Crack! Boom!
A sudden crack of thunder echoed over the island.
A figure stood amidst the storm—Seimei, like a Raijin, god of thunder, manipulating bluish-white lightning that danced across his body. Using Raiton chakra, he tempered his physique, pushing his body toward new limits.
Time passed steadily.
Soon, an hour had gone by.
Seimei stopped his training in the "Lightning Release Chakra Mode," and, as usual, dispelled his Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique), reclaiming all of his clones. He absorbed their memories and the experience they'd gained over the past hour.
Once those experiences had fully translated into skill proficiency, he immediately launched into his second round of training.
This time, he dove back underwater. Relying on the harsh conditions of the ocean depths, he focused on enhancing his body through the combination of Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) and Hito no Go (Human Defense Technique).
Like before, this session lasted another hour.
By the time Seimei returned to the island, night had completely fallen.
He took another ten minutes to absorb the knowledge and experiences accumulated by his clones, then ended his shadow clone training for the day.
Why? Because his scheduled training for the day was already complete.
Now, it was time for his daily routine of nurturing his Byakugan.
But first, he paused to reflect on today's gains.
The first major achievement—his mastery of Fūton: Tsubasa no Kaze (Wind Release: Wings of Wind).
No need to say more; he'd already run extensive tests earlier.
Next was progress in developing his Mokuton (Wood Release) kekkei genkai and improvements to Eishin no Jutsu (Technique of Mental Reflection).
The former was getting tantalizingly close. Seimei could feel the restlessness deep within his body.
He knew that after assimilating Hashirama's cells, the dormant genes within him were steadily being awakened.
Once they were fully activated, he would naturally gain the ability to merge Suiton and Doton, finally unlocking Mokuton.
As for Eishin no Jutsu—that was going well, too.
It wasn't quite at the breakthrough stage, but it was getting close.
Soon, he'd be able to use it to further evolve his Sharingan.
At that point, increasing his Spirit stat would no longer be just a pipe dream.
Besides those two, he also confirmed today that the deep-sea pressure was helping him enhance his body more effectively using Shōsen Jutsu and Hito no Go.
He estimated the harsh conditions gave about a 10% boost in efficiency.
Not a huge increase.
And once Eishin no Jutsu was fully improved, and he allocated half his time to training it, his physical enhancement efficiency would drop even more.
At that rate, forget three months—four or even five months might not be enough to hit the next transformation threshold.
But Seimei wasn't too concerned.
Why? Because this was only the beginning.
Indeed, ever since he could remain underwater for a full 90 minutes, he'd stopped actively pushing for further adaptation in his skin's respiration system.
However, simply by continuing to train underwater, his body would passively improve in that area. It might not be fast, but it was steady.
As that ability strengthened, he could dive deeper into the ocean and endure even more extreme conditions.
Naturally, this would further increase his enhancement efficiency.
On top of that, he hadn't given up on synchronizing Shōsen Jutsu and Hito no Go so they could activate and operate passively.
If he managed that—plus refining his control over Raiton chakra to reduce its underwater chakra loss—he'd be able to use both the Lightning Chakra Mode and healing techniques together underwater.
Inner and outer strengthening, simultaneously.
That kind of synergy would skyrocket his efficiency.
Even if he allocated half his time to Eishin no Jutsu, he could still shorten the transformation timeline to under three months.
Thinking of that, Seimei couldn't help but smile.
But he quickly composed himself and turned to assess today's final gain—Reika no Jutsu (Spirit Transformation Technique).
Yes, Reika no Jutsu.
Even though it was only in the evening that he had his shadow clones begin studying it, and he'd only completed two training rounds so far...
Thanks to its well-documented training method—and the assistance of the proficiency panel—he successfully etched the technique onto his skill board.
Of course, he hadn't reached the initiation stage yet.
But that didn't matter. As long as it was on the board, he could simply "burn chakra" to raise its proficiency to perfection.
That said, during the process of learning it, he discovered a rather alarming detail—this technique requires a soul to practice.
Obvious? Maybe. It wasn't even mentioned in the training records, as if it were a given.
Still, the realization startled Seimei.
Why? Because most people train the technique with their actual body—but he had used a shadow clone.
So...
Do shadow clones even have souls?
The answer: both yes... and no.
Yes—because as he dove deeper into the study of souls, he realized that each shadow clone actually contains a fragment of his soul.
That's how they're able to inherit his full memory and transmit all their experiences back to him, even from great distances.
No—because that soul fragment isn't a full representation of his soul.
Still, it's enough to practice Reika no Jutsu.
And thankfully, the worst-case scenario didn't happen.
At present, Seimei already had a mountain of techniques to train with his real body.
If Reika no Jutsu had to be added to that list, even with his massive chakra reserves, his growth would've slowed down drastically.
Thankfully, it didn't come to that.
However, a soul fragment is still only a fragment.
The experience gained from a clone practicing Reika no Jutsu converts into proficiency at a much lower rate than normal training would.
In other words, it costs significantly more chakra to raise its proficiency compared to other jutsu of the same level.
As for exactly how much more—
That would have to be calculated once he officially reached the initiation stage.
But no matter what the number is, one thing was certain: the 286,000 chakra points he saved daily after mastering Tsubasa no Kaze weren't going to cut it.
If he relied solely on that pool, his Reika no Jutsu wouldn't see much growth at all.
So, he needed to divert additional chakra from other sources.
On top of that, as he dived deeper and relied more on extreme environments to enhance his body, those activities would also demand more chakra.
Combined, the strain on his resources was starting to give him a headache.
Before, when he had two Bijū supplying chakra, he'd thought he had plenty.
But now, the training phase had only just begun, and he was already running low.
He couldn't help but let out a sigh.
"Man… no matter how much you have, chakra is never enough!"
With that, Seimei pushed the thought aside. With a flicker, he vanished and reappeared atop the massive stone in the island's center, ready for the final training of the day—
Nurturing his Byakugan.
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