"What did you do to that guy? Knowing you, I'd have probably better put him out of his misery…" Endo looked to Mana with a glint of respectful fear in him. The swordsman's look wandered from sticking to Mana's own pair of eyes, almost as if he feared getting trapped in an illusion as well.
"I burned out most of his memories. Without the baggage of what caused him to choose the world of assassination, I'm hoping that Roe-san will make better decisions in life." Mana replied.
"You didn't enter his mind before doing it as you did with me. It wasn't a precision fry this time. You just grabbed hold of his brain matter and started going to town on it. Even freaked me out a little." Skaven said.
"I will admit, Mana, it's not that I am objecting to it as the man tried to kill all of us, but your use of Magician's Touch would have seriously damaged his mental capacity and would have left his nervous system in tatters too. Not only is it unclear what exactly remains of his mind at this point, but he also will never have the reflexes and swiftness to compete with ninja." Shige pointed out. "Though… I suspect that was a part of your plan too."
"If Roe makes better choices in the next chapter of his life, he won't need his fighting skills anymore." Mana began feeling a little like her companions were attacking her for disabling her opponent. This felt so ironic since all the remaining Stars would have chosen to just kill the man when given the chance.
"And if he doesn't… He'll be walking right into his death." Damisan concluded the unspoken part of Mana's response. "With his reflexes and motor skills devastated, he'll have the ability to bully civilians around but even a genin will take him down."
"What is this all about? Are you trying to make me feel guilty about defusing the situation? I've always taken every option that will leave my opponent alive, nothing's changed in that regard." Mana looked back at her friends, challenging one of them to speak up and tell her the problem they had with her actions right to her face. No one stepped up.
"To change the topic somewhat, that was incredible roleplaying skills. Your clones simulated a conversation between us and made it believable." Shige commended Mana's skill in deception. "I will admit, had I not seen my own image in there, I'd have bought into it too."
"Yeah, it's a little creepy how well Mana knew all of us…" Damisan pointed out. With his mask busted up, the handicapped ninja wore a bag of linen cloth wrapped over his head with tears for sight, breathing, and speech. Because the level of his eyes was so uneven, the positioning of the eyeholes looked quite random.
"I for one think she exaggerated with me but… Yes, well done, I suppose." Endo crossed his arms and looked away with a grumpy pout.
"And that jutsu you used against the big cats. Blazing Soul, was it? That's one of your newer ones, right?" Shige-H wondered. "I sensed something special in it, it's not just your average Fire Release technique."
"Yeah. I'm at my limit trying to make Shura Release work. I've begun experimenting with different elemental combinations for my Advanced Bloodline. Blazing Soul is an early version of what I'd imagine Wind and Fire Release working like." Mana shrugged.
"I could really use a place to resupply. The marsh is becoming rarer and the forests are getting thicker, the ground here is harder. Maybe there's a supply shop somewhere nearby?" Damisan crossed his fingers, hoping.
Damisan's call wasn't that far from the truth. The thickening woods served as a barrier between the Grass Country bogs and civilization. Soon enough the patches of cut-out forests became more apparent and roads active with occasional rumbling caravans came into view. The Stars descended from the tree level and rested their dashing thighs by just walking their way alongside the road until they reached the next larger settlement or a different type of development.
"This place looks like it has everything we need," Shige-H concluded after looking around the square-shaped display of limited human presence in the area, built to emphasize the endless kilometers of swamp and lifeless planes in all directions. "It's got a pharmacy, that's where I'll be heading. Damisan, check out the pawnshop, maybe it'll have some scrap you can use to rebuild what you've lost on the trip."
"There's an inn," Mana pointed back with her thumb. "While you're resupplying, Skaven and I can check it out and ask around if anyone's seen any workers around."
"Nah, I think I'm just kind of going to chill out." Skaven shook his head and closed his eyes, looking like he had fallen asleep on the spot in the middle of the day. "It doesn't take two people to question someone about the news."
"Very well," Endo nodded to himself. "I will go with you and ask around."
"Fine, just let me do the talking and don't blow up on anyone." Mana sighed, feeling like it was clearly anything but fine with this pairing, but she entertained it just because she lacked the initiative to resist it too passionately.
"I will do the best I can. You don't turn anyone into a vegetable or send them to a coma either." Endo crossed his arms and turned his nose up, not looking too happy to be singled out like that as the group's loose cannon.
"Workers?" the innkeeper scratched the back of his head, souring his face deep in thought. "Plenty of ninja pass around these parts. Some of them book a place here, some of them just walk past. Can't stay that any specific group stands out though. It's ironic because of how weird you guys look, but after years upon years of dealing with the group after group, ninja all blur and look the same."
"I understand. The ninja we're looking for are Allied Ninja, though. Surely that's special enough to stand out if they've passed through those parts or not, right?" Mana tried her luck with the innkeeper further.
