"Sorry if I'm late," Mana bowed her head in apology. She may have had some hitches in the road with Kouta's friends but she hoped that, given how they were stated to be mostly forgotten, they could have been moved past and overlooked and their ashes would pave the road for new relationships in the future.
"Well… It's not like you didn't show up at all, or anything…" Erumo struggled her way through not outright offending the magician. The young woman wasn't entirely on board with having Mana around on this mission – that was just fine. It would have been foolish to expect her to just fully accept the magician into the fold from the get-go. Just the two mending their relationship in a sparring session did not appear to have made them quite into best friends.
"Now, now. We may really use Mana's skills. I have not lead that many missions as a chuunin so some assistance will be appreciated." Yushijin nodded in acknowledgment. He did not wish to appear overly welcoming for some reason but his body language betrayed the chuunin to be somewhat pleased to see Mana. Just like the magician had expected… His fondness of her presence likely stemmed from his inner sense of rivalry that Mana just couldn't stop.
"That is why I approved Mana's request for joining this squad for the duration of this mission." Lord Seventh nodded. "Neither one of you two is skilled in leading a squad with only minimal experience of the job chuunin usually do, such have been the unfortunate circumstances of the village lacking new genin for a couple of years after the destruction of the Ninja Academy. Despite that, with both of you working together, I am sure that your squad will show some nice results."
The Seventh Hokage leaned back in his seat, gesturing the quartet to check on the mission files placed on the table. Mana looked around with confusion.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a jounin in charge of this team as well?" she wondered out loud while reaching out for the file.
"Oh, we haven't worked with sensei since the Chuunin Exams." Kouta shook his head. "After Yushijin was promoted our squad got disbanded instead of us being given a new member."
"Disbanded?" Mana wondered how exactly that was supposed to work. Kouta and Erumo may have been experienced and well past the skill level common among genin but they weren't strong enough to work alone, especially outside the village or to operate within the walls of another village.
"Yes, it is a new program I've tried to implement. With the lack of competent genin around, I tried entrusting some C-Rank missions to ninja working alone, even if they were genin. Where I could not spare a squad of genin, I sent a single, experienced ninja. This must sound so odd to you, given your absence…" Seventh smiled. Mana knew better than to take the man's smile seriously but this did shake the ground under her feet a little.
"The ninja system is ancient and its traditions deep-rooted. I've read of its core principles and rules forming in history books and scrolls and they haven't changed one bit until this day, for the most part. It is just surprising to hear about something like this being even attempted…" Mana spoke from her heart. After the time that Uzumaki Midoben spent in charge of Village Protection, he'd see right through Mana's dishonesty. The magician was notorious for being a lousy liar…
"That's exactly why some things need to change. Most villages have changed plenty of things about the way their ninja operate without tradition holding them back. Konoha remained rooted like an oak. We've given too much leeway to advancements of other villages that way. Even the leap in technology that your capsule provided failed to push us all the way in front." Seventh appeared somewhat pleased with discussing his stance on village politics, that was very much unlike Sixth, who expected complete submission and rarely if ever discussed anything. Such was his own experience as a lifelong Black Ops operative.
"I see…" Mana relented. It was not that she necessarily thought her superior wrong, it was just that matters of politics and money bored her and, so far, that day she was stuck discussing both of those matters.
"I suggest taking some winter gear with you. Ninja may be resistant to any weather imaginable but none of that will matter if a battle drains your stamina and your body can no longer support those resistances." Yushijin advised. He had naughty all over his eyes… He had hoped that Mana would object being given advice in a tone that almost reached the range of being an order.
While the magician lacked the composure necessary to completely stone-wall Yushijin's game, she managed to stay quiet and not encourage any more sets of it, at the very least.
It was a good thing that Mana had a mission file to act absorbed in, otherwise, she'd have allowed the awkwardness of her reaction and awareness of Yushijin's antagonizing risk ruining this entire first meeting. At the very least, Mana had already won over the heart of one fan amongst the three, one of them disliked her while the third one constantly wanted to compare himself against her. It was no longer as forced and toxic as it seemed during the meeting between the two in Shukuba, but it was still very much alive.
A heartbeat a second for that cursed rivalry was too alive for Mana's liking. It was one of the only things that the magician did not mind seeing dead.
The mission involved a tribe of people residing somewhere in the vast eastern forests of the Snow Country. The bunch was causing significant trouble, slaying cattle, occasionally injuring and killing residents of the Snow Country. Normally this seemed like something Kumogakure, as Snow Country's neighbor would take care of but with the military giant engaged in one of its glorious crusades for the supremacy in the precious mineral market, Konoha was exploring the opportunity of dipping its fingers and suggesting their services where Kumogakure would have taken years to respond.
It was both clever and profoundly stupid at the same time: on one hand, if Konoha only dipped their toes in these kinds of missions – small ranked stuff that squads of genin could accomplish, assignments that would take a warring country years to even acknowledge, it may be beneficial and even profitable. Diplomatically sound as well… On the other hand, was it really that clever to dip one's toes into the market of a ninja village currently trouncing another village in their home territory?
