Because of Mana taking her time and preserving her stamina while dealing with her handicap and Shige-H not rushing past her opponent, the spectators of the Kumite match reached the yard outside first. It was a pretty yard of a thin layer of sand and luscious, wavering grass with a bean-shaped pool of water that was restrained with a small stone wall from all sides. One side hosted small, decorative woods, while the other had only a steep, sheer drop to the rocky shores and the foaming seas down below.
"Boss has the advantage. Besides having both of her legs, of course. She's always going to be able to just punch a hole through Mana by unmaking all of Mana's resistances," Endo crossed his arms. "This bout is so meaningless even I can see it."
"You dunce, they said they'd be doing it Traditional Shinobi Kumite style," Asuka flicked Endo's forehead with the back of her hand. "No one's going to go for the kill."
"Traditional Shinobi Kumite?" Endo looked to Asuka with bafflement splattered all over his expression.
"Are you serious? It's like Ninja Academy level stuff," Asuka crossed her arms while shifting her weight over her right hip as she shook her head in disbelief at how ignorant her squadmate was.
"I've never sparred under any other rules than cage deathmatch hanging over an active volcano…" Endo shrugged with a defensive expression as if his explanation vindicated him. "I'm not familiar with your half-assed ninja ways of doing combat. Whenever I fight, I fight to win, maim, or kill. Preferably all at once in that sequence."
"Well, Traditional Shinobi Kumite is a sparring method that's more of a ritual than an actual means of combat. In it, two ninja face-off using only their taijutsu and weaponry skills with severe restrictions to the ninjutsu techniques they can use. Different countries have different rules for what they permitted and what they don't. Kirigakure prefers to keep it strictly taijutsu and weaponry, with a few permitted ninjutsu techniques like the Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu or the Water Clone Jutsu. I'm not sure if those two will settle for a consistent rule set given their attitudes, though," Asuka explained to her oddball comrade.
"It is worrisome to see Allied Ninja sparring with undefined Traditional Kumite rules," Stea joined in on the discussion. "It's just asking for trouble."
"Yeah, if no one knows what's allowed and what isn't, the other gal is just going to bitch and whine about how unfair it all was and how unprepared she was for whatever won the other the match," Doma crossed his arms with a pout.
"I don't think either will do such a thing," Gasco shook his head with a firm and growling tone of voice. "This isn't about merely just winning for either of them. I'm not yet sure why the challenger requested this fight, but Mana went along with it to avoid dishonoring her squad leader."
"You heard that, big guy?" Asuka turned to Gwirlon who scratched his head waiting for Mana and Stea-H to line up in front of each other and make the Seal of Confrontation while staring each other down. "This is about honor to these two, so you can't interfere no matter what. Neither of them would appreciate it."
"I am my own man now," Gwirlon rumbled out with his thunderous voice while staring at the two sparring partners with a grumpy look. "I'll do whatever I feel like."
"Aren't you going to state any terms?" Shige-H asked Mana, with the two staring at each other with their Seals of Confrontation formed. "We haven't agreed on any rules yet."
"That's okay with me. I always use force in response to what my opponent shows. I'll adapt to what you deem acceptable," Mana replied with an unfaltering expression and moved her hand aside. A gust picked up specks of sand and carried them about as it formed a current underneath Mana, ready to elevate her and help the handicapped kunoichi keep her balance if needed.
Contrary to what some may have thought. Mana felt like the Traditional Shinobi Kumite rules were an advantage to her. While some of her chakra pathways reconnected and at least half of her network connections had been restored, she was still far beneath the level of most opponents she faced on the battlefield in terms of chakra capacity. That meant that restraints limiting the range of techniques one can use in battle would only serve as a sort of mending of this handicap and would even the field somewhat.
Seeing how Mana wanted none of this fight, she permitted Shige-H to make the first move without even looking for any openings. Shige's Seal of Confrontation transitioned flawlessly into a Dragon hand seal before transitioning into a couple more. The Allied Ninja drew a load of oxygen into her lungs, bloating them beyond what looked normal to her body as her hands froze in the Hare seal position.
