"So forgive me if I ask you, Konoha's Sorceress, but why are you in Shukuba, exactly? I've heard plenty of rumors about it a couple of days ago from my servants." Fuun wondered as he had finally grown bored of staring through the window. Mana was fine occupying her time with some small talk and forgetting all the awkwardness that traveling in the same carriage as this aristocrat made her feel.
"Just had some business here. Now that it is done, I'm working with the Shukuba Security for a brief while on something I'd rather not discuss." Mana shrugged the attempt at poking deeper into her business.
Honestly, it did not feel like Fuun was quite out of the involvement with Diamond Hand accusation woods yet. He was potentially a victim of an attempted crime, however, the crime was so random and, apparently, unskilled that Mana could not have possibly connected it to the hidden criminal syndicate. She could have easily seen Fuun as an agent of Diamond Hand though, covering himself up with a made-up crime just to get in close to Mana. Make her drop her defenses…
Fuun himself sent out a weak chakra signature, similar to that of a common man, perhaps a tiny bit larger. It was not abnormal, the man could have been fairly intelligent or had a very spiritual connection to a certain passion, elevating the spiritual aspect of his chakra above the average. Given how the man was fairly prosperous and looked cheerful it was definitely highly likely that he enjoyed fine arts or something of the sort.
"Ah, yes. The ninja thing… I've heard you've been involved in those Chuunin Exams, quite the worldwide attraction, weren't they? Sadly, I missed out on them. I don't leave my estate too much. Just the kind of person I am, even coming to the Shukuba Security for help was quite an adventurous trip for me, you see!" The man thundered through the entire carriage with his deafening laughter. Had it not been due to slight suspicions Mana had, she would have maybe found the cheer of this man rather enjoyable and contagious.
"I do plan to one day broaden my horizons as a stage magician, Shukuba could be one of the locations I'll visit with a tour." Mana tried smiling for the man as it was rather unfair of her to sulk and keep observing the surroundings for assassins or possible ambushes.
"Oh, that would be splendid! I've heard so much from so many acquaintances of your talents, you see. They make a monthly pilgrimage to your shows and enjoy them tremendously. I'd simply cherish the chance to see something that inspires that sort of glee in my companions." The man clapped his hands before shifting about in his seat rather erratically. It attracted Mana's attention and kept it.
It turned out to be just a false alarm as the man was simply overly excited to see his own estate come into the view from the thinning out collection of lowly establishments and new construction jobs that were expanding the territory of the pleasure town well into the Land of Fire forests.
The Oribu family resided in a much larger establishment than Mana had imagined it to be. A good five or six floors worth of a tower of classic architecture of constant renovation of its exterior while at the same time maintaining the classic look. A true heritage of the Settlement Period, or at least perfectly emulating it. While architecture was a part of history that Mana was less passionate about, a small fire simmered in her chest regardless of it.
Fuun lead Mana around, showing off the multiple security measures he had taken to protect his late mother's treasured memento. A great deal of decently trained guards laid outside, the magician could see that some of them were recently patched up and looked quite rowdy. Upon the most basic of inquiries, they responded to have slight headaches after being knocked out.
"They may not look like a lot, Sorceress, but I assure you they are well trained and in quite numerous quantities. Trustworthy not only for the protection of my mother's legacy but also the estate and my own life!" Fuun looked quite confident in the abilities of his own guards. That was not something Mana had expected of the man as she had taken him for someone much shallower. She'd figured that he'd go around blaming them and maybe even having fired the people responsible for protecting his home despite their relative success of keeping the necklace where it belongs. Looks and first impressions were quite deceiving in this case.
"On the contrary, their quick defeat does not make me doubt their competence. It makes me worry about the competence of the thief." Mana revealed her thoughts as she was beginning to view Fuun as someone trustworthy and more intelligent than initial impressions made one believe.
"What do you mean? Could this have been a rogue ninja?" Fuun gasped in an almost comical and effeminate manner. Very unfitting for a man of frail yet masculine proportions and looks.
"I am almost completely certain that it was. The symptoms of your guards suggest that they were taken out by a chop to the back of the neck after completely blitzing them. I suspect even the involvement of the Shadow of the Dancing Leaf technique." Mana scratched her chin after observing the wonky and sluggish manner at which the very bulky and intimidating looking guards moved.
"Shadow of the Dancing Leaf? What do you mean, how could someone take out such strong men with just one chop?" Fuun gasped again.
"It is a technique commonly used by Konoha's Strong Fist martial arts users. Utilizing amazing mastery of the physical aspects of one's chakra, the user moves behind their opponent in lethal silence and speed beyond comparison. Combined with a strong and controlled chop to a vital point – it's an instant knockout combination." Mana explained to the surprised aristocrat.