"A tribe of raiders… I wonder how strong those guys are." Kouta slipped into daydreaming territory after his eyes ran over just the first line promising combat. The tone, the gleaming stance and blazing chakra flow of the young man, it all suggested that he was beyond excited to try himself out. Mana did not recall Kouta being this excited to get into a fight…
"The danger is likely to not be these raiders, it will be the dangers we encounter along the way," Mana noted, closing her eyes and recalling the last mission she took part in and how the team spent precious chakra and stamina before even reaching the mission location after running into the Red Hawks.
"I see that Mana's participation is already promising to be useful for your team. You three can leave for the Snow Country whenever you're ready." Lord Seventh nodded.
Kouta rushed out of the Hokage's office with fire in his eyes, he was less impatient to run off and get himself killed compared to when the opportunity for a potential battle revealed itself earlier but he still looked extremely satisfied. Erumo sighed and checked her ninja pouch, shuffling through a bunch of rolls of steel wire and fastening scissors and other tools sheathed in the belt pouches around her thighs.
"I will need to make a stop home. At least four hours will be necessary for the preparations." She surmised after a hefty sigh.
"Is she always that way?" Mana wondered with a glance directed at Yushijin.
"Most of the time, yes. The traps she prepares prove invaluable, however. I would assume you have preparations to make as well? Even if they will not require four hours…" the chuunin got into justifying his teammate's behavior.
"That's fine. I'll have plenty of time for some meditation. Nothing like a rested and fresh mind to start out a mission." Mana smiled with a nod.
"Your conception of "four hours" needs some work…" Erumo objected after seeing Mana finally make her way to the trio gathered by the village gate.
"I must say it is a shame you were so late, this way we will only have a good half an hour of sunlight." Yushijin joined in on the objection despite looking hesitant and unhappy about having to voice his thoughts this way. He was acting like the leader of the squad after testing his will to lead against Mana's earlier, however, despite his effortless victory due to lack of the magician's resistance, he did not appear all too happy to actually lead the team.
"Sorry." Mana apologized with a bow.
"Fans held you up again?" Kouta whispered into the magician's ear after leaning in and covering his mouth with his other hand as if this was a secret not to be discussed in the open.
"Y-Yeah…" Mana felt a little ashamed to admit it. She always left everywhere she needed to go earlier and yet this time she completely misjudged the amount of time that her slowly restoring fame will demand. With her shows faltering in frequency before, she used to be nowhere near as famous.
Almost instantly Mana felt the awkwardness of talking to a single member of the squad. The absence of the mental link amongst the team that Kiyomi used to provide or the solace of her own mind that the magician enjoyed while working solo made things require a short period of getting used to them.
"Well… I suppose we will have a night to practice our teamwork. Mana is not a usual member of our squad and we need to find ways to incorporate her into our team strategies." Yushijin nodded to himself even if his words of wisdom were uttered out loud. "For now, let's just make as far as we can without straining ourselves. The mission is relatively simple and has no time limit. This gives us time to prepare better."
"One cannot be too ready for what's ahead, I suppose." Erumo agreed with the self-appointed team leader without any objections or negative twitches of her face. Preparation seemed to be her language, Mana decided to remember that as she did want to become better friends with this young woman after mending their differences three years ago.
A substantial shock made Mana bite into her tongue. The deafening thunder of the splitting earth beneath her feet made the magician cry out but her voice drowned in the ocean of its fuel. The quake beneath her feet was so immense that all thought and instinct left her body within an instant. All she could feel was plummeting… Freedom. Something solid reached around her and then, after a rough stop of her fall, helped her rise back up to where the magician disappeared into the oblivion of swallowing ground from.
"An earthquake? Are we being attacked already?" Kouta wondered with his cheeks a bit puffed out and his eyes looking desperately for the possible perpetrator of his shame to smash. One did not need to see how the young man dealt with the threat of the earthquake to realize that he had to be assisted as well. A glimmer of steel wire wrapped around an oak where Erumo and Kouta were located suggested that it was the constantly prepared trapster that helped her teammate.
"Unlikely." Yushijin shook his head. His voice came from so close to Mana's ear… It was only then that the magician realized she was saved by the fellow chuunin. Somehow he managed to shake off the stunning influence of the quaking ground that had taken all senses away from the magician and swoop down to her rescue. "We haven't moved that far away from the village yet, it is unlikely that rogues would stick around this close. Ones that would do so would not be this strong."
"I did not feel any chakra from this phenomenon… Almost like… It was… Natural." Mana whimpered in surprise while standing back on her own two feet from the resting position. She looked around both with her eyes and scanned the environment around her for chakra signatures. There was nothing unusual around.
Kouta started laughing as suddenly as the expression of his joy was powerful. "Heh, I guess someone is having a crazy battle far, far away!"
