Aftermath [Custom Mission]

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

This mission is a flashback that takes place after Visiting Friends and ends in the opening post of Beach Antics and describes the month Mana spent in Shukuba before her promised vacation (not that it matters because nothing changes - the rank and jutsu were still the same...)

Spoiler:

Finally Mana’s trip that lasted more than five hours was over. The easily recognized small pleasure town appeared out of the opening in the thickness of the forest. It is a trip that Mana has been doing continuously over the past months, there were numerous different jobs most prominent of which was busting Shukuba’s corruption ring. The young kunoichi could not have predicted how deeply the corruption has grown within the town’s structure, it seemed that every single aspect of the town was touched: its shops, ordinary townsfolk and most importantly even the security force were all involved. Mana’s help was appreciated so much by the town that they requested the girl to aid them in reforming their entire structure, over the past months Mana helped the village to rise from the rubble where the corruption scandal left it. This time Mana’s mission was more of what the girl liked to do – dealing with criminals instead of sheets of paper.

Mana despised paperwork with the core of her being which was why she had so much stress when the town asked the girl to assist them in reforming the security force. The young kunoichi had to go through piles of applications and check them, it was nothing short of a guess if this person would be likely to succumb to a similar temptation like his predecessors did. Some officials that were corrupt were granted forgiveness and resumed their duties, Mana herself advised some of them to be granted forgiveness. If similar situation repeats itself Mana would be eaten from inside by blame, she’d likely be blamed quite a lot seeing how she had significant influence in the process of reformation. Then again, such is the point of responsibility – it has to be justified and it being a pain in the ass is ultimately the point.

Without wasting any time Mana went straight for the small hotel she stayed in during her previous visits. There was no point in looking for any other place of staying, the place was cozy enough and the people that wanted to find Mana came to think of the place as her location. Right as Mana entered the district considered the central district in the town she was greeted by a young security officer, apparently it was his responsibility to see to it that Mana settled in without any accidents. After all, the news of Mana working with the security force in hunting down the remaining ninja of Diamond Hand syndicate which was responsible for the corruption ring must’ve reached every interested ear in the town. It may have been possible that the unorganized bunch would organize just to gang up and take out the girl before she has the chance in busting them.

Luckily that was not the case, despite Mana’s polite attempts to dismiss the officer the young man still decided to carry on with his mission, even if eventually the worries were empty. Mana and the seventeen year old officer Kouta arrived to the hotel with no accidents. The owner of the hotel was happy as usual for having the opportunity to host Mana, something that always seemed odd for the girl. The amount of respect the townsfolk were showing to Mana creeped the young magician out as she wasn’t really used to it. Even worse some of this strange respect carried to back home in Konoha after the magician became a Special Jounin. The bulk of Konoha’s ninja were Genin or Chuunin so they kept showing this strange and creepy respect for Mana and everything she said or did and that took some time to get used to. Usually Mana was always the respectful and unseen one.

This mission was not supposed to be one like Mana has done before, there was no rush to it, in fact, Mana expected to take a full month in Shukuba. At least she promised to resolve the matters in that amount of time for her friends Kiyomi and Meiko. Whether Mana would succeed in assisting the small pleasure town with the problem within one month was yet to be seen, no one knew exactly how deep the problem was. During her first day in the town Mana decided to take it easy and rest after her trip, there was little that could’ve been done in the several hours of day that Mana still had. As the girl spent time in her hotel room her mind kept slipping away to wondering why did Shukuba town request her specifically in their mission request. It could’ve been due to her sensory abilities that were really useful for this kind of job but something told the girl it was something else.

Ever since Mana helped the few clean local officers bust the Diamond Hand syndicate and their corruption ring the townsfolk viewed the girl as their idolized version of what their security officer should be: nice and warm, having a sense of righteousness and always following one’s own ideals instead of other motivators. Mana was really afraid that the village was granting her far too much say in all kinds of matters she shouldn’t have had a voice in, they almost started to treat her as a honorary political advisor to the town’s administration. Whenever she asked the administration if something should’ve been done, the administration threw away all of their matters and did what Mana asked them about without even trying to argue if it was the right thing to do. The young magician was still a child after all.

