Uzumaki Midoben stood at the end of his office in a strict and militaristic stance. He took a moment to prepare himself mentally to receive the report and Mana provided him with that moment, given the man's importance in the organization and the heavily unfortunate turn of events on the field.
"We've managed to locate the smugglers responsible for moving in the supplies into the village. However, we've been unable to subdue them without heavily injuring them." Mana started her report on the most important part. The man did not look happy. However, he appeared more curious than angry as well. "The smugglers were breaking into the village territory by using a transportation seal. They weren't too powerful however their mastery and training using the seal allowed them to use it with relative ease even at their low rank."
"In that case, subduing them must have been complicated." Midoben closed his eyes in calmness. "We were fortunate to have Chogen working on the mission, his skill set has a couple of techniques meant to detain a fleeing opponent."
"Given his size, I assume he has to deal with that problem often." Mana nodded in agreement with the boss' assessment. "During the brief scuffle with the hired muscle of the smuggler duo, most of the smuggled goods were destroyed. We have recovered enough for a sample and a case, however."
"It does not matter all that much. I assume the Police Force will take over from here. They can have them." Midoben breathed out before looming over a handful of documents and files on his table and marking some things and writing some of them down.
"The Police Force?" Mana asked.
"Yes. The part of the job that concerned us was to find out how people were slipping in and out of the village. After we analyze this information you've gathered, we will help to improve the village gate and the entire protection system. That's a pretty mean hook with a witty declaration on top for a first day…" Midoben commended Mana.
Mana looked at a blank point, a rustling point of light shimmering on a wall carved into the wall. This turn made the magician appreciate Midoben's turns and his obsession with staring at the candlelight cast onto the walls of his office. She sort of expected the Village Protection to care more about a pair of smugglers that have just been caught rather than fortifying their walls but she could not deny that boss' reasoning made sense.
"Sir… There's something else. We only managed to locate the smugglers and find the location where they've been slipping through the gate because of an interrogation. Is there any way to work out a pardon for the man we've interrogated? He was surprisingly cooperative." Mana wondered.
"You've made a pretty big leap, don't ruin it." Midoben almost growled. This may have been a slightly excessive reaction to something that would have barely concerned the man so the girl just let it go. She used to lack the knowledge of when to press on and bargain but over time she was beginning to learn that. Given her limited experience and knowledge, this situation did not appear to match the criteria for a potentially successful push.
"I see, can I still be helpful today?" Mana sighed.
"You can start reading up on the Liquid Village Sensory System. I think it might be useful for plugging you in tomorrow for a test run." The boss replied with a tame tone. "Other than that, you're excused."
After politely excusing herself and bowing to the head of the Village Protection Mana left the office and returned to Mikapen, the overly excited assistant in the Village Protection. The woman started stacking up piles on top of piles of reading that may have been useful for a potential user of the Liquid Village Sensory System. The size and content of the reading may have intimidated some but as a self-appointed history buff, Mana was used to it.
To some extent, she was almost excited about it, she may get to find out some new things she was not aware of about chakra sensory in general by researching official manuals and guides written by professional and experienced chakra sensors that were skilled enough for a village to rely on their abilities to observe over the entire village.
Despite Mana's attitude, she found the material terribly drab. This was not the first time that reading failed to keep Mana engaged by a long shot but it may have been one of the first dozen times when it had actually let her down and turned out to be the opposite of what she had expected. The authors wrote up the material from an entirely rational point of view and completely dismissed the emotional spectrum of the chakra sensory. It seemed like an awfully imprecise and subjective scale to evaluate something that was entirely based on sensory input.
Ever since the magician had found out about her hidden chakra sensory abilities, she had relied on them exclusively by examining how the input made her feel. If a chakra signature made her anxious, if it made her freeze up or desperately want to flee – that meant it was massive or that it was twisted. Once the magician grew stronger with the ability she managed to associate the sensory input with a representation of different sensory inputs, creating intense visuals of the chakra signatures she read. The official material demanded that a sensor determined their input through evaluation scales that seemed rather arbitrary and subjective.
The scales were drawn based on the chakra signatures one experienced in their lives on a scale of one to nine. Civilians did not even register on said scale and chakra signatures of their size appeared to remain mostly ignored. This arbitrary necessity to create scales and numbers and classifications for something so intimate and sense-based disgusted Mana but she did her best to absorb the knowledge and at least give it a chance tomorrow.
The next morning Mana spent filling in some paperwork and doing some more down-to-earth work. That was until Mikapen approached her all gleaming with excitement and showed the girl a dark jumpsuit with some cool patterns running down it and circles of what appeared to be teeth-like shapes riddling it.
