"Nothing."
Hearing Seii's question, the wood clone calmly shook its head in response.
Seii wasn't surprised by the answer.
For one, the Third Great Ninja War had only recently ended. Even if the Cloud Village was belligerent, they wouldn't risk provoking a united attack from other villages by making any big moves.
Secondly, given the tense border situation between Konoha and the Cloud Village, any significant action from their side would surely reach Konoha's ears.
Yet, Seii hadn't heard any rumors in Konoha, which indirectly confird that the Cloud Village hadn't done anything out of the ordinary.
With these two points in mind, the wood clone's response didn't faze him at all.
Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts, Seii dismissed the Wood Clone Technique with a thought.
Instantly, the wood clone before him turned into a humanoid wooden stump.
Then, it vanished completely.
At the sa ti, a flood of the clone's mories surged into Seii's mind.
It took over an hour for him to fully process them.
Opening his eyes, Seii stood in place, pondering for a mont. After confirming that the Cloud Village indeed had nothing noteworthy going on, he cast Wood Clone Technique again.
Soon, another wood clone appeared.
Just like in the Mist Village, Seii gave it instructions to filter out "useless" information, then activated Flying Thunder God Technique and left the Cloud Village.
His vision shifted abruptly.
Seii arrived on a hill outside the Stone Village.
Feeling the intense chakra drain in his body, he quickly focused, drawing chakra from the interdinsional space in his forehead to replenish what he'd just used.
Ten seconds later, his chakra was fully restored, and he was back in top condition.
Only then did he turn his attention to the Stone Village below.
Unlike the Cloud Village, the Stone Village had a sensory barrier covering the entire area.
This ant he couldn't teleport directly inside without triggering the barrier's detection.
The mory of Uchiha Obito being targeted by Konoha was still fresh, and Seii had no desire to end up in the sa predicant.
What's more, during his last shadow clone switch, he'd received intel that Ohnoki himself had ordered the setup of an additional chakra-sensing barrier in the village.
Even now, Seii wasn't sure what they were planning.
So, it was better to play it safe.
With this in mind, Seii moved a bit farther from the Stone Village's sensory barrier and cast Mind Communication Technique.
Soon, he connected with the wood clone hiding inside the Stone Village.
After confirming there were no issues, he followed the sa thod, activating Ama no Miu to slip into the village and reach the underground space where the wood clone was hiding.
Since they'd already communicated, the wood clone didn't react excessively.
Thanks to this, their eting went unnoticed by anyone.
Looking at the wood clone, Seii imdiately dispelled the Wood Clone Technique.
Instantly, the clone's mories synced with his mind.
However, since he'd instructed the clone not to do anything unnecessary during the last shadow clone switch, it had barely moved in the past month.
As a result, there weren't many mories to process, and it didn't take long for Seii to go through them all.
After finishing, he rested briefly before casting Wood Clone Technique again, creating another wood clone.
As usual, he applied All-Encompassing Seal to it and infused it with a million points of chakra. Then, Seii left the abandoned underground lab.
Back on the surface, he scanned his surroundings before locking onto the direction of the Tsuchikage's building and heading that way.
Like Konoha, the Stone Village's Tsuchikage building had a room dedicated to storing important docunts.
If there was anywhere in the Stone Village likely to hold information on Dust Release, it was that room.
So, that was his first stop.
But after just a few steps, he paused.
Seii glanced at himself. As the saying goes, "Caution keeps you safe for a thousand years."
Though he was confident he could avoid detection, it never hurt to be extra careful.
So, he decided to change his appearance.
After a mont's thought, Seii ford hand signs and cast Transformation Technique, taking on the appearance of Uchiha Obito.
Yes, Uchiha Obito.
He even used Wood Release to replicate the mask Obito wore, based on the mories in his mind.
Putting it on, he instantly exuded a villainous aura.
Seii nodded in satisfaction.
This way, even if soone spotted him, it wouldn't matter.
As for whether this would cause trouble for Uchiha Obito? Sorry, Seii didn't care!
Not only were they not allies, so he had no reason to consider Obito's feelings, but Obito's earlier threats in Konoha were reason enough for Seii to stir up so trouble for him.
Of course, it was still best to avoid being exposed.
After all, he and Obito hadn't completely fallen out yet.
So, his next moves needed to be cautious.
With this in mind, Seii activated his Byakugan, using its X-ray vision to carefully avoid the patrolling Stone ninja teams as he made his way toward the Tsuchikage's building.
Unlike the Hokage's building, which was a mix of brick and wood, the Tsuchikage's building was constructed from massive stone blocks, giving it a rugged appearance.
Its interior was also quite spacious.
Seii activated Ama no Miu and carefully entered, then, relying on his mories, quickly ascended to the third floor and headed straight for a specific room.
This was the place where the Stone Village stored its critical docunts and information.
He owed this knowledge to the shadow clone that had stayed here for months, gathering intel.
Seii recalled that this information ca from reading the mind of a Stone Village Anbu ninja who had served as a guard here for a ti.
That ninja had been quite familiar with the place.
And now, that intel was proving useful.
Seii reached the room and looked at the two Anbu ninjas guarding the entrance. Without hesitation, he revealed himself.
"Wha—"
The two were startled by his sudden appearance. One of them opened his mouth to question and raise an alarm.
But before he could get a word out, Seii's gaze locked onto him, freezing him in place.
The other ninja, seeing this, imdiately drew a kunai and lunged at Seii.
But his movents were too slow—especially under Seii's Mangekyo Sharingan, they were like a turtle's crawl.
Seii stepped forward, his hand shooting out to grab the ninja's throat.
At the sa ti, dense, ribbon-like sealing patterns spread from Seii's hand, quickly enveloping the Stone Anbu's body, binding him in place.
This was none other than the Self-Curse Binding Seal.
Though it sounded like a long process, it all happened in an instant.
Through the hole in his mask, Seii could clearly see the panic in the ninja's eyes.
Clearly, he was more worried about the safety of the room he was guarding than his own life.
But panic was useless.
Seii's gaze swept over, and Illusion: Sharingan was cast again, pulling the ninja's consciousness into a genjutsu.
With that, both guards lost their ability to sound an alarm.
His first step was a success.
As for why he didn't just kill them? Simple—Seii was worried they might have so kind of failsafe.
He knew that Konoha's Anbu ninjas, when assigned to critical missions, often had special seals placed on them.
For example, seals that could transmit information the mont they died.
As one of the five great ninja villages, the Stone Village likely had similar asures.
If these two had such warning devices, killing them would alert the village.
So, Seii chose to restrain rather than kill.
Of course, what happened next would depend on how things unfolded.
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