While Mana possessed no gifts of chakra sensory, these were born with and developed at some point during teen years, she didn’t need them to sense the destruction and massive numbers of lost lives in the vortex of battle transpiring behind her and the Yamanaka. She wanted nothing less than to hear any propositions, this had to end. Sadly her reasonable mind, as crushed by her emotional part as it was, suggested that this very offer may have been just such a mean to end this bloodshed.
“Kill the Imarizu for me.” Inomame smiled arrogantly.
“This isn’t a proposition, this is a demand.” Mana coldly mumbled out as she clenched her fists, hearing the grunts and shouts behind her made her more and more impatient.
“Well… More like a… Insisted suggestion…” Inomame shrugged, his smugness faded from his face once he got defensive for just a blink of a moment. “Do you know why I’ve achieved what I have and what I am? It’s because of weakness. Because I do not possess the very common amongst the Yamanaka gifts of sensory. I was unfit for the battlefield, not as one of the elites, anyway. Being anything but exemplary was unacceptable to me, I couldn’t stand it. It’s me we’re talking about, how could me, of all people, not be the focus of conversation?”
“Shut up…” Mana intruded upon the upcoming monologue, she had no time to waste on monologues, not while lives were being taken behind her. She turned her back to the cocky bastard who tried to have her friend killed, then forced into marriage, which for some crazy reason Kiyomi was not overly objective about.
“You like monologues? How about this one? I will tell the Imarizu that I’m ready to stop opposing them. That I made a mistake and my mistake cost more lives letting you die would’ve cost in the first place. I’ll get out of their way, it’ll be a surrender from my part, yet I’ll come out the victor “ my friend will be by my side again and you’ll be dead.” Mana finished as she began walking back into the battlefield at a casual pace. She still had chakra left for a couple of clutch petal escapes, if needed, before she reached the Imarizu.
Suddenly her body stopped, Mana forced herself into motion but she could only muster a twitch. The light blue glow from below revealed that she was caught by Inomame’s hair trap technique.
“You’ll offend your principles, won’t you?” Inomame asked her, his tone was not desperate at the slightest.
“My wish is to save everyone, sometimes that’s impossible, I’m too weak to do that so for now I’m satisfied with saving as many as I can. I’ll grieve, despair for a fair amount of time, ultimately I’ll decide to grow stronger so that the next time I can protect everyone and inspire people to change the world around them into one where all life is respected… I’ll somehow deal with it, I’ve lost plenty and I always deal with it and come out stronger.” Mana replied. She felt uneasy, she had no idea what Inomame’s plan with this was. He looked completely careless about the battle in which his men were being killed. His play here was still a mystery to Mana.
“That’s fun. You’ve got spirit. Breaking the spirited ones is always the most fun.” Inomame shrugged, even as he expressed his intent to break Mana he didn’t move.
“Go ahead, kill me, it’ll be ultimately useless to you. Just like, I assure you, the battle will be over by the time torturing me will give you anything useful.” Mana encouraged the man with a brave tone. The only hints of intimidation she had were not due to the imagined death or pain she’d experience, they were because of the fact she still had no idea what Inomame intended to do with this. If it was as easy as she imagined it to be “ pain or death, he’d still lose so it had to be something else.
“It’s true, my Demonlings are tough. They won’t survive the Imarizu though, maybe pick a couple of ‘em off but not all four working as an ultimate fisting machine. You on the other hand… You’ve survived them before. I can use you for that very same purpose, use you to kill them. Tell me wouldn’t you break seeing blood on your hands and cold dead bodies beneath your feet? It is your mouth that burnt its owner, not mine…” Inomame chuckled to himself before placing his hands up. Mana’s eyes whited out, she tried desperately to break out of the hair trap but she failed to do anything but twitch a muscle here and there.
“Mind Body Switch Jutsu!” Inomame triumphantly shouted out.
*****
Sugemi tripped over something as he rushed towards a Demonling. The ranks of the Demonlings were beginning to thin out. The Imarizu and the Konoha team were hitting them too hard, it was too early to let them into a field of battle. The Demons were exceptional assassins and duelists, not that incredible when used as footmen, scapegoats sacrificed for their master’s ambition. They were being used as cannon fodder and that’s just what they were. Still, even then they asked no questions or rebelled against their master’s will.
