The ground was covered in black, tadpole-like script forming a ring.
Anrokuzan pressed his hand against the seal, sensing it carefully. A look of intoxicated ecstasy appeared on his weathered face.
"As expected, the Dragon Vein is..."
*Crack!*
Just as his guard was down, at the height of his success when he was most relaxed.
Motomu's Jonin-level chakra erupted with full force.
Ten tons of intersecting psychokinetic force snapped Anrokuzan's neck in an instant.
No screams, no struggle.
Having just reached the pinnacle of his life, Mukade Anrokuzan's cervical vertebrae shattered, instantly losing all sensation below the head.
He collapsed limply.
Anrokuzan, who hadn't yet discarded his humanity to evolve into the puppet centipede form from the original story, stared wide-eyed.
He couldn't understand why someone was still there.
Why such an eerie attack existed.
The moment the attack arrived, his long-cultivated ninja intuition had sounded an alarm.
Unfortunately, his body was still a step too slow.
He, Mukade, had spent years painstakingly planning, and in the end, it was all gone!
It would all probably benefit the bastard who ambushed him.
'You animal!!'
He glared deathly at the figure walking in from the entrance.
As his breathing stopped, the light in Mukade's eyes faded into darkness.
Countless puppets lost control.
One by one, they slumped to the ground.
Big Eyeball reversed its course and rotated back into Motomu's eye socket.
Looking at the unconscious red-haired girl on the ground, Motomu felt a bit conflicted.
"I'm starting to feel like the ultimate villain."
The situation now was that he had killed Anrokuzan, but Anrokuzan had killed the princess's mother.
Motomu wasn't sure if Sara was clear-headed or not.
If she woke up and started screaming, wouldn't he be exposed?
He would have to take the fall for Anrokuzan killing the Queen of Loulan.
First, he took the fall for Garaga's death, and now he was taking the fall for Anrokuzan.
'I'm more of a Scapegoat Hokage than Danzo!'
Motomu thought for a moment and didn't immediately move to eliminate the witness.
He leaned down and pulled back the red-haired girl's eyelid.
Motomu froze just as he was about to cast a genjutsu.
Under her tightly closed eyes, her pupils were staring straight at him.
'Don't unconscious people's eyes roll back?'
'Did she wake up when she fell off the puppet?'
"Hello?"
Hearing this, the frightened girl shuddered violently and then stopped moving again.
Somewhat speechless, Motomu used a Sharingan Genjutsu to control the girl playing dead, making her stand up and follow him.
Details about the Dragon Vein spilled from the mouth of the girl caught in the illusion as they walked.
It turned out that before the people of Loulan built the city and sealed the Dragon Vein, the chakra here was dark red.
After years of accumulation, an eruption would be enough to destroy all of Loulan.
This matched the plot in Motomu's memory, where the seal was completely destroyed by a dying Anrokuzan.
Motomu didn't want to destroy Loulan either.
He only needed to loosen the seal enough to open a crack.
This Dragon Vein seal hadn't been changed into the Four Symbols Seal by Namikaze Minato yet.
Therefore, cracking it was quite simple.
The girl pressed her hands against the seal.
A few seconds later.
The purple chakra filtered through the seal disappeared.
A tremor vibrated through the ground beneath Motomu's feet.
Below the stone pillar where the sealing array was located, the ground—originally dark like obsidian—cracked inch by inch, and a brilliant dark red light burst forth.
The light shone brightly, overpowering the torchlight.
While controlling Princess Sara to maintain the seal, Motomu walked down the cliff wall alone, testing the way.
The obsidian ground was very hard.
Motomu tested it and stood firmly upon it.
Looking at the violent red unknown energy surging beneath the crack.
Even through the seal, Motomu felt a bit of trepidation.
If he fell in, not even ashes would remain.
Now that he had found the Dragon Vein.
A new question arose in Motomu's mind.
