Previously, when his chakra reserves were abundant, he had already increased the chakra invested in Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique and Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique from 12 million points per day to 15 million points.
Of that, Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique was allocated 2.5 million points.
Now, its proficiency had reached Level 9 (41,500/100,000), just shy of halfway to the next level.
At the current pace, it would take about 39 days to accumulate the necessary proficiency.
But that was before.
With the experience gained from maxing out Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique, that timeline was bound to shrink.
Still, this wasn't enough for Seimei.
He hadn't forgotten why he'd gone to such lengths to fuse the chakra nature transformations of Wind, Fire, and Earth to create Dust Release, a Bloodline Elimination technique.
It wasn't just about mastering a few Dust Release jutsu. His true goal was to fuse all seven chakra natures to achieve the power of a Bloodline Encompassing Net.
All the Bloodline Limits he'd developed so far, including Dust Release, were stepping stones toward that ultimate goal.
So, he needed to speed up the proficiency grind for Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique. Only by maxing it out quickly could he focus entirely on fusing the seven chakra natures.
With that in mind, Seimei made a snap decision. He took the 12.5 million chakra points freed up from maxing out Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique and poured them all into Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique.
This bumped his daily chakra investment from 2.5 million to 15 million points—a fivefold increase.
Thanks to recent boosts in his Spirit and Constitution attributes, he could handle more shadow clones training at high intensity simultaneously.
Plus, practicing Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique consumed far less chakra than Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique.
This meant he could summon even more shadow clones to train at once.
No more worrying about running out of chakra.
If his plan worked, the speed at which he gained proficiency would be at least five times faster—possibly even six times faster than before.
At that rate, the 39 days he originally needed could be slashed to about a week.
No doubt, this would be a massive leap forward.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Seimei didn't dwell any longer. He adjusted his condition, popped a few enhanced soldier pills to replenish his energy, and dove into a new round of training.
First, he summoned 300 shadow clones to absorb natural energy.
Then, he tapped into the chakra stored in the interdimensional space at his forehead to top off his reserves.
Once that was done, he used Multiple Shadow Clone Technique again.
But this time, instead of the usual five shadow clones, he created a whopping 30.
After nearly three months of pushing his limits, his chakra ceiling had surpassed 4 million points.
Divided among 30 clones, each still had over 120,000 chakra points.
That was more than enough to practice Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique for an hour.
This setup would supercharge his proficiency gains.
"Alright, get to it!" Seimei waved them off.
The 30 shadow clones nodded without a word and dashed toward the coast.
Once they were gone, Seimei tapped into his interdimensional chakra reserves again, refilling his own chakra.
Then, he used Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to the volcano beneath Moon Island and kicked off another round of training.
---
Time flew, and night fell.
Seimei had finished his daily training and was about to rest when a memory sync hit him.
He sat up, closed his eyes, and started sifting through the memories.
Moments later, he opened his eyes, a look of exasperation flickering in them.
He hadn't expected things in Konoha to change so drastically, yet the same old events still played out.
The memories came from none other than the shadow clone he'd left in the village.
And why did it send them? Because Cloud Village had once again tried to kidnap Hinata Hyuga—and acted on it.
They got their butts handed to them by Hiashi Hyuga, who took out several of their shinobi.
Now, the Cloud Village delegation was raising a stink, accusing Konoha of deliberately sabotaging peace talks.
But unlike Sarutobi Hiruzen, who caved quickly in Seimei's memories, Minato Namikaze took a hardline stance. He said the incident needed investigation and made no promises to Cloud Village until it was sorted.
So, the peace talks were at a standstill.
Minato was worried Cloud Village might do something reckless, like stirring trouble at the border.
He issued orders for all available Jonin without active missions to lead teams to the border immediately, ensuring they could contain the situation if Cloud Village started a war.
That's why the shadow clone sent the memories.
After reviewing them, Seimei muttered, "What a hassle."
He used Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to a forest outside Konoha.
As usual, he activated his Byakugan to scan the surroundings.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he triggered Heaven's Control to slip silently through Konoha's walls and sensory barrier, returning home.
He quickly gathered his gear and headed to the meeting point.
When he arrived, hardly anyone was there.
About an hour later, the team was fully assembled.
Seimei and a few other Jonin led the group out of the village, heading straight for the northern border.
He couldn't believe it. He'd only been back in Konoha for three days, and now he was being sent out again.
"This is just…" Seimei felt exasperated but had no choice but to follow orders.
Since he wasn't planning to defect from Konoha, he had to play by the rules—for now.
Of course, once he got to the border, he wasn't going to sit idly.
His time was too valuable to waste waiting for Cloud Village to make a move.
At most, he'd leave a wood clone to hold the fort.
As for himself? He'd head back to Moon Island to continue training.
With his current strength, even a single wood clone was stronger than most Jonin.
No need to worry about anything going wrong.
Plus, in Seimei's view, the odds of Cloud Village starting a war were slim.
For one, the skirmishes over the past half-month had likely shown the Fourth Raikage, Ay, that Cloud Village wasn't strong enough to overpower Konoha.
Starting a war recklessly wouldn't benefit either side.
For another, this incident was clearly the work of Cloud Village's radical faction acting on their own.
In that case, Ay was even less likely to wage war.
After all, if one rogue faction could force the entire village to pick a side, what would that say about his authority as Raikage?
So, Seimei figured this trip was mostly for show. War wasn't likely.
Minato probably thought the same, or he wouldn't have sent only the available Jonin to lead teams.
If he truly believed war was imminent, he'd have recalled all shinobi on external missions.
But he didn't.
Clearly, he didn't think a fight was likely either.
Sending them was likely a precaution to avoid being caught off guard and a signal to Cloud Village not to get any funny ideas.
Of course, the situation could still evolve.
No one could predict the future with certainty.