Only after the brief outbreak of ecstasy did Mana realize how absolutely sapped of chakra she was. Mana tried to move her hands away from Sugemi but she couldn't both stand separately from her friend and successfully walk by herself. While the magician felt like she just needed time to get used to this pale weakness, a feeling likened to that of having most of one's blood drained completely, she still felt embarrassed needing her friend's help to walk.

"I didn't… Do anything, did I?" Mana wondered looking at Sugemi with barely kicking feeling of hope in her eyes.

"You didn't kill anyone, no. It's fine, the blonde must've gotten to Inomame and hurt him strongly enough for the technique to end." Sugemi replied looking onwards to the whirl of limbs as the Demonlings circled around the Imarizu.

"Do you have chakra left?" Mana wondered looking at her friend.

"Not for all of them…" Sugemi shook his head. While normally he felt excited about beating up a bunch of people with a perfect excuse to kick their collective asses, currently he weighed his chances as quite slim.

"That's where I can come in…" Yanagi smiled through pale skin, his case however was not due to chakra loss, it appeared to be much more physical.

"We really shouldn't save them, they'll probably just kill us." Sugemi tried complaining but then after remembering those pathetic begging eyes of his magician friend he just sighed and helped her down on a large rock before sitting on one knee and weaving the hand seal.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" she shouted once again using his clan hijutsu in a way they were intended to be used and not how he wanted to use them.

"Parasitic Insects: Cocoon!" Yanagi smacked his open palms together in a hastily put together hand seal surrounding the entangled Demonlings with his locust-like parasitic insects that at the same time used their carried blades to inflict numerous cuts and lacerations as well as feasted on the enemy chakra.

"I thought Aburame don't use hand seals…" Sugemi looked back at his companion once the Demonlings collapsed from injuries and chakra loss.

"We don't have to, but I think they look kind of cool." Yanagi blushed with a foolish grin before stroking the back of his head as if he was ashamed of this revelation. "I can control my Tabekaichu with just a mental command but I'm a big fan of Super Sentai Space Panties."

"I feel like our journey home will be much more entertaining, my friend!" Sugemi smiled fist bumping with his companion. For a moment there Mana began feeling really threatened by a full journey of these two discussing their pervy manga and while, in a way, she owed a lot to one specific pervy manga a whole journey of it sounded like anything but entertaining.

Then she noticed the grisly sight in front of her – the eldest Imarizu member standing in the midst of the battlefield which was now eradicated by Sugemi and Yanagi's teamwork. The man's arms and legs were shuddering, his bodysuit torn in most parts and drenched in his own and blood of his opponents where strings of the suit were still connected to each other and not just hanging like pathetic rags. His mask busted and grinded to dust with only a cloth piece dangling on his chin and the right part of his face, revealing a face covered with blood, beatings and still breathing in violence and breathing out punishment.

"Think we can take him?" Sugemi wondered.

"If the Yamanaka kid joins in, sure. He's undoubtedly barely on his feet already…" Yanagi affirmed with a serious nod.

Suddenly the Imarizu's face turned at the three Konoha ninja, still twisted with rage and with completely whited out eyes. These eyes were the only part of his dark face that weren't completely swollen or covered with blood and for that they were that much more intimidating. The man's figure bent backwards twisting his entire body in ways it shouldn't be twisted before his powerful thighs sent him soaring at Mana and Sugemi with a single bound. Sugemi's knee hit the old man in the chest sending him up in the air a good couple of meters before Yanagi's insects formed a fist shape and slammed him into the ground, with each moment of contact draining more and more chakra and stabbing him continuously with the small blades that each insect carrier with their small but powerful limbs.

"Stop!" Mana tried to shout out but her voice was too weak. "This battle is over, we've captured Inomame, we beat all the Demon trainees for you. I'm sorry for the loss of your friends, it doesn't seem like anyone else of your group made it…" Mana concluded that last sentence with bitter sadness as she herself felt her throat getting choked by grief for people that she didn't know and who tried to kill her a couple of times, almost succeeding both of those times.

