Arima had assigned only a limited amount of chakra to his wood clone from the start.
Even in Sage Mode, facing top-tier opponents like Hanzo and Kinkaku, the clone was clearly struggling to keep up.
Because of that, the clone was forced to rely heavily on taijutsu. Those earth-shattering ninjutsu techniques from before had to be shelved completely.
With precise taijutsu and sharp instincts, Arima's clone managed to hold its own, navigating the onslaught of two powerful enemies with fluid agility. For a time, the battle reached a stalemate.
However, Hanzo exploited the clone's limited chakra reserves, launching wide-area ninjutsu attacks with no concern for cost, forcing the clone to burn through chakra rapidly.
Hanzo bit his right thumb and quickly performed the hand seals. Slamming one hand to the ground, he summoned his familiar, a poisonous Black Salamander named Ibuse.
The moment Ibuse emerged, it spewed a dense cloud of toxic purple mist toward the clone.
Arima had investigated Hanzo's abilities long ago and knew just how dangerous that purple mist could be.
The clone immediately formed seals and unleashed the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough technique.
With his chakra control, he forcibly boosted the C-rank jutsu to near B-rank level, blowing the toxic cloud away in an instant.
Through his respirator, Hanzo let out a muffled voice, saying, "I've long heard the Third Hokage's chakra control was peerless. Seeing it today, the rumors fall short of reality."
On the other side of the battlefield, Kinkaku took advantage of Hanzo's clash with the clone to enter a partial tailed beast state.
In an instant, six tails erupted behind him, and waves of dark red Nine-Tails chakra surged from his body.
He now resembled a monster, letting out a thunderous roar as his aura spiked, whipping up a storm of dust and sand across the battlefield.
Others noticed the commotion caused by Kinkaku's transformation and turned toward the tailed beast-like figure.
Kushina in particular felt an immediate response from the Nine-Tails sealed within her, nearly triggering a rampage.
Thankfully, Minato stood at her side, helping her weather the outburst safely.
Tsunade, concerned, thought, "Kinkaku with six tails… Arima's clone is in real danger! Should I go help?"
An enemy took advantage of her momentary distraction and launched a Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere straight at her.
Tsunade barely managed to leap away in time, but the enemy had anticipated her move and followed up with an Earth Release: Earth Thrust Spear aimed precisely at her landing point.
Orochimaru saw the opening in Tsunade's defense and immediately used Hidden Shadow Snake Hands to pull her out of harm's way.
"Tsunade," Orochimaru said gravely, "don't lose focus on the battlefield. We'd best trust in Sensei's strength."
His words were as much for himself as for her. He had already noticed the tide of battle was shifting against them.
On one hand, their teacher, the Third Hokage, had seemingly been lured away and couldn't come to their aid.
On the other, they were surrounded by both external threats and the risk of betrayal from supposed allies like the Three Shadows.
This ambush had been orchestrated with precision. The enemy was clearly prepared, while their side lacked key intelligence and was now playing catch-up.
Tsunade nodded silently, realizing she had made a critical mistake, and the enemy had capitalized on it without hesitation.
Their opponents were all elite, and the battle had become a contest of endurance and precision, whoever made the first mistake would likely lose.
Watching her mother nearly get hit, Yuna, who had always held complete confidence in Tsunade, felt a flicker of worry.
But she had also fallen into a mental trap, her mother at this point in time was only just reaching elite jonin level, far from the powerhouse Yuna knew from her own timeline.
"Brother," she said to Arata, "I'm going to back up Mother. Watch our flanks and don't let anyone sneak through!"
Arata nodded. He trusted his sister's power, more importantly, she understood their mother's combat style better than he did.
He would've liked to join the fray himself, but surrounded by enemies and without teammates for backup, his newly acquired jonin-level strength wouldn't be enough to stay alive in a direct clash.
The best course of action was to stay with Yugito and Kakashi, holding the defensive line. Obito and Rin were guarding the inner perimeter.
With that, Yuna leapt into action, landing behind Tsunade. She formed the seal and activated Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence.
Though her chakra wasn't enough to cover a large area, it was more than sufficient against a small group of enemies.
Her timing was impeccable. The enemy's momentum had just peaked, and they hadn't yet recovered for a follow-up, leaving them vulnerable.
Forced to defend hastily to avoid being entangled by the vines, their formation broke, and their guard slipped.
Tsunade seized that fleeting opening and unleashed a devastating punch, shattering the enemy's spine and rendering him completely incapacitated.
Orochimaru and Jiraiya, witnessing the flawless coordination between mother and daughter, couldn't help but cheer. The synergy between the two was nothing short of perfect.
