1025-1026

Chapter 1025: Progress and Needs 

In the blink of an eye, it was the next night. 

Just as Seimei had predicted, after a day and a half of practice, his "Three Elements Sealing Technique" had gained over three thousand proficiency points, smoothly advancing from Level 2 to Level 5. 

Under the moonlight, Seimei opened his eyes. 

A sharp glint flashed in his gaze. 

At that moment, his understanding of the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" had reached a new level. 

With a single thought, he mobilized the chakra in his body, fusing all the natural energy accumulated in the sealed space over the past few days into Sage Chakra. 

Then, he stood up, cast the "Flying Thunder God Technique," and teleported straight into the volcano. 

Activating the "Body Extremity Technique," Seimei quickly consumed the Sage Chakra stored in the sealed space. 

Since he had recently processed a batch, there wasn’t much natural energy left in his body, so the amount of Sage Chakra he could produce was limited. 

As a result, it didn’t take long for him to use up all the Sage Chakra. 

Feeling his slightly stronger body and the slight increase in his Byakugan’s evolution, Seimei nodded in satisfaction. 

Then, he cast the "Flying Thunder God Technique" again, teleporting back to Moon Island. 

Raising his hands to form seals, Seimei dispelled the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" from his body. 

Under his clothing, a triangular mark appeared briefly on his abdomen before quickly dissolving and fading away. 

Seimei’s brow furrowed slightly as he suppressed the physical and mental strain caused by the process. He immediately focused, taking control of the natural energy that had been one of the seal’s foundations. 

Without waiting for his body to recover from the strain, he formed seals again and cast the updated version of the "Three Elements Sealing Technique." 

That’s right—everything he had just done was to update the sealing technique on his body. 

Soon, a familiar triangular mark reappeared on his abdomen. 

The natural energy he had forcibly controlled became the new foundation for the seal. 

Seimei quietly sensed the natural energy circulating within and around the seal. 

Finally, when it reached a balance, he calculated the ratio of natural energy required to maintain the seal. 

At Level 2, the ratio had been 4:6. At Level 3, it became 3:7. By Level 4, it was 2:8. 

And now? 

Seimei focused and sensed it. 

Now, he only needed 1 point of natural energy to bind 9 points of natural energy through the "Three Elements Sealing Technique"—a 1:9 ratio. 

In other words, he could now restrain more natural energy with less of his own. 

However, 1:9 was likely the limit for now. Improving it further would be incredibly difficult. 

As for reaching the theoretical ideal—where the seal could be maintained solely by the natural energy in the surrounding air without relying on his own? 

In the short term, Seimei saw no hope of achieving that. 

But that wasn’t a big deal, because what he had hoped for had already come to pass. 

With the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" reaching Level 5 and undergoing a qualitative change, its capacity for storing natural energy had increased significantly. 

At Level 2, it could store up to twenty thousand points of natural energy. At Level 3, that number rose to fifty thousand. By Level 4, it reached one hundred thousand. 

And now? 

Seimei estimated it could hold at least five hundred thousand points of natural energy. 

That’s right—not two hundred thousand, not three hundred thousand, but a staggering fivefold increase to five hundred thousand points. 

With a capacity like that, if he could keep up the rate of absorbing natural energy, the Sage Chakra he could produce would be enough to sustain uninterrupted training with the "Body Extremity Technique." 

This would double the speed at which he strengthened his body. 

Unfortunately, his current Level 6 "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control" skills weren’t sufficient to supply him with enough natural energy. 

At the very least, relying on just one hundred shadow clones wasn’t enough. 

Currently, he was using five million points of chakra per day for the "Body Extremity Technique." Based on his daily training sessions, that averaged out to over three hundred thousand points of chakra per hour. 

If he wanted to replace regular chakra with Sage Chakra, he’d need to acquire over three hundred thousand points of natural energy per hour. 

Only then could he produce enough Sage Chakra. 

To achieve that, he’d need to increase the number of shadow clones absorbing natural energy by seven or eight times. 

