(Fort Firestorm — Rooftops — Jimi Iara Malkhaz II vs. Anbu Black Ops)
Standing on a ledge, Jimi stares Raven and Slug down. Lightning flashes across the sky; the crimson moonlight peeking through the clouds reflects off his glasses. He takes a drag of a cigarette before flicking it over the ledge. Both assassins stalk towards their target, shaking in anticipation and adrenalin radiating killing intent. The PDI device on Jim's wrist changes color; the ECG, indicating Jim's chakra reserves, shifts from orange to yellow.
Jim grins, 'tch, more than enough to waste these vile bastards.'
Raven's grip tightens around the hilt of her blade, "for all the pain and suffering you've caused, you are undeserving of a quick death, Malkhaz."
Slug's pace hastens as he approaches Jim, "with my medical expertise, I will prolong your suffering until you beg for death! Until then, you do not have our permission to die, Jimi. And only until then will we happily oblige you and end your wretched existence."
A small snort escapes Jim, "as you Grey Berets well know, I enjoy pain. It's like a good Chinese dinner, you know. With the sweet and the sour? Expanding on that analogy, I will smile with delight; that's the sweet part. As you scream for your fucking lives," Jim teleports between Slug and Raven, "of course, that's the sour part!"
Jim seizes the offensive initiating a lethal oscillation using Hawk's sword. Slug parries the torrent of rapid slashes and thrusts; Raven responds with a professional volley of swings aiming for Jim's arteries and veins at breakneck speeds. Jim keeps his distance while maintaining pressure on Slug. Jim weaves various one-hand seals to shift the ground beneath Raven, keeping her off balance and Raven's blade out of range. He reinforces his sword with chakra before unleashing a stalwart blow, stumbling Slug.
Jim uses Slug's abdomen as a stepladder to deliver a powerful back kick to the tall shinobi's torso. Jim backflips over Raven, landing behind her. She slashes at his ankles, but he throws a kunai into the ground, stopping her blade, then kicks Raven through the air and into Slug.
Jim sighs in disappointment, "I'm sought-after across the Great Shinobi Countries and amongst every minor nation. If you two are the best they can offer, I have nothing to worry about." Raven snickers reaching under her mask to wipe the blood from her mouth; Slug dematerializes into a water puddle. Jim's eyes widen, "a water clone!?"
"Now, Slug!" Raven shouts. Slug appears not far behind Jim; the Anbu pulls on translucent wire strings that bind Jim's limbs.
"Aw, damn!" Jim struggles to free his arms and legs, "so you plan to draw and quarter me?"
Raven chuckles, "something like that."
'Huh… Clev-ah girl,' Jim sends a jolt of electricity into the kunai on the ground with a single hand-seal; it zips through the air cutting the wire strings that bind his wrist. After freeing his other wrist, he drops to the ground rolling his torso in a circular path. The translucent, elastic lines on Jim's legs lasso Raven and Slug's hands. He whirls the Anbu through the air like a turbine, hastening their speed, continuing to build momentum as his legs twirl in a V-shape. Jim cuts the wire strings from his legs, sending them flying in opposing directions.
Slug and Raven straighten their bodies in mid-air, cork-flipping to stabilize themselves. They land on the stone tower's ledges flanking Jim.
"Beware thy deathly drizzle, whore! Steel retribution shall pour down upon thee!" Raven proclaims.
Jim's eyebrow raises in curiosity, "what?"
"Shit's gonna fly!" she clarifies.
"Goddamn ninjas, always speaking in riddles and metaphors," Jim grumbles.
Slug and Raven proceed to shower Jim with kunai and shuriken. He weathers the steely storm dodging and diverting the razor-sharp metal. Jim performs multiple backhand springs to avoid the wire strings controlling the shuriken; however, they shift trajectory while in pursuit, cornering him against a stone pillar. He yanks a kunai from the air, then uses its ring to catch another as the wires encircle the column around him.
