Not until the sun had fully set did Mizuki return home from his mission. Chiharu had already prepared dinner and was waiting for him.
"How did it go today? I heard that the team leader was Tokubetsu Jonin Mitarashi Anko."
"Yeah, nothing particularly happened. It went smoothly. Originally planned to finish in ten days, but now with a few extra hands, maybe we can try finishing earlier if we work hard enough."
"That's good to hear." Chiharu paused, then added, "I heard Iruka was there too. Did you get along okay?"
"Mm, don't worry, no problems at all."
"Good," Chiharu replied, clearly relieved. "Today I organized some basic materials on sealing techniques; I left them on your desk. You might find them useful."
"Thank you, Chiharu," Mizuki said happily. "Let's eat first."
"Okay."
Just then, a knock came at the door.
"At this hour? Who could it be?"
Mizuki went to open it and found Iruka standing there.
"Hey, Iruka! Why are you here so late? Is something up?"
"Heard the noise and figured I'd pop by—want to come in and join us for dinner?" Chiharu chimed in from inside.
"No, I'm about to leave anyway. Actually, I came to give you this," Iruka said, pulling out a scroll from his robe and handing it to Mizuki.
"What is it?"
"A sealing technique scroll. It contains several very basic Sealing Techniques and some handy little tricks."
"You knew I needed this?"
"C'mon, Mizuki. We've been friends for over ten years—of course I know a bit about you. Otherwise, why would you randomly mention the [Binding Seal Formation]?"
Well, yes, Iruka really was an incurable softie.
"Wait a second," Mizuki said before heading back inside and returning with two scrolls which he tossed to Iruka.
"This includes my notes on genjutsu, plus some knowledge about puppet techniques and secret medicinal formulas. They're not particularly advanced, but they should suffice for your current needs."
"Mizuki, why—"
"I don't want to be in your debt. This way, we're square."
"Ah, I see. Well then, I won't refuse. Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Just think about how to finish the task faster instead."
"Then I'll take off. Don't let me interrupt your dinner. See ya."
"Wait, Iruka," Mizuki suddenly changed his mind. "This time, consider me owing you one favor. If anything comes up next time, feel free to ask me." Although Iruka hadn't realized he had been taken advantage of, Mizuki couldn't forgive himself for exploiting his friend's kindness.
"Suit yourself."
"See you tomorrow."
As Iruka turned and walked away, he glanced at the scroll in his hand while watching Chiharu busily moving around inside.
"It looks like I really need to find a few assistants soon. Going solo isn't the best strategy. I simply don't have that capability. Guess it's high time I started building and expanding my network. You never know when those connections might come in handy."
It was a leisurely afternoon as Mizuki leaned against a windowsill, basking in the sunlight and watching people bustle along the street below.
"The peaceful prosperity won't last long," Mizuki murmured, shifting his attention to several unremarkable plants growing in a flowerpot on the windowsill.
These were ordinary plants originally taken from the Forest of Death, but after several days of exposure to chakra, they began to exhibit unusual transformations. A vine resembling kudzu—known for its rapid growth and use as a common medicinal herb—displayed increasingly strong vitality. Even when chopped into pieces, new shoots would sprout within a couple of days. Another carnivorous plant, resembling a spiny-vined pitcher plant, had recently grown significantly larger, occasionally luring and trapping small creatures like sparrows or mice. Other examples included fast-growing bamboo and flowers that could come back to life after being dried when exposed to water again. Under the influence of concentrated chakra, these plants all demonstrated strange mutations.
This wasn't even the most astonishing part. Mizuki turned his head toward a large glass tank in the center of the room, which housed several nearly transparent creatures—almost invisible unless closely observed. As they drifted slowly through the water, their long tentacles swaying gently, they hardly seemed alive at first glance. Only the faint red glowing spots at the center of their clustered bodies revealed that they were indeed living creatures.
Mizuki had stumbled upon these creatures at a night market stall where foreign traders were selling exotic goods—a rare species of jellyfish known for its extremely potent venom. The moment he saw them, he bought them without hesitation and took them home for close observation. Not only did he frequently place them in environments saturated with chakra, but he also fed them considerable amounts of his own blood to monitor their reactions. Eventually, Mizuki excitedly realized these jellyfish possessed remarkably similar traits to the Turritopsis dohrnii from his past life. In a way, Turritopsis dohrnii was considered the only theoretically immortal species in his previous world. This creature had a unique ability—upon reaching maturity, it could regress back to its juvenile polyp form, then develop anew into a full-grown jellyfish. It could repeat this cycle endlessly, unless devoured by a predator.
For a long time, the desire for eternal life had always been something elusive and unattainable. Orochimaru had pursued research persistently for many years yet only developed an incomplete longevity technique called Living Corpse Reincarnation. In theory, immortality was still possible. However, true "undying" existence was actually a false concept. Where there is life, there must also be death. No matter how strong one's vitality might be, over an infinite span of time, death—be it accidental or inevitable—would always eventually occur.
