Looking at the group of people gathering by Hanasaku's ward with flowers and gifts made Mana squelch herself inside. Why would the charismatic Lady Fifth actually have time for Mana to see her? The very idea now made less and less sense and Mana wondered why it ever seemed sound, besides the fact that the magician genuinely wanted to see her mentor.

She's already lost one mentor figure in her life without getting to properly say goodbye. Even if she was to wait beside Hanasaku's ward until the end of the visiting hours, even if she had to pull every favors she had in the building, Mana was not about to look past moments of weakness like this without checking on the woman.

"It's Konoha's Sorceress!" somebody noticed making Mana blush and smack her forehead. She wanted to play it cool but it went about as well as it usually went in one's blooming years when they tried to look cool. In the eyes of some of her fans and people that just knew of her in general, she just revealed herself as a bumbling child. It was not like the day could have gone that much worse…

"Hey, guys. You think you can gift me a moment with my mentor?" the magician put her hands together with a smiling plead.

Strangely enough, it went through better than the magician hoped. Maybe she was losing popularity in the village due to not performing for a while now and that was why the people were less persistent and all over her but the bustling ward was quick to clean out leaving Mana alone with her sensei.

"Sensei. I did not know you were in the hospital." Mana bowed to the woman.

Hanasaku looked seriously worn out, her eyes were bagged and her face had plenty more wrinkles than it usually did. Her hair looked messy and some of the blood vessels over her arms and her face looked darker. Despite that, the woman looked quite happy which strangely made the worry over her condition greatly dim down.

"It's not like I can blame you, it's not like I made a habit of falling this ill." Hanasaku scratched the back of her head as if she was sort of blaming herself for getting injured.

"True, I'm sure you'll be back on your feet and swinging in no-time though." Mana tried comforting her mentor. Seeing the number of flowers and gift boxes stacked beside her bed made the magician feel a little better about not bringing the woman anything. It did not appear like she needed or wanted anything really.

"Actually… I think I'm going to call it quits." Hanasaku declared with a smile that usually was more comfortably resting on Meiko's face.

"W-What?" Mana's jaw dropped. She tried to keep her composure in front of the woman and speak with the proper etiquette that was in order when talking to one's superior but this declaration made the Sannin bust through yet another block wall.

"Yeah. Someone finding out my weakness, that's bound to spread. Also, I don't think I'm going to ever be the same after that technique. The medical folk think that my inhuman stamina and healing are gone for good, I'm just like everybody else now. I'll get old, I'll die if someone hits me too hard, I'll age and all that package." Hanasaku smiled. She looked like she was comfortable living that way and even more down with her decision.

"Oh, I see…" Mana looked down and to the side in discomfort.

"Oh! I'm sorry, it's not like there's anything wrong with being normal it's just… I spoke with Sixth and… That's it. You know. There are no more friends I have to talk with. Howoku and Tanshu got themselves killed, Misu was the one who helped my other bros get killed… Everyone I grew up with has passed on and this may be the last warning call I will ever get. It's a rare chance that one even gets one, usually, their warning call is getting themselves killed on the spot…" Hanasaku's soft tone and her gentle gestures almost made Mana's eyes water.

Just like that, Konoha had no more Sannin to gleam brightly to all there to see. There would be no more lighthouses spreading beams of light into the shadows beyond the walls, scaring off the imps and beasts that honed their claws and grinned their teeth at the village walls. For the first time in a while, Konoha was vulnerable.

"If I can ask for something, Mana." Hanasaku rubbed her elbow in discomfort. For just this once, it was the retired Sannin who felt shy to bring something up with her graduate student. "Don't retire."

Mana's eyes widened. The girl raised her stare at the woman as if pleading and trying to probe out the reasons for her words at the same time.

"I realize I may be out of line asking you this. It is most definitely cruel, at the very least, to ask you to keep going after you've paid your dues. I don't expect you to honor my request…" Hanasaku raised her hands up in defense and started shaking her palms, an attempt to alleviate the pressure she placed on the magician's shoulders.

"I'll do it. I'll keep going." Mana bowed her upper body.

"Huh?" Hanasaku raised her eyebrows in surprise. The magician wasn't really sure where the Sannin found out about Mana's retirement but she was ready to oblige her mentor.

