Chapter 169: A New Mission for Itachi

'Where did Pain get the Rinnegan from?' Itachi wondered.

Seeing Itachi's doubts, Natsuo looked at him meaningfully. "Itachi, you don't think the Rinnegan is easy to awaken, do you...?"

"Although I haven't seen the Uchiha Madara you mentioned."

"To activate the Rinnegan requires the high-level visual power of the Eternal Mangekyo, along with the special physical of the First Hokage Senju Hashirama, in addition to the Six Paths Chakra that will serve as a catalyst."

"Forgive me for being blunt, but if you really saw the Rinnegan, then the only person in the past hundred years who would qualify to possess the Rinnegan is Uchiha Madara himself."

"The Rinnegan you saw should belong to Uchiha Madara himself."

'Uchiha Madara's eyes?' Uchiha Itachi's expression changed slightly. 'So, the leader of Akatsuki is Uchiha Madara? No! The eyes of 'Uchiha Madara' that I saw back then were clearly the Mangekyo... Yes, with that pupil power it is impossible for it to be the Eternal Mangekyo!'

The reason why Itachi believed that 'Uchiha Madara' was the real Uchiha Madara was because he could freely use the power of the Mangekyo without worrying about the side effects.

And Natsuo also mentioned before that Hashirama's cells can restore the Mangekyo's eye power...

'So the person I collaborated with at that time was not Uchiha Madara at all, but someone who awakened the Mangekyo and obtained Hashirama's cells.' Itachi thought about this possibility. But soon, he fell into even greater confusion.

'But why would that 'Uchiha Madara' claim to be Uchiha Madara?'

'And why does the leader of Akatsuki hide his identity as Uchiha Madara and insist on hiding himself behind puppets, presiding over the Akatsuki organization with the appearance of a puppet? This doesn't match Uchiha Madara's character!'

'And it seems that 'Uchiha Madara' and the leader of Akatsuki have some kind of hidden connection, but they distrust each other. Even more so than us missing ninjas. There is no trust between them.'

For a moment, Uchiha Itachi's mind was filled with countless thoughts. But with his intelligence and spy skills, he roughly deduced what was happening.

'Uchiha Madara' is not Uchiha Madara, but it should be related to the real Uchiha Madara...

The leader of Akatsuki is also not Uchiha Madara. It's highly likely that his eyes were transplanted, so the burden is heavy, just like Kakashi's Sharingan transplantation. There may be some aftereffects, which is why he constantly hides himself under the guise of a puppet.

And the mastermind behind the two of them...

...is the real Uchiha Madara!

Uchiha Itachi is truly impressive! Despite having very few clues, most of it was based on speculation, but he still came close to the truth.

However, Uchiha Itachi still doesn't fully understand the abilities of the Rinnegan. He's still a step or two away from seeing everything clearly.

Natsuo was not very worried about Itachi guessing the real situation, so he revealed a lot of information to him.

Uchiha Itachi bit his lip slightly. He had spent five years undercover in the Akatsuki organization, but he was almost completely ignorant of the mastermind behind it...

If it weren't for Natsuo, he probably wouldn't even have realized Uchiha Madara's conspiracy.

And the real mastermind, Uchiha Madara, made him feel alert and horrified. The fact that the leader of Akatsuki and the fake Uchiha Madara, two top-level experts, were still dealing with the Tailed Beasts...

What is this guy trying to do?

Uchiha Itachi's heart sank, and he finally said: "I will investigate thoroughly... But Natsuo, since you have awakened the Rinnegan, you should know how difficult it is to deal with it."

"Be careful, the shinobi world is treacherous!" He couldn't help but feel a deep sense of emotion.

Of course, Itachi's main goal hasn't changed. So he wants to prevent Natsuo from becoming too arrogant and becoming a traditional, domineering Uchiha that would harm the village.

"I understand." Natsuo said nonchalantly. "But since you're here, would you be willing to help me with a favor?"

"What do you need help with?" Uchiha Itachi asked.

"There is a hidden force in the shinobi world called 'Kara' organization. It is divided into an outer circle and an inner circle. I hope you can help me gather information about them." Natsuo spoke up.

Konoha's investigation should not stop, but Akatsuki channels can also be used to speed up the process.

Compared to Nagato, the Otsutsuki clan is the existence that Natsuo should pay attention to now.

"The Outer and Inner circle?" Uchiha Itachi frowned. "I understand. I will complete this mission entirely."

"Be careful, that Kara organization is not simple." Natsuo cautioned. "The powers involved are very complex, not unlike those of your Akatsuki organization."

'Are there any other hidden organizations similar to Akatsuki?' Uchiha Itachi's mouth twitched, feeling a similar sentiment to Obito a few days ago. The shinobi world's waters are so deep! However, he still nodded, his eyes slightly narrowed. 'Since the Kara organization is strong, should we guide them to confront the Akatsuki organization? After all, they are enemies of Konoha, it's perfect to let them fight each other!'

Of course, this is a topic for later. Itachi left quietly, just as he had arrived.

Natsuo didn't mention any reward for accomplishing the task, and Itachi didn't ask for any. For someone like Itachi, money is not worth mentioning, only peace is worth any price!

However, judging from his appearance, it seems that he still intends to die by Sasuke's hand, to achieve the title of Sasuke's hero.

He is only holding the mentality of doing more for Konoha and the Uchiha before he dies and working hard as a spy to gather information.

Although Natsuo agreed to let Sasuke deal with Itachi and didn't care what method he used to deal with him. But that was only when there were no interests involved. What if there were changes...

...

It was a normal day in the Uchiha Clan District. The place was beginning to come to life with people of all kinds going about their daily lives.

