Mountain Stronghold Jinchuriki

It was late when Mizuki finished his mission and returned home. Beyond consuming a fair amount of chakra, the task hadn't left him feeling particularly exhausted; after all, the gap in strength was far too obvious.

"Tsubaki, I'm going to be very busy for a while. You don't need to go out of your way to cook or wait for me at night. You should spend more time checking on the flower shop."

"Alright. Though I've been quite busy lately myself; there are quite a few barrier inspection tasks I need to handle."

"If you can't keep up, just hire someone. If that doesn't work, post a shop-sitting mission at the village."

"Do you even have the money to post a mission?"

"Let's eat. Don't bring up sad topics. Thankfully, it's almost the end of the month, so payday is coming."

After dinner, the two tidied up the house. Mizuki took out a summoning scroll and released the wooden puppet from within.

"Tsubaki, just like last time: I'll control the chakra, and you handle the sealing."

As he spoke, Mizuki tapped the puppet on the forehead. Instantly, the wooden figure transformed into a half-human, half-beast creature no taller than his waist, its body covered in runes. Its youthful face bore tiger-like markings, its hands and feet were tipped with sharp claws, and its posture was slightly hunched forward.

"How do you feel?" Mizuki asked the strange creature.

"Daily activities are no longer a problem, but combat consumes quite a bit of energy, even for the low-intensity fight from earlier." The creature actually replied, its voice thin and youthful.

"If we don't count the energy required to maintain the barrier, can you be of use in the short term?"

"Don't expect too much. Defeating someone at the level of Sakura Haruno is meaningless."

"Then what is the biggest problem right now?"

"The generation of my own chakra is far greater than imagined. The more intense the battle, the more astonishing the amount of chakra the body produces. Violent activity stimulates the body to overdraw its resources rapidly, making an already short lifespan even shorter."

"How long can you hold out?"

"Hard to say. It depends on the frequency and intensity of the battles."

"I see." Hearing the answer, Mizuki felt it was quite a thorny issue.

The creature opposite him was, in fact, a clone cultivated from Mizuki's own hair. To solve the control issues of these clones—and incidentally resolve his own moral dilemma—Mizuki had a flash of inspiration and modeled the thing after a jinchuriki. The principle was simple: using his Shadow Clone chakra and his mastery of sealing techniques, he had sealed a Shadow Clone containing a massive amount of his own chakra into the clone body.

In his original hypothesis, Tailed Beasts were merely collections of chakra born from human negative will, and Shadow Clones were also collections of chakra carrying his own will. Even if the power gap between the two was astronomical, the principles of their formation seemed very similar. And for a jinchuriki, what better combination could there be than a Shadow Clone and a biological clone?

Holding onto the idea of just giving it a try, the creature before him was born.

Unlike a jinchuriki, where the human will is dominant and the Tailed Beast's will is sealed, Mizuki's creation was the exact opposite. The physical body was merely an empty vessel; Mizuki only needed to leave a backdoor in the seal, allowing the Shadow Clone carrying his will to leak a bit of chakra, and it naturally took over the body. It went so smoothly that even Mizuki found it hard to believe. The consciousness that might have developed during the body's growth would likely never have a chance to form, which settled one of his worries.

Seeing the creature think clearly and answer fluently, without any abnormalities, Mizuki felt he had achieved initial success. However, the most troublesome issue—lifespan—remained thorny. Not just for the clone, but for himself as well. Logically, the number of cell divisions for any organism is limited. As cells divide, the ends of the genetic information wear down, and the cells gradually age. Using cells from an adult like Mizuki's hair and then using reagents to activate their totipotency to develop an independent organism meant the lifespan within those cells was likely already nearly exhausted.

Ninjas, as a species, are not long-lived. Consider the chakra extraction method: power comes from the body and spirit. Proper use is fine, but ninjas must fight frequently, and it is inevitable that they will over-exploit their physical strength. Once used excessively, shortened lifespans become a daily occurrence. If Mizuki had to endure two more missions like the one in the Land of Waves, it would be a miracle if he didn't die young. In Mizuki's view, most ninja training and combat methods were essentially demonic paths; overdrawing the body was routine, and various experiments were comparable to those of mad scientists or biohazard scenarios. But given the environment, it was no surprise that people would trade their future lifespans for a chance to survive in such precarious times. It was no wonder most ninjas aged rapidly once they passed their peak; there was no sign of the "the stronger you are, the longer you live" trope found in martial arts or cultivation legends. If not for the existence of Hashirama Senju's cells—an anomaly that extended the lives of various villains—the history of the ninja world would have been different long ago.

"That's enough. Exchange information first, then replenish the chakra. You must try your best to mobilize the body's own power to reduce consumption. For now, this is the only way. Without a constant source of chakra, we can only use this clumsy method," Mizuki decided. "Tsubaki, begin."

