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

How Mana Got Her Eye Back

Mana weaved her hands together in the shape of a hand seal. She was not casting ninjutsu, not exactly, not that she would be bothered by measly requirements like hand seals and chakra while operating inside someone's mind – in the mental realms the only fundamental truth that mattered was concentration. If Mana was concentrated enough she had no limits about how she could siege the fortifications of the opposing mind, she could materialize other people, objects and entities, she could use jutsu she did not know or ones she did know but on a scale that greatly exceeded her chakra resources. Concentration was all the mattered.

And concentration was something Mana was really good at. Still, she used hand seals often to assist her meditation. Concentrating her thoughts on a single focal point like that did wonders.

The magician did her best to blur her image, make herself transparent and completely untraceable. If Tokui's mind did not notice her invading presence, perhaps it could cease all those crazy lightning storms and colossal turtle monsters with skyscraper-like spikes on their shells. An eye the size of a volcanic crater opened up and glared at Mana with its blazing, tiger-shade eyes with golden flames erupting around its pitch-black, pointy irises. Rumbling and thundering with the sound most reminding of a falling building, the turtle-monster opened its mouth right in front of Mana.

The magician tried becoming ethereal or invisible again, to no use. This mind was a chaotic mess, an overwhelming pressure of air blasted out from the turtle's mouth like a fusillade of cannon shots fired at every direction, aiming to obliterate every enemy and every crevice of the battlefield. When all hope of phasing through the majestic roar of Tokui's mental fort failed, Mana just clutched her hands together and braced for the impact.

Pain. Cuts and lacerations all over that transitioned into flesh and skin peeling off of her bones, what pathetic skeletal remains were left soon turned into dust and got scattered by the emanating roar of the obsidian turtle monster. Mana's eyes shot wide open as a petrified with fear breath escaped her chest, one that she had been holding there for far too long, one filled with pain and fear that all left her body upon her rude awakening. Pulses of an emanating headache quickly reminded the magician of the unfortunate side of a failed attempt at mental interrogation.

"I thought you wouldn't resist..." Mana grumped out, rubbing her tired eyes and hurting temples. A light massage of the pulsing pressure points alleviated the pain as it always did when the magician practiced the technique, then again, she hadn't done so in a while. Interrogation through illusions and mental attacks weren't exactly high on her list of priorities during the training in the Rabbit Caves.

"I... I was not..." Tokui got worked up. "This was the first time I experienced something like this, it was just... Too weird."

Even when he royally messed up and forced himself into the corner of having to actually trade the information through good old speech, the Kumogakure ninja lacked the decency to apologize.

"Huh? What just happened?" Jagaimo squinted at the two. "Did you two "connect"? Shared feelings, something more intimate, perhaps?"

Tokui turned at the Kirigakure ninja with a death-wishing glare. "Can't you try again? I'm sure that I could hold myself back a little bit more this time."

"No use, the harder you focus on not resisting, the stronger you resist. It's tough to explain, it's just like telling someone to not think about anything doesn't exactly work out because they keep thinking about how they have to not think about anything..." Mana sighed. "Plus, you did a number on me there, even if I did re-enter your mind, my concentration and stamina would be much weaker than they were now. It would be even harder to relay anything."

"Oh, man... So I guess you really will just have to talk... Tough break, guys. A real downer, I was on your side the entire time!" Jagaimo shook his head with sarcasm so obvious it was pretty much pressing its thumbs against one's eyes and squeezing hard.