Asuma shot forward, running along the side of the stadium toward Hiruzen and Rasa. He gripped his pair of trench knives, worn like brass knuckles and soaked with his chakra. The blades were fine, impossibly sharp. Two of Orochimaru's henchmen, Jirobo and Kidomaru, moved to intercept him.
Kidomaru had six arms, two of which handled a longbow with a javelin-sized arrow. His dark skin was covered with spiraling curse marks, and his body surged with power granted by Orochimaru. He fired the arrow at Asuma, streaking through the air and coated with chakra, missing by a hair as Asuma threw himself out of the way. Kidomaru brought a second set of hands to his mouth as he performed a sequence of seals, spewing a sticky net-like web. Asuma darted around the immobilizing strands, slicing through them with his trench knives. He lost sight of Jirobo for the briefest moment.
Jirobo was a giant of a shinobi, over two meters tall and one-hundred-fifty kilograms in weight, yet he moved with surprising agility. His curse mark was in the form of winding vectors of black arrows. He rushed Asuma from the side, casting an earth-style ninjutsu that formed a spiked gauntlet on his striking arm. Jirobo accelerated with a sudden burst of speed as Kidomaru fired another arrow at Asuma, all while Asuma danced around sticky webs.
Kakashi was the first behind Asuma. He threw two lightning-charged kunai knives into the fray, deflecting Kidomaru's arrow, and interrupting Jirobo's charging technique. Asuma and Jirobo, both recovering their balance, struck each other knife-to-gauntlet, their weapons bursting with chakra. The collision produced an explosive shockwave, sending both shinobi careening down into the finals arena.
Kakashi and Kidomaru remained clinging to the arena wall. Kidomaru knocked three arrows. "That was a nice save back there, but can you do three at once?" He launched the arrows in arcs that guided toward Kakashi.
Ram-Dog-Ox-Snake. Doton: Mud Wall! A shield of earth and mud erupted from the arena wall, blocking the incoming arrows. They blasted the shell of mud apart on impact, spraying up a cloud of mud and dust, from which two Kakashis darted out in opposite directions.
"Two at once, huh?" said Kidomaru. He angled two arrows in the bow and fired, each enhanced with more chakra than before. Both Kakashis managed to dodge, but as the arrows passed Kidomaru performed a hand seal, and the arrows exploded into sprays of acidic webs. The Kakashis were engulfed and pinned to the wall. They both melted into mud. "Both of them were mud clones!? Then where—"
The genuine Kakashi burst out of the arena wall beside Kidomaru, blade in hand. Kakashi landed a shallow slash as Kidomaru jumped back. The blade was partially deflected by a hard layer of web around Kidomaru's side. He flipped his bow around his shoulder and drew a blade in each of his six hands, countering Kakashi's assault. Six-bladed Spider Style. The air flashed with sparks and rang with the clang of steel.
Kakashi read Kidomaru's movements with his Sharingan. The additional arms added a degree of unpredictability and versatility, but Kakashi was fast and precise, unwavered by the flurry of blades. He ducked under Kidomaru's swing and sliced upward, severing one of Kidomaru's hands at the wrist.
"Ahg! Bastard! My hand!" Kidomaru fell on the backfoot, struggling to keep Kakashi at bay.
Guy came from behind, circling around with nunchaku in hand. Kakashi forced Kidomaru into a vulnerable position with an agile sequence of blade thrusts. Hachimon: First Gate of Opening! Guy's speed exploded. Kidomaru was flanked.
Asuma and Jirobo stood across from each other in the arena. At the other end, Sasuke and Gaara were still paralyzed from the flute song.
"You're strong," said Jirobo. He flexed his fingers, hand sizzling from the explosive contact with Asuma's trench knife.
"You're no weakling yourself," said Asuma. A bolt of pain shot through his arm—Asuma hadn't expected so much power behind Jirobo's punch.
Jirobo lifted a nearby boulder with ease, hoisting it above his head. He threw the six-hundred kilogram rock as if it was a simple shuriken. Asuma rolled out of the way, the boulder crashing behind him as Jirobo charged from the front.
Katon: Giant Fireball! Asuma exhaled a jet of flames, and Jirobo skidded to a halt, putting up his arms to guard as he conjured an earthen shield. A third curse seal-shinobi, Sakon, approached from Asuma's side mid-fireball. He had shoulder length hair, long limbs, and a spreading cursed mark that looked like black worms crawling beneath his skin. Sakon broke Asuma's concentration with a high kick. Asuma turned to block, exchanging a series of blows. He's faster than the big guy. Sakon's moves were unorthodox, and Asuma was caught in the shoulder by an extra arm that Sakon sprouted mid-strike. The blow delivered a sharp jolt of pain, and Asuma stumbled back.
Sakon slipped by a jab and landed a kick with the help of an extra leg. He went in for another attack, but he was pulled back by fast growing roots and clutching branches. A tree sprouted around him in an instant, enveloping him in wood and thorny bark. Jubaku Satsu: Tree Binding Death. Kurenai had entered the arena behind Asuma, debilitating Sakon with a genjutsu. He stood frozen, mentally suffocating from a phantasmal tree.
I can't move… Ukon! Help me!
Give me a second. You always get trapped by the simplest genjutsu… Fine, I'll break you free.
The dual consciousness of Sakon and Ukon regained control of their collective chakra, snapping out of the paralyzing genjutsu. Sakon regained his composure just in time to evade an attack from Asuma. Jirobo rushed in, recapturing Asuma's focus. The two traded blows as Sakon summoned a set of giant shuriken to hurl at Kurenai. She leapt to the side, the spinning blades coming close enough to slice a strand of trailing hair.
