Been a while...

Shall we?

Living in the Shadows

(Paranoid Part Two)

Naruto stalked towards Blizzard, growing impatient and anxious. He dodged an attack of ice shards, the maneuver hardly needing any conscious effort. Blizzard scrambled up from the ground and tried to summon something but before his hands could finish the required series of signs Naruto had them in his grip.

"I'm getting a little annoyed." Naruto growled. "It's about time we finished our little snow fight."

Blizzards eyes grew wide with fear, the former cockiness evaporating as quickly as the snow beneath Naruto's feet. He watched the young blond lift his fist menacingly.

"Wait! Wait!" Blizzard suddenly shouted. "Please."

Naruto froze. "Whaaat?" he groaned anxious to get the fight over with.

"That…that power you feel. The one that's separate from us. I can tell you the room that it's in. Your friend is in there, the brother." He said quickly. He flinched when Naruto moved to scratch his head.

"Cool, tell me where it is." Naruto said.

Blizzard watched at the red glow around him seemed to dim and his eyes took on its former trace of blue. "There's a door on the far side of this room. It's hard to find because it looks like the wall but if you look hard enough one of the bricks seems to be sticking out. It will lead you up to the room."

Naruto raised an eye brow. "Are you lying?"

Blizzard shook his head. "Would I ever?"

Scowling at him Naruto let him go. "Well, saves both of us a lot of trouble." He said walking away, now fully returned to the boy he'd previously been. The dangerous killer aura around him disappeared almost as if it never existed. The only proof was the melted snow and aching on Blizzards skin.

He watched the boy walk away from him. That silly shirtless blond, with his hands tucked causally into his ripped pants, shivering faintly. As if he was no longer a threat! Fury and embarrassment over took Blizzard. He was in control of one of nature's cruelest forces! And to have a child beat him down and then just walk away like it was nothing! He formed three ice crystals in his hand, shaking with rage. He threw one at the boy.

Naruto felt the cold point cut into his side and another into his shoulder. He turned around and avoided the third that was flying at his skull. He shook his head and disappeared. Blizzard looked around.

"I'm disappointed…" a low voice said from behind him. Blizzard spun around to see Naruto, flecks of red staining his blue eyes. His voice was unearthly, almost demonic. And before he knew it everything was dark.

Naruto walked away from the body towards the far side. The chill that had filled the room disappeared along with the snow. He found himself dragging his feet through soggy dead roses. He quickly got to the far side and found the brick. He pushed on it and the wall opened into a hall. He stepped inside a few feet but froze. He thought he heard screaming…

"What the hell?!" he shouted as the ceiling collapsed above him. He felt the debris dump on top of him along with something else that made a slight "oof" sound as it landed on him. He also heard a loud curse.

"Wha--" The object that had landed on top of him coughed and as the dust cleared he made out the outline of a small figure wearing a large coat. "Hinata?" he asked.

She stared down at him and blushed, aware that not only had she landed on Naruto, but he was shirtless, his tanned skin lightly covered in dust. "Oh!" she said quickly getting up. In her haste she tripped over something.

"Damn it!!" Sakura shouted angrily as Hinata crashed into her, sending them both to the ground again.

"Oh!" Hinata said again and scrambled off her.

"This damn place with its damn falling floors and damn mazes!" Sakura shouted angrily.

Naruto laughed. "Well, you're feeling better." He noted.

Sakura glared at him but her face softened the moment she saw his condition. The cuts that covered his body showed he had fought very hard for her. She smiled. "I see you're okay too."

His eyes widened comically. "Are you saying you cared about me!?" he teased.

Her face immediately scowled at him before she turned and dusted herself off. "Shut up."

Hinata cleared her throat. "Um…so, where are we?" she asked keeping her eyes on the ground and off of Naruto's bare chest.

"Um…some tunnel leading to Sasuke. He should be close."

Serious now they gave each other a determined look before continuing down the hall.

Shikamaru glared up at Joker who was leaning casually on the maze wall, grinning at him. "It seems I have to speed things up myself. You and your team seem to have a bit more self preservation than I gave you credit for." He tsked at them.

Joker stepped forward. Ino and Lee quickly went to cover Shikamaru's flanks, both of them aware of his wound that persisted to bleed. Something in the Clown ninja's eyes changed and made all three of them shiver in anticipation. He licked his lips, stating directly at Shikamaru and vanished.

Shikamaru ignored the disappearance and simply refocused his attention from sight to hearing. He waited patiently. "Ino!" he suddenly shouted pulling her. She was yanked out of the way just as Joker appeared. He vanished a second later before reappearing next to Lee. Quick to react Lee swung out at Joker, his fist just barely missing its mark. Joker quickly hopped backwards.

"Well, well…" he mumbled. He stared at the trio, his eyes glancing between each of them in turn before vanishing yet again.

"He's picking out our weak points." Shikamaru hissed. Involuntarily both Lee and Shikamaru's eyes flickered to Ino. "This is a pain…"

Ino just about roared with anger as she realized the weak point was her. Determined she set her feet firmly on the ground and flipped two kunai in her hands, ready to defend herself. Joker appeared behind her. She stepped out of the way of his attack and gave room for Lee who sprung out at Joker. Laughing he flipped backwards.

"My, my! You have a determined team here!" he hollered. He ran at Lee and met him in mid-fist. Lee's eyes widened, surprised at the power behind the punch. He grounded his feet into the ground to prevent himself from skidding back.

"You have much power," Lee said from gritted teeth "But they don't match the perseverance of youth!" He pushed his weight forward and sent the Joker flying back.

The Clowns face twisted in annoyance before he disappeared. "Ino!"

She spun around and found Joker reaching for her, his arm looking shadow like. Shikamaru tried to shout for her to stay where she was but he spoke too slowly. Reacting automatically she moved out of the way only to see the hand disappear. She backed into the arms of the real Joker who wrapped his arm tight around her neck and squeezed. Gasping for air she clawed at his arm, the image of her teammates running at her seeming to slow down and haze over. Desperately she flung her knife back towards his abdomen before passing out.

Joker let out a piercing scream as the kunai dug into his stomach. He let go of the unconscious blond. Before she could even hit the ground Lee was there grabbing her and quickly taking off.

"Oh no you don't!" Joker shouted angrily, his usually high pitched, playful voice turning dark and menacing.

Shikamaru stepped in front of him throwing hand bombs, forcing him to step back. Shikamaru smirked. "Me and you now buddy."

Joker let out a wide grin. "Oh yes, just my luck…"

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