Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 4: Ominous Clouds & Genin in Hospital

Disclaimer:

Just borrowing Naruto for a while…

The man who abandoned his village only to found a new one stared down at the flickering shadows cast by the torch mounted directly behind him. A part of him was much captivated by the dancing shadows that played yin to light's yang. Thus, in the deep silence of his underground lair, the man considered things that were, things that are and things that will be. Finally, after many minutes of contemplation, he chose to acknowledge the one kneeling in supplication before his throne.

"Sakon."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," Sakon answered his master's call in a voice that brimmed with reverence, and unconditional devotion and loyalty.

"What news from Suna?"

"Yondaime Kazekage did not commit himself to the offer of alliance, master."

Orochimaru nodded. He hadn't expected the mission to accomplish anything concrete so early. The Kazekage would be the greatest fool on earth if he expressed interest to the rogue sannin's overtures so early in the game when he had so much to gain by playing his cards close to his heart.

"But…" he prompted.

"The Kazekage tried to mask it, but he is much taken by the idea. He's caught between a rock and a hard place, and we offer him the much needed hammer."

"Reasons for your conclusion?"

"Suna has been abandoned to die on the vine by their Daimyo. He has been cuckolding them for years now, but until recently, he always left enough of the pie for Suna to survive, if only as a pauper. Now, Suna's economy is showing signs of teetering on the edge of the abyss and will collapse without succor. They are left with the option to pursue several approaches that boil down to these two choices: Break the Daimyo's power or strike at Konoha, the other root cause of their current predicament.

"Until our offer of alliance, both options were tantamount to the same thing. The latter would result in a quick death in battle as opposed to a slow death by economic collapse because of the former. The Kazekage has tried for years to take the middle road and broker peace between his village and the Daimyo. He has tried unsuccessfully to impress upon his ruler, Suna's necessity to the nation's defense. His words have fallen on deaf ears so far. He knows, as do we, that the time fast approaches when his hands are tied and he is forced to act. In Suna's weakened condition, he would be a fool to strike against Konoha. Suna would be crushed. This leaves then, the other option: Removing the Daimyo."

"Yondaime Kazekage is a patriot," Orochimaru pointed out gleefully. He knew all the arguments why Suna would accept the alliance – it was his plan to get Suna to betray Konoha, after all – but he wanted to test Sakon. The young guard was not privy to the debate regarding the operation, even though he was Oto's ambassador to Suna.

"It is precisely because he is a patriot that Yondaime Kazekage has been hesitant to assassinate the Daimyo. But until our intervention, all other doors were closed to him and assassination followed by seppuku to atone for his sins was the only option that remained open. With our offer, he does not have to strip the country and his own village of their leaders. He will see reason and do as he must."

Orochimaru nodded. If there had been any uncertainty about the wisdom of choosing Sakon to command the embassy to Suna, this conversation put paid to it. Sakon, he was sure, would shape to be a good administrator in the glory days of Oto to come.

"Leave me, Sakon. You have done well," he said.

Sakon bowed to his master and exited the audience chamber, a smile on his face. He was glad that he'd read the boring report Tayuya stole from Kimimaro's desk.

Xxxxx

Frightful hate and self-centered egotism combined with an unquenchable hunger for power defined Mizuki's personality. Or so said his psych-report.

The assessment was accurate for the most part.

Mizuki was an individual more concerned with personal power than the welfare of the village. Others around him believed he was loyal to Konoha, but Mizuki was loyal to Mizuki alone and no one else. He considered those who willingly laid down their lives for "causes" fools.

And though he rarely showed it, always acting the proper, caring teacher, Mizuki could, and often did, hate with a frightening intensity. He hated a great many people within Konoha and without. He hated those who thought him weak, made him appear weak, stood in his way, or looked down upon him. Naruto had a special place on that list because Mizuki remembered how the Kyuubi's attack reduced him to a quivering, sobbing mass as a genin. His pride could not forgive the demon for that humiliation and by proxy, Naruto.

Mizuki's superiors considered him a security risk because of his flawed personality. For the longest time, they let him stew as a chuunin because of it. He had the potential to become a decent jounin, they privately admitted. But while he lacked neither ambition nor aggression, they were wary of entrusting him with the duty and responsibilities that went with the rank because of his untrustworthy nature. In the end, they decided that in a time of peace, the risks of promotion far outweighed the returns.

