The next day, Seimei took a break in the village to recharge before heading back to Moon Island to dive into another round of intense training.
It's worth mentioning that after the past ten days, plus the month of training before his recent mission in the village, his Sharingan's evolution had reached nearly (50,000/100,000), teetering on the edge of a breakthrough.
Because of this, starting today, he decided to stop using Mirror Heart Technique to push his Sharingan's evolution further. He'd hold off until his Constitution stat caught up with his Mental stat, closing the gap between them.
The six hours he saved from skipping Mirror Heart Technique would now be dedicated entirely to training Body of the Extreme, as planned.
This change would extend his daily Body of the Extreme training time by about 40%, boosting his training efficiency by roughly 30%.
At this rate, the time he'd lost due to the Cloud Village's sneak attack would be made up for.
Not only that, his next physical transformation might even come a few days early—potentially moving from early August to late July.
It was already late June, meaning in just over a month, his body would hit the critical point for transformation.
This got Seimei fired up.
As for the extra chakra this would burn through?
In the past, that might've been a headache.
But now? Seimei wasn't worried at all.
Why? Because those two weeks of fighting, while disrupting his training, had also allowed him to stockpile a hefty amount of chakra.
After all, his daily chakra recovery was nothing to sneeze at.
Add to that the chakra he'd drained from those Cloud ninja during the battles, and his reserves were now enough to sustain his training for quite a while.
So, chakra shortage? Not a concern.
In fact, he even bumped up the chakra allocated to Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique and Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique, raising it from 12 million to 15 million points.
This boosted their proficiency accumulation speed.
The faster-progressing Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique would only take eight or nine days to max out.
Once that happened, he'd free up over 10 million points of chakra daily for other uses.
With that, he wouldn't have to worry about chakra shortages anytime soon.
Clearing his mind, Seimei stopped overthinking. He raised his hands, formed seals, and cast Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu twice in a row, creating a total of three hundred five shadow clones.
After assigning their tasks as usual, he activated Flying Thunder God Technique and teleported to the volcano beneath Moon Island to start the next round of training.
---
A week passed in a blur.
Seimei had expected to train uninterrupted for ten days before heading back to the village for a break.
But out of nowhere, a shadow clone he'd left stationed in the village sent him a message: Minato Namikaze was looking for him.
With no choice, Seimei paused his training and returned to the village.
Konoha.
Hokage Tower.
Inside the Hokage's office.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock echoed at the door.
Behind the desk, Minato Namikaze looked up and called, "Come in!"
Creak.
The door swung open.
Seimei, dressed in Konoha's standard jōnin uniform, stepped into the office.
Seeing him, Minato set down the documents in his hand. "Seimei, you're here."
"Mm."
Seimei nodded, maintaining his usual quiet, aloof persona, saying little.
Minato, unfazed, got straight to the point. He pulled out a mission scroll and said, "I called you here because I've got a mission for you."
As he spoke, he handed the scroll to Seimei.
Seimei took it, opened it, and began reading the mission details.
Minato explained alongside, "I'm sure you've heard—the Cloud Village is sending a delegation to discuss a ceasefire.
The date's been set for seven days from now.
Your job is to head to the northern border and escort their delegation safely to the village."
Seimei looked up, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
If he remembered correctly, he'd taken out more Cloud ninja than anyone during those two weeks of fighting. Sending him to escort them? Wasn't that like pouring oil on a fire?
But he quickly pieced together Minato's reasoning.
First, it was a warning to the Cloud delegation: don't stir up trouble or cause any misunderstandings.
Second, it was a test of the Cloud Village's sincerity. If they couldn't even set aside their grudge against Seimei and attacked him, there'd be no point in negotiating.
Third, it was a flex.
Seimei was no nobody—never had been.
In the past, people might've seen him as just a talented young ninja.
But after those two weeks of fighting, no one dared underestimate him anymore.
He'd lost count of how many jōnin-level ninja he'd taken down, including some well-known elite jōnin.
On the surface, his displayed strength already made him nearly untouchable among jōnin.
By sending him, Minato was making a statement to the Cloud Village: "Look, I'm sending just one guy, and you still can't handle him."
It was a deliberate move to knock the Cloud Village's aggressive, warlike attitude down a peg.
Clearly, Minato understood their martial culture well and knew exactly how to deal with them.
Still… sending him alone? Wasn't that a bit too bold?
With that thought, Seimei asked directly, "Just me?"
"Of course not," Minato replied.
Seimei was about to nod, thinking Minato was showing some sense.
But the next sentence left him speechless.
"On the surface, yes, it's just you. But you'll have an ANBU team backing you up," Minato said, glancing at a corner of the room. "Kakashi, come out."
At his words, Kakashi Hatake, wearing an ANBU mask, stepped silently out of the room's shadows.
Seimei's gaze shifted to him, his expression unchanged.
No surprise there—he'd sensed Kakashi the moment he entered the office.
Kakashi was good at masking his presence, but Seimei's sharp senses saw right through it.
Faking a "shocked" reaction? He couldn't pull it off.
Luckily, Minato didn't care about that.
Looking at Kakashi, Minato said, "Seimei, Kakashi will lead the ANBU team to assist you on this escort mission."
"Got it," Seimei replied curtly, wasting no words.
He gave Kakashi a nod as a greeting.
Seeing this, Minato didn't linger. He briefed Seimei on a few more details before dismissing him to prepare.