"Change!" she screeched out. The assistant's excitement kind of made Mana a little excited as well. She gently took the jumpsuit of her hands and rushed off into the changing room. The uniform felt a bit tight and thin but it fit Mana like a glove and pressed to her body like a second skin. Just to follow the example of the other sensors plugged into the Liquid Village Protection System, Mana put on a flak jacket on top and rushed back to the liquid sphere that kept on rattling with disturbances like a surface of a lake continuously disturbed by the tiniest pebbles dropping down.
Mana rested her back into the soft, warm and cozy chair that was designed with enough foresight to maintain relative comfort for someone who would be sitting there the whole day. Although, the magician did recall that being a very short-term observation and, if the testimony of other plugged-in sensors was to be trusted, it would very soon make her muscles numb and bit stiff.
"Put this on." Mikapen smiled while handing Mana a massive helmet with a glowing, red vizor that completely sunk her eyes into darkness as it had a soft, cushion-like muff inside. "I'm not sure what's the point of it but… It's necessary."
"It helps you concentrate." Mana heard a faraway voice of one of the sensors plugged into the system as well. She wondered just how comfortable would communicating in this distance be. Depending on the number of signatures she would have to deal with, there may be a whole lot of yelling and reporting going on…
Did Mana truly need the vizor though? She sort of already gave up on one of her senses to grant her a quick boost in her sensory abilities before. One she desperately needed and had little to no time to acquire otherwise. An odd sensation ran over the girl's body, like currents of water running under her skin and forcefully contracting her muscles. Mana had been shocked before and this sensation felt similar although not identical to that.
"A pair of caravans rolling in through the main gate. Code 3246, a total of eleven chakra signatures, all of a blank rank." Someone's thoughts ran through the magician's mind. It felt eerily similar to when Kiyomi established a mental link between the team as it just seemed like someone's thoughts would just appear in Mana's head. Like a line of words for her to read before a vibrating representation of the person's voice read those lines aloud with the volume similar to that of that person standing right next to Mana when doing so.
The trial plug could have gone better, honestly. Mana was so busy disagreeing with the methods of the official doctrine of how professional sensors handled business yesterday that she kept on forgetting things and had to check and recheck codes and linger pointlessly to infinity before describing chakra ranks based on the silly scale system. She was beginning to catch the sense that everybody kind of phoned that part in as she caught on multiple occasions chakra signatures that felt similar being reported as two different ranks of the scale.
That did not necessarily mean that the whole system was a sham. The magician had no doubt that had a significant threat presented itself, the bunch would report it appropriately. It was merely the fluff and bureaucracy of the matter that evaded the full and conscious fairness of the sensors' assessment.
Because of the slower and more lacking in the official doctrine skillset of the magician, the other sensors had to cover up for her at times by reporting things that were technically in territories assigned to her. They seemed happy to pitch in and it should not have been as big of a deal as Mana made it out to be but the experience did leave her a bit bitter.
While the magician was training after every workday just to relax and stay in shape while adding a little bit on top every day, a single lingering image could not leave her mind. It was the chakra conductive paper burning up in her hand. The piece of paper was used to test one's natural elemental affinity. Why did Mana's burn up?
The magician stared at her hand, which had so effectively turned the piece of wondrous paper to cinders. She had never really tested her true elemental affinity, Lightning Release jutsu were the first Mana had added to her arsenal however the path to those she had learned had taken her a couple of years and resulted in a harmless batch of techniques that barely would have irritated a civilian, let alone a ninja.
The following pair of days operating the Liquid Village Sensory System went more naturally. The experience of her own previous lacking performance was an adequate teacher. While Mana still disliked the way that she was squeezed into operating the system, she at the very least felt content with helping the village and doing her part. It was a sense of relief and self-fulfillment she had not felt since becoming a ninja.
For the first time in what seemed like an eternity Mana was actually protecting people, she was not fighting anyone and protecting innocent lives came without the necessity for violence. All she had to do was close her eyes, concentrate and work hard, trust the system and become a part of it. Maybe it was not the experience of where she came in short before but the realization of how convenient this chair and this job felt. Almost like it was natural, like Mana belonged here.
Mana had never visited the Jounin Standby Station before for the most obvious reason – she had no business to do it. She was no Jounin and she was very rarely both off-duty and waiting for Hokage's orders without engaging in some of her own business. It was a tall and well-furnished building beside Ninja Academy, currently, it was being slightly renovated from the outside as the calamity that had devastated the Ninja Academy had also damaged the Standby Station as well.
