Particleized Water-nature chakra could corrode and dissolve objects into tiny molecules.
Particleized Wind-nature chakra could weather objects away.
Yako continuously adjusted the ratio between the three kinds of particleized chakra and gradually reached a stable state.
He had obtained a brand-new Kekkei Tōta.
Looking at the power of this new Kekkei Tōta, Yako thought to himself:
Mist ninja… you are truly about to suffer.