Mana opened her eyes. The appearance of two more ninja within the range of her sensory scared the butterflies resting their wings somewhere in her gut. An experience like this needed to be counted as some sort of torture. Every time a chakra signature of greater significant approached within a couple of hundreds of meters to her home she lit up, wondering if maybe this time they were here to take her away. Not yet to prison, mind you, to the mock trial but take her nevertheless.
Just how informed was the village about the mockery of the Ninja Tribunal about to take place? Hopefully, they knew enough to not bother sending ninja meant to escort someone that had beaten Guru Ayushi because Mana had neither beaten the man nor were such people in a fresh and sizeable supply.
This pair was one of two A-Ranked ninja. Back in the day, chakra signatures like this would have sent Mana into a panic attack. Sensing chakra looked similar to wandering in the dark, surrounded by candles. The warmth of some tiny flickers felt familiar, some of the lights were candles whereas the likes of jounin were like supermassive stars. All understanding and framing of size and proportions appeared to dwarf in the presence of such a ninja and one must have adapted the range of their sensory when confronting such people. Worked a lot like a microscope, Mana thought, zooming and panning out and the like…
"Mana!" mother called for the magician. Her voice was shaky but it was nothing compared to the confusion and panic that her mother would have suffered if the magician failed to muster up the guts and tell her what she needed to hear.
"Coming!" Mana yelled out, she did not take any ninja tools with her, just her uniform. Washed and tidied up by her mother who was almost obsessive with chores these last couple of days. Sometimes Mana wanted to extend her mother a helping hand, strengthen their bonds that way but she noticed that this was something that Nakotsumi Kei needed. It was something that gave her something mindless to occupy her helpless body and mind.
It would have been cruel to take even that solace away.
"The hat's not with you? Good." A beefed out jounin with spiky, blond hair spoke up. Mana had never met this man but she had seen him before. He was there during the finals of the Chuunin Exams, overseeing the event from the audience seats. He was also there in the Check-Up Station when Mana sought help in learning the Fire Release elemental nature three years ago. Apart from a few minor wrinkles and even more increased size of his musculature, the man had barely changed for three whole years.
"I am aware that bringing weapons with me to the Tribunal would be a show of disrespect." Mana nodded.
"You know why we're here?" the second jounin turned his head in confusion. He was a physical man as well but of a much more balanced build. A pair of simple glasses donned on his nose while a thick, chestnut-colored, full set of facial hair defined him better from any other average ninja joe with an A-Rank chakra signature.
Shit. He very nearly had Mana there. It would have been suspicious and very harmful to her case to act as if she knew all about the proceedings beforehand, then again, she was under no obligation to act like she was not guilty anyway. She was certain to be found guilty so she may as well have cared less about how the case she built for herself looked from outside.
"Had a hunch. This is about the Ayushi incident, right?" Mana shrugged.
"Had any other world-shaking fights we should know about?" the bearded jounin fixed his glasses with a very welcoming, almost paternal stare to his warm eyes. Unlike his colleague, this man did not appear to care that he was handling a potential disgrace to the ninja name.
"The statute of limitations is already due for the last ones." The magician did not waste any time looking for a reply. It was amazing having not a single care in the world about anything she would say or do, given how everything of importance has been taken off her hands.
"Witty, now let's get going." The more physical of the two jounin encouraged the magician.
"Can I go with my daughter?" mother pleaded.
"Ma'am, please understand, sensitive village matters will be discussed. It would be calmer on your own soul to sit this one out. If you have anything to say to your daughter, may as well say those things here and now. If she will be found guilty by the Tribunal, the execution of the sentence will begin immediately after the declaration of the verdict." The friendlier jounin replied while taking a few steps back from the two women, letting them smother each other out with freedom.
The other jounin took a step back and waited it out with patience too. He was following the two with his eyes and Mana knew he was paying close attention. It must not have been his first rodeo, he was looking out for any objects being passed, seals being placed or any shenanigans that could have potentially endangered the Tribunal. If memory served, the Tribunal was to be an allied one between most if not all ninja villages. That meant that a lot of important figures may have been put at risk if these two let something slip.
Despite the massive risks involved, even the one that liked Mana much less from the get-go let her finish up her business here.
"I'll do everything I can to be gone for as little time as possible," Mana whispered to her mother. There was little she could have done, likely there would be little to no point for her in saying anything but it would not hurt to let her mother know that. Maybe her heart would be one pound per minute calmer because of it and, if that was the case, it would have been worth the spared time. "Come on, guys, take me to your leader."
"Am I allowed to know your names?" Mana wondered, looking at the two ninja whose presence was causing a certain amount of uprising and curious glares in the streets. People knew Mana, she was especially hot with all the rumors of what had happened spreading and she was burning even hotter due to how the village tried muzzling those rumors. Most of the time, such effort had the opposite effect.
