Nearly ten hours had passed. Night was falling.
After shaking off Han and the Iwa Jonin, Seimei and his team quickly caught up with the main force.
They then assisted in repelling several Iwa pursuit teams, finally reaching temporary safety.
It was only temporary because the Iwa ninja would surely continue their pursuit, so they weren't completely safe.
But for now...
Both sides had clashed multiple times and traveled a long distance, everyone was exhausted and needed rest.
So, they were safe for the time being.
...
Inside the temporary camp.
Seimei followed the medical ninja, helping to treat the wounded Konoha ninja.
Due to Iwa's sudden attack, this battle had been extremely fierce.
Nearly two hundred out of the four hundred ninja had died, leaving less than one hundred and eighty survivors, all injured.
Coupled with the wounded from the Tiger Mountain camp's reinforcements, the total number of injured needing treatment exceeded three hundred.
This put a heavy burden on the medical ninja.
So, Seimei was drafted to help.
He didn't object and was even happy to lend a hand.
His Healing Jutsu proficiency was already over 80%. After treating twenty or thirty more wounded, he could level up.
He could take this opportunity to master it.
He could even learn the Mystical Palm Technique and Chakra Scalpel at the same time.
And this would mark a new beginning.
Because after that, he could try to strengthen his body, narrowing the gap between his "Physique" and "Spirit" attributes, preparing to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Focusing his mind, Seimei began to wholeheartedly treat the injured Konoha ninja.
...
Time passed by.
Nearly two hours later.
As Seimei finished treating another Konoha Chunin, a sense of enlightenment suddenly dawned on him, giving him a deeper understanding of the Healing Jutsu.
He opened his status panel and glanced at it.
As expected, his Healing Jutsu had leveled up, reaching Lv5 (0/0), the mastery level, just as he had anticipated.
Seimei tried using it on his left arm.
A warm sensation spread through it, and the unhealed wound began to heal rapidly.
Compared to before, he felt the effect had increased by about 30%.
'As expected of a mastered skill, the improvement is significant!'
Not only did the jutsu's effect improve, but through it, he also gained a clearer understanding of Yang Release chakra.
He had originally thought he would have to wait until he leveled up the Mystical Palm Technique to a high level before using Yang Release chakra to strengthen his body.
But now...
He felt he could do it.
Thinking of doing it, Seimei used the excuse of resting and started forming hand seals while adjusting his chakra.
He restrained all the Yang Release chakra that would have been used for Healing Jutsu within his body, letting it flow along his chakra pathways, then permeate his body and strengthen his cells.
At first, Seimei didn't feel much, but as time passed, a faint warmth spread through him, as if he were soaking in a hot spring, very comfortable.
Unfortunately, even after several attempts, he didn't see any changes in his "Physique" attribute.
However, he was certain that this method was definitely effective.
The reason there was no change now could only be attributed to the short duration or the insufficient amount and strength of the Yang Release chakra condensed by Healing Jutsu.
'As expected, I still need the Mystical Palm Technique!'
With this thought, Seimei closed the panel and began to meditate on the Mystical Palm Technique, then started practicing it on his own.
Because of the foundation laid by Healing Jutsu, his Mystical Palm Technique gained three proficiency points after just one try.
This meant that with just over thirty attempts, he could reach the beginner level of the Mystical Palm Technique.
This showed the difference between him and geniuses.
For geniuses, even with a foundation in similar ninjutsu, learning a higher-level ninjutsu wasn't easy.
They might not even be able to learn it at all.
But Seimei was different. He didn't have this worry.
As long as he had a foundation, he could use the proficiency panel to quickly accumulate proficiency points and learn new skills at the fastest speed.
Just like now, Seimei thought and practiced repeatedly. In just over half an hour, he reached the beginner level of the Mystical Palm Technique.
This speed was remarkable!
Of course, the chakra consumption was also considerable. The minimum chakra cost for each use of the Mystical Palm Technique to gain proficiency points was over 150.
And this was because his Chakra Control had already reached Lv4, saving him 20% chakra; otherwise, it would be even higher.
Fortunately, his current chakra reserves were abundant enough to support such consumption.
Therefore, he reached the beginner level in one go.
Just as Seimei was about to also reach the beginner level of the Chakra Scalpel, a Konoha Chunin suddenly ran over and asked if he had rested enough.
Undoubtedly, this was a very rash act.
But she still came.
Her only remaining teammate and boyfriend was severely injured and had fallen into a coma. She had no choice but to come to him.
"Seimei-sama, please save Kinmoku. I can't lose him!"
Looking at the anxious female ninja in front of him, Seimei didn't say much and simply said, "Lead the way!"
"Huh?"
Akao Akari was initially stunned by Seimei's easy agreement, but she quickly reacted and said, "Oh, this way!"
She had thought that Seimei, being an Uchiha, wouldn't be easy to talk to, but unexpectedly, it was so easy to get him to help.
In fact, she didn't know that Seimei also wanted to test the effects of the Mystical Palm Technique; otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed so readily.
After all, the medical team had their own arrangements, and he couldn't disrupt them without a special reason.
Fortunately, it was just treating one person, not a big deal.
Soon, the two arrived before a Konoha Chunin.
He had multiple wounds on his body, but the most fatal one was a sword cut from his left shoulder to his right waist.
Even though he was bandaged, Seimei could still see blood continuously oozing out.
It was only because he was a ninja, able to sustain himself with chakra, that he was still alive.
Seimei stepped forward and carefully examined his injuries.
A moment later, he thought to himself that this guy was lucky.
If he hadn't just learned the Mystical Palm Technique and greatly improved his ability to treat external injuries, he might not have been confident in saving him even if he had come.
After all, his injuries were too severe.
But now...
'It's not a big problem!'
With this thought, Seimei immediately asked Akao Akari to keep watch nearby and not let anyone disturb him.
Hearing this, Akao Akari was overjoyed and quickly said, "Don't worry, Seimei-sama, I definitely won't let anyone disturb you."
Her voice was firm, clearly very serious.
Seimei just nodded slightly, not really caring. This was the center of the camp; no one would disturb him here.
He said that just in case someone, like her, rushed over recklessly to ask him to save someone.
However, he didn't correct her and simply calmed his mind and started treating Kinmoku's injuries.
(End of Chapter)