A flurry of thoughts raced through Seimei's mind, but he didn't dwell on them. He closed his proficiency panel, took a brief moment to rest, then raised his hands to form seals, unleashing the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
Thanks to his mind and body regaining some balance, he no longer worried about his mental stamina giving out.
This time, he summoned a whopping 280 shadow clones.
The extra 30 clones were tasked with practicing Body's Limit. That way, in just over a day—by noon tomorrow at the latest—he could max out the technique at its current cap, Level 7 (0/0).
Once that was done, he could use it to push his Byakugan's evolution further.
As for the extra chakra cost? No big deal. Not only did he have a massive stockpile stored in the special space in his forehead, but the million extra chakra points he gained daily from his recent "physique" attribute boost were more than enough to cover it.
With that settled, Seimei quickly split the shadow clones into groups and sent them off to their tasks.
Once they were gone, he dove into his own training.
Crackle!
A clap of thunder echoed.
Blinding lightning sparked across his body, forming a thin layer of Lightning Release Armor that shielded him.
Without hesitation, Seimei locked onto a Flying Thunder God mark at the ocean floor and activated the technique.
That's right—he wasn't sticking to his original plan of cycling through Reflection Technique to stimulate his Sharingan's evolution. Instead, he decided to head back underwater to focus on physical training.
And this wasn't a short-term choice. For the foreseeable future, he planned to keep it up, drastically cutting back on the time spent using Reflection Technique.
There were two main reasons for this shift:
First, after his recent transformation, his Sharingan's evolution progress had reached (15,192/100,000).
Even if he stuck to his previous routine of casting Reflection Technique for four hours a day, it'd take just two months to break through the (20,000/100,000) milestone.
Based on past experience, hitting that mark would likely boost his "mental" attribute by another point.
But in two months, he wouldn't have enough time to raise his "physique" attribute by even one point.
If that happened, his "mental" attribute would outpace his "physique" by three points again—jumping from 27 to 30.
The consequences of that imbalance would be even worse than before.
So, cutting back on Reflection Technique was the obvious choice.
The time he saved wouldn't go to waste either. He'd pour it into practicing Wood Clone Technique and physical training.
The former would speed up the evolution of his Wood Release, which, in turn, would shorten the time until his next physical transformation—a win-win.
The latter would directly cut down the time needed for that transformation, boosting his "physique" attribute faster.
So, it was worth investing more time in.
There was also a secondary reason for this choice: he needed to reassess how long it'd take for his body to reach its next transformation.
That could only be done through intense physical training.
Reducing Reflection Technique time and focusing more on physical conditioning was the perfect way to do it.
---
Ocean Floor
In front of a volcanic rock wall, Seimei's figure appeared out of nowhere.
Immense water pressure slammed into him, distorting the Lightning Release Armor coating his body.
Fortunately, he'd already tested every spot he teleported to with Flying Thunder God.
So, there was no risk of his chakra output being too weak to maintain the protective shield.
Sure enough, the Lightning Release Armor stabilized after a moment.
Not only that, but the slight internal damage caused by the sudden pressure shift healed in no time.
After pausing for a few seconds to let his body adjust to the environment, Seimei cast Earth Release: Ultra-Heavyweight Rock Technique and sank deeper into the ocean.
Soon, he reached the thousand-meter depth he'd trained at last time.
But this time, he could clearly feel this wasn't his limit anymore.
Obviously, with his "physique" attribute boosted again, he could handle harsher conditions now.
Without hesitation, Seimei kept descending.
1,020 meters.
1,050 meters.
1,100 meters!
Only then did he feel the pressure.
After gauging it for a moment, Seimei knew this was his current limit.
He quickly dispelled Ultra-Heavyweight Rock Technique, letting his body's density return to normal.
Then, he scanned the nearby volcanic rock wall and found a relatively flat spot.
Just like before, he formed hand seals and unleashed Water Release: Water Severing Wave, carving out a platform for training.
After clearing out the loose rocks and standing on it, Seimei didn't start training right away. Instead, he activated his Byakugan and looked downward.
He could see that about a hundred meters deeper, he'd reach the true ocean floor.
Within a one-kilometer radius, there wasn't anywhere deeper than that.
In other words, that was the spot with the highest water pressure—the harshest environment.
Based on past experience, he could adapt to an extra hundred meters of depth in about a week.
That meant, in a week, if he didn't want his physical training progress to stall, he'd need to find an even tougher environment to push himself.
In most places, that'd be a hassle.
But here? No problem at all!
Seimei had planned for this from the start.
Back when he chose Moon Island as his new base, it was for two reasons.
First, the water here was deep enough to support his training for a long time.
Second, there was a dormant volcano beneath it.
Compared to the heavy pressure and chaotic currents of the ocean floor, the inside of that volcano was true hell.
Seimei turned his head, using the Byakugan's x-ray vision to peer into the volcano.
In an instant, his vision was filled with a sea of red.
It wasn't anything else—just molten lava.
That's right. A "dormant" volcano didn't mean there was no lava flow. It just lacked the pressure to erupt.
Even so, that environment was a nightmare for the human body.
Seimei figured he'd need more than just Lightning Release Armor to protect himself down there. He'd likely have to use Chakra Cloak and other techniques to adapt.
At first, he wouldn't be able to dive right in. He'd need to find a foothold he could handle and ease into it gradually.
But one thing was certain: that brutal environment would massively accelerate his body's evolution.
Seimei couldn't wait!
Standing there, he let his imagination run for a bit before pulling himself back and deactivating his Byakugan. Then, he started his physical training.