With various thoughts swirling in his mind, Seimei summed up the past week's gains and didn't dwell any further. Instead, he quickly formed hand signs and cast Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique), kicking off a new round of training.
This time, however, the grouping of his shadow clones shifted again.
The clones previously assigned to practice Fushin Sakuon: Keiyaku Shunshin no In (Heart-Sealing Soul Lock: Contract Teleportation Seal) were now tasked with training Reika no Jutsu (Spirit Transformation Technique).
That said, the chakra cost for practicing Fushin Sakuon was quite different from Reika no Jutsu.
So, this grouping was just a preliminary plan.
Moving forward, he'd make further adjustments based on actual training results to minimize chakra consumption while maximizing efficiency.
With that in mind, Seimei sent the shadow clones off to work and began his own preparations for training.
Crackle~
The familiar sound of thunder roared once more.
Seimei activated Raiton Chakra Mode (Lightning Release Chakra Mode).
Then, he locked onto a Flying Thunder God seal placed somewhere on the ocean floor and cast Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique).
It's worth noting that after a month of adaptation, the seal he was using now wasn't the same one he'd initially set.
The current seal was placed much deeper, where the underwater pressure was far greater. Even with Seimei's current physical resilience, he could only barely withstand it.
---
Ocean Floor
On a certain rock.
Seimei's figure appeared out of nowhere.
The next moment, the lightning aura around him dimmed sharply, as if suppressed by some force, unable to maintain its intense glow.
But this lasted only a split second.
When Seimei focused his mind and channeled more chakra, the lightning aura flared up again, forcefully resisting the crushing pressure of the deep sea.
And that was exactly what was happening.
At this depth, this was the only way he could counter the external pressure.
However, this came with a downside: a massive drain on his chakra.
Though he'd had the foresight to allocate extra chakra for this long ago, over time, that reserve was starting to run dry.
It was clear that he'd soon need to tap into the chakra he'd stockpiled.
And once that was depleted, he'd have to allocate even more chakra to sustain it.
So far, after several additional investments, the chakra allocated to physical enhancement had reached 622,000 points (= 150,000 + 36,000 + 150,000 + 286,000).
Of that, 150,000 points were initially used for Raiton Chakra Mode, and 36,000 were for Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique).
The later additions of 150,000 and 286,000 points were invested in Shōsen Jutsu and Hito no Miya (Human Shrine) after he started using the deep-sea pressure to accelerate his physical enhancement.
All told, that made 622,000 points.
Moving forward, Seimei planned to calculate them as a single pool.
Since Shōsen Jutsu and Hito no Miya had become passive abilities, his physical enhancement was no longer about isolated improvements.
Combining them for calculations was both convenient and better suited to his current situation.
Getting back to the chakra itself, Seimei estimated that, at the current rate of consumption, his current setup could last about half a month at most.
After that, he'd need to find more chakra to keep it going.
But he wasn't too worried.
While he didn't have much spare chakra to allocate right now—his Sharingan, which could handle 1.5 million points of chakra stimulation, was currently only receiving 1.25 million—he was confident the issue would resolve itself soon.
Why? Because, as he'd calculated earlier, his body would reach the tipping point for transformation within a week at most.
This transformation would balance his Constitution and Mental attributes once again.
Based on past experience, whenever this happened, both his theoretical chakra cap and his natural chakra recovery rate would see a significant boost.
That would surely cover the shortfall.
And even if it didn't, he had other options.
According to intel from his shadow clone in the Hidden Rock Village and his hidden agents, Seimei had roughly pinpointed the activity range of the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han.
If push came to shove, he could investigate further, confirm the target, and capture the Five-Tails with swift, decisive action.
That would solve his chakra shortage.
Well, at least for a while.
That said, if possible, Seimei didn't want to move on Han so soon, for three reasons:
First, he'd already targeted a Tailed Beast in the Hidden Rock Village once.
As the saying goes, the more you do, the more you risk messing up. Doing less means fewer mistakes.
Last time, he'd already drawn the Hidden Rock's attention to the Hidden Leaf, sparking an investigation.
Now that things had finally settled, he didn't want to stir up trouble again.
Second, his excuse of pursuing power had temporarily convinced Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu, earning their tacit approval for targeting Tailed Beasts.
But if he did it too often, it'd draw their scrutiny.
That could lead to complications.
Until he awakened the Rinnegan, he wasn't ready to completely burn bridges with those two.
Third, there was the matter of maintaining the balance of power among the ninja villages.
The current Tsuchikage, Onoki, wasn't as old as he'd be during the Fourth Shinobi World War, but he was already over sixty.
For a ninja, that's pretty old.
Even with his powerful Dust Release, his stamina wasn't what it used to be.
Meanwhile, the Hidden Rock Village was in a transitional phase. They had the most ninja of the five great villages, but few could truly carry the weight.
If he took the Five-Tails now, it might push Onoki to a breaking point, destabilizing the ninja world.
Sure, Seimei wasn't afraid of a shinobi war, but a chaotic world would interfere with his training.
Taking such a risk for some chakra wasn't worth it.
So, if he could avoid it, he really didn't want to target the Five-Tails so soon.
If he desperately needed chakra later, he could target another village instead.
Like the Hidden Cloud Village.
Like the Hidden Rock, the Hidden Cloud had two Tailed Beasts, one of which was the Eight-Tails, second only to the Nine-Tails.
Even if he didn't go for the Eight-Tails, he could target the Two-Tails.
Based on the timeline, Yugito Nii had only recently become a Jinchuriki and likely couldn't harness much of the Two-Tails' power yet.
If he could locate her, with his strength and abilities, taking her down should be easy.
Of course, that was all for later.
What he'd actually do depended on how things unfolded and how urgent his chakra needs became.
That said, planting agents in the Hidden Cloud Village needed to be prioritized.
"Maybe when I swap out the shadow clones stationed in the Hidden Mist and Hidden Rock, I can make a trip there," Seimei thought.
Pushing the idea aside, he focused his mind and headed toward his actual training spot.
That's right—the spot he was at now was just the limit of what his body could handle in terms of pressure changes. His real training ground was deeper, with even harsher conditions.
(End of Chapter)