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The target grew closer and closer as Maria's figure managed to catch up to him. It did not take long for her to reach him, the fury inside her and years of fleeing from battle made her quite talented on her feet. "Ye won't be walkin away frum this one laddie!" One does not steal from a pirate, this is a lesson that the fire shinobi would quickly learn. The black haired boy was finally within arms reach and this was to be the end of his great escape. With a good swing of the cutlass and a carefully placed p***k of the rapier he would never steal again. However, as the boy was withing reach Maria was nearly deafened by a massive explosion that originated form very close by. The walls that she had just passed erupted from the earthen surface and stone blocks and shards filled the area of the explosion. Maria's eyes never diverted from her target despite the rather dangerous methods he used. As Maria's cutlass came down at the man it was stopped mid slash. Blocking Maria now was a rather massive man who's arms were easily the size of a small tree trunk. Maria's cutlass now rsted on a metal bracer of a man nearly three times her size. Standing now in a dead end Maria looked around her to see what she was in for. It seemed the black haired boy hand friends. Maria's eyes darted across the small end of the hall way and the now circular room. It was a rounded area almost as if it were perfect for ambushes. Maria gave a grunt as she leaped back from the large man's punch. She landed a few feet back and looked around her. There were three of them. The black haired boy stood in the center of the room and held the emerald in his hand. Beside him was a girl with flowing red hair ad several zenbon. The final contestant was the large man who seamed to wield no weapon. Each's appearance was rather unique but one thing was a common factor among them, all of them were leaf shinobi, an easy fact to spot due to the whirlpool with a stem that rested on their basic blue headbands. Maria gave a grin as she looked to each one of them individually. The large man was actually rather portly and round without a large amount of muscle. He wore no shirt and had deeply tan skin. On random parts of his body he had random scars and burns and he wore a baggy pair of strange white pants. The girl had long red hair that stretched nearly to her ankles and she wore a rather revealing outfit. It was almost a black and red bikini with strange ornaments and draping cloth that helped to cover her slightly. In her hand she wielded many zenbon and the most obvious accessory she carried on her was a strange axe that was attached to her hair.

[Come on ******** yea.]

The buzz and whine from the arm guard quickly died down as Jin's body darted through the halls of the maze. From shadow to shadow, Jin darted through them until he had finally arrived on the spot where they had left the uchiha kid. With mask fit on his face, Jin glared Notwen down and prepared his attack. Sora wouldn't be far behind, if all was well, they would be able to disarm the kid and hold him down without harming him. Take his stone and leave him be. But if he proved to much, they would have no choice but to disable him badly enough so they could take the stone and be on their way.

Notwen was wondering where the two uniformed kids had gone. He activated his thermal scan again and noticed that someone entirely different from the person closer to the center take the contents of the final box. Likewise he saw the two arrive at the center too late.
"He was too slow." said Notwen shaking his head. He was already prepared for battle when he saw one of the blips quickly make their way back, guessing it was the first kid with the spear. "I see you weren't lucky enough to find the contents of the final box," he said sadly, alighting his body with the blue flames of Endymion, "But hey, at least you didn't run into any traps."

