Countless thoughts raced through Seimei's mind, but after a while, he let out a long sigh and decided to stop overthinking it.
He removed his gear, did a quick wash-up, and just like he did during past breaks, stepped out of the house and headed toward Konoha's Gourmet Street.
Last time, he came back in such a rush that he didn't even get a bite of hot food—this time, he was determined to make up for it.
Before long, Gourmet Street welcomed back its resident big eater.
With Seimei's body going through yet another transformation—his physique stat increasing and his successful assimilation of Hashirama cells—his digestion had significantly improved again. Now, he could consume much more food in a short time.
And that... perfectly satisfied his bottomless appetite.
That night, when Seimei returned home, he felt completely content. He flopped onto the lounge chair in his courtyard, not wanting to move a single muscle.
Still, it was obvious he couldn't just lie there forever.
There was one last thing he had to do today—
That's right, nurturing his Byakugan.
This was non-negotiable training, something he did every single day, break or not.
So after lying in the chair for a bit, he headed back to his training room and began the daily nurturing of his Byakugan.
Time ticked by quietly.
Before he knew it, two and a half hours had passed.
When Seimei felt a pressure building at the center of his brow, he paused the training and slowly opened his eyes.
He opened his system panel and glanced at it. When he saw the Byakugan's evolution progress had increased by twelve points, he nodded with satisfaction.
Then, he closed the panel, resealed the Byakugan, and stepped out of the training room.
By now, it was quite late.
Seimei yawned, did a quick wash-up, then headed to bed to rest.
A peaceful night passed.
······
The Next Morning
Seimei woke up naturally, without any alarms.
When he finally got out of bed, he realized it was already mid-morning.
Since it was almost lunchtime anyway, he decided not to bother making breakfast. Instead, he went to the lounge chair in his yard and sprawled out comfortably.
He simply stared at the sky, doing nothing and thinking of nothing.
It had to be said, a sky untouched by industrial pollution really was something—clear blue with soft white clouds. Just watching it made him drowsy.
Before long, his eyes drifted shut again.
Time blurred. Another two hours slipped by.
Only when the sun was directly overhead did Seimei suddenly snap awake.
He glanced at the time, realized it was already noon, stretched hard, and then headed out toward Gourmet Street again.
He still had no plans to cook for himself—lunch would be handled outside too.
However, just as he stepped out the door, he suddenly sensed a gaze watching him from afar.
Seimei frowned slightly and came to a stop.
He lifted his head and stared silently at the sky.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds...
Roughly ten seconds later, the prying gaze disappeared. Seimei waited a moment longer before looking away.
He muttered, "Still clinging on, huh?"
This familiar sensation—he didn't need to guess. It was clearly Sarutobi Hiruzen's Crystal Ball Jutsu.
It was obvious the old man was paying close attention to his movements.
But the question was, why?
After all, whether it was his shadow clone or himself, Seimei had repeatedly shown that he could sense these surveillance attempts. So why keep doing it?
Trying to provoke him?
That didn't make much sense.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was still a former Hokage, after all.
Even if he was close to Shimura Danzō and eager to get rid of Seimei—one of the Uchiha clan's rising stars—it wouldn't make sense to be this blatant about it.
Which could only mean...
"There's something going on here that I don't know about."
Seimei stood in place, deep in thought for a long while.
Eventually, a vague idea of what to investigate began to form in his mind.
But for now\...
No rush.
As the saying goes: The heavens are vast, but nothing's more important than a full stomach.
With that, Seimei resumed walking toward Gourmet Street.
About an hour later, his hunger was finally satisfied.
Without hesitation, he made his way to the Hokage's office. It was time to meet with Namikaze Minato and get some answers—what exactly had changed that caused a shift in the original plan?
At first, he hadn't cared much, thinking it didn't affect him.
But after some thought, he realized that Hiruzen's recent surveillance might very well be related to the role he was supposed to play in that plan.
So now, he intended to dig into the truth.
In fact, he didn't even need to dig that deep.
As soon as he entered the Hokage's office and voiced his concerns, Minato told him everything.
Only then did Seimei learn: Just a few days ago, Jiraiya had returned to the village—and accepted a mission to pursue Orochimaru.
Using this opportunity, Sarutobi Hiruzen had persuaded Minato to temporarily hold off on publicly labeling Orochimaru as a traitor.
According to Hiruzen, since Jiraiya and Orochimaru were two of the Legendary Sannin and shared a deep bond, perhaps Jiraiya might succeed in persuading him to return.
And if that happened, they could deal with things more delicately afterward.
Of course, if it were just Hiruzen suggesting this, Minato might not have changed his mind.
But after Jiraiya echoed the same idea—clearly influenced by Hiruzen—Minato had no choice but to put the matter on hold.
He couldn't help it. He held deep respect for his former teacher, Jiraiya, and didn't want to go against his wishes.
More importantly, this approach aligned with Konoha's interests.
Minato personally disliked Orochimaru for his inhumane experiments, but compared to the strategic advantage of retaining a Kage-level combatant, personal dislike meant very little.
Especially since, to this day, Kumo (the Hidden Cloud) and Konoha had yet to formally sign a peace treaty.
Sure, such treaties often amounted to nothing when power was imbalanced or war loomed on the horizon. But right now, after the Third Great Ninja War, every village was trying to rebuild.
Even a symbolic treaty could help sway public opinion if one side broke it.
At the very least, it could frame the other side as the aggressor.
So if the chance to sign the treaty came, Konoha had to seize it.
Without a formal agreement, Kumo could launch another full-scale war at any moment—and that was a ticking time bomb, not just for Konoha, but for the entire shinobi world.
Minato couldn't afford to be careless.
All these pressures had pushed him to compromise.
Thinking further, Seimei realized it must've been from Minato that Hiruzen had learned of the original plan—and his role in it. Worried that Seimei might try to intercept Orochimaru on his own, Hiruzen had started monitoring his every move.
"Heh... knew there was something fishy going on."
Seimei muttered to himself, then looked at Minato.
"Yondaime-sama, should I assist Jiraiya-sama in completing the mission?"
(End of Chapter)