Of the path less traveled

Age : 33 Posts : 544

The road to the village gates was the most well traveled road in the area. That meant it had the most amount of garbage collected on it. It disgusted Kiyomi since it detracted from the natural beauty of their land. Who could enjoy the trees and flowers when broken sake bottles littered the area and other such trash? Not her that's for sure. So she volunteered to do a bit of tidying up by herself. She had several garbage bags with her as well as a litter stick to spear the trash and dump it in.

It would take awhile for a single girl to pick up the trash along the long stretch of rode, but somehow no one seemed to have filed a complaint. This could have easily been a d-rank mission, but since no one complained and filed a request it was ignored. "People honestly are disgusting sometimes." She grimaced as she found a used diaper alongside the road. "Really are you kidding me? Who does that?" Wrinkling her nose she dropped the disgusting bit of trash in a bag and kept on doing her thankless job of cleaning the road.

The incident with the crazy ninja she had found in the forest was not forgotten. The Yamanaka kept an eye out for anyone trying to sneak up on her as she made slow progress down the road. So far the day had been quite. No one had come down the road, bird's where the only thing she heard so far, and no other wildlife was seen along the path. For the next hour nothing changed until the steady sound of hooves clopping came from up the road.

Looking up Kiyomi found a small caravan of two merchant wagons being pulled by some mules down the road. There wasn't more than a dozen people in the caravan, but they seemed to be somewhat wealthy. Even from here she could see some ornate rugs on the wagons and some jars likely containing spices. A valuable cargo to say the least. Now that they where in within several miles of the village they should be safe. No sane bandit would attempt to rob a caravan heading to a village of shinobi. Right?

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

It wasn’t an uncommon event for Nakotsumi Mana to be engaged in some sort of an errand. Sometimes it was her parents’ idea of raising their daughter into a responsible young lady as if her responsibility as a ninja of Konohagakure wasn’t enough. It was crystal clear to any outsider eye that Mana’s parents tried their best to raise their daughter as void of arrogance as possible, whether it was a trait that the Nakotsumi family despised or it just sort of turned out that way, Konoha’s Sorceress so often found herself with some sort of job on her hands. It sometimes happened that her errands were given to her by her neighbors or friends. Seeing how Mana was a rather famous girl in the village thanks to her performances as a stage magician growing as popular as they ever were, the young girl found herself surrounded by many friends with even more errands and favors being asked. It wasn’t that Mana was complaining, with no time limit to her little self imposed assignments and not a single mission in sight the Magician could just kick back and enjoy the slow pace of life in Konoha. Things were going almost too good and steady but Mana was never the one to jinx herself a disaster…

It was a similar occasion that Miss Satsuma walked greeted Mana as she was relaxing in a café she had grown used to due to the friendly staff. The café and Mana’s history went way back, the girl first discovered it right when she discovered the troubles of being relatively famous around the village and wishing a calm and relaxed rest. On one of these occasions the young genin slipped out of her magician’s uniform into something more casual – not such a common sight to behold by itself and tried to conceal herself into the crowd of café’s regular customers. It was then that Mana met Miss Satsuma’s daughter and her young brother who was quite the fan of Mana’s magic show. Since Mana realized just how impossible her peaceful rest will be from that day, she gave the young café waitress and her brother a ticket to a free show and has been letting them in for free ever since. It seemed that Miss Satsuma has taken that gesture quite fondly and was rather warm to Mana and her family in general. Mana didn’t really see a problem in pulling an errand or two for the elder lady and her family in return to some warmth from her side…

“So you see, Mana-chan, yesterday my eye fell on a very heinous sight of littering near the village gate, as I was tending to my patch of flowers I couldn’t help but notice all the bottles and sheets of paper all around. The problem was as I was picking it up they stacked and… Well my back just isn’t what it used to be…” the old lady kept telling the story. It wasn’t uncommon for the lady to tell the entire story in the quite literal meaning of the word which quite often made Mana wonder which part exactly shall lead the old lady to the important part of her tale… Such was the occasion right now as Mana kept wondering if the old lady wants her to help with the littering or the flowers or the back of the poor old lady. Then Mana finally got the idea, the lady used to bring Mana and her family some flowers which were obviously missing at the moment. “Don’t worry, Satsumi-san, I shall tend to your flower garden right now” Mana smiled cheerfully. It was one of those days when Mana felt full of energy and ready for work. In fact she was working on her magic routine for her next show just before Miss Satsuma came.

“Well than, Mana-chan, you’d better change that fancy outfit, gardens are quite messy… “ Miss Satsuma smiled and took a sip of the green tea that Mana made. It probably wasn’t as good as Mana’s mother makes it since when she started working in her own café she became Konoha’s Mistress of Tea! Those who tasted her tea or any other drink she made claimed it was either the best or really good. It wouldn’t even be fair for Mana to try to overcome that wall… After Miss Satsuma finished the tea and left Mana switched into her more casual dress which was ready to get dirty in the garden. There wasn’t that much work to be done to be honest, from what Miss Satsuma asked it was only to collect the flowers from a garden a bit beyond the village gate. “Feel free to collect some for yourself, I know how much you like the lilies, your mother was always more of a tulip person though…” the words of Miss Satsuma flashed back to Mana as the girl made her way through the village, stopping only slightly to say hello to anyone who greeted her or answering any questions about her activities and about the next magic show.

Mana doesn’t really venture far outside the village walls, only leaving on several occasions when on missions. Most of the time she ventures so close to the village gate that she remains in sight of the chuunin guarding it. This time the journey was a little further but she has done this exact errand several times before… This time something caught Mana’s eye as she was walking towards the forest past the training grounds where the little garden of Miss Satsuma was located – a young girl cleaning the very same trash that Miss Satsuma was troubled by earlier that morning. The young girl however turned the other side so Mana proceeded a little further to the South. After the errand was completed – Miss Satsuma was waiting for the flowers near the village gate, the girl cleaning the road didn’t leave Mana’s head “I guess if I’m feeling so nice today, I might as well go help her out, after all Miss Satsuma would feel better if I did…” the young genin thought and went on to where the girl was last seen by Mana.

All it took was a little following the cleaner side of the crossroads outside the village and Mana found the girl looking at a caravan. “You’ve done a great favor for the village…” Mana spoke softly after walking up to the girl stopping only because she didn’t know her name even if the girl’s headband suggested her being a fellow Konoha kunoichi as well. “I’m Mana… I’ve been doing some errands nearby and I just thought of thanking you for being so nice and cleaning all this stuff up” Mana smiled while also keeping her eyes on the caravan that was passing through. In fact that caravan owed a great deal for this blonde girl, all the thrash could’ve easily wrecked it’s wheels and caused a great deal of trouble for it’s owners… Sometimes it was really hard to believe that there was magic inside people as Mana thought of it, but people like this blonde girl really made thinking of a world as a magical place a lot easier…

Age : 33 Posts : 544

Kiyomi got done examining the caravan as it progressed towards her, when she looked over her shoulder to find a young woman approaching her. She seemed a bit familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it just yet. The girl's first sentence brought a smile to her face. At least someone appreciated her efforts. Well, her parents thought she was doing the village a favor too, but they where her parents so she was rather used to their thanks. Hearing it from a stranger made her feel rather embarrassed, but proud.

The kunochi's name sounded familiar, but she was having a hard time remembering where she had heard the name before. It may have been in passing, but she felt that a friend had mentioned it before. "Thank you for saying so Mana. I'm Yamanaka Kiyomi. I just got tired of the trash taking away from the beauty of the forest around our village." She had made a dent in the trash in the area, but it was far from pristine here. It seemed like it would really take several trips to get everything up out here. Then she'd likely find more trash dumped here by travelers the next day.

She speared some more garbage with the stick as she spoke feeling a bit renewed now that someone had actually thanked her."Do you think if I filed a complaint they'd put some garbage they'd do it and people would use them? We could have a little sitting area off the side of the road and just have the cans there." That took money, but it wasn't a bad idea. Plenty of people came out to watch nature and a small picnic area would make the place prettier and the incentive to clean up along the road would be greater.

After spearing another dirty diaper she made a face and muttered. "Perhaps if I talked to Kimiko she'd do something. I doubt she likes the fact people treat our roads like dumpsters either." The caravan was almost upon them now and she could make out the people clearly now. Most of the merchants seemed to be related with an elderly man in his sixties leading the way from the first wagon. There was only one real guard it seemed too. A man with a sword and wearing leather armor similar to her teammate Meiko. The old man had a crossbow, but the rest only had small weapons.

