In the blink of an eye, it was the morning of the third day.
As the sky barely began to lighten, Seimei woke from his sleep.
He sat up in bed, starting to reflect on the past day and a half.
During that time, aside from nurturing his Byakugan twice as scheduled, he hadn't done any intense training. Most of the time, he wandered around, relaxing his mind and body.
Meanwhile, Konoha's investigation into the recent attack had reached a preliminary conclusion.
Just as Seimei had expected, he wasn't under serious suspicion.
As a result, the orders regarding him remained the same as when he was called back to the village: no orders, no leaving.
This also meant the matter had, for now, come to a close.
With this order in hand, Seimei decided it was time to resume his rigorous training.
Today was the day he planned to leave the village.
With that thought, Seimei quickly got out of bed. After freshening up, he performed the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, creating a shadow clone.
Then, his real body geared up, used Ten no Go to slip past the Anbu ninjas monitoring him, and left his residence without a sound.
That's right—there were two Anbu ninjas keeping tabs on him.
Well, "monitoring" might not be the best word, since they weren't exactly trying to hide.
Clearly, their presence was a statement from the village—or rather, from Namikaze Minato.
Seimei was willing to respect that, so he used Ten no Go to avoid their line of sight.
With one last glance at the two, Seimei didn't waste any more time and quickly left the area.
Once he was far enough to be out of their surveillance range, he dispelled Ten no Go.
But to avoid being spotted later, he performed Henge no Jutsu, transforming into an ordinary Uchiha ninja.
After that, he continued on, leaving the Uchiha clan's grounds and heading to the training field on the village's outskirts.
Once he entered the forest, he picked up his pace, dashing toward the village's outer perimeter.
Soon, he arrived at the sensory barrier at the village's edge.
Seimei activated his Byakugan, glanced around to ensure no one was watching, then used Ten no Go again, walking straight toward the barrier.
As expected, he passed through it without triggering any alarms.
Without pausing, Seimei kept moving, traveling a bit farther until he was certain he was completely out of Konoha's surveillance range. Only then did he dispel Ten no Go.
Focusing his mind, Seimei locked onto the Hiraishin mark on an island in the southern seas of the Land of Fire and activated Hiraishin no Jutsu.
In the next moment, the scene before his eyes changed abruptly.
In an instant, the lush forest transformed into an endless expanse of ocean.
Inhale… Exhale…
Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Seimei felt the familiar salty air and couldn't help but let a genuine smile spread across his face.
Though he hadn't faced any real danger recently, everything that had happened had left him mentally drained.
Now, seeing this familiar ocean again, he felt his mind at ease.
"As expected, compared to scheming with people, I much prefer quietly training," Seimei murmured to himself.
With that, he quickly formed hand seals, casting Fūton: Kaze no Tsubasa (Wind Release: Wings of Wind) and cloaking himself in a Chakra Hagoromo (Chakra Cloak). He took to the sky, beginning his routine check of the surroundings.
Time ticked by.
Soon, he had scanned a radius of over ten kilometers with his Byakugan, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
Satisfied, Seimei didn't waste any more time. He performed Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, creating over a hundred shadow clones to start training.
However, since he had already mastered Doton: Keijūgan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique) and Doton: Kajūgan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Added-Weight Rock Technique) to perfection, he was now working on developing Doton: Chō Keijūgan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Ultra Light-Weight Rock Technique) and Doton: Chō Kajūgan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Ultra Added-Weight Rock Technique).
This meant the previous grouping of his shadow clones was no longer suitable, and he needed to reorganize them.
This step took him over a day.
Afterward, the efficiency of his training reached its peak, with chakra consumption reduced to a minimum.
And so, Seimei trained silently for three days, following the new grouping method.
That afternoon, as he once again recalled all his shadow clones and absorbed their training experience and memories from the past hour, he felt something different.
Suddenly, Seimei opened his eyes and muttered, "Did it work?"
As he spoke, he closed his eyes again, carefully sifting through the memories in his mind.
Time passed slowly.
After a full half-hour, Seimei opened his eyes again.
His gaze was still a bit unfocused, as if he were lost in thought.
After a little while, he fully snapped back to reality.
Standing up, Seimei leaped off the massive boulder at the island's center, landing on a nearby clearing.
Then, he raised his hands and began forming seals.
But his movements were slow, as if he were carefully controlling something.
And indeed, he was.
What he was attempting wasn't just any ninjutsu—it was Doton: Chō Kajūgan no Jutsu, which he had been working on for nearly five days.
The technique's development was even harder than he'd anticipated. He had conservatively estimated three to five days, but he hadn't expected it to actually take almost the full five.
Now, he was carefully manipulating his chakra, coordinating it with his hand seals to perform the technique.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
After more than ten seconds, Seimei finally stopped forming seals.
With a low shout, he activated the technique.
In the next moment, the ground beneath his feet cracked violently, and both of his legs sank into it.
Seimei could clearly feel that his body's density had increased by at least tenfold.
In this state, a single punch from him would be at least ten times more powerful.
Not only that, but the increased density also boosted his defensive capabilities to a certain extent.
Seimei touched his skin, roughly estimating that its defensive strength was nearly on par with the Doton: Kōka Jutsu (Earth Release: Hardening Technique) he had previously mastered.
And this was just when used on himself.
The Doton: Chō Kajūgan no Jutsu could also be applied to others or objects, with equally impressive effects!
For example, when Ōnoki faced the Ten-Tails' split forms, he used this technique to pin them down, rendering them immobile.
Or take his son, Loess, who used it to suppress the emergence of the Gedō Mazō.
The potential of this technique was immense.
And that wasn't all.
When mastered to a certain level, it could create something akin to a gravity field, drastically increasing pressure in a specific area. With enough chakra, it could even alter the terrain itself.
Of course, Seimei wasn't anywhere near that level yet.
At this point, he had only just etched the technique onto his "panel," and strictly speaking, he hadn't even fully entered the beginner stage.
No need to aim too high too soon.
After trying it a few more times and gaining a deeper understanding, Seimei shifted his focus to Doton: Chō Keijūgan no Jutsu.
Compared to Doton: Chō Kajūgan no Jutsu, this technique was even harder to develop.
At the very least, when he successfully etched Chō Kajūgan no Jutsu onto his panel, Chō Keijūgan no Jutsu still hadn't succeeded.
But after his recent attempts with Chō Kajūgan no Jutsu and the insights gained from comparison, he was now confident he could pull it off.
(End of Chapter)