Sorry 4 the long update, between school and jrotc drill and piano and attempting a social life i've been pretty busy. I've been typing one or two sentences before rushing out the door for the the 8th time in one day lol. I don't own Naruto. I own Blaze though he was inspired. Forgive me for any typo's, mistakes, spelling, etc.

Shall we?

Paranoid: Part Two

(Living in the Shadows)

Sasuke and Blaze stood facing each other waiting for someone to make the first move. Sasuke's eyes slowly turned crimson, his distinct bloodline trait making him look menacing and dangerous. Blaze's eyes sparkled with humor. Sakura dragged herself to the wall gripping her shoulders trying to ease the pain. She watched them nervously as they faced off.

"I'm getting a bit tired of staring at your face!" Blaze yelled. "How about I start the show? Katon, Ryuuka no jutsu!"

Sasuke jumped out of the way as a stream of fire advanced towards him. Landing on his feet he quickly did a series of hand signs. "Katon, Housenka!" A wave of fire shaped as flowers came rushing at Blaze. He ducked not realizing the shuriken hidden inside the flames. Cursing he quickly did a few hand signs and a wall of dirt rose up to his defense.

"That was close…" he sighed.

"Don't get distracted." Sasuke hissed suddenly appearing behind him. He inhaled deeply before letting out a deep breath. Blaze was immediately engulfed in flames. Blaze rolled out of the flames only to be met with Sasuke's foot. He flew backwards skidding to a stop. He rose his arms just in time to block another kick from behind. He quickly spun around and threw a punch that was easily evaded. Blocking another attack he flipped backwards putting distance between Sasuke and himself. He frowned as he stared at the Uchiha sibling. He stood looking into the blood red eyes filled with determination and anger.

"Those damn eyes of yours…" he said, "He warned me it wasn't something to take lightly if things ever got to this point."

"Who's he?" Sasuke snapped narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Oh, that's right, I never did tell you now did I?" he shrugged nonchalantly, "It's under strict confidence, I'm afraid I can't tell you no matter how amusing it would be to see your reaction." Blaze placed his hands cockily on his hips and nodded thoughtfully, "But this would be well worth telling. I'll tell you what, " he gave Sasuke a mischievous grin, "I'll tell you who he is if you beat me."

Sasuke smirked. "Deal." He then vanished.

Blaze stood staring into blank area stunned at his speed. "I could have sworn the little brat was injured…" he mumbled annoyed. "He's quite irritating, he heals entirely too fast…"

Hearing Blaze mumble to himself Sakura shook her head. He's still hurt, she thought worriedly, he's just stubborn.

Blaze turned to his right to see kunai headed his way, quickly he summoned up another wall of earth. He spun around and avoided a dangerous punch that hit the wall and made it crumble back to the floor.

What he lacks in physical speed he makes up for in the speed of his hand signs. Sasuke thought clutching his stomach and trying to catch his breath. His circulation was rising again due to the adrenaline and physical movement. He felt the thick liquid stain his hand. He knew he had to make this quick or he'd end up dead before Blaze. As long as Blaze was gone Sakura would be safe. He wouldn't have to worry, even if the work was pushing his wounded body to the limit. Using both fire jutsu's and earth Justus's have to be sucking up his chakra, if I can just wear him down enough to where he slips up on his defense…

Blaze smiled as he watched the raven haired boy catch his breath. He saw his advantage. Tired of being on the defensive he rushed at the boy ignoring the nagging advice from his boss who had clearly warned him of taking the offensive.

"His eyes are still highly effective, he's not to be underestimated by you. I would suggest staying on the defensive and waiting for him to make a mistake. He's determined, a mistake would be deadly on your part." Blaze pushed the words back confident in himself. After all, this was just a washed up, angry, teenage Uchiha heir. He wasn't a ninja up to his standards at all. He quickly made a few hand signs.

"Katon, Fire breathing!"

Sasuke bit his lip as a whirlwind of fire came flying at him. He urged his body to move but found himself stuck. Looking down he saw his feet being held by a circle of earth. Cursing he tried to force his feet out of the trap. He looked up and saw the flame coming closer.

"Sasuke!" Sakura jumped up and rushed to him. Aiming carefully she threw two kunai breaking the earth bounding his feet. He quickly leapt out of the way as the flame flew past him. He felt the sting of the heat as it passed. "Are you ok?" Sakura asked running to his side.

"You both are getting on my nerves, since you care so much about each other how bout I mix your ashes when I'm through! Katon, Fire breathing!"