"Good morning young awk!" The old man had been giving a pleasant greeting when the back wheels of his wagon seemed to collapse, but in actuality the ground beneath the wheels had crumpled for seemingly no reason. The old man had been jostled, but unharmed. "What on earth?" He grumbled as the rest of the merchants stopped and came hurrying over. The sudden sound of the wagon falling a bit had made Kiyomi jump as well, but she got over her scare and put the bag and stick down. "Oh dear that's not good. I thought they did maintenance on this road?" It was very odd for a road to just do that. Kiyomi began to head over to the group of merchants to see if she could offer some aid.

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

The blonde girl who would soon introduce herself seemed rather happy about Mana’s thanks and appreciation of her selfless sacrifice of her time to do good. Mana was one of those people who did this all the time – most of her most dangerous missions weren’t actually missions at all, they were simply something that curiosity and good will lead Mana into as good and trusting people often found themselves in loads of trouble. There were thugs and bandits around the village walls no doubt, rogue ninja like those who burnt the hands of her father and killed his squad, scum who would no doubt bully the girl around and rob her despite of the fact that she was doing good for the village and everyone who hung out around these areas. There was no sight more hurtful for the young naïve girl than a dog biting the hand that feeds him, a person betraying utmost trust, people who bring pain and death as a reward for kindness and love. The least Mana could do was to let the girl know that the young magician thought great deal of Kiyomi’s work here. As a person who so often did similar work Mana knew how bad it could sometimes feel when one feels unappreciated, it could even lead to the person changing for the worse.

The girl introduced herself to be Yamanaka Kiyomi – she was a person who Mana hasn’t met yet even if she was a Konoha kunoichi who appeared to be just several years older. Meeting someone around Mana’s age felt like a real joy for the young girl – most ninja she met were either old and wise, or too young for their rank and wisdom yet still mature enough to make Mana feel stupid when arguing with them. To meet just an ordinary genin who was just doing great deeds for the village with little to no reward felt a little refreshing and amusing. Mana knew well of the Yamanaka clan, many of the Yamanaka were obsessed with beauty they owned boutiques and perfume salons, flower shops and fruit stands that were often the target of running children who mercilessly threw themselves into the stands just to make trouble. Mana wondered what has happened to the times when she was like that… “Those times didn’t pass… I’m much younger than some kids who keep getting into trouble… I guess I just grew up too goddamn fast” Mana thought to herself.

“You should reward yourself for your work you did here… Even if you didn’t eradicate the problem entirely you really did help the place. There is a garden south from here, it’s owner asked me to collect some flowers for myself for an errand I just did but I didn’t… Feel free to do that if you want, I’m sure some friendly and soft scents of a flower garden and their beauty would be a great reward and remind you what you fought for” Mana smiled as she remembered that she didn’t get her reward from her own errand. In fact that was more a problem than a proof of Mana’s shyness since flowers don’t live that long when they are far from tending and loving hands of people. Who better than a Yamanaka especially as kind and nice as this girl would show enough love and kindness for the lovely plants, her presence made Mana feel like not collecting them was a pretty good idea if someone like Kiyomi tends to the flowers instead…

Kiyomi wondered if she filed a complaint and asked the authorities to deal with the problem if it would be solved. “I think it would make a fine mission for the young ones, it sure as hell makes a better first mission to set garbage cans than fighting a mercenary group” Mana’s face was dyed with an ironic smile as she acted old and experienced for a second. It was a new experience for the girl and she wasn’t used to it so Mana wanted to just try it out. It really would make sense to file a complaint and maybe get some team of youngsters setting up some trash bins with a sensei protecting them from the unknown dangers of outside the village walls. Mana knew that she would’ve enjoyed that mission much more than what she did for her first mission: working on a squad of ninja of similar age and experience, learning to work together if only for a small task of setting large tin cans on the road instead of almost sacrificing one’s life to protect a shady businessman and his family from a revenge plot he had coming for years… People like Kiyomi just make people who are doubting their trust of the other people return to their old and kind ways “I believe that if people had somewhere to dump their trash they would do so, I do not believe that people are being bad merely for the purpose of being evil. I think kindness is their original state” Mana smiled answering Kiyomi’s thoughts with a sentence that summarized her way of life perfectly – only see the best in people, if they turn evil on you don’t take it personally and always believe they can turn back and never under no circumstances make taking one’s life an available option… That was Mana’s way of the ninja even if most of the times the girl was afraid to voice it because of the world she lived in.

Mana was a little surprised by the fact that Kiyomi referred to the Hokage. While Mana did know Kimiko as well – most villagers did but Mana referred to her as Hokage-sensei even if Kimiko was her mentor. From the words and tone that Kiyomi used Mana wondered if the blonde girl had some closer ties to Kimiko than ordinary ninja did, perhaps there were some family ties or maybe like Yoroi, Kiyomi was saved from a life of darkness by Kimiko’s light… “You seem to know Hokage-sensei very well, Kiyomi. If your bonds are as strong as your tone and words imply, I’d say Hokage might take actions just because it troubles you. She is the kind of person who would do that…” Mana replied more from her small first impression with the Hokage and what Yoroi told Mana about her. During their first meeting Kimiko and Mana didn’t do all that much of getting to know each other, it was much more about the sparring… As Mana kept recalling and pondering of how great it was meeting someone like Kiyomi she didn’t notice the caravan or the folk inside it before it was too late. Without hesitation or second thoughts Mana followed Kiyomi to see if anyone on the caravan needed help after recovering from the slight startle that the noise of a caravan falling caused.

Age : 33 Posts : 544

As she walked over to the merchants Kiyomi nodded. "I've seen that garden it is very lovely. I'd rather leave the flowers there though. Let others have a chance to see them and let the bees use them to pollinate the area. Besides, there are plenty of flowers at the shop." It would be a better reminder to see it when ever she walked by to see the area around the lovely flowers to be trash free. Kiyomi loved that Mana had agreed with her and made the suggestion of making it a mission for fresh out of the academy genin. That was indeed a good first mission for the youngsters.

"I don't think they're trying to be evil. I think their just lazy and don't wanna carry the trash all the way to the village." You didn't have to be evil to litter. Hell, if kiyomi had to carry a dirty diaper for several miles, she'd probably dump it off to the side of the road as well. Granted she'd at least bury it or put it out of sight of people.

Mana's observation made her grin. "She has been my teacher and squad leader for almost a year, so I'd imagine we are fairly close. She even let me be in her wedding. That was a lovely day." She had many pictures from the event that she looked at and enjoyed whenever she was feeling blue. "Still, she is the Hokage and I'd rather not bother her with small problems when she has a village to run. You called her sensei as if you where one of her students? Are you because if so we may end up on a squad together."

That would be nice. They wouldn't have to do the team meet and greet if they had already met. Those had gotten depressing since they had so many of her teammates had been reassigned. She reached the wagon first. "Is everyone okay?" They all confirmed they were, even if the old man was rubbing his back a bit from the ache of being jostled. "Allow me to have a quick look."

She knelt down beside one merchant who seemed to be the old man's son. The wheels where down deep, but that wasn't the only problem. Why hadn't the ground given way when the mules walked over it, or the front wheels rolled over it? Could it be there was more weight in the back? She examined the hole more closely and ran a hand along the edges of the whole. The edges of the whole where smooth and at an almost ninety degree angle.

That made her blink. A natural hole wouldn't be so perfectly formed. This couldn't be a sinkhole either since there wasn't any water nearby to her knowledge, nor was it a mole hill. It was too perfect. That only left two options. It was dug, but that was unlikely since it would have been seen or fallen through when a mule stepped on it. She looked up a little pale at Mana. "This was a doton ninjutsu that did this. We need to-" There was a twang of several bows and arrows smacked into the sides of the mules killing them instantly then exploded due to paper bombs attached to them. Blood sprayed from the mules and all the merchants began to scream as the battle cry of bandits came from the woods on the opposite side of the wagons.

