Two hours later, night had fully settled in.
Seimei had just wrapped up his planned training for the day.
On a clearing at the center of Moon Island, Seimei absorbed and processed the training experiences and memories of his shadow clones from the past hour. Then, he opened his eyes again.
"Phew…"
He let out a long breath, feeling a wave of relief wash over him.
Taking a short break, Seimei pulled a few enhanced soldier pills from his ninja pouch. Suppressing a grimace, he popped them into his mouth and chewed slowly, almost reluctantly.
Right now, he really missed the food back in the village.
Too bad he wouldn't get to enjoy any tonight.
Time ticked by, minute by minute.
About half an hour later, Seimei was fully rested.
He packed up his gear, raised his hands to form seals, and activated Wind Release: Wings of Wind and Chakra Cloak, lifting himself into the sky.
Next, he used Earth Release: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique to reduce his weight.
With preparations complete, he soared toward the Land of Water at a speed of 1.5 kilometers per second.
Since Moon Island was closer to the Land of Water, it took him just over ten minutes to reach its coastal waters.
Circling halfway around, he entered the Land of Water from the northeast.
Using the Flying Thunder God mark on the shadow clone stationed in the Hidden Mist Village as a beacon, he flew straight toward his destination.
It didn't take long before he arrived just outside the Hidden Mist Village.
Activating his Byakugan, Seimei scanned the area. Finding nothing unusual, he triggered the Ama no Miya ability, bypassing the village's sensory barrier and slipping inside.
He locked onto his shadow clone's position and used Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport directly to it.
In the past, he wouldn't have risked this.
After all, who knew if the Hidden Mist had set up another barrier to detect spatial fluctuations?
But now, he was confident enough to do it.
The reason? Simple. Over time, the shadow clone stationed here had confirmed that no such system existed in the Hidden Mist.
So, there was no need to waste time or energy being overly cautious.
Deep within the Hidden Mist Village, inside an underwater cave, Seimei's figure appeared out of nowhere.
The shadow clone, which had been in a dormant state to conserve chakra, snapped its eyes open instinctively. Sensing Seimei's presence, it relaxed.
Without much small talk, Seimei dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique, syncing with its memories.
Instantly, a flood of fragmented memories poured into his mind.
Seimei closed his eyes, sorting through them to extract useful information.
This wasn't too difficult. To save chakra, the shadow clone had spent most of its time dormant, so its memories were mostly blank.
As a result, what it did retain was almost entirely critical information.
In about half an hour, Seimei had sifted through a month's worth of the clone's memories.
Overall, the Hidden Mist Village hadn't seen any major changes. The only notable developments were that Yagura Karatachi's position as Mizukage was growing more secure, and the Kaguya clan was getting a bit restless.
Based on intelligence from Genshi and some memories from the Hidden Mist's Anbu, Seimei learned that Yagura had repeatedly expressed private dissatisfaction with the Kaguya clan.
Of course, this could also be a deliberate leak by Yagura to warn the Kaguya.
Unfortunately, Seimei knew the Kaguya clan—bloodthirsty battle maniacs—wouldn't take Yagura's warnings seriously.
It wouldn't be long before they rebelled, sealing their clan's doom.
Based on the memories, Seimei estimated this would happen soon, judging by Kimimaro's age when Orochimaru abducted him.
But this had little to do with Seimei. He planned to keep an eye on it but wouldn't get involved unnecessarily.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Seimei refocused.
After a moment to steady himself, he formed hand seals again and created a clone.
With a twitch at his back, a figure shot out with a whoosh.
It was entirely wooden at first but transformed into a lifelike human upon landing.
This was, unmistakably, a Wood Clone.
That's right—this time, Seimei didn't use Shadow Clone Technique to leave a shadow clone behind. Instead, he used Wood Clone Technique to create a wood clone.
Compared to shadow clones, wood clones had far greater advantages, especially for long-term missions like this.
Before, because shadow clones couldn't withstand much damage, he'd only dared to let them passively gather intel, spending most of their time dormant to avoid trouble.
But now, with a wood clone, his margin for error was much higher. It could do far more without needing to sleep for long stretches.
Seimei could already imagine the wealth of information he'd gain the next time he returned.
However, for the clone to act, it needed chakra.
After a moment's thought, Seimei stepped toward the wood clone, formed seals, and used All-Encompassing Forest Seal.
Instantly, a complex sealing pattern appeared on the clone, condensing into a bagua-like seal that vanished into its forehead.
Seimei reached out, touching the clone's body and sensing the pocket dimension within. He channeled roughly a million points of chakra into it for the clone's use.
Finished, he withdrew his hand and said, "Alright, that's it. I'm leaving this place to you for the next month."
"Got it," the wood clone replied with a nod. "I'll handle it."
With that, Seimei didn't linger. He activated Flying Thunder God Technique and teleported to a forest not far from the Hidden Mist's sensory barrier.
He'd left a Flying Thunder God mark there long ago, making it a convenient entry and exit point.
Activating his Byakugan, Seimei scanned the surroundings. Confirming no one was around, he triggered Ama no Miya again.
Hidden within the dimensional space of Ama no Miya, Seimei strolled right through the Hidden Mist's patrol territory, passing through their sensory barrier and leaving the village.
Once he was far enough away that the village's watchtowers couldn't detect him, he dispelled Ama no Miya.
Then, he activated Wind Release: Wings of Wind, Chakra Cloak, and Earth Release: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique, soaring into the sky toward the Land of Lightning.
Leaving the Land of Water from the Hidden Mist Village and heading to the Land of Lightning meant crossing mostly ocean.
With no worry about being spotted, Seimei flew at full speed under the cover of night, racing toward his destination.
Crossing into the Land of Lightning, he grew more cautious, avoiding major towns and outposts. He stuck to remote jungles and valleys, flying toward the Hidden Cloud Village.
With the Flying Thunder God mark on his shadow clone there as a guide, he wasn't concerned about getting lost.
About ten minutes later, he reached the outskirts of the Hidden Cloud Village.
Due to its unique geography, the Hidden Cloud didn't have a village-wide sensory barrier.
So, Seimei didn't need to sneak in carefully. Instead, he used Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport directly into an abandoned experimental base beneath a pond.