In fact, it was only because of a bureaucratic screw-up that Mizuki became a teacher. The concerned official took ill the week the academy requested for a new pedagogue. The sick bureaucrat's young and inexperienced assistant, lacking the security clearance to Mizuki's psych-report, assigned the recently promoted chuunin in the middle of an R&R cycle. No one realized the mistake until a week later when a concerned ANBU raised the issue with her commander, who escalated it to the highest levels. In the end, after much debate and numerous calls for Mizuki's dismissal, the Hokage overruled his advisors. He ordered increased surveillance and gave his ANBU reports permission to terminate the chuunin with prejudice if they observed him exerting a wrong influence on the students.

The spies were called off when three months went by without Mizuki doing anything suspicious. ANBU corps' mission plate was filled to bursting and there were only so many of the Hokage's most trusted assassins to carry them out.

As later events would highlight, the decision to call off the hounds was a regrettable one.

The Hokage's orders were sound on paper and he gave them only because his intuition told him the report maybe wrong. But even the most carefully honed instinct can sometimes lead one astray, which they did in this instance, proving once and for all to Sarutobi's detractors that the Professor was neither omniscient nor infallible. Apart from the political capital it cost the Third, the incident would continue to haunt him throughout the waning days of his reign. His opponents would always fallback on it as a last come about to rally their ranks and raise doubts within his.

But then, as Sarutobi himself admitted to his confidants, sometimes there was no helping these things. Trust in their subordinates was one of the key differentiators that separated the hokages from the other kages. It was even one of Konoha's biggest strengths against its enemies and competitors. After all, any structure built on suspicion works as much against itself as against its enemies and is ultimately self-defeating in the long run.

In Mizuki's case, as it was general knowledge that only the most trusted up and coming officers were even allowed near trainees, he spent the first few months gloating about his posting as well as the accompanying increase in status and was all joy and smiles. So great was his high, that it was sometime before he thought of using his position to his advantage and further his own ambition. By then, ANBU HQ had called off surveillance and Mizuki was free, a wolf in sheep's clothing to prey on innocent lambers. He used that freedom to spy on his students and reported on them for money and vague promises of power.

Until one very unlucky Rice country merchant fell into the clutches of a ruthless bunch of bandits who were really farmers by vocation, but who also had no qualms about spilling blood for a little extra cash.

xxxxx

Tonight was the happiest night of Mizuki's life. After two months of diligent work as one of the Hokage's many errand boys, his prayers were answered finally. This very night, he was alone with the vaunted scrolls of the Third with but a somnolent guard between him and the whole wide world beyond.

How did this turn of events come to be?

Earlier in the week, Mizuki had received a missive from Resources informing him that he was on temporary loan to the archiving section as part of the effort to organize the Hokage's collection. On reading his orders, the chuunin had been so taken by the possibility of getting his hands on all the techniques and intel in the library that it did not even strike him once that the assignment was an entrapment.

Suppressing the conflicting emotions – ecstasy and terror – threatening to drown his heart, Mizuki extended his arm slowly toward the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques. This action would cut the Gordian knot, he knew, which explained the shaking.

In the past, people had been killed for looking this particular scroll the wrong way and shinobi who tried to steal it were given the full royal treatment. The lucky ones were fed poison to suppress their chakra and impaled on a long stake. The unlucky ones were also fed poison to suppress their chakra but were either impaled on a short stake or crucified by tying them to a cross. Mizuki himself had seen two crucifixions himself and as the memory of those poor bastards struck him, he suppressed a shiver. He consoled himself against his fears by telling himself that it was a good thing he had the perfect plan and had been granted the right opportunity or even the rich rewards to be had by stealing the scroll would be outweighed by the threat of discovery and punishment.

Grabbing the document, Mizuki laid it on the ground alongside a miniature scroll less than two centimeters tall. His scroll had seals of a special sort used for copying text from drawn on its outer face. He bit into a bit of bark to keep the screams down, summoned a minute quantity of chakra and activated the seals. A phantom pain akin to clutching red-hot iron erupted on both hands. It lasted mere moments, but very intense. Only the fact that Mizuki knew to expect it and the extensive training he'd received on ignoring pain kept him from fainting straightaway. Still, when the deed was done, he spit out the bark and collapsed gasping on the floor. It was minutes before he mastered himself enough to stand up. He examined his palms, which were reddening already in response to the imaginary pain. Tomorrow, he would need to burn both appendages for real so that he could receive medical attention and escape suspicion, remote though that possibility was.

