Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

Story Time

"Wow, you guys are such a flashy bunch!" Kakashi slapped his concealed cheek, faking shock, though even while his physical reaction felt one meant to showcase his surprise, his eyes looked as blunt and nonchalant as ever. "Though... I suppose, if all of you are standing out–neither of you are. Still, in our universe, ninja tend to do their best to conceal themselves."

"A flak jacket won't hide you from me." Mana crossed her arms and raised a scorned eyebrow. As someone who reveled in being seen and flashy in both her professions, she opposed similar sentiments even if they came from the right place.

"Yeah, what exactly did you mean?" Endo wondered.

"My, my..." Kakashi tried pacifying the situation. "I apologize if I came off as offensive. It probably won't be a problem since we're not gathering intelligence or something like that. I was just trying to make an observation to break the ice. This young lady would look like a butler if it weren't for her figure and long hair. That one over there is wearing a fur coat. Do you really need a fur coat in Konoha? We are headed to a desert, you know... And that guy over there seriously freaks me out. He looks like a human puppet or something."

"It's because he is." Endo winked one eye, turning his lips up with a deviant scowl aimed at this Konoha ninja trying to cause trouble and make fun of his squad after holding them up for several hours by being late.

"Do you want to put them through the bell test or something Kakashi-san? Are you doubting their abilities?" Temari gave the jonin a devilish smirk. Judging by her malicious expression, a part of her actually wanted to see some action and one of the two parties embarrassing themselves. Whichever did so. It was fine for Temari's amusement either way.

"By no means. I am well aware of how powerful ninja from this particular universe are." Kakashi shook his head. "Even though I believe there to be more to efficiency than raw power, I don't think that they lack skill at all. As I've said, I was just breaking some ice."

The assemblage of the task force moving in to retrieve an artifact capable of controlling the Sands of Time and using it to traverse through time started off on a wrong foot.

*****

"It's so lonely and peaceful out here..." Mana noted while the ninja soared through the leafage with powerful and swift dashes. While the pace of Temari and Kakashi would have led to them only reaching the Wind Country in the evening of that day, the Allied Ninja enjoyed a tad slower pace as it meant they didn't spend too much of their stamina on merely traversing around the world.

"Well, this is a middle of nowhere, Mana-san." Kakashi shrugged with a bored look on his face. "What did you expect?"

"Back home, whenever you venture outside the village walls, all you can sense is bandits and mercenaries testing the waters. Taking minor peeks and calculating their odds. They check up on your age, size, numbers and judge your potential level of experience. No matter where you go, you're always in someone's eyesight. Even if they don't know that they're also in mine." Mana explained. "Out here... There's nothing of the sort. It's so peaceful."

"I wouldn't quite say that. My son's gotten himself into a few scuffles on his missions and bandits haven't really gone anywhere just because we've achieved world peace." Temari replied in a grungy tone, projecting moderate irritation. It didn't feel like she was irked by what Mana had said or implied, or at least Mana didn't think so.

"You must be so worried about him," Shige-H turned back. "Even if you know your son can handle a few bandits, it never gets easier."

"You speak almost as if it's from your own experience." Temari looked at Shige-H.