The scene fell quiet for a moment.
Suddenly, Seimei opened his eyes.
However, what drew attention wasn't his deep, enigmatic black pupils, but the Byakugan at the center of his forehead.
Under the bright moonlight, it glowed faintly, shimmering like a gem.
This was a unique phenomenon caused by a massive influx of chakra that hadn't yet dissipated.
A few breaths later, the glow faded.
Yet, compared to before, this eye now appeared much clearer and more radiant.
Seimei reached up, instinctively touching it.
Then, he focused his attention on the eye.
In an instant, his vision shifted. No longer was he seeing the ordinary world through his physical eyes; instead, it was a complex, layered view of black and white.
Indeed, this was the vision of his Byakugan.
Focusing on himself, Seimei observed for a moment and noticed that, compared to before its advancement, the Byakugan's clarity had improved significantly.
If previously he could only discern the larger, more prominent chakra pathways in a person's body, now he could easily see even the finest, most intricate meridians.
Additionally, Seimei concentrated and "looked" at a large tree to his right rear.
In an instant, his vision shifted there.
This speed was noticeably faster than before.
This meant that in the chaos of battle, his reaction time would be quicker, allowing him to respond more flexibly to attacks from all directions.
Beyond these two improvements, Seimei tested other details as well.
Without exception, anything related to the Byakugan had improved to varying degrees.
But if you asked him how much it had improved exactly? Well, Seimei couldn't quite put it into words.
The thing was, his Byakugan, compared to the Sharingan, was only equivalent to the early stages of a three-tomoe Sharingan.
Coupled with the Byakugan's unique nature, it was still far from a qualitative leap.
Perhaps only when it evolved into the Tenseigan would he truly feel the magnitude of its transformation.
Until then, the improvements would be subtle, with the Byakugan's abilities only building incrementally on their existing foundation.
Getting to that point, however, was clearly no easy task.
For someone like him, who could only nurture the Byakugan with vast amounts of chakra, it was a distant, almost unattainable goal.
Ugh.
This thought made Seimei recall the shadow clone he'd left back in the village.
"I wonder how he's progressing?" Seimei mused.
Based on the memories synced from his last return to the village, when he went back tomorrow evening to rest, his clone should have mastered most of the Hyuga clan's techniques for awakening the Byakugan.
After that, with another round of intense training, he could start practicing them.
Then, he'd attempt to push beyond his current limits and, like with the "Mind Reflection Technique," develop skills better suited to evolving the Byakugan.
Of course, that was all for later.
For now, he wanted to figure out what changes would occur if he continued nurturing the Byakugan after its advancement.
He also needed to test how the one-point increase in his "Spirit" attribute affected his potential and chakra recovery speed.
As expected, after this Byakugan advancement, his "Spirit" attribute had risen by one point.
"Panel!"
With a thought, Seimei opened his proficiency panel.
The familiar light blue screen appeared:
---
Name: Uchiha Seimei
Age: 14
Constitution: 26
Spirit: 28 → 29
Chakra: 415,000 (1,030,644 → 1,052,244)
Bloodline:
- Sharingan · Eternal Mangekyo (12,920/100,000) → (13,192/100,000)
- Byakugan (4,945/5,000) → (1/10,000)
- Wood Release (1,800/5,000) → (2,100/5,000)
- Lava Release (400/1,000) → (415/1,000)
- Ice Release (110/1,000) → (122/1,000)
Skills:
- Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv7 (708/20,000) → Lv7 (780/20,000)
- Wood Clone Technique: Lv5 (3,300/5,000) → Lv5 (4,500/5,000)
- Chakra Control: Lv8 (4,900/50,000) → Lv8 (4,920/50,000)
- Mastered Skill: Uchiha Flame Formation: Lv7 (0/0)
---
Compared to three days ago, his panel hadn't changed much.
The most notable changes were the Byakugan's evolution progress resetting from (4,945/5,000) to (1/10,000), his chakra cap increasing by over 20,000 points, and his "Spirit" attribute rising from 28 to 29.
Everything else was minor.
Feeling the surge in his mental energy, Seimei frowned slightly.
As he'd predicted, when his "Spirit" attribute exceeded his "Constitution" by three points, the overpowering mental energy began to strain his physical body.
After all, he was essentially a "borrowed" body. Despite years of adjustment, they were mostly in sync, but a slight mismatch remained.
In this situation, the issues caused by an imbalance between mind and body were more pronounced for him than for others.
This was especially true since he'd awakened Wood Release, Lava Release, and Ice Release, which put far greater strain on his body's genetics than most people could handle.
He had to be cautious.
Thankfully, his "Constitution" attribute was at 26, making his body far stronger than average. If it were anyone else, they might already be suffering from genetic disorders.
Even so, he was nearing his limit.
The only silver lining was that his body would soon undergo a transformation.
When that happened, his "Constitution" attribute would increase, significantly alleviating the imbalance between his mind and body.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Seimei stopped dwelling and began testing the changes brought by the "Spirit" increase.
First, his theoretical chakra cap.
Closing his eyes, Seimei fully activated his Chakra Refinement Technique to tap into his potential.
Thanks to the technique's advancement to Lv7, his ability to draw out his body's potential had greatly improved, allowing him to assess his condition more accurately in less time.
About ten minutes later, he opened his eyes.
Based on his body's response, he estimated that this "Spirit" increase had boosted his potential—his theoretical chakra cap—by roughly 1.6 million points.
This was higher than the 1.45 million-point increase from when his "Spirit" went from 27 to 28.
However, compared to the difficulty of raising "Spirit" from 28 to 29, it was still slightly below expectations.
Clearly, this was due to the suppression caused by the imbalance between his attributes.
For now, Seimei had no good solution, so he could only hope that increasing his "Constitution" would unlock this suppressed potential.
Next, he tested his chakra recovery speed, which had two components.
The passive chakra recovery from the Chakra Refinement Technique remained unchanged: 5,000 points per hour, totaling 120,000 points over 24 hours.
The other part was his body's natural chakra recovery rate, which was what he needed to test.
Pausing the Chakra Refinement Technique, Seimei opened his panel and sat quietly, observing the changes in his chakra.
Time ticked by.
After about ten minutes, his chakra had increased by 39,583 points.
That meant 237,500 points per hour, or 5.7 million points over 24 hours.
This was 800,000 points more than the previous 4.9 million.
In other words, this "Spirit" increase had boosted his daily usable chakra by 800,000 points.
While this wasn't as significant as the 700,000-point increase from raising "Spirit" from 27 to 28, it was still respectable given the attribute imbalance.
Withdrawing his thoughts, Seimei began considering how to allocate these 800,000 chakra points.
This brought him back to his earlier question: what changes would occur if he continued nurturing the Byakugan after its advancement?
He needed to figure that out before making any plans.