But now… Mizuki smiled at the direction that thought led. Now, it was time to celebrate. He returned the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques to its place on the shelf and hid the bark close to the middle of the pile of thrash in the garbage bin. Finally, he picked up the miniature scroll and secured it in a hollow metal cocoon. Screwing the container shut, he swallowed it whole with a liberal glass of water. Then, he strolled out of the room, wished the guard standing outside goodnight and signed himself out for the day.

In the darkness that descended upon the room as the door closed behind Mizuki, a masked figure melted out of the wall.

"Rat, Worm has left the office. Be warned that he's carrying contraband, identified as illegal copy of Scroll of Forbidden Techniques in his person," a masculine voice muffled by the mask whispered into the air.

He paused for a few seconds to listen to the reply from the other end.

"Relax, Rat. Idiot used sealed parchment to make the copy… Yeah, that's why I called him an idiot, but I'll grant you his plan was a good one within the boundaries of his limited knowledge… Yeah, I'll file the report and inform the Captain. We need to keep a sharp eye on the treasonous bastard in the coming days lest we miss the drop."

Unknown to Mizuki, the seals that were the cornerstone of his plan could be countered with seals of a higher order that was forbidden knowledge to all but the Hokage's most trusted subordinates. Those very same seals protected the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques. The chuunin did not know but his stolen copy contained a mess of lines that meant zilch.

xxxxx

Today had started like the day before and everyday that preceded it for the past three months. Naruto woke up, finished his morning ablutions, ran across the rooftops to the training ground, and trained with Sasuke and Sakura until Kakashi showed up. It deviated from that point on with Kakashi abandoning the now almost traditional morning exercise regimen for something new.

"Today," he said, "we'll break the pattern just for the sheer randomness of it."

Kakashi's words did not fool his students for a minute. Bitter experience had taught them that the jounin did not do random. Hard toil and spilled blood had imprinted in their psyche the need to look underneath the underneath. Now, they searched for hidden motivations even in the mundane interactions of everyday life. And training with their mentor was anything but. Even the bright and friendly grin on Hatake's masked face did not lull them into a sense of security. That grin had heralded nothing but misery, fractures, contusions and whatnot in the last three months, and they knew that the pattern wasn't going to change today.

If Kakashi read the slight tightening of his students' shoulders that gave away what their faces did not, he chose to not comment on it. There were things that only experience could teach, after all and this was one of them.

"What's the plan, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"A daylong bell-grabbing exercise. It's a test of stamina, endurance, battle prowess, tactical, strategic and operational acumen, and of course, your will to survive."

A pause.

"Well, mainly, your will to survive," Kakashi added as an afterthought.

"Every day with you is a battle of survival," Sakura replied, glaring at Kakashi and meeting his eyes challengingly.

"Ah, but you're mistaken, Sakura-chan."

Sakura looked askance at Kakashi as he moved to stand on Team 7's right flank. Her teammates followed their sensei with their eyes as well, but did not break discipline otherwise. Yet another painful lesson had taught them to never take their eyes off their opponent and to never break ranks before being dismissed. They were, as Kakashi put it, "soldiers damnit and had better learn military tradition or so help me god, I'll bury your stinky, putrescent, no-good carcasses where you stand."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask at yet another important lesson successfully imparted to his students.

"You mean you're actively going to try to kill us," Naruto announced. At his words, the tightening around the shoulders disappeared on all three members of Team 7. The way they carried themselves looked and felt totally relaxed. It was as if they had not a care in the world.

Kakashi knew better. This was what he trained them for, after all. Team 7 may fool all civilians except that one in a ten thousand oddity and even most jounins, but they did not have the practice to pull one over a highly skilled veteran like him. A few years down the line, they probably would be able to, but right now, with no one else's influence to alter the personalities he'd sculpted from the base material, he could read them like an open book.

