No matter how long Seimei pondered, he couldn't find an answer.
So, he decided to stop overthinking it.
He swiftly gathered the scrolls and books in front of him, sealing them all back into their original storage scroll.
Then, reaching into his ninja tool pouch, he took out a few enhanced ration pills, popped them into his mouth, chewed them up, and swallowed.
As warmth slowly spread from his stomach, Seimei emptied his mind and closed his eyes.
Time ticked by, second by second.
About an hour later, just before noon—
Seimei finally opened his eyes.
At that moment, all the exhaustion he had accumulated from using multiple shadow clones for training over the past several hours vanished completely. His body was back in peak condition.
His caution wasn't unfounded.
This time, his mission was to infiltrate deep into the Hidden Mist Village. While the village might not be the strongest among the Five Great Shinobi Nations, it was still far beyond the level of a small ninja village.
He had to be in top shape.
After one last check of his equipment to ensure everything was in order, Seimei raised his hands, formed a seal, and activated his jutsu—Wind Release: Wings of the Wind!
Whoosh—
A pair of pale blue chakra wings materialized behind him.
With a gentle flap, Seimei propelled himself into the sky like an arrow.
Feeling the powerful winds rush against him, he quickly formed another seal and cast another jutsu—Chakra Cloak!
Thin, thread-like strands of chakra seeped from his body, intertwining and forming a light blue robe that wrapped around him, shielding him completely.
Immediately, the forceful winds lost their impact.
Seimei rolled his neck, adjusted his direction, and flapped his wings harder, soaring at high speed toward the Land of Water.
Since he was already in the southern seas of the Land of Fire, and the Land of Water was an isolated island nation to the east, most of his journey involved flying across the ocean.
This meant his movements went unnoticed.
After nearly three hours of flight, by mid-afternoon, Seimei finally reached the territorial waters of the Land of Water.
Ahead lay the mainland.
However, knowing that the Hidden Mist Village had sealed off all ports in the country, he took a detour and approached from the northeast.
The geography of the shinobi world was truly bizarre.
Despite the Land of Water being a massive island, which should logically have beaches surrounding it, the spot Seimei arrived at was nothing like that.
Instead, an enormous cliff loomed before him—a sheer rock wall rising from the ocean like a massive sea fortress, cutting off the land from the water.
Seimei had no idea if this was a result of ancient tectonic shifts or if, long before the arrival of Kaguya Otsutsuki and Isshiki Otsutsuki, some powerful "sage" had carved it into existence.
Either way, it was an incredibly unusual sight.
But regardless of how fascinating it was, such terrain was clearly unsuitable for building ports.
As a result, the number of Hidden Mist shinobi stationed in the area was minimal.
With a little caution, he could easily slip through unnoticed.
And he was right.
Thanks to his ability to fly and his Byakugan's x-ray vision, he effortlessly spotted gaps in the Hidden Mist's border patrols and entered the Land of Water undetected.
However, now that he was inside, flying out in the open was no longer an option.
According to the latest intel, the Hidden Mist Village had declared martial law across the entire country.
Under such conditions, any unusual movement would be met with immediate suspicion. If he dared to fly openly, it wouldn't take an hour before he was discovered.
At that point, he'd be relentlessly pursued.
Sure, he could ignore them and simply fly straight to the Hidden Mist Village, but that would only expose his objective.
That would bring him even more trouble.
It was better to avoid drawing attention in the first place.
That said, he had no intention of walking there, either.
Even though the Land of Water wasn't particularly large, reaching the Hidden Mist Village on foot would take three to four days—time he wasn't willing to waste.
He still had training to do, especially after mastering the Flying Thunder God Technique, which saved him a great deal of chakra. He wasn't about to squander his time here.
Besides, it wasn't long until nightfall.
His plan was to wait until dark, use the cover of night to fly directly to the Hidden Mist Village, and then rely on the ability of Heaven's Dominion to infiltrate its interior.
Finally, he'd gather the necessary intel.
The entire operation was planned to take no more than five hours.
If everything went smoothly, he'd be back in the Hidden Leaf Village before sunrise to complete his mission.
Sure, this was classified as an S-rank mission.
But for someone like him—who could fly and had unlocked the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan—it wasn't much of a challenge.
Flight allowed him to avoid unnecessary obstacles, while his Sharingan made intelligence gathering a breeze.
Five hours would be plenty.
Looking around, Seimei found a secluded forest below, flapped his wings, and descended.
He casually carved a Flying Thunder God seal into a nearby tree, then used Earth Release to create a small underground shelter and slipped inside.
Now, all he had to do was wait for nightfall.
Of course, he could still train in the meantime.
He couldn't engage in any energy-intensive or flashy training, but nurturing his Byakugan required neither excessive effort nor large movements.
So, it was perfect.
With that in mind, Seimei activated the All-Encompassing Seal, linking it to his Byakugan.
Then, he tapped into the pocket dimension, extracting and further compressing its chakra before channeling it into his eyes.
A familiar tingling sensation spread through him, and he closed his eyes in satisfaction.
Time passed quickly.
Before he knew it, more than three hours had gone by.
His Byakugan training had reached its limit for the day.
At the same time, night had fallen.
Opening his eyes, Seimei climbed out of the underground shelter and glanced at the misty sky.
He nodded in satisfaction.
The Land of Water had many drawbacks, but its perpetual mist was perfect for concealing his movements.
This made him even more confident in his nighttime operation.
Still, he wasn't in a rush to take off just yet.
First, he reached into his ninja tool pouch and pulled out a few ration pills, eating them one by one.
Only after he felt somewhat full did he activate Wind Release: Wings of the Wind and Chakra Cloak, then soared into the sky toward the Hidden Mist Village.
This was his first time in the Land of Water.
Although he had already memorized the village's location from the intelligence reports, he flew cautiously to avoid any mistakes.
To ensure secrecy, he also chose routes with the least human activity.
As a result, it took him over two hours to finally reach the skies above the Hidden Mist Village.