As expected, the situation unfolded just as Seimei had anticipated.
With the arrival of the second and third waves of Konoha reinforcements from the Sand battlefield, Kirigakure's counterattacks weakened significantly, and their operational space continued to shrink.
Five days later, the battle's outcome was clear, and Seimei finally received the long-awaited transfer order.
Rear Camp – Command Center – Office
Nara Keiko handed a mission scroll to Seimei and said,
"Seimei, you depart early tomorrow morning. Tonight, the reinforcement units will assemble. Ensure you arrive at the Black Stone Outpost before noon tomorrow."
"Understood, Captain!"
Seimei accepted the scroll with a simple acknowledgment and left without further comment.
Seeing this, Nara Keiko refrained from further discussion and simply waved him off.
Exiting the meeting room, Seimei paused slightly, his thoughts turning to the mission.
It was clear that this wasn't just a routine transfer.
The moment the battle stabilized, Nara Keiko immediately dispatched him to the Black Stone Outpost and even reassigned additional personnel. Considering the battlefield here was only adequately reinforced by troops from the Sand theater, the situation was far from abundant in manpower.
For Keiko to extract people under these conditions was enough to show the urgency. However, the lack of explicit details implied hidden motives. Most likely, there was intelligence—vague yet potentially significant—that forced this course of action.
"Could it be that Kirigakure intends to shift their main offensive toward the Black Stone Outpost?"
This thought crossed Seimei's mind but was quickly dismissed.
Unless the higher-ups of Kirigakure were blind to the current state of the war and decided to risk a self-destructive confrontation by sending reinforcements from their homeland, it would be impossible for them to open a second primary battlefield with the current forces intruding into the Land of Fire.
As for the possibility of Kirigakure pulling their forces from the port of Yuzushio to target the Black Stone Outpost, that was even less likely. Not only would Nara Keiko counter such a move, but any shift in enemy focus would be matched with adjustments on the Konoha side.
Hence, the only plausible explanation was that vague intelligence suggested Kirigakure reinforcements might arrive, creating a sense of urgency for Keiko.
"But is that even likely?"
Seimei doubted this idea but couldn't draw a definitive conclusion.
Shrugging off his uncertainties, he decided to follow the timeless principle: "Counter soldiers with strategy, block water with earth."
Whatever traps or plots awaited, he'd crush them head-on. After all, his relentless training had been to achieve freedom, not to let such uncertainties disturb his peace of mind.
With renewed resolve, Seimei moved forward, his steps lighter, the usual stern expression replaced by his characteristic aloof demeanor.
Instead of returning to his quarters, Seimei headed to the forest to complete his training for the day.
Late Night – Forest
Under the moon's silver glow, Seimei dispersed his final shadow clone, absorbing its experience and memories from the past hour of training.
The influx of information wrinkled his brow momentarily, but he kept his eyes shut, diligently converting the knowledge into skill proficiency.
Minutes ticked by.
Eventually, he opened his eyes, which gleamed with newfound clarity and understanding.
Raising his hand, a simple thought conjured a pale blue, spinning chakra sphere in his palm—the Rasengan, a ninjutsu requiring no hand seals.
Its silent rotation gave it a harmless appearance, but any ninja nearby would feel an overwhelming sense of danger.
With a flick, Seimei pressed the Rasengan against a nearby rock.
The chakra sphere penetrated effortlessly, leaving behind a perfectly smooth, spherical indentation. No fragments or debris scattered; only a fine layer of rock dust marked its passage.
This flawless execution was the result of power condensed to its utmost.
Satisfied, Seimei nodded before calling forth his skill proficiency panel.
[Skill Proficiency Panel]
Name: Uchiha Seimei Age: 12 Physical Strength: 19 Mental Strength: 20 Chakra Pool: 75,200 (After: 124,532 → 132,724) Bloodlines: Sharingan (Mangekyō): 15,760/50,000 → 17,296/50,000 Byakugan (Unawakened): 16/100 Skills: Chakra Refining: Lv5 (3,366/5,000) Wind Style: Rasenshuriken: Lv7 (8,200/20,000) Water Style: Water Shark Bomb: Lv7 (2,980/20,000) Rasengan: Lv8 (16/50,000) (Many other techniques at various levels)
Thanks to this round of training, Rasengan had leveled up from 7 to 8, achieving a whole new level of precision and lethality.
Beyond that, techniques like Wind Style: Wind Wings and Water Shark Bomb had seen significant progress, nearing breakthroughs to the next level.
With these gains, Seimei felt more prepared than ever for whatever awaited him at Black Stone Outpost.
At this point, Seimei was confident that he could block most ninjutsu with this technique.
And yet, this was not the limit of the technique.
Based on prior experience, this A-rank jutsu likely had a maximum level cap of LV9.
In other words, it still had room for two qualitative transformations.
Seimei could almost foresee that when he mastered this jutsu to its peak, it might even rival the power of a Tailed Beast Bomb.
However, he'd need to test it to know for sure.
Reining in his thoughts, Seimei's gaze shifted downward.
He could see that several other skills he had heavily invested in—like Earth Release: Hardening Technique, Shadow Clone Technique, Mystical Palm Technique, and Reflection Technique—had also improved significantly.