Worries like that followed Mana into sleep that night, it was of no surprise that the girl dreamed a nightmare of everything going wrong in Shukuba town and people pointing fingers and blaming her for everything. Nightmares were no longer something out of the ordinary for the young magician, she had her own share of them ever since her career as a ninja began and this one was pretty tame in comparison. After a rather rough night Mana prepared for her trip into the Shukuba security force offices to manage the search, the very idea of a young fourteen year old girl being given a responsibility to manage search for rogue ninja hidden within the pleasure town intimidated Mana, what if some officer dies or a rogue ninja harms an innocent bystander in the process, they’re pretty desperate after all… If that happened it would’ve all been Mana’s fault and the girl didn’t even know yet if she could live with pressure like that.

“Maybe Kiyomi and Meiko were right, I do need to call it quits for a while after this one…” Mana wondered as she opened the entrance door to the Shukuba security force headquarters. The tidy line up of security officers lined up and saluting Mana as she went by them greeted her, “You’ve got to be kidding me…” the girl thought, “They’re seriously giving me too much credit and pressure, I don’t know which one would be more depressed if I fail, me or these young people…” the thoughts of things going wrong still haunted the magician as she prepared to address the security force.

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

“Hello, I am Nakotsumi Mana, a kunoichi from Konoha.” Mana introduced herself after waiting for a couple of seconds after entering, leaving time for those who have been assigned to work with her to come closer. “Some of you may think that I am the temporary leader of security force’s “Organized Crime Buster” division which was formed by my advice during the reconstruction but I’d like you to consider this assignment more as a partnership. Each and every one of us are equals and you are no more my subordinates than I am yours, as long as I am considered as the person in charge there is no one in charge. I shall sometimes give orders but you are free to disobey them if they sound stupid to you. Today we begin a massive operation goal of which is removing every single rogue ninja remaining after collapse of Diamond Hand in Shukuba. If you have no questions we can begin.”

Mana wasn’t really that experienced of a leader, she wasn’t even a crimefighter at that. Still some of those men were only accepted in the security force because they were young and considered incorruptible, Mana may have been far too young to be in an operation like this but she had a lot of experience, the girl worked with people like the Hokage and Kaguya Yoroi whom Mana considered to be the best crime buster to this day. These men nodded and accepted everything Mana told them, they shared every bit of information gathered on the matter from before Mana arrived, some suspects and locations where rogue ex-Diamond Hand members gathered. They didn’t try to hide anything, they blindly trusted Mana and for the girl it seemed they viewed her in a similar way she viewed Yoroi – as a mentor and a superior. She didn’t like that one bit.

The first day went by very simply, Mana took a small team of six officers with her and took in two rogues as they met each other. The ninja didn’t even offer any resistance they simply surrendered which was quite odd to Mana. The captured ninja had chakra capacity close to that of a chunin, they may have caused plenty of trouble if they wanted to. The leader of the Shukuba security complimented Mana and the officers on a great start for the operation, he seemed very excited to see Mana’s interrogation of the two but the girl left it to the officers. The girl’s previous interrogating experience told her that a teenage girl was nowhere close to the intimidation level required to successfully interrogate someone. Something like that was better left to young and strong men who knew how to punch someone properly, someone who didn’t have a reputation as a stage magician.

As much as Mana dreaded the idea that the two met up in order to organize a get-together two days later it was revealed that it wasn’t so. It took two days of Shukuba security’s interrogation tactics to beat something as simple as “We were doing nothing wrong” out of the rogues. Usually criminals tell that without any interrogation. Mana saw the officers in action – they weren’t actually doing anything wrong, in fact they were way too rough and didn’t really hold back any violence from the interrogation. Mana did warn them not to kill them but she didn’t really care that they broke the protocol, she wasn’t much of a rule lover herself, plus the men were young and inexperienced, the situation was dire and it was important to have it resolved.

Mana was actually disappointed to know that the rogues didn’t even try to organize, that was the main fear of everyone around. After their previous leader was put behind bars the entire syndicate was all over the town, people were afraid that now that no one was in control someone would re-unite them but it appeared that the syndicate didn’t even care that much about getting back together. The two kept telling the security that they were just meeting up to exchange some goods, something they stole. After being promised to be transferred to a penitentiary facility the two agreed to reveal the locations of some more rogues. Finally, after three days of work something positive came out of capturing the two. The two rogue ninja were sent away to a small prison facility nearby Shukuba. Mana tried to work with the revealed information to get another plan of capturing the other four rogues locations of which were revealed.

