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

The Grotesque Stage-Setter

"Darn... How could all of us lose to this behemoth?" a pink-haired young woman clutched her injured sides as she had already accepted her own demise, similar to that that has approached her squadmates unexpectedly. For all it was worth, at least she faced hers head-on and had the time to properly greet it. Quit it with her head up high...

"Wind Style: Dragon's Tail!" a masculine voice broke the expected chain of events. A moderately-sized tornado slammed against the front of Honda, sending the monster crashing through a pair of empty and banged up buildings behind him. While the injured special jounin was glad to have survived for a while longer, she knew that the monster would just reemerge and kill everyone. It always did.

"On your feet, Kanami." A spiky, dark-haired young man with an athletic build and oriental styled clothes descended nearby the kneeling and broken woman and helped her up. "You should retreat. You've done your part. Did he kill Kinin and Daitari?"

"No. I was sent as a part of another team because they needed a mid-range, speed-based offensive ninja." Kanami shook her head. "This looked like such an easy mission. This monster looked so weak in the beginning, a moderate challenge for one special jounin maybe but in the end..."

"I see..." the young man with a clear previous history with Kanami stood up, closed his eyes and breathed a pair of times to calm himself and prepare himself for the upcoming battle while his squadmates joined him by his side.

"How are Kinin and Daitari?" the ponytail, dark-haired ninja who had used the Wind Release ninjutsu that blew Honda off his feet temporarily before asked.

"They were not here. Kanami was a part of a spontaneously formed squad. Those two are still alive." The spiky-haired ninja replied before giving the reemerging and angered Honda a death-inducing glare. Encouraged by the boldness of their colleague, the ponytail ninja as well as another pair of ninja that joined by their sides prepared for a difficult battle ahead.

"Hmph. This beast looks like a chump. Shouldn't take us too long to do what other incompetent fools couldn't." a man with jets of black and white hair swirling around one another making a very twisted looking hairdo noted with a disdainful scowl, it was unclear if it was meant to demean the monster in front of them or those that gave up their lives fighting it.

"Come on, Santei, that's disrespectful to all the genin and chuunin who lost their lives fending the monster off while the administration put the plan together. Nobody expected this freakazoid today..." the ponytail ninja tried objecting to his squad mate but, having his high and mighty personality in mind, even the valiant ponytail ninja knew that it was a vain task to attempt to persuade his friend to think differently.

"Do not underestimate this monster. It has killed genin, chuunin and special jounin alike. It should not have been something that called for the involvement of special jounin at all and yet..." the dark-haired ninja with white, oriental clothes growled his teeth at the monster.

"Why do you people keep attacking me when all I want is some dango!?" Honda yelled out before launching himself at the gathered squad of special jounin, his hands were extended to the sides out wide, it was a foolish charge – the monster was wide open and thusly he greatly confused the four reinforcement ninja who have come to their village's aid.

"Earth Style: Core Chainmail!" the special jounin with curly blond hair and an orange bodysuit underneath his flak jacket drove his arms together at impressive speed. A storm of mineral dust burst from underground and gathered in a rotating ring that then grew into an entire sphere covering his entire squad. The defensive ninjutsu was rotating at such an awesome speed that it blew Honda aside upon the first contact.

"Just how did this weakling kill any chuunin at all? He was incapable of breaking even the Core Chainmail technique." Santei, the smug special jounin, sneered with disdain before launching his body at an impressive and technically sound rush at the monster. The movements of all four special jounin were attuned perfectly and each one of them appeared to have been properly trained in technical taijutsu and were excellent martial artists.