Boom!
A loud explosion echoed through the air.
Deep in the Death Forest, on a wide-open clearing, the outermost petals of a crimson lotus got smashed to bits by a massive gray-white snake.
In a flash, roaring flames erupted from the shattered petals, blasting the snake and leaving its head a bloody mess. It hissed in pain and slithered back fast.
This wasn't just any technique—it was the "Fire Release: Crimson Lotus Prison Flame" that Seimei checked out first!
Hiding at the lotus's center, Seimei's Sharingan spun like crazy. He took control of the snake again, sending it crashing into another petal on the opposite side, feeling out every little change.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions kept going off one after another.
By the time that gray-white snake finally bit the dust, Seimei called it quits on his analysis.
"Phew~~~"
Letting out a breath, he dropped the jutsu and pulled up his panel.
There it was—"Fire Release: Crimson Lotus Prison Flame" had hit lv1 (25/200)!
Yup, just an hour ago, he'd grinded all seven ninjutsu—including this one—up to the beginner level.
The past hour? Just him testing how much chakra it'd take to level them up.
And now, that test was pretty much wrapped up.
Seimei glanced at the snake's corpse on the ground, then looked up at the sky.
Peeking through the gaps in the forest canopy, he could see the moon already hanging up there.
He packed up his gear, casually cleaned up any traces he'd left behind, and then zipped out of the Death Forest, heading home.
---
Ten minutes or so later…
Seimei was back at his place.
He checked around the yard for any signs of intruders while he'd been gone. All clear—so he strolled into the bathroom and started washing up.
A nice, hot shower later, all that exhaustion melted away. Feeling refreshed, Seimei stepped out and made a beeline for the food street.
He stuffed his face like a champ, filled his belly, and then headed back home.
Inside his training room, he sat down, closed his eyes, and chilled for a bit until his mind was totally calm. Then he opened his panel again, ready to divvy up the 600,000 chakra points he'd saved up from maxing out "Flying Thunder God," based on this afternoon's tests.
First up: "Fire Release: Crimson Lotus Prison Flame."
This one's the toughest to train—right up there with regular A-rank ninjutsu.
Even with his foundation from other Fire Release moves and lv7 "Chakra Control" backing him up, it still took 120 chakra points per proficiency point after hitting beginner level.
So, Seimei decided to throw 120,000 chakra points at it daily.
That way, it'd hit lv5 in just over three days for its first big upgrade, then lv7 in about fifteen days for the second.
Keep at it for a couple more months, and it'd reach lv9, getting that third upgrade.
After those three boosts, his grasp of fire chakra shape and nature transformation would definitely level up!
Next: "Fire Release: Thousand Swallow Dance."
This one's a bit easier—about B-rank difficulty.
Testing showed it only needs 100 chakra points per proficiency point after starting out.
Same deal for "Earth Release: Black Mud Rain," "Earth Release: Earth Vein Dragon," and "Lightning Release: Thunder Beast Parade"—all around 100 chakra points per point.
Seimei figured he'd toss 50,000 chakra points at each of them every day.
That'd net them 500 proficiency points daily.
In about a week, they'd hit lv5 for their first upgrade, then a month later, they'd max out at lv7 (0/0) for the second.
By then, he'd have a fresh take on the shape and nature transformation for their respective elements!
Besides those five, he's still got "Lightning Release: Shock Thunder Sword" and that half-baked Fire Release jutsu to work on.
The first one's B-rank too, but its weird quirks mean it takes 120 chakra points per proficiency point after starting—same as Crimson Lotus.
So, Seimei planned to dump 60,000 chakra points into it daily to keep it on pace with the others.
As for that half-finished Fire Release one…
Since it's still a work in progress, he'd have to develop and refine it as he goes, which'll eat up extra time and effort.
For that, he'd set aside 150,000 chakra points per day.
Even then, he wasn't sure it'd keep up with the rest.
Might need to pump more into it later—who knows?
But it's all worth it!
If he can finish it and grind it to lv10 (0/0)—the max for an S-rank skill—his mastery of fire chakra shape and nature transformation would absolutely hit the level needed to develop a Bloodline Ensnaring technique!
Seimei's pretty hyped for that.
Oh, and since this jutsu's all about maxed-out attack power, he's already slapped a fitting name on it—Fire Release: Blazing Surge Strike!
Yup, simple, clear, and straight to the point—gathering all that fire into one killer hit!
His eyes flicked over the seven ninjutsu as he did some mental math. Together, they'd burn through 530,000 chakra points daily (120,000 + 50,000 x 4 + 60,000 + 150,000).
That left him with 70,000 points to play with.
No way was he letting that go to waste!
He decided to throw it into practicing "Lock Heart Seal."
Yup, that sealing technique he snagged from the Iwa spy last night.
He'd tested it this afternoon too—turns out it takes about 100 chakra points per proficiency point.
So, 70,000 points a day would give it 700 proficiency.
At that rate, it'd hit lv5 in five days, then lv7 in twenty.
And that's about its cap.
Sure, it's got a quirky effect, but it's basically just a B-rank sealing technique.
Lv7's the end of the line.
Once it's maxed, Seimei's thinking of mixing it with "Transcription Seal" and "Self-Karma Curse Seal" to see if he can whip up something like "Tongue Calamity Eradication Seal"—a hardcore curse to lock down someone's actions.
If he could go a step further and weave in a Flying Thunder God mark? Even better!
That'd make planting spies in other villages way less of a hassle than last night's mess.
All these ideas bounced around in his head. After mulling it over for a bit, he closed the panel and let it go.
With a quick thought, he activated "All Things Sealed" at his forehead, linking it up with his Byakugan.
Then he started channeling today's leftover chakra to nurture the Byakugan in his brow.