After reflecting on the past two weeks of training, Seimei didn't dwell on it too long. With a flicker of thought, he closed the proficiency panel.
Next, he reached for his ninja pouch and pulled out a few enhanced soldier pills. Popping them into his mouth, he chewed a couple of times before swallowing.
After a short break, he dove into the final task of the day—nurturing his Byakugan. Activating the Senra Bansho Fuin seal at his forehead, he linked it with his Byakugan.
Focusing intently, Seimei began extracting chakra from the alternate space at his forehead. The chakra was compressed a second time through the seal, transforming into a higher energy state before being channeled into his Byakugan.
Almost instantly, a tingling sensation spread from his forehead.
Even Seimei couldn't help but let out a soft, satisfied groan.
But he quickly regained his composure, focusing on sensing the Byakugan's evolution while steadily drawing chakra from the alternate space to keep the flow into his Byakugan constant.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Before he knew it, two hours had passed.
When Seimei opened his eyes again, the moon was perched just above the treetops.
Feeling the slightly swollen Byakugan at his forehead, he let out a long breath.
With that, today's training was officially done.
Standing up, Seimei stretched his stiff muscles a bit before heading back to his cabin for some rest.
The night passed quietly.
---
The next morning.
Seimei finished washing up and grabbed a hearty breakfast. Then, he checked in on the shadow clone stationed at the front lines.
Sensing that the Flying Thunder God mark on it hadn't been triggered, he didn't linger on it and moved on to his own tasks.
This time, though, he didn't jump straight into training. Instead, he pulled out the metal orb containing the sealed Four-Tails and Seven-Tails.
With a thought, Seimei sent his mental energy into the orb.
Inside the sealing space, the Four-Tails and Seven-Tails were side by side, each bound by eight chakra chains and suspended in midair.
Seimei didn't pay much attention to the Seven-Tails. His gaze quickly shifted to the Four-Tails.
Just as he'd observed yesterday, after a week of recovery, the Four-Tails was back at its peak, ready to supply him with chakra.
Today, he planned to test just how far he could push its limits.
Under normal circumstances, without harming its core, the Seven-Tails could provide about one million chakra points per day. The Four-Tails, despite having fewer tails, wasn't necessarily weaker.
Among the nine tailed beasts, aside from the Nine-Tails being an outlier, the others weren't ranked by tail count.
So, it wasn't a given that the Four-Tails would provide less chakra than the Seven-Tails.
If anything, Seimei's gut told him the Four-Tails was stronger—maybe a lot stronger.
It wouldn't be surprising if it could give him a bit more chakra.
But guesses weren't enough—he'd need to test it to know for sure.
With that in mind, Seimei didn't waste any more time. He swiftly formed hand signs and cast the Chakra Absorption Technique—but not on the Four-Tails just yet. As usual, he started by drawing chakra from the Seven-Tails through the seal.
"Gotta save the best for last, right?" Seimei muttered to himself with a smirk.
Pushing aside stray thoughts, he focused and began extracting the Seven-Tails' chakra.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes.
After a little over eight minutes, Seimei stopped when he'd drawn 500,000 chakra points from the Seven-Tails.
Sure, it could supply up to a million points daily, but that wasn't a one-shot deal.
Pulling too much at once could affect its condition the next day, reducing the total chakra output.
So, he usually split it into two sessions.
The second 500,000 points would come later, around mid-afternoon, once the Seven-Tails had recovered a bit.
Shifting his gaze from the Seven-Tails, Seimei exhaled softly, then formed the hand signs again, casting the Chakra Absorption Technique once more.
Pressing his palm against the metal orb, he began drawing chakra through the seal.
The moment he started, the Four-Tails felt its chakra flowing out like water, siphoned away by the chains binding it before vanishing.
It tried to struggle, but the eight chakra chains left no room for resistance.
Roar!
An angry bellow erupted from the Four-Tails.
Seimei, unfazed, ignored it.
He kept a close eye on the Four-Tails' condition, making sure he didn't overdo it.
Time slipped by.
Ten minutes later, Seimei had extracted 600,000 chakra points. The Four-Tails still seemed fine, but after a moment's thought, he decided to stop for now.
It was the first draw—he didn't want to push too hard.
If he damaged its core, he'd have to wait days for it to recover.
Seimei wasn't about to waste time like that.
So, he eased off.
Pulling his hand back, he tucked the metal orb away and got ready to train.
Today wasn't just about testing the Four-Tails' limits—he also needed to tweak his training plan.
His Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique had reached perfection, freeing up some chakra that he'd redirected to Earth Release: Added-Weight Rock Technique and Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique.
Each skill required different amounts of time and chakra. To maximize efficiency and minimize waste, he had to adjust his shadow clone assignments on the fly.
Time was tight, and the workload was heavy.
So, without delay, Seimei formed hand signs and cast the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
Poof!
A cloud of chakra smoke cleared, revealing over a hundred shadow clones.
Seimei glanced at them, thought for a moment, and roughly adjusted their assignments based on past experience.
Then, he sent them off.
Once they were gone, Seimei started his own training.
As usual, he kicked things off with a warm-up combo of Mystical Palm Technique and Human Ward.
For the second round, he shifted to the Lightning Release Chakra Mode to enhance his body.
After that, it was a cycle of switching between techniques.
Each time he rotated, he tweaked the next round's shadow clone groups based on the progress of each skill and the clones' training feedback.
Hours ticked by—over ten, to be exact.
By mid-afternoon, after wrapping up another round, Seimei stopped adjusting the clone assignments.
At this point, his training efficiency was maxed out, and chakra waste was at its lowest.
But instead of jumping into another round of physical enhancement after dismissing the clones, he pulled out the metal orb with the Four-Tails and Seven-Tails again.
Casting the Chakra Absorption Technique once more, he started with the Seven-Tails, pulling another 500,000 chakra points in under ten minutes.
Then, he moved to the Four-Tails. Just like in the morning, he spent ten minutes extracting 600,000 points.
That brought the total from the Four-Tails to 1.2 million—already surpassing the Seven-Tails' one million.
And yet, the Four-Tails still seemed to have more to give.
So, Seimei kept going.
Another four minutes passed, and he drew an additional 200,000-plus points before stopping.
By now, the Four-Tails looked as drained as the Seven-Tails beside it.
Seimei nodded to himself—he'd found its limit.
One draw of 600,000, another of over 800,000, totaling about 1.4 million chakra points.
If he spread out the second draw a bit more, giving the Four-Tails time to rest and recover, he might even squeeze out closer to 1.5 million.
That was 1.5 million—half a million more than the Seven-Tails' one million.
Seimei couldn't help but grin, thrilled at the result.
(End of Chapter)