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

It was quite a surprise for Mana to see that she and Kiyomi shared quite some similarities and nurtured similar ideas. Whether the warmth and kindness that was pulsing from this blonde girl was a trait of her own or if it was something that Kimiko taught her it was a rare sight to see a ninja with a mindset similar to Kiyomi’s. Most ninja Mana met were quite selfish and very few would have offered their time off to clean the road or do an errand for an old family friend. The relative selfishness of the ninja was reasonable, after risking one’s life so many times, fighting for live of oneself and one’s friends, sometimes even entire village must’ve left the ninja empty inside, craving some sort of pleasure or relaxation to compensate for the hard work that they were doing. That was the reason why sake was a common companion to some ninja even if alcohol was one of the things ninja were told to stay back from. The hardships of being a ninja made so many feel like their villages owed them some time for themselves and that only for themselves that time should be spent. Finally seeing someone practice the same ideals like Mana did felt so warm and great, even if Mana still believed that there must’ve been many more like them…

Mana’s suspicions of there being a closer connection to Hokage Kimiko and Kiyomi were confirmed, it appeared that Mana met yet another person who had such warm things to say about Kimiko very reminding Mana of the way Yoroi spoke of her yet this girl showed a lot more emotion and looked like she had a lot more nostalgia related to the woman. Mana may not have had such a deep impression about the Hokage who also recently became her mentor but even with little time she has spent with Kimiko the young magician had to admit that while Mana believed that people were magical, Kimiko was a living proof of that belief, that woman just surged with excitement, energy and kindness and was a fine example of what a ninja in Mana’s opinion is supposed to be. The magic within that woman was a great counterpart to all those cold blooded killers that Mana met in her life, all those who considered themselves to be mere tools and mask their crimes against the same magic granted upon people by that belief.

“Yes, I am indeed Hokage-sensei’s student. She only told that to me some time ago so I only train with her once and she suggested that I join her actual squad. We may end up being teammates in the nearest future it seems, Kiyomi” Mana answered Kiyomi’s question. Meeting this girl now proved even more useful as Mana really wanted to know a bit more about her possible future teammate. Mana only remembered Kimiko mentioning that her squad will accept Mana as their teammate from which Mana was left with an impression that they may be rather open and warm ninja. Being trained by someone like Kimiko would have suggested nothing less it seemed. “Since it’s kind of weird to train alone with the Hokage I thought joining your squad would be a great idea…” Mana scratched her head while still trying to keep her honest smile on. “Plus it seems to me like an interesting experience to work with other ninja since I’ve only had solo missions up to now…” the young genin concluded and while having solo missions with no one to depend on and in constant risk of losing one’s life was really valuable in it’s own way, learning proper teamwork and gaining friends between one’s peers was a much more valuable experience altogether…

Kiyomi started to asking if people were hurt, Mana dreaded the idea of someone being in actual danger since she didn’t really know anything beyond first aid and despite being somewhat competent at giving first aid considered her overall medical support skills next to pathetic. As Kiyomi was examining the ground and the dirt for a possible cause of this accident, Mana looked over the merchants despite them confirming many times that they were alright “An internal bleeding could slip first look and could potentially kill you, some of you may have concussions that also aren’t for the better…” Mana replied to the gang of merchants and took a look at any painful spots that anyone had. While most were just blunt traumas and bruises and most seemed alright with their motor skills and basic math of counting fingers Mana wasn’t sure about one or two merchants with one’s belly looking suspiciously reminiscent of what might have been internal bleeding. “By my unskilled analysis it could be anything but I think it might be good if you guys take the mules and take these two to the hospital for a proper inspection”. Mana heard Kiyomi say something as she was giving this warning but buzzing bump of arrows ruined Mana’s suggestion as it killed the mules and exploded them causing great panic in the road between the merchants.

The arrows were followed by loud battlecries of bandits which were intimidating all by themselves but intimidation was the last thing on Mana’s mind right now. These people showed that they have no remorse and care very little for lives and dignity of a dead body even if it was that of an animal. This action was a clear sign that these men meant business and that they should be treated and dealt with as such. Mana remembered the people that died during her small adventure with Yoroi. “I will not let lives be taken again!” Mana swore to herself as she quickly made handsigns for a jutsu “Noroi no Kotoba no Jutsu • Spellword Jutsu” she chanted as loudly as possible to give the bandits a message that Mana was a ninja and that she would fight for the caravan and the lives of those whom it belonged to making a gust that stopped all other arrows and simple projectiles of similar sort as she turned to Kiyomi “Kiyomi, please make sure that the merchants stop panicking and hide where they are safe, then come aid me. I will protect them with my life!” Mana shouted out trying to tell the elder and possibly more experienced girl that she wanted her to make sure that the people are safe. Just as Mana’s protective gust jutsu was over the girl instantly made some more handsigns to prepare for an impending battle “I can’t let them get too close, I’m not that good at close distance…” Mana kept wondering as she placed her hands forward letting out some flashy sparks that were supposed to be intimidating and cause great annoyance for the bandits. “This jutsu drove bigger and meaner away… “ Mana thought to herself remembering the first time she used it in battle against a hulking mercenary brute who almost took her life…

Mama had a chicken/Mama had a cow:

Age : 33 Posts : 544

Kiyomi had reeled a little from the sudden explosion and a bit of mule blood landed on her arms. The man beside her was quick to get up and grab his wife and child from one of the wagons while the guard with the blade deflected incoming arrows. The old man fired his crossbow once before having to duck down to avoid a volley of arrows that exploded in some trunks of the large trees in on the opposite road. Kiyomi was ducked behind cover as well as Mana used her own jutsu to try and stall the attack to get the merchants to safety.

Thankfully, it seemed that the bandits had not chosen to station men on both sides of the road. If they had, they'd likely have killed them all. They where also not firing exploding arrows into the wagons since it seemed they wanted the cargo. The lives of the merchants weren't the priority to them, but if they got in the way the merchants where as good as dead. Kiyomi stole a peek out from behind the cart to take a quick look around and try to get the numbers of the bandits.

From the looks of things there wasn't that many, yet at least. She spotted three archers and four men with pikes. She couldn't tell if they where shinobi, but she guessed they where since there had been paper tags attached to those arrows. They couldn't be that skilled since they where all still alive, so there was some hope. That didn't stop her heart from pounding in her throat. The threat of death was still very high, not only for her, but the merchants and Mana as well.

The younger woman had drawn the attention of the bandits. The pike men had paused there charge for a moment to avoid running into the sparks. They may have had some light armor on, but that didn't make them reckless yet. The sparks also had the effect of making it hard to aim at Mana since the sparks where so bright and flashy. That was a lucky break since a few stray arrows whizzed at her only to imbed themselves in the wagon. As much as Kiyomi wanted to go to Mana's aid now, the merchants needed her more.

She looked back to the merchants cowering and forced her fear down. Two of the men had grabbed the lids off the barrels to use as sheilds, but that may not be enough to stop an arrow."Follow me to the trees I'll cover you!" She rolled out from behind cover and unleashed a Gale wind palm at the archers to keep them from firing arrows at the merchants. With the blast forcing the archers to take cover the men shielded the women and few children and the guard moved with them. Thankfully, they all valued their lives more than their cargo.

With the Merchants hiding in the thick forest Kiyomi now turned another Gale wind palm on the bandit pike men who where knocked back a bit to allow mana some time to take cover. The jutsu wasn't strong enough to take them out of commission though. One even laughed at the low level Fuuton jutsu as he simply dug in with the pike and held on. "Give it up girls. All we want is the loot, but if you get in our way you'll get hurt too. That would be a shame to mark such pretty faces." Kiyom ducked behind a wagon once more to consider a move, but waved at Mana to come join her hoping the girl wouldn't get struck by an arrow before she could make it over. As of right now the archers where taking cover behind some trees while the pike men where at the ready in front of the wagons.

Jutsu used:

What the bandits look like:

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

While Mana’s defensive gust stopped a great deal of arrows, mostly those that targeted her since she was quite wide in the open standing right between the bandits and the caravan, placing herself as a wall that the bandits would have to overcome. While very philosophically romantic and very selfless such devotion to the lives of the merchants was also quite stupid as a lot of the bandits took her rashness as a target. It didn’t happen to be that long before Mana’s defensive gust wall dissolved skipping a flock of arrows. Mana’s answer to that was the visually impressive and highly annoying and distracting flock of sparks that she sent the bandit’s way forcing the archers to occasionally hide into their cover to avoid the painful small balls of lightning coming their way, also they kept the pike-men away as they weren’t able to advance and close in Mana and then proceed to the merchants and the caravan. The men did use ninja tools however they seemed to be highly disorganized and showed very little cooperation which helped Mana identify the priority targets that would’ve reached her and the caravan first or would’ve launched a lethal arrow and award their advance with a barrage of sparks.

