"Reinforcements, huh…"
Upon hearing Seimei's suggestion, Namikaze Minato fell silent, deep in thought.
He did want to send Seimei to support the mission—but he was concerned about how Sarutobi Hiruzen and Jiraiya might react. That made it hard for him to make a definitive call.
On top of that, he didn't want the fact that Seimei possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan to be exposed.
At least… not yet.
Minato was well aware of the tension between the Uchiha clan and the village, as well as the general attitude many villagers held toward the Uchiha.
Revealing Seimei's Mangekyō at this point in time would be a terrible move.
Never mind the radical elements within the Uchiha—there were plenty of other people in the village who had taken over former Uchiha interests and wouldn't want to see the clan rise again.
People rarely resist change for ideological reasons—but try messing with their interests, and you'll see true resistance.
Even within Konoha, power struggles were commonplace.
After all, this wasn't some hot-blooded shōnen manga—it was a real world, where every individual had their own desires, and every clan had their own interests. Minato couldn't simply act on his own ideals.
Even now, with a mind for reform, Minato had to take things one step at a time. He couldn't afford to shake things up too much or too quickly.
And that was after the Third Great Ninja War had just ended—a conflict that claimed countless lives and left many clans weakened, opening up a lot of power vacuums and benefit chains.
Thankfully, Minato was strong enough to keep things in check—for now.
Otherwise, things would be even harder for him.
Still, if he wasn't careful and outside forces used the unrest to stir up trouble, a full-blown internal conflict could easily erupt within Konoha.
Especially at this moment—Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin, had just defected from the village. Another internal struggle could seriously destabilize everything.
That's why Minato didn't dare make rash decisions.
He also had an uneasy feeling about how the older generation of Konoha leadership, like Sarutobi Hiruzen, viewed Seimei. He was worried something irreversible might happen between them.
Truthfully, deep down, he didn't want Seimei to leave the village.
Then again, if they really let Orochimaru escape the Land of Fire, that would be a huge problem.
Forget about face—for Konoha, the mere fact that Orochimaru possessed a trove of top-secret intel was a ticking time bomb.
Maybe Sarutobi, as Orochimaru's former teacher, believed that Orochimaru wouldn't misuse that intel even if he left.
But Minato couldn't afford to gamble on that.
As the Fourth Hokage, he had to act with the whole village in mind. He couldn't afford to be sentimental.
So if there was even a slim chance of capturing Orochimaru, it was worth the risk.
Having made up his mind, Minato looked at Seimei.
"Your idea has merit. This is the latest intel from the ANBU," he said.
He pulled a file from under his desk and handed it to Seimei.
Seimei accepted it with both hands, opened it, and saw detailed notes tracking Orochimaru's movements since leaving the village.
Though much of it had been pieced together after the fact, the data looked accurate.
The trail ended in a small town in the northern-central region of the Land of Fire.
According to the intel, Orochimaru and Jiraiya were both likely somewhere near that town.
The exact location, however, was still unclear.
After Seimei finished reading, Minato continued,
"As you can see, Jiraiya-sensei and Orochimaru are somewhere near this town. I want you to head there immediately."
"You want me to engage them directly?" Seimei asked.
Minato paused for a moment before shaking his head.
"Not for now. Just monitor them first. If Jiraiya-sensei fails to persuade him… then you take action."
"Oh, and this—"
Minato pulled out a specially crafted kunai and handed it to Seimei.
It had three prongs and a sealing tag wrapped around the handle.
With just one look, Seimei recognized the Hiraishin no Jutsu formula on it.
Clearly, the plan was the same as last time—he'd engage first, and Minato would teleport in once the signal was given.
As expected, Minato said,
"There's a mark on this kunai. When the time comes, activate it—I'll sense it and teleport to your location immediately. We'll take him down together."
"Yes, Lord Fourth," Seimei replied coolly, nodding as he stored the kunai.
The two then went over the mission details a bit more thoroughly.
Once everything was finalized, Seimei left the Hokage's office.
The moment he stepped out of the building, he felt a prying gaze land on him.
But he wasn't bothered—in fact, he shot a provocative glance back.
Only when the presence vanished did he casually head home.
Truth be told, the reason he volunteered to help Jiraiya hunt down Orochimaru wasn't because he hated the guy, or that he particularly cared about the mission, or even just to mess with Sarutobi Hiruzen.
What he really wanted was to witness Sennin Mode in action—Jiraiya's Sage Mode. It would lay the foundation for his own future research into harnessing natural energy.
Honestly, he'd been wanting to do this for a long time.
But Jiraiya's location was always elusive—it wasn't easy to track him down.
Plus, most enemies wouldn't be strong enough to force Jiraiya to activate Sage Mode anyway.
This might be the best opportunity he'd get in years—maybe even decades. No way was he letting it slip by.
Of course, he couldn't openly ask where Jiraiya was… so this roundabout plan was the best he could come up with.
That said, messing with Sarutobi Hiruzen was a nice bonus.
Since the old man was so desperate to protect Orochimaru, Seimei had no problem making his life a little harder.
Can you blame him? The guy kept spying on him every few days.
Sure, Seimei's real body was rarely in Konoha and he didn't have much to hide—but still, anyone would get irritated being watched like that.
Especially when the guy doing it was clearly harboring hostile intent.
In that case, Seimei saw no reason to hold back.
Honestly, if it weren't for concerns about triggering a major backlash from Minato—or even the whole village—he'd have taken out Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other elders already.
He didn't like them. If they were gone, they were gone—no big loss. Might even make things simpler.
But he couldn't afford to do that.
Killing Danzō in secret had already pushed the village to its limit. The only reason no one reacted too strongly was because Danzō was universally disliked.
Plus, that was right after the war ended—tensions were still high, and nobody wanted to rock the boat too much.
Things were different now. If he acted recklessly again, he might stir up widespread outrage.
Because if he could kill Sarutobi Hiruzen without consequences, then who's to say he wouldn't kill others?
Every clan in the village—even the Uchiha—would see him as a threat that needed to be eliminated.
So, yeah. He had to play by some rules.
At least, as long as they didn't keep pushing his buttons.
Otherwise… he wouldn't hesitate to toss the rules out the window.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Seimei sped up toward home.
Once there, he quickly packed his gear and then walked right out of the village without bothering to hide.
As soon as he was outside the gates, he activated Fūton: Kaze no Tsubasa (Wind Style: Wings of Wind) and Chakra Hagoromo (Chakra Cloak), lifting into the sky and flying straight toward the town mentioned in the ANBU report.
Why not use Doton: Chō Keijūgan no Jutsu (Earth Style: Super Lightweight Boulder Technique) to reduce his weight?
Simple—he wanted to keep a trump card in reserve.
After all, he'd already shown off Kaze no Tsubasa and Chakra Hagoromo during the Third Great Ninja War.
All the major villages—including Konoha—had intel on those techniques and had logged his flight speed.
But Chō Keijūgan no Jutsu? He'd never revealed it to anyone.
So if someone tried to bait him into a trap one day, using that technique might just give them a nasty surprise.
Sure, with his current strength, keeping it hidden wasn't strictly necessary—but it never hurt to have a card up your sleeve.
You never know when you might need it, right?