"For the time being, yes, that's the situation."
The Anbu ninja below nodded in agreement with Ohnoki's murmured statement.
But then, he continued, "However, according to our latest investigation, it seems the only person in the Leaf Village, and even the entire ninja world, who currently knows the 'Flying Thunder God Technique' is the Fourth Hokage."
He paused there, not explicitly stating the rest, but the implication was clear: it couldn't possibly be the Fourth Hokage himself sneaking over to kidnap the Four-Tails, right?
Putting aside the question of his motive, his very position as Hokage would prevent him from doing such a thing.
After all, he's the leader of a village. Rashly entering the territory of another ninja village, especially to do something like this, would make the Leaf Village a laughingstock throughout the ninja world if discovered.
Therefore, this Anbu ninja believed that either someone within the Leaf Village secretly mastered this ninjutsu and was responsible, or someone else in the ninja world developed another similar space-time ninjutsu that they were unaware of.
Then, by using some ambiguous clues, they deliberately tried to lead the investigation towards the Leaf Village to clear their own name.
Thinking even deeper, could this person or group be trying to use this opportunity to sow discord and provoke a major war, thereby profiting in the chaos?
These were all unknowns.
And if the Anbu ninja below could think of these possibilities, the experienced and shrewd Ohnoki certainly could too.
However, despite all this, he would not stop reinforcing the border.
Firstly, he wanted to lull the person behind the scenes into a false sense of security, buying more time for the investigation.
Secondly, it was also a precautionary measure, and a way to put pressure on the Leaf Village.
If this was indeed the work of Minato Namikaze or someone else from the Leaf Village, this action would not only ensure that the Leaf Village wouldn't dare to act rashly, but also make Minato Namikaze take the matter seriously.
Of course, applying pressure was one thing, but an accidental escalation was another.
With this in mind, Ohnoki looked at the Anbu ninja below again and asked, "Akagui, have those 'rats' in the village started to become active these past two days?"
"Uh..."
Although he didn't understand why the Third Tsuchikage was asking this, Akagui immediately replied, "Yes, Lord Tsuchikage. After you reinforced the border, those 'rats' have become quite active."
"Very good."
Ohnoki nodded and said, "Pick a few of them and give them a slightly altered version of what you've investigated these past two days."
Upon hearing this, Akagui was initially taken aback, but after a moment's thought, he immediately understood Ohnoki's intention.
These 'rats' were spies from various villages. Giving them the modified investigation report was equivalent to giving it to the villages they represented.
This way, those ninja villages would understand what they were actually doing and what their intentions were.
This would, to some extent, reduce the possibility of strategic miscalculations, thereby preventing the outbreak of a large-scale war.
As for whether this would reveal the village's loss of the Four-Tails...
Akagui didn't think this news could be kept secret for long.
After all, each Jinchuriki was a major point of interest for other ninja villages, and even the slightest disturbance would attract their attention.
Other ninja villages might be able to keep it a secret for a while due to the secretive nature of the Jinchuriki's identity.
But the Hidden Stone Village couldn't.
Both the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han, and the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi, had been on the battlefield and had already shown their faces to the world.
Under such circumstances, their identities couldn't be kept secret, and naturally, they couldn't escape the attention of those who were looking for information.
And this time, they had mobilized too many people to investigate the mastermind.
Therefore, as long as someone wanted to investigate, it wouldn't be difficult to find out about Roshi's disappearance.
So, whether it was exposed or not didn't really matter anymore.
Moreover, even without the Four-Tails, they still had the Five-Tails. As long as the Third Tsuchikage was still around, the Hidden Stone Village would still be the Hidden Stone Village, and no one would dare to do anything to them.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Akagui immediately responded, "Yes, Lord Tsuchikage!"
Seeing that he understood his meaning, Ohnoki nodded and said, "Alright, if there's nothing else, go and make the arrangements."
Delivering intelligence required finesse. If it was done too carelessly, it could very well render these 'rats' useless.
Ohnoki didn't want to see that happen. Therefore, Akagui needed to personally handle this.
Hearing this, Akagui nodded.
Then, without saying anything more, he used the 'Body Flicker Technique' and disappeared from his spot.
A moment later, Ohnoki jumped down from his seat.
He walked to the window, looking at the scattered lights in the village and the darkness in the distance, seemingly lost in thought.
...
At the same time.
Leaf Village.
Uchiha Clan Compound.
Inside Seimei's home.
After reading the memories of his Shadow Clone, Seimei felt his head buzzing.
He truly hadn't expected that he would cause such a huge commotion this time.
"Hiss... whoosh..."
Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, Seimei calmed himself down.
Then, he walked to the center of the living room, sat down on a chair, closed his eyes, and carefully considered the impact of this commotion on him.
Time passed by, minute by minute.
The living room was silent.
After a long while, he finally opened his eyes again.
At this moment, his gaze had completely returned to its usual calm.
Seimei had figured it out: this commotion wouldn't have a significant impact on him.
Whether or not the fact that "he was the one who captured the Four-Tails" would be exposed later, it wouldn't affect his training.
Since that was the case, there was nothing to worry about.
As for the opinions of the people in the Leaf Village or other ninja villages about him...
It simply didn't matter!
In any case, with his current strength, even if these people had any ideas, they wouldn't amount to much.
The ninja world, in the end, was a place where power spoke. As long as his fists were hard enough, what did it matter if everyone knew he was suspicious?
Anyone who dared to cause him trouble or hinder his training would simply be killed without much consideration.
Furthermore, without evidence, the Leaf Village wouldn't do anything to him.
After all, the current Hokage of the Leaf Village wasn't Hiruzen Sarutobi, who could use his own people as scapegoats.
Of course, even if Minato Namikaze suddenly changed his personality and wanted to hand him over, it wouldn't matter.
The ninja world was so vast that he didn't necessarily have to stay in the Leaf Village; it was just more familiar here.
However, in that case, he wouldn't help the couple avoid their impending doom.
Silently shaking his head, Seimei took one last look at the scroll on the table before getting up and heading to the bathroom.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew through the doorway, and the scroll on the table slightly unfurled.
Then, the two words "Task" at the beginning of the scroll were revealed.
That's right, this was a mission scroll, and it had been issued by Minato Namikaze just this afternoon.
As for the content...
It was also very simple: Minato Namikaze was worried about problems arising at the front lines and wanted him to leave early the next morning, using his flying ninjutsu to quickly reach the area and take charge.
Seimei didn't care about this task.
Anyway, he was planning to rest tomorrow, so going there wouldn't be a problem.
As for later, with the 'Flying Thunder God Technique,' he could just send a Shadow Clone to take charge, just like when he stayed behind in the village, and it wouldn't delay his training.
So, it didn't matter!
(End of this chapter)