Raven bites down on the translucent strings synthesizing a chain of hand-seals, "Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" A blazing inferno accelerates down the wires, engulfing the stone pillar's lower half in a whirlwind of fiery torment. The flames dissipate, but Jim disappears. The column rotates—there he stands atop two kunai sticking into the pillar's surface index and pinky finger at eye-level while curling the rest into his palm.
The floor tiles beneath Slug and Raven rotate, revealing active lightning seals. They enact a series of evasive maneuvers as each tag activates behind them. Jim blurs over a few hand seals causing the electrified debris to launch at the Anbu, morphing his thunderous assault into a duel prong ambush. They flank then approach Jim drawing the electrical explosions closer to trap him within the blast radiuses.
Jim deflects a hail of shuriken while chaining a set of one-hand seals that allow him to sink into the ground like a massless phantom. Slug teleports to distance himself from the perpetual arc flashes trailing him. He shields himself inside a water dome to prevent the debris from turning his body into Swiss cheese. Raven springs in the air diverting the electric pebbles without difficulty. From Raven's perspective, every projectile speeding at her moves in slow motion. She straightens, then twists her body 1440° mid-air before landing a three-point pose holding her sword behind her. The galvanic surges cease as the electromagnetic haze recedes.
Standing on the stone tower's ledge, a silhouette with large pupil-less white eyes and now a bright disturbing grin stares Raven and Slug down. Slug's hands blur over a sequence of hand seals; twin hydro-jets launch from the water barrier. Raven unleashes her Searing Skull Salvos; however, both attacks pass through the silhouette as it phases out of existence like a mirage. Jim's maniacal laughter reverberates around the Anbu without them pinpointing its location.
"Slug! Behind you!" Raven warns.
Jim pops up from within the ground. Slug spins around, blocking the cold steel hurling at his throat. Jim and Slug exchange a brisk fusillade of sword swipes, strikes, and stabs; both men duel inside the swirling water dome. Jim rotates a stone tile beneath Raven with a couple of one-hand seals. She backhand-springs away from a lightning beam, preventing her from completing a hand seal combination.
Slug and Jim's blades collide, scraping and raining sparks at the dome's center. Jim's sword slides along Slug's, forcing the tall shinobi to disengage and prevent the blade from severing a major artery. Jim whirls his sword, then rushes Slug sliding back from the momentum. Jim swings again at Slug's throat and jumps before Slug follows up with a quick slash at his knees. Jim spins mid-air, kicking Slug in the head, staggering the Anbu. Slug tries to retaliate, but Jim grabs Slug's wrist and drives his elbow into the shinobi's abdomen and then into Slug's head. Jim hops in the air, spins, and knocks Slug away with a tornado kick.
'Tch, you son-of-a-bitch!' Slug flies out of the water dome, clasping his hands together, "Water Prison Technique!" The protective barrier becomes a watery prison submerging Jim within several liters of a thick slime-like substance. A water clone of Slug manifests outside the dome, maintaining the jutsu. Jim holds his breath, concentrating on the surrounding area; he focuses his chakra preventing the water pressure from crushing him.
The Anbu approach the slime bubble, ready to swing away with their stabby-steely gore wands like a piñata until it resembles a crimson soup of bones and bloody chunks. Jim waits in anticipation for them to get within proximity. He channels enough chakra to his hand to overcome the hydraulic pressure and shifts through a series of one-hand seals.
The stone tiles around the barrier flip, revealing explosive tags; explosions force Slug and Raven to abort, delivering a coup de grâce. Jim hijacks and repurposes the watery prison into a protective barrier shielding himself from the blast zone. The heat vaporizes Slug's water clone before it can scream; the liquid dome dissolves without the clone acting as a medium to maintain it. Jim creates a thin layer of chakra around himself, drying the water from his equipment and fatigues in seconds.
Jim grins, "I must be a girl because all your attacks can do is make me wet," Raven and Slug roll their eyes, sighing in vexation before glaring back at Jim, then flipping him off. "Sit and spin on them, you damn dirty tree-jumping toe-exhibitionists!"
