Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

The Scared and the Betrayed

Mana sighed observing the path that supposedly lead to the pyramid. The patches and temporary medical aids she applied on herself held and allowed her to at the very least postpone dealing with the wounds sustained in that last squabble. Truth be told it was less a squabble than a torture session... Once she reached that pyramid and found the Box she had the option of regaining her strength, to once again be able to dream of changing the world.

Then again, was she confident enough in her full strength? Could she really be arrogant enough to believe that with her full strength and chakra control regained she'd be able to change anything? The much more surefire solution was to ask for the Box to solve the problem at hand: to move the pirates far away or to transport Mana and her team back home. It'd be a huge waste of time to just ask for the Box to return everyone home after the journey they went through to find it. Still, if it saved her friends it'd be worth it a thousand times over.

These final stretches of the jungle were tough. It couldn't have been more than a couple of kilometers away and yet Mana's troubled by her wounds pace slowed the rush to a turtle's pace. So many thick trees and bushes she had to walk around, so many rivers and suspicious looking lakes she decided to move around. Mana would be lucky to not get lost by the time she arrived... Then again the pyramid was so large that moving towards the island's depths would've automatically lead to it. The history buff within Mana wanted to see the pyramid from within, to explore it in depth and see the architecture and the brickwork. She may not have had time for that.

If only she could've scaled those trees and all those complicated entangled networks of branches and vines up in the upper layers of the jungle leading up to the ceiling of sharp and thick branches and endless clouds of leaves stuck together in a clamp. She'd reduce the traveling time to nothing. If only she was as fast as other ninja and wouldn't have torn up her chakra network again by using the physical chakra she'd make this dash in seconds...

*****

Finally, the clash between Hachiro and Read began. Both warriors lunged at each other ready to cut the other down. Bonny's frail legs and arms twitched creepily as they turned to the other side by the joint ready to assist her sister's defense. The two moved so incredibly fast, by the time the sand particles rose up from the air gusts blowing off each of the combatants the two had already concluded their mad dash towards this clash.

Neither of the two desired this battle, Hachiro fought because he needed for Mana to stay alive if the madman was to be kept on his leash of sanity, what little of it that he had. Up to now, the mysterious figure was working behind the scenes, some kidnappings, some mysterious assassinations and thefts of scrolls from the countries he's been in. The only thing was clear, the only name the man mentioned to whomever he spoke to was that of Nakotsumi Mana of Konohagakure. Clearly, this girl was important to that man somehow and Hachiro had to place his precious life on the line to keep the girl alive. Otherwise, his escape to Archipelago would mean nothing...

Read on the other hand felt betrayed. She most definitely intended to strengthen l'Ollonais' military power with those Audra shards. There were few pirates that couldn't imbue their blades and kunai dispensers with chakra. However, the ships could've used chakra armaments, made invincible to anything but the most concentrated chakra attacks. The cannonballs of Green's ships could've been made of the Audra alloy by melting those shards and making them penetrate any pathetic attempts to shield other ships. These shards meant her Lord's superiority in the oceans and she felt betrayed by these brats for them not following up to the end of their bargain. True, they were ninja after all, slimy assassins good for only their missions and silent murder. Still, even pirates didn't stink this foul.

The feelings of each swordsman translated into their movements. Hachiro aimed for no openings, he moved gracefully and his Sharingan was pushed to the overtime keeping up with all four blades of Read and Bonny combined coming at him. By abandoning any false hopes of ever tagging the woman and realizing just how densely and masterfully her blades were imbued with chakra allowed Hachiro to stop relying on blocking and instead move aside and redirect the woman's blocks where he couldn't avoid them. Each one was flashing almost instantaneously all over the place leaving small patches of blood and deep craters in the sand from the shockwaves of their deflected strikes. Once in a while, a bunch of trees finally caught up to the reality of being cut down moments ago and fell down rumbling in the distance.