However, even theoretically speaking, immortality is nearly impossible to achieve. In his previous life, despite highly advanced technology, only the immortal jellyfish had been discovered—a scientific marvel—that showed just how difficult true immortality really was.
Yet in this world where chakra exists and supernatural powers manifest, favorable conditions make it entirely possible to achieve a certain degree of longevity or greatly enhanced vitality. If someone were to reveal the unique biological traits of the immortal jellyfish to Orochimaru, he would surely delve into developing an even more powerful rebirth technique.
"Granted, I may not share Orochimaru's psychotic passion for experimentation, but I still have chakra. There are other ways to reach the same goal. Thanks to chakra's versatile power."
Over the past few days of experimentation, Mizuki had even entered into a summoning contract with an immortal jellyfish. Although its intelligence was too low to obey commands, and its weak body rendered it practically useless, the experiments involving its transformation and regression into polyps fully verified that the summoned creature did not disappear completely. Reverse aging was indeed real.
In Mizuki's view, the biological technology in the ninja world was extremely lopsided. The presence of chakra and generally robust lifeforce allowed the world to perform organ transplants and cloning even under primitive conditions. Presumably, they had already grasped basic concepts such as genetic coding, yet practical applications remained crude—brute-force fusion techniques were still dominant without anything resembling precise gene-editing tools from his previous life, such as CRISPR. Probably because they didn't need it; after all, given enough experimental samples through brute-force fusion, eventually you'd get the desired result. It was the common ground between basic technology and supernatural power: as long as it worked sufficiently, deeper foundational exploration tended to be unconsciously neglected.
Thinking about this, Mizuki activated the seal array embedded within the windowsill plant-growing area and fish tank. As chakra flowed in, the previously dimming barrier gradually reignited, resuming full operation.
These arrays represented Mizuki's recent research achievements. While they were far from practical combat application at present, they could already gather and create an enriched chakra environment. According to the basic principles of sealing techniques, so far he had barely managed to analyze physical matter and chakra energy sealing. He had yet to complete the fundamental interpretation of power-source mechanics, meaning he needed to continuously inject chakra to keep the formation running. Regarding actual effects, simpler techniques like [Fire-Sealing Method], [Binding Seal Formation], and small object sealing were now somewhat clear to him, but deeper aspects like [Four Symbols Seal], [Eight Trigrams Sealing Style], and [Five Elements Seal] remained half-understood. Advanced Yin-sealing techniques based on spiritual power were only just beginning to make sense, leaving much progress before resolving his own hidden risks.
After checking around and finding nothing else worth tidying up, Mizuki finally confirmed that all his precious creatures inside the fish tank were fine. Then, leisurely, he stepped out for a walk, reasoning that staying home alone wouldn't produce solutions anyway. Going out for a walk might even lead to unexpected discoveries—perhaps even another miracle like the immortal jellyfish.
Meanwhile, inside the Hokage's office in Konoha, The Third was listening to a report from an Anbu operative regarding Mizuki.
"Has there been absolutely no suspicious behavior from Mizuki lately?" The Third asked.
"Yes, The Third. We completed a full inspection of the Forest of Death mission and confirmed everything was in order. Moreover, Anko Mitarashi hasn't discovered anything suspicious either."
"What has Mizuki been doing these days?"
"He's been on leave at home, occasionally hanging out around town."
"Has he come into contact with any suspicious individuals then?"
"No suspicious contacts have been found. Recently, he only interacted with Iruka and his fiancée Chiharu Tsubaki. Other than that, he only talked to some regular vendors. We've verified all their identities, and there were no issues."
"Vendors?"
"That's right. Lately, Mizuki seems to be experimenting with medicinal substances and poison. He collected several common plants and herbs from the Forest of Death; details have already been recorded in the report. In addition, he bought several types of poisonous insects from vendors and now keeps them at home, clearly valuing them highly."
"Oh?" The Third flipped through the report in his hands but found nothing unusual.
"A deadly jellyfish? What does he need that for?"
"It's multiplying rapidly, so he's probably extracting poison from it."
"Hmm." The Third skimmed through Mizuki's basic file again. As a civilian ninja with no noble bloodline, Mizuki possessed rather ordinary abilities without any remarkable traits. His elemental affinity is simple Fire, and without the support of advanced techniques passed down by powerful clans, it wasn't strange for him to rely on external substances like poison. After all, Mizuki has used poison multiple times in the past.
"I see," the Third mused.
"Effective immediately, stop full-time surveillance on Mizuki and switch to monitoring key locations instead. Three days later, when Mizuki's leave ends, assign him to assist with categorizing and distributing missions. All B-rank and higher missions handled by Mizuki must be submitted to me for review."
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