SWNOVELXO Chapter 23: Chapter 23 – Mundane
Chapter 23 – Mundane
Three days later—
Northwest of Konoha.
In a forest clearing, Seimei and the others arrived.
"This is the place?"
Ryouji looked around and asked.
"Yeah."
Furukawa nodded. "Now, follow the mission requirements and collect the herbs. And remember—don't pick the wrong ones."
That's right, they were back on missions again.
Just as Seimei had hoped, Furukawa hadn't gone overboard by taking on another C-rank mission. Instead, he picked a herb-gathering D-rank task.
No doubt, it had been issued by the Nara Clan.
After all, this entire forest was under their care.
Inside, not only were rare medicinal herbs cultivated—ones nearly impossible to grow artificially—but they also raised large herds of deer, whose antlers were prized as valuable medicine.
All of this made the area incredibly valuable.
Even fellow Konoha shinobi weren't allowed in without permission.
They were only allowed because they had taken the mission. Otherwise, they would've been stopped before even getting close.
"Got it."
Ryouji waved his hand impatiently and muttered, "Seriously, this kind of task could be done by normal people. Why do we have to do it?"
"Ryouji, don't say that."
Shizuko gently scolded him, then earnestly explained, "Even though this forest is relatively safe, wild beasts do sometimes wander in. For ordinary people, that's really dangerous. That's why it has to be us genin doing it."
Seeing her so serious, Ryouji quickly replied, "Alright, alright, Shizuko, stop lecturing. I get it!"
Watching the two of them, Seimei silently felt relieved.
Clearly, the three days had been enough for them to adjust their mindset.
Still, that last mission had definitely left an impression. Even if they were acting as usual now, the childish look on their faces had noticeably faded.
That, perhaps, was the goal of both Furukawa—and the village itself.
Seimei shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
With a shift of focus, he gathered a bit of chakra under his feet and followed his teammates deeper into the forest.
After more than three days of training, his Chakra Control had risen from Level 2 (350/500) to Level 3 (3/1000), giving him greater command over chakra.
Now, using the same ninjutsu with the same effect, he could save 15% more chakra.
That was already the upper limit of what ordinary people could achieve.
Even with the advantage of a skill panel that guaranteed consistent progress, making another breakthrough in the short term wasn't realistic.
Once he hit Level 3, the efficiency of gaining proficiency dropped sharply.
Previously, he could earn forty to fifty points of experience a day. Now, at most, he could get five.
Compared to the effort required, the gain felt negligible.
If not for the fact that Chakra Control didn't consume much chakra and could be trained in spare moments, he might have already given it up.
Until he found a more efficient method, he wouldn't waste too much time or energy on it.
From now on, he'd likely only train it during idle periods.
Just like now—while gathering herbs, he could sneak in some practice.
"Seimei, hurry up!"
Ryouji's voice came from up ahead, pulling Seimei from his thoughts.
"I'm coming."
With that, he caught up quickly.
Time passed slowly. Just like when they had first graduated, the three of them carried out a series of basic, skill-less D-rank missions.
In the blink of an eye, a week had passed.
That night—
At home.
Seimei opened his eyes, letting the special chakra stirred by the Reflection Technique fade away, and slowly brought up his status panel.
[Name: Uchiha Seimei]
[Age: 10]
[Physique: 6]
[Spirit: 7]
[Chakra: 14 (1546 → 2011)]
[Bloodline: Sharingan · Not Awakened (81/100)]
[Skills:]
Chakra Refining Technique: Lv2 (240/500) → Lv2 (360/500)
Clone Technique: Lv2 (140/500) → Lv2 (270/500)
Transformation Technique: Lv2 (130/500) → Lv2 (260/500)
Substitution Technique: Lv2 (110/500) → Lv2 (250/500)
Fire Release · Great Fireball Technique: Lv1 (16/200) → Lv1 (30/200)
Reflection Technique: Lv2 (110/500)
Basic Taijutsu: Lv2 (150/500) → Lv2 (280/500)
Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv2 (260/500) → Lv2 (380/500)
Chakra Control: Lv3 (25/1000)
Seimei's eyes went straight past the basic stats and locked onto the Sharingan awakening progress.
"As I thought... no progress."
He murmured to himself, staring at the unchanged (81/100) on the panel.
Just earlier, he had sensed that the Reflection Technique was losing its effectiveness—and now, the data confirmed it.
Based on the pattern he had observed, reaching Level 2 (110/500) in the Reflection Technique should have raised his Sharingan awakening to (82/100).
But in reality, the number hadn't budged.
'So it's finally happening… just like I feared.'
Seimei had long known that awakening the Sharingan wasn't going to be easy. The effectiveness of the Reflection Technique was bound to diminish as the progress increased.
Sure enough, now that his Sharingan had reached (81/100), ten points of proficiency in the Reflection Technique weren't enough to push it forward even once.
If it were any other Uchiha, they'd be stuck at this stage.
From here, they'd either wait for the right emotional trigger, like the many Uchiha who had awakened their Sharingan traditionally in the past, or continue grinding Reflection Technique proficiency endlessly.
The first option, if it worked, would significantly weaken the technique's overall impact. The second offered little to no visible hope.
Because this was only the beginning.
If ten points weren't enough now, it could take twenty, even thirty points to move it by a single digit later.
It was a road with no visible end.
Of course, Seimei was different.
Thanks to his proficiency panel, he could steadily increase the Reflection Technique's mastery. No matter how long the road, he could eventually reach the end.
Suppressing the urge to keep grinding it, Seimei shifted his attention to other parts of the panel.
The Clone, Transformation, and Substitution Techniques, as well as Basic Taijutsu and Ninja Tool Throwing, were all progressing normally—about a hundred or so points of proficiency gained in ten days. Nothing surprising.
What did catch his eye, though, was the chakra limit—it was slightly lower than expected.
With a 120-point gain in Chakra Refining Technique proficiency, his chakra cap should have increased by 480 points.
1546 + 480 = 2026.
But his current maximum was only 2011—a shortfall of 15 points.
The reason was simple: his "bucket" was approaching its limit.
The Chakra Refining Technique sped up the process of tapping into his potential, but it didn't raise his innate ceiling.
Right now, the cap was only 15 points shy of the theoretical value. But before long, that difference would widen to dozens of points.
Eventually, when his potential was fully mined, the Refining Technique would become useful only for restoring chakra.
"I need to awaken the Sharingan as soon as possible. Only with it can I massively increase my potential."
With that quiet thought, Seimei closed the panel and began a new round of training.
[End of Chapter]
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