In the blink of an eye, another day had passed.
Thanks to an extra 450,000 points of chakra invested, the "Transcription Seal," which originally would've taken over two days—nearly three—to level up, was maxed out by Seimei in just under a day and a half. By that morning, it had reached the perfect state of Level 9 (0/0).
That morning, after Seimei once again absorbed the training experience and memories from his shadow clones over the past hour, his "Transcription Seal" finally upgraded. With it came a sudden clarity in his mind, boosting his understanding of the technique to a whole new level.
Before, when he used the "Transcription Seal," he had to set very specific conditions—like seeing the Three-Tails, for example—to ensure the seal triggered accurately. Now, though, he could afford to be a little vaguer with the conditions. For instance, he could set it to activate on its own when the target received what they considered important intel about the Three-Tails. On top of that, he could even delay the seal's activation, just like Uchiha Madara once did. This would make the whole process way more discreet.
Back when he'd left some sleeper agents in the Mist Village, the moment they spotted the Three-Tails, the Flying Thunder God mark on their bodies would instantly activate. Sure, it was subtle, but there was still a chance someone might notice. To counter that, Seimei had to layer an extra seal on them to keep his secrets from leaking. Now, though, he could set a delayed seal—let them sit on the intel for a bit before the Flying Thunder God mark kicked in. Not only was this safer, but it also meant Seimei could teleport in without worrying about landing smack in the middle of a bunch of Mist ninja ready to jump him. Practicality? Through the roof.
Beyond those two obvious upgrades, reaching max level with the "Transcription Seal" brought some subtler changes too. Casting time was shorter, the seal itself was sturdier—stuff like that. These might not sound flashy, but they're the backbone of the technique. If someone could just unravel the seal whenever they felt like it, all the fancy effects and power wouldn't mean squat.
A flurry of thoughts raced through his mind as Seimei mulled it over for a while. Then, he opened his eyes. Shifting his focus away from the "Transcription Seal," he pulled up his status panel with a thought and glanced at the Byakugan under his bloodline section.
After seven days of nurturing, its evolution progress had hit (991/1000)! At this rate, if he stuck to his usual routine tonight, it'd finally evolve to the next stage. No doubt about it—this was going to be a massive breakthrough.
Not that this evolution would suddenly make his Byakugan some god-tier eye or anything. If you compared it to the Sharingan, this step was like going from one tomoe to two. The eye's raw power wouldn't skyrocket or anything crazy like that. So why call it a huge breakthrough? Simple: among the current Hyuga clan ninja—main family or branch—nobody's Byakugan had gone beyond the "one tomoe" level. With this step, Seimei would be leaving them all in the dust.
He figured maybe Hyuga Hanabi, born a few years from now, might hit this level when she awakened her eyes. After all, hers were coveted by Toneri Otsutsuki. That's why Seimei saw this as such a big deal.
Lost in thought for a bit, he eventually shook it off and refocused on the panel. Part of him wanted to start nurturing the Byakugan right then and there, but he held back. It was only half a day's wait—no point in throwing off the training schedule he'd already set. Plus, maxing out the "Transcription Seal" had freed up some time anyway, so he didn't even have to wait until night to get started. No rush.
Calming his mind, Seimei closed his eyes for a moment to center himself. Then, with a quick hand sign, he cast the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique," splitting off over a hundred clones to kick off a fresh round of training.
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Hours flew by in a flash.
The sun dipped low in the sky.
On an island, atop a massive rock, Seimei stopped using the "Palm Sage Technique" and "Human Manipulation" and opened his eyes. A flicker of exhaustion passed through them. His pupils shifted from the kaleidoscope Sharingan—black as a sun—to their normal black-and-white state.
He glanced out at the sea and the island, where his shadow clones were still hard at work training. After a short breather, he dismissed the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique" with a thought. Poof! In an instant, all the clones turned into chakra, carrying an hour's worth of training experience and memories back into his body.
Eyes closed again, Seimei carefully processed and absorbed what the clones brought him, turning it into skill proficiency. About fifteen minutes later, he opened his eyes once more. This time, the tiredness in them was even heavier.
No helping it—between the "Heart Lock Seal," "Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Shift," and the "Transcription Seal" all breaking through in the past few days, plus the Byakugan teetering on the edge of evolution, he'd been grinding non-stop for fourteen days. That was pushing past half his usual ten-day limit. Feeling worn out was inevitable.
Still, he planned to wrap up the Byakugan's evolution today and head back to the village for a well-deserved day or two of rest. With that in mind, he stopped dawdling and focused. Calling up the "All-Encompassing Seal" at his brow, he linked it to the Byakugan. Then, with a thought, he started pulling chakra from the interdimensional space in his forehead. Compressed a second time by the seal, it turned into a higher-energy state and flowed into the Byakugan.
"Hss…" That familiar tingling hit him again, and Seimei sucked in a sharp breath. Splitting his focus, he kept feeding chakra from the interdimensional space into the Byakugan while tracking its evolution, letting the steady stream pour in.
Time ticked by, second by second.
An hour passed in no time.
At some point, Seimei felt an invisible wall—like something was trying to stop the Byakugan from going further. His brow furrowed slightly. Then, almost on instinct, he activated his kaleidoscope Sharingan and triggered the right eye's ability: "Human Manipulation."
Sure, "Human Manipulation" leaned more toward physical evolution, but it wasn't totally useless for mental stuff. If it were, his Byakugan wouldn't have been getting that extra evolution point every day. So even though the Byakugan's growth was more mental, "Human Manipulation" could still give it a nudge.
Time kept slipping by.
And just as he'd figured, things played out as expected. With "Human Manipulation" enveloping his body, that barrier he'd felt started to fade. At the same time, his mind sank deeper into the process.
After who-knows-how-long, a sudden, overwhelming hunger hit him—a craving for chakra. It was coming straight from the Byakugan at his brow. Snapping awake, Seimei didn't hesitate. He immediately started funneling chakra from the interdimensional space, pouring it into the Byakugan like a madman.
As the chakra flooded in, subtle changes began in places he couldn't see. The Byakugan shifted bit by bit, and under its influence, even the genes in his body started to mutate ever so slightly.