Collecting Venom

Among the treetops.

With rustling friction, Umino Sasuke and the other three bounded across the Giant Trees toward their assigned sector.

"Captain, we finally had a chance to build some rapport with Lord Toribo and the others. Why were we in such a hurry to head back?"

Tejudo looked utterly confused. The captain had seemed strange in every way today.

Born into a family of blade-tool merchants, Tejudo had been immersed in the ways of social conduct and personal connections since childhood.

They had finally gotten a chance to make some connections with the Akimichi Clan's jonin, only for the captain's unusual behavior to make them miss it.

"Didn't I say so? We need to get back and patrol."

Umino Sasuke irritably slapped the back of Tejudo's head, nearly sending him tumbling off the branch.

Umino Sasuke was so eager to return—or, more accurately, so eager to leave—not because he wanted to patrol. It was entirely because he had stimulated his tear glands with chakra earlier and used too much force. His eyes were still streaming tears, and he simply could not stop them.

Staying there any longer would not only risk exposing him, it would also be incredibly embarrassing.

"Hall, you three go back and patrol first. I'm going to replenish some supplies."

"Captain, don't! What if the Sand shinobi happen to choose our sector?"

"Don't worry. Aburame Shibi released plenty of Kikaichū into our sector. There won't be any danger."

After persuading Tejudo and the other two and giving them a few instructions, Umino Sasuke took the Sealing Scroll containing the spoils of war and bounded across the Giant Trees toward the rear of their sector.

After running five kilometers, Umino Sasuke doubled back toward the rear right. He traveled less than another two kilometers before finally arriving beneath a somewhat hollow giant tree.

Only after pushing the Sonic Radar Technique to its limit and making sure there were no shinobi or Aburame Clan Kikaichū nearby did he spread chakra across the soles of his feet, climb the giant tree, reach a gap in a tree hollow, and swiftly slip inside.

The giant tree was hollow, and its cavity led straight down.

The narrow tree hollow gradually widened below.

At its broadest point near the bottom, it was almost the size of a living room.

Screech, screech, screech...

The moment he reached the bottom, he heard the noisy cries of countless Water Bats.

This underground cave was one of his laboratories. Though it was extremely crude and poorly equipped, it was hidden.

Without knowing Earth Release, finding such a concealed cave on the front lines of the battlefield was already quite fortunate.

If he had not happened to contract a Water Bat as a Summoning Beast, he truly would never have discovered such a hidden place.

This underground cave had presumably once been the nest of Burrowing Pythons. Only after Water Bats, their natural enemies, seized it had it fallen into his hands.

The entire laboratory was extremely crude.

Calling it a laboratory would be less accurate than calling it a bat farm.

In the center of the underground cave stood a wooden workbench. On it lay a set of dissection tools, three iron cages containing Water Bats, and over a dozen bottles of saline solution.

What soaked in those saline bottles were neither Sharingan nor Hashirama Cells, but merely the internal organs of low-level Summoning Beasts, most of them Water Bats.

"Their vitality is pretty impressive. They haven't even starved to death."

Umino Sasuke glanced at the three Water Bats in the cages. Seeing that they were all alive and lively, he did not pay them further attention. He directly took a saline bottle from the wooden table and placed the Water Bat Summoning Beast that the hedgehog-haired man had cut in two inside it for preservation, to be dissected and studied later.

"They say Sand shinobi Puppets are valuable. I wonder how much these Puppets of mine could sell for?"

Umino Sasuke unsealed the spoils of war Sealing Scroll and began sorting through his gains.

Aside from the chunin-level Black Ant Puppet, which remained relatively intact, the other three Puppets had been severely damaged.

Especially the Special Jonin's spare Puppet that Heavenly Blade Chaos's heavy giant hammer had smashed apart. It had basically shattered into parts.

The Special Jonin-level Puppet severed by the Fuma Shuriken, on the other hand, had been cut into two pieces, but its parts remained in relatively good condition. Moreover, it was a relatively rare Red Scorpion Puppet, so it appeared to be worth quite a lot.

As for the remaining chunin-level Puppet, Explosive Tags had blown apart a quarter of it. It counted as a half-crippled Puppet.

"I'll keep this Red Scorpion Puppet and sell all the rest."

Special Jonin-level Puppets were rather rare. This Red Scorpion Puppet had merely been cut in half, and once he learned Puppet Technique, repairing it should not be difficult.

Besides, a Special Jonin-level Red Scorpion Puppet was quite a rare find.

"Then it's happily decided."

Umino Sasuke set aside the Red Scorpion Puppet for later handling, while he packed the other three damaged Puppets and their parts together into a Sealing Scroll.

After dealing with the Puppets, Umino Sasuke went to the other end of the underground cave. He moved a wooden frame, opened the wire mesh, and carefully slipped into a smaller adjoining cave.

This cave was not large, but it was fairly long and extended upward. Its walls were dotted with fist-sized air holes, and quite a bit of light even filtered through the holes near the top.

The stone walls of this cave were covered in densely packed Water Bats. Most possessed no chakra, while only a little over a hundred gave off chakra fluctuations.

The moment Umino Sasuke entered the cave, the Water Bats attacked him. He hurriedly unsealed a Sealing Scroll, and a large pile of assorted freshwater fish came tumbling out with a clatter.

Screech, screech, screech...

Smelling the fishy scent, the Water Bats swooped down even faster, like a plague of locusts sweeping through.

Umino Sasuke grabbed a relatively large fish and immediately retreated. He pulled the wire mesh shut, then shoved a thick wooden frame against it to stop the Water Bats from entering his laboratory.

Constant thuds and scrapes came from the wire mesh and wooden frame, only gradually quieting after more than ten minutes.

Another ten-odd minutes passed before the entire cave fell silent, without the faintest sound.

During those silent ten-odd minutes, Umino Sasuke did nothing aside from feeding the large fish to the three caged Water Bats and taking some Water Bat venom. He simply waited quietly.

"Their poison resistance has gotten stronger again. This time, it actually lasted several more minutes."

Umino Sasuke pushed aside the wooden frame and wire mesh. Looking at the Water Bats sprawled across the ground, poisoned unconscious, he could not help sighing. The chakra-bearing Shinobi World truly made no sense. The Water Bats' poison resistance changed day by day. If he did not have so many Water Bats for poison-testing experiments, he would have long since run out of ways to deal with them.

Umino Sasuke did not dwell on it. He quickly picked out every Water Bat with chakra fluctuations, took out his tools, rapidly extracted their venom, and packed it away.

In the end, he collected nearly 500 mL of Water Bat No. 7.