HEY HEY HEY!! Long time no see!!

Shall we continue?

Living in the Shadows

(Paranoid: Part Two)

Sasuke cursed silently, frustration and anger bubbling inside him. He waited for another attack, racking his brain for some kind of alternative. There was no way he could be defeated like this, he wouldn't allow it. Pushing his bangs back he took a deep breath. He'd just have to fight blind.

Getting up he pushed his back flat against the wall and listened for any signs of his brother. He heard nothing in the thick darkness. Just the sound of his breathing and heartbeat. Concentrating he waited patiently, forcing himself calm.

He felt the air move towards his left. Ducking he missed the kick. He swept his foot over the ground hoping to catch his brother's ankles. Hitting nothing he flipped backwards to create distance incase his brother was still there. He pressed his back against the wall again.

"So you're not giving up? I thought for sure not having light would convince you how useless this battle was. In the dark or light, you'd lose brother. I'm sure your friends are dead by now."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, a wave of grief washing over him. "Shut the hell up." Sasuke spat.

Itachi laughed menacingly. "Such hatred brother. With all that anger, you can't come up with the strength to kill me?"

He felt his self control slipping at his brother's words. He was strong enough; his brother was just a damn cheat.

"What? Nothing to say? C'mon dear little brother. All your friends, including that little girlfriend of yours, are dying a slow, painful death. Why, I think the pink haired one froze to death, waiting for you to come and save her. And where are you? Hiding against a wall. Once again, you've allowed a family to die on your watch."

Sasuke pressed his palms against his ears, trying to block out the painful words. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to stop the memories. "I…I couldn't stop you then." He yelled into the dark, pictures of his parent's dead on the floor, their blood pooling around their limp bodies. "I…I wasn't strong enough…" he saw Sakura's emerald eyes staring admiringly at him, heard Naruto's laughter…he saw their bodies laid out lifeless at his feet. "But…I'm different…"

"I'm different brother…" he felt himself smirk even though anger was raging inside of him mixing with the pain. "Oh yes, I'm different. And I'm so much stronger." Something fierce built up inside of him. The power he suddenly felt startled him but he gladly welcomed it. This is what he needed to feel, this unfathomable hatred that was fueling his strength. This was what he was craving…

His eyes snapped open and suddenly the room was clearly visible though slightly tinted red. He could see Itachi standing in the middle of the room, staring curiously at his younger sibling. Sasuke looked down at his hands and saw them shaking with power. Clenching them into a fist he glared at his brother.

"Are you ready? He asked him. His voice came out low, almost demonic.

Itachi simply folded his arms and tilted his head slightly. "Well…it seems now, I have an opponent."

Naruto froze in his attack. He sensed something that shocked him. Some power radiating from somewhere. It was amazingly strong but laced with darkness. "Sasuke…" He somehow knew it was his teammate summoning up the power. He could almost taste the vengeance that was mixed with it. He wondered what was going on that was causing Sasuke to react in such a way. He'd never felt something like this coming from the young Uchiha. This was something sinister.

"Don't get distracted boy!" Blizzard yelled flinging ice shards at him. Naruto dipped to the left. Getting up he quickly resumed his attack. His clones followed suit close behind him. Simultaneously they leapt into the air and rained down on the snow ninja.

Grounding himself Blizzard raised his hands across his face in defense. There wasn't a way out of this ambush. Crashing to the ground under the weight of them he began slashing at the clones, hearing them disappear in a cloud of smoke. Naruto relentlessly kept up his attack but his strength was wavering. He could feel the cold almost burying itself into his bones. Unable to hold the clones they disappeared leaving only Naruto. Panting he backed away and tried to catch his breath. He shivered as his lungs just barely sucked in the freezing air. He scowled and hugged himself, trying to stop the uncontrollable shaking.

I won't last much longer…

As if reading his mind Blizzard stood up laughing. Dusting the snow off of him he gave Naruto a crooked smile. "Ah, it took longer than I wanted but it's taken its effect none the less. Soon you'll be lying on the floor frozen stiff."

Naruto glared at him. "Sh…shut up. Just give me a sec…second and I'll whoop your a-ass." He said between chattering teeth. But even as he said this the threat came out weak. He fell to one knee, still shivering. His breathing was coming in short gasps as his lungs begged for air. He looked up and saw Blizzard grinning down in satisfaction through his blurred vision.

