Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Someone That I Used To Know

"Who are you"? Maurlon's worried voice broke through the suddenly dominant silence that took over not too long after Meiko and Kiyomi revealed themselves and knocked out Meiko's target. The blacksmith straightened her body out and began walking onwards approaching Maurlon.

The Aburame raised her hands up defensively but her unique breed of parasitic insects was rendered virtually useless by the poison of Faqsadid's puppet and she was effectively left defenseless. Several meters aside Tolkre Guren – Maurlon's teammate was picking himself back up and getting on his feet, just trying to acquaintance himself with the situation transpiring around him.

After Meiko got dangerously close to Maurlon the Aburame just stared at the Konoha kunoichi angrily as if trying to stare her down into submission. Meiko's arms shot downwards faster than the Aburame could've responded to, aiming to grip firmly onto the wrists that held the Aburame from underground and pull onto them firmly and pull out the little puppet user from his underground hiding place. A buzzing sound alerted Meiko from behind.

As Squlra attempted to prevent Meiko from removing her teammate from underground the girl got covered in a crystal pillar similar in size and density to that which enveloped Mana. Jekleifer also leapt into action, finally recovered and somewhat capable of attacking, as bone tissue wrapped around his fist creating a makeshift spear-like shape, which Jekleifer thrust at the crystal pillar crushing it into little bits and knocking the female blade-wielder out in the process. After Squlra got knocked down and out of the crystal prison Jekleifer just nodded at his crystal ninjutsu using teammate as a sign of successful cooperation.

Meanwhile, while the attempt to attack her distracted Meiko, she noticed that the small wrists that restrained Maurlon's feet from underground had disappeared once she turned back. Only at that moment did Maurlon realize that the redhead was trying to free her and pull Faqsadid out.

Kiyomi looked at the unconscious Squlra before nodding at her with her chin and turning at Jekleifer.

"Is she out"? The Yamanaka asked it straight and strict.

"Her augmentations prevented her from getting impaled, that being said, she is out of the competition", Jekleifer confirmed with a grumpy and tired tone, the pain and weariness he had experienced in this battle were all reflected in the way he replied to Kiyomi's question.

"Well, I assume that beetle guy was your target, thank you guys for an assisting hand, we'll be going on ahead then"! Tolkre cheerfully attempted to slip away from confronting Team Hokage and answering all of their questions. Oddly enough it wasn't just Kiyomi's voice that stopped the Guren clansman from leaving the battlefield, it was that of Jekleifer as well.

"You incased our friend in crystal. Free her"! Kiyomi demanded first, before the Kaguya could reiterate what it was exactly that he said. It was a social play, a display that she considered what she had to say as being more important than whatever it was the Kaguya wanted to say.

Jekleifer looked back at Mana who stood incapacitated and completely incased in crystal, almost like she was frozen in time at the exact moment she figured out that the Iwagakure trio had snuck up on her. Distress and anger went through Jekleifer's face once he realized the relation between Mana and the team that just revealed themselves. It was likely that he expected a problem during the time when he could've used some time to rest and recover from the pain and fatigue he had caused himself.

"Look", he tried to reason with Team Hokage before, much to his shock, Tolkre leaped up to the pillar and punched it with great force shattering the crystal to pieces. Fortunately enough, Mana's unconscious frame fell down freed from the prison instead of being shattered together with it.