"Sorry… I can't really tell all of your logos apart. All I know is that if the logo's scratched or crossed out–that means trouble. I might tell the Great Country insignia apart, but what does the Allied Ninja insignia even look like?" the innkeeper looked a bit baffled though, from the looks of it, he was trying to help. He just wasn't quite able to.
"It literally says "Shinobi" on our headbands…" Endo looked disappointed in the old man. Growing visibly frustrated by the interaction, as if they had wasted their time talking to this old-timer.
"See? Now, why would that be the right idea? It should say "Allied" or something. Everyone's "Shinobi", why would a group of ninja identify themselves like that?" the old man turned to Mana who was acting less sassy and grumpy at the moment, hoping that she'd understand why he wasn't able to give more information.
"I understand." Mana nodded. "Perhaps you know any local points of interest? Some local folklore, legends, or oddities, maybe something more recent? The workers that we're after have disappeared and we're just looking for any traces of where they may have gone."
"Oh, you mean like those massive rings in the grass?" the innkeeper wondered.
"Rings in the grass?" Endo opened his eyes in sudden interest. The swordsman slammed his hands at the table and pushed himself halfway over it, imposing over the confused old man and attracting the attention of the local raffle treating themselves by the bar. "Tell us everything you know about it, old man!"
"Oh… I mean… We don't really know that much about it. It's just that recently some farmers, all them scientists looking at birds and insects, noticed those weird circle formations in the grass in the planes just twelve kilometers north-west from here. They've got symbols and patterns to them, all fancy-like, no way some lightning or grass-burning yokel did them." The innkeeper explained. "From what I've heard, everyone that checked them out are all stumped. Apparently, they're not burnt, none of the grass underneath looks damaged one bit, it's almost like a giant footprint or something–the grass is just bent down in those fancy patterns… Shit's crazy."
"It was aliens!" a large punk with a meek, patch-covered leather vest stood up from his seat and approached the two ninja with wide, almost manic eyes. "Aliens did the grass rings!"
"That's ridiculous. There is no such thing as aliens." Mana crossed her arms. "It's more than likely that a ninjutsu technique of some sort caused those circles. Some ninja have a flair for the theatrics, not excluding me."
"There is aliens!" the punk slammed his fist at the table, bouncing every glass and plate on the bar in resonance. "They flied here from all across space of them universes to suck up our peoples and drain them insides, suck up the moisture from our bogs and whatnot."
"That is the most preposterous thing I've ever heard." Mana stood up, taking off her hat and bowing in gratitude at the innkeeper. "Thank you for your information. It's the best thing we could have asked for. We will investigate those rings at once."
"Hey, you just gonna your fancy lady talk them big words at us and walk away?" the punk yelled out, addressing Endo.
"Excuse me?" Mana and Endo turned around simultaneously, examining the rising rowdies from all over the bar. Once the two realized that they've spoken up in sync with each other, they glanced at each other with embarrassment radiating from their expressions and gifted their focus back to the riled roughhouser. The punk himself looked a bit shocked by the fact that the two ninja lashed back at him like that, almost as if he expected to throw his rubbish out and just have the two ninja walk out on him.
"Yeah… You heard me." The ruffian tried to salvage his situation. "Your lady just walks in here acting all disrespectful. Ain't even from 'round these parts, dressing all like I don't even know what. I ain't sayin' she's like an alien or something, but she looks mighty like an alien is what I'm saying…"
"Don't look at me," Endo shrugged. "I'm not supposed to blow up on anyone, remember. Your sass got us into this. I'd like to see it get us out of this. Remember–no coma and no vegetables either."
"Ugh…" Mana rolled her eyes while Endo reveled in his excuse to sit this out while putting Mana on the spot. "Look, there is no such thing as aliens. While those grassland rings do sound curious and exciting, I can guarantee it they've been caused by very human ninja. The universe out there is cold and inhospitable. Our life is a miraculous, one in a million cosmic event which is why we need to treasure it and protect it the best we can."
"This is…" the large, bare-chested man wiped a tear off his inebriated eye. "The most beautiful thing I've ever heard anyone say. Y'all now don't get 'napped by no aliens and don't get your guts sucked out through your butts!"
"I'm impressed." Endo cheeked Mana while the two walked out from the inn. "Nobody got crippled, nobody's brain got turned to jelly either."
"You're right because I was the one who did the talking." Mana squinted at her companion. By the time they reached the main street of the settlement, Damisan and Shige-H had already been back and ready while it didn't look like Skaven had gone anywhere. He stayed exactly how the Stars had left him.
"All I could find was useless scrap. Can't say I'm surprised. This place is just a pit-stop for ninja with business in the Grass Country. Most of the stuff's being pawned is forks and shovels that hit few too many stones in the ground." Damisan sighed.
"That's sad to hear, however, the pharmacy here is excellent. The Grass Country is one of the best places to shop for medication because every medical herb in any medical textbook grows here. The selection here is second to none, and it's all dirt-cheap." Shige appeared to floating in the clouds and jumping over the moon over her replenished medical supplies.
