Shukuba was one of those odd towns that just started suddenly. One brief moment one was traveling through a blinding growth, completely consumed by the shadows of the forest and swarmed by the myriad of wildlife that lived there, then a small building popped into the view.
Each building spreading the outlier of the pleasure town by a little bit more was surrounded by yards and patches of trees and what could best be described as hopeful attempts at controlling the overgrowth around them. As Mana kept treading onward, the wood to signs of civilization ratio was beginning to increase. Such oddity made telling if she was in the town or not a bit murky, the case with Shukuba was completely unlike that with Konoha or any other ninja village, where a massive gate clearly showed the territory of the village and one could feel safe and infiltrated after entering it.
If anything, this odd, no walls or barriers state of the growing pleasure town suggested that the place was thriving. It was growing and the buildings that symbolized that growth could by no means be described as tumors of the town, these were more like luscious and flowing locks of hair that made someone already gorgeous that much more irresistible.
Mana shook her head, she could not believe how shallow the metaphors she was drawing in her head were. Tearing the part of the wounds, scattered over the girl's heart, that was defined by her being in love with Kouta must have bled harder than she had predicted it to. Such was the nature of matters rooted out before one could address them and deal with them properly.
At long last, the concentration of buildings and people, young and old, rich and less so, convinced Mana that she was closing into the heart of the small pleasure town. That meant that setting her mission plan in motion was in order. Did Mana even have one? One thing was dreaming about big missions, traveling around, seeing the world and bravely fighting for what one believed in. Another one completely was being pulled out from one's life, being told what to do and expected to get that objective done impeccably, without failure.
The magician kept walking around the squares and narrower streets, mingling with the crowds of the happy people who were glad to visit restaurants, pubs and other establishments littered throughout the town. It was not like expecting the information just fall into her hands was Mana's plan, she knew it would not be that easy. Then again, if it was a big issue or a topic of interest for the locals it would not have been completely outside the realm of possibility.
No. Mana merely trod the village streets, absorbing the views and the local merchants into her system. She was walking in circles but surely she walked so convincingly that she could not have been mistaken for a love-struck teen without a firm grip on what she wanted to do for her time in the Shukuba pleasure town.
"Konoha's Sorceress" this brutal combination of words struck fear into Mana's heart. She did not want to walk out or reveal her presence to the locals until it was her adamant and well thought out decision to do so. If someone with more intel than a common townsperson had caught a whiff of that information they'd figure out that a ninja of Konoha was sniffing about the place and while that was nothing special, Mana did not want to reveal her presence until she was one hundred percent sure it was good for the mission objective.
What a failure! Even with her desperate tries to evade the unseen threat of her fans recognizing her, Mana was surrounded by them. Had they been enemies out to hunt her down, had it been a part of her mission objective to infiltrate the pleasure town and hunt for intelligence in secret, she'd have failed that mission, if not paid for that failure with her life. Mana had no choice, she played and interacted with her audience, so that she could slip into a shadier alleyway for a good plan of action.
Everyone who came up got what they came for, from those who were content with just yelling greetings at Mana and commending her for a glorious battle during the Chuunin Exams or being able to create such a wondrous atmosphere during her magic shows to people wondering when she'd perform in Shukuba. The masses were so huge, people just kept swarming like ants having caught a whiff of potential food to serve their nest. Where one curious bystander in the middle of the square was happy that the famous Konoha's Sorceress winked and waved their way, three or four more took that person's place.
"Now, now! Please don't wear out our guest!" A deep and fairly warm voice, strengthened by being released from inside the mouth of someone of a very bulky in a chunky way kind of build. Before Mana could pinpoint the direction from which the authoritative voice came, a broad and flabby hand tapped on her shoulder before pulling her towards a man of the aforementioned bulky frame.
Honestly, had it not been for something in the appearance of this man, maybe his balding head, orange-pink hair that lightly occupied the sides of the man's attic, maybe his very grandpa-like sweater with large nacre buttons or his thick moustache that wiggled like a troubled caterpillar with each huff the man's giant nostrils made, Mana would have felt uneasy about being manhandled this way. In the current case, however, she was willing to allow the man to do so, for the sole purpose of getting out of this disastrous beginning of her mission.
"Greetings, Konoha's Sorceress, I am Kokkappa Sho, the governor of this fine pleasure town! Please, allow me to take you into the administration building so that we can get away from all of this noise." The man introduced himself before dragging Mana away from the crowd, his hand still wrapped around her and pressing her tightly to his side.
