Team Z

by murderdeath21

Naruto accidentally opened up a strange portal, which sucked him and his other two team-mates inside of it where they were transported from the world of the ninja to the Earth! Watch as Team 7 meet strange people, and discover technology that they never thought they'd ever see. Start from Saiyan Saga! Updated: Edited Chap 1 & 2!

121. Sakura vs Paradox

A/N: Hello, everyone. Sorry, I've been too busy, so it took a while to post Chapter 121. At first, there was two different fights, but I realized that each fight have over 10k words. I don't want to make it feel like it's too long, so I split them into two chapters. I'm almost done with Chapter 122, too. Eventually, you will see Chapter 122 anytime soon this week.

Disclaimer: I do not own the right to Dragon Ball franchise or Naruto franchise! However, I own several original characters. Such as Paradox and Guure, for example. :D

With that, enjoy your long await chapter!

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Chapter 121: Sakura vs Paradox

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Age 763, December 1- Hokage District (Wasteland), Konohagakure, Land of Fire, Element- Sakura vs Paradox

Not too long that Sakura's another personality had brutally killed Guure, now she, herself, will have to fight Paradox who are far stronger and tougher opponent than his previous opponent. Paradox should not be underestimated ever, because he was nothing like Guure. His power would not drop drastically like his partner did. Sakura understood that, and that's why she's going to be very careful. She must not allow herself to slip during the battle.

From afar, Hinata just stood there watching Sakura who was about to fight a powerful foe. She knew that Guure and Paradox had about the same power level just before the anger took over him and drastically dropped his power. She was very worried that this Paradox guy may be too much for Sakura. All she could do was to pray that Sakura would find a way to overcome that adversity and beat him.

Gohan recalled how he took that punch hard from Paradox. Sure, Guure and he may have a similar power levels, but this Paradox guy packed a punch harder than the former one. Apparently, Paradox's power came with the brute strength while Guure came with the speed. He could only hope that Paradox was like most guys who like to prolong the fight. Not like Guure who wanted to get the fight done quickly.

No matter what happened, if Sakura looked like she was about to be killed, Kuririn would go defending her immediately. He cannot allow another death before his eyes again. Three deaths were enough. No one shall die before his eyes any longer! He was willing to sacrifice his life if that case happened. However, he prayed that someone would stop them instead because he doubted that Sakura could defeat Paradox right there.

Shikamaru had seen how strong these guys were first-hand. They were so fortunate that Guure only weakened himself by losing control of his temper further. Otherwise, they would be done in, even if Hinata and Sakura intervened. This time, they won't be fortunate. Paradox was on whole different level, despite being on the same power level as Guure was earlier. If they had gone wrong even once, it probably will be all over. He looked down at Ino who battled with the head injury. If attacks were to come at her, he was more than willing to sacrifice his life for her. She was at fragile right now. He'd do anything to protect her right now.

The wind breezed over both fighters, whose were raring to go at each other as soon as possible. Just stood facing the female fighter about good distance away from her was the big man with red skins and long blue hair just down to his waist in the standard battle armors folding his arms and sporting a smug smirk. He knew he could take her down in a flash no problem, but he would like to play around with her for a while to see what she's truly capable of. By doing that, he'd have to lower his battle power just to make it look like it was competitive.

'It's going to be fun!' Paradox tried his best to hide his excitement. Perhaps he finally will find more challenge for him right now. If she gave him enough challenge, he was planning to increase his power level and test her if she would be able to keep up with him. 'Come at me anytime, you little bitch!'

Sakura just finished tightening both of her gloves, while she gave him her cold eyes. So far, she did not know anything about Paradox, but if she recalled correctly, this guy was the same guy who nearly killed Sasuke almost a month ago. As far as she's concerning, she just knew he was too strong. But in any case, she would try to do her best and hold him off until Naruto or Sasuke arrived. She had decided that she was not going to be intimidated by the big man like Paradox right here.

With a little time she had left, she would need to start to make a move right now, or they would be staring at each other forever until Inner Sakura would take over again.

It's now or never…!

Sakura's aura flared up, as she took a charge towards Paradox who immediately shifted into his fighting stance and his smirk turned into a big grin, full of excitement. But he also took a charge towards her, as they clashed their fists each other, causing a shockwave that spreads all over the battlefield. All other people in this battlefield were feeling it! They were amazed by how strong they were able to send the shockwave out!

Sakura and Paradox currently connected their fists onto each other, as they struggled to overpower each other.

Paradox chuckled lightly. "You're pretty good… for a little bitch! I'm impressed!" Then he pulled his offhand. "Let's see how long you can put up with me!" His offhand fist propelled towards Sakura's face.

In her panic, Sakura quickly raised her another arm to block his powerful punch in which not only sent another shockwave from that attack, but also sent the tumbling up along her arm. That arm almost had gone numb at this moment! Her eyes widened when Paradox threw another punch, making a connect with her arms, sending another shockwave across the battlefield again.

She shut one eye down and winced in a pain. 'W-What is he?! He packs a punch harder than all enemies I fought before!'

Then she noticed that the brute man pulled his fists away. That moment she just realized that he was going to do something that might inflict harm on her even more! Acting on her instinct alone, she immediately crossed her arms in front of her face just right before Paradox released a flurry of punches on her. Every time he connected his fists on her arms, it would make her feet slid away a bit.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

With each punch connected to arms of Sakura, it would emit the shockwave from them. With each shockwave, it became bigger and bigger, eventually going across all fighters in this battlefield. The strength of winds had increased every time the shockwave came out, and it would start to push all other fighters, except Paradox and Sakura.

There was no sign of Paradox stopping a flurry of punches on Sakura. Because he pressured her too much with his flurry of punches, her feet started to skid away on the ground. The dirt started to kick up, winding all over the battlefield.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

"You're able to withhold all my punches! You're not bad! Not bad!" Paradox laughed, continuing to throw all his punches. "If we were to play the video game, you already passed the level 1. Congratulation, pink-haired bitch! Now you're about to witness what the level 2 looks like!"

He then released his power, as the red aura emitted from his body. "AHHHH!"

Sakura widened her eyes. She had to brace herself for the incoming flurry of punches, as she set her arms in a firm cross arm. But much to her surprise, as soon as the punch connected, she could feel her arms were almost shattered. She had a temporarily flashback of Nappa maiming Tenshinhan's arm. She was not about to let that same fate happened to her!

"SAKURA!" She heard the voice scream. Most likely Kuririn. She also heard Hinata and Gohan's voice as well. She could tell that they're more worried about her.

She had no idea what she was supposed to do. She had taken on an opponent with the strength like that before. Nappa, Recoome, Freeza's Second Form, and Yusuke's Cursed Seal Form. She took her share of damages from these guys, but not as hard as this guy did right now. She would have to be extremely careful with an opponent like that from on now.

She saw another punch coming. Without any thought, she immediately powered up the aura to block a punch without any further inflicted harm. By doing that, she was able to block all his punches, even though it hurts her a bit. Better than letting him maim her arms though. But despite that she powered up her aura, because Paradox was too strong for her, his punches were able to push her feet skid away even further.

"Good job!" Paradox gloated with a big smug smirk, continuing to give a flurry of punches. "You're smart for a little pipsqueak, that is! You just had to bring your aura out, so I can't maim your arms!"

His lips quirked a grin. "However, you may have passed the level two, but this is LEVEL THREE!"

Her eyes widened again. "WHAT?!" What she did not expect that Paradox immediately changed his movement! He raised his forehand before hammering it down on the top of her head, whose was fortunate enough to block it upon her head. That impact formed a crater beneath her, causing another shockwave.

"Hehehehe!" Paradox laughed. "Overwhelmed already?! Here's more for you!"

Sakura held her opponent's arm back well, but she just saw another hand going in for a chop attack towards her neck. She had to use her free hand to block a chop attack. Her sweats frequently dripped from her forehead so much, due to the fact that Paradox may be too much for her. It was only the beginning of the fight, and he already gave her a hard time. She had to figure out how to survive and hold him a little longer more. She knew she could not beat him. 'What should I do?'

"Another one!" Paradox shouted, raising his knee towards her stomach, only to get blocked. Her hands landed on his knee, as she used it as a handspring to go up. Unfortunately, it did not go well as she planned. "AND THIS ONE!" He shouted, transferring all of his aura into his fist, before propelling it towards her face.

"SHIT!" Sakura cursed to herself, as she brought her cross arms to block his incoming heavy smash. She thought she block his heavy smash, but it turned out she was wrong. That heavy smash broke her guard! Her arms were forced to fly open. Following by it immediately, Paradox just started pulling his fist!

Her eyes widened. She realized that she was wide open right now. Pretty much she was screwed, because there's no way she could block another incoming punch.

"THEN THIS ONE!" Paradox delivered a powerful smash with his fist onto the guts, sending her flying away at a high speed. He pointed his index and middle fingers towards a knockback girl, as he charged the red energy sphere around his fingertips. "Now… for the finish! HAAA!"

Once the energy sphere expanded to around the size of hand, he fired the energy sphere away towards her. She briefly titled her head to check what was going on over there, but her eyes widened as soon as she saw the energy wave on way.

She stopped herself from the knockback and then puts her palms forward, mustering her courage up and gather all her strength trying to stop that wave.

"Can you survive this attack? I wonder…" Paradox stood with his folded arms, smirking at the pink-haired girl who was about to grab the energy sphere. 'I had to lower my Ki just to even out with her, but who would think that she was such a weakling?'

