Time flies, and the years pass like a shuttle.
In the blink of an eye, ten days had gone by.
It was now mid-November.
At this point, he could clearly feel his body nearing the critical point of transformation.
Seimei estimated that with four or five more days of intense training, he'd be ready to attempt a breakthrough.
On a massive boulder at the center of the island, Seimei sat cross-legged.
He could sense the surging vitality coursing through his body, as well as the invisible shackles holding back his physical form from breaking through to the next level.
He wondered: should he skip this rest period and push through in one go to complete the transformation?
Seimei propped his chin in his hand, mulling it over for a while before shaking his head.
Compared to disrupting his carefully planned training rhythm and forcing a breakthrough a day or two early while mentally exhausted, he preferred sticking to his steady, methodical cultivation.
So, the rest period would go on as planned!
Of course, there was another reason for this decision.
After redistributing his chakra, he'd been practicing for over ten days, and his Doton: Chōkajūgan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Super-Added Weight Rock Technique), Doton: Chōkeijūgan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Super-Light Weight Rock Technique), and Fūshin Sakkon: Keiyaku Shunshin no In (Heart-Sealing Soul Lock: Contract Instant Body Seal) were all on the verge of leveling up.
At his current pace, when the next round of intense training began, they'd likely advance within a day or two.
At such a critical juncture, Seimei didn't want to complicate things unnecessarily.
On top of that, it had been twenty days since he'd replaced the Fūshin Sakkon: Keiyaku Shunshin no In for the spies he'd planted in the Hidden Mist and Hidden Rock Villages.
In other words, the kage bunshin (shadow clones) he'd left in those villages had been active for twenty days.
Even though those clones spent most of their time in a near-dormant state, their very nature meant they couldn't exist indefinitely.
Based on past experience, they could probably last another ten to fifteen days, but Seimei didn't want to push them to their absolute limit.
So, he planned to use this rest period to recall them and replace them with a new kage bunshin.
As for gathering intel from the Hidden Rock and Hidden Mist Villages? Seimei didn't care much about that.
The reason was simple: general intelligence was mostly useless to him.
After all, it's not like he could hand that intel over to Konoha, right?
How would he explain the source? "Oh, I've got spies planted in both villages"? That's not something a regular jōnin would be doing!
So, it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
As for intel he was interested in? That was even less likely.
If there had been anything noteworthy, those kage bunshin would've already self-destructed to transmit the relevant memories to him.
But so far, there'd been no activity.
That could only mean one thing: there was nothing worth his attention.
So, this time, he was simply swapping out the kage bunshin—nothing more.
He didn't even plan to touch the Fūshin Sakkon: Keiyaku Shunshin no In on those spies.
Sure, he'd leveled that jutsu to nearly Lv9, with better effects, but he saw no need to update it.
He was confident he could make the switch without being detected, but there was always a slim chance of failure.
As the old saying goes, "The more you do, the more you risk; the less you do, the less you err."
The Lv7 version of the seal on those spies was already sufficient, so there was no need to take the risk of replacing it.
Besides, tracking down each spy would cost chakra.
With his body's transformation imminent and a huge chakra expenditure on the horizon, Seimei wasn't about to waste the chakra he'd painstakingly accumulated—not even a drop.
So, everything would stay as it was.
After sorting through these thoughts, Seimei let out a long breath.
Then, he focused his mind, pushing aside distractions, and with a thought, he dispelled the Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique).
In an instant, every kage bunshin on and off the island vanished, leaving a flood of memories rushing into his mind.
Seimei closed his eyes, carefully sifting through the information, absorbing the training experience and memories within and converting them into skill proficiency.
Once that was done, he didn't waste any time. He quickly packed his things.
Then, he activated Fūton: Kaze no Tsubasa (Wind Release: Wings of Wind) and cloaked himself in a Chakra Hagoromo (Chakra Cloak), soaring into the sky.
Next, he used Doton: Chōkeijūgan no Jutsu to lighten his weight and flew toward Konoha at a speed of one kilometer per second, chasing the setting sun.
About ten minutes later, Seimei arrived outside the Hidden Leaf Village.
