Motomu didn't return to his classes at the Ninja Academy; instead, he headed into the Forest of Death alone.
Deep within the canopy of trees reaching dozens of meters high, blotting out the sun.
Motomu stood on a swaying branch and plucked his Right Eye from its socket.
He extended his arm and opened his palm.
The blood-red eyeball spun as it plummeted.
As it fell, its size surged!
It grew from the size of a fist to a human head, and then a washbasin.
It finally slowed to a stop once it reached the size of an exercise ball.
Motomu took a step forward.
His feet landed on the solid surface of the eyeball.
Having caught Motomu, the Big Eyeball flew effortlessly toward the heart of the forest.
"Check stats."
[POKEMON: ONE-TOMOE SHARINGAN]
[LEVEL: 18]
[TYPE: PSYCHIC/DARK]
[CURRENT EXP: 114/180]
[BASE STATS: HP: 50 | ATK: 23 | DEF: 50 | SP. ATK: 62 | SP. DEF: 51 | SPD: 5]
[INDIVIDUAL VALUES: 24/31]
[EFFORT VALUES: 89/100]
[NATURE: BOLD]
[MOVES: DREAM EATER, HYPNOSIS, PSYCHOKINESIS, MINIMIZE]
[DESCRIPTION: DO YOU REALLY THINK ITS ART STYLE IS NORMAL?]
As its level increased.
Its stats like Attack and Defense rose accordingly; the Big Eyeball was more than capable of handling small to medium-sized animals.
However, Motomu also noticed a problem.
Among the Big Eyeball's stats, Speed was the only one that remained stagnant.
As his grinding became more frequent.
And as its level grew.
This led to a very awkward situation.
In the Forest of Death, he couldn't beat the high-level creatures.
Low-level ones gave too little experience.
And those around the same level had developed some intelligence.
After being knocked down by the Big Eyeball a few times, they would run on sight, giving him no chance to trigger a battle.
Out of options.
He decided to try a mysterious little trick he'd been pondering for a while.
He flew through the Forest of Death unimpeded for about half an hour.
Feeling he was deep enough, Motomu ordered the Big Eyeball to descend while his fingers danced with speed.
Boar -> Dog -> Bird -> Monkey -> Ram.
Completing the five seals, he bit his thumb and slammed his palm onto the ground.
Boom!
A massive plume of white smoke billowed.
Within the smoke, a giant snake appeared, coiled like a mound and holding its head three meters high.
As the smoke cleared.
The giant snake stood before Motomu, its crimson scales shimmering in the sunlight.
Looking at the big guy.
Motomu was quite satisfied.
Perhaps due to his massive increase in chakra, combined with his diligent training of the Summoning Jutsu.
His Summoning Jutsu could now summon minor characters from Ryuchi Cave.
At this rate.
Even if he went to Orochimaru, he'd be qualified to learn the Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru had been obsessed with researching Natural Energy lately, and Motomu rarely saw him.
"Hiss... Human, you summoned me to fight? You'll need to give me ten chickens first."
"Heh!"
A typical Ryuchi Cave mindset, just like Manda's.
Motomu sneered, not bothering to entertain the request.
Today, he wanted to see if summoned beasts could be used to farm experience.
Regardless, this little punk in front of him didn't know ninjutsu, let alone how to release the summoning.
Motomu was going to give it a rough time.
"Go! Big Eyeball, use Psychokinesis!"
The Big Eyeball flicked its purple tongue.
It launched its move directly at the snake!
Slap!
Invisible psychic energy condensed into a palm.
A force of 180 pounds slapped the face of the snake, which had been leisurely flicking its tongue.
The snake was stunned as the massive force jerked its head aside.
Bits of blood dripped from the corner of its mouth to the ground.
The snake was completely dumbfounded; while its eyes were filled with confusion, its mind was screaming in protest.
It had just woken up and been summoned.
It was hungry and just wanted ten chickens to fill its belly.
What did it do wrong?!
At the same time.
A crisp, pleasant system notification rang in Motomu's ear.
[DING!]
[CONGRATULATIONS, TRAINER, ON TRIGGERING A GYM CHALLENGE!]
