It was late at night in no time.
Seimei finished his final round of training, halting the use of the "Heart Reflection Technique" and stopping the stimulation of his Sharingan's evolution.
He sensed the shadow clones training both inside and outside the island, and with a single thought, he dispelled the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."
In an instant, all the shadow clones scattered across the island disintegrated and vanished.
In their place came a flood of training experiences and memories.
Seimei gritted his teeth against the discomfort in his head, closed his eyes, and carefully sifted through the memories, absorbing and digesting the training insights they contained.
About fifteen minutes later, Seimei opened his eyes again.
A sharp glint flashed in his gaze.
After hours of training, he hadn't made much progress in other skills, but he'd gained some clarity on how to develop a sealing technique to store natural energy.
He had to admit, his past experience studying and creating various sealing techniques had helped him a lot.
Seimei figured that with enough effort, he could come up with a prototype in just a few days.
And for now, a prototype was enough.
It would be sufficient to register it on his panel.
After that, he could just keep grinding its proficiency to level it up.
At this stage, he didn't need a perfect technique or one with a high ceiling. He just needed something that could hold him over for a while.
Later, he could refine it through use.
Heck, in the end, he might not even need to refine it—as long as it could store the natural energy he controlled until he mastered Sage Mode, that'd be enough.
All these thoughts raced through his mind, but Seimei quickly reined them in and stopped overthinking.
After one last check of his condition, he raised his hand and performed the "Spirit Transformation Technique" followed by the "Heart-Sealing Soul Lock: Instant Contract Seal."
Soon, a portion of his mental energy was sealed away.
Feeling the strain on his body lessen, Seimei didn't waste any more time. He returned to the wooden cabin and rested.
The night passed quietly.
---
The next day.
Early morning.
Seimei woke up early, washed up, grabbed a quick bite, and started a new day of training.
But after creating five hundred shadow clones, he hit a snag.
Last night, he'd had the dispelled shadow clones try developing a new sealing technique as a stopgap, just to test if his ideas were feasible.
Now that the idea was validated and it was time to actually develop the technique, he couldn't afford to keep using shadow clones to absorb natural energy.
Why? Because that would slow down his proficiency gains in "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control."
It would also, to some extent, reduce the speed at which he strengthened his body.
So, what to do?
Seimei looked at the five hundred shadow clones in front of him, thought for a moment, and waved his hand. He sent one hundred of them to scatter across the island to continue absorbing natural energy.
Of the remaining four hundred, he assigned three hundred to keep working on Dust Release, while the last hundred followed last night's ideas to develop the new sealing technique.
That's right—he reduced the number of shadow clones working on Dust Release by a hundred.
Before his "Mental" attribute hit 30 points, only three hundred clones were tasked with Dust Release anyway, so going back to that number wasn't a big deal.
More importantly, compared to improving "Natural Energy Sensing," "Natural Energy Control," and developing the new sealing technique, Dust Release wasn't as urgent.
So, he made that call.
What he didn't expect, though, was that even with this setup, he'd run into new trouble after just a few rounds of training.
---
Mid-morning.
Inside the volcano.
Seimei paused his "Body Extreme" training and, as usual, recalled the shadow clones absorbing natural energy. That's when they delivered bad news.
His eyes snapped open, a flicker of shock in his gaze.
Standing still, he processed the memories in his mind. Ignoring the over ten thousand points of natural energy newly stored in the alternate space in his abdomen, he immediately used the "Flying Thunder God Technique" to teleport to the island's surface.
Without wasting a second, he found a spot, sat cross-legged, and began sensing the surrounding natural energy.
Thanks to his Level 5 "Natural Energy Sensing," Seimei easily locked onto the natural energy around him.
But in his perception, the concentration of natural energy was noticeably lower than it had been at dawn.
He tried absorbing it for a bit, and the concentration kept dropping.
A moment later, Seimei opened his eyes.
His expression wasn't great.
The bad news from his shadow clones was clear: the natural energy concentration on the island was decreasing.
And the reason? He'd figured it out through his own senses and the clones' memories.
It was simple—too many people were absorbing natural energy on the island, causing a supply shortage.
Why hadn't he noticed anything unusual in the previous days or even last night?
Well, in the earlier days, his "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control" were at lower levels, so he couldn't absorb much natural energy in a short time.
The island's natural energy was sufficient then, so no issues cropped up.
But once his "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control" hit Level 5, undergoing a qualitative leap, his absorption speed increased—and that's when the problem surfaced.
As for why he didn't notice anything last night?
Simple. For one, his focus wasn't on that. For another, after those two skills leveled up last night, he didn't have a hundred shadow clones absorbing natural energy all at once. Instead, he'd assigned some to work on the new sealing technique.
That meant the island's existing and regenerating natural energy was just barely enough.
So, no red flags then.
But now?
Feeling the thin natural energy in the air, Seimei had a fleeting urge to storm one of the Three Great Sage Regions and claim it as his base.
That way, he'd never run out of natural energy.
But in the end, he suppressed that wild idea.
It wasn't that he feared the Three Great Sage Regions.
Sure, with his current strength, he couldn't completely dominate any of them, but they couldn't take him down either.
It wasn't about fear.
He just didn't see the need for it yet.
If Moon Island couldn't meet his needs, he'd just find another place.
Natural energy, after all, is the energy naturally produced by all things in the world. The more vibrant the life, the higher the concentration.
Moon Island wasn't exactly barren, but it was just a small island. How much natural energy could its plants and animals produce?
As for the sea?
Sure, the sheer number of creatures in the ocean generated a ton of natural energy, but compared to the vastness of the sea, it was negligible.
The natural energy concentration around Moon Island, for instance, was far lower than on the island itself.
So, to find a place rich in natural energy, he'd need to look on land—somewhere teeming with plants and animals.
And in the entire ninja world, the place that best fit his needs was undoubtedly the Land of Fire.
Compared to the other four great nations, the Land of Fire was like a chosen land—rich in resources, with a spring-like climate year-round, making it the most abundant source of natural energy.
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