So Kakashi knew this was the calm before the storm. This was Team 7 ready, willing and straining at their leash to let loose the wrath of heaven as soon as their master pointed them to a target.

"You're right," Kakashi told Naruto, knowing that with those words, he'd set his war hounds on himself.

But Team 7 did not move. Kakashi hadn't announced the conditions for the exercise after all.

The jounin moved behind them to threaten their rear and spoke, "The rules are simple. Three against one. No holds barred. Exercise ends at sunset or if all three of you die."

Pause.

An errant breeze rustled the leaves on the crest of a nearby tree.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu."

All hell broke loose.

xxxxx

It was fast approaching twilight and Sakura stared up at the bright blue sky partially hidden by the green tree canopy. Her parched throat hurt and it took some effort to swallow. A sparrow or something else sang in the background. She really could not tell which.

Pause.

Sakura's head rolled down. She was too weak to support it for long and she stared at her blood-encrusted hand holding her intestines from slipping out of her abdomen. She had tried what she could to heal the mortal wound and fortunately, the intestines were not perforated, but she did not have enough chakra. She was way behind Sasuke in that area, who was in turn, leagues behind Naruto.

Which is really less than useful in this situation, she thought to herself. Realizing that her mind was wandering, a sure sign of her worsening condition, Sakura tried to summon the last residual chakra left in her body. She grasped hold of it and reaching behind, placed her hand over the spleen. Grimacing at the effort even that little movement took, she bit her lips – she dared not cry out in pain lest she give away her position to Kakashi who really was trying to kill her – and applied herself to the arduous and painful procedure.

Forcing the spleen repeatedly to produce mature red blood cells, like she had, had a one in hundred chance of ruining the organ, but there was a chance she would slip into shock and lose consciousness without it and all the Gatorade she'd drank. And with Kakashi on the warpath till the conclusion of the exercise, she needed to be awake and in control of her mind. If the jounin happened upon her while she was passed out, there was a chance he would slit her throat the way he had been carrying on since morning. And that was going to happen over her dead body. She had wasted too much time and effort surviving Team 7's psychopath teacher and his insane training regimen to die now.

Xxxxxx

Naruto gingerly tried rotating his left wrist to see if the break was properly healed from the last skirmish as he and Sasuke hid behind two separate tree trunks, blocking Kakashi's access to Sakura. It was. He did not understand why he could heal so fast, but never before had he been more thankful for the ability than today. Without it and Sasuke's sharingan, Team 7 would have been dead ten times over. Of course, without Sakura's suicidal holding action in those first few dreadful minutes of the exercise, they may very well have died under the press of the jounin's initial assault, but she had borne the brunt of the attack and bought them the precious time they needed to survive. And now, it was up to her teammates to save her from their murderous teacher.

Naruto flashed hand signs in battle language at his warrior brother and nodded at the reply. Kakashi was not yet so close that they had to attack immediately. Naruto used the breather to check his weapons pouch and resize his dress. It was torn into tatters after so many hours of battle against an opponent of Hatake's caliber. He was bloody, dirty, hungry, thirsty, angry, and afraid and a whole lot of other things that he could not even put words on, but the will to fight and protect ran like an all-consuming blaze in his veins. So long as even a drop of blood flowed in them, Naruto knew, Kakashi would not touch a single hair on Sakura's or Sasuke's shoulder.

"Hold it, sensei," Naruto shouted, stepping into the open with Sasuke when Kakashi limped out of the brush towards them.

The jounin sported bloody field bandages on his left leg and right shoulder – courtesy of Sasuke and Naruto – in payback for gutting Sakura. That particular action had cost Naruto a broken rib that had since healed and a deep gash on Sasuke's right cheek, but the two deemed it fair exchange for what Kakashi did to their teammate.

"Ah, Naruto. Sasuke," Kakashi nodded at them.

Silence.

"Do not approach any further," Sasuke warned, breaking the pause.

Kakashi looked the raven-haired genin over. The boy looked much the worse for wear, but while his body may fail him yet, there was still plenty of fight left in his eyes.

"You're bleeding and at the end of your reserves," he said in his most reasonable voice. "Why do you protect her? She's a weakling who couldn't last even a handful of minutes in the fight and got knocked out early in the exercise."

"She's our teammate," Naruto replied. Then, "We mean it, sensei. Do not approach any further."

