Motomu stood where he was, staring blankly at the receding back of Sasori.
"Notify me? How am I supposed to do that?"
He suddenly realized that the man hadn't even left any contact information.
He withdrew his gaze from the Hiruko puppet where Pakura was currently impaled.
It was probably better not to ask; after all, that's just how experts tended to act.
Next, despite feeling quite fatigued, Motomu still had something very important to do.
After rummaging through the two charred corpses on the ground for a while, he only managed to find a few kunai.
After stowing them away, Motomu walked over to the shriveled, dried-up body of Yamanaka Nai.
He skillfully removed the ninja tool pouch and opened it. Several high-denomination bills were rolled up inside, along with three explosive tags and a full stock of unused tools.
At the very bottom of the pouch, Motomu pulled out a scroll with the character for 'Seal' written on it.
He recalled what he had learned at the Ninja Academy.
This thing seemed to be called an Object Sealing Scroll.
Motomu spread the scroll open. Tadpole-like runes formed a circle on the white paper, and in the very center of the circle, the character for 'Seal' was visible.
"Release!"
With a poof, a cloud of white smoke appeared.
Several items appeared on the scroll.
A white demon mask and a pile of torture tools that smelled faintly of blood.
"Does the Yamanaka clan really need to use torture tools like these?"
After throwing away the items that seemed to carry an unknown amount of lingering resentment, Motomu sealed the white mask and the kunai he couldn't fit elsewhere back into the scroll.
He checked to make sure nothing had been missed.
Motomu smeared a bit of blood on his finger and skillfully performed the hand signs for the Summoning Jutsu.
Poof!
"Who is it that summoned this great one?!"
A large black cobra appeared, costing Motomu nearly half of his remaining chakra to summon.
Perhaps because of the harsh desert environment, the creature's temper was clearly quite irritable.
"I'm treating you to a meal."
"Oh? There's such a good deal?"
Motomu was surprised; the way this snake thought seemed a bit unusual.
The giant snakes of Ryuchi Cave usually demanded either ten chickens or a person as a sacrifice every time they were summoned; they always had various demands.
He hadn't expected to encounter such a reasonable one today.
"Could it be that my skill with the Summoning Jutsu has improved?"
"But that doesn't make sense, does it?"
Even someone as strong as Orochimaru had to provide Manda with a hundred-person sacrificial feast right off the bat.
Motomu rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and asked, "Do you know the Reverse Summoning Jutsu?"
As the smoke from the summoning dissipated, Motomu finally got a clear look at the snake's appearance.
It was a cobra—but more specifically, a 'cultured' cobra wearing a pair of round-framed glasses.
Upon hearing Motomu's question, it used the tip of its tail to nudge the glasses that were slipping down its smooth scales.
"I knew it. There's no such thing as a free midnight snack."
"Fine then. Consider yourself lucky; I've achieved some level of mastery in the Reverse Summoning Jutsu."
"Kid, are you planning on going to Ryuchi Cave?"
"Great!"
My Summoning Jutsu really has improved.
Motomu nodded and continued, "There's no rush for that. I'll summon you again when I've decided to go."
"As for this meal, consider it a deposit between us."
The black cobra thought for a short while before agreeing.
It ate quickly and wasted nothing.
It devoured the female ninja Motomu had stabbed to death and then swallowed the two charred corpses on the ground as well.
After extending its neck and looking around to make sure nothing was left behind, the cobra returned to Motomu.
It tapped its tail against the dried corpse of Yamanaka Nai on the ground and said, "Can I eat this piece of old jerky?"
"If I don't eat it, it'll just go to waste."
"Be my guest."
Motomu stepped back to give it space.
The sound of crunching bones came from the snake's wide-open mouth.
"It's a bit dry. How did you make this jerky? It tastes terrible!"
"Now you're complaining?"
Motomu frowned as he recalled the 100-Hit Dream Eater he had used to finish off Yamanaka Nai.
[DREAM EATER: USED ON SLEEPING OPPONENTS. UPON SUCCESS, DEALS MINOR DAMAGE AND DRAINS 1% OF THE TARGET'S LIFE FORCE]
While Big Eyeball had drained every last drop of Yamanaka Nai's life force, it had also funneled ninety percent of it to Motomu.
At the time, he only wanted to urgently restore some chakra. He never imagined that the entire life force of a Chunin would be so potent.
Just that single portion of life force had instantly tripled his chakra reserves, bringing him close to the level of a Jonin.
When that life force flooded his body, Motomu felt like a balloon being blown up.
Chakra boiled in his pathways, nearly making his body explode.
He had been forced to repeatedly cast the Great Fireball Technique just to suppress that bloated sensation.
Furthermore...
Chakra was the product of combining spiritual and physical energy.
After this event, the two were now in balance within him.
Motomu guessed that if he wanted to increase his chakra further in the future, besides using this method, he would first need to supplement his spiritual energy.
On the other hand, Big Eyeball could also absorb life energy through Dream Eater.
It seemed that every time it absorbed a little, it would grow slightly larger.
Motomu decided to check Big Eyeball's status panel.
[POKEMON: TWO-TOMOE SHARINGAN]
[LEVEL: 22]
[TYPE: PSYCHIC/DARK]
[CURRENT EXP: 14/220]
[STATS: HP: 100 | ATK: 37 | DEF: 100 | SP. ATK: 80 | SP. DEF: 77 | SPD: 5]
[INDIVIDUAL VALUES: 24/31]
[EFFORT VALUES: 99/100]
[NATURE/ABILITY: BOLD]
[MOVES: DREAM EATER, HYPNOSIS, PSYCHOKINESIS, MINIMIZE]
[PASSIVE MOVES: ENLARGE AND HARDEN, BOND GROWTH]
[DESCRIPTION: IT IS GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER.]
The name 'Enlarge and Harden' wasn't very elegant, but its effect complemented the life force provided by Dream Eater perfectly.
As the Pokemon's size increased, its defense rose accordingly.
Big Eyeball had transformed from a glass cannon that used to get bullied by a Pidgey into something resembling a mini-boss!
If it continued developing like this, its HP bar might actually reach the opponent's face before its Psychokinesis did.
By comparison, the Speed stat of 5 looked exceptionally ugly.
Other Pokemon had high attack, high defense, and enough speed to strike first.
His was a HP-tank that came with a built-in taunt.
Motomu sighed, feeling like he was raising a very strange creature.
During the earlier ambush on Yamanaka Nai, he had relied on instantly canceling Minimize to bite the man.
As he thought about it, Motomu felt like he had pulled the wrong signature weapon for his build.
He let out a helpless sigh; he actually quite liked the idea of being a long-range kiting mage.
At least as a ninja, he was working hard toward that direction.
If Big Eyeball ever went to Ryuchi Cave and kept eating until its massive red HP bar poked the White Snake Sage in the face, that would be quite rude.
As the sounds of the cobra's difficult swallowing ended, Motomu snapped back to reality and released the summoning.
The bodies were cleaned up.
However, there was no guarantee that Root didn't have other methods of communication.
He hadn't found any scrolls used for recording data on his strength while searching the bodies. Motomu knew that the man had likely hidden them before being cornered.
It was even possible that Yamanaka Nai had left some subtle marks.
If Root investigated, they would still find something.
Motomu reviewed the battle in his mind.
At least until the moment he killed Yamanaka Nai, he had been cautious and hadn't revealed any strength he shouldn't have.
The records concerning him should be mostly fine.
But the key problem now was that Yamanaka Nai was dead, while he was still alive.