Grind is My Ninja Way

Another week passed in a flash.

The time to depart for the battlefield was drawing closer and closer.

That's right, the news had been made public.

Their graduating class, along with the newly promoted Chunin, the Genin who failed to advance, and a large number of clan ninja, would all be heading to the battlefield in the Land of Rain.

"The Land of Rain..."

In his room, Seimei sighed softly, falling silent.

If there was one place he least wanted to go, it was undoubtedly the battlefield in the Land of Rain.

The Land of Rain was situated between the Land of Wind, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Fire, also bordering several smaller countries. Its unique geographical location made it a fiercely contested battleground for various villages in past Ninja World Wars.

This time was no exception.

Sand ninja, Stone ninja, Konoha ninja, bounty ninja, the Land of Rain's own ninja, Yahiko's Akatsuki ninja, and the Anbu ninja from the Cloud and Mist Villages, all were present, both overtly and covertly. The situation was incredibly complex.

This complex situation kept all the ninja on edge. The slightest disturbance could lead to a fight to the death.

As a result, the Land of Rain had become a notorious ninja graveyard, a meat grinder of a battlefield.

The ninja there faced far greater survival pressure than those on other battlefields.

That's why Seimei didn't want to go there.

Unfortunately, the decision wasn't his to make.

As for defecting from the village?

Not to mention that he needed many ninjutsu from both the Uchiha clan and Konoha, the cost of becoming a missing-nin alone was something he couldn't bear.

Although he had awakened the Sharingan, his overall strength was only at the Chunin level.

With such strength, it was impossible to escape the pursuit of Konoha's Anbu.

Moreover, in the current world, the outside wasn't necessarily any safer.

It was important to remember that the Uchiha clan's Sharingan was a perennial target on the black market's acquisition list. Once his identity was exposed, he would inevitably face waves of bounty ninja.

Seimei didn't want to be chased around like a rat.

Rather than that, it was better to follow the village's arrangements and head to the battlefield.

With the Sharingan as his trump card and the proficiency panel to aid his growth, Seimei believed that as long as he played it safe, he shouldn't be in mortal danger.

Thinking of the Sharingan, Seimei opened his panel.

The familiar light blue screen immediately appeared in his vision.

[Name: Uchiha Seimei

Age: 11 years old

Physique: 7

Spirit: 9

Chakra: 1450 (2570→3018)

Bloodline: Sharingan - Single Tomoe (1/1000)→(30/1000)

Skills: Chakra Refinement Technique: lv3 (266/1000)→lv3 (322/1000)

Fire Style - Great Fireball Technique: lv1 (50/200)

Heart Reflection Technique: lv3 (601/1000)→lv3 (683/1000)

Shuriken Throwing: lv3 (1/1000)

Chakra Control: lv3 (102/1000)

Three Body Techniques: lv3 (0/0)

Basic Taijutsu: lv3 (0/0)]

Over the past week, he had been diligently testing the Sharingan's chakra consumption and exploring the patterns of its proficiency growth.

After a week of testing, he had answers to both questions.

First, regarding the Sharingan's consumption, if it was simply activated without engaging in combat, it only consumed one chakra point per minute.

However, if combat occurred, the chakra consumption varied depending on the situation.

The more complex the external environment and the higher the demands on the Sharingan, the greater the chakra consumption, and vice versa.

In addition, actively using the Sharingan's abilities or casting genjutsu with its aid required additional chakra expenditure.

In other words, if he did nothing, he could keep his Sharingan activated all the time without any pressure. But in high-intensity combat, he might exhaust his chakra in just ten or twenty minutes.

However, Seimei estimated that he wouldn't put himself in such a dangerous situation.

After discussing the Sharingan's consumption, let's talk about how to increase its proficiency.

First, the good news was that the 'Heart Reflection Technique' was still effective.

Moreover, because the Sharingan had already awakened, the 'Heart Reflection Technique' no longer needed dozens of proficiency points to advance the Sharingan by one point, as it did before.

Now, he only needed to accumulate ten proficiency points in the 'Heart Reflection Technique' to increase his Sharingan's proficiency by one point.

If that were all, Seimei wouldn't be too happy.

Because gaining ten proficiency points in the 'Heart Reflection Technique' required a whopping 1700 chakra points.

And the chakra he could use each day was only around 3500 points.

In other words, he could only accumulate two Sharingan proficiency points at most per day.

And evolving the single tomoe Sharingan into a double tomoe required a full 1000 proficiency points, which meant 500 days, or one year and four months.

Seimei obviously couldn't wait that long.

Fortunately, there was more than one way to increase Sharingan proficiency.

While testing the Sharingan's consumption, Seimei discovered that keeping the Sharingan activated continuously could also promote its evolution.

This was reflected on the panel as proficiency increasing with the duration the Sharingan was activated.

So, Seimei immediately started testing and concluded that accumulating about five hours of Sharingan activation time would grant him one proficiency point.

And this required a minimum of 300 chakra points, which was more than four-fifths less than the 1700 points required for the 'Heart Reflection Technique'.

If calculated this way, his Sharingan's proficiency shouldn't be just 30 points.

The reason for this was simple: there were only 24 hours in a day.

Excluding eating and sleeping, he only had a dozen or so hours to gain proficiency.

That's why he had only accumulated 29 proficiency points in seven days.

And this was because the 'Heart Reflection Technique' contributed 8 points, and because no one had disturbed him these days, allowing him to keep his Sharingan activated for the longest possible time.

Otherwise, this number would likely be even smaller.

Therefore, practicing the 'Heart Reflection Technique' couldn't be interrupted.

As long as he didn't plan to reveal the existence of his Sharingan, he had to increase the level of the 'Heart Reflection Technique'.

Only in this way could he accumulate Sharingan proficiency faster and evolve it into a double tomoe Sharingan.

However, this step couldn't be rushed.

In a few days, he would be heading to the battlefield.

But his current combat methods were somewhat limited.

So, Seimei planned to enrich his skillset in these few days.

First was the Body Flicker Technique. As a life-saving technique, this couldn't be delayed any longer.

He had to increase its proficiency before personally going into battle and fighting, so that he could use it smoothly when needed.

Next, he also planned to practice the other two ninjutsu left by his parents - Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique and Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique, at least to the point of basic proficiency.

The former would provide him with area-of-effect attacks, so he wouldn't be helpless when facing multiple enemies.

The latter would give him the means to strike enemies at medium range.

There was also genjutsu.

Since he had awakened the Sharingan, genjutsu was naturally indispensable. The combination of the two could achieve a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts.

Currently, he only knew one genjutsu, the 'Heart Reflection Technique'.

But the main purpose of this technique was to assist in Sharingan evolution. Using it against enemies was a bit too much to ask of it.

Fortunately, his parents had also left behind another genjutsu - Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique.

This technique was not only a proper genjutsu but also one specifically developed for the Sharingan.

It was perfect for Seimei to learn.

(End of Chapter)