But if he chose Flame Charge, he would only grow stronger the longer the battle lasted.
Lidiao's strength would reach a whole new level; he would become even more specialized!
Thinking of this, Motomu's hesitation vanished like smoke.
When it came to the same Pokémon...
It was better to be a master of one than a jack of all trades.
Without a method to grow stronger as the fight progressed, Little Heart's purity would simply be too low.
"System, select Flame Charge and replace Fiery Abyss."
[DING]
[REPLACEMENT SUCCESSFUL]
[PLEASE SELECT A LEVEL 20 PASSIVE SKILL]
[PACIFISM: ALL DAMAGE DEALT AND RECEIVED IS REDUCED TO 10%]
[MAGNANIMITY: GIVE ALL ATTRIBUTE POINTS TO OTHER POKEMON]
[VANITY: THE FLASHIER THE MOVE, THE GREATER THE POWER INCREASE]
Lidiao was simple and straightforward; Vanity clearly didn't fit his style.
As for Magnanimity, it was just too dull.
Giving all his attribute points to someone else? What kind of logic was that?
Hiss!
Wait, that might not be right!
Big Eyeball has clones.
In other words, the attributes given away could potentially double on top of the original foundation.
That would be quite profitable.
But his hard-earned Little Heart would be completely ruined.
Little Heart might stop beating entirely, and he'd end up seeing the Sage of Six Paths right then and there.
His gaze lingered on Pacifism for a half-second, and Motomu couldn't help but sigh.
By choosing this ability, his survivability would skyrocket, but his only item, Charcoal, would essentially be wasted.
However, he only felt a slight sense of regret about that.
After all, he never intended to use Little Heart as a primary damage dealer from the start.
Since it was already a support, becoming meatier and increasing its tankiness was a good thing.
Besides, if he got another Fire-type Pokémon later, he could still use the Charcoal.
Once the selection was finished...
Motomu, exiting the system interface, suddenly shivered.
"Achoo!"
After the sneeze, he felt a chill throughout his body.
The biting night wind of early spring blew past, making the hairs on the back of his arms stand on end.
He looked down at his bare upper body.
Motomu's mouth twitched.
He hadn't brought back the clothes Anko gave him!
He had run away so fast earlier that they were left behind in Ryuchi Cave.
Fortunately, he had hidden his pendant in the wooden box under the bed, so that wasn't lost.
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
Morning.
Motomu exited Ryuchi Cave feeling a bit disappointed that he hadn't found the Snake Princess.
Ever since that hearty battle, Tagitsu Hime had moved. Before she left, she had shredded his clothes and scattered the pieces all over the cave floor just to vent her anger.
Absolutely despicable.
Returning to his room, Motomu tied his pre-organized ninja tool bag around his waist.
Tightening the Konoha headband on his forehead, he looked away from the calendar and stepped out the door.
Today was the day of his important Chunin Exam.
Chunin was more than just a rank; it was an acknowledgment of his Ninja Way.
As for his Ninja Way, he hadn't quite thought of one yet.
That kind of thing could wait until he needed to spout some trash talk during a fight.
He found Obito.
They arrived at the check-in point.
The two of them gathered with Kakashi.
Standing outside the crowd of waiting Konoha ninja, the white-haired, masked Kakashi—with two swords strapped across his waist and his usual bored, dead-fish eyes—seemed to sense something and turned to look.
Obito and Kakashi's eyes met.
Obito, feeling a trace of envy for the other boy's character model, crossed his arms and looked away.
"Kakashi, that samurai look is just stupid."
"Oh? Think whatever you want."
"In any case, you'll be screened out during the written exam today."
"Damn it! How can you look down on me so much!"
"I stayed up all night until now just to review!"
"So what you did was called 'reviewing' and not 'previewing'?"
"Knowing you, you probably didn't even open the book until last night."
"Kuso! You're dead, Kakashi!"
Just as Obito was about to go up and argue with Kakashi about how seriously he had studied...
