“So for how long are we going to wait?” Kiyomi pouted looking back at Mana who was patiently standing near the guard stand with her hands locked on her chest, staring at the village as if she still had hope that the third one would show up. After being asked the question the magician just sighed. “Don’t know, you’re the one with more experience, you take charge” she submitted all of the responsibility on Kiyomi’s shoulders.
“Point taken, if I can choose between a ninja from our village and some mercenaries I’ll choose a homie anytime. Don’t really like those brutes anyway…” Kiyomi grunted out. The blonde didn’t seem to be a very patient one but she appeared to at the very least be able to get over herself and wait if she needed to. Stepping over one’s own character was a really good feature which the magician greatly liked in anyone she met. This Kiyomi girl just may have been a pleasant person to work with…
“You’ve had some bad experience with mercenaries?” Mana asked. She recalled her own experience dealing with the mercenaries that Hanada Katsuo hired to watch over his family. Based on that experience alone those guys weren’t really trustworthy, yet that one guy who still worked for Katsuo seemed really happy to have moved past his mercenary days and settling down.
“Oh, come on, you don’t have to have bad days with them to know they’re trouble. Think about it, some ex-ninja and just all around brawlers, criminals and killers selling their services, wandering in bands and settling down in camps all over the world. Anyone who defies a village and isn’t loyal to something, willing to sell themselves over a coin is a scumbag.” Kiyomi laughed out sarcastically, she really used a lot of irony and disgust in her voice.
This special dislike for people who didn’t obey a village and didn’t devote themselves to an ideal sort of hurt Mana. The magician wanted to talk to Kiyomi about clans but then she realized that her own origins hailing from the Wandering Ninja would’ve come up. Wandering Ninja must’ve been just as shameful and hate-worthy to Kiyomi as mercenaries. Mana pouted and tightened her hand lock trying to close that part of herself from her temporary partner. Suddenly the magician stood straight and started moving out through the gate.
Kiyomi jumped up and started running after Mana. “Hey, wait up, what got into you!?” the blonde yelled out. The young magician really hoped that Kiyomi didn’t read minds casually, that would’ve been an invasion of privacy but that wasn’t the worst part, Mana just wanted to keep her origins secret from a person who was a patriot and devoted to their village without question. That wasn’t an unusual trait, Kiyomi deserved no hatred or dislike for it. A lot of ninja were just like that. Mana just sighed realizing that once again she was the black sheep, she would’ve always chosen her own ideals and freedom over the orders from a village, she’d have been willing to die for her ideals or lose her title as a ninja. She wasn’t that much different from the mercenaries, she just didn’t sell her ideals out, the ideals themselves were the coins for the girl.
“Did I say something?” Kiyomi ran up to Mana looking at the girl curiously, this at the very least revealed that Kiyomi didn’t just probe people’s minds just because she could. That just made the younger kunoichi appreciate her superior a little bit more.
“No. I got sick of waiting, let’s move.” Mana cut the dialogue down, she was really hurt and shut inside, maybe most because she admired Kiyomi and wanted Kiyomi’s approval and this revelation that Kiyomi was one of those loyalists of letter of law and absolute loyalty to the village made Mana feel like in the eyes of her superior which she wanted to befriend she’d have looked just like those mercenaries “ just a scumbag.
“Okay, the road is long, are you gonna talk to me, or not? How about you? Have you had any experience with mercenaries?” Kiyomi asked with that same tone of curiosity in her voice. The blonde must’ve already picked up on something bugging Mana, she also appeared to have related that to something that she must’ve said and it was evident that Kiyomi tried to somehow find out about what exactly rubber her partner the wrong way without probing her mind.
“Yeah, I’ve had some. I fought them when they turned on a guy who paid them.” Mana casually threw back. She didn’t sound angry or anything, nothing in her voice implied any malicious and offensive feelings towards the Yamanaka but she still sounded sad. Almost like a person sounds when they knew they’ve been wrong and someone corrected them. A part of a person felt grateful for the person who did that but it still hurt deep inside.