"So this is all done by a Konohagakure ninja then!?" Fuun flipped out, had his fears been validated it would have certainly been a worrying predicament. With the Shukuba Security being non-functional and the most important government institutions disbanded there'd be little way of reaching the Hokage's ear and work out a decent investigation of the matter. It could take entire weeks to reach the man's listening ear and get a mission going, in that time the skilled ninja would undoubtedly snag the necklace.
"Not necessarily. This is Fire Country, after all, that means that the Strong Fist is a rather widespread martial art amongst both ninja, mercenaries, and rogues. I do not think it was a work of a Konoha ninja on a mission." Mana calmed the man down before they entered into the main hall where the necklace was held.
The marvel of jewelry artisanship laid unveiled, behind a thick and translucent material where an observer of any intentions could admire its emerald, diamond, ruby, topaz and obsidian lusters but not touch their source. Mana questioned her host with a curious glare if it was safe to approach the jewelry to which the man nodded and encouraged the magician to proceed as she saw fit.
Mana stroke her hand through the air, just barely keeping it from touching the column of enforced glass. This protection alone would have costed more than most jewelry, glass alone was quite expensive, let alone a custom work of weaving chakra into it to make it impenetrable to anything but forces with higher chakra concentration than was weaved into the material upon its conception. The glass itself also appeared to be completely conductive to chakra, making it fitting for imbuement of entire coats of chakra on top. A useless measure as no one in this estate knew how to even do it or could have done it even if they did know the specifics.
"I'm not sure how much chakra is weaved into this glass, it is indeed high craftsmanship, regardless of that, I still cannot see a ninja skilled enough to perform a Shadow of Leaf Dance failing to breach it." Mana mumbled to herself as she curiously examined the protective case, like a child admiring a fully uniformed ninja model in a museum. She sort of wondered just how loudly would Meiko shriek had she been here to see this.
"Well, that is still not all..." Fuun cleared his throat before opening up a section of what appeared to be a large cupboard and pulling on a horn of a rhinoceros that was found inside with fancy cutlery and porcelain sets found all around the odd switch mechanism.
Right after the horn was pressed, Mana could hear the painfully familiar screeching sound of reeling steel wire all around her as the lights in the room dimmed. The electric lanterns went out, windows opened for a brief moment to let in gusts of wind to blow out the candles and then shutters slammed down to sink the room in darkness.
"Was that a fake rhino head in your cupboard, with the horn serving as the security switch?" Mana's voice echoed in the dark.
"Yes, acquiring it was a hassle, I had to remove the back of the cupboard and wreck my wall just to fit it in there. The wall is remarkably reinforced forcing me to acquire a special set of tools just to deal with such materials. It cost me almost as much as this house, but I really wanted the head of a rhino in my cupboard, you see." Fuun explained with more vitality in his voice than someone describing spending a mansion-worth of money on renovations reasonably should have had.
Even if the magician could not see or hear anything, bringing up painful flashbacks from her training in the Rabbit Caves, she knew the purpose of this trap. All around her were steel wires that would have triggered some sort of security measure and, possibly, a painful demise for her.
A loud clang shortly intervened, the windows opened up again before the glass slamming shut instead of the shutters that covered them when the security of the room was still on. The steel wires screeched again as the trap dismantled itself making the room safe for use or crossing again.
"The other rooms have similar protective measures that are engaged at night: steel wires that set off deadly nerve gas and shuts the perpetrator in rooms of reinforced walls, flame traps and bottomless pits with spikes below, not to mention those most gruesome buzzing blade things." Fuun sighed, likely feeling a bit regretful about how close all of his security measures came from being completely useless.
"That is interesting." Mana moved down the stairs and closer to her host, thinking what she had seen through carefully. "That means that the burglar knew about the security measures, they chose to specifically enter through the main front gate which was protected by guards so that they did not need to work through multiple floors of your security arrangements meant for more sneaky and lighter feet."
"That means that the burglar considers my men less of a threat than steel wire traps…" Fuun shrunk and collapsed like a deflated balloon. Signature to him, this outburst of depression was as short-timed as his eruptions of joy.
"Regardless, I find it very odd that someone skilled enough to speedblitz and take out this many guards so quietly was worried enough about such simple traps so that they retreated. It is likely that they may have found out something they have not prepared for and merely withdrew until a more convenient time when the specific tool is in their arsenal. Have you checked the jewel necklace and made sure it is not a replacement, faking a failed burglary?" Mana reflected her thoughts.
"Indeed. It was one of the first things I did, advised by my men, you see", Fuun nodded. "I must insist that you move my mother's memento to the Shukuba Security HQ and take personal responsibility for protecting it. I think it will be safer there than to have it lay here, a place where the burglar has already scoped out."