"She's a weakling," Kakashi repeated his earlier words. "And weaklings pull you down."

The air seemed to freeze as the jounin unleashed the full force of his killing intent. Never before had it felt so powerful and murderous in any exercise conducted so far. The insane desire to rend, dismember and kill was almost a physical thing. It was almost as if they were in the presence of death itself.

"Choose, boys. Sakura or your life."

Naruto reply was a massive gokakyu. He ran through the seals too fast for human eyes to follow.

At the same time, Sasuke replaced himself with a kawarimi to reappear on Kakashi's left flank. The huge ball of fire that spewed from Naruto's mouth cut off any possible avenues of escape to the right for the jounin. Most nin would have been caught flatfooted by a two-pronged attack, but the former ANBU commander was not most nin. He spotted at least three holes in the trap, but instead of using them to escape his students, he used the biggest flaw in Naruto's chosen technique to counterattack. The blonde was still inexperienced enough with the katon jutsu that he had to stand still while using it and an immobile defendant in the open is at a huge disadvantage against a mobile attacker.

So, Kakashi made a beeline for Naruto, completely ignoring Sasuke and the wall of flames closing in on his person. With one last burst of pure speed, he slipped under the inferno and penetrated Naruto's guard. Before the genin could raise his fists to defend himself, Kakashi chambered a textbook punch and slammed it into his student's chest. Fortunately, Naruto had quit the ninjutsu when he moved to block the jounin's attack and thus, escaped having his lungs burnt to cinder as had nearly happened with Sasuke during the graduation fight. Unfortunately, the force of the punch was enough that Naruto went crashing into a tree hard enough to shake it.

As Naruto thumped against the hard trunk, Sasuke's kunai struck Kakashi in the back of his thigh. The genin's aim was spot on and the kunai should have split Kakashi's femur in two, rendering him immobile and winning Team 7 a very hard fought pyrrhic victory. Only, instead of collapsing like a sack of meal, Kakashi puffed out of existence in a little cloud of smoke.

It took a moment for the realization to dawn in Sasuke's head, but he understood what happened. As soon as he became cognizant, his eyes widened as the ramifications of Kakashi's subterfuge struck him. The way to Sakura was unguarded and unprotected, with neither of her guardians in a position to intercept her killer before he got to her.

"Naruto," he shouted, "get up. Kakashi pulled a lid over our eyes and went hunting after Sakura."

Naruto groggily made to get to his feet, but his footing was unsteady. The crash had wounded him badly. Sasuke spared his teammate a glance and took off running.

"I'm going ahead to run interference. Join me fast or we're lost."

xxxxx

"So here we are," Kakashi said, not unkindly. It had taken him less time than he thought it would to find his pink-haired student in this stretch of forest, but more than enough time had passed that either Naruto or Sasuke should have blocked him. They had not. So, what was happening with those two? "Any last wishes?"

Sakura glared defiantly at the jounin. There were flies around her, attracted by all the blood, and the ground underneath was soaked with blood. She knew as he did that with her wounds, she was in no condition to fight. It must have cost her a major chunk of what little strength she had left, but she held a kunai in her free hand to defend herself. Her other hand, of course, was busy staunching the blood and keeping her intestines from slipping out.

Kakashi shrugged. It wasn't as if he'd expected Sakura to silently submit to an execution.

"For what it's worth, I'll make it quick and painless," he said and threw two shuriken aimed at her throat. In her condition, it was possible she could block one, but there was no chance in hell she could block two. With that throw, Sakura was, for all intents and purposes, a corpse.

Only, Sasuke was suddenly there. Having shunshined in, he protected her with his body, taking both shuriken in his back. The thrown weapons bit deep into his muscles. He reached behind and pulled them out, screaming in agony at the pain.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said, sounding amiable as if he were discussing the weather, "get out of the way and I'll let you live. Sakura's life is the only price I demand of Team 7 for your abysmal performance today."

"Over my dead body," Sasuke gasped out, slowly getting to his feet.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whispered as she saw the cuts and scrapes and blood on him.

"Don't protect her, Sasuke. It's not worth it. Save yourself."

"Go to hell," Sasuke grated out in a stronger voice as the blinding pain receded a bit.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"As you wish. You'll both die today," he said and reached for his weapons pouch.