"Ninjutsu right from the get-go?" Stea's eyes widened as she didn't expect the Traditional Shinobi Kumite values to be thrown aside immediately. Using low-scale ninjutsu techniques didn't necessarily break any rules under most rule sets, though most ninja saw Traditional Shinobi Kumite as a form of exercising and competing with other ninja in the form of basic ninja skills like hand-to-hand combat and weaponry usage with only the bare minimum of basic ninja arts being involved.
"Water Style: Wild Water Wave!" Shige-H chanted out while spewing a jet of water from her mouth in a stream-like fashion. Unlike how such a jutsu would've normally been used, Shige-H had altered the technique adding a more personal style to where the jet was less of an explosive water wave to overwhelm the opponent with its sheer volume, but instead something of a focused stream of water capable of rending flesh off of bone or drilling right through muscle and guts.
Mana leaned on the pillow of the Wind Release current and let it carry her aside from the jet to the opposite side of where the bystanders lined up to watch their match so that Shige's stream did not inconvenience them. The Stars' leader continued the stream and turned her head to follow Mana's movements but the magician vaulted and flipped in mid-air with excellent control of her Mystical Wings Jutsu that let her avoid the stream just a few droplets landing on her hands, sleeves, and trousers.
The medical kunoichi shut her mouth, canceling the stream while she charged onward with a mighty haymaker. A hit like that would've flattened any shinobi and Shige-H didn't even augment her punch with Chakra Enhanced Strength that time. Mana vaulted and winced because of the strain put under her knee when she landed on one foot and felt the weight of her body resonating through her whole body in an imbalanced resonance. The magician lightly tapped Shige's elbow, halting her soaring blow mid-way and intercepting it with clever limb manipulation and redirection. While Shige's left fist ignited with a blue flame of Chakra Enhanced Strength.
"I suppose this is its own form of Shinobi Kumite, but it's not traditional by any means," Stea commented with a light tip of the corners of her lips upward in reaction to Shige's clever play. The Stars' leader lured Mana to let her in closer with an ordinary, sluggish power blow only to augment a jab once she truly got within striking distance to minimize Mana's odds of blocking that.
The handicapped magician grunted, letting the tunneling airwave bring her up as she used her one and only foot to kick the inner side of Shige's elbow to cancel out most of the jab's momentum and intercept it once again while Mana repurposed the momentum from her kind to a backflip. This time, having learned a painful lesson, she requested that her Mystical Wings softened the landing so that her heel didn't have to compensate for the weight of her whole body.
"Spinning Double Lariat!" Shige-H chanted out, raising both of her arms and stiffening like she was trying to become a scarecrow while kicking off with her dominant leg into a double-arm, spinning clothesline slam while she rushed onward. Her fists burnt with the blue flares of Chakra Enhanced Strength and the medical kunoichi sought to snipe Mana while the magician was landing.
Mana slipped the silken ribbon holding her kimono together and whipped it at Shige's elbow, tying it up. With a little help from her Mystical Wings, Mana propelled herself into a vault while wrapping herself around the captured limb and stressing it with a swift hold. Knowing that she lacked the physical strength to apply an armlock, Mana wasted no time pressing the hold, just stressed Shige's elbow and slipped off, rolling aside while leaving her loose robe on the dirt. With a Chakra Enhanced knockout punch, Shige pursued her slippery opponent but Mana kicked her foot-less leg up, picking up a Wind Release gale and manipulating the wind current underneath her to slap the fallen robe straight into Shige's face to blind her.
This gave Mana the chance to slip aside by sliding across the sandy yard floor and dodging the knockout blow while keeping a respectful distance from her opponent that could decimate her entire skeleton with one strike.
"Humph… What a pathetic fighting style. She's just scrounging up the bottom of the barrel moves to survive," Endo hissed and tucked his chin after closing his eyes. The swordsman acted as if continuing to spectate this Kumite match was physically hurting him. "This isn't the fighting style of someone in a position to become No. 1. The real strongest blasts through any walls with overwhelming strength. The boss-lady isn't much better for falling for those menial distractions either."
