Chapter 5: When You Play with Fire, You Get Burnt

It was a frigid December morning in Tokyo and the students of Leaf Valley Academy were enjoying their winter break. It was without a doubt going to be a white Christmas that year for the snow had come down by the truck loads the night before. Every building, every car, ever street was covered in white fluffy snow and it still didn't stop coming down.

It had already been about two weeks since Sasuke had gotten his powers. He never discontinue his personal experiments of using his new powers. He had gotten used to playing around with fire and his eyes were starting to obey him but then again, you never know.

Right now, he was walking to headquarters to get his blood test results. He didn't know why there hadn't been any attacks the past couple weeks and it began to trouble him. He had always been on high alert, waiting for something to happen but nothing ever did. It was always just a regular day with nothing out of the ordinary.

He walked passed a snow-covered park with many children playing with the fresh snow. A few kids were making a snow man that reached about five feet high and another group of kids were having a snowball fight.

Sasuke was passing by when a snowball hit him on the back of the head. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to see a little boy with a huge fat grin plastered on his face. "Hey Sasuke! I don't see you very often anymore. At school I always look for you but you're never there anymore. Maybe this could be payback." The boy threw another snowball at Sasuke but this time Sasuke was ready.

This boy was Naruto's cousin, Konohamaru. He was a pest of a kid, even for Naruto but nevertheless, Naruto treated him like a kid brother. He also went to Leaf Academy but in the lower grades since he was only eight.

Sasuke dashed towards him, dodging the snowball that was thrown at him. He made sure not to hurt the kid, not very good for little kids to watch, and adults were there too. He dove for Konohamaru but, to his surprise, he missed, landing in a big pile of snow.

"Ha! You missed Sasuke!" Konohamaru jumped onto Sasuke's back. "I'm too fast for you aren't I?" the little boy chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck. Sasuke got up, giving him a piggyback right.

"You know what kid?" Sasuke asked getting up and looking back at him. "What's that?"

Out of nowhere, snow hit Konohamaru's face. "Heh, that's what kid." Konohamaru jumped off of Sasuke's back and wiped his face. "Oh you're getting it this time Sasuke!" he began to chase Sasuke with his friends too. They were laughing, including Sasuke.

Sakura and Hinata were walking through the park, heading for Naruto's house, when they saw a whole bunch of kids playing with the snow. "Aw look, they're so cute!" Hinata pointed out a few kids having a snowball fight with a bigger guy. "Who's that they're with?" Hinata asked.

As they got closer, they noticed that the kids were looking for the guy. "Hey miss, did you see a guy just a bit taller than you with a dark blue jacket around here?" Konohamaru asked Hinata. "Konohamaru, what are you up to now. Don't go picking fights with other people."

"No it's just that--" Konohamaru was interrupted by a snowball that missed him by just a little bit. "There he is charge!" Konohamaru ordered his 'soldiers' and charged at Sasuke who popped out from behind a tree.

"Sasuke?" Hinata said with disbelief. Sakura was just as surprised as Hinata was to see Sasuke playing with a bunch of little kids, let alone having a smiling face and laughing.

Sasuke still didn't notice that Sakura was there or Hinata. He was about to run for it when he slipped and Konohamaru and his friends jumped on Sasuke. "Argh, you guys got me." Sasuke said getting up onto his feet with like all the kids clinging on to him.

He was looking down at all the kids. "Ha you guys look tired. Was it that hard to get me?" Now it was only Konohamaru on his back. "Are you kidding? That was great!" all the kids said. Sasuke chuckled, "Hey okay I need to get going now. I have something to go to."

"Aw!" all the kids whined. "Why do you have to go already Sasuke!" he chuckled again. "Well I do have something to do. I'll see if I can come back tomorrow okay?"

Sakura and Hinata were still watching. All the kids seemed so attached to Sasuke, it was like he was the dad of the bunch.

"Aw, that's so cute. Sasuke was never like this before, what happened?" Hinata snapped Sakura out of her trance. She was smiling sweetly at the group. He was so kind and gentle. "Ha, yeah Sasuke does seem kinder doesn't he?" 'That's so cute. He suits the part as a father.'

