After putting the scroll away, Seimei stood still, not quite sure what to do next.
He glanced in the direction Namikaze Minato and Orochimaru had gone, thought for a moment, then shook his head.
His mission was complete—there was no point getting involved in more of this mess.
Besides, he didn't think he could offer much help now anyway.
Sure, Orochimaru hadn't mastered the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique yet, so his ability to escape danger was still limited.
But the moment Orochimaru decided to flee, there was basically no one who could stop him—not even Minato.
Especially since Minato had arrived several minutes late. And in those few minutes, Orochimaru would've already set up an escape route.
So, going after him now would just be a waste of time.
With that in mind, Seimei simply found a quiet spot nearby, sat cross-legged, and began to use Shōsen Jutsu and Hitogata no Go to enhance his body.
That's right—he just went straight into training.
As for why he didn't head back to the village or to that island—
Come on, he was already pushing it by not helping chase down the enemy. If he just ditched the Hokage and left on his own, that'd be way out of line.
This was the best option. When Minato came back, he could say he'd just finished fighting Danzō and was resting, hadn't had time to join the pursuit yet.
Problem solved.
Time passed, minute by minute.
About half an hour later—
A familiar chakra signature entered Seimei's sensing range.
He immediately opened his eyes, stood up, and looked in that direction.
A moment later, a figure appeared from between the trees—walking straight toward him.
It was none other than Namikaze Minato.
And he was coming from the very location where the battle had initially taken place.
Clearly, he'd left a Flying Thunder God seal on that battlefield—probably on a kunai—and used it to teleport back.
All kinds of thoughts passed through Seimei's mind, but he quickly walked up to Minato and asked, "Yondaime-sama, did you catch Orochimaru?"
"No."
Minato shook his head. "He escaped using reverse summoning. I couldn't stop him."
"Reverse summoning..."
Seimei muttered the term under his breath, and the corresponding knowledge quickly surfaced in his mind.
He remembered Sasuke using that same technique to escape Deidara's final self-destruction attack. Back then, Suigetsu had cast the jutsu.
Which meant… someone in the shadows must be helping Orochimaru avoid Konoha's pursuit.
It was even possible that Minato's delay earlier had something to do with those people.
That was the thought lingering in Seimei's mind.
While he was lost in speculation, Minato looked around and asked, "Where's Elder Danzō?"
At that, Seimei straightened up and replied, "He was in a strange state—neither dead nor alive. Really hard to deal with. But just a short while ago, he suddenly disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Minato frowned.
"Yeah." Seimei nodded, calm and steady.
Minato gave him a long look but didn't press further. Instead, he said, "This mission is on me—I was too late. Let's head back."
"Yes, sir."
Seimei responded crisply and didn't ask why Minato had been delayed. Since Minato wasn't offering an explanation, he wasn't going to push for one.
Besides, he didn't really care.
He just wanted this whole mess to be over so he could return to that island and get back to his training.
Once Seimei nodded, Minato moved to his side, placed a hand on his shoulder, and said, "Don't resist."
"Got it."
Seimei gave a slight nod.
In the next instant, Minato activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, and both of them vanished from the spot.
When they reappeared, they were already at the Barrier Team's base.
Apparently, Minato had placed a seal here in advance—so their arrival wouldn't cause unnecessary ripples through the village's sensory barrier and trigger an investigation.
The night-shift Barrier Team members immediately saluted upon seeing him.
"Hokage-sama!"
"Lord Fourth!"
"Mmm."
Minato nodded in response, gave a few words of encouragement, then left the area with Seimei.
Before long, the two of them returned to the Hokage's office.
Inside—
At Minato's request, Seimei gave a detailed report of the mission.
Minato listened carefully, nodding as he processed it.
He asked a few follow-up questions, and Seimei answered each one clearly.
Once everything was clarified, Minato dismissed him and said the mission commendation would be issued soon. He also instructed Seimei to keep everything confidential.
Seimei readily agreed.
Outside the Hokage building—
Seimei looked up at the office on the second floor and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"It's finally over," he thought. "The pursuit of Orochimaru shouldn't involve me anymore. I can finally focus on my training."
With that, he turned and quickly made his way toward the Uchiha Clan district.
Back home, he waited quietly for a while. As expected, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't try to peek at him this time, so Seimei decided to stop worrying about it.
He carefully checked his shoulder to make sure Minato hadn't left any trick behind when teleporting him earlier.
Nothing.
Though Minato's morals were solid and he wouldn't betray an ally like that, the whole thing with Uchiha Obito made Seimei extra cautious.
Shaking his head, he decided to drop the thought.
He formed a hand seal and suddenly cast Shadow Clone Technique.
Puff!
With a burst of chakra smoke, a duplicate of Seimei appeared in the room.
After considering for a moment, he formed another hand seal and cast Shinra Banshō Fūjin on the clone, creating a separate dimension within it.
Then he drew a portion of chakra from the space between his brows and infused it into the clone, letting it flow naturally through the body's chakra network.
This way, even if someone tried to sense it, they wouldn't notice it was a shadow clone.
When he was done, Seimei nodded at the clone and said, "You're in charge here. If anything happens, contact me immediately."
"OK!"
The clone gave him an "OK" hand sign in response.
Satisfied, Seimei wasted no time. He activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and triggered the left eye's ability—Ama no Mikage.
Instantly, his body vanished.
Staying completely out of sight, Seimei left his room, left the Uchiha district, and ultimately left the Hidden Leaf Village.
In the forest beyond Konoha's walls, he reappeared.
He activated his Byakugan, scanned the area to ensure there were no abnormalities, then locked onto the remote island in the southern seas of the Land of Fire and used the Flying Thunder God Technique again.
His vision shifted rapidly—and in the blink of an eye, he was back on the island.
But this time, he didn't rush into training.
He'd already spent the whole day yesterday pushing himself. Then he got woken up at 3 or 4 in the morning and got dragged into another fight—not super intense, but still draining.
Under those conditions, jumping right into hard training would be inefficient.
So instead, he decided to get some sleep, restore his energy, and then resume his training at full capacity.
With that thought, Seimei blinked a few times and body-flickered to a wooden cabin tucked into a corner of the island.
He lay down—and fell asleep instantly.