But before he could pull out his kunai, an animalistic cry of fury erupted through the brush and a chakra, the likes of which Kakashi had felt only once, exploded to his left. Kakashi turned and Naruto came barreling in, his body shrouded in the Kyuubi's accursed chakra.

The next moment, a punch that would have killed the jounin had he not cushioned it with chakra smashed into his face and he went barreling into a bush about fifty yards away. Kakashi calmly rose up, his whole carriage screaming nonchalance, and brushed a few of specks dirt off his shoulders. Naruto faced down the jounin with ethereal red chakra blazing all around him.

"You stay away from them, you hear," Naruto said, radiating pure menace and mega-doses of killing intent. "You stay away from Sakura and Sasuke or I'll rip you to shreds."

"Excellent. You've all learned teamwork and esprit de corps. Finally," Kakashi replied calmly. His own team had failed long before this very test on a real battlefield before he learned sense, but his students did not. There would never be a tragedy like Obito in this team! "Now, Naruto, release your hold on the Kyuubi's chakra. The medics will absolutely refuse to approach this place while you're using it."

A second later, the Kyuubi's chakra gutted around Naruto as his strength failed him finally. The boy swayed on his feet and fell down, unconscious.

xxxxx

"You broke my law," the Sandaime grated, looking quiet displeased with Kakashi.

"It had to be done. They are his teammates and a secret of this magnitude would have destroyed everything I've tried so hard to build."

"You put your life in danger. Naruto did not know it himself until today. Be glad his team does not hate him. Else I would have you crucified for doing such a thing."

"I knew they would not," Kakashi said, waving aside the threat.

"You couldn't have been sure," Sarutobi said pointedly.

Kakashi smiled.

"They're my team, Hokage-sama. I was sure."

The Hokage finally relaxed and shook his head.

"You'll be the death of me," he grumbled. "I must have been insane when I gave you Team 7."

Silence.

"What did the medics say about Naruto?" the Hokage asked, switching topics.

Kakashi looked uncomfortable.

"He's lost a lot of blood and his skull was holed. If he'd been a normal kid, he'd have died instantaneously. As it is, he'll pull through."

"Have you considered what'd have happened if Naruto had died?"

Kakashi nodded.

"I have, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi stared.

"You should have been a bit less zealous, Kakashi. You actions risked the release of the Kyuubi."

"The thought did cross my mind," Kakashi agreed.

"Reflect on your actions, Kakashi. I expect you to show more forethought in the future."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Moving on, what's Sakura's prognosis?"

"The medics said she'd lost a lot of blood but she'll survive without any long term complications, Hokage-sama. They said that she'd managed to treat herself in a very imaginative way. To quote one of the doctors, she's definitely a genius in the making."

"Good."

"Team 7 will be struck in the hospital for three more days. I would like to take them on their first mission as soon as they recover."

"D-rank?" Sarutobi asked, hoping that Kakashi would see the wisdom of it.

"C-rank."

Sarutobi thought about it. Ordinarily, he would refuse, but then, after the nightmare Kakashi had put his students through, they were something else. So…

"I have an escort mission to Land of Waves in four days requested by a bridge builder named Tazuna."

"Team 7'll take that."

"Anything else?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed, Kakashi."

After Kakashi shunshined out, Sarutobi turned his attention to the confidential report on his desk. He'd considered assassinating Mizuki, but that wasn't really a choice. While the man had tried to steal the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques to sell to Konoha's enemies, a crime that warranted death sentence, the identify of those enemies precluded his execution. All but one of the four controls he passed information to through his merchant-spies were known associates of Orochimaru, Sarutobi's own prodigal student and S-rank criminal who hated Konoha and everything from Konoha with a passion. Orochimaru's interest in Team 7 was a big cause of concern and the Third just knew that nothing good was going to come off it.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Hope you liked the real bell test and hope you understood the logic behind Suna's betrayal. Friendship and goodwill have a place in the world, but necessity will always supersede them.

I think I did a decent job handling the truth about the Kyuubi. LOL I also know that I needn't have spent so much time on Mizuki, but I wanted to etch out his character. He is a minor character who nevertheless plays a pivotal role in the story, after all.

Do leave reviews if you liked the story.