Within just over ten days, Mizuki became famous again—but this time for being notoriously lazy. He openly napped at the mission hall, ignoring his colleagues completely. Fortunately, Mizuki always showed up on time and made no mistakes in his work, so nobody had confronted him yet.
"Anyway, putting a pig here would be about the same. Might as well go home and sleep early," Mizuki muttered drowsily.
"You're pushing it too far, Mizuki. Keep this up and it'll hurt how the village looks to clients," an unsatisfied voice complained from beside him.
"Kotetsu Hagane? Not Iruka? Hmm? Where's Izumo Kamizuki? Did they both head out already?" Mizuki, unaware that his coworkers had changed shifts, was confused by the unfamiliar face.
"Sigh, Iruka had something come up, so I'm covering for him. Izumo already left for his break," Kotetsu replied bitterly. "Mizuki looks so tired—maybe he should rest a bit longer?"
"No thanks," Mizuki said, glancing at the wall clock. "It's almost quitting time anyway. I need to get back for dinner."
"Don't you even check what you're supposed to be doing all day?"
"I was sleeping during the day," Mizuki replied flatly.
"What about at night then?"
"Evenings are for sleeping too. What else would I do?" Mizuki gave Kotetsu a scornful look. "Do you really need to ask something like that?"
Ignoring a furious Kotetsu practically steaming with rage, Mizuki stood up and prepared to head home.
"Chiharu Tsubaki, ready to go?" Chiharu Tsubaki arrived to pick him up.
"Yeah, perfect timing, little Tsubaki. Got everything ready?"
"All set. Let's go. Are we having potato stew today?"
"Not tonight. Let's make curry instead. It's time we switched things up a bit."
"Alright, but let's hurry. Curry takes a long time to cook. We need to start early."
"No worries. Not like we're in a rush. If it gets too late, we can just crash at my place."
With that, Tsubaki hooked her arm through Mizuki's and walked off gracefully. Behind them, a bunch of single guys were left emotionally shattered by the public display of affection.
By the time they reached home, complete darkness had fallen. Yet the atmosphere between Mizuki and Tsubaki wasn't the sweet, lovey-dovey scene one might expect.
"Mizuki, must you really do this? Why not just ask the village for help? You'd definitely be safe if you did."
"No way, Tsubaki. The village absolutely cannot find out. This thing resembles Anko Mitarashi's cursed seal far too much—it'd instantly reveal my connection with Orochimaru. Getting discovered would cause enormous trouble. If anything serious happens, I might end up locked away forever."
Better to scare Tsubaki a little now—to prevent any accidental slip-ups later.
Tsubaki fell silent after hearing that.
"Don't worry. I won't get involved with Orochimaru ever again. Once this sealing technique works and the cursed seal stops acting up, nobody will know. Besides, I can't delay fixing this problem—it's taking too heavy a toll on my body. I don't have much time left."
Lately, Mizuki had been grabbing every chance to rest and conserve energy. Even though he'd been eating more, his condition kept worsening—if this went on much longer, someone was sure to notice something odd.
"Really... will everything be okay?"
"Of course I've never lied to you. Besides, our wedding isn't far off, and I don't want anything to happen that would make me miss such an important moment in my life. Don't worry, Chiharu, why don't you start making dinner while I prepare the materials for the sealing ritual?"
"Alright then." Hearing this, Chiharu made up her mind.
After dinner, once everything had been tidied up, Mizuki activated the monitoring barrier inside the room—but there were no unusual chakra fluctuations.
"No one is watching."
As expected, no one would go out of their way to monitor a situation where an adult man and his fiancée were simply alone together—especially this late at night.
Once all preparations were complete, Mizuki took out the ritual materials he had prepared over the past few days and began inscribing the seal array. Chiharu occasionally came over to help.
After double-checking the seal array multiple times and confirming there were no errors, Mizuki sat down in the center and said to Chiharu Tsubaki, "It's your turn now. Don't be nervous, take it slow—we've got plenty of time."
Upon hearing this, Chiharu accepted the ritual materials and began inscribing the sealing runes onto Mizuki's body, especially on his back, where Mizuki himself couldn't easily see.
Time passed slowly, and beads of sweat formed on Chiharu's forehead—it was her first time performing a sealing ritual, and she was extremely nervous.
After quite some time, Chiharu said, "I'm done."
"Did you finish the Reverse Sealing Technique I asked for?" Mizuki asked.
"Yes, I've left a backdoor exactly as you asked. As long as you activate it using the mental pulse you designed, the seal will reverse itself and dramatically activate the cursed seal." Chiharu said with deep concern. "But according to your explanation, activating the cursed seal will greatly consume your life force. Why do you insist on leaving this loophole?"
"Just being prepared for any possibility. Hopefully, that day never comes," Mizuki replied.
Actually, there was another crucial point Mizuki didn't mention. The Four Symbols Seal was already embedded within his spiritual core. By leaving this accessible master switch, he could temporarily unleash tremendous power, while his weak spirit and soul remained protected by the secondary seal. Repairing physical damage was relatively easier compared to healing spiritual wounds.
"Well then, let's begin. Are you ready?" Mizuki confirmed one last time.
"Yes, I'm ready."
Nodding, Mizuki and Chiharu each extended opposite hands—one left, one right—and performed the Hand Seals together.