As soon as her hands made a contact with the energy sphere, she was knocked back on her feet, but she was fortunate enough to hold it. But it was too powerful for her enough to push her back. She could not handle it than she thought. She had no choice but to…

That energy sphere finally pushed her away and carried her away along with it before it hit the ground.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The dome of explosion bellowed up. It was very large, as it almost took over the half of the battlefield. A handful of dirt kicked up and spread thorough the battlefield, so that all other fighters had to shield their eyes with their hands. They had to stand firmly on the ground, so that way they would not be blown away by the powerful wind.

"SAKURA!" Hinata cried, looking on very speechless. She knew that Paradox and Guure were on the same level before Guure's impatient and temper took over. But still… Sakura should not have struggled against Paradox. She could tell that Sakura did not have enough confidence as much as Inner Sakura did earlier.

"It's not possible!" screamed Kuririn. "That should not be possible at all!"

Shikamaru looked up at him with raised eyebrows. Judging by Kuririn's expression, he was somewhat shocked by this result. Shikamaru knew that it was going to happen. He knew that Sakura was no match for Paradox. After all, it was mentioned that Paradox and Guure were on the same level. Only the reason why Sakura was able to beat Guure easily was because of his major weakness. She had to bring his power level down by taunting him the whole fight in order to finish him off.

Paradox was different. His weakness was not the same as Guure. His battle powers would not bring down when he lost his temper. That's why he needed to figure out what Paradox's weakness was. But he wondered why Kuririn was shocked by this result. Not just Kuririn, Gohan had this similar expression. He had to know. Maybe Kuririn and Gohan knew something he did not.

"What's not possible about it?" asked Shikamaru.

"When Sakura and Guure were almost even when she arrived, there's no ounce of struggle in her once. With her utmost confidence, she was able to bring Guure's Ki down in order to beat him." Kuririn began explaining to all curious Elementians. "Paradox deliberately dialed down his Ki just to match Sakura's battle power! In a sense, he might be more challenging at that level than his partner for her, but she really should not struggle when he's at that level!"

"Yeah." Gohan agreed. "Just before the fight, he brought his power down to match hers. I don't think she realized it though. She probably still thought he is at his base level."

"In other words, his appearance alone intimidated her enough for her to lose that confidence she had earlier?" asked Shikamaru.

"Are you going to come out? Or should I start assuming that you're already dead, you little pinkie?" Paradox kept his smirk on, while watching the smoke dissolving shortly.

Kuririn nodded. "That must be. Or maybe she knew she won't be able to do the same trick on him like she just did on Guure."

"Sakura!" cried Ino happily. Hinata, Kuririn, Gohan, and Shikamaru looked around, only to find that the smoke finally cleared, revealing Sakura still alive, but heavily damaged on her body.

Sakura panted heavily down on her knees. A lot of bloods were dripping on the ground from her body everywhere. She took too much damage from just a single attack. Her hitai-ate was no longer seen on the top of her head, whether it had been either destroyed or just ripped out of her head. Her elbow protectors were nowhere to be seen, and the bottom of her top shirt were exposed to her belly button. Both of her gloves also had been completely wiped out. Her grey apron skirt she usually wore was gone, too, exposing her black shorts. Not just her grey apron skirt, her pouch where it contained all weapons were also gone. Top of her knee-high boots were torn off.

There were bloods all over her body everywhere. There was blood that were leaking from her shoulders down her arms. There was open cut on her forehead, running bloods down her face. It was more damage she took than she thought! Somehow, she was glad that she was not killed on the spot. If she did not switch to defense, she would be dead by now!

'Damn!' Sakura grabbed a handful of dirt, squeezing her hands, as her eyes were shut down in distress. 'He's too strong. How can I take him on like that?! I don't think I can do it!' She recalled how confidence Inner Sakura had in herself when facing Guure. Why can't she be like her?! Her frustration started to show, as her eyes were clouded with tears.

She knew this from the beginning that there was no way she could beat Paradox. That's why she planned to hold him off for a while until Naruto or Sasuke arrived. Apparently, she could not do it!

"Do you finally realize how powerful I really am?" Paradox spoke but this time he was not happy, drawing an attention from bruised and battered Sakura. "Let me tell you something, since you never realized this. By making this fight look like a competitive, I had to lower my battle power to match your current battle power!"

Sakura widened her eyes. "You what?!" How could she not notice this?! If she noticed that he lowered his Ki in the first place, she would have been on par with him. She should not let him intimidate him at all. That was one of her big mistakes during the fight. 'Never let someone intimidate you during the fight! That will only get you killed!' That was one of rules she learned in the ninja academy.

Paradox pointed his index finger at her. "Pathetic! This is so pathetic that you can't even put up a fight with me at this level! What's more pathetic that you're scared of me! What happened to that confidence you had when you fought Guure earlier?! Don't tell me you kicked his ass because you discovered his weakness?! You lost the confidence because you haven't found my weakness?! My Grandma could put up a fight better than you ever can! You've disappointed me!"

Sakura was very discouraged by Paradox's criticism. But he was not wrong, though. He was technically right. The only reason why she lacked the confidence was because she was completely unaware of his weakness. After discovering Guure's weakness, she was able to fight with the confidence. Or that was Inner Sakura's confidence though. Her confidence was shot down after Paradox said all these things. All of them he said were right. He purposely lowered his Ki just to match hers… and to mock her! He mocked her because her Inner persona did the same thing to Guure before she finished him off.

"This is pathetic." Paradox raised his hand and placed it forward at the stunned pink-haired kunoichi. "When cowards stumbled upon me, I don't play around with them. I kill them immediately because I don't have a time for them. The reason why I was impressed with Elementians is because they weren't cowards. They were willing to fight for their lives to protect their planet. Hell, they have every confidence up to their abilities that they can work together to defeat me! By their mercy, I was kind enough to prolong their lives just before I finish them off! Maybe you are not a coward, but your lack of confidence is what irritated me! I'd rather to play around with these weaklings than you!"

"Sakura…" Gohan muttered.

"Damn it!" Kuririn was shaken up to think that Paradox had an ability to change his Ki at will. "He's more capable than just his power! He mastered Marital Arts! That must be why he was able to handle Sakura at that Ki level. Sakura on other hand…"

Gohan looked at Kuririn with the surprise face. "Don't you mean…?"

"Are you saying that it is the only way to beat a Ki user with the Marital Arts is to counter them with the Marital Arts if they're on the same level?" Shikamaru asked a curious question. 'I never thought I'd hit the brick wall there. This is the first time I couldn't think of anything how to beat Paradox. I couldn't figure it out when we faced Guure either. But Sakura was able to. I'm so pathetic. I guess this Ki thingy is on whole different level then. How troublesome.'

Kuririn shook his head. "Not necessary. As long as you master your own kind of fighting style, you can beat them. It doesn't matter what, unless they're stronger than you. Sakura hasn't mastered any fighting style. That explains why Sakura is struggling against him."

"That, and her confidence." Hinata added. She was not pleased with how Sakura was handling him. She knew Sakura would be outclassed in this fight, but she never knew it would be this pathetic.

"Yeah." Kuririn nodded. "Gohan is underdeveloped. Hinata is totally new to this Ki power, given how recently she acquired these powers. I have mastered Marital Arts, but I am too weak to take him on alone. He would overwhelm me. There's no one that can take him on, except Sakura. But because she hasn't mastered her fighting style, she will be thrown like a rag doll! As far as I can tell, this is already a one-sided battle!"

"I'm so generous enough to give you your last words here before your inevitable death." Paradox's hand began glowing, as it was generating energy sphere that was aimed towards Sakura. "Any last words?"

At that moment, Sakura just realized that even if she decided to go all the way to full power, there's no telling if he's going to power beyond her level or not. She will be just crushed in no time, even if she powered up. 'I'm done for. He is too much for me.' She shut her eyes closed. 'I'm sorry, Naruto-kun and Sasuke-san. I just could not stall him enough for you to get here.'

"Do what you want, Paradox." Sakura spoke her last words. One thing she knew for sure, she could not just emanate Inner Sakura no matter how much she tried. She and her split personality are on whole different level on how to handle a powerful opponent. They may be on the same level, but she did not possess the same ruthless personality that Inner did. She was too far kind enough to not slaughter every single opponent nor would she attempt to toy around with her opponents' life.

"What?!" cried Hinata. She just could not believe what she just heard. Was Sakura giving up already?! "What the hell are you doing, Sakura?!"

"Shit!" Kuririn cursed, completely not knowing what to do either. "She's throwing this fight away!"

"But he is going to kill her if we are not going to do something about it!" Gohan said. He was going to save Sakura, but not before Shikamaru called out to him as well as Kuririn and Hinata through the damaged Ino's Shindenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Transmission Technique).

*Can you guys hear me?* The voice of Shikamaru called out through all said minds. There were collective of nods from them. *Good. I have come up with the plan that might work…*

Paradox never smiled when he already pointed his red energy sphere at her. He was utterly disappointed and pissed off. "Just like that, you wave the white flag around?! Geez, what a pathetic weakling you are, and a waste of atmosphere! You don't deserve to breathe in the same air as everyone here! You've greatly disappointed me and pissed me off to very extent! I DID NOT COME HERE TO FIGHT A DAMN QUITTER! Now DIE!"

Paradox released a powerful red energy sphere from his palm towards Sakura with the intention to erase her existence out of this world.

Sakura snapped her head up with her eyes flew widen, all frozen in shock. It was going to devour her all over any second. She knew she signed up for it, but she did not want to end this way. But she also knew there was nothing she could do. Everything went too fast. There was no time for her to react. Even if she changed her mind, it was too late, because there was no way she could dodge it just in a time. Between the time Paradox released that blast and the time it would reach her, it should only take less than a split-second. That's why it required a lot of reaction and response to get out of the way. And she did not. She never had a reaction. So it was too late.