"The mission is to kill Inomame Yamanaka. I will complete it!" the old man roughed out through his teeth spitting out blood with each word as blood from his damaged internal organs sprayed through the filter of his barely remaining teeth.

"My mission is not completed either. Yet I'm willing to compromise – keep Shimo's sword but give us Inomame. He is no longer a threat to your client, you can let him run free and still what happened here will incriminate him for his last underwear. He tried to kill a Yamanaka heiress and then force her into marriage, he used the Yamanaka influence to obtain even more power and now because of that influence the clan will see to it that he meets justice. Don't derive lady irony of her moment." Mana tried to reason with the assassin, she thought that giving him something for something would've made her win. Not just win, but do so her way, win by giving her enemy something to be satisfied for, something she could have afforded to lose.

The Imarizu stood tall and straightened his back, upon more pressure being placed on his tattered bodysuit it tore with a loud tearing sound and left him bare-chested and staring at Mana within an extended hand's reach. Still, Mana's eyes didn't waver, she continued to look the assassin right in the eyes even as he reached behind his back and pulled out the Audra blade, lifting his closed wrist and showing her the blade right in front of her eyes, so close he could almost swipe the blade and leave Mana blinded forever.

"This sword has meaning for you, doesn't it? Back then you begged me to leave it with your corpse, when you thought you were good as dead, now you use it as bargaining chip of great importance. I feel like I can do the same… I'll flip your offer around – fight me, one on one. You win – I back out and give you this sword, I win – I kill Inomame and no one moves a finger to stop me." The Imarizu looked at Mana face to face, his dark brown eyes were so deep and scary that it was tough not to get lost in them. It was clear that the dark skinned brawler meant it.

"Wait a goddamn second!" Yanagi objected, "This isn't fair! Mana is almost drenched of chakra by Inomame, she isn't a close range combatant, that's your specialty!"

The Imarizu assassin lifted his still athletic and cut up arm, tensing his muscles so hard that blood squirted through his wounds and drenched his fist.

"I am injured as well. Also, it was her idea to defend Inomame – the man who cost her this predicament. It is an adult thing to accept responsibility for one's own choices. I do not speak so many words often, make no mistake, I am no bargaining with these filthy pale-skins, I am bargaining with you, my half-equal." The Imarizu rudely cut back at Yanagi making the Aburame visibly pissed and itching to kick the assassin's ass. Still, attacking the man in his current state would've been just taking a man out of his misery.

Mana still stared deep into the Imarizu's eyes, her deep stare wandered between his own brown abyssal gazers and the Audra blade – the legacy of her good friend which needed to be placed at his grave, it was Mana's responsibility to do so.

"Very well, I understand…" the Imarizu nodded, finally folding, "You seem to have uttered this belonged to your friend at some point. Someone who has passed away? That means you wish to return this sword to his grave, it has meaning to you. That's admirable, very well – even if you lose, I shall still surrender this blade to your friends after Inomame is dead. What will you…"

"I agree!" Mana instantly replied interrupting the Imarizu so fast that the old assassin's eyes widened in surprise. The old killer took a couple of slow leaps back to place distance in between him and Mana, Sugemi and Yanagi jumped in to object to the magician's decision.

"You'll die!" they both shouted out almost instantaneously.

"If I die, then Inomame dies – it'll be because I was too weak to uphold my ideals. I'll be a failure but it won't matter. I'll just realize that I was always meant to fail in the end, what good are my ideals if I'm always too weak to uphold them?" Mana replied, "He's right. It's my choice to protect Inomame, I need to accept all consequences of that choice – that's what I told Tanshu-sensei all the way back then, remember?" the girl smiled to Sugemi before taking a defensive fighting stance.