Still for a second Mana hesitated her fire thinking about blowing up another defensive wall which would provide defense if only for a few more seconds. Even if Mana was supposed to serve as a distraction for the bandits while Kiyomi helps the merchants and lead them where they were safer, the girl found herself quite lacking any sort of defense as relying solely on attacking intensively to prevent a pike-man to advance too close or to stop archer from aiming freely was quickly draining her stamina. Even if Kiyomi seemed to be acting very effectively in getting the merchants out of danger and proved to be a figure that the merchants listened to without question Mana was still starting to become sloppier in her “attack everyone preemptively” strategy. “Would I make it in time?” Mana wondered if she had the luxury of making the handsigns for her Spellword jutsu again. Even one second of Mana not firing her lightning sparks at priority targets could’ve been the difference between a pike-man getting too close or an archer hitting his mark. “Those archers demonstrated their accuracy already, better not push my luck” Mana decided and kept the jutsu going.

Mana noticed that the merchants found a safe spot or an improvised cover, their safety no longer required such risky exposure to danger which Mana was in. Kiyomi signaled to Mana that the merchants were taken care of and that the young genin should also hurry to find cover. Just as Mana fired the last bunch of sparks she noticed that the pike-man fell on the ground holding his chest. “How is this possible?!” Mana thought “My jutsu can’t kill, not a single one!” at Mana’s moment of hesitation one arrow came dangerously close to her thigh scratching her dress and leaving a small cut mark on her leg. Due to sheer survival instinct Mana dashed with the best of her ability behind the caravan and then to the trees where Kiyomi was supposed to be. While dashing Mana examined the wound while it may require stitching it didn’t seem to restrict her movement that much while adrenaline took over. Mana took a small glance from the covers seeing that some archers and pike-men that tried chasing her were knocked off their feet and a lot of arrows were on the ground in Mana’s trail – “Must’ve been Kiyomi’s doing” the young girl thought to herself

As the bandits were recovering after the first few rounds of this encounter and shouting threats and taunting them to surrender Mana whispered to Kiyomi “I think one of them is having a stroke… He needs help”. The young magician only imagined what a usual shinobi would reply to such a worry for the life of one’s opponent but Kiyomi was different than others, she might just understand Mana’s wish to save that man. The conditions for victory were perfect in fact: most bandits used hit and run tactics that relied heavily on fear and intimidation, they blew their greatest advantage – the surprise factor and now the two kunoichi knew perfectly where most of them were and what they had to defend themselves. Even more so most of them already suffered some damage in this battle: some knocked off their feet by Kiyomi’s wind blasts with bruises and their pride lost, some had some shocks from Mana’s thunder sparks and while those had no killing potential whatsoever and had no long term effects they must’ve really worn a lot of them out. Mana was certain having hit several of the pike-men in the eyes, that could render that eye blind and painful for several minutes.

While it definitely didn’t help to see lack of reaction from bandits to their friend just lying in the middle of the road groaning and shouting for help, Mana was determined to end this quickly. “Is this the part where you suggest us to share your bounty? Because I could use a good joke right now!!!” Mana shouted from the cover. While it could’ve been dangerous to do so but the forest of Konoha was wide and thick, the voice only echoed throughout the blackness of the tree shade only being boosted by it and making locating the two kunoichi by voice hard. Mana just wanted to keep the bandits talking if possible, perhaps it will give the girls time to think up of a plan. “Kiyomi, do you have a jutsu that could cover a wide area, say three to five metres? Or a way to snipe a group of targets one by one if I pull them out? I’ve got an idea” Mana let out a grin. Had she been in any less of a hurry to save the weak hearted man or been a bit more careful of a ninja she may have waited for an answer, but Mana just made some handsigns and charged out after casting her most wide radius covering and very convenient genjutsu to pull at least some bandits out.

After casting the jutsu, Mana returned immediately to the cover of the trees, trying to make her way back to Kiyomi but what the rest of the entire cast in 8 metre radius must’ve seen was Mana stick an explosive note to her chest and charging to the caravan. Since she had the cover of the forest and was an illusion no arrows would’ve interrupted that, Mana hoped that Kiyomi had enough perception to realize that Mana wasn’t about to kill herself with the cargo like at least most bandits must’ve thought, after all – ninja are desperate. Mana intended the “destruction of the caravan” to draw out a large group of the bandits so that Kiyomi would have a clear shot for a ninjutsu of high precision, well aimed kunai or large area of effect nuke jutsu that she may have had. In an ideal scenario the bandits may have decided that their target was destroyed and left but even if the genjutsu simulated the rubble and Mana’s corpse it still only lasted for couple of moments, the smallest argument between the bandits may have ended up in the bandits outlasting the genjutsu. “If Kiyomi follows this up with something awesome this could become our team combo…” Mana thought to herself happily as if she didn’t just simulate the most crazy looking suicide that the ninja world has ever seen.

Catty Cornered is one of the best Tom&Jerry episodes ever:

Age : 33 Posts : 544

The bandits where far from deterred by the minor wounds they had sustained. It made them want the bounty of the cargo even more for the trouble. The money maid from that would buy a lot of booze and the warmth of a wench to help cure their ails. Plus, if they didn't get the cargo their boss would likely kill them all, so the battle was far from over. "You ain't getting shit aside from a spear in the gut you little bitch!" Yelled the pikeman that had been kneeling. He stood up once more and gave a signal to advance and another to call in the heavy duty back up.

The pike men would begin to spread out and encircle the wagons while two of the archers awaited the chance to fire. The third archer went to get their last member. While this was happening the merchants got farther away and headed towards the village to get aide. Kiyomi in the mean while grimaced at the wound Mana had received. She felt no concern for the man whom Mana claimed to be having heart issues. He should have thought of that before becoming a bandit."I've got something like that yea, but you should really try not to take to many risks. You're already injured and we don't know how many of them there are. Some could still be in hiding."

The advice seemed to have gone unheeded. Dammit. She cursed in her head as she began to prep the hand signs for the jutsu. The bandits instantly focused on the young magician and gave a cry of dismay at the sight of the devastation, but the leader quickly got over it. He was a combat veteran and the fight had only just begun. There was no reason for her to do that even though they had been outnumbered. Plus her partner would have been left alone or caught up in the attack. Konoha shinobi were notorious for their loyalty.

"Nice trick girly, but you'll have to do better than that. Keep at it boys!" The men looked unsure, but kept moving towards the Caravan. The distraction did buy Kiyomi time to unleash her jutsu though. Godly winds from the mountains was stronger than Gale Wind Palm and it caught two of the pike men off guard and sent them flying. The leader leaped behind cover as well as the last pike man. The archers where unaffected, but they couldn't fire off arrows due to the wind from the blast. That was the lovely thing about wind jutsu. It normally shut down ranged weapon users with ease.

The two bandits hit full force by the blast slammed into trees and let out grunts of pain. They where hurting from that, but could still move so they retreated for now. "Enough of this bullshit!" Cried the leader. "Eight get them!" Kiyomi had no idea who Eight was, but she didn't have long to wait. The sound of something heavy crashing through the brush was heard. Then a large armored behemoth with something that looked like a cannon jumped out of the forest and ran at Kiyomi through her Fuuton Jutsu like it was nothing!

The only reason she hadn't been trampled was the fact that the giant of a man was still slow since he was so large. She let out a yelp and bolted out of the way narrowly avoiding getting squished and shot by an archer who took the chance to try and hit her. She tossed down a smoke screen to avoid getting shot. It didn't last long. The man in the strange armor ,which seemed to be made out of thick cloth, leather, and clay, turned the weapon towards her and several large tagged kunai flew out and struck the ground near her as she ran towards the forest.

The blast blew away the cloud and sent Kiyomi flying through the air and into the forest where she tumbled a bit then hurried to her feet with a pained gasp. Some shrapnel had hit her in the shoulder. "What in the hell is that guy!" She gasped as she took cover behind a tree.

