Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

An Overstayed Welcome

A pair of ninja in flashy and colorful robes jumped onto the stage and stepped right past the vibrant trails of different shades of smoke. They disturbed the narrow layer of smoke down low, making Mana drag the leg that was missing a chunk behind her healthy one subconsciously. Levitating in mid-air on the Mystical Wings, she let her legs form a 4-like shape, except nothing peeked out from the cover of her left leg since the right one was a bit short. The sight was a tad illusionary in of itself, like the finger-pulling illusion Mana used to have fun with as a kid.

"King Kamar wants to see you, Konoha's Sorceress," one of the pair reported. The crowd watching Mana's show raised a bit of an uneasy wash through the mass of people. It would take a few more moments for the rustling to escalate and become flat-out public displeasure. Even then, King Kamar was popular with the smallfolk as the economy was booming, and pretty much every department of Getsugakure's was a pinch short of being flat-out golden. It wouldn't have been likely that this would turn into much more than gossip and whispering.

No one would've risked their prosperous lives by attacking a pair of ninja answering to the king himself. Mana had more common sense in her than to see something more than this truly was. If these two wanted to attack or hurt her, they wouldn't have waited for the end of her show. They'd have kept it private, either attacking her before or after the show when Mana was off the public eyes. The last thing they'd have done would've been to show up onstage, and bravely looked her in the eyes as they voiced their requests.

"What great timing, I'm just done with my evening show!" Mana smiled politely. She loved to see grown and toughened men become baffled by politeness. Their entire life they've dealt with toughness and constant attempts at one-upping each other, never letting their weaknesses or the true state of things become public. Always wearing a mask of toughness and standing behind a wall of cool. Only a polite person could've walked right around that wall and made them slip off their own mask in confusion about how this was even possible. Politeness was one thing they had no answer for and did not know how to deal with. "May I change and get ready to see King Kamar first?" she looked at the two as if asking their permission.

"Umm... Sure, I don't see why not..." the left ninja with a white and pink robe and spiky, blond hairdo scratched the back of his neck with a flustered look. No one wanted to be seen as the villain. With their public appearance and what the Getsugakure folks saw as an interruption of an already ending show, they've taken that role in the eyes of the small folks no matter their wishes or intentions. Seeing Mana greet the two with a bow of her head and act politely toward the two ninja, the villagers' ire soothed as well as they began seeing this was something ordinary.

After all, if Mana saw nothing wrong with two ninja taking the stage and asking her to come with them, they probably had nothing to worry about either. It was no secret that Konoha's Sorceress was once a famed Konohagakure kunoichi herself.

"Just please don't take too long and make the King wait, ma'am," the ninja on the right with curly, shoulder-long hair split down by the middle and a blue and black robe raised his hand with a polite request.

Seeing an opportunity to dazzle her audience one last time and make haste, Mana snapped her fingers, letting an azure flame engulf her in a fireball blaze. The two ninja covered up, taking a bountiful dash back and teetering on the edge of the elevated stage to avoid the punch of the heatwave that cooked the oxygen in their lungs in a snap. When the fireball vanished, only cerulean cinders sparkled where Mana just was with the public roaring in wild ovations.

"Did she just bolt on us?" the blond-haired ninja grumbled, leaning in to his friend's side so that they could hear each other through the deafening noise surrounding them.

"No, listen to that..." the curly-haired shinobi pointed at the flashy caravan with Mana's plastic likeness looming over her and flashing with neon colors. "There's noise in her caravan. She must be getting ready, just like she said. The public isn't disturbed, no one's turned away. That means no one saw her leave."