Once again each of the rogues gave up easily, some tried to run but the security were rather skilled in boxing and chasing tactics. It was really strange how none of the ninja actually used any ninjutsu to fight back, Mana really thought they’d try. Of course the amount security officers she always brought to the location was overwhelming, the tactic was to just burst inside the hideout and detain the rogue quickly, only use armed force if the rogue resists. Mana decided to try something else with the second entering his hideout alone, to her surprise the rogue surrendered to her even when there weren’t twenty armed security officers. The operation seemed to be going almost too well, the rogues even collaborated and gave all the information they knew only to be sent to penitentiary as fast as possible. Just for security purposes Mana asked to send the rogues into separate facilities, two were brought to Konoha and other two were shipped to another country.

While the first week of the rogue capturing mission went really well something really unnerved Mana, there was this idea that she may have been overlooking something. She had a feeling that while the rogues did act unorganized they actually were and that she was playing according to some smart plan, that she was just a young and inexperienced fish being played with by some crime overlord. “The amount of information we’re given… It’s always satisfactory enough to strike a deal but never something conclusive, one rogue gives in one or two others, what if they know the location of all of them, what if this information is what we’re “supposed” to know to move their plans along…” thoughts like that haunted Mana this entire first week.

When Mana tried to tell her fears to an experienced officer all they said we things like: “It’s alright / You’re worrying too much. / You’re sending them to separate facilities aren’t you? / It’s going to be alright” and so on. Something in this constant success scared Mana more than any failure ever did, she started missing home a lot.

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

The second week of Mana’s mission started with a huge bump in the road. During the most of her stay and time being in charge she had an experienced security officer to look at when she didn’t know what to do, when Mana started wondering if her plan of action was solid, if the information on a rogue was enough she just looked at elder Fuji and he always had an advice to give her. The first thing that Monday started with was the young officer Kouta knocking on Mana’s door and informing her that old man Fuji passed away last night. Mana almost instantly tried to give that death meaning, wonder if the man was murdered or that he knew something he wasn’t supposed to. Apparently the only thing that killed the man was his love for cigarettes as his old and sickly lungs gave in.

“If I go to hospital they won’t let me smoke anymore” the man used to say when Mana wondered if he had a condition because of how husky his voice was. He laughed it off every time. Sometimes deaths have no meaning, it would’ve been so easy for Mana to push her hatred towards some rogue ninja or just a common criminal who would’ve murdered the man. Now there was no hatred, no wish for vengeance just emptiness. “Tell the guys to sit today off, go empty some bottles or just grieve.” Mana replied to the youngster. The magician knew that this wouldn’t have been what elder Fuji would’ve wanted, he always had this not giving a shit about anything attitude, the best way to respect his way of life would’ve been to just carry on business as usual. The thing was that Mana never cared much what dead people would’ve wanted, death had no meaning for her. In fact, Mana believed that death killed meaning that existed before.

The very next day Mana noticed that giving the security force a free day may not have been the best of ideas as for some reason a lot of powerhouses came in with pale skin, swimmy eyes and some sort of sensitivity to light and sound. “Did they all catch a flu or something?” Mana wondered, while the girl knew very well about drinking being a popular activity she was a bit too young to know how hangover worked just yet. Even more the men kept running to the bathroom several times per day which halted the work to a crawl. Mana just couldn’t handle the paperwork alone, her hatred for the kind of work killed productivity even more than the affliction that the men got. Only by the evening two hours after the working day was supposed to end Mana managed to get the information analyzed and come up for a plan of action for the next arrest.

The next rogue Shukuba security was supposed to apprehend was a big one, in fact the guy was responsible for a great amount of murders during the reign of the Diamond Hand, he was also said to be quite a sadist and was said to have a unique fighting style. Maybe it was for the better for the magician to try and hold the men from engaging that maniac on that strange and rather wasted day. The rogue that the force had to apprehend was one of the two favored hitmen for the leader of the syndicate, he carried out a significant amount of hits and actually had a hit assigned on himself. The hit was supposed to be carried out by a young but experienced genin who mostly operated solo just like Mana. The youngster was killed in battle and his body was found outside a local warehouse badly burnt. Needless to say this man was a threat.

