"Well, I'm not really sure about this either."
"But maybe it will work."
Hatake Satoru went back to his usual unreliable, joking self.
"Anyway, you can always go out the window, although who knows if someone is waiting outside to catch you."
Hatake Satoru looked at the curtains on the windowsill through his sunglasses. The curtains were drawn tightly shut, so even if someone was there, they couldn't be watching from the outside.
Then Hatake Satoru walked in the direction Hozuki Mangetsu was looking.
"What? The teacher was using such a steady tone just now, I thought it was foolproof…"
Hozuki Mangetsu couldn't help but give a subtle smile, and slightly touched his forehead.
This is more like the kind of thing Hatake Satoru would say.
But, if the trick is just there, it feels too obvious.
It's hard to say if it will actually work.
Although Hozuki Mangetsu had just noticed that the floor was different in that spot.
That's because he hadn't been looking around. If the people from Sunagakure Village had searched carefully,
they should have been able to find this trick.
Hozuki Mangetsu obediently followed Hatake Satoru toward the kitchen.
"It's this floor tile…"
Hozuki Mangetsu pointed to a floor tile not far from the door, pausing before speaking.
"Huh?"
Hatake Satoru stepped on the floor tile and looked back at Hozuki Mangetsu with a puzzled expression, as if he hadn't heard clearly.
"Ah, uh?! Is the trick not the floor tile?"
Hozuki Mangetsu watched Hatake Satoru casually walk right over the floor tile, blinking his eyes in confusion, looking like he didn't understand what was happening.
"What? How could this be the place where the trick is?"
"It's just a misplaced floor tile. Didn't you notice it before?"
Hatake Satoru raised an eyebrow, looking a bit confused, and said.
The floor tile was like this when he moved in. Hatake Satoru had even found a white piece of paper under the floor tile.
It looked like it was encrypted, but Hatake Satoru was too lazy to even read it, so he threw it in the trash and kicked the floor tile back into place.
"Ah…no, I didn't live here before."
"Even if something was wrong, I wouldn't really know…"
Hozuki Mangetsu felt a little awkward and raised his hand to wave it. After thinking about it, he realized that Hatake Satoru wouldn't put a secret passage in such an obvious place.
"You used to come here often a few years ago. If you didn't see it, you didn't see it."
Hatake Satoru gave a teasing laugh. Hozuki Mangetsu took an awkward deep breath. He always had a strange feeling whenever he was with Hatake Satoru.
No matter how much he grew, he always seemed to be unable to catch up with Hatake Satoru.
Although it's basically impossible to surpass Hatake Satoru in strength, how is there still such a gap in thinking ability?
As Hozuki Mangetsu matured year after year, he felt more and more that Hatake Satoru's hands-off approach was a hard method to be completely successful.
If the person behind the scenes controlling Kirigakure wasn't this person, Kirigakure might not have reached where it is today.
Although it's called being behind the scenes, regardless of whether Hozuki Mangetsu was the Mizukage or Terumi Mei is the Mizukage,
except for major events that need to be reported and notified, Hatake Satoru hardly cares about anything.
He plans the general goals of Kirigakure, but doesn't rush them to be completed. Although they are under his control, he doesn't limit them at all.
Before, because Hozuki Mangetsu was young and had a teacher's bias, he never paid attention to this kind of thing.
But since he stepped down and followed Hatake Satoru to mess with Gaara becoming Kazekage, he gradually realized that Hatake Satoru is not just strong.
In terms of reforming the situation and developing the village, he even understands how to win people's hearts in a way.
He knows how to raise approval ratings and how to make people like him.
While helping Gaara, Hozuki Mangetsu also looked back on his time as Mizukage. During this time, he gradually realized that although the Mizukage is constantly changing,
the reason why Hozuki Mangetsu could step down so casually and completely ignore the handover problems is because Shisui and Biwa Juzo can take care of most things.
The reason is that the so-called higher-ups in Kirigakure are actually just Hatake Satoru alone.
Hatake Satoru can remotely assist in directly handing over the duties of the Mizukage even when he's out like this.
He is the one who truly makes the decisions.
Everyone is unknowingly on the same side as him. This person is different from the other higher-ups, who interfere and manage everything.
Hatake Satoru basically won't interfere with anything unless it's something crazy like what happened when Yagura was being controlled.
And to be honest, Kirigakure was practically built when he left, so there's basically nothing that needs him to worry about.
Hatake Satoru opened the cabinet under the stove, which was neatly filled with stacks of bowls and chopsticks of different sizes.
He pulled out the wooden board under the cabinet which was large enough for a person to squat and walk in.
… … …
Hatake Satoru turned his head and saw Hozuki Mangetsu lost in thought, who knows what.
"Hmm? What are you standing there for?"
"Are you too attached to this place to leave?"
Hatake Satoru laughed, picked up the chopsticks of different lengths on the ground, and made a few seemingly random marks on the wall behind the cabinet.
"Ah, no, it's not that, I was just thinking about something!"
"Are we going from here?"
Hozuki Mangetsu quickly came back to his senses and blinked his eyes a bit guiltily. He quickly bent down, tilted his head, and looked at Hatake Satoru, who was working on the wall down below.
Behind the bowl cabinet, it seems to be related to the length and size of the chopsticks.
A secret passage with this kind of puzzle is more like the kind of trick Hatake Satoru would make.
And, without a certain level of skill, it would be really hard to make something like this.
"Click."
A clicking sound was heard, and Hatake Satoru put two chopsticks into the wall.
Then a large part of the entire wall came away, and behind it was a bottomless black passage.
The black opening was about big enough for two skinny people to lie side by side, so it wasn't small at all.
"Alright, although I made this before when I was bored and testing out puppet performance capabilities…"
"I didn't expect it to come in handy now."
"Alright, you can go in now." Spoon.
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