Chapter 30 - ch 30

------------------------------------------Hinata--------------------------------------------

Hinata and company had successfully aquired a second scroll from a nameless group that is barely important enough to mention. They were rushing through the forest they heard a cry of pain, followed by a loud squishing sound. Hinata was curious, and they others reluctantly followed. "Great idea, let's walk TOWARD the omenous noise!" Whispered Liz as they moved silently to the source.

"If nothing else, we can know what their jutsu is!" Countered Hinata as she peered through the bush to see team sand across a clearing from two very scared shinobi, wielding umbrellas of all things, begging for their lives. The sand on the ground, which Hinata just noticed was soaked in blood, traveled to them. Even as they began to run, it caught them, tripping them before encasing their bodies in huge heaps of sand.

"Sand coffin." Said the red-haired boy, staring at them with eyes somehow both murderous and uninterested. They rose in the air, struggling and calling for help. The boy leisurely walked forward and picked up an umbrella, presumably belonging to the previous victem. He held out an open fist, like a claw, slowly closing it, making them scream in pain. "Sand burial." He suddenly clenched his fist, and the sam squishing noise from before came again, louder and up close as their bodies were squashed to bursting, making blood fly everywhere. The kid held up the umbrella, protecting himself from the blood, before simply dropping it.

Kid nearly screamed as the blood ruined his suit, and even blackstar was speachless at his act, his eyes wide in terror. Not one of them moved a muscle as the sand returned to the goard on his back, and he restoppered a cork on it. He turned to leave, but was stopped by the guy with a huge bandaged thing on his back. They were too far to hear, but the kid obviously didn't like what he said as some sand started leaking out of the corked vessle.

He backed off, quick, holding his arms up in a peaceful gesture, obviously appologizing. The kid just walked past him, with the mand and woman with a giant fan in tow, picking up a scroll along the way.

The group waited a half hour, making sure it was safe, before letting out a collective sigh and falling on their asses.

"What kind of monster is he!?" Exclaimed Blackstar, rattled by the sight.

"I don't know. I've never seen a jutsu like that before! No handsigns, such power, it was as if he were controlling the sand as one would contol an arm!" Responded Kid calmly as took off his jacket and proceeded to clean it.

Hinata sighed, but knew arguing with him about cleaning in the middle of the forest would just make things take longer. "Whoever they are, we don't want to mess with them, especially that kid. Only problem is, though, they will most likely make it to the prelims."

Everyone suddered at the thought. "Well, no use worrying about it now." Kid had finished and put it back on. "It won't matter if there are or not if WE arn't."

"Right, let's go."

---------------------------------------later--------------------------------------------

They were running along when the ground had started heaving like an earthquake, and they had lost balance. By the time the were untangled from each other, their enemy had appeared. One was a man with spiky hair looking smug. Another wore a huge coat, which was far too big for him, hunched over with most of his face covered except for an eye. The last was a pretty woman with a haughty expression.

"Who are you?" Asked Hinata, drawing her blades, leaving her mouth free for now.

"Who we are doesn't concern you. Lord Orochimaru sees you as a threat, and demands you are taken out." Said the one in the coat.

"Does he now?" She said as the others drew their weapons. "Bring it!" She said before puting Serah in her mouth and grasping the new blade that appeared. 'Orochimaru...that names sounds familiar...' She thought as she readied herself.

"To make this simpler for the readers and easier for the writer, let's do this saiyen arc style: Each of us send out one and keep going until one party is down. Agreed?" Team Hinata nodded, though still stood ready.

"I'll go first." Said the man wih spiky hair. "So, who's my opponent?"

"I'll take care of him." Kid said, walking forward. "But first, please tell me your name."

"It's Zaku, but what the hell does it matter. You're gonna be dead in a few minutes."

------------------------------------Kid vs. Zaku...FIGHT!!---------------------------------

Kid loosed a barrage of bullets. Zaku looked at them, smug as ever, and held up his hands. They shots went right around him, surprising Kid. "How did you...?"

He holds out a palm, showing a tube coming out of the center. "I can blow wind out of this."