That was a curious and very heavy request. Indeed it would have been foolish to just leave the necklace as was but the Shukuba Security actually had infinitely worse security to its facilities, resorting to simple safes and locked doors as security precautions of choice. On one hand, the present security measures have already scared the burglar away, on another – the burglar knew exactly what they needed for a successful burglary now and there was not enough time for a complete security and staff overhaul.
"Shukuba Security is disbanded and has publically funded security measures. Its security is nothing compared to yours, Fuun-san." Mana tried to object. While she did want to help the man, feeling personally responsible for assisting in the collapse of Shukuba Security, the magician felt like her time was best spent planning the upcoming clash with the Diamond Hand and not watching the immeasurably luxurious necklace. Once again, the magician's general disinterest in riches and money matters played its inner part.
"It has a security measure I cannot obtain - you, Sorceress-san." Fuun bowed his head making the magician blush slightly after being addressed with an honorific she was not quite yet fully used to hearing, especially from the aristocratic circles which Mana imagined to be airheaded and arrogant.
"I can stay here, if it would not trouble you. That way you would not need to move the necklace and I could be here in case the burglar returns." Mana tried to make the man get the hint that she was not overly fond of babysitting his riches. It was a bit insensitive of her, especially given how she kind of screwed the man over with her obsession of stopping the Diamond Hand, but it was just the way she felt, even if she was not overly fond of her own character.
"I am well aware of the scale of two ninja clashing, I would rather not have to renovate my entire mansion, you see." Fuun shook his head and hands in a sprightly manner. "Plus, if the Shukuba Security measures are as undeserving of my mother's memento as you claim, it will serve as a fine bait for the deviant. I am quite a hunter myself and I therefore appreciate the application of such tactics in the hunt of hooligans as well, you see!"
Mana sighed as a sign of capitulation. It appeared that she would have to babysit this necklace until the morning came and the replies from the rookie squad came flooding in. Speaking of that, Mana was not fully sure which she would have appreciated more, the colts accepting their call of duty or dismissing Mana's pleads for help entirely. In the second case, even if her pride would have been stabbed in the chest and hung to bleed out, she would at the very least have been only endangering her own life. The kind of risks she preferred and was used to.
Fuun was even kind enough to request that Mana was driven back with the same carriage. Even if she'd have taken one tenth of the time returning to the Shukuba Security HQ all by herself even at the most leisurely of paces. By the time that the magician had returned with the necklace wrapped into an unimpressive little package and gently placed it into a safe alongside with files that Mana had not even read through or seen that the old Shukuba Security had been working with, the winter sky had grown dim.
Having no sleep for so long seemed so profoundly odd. The magician's feet dangled in the air as she occasionally moved them away from where they were positioned on the chair only to spin her chair around and keep staring right at the safe where the necklace was being kept. It all just felt like a single long day, had it not been for the perpetual switch between light and darkness, would Mana have even noticed that she's not slept for days on end?
Her supernatural metabolism let her make a lesser deal out of it than the magician normally would have been making, still, Mana could feel her chakra network buzzing in unease, like an old, barely functional electric panel. Controlling her chakra accurately, moving with her usual precision would have been impossible. The magician was lucky not to have snoozed on the job to begin with.
"So you've come…" Mana spoke up quietly, like there was someone present in the room, someone sleeping, someone she did not wish to wake.
"You've noticed…" a feminine voice noted with the same amount of rhetoric which was present in the magician's statement.
"I've sensed you from a while away, it was actually quite amusing feeling you try and avoid my attention." Mana turned the chair around and stood up to face the burglar. "I have little time or interest in this so I do plan to make this quick."
"Oh…" the woman in black leather that made her look rather elastic and stealthy and flashy red with white streaks hair that completely smashed that impression into pieces at the same time groaned. "But I planned this so long, moving my pieces on the board. It is at the very least very anti-climactic to just kill you and take the necklace like that."
"I figured you wanted it moved here. There was no way someone of your skill would not be able to maneuver around some invisible wire traps and breach that protective glass." Mana slowly walked in front of the table that was blocking her way to the woman. The burglar did not take a single step backward, she was confident in her ability to beat Mana, that was because she could not sense the magician's chakra signature and had not yet seen her fight. Because Mana was a complete mystery for the burglar whereas Mana both sensed the woman well and has seen what she could do by reading her movements inside the house she was robbing.
"Awww, I feel like you're not all here. And here I thought you were so adamant about defeating the Diamond Hand..." the burglar grinned, she knew full well about the reaction she'd invite from Mana by bringing that name up.
"You're... From the Diamond Hand?" Mana's eyes widened in surprise. Maybe the underestimation was mutual, for she may have read pretty much everything in this burglar's plan except the most important part - her involvement with the organization.
It seemed that the first battle in the war against the Diamond Hand would erupt earlier than Mana had anticipated. Before one of the sides was even completely formed yet.
