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

Slice of Past, Present and the Future

"Can I ask you something?" the Blood Lagoon kunoichi in a leather jacket and long-untended, shoulder-length hair asked Mana while the trio was moving toward Yushijin's chakra. Perhaps the duo may have gotten to the leader of Team Fir sooner but they had no sensory abilities to trace Yushijin with. Even if they did know his previous location, Mana felt Yushijin's location shift several times. And so the Blood Lagoon duo was hampered by the magician's greatly reduced speed, a result of the injuries sustained against Masu, the mechanical Hozuki.

It did not appear that the young female was all that bothered by it, or anything at all, as she maintained the same, old face at all times. The massive lump of armor and muscle, however, did not look all too happy, judging from his tense movements grinding teeth.

"You look injured, I'm sure if you took a little time to treat your wounds we could pick up the pace a bit." The hulking Blood Lagoon spoke up even though the trio have only been moving for about a handful of moments, compared to the speed that the brute was normally used to, it must have seemed like an eternity to him.

"Our medic is currently losing his mind. He is too violent and unruly to heal anyone in his current state. Calming him down will be another chore down the long line of them." The magician sighed.

"Your ability to read a battlefield and make decisions based on your input is impressive." The giant complimented the magician. He had not expected Mana having already put Kouta's potential role into perspective.

"How did you know they had a medical ninja among them in the first place?" the stoic, sword-wielding kunoichi of the Blood Lagoon wondered.

"They must. Foreigners would never leave their village walls without either a medical ninja or someone with great survival and first aid skills in general." The brutish Blood Lagoon ninja explained.

Yushijin's image blurred in before solidifying in between Mana and the two Blood Lagoon ninja, the Team Fir leader threw a horizontal slash of his claymore, wide and strong enough to handle both of the two ninja. Mana sensed an extension of Yushijin's chakra flowing out of his total pool and entering the networks of his opponents. He was using his Last Resort genjutsu on them, having needed to find ways of beating it so recently, Mana knew how to tell Last Resort's telltale signs well enough.

"Stop. They're here to explain things to us." Mana wheezed out, Yushijin's claymore stopped just inches short of the young woman's throat and the middle section of her better-geared companion.

"Oh, I thought they were chasing you, my bad..." Yushijin sheathed his sword. "It's just that lately everybody here seemed like an enemy, it is hard to leave the perpetual survival mode."

"I like this guy." Mana saw the barely visible lower side of the giant's face twist in a wide grin. Had she not been proven wrong on the spot, she'd have figured the lump of steel and accessories to only be capable of disdain and disappointment. Just like his apathetic female companion.

"I assume this is your team leader then?" the female Blood Lagoon ninja eased up, removed her hand from the handle of her blade, which she'd have been too late to draw regardless, and straightened out her back.

"That's right, you can tell him everything," Mana grumbled out before the irritating iron dust made her almost cough her lungs out through her mouth inside out.

"You okay? You seem pretty banged up. We should see Kouta first." Yushijin suggested.

"I need... Air... But breathing burns. But I'll be fine, plus, Kouta can't help me now anyway. He is currently in his Cursed Seal state. He won't sit still for the two seconds it would take to tend to my ribs." Mana noted, feeling the rising chakra of her boyfriend further away in the valley. Ever since she first sensed the change and corruption seeping into his network, his chakra simply did not stop growing in size but also in its taint. Even with all the training of her sensory abilities that Mana has done, if she ended up closer to Kouta, she may have been forced to shut her sensory down or face the risk of having an anxiety attack or getting knocked out on the spot by the fearsome wickedness of his signature.