Next up: Hyuga Hayama and Hatake Kakashi. Please be ready.
The voice from the broadcast system faded out.
The protests from the Uchiha clansmen were about to erupt, only to be drowned out by the even louder cheers and excitement of the other spectators.
Listening to the clamor in her ears...
Cobra sat in the audience with her legs crossed, looking at the center of the field with utter boredom.
She didn't understand why humans were so interested in these 'playing house' antics.
"Anko, I'm so bored. I'm going to shrivel up into a dried snake skin from boredom."
"Snake Sage, don't be like that. The match is so exciting; isn't it great?"
Anko stared intently at the arena, occasionally waving her fists and shouting in support.
Cobra sighed helplessly at the sight. Under the scorching sun, she barely managed to keep her eyelids open.
Down on the field, Motomu and Obito had already taken their stances.
Then came a series of maneuvers she didn't quite understand.
Great Fireballs clashed against each other.
Amidst the massive air currents that blew away the sun hats of the front-row spectators, the two used Body Flicker to close the distance, engaging in a dizzying sequence of blows.
"Brother!"
"Little brother! You're too weak. Embrace the hatred! Hate yourself for not awakening the Three-Tomoe Sharingan!"
...
After the endless trash talk was finished.
Sparks flew.
Shuriken and kunai clashed with metallic rings under the expert display of Uchiha Shurikenjutsu.
Once the shuriken were spent, they pulled out kunai again to trade blows.
Obito secretly launched a Dragon Flame Jutsu, catching Motomu off guard.
Finally, both fell to the ground simultaneously.
The audience erupted in thunderous applause.
Some villagers shouted, "Amazing!" and "What a comeback!"
Some Uchiha members were moved to tears, shouting that this was the true power of the Uchiha!
Cobra: "...That's it?"
Having witnessed Motomu's true state, her threshold for battle expectations had been raised infinitely, making this truly dull.
Covering her fangs with one hand, the black-haired girl stretched and let out a huge yawn.
The subsequent matches were even more boring.
There was that boy wearing black samurai robes with white hair tied in a low ponytail, named Kakashi.
He kept saying nonsense like, 'Sorry, I must become a Chunin to protect my comrades.'
Meanwhile, the guy who kept rolling his eyes had a face like he was constipated.
In a flash of lightning, Kakashi unleashed thirty draw-and-slash strikes in a second, nearly turning the Hyuga boy into a finely sliced garnish.
The only thing that piqued Cobra's interest slightly was the brawny man on the high platform radiating a terrifying, snake-like pressure—the Third Raikage.
He sat with his arms crossed and an expressionless face the whole time, but whenever Kakashi struck with his blade, his eyelids would twitch involuntarily.
To see such an expression on the face of a strong man was extremely interesting to Cobra.
...
By afternoon, the competition ended quickly.
Motomu withdrew his gaze from the last two Mist Genin, who had successfully returned after bullying some weaker opponents.
Under Yagura's secret adjustments, the strongest candidates from Konoha and the Cloud were mostly pitted against their own teammates in internal matches, while the Mist managed to pick two soft targets from the remaining pool.
Having secured two external victories, Yagura had managed to save some face.
However, none of that mattered to him anymore.
The results of the exam wouldn't be announced until a month later.
Now that he was free, he needed to properly study Senjutsu and verify his ideas from last night.
Furthermore, he wanted to try and unlock Big Eyeball's Level 40 passive before heading to the border.
But before that, he had to settle the matter of the house.
Walking out of the competition grounds, Motomu, Anko, and Cobra—two humans and one snake—headed toward a real estate office on the outskirts of Konoha.
The long street was bustling with crowds.
Motomu stepped into the shop, and the door closed behind him, cutting off the noise from the outside world.
The air conditioning was running inside, and the indoor temperature was noticeably lower. Cobra, finally feeling alive again, regained a glimmer of wisdom in her snake eyes.
"Motomu, Anko, if we really want to learn Senjutsu, we need to find a remote place."
