Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Identity

"Oh shit, Toya, the veggie guy is back! Come here and bring a large spatula!" the woman yelled at someone behind her. As a larger woman left the kitchen with an oversized spatula, the strange client just turned around and left the restaurant before the woman could ask him out with it. Seeing how Mana followed that peculiar man with her eyes all the way to the door her eyes fell on a familiar face sitting in the corner closest to the door. Mana excused herself and walked to the table.

"Hello, Kouta-kun" she greeted the boy she met some time back during her show. This was actually quite lucky for her to bump into the boy right here, who could've known that he was a rich eater?

"Ah! Mana" the boy shouted out in excitement jumping up and shaking the table a bit, the older man he was sitting with looked at the boy angrily but Kouta just scratched the back of his head and laughed out apologetically.

"So how're things, what are you doing here? I never took you for an overeating person?" the magician smiled trying to ease the boy into the question she actually intended to ask. Strangely enough, the girl heard steps behind her and when she briefly glanced back she noticed Shimo approaching them.

"I am actually, I'm eating here with my father, father is still resting after the mission, you see! I must say I am the one surprised to see you here, Mana-chan, what could you be doing here, I wonder?" the boy replied with quite a large amount of excitement in his voice. Most people would've taken Mana's approach and interruption of a peaceful eating out at a restaurant with one's father as rude but Kouta appeared to be quite happy with it.

"Well, I stopped here to feed a friend, if I had known of her appetite though I may have reconsidered though... I see you two may just match her though..." Mana noted looking at a large column of emptied plates. It appeared that Kouta's father didn't even stop his mad eating ways even while Mana and Kouta were talking right up to him. Although whereas Meiko ate elegantly and rather slowly Kouta's father ate like a pig barbarian on a rampage to eliminate all the food left on Earth.

"Well... Juugo use out a lot of chakra with their techniques, even more than conventional ninjutsu users do so our appetites are naturally incredibly large because we have to compensate for it" Kouta shyly rubbed the back of his head, it was cute how ashamed he looked of his godlike appetite.

"The pipsqueak here ain't a natural Juugo though so he can't eat half of what I can... I'm Kusagoro Juugo, Konohagakure Jounin." Kouta's father grunted. He stood up and offered Shimo a handshake which the boy accepted. To Mana, it appeared a little strange that he'd offer a handshake for someone who wasn't even participating in the conversation much and was just standing around because being there was much less boring than watching Meiko keep eating at this point.

"Hmph, I see Kouta keeps finding puny friends..." the man rudely remarked before sitting down and digging right into a colossal piece of cooked meat. He most likely referred to Shimo's handshaking skills which he must've found disappointing.

"This gentleman isn't my friend, yet, father. He's a friend of Mana's, who is a friend of mine. I kind of work for her, I heal her stage injuries after her shows, for my internship, remember?" Kouta smiled back at his father, it was strange how completely different these two were.

"Pfff, a useless craft those healing techniques. It's a woman's specialty!" the man remarked after nearly choking on a large bite of meat.

"Well, it turns out that I need this "woman's specialty" expert for a mission, would you maybe wish to help us out?" Mana looked at Kouta with her best attempt at the puppy eyes she saw Meiko make some time back. She really needed this, Kouta was probably one of the few genin medical ninja in the village and she had little time to find the others. Even if Kouta wasn't yet officially a medical ninja, just intern obtaining necessary practice in Hiro's hall where Mana performed, he was still sufficient for a C-Rank mission.