High above the sky.
Seimei was flying at full speed.
Even with his nerve reflexes enhanced by the Sankō no Sharingan, he was struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing scenery below.
After just a short while of flying, Seimei felt a wave of dizziness.
This forced him to slow down his flight speed.
Yup, his current max flight speed was just that insane.
But honestly, it made sense.
Back when he was only using Doton: Keijūgan no Jutsu to reduce his weight, his flight speed could already hit twice his normal speed.
Now, having learned its advanced version—Doton: Chōkeijūgan no Jutsu—the boost was naturally even crazier.
Everyone knows the average human body density is about 985–1010 kg/m³, while air density is around 1.225 kg/m³—a difference of roughly 800 times.
Since Ōnoki could use Doton: Chōkeijūgan no Jutsu to make people float, it meant he could reduce their weight by over 800 times.
Of course, at his current Level 7 skill, Seimei wasn't quite there yet. From prior tests, he could only reduce his weight by about 100 times.
Even so, theoretically, his max flight speed could hit 100 times his normal speed—about 30 kilometers per second.
But clearly, his earlier flight speed was fast but nowhere near that level.
In fact, he'd been flying at roughly 10 times his normal speed—just 3 kilometers per second.
The reason for the gap was pretty simple: the Fūton: Kaze no Tsubasa that propelled his flight and the Chakra Hagoromo that protected him from air resistance both had their own limits.
The latter wasn't too bad. That jutsu was something he developed based on the Tailed Beast Cloak, with A-rank potential, capable of far more than what it currently showed.
The main issue was the former. When he created Fūton: Kaze no Tsubasa, his understanding of Fūton chakra's shape and nature transformation was still pretty "basic."
As a result, that jutsu only had B-rank potential, maxing out at Level 7 (0/0).
This meant it couldn't fully tap into the Chakra Hagoromo's max potential or make full use of his 100-times-lighter body.
So naturally, his flight speed couldn't increase by that much.
Seimei had already decided that once his Katon: Shūen Geki and Raiton: Raikiri reached their max potential, he'd divert some chakra to develop an advanced version of this jutsu to further boost his flight speed.
Of course, Seimei knew that even if he raised its potential to A-rank—or even S-rank—he wouldn't hit a 100-fold speed increase.
Why? Diminishing returns, plain and simple.
Maybe with everything optimized, he could push his speed to 4 or 5 kilometers per second, but definitely not tens of kilometers per second.
Even if he maxed out Doton: Chōkeijūgan no Jutsu to Level 9 (0/0) and reduced his density another eight times, it'd still be the same.
Still, Seimei figured getting his flight speed to the Shinobi World's first or even second cosmic velocity shouldn't be an issue.
By then, he might just be able to leave the Shinobi World and take a spin in the outer cosmos.
Of course, before that, he'd need to make sure he could survive in a vacuum.
Oh, and he hadn't forgotten—the moon in the Shinobi World wasn't some ancient natural satellite. It was artificially created by the Sage of the Six Paths and his brother to seal Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Even now, descendants of Ōtsutsuki Hamura lived up there, tirelessly keeping an eye on the Shinobi World.
So, if he wanted to mess around in outer space later, he'd have to deal with that headache first.
All these thoughts flashed through his mind. Seimei pondered for a bit but then brushed them aside.
He focused his mind, looked ahead, and adjusted his flight speed, settling at a max of 1 kilometer per second as he headed toward Kirigakure.
Truth be told, he could've just locked onto the Hiraishin marks he'd left in the Land of Water or even Kirigakure itself and used Hiraishin no Jutsu to teleport there directly.
But that would burn through a ton of chakra.
Sure, he wasn't exactly short on chakra these days, but his instinct to pinch pennies made him ditch that extravagant travel option.
As for the time wasted?
Well, he was planning to rest tomorrow anyway. As long as he saved enough time today to nurture his Byakugan, it wasn't a big deal.
Plus, at his current flight speed, getting there wouldn't take long.
In fact, in less than 30 minutes, he'd crossed the ocean and reached the coastal waters of the Land of Water, an isolated island nation.
Spending just that little time to save tens of thousands of chakra points? Seimei thought it was totally worth it.
Nodding to himself, Seimei shifted his focus and looked toward the massive island faintly emerging ahead.
That was the Land of Water!
After observing for a bit, he did what he'd done last time: he circled to the northeast of the Land of Water, sneaking in from the cliffs where the defenses were weaker.
Then, after about 10 minutes of flying, Seimei kept his Byakugan active the whole time, carefully avoiding areas heavily monitored by Kiri ninja, and arrived at the outskirts of Kirigakure.
The sun hadn't set yet.
Standing on a large tree, Seimei gazed at the village shrouded in light mist. After thinking it over, he decided to hold off and wait until nightfall before making his move.
He wasn't about to waste the time in between, though.
Glancing around, Seimei found a relatively secluded spot. With a few quick flashes, he appeared there.
Then, he began nurturing his Byakugan.
Yup, before taking action, he was going to finish today's final training session.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Soon, two hours had passed.
Night fell.
At a certain moment, Seimei opened his eyes.
Feeling the slight swelling in his Byakugan at his brow, Seimei knew he'd hit his limit.
So, he stopped training, stood up, and leaped onto a tree, looking toward Kirigakure under the cover of night.
Compared to two hours ago, the mist enveloping Kirigakure had grown much thicker.
If it was just a light haze before, now it was straight-up dense fog.
It was easy to imagine that stepping into it without the right tools could make you lose your sense of direction.
Luckily, this wasn't Seimei's first rodeo, and he was prepared.
With a thought, he activated his Byakugan.
Instantly, everything in front of him became crystal clear.
The dense fog covering Kirigakure was, after all, just regular mist caused by the environment—no chakra involved.
So, unlike Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu, it didn't mess with the Byakugan's x-ray vision.
In other words, this environment didn't affect Seimei at all.
If anything, it was perfect for him to stay hidden.
Not wasting any more time, Seimei picked his direction and flashed toward Kirigakure.
Like Konoha, Kirigakure's outskirts had a sensory barrier.
But that was pretty much useless against Seimei.
With a thought, he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, and his left eye's dōjutsu—Ama no Go—kicked in.
In an instant, his figure vanished from the spot.
Without hesitation, Seimei crossed the barrier and dashed toward the heart of Kirigakure.
Along the way, he ran into several patrols of Kiri ninja, but none of them noticed him.
So, he smoothly infiltrated deep into Kirigakure.
Standing by that familiar small lake, Seimei glanced around, making sure no one was nearby before deactivating Ama no Go.
Silently, Seimei's figure appeared in the open.
(Chapter End)