“Mana-san what is our course of action with this man?” Kouta the young officer who acted quite often as the mediator between the security and Mana asked. “I’ll be going in alone.” Mana answered which the youth found rather funny. “What do you mean? This man is extremely dangerous, he is at least a B-rank missing ninja he is infamous enough to earn the nickname “the Raitoncide” amongst the bandits, he’s one of the two famous Diamond Hand hitmen known as…” “Diamond arms, I know, I read his file!” Mana rudely shut the youth down. “That is exactly why I won’t be letting any of you guys engage him, you’ll get yourselves killed. I am not saying that you’ll be sitting on your butts.” Mana concluded. “I ordered a little something to be brought from Konoha yesterday, a lot of packages that must’ve arrived by now, that will be what you’ll be doing.” Mana smiled.

The packages that Mana requested were humongous rolls of rubber-like material used in the making of Raiton practice dummies back at Konoha. The initial stages of lightning jutsu are hard to aim properly so the dummies not only absorb most lightning jutsu, but also attracts them like a lightning rod. Mana’s plan was for a squad of security force to surround the building each carrying a large amount of the material which would’ve messed with all Raiton jutsu within the warehouse that the rogue called Raitoncide was hiding inside. All lightning jutsu within the warehouse would’ve been attracted towards the walls and absorbed by them making all Raiton jutsu within the area useless. It was a whole day of planning just to capture a single criminal.

Of course Mana’s plan came with the downside of having her own Lightning Release rendered useless as well but she had a bit wider arsenal of skills, Raitoncide was described as a “one trick pony” by a lot of other rogues and his file. As the evening came and the men were briefed on Mana’s plan the time to capture Raitoncide came. As the men lined up Mana used a kunai to cut the wire that held the door locked and entered the building. For some reason the warehouse was lighted up by some source of light every several seconds. “What the fuck is going on… My jutsu ain’t working…” Mana heard a voice shouting. As the girl came further into the warehouse she noticed a man holding wires that were dipped into buckets of water. “Was he electrocuting himself? Is he a pain-junkie of some sort?” Mana wondered as she closed in.

“Shukuba security, you’re under arrest.” Mana said with a cold voice forcing the man to jump up in surprise and turn around. “Your lightning jutsu won’t work, I advise you to give up.” The girl continued only to make the man laugh. “And skip the opportunity to play with you, no fucking way! I’m pretty sure I can still beat up a little girl.” The man shouted as he charged forward. Mana had no intention to test his claim, she quickly formed a handseal and started whistling a tune forcing the man to collapse on the ground drooling.

“I thought… You said… Lightning… Doesn’t work…” the man cried out in a strange voice overtaken by the sensations he imagined as pleasurable. “So he is a shock addict…” Mana thought as she tied the man’s hands and knocked on the wall that was covered in scrap signaling the men to rush inside. Quickly the security squad tied the rogue ninja’s hands in a way that no handseals could’ve been formed. “That’s a lot of trouble for one guy…” Kouta said after day was over “Could’ve been simpler to just take him out… Moving this guy to Bachi prison is going to be troublesome…” Mana shrugged “Maybe I could’ve taken him normally, who knows. I didn’t feel like risking lives out there both mine and those of you guys.” After that momentous arrest most of the second week as business as usual.

Spoiler:

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

After the Shukuba security successfully apprehended the first Diamond arm of the Diamond Hand syndicate that once existed, it was only natural that the question of going for the second one started coming up. Shukuba security knew the usual locations and contacts of the woman quite well but Mana was a little hesitant to go for her. The magician was always hesitant when dealing with rogues, mainly because the girl did not really have a clear idea how to treat them. For the Sorceress all the rogue ninja looked dangerous even those of C-rank, surviving on the streets and beyond took a great amount of skill, if the rogues possessed the skills of that caliber then they naturally have to be given credit. Such slow attitude somewhat annoyed the security force composed mostly of young and craving for action men. From time to time the kunoichi found the file just lying randomly on her table reminding her of the threat at large.

“Seeing how you keep chasing small fries and take so many precautions with every one of them can we at least conduct an investigation of our own?” the young Kouta once asked the ninja during one of their small arguments. The young man wanted Mana to form several sectors of the security force so that they could pursue different targets instead of the sluggish pace that things have been going until then. In a way every single word that came from his lips was correct, Mana also was not a person who had all the time in the world to spend. Still splitting the security officers devoted to rogue ninja into even more separate divisions may have been risky. That meant that ordinary officers would’ve been chasing ninja and the magician tried to avoid it as much as possible these weeks.

