Chapter – 52: Art is an Explosion!

[Rei Clone POV]

"Mashashi-san, how long will we be staying here?" asks one of the anbus.

"Maybe three to four days, why do you ask?"

"It's too dangerous to stay away from the village these days, why don't you try to finish things early so we can head back soon?"

"I will try," I nod. Although I said that, I am sure I will be here for at least four more days.

…

The first two days of my stay in the Land of Noodles went without any surprises. All I did was go to different places and treat people. However, on the third day, the A.I chip discovered someone spying on me. They should be pretty powerful because I didn't notice them at all!

'They are finally here!' I grin, 'It's time to start the show…'

As if noticing their presence, I start running towards the outer portion of the town which is almost deserted. After running for a minute, I reach an open area and I stop.

As soon as I stop, I am surrounded by six shinobi who are covering their faces with masks. I tried to scan them with the A.I chip, but failed. They could have caught up with me sooner, but I guess they had the same idea as me; looking for a deserted place!

Looking around, I recognize two of them. The blond ponytailed one should be Yamanaka Inoichi and the other one… my guess was spot on, it's actually Uchiha Fugaku!

'Thank god, Orochimaru or Jiraiya didn't come!' I sigh in relief internally. Although I did pick the right time for this plan when Orochimaru is at the final stages of his experiments with Hashirama cells and Jiraiya is out traveling, and made plans to adjust if they appeared, I still feel relieved when I see they didn't come. If even one of them had come, I would have lost more than what might gain today.

Inoichi looks towards Fugaku who just nods, the meaning couldn't be any more obvious, 'It's not a shadow clone…'

"Shiro Mashashi?" Fugaku looks at me with his Sharingan active, "You have selected a good place to die…"

To their utter surprise, I nod, "Yes, it is indeed a good place…"

"Before you die, will you spare us the trouble and answer a few of our questions?" asks Inoichi.

"What if I say no?" I ask with a sly smile.

"That's a shame then… but it's ok if you don't as we can directly ask your dead body later…"

"Oh really now," my smile widens. With a wave of my hand, hundreds of explosive tags scatter from my storage seal and cover each and every corner of the area. Next, from my position, pitch-black sealing marks spread in all directions like a colossal birdcage.

"Are you crazy…" before Inoichi could finish, he sees a smug grin on my face and only one thought remains in his head, 'This is bad!'

'A.I chip, initiate self-destruction protocol!'

All the way back in Konoha, my main body hears continuous beeps from the A.I chip.

[Beep! Authorization received… Initiating Self-destruction protocol on Clone #001… ]

[Beep!…]

Looking at the barrier around them and the hundreds of explosive tags, all of the Konoha ninjas present are badly shocked. The barrier is nothing special, with their strength, they only need a couple of seconds to destroy it. But the bad news is, it was never meant to trap them. Its main use is actually to buy a couple of valuable seconds and not let them escape before the explosive tags go off.

Realizing it, they decisively give up escaping and quickly cast their best collaborative defensive jutsus like [Doton • Doryūheki], etc.

A red flame starts to burn on my body after the self-destruction protocol starts. Within the blink of an eye, nothing but ash remains of the clone and the last thing I see is a majestic explosion.

The blast which is the result of the hundreds of explosive tags stacked on top of one another is so strong that the combined defensive jutsu of the Konoha ninjas is ripped to shreds and all of them were seriously injured.

What is commendable is, even in such a dangerous situation, Fugaku didn't activate his Susanoo! He cares more about people noticing his Mangekyo than getting injured. What self-control, even I have to commend him for it.

Some distance away, the second clone that looks exactly like Shiro Mashashi that was rushing at full speed, stops suddenly and grins while looking towards the blast site, "Indeed, Art is an Explosion!"

…

A few seconds later, I arrive at the explosion site and start looking for the place where Fugaku and the others were injured. There is a prize to collect for all this planning and paying the price of a clone, it's Fugaku's blood!

I didn't have to search for long, around the place where they made their earth release defense, I found multiple patches of blood on the ground. It's just been a few seconds, so the blood is still fresh. I immediately collect everything in the area and leave stealthily as I sense multiple people approaching.

...

** flashback **

Two days ago when I told the anbus I will need three to four days, I was never talking about treating anyone. I was in fact waiting for the Konoha shinobi and my other clone to arrive.

I already knew Konoha would send someone after my clone. Even if all of my guess about Konoha's suspicion is wrong, I was pretty sure they will still investigate it. And if Hiruzen wants to investigate, with Jiraiya and Orochimaru absent, his best options would be either the Yamanaka or the Uchiha who can get the most information out of someone in a short amount of time; it's never safe to spend more time interrogating someone inside enemy territory. So, I started keeping tabs on important people from both clans. At this point, I was hoping or in fact praying for it to be Fugaku who comes after me because I have been dying for an opportunity to get his blood samples. And there was a high chance for it to be him too, as there's no one better than him in the current Uchiha clan!

Finally, my prayers were answered a week ago when I noticed Fugaku leaving for a mission. At the same time from the Yamanaka compound, I noticed Inoichi leaving for a mission too. At this point, I was 80% sure my guess is correct and that they were indeed after me. But I still wasn't completely sure, that's the reason for thinking 'Don't disappoint me Konoha, I have great expectations from you…'

When I saw them leave, I postponed my meeting with the Mizukage and waited so that I will only arrive in the Land of Noodles just two or three days before the entourage from Konoha does to prepare for the upcoming fight and also not look suspicious to the Mizukage by being there for a long time. I couldn't just wait in Kiri because then I would lose the initiative. They could sneak in, hide and strike whenever they want. If however, I go out to the Land of Noodles without any sort of protection, they will be forced to take action immediately as they wouldn't want to miss such a golden opportunity!

Back in Konoha, I did the same physical surgery that the first clone went through to the second clone as well, making it look exactly like the former, and then sent it to Kiri to take its place once the first clone is destroyed.

Also, I didn't bring any of the blood samples I have collected in Kiri because the operation itself was risky and I didn't have a hundred percent confidence in coming out on top. In addition, the shadow clones created by the first clone will dissipate after it is destroyed. Hence, I couldn't take the risk.

And Just to make sure the anbus wouldn't die because of my plan, I mixed some… mmm… unpalatable stuff into their food yesterday and had them fall sick. Forget about protecting me, they couldn't even get out of bed. We sent the news to the Mizukage yesterday too, but the reinforcements he dispatched will need some time before they get here. Anyway, by the time they arrive, I will have switched the clones.

After that was just waiting and executing the plan. Thankfully, everything went according to my expectations and I was able to injure all of the Konoha shinobi at the cost of one of my clones and a lot of money.

And the end result; I was finally able to get my hands on blood samples of someone with a Mangekyo!