"Genjutsu doesn't work too well on me," said Sakon. "Is that the best trick that you've got?"
Sharp networks of bones burst out from the arena wall and floor, scattering all combatants. Kurenai narrowly dodged a branch of bone, and Asuma suffered a slash to his leg as he leapt away. Kidomaru was saved from Kakashi and Guy's two-front attack, the bone eruption interrupting their advances and granting Kidomaru a window of escape. Kakashi reacted to the surprise bone attack, while Guy's arm was cut by a jutting bone blade. The three of them jumped down to the arena floor.
The four Konoha jonin stood across from Orochimaru's minions: Jirobo, Sakon and Kidomaru. A fourth cursed shinobi joined the battle, the bone-user, Kimimaro. His pale youthful face maintained a stoic expression as he jumped down into the arena, standing in the center of the forest of bones that he had conjured. His curse mark was of jagged black lines along his collarbone and shoulders.
"Damn it, we can't waste anymore time with these goons," said Asuma. He was breathing heavily, bloodied and bruised from his short bouts with Jirobo and Sakon. "We need to break through to Lord Third, or at least disrupt the flute-user."
"They aren't making it easy," said Kurenai. "That one there resisted my genjutsu."
"There's something crafty about his taijutsu style too," said Asuma. "It's like fighting two shinobi at once. And the big guy packs a hell of a punch."
"Nice work against the six-armed one, Kakashi," said Guy. "We almost had him!"
"We were close," said Kakashi. But not close enough. He knew they couldn't afford to drag the fight out any longer than necessary.
Kimimaro turned his head to Kidomaru, cold expression unchanged. "You're already wounded. Are you incapable of handling this quickly? We can't allow them to interrupt the demon song."
"Look who we're up against!" said Kidomaru. He staunched his bleeding wrist with a layer of hard webbing. "That guy with the white hair is Kakashi of the Copy Wheel Eye, and that's the Hokage's son beside him."
"Who cares?" said Sakon. "Let's just kill them already."
Kidomaru gritted his teeth. "Fine, I'll get serious." His spiraling curse mark spread faster across his body, and his chakra spiked. His skin turned dark red, and hardened into a spiky natural armor. Horns sprouted on his head, his teeth sharpened and mouth widened, and his hair grew gray and long. A third eye opened on Kidomaru's forehead, pupil darting back and forth.
"What's going on with him?" said Guy. "He looks like an oni from a fairytale."
"His chakra just went through the roof," said Kakashi. "Stay on guard!"
Kidomaru leapt up onto the branch of a nearby arena tree for a vantage point, and loaded an arrow into his bow, formed from hardened webbing from his mouth. Kumo Senkyu: Spider War Bow. "Good luck dodging this one!" The arrow shot forth, much faster than those he had fired in his prior form. It traveled so swiftly that it was near imperceptible, the bow string's release creating a small shockwave from the force.
Even with his Sharingan, Kakashi had difficulty tracking the flight of the arrow. "Kurenai! Look out!"
Kurenai tried to dive out of the way of the incoming missile attack, but it caught her through the right shoulder, slicing clean through flesh and bone. The passing arrow left a gaping hole in Kurenai, her wounded flesh burning with acid. She cried out and stumbled to her knees.
"KURENAI!" Asuma bolted to her side as Kidomaru knocked a second arrow. TWANG! Kidomaru fired again, now targeting Asuma. The supersonic arrow streaked toward him, guided by Kidomaru's chakra, and Asuma pivoted and took a swing with his chakra-enhanced trench knife. His counterattack struck the arrow and deflected it up into the air, splitting it into shards.
"Fast hands!" said Kidomaru. "Faster than your ally at least."
Hachimon: Second Gate of Healing! Guy shot across the battlefield, veins bulging and eyes bloodshot from the gate release, amplifying his physical speed and strength. Kidomaru opened his toothy maw and expelled a volley of hard webbing darts. Guy evaded the projectiles, dodging between sharp clusters of bone branches sticking out of the ground.
Sakon blocked Guy's path, transforming into an oni-like figure similar to Kidomaru. In his cursed form, Sakon's body had two heads, both red and horned with long fangs. Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Rashomon! A giant metallic gate rose out of the ground in front of Guy.
Hachimon: Third Gate of Life! Fourth Gate of Pain! Guy charged into the gate head-on, warping the metal with a flying kick. He tore through the barrier, metal peeling around him, and hurtled toward Sakon and Ukon. Guy struck them in the chest, tearing through the body as he did the Rashomon gate.
"Uhg, that hurt," grunted Sakon. His devastated body lay in a pool of blood. Ukon's head was missing. "If the Rashomon gate hadn't slowed your momentum, then I might have died… but now we have you trapped. Kisei Kikai no Jutsu: Demon Parasite Technique!"
Guy buckled at the knee and clutched his chest. In addition to the intense strain of activating the eight gates technique, he felt a burning pain spreading through his body. He heard a whisper carried on the scent of rotting breath from beside his left ear. Ukon's oni face had formed on Guy's shoulder, cackling as he spoke. "Hello there, leaf ninja. Your body is tough, or perhaps I should say our body."
"Ha ha! Good one, Sakon and Ukon!" said Kidomaru. "You're in for it now, nunchaku-shinobi. Let the cell decay torture begin!"
Kakashi was intercepted by Jirobo before he could reach Guy. He dodged a downward strike that left a crater in the arena floor. Like Kidomaru and Sakon, Jirobo had transformed into the second state of his curse seal, reddening his skin and covering his muscles with armored spikes and studs. This is bad… Kurenai is downed and near death, Asuma is injured and his chakra is out of control, Guy has been captured, and our enemies keep getting stronger.