Lies and life of one Mizuki
Mizuki cried out in panic and struggled feebly against the corpse lying on top of him. When he realized he was the only one moving and making noise, he turned his bloodshot eyes on the horrid face of the monster holding him down and put all the strength he had into one almighty heave. He could barely crawl away from the edge of the water after that. It took all his will to do it. He was thirsty. The medicine he'd been forced to swallow before sending his summon away with Orochimaru's documents had felt it like it was burning him from the inside, and made him live horrible visions and memories, much like a Tsukuyomi genjutsu.
He backed away, shocked and confused at how still everything was, the water and especially the deranged experiments. Then he looked up, only to see a humanoid apparition, shining brilliant white in the darkness of the cave, looking down on him.
Silence
Once again, the Konoha shinobi was startled and backed away. He only stopped when his palm splashed into the lake water behind him. Just knowing what happened previously was enough to stop him. Slowly, he looked back up to whatever that thing was.
He found himself with a normal glass of water right in front of his face. "Drink." the man …. said in a voice that carried echo.
Mizuki hesitated, thought it was half-hearted at best. Just a minute before he'd mindlessly tried to drink from the chemical infested lake, even though he knew it was a bad idea. On the other hand, the part of his mind still operational noted that 'Ciel' (made up summon) didn't mention this when he described Orochimaru's defences.
What was he thinking?! Time freezing? Glowing spirits in the Orochimaru's hiding spot? He was probably dead, or in the brink of death and hallucinating-
"You know, if you don't want it, I suppose I'll just throw it away"
"No wait.." he croaked. His voice raw, and he almost collapsed when he stopped supporting his weight with his arms. He doubted he could hallucinate such a sophisticated and realistic. Yugao was the one with the imagination. And if he was dead it wouldn't make a difference whether he was drunk or not. Although, if he were dead, would he feel so awful and thirsty? Mizuki didn't think he would be able to appreciate Ciel more than he already did, but he'd been proven wrong.
The moment the water touched his lips, he felt part of the tension in his muscles fade. The cold liquid was like a balm to his stomach and he slumped with a sigh. Before he could think of returning the glass though, it was gone, vanished. Wearily, he looked up and tried to make out what he was seeing, but his best guess was a short man in some sort of armor, an ankle-length robe of sorts, and a scarf gliding through the air like it had a mind of its own. But he couldn't make out any details.
The Shunshin was silent, watching him. It had its arms crossed and it was leaning against the pedestal, five feet away. Mizuki' mind was scattered, but not enough for him to forget to retrieve a kunei before slowly climbing to his feet. A rushed analysis showed he was bruised all over, had a strained leg muscle and had torn clothes while wrestling with that experiment. He noticed the sleeve on his upper left arm was ripped apart and he self-consciously shifted his position, moving the anbu tattoo out of the…. person's line of sight.
"I have only one question for you." He said. His voice sounded like a breeze upon the sea, and Mizuki only then started to realize he was witnessing something extraordinary. "Why did you not inform your Anko of your findings and what you set out to do?"
Mizuki wanted to do the predictable thing. To ask who or what he or it was. To ask what he wanted from him, why he was here, why then, why come to me? But he knew it was pointless to do so. So Mizuki actually thought about his answer, realizing everything depended on it. "I dug my own grave when I took the ANBU tattoo" he absently grabbed the remains of his clothes, trying to cover his upper left shoulder, not facing the ghost. "I have to deal with my own mess, and destroying the seal is the only way I think I can make amends". He paused "And because of what he did to Konoha." he almost hissed that last part.
"... I see" Mizuki felt rather like he was examined in very keen detail. And when the man uncrossed his hands, he felt dread descend upon him as shadows started to shift on the deranged experiments again. "Then I will respect your decision to, as you said, deal with your own mess."
He barely evaded the mad lunged of the experiment on the left. "Shurikenjutsu" He didn't wait to hear the splash. He attacked again with another jutsu and looked around, only to see no sign of whatever he had been talking to until a second before. "Katon: Dai Endan! Katon: Karyudan!" Desperate to move as far away from the water edge as possible, he made for the pedestal and pushed power from his burnt out throat "Katon: Dai Endan!" A large gust of fire blasted the three experiments on his right and gave him some room to maneuver.
"That was it!" he yelled at nothing. "Shurikenjutsu" Anger or desperation, he didn't know what it was that overcame the lingering agony from the vile Sarutobi gave to him before this mission. Either way, the deranged experiment exploded nicely. "Why appear to me at all then!? Why- Katon jutso!" he ducked kicked the beast to fly over him and crash into the one sneaking up on him. Throwing a kunei Mizuki would have cursed at how weak he was. Normally he was decent at performing the correct jutsu gestures but now he had to use ameture shortcuts.