Of all the things that could have gone wrong, she could have, at the very least, not gotten recognized by one of the Shukuba authority figures, judging from his title, the very tallest one at that. Just then, with her ashamed and embarrassed cheeks glaring red light as she tried to hide her face away while the massive frame of Shukuba's governor attempted to aid her from removing herself from the crowd, did Mana realize that she had taken so many ill-fated fears of just such a thing from much wiser people for granted for far too long.
Then again, perhaps this was for the better – either way, whether it was by stealth or deceit, her paths would have ended up bringing her to the Shukuba administration. Was that place not the den of the vipers that spat venom onto the paperwork that made Fire Lord's funding disappear? Perhaps she could still not only salvage the situation but make it even better than it would have been had Mana not been recognized instantly by hundreds of people…
As the wide door of rich and well-worked redwood slammed behind the backs of Mana and the town's governor, the bulky man just breathed in and out easier before removing the hand off of Mana's shoulder and frame before smacking his wide belly and wiping the sweat off of his forehead.
"What a crowd, huh? Perhaps you should have been wiser than traveling alone, in the middle of the day, right in the most pulsing veins of our fine town, Sorceress-san?" that damned honorific was like a kitchen knife being dragged across a plate, emitting the auditory equivalent of how baby's hundred-year-old diaper would have smelled.
"I apologize, Sho-san," Mana bowed, "I am young and a bit inexperienced in matters outside my own village. I was not aware of how wide the word of my shows had spread or the ramifications of my trip."
"Well…" Sho tapped his warm hand on his sweaty forehead a couple of times, clearly looking confused by the politeness and non-confrontational nature of the young lady in front of him. "I mean… We were all once young, we've all made mistakes, if something like this is as bad as it gets, you are truly blessed!"
As Sho gestured for Mana to follow him and as he proceeded through the first floor corridor and into a small office that transitioned to a much larger office complex on the second, third, and who else knew how many more floors, the magician attempted to dodge the curious stares from the public servants glaring at her general direction.
"Excuse me, Sho-san, but is there a reason for me to follow you into your office?" Mana expressed her curiosity as an attempt to poke at the situation to see how it responded, maybe even to find out if her status as a ninja and her objective was known to the large man who was kind enough to help her out. After all, the miraculous rescue and the assault of her fans may not have been a coincidence.
"Oh? No, not at all. I simply suggest that Konoha Sorceress-san rests in my office and has some tea while the people outside thin out and your appearance becomes less of a novelty of the day. That is unless, of course, you have other places to be, other business to attend to, or merely dislike the mere mention of my company?" The man poked back. While his manner of speech and the words that came from his mouth were beyond polite, even addressing Mana in a mostly forgotten third person manner that could only have been found in historical movies, plays, and books, the magician could sense that this was just as much of a piss into a viper den, looking for any snakes to come out, as her inquiry was.
"No, not at all, I'd be honored by Sho-san's company!" Mana replied in the same manner, feeling a little elevated deep down to be able to politely poke the man. While his façade was quite friendly, his words welcoming and the meaning behind them relatively harmless, the magician felt it would have been wise to remember that he was just another politician, not just that – one of a high status. That meant he may have been well into whatever was going on with Shukuba's funds and his hands may have been dirty, or even bloody, with the filth sinking so deep that it touched the man's bone and could not have possibly been soaped off.
"Perfect then! I'd feel overjoyed to share some of my newly acquired Gyokuro tea!" the plumpy sung out like a coloratura soprano.
Mana only dreamed to be well versed in tea enough to identify the brand. She could have only imagined how much the tea that the man drank could have told her. It could have been a sign that the man meant well, or it could have been a hallucinogen, for all she knew, or a massive warning sign of another nature.
After being lead into the expensive office, that made the Hokage's own little quarter look like a broom closet after the water was put to boil in an electric device of some sort, the magician was encouraged to sit down. This was her chance to acquire some information, at the same time, Mana had enough people reading skills to realize that the kind uncle look of the Shukuba governor was also merely a front.
"I never realized Shukuba had a governor!" Mana acted out excitement. She did not really have to act that much so her pathetic lying skills did not need to be put to the test – she was legitimately interested in the political state of the pleasure town which was so dependent on Konoha's protection and the monetary investments of Fire Lord himself.
Sho cleared his throat. He looked a bit on the edge, he did not call Mana's bluff and attempt to check her prior knowledge about Shukuba's political state, she'd have flunked that as when she was doing reading the magician focused mostly on places far and wide and periods long gone. A place like Shukuba that resided right on her nose evaded her attention and interest, for the most part.
