According to the village's plan, the team would need to remain stationed on the front lines for another half a month to a month before gradually returning in batches.
The reason for this buffer, Seimei speculated, was the village's fear of any unexpected incidents. They likely wanted to ensure that the situation was completely stable before allowing everyone to return.
Additionally, the Uchiha clan conveyed some noteworthy news: the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was highly likely to step down soon. The village would then hold a selection process for the Fourth Hokage. Seimei was advised to remain cautious and refrain from voicing his opinions on the matter.
To this, Seimei merely smirked inwardly. "You're all going to rebel against the village in a few years and stage a coup. Now you want me to be cautious with my words? What a joke!"
Despite his thoughts, Seimei decided to steer clear of the situation entirely.
Even though he knew that Namikaze Minato would inevitably become the Fourth Hokage, he had no intention of getting involved. For one, he had yet to decide whether he would intervene during the Nine-Tails incident.
Without his interference, history would follow a different timeline, and Minato's tenure as Hokage wouldn't last long. If that happened, any efforts Seimei made to support him would be wasted.
Thus, he concluded it was better to do nothing at all.
Moreover, his personality didn't align with engaging in such political maneuvering.
Rather than investing time in building connections, Seimei preferred dedicating himself to strengthening his own abilities.
A saying from his previous life resonated deeply with him: "When you are strong, the world greets you with warmth. When you are weak, all you see are cold faces."
This principle held true even in a world devoid of supernatural powers. How much more would it apply to this world where strength determined everything?
Why were Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara able to forge a new path during the chaotic Warring States Period, establishing a village that unified various clans? It was because their strength was unparalleled—they commanded authority. Without sufficient power, who would have listened to them? Much less would other nations follow their example.
Seimei had no intention of reshaping the ninja world's existing order. All he desired was to train in peace and ultimately transcend this world.
Therefore, he saw no need to worry about fostering relationships. With enough strength, he would become the center of everything.
When that time came, people would naturally revolve around him if he wished it.
Under such circumstances, accomplishing anything would be as effortless as lifting a finger.
Unconsciously, Seimei's thoughts wandered far. It took a long time for him to return to himself.
At that moment, his heart was calm like never before. Even the news of the war's conclusion failed to stir his emotions.
"Whew—"
He exhaled softly, letting go of his thoughts.
Raising his hands, he formed the 'Seal of Crossing' and performed the jutsu—Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Poof!
A cloud of chakra smoke dispersed, revealing ten shadow clones in the field.
Seimei glanced at one of them and instructed directly, "You can return now."
"Understood."
At his words, the shadow clone nodded and responded.
The clone then activated Wind Release: Wings of Wind and Chakra Coat, transforming into a streak of light that shot into the sky, heading toward Sand River City.
The clone stationed in Sand River City had dispelled itself to accurately relay information to Seimei, so he naturally needed to replace it. After all, there were still some minor matters in Sand River City that required his attention.
As for the remaining extra clone, it shifted its focus from practicing the Sealing Guardian Technique to training in Lightning Release: Thunder Snake and Lightning Release: Thunder Prison. This required an additional clone.
Once Seimei assigned tasks to the nine clones, they dispersed to carry them out.
He himself continued training in Palm Healing Jutsu and Reflection Technique, focusing on strengthening his body and furthering the evolution of his Sharingan.
Time quickly passed, and night fell.
Just as Seimei was about to deplete his chakra reserves with the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu and end his training for the day to return to Sand River City, his last remaining clone brought him a rather pleasant surprise.
Earlier, while testing the Chakra Absorption Technique on the Six-Tails, Seimei had noted that the Level 6 version still had some flaws. Over the past while, he had been working on improving it.
However, the difficulty of refinement increased significantly toward the end.
Until an hour ago, the technique hadn't reached the complete mastery of Level 7 (0/0).
But now, it was perfected.
The reason was simple—achieving mastery in the Sealing Guardian Technique earlier in the day had inspired him. It helped him overcome the final hurdle and fully perfect the Chakra Absorption Technique.
Previously, the technique had three main shortcomings:
It couldn't effectively suppress the mental impact of the tailed beasts' will, limiting the duration of chakra absorption. The efficiency of absorbing tailed beast chakra was low, only a quarter of the rate it absorbed chakra from humans—500 points per second. An additional, less obvious flaw was its chakra conversion rate, which maxed out at 90%, falling short of 100%.
Now, all three flaws have been resolved.
First, the issue of the Tailed Beast's will impacting him.
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Inspired by the "Guardian Seal," Seimei added a layer of protection to his own mental will when absorbing chakra.
Although he hasn't fully tested it yet, Seimei is confident that he can withstand the impact of the Tailed Beast's will for a certain period.
With this, as long as he controls the absorption frequency well, there shouldn't be any major issues.
Although this might seem like a temporary fix, Seimei doesn't need to solve the problem permanently.
The reason is simple—his vulnerability to the Tailed Beast's will is ultimately because his mental willpower isn't strong enough.
If his mental will were strong enough, the spiritual will contained within the Tailed Beast's chakra wouldn't be a problem for him at all.
And fortunately, improving his "mental" attribute is already his main focus.
In fact, enduring a bit more of the Tailed Beast's will might even accelerate his progress!
That's why Seimei said there's no need to completely solve this issue.
As for the efficiency of chakra absorption:
Initially, Seimei thought this would be the easiest problem to solve, but upon practical testing, he realized it was far from simple.
The reason is straightforward—advancing to level 6 is essentially the limit of this technique.
Although he had made some progress beyond that, it was still within the same framework.
As long as he couldn't break out of that framework, the efficiency of chakra absorption would never see a significant breakthrough.
Thankfully, he has the proficiency panel.
With its assistance, he eventually managed to alter the original framework of the "Chakra Absorption Technique," transforming it from single-threaded to dual-threaded.
Single-threaded and dual-threaded refer to their literal meanings.
Previously, regardless of whether he used one hand or both, his maximum absorption efficiency was fixed because it operated within the same loop system.
Now, however, each hand operates independently, with both achieving the original level of efficiency.
This change effectively doubles his maximum chakra absorption rate.
Although 1,000 points per second is still not a particularly high number, it's a significant improvement over the original 500 points per second.
At his current and foreseeable chakra limits, this level of absorption efficiency is more than sufficient.
As for the third flaw:
Seimei naturally resolved it while addressing the issue of the Tailed Beast's will impact.
Even though he hasn't tested it on a real Tailed Beast yet, Seimei estimates that his efficiency in converting Tailed Beast chakra into his own chakra should now reach 99%, if not 100%.
This is likely the limit, as there's still a slight difference between Tailed Beast chakra and human chakra.
After reviewing this small surprise, Seimei wasted no time. While his chakra hadn't fully recovered, he quickly began practicing the "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu."
In no time, the forest was filled with flickering human shadows, resembling a scene of ghostly activity.