An experiment grabbed him by his arm, but he managed to cut it off with a quick slash from his kunei. He knew he didn't stand a chance if he kept this on, and he cursed Orochimaru's name.
Another ten seconds and still no solution in sight. So he did the only thing he could think of that might work, even though he knew it was suicide, simply, due to the drain on his chakra that it would entail. "Barrier no jutsu!" He felt his strength seeping, draining, but a dome of force started to raise from the ground, surround the underground, lake filled lab completely. Forcing his hands to move a second time, he yelled! "Katon: Dai Endan!" The dome grew and the color started to change. Mizuki wasn't sure he was seeing it properly, but he pushed on "Katon: Karyduan!"
He had only a few breaths to the experiments burn and disintegrate as they threw themselves against his last ditch defence, but then he fell to his knees and almost lost a hold of his senbon in his mouth. Dry gasps shook his slim body and he had to grit his teeth and will himself not to lose consciousness.
When he finally saw things besides yellow spots, he blearily lifted his gaze and saw a horde of deranged, curse sealed, experiments still hurling itself at him. It made his stomach churn, the realization Orochimaru had murdered enough people to amass an army of restless edo tensei'd dead to guard his lab that no one would ever visit willingly. Except him.
He tried to stand up, but failed. That had been the last move. He was honestly surprised he didn't pass out "Shurikinjut…." His shurikens was as heavy as a maul, in his hand. He would have heaved a bitter laugh if he wasn't too exhausted to do so.
At last the impregnable barrier began to collapsed and the experiments came at him from all sides. Through it all, the young shinobi started at his upper left arm, where the ANBU mark could be seen. The cloth that surrounded it was gone now.
The creatures were just in arm's reach now.
"Alright"
Silence
Hesitantly, Mizuki forced his head to lift. The dead glare of a moisty corpse right in his face, but he was too out of it to react to it anymore, or the five beasts, ready to pounce, but frozen in time all the same.
Well past beyond caring what he looked like, he fell on his back and stared at the featureless man. "I lied" it should of been hard to admit, but it actually felt liberating. "Or rather I didn't answer your question."
"No." the tone was impossible to discern. "No you did not. I asked why you didn't send a message to Anko, not why you have taken the task you are spectacularly failing to carry out."
Mizuki wanted to snape that he'd planned it all out, accepting the hokage's mission, manipulated Naruto in taking the forbidden scroll. Letting, the kid learn a forbidden jutsu. Then gaining the trust of Orochimaru. But instead he slumped even further and let his shame show for the first time in 10 years. "I couldn't, I…" He swallowed a lump in his throat. It made him angry. "That stupid woman would have destroyed everything! She'd have trampled ev…. everything I believed! Everything I lived by!" With strength he did not know he had, he pushed himself to sit, and then stumbled to his feet again. Yet again. "She would've-" He refused to sob. He wouldn't break down.
And even with his resolve completely spent, he yelled "She would've just embraced and forgiven me."
It was a half question, half statement. "And you don't deserve that?"
"No I don't"
No response.
The Konoha shinobi was glad for it. It gave him an excuse to bow his head and push back the tears that so obstinately wanted to burst. It occurred to him that he still had no idea what was happening, who that man or creature was and why it was here. This might even be a hallucination, part of Orochimaru's safety measures. Maybe the sannin was watching him now, laughing.
"You are a fool, Mizuki." The battered young man almost yelped when he saw that the bright light was less than a foot away. "But your heart is in the right place now. As for foolishness, well… " A spectral arm reached out for him, and when the hand rested on his shoulder he felt like all his worries had gone away. "That isn't an unsolvable problem"
A bright flare of white blinded him, and when he finally managed to blink away some of the haze, he found himself standing, barely on the front porch of a house in the middle, a familiar house the orphanage. It was midnight, and the half moon shone unobstructed from behind, lighting the name on the front door.
He stared at it. He couldn't come up with a better plan than just standing on the front porch of this strangely familiar building. He must look a fine sight, ragged and beaten up, and filfthy.
Tired, his eyes drooped, and it was with luck that he noticed the welcome matt he was standing on. To Shinobi's not of Konoha descent, it would look like a random piece of furnishing, but Mizuki knew better. He'd seen it all before. Or rather the meaning of the writing being spoken aloud once, long ago.
It was a rune pattern, one that roughly spelled "May the next generation, teach the next"
The corners of his mouth twitched, but Mizuki was too tired to laugh, and if he tried, the movement would probably send him toppling, so he figured he may as well start do what people are supposed to do when at the door of his house.
Slowly, to avoid losing balance, he reached out and knocked.
Only in his semi-conscious state made him constantly forget how many times he knocked, so he just knocked and knocked again until someone finally answered.