Down below.
Inside a Hidden Mist warship.
Ao suddenly opened his eyes, his face darkening.
Next to him, a Mist Jonin noticed and immediately asked, "What's wrong, Ao?"
As the only ninja in the Hidden Mist Village with a Byakugan, Ao was highly valued. For any critical mission, he was almost always involved.
And this time was no different!
His task was simple: use the Byakugan's vision to monitor everything within a kilometer radius, ensuring the operation went smoothly.
Now, seeing Ao's grim expression, the Jonin beside him couldn't help but feel uneasy.
And Ao's next words confirmed his suspicions.
"We might have been exposed," Ao said.
"What?"
Even though he had an inkling, hearing it aloud caused the Mist Jonin to gasp in shock.
They had spent so much time preparing for this mission, keeping it under tight wraps. How could it have been compromised so suddenly?
"What exactly happened?" the Jonin asked, trying to steady his nerves.
Ao shook his head and replied, "I don't know. I only saw Uchiha Seimei in the sky. That's it—nothing else."
"Uchiha Seimei?"
The Mist Jonin rushed to the window, peering outside.
Ao said, "Don't bother looking; he's already gone. The most important thing now is to report this to the captain and figure out what to do next."
Hearing this, the Mist Jonin snapped back to reality. Without lingering, he told Ao, "Keep monitoring the surroundings," and quickly left.
Soon, Ao was the only one left in the cabin.
With a pensive expression, he murmured, "Something's different..."
The Seimei he saw today—his chakra flow—was different from two days ago, which piqued Ao's curiosity even more.
Lost in thought, Ao reached into his pouch and pulled out a sealing scroll.
With a hand sign and a "poof," several old books appeared before him.
These books were clearly aged, as though they had been around for years.
And that was the truth.
Over the past two days, Ao had used the village's resources to gather these books. Most of them contained information about the Uchiha clan.
Carefully, Ao picked up one and began flipping through it.
The cabin soon filled with the sound of rustling pages.
Before long, Ao became absorbed in his reading.
As for the captain's decision, Ao didn't care.
Or rather, he already knew the outcome—there was no way this mission would be canceled.
Why? Because the village had spent too much time preparing for this. They wouldn't just give up.
Plus, this operation wasn't just happening in one location. The other three bases would be making their moves between tonight and tomorrow morning.
So, even if their cover was blown, the mission would continue.
In fact, it might even accelerate.
Ao's prediction was right. Not long after the Mist Jonin reported the information, the Hidden Mist fleet began speeding up.
Clearly, they no longer cared about being exposed. Now, they just wanted to reach the target as quickly as possible and launch their attack.
However, no matter how fast they moved, they couldn't outrun Seimei...
...
Fifteen minutes later.
Seimei returned to the Blackstone Base.
Without stopping, he headed straight for the meeting room.
*Bang!* The door flew open as Seimei barged in.
Several Leaf Jonin on guard inside were startled by the sudden noise and were about to speak.
But when they saw Seimei's extremely serious face, they immediately sensed something was wrong. "What's going on, Seimei?" one asked.
Without wasting a second, Seimei replied, "Notify Captain Sano immediately. The Mist ninja from Flying Fish Town are using the waterways to launch an attack."
"What?"
The Jonin were stunned, unable to believe it.
But seeing that Seimei wasn't joking, they swallowed their doubts.
One of them steadied himself and said, "I'll inform the captain and the other Jonin."
With that, he left the room without waiting for a response.
Another Jonin quickly added, "I'll gather our forces. The eastern defenses might be too weak—we need to reinforce them immediately."
He too left the room.
With those two leading the charge, the rest quickly followed suit, each taking up their tasks.
Before long, Seimei was the only one left in the meeting room.
Soon after, the entire Blackstone Base was bustling.
It was clear that all the ninjas had been roused.
Seimei stayed in the meeting room, knowing that Captain Sano Nobu would have more questions for him shortly, so he waited.
As expected, just a few minutes later, Sano Nobu hurried into the room.
The moment he entered, he asked, "Seimei, what's the situation with the Mist?"
Seimei didn't hold anything back and described everything he had seen.
As for his suspicions, he didn't need to mention them.
Whatever he could guess, there was no reason the captain wouldn't have thought of it too.
So, there was no need for extra words.
After hearing the report, Sano Nobu said, "It seems the Mist were prepared all along."
He paused before continuing, "Fortunately, we didn't let our guard down, or we would've been in big trouble."
Seimei knew exactly what Sano meant by "didn't let our guard down."
Although the base had shifted its defensive focus to the land after the Flying Fish Town outpost was taken, they had not completely abandoned the eastern defenses facing the sea.
As long as they could delay the Mist for a while, Sano Nobu would be able to gather enough manpower to defend the eastern front.
And for that, Seimei deserved credit.
Had he not brought the information back in time, the Leaf forces might have been caught off guard, and the situation could have been dire.
Though the timing was still tight, it was now enough for the Leaf to make some preparations.
In this one action, Seimei had potentially saved the base from countless losses and saved many lives.
Sano Nobu's gaze grew complicated as he looked at Seimei.
Just two days ago, he had been annoyed with Seimei for pretending to be ignorant and refusing to go along with his plan to distract the Mist forces at Flying Fish Town.
Yet now, in just two days, Seimei had accomplished something so important.
How was he supposed to feel about that?
"Captain?"
Noticing Sano's prolonged stare, Seimei asked, "Is there anything else you need from me?"
"Oh!"
Sano snapped out of his thoughts and quickly composed himself.
"Seimei, you don't need to worry about things here anymore," Sano said after a moment. "Now, I need you to head back up and use your aerial advantage to monitor the Mist's movements. Make sure to relay their intel as soon as possible."
Seimei nodded and said, "No problem. Have Yamanaka Aoi contact me."
Yamanaka Aoi was a Special Jonin at the base. As a member of the Yamanaka clan, he excelled at the Mind Transmission Technique, which was perfect for this situation.
Though Seimei had developed his own version of the technique and could communicate with Sano Nobu via a Shadow Clone, it was always wise to keep a trump card.
Since there was someone available to handle it, why should he steal the spotlight?
"Yamanaka Aoi, huh…"
Sano thought for a moment before nodding, "Alright. I'll make sure he contacts you. Head out as soon as you can."
"Got it."
With a simple response, Seimei used the Body Flicker Technique to leave the room. He then cast the Wind Release: Wings of Wind and soared into the sky.
(End of chapter)