Kenji let it all sink in; “Some guy sent a giant crab after us, this guy has some agenda that would benefit greatly from having Latika and I involved,” he thought. After another moment passed as he processed everything, he drew three shuriken and stared at Latika with no emotion, “Thank you for that.” It was true, Kenji didn’t care what she did, it wasn’t going to affect his decision; his mind was already made. He could see a slight frown on Latika’s face, “Well, at least we get to finally fight each other without any interruptions.” The Chuunin didn’t allow himself to reminisce about the past anymore; as he maintained his cold expression, with his kekkai genkai active, her most revered skill was going to be nullified for the most part. In one breath Kenji released the three shuriken he wielded in his right hand; they flew violently forward toward its target; the target stood disdainfully at the oncoming strike. She slapped at the shuriken lethargically; her two puppet arms had defensive properties, enabling her to endure non chakra enhanced projectiles such as kunai and shuriken. Her arms could also extend making her a viable long range threat. “Feeling out my puppet’s defensive capabilities? You’re still sharp” Quickly after she spoke, Kenji dashed forward, using full speed. She smiled and went into a defensive stance as Kenji attacked with his katana. “If shuriken can’t penetrate her arms, maybe my katana can…” The first downward chop was intercepted by her arm; a flash of anger rose onto Kenji’s face as he launched off a barrage of strikes, “So her arms are out of the question but what about the torso?” Kenji had already formulated a plan; he suspected that her puppet arms might also protect her against his katana. The flurry ended with Kenji squatted delivering an upward strike. The upward thrust pushed Latika’s arms up, leaving her mid section completely vulnerable; Kenji’s facial expression didn’t change as he swiftly swiveled/rotated his katana and it dove into Latika’s stomach; a wince came upon her face, but the blade still didn’t penetrate. The object that prohibited the blade seemed thin and to wrap around the stomach; Kenji’s analysis was cut short by a fist with tremendous torque behind it. A smirk on Latika’s face as she turned into the punch; the shot sent Kenji flying and spinning a little more than 5 meters back.
Kenji slid across the hard ground. Bruising was becoming visible on his right cheek; he scrunched up his face attempting to dismiss the pain. Latika extended her arm out in front of her with her palm facing down. The wrapping that covered her arm unraveled; it concealed a shiny mechanical arm with many slits that were where the weapon “opened” and released its attacks. First, the hand jutted out flying at Kenji; immediately after the release, from the forearm released four panels that made an “X” around the arm. The panels showed a shuriken in the middle of the panel, the panel then rotated so that it was parallel with the ground; now with the striking hand, which after the punch was definitely capable of great blunt force, were four shuriken that were flying at incredible speed. The speed of the shuriken along with the blunt weapon was enough to make someone of Kenji’s skill a little apprehensive. The launched hand was connected to a thick wire, that was spooled in another compartment of the arm, the hand swiveled around the shuriken; the hand was more than capable of stopping most attacks Kenji could use (projectiles), so he only had one choice, that was to avoid the attack completely; that in itself was also going to be difficult giving the versatility of the “hand” granted by its mobility. He called upon the epitome of his nimbleness; first, he dashed laterally, “The hand has greater range in movement but the shuriken don’t; now all I have to worry about is the hand.” Latika seemed pleased as she gave a nod and proceeded to direct the hand over in Kenji’s direction, the wire from the hand disrupted the projectiles’ trajectory, knocking them to the ground. The hand attacked at angles, diving low and wide then coming back up; Kenji weaved out of the way of the several strikes fluently. However, the end result showed a mass of wire surrounding Kenji getting ready to collapse onto him, trapping him. “Damn it! It was a set up… But I think I can…” Kenji was able to use his dexterity to slip through a sliver of free space that wasn’t occupied by the wire; he slipped through gracefully. Once out, coupled with his katana drawn, he grabbed hold of a considerable amount of the wire; yanking it, bringing the hand to the ground, he stepped on the wire to keep it there. Kenji sighed as he barely escaped the trap, he had his foot and knee on the wire keeping the hand in place; the hand was a little behind him, just out of peripheral vision. He looked forward, at Latika. Wanting to say anything, but he knew combat was the best way to communicate at this point. Right as Kenji was about to initiate something, he caught a glance in his Glove of Reflection, showing him motion in the hand; a hole was revealed in the middle of the palm, showing a black ball, “A cannon ball?” Commotion was starting around the edges indicating that it was about to be fired, with little time to react, Kenji brought up his katana meeting the cannon ball at the center, shifting its path to the left of him, just missing the side of his skull; it also pushed his katana far to his right, almost dislocating his elbow. On top of that; it also knocked him off balance, he was now falling backwards, with his left foot planted but his right leg was up in the air. The puppeteer wasted no time and Kenji’s vulnerable leg was instantly surrounded by the wire guided by the swirling flying hand. The grip was extremely tight, Kenji tried to cut the wire, but his katana wasn’t sharp enough.
Kenji was whipped through the air for a while before be flung strongly at a tree. Kenji’s back collided with the trunk of the tree, his body horizontal to the ground; he was just able to keep his grip of his weapon. Latika retracted her hand. He scurried to his feet, sheathing his katana, and in turn drawing two kunai. In a burst, kicking up a mass of dust, he reached Latika once again quickly. With his raw speed and skill with weapons he was capable of chaining together weapon combos effortlessly. The speed clearly bothered Latika as her face frowned as she struggled to keep up. Several sharp stabs attempted to impale the nukenin, Kenji struck the side of her torso. Latika was able to side step the blow, and Kenji’s left arm fell right in the crook of Latika’s right puppet arm. She locked in and trapped the arm. Kenji suppressed his urge to smile. “Deception, thanks father,” Kenji turned clockwise putting his back facing Latika, and in one fluent motion he brought his right hand with the kunai in it, backwards striking downward right for Latika’s right shoulder; which he was positive wasn’t guarded by any armor. He could hear and feel the blade of the kunai pierce her flesh. Kenji had no intentions on stopping there, he reversed his previous movement, he turned counterclockwise facing Latika; her grip of him was completely broken. In that motion he brought the same kunai he stabbed her with whipping upward for her face. There was already a permanent laceration on her right cheek, now there was another cut/scar on her left cheek. A streak of blood flickered from the wound; leaving a 10 cm long cut that almost reached her eye. The attacked jolted her back instantly, but Kenji was relentless, as she hopped back desperately Kenji was already lunging forward with the kunai that he held in his left hand. He was attempting a straight thrust for her eye; “I have no choice, she’s already shown to have defenses on her arms, leg, torso, and possibly the chest. I have to go for the face and shoulders.” He thought, not that he needed a reason to justify his actions in battle, it was battle; he had to defeat the enemy by any means necessary, but he was no brute nor a bloodthirsty killer; if there was a more subtle way to incapacitate an opponent, that was the means he leaned towards. About 6 inches from her face, the kunai that is, and still falling forward, a disturbance was apparent under Latika’s loose shirt. “Whatever protected her earlier is coming out to play now; this must be the unidentified weapon/puppet they referred to.” In a blur the concealed weapon whipped around Latika flying in front of her, floating in Kenji’s face, about 3 inches from his kunai. “Is that a…”
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