Standing in place, lost in thought for a moment, Seimei finally set his sights on using shadow clones.
Shadow clones were the key to freeing him up while still letting him gain skill proficiency at a low cost.
However, considering the massive chakra drain of practicing these two ninjutsu, he couldn't just recklessly create hundreds of shadow clones to train all at once like before.
Doing that, he wouldn't even last an hour—his clones would probably collapse after just a few attempts.
After some thought, Seimei raised his hands, formed seals, and unleashed the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
With clouds of chakra smoke dissipating, three hundred shadow clones appeared in the clearing.
Seimei split them into two groups. Thirty clones, as usual, stayed on Moon Island to continue absorbing the natural energy there.
The remaining two hundred seventy clones were sealed into a scroll, which he handed to a wood clone to deliver to the primeval forest in the northeastern part of the Land of Fire.
Next, he tapped into the chakra stored in the interdimensional space at his forehead, refilling his own chakra reserves.
It's worth noting that after fifty days of growth, his chakra capacity had finally broken through the three-million-point mark, reaching an impressive 3.1 million points.
Feeling the surge of chakra coursing through him once again, Seimei raised his hands and cast the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu again.
This time, though, he only created five shadow clones.
With this, including himself, his 3.1 million points of chakra were divided six ways, leaving Seimei and each of the five clones with just over 500,000 points of chakra apiece.
These five clones were specifically tasked with practicing Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique and Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique.
Now that he'd gotten the basics down, he couldn't keep up the frantic pace of practicing every thirty seconds. To gain proficiency, he needed to carefully reflect on each attempt.
At most, he'd be able to use these techniques sixty times in an hour.
Even the more chakra-intensive Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique wouldn't burn through 500,000 points in sixty uses.
So, these shadow clones were more than sufficient.
As for how to divide up the five clones?
Since Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique was a bit trickier to practice, Seimei decided to assign three clones to it.
The other two would focus on Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique.
This way, their progress might differ slightly, but it wouldn't be too lopsided.
Who knows? They might even feed into each other's progress!
Beyond assigning the clones, he also had to think about chakra allocation.
Assuming each clone used either Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique or Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique once a minute, the five clones together would consume over 1.68 million points of chakra in an hour (2,000 points × 60 minutes × 2 clones + 8,000 points × 60 minutes × 3 clones).
So, how much chakra did he have available?
Thanks to mastering the Three Elements Sealing Technique, he'd saved up 2 million points of chakra.
Before that, he'd invested 4.5 million points into developing the two Dust Release techniques.
Plus, he was accumulating 3.02 million points daily.
All told, that gave him 9.52 million points of chakra.
If he poured all of it into training, how long could his five shadow clones keep going? Simple math gave the answer: just over six hours, not quite seven.
Clearly, that wasn't enough for a full day's training.
After some thought, Seimei decided to dip into the massive chakra reserves he'd stockpiled over the past few months.
As the saying goes, you raise an army for a thousand days to use it in a single moment.
He'd been saving up all that chakra for a day like this, hadn't he?
Now was the time.
Seimei planned to pull out 10.48 million points of chakra daily, a nice round number, and pour it all into practicing Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique and Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique.
With this, they'd gain 1,500 and 2,300 proficiency points per day, respectively.
The former would hit Level 5 in just two and a half days, achieving its first major breakthrough, and reach Level 7 in another ten days for a second breakthrough.
As for the latter?
It'd take only one and a half days to hit Level 5, and another six and a half days to reach Level 7.
"Phew, not bad!" Seimei let out a relieved sigh after crunching the numbers.
With his current chakra reserves, he could sustain this kind of training for ten days to half a month, but any longer would stretch him thin.
Luckily, those days would be enough to grind both techniques to Level 7.
By then, they'd be ready for real combat. If progress slowed after that, it wouldn't be a big deal.
Clearing his mind, Seimei stopped overthinking. He sent the five shadow clones off, then teleported himself to the volcano beneath Moon Island to train in the Body of the Extreme.
An hour later, he teleported back to the surface of Moon Island.
While recovering, he glanced at the five shadow clones practicing Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique and Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique out on the distant sea.
Seeing they were doing fine, he relaxed a bit.
Once his body was ready, he immediately dispelled the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
In an instant, all the clones—on the island, off the island, and even those far away in the northeastern Land of Fire—dissolved.
A flood of memories poured into his mind.
This time, though, it wasn't as overwhelming.
After all, he only had a little over three hundred clones out there, compared to the eight hundred he used to manage—a reduction of nearly five hundred.
The mental strain was much lighter as a result.
Resisting the urge to sort through the memories right away, Seimei first organized the chakra and natural energy that came back with them, storing them properly.
Then, he closed his eyes and began sifting through the memories, slowly converting the training experience into proficiency for the corresponding skills.
Time ticked by, second by second.
About ten minutes later, Seimei opened his eyes again.
"Panel!"
Right away, he pulled up his proficiency panel.
As expected, Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique had gained 120 proficiency points, and Dust Release: Boundary Detachment Technique had gained 150.
This meant they only needed 80 and 50 more points, respectively, to level up.
The former would take two clones practicing for forty minutes.
The latter would take three clones practicing for twenty minutes.
Given the massive chakra cost of these techniques, Seimei decided to recall the five clones at those respective times.
This would prevent them from wasting chakra unnecessarily.
With his plan set, Seimei didn't waste any more time.
He swallowed several enhanced soldier pills to replenish the energy he'd just burned.
Then, in two batches, he cast Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu again, creating three hundred five shadow clones to kick off the next round of training.
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