Over the next three days, Aoba seemed to throw himself wholeheartedly into learning stone carving.
Every morning, he trained. In the afternoon, he went to Old Man Yamashita to learn from him. Whenever he had the chance, he followed the other craftsmen up Hokage Rock and watched with his own eyes as they carried out inspections and finishing work. After returning home at night, he would personally carve two stones to practice his skills. After all, the damn system had a completion requirement. He figured that, by passing standards, the worst he could do was carve something vaguely human-shaped.
As for the fact that a child had joined the craftsmen, someone naturally came to ask about it.
That had made him quite nervous for a moment, but fortunately, Old Man Yamashita was very reliable. He gave a brief explanation and casually sent the person away. This meant that Aoba's presence was no longer conspicuous. As long as he did nothing strange, ordinary people would generally ignore him even if they saw him.
He then learned from Old Man Yamashita that the finishing work would be completely finished the day after tomorrow, followed by a simple unveiling ceremony. He also learned that quite a few people would probably come to watch.
The right time, the right place, and the right people—all of them had fallen into place!
Thus, Aoba decided not to delay any longer. He would use these final two days to complete his suicidal grand stunt!
Night had fallen deep.
Aoba carried his tools and stones to the base of Hokage Rock. Then, with practiced ease, he used the equipment the craftsmen had left behind and rode the suspended platform to a blank section of rock beside the Fourth Hokage.
After observing for the past three days, he had already determined the best place to carve.
Unless he was so unlucky that even drinking cold water would make him choke, he should not be discovered early. That would allow him to hold out until the day of the unveiling ceremony.
Thus, he no longer hesitated. He set down the things on his back, took out his chisels and other tools, and began tapping away carefully.
Although the night sky was occasionally filled with the clinking sounds of metal, this place was far enough from where the villagers lived. Besides, he was careful enough when working. He would carve for a while, then stop for a while, and the moment he noticed any disturbance, he would immediately stop, always ready to put Plan B into action.
That way, even if someone occasionally heard the faint sounds, they would not pay them any mind.
Moreover, tonight was the craftsmen's celebration banquet, so most of them were sleeping soundly. On top of that, their lodgings were still some distance away. As long as Aoba sensed anyone coming this way, he could react immediately.
An hour passed...
Looking at the rock wall in front of him, where an outline was gradually taking shape, Aoba slowly relaxed. His hands began moving faster, but he never lowered his guard.
Doing something bad in secret was seriously thrilling!
Aoba could feel his adrenaline shooting sky-high. At any moment, he might even piss himself!
Five hours passed. Dawn was almost here!
At the same time, Aoba put down his tools and looked at his masterpiece with mixed emotions.
Well, it was damn ugly!
It was crooked and twisted, practically an assault on the eyes!
But one could at least make out that it was a human statue. It had a nose and eyes, and that was enough!
Besides, there was no time to make further changes, so he could only make do with it. Hopefully, it would pass inspection.
Aoba sighed, then immediately took out the paint and brush he had prepared in advance. With a few swift strokes, he wrote a line of large characters on the statue.
Then, without hesitation, he took out a large piece of cloth, swiftly smeared strong glue across several corners on its back, and directly stuck it to the rock wall, completely covering his masterpiece.
He also left a thin strip of cloth extending all the way down. He would glue that part on later so it would be convenient to operate.
After finishing everything, Aoba looked at the slightly "smooth" patch of rock in front of him and revealed a satisfied expression.
To mix paint that matched the color of Hokage Rock exactly, he had almost been thrown out by the shopkeeper.
Left with no choice, he had resorted to money. He convinced the shopkeeper to mix the exact same color for him at triple the price, then bought it.
That was right. The method he had come up with to deceive everyone was to cover his statue with a piece of cloth of the same color.
As long as it did not rain, or a craftsman happened to notice this place, there should not be any major problems.
The spot he had chosen was the best location he had identified through his observations over the past few days. Almost no one would deliberately come to inspect this area.
He had minimized the risk as much as possible!
Everything that could be done had been done. The rest was up to luck.
Aoba immediately began cleaning up the scene. As the saying went, details determined success or failure. If he left anything behind, all his previous efforts would be wasted!
Not only that, he cleared away the loose stones beneath Hokage Rock once more. Only after checking repeatedly and confirming that he had not missed anything did he wearily return home before dawn.
As for destroying the tools he had used, he did not bother. It would have been meaningless!
He was going to make major news at the unveiling ceremony the day after tomorrow. By then, even a ghost would know what he had done, so there was no need to hide anything. He just had to "tell the truth."
After barely sleeping through the morning, Aoba got up. He did not even have time to eat and headed straight for Hokage Rock.
The entire plan was now ninety percent complete. All that remained was to avoid being discovered over the next two days and ensure that enough people came on the day of the unveiling.
Although it was merely a superficial project, there would presumably still be quite a few people coming to witness the occasion. There should be at least a hundred people, no matter what.
Therefore, all Aoba had to do now was keep an eye on the craftsmen and prevent them from discovering this little "flaw" on Hokage Rock...
"Oh, it's Aoba. We told you that finishing work is boring. Why do you insist on suffering along with us?"
As soon as Aoba appeared, a craftsman who was already familiar with his presence greeted him with a laugh.
"Exactly. With this much time, you could find three or five friends and go out for a drink. It'd be paradise~"
"Haha, you damn drunkard. Don't lead the kid astray."
Aoba greeted everyone skillfully while following behind them and looking around, just as he had over the past few days.
This work only had to be done once a day. In other words, as long as nothing went wrong during today's and tomorrow's routine inspections, he would have successfully fooled everyone.
In fact, by this stage of the finishing work, all the minor problems that could be found had already been discovered and resolved.
For the next two days, they were probably just checking for anything overlooked, making sure the completed statues had not been affected by the weather and developed cracks, peeling, or other problems.
Works overseen by Old Man Yamashita generally would not suffer such accidents, so everyone appeared very relaxed.
But right at that moment, an accident occurred.
People always say that whatever you fear will happen. As a breeze swept past, one of the craftsmen immediately let out a puzzled sound, then rubbed his eyes suspiciously, wondering if he had seen things.
How had that slightly smooth patch of rock wall just moved?
P.S. Thanks to Little Soldier Firing a Gun for the five-hundred-reward donation. I'm begging for votes, collections, investments, and rewards! Old Faceless keeps getting ** by big shots one after another. He's really having a miserable time~
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