Lightning flashes across the sky, reflecting off the Marine Contra's glasses. He takes a drag of a cigarette before flicking it over the ledge. The Grey Berets (Anbu) stalk towards their target, shaking in anticipation and adrenalin, radiating killing intent. The PDI (Personal Data and Inventory) device on his wrist changes color; the display panel, indicating Jim's chakra reserves, shifts from orange to yellow.
He grins, 'tch, more than enough to waste these pricks.'
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."
Crane assumes a battle-ready posture, "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 him. "It's often said: I revel in a bit of schadenfreude. Relative to a delightful foreign meal; with the sweet and the sour—furthering upon that correlation, I will laugh in ecstasy; that's *the sweet*. As you squeal like swine for your pitiful lives," he teleports between the assassins. "Naturally, that's *the sour*!"
The mass murderer seizes the offensive, initiating a lethal oscillation using Hawk's sword. The medical-nin parries the torrent of rapid slashes and thrusts; the Anbu Captain responds with a professional volley of swings aiming for Jim's arteries and veins at breakneck speeds. He maintains his distance, pressuring them with sensory deprivation genjutsu to obscure the trajectory of his movements and attacks. He weaves various one-hand seals to shift the ground beneath the Anbu, keeping them off balance and their blades out of range. The war criminal reinforces his sword with chakra before unleashing a stalwart blow, stumbling the shinobi.
He uses the tall Anbu's abdomen as a stepladder to dispatch a powerful kick to his solar plexus. Jim backflips over the Uchiha. She slashes at his heels, but he throws a kunai into the elevated platform, stopping her blade, then punts the kunoichi, sending her crashing into Crane.
The fugitive 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." The assassins dematerialize into puddles; his eyes broaden: "Ooh, water clones. How fascinating!" They appear on his flanks, wrenching on translucent cables that bind the Contra's limbs. "So you plan to draw and quarter me?"
Raven chuckles, "Hmm, not a bad idea…"
He jolts the kunai on the ground with Lightning Release; it zips through the air, cutting the cords that bind his wrists. He falls backward, rolling his torso in a circular path. The translucent lines on Jim's ankles lasso the Anbu's hands, accelerating them as he pinwheels his legs. He slices the cables, sending the assassins flying in opposing directions.
They cork-flip to stabilize themselves; the Anbu land on the tower's ledges, showering him with kunai and shuriken. He dodges and diverts the razor-sharp metal, performing multiple backhand springs to avoid the wire strings controlling the shuriken; however, the projectiles 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.
The Anbu Captain bites the translucent strings, synthesizing a chain of hand-seals, "Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!" A blazing inferno accelerates down the wires, engulfing the pillar's lower half in a vortex of fiery torment. The flames dissipate, but he disappears. The column swivels—the mass murderer stands atop two kunai sticking into the pillar's surface, index and middle fingers extended at eye level with the rest curled into his palm.
The tiles beneath the Anbu rotate, triggering the lightning seals underneath. They enact a series of evasive maneuvers as each tag activates behind them. He blurs over a few hand seals; the electrified debris propels at the assassins, morphing his thunderous assault into a duel-prong ambush. They counterattack, drawing in the electrical explosions to encircle him within the blast radius.
He deflects a shuriken hail while chaining a set of one-hand seals that allow him to sink below the floor. The medical-nin teleports, distancing himself from the perpetual arc flashes trailing him. He shields himself inside a water dome. The Uchiha tracks the energized pebbles with her Sharingan and parries each projectile with little effort. She straightens and twists her body mid-flight, sticking a perfect three-point pose with her sword behind her in a reverse grip. The galvanic surges cease as the electromagnetic haze recedes.
Standing on the tower's ledge, a silhouette with large pupil-less white eyes and a bright, disturbing grin stares the Anbu down. The shinobi's hands blur over a sequence of hand seals, "Water Pistol: Quick Shot!" An enfilade of liquid bullets discharges from the aquatic barrier as the kunoichi unleashes her Searing Skull Salvos; however, both attacks pass through the silhouette as it fades away. Jim's maniacal laughter reverberates around the assassins without detection.
"Crane! Watch out!" Raven says.