"Is that all?" asked Kid, smirking himself.

"All I need!" He slapped his hands on the ground, and the ground shook again. The ground was being upraised with sharp edges as a line of air traveled underground to Kid. He barely managed to dodge out of the way before the ground below him exploded, hitting him with large, sharp clumps of dirt. He landed on his back, groaning in pain.

He sits up and looks down at his shirt, then back up. "You! Do you relize what you have done?" Zaku remains silent as Kid gets up. "Look at this!" He said, referring to his now dirty clothes. "Not only am I a mess, but look! This side has three dirt spots and 1 cut! This has 5 cuts, and 2 dirt marks! IT'S ENTIRELY UNSYMMETRICAL!!"

"What...? You're getting this pissed off about clothes?" Zaku responded, giving a WTF face.

"Liz, Patty, Resonance!"

"Right!" They responded as they synched perfectly with Kid. The started to glow, and suddenly expanded from pistols to two full sized cannons on each of his arms.

"Resonance stable. Noise at 0.4%." Stated Liz.

"Black Needle chakra fully charged." Announced Pattie.

"Feedback stable, preparing to fire."

"5"

"Ch, bring it on!" He said, preparing to blow at max force.

"4"

"You idiot, get out of the way!" Called The man in the coat.

"3"

"Please, this kid is all talk. I bet it's as weak as it is big,"

"2"

"Hey, I'm the big man around here!" Called Blackstar from the sidelines.

"1"

"Been nice knowing ya..." Said the woman.

"Ready to fire!" said pattie, bracing herself for the recoil.

"Death Cannon." Chakra built at the tips, shining from inside, until it finally fired a huge bullet, pushing Kid back a few inches from the recoil.

Zaku blew from both hands with all his strength, but only managed to slow it down. He saw it coming, closer and closer, and a low enough speed for him to start panicking. Kid had already reverted Liz and Pattie to normal, and was walking over to this group. "Never mess with a reaper." He said as he pulled on a new suit coat and the bullet reached him, exploding and sending him flying through the trees.

"Well, that takes care of that. Who's next?" Asked Kid, looking at them evenly with a slight smile.

"My turn." The girl walks out.

"You're up, Blackstar." Said Hinata.

"What! But I can't fight a girl! Big men are gentlemen.!"

"Oh, you scared of a girl? Well, Who scare you more, me or her!?" She asked, letting some of her chakra to wash over him.

He shivered. "Alright, but you better win against that guy!" Blackstar conceded, walking out. "I'm Blackstar!" He started, grinning. "You think he was strong, wait till you get a load of me! With my partner, Tsubaki, There's no way I can lose!" He pulled out a dagger, her current form.

"Big talker. Call me Kin, and someone will have to call yours when I'm through with you!"

"That supposed to scare me? I'm the man who will surpass god! You ain't gonna stop me!"

--------------------------------Kin vs. Blackstar...FIGHT!!!--------------------------------

"Tsubaki, shuriken mode!" She turned into a giant shuriken. (Duh) He threw it at her, making her jump to dodge. She threw senbon needles with bells attached, Kid dodging them easily. She landed again, looking confident. But, so was Blackstar. Tsubaki had come back around, aiming for her from the back. she dodged to the side, getting a deep cut in her arm in the process. Blackstar caught his weapon, and it changed into karakuri. "Had enough?"

She laughs. "I've already won!" She exclaimes, making Blackstar look confused. She pulled her arm, and the bells on the senbon rang, again and again. Suddenly, Blackstar was incredibly disorientated, seeing dozens of her, and unable to move correctly. "Those bells are designed to mess with your nervous system. Your eyes can't focus, your muscles won't work right, and you're virtually helpless." She began walking to him, near invisible strings in one hand ringing the bells, a kunai in the other. "It's over."

"You think so? Tsubaki, Smoke bomb!" His surrounding area became encased in thick smoke, effectively blinding anyone in it. She was just out of its range, and so looked inside to try and find him. After several minutes of failure, she jumped back as a sickle like blade nearly lopped her head off. "How's that!" Blackstar yelled as exited the smoke cloud.