“Oh… That’s impressive, mercenaries are trained to face ninja, for a girl your age to hold your own, that’s pretty cool, you must be really strong” Kiyomi tried to somehow repay her unclear offensive remark with some compliments. Mana didn’t react to that in any way. “Did you beat them all by yourself?”
Mana suddenly started feeling even worse. The magician stopped letting Kiyomi catch up to her and then take lead. She then shook her head angrily but slowly. “No. This jounin named Dorimi saved me. I did knock out all but the leader, I hesitated to kill him and he flipped the table on me, next thing I know I was about to die…” Mana stopped talking trying to let her newly made friend know that she didn’t take any pride of having to be saved. If actually offend her a little.
Kiyomi laughed out, “Really? Why would you hesitate to do something like that? You’re just like my friend, not the Uchiha one, that guy was a real douchebag, he never hesitated, the other one, the one who quit. Initially he really was afraid to fight people, Hanasaku-sensei kept pummeling his face every time he refused to hurt someone because he was afraid to hurt them. “You don’t have to kill, but you must not be afraid to fight! If they die while you’re fighting it’s on them, not on you. True student of mine must love fighting!”” Kiyomi did her best impression of the Fifth.
“Great, so on top of being a village loyalist Kiyomi is also a brawler with no reservations about killing…” Mana sighed after being laughed at. It wasn’t an offensive laugh, more like the kind of laugh that a friend gives you when you tell them an embarrassing story from your youth. Mana lived a life of embarrassment and inner pain, she was always looked down on and laughed at whenever she voiced her ideals of peace and love being the ruling forces of the world. One of the most painful things to happen to her was when ninja she admired ditched her beliefs and laughed at them.
Tanshu-sensei wasn’t a ninja Mana wanted to be like when she grew up, still, to her Tanshu-sensei was the best ninja in the world. When the world’s strongest ninja tells you you’re wrong there’s a certain amount of pain and sadness one has to go through. Tanshu was supposed to know everything there was to know about being a ninja and he was pretty firm on that specific distaste of Mana’s ideals. Now Kiyomi, a kunoichi whom Mana strived to be more like, someone she looked up to because of how cool, pretty and strong she was, also shared that same belief. The world didn’t seem like it was about to give the magician a break.
“OK, wait, are you… Still… You know… Like that?” Kiyomi suddenly jumped up and shyly shouted out, having realized that she may have spouted out something offensive. Mana silently nodded.
“I am, I would never consciously take a life, I’d die before killing someone. I used to be a lot more peaceful but a wise man once taught me that in order to protect the people I want to protect, which is everyone, I need to fight sometimes. I realized that he was right, if an enemy of mine chooses to fight, it’s his choice and I’ll do my darned best to end that fight quickly. I won’t shy away from doing whatever I can to them, I’ll break their body and their mind until they can’t fight but I’ll never take their life.” Mana silently explained, she could hear Kiyomi’s step slow down a little and wriggle hesitantly further from her.
“Damn… That’s pretty… You know…” Kiyomi let out, she wasn’t disgusted or anything she just wanted to let Mana know what she thought.
“Stupid? Yeah, Tanshu-sensei let me know that every day…” Mana replied shutting inside even further.
“No… Dark and hardcore. I mean… I get it, you don’t want to kill it’s your ideal, your nindo and all that but… It’s not by any means an idealistic pink shades ideal I’ve taken it for. You may just be darker inside than I am. Most ninja choose to kill other people over causing them too much pain, the whole point of ninjutsu is to eliminate the enemy so quickly that they don’t even know what hit them, so fast that they don’t even get a chance to feel any pain…” Kiyomi explained.
Mana didn’t get any happier from that declaration of opinion but at least she knew now that Kiyomi didn’t exactly think that Mana or her nindo was stupid. She just took a bit different stance on things and that was alright. That was why magic chose to let Kiyomi be born, she was that kind of person and people of every kind were necessary in this world for it to be rich and diverse and as magical as Mana took it to be.
“Look… If I said or did something that hurt you, you know I didn’t…” Kiyomi started something that sounded like an apology, Mana shook her head and interrupted her newly met friend.