Back to Sasuke and the kids. He just put Konohamaru down and bade farewell to all the kids. When he looked up, he saw Sakura and Hinata. "Oh hey, how long have you guys been standing there?" he said stuffing his cold hands into his pockets.

"Long enough. You were so cute though we didn't want to interrupt. The kids seemed to be having fun too." Sakura said. Sasuke blushed, 'Yeah, me cute, right.

"Anyway, we're headed for Naruto's house, wanna come?" it was Hinata who asked him. "Yeah, I think it would be nice if all of us went out today it seems nice." Sakura added.

"Uh, yeah sure but do you mind if I do something first? It won't take that long. Meet you back here in an hour?" Sasuke did want to have a break. "Sure, we'll just get Naruto first. See you later!"

Then they all went their separate ways.

Sakura and Hinata were walking back to the park after asking Naruto if he wanted to go out that day. Naruto unfortunately got sick so he couldn't go out. Now both of the girls were heading towards the park while talking.

"Yeah, some guy is after me but I'm not sure why," Sakura continued. "I mean, he hasn't showed up for a few weeks but I'm still scared. He's really creepy trust me."

The conversation started when Hinata asked about the mysterious man. This happened quite a while ago but she never really got a straight answer from Sakura. But sooner or later during the conversation, it switched to the guy that was after her.

"Well, maybe he gave up. It has been a long time and he hasn't showed up whatsoever?" They now entered the park which was now a bit empty.

"I don't really know. But lately, Sasuke's been acting really weird, like he's on edge. I'm happy to see he was a bit relaxed today with the kids." Only the crunching of their feet could be heard, echoing.

They stopped dead in their tracks when they heard a voice. "You think I'm creepy huh?" Then when they turned around, there standing a about fifteen feet away was the pestering four-eyes, Kabuto.

"I'll show you the meaning of creepy." He took a step forward. "But, haven't you noticed that the hard headed boy you're always with hasn't been around you lately?" he took another step again. "He always avoids spending time with you." Another step, "You're just a job, nothing more to him. He's doing this and is getting paid." He laughed. He was now ten feet away. The girls were frozen but Sakura was thinking and taking in all of the information.

"What the hell are you talking about," she protested. "What job? He's just a normal guy."

"Oh, my dear, he's no more normal than you are. You have something that my master wants. He says you have something that can grant him immortality and release his 'precious' one. I am his right hand man but I still don't understand him. But I can tell you this," he was now five feet away. "He does not care for anything, nor is he a person you could call jolly," he started. "He's a ruthless killer. I'm glad I'm not in your place." He dashed towards the two girls.

"As far as we know, it won't do any harm to you, but now that you have powers, you must use them wisely. We are still trying to make a solution for it. We'll inform you soon when we've had some progress." Kakashi had told this to Sasuke a while ago. "So, it's not going to do anything to me. That's great but I don't think I can risk having anything burn at my touch." He was now headed for the park.

When he entered the park, he noticed that it was empty. "Wow, those kids get tired easily." He heard the crunching of his feet ricochet against the night sky. Then he heard a scream. "What?" he heard another one and ran for the sound. "That better not be Sakura," too late. When he got there, he saw Kabuto standing right in front of Sakura. He ran for it. "Sakura!" he saw Hinata on the ground.

Kabuto had punched Sakura in the stomach, causing her to black out. Then he heard someone call out Sakura's name. Kabuto caught Sakura before she fell, but when he turned his head towards the sound, he felt a fist collide with his face, causing him to let go of the girl.

Sasuke took a look at Sakura, "Sakura, wake up come on." He scanned the area looking Kabuto. "Damn it!" He melted some snow on the floor and carried her bridal style.

"I told you that you couldn't ever touch her!" Sasuke's eyes flared red. He couldn't take it anymore. Sakura lay unconscious on the cold cement floor. "You better stay away from her! Or else," he ignited his hands and created two fireballs. "You'll turn into toast."

