Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

A Broken Road Goodbye

A lone guard watched over the room where, apparently, Sugemi was held in. Ayushi stopped by the man and smiled at Mana. The man must've wanted the magician to do the talking which to Mana seemed quite strange. After all, was he not the famous authority figure around the world? The man called the "spiritual leader" of the Shinobi World? It was just really odd that he wanted Mana to talk with the man. The girl sighed and took several steps closer to the guard who instantly directed his eyes at her. The man must've known that she was there yesterday as he did indeed tense up as if preparing for an incoming attack from the magician's side.

"Umm... Guru Ayushi would like to see the young man kept in this room. It'd probably be best if you let him in, after all, what harm could Guru Ayushi, of all people, do?"

The guard didn't look too pleased. He snarled angrily at Mana and then at Ayushi. His hand moved behind his back slowly, he tried to move it so slowly that the two would not notice but Mana was no idiot. Having her hobby in mind she had to be not only perceptive enough herself but also know how to fool the eyes of a public.

"Is that it? So it's Guru Ayushi who wants to see this guy, huh? Aren't you this guy's teammate, girl? Which is more likely, that the world famous Guru Ayushi wants to see some edgy punk who messed up like a loser, or that you asked someone to use Transformation Jutsu and transform into Ayushi?"

Mana took a step back, she knew that this wouldn't work, why would it? She turned back at Ayushi who closed his eyes and sighed. Some odd feeling ignited inside Mana's chest, she turned back at the man and walked right up to him, her head was looking up straight into the man's eyes. It must've looked pretty ballsy to just waltz in front of a guard who was whole head taller than the girl and just stare him off.

"Sir, with all due respect, this is Guru Ayushi, the man who has fought the Uchiha, all four of the other Great Ninja Villages and was personally involved in two of them no longer being called "Great". He was a man who has seen battles that lasted for entire weeks, losing his allies and then bringing them back to life as he shaved at his own lifespan to do it, and yet he still lives for over a hundred years. The man who abandoned all of these horrors and now a Police Force guard in Konohagakure wants him to remember all of that which he had left behind and despised? I don't think you've thought this through, Sir."

Mana's voice was quiet but tough, cold and unwavering. It was not a tone usually attributed to her. The guard gulped and nodded. 

"Umm... Very well, I'll arrange a meeting immediately! Just please be brief, Ayushi-san, this young man is about to be transported in an hour or two, you'll be the last people seeing him."

Ayushi nodded and sat down by the wall on the stone floor. The monk closed his eyes, Mana would've mistaken his state for meditation had she not been such a prodigy in the field herself. No... Ayushi's eyes were moving sloppily, during the first state of meditation Mana remembered her eyes being quite static, during the secondary, more advanced stage they were all over the place. The girl walked up to the man and sat down on the cold stone floor beside him, she didn't care if she'd dirty up her skirt, she didn't care if the stone felt pretty damp and cold.

The man grumbled something, as if clearing his throat and then spoke up. "So... You really do want to see these two quite much. No girl would try so hard to get into a room if the person inside wasn't her friend or her beloved. I'll take your word for it that it was the first."

Mana closed her eyes as well. "Yeah. I do want to see Shimo and Sugemi before they leave. No, I will see them." Her voice continued to flow like a river stream in spring that had broken through the ice of winter past, just as firm and strong as it did before.

"Good, I'm glad to have been able to help you see your friends. At least once my words and intentions won't cause you pain, that much I owe you." Ayushi mumbled as it appeared he may have been snoozing. Then his eyes opened again and he turned to the girl.