Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

Fortunate Vindication

The Supreme Leader came two days later. Until the leader of the Allied Ninja could interrogate Mana herself, they only allowed her to stay in the designated tent and she had a tail of two ninja following her around and checking on everything she did. In terms of being imprisoned or suspected of something, Mana has gone through far worse, though it was relieving to see that she'd finally get the chance to settle it with the boss lady.

"Hey, you've licked your wounds yet? The guys watching you told me you've been training a lot, so I figured I could see you now." Supreme Leader pulled on the beak of her hat. "Apparently, your training includes just sitting around. I'd like to know if you weren't communicating with anyone mentally or in some other way."

"Communicating? Genjutsu is a mental art. It requires mental fortitude, focus, and profound skill of execution. I was meditating." Mana replied. The attitude of being believed when she lied but taken skeptically when she told the truth was not lost on the Supreme Leader.

"Figured. It's just you bored the fuck out of your tail that's all..." the woman shrugged before pulling a chair for herself and settling down on it in a less than elegant pose, both military-style boots on the table while the woman sat flippantly and leaned back on the chair. Her eyes showed all the subtlety of a delinquent gang leader.

"You should ask Endo how he feels. You guys still haven't let me treat him. A human mind can only take so much punishment. Eventually, he will slip into a coma, you know." Mana let it be known to the Supreme Leader. It was just a way to transfer the responsibility and care over her friend's well-being. It ate at the magician on the inside thinking that she left Endo that way, now that the person in charge knew the risks. If she denied Endo his help, it'll be on her entirely.

"So you're saying you can treat him? Curious... Our medical ninja just tossed their hands in the air and all signed off on it. They say it would take an S-Rank medical ninja to even attempt at pulling the guy out. And yet here you are saying you can help Endo... I know little about genjutsu, it's very fucking convenient for you that few people do, but it seems to me like the only reason you could dispel the illusion is if you cast it on him in the first place, isn't that right?" the Supreme Leader weaved her fingers over her abdomen while she sneered at Mana, sniffing at any signs of shock or fear. Her glare focused in on the slightest twitches on Mana's face and she had some tracks to sniff on–Mana didn't expect this much awareness from someone who claimed to know nothing about the subject.

Still, she had a few days to settle on a story and a way to tell it.

"The way I would use to pull Endo out is not by directly dispelling the illusion for him. That might be possible, but it would be beyond impractical given how it might be an A or S-Rank illusion. The strain one has to go through to dispel a genjutsu technique can reach up to twice what it took to cast the illusion. Instead, I'd like to enter Endo's mind and work with him dispelling the genjutsu himself from the inside. If he realizes he is under an illusion, understands what is going on, and gets a grip on himself mentally, it'll demand far less chakra to break out." Mana pointed out.

"Are you telling me that illusion is so potent that Endo hadn't figured out he's under an illusion in the first place for two days?" Supreme Leader focused her look until it was sharp as a drill. "That makes it one fancy-pants motherfucker that's after our fresh graduates."

"Not necessarily. From the way Endo acted, I take it that the genjutsu manipulates one's temporal sense. That's to say, it meddles with one's understanding of passaging time. If Endo doesn't believe that even one second has passed–his body and mind had no time to even work on identifying the jutsu. A technique like that would be impossible to dispel by only the affecting target and would require another party." Mana explained.