„Farewell, Mana-chan!“ the lower ranking sailors yelled out at the crew of Mana, Meiko, Kouta and Kusagoro while only the magician saw the departing ship off into the horizon with her eyes. It was a while before the ship totally faded in the misty morning gloom and the all too familiar smells of rotten wet port wood and mashed quince met Mana’s nose.
The mornings were the messiest of all times of the day for small port towns like the one the team was let go in. Fish stands had no time to promote their newly resupplied stocks as they were too busy selling the dead and sometimes still gasping for air marine life of all sorts.
“Awww, they think the moody savior of the world is cute and they’ll miss her, isn’t that just adorable!?” Meiko teased Mana pinching her cheek which made the magician laugh out in the sudden painful shock and hit Meiko back with her elbow. By now Mana was used to not hold back when hitting Meiko “ the redhead didn’t appear to feel a single thing and it didn’t look like she used much augmentation. Must’ve been the natural toughness of the blacksmith.
“No, seriously it’s a little strange though… Am I the only one thinking it’s strange?” Kouta scratched the back of his head curiously looking back at where the ship could’ve been at that point in time as the crew made their way through the port town. Soon they’d hit the long stretching forests and the surroundings won’t change all the way until they finally reach Konoha.
“Lowly sailors shouldn’t talk to a ninja that way, they should be afraid she’d be sent after them. It’s pathetic, really” Kusagoro noted with disgust.
“Eating with these “lowly sailors” does wonders. I think the pirates had the right idea there” Mana replied feeling really uncomfortable about having to defend her stance on more humane treatment of low ranking sailors. It’s almost like the lessons of seeing where these inhumane conditions lead washed off of her team completely. Despite her abhorrent dislike of the conditions below the deck where these men ate, she visited those quarters several more times after that one time just to show those men some magic tricks and keep them company before they drank each other under the table. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time.
“I dunno, I’d like to set sails again some time, really tear through the oceans, maybe kick some more Pirate Lords’ butt when we get stronger but for now, I’m really sick of the sea and this damp weather. All of my weapons and armor pieces are getting rusty and I didn’t think my alloys gathered rust” Meiko pouted looking at a couple of her reserve shoulder pieces. Despite repairing and rebuilding her armor out of the spare parts she bought along the way constantly Meiko found herself unable to keep a stable set on her without it melting or being busted to pieces.
“Pirates only have the right idea when they hang their own damn selves. They’re lowly traitorous criminals and they’re only good as dead meat” Kusagoro began angrily taking glances at Mana’s general direction. It was like built up tension between the two was erupting over a totally unrelated issue.
“That solves the symptom but not the problem. Pirates only become pirates because of how badly they’re treated as legitimate sailors. All they want is to live in dignity and a little respect. They want to make enough money to live and to see their own families once in a while. Those men in the engineering basically make the ship sail and yet if they wish to provide food for their families they have to be away for whole but one week year. They’re constantly abused and have no idea if they’ll make enough for a living or won’t get murdered by pirates the next day. What kind of a way is that to live?” Mana replied becoming more and more annoyed that meeting Francho and Read apparently taught nothing to her team.
“You’re just sympathizing with pirates, justifying their stupid excuses for killing and robbing people. Sailors need to suck it up, if they go rogue “ they get killed just like a rogue samurai or a rogue ninja” Kusagoro cut down crossing his hands on his chest.
“Except ninja or samurai are treated as high status warrior classes, the servants of the Feudal Lord whereas the sailors are treated like nothing but worthless trash, unworthy the fish fat they rub onto their own ships to their high ranking officers. Ninja never get beaten or bled out ‘till near death by their superior officers if they fail an assignment” Mana became more and more passionate. She wasn’t really even talking to Kusagoro at this point, she was talking to each and every deep rooted fanatic of the old rotten murderous order she wanted to change. To everyone who couldn’t see the bleeding social issues behind rogue ninja, bandits and pirates and only enjoyed the given excuse to kill them and satisfy their own deluded bloodlusts.
“That can be arranged…” Kusagoro grinded his teeth raising his fist up and blocking Mana’s path. The girl’s eyes met his as she stood on her toes to better level her own face to his. She didn’t shake or avoid his stare when she was depowered. She’d never back down now.
“Yet I’m not the only one who failed my mission” Mana managed to find somewhere to bite the veteran in the ass, even if it meant remembering her recently deceased friend. One who has been with her from the start and now just wasn’t… Will never be again, in fact.
A loud and uncomfortable spilling sound alerted the two conflicting ninja to an unsightly horror of Meiko throwing up on a nearby oak. After the two just stared at the sight confused and witnessed the blacksmith’s skin dye green before returning to pale white worry began setting inside Mana’s chest and Kusagoro and his criminal slaying agenda was completely on the lower level of her priorities.
“Guys… I think I’m getting land-sick” the redhead complained before throwing up again. Kouta ran up to her and quickly did some tests, flashing his Diagnosis Jutsu over Meiko’s body before sighing in relief.
