Five days later.
Afternoon.
After Seimei once again performed the Shadow Clone Technique, a sudden realization dawned upon him.
He instantly knew that his Shadow Clone Technique had leveled up.
He opened the panel and glanced at it. As expected, the proficiency behind the Shadow Clone Technique had changed from lv0 (99/100) to lv1 (1/200).
After carefully experiencing it for a moment, Seimei performed the Shadow Clone Technique again.
Poof~
A cloud of chakra smoke dispersed.
A figure identical to him appeared before his eyes.
If at lv0, the shadow clones he created were unstable and short-lived, then after reaching lv1, these shortcomings were all gone.
Seimei could clearly sense that this shadow clone in front of him could last for a long time and had a certain degree of resistance to attacks. Its stability was quite good.
Seimei looked at the Sharingan in the shadow clone's eyes and asked, "Can you use this Sharingan?"
The shadow clone carefully sensed for a moment, then looked around, and finally nodded, "Yes, I can use it, but it consumes a bit more chakra than the original body."
"Is that so..."
Seimei pondered for a moment, then drew his short sword and said, "Come, let's have a spar."
"Alright!"
The shadow clone responded and also drew the short sword from its waist.
The next moment, both of them moved simultaneously, their short swords clashing together, producing a crisp metallic sound.
Not only that, but between the blades, Seimei even saw sparks flying.
No wonder both the Sharingan and the Byakugan couldn't distinguish between the real and the fake. Even the transformed weapons were so realistic, let alone the core of ninjutsu - the person themselves?
After a brief stalemate, both of them changed their moves and began to fully utilize their swordsmanship.
The sound of metal clashing continuously rang out as the two short swords collided between them. Neither Seimei nor the shadow clone used any ninjutsu or genjutsu, purely competing in swordsmanship.
At first, the shadow clone could still hold its own against him, but as time went on, Seimei gradually gained the upper hand.
It wasn't that the shadow clone's swordsmanship was inferior to his, but as the battle progressed, his "Swordsmanship" proficiency kept increasing.
Although the shadow clone also improved, it was far slower than him.
Therefore, he naturally gained the advantage.
From this, it could be seen that the proficiency panel was likely bound to his soul; otherwise, the shadow clone's "Swordsmanship" should have also improved synchronously.
In that case, the effectiveness of using shadow clones to grind proficiency would be greatly reduced.
However, he didn't need to consider this point for now.
Currently, he was facing a lack of chakra, not a lack of time. There was no need to use shadow clones to grind proficiency.
Unless one day he could capture a tailed beast and level up his Chakra Absorption Technique to the point where he could extract tailed beast chakra, the priority of chakra would always be higher than time.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Seimei focused his attention on dealing with the shadow clone in front of him.
However, even until the shadow clone dispersed, he still hadn't defeated it.
This showed that in terms of close combat ability alone, the shadow clone wasn't much weaker than him. Its only weakness was probably its average durability.
Of course, there was also the chakra consumption, which was far greater than that of the original body.
Since shadow clones were essentially physical clones made of chakra, every movement consumed chakra, especially during combat, where the consumption was enormous.
This explained why few people used this technique for frontal combat. It was simply not worth it!
Fortunately, Seimei didn't intend to use this technique for fighting either.
He practiced this technique solely for the purpose of deceiving others.
In the past few days, to avoid wasting Chiya, the chakra battery, he had to travel back and forth between the cavern and the main camp every day.
Not only was it a waste of time, but it was also very easy to attract attention.
Now, with the Shadow Clone Technique, he could completely let the shadow clone stay at the main camp while he remained at the cavern for extended periods.
This would reduce the number of trips back and forth, making it less likely to be noticed.
Furthermore, if anything happened at the main camp, the shadow clone could quickly relay the information back by dispelling the technique.
In this way, Seimei wouldn't have to worry about missing anything.
'Perhaps it's time to capture more prisoners.'
Thinking this, Seimei quickly packed up his things and then performed the Shadow Clone Technique again.
Looking at the newly appeared shadow clone, Seimei said, "You stay here from now on and inform me immediately if anything happens."
"OK!"
The shadow clone gave him an OK sign.
Seeing this, Seimei smiled and then quietly left the main camp.
Of course, he wasn't going to capture prisoners now. He would wait until his next mission. His current destination was the cavern.
He hadn't harvested chakra today, and he needed to hurry over there.
After traveling quickly, it was nearing dusk when Seimei finally reached his destination.
He carefully observed the surroundings. After confirming there were no abnormalities, Seimei cautiously cleared away the traces he had left and then entered the underground tunnel.
After a dozen or so breaths, Seimei arrived at the depths of the cavern and saw Chiya once again.
Unlike a few days ago, Chiya was much quieter now. He didn't play any tricks when he saw Seimei, but the hatred in his eyes remained.
Seimei looked at him and said, "You know, don't resist."
With that, he formed hand seals and used the Chakra Absorption Technique.
A mass of chakra enveloped his right hand, and Seimei stepped forward, pressing it directly on top of Chiya's head.
The next moment, a steady stream of chakra flowed out from Chiya's body, through Seimei's right hand, and into his own.
After more than twenty seconds, Seimei withdrew his hand.
He opened the panel and glanced at it. His chakra had increased by almost three thousand points.
Seimei nodded in satisfaction, then took out three soldier pills and stuffed them into Chiya's mouth.
Chiya didn't say anything and started chewing.
But from his expression, it looked like he wished he could eat Seimei instead.
Seimei didn't mind this too much. As long as the other party could provide him with chakra, what they thought in their heart wasn't important.
At the same time, Seimei was also glad that Chiya hadn't been spoiled by his clan. Although his personality was a bit impulsive, he wasn't someone who gave up easily.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to keep extracting chakra from him.
Of course, Seimei also knew that the reason the other party persisted in refining chakra was both to pass the time and to wait for an opportunity.
Unfortunately, he would most likely never get that opportunity.
If he hadn't learned the Shadow Clone Technique, the opponent might have had a chance to escape.
But now, with him personally guarding here, there was no way the opponent could leave.
'However, I can't completely extinguish his hope. If he gives up and stops refining chakra, I'll be the one at a loss in the end.'
With this thought, Seimei left the cavern as usual.
However, this time, he didn't return to the main camp but stayed in the underground tunnel, finding a spot to practice the Heart Reflection Technique on his own.
(End of Chapter)