Seimei closed his eyes, carefully sensing the subtle changes that came with mastering Raiton: Raikiri (Lightning Release: Lightning Blade) to perfection.
First up, the issue of hand seals.
Before reaching this level, casting the technique required at least one or two seals, maybe three at most. But now? He didn't need hand seals at all. With a single thought, he could channel his chakra, seamlessly converting it into Raiton chakra.
No question, this would make his attacks faster.
The boost wasn't massive, but since this technique was meant to be paired with the Sharingan, every tiny detail could be amplified by the Sharingan's incredible insight. The advantage of not needing seals would become pretty noticeable.
Next, as he'd just realized, mastering this technique had seriously leveled up his control over Raiton chakra's nature transformation.
Seimei was now certain that his mastery of Raiton chakra had reached the threshold needed to combine it with other chakra nature transformations to develop a Kekkei Moura (Bloodline Encompassing).
This was huge—the thing he valued most.
Beyond those two changes, perfecting Raiton: Raikiri also gave his Chakra Control a boost of over 500 proficiency points.
This pushed its proficiency past lv7 (19900/20000) and into lv8 (450/50000)!
Based on past experience, this upgrade would reduce the chakra needed to practice his various skills to some degree.
How much, though? That'd require some testing.
With that thought, Seimei raised his hands, crossing them into the Nin seal, and cast Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique), creating over a hundred Kage Bunshin.
He glanced at the clones and, like clockwork, divided them into groups, assigning each to practice specific skills.
Meanwhile, Seimei didn't slack off. Standing right there, he activated Raiton Chakra Mode to enhance his body.
The crackling sound of lightning echoed now and then, and he could clearly feel his control over chakra had gotten sharper.
This meant he needed less chakra to pull off the same tasks.
Plus, his deeper understanding of Raiton chakra's nature transformation had also bumped up the efficiency of using Raiton to temper his body.
Combining the two, Seimei estimated that his efficiency in strengthening his body with Raiton Chakra Mode had gone up by at least 20%.
If Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) could achieve a similar effect—well, even if it was a bit less—on average, his overall efficiency would still rise by about 10%.
This meant the critical point for his body's transformation, originally set for mid-to-late November, might come as early as the first half of the month.
These thoughts flashed through his mind, but Seimei quickly focused, diving wholeheartedly into his training.
An hour passed in a flash.
He paused his Raiton Chakra Mode training, glanced at the Kage Bunshin scattered across the island, and with a thought, dispelled Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
Instantly, the clones turned back into chakra, carrying an hour's worth of training experience and memories, flowing back into Seimei's body.
With a few quick dashes, he reached the massive boulder at the island's center.
Sitting cross-legged, he closed his eyes and began processing the experience and memories.
Time ticked by, second by second.
About fifteen minutes later, Seimei opened his eyes again.
He set aside how much his skills' proficiency had increased for now.
After that hour of training, he'd pretty much figured out how much chakra he saved practicing skills now that Chakra Control had hit lv8.
After some comparisons, he concluded the average reduction was about 15%.
In other words, to gain one point of proficiency in a skill, he now only needed 85% of the chakra he used to.
So, if he kept the same amount of chakra invested in each skill, the proficiency he gained would rise by about 11 to 12%.
Factoring in the slight chakra loss from more frequent training sessions, that number dropped to roughly 10%—a solid one-tenth boost.
Ten percent might not sound like much, but this applied to all his skills.
Overall, this upgrade was a massive leap for him.
It was easy to see that the time needed to level up or master his skills would come much sooner now.
And that wasn't all.
Perfecting Raiton: Raikiri also freed up 936,000 points of chakra daily for him to use however he wanted.
If he poured that chakra into his skills, their growth would speed up even more, shaving even more time off his leveling and mastery.
For now, though, Seimei wasn't ready to allocate that chakra.
After twenty days of intense training, his Katon: Shūen Geki (Fire Release: Focused Flame Strike) was also on the verge of a breakthrough.
He'd been grinding it hard for the past five days.
Now, it was less than 2,000 proficiency points away from hitting lv10 (0/0).
At most, it'd level up by tomorrow.
When that happened, he'd free up another 750,000 points of chakra to use freely.
Seimei planned to wait until that upgrade, then allocate all the chakra together while making a more detailed plan for his future training.
With that decided, he didn't waste any more time. He popped a few enhanced Hyōrōgan (soldier pills) to replenish his energy, then formed seals again, casting Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
As clouds of chakra smoke cleared, over a hundred figures appeared.
This time, though, Seimei didn't rush to assign the clones.
Mastering Raiton: Raikiri had given him extra time and energy, so he needed to reallocate the number of Kage Bunshin training each skill to make the most of it.
After some thought, he grouped the clones based on past experience.
Compared to before, the number of clones training each skill had increased to varying degrees. The Katon: Shūen Geki group, in particular, had nearly doubled.
"That should do it," Seimei muttered.
With a wave of his hand, he sent the clones off.
Watching them scatter, he didn't dwell on it. He raised his hand, cast Shōsen Jutsu paired with Hito no Miya (Human Control), and continued strengthening his body.
Time slipped by, minute by minute.
Every hour, Seimei would recall his clones, absorb and process their hour's worth of training experience and memories.
At the same time, he'd tweak the number of clones training each skill based on how things were going.
After about six or seven rounds, the clone assignments finally stabilized.
By then, it was already evening.
After finishing the last round of training, Seimei paused his skill practice.
Without wasting time, he took a quick break before starting his routine Byakugan nurturing.
The process took about two hours. When the Byakugan reached its limit, night had fully settled in. Seimei washed up briefly and returned to the wooden cabin to rest.
And just like that, another day passed.
(End of Chapter)