Kabuto chuckled and appeared in front of Sasuke. "Oh yeah? Let's see you try."

Thus, the battle commenced. Sasuke threw fireball after fireball at Kabuto who was swiftly dodging every flaming sphere. "Is that the best you've got, Uchiha?" Kabuto raced towards Sasuke with a kunai at hand. When he was about to stab Sasuke, he saw a smirk on the Uchiha's face and froze when he felt a kunai stab him in the back.

"Too slow Kabuto. Better try harder than that to beat me." Sasuke said in Kabuto's ear as he pulled the kunai out. He then punched Kabuto hard in the stomach causing him to double over in pain. The beating continued until Kabuto couldn't even stand anymore, but what got Sasuke was why he was smirking.

"What the hell are you smiling about?" Sasuke stood over Kabuto.

Then suddenly Kabuto began to chuckle and he lay his right hand on his stab from before. His hand began to glow purple. The cut slowly began to close. "See Sasuke? You have no chance against me. I'm the one who gave you your powers and I'm the one that can find a way to beat it. Or better yet, I'm the one that can take it away."

Kabuto stood up and dashed towards Sasuke. "Ha that's not going to work a second time Kabuto." Sasuke dodged but then his eyes grew wide. There was a sudden pain in his chest and his head began to ache.

Kabuto was standing behind Sasuke with his palm open facing up and was glowing green. "So I guess the chip has already made its way to your nervous system. Perfect." He began to close his palm slowly making Sasuke scream in agony.

Sasuke clutched his chest as he was on all fours with his forehead on the cold cement floor. His mind was going crazy. Every part of his head hurt like hell and no matter how much he yelled, he couldn't make it stop.

"You like the new addition to the solution I put into you?" Kabuto walked up to Sasuke. "I added a small microchip into the solution that acts as an antenna. I can cause pure hell to break out for you and I don't have to even touch you." He grabbed a hand full of the boy's hair and brought his face up to his own. "Tell me, does it hurt for you that much? I thought you were stronger than this. I can make it even more excruciating, just watch."

He squeezed his hand a little bit more and as expected Sasuke screamed. "Ha, torture is fun Uchiha you should try it some time."

Using all of his will power, Sasuke grabbed onto Kabuto's arm, the one that was glowing, and ignited his hands to as hot as he could go. Kabuto screamed, feeling the fire burn through his skin. He struggled, trying to get away but he couldn't. Pain overwhelmed him. Then, he lost control of Sasuke.

Sasuke's chest and head pains stopped suddenly. "How do you like playing with fire?" Sasuke let go of Kabuto's severely burned arm and grabbed his shoulders. "You know playing with fire is very dangerous," he started then ignited his hands again. Unbearable pain filled Kabuto. "Well, you're looking at Hell." Then he let go of Kabuto and knocked him unconscious.

He ran to Sakura and tried to wake her. Hinata mumbled a little bit and opened her eyes. She saw Sasuke and Sakura who was unconscious in his arms. Then she saw Kabuto, or at least she thought that was him. He had many harsh burns on his shoulders and arm.

She walked up to Sasuke, still trying to get her head together.

"S-Sasuke?" he turned his head and saw Hinata standing right behind him. "Oh Hinata are you okay?" he stood up carrying Sakura bridal style. He forgot that his eyes were still red. 'Oh shit,' he looked away quickly and tried to turn them back to normal. It didn't work this time though. 'Crap why isn't it working!'

"We need to get her back home. Let's hurry." He said without looking up. He felt his hands getting hot. 'Damn what's going on!' he then asked Hinata to help him get Sakura into a piggyback position.

'Damn, where's Kakashi when you need him!'

After Sasuke dropped Sakura off, he immediately left for Kakashi's office. He ran as fast as he could so that no one could see his hands. They were on fire and wouldn't turn off. Lucky it was already dark out.

He slammed the door open and ran into the dark office. "Kakashi! We have a major problem." Sasuke yelled as he approached the desk. Obviously, Kakashi was there reading his little book. "Oh yes Sasuke what might be the problem?" he asked without looking up from his book.

