Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Last Wishes

Guru scratched the top of his bald head. Apparently, the message to Mana was either the most important, the longest one or at least it was the only one that could have waited. After all, both Sugemi and Shimo were just about to leave. The old man pointed for Mana to follow him, he himself started walking, slowly picking up speed as he went along.

"Your sensei recognized the fact that he was strict on you in his final moments. He even went as far as to say that he may have been the strictest and hardest on you as compared with the others."

Mana's nose wiggled around, it was her trying desperately not to cry. She was strong, she had to be. Heroes didn't cry, they couldn't cry because they had to appear strong in front of the people they wanted to inspire. So the girl's lips kept pointing out, her nose wriggled around and sniffled like she was about to cry but she held her front admirably.

"He drew comparisons between you and a lady he had known in his youth, I am not entirely sure who this "Vashia" was, I have only been given a name in the Tsuchikage's message. The only thing that Tanshu had made clear was that this young woman was an honorable one and very similar to you. I believe that now that I've met you I understand what he meant."

Mana rubbed her wet eyes with her sleeve, she wasn't crying just yet so she tried to play it down like the wind had carried dust into her eyes, which was actually a quite decent and often seen occurrence since Konohagakure streets were mostly gravel and dirt.

"Yeah, Tanshu-sensei didn't really like my ideals. He often criticized me because I wanted to save even my enemies which he couldn't understand. He said that people like me were a danger not only to their own lives but those of their friends too as they will not only die themselves, they'll doom their comrades too. Those were probably some of the most painful words I've heard in my life... But I really looked up to Tanshu-sensei, I liked him a lot, he was a good mentor even if we didn't see eye to eye."

Ayushi's thick and chest long beard was twisted around, it once again let the girl know that the man was smiling. His eyes were so soothing and calm...

"Well, Tanshu wanted to meet this Vashia woman again his whole life, he admitted in his final moments that he knew deep inside that she was dead. He most likely believed that it was her honorable and kind ways that caused her death and he only was so strict on you because he saw Vashia inside you. He wanted to protect you by being mean to you. He wanted that you either left the life of a ninja or changed your ways, he saw you as a second chance to protect the woman he loved."

Mana turned her eyes away, somehow she managed to swallow down a huge gulp of despair and sadness, the magician thought she had already dealt with the pain of losing an authority figure like Tanshu but she was wrong. Pain like that most likely never went away. Still, it'd have been best if she followed her own advice, one she gave father back then when he was struggling with his injury. Mana had to stop letting her pain control her, stop letting it shape who she was and choose an alternate identity. She had plenty to choose from, plenty ideals to strive to shape herself into. Only by stopping floating she would drown in pain and one thing Mana certainly was, was a floater and a fighter.

"Tanshu acknowledged that the world was the strictest on people like you, he also acknowledged the injustice of that, that the sweetest and kindest people were always the ones that paid the highest price in this world. He also loved that you were trying to change that, he acknowledged that people like you were needed, they were what would eventually change this world." Guru spoke once more after a moment of silence.

It appeared that the next few words were difficult on Guru himself, just for a mere second Mana forgot her own pain just because she was surprised to see Guru so stricken with emotions deep in his own chest.