A group of ninjas wearing various types of clothing approached from around the corner of the distant fence.
"Who are they?"
Taking a glance at the wary Obito, Kakashi lifted his dead-fish eyes slightly and explained with a bit more focus.
"Ninjas from other villages."
"These guys are here for the Joint Chunin Exam."
"The Chunin Exam isn't just one of the ways for Genin to be promoted."
"On a deeper level, it's a way for the various hidden villages to pit their younger generations against each other, showing off their strength to the Daimyos to secure a larger share of mission contracts."
As more and more of these people arrived...
Kakashi's brow furrowed slightly.
"The strange thing is that there are so many people this year."
"The more people there are, the greater the competitive pressure will be."
"Motomu and I should be fine for the exam, but Obito, you'd better be careful."
Hearing Kakashi's concern, Obito felt slighted and curled his lip.
Withdrawing his gaze from the bickering duo, Motomu turned to look at the crowd of ninjas wearing all sorts of headbands.
Among them, Motomu recognized a sharp-toothed youth wearing a Mist headband with four water ripples.
"Your old rivals are here."
Hearing Motomu speak, Obito and Kakashi followed his gaze.
"That guy is nothing but a defeated foe."
Seeing Hozuki Mangetsu again, Obito spoke with feigned indifference, but the solemn expression on his face had already betrayed him.
Kakashi's gaze collided with the opponent's, and his right hand unconsciously rested on the hilt of his long sword.
"The written exam will begin in fifteen minutes."
"Will all candidates please enter the examination hall."
Just as the atmosphere turned tense...
The examiner's voice fell, and the waiting crowd began to surge forward.
Their line of sight was blocked by the heads of people crowding ahead.
They walked past six Konoha ninjas wearing green vests who were maintaining order.
The tense atmosphere of the exam weighed on the nerves of every Genin who wasn't skilled at written tests.
As one of them, Obito already had cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
Following their candidate numbers, the three of them found the classroom.
"We're so lucky!"
"The three of us are in the same exam room."
"Do you want me to pass you the answers?"
"Tch, as if."
Obito rubbed his eyes, which were underlined with dark circles, and yawned as he was the first to enter the hall.
Motomu, following behind Kakashi, sized up the classroom's layout.
Bright incandescent lights shone overhead. In the four corners of the room, several Konoha Chunin were holding pens and notebooks, recording something.
The candidates took their seats one after another.
After the Chunin on the podium finished explaining the rules, he broke the seal on the test papers and began distributing them.
Sitting in a back-row seat according to his number, Motomu took a test paper that smelled of fresh ink from a Hidden Stone Genin in front of him.
After writing his name and number, Motomu scanned the questions.
Just as he had imagined, the difficulty of the questions was off the charts.
The content on the paper was vastly different from the knowledge taught at the Academy.
It was no different from asking a middle school student from his previous life to solve advanced calculus or find the limit of a function.
According to the rules...
If an ordinary Genin wanted to pass, unless they were a top student with memories of a past life who could solve the problems directly like him...
Their only option was to take the risk of obtaining the answers from the examiners planted among the students.
Furthermore, they had to pass those answers to their teammates to prevent them from failing and dragging everyone down with them.
Familiar with the plot, Motomu knew this well.
This stage might look like a written test of theoretical knowledge...
But in reality, it was a test of a ninja's ability to gather and transmit intelligence.
Ring! Ring!—
A bell rang, and the chief examiner on the podium spoke.
"Candidates, you may begin."
As soon as the words were spoken...
The silence of the exam hall was instantly filled with the scratching sound of pens on paper.
Less than fifteen minutes passed.
Motomu flipped over his test paper, the sound echoing loudly through the room.
Under the shocked, peeking gaze of the Hidden Sand Genin next to him, Motomu gently set down his pen.
And at the same time...
On the other side, Obito—faced with the squiggly, tadpole-like script—was nodding off so hard his head bobbed like a piston. He was just a step away from tattooing 'dying of sleepiness' across his forehead.
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