It may be too late for her… but…

But… not for others. There were two figures that came to her rescue and attempted to take a shield against the powerful red energy sphere.

"CONCREATE YOUR ENERGY INTO YOUR HANDS AND THEN BOUNCE IT BACK AT HIM, GOHAN!" yelled the first voice.

"RIGHT!" The second voice yelled in response.

Sakura widened her eyes. "Kuririn… Gohan….?" Here she thought she was going to die for sure, but she was saved by them once again. Of course, she should have known that they will always back up each other. Now she felt bad that they had to make efforts to save her from the brink of the death. But she did not know what to do, regardless. She knew there was no way she could match up to Paradox, even if he deliberately set his Ki to even out hers.

Kuririn and Gohan used up most of their energy to reflect it towards their enemy. That was not easy task at all. That ball was used as an intention to kill a target, so it was much more challenged to stop it. Hence, they used up most of their energy to do that.

In response to that, Paradox quickly jumped just to evade his own attack, as it had gone past him. The large dome of explosion bellowed up behind him.

BOOOOOOOM!

"Oh, now we're playing baseball? If I had known that we're playing baseball, I would have brought gloves and bats for us all to play the baseball!" Paradox mocked in a sarcasm tone.

"She… d-dodged it?!" cried Sakura.

"Now!" Kuririn yelled and Gohan responded with his head nod. They fired the blast of their own that they built up earlier towards him. Their eyes glinted with the hope that Shikamaru's plan would work.

Sakura was out of the loop on Shikamaru's plan, but all she could do was to watch what their plan might be.

Much to her surprise, Paradox waved his arms down, sending two blasts down into the ground, causing an explosion as well as giant dust that kicked all the way up in front of him.

BOOOM!

"You're like, what, amateurs, huh?" Paradox said, but unable to make contacts with Kuririn and Gohan because of huge dust that obstructed his vision. "I could do better than that!"

All of the sudden, Hinata emerged from the dust out of nowhere, as she pulled her palm with her Byakugan activated. "This is not over yet!" As she propelled her palm towards his chest, but not before she noticed that his lips quirked into a big grin. That caught her by a surprise, but she still delivered a palm attack to his chest, nonetheless.

That staggered Paradox back, as it was not good enough to knock him away far enough. He thought he had it easy, but when he moved, he could feel his chest sting a little bit. He grabbed his chest and realization came to his face.

He smirked at Hinata. "Heh, that was a good strategy. You reflected it to me to serve as a purpose to distract me. Once I took care of it, you followed it up with a couple of quick blasts to distract me again. Whether you caught me off guard or not, that was only a merely distraction, so you, Hinata, can ambush me through that dust. That dust was used as an obstruction. Last but not last, you did not ambush me just to attempt to harm me, but to attempt to lower my Ki. Clever strategy, yet a futile strategy."

Hinata scowled.

"That might work against the average soldiers, but that won't work against the elite soldier like me." Paradox shrugged his shoulders up. "Even if my base Ki lowered, there's simply no way you could beat me."

"Come to think of it…" Paradox placed his fingers on his chin. "Wasn't there an Elementian boy who attempted to oppose Coola last month?"

'He's talking about Sasuke.' Sakura thought. 'So he didn't know that Sasuke is still alive.'

"At least there's someone like Fayre. He possessed the same eyes that Fayre had. Sharingan, wasn't it?" Paradox pondered for a while. "I think his name was" He snapped his finger, as if he remembered clearly now. "… Sasuke." His lips turned into an evil smirk. "I killed him… along with three islands." He boasted as if destroying three islands was the most accomplishment in his lifetime even though he destroyed several planets before.

"So…" Hinata raised her eyebrows, but at the same time, she was angry. "…what's your point?!" The way he talks too much infuriates her, and not to mention he made fun of her comrades as well.

Paradox chuckled. "My point is, Sasuke is stronger than you all. And guess what? He was too weakling. Too weakling to take me on. I kicked his ass left and right no problem! I concluded that everyone is weakling here. None of them challenged me yet. And do you know what's the biggest surprise? This might shock you but let me tell you about Naruto. Our favorite pet to hunt!"

Hinata scowled, as her eyes started to darken, and her fists clenched. "Don't you dare…" The second he mentioned Naruto, she knew he was going to badmouth Naruto. She was not planning to let him get away with it.

"Oh, yes!" Paradox laughed. "You know… Guure—yes, that's the same person Sakura killed—visited Naruto somewhere that we sensed Ki that sparked up earlier."

Sakura's eyes widened. Oh, no! Was he okay? She hoped it was not what she thought. She could only hope that he was all right and still healthy.

"He fought Naruto. And as you can guess, Naruto was no match for him! Guure kicked his ass with no problem! He could easily snap his neck if he want to, but it was Coola's order to not kill him yet. You see… Coola wanted to kill him himself."

"You don't dare…" Hinata muttered again. Her chest started to boil up. She was ready to explode if he dared to…

"Oh, I do. Indeed, I do!" Paradox spread his arms up, bent his head over his back, staring at the sky, laughing. "He's that pathetic excuse of weakling so much that you're looking up to!"

"That's not true!" Sakura spoke up. Paradox looked down at her in shock. First time that she finally took a courage to spoke up since the beginning of their fight. "He's not as weakling as you thought he is! My Naruto-kun is going to beat Coola! He will come, so just you wait!"

"That's right! Naruto will stop him!" Gohan joined in.

"Agreed." Kuririn nodded. "If we can't stop Coola and his men, Naruto will. And besides, he's not going to let this planet be destroyed, too. It's his home!"

"Naruto-kun is not weakling!" Hinata screamed. "Badmouth him just one more time!"

'Naruto-kun?! They both said his name the same way. I see now. You got some very interesting girls, Naruto. Unfortunately, you have to choose one.' Paradox smirked again, knowing what the result would be. "That demon brat is weakling. Not even his demon could help him! That shows how pathetic that demon brat is! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIS FACE WHEN HE RETURNS ONLY TO SEE YOU ALL DEAD!"

There was only so much that Hinata could control her rage. She could not stand idly while this bastard continued to badmouth Naruto. All other comrades, she might be mad, but she was going to let it slide when it came to her Naruto. She charged towards him.

Paradox laughed, raising his arms in a defense. "That's more like it! Your anger is showing! Haha!"

"Hinata!" cried Kuririn. That was not part of their plan.

Hinata threw a barrage of palm attacks against Paradox, who dodged all of them easily. Normally, they would be too fast for most Elementians' eyes. But not Paradox's eyes. To his eyes, they were throwing around too slow. That's why he was able to dodge them all. He didn't want to block them, because he knew she would disable some of his Ki, just like what she did to Guure. As long as he dodged them, there won't be any problem.

"Now let me show you why you all are no match for me!" Paradox caught her hand when she attempted to strike him in the face, while making a dramatic expression. "Not my face! Can't imagine how lethal that would be if you were to strike my face. That could damage my brain! Possibly permanently retarded! You think I'd want that?"

"Damn you!" growled Hinata.

Paradox pulled her arm up before he placed his forehead on her forehead. "No. The answer is no. I like my brain, so thank you very much. Anywhere is fine, but not the one where my brain is. Now with that said, how about I repay you? Perhaps you will understand why I'm very cautious about my brain."

Paradox headbutted her in the face, drawing a blood from her forehead. She winced in the pain, as he still dangled her arm up and smirked smugly. "Now how do you feel about that?! Just imagine what your technique could do to my brain! At least you won't get your brain damaged just after this little example!"

Her eyes shot him a glare through her hair bangs, as the blood ran down her face.

He was not flinched by her sudden glare. Instead, he showed his smile towards her again. "Ohhh… I'm soooo scared! I don't think I can live after that little glare of yours! Might as well committed a suicide. At least you guys survive. Should I do it? What do you think?"

"Fuck off!" Hinata spat at his face with her hardened glares. She was pissed off. Like utterly pissed off. How dare he made fun of her Naruto-kun?! Naruto may not be hers, but ever since he disappeared, all she heard about all villagers that celebrated his sudden disappear. Oh, how much she hated them, but she did do nothing but to be nice to them. When he came back, he still received the shitty treatment from those villagers. She refused to let an unknown alien from the space make fun of Naruto.

But Paradox promptly licked Hinata's saliva around his face to clean it up, in which disgusted her. "Very well. That's no from you then. Looks like you want me to beat you all up within the inch of your life then. You will regret this. For sure, you will."

Paradox brought a knee to her abdomen that almost went through her back. It was hard enough for her to spew bloods out of her mouth.

This was not the pain that Hinata had experienced in the past. She almost passed over, but thanks to her endurance, she managed to stay awake. Although her eyes started to blur when she looked up at ruthless Paradox. But she felt her hand being released but noticed that his hands clasped together and raised them up.

Paradox smashed them together on the top of her head, sending her back down.

"Hinata!" yelled Gohan and Kuririn both in unison. They ran after her to check up if she was okay or not.

Paradox slowly descended to the ground with his arms folded, showing off his arrogant smirk. "I told you countless times…" He landed on the floor, as he finished his statement. "You cannot beat me. After all, I'm too much for you to handle. In case if you're wondering, I could easily kill you if I want to, but where's the fun in that though?" He scoffed, shaking his head. He couldn't imagine his life if he was anything like Guure. That must be very boring life. 'So glad he's dead. At least I won't have to deal with his annoying voice and his boring philosophy.'

"Are you all right, Sakura-san?!" asked a worried Gohan, who helped her to sit up along with Kuririn.