“No, it’s my fault. Me getting worked up over you saying something about my views, which is also a testament of your views is the same thing as the thing I’m getting worked up for. I’m just… I get angry sometimes and sad and… I know it’s wrong, I know I’m wrong but it doesn’t help…” Mana almost grunted out her admittance of being wrong. She knew just how hypocritical getting offended for expression of opinion was, after all, she made a life of someone harder just because they let her know their opinion. In other words, she got pissy about someone’s opinion because someone got pissy about hers. If there was anything wrong with the views of Kiyomi, Mana made something equally as wrong with hers when she took them too deep and shut in herself.
“It’s called puberty, it’ll pass…” Kiyomi smiled, Mana finally managed to crack a grin. “You should’ve seen me when I was your age, I was punching everyone, every time. Even Hanasaku-sensei got the sharp end of my wrath, I liked to punch her especially because she never got hurt from any of it…”
“I… I got angry initially because you said you disliked people who took their ideals over the authority of the village. I’m a half-blooded descendant of a tribe of wandering ninja entertainers, they valued freedom and making people laugh and enjoy their time most of all. They got slaughtered by the village because they defied its authority, I just felt like if you knew that you’d hate me just like you hated those mercenaries…” Mana admitted.
“That’s stupid, why would anyone hate someone with those cute cheeks?” Kiyomi playfully pinched Mana. Being treated like a younger sister initially annoyed the magician but then she still couldn’t keep her laugh inside. “So you’re from a clan too? I’ve never heard about your clan, guess that makes you a little last princess, huh? Most girls would kill to be in your shoes” Kiyomi joked with some irony in her voice.
“It wasn’t an actual clan, more like a tribe of people who shared their love for freedom and entertaining people for food and donations to get them through the life outside the village walls” Mana spoke “Plus, I’m not sure if I’m the “princess” of anything, I’m only half-blooded member of a tribe of ninja mutts with kind hearts. I just really like everything my ancestors stood for and I owe a lot, because of my own ideas, to what they did”
Kiyomi shrugged, “Nothing wrong with that. You’re not selling your ideas and heart out for money like mercenaries, you have your own nindo which isn’t that popular to begin with. It constantly clashes with the opinions of people around you and the popular opinion of your village. You’re always forced to defend your views against parties much stronger, older and more respected than you and you’re always looked down on and pushed around. You’re strong, both inside and outside and that deserves nothing but respect”
Mana looked at Kiyomi for a moment and smiled, she just barely restrained her instinct to gleefully shriek like a little girl, her idol finally recognized her ideals and existence, she may not have actually agreed with Mana’s views but at least she recognized that they were there and didn’t just attack Mana for believing in such stupid childish things. That to the magician meant the whole world.
“So, how close are you to being “Princess Yamanaka”?” Mana asked trying to return the question and get to know a bit about Kiyomi in the process. The blonde smiled and sighed.
“Actually… I’m pretty much it, my father’s brother is supposed to pass on the status of clan’s head to his heir but he has no children. The main idea floating around is that once I get married my family will lead the clan” Kiyomi admitted slightly blushing.
“Why do you need to marry someone to lead a clan, also wouldn’t that make you the queen? I mean wouldn’t your husband rule the clan in that case?” Mana curiously blinked repeatedly. All those clan rules were so complicated and confusing but they were living tradition and history and Mana loved everything about history.
“Not if I marry another wife, I’m joking… I mean, whatever, the thing is that if I marry a Yamanaka like me, in that case yes, he’ll get the wheel and I’ll just be a cheerleader from the side but if I marry someone from another clan, they won’t hand the rule over clan matters to some random guy so I’ll still have the whole responsibility in my hands and my husband will be the cheerleader.” Kiyomi explained. Mana almost felt bad that she didn’t take a notebook to write all that stuff down, clan rules and traditions were pretty interesting but also confusing.
