Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

The Governor

Shukuba was one of those odd towns that just started suddenly. One brief moment one was traveling through a blinding growth, completely consumed by the shadows of the forest and swarmed by the myriad of wildlife that lived there, then a small building popped into the view.

Each building spreading the outlier of the pleasure town by a little bit more was surrounded by yards and patches of trees and what could best be described as hopeful attempts at controlling the overgrowth around them. As Mana kept treading onward, the wood to signs of civilization ratio was beginning to increase. Such oddity made telling if she was in the town or not a bit murky, the case with Shukuba was completely unlike that with Konoha or any other ninja village, where a massive gate clearly showed the territory of the village and one could feel safe and infiltrated after entering it.

If anything, this odd, no walls or barriers state of the growing pleasure town suggested that the place was thriving. It was growing and the buildings that symbolized that growth could by no means be described as tumors of the town, these were more like luscious and flowing locks of hair that made someone already gorgeous that much more irresistible.

Mana shook her head, she could not believe how shallow the metaphors she was drawing in her head were. Tearing the part of the wounds, scattered over the girl's heart, that was defined by her being in love with Kouta must have bled harder than she had predicted it to. Such was the nature of matters rooted out before one could address them and deal with them properly.

At long last, the concentration of buildings and people, young and old, rich and less so, convinced Mana that she was closing into the heart of the small pleasure town. That meant that setting her mission plan in motion was in order. Did Mana even have one? One thing was dreaming about big missions, traveling around, seeing the world and bravely fighting for what one believed in. Another one completely was being pulled out from one's life, being told what to do and expected to get that objective done impeccably, without failure.

The magician kept walking around the squares and narrower streets, mingling with the crowds of the happy people who were glad to visit restaurants, pubs and other establishments littered throughout the town. It was not like expecting the information just fall into her hands was Mana's plan, she knew it would not be that easy. Then again, if it was a big issue or a topic of interest for the locals it would not have been completely outside the realm of possibility.

No. Mana merely trod the village streets, absorbing the views and the local merchants into her system. She was walking in circles but surely she walked so convincingly that she could not have been mistaken for a love-struck teen without a firm grip on what she wanted to do for her time in the Shukuba pleasure town.

"Konoha's Sorceress" this brutal combination of words struck fear into Mana's heart. She did not want to walk out or reveal her presence to the locals until it was her adamant and well thought out decision to do so. If someone with more intel than a common townsperson had caught a whiff of that information they'd figure out that a ninja of Konoha was sniffing about the place and while that was nothing special, Mana did not want to reveal her presence until she was one hundred percent sure it was good for the mission objective.

What a failure! Even with her desperate tries to evade the unseen threat of her fans recognizing her, Mana was surrounded by them. Had they been enemies out to hunt her down, had it been a part of her mission objective to infiltrate the pleasure town and hunt for intelligence in secret, she'd have failed that mission, if not paid for that failure with her life. Mana had no choice, she played and interacted with her audience, so that she could slip into a shadier alleyway for a good plan of action.

Everyone who came up got what they came for, from those who were content with just yelling greetings at Mana and commending her for a glorious battle during the Chuunin Exams or being able to create such a wondrous atmosphere during her magic shows to people wondering when she'd perform in Shukuba. The masses were so huge, people just kept swarming like ants having caught a whiff of potential food to serve their nest. Where one curious bystander in the middle of the square was happy that the famous Konoha's Sorceress winked and waved their way, three or four more took that person's place.