After a moment, Seimei released his hand, confirming the other person's memories were fine. Neither he, nor any of the contacts under his command, had betrayed him.
In other words, the incident really was just a blunder.
For Seimei, this brought some measure of comfort.
As Seimei withdrew his hand and looked at the trembling rogue ninja before him, just about to speak, a familiar thrum of energy pulsed again.
"Hm?"
Guided by the sensation, Seimei instantly pinpointed another Flying Thunder God mark. Yes, this familiar feeling meant a new mark had just been activated.
Previously, Seimei might have been thrilled.
But now…
After the recent blunder, he was noticeably calmer.
He even had the composure to consider if this was another false alarm, or maybe… a trap!
After all, having just resolved one mix-up, for another target to immediately pop up felt far too coincidental.
Still, after a moment's thought, Seimei decided he couldn't just ignore it.
He had, after all, painstakingly laid this extensive network. With activity detected, how could he not investigate?
However, some preparations were needed before leaving.
With this in mind, Seimei immediately checked his chakra reserves.
He was learning his lesson from before.
Although the connection felt relatively close, meaning the teleport wouldn't drain him much, it was best to cultivate good habits.
Sensing the abundant chakra flowing through his pathways, Seimei nodded, satisfied.
He then gave an order to the rogue ninja before him, telling them to continue watching the outsiders, and was about to use the 'Flying Thunder God Technique' to leave.
But just then, the pulsing sensation vanished.
Seimei knew this was because the other party had cut off their chakra supply, no longer activating the Flying Thunder God mark.
But according to their agreement, unless he appeared, the other party wouldn't voluntarily break this connection.
"Did… something happen?!"
Seimei's mind raced, and he instantly prepared to teleport.
That's right – even if the other person stopped supplying chakra and activating the mark, Seimei could still pinpoint their location and teleport directly.
That was the inherent function of the Flying Thunder God mark.
As for the active signal felt when the other party activated the mark…
That was merely their agreed-upon way of signaling him that something was happening, like a secret code; it wasn't necessary as a medium for the teleportation.
Just as Seimei was about to teleport away,
Suddenly, he paused. At the critical moment, he abruptly switched targets, locking onto another mark not far from the first one, likely in the same city.
Only then did he activate the 'Flying Thunder God Technique'.
Since the possibility of the contact voluntarily breaking the connection was low, could it be that they were forced?
It was precisely because he considered this possibility that Seimei changed his teleportation destination at the last moment.
His vision shifted abruptly.
In just an instant, Seimei arrived in another small town not far from the previous city.
And his current location…
Seimei scanned the room.
It was the reception hall of a noble lord!
At that moment, the noble lord was kneeling on the floor, discussing something with several people opposite him.
Seeing Seimei suddenly appear, one of the people opposite was startled, then immediately shouted, "Who are you? Guar—"
Seeing the person about to call for guards, Seimei didn't hesitate, immediately casting a Sharingan genjutsu, trapping their consciousness in an illusion.
Seeing this person freeze instantly, and looking at Seimei, the others finally reacted. Realizing Seimei was a ninja, they were about to say something.
But Seimei couldn't be bothered talking nonsense with them and directly put them all under genjutsu.
Instantly, everyone in the room, including the noble lord he had marked earlier with the Flying Thunder God technique, fell into the illusion.
Next, Seimei used 'Genjutsu: Sharingan' again, erasing their memories of the past dozen seconds or so.
With that done, he immediately activated his left Mangekyou Sharingan's unique ability—Tianzhiyu—and slipped out of the room unseen.
After Seimei's departure, the noble lord and the others experienced a brief moment of confusion before seamlessly resuming their earlier discussion, unaware anything had occurred.
Meanwhile, Seimei was rushing at top speed towards the location where the connection had been broken.
With the Flying Thunder God mark as a beacon, Seimei wasn't worried about getting lost, nor about the target leaving or being taken away.
In fact, from the moment he appeared until now, the target's position hadn't changed at all.
This couldn't help but strengthen some of Seimei's suspicions.
Naturally, his pace quickened somewhat.
A few minutes later, he arrived at the destination.
It was a dark, narrow alley.
Clearly, the contact person here hadn't forgotten his warnings, specifically choosing such a deserted corner before activating the Flying Thunder God mark on their body.
But unfortunately, having been targeted by the Iwagakure ANBU, such a corner wasn't very hidden after all.
That's right, Iwagakure ANBU.
At the mouth of the alley, Seimei maintained his 'Tianzhiyu' ability, watching the Iwa ANBU standing beside his contact, and his heart suddenly leaped.
It wasn't that he was frightened; rather, he felt a pleasant surprise.
The ANBU, as a village's elite unit directly under the Kage, generally wouldn't be deployed easily. When they were, it invariably meant something significant was happening.
Now, with Iwagakure ANBU appearing here, combined with his contact activating the Flying Thunder God mark earlier, Seimei was 80% certain that Rōshi was nearby.
And how could this not make him happy?
Previously, the mix-up in that other city had made Seimei think today was a wasted trip, a false hope. He never expected that things would take such a turn, leading him to the real target after all.
When the contact here suddenly stopped activating the mark, he had a faint premonition, but it wasn't until now, seeing this Iwa ANBU, that he truly confirmed his thoughts.
This rollercoaster of events, the ups and downs, was almost dizzying.
Deep breath in… long breath out…
Taking a deep breath in and letting it out slowly, Seimei forced down his excitement. His gaze locked onto the Iwa ANBU as he used Tianzhiyu's concealment to move deeper into the alley.
Next, he just needed to drive off this Iwa ANBU, or perhaps capture them, to find out Rōshi's exact whereabouts and then proceed with the capture.
However, whether it was because his gaze was too intense or the Iwa ANBU's intuition was sharp…
In any case, before Seimei could get close, the Iwa ANBU, who had just been searching Seimei's contact on the ground, suddenly stopped moving.
And, raising the kunai in their hand, they vigilantly scanned the surroundings.
Unfortunately for them, thanks to 'Tianzhiyu', even though their gaze swept over Seimei's position several times, they detected nothing unusual.
This allowed Seimei to approach them without hindrance, arriving right behind them.
The next moment, 'Tianzhiyu' was deactivated, and Seimei materialized.
Then, he struck out directly with a 'Chakra Scalpel', aiming for the back of their neck.
If this hit connected, with Seimei's medical ninjutsu skill, he could instantly sever the spinal nerves, paralyzing them entirely from the neck down.
At that point, the opponent would be completely at his mercy.
However, this Iwa ninja was, after all, an elite ANBU operative, and their reaction was extremely fast.