“Wow, I should’ve known earlier, I would’ve bowed to Your Majesty!” Mana smiled and bowed from the waist down as if she was meeting a Feudal Lord or something. Kiyomi just showed Mana her fist as her eyes flared as hotly as the red on the Yamanaka’s cheeks. “I’m older than you by at least two years, I can still kick your butt, you know” the blonde let out a joking threat, at least it was supposed to be taken as that from the tone.
All of a sudden Mana’s eyes shifted to a spot behind her, the girl leaped into the air and quickly made some hand seals, Mana thrust her legs forward, almost like as if she did a dropkick but instead of just kicking a powerful gust of air shot from her feet, it was a vertical “Mystical Wings” jutsu. The powerful gust of wind that would’ve normally propelled Mana into the sky or broken her fall now blew away multiple knives coming at the two girls. Kiyomi looked back and picked one of those knives up examining them.
“They’re not just simple kunai, they’re throwing knives but they’re completely flat, they’re meant to go in deep, not just puncture the flesh, this one can go through bone and even get into the body whole way in. Be careful” the blonde warned, she then lifted her head up and yelled out, “Come on out!” into the thickness of the forest. Nothing came from the blackness of the shadows formed by the thick line of trees. The assailant may have been anywhere.
“Damn it!” Kiyomi shouted out nervously throwing multiple kunai and shuriken into the depth of the shades, in multiple directions and multiple degrees of elevation just to see if she can get a read on the enemy’s location. The correct course of action would’ve been to dive behind cover, trees could easily stop shuriken and kunai but these knives were so flat that they had the penetrative power to go through most trees and then still pierce into the flesh, staying hidden behind a cover would’ve just made the two static targets unaware of them being picked off.
A dark haired young woman leaped out from the cover deflecting the kunai and shuriken going her way as easily as eating a pie. She wielded twin short swords, they went just a bit past her elbow but they were definitely long enough to impale someone on them. They also looked a bit crooked and more of the slashing kind. The woman’s face had a strange tattoo on the upper forehead and the cheek, they were some strange symbols, hieroglyphs used in the ancient times that Mana identified as being from the War of the Earth and the Moon times. The one on her forehead read “Kill”, the one on her cheek meant an ancient praise of a single symbol “Galateia Be Praised”, it was hard to know what exactly that name meant, it could’ve been the name of this young woman.
“Why you! Are you a mercenary?” Kiyomi wondered out loud but then she noticed a headband protector with the Konoha sign on it. The raven haired assailant was tall, she was no girl, she must’ve been either in her late teens or early twenties even as her body was completely formed, covered with scars and tattoos. She wore a simple darkened bronze ring armor which only covered her chest, her arms looked like the arms of a slim but athletic male. This was a woman capable of smothering the life out of a person if she got her hands on them. She had an extremely pale skin and oddly colored dark purple eyes with wide irises. That was too unique of a look not to be from some weird clan.
“Galateia, Goddess of War be praised with these two joining her fray!” the woman uttered playing and rubbing her swords at each other so strongly that they shot off sparks. She must’ve been able to coat the blades with chakra because usually swords dulled when similar misuse and tension was applied to them.
“What kind of retarded Goddess accepts one’s own comrades as offering?” Kiyomi angrily grunted charging forward, the woman moved in an instant, passing right through her opponent. After this assailant appeared behind Kiyomi, the Yamanaka grunted in pain and fell on her knees, a small gash opened on her cheek but the girl appeared to be clenching her gut where she must’ve been hit with something dull as it didn’t bleed. This woman was insanely fast! Way faster than any genin Mana had ever seen.
“Galateia, Goddess of War? That’s the Goddess from the times of the Great Settlement period, worshipped by assassins and warriors like the Uchiha and Kaguya. Who are you?” Mana asked the attacking kunoichi openly but the young woman straightened out and prepared to attack again instead of answering Mana’s question. Mana lunged forward, she couldn’t let this woman attack Kiyomi, with a quick flick of her wrists she tossed several steel tipped cards that hit the swords in the lower section forcing some shock to be transferred into the woman’s wrists, strong enough to disable those arms for a moment.
