Chapter 143: Aftermath and Harvest
A few days passed quickly.
Since Hideki had set up a shielding barrier in advance and spent an entire night destroying the bodies, his battle with Rat was not known to others.
The Sandaime didn't ask the Anbu to look for him, and Danzo didn't take any revenge either. He was probably still looking forward to the harvest of the rat...
The number of invaders coming for the black market bounty gradually decreased, and the orphanage temporarily returned to its former peace.
However, Rat still left a mess for Hideki.
Even though most of the rat tide he released disappeared after his death.
But perhaps due to insufficient chakra, many rats still remained where they were.
So in the past few days, a vigorous rat eradication campaign is being carried out in the orphanage.
Fortunately, Hideki had adjusted the sensitivity of the barrier for Jerry before, so it could sense the weak chakra signals in the bodies of the ninja mice.
So under the instructions of the security room, the children can eliminate them all without any omissions.
And even though Hideki has strictly prohibited it, some street kids still can't stop their cravings and secretly cook rat dinners, hoping to relive the wonderful taste of the past.
But after a few days, this behavior completely disappeared.
Because everyone soon found out helplessly that these mice were not very tasty no matter how they were cooked...
Is it a problem of variety, or is it because people used to be hungry that they find it delicious? Both theories have their own supporters and there are many different opinions.
However, no one planned to go to the village to catch a mouse to verify it. It seemed that they decided to let the wonderful taste remain in their memory forever.
So the biggest problem left is the child Artela...
"Jerry--Jerry--"
Ever since he discovered Jerry was missing, Artela would wander around the orphanage and call out whenever he had time, hoping to find Jerry.
Hideki had not had time to tell Artela about registering Jerry's chakra characteristics into the barrier system, so she did not blame Hideki, but only blamed herself for accidentally letting it run away.
Hideki was a little helpless about this, and couldn't help but complain that Senior Rat really did a lot of harm to others, and he had to clean up his mess himself...
"Artela, so you are here."
While there was still time, Hideki found Artela wandering around the edge of the forest.
"Brother Hideki."
Artela pinched the corners of his clothes with both hands, lowered her head and didn't dare to look Hideki in the eye.
She felt ashamed of having betrayed Hideki's trust and lost Jerry in just a few days, but she was also afraid that Hideki would ask her to give up looking for Jerry.
Seeing this, Hideki shook his head and smiled bitterly, then took out a small object from his pocket and said:
"Artela, look at what this is?"
Artela looked up slightly when she heard that, and saw that Hideki was holding a brown squirrel in his hand!
"Jerry? Is that you, Jerry?"
Artela's eyes suddenly widened, and then she rubbed them with his hands, fearing that she had seen it wrong.
But soon, her eyes were filled with tears.
Because this little mouse looks exactly like Jerry and has the same fur color as Jerry.
She believed that she would never make a mistake in this regard.
"Jerry, where have you been? I was so worried about you!"
Atla first yelled in a crying voice, but soon picked up the little mouse, holding it and spinning it happily, rubbing her cheek against it from time to time.
The little mouse also interacted with her affectionately, making cute squeaking sounds.
"I just found it in the nearby forest, so I brought it to you, Artela. Don't lose it again."
Hideki said gently.
Artela naturally nodded vigorously and promised not to lose it again.
Seeing this, Hideki smiled with relief, and at the same time secretly sighed in his heart:
Senior Rat, you have been a rat for so many years, and you have done something human before you die.
It turns out that this mouse that looks exactly like Jerry is not a transformed child mouse, nor is it a puppet mouse driven by chakra.
This is actually a brown hamster that Hideki found from the secret compartment of the underground supply point based on the rat's last words.
According to Hideki's reasoning, this should be the prototype that Rat Senior referred to when he transformed into Jerry, so the appearance and even habits are almost exactly the same.
The reason why he placed it in this hiding place was probably because he planned to hide there for a long time, so that he could use it as a substitute when he occasionally left the orphanage.
The fact that Hideki took it out after several days was not out of any bad taste.
However, he was really not brave enough to take Senior Rat's death words lightly, for fear that it was a trap to lure him to death together with him.
So it took him a lot of time to explore the mechanism of the supply point.
It took him quite some time to examine it carefully and confirm that it was indeed a hamster and not another cute creature disguised as an old man picking his toes.
In the end, it turned out that he was indeed worrying too much. Senior Rat really just wanted to do something good before he died.
However, Hideki, who has always been cautious, still kept the little thing for a few more days and did some preparations...
