"Cough! Cough, cough!"
Motomu coughed in pain, his voice echoing through the empty cavern.
*Gah!*
Another mouthful of charred blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs, splattered onto the ground.
Propping himself up with his elbows, Motomu slowly lay back down on the floor.
This was insane!
His 'good son' had nearly killed him with a single Ember!
To use its moves, he really had to release the Heart Pokémon first.
Otherwise, the Ember would take him out before it ever reached the enemy!
He lay there like a corpse for half an hour.
As Big Eyeball used Dream Eater to replenish his vitality, Motomu's injuries slowly began to heal.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Motomu sat cross-legged on Big Eyeball again.
Looking at the current situation...
He certainly couldn't just release his Pokémon heart to fight in the open.
If someone captured it...
He would be refined into nothingness in an instant.
Aside from moves that locked onto an enemy directly...
It seemed he would have to wait for passive moves to make it truly effective.
He opened the system panel.
The move selection for the Heart reaching Level 5 appeared before his eyes.
[1. BLAZE KICK 2. FIRE PUNCH]
[3. FLAME CHARGE 4. ARM THRUST]
Among the moves, he discarded the first three for the same reason as Ember.
Motomu looked at the final option.
[ARM THRUST: ATTACKS CONTINUOUSLY 2-5 TIMES]
Arm Thrust?
What kind of effect would a Heart Arm Thrust have?
No normal person had ever seen such a thing.
Even the name sounded bizarre!
But Motomu didn't want to pick those three fire-type staples either.
Arm Thrust it is, then.
If it was useless, he could just swap it out later.
The moment Motomu pressed the selection, Arm Thrust appeared in the Heart's move list.
These words...
Motomu stared at them.
He looked again.
Unable to suppress his curiosity, he finally decided to give it a try.
After all, this was the first time he would see his heart 'fight.'
Following the command for the Arm Thrust move, the heart executed it instantly.
Thump-thump!
A violent heartbeat pulsed from his chest.
Inside his veins, his blood bulged like pythons slithering along.
Starting from his heart, his chakra surged as if it had entered an overclocked mode.
Motomu's pupils constricted. Following the sensation, he slammed a fist into the giant rock beside him.
The tidal wave of chakra exploded the moment his fist met the stone.
With a thunderous boom, the rock face began to crack inch by inch from the point of contact.
Spiderweb-like fissures tore through the stone.
The two-meter-tall boulder collapsed.
Yet, protected by the chakra, Motomu's hand remained completely unharmed.
This was...
Tsunade's Super Strength?
Amidst the dust...
Motomu looked at his hands curiously; he would never have dared to use Psychokinesis this way.
His fist was made of flesh; if Psychokinesis acceleration could even ruin the Kusanagi Sword, his body wouldn't stand a chance.
Arm Thrust... so Fighting-type moves mean the Trainer fights personally?
Motomu fell into deep thought.
As he pondered...
Another interesting question popped into his mind.
If it were a Fire-type buffing move, could it strengthen his Fire Style jutsu as well?
He recalled a Fire-type Pokémon move called Will-O-Wisp.
It increased burn duration and weakened the opponent.
If he had that move...
Would his standard Fire Style become like Itachi and Sasuke's Amaterasu?
After all, true strength came from being strong oneself.
For the Tailed Beast challenge, he had cheated by using the Kusanagi Sword.
But what about next time?
The Psychokinesis Divine Artifact Cannon consumed one artifact every time it was used.
No one could sustain that cost.
Aside from the Psychokinesis Cannon, his actual strength was currently somewhere between Chunin and Jonin.
He needed to start learning more ninjutsu.
His parents had left him a Genjutsu, and Obito's family should have some ninjutsu inheritance as well.
Once he learned those and researched chakra natures and transformations...
With his Jonin-level chakra reserves as a foundation, his strength would progress rapidly once he filled the gaps in his ninjutsu knowledge.
After a brief moment of excitement...
His summoning time was running out. He decided to save the challenge against Garaga for next time.
Releasing the Reverse Summoning Jutsu...
Motomu returned to his newly changed blue bedding and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day.
Boring D-rank missions finally caught up with Team Akimichi Genya.
Motomu stepped across the surface of the stream, picking up the last of the trash in the area.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he wiped the sweat from his face.
Motomu looked up; the sun was already sinking in the west.
An entire day had passed doing ten D-rank missions.
"We're so strong, why do we have to do these kinds of missions?"
Obito's complaining voice reached his ears.
"Hey, Kakashi, don't you agree!"
Plop.
A plastic bottle was tossed accurately into the basket on his back. Kakashi looked at Obito with his dead-fish eyes before bending down again.
"To participate in the Chunin Exams, you need a certain number of completed D-rank and C-rank missions."
"If you don't want to become a Chunin, you don't have to do it."
"Tch! It's not like I didn't know that!"
Clearly unaware of the requirement, Obito's face flushed red as he pouted and turned away.
Hearing 'Chunin Exams'...
Relevant memories surfaced in Motomu's mind.
This year's exam was scheduled for July.
Since it was currently April, he had less than three months to prepare.
Stepping onto the pebbles on the shore, he wrung out his pant legs which had been soaked by the stream.
Motomu, the first to finish his assigned area, walked out of the river.
"I'm finished. I'm heading out."
"You two keep working hard."
"Sure thing. Don't forget to come over for dinner, brother!"
Motomu waved and walked into the Forest of Death as the sun set.
The gates to Orochimaru's base stood wide open, a sinister aura spreading out like a black octopus.
Finding the inner chamber with practiced ease...
Motomu pushed the door open and entered.
In the center of the chamber, Orochimaru sat in meditation on a yellow cushion, looking as though he had been waiting for a long time.
"Master, what did you seek your disciple for?"
Hearing this, Orochimaru slowly opened his eyes, his golden snake-like pupils settling on Motomu, who sat across from him.
"The item... your junior sister should have given it to you around noon."
Motomu nodded, pulling out the blue-covered manual with 'Body Tempering Manual' inscribed on it.
"Master, is this the cultivation method you mentioned?"
"No."
Orochimaru tapped his finger lightly in the air.
Motomu's pupils shrank!
As Orochimaru's pale finger descended, a water mirror rippled into existence in the air.
Damn, he actually succeeded in creating it!
Even if it wasn't true cultivation...
This was still a hand-seal-less ninjutsu never seen in the original series!
Seeing his disciple's shocked expression, Orochimaru was quite satisfied.
In a good mood, he explained casually:
"This is the Minor Projection Technique. It is merely a minor art I improved based on the true method."
As Orochimaru spoke, images began to appear within the water mirror before Motomu.
In the mirror, on a vast white field, a thin child dressed in coarse hemp clothes was holding a horse stance.
The scene shifted.
The child grew into a youth. While maintaining a perfect horse stance, he began practicing a boxing routine with deliberate, rhythmic movements of his palms.
The wind from his punches was fierce, as if an infinite force was constantly being brewed.
As this invisible force grew stronger and stronger...
Boom!
Ripples distorted the water mirror.
The youth threw a punch, his bones and muscles roaring in unison!
Watching the scenes unfold one after another...
Motomu thought of the Body Tempering Manual in his hands!
A three-tier tempering method.
Corresponding to the realms of Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core.
Could it be that Orochimaru was actually cultivating?