I have to move. Naruto told himself. I have to fight… they're counting on me… Aggravated he pushed himself up back on his feet. Suddenly his vision went black and he fell back. He heard Blizzard laughing as he drifted out of consciousness.

Naruto looked around. He was in a hallway. Looking down he saw he was ankle deep in murky water. This place was familiar…

The hair on his arm stood on end as he sensed something. Whatever it was it was calling to him, beckoning him towards it. With each step forward the feeling grew more intense until it was almost stifling. Suffocating him with unbelievable power. It took only a few minutes before he found a cage that was locked with a powerful seal.

"You're pitiful." A low voice growled from inside the cage.

Immediately Naruto recognized the voice. Suddenly he realized where he was, who's presence he was in. The demon fox that resided inside of him gave him both pain and power.

"Why is that?" Naruto asked.

The fox laughed. "How are you dying? Can't even take a little bit of cold?"

"It's not normal snow. It sucked the freaking energy out of me."

"Excuses do nothing to cover up your weakness boy." The fox sneered.

Irritated Naruto scowled into the darkness of the cage, "Look, I was bought here for a reason. What are you going to do for me?"

The fox laughed again, this time the sound filling the halls and reverberating off the walls. "So bossy. Obviously I can't let you lie there and freeze to death. I'll lend you some of my power."

Naruto smirked as something warm flowed through his veins. This feeling was almost intoxicating. Looking down at his hands he could see the red substance began to form around him, he balled his hands into a fist and closed his eyes.

"Oh, this is going to get interesting…."

Blizzard laughed as he stared down at the young boy's body that was lying there stiff and freezing over. This was too easy. He was sure the pink haired girl was dead by now and this spunky boy was defiantly dead at his feet. His master would be pleased with him. He did what his foolish brother couldn't do and he did it with ease. Kicking snow at the boy he turned to walk away when he sensed something strange. Confused he turned around.

"What the—"

He watched as a strange charka began to consume the boy. The red slowly covered the boy, melting the snow that was falling on top of his body. Not believing his eyes Blizzard stared, his mouth wide open as his special snow melted so easily. Suddenly the boy was pushing himself out of the snow until he was on his knees. His eyes were covered with his bangs but the smirk on his face was enough to shake up his composer. The sheer power that was radiating from him was frightening.

Blizzard backed away, wanting to create distance between them. This wasn't the same boy he was fighting before. This was no where close. Standing up Naruto began to dust of the snow. Laughing lightly he took a step towards Blizzard and the snow immediately melted to water and evaporated, the steam rising to mix with the red charka that had taken the form of a fox around him.

"Well…" Naurto said, his voice low, "I suppose we should get started.."

Blizzard glared at the boy, worry creeping up to choke him. Trying not to show it Blizzard laughed. "Oh, now you're suppose to frighten me?" he rolled his eyes. "I don't know how you're melting my snow but it doesn't matter, it will just keep coming. You can't melt it forever." His confidence growing at the thought he smiled.

"I guess I'll have to get rid of the one causing the snow than." Naruto said. He looked up and locked his gaze on Blizzard. He froze under the intensity of his eyes. They were now a deep cerulean blue that had red swirling inside and misting his gaze with power. Taking a deep breath he formed an ice shard in his palm.

Taking that as a challenge Naruto began to walk towards his enemy. His eyes locked on him like a predator after his prey; soon his steps were picking up speed. The steam that rose around him made him seem eerie, dangerous, worst was the blood lust that was flowing out of him. Suddenly Naruto was running at him with incredible speed. Before Blizzard could even blink he was flying through the air, a sharp pain in his jaw.

Shikamaru could feel the heat close behind him. Lee was sprinting ahead of them; Ino was trying her best to stay at his heels, the ball of fire behind her serving as motivation. Shikamaru could feel his breath wavering though; somehow this hallway became longer. He couldn't even see an end to it anymore. There was no way they were going to out run the fire at this rate. Sooner or later they'd fall out exhausted.

