Feeling a little bit down, after the revelations that the research about Hoshigakure lead her to, Mana rushed to the Hiro's Hall where she was supposed to perform in a very erratically put together magic show. Despite her rush, the magician's eyes did notice a couple of posters stuck on info boards and building walls with her face on it, desperately trying to capture some eyes and do some tragic, non-advertised show course correction.

The hall had an awkwardly smoky and stuffy feeling about it, something that was not its usual feature. Mr. Hiro liked to keep his properties classy, obviously, as long as it cost as little as possible. Mana tried remembering if Mr. Hiro mentioned something about what was supposed to happen in this hour instead of her show but nothing came up. The magician did not want to infringe on anyone's time and she was a big enough earner for Hiro, when she did actually perform, for the man to move his performers around just for her.

This show was no silly and unlikely miracle, the hall was not filled, not anywhere nearly so. It appeared that only the people in whose lives sleep took a tertiary, supporting role, as well as those who just happened to accidentally stumble into the reserved and smoky light show of Mana's impromptu show showed up. Mr. Hiro will not praise her too much, but he was still making a profit, which, given the state of his hall currently, would not be happening if he screened some late-night movie.

Mana's show was hardly anything to write home about as well, not her finest work, coming, obviously, because of the erratic nature of the performance, lack of overdrawn weeklong preparations and long-term planning. She did not use any fancy metallic death traps of anything like that. It was just cold, calculated magic. It was some good as shit magic, but it was completely devoid of emotion or Mana's usual love for the craft.

If there was emotion behind Mana's performance, it was rage. Desperation and rage. Anxiety for the unknowns in the future that was more mature than most gave it credit for, desperation and rage. Mana forced her magic, not in a way that the tricks looked forced or that she was easy to see-through, in a way that an angry martial artist threw punches. The punches were quick, strong, lethal and ruthless, more than capable to do their job and then some… Nevertheless, dark and somber emotions still fueled them, which influenced the "art" part in martial arts.

After Mana finished and bowed to the audience. She received very reserved but consistent claps. There could have been more than forty people watching the show, most of them displayed some sort of a warm reaction but this audience was different from what Mana was used to. These were the people who ruled and thrived in the night, both because the day was too bright for their goals and desires and because some of them simply liked the night better because it was the time when everyone else was asleep and needn't be their problem.

Mana decided not to even go back to her little closet to change and just go back home in her uniform. She felt tired but also quite satisfied. This emotionally fully loaded show kind of helped her do what needed to be done – clear her mind for a good forty-nine minutes and just let go of everything that was holding by her foot tightly and dragging her underwater.

"Not bad, kid. I promised an after-show meeting on the poster, figured I needed something special for this shitty case. Hope it's not a problem"? Mr. Hiro mumbled, as he counted up and handed to the magician her much more modest than the usual fee, in his childish-like tone. It was tough to say if he was angry at Mana from just his eyes, they were always squinted shut and rarely ever let anything but a little bit of light in.

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry, Mr. Hiro, I just… Really needed this, I know nobody came…" Mana apologized because she figured it was in order for her.

"What? Come on, kid, I'm still making money when, otherwise, this place would be only occupied by moths. If you want to see more faces, plan something a bit further ahead, you've got the chops to fill these halls, don't forget that"! Mr. Hiro nodded erratically a pair of times slapping his round belly according to some gloomy music tune that was filling the air in between the shows.

"Right. Better make it to that after-show then", Mana bowed her head and rushed off back to the stage.

She really could have filled this hall. She could have gone from high hundreds to even thousands, over stuffing this hall with people and selling out all of her weekly tickets easily. She used to be that good… Then, all those things happened, she just up and gone off and around the world, then, this whole Chuunin Exams thing happened. Mana had always thought that balancing these two parts of her life was natural for her, maybe it wasn't as easy as she had thought…

Mana sat behind a small desk, talking for a while with any curious fan and giving out small merchandise to all who wanted it. This whole merchandising thing was actually Mana's idea, well, technically, it was someone else's idea in the Naruto's universe. After seeing Boruto walk around with an "action figure" of a movie character from his universe way back during her short trip there, Mana brought some of that back home.

"That was quite nostalgic, Sorceress"!

"I liked it, very refreshing to see your show again"!

"This is hokey and your old show was way better"!

"I don't even know why people go see your shows, these movie things are the future"!

"I keep wondering how you did that thing with the cards and the swords and the… I don't think I'll sleep tonight, keeps bugging me, as expected from Konoha's Sorceress"

"I almost missed this show, such strange advertising model, I never miss a show"!

Mana engaged with each and every fan, or someone who waited for fifteen minutes after a show they disliked just to tell her they hated the show. Honestly, those people she liked the most. Obviously, the criticism like "it's boring" or "magic is shit, movies are better", or "give up" didn't help but many people did express some interesting thoughts. There were even folks that claimed that they usually disliked Mana's shows but her new, aggressive style really drew them in, those very same people advised her to innovate and incorporate something of today's show into her more cheery and child-friendly usual approach to magic.

