So far Mana has been careful. Perhaps that very same caution has prevented her from exploiting some chances that she should have looked at. It made sense, rationalizing fighting at only the level in which she was used to fighting before the crazy training in the Rabbit Caves and completely ignoring the costlier show of the growth she has accomplished. After all, she was weakened by the scuffle with the Red Hawks and the struggle against the Yordalarians, it only made sense to conserve strength.


A blow sent the magician crashing through something tall, sharp and hard as a rock, then tumbling through the stony caves, hitting just about every rough obstacle in her way. It was hard to say what was worse, the hit itself or the landing and the proceeding to stand back up. Even when Mana knew that Usuzoku's slash was coming, his sword still hurt like hell even at the highest level of the applied defensive augmentations. By now the magician was long past being afraid of chakra augmentation as she was some time after breaking her chakra network – fearing such a fundamental part of battle meant certain death in here.

„Yer holdin' back!" Usuzoku declared, a distinctive metallic clang suggested that the showoff rabbit swordsman has once again stabbed his sword right through the stone, avoiding damage to the blade by coating it in chakra, while using the massive weapon for support.

"I'm not holding back," Mana argued, her voice was devoid of any irritation that the voice of a kunoichi that's been kicked around and battered for well over a hundred hours by that point would've had.

"Yer dodgin' just as fast as ye did from da get-go, and yer punchin' just as strong. Means yer holdin' back, always have been." Usuzoku spat to the side, in the purposefully dimmed area of the Rabbit Caves that aimed to better emulate the inhospitable conditions of the old home of the rabbits, now used solely for training, Mana could hear every part of the journey for the little drop of spit or any of its fractions. She had no other senses to rely on except touch, hearing and her chakra sensory.

"Or maybe I'm just fighting intelligently." The magician breathed out a pair of heavy sighs as she struggled to push herself back into fighting shape. "I knew I was in it for a long brawl so I'm pacing myself, doesn't mean I'm holding back."

"Yeh, it does. Ye've been trainin' for hours since before I came 'ere askin' fer trouble. Ye've been tired since da very start, ye've known dat." Usuzoku cracked his knuckles, then drew his sword out from the stony floor it put it into for a short rest.

"All the more reason to…" Usuzoku disappeared before Mana could finish. Mana's body flared up with accelerated chakra flow, almost pouring from her every pore. She did not know where exactly she'd be hit at and she could not afford getting cut down or impaled again, that simply demanded too much time to recover from, too much time she could have spent training. Guru Ayushi had nearly infinite amounts of stamina and has fought battles for twice the amount of days to how many hours Mana has been sparring for…

Another painful flash lit up the magician's vision. It was not created by a source of light, instead, it was a different way for the body of the young woman to express the pain and the damage she took while her body toughened up to take it. Even in the airless oven of the training caves, Mana felt the cold brush of air against the bleeding wounds. It was the prime way of identifying what was bleeding and what was just bumped really badly. While Mana's chakra augmentation withstood the sword slash by having only the blunt swinging force spread throughout the kunoichi's body instead of cutting her open, the slide and the slam from the aftereffects of the impact weren't as easily protected against in this stage of the battle.

"Ye know I'm fresh, ye know I've got more chakra den you. What's dere to fight intelligently about? Just let loose, take a gamble, win or lose, at least ye won't have to take a beating to come to da same resolution…" Usuzoku taunted the magician.


It appeared that old habits did not die easy. The moment that Mana stopped training with Usuzoku and resumed solo-training, started catching up on her other passions that she's missed out on during the time she's been away, she's come back to the old way she used to fight. What Usuzoku said was true, if Mana was to fight the old way, by trying and control the pace of the battle, manage her stamina and her chakra resourcefully, she'd lose. She'd lose after a drawn-out game of chess because her opponent simply had twice the amount of figures Mana had…

The Konoha kunoichi slammed her hands together, parting them in the shape of a hand seal, then proceeded to form a handful more of them. The hands of the Iwagakure spy woman moved in to intercept Mana's attempt at an attack but they froze mid-way. Mana's opponent was experienced and skilled enough to realize that she'd never win a hand seal race against the magician so she refused to even try, now the Water Style user was playing the game Mana played before – the pacing game.

A bright flash emanated from the magician's hands. "Black Magic Box Jutsu!" Mana chanted out the name of her illusion, one that she had not yet had the chance or the necessity to use since the training days, except the little sneak peek during the Summit with the Ninja Voices.

The Iwagakure woman froze in her tracks, her arm twitched in a jerky motion before her eyes blanked out. Almost as if she had just died on the spot and her soul had completely departed from her body. While the first part was most certainly not the case, it was merely a case of debate about the second. The mind of the woman was in another place completely while staying where it was at the very same time.

The Iwagakure kunoichi tried letting out a gasp while the total darkness that surrounded her was interrupted by rusty chains shooting out from the barely intelligible liquid that she stood on in the illusionary realm. She would try dodging those chains but she was not the woman she thought herself to be, her movements while affected by the illusion were sluggish and imprecise, it was not that the woman herself perceived the world in delirium, it was that the illusionary world Mana created and placed her in was delirious by its very nature. Nothing was like it supposed to be, save for the illusion that the magician had to show.