After quickly leaping back on his feet the Nara whirled his legs around upright kicking the rushing in enemies aside before looking at what tripped him. It was a body of one of the Imarizu, still bleeding out and some life still present in his eyes despite the man having been dead for a minute or two already. Sugemi looked around. Before all he saw was the bodies of the Demonlings, he had never considered that the scuffle they had with the Imarizu before could’ve served as something to bring the assassin group down ultimately…
Mana dashed right past him, clearly ignoring a dead body and Sugemi’s reaction to it. Something was off… The magician was sentimental above everything else. She’d have cried, whined about how she was somehow to blame about it all. Unless… It wasn’t Mana in charge of her own body “ just as the magician promised him. That fool, could she really purposefully surrender her control to a Yamanaka madman just to fulfil a stupid promise to him. Then again, that promise was hastily made during Sugemi’s less gracious periods. He was an angsty little shit affected by grief, promising to fight Mana to the death at some point. Just because he thought Mana’s beliefs were wrong, because everything around him was clearly at fault for sensei’s death… Everything was culpable to the eyes of a distressed teen…
Liberating her friend from such a stupid promise would have certainly not been above Mana’s level of sentimentality. Then again, if she did surrender her body and he didn’t fight her “ that’d be just mean. Not giving the magician a chance to liberate him from a promise he barely took seriously anymore, not that she knew that, would’ve simply been really crappy of him. Needless to say, it wouldn’t be the finest moment of the protagonist of his own manga…
Sugemi dashed after Mana. The magician was simply running, dashing around Demonlings and quickly disposing of them if they attacked her. For some reason her attacks were different from Mana’s normal attacks. Sugemi had seen the magician fight, even after their parting. She kicked a lot, dodged and crippled just so she didn’t have to inflict too much damage. She finished brawls fast, a light tap at a joint to dislocate it, a stronger focused strike or kick at a weaker open bone to crush it. That’s how she fought in the beginning of this very same battle. This Mana was ruthless but also really sloppy, she just punched and kicked, damaging her opponents without purpose or soul behind it. Her goal wasn’t to disable her enemy and stopping them from resisting anymore, it was to just hit them.
Sugemi’s muscles tensed up as he quickly opened up the First Gate and rushed after the magician. His body was beginning to sore really bad, he hadn’t abused his gates, only using the First one most of the time and only when he needed a quick boost in speed or power. He always turned off the tap when he didn’t need water anymore.
“My love! You’re okay!” Sugemi shouted out behind Mana to attract her attention but also to test the girl, hoping that the mind invader would give himself away.
“What are you talking about, Sugemi? We’re just friends, not even that good ones. I’ve just freed you from prison…” Mana replied turning at him with a smile. The Nara dashed in to defend her from an attack by one of the Demonlings who were then quickly occupied elsewhere by an Imarizu member. The ruthless assassin happened to completely ignore the kids as long as they didn’t attack him, pushing the Demonlings back at the direction of their master.
How could this be? How could Mana act normally but feel so off at the same time!?
A painful blow to the back of Sugemi’s head knocked the Nara down face into the dirt as he heard Mana’s sandals running through puddles of wet sand and blood all over and around her as loud beeping in his ears deafened him together with the pain keeping him down momentarily.
“You stupid idiot!” an unfamiliar voice yelled close by. “A Yamanaka can access the mind they displace into, it’s like a library. Why do you think they’re some of the most treasured intelligence officers and interrogators!? I thought Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka knew everything about each other, knowing how often these clans work together.” the voice was very annoying, mostly because of how right it was…
“Hey, you’re that… Yamanaka we’ve come to save, right?” Sugemi wondered after getting up but not before mocking Kiyomi’s pretentious manner of speech with an overblown and silly facial gesture.
“Still, Mana’s mind is really determined and strong, it shouldn’t be easy for Inomame to hold her down like that. Why is he so easily ordering her around and reading her like she offered no resistance? He must’ve told her something that broke her mind before taking her over… This guy knows what he’s doing.” Kiyomi scratched her chin.
“Maybe Mana is letting him control her. I once told her a really stupid promise and technically this would free me of it…” Sugemi wondered.
