A/N: Hello, everyone! I know it's been a while since last chapter I posted! But here's long-await fight you've been looking to! Now for disclaimer, I want to introduce someone I ran into earlier today! It's Coola's Armored Squadron! One of you can take over and say the disclaimer!

Sauza: It's my pleasure! Disclaimer: Jenny-san doesn't own Dragon Ball franchise nor Naruto franchise, so you cannot sue him! He doesn't own me or any of their characters, but he does own pathetic Paradox and Guure, and some of his other OC.

Me: Thank you. You may leave.

Sauza: I hope to see you later, Ve-

Me: *Snap fingers* No spoilers allowed! (Coola's Armored Sqaudron disappears)

Vegeta: HEY! WHERE DID THEY GO?! I SHOULD KILL THEM WHERE THEY STOOD!

Me: Tsk, tsk, I made the rule here! No fighting allowed here!

Vegeta: I don't speak to woman!

Me: HOW DARE YOU! I was a man! *mutters* That bastard wished me to become a female! *cries on the pillow*

Jerry Clone: Heh, I'm afraid I suggest that we should leave our weeping girl to her own privacy.

Me: I HEARD YOU! It's him, not her!

Jerry Clone: Sorry, no can do! Enjoy reading, my fans!

Chapter 123: Rematch! Sasuke vs Paradox

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

Sasuke stood in front of battered and bruised Sakura across from his opponent. While he remained calm on the outside, but inside, his heat was boiling over and over for a while since he arrived here. Several people had died here because he was too late. Because he was the responsible for all deaths here on this battlefield, all blames will fall on his burden. If he was here earlier, no one would have died.

No one will die on his watch any longer. Not Sakura. If she happened to die right there, then he had no idea how he would react. Naruto and she were very close friend of his. He would not let them both dies.

He titled his head to glare at the person who was the cause of all these deaths and nearly threatened the life of Sakura's life. His Sharingan eyes just levelled with Paradox's eyes. 'This guy again!'

He could never forget the face of his opponent.

Flashback Began- Last Month- Land of Water- Sasuke vs Paradox

Sasuke smirked down at Paradox. "Here's little tip for you. Don't insult Elementians!" Suddenly, Paradox flew up towards him. "What the-?!"

Paradox delivered an elbow smash onto Sasuke's stomach, doubled him over. He snorted, "Says the guy who insulted Coola's species!" Next, he kneed Sasuke to the nose, and backflip kicked him down towards the ground. Before Sasuke could land a hard fall, Paradox appeared besides him, and threw a knee smash onto his stomach. Sasuke spewed out the blood from his mouth. After that, Paradox hook kicked raven-haired avenger square in the jaws, sending him flying through the air.

With that, Paradox charged towards Sasuke, however, the young avenger regained his senses, and flew towards Paradox as well. As soon as they collided altogether, the shockwave roared loudly, as they exchanged their blows. Sasuke finally managed to slip past him, and attempted to land a punch, but Paradox disappeared before then!

Sasuke looked around him and shocked, "What?! Where did he go?!"

"Turn around, and you will see him!" cried Paradox. So Sasuke did, and found Paradox charging towards him. Then, Paradox gave Sasuke a hard clothesline, and knocked him away. Next, Paradox appeared in front of him, and grabbed his both arms. While holding Sasuke, Paradox slammed his head onto his opponent's head repeatedly. Sasuke's forehead began to draw a blood. Satisfied, Paradox released Sasuke before upward kicked him in the guts, knocking him up above the thick mist.

Sasuke stopped himself from being knocked away, and flipped up. He panted heavily, "Dammit! Impossible! He's Coola's henchman, and yet, he's too strong! How could someone like him be henchman?!"

Then, Paradox emerged from the mist, and continued to fly towards Sasuke. Sasuke angrily fired energy wave at Paradox, who casually evaded it, much to his shock. Paradox nailed Sasuke's face very good, and kicked him in the guts before knocking him down with the Double-Ax Handle. But Paradox was not done with this! He flew down towards Sasuke, and repeatedly kicked him on the stomach before backflip kicking him down towards the ocean.