Maria's eyes rested on those of the red headed girl. The girl's eyes however rested on her now dead teammate. The black haired boy lay under the rubble caused by his own trickery. Such a crude projectile was simple for Maria to deflect. Maria had reacted to the black ball with a wave of her arm and using the flat side of her cutlass to bat the item back to the boy. Both the girl and the large man stared in awe and anger at the corpse of their dead ally. "Aive been dealin' with slimey hornswagglers such as ye selves fo all me laife. Ye won't be catchin' me off guard tonight." She gave a laugh as she held her blades and maneuvered to her stance once gain. She stood staring at the to awaiting their next move. "Still ye turn girly." Maria's grin returned. Her blades rested in place as her gaze fixated on the girl. The girl's eyes now turned from her slain friend back to their enemy. The girl's fist clenched tightly gripping hold of nothing. As she fury built up in her Maria began to feel a strange feeling in the air. The room began to grow hot and as it did the eyes of the girl began to turn red. The red head's hair began to fan out and each strange stretched to its full length. An unimaginable amount of chakra flowed through this girls hair as she stood with her firsts clenched. Maria tightened her grip and prepared herself for what she was sure to be a massive assault. "You know... they say red heads have fiery tempers..." Maria's smirk once again faded as she felt waves of heat surging over her body and filling the room. The girl's hair began to wave and dance in the air. The flowing red hair was now stretching only to the girls knees but still held great length. The red strands flared out as the immense amount of chakra flowed through them. The heat grew and grew in pulses that seemed to resonate from the girl. Her hands held nothing and her grip slowly loosened as she nearly floated. The rage within this girl nearly matched her unbelievable amount of chakra. Her body began to glow a faint red as she floated towards Maria. Maria held her stance sure something was coming. As the girl drew closer and closer Maria could hardly stand the heat. Sweat began to flow form her pores as she gritted her teeth. The room was silent and for a split second Maria nearly burned. The girl's hair surged forward like thousands if needles piercing at Maria. As the girl darted to an assault Maria stepped back and with both swords began to deflect as best she could. The steel of her blades did not have any effect on the girls hair this time however. Where she had once cut through the hair as any normal situation she now merely knocked it away as if it were steel. The thousands of needles flew towards Maria like a swarm of bees and it took everything she had to simply deflect the endless onslaught brought forth by this girl's chakra surging hair.The immense heat of the room and the no stop attack was quickly taking its tole on Maria. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. Just... one... strike... As Maria's feet stepped back she quickly turned her ankle and dropped to the ground. Once her body collided with the stone she pressed off with her feet and tumbled behind the enraged girl. Maria came to a halt a few feet behind the girl and immediately turned sending her form directly at the girl. With little clothing, let alone protection, Maria was sure the end of this fight was here. She lunged forward and gave a mighty leap sending her flying towards the girl. The girl stood motionless as the Rapier's blade rested within her body. Maria had successfully pierced through the girl's abdomen and now the point of her blade could be seen sticking out of the girl's stomach. Success... Maria smirked waiting for the girl to fall to the ground paralyzed but the longer she stood with the blade in the girl the more she began to realize, the poison had no effect. The incredible heat being released from the girl had melted the poison and rendered it useless as it entered her body. The poison held no effect and the blade itself did very little. The unimaginable heat being released from the girl had sealed the wounds that the blade had made helping to prevent her from bleeding out. Maria quickly drew back her rapier and tumbled away with a backwards somersault. Maria watched the small hole in the girl's back seal over with searing coagulated blood and quickly devised a plan. Her grin remained strong on her lips as she dropped her cutlass. She placed her hand at her hip and held strong to her rapier. One swift motion, one perfect strike, one fluid motion, and she will be dead. Maria sprung from the ground as the girl turned. As soon as Maria could see the girl's face she was up close and personal. The girl's eyes drew wide as the blade of the rapier pierced through the center of her neck and out the opposite end. She choked and gasped for breath as the super heated metal rested in her throat. "Now, how boutuh drink!?" Maria said with great anger and satisfaction. She whipped from her waist a small bottle the size of a tin can and pressed it to the girl's gasping lips. The alcohol inside began to slide down her throat and within seconds ignited. Fire stretched form her stomach to her lips and the eruption sent Maria flying back. With a hard slam against the wall Maria slid to the ground. Sitting in the center of the room was nothing more than a burning corpse. "Dangerous world we live in huh..." Maria looked over to the large man who was standing in awe. "Your friends tried to kill me, so I killed them. If I had spared them I would have only been leaving behind one more enemy. I don't like enemies..."

Yuki didn't waste any time, he had to get to the center before all of the Kanji are gone. After tracing the puppeteer's mind, he had been show the way to the intersection, after that he would follow Hisaki's directions of following the path the fourth from the left. As long as he didn't run into anything dangerous or time consuming, he would get his Kanji and move on in the exams with Hisaki, and probably Aya.

