Night falls.
After several hours of training outside, Seimei finally returned to the Blackstone outpost.
Back in his quarters, Seimei pushed the door open and saw a figure inside.
It wasn't anyone else but his shadow clone.
The two exchanged a glance, and the shadow clone disappeared on the spot.
What followed was a large influx of memories.
Among them was not only the scene of him following the Mist ninja back to Feiyu Town but also the memory of being pulled into a meeting by Sano Nobuhisa after returning.
Seimei skimmed through the former quickly, as Dasawa Yuki didn't cause any trouble. After issuing the retreat order, he obediently led the surviving Mist ninjas back to Feiyu Town.
As for the latter, there wasn't much valuable information either.
This battle had just ended, and Sano Nobuhisa had plenty of work to do. The meeting was just a general report on the gains and losses of the battle, along with updates on the other three fronts.
From Sano's words, Seimei learned that the gap in the southern defense line was the focus of the Mist Village's attack.
This explained why Dasawa Yuki retreated so quickly—not just because of the pressure Seimei exerted, but also because they weren't the main force of the attack.
As for that gap, neither side had yet claimed victory.
However, due to the prolonged fighting, it had become a tug-of-war, with personnel changing twice while the battle raged on.
Sano Nobuhisa told them to be prepared to provide reinforcements at any time.
Although the village had agreed to send high-level reinforcements, it would take time. If the situation became dire before then, they might need to pull forces from Seimei's side first.
This was a direct order from the commander-in-chief, Nara Keiko, and had to be taken seriously.
Additionally, Sano assigned some follow-up tasks.
But these didn't concern Seimei much. His mission remained the same: to scout the Mist ninjas' movements in Feiyu Town every night.
Of course, not tonight.
The battle had just ended, and both the Leaf ninjas and the Mist ninjas were licking their wounds, with no energy for a second round of fighting anytime soon.
So, Seimei didn't need to go out tonight.
After last night's session and several hours of practice today, combined with the "Earth Release: Earth Spear," he felt that he was close to successfully imprinting both "Earth Release: Earth Style Wall" and "Earth Release: Hardened Jutsu" onto his skill panel.
"Keep it up!" Seimei silently cheered himself on, crossed his hands to form the "Ne" hand seal, and once again activated the "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
*Poof!*
With a puff of chakra smoke, two figures appeared in the room.
Seimei looked at the two shadow clones and instructed, "Begin!"
"Got it," they both responded, then walked to the corners of the room to focus on recalling the contents of "Earth Release: Hardened Jutsu" and began practicing.
That's right—Seimei had them both practice the same technique rather than splitting their focus. He decided to master "Hardened Jutsu" first.
The reason was simple: practicing "Earth Style Wall" made too much noise. If it failed to cast, that was fine, but once released, it would definitely cause a commotion.
Seimei didn't want to draw attention, so he set it aside for now.
On the other hand, "Hardened Jutsu" was self-applied and wouldn't attract attention, making it perfect for practice in this environment.
Additionally, "Hardened Jutsu" would significantly enhance his defensive capabilities.
For most people, last-minute cramming like this wouldn't be very effective.
After all, just reaching the entry level of "Hardened Jutsu" wouldn't be enough to make a difference.
But Seimei was different. With his proficiency panel, as long as he could imprint the technique, he could rapidly improve it by investing chakra.
In this way, he could quickly bring out the full potential of the jutsu.
So, for Seimei, this last-minute effort wasn't a waste of time at all.
Shifting his attention away from the two clones, Seimei sat cross-legged on his bed and alternated between using "Palm Sage Jutsu" and "Mind Reflection Jutsu" to strengthen his body and further evolve his Sharingan.
Time flew by, and it was now the middle of the night.
Just as Seimei was about to recall his shadow clones, sum up their experiences, and reset his state, he suddenly froze.
The next moment, a faint smile crept onto his face.
"Finally succeeded!" he muttered, opening his skill panel to reveal a new skill: *Earth Release: Hardened Jutsu: lv0 (1/100)!*
That's right—he had successfully imprinted "Hardened Jutsu" onto his panel.
Because of this, Seimei was overjoyed.
*Inhale... Exhale...*
Taking a deep breath, Seimei calmed his emotions and immediately activated the "Shadow Clone Jutsu" again, summoning five shadow clones to continue practicing the technique.
With five times the efficiency, the speed was astonishing.
In just over ten minutes, Seimei advanced the technique to the beginner stage, or lv1.
This time included the moments of contemplation and comprehension; otherwise, it would have been even faster.
When all the clones were recalled, Seimei felt a flood of insight wash over him.
After a moment of quiet contemplation, he formed a hand seal and, after a few seconds, successfully cast *Earth Release: Hardened Jutsu!*
In an instant, Seimei's skin changed from fair to a blackish-gray.
Immediately, a tough, resilient feeling washed over him. He picked up a kunai and dragged it across his arm, feeling no pain—only a faint white mark that quickly faded.
Although Seimei hadn't applied much force, the fact that it could block a sharp weapon so easily proved the technique's effectiveness.
And this was just at lv1. As it leveled up, its defensive capabilities would only grow stronger.
Once it reached a certain point, he could ignore most physical attacks.
With that in mind, Seimei dispelled *Hardened Jutsu* and summoned five more clones to continue grinding proficiency.
This time, reaching 200 proficiency points took Seimei over half an hour.
By the time the technique advanced to lv2, its defensive strength had predictably increased.
Moreover, the time it took to cast the jutsu had also decreased.
At this rate, with five clones training, he would need only about an hour and a half to push the technique to lv3.
However, Seimei had to stop.
Why? He was running low on chakra.
This method of grinding proficiency was fast but also drained chakra rapidly.
From lv0 (1/100) to lv2 (1/500), he had used up nearly 30,000 chakra points. To reach lv3 would require another 50,000, which Seimei couldn't handle.
After all, he hadn't had a chance to replenish his chakra after the battle earlier in the day, and he had spent hours training tonight.
If not for his "Chakra Refining Technique" and the natural recovery of his body's chakra, he wouldn't have been able to sustain the training to reach lv2.
So, when it was time to ease up, he knew he had to.
Feeling fatigued, Seimei decided it was time for sleep.
With that thought, he lay down on his bed, not bothering to undress, and immediately drifted off to sleep.
(End of Chapter)