78 Chapter – 78: Target

[Rei POV]

My grave robbing this time went better than expected; especially with Tsukiyomi, no one could even detect my excavation activities, not unless Fugaku came here in person. However, to prepare for the unexpected, I had already placed a shadow clone to monitor his movements and anytime he was even remotely close to the Naka Shrine, I would stop my actions immediately.

But that is not the main reason for my happiness, no, the main reason is, I found a grave that had someone with mangekyo buried in it! In addition to the new mangekyo for my Eye of Nothingness to copy, this person also had one of the active genes I was lacking!

Although I am not sure if this person was an incarnation of Indra, I don't care as long as I can gather the remaining active genes. Sadly, the one thing that made me feel a bit disappointed is, initially I was lacking the 25th, 26th, and the 27th genes, and the gene I found is not the one I need to activate the 25th one, but instead it's the 26th. So even if I did find an active gene, I cannot proceed further after activating the 24th unless of course, I find the other one too…

Anyway, I still haven't completed checking out all the graves as it has only been a week since I started, I still have hope to find at least one more active gene…

'The active genes I have with me can sustain my progress for another six to seven months… if I can find the 25th gene, then maybe close to a year… but I don't want to waste time waiting for Madara to die after that which is close to three years from now as that will be like having a two-year gap without any progress…'

'I have already checked the Valley of the End and I have also checked with Orochimaru… according to him, Tobirama destroyed all of Madara's samples… Although I cannot trust him completely, the frustration in which he said that makes it seem pretty real to me…'

'Is there any way to get it other than brute-forcing my way into his hideout…'

'Mmm… '

'Dammit! How can I forget? Isn't his…'

…

**swoosh**

Like the wind, one of my clones is rushing at full speed toward its new target. Initially, although I could control seven clones, I only had five as I was waiting for the uniques to be completed before casting the Soul Descending Technique again. However, I made the call to use it again and control the sixth one some time ago as there is something very important that I need to take care of as soon as possible.

So, this is the sixth clone and the direction it is heading towards is Ame!

Where can I find Madara's sample? Other than on him in person, of course in his eyes! And currently, his eyes are with Nagato. It would have been a simple thing if all I had to do is just attack and take it from him, however, that would alert the hidden behind the scene manipulators…

In addition, Nagato should have already mastered all five nature transformations, and more importantly, I don't want to corner him as that could force him to call upon the Gedo statue which would spell huge trouble for me. Also, I don't need the eyes themselves; I only need some cells and that's enough for me. Therefore, I thought of using a more subtle approach; using Nagato's close people to get the job done and the person I selected is Yahiko!

My plan is actually pretty simple, get Yahiko's blood samples as soon as possible and clone him. After that is done, find an opportunity to read all his memories and replace him as Nagato and Konan's friend. With this, I will have many opportunities to drug Nagato and make him fall unconscious before getting Madara's samples… and the most important part, carry out acting as Yahiko until whole the Hanzo fiasco and commit suicide by Nagato's kunai…

The last part is very important as that is what sets Nagato on the path of becoming Pain and also the reason I selected Yahiko in the first place; I selected him because he is bound to die a couple of years later. If I selected Konan, I would have had to continue controlling the clone for a long period of time which I don't want to as I wouldn't be able to show any improvement, and also, that would keep wasting a precious slot…

Since I already decided on the plan, I used the control technique on one of the clones I had in storage; the one I replaced with Fugaku's clone, and had it start moving towards Ame to get me Yahiko's blood sample.

'In a few months, the Third Shinobi War will commence… so this should be the time when Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan will be recruiting members for the Original Akatsuki…'

'So, finding an opportunity to attack Yahiko when he is alone is not that hard…'

'Let me first keep an eye on him for a couple of days and then decide how and when to act…'

…

While the clone is on its way to Ame, I start looking into the new amplifier drug that the bandits and that mysterious ninja used. Although I don't plan to use it myself, it is a good trump card for my clones if they find themselves in the pinch… again, it is highly unlikely but I always like to expect the unexpected…

The first thing I did was to try and get the memories of the Konoha shinobi that I killed. Even though what I got were some fragmented pieces of information, with the A.I chip filling the gaps, I could still somewhat make sense of it.

It seems, this man was a researcher under Danzo and he was researching on producing drugs that could amplify one's strength for a short period of time! However, because his research didn't produce any significant results for a long period of time, he was sidelined. After failing numerous times, he seems to have made a breakthrough, but the drug he developed proved too expensive to be produced on a large scale, and finally losing interest, Danzo's team told him to discontinue his research…

Still, this guy was adamant and started to work on his own. Later, he ended up using the bandits as test subjects and finally, was killed by my clone.

'What a sad story… don't worry if I have the time, I will look into improving it…'