A whirlwind of thoughts swirled through Seimei's mind, but he quickly pushed them aside, steadying himself. With a moment to prepare, he dove into a new round of training.
This training session lasted three days.
Three days later, in the dead of night, Seimei completed his final Shadow Clone retrieval. As he absorbed and processed their training experiences and memories from the past hour, he finally called it quits for the day.
"Phew…" Seimei let out a long breath, opening his eyes.
It was only then that he felt confident enough to estimate how long this transformation of his body would take.
Based on the past week—especially the last three days—of training, now that his Sage Mode was perfected and his Chakra Control had reached Level 9, he could strengthen his body around the clock. At this rate, it would take just three and a half months for his body to undergo another transformation.
This timeframe was roughly the same as his last transformation.
Logically, the stronger the body becomes, the harder it is to push further, and the longer it should take to achieve another transformation. But the reason it wasn't taking longer this time? Simple—his efficiency in strengthening his body had skyrocketed thanks to various boosts.
This was exactly why the time needed for his next transformation matched the last one.
Seimei was thrilled about this. It meant that by early March next year, he wouldn't have to worry about the imbalance between his spirit and body anymore.
Of course, progress still came at a cost.
Based on the results of the last three days, he now needed to channel 37 million points of chakra and natural energy daily to train at full speed. That was only 2 million points more than the previous 35 million, well within his current chakra recovery limit of 31.2 million points.
On top of that, by reducing the number of Shadow Clones absorbing natural energy, he saved an additional 300,000 points of chakra. So, even while training at full throttle, he had a surplus of 1.42 million points daily (31.2 million - 20 million + 0.3 million).
And if you factored in the chakra he stockpiled during his rest day every ten days, that surplus grew even larger.
It was safe to say that the 10% reduction in chakra consumption from leveling up his Chakra Control to Level 9 had pulled him back from the brink of running dry. No more worrying about being stuck without chakra.
"Phew…" Seimei exhaled again, nodding with satisfaction.
Everything was set.
All he had to do now was focus on his training.
With that thought, Seimei stood up, returned to his wooden cabin, and settled in to rest, recharging for the next day's training.
---
Days came and went.
In the blink of an eye, a month and a half had passed.
Before he knew it, the old year was fading, and a new one was on the horizon.
On this day, Seimei returned to the village early. He first attended the Uchiha clan's annual meeting, then spent a lively New Year's celebration in the village.
Afterward, instead of heading straight back to Moon Island to resume training, he gave himself a few days off.
During this break, he made full use of the Flying Thunder God Technique and Wind Release: Wings of Wind to travel across the entire shinobi world, soaking in the unique customs and traditions of different regions.
It was, without a doubt, a much-needed chance to unwind.
When he returned, Seimei even felt that the strain his mental energy had been putting on his body had eased slightly. He was noticeably more relaxed.
Interestingly, while wandering through the capital of the Land of Fire, he overheard talk of the daimyo forming a Guardian Ninja team. A bunch of self-proclaimed elite rogue ninjas and bounty hunters had flocked to the city to try out for the selection.
He even spotted the Third Hokage's son, Asuma Sarutobi, getting mixed up in the whole thing.
But Seimei didn't pay it much mind.
In his view, the daimyo's efforts were just a case of having too much time on his hands. The shinobi world was one where strength ruled supreme. Sure, ninja villages might show some respect to the daimyo in peacetime, but if he thought he could seize military control? That was a pipe dream.
No amount of recruited ninjas could make that happen.
Even if the Guardian Ninja team didn't fall apart due to internal conflict like in the original timeline, Konoha could wipe them out with a flick of the wrist.
So, it wasn't worth Seimei's attention.
After returning to Konoha, he took one more day to rest before heading back to Moon Island to start a new round of training.
---
Time slipped by again.
Seimei stuck to his routine: ten days of intense training followed by a single day of rest, pushing his body to its limits.
Two more months flew by.
It was now early March, as he'd calculated.
But his body still hadn't reached the tipping point for transformation.
No surprise there—he'd taken some time off during the New Year.
So, Seimei trained for another week.
Finally, on March 10th, his body hit the critical point for transformation.
That morning, beneath Moon Island, inside the volcano, Seimei completed another round of his Extreme Body training.
But this time, there was no progress.
He felt an invisible barrier, like a shackle, locking his body in place, preventing him from climbing higher.
"Phew…" Sensing this, Seimei let out a soft breath. Far from being worried, a smile crept across his face.
Why? Because this meant his body had finally reached the threshold for transformation.
The next step was to break through.
With a thought, he exited Sage Mode and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport back to the surface of Moon Island.
After a brief rest, allowing his body to recover from the harsh volcanic environment, he dispelled his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
In an instant, every Shadow Clone—on the island and beyond—dissolved.
A flood of memories poured into his mind.
Seimei closed his eyes, sifting through the information, absorbing and processing every bit of training experience they contained.
Notably, a month ago, he'd gained new insights into combining the seven chakra nature transformations to develop the Bloodline Network. So, he increased the number of Shadow Clones working on it from 300 to 400.
As a result, his daily chakra consumption for this task rose from 2.6 million to 3.2 million points. This dropped his daily chakra surplus from 1.42 million to 820,000 points.
Still, over the past three months, he'd accumulated a massive chakra reserve during his rest days, so he wasn't too concerned about running low.
In fact, he almost wished he could burn through more chakra.
Why? Because it would mean he was making faster progress on developing the Bloodline Network.
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.