Tap, tap, tap.
Namikaze Minato's fingers lightly drummed on the desk, his expression lost in thought.
Several minutes had passed since Seimei finished recounting the battle.
And when he'd wrapped up his story a few minutes ago, Minato had already been like this.
But Seimei wasn't in a rush. He could clearly sense the oppressive aura and faint anger radiating from Minato, which had gradually subsided as he told his story.
And, in truth, that's exactly what happened.
At first, when he heard Seimei had been attacked, Minato's immediate thought was that the culprits might be Sarutobi Hiruzen or other high-ranking elders from the previous generation of the village.
But when Seimei mentioned that the ninjas from Teams 14 and 17, who had returned to the village with him, were all killed, Minato dismissed that theory.
If Danzo and his Root were still around, Minato might not have been so sure, since Danzo had no moral limits. But Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others were different. They might have issues with Seimei, maybe even send someone to assassinate him, but they'd never slaughter village ninjas in the process.
There was a fundamental difference between the two.
So, Minato began to suspect this was a stunt orchestrated by Seimei himself.
After all, not long ago, Sarutobi Hiruzen and his allies had tripped him up.
From Minato's observations, Seimei seemed easygoing and kind on the surface, but in reality, he held grudges and was skilled at manipulating rules to his advantage.
And conveniently, Seimei had mentioned that the bodies of the slain Konoha ninjas were gone—dead men tell no tales.
That's why Minato had been so furious earlier, his attitude toward Seimei turning noticeably colder.
It was easy to see that if Seimei tried to pin this on Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others, it would spark Minato's disapproval.
Luckily, Seimei had the advantage of his 'foresight.'
Though the usefulness of these memories was fading as his influence on the so-called 'plot' grew, his grasp of the personalities and methods of the ninja world's key figures remained sharp.
It was precisely because he considered Minato's and Sarutobi Hiruzen's characters and ways of doing things that he didn't try to frame the elders when thinking about how to handle this situation.
Otherwise, even without evidence, Minato wouldn't have let it go easily.
His choice proved correct. As he described his battle with Uchiha Obito, the dissatisfaction that had just flared in Minato's heart dissipated significantly.
Now, it was time to handle Minato's questions.
If he could get through this, his troubles would be temporarily resolved.
Then, he could focus on training in peace.
Tap.
As Seimei's thoughts wandered, Minato's tapping fingers came to a stop.
He looked at Seimei and said, "You mentioned the person you fought had a space-time ability, able to freely shift locations and even pull people into another dimension?"
"Yes, Yondaime-sama!" Seimei nodded in response.
At this, Minato adjusted his posture.
He placed his elbows on the desk, hands clasped under his chin, and fixed his gaze on Seimei's eyes. His tone was calm but carried an undeniable pressure as he asked, "Is there anything else you want to say about this person?"
Seimei's head snapped up to meet Minato's gaze, his eyes showing just the right amount of panic and hesitation.
After a brief silence, he let out a soft sigh and said, "Well, since you already know, I'll say it. This person is likely a senior from the Uchiha clan."
"Oh?" Minato responded noncommittally, simply saying, "Go on."
As expected, Uchiha Shisui must've already told the village about Obito's existence, Seimei thought to himself.
This was within his predictions.
Back when Uchiha Obito attacked Shisui to confirm Seimei's identity, he had anticipated this outcome.
That's why, when Shisui later came to him, Seimei deliberately fed him vague information, including the possibility that this person was the mysterious intruder who'd been sneaking into the village.
So, it was only natural that Shisui would report Obito's existence to the village.
Of course, Minato didn't know this person was Uchiha Obito—just that they were likely an Uchiha.
A flurry of thoughts raced through Seimei's mind, but his expression remained composed.
He continued, "This Uchiha senior possesses the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan of our clan. His strength is incredible."
As he said this, he deliberately glanced at Minato, showing a subtle curiosity about how he'd react to the mention of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
But Minato showed no reaction at all.
He looked at Seimei and asked flatly, "Have you seen him before?"
Seimei hesitated briefly before answering honestly, "Yes."
"Where?" Minato pressed.
"In the woods northwest of the village cemetery. I fought him there. He's likely the mysterious figure the village was searching for, the one who kept infiltrating," Seimei replied.
After saying this, Seimei braced himself, worried Minato might ask why he hadn't reported it to the village back then. But to his surprise, Minato didn't care about such details.
Instead, he shifted gears abruptly. "You said there were two attackers. Besides this person, who was the other?"
"The other one…" Seimei murmured, showing just the right amount of hesitation before continuing, "That one felt strange to me."
"Strange?" Minato asked, puzzled. "Strange how?"
Seimei paused, as if choosing his words carefully.
After a moment, he said, "He didn't feel like a normal human. More like some kind of experimental creation. His mental strength was intense, and…" He paused again, then added seriously, "And he could use Mokuton."
"What?" This time, Minato was genuinely shocked.
It wasn't that Mokuton itself scared him, but as the signature ability of the First Hokage, no faction or ninja in the current shinobi world had managed to replicate it.
The only person with a weakened version of Mokuton was a former test subject from Root.
In other words, this person might be connected to that.
That's why Minato reacted so strongly.
Inhale… exhale…
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Minato forced himself to calm down. He looked at Seimei and asked earnestly, "Seimei, are you certain you didn't mistake it? And when you say the other was an experimental creation, do you have any proof?"
Seimei nodded. "I saw him use Mokuton with my own eyes."
Though Zetsu hadn't used much Mokuton during their fight, that didn't stop Seimei from embellishing.
"As for proof of him being an experimental creation…" Seimei paused, then described Zetsu's physical appearance in detail.
After hearing this, Minato fell silent.
Clearly, he didn't think Zetsu's distinctly inhuman traits were the result of natural evolution.
Mokuton, combined with the idea of an experiment, would inevitably lead Minato to think of Yamato—and then Orochimaru.
Conveniently, the village had been dealing with a string of missing-persons cases lately.
This would surely divert some of the attention currently focused on Seimei.
And with the earlier mention of an Uchiha senior, Seimei was confident that Minato and the other Konoha higher-ups would be plenty busy for a while.
In fact, even now, after hearing his account, Minato had already sunk back into deep thought.
Seimei stood idly in front of the desk, patiently waiting for him to snap out of it.
(Chapter End)