Time flies, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
Since receiving the deployment order and departing from the village, nearly a month has gone by.
Meanwhile, the second wave of reinforcements sent by the village has already arrived.
Additionally, according to the latest intelligence, it seems that the Hidden Cloud Village has suffered a decisive setback and will not be launching any major offensives in the near future. The situation here is expected to return to its previous stable state.
As a result, there is no longer a need for so many elite troops to remain stationed here.
Because of this, Seimei just received orders from the village for their unit to return in groups.
He himself was listed among the first group to head back.
Initially, upon receiving this order, Seimei had no intention of returning in person.
After all, compared to the journey here, the return trip was unlikely to encounter any major obstacles.
So, he figured sending a shadow clone along with the group would suffice.
However, after some consideration, he ultimately decided to return in person.
It wasn't because he foresaw any dangers or had a bad feeling about the trip back. Instead, after focusing intensely on training for so long, he simply needed a change of pace and a bit of relaxation.
For the past half-month, he had been like a machine—either training or on his way to train. Although he had successfully completed his scheduled training regimen and made significant progress, he had also accumulated a great deal of fatigue. Now, he needed to unwind.
Returning to the village with his comrades seemed like the perfect way to do so.
Of course, that didn't mean he was going to completely abandon training.
Given that their journey to the frontlines had taken nearly three days at full speed, the return trip, which was not as time-sensitive, would naturally take longer.
Even if he wanted to relax, he wasn't about to waste so much time doing nothing.
Thus, his training would continue daily—just at a reduced intensity.
For instance, techniques that required his real body to train, such as Palm Sage Jutsu and Mind Reflection Jutsu, would only be practiced at night during rest periods.
As for Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, Flying Thunder God Technique, Genjutsu: Darkness Technique, and Eight Trigrams Sealing, he would still assign shadow clones to train in them, but at only about one-third of the previous intensity.
Regarding Mind Reading Jutsu and Shadow Sword Technique…
The former had reached its perfected state four days ago after gaining an additional 41,000 Chakra Points from completing Earth Release: Earth Flow River training.
This success granted him an additional 150,000 freely distributable Chakra Points per day.
He immediately allocated these points to accelerating the growth of Genjutsu: Darkness Technique.
As for the latter, it had reached its perfected state even earlier.
With his relentless chakra investment, it hadn't quite reached the theoretical fastest completion time of two to three days, but it still took less than a week to max out at LV7 (0/0).
Perfecting this technique had completely covered his weaknesses in close combat.
Additionally, it solidified his envisioned melee combat system, which combined high-level swordsmanship with the three ultimate techniques: Flash Sword Technique, Phantom Sword Technique, and Shadow Sword Technique.
Seimei estimated that if he activated his Sharingan now, his close-combat ability would improve by at least 20–30%.
And when combined with the Lightning Release: Lightning Blade, which he obtained from the Hidden Cloud Village…
He could now confidently say that his melee capabilities were second to none.
Even against elite taijutsu specialists like Might Guy, he would remain unchallenged unless Guy opened at least the Fifth Gate of the Eight Gates.
Of course, if Guy opened the Eighth Gate (Gate of Death), Seimei would still keep his distance.
After all, once the Death Gate was unleashed, Might Guy was no longer just a taijutsu ninja—he could warp space itself.
At that point, forget about using normal evasion techniques—most ninjutsu and genjutsu would struggle to be effective against him.
That said, Seimei had no fear, as his Heaven's Guard was a perfect counter to such abilities.
…
But he was getting sidetracked.
Returning to the main topic—perfecting Shadow Sword Technique also granted him an additional 40,000 freely distributable Chakra Points per day.
Without hesitation, Seimei directed all of these points toward Nirvana Temple Technique, further accelerating its growth.
With these thoughts settled, Seimei stopped dwelling on the details and instead focused on traveling alongside his teammates back to the village.
Throughout the journey, they saw numerous ruined towns and displaced civilians.
Clearly, the impact of the Third Shinobi World War had not yet faded, and the Land of Fire remained unstable.
This was one of the reasons why the village had urgently recalled them.
Their group wasn't particularly large, but each member was an elite.
While they might not be able to handle large-scale conflicts alone, they could certainly lead squads and wipe out bandit hideouts.
One hundred elite shinobi meant one hundred elite squads.
For Konohagakure, which was desperate to restore order in the Land of Fire, this was an invaluable force.
That's why, the moment the frontline stabilized, the village wasted no time in calling them back.
Five Days Later
Seimei and his group finally returned to the village.
Though they had only been gone for about a month, they could immediately sense that Konoha had become far more prosperous than before.
Unlike the ruined towns they had passed along the way, the village was bustling with energy and vibrance—a place full of life and activity.
"It seems the village is quite satisfied with Minato Namikaze as the new Hokage," Seimei mused as he walked through the crowded streets.
There's a saying: A team reflects its leader.
The previous Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was well into his twilight years.
And as a result, the environment he fostered was one of stagnation.
Perhaps he hadn't even realized it, but the younger generation had long grown weary of his leadership style.
That's why, in an alternate timeline, after Minato Namikaze died sealing the Nine-Tails, and Hiruzen Sarutobi reassumed leadership, many young shinobi felt disappointed in the village. Their enthusiasm waned, and their efforts became half-hearted.
Since shinobi are the core of a ninja village, their attitudes directly or indirectly affect the entire community.
If just a handful of them were like this, it might not have made much of a difference.
But when a majority of the ninja force shared this sentiment, the entire village began to stagnate.
This was one of the reasons why Konoha's overall strength declined after Hiruzen returned as Hokage.
In contrast, Minato Namikaze was young and ambitious.
His natural drive and forward-thinking leadership reinvigorated the village, making it thrive once more.