Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

In The Name Of The Law

"Really? Are you sure?" Shige-H stood up and scratched her chin in reaction to the bomb that Mana dropped.

"Yes, I saw a memory in Krown's mind about him meeting up with a handful of ninja inside of a mountain cave. Judging from the temperature, the sparsity of oxygen, and the howling wind outside, they were somewhere quite high. They spoke about Kaguya Yaban and then their leader brought up that kidnapping me might have a similar effect to what they're looking for with the former Tsuchikage. Our arrival here shuffled their cards, but they saw it as an opportunity." Mana rubbed her eyes and tried her best to return to a more dignified position on her feet. She hadn't been forced out from someone's memories so crudely ever before, so she wasn't sure what this might have been about.

"We've made far too much noise... Not only have we attracted the attention of the local ninja, but we've also piqued the interest of the rogue ninja as well," Shige-H rubbed her forehead nervously.

"What on earth is going on here?!" a yell came from the area further away from the scene of combat that took place in the dirty crossroad in Boulder Town. It was the blond Kumogakure ninja who accompanied Prim-S earlier. Just another one of the local watchdogs. Right now she was another problem on the Stars' list. "Can someone explain it to me why there are ninja fighting each other in the middle of the town when we're supposed to keep the peace here?"

Although the woman turned to Prim-S, her fellow Kumogakure native, to explain this situation to her, the young man was staring off into the void somewhere. He was leaning down by Krown's body that seemed to have stopped convulsing and now just laid lifeless in the middle of the street. The people had noticed this scene though they stayed further away as they wanted nothing to do with either this creepy, malformed man that lay soaked in guts and the clotted layer of blood in the middle of the street or the Kumogakure ninja supposedly keeping peace in their town.

"He's dead..." Prim-S reported after standing up. His comrade from Kumogakure flickered up closer to him, trying to invoke some sort of reaction out of the fallen puppet master before turning to Prim-S again.

"What do you mean, he's dead? Who is this man? What's happening over here and why are you two involved in this mess again?" the blonde asked, pointing at Shige-H and Mana. Even though Mana didn't need to turn back, she felt Prabba taking her position behind them. The peacekeepers expected the two to make a run for it, which was why they were positioning themselves around the pair.

This was bad. People were glaring at them and Mana, as always, was her poster come to life. If she would once again get involved in terrible publicity like being involved in a murder scene, she'd had the shadows of her public perception with Guru Ayushi's incident pinned on her again. Even if it couldn't have been farther from the truth, even if no one could prove anything, the people would make up their minds and forever see Mana as a murderer. Or an accomplice, at the very least. That'd be the end of her World Magic Tour and the end of the Allied Ninja being able to use it as their excuse to take part in missions around the world without the knowledge of local politicians and leaders.

"We've already told you," Mana did her best in mending the situation. "I am Konoha's Sorceress. I've come here to perform in my World Magic Tour and this man attacked us, wanting to kidnap me for ransom."

"This... Does check-out," Prabba corroborated Mana's story, dropping her strict stance and easing up with her expression. Whether it was gratitude for Mana saving her life or whether the Iwagakure kunoichi truly believed it, Mana wasn't certain, though it hardly mattered. "This man was the same one that Sorceress requested us to check for back in the town square. He killed Montmor, another peacekeeper ninja, and slipped into his body to sneak away from the scene back to his superiors and report of his failure."