"I decided to retire halfway through the Chuunin Exams. I know, not the best time and place but… It felt like the right thing to do. Like my ninja career didn't really matter from that point on. It felt like I was doing more damage as a ninja. I became a ninja to save lives, to use my gifts to help those without them but… It went so wrong. Even my last mission, I think I may have done more harm than good in the long run. I saw my career as a stage magician, as a symbol of fun and cheer helping people so I thought betting everything on that." Mana explained herself. Her mentor may have known that Mana was retiring but she may not have known the reasons why.

"But even when I think I'm screwing things up, hurting people by being a ninja, I see the eyes and minds of people much wiser and stronger than me looking impressed. If you ask me to keep going, well… I respect you too much to ignore that. I'll keep going, not just that – I'll become a Sannin." Mana pressed her fist on her chest as she made the declaration.

Hanasaku smiled and dragged her index finger under her eyes like she tried to get an annoying piece of glass out of her eyes. "Did I just hear a change in your nindo?" Hanasaku grinned through tears.

"No. Helping people and inspiring them was always the idea. Right now Konoha will need a strong figure to place in front of the strong northern winds to feel safe. Sannins are necessary. The presence of one protects the village better and makes those who wish to oppress and destroy lives more hopeless than a thousand defeats." Mana closed her eyes and sighed.

She just declared that she would achieve the highest rank imaginable. Maybe second to being a Hokage but a Hokage was more of a political head, not necessarily the most powerful. A Sannin was a higher than life figure, a true legend amongst their peers that transcended their profession and any ranks. The weight of that declaration did not waste any time before pressing against her shoulders, the clawing tendrils of inner demons trying to wrap against her neck and drag her down did not wait at all.

Still, even when all inner voices whispered that they would fail in their ears, a true Sannin would shine through.

"I was never the brainy type, you know. I'm not that great with words so I don't think I can put it any better than I will – I'm more proud of you than I have words for. I just wish that I did not turn my back to you and hold you farther from the rest like a black sheep when you needed me the most…" Hanasaku cried out in joy. "Do you hear it, Little Bro, our girl's all grown up!" she said as she looked up at the ceiling, no, somewhere beyond it.

"You were the best teacher anyone could have asked for. The only time I felt the most alone and down – you took me in under your wing even though I was an oddity to you. Regardless of what you say, sensei, we are not that much different. Whenever duty calls, no matter how many pounds of your flesh it demands – you choke it with one pound more." Mana wiped her own tears with her sleeve before bowing to her mentor.

Before she could properly say her farewells to her mentor, people started bursting into the room feeling really itchy to bring their own gifts and see their heroine without realizing just how final this moment of her blazing glory was. And yet, looking at Hanasaku she did not seem intimidated by fading away or new figures rising up to her heights. In fact, she looked like she welcomed the thought and hoped that these new legends rose up to the occasion and kicked her old can down the stairs.

"Seeing forward to reading about you, Mana!" Hanasaku winked at the magician with a thumb up.

"I probably need to bring Kiyomi and Meiko those sandwiches I promised them anyway." Mana shrugged letting the rushing mob push and wash her away and out of the ward.

"A sandwich? Mind getting me one? Most gifts I get are trinkets and flowers, eating any of those would give me a stomach-ache, I bet…" Hanasaku grinned.

Meiko was tearing the chicken sandwich apart at a very predictable pace. Luckily enough, Mana was not born yesterday and she stacked up plenty of those right by the blacksmith's side. It was hard to say which one was more satisfying – seeing a hungry soul eat poultry voraciously or seeing Meiko smack herself in the face with the chicken every time.

"Jeez, Meiko, you need to tear it, not pull it…" Kiyomi placed her own finished sandwich down before sighing. "So what's up with you?" she asked before turning her sight at Mana.

"Huh? Me?" Mana blushed and lost her composure again. Luckily, her good old friends – hair and the tip of her hat were there to hide her racing eyes. "Nothing really, probably will just keep working, keep training, keep performing. Nothing really changed."

A loud plastic clank made Mana turn her eyes at Meiko in surprise. The blacksmith placed a little bite of bread left of her current sandwich on the plastic plate but she was rushing the motion and let it all crumble down on the floor.

"You're hiding something from us, Mana," Meiko stated. "Were you serious about that or are you serious about retirement?"

Mana's head sunk down. Was there anyone in this village who did not know that Mana was planning to retire at some point? Perhaps, if the magician was lucky, the people who still failed to realize she was a ninja in the first place would not have known that. Then again, given how popular the finals of the Chuunin Exams were and how her fight was the main event, even those people were very few in numbers.

"Not anymore. I just kinda flirted with the idea. I really helped one person out with my magic shows so for some time I thought to go all in with the idea." Mana shrugged. At least she did not have to fluster and bumble when she was genuine and truthful.

"Hmmm, I see… Maybe you should though?" Meiko looked at Mana with a serious glare – one that did not visit the blacksmith often but that made one pay even more attention to the blacksmith's words when it did.

"I mean we got our butts beat, that's not something new. I failed one thing or another my whole life. I'll just get back on my feet and try again, work harder and next time I encounter the same wall I won't let it stop me. But seeing you hurt yourself like how you did before the finals, now seeing something plaguing you inside, something you're too afraid to share with us… It hurts. It hurts worse than what put me here in the first place." The blacksmith spread her hands out gesturing at the whole hospital room.

"Yeah, I haven't been entirely honest with you this whole time. Just… Hearing us fight over how we would have all handled that situation and how heated it got, I didn't want to lose what we've built. You guys are my best friends and I wanted to protect that." Mana admitted.

"We all know you'd have gone to hell and back to help that man out, even if you failed that mission. I mean, it's not high-concept science." Kiyomi squinted at the magician.

"Really? I'm that predictable?" Mana wondered. "Anyway. I didn't hold that much back about what happened. It's just that I had to do some really odd things to save the people I wanted to save and even then, I couldn't save everybody. Lord Sixth said that some of my methods reminded him of what Black Ops use to destabilize villages and that I may have hurt more people in the long run than I've saved…"

"Oh…" Meiko puffed her cheeks and looked down. "I don't know much about no destabilizing countries tactics. Not sure if I can help you with that."

"You don't really need to tell me anything. Just seeing you guys pick yourselves up and keep going after a failure like this is inspiring enough." Mana smiled. "Plus I don't have the luxury to retire and stay down. I just promised Hokage-sensei that I would one day become a Sannin."

Kiyomi and Meiko jumped up and cried out in surprise. "T-That's insane!" Meiko exclaimed with a joyous expression.

"Yeah, after all three of us nearly got ourselves killed just to reach the stage of chuunin, I have a lot of work to do." Mana felt a little uncomfortable seeing her friends this psyched out, it felt like she had declared something outside of anyone's reach as her objective, which was odd. Her previous nindo was a thousand times less reachable than her current one, even if the first one never went anywhere and was very much still the driving force behind Mana's new goal.

"To be entirely honest, you may have more luck aiming to reach the chair of the Hokage. Becoming Hokage has a lot more to do with political image and one's popularity among both ninja and the civilians. As a starlet, you'd have a much easier time." Kiyomi noted after calming down from the initial burst of shock that had overcome her.

"Maybe. I was never too intelligent with my goals though." Mana's eyes irradiated a melancholic sense of calm while her lips softly smiled. "Sometimes a fairytale was all I needed to bet all my chips on that hand."

"Okay, that's settled. We're all gonna declare our goals. Draw our lines in the sand and make it so that until we reach those goals – we'll never be able to look each other in the eyes in peace!" Meiko cheered on. Once her childish glee calmed, the redhead took a deep breath in and out.

"I wanna be in charge of the Konoha Police Force." Meiko declared.

"That's random." Kiyomi snickered.

"I have to admit, it does not really suit your previous passion for legendary artifacts and weapons." Mana looked at Meiko with a slightly defusing glare.

"Oh, I'm still all over that. But it's not like becoming a Sannin will stop Mana from helping people either. Seeing old geezer Togure all worked up while being too weak and blunt to help him… It felt wrong." Meiko explained her piece of mind.

"You do know what the Police Force does, right? It deals with small-time lowlifes too small for bounty hunters and Hunter Nin to execute. That's the opposite of what old man Togure needed." Kiyomi pointed out.

"Yeah, but by dealing with criminals without killing them, the Police Force understands them. A Police Force officer may have better known how to help Togure without killing him and compromising the mission and a Police Force officer also is the first line of protecting the village." Meiko clenched her fists passionately defending her decision.

"They certainly do good work." Mana nodded. "It is an admirable and much more reasonable goal to reach."