“Her body is out of balance, she must’ve gotten used to the sea and how it shakes beneath her feet so now that the ground is solid beneath her feet her body needs to get used to it. She literally is “land-sick”… Meiko must’ve never sailed on a ship before” Kouta laughed out softly as he had never encountered such a condition before. He barely thought it possible and yet that was the only explanation that made sense since the redhead was completely healthy except for her balance and uneasy stomach.
Mana and Kusagoro soon shared a laugh together, one so powerful that they were unable to remember what exactly they were arguing about before.
“It’s not funny, you guys…” Meiko complained before smiling and cracking up a weakened laugh herself
“We may stay here for a while, Meiko really shouldn’t have eaten all those dozens of repeated portions while on the ship” Kouta scratched his temples.
*****
Land of Hot Water was a natural wonder, however it was not all too different from most locations around that region. Tree lines and seemingly all spanning forests as far as the eye could see. There were large Snow Country mountain ranges far away in the horizon to the north but they were actually at the exactly opposite direction to where the team was heading. Up north would’ve lead the quartet of ninja to immensely long and tall mountain ranges that separated the forest covered eternal woods of the Fire Country area and the coldest area of the world “ the Snow Country.
There wasn’t really a single ninja village in the entire region however there were also too few rich settlements for bandits and rogue ninja to rob. Up to Mana’s historic knowledge and overheard rumors there were several that were outright taken by rogue ninja and used as covers for their shady businesses but to divert her attention to those would’ve been senseless. Kusagoro would’ve never tolerated another diversion, also the other rogue ninja were the worst enemy of the rogues. The cruel conquerors would’ve been long toppled before the team even reached a single one of them. Or maybe the hunter ninja would get to the desired bounty first liberating the settlements for a brief period?
Travelling was incomparably faster with Mana’s full abilities back. Even with all the amazing power ups she had received after regaining her full chakra control Mana found herself a much slower traveler than her peers. Her reaction time may have been more sophisticated and effective as she trained it as a normal civilian but her body failed to keep up with her efficient predictions and vision. Usually ninja didn’t travel at too flashy speeds because subtlety and silence was of great importance, also a ninja travelling faster than sound would’ve bumped into literally everything in their path if their reaction didn’t keep up which would’ve drained one’s chakra pool to keep it augmented.
“Say, Mana. I see you and Kouta mended things” Meiko noticed slowing down a little so she could talk to Mana close and silent enough that the males running on ahead couldn’t hear them clearly.
Mana smiled a little feeling a bit shy to talk about it but over the time of the trip Meiko slowly became a friend she trusted greatly and it wasn’t like Kouta’s father avoided making awfully rude remarks about the friendship of the two blossoming into something more…
“We kissed, actually” she replied, “Back on the ship when we talked”
“Wha-?” Meiko’s jaw opened up, the extent to which this surprised her friend made Mana cheer up a bit from the monotony of travelling in the upper tree line. “You kissed a boy? Ewww? Why would you do that?”
“Wait, you mean you don’t kiss with boys? I find that hard to believe…” Mana returned a question to a fairly odd one of her friend’s. Meiko may not have fit the image of the perfect girlfriend material or looked like much of a sensitive princess but she was definitely attractive enough for the magician to believe in at least moderate success of the blacksmith in the dating scene. She also made armors and swords and weaponry of other kind which would’ve made her automatically ten times cooler in the eyes of the male gender.
“Me? Nah, sometimes when I make a really good sword or a really sturdy plate or an alloy hardens just right I peck it, hell, I peck it a million billion times, even if the alloy is still hot and then my lips swell up and I look like a starlet with lipstick for a while. I’ve even used a silver bar as a teddy to sleep with as a kid but boys? Nah…” Meiko grinned and began shaking her hands as if Mana asked her of something embarrassing.
“Honestly, I’m not sure what I was expecting, walked right into that one…” Mana sighed. It was just like Meiko to obsess over her tools and weapons and steel over the attention of boys and Mana should’ve known better than to assume otherwise at this point. Still, the amount of surprise that the fact of boys and girls interacting with each other with love and affection had with Meiko still didn’t cease to leave Mana in awe. Her father looked like a real honest and headstrong man, could he have never explained that sort of thing to Meiko? It looked like in the blacksmith’s eyes Mana was somehow perverting the natural order by finding boys attractive.
To be honest, a lot of boys and girls really rushed that sort of thing. Especially in the ninja line of work. There was something of great urgency in love and family matters having in mind how the population needed to sustain itself and very few ninja lived until the age when the civilians usually settled down.
“So, what’s next? How will this kissing thing with Kouta work?” Meiko asked a surprisingly mature question having her relative lack of experience or understanding in the matter work. Maybe this hidden maturity of the question wasn’t intended and the blacksmith didn’t even realize just how correct this question was.
“Not sure, it’s not something you think about in those moments. I think we’re just going to date for a while off-duty, when it’s not getting in our way and then… I honestly don’t know” Mana thought looking the other way. Despite not seeing the incoming trees the magician navigated around the obstacles in her way just by hearing Kouta and Kusagoro ahead change directions. Even while Mana’s mind was on completely other matters and questions she was still being competent and quick on her feet “ she used to miss that a lot before.