Jutsu used

Spoiler:

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

It didn’t look very much like the bandits that decided to take this caravan were the simple goofy and predictable thugs that Mana suspected them to be. Usual simpletons that the world outside the village walls was full of would’ve suggested the two kunoichi some sort of reward to avoid the trouble of fighting two Konoha ninja however these appeared to be much more aggressive and self confident. That was both a good thing and a bad one - while the bandits demonstrated a commendable amount of logic and combat experience so far arrogance lead nowhere but down. It would have really made Mana feel a little lighter on her feet if she heard some useless and impressive boasting from the bandits but so far they’ve been spitting nothing more but concentrated rage and death threats. While all the rude talking and threatening did nothing more but amused Mana since that was something she was used to hear from her opponents and it was apparent that a lot of emotions were involved in these senseless shouts of anger. It was always good to know that your opponent is annoyed and if the enemy is angered by your effort you are fighting correctly.

Kiyomi displayed some amount of worry for the cut on Mana’s leg, that was something Mana has never experienced before. It felt a little strange to see someone worry for you even if it could be just for the sake of the battle and Mana’s own efficiency. The young genin had injuries that were a lot worse over her short career so she didn’t consider the cut too bad, to Mana injuries were unavoidable in battle especially when arrows are buzzing left and right – she was really lucky to only get cut by the arrow as it could’ve ended a lot worse. Her injuries never raised too much concern for Mana herself, they only served as a reminder of the fact that she is putting her life on the line every day. It felt quite odd to hear from Kiyomi that her wound could be something Mana should be careful after, if anything Mana’s wounds encouraged her to fight back harder. “Kiyomi is such a nice person…” Mana wondered after completing her small diversion with the genjutsu as she was forcing through the bushes and branches of the forest to find cover while the bandits behind her were almost crying from despair.

It always took one’s breath away to see something like Mana’s illusion happening – to see one’s opponent perform something of such devotion and desperation like committing suicide to protect one’s objective. It invites both respect for one’s opponent and the devotion one showed but also there is no despair as getting one’s victory snatched and instead being left with significant losses of a battle without the objective one craved. It looked as if the bandit crew were displaying and going through all of those feelings at once as some were throwing their bows on the ground from anger and some fell on their knees. Mana couldn’t help but stop and look at the faces of the bandits – it was too precious to let go of. The young genin was too much of a showgirl and required to see the consequences of her attack. The greatest reward however was that Mana’s intended achievement of drawing at least some of the enemies out for Kiyomi’s follow up happened as well. For a brief moment it looked like the bandits would simply retreat and abandon their mission – something that Mana couldn’t have dreamed of however their leader displayed some unpredicted experience and smarts by calling Mana’s trick. It was then that Kiyomi’s wind jutsu started to wreck a havoc of it’s own upon the bandits throwing two of the bandits around like ragdolls and cutting of their ranged support. The jutsu Kiyomi used was just what Mana asked for if not more.

It was also quite surprising to see a bandit who Mana considered to be having a heart attack stand up and join his crew. Whatever problems he had were only the signs of a weak heart and not the final consequence “Thank god…” Mana wondered to herself even if the man was her enemy. “I should remember that guy and not use any lightning jutsu on him, who knows what can set another of these shocks off…” Mana thought. It was a quite unique sight for a ninja to decide to hold back against an injured opponent instead exploiting his’s weakness. Mana has received so much hate from her fellow shinobi and her enemy whose life she was protecting but that was just the way life worked for this young ninja magician. Mana heard angered shouts from the man whose bossing around the battlefield suggested that he was the leader of the crew. Mana cracked a grin since the man clearly was mad beyond any point she has ever seen someone be angered. She didn’t even pay much attention initially for his calls for some mysterious “Eight”. At that point she hadn’t joined up with Kiyomi, her wish to see the results of her effort kept Mana from doing that and she was simply hidden in the forest.

However as Mana heard loud and strong cracks she reconsidered about what she wanted to do. Cracks not of twigs but it sounded as if trees themselves were broken. Seeing how Mana had her corpse laying in the middle of the battlefield and it would be up until the girl disrupted the steady flow of her chakra by using chakra or attacking the men had no idea where she was “Kiyomi…” Mana thought with horror dyeing her face as she realized that the blonde girl must’ve been the target for that “Eight” guy that the bandit leader called for. Just as Mana had started rushing to where the cracks were heard a loud explosion-like sound echoed sending a shockwave of debris all around, Mana hid behind a tree and it seemed for good measure as shards of wood went halfway through the tree she was behind. Finally Mana sighted Eight in all his glory. He was a hulking brute, far surpassing the mercenary who nearly crushed Mana in his hand during the girl’s first mission and was armed with something reminding a cannon so large only someone of his size could use. It was a sight so terrible yet so surreal to behold the man was so terrifying yet at the same time he was the most visually breathtaking opponent Mana has seen to that day. “How the hell did you manage to stay hidden up to now?!” Mana thought to herself as she couldn’t help but crack a smile even if almost stunning fear was knocking hard inside.

Still almost at the same moment she saw him Mana knew what had to be done – this man was asking for it by being such a visible and unstoppable threat. Possibly nothing Mana could have done would’ve mattered against this man but he begged for getting the boss treatment. “Genjutsu…” Mana barely whispered to herself, there was no way anyone could’ve heard it due to the mayhem and utter destruction that the cannon caused. The young genin had no idea if Kiyomi was still alive after that, she had be, she must be! If not Mana would probably soon follow her… “I hope you’re going to follow up on this Kiyomi." as Mana made several handsigns and walked out in the open field that was completely thrashed by the explosion with only stumps present. Genjutsu needed eye contact and there was only one time where the enemy has to keep his eyes on the prize – when he is aiming. Mana wanted to exploit that and simply walked out at the very end of the field – why would “Eight” charge at her while that heavy cannon is sitting and focused a genjutsu to immobilize the hulking man so that Kiyomi can strike easier.

Cannontime!!!:

Age : 33 Posts : 544

Kiyomi reached over to her shoulder and winced as she felt a decent sized piece of shrapnel sticking out of her. It wasn't life threatening ,at least not yet, but it would cause more damage if she moved the arm too much. It had to be pulled out now. Biting her lip she gave it a strong pull. It was followed by a short scream of pain as the three inch inch sliver of bloody metal fell to the ground. Blood seeped out, but not at an alarming rate, but fast enough that the fight needed to be ended sooner rather than later.

The short scream didn't go unnoticed, but Mana's genjutsu would slow the big guy down for a moment. While the two genin dealt with the monster the bandits began to swipe what they could from the wagons. Coin, spice jars, and lovely rugs where swiped in a matter of seconds. They couldn't carry all of it, but they could get enough to live well for a few weeks.

The genjutsu did not have the desired effect. Instead of being something able to be handled like a rabbit, parrot, or even a dog, the man thought of himself as something else. He imagined himself as a gorilla. Funny, since that's what he basically was already. a big gorilla with a big weapon and the ability to use some jutsu. He was the one who had cause the ground to collapse from under the wagon.

The big man smacked his chest with his free hand and gave a very convincing inhuman roar. He saw the small magician easily, since he hadn't seen the other genjutsu. He raised a fist into the air and smacked the ground. From the fist a shock wave sent spikes of earth erupting out of the ground at Mana that would cause dreadful injury if they struck. The beast of a man was acting on instinct which was the only reason he was able to use the jutsu.

With him distracted Kiyomi forced down her fear and pain to come out from behind the tree to attack him from behind. She had to try and save Mana. They where from the same village and those who let their comrades die where scum. He had ignored her wind jutsu, but how would he fair with a fire jutsu. She inhaled as she formed the hand signs then exhaled five meters of flame to engulf the giant of a man. Provided that Mana dodged the earth jutsu Kiyomi felt as if the fire based attack would distract the man if it didn't just outright take him down.

Jutsu used:

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

There was a certain danger in someone being rather young yet capable of creating one’s own jutsu, inventing new ways of using one’s chakra. This was the case for Mana, a twelve year old girl who had no actual medical knowledge of how the human body works except the core basics that most ninja knew and some brain centers that most genjutsu users knew about as it was quite integral if one attempts to use genjutsu to know them. That was why Mana was sometimes very excited about fighting and sparring – because her jutsu needed a great amount of testing because they sometimes had effects that the girl may not have known about and it seemed that this was especially true today as Mana’s jutsu displayed their nastier sides twice already: Mana was never aware of weak hearted being especially affected by her spark jutsu and now Mana just realized a very important detail of her genjutsu as the brute called “Eight” started roaring and pounding his chest. Mana instantly recognized the animal that the man thought he was transformed into but the problem was it was a very bad animal to be facing, “Think of dragons, why won’t you…” Mana cursed inside as this problem has never happened before – most enemies may have thought of quite dangerous animals but their behavior in those “dangerous” forms were still rather tame – after all how dangerous could a man running on all four and howling be…?

