"I don't need to see you to know who you are."
— Daredevil
--
Konan's eyes narrowed.
He's fighting without sight…
She gathered chakra again but this time it compressed instantly into a single, needle-thin lance, denser and sharper than anything she had used so far.
The lance fired.
The lance shot forward at killing speed, aimed straight for Otis's head.
Inside the sealed darkness of the armor, Otis felt it… Not the weapon itself but the shift in air pressure, the distortion in the space ahead of him.
The lance missed…
Barely.
It tore past his helmet by a breath, grazing his shoulder. Stone cracked as the edge shaved along the armor.
Otis didn't stop.
He raised his hand and flicked his fingers.
Pebbles launched, one after another. Then dozens more.
Some curved mid-flight, guided by subtle chakra control. Others ricocheted off walls, rooftops, and pillars, changing angles unpredictably before screaming toward Konan.
And Otis was already moving…
He sprinted forward, closing the distance with terrifying speed as he continued throwing more pebbles.
Konan twisted and dodged narrowly. Pebbles grazed her sleeves, clipped her wings, shredded paper constructs inches from her body. She formed a paper shield out of reflex.
The stones punched straight through it.
Dozens of sheets shredded apart, fluttering uselessly to the ground.
Konan clenched her jaw.
Otis was almost beneath her now.
He dragged his axe along the stone street as he ran.
SKRRRRRRRRK…
The blade screeched, sparks flying, but that wasn't the point.
The vibrations traveled through the earth, feeding back into him, sharpening the mental map forming inside his mind.
He didn't need eyes.
Konan snapped her hands outward.
A spiraling cyclone of paper erupted toward him, a rotating drill of blades meant to flay him alive.
Otis ran straight into it.
Paper tore at his armor, carving deep grooves, but the stone plates reformed as fast as they were damaged, devouring what little chakra he had left to repair themselves.
[ (A/N)
And we are seeing some pretty deep scratches at a level six. With deeper grooves at a level seven. (￣ー￣)]
He raised his shield and forced his way through the storm, bursting out the other side like a charging bull.
Konan's eyes widened.
He was already beneath her.
Otis's chakra was almost gone. The armor no longer healed properly. Cracks stayed cracked and without hesitation, he used the last of his chakra to erupt an earth spike beneath his feet, launching himself upward.
In a heartbeat, he was in front of her.
His axe came down.
Konan scattered into paper at the last possible instant, The blade missed her by a breath and split the rooftop behind her clean in two.
Otis fell back toward the ground...
But he expected her to vanish and reform.
While falling, he hurled his shield.
Konan reformed panting and froze… She didn't even have time to inhale before the shield smashed into her face.
CRASH!!
The impact sent her plummeting toward the street below.
Otis hit the street hard and immediately sprinted toward her.
He closed the distance instantly, raised his axe, and hurled it without giving her a second to recover.
But Konan wasn't an ordinary shinobi. She dispersed again, the axe slicing through empty air.
She reformed mid-air, fury burning in her eyes.
"You think knocking me down is enough?" she snarled.
"Paper Ocean!"
Every sheet around her exploded outward, forming a massive tidal wave of paper. Sealing tags were hidden within it, layered upon layer, stacked like mines.
The wave swallowed Otis whole.
Otis crossed his arms over his head as the paper ignited.
BOOOOOOM!!
The blast consumed him.
Smoke and debris filled the street, rolling outward in a thick, choking cloud.
Konan stared into it, breathing hard.
For a moment… nothing moved.
Then
Otis burst out of the smoke.
His armor was shattered. Half of it barely clung to his body. Stone plates flaked off mid-air as he launched himself straight at her.
Blood ran down his arm.
But his eyes were locked on her.
[ (A/N)
Yes, he's broken, bleeding, and missing half his armor.
No, he did not reconsider.
Mf was locked in for real. (ง •̀_•́)ง]
Konan didn't have time to dodge.
A thick paper shield began to form around her as she desperately forced it into shape
Otis punched through it before it fully formed.
The impact was catastrophic.
The incomplete shield cracked apart, and the force sent both of them crashing backward toward the ground near the earth dome protecting the hut.
Konan hit the ground hard, coughing violently, struggling to breathe.
Otis slammed down nearby, cracking the street beneath him.
Dust drifted.
Silence… Broken only by Konan's coughing.
…
Meanwhile in the Capital of the Land of Grass
Blood… everywhere.
It coated the floor in dark streaks, soaked into the tatami, splattered across the walls. The metallic stench hung thick in the air.
The samurai who had sworn to protect the merchant lay where they'd fallen, some slumped against furniture, others collapsed mid-step, blades still half-drawn, scattered across the room in heroic but ultimately useless poses.
They never stood a chance.
Takeshi stood frozen in the center of the room.
His arms were spread wide in front of his wife Hana and their son Ren, shielding them with his body despite knowing how useless it was
Hana clutched Ren tightly to her chest, one hand pressed over his mouth to keep him from crying.
Her eyes were wide and hollow with terror.
Four Grass shinobi stood before them.
One clicked his tongue in annoyance, stepping over a dead samurai without even glancing down.
"Unfortunate," the ninja said casually. "You offended someone you shouldn't have."
Another sighed.
"Honestly? This could've been avoided."
Takeshi swallowed hard.
"I-I don't understand…"
"Of course you don't," another ninja replied flatly.
The third stepped forward, pulling out a tanto with a soft shk sound, the blade gleaming in the dim light.
"The daimyō doesn't like loose ends."
Takeshi's knees shook, but he didn't move.
"P-Please," he said, voice cracking. "My family has nothing to do with this"
Ren's eyes filled with tears.
Hana tightened her grip on him, whispering desperately, "Don't look. Don't look."
The ninja raised the blade.
--
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