He made it to the intersection, as his insides erupted in joy. He was close, almost there, the taste of victory filled his mouth. Until the floor beneath him crumbled in on itself, into a small pit that was made of soft sand. No, not again! He thought as blades appeared on the outside ring of the ant lion nest and began to circle the pit. A small shinobi bearing the Sand Village headband approached at the top, moving his fingers as he laughed maniacally. "Who's a coward now? The predator waits in patience as his prey falls into his trap, then it will become utterly defenseless against it's wrath!" After the Sand nin spoke in his raspy voice, Yuki finally understood what happened. Knowing that I got lucky and found out where he was hiding, he decided to feign in his own death, so I would forget him and go on! Since he knew where I was going, he simply created his own trap using the same jutsu from before to render me defenseless! Now his scorpion-like puppet is going to cut me into pieces if I do not do something fast. The adrenaline in Yuki's body began to explode within his body, making his heart and mind race. He was going to die here, in this cave, with no one around besides the skillful puppet master. No Hisaki, no aya, not even his own father Masaki was here. This was the end of his life.

"Mudshot Technique! Hiya!" A familiar feminine voice shouted as the puppeteer was knocked off his feet from the flinging mud attack. Yuki was surprised, he thought he was a goner. The puppet now went to serve it's master above ground, as the blades that were circling the entrance of the pit now swam towards the girl. "Watch out Chikako, the puppet can dig underground!" Yuki shouted to his new ally. The Yamanaka now took a quick look around his surroundings. He was stuck in a pit at least seven feet deep, the sides were too smooth to climb, and he was waste high in soft sand that continued to slowly gulp Yuki down. His opponent was at the top of the pit with his toy, while the earth style Sound Kunoichi was attacking the puppeteer. He had to let her do his fighting for him, since he was stuck in the pit.

"Earth release: Rising Stone Spears!" She announced again, as her new opponent made handseals as well and announced his own attack. "Poison Gas Release!" The Scorpion raised it's tail out of the ground and spewed a heavy cloud of black poison that instantly began to fill the area around the kunoichi. Thinking fast, Yuki made his own handseals, "Wind Scythe Jutsu!" The wind based attack missed both combatants as the smoke began to blow away from the jutsu. "Thanks!" The Kunoichi remarked as she dodged a swipe from the scorpion's claw. "Earth Fist!" Gaining incredible amounts of distance towards the puppet-user, she instantaneously turned her own fist into hardened stone as she punched the jerk right in the face. He flew backwards and hit the nearby stone wall, his puppet even jerking back a bit in its position in the ground. "Don't underestimate me!" She roared back, flinging both her hands back in a dramatic action. This time, the puppeteer was out cold, no one could take that kind of hit to the face.

"Hey, I remember you from earlier! By the way, thanks for giving me the courage to enter that door!" Chikako said cheerfully as she waved down at Yuki, "Ya, you're welcome." He responded with not as much pep as the Sound nin, "Do you think you could help me out?" He asked with a charming smile on his face. She giggled than made handseals. Placing her hands on the ground, a column touched Yuki's feet and slowly raised him from his sandy doom. Using a chakra-boosted jump, he leaped from the column to the outside of the sand pit. "Thanks." The Yamanaka whispered as he gave her a quick hug. "By the way, if you want to get to the center, you better hurry." He added, not knowing if she had a Kanji or not. "Oh right! I still have to get one of those necklace type things, don't I?" Yuki merely nodded with a grin as she spoke innocently, "I heard you take the third path from the right, and you better get there fast, or I'll have to steal it away from you." The blond said to the earth-user. She gave him a quick hug than sprinted down the wrong path. As soon as she was out of sight, Yuki took the right path, fourth from the left like Hisaki said.

Jin's eyes widened from behind his mask. It wasn't that Jin had expected the kid to just give him the stone easily. But he also hadn't expected the Uchiha to be so blunt and attack him right away. Jin grunted and skipped to the side, dodging the attack with almost a perfect ease. He really didn't want to drag this battle out too much. "That was the wrong decision."