Hinata winced in the pain, as she shifted her position into a sitting position. She made a scowl face. "I am fine."

"Are you sure you're all right?" asked a concerned Kuririn. He could not be too sure if she was all right. She could be lying about it, after all.

"The issue is NOT me!" Hinata yelled suddenly. Both boys were taken aback by her sudden outburst.

"Hinata!" The voice yelled, which drew all of their attention towards Sakura who ran towards them. Once she reached them, she immediately asked Hinata. "Are you okay?!"

Hinata scowled and glared up at Sakura. It was funny how Gohan and Kuririn showed no concern about Sakura, yet they're concerning about her. She just knew something's up with Sakura recently. Gohan and Kuririn just happened to not notice them, that's all. "It's you we should be more concerned about!"

"What?" Sakura frowned.

"What happened to your confidence you had prior to your fight with Paradox?!" Hinata scolded, only to receive a confusion look from Sakura. She climbed to her feet. "You know what the hell I am talking about!"

Sakura gulped.

Kuririn stepped in between them, trying to break up the little squabble between them. He waved his hands around, chuckling nervously. "Look, we can sort this out later. For now, we have to deal with this Paradox guy. And a world to save, of course."

Hinata's eyes suddenly activated Byakugan and quickly shot down a glare at Kuririn, who then stumbled back. "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, KURIRIN!"

"Hinata…" Gohan was concerned what this was going to happen. He could only hope that they would not end up fighting each other again.

Paradox covered his mouth, trying to stifle a laugh. "This is going to be interesting! Too bad I didn't bring a popcorn along!"

He turned his head to find Shikamaru and Ino standing and watching their allies getting into a little argument a little far away. "Hey, you there, boy!" Shikamaru and Ino whirled their head around at him. He smirked, asking very little question. "I see you're not joining them. So, let's talk about your favorite hobby."

Shikamaru knitted his eyebrows in confusion, completely taken aback by that sudden question. "What…?"

"You are trying to emulate the other side of you too much, Sakura!" Hinata was being straightforward with her, but she really hoped that the realization finally came to Sakura. So she was trying to get her words through her head. Hopefully boost her confidence once again. "You just saw what she did, right? She was completely confident in herself and defeated Guure with ease. Because of that, you thought if you could be like her, you would be winning, right?"

Sakura widened her eyes. 'Am I? Did I really try to emulate her? No wonder why I'm unable to compete with her because I am trying to be like her too much and end up losing my confidence. That's why I'm getting beaten one-sided. It is all my fault that they had to retort to save my ass.'

"Naruto would have wanted you to keep fighting and fighting instead of just giving up on the fight just because your opponent is stronger! Sasuke, I'm sure, would want you to, too. So, when they came back and learn that you are fighting for this planet, they will be proud of you. There's very reason why Naruto choose you…" Her face titled down, and it became a frown. "…not me. That's why he likes you."

"Hinata!" Sakura never thought Hinata would finally admit it. But not only that, was she the reason why he fell in love with? She thought it was only a childish crush before they started dating.

"There's difference between me and you. Well, at least the old me." Hinata continued. "You were not afraid to speak your mind up. You were not shy. You are very smart. You are very talkative. You're very protective. You're very nice girl. And most important of all, you're very confident. That's why you are the top kunoichi in the class. All of reasons why Naruto liked you. Me, on other hand… I was the opposite of what you are. Everything you are whole different compared to me. I was nothing like you. Even if I am different now, Naruto doesn't still like me, because of what we are and how different we are. I hate to admit it, but you're deserving him."

Hinata stared at the stunned Sakura again and smiled. "We may not be friend in the past. I may be jealous of you from time to time, even when I was a child, though I never showed it. But you're one of guys I looked up to."

"What?" Sakura had no idea. It was not often that Hinata and she interacted with each other in the past.

Hinata lowered his eyes down and chuckled sadly. "I was born to be a failure. The only difference between us is that you did not have an abusive family, who strived to push you to be the best. Father was never happy with me. In his eyes, I was the failure. After all, I was just a pathetic weakling, who was good for nothing and should never belong in the Hyuuga clan. I was very disgraceful to them. At that point, I had it. I used to think lowly of myself. What good would I do if I continue to live, right? On that day, I started having a suicidal thought, so I can let them go of their heavy burden. I just wanted them to be happy. I wanted my sister to be happy, too. I didn't want them to suffer because of my failure.

"The bully confronted me and made fun of my eyes. Of course, they were young, and they were not aware of the Hyuuga's existence. But Naruto saved me. He opened my eyes to the world and why my life is worth saving for. I developed my crush on him. He was the reason why I did not kill myself. However, he was also the shell of my true self. Often, I'd think ill of something, but Naruto blocked them out. So I was unable to show my emotions, because I did not want Naruto think of me that way. I did not want him to hate me."

She looked up again. "You and I had a lot in the common."

"We did?" asked a curious Sakura. She remembered she used to be shy girl back then, but she failed to see how they were in the common.

"Yes." Hinata looked into the emerald green eyes of Sakura very deep. "You and I were alike… except without stuttering, of course. I remembered seeing you being shy and quiet girl…"

She smiled. "You were too nervous when you introduced yourself to us when you first entered our classroom. I remember you were too shy and your cheeks blushed when you had to introduce your name. I remember you hid your forehead with your bangs, because of bullies. I'd say they deserved their ass kicked.

"I wish I could have enough courage to stop bullies. I, too, used to have bullies because of my eyes. Of course, they had no idea that the reason why I have these eyes is because it's the Byakugan from the Hyuuga clan. If I was the person I am right now, I'd have kicked their ass for making fun of my eyes. Teach them some lesson or something."

Her smile became wider at Sakura, who remained surprised. "Speaking of bullies, you may or may not remember this. But you did save me from the same bullies that Naruto stopped few days before that incident. I remember you'd beaten them up badly enough to scare them away. They ambushed me only because they thought they could ambush me when Naruto was not around. Since then, they stopped bullying me, and I don't have any more bullies after that. So, I was very grateful to you for that, and since that day, I looked up to you and I wanted to be like you."

She looked down, frowning. "You somehow gained that confidence, because you had Ino, and I had no one. So, I remained the same. No matter how much I sought to be like you, it cannot be changed. The more I think about it, the more I believe that the fate cannot be changed, as most Hyuuga seemed to believe that. Dad keep telling me that I cannot change no matter what, and that I would never improve ever because of my inability to gain the confidence! I was always scared! I was too weakling! I couldn't do anything! Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai-sensei always had to save my ass every time out there on the mission! Not just them, everyone, too! Every time Neji or Dad saved my ass, they always showed me their disgusting look and called me pathetic! Kiba and Shino even thought I'm very weak, so that's why they're always protecting me!" She screamed out of frustration by just thinking about how pathetic she was before in the past.

Sakura widened her eyes. "Hinata…" She always knew Hinata was not strong, but she did not know that she was able to hide her true expressions. No wonder why Hinata could be seen as a weakling at that time. She was as guilty as them. She often wondered how Hinata made it as a genin. 'Well, you could say the same thing about yourself when you were a pathetic weakling. Hypocrite!' Inner Sakura scoffed.

Sakura sent her thought back to Inner Sakura. "Shut up, Inner! I was naïve back then, okay?!"

"And you still are. I couldn't help but to watch your fight silently, I'm very ashamed of my split personality! How could you call yourself an Elementian if you are giving up on this planet?! Our Grandma could fight better than you! To think I share the same body as you!"

Sakura promptly ignored Inner and placed her hand on Hinata's shoulder as she walked past her. "Hinata…"

Hinata widened her eyes, as she turned her head around at Sakura who stood and stared at Paradox who had a little chat with Shikamaru. "Sakura?!"

Sakura was adjusting her gloves. "Hinata… you've changed, right? You said earlier that Naruto was the shell of your true self." She began tightening her gloves up. "With Naruto's gone, the shell of your true self was shattered. You were able to build up your confidence and develop yourself to become one of strongest kunoichi in this class. You were able to regain your heiress position. You were able to change your own fate. Now you stopped hiding behind Kiba and Shino. Is everything right?"

"Y-y-yes…" Hinata stuttered a bit. "Since I beat Neji, I finally get the respect I deserved. Kiba and Shino still protect me, but I don't hide behind them anymore. We protect each other, like the team was supposed to be."

"Hinata, thank you." Sakura said softly with her big smiles. "Just now, you made me realized it. I just realized that I haven't changed a bit since I became a ninja. Both Naruto and Sasuke died before because they risked their life to fight for people. They have all that confidence that I don't. That's why they always have to protect me. I always have to stay behind them. I always have to watch them getting their ass kicked because I did do nothing. That's how infuriating it was. They died before. I never have died before. But…"

Sakura punched into her palm and grinned, "No longer I will hide behind them! No longer I will watch them getting their ass kicked just to protect someone or something. No longer I will be scared! From on now, I will join in the fight and protect Naruto and Sasuke as they protected me! I WILL RISK MY LIFE TO FIGHT FOR OUR HOME! If I am going to die, then so be it! AT LEAST I DIE TO FIGHT FOR OUR HOME!"

Hinata cried happily, "Sakura-san!"

"Way to go, Sakura!" cheered Kuririn.

Gohan sighed with relief. "Sakura-san! Thank goodness!"

"However, this time…" Sakura smiled over her shoulder at her friends. "You can aid me in the battle if you want to. Do that strategy that Shikamaru came up with. I'm sure it is going to be good."

"Yeah!" Hinata, Kuririn, and Gohan all agreed in unison.

A few distance from there, Paradox was having an amusing conversation with Shikamaru about the hobby.