The Anbu gasp at the offensive slur and then charges Jim with bulging cross-popping veins appearing on their masks.
Raven and Slug rush Jim full throttle from opposing sides; however, Jim sustains his counteroffensive keeping them on defense. Jim's kenjutsu (sword technique) is chaotic and unorthodox. Yet he wastes nothing in his movements while upholding a degree of capriciousness. He exhibits inhuman agility and responsiveness. Every swing or motion is clean, swift, precise, and with clear intention resembling an elegant dance of lustrous steel afterimages.
Nevertheless, the Anbu maintains their perseverance without falter nor hesitation against Jim's aggressive vendetta. The Anbu's ability to evade and respond with appropriate retaliatory measures induces anxiety in Jim. The Anbu lacks speed but compensates with skill and strategy, likewise possible recognizance of Jim's techniques. Slug and Raven continue attacking in tandem. Despite their near-flawless collaboration, the ceaseless struggle rages, with neither side acquiring supremacy over the other.
Jim continues pressuring Slug, realizing the tall medical nin's speed and reactionary time are declining. With subtle applications of genjutsu, Jim capitalizes upon Slug's weaknesses. He scores nicks and cuts on the shinobi's flesh while remaining mobile, shifting the ground (via one-hand seals/jutsu) and staying aware of the two assassin's attack ranges. Slug's inability to detect the illusions masking Jim's movements infers a slight decrease in cognitive functionality, situational awareness, judgment, and mental capacity.
'So it's finally taking effect; this could be a boon or a burden depending on how I navigate the circumstances,' Jim speculates. Slug appears unaware of the cuts on his limbs nor the red viscid substance oozing from every slash and incision Jim inflicts upon him. As the duration of each skirmish drags on, the decline becomes more apparent, 'the tall bastard's nowhere near as fast as before! Perhaps the notion of victory isn't contradictory,' he forces an aperture distancing himself between both flanking Anbu. Jim shifts through a couple of one-hand seals channeling chakra to his foot before stomping the ground.
Lightning pulses along the surface, stunning Slug; however, Raven leaps above the galvanic wave and plunges her sword at Jim's heart. Jim sidesteps, grappling her wrist, then rotates his torso along her arm until he's behind her. Jim sacrifice-throws (Tomoe Nage) Raven, flipping her through the air like a tomahawk. Slug stumbles about, reeling from the current arching through his body. Jim slides between Slug's legs before spinning on his shoulders, revolving his legs like a pinwheel and sweeping the tall shinobi off the ground. Again Jim uses Slug's body as a platform, mid-air.
"Lightning Release: Fazing Flash Kick!" Jim backflips slamming his electrified boots one after the other into Slug's chin, rocketing Slug through the air. Jim lands on a ledge alongside Raven; she swings her blade at his ankles, but he aerial-flips over Raven slashing at her with his own. She retreats, parrying the counterattack; Jim lands behind her in pursuit.
Raven spins around, swinging her sword at Jim's torso. He slides under Raven's blade, then springs off the ground turning on his palm. He unleashes a flurry of upside-down revolving kicks and a sword swipe at her abdomen. Raven blocks the kicks using her forearms and elbows. She deflects the sharp steel before it can disembowel her, then responds with a sequence of low slashes attempting a swift beheading.
Jim flips over her blade, retaliating with a forward swing. Raven enhances her sword with chakra increasing its power; the collision spins Jim's sword from his hand. He steps back, snatching the spinning blade from the air. Jim swings one leg after the other beneath his torso to avoid Raven following up with another downward swipe trying to sever his knees. She ducks Jim's boots swinging at her head, then reciprocates a rapid, robust assault aiming for his midsection.
Jim b-twists over the incoming razor-sharp blade landing behind Raven. He swings his sword at Raven's neck for a swift decapitation; however, Raven foresees the inbound death blow and counters. She ducks, spins, grabs Jim's wrist to redirect his subsequent sword thrust, then drives her elbow into his sternum before slamming the back of her fist into Jim's face.
