At the moment Motomu's kunai pierced the heart, orange sparks sprayed out along the blade.
He pulled out the kunai.
The automatically elementalized heart returned to its original state.
The surface was unscathed, as if the strike just now had never happened.
*This is practically invincible.*
*Now, besides ninjutsu, no one can just reach in and grab my heart.*
He wondered what Kakuzu would think if he saw his heart.
*If he knew, he'd probably be green with envy.*
As for gaining experience by absorbing fire energy...
Motomu planned to study that later; there was no rush.
Before that...
He had more important things to discuss.
Swallowing the heart back into his stomach.
Another item appeared in Motomu's palm.
It was neither metal nor wood, its gray-white surface covered in light blue patterns.
It felt heavy and solid in his hand, giving him a sense of security.
[UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION STONE]
[EFFECT: ALLOWS AN ORDINARY POKÉMON TO COMPLETE ONE EVOLUTION]
[DESCRIPTION: THIS IS A STONE. IN A FEW TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS, A MONKEY MIGHT JUMP OUT OF IT.]
He skipped the useless description.
The effect line on the system panel clearly showed the purpose of this stone.
Motomu touched his eye socket.
*Can this Evolution Stone directly evolve a Three-Tomoe Sharingan into a Mangekyo?*
*I wonder what my Mangekyo ability will be.*
As the eye that reflects the heart...
The abilities gained upon awakening the Mangekyo were related to bloodline and the user's mental state at the moment of awakening.
Like when Obito awakened his, he wanted to escape the real world.
His ability was related to spatial intangibility.
Whereas for Sasuke and Itachi, their eyes shared the Amaterasu ability, perhaps due to their bloodline connection.
Motomu was curious about what his Mangekyo ability would be.
*A space-time type would be best. If I can't win, I can just run.*
*A time-based one would be nice too; I would exist in the past and future.*
*Even if it's something like Amaterasu, it won't be completely useless.*
*Once I get the Mangekyo, my spiritual energy will definitely skyrocket.*
*My chakra reserves should at least double by then.*
Thinking of this...
Motomu used the Evolution Stone directly on his Big Eyeball.
*Hmm?*
*Do I need to shout it out?*
"System, use Evolution Stone?"
The Big Eyeball remained indifferent.
Instead, a system prompt rang in Motomu's mind.
[DING]
[SPECIAL POKÉMON: RIGHT EYE (LEVEL 38) HAS INDIVIDUAL VALUES OVER 20. DUE TO THE INFLUENCE OF THE PASSIVE MOVE DOUBLE HAPPINESS, IT DOES NOT CURRENTLY MEET THE PREREQUISITES FOR ITEM USE]
[FOR TRAINER TO FORCE USE]
[MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS: 1. POKÉMON REACHES LEVEL 40; 2. COLLECT TWO EVOLUTION STONES]
[IF POKÉMON LEVEL IS LESS THAN 40 AND THE TRAINER ONLY POSSESSES ONE EVOLUTION STONE, THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY (0.1623%) OF EVOLUTION FAILURE.]
[IF POKÉMON LEVEL IS GREATER THAN 40, THEN...]
Reading this long system prompt...
Motomu roughly understood the mechanics.
Because his Sharingan 'Big Eyeball' had such high IVs and because there were two of them...
The Evolution Stones had to come in a pair as well.
Otherwise, even if he reached level 40, only the Right Eye would evolve into a Mangekyo, while the Left Eye would remain a Three-Tomoe.
According to this...
*Even at level 40, the Big Eyeball won't evolve on its own?*
Advancing to Mangekyo would require the power of the Evolution Stone.
Fortunately, he had one Evolution Stone now. To get one Mangekyo, he just needed the Big Eyeball itself to reach level 40.
Currently, he was only about 7,000 experience points away from level 40.
A few spare trips to Ryuchi Cave would do the trick.
After all, the Snake Sages should all be there...
[EXPLANATION OF EVOLUTION STONE USAGE RULES COMPLETE]
[DING]
[TRAINER HAS USED THE EVOLUTION STONE]
Motomu was stunned. "???"
*No.*
*Wait!*
*System! I was joking before!*
*Don't use it!*
*Damn it all.*
*You gave me that whole explanation just so I'd know exactly how I got screwed, didn't you?!*
*I finally struck gold with some dumb luck, snatching an Evolution Stone with a less than 5% chance!*
*You!...*
With his eyes bulging in fury, Motomu felt his right eye socket go empty as the eyeball flew out uncontrollably.