[SINCE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING RULES CAREFULLY:]
[GYM RULES:]
[THIS CHALLENGE IS A TEMPORARY FIELD GYM BATTLE. UPON VICTORY, YOU WILL RECEIVE A SMALL EXPERIENCE BONUS AND RANDOM ITEM REWARDS (TWISTED SPOON 1%, CHARCOAL 10.1%, BLACK GLASSES 5.9%, DRAGON FANG 1.8%, AND AN EXTREMELY LOW PROBABILITY OF AN EVOLUTION STONE).]
[DURING THE CHALLENGE, NEITHER SIDE'S POKEMON MAY USE RECOVERY ITEMS (SUCH AS POTIONS, BERRIES, ETC.).]
[IF YOU COMPLETE THE GYM CHALLENGE, YOU WILL RECEIVE THAT GYM'S BADGE; IF YOU FAIL, THE GYM HAS THE RIGHT TO REFUSE A REMATCH.]
CHALLENGER: MOTOMU
CURRENT GYM: UNCLAIMED · TEMPORARY BATTLE POINT
CHALLENGE TARGET: EKANS
CHALLENGE LEVEL: LV. 15
RECOMMENDED CHALLENGE LEVEL: LV. 12-LV. 18
Uchiha Motomu fell silent.
He stared at the prompts in front of him for a long time, unable to speak.
Not until the snake was heavily injured and forced to release the summoning.
Only then did Motomu snap out of it.
[RIGHT EYE (LEVEL 18) USED PSYCHOKINESIS!]
[EKANS HP: -70]
[BATTLE VICTORY!]
[EKANS (LEVEL 15) FLED!]
[RIGHT EYE EXP +7]
After reading the battle summary, a long time passed.
Motomu finally accepted the system's setting regarding Gyms.
"Ryuchi Cave is a Gym? Hmm, then is the Gym Leader Orochimaru or the White Snake Sage?"
Motomu pondered for a while. Unable to find an answer, he decided to carefully study the system prompts from earlier.
He'd seen the experience bonus.
This was exactly as he had envisioned.
Summoned beasts could also be used to trigger battles and gain experience.
From now on, he wouldn't have to worry about the Big Eyeball's experience.
Next were the random item rewards.
He knew about the Twisted Spoon.
According to Pokémon settings, it could increase the attack power of Psychic-type moves by 20%.
The effect was decent, a nice little bonus.
Besides that, Motomu's main attention was focused on the Evolution Stone.
Evolution Stone?
There was a 99% chance it was for evolving the Big Eyeball.
Motomu didn't say 100%, leaving himself an out just in case he was proven wrong.
Evolving the Big Eyeball into two-tomoe or three-tomoe—as long as he had Evolution Stones, he wouldn't have to worry about being bottlenecked by levels.
Although the drop rate for Evolution Stones was low, it was at least a shortcut.
Motomu had no recovery items, so he automatically skipped the system's second prompt.
He continued looking down, his gaze scanning the third prompt.
"Complete the Gym challenge to receive the Gym Badge?"
"System, what use do these badges have?"
After thinking for a while and having no clue about the badges, Motomu asked offhandedly.
To his surprise, the system actually answered for once.
[DING]
[GYM BADGE: PROOF OF A TRAINER'S STRENGTH. UPON OBTAINING A BADGE, AS RECOGNITION OF THE TRAINER'S ABILITY, THE SYSTEM WILL BE ABLE TO SELECT ANOTHER POKEMON FOR THE TRAINER.]
What? What does that mean?
"It should be me choosing!"
"The system selects?"
'Do you even have any shame?!'
'I'm the one putting in the blood, sweat, and tears to get the badge, but the damn system gets to choose?'
There was no response.
No matter what Motomu said, the system remained dead silent.
Motomu collected his somewhat frustrated emotions.
He kept reading.
"If you fail, the Gym has the right to refuse a rematch."
"Fail? The Gym refuses?"
"Heh."
"With one summoning, all snakes, big and small, have to come out."
"Refuse?"
"Possible?"
"It seems highly unlikely."