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

Into the Eternal Fire

A shadowy flash, faster than most eyes could track, telegraphed the hasty movement of a pair through the worn out settlement. Yordalar was smoking, full of empty houses with what few of its people remained conscious patrolling the streets and looking for a potential scapegoat that this tragedy could have been pinned on. To people that have lost so much in just one evening, it would not have mattered if the foreigners they found were from Iwagakure or Konoha...

"It is likely that we will get into a fight here. Given how those last guys were just a distraction, it would be reasonable to assume that these spies will be more powerful than the pair we fought as a distraction." Mana looked at Meiko with worry. While Mana was engaged in the interrogation a group of Yordalarans had found them and the blacksmith was forced to fight them off. A couple of nasty bumps and bruises covered the blacksmith's face and sides but even in her worn out state she managed to knock the search party out.

"What I'm more worried about is that spy waking up and attacking us from behind. You looked really happy, for whatever reason, I don't think him giving you the kind of news he gave you would make you smile..." Meiko shook her head, attempting to shake off Mana's concern the same way.

"What happened there was nothing short of a miracle. Things just went really well for once... Because of it, I believe that we can do this." Mana looked at the chaotic cushion of pillars skewering a smaller mound of dirt and dried out grass whereas a much more massive one laid right behind it. The metallic pillars that comprised the Eternal Fire were covered with staircases and other accessories from the outside that appeared to go nowhere and just go on for meters on end before simply ending.

"We'd stand a better chance at "doing it" if we found Kiyomi and Hanshin. I know you said we're on a very tight schedule but..." Meiko brought the more pressing issue up, only for Mana to express her hopeful state with another confident smile.

"That's why we're standing about talking right now – they'll catch up to us in a moment. I don't know how but they must have learned of the same information just a little bit later." Mana declared only for Kiyomi and Hanshin flicker in around the two. Kiyomi's chakra signature felt notably smaller than what it was before and had barely even begun to recover, Hanshin was in the best state out of the lot.

"Meiko, are you okay? I can't believe Mana didn't watch over your back!" Kiyomi examined the black bruises over Meiko's face before glaring at Mana in a way that allowed the magician to understand that this was just a joke and she did not truly blame her teammate for the beating Meiko took.

"Actually, I watched hers." Meiko grinned with pride, one of her eyes looked a little bit swollen which made only one half of the intended grin to properly translate whereas the entire right side of the blacksmith's face appeared completely lifeless.

"Yeah, that's about right..." Kiyomi sighed.

"Let Hanshin tell you something, this is enough chit-chat, we're sensitive on time. We need to prevent all the documents from being signed. In the worst case scenario, we will require to destroy those documents and kill all the witnesses that knew of them being signed." Hanshin took the time to explain the team their new field objective. For the first time in a while, he was behaving like a leader...

"That's not an option," Mana stated bluntly. She expected the special jounin in charge of their squad to make fun of her for this resolution but he merely placed his palm onto his face and stroke it gently, as if massaging it.

"In that case, I suggest you hurry the hell up." He taunted the team. The quartet charged on ahead only for a mighty blast of air pressure to scatter them apart before a rushing whirlpool washed them all away even further. Mana sensed it, but she sensed it too late. Whoever did this, they were fast and quite skilled, nobody to take lightly, as most gatekeepers would have been.