The days of being a puppeteer in Konoha

Chapter 142: Secrets and Last Words
Hideki first turned the Red Owl back into a floating cannon and took it back, then jumped onto a branch near a big rock and watched the mouse quietly.

At this time, it was already dying, lying on a big rock and whimpering weakly, as if it was just an ordinary mouse.

But perhaps knowing that defeat was inevitable, the mouse quickly removed its disguise, and its eyes gradually regained the gleam of wisdom from its original beast-like lifelessness.

At the same time, a stream of chakra was struggling to condense in his body.

Soon, the magical scene of a mouse turning into a living human appeared before Hideki's eyes.

However, this scene is really disappointing. Rather than a magic show, it is more like a scene from a horror movie.

Not to mention the rat that turned back into a human from a mouse, whose body was so thin that it was just skin and bones, as if it would be blown away by the slightest wind.

Combined with the bloody full moon in the sky, the dark forest nearby and the swarms of rats running around on the ground, it looks particularly creepy, as if some kind of cult ritual is being held.

No matter what, the appearance of Rat still made Hideki feel relieved, as he was finally not careless and let the other party escape.

The situation of the Rat, who had regained his human form, had not improved much at this time.

However, his mouth began to open and close with difficulty, and he seemed to be saying something, but the voice was too soft to be heard clearly.

Hideki was also curious about what Rat wanted to say.

But to prevent any fraud, he did not get close to him. Instead, he shot a chakra line at him and used the secret sound transmission technique he usually used in class.

"Senior Zishu, you don't have to speak so loudly. I can hear you."

The sound that seemed to ring next to his ear made Zishu slightly stunned.

But at this point he was too lazy to be surprised, and quickly used his last bit of strength to ask the question he wanted to know the answer to:

"Why...why...could you find...me..."

The conversation was still intermittent, but it was nothing more than two questions.

That is, how Hideki knew that he would turn into a rat and run away, and how he accurately locked him among so many rats.

Because it did not involve his own important information, and out of respect for the senior's wonderful ideas, Hideki still explained:

"Actually, I'm not sure whether you turned into a rat and escaped, I just wanted to be on the safe side."

"Because if I were you, I would probably develop similar uses..."

"Leave most of the giant rat's flesh and blood as bait, and only transform the key parts into a small rat to escape."

"Although doing so will seriously damage your health, it is still a good way to escape as a last resort."

"Coupled with the rat summoning technique drawn on his body, it can indeed be said to be foolproof. He is truly worthy of being a battle-hardened Root ninja."

"It's a pity... Senior, you met me this time..."

Hideki shook his head slightly.

"As for how I found you, Senior, I cannot elaborate on the specific principle, but the key lies in the temperature..."

"Senior Zishu, you just did a lot of exercise in the form of a giant rat, and you are covered with thick fur, so your body temperature will naturally rise a lot.

“So even though it looks exactly like an ordinary mouse, your mouse, which was transformed from the flesh and blood of a giant rat, will definitely have a much higher body temperature than theirs.

"It just so happens that I recently mastered a technique that allows me to accurately sense temperature, so I was able to find you from the rat pack."

The technique that Hideki was talking about was actually an infrared thermal imaging technology, and the inspiration came from the telescope technique that was full of treasures.

You should know that generally the higher the surface temperature of an object, the stronger the infrared radiation it emits.

Infrared radiation is actually invisible light with a longer wavelength than red light. It just so happens that telescopes record images by sensing the wavelength of light, but previously it was limited to the range of visible light.

So Hideki only needed to slightly adjust the perception range to successfully develop the ninja version of the infrared thermal imager.

Just like many such instruments were named after owls in his previous life, Hideki also installed it in the red owl, giving it true night vision capabilities.

Interestingly, this skill of locking onto prey through infrared radiation is actually a specialty of cold-blooded creatures like snakes. It is different from the principle of owls' low-light night vision, so it can be said that they are misattributed.

Moreover, Hideki had not expected that he had only found time to tinker with it in the past few days, and it would suddenly come in handy for such a big purpose.

I can only say that this senior rat has really bad luck...

The Rat didn't know that if he ran away a few days in advance, he might be able to get away with it.

But what Hideki said definitely had a huge impact on him.

"It's just because of the temperature..."

Rat sighed laboriously, a tragic smile appearing on his pale face.

This move, Crazy Rat Disaster, is his masterpiece that he developed after years of accumulation and hard work.

I didn't expect that Kimura Hideki could see through it in a flash, and even crack it through such insignificant details as temperature...

As expected, he is the genius chosen by Lord Danzo... No!

Rat had expressed this sentiment many times before, but this time he couldn't help but have a deep question:

Can Lord Danzo really control a genius like this who is beyond the limits of his imagination?
But this has nothing to do with him who is about to die...

Even in a certain corner of his heart, the Rat might feel a little bit thankful for this...

Because if he didn't have such strength, it would be impossible for Hideki Kimura to guard the orphanage and workshop all the time.

It's not that I have a change of heart or anything.

But after spending ten days with them, Rat already knew that Atla and the others were actually from the streets, just like him...

That's why they were so greedy for Jerry. And because he often kept company with rats, he was familiar with their body structure and was able to master the ability to transform into a rat in the future.

The only difference is that they met Kimura Hideki, while I met Danzo-sama...

In fact, before Zishu planned to become a pet hamster and sneak into the orphanage, he did a lot of research on their body structure and made an interesting discovery.

Those cute squirrels actually have no difference in body structure from the rats or brown rats that they often transform into.

They are just types of rats that have been selectively bred to have different colors of fur and a personality close to humans, and they have not even formed reproductive isolation.

It’s just that the training environment is different. The rat that was once hated by everyone has transformed into a cute pet that is loved by everyone.

So even though he didn't have too many regrets in his life, he couldn't help but feel a little curious:

If I had been born a dozen years later and met Hideki Kimura, what would my life be like?
Unfortunately, life cannot be repeated, so he can only pin his hopes on Atla and the others to help him see what kind of scenery will be ahead...

Perhaps because his wish had been fulfilled, Rat felt that the remaining vitality in his body began to dissipate rapidly.

But the smiling face of Atla that suddenly flashed through his mind made him use all his remaining strength to move his lips slightly and utter the last few words.

Upon hearing this, Hideki on the side quickly revealed a mixed expression...

Then the Rat's eyes gradually lost their luster, and he eventually left this world as a human being.

(End of this chapter)