Time ticked by, second by second.
About an hour later, Seimei opened his eyes again.
He had just finished testing the changes that came with leveling up his "Natural Energy Perception" and "Natural Energy Control" to Level 9. With a clear understanding of these new abilities, Seimei decided not to waste any more time.
He was about to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport back to Moon Island when he suddenly paused. After a moment's thought, he raised his hands, formed seals, and activated Wind Style: Wings of Wind and Chakra Cloak. A light cyan chakra cloak enveloped him, and a pair of wings sprouted from his back, flapping as they carried him into the sky.
Next, Seimei used Earth Style: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique. Instantly, his body felt lighter, and his flight speed increased significantly.
Without hesitation, he set his sights on his target and, with a powerful flap of his wings, soared at breakneck speed toward the primeval forest in the northeastern part of the Land of Fire.
That's right—before returning to Moon Island, he planned to make a quick stop there to leave his shadow clones behind. This way, he wouldn't need to send a wood clone later, saving some chakra in the process.
Time continued to slip by.
Since the island he was on was located in the southern seas of the Land of Fire, it wasn't too far from the mainland. Likewise, the northeastern primeval forest wasn't a long journey either.
It didn't take much time for Seimei to arrive above his destination.
Byakugan!
With a thought, he activated his Byakugan as usual, scanning his surroundings. Everything within a one-kilometer radius came into view. As expected, there were no anomalies.
Seimei nodded, descended into the forest, and performed the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, creating five hundred shadow clones. In an instant, the jungle in front of him was filled with his duplicates.
Looking at the clones, Seimei assigned tasks: two hundred would continue researching Dust Style: Original Realm Stripping Technique and Dust Style: Boundary Stripping Technique, another two hundred would spread out to absorb the natural energy in the forest, and the final hundred would tackle the issue of breaking the limits of the Three Elements Sealing Technique.
With the five hundred shadow clones sorted, Seimei didn't linger. He locked onto Moon Island's location and used the Flying Thunder God Technique.
His vision shifted in a flash.
In the blink of an eye, Seimei went from the northeastern Land of Fire to Moon Island, far out in the outer seas.
Byakugan!
Once again, he activated his Byakugan. After confirming there were no irregularities around, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique again, teleporting into the volcanic cavity beneath Moon Island.
Familiar surroundings greeted him. Seimei took a deep breath, letting the scorching air fill his lungs and burn his body, allowing the toxins in the air to invade him. Standing firm, he channeled his chakra, entering the sealing space constructed by the Three Elements Sealing Technique. There, he fused an equal amount of sage chakra and began training in the Extreme Body technique.
And so, Seimei's training routine was back on track.
---
The sun rose and set.
In the blink of an eye, a week had passed. With it, the old year came to an end.
Time rolled into January.
Before Seimei could fully develop the Dust Style: Original Realm Stripping Technique and Dust Style: Boundary Stripping Technique, he made a breakthrough with the Three Elements Sealing Technique.
That afternoon, as he did every day, Seimei dispelled the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, recalling all the shadow clones outside and absorbing their experiences from the past hour. Suddenly, a spark of insight hit him.
After digesting this realization, he glanced at his status panel. The proficiency for the Three Elements Sealing Technique had naturally shifted from Level 7 (0/0) to Level 7 (1/20,000)! The progress bar's appearance meant he could now systematically improve this skill.
"So, how much should I invest in this?" Seimei wondered.
First, the hundred shadow clones already working on breaking the technique's limits would definitely stay on the task. But that alone wasn't enough.
Based on past experience, a hundred shadow clones could earn him about 1,500 proficiency points per day for this skill. At that rate, reaching 20,000 points to level up would take at least two weeks.
However, judging from the past week's absorption of natural energy, two weeks was too long—his natural energy reserves would overflow well before then.
The timeline needed to be shortened.
After some thought, Seimei decided to temporarily reassign a hundred clones from researching the Dust Style techniques. With two hundred clones focused on the Three Elements Sealing Technique, he could likely level it up in about a week.
This might waste a bit of natural energy, but not too much. As for the delay in developing the Dust Style techniques? That wasn't a big deal for now. With his current strength, whether or not he had those two techniques wouldn't make much difference.
With his plan set, Seimei didn't waste any more time. He raised his hands, formed the "Ram" seal, and performed the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique again.
Poof, poof, poof!
Five hundred shadow clones appeared. Seimei grouped them according to his plan and assigned their tasks.
Then, he headed into the volcano to begin a new round of physical enhancement.
Speaking of physical enhancement, after a week of relentless stimulation, he could feel the invisible barrier holding back his body's growth. By his estimation, in about another week, he'd reach the critical point for a transformation.
Once that transformation was complete, his Constitution attribute would increase, breaking past the 30-point threshold and achieving a qualitative leap. This would balance out his Mental attribute, allowing him to further evolve his Sharingan and Byakugan.
His Sharingan and Byakugan were already on the verge of a breakthrough. Once they evolved naturally, it wouldn't take long for them to advance further. When that happened, his Mental attribute would jump by two points.
Combined with the one-point boost to his Constitution, that would mean a total of three points in base attributes.
In the near future, his potential and chakra recovery speed would see a massive leap. This was perfect timing, as both extending his Extreme Body training and developing Dust Style techniques consumed huge amounts of chakra. Advancing the Three Elements Sealing Technique would also burn through plenty.
Sure, he had half of the Nine-Tails' power backing him, and the recent Constitution boost had slightly increased his chakra recovery. For now, his chakra was sufficient.
But having a bit more freely usable chakra each day wouldn't hurt—it was always good to plan ahead, right?
These thoughts flashed through Seimei's mind. He quickly refocused, pushing distractions aside and pouring all his attention into the Extreme Body training before him.
And so, time marched on.