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

Earthquakes of Emotional and Actual Kind

"Sorry if I'm late," Mana bowed her head in apology. She may have had some hitches in the road with Kouta's friends but she hoped that, given how they were stated to be mostly forgotten, they could have been moved past and overlooked and their ashes would pave the road for new relationships in the future.

"Well... It's not like you didn't show up at all, or anything..." Erumo struggled her way through not outright offending the magician. The young woman wasn't entirely on board with having Mana around on this mission – that was just fine. It would have been foolish to expect her to just fully accept the magician into the fold from the get-go. Just the two mending their relationship in a sparring session did not appear to have made them quite into best friends.

"Now, now. We may really use Mana's skills. I have not lead that many missions as a chuunin so some assistance will be appreciated." Yushijin nodded in acknowledgment. He did not wish to appear overly welcoming for some reason but his body language betrayed the chuunin to be somewhat pleased to see Mana. Just like the magician had expected... His fondness of her presence likely stemmed from his inner sense of rivalry that Mana just couldn't stop.

"That is why I approved Mana's request for joining this squad for the duration of this mission." Lord Seventh nodded. "Neither one of you two is skilled in leading a squad with only minimal experience of the job chuunin usually do, such have been the unfortunate circumstances of the village lacking new genin for a couple of years after the destruction of the Ninja Academy. Despite that, with both of you working together, I am sure that your squad will show some nice results."

The Seventh Hokage leaned back in his seat, gesturing the quartet to check on the mission files placed on the table. Mana looked around with confusion.

"Wasn't there supposed to be a jounin in charge of this team as well?" she wondered out loud while reaching out for the file.

"Oh, we haven't worked with sensei since the Chuunin Exams." Kouta shook his head. "After Yushijin was promoted our squad got disbanded instead of us being given a new member."

"Disbanded?" Mana wondered how exactly that was supposed to work. Kouta and Erumo may have been experienced and well past the skill level common among genin but they weren't strong enough to work alone, especially outside the village or to operate within the walls of another village.

"Yes, it is a new program I've tried to implement. With the lack of competent genin around, I tried entrusting some C-Rank missions to ninja working alone, even if they were genin. Where I could not spare a squad of genin, I sent a single, experienced ninja. This must sound so odd to you, given your absence..." Seventh smiled. Mana knew better than to take the man's smile seriously but this did shake the ground under her feet a little.

"The ninja system is ancient and its traditions deep-rooted. I've read of its core principles and rules forming in history books and scrolls and they haven't changed one bit until this day, for the most part. It is just surprising to hear about something like this being even attempted..." Mana spoke from her heart. After the time that Uzumaki Midoben spent in charge of Village Protection, he'd see right through Mana's dishonesty. The magician was notorious for being a lousy liar...

"That's exactly why some things need to change. Most villages have changed plenty of things about the way their ninja operate without tradition holding them back. Konoha remained rooted like an oak. We've given too much leeway to advancements of other villages that way. Even the leap in technology that your capsule provided failed to push us all the way in front." Seventh appeared somewhat pleased with discussing his stance on village politics, that was very much unlike Sixth, who expected complete submission and rarely if ever discussed anything. Such was his own experience as a lifelong Black Ops operative.