"You're an idiot, Nakotsumi Mana!" Sugemi shouted out, just like he used to get mad at her before. Seeing her friend get so protective again made the magician nostalgic and while he meant well, his feelings were wrong. His friend just made a life-risking decision and the best he could do was to blame her, instead of supporting her. All of a sudden the magician felt like she was standing alone and small in front of the Imarizu leader as well as all of her friends… It made her sad.

The Imarizu stood up and looked at his opponent. Mana did not attack, she was no attacker, at least not physically. If she tried attacking the man using ninjutsu she'd just pass out from using too much chakra. That would be useless. Her best advantages, all of her strengths were taken away from her. Still, she couldn't afford to lose. Deep inside Mana swore to herself to not stop fighting until she either died, that is was literally unable to protect Inomame anymore, or she won. No matter how many bones were broken, no matter how irreversible the damage to her health. Just keep fighting. As long as she could feel her own heart beating inside her chest, just keep fighting…

The Imarizu darted onwards, leaping at Mana at such impressive speed that had her mind wavered she'd have never even seen him coming. An immeasurable fraction of his true speed, however still barely visible even to an enhanced eye. Luckily the magician didn't squander her preparation time, she focused herself, went through a pair of scenarios in her mind to prepare her mind for a faster attack than she could react to. All she needed was to determine an archetype of an attack, one of the various the old man in Sun Disc arena taught her about, then just intercept it!

Mana leaned aside to avoid the strike aimed right in between her eyes and nose – something like that would've crushed her skull and killed her outright. It'd have cracked entire planets in two. Tired, so tired… Mana felt air disappearing from her lungs just after leaning aside. She shoved her palm in to tap the Imarizu's elbow, force his right hand to be displaced in a position where he couldn't counter and would forcefully squander his weight center. To force full conscious overexerted effort into this strike from her opponent but his arm was no longer there!

The magician lifted her knee – he was coming for her gut, she knew it! In her current state she had nothing to stop herself from not having her innards blown up and mushed into slimy mass of blood and gore. It would've been an efficient and very painful way to take her out for good. The girl screamed out in pain when the man's near invisible fist hit her knee cap. She predicted the strike but it still was too painful to block him – she needed to parry, to find an opening, to counter. That was hopeless, avoiding took all of her air out. All she could do was stand there and get pummeled.

Maybe if she gets pummeled for long enough her opponent will die of old age?

Mana fell back on her back, hitting the sand and feeling the sticky puddles of blood covering her hair. The kick aimed at the side of her neck didn't hit her, it did send massive airwave that decimated Inomame's ship far away. The girl pressed her hands above her head to push her body up. The assassin tried to sweep with enough force to separate her body from her legs where his iron kick broke her bones. Mana vaulted over him and stumbled away, gasping for air. Her muscles were burning up from exhaustion. She had never fought having so little chakra left, just the bare necessities to survive, a single drop more and she'd pass out or even die… She had to keep telling her own body to not augment itself for a single moment, just use her natural evasion and redirection skills, somehow survive… Just survive…

The Imarizu rushed after Mana attacking her from behind. He favored a combination of quick jabs, dominant right hand, aimed for the left side… Having his fighting profile in mind the magician avoided his textbook combination by leaning aside without turning at him – perfectly avoiding his strikes by just sheer memory of his combinations and his fighting style and pure prediction. She was taught to fight that way… So many movements and so much acrobatics cost her too much air again. Once again she was gasping after turning back at her opponent again.

"Fight back!" he shouted out, good, he wasted air for taunts. Mana avoided his uppercut and tried kicking in his back leg, the one where all the pressure and weight was placed on. Somehow the assassin placed his other leg in the way taking the kick but not falling. He was just as skilled at defensive moves as Mana. The kunoichi leaned from another cross and tried elbowing the man's teeth out, then avoided another uppercut for a downwards stomping kick at his nose. If he couldn't breathe – he couldn't fight. In terms he'd give her time to both avoid and counter, instead of having to use all of her last gasps of air to not get blown up by his incalculable strength.

