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

The Talent of Perception

"Well, that did not take much at all..." Lithia smiled with self-righteous satisfaction looking at the petty remains of the mahogany lantern.

"Except for the fact we have like a bajillion of these left to smash." Kidenshi massaged his hurting throat. Pompomaru hopped around the Inuzuka before crawling up the boy's body and scurrying all over it in worry. Wherever he deemed it necessary, the little furball settled for licking a couple of nasty looking bruises.

"That is not a real number," Mana replied with an attempt to snuff out any unnecessary and counter-productive arguments while she was trying to figure out a more efficient way to deal with the task.

In a way, Kidenshi was right. There were far too many of these lanterns left for Chominu to commit his own casual hooliganism in throwing walls of dirt about and disgracing the neighborhood. While the chakra signature of the chubby giant was sizeable, it was not quite "smash a bajillion lanterns the same way" large.

"That was quite frightening." Usubane quivered. The rabbit had her long and thick ears wrapped around her short body like she was trying to give herself a hug. "It was like the forest came alive in the middle of a human village."

"You think that was bad?" Kidenshi looked at Bane, he tried to find the willpower to grin or snicker but could not find any. "It felt like I was causing all that. My own strength was getting taken while these vines and roots formed..."

Mana knew that feeling all too well. The feeling of self-blame and pity. The feeling of being all to blame for everything bad happening to oneself and everyone around you. It was not a feeling she expected to find in one so cheerful as Kidenshi but... Perhaps it was an inevitable outcome of doing this job right.

"If you need to blame someone, blame me. I was the one who showed you how to do this job right, which led you to this outcome and feeling the way you feel." Mana replied with a soft tone. She approached Kidenshi with a slow and genuine attempt to pat his shoulder. Judging from the enlarged eyes of Kidenshi and the tamed, hanging ears of Pompomaru, the two shared some appreciation for the gesture.

Lithia glared at the scene of affection with enough decency to not speak up anything infuriating about it. Her stare was not in any way different from the way she usually looked at the things she mocked but this time she kept the mockery to herself and that was perhaps the most anyone could have asked of her.

"So... How do we smash all the other lanterns?" Chominu scratched his head with a confused expression.

"They did not appear to be very durable." Mana sighed. "Most of my ninjutsu arsenal should just barely be enough to destroy them in mid to long range, outside the effective range of where they can activate."

"I shall lend you a hand." Lithia smiled. "May as well show you, peasants, how to do something right."

"That is a great idea. With Lithia's Sharingan being able to track each individual lantern from long distance, we should be able to take a large number of them out in no time at all." The magician nodded.

"I wanna help too!" Usubane complained, dragging her ears down with her arms.

"Do you have any mid to long range techniques?" Mana asked. This was a fine way to know the rabbit's abilities a bit better as well as settle on a plan of action.

"Well... No... But..." Usubane objected before getting all flustered and turning away.

"In that case, you will be of most help if you do not fall for the trap seals and allow us to pick the lanterns off one by one," Mana answered. This answer clearly irritated the teen rabbit as she took a moment to walk further away from the group while rubbing her fluffy ears over her cheeks in frustration. For a moment there, Mana felt bad about shutting a genuinely kind-hearted intention to help this way but, before she could attempt to rectify the situation, Team Walnut started moving.