However, Paradox could be seen with his annoyed look. "Dude, seriously?! Shogi, for real?! Guure loves that! I once played him in the game of Shogi, and I was PWNED in like one turn! It was so bullshit! So annoying!"

"I'm pretty sure no one can win Shogi in just one turn. It is literally impossible," reassured Shikamaru.

"True." Paradox realized, as he placed his finger on his chin in ponder. "I'm pretty sure he beat me in two moves, then. But still, I'm pissed off that I lose the game! He made me look like I'm a noob!"

Shikamaru smirked, "I guess you're not as intelligent as you thought you'd be."

Paradox scowled with an annoyed look on his face. "I'd have you know that I'm the veteran gamer! I beat every hard mode video games and I pwned so many players through the online!"

"That's not how it works, you know." Shikamaru explained. "I don't know what a video game is, but the way Kuririn was explaining about the video game, it sounds like you're controlling your own player to beat the enemy, the AI or the player. If you can't beat the AI or the player, you usually get tips through the internet thingy and use them to beat your enemy! That's why it's so different from the Shogi or Chess or any strategy games similar to them. You really can't search through the internet in order to win any strategy games."

"That's why I HATE THEM! I HATE SHOGI! After I lost the game to Guure so badly, I flipped the table out and started fighting Guure after that! I was outright pissed off! Like I wanted to murder someone so badly! I will never return to play Shogi ever again!"

Shikamaru was deadpanned. "How troublesome." More reasons why someone like Paradox should not be allowed to stay alive. They really have to get rid of him to protect the planet. Someone like him can be very dangerous after all.

"Troublesome, indeed!" Paradox mocked his conversation partner. Evil grin lifted upon his lips, as he pointed his finger at Shikamaru and Ino. "That's why we must exterminate every single Elementians, so we will never have to deal with their intelligent and ridiculous strategy! That's why I'm glad Guure is dead! After we destroy this planet, Earth is the NEXT!"

"Oh, no, you don't! CHA!" The voice yelled, immediately drawing an attention from Paradox, much to his chagrin. It was Sakura! There was no time to react to that sudden surprise attack, as Sakura smashed him right in the face very hard, sending him rolling over on the ground away.

There was quite a good distance away from where he started rolling over away, but not too long before he managed to stop himself, as he back-flipped and landed three-points on the ground, his head looked down.

Sakura held her fists to her sides, stood in between Shiakamaru & Ino and Paradox, but her eyes were filled with the confidence and hardened glare towards the blue-haired man.

"I am so glad…" A small smirk on his lips slowly twisted into a sinister grin.

"Hmm?" Her eyes narrowed, wondering why he was so happy. Not too long ago, he was disgusted with her because the way how she acted was a quite coward, but now, all of the sudden he was smiling! Was he insane?!

"I'm so happy! I'm so happy!" A laughter echoed but became louder and louder the longer Paradox continued to laugh. He grabbed a handful of dirt, as he was staring at his fist. "That you are not a coward girl anymore! I can sense that you have a full of confidence in yourself. Does that mean I get to play with my toy…?!"

His head slowly moved up, but the next moment that's what was scaring everyone on the battlefield was…

As soon as Paradox revealed his face, his face glinted with insane eyes and sinister grin, including a bloody lip where it was damaged by Sakura's powerful punch earlier. "SAKURA! Show me your real power! Show me what you're capable of! Show me that power you used to defeat that pathetic frogger! That way I can enjoy this fight as long as I want to! Heheheh!"

Sakura was going to make her first move, but…

"I can't hold onto that any longer." Ino suddenly said as she collapsed and fainted.

Gratefully, Shikamaru caught her, as he slowly placed her down on the floor. "Ino!" Now he remembered she still had to deal with this massive headache, the one that Guure caused during her attempted mind transfer technique. What was he supposed to do?

"Ino!" Unfortunately, Sakura shifted her focus onto her unconscious longtime best friend. She was too distracted which was enough for Paradox to charge immediately.

"You let your guard down, Sakura!" Paradox laughed as he was closing onto her so fast. It was like less than one second where he was only 30 feet away. She quickly glanced back to him with her widened open eyes just right before he swung his fist down.

Before she could react anything, she received a hammer fist down on her face, her body skipped across the ground. Shikamaru quickly ducked, allowing Sakura to continue skipping over him.

He sighed in relief. That was so close. If he allowed her to hit him, then he could have been in a crucial injury. That knockback was going too fast, but that gave him enough time to duck. When he looked up, his eyes widened in fear when Paradox came closer onto him, thinking that the enemy was going to attack him instead!

But Paradox slipped past him and continued to his intended target instead, giving Shikamaru a sigh of relief once again.

The pink-haired kunoichi spun around and forced stop to her knockback, glancing up and seeing that Paradox continued charging towards him. She prepared her next move, but the enemy disappeared all of the sudden.

Much to her unexpected surprised, Paradox grabbed her face when he reappeared before her and ran along, dragging her face and smashing head down across the ground repeatedly. Sakura tried to break free of his grip, but much to futile no matter how much of strength she tried to use.

Then he picked her up like a rag doll she was, before throwing her very far away. After few seconds for a while, Sakura's sense came back, as she quickly stopped herself, only to find nothing but air in front of him. Not too soon later, she felt the palm on her back. Her eyes widened, as her head whipped around, only to see Paradox behind her with the huge smirk on his face.

The bulky blue-haired soldier gathered an energy around his hand before blasting her right on the back, knocking her away once again. He charged towards her following that blast. However, she spun around and stopped at upside down in the mid-air.

"KA…ME…" The blue sphere gradually became visible around her hands. Her eyes seem more determined to make that Kamehameha technique hit him, but she made sure to chant the name slowly, so it would be more powerful enough to inflict more damages on him.

"Huh?" Paradox raised his eyebrows at whatever move she was trying to use, but that did not stop him from going after. His lips returned to the smirk again. "Fool! Nothing on your level will work on me! Try it on me!"

"…HA…ME…" The bright sphere around her cupped hands had grown bigger and bigger until it became the size of the basketball.

Paradox appeared before her unexpectedly. "It's too late…" A laughter echoed from his voice, as his hands clasped together above his head. Then he swung his hands down together. "SAKU—"

"HA!" Sakura suddenly screamed the final two letters of the technique and thrust her cupped hands together, launching a burst of energy wave at him in a close-range.

"WHAT?!" It was all he could say before it hit him in the stomach head-on directly, sending him along with it for more than 100 meters away.

BOOOOOM!

A massive dome of explosion bellowed, and then, later it would become massive dust. Sakura spun around and landed on the ground, staring at the massive dust. Her expression looked grim. She let herself distracted, so that she gave Paradox more advantage in this battle.

'I was too concerned about Ino's condition, so I forgot about him.' Sakura breathed in and out, trying to find the oxygen back. 'I can't afford the luxury to get distracted anymore. One more mistake, he will end me!'

"Did she get him?" Gohan asked her nearby comrades. He was scared there for a moment when Paradox gave her a couple of good beaten up.

Kuririn shook his head. "No…" His eyebrows burrowed in a frown. "Well, I don't know." He could not sense a Ki over there, but he knew that Paradox had an ability to control his Ki to any level he wanted to.

"Forget them!" Hinata engaged in the conversation with them. "We have to help Sakura."

"Yeah." Gohan and Kuririn nodded in agreement with her.

"But the question is… when?" Hinata clenched her fists, starting to become impatient a little bit. "That will be our cue to help her out!"

Shikamaru shook Ino's unconscious form, but nothing would wake her up. But he could tell that she was still alive. But what could he do to keep her alive? She should be dead anytime soon. 'Damn Guure!'

Still waiting, Sakura just shifted back into the defensive stance instead of letting herself be open, just to be on cautious. She looked at the massive dust, waiting and waiting for seemingly forever. But she intended to keep his guard up no matter what. Paradox loves to play a trick with everyone's mind. But it felt like hours and hours to him, in which it was only like few seconds now.

She was beginning to doubt whether he was still alive or not. No way that should take long time enough for him to come out. The dust was still up, so it looked like it refused to dissolve sooner. That would mean she had to defend blindly. Knowing him, he would come out and surprise her at a tremendous speed. But she would not let that happen.

Shikamaru did everything he could do to wake her up. "Ino! Ino!" His face turned sour. He did not wish to see his longtime comrade to die. Not after what happened to Choji. It was too brutal. He shut his eyes, forming tears as his fists clenched. He could never forget about what Guure did to his best friend. It was so horrible. 'Is there anything I can do for her? She's going to die!'

Sakura spotted a shadowy figure that just came out of the dust. By her instinct, she quickly raised her arm to block an incoming punch. Because both strengths collided, the crater was formed. Her eyes widened. 'He's so…' Paradox began to display his wide grin. '…fast!' But not to mention that his strength was so unreal. That already sent tremble through her arm. She ignored it anyways.

However, she did not have much time to waste. The longer she was gawking at his speed/strength combined, the more advantage he already held over her. To prevent that from happening, she retaliated by returning the favor with her own super-strength punch. Instead of his face, it connected with his forearm, causing the crater to go deeper. The shockwave went off upon another collision, too.

"That was not enough." Paradox looked into her eyes with the gleeful eyes on his face. "Try harder next time!"

Sakura gulped. Was that not hard enough, after all? 'What is he?!' He was just a henchman, yet he is too strong. However, she refused to let him put down her confidence. She would try her best to hold him off until the help arrived.

His free arm lifted.

"Shit!" She pulled her both arms to her face, as the fist slammed on them, pushing her down, but she held her ground no matter what. She did not want to give in to his monstrous strength. Another shockwave went off, expanding the crater.