"I disagree," Stea shook her head. "I think it's remarkable. You can see everything placed clearly on the table. This type of match showcases the experience and talent of each individual. An Academy student that excels in such a match despite a lack of experience shows their adequate mindset for such a line of work, it's a showcase of raw talent. With Mana, this is the exact opposite. She fights with experience, as she's never had much raw talent and refused to foster the proper mindset for the art of fighting and bloodshed. She's been robbed of most of any other advantages she's ever had too. Training and experience are her only crutches right now and it's jaw-dropping to see it all at work and being enough."
"Is it enough though, I wonder…" Gasco continued to spectate Shige's grueling attempt to turn this engagement into a slobber-knocker while Mana eluded any attempts at being reduced to that level of primal exchange of blows. "Mana has been much more economical in her fighting, it's incomparable how much so. Regardless, her chakra is still a full head meeker than that of her opponent's. The challenger may just outlast Mana even when fighting much more wastefully, and Mana only needs one mistake to lose it all."
Mana bit her lip as she felt her eyes craving to go down at her exposed stump. The accumulating gale brushed against her sweating skin, making the crippled magician very much aware that her hands were shaking. She didn't want to lose the robe and showcase her stump to the ninja that saw her doing her best in her prime. Even if she couldn't spare to look at Stea, Doma, Gasco, and even the rest of the Stars to check, her mind had already begun crafting illusions of them, feeling pity for seeing her struggling in such a state.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!" Shige-H made a single hand seal before opening her mouth and emitting a ripping tear of lightning from her mouth in the shape of a thunderous spear. Mana expelled Wind Release chakra from her foot, causing a ring-shaped ripple to the Wind Release expulsion of her Mystical Wings Jutsu that took her shooting into the air. The magician vaulted over her front and fell down with a chop, outracing the jolt which, luckily, Shige-H couldn't manipulate like her earlier water stream.
"Magician's Touch!" Mana yelled out, letting a resonance of Lightning Release chakra pass down her entire body in the moment of her chop socking into the back of Shige's head, bringing her whole upper body down in a painful jerk. The Lightning Release resonance helped numb Mana's own hand from the blinding pain from the backlash a drop like this would cause her, but also absorb any residual Lightning Release traces from Shige's body in case her jutsu still would've had pent-up static. In addition, a direct connection of Magician's Touch to the head made Shige wobbly and her gaze all dulled out as a line of drool ran down the woman's limp lip and touched faintly against the ground.
Working with just one leg for the shifting of her weight, Mana drove her chops into the exposed and relaxed pressure point of her opponent, chopping at the side of Shige's neck. This turned the medical kunoichi around and revealed her back, which permitted Mana a machine-gun barrage of Magician's Touch enhanced chops all across Shige's spine before slapping Shige's side with her stump and turning her back around only to jump with a knee shot to Shige's drooling face. This actually sent the medical kunoichi hurling into the air with a vertical spin. Expelling a Wind Release pulse from her foot, Mana shot into the air with a cracking chop at the top of Shige's head again, bringing her down while Mana shifted her position in the air and propelled herself down with Mystical Wings once more.
Mana grunted in pain as she didn't make it in time to cushion her fall and felt her knees and heel nearly give in from the pressure of slamming into the ground from the air with a single propulsion. This was all so that Mana could make it down before her free-falling opponent. Mana raised her hand and channeled Magician's Touch again, just in time to break Shige's fall with her raised hand and shock her again. Skin slapped against the skin when Mana's backhand crashed into Shige's face, sending the medical kunoichi rolling back on the sand teetering on the edge of the cliff.
Mana flicked her hands out of instinct, intending to send her steel-tipped cards hurling toward Shige-H and slamming her off the cliffside and into the water down below. It'd have been a fall that'd have cooled her head off and left some bruises, but it'd have been far from killing or breaking anything for a kunoichi of such an advanced level and the ability to heal herself using medical ninjutsu. The problem was that Mana didn't have any steel-tipped cards anymore, nor was she wearing her uniform that had the gadgets that could've loaded different decks in and propelled them into Mana's hands. Thus, nothing came out of this movement and Mana's hand just slumped down by her side.