"Mars." The blond and robust jounin introduced himself.
"Haikan" the four-eyed jounin did the same with a smile that should have been invisible given the thickness of the bush on his face but one that somehow managed to twist the man's entire lower face into something resembling manhandled bread dough.
"I'm Mana," Mana stated the obvious, Haikan chuckled a bit while Mars rolled his eyes. "I know you two knew that already but it felt wrong being the only one not introducing herself…" she added.
"So did you do it?" Haikan wondered.
"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Mana avoided the question. "What matters now is what the Tribunal will determine. I suppose we will soon find out if I did it or not, can't wait."
"If you really did do it and you're here cracking jokes… That sort of thing just sickens me." Mars turned to the magician with a scowl. "Sure, people kill people all the time, you just happened to half-ass it, but there needs to be common decency, respect."
"Come on, Mars…" Haikan sighed. "Don't patronize the suspect until they've been determined guilty, you're better than that."
"What the shit?" Mars froze in awe of the number of people showing themselves to the Administration building with good spirits and cheers.
"Let Mana go!" they chanted in a nonstop mantra. One that remained consistent in tone and volume but given its intensity needed no further escalation to be taken seriously.
"It has flow to it." Mana shrugged. While she sort of pitied the pair of jounin, bound by the task to carry Mana through that mass of chaos, unable to harm these bystanders in any way that was not necessary in executing their task and people like Haikan and Mars would have strived for perfection in execution, she did also enjoy the little bit of chaos. Just this once, it seemed like the world had gone mad around someone else but her.
"Don't you even…" Mars turned at Mana. Until now the magician had not given the man the reason to growl or raise his voice at her so he did neither of these things but he did show his intolerance for the sort of things that would make him do either or both.
"Don't worry, I agreed to come, remember?" Mana smiled. "Let's just go, see what they'll do."
The people escalated their demands the moment that they saw action, that was admirable of them, usually, it was the action that died people down a bit. Then again, most of these villagers lived in the comfort of having ninja do their dirty work for them, they did not know the hopelessness of being powerless. If this sort of crowd was the last thing Mana would have seen, a legacy of people oblivious to the worst in life, she'd have departed a happy person.
The crowd split by the middle, letting Mana and Haikan through but the civilians began dashing into Mars and just rubbing themselves off on the jounin until they had driven the experienced ninja farther away. It was then that they began drilling the jounin and yelling at him, the fewer people knew the more certain they were they knew everything and people that thought they knew everything had a nasty tendency to tutor others in the ways of knowing better.
"I have never seen such public adoration for a ninja." Haikan wiped the sweat off his face while the two ninja entered the Administration building. "Then again, we've never escorted a superstar before. How do you even go undercover, blend in?"
"I like to focus more on the flair part," Mana smirked. "Plus, being known for something different entirely allows me different opportunities while if I absolutely require a stealthy touch I can always just use Transformation Jutsu."
She knew it was a half-lie. Due to Mana's dislike of using other people's jutsu, she'd have only used a Transformation Jutsu to disguise herself as a last resort. Haikan kept on wiping the sweat off the back of his neck while he removed his glasses and wiped them with his shirt.
"Damn, maybe I also need an alter ego. I always thought myself a pretty good singer…" the jounin sighed like a man who had realized he was too old for the world he inhabited.
"Of course, taking life lessons from someone you're escorting to the Ninja Tribunal is an excellent way to get ahead." Mana crossed her arms over her chest with a cheeky look at her companion. She has had enough of other people mimicking her way of life and everyone being worse off for it.
"Your face has turned sour." Haikan noticed while the two approached the Tribunal hall on the first floor of the building. "That usually happens to smart-mouths when they get close to the hall, something about the looming epic of that room and the inevitability of justice, I guess… I have a feeling that's not what's happening with you."
"Not at all…" Mana shook her head. "You've just made me realize just how much I have lost. Something I had never considered before."
"Ah, don't sweat too much." Haikan waved his hand after a moment of awkward pause where the man past his prime tried to comprehend what exactly has he made Mana realize that affected her that way. "You're a young gal, even the worst case scenario will seem irrelevant in the long run of your life. Even if they terminate your license, you're a world-known stage magician, you'll get by."
"You underestimate the depth of thought the people you bring here go through." Mana smiled through eyes that were beginning to water. She let her fondness for the man past his prime she had just met forty minutes ago carry her through the floor of bloody spikes and rivers of tears.
"I don't get it…" Haikan lowered his hands in submission.
"Maybe I will tell you one day." Mana patted him on the shoulder while entering the hall and taking the time to absorb its atmosphere before the proceedings started.
