Seimei closed his eyes, carefully sensing his body's state, seizing every moment to gather training insights.
In the blink of an eye, more than twenty minutes passed.
Finally, he could no longer sustain Sage Mode. The senjutsu chakra in his body suddenly unraveled, breaking down into physical energy, mental energy, and natural energy.
Seimei didn't immediately deal with these energies. Instead, he allocated a portion of his focus to keep them under control, then shifted his attention to the proficiency panel that opened with a thought.
He could see that after those twenty-plus minutes of reflection, his Sage Mode proficiency had risen from lv5 (1/5000) to lv5 (8/5000)—a gain of seven points.
By his calculations, with ten shadow clones training together and accounting for some overlap in experience, he could gain roughly 120 proficiency points per hour.
At that rate, reaching 5,000 proficiency points would take about 41 to 42 hours of uninterrupted training. Doubling that to 10,000 points would require over 80 hours.
Add them together, and that's 120 hours total.
With his current schedule, dedicating about 16 hours a day to serious training, 120 hours equated to eight days.
In other words, it would take him eight days to grind Sage Mode to lv7.
Even if his proficiency gains increased as Sage Mode leveled up, the total time wouldn't drop below six days.
Clearly, compared to the time needed for earlier levels, this was a significant jump.
And that wasn't even considering that from lv7 onward, each level would demand even more proficiency points.
Naturally, that meant even more time.
This was exactly why Seimei had said he couldn't easily perfect Sage Mode.
Pushing these thoughts aside, he closed the panel and shut his eyes, focusing on sorting out the three energies in his meridians that had unraveled from the senjutsu chakra.
But he hadn't been at it for long when he suddenly opened his eyes.
A sharp glint flashed through his gaze.
Closing his eyes again, Seimei carefully sensed his body's condition, particularly his physical state.
Time ticked by, second by second.
After a while, he opened his eyes again.
This time, his face was brimming with joy.
Just moments ago, while sorting through the three energies, he'd noticed something: his body's enhancement progress had improved slightly.
It was only a small step toward the threshold of transformation, but it was enough to surprise him.
After all, he wasn't currently training Body of the Extreme.
So, he focused again, double-checking his senses.
Sure enough, his earlier feeling was correct—his body was indeed a tiny bit closer to that transformation threshold.
So what had he done differently in this period?
It seemed like nothing special, other than maintaining Sage Mode.
The answer was clear: Sage Mode was responsible for this progress.
This realization quickly reminded Seimei of a theory he'd had long ago—that Sage Mode could greatly enhance a ninja's gene expression, subtly strengthening their body over time.
He'd come up with this idea by observing Naruto, who didn't inherit Kushina Uzumaki's iconic red hair from the Uzumaki clan but instead took after Minato Namikaze's blonde hair, despite Minato's commoner origins.
Back then, his Sage Mode level was too low, and he couldn't sustain it long enough to notice any tangible changes, so he'd overlooked it.
Now, at lv5, the effects were finally noticeable, bringing this theory back to mind.
And for Seimei, this was an unexpected surprise.
Sure, the physical enhancement from Sage Mode was minimal for now, but this was just the beginning.
Once he reached lv7 and lv9, with their qualitative leaps, the effect would likely be far more significant.
And that wasn't all—right now, he was only maintaining Sage Mode. If he combined it with training Body of the Extreme, the results could be even greater.
Conveniently, training Body of the Extreme also required senjutsu chakra.
True, converting all his chakra into senjutsu chakra took a bit longer.
But if the end result was worth it, he was fine with spending extra time preparing before each training session.
With this in mind, Seimei didn't bother ending his training to return to the Hidden Leaf. Instead, bathed in the glow of the setting sun, he cast the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique again.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
With bursts of chakra smoke, he created 560 shadow clones in two batches.
He divided them into three groups, assigning each their own training tasks.
Then, he cast the Flying Thunder God Technique, teleporting to the volcano beneath Moon Island.
Taking a deep breath, ignoring the burning pain in his lungs, Seimei immediately began gathering the three energies in his body, fusing them into senjutsu chakra.
Ten minutes later, he was done.
Seimei naturally slipped into Sage Mode.
Then, while maintaining Sage Mode, he channeled the senjutsu chakra to practice Body of the Extreme.
At first, it was tricky—he had to split his focus, after all.
But soon, he realized he didn't need to overcomplicate things. Body of the Extreme and Sage Mode were surprisingly compatible.
After a brief adjustment, he could smoothly practice Body of the Extreme while in Sage Mode.
And just as he'd expected, training Body of the Extreme in this state noticeably boosted his physical enhancement speed.
Exactly how much it improved, though, would require a full training cycle to determine.
With that thought, Seimei stopped multitasking and focused entirely on channeling senjutsu chakra to strengthen his body.
Time slipped by, minute by minute.
About twenty-five minutes later, the massive senjutsu chakra in his body became too much to sustain, breaking down into the three base energies.
As a result, he exited Sage Mode.
"Phew~"
Exhaling softly, Seimei wasn't fazed. After a quick adjustment, he began fusing his physical energy, mental energy, and natural energy again.
Once he'd fully converted them into senjutsu chakra, he re-entered Sage Mode and started a new training cycle.
This time, he sustained it for just under twenty minutes.
Including the time needed to fuse senjutsu chakra both times, it added up to about an hour.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Seimei paused his training, and with a thought, cast the Flying Thunder God Technique, teleporting back to Moon Island.