Let us start with the thirty shadow clones directed to the comparatively simpler task of mastering and, if possible, improving upon Shiki’s various non-elemental, non-nirvana art jutsu.

  There were several paths of improvement that the boy had already theorized, there was simply a need for experimentation.

  For example, Shiki wished to fold the functionalities of Flicker Fsh into Flicker Phantom.

  The tter was faster, could create afterimages and was suitable for all distances but it cked the former’s ability to accelerate and direct strikes, serve as propulsion for rapid redirection, not to mention the Flicker Fsh’s ability to enhance strikes and defenses with bursts of chakra.

  Currently, the boy alternated between the two in battle depending on what he needed the most at any given time but if both could be combined, not only would it be far more efficient, it would erase a gap in between Shiki's actions that his enemies could exploit.

  Another possibility to explore was the creation of a new stealth jutsu, combining the effects of Hiding in Surface, Transparent Escape and possibly even Chakra Camoufge for comprehensive stealth.

  Shiki also had thoughts of improving Area Scanning which allowed him to map the area around him through pulses of chakra.

  However, Nirvana Art: Kukyo - Seven Senses already included an expansion of this functionality through an enhancement of the sense of touch so it was unnecessary.

  Then there was the Chakra Cutter Jutsu and its tool throwing variant, Hidden Hand. For these two, the boy had no pns of reworking them or evolving them in a significant way, he simply wished to refine their use to the highest level he could.

  Beyond that, there was, of course, the Rasengan and its endless variants. Perhaps now, Shiki could dedicate himself to the development of the Taikyoku Rasengan which he was conceptually quite enamored with.

  Moving on to the fifty clones in charge of developing Dragon Aspect and Dragon Slumber from their original form, Dragon Heart, there was actually not much to say.

  Despite the complexity of achieving the desired result, conceptually, the task was actually very simple.

  For Aspect, the task was to develop a way to permanently infuse one’s body with chakra for a general increase of all abilities and grant this chakra some properties of the various nature transformations so as to enhance the boost in various specialized ways.

  Slumber was much easier, it was just taking the self recovery sleep state that Dragon Heart could induce and make the entire jutsu just about that to make it easier to use and more efficient.

  “Efficiency” . . . Shiki truly loved the word.

  Optimizing things until they were as efficient as possible was a task he truly enjoyed. Working hard so he could have it easier in the future but, since he was always making new stuff and thinking of improvements, he never actually stopped working hard.

  Continuing on to the next sub-task, there was the twenty clone group assigned the endeavour of upgrading Yin-Yang Surge.

  Shiki already knew the only way to fix the jutsu’s single fw but he had no idea of how to accomplish it.

  Yin-Yang Surge worked by creating a positive feedback loop between the physical body (Yang) and the spirit (Yin), taking advantage of the connection between Yin and Yang to trigger an activation of one which would then trigger the activation of the other, continuing back and forth.

  The result was a burst of energy and the rapid increase of all abilities as well as suppression of injuries, exhaustion and other undesirable conditions but a shinobi had limits.

  The activated state has a peak and, soon after this peak state is accomplished, the feedback loop will colpse, causing rapid deterioration of the user’s capabilities to the point they will be much worse than before they activated the technique.

  Hence, the jutsu could not be used as anything other than a st resort when a situation is truly dire and there are no other options.

  To prevent the colpse of the loop, there is only one way, to take in energy from an external source in order to feed the cycle and let it continue.

  The issue was how to acquire energy at a sufficiently fast rate to feed the cycle while not stopping combat and that, was something Shiki had yet to figure out.

  He thought of nature energy and his natural ability to absorb it but he estimated that with his rate of absorption, he would only be able to dey the crash for a little while longer but make its consequences on himself even heavier in the process.

  As such, the boy’s ambitions would not be swiftly realized when it came to the two most critical endeavours of this group of a hundred clones.

  Only the ones handling more mundane jutsu were sted to show plenty of success.

  *

  Onto the next group, the hundred clones dedicated to fuinjutsu.

  Getting the easy stuff out of the way first, at least comparatively speaking, were assigned to the improvement of his skills at the various seals he learned in the Whirlpool Sealing Style of the Uzumaki as well as the two seals in his own original Dragon Gate Sealing Style.

  And, if feasible, rework those seals to work better with his own chakra. Chakra that was heavy, dense and of high potency worked phenomenally well with fuinjutsu and the Uzumaki had further optimized their techniques to work the best with their particur fvor of chakra.

  Shiki’s own chakra also possessed the characteristics to make it excellent for fuinjutsu but if he could tune the seals to work better with his “fvor” then they would show increased performance.

  Mito expined this phenomena in one of the times Shiki went to her for guidance, she was the premier expert of fuinjutsu after all.

  All top Sealing Masters adjust their sealing formue to work the best with their chakra signature, maximizing seal quality, for an Uzumaki, the changes were very slight because their general formue were already suited for general Uzumaki chakra, outsiders needed a lot more work.

  Beyond that, there were also plenty of useful sealing jutsu Shiki had yet to learn due to directing his focus of research and learning to the direction of the requirements for the Nirvana Seal: Transcendence.

  This included the elemental sealing methods for example, the Self-Cursing Seal, the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Method, the Five Elements Seal, etc.

  For the Self-Cursing Seal, Shiki decided to integrate its principles into his own Coiling Dragon Seal. Currently, that seal could only be applied to the ground to restrict all targets in an area.

  However, if the Self-Cursing Seal was integrated, it would be pceable directly on a target’s body for focused restriction whose concentrated power would obviously be much greater than if it was spread out over an area.

  Like a snake, or in this case a dragon, coiling around a target to restrain and restrict them.

  After studying the Five Elements Seal, Shiki realized its properties were nothing special and the Four Symbols Seal which he already studied was better in every way so he diverted his focus elsewhere.

  But Shiki’s learning of the Five Elements Seal was not for nothing and, combining it with the five different elemental sealing methods, resulted in a new original seal he was actually quite proud of, the Five Elements Sealing Method.

  +++++

  Hey, Author here!

  To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.

  100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter

  500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters

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  Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.

  Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.

  I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.

  Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -