The inside of the monks' mansion was decorated with statues of divine figures, donning plentiful limbs, even faces, and eyes. Given how the welcoming party was all concealed, fostering false dreams of evading Mana's chakra sensory as they hugged the nearest statue in an attempt to hide, the magician had the chance to marvel at the spiritual respite and its artistic treasures.
While Mana did find herself often talking or relying on a greater power, whether it was completely faceless, or just hidden behind the vague term "Magic", she had always found these deities to be ridiculous. They just appeared so overblown and needlessly excessive that they reminded of something that a little kid designed, justifying their lack of creativity with the number of faces and arms that their deity sported. Their origin stories also seemed quite ridiculous. Even so, they provided plentiful entertainment value so the magician had to hand those vaguely historic and more religious in nature text that much.
With a raised pair of fingers, Mana signaled to her party of companions all of whom shared her passionate dislike of the Diamond Hand to keep their guard up and prepare. Out of nowhere, or so the assailants thought, a good pair of dozens of people flooded the vestibule from around various statues and paintings where they had kept themselves hidden previously. Their weaponry appeared different from the quick firing dispensers used by the men outside…
Mana stayed back, feeling wary of these new weapons and she decided to scope them and their mode of fire out a bit better. They looked a lot like the close range weaponry used by the Syndicate in the Katabami gold mine but longer and overall larger. Thumb rushed ahead, Mana did not need to feel worried about the burglar, she was nimble enough to avoid the kunai outside and acrobatic enough to dispose of these men in very distinctly impossible seeming manners.
Itemi once again rolled for cover. Kicking an unfortunate thug who was a pair of moments too slow and was concealed behind the statue that the Shukuba Security officer intended to use for cover. Before the unlucky man hit the ground, his body was shredded by following the burst of fire from Itemi's dispenser to finish him off.
Thumb's claws left their silver and crimson red streaks in the air, blood splattered across the red curtains, which, in retrospect, were aptly colored. The blood left a very distinct kind of red from a cheap emulation that the architects and decorators intended so it was still easy to tell which curtains had tasted the juices of someone's downfall.
The fire that came out of these peculiar looking dispensers was one of a very short range. The weapons did not fire kunai in series, one after the other, instead, they fired out packages that erupted on impact releasing kunai shrapnel all around them. It would have been troublesome to evade at close range as the air friction alone appeared to discomfort the spheres fired out enough, at a certain distance traveled after being fired, that the projectile set off even after missing its mark.
Luckily enough, Mana had kept her distance and found herself more than capable at tracking the projectiles, evading the shrapnel was profoundly simple when she kept her range with just a tad of unease on her aching ribs being placed for good measure. Getting in might have posed a problem but as long as Thumb, who had successfully infiltrated the enemy lines due to her amazing speed and sheer willpower to eradicate her employers, does her thing – Mana and Itemi may not need to.
Itemi did not appear willing to let the women do all the work as he, quickly and as cleverly as only he could have, dispatched of all the remaining thugs with just a couple of quick bursts of fire as he moved from one statue to another to prevent being pinned down and have his cover be compromised and destroyed.
"There are two sets of stairs…" Thumb stated the obvious, looking at Mana and asking her chakra sensory to help the girl make some highly educated guesses without voicing those requests.
"Looking at this mansion it seemed to me that the best course of action would have been to split up. My mind settled on trying to kick into the bad guys' shoes and try to prepare for the attacking party to come at them. There would have been no way that they would know which direction we'd be taking. With some luck, they also split their reception party apart." Itemi grumbled. His painkillers may have been doing a poorer job at keeping his pain down and his skin was starting to look pale from the trickling blood loss from all the stitches he had torn up. It may have been wise to stop giving this man so much to do and relying on him quite on this many tasks.
"No way, we're not here to kill everyone. We're here to subdue Middle Ring." Mana objected. The barely rustling fires inside the dispatched thugs behind her distracted the magician. Most of them were still alive but just for how long?
"Maybe the brat wasn't here to kill people but I sure as hell was. Without people up there to arrest, old fox Okasune would have gotten bored over time. And here I thought I had made my thoughts perfectly clear." Itemi growled while checking his remaining kunai resources.
"I tend to agree with the crazy hospital gown guy if you're here to patch people up and worry over criminals, take care of these guys while we sweep the place and do your job for you." Thumb voiced her displeasure over this slowdown and how much attention Mana was giving to the downed assailants.
"Fine, let's just go up and subdue Donyoku-san. Hopefully, these injured men won't bleed out by the time we're done…" Mana made a call at last.
"Now that the women were done arguing, I was finally set in my direction. Seemed like the right side was the right way to go, all things considered." Itemi concluded looking up at the massive circle formation of the floors, present in the center of the mansion building. This mansion appeared to be built like a gallery of some sort.
"No way, I'm not letting you go all by yourself in your current state." Mana objected. "I'm coming with you!"
"There could have been absolutely no way for the kid to come with me. The last thing I needed was a little self-righteous angel sitting on my lap and conspiring with my consciousness to derail my righteous crusade of sending as many assholes that killed my friend to my said friend so she could exact some righteous crusading of her own." Itemi argued in his own special way.
"Fine, I'll go with him. We're both pretty settled on how we want to handle this." Thumb tsked with her tongue before running off to the right. While Mana did not feel confident about letting two very murderous comrades of her off the leash, she simply had no choice. She'd be standing here arguing and letting these men in the yard and the entryway bleed to death whole day at this rate.
Mana finally completed another circle and looked at an empty top floor. She had ended up circling over multiple arcing floors and running past the gallery part of the mansion before she noticed another staircase to the top floor, which was not shaped like a donut and was located right above the gallery layer of the mansion. She sensed Thumb and Itemi rushing in from behind her, just a few steps behind her. Mana decided to wait and regroup with her companions before entering the top floor where Donyoku must have been.
"I guess you lucked out." Thumb chuckled, looking quite entertained by how mad Itemi was right beside her. "We did not run into a single guy on our way here."
"Neither did I. I ran into some monks though on one of the floors. I don't like it. I sense all of them up there, some more monks too." Mana looked up the staircase, after just one more turn she'd see the top floor but the magician wanted to make sure she knew the place she was entering before she stepped in. She could sense the signatures of any living people there, including the massive signatures of the monks. If there were any tripwires or similar traps placed there – her chakra sensory would do little to help out there…
"These two were unbelievable. Here we were right in front of the place we all were seeking for this whole week and they just stopped in their tracks. I kept on making bold steps forward, I was not about to stop after leaving more of my blood all over these fucking stairs than I probably have left." Itemi grumbled before rushing off. It appeared that the time limit that the man's stamina imposed on him was pressing on the shoulders of the entire party, Mana and Thumb followed him shortly.
The top floor was an impressive rotund area surrounded with dark, flowing curtains that stretched all the way from ceiling to bottom with yet another one of the religious figures seated at the most northern part of the room. The statue was that of an old woman with an omega symbol shaped headdress stretching from her forehead outwards in a shape that reminded of horns. The figure was almost naked with just a single tunic covering its right side and its sensitive crotch area while star carvings covered the extremities of its exposed side. Eyes littered the entire structure with the stars scattered across, some of them carved inside of the eyes. It made the statue appear more complex and impressive than it already was with Yokotomo Donyoku sitting on the round belly of the deity that the statue depicted.
"There the bastard was. Sitting atop of some jerkoff, fancy art piece that he thought was too pricey to smash and for that reason, it was to be his perfect protection. He had a lot of nerve. It was just pure irony that the magician girl considered life being a sacred thing while this guy, a desecrator of countless lives, sat sprawled out on the divine jelly belly." Itemi growled taking aim at Donyoku but before he could fire Mana appeared in his way, obstructing the view of Donyoku with her back. That did not appear to stop the enraged Security officer from firing.
Mana's hands moved quickly, gathering the flying kunai by their rings but her remaining chakra and her aching ribs proved the task troublesome. The pain made Mana close her eyes and bite her lip as the kunai she failed to catch in time had to be stopped by swiping them off of mid-air or blocking them with her own limbs.