How was he supposed to know what that stuff down there was?
Notifying Orochimaru and handing it over to him for research was one way.
But he didn't really want to work for Orochimaru!
After thinking for a while.
Motomu formed hand seals, bit his finger, and slammed it onto the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
With a poof, the Cobra, wearing cute rabbit pajamas and looking bewildered, was summoned to the sealing site.
"Hey, am I dreaming?"
"I need your help with something."
The black-haired girl wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and stood up.
Having woken up a bit, her gaze gradually became serious.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong!
Such strange natural energy.
Such terrifying chakra concentration!
In her Senjutsu Chakra Mode, the Cobra, with her supreme sensory abilities, flicked her tongue uneasily.
As she spoke, she tried to quietly retreat upward.
"What is this place?"
"No, I don't want to know anymore!"
"Hurry up, what do you want me to do?"
"I don't want to stay here for another second!"
Seeing the Cobra react so violently, Motomu already had a hunch.
After asking his questions and getting the answers he wanted.
Motomu didn't make things difficult for the Cobra or force her to stay; he immediately released the summoning and sent her back to the hotel.
According to the information provided by the Cobra.
This place really was a gathering point for natural energy.
As for what kind of natural energy it was, he would only know after trying it.
Taking out his heart that had undergone Fire Elementalization, he slowly approached the edge of the crack.
Motomu's Sharingan spun at high speed.
If anything went wrong, he would pull his hand back immediately.
[SYSTEM: DING! YOUR POKEMON HAS GAINED EXPERIENCE.]
Holy crap!
It actually works!
Just as the system prompt sounded.
The unknown red energy within the crack swirled around the flaming heart before descending.
Watching this scene.
A golden light flickered in Motomu's eyes.
Motomu's efforts and waiting had not been in vain.
The Dragon Vein was indeed a mass of chakra containing natural energy!
And!
This natural energy happened to be the fire energy needed for the heart to level up.
Looking at the massive hunk of Dragon Vein beneath his feet, Motomu's joy was beyond measure.
Man!
The heart's experience points are finally unlocked!
There's so much fire energy in the Dragon Vein. I wonder if reaching the level cap before the heart finishes absorbing it all will damage my future path.
[SYSTEM: DING! YOUR POKEMON HAS GAINED EXPERIENCE.]
[SYSTEM: EXPERIENCE POINTS +1]
An hour later.
The system's incredibly sweet notification sounded again.
Listening to it, Motomu didn't know how to contain his excitement.
After a few moments.
Having calmed down from his excitement.
Maintaining a scientifically rigorous attitude, he began experimenting with the factors affecting the rate of experience gain.
He controlled Princess Sara to open the seal a bit more.
Motomu carefully pushed the heart into the crack.
[SYSTEM: DING! YOUR POKEMON HAS GAINED EXPERIENCE.]
[SYSTEM: EXPERIENCE POINTS +1]
In thirty minutes, a system prompt popped up.
This was much faster than before, when he was just grazing the edge.
Adding one point per hour had become much faster!
"Heart, let me see your limit!"
Motomu tried pushing it down a bit further.
A feeling of fullness came from his heart.
[SYSTEM: DING! YOUR POKEMON HAS GAINED EXPERIENCE.]
[SYSTEM: EXPERIENCE POINTS +3]
After waiting an hour, three points of experience popped up at once.
So this was the limit.
Feeling a bit greedy, Motomu reluctantly withdrew his hand.
With twenty-four hours in a day, idling here would grant 72 experience points.
Calculating based on 365 days a year, that would be 26,280 experience points!
If the speed remained constant.
In just one year, the heart could reach around Level 37.
Fast, incredibly fast!
It took Big Eyeball two years just to reach Level 38.
Could the ultimate secret to pet training be... idling?
Motomu finally experienced the luxury of a happy problem.
However, before he could enjoy idling, he had to clean up the aftermath of the Sara incident.