Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Goats on a Bridge

"We're closing in on the summoner." Kiyomi's thoughts echoed in Mana's mind through the link. "I think Team Cirrus are working on the flaming sword guy."

"Wait." Mana quickly interrupted her friend. "She's got something. Some unknown ability, don't fire anything at her just yet. Try picking off the medical ninja first. I'll hold Corot here for a while."

"The numbers are on our side. If she summons something else we'll lose that advantage." Kiyomi tried to object.

"She reflected my genjutsu back at me somehow. Just think of what if that's an ability she can use to reverse your clan hijutsu. It will definitely make everything worse unless we learn what exactly happened there." Mana angrily snapped back at her friend.

An uncomfortable pause took over the link. For a moment there it was difficult to tell if the link was active at all. A short "I'll leave you to it then", issued by Kiyomi, ended the pause after the Yamanaka finally understood how much worse the situation could've gotten if Corot's abilities weren't properly analyzed.

"If that's true... You won't be able to use ninjutsu or genjutsu against her, can you do it?" Meiko wondered with a seed of worry in her thoughts. The signal was getting weaker as the two retreated slightly to assist Team Cirrus in picking off the splintered ninja of the Iwagakure alliance.

"It has to be me. I need to understand how her ability works." Mana firmly replied. Truth be told, the realization of the fact that she was left with nothing but her almost emptied card supply and entirely defensive and reactive martial arts style made Mana's heart skip a beat whenever she thought about it. When she put this plan together she really didn't realize what she was signing up for, it was ironic that the least analytical member of the Team Hokage brought this down to ground level.

A thud made Mana's eyes snap back open. She leaped off of the cover of the tree she was hiding behind. A kunai could've been tossed fast and hard enough, provided it was made as a custom order from tougher stuff than the bulky commons, to pierce right through even the toughest of wooden materials. If this specific kunai got stuck it could've meant only one thing – such was its purpose and the only kunai whose purpose was to be stuck to a barrier in the way was an explosive one.

A powerful blast scattered larger chunks of wood, several got stuck in Mana's flesh or scratched her shallowly by grazing by. The girl insisted and suppressed her chakra augmentations on purpose to save up some chakra and not to further kick her network out of balance. She knew that it'd hurt but she was in the safe zone, technically, her limbs wouldn't have been pulled apart at that distance, having reacted so early.

The magician extended her arm to stop her fall and swing off onto another branch a bit higher up. This time certain miniscule augmentations needed to be used, else her shoulder would've popped out. Sure, a more physically intimidating ninja may have pulled something like this off with just their physical training and impressive agility and strength but Mana was a different kind of ninja.

"I need to see Corot, get to see her up close. I need to see her deflect my jutsu, see if it's a weapon, a seal or a jutsu of her own." The kunoichi thought for herself. Her hands flashed through more hand seals. Her palm lit up with bright glow of concentrated chakra. By itself it was absolutely harmless, even if Mana punched someone with this glowing hand it'd have done no additional damage than just punching them normally. This was the one of the first illusions she made up but she rarely, if ever found a use for it. She never needed to be crappy on purpose...

There was a first time for everything. Mana dove down, using her unenhanced palm and her legs to swing from lower branches or to slow down her leap. She could pick up feint sounds of footsteps after her. There were certainly people used to a more mountainous environment, they walked like heavy machinery. They wouldn't have bothered of leaving traces behind, somewhere deep in their minds they were still walking not over the mossy brittle wood but on mountain rocks and minerals. It was something instilled, something learned and kept deep in one's subconscious. It needed to be eliminated and done so over time.