Everything was fine in the district, except for a new area that was under construction, where some of Natsuo's children gathered. The crowd of children were between 3 and 5 years old, they were standing on the edge of a building looking at something in the tallest building that was under construction.

Since Akiran had managed to establish the special bond with Natsuo he had grown quickly, he was just over 4 years old, but he looked like a boy of about 6 or 7 years old. The same thing happened with Raion and some of the other children who formed the bond with Natsuo.

Akiran clung to the building under construction, a building about 10 stories high. The fast, fierce winds threatened to uproot him and throw him to the ground, but the boy ignored them and continued climbing towards an eagle's nest that was almost at the top.

Actually Akiran didn't have much interest in the eagle's nest, he just wanted to show his siblings that he could get the eggs in the nest.

Since forming the bond with his father, Akiran felt something change inside him, he developed a special ability, like that possessed by Goro and Naomi.

Akiran moved his hands without even paying attention, his intuition telling him where to grab and where to place his feet. His ability allowed him to sense danger, something inside him told him when something bad was about to happen, the little voice in the back of his head guiding him in the right direction.

It didn't take long for Akiran to reach the empty nest and grab one of the eggs, put it in his mouth, and climb back down without any problems.

When he came down from the building and turned to approach his siblings, his instincts told his that something was very wrong. And when he approached his siblings he saw what it was. Two women stood silently behind the crowd of children who cheered excitedly at Akiran's feat.

Without saying a word one of the women moved through the crowd of children and grabbed Akiran by the ear, dragging him.

"Ow, ow, oww... I'm sorry." Akiran apologized as he was dragged by his ear.

"You were supposed to be in your lessons right now, but when I go to check on you, what do I find?" Uzuki Yugao, Akiran's mother, let go of her ear as she scolded him. "An empty classroom with only the instructor, and you and your siblings were nowhere to be seen..."

"I'm sorry" Akiran looked at his feet, avoiding his mother's glare.

At the same time Goro communicated telepathically with Naomi: 'Naomi, Kurenai-kasan and Yugao-kasan have arrived. We need to escape!'

Goro, noticing that Naomi was not responding to him, tried to look for her among his siblings, only to realize that she was nowhere to be found. Then he met Kurenai's angry gaze.

Goro lamented telepathically. 'Naomi you betrayed me...'

"Uchiha Goro! How many times do they need to punish you for you to learn your lesson?!" Kurenai said as she grabbed Goro by the ear.

All the children were frightened by the arrival of Kurenai and Yugao. Then Yugao said: "You had better prepare for your punishment, especially you Akiran, you did something very dangerous. Now all of you go to your lessons as usual."

...

After Itachi's visit, Natsuo decided to relax at the artificial lake that had been built in the Uchiha District. Currently, he was sailing on a boat that had been modified by the Uchiha Institute's engineers and turned into a luxury yacht.

Natsuo sat in the captain's chair as he looked out over the bridge, he was relaxing as he admired the calm weather.

Natsuo looked around the bridge, while the engineers carried out tests on the various latest technological devices installed on the luxurious yacht. Ever since Ryoji, one of his children with a jonin-level kunoichi from Konoha, became obsessed with ships and pirate stories. Natsuo decided to fulfill his son's wish and make the luxury ships of his previous life a reality. He even thought about integrating scientific ninja tools to build a much more advanced ship.

"How's the ship going?" Natsuo turned to the engineer in charge of the project.

"Everything works correctly but we need to go to sea to test the more advanced functions." The engineer said while he reflected. "Natsuo-sama, his son is a true genius, he learned everything related to the engines of this ship quite quickly, and even helped a lot during the debugging of the engine during its operation."

"That boy has grown up fast." Since Natsuo formed the bond with Ryoji, he began to grow rapidly, but what amazed Natsuo the most was his great intelligence. Since Ryoji was obsessed with ships and pirates, Natsuo had him work on the engines to familiarize him with the ship.

And ever since Ryoji got to work on the engines and decided to learn everything about how the ship worked, he seemed to instinctively know how to work and fix everything, plus the work never seemed to tire him.

Every day it became more obvious that Ryoji was not like his other siblings who had been strengthened by the bond with Natsuo, and that he, Akiran, Goro and Naomi, had much greater potential than what is seen for now.

The yacht continued sailing at different speeds on the lake to continue testing the performance of the yacht as well as its maneuverability. The crew continued with data collection.

In the ship's engine room, Ryoji covered in grease was controlling the yacht's engines, the engineer in charge of the engine room was amazed by how easily Ryoji became familiar with the ship's technology.

From his point of view it is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most advanced ships he has ever seen. Be it the power or the performance of the engine, as well as the various technologies involved in the operation of the boat are top notch, but the boy learned everything quickly, even now he was doing almost half of his tasks.

"How is everything?" The engineer in charge asked as he approached Ryoji.

"Everything is working correctly, although we cannot test higher speeds or other functions until we take the boat to the open sea." Ryoji turned to the engineer. The engineer is a man who had worked on a ship since he was a baby and was very familiar with engines, which was why his father had paid a huge price to have him work for the Uchiha clan.

The engineer nodded happily. "Well, as long as the ship moves, then we'll do our job." Then he slapped Ryoji on the back, smearing even more grease and oil onto the boy's grease and oil covered shirt. "Too bad we can't test the boat in the open sea yet, I could retire happy knowing that a boy like you has inherited all my knowledge."

"I guess we'll do the tests soon. I'll learn everything from you then."

The engineer laughed. "You are not meant to be down here, your dad just wants to support you in your passion and for you to learn about the technology of this ship." During these months the engineer had become more than a friend to Ryoji, the old man had taught him everything he knew about how to fix and maintain each part of a ship. "Go up to the bridge and tell your dad what the situation is here and check if everything is in order on the deck."

"Sure" Ryoji quickly left the engine room and headed to the deck.

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