After a burst of familiar, high-energy music and flashing particle effects...
A despairing Motomu heard the system prompt again.
[DING]
[CONGRATULATIONS, TRAINER. UNLOCKED POKÉMON EVOLUTION OPTIONS X2]
[THIS RESULT CAN BE SAVED]
[TO UNLOCK MORE OPTIONS, ANOTHER EVOLUTION STONE CAN BE USED]
It worked?
*It actually worked?!*
*How the hell did that 0.5623% probability—precise to four decimal places—actually pull through?*
With this luck, he would have been rich if he'd bought a lottery ticket.
After a moment of shock...
Adopting the mindset of accepting things as they come...
Motomu checked the evolution options the Big Eyeball had obtained.
[MANGEKYO RIGHT EYE: KAGUTSUCHI]
[MANGEKYO RIGHT EYE: TOOL MANIPULATION]
*This???*
*Aren't these two piles of garbage?*
Kagutsuchi was Sasuke's ability to manipulate Amaterasu's flames in the original series.
But without Amaterasu, what use was this?
Tool Manipulation?
Was it that shuriken-controlling ability of Uchiha Shin's?
He already had Psychokinesis; what did he need that for?
These were two completely useless abilities!
If one of them was picked at random, wouldn't he be ruined?
*Was it because my mood was wrong just now?*
*That's it.*
*I must have been too resistant just now.*
*To welcome a new ability, I must be full of anticipation!*
Luckily, the system's divine power had directly locked it for him instead of choosing immediately, giving him a chance to refresh it later.
*Next time, I have to adjust my mindset before starting the evolution.*
It truly was the eye that reflects the heart.
Feeling relieved, Motomu pulled his thoughts back and began to finalize his plan for the next stage.
He put the research into gaining experience through his heart's fire elementalization on the agenda.
The Big Eyeball would keep grinding experience in Ryuchi Cave to reach level 41 so the left eye could reach level 40, and he'd see if he could grind for another Evolution Stone.
Beyond that, he needed to see what was happening in the Hidden Sand Village.
He'd look for a chance to launch a sneak attack on the One-Tail. Currently, the One-Tail was still inside that old monk named Bunpuku.
It should be easy to deal with.
He'd previously had a hypothesis about the heart.
The Five Elements Chakra Cycle Hypothesis.
Since a single heart could change his chakra nature, what if he got a Wood-style liver?
With Wood feeding Fire, perhaps his chakra shortage problem could be improved from there.
Motomu looked at the sky.
It was already late afternoon.
The Ninja Academy should be letting out soon.
Rin should have already gone to help Cobra with her bandages...
*Wait!*
A detail he had almost forgotten popped into Motomu's mind.
Until now, only Cobra was left at his house.
*After all this time, I hope that girl hasn't torn my house apart!*
*I don't want my dream of a villa to vanish because my old home got ransacked first.*
According to the law of conservation of luck...
He had just experienced a stroke of celestial fortune, so now it was time to pay the debt.
It was highly likely that Cobra had already finished wrecking the place!
Motomu's heart tightened, and he instantly picked up his pace.
At the Uchiha clan compound, Motomu's house.
The black-haired girl that Cobra had transformed into was sprawled out on the green cotton sofa.
Dressed in a white tank top and shorts, she didn't feel at all that her clothing was revealing.
A magazine that Motomu had bought previously was spinning on the tip of her slender finger.
"108."
"109."
...
Bored out of her mind, the girl was counting how many times she had spun the book.
Suddenly, as she reached 120...
Sensing something, she flipped over and faced the front door.
Pulling at her top where the strap was slipping...
The girl fixed her gaze on the entrance.
Motomu's scent wasn't outside.
Instead, there was a new, unfamiliar presence.
*Knock knock knock!*
*Creeeeeak!*
The wooden door was yanked open by Obito.
The girl wearing round, black-rimmed glasses looked up.
Their eyes met.
*Bang!*
The door was slammed shut again.
After a long silence...
The girl in glasses looked puzzled as she heard another unfamiliar female voice, different from the previous doctor's, outside.
"Obito, why are you blocking the door?"
"Is Motomu in there by himself doing something shameful?"