"This shouldn't be right," Mizuki asked in surprise. "Lady Tsunade wouldn't normally make a decision like this, would she? Logically speaking, such an order would be extremely difficult to carry out. There'd be too much resistance."
Shikamaru Nara also scratched his head in frustration. "I know what you mean. There had already been arrangements made originally, but it seems like something suddenly changed."
"Sudden?"
Shikamaru nodded in confirmation. "Lady Tsunade only revealed this intention today. As for the resistance Teacher Mizuki mentioned, yes, it truly would be very difficult—but this falls directly under the authority of the Hokage (Fire Shadow, the leader of Konoha). If Lady Tsunade insists on pushing through, no one can really stop her."
"That's true," Mizuki said with a nod. "But there were absolutely no signs beforehand?"
Shikamaru shook his head. "I don't know specifics. However, since this involves you, Teacher Mizuki, I suspect you must have something to do with it."
"Me?"
"Mm-hmm," Mizuki agreed. "Now that I understand the situation and delivered the message, I should leave first. Lastly, congratulations, Teacher."
"Thank you."
Watching the busy Shikamaru walk away, Mizuki also fell into thought. According to Shikamaru's explanation, the unreasonable action Tsunade had taken probably happened today. And if it involved himself, then it could only have been this morning's incident. Thinking for a while longer, Mizuki roughly figured it out.
『It seems the root cause of these sudden changes truly lies with me!』
Originally, Mizuki believed he wasn't even in consideration because the Anbu (Konoha's elite covert force) were more reliable than him. Once someone reached a certain level of power, they became qualified candidates as Jonin squad leaders—an extensive pool indeed. Most candidates were concentrated within Konoha's direct forces—the Anbu. After undergoing stringent assessments, it wasn't hard to find one or two qualified Jonin squad leaders among them. Under normal circumstances, replacing Kurenai Yuhi with Mizuki would've been nearly impossible.
However, this morning, after Mizuki exposed the manipulation within Orochimaru's report, Tsunade's opinion of the Anbu plummeted drastically. This timing was nowhere near three years later, when Tsunade had been Hokage for nearly three years and possessed far stronger control over Konoha—especially the Anbu—than now.
At this point, having just recently accepted the position of Hokage, Tsunade was still largely unfamiliar with the internal details of the Anbu. Initially, inheriting Third Hokage Sarutobi's trust meant Tsunade held reasonable confidence in those people. Yet after this morning's events, everything shifted dramatically. Tsunade couldn't tell who among them was truly trustworthy—who might be secretly serving Shimura Danzo, or even someone else. As a result, she could no longer count on the Anbu members being solely loyal to the Hokage. Therefore, previously overlooked non-Anbu Jonin, including Mizuki, naturally entered consideration.
Mizuki never thought a few simple words of his could have such a huge impact.
Of course, nothing was decided yet—everything was still uncertain. Compared to the others, Mizuki's disadvantages were glaring: aside from Tsunade's limited trust, nearly everything else stood against him. Besides, even if they did choose Mizuki in the end, there would still be plenty of time to prepare. All he needed to do for now was keep track of his health—nothing else required special attention.
...
The next morning, Mizuki woke up very early. He had tossed and turned late into the night, unable to fall asleep. Ever since coming to this world, fragments of memories kept flooding his mind—joy and sorrow, feelings of distance and acceptance toward this strange place. In a place where even death brought no peace, the yearning for life, the desperate schemes for survival, and all these deviations from the original storyline served as proof of his existence. When he first learned about [genjutsu], he realized that at its peak, it could produce illusions so vivid they became indistinguishable from reality—even bordering on true creation. Techniques like [Izanagi] and [Infinite Tsukuyomi] could unravel the very fabric of reality. The sudden presence of thoughts and memories that had never existed in the ninja world before made it impossible for him—a real, living person—not to feel confused. In such a world where everything might be false, finding one's truth could sometimes be genuinely difficult.
