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

Mindminers

A pair of small dips in Meiko's chakra made Mana glance back a pair of times. By now the magician's experience hinted that if Meiko was really in trouble, she'd be much more desperate and would use chakra in much greater extents. Nothing burns through the remaining supply like use tainted by fear for one's own safety. A careful application becomes a slap of as much chakra as possible to maximize the chance of withstanding an attack with as little damage as possible and it wasn't like Meiko was the most skilled ninja with chakra control, to begin with.

The magician landed by a small Yordalaran home and hid behind it. Most of the Yordalarans were either hidden inside their homes, intimidated by the all the ruckus or laid knocked out in the middle of the settlement's square. It was not a nice statistic or one that Mana could have been proud of but it was the one she'd have to live with. It was not any easier to deal with it knowing that she was responsible for likely the most incapacitations out of her entire team... Just what on Earth got over her?

Meiko's chakra signature began moving at Mana's direction. Not like before, not where Mana required effort to track its movement but much more slowly. Was the blacksmith that safe that she could move at the pace in which her wounded body demanded to be moved in? That meant that the redhead had managed to give the slip to the Yordalarans around her, that was impressive. Perhaps it was foolish of Mana to trust the condition of Meiko's body and just assume that she was good to use the Body Flicker or that her Body Flicker technique would succeed in getting the blacksmith away.

Mana's eyes moved down at the unconscious body by her side. This man was a spy, spies were some of the best-taught opponents to resist interrogation. That included mental interrogation and Mana's track record of successful interrogations ever since she picked up the skill has been rather unimpressive. Every time someone worth their mettle forced her to pull out the stops – she failed to get what she needed. Even if she skipped the mental questioning part and tried her own, better-proven method of getting what she wanted, there was a minor hitch – the spy was jawless and physically could not speak.

"You know, I'm kind of beginning to think you're enjoying getting killed in front of people..." Meiko sighed shortly after landing beside Mana. Despite all of her gear and bulk, the redhead was significantly more quiet than Mana in her movement. Part of it may have been because she did not have a body that she needed to haul around, part of it was because Meiko was just better with stealth.

"I can't choose what I show people in my illusions. The illusion is what it is. I made the Fancy Trick Jutsu when I was ten years old, the illusion seemed like a good idea back then..." Mana sighed in relief when her friend met up with her.

"Well, are you going to do this?" Meiko looked at the unconscious, jawless ninja. "We don't have a whole day. If this guy wakes up with even a hint of his chakra recovered we'll have our hands full, plus the whole place is buzzing to kick us out of Yordalar."

"I guess I was waiting for someone to watch my back." Mana made a gentle smile before placing her hand atop the jawless man's forehead. She closed her eyes and channeled her chakra, building it up and accelerating its flow throughout her entire body, refusing to focus it into just a singular place.

"Roger..." Meiko sighed, realizing the difficult task ahead. She'll have to protect Mana while she'll leave herself exposed and work on the interrogation without disrupting the magician which would hinder her interrogation.

Everything around Mana was sunken in total darkness. It was a similar feeling to that which she experienced when entering her own mental realm during meditation. Except for the cold and damp sensations running up and down her body, drilling through every loop in the fabric of her clothes and pinching her skin like lying down atop of millions of needles. She should have figured that the mind of this man would be a raw and drab place...