The war criminal resurfaces from the deck; the tall Anbu parries the cold steel hurling at his throat. Crane and Jim exchange a brisk fusillade of sword swipes and strikes, dueling inside the swirling water dome. With two one-hand seals, he activates a series of lightning mines, preventing the Anbu Captain from flanking him.
The fugitive's and the medical-nin's blades collide, scraping and raining sparks at the dome's center; he uses substitution jutsu, forcing the shinobi to disengage and prevent the severance of a major artery. Jim twirls his sword, then rushes forward. He swings again at the tall Anbu's throat; Crane ducks, following up with a rapid slash at his midsection. He jumps above the fridged steel, inflicting a solid kick upon the medical-nin's head, staggering him.
The Contra evades and deflects the shinobi's retaliatory onslaught, studying his kenjutsu (sword technique) for any reiterative patterns or potential vulnerabilities. Jim stuns the tall Anbu's ulnar nerve with the blade's hilt. He roundhouse, then heel kicks Crane below and above the knee, lands a spinning axe kick, pivots low, and rears his leg in a wide arc toward the medical-nin's head.
The disorientated shinobi flies out of the liquid dome, clasping his hands, "Water Prison Jutsu!" The protective barrier becomes an aqueous entrapment, submerging the mass murderer within several liters of a thick slime-like substance. A water clone of the tall Anbu manifests outside the dome, maintaining the technique. Jim holds his breath, concentrating on the surrounding area; he focuses his chakra, preventing the immense force from crushing him.
The Anbu rush the slime bubble, ready to swing away with their stabby-steely gore wands like a piñata. He channels enough chakra to his hand to overcome the hydraulic pressure and shifts over a series of one-hand seals. The tiles around the barrier flip. The explosive tags beneath force them to withdraw. The war criminal hijacks and repurposes the aquatic prison into a defensive buffer. The heat vaporizes Crane's water clone before it can scream; the liquid dome dissolves without the clone acting as a medium to maintain it. He creates a thin layer of chakra around himself, drying his equipment and fatigues.
Jim grins, "I must be a girl because all your attacks seem to do is get me wet." The assassins rush him from opposing sides; however, he sustains an aggressive counteroffensive with his inhuman agility, responsiveness, and unorthodox kenjutsu. He presses them with each whimsical movement and meticulous sword swipe in an elegant dance of lustrous steel afterimages.
Nevertheless, the Anbu maintain their perseverance without falter or hesitation against his chaotic vendetta. They evade and respond with appropriate retaliatory measures while counteracting the fugitive's immense speed with skill, strategy, and possible recognition of his techniques. The assassins continue attacking in tandem. Despite their near-flawless collaboration, the ceaseless struggle rages, with neither side acquiring supremacy.
He continues bearing down upon the medical-nin, realizing the shinobi's speed and reactionary time are declining. With subtle applications of genjutsu, Jim capitalizes upon his weaknesses. He scores nicks and cuts on the tall Anbu's flesh while remaining mobile, shifting the ground (via one-hand seals/jutsu) and staying vigilant of both Anbu's attack ranges. Crane's inability to detect the illusions masking the Contra'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 burden depending on how I navigate the circumstances,' Jim speculates. The medical-nin is insensible to the cuts on his limbs, nor the red viscid substance oozing from every slash and incision he inflicts upon him. As the duration of each skirmish persists, the decline becomes apparent, 'That damn beanpole is nowhere near as fast as before! Perhaps the notion of victory isn't contradictory,' The mass murderer forces an aperture, distancing himself from the flanking assassins. He channels his chakra, shifting through a few one-hand seals before stomping the surface.
Lightning pulses along the rooftops, stunning the beanpole; however, the Uchiha leaps above the galvanic wave and plunges her sword at Jim's heart. He dodges and grapples the kunoichi's wrist before maneuvering behind her. The war criminal rolls backward, throwing and flipping Raven like a tomahawk, "Get rotated, idiot!" The shinobi stumbles about, reeling from the current arching across his body; he slides between the tall Anbu's feet, revolving on his shoulders. He whirls his legs, sweeping him off the deck. Again, he uses Crane's body as a platform, midair.