Among them, Earth Release: Hardening Technique had reached its perfected state. Not only did the technique's effects improve dramatically, but it also allowed him to save a substantial amount of chakra.
Seimei divided this saved chakra into two parts. Twenty thousand points were allocated to Fire Release: Simple Burn Technique, doubling his daily investment from twenty thousand to forty thousand points.
As a result, over the past half-month, its proficiency had exceeded expectations, skyrocketing from LV5 (525/5000) to LV6 (325/10000).
The remaining thirty thousand points went into Water Release: Severing Wave, increasing its proficiency from LV1 (1/200) to LV4 (750/2000), greatly enhancing its practicality.
This progress was remarkable, especially considering the first week was spent without investing chakra into it. If he maintained this daily input of thirty thousand points, its growth rate would only accelerate.
Another standout was the Mystical Palm Technique.
Thanks to his recent stint as a medical ninja, where he treated numerous injured individuals, its proficiency increased by roughly 3,000 points more than expected.
Currently, its proficiency had reached LV8 (48720/50000), just shy of the LV9 mastery threshold.
At his current pace, it would take no more than five days to level it up.
Once perfected, using this technique to enhance his body would yield significantly improved results, reducing the time required to raise his Constitution attribute.
The only downside was that, even at its peak, it would still require a daily investment of chakra.
After all, body enhancement always demands an energy source.
Shaking his head, Seimei turned his attention to two other medical ninjutsu—Chakra Scalpel and Delicate Illness Extraction Technique.
Like the Mystical Palm Technique, their proficiencies had also increased to some extent.
The former gained about 2,400 points of proficiency, advancing to LV7, achieving his goal of performing it without hand signs and making it viable for combat.
The latter, however, saw a more modest increase of 1,100 points due to its limited usage, leaving it still some distance from reaching LV7's mastery.
Next were the two sealing techniques, Guardian Seal and Sealing Array, which saw less progress due to lower chakra investment.
Surprisingly, Chakra Control, though lacking direct chakra investment, improved significantly.
Previously, Seimei needed to expend chakra to practice specific skills to enhance its proficiency.
Now, it had become more of a passive ability—simply practicing other skills and leveling them up would naturally increase its proficiency.
This saved Seimei a great deal of effort.
Apart from the skills he had planned to focus on, the additional chakra provided by numerous Kirigakure ninja over the past half-month also improved several other abilities.
For example, C-rank jutsu like Wind Release: Gale Palm, Water Release: Wild Water Wave, and Lightning Release: Thunder Strike were all maxed out to LV5 (0/0).
Even though the extra chakra he obtained was used with only 60-70% efficiency due to various factors, the sheer volume made up for it.
On the first day alone, Seimei harvested 250,000 chakra points from the Kirigakure ninja. While subsequent days saw a decrease due to frequent dispelling of the Shadow Clone Technique for recovery, it still exceeded 200,000 points daily.
Over half a month, he accumulated a staggering 3.5 million chakra points.
At a 70% efficiency rate, that was 2.5 million usable points.
Practicing C-rank jutsu required an average of 80-85 chakra points per proficiency point.
For instance:
Wind Release: Gale Palm had gone from LV2 (310/500) to LV5 (0/0), requiring 3,190 proficiency points. Water Release: Wild Water Wave had gone from LV3 (60/1000) to LV5 (0/0), requiring 2,940 proficiency points. Lightning Release: Thunder Strike had gone from LV1 (1/200) to LV5 (0/0), requiring 3,699 proficiency points.
Together, these three C-rank jutsu required 9,829 proficiency points, consuming 800,000–850,000 chakra points.
With 2.5 million points available, covering this cost was effortless, leaving him with 1.7 million points to spare.
He used the remaining chakra to enhance Water Release: Water Formation Pillar and Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall, both B-rank jutsu.
B-rank jutsu required an average of 100 chakra points per proficiency point.
Thus, 1.7 million points yielded 17,000 proficiency points.
Splitting them equally between the two skills granted each 8,500 points.
This boosted their proficiencies from LV2 (400/500) and LV4 (750/2000) to LV6 (100/10000) and LV6 (2300/10000), respectively.
These upgrades made them viable additions to his combat repertoire, further diversifying his tactics.
As for Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu, it had seen minimal improvement due to a lack of chakra investment, increasing by only 10–20 proficiency points during battles.
Similarly, Lightning Release: Lightning Cloak, Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, and Chakra Cloak had been barely leveled, as he allocated minimal resources to them before setting them aside.
Notably, after maxing out Lightning Release: Thunder Strike, Seimei reallocated 5,000 points from Shadow Clone Technique back to other skills.
This restored Shadow Clone Technique's daily chakra allocation to 35,000 points, increasing its daily proficiency gain from 200 to 230 points.
As a result, over the past half-month, its proficiency surpassed expectations, reaching LV6 (4008/10000).
At the current pace, it would take roughly 25 days to reach LV7's mastery.
By then, Seimei would likely master the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, a forbidden jutsu recorded in Konoha's Scroll of Seals.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be of much immediate use to him.
Shaking his head, Seimei dismissed the thought and closed the panel. Standing up, he formed hand seals and activated Wind Release: Wings of Wind, flying toward the camp.
Today's training plan was complete—it was time to rest.