For a while, the continuation of the walk was quite awkward. Just as Mana suspected, talking about the problem of her father's made it really uncomfortable for both of them. At least the magician herself was quite embarrassed that she was played by the medical ninja like that and had to make a fool of herself in front of one of the greatest heroes in the Ninja World. Guru coughed, quite badly attempting to fake a cough just somehow to kill this awkward silence.
"So... Konoha has changed quite a bit since I've last been here... I believe it was after the Second Great Ninja War."
Mana's sleeve once again rubbed her eyes, luckily her blush of embarrassment did help conceal the natural red of one's face when one cries. Needless to say, Guru noticed the girl's distress yet he chose to let her work it out by herself after suggesting the initial gesture of comfort and understanding. He had that great feeling to him that he perfectly understood the situation and almost like he had been through it himself, there was no sensible tension from his side, just the one that Mana herself has created and imposed onto the situation.
"First "Second" war, huh? I wonder what made the historians move past the "First" curse..." Mana spoke up. She did not expect the mad laughter from the side of her conversant. Ayushi was laughing it up holding his buff stomach with both of his arms as if protecting his intestines from falling out. The giant had bent over and almost fallen to the ground.
"Wow, I've never met a young lady with such knowledge of history? Do you aspire to be a historian? In that case, I'll be the first one to say you've chosen the worst first steps for that profession!" the man finally managed to force some words through his mad laughter.
"No, just a hobby, one would think reading ancient language and dialects would be difficult enough, how is one supposed to time a scroll correctly when each of them speaks of different "First" war. I personally like Demaso's suggestion to name the wars: War of the Clans, War of the Earth and the Moon, the Wars of Establishment, War for the Greats, First, and the Second Great Ninja Wars. Something in describing the purpose of war just to help paint a better picture instead of just calling all of them "First" and then suddenly start numbering them..."
Ayushi finally straightened his body out, leaning back and to the side to stretch his bones out. Strangely enough, they didn't crack, nor did he act like he was in too much pain which for a man of his age was quite impressive.
"You speak great truth, sadly the profession of a historian is as dangerous today as it was before: it requires devoting all of one's time to studying ancient texts, then it asks even more devotion wandering the No Man's Lands of each country, lands abandoned because of the battles that took place there that now shelter the worst kind of nightmarish people there are. One might ask what is a worse profession than that of ninja, I'd answer any profession that requires one to survive hordes of murderous bandits with only a scroll and a pen in one's hand... For that reason, each historian wishes significance with their work for that reason they each try to make their discoveries more important than they are, well, that and the danger makes the rushing or scared for their lives historians quite bad at their jobs..."
Mana looked at Guru Ayushi, only now did she realize just how insane this man's profession was, it wasn't even a profession as he did not accept any material goods from any village. The ninja villages were usually quite safe, they had the local crime underworlds, sure, but in a village filled with ninja, those never got out of control.
Outside the village gate, there were some ranges of relative "safe-zones" that very few bandits tread into because villages still often had patrols of chuunin or highly experienced genin wandering the places to watch the territory and locate and identify any threats to village security, notify the guards by the gate of what was going on near the village gate.
Then there were the vast territories outside the village. One would've traveled for days, maybe even weeks or months with ordinary pedestrian feet to find any change in scenery. There were just the vast and awe-inspiring Fire Country forests where the trade route ended. It was the village gate, then the big Roiyaru Road that led to a small pleasure town – Shukuba town.
After leaving that town one would quickly enter the immense wilderness that took entire weeks to reach the port that sailed people through to the Water Country. Similarly, those same woods would've led to Land of Snow, then the colossal desert and rocky wastelands of the Lightning Country in the north or Lands of Wind and Earth to the west. Each of those paths was filled with bandits and thieves, villages never even let genin set foot in those areas beyond the "comfort zone". This man traveled the world since times unknown with not even a toothpick to defend himself with...
"I would like to see your friend Sugemi first, if he is to be transported to some remote location at some point it'd be for the best if we found him before that happens. This other friend of yours Shimo leaves on a journey of self-banishment, I'd assume he wouldn't leave without saying goodbye to you first, call it a hunch of an old man."
Mana nodded to Ayushi's suggestion. She did take a slight lead in order to show Guru the way to the Police Force HQ. The girl scratched the side of her head wondering if she could ask the man about his history, about how he survived so long having abandoned violence. After all, hers was the life of a young woman who wished to make the world peaceful, make it a better place by setting the right example. If she knew how a man can survive peacefully in the most violent and dangerous to one's neck areas maybe it'd give her a clue as to how she was to achieve her ideals.
"I see, you wish to ask me of something, young lady, go ahead. You've mentioned history was your hobby, I believe, I am full of history and quite willing to satisfy your hunger for knowledge. That is the least I can do after bursting the bubble of false hope that some despicable soul blew in your young heart."
Mana shook her head vibrantly and ran out in front of Guru Ayushi, her body was still fighting the instinct to ask him the questions that she wanted most to ask but her mind just having been encouraged by the man himself overruled her shyness and embarrassment by itself.
"Guru Ayushi-san! You've traveled the world for so long, yet you say you've abandoned all remnants of your old life, left all that violence behind. My nindo, my Ninja Way, and a lifelong dream is to make this world different, to become a hero, an icon of hope that could maybe stop all this senseless murder and destruction. Someone who could make life be worth something again like it was at some point before, I believe such a point in time existed, it had to! Please tell me – how did you manage that?"
Guru Ayushi sighed, he wasn't angry or mad, just slightly disappointed. Yet his eyes were so kind, so warm, he couldn't have been disappointed in Mana, it looked almost like he was instead disappointed in himself.
"It seems it is my curse to blow this young lady's dreams today, oh what a cruel star I've been born under... I'm sorry, young Mana, I'm afraid that the "solution of peace" you think I've discovered does not exist."
Suddenly a gale picked up, powerful gusts of wind started blowing Mana's way freezing the girl on the spot. Several months back the Demon beat her around with inhuman strength, when that man's fists hit her they made the girl feel like she died every single time. This insane sensation, this powerful gust of wind that made Mana feel cold while she felt just the same as with the fists of the Demon.
She heard violent wildfires rage around, feeling gusts of wind that picked up any stray leaves around and threw them around violently bashing them into windows and tearing them to shreds as they burned down ignited by what seemed like magic. Mana fell on her knees grasping at her chest as her lungs felt like she was drowning at the same time. She had never felt death knocking on so many doors at once, it felt so horrible that it was almost like her body just turned off and preferred death over that feeling for just one more moment.
"This is what some ninja call "Killing Intent", truly it is nothing more but a powerful ninja releasing their chakra, preparing for combat, alerting all around them that they are ready to murder them on levels they never even thought existed. Usually, ninja of high caliber restrain their chakra, lock it down behind thousands of mental blocks, this is the result of all that chakra being set loose. To sensors, it feels like being naked in the vacuum of space in front of a star, absolutely overwhelming, to ordinary ninja it feels like... Well... That which you felt just now."
Finally, that nightmare stopped, Mana's lungs could draw air again, her ears no longer heard deafening infernos raging around her while her body froze to death from inside out. The girl lifted her arm right up to her eyes and it was shaking mad. Such was the aftershock of that experience, it was so similar to what Tanshu-sensei had. Mana remembered almost instantly a similar but weaker feeling coming from the Sannin, a feeling that her team quickly got used to. She remembered how the animals in the Forest of Death avoided that feeling, ran from Tanshu-sensei in circles.
"I... I s-see..." Mana uttered with shaking blue lips as her pale skin regained its exotic darkened tone combined with her childish blush. "So you did not achieve peace through some ideal solution. You achieved it by instilling fear into the hearts of everyone who wished to attack you..." the girl summarized her realization.
Ayushi did not gesture to confirm it but he really didn't have to, most bandits worth their plundering mettle possessed the basic knowledge of ninja arts, sensing one-hundredth of such overwhelming Killing Intent would've dissuaded anyone from taking any sort of action towards this man other than tipping one's hat as they passed by and wishing them to have a good day.
