Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Groove That Cannot Be Contained

"I bet this place has a really nice canteen", Meiko sighed.

"You've got a really important match up ahead and all you can think about is eating, go figure", Kiyomi tried to lecture the blacksmith who then turned around and shook her head frustrated.

"Nah, I'm not gonna eat right before a battle. That's asking for an accident", the redhead grumbled out.

Mana could not really believe that Meiko ended up fighting Sugemi. These battles were supposed to be matched up completely randomly and yet it kind of felt like a cruel twist of fate. Of all the different teams and villages participating in the exam, two teams from Konohagakure had to clash, as well as two members of Mana's past teams.

"So how are you feeling"? Mana tried shaking the gloomy thoughts away by talking to her friend, realizing she has been awfully quiet since the battle was declared.

"Hee hee, I'm kinda excited, really. I mean I asked Sugemi to train me before and he refused. Now I'll be able to show him just how strong I've gotten without his help", the blacksmith raised her fist up looking mighty competitive.

"What kind of training did you do? Both of your chakra signatures are significantly larger", Mana wondered loudly. She did not even need to elaborate on what she has been doing for training, her training plans pretty much came true and, except for her loss of smell, it all went without a hitch. Just the fact that Mana could even easily sense and compare Meiko's and Kiyomi's signatures like that should've told them that her sensory abilities were finally awakened fully and the magician was beginning to control them.

"I trained with Galateia and Aoi. I think she's already over me, we've been fighting over and over again, nonstop", Meiko grinned.

"I see, emptying your chakra supplies again and again would've slowly increased your overall pool, just like contracting a muscle again and again makes it grow. Also, just like a muscle needs food and nutrients for growth, you needed physical and spiritual growth to feed your chakra's growth", Mana realized, mumbling to herself.

"Yeah, well... Our scuffles were nothing if not physical, plus, fighting alongside a maniac like Teia kind of made me appreciate competition differently too, maybe that constituted as spiritual growth"? Meiko shrugged as she calmly rubbed her back against the wall. She tried to look calm but it was clear that the blacksmith was not entirely at peace.

It could not just have been that, Meiko fighting continuously on edge, always pushed to her limits must have made her innovate, create new fighting styles and techniques to overcome the difficulties of training which must have increased her spirituality sufficiently to satisfy and match the physical aspect increase and greatly enlarge her chakra signature in general. Had her training been any less balanced, such an increase would not have been possible.

"What about you, Kiyomi, did you learn any hidden clan techniques, like you intended to"? Mana turned at Kiyomi. Meiko just snickered unexpectedly.

"Nah, she's been training with her uncle's servants because her old man's been too busy sleeping", the redhead snorted mockingly.

Mana could see a vein twitching on Kiyomi's forehead but she restrained herself from physical actions.

"I'll have you know that the two servants I trained with were purposefully pushing my physicality and my spirituality to their limits every day. Whereas you stumbled into a spurt of growth by accident, I was lead there through skill and experience", Kiyomi explained, finding a way to bite back at her friend. "Anyways, what's with all the curiosity", she wondered.

"I'm just worried, that's all", Mana looked back at the open door of the hall. Seeing that last battle scared her tremendously. These were no ordinary Chuunin Exams, every step of the way, every surviving member proved themselves to be prodigious monsters of their respective villages. While before Mana thought that it was just a pair or trio of ninja who was truly outside her league, the more she observed, the more worried for her own well-being, also that of her friends she was.