The scenery before his eyes shifted abruptly, and Seimei returned to the island he had been on earlier.
Standing on the massive rock, he looked up at the sun, which had already risen halfway into the sky. After thinking for a moment, he decided to postpone the test for a day.
Since he was going to conduct a test, it was essential to ensure the data was as accurate as possible.
Before advancing Senro Myriad Seals to level 7, he had already been training for several hours, and his condition was far from its peak.
Afterward, he had crafted a scroll and sealed the Seven-Tails, both of which, though not time-consuming, had significantly drained his energy.
As for the Seven-Tails, setting aside the chakra extracted during its initial training rounds, the sheer outburst it unleashed before being sealed had already cost it a great deal of strength.
Under these circumstances, any test results obtained would be unreliable.
Thus, he decided to delay the test by a day, allowing all conditions to return to their original state before proceeding.
This way, he could obtain the most accurate results, enabling him to plan his future training more effectively.
Of course, he wouldn't waste the rest of the day—he would continue his usual training as always.
Given his current base attributes, the energy expended during such training could be fully restored with a good night's sleep, ensuring no delays for the test the next morning.
As for the Seven-Tails, based on his observations over the past month, losing a mere 200,000 points of chakra wouldn't significantly impact it. He could continue extracting more.
With that in mind, Seimei stopped overthinking. Placing the metal sphere containing the sealed Seven-Tails aside, he raised his hands and formed the Rin seal, casting Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Poof!
With a burst of chakra smoke, more than twenty clones appeared around him.
Without wasting words, Seimei swiftly assigned them their respective training tasks.
Once they had dispersed, he sat cross-legged and began his own training.
Alternating between Palm Sage Jutsu and Mind Reflection Jutsu, he simultaneously strengthened his body and enhanced the evolution of his Sharingan.
Time ticked by, second by second.
In the blink of an eye, an hour had passed.
Seimei dispelled all his shadow clones, absorbing their training experiences and memories from the past hour.
After converting those insights into skill proficiency, he picked up the metal sphere beside him and resumed absorbing the Seven-Tails' chakra.
Once a round of chakra replenishment was complete, he cast Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu again, instructing his clones to continue the previous training from their refreshed state.
An hour later, he recalled them once more.
And so, the cycle repeated, round after round, until nightfall.
Considering that he needed to maintain peak condition for the test tomorrow, Seimei did not train too late. Once fatigue set in, he stopped, returned to his wooden house, and went to rest.
A quiet night passed.
---
The Next Morning.
At dawn, Seimei woke up in his wooden house. After a quick wash, he ate a few ration pills to fill his stomach before stepping outside onto the massive rock.
Instead of rushing into training, he first retrieved the metal sphere containing the sealed Seven-Tails from his ninja tool pouch and extended his mental awareness inside.
Through his perception, he saw that after an entire day and night of struggling, the creature seemed to have finally realized it had no chance of escaping on its own and had quieted down.
However, it still harbored significant resentment toward him. Throughout the past day, Seimei had attempted to communicate with it multiple times during his training breaks, but it had ignored him every single time.
Although it had not concealed the fact that it possessed intelligence, its gaze toward him held nothing but hatred—except, perhaps, for a deeply hidden sense of fear.
There was no helping it. The abilities Seimei had displayed—especially his Mangekyō Sharingan—always reminded the Seven-Tails of a particular person.
That person had wielded the same eyes, using them to manipulate the tailed beasts' consciousness and force them into meaningless conflicts.
The experience had left a profound psychological scar.
Initially, even upon seeing Seimei's eyes, the Seven-Tails had not felt much fear. After all, it understood that humans varied greatly.
Even if two people possessed the same eyes, their abilities and potential could differ vastly.
In its long life, it had never encountered another person as terrifying as Uchiha Madara.
Thus, at first, it did not fear Seimei.
That was—until Seimei used his Mangekyō Sharingan to drag its consciousness into an illusion, tricking it into misjudging the timing of its escape.
That moment had been a wake-up call.
It was important to note that when it broke free, its power would surge dramatically. Given its mental preparedness, ordinary genjutsu should not have affected its perception of reality.
Yet Seimei had managed to deceive it—without a single trace.
This realization left the Seven-Tails deeply wary of him.
And so, beyond hatred, it also developed a sense of fear toward Seimei.
Inside the sealed space, Seimei stared into the Seven-Tails' compound eyes, which resembled those of an insect. After a long moment, he shook his head and withdrew his mental awareness.
To be honest, if he truly wanted to make the beast talk, he had ways to do so.
The simplest method would be to call it by its true name.
After all, apart from the Sage of Six Paths, who had originally divided them, and the nine tailed beasts themselves, no one else knew their real names.
One could imagine that if Seimei were to utter its name, it would undoubtedly spark its curiosity and initiate a conversation.
However, he had no intention of doing that.
For one, he had only considered communicating with it as a casual diversion, not as a necessity.
More importantly, this action carried risks—risks he was unwilling to take.
Yes, risks!
Seimei had not forgotten that the nine tailed beasts could communicate with each other.
Although he did not yet understand the conditions for this, he would never expose his foresight if there was even the slightest chance of being discovered.
Moreover, the Sage of Six Paths—the one who had divided them—was still very much alive!
Given his immense abilities, it was entirely possible that he had placed some kind of monitoring mechanism on the tailed beasts. If he detected anything unusual, Seimei would be in serious trouble.
After all, compared to Black Zetsu, who tirelessly schemed to revive his mother, the Sage of Six Paths—who hid in the Pure Land while seemingly treating humanity as a farm to harvest high-level souls—felt like a far greater puppet master lurking in the shadows.
Until he reached a sufficient level of strength, Seimei would never expose his anomalous knowledge to such a being.
This was one of the key reasons he often chose to act within the rules rather than disrupt them.
As these thoughts flickered through his mind, Seimei shook his head to clear them. Placing the metal sphere aside, he focused his energy and raised his hands, casting Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu once more.
Poof!
Over a hundred shadow clones materialized at the same time.
At last, the long-awaited test began.
Seimei quickly assigned them their respective tasks before sending them off to train.
Meanwhile, he did not idle either. Following the plan, he began his own training as well.
And so, time ticked away, second by second.