An hour later, Seimei returned to the island.
Boom!
A surge of Fire Release chakra burst from him, instantly drying his soaked clothes.
Then, he dispelled the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, recalling all his shadow clones.
After absorbing and processing their training experiences and memories from the past hour, as expected, his Uchiha Flame Formation proficiency increased slightly.
But just as he'd suspected earlier, without the moment of insight from successfully imprinting the technique onto his panel, casting it successfully was no longer so easy.
On average, it took over a dozen attempts to succeed once.
And only a successful cast would grant a single proficiency point.
So, while it only took 100 proficiency points to go from Lv0 to Lv1, it wasn't something he could knock out in just an hour.
Still, overall, with the help of his shadow clones, progress was much faster than with the Wood Clone Technique.
Seimei estimated that by the end of the next training cycle, his Uchiha Flame Formation would likely reach Lv1.
After that, grinding it to Lv2 would let him calculate the chakra needed to practice it.
With that in mind, Seimei cleared his thoughts, pulled a few enhanced soldier pills from his ninja pouch, popped them into his mouth, and chewed.
Then, he swallowed them.
After replenishing his energy, he started a new round of training.
The shadow clones were assigned the same tasks as before.
This time, though, his main body didn't dive into the sea to train physically. Instead, he began casting Mind Reflection Technique to stimulate his Sharingan's evolution.
As for practicing the Wood Clone Technique? He only needed to train that for two hours a day, so there was no rush for now.
Time ticked by.
Soon, the morning passed.
After a brief rest at noon, he dove back into his intense training.
When he returned from the ocean floor and absorbed the shadow clones' experiences and memories, his Uchiha Flame Formation successfully leveled up to Lv2.
Looking at his panel, Seimei calculated the chakra used to go from Lv1 to Lv2 over this period.
He quickly concluded that, after reaching entry level, each proficiency point for this technique required 200 chakra points.
This was higher than the cost of a typical A-rank ninjutsu, especially since his Chakra Control was already at Lv8.
Still, considering the technique's unique nature, Seimei understood why.
Creating a barrier wasn't something a mere几十 (几十 means "dozens" or a small amount, likely a typo or placeholder in the original text; assuming it means a small amount) chakra points could handle.
The 200-point cost was the minimum needed to gain proficiency, determined after many shadow clone experiments.
Any less, and either the technique would fail, or he wouldn't gain a full proficiency point.
So, 200 points was just right!
Now that he knew the cost, it was time to allocate chakra.
After some thought, Seimei decided to dedicate 300,000 of the 900,000 chakra points saved from Mind Reflection Technique each day to practicing this technique.
That amount was enough to gain 1,500 proficiency points daily.
As a B-rank ninjutsu, Uchiha Flame Formation capped at Lv7. Going from Lv2 (1/500) to Lv7 (0/0) required a total of 18,500 proficiency points.
That meant it would take just over 12 days to max it out.
Why not invest more chakra to finish it faster? Simple—he was also developing Storm Release. He could only spare about 20 shadow clones for Uchiha Flame Formation.
300,000 chakra points was roughly their limit.
Any more would interfere with his Storm Release development.
Seimei didn't want to disrupt his training plan, so this was the best arrangement.
Besides, 12 days wasn't exactly a long time.
With these thoughts flashing through his mind, Seimei refocused.
Raising his hand, he cast Multiple Shadow Clone Technique again.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
With bursts of chakra smoke, over 200 shadow clones appeared, and Seimei began another round of training.
This round lasted two weeks.
During that time, he returned to the village once to rest and spent one day on a mission that, for him, wasn't particularly challenging.
That afternoon, when Seimei surfaced from the ocean floor and absorbed the shadow clones' experiences and memories from the past hour, a sudden clarity hit him.
This made processing the memories take a bit longer.
About half an hour later, Seimei opened his eyes.
A faint smile spread across his face.
While Uchiha Flame Formation didn't boost his direct combat power much, it patched up a weakness, which was worth celebrating.
"Panel!"
With a thought, he opened his proficiency panel.
The familiar light blue screen appeared:
Name: Uchiha Seimei
Age: 14
Physique: 26
Spirit: 28
Chakra: 826,000 (872,244 → 1,030,644)
Bloodline:
- Sharingan: Eternal Mangekyō (11,250/100,000) → (12,920/100,000)
- Byakugan (4,538/5,000) → (4,945/5,000)
- Wood Release (82/5,000) → (1,800/5,000)
- Lava Release (280/1,000) → (400/1,000)
- Ice Release (1/100) → (110/1,000)
Skills:
- Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv7 (180/20,000) → Lv7 (708/20,000)
- Wood Clone Technique: Lv2 (1/500) → Lv5 (3,300/5,000)
- Uchiha Flame Formation: Lv2 (1/500) → Lv7 (0/0)
- Chakra Control: Lv8 (4,500/50,000) → Lv8 (4,900/50,000)
Maxed Skills: [None listed]
As expected, after two weeks of practice, his Uchiha Flame Formation had gone from Lv2 (1/500) to the maxed-out Lv7 (0/0).
Now, when casting it, Seimei was confident he could unleash its full power, likely strong enough to block a Tailed Beast Bomb.
This gave him another reliable defense.
Sure, whether it was the complete Susanoo, the near-invincible Heaven's Authority, or the position-shifting Flying Thunder God Technique, he could already shrug off Tailed Beast Bomb threats.
But having an extra defensive option was always nice.
Plus, at its maximum potential, it could seal off an entire area!
Shifting his gaze from Uchiha Flame Formation, Seimei looked at his chakra.
After 22 days of pushing his limits, his chakra cap had finally broken the million-point mark, reaching an unprecedented 1,030,644.
This got him a bit excited.
A million chakra points was something ordinary ninjas couldn't even dream of.
At this moment, he'd truly left ordinary ninjas in the dust.
And it was clear that, as time went on, this gap would only widen.
From now on, his opponents would only be those who could be called "gods."
Calming his thoughts, Seimei took a deep breath, exhaled slowly to steady himself, and looked back at the panel.
His Byakugan, after consistent nurturing, was on the verge of evolving, reaching (4,945/5,000)—just a step away from advancing.
At this rate, it would take about three days to evolve.
When it did, not only would his Byakugan's vision improve further, but his Spirit stat would likely increase by a point.
Still… Seimei glanced at his 26 Physique and 28 Spirit, feeling a bit uneasy.
"I wonder if my body can handle it this time?"
He considered waiting until his body's next transformation before letting his Byakugan evolve.
It was now early May, about 22 days since his last transformation. In roughly four weeks, his body would hit the critical point for another transformation.
Four weeks, though… Honestly, that felt a bit long, and Seimei didn't want to wait.
After pondering and sensing his body's condition, he confirmed it could probably handle it.
So, he decided to stick to his usual plan.
(End of Chapter)