In the blink of an eye, over ten hours had passed.
Seimei slept straight through to the afternoon of the next day, around four o'clock. When he finally opened his eyes, the sun was already dipping toward the horizon.
By all accounts, after sleeping that long, he should've felt refreshed and energized.
But instead, Seimei's head felt heavy and foggy, like he was coming down with a bad cold.
Struggling to get up, he sat on the edge of his bed, staring out the window. The faint hum of voices outside reached his ears, and he rubbed his forehead.
Of course, he wasn't actually sick. The reason for his condition was simple: he'd spent the entire night dreaming, leaving his mind no chance to rest.
This was the first time something like this had happened to him. Seimei wasn't sure why he was dreaming so much, but as the saying goes, "What you think about during the day, you dream about at night."
So, he started to consider what might be causing it.
Could it be the pressure from Uchiha Obito?
The thought crossed his mind.
But he quickly dismissed it.
No way. With his current strength, he wasn't exactly invincible—there were still a few opponents in the ninja world who could challenge him—but the current Uchiha Obito? Definitely not one of them.
Obito's antics were more like a sideshow to Seimei, something to watch for amusement. Pressure? Hardly.
As for anyone else, that was even less likely.
So, it wasn't an external factor.
That left Seimei to look inward for the cause.
And, sure enough, he soon came up with a possibility: an imbalance between his mind and body.
Ever since his "mental" attribute surpassed his "physique" attribute by three points, his overly strong mental energy had started putting serious pressure on his physical body.
And since the mind is closely tied to dreams, it made sense that this imbalance could cause relentless dreaming.
The reason this hadn't happened the night before was probably because it was still within his body's tolerance then.
But last night, he'd traveled to three villages, syncing the memories of three shadow clones from the past month. Then he returned to the Leaf Village and synced another shadow clone's memories from the last ten days.
Sure, the memories from those three shadow clones weren't particularly heavy, but the time span was real.
All that piled up, and it likely had an impact. It might've been the final straw that tipped the delicate balance between his mind and body.
That would explain why he was plagued by dreams all night, leaving his mind unable to recover properly.
If that was the case, these dreams were probably a warning sign.
And if he didn't address it, the problem could get worse—much worse.
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
For now, Seimei was just grateful that his body was close to undergoing its next transformation.
When that happened, it should help ease the situation to some extent.
Otherwise, he'd have to put all his training on hold to figure out a way to fix this.
Even so, his condition probably wouldn't be great for a while.
Once the balance was broken, restoring it wasn't as simple as just stopping the syncing of shadow clone memories and expecting his mind to bounce back.
In reality, it would likely keep deteriorating, dragging him deeper into trouble.
The outward signs would be a complete loss of control over his mind and body, leading to all sorts of problems.
The thought sent a shiver down Seimei's spine.
Just then, a loud grumble from his stomach snapped him out of it.
Rubbing his empty belly, Seimei felt the gnawing hunger and dragged his tired mind out of bed, heading to the bathroom.
A splash of cold water on his face woke him up a bit.
He quickly finished washing up and left the house, making a beeline for the "Food Street."
He hadn't eaten in nearly twenty hours, and he was starving. It was time for a serious feast!
With that in mind, Seimei picked up his pace.
Soon, he arrived at his destination.
Without overthinking it, he picked the nearest diner and walked in.
What followed was an all-out eating spree!
Two hours later, his stomach was finally full.
Looking at the sunset glowing on the horizon, Seimei didn't head straight home. Instead, he made his way to a hot spring bathhouse he'd visited once before.
At the edge of the village, he stood in front of the place called "Leaf's Hot Springs" and walked right in.
He bought a ticket, changed, and slipped into the bath, settling by the edge. The warm water felt amazing, soothing his entire body.
No doubt about it—this was a fantastic way to unwind.
Seimei decided that, until his mind and body were back in balance, he'd come here to soak every time he returned to the village for a rest.
Letting the warm water glide over his body, he closed his eyes and started reviewing the memories of the shadow clone that had stayed in the village last night, focusing on the Hyuga clan's techniques for awakening the Byakugan.
Last night, he'd been too exhausted to pay attention to them.
Now, as he looked through them, it was just as he'd expected. After nearly a month of covert observation, his shadow clone had learned most of the techniques.
All that was left was to fill in the gaps.
Seimei figured that by the time he returned to the village for his next rest, he'd probably be ready to start practicing them for real.
"Not bad," he muttered to himself.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Seimei let himself relax fully, soaking in the moment.
Time slipped by, minute by minute.
Before he knew it, night had fallen.
After two or three hours in the hot spring, Seimei finally headed home.
With food in his belly and some time to unwind, he felt much better.
So, he went to his training room and, as usual, started nurturing his Byakugan.
Thanks to its increased chakra absorption efficiency after the advancement, it only took two and a half hours to finish.
Without wasting a second, Seimei went straight to bed.
This time, he didn't have long, drawn-out dreams. When he woke up the next day, he still felt a faint trace of fatigue, but it wasn't enough to affect his training.
He got up, ate breakfast, left a shadow clone to watch the house, and quietly slipped out of the Leaf Village.
One thing worth noting: as he left the village, he noticed a team of Anbu ninjas measuring something.
Paying closer attention, he realized it wasn't just that team—there were Anbu moving around in other parts of the village too.
Watching what they were doing, Seimei had a hunch about the village's plans.
If he was right, the Leaf was planning to follow the Hidden Rock Village's example and set up another barrier within the existing village-wide sensory barrier.
It probably wouldn't be a chakra-sensing barrier, but it'd definitely be designed to detect unusual activity.
Looks like I'll need to be more careful moving around the village from now on.
And if I can avoid using the Flying Thunder God Technique, I probably should.
Those two thoughts flashed through Seimei's mind.
No need to guess—this new barrier was definitely aimed at countering Uchiha Obito, and the spatial fluctuations from his Kamui were likely a prime target.
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique in a situation like this would just be asking for trouble.
Seimei wasn't that reckless.
But, either way, this didn't have much to do with him. His top priority right now was dealing with his body's issues.
Clearing his mind, Seimei stopped overthinking and immediately used Wind Release: Wings of Wind and Chakra Cloak, soaring into the sky.
Then, he used Earth Release: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique to lighten his weight.
Finally, he flew off toward Moon Island.