Just as Motomu was waiting for the third round of experience changes.
Vaguely, two green figures in the distance jogged past the edge of the forest.
Motomu looked closer; the two were none other than Might Guy and his father, out for their training.
Still running laps around Konoha at eleven at night... one could only say they were truly ninjas who reached the peak through sheer perseverance.
As they drew closer, Motomu found himself in a bit of a predicament.
Those two might be thick-headed, but they weren't blind.
A Dazzling Teacup sat out in the open on the ground; any ninja could spot it from a dozen meters away.
It looked like the bonus he had worked so hard to accumulate was about to be interrupted again.
Motomu didn't hesitate. His Psychokinesis erupted, draping a layer of optical invisibility over his Big Eyeball form.
[DING]
[HIDE-AND-SEEK FAILED]
[DAZZLING TEACUP CHALLENGE PRESERVED]
The system prompts popped up and then vanished.
Motomu originally intended to leave and find another spot to continue.
But after overhearing the conversation between Guy and his father, his Big Eyeball, which had just started to drift away, came to a halt.
The eyeball swiveled, casting its gaze downward.
Might Duy slowed his jog to a stop, and next to him, Guy—who didn't even reach his father's neck yet—stopped as well.
In the rustling woods, Duy's voice rang out, full of hot-blooded passion and drive.
"Son, I took on a long-term mission today with a very generous reward."
Hearing this, Guy nodded happily.
"Father, you did it!"
"Mhm, that's right! This is the client's recognition of my youth!"
"For this mission, I'll have to leave the village and head to the coast for two years."
"While I am away during this time... can I also place my recognition in you?"
Might Guy listened to his father's words.
Beneath his bushy eyebrows, his eyes burned with hot-blooded determination.
"You can, Father!"
"I will challenge geniuses properly and double my efforts in training!"
"Starting tomorrow, I will run 600 laps around Konoha every day."
"Yoshi! As expected of the son who will catch up to geniuses through hard work!"
"Since that is the case..."
"...I shall pass this forbidden jutsu on to you today."
Might Duy took out a pre-prepared scroll of the Eight Inner Gates and began his explanation.
Following the principle that there was no harm in learning something for free...
...the Big Eyeball lingered nearby and listened for quite a while.
As he gained a deeper understanding, Motomu generally grasped the entire process of training the Eight Gates.
First, the only way to open the Gates was through reaching a specific standard of physical fitness.
Through extreme training day after day, the body's muscles, organs, and meridians would gradually adapt to the shock of opening the Gates.
According to Might Duy, it had taken him over twenty years to finally master this secret technique entirely.
Under the weight of internal injuries, excessive loss of vitality, and a series of other side effects,
those who practiced this method were prone to a cursed end in their later years.
But a cursed end was a problem for later; in the cruel world of ninjas, it was already difficult enough to survive until forty.
After experiencing the pursuit by the White Snake Sage and the incident with Shukaku, Motomu's thoughts on the Eight Inner Gates had shifted.
Even with the support of the Dragon Vein's chakra, he still couldn't defeat the White Snake Sage.
Now the Dragon Vein was gone.
His true strength was only enough to go toe-to-toe with an Elite Jonin.
If he faced too many enemy ninjas and ran out of chakra, it would be game over.
Even someone as powerful as the Third Raikage died that way.
And the most crucial desperate move of the Eight Gates—the Gate of Death.
It required no sealing jutsu and no Hashirama cells.
One only needed to surge chakra straight into the heart, evaporating the body's blood and igniting a red steam, to blast through anything.
The White Snake Sage's current situation was unknown.
Motomu desperately needed a trump card for life-and-death situations.
If the White Snake Sage came knocking again...
and he had the Eight Inner Gates...
even if opening the Gate of Death meant a one-way trip, he could at least drag the other party down with him.
To his surprise, Motomu realized something else.
He might have unknowingly gathered all the conditions required to be immune to the side effects of the Eight Gates.
First, with the fire immunity from Orochimaru's mysterious cultivation technique, the high temperatures from burning chakra-infused blood were no concern.
As for the loss of vitality, he could use the Big Eyeball's Dream Eater to plunder it back.
And regarding the burden of chakra impacting the heart, Motomu, who possessed an elementalized heart, wasn't scared at all.
The entire process was quite perfect.
All that was missing was the physical training needed to open the gates and the courage to give it a try.
In the short term, the only thing that could significantly improve his constitution was Senjutsu.
He just didn't know if the physical boost from Senjutsu could fill that gap.
"Guy, did you get all that!"
"This forbidden jutsu can only be used when protecting someone precious to you."
"Understood! Father, I will definitely remember!"
"Very good! To celebrate you learning the Eight Inner Gates, today we'll do another 100 laps around Konoha while walking on our hands."
"Yes, Father! If we fail the 100 laps, we'll do 200 laps of frog jumps!"
Under Motomu's speechless gaze...
...the two green-clad eccentrics in the training ground simultaneously stood on their hands and 'ran' into the distance on their palms, vanishing before his eyes in the blink of an eye.
After confirming they were far away,
the Big Eyeball wobbled and flew back into the depths of the forest.
One month passed.
In the blink of an eye.
During this time, Motomu had made some progress in his research on Hide-and-Seek.
Hide-and-Seek was a steady, long-term source of experience; it would be very useful in the later stages when opponents were hard to find.
For the early stages, combat could still serve as a substitute.
This was the thought that occurred to Motomu over the past month.
The reason...
...was that for thirty whole days, Hide-and-Seek hadn't brought in much experience. After multiple attempts, he had only gained 301 points in total.
It wasn't even enough to raise Kidney to level 10.
Motomu wasn't discouraged by this; he chose to return to his old profession today.
Heading to Ryuchi Cave to check on Snake Princess.
It had been quite a while.
Snake Princess and the White Snake Sage hadn't come looking for him; there hadn't been even the slightest movement.
Motomu didn't believe for a second that they were being merciful and had decided to let him go.
Those snakes were likely plotting something behind his back.
In that case, it was better to strike first and see what was happening on their end.
And while he was at it, he could get some experience for the Big Eyeball's stagnant level.
Motomu remembered that he still had an Evolution Stone he hadn't used yet.
Once the Big Eyeball reached level 41, he could use the Evolution Stone to refresh Big Eyeball No. 2's Mangekyo ocular technique.
When that time came...
his spiritual power would surge.
Perhaps it could bring a turning point for his terrible Senjutsu talent.
Awooo!
Pop!
The Cobra released its large mouth from Motomu's neck once more.
Under the erosion of natural energy,
Motomu's slightly vacant eyes, lost in thought and memory, regained their spark.
He shook his somewhat dizzy head.
Motomu looked at the Cobra, which was currently letting out a burp.
This was already his fiftieth failure at practicing Senjutsu since his return.
On the other hand, Anko, beside him, was starting to get the hang of her Senjutsu training.
The eyeshadow brought by Sage Mode was faintly appearing at the corners of Anko's eyes.
Anko's Sage Mode had gone from initial failure to being sustainable for several seconds.
In just one month, this rate of progress was quite impressive.
Regarding this...
Motomu might be unwilling to accept it, but his talent was what it was; no matter how much he grumbled, there was nothing he could do.
The daily Senjutsu training ended.
The three of them returned to the wooden cabin.
As soon as the Cobra returned, it curled up on the sofa and skillfully grabbed the remote, switching to the travel program it had recently become obsessed with.
The screen was showing a special on a seaside resort—sunlight, beaches, bikinis, and the endless sea.
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