Meanwhile, on the other side…
Seimei, after his shadow clone slipped out of sight from a bunch of Mist ninjas, seized the moment and canceled the "Shadow Clone Technique" in a flash.
Then, he strutted right out of the elder's mansion like he owned the place.
Along the way, he ran into several squads of Mist Village patrol teams rushing toward the scene.
Too bad for them—they didn't even notice him!
Once he reached a quiet, empty corner, Seimei decisively dropped the "Heaven's Guard" technique.
Next, he tuned into the Flying Thunder God seals he'd left along the road earlier, locked onto one, and bam—activated the "Flying Thunder God Technique."
In the blink of an eye, his surroundings shifted, and he went from deep inside the Mist Village to a spot not far from their sensory barrier.
Looking at the Mist Village wall ahead—now crawling with extra patrols for some reason—Seimei took a breather right where he stood.
After his eyes felt mostly recovered, he fired up his Mangekyō Sharingan and reactivated "Heaven's Guard."
Poof! Just like that, he vanished from the spot without a sound.
He kept moving, like some invisible ghost, slipping through the Mist Village patrol teams and their sensory barrier, finally leaving the village behind.
After walking another hundred meters or so and making sure the thick fog hid him from the patrols, Seimei dropped "Heaven's Guard" again.
Then, he sensed one of those Flying Thunder God seals from earlier, triggered the technique, and—whoosh—popped up in a forest far off in the mountains.
Standing on a big tree, Seimei took one last glance at the distant Mist Village, ready to head out.
But right then, he picked up on another Flying Thunder God seal.
And it was moving—fast—away from the Mist Village.
After a quick second of thinking, he figured out who it belonged to.
"Interesting!" he muttered with a smirk.
Locking onto that seal, Seimei activated "Flying Thunder God" again in a split-second decision.
---
A Few Seconds Earlier…
Outside the Mist Village.
Somewhere in the western area.
A figure suddenly burst out from underground.
Dressed in a black robe and wearing a mask, it was none other than that Iwa (Rock) Village Anbu operative.
"Cough, cough, cough~"
He clutched his chest, hacking up a fit, then glanced back for a second. Without wasting time, he used the "Body Flicker Technique" and bolted farther away.
Under the mask, his expression stayed serious, but compared to when he was stuck in the Mist Village, he looked a little more relieved.
But before he could celebrate for even a few seconds, someone appeared right in front of him out of nowhere!
The Iwa Anbu flinched hard. In a split-second move, he adjusted his stance, flung a kunai at the figure, and dodged to the side, landing on the ground.
Clang!
Seimei casually raised his hand, deflecting the incoming kunai with his own.
Yup, it was him—freshly teleported in via "Flying Thunder God."
Perched on a tree branch, he looked down at the Iwa Anbu below.
You could tell the guy had paid a hefty price to escape the Mist Village.
Even so, pulling that off was proof of some serious skill!
Honestly, Seimei hadn't expected this dude to slip through the Mist ninjas' relentless pursuit and make it out alive.
Sure, he wasn't completely in the clear yet, but still—pretty impressive!
"No wonder he took on such a risky mission. Guy's got some real chops," Seimei mumbled to himself.
Then, with a thought, he triggered "Flying Thunder God" again.
Next thing you know, he popped up right in front of the Iwa Anbu.
This time, though, luck wasn't on the guy's side.
Shnk!
The kunai Seimei had been holding plunged straight into the Iwa Anbu's gut.
Splurt!
A huge gush of blood sprayed from the guy's mouth, soaking his mask and dripping red along the edges.
Even then, he didn't give up.
With a grunt, he swung his own kunai hard, forcing Seimei back a step, then leaped backward a few times to put some distance between them.
Right away, he started prepping some kind of Earth Release ninjutsu to make his escape.
Too bad for him—when you're tagged with a Flying Thunder God seal, getting away from Seimei is basically impossible!
In a flash, Seimei was right in front of him again.
This time, he went with a no-hand-sign move—Rasengan!
Crack, crack, crack!
The sound of shattering bones rang out.
In an instant, the Iwa Anbu's ribcage caved in under the Rasengan's force.
With that kind of damage, he had no fight left. His arms dropped uselessly, and he crumpled to the ground.
It all happened so fast—start to finish in just a heartbeat!
Why'd Seimei take him out? Simple: the guy knew too much.
From their first clash where Seimei's Sharingan got exposed, to the subtle teamwork later on, it was enough for this Anbu—or the brains behind him—to piece together some dangerous info.
Better safe than sorry, right? So, Seimei finished him off.
Gurgle, gurgle~
A few more mouthfuls of blood bubbled up before the Iwa Anbu finally stopped breathing.
Thud.
His mask slipped off.
Seimei glanced at the guy's unwilling expression but didn't say a word. He just raised a hand and hit him with a ninjutsu—Fire Release: Plain Roast Technique!
Boom!
A burst of flames flared up, setting the Iwa Anbu's body ablaze.
In no time, it burned down to nothing but ash.
Right then, Seimei sensed a few more ninja presences closing in.
He switched on his Byakugan and scanned the direction they were coming from.
No surprise—Mist Village reinforcements.
He waited a couple more seconds until the body was fully ash, then waved a hand, releasing Wind Release chakra. A gust kicked up, scattering the ashes into the air.
After that, he locked onto a Flying Thunder God seal on that island in the southern Land of Fire—the one he used for training—and pulled off his longest-distance teleport since mastering the technique.
His chakra drained fast, but in a single moment, he went from the Land of Water to that island.
"Phew~~~"
Looking around at the familiar scenery, Seimei let out a long breath.
This mission didn't take much time, but man, it was a mental workout! Oh, and the chakra drain wasn't light either.
Between the long flight to the Land of Water during the day, the repeated "Heaven's Guard" uses at night, and firing up both the Mangekyō Sharingan and Byakugan, he'd burned through a ton of chakra.
Even for Seimei, this trip was gonna set back his training a bit.
Not by much, though!
Shaking his head, he brushed it off and headed back to his wooden cabin to rest.
As for reporting the mission?
Eh, he'd deal with that in the morning!
He'd zipped back with "Flying Thunder God," so technically, he shouldn't be this fast.
Details matter, you know? Seimei wasn't about to raise any eyebrows.
So, he'd wait till the timing made sense before heading back.