A flurry of thoughts raced through Seimei's mind, but he pushed them aside. He got up, changed his clothes, and stepped out of the wooden hut.
By the stream, he washed up casually and began his training.
As soon as he started, he noticed something different.
With his recent physical transformation complete, his "Constitution" attribute had improved. When he activated the "Limit of the Body" technique to enhance his physique, it felt noticeably easier.
In other words, he could push his body to the brink of its next transformation much faster.
Of course, this came with an inevitable increase in chakra consumption.
Seimei constantly calculated this expenditure, aiming to pinpoint the exact numbers and estimate when his next physical transformation would occur.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Before he knew it, evening had arrived.
After completing another round of physical enhancement and returning to Moon Island, Seimei dispelled his "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique." As he absorbed and processed the training experiences and memories of his shadow clones from the past hour, his "Sage Mode" leveled up.
Previously, after a month of practice, his "Sage Mode" had reached Level 9 (97,100/100,000 proficiency).
Now, in less than a day, he had gained over two thousand—nearly three thousand—proficiency points, pushing it to the next level.
In an instant, a flood of insights surged into Seimei's mind, pulling him into a deep understanding of "Sage Mode."
Almost instinctively, the natural energy around him began pouring into his body. In the blink of an eye, the distinctive sage markings appeared on his face.
Clearly, Seimei had entered "Sage Mode."
Yet, during this process, not a single ripple of chakra fluctuation leaked out.
Even the moment he activated "Sage Mode," no chakra spread outward.
Without a doubt, Seimei had achieved what he considered the perfect "Sage Mode."
From now on, whether or not he had stored natural energy in his body beforehand, he could enter "Sage Mode" instantly, just like Hashirama Senju.
Time continued to pass.
About half an hour later, Seimei opened his eyes again.
A sharp glint flickered in his gaze.
Sensing his condition, he realized that despite maintaining "Sage Mode" for over half an hour, he had barely consumed any senjutsu chakra.
This was a stark contrast to before.
In the past, even at Level 9 with three qualitative leaps, simply maintaining "Sage Mode" would continuously drain his chakra, even if he wasn't doing anything.
But now?
That drawback was gone.
Seimei could clearly feel the senjutsu chakra circulating perfectly within his body.
This was the ultimate mastery of power.
With this thought, Seimei's curiosity stirred, and he opened his proficiency panel.
Ignoring everything else, his eyes locked onto the "Chakra Control" section at the bottom.
In less than a day, his "Chakra Control" proficiency had surged by over two thousand points.
Over the past three months, while working on developing the Bloodline Net, he had frequently practiced fusing the seven chakra nature transformations, boosting his proficiency significantly. It had risen from Level 8 (38,600/50,000) to Level 8 (47,600/50,000).
Now, it had reached Level 8 (49,740/50,000), just a step away from Level 9.
Clearly, these extra two thousand-plus proficiency points didn't come from practicing other skills but were a direct result of perfecting "Sage Mode."
This also highlighted Seimei's claim of achieving ultimate control over his power.
Level 8 (49,740/50,000).
Based on past experience, it would take no more than three days to reach the next level.
Once it did, like his other skills, it would undergo a qualitative transformation.
When that happened, his control over chakra would improve dramatically.
Not only would this make fusing the seven chakra natures to develop the Bloodline Net easier, but it would also reduce the chakra cost of enhancing his body.
For Seimei, this was an unexpected delight.
It meant he no longer had to worry about running out of chakra.
Plus, as he had mentioned that morning, upgrading "Sage Mode" itself would reduce the chakra needed for physical enhancement.
How much it would reduce, though, required further testing.
With this in mind, Seimei didn't dwell on it.
He exited "Sage Mode," raised his hands, and formed the "Ram" hand sign, preparing to cast the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique" again to start a new round of training.
But then, it hit him: since he could now enter "Sage Mode" instantly, was there still a need to create shadow clones specifically to gather natural energy?
After some thought, Seimei decided it was still necessary.
As the saying goes, even the best chef can't cook without ingredients.
Sure, he could absorb a massive amount of natural energy from a wide area to enter "Sage Mode" instantly.
But if the surrounding natural energy was depleted or scarce, no matter how deep his understanding of "Sage Mode" was, he wouldn't be able to enter it easily.
That would inevitably waste time.
So, it was better to keep some shadow clones dedicated to gathering natural energy elsewhere.
That said, given the dominance of his current "Sage Mode," he could probably reduce the number of clones gathering natural energy.
This would also save some chakra.
"Let's go back to three hundred clones, then!"
Seimei quickly made his decision.
This way, the chakra spent on this would drop from one million points to the original seven hundred thousand.
That's a savings of three hundred thousand chakra points.
Seimei was thrilled.
With his mood lifted, he formed the hand signs again, casting the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique" and creating six hundred shadow clones.
Three hundred of them were sealed into a scroll, handed to a wood clone, and sent to the primeval forests in the northeastern Land of Fire to continue absorbing natural energy.
The remaining three hundred were tasked with developing the Bloodline Net.
Watching the clones depart, Seimei turned his attention away and didn't think further.
With a thought, he activated the "Flying Thunder God Technique," teleporting to the volcano beneath Moon Island to begin a new round of training.
In a flash, it was midnight. Seimei stopped training, returned to the wooden hut, and rested.
Over the next two days, Seimei kept a disciplined routine. Every moment was spent training or heading to train, with no time wasted beyond eating and sleeping.
Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, after recalling his shadow clones and absorbing their training experiences and memories, his "Chakra Control" leveled up.
Like his other skills, the moment it hit Level 9, it underwent a qualitative transformation.
In that instant, Seimei felt his mastery over chakra soar to new heights.
He tested it out and found that his chakra consumption had dropped by about ten percent compared to before.
Don't underestimate that ten percent—when multiplied by his massive daily chakra expenditure, it was no small amount.
In terms of physical enhancement alone, this skill saved him over three million chakra points.
How could Seimei not be thrilled?