"Fine…" Kiyomi pouted. "Maybe I went overboard in that mission. Too many too powerful and experienced ninja told me that to just brush it off. I also want to protect the village from criminals and Missing Nin but I don't know how I can do that with all of my emotions bubbling up inside me. The only way to do that would be to beat them without engaging them and working myself up."

"So I guess you've decided then?" Mana smiled.

"Yeah. The Yamanaka are the golden eggs for intelligence gathering. I'm going to keep working on becoming a chuunin before joining the Konohagakure Intelligence Division." Kiyomi declared with a respectable amount of restraint and composure.

"Aww, so you're not gonna be a little princess and lead your clan?" Meiko tried poking fun at her friend before receiving a mock punch on her left cheek that sent the blacksmith flipping on the other side, giggling to herself.

"These two do not conflict with the other. The current leader of the Torture and Interrogation Force of the Intelligence Division is a Yamanaka, after all." Kiyomi pouted her lips, annoyed at Meiko poking fun at her. She tried to hide that pleasant friendly grin at the right tip of her lips with her best effort but unsuccessfully so.

"I did some interrogating in Shukuba. If you ever want to share experiences, I'm more than willing to do so." Mana brought it up.

"No offense but… I'd rather ask someone like Hisako." Kiyomi shook her head while keeping up her grin.

"Oh, so that's how it is…" Mana smiled back. "Anyway, with the Team Hokage dissolving, you may stand a better chance at becoming an Intelligence Officer by enrolling to the Konoha High."

"Wait, what?" Kiyomi raised a curious eyebrow.

"Oh, you didn't know? Hokage-sensei said she was retiring after this mission. She sees her injuries as a waking call of sorts. With half of Team Hokage gone, it will surely be completely rebuilt." Mana dragged the tip of her right foot across the hospital floor, knowing quite well about what difficulties this revelation would bring up, especially with Kiyomi who already got burnt this way before.

"I can't believe it!" Kiyomi yelled out. "She's doing this shit again! She's breaking up the team again!"

Before Kiyomi's rampage could really escalate, however, Meiko's arm reached from across her bed and pressed against the Yamanaka's shoulder. "You're wrong, Mana." Meiko shook her head with heart and determination behind the motion.

"Team Hokage won't break. Sure, we may start working by ourselves or get sent to different teams but Team Hokage is no longer just a name. It's the bond between us that can't just be broken that easily." Meiko declared.

Kiyomi's feet appeared from under the cover and slipped into her cute bear slippers before shuffling a short distance so that the Yamanaka could wrap her arms around Meiko's neck. Mana couldn't help but laugh out. Sometimes Meiko said the weirdest things but, at times, she ended up being the smartest person in the room.

"The visiting hours are over." A nurse peeked in from outside to let Mana know. Meiko and Kiyomi extended their arms for the magician to join in on the group hug but Mana just stood up, saluted her friends and left with a smile on her face.

"Look at her acting all cool…" Kiyomi grinned taking her sweet time to finish the hug. Finally, Meiko had to be the one to show initiative by pulling Kiyomi off. The sheer effort it must have taken must have been comparable to that of pulling a tentacle-filled eldritch abomination off of the planetoid it was feeding on.

"You won't be a little princess after all, you're gonna be a little schoolgirl!" Meiko laughed at her friend before receiving another mock punch to the cheek.


I know the timing of this chapter is a bit off to the usual. I am going to be pretty busy this evening so I'm posting this up ahead of time. If someone sees any problem with that, I'm really sorry about that.

Anyway. That's it for this small arc. I know that to some it may have looked pointless and weird, with most of it being a big flashback story but it felt a bit too important for me to leave it out, given how it directly influenced a lot of changes in character motivation for some of the main cast. I did my best not to make this feel like a bad filler arc and if I failed, that's on me. I kind of hoped, initially, to leave Kiyomi and Meiko out of the story for a while just because of how effective their parting with Mana was after the Exams but I feel like this parting feels just a bit more final and, except for a small meeting in the next arc, to set the stage for some more future plotlines, these two will be left to their own devices to grow stronger and develop. I really hope that whatever readership I maintained up to this point don't hate those two, as a longtime fan of Naruto and pro-wrestling I know what it is like to have characters you don't like being shoved down my throat.

Anyway, much love 3