Dragging a fully-grown man in the middle of the road might be troublesome and raise several eyebrows, but what choice did Seimei have?
He could only carry the spy like a sack of potatoes and activate the Body Flicker Technique to dash toward the Hokage Office.
And that was exactly what he did.
Even with non-stop body flickers, it still took him several minutes to traverse the forest, pass through some less crowded, isolated areas, and reach the entrance of the Hokage Office.
The moment he appeared with an unconscious man hanging over his shoulder, the ninja guards protecting the entrance were stunned at first before their jaws almost hit the floor in bewilderment.
It wasn't their fault, though.
After all, it wasn't every day they saw the son of the Second Hokage dragging an unknown person's body, all while tightly binding the person with earthen chains.
The posture of the person hung on Seimei's shoulder was so ridiculous that the person looked less like a person and more like a giant caterpillar.
One guard snapped out of his dazed state and asked, "This person…?"
The other guard also looked at Seimei with a curious expression.
"A suspected spy," replied Seimei. "I will take this guy to the Hokage."
Hearing this, the guards strengthened their backs and nodded.
A suspected spy?
No need to say more.
Regardless of your identity or ninja rank, when you catch a spy alive, you can deliver the guy directly to the Hokage.
Traitors would be punished. The spies would be interrogated and tortured.
And if they were fortunate, they could uncover crucial intel that might give them leverage against enemy nations or help them discover other important information.
In truth, Konoha was actually riddled with spies from several nations, including the major elemental nations.
Not just Konoha, the other major ninja villages were also filled with foreign spies.
No military or political establishments, whether it was a ninja village, a samurai stronghold, or the Daimyo's royal court, were all filled with spies from several factions.
The Daimyo knew it. The nobles knew it. The ninja village leaders knew it, the high-ranking ninjas knew it, and even the samurai stronghold leaders knew it.
They all knew that they had enemy spies in their lands.
But the spies were inherently skilled in evidence manipulation, intel erasure, identity concealment, and intelligence transfer.
This made it difficult to uncover spies.
Even if they launched an all-out assault to uncover the spies hidden in their ranks, there was no guarantee that they would even unveil the identity of even 5% of the spies hidden in the dark or in plain sight.
Evidently, such a major search operation would mean investing a lot of time, manpower, and resources. But the returns were not satisfactory at all.
Plus, it would only make the other spies hide even deeper, making it even more difficult to uncover their identities.
That was exactly why uncovering a spy was a matter of great importance and merit.
And capturing a spy alive was an even bigger deal.
So, the guards didn't question anymore and let Seimei pass directly.
"Alright, you can go in," said one of the guards.
Seimei smiled and gave a light nod, "Thank you, uncle."
And with that, Seimei walked into the Hokage Building, all while dragging the unconscious spy along with him.
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After a few moments, Seimei was standing outside the Hokage's room, looking at the closed door, before knocking on the door twice.
Knock! Knock!
"Come in."
Soon, a familiar voice of Senju Tobirama drifted out from the inside of the room. Hearing this, Seimei didn't hesitate anymore.
He opened the door, walked into the room while dragging the unconscious spy behind him, and closed the door after that.
The room only had his father, Tobirama, who was clearly working hard. Several piles of documents, each at least one foot tall, were a clear testament to the backbreaking intensity of a Hokage's duty.
His father, who loved to research new Ninjutsu and run unique experiments, had completely turned into a glorified working slave, a bona fide corporate drone, under the pressure of his position.
Looking around, Seimei couldn't see any of his disciples helping him right now.
The entire room was empty except for his father, and it had no one else.
It was obvious that his father had been reviewing document after document on his own with zero external help for a while.
Seeing this scene, Seimei couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.
It once again reinforced his resolve never to get anywhere near the position of a Hokage, unless it was necessary.
Wasting his youth and personal life to become an overworking corporate workhorse in his previous life was enough.
Yes. Living like that for one lifetime was enough.
Since he had gotten a new start in a brand new world, he had no intention of being tied down to boring paperwork again.
Then, he looked at his father with a trace of sympathy.
Seimei couldn't help but feel bad for his father.
He was already over fifty years old and still single. It was an age where most ninjas would have already retired from their active duties, at least in the Warring States Era.
Fortunately, Senju Tobirama was a Super-Kage-level ninja with a massive amount of chakra, granting him an extended lifespan of at least 500-600 years.
Keep working like that, Father.
At least, keep going like that for at least a few hundred years.
I am sure that you will find nirvana through the trials of paperwork.
Amitabha!
While Seimei was praying (or cursing) silently for Tobirama, he finally put the pen aside and looked toward Seimei with a pair of red eyes full of exhaustion.
Tobirama, unaware of Seimei's malicious thoughts, raised his right eyebrow slightly and asked, "Why did you bundle this man up like that?"
Tobirama looked at the pathetic state of the unconscious man with some curiosity.
"Oh, this guy? He's definitely a spy," said Seimei without even batting an eye.
Hearing this, Tobirama furrowed his brows and let out a short, questioning hum, "Hmm?"
The meaning of his questioning hum was clear. Tobirama was asking if Seimei was sure about the spy thing or just knocked out a random suspicious person.
Seimei replied without a shred of hesitation, "I am sure!"
"The messenger hawk, his sneaky actions, and the way he was startled when he recognized me—all clues point to the fact that he is a spy."
Tobirama finally became serious and asked, "Tell me how you captured him."
Seimei shrugged, "Nothing to explain, really. I was doing my stuff. But I suddenly spotted this spy in the wild. Then I knocked him out and dragged him here."
At this answer, Tobirama looked at Seimei with a blank expression. He was both speechless and exasperated.
The room immediately fell into an awkward silence.
After a few awkward seconds, Seimei finally gave up, held his hands high in the air, and said, "Fine. I will be serious this time."
Seimei closed his eyes and opened them again.
And when he did, his ocean-blue eyes had already turned into bright crimson with three pitch-black tomoe slowly rotating within the glowing red pupils.
Seimei had activated his Sharingan.
"Talking about the details will take too long, Father. Let me just show you everything I have experienced and done since spotting him."
Tobirama slowly nodded.
Seeing this, Seimei immediately cast Genjutsu: Sharingan and transmitted every single detail of his encounter with the spy vividly to Tobirama.
To Tobirama, it felt as if he were in Seimei's place and orchestrated everything.
Of course, that was an illusion.
Seimei merely showed his memory to Tobirama from his own POV.
Indeed, Sharingan had proven its usefulness once again.
Details that would have taken minutes to explain had been transmitted to Tobirama within seconds without missing a single detail.
After transmitting his memories through Genjutsu, Seimei cut off the connection. His eyes reverted to their usual ocean-blue color.
Meanwhile, Tobirama thought for a second and said, "I see. Indeed, he is a spy."
"You have handled it well."
Next, Tobirama's eyes sparkled with delight.
"Also, congratulations on finally getting the hang of the Flying Thunder God Technique. You should be able to teleport yourself to your designated spatial coordinates or Flying Thunder God Marks now."
"Finally, someone mastered this Jutsu after all these years."
"Make sure to give me a report on your progress and experience with the Jutsu later."
Seimei nodded, "Okay, Father."
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