Ti slipped into the dead of night.
On the rocky shore, Seii was in deep training.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the distance. At first, it seed as if they were far off on the horizon, but within a few breaths, they were right in front of him, descending directly until they stood before him.
Seii opened his eyes and realized it was his shadow clone, the one he'd sent to monitor the movents of the Kirigakure fleet.
"What's the situation?" Seii asked.
"Nothing unusual," the shadow clone replied, shaking his head. "See for yourself."
With that, the shadow clone released the "Shadow Clone Technique."
In an instant, a rush of chakra flooded his mind, carrying a large batch of mories. Seii closed his eyes to carefully review them. Since most of these mories were simply scenes from the journey, he quickly scanned through them. The final scene showed the Kirigakure ninjas returning to Flying Fish Town, but there was little of importance there.
Satisfied that everything was proceeding as expected, Seii relaxed. He glanced at his panel, noting the increased proficiency in "Wind Style: Wings of the Wind." Then, he turned his attention to the eight other shadow clones he'd created, all still diligently training.
After calculating how much ti was left for their training session, Seii decided not to dismiss them yet. Refocusing, he channeled chakra and perford the "Healing Palm Technique" and the "Mind Mirror Technique," alternating between strengthening his body and guiding his Sharingan's evolution.
Ti slipped by, minute by minute. Soon, twenty more minutes had passed, and the hour-long training session was complete. Seii opened his eyes, observed his clones stopping their training, and released the "Shadow Clone Technique."
Instantly, the clones vanished, leaving him with an influx of training experiences and mories. Seii closed his eyes to absorb the information, transforming it into points on his proficiency panel.
After a quarter of an hour, he opened his eyes once more.
"Ah…" He exhaled deeply, pressing his slightly throbbing temples.
Without further delay, Seii cast "Wind Style: Wings of the Wind" and soared into the sky, heading toward the Black Rock stronghold. Although he was technically still on assignnt, he knew his task was complete, so it was ti to report back.
With his flying speed of 100 ters per second, it took him less than fifteen minutes to reach Black Rock. As he arrived, he noticed that the Konoha ninjas within the stronghold were still on high alert, having just finished a major battle. His sudden appearance startled them, but once they recognized him, they quickly relaxed.
After verifying there was no danger, Seii descended and made his way to the command center. A quarter of an hour later, he exited, having reported the Kirigakure's movents to Sano Nobuhisa and learned about the outcos of the recent battle.
Including an earlier ambush, their losses were in a roughly 1:1.2 ratio compared to the Kirigakure forces. While that may seem minor, it had taken everything the Konoha ninjas had to achieve it. If it weren't for the initial ambush on the land-based Kirigakure forces, that ratio would have been worse.
In the end, strength matters most in the ninja world. Strategy can secure victory for a ti, but only true power can bring lasting peace. Given the circumstances, they had done quite well.
Shaking his head, Seii turned toward his quarters.
A few minutes later, he returned to his room and settled down for another training session with the "Healing Palm Technique" and "Mind Mirror Technique." Despite feeling sowhat drained from the back-to-back battles, he was determined to complete his daily training plan.
Several more hours passed, and when he finally finished practicing the two techniques, he allowed himself so sleep.
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**The Next Morning**
Seii woke up and sat on his bed for a mont, gathering his thoughts. He went to wash up, considering his next moves.
After last night's setback, he knew the Kirigakure forces in Flying Fish Town wouldn't likely attack again for a day or two, giving him so free ti. He could spend it training, but Seii had other ideas.
Drying his face with a towel, he walked back to his bedroom and picked up a scroll. It wasn't just any scroll—it was a storage scroll containing a Byakugan, taken from Ao.
He had considered the possibilities for the eye from the start, but the timing hadn't been right. Now, it seed it was.
"Molecular alteration…" he murmured, gazing into the distance.
His vision seed to pierce through the walls of the stronghold toward a country to the southeast. This country, the Land of Sea, was a nation of islands with no ninjas of its own, relying on hired rcenaries from the Land of Water to maintain order.
But it wasn't its ties to the Land of Water that interested Seii. Instead, it was a place within it called Demon World Island.
If his mories from his past life were correct, during the Third Great Ninja War, Orochimaru had set up a secret laboratory on that island. It was dedicated to cellular fusion research, aiming to create amphibious ninjas to gain the upper hand in battles against the Kirigakure.
Unfortunately, even a decade later, the research was far from complete. Even the project overseer, Amachi, who transford himself into an amphibious "perfect specin," wasn't particularly strong.
However, Seii wasn't interested in power from the research—he wanted its knowledge of body modification. If he didn't want to replace one of his own eyes with the Byakugan, he'd have to create a new organ to integrate it into his visual system. That would require knowledge of body modification, and Orochimaru's secret lab was the most accessible source.
With "Wind Style: Wings of the Wind" having recently advanced to level 5, Seii knew he could enter and exit the facility freely. The ti to act was now.
*(Chapter End)*
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