"The process of a beginner gathering natural energy is extremely easy to interrupt."
"Besides, natural energy is more abundant when you are closer to nature."
Analyzing her words, it basically meant the more remote the location, the better.
Motomu nodded in understanding after listening. He reached out and took the Konoha residential area list handed over by the clerk, studying it carefully.
Every house available for rent on this map was marked with a red circle.
Motomu searched around and selected a three-bedroom wooden house on the edge of the forest, far from cliffs and waterfalls on the outskirts of the village.
No neighbors, a quiet environment, and close to nature—it perfectly met the conditions for practicing Senjutsu.
"How much for a six-month lease on this house?"
"This one? Little ninja brother, the owner of House No. 71 requires a security deposit plus three months' rent upfront."
"In total, it will cost one hundred and seventy-five thousand ryo for half a year."
Surprisingly cheap.
Motomu and Anko discussed it for a bit and made a decision.
...
A day later.
Carrying bags of luggage, the three of them entered the detached wooden house that smelled of fresh timber.
With the water and electricity connected and the place cleaned and furnished with new pieces, the wooden house looked brand new.
The technology of the ninja world remained baffling.
In the empty living room across from the sofa sat a large, black, bulky television.
It was an old-fashioned TV that required an antenna.
Cobra had nagged them into buying it while Motomu and Anko were shopping at the furniture mall.
To ensure she would teach Senjutsu more effectively, Motomu had to endure the sting to his wallet and spend a full 100,000 ryo to buy it.
More eager than Motomu or Anko to welcome the new home, Cobra moved her long legs and pounced onto the sofa, grabbing the remote control from the low glass table.
"Hey, hey, hey! Human, go adjust the antenna."
"I want to try out my new TV!"
"Go yourself. Anko and I need to organize the rooms now."
"Tsk, lazy dog."
Motomu ignored her provocation, picked up his luggage, and turned to go up the stairs.
The second floor had three bedrooms and a bathroom, all connected by a long corridor.
He turned the doorknob and entered his new room.
The room was large, at least twice the size of his previous one.
Desks, chairs, a large bed frame, and a wooden wardrobe—the furniture was complete.
But most importantly, the roof would never leak again.
Satisfied, he checked every part of the room again.
Motomu laid out the beige sheets and quilt that had accompanied him for many years onto the bed frame.
The morning sun filtered through the leaves and shone in through the circular window at the head of the bed, casting dappled shadows on the bed.
Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
He would stay here until Danzo reassigned him to the border.
Motomu was planning. While practicing Senjutsu here, he could also challenge Ryuchi Cave to his heart's content.
Now that Anko had established a summoning contract with Cobra, he didn't have to worry about Cobra being caught first when he entered Ryuchi Cave.
His process for going to Ryuchi Cave was now roughly as follows:
Dismiss the summoning to send Cobra back. Cobra would then use Reverse Summoning to bring him into Ryuchi Cave. At the same time, Anko would summon Cobra back to the ninja world the moment he disappeared.
The entire process of Cobra appearing in the ninja world took less than three seconds. He no longer had to worry about Cobra getting caught.
Speaking of leveling up, after killing Tagitsu Hime for revenge in Ryuchi Cave earlier, Motomu had also discovered something quite terrifying.
That was the issue with Big Eyeball's experience points.
After Heart gained its new passive, the experience issue had vanished. But as the driving force that pushed levels up, a certain problem with Big Eyeball had begun to surface.
That problem was the level gap.
Big Eyeball was already level 38. And the highest mountain in Ryuchi Cave, the level 53 White Snake Sage, wasn't someone he could beat right now, especially with the terrain advantage.
As the gap between Big Eyeball and the White Snake Sage closed, the experience points awarded for failing the challenge would only decrease.
His previous assumption was based on getting 3,000 experience points for every failure. With the experience points drastically reduced, the idea that Big Eyeball would level up after only two or three failures was clearly no longer valid.
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