“Fine. Pick one file and lead your own team, ten people, not less, C-rank rogue or lower.” The girl voiced her conditions to Kouta, this was supposed to be his trial period. If the youth proved that he could not only lead his peers but also work efficiently and capture actual rogue ninja Mana would’ve allowed several divisions to work separately. Deep in her heart the girl knew that it was the right way to go but she needed guarantees, something to utterly murder the doubts and fears that Shukuba security had to be on the second plan, always hiding behind her back and acting as support. “Thank you, you won’t be disappointed in us, I promise, Mana-san!” Kouta looked quite happy not only with the magician’s permission to act but also by her appointing him as the guy in charge, the excitement was simply radiating from him.

“They will have to work by themselves after I’m gone, it wouldn’t be fair to hold them back…” the kunoichi thought to herself. “Besides, maybe they can actually get things done, that’d make things here faster.” Mana thought while she took the file of the famed rogue assassin and flipped its pages. “The right Diamond Arm… Kasui Akane.” The girl thought to herself as she quickly looked over each page. It looked like it was quite the collection of murders in this one’s account but Akane looked a lot more refined than her colleague. The only crimes pinned to the Diamond Arm were the assassinations, she only got involved when the other criminals wouldn’t have made things personal enough. It seemed that this woman was the signature card of the Diamond Hand and that the leader took great pride in her, only used her for the personal jobs like people knowing too much or bosses of other criminal gangs.

The file on Kasui Akane said that the woman was a dangerous weapon expert being unmatched with all sorts of bladed weapons, unmatched by non-ninja weapon experts at least as the assassin had no known collisions with ninja. Mana coughed to herself just to let out her annoyance, not knowing the exact level of skill would be difficult, she’d be risking lives again going in to take the woman down. When one does not know the exact skill level of a person one is trying to take down it is best not to fight, more so the magician had a feeling that Akane would expect the Shukuba security coming after her seeing how they already comprehended the left Diamond Arm and the two appeared to be quite in the faces of each other, the woman must’ve suspected Raitoncide spilling all the beans on her.

“Why are you so sad and worried about her, Mana-san?” a passing security officer asked the girl as she was contemplating on numerous plans on how to proceed. “You not only outrank her but also we have the numbers and she won’t see us coming.” The man said, his voice suggested that he knew that the girl knew his points, the man just wanted to hear why they were wrong. “Rank doesn’t really mean that much in ninja world, I believe I’d lose my head quite easily to a genin if he is simply skilled and a little lucky, also it won’t be a one on one fight, I have to watch over you guys as well and I’m sure Kasui Akane would exploit that.” The magician explained. Even with all the thinking and trying to come up with a way to take Akane down easier, in a way that wouldn’t have had Mana relying on combat situation going her way, the girl couldn’t come up with anything smart.

“I guess we’ll just have to go in, she seems like a honor-driven type, maybe she won’t force me to take an arrow for someone else…” the kunoichi thought to herself as she finally snapped tossing the file away. It was at moments like that that the girl was jealous of genius ninja or members of Nara clan. As far as Mana measured herself she could only see herself as a over glorified brat who was given way too much respect and power. The girl called up the last remaining Shukuba security officer who still hadn’t left the office, informing him of the upcoming arrest the next day. “So you’ve got a plan then?” he asked, “Akane will be expecting a clever and complex plan, we’ll just hit her fast simple and hard, take her down before letting her really let loose.” Mana replied wondering if the man realized that this was just her way of saying “I have no idea what to do…”

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

A squad comprised of Mana and ten other Shukuba security officers surrounded an ordinary looking house. The famous right Diamond Arm - Kasui Akane lived there according to the intel leaked by the other Diamond Arm known as Raitoncide. To the ninja magician leading the squad this arrest felt like the most suspenseful and difficult moment of the entire mission as Akane was pretty much the last Diamond Hand syndicate rogue left roaming free in the entire town. The rest were so small and insignificant that the girl could simply leave them to the security force to deal with alone. From Kouta’s reports his squad was doing another arrest several blocks away, one of a C-rank rogue and part of kunoichi’s mind was also with that party. A lot of depended on the success of Kouta’s squad, if the squad is unsuccessful in their arrest then that meant that Shukuba security wasn’t ready to work unassisted.

