Malacanth had received an interesting request from his Kazekage today. A man had delivered a challenge to see the state of genin in Sunagakure. Malacanth was happy for the ability to finally gain battle data for Perfection but it was somewhat odd that a genin who has only been one for a couple of weeks would be sent as the best Sunagakure's genin have to offer. He knew he was having somewhat of a meteoric rise amongst Sunagakure in his less than humble opinion but their were genin with years of experience. Maybe it was his embodiment of the specialties of Sunagakure. He is part of the clan that literally invented kugutsu after all. In any case, Perfection will have her first field test he thought with glee. She will decimate him or she is going to go back into development. With that cheery thought, he left for the outside of Sunagakure where his battle is meant to take place.

Malacanth took his time and walked at a leisurely pace as he had no sense of urgency to speak of. His idea of a mission was a loose one and therefore is willing to take all the time he needs. When he did finally show up he was an hour late and found a considerably pissed off man waiting for him. " I've been waiting for an hour you impudent little boy." Malacanth only smirked and released the latches that held Perfection to his back. " You can't rush perfection brute." This was simply meant as an apt description of the man but for whatever reason the man took offense to it. " If this is the best Sunagakure has to offer then they are in trouble!" Malacanth only stifled a chuckle at the man's frustration. As the chakra strings connected to the puppet, it sprung to life and got up. " I hope you don't mind me staying out of the fight, I'm not interested in the sweaty stuff." The man rolled his eyes at the odd scientist and said " Fine weakling, I'll destroy your puppet and let you go without a scratch." Malacanth finally let out a laugh at the man's confidence. " Your confidence shall be your downfall. You taijutsu freaks are so sure of yourselves. Always thinking that the other shinobi arts are for weaklings when the best of the shinobi world uses ninjutsu and the other arts while taijutsu takes a secondary importance to them. Prove to me my puppet can't defeat you and then we will see." The taijutsu master seemed confident in his skills though and simply stood ready to fight. With a tsk added for the impudence of the man. Perfection stepped forward at the flick of a finger. " Prove to me brute that your brutality is better than my art." With that the man could not stand still and allow it to continue so he dashed at the puppet. Malacanth expected it though, a brute could never just sit there while being insulted. Malacanth waited till the the last second before springing Perfection to action. He made Perfection dive under him and unlock the talons in a fluid motion and stab him in the back of the ankle. He was able to jump up just in time though. This left him open to long range fire though and Malacanth took advantage of the fact. The puppet's mouth opened and shot a crossbow bolt at the man who was stuck in midair. It hit his shoulder, not incapacitating him, but sure not making it easy to use the left arm. As the man hit the ground he pulled the crossbow bolt out of his shoulder with a grunt. The man obviously wasn't expecting hidden weapons when he challenged Sunagakure to this but he obviously was starting to take it into account now. He circled the puppet, being careful not to be caught out like the first encounter. He started closing the distance and when he got within five feet made his move. He did a hard tackle for the puppet, trying to incapacitate the two weapons it had by pinning it's arms and stopping the mouth from getting a good shot. Perfection did a jump to the right, trying to dodge then getting a shot off while he is down. The man was quick though and reached out and caught it by grabbing the kneecap area of the leg. Sadly this was where Malacanth had a hidden weapon. A shuriken like weapon popped out and started spinning, cutting up his right hand. He let go with a gasp of pain and Perfection came off with no damage. Perfection then got another crossbow bolt shot off and this time it hit the small of his back. Sadly the current crossbow installed into Perfection was subpar and could not penetrate far. The man got up, visibly bleeding in the hand, shoulder, and now from his back. He wasn't beaten but he sure wasn't at an advantage. Another favorable engagement could decide it. This time, Perfection and Malacanth made the first move and attacked using the talons. The man was able to dodge sloppily, to busy trying to stem the flow of blood to focus on doing it well. Perfection didn't let up though and the taijutsu master couldn't do much about it as his left shoulder hurt every time he moved it and his right hand was already too cut up to risk again. This led to him slowly accumulating stab wounds. The man finally raised his hands in defeat, making Malacanth the winner in an overwhelming victory. The man handed off the ryo reluctantly and Malacanth gloated through the whole transaction. Malacanth left the defeated man, extremely happy with the positive results and the battle data he was able to collect in the fight. Surely his puppet is on the right track if it can win in those conditions. With the satisfaction that that was one obstacle down on his way to perfection, he left to do do what he wants with the rest of his day.
1025/1000 words
140/150 chakra

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