Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

Too Many Damn Rabbits

"Mana-san!" Usubane turned to Mana, looking for a battle plan or follow-up orders. The last time that Mana tried something, she got caught off-guard, which didn't happen too often, and prompted the ninja rabbit's distressed reaction.

"Keep the genjutsu specialist occupied for a few seconds. I need some time for hand seals and it seems like she won't even give me the few seconds I need," Mana said. Usubane and Usuzoku crossed up, each aiming toward a different target with Usuzoku turning toward the lumbering Gwirlon, whereas the speedy Usubane signed herself up to keep the illusionist of the enemy group busy.

Whatever the other two tried, Mana trusted in the ability of the Serenity Arcana to hold it off and give her some time to cast her techniques. This was the first time in a while that Mana had that problem. She had honed her hand seal speed to heights that very few ninja could have rivaled. Still, complicated illusions like her demanded quite a few hand seals and the enemy ranks were numerous.

"Serenity Arcana!" Mana chanted out, extending her hand and ordering the ethereal magic stage to initiate an attack. She had spent a sizeable amount of chakra comparable to her most powerful illusions on this powerful level of armor ninjutsu. This was Mana's first time using Serenity Arcana at the third stage level, so she was a tad curious to see just how powerful it was.

Gloved, cartoonish hands attached to springs of pure chakra expanded outward, chasing down the oddly shaped shinobi who acted as the leader of the enemy group. Either that or he was just the biggest loudmouth. The enemy vaulted to the side with the aid of his beefy right arm, weaving a one-handed hand seal and spouting out a spew of dirt from his mouth. The curtains of Serenity Arcana shut down, forming a layer of chakra construct armor around the stage magician while thousands of airborne swords formed all around the armored stage.

With a sharp hiss through the air and a hefty thud, they slammed into the ground. The skewered enemy ninja splattered blood as Mana had pinned down his leg in between the bone and the back of his calf, and a few other non-lethal but crippling areas she went for. Just when Mana thought about opening up the curtain and resuming the casting of her illusions, the skewered ninja collapsed into a pile of sludge. Evidently enough, he substituted himself with one of his pawns.

"Earth Style: Impure Desserts!" the ninja chanted out from the side, planting his two open palms at the ground and causing it to rumble. Whatever he did to the ground, it had turned it to mushy sludge that gave birth to muddy limbs that sprung forth from the bog of rot he had made. Seeing six mud-men take a stand in between her and the enemy and browsing the ground for leaves or discarded strings of dirty cloth to throw onto themselves forced Mana to resign to dealing with them first before challenging the enemy ninja.

"Rabbit Style: Double Draw!" Usuzoku chanted out, hitting the enemy ninja square in the jaw with his claymore. Because of the intense chakra augmentation used to withstand the attack, the drawing slash caused mostly blunt damage and left Gwirlon's lower jaw to dangle awkwardly. Despite the gruesome injury, the enemy put up his shoulder and charged onward with a bellowing call for violence.

Usuzoku rolled on his knees and slammed the scabbard at the back, sending Gwirlon falling on one knee while the ninja rabbit flipped over the back and sought to stamp his feet onto the front of the enemy's face which stood a decent chance of busting it thoroughly. Gwirlon put his arm up. Where normally even the arm of someone as massive as him wouldn't have grabbed Usuzoku out of thin air, with all the various blades and steel tools sticking out from Gwirlon's arm expanding at the same time to form a scrap-iron arm of sorts, the various tools all snapped closed around Usuzoku while chakra coating flowed through them, preventing the rabbit from powering himself out of the hold.

Gwirlon cackled while pitching the rabbit aside like a ball of rags to slam against the chunk of debris while he charged onward again to crush Usuzoku in between the debris he smashed into and the adamant shoulder of the rushing handicapped ninja whose limbs seemed to be more implanted tools than his own flesh and bone. Despite taking a mean hit at the scrapped debris, Usuzoku had enough left in him to recover in time and take a skyward leap with his unmatched feet that easily put him over his lumbering opponent.