Inside the Iwagakure Cave
Seimei withdrew his hand from the last Iwa-nin, sensed the newly acquired chakra within his body, and nodded to himself.
After some testing, he had estimated the amount of chakra the six captives could provide him daily.
Among them, the Kirigakure Anbu, under full duress, could supply twelve thousand chakra points per day. The three Kumo-nin could provide an average of seven thousand points, while the two Iwa-nin only had six thousand points.
Adding this to the seventeen thousand chakra points he could recover daily, that amounted to sixty-two thousand points.
In other words, even if he did nothing for the next few days, it would only take him less than eight days to level up his 'Reflection Heart Technique' to lv7.
And as long as he captured a few more prisoners in the following days, he could drastically shorten this time.
It was precisely because of this that he was confident in leveling his 'Reflection Heart Technique' from lv6 to lv7 in a short period.
And once his 'Reflection Heart Technique' reached lv7, the catalytic effect on the Sharingan would definitely be further enhanced.
At that time, perhaps it would only take one cast to increase the Sharingan's evolution progress by one point.
And this would undoubtedly further accelerate the evolution of his Sharingan.
Of course, these were all things for the future.
For the present, the process of raising the 'Reflection Heart Technique' from lv6 to lv7 could already allow his Sharingan to gain a lot of evolution progress.
And the higher the Sharingan's evolution progress, the stronger the ocular power.
At that time, the power of both the Sharingan's own abilities and the various genjutsu cast through it would be further enhanced.
Therefore, even if he paused the practice of other skills, his strength was still steadily progressing.
"Phew—"
He let out a long breath, dispelling all distracting thoughts from his mind.
Seimei had two shadow clones on guard nearby, one shadow clone paying attention to the main battlefield between the Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin, and another shadow clone looking for new 'prey', while he himself entered a cultivation state.
The 'Reflection Heart Technique' was cast by him over and over again, each time bringing new insights and pushing his Sharingan a little closer to the Mangekyo.
Just like that, three days passed in a flash.
During these three days, Seimei went out twice more, bringing back a total of three Kumo-nin and five Iwa-nin.
However, among these five Iwa-nin, two were only Genin.
Even if he squeezed them hard, he could only obtain two thousand five hundred and three thousand chakra points from them, respectively.
As for the other six, they were all Chunin, just like the previous captives, and could provide him with an average of six thousand chakra points.
Thus, the chakra he could use daily increased from the original sixty-two thousand points to the current one hundred and three thousand five hundred points.
Unfortunately, these people weren't captured by him from the beginning, which wasted a lot of time.
As a result, even after three days, his 'Reflection Heart Technique' only gained 1550 proficiency points, rising from lv6 (6975/10000) to lv6 (8525/10000).
However, after today, he could gain 647 proficiency points daily.
In other words, it would only take a little over two days for his 'Reflection Heart Technique' to level up.
"Hmm, shortening it by two days is still acceptable!"
Seimei muttered and was about to continue his cultivation.
But at this moment, a surge of chakra, carrying a memory fragment, appeared within his body through the faint connection.
With a quick check, Seimei knew this memory fragment came from the shadow clone specifically tasked with searching for 'prey'.
Initially, he thought the clone had found a new 'prey', but after reading its memory, he realized the situation was different from what he had imagined.
This shadow clone hadn't found a new target but instead obtained intelligence that the Iwa-nin's main force seemed to have formed an encirclement and was rapidly approaching the Iwa-nin's last line of defense.
That's right, the last line of defense.
In the past three days, the elite Kumo-nin force, led by the Third Raikage, had successively breached two of Iwagakure's defensive lines.
They had directly pushed the battlefield from two hundred kilometers away from Iwagakure to less than fifty kilometers away.
It had to be said that Onoki was quite bold, willing to use the village as bait to lure the Third Raikage and this elite Kumo force.
One must know, if the last line of defense couldn't hold and the Kumo elites broke into the village, even if the Iwa-nin's main force formed an encirclement outside, they could only surrender.
After all, who didn't have a few relatives?
If Iwagakure didn't surrender, the Third Raikage and others could simply take these villagers hostage, delaying the Iwa-nin's main force's attack.
Then, they could deploy more troops to attack the Land of Earth from further out.
Under internal and external pressure, Iwagakure might face destruction, and the Third Raikage would achieve an unprecedented feat.
This showed just how much Onoki was willing to gamble.
However, it was precisely because the bait was tempting enough that it could attract the Third Raikage.
Of course, the Third Raikage wasn't foolish either. He knew there must be Iwa-nin reinforcements rushing back.
But according to his calculations, even if they set off immediately upon receiving the news, it would be difficult for them to arrive within five days.
Therefore, as long as they could capture Iwagakure within this timeframe, there would be no problem.
Even if they couldn't capture Iwagakure on time, it wouldn't matter.
Because even after the Iwa-nin reinforcements arrived, they wouldn't be able to form an effective encirclement immediately, and they would still have enough time to retreat.
That's why the Third Raikage dared to lead his troops to continue the attack.
Theoretically, the Third Raikage's choice wasn't wrong.
But all of this was predicated on Iwagakure not knowing about their surprise attack and not having made preparations in advance.
Otherwise, it would be like the current situation, where the Iwa-nin's main force had already formed an encirclement outside, and the Third Raikage was still unaware.
It could be said that from the moment the intelligence was leaked, the Third Raikage's fate was sealed.
Next, the initiative on the battlefield would return to Iwagakure's hands. It depended on whether they chose to keep the Third Raikage or this elite Kumo force.
Based on memories from his past life, Seimei knew that Iwagakure ultimately chose the former.
This time, it was probably the same.
However, these had nothing to do with him. What he was currently considering was whether he could seize this opportunity to make a big profit.
Although with steady development, he could also level up his 'Reflection Heart Technique' to lv7 before the mission ended, achieving his set goal.
But if he could go a step further, it would undoubtedly be even better.
After all, once the mission ended, he would have to return to the frontline battlefield. At that time, with many eyes watching, it wouldn't be easy for him to make any small moves.
And now, as long as he took some risks, he could take advantage of the situation where both sides were preoccupied to obtain a large amount of chakra, thereby accelerating the evolution of his Sharingan.
After pondering for a long time, Seimei slapped his thigh, stood up abruptly, and said to himself, "Fortune favors the bold! Let's do it!"
With that, he crossed his hands, performed the 'Shadow Clone Technique', and created two more shadow clones, having them, along with the two shadow clones outside responsible for vigilance, search for suitable targets to capture nearby.
(End of Chapter)