“Maybe, still, I doubt Mana would allow herself to be controlled during such an upheaval. That Inomame is just a really shitty asshole for doing something like this to her. I should really kick his ass for messing with us like that! Mana’s like my little sister.” Kiyomi pouted crossing her arms around her chest. The battle around them was beginning to slowly fade in intensity as most of the Demons were stricken down and stayed down or kept getting knocked down and weakened. At this point the entire scuffle moved north, that must’ve been where the Imarizu were centered and the remains of Inomame’s forces were focusing them down. Neither side engaged the Konoha forces unless they were engaged on, the Imarizu’s target was Inomame and technically the Konoha kids were fighting on the Demonlings’ side so the masked killers thought twice before jumping on them and prioritized the Cloud assassins before returning to the children.
“I’ll deal with Mana then…” Sugemi nodded. “If she wants to free me of whatever promises I’ve made, I’ll let her think that’s exactly what she’s doing.”
*****
As Mana rushed madly towards the center of the repositioned battle, where it seemed like the remains of the Demonlings were all jumping onto a single opponent Sugemi passed by tired and injured Yanagi. He didn’t stop to check up on the Aburame’s condition, he didn’t quite care, to be honest. He may have cared more if the temporary companion looked worse. Now he just looked like he just had enough battling for one day.
“Shadow Possession Jutsu!” Sugemi shouted out irritated. For the second time that day he had to use his technique to stop someone where he usually used his techniques for fighting.
Mana’s body burst into a shower of flower petals scattered by the wind. The Nara rolled onwards before the girl reformed right behind him with a kunai in hand. He wasn’t used to fighting a Mana who would’ve been fine by just slitting his throat like that. Shouting in anger the girl attacked him, even her voice was different “ not like someone else’s voice came out of Mana’s throat “ it was her own. The thing was that the anger and tone used by the young magician was completely different to how she used her own voice.
Sugemi easily leaned sideways from Mana’s strikes and drove his knee into the girl’s gut expecting to easily disarm her. The magician’s figure blasted into flower petals so intensely that they all bashed and pelted against his face forcing the Nara to flinch and take steps back. A couple of strong kicks hit Sugemi’s back driving all air out from his lungs “ the bastard must’ve figured out from using Mana’s body for a while that her kicks were much more effective and stronger than her lackluster upper body strength.
The mind-controlled magician used the blade she held in her hand striking at Sugemi’s neck but the Nara quickly switched his First Gate back up to simply blitz out from her view like he was never there. Dashing behind the magician Sugemi continuously delivered a powerful combination of blows before blitzing away again. If he broke Mana’s body without killing her it’d end the threat before she’d be forced to do something she didn’t want to do. A tear ran down Mana’s face which distracted Sugemi temporarily. Her body exploded into petals again before reforming further away and throwing some cards from her pockets. Sugemi deflected the carelessly used and clearly telegraphed attack with the back of his wrist just barely getting cut. This man had no finesse or sleight of hand of Mana’s, reading his moves and ninja tools was a piece of cake.
“I’ll beat you, you know? You can’t fight as Mana for shit even if you do have access to her mind… Reading a book during a battle tends to distract you.” Sugemi taunted his opponent, expecting his invading mind to hear and comprehend what was being told. “Mana would’ve never been so easy to read because she never goes in for the kill, the “what would I do” method never works with her because no one fights like she does. You always go for the open vitals “ that’s the easiest thing to read.” Sugemi explained before his transparent chakra burst from him again and his muscles tensed up overflowing him with the painful fatigue, with a back handed smack he tossed his elbow towards Mana’s face as he had predicted the girl to be there, having used an illusion to sneak behind him.
Both the clearly visible Mana figure as well as the one sneaking behind him dispersed into a whirlwind of petals. Sugemi grinned, Mana would’ve done differently than this fearful fool “ she’d have substituted herself with the illusionary petal entity at the last moment attacking right from where she was not expected to come “ from the front. That was how she would’ve left damage on him “ Inomame just ran, creating multiple illusionary images and having all of them come at him.
A combination of rock hard kicks met Sugemi’s lowered attention after his friend’s body appeared from the front “ just like he imagined Mana would have done except using a double fake-out instead of substitution. The man had some insight into her mind but it was clearly limited, both by what he could access as well as his own mind. Inomame must’ve doubted Mana’s mind, thought he knew better how to utilize her skills, his cockiness was why Sugemi could stand on equal ground with Mana while holding back.