From there, it was a familiar routine.
He located a spot where a patrol had just passed, then used Ten no Go (Heaven's Ward) to slip through the sensory barrier and stealthily made his way into the village.
But the moment he entered, he noticed something was off.
Compared to ten days ago, the village's atmosphere felt… different.
For one, the chaotic buzz from before was gone. It seemed the debates over whether to investigate Orochimaru had been suppressed.
At least, on the surface, they had been.
Whether people were still discussing it in secret, he couldn't say.
Secondly, the village's security—both overt and covert—had been significantly tightened, as if they were bracing for something.
Lastly, there was the state of the ordinary ninja.
Walking through the streets, Seimei could sense the restless anxiety radiating from them. It was like ants sensing an earthquake coming—wanting to flee but not knowing how, just spinning in circles.
Maybe these regular ninja, limited by their rank and status, couldn't see the full scope of the village's factional struggles. But their ninja instincts still picked up on the unease.
That's why they were so on edge.
Seimei understood.
In his view, Konoha was now in the calm before a raging storm. Everything seemed peaceful on the surface, but it was teetering on the edge of eruption.
This might just be the biggest upheaval he'd triggered since arriving in this world.
Why was it his doing?
Simple. If he hadn't taken out Danzō early on, Orochimaru wouldn't have acted so boldly, with Danzō no longer covering for him.
Likewise, without Danzō propping them up, the old-guard Konoha leadership had lost much of their influence, and their ability to meddle in Minato Namikaze's policies had weakened.
On top of that, Seimei's stellar performance in the war had subtly strengthened the bond between the Uchiha clan and the village, shifting attention away from the Uchiha and onto the village's core issues.
One thing led to another, creating this massive shift.
And this was just the beginning.
As he continued capturing tailed beasts, the "plot" of the other villages would shift as well.
A few months from now, during the Nine-Tails incident, if he saved Minato and prevented Hiruzen Sarutobi from retaking power, the entire ninja world's dynamics would be turned upside down.
By then, the memories in his head would no longer be reliable, and his advantage of foresight would vanish.
That's exactly why he'd planted spies in the other villages—to keep tabs on their movements and maintain his edge as long as possible.
With these thoughts flashing through his mind, Seimei refocused, returned home, and dispelled the kage bunshin he'd left there, absorbing its memories.
Combining those with his own observations, he gained an even clearer picture of Konoha's current situation.
He was almost certain that within three to five days—seven or eight at most—Minato would make his move.
Still, he wasn't all that interested.
Right now, his only focus was completing his plan: achieving his body's transformation and moving on to the next phase of his training.
As for everything else? He couldn't care less.
That said, not caring didn't mean he wouldn't seize this opportunity.
Long ago, when his "mental" attribute couldn't improve due to the limitations of his Sharingan, he'd considered using the S-rank forbidden jutsu Reika no Jutsu (Spiritualization Technique) to enhance it.
Initially, he'd planned to trade his war merits with Minato to get it.
But after the incidents with the Hidden Rock Village hunting the Four-Tails and Obito Uchiha's attempt on his life, Minato had grown warier of him.
That made acquiring the jutsu from Minato highly unlikely—at least in the short term.
After all, an S-rank ninjutsu was a village's treasure, not something you'd hand over to someone under suspicion.
Sure, his body was about to transform, and once he refined Eishin no Jutsu (Mind Reflection Technique), his Sharingan could evolve further, boosting his "mental" attribute naturally.
It seemed like he no longer needed Reika no Jutsu.
But there was more to it. To upgrade his Fūshin Sakkon: Keiyaku Shunshin no In to S-rank, he needed to dive deep into the study of souls and spirits to achieve the "soul-locking" effect.
And what jutsu could rival Reika no Jutsu for that? Not even Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation) could compare!
Edo Tensei focused on manipulating souls and summoning them from the Pure Land, while Reika no Jutsu was about transforming the soul itself.
Its effect allowed the soul to become "active," detaching from the body and invading a target's mental world to kill them.
So, he had to find a way to get this jutsu.
And this village upheaval? It was the perfect opportunity.
(Chapter End)