Paradox raised his both hands, and began to charge up the purple energy sphere. He shouted, "Die!" Then, he fired a large energy wave down onto Sasuke, bashing him through three islands, and also caused huge explosion, as the water erupted up into the sky.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

As soon as the gigantic smoke cleared, three islands were gone! Paradox let his laughter out. "Hahaha! I highly doubt you would survive this! Not just him, I also destroyed three islands!" He continued to laugh at no one particular. Then he stopped laughing, and sighed, "I guess I'd better go back to where Coola-sama and others are at right now." With that, he flew off on way to see Coola and others again.

Flashback Ended

His hatred for Paradox had intensified with each second he was glaring at an enemy. But every time he thought about his comrades. Every single of them had been either inflicted pain heavily or killed. 'He brings harm to them. For that, they must be avenged.'

From Sasuke's rear, Sakura, currently inhabited by Inner Sakura, was relieved that her life was saved right there. At least she prolonged her life for another time.

The more she looked at this way, the more she realized that her death may had been inevitable delay. Ever since she looked at the scroll of the alternative timeline, she was supposed to die at Root ANBU's hideout. But that timeline changed. She survived the collapse of the cave. Multiple times she should had been died, yet to be saved by others.

Perhaps no one, including Outer Sakura, did not realize that. But somehow, she had a feeling that she was going to die today. She was meant to die today. Just a hunch. It was only a matter of time before she cannot be saved today. It was so infuriating though. Again and again, it was always Naruto or Sasuke to protect her. Perhaps, one day, she could keep up with them and times where she did not need to be saved again.

She felt the same way Outer Sakura felt, even though she barely took control of her body in the entire life. Their feelings were mutual, nonetheless. At this moment, she felt she was useless. She realized how much burden she was to Naruto and Sasuke. She wondered when she will be able to repay them.

Far across from Sakura behind Paradox, Hinata took a while to fight against her heaviness, and eventually won the battle against it. Climbing to her feet, she groaned, feeling the pain in her left shoulder. That shoulder must had been smashed when she was knocked off earlier.

But she paid no mind to it, as her attention was drawn to the decisive fight that was about to unfold right there soon. She smiled when she saw Sasuke already protecting the pink-haired kunoichi. "At last… You've arrived, Uchiha-san."

She could not remember when the last time she had spoken to Sasuke. Back in the academy, every time she looked at Sasuke, it was too awkward. They never spoke to each other once in their lifetime. They were too quiet. There was no reason for them to speak to each other, because they held no interest in each other.

For the first time in her life, she was happy that Sasuke came to their rescue. What's more, he protected Sakura. If it was not for him, Sakura would have been killed on that spot.

Sasuke gave her a brief glance. "Hyuuga-san." He took some time to analyze her, but he could tell that she was not the same person he remembered, despite having never spoken to her before. He remembered her as a shy, timid girl. She used to stutter words when she was scared or when she was near Naruto. But now, she was completely different. He could feel her aura. It was not as innocent as it used to be. Her demeanor gave it away too.

Kuririn, still laying on the ground, lifted his head up, just recognized Sasuke right away. "You're late." He gave up a weak chuckle. The damage he took was too much for him. To think Paradox possessed such a strength, even though he was only a henchman! The difference between Coola's squad and Freeza's squad were too much!

"Sasuke-san…" Gohan was also laying on the ground just across from the bald monk. He chuckled weakly. "How have you been?"

Few distance afar from a trio of Gohan, Kuririn and Hinata, he kneeled next to dying Ino, who had her mind shattered by Guure a while ago. He noticed the bag of senzu bean laying on the floor too close to Paradox's legs. 'Damn! It doesn't have enough distance for me to snatch it right there. I'd be caught and possibly killed on spot if I go there!' He cast his pupils aside to dying Ino. 'Time's ticking, though. If I don't get that bag of a senzu bean, she will die!'

