Countless thoughts flashed through Seimei's mind, but he quickly shoved them aside.
With a splash, he burst through the ocean's surface. Using both hands to propel himself, he leapt up and stood firmly on top of the water.
Glancing around, Seimei took in the sight of his shadow clones training both on the island and off its shores. He wiped the seawater from his face and in the blink of an eye, moved onto the beach.
A surge of Katon chakra ignited across his body, instantly evaporating the water from his clothes.
Once dry, he immediately dispelled the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu , recalling all his clones.
In that moment, a flood of memories surged into his mind, like a torrential wave.
But Seimei had prepared for this—he had calculated that 150 clones was his safe limit.
So he only furrowed his brow briefly before calmly enduring the incoming flood of experiences.
He found a spot and sat down, closed his eyes, and began sorting through the memories.
Time ticked by.
After about fifteen minutes, Seimei opened his eyes again. A flash of excitement passed through them.
Raising his hands, he carefully performed a sequence of hand seals—just like the first time he learned Yōshin no Jutsu (Mind Reflection Technique)—and cast the jutsu on himself.
In an instant, his chakra responded as if pulled by an unseen force. It surged through his chakra network and gathered at his head.
More specifically, his eyes.
His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan activated on its own, and like twin black holes, the tomoe eyes greedily absorbed the influx of chakra.
A sharp sting welled up in his eyes. Seimei instinctively wanted to deactivate the Sharingan—but something told him not to.
If he closed them now, he'd waste all that chakra.
Gritting his teeth, Seimei forced himself to keep the Sharingan active. To distract from the discomfort, he focused on sensing the nature of the chakra being absorbed by his eyes.
He detected three distinct sources: two small but special ones, and a third far more abundant, which served as fuel.
The largest stream was his own regular chakra, flowing through his tenketsu.
One special stream originated from his brain—similar to when he used Yōshin no Jutsu in the past, triggered by mental stimulation to evolve the nervous system around his eyes.
The other came from deep within his cells.
Seimei guessed this was related to the Hashirama cells he had assimilated—stimulating his genetic potential and granting him the qualifications to awaken the Rinnegan.
Yes, the Rinnegan.
He could feel it clearly: the two unique chakra sources, combined with his normal chakra, were stimulating his eyes toward further evolution.
And since his eyes were already the Eternal Mangekyō, the next step was naturally the Rinnegan.
Just as he was immersed in this excitement, the chakra flow in his body began to slow. Within seconds, it stopped flowing to his eyes entirely.
Seimei frowned slightly.
A subtle but overwhelming pressure flashed across his eyes. For a moment, his gaze deepened noticeably—then quickly returned to normal.
He sensed something wasn't right.
With a thought, he opened his Proficiency Panel.
As expected, under his bloodline status, the evolution progress for the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan hadn't budged.
Seimei muttered under his breath, "I knew it…"
Even before the effect of Yōshin no Jutsu ended, he had already suspected this might be the case.
After all, while he hadn't been able to use the jutsu to actively increase his Sharingan evolution lately, his daily training—combining Human Control Technique (Hito no Go) with Mystic Palm Technique (Shōsen Jutsu)—still passively increased his eye's progress by one or two points.
So he was familiar with the subtle changes that came with evolution.
But this time, when Yōshin no Jutsu ended, he felt nothing.
That was all the confirmation he needed.
Still, he wasn't entirely disappointed.
The difference was clear: even if his current Yōshin no Jutsu couldn't push the Eternal Mangekyō further, it was now capable of stimulating it more strongly than before.
And that was the beginning of success.
Seimei was confident—if he kept refining the technique, it wouldn't be long before he could improve it to the point where it could actively promote evolution.
That thought led him to consider his Mokuton (Wood Release).
Initially, he had assumed Mokuton would be the first breakthrough before Yōshin no Jutsu.
But now it looked like the tables were turning.
Still, he couldn't really blame his prediction. The process of developing Mokuton constantly activated the dormant genes in the assimilated Hashirama cells. That, in turn, helped accelerate the refinement of Yōshin no Jutsu.
In the end, it was still uncertain which would succeed first.
With a thought, Seimei gathered a sphere of Suiton chakra in his left hand, and Doton chakra in his right.
He fine-tuned their properties until they were perfectly balanced, then clapped his hands together—fusing the two chakras.
A faint green light began to form in his palms. He could sense the emergence of life energy.
But Mokuton still didn't manifest.
It was like a seed buried in soil—watered and beginning to sprout, but still not strong enough to break the surface.
That's exactly how it felt to Seimei.
Which is why he couldn't say for sure whether Mokuton or the Sharingan evolution would come first.
As his thoughts drifted, a sudden pop sounded between his palms—the combined chakras split apart and vanished.
Shaking his head slightly, Seimei pulled his hands back.
He reached into his ninja pouch, pulled out a few enhanced soldier pills, and popped them into his mouth. After a few bites, he swallowed and felt his strength return.
Without hesitation, he once again cast Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Poof!
In a puff of chakra smoke, 150 clones appeared.
Seimei efficiently split them into groups and assigned each their respective training tasks. Once done, he sent them off.
With them gone, he turned his focus inward—this time to physical enhancement.
A loud crackle echoed as streaks of blue-white lightning arced across his body. Controlled with precision, they slithered over his skin like serpents, reinforcing his body from the outside in.
An hour passed.
Seimei finally ended his Lightning Release Chakra Mode, dispelled his clones, and began absorbing their accumulated experience from the past hour.
As he converted those insights into skill proficiency, he once again attempted Yōshin no Jutsu and Mokuton. Though still unsuccessful, he could clearly feel himself getting closer.
That alone gave him a huge boost in confidence.
After downing a few more soldier pills to recover, he once again performed the hand seals for Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, diving into yet another round of intense training.
And so it went, over and over again.
Before he knew it, Seimei had been training for over a dozen hours straight.
By now, night had fallen.