A middle-aged man with greasy hair and shaking hands approached Mana's table and pulled out a kunai knife. He did not charge at the magician or throw it, the youth just stood there, shaking like a leaf.

"Damn it, I didn't think I dropped anything, how did this slip through my clumsy fingers", Mana smiled and grabbed the blade out of the man's hands faster than his eyes could comprehend. Had he been a real ninja he would still have had troubles following Mana's wrists move, while the magician was no speed demon, her wrists were leagues beyond what most genin her age could muster up.

"It… It was mine. I… I thought of cutting myself with it", the man admitted. Quickly, Mana's neck stretched out, after seeing that only a very minuscule minority remained in the hall, and those few that did showed no interest in approaching or talking to her, she looked at the young man again.

"In my show"? Mana grunted, she wanted to be softer, she wanted to be more understanding and she knew that her tone was not what she wanted it to be. It was no way that a hero spoke to a depressed person but… She may not have been having a day nearly as bad as this youth, hers was still pretty heavy.

"No... Maybe, initially I thought of doing it just somewhere in an alleyway, where no one could find me, then I saw the poster... I'm usually good at staying unnoticed, I'd have laid dead for weeks before anyone would've found me, I bet", the young man huffed out heavily, as he kept on speaking, weight slightly shifted deep in his chest and it was reflected in his clearing out voice.

"Would've made an awesome ninja then", Mana smiled before standing up and taking her coat off of her chair, then, quickly slipping into it. "Come on, let's go for a walk".

"I… Yeah, I guess I could use it", the man ruffled his messy, shoulder-length, greasy hair. "Not gonna get to enjoy the stuffy air for long".

"Look, I'm not going to let you kill yourself, not while I'm there to stop you. Obviously, I am not going to just follow you around your whole life so if you will it – you can always go through with it some other time. I just… We both had pretty rough days, I feel, so may as well breathe some fresh air and relax, you know"? Mana tried calming the overly passionate youth before he tried something she would have to stop him from doing.

"It's not that, I reconsidered. You can leave me alone, just like Mikise did. I'll play along, go to prison and all that", the young man tried shaking Mana's company off. Frankly, it offended the magician a little that even a recently suicidal man did not want to walk to the village center with her.

"Look, you just showed me that you thought my show was a fitting place to commit suicide in. You owe me an apology, you know. Not to mention a blow to my confidence after refusing my offer so soon after I was left alone by someone I love myself", Mana energetically objected but did not make any forceful gestures. The youth played along and just followed Mana around with his hands in his pockets.

"I-I didn't think your show… Okay, I did think it'd be a fitting place but…" he tried apologizing for it like it was something that needed an actual apology.

"It's okay, I was just kidding, you weren't yourself when you made that decision", Mana shut him down in a bit softer tone.

The previously suicidal companion of Mana's scratched his chin as he walked awkwardly beside the magician. He did not appear to care where they were heading to and was, similarly to Mana, just breathing the fresh night's air and enjoying the never dying neon lights illuminating posters and informing the passersby of just what sort of establishment they were wandering past.

"I must admit though, I sort of imagined that the show of Konoha's Sorceress would attract more of an audience. You are certainly capable of it, most of the locals know your face which is rare for a non-ninja", he said after a moment of awkward silence.

"I actually am a ninja, I am aware that my gig as a stage magician has made me rather well-known but rarely does anyone acknowledge anything I've done as a ninja", Mana hummed out with a calm tone, matching the longing mood of the cold night. "I am well aware that my advertising strategy was horrendous tonight. That being said, I do not care to do things in a way that would make me successful, I just do things the way I want to do them. I am a magician because I love performing on stage, not because it'll make me successful and noticed. It's something I have got to do, because I feel like it".

"You are acknowledged though, everyone knows who you are, at least in Konoha", the man mumbled in a strangely humming tone.

"Wait a second, you did want me to fill that hall, right? You wanted it to be full so that you could kill yourself surrounded by people"? Mana turned at her companion in horror.

"That doesn't make any sense", the man coughed out. He was caught, Mana knew it, it was impeccably important for a ninja to be able to read people.

"It makes all of the sense. You said it before – you feel lonely, ignored by the people around you and neglected. You imagine this world to be neglectful towards you and out to get you by making you feel lonely and depriving you of that crucial need for human interaction. You're like a kid, I swear…" Mana shook her head. She tried not to sound judgmental, at least from her own subjective perspective she thought she succeeded.

"How is killing yourself because everyone can't even be bothered to even hate you properly childish"? The man rubbed his cold hands.

"Because it's the way children behave. They believe that the world is out to get them and they are interested in proving that theory. Like a child, you wanted your frustration and anxiety to be justified by killing yourself in a full audience, surrounded by people who just can't be bothered to care about your life – the most important thing there is. I know that much, I am, after all, still a child, as people sometimes let me know", Mana scolded the man.