"Turn around."
"Roll around."
"360-degree front somersault Thomas jump followed by a triple-and-a-half sideways spin."
Perhaps it was because she felt a little strange, but Artela suddenly began to command the little mouse to do various fancy moves in her palm.
Fortunately, the little mouse completed the action perfectly, and the last trace of doubt in Artela's heart disappeared:
This is indeed Jerry, she just feels a little unfamiliar because she hasn't seen him for a few days.
Seeing this, Hideki breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
He knew that Artela would use this trick to test Jerry No. 2, so he kept it for a few days and let the shadow clone give it tutoring.
Fortunately, he was the one who taught me these moves before, otherwise I wouldn't know them so clearly.
In order to make Jerry No. 2 obey Artela's instructions and show intimacy, he even made a big sacrifice and let his shadow clone transform into Artela's appearance to cultivate feelings with it...
Seeing how close Atla and Jerry No. 2 were getting, Hideki finally let go of his worries.
In this way, he could be said to have perfectly fulfilled Senior Rat's last wish, and could accept the relics left by him with peace of mind...
It turned out that in order to prevent his identity from being exposed, he needed to immediately hide outside the village, so in addition to the brown mouse, Senior Rat also placed a lot of good things in the secret compartment.
Of course, banknotes, gold and silver of various denominations were indispensable, and there were even several copies of identity documents with complete information. The preparations were quite thorough.
However, what Hideki values most are some scroll materials.
Although the magical transformation ninjutsu was not included in the book, it did record a lot of information that Senior Rat had accumulated over the years while lurking in various places.
If used properly, this information can save him a lot of effort when the workshop opens up new markets in the future.
There is also a scroll that records the habitats and habits of many strange beasts in the ninja world, and one of them happens to be the giant rat that Rat had transformed into before, named Jerry.
Obviously, Rat collected a lot of information of this kind in order to find a suitable beast to transform into.
Although Hideki does not intend to follow the path of Rat, these exotic beasts are also a good source of materials for him and are of great significance.
Even if I can't find a suitable side job during the holidays, it would be a good experience to follow the map and find trouble with these strange beasts.
After watching Artela happily leave with Jerry No. 2 in his arms, Hideki began to walk towards the basement of the training room.
Because he was going to deal with the last remaining hand of Senior Rat - those invaders who were still imprisoned here...
"Kimura Hideki! Didn't we agree that you would let us go as long as we confess?"
"Yes, you are so dishonest!"
The ruffians in the cell started to make a commotion when they saw Hideki.
Do you thieves have the qualifications to criticize me?
Hideki complained in his heart, but he was too lazy to argue with them, and began to smile:
"Sorry, sorry, the orphanage was busy exterminating rats recently, and I forgot about your business for a while."
"But don't worry, I will let you go now."
"I just hope you can learn from your mistakes, turn over a new leaf, and become a good villager who contributes to Konoha..."
These ruffians nodded in agreement, but they were laughing in their hearts.
I didn't expect that the owner of this workshop was such a goody-goody and he actually let them go.
Now there is nothing to be afraid of even if the workshop is heavily guarded.
If direct attack doesn't work, then use some tricks, such as holding the children in the orphanage hostage...
Just as they were thinking about how to "repay" Hideki after leaving, Hideki clapped his hands gently.
Then a burst of mechanical sound came from the wall. Some imaginative ronin thought that Hideki was going to kill them with a machine gun, and they were immediately scared to death.
But after the sound amplification stopped, they discovered that there was a secret door on the wall of each cell. It was pitch black inside and they didn't know where it led to.
"Sa, just go inside and you can get out of here."
Hideki encouraged in a seductive tone.
We don't believe you!
It's a pity that all the ronin didn't move, but looked alert.
After all, even if you think about it, you will know that instead of opening the main door directly, they opened the secret door. There must be something fishy going on here.
Hideki also knew that they were not so easily fooled, so he explained:
"Don't worry, there is no fatal mechanism inside."
"There's just a small room, a student from a ninja school, and a small game."
"The rules are very simple. All you have to do is defeat the students that appear in the room inside, and you will get a key fragment."
"As long as you collect all five fragments, you can form a complete cell key and regain your freedom at any time."
"How about it, isn't it interesting?"
After saying this, Hideki showed his kind smile again...
The day after tomorrow is the opening day of the Ninja School's first martial arts tournament.
So it is most appropriate to make use of these waste materials and let them help the kids gain some practical experience as the final exercise...
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