Sakura immediately returned the punch, only to be blocked. Then her opponent switched down from his arm to his leg to kick her, but also being blocked again. Then they exchanged their blows each other, causing the shockwave to go off every time. The dust had accumulated every time they exchanged their blows.

Shikamaru looked at Sakura and Paradox as they were exchanging their blows. 'Sakura…' He bit his lips, wondering how he could bring Ino back to her consciousness. Not even with a solider pill, it could heal her.

Suddenly, realization dawned on his face. 'Soldier pills?!' Earlier, Sakura fed Senzu Bean to Hinata, who subsequently healed all wounds in an instant! Then she gave Hinata to hold the bag of Senzu Beans in case something happened. If he would take a Senzu Bean and feed it all to Ino, then that would ease up things a bit.

But the problem is… He turned around to Hinata, whom had the bag of Senzu Beans tied to her waist. She was just across the very battlefield that Sakura and Paradox were currently exchanging their blows. Blows for blows!

'What should I do…?' Shikamaru began to think up many kinds of strategy on how to get the Senzu Bean. He realized all the outcomes possible if he were to make a choice: Should he call her out, so he could feed Ino to heal her completely? Should he be quiet and wait for the opportunity to do so, like defeating Paradox or the chances Hinata will be in the same place with him? If he chose the former, that would have gotten Paradox's attention and all his plans earlier would become useless if they try to execute it later. If he chose the latter, Ino probably would not survive this. 'Damn! This is so troublesome…'

Indeed, that was some tough choice he was going to make. That was why he preferred to watch over the clouds. These clouds were so relaxing, after all.

BOOM!

Fists collided, as it emitted the shockwave once again. Almost as if their mind were synced, they both took off into the sky immediately. They knocked each other away with another fists collision. Their knockback abruptly stopped, and then powered up their aura a bit before charging each other in a result of another loud shockwave following by another collision. It did not take long for them to make their move, as they began exchanging their blows again.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Every time they delivered blows for blows; the shockwave had gradually increased over time. Once the shockwave reached the certain point, it was strong enough to blow Shikamaru and Ino away. Fortunately, Shikamaru was able to grab Ino and protected her head from being smashed. He feared that if he allowed it to happen, that would only hasten her death. After being blowing away, they rolled away, but in the end, he was able to land his back on the ground, thus saving her head from getting a hit.

On other side, Hinata was unable to control her Ki to stay still, so she was blown away, too. Kuririn was able to catch her.

"Thank you." Hinata smiled over her shoulder at him, who smiled back at her.

Fists for fists. Elbows for elbows. Arms for arms. Knees for knees. Legs for legs. Every single of their movement was perfectly synced. However, that did not last very well, as their sync started to dim. At that point, they took turns on the offense. Even though there was no longer collision after collision, there was a shockwave for every blow after taking a turn.

The multiple shockwave still went off every time either parties blocked a super-strength attack, as Hinata looked up at them in shock. "They are really going all it out, huh? But looks like to me they are even!" She was so amazed by this fight, especially by Sakura. She just realized that if any of these Elementians were to learn the art of a Ki, they would have a long way to go if they want to catch up to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. She recently learned the Ki, but she realized she also had a long way to go, too.

"Although she may regain her confidence back. But…" Kuririn spoke up, as he clenched his fists, his expression looked very concerned. Not only Kuririn, but Gohan had the similar expression as him. The Hyuuga Heiress looked at them in confusion. Why were both Kuririn and Gohan still concerned even after all this? "I can't believe I did not recognize this yet. Gohan… Do you notice, too?"

Gohan nodded along with his serious face. "Yeah. I can feel it just now."

Hinata scowled. She had it enough. She was tired of being keep in the dark, and she did not like it a bit. "What are you talking about? What did you notice?"

"I don't think that Sakura noticed that herself. None of us noticed at first." Kuririn began, as his sweat dropped from his forehead. "Until now, we just noticed that he raised his Ki there and there a bit."

"What?! You mean he can do that? To mask his own Ki while building it on?"

"Yes. It is not normal to be able to do that, though. The second we raise our Ki, our presence will be known immediately. But not in his case, he masked his Ki while building it up. However, to mask his Ki, he must have built up his Ki for a while. In other words, he must have done it very, very slow. That's why we could not just notice it until now."

"Damn! One way or another, we have to act it sooner, right?"

Kuririn nodded. "Yeah. On the first sign, we are going after him." He gave Gohan a look, who responded back with his nod.

For a while, they were in consistent rhythm of taking a turn between their offense. However, after taking a block to a fist, she was going to return a fist of her own, but not before she just noticed that Paradox immediately swung his arm around at her. Her eyes widened, as she ducked her head to miss his arm.

But she never noticed the next movement, as she took the boot to her face, giving herself a knockback higher.

She could not let the momentum shifted to him. She just needed a time to hold him off until the help arrived. Her knockback came short, as she froze herself in mid-air before launching a huge Ki blast at Paradox, who dodged it with an ease, as the blast exploded on the contact with the ground.

Before she even prepared for his next move, Paradox quickly fired even more powerful Ki blast of his own towards her. "What?!" she yelled, as she quickly guarded her face with the cross-arm. The dust kicked up, making her cough. But once the dust cleared, she took a good look below, only to find Paradox missing.

"He disappeared?!" That was all she could say.

The pain shot in her back, as she just realized that Paradox hit her with an elbow attack to her back. "Argh!" She yelled in the pain. That was nothing like she had experienced back, but it was still so painful every time.

However, Paradox did not give her a chance to recover from the pain. Clasping his hands and raising his arms, his lips quirked into a small smirk. "That was an impressive attempt. I commend you. You deserve a medal for your little comeback, but I fear that was not enough."

He smashed on top of her head down to the ground. Wasting no time, he flew down after the pink-haired genin. As for Sakura, she never allowed herself to fall to the ground, as she spun around and did a three-point landing, then dashed away just right before Paradox smashed the ground with his fist, forming a crater.

As she looked up, she found Paradox coming closer to him. Of course, her first instinct was to block his upcoming attack, but he just literally went through her. She took a brief glance over her shoulder, only to see Paradox slowly disappearing like a silhouette. 'Zanzoken?!'

Her biggest mistake was that she was distracted, even for a second. She received a gut punch as a result, as she spewed the saliva from her mouth. He pulled a corkscrew kick, right on the top of her head to the ground. Because her face was smashed down on the ground fast enough, it was able to crack open the blood from her forehead.

Her head bounced, but before it could come back to the ground full stop, he placed his foot beneath her chin.

Her eyes started to blur, indicating that she was about to knock out. It seemed that her body could no longer taking any more damage, but she was already out of energy, and she was also battered and bruised. Gritting her teeth, she looked up at Paradox who had his arms crossed and smirked smugly at her.

"This is only the beginning…" Paradox delivered a soccer kick to her face, knocking her away. "…for your beaten up!"

Sakura took a wild bounce and rolled several times, but before she could stop the knockback's momentum, she was already trapped in his tight bear hug. The grip was so strong that she could just not break free so casually.

"I bet you were wondering how I am faster that the last opponent you faced?" Paradox began with his smirk. "After all, I am known as brute character and that froggy bastard is known as a speedster character, right?"

Sakura glared at him, but did not say anything, just willing to listen to his explanation, as to why she could not keep up with his speed, despite everything?! Guure was fast, but for some reason, his current opponent is faster than him, right. For a big man, he sure was so fast.

"With that logic, I should be much slower than that froggy bastard, right?" Paradox applied an extra pressure on his bearhug, inflicting more suffering pain on the pink-haired female, much to his pleasure. "You arrived when he was at his weaker state, due to the angrier, the weaker he had become. Along with the drastic change of their battle power, it should determine how strong they would have been. However, his battle power did not only affect his strength, but also his speed! Imagine if you were to face him at his full power…"

Shutting one of her eyes down, she looked up at his boastful expression with the grimace. "Don't tell me—"

Paradox continued, "Guure's speed was godlike in pale comparison to me. Due to his ability to overwhelm all his opponents with his speed, he returned from the mission in less than 2 hours. That was the setting record for Planet Trade Organization. Not even someone like Butta could ever hope to finish the mission in just less than 2 hours, despite that Butta was more than a godlike speed! That's because Guure tends to take care of his mission without any more time wasted. While Butta offered a game of the race to determine the winner, and the winner gets the prize! Often, the loser rejects the offer, so Butta got to play around with them for a while!

"It is not like I praised him or anything. In fact, I hate him since day one. Even though we are in equal battle power, he would often calmly assess the situation and then used it to his advantage over me! That's particularly one of reason why I loathe him so much!"

As he cleared his throat, he displayed his teeth with his big grin. "In other words, Guure is much more than faster than me! He can travel in a speed you could never begin to fathom!"

Sakura's eyes widened in a shock at the revelation. "What?! Y-You mean…"

"That's right!" Paradox responded. "Remember I told you we were in equal powers? As I said earlier, only the difference is that I rely on brute strength and he relies on the speed. If you were to match up with him at his full power, not only that you will lose against him easily, but you will be overwhelmed and be deposed of in a matter of seconds."

A trio of Kuririn, Gohan, and Hinata were very speechless after hearing the revelation here. They literally had no words to describe their own reaction. Kuririn and Gohan finally understood why they felt so different. To compare their full powers, they were already overwhelmed by Guure's speed when they first met him.

Paradox was right.

"You met him at his weakened state where he became slower than me!" Paradox smashed her forehead with his own forehead, causing a red bruise on her wide forehead.