Jim recoils from the blow but leans away; Raven slices the chinstrap on his helmet rather than a jugular or significant artery. She follows up with an airborne 360° back kick, grabs his helmet from the air, and throws it like a frisbee. Jim collides with the raised ledge bordering the stone tower's edge. He slides under the gyrating metal whirring through the air at him; its brim lodges into the wall above Jim's face, almost skimming the tip of his nose.
Like a lit fuse, the sizzling sparks within his helmet's interior indicate an active explosive tag. Jim sinks through the stone before the explosion reduces his helmet to shrapnel. He ascends from the ground a short distance from Raven; regardless, Slug offers no leeway but a swift reprisal.
The tall shinobi swan-dives spinning 1440° intending to bore his sword through Jim. Jim extends his legs apart, preventing a castration; he circumvents the drilling steel via starfish kip-up. Slug and Jim surge at each other, re-engaging The Distance for a Duel.
Their blades collide; Jim notices Slug's injuries do not affect the tall medical nin's body, 'this fucker keeps coming after me no matter what!'
Slug, not suffering fatigue or chakra exhaustion, further disturbs Jim. He continues losing ground as Slug pressures him up against a stone pillar. Jim concentrates chakra on his feet, walking backward up the column while parrying Slug's vicious onslaught. He leaps over Slug, but the shinobi's powerful sword strokes keep Jim airborne.
"W-what the fuck!?" Jim blurts in confusion as Slug juggles him through the air upside down. "Stop it!" he blocks and deflects the sharp steel hurling at his body, unable to make a proper landing; Raven decides to join in on the action. "Hey, knock it off!" Jim continues exchanging swipes and swings with the Anbu—while upside down. He uprights himself mid-air before gaining enough space to touchdown out of reach from their blades. Slug rushes forward, enhancing his sword with chakra; he knocks Jim's sword from his hand and stumbles him with a turning sidekick.
Raven charges from behind Slug, slashing at Jim's throat; however, Jim executes a back-walkover (Macaco em Pé), dodging the decapitation attempt. He focuses minute quantities of chakra on the sole of his foot; the hilt of Jim's sword clings to the bottom of his boot. He spins upside down on his palms, twirling his legs like a helicopter rotor. Slug and Raven parry the whirling torrent of sharp steel but suffer slight nicks and cuts before the revolving impacts misbalance them. They backhand spring away, then lunge forward and above Jim, ready to sheath their swords down his backside.
Jim drops to the ground continuing his momentum as the Anbu land beside him. He spins on his shoulders, sweeping them off their feet; Jim pushes himself in the air with his hands grabbing Raven and Slug's ankles. With a quick spin, he tosses them in opposite directions. The Anbu right themselves mid-air, then land sliding along the ground.
Jim disappears through the ground and then emerges behind Raven as she skids. Raven swings her blade; Jim ducks and slips behind her unleashing a series of swift, sharp jabs and pokes to Raven's popliteal (that part of the leg, behind the knee), hip, floating rib, triceps, elbow, and wrist. Raven drops her sword shrieking in pain as her limbs go numb. He sinks back into the ground reemerging near Slug; Slug swings a high wheel-kick at Jim, but he hooks his calf around Slug's hamstring, deflecting the attack.
Jim assails Slug's floating rib, triceps, elbow, and wrist in a lightning-fast combo using the ends of his fingers and knuckles. Jim falls into a handstand, then spins on his palms, rotating his legs in a V-shape. He kicks them in the face, knocking Raven on all fours, and causes Slug to trip over her.
Raven reactivates her dōjutsu, spotting Jim before he can reemerge, "there!" Raven turns around, Jim pops out of the ground, his eyes widen, and he gasps in fear. Raven bombards Jim's face with a volley of downward punches knocking him back through the floor like a cheap whack-a-mole arcade, "I was waiting for you that time, you mole-fucker!"