Mizuki had originally considered performing the sealing alone, but first, he had slightly modified the seal technique, and secondly, judging from the descriptions in the original story, the pain from activating the cursed seal and the sealing process itself would be so intense that it would render someone nearly immobile. Since this sealing required precise control of the chakra-based ninjutsu, Mizuki had no choice but to enlist assistance. His fiancée, Chiharu Tsubaki, was the only person he could trust. Unfortunately, he had to rely on Chiharu, who didn't have much stamina and lacked sufficient chakra reserves, to help with the combined sealing ritual.
Seeing that everything was nearly ready, Mizuki circulated his chakra and activated the cursed seal on his right arm. The distorted cursed seal gradually changed shape, transforming into streaks of red markings that slowly spread across his entire body. The excruciating pain almost caused Mizuki to pass out.
"Chiharu, begin!"
"Okay."
[Evil Sealing Method.]
Immediately, the seal array on the ground emitted a hazy white glow. Countless sealing runes jumped as if pulled by invisible threads, converging onto Chiharu's right arm where the technique was being cast. A wave of excruciating pain that felt like it pierced their very soul kept surging in endlessly, making Mizuki briefly wish he could just die already. Massive amounts of chakra gathered through the hand seals formed by both of them, then flowed into the seal formation on Mizuki's right arm via Chiharu's left hand.
Within just a few short minutes, Mizuki felt like he had endured every ounce of pain in his entire life. When he was nearly at his limit, he suddenly heard Chiharu shout loudly, "Seal!" Then, he felt a tight binding around his right arm, as if all his body's energy had been forcibly concentrated together. After the intense agony came sudden relief. The drained Mizuki couldn't help but collapse down, whereupon Chiharu quickly caught him and gently laid him on the ground.
"Done?" Mizuki, completely soaked in sweat, panted out.
"Yeah, are you okay?" Chiharu was also quite exhausted, her head covered in sweat.
"That's good enough. I'm fine." He said before immediately passing out.
This time, Mizuki slept more peacefully and soundly than ever before, as if nothing existed, not thinking about anything, not knowing anything—so fatigued that even dreams abandoned him. It had been ages since he last woke up naturally after sleep.
When Mizuki woke up in the morning, he found Chiharu had fallen asleep leaning by the bed's edge.
"You must have stayed up all night taking care of me. Making you worry again." Regardless of whether she could hear him or not, he stretched out his big hand to caress Chiharu's gentle sleeping expression.
"Hmm? Mizuki, you're awake?" Indeed, ninjas were truly alert creatures—the slightest movement could wake them up.
"Chiharu, thank you again for worrying about me. Sorry."
"As long as you're alright." Chiharu smiled. "Do you want to take a day off today?"
"No need. My job isn't demanding at all. Just sitting there is fine, not tiring."
Hearing this, Chiharu pursed her lips and smiled, "Your reputation has gotten really bad already. Even we've heard rumors about you."
"Don't pay too much attention to rumors or gossip. Otherwise, life becomes too burdensome." Mizuki said indifferently, "Like how you stayed overnight here last night, and we both arrived late together. What kind of rumors do you think would spread?"
"Eh?" At first surprised, Chiharu then became shy, "Then what should we do?"
"What's there to fear? Anyway, we're almost late already. Let's make breakfast and eat slowly."
"At this hour already? Why didn't you say earlier! Hurry up and go." Without waiting for Mizuki's reaction, she prepared to pull him outside.
"Chiharu, going out looking so messy will only create worse rumors than before."
"Then hurry up and get ready! You've ruined everything."
"So what? No matter what others say, you're still my fiancée. Don't they already envy and jealousy us?"
"Who envies you? You talk too much. Hurry up and get ready."
...
Rushing frantically, Mizuki finally wasn't late.
"Hey, Kotetsu, why are you here again? Didn't you come yesterday too?"
"Yesterday was substitute duty. Today is my actual shift."
"I see." Mizuki idly replied, "The weather is really nice today."
"Stop chatting nonsense. Get to work already."
"Hey, I haven't even eaten breakfast yet. Can't you see I'm holding dango (Japanese dumpling) in my hand?"
"Want a skewer?"
"Thanks, but no. Why are you so late today?"
"I was too tired last night and overslept."
"Tired?"
Just by looking at Kotetsu's envious expression, it was obvious he had misunderstood, though Mizuki wouldn't bother to explain anyway.
After quickly finishing the food in hand, Mizuki asked, "What shall we do next? It seems like there haven't been many missions lately—we're pretty free."
"If you're that free, just deliver this stack of mission scrolls to the Third. These are special priority missions personally assigned by him."
"Yeah, I'll go." Mizuki took them and flipped through them casually.
"A mission to the Land of Waves? Seems my warnings weren't entirely useless," Mizuki thought. "Although the Third appeared indifferent, I suppose he has already investigated. Even without going to the Land of Waves himself, using a ninja's techniques, extracting information from a drunken old man is simple—nobody would even notice. Now it appears the Third has already taken note. Thus, sending a Genin team means ensuring the Jonin leader has sufficient strength as backup insurance. Kakashi is naturally the logical choice, and it also offers a chance to test Sasuke Uchiha and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. This is best; it will help counteract any disruptions caused by the butterfly effect during this time."
Before acquiring enough power, following the original plot as closely as possible and maintaining an information advantage was the only way to pass each trial.
When Mizuki arrived at the Hokage office, Kakashi Hatake and his squad were already there—it seemed like perfect timing.
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