Several months had passed.
Inside Orochimaru's underground hideout.
Motomu watched Orochimaru, who had just rushed back from the front lines looking travel-worn, and his heart tightened slightly.
"My progress with the technique has shown some minor success."
"Master, please take a look."
"Begin."
Once Orochimaru nodded and picked up the experimental record book, the display started.
Motomu removed his upper garment. With a simple thought, his chakra began to circulate through the pathways of the body tempering manual.
Amidst the sound of crackling fire...
Motomu suddenly transformed into a man of fire.
"Not bad, not bad!"
A slight spark of interest appeared in Orochimaru's weary eyes.
"My disciple, what else can you do?"
"Show your master everything you have at once."
Motomu looked at Orochimaru and sighed inwardly.
'What else?'
'Do you want me to start throwing wild punches?'
The visible effect of using the Fire Nature transformation of chakra to temper his body was simply turning himself into a human torch.
Its intimidation factor was far greater than its practical combat utility.
He wasn't like Kakashi.
After Lightning Style tempering, Kakashi's drawing speed was so fast it made one's skin crawl.
Seeing Motomu's face turn red only for the flames on his body to brighten a few shades further...
Orochimaru felt a bit disappointed.
"You may leave. I won't see you out."
"Oh."
Silently extinguishing the flames on his body, Motomu picked up his clothes and walked toward the sun-drenched surface.
Seeing Anko waiting for him outside, a smile appeared on Motomu's face.
He had finally managed to bluff his way through.
On the surface, the first layer of this manual didn't seem to enhance strength much in the ninja world.
But Motomu knew clearly in his heart that he didn't intend to use this thing to increase his combat power.
The aspect of the technique that was most helpful to him...
...was increasing his fire resistance!
Having reached the entry level of the first layer, he could already adapt to ordinary burning flames!
To reach the perfection of the first layer, he would inevitably have to endure days and nights of hardship to polish his physical body, just like Kakashi.
If he wanted to go even further and reach the second layer...
...he would need something like making a 'Grand Vow' to steady his mind and resonate the spiritual energy within his chakra.
Motomu had no interest in this so-called unity of body and mind that basically altered how his brain worked.
He could rely on his cheat to work hard and increase his strength.
As for the body tempering manual, this first layer was enough for him.
Walking out of the Forest of Death with little Anko, who had finished her training with Orochimaru.
Motomu's thoughts were a whirlwind, reflecting on the changes over the past two months.
In Ryuchi Cave, ever since he had beaten Garaga last time, that snake had moved its home to who knows where.
Motomu hadn't found it in nearly two months, but instead, clues about the White Snake Sage and the Three Himes had begun to surface.
In the Ryuchi Cave map, which he had expanded to explore thirty areas, the ruins of the White Snake Palace near the cave's core were already becoming apparent.
It wouldn't be long before he could find the Three Himes.
When that time came, he could resume his pleasant experience farming.
Besides Ryuchi Cave.
Next week, the joint Chunin Exams for the five nations were about to begin.
Being promoted to Chunin meant he could take on B-rank missions and above.
Leaving the village reasonably, fighting ninjas from other countries reasonably, and encountering Tailed Beasts reasonably.
Then reasonably blowing them up to obtain new Pokémon.
As long as his strength kept up, all of this would happen quite naturally.
Furthermore, missions above C-rank offered significant rewards.
A B-rank alone was 80,000 to 200,000 ryo, and A-ranks were 200,000 to 1,000,000 ryo.
An S-rank started at 1,000,000 ryo.
By completing missions, he could also earn some money to improve his life.
Recently, his house's roof had aged and started leaking again.
This was an old problem; fix it and it leaks, leak and then fix it.
There was never an end to it.
Because of this, his quilt was always stained with water.
When Obito came to his house as a kid, he even pointed at the quilt and asked if he had wet the bed.
In a fit of pique, he had changed to beige bedsheets.
Since then, even if there were water stains, they weren't noticeable.
Once he had money from missions, he would definitely get a new home.
First, a small goal: earn 3 million ryo and live in a villa.
Lost in thought, Motomu had unknowingly returned to the streets of Konoha.
"Motomu, wait, I need to buy some things."
Anko's words pulled him back to reality.
Looking up at the sign of a ninja tool shop hanging by the street, Motomu thought for a moment.
"I'll go with you. I just happen to need more senbon."
Ding-dong!
The wind chime behind the door swayed. Behind the red wooden counter, a beautiful clerk with two hair buns and an impressive chest had two dimples showing as a sweet smile hung on her lips.
"Welcome to my shop."
"What can I get for you, cute little brother and sister?"
Little Anko's purple hair, smelling of shampoo, swayed as she looked away in astonishment from the clerk's chest and turned her head toward a stack of Chakra Induction Paper inside the glass counter.
"Big sister, I'd like two of those, please."
Motomu scanned the display and pointed his finger at a box of senbon on the shelf.
"Big sister, I'll take this box of senbon too, please."
The big sister, who had just crouched down to get the paper, turned around and stood on her tiptoes, her ample chest swaying up and down as she struggled to reach the senbon at the very top of the counter.
"Here you go, little brother."
"That will be 5,400 ryo."
The crisp sound of the wind chime rang out behind them as they left.
"Here, Motomu should test his chakra nature too!"
"This is the homework assignment Teacher Orochimaru gave us."
'Testing chakra nature?'
Walking out of the shop, he tucked the senbon into his green tool pouch.
Motomu reached out and took the white test paper Anko handed him.
It was just as well; because of the manual, he had been studying changes in chakra nature for a long time.
Previously, his attributes were Fire, Lightning, and Earth.
According to the original series, chakra natures could be developed by ninjas later in life.
He wondered if developing his Fire Style chakra for so long would lead to any new changes.
Whoosh!
As Motomu infused his chakra, a small flame instantly consumed the paper.
"Only Fire Style? Poor Motomu."
Looking down at the charred remains of the paper in his hand, this change was somewhat beyond Motomu's expectations.
He clearly had Earth and Lightning attributes as well the last time he tested.
'Could it be that this ninja tool shop sells fakes?'
Motomu shifted his gaze to the paper in Anko's hand, which had burned, lit up, and then been soaked; he was stunned.
'There's nothing wrong with this paper, is there?'
'Why are my attributes decreasing the more I study them?'
'Impossible!'
'It must be that the female shopkeeper used her "assets" to cheat us.'
'There's a problem with the Chakra Induction Paper.'
Little Anko's eyes curved into crescents; having one more chakra nature than Motomu, she was clearly a bit proud of herself.
Her fleshy arm, still warm, suddenly hooked around Motomu's neck as she patted her chest.
"Don't worry! Once your big sister Anko graduates and learns ninjutsu..."
"...I'll definitely look out for you."
"Right, right, Lady Anko."
Girls grew tall much earlier than boys.
Anko's height had clearly been shooting up lately.
In just a few months, Anko, who used to be the same height as him, was now almost a head taller.
When they walked down the street together, others thought Anko was his older sister.
Motomu, having no way to deal with this, had frustration written all over his face.
"Let's go find another place for Chakra Induction Paper. That shop just now was weird."
"Eh? You noticed too."
"That big sister really was a bit unreasonable."
"I didn't expect Motomu to have such sharp eyes."
[ Author's Note : If you're loving the story, a power_stone, review or comment means the world!
Want 40+ chapters ahead right now? patre0n.c0m/Royal_ink ]