On the day of the Chunin Exams, in the Hokage Office, a large group of Chunin and Jonin responsible for proctoring gathered. Mizuki, as usual, habitually hid in the back to doze off. Perhaps time was running out, as the Third Hokage didn't ramble this time; he made a few brief remarks and announced the start of the exam. A crowd of ninjas dispersed in the blink of an eye.

The proctor for the first exam, Ibiki Morino, led a group of Chunin to the written exam hall.

In truth, Mizuki had thought about seeing the other candidates over the past few days, but it would be bad if he ran into Orochimaru. He had no choice but to stay honestly in the Mission Hall doing paperwork, which was at least leisurely.

Mizuki wasn't worried about meeting Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi during the exam. Under the eyes of the public, he assumed such big shots wouldn't care about a small fry like him, as long as he didn't meet them in private.

Sitting in the proctor's seat near the door, Mizuki couldn't help but shake his head. It seemed there wasn't a proctor's seat in the original story. Looking at Kankuro, who was covered in face paint in front of him, this was too coincidental, wasn't it? Wasn't Kankuro the one who played a puppet show in this very spot, pretending to be a proctor to take people out to copy answers? Now that there was a real proctor like him, how would this guy pass the exam? It would be a headache if the plot changed drastically because of him.

"Forget it, don't think about it. It is what it is. Orochimaru's goal behind the scenes remains the same, so there shouldn't be any problems." Thinking this, Mizuki looked around. "Is that Orochimaru? Good disguise; without looking closely, he has zero presence. And that ordinary-looking Kabuto Yakushi—wearing glasses really makes him look like a spy. Is that Karin over there? That bright red hair caused by an outstanding amount of chakra—that's the mark of the Uzumaki clan, right? But what's up with Naruto Uzumaki? Minato Namikaze's genetic genes are so strong that they directly overwhelmed Kushina Uzumaki's genetic information, leaving Naruto Uzumaki with blonde hair. It seems that although Minato Namikaze is called a civilian ninja, his lineage is not simple either."

Ibiki was still on the platform explaining the rules of the written exam, but Mizuki wasn't interested in things he was already familiar with. It didn't have much to do with him anyway; the other proctors would handle the invigilation.

After Ibiki finished his instructions, Mizuki began to calculate the coordinates for summoning and reverse-summoning, as well as the formula for chakra sensing, on his notepad.

"This is more important. If I can figure this out, I don't expect to invent a super space-time ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God, but as long as I can find a convenient way to travel and secretly move between the laboratory and the village, that's enough. As for the Chunin Exams, play however you want."

It didn't matter that Mizuki wasn't paying attention; his constant writing on the paper scared the group of candidates preparing to cheat. As time passed, more and more candidates were kicked out for cheating, and the sight of Mizuki writing something non-stop made a group of candidates tremble with fear.

Suddenly, Mizuki, who was buried in his work, felt a wave of chakra beside him.

"Hmm?" Mizuki looked up, annoyed. "Even though I've opened the door of convenience, you guys shouldn't be too arrogant, right?"

Mizuki, who didn't feel he had put too much pressure on the candidates at all, sensed the area. "Is that Kankuro?" Mizuki checked the clock. "It's already this late? No wonder he can't sit still, but it seems it's too late to play puppet shows, right?"

Interested, Mizuki stopped what he was doing and watched Kankuro with interest, which directly scared Kankuro into restraining his movements.

"I'm really curious, if you don't play puppet shows, how will you cheat next?" Thinking this, Mizuki turned his head to look at Temari. "Except for Naruto Uzumaki, these two are the only ones with blank papers right now. I assume Gaara has no interest in passing you the answers. Another blonde beauty; her appearance and figure are not bad, but her hairstyle isn't to my taste, so I won't open a backdoor for you. You're on your own!"

Ten minutes later, the written exam ended. Kankuro and Temari, who were too scared to move by Mizuki's eerie smile, had to pin their hopes on the tenth question. Through the torture-like ordeal of Ibiki and the outburst of Naruto Uzumaki, they passed the exam smoothly, though the number of people who passed with blank papers had increased by two.

"Finally over. I'm free now." Mizuki walked out of the exam hall, ready to head back.

"Mizuki, aren't you the mobile backup for the second stage in the Forest of Death?" asked Aoba Yamashiro, who had a task in the second stage.

"You said it yourself, I'm a backup. If you, the regular, don't have any issues, why would they need me?" Mizuki retorted. "Do you want me to have something to do or not?"

Having left Aoba Yamashiro speechless, Mizuki leisurely headed home.

"Now it's my turn to hide behind the scenes and fish in troubled waters. I wonder if those backup plans of mine will yield any results?"