"Ah… Well… Yes… Not many people know, that is… Of course, because it is a recent development. The title is a descendant of my decree, hmmm, yes. Administrator just sounds so strict and official. Governor is more… Human, I took it." Sho rubbed the back of his rapidly balding head. He was like a dirty politician reporting about his dirt to a tyrannical dictator, sweating and jumping from point to point.
"Ah, so the title is just a change in name alone…" Mana breathed out. "Sounds a bit like a waste of public funds, I'd imagine a change of title for the sake of change alone would cost money and work hours to have plenty of documentation changed. So many laws and rules, so many communication issues with neighboring and foreign towns and villages." She attempted to sound more on the pondering side instead of accusatory. At the same time, she was luring out information about the exact implications of the title change, maybe a more clear motivation behind it.
"You're a very clever girl for your age. That being said, the change is not just an empty change of words. I'd say it is more of a spiritual change as well. Over time I have granted the governor one or two higher shots to call in the matters of Shukuba politics." Sho admitted. That was shocking to hear, not that he was gradually building up his own authority behind the Hokage's back, more that he was willing to admit it over accusations of wasting public funds. That meant that the latter was the thing that he feared investigated more, it was a common bargaining tactic – throw a painfully extracted but essentially unimportant bone to the dogs below to save those that kept your heart in place.
Something was definitely off and Mana needed to see some paperwork…
"And what about young Sorceress-san? Why would you travel to Shukuba so freshly after your big fight, it appears the bruises you wear are still quite fresh…" Sho pointed at the small patches that Mana applied over her black bruises that Usuzoku so kindly provided her by kicking the shit out of her during training.
Mana thought for a moment, she had made up a version of lies but she wondered if it was solid enough and would hold up to scrutiny. No time for that. She needed to say something, a badly weaved lie was better than all of this silence.
"Oh, I'm just scoping out opportunities for magic shows in the future. I cannot believe I have never performed here, or at least I can't remember if I have…" Mana quickly spat out the version she had made during her trip. It was a solid lie but… The execution clearly made Sho see right through her, this was bad. He may have suspected something now, especially after Mana outed herself as a ninja so publically and on such a grand stage as the Chuunin Exams finals.
"Well, Shukuba town would be honored to host your shows!" Sho slapped his massive hands together in ecstasy. "You will find that we have plenty of experience with show business and we treat our stars well. I have to tell you upfront, I am not responsible for you deciding to leave Konoha and host your shows here until the end of your career!"
The man took some time to laugh at his own jest, Mana joined him but her laughter felt forced and uneasy. This was not entirely bad, he clearly suspected something but he very subtly suggested Mana to join in on whatever was going on here. It may have been wise for Mana to feed him something, just a scent of a carrot to lead the stumbling lost pig to the wrong path…
"Oh? I consider retiring from this whole ninja business altogether so you have given me much to consider, Sho-san!" Mana emulated the overjoyed mood of her conversant beat to beat. This may have been one of her better acting jobs, the magician was finding out that she was getting better and better at this lie-but-not-really-lie thing. Lying was easy when one merely told the complete truth in ways that one's conversant took the wrong way. That was the only kind of lie Mana could tell convincingly, after all.
This nicely weaved deception appeared to have softened the suspicions of Mana being up to tearing down this intricately put together house of cards. House of cooked books, more likely. The magician had suspected for quite some time that had she just waltzed up to Sho, revealed her credentials and mission objective and demanded the right papers she would have been shown a bunch of accounting farce. This more subtle and secretive approach was much more fitting, even if Mana was irradiating inexperience and screwing up at times with certain angles. She would get better, eventually.
"What did you mean exactly with that whole experience with show business thing? Sho-san's voice sounded quite confident with that statement, excited even. I've been at Tanzaku once and…" Mana tried to poke deeper.
"Bah, Tanzaku… Those fools know nothing of managing a pleasure town. Gambling where ninja have a clear edge at robbing the town blind? What sort of money making strategy is that?" Sho appeared to get a bit passionate about the subject as he took a sip of his blazing hot tea before handing a cup to Mana.
The magician just looked at the bubbling and greenish brew that steaming so intensely that it may have as well cooked something else entirely if something else entirely was placed on top of the cup and allowed to simmer. She just sighed. All she wanted to achieve was to poke at Shukuba's experience with show business and exploit a possible hole where the money may have been laundered to. Now she'd have to listen to old man's rants and ramblings about Tanzaku to no end… At least she was not exposed completely, Sho was too passionate about his rant to read Mana's face and think about her possible motives.
Talking to people was harder than Mana had anticipated…
