Meanwhile, in a forest somewhere, Seimei had no clue how Sarutobi Hiruzen was reacting. Right now, he was busy mulling over how to divvy up his chakra next.
With "Heart Lock Seal" and "Illusion · Mirror Heaven and Earth Shift" hitting their max levels, he'd freed up 500,000 points of chakra (200,000 + 300,000) to use however he wanted.
He'd tossed 50,000 of that into "Lightning Release Chakra Mode" to boost its body-enhancing efficiency.
That left him with 450,000.
Then, maxing out "Transcription Seal" saved him another 300,000 points.
All told, that gave him 750,000 points to play with.
Originally, he'd planned to siphon off some of that chakra to build a new cursed seal technique—like the "Tongue Calamity Eradication Seal"—based on "Transcription Seal" and "Heart Lock Seal."
But after this morning's test on the Byakugan's limits, he scrapped that idea for now.
Compared to nurturing his Byakugan, cooking up a new cursed seal was just icing on the cake.
Without it, he could still pull off similar effects—it'd just take a bit more effort.
He'd already proven that with the Mist ninja.
So, there was no point in wasting chakra on it right now.
Heck, he wasn't even sure he had enough chakra as it was!
After evolving once, his Byakugan could handle two million points of chakra a day.
Even if he dumped all 750,000 of these points into it, plus the 900,000 he usually put in daily, that'd only get him to 1.65 million.
In other words, to max out the Byakugan's evolution speed, he'd still need to scrape together another 350,000 points every day.
Based on his old pattern of resting once every ten days—stockpiling 3.4 million points during that break—it'd just barely cover ten days.
Here's the catch, though: in the past, he didn't fully slack off on rest days. Stuff like nurturing the Byakugan never stopped.
That took two million points right there.
3,400,000 minus 2,000,000 equaled 1,400,000!
That amount would only last him four days.
So, if he kept nurturing the Byakugan on rest days, out of the next ten days, he'd only get four days of maxing out its growth.
The other six days?
He'd be stuck at 1.65 million points a day, netting him just 8 evolution points each time.
If that dragged on too long, the Byakugan's second evolution would get delayed.
And that wasn't even counting what'd happen four months from now, when his body transformed again, fully integrating Hashirama's cells, and started ramping up the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan's chakra drain.
Judging by Uchiha Madara's experience, that step was gonna need a ton of chakra too.
Seimei wasn't about to wait until he was old and gray to evolve his Sharingan into the Rinnegan.
So, yeah, his chakra shortage was a real problem.
Could he stockpile enough on his own? Sure, in theory—his "Physique" and "Spirit" stats were still climbing.
But that'd take forever.
Seimei wasn't that patient. He needed to boost his supply and cut waste.
Cutting waste was straightforward—fight less, skip pointless stuff, and don't squander a single drop of chakra.
As for boosting supply…
With a flicker of thought, Seimei fished the metal orb sealing the Seven-Tails out of his ninja pouch.
He probed it with his mental energy.
Inside, the Seven-Tails looked better than yesterday. Still a bit sluggish, sure, but it was starting to recover.
In this state, though, it couldn't give him any chakra.
Plus, the million points it could supply daily was already baked into his regular training routine.
Even if it fully recovered, it wouldn't cough up any extra.
But Seimei's plan to boost his supply wasn't about squeezing more out of the Seven-Tails—it was about nabbing more tailed beasts like it.
Every tailed beast was a walking chakra battery. Get ahold of them, and you've got a steady stream of juice.
Back when he'd planted his pawn in the Mist Village, he'd had his eye on the Three-Tails for that exact reason.
Problem was, the Three-Tails wouldn't revive for over a year, and he couldn't wait that long.
So, he needed another target.
His mind raced through an old analysis he'd done on where the tailed beasts were.
Soon enough, he locked onto one—the Four-Tails!
Yup, the Four-Tails from the Hidden Rock Village.
Sure, its jinchuriki, Old Man Roshi, was a solid ninja who wasn't half-bad at wielding tailed-beast power.
But he and the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things, so Roshi wouldn't stick around the village forever.
And that gave Seimei an opening.
It'd been a while since the Third Shinobi World War ended.
If Onoki's mindset hadn't shifted—and the Rock Village was still the same as it was in the future—Roshi should be heading out around now.
Any changes?
Seimei thought back to any impact he might've had on the Rock Village. After a moment, he figured a stubborn old goat like Onoki wouldn't tweak his plans just because of him.
After all, Seimei wasn't a Rock ninja.
So, Roshi leaving was pretty much a sure thing.
Next step: track him down and yank the Four-Tails out of him.
Where to start?
Easy—the Land of Earth!
True, based on future memories, Roshi would eventually roam the whole ninja world as a wandering monk.
But at this point in time, Seimei doubted Onoki and the Rock Village brass would let him stray too far from the village.
If Roshi had already left, he was probably still kicking around somewhere in the Land of Earth.
That's where Seimei would focus his search.
Decision made, he quickly used the "Shadow Clone Technique," leaving a clone behind in the village to hold down the fort.
As for himself, he packed up his gear and slipped out of Konoha.
Since he was set on snagging the Four-Tails, he needed to prep and track down Roshi fast.
Good thing he didn't have training today—he could head straight to the Land of Earth.
Outside Konoha…
Seimei activated his Byakugan, scanning the area.
No one around, no sneaky eyes watching. Satisfied, he locked onto a Flying Thunder God mark he'd left in the woods outside Takigakure and triggered the "Flying Thunder God Technique."
Why there?
Simple—it was the closest mark he had to the Land of Earth.
His vision blurred for a split second.
Next thing he knew, he was standing in the forest outside Takigakure.
Perched on a familiar tree, Seimei glanced at the Flying Thunder God mark he'd carved into the trunk back at level 7. With a swipe of his hand, he reshaped it into a black sun.
"There we go, much better," he muttered, nodding in approval before making the mark fade.
Then, he formed seals, casting "Wind Release · Wings of Wind" followed by "Chakra Cloak." With a thought, he took off into the sky.