The days of being a puppeteer in Konoha

Chapter 19 Professionals and Unconventional People

"It's just as Mr. Chiyo said..."

"The moment the enemy captures its prey is the best time to launch a sneak attack..."

After a long time, a young man wearing a black ninja suit and with purple facial markings painted on his face slowly walked to Hideki's head, muttering something.

"It's a pity that a puppeteer like you who comes from a wild background would not know these things, so you lose your life so easily."

Then he took out a wanted poster from his pocket and squatted down to show it in front of Hideki's head.

"Kimura Hideki, you said you learned a little bit of puppetry. You can hide from the Sunagakure ninjas in the future, and the village won't make a big fuss to cause trouble for you."

"But you are so reckless that you want to teach puppetry in school. How can the village continue to tolerate your existence?"

"Tsk tsk, a reward of 30 million ryo, this is a treatment that only the elite among the jonin can get. It seems that the village hates you."

"Whatever. In the end, it's all good for me, Lord Nakamura."

"Let me do the math. A head is worth thirty million taels..."

"Although I don't know what the specific function of the shape-shifting black cat puppet is, it should be able to sell for a lot of money just by looking at its appearance..."

"Oh, and here's what this guy found at the end..."

Nakamura carefully looked at Hideki's head, which still had a smile on it.

That piece of wood must be a pretty good thing, as it could have made Hideki Kimura look so excited before his death.

However, Nakamura did not immediately go to the location of Hideki's body. Instead, he controlled his mantis-shaped puppet and began to swing the sickle on his forelimbs, dismembering Hideki's body beyond recognition...

Suddenly, blood splattered in the forest again, and the strong smell of blood gradually spread.

The reason why Nakamura did this was not to vent his anger or because he had some special hobby.

In fact, as a puppeteer, he knew that many of his colleagues liked to install special mechanisms on their bodies. Once they died, their bodies would turn into deadly traps. Even if they died, they would drag their enemies to hell together.

Of course, normally only the Sand Village ninjas who have been living with wind and sand for many years and struggling to survive in a cruel environment would develop such a tough style.

A guy like Kimura Hideki, who is delicate and weak, and who learned puppetry only by relying on his little cleverness, probably doesn't have this awareness.

However, Nakamura still remembered the teachings of teacher Chiyo and did not let his guard down.

That's why he controlled the puppets to cut the opponent's body into pieces in order to destroy or trigger possible mechanisms and traps.

However, apart from the internal organs of the corpse being scattered all over the ground, attracting many crows to stare at it from the branches, Nakamura did not notice anything abnormal about the corpse.

It seemed that as he expected, Hideki did not set a death trap on himself.

So Nakamura came to the shattered body and began to look for the piece of wood and other useful things while pinching his nose.

He soon discovered the block of wood, for it was still tightly grasped by Hideki's right hand.

"Let me see what it is that you cherish so much."

Nakamura squatted down with a playful look on his face, easily pried open Hideki's palm, and took the block of wood in his hand.

However, the next moment, his expression suddenly changed.

Because after he habitually injected chakra into the wood block to investigate, he found that the chakra was completely absorbed into it without any effort!

This also means that the chakra conduction performance of this piece of wood is very excellent.

Even Nakamura, who was born in Sunagakure, rarely saw materials that could compare with it, let alone possessed it personally.

Why does this rare material appear here?
How could this guy Hideki Kimura find this place?
Wait, I remember that we seem to have entered the Valley of the End...

Could it be...?
In the blink of an eye, countless questions popped up in Nakamura's mind, and he seemed to be getting closer to the truth. He even regretted his decision to kill Hideki directly, and wished that Hideki could come back to life and answer all his questions...

However, the next moment, when Nakamura was about to get up and leave, his left foot was suddenly grabbed by something and he could not move!
Nakamura was caught off guard and looked down subconsciously, and then he was almost scared to death.

Because what was holding his calf tightly at this moment was the corpse's right hand stained with blood!
Nani! ! !

I was just thinking about it, why did you take it seriously?!
Just when Nakamura was so shocked by the situation that he was temporarily paralyzed, a steel needle suddenly popped out from Hideki's right wrist and pierced directly into his captured foot.

Oh no, it’s a poison needle!

The stinging pain in his calf and the feeling of some liquid being injected made Nakamura wake up instantly, and he immediately made a textbook-like correct response.

呲!
With a flash of cold light, bright red blood spurted out again.

However, this time, Nakamura controlled the puppet to chop off his own injured calf!
The half of the calf that was still spurting blood remained in place, while Nakamura and the puppet had already retreated quickly, trying to stay as far away from Hideki's body as possible.

During the retreat, Nakamura also took out several antidotes from his ninja tool bag and stuffed them into his mouth to prevent toxins that might have entered the body through the blood.

Then, under the cover of the puppet, he looked back at Hideki's body, his eyes filled with anger, regret and disbelief.

Where is the leisurely and playful mood just now...

"Hateful, hateful!"

"I didn't expect that this unsophisticated puppeteer could actually create a death trap, and even hide it from my eyes..."

However, before Nakamura could vent his emotions, something strange happened again.

The scene was even more bizarre than before, and Nakamura's countless words were stuck in his throat. He could only stare blankly...

On the blood-stained grass, the pieces of Hideki's body that had been cut into pieces actually began to gather in the middle and gradually pieced together their original appearance.

Along with this process, the corpse was gradually lifted up vertically like a puppet under the influence of a mysterious force.

Then the head that had rolled to the side suddenly flew up and landed squarely on the empty neck of the corpse.

Finally, Hideki held his head with both hands and turned it left and right. After making sure that it was not installed crookedly, he began to stagger towards Nakamura.

Nakamura was going crazy.

The scene before him really challenged his worldview and made his sanity level drop sharply.

I just happened to pass through Konoha, happened to receive the village's bounty list, and happened to find an opportunity for Kimura Hideki to leave the village, so I appeared here.

But can anyone tell him how the guy who had learned puppetry by chance mentioned in the bounty order could have become like this! ?

Nakamura couldn't even be sure whether the guy in front of him was Hideki Kimura!

Could it be that I was actually under an illusion from the very beginning?

Nakamura quickly performed a technique to dispel the illusion and eliminated this possibility.

Is this what is called a human puppet?
The strange appearance of Hideki in front of him made Nakamura think of the forbidden technique legendary in the village.

Could it be that Hideki Kimura transformed himself into a puppet, so even if he was cut into so many pieces, as long as the core was not damaged, he could return to his original state?

However, this idea was quickly rejected by Nakamura.

But this time he did not have sufficient reasons. He just instinctively did not want to believe that the self-taught puppeteer whom he despised would master the legendary human puppet technology.

Eliminating these possibilities, there is only one truth left.

That means this thing is not Hideki Kimura at all!
(End of this chapter)