One would have thought that Mana should've learned her lesson already, after being informed about there being no "magical solution" to her problem once she assumed that there was one again. How could her naïve self not have realized that nothing in life was that simple, that situations could not have been solved by the right words being told or the right action being performed, that there was no solution to every problem in her life was beyond even Mana's limited childish understanding.
The girl's puny fists closed up as she picked up a bunch of gravel from the ground, pressing it ever so hard, as hard as her hand let her. Ayushi saw her frustration as the girl's raven black hair covered all over her face.
"Are you mad at me? If so I'd love to somehow make up for this frustration I've caused you. It really is unfortunate that I had to burst so many of your dreams..." the man scratched his beard.
Mana's little knuckles relaxed letting the bright powder slip from her fingers and fall down on the ground as her face finally lifted up and her lovely full smile met Ayushi's face.
"No, I'm just glad that you gave me the chance to find my own solution to the problem. If you told me how to make the world peaceful I would've felt like something was missing, a true hero finds their own solution." Mana kept on smiling. When she opened her eyes she saw a troubled face of Ayushi meeting her newly born attitude towards the world, one of a child who now knew that humanity had no answer to her question as one of the wisest people in the world didn't give one to her.
"I won't be the hero who achieves peace through fear like you, I won't achieve peace through some treaties or papers that limit freedom like the Fourth. I will make people see that peace and love are the true virtues of this world by example, then they will become better people by their own free choice. Peace achieved by violence or fear of violence or economic pressure is meaningless, peace achieved by shackles of one's freedom is equally worthless. Love for everything adopted by choice is the only ideal worth living for!" Mana kept on smiling as she delivered the declaration of her ideals, this clarification that Guru Ayushi helped her realize.
Guru squinted, his lips did twist a little to that which resembled a smile but he was very hesitant to finish that happy face.
"Young Mana, people often approach me begging me to fight for them, to beat this bad man who oppresses them, this band of bandits or this tyrant Kage who took power by force. I refuse their requests every time, do you know why?" the man asked, he expected the girl's smile to disappear but it didn't, it just slightly reduced and her eyes still shined with that childish glee.
"It is because of the circle of violence. Violence is a constant, crime is a constant, death is a constant. Once you mete out punishment for someone, once you cure one plague, another one takes its place, another sickness, far worse than one before arises. There is no end to this circle, the more you fight it the more people die in the end. Do not fall into this trap of idealism, I tell you this as a survivor of countless "wars to end all wars"."
Mana nodded.
"Yeah, "war to end all wars" does sound idiotic, that's how men become corrupted. In the beginning, they are good, then they gain power through public trust, they are granted the ability to really change things but they take up too much pressure on their shoulders. They decide to do "this one bad thing" as a means to achieve "that really really good thing that will totally compensate the injustice caused by the means" but that ultimate goal never comes. Once they see where injustice is taking them, once they step into those shoes that grant the widest steps they keep walking until they realize their feet have rotten and that the ground no longer supports them and then they sink into the filth they themselves mashed their motherland into."
Guru kept curiously observing the girl, walking by her side observing her from behind her as she led the way, witnessing as one man after another stopped to greet him and also greet the girl. This young lady appeared to be some sort of little celebrity around those parts as usually their protectors were completely overshadowed for people of the village even wave for them.
People rushed at the Guru pushing everyone else out of the way because "their problems weighed the most" or "their joy burnt with the brightest flame". Not this young girl, passing by the village square Guru noticed several posters with this girl's gorgeous smile – "Konoha's Sorceress" she was called... People did focus their love and adoration on the Guru but the girl neither got ignored by them nor did she mind the love and adoration that the sage received. The man was becoming more and more interested in this child.