This man however looked very irritated by Mana’s jutsu as he no doubt thought that he lost his size and cannon which must’ve frightened him. Between a group of bandits and a scared animal who was really twice the size he thought he was and possible weighed three times that was not a great place to be, more so Mana heard the bandits looting the caravan and while the safety of the merchants was all Mana cared about in a way the caravan is important for the village as well. While the loss of the cargo meant almost nothing for Mana it was still a shameful defeat in her eyes. The “transformed” Eight finally got over the rage of his transformation and decided that killing Mana would probably end his life as a large primate and return him to his previous form as he tried to smack the ground. While normally coming from a gorilla this wouldn’t have been so bad, the man clearly was not aware of his size as the ground below him shattered, large earthly spikes erupted from the ground the one that was supposed to impale Mana instead shattered a large rock underground that Mana was standing on unaware of it’s existence. The rock almost exploded from the pressure throwing the girl in the air so she wasn’t that injured by the shattering ground or the spikes that erupted beyond the numerous bruises that the rock gave her.

“It’s alright, at least you’re not aware you still have your cannon…” Mana thought as she thought that an enraged brute possibly could’ve been dealt with. As Mana gained maximum altitude from the push that the rock gave her she looked down and to her horror realized that she was going down right back on the spikes. Mana quickly made three handsigns and blew a gust of air right at the tip of the spike keeping herself floating in the air just two metres above the spikes. “I’m a sitting duck in here…” Mana thought as she saw the “gorilla” pull out one of the spikes with his sheer strength and aim at her. Seeing the spikes being already stable and not being very much above them Mana released her simple little levitation jutsu and landed on the tip of the spike so that the rocky spike that Eight tossed missed it’s mark and broke several trees in it’s path. At that moment a relief hit Mana as a big jet of streaming fire shot from somewhere in the forest and engulfed the giant. The flow of fire continued for quite a while before it was broken out by the man called "Eight". The man roared into the air overflowing with anger and while Mana did see some light burns but his upper body was mostly unharmed, Mana bet it had something to do with that strange armor-like thing he was wearing. The young genin thouht to jump out and try to counterattack while the hulking brute is still stunned for a moment by just being partially engulfed by fire but a loud cracking sound echoed throughout the forest behind her! “Really?” Mana thought as she saw a tree landing right at the spot she was in as she jumped for the other spike but in mid jump her eyes shot open in surprise as she saw a huge backhand slap incoming. Eight still surrounded by small specks of the Katon jutsu he was engulfed in seemed to have broken the stream by sheer force of his charge and was now in mid air with his arm swinging at Mana who had no means to protect from it in mid air. Mana could’ve never thought that the giant was so fast as she only managed to put her hands in front of herself and take the slap that sent her flying back several metres into another tree.

“Move!” Mana shouted to herself as she felt a taste of blood in her mouth. Her eyes remained closed far too long, “You have to move!” once again Mana ordered herself to no avail. “He’ll kill you, goddamn it, MOVE!!!” Mana’s head almost screamed out as Mana forced her eyes open and lifted her dizzy head. Mana was lucky that the falling tree fell onto Eight’s hand – he was just a bit too desperate in his attempt to kill Mana so the man was now struggling to get his hand out from under the tree. “He will do it… You’ve got to get up… Please” Mana asked herself desperately, from what she saw this man could lift the tree or break it with moderate effort, “Maybe his hand is broken? Maybe we can win?” a small voice echoed in Mana’s head as she finally got the dizziness together and started seeing straight. The girl wiped her hair out of the way but she couldn’t move any more than that and remained in sitting position at the tree.

“He’s not that bad, I didn’t break the tree, I can still feel my arms and legs so my spine is OK… I wish I wouldn’t though, hurts like hell…” Mana thought to herself. While the giant was now stuck and it was a perfect opportunity for Kiyomi to attack Mana didn’t rely on that too much, she saw the scope of that explosion, the young genin knew that Kiyomi must’ve survived because she must've been the one who launched that impressive Katon jutsu earlier but she wondered if she was in any condition to continue. Mana kept telling herself to move yet nothing happened, then Mana managed to lift her hand, Mana saw several torrents of blood running down it on the ground. Mana didn’t feel any weakness that comes with blood loss so she figured that the bleeding isn’t so bad, must be just a nasty bruise somewhere on the upper body… Small needles of pain went crazy all over and her vision darkened and filled with sparks as Mana slowly stood up on her feet still using the tree as a support. “There you go… I can still go for a few slaps like that…” Mana thought to herself but she knew that by the time she went out in the open the big guy would’ve pulled his arm out from under the restraint. It would start all over again, nothing gained but nasty bruises and taste of blood in my mouth. It hurt a little to stand, that would go away soon with a little luck…

Error saving...Would you like to re-write it all?!(Y/N):

Age : 33 Posts : 544

There was just no way that the man had ignored her, thought Kiyomi as he simply ignored her flames. Sure she wasn't the best at Katon jutsu, but it was still fire. He shrugged it off as if it was nothing. Then he proceeded to attack Mana ruthlessly. "No!" She cried as she flung shuriken at the man. The small projectiles bounced off the man's armor as well. He was truly a juggernaut and seemed unstoppable and Mana was paying the price. Kiyomi gave a cry as the small kunochi was smacked down with a brutal slap.

Once his hand was trapped Kiyomi thought about taking over his body. However, the other bandits could still come back and all they'd have to do was walk over and stab her helpless form. Gods it was always a huge risk to lose her signature jutsu. It could end this fight, but could just as likely get them both killed. Cursing she dashed forth as the giant began to remove his hand from underneath the tree. This is stupid!" She jumped on the man's back and focused the chakra into her feet. Now she was stuck to him as he pulled free and began to flail trying to get her off.

She pulled out her dagger and proceeded to try and stab him. However his armor was too thick in every place, and he was even wearing goggles to shield his eyes. The small weapon and Kiyomi's lack of physical strength made no real impact other than to annoy Eight. This would give Mana time to get out of the way. If she was able too, Kiyomi was to busy trying to find a way to beat the guy to spare a glance at the injured kunochi.

Eight was to large to get at her since she was at the hardest part to reach on his back. Seeing as the dagger wasn't working she pulled out several explosive notes and stuck them on the man's back. Once every last note was on his back she lit one and kicked off his back, only to be smacked just like Mana into a tree. She hit her would shoulder against the hard bark of a tree and cried out before slamming into the ground. The taste of iron was in her mouth as her head rand from the force of the blow. Dazed she looked up at the giant as he readied his weapon against her. I this the end?

She tried to rise, but the odds of her dodging were next to nothing. The explosion of the notes then echoed throughout the clearing and the man was surrounded in smoke from the blast and a loud thud was heard. "Did I do it?" The smoke cleared and Eight was on the ground not moving. Kiyomi could have cheered, but then his fist smacked the dirt in anger. "No way, there is just no way."

Justu used:

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

Mana twitched several muscles forcefully just to see if they were responding. The girl had to be sure that all of her body was at least somewhat working before charging out in the open and getting surprised by a body part that refuses to work. All it could take right now is her knees being damaged and refusing to work when dodging is in order and it could’ve really been the end. Slowly Mana walked closer to the open field where the two girls were struggling for their life. Mana was really surprised by how quickly this situation became a matter of life and death as Mana had dealt with quite numerous bandit related situations in her life with little to average effort needed to come out on top. This man the bandits used was unlike any other opponent Mana faced, he wasn’t the strongest as Mana once had to hold her own against a near jonin lever assassin but now survival isn’t the objective… Mana took a moment to look behind her – the girl heard sounds of looting – whatever those bandits wanted they were about to move out with it and while Mana’s interest was in the lives of people involved she still wanted to protect the property of the merchants – who knows maybe it’s medicine needed for people barely clinging to life…

An explosion echoed and a loud thud followed sending a shockwave throughout the area and lifting leaves, where normally Mana would’ve remained unfazed, with her injured state the girl covered her face with the arm that wasn’t supporting her body’s weight on a tree. “Kiyomi…” Mana mumbled to herself – the girl was alive and kicking it seemed as the thud suggested that the giant may have been knocked off his feet. “I have to help her…” Mana told herself in her mind. It seemed that currently her inner voice was the only thing keeping her body going, while Mana didn’t think that her body was below fighting condition it may not have recovered from a heavy slam she received just yet. “I’m tired, just fall down… No one will blame you… Some people die from slams like that… Just fall down…” a small voice rose within Mana’s mind. Keeping balance was now almost a matter of meditation as another wave of dizziness hit Mana’s brain. Once Mana fell really hard from a wire on the roof which was used to hang wet clothes for the people who lived in the upper floors, she was doing a balance trick back during her days as a street magician – she had no standards as any dangerous activity was a trick for her back then. She remembered the dizziness and nausea she felt back then as she had a concussion. “Do you want that to happen again? You’re beaten, just fall down and someone in the village will come and save you two eventually…” the same voice kept telling her. “I’m tired… But do I have the right to fall when Kiyomi managed to take that man on? When her life is on the line? No… No I don’t” Mana explained to her other inner voice as she kept slowly moving out to the open battlefield.