"Well, that is an interesting development. Any chance you two can just kill each other?" Yokotomo Donyoku raised an eyebrow, the man had squirmed in unease seeing Itemi take aim at him and was relatively surprised, if a little relieved, that Mana would protect him with her own body.
"He's going to answer for what he did. No one else will die." Mana firmly stated observing the injuries she had accumulated. The sides of her hands were filled with shallow cuts that dripped with blood while several kunai had dug under her and through her thighs and arms. At the very least she avoided getting tagged in her core areas.
"The kid thought she was playing a hero but all she was doing was standing in between a man with one more belt of kunai wrapped around his hospital robe and inserted into his dispenser and the man he wanted dead for the death of his lifelong friend. That was the last place anyone with working brain cells would have wanted to be at and I didn't want to send her to Okasune together with that bastard but I won't hesitate to do that if I have to." Itemi growled raising his dispenser to take aim again.
"One more belt? That's good." Mana worked out a smile. "That much of hatred I can shield from."
Staying true to his word Itemi fired again. Mana covered her vitals preparing for the shower of blades to hit her. She decided to will herself to wall Donyoku from Itemi's outrage before taking him in, just survive the rage meant for someone else before taking the man in. She should have had it in her to do that much…
A loud grunt coming from Itemi's side made Mana lift her eyes up and look in surprise to see that Thumb had kicked the dispenser in an awkward looking manner. She raised her foot sideways before shoving it at the weapon to change its aim to where just a pair of blades left some cuts on Mana's left arm, the back-left side of her neck and her left side.
"Konoha's Sorceress lead this investigation this whole week. You may have lost someone dear to you but that doesn't give you the right that belongs to her – to call how this thing goes." Thumb explained her actions. Mana had to hand it to the burglar, she had not expected the woman to make such an active action in this, she had counted on Thumb to only care about Donyoku and her own safety. Perhaps Thumb had realized that she still could have been safe with Donyoku alive but answering for his crimes.
"I'm afraid none of you will have a say in how this plays out." Yokotomo Donyoku looked at the cut crimson curtains that were hanging down in an awkward manner by its own weight dragging it down. "This room is meant for deeply spiritual meditation. The deity I am resting on is the Muginshen, the mother of one's mind, the mental connection between one's lowly self and the universe. Always pregnant with the Sixyang, the peace-bringer who never actually is born in the known religious texts."
Mana wanted to buy some time by keeping Yokotomo talking but her religious text study was far too lacking to keep up a dialogue with this man. A treasure hunter such as himself would have known all about the religious and historical alike and, in that totality of his knowledge, he surpassed Mana's own studies of history, which were more than adequate under any other circumstances.
Men started moving out from behind the curtains. The seventeen whose presence the magician was aware of this entire time. The men that Yokotomo had placed around himself instead of having them guard the useless lower floors, filled with nothing but lesser art pieces and peaceful monks admiring the view.
Mana sensed a different presence behind those curtains as well. That of the four monks who were of higher standing within the Fire Temple compared to the group she had met on her dash here. Their chakra was so strange, Mana was able to sense its presence but she was unable to otherwise grasp it. Almost like the chakra inside their systems was different somehow, it was so different that Mana had no trouble pinning it to the Fire Temple monks but she was unable to tell its size because of its unusual properties.
"You are not as intelligent and careful as you think you are, Donyoku-san. Tell your men to lower their dispensers and stand down." Mana was not pleading the man. Her face displayed no hesitation or wavering in what seemed like overwhelming odds. The answer to her request did not come verbally, Donyoku merely waved his hand signaling his men to kill the three who have come to take him in.
The projectiles that came out from the dispensers, which the seventeen held were similar to the previous short-range shrapnel spheres. Instead of kunai, however, small explosive marbles were scattered that detonated almost immediately after the explosion of the main projectile. It was a two-part destructive combination, which would have left nothing but devastation and threatened to topple this entire mansion.
As the smoke cleared out, the view that greeted Donyoku's curious stare was not of a wet, bloody stain and gruesome, disembodied remains but instead of Mana spinning around slowly, slower and slower with the few passing seconds after the destruction had settled. The magician collapsed on her knees, having used her Rebellious Twist Jutsu, a weak Wind Release technique she had created as a child.
