Unwilling to Walk Alone

The weather was growing increasingly sweltering, and Konoha was as bustling as ever—or perhaps even more lively than before. With the Chunin Exams approaching, the number of strangers coming and going had surged.

Mizuki spent the entire morning accompanying Tsubaki Chie as she visited several storefronts up for sale. To Mizuki, they all seemed much the same; given Konoha's prosperity, as long as the location wasn't too remote, selling anything would be relatively easy.

With Mizuki's limited insight, he couldn't tell which were good or bad, so he could only offer advice based on his own intuition.

After ruling out a few spots that were too close to dangerous areas—places likely to be damaged during the subsequent attack by Orochimaru and Sunagakure following the Chunin Exams—the two selected a shop near the main road close to Konoha Hospital. As for the Pain attack three years later, he didn't consider it at all. If he couldn't prevent the destruction of Konoha by then, he might as well find a quiet place to live out his life in seclusion; the ninja world would likely have little to do with him by then anyway.

"Tsubaki, let's rent it for two months first to test the waters. Buying it outright is too risky. What if business is bad?" Mizuki didn't actually think there was much difference in quality; he just felt that after Konoha was attacked, prices might drop, making it a better deal.

However, Tsubaki, who usually followed his lead in everything, did not agree this time, her attitude surprisingly firm.

"I think it's great. The owner is in a hurry to sell, and the price isn't high. If we buy it early, we can open sooner and have the freedom to decorate the shop as we like, right?"

"Hmm?" Having grown accustomed to his fiancée's submissive nature, he had overlooked that Tsubaki was a capable ninja in her own right. Her obedience was likely just because the one giving orders was her fiancé. Busy with his own schemes and calculations, he had neglected the scenery right under his nose.

"Then you decide. I'll leave it all to you." Mizuki didn't have any chauvinistic hang-ups. These were just trifles, and often, the very reason he racked his brains over every little thing was to live more comfortably and give himself and those around him more choices in life.

Watching his fiancée shed her usual timid demeanor to haggle with the owner, he couldn't help but look at her with new eyes. At the very least, he lacked this ability and the patience to deal with such trivialities; in his past life, he was just an ordinary white-collar worker at the bottom of the social ladder. The original Mizuki was an even more pathetic wretch, defeated by jealousy and greed—neither of them were true elites. His talent was mediocre, and without knowledge exceeding the conventional information of this world, he would never have been able to make a splash. In contrast, the people of this world who worked hard were far more ambitious than he was; even his own fiancée was more decisive than he. He was merely a petty opportunist, haggling over minor gains, his limitations painfully obvious.

I need to find some reliable people to help me. Cultivating vision and breadth of mind required the tempering of experience and status. Getting bogged down in petty squabbles was not the right path, and fumbling through it alone was far too inefficient.

"Mizuki, are you still angry?" Tsubaki, feeling uneasy about having acted on her own instead of listening to him, asked tentatively.

"How could I be?" Mizuki replied with a smile. "I'm not angry at all."

"That's good. You were frowning the whole time, so I thought you were very unhappy."

"Sorry for making you worry. I was just thinking about some things."

"Thinking about what? Is there anything I can help with?"

"Hmm, let's put that aside for now. Let's go see those flowers you planted. It's been a long time since we visited the cabin in the back mountains."

"Oh, that sounds nice. Let's go. But it's so far—can your body handle it?"

"Don't worry, I've been better for a while now. Let's go; we'll head out and be back early."

The cabin in his memory still consisted of those few tatami mats and old furniture, yet it was kept so meticulously clean that it didn't feel stifling at all. Compared to before, the only change in the layout was the rows of vibrant flowers surrounding the house. They were on the verge of blooming, and though he didn't know the species, the sight of them was pleasing to the eye.

Mizuki, resting on the tatami, took the cup of water Tsubaki handed him and downed it in one gulp.

"This cup is too worn out. Since we might be coming here often, we should replace some things with new ones."

"Okay." Tsubaki agreed readily, though it was hard to tell if she really took it to heart. Given her frugal nature, she would likely put it aside later. "You walked a long way, you must be tired. Rest a bit more."

"I'm a little hungry. Let's eat first."

"Okay, I only have the bento I brought. There's nothing fancy."

"It doesn't matter. Your cooking is delicious."

The two shared a simple meal and rested for a while. Tsubaki carefully tended to the flowers in the nursery, while Mizuki sat quietly to the side, enjoying the rare moment of leisure.

After midday, when the heat had subsided, Mizuki suddenly said to his fiancée, "Tsubaki, I want to take you somewhere."