However, he could only maintain five hundred shadow clones for high-intensity training at most. There was no way he could manage seven or eight hundred clones dedicated solely to absorbing natural energy. 

Even if he could, he wouldn’t do it. 

After all, he still had Dust Release to develop. 

Plus, the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" wasn’t capped at Level 5. If he wanted to master Sage Mode in the future, he couldn’t abandon this technique. 

So, for now, his best option was to focus on leveling up "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control" to increase the speed at which each shadow clone could absorb natural energy. That way, he could achieve his goals through quality rather than quantity. 

As it happened, just two days ago, his "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control" had reached Level 6 (1/10000). The next level, Level 7, was in sight. 

And Level 7 was the second qualitative leap for these skills. 

When that happened, their effects would improve dramatically, potentially meeting his needs. 

So, when would they reach Level 7? 

Seimei opened his proficiency panel. 

As expected, after two and a half days of training, both skills had surpassed Level 6 (2000/10000) in proficiency. 

At this rate, it would take less than eight days for them to level up. 

Eight days wasn’t too long, nor was it too short. 

Seimei did some quick mental calculations and concluded that the Nine-Tails incident in Konoha likely wouldn’t have happened by then. 

“Phew, good!” Seimei let out a small sigh of relief. 

If he could push these skills to Level 7 before that chaos erupted and adjust his training plan accordingly, it would save him a lot of trouble. 

With these thoughts flashing through his mind, Seimei stopped dwelling on it. He closed the panel, raised his hands, and formed seals to cast the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique." 

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

With puffs of chakra smoke, four hundred and fifty shadow clones appeared in the area. 

Seimei assigned three hundred of them to continue developing Dust Release. As for the remaining one hundred and fifty clones… 

He had one hundred of them keep practicing the "Three Elements Sealing Technique," while the other fifty rejoined the group of one hundred clones responsible for absorbing natural energy. 

Previously, he had pulled fifty extra clones to focus on the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" to level it up quickly. 

Now that it had reached Level 5, there was no rush, so it was time to return those clones to their original task. 

Only then could his "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control" reach Level 7 on schedule. 

Chapter 1026: One Week Later 

Time flies, and days pass like a blur. 

In the blink of an eye, a week had gone by. 

Seimei was on the verge of leveling up his "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control," but it was time for his scheduled break. 

He didn’t let that derail his training plans or extend this round of intense practice, though. 

After all, based on the current situation, the "Nine-Tails Incident" wasn’t going to erupt anytime soon. There was no need to rush. 

Plus, he had another reason for sticking to the break: he wanted to use this chance to sync up with the wooden clones he’d left in the other three villages to exchange intel. 

Sure, in his memories, during the "Nine-Tails Incident," the Hidden Stone, Hidden Mist, and Hidden Cloud Villages didn’t make any big moves. But those were memories from his past life, from a different timeline. 

Now, with his involvement, who knew how things might play out? 

On top of that, he wasn’t sure if Uchiha Obito might deliberately leak news of the incident to stir up chaos and give himself an edge. 

So, he had to get a read on what the other villages were up to. 

With his spies in place, he wasn’t worried about missing any key information. 

No time to waste. Seimei quickly packed his gear, cast "Wind Release: Wings of Wind" and cloaked himself in a "Chakra Mantle," then used "Earth Release: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique" to lighten his weight. He took off, flying straight toward the Hidden Mist Village. 

As the first village he’d infiltrated, Hidden Mist was the one he’d penetrated the deepest. 

Heck, he’d even used his Mangekyō Sharingan to control the village elder, Genshi. 

If he was going to get solid intel from any of the villages, Hidden Mist was his best bet. 

So, it was his first stop. 

And just as he’d expected, everything went smoothly. After sneaking back into Hidden Mist and syncing memories with the wooden clone he’d left there, he got a detailed rundown of the village’s movements. 

According to Genshi’s intel, Hidden Mist had noticed the heightened alert in the Hidden Leaf Village and sent out some people to gather information. But they had no plans for a large-scale invasion. 

The operatives they sent were mostly spies, focused on figuring out what the Leaf was up to. 