“Stop, you have to stay here!” the girl scolded herself trying to keep her mind on the here and now. This arrest would be difficult enough to carry out as it is. For the whole three weeks Shukuba security were making arrests all over the town, all of them successful. Mana had no right to lead them into a corner or allow someone to die. The girl signaled her squad to break in and the two most bulky members of her squad kicked the door down. Within the very moment that the door fell down the two officers fell down on the ground with blades in their throats. “Back, NOW!” Mana shouted commanding the remaining squad to hide behind the walls leaving the exit they just broke down open. “Time is on my side, officers. These men will bleed out if you don’t get them, unfortunately my aim was not good enough to kill them instantly…” a strong but elegant voice spoke.

“She’s right… We have no time, she wants us to rush and make more mistakes.” The kunoichi thought to herself as she lifted her palm in the air stopping some impulsive officers on their feet, keeping them from entering the house and getting themselves killed. “On my mark…” Mana whispered to the officers as she quickly made some handsigns and jumped out “Magical Barrier Jutsu!” the magician shouted as she formed a protective gust which deflected more throwing knives that came at the officers who moved their unfortunate colleagues away. After the injured were moved out only Mana and Akane remained in the room, Akane held her grip on a wakizashi in a sheathe on her back while the magician had her hands in a pose ready to form more handseals. It was a ninja standoff.

“You’re a so-so ninja, but definitely a shitty planner…” the right Diamond Arm taunted the girl with her strong yet somewhat alluring voice. She looked like everything a kunoichi was supposed to be – lean and beautiful enough to be able to slip any man poison undetected but also strong and armed well enough to take him down one on one. “And you’re a bad liar, you missed those officers on purpose, you wanted to lure more of us out so that you could kill them too.” The girl replied, had she been a heartless bastard she would’ve most likely done just the same. “Well you are blocking my only escape unfortunately enough… You know what they say about a cornered woman…” the assassin smiled with a twisted smile, if snakes could smile it would’ve looked just the same.

“So, Sorceress of Konoha, will you keep your footmen in safety and risk your own life or throw their lives away to take me in? You know you can’t have both.” The woman taunted again, she appeared to wish to tick Mana off and force her to make a mistake. The young magician ran several scenarios through her mind, she had a lot of options but the space in the room was limited and her opponent was fast. The way the kunoichi saw it Akane was right – if Mana does not utilize her reinforcement in some way she will most likely either get severely injured or die. “Still, I can’t risk their lives… They are young people, people who aren’t suppose to put their lives on the line, their enemies are petty thugs not trained assasins...” the young kunoichi thought to herself as her hands went through another set of handseals. Mana knew perfectly how this clash would end for her…

As the young kunoichi worked through the handseals the assassin kicked off the ground charging for the kill with amazing speed, the magician only had time for one move before she’s struck down and she intended to make it easier for her footmen to capture Akane. “Slice of Life!” the girl shouted as her jutsu and the attack of her much faster opponent were released at the same time. The magician released a wind chakra projectile aimed at Akane’s abdomen it’d have been a deep cut hard enough to injure the woman for life, maybe even cut her spine hard enough to paralyze her but Akane was not going for the kill as Mana intended. Instead the woman jumped in the air to kick her younger opponent down, “She knew I’d have enough time for one hit…” was everything that the girl had time to think.

The assassin’s foot kicked Mana in the chest with enough force to take her down on the ground with the girl’s projectile managing to cut deep into the assassin’s legs making the woman unable to escape or attack nearly as fast. The end of exchange of attacks had the young magician lying on the ground and her opponent holding the gapping wounds on her legs to prevent losing too much blood. “You’re a smart girl, Sorceress. You knew I was faster, that I’d land a hit on you but you also knew you had one shot and you decided to use it to disable me, of course I knew what you’d try to do which is why I’m still alive. Losing my guts and below waist movement wasn’t that alluring for me. But also you’re too noble to live long, if I see you trying to stand I can just slash at your throat and win, if I see your lackies coming I will still have enough time to do the same. But you just don’t care do you?”

The eyes of the young magician slipped up to look at her opponent’s face, it was twisted by pain but Akane was smiling. Not in a twisted way, it was not smile of mockery, it was a smile of acknowledgement. “When they arrest me, I’ll tell my cellmates about you, Sorceress of Konoha, the smart young kid who was killed by her own nobility. Now, how about you try to stand and we resolve this?” The woman taunted Mana to finish it, the girl knew how that’d end, Akane would throw something at her at the same moment that she saw one muscle tense on the girl’s body, the distance was significant enough and Akane was injured in her legs but she had perfect aim. No matter how Mana looked at it the only outcome was her dying and the security officers capturing Akane because of the woman’s injury. “Shit, I get we won’t really get to do that vacation after all, guys.” the kunoichi thought to herself.

