"Nothing."
Hearing Seimei's question, the wood clone calmly shook its head in response.
Seimei 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, Seimei hadn't heard any rumors in Konoha, which indirectly confirmed 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, Seimei 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 same time, a flood of the clone's memories surged into Seimei's mind.
It took over an hour for him to fully process them.
Opening his eyes, Seimei stood in place, pondering for a moment. 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, Seimei gave it instructions to filter out "useless" information, then activated Flying Thunder God Technique and left the Cloud Village.
His vision shifted abruptly.
Seimei arrived on a hill outside the Stone Village.
Feeling the intense chakra drain in his body, he quickly focused, drawing chakra from the interdimensional 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 meant he couldn't teleport directly inside without triggering the barrier's detection.
The memory of Uchiha Obito being targeted by Konoha was still fresh, and Seimei had no desire to end up in the same predicament.
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, Seimei wasn't sure what they were planning.
So, it was better to play it safe.
With this in mind, Seimei 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 same method, 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 meeting went unnoticed by anyone.
Looking at the wood clone, Seimei immediately dispelled the Wood Clone Technique.
Instantly, the clone's memories 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 memories to process, and it didn't take long for Seimei 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, Seimei 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 documents.
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.
Seimei 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 moment's thought, Seimei formed 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 memories in his mind.
Putting it on, he instantly exuded a villainous aura.
Seimei nodded in satisfaction.
This way, even if someone spotted him, it wouldn't matter.
As for whether this would cause trouble for Uchiha Obito? Sorry, Seimei 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 Seimei to stir up some 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, Seimei 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.
Seimei activated Ama no Miu and carefully entered, then, relying on his memories, quickly ascended to the third floor and headed straight for a specific room.
This was the place where the Stone Village stored its critical documents and information.
He owed this knowledge to the shadow clone that had stayed here for months, gathering intel.
Seimei recalled that this information came from reading the mind of a Stone Village Anbu ninja who had served as a guard here for a time.
That ninja had been quite familiar with the place.
And now, that intel was proving useful.
Seimei 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, Seimei's gaze locked onto him, freezing him in place.
The other ninja, seeing this, immediately drew a kunai and lunged at Seimei.
But his movements were too slow—especially under Seimei's Mangekyo Sharingan, they were like a turtle's crawl.
Seimei stepped forward, his hand shooting out to grab the ninja's throat.
At the same time, dense, ribbon-like sealing patterns spread from Seimei'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, Seimei 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.
Seimei'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—Seimei was worried they might have some 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 moment they died.
As one of the five great ninja villages, the Stone Village likely had similar measures.
If these two had such warning devices, killing them would alert the village.
So, Seimei chose to restrain rather than kill.
Of course, what happened next would depend on how things unfolded.