Had it not been for Mana's training of her basics in the Rabbit Caves the puny twister of wind would not have been sufficient to cushion the blow of those inside or large enough to cover all three of the people she meant to protect. The magician raised her sweaty forehead up to reveal the fatigue present in her expression. This was when the pleading was introduced to her speech but not for the reasons Donyoku had expected.
"Tell your men to stand down. You will topple this entire mansion like this. It is not worth it." Mana pleaded. The men were working like busy bees reloaded their impressive new models of dispensers.
"Don't waste your breath." Thumb stepped in front of the magician preparing to take the thugs out before they finished preparing their weapons for a second go.
"Please don't. Just stand back and let this play out." Mana whispered to her companion. The burglar glanced back at the magician with confusion in her eyes.
It was true that the magician's chakra resources had approached a point where she would not even attempt any of her weaker jutsu due to the fear of going too far and collapsing. The second wave of the explosive barrage from the Diamond Hand would have outright killed both Mana in her current state and Itemi and gravely injured Thumb but… The second wave would not come. The ball was in Donyoku's court now but he had less choice than he thought.
"It was a fruitless struggle, postponing the inevitable, Konoha's Sorceress. You were quite a thorn but do not outstay your welcome." Donyoku waved his hand with indifference. Acting like the presence of the trio was something entertaining to him rather than intimidating due to how close the three had gotten.
"I am afraid we cannot allow your men to act with such carelessness, Donyoku-san." The monks who were sitting peacefully behind the curtains finally stepped out into the clear. The additional yellow cloth layer around their robe surveyed their higher stature compared to the white and black-robed ones whom Mana had met earlier.
"You have promised us the icon of Eryang which is of immense value to our Temple. Our deal allowed you to remain within these premises and even enjoy greater tolerance to how you've been acting from our part. The meditational room of Muginshen is a sacred place for meditation, connecting with the universe." The second one added.
"This young lady or her companions are not welcome here but she has done her best to minimize the damage to this room. Even offering her own body as a shield whereas you were ready to destroy this entire mansion to kill these people." The third one said.
"Gather your men and leave this mansion now. Our deal is no longer in place. No icon is worth such transgression in such a spiritual place." The first one demanded.
"Don't be ridiculous, kill these three now," Donyoku ordered before the fourth monk leaped into action.
The monk shaped his body in a particular stance, his left hand took the shape of a half-ram hand seal while he extended his right arm parallel to the ground he was moving on. A massive spirit, shining with a golden light materialized behind the monk, a spirit whose exact shape was tough to tell due to how fast it all happened but Mana could swear it must have had a thousand arms all around its body before it turned red. Seventeen men against the spirit fists overflowing with the silent rage of the monk was a poor match.
"Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder", the monk mumbled out to himself as a prayer, similarly to how Buhakim, the boy from the Chuunin Exams, used to pronounce his attacks.
"Your men are down. Remove yourself from this mansion now!" the first monk ordered with a much more demanding and authoritative tone this time.
Mana sighed easier, she knew what Donyoku was bringing onto himself due to her brief exchange of words when asking for directions from the monks on the lower floors. They had warned her that she was not to enter the top floor or behave violently up there.
"I'm afraid this applies to you as well, Shukuba Security." The monk turned at Mana who just nodded and followed the crushed Yokotomo Donyoku to the lower floors while Itemi and Thumb worked on restraining him.
The conflict with the Diamond Hand was now finally over… It was time to go home.
Author's Note: I am aware that the Fire Temple monks worshipped figures that were based and heavily inspired by Buddhist influences and I try to keep as much of that as possible but I decided to have each Temple of each Country worship different deities and adhere to different religions and I did not use any actual bodhisattva in the deities although I did draw inspiration from them. I do not wish to use actual real-life religious figures as religious figures of a fictional universe, even though taking inspirations from some of the concepts is fine. I know that Buhakim did use actual Buddhist concepts as names for his puppetry techniques but they carried none of their meanings and were entirely pointless, that was the entire point behind his gimmick. Hope you understand and forgive these changes to the canon (alongside hundreds of atrocities I have already willingly committed and changed :()