Kakashi dodged a heavy swing from Jirobo, leaping back as Jirobo wove hand signs. Doton: Stalagmite Death Trap! He pressed his palms to the ground, and sharp spears of stone began erupting from the ground around Kakashi. His Sharingan perceived the chakra-infused attacks before they pierced the surface, allowing him time to react to the barrage. He danced around the sharp explosions of earth at his feet.
Rasa's sandstorm continued to rage as the arena shook. Kakashi sensed his massive spike in chakra upon transforming into the horned oni form. It was as if Rasa was conjuring a desert centered on Konoha.
The arena wall beneath the flute user crumbled, and Kakashi spotted Lord Jiraiya entering the fray. Jiraiya's reinforcement was a welcome relief, but Kakashi's optimism was deflated by the appearance of Orochimaru himself. He watched the two Sannin exchanging blows up on the arena's edge. The siege on Konoha was evolving into a series of chaotic bouts in and around the finals arena, including some of the most famed shinobi on the continent.
At the other end of the arena, Kakashi saw wisps of a powerful chakra swelling within Gaara. Sasuke was still paralyzed by the genjutsu song, and Gaara's sand was beginning to undulate.
Kidomaru knocked an arrow into his war bow as Asuma barrelled toward him. Asuma threw a smoke bomb that spewed a thick black cloud, obscuring Kidomaru's vision. He scanned the cloud of billowing smoke as it merged with the sandstorm winds, watching for changes in the air currents, and keenly listening for the sound of footfall.
His smokescreen is already fading—there's no way he can counter an arrow at this range, and there's nowhere for him to go. Kidomaru sensed movement behind him on the tree. He spun around to defend himself, but he reacted too late. Kurenai crouched behind him, a yari spear in her grip, thrusting up at Kidomaru. The blade sliced the side of his leathery neck, causing a spray of hot blood. Kidomaru slapped one of his five remaining hands against the wound. It was deep. What the hell!? I thought I killed this chick!
Kurenai's defeat by arrow had been no more than an intricate illusion, her true position concealed even before Kidomaru had transformed into his cursed oni form. She moved quietly around the arena, cloaked in genjutsu camouflage, conjuring a yari and sneaking behind Kidomaru as he kept his attention on Asuma.
Kidomaru brought his war bow around at Kurenai, but she swatted the arrow away with her yari before he could line up the shot. His remaining two hands wielded short blades that Kidomaru used to defend himself from a rapid sequence of yari jabs. Kidomaru retreated backward off the tree, desperately blocking Kurenai's attacks. Her fighting style was a fusion of yari thrusts, slashes, and sly genjutsu feints to disorient her opponent. She landed another piercing thrust on Kidomaru's leg as he fled.
"Get back!" said Kidomaru. Kurenai ducked out of the way as he threw one of his blades.
Asuma burst from the smoke at Kidomaru's back. Kurenai pierced Kidomaru's gut as Asuma slashed through the back of his neck. The sundering trench knife attack was amplified with such chakra that it produced a razor-thin ripple through the air, slicing leaves and branches off the tree, and leaving a gash in the arena wall. Head hanging by a thread of tissue, Kurenai used her yari to slam Kidomaru down onto the ground. She pulled the bloodied yari out of his twitching body.
"Oh damn! They took out Kidomaru," said Sakon. He had struggled back to his feet after the hit from Guy. "Ukon, hurry it up over there! Is he dead yet?"
Guy took a deep breath. "You say this is our body now?" He spoke through gritted teeth. "Well then, our body is about to hurt, see if you can take it. Hachimon: Fifth Gate of Limit!" A bolt of pain surged through Guy and Ukon, as if Guy's bones and tendons were twisting and stretching.
"Gah!" Ukon screamed in pain, suffering alongside Guy from the aftershock of opening the fifth gate. What is this guy made of!?
Guy dashed at Sakon, accelerating so rapidly that he seemed to appear beside him in an instant. Guy delivered an elbow strike to Sakon's spine, leaving him crumpled on the ground. Ukon's parasitic hold broke from the intense physical stress, his body reforming and collapsing at Guy's feet.
"That's a nasty ability," said Guy. "But be careful who you use it on if your physical limits are outmatched."
Kakashi glanced over at his fellow jonin—the tide of the battle was turning in their favor. I should have known that Kurenai wouldn't fall so easily. And there's no way that the parasite-shinobi could torture Guy more than he already tortures himself. Kakashi evaded Jirobo's axe kick and swung at him with a kunai, but the blade failed to penetrate Jirobo's stony carapace.
