Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

Gods Are Easily Impressed

Mana's body was moving all on its own. Even if the more rational half of her commanded she stopped rushing ahead to certain death, her thighs kept on pumping speed and pushing her onward to the edge of the golden globe in seconds. The magician stopped by a lever and what appeared as a complicated system of clockwork and gears.

A lone, square platform attached to some sort of iron conveyor belt by an opening in the decorated golden planetoid rotating around many others just like it stood tall and flaunted her opening to slip out. Mana bit her lip, wondering how to proceed onward. For whatever reason, as proven when she couldn't see their assailant coming earlier, she couldn't sense the chakra of those Sky Clan ninja. The only sources of chakra that were clear to her at the moment were the civilian engineers and architects and the enigmatic Chaser.

"You've strayed from your workshop, Earth Clan," an authoritative grumble behind her made Mana's heart sink to her heels. She could never get used to being completely oblivious to any attempts at sneaking up to her. Still, she couldn't see a single trace of anyone living when she entered this area. How could this Sky Clan ninja just pop into plain view like nobody's business?

When Mana turned around to face her obstacle, the rows of teeth ground in her mouth from the grave offense of being snuck up on like a child like that. It would have been unforgivable to a ninja of her level and yet this denizen of the skies did it without breaking a sweat. She'd make it her life's purpose to pay this Sky Clan ninja back by slipping away from his grasp just as easily if Mana had any faith left in her ability to handle these opponents.

A towering goliath of assembled obsidian stone decorated the Sky Clan's arms and legs. He wore a sleeveless white tunic with oriental patterns of tomoe and lotus symbols, lines of traditional embroidery to provide framing and order to the artistic chaos. The brute's face had been paler than that of a deadman with golden eyes of diamond-shaped irises gleaming at Mana with a fiery flare. The man's black hair had been sifted into three braids, two falling on his sides and shoulders, with the thickest one resting on his back. A draconic, horn-like bone protrusion decorated the forehead and crown of the Sky Clan ninja. It had a third eye with an ocular technique Mana had never seen before, wandering about in its center like a jewel to the natural crown of horns.

"I'm not an engineer or an architect. I'm a ninja from Earth," Mana declared with undue pride, setting the confusion straight.

"Then you've strayed even further..." the goliath sighed, closing his eyes. When they opened, Mana couldn't keep a gasp contained. As much as she was readying herself for a dash aside beforehand, the moment that light of his natural ocular shimmer left the man's eyes, her body began turning to stone from the bottom up. "Before I leave you here petrified as a warning to those that would wander too far from their homes, I'm interested in how you've escaped Mushen. Even if he is quite weak, he should be light years ahead from the level of the likes of you."

"We came from a different time, a different... Universe..." Mana tried resisting the petrification. Physically at first. Once she realized that this sort of resistance threatened to make her fumble and shatter into billions of minute pieces, she began attempting more spiritual methods of combating it. Seeing this petrification as a sort of invader jutsu in her body–a lot like how genjutsu had an opponent's chakra invading one's system and causing grievous changes within a body.

Mana noticed the petrification halting down to a crawl but ceasing it, let alone reversing it, had been just a naïve, childish dream.

"Interesting. You can control things that affect your body. You must be in touch with both your body and your spirit. Most Earth Clan ninja just want to lift the biggest boulders and do the biggest booms. You better don't waste your time though, unless you wish your story to be wasted too. It gets a tad boring here, so I promise to commit your story to memory. You've earned that much," the half-mountain Sky Clan encouraged Mana to stop her pitiful resistance and to keep talking with a gesture of his hand.