Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Spinach Before Chili

As the purple thunderstorm raged on and the dark clouds continued to encircle the Box of Ultimate Bliss, making what used to be a paradise island colored with unique gloom and grit, the ninja, the civilian and a pirate alike managed to ignore the picking up gusts of wind. Being the one most sensitive to environmental factors Mana wrapped her hands around herself and tried warming herself up. The insane battle transpiring in front of her, of which she could rarely perceive anything at all, seemed to slow down. This gave the magician a chance to analyze both combatants.

"Your father looks wounded. His uniform is busted up and some of his open wounds aren't looking too good. I thought he said he was too strong for Francho..." Mana spoke out loud only for Kouta to notice her concern and try hugging her for warmth but after the medical ninja saw the uneasiness and sadness in Mana's eyes he decided to just gently place his hand on her shoulder and try calming her down.

"Father is keeping a lot back, maybe he thinks he can win like this, I'm not sure..." the Jugo mumbled out uneasily. It appeared that Kusagoro's lacking attitude towards this fight worried him somewhat as well.

"What do you mean by holding back? Wouldn't his body instinctually use as much chakra as needed to withstand that damage? Doesn't the fact that he's taking more damage than dishing out suggest his shortcoming?" Mana worried.

"Don't worry, Jugo clan folk have a pretty nasty secret weapon up their sleeve. I'm assuming that Kouta's father is keeping it there because he doesn't want to lose control of himself but he can kick it up a whole lot of notches." Shimo revealed while coldly continuing to observe Kusagoro and Francho exchange blows. The Pirate Lord took a lot more blows than he even tried dish out, in terms of technical martial arts proficiency he was a guppy in an ocean fighting a leviathan. Still, whenever Francho did land an occasional hit it looked like it broke Kusagoro's whole combinations and forced the jounin to back up and catch his breath.

"What does that mean?" Mana shook her head. "Just how much power is your father holding back?"

Kouta closed his eyes as if he was admitting something he wasn't overly proud of, "Back there while we were fighting Read... We got into a pinch, I was forced to use something I thought I'd never use. You see, Jugo can absorb natural chakra, the chakra present in the environment around them. They can then use that chakra to morph not only their limbs but their entire body. Usually, such natural chakra would be unusable but our modified over generations DNA shifts our own chakra to better accommodate the natural making us primal and enraged but also powerful. There isn't an actual name for it, this transformation but to me it sounds like a curse. A Curse Mode if you will..."

"It raises too many questions but just answer this, how much more powerful does this Curse Mode make a Jugo?" Mana relented, the historian and lore buff inside her wished to question her friend excessively until she knew everything there was to know. The ability to tap into the power of nature around one, to be one with the world around you sounded amazing! Still, the situation at hand was too dire for research and legends, she needed to know if Kusagoro could use that to beat his opponent if need be or if she needed to work on a backup plan.

"Well... I'd say the first stage would make father at least more than twice his original chakra level. The first stage just prepares one's body for the unnatural transformation. He'd have to replace at least half of his resources with natural chakra." Kouta admitted.

"First stage? More than twice stronger?" Mana shook both due to the cold chills of the air around her as well as awe in the amazing bloodline power-up that a clan ninja had over common ones like her.

"You have to understand, tapping into the fundamental forces of nature makes a person unstable, primal and enraged beyond control. The first stage is just the beginning, however it is the easiest to work with, the user still retains some control over their actions but those violent urges become really powerful. I would never risk going beyond the first stage..." Kouta explained as he saw Mana being under the illusion that it was a power up to be thrown around left and right. "Father must keep it hidden because he values control and style over raw physicality. Even a brawler like him feels that way..."