Time zipped by like a horse on the run.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.
It was morning now. Seimei had barely kicked off his second training round when his Lightning Release Chakra Mode hit max proficiency, jumping to lv7 (0/0)—full mastery!
He shut off the crackling lightning surging around him, closed his eyes, and tuned into the changes. Time ticked by, second by second. After a bit, he snapped his eyes open. With a thought, he sparked his chakra again, shifting it into lightning release. It poured out of his chakra points, turning into nimble little thunder snakes slithering around him.
Following the Lightning Release Chakra Mode body-tempering method, he guided those electric serpents through specific chakra pathways while keeping his body in motion. One minute, two, three… soon, an hour rolled around.
Seimei paused the Lightning Release Chakra Mode practice. Instead of rushing to dismiss his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, he took a moment to feel out the changes in his body after that latest boost.
"Hmm, efficiency's up a bit, but it's not a huge jump," he muttered, hard to pin down exactly.
So, he pulled back all his clones, soaked up their training experience and memories, and jumped straight into round three. Eager to test the full perks of maxing out Lightning Release Chakra Mode, he still stuck to his plan—no rushing things!
For this round, he switched back to pairing Palm Sage Technique with Human Mastery, reinforcing his body from the inside out in a gentler way. Honestly, he'd only kept the old routine to avoid extra hassle. But surprise—this time, the combo's efficiency seemed to tick up too!
His eyes popped open, confusion swirling in them. Then he settled down, digging into what was different.
And there it was. Turns out, maxing out Lightning Release Chakra Mode didn't just temper him from the outside in anymore—some of that lightning chakra was now working from the inside out too! Sure, it wasn't as strong as the Palm Sage Technique and Human Mastery duo, but compared to before? Night and day. That's why switching to the combo felt like an extra boost.
Good thing it was him, though. Anyone else maxing out Lightning Release Chakra Mode probably wouldn't dare push it this hard—or at least not this often. They'd lack Human Mastery's godly reinforcement and his freakish recovery. Even Cloud Village ninjas might only dabble with it using secret meds. In his hands, this jutsu was about to outshine anything they could pull off!
Thoughts zipped through his head, but he shook them off and got back to training. Time flew, and evening hit.
After dissolving the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and digesting the last hour's worth of clone experience—converting it into skill proficiency for his final round of the day—Seimei started recalculating how long it'd take his body to hit its next transformation threshold.
Based on today's results, with Lightning Release Chakra Mode maxed, his overall body-tempering efficiency had climbed about 15%. That shaved his next evolution from five months down to just over four. Since it'd been nearly a month since his last upgrade, he'd be there in four more months, tops.
"Not bad!" he said with a satisfied nod.
But then the cost hit him. Yep, the catch. Higher efficiency wasn't free—everything's got a trade-off.
For him, it was chakra consumption. Before, his daily Lightning Release Chakra Mode practice took 100,000 points. Now? 150,000—a 50% spike. Trading a 50% cost hike for a 15% efficiency bump? Not exactly a steal.
Still, after mulling it over, he shrugged it off. Fifty thousand extra chakra? He could swing that. The other three skills weren't maxed yet, so he couldn't shuffle their chakra around, but the stash in his brow's pocket dimension would hold him until they leveled up. Then he'd reallocate. Easy!
Decision made, he didn't waste time. After a quick breather, he tapped the All-Encompassing Seal at his brow, linking it to his Byakugan. Last task of the day: nurturing that eye!
High-energy chakra flowed in, and that familiar tingle kicked up. Seimei shivered—man, that felt good—and dove in fully. Time slipped by. An hour and fifteen minutes later, he opened his eyes right on schedule. The Byakugan was maxed out, unable to soak up another drop.
With a thought, he cut the seal's link to the eye and locked it back down. Done and dusted, he headed to the cabin for some rest.
---
Three more days zipped by. Early August rolled in, and the weather started cooling off.
That afternoon and evening, Seimei's Heart-Lock Seal and Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Shift hit lv7 (0/0) and lv9 (0/0) respectively—both maxed! Each brought some sweet upgrades.
The Heart-Lock Seal let him seal memories with finer precision and even sneakier concealment—laying the groundwork for something like the Tongue Calamity Eradication Seal. As for Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Shift, the change was flashier: faster illusion rebounds and the ability to bounce one person's genjutsu onto multiple targets. Next time he faced a group, if one tried an illusion and he caught it? Boom, they'd all eat it. Talk about a game-changer!
After savoring the upgrades, he shifted focus to the 500,000 chakra points (300,000 + 200,000) freed up by maxing those skills. Fifty thousand went straight to Lightning Release Chakra Mode—no brainer there. Now it wouldn't have to compete with the Byakugan for his rest-day leftovers.
The remaining 450,000? He decided to hold off. His Byakugan was close to leveling up anyway. Once it did, he'd see how much chakra it needed daily for nurturing, then divvy up the rest. Who knows, it might even guzzle more than that!
For now, no sense letting it sit idle. With Heart-Lock Seal and Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Shift maxed, he had some mental bandwidth to spare. Perfect chance to dump it into Transcription Seal, speeding up its proficiency grind toward lv9 (0/0). When it hit, he'd score another 300,000 free chakra points. Sweet deal!
No time to waste—he shut the panel, cast Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, and spawned over a hundred clones. New training round, go!
And just like that, time kept rolling…