The big man was smacking the ground continuously it looked like he was caught by a fit of rage. “Maybe his size is a brain disorder? Maybe he is mentally impaired and has no idea of what he’s doing? Can he even think properly or understand his actions?” Mana’s mind kept racing with itself to find any way that she could just not die and keep her duty of protecting every life. “Is this what everyone meant? Having to kill to keep yourself alive?” a brief thought occurred to Mana as she tried her best to find any kind of weakness to this hulking bruiser. The young kunoichi knew that even now she wouldn't break that rule... Mana's mind ditched any similar thoughts and returned to trying to find a weakness to the man called Eight. Size like that had to be some sort of brain malfunction, it had to impair something as far as Mana thought so the giant must’ve hardly been a genius. Did he even understand speech other than the commands that bandits taught him? “Hey you!” she shouted to the giant as he started to show signs of standing back on his feet “You didn’t like it, whatever Kiyomi did, right? Well we are going to fight you to the end, we will hurt you many more times that’s a given and then someone from the village, someone stronger will come. Those other people aren’t like me, they WILL kill you, some of them enjoy doing that. They will hate you for being big, probably as many other people did, they will take you for a freak and keep torturing you… I don’t want to hurt you because even if you’ve hurt me plenty and probably injured Kiyomi too I know you’re just following orders, orders from people that hate you and abuse you as well so I give you one last chance to walk away, change you life to save it. If you do this I’ll remember you as a misguided but nice person, if you keep doing this someone will kill you and you'll die as a pawn for people who make fun of you and abuse you for their own gain.” Mana kept talking as for some reason the big man didn’t jump right up but stopped on his knees, he may have been listening, may have been gathering his strength for a finishing blow…

“I don’t really know if you can hear me or understand me… If only we had some sort of mental link between us, you could see the right way, your life is being wasted here at the moment…” Mana finished her speech with a double meaning sentence. Mana remembered that Kiyomi was a Yamanaka, just in case she was still in fighting condition Mana qsked for a mental link as she heard some Yamanaka were able to do that, the link was meant for Mana to share a small tip for Kiyomi as she didn’t want to say it out loud just in case if the giant understood her speech perfectly and was maybe considering it, Mana didn’t want to tell her plan of attack while the juggernaut was considering her peaceful speech… “Legs! We need to hit his legs, the cannon, the armor it must weigh a lot his legs are the weakspot. We need to hit his knee area from the backside…” Mana kept thinking the sentence as a mantra just in case Kiyomi caught and understood Mana’s double message so that they can be up to date with their strategy. Mana knew that if the backside of the knee is hit it’s pretty much a disabling wound for someone wearing such a heavy load of equipment and Mana knew a couple of jutsu to hit it with as did Kiyomi Mana was sure of it. “We haven't lost” Mana thought “Not yet but it would help if the big boy would just walk away…” the girl kept thinking in small gaps together with her mantra sentence but the same inner voice that told her to give up kept telling her it’s very unlikely…

Age : 33 Posts : 544

While she felt as if nothing was broken since she hadn't heard anything crack, Kiyomi was far from fine. She was still dizzy from the blow, but the words from Mana caused the big monster to turn his gaze from her onto the magician. "What are you doing? Run away." Her voice was strained with pain as her aches and pains screamed at her to stop moving. Kiyomi made it to her feet, but her rib cage hurt something fierce. She didn't know it, but several of them had cracked from the slap and would be found later after an examination from the medical shinobi.

The big man cocked his masked head as Mana kept speaking, but made no indication that he understood what she was saying. The lovely sentiment was understood, but alas he couldn't turn back even if he wanted to. For reasons unknown to the girls the big man had to do what he was told. The sound of his cannon being cocked to fire echoed throughout the clearing as he took aim at mana. "Mana get out of there!" She drew a tagged kunai out and tossed it, but it would likely not do anything to stop the monster from unleashing a barrage of tagged kunai at Mana.

Kiyomi watched in horror realizing that very soon she might see the end of a fellow shinobi. Before the kunai could shred Mana to bits though she was grabbed and taken out of the line of fire by a flash of green. The kunai tore the ground apart where she had been standing, then the explosions from the kunai made a crater three feet in diameter. Mana would find herself in the arms of a masked border guard who took cover with her behind a tree. "Stay down child." The brute with the cannon was about to unload another volley when a huge fist slammed into flinging him through the air and into a tree.

A second guard ,this one an Akimichi put himself between Kiyomi and the masked titan. "Run for cover girl!" Kiyomi needed no more instruction after that. She limped her injured form behind some trees as another roar came from the man in the armor. However, instead of firing kunai from the gun he did something that caused it to click. Then acrid black smoke began to billow out in large volumes to spread over the clearing.

"Oh no hit the dirt." Cried the Akimichi as he rolled away just in time as the largest explosion rocked the clearing sending dust up for hundreds of feet. The cover allowed the bandits and even the giant to escape out of sight. The wagons where destroyed completely along with their cargo, but thanks to the guards coming to investigate the explosions the two genin where saved. The sound of the explosion had Kiyomi's head ringing as she laid with her back against the tree holding her aching ribs. "Uggh, I need to stop taking strolls outside the village." She grumbled to herself as she looked around the trees for Mana. "Mana are you alright?"

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

Just as Mana took the giant’s attention from wherever his rage was directed before Mana heard a voice similar to Kiyomi’s coming from somewhere further away. Mana’s ears were a little lazy due to the previous blasts and slams from the giant man that shook the ground itself so she couldn’t hear exactly what the older kunoichi was telling her. The way that the hulking man switched attention easily just gave Mana more reason to think that something with his mental capacity must’ve been awry – intelligent shinobi rarely fall for small distractions and carry out their assignments without any interruption. Had Mana been in Eight’s shoes she would’ve simply finished off Kiyomi and ignored the other girl appearing and trying to convince him to turn back. Even if Mana didn’t exactly hear what was said by the other kunoichi, the shout convinced Mana that Kiyomi was alive and conscious which was a little relieving all by itself. Still her exact condition may have been beyond continuing the battle. Still the girl managed to knock the big bandit off his feet which proved that he wasn’t invincible, if the big guy refuses to listen to Mana’s words she will keep fighting until she either dies or makes the man suffer so hard that any mind lacking resolve or intelligence would not force itself to go on…

Mana wasn’t sure what exactly the Eight’s opinion was to her words, whether he understood them or not he just kept staring blankly at her for several seconds after her words ended, the young kunoichi didn’t know if he was contemplating them or the fact that she tried to reason with him was so unheard of that it surprised his damaged mind. For a brief part of a moment Mana may have started to think that the man indeed understood what was said and may be thinking of walking away but then some sort of outburst of aggression broke out, as if whatever motivated him to fight the girls pressed his mind harder saying “You aren’t really thinking of stopping are you?!” as the man raised his cannon up in almost an instant. His shocking speed and usage of his cannon surprised Mana, she felt that her genjutsu wasn’t using her chakra anymore for quite some time now so she was aware that Eight must’ve remembered his huge cannon however she didn’t think that her words would cause such an outburst of aggression that he would resort to it, plus she was wondering how many kunai the cannon still had and how many shots could he still make.