"I don't blame you for not helping people, Ayushi-san. You've left the world of fighting and violence behind and so your hands are tied, you can't fight the evil that harms this world. That is why I believe you invented this "circle of hate" idea. Sure, evil and sickness are eternal and I or you are not, obviously I am even less eternal than you are, but that doesn't matter. Even if one evil changes the other that is no excuse to not do anything, would you refuse a cure to a sick person just because you know that somewhere in the world a new sickness will rise? Be it one stronger and darker than the one you can cure?"
Mana confidently tipped her top hat for a passer-by and then moved it to shield her eyes from the Sun that was blasting into the face of the two as it finally rose from the horizon with its all might and glory.
"My ninja way is to help everyone and anyone and if a greater threat rises after it I shall keep helping everyone until I die! Any other life is not worth living!" Mana smiled as only her white teeth could be seen from the girl's covered up face that was protected from the wild sunlight by her wild dark as night hair and her elegant hat with her father's seal on the inside of its top.
Finally, the two had arrived at the location – Mana and Ayushi stopped and glared at the Police Force HQ. The two guards tried to stop Mana from coming any closer as the place was seemingly still quite busy with the repairs from the immense damage caused by the two genin duking it out last night. After seeing Guru Ayushi by her side the guards lost all remnants of their confidence or their minds. The man simply walked forward opening the door and gesturing for Mana to follow. He looked at the two men.
"We are here to visit a young gentleman named Sugemi Nara, you two gents would be of great help if you directed us to him and give us some information as to where he is as he is about to be moved as I was told and I have an important message he needs to hear first, it'd be a real pain to find him in one of those "remote facilities" you keep some prisoners in..."
The men just pointed their fingers in the direction, one of the guards just uttered "312" giving the famous Guru a number of the cell. The bearded giant smiled.
"Thank you so much, gentlemen, I'd love to tip a hat but unfortunately the young lady is the only one with a hat..." he said and his tall and bulky frame soon disappeared into the mazes of Konohagakure Police Force HQ. Mana smiled, barely containing her wish to laugh out she just tipped her own hat at the two and rushed to follow the man inside.
She thought that the words that the Guru might have for Sugemi would have been personal, or even if they weren't, Mana would be the last person that her friend would want to hear them after what she did yesterday. The Nara pretty much made it clear that the girl was now his enemy, didn't he? All that talk about this whole "either you're with me or against me" attitude pretty much made it as clear as it could've been.
Mana looked around following Ayushi, the whole place was still a mess, there were Police Force ninja running around picking up sheets of papers from the ground and reading them. They probably just tried to identify if the papers were worth salvaging and being reworked or they could've been trashed. The girl had to hand it to the two combatants – they really did do a number to this place: walls busted down and through, stone and sheets of steel everywhere, Mana could have sworn that she still caught glimpses of smoke coming from somewhere too. There were several holes in floor two, one of them led straight to the room where the fight started in and the other lead to one or two floors below.
"So... Seeing how your teammates are being punished for something and the state of this place I'd guess that..." Ayushi started his question.
"Yeah, they fought each other down there," Mana replied without him having to finish by nodding at the deep hole that led down to where the Demon was kept.
"Friends fighting one another, such a sad thing to witness yet it happens so often in this world... Was the cause worth it? Young love perhaps? Maybe that was why it took you so long to break them up..." Ayushi kept guessing something right while missing something else. "After all with two friends fighting I'd assume you were there too, in my mind the only reason why you wouldn't stop it immediately would be that you were in love with one of them or perhaps you didn't know which one..."
Mana shook her head. "I do love Shimo and Sugemi but... Not in that kind of way, slobbering while kissing is really gross. I assume since everyone chases that sort of love at some point it'll stop feeling that way. No. I love them as brothers and really good friends. I didn't interrupt because... Well... I couldn't believe what was happening, I was injured and unable to keep up with them and then I just..."
"Couldn't think about hurting a loved friend..." it seemed as if it was now Ayushi's turn of finishing Mana's sentences.
"Yeah, not much further now..." Mana pointed in the direction as they finally reached the cells numbered close to three hundred. Once again the awkward silence took over the two as they just continued to walk forward with only Ayushi's weird bare feet and Mana's sandals with slightly elevated heels tapping at the cold stone floor.
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