His head would tilt to the side, eyes completely locked upon Goro as the air around him changed almost immediately. Shinda’s fingers moved to the hem of his shirt first as he watched Goro equip himself with a Kunai in preparation. With practiced motion, he slid his arms free, letting the fabric hang loose around his waist so nothing would snag. His exposed torso would give Goro and immediate glimpse into something that he had kept hidden, scars of various sizes and locations along his body. "Outside of my clan, no one knows, except for you", words that Shinda spoke in a tone unlike any he had used before. It was serious, deep and slightly unsettling which was a complete opposite of his neutral demeanor.
His hand then reached behind him, the smell of incense and blood, smoke and bone began to invade his senses. He pressed his palm flat against the back of his neck, feeling along where his cervical vertebrae was. There was a quiet, but audial wet pop beneath the skin, an unsettling sound to the ears. The flesh along his neck would split along a thin seam, as if his body already knew how to open for this. He could feel the warmth of his blood begin to run along his fingers as a pale bone emerged slowly under his grip.
He pulled.
Vertebrae slid free one after another with soft, slick sounds, as each segment connected by faint strands of chakra began to be pulled free of his body. A thin line of dark blood traced down his back, but it flowed lazily rather than violently, as someone would normally expect when bone was being removed from the skin. When the full length came free, his stance seemed to slump over slightly while the spine flexed in his hand; curving, coiling, and ready. Goro would be given access to see a large void ripped out of Shinda's slumped back and the streams of crimson that had escaped. There was little time to dwell on what he was seeing however as his skin and bone had already begun regenerating, his posture correcting itself.
Shinda didn’t react to the pain, he ignored it with dulled senses, but it was felt. His breathing stayed steady, his expression calm yet held a macabre shadow. There was a scarlet glow in his eyes and his body would move quickly, weight shifting as webbing came streaming past where he once stood. Again, the smell of funerary rites flooded his senses as his wrist whipped outwards quickly causing his spinal column to arc outwards with the sharpened point of the tailbone slashing across Goro's body....or did it. Smoke had burst outwards almost as soon as the strike occurred, a move that didn't seem to stop Shinda's momentum as before the the smoke even cleared the whip was already in motion..and found it's intended target. He didn't have to assume if it had struck within the smoke, his fingertips feeling the resistance of something fleshy being hit. Pulling the weapon back towards him, the smoke parted suddenly as a blade of wind raced towards him.
A sidestep.
Almost on instinct, Shinda would not think about what he was doing, his body moving on its own as within rapid succession four arcing strikes lashed out from his whip. Goro wouldn't fall for the feinting first strike, easily dodging the rapid follow strike that was normally meant to catch someone off guard. Both ears twitched at the sound of a pitched whistling, a sound that momentarily caught him off guard as he was already adjusting his footing. Arm reeling back, his spinal whip would coil around his form and stab into the ground. The tailbone had threaded the hole in the kunai's handle midflight, pinning the weapon into the ground at his feet. This reaction wasn't instinct but forced and before he could process what happened, a sharp pain made itself felt in his right leg. When was another kunai launched? His eyes for a split second adjusting to catch sight of the kunai knife which had indeed embedded itself along his shin. He felt it, an uncomfortable pressure in the limb that was different that what he usually felt. Muscle, not bone, had been struck and he would have a lingering discomfort in the limb. The whip was simply not enough...
He let go.
Releasing his spine, there would be a momentary glint that caught his attention, arms crossing over his chest reflexively. Another kunai would find it's mark, though it was a mark that was prepared. His bone density was far from average, the kunai barely piercing the skin before falling to the ground, unable to really bite into Shinda's skin.
Adaption.
There was a sharp, wet tearing sound as his grip sank beneath skin and muscle. His shoulder jerked once not from panic, but from the sheer force required as he hooked his fingers around the bone beneath and pulled. The scapula came free in a single bloody motion, sliding out slick with strands of torn connective tissue that snapped one by one. Blood ran down his arm in warm streams dripping from his elbow to the ground. Just as before, his flesh and bone almost immediately regenerated, leaving a new scar.
Shinda’s breathing never changed.
He turned the bone in his hand so the flat blade sat naturally in his palm. The joint edge formed a thick, weighted ridge which was perfect for delivering bludgeoning impact. He rolled his shoulder once before stepping forward. Lifting the blood slick scapula like a crude mallet, he prepared to strike. Whistling through the air, his ears would twitch, streaks of silver flashing past him as his footing adjusted as if he was dancing. Despite this fluidity in his movement, a shuriken found home against his right breast. It embedded one of the blades into his skin enough to stick, but Shinda wouldn't register the feeling.
A returned favor
His right hand which held the bone mallet would swipe outwards, Goro forced to react to seeing five small bones with sharpened edges coming flying towards him. He wouldn't have time to really see if any had found their mark, having to avoid a boulder being fired at him. Another simple sidestep, this time accompanied by Shinda charging towards Goro. He would swipe at Goro, full force with his shoulder bone mallet, it's weight making the weapon slower than the whip and easier to avoid. Not only was his attack avoided but the counter from Goro was almost immediate.
He would leap back
There was a pressure building in his chest as he took more labored breaths, multiple projectiles stuck into his body. These though had barely been registered as pain to Shinda and staring at Goro......he was the same. They had barely injured, if you could call it that, each other. Both eyes glanced towards where his spinal whip still lay, wondering if Goro had noticed that it wasn't just blood that had been on the weapon but a slight tinge of purple.
"....I wonder if you noticed it...."
[WC: 1184]
[Rd 2 actions to be sent]