"I got a couple of Z's. Nobody stole a thing from me while I was asleep. Overall, it's been a delightful day." Skaven raised his hand.
"We may have found some clues. The local innkeeper mentioned something about some grass rings in the planes to the northwest from here. They're within a few dashes' range too." Mana reported.
"The Lumpkins here think that aliens have caused them. Don't tell it to Mana though, it's a whole thing with her…" Endo smirked, teasing his friend.
"That's because aliens are ridiculous and they don't exist!" Mana pressed her clenched fists to her hips. "Ninja have clearly caused those rings."
"Are they recent? If they're related to the kidnapped workers, they'd have to be less than a week old." Shige-H pondered on it.
"I don't know, but it's our only clue at the moment. I'm sure that looking into them will help us uncover at least one local mystery and it may as well be the right one. If nothing else, doesn't the concept of mysterious grass ring patterns make you excited?" Mana pressed on.
"Don't get me wrong, you're right about it being our only clue at the moment, so we are certainly checking them out. It's just that it sounds like a bit of a long shot." Shige-H shrugged. "You said it yourself, aliens have not caused it, it's most likely the doing of ninja. Nothing is linking it to the missing workers yet so let's not get our hopes up just yet."
Mana swooped down from an elevated position. She used the Mystical Wings Jutsu to rise to a higher level and examine the ring patterns from above. Seeing them both now, it felt absolutely silly that the Stars had been worried they'd miss them on route here and slowed down their pace so that they don't. Each one may have been a quarter of a kilometer wide and the two of them touched and rubbed edges with each other nicely.
"Well?" Shige looked up at Mana while the ninja magician descended and touched the ground.
"It's exactly what the old man told they'd be–absolutely amazing!" Mana's eyes gleamed with tiny star-like shimmers as she ran onward and pushed aside the blades of grass to burst into the bent grass ring centers. "I've got no idea how this happened. All I can say is that the grass is neatly pressed down in a clockwork-precise pattern. The standing bits are positioned like a labyrinth, the pattern is so… Perfect. This couldn't have been a Wind Release or a Fire Release technique that caused this. No signs of heat, no signs of even a single blade of grass being cut either."
"Okay, so we know what this is not. I guess we can go home then, right?" Endo rolled his eyes. "We can report to the boss lady about what this is not and she can just pick something from what's left."
"Can't you just enjoy seeing Mana happy and excited?" Damisan wondered, turning to Endo.
"I'm glad that you can because you'll never know happiness of your own, freak." Endo shot flames from his eyes, punishing the fellow Stars member for sticking his head out for someone by swinging his sharpest ax.
"You didn't need to put it like that, Endo…" Damisan turned away, pulling the sniffles through the holes that remained of his nose underneath the cloth wrapping over his face.
"Hmm…" Mana stood up and looked up into the sky. "What if…"
"What's that? Do you have something?" Shige-H wondered.
"This entire spot is simply beaming with remnants of chakra signatures. It's like… Everything in our universe is, to some extent, made of chakra. The Big Bang, the grandest and most intense flare of chakra, has its resonances lingering to this day that can be traced back to it. It seems like this place is similar. Weaker, perhaps, the chakra lingering here will probably persist for a few months, maybe a couple of years, but it's so intense right now and… It goes straight up." Mana explained while looking into the sky.
"Wait, are you going where I think you're going?" Endo stopped abusing Damisan for a second to turn to Mana with a shocked expression. He had never thought that someone who had made her mind up so adamantly about a certain matter would admit it with such ease that she was wrong.
"I'm not saying that aliens did this, Endo." Mana denied what the swordsman wanted to hear. "Although… I suppose… In a manner of speech… It was aliens who did this."
"Mana!" Shige-H gasped.
"I can't believe it," Damisan muttered out.
"Son of a bitch…" Endo grabbed hold of his head.
"To be more exact, I believe that the workers that we're after are now on the moon. Maybe even the ninja that the Supreme Leader has sent too, though I'm not too excited about their odds of having survived the meeting." Mana clarified her position before the shock of her having said those words could have solidified.
"The moon?" Shige-H looked up to the blank point where Mana had been staring. While there was no moon there at this moment, it would have been there at some point a few weeks back, during the hour late at night.
"That's right. It's not something that many people know and talk about but, after they were first created, over time, humans split into two clans. On Earth, those who remained here to make the most out of their home, and those led by curiosity who left to explore the stars. Eventually, the tide of history came to define those two groups of humanity as the Earth Clan and the Sky Clan. The clan structure and all the clans we know now split from the Earth Clan. I believe that these rings in the grass are evidence of the Earth Clan meeting the Sky Clan again for the first time in centuries." Mana voiced her theory. "Technically, the Sky Clan aren't aliens. They're just humans stranded on the moon after the World Tree connecting the Earth and the moon became alive and left its post, then was split into what we know now as the Tailed Beasts."
"Okay. That's a nice history lesson. Let's say that's so. How the heck are we supposed to go all the way up to the moon!?" Endo raised his hand and pointed his index finger up to the sky.