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

A Solitary Cry Far Out in the Universe

"Absolutely not," the Konoha member of the Allied Ninja objected. He turned away and began acting as if he was nonchalantly walking away from the conversation before noticing that he was the only one doing so.

"She is a local." The ninja from Kumogakure with the uncanny speed scratched his chin. "She also displays a very unhealthy interest in this case which means she's willing to go some lengths to solve it."

"I'm a local and how is that a good thing?" the tall man crossed his arms.

"I am a sensor. I can be of some help," Mana tried building up her case.

"She has a point," the woman in the Allied Ninja, Rushira, pointed at Mana's direction. "Sensors are pretty useful and wanted in most teams. It wouldn't be smart of us to decline help from one."

"Interesting, how experienced are you?" Cailar, the Allied Ninja with the stylish hair, appeared intrigued by Mana's proposition as well. "If you're barely training your gift and can merely confirm or deny the presence of chakra that will not be of that much use to us."

"I can sense chakra from at least kilometers away. I can accurately gauge the number of signatures, tell signatures I've felt before apart from others, sense irregularities in signatures I've felt before such as genjutsu or other disruptions. I am not wasting my sensory." Mana explained. She may have undersold her complete range but she wanted to rather undersell it and be confident than to try and theorize about her exact limits.

"That does sound impressive but I am against it. The mission at hand will get too dangerous for a standard village ninja. The Allied Ninja already have their opponents in every country offering ninja to the organization, our actions are under a very close scrutiny and we do not need deaths of young ninja, especially ones that dabble in being superstars on their spare time." The tall Konoha ninja shook his head in bitter disagreement.

Mana was not entirely sure what his problem was. She clearly established that her participation would have some perks to offer and she wanted this more than she wanted most things recently. She would go above and beyond her limits and what was expected to work on this plaguing mystery. Perhaps it was his slight familiarity with the magician's family that led the ninja to be such an active opponent of the idea?

"Well, if Junichi is against it, I cannot agree with this either. I'm sorry, Konoha's Sorceress. I have come to trust Junichi's judgment over time working together." Rushira sighed. She looked genuinely fired up about the idea initially but seeing her more experienced colleague disagree almost as passionately and with some hidden determination fueling his decision made the woman follow his gut as well.

"All of you are crazy, if this will get as dangerous as Junichi thinks it might, we will need everyone pitching in we can get. It would be especially helpful if a sensor can tip us off beforehand that we are all about to go to sleep and get our heads cut off because of some fricking illusion," the Kumogakure Allied Ninja sneered at Junichi with irritation.

"Well?" Rushira looked at Cailar. "It seems that S-Crew has made his decision and put Sorceress' participation back on the table".

"Heh, if Junichi is all against it, I am most definitely all for it." Cailar smiled with a shrug. His motives for taking the magician up for her request may have been a bit more elaborate than just the need to oppose everything the Konoha ninja did or every decision he made but the Allied Ninja played it off for laughs.

"Fine, we don't have time for tie-breakers. You are free to work with us on this but if you have official village business getting in the way or if this gets too dangerous for you, you back out immediately." Junichi warned Mana.

"Okay," Mana nodded. The budding excitement in her heart made the tremble in her hands cease. Finally, she would be delving into the mystery of the disappearances that have been plaguing the village for a couple of years now. This pretty much was her dream mission ever since she became chuunin and the ambition inside her spread its horizons much wider than ever before. As a genin, she could not have ever had hoped to participate in something like this but as a chuunin, she just may have...