Seimei withdrew his hand from Ooyashiro En's head, shaking his head slightly to himself. "Doesn't matter how they were taken down. It's over now, and it's time for me to head back."
With that thought, he used the Mind's Eye Technique to connect with all the shadow clones stationed on the perimeter, ordering them to clean up the battlefield. Then, he teleported back to Moon Island.
His vision shifted in an instant.
In a single moment, Seimei found himself back in the clearing at the center of Moon Island.
"Phew~"
Letting out a soft breath, he pushed aside stray thoughts and tapped into the chakra stored in the interdimensional space at his forehead, resuming the nurturing of his Byakugan.
About an hour later, a dozen memories flooded into his mind.
Seimei briefly snapped out of his focus, skimming through the memories from the shadow clones tasked with cleaning up the battlefield. Once done, he went right back to nurturing his Byakugan.
Time kept ticking by.
Another hour passed in the blink of an eye.
It was now deep into the night.
A familiar swelling sensation pulsed from the Byakugan in his forehead.
Seimei immediately knew he'd reached his limit.
Without hesitation, he stopped channeling chakra.
As the Byakugan settled back to normal, he opened his status panel, glanced at the progress of its evolution, and nodded in satisfaction.
Then, he stood up and headed to the wooden cabin at the edge of the island for some rest.
The night passed quietly.
…
The Next Day
Seimei woke up a bit later than usual.
After quickly washing up and downing a few enhanced soldier pills to fill his stomach, he made his way to the clearing at the center of the island.
He didn't dive straight into training. Instead, he closed his eyes and carefully sensed the locations of Chikamura Daiki and Koike Raiko.
That's right—he hadn't forgotten about those two.
Last night, he'd deliberately let them escape from that island.
Now, they were holed up somewhere outside the Misty Sea.
From the looks of it, they were probably resting.
After a moment's thought, Seimei created a single shadow clone and had it use Wind Release: Wings of Wind and Chakra Cloak to fly toward their location.
Once the clone confirmed their exact position, it would head to the Land of Water. There, through another shadow clone stationed in the area and some of his hidden agents, it would leak their whereabouts to the Hidden Mist Village.
The Mist would take care of eliminating them.
The reason for this roundabout plan was caution.
Yesterday, those two had already clashed with the Hidden Mist's pursuit team.
It was obvious that the Mist would be hunting them down in the coming days.
And their escape route happened to pass near Moon Island.
If Seimei killed them himself, the Mist, unaware of the details, might trace their path and stumble upon him.
That was something he absolutely couldn't allow.
So, last night, he'd let them slip away. Only if the Hidden Mist dealt with them directly would the matter be fully resolved.
That way, Moon Island wouldn't be exposed by some careless mistake.
This meticulous cleanup was why he'd gone to such lengths.
Well… it wasn't that complicated.
With the Sealed Heart, Locked Soul: Contract Teleportation Mark, the positions of Chikamura Daiki and Koike Raiko were completely transparent to him. He didn't need to waste effort tracking them down.
As for passing the intel to the Mist, his shadow clone could handle that without him getting involved.
So, it wasn't really a hassle.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Seimei stopped dwelling on it. He drew on the chakra stored in his forehead's interdimensional space to restore his condition to peak, then performed the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
With bursts of chakra smoke, over two hundred shadow clones appeared in the clearing.
Looking at them, Seimei began dividing them into groups.
This time, the clones wouldn't just work on developing Storm Release. Some would also start experimenting with creating Wood Release clones, building on the Shadow Clone Technique.
That's right—Seimei was wasting no time. He'd had the idea yesterday, and today, he was putting it into action.
…
In a flash, it was noon the next day.
Suddenly, Seimei teleported back to the island from the ocean floor.
He summoned a burst of Fire Release chakra, instantly drying the water on his body.
He was about to recall all his shadow clones to absorb their training experience from the past hour.
But just then, a memory surfaced in his mind.
He paused the motion to dispel the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and began reviewing the memory.
It came from the shadow clone he'd sent out yesterday morning to tie up loose ends.
In the memory, Seimei saw Chikamura Daiki and Koike Raiko surrounded by the Hidden Mist's pursuit team. After a brief battle, they were killed on the spot.
Opening his eyes, Seimei carefully sensed the Sealed Heart, Locked Soul: Contract Teleportation Mark in their direction.
As expected, it was gone.
Interestingly, just before their deaths, Daiki and Raiko had tried to reveal Seimei's existence in a desperate bid to survive.
But those attempts were thwarted by the shadow clone observing from the shadows.
In fact, their actions only hastened their demise.
After all, having your mind tampered with during a fight isn't just a mistake—it's the difference between life and death.
As for the risk of the Hidden Mist's Anbu noticing something odd during the cleanup?
Seimei wasn't worried.
Why? Because he had an agent embedded in that team.
While he couldn't directly control their thoughts, subtly influencing their minds was well within his capabilities.
With careful execution, no one would notice anything amiss.
And the facts proved him right.
After eliminating the two, the Mist's pursuit team left without lingering.
With that, the trouble caused by Chikamura Daiki and Koike Raiko was fully resolved.
Now, Seimei could train in peace.
Speaking of training, he glanced at the shadow clones working diligently on and off the island, then dispelled the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique with high hopes.
Why was he so optimistic?
Simple. After a day and a half of research and experimentation, he'd nearly figured out how to create a Wood Release clone.
Now, it was just a matter of verifying if his conclusions were correct.
With that in mind, he closed his eyes and began sifting through the memories, absorbing and digesting the training experience they contained.
Time ticked by, second by second.
About half an hour later, Seimei opened his eyes again.
This time, processing the training experience had taken longer than usual.
Naturally, the gains were greater too.
Standing in place, he pondered for a moment, then raised his hands, channeling chakra into Wood Release and performing the Wood Clone Technique.
His shoulders began to writhe.
Moments later, two heads sprouted from them.
They were wooden, rough-looking at first.
But soon, they became strikingly lifelike.
Just as the two wood clones were about to fully detach from his body, they suddenly wilted, collapsing back into him.
Clearly, the attempt had failed.
Seimei paused, reflecting on where things went wrong.
After a while, he had his answer. With a soft shout of "Again," he channeled chakra once more and performed the Wood Clone Technique.
The familiar scene repeated—two heads emerged from his shoulders, writhing as they tried to separate from his body.
But this time, too, it didn't work. They only managed to form their upper bodies before inexplicably twisting into vine-like shapes.
(End of Chapter)