Mana’s hands tensed up as the girl pushed her body up from the floor. The magician didn’t close her eyes, if she had to die at least she’d get to admire the speed of the right Diamond Arm drawing her blade. Right as the Konoha kunoichi started her attempt to stand up the assassin threw her wakizashi aiming for Mana’s chest. The girl knew that she didn’t have enough time to dodge it but as the attack resolved it wasn’t sharp pain that hit Mana’s body, it was actually blood. A female officer of Shukuba security shielded the girl at the last moment with the body pile of her fellow officers falling on top of the injured assassin. Kasui Akane was captured. Mana looked at the unfortunate woman that shielded her making the short blade pierce her chest instead. The young magician was a lousy medic but it was apparent that the woman will die…

Several hours later Mana was still crying into her elbow in her office at Shukuba security. Most officers had already left by then the day was over but the young kunoichi just couldn’t forget the sacrifice and bravery that the officers showed that day. The girl thought about the last words she said to the woman, the young kunoichi regretted that those words weren’t “Thank you” but it was a “Why” instead. Kouta entered Mana’s office, the young man looked tired “Our arrest was successful, Mana-san. The rogue gave up as all of we stormed the building just like you used to tell us to do.” “This woman… The one who shielded me, did she have a family?” Mana asked trying to conceal her crying voice. “Yes, a husband and a young boy.” Kouta answered.

Later that night Mana would visit the home of the family and tell the husband of the events. At least the magician managed to fix her mistake by thanking the husband for his wife’s bravery. Still the girl felt like shit for the remainder of her third week in Shukuba. It felt like she wasn't supposed to live, Mana would always keep thinking that the woman that gave her life for the magician kunoichi from another village had much more to live for.

Spoiler:

Age : 32 Posts : 1495

It was certainly hard for the young ninja magician to deal with the fact that someone gave up their life for her. During the fourth week in Shukuba Mana found herself visiting the woman’s family again and again to the point where it may have seemed strange. The girl kept asking if everything was OK, if there was anything Mana could help them with. The young one even spent an evening watching the woman’s son while his father was away by his request. When the father came back he started laughing and upon kunoichi’s question what was so funny he replied: “I was just messing with you, I just wanted to check something – you feel like you owe our family something so you’re ready to do anything I ask of you… Stop doing that, the reason my wife gave up her life for you was because she saw something in you that made her think it was worth it, you owe us nothing.”

It wasn’t easy for the girl to accept the man’s words, whenever she came to visit again he just repeated them every time and refused to be helped by Mana in any way. It was just the first time someone sacrificed themselves for the girl and she couldn’t accept it or deal with it properly. The other officers may have tried to help the magician deal with it but they were occupied with arresting rogues and as long as the rogues weren’t dangerous and they didn’t need Mana’s help they didn’t bother interfere with the girl’s emotional mess. Just like she chose to let them become their own warriors and trusted them enough to arrest trained rogue ninja the Shukuba security decided to leave the girl to deal with her own pain and confusion to help her mature and become a better person all by herself.

“It’s time I leave this town…” Mana thought to herself one day as she was checking on the intelligence of the remaining rogues and Diamond Hand members. Now that both Diamond Arms were apprehended there really was no point for the kunoichi to remain in Shukuba, especially when the local authorities demonstrated their skill in doing the job exceptionally well even to the point where they were no longer Mana’s little students but her colleagues and equals just as she told them during her first speech to them. And then an old man, all beaten up and drenched in blood, ran into Shukuba security building.

“Help… Please. Shukuba arrest house is under attack!” the man uttered before collapsing. Shukuba arrest house was a small facility where smaller criminals were contained or criminals were held before conditions were set for moving them to larger and more secure facilities like Konoha’s Bachi prison. “Kouta’s squad is already there, they were questioning Kasui Akane, weren’t they?!” Mana yelled out, any opportunity of Akane and other bandits being released needed to be extinguished. “We will move out to assist them immediately, everyone who has no active duties move out with me!” Mana commanded, there probably wasn’t that much time – Shukuba arrest house was a simple correctional facility and only had simple containment rooms.