Mana leaped into the fray with a powerful spinning kick but her kick was blocked by the same manner of kick. Angered and irritated from being perfectly matched in term of kicking speed and power Mana kept sending more and more kicks, faster and faster, the woman matched Mana’s speed but didn’t surpass it, the two were locked in a clash of kicks, it was an endless dance of kick after kick, Mana’s black sandals moving in a flurry, powerful booming sounds of muscle hitting muscle erupted every time the two clashed. As fast as Mana kicked, as fast as she linked her kicks together and switched her dominant leg letting out another kick the woman matched it perfectly, it was a very different style but it was equally fast and strong.
Mana did a cartwheel back to clear the area as a powerful explosion erupted coming from Kiyomi’s explosive kunai but the woman just leaped out from the smoke moving in close to Mana, with her swords in the ready to cut the girl down. Mana gasped as that last exchange of kicks left her out of air and as fast as the girl’s hand seals were they weren’t fast enough to save her life. That was it! The woman grunted triumphant as her swords swung in a mad spinning slash but they only cut down a large log. Mana felt her being held by Kiyomi further away “ the Yamanaka used substitution to replace Mana with a log that she had in her hands.
“Thanks” Mana thanked her friend feeling really bad about almost being killed. She trained so intensely that last year and all of it was for nothing, had she been alone she’d just have died for nothing. “Don’t feel bad, no way she’s a genin, we’re as good as genin get, I would’ve aced those Chuunin Exams last year and I know a Chuunin when I see one.” Kiyomi winked at Mana, “You’ve just clashed your super neat legs against those of a Chuunin and didn’t get crushed, also you kept her from cutting me down so that’s appreciated…” Kiyomi breathed out as she did seem a little worn.
The Yamanaka shoved her arms forward holding them in a peculiar hand seal. “Mind Body Switch Jutsu!” she shouted out, Mana’s mouth opened wide from surprise when she saw some sort of transparent ghost-like figure shooting out from Kiyomi’s hand seal heading towards the woman, with a graceful flip to the side using her one hand for support the woman evaded and lunged towards Kiyomi. Mana leaped back, knowing that the woman didn’t attack fast enough for someone as tough as Kiyomi not to dodge it. The woman got closer and closer, time seemed to have stopped. Mana’s arms went through a handseal. The woman’s swords pierced Kiyomi’s black grey top but then only cut through a log. Mana returned the favor by substituting herself and her friend.
“Thanks” Kiyomi smiled at Mana, “I am left wide open and can’t move for a while after using that technique, I guess she’s a bit too agile to just throw it around like that, sorry” the blonde laughed out as if her life wasn’t on the line here. Mana smiled back, “Guess we’re even then” she casually said without turning her eyes off the woman. Suddenly the woman leaped forward, reminding of one of those graceful jumps of ballet, as her dominant foot landed it redirected all of the force into a fierce skin, the swordswoman moved like a horizontal disc saw!
Kiyomi charged forward, somehow Mana knew just what her friend meant to do, it was like they were meant to be fighting together, almost like they needed no further training to understand one another. After getting dangerously close to the woman Kiyomi flipped acrobatically over the woman with an arabian flip. Since Kiyomi covered everything behind her with her body there was no way for the woman to see Mana’s steel cards with explosive notes on them, a violent explosion erupted from the cards being deflected by the woman’s mad spinning motion. Kiyomi and Mana were huffing and smiling at each other for their nice combination move. This fight was like their deadly playground to learn to work together. They’d need it later, if they survived this, that is.
The woman was huffing heavily on her knees to the side, her armor was completely busted and all over the ground, the bronze rings weren’t that tough to shatter. She must’ve really strained her body hard and twisted her leg weird because she was sweating all over her forehead. Mana and Kiyomi attacked simultaneously, neither of them was able to match this woman up close alone but together they could just do that. Mana went in for a fierce and swift combo of kicks that was swiftly blocked, the magician felt Kiyomi’s arms on her shoulders as the Yamanaka leaped over Mana with a powerful kick that planted right into the woman’s face, making her stagger back with a bleeding nose. Mana rolled forward getting behind the woman and doing a backwards cartwheel to send her up in the air, then leaping up and wrapping her leg around the woman’s neck. The assailant let out a powerful grunt as Mana’s other foot kicked the woman straight into the top of her head sending her crashing down into the dirt.