"How the hell...How are you moving!?"

"What? I Can't hear you! I stuffed my ears!" She noticed on of his sleaves was ripped, and shorter than the other. "But I don't need to hear you to beat you!" He charges forward with astounding speed, getting to her before she can react. Each blade goes into her shoulders as he jumps on her, landing on her stomach with both feet as she fell back. He twisted his blades, pulling her arms out of joint, before walking away, taking out the cloth from his ears. "I told you I was too big a guy for you to handle."

"Dammit..." He looked down at her, incapacitated, bleeding, but alive, before looking back at them. from Kid, who sent one flying, to Blackstar, who took out his most tactful ally with brute force, and to Hinata, who was staring at him, waiting for him to come up to fight, even from there, he could see her chakra was dark and more powerful than the other two. "Guess we have to try later..." He grabbs his ally and heads in the direction Zaku flew.

"Well, that was easy enough." Blackstar stated.

"Don't get cocky! If you hadn't used my idea, you'd have lost, and probably died!" Tsubaki scolded.

"Yeah, I know! Thanks, Tsubaki!"

"Let's get going."

-----------------------later, after two more unimportant teams lose to them-----------------

"Alright, we got all four, now what?" Asked Blackstar.

"We head to the center. Let's see, we've been out here for about a day, so we have two left..."

"Or we could take that shortcut. Would only take a few hours rather than a day." Hinata spoke up, pointing to a sign, saying "Bridge of Death!!" below, in small lettering, it also said "This is totally not a knockoff from Monty Python and the Holy Grail! Really, truly, seriously, we swear!...Ok we lied."

"Well, worth a shot, I suppose." Agreed Kid. The followed the short path to the bridge, seeing an old man in front of it.

"Stop! Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, and the other side ye see!"

"I got this!" Announced Blackstar, stepping up.

"Whhhat is your name?" He asked, putting emphassis on the H.

"Blackstar, the big man, can't you tell!?"

"Whhhhhat is your quest?"

"To surpass god!"

"Whhhhat is your favorite color!?"

"Blue, like my hair."

"Right, then. Off you go!"

"Sweet!" He crosses the rickety bridge to the other side.

"My turn." said Kid, walking up.

"Whhhhat is YOUR name?"

"Death the Kid."

"Whhhhat is your quest?"

"Knowledge and perfect symmetry in all things."

"Whhhhat is the airspeed velocity of an unladen pidgey?

"What do you mean? EV trained or wild?"

"I don't know-" He gets sent flying into the chasm under the bridge.

"How do you know so much about pokemon?"

"When you live with my father, you tend to know these things..."

---------------------------------village of souls---------------------------------------

Death was waiting outside a Gamestop, early in the morning, the instant he heard Pokemon X and Y were available for preorder. "Just another 3 days." He said to himself as he was warmed by a crank-powered heater.

-----------------------------------back to the bridge---------------------------------------

They crossed without a problem, and made it to the tower in 7 hours. They were led by Iruka (remember him?) to the waiting area, where they stayed for the rest of the time as more and more teams appeared. At the end of the 3rd day, all 8 had shown up. Iruka announced to the room that they were to follow him, heading to a stadium, with a large screen between two shinobi statues. The Hokage was already there. They were to stand in a line, one per team, with the leaders/teachers in front.

"Good job! You managed to prove you're a bit stronger or stealthier than the other teams. But now it comes down to raw power." Evangeline McDowwel began her speech. "Two, however, will be unable to compete. One from the village of sound. Her Shoulder blades were smashed, arms dislocated and has much internal bleeding." Blackstar whistled innocently. "The other is Sasuke, who had an unfortunate accident."

"Wait, I'm OK!" He was pulled away from the door by orderlies.

"Yes, indeed, he will take quite a while to recover..."

"W-w-wait! What are you...!!?"

"But not to worry! My stepsister, Moka, is taking good care of him!"

"That doesn't go there!! WAIT, STOP!!!" There was a loud scream accompanied by a sickening crunch.

"So, without further ado, the preliminary battle will commence. Let's see who goes first!" She looks at the electronic board.