One would've thought that brawling in just her sports bra and shorts and feeling the breeze against her sweaty skin and trembling body would've reminded Mana of the fact that she wasn't geared up, but it was just muscle memory from her glory days picking up from where it had left off. If Mana was ever to pick up fighting again, she'd need to form more recent and up-to-date memories, or else dropping her openings and wasting advantages like this could have been perilous to her and her opponents.
Shige-H kicked up and dusted herself off. When she was going wild, something down within Mana had blazed up with a fighting spirit. It almost felt like Mana did still have it in her to keep working but… Seeing her peer having suffered almost no damage from such a beatdown except for a few bruises and specks of dirt on her clothes and having all the effort and shortness of breath in mind that Mana took to get here made her hands feel like they were being injected with lead. They wanted to just go down, skip a shot and just let this all end already. Just go to sleep and let Shige-H have her win.
The Stars' leader extended her hand with the Seal of Reconciliation at Mana. At the same time, so that the seal could connect, the medical kunoichi began walking toward the magician. Mana subtly shook her head as confusion corrupted her face. Why did Shige-H give up already? She hadn't even been grazed enough to have to heal herself up even once, and she was already tapping out? Of course, the Traditional Shinobi Kumite wasn't meant to be a full-on fight and just a comparison of skill and an elementary and swift exchange of blows but… This was Shige's chosen chance to reach Mana and she just gave up on it. Was she giving up or was this all exactly what Shige-H wanted?
"The Seal of Reconciliation shows that we're still friends, even after sparring. So… Are we still friends?" Shige-H spoke up with a little of an awkward pout to her lips. It looked like the Stars' leader was almost doubting that herself and wondered if she had severed her bonds with Mana with how hardheaded she was acting the last few days.
"Yeah…" Mana nodded, extending her own Seal of Reconciliation so that the two could connect and complete the seal. All of her second-guessing, doubting, and self-pity had extended the reconciliation part of the spar into the sphere of it, becoming a tad awkward.
"Well then, if you're itching to stay in Getsugakure and train, I guess we'll leave you here for a little while. You're still an Allied Ninja and we're going to come back to pick you up one day, you better believe it," Shige-H sighed and picked up her coat. She slipped her arms in one at a time while walking toward the rest of the Stars. "Let's go. We've got a mission to report and, given our luck, a new one to pick up. Let's not waste any more time."
"Be seeing you," Endo lifted two fingers in a half-assed farewell to Mana before turning his back and walking away with his leader.
"Don't bother keeping an eye open at night. In your current pitiful state, putting you down would just feel wrong," Asuka shook her head, looking almost disappointed in Mana's decision to leave the Stars behind for a time and the way she handled herself in the spar. It couldn't have been Mana's technical performance, it could've only been something else that only someone with the analytical eye sniping for weaknesses in Mana to exploit could've picked up on.
"I'm gonna go too," Gwirlon nodded his head.
"I agree. I don't think it's good for you to feel attached to me," Mana nodded, picking up her robe off the ground and pulling it on. Even if it had gathered some sand and it felt rough in some patches, Mana could almost feel her breathing picking up and smoothing out the moment she covered herself up. "You should head out into the far and wide world and find your own place. I was glad to help you make the first step, but you need to step over me now and leave me behind."
Gwirlon leaned down on his knee and pressed his head against Mana's whole upper body, almost like a cat. By now, he had enough self-awareness and control to realize that his entire arm was an arsenal of tools and weapons he had only a semblance of control over. Hurting Mana would've been the last thing on the giant's mind, so he just bonked his forehead against her and rubbed his face as a show of affection before standing up and rushing off to catch up with the rest of the Stars.
Just like that, the Stars were shooting off and Mana would've had to flip a new page of her life. From the Stars to the Land of the Moon…