This irritated Sasuke so he grabbed the book and tossed it to the other side of the room, burning it in the process. "Hey! That was the latest copy!" then Sasuke showed Kakashi his hands. "Look! I can't turn it off. And my eyes are making me dizzy." He said shaking his hands trying to blow out the fire. "Dipping my hands in snow didn't help either."

'What the hell? This is new. Powers never really went out of control before.' "Let's head for the lab and tell me all about it on the way there."

When they made it to the lab, Sasuke's arms were soon on fire as well and he took off his jacket before they got burnt. Now all that was left was his wife-beater shirt and his is pants. They had already found out what was going on and now they were implanting a chip to the back of Sasuke's neck.

"What's this for?" Sasuke was now calm but he was still keeping his arms in the air as to not make anything catch on fire. "I already have a chip in me, I don't need another one."

"Actually you need this one. It can suppress the chip's power and stop your powers. But that's the bad news, it 'stops' your powers but only for a limited time. If the chip breaks though, you never know what your powers will do." Kakashi informed.

"But, okay I can live without them, but what if it comes off. Will I lose control like this again? And feel that pain I did before back in the park?" he asked, thinking of how it would affect the people he cared about.

Kakashi sighed. "Stop freaking out. You have a point though," Kakashi took a seat in front of Sasuke. "You won't be able to control it afterwards if it comes off."

Kakashi saw the worry on the boy's face. "You know what? Take a look at this." Kakashi slipped the bandana off of his eye and showed Sasuke his eye.

"What the hell, you had it too and you never told me?" Sasuke questioned. "Well I never knew you had fire too I mean, that would've helped me if I knew you knew something about it."

Kakashi just shook his head. "No. As a matter of fact I don't have the fire power. Only you have that. And I only have the sharingan on one eye while you have it on both. The thing I don't understand is," he said running his fingers over his scar. "Why yours went out of control. That has never happened with me and Kabuto was the one who implanted the solution in me."

Sasuke told him about the new addition to the solution. Then after Sasuke asked questions like, "How did you get it?" or "Does anyone else know about this?" the talk lasted long after the implanting of the chip to Sasuke's neck.

"Wait Sasuke, speaking of Kabuto, where is he?" Sasuke stopped moving, he had totally forgot about Kabuto. "I um accidentally left him in the park. He's severely burned though and he's unconscious. He's probably still there." Sasuke answered.

Little did Sasuke know, something else was going on in the park.

Out from the dark allies of Tokyo, a black hooded figure walked towards Kabuto's limp body on the cold cement floor. He heard Kabuto come back to his senses and grabbed him by the collar. He didn't really care that he had burns or not.

"You idiot, you still didn't get her! Worthless piece of junk." He dropped Kabuto and looked into the endless night. "I'm going to get her for leaving me. I'm going to make her feel the pain that I felt when she left if it's the last thing I ever do." He looked back down at Kabuto. "I'll take pity on you and call someone to help you. I doubt master will give you any mercy though."

The mysterious hooded man walked back the way he came. A gust of wind blew at him but he continued walking. His hood came off showing bright red hair, but there was a new addition. A tattoo that was purely visible on the top left side of his forehead.

"You just wait Sakura, I'm coming for you."

Preview for Chapter 6:

"G-Gaara?" Sakura was amazed to see that Gaara was in the park sitting on the bench. She immediately ran and hugged him tightly. "Gaara, it can't really be you can it?"

She felt him return the hug. "Why Sakura, you came to Tokyo? What happened to you? When I woke up you weren't there, I got really worried." She pulled away from the hug and looked at him. She had tears in her eyes as she smiled brightly. She couldn't believe it at all.

"I really can't believe that you're here," Sakura said loudly. In the bushes, Sasuke was spying, "Neither can I Sakura, neither can I." He whispered to himself and he watched the couple closely.

HA. Can you believe it? Is it really Gaara? Or is it some evil twin. Haha find out in the next chapter. (Reviews too please : )

- --writingzeaL