In the blink of an eye, more than two, nearly three hours had passed.
It was now late morning.
Inside a small wooden cabin—
A beam of sunlight fell across Seimei's face.
His eyelids twitched slightly, trembled a few times, and then slowly opened in a daze.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I supposed to be doing?
Out of nowhere, those three classic philosophical questions popped into Seimei's mind.
Then, his consciousness snapped back into focus.
Sitting up, Seimei glanced at the time and mumbled, "It's already 10 a.m., huh…"
Crack crack crack—
He rolled his neck, stretched hard, and let out a deep breath.
"Phew\~\~\~"
Following an instinctual mental link, he sensed the shadow clone he'd left behind in the village. Everything seemed normal.
"Looks like that whole situation's settled—for now. I can finally get back to training properly."
With that, he jumped out of bed, quickly washed up, popped a few upgraded soldier pills to fill his stomach, and headed to the massive boulder at the center of the island.
Instead of immediately summoning shadow clones to begin training, Seimei first took out a sealing scroll from his ninja pouch—the one containing the Edo Tensei body of Shimura Danzō.
Placing his palm on the seal and injecting his chakra, Seimei's mind entered the space within the scroll. There he saw Danzō, tightly restrained like a puppet.
Danzō saw him too—and immediately started ranting:
"Brat, I'm the elder advisor of Konoha! Do you have any idea what consequences your actions will bring? Do you know what kind of burden this will place on the Uchiha clan—"
Seimei couldn't stand the noise. Before Danzō could finish, he activated the power of Shinra Banshō Fūjin and sealed his ability to speak.
Actually, not just his voice—even his ability to struggle was sealed off.
Now, Danzō was like a silent, hanging puppet—suspended in mid-air by eight chakra chains, completely helpless as Seimei conducted his research.
He studied Danzō's body. His soul.
And even went so far as to tear open the Edo Tensei "outer shell" that made up his reanimated body to dig deeper.
Then, using Reika no Jutsu (Spirit Transformation Technique), Seimei reached out with his soul to touch Danzō's.
That's when he saw something different.
Unlike normal souls, which float freely, Danzō's soul had two chains attached to it.
Well—maybe "chains" isn't quite accurate. They were more like seals or markings.
One of them looked like a massive net, tightly wrapped around the surface of his soul, completely restraining it.
With the right techniques, this net could be used to manipulate the soul trapped inside.
After some testing, Seimei confirmed: this was the Edo Tensei binding seal—the one that Orochimaru uses to control reanimated shinobi.
Given how strong the seal was, Seimei realized most techniques wouldn't be enough to free a soul once it's caught in this net.
In other words—once someone is made into an Edo Tensei puppet, breaking free on their own is basically impossible.
Harsh, right?
But the second mark on Danzō's soul was even more disturbing.
If the Edo Tensei seal only covered the surface of the soul, this one dug deep—like a spike nailed into the very core of his essence.
If pulled out recklessly, the soul would completely collapse.
Seimei had two theories about this second mark:
First, it was a branding forced on by the Pure Land itself—meant to control the souls of shinobi after death.
If that's true, then the implications are terrifying.
The Rikudō Sennin—the Sage of Six Paths—might be using this method to collect and enslave souls across the world.
And if you consider that his mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, once harvested humanity through the God Tree to create an army of White Zetsu… this idea doesn't sound so far-fetched.
Second, it could be a natural law of the shinobi world.
Like a spiritual rule—every soul of a dead ninja gets branded automatically.
To verify which is correct, Seimei would need to observe a few shinobi deaths firsthand to see exactly when and how the mark appears.
But anything that might provoke the Sage of Six Paths… yeah, that's not something Seimei was ready to mess with yet.
So for now, he focused on one thing:
How to make use of Danzō.
His first goal was to improve a technique he'd once conceptualized:
Fūshin Sōkon: Keiyaku Shunshin no In — the "Soul-Binding Contracted Instant Mark."
Before, it was just a rough idea.
But after observing Danzō's soul, he now had a clearer understanding of how to actually implement the "soul-binding" part.
Still, he needed deeper knowledge of souls.
Which meant improving his Reika no Jutsu even more.
That's exactly what he was working on now.
So—for the time being—all he could do was be patient.
His second goal: taking advantage of the unlimited chakra supplied by the Edo Tensei body, effectively turning Danzō into a chakra generator.
But here's where the problem kicks in:
Would siphoning too much chakra draw the attention of the Sage of Six Paths?
If Seimei's first theory was right—that the second soul mark came from the Pure Land—then draining chakra from an Edo Tensei body might be seen as tampering with his system.
That would definitely get the Sage's attention—and not in a good way.
Even if it was the second theory—that it's a natural law—Danzō's Edo Tensei body still seemed to pull chakra from the Pure Land itself.
And guess who lives there?
Exactly.
So either way, heavy chakra extraction might trigger a response.
But giving up this "chakra battery"—no, chakra nuclear reactor—wasn't an option.
Not only was Seimei chronically short on chakra, this source could greatly boost his training speed. Plus, he was sure Orochimaru wouldn't want him to give it up either.
Why?
Because the connection between Danzō and Orochimaru hadn't been severed.
At first, Seimei believed his Shinra Banshō Fūjin could cut the bond between the summoned soul and the summoner.
He was wrong.
From his latest research, he discovered that Edo Tensei's hold on a soul was far stronger than he'd assumed.
Orochimaru likely still had a line of influence over Danzō.
It's just that, thanks to Seimei's seal, that link was dampened, not removed.
Orochimaru could still cancel the jutsu any time he wanted.
If that happened, Seimei's seal wouldn't be able to stop the soul from returning to the Pure Land due to the second mark.
That would mean losing access to Danzō's chakra… and possibly leaking sensitive information.
So why hasn't Orochimaru pulled the plug yet?
Simple. He's probably using this as a way to plant a spy.
If Seimei ever releases Danzō, Orochimaru could track the chakra connection back to this island—and to Seimei himself.
Plus, as long as Danzō is here, Orochimaru can continue gathering intel.
It's a win-win for him.
That's why Seimei has to learn how to control souls before Orochimaru ends the jutsu.
Only then can he ensure that no information gets out.
And the quickest way to do that?
Finish developing the Soul-Binding Instant Contract Mark.
Which means… he must level up his Reika no Jutsu even faster.
Clearly, his current 286,000 daily chakra investment wasn't enough anymore.
And since he didn't want to take chakra from other techniques, the only option left…
Was to drain Danzō's chakra.
But again—that might alert the Sage of Six Paths.
And so…
We're back to square one.
Seimei was caught in a dilemma once more.