Seeing Rōshi suddenly fall silent, Seimei nodded in satisfaction. He then dispelled his Susanoo, his true form appearing before Rōshi.
He glanced around at the ravaged battlefield, thought for a moment, then raised his hand to form a seal and performed the Shadow Clone Technique again, creating one shadow clone.
As for the previous two shadow clones…
They had returned to his main body when he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and unleashed the power of the Susanoo.
Seimei looked at the newly created shadow clone and said directly, "Next, you need to hurry and clean up this battlefield."
"Alright."
The shadow clone, inheriting his personality, didn't waste any words. After a brief acknowledgment, it left the center of the battlefield and began using other ninjutsu to destroy any traces of the fight.
Seimei, meanwhile, stepped forward and first placed a Flying Thunder God seal on Rōshi.
This was just in case.
Then, he used the Chakra Absorption Technique, spending about ten minutes to almost completely drain Rōshi and the remaining Four-Tails chakra.
This effectively eliminated their ability to resist.
It was only at this point that Seimei finally breathed a small sigh of relief.
However, he wasn't finished yet. Seimei raised his hand again, quickly forming seals, and then used the Self-Mutilation Curse Seal to restrict Rōshi's movements.
After doing all this, he looked at his shadow clone.
By now, with its reckless expenditure of chakra, the battlefield had been completely transformed.
Now, aside from being able to tell that a major battle had taken place here and that one of the participants used Lava Release, there were no other useful clues.
All the traces Seimei had left during the fight, including the bodies of the three Iwa Anbu members, had been destroyed by the shadow clone using various ninjutsu and other methods.
Although the time was short and the shadow clone couldn't achieve perfection, it was enough to hinder Iwagakure's investigation.
And once Seimei sealed the Four-Tails, even if they did find something, it wouldn't matter.
Without concrete evidence, the other side couldn't bring it out into the open.
If it was just some underhanded tactics, Seimei wasn't afraid at all.
So, all he needed to do now was seal the Four-Tails as quickly as possible.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind. Finally, Seimei used his Byakugan to scan the surroundings one last time, confirming that nothing had been missed. Then, he dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique, recalling the clone.
Next, he grabbed Rōshi, locked onto a Flying Thunder God seal in the forest near the border between the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Earth, and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The scenery before his eyes instantly shifted.
In just a moment, Seimei had entered the territory of the Land of Waterfalls.
After a brief pause, he locked onto another Flying Thunder God seal within the Land of Fire and activated the technique a second time.
Upon arriving in the Land of Fire, he paused again before locking onto the island located in the southern sea of the Land of Fire, activating the Flying Thunder God Technique for the third time.
And just like that, he was back where he started.
There were two reasons why he went to all this trouble.
First, it was to mislead any potential trackers from the enemy.
You see, after Gaara was captured by the Akatsuki, Sunagakure had ways to track the One-Tail. As one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries and possessing two tailed beasts, Iwagakure had no reason why they wouldn't be able to track Rōshi and the Four-Tails.
Even if they couldn't pinpoint Rōshi and the Four-Tails' exact location, they should be able to determine a general area.
By making two intermediate transfers, he should be able to mislead them for a while.
Of course, none of this was the most important reason. He would be sealing the Four-Tails soon anyway, and by then, even if the enemy could locate Rōshi and the tailed beast, it would be too late.
He did this more because he was low on chakra.
You see, before, when he teleported directly from here to the city where the mix-up happened, he almost completely drained his chakra. Although his chakra pathways weren't completely full at the time, he still had over 300,000 units.
And now, the distance was even greater, so the chakra consumption would only be higher.
Although he had drawn chakra from the subspace in his forehead to fill his chakra pathways before returning, he couldn't forget that he was carrying dead weight this time.
Therefore, teleporting directly back across most of the continent would probably completely exhaust him.
That's why he chose to make two intermediate transfers – to take the opportunity to replenish his chakra.
Compared to that, misleading Iwagakure was just a secondary benefit.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
Feeling the chakra pathways in his body rapidly filling up, Seimei nodded in satisfaction.
Then, he turned his gaze to Rōshi, who was still unconscious.
Without saying a word, he directly used the Mind Reading Technique, beginning to delve into Rōshi's memories.
To more easily extract the Four-Tails from Rōshi's body, understanding the seals on him was essential.
And seeing how Rōshi had actively torn open part of the seal during the fight…
Clearly, he possessed the relevant 'key'.
Now, Seimei intended to extract it from his mind.
However, after a moment, Seimei's expression fell.
The reason was simple: Rōshi's memories related to this were protected by the 'Heart Lock Seal'.
Clearly, Iwagakure had considered the possibility of Rōshi being captured when they gave him the 'key'.
Therefore, they had specifically sealed the 'key' with the 'Heart Lock Seal'.
This would not only increase Rōshi's chances of survival after being captured, thus buying time for a rescue operation, but also prevent the enemy from gaining control of the Four-Tails.
"Heh, they really aren't giving any chances at all!"
Seimei muttered, a cold laugh escaping his lips.
Indeed, due to the special nature of the 'Heart Lock Seal', even though Seimei had long since mastered this technique to perfection, he couldn't forcibly open it.
But, let's not forget that before Rōshi was controlled by him, the seal on his chest hadn't completely closed!
In fact, even now, a faint red glow still surrounded him, and chakra unique to the tailed beasts still filled his body.
It was just that the Four-Tails was also being controlled by his genjutsu now, and most of its chakra had been drained, which prevented it from erupting.
But regardless, the fact that the seal hadn't closed was undeniable.
In other words, he could completely extract the Four-Tails' chakra bit by bit through this gap.
And the tailed beast and its chakra were inherently two sides of the same coin. Once he had extracted all of the Four-Tails' chakra, it would naturally be separated from the seal.
At that point, he could use the All Creation Sealing Jutsu to reseal it.
So why did he still want to read Rōshi's memories?
There were two reasons. First, extracting the Four-Tails' chakra bit by bit was too troublesome, and he wanted to save some effort by directly releasing the tailed beast.
Second, he wanted to acquire a new technique for stably sealing tailed beasts to further improve his sealing jutsu skills.
However, it seemed that there was no opportunity for that now.
"Sigh, what a pity..."
Letting out a soft sigh, Seimei stopped talking.
He raised his hand to form a seal and used the Chakra Absorption Technique again, placing one hand on Rōshi's chest and the other on a scroll.
This scroll had been prepared by Seimei long ago. He had inscribed the All Creation Sealing Jutsu on it, and it contained a subspace capable of storing chakra.
Next, he would continuously extract the Four-Tails' chakra and completely inject it into this subspace, using its characteristic of being two sides of the same coin as the chakra to revive it within.