Jirobo's brute strength was impressive, but his attack pattern was predictable. Kakashi analyzed his movements, pinpointing potential weaknesses, and anticipating his opening. He sidestepped a left hook and brought his hands together, copying a sequence of hand seals that Kidomaru had performed. The Sharingan eye was sharp. Kakashi pulled down his mask and belted out a sticky net of webs at Jirobo's feet and legs.
"How did you—" Jirobo stumbled through the webbing, ensnaring himself. Unlike Kidomaru's acidic webs, Kakashi's produced an electrical current. The lightning-style attack overpowered Jirobo's earth-style defense, stunning him and dropping him to one knee.
Jirobo flinched and lost sight of Kakashi for the blink of an eye. He felt a sharp stabbing pain in his back, and the paralyzing tingle of electricity through his body. Kakashi thrust his chidori through Jirobo's upper torso, destroying his left lung and heart in an instant. Jirobo's hulking body collapsed.
"Pretty good, Kakashi!" said Guy. He rejoined him on the battlefield. Guy was breathing heavily, drenched in sweat, and suffering from sporadic muscle twitches.
"Same to you," said Kakashi. He pried his arm free of Jirobo's body, glove and sleeve soiled with blood. "You had two kills at once, or does it really count? It was really just one shinobi split in two, after all."
"That definitely counted as two kills at once, and you know it, Kakashi!" said Guy. "Let's just see who takes out the last one, how about that?"
"You hold him off, I'm getting Sasuke," said Kakashi.
Kakashi bolted toward Sasuke and Gaara, but he came to an abrupt halt as a sharp wall of bones burst out of the ground before him. Kimimaro appeared beside him, transformed into his dark oni form, black circles around his eyes, bone spikes protruding from his back, and a spiny tail trailing behind him. His speed was far superior to his compatriots. He held bone blades in both hands, coming within a hair of Kakashi's neck with his first swing. Kakashi evaded a flurry of attacks, parrying with dual kunai knives.
"Hiyah!" Guy soared into the melee whipping his pair of nunchaku. Kimimaro deftly deflected his assault, battling both Kakashi and Guy at once in two-versus-one close combat.
Asuma looked up at Hiruzen, still combating Rasa and his golem. "Kakashi, Guy, keep him there! Kurenai, come with me. We're going after Lord Third!"
Asuma and Kurenai left the site of Kidomaru's body, moving toward the arena wall. They too were stopped by bursts of Kimimaro's bones. Kimimaro knocked both Kakashi and Guy away with a spinning attack, bones erupting from all across his body, then pressed his palms to the ground. He summoned a forest of white bones, some rising over two meters high, keeping the four jonin corralled within the arena quadrant.
"You're not to interfere with Lord Orochimaru's plan," said Kimimaro.
Kimimaro morphed into one of the bone branches, then reappeared from a branch behind Guy. He jabbed at Guy with a bone blade, which Guy barely managed to evade with a dive roll and a backward nunchaku swing. Asuma threw a chakra-charged kunai, but Kimimaro vanished back into the branch before Asuma could land a hit, hiding within his bone network. He was nowhere and everywhere all at once.
"He's on another level compared to the others," said Guy.
Kakashi scanned the bone forest with his Sharingan, watching Kimimaro's chakra ebb and flow. He couldn't track Kimimaro's position within the bone network—he could strike from anywhere. Asuma started swinging at the bone branches, cutting his way through to the arena wall. Kakashi was the first to see Kimimaro begin emerging from a bone branch at Asuma's side.
"Asuma, on your right!" said Kakashi.
Kimimaro attacked with a giant bone lance encompassing his arm. Asuma countered with a swing of his trench knife, but Kimimaro's strike sent him crashing back. A short bone blade burst up from the ground behind him and stabbed into Asuma's lower back as he fell. Kurenai rushed to Asuma's side, pulling him away from Kimimaro before he could land a second blow.
Kakashi made the snake hand seal. Doton: Earth Bond! Earthy hands rose from the ground and latched onto Kimimaro. He swung his spiny tail and destroyed the repressive arms before disappearing back into the bone network.
Asuma clutched his bloodied side. Kurenai was beside him, yari tucked under her arm, preparing to defend against another potential attack from Kimimaro. Asuma winced as he spoke. "Damn, he came out of nowhere… he got me, but the wound isn't too deep, I can still fight."
"Don't push it," said Kurenai. Her voice had an edge of anger, with underlying concern.
The jonin were like prey in a predator's forest as the sandstorm raged around them.