An hour later, time had slipped by.
Seimei paused his physical enhancement training and used the Earth Release: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique to reduce his body's density, then swam upward.
Upon reaching the marked location, he sensed the Flying Thunder God seal on Moon Island. With a thought, he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
His vision shifted instantly.
In a split second, he went from the dim, oppressive ocean floor to the bright, open island.
Dispelling the Lightning Release Chakra Mode and shedding the lightning chakra membrane around him, Seimei let out a long breath.
His lungs kicked back into action.
This felt much more comfortable.
Though he no longer needed to breathe through his mouth or nose—his evolved skin-based respiratory system could sustain him for a long time—habits from two lifetimes weren't so easily broken. He still preferred breathing like a normal person.
After a brief moment to adjust, Seimei didn't waste time. He summoned a burst of Fire Release chakra to dry the water from his body, then dispelled the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
In an instant, all the shadow clones, both on and off the island, vanished.
A flood of memories surged into his mind.
Seimei closed his eyes, carefully sifting through them, absorbing and digesting the various training experiences they contained.
Time ticked by.
About fifteen minutes later, he opened his eyes again.
Standing still, he reflected briefly before practicing Pinnacle of the Body based on the memories.
Once, twice.
Three times, five times.
Soon, he'd gone through over twenty repetitions.
Finally, after thirty, he stopped completely.
By then, all the experience related to Pinnacle of the Body in his mind had been converted into skill proficiency.
Opening his panel, Seimei glanced at it and saw that the proficiency gained was nearly double what he'd normally achieve.
This showed just how effective adding thirty more shadow clones to his training was.
Moreover, Seimei had a faint sense that 280 shadow clones weren't his limit.
While boosting his "Constitution" attribute didn't directly increase his mental capacity, the mind and body weren't entirely separate.
This boost had slightly increased his mental endurance as well.
Seimei estimated he could now handle 300 shadow clones training at high intensity without issue.
No sooner thought than done. After swallowing a few enhanced soldier pills to replenish his energy, Seimei cast the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, summoning 300 shadow clones.
He assigned 200 to fuse Water and Lightning Release, while the remaining 100 focused on practicing Pinnacle of the Body.
It was clear that his proficiency would accumulate even faster now.
But the exact results would have to wait until an hour later.
In the meantime, Seimei wasn't about to sit idle.
Just like before, he dove back to the ocean floor to resume his physical enhancement training.
An hour later, as expected, the growth rate of Pinnacle of the Body had accelerated.
Seimei considered summoning even more shadow clones to speed things up further, but since his mind and body had only just regained a bit of balance, he decided not to push it.
So, from then on, he stuck to 300 shadow clones per training session.
---
The sun set and rose.
In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
That morning, with over an hour to go before noon, Pinnacle of the Body reached the perfected state of Lv7 (0/0).
This was the limit of its current framework.
To improve further, he'd need to break that framework and optimize Pinnacle of the Body even more.
Seimei already had an idea for this: as mentioned before, he'd integrate the process of physical enhancement into it.
This would not only raise the skill's ceiling but also streamline his training, saving time and boosting efficiency.
That, however, was for later.
For now, he wanted to test how much the perfected Lv7 (0/0) Pinnacle of the Body would boost his Byakugan's evolution when used alone.
In the past, when he practiced this technique with his main body, it could promote the Byakugan's evolution.
But back then, his goal was only to digest training experiences, so he didn't practice it much, resulting in limited effects.
Now, he'd focus entirely on performing the technique.
The results were bound to be different.
With that thought, Seimei concentrated and began executing Pinnacle of the Body.
As soon as he did, he noticed the difference.
At Lv7 (0/0), performing the technique made his chakra flow through his body, constantly stimulating his cells.
Faintly, he felt something in his body awaken, steadily pushing his Byakugan toward evolution.
Of course, this process required chakra infusion.
Like with the Mind Reflection Technique, much of his chakra flowed through his meridians to the Byakugan at his forehead.
However, compared to directly nurturing the Byakugan, the chakra consumption was much lower—even when factoring in the cost of practicing Pinnacle of the Body.
Seimei let out a small sigh of relief.
After all, while he had a lot of daily usable chakra, he couldn't afford to squander it.
Thankfully, switching to Pinnacle of the Body actually increased his available chakra.
Time slipped by.
Before he knew it, Seimei had been practicing for two hours.
By then, he could feel his body reaching its limit.
Not his Byakugan—his body.
Ultimately, using Pinnacle of the Body to boost the Byakugan's evolution meant stimulating his bloodline or genes to guide the process.
But a person's body has its limits; it can't be stimulated endlessly.
Doing so would only lead to one outcome: physical collapse.
Seimei wasn't about to make that mistake.
Thus, the bottleneck for his Byakugan's evolution was no longer the eye itself but his body's endurance.
In the short term, this might slow his Byakugan's evolution, but in the long run, it raised the ceiling significantly.
After all, his body's endurance would grow with his "Constitution" attribute.
And for now, his Byakugan's evolution speed hadn't even slowed down.
"Panel!"
With a thought, Seimei opened his proficiency panel.
In the bloodline section, the Byakugan's evolution progress had increased by twenty points.
Indeed, even at just Lv7, Pinnacle of the Body had surpassed the crude nurturing method he'd used before.
Seimei was more than satisfied with the result.
(End of Chapter)