Upon Mana’s arrival the girl saw that all may not have been lost, the attackers didn’t even manage to get inside the arrest home and the Shukuba security were brawling with them openly on the street. Mana quickly formed some handsigns and started throwing lightning projectiles at anyone she saw who wasn’t wearing Shukuba security uniform. This attack was very strange as the attackers did not look like rogue ninja who would’ve been interested or capable at that of carrying out this attack and yet someone was clearly coordinating the bunch. Their movements were sloppy, they weren’t trained just gathered off the streets. They did not dodge, or block, just covered their heads to prevent lethal injuries. The reinforcing squad was shredding through the attackers with little difficulty. Then Mana noticed a gruesome sight that forced her to redirect her full attention.

A bulky mercenary-like looking man was beating on Kouta’s unconscious body, from the shape of the young man’s face it looked like the bandit was going at it for some time. The man looked awfully familiar to the girl, “Put him down.” She ordered loudly enough to be heard yet silently enough to sound threatening. “Sorceress… I knew I’d bump into you if I banged loud enough.” The man replied in a strong and firm tone, something in his voice suggested great pleasure in seeing Mana opposing him. He let the unconscious body of the young man hit the ground and turned around to face the girl with his full hulking physique. It was the same man Mana put down during her first mission, one she beat by sheer luck when he tripped and impaled on a horn decoration.

“You’ve grown more than I have since our last encounter, and I had puberty on my side…” Mana said in a cold voice, the girl thought that maybe she could push the man out of balance, make him angry and easier to predict. “I’ve been training non-stop these two and a half years. Ever since you left me impaled on that horn… Beaten by a kid, I’ve been the laughing stock of entire Bachi prison, they called me Moosehorn, I’ve become an untouchable – no self respecting thug ever wanted to get involved with me.” The man kept talking as he slowly started taking steps closer to the magician. “That’s strange, I remember it being a stag horn… Maybe an elk…” the girl replied trying to sound ignorant and sarcastic. “YOU MOCK ME?! You’ve grown to be quite cocky for someone who doesn't even have it!”

As the brute man yelled out his words he threw a strong punch at Mana, the girl jumped backwards to avoid it. Man’s punch hit the ground shattering the rocks and throwing dirt all around, his fist got covered with blood but it didn’t look like it bothered the man too much. The magician made some more handseals and pulled out a kunai as the man threw more punches her direction forming a lightning shield around the knife. The man’s fists felt almost superhuman every time the girl blocked one she was thrown backwards with almost enough force to knock her down, luckily the shock to the ex-mercenary band leader gave enough time to recover. After a series of blows it looked like the man was really off-beat, it looked like the shock did more damage than it was supposed to.

The man suddenly grabbed his chest and collapsed on the ground, he tore off his mask to get some fresh air exposing his sweating and twisted by pain face. The man could not pick himself up due to shortage of air. “What did you do to me, you little bitch?!” his voice was different – filled with fear and weak. “It’s much more what you did to yourself, just like the last time.” Mana replied, “Your insanely beefed up body looks like you put it through an insane training regiment, one lead by passion to kill me no doubt. Something like that can seriously damage your heart unless you’re a professional, of course someone with a goal to kill another person does not care about those things and it wouldn’t have mattered. That is unless your fists get shocked by a shield of pure lightning chakra and you keep pounding at it like an idiot for a prolonged period of time. I bet it tore your heart muscle to shreds. If I was you I’d see a cardiologist… If the place you’re going to has one that is.” The magician explained coldly and turned to see Shukuba security cleaning up the attacking party.

Seeing how Moosehorn claimed that no actual bandit would work with him the brute gathered simple beggars and mean spirited travelers, it is unknown what he promised them, not that it mattered – they all are going right where they tried to get to in the first place before being sent out all over the world into different prisons. Thoughts of the cruel irony of this encounter came to Mana only several hours later, when the girl was resting in her hotel room. She needed all the rest she could get as tomorrow she’d be going home – home to Konoha to her friends and family. All the really dangerous rogues were locked up, only the small fries remained and Mana made sure that the local Shukuba security was more than competent enough to deal with them. “I wonder how’s Kouta doing. Nurse said he’d be fine but his face didn’t look that good…” the girl thought to herself as her mind slowly drifted into slumber only to be woken up by the hotel owner at about 4 in the morning as she asked. Journey home would be a long one…

Spoiler:

MISSION OVER