“That’s awfully irresponsible of you, young lady…” Meiko joked grinning at Mana and suddenly killing the tension that was beginning to creep up to Mana’s heart once again. Right after the matters were beginning to look good, right after she thought she’d finally dealt with losing one of her best friends and found young love… She realized just how shady and uncertain the future was and those cold long fingers of Lady Fear began wrapping around and strangling Mana’s heart and gut.
“Gee… Sorry, mom” Mana let it all off as a joking matter on the outside while making a mental note to interrogate Kiyomi once they return to Konoha. After all, the Yamanaka must’ve obtained experience what with that secret-not-so-secret romance with a certain rehabilitated Quack of hers. Mana already had problems balancing her life as a ninja and a stage magician. Her mind was begging for some more magic in her life and longed for entertaining an audience. It craved seeing that sense of wonder and excitement in a child’s eyes when it sees a magic trick and even the behind the stage antics with the other performers.
*****
Seeing the Konohagakure gate after such a ridiculously long time felt like an actual dream. Mana’s already messy hair had gone outright unruly and desperately begged for some trimming, lately actual hot showers were replaced with the cruel sea storms and its salty drops pelting at Mana’s face so hard that it felt like it was washing away her very soul. Soaking her clothes in such a short time that the freezing dampness of the sea felt like the literal reverse interpretation of what living in hell felt like.
The team was stopped after entering the gate. The guards did an elementary headcount and recorded something in their notes. Almost immediately Mana’s eyes wandered off into the board of announcements right up to the gate. The girl’s heart froze over in horror as she saw the board flooded with reports of missing people, one on top of the other.
“You’re missing one head here…” a guard pouted squinting at the squad.
“Yeah…” Mana replied forcing her voice to talk even if she felt like the reminded of Shimo had grabbed her by the throat and tried to squeeze the tears out of her like she was a paste tube. Her reaction must’ve tipped the guards off.
“Oh… Well, I’m sure that Lady Fifth would like to hear all about it, you guys have been missing for a long time” the other guard spoke up as the first one froze. Despite taking even remote interest in Shimo’s case Mana thought that the two looked a little too used of losing young souls to the outside world.
“She’d particularly like to hear about the man in the sky trying to squish the Earth between his gigantic space hands” the first guard angrily squinted at Kusagoro who just smiled and shrugged it off.
“Yeah, the rumor says she almost leaped into action herself. That woman could’ve just jumped up into space and punched that guy to the other side of the universe, I’m guessing, but you know…” the guard adopted a much more casual tone as he was basically discussing rumors.
“Hokage working in neutral waters… Yeah… Bad precedent” Mana replied knowing full well why Lady Fifth was nowhere to be seen despite being fully capable of circling the world many times in a single blink of an eye. If a village leader actually involved herself in the neutral waters it’d have sent a nasty message, especially so close to Kirigakure and Land of Waves territory. Those areas had huge government troubles as talks of re-establishing autonomy were beginning to dawn, pretty much every sailor was talking about it both on Read’s ship and that which brought them home. If the Hokage settled matters in neutral territory close to autonomy negotiation grounds it’d have sent a disrespectful message and suggested Konoha’s hesitance in recognizing international negotiations and Kirigakure’s soon to be reborn autonomy.
“Say… What’s with all the missing people?” Kouta also happened to notice the board which scared Mana so much.
“Oh… It’s old news, really. I think about a month ago the disappearances really hit the fan, the rates skyrocketed but then they just ceased. Nowadays not too many folk go missing but those that did way back were never found. No bodies or anything, no one even heard of them. If they’d have been kidnapped someone would’ve been already asking for favors by now, if they were just killed why go through so much bother to make them disappear so thoroughly. A real weird case this one…” one of the guards replied nonchalantly before the two returned to their post implying that the conversation was over.
“Well… Let’s go. The Boss Lady is waiting for our report” Kusagoro sighed, he really looked like he wasn’t looking forward to that part. Something about the veteran Jugo facing an actual Pirate Lord with great excitement being afraid to face Lady Fifth greatly amused Mana. Then again, she had to debrief the Hokage about failing the mission.
“Two parties returning at the same time, both failing their mission… This is not gonna be pretty” Kouta sighed. Mana wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her forehead to his. While the young man was surprised by this sudden expression of affection the two really lacked any recognition of what happened on the ship and what that exactly was. This was an official confirmation that they’d be facing whatever’s coming together, not just as momentary teammates but also as something much more personal and bonding.
Mana heard Kusagoro’s grumpy annoyance behind her after seeing this public expression of affection and she felt great about that man getting annoyed. With all of his physical might reaching near invulnerability she found one area she could really make him hurt while remaining truthful and within her moral code. Opportunities like that didn’t present themselves often.
The magician shouted out in surprise followed soon by Kouta when she felt ground leaving her feet. Kusagoro lifted the two up and separated them from each other up in the air, carrying them like two fragile boxes. Mana could hear Meiko laughing behind them and following the party all the way to the Hokage Mountain where the Konoha Administration building was located. While the reporting part wouldn’t be pretty, at least the blacksmith could enjoy the trip there all the way…
[Reviews - 0]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +