In the Hokage's office, apart from the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, only Yamanaka Inoichi and Mizuki were present. No one else had been permitted to attend.
After listening to their report, Hiruzen's expression turned grim with surprise.
"Are you certain, Mizuki?"
"There's a high chance he'll survive," Mizuki replied, "but we can't say for sure there won't be complications. We've never tested this on a human subject—so the outcome is uncertain."
"I see," Hiruzen nodded thoughtfully, stroking his beard. After a moment of silence, he asked, "What kind of assistance do you require?"
Hearing the Third Hokage's question, Mizuki let out a quiet breath of relief. For a shinobi like Hiruzen, the weight of deciding between life and death was immense. But in a world as unpredictable as the shinobi's, keeping someone alive meant there was always a chance for recovery. If Tsunade were here, most problems would likely be solvable.
Night had completely fallen, and Konoha Hospital was no longer bustling with daytime activity. In a quiet private lounge, Mizuki and Yamanaka Inoichi were making their final preparations.
Mizuki checked the sealing array and the prepared materials again and again, meticulously scanning for any oversight.
Inoichi suddenly opened his eyes and asked, "Nervous?"
"Yeah," Mizuki admitted with a strained smile. "It's unsettling, knowing someone's life is entirely in your hands."
"You've seen plenty of battle. Haven't you gotten used to this sort of thing?"
"That's true," Mizuki replied. "But fighting enemies on the battlefield is different from this. Very different."
Perhaps the old Mizuki—who would have left a wounded comrade behind if the mission demanded it—wouldn't have cared. But lately, after everything that had happened, that part of him was changing. Slowly.
"It's always like this," Inoichi said with a sigh. "Every time we do this kind of operation, it weighs on you."
"Aren't you nervous?"
"Why would I be?" Inoichi replied with a casual shrug. "All I have to do is my part. The rest is your problem."
"Ha… fair enough," Mizuki muttered bitterly. "That's what I get for asking for help."
At that moment, an ANBU agent knocked on the door.
"It's time. Everything is ready. Please follow me."
Mizuki and Inoichi followed the ANBU to a sealed chamber beneath the hospital. On the floor, a complex sealing array—drawn precisely to Mizuki's specifications—was already prepared. Moonlight Gale lay unconscious in the center.
"Hurry. Prolonged exposure isn't good for Gale," Inoichi urged.
"Understood." Mizuki stepped forward and began inscribing the final sealing script directly onto Gale's body.
Once the last seal was in place, Mizuki turned to the four ANBU stationed at the corners of the chamber.
"Begin."
The four ANBU immediately sat in formation around the room and began channeling chakra. A barrier shimmered to life, covering the entire chamber in a translucent dome of chakra.
"Your turn, senpai," Mizuki said to Inoichi.
"Here goes." Inoichi stepped forward, activated the Shinranshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Disturbance Technique), and began the delicate process of mental infiltration.
"…Hm?" Inoichi's brow furrowed. "This resistance is stronger than last time. The barrier must be helping."
Seeing that Mizuki's method was actually working, Inoichi took a more cautious approach, carefully navigating the damaged mental space.
Mizuki waited anxiously nearby. While he was confident the procedure would work, spiritual and mental techniques were never his specialty. A single mistake here could cause irreversible harm.
His method was simple—at least in theory. Inspired by the spiritual focus techniques used in Kakashi's summoning contract, and building on his own experiments with chakra inscriptions (such as the shop sign-turned-focus array from his earlier work), Mizuki had developed a way to stabilize the fragmented mental state caused by a failed Yamanaka jutsu.
In this case, Moonlight Gale had lost the ability to naturally recover from psychic trauma. Inoichi had explained that as long as his mental structure could be kept from collapsing, full recovery might be possible.
Mizuki's solution was straightforward—brute-force stabilization. He designed a soul-gathering seal array, based on the Four Symbols Seal, and had four ANBU channel chakra into the structure to maintain it during Inoichi's mental dive. Once the psychic reading was complete, Mizuki would "bind" the scattered fragments of Gale's spirit using chakra compression and seal reinforcement—essentially snapping a broken psyche back into place like a medic setting a bone.
Whether it would heal perfectly or come out crooked… well, that was a problem for later. Right now, it was about keeping Gale alive.
From Mizuki's perspective, survival was likely. At worst, Gale might suffer minor memory loss or disorientation—better than death or total cognitive collapse.
Time passed slowly. Mizuki glanced at the ANBU still maintaining the barrier. Their breathing was strained—understandable. The barrier's chakra demand was immense, but its integrity had to hold. If Mizuki were doing this alone, he might have powered it himself. But since it was to save someone, redundancy was safer.
Finally, Inoichi—his forehead beaded with sweat—pulled back and ended the jutsu.
"It's done," he said breathlessly. "Your method worked. But it took much more effort than usual."
"Thanks. I'll handle the rest now," Mizuki said.
He turned to the ANBU. "Just a little longer. Hold it steady."
Forming a hand seal, Mizuki focused his chakra and pressed his palm to Moonlight Gale's forehead. The sealing marks across Gale's body lit up, flickering to life as if pulsing with breath.
"Tch… slower than I expected. Chakra drain is high, but manageable."
The barrier shuddered slightly, and the four ANBU tensed, feeling the strain.
Gradually, the pulsing seals contracted and gathered into Mizuki's palm, forming a cross-mesh seal centered on Gale's forehead. The markings etched themselves into his skin, just above the brows, trailing down the sides of his face like ceremonial tattoos. Then, they vanished beneath the skin—settling the spirit within.
Mizuki, completely drained, collapsed backward and sat on the floor.
A team of medical-nin, waiting silently in the shadows, rushed in to examine Moonlight Gale's condition.