Sasuke shoved Sakura to the right and dove to the left. The flames split between them. Sasuke frowned as a plan formed in his head. He glanced at Sakura who was facing Blaze, a look of determination on her face. Her delicate skin was already badly burnt and she had a few bruises but she was standing her ground. Sasuke didn't want to risk her getting any more involved but he wasn't doing too much in his current state. Sighing he whistled to catch her attention. She looked over at him.

Quickly he showed her a series of hand signs and pointed at Blaze. She stared looking confused for a moment before nodding. She took a deep breath and positioned herself in the center. Bending her knees she readied herself for her part of the plan that Sasuke had just explained to her with his sign language.

CHA! Come on Sakura you can do it! He's depending on you!

I'm scared…

But he's hurt and he's doing just fine! Man up woman!

Sakura glanced over a Sasuke who let go of his bleeding stomach and readied himself. She saw him slip two kunai out of his side pocket. She knew he had to be running low on weapons. She glared back at Blaze who stood smirking between them.

"So you two done making up useless plans?" he asked. "Two on one's making it more fair for you two. Let's get started!" He ran at Sasuke.

Sakura immediately sent a handful of shuriken flying his way and ran at him herself. She dodged around a wall and jumped at Blaze. Distracted Blaze's attention went to Sakura. He dodged a punch and jumped over her sweep kick. Annoyed he kicked her and she went crashing into the wall. In the two seconds he was distracted Sasuke had disappeared. Scanning the arena he didn't notice Sakura get back up. She sent a punch flying at him. It hit him square in the face. Shocked and in pain he did a back flip.

"Katon, fire breathing!" a swirl of fire engulfed Sakura. "She's got one hell of a punch." he said rubbing his cheek. He spun and saw Sasuke for only a moment, the image of the black haired ninja was quickly replaced with an image of a pink haired ninja. "What the…" he was sent reeling backwards as another punch drove into his stomach. Landing harshly against the wall he doubled over.

"Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Blaze's eyes widened as a huge ball of fire neared him. He cursed as it hit. Sakura and Sasuke watched the sphere his it's target point blank. They heard the sickening scream. Still on guard Sasuke waited as the smoke cleared. Blaze leaned against the wall his body charred and out of his shoulder was one kunai and the other one sticking into his chest. His eyes were wide in pain and surprise. "You…you beat me." he whispered. His voice came out cracked.

"It wasn't that hard." Sasuke said walking towards him. "You were using up a lot of chakra for both defense and offense. That takes a lot of concentration and speed. A mistake can be deadly on your part."

Blaze laughed at the irony. "He's determined, a mistake would be deadly on your part." "I should have listened." he mumbled to himself.

Sasuke grabbed his stomach but didn't show the pain in his expression. "Now," he said squatting down. "tell me who this mysterious he is."

Blaze coughed and shrugged. "A deal is a deal. It's actually quite obvious, I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it yourself. You both know him."

"Who is it! We obviously don't know him!" Sakura shouted annoyed.

Blaze grinned. "Why Sasuke, you should know your own big brother by now. Uchiha…Itatchi."

Naruto shoved the kid who had been kicking and screaming for at least a good hour forward. "Here's the runt." he mumbled as the mother grabbed the child in a bear hug.

"Oh my darling, my darling!" she yelled in between sobs. The child mumbled some colorful words before trying to push himself out of the woman's grasp.

"It's almost like the cat missions we were always put on…" Naruto said watching the boy struggle.

"Mission complete!" the man behind the desk shouted.

Naruto grinned. "Iruka sensei! How are ya'?"

Two other ninja escorted the child and woman out of the room and suddenly an air of tension fell over them.

"You said we had some important mission to go on." Shikamaru said sticking his hands into his pockets.

Iruka cleared his throat. "Well yes, normally this would be a three man squad with a jounin in the lead but seeing as how everyone's busy now-a-days we have no option but to send you guys and just make the team a five man squad."

"We accept!" Lee and Naruto shouted in unison.

Ino scowled at them. "We haven't even heard what the mission is yet, and I don't think you could deny it if you wanted to."

Iruka nodded. "I doubt they would have in the first place. We sent two ninja on an investigative mission in a labyrinth building. It was the site where we found the matching blood of the murdered ninja outside our village."

"Sasuke and Sakura." Hinata said quietly.

"Yes, it's been too long. Despite it being a maze we only sent them to investigate. If the building went too deep in they should have had common sense enough to come back. We're worried they might have walked into some trouble on the way."

"So is this an assistance mission?" Ino asked.

"No," Shikamaru said coolly. "This is a rescue mission…"

U like it? I figured it wasn't right to keep making up my own jutsu's so i researched it. Some are in english and some are in their ariginal japanese language cause i thought they were special enough to stay that way (and i didn't know how to translate it :P) Well yea, there you go. not too much to say...oh wait! What is C2ing?