"Again!"
Watching the Wood Clone twist unnaturally once more, Seimei let out a soft shout, then channeled his chakra again, casting Wood Clone Technique.
As expected, the same scene played out. Two Wood Clones emerged from his back, struggling to break free from his body's constraints, only to fail yet again.
Seeing this, Seimei's expression didn't change. He gave a low command, "Keep going," and cast Wood Clone Technique once more.
Over and over, he created Wood Clones, and over and over, they failed.
However, as he repeated the technique, it was clear to the naked eye that the speed at which he formed the Wood Clones was getting faster.
Likewise, he was getting closer to success.
Finally, after more than a dozen failures, he cast Wood Clone Technique again, just as he had at the start.
This time, though, he didn't fail.
Two Wood Clones smoothly grew from his back, splitting off and standing beside him.
Even though Seimei had prepared himself for this, the sight left him momentarily stunned.
But he quickly snapped out of it, a smile spreading across his face.
With a thought, he opened his status panel. As expected, a new skill had appeared in his skill list—Wood Clone Technique: Lv0 (1/100)!
No doubt about it—he'd succeeded.
Though, judging by the proficiency level, his Wood Clone Technique wasn't fully mastered yet. Still, it had been etched onto his panel.
At this point, reaching mastery wasn't just possible—it was simple. All he had to do was pour in chakra and keep grinding.
But before grinding, he wanted to test the Wood Clones' capabilities to confirm they were as sturdy and reliable as he'd imagined.
With that in mind, Seimei opened his ninja pouch and pulled out a sealing scroll. Unsealing it, he retrieved a long sword.
Then, he turned to the two Wood Clones and said, "Both of you, come at me."
"Got it!"
The two Wood Clones understood his intent. They nodded, took a half-step back to create some distance, and prepared.
Not only that, but they flipped their hands, channeling Wood Release chakra to form a long sword in each of their palms.
Since this was a test, there was no need for probing or playing games. Once they were ready, the fight began.
Seimei suppressed his strength, using nothing but his swordsmanship—no other abilities—and faced the two Wood Clones with just his blade.
Likewise, the Wood Clones refrained from using ninjutsu or other techniques, engaging him purely in close combat.
The sound of metal clashing—ding, ding, clang—rang out as the three of them fought in a flurry.
Right away, Seimei noticed the difference.
In the past, his Shadow Clones weren't afraid of close combat, but that was only because his swordsmanship was top-notch.
Coupled with the Sharingan's powerful insight as a backup, he could ensure enemies couldn't land a hit, allowing him to strike freely.
But in those cases, Shadow Clones could only handle opponents weaker than him—specifically, those weaker in close combat.
If an enemy was too strong in melee or had the guts and means to go for a mutual kill—like the opponent he'd faced during the raid on the rogue ninja base—Shadow Clones struggled to cope.
Their weakness of not being able to withstand much damage would be exposed, and a single misstep could lead to their collapse.
But now? Wood Clones genuinely had no fear of close combat, not just relying on skill and Sharingan suppression.
On top of that, their fearlessness of death allowed them to take risks to counter enemies.
Right now, as the two Wood Clones fought together, one would occasionally take a hit on purpose to restrain Seimei, creating an opening for the other.
This kind of tactic would've been impossible before. Even a small cut was enough to make a Shadow Clone dissipate.
But Wood Clones could use Wood Release chakra to withstand or even repair such damage.
This alone showed their unparalleled advantage over regular Shadow Clones.
So, did that mean Shadow Clones were now useless?
Of course not!
First, creating a Shadow Clone required far less chakra than a Wood Clone, meaning he could summon a ton of them at once.
This made them indispensable for training.
Second, when a Shadow Clone was destroyed, it dissipated instantly, unlike a Wood Clone, which turned into a wooden husk before vanishing.
This made Shadow Clones more discreet.
And finally, the most critical point: his Wood Clone Technique wasn't fully mastered yet.
With such low proficiency, the Wood Clones' duration and stability still needed improvement.
As he was thinking this, the two Wood Clones fighting him suddenly froze. Without warning, they turned into rough wooden statues.
Then, they quickly crumbled and vanished.
The sudden collapse caught Seimei off guard.
He hurriedly stopped his attack, halting mid-motion.
Looking at the disintegrated Wood Clones, Seimei shook his head and thought, As expected, I need to boost their proficiency fast.
But to increase the technique's proficiency, he could no longer rely on Shadow Clones.
Earlier, Shadow Clones had worked for practice because they only needed to study the Wood Clone Technique's principles, which was more theoretical.
Now that the technique was etched onto his panel, improving proficiency required hands-on practice.
Of course, continuing theoretical research wasn't out of the question.
He'd done that with Izanami and Izanagi, slowly refining them through theory until they reached perfection.
But that took massive amounts of chakra and a ton of time.
Since casting Wood Clone Technique carried no risk, Seimei decided to practice it himself to speed up proficiency gains.
Another major reason for this choice was that he now had the sealing space created by All-Encompassing Seal, which stored a huge amount of chakra.
This meant he could first use Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to create a bunch of Shadow Clones for developing Storm Release as usual.
Then, he could use the stored chakra to restore himself and cast Wood Clone Technique to grind its proficiency.
This way, the only cost was sacrificing some time he'd normally use for physical training or stimulating his Sharingan's evolution—without halting everything else.
However, exactly how much time this would take depended on getting Wood Clone Technique to the entry level first, confirming its chakra cost, and then planning the time and chakra allocation.
With that in mind, Seimei sheathed his sword, resealed it, and began practicing.
(End of Chapter)