Time slipped by, minute by minute.
In the blink of an eye, several hours had passed.
It was now deep into the night.
In the clearing at the center of Moon Island, Seimei sat cross-legged, unmoving.
On the surface, he appeared calm, but inside, his body was undergoing earth-shattering changes.
If a Hyuga clan ninja with the Byakugan were here, they'd immediately notice that the chakra in Seimei's body was surging like a flood breaking through a dam. It flowed through his chakra pathways from all directions, converging toward the Byakugan at the center of his forehead.
The sheer volume of chakra being consumed was staggering, and the speed of the flow would've overwhelmed any ordinary ninja.
Only Seimei, whose body had undergone dozens of transformations and whose "Constitution" attribute had reached 34 points, could withstand it.
Still, Seimei had underestimated the difficulty of evolving his Byakugan from the Mangekyo Sharingan level to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan level.
Even though he was pouring chakra into it with all his might, the evolution still hadn't completed.
Looking back, he realized he probably didn't need to slow down the Byakugan's evolution earlier—his body could've handled its transformation first.
In hindsight, the unexpected situation had thrown him off balance.
But no matter. It wasn't a big deal.
Refocusing his thoughts, Seimei stopped dwelling on it. He continued channeling chakra, pouring it relentlessly into the Byakugan at his forehead.
When the chakra in his body ran low, he drew from the reserves stored in the interdimensional space at his forehead.
Another hour passed like this. As the moon reached its zenith overhead, Seimei's eyes snapped open.
"It's done!" he murmured.
In that moment, the Byakugan at his forehead radiated a blinding light.
This was the result of an overflow of chakra spilling out.
At the same time, small pebbles around him began to float into the air, as if gravity had lost its hold. They orbited him for several seconds before falling back to the ground.
By then, the Byakugan at his forehead had returned to its usual state.
Well, "usual" wasn't quite accurate.
Even though it no longer glowed, his Byakugan was now far more striking than before.
If his previous Byakugan was like fine white jade, now it was akin to a flawless diamond. The two were on entirely different levels.
Seimei focused his mind, carefully sensing the changes in the Byakugan at his forehead.
First, its core abilities had improved.
In terms of X-ray vision:
After its last evolution, his Byakugan's X-ray range had extended from a one-kilometer radius to two kilometers.
Now, it had reached three kilometers.
That one-kilometer increase might sound modest, but in terms of area, it was more than double the previous range.
No doubt, this was a significant leap.
In terms of insight:
Seimei used his Byakugan to observe his surroundings.
The clarity had noticeably improved.
Before, at longer distances, he couldn't make out fine details.
Now, even at the edge of his X-ray range, he could clearly see a person's chakra pathways and the chakra flowing within them.
Combined, these improvements massively boosted his reconnaissance capabilities.
Next came the enhancements to the Byakugan's special abilities.
After its last evolution, his Byakugan had gained two unique powers: the ability to absorb chakra from a distance and the ability to manipulate gravity and repulsion.
However, back then, his Byakugan's evolution wasn't complete enough for these abilities to shine.
The gravity manipulation was decent—it at least helped him fly.
But the chakra absorption? That was practically useless.
With the "Chakra Absorption Technique" already in his arsenal, a power that couldn't instantly drain a target's chakra or work over long distances had little practical use.
Now, things were different.
While his Byakugan still hadn't evolved into the Tenseigan, these two abilities had improved significantly, even if they weren't yet at their full potential.
First, the chakra absorption ability:
He still couldn't drain a target's chakra instantly, but the speed had increased dramatically, now rivaling his "Chakra Absorption Technique."
The key difference? The "Chakra Absorption Technique" required physical contact, while his Byakugan's ability didn't.
This made it far more convenient.
Additionally, the range of this ability had extended, allowing him to absorb chakra from a greater distance.
There was a catch, though—the farther the target, the less efficient the absorption.
So, using it to snipe someone from afar wasn't practical.
Then again, in the entire ninja world, who was worth him doing that to?
If he could defeat them, he could just absorb their chakra up close.
If he couldn't, they'd notice him before he could even try.
So, while this ability was no longer useless, its utility remained somewhat limited.
The other ability, however, was a game-changer.
Previously, using his Byakugan to manipulate gravity, he could only move objects weighing up to a hundred tons.
Now?
Seimei glanced around.
His eyes locked onto a massive boulder several dozen meters away. Without standing, he raised a hand, and the boulder trembled before slowly floating into the air.
With a flick of his finger, it shot toward him as if yanked by an invisible force.
As the boulder drew closer, Seimei raised his palm in a stopping gesture.
Instantly, the boulder froze in midair.
With a flick of his wrist, he sent it flying backward like a cannonball.
Boom!
A deafening crash echoed as the boulder smashed through several trees, sending up a cloud of dirt upon impact.
Based on the boulder's size and the strain he felt, Seimei estimated that this evolution had increased his gravity manipulation by about tenfold.
That meant he could now control roughly a thousand tons.
A thousand tons.
It sounded impressive, but in reality, it was just okay.
To put it in perspective, a water sphere weighing a thousand tons would only be about twelve meters in diameter.
In other words, with gravity alone, he could only lift a water sphere of that size.
Compared to the Tenseigan's peak ability to manipulate planetary orbits, this was nothing.
So, Seimei wasn't particularly surprised by this improvement.
In fact, the massive gap between his current Byakugan and the Tenseigan only underscored how difficult that final evolution would be.
Unlike the Sharingan, which progressed step by step, the leap from Byakugan to Tenseigan was a true qualitative transformation—a near-impossible challenge.
Even though his proficiency panel had broken it down into multiple stages, his instincts told him the final step would still be anything but easy.