Chapter 12: Hope
That night.
Inside the training room.
Seimei swiftly completed a string of hand seals, and chakra surged within his body.
In the next moment, a glint of brilliance flashed through his eyes.
In front of him, within a cage, a rabbit under his gaze instantly fell into a deep sleep.
Proficiency +1!
On the panel, the Reflection Technique instantly advanced from lv0 (99/100) to lv1 (1/200)!
As the Reflection Technique leveled up, a special kind of chakra was born in his brain, flowing through his chakra pathways and pouring into his eyes.
"This is…"
Suddenly, Seimei recalled Senju Tobirama's explanation regarding how members of the Uchiha clan awaken their eyes.
That is, Uchiha clansmen are born with immense "love." When they lose that "love," a special chakra surges from the brain and acts on the optic nerves.
At that moment, their eyes undergo a transformation—this is the awakening.
The process that had just occurred in his mind was incredibly similar to that explanation, making it impossible for Seimei not to think deeply about it.
"Panel!"
With a thought, Seimei opened the proficiency panel.
[Name: Uchiha Seimei
Age: 10 years
Physique: 6
Spirit: 7
Chakra: 415 (580 → 622)
Bloodline: Sharingan · Not Awakened (51/100)
Skills:
Chakra Refining Technique: lv2 (9/500)
Clone Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Transformation Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Substitution Technique: lv2 (1/500)
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique: lv0 (52/100)
Reflection Technique: lv1 (1/200)
Basic Taijutsu: lv2 (1/500)
Ninja Tool Throwing: lv2 (120/500)]
"No change?"
Seeing that the Sharingan awakening progress was still (51/100), Seimei was visibly stunned.
He never imagined that the Reflection Technique would have no effect.
"No... that's not right..."
Seimei took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and fell into quiet contemplation. After calming down, he formed seals again and activated the Reflection Technique once more.
Before mastering it, he had needed a rabbit as a target to ensure success.
But now, without any external target, he could freely cast the technique at will.
The only downside was that now, after reaching lv1, every use of the Reflection Technique cost at least 200 chakra points.
The Three Basic Techniques also had increased chakra costs after reaching the beginner level, but none of them came close to this.
Of course, that made sense—those were just E-rank ninjutsu, each use costing around 20 chakra points.
The Reflection Technique, however, was A-rank. Before reaching beginner level, each attempt already consumed 100 chakra points. Now that it cost 200, it was understandable.
It was only thanks to Seimei's sizable chakra reserves that he could sustain it at all.
Clearing his thoughts, Seimei stopped dwelling on it and focused on sensing the effects of the Reflection Technique.
Just like before, a special chakra formed in his mind and surged into his eyes.
A few breaths later, Seimei opened his eyes.
The panel still showed no change in the Sharingan awakening progress.
However, this time, Seimei's mood remained steady.
Because based on what he just felt, he could confirm that his eyes were drawing closer to the state of the Sharingan.
In other words, the Reflection Technique was effective—it was just that the effect was weak.
On the panel, this was represented by the awakening progress staying unchanged.
'Now it's just a matter of figuring out how many times I have to use the Reflection Technique for the Sharingan progress to increase by 1.'
With this in mind, Seimei gathered his chakra once more, formed hand seals, and activated the Reflection Technique again.
Once, twice, three times...
Several hours later.
When Seimei raised the Reflection Technique's proficiency to lv1 (10/200), the Sharingan awakening progress on the panel finally increased to (52/100).
Seimei let out a long sigh of relief.
Though he had expected it, he couldn't truly relax until he saw the panel actually change.
After calculating, he had used roughly 2000 chakra points just to push the Sharingan awakening progress up by one point.
That cost could be considered both high and low.
For a genin, gathering that much chakra wasn't easy, but for a chunin, it was completely manageable.
Even without grinding ten points of proficiency at once like he did, spreading it out was still viable.
Even casting the technique once a day, one could awaken the Sharingan in just a few months.
'Then why has no one in the Uchiha clan ever succeeded this way?'
It might be true that no one stuck with it for years—but there had definitely been those who persisted for several months.
Seimei would never underestimate the Uchiha clan's desire to awaken the Sharingan.
With that kind of determination, persevering for a few months shouldn't be a problem.
Yet despite this, no one had ever awakened the Sharingan using this method.
This thought cast a faint shadow over Seimei's heart.
After a long period of reflection, Seimei still couldn't figure it out.
Since there was no answer, he decided not to dwell on it. The progress bar had moved—what mattered now was grinding it forward.
Fortunately, he didn't have to return to school for the next few days. He could use this opportunity to get the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique to the beginner level, and in the process test the progression rate of the Sharingan to better plan his training.
But that was for later. Seimei yawned and glanced at the time—it was already five in the morning.
He had stayed up all night just to confirm the Reflection Technique's effectiveness. It was time to rest.
······
The next day.
Noon.
After a simple meal, Seimei went to the training field to begin solo cultivation.
First, he refined chakra. With the lv2 Chakra Refining Technique, he recovered 600 chakra points in just three hours.
With his chakra replenished, he began practicing the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.
As a C-rank offensive ninjutsu, each attempt consumed at least fifty chakra points.
Currently, his Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique was at lv0 (52/100).
Each standard attempt, whether successful or not, would increase the proficiency by one point.
In other words, he needed forty-eight more attempts to reach the next level.
Forty-eight times fifty—that was 2400 chakra points.
That was about the maximum amount of chakra Seimei could use in a single day.
Unless he improved his physique or found more easily absorbed and digested military rations pills, this limit wouldn't be easy to surpass.
······
Boom~
A fireball burst from Seimei's mouth, rapidly expanding until it reached a massive diameter of one and a half meters.
When it slammed into the ground, it blasted open a deep crater, the interior charred black. Even after the flames went out, scorching heat still radiated from the pit.
By the end of the afternoon, he had raised the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique to lv0 (75/100). Though still not at the beginner level, he was now occasionally succeeding in casting it.
Like just now—that was already the level of someone who had entered the basics.
Looking up at the sky, the sun had already set in the west. Seimei didn't linger and returned home immediately.
After a brief rest, he resumed cultivation once again.
Since ninjutsu practice wasn't suitable indoors, Seimei focused his attention on the Reflection Technique.
Over and over again—until late at night, when he finally drifted into a deep sleep.
The days that followed were the same.
[End of Chapter]
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