The rusted clinkers wrapped around the limbs of the Iwagakure spy, compressing around the body parts it restrained so hard that the very thought of resisting them, combined with the complete feeling of powerlessness that the very atmosphere of the Black Magic Box illusion created, made one shiver like the chills of a winter morning against one's bare skin.

A bulbous burst of chakra flared up from the woman, obliterating away the rusted chains that Mana's illusions formed in a second. The magician knew what it meant – she's been read like a note. Admittedly, the illusionary nature of the Black Magic Box technique was about as subtle as an old hag screaming bloody murder in one's face while waving an ax about. Realizing that it was an illusion and therefore dispelling it was not that difficult, although due to its above average rank, the deed demanded quite the resources from the woman.

Now the two were almost even – in fact, Mana's chakra signature, even after using a B-Rank illusion, was now ahead of the remaining chakra of her opponent's, just because of how straining dispelling such an illusion was.

"You can stop it now." Mana closed her eyes, shortly after breaking her flight technique to use her illusion, she had reset the Mystical Wings jutsu and floating at the upper levels where her opponent was standing on a meaningless staircase platform.

"Frustrated that I've shattered your technique? Frightened maybe? Even if you tried running away if you begged me to spare you, I wouldn't." the Iwagakure woman smiled, her emerald-colored lips arced like an upside crescent moon although because of the generally repulsive nature of the woman that owned it, despite her gorgeous appearance, it took a malevolent visage.

"That's not what I meant. I meant you can shatter the illusion of your own creation." Mana stared back at the face of a woman she was beginning to utterly dislike more and more with each word she said.

"Huh? W-What? W-Wait… Don't tell me!" Mana felt a little satisfied to see the anguish in the face of her opponent overcome the innate sadism. It almost made it worth it revealing the secret that the magician was onto the spy's illusion for some time now. Not from the very beginning, the control over the woman's chakra was commendable, she was able to remain in her transformation for quite a long time before Mana noticed a slight dip in her chakra resources. "You're a sensor!? On top of a Lightning Style user… Talk about a pain in my ass to fight…"

"That's right." Mana nodded, her eyes still closed, almost challenging the woman to try her luck. "The other spies I've met went through a great deal of issue to protect their names. They never slipped up, you could never encounter them even in the most personal depths of their minds, not even almost mentally lobotomizing one of you brought it any closer to the surface. Spies through and through… You… You've gone the farthest out of them all, disguising even your appearance."

The Iwagakure kunoichi ground her teeth in enmity. What she said previously was true, Mana was the perfect counter to this woman's abilities – capable of sensing her chakra and therefore reading her Transformation Jutsu ploy, relying mainly on Lightning Style ninjutsu therefore able to shock the spy by confronting her Water Style jutsu with Mana's own focused offense and coming out on top due to natural elemental reactions between the pair. Still, the fact that this woman was able to fight while transformed and to such an extent… It may just have been that it was not too wise to invite the spy to remove this disguise and fight without the constant strain of maintaining a false face.

"T-That's right… You got me, that's what I've been doing this whole time!" the spy placed her hands on her hips and turned them around a pair of time while grinning into the air, like posing for an election poster.

"That's not the reason at all, is it? It's some sort of a wish to look younger thing?" Mana's upper body sagged after the depressing realization. The idea of some of the Iwagakure spies going the extra line while protecting their identity just sounded so cool that the young woman may have given them too much credit there.

"N-Not at all!" the Iwagakure woman looked offended enough for Mana to at least barely subscribe herself to the belief that her opponent was not just a vain, aging woman trying to look at her prime while eating the cake of experience and skill acquired through the years as well. "I've had enough of your mockery, it's about time I make you beg for death!"

After a cold declaration like that, the Iwagakure woman placed her hands together and weaved a collection of hand seals. The number of hand seals was not that impressive. Perhaps Mana was wise to not initiate a counter attack as she may not have made it in time and would have left open for the impending attack. The strain on her opponent's chakra was also rather lacking, the ninjutsu she was using must have been a low-ranking one.

"Water Style: Water Assault Jutsu!" the Iwagakure woman chanted as jets of water spread out of the large lake below, like watery tendrils of an abyssal beast reaching out for an airborne prey. Mana pressed her palms against each other before extending them to the side.

"Magic Bubble Jutsu!" the magician chanted out while a bubble of Wind Release chakra formed around her, one of B-Rank in intensity and therefore strong enough to completely nullify her opponent's C-Rank technique. The tendrils of water slapped about at the bubble, sending it flying to the other tentacle that tried its best to burst the bubble and get to the soft and vulnerable ninja inside. It was a whole world apart from the strength required to break Mana's bubble. The protections only faded away once the water tendrils of the Iwagakure kunoichi turned flabby and collapsed into a downpour back down to its source.

After just a single exchange, Mana could no longer tell the difference between her remaining chakra and that of her opponent's. The jutsu that the Iwagakure kunoichi used was lower ranking than Mana's protections, which in itself compensated for the luxurious decision of the spy to dispel Mana's illusion immediately.