"Sakura!" Kuririn and Gohan yelled out her name, but they were smart enough to yell too loud. That could have thwarted their plan if they yelled already. Hinata silently reminded them that they should not yell.

"The defeat of Guure was just a…" Paradox gave another headbutt to her head again. "…FLUKE!" Then he proceeded to spam a headbutt on her forehead rapidly. He felt so proud of himself after seeing a huge amount of bloods running down from her forehead.

"YOU. WILL. NOT. BEAT. ME!" He repeated the headbutt every time he said a word. But he did not stop there. He could just notice the conscious in her eyes. He planned to keep beating her up until she completely lost the conscious. 'To think she's so persistent, especially for a girl like her!' Then her lips turned into a smirk. 'It's somehow entertaining for me! Just keep persisting, Sakura!' So he continued to spam a headbutt again.

While Kuririn, Gohan, and Hinata were too anxious to witness the brutal beaten-up right now, Shikamaru was too busy checking Ino to make sure if she was okay. He just laid her down on her back. "Ino!" He was relieved to find that she was still much alive.

She was going to die soon. He looked around to Sakura, who continued to get her forehead cracked open and more bloods gushing there. Now not only that he was concerned for Ino, but he was also concerned for Sakura. But he sensed that this was his cue soon.

"Sorry, Ino." He sighed, as he looked down at her unconscious form. "Please just keep fighting to stay alive. I can't bear the thought of losing you right now."

At last, Paradox stopped headbutting Sakura, just to check if she was truly unconscious. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth was gaping open. "Oh, no." He looked rather disappointed; his face was frowned. "You are done, already? C'mon. I thought you promised you won't give up anymore. What a weakling."

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. Then she spat bloods at his face. "T-The day I give up will be the day someone's worthy of beating me. At least not a son of a bitch named Paradox!"

His voice erupted with the laughter. "HAHA! I am glad you did not give up! That's the part of me hoping you did not." Although he removed her from the bearhug, but his hand gripped her face too tight that she could not escape from it. "But there's also a part of me hoping that you do! JUST GIVE UP, ALREADY! Go sleep, that is, if you don't want to suffer anymore from me. I feel pity for you."

"GET OFF MY FACE!" Sakura demanded, her legs were kicking around and her hands were desperately attempting to break them apart.

"Useless!" Paradox continued laughing. "My grip is too strong. This is pointless to try and break free from me! Give up, already! At least, for your own sake! I don't even want to fight a pathetic useless weakling like you anymore!"

He slammed her head on the ground. Then he picked her up by the head and slammed her once again. "GIVE UP!" He slammed her again. After seeing that she never had fallen into the unconscious, so he kept slamming her over again and again.

SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

Far away from them, the rage in Gohan's body began to boil, just as it was about to explode anytime soon. Her rage expression could not go on unnoticed by Kuririn.

"Rein it in! You don't want your presence to be caught, Gohan!" Kuririn tried to soothe his rage, but it did not seem working.

"B-But I can't!" Gohan gritted his teeth, trying his utmost best to hold his rage in. "I can't stand it! I just can't stand to see my friend getting beaten up!"

"I'm as pissed off as you are, Gohan." The voice spoke up, which got Gohan and Kuririn's attention to Hinata. They noticed that her fists were clenched so hard, as if she was trying to hold her rage. Her face even showed that her mouth was gritted into her teeth, and her expression could be read as pissed off. "I'm the same way as you are. I don't like to see this way. I don't want to see my friends getting one-sided beaten up. When I see something like that, it made me want to help them out. But sometimes helping could harm us more than good. I'm speaking from my experience."

"Your experience?" Kuririn asked out aloud. Was it her or was from someone else that she had seen done before, only to pay up his or her mistake? Hinata had not responded to her question, as it was, too, painful for her to watch Paradox giving her friend beaten up within the inch of her life.

SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

He slammed her head on the ground almost as if she was just his rag doll at least five times. He checked on her again, and it turned out that she was not unconscious. "Looks like you want to play a hardball with me!"

"D-Damn…" Sakura muttered. After taking so much beaten, it was understanding that she could not proceed the thought. She did not have any sarcastic comments left to tell him off. She was unable to think of one, as seeing that she may had gotten a bad consciousness. However, there were several thoughts she had at this moment such as:

Naruto and Sasuke. When will they get here? There was so much time she could stall, but she did not think she would last longer.

She just wanted to tell Naruto so much about herself after the discovery she had. Maybe Naruto would help her. Or maybe… worse. She was terrified to think about it.

Most importantly, how could she improve herself? Surely, there was improvement, but that was not enough to be on equal level with her opponents, especially someone like Paradox. Guure was just a fluke, after all. She did not continue to stay behind Naruto and Sasuke. She just wanted to be there with them, instead of relying on them to protect her.

"Okay! Let's play the ball!" Paradox declared aloud, jumping up into the sky with his gripping hand on her face. He took off for about 20 feet before flying back to the ground. "STRIKE ONE!"

Sakura's head was shoved onto the ground, which was so powerful enough to form the small crater. Her sight started to blur. She knew that was the sign that she was about to be done in, but she refused to give up no matter what. Not until Naruto or Sasuke would arrive.

Paradox took off to the sky again, but this time, for about 50 feet before coming back down to the earth. Another crater was expanded several additional 30 feet of radius after he slammed her down. "STRIKE TWO!"

For the last time, Paradox brought Sakura with him into the sky about 150 feet. It was like Paradox multiplied the feet of the height by three every time he took. He started with 20 feet, then 50 feet, then 150 feet. His body, while gripping his opponent's face with his large palm, was shrouded in his huge aura before rocketing towards the ground. "STRIKE…"

But not without the fight from Sakura whom constantly punched and kicked around him, but it was in a vain. That would not even budge him at all.

Shikamaru, Kuririn, Gohan, and Hinata's faces were paled with a horror when they were about to witness the event that would unfold very soon. Considering the length of the height, Sakura probably would not survive that. But knowing Sakura, she probably would have survived it, but the damage would be greater too much for her. She probably would have finally slipped into the unconscious.

No matter how hard Sakura tried to stop a brute fighter, that would not budge him at all. Paradox was too stubborn, as his intent was to test her durability. He wanted to see if she could stay conscious after all this or even survive this.

He slammed the back of her head onto the ground, as the crater were expanded bigger. His smirk turned widely into a grin. "…OUT!"

Sakura's eyes widened as soon as her head made an impact with the ground. She was not sure if there was a blood on the back of her head, but she could feel the great dealt of the pain influenced on her back head. She lost count of how many times he abused her head repeatedly. There was a darkness that faded in and out from her eyes, indicating that she was going to lose conscious very soon. Even worse, she felt like she just experienced vertigo at this moment. Everything was so spinning to her.

'I can't give up…' Sakura thought. Right now, in this moment, Inner Sakura found an opportunity to speak to her.

"I know you don't want to give up. Neither am I!" The Inner Sakura reached out to her. "But I suggest switching now! Five minutes had already passed sometimes. We're fortunate to not hear the third voice. I don't know what happened to her, but she could return anytime soon."

"If we're switching, you will also experience the same pain I am in right now. Once you're taking over, you will feel the pain right away." Sakura tried to reason with her Inner persona.

"But it's better than hearing the third voice! If we are not careful, the third voice will find her way here and then she will take us over! Do you want that?"

"Ugh…" Sakura groaned, struggling to keep her eyes opened. "You got a fair point. But… I can't… I can't…" Eventually, her brain finally broke down, as her sight faded into a darkness. It should indicate that she finally slipped into an unconscious for sure. The last thing she heard was a multiple people, including Inner Sakura, screaming out her name.

Paradox picked her up by grabbing her hair and raising her until her eyes was on the level of his eyes. "Oh?" He patted her cheek to determine if she was unconscious or not. "As expected, you're pretty much done after this last move. There's only so much that your coconsciousness can handle after taking a damage to the brain so much so much. Eventually, you would only slip into an unconscious. But nonetheless, I am impressed. Your mind is unlike all previous opponents I had fought. Their mind is of fragile as well as their body. Your mind is very durable, so are your body. To think you were able to stay conscious until now."

He sighed with a smile. "Rest well, Sakura. You fought honorable, so you shall die honorable, as well."

Then he threw an unconscious girl away like a rag doll she was. "Rest in peace…" He was aiming his palm at the unconscious girl falling mid-air, while gathering the energy sphere around her hand. "…Sakura!"

However, before he could launch the energy sphere to finish her off, he was suddenly swarmed with the flying insects, which caught him off-guard, and it was enough to force him to dispel his energy sphere. He tried to sway them away, but to no avail. 'Where did it come from?!'

Was there someone that he completely forgot about? While he was too completely focused on Sakura, he was still completely aware that there were speculators watching the fight between him and her. He remembered several people besides Sakura. There was Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Kuririn, and Gohan. None of them possessed the ability to control insects to attack him.

'Who is it?!' Then suddenly, he remembered there was indeed someone who could control insects at his will. He looked around only to find the young boy with the collar that hid his mouth, the hoodie over his head and the sunglasses. It was Shino! 'I can't believe I forgot about him! How long had he been hiding from my presence?!'

Before he could respond to spotting Shino, the flying insects circled around him and then entrapped him between his both arms, almost as if the rope was wrapped around his body. "Me being forgotten can be beneficial to my comrades, at least. Why? Because I can use it to my advantage to help my comrades and surprise my enemy as well." At the same time, he wished his name was not forgotten easily. Everyone always forgot about him as always, except Team 8, though.