Memories of his past life gradually faded. As someone living two lives for the first time, Mizuki slowly began accepting this bizarre world, just as he was slowly accepted by friends and colleagues. Today was a significant turning point. The identity of Mizuki the isekai traveler was fading, while the persona of Mizuki, a Jonin from Konoha, was growing stronger. More importantly, it was time to work on being a good husband—and eventually, a good father. This inexplicable pressure made Mizuki feel more nervous than facing tailed beasts ever did.
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Mizuki carefully examined his face. There were no dark circles under his eyes; nor did his complexion look tired or pale because of a bad night's sleep. He felt relieved. A shaky reputation didn't bother him—what really mattered was not embarrassing himself on his wedding day.
After tidying himself up and putting on the ceremonial attire Tsubaki had specially picked out for him, Mizuki gave himself one last check. Finding nothing wrong, he opened the door and stepped outside—only to discover someone had already been waiting for him: Iruka, right on schedule.
"Why didn't you knock and come inside, Iruka? Have you been waiting long?"
"No problem—I just got here not too long ago," Iruka smiled and habitually wiped his nose with his finger. "Why are you coming out so late? Didn't sleep well last night?"
"A little bit, but it's fine." Mizuki straightened his ceremonial clothes as he replied, "Mainly because this outfit is hard to wear."
Although the elegant attire appeared neat and crisp on the outside, dressing in it was extremely troublesome. Not only were there many detailed rules, but the outfit also consisted of multiple layers from inside out—one small mistake ruined the overall appearance. Used to wearing standard vests and comfortable casual clothing, Mizuki found himself unfamiliar with all this, yet today's occasion left him no room for half-hearted effort.
"You'll get used to it soon enough."
Seeing Mizuki's complaints, Iruka replied casually.
"Get used to it? Iruka, your mouth still doesn't know how to speak properly," Mizuki said with amusement. "Something like this is more than enough to experience just once in a lifetime."
"Is that so? Haha." Iruka scratched his head awkwardly with an embarrassed chuckle, seemingly realizing he had misspoken.
"Anyway, I won't hold it against you today. There are many things I'm troubling you with."
"You're being too polite, Mizuki," Iruka remarked, noting that Mizuki hadn't shown his usual sharp tongue today. "This is just a small favor after all."
"All right then, thanks." Mizuki, who had always considered that friend of his a close buddy, had been busy himself and hadn't spent much time interacting lately—only reaching out when problems came up. Regarding this, Mizuki indeed felt a bit ashamed. However, among those he knew, only a few people could actually offer help.
"No need to mention it, Mizuki. I caused you some trouble the other day," Iruka mentioned, probably referring to taking the initiative to add childcare classes at the Ninja Academy for Mizuki without permission. Yet since Mizuki had once belonged to the teaching staff of the school, although due to certain unexpected developments he hadn't fulfilled any responsibilities for a long time and had been running around on missions instead, there was never an official order stripping him of his teaching qualifications. Therefore, instructing students wasn't exactly extra work.
"That's nothing. Iruka, anyone coming yet?"
"Not yet; it's still early. You're too impatient."
"Yeah, you're right."
Though slightly apprehensive about the unfamiliar and different future ahead starting today, at this moment, they felt time was passing too slowly and looked forward to it instead.
The two friends chatting idly soon arrived outside the gates of the Ninja Academy. That's where they'd agreed to meet.
Mizuki didn't have a grand estate or private territory belonging to a prestigious ninja clan, nor did he possess Naruto's village-wide—or rather, entire ninja-world-level—resources to use freely. Konoha's streets were lined with buildings shoulder-to-shoulder, so finding a decent spot wasn't easy. Unwilling to settle for something too shabby, Mizuki set his sights on the excellent location of the Ninja Academy. All he needed was to wait until the students were on vacation, borrow the site for one or two days, and make necessary preparations accordingly. After some effort convincing his former colleagues, Mizuki finally got Tsunade's approval—she didn't think it would cause any issues, so she agreed without much hesitation.