Sugemi picked himself off the ground and examined his blunt trauma. Mana’s kicks left some marks on him “ his gates must’ve greatly softened his body and weakened his augmentation. Mana was tired but so was him. A loud thud focused all of his attention on Mana. Inomame’s puppet slammed on her knees so hard she had busted them open. Mana’s entire body shook as her skin paled, dark bags began forming around the magician’s eyes as blood vessels shot out on her pale skin, looking all the more creepy because of it.
“Hmph… That’s what you get for abusing the only technique you saw Mana do.” Sugemi smiled with a playful shrug.
“The only useful one…” dismissively and arrogantly the man declared. “Lightshow and mirror tricks is all this trash is good for! How did she survive the Imarizu with this useless arsenal!?” Inomame yelled out in great distress for being beaten in a body he placed so much hopes in. “Each successive use of the only good illusion in her arsenal makes each successive use consume more chakra, it’s getting exhausting. Soon it’ll sap as much chakra as an actually useful high rank jutsu! Useless, this body is goddamn useless!” Inomame’s mind forced Mana to keep whining as he pounded the ground.
“It’s true, Mana would tell you that her arsenal is all about how she uses it, not about how good it is. Truth be told it does suck to everyone but her, somehow she makes it work, though… That’s why it’s much better to use people as pawns by having them work for you, not controlling them yourself. You’re only you, you’re limited by your stupid narrow perception, even with direct control there are things Mana sees that you don’t, even if you’re in her body.” Sugemi smiled. He realized that for whatever reason Mana’s mind blocked out any thoughts about the Sweet Lullaby jutsu from Inomame’s mind, else the Yamanaka without a doubt would’ve called it a worth using technique as well. Had he successfully used it Sugemi would’ve been in a real pickle.
It was then that Sugemi realized just how Mana aided him “ she didn’t resist Inomame to the point where he had access to so much of her thoughts that he thought she didn’t resist at all and he had access to everything. That allowed her to conceal small bits of her mind from him without him realizing. The magician was crafty and slippery even when being mind-controlled which broke a grin out of Sugemi.
Mana’s body began shaking in uncontrollable laughter as it stood up and began walking towards Sugemi.
“What are you doing? I’m gonna strike you down, can’t you see how low on chakra Mana is?” the Nara wondered in confusion.
Inomame kept commanding Mana to walk forward towards the closing up battlefield where the battle was approaching its conclusion.
“If you use that petal illusion again “ you’ll risk tiring Mana out! She’ll die!” Sugemi tried reasoning with Inomame before he realized it “ that’s fine by the mad Yamanaka. He risked nothing as his own mind would’ve just retreated back to his own body at the last moment avoiding any repercussions that damaging Mana’s body would inflict upon the controller’s body.
Sugemi closed his eyes and realized that he didn’t want to end up killing Mana. He may have talked some pretty mean things to her back then but he never really intended to kill her. He felt like she was his friend, she may have thought differently than him but she was no criminal. It wasn’t her fault Tanshu died, it wasn’t her fault Shimo died. She blamed herself for everything bad that ever happens and to blame her for those same things was to be inefficient as there would’ve been nothing one could say to her she didn’t say to herself at every moment of her life, it would’ve also mean that he was as mad as she was for accepting this much responsibility…
Mana hugged Sugemi out of nowhere. The Nara’s eyes opened up in surprise as he looked at his friend who was finally free of Inomame’s control. The two stood there for a moment allowing the moment of rekindled friendship to become awkward before splitting up.
*****
“Wow you’re just a… A goddamn asshole…” Kiyomi uttered looking down on Inomame’s bleeding and writhing in pain body as she stomped on him some more, just barely avoiding the spot where her kunai was etched in Inomame’s subclavian artery.
“Still, you’re just too cute and funny to kill… Be a hunk and don’t pull that out.” Kiyomi winked before sitting down close to the incapacitated Yamanaka and kicking her feet up. She figured she’d better keep an eye on her supposed groom for a while before this whole thing settled down a little and someone took him over from her or it was safer to leave him alone.
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