Both of her hits got blocked, repurposing his devoted hammy strikes into blocks at the last second to block her attacks. It was clear that Mana's strikes lacked the oomph of the Imarizu's strikes – he could block her no problem but Mana couldn't do the same for him. Blocking would demolish her limbs which in terms would cripple her speed and nail the final nail in the coffin of her hopes to someday counterattack successfully. She needed damage to win!

The Imarizu threw a couple of weak jabs, so immensely fast but weak enough to be blocked. Right when Mana covered her face so that it wasn't mashed into pus and gore by them she realized their purpose – they weren't damaging blows, they were meant to keep her grounded and in place so that he could then finish her. By the time Mana looked back up her enemy was already in the air. Using his back leg to snap it back and increase the strength of his cross.

Mana leaned aside letting the floating brawler pass beside her. The magician felt pressure and tearing muscle fibers in her side from how much her body bent. Her spine began pulsing with pain but she forced it on. There it was – her chance! Mana snapped her leg up, falling backwards due to how tense and twisted her body was, she could hold the pressure no longer so she fell with a kick right into the Imarizu's ribs. The bare-chested assassin slightly lifted off higher from the magician's kick as she fell on her back and rolled aside only to somehow pick herself back on her knees and hyperventilate for air.

She actually hit him! Just like she was taught… Meiko, Kouta and the old man would've been so proud! Mana herself didn't let her momentary lucky shot get in her head but at least she proved herself that she still had the chance and that she didn't walk into this fight just to die a martyr of her own cause. She was fighting for everything she stood for, she was no longer a kid or someone who dreamed of the future as the source of their strength. She fought to protect her ideals here and now!

Once again, Mana assumed a defensive stance. If she attacked she'd get destroyed. She had no offensive experience and needed to simply find another opening and hope that this time it wouldn't come at such a painful cost of twisting her own body uncomfortably, something that left some damage on Mana's side. She was just as crippled with pain as the Imarizu after a successful shot at his broken ribs.

The assassin attacked again, kicking right at Mana's head, switching up his style from a very punch-heavy to involving kicks. That was what made this specific Imarizu member so dangerous – a testament of his experience. The magician leaned down, placing her palms on the ground and delivering a cartwheel kick. Her foot ruffled some air. After Mana's body straightened out and landed on firm ground her eyes opened wide and she realized that she devoted too much weight and effort for this counter.

A straight cross was flying right at her face. With her side still aching from the uncomfortable bending of her body before and her weight still in klutz, Mana had only one possible way of avoiding a sudden planet cracking fist demolishing her skull like a watermelon hit by a sledgehammer. She gently leaped up like a rabbit while bending her back backwards, rolling her arms and legs around the Imarizu's extended arm and positioning into an armbar. She had never had the chance to resort to this, she always had better opportunities…

The Imarizu yelled out loud, lifting his arm up and shaking it before preparing to slam Mana's body into the ground. Something that would've undoubtedly driven all air out from her lungs and left her just like a wheezing fish thrown ashore and waiting to be finished off. Mana let go of the arm at its highest swinging point and then kicked off the back of the old man's head with her feet, rolling aside and farther away from him before clutching her burning side muscles in pain.

The Imarizu grunted in annoyance, he was having a lot of trouble tagging this little girl he never doubted he'd beat easily. It wasn't like he wanted her death, he disliked killing his own race, plus the girl showed a lot of promise for growth. If she was more ruthless she'd have made a fine Imarizu one day. The old man smiled before stopping in his hasty assault, instead he hopped around letting some air return to his lungs. This slippery and jumpy little rabbit was making him all worked up, rushing to catch it. This critter nearly lured her own hunter into their own bear-trap with this impressive evasive display.

Both combatants stood still for a moment, taking the brief moment of tranquility to draw more breaths into their lungs. Earning the precious currency for each movement, each punch and each dodge – oxygen.