After taking her first steps in the Tribunal hall, the magician took a moment to look around and absorb the mixture of traditional wood accessories donning the best marble substitute that a country in the middle of the largest land mass of the planet could offer. Everything spread the fragrance of sophistication and fancy but also this bitter taste of patriotic stoicism.
"Like what you see? Odds are your residence for the coming few years won't look anything like this." Overcoat nearly startled the magician. He would have, had Mana not sensed him close up. She picked his signature up quite close, the Administration was so brimming with ninja that even if one knew they were looking for a gold needle and knew all too well how gold looked like, they would have needed to burrow through containers of ordinary needles to notice it.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have shadows to lurk from?" Mana asked without turning to the man. Once she did, a few moments later, she noticed him wearing a much less conspicuous outfit of a white shirt and a sleeveless vest hanging awkwardly, his hair tied in the signature Nara ponytail.
"You're a lot snappier than I remember you being?" Overcoat smirked.
"Emptiness is a lot more convenient void to be flying through. Not having boulders atop of your back helps as well." Mana sighed. While she tried dismissing this entire thing and try to be about as calm about it as she was in most matters post her meeting with Ayushi, the fact that she found her hands behaving too awkward to keep out of the pockets of her blazer betrayed her true nature.
"I see. In any case, I'm here to see that everything transpires as we've agreed. My superiors assigned me to be your voice in this session. Just rest easy and let's breeze through this. My name's not Overcoat while in this mission, it's Nehra Kichiro." Overcoat said.
"Excuse me?" Mana raised an eyebrow.
"I am from the western parts of Kumogakure ups." Overcoat smirked.
"Oh… You mean Nara in the Kumo west-upper dialect, geez." Mana chuckled.
"Yah, given how your Tribunal is an international one, Mehna-sehn, you've been given a voice from Kumogakure. A pretty darn good one too." Overcoat tried breaking her again. Now that Mana knew what was coming, she remained somewhat resistant to the buffoonery of his outrageous dialect.
"So are you planning on doing this the whole way through?" Mana wondered. "That won't grow bothersome at all."
"That'd be a negateeve, I'll smooth back into talkin' like a human bein' down the lahne." Overcoat shrugged.
"So what's our plan?" Mana wondered as people started walking in and out the hall, sitting at various sides of the horseshoe-shaped hall-long table while the actual judges still simmered in the preparation rooms behind the Tribunal stand in the most northern part of the room. "Makes sense for us to be on the same page about what I would do or say."
"The village has a strict sixty-forty relationship with the fact that Ayushi was insane. The other villages… More like ninety-nine against a bunch of hearsay. If you just stand up and take the blame, the international judges will know that something's afoot. You need to play the game a little bit." Overcoat guided her.
"You mean not lie for a little bit?" Mana teased her voice a bit.
People just about filled the Tribunal hall. These weren't quite the civilians from outside the building but people with the authorization granted to them by the village to handle sensitive and confidential information. Usually, Tribunal allowed people with proper permits to be present in sessions, it was more witnesses to validate the entire procession but, given the number of people watching Mana finish off her nearly systematically dismantled life, this policy may be reconsidered in the favor of some exceptions to be made.
Then the judges started filling their seats. All seated at the same height, same platform, implying equal standing but given the shadowy games that transpired behind the curtain, none of them were truly equal.
"How many judges are in on it?" Mana wondered.
"Very perceptive." Overcoat smiled.
"I mean… It doesn't take much to ensure that I get the right verdict from my part but, seeing you here guiding my hand, I am beginning to understand the organization you're working for. There's no way they did not make it absolutely certain that the judges know and will vote the way it is convenient to them." Mana explained what helped her figure it out.
"Just the Konoha ones." Overcoat nodded. "The whole point of the gig is to fool the other countries. They've all been approached by the Black Ops and told that they were absolutely certain you have done it. Very few of them even wanted to see the fabricated proof that the Black Ops had."
"You went out of your way to say that the evidence was fabricated but you did not say that the Black Ops weren't who they posed as." Mana thought out loud. It was fortunate that the hustle and the bustle helped drown out their voices to all but anyone who would have cared to listen in. Those who would have cared would have had to venture too close to avoid detection by a literal secret agent of the village and a chakra sensor.
Overcoat did not say anything. He just watched at the judges take their places and the secretary of the Tribunal declaring the beginning of the Tribunal. Whoever Overcoat was working for had access to the Black Ops. The one seemingly incorruptible, right hand of the Hokage that operated solely on his whims. Overcoat did not need to say anything to confirm that. He even looked like he wrestled the temptation to just blurt it out.
Just how tangled was the web that Konoha was built on, the one that supported it?
