Time ticked by, second by second.
The office remained eerily quiet.
After what felt like forever, just as Seimei was starting to get a bit impatient, Minato Namikaze finally snapped out of his thoughts and came back to the moment.
He looked at Seimei standing in front of his desk, gave an apologetic smile, and said, "Sorry, Seimei, I got caught up thinking about something. Let's continue."
"Mm."
Seimei nodded silently.
Then, Minato shifted gears. He didn't press further about Zetsu but instead circled back to questions about Uchiha Obito's identity.
"Seimei," he said, "do you have any guesses about who that Uchiha ninja might be?"
Seimei's heart skipped a beat as he thought, That was close!
Luckily, he'd prepared for every angle when crafting his story. Otherwise, Minato's question might've caught him off guard.
After all, based on his earlier account, he'd already clashed with this person once before in the woods northwest of the village cemetery.
So, whether out of curiosity or caution, it'd be odd if he hadn't looked into it afterward.
If he couldn't give a convincing answer now, it'd definitely raise suspicions.
Good thing he was ready.
Seimei put on a hesitant look, pausing as if deep in thought, before listing the names of several Uchiha ninja who'd gone missing during the war over the past few years.
He wasn't making this up. The people he mentioned really had disappeared, and before vanishing, they'd shown they had Nidama or Sandama Sharingan.
That gave his story some credibility.
He also threw in two Uchiha ninja who'd gone missing on missions before the war even started.
Hearing so many names at once, even Minato couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
Still, he pressed, "Anyone else?"
This time, Seimei stayed quiet even longer, as if wrestling with some internal conflict.
Minato noticed his reaction and didn't push. He just waited patiently.
Finally, Seimei spoke in a slightly hoarse voice, "There's one more person I suspect."
"Who?" Minato leaned forward, sitting up straight.
"The clan leader," Seimei answered.
Minato's face flashed with shock.
But he quickly steadied himself and asked, "Why?"
Seimei replied, "Because the clan leader might've already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."
This wasn't Seimei trying to throw dirt on Uchiha Fugaku. He genuinely wanted to find out if Fugaku had unlocked the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Sure, a few months ago, when Fugaku questioned him after he killed Danzō, Seimei hadn't sensed the distinct pressure of Mangekyō Sharingan's dōryoku from him.
But back then, Fugaku's dōryoku had already reached the peak of a Sandama Sharingan.
And from what Seimei recalled, there was a real chance Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō.
So, he figured he'd use this opportunity to test the waters.
Of course, he only dared to do this because Minato was in charge, someone who could tolerate the Uchiha clan. Plus, Seimei had already decided to intervene in the Nine-Tails incident to keep Minato alive and prevent Hiruzen Sarutobi from reclaiming the Hokage seat.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked this move.
After all, while Hiruzen might not say it out loud, his wariness of the Uchiha clan was probably just as deep as Danzō's.
If Seimei used Hiruzen to probe Fugaku, he'd be so paranoid he wouldn't sleep at night.
All these thoughts flashed through his mind, but Seimei quickly refocused and looked at Minato, curious to see how he'd react to this bombshell.
To his surprise, Minato just rubbed his temples, showing no other reaction.
After a brief silence, he said, "Alright, I've noted everything you said. I'll have people look into it. Anything else you want to add?"
Seimei shook his head.
Seeing that, Minato studied him for a moment before nodding. "Okay, you're dismissed for now."
"Yes, Fourth-sama!" Seimei replied.
He turned and headed for the door.
But just as he was about to step out of the office, Minato called out, "Seimei, hold on!"
Seimei thought to himself, Here it comes!
In that moment, a wave of relief washed over him.
On the surface, though, he showed nothing.
Turning back, he put on a puzzled look and asked, "Is there something else, Fourth-sama?"
"There's one more thing."
Minato nodded, locking eyes with Seimei. Speaking slowly and deliberately, he said, "Seimei, can you tell me why those two attacked you?"
Bingo. That was the real question.
Since it was clear the attackers weren't sent by Hiruzen or the others, it meant they had no personal grudge against Seimei. So why would they go out of their way to ambush him?
Seimei had mentioned that no bodies were left behind, which showed how cautious the enemy was.
Yet, despite that caution, they'd risked attacking him.
The contradiction was glaring. Something was off.
And in Seimei's story, he'd never explained why they targeted him—a massive red flag.
Seimei knew this, of course.
But he couldn't exactly tell Minato about capturing the Four-Tails and Seven-Tails.
So, he needed a plausible excuse.
And he'd already come up with one: revealing part of his secret, as he'd planned.
But he couldn't bring it up himself.
That's why, as he was about to leave, he'd been waiting for Minato to raise this exact question.
Now, he'd finally gotten it.
He could patch up the last hole in his story.
Even so, he had to act a little hesitant to sell it.
After a long pause, as if steeling himself for a big decision, Seimei focused his mind and abruptly activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Instantly, an invisible pressure radiated from him.
Minato looked at those black sun-like eyes and said calmly, "So, this is the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
His tone made it clear he wasn't surprised. He'd likely suspected—or even confirmed—that Seimei had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan long ago.
Seimei wasn't shocked that Minato knew.
After all, plenty of people had speculated about it after he killed Danzō. With Minato's resources, it wouldn't be hard to piece together a solid guess.
Plus, not long ago, Uchiha Shisui had explicitly known Seimei had the Mangekyō Sharingan.
And a secret known by two people isn't a secret anymore.
So, by revealing his eyes now, Seimei was just bringing the issue into the open.
And it was the perfect way to cover up the real reason he was attacked.
"Exactly," Seimei said. "It's the Mangekyō Sharingan. Those two probably targeted me because of these eyes. Since you know about the Mangekyō Sharingan, Fourth-sama, you must be aware of its flaw, right?"
"Mm," Minato nodded. "I've heard that overusing the Mangekyō Sharingan can lead to blindness."
"Correct," Seimei confirmed.
But then he pivoted. "That flaw isn't impossible to fix, though. Beyond the Mangekyō Sharingan lies the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. If you can evolve to that stage, you can completely escape the curse of blindness."