Thinking Shikamaru looked around for an escape. They couldn't climb the walls; there was nothing to stop the fire. They're were no escapes. Suddenly he realized something. Taking a quick look at the walls he examined the patterns. At first he assumed they were just designs used to throw them off. But they had a specific design, and every once in a while it changed to something different, one pattern ending abruptly and shifting to another one. That was how the hall became longer. The walls moved. And where the patterns changed was where a new wall was placed.

"Lee!" Shikamaru shouted.

"Yes?" He shouted back.

"I need you to try something. You need to run as far ahead as you can."

"What? I'm afraid I can not do that. I will not leave my teammates behind!"

"Listen Lee! You need to run ahead and create as much distance as you can, you'll need the time and you're fast enough. Once you get far enough you need to start pushing on the walls. If it doesn't move than go up a little more and try again. One of these walls should move."

Lee thought a moment. "Are you sure?"

"No, but it's all I got."

Giving thumbs up Lee suddenly took off, leaving them behind. It wasn't long before he disappeared.

"Shikamaru, I'm tired." Ino said. "I can't do this too much longer."

Shikamaru glanced back to see only a few feet between them and the ball of fire. He ran to catch up with Ino and grabbed her hand. He dragged her forward with him. "Let's hope you don't have to for too much longer."

Lee slowed down after creating a sufficient amount of space. He felt bad for leaving his team behind to face the ball of fire alone but he was given orders. He stopped and pushed against the wall on his left. After a while of trying he went up a few more feet and tried again, and again, and again. Frustrated he tried once more.

"I do not think the wall will move…"

He ran to the other side and pushed on those walls. None of them budged. A few minutes later he could see his teammates running towards him.

Shikamaru could see Lee pushing against the wall. His heart dropped once he saw the wall wasn't moving. He was tired and practically dragging Ino now. This had to work; if not this would all ready be it. He would have all ready failed and gotten his teammates killed.

"Push Lee! Push!" Shikamaru shouted praying that maybe Lee wasn't pushing hard enough. Lee threw his weight on the wall but it still didn't move. They were getting close now.

"It will not move!" he shouted back pushing harder.

"Push some where else!"

Lee moved up a few feet and tried again. It still didn't move. He looked back to see his friends closing the distance. He could see Ino dragging her feet and he knew Shikamaru wasn't too far behind from passing out. He was pushing himself. Unlike him, they weren't trained to sprint with his kind of speed for such a long distance. Most people weren't. He pushed harder until he was turning red. Frustrated that it wouldn't move he backed up. "MOVE!" he shouted before slamming his foot into it. Something clicked and the wall suddenly went crashing backward dragging Lee in. With no hesitation Shikamaru was soon ducking into the opening, pulling Ino in after him. The ball of fire rolled by, the heat brushing past them.

Shikamaru fell to the floor, Ino falling on top of him, knocking the air out of him. Lee was a few inches behind them trying to pull his foot out the wall.

"This is rather uncomfortable." Lee wined yanking at his foot.

Shikamaru grunted. "You think?" he said pushing at Ino.

Blushing Ino jumped up and rolled off him. "Um…my bad." She said dusting off.

Shikamaru nodded and sat up rubbing his neck.

"That was a close call." Lee said finally yanking his foot out with Ino's help.

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah, it was. We've been having way too many of those." He grounded his teeth as irrational anger washed over him. "I must not be doing too great of a job."

"What?"

Crossing his arms the shadow-nin shook his head. "I've already lost two of my teammates, gotten us almost killed a number of times, and we still haven't found Sakura and Sasuke."

Frowning down at their team leader both Lee and Ino shook their heads. "We're still alive. This whole place is one trap after another; you're doing the best anyone can expect considering our situation. We're still alive and Naruto can take care of himself and Hinata. Don't start falling apart on us now." Ino said slapping him lightly on the shoulder.

"She is right." Lee agreed.

Shikamaru sighed again. He still wasn't fully convinced but Ino was right. This was no time to fall apart on them. They still had a long way to go. "You're right." He said. He got up and dusted himself off. He turned to his teammates and smiled. They gave him a reassuring smile back.

"I guess we should get going. Let's see where this new hall leads."

The joker watched from his hiding spot and smiled. His focus was locked on the handsome team leader. How he just loved watching him falling apart oh so very slowly. His plan was coming along well.

Did you like it? It's not my best in my opinion but...Sigh Review please! I love hearing opinions and ideas! ;-)