Yushijin's smirk was much tamer but he did also express relative enjoyment over the idea, imagining the kind of battle that would send ripples so far away to where the battle could not be seen, only felt, yet felt so vibrantly.
"I wonder if we will ever learn what this was… If it's all the way in the Land of Wind, it might be years until the intelligence reaches us…" Erumo sighed.
The modified roster of Team Fir did their best to cover as much distance without straining themselves after the quake. They did not stop or waste too much time talking about how they could have gotten hurt and ended the mission prematurely for some of them just like that. Just because of a calamity that none of them could sense. Once in a while, Mana caught her eyes glimpsing back at the direction of her home village she was leaving behind.
"Don't worry, if the village required our assistance they'd have sent a hawk to call us back. Lord Seventh has this handled." Erumo tried to provide some solace to Mana. If it was to direct the magician's attention ahead, have the best possible version of the magician as the available asset for the team or if the trapster truly cared about Mana's lingering thoughts and wanted to help ease them somewhat remained unclear for now.
A shared connection between the two kunoichi when their eyes connected relayed a lot of what the two were thinking. Erumo's eyes softened when looking at Mana, for once the kunoichi had a reason to see the magician worried over the villagers of her own village, for once she saw Mana as something more than just a traitor seeking retribution. When the two met before for a spar, that must have been the way that Erumo saw Mana, while their relationship mended a great deal back then, compared to the stage of the Chuunin Exams, it was only now that Erumo completely left the impression of a traitor outside of Mana's character and did not include it as a flaw that the young woman was trying to overcome.
"There's no use traveling any further." Yushijin's step slowed down and then halted completely. After stopping the squad leader started scanning the ground beneath them for good spots to set a camp up while they rested.
"I agree, seeing wire traps is hard enough as it is in broad daylight. I won't be able to sense them either if the traps are not coated with chakra beforehand. Something that only a complete amateur would do." Mana nodded.
"I'm glad to see you respect the art of entrapment so much." Erumo smiled with warmth on her face the likes of which Mana had only seen directed at her teammates.
"What did you expect? Mana-chan's father is Tsukumo Nakotsumi, after all." Kouta grinned with his arms crossed over his chest. The expressions and the way that the young man held himself have changed so much since Mana left him three years ago and it took up until now for the magician to even recognize it.
This Kouta was much more outspoken, exuding confidence and outright just more cheerful. Everything he said and did just seemed grander. He rarely, if ever, fumbled over words or looked for them inside his pockets, he no longer offered long pauses or struggled to voice how he felt inside like he used to. Reconnecting with his father has done wonders for him but… While Kouta looked happiest he's ever been, something made him also feel more distant.
"It isn't just that. My team got trapped recently and we'd have likely gotten killed if things went their way, whereas they could not hang with us in an actual fight. A good trap has the power to decide the outcome and that is a dangerous factor in a battle." Mana managed to disagree with the assessment brought up by her boyfriend while simultaneously debunking it.
"You can tell us all about that after we set camp." Yushijin pointed at the direction where he intended it to be the best to set a camp at. It seemed decent enough, equally distanced from most forest passages and official routes to where Mana could sense an incoming threat at about the same amount of time, no matter where it was coming from. Yushijin was already incorporating Mana's skills into his plans, maybe he truly was well-suited to be the leader? It's not like Mana ever felt passionate about leading.
The magician helped the team set the camp up. She even went as far as to prepare her favorite en-route-meal – smoked salmon sandwiches with Schenke cheese. Given how tough it was to extract and how it was just a rip-off compared to the cheese fermented in the acidic slimes of the slugs of the Shikkotsu forest, Mana only had a handful of it, a single hand-sized block every time she left the village but it was a welcome addition to any meal.
"Wow, I must admit, Mana's cooking really blows me out of the water…" Erumo declared submissively.
"Heh, I know, right? You should have tasted something she prepared before the Chuunin Exams – it was probably worse than rat poison…" Kouta smiled as he slurped the gooey molten cheese and wiped the grease and herbs that his almost animalistic eating manners made rub all over his face.
"That's not a nice way to say about someone." Erumo jabbed at her teammate with a squint. "I would dump you for an actually nice guy in Mana's spot!"
"I thought it sounded like a compliment…" Kouta shrugged with a sorry look on his face. The pair then glanced at Mana who was just staring on at the route ahead, the path they'd be treading tomorrow – farther north. The path leading to Land of Hot Water.
"Thanks for the meal, Mana. Are you up for some training?" Yushijin inquired. He must have wanted to work out some team maneuvers with Mana and incorporate the magician into his strategies as soon as possible.
"I am, however, I would like to train alone," Mana said. The kunoichi stood up and without any particular rush to her step removed herself from the campsite. The bafflement in Team Fir's faces prevented them from stopping their newest, temporary member in a timely fashion. Not too long after the magician had left, azure streams of light began gleaming from a forest clearing further ahead followed by crackling sounds.
"I… I'll try to get some sense into her. Finish your food and prepare for training." Yushijin signaled with his raised palm at his team while following the path trodden onward by the magician.