Reacting to the cannon aiming at her Mana pulled out her kunai and prepared to attempt to dodge and if able to counter. Mana knew that her chances of dodging the shot in her current condition were rather slim, plus even if she dodged the shot itself the debris and explosion it caused would just throw her somewhere else with force equal or greater than she was slapped with. The chances of survival were extremely slim, the chances of continuing the fight even if she survived were zero. “So you’ve chosen…” Mana replied just as something in the cannon clicked but then an explosive projectile exploded delaying the shot for just couple of moments. “Kiyomi…” Mana thought as she wondered if she should try to start running during those few moments that the Yamanaka bought her. The left side was too covered in fallen trees to try and make a run for – the exploded wood chips would make a barrage of lethal shrapnel that would do more damage than good, if Mana ran to the right side she risked putting Kiyomi at risk as well since her voice came from the western part of the field…

“I’ll have to try and dodge it here…” Mana told herself as she braced herself and prepared for her attempted dodge. Once again the cannon clicked alerting Mana of the incoming blast just as the cannon fired Mana was away from the blast range before she could move a muscle. For the first few moments she didn’t even realize what happened but it appeared that the village guards came to their aid just as she told the brute. “Maybe when he sees that I was correct he will reconsider his answer…” Mana thought as she nodded to the ninja that saved her when he gave her a questioning glare asking if she was OK. When Mana nodded the ninja carefully put her down so that she can stand up on her own. Mana turned her sight at the battlefield just at the right moment to witness the other Akimichi ninja punching the Eight off his feet for the second time that day proving Mana’s previous words even more true. Everything else came as if Mana’s body was on auto pilot of some sort with her instincts acting and her mind being withdrawn by it’s own. The Eight’s roar, the smoke, the falling down on the ground for cover, the deafening explosion and then the silence – the signal that this encounter was in the past…

Mana heard Kiyomi ask if she was okay, the girl grunted from pain as she forced her body out from the cover of a fallen trees supported on a giant hole that protected her from the blast and debris. Mana crawled out of it and waved to Kiyomi, her mind was still closed shut “I gave that man a choice… He has chosen, next time we meet I will be stronger and the kid gloves will be off. If his wish is for pain and suffering then by the duty given to me I must make sure that his wish is granted…” she thought to herself, it was the first time in a long time that Mana thought so aggressively but at that point even her opinion was clear – the man will now be her Wanted Target No:2 for his wish of defeat and pain is now for Mana to be granted. Mana gave Kiyomi a short look and smiled slightly “I may need help though…” the young magician thought to herself…

Age : 33 Posts : 544

"You're not the only one. I've never been this beat up before." She winced as she stood up. Now that she was coming off her adrenaline high she was starting to feel a lot more pain. Kiyomi bit her lip to keep from crying out as she took some unsteady steps towards the village. "Thanks for saving us. I don't think we would have lasted any longer." Now that she had time to register just how close she was to death Kiyomi felt a little ill and sagged against a tree once again.

"It seems they've left and since there seem to be more of them and you too are injured we'll have to let them go and send trackers after them later. Come here kiddo." The Akimichi knelt down and allowed Kiyomi to climb onto his broad back. Embarrassed, but knowing that is was necessary to get back to the village faster and get medical treatment. Something both girls needed to get as soon as possible. "Thanks again."

Kiyomi was light so the Akimichi didn't seem to care at all about her weight. The second guard who had saved Mana offered her aid as well. "I'm glad you where with me Mana. That would have gone very poorly without you there." It had gone poorly with her there, but it would have been far worse without her there. The journey back to the village would be short and rather painful despite the fact the Akimichi was trying to to jar her too much.

At the gates there was a medical shinobi awaiting them. Painkillers where a wonderful thing ,in small amounts. The pain began to lift immediately to her relief and she'd soon be taken to the hospital to recover. "I'll see you later Mana, but let's meet somewhere inside the village. I'd rather not go outside the walls for a while. Perhaps a show or something." She gave a small wave before she was taken to the hospital.

[Exit.]

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

Mana cracked a grin at Kiyomi’s remark about her never having been more beat up and while it was also true to Mana the young magician thought that only showed how unskilled their opponent was. While the young kunoichi hasn’t been beat up quite like that in her life as well there have been moments she was closer to death but only because her opponents were much more skilled in taking it. They didn’t miss shots or punch around showing off their might leaving all the job to extensive injuries and debris. Those people were serious about what they did and even if the giant brute must’ve been as well he still wasn’t able to end their lives. That told a great deal about the skill of the two girls as well as suggested that the gap between being defeated by Eight and coming out on top may not have been that far away. Something kept telling Mana that there may be other times that she would meet these bandits and that time would not be as one sided as this one was. Now the girls and the village know of the bandits, now they know of Eight and they will be ready for him when the time comes.

Mana’s assurance of the need of facing the bandits again came from the fact of how successful the bandits were: while there are many gangs of lowlifes out there this one did far better than any other because it was ruthless and daring, advancing so close to the village like no other band would dare. Eventually that was what made them scatter but they will without doubt try again, it’s only the matter of time before they overextend their influence too much and make a mistake. Even know had the bandits not attacked this caravan they’d be an unknown yet very powerful group, however now that it dared snoop it’s nose so close to the village they got a great number of their men injured and even with their greatest weapon used they didn’t manage to come out on top as the cargo was most likely destroyed and all of the merchants’ lives were saved. For Mana this was a success and even if it ached all over due to the beating she received but the girl was glad to have been there when these people needed her. Mana didn’t know if Kiyomi intended to save the cargo, maybe she did and blamed herself for being unable to do so just like Mana did some time before when she blamed herself for failing to save some lives of her enemies but the thing was that the bandits did no permanent damage and also became a target for one of the strongest ninja villages in the world as well as got the injured part of the group a target for the vultures that lurk beyond the village walls… Yes this was a victory as far as Mana was concerned…

Kiyomi thanked Mana for being there when the bandits attacked and helping her to try and repel them, Mana smiled as that was nothing more but a coincidence that made Mana venture beyond village walls and be at that exact spot at that exact time. Still Mana nodded to Kiyomi and got on the back of the other guard when he offered to carry her home, “And I’m happy you didn’t just run away when things got hot… Would’ve ran to help the merchants anyway…” The ninja carrying Mana seemed to be a little annoyed by the rashness of the young girls as both of them could’ve easily gotten themselves killed. “Seriously you two, you should’ve just left it for us, we deal with similar things every day…” he interrupted Mana’s reply. Mana chuckled, she was probably good enough to walk back home with her own feet even if her leg has a cut that may need some stitching and she has several nasty bruises but she just thought that getting carried home after all the trouble would really not sound all that bad…

Mana slipped away for a few moments during the short trip from the battlefield to the village gate, her passing out wasn’t that caused by loss of blood or injuries but sheer exhaustion. Even before the long and tiring battle the girl spent quite some time gardening, she just wanted to hit the bed and the day had only just started. “This one seemed to have fell asleep while we were going…” Mana was woken up by the voice of the ninja that carried her, she looked around and got off his back. There were some medical ninja that were supposed to help them, Mana saw Kiyomi get some medicine and when she was offered the same she shook her head. “Just some bruises to get looked over and a cut… I was lucky…” she replied as Mana definitely felt like she was in a better condition than Kiyomi was but then again she fought the giant far less than the older girl did.

Kiyomi asked for a meeting some other time, joking about the meeting better be happening inside the village walls and under some better circumstances. Mana nodded “Sure… I know a magician who has pretty fancy shows near the village center and she does have a nasty habit of not charging for some tickets…” the girl replied. Mana was glad having met Kiyomi for more reasons than one. Definitely not because if Kiyomi wasn’t there Mana would’ve ended up dead, more so because Kiyomi was someone Mana could’ve looked up to – a nice person who saves lives and does good deeds for the people. Kiyomi was a lot like the miniature version of the Hokage and Mana saw Hokage as a perfect example of a ninja as well, maybe that was why they got along so well… “We should go, Magician…” one medical ninja pointed her towards the Konoha hospital “Even if you’re right about your injuries, it may be a great idea to skip a couple of shows until the bruises heal”, “Well, I’m probably grounded anyways…” Mana shrugged as she tried to imagine her future encounter with her parents who will without a doubt dash to the hospital as fast as humanly possible when they hear of her injuries and knowing how fast rumors fly in this village they probably knew of that before Mana got to the village… “I wonder how a grounded ninja works…” Mana joked as she turned to the hospital to have her injuries looked over.

[EXIT]
[TOPIC END]