"Your thirst for blood from before. It surpasses that of somebody that's fighting to protect their home. I've been inside the mind of your less fortunate comrade, I know why this mission is so important to you." Mana stated while calmly resuming her neutral fighting stance. She had planned on luring out more moves from her opponent, throw her off-balance, make her use out more chakra and once again regain the advantage. Even if Mana gambled on her victory by going all out now, she'd only win this battle, not the plenty of remaining battles ahead in this war.

A sick smile twisted the face of the Iwagakure woman. "Home? Why would I fight for that dirty speck of rock on the world map? A place that doesn't care for anyone that doesn't foster the rock-hard attitude they try so hard to instill", judging from the scorn present in the woman's tone, there was some very painful personal history present in these cruel sentiments.

"I refuse to believe that." Mana shook her head. "Nobody who sees an assignment as just an objective they need to fulfill fight as hard as you do, with as much heart behind every attack."

Mana's words were laughed off with some of the most vigorous mockery that Mana has faced in her life and she grew up as a ninja that refused to take a life. It was in that reaction that the magician saw it for real – there was none of the devotion to the sacred memories of Iwagakure that the other spies had, none of the burning passion to save the lives of its villagers and fill the bellies of its children and the poor. Just something else entirely…

"I do this because it pays really well to get to kill people." The Iwagakure woman declared.

Mana clenched her fists. The more rational part of her mind begged the magician to not use any jutsu now, when her chakra was bursting and brimming on the inside, water leaked through any hole the fastest when it was being splashed and thrown around. Just like chakra was wasted the fastest when emotion disrupted one's control.

"Magic Entrance Jutsu!" Mana yelled out, pointing her hands at the opponent while expelling a wild flock of Lightning Release chakra sparks at her. Nothing but a minor hindrance, something to turn one's head away from at best, maybe stumble back if one was standing too close and the Iwagakure woman appeared to have picked up on that weakness of the magician's jutsu. She just covered up her face to protect it from being burnt and turned away from the bright flashes of the sparks.

"Fire Style:…" Mana's voice slashed through the crackling sound of lightning sparks and forced her opponent to throw her covering hands off of her face and power through the final kicks of the previous technique just to see what madness the magician has settled on throwing at her this time. At the same time, the Iwagakure kunoichi rushed through her own set of hand seals. It was dangerous to stand in place and race to the end but… If the woman succeeded…

"Flamethrower Jutsu!" the magician yelled out right before inhaling a massive amount of air into her lungs, enough to inflate her upper body like a balloon to where it threatened to have the magician burst like one as well, however, because it was merely for a moment, the grimmest did not come to pass. By blowing all the pent-up air out from her lungs, Mana compressed the air into a stream of air while converting it into Fire Release chakra as well. The immolating result was a supercharged beam of flames directed right at wherever Mana blew the blazing air at.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" her opponent yelled out, the woman's heart was burning with excitement. Just from the passion at which she declared the name of her triumphant Water Style ninjutsu that she managed to squeeze into the space between Mana's hand seals and the time when her jutsu came out telegraphed just how excited the woman was with this gamble. With the intensity of a moment in between being overcome by a stream of flames so intense that it tore flesh from one's bones before the heat even set in and using one's own technique that was superior to that of the opponent's in terms of the elemental reaction it caused between the chakra natures.

A blast of water, shaped like a dragon raced from down below and wrapped around its user, protecting the woman from the rushing flames while completely nullifying their harmful effects on its master. It did so before smashing right into Mana's flamethrower stream with its head and continuing to push onward, extinguishing the magician's flames almost as if they were nothing more but measly air resistance for the B-Rank Water Release jutsu.

"You fool! Using a Fire Release jutsu against me…" the Iwagakure ninja mocked Mana until the final moments, right up until the dragon-shaped rush of water swallowed Mana whole. Without warning, a thunderclap signaled the passage of mighty electrical currents through the water dragon still surrounding its master, coming from Mana's direction. The Iwagakure woman screamed out in pain, jerked and twitched in shock as the torment left no strength or time to beg for the violent and unexpected reaction to the clash between Mana's Flamethrower Jutsu and the Water Dragon Jutsu of her own to stop.

"A Fire Release Jutsu? I did not use a Fire Release Jutsu, my Lightning Clone did. One you so generously destroyed, being so eager to demonstrate how dominant and deadly you are. Hope it teaches you something for the future…" Mana spoke, standing with her back turned to where she used the opening provided to her by the Magic Entrance technique's sparks to create a Lightning Clone, a form of Shadow Clone that, upon being dispelled emitted a powerful lightning shock.

It was a costly play, one fueled by anger at the cruel words of her opponent, but one without which Mana would not have had the woman collapse on her knees and almost fumble off the platform and down into the lake of her own creation below. A cotton-white mist began forming around Mana and her downed opponent, still gasping for air while the violent electric currents passed through her body, eyes still rolled back and chakra signature lingering on the edge of complete still. A consequence of all the water having been created around the boiling, black walls of the Eternal Fire, hot enough to make the lake boil and evaporate into thick mist.