Tsunade ruffled Yuna's hair in approval. "Nice job, Yuna!"
"Of course!" Yuna replied proudly. "You drill me every day, Mother! I probably know your moves better than Father does!"
Tsunade clapped her hands. "Is that so? Excellent! Then I'll keep training you just like this!"
Yuna immediately put on a pitiful face, making Tsunade burst out laughing.
Up until now, both sides had been evenly matched, but Tsunade's success broke the stalemate.
The tide began to shift in favor of the Konoha-Kumogakure alliance.
Meanwhile, Kinkaku's partial transformation repeatedly forced Arima's clone into tight corners.
Several times, the clone had no choice but to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to avoid their combined assault.
Hanzo noticed that their side had fallen into a disadvantage due to the breakthrough on Tsunade's end. "Looks like I'll have to end this myself," he thought grimly.
"The boss didn't say whether to capture them or eliminate them… To be safe, I won't hold back."
He formed a seal with one hand and used the Body Flicker Technique to close in on Arima's clone, unleashing a blindingly fast Iaijutsu-style attack he'd been preparing.
The clone used Flying Thunder God to narrowly evade the strike.
Arima's clone had suspected Ibuse had gone underground during the earlier poison fog, taking advantage of the mist to slip beneath the sand unnoticed.
As he processed this, he felt movement underfoot.
"Crap!" he thought.
He tried to teleport away using Flying Thunder God, but it was too late.
Hanzo clapped his hands to the ground, and the terrain beneath the clone began to sink. Explosive tags hidden in the sand revealed themselves.
This was Hanzo's specialty.
Fire Release:Exploding Flame Formation.
By using Fire Release to ignite a network of pre-embedded explosive tags, the technique created a chain of explosive vortexes that could catch enemies off guard and tear them apart.
With Ibuse setting the trap beneath the sand and Hanzō attacking from above, the clone had fallen right into it.
Kinkaku seized the moment and fired a Tailed Beast Bomb straight at the clone.
The clone couldn't dodge, not with Tsunade and the others right behind him. Kinkaku didn't care about friendly fire, but Arima's clone would never endanger his comrades.
His right Mangekyo Sharingan immediately shifted into a Rinnegan. Channeling a massive amount of chakra into his hands, he thrust them toward the incoming bomb.
"Almighty Push."
In an instant, an invisible force burst out from his position. The explosive tags around his legs were flung away, and the Tailed Beast Bomb was repelled into the sky.
It detonated in midair, creating a blinding flash and an ear-shattering boom that stunned everyone on the battlefield.
Arima's clone could feel that his chakra was nearly depleted from the last exchange. But he had just enough left to form several black rods.
He had refrained from using the Rinnegan until now in case of an ambush.
With no word from the real body, it was likely his true self had been held up or trapped. He couldn't afford to reveal all his cards too early.
But the situation no longer allowed restraint. If Kinkaku launched even one more Tailed Beast Bomb, the clone's chakra would be gone.
Worse still, he sensed Hanzō's killing intent surging. The only way forward now was to finish this quickly.
Sensing the Flying Thunder God marks he had left on Hanzo and Kinkaku during their earlier exchanges, the clone used the sound and light of the recent explosion as cover and teleported behind Hanzo.
With swift precision, he pierced Hanzo with several black rods.
Then he did the same to Kinkaku, pinning him to the ground.
When the others' vision returned, they were stunned to see that the battle was already over.
Arima's clone had dissipated.
Hanzo and Kinkaku lay immobilized, skewered to the earth by eerie black rods.
The battlefield fell silent.
A second later, both sides surged forward, Hanzo's allies rushing to save him, and Tsunade's side racing to secure the hostages.
The focal point of the battle had abruptly shifted. Tension soared.
If Hanzo and Kinkaku were allowed to recover, it would spell disaster for Konoha and Kumo, possibly even the collapse of the entire battlefront.
Meanwhile, Arima's real body noticed the explosion from the Tailed Beast Bomb and received the clone's memories.
He now understood what Tsunade and the others had endured.
But he couldn't go to them, he had his hands full.
The man before him, Isshiki, was not someone to be taken lightly.
Still, Arima decided it was time to stop holding back.
His right eye activated the Rinnegan, and he summoned black rods into his hands.
Isshiki noticed the shift in Arima's eye and his expression darkened. "The Rinnegan… So that's your trump card. But only in one eye? How bizarre."
Then, Isshiki began to transform. A long, curved horn sprouted from his head, and the dark blue markings on his body grew deeper and more ominous.
"So be it," Isshiki sneered coldly. "I'll have to capture you and study you carefully. Entering this state is my gift to you!"
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