While the Ninja Academy was reborn almost completely, the necessity to rebuild the Standby Station remained in the shadow of the more immediate business. It was only when the new Ninja Academy rose up that the urgency to repair and improve the exterior and the interior of the Academy became clear.
The place looked probably better equipped and furnished than the Administration building. Its solitary purpose was to provide a shelter and comfortable place for off-duty or on the standby Jounin ninja so it was mostly equipped with smaller training facilities, libraries and research facilities as well as resting rooms.
Had it not been for Mana's chakra sensory, she would have wandered the place with an embarrassing blush on her cheeks for hours. She did not belong in that building, it was not expressly forbidden for her to be there but most looks coming her way were of the confused variety. Jounin were in very thin supply, Special Jounin were the only other rank of ninja present here at the time and had it not been for the existence of this special ranking, the building would be almost completely irrelevant.
"Musha-san!" Mana bowed in front of a rouge haired woman who appeared to have greatly trimmed the sides of her hair after the last time the magician had seen her. Given the woman's fighting style, favoring the close-to-mid range fighting styles, it only made sense but it made the kunoichi wonder just how much was her change in appearance due to the loss they all suffered during the catastrophe in the Ninja Academy.
"Hmmm? Mana?" Musha blinked a pair of times in confusion. "What are you doing here? Did I forget I'm in charge of a squad again?"
"No, it's just… I've recently found a reason to think that I may be most attuned with the Fire Release elemental affinity. It may be the most common elemental affinity in the village and the country but I could not think of another person to ask of a little guidance from." The magician bowed, remaining in that position while she explained herself.
"Yeah, my chakra affinity is also Fire Release." Musha nodded. The woman placed one of her hands into her pocket while stroking her parted hair. "I guess it can't be helped. I'll feel pretty lousy if I turn you down, kid."
Mana straightened her back with a smile of pleasant surprise before bowing once more in gratitude. She barely even knew this woman, Musha had no obligation or even use in helping Mana. Yet she did nevertheless. Sure, if the woman was truthful as to her reasons for doing so, she may not have been entirely selfless but it did not matter.
"Alright, I've got a reservation in the Third Training Ground this evening. I'm off-duty anyway so if you're free we can head there right now." Musha suggested.
"Mhm!" the magician nodded with enthusiasm. It was not quite the concept of exploring her relationship with the Fire Release elemental affinity that made the magician this energetic. It was more this new, temporary apprenticeship with the Jounin.
"So you've only tested yourself now? Seems a little bit late, if you ask me. It should be sort of the first thing after a genin learns the basics and warms their feet up in the water." Musha wondered. "How did you even train without knowing your elemental affinity?"
"Well, the circumstances weren't too fitting for Team Oak to learn the intermediates of chakra manipulation and elemental affinity when it was time. Tanshu-sensei was no longer there to teach us that." Mana's face turned somber for a moment. "After Team Hokage formed, I do not think that there was even use in establishing rules or complaining about Hokage-sensei defying them. She was her own type of teacher."
"I see… Not the happiest and most comfortable of rides, huh?" the Jounin woman observed.
"You could say that, I suppose, however, I knew about the elemental affinity for a while. I've been pretty book savvy my entire career, even as a student. It was just that I picked up Lightning Release and never really looked into it." Mana shrugged. It all seemed so obvious way back when she first learned her very first techniques but now that the magician looked back on it she thought herself a fool for not fully exploring her own affinity just because she picked up a technique of a specific elemental nature.
"You can have multiple elemental natures, you know. Elemental affinity merely tells you what jutsu you're naturally attuned with, every other nature is simply much more difficult to learn. Even the savviest ninja rarely learn jutsu of more than three elemental natures." Musha explained. "Still, to pick up jutsu of an elemental nature you're not attuned to seems… Incredible! And at such a young age…"
"They were not that powerful or useful at all. When I first managed to come up with those techniques, I just thought they were this weak because I was weak." Mana blushed while she desperately tried to conceal her embarrassment with faked interest with a poster for a movie that hung on a nearby wall.
"That's an extremely flawed way of looking at things. Weak and strong are simple terms for simpletons." Musha spoke with a strong and encouraging tone. "There is a right and a wrong way of doing things and if you fall short – it's because you're doing something wrong and therefore you fail, not because you're a failure."
"That is… Actually quite close to my heart." Mana admitted, turning back at Musha with a smile. "Belief that nobody in this world is useless is, in fact, my nindo."
"That's a fine reason to fight." Musha lifted her fist up.
"You would not have gotten along with Tanshu-sensei." The magician cracked into a melancholic chuckle.
"Yeah, well… Red Dog's the world's youngest dinosaur…" Musha grumbled.