"You really think my life is that important"? The man raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone's is. No one is unnecessary. nothing is pointless. That is my Nindo, my Ninja Way", Mana smiled before flicking her long dark hair off of her face.

"Teens", the man mumbled after another awkward pause.

"What"?

"Teens do that, not children. Children can't understand the world around them sufficiently to suspect that it's nothing but an evil cabal they had no part in building out to get them. It's usually the shock of transition from a childish point of view to the better understanding that causes this shock", the man clarified his point.

"That's way too smart for me, I am, after all, still a teen, often called childishly", Mana rubbed her forehead, both to alleviate the pain of trying to comprehend the man's words and to warm up her chilly forehead.

"Sorry, I worked in the Konoha Police Force, I was the guy talking to deviant teens", the man softly apologized.

"Worked"? Mana wondered.

"Painful divorce. My wife lied about me beating and raping her in front of the Civilian Tribunal so that she could divorce me", the man admitted, clearly suffering a great deal to recall it.

"Divorce"? Mana slowly spelled the word out, trying to recall what the term meant. "Sorry, not big on the laws that govern civilians".

"Oh, it's… Basically, it's a way to cancel out a marriage, the only way you can divorce is if you prove your husband committed an act of violence against you or that is a threat to his partner's health and life", the man explained. Mana did not feel too happy about forcing the man to explain the parts of his life that completely flipped the table on him but she needed to know.

"I see. It does sound a bit cruel", Mana poked her chin with her index finger trying to come up with something encouraging to tell the man.

"Wanna know how she "proved" the act of violence"? Mana's companion took the initiative. It appeared that the unconfronted anger, that the man still had in his heart, fueled a rant, which, Mana thought, should have helped. "She told the arbiters about it. It was her word against mine".

"Ummm… That doesn't sound right", Mana mumbled, she did not feel too brave making this statement. As she told the man before, she had little to no understanding of how Tribunals and laws really worked. All she was trained to do was fight and do what she was told, it was as simple as that.

"It's not… Sorry… Forgot how young you are and… The whole ninja thing", the man ruffled his hair and rubbed his cheeks again to revitalize them with rushing blood as they were beginning to get numb from the cold, not too long later, Mana did the same.

"Look, what happened to you was cruel, you mentioned something about prison in your future, that's messed up. You could kill yourself, hell, I am sure plenty of people in similar shoes to yours have already done so… Or… You could pick yourself up and take this chance for a fresh start, leaving everything behind, do what I do when I get struck down. Just get back up, cover up your wounds and realize you're going on stronger than you went down", Mana spoke until the cold in the air was beginning to make her throat a bit itchy.

"That makes no sense at all. How can you get back stronger after getting punched down? Don't your injuries make you weaker"? The man raised an eyebrow.

"That's… That's a very good point", Mana pouted. She recalled the many times when Meiko managed to lift her spirits up with words. If only the magician could find that perfect, honest and uplifting thing to say… Sadly, it appeared, she could not even do that most simple thing heroes do.

"Nah, don't worry, I told you already, that damned cards and swords trick will keep me awake at night too. Literally made me rethink my life", the man laughed out before placing his hands inside his pockets, breathing in and out, letting a powerful stream of vapor out from his husky sigh. "Figured I'd try some of that village propaganda bullshit they feed you ninja guys", he shrugged.

"You're stopping here"? Mana raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, told you that Mikise took my house and kids, got nowhere to go", the man sniffled a pair of times.

"Oh… You could sleep at my place. I mean… All rooms are occupied but the guest room has an armchair you could drop on", Mana suggested.

"Hell no, that sounds awfully awkward and uncomfortable. Plus, I was a parent yesterday too, I know how I'd react if my little girl brought back a hobo", the man sniffled with a smile that Mana just could not understand.

With smiling lips, Mana shuffled around the pockets of her coat before pulling a bunch of folded bills and handed them to the surprised vagabond.

"This is what I've earned this evening. It will not build you a new life, not even close. It should cover up the cost for a room tonight, maybe even dinner, if you are not into lavish seafood. Just promise me you'll…"

"Yeah…" the man nodded before Mana could finish that sentence and walked away into the gentle mist of the approaching winter. "Did I just… Help someone"? She wondered to herself long after the man had walked away and she was left all by herself in the village center.

Half an hour later Mana quietly returned back home, trying not to disturb anyone who was sleeping. Her mother usually got up pretty early to open up and manage her little café throughout the whole workday so she was probably already asleep. Father was watching that wooden flashy box again, rubbing his scarred arms. The pain must've been keeping him awake again.

"Hey, kid, how's the show"? He asked with slight irritation in his voice, Mana knew it was the pain.

"Someone actually came, didn't thought they would. How did you know"? She wondered.

"Saw a poster near the herb shop", he nonchalantly replied.

"I… I think I'm going to lose in the Chuunin Exams and retire", Mana spoke up after walking up to her father and sitting down by his side.