The familiar Training Ground 7.
Motomu controlled the Big Eyeball as it wandered aimlessly through the area.
Like a jungle delinquent, it went out of its way to provoke every slow-moving animal it encountered.
Under its long-range psychokinetic attacks, these poor, unfortunate creatures stood no chance.
With a single, effortless sweep,
The Big Eyeball's Level 6 experience bar filled instantly, and it reached Level 7 in the blink of an eye.
[RIGHT EYE (LEVEL 6) USED PSYCHOKINESIS]
[IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE]
[HP -12]
[VICTORY!]
[METAPOD (LEVEL 6) WAS CRUSHED]
[RIGHT EYE EXP +15]
[RIGHT EYE LEVELED UP! IT SEEMS TO HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING]
[1. GROWL 2. BITE]
[3. TELEPORT 4. HYPNOSIS]
He ruled out options 1 and 2.
"View the description for option 4."
[HYPNOSIS: EMITS HYPNOTIC WAVES CALCULATED BY CURRENT SPECIAL ATTACK × POKEMON INDIVIDUAL VALUES TO PUT THE TARGET TO SLEEP]
After reading it, Motomu hesitated for a moment before giving up on Teleport.
After all, this was only the third time he'd had to choose moves, and Teleport had appeared again; perhaps it was a permanent fixture in the pool.
But this Hypnosis...
'Good grief, isn't this just Genjutsu?'
Its power was tied to his Special Attack stat, making it another scaling skill.
Moreover, it had no activation requirements—it was a zero-frame startup. In the late game, it might even surpass Tsukuyomi.
Suddenly, while Motomu was still lost in his fantasies,
A system notification rang out sharply.
[DING]
[A WILD NOCTOWL (LEVEL 26) JUMPED OUT FROM THE DARKNESS]
[NOCTOWL USED A SURPRISE ATTACK ON YOU]
The Big Eyeball's pupil constricted instantly. Silently, a pair of massive shadows with a wingspan of over three meters loomed over it.
Air sliced through the giant owl's unique serrated feathers. Despite its massive size, it lunged with the silent speed of a killer in the dark.
'What was that?!'
Motomu was completely stunned by the system prompt.
'Level 26?'
'You've got to be kidding me!'
Without a second thought, Motomu channeled all his chakra into several layers of solid Reflect barriers behind the Big Eyeball.
There was a thunderous crash.
The giant owl's talons, as long as a human forearm, pierced through all the defenses in one go.
It gripped the Big Eyeball tightly.
Intense pain surged as Motomu felt the Big Eyeball being squeezed and deformed.
The sharp tips of the owl's claws seemed to have already punctured the interior of the eyeball.
"Damn it!"
"Why would such a huge thing grab an eyeball that isn't even the size of a fist?"
Enduring the pain, Motomu looked out through the Big Eyeball's blood-red vision.
All he could see outside was an endless forest.
He could vaguely make out a chain-link fence below that they had crossed in an instant.
"Shit!"
"Dammit, I'm inside the Forest of Death!"
Looking at the increasingly primitive forest below, cold sweat dripped down Motomu's forehead.
While regretting that he hadn't chosen Teleport earlier,
A question simultaneously surfaced in Motomu's mind.
'Where exactly is this Level 26 monster taking the Big Eyeball?'
If it didn't eat it on the spot, there might still be a chance.
The giant owl flew very fast.
Carefully noting the distinct landmarks along the way, Motomu waited for less than ten minutes.
The owl finally reached its destination.
On the edge of the Forest of Death, atop a towering ancient tree likely stimulated by Hashirama's chakra.
The hurricane-like wind from its wings made the leaves rustle as the three-meter-tall giant owl slowed down to land.
Through the Big Eyeball's perspective, he looked at the pitch-black hollow of the tree facing him.
Tense, Motomu couldn't help but gulp.
He had been brought back to its nest.
If the giant owl wasn't going to eat him itself, the Big Eyeball's fate was likely to be fed to the owl chicks.
The answer was revealed soon enough.
It was exactly as Motomu had guessed.
Inside the giant hollow were three newly hatched owlets, still sticky with egg whites, chirping for food.
Their eyes were still closed, but upon hearing the giant owl return,
They perked up instantly, stretching their necks and opening their mouths wide.
It looked like they were waiting for their mother to feed them.
Fortunately!
The giant owl that had caught the Big Eyeball was clearly a novice.
It looked at its chirping chicks with confusion for a moment before instinctively releasing its grip on the Big Eyeball.
Splut—
The Big Eyeball, which had been playing dead, rolled a couple of times through the nest full of prickly branches before coming to a stop at the feet of an owlet.
The owlet, which had been chirping and seemed a bit sad upon realizing there was no food, was suddenly bumped by the Big Eyeball.
These cute, deadly things reacted immediately, vying with each other to peck at the Big Eyeball with their hooked yellow beaks.
A tearing pain surged through him, but Motomu gritted his teeth and didn't let the Big Eyeball make a single sound.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
Only when the giant owl seemed satisfied with its little ones' self-sufficiency and turned to fly back out,
Did Motomu, who had suffered for so long, finally unleash Hypnosis.
The little ones, whose mental strength was weak and who had only just been born, immediately stopped their pecking.
"View status."
[POKEMON: ONE-TOMOE SHARINGAN]
[LEVEL: 7]
[TYPE: PSYCHIC/DARK]
[CURRENT EXP: 4/70]
[STATS: HP: 5/23 | ATK: 14 | DEF: 3 | SPA: 28 | SPD: 18 | SPE: 5]
[INDIVIDUAL VALUES: 22/31]
[EFFORT VALUES: 33/100]
[NATURE/ABILITY: BOLD]
[MOVES: TACKLE, HYPNOSIS, PSYCHOKINESIS, REFLECT]
[DESCRIPTION: PIDGEY SLAYER, YOU MONSTER.]
Glancing at the description, Motomu's gaze refocused on the HP.
With only 5 Hit Points remaining, Motomu could imagine that the Big Eyeball must have been about half-eaten by now.
'I can't fly at all!'
Motomu tried to fly, but there was no response.
He had seen it on the way here.
This tree was at least ten stories high. Although he was in the middle section, if he fell, he would end up as an eyeball pancake.
There was absolutely no other possibility.
If he wanted to escape with his life, he had to recover first.
He stared toward the opening of the tree hollow for a while.
After confirming that the mother owl wouldn't be back anytime soon,
Motomu controlled the three hypnotized chicks to push the Big Eyeball into a crevice at the back of the nest.
The three poor owlets used the same strength they had just used to peck the Big Eyeball to barely manage to hide the severely injured thing.
Survival was the priority for now.
Escaping would have to be planned later.
'It seems I can't be too arrogant.'
The owl had likely been attracted by the Big Eyeball's dominating posture at Training Ground 7.
Motomu didn't have much time to think.
He soon saw a second victim.
This was a giant green chameleon.
About half a meter long, it was on the verge of death.
Like the Big Eyeball, it was tossed into the nest by the giant owl with a thud.
As soon as it hit the ground, the chameleon, which had been playing dead, immediately began to struggle.
It kicked its legs, trying to lunge toward the entrance.
But the giant owl simply raised a talon and pressed down.
Then, Motomu heard the sound of bones cracking one after another.