Mana landed nearby and moved back in order to avoid any deceitful responses from her lying opponent. Kiyomi looked at Mana and nodded. “This woman can augment her moves, her endurance, her strength and speed using chakra, that’s why she’s still alive…” Mana concluded seeing the woman rising up from the ground, wiping blood off her nose and her lip which was busted. “This sort of augmentation is not something genin can do, not to such extent, this combo I hit her with was made to paralyze…” Mana huffed heavily.
“Well then it’s official, we’re facing a Chuunin, a Jounin would’ve already mopped the floor with us…” the blonde concluded.
“You little fancy dressing bitch!” the assailant yelled out, she appeared to have quite the potty-mouth and her voice fit that rough manner of speech perfectly.
“I just wanted to mess around with you two, now this is personal! I’ll kill you both and then finish our mission by myself!” the woman swiped with her sword angrily taking a fighting stance again. Kiyomi and Mana both blinked rapidly as they realized that this woman in front of them was their third teammate.
The woman leaped forward swinging at both girls but Mana gave Kiyomi a boost to leap over the slash while she herself just dodged backwards just getting a small cut on her throat, any deeper and it may have really gotten nasty. Mana covered her neck trying to see if the bleeding was dangerous or not, it bled rather slowly but it was a very annoying and relentless bleeding, plus the magician preferred not to mess up her uniform if possible. Those required a lot of sewing and crafting to complete with all those hidden pockets and spring devices to boost the speed of the cards shooting out of her palms…
Kiyomi charged forward, the woman roared proudly raising her swords vertically and Mana observed much to her horror as her friend ended up hanging on the tips of those swords. At least Kiyomi managed to somewhat augment her endurance or else she’d have been impaled. With a swift kicked after removing the swords the woman sent Kiyomi rolling back grasping her small wound on her gut. Despite the gruesome look, her friend was lucky to toughen up just in time, she must’ve wasted a lot of chakra but at least she didn’t die…
The raven haired psycho leaped at Kiyomi trying to decapitate her when Mana appeared in front of her pressing the buttons of her cufflinks, whole two decks of steel tipped cards shot out, the woman backflipped doing her best to deflect all of them, she skipped some, they left some nasty cuts, several etched into the woman’s body but generally she received no fight ending wounds whereas Mana cleaned all of her reserves that were in her emergency spot near her wrists. The psycho swiped her sword and licked the blood off of the tip, leaving some to rub onto her cheek, she seemed to enjoy the blood of her injured comrade.
“I see, so that’s why you dress like that, you hide those stupid cards in every pocket of that stupid uniform. No worry, auntie Hisako will strip you of it and force you to fight without it, I’ll kill you slowly without your handy cards to bail you out. I’ll bleed you out like a pig, then that older blonde will beg me not to kill her like you, maybe if I’ll have had enough of your screams I’ll slit her throat and be done with it…”
Kiyomi grunted out, her gut wound must’ve kept her down pretty badly. “That clears it out, she’s a goddamn Yoruma…” the blonde said. Half of Mana’s glance reached back at her friend, “Yoruma? I think I’ve heard that last name before…” Kiyomi nodded.
“Yeah, Yoruma are braindead psycho assassins, some of them are just bloodthirsty brawlers, some of them are cold and calculated psychopaths who love to torture people. I don’t know why the village keeps them around but they do, probably cause Yoruma are decent at torture, assassination and strategy so the Council likes them... If you ever felt compelled to kill someone, this might be the right chance to think over your beliefs, knowing Yoruma mentality, she’s not bluffing.” Kiyomi grunted standing up. Mana took her fighting stance, she was ready to take this woman on, or at least hold her back before Kiyomi recovered.