Exactly how much help Iruka provided, however, was something only Mizuki himself clearly understood. Iruka, this ever-kind-hearted person, focused most of his energy on his students. When it came to social events and networking, frankly speaking, he was even worse at it than Mizuki himself. Among his very limited circle of acquaintances, Mizuki, as an old friend, was one of the more frequently contacted ones. It was rare for Iruka to finally be able to assist Mizuki, which made him genuinely happy. Truth be told, Iruka had always been the one getting looked after by others—ever since they were kids. Despite having modest aspirations, he also hoped to be needed by people.
Walking through the gates of the Ninja Academy, the space inside indeed seemed quite vast, albeit appearing rather empty. Fortunately, since he already owned a flower shop, the cost to decorate the venue with some distinctive touches wasn't too high.
"Mizuki, to be honest, how did you manage to grow these beautiful flowers?"
Appreciating beauty has always been a timeless theme for humanity. The flowers and potted plants Mizuki and Tsubaki brought out as props are indeed dazzling in variety—many of them rare and extremely precious species.
"Huh," muttered Iruka, looking around. "So you actually know about this? Have you got a girlfriend or something?"
"What are you talking about?" Iruka waved his hand dismissively. "I'm just curious. Tsubaki's really talented to be able to cultivate such beautiful flowers. I heard your Four Seasons Flower Shop is now quite famous, with many influential spectators sending people to purchase rare varieties."
"Mm," Mizuki nodded.
Indeed, the business at Four Seasons Flower Shop was getting better and better. Besides having comprehensive varieties, many of them were unique and one-of-a-kind.
Tsubaki could really be considered passionate about this kind of work, especially after obtaining the special formulas provided by Mizuki. Whether it was yield or plant cultivation, everything became extraordinarily convenient. With the combined usage of cell-stimulating pills and life-saving pills, numerous plant varieties with various strange characteristics kept emerging. Unlike animals, even if plants underwent rather unfavorable mutations, their survival rate was still quite high with careful care. So more and more stunningly beautiful flowers gradually filled the shelves. As the shop's reputation grew, the financial situation that Mizuki and Tsubaki had struggled with before improved significantly. Tsubaki herself even gradually started gaining some recognition—not for her skills as a ninja, but surprisingly, for her part-time work as a gardener. This result proved somewhat unexpected from Mizuki's perspective.
"Can I just say something, Mizuki?" Iruka continued. "Even if you quit being a ninja right now and officially retired, you might become a millionaire and an honored guest of Lady Fifth."
"Sounds reasonable. What do you think if I directly applied for retirement to Lady Fifth, saying I was inspired by Teacher Iruka to become a capitalist? Would that work?"
"You're really cracking jokes. If you ever tried to retire, Lady Fifth would break your bones just to drag you back."
Iruka burst into laughter.
"You know what? Everyone who knows us understands your abilities are as distinctive as your reputation."
"Don't talk about my reputation... We can still be friends, Iruka..."
Iruka smiled slightly before glancing around and asking, "Does this layout look satisfying to you?"
"Not bad. You've put quite some effort into it, haven't you?"
"It's fine. You've already laid everything out, so we just followed your plan. However..." Iruka hesitated momentarily before asking, "There's something strange about this layout—it feels like there's a hidden secret."
"You noticed?" Mizuki said, a little surprised that Iruka had picked up on it. "Seems like you've actually sharpened your senses lately."
"Mizuki, all these years you've teased me—don't tell me you've never looked down on me," Iruka replied with slight dissatisfaction. "Looks like my suspicions were correct—you indeed prepared something nasty. This is a Barrier, right?"
Mizuki gave Iruka a thumbs-up gesture and whispered, "Don't make a sound!"
"Iruka..."
"Iruka sighed, clearly troubled. 'Your strength keeps growing, but you're getting more reckless. Isn't that asking for trouble?'
Mizuki patted Iruka's shoulder and said, 'Isn't pretending not to know enough? Anyway, you can always say you were following my orders. Don't sweat it—I know my limits.'
'You have *self-restraint*?' Iruka replied with a bitter smile. 'Hearing you say that actually makes me break into a cold sweat. Are we going to get in trouble for this?'
'Don't worry, I've got your back.'
Mizuki solemnly pledged, thumping his chest, that he'd make sure Iruka wouldn't be implicated."
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