Unfortunately for them, Uzumaki Kushina’s childbirth was top-secret. Those spies couldn’t dig up anything useful. 

So, as long as no one deliberately leaked the news, the chances of Hidden Mist getting involved in the chaos were slim to none. 

With that confirmed, Seimei didn’t linger. 

He cast "Wood Clone Technique" and the "All-Encompassing Seal," leaving behind a new wooden clone infused with a million points of chakra to keep tabs on Hidden Mist, then slipped out of the village. 

Next stop: Hidden Cloud Village. 

Unlike the isolated Hidden Mist, which was slower to react to the outside world, the ambitious Hidden Cloud had picked up on the Leaf’s unusual behavior early on. 

They’d taken it seriously, sending not only spies but also several elite squads into the Land of Fire to gather intel. 

Too bad for them, the Leaf and Cloud hadn’t signed a peace treaty yet, and border skirmishes were common. 

The Leaf was especially wary of Cloud, so the moment Cloud made a move, the Leaf got wind of it and started counter-infiltration operations. 

Behind the scenes, both sides were going at it like cats and dogs, but Cloud still had no clue what the Leaf was planning. 

That let Seimei breathe a sigh of relief. 

He left another wooden clone behind and moved on from Hidden Cloud to his final stop: Hidden Stone Village. 

Considering the damage he’d caused last time he infiltrated Hidden Stone, Seimei was extra cautious this time, careful not to draw the attention of the Stone ninja. 

And his caution paid off. 

Along the way, he spotted plenty of decoys and traps. 

Clearly, Onoki was still sore about Seimei—or rather, the Uchiha Obito he’d impersonated—slipping through his fingers. The old man had put in serious effort to set up an ambush. 

Too bad for him, Seimei wasn’t falling for it. 

With the stealth of his "Heaven’s Command," he slipped through the layers of defenses and reached the underground hideout where his wooden clone was stashed. 

He dispelled the "Wood Clone Technique" and absorbed its memories. 

It took a while to skim through them. 

The intel showed that while Onoki was curious about the Leaf’s odd behavior, his main focus was on tracking down Uchiha Obito. 

So, his attention to the Leaf was only slightly more than Hidden Mist’s. He’d sent some spies to gather intel, but that was it. 

Naturally, they came up empty-handed. 

With that confirmed, Seimei didn’t waste any more time. He left a new wooden clone behind and slipped out of Hidden Stone. 

From there, he made his way back to the Land of Fire, entered the Hidden Leaf Village, and returned home. 

Since his goal was clear, the trip didn’t take long. It was just past midnight when he got back. 

Seimei quickly washed up, headed to his bedroom, and crashed. 

The night passed quietly. 

The next day. 

Morning. 

Seimei slept in until he woke naturally. 

Then it was the usual routine: he hit up the "Food Street" to satisfy his cravings, relaxed at the hot springs, and wandered the village to get a feel for any changes. 

Just like that, the day flew by. 

After leaving a shadow clone in the village, Seimei returned to Moon Island and kicked off a new round of intense training. 

Barely into this round, he reaped his first reward. 

That noon, in a clearing at the center of Moon Island, Seimei’s figure appeared out of nowhere. 

He took a moment to cool off, letting his skin—red and overheated from the volcano’s heat—return to normal. Then he dispelled the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique." 

In an instant, all the shadow clones, both on and off the island—including the fifty he’d sent an hour earlier to the primeval forest in the northeast of the Land of Fire to absorb natural energy—dissolved. 

A flood of memories rushed into his mind. Seimei pushed them aside for a moment, first channeling the natural energy that returned with them into the sealing space created by his "Three Elements Sealing Technique." 

Only then did he start absorbing and digesting the memories. 

Time ticked by, second by second. 

About twenty minutes later, Seimei’s eyes snapped open. 

A sharp glint flashed in his gaze. 

A faint smile spread across his face. 

At that moment, a spark of understanding bloomed in his heart—a deeper grasp of "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control." 

He knew it: both skills had just leveled up. 

Immediately, he closed his eyes again, diving deep into the new knowledge to fully process it.