The days of being a puppeteer in Konoha

Chapter 10 Aftermath
The next morning.

Today is the second day of school at the Ninja School, but the spirits of the little ninjas seem to be much higher than when school started yesterday.

What triggered this interesting phenomenon was naturally the puppetry training course that had just started yesterday.

No one could have imagined that the puppetry technique, which had always had a bad reputation in Konoha, would become the new favorite of the young ninjas after just one class.

If we really want to find the reason, we can only say that the puppetry that Hideki demonstrated in class was too novel and interesting, making it impossible for the little ninjas to associate it with the demonized puppetry.

Therefore, whether it is the cute and charming puppet black cat or the unique chakra line segmentation training method, they have become topics that everyone talks about with relish.

Of course, what attracted the most attention was the novel and interesting teaching aid, Pocket Puppet Monster.

The little ninjas who were fortunate enough to try out Pocket Monsters in class all became the focus of everyone's attention.

They never tire of recounting their experiences over and over again, happily enjoying everyone's envious looks.

Even Asuma, who had been picky in class before, immediately became the most loyal fan of this course after trying Pocket Golem, and said that he would die without Pocket Golem.

As everyone discussed, the content of the first puppetry class spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred.

Some people were amazed and praised him, some were incredulous, and of course, many people were still prejudiced, accusing Hideki of sensationalism and deliberately trying to please students...

But there is no doubt that Hideki's puppetry class has become a new trend blowing into the ninja school, bringing fresh air to everyone's boring ninja school life.

……

"Let me tell you, that pocket puppet beast is amazing!"

"We haven't learned puppetry yet, but as long as we pick up the controller and input chakra, we can easily control those puppet beasts to fight..."

In the classroom of Grade 4-A Class, Uchiha Obito was sitting on the podium, spitting heavily as he told his classmates who did not attend the puppetry class about his travel experiences.

"The puppet beast I controlled at that time was called Charmander, and the one controlled by my opponent Xuanjian seemed to be called something called Strange Seed."

"The battle between us was so fierce that it shook the heavens and the earth and made the gods weep..."

"Although there are only two vine whips of Xuanjian's strange seed, they are so dense that no air can penetrate them. By the way, it is just like the legendary Wood Release, and it is very difficult to deal with."

"Of course, this is not a problem for Master Obito."

"I just moved up and down, left and right, BABA, and easily made Charmander dodge all the vine whip attacks, and then I hit the strange seed hard on the forehead with one claw..."

Obito was racking his brains to describe in vivid detail the century-long battle between him and Genma.

As an outlier in the Uchiha clan, Obito has never been liked by children of the same clan, nor accepted by other children in the village, which is why he developed this kind of personality that likes to attract attention.

Now that he has the opportunity to become the center of everyone's conversation, he certainly won't let it go.

However, before he could be happy for long, a student who also attended the puppetry class finally couldn't stand it anymore and couldn't help but complain:
"Wait a minute, Obito. I remember you were defeated miserably by Genma in just a few moves."

Obito opened his eyes wide and said, "How can you slander someone's innocence like this..."

The other party was not to be outdone: "What do you mean by innocent? I saw with my own eyes yesterday that your little fire dragon was caught by the vine whip of the strange seed and was hung up and beaten."

Obito's face quickly turned red, veins popped out on his forehead, and he argued:

"There's no such thing as winning or losing with practice... practice!"

Then came the incomprehensible words, such as "I didn't try my best" and "I'm a little unfamiliar"...

Everyone burst into laughter, and the classroom was suddenly filled with a cheerful atmosphere. Only Obito was so angry that he shouted:
"Just wait and see, I will definitely become a master of pocket puppet beasts!"

In response to Obito, the surrounding little ninjas laughed even louder...

……

Hideki had no idea how much of a stir his puppetry class had caused, because he wasn't even in the ninja school at the time.

He went out early this morning and walked almost every street and alley in Konoha.

Hideki was of course not sightseeing, but was busy preparing for the workshop.

Although the Sandaime did not immediately decide on his workshop plan yesterday, in order to save time, Hideki decided to start preparing in advance.

After all, the site selection and decoration of stores and workshops, the ordering and transportation of various equipment and materials, and the recruitment and training of personnel all take a lot of time to complete.

After half a day's hard work, Xiushu had already figured out the location and decoration of the store, and had almost ordered the equipment and materials through the familiar Ninju Mandiantang.

In order to solve the remaining problems of workshop location and manpower, Hideki began to head to a place he was very familiar with.

……

The Hidden Leaf Village is actually not limited to the core area within the wooden wall, but also includes many settlements scattered outside the wall in the forest and fields.

And where Hideki was heading now was a small settlement near the forest.

To be precise, it is an orphanage on a small hill not far from the small settlement.

Hideki walked along the path leading to the hill, looking at the surrounding scenery with nostalgic eyes.

Born as a war orphan, he spent most of his time here until he graduated from the Ninja School.

Therefore, whenever he saw a familiar scene, it was as if a small stone was thrown into the bottom of his heart, stirring up ripples of memory.

Although most of them are boring memories of practicing in various places, they have a unique flavor when they are recalled now.

After a while, Hideki reached the top of the hill.

At the end of the path is a large wooden building, but it looks quite old due to years of disrepair.

There was an open space in front of the building’s entrance, where several children aged three or four were chasing and playing, with childish laughter ringing out from time to time.

What was a little strange was that there was a group of older children sitting in the shade of a tree nearby, watching them play.

Although the children's eyes were full of envy, every time they wanted to get up, they would touch their stomachs and suppress the urge to play.

As an experienced orphan, Xiushu already knew everything.

Because before he was admitted to the Ninja School and received additional subsidies, he often entered power-saving mode like them because he did not have enough meals, trying to reduce physical exertion as much as possible.

In fact, their current situation is already considered good, at least there is still light in their eyes.

Unlike some of the poor kids Hideki saw when he was on a mission outside, their eyes even became dull and numb.

That's because the nutrients in their bodies are no longer enough to support their thinking, and they can't even temporarily escape the cruel reality through fantasy...

(End of this chapter)