Grind is My Ninja Way

Half an hour later.

Kou finished his report, and Danzo closed his eyes.

He began replaying everything he had just heard in his mind while correlating it with all the information he had previously gathered about Seimei, analyzing every possibility.

His fingers lightly tapped on the table, producing intermittent "tap-tap" sounds.

Time passed second by second.

At a certain moment, the tapping stopped.

Danzo opened his eyes, and a glint of cunning and barely concealed greed flashed through them. However, he quickly suppressed this greed and muttered under his breath, "Not yet… I can't rush this… I need to probe further."

Hearing Danzo's muttering, Kou asked, "Sir, should we prepare for the next operation?"

Danzo snapped out of his thoughts at Kou's words. He was about to agree but suddenly remembered Sarutobi Hiruzen's warning.

It was clear that the Anbu were closely monitoring him now. If his suspicions were correct, the value of that Uchiha brat would be immense.

Danzo slowly raised his right arm, which was heavily bandaged, and touched the sealed Sharingan beneath it. He thought to himself, *Even a three-tomoe Sharingan possesses such power. If it were a Mangekyo Sharingan… then…*

Indeed, as Seimei had anticipated, his swift and clean actions had still aroused Danzo's suspicion.

If Danzo's prior suspicion of Seimei possessing the Mangekyo Sharingan was at a level of "1," it had now escalated to "10."

This surge in suspicion also ignited Danzo's inherent greed.

Yet in the end, Danzo restrained himself. He looked at the two Root ninjas below and commanded in a stern voice, "Kou, from now on, cease all operations targeting Uchiha Seimei."

"Yes, sir!" Kou responded without question. Whatever Danzo ordered, he executed without hesitation.

Danzo nodded in satisfaction at the two ninjas standing motionless before him.

The reason Danzo chose not to act against Seimei, for now, was not out of fear of Sarutobi Hiruzen but because he was wary of being upstaged by his old friend.

From his understanding of Sarutobi Hiruzen, if his suspicions were confirmed and Sarutobi got wind of the information, he would undoubtedly try to win Seimei over.

At that point, making a move would become exceedingly difficult.

Thus, Danzo opted to bide his time.

What Danzo didn't realize was that this moment of patience caused him to miss his final opportunity.

Of course, even if he had acted forcefully, he would have had no chance of succeeding.

With Seimei's current strength, unless he chose to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan, few in the shinobi world could stand against him.

However, such exposure would disrupt Seimei's plans.

If pushed to that point, Danzo would not have been spared.

In this sense, Danzo should count himself lucky for holding back; otherwise, his life might have been forfeit.

---

Danzo's decision was unknown to Seimei, who was focused on training according to plan.

Elsewhere, Kirigakure's decisions were also unfolding as Seimei had anticipated.

Over the past two days, the Kirigakure shinobi in Feiyu Town had not caused any trouble near the Blackstone outpost and seemed unlikely to do so in the near future.

That night.

Seimei completed the first phase of his training and returned to the Blackstone outpost. He grabbed the daily report and quickly reviewed it, confirming his conclusion.

Previously, during the ambush where he had severed their retreat, he had captured Aburame Muying from the Kirigakure team. If he had been more ruthless, he could have used additional shadow clones to annihilate them completely.

But he didn't. Instead, he deliberately left a clue.

His bold move to capture someone had been highly unusual. Kirigakure's post-operation analysis would undoubtedly take note of this anomaly.

Upon further investigation, they would discover their comrade had been replaced.

Connecting this discovery with subsequent events, doubts would naturally arise.

Thus, Kirigakure would hesitate to act rashly. After all, they couldn't be certain whether another "Aburame was lurking among their ranks.

Until they cleared up their internal issues, they were unlikely to launch another attack.

This gave Seimei a valuable window for training.

---

According to Seimei's calculations, his *Palm Immortality Technique* would reach perfection in about five days. With two days already passed and some minor delays, he estimated it would take at most four more days to achieve mastery.

At that point, the technique's body-strengthening effects would improve significantly.

This would also accelerate his physical transformation.

Once his body underwent another transformation, increasing his *Constitution* attribute, all his abilities would see substantial growth.

This time, his *Constitution* was on the verge of breaking the critical 20-point threshold. The boost would undoubtedly be remarkable.

Seimei couldn't help but feel excited about this.

Setting down the report, he quickly ate to replenish his energy, then returned to his quarters to resume his rigorous training.

---

Day turned to night, and night to day.

Three days passed in a flash.

By noon on the fourth day.

To the west of the outpost.

In a forest clearing.

Seimei was methodically practicing the *Palm Immortality Technique*, strengthening his body.

Suddenly, a feeling of perfect unity surged through him.

Delighted, Seimei quickly opened his skill interface. Sure enough, his *Palm Immortality Technique* had advanced directly from LV8 (48720/50000) to LV9 (0/0), reaching perfection.

This was his first A-rank ninjutsu to reach its pinnacle. Seimei was thrilled.

"Inhale… Exhale…"

Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, Seimei calmed his excitement before continuing to use the *Palm Immortality Technique* to enhance his body.

As he had predicted, the perfected LV9 technique greatly increased its strengthening effects.

Previously, his body would have needed about ten days to reach the transformation threshold. 

Now, with consistent maximum chakra output of 36,000 points per session, that time was halved to roughly six days.

Saving nearly 50% of the time was a significant improvement.

This accelerated his growth rate, making Seimei even more determined to continue training.

Beyond this, the healing effects of the *Palm Immortality Technique* and his understanding of Yang Release chakra had also improved significantly.

After some contemplation, Seimei realized he could theoretically develop a technique akin to the Akimichi Clan's body-expansion Yang Release secrets.

But he dismissed the idea. 

He had too many priorities, and such a technique held little immediate value for him.

If needed later, he could always obtain it directly from the Akimichi Clan through negotiation or infiltration. Developing it himself would be a waste of effort.

With that, Seimei refocused on his training, his heart filled with anticipation for the future.