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

The Will of the Lingering Leaf

Mana knew that she could not allow Konoha to dictate the terms of their battle. Even with Usubane by her side, someone who may have covered the close-range reasonably well, there was too much at risk to not keep the woman on her heels before she understands just what it is that the rabbit and her summoner are trying to do.

The magician moved her head forward, letting her hat roll off of her head, Mana could not allow it to move as slowly as it would have taken for gravity to demand its toll so she picked the hat up with her own quick swipe of the hand. It was a distraction, however, there was nothing inside the hat but inside the sleeves of Mana, a flurry of explosive tags.

Konoha took a step back. She noticed the range that the explosive tags scattered by Mana covered. The rather small size of the dimension that the mysterious flower stored its pollen in now worked against the rogue ninja, caging her to where she'd need to dive and power through explosive tags to land a hit. One of Mana's free hands quickly went through a bundle of hand seals.

"Friendly Gust Jutsu!" Mana chanted out while the air in her lungs quickly molded with chakra flowing through her system and turned into a strong gust of Wind Release chakra on its way out, driving the cloud of explosive tags toward the enemy.

A chain of explosions littered the sealing dimension. The pollen in the air lit on flames and quickly burnt up, the entire dimension should have turned a bit brighter but it stayed as black and hazy as it always has been, even when the explosive reaction greatly reduced the amount of pollen remaining in it.

Konoha looked from her spontaneous blocking position, her stealthy attire was beginning to slowly singe off with her cape slipping off and smoldering into bits just like the bits of pollen had not too long ago. The fact that her clothes took some damage suggested that either Konoha messed up with her augmentations, which suggested a lot of things all of itself, or that she was just preserving chakra on purpose, that may have been terrifying.

Anything that Konoha felt was worth getting a bit banged and burnt up for frightened the magician if even a little.

Usubane had already disappeared, rushing toward the edge of the sealing dimension, ready to give the wall her best shot. Usually, it may have been dangerous to bust through dimensions like this, only the stronger ninja could have even managed it, but what laid beside those walls was tough to tell. One could have ended up on another dimension entirely or they could have gotten themselves stuck in between, the containment medium that holds every one of the infinite sealing dimensions within its endless vastness.

"Ninja Art: Formidable Will!" words rang out from Konoha's direction, the majority of her body still covered in smoke and slightly trembling from stiffness. Yet another puff of smoke concealed her even more, one emanating from her own ninjutsu this time. Mana could not make out what came from the loud pop of Konoha's technique nor had she heard of such a jutsu. She tried vocally warning Usubane but events went on before she could.

"Ninja Art: Leaf Blade!" the woman grunted out following her previous technique. Usubane's pain-ridden voice echoed through the smoke. Mana did not feel the rabbit's chakra take too much of a dip, what was wrong? Did she purposefully not augment her abilities against an opponent such as this?

This was dangerous, Usubane may have been cornered in between the dimensional wall and the enemy and wounded. Wounded because of a strategic call that Mana had made... She needed to do something, yes but... Konoha's bloodshot eyes glared back at Mana from a brief narrowing in the smoke. The magician's movements froze, she was supposed to be in an advantage – the enemy was sandwiched between her and Usubane but...

"Ninja Art:..." Mana heard Konoha's voice ringing from the cloud of smoke before getting sunken out in a loud rumble of rising walls of dirt and rock. The magician looked behind her in disbelief.