"Good timing to trap me, young boy. Or whatever your name is. I can't seem to remember your name. You had done well to hide your presence from me for so long." Paradox laughed. His laughter subsequently stopped, and his eyes became menacing glare at the insect user. "However, it was not strong enough to stop me. I could easily break them."

He was going to concreate all of his Ki into his body in order to break free of swarm of insects, but he suddenly could not move his arm. There was a shadow going all the way to Shikamaru's feet that connected to his feet from the behind.

Shikamaru already clasped his fingers together. "Kagemane No Jutsu… (Shadow Possession Jutsu)" He smirked. "…successful!"

"Oh?" Paradox glanced over his shoulder at the shadow user. "Obviously, this strategy must have come from you."

"Yeah." Shikamaru still held his hand signs. "Shino and I used the Ki to upgrade our jutsu. That should make you work up a bit in order to break them off."

"Heh…" Paradox chuckled, scoffing at his explanation. "We will see. But I'm wondering… What is your strategy? You can't be thinking of trying to beat me with your petty strategy, can you?"

Shikamaru responded with a scowl. He did not want to tell his strategy, but part of him feeling that his enemy already figured it out already. Paradox may be not smartest, but he was smart to detect the kind of plans they come up with.

The blue-haired brute man also spotted a trio. Gohan and Kuririn charged towards him from the behind, following by Hinata behind them. "I see. It was a stalling strategy."

'Damn!' Shikamaru cursed a little bit, but he already expected that it would happen. 'So, he figured it out.'

"I've been wondering about that the whole fight." His head turned around to stare at the unconscious body of Sakura on the ground. "As soon as I joined the fight, I thought it was strange that Sakura did not have an effort to beat me. Well, at first, she lost her will to fight. But during our second round, she had been on her defense the whole fight against me. She made it look like she was trying to beat me by inflicting some useless damages on me. It was a stalling strategy the whole time, and you intend to help her out."

Looking over his shoulder at the trio again, his lips changed into a grin. "So. you're expecting someone to arrive and save your ass? Maybe, it was Naruto you're expecting? Fine. I shall entertain you a little longer until your precious hero arrives!"

Much to everyone's shock, Paradox disappeared right before Gohan and Kuririn swiped their arms around.

'He broke my jutsu that easily?!' Shikamaru was drenched with the sweat on his face. He expected that Paradox would break them that fast, but he did not expect that there would be no struggle at all.

Gohan and Kurirn's eyes widened when Paradox appeared above them and knocked them down to the ground with his elbows. Followed by that, he kicked Hinata from the behind right on the face, knocking her away.

There was a bag that was tied to her waist were on loose and fell from her waist shortly after. Shikamaru just spotted it landing on the ground not too far from him. 'Senzu Bean!' But right now, he needed to figure out how to grab that bag without getting noticed by Paradox. He couldn't do it now because Paradox already trained his eyes on him as he landed.

Paradox could not decide who to start between Shikamaru and Shino. "Do you mind if you could play a rock-paper-scissors with your insect friend to settle who will be the next? Like a loser of the game gets to be my personal toy!"

He received no respond from Shikamaru and Shino, as they remained still at their positions and stared at him.

"You just had to make it harder for me, didn't you?" Paradox scoffed. "Fine. I already made my decision anyways. It will be…" His finger pointed at Shikamaru. "You are next! The mastermind behind the strategy has to go after all!"

Paradox charged towards him with the intention of disposing of him, which puts Shikamaru on his edge.

'Oh, shit!' He puts his arms up, knowing that it would not help him anything. His body was too fragile in comparison to Paradox's strength. One swing would just shatter every bone in his body.

"DIE!" Paradox screamed, as he was about to swing his punch around at Shikamaru. Just one punch was all he needed to kill that boy. Elementians were too fragile, after all.

Then…

His back was burned a little with the blast, so he stopped right before Shikamaru by an inch. That did not hurt his back a bit, but he could feel the tickle on his back. It felt so funny. He glanced over his shoulder to find the culprit of this blast.

It was battered and bruised Sakura, who stood and had his arm forward with the support of his hand gripping on its wrist at Paradox. "Hey, you little shit! You're messing with the wrong person. The person you should be messing with is…" She chuckled weakly. "…me!"

"Sakura!" Shikamaru was relieved that she did not give up completely. But there was a problem that concern him. Since Sakura revealed that she just came back out of unconscious, that would mean Paradox might thought about eliminating her for good.

"S-Sakura…" Hinata struggled to fight the battle with the gravity, but due to the damage she received from Paradox just a few seconds ago, so the gravity eventually won, as she crashed to the ground. Her eyes focused on Sakura who looked different once again. Judging by her different expression, that was Inner Sakura, who recently switched.

Paradox turned around and smirked towards her. "Wow. I thought you're unconscious for sure. I guess you didn't really give up."

"Don't be stupid." Sakura weakly shifted into the battle stance. "As long as I'm still alive, I don't give up that easily! The only way for you to stop me is…"

"The only way for me to stop you is…?" Paradox was confused at first, but then he figured out what she was trying to tell him. "So you want me to kill you?"

"Yeah." Sakura chuckled a little. "Use that same move you used to attempt to kill me before. I survived before. But I don't think I will survive this time. So do your worst!"

"Sakura!" Kuririn screamed, but that did not reach her ears. His voice was hoarse for the time being. Why did she ask that enemy to kill her?

"S-Sakura…" Gohan tried to figure out how he could stop Paradox. The damage he had received from Paradox earlier was too great. That was enough to stop them from moving freely. He could only stuck on the ground for a while. It takes a while for them to be recovered from the heavy damage.

'What the hell is she thinking?!' Shikamaru thought in his panic. 'Does she have a death wish?! That was a reckless thing to say that to our enemy!'

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Paradox's laughter was louder than all times he laughed before. He placed his palm on his face, letting his head back with the laughter. Apparently, he found her words very funny. "I LOVE IT!"

At the same time, Sakura was scared, but she hoped that stalling a bit more would save not only her life, but everyone's life here. She could sense a Ki coming this way very fast. It could be anytime soon. It seemed that Paradox never noticed the Ki coming this way in the first place.

"I never had met someone as brave as you are. You were scared few minutes ago. Now you're completely fearless. Did you recently switch with another persona?! I will give you that. You must have a death wish, something that your coward persona did not have!" Paradox mocked her.

"Don't insult her in front of me!" Sakura scowled. "And just kill me already! I'm itching to die already! I can't stand your childish tone anymore!"

"Congratulation! You're the first person about to have your wish granted by me! I never grant everyone their wish before in my life! All they did was to beg for their life to be spared! I don't play with cowards! Not at all! I kill them quickly!" Paradox pulled his hand from his side, which began gathering the large energy sphere. Once he gathered enough Ki to his energy sphere, he began waving his arm in a motion. "DIE—!"

His words were derailed right as a newcomer appeared in front of weakened Sakura. "What?!" His energy sphere was immediately dispelled.

There was a young boy standing before his eyes. That young boy had red eyes along with three commas each and spiky black hair with a blue tint. His hair had hung over his face as bangs. He still wore a blue-clothed hitai-ate around his forehead. He wore a new outfit consisted of black vest and black pants.

Sakura chuckled happily. "Sasuke… What took you so long to get here?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her in the weakened state. That infuriated her further that she took so much beaten. Naruto would be not happy to see her in that state if he saw her like that. Now he wanted to make Paradox pay for it. His head whirled around to glare at his enemy. "I just ran into some familiar face on way to here." That was all he could get words out of his mouth. He also noticed familiar people like Kuririn and Gohan. They must have come here for some reason. And there was Hinata, Shikamaru, and… he forgot who that guy was. The guy with the sunglasses along with the hoodie and high collar that covered the mouth seemed unrecognized.

He scanned the area thoroughly. He just found several corpses, such as Kiba's body whom was burned to death, and there was a corpse of headless Choji. Even Akamaru was a corpse with his mouth already broke open. He realized that they already lost several comrades. Then he spotted Ino who appeared to be unconscious next to Shikamaru. Ino also showed that she was dying right now.

'I was late.' Sasuke realized. As much as he wanted to blame Paradox, but he also blamed himself for not being able to arrive on time.

"Hey, I recognize you!" It took some time for Paradox to be able to remember him. It was not every day that he would remember people that he killed. "I remember I ran into an arrogant Uchiha kid a month ago. I remember very well that I killed him along with three islands! How are you still alive?!"

"You've already lost…" Sasuke's glare eyes had become menace as he said one word. "Paradox!"

To be continued…

---

A/N: About damn time, Sasuke! He finally has returned and seeks his revenge against Paradox. Will Sasuke be able to have his revenge against Paradox? Will Ino be saved or not? How will Shikamaru plan to retrieve the bag of Senzu Bean that landed on the ground not too far away from him? FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON TEAM Z!

I'm very excited about writing Sasuke again, and I already have some amazing ideas for Chapter 123, in which involved the fight between Paradox and Sasuke. Next chapter will focus on the aftermath of Rock Lee vs No One. After Chapter 122, I will put more focus on main fights the rest of the remaining Arc. Like Sasuke vs Paradox, upcoming Coola vs Fayre and Kakashi. There's more major fights afterward, too.

Chapter 123 will be the end of the Konoha Invasion Saga, and shall move on to Coola Saga. Coola Saga is the final Saga of Coola Arc. So, yes, we're pretty much almost done with this Arc.

Anyways, please leave a review. I'm really excited, so I'm looking forward to see you next chapter this week! Then for Chapter 123, well, I hope I can finish it in two weeks to one month's time. I know that 6-7 months are taking too long to post a single chapter. Sorry to make you waiting too long. :( And no, I will not abandon this story EVER!

See you later! :D