"Lightning Release: Fazing Flash Kick!" Jim backflips, slamming his electrified feet, one after another, into the medical-nin's chin, rocketing him upwards. The Anbu Captain swings her blade at the fugitive's ankles. He aerial-flips overhead, then counters. She retreats, parrying the counterattack; Jim lands behind her in pursuit.
She pivots, swiping at his throat. He slides under the blade, springs off the ground, and rotates on his palm. He unleashes a flurry of dynamic inverted kicks; the Uchiha parries the gyrating barrage and deflects a sword stroke before it can disembowel her. She responds with a sequence of low slashes.
The Contra flips above her blade, retaliating with a frontal assault. She enhances her sword with chakra; the collision spins Jim's sword from his hand. He flairs one leg after the other beneath his torso, battering her head with both feet. She reciprocates with a rapid swipe at the mass murderer's midsection; he butterfly-twists above her robust offensive, recapturing his blade midair.
He swings his sword at the kunoichi's neck for an instant decapitation; however, she foresees the inbound death blow and counters. Raven ducks, grabs Jim's wrist to redirect his subsequent sword thrust, then drives her elbow into the war criminal's sternum before she whips her fist back into his face.
He recoils from the blow and leans back. The Anbu Captain slices the chinstrap on his helmet, missing the jugular. She follows up with an airborne kick and throws Jim's helmet. He collides with the tower's ledge. The fugitive slides under the whirring metal, soaring across the air at him; its brim lodges into the wall, almost skimming the tip of his nose.
An active explosive tag sizzles inside the helmet; he sinks below the rooftops before the explosion reduces it to shrapnel. Jim ascends from the ground a short distance from her; he parts his legs, circumventing castration via starfish kip-up as the shinobi's sword bores through the surface.
Despite his injuries, he surges after the Contra without indicating fatigue or chakra exhaustion. He corners him against another stone pillar. Jim concentrates his chakra, walking backward up the column while parrying the vicious onslaught. He leaps over him, but the tall Anbu's powerful sword strokes keep him airborne.
"Woah, hey! What's happening!?" the mass murderer blurts in confusion as Crane juggles him across the air upside down. "Stop it!" he blocks and deflects the sharp steel hurling at his body, unable to land; the Uchiha joins in on the hovering harassment. "Hey, knock it off!" Jim continues exchanging swipes and swings with the Anbu until he acquires sufficient velocity to upright himself and escape their lethal tennis game. The medical-nin rushes forward, enhancing his sword with chakra; he knocks the war criminal's sword from his hand and stumbles him with a turning sidekick.
The kunoichi charges from behind the shinobi, slashing at Jim's throat; however, he executes a back-walkover, dodging the beheading attempt. The fugitive focuses chakra on the sole of his foot; the hilt of Jim's sword clings to the bottom of his boot. He spins on his palms; the Contra whirls his legs. The assassins parry the torrent of sharp steel but suffer slight nicks and cuts before the revolving blows misbalance them.
They backhand spring away, then lunge forward and above their target, aspiring to use Jim's cheeks as sword sheaths. He uses substitution to elude the unplanned prostate exam as they sustain their momentum, sliding along the surface. The mass murderer emerges behind Raven; she swings her sword, but he ducks then slips behind the Anbu Captain, dispatching swift, sharp jabs and pokes to her ankle, popliteal (that part of the leg behind the knee), hip, floating rib, shoulder, triceps, elbow, and wrist.
The Uchiha's limbs fall limp as she drops her sword, hissing in pain. Jim uses teleportation jutsu to reappear beside the tall Anbu; both dispatch their respective kicks. He ensnares Crane's leg between his calf and hamstring, then strikes the pressure points along the medical-nin's body with the ends of his fingers and knuckles. Jim leans back, rotating on his palms. He batters the assassins in their faces with his heels. The kunoichi falls on all fours before the shinobi stumbles over her.
Raven reactivates her dōjutsu, spotting the war criminal before he reappears, "There!" Jim pops out of the ground; his eyes widen. He gasps in fear as memories of a dispelled shadow clone besiege his mind. The Anbu Captain bombards the fugitive's face with a volley of downward punches, knocking him back under the floor like a cheap whack-a-mole arcade, "I was waiting for you that time, you mole-fucker!!"