Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

The Valley of Quarrels

Shitaka's leather jacket had been acting rather floaty. Instead of being weighed down and completely defying the laws of physics like it used to, the piece of attire flapped and lagged behind its wearer. Mana suspected that it was because he was beginning to run short on supplies. It tended to happen when ninja tools, whether they be blades or something more refined, like jars with chemicals in them, were the crux of one's combat ability.

Everyone looked banged up. Even the clash with the Daisushi Brothers had been taxing on the Allied Ninja as they've had to fight in a nasty brawl where they were completely outnumbered. It didn't much matter how potent the enemy was, even dealing with a handful of genin made one put a flick of effort into it and even such small battles might have added up. With their encounter with the crow-transforming clone brigade recently, a whole myriad of new bruises and cuts added on top of the already impressive array of wear and tear.

"We need to stop at an inn," Mana declared, raising her voice so that she didn't need to break formation again. While she felt like she hadn't spent all that much chakra so far, her stamina was a whole different matter entirely and while she had the chakra to go through a couple more battles like those, her will to do so was a whole different matter entirely.

"We do," Junichi agreed with a nod. "We will, once we leave the Fire Country border."

"And what if we get attacked before that happens? We risk getting wiped out in our current condition," Mana objected. Normally, she'd have had no leeway in speaking out like this, apart from being just a part of the traveling group, in this case, she was the VIP that was being escorted, giving her voice a bit more weight than usual.

"We've had two encounters with the Nine Tales Gang already. It's clear that whatever bounty's hanging on your head, they're willing to invest some heavy resources to get it. That being said, it would be incredibly unlikely for their influence to extend past Fire Country's border, bandits are very territorial like that, heck, the bounty can only be cashed in in the country it was issued in," Junichi replied.

"Don't sweat it, you're a rocking good sensor, just keep your eyes open... Or closed... Whichever works out best for that sniffer of yours and keep your eyes... Nose... Whatever organ's responsible for sensory... Open," Shitaka snickered, giving Mana a look like he was talking down to a child. He might have been hopping around with empty jars in his pockets and he'd still have had the same spirit of empty bravado.

Mollay, the one with the most injuries as the Daisushi Brothers rightfully identified him as the most dangerous member of their group, traveled in silence. His bright eyes stared through the night's shade and on ahead into the oblivious thickness of the woods. Nobody was surprised by the fact that the man didn't speak his mind, though Mana had hoped that maybe his common sense would supersede his shut-in nature just this once. His entire face had streaks of dried out blood on it, even if his life was no longer at threat, even if it wasn't immediate medical attention that was in need, he could have used a shower, at the very least. They all could have.

"We've been through two clashes with the enemy already," Mana objected, using Junichi's own argument and flipping it against him. "We haven't as much as stopped to eat our rations yet, our chakra won't even begin recovering at this rate."

"If we're stopping for rations now, may as well stop at an inn. If we stop at an inn, we're basically courting the third encounter. It's not unheard of for innkeepers to cooperate with bandit gangs and supply them with information or even pull errands for them. Those Nine Tales guys seem like the kind of band to hold large influence over the area, we can't afford to take that chance. I know it's hard now but we've got to pull ourselves up and keep moving," Junichi spoke mostly to Mana, even though his words might have been interpreted as a reassurance to the whole Allied Ninja squad.