In the Hokage's Office, only Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Mizuki were present.
After listening to their report, the Third was greatly astonished.
"Are you confident about this, Mizuki?"
"There's a high chance of saving his life, but whether there will be other complications is hard to say. After all, we've never conducted human trials, so it's difficult to be certain."
"Hmm." The Third nodded, then after a moment asked, "What help do you need?"
Upon hearing the question, Mizuki relaxed slightly. Decisions between life and death were indeed tough for the Hokage, but as long as the person remained alive, given the unpredictable nature of the ninja world, there would always be ways to fully cure him eventually—even waiting for Tsunade's return could easily resolve most problems.
...
Night had fallen, and Konoha Hospital was no longer as lively as during the day. Inside a quiet resting room, Mizuki and Inoichi Yamanaka were making final preparations.
Mizuki repeatedly checked the seal arrays and materials he had prepared, making sure that nothing had been overlooked.
Inoichi—who had been sitting quietly with his eyes closed—suddenly opened them and asked, "Nervous?"
"Yeah," Mizuki replied with a bitter smile. "It's unsettling knowing someone's life or death rests entirely in your hands."
"You're an experienced, top-tier ninja; haven't you gotten used to situations like this?"
"You're right, Master, but... the feeling here is quite different from facing enemies on the battlefield." Maybe the original Mizuki wouldn't have hesitated under such circumstances—he must have killed teammates during missions before and clearly wasn't the type to dwell on such matters. More likely, he simply didn't care about such things at all.
Since his reincarnation months ago and through various battles, Mizuki had learned how to deal with enemies. Yet when it came to helping his comrades, he still found it hard to adjust.
"I suppose so. Every time I face something like this, my heart isn't at peace either."
"And what about you? Aren't you nervous?"
"What should I be nervous about? No matter what, once I finish my part, everything else becomes your problem." Inoichi said bluntly.
"Huh? Guess you're right." Mizuki frowned. Why did he go sticking his nose into other people's business and get himself into trouble?
Just then, an Anbu knocked on the door and announced, "It's time. Everything's ready. Follow me."
Mizuki and Inoichi Yamanaka followed the Anbu into a secret chamber. On the floor lay a seal array set up exactly as Mizuki requested, with Hayate Gekko lying precisely at its center, ready to be treated by Mizuki and Inoichi.
"Hurry up. Leaving him like this too long will worsen Hayate's condition." Inoichi urged.
"Right." Mizuki stepped forward and began drawing sealing runes directly onto Hayate Gekko's body.
Soon, after everything was ready, Mizuki looked at the prepared Anbu and said, "Begin."
Upon hearing this, the four Anbu rushed into position at the four cardinal points, channeling chakra. Immediately, a barrier rose around the entire chamber while the sealing runes on Hayate's body began to glow faintly, pulsing in harmony with the surrounding barrier.
"It's your turn now, Master." Mizuki said to Inoichi Yamanaka.
"Then here I go."
"Alright," Inoichi stepped forward and started preparing to perform the clan's secret mind-reading technique.
"Hmm?" Unlike last time, this mental invasion encountered unexpected resistance. The barrier seemed effective.
Seeing that Mizuki's method produced a decent effect, Inoichi also became more cautious.
Beside him, Mizuki anxiously awaited Inoichi's result. Actually, though Mizuki was fairly confident about this attempt, matters concerning the mind and soul always required extreme caution - any slight negligence might lead to irreversible consequences.
Mizuki's approach was quite simple: Using formulas hidden within Kakashi Hatake's Summoning Contract as a foundation combined with his own research on focusing spiritual energy through Flower Shop techniques, resolving the aftereffects of the Yamanaka clan's mind-reading technique should have a high success rate.
To put it bluntly, Hayate Gekko had temporarily lost his ability to naturally heal mental trauma. According to Inoichi, if they could simply prevent his spirit from collapsing, everything else would become manageable.
Mizuki's method was straightforward bordering on crude. Based on his current technology, developing a Soul-Gathering Magical Formation wasn't too difficult. With the Four Symbols Seal as reference, he found four Anbu members to supply chakra to maintain the barrier. After Inoichi finished reading Hayate's mind, Mizuki would step in to clean up the mess by using the formation's concentrated spiritual effect to forcefully mend Hayate's nearly shattered psyche. It was like Inoichi had caused Hayate to suffer a displaced fracture, then this self-taught wandering healer Mizuki jumped in to pop the bones back into place and strap them down for natural healing. Whether there would be any side effects or if the bones might grow misaligned were secondary concerns now - at least the broken bones had been set properly.
Using this method, Mizuki believed Hayate had a good chance of survival. At worst, there might be some memory issues or minor amnesia, but that was still much better than having his spirit dissolve completely into death.
As time passed, Mizuki glanced at the four Anbu maintaining the barrier - they seemed to be holding up okay. Admittedly, this Magical Formation did consume considerable energy, but to ensure maximum effectiveness, such chakra expenditure was unavoidable. If not for saving someone's life and wanting extra safety from additional support, Mizuki could have easily handled this alone during his experiments.
After a long while, Inoichi finally stopped, pulling back his chakra with sweat standing on his brow.
"It's done. Your method worked well - reading minds took significantly more effort than usual," Inoichi remarked to Mizuki. "The rest is up to you now."
"Leave it to me," Mizuki said, stepping forward and first turning toward the four Anbu members. "Everyone, just hold on a bit longer - we're almost there."
With that, Mizuki made hand seals to gather chakra, then pressed his palm against Hayate's forehead. Immediately, the runes covering Hayate's body began dancing rapidly as they slowly converged into Mizuki's hand.
'Damn, this is going slower than expected, and taking way more energy than I thought - though I guess it should be fine,' Mizuki mused as the barrier suddenly trembled. Instantly, all four Anbu felt a sudden surge in pressure.
Finally, before Mizuki's chakra ran out, Hayate Gekko's runes converged onto Mizuki's palm. They then formed a star-speckled crisscrossed seal across Hayate's face, covering most of it except the lower part of his cheeks. Once the seal was complete, the glowing runes on Hayate's face faded beneath his pale skin and vanished entirely. Afterward, Mizuki collapsed to the ground, utterly drained.
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