"You can't drink that water!"
The group merely glanced at Yagami before continuing their march toward Crescent Lake.
Yagami quickened his pace and stepped in front to block them.
The leading girl had a strange hair color—cyan on the top half and yellow at the tips.
In the scorching wilderness, she was dressed lightly. Her exposed shoulders, arms, and waist were not tanned at all, appearing exceptionally white.
This girl's constitution was very unique.
"This water is undrinkable. One look tells you it is highly toxic. If you want water, leave this place and find another oasis."
The girl looked at Yagami's cracked lips and said, "Thank you for the warning, but don't worry. I have a way; I can get water to drink."
Yagami froze, looking back at the purple Crescent Lake and then at the girl.
If you can get water to drink, won't my poisoning mission have been for nothing?
Intrigued, Yagami followed her, wanting to see exactly what the girl intended to do.
The girl knelt by the lakeshore, her hands suspended over the water's surface.
Before long, steam began to rise from the purple lake, followed by a churning motion.
Yagami was puzzled. Why could this girl heat the water? This method of heating didn't look like Fire Style; it felt more like some kind of evaporation ability.
One of the children placed a water basin over the girl's hands, trapping the rising steam.
After a short while, a thin layer of condensed water droplets formed inside the basin.
The child took the basin down, collected the condensation, and poured it into another container.
The girl and the three children were painstakingly evaporating the water mist.
Yagami stepped forward to ask, "What is your name?"
"Pakura."
Pakura? Scorch Style Pakura?
Looking at her hair color, Yagami was certain that this girl would later become the elite Jōnin of the Hidden Sand Village, Scorch Style Pakura.
However, for some reason, Pakura had not yet entered the Hidden Sand Village and was currently a civilian of the Land of Wind.
The Hidden Sand Village didn't seem to have an established lineage for the Scorch Style Kekkei Genkai; perhaps the village would only obtain this bloodline by chance later on.
It took half an hour for the group to produce a small basin of water.
Unsure if the water was safe to drink, Pakura performed a second evaporation on the small amount they had gathered.
After the second distillation, there was even less water, only a shallow layer at the bottom of the basin.
Pakura said, "I'll test it. If the water is drinkable, we won't die of thirst!"
Yagami reached out to stop Pakura, saying, "Let me test it instead. I have a strong constitution."
He possessed the Senju clan constitution; even if he ingested a bit of poison, he could heal himself.
Pakura and the children looked as if they were about to collapse; even a tiny bit of toxin might kill them on the spot.
At seventeen, Yagami had already reached the height of an adult.
Before Pakura could stop him, Yagami had already snatched the basin and taken a sip.
Pakura opened her eyes wide, staring at Yagami.
Yagami licked his lips, his expression changing drastically.
Pakura was startled.
"Are you alright? Is there still poison in the water? I'm sorry, I... I, I, I..."
"No!" Yagami raised his hand and said, "The water isn't toxic, but!"
Hearing the water was safe, Pakura sighed in relief, but seeing Yagami's conflicted expression, she didn't know what was wrong.
"This water basin... you didn't find it under a bed, did you?"
One of the children nodded repeatedly, pointing toward a tent. "It was found under the bed in that tent."
Yagami's expression was beyond words. "A basin for drinking water should definitely not be under a bed. Change the basin. You must change the basin!"
Those terrible guys... that taste...
Fortunately, they hadn't found a basin in the toilet, or it would have been even worse.
Pakura jumped up in excitement and said:
"I really can purify the toxic water! Thank heaven, we won't die of thirst! Find some clean basins, let's keep collecting water!"
Seeing them struggle so much, Yagami couldn't bear to just watch.
It was too slow. With two rounds of evaporation and distillation, they wouldn't even produce a full basin of water in an entire morning.
He found a piece of waterproof cloth with a texture similar to plastic and used long poles to build a cone-shaped structure inverted over the water. He signaled for Pakura to use her ability directly under the inverted cone.
As the steam rose, droplets condensed on the underside of the waterproof cloth. As the droplets grew larger, they flowed down the slope to the tip of the cone.
Placing a basin under the tip, it quickly filled with water.
Yagami had the children bring over large jars and set up conical waterproof cloths over them as well.
Once the large jars were full, Pakura would then perform the second distillation on that water.
With Yagami's help, their water collection speed increased significantly.
The youngest child looked longingly at the water, occasionally glancing at Pakura.
Pakura smiled and said, "Drink. We'll have water to drink from now on."
After the children finished drinking, Yagami also filled two water flasks.
He was also nearly dying of thirst.
One flask was for himself, and the other he planned to bring to Leaf Monkey, who was hidden on the perimeter scouting.
Leaf Monkey was responsible for guarding from the shadows as a backup.
After nightfall, Yagami found an empty tent to rest.
In the middle of the night, he used Earth Style to tunnel out of the tent and reached the edge of the oasis.
Leaf Monkey was lying in the sand, watching the distance with a telescope.
"Leaf Monkey, drink some water."
Leaf Monkey had long since reached his limit. Hearing there was water, he gulped down half a flask.
Water created by Water Style is undrinkable.
The nature transformation of water-natured chakra produces water, but once the chakra dissipates, the water disappears.
This is why the floods created by Water Style recede so quickly.
Even if swallowed, it only deceives the body; it won't become actual hydration. It only turns into unabsorbable chakra, and drinking too much can even be harmful.
Yagami handed him another flask and said, "Tomorrow night, I'll bring you two more."
Hearing there was another flask, Leaf Monkey tilted his head back and finished the first one completely.
"Captain, where did you get this water?"
"The people in the oasis have a method for obtaining water through evaporation. I got it from them."
"What? Doesn't that mean our mission failed? Should we kill them?"
Yagami said, "It's fine. That evaporation ability is extremely rare. It's enough to supply water for a few people, but for a large Hidden Sand army, it is far from sufficient."
Yagami returned to the oasis and rested in his tent.
In the middle of the night, he suddenly snapped his eyes open, hearing the howling of fierce winds.
A massive sandstorm of the desert had arrived!
Yagami rushed out of his tent and looked up.
Sand flew through the air like a moving wall, obscuring the moonlight.
Sensing carefully, there was no chakra in the sandstorm; it was naturally formed.
At that moment, a scream came from the shore of Crescent Lake.
Yagami looked over and saw that a tent by the lake had been blown away, revealing Pakura who was currently bathing inside.
Pakura had actually come to bathe in the middle of the night. Now that her tent was gone, she sat on the ground naked.
Her white, slender back seemed to brighten the night itself.
The most beautiful back in the shinobi world, radiant and glowing.
Yagami used Body Flicker to move there, grabbing a piece of cloth in mid-air and wrapping it around the soaking wet Pakura.
Pakura looked up and saw it was Mikome, the wandering ninja of the Land of Wind who had helped collect water during the day.
"Don't look! Don't look up!"
Yagami picked up the curled-up Pakura, left the lake, and prepared to return to his own tent.
Just then, the children's tent began to wobble precariously, about to be flipped by the sandstorm.
Pakura struggled in Yagami's arms, shouting, "It's bad, put me down! I have to go save them!"
She no longer cared about being embarrassed, her upper body twisting out of Yagami's embrace.
"Don't be reckless, let me do it." Yagami tucked Pakura against his waist with one arm and brought his other hand up to form seals.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!"
Several spears of earth appeared, pinning down the children's tent.
Yagami then carried Pakura into his own tent and used Earth Flow Spears to reinforce it as well.
Having reinforced the tent, Yagami turned his head and saw Pakura sitting on the ground with her back to him.
Her beautiful back was fully revealed.
***
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