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

The Mind Hawkers

After the genjutsu class finished without any further hitches, followed by a rather nice and simple ninjutsu class for fourth-years, Mana was getting ready for the most complex part of the day. Her being late and all the small obstacles along the way suddenly started looking so small and irrelevant in the face of the tactics and strategy interrogation special course.

Kiyomi approached Mana who seated herself on a small chair by the windows, toughening herself up. The blonde did not look all that worked up about something she'd be helping Mana do at all, ironic, considering that Mana was the one with more stage experience as a magician.

Then again, this was not just her passion, how it must have been for Tori. This was a mission. Not just that, it was a mission in which Mana told herself she had to excel. Just satisfactory performance was not enough. Satisfactory people did not become Sannin and it was all too easy to start making excuses and promise oneself that just this one mission will be allowed to slide but the real effort started on the next one...

"You were just hanging around?" Mana wondered, pulling her attention from the depths of her own mind, checking it twice on what she had committed there yesterday.

"Sure, had my fill of sightseeing around the village." The Yamanaka shrugged.

"I see."

"You seem terribly nervous. I'd have thought you to be less of the worrying type and more of the natural entertainer type..." Kiyomi noted.

"Yeah, truth be told it's a bad omen to still be grilling before the big curtain call. Usually, I'd spend the last couple of hours just getting myself in a cheerful mood. This is not a magic show, I'm not here to entertain people." Mana explained her state of mind about the comparison of her shows and the special course.

"I guess. I've been taught a bunch of intelligence gathering already so I'm kind of numb already. Ditch the theory, just tell them what you found to work in your own personal experience." Kiyomi suggested. Mana recalled Kiyomi mentioning that she completed a specialized class in intelligence gathering right after Academy before getting to the gritty.

"That's the thing." Mana removed herself from the worrying attempts at gathering her mind. "How can I be sure if it's right? I don't know if I really helped Shukuba or just made things worse. The Sixth told me that, if anything, I just de-stabilized the place..."

"Even so, did the dirtbag you grilled told you anything?"

"Sure."

"Then that's all that matters, in the context of what these guys need to know. You're the goddamn Konoha's Sorceress, they'll eat everything you tell them up." The blonde shrugged. "Check that guy out, doesn't look like a student or a teacher..."

The man to which Kiyomi was referring was a middle-aged individual with a red bandana tied around his head and a rather casual, if a little poor attire. If Mana had to guess she'd have placed this guy as originating from the parts of the village where once the junkyard district stood tall. While the place was no longer the criminal empire of those draining blood from its poor inhabitants, it was still just catching up to the rest of the village.

"You must be the person Tori-san invited." Mana stood up and approached the nervous man who kept looking around and over his shoulder before acting really interested in every poster and award stuck to the various information boards on the wall. The magician was no psychologist but he did look confused and halfway informed.

"Yeah, name's Ikiro. It's great that you showed up. I..." the man spoke up before freezing and glaring Mana over as if inspecting her or having trouble believing what he was seeing. "Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to be..."