“No. Even a woman like this deserves to live, somewhere, at some point she’ll have a purpose to serve and I have no right to take her life. It’s not for me to decide those things.” Mana replied still very much determined to keep even this psycho alive. Hisako leaped forward swinging her sword, Mana tried to block it but the sword blurred and Mana couldn’t catch the blade with her palms “ it disappeared like a mirage! Then the mirage disappeared and the real Hisako appeared in its place, the first one was just an afterimage, the woman slashed making Mana scream in pain, she didn’t cut to kill, she didn’t intend for it to be that quick. Nor did the Yoruma wish to let the magician have it that easy, she playfully cut Mana again and again, rubbing her blade against Mana’s skin just to open painful gashes but not to make them deep enough to kill her. This Hisako really was ready to fulfill her promise!
Finally after a powerful spinning motion after jumping up in the air, the swordswoman sent Mana down on the ground. The magician grunted pitifully but she crawled away further from her opponent just to stand up again. “What a fucking disgrace, a little pop idol girl who thinks she’s a ninja yet refuses to kill. I’ll do the world a favor and snuff you out right here and now, I don’t plan on giving you an easy time either, it’ll be a lesson to all those stupid idealistic little kids who think this is some cranberry pie day out here!” the woman shouted out.
“Stop! If you kill a comrade for no reason you’ll go on Ninja Tribunal, you’ll get executed or imprisoned for life!” Kiyomi tried to reason with the Yoruma. The woman turned back with a sadistic smile, “Do I look like the kind of a bitch that cares!?” she replied licking the blood off of her swords. Mana’s foot planted deep into Hisako’s gut while she was distracted, the woman flew backwards, her eyes looked completely whited out. Mana realized this was her final chance, with a swift roll she moved behind stumbling Hisako and locked her hands behind her, she locked them hard enough for the raven haired monster to drop her blades. Kiyomi placed her seals forward, “I’ll kill this psycho right now…” she said angrily, the blonde’s voice was enraged enough for Mana to believe it!
“No, please don’t, just take her out, we’ll find some mercenaries and ask them to patch us up. They’ve got medics amongst them too, maybe we’ll pay them to detain her while we deal with the mission. Please…” Mana yelled out struggling to keep the hold.
“Mana… After all the pain she caused you, after she mocked your ideals and cut you up like that, after she tortured you… You still want her to live?” Kiyomi couldn’t believe, her hand seal faltered and almost sunk down.
“Yes! Hurry up, please!” Mana shouted as Hisako started stomping Mana’s foot and hammering the girl’s sides with elbow strikes but Mana’s hold held firmly. What the magician lacked in physical strength she compensated with sheer willpower.
“Mind Body Disturbance: Harakiri… Peaceful Version!” Kiyomi chanted firing off that same strange ghost from her hands that this time successfully entered Hisako’s head, a strange howling sound let go as the woman just slipped out from Mana’s arms and ran wildly like a maniac, controlled by Kiyomi’s technique. She slammed her head right into the first tree in her way and passed out. Mana fell onto her knees clutching her cuts and wounds, she lifted her tired and beaten head and smiled for Kiyomi. “Thank you…” she was really grateful for her friend’s decision to modify her kill technique to just disable just because Mana asked her to.
Mana took her top hat from somewhere on the ground and activated her father’s seal removing a medical kit with bandages and some medical food pills. Mana tossed one for Kiyomi and ate one herself, after tying Hisako down she also gave Hisako one. The two girls just collapsed near the tree they held Hisako tied to and almost fell asleep.
“Now we definitely need to find those mercs, we need medical supplies…” Mana said, they had eaten all of their medical food pills and those provided only the most basic medical emergency aid like patching up small wounds and fixing broken bones or torn muscles. These were quite rare so it was unlikely for most genin to even have them, Mana accumulated three over several months of saving them in her missions… One psychotic young lady ruined all of that collecting, all of that wish to have them ready for a dark time, to save someone’s life with them gone…
“I guess you’re right…” Kiyomi nodded. The two looked at Hisako who was awake right after being given the pill and now kept staring at the two with the coldest and most emotionless stare ever seen on a person, it wasn’t angry, it wasn’t spiteful, it was just there…
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