"Okay." Though a bit surprised, Tsubaki agreed without hesitation.

On the shaded path in the afternoon, two figures sped by: Mizuki and Tsubaki Chie.

"Mizuki, is this the place you mentioned before?" Tsubaki asked, her expression filled with worry.

"That's right," Mizuki admitted.

"But didn't you say you would never have anything to do with Orochimaru again?" Hearing his answer, Tsubaki asked anxiously.

"Of course. Didn't I tell you that? I didn't lie to you. Didn't we seal Orochimaru's things together?"

"Then why are you going there? Can we please not get involved with Orochimaru anymore?"

"You're overthinking it. I'm not going to look for Orochimaru." Getting mixed up with Orochimaru was like asking a tiger for its hide; he might be discarded the moment he lost his value. With his current strength, he couldn't afford to be toyed with by Orochimaru. "I've never actually been there myself, so I thought I'd take a look while I have the time."

"Okay." Though still deeply worried, Tsubaki followed him closely, not wanting to let him go alone.

Following his memory, Mizuki successfully found the location. After opening the mechanism in the correct sequence, a small, abandoned laboratory was revealed.

"See, Tsubaki? There's nothing inside. I told you it wasn't dangerous."

"But..." Tsubaki remained on guard, carefully checking every corner until her eyes landed on the reagent cultivation device. "What is this?"

"Does it look familiar?" How could it not? The Cursed Seal on Mizuki's right arm from over a month ago was in the exact same style; the resemblance was uncanny.

"What is this thing?"

"This is the device used to prepare the activation reagent for the thing we sealed. Even a layman could use this to make what they need."

Seeing that Tsubaki still couldn't set her mind at ease, Mizuki comforted her, "Hasn't the one on me already been sealed? Besides, this device is useless now. Let's destroy it; it takes up too much space."

"Destroy it? Then why did we come here in the first place?"

"For this hidden base, of course," Mizuki explained. "It's an abandoned place that no one wants anyway, and there's nothing here. I doubt anyone will care if I use it to store some things."

"Eh? What do you need this place for?"

Mizuki smiled without answering. He took out a Storage Scroll, unsealed it, and released a pile of bottles, jars, various experimental plants, insects, and strange, unidentifiable specimens.

"Aren't these the things you were experimenting with at home? You're moving them here?"

"Exactly. It's better to keep the more troublesome stuff here. Doing it in the house is just too inconvenient; as I accumulate more things, there won't be any space left," Mizuki affirmed. "Besides, sleeping in a room full of bugs is just too wretched. It's better to move to a different place."

"Hmm." If it was just that, Tsubaki could accept it. "But you brought me here, and I don't understand any of this. I won't be able to help with much~"

"You don't need to do anything complicated. Just tidy up and record some data when I don't have the time. It's not difficult at all."

"Alright then." Tsubaki hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

In truth, Mizuki had originally planned to wait until after the Chunin Exams to do these things, but he feared that plans might not keep pace with changes. Since time was tight, coming here early would allow him to arrange his next steps.

"Tsubaki, pull out a strand of hair?"

"What for?"

"Hurry up, or I'll pull one out for you."

"No, I'll do it myself." Tsubaki had no choice but to pull out a strand of hair. "What do you need this for?"

"To let you see what the other side of you really looks like," Mizuki said to Tsubaki with a smile. "Come back in a few days and you'll know."

Mizuki pointed to the one on the side. "See that over there? That's my hair."

Tsubaki leaned in to look; it was the petri dish where Mizuki had placed his own hair.

"How is this possible?"

The creature still possessed sharp fangs and claws, though after days of Mizuki frequently injecting chakra to nurture it, its inhuman shape had significantly softened over time. Even so, it still couldn't escape the appearance of a baring, clawing beast.

"Quite a shock, right? At first, I even doubted if I was a monster myself."

"How could it be like this?" Tsubaki exclaimed in shock. "What exactly is this green liquid?"

"This is my most important harvest over the past few months. It's a precious concoction that no one but me could formulate. If it weren't for this, Hayate Gekko, Aoba Yamashiro, and I might not have made it back this time." Mentioning this, Mizuki couldn't help but speak with smug satisfaction. This was his first real achievement since arriving in this world.

Sharing his progress with Tsubaki was, in a way, an explanation to the partner who would walk the path ahead with him. Although Tsubaki had never openly shown it, how could her underlying worry ever truly vanish? His actions had always been half-hidden; even if he hadn't told any lies, he hadn't revealed the full truth either. Since he didn't want to face an uncertain future alone, being honest with the person accompanying him was only right.