His teeth gritted in very frustration. Once again, he had been involved in another troublesome situation. He just could not let his comrade and more importantly, his girlfriend to die. He needed to grab that bag of senzu bean in order to save her. Otherwise, her life would end before his own eyes. Sure, Dragon Balls could bring them back to life, but he did not want to take a chance. Just in case a worst scenario happened.

He glanced over his shoulder. There was Shino who stood in silence behind him just few meters away. Their combination jutsu did not work against Paradox, but they did succeed in stalling him further.

He returned his gaze at Sasuke again. 'If Sakura cannot beat him, then can Sasuke beat him?'

"Heh…" All attentions were drawn to Paradox's light chuckle. His smug smirk could be seen on his face, as he stared at Sasuke. "I've already lost, you say?"

Sasuke just increased the level of his glare at him. There was arrogant smirk on Paradox that he did not like a bit. Every bit of Paradox that he did not like. He was sure that Paradox still thought he was the same guy as before, but he could not wait to see his opponent's face when Paradox found out he was on whole different level.

"I don't know how you survive my attack last month." Paradox smirked, as he pointed at the raven-haired shinobi. "But it remains the same! The weak die out and the strong will survive, and will live on forever. I believe it is made clear which one of us is the strong or the weak."

Sasuke scowled, his hatred of Paradox continued to rise.

"I mean, in the end, it is the survival of the fittest!" He erupted with the laughter, as his head threw back and raised his arms in rejoice. "Either, it's kill or be killed! That's how it works in this universe!"

Near Front Konoha Gate- With Konohamaru

Laying on the ground, panting heavily, Konohamaru looked at the clear sky. A lot of Konoha-nin had died, but he was fortunate to survive this whole battle. Some Konoha-nin survived also. He looked down at the corpse of Itachi and then at the corpse of the zombie user along with his associates. But what shocked him was the recent event of few minutes ago.

Flashback Began

A kunai plunged into a Konoha-nin's heart before it was removed, resulting a blood splattered. Then a shinobi fell to his knees and collapsed afterward.

"Damn!" Another shinobi cursed. That was the jonin who took a command of all shinobi in this battlefield since Rai was killed in action. "Aim for his heart! Remember, Itachi is dead. He is just a zombie!"

"Yes, Nosake-san!" All Jonin and CHuunin in the force responded in unison. They made their next move that would coordinate their attack against Itachi. For few minutes, they struggled against Itachi, so naturally, their numbers would go down one by one.

Itachi-zombie did not show a sign of mercy, even a bit. He slaughtered them without any remorse at all. Konohamaru and others came to the conclusion that zombies basically have no conscious of the current events or past events. All zombies were simply a brainless! Zombies did not stutter a single world, either!

Three of Jonin leapt towards Itachi from the above, but the zombie pulled a whirlwind kick, knocking them around. As soon as he landed, he immediately weaved through several signs before he placed his finger on his mouth, as he drew his breathe in.

'Not tell me this is-!' Nosake quickly realized what Itachi was meant to do just now. He gave several certain shinobi a look.

A group of these shinobi nodded in acknowledge. This was their cues, so they stepped forward and weaved through their signs, also drawing their breathe in.

Itachi blew a large fireball from his mouth towards three fallen shinobi. It was unnaturally large, which amazed every shinobi, including zombie users.

Very far away in the back of the line, Konohamaru was baffled that it was possible for Itachi to release that much chakra! He never had seen a large fireball like that before.

However, a group of these shinobi countered the fireball with their own water jutsu from their mouth! As soon as they collided, that caused a large stream surrounding the rest of Shinobi, which clouded their view of Itachi for the time being.

"What a bunch of numb minds!" The voice of the zombie user leader mocked them in a laughter. "That earlier action literally gave us more advantage over you!"

In one blink of an eye, bloods from not just one, not just two, but three shinobi spilled from their shoulder! The zombie user was not wrong. That did give Itachi more advantage over them in an obstruction stream.

"All zombies heightened all of their five senses. Every movement you made, whether it was just a breathing or even heartbeat, they will know where you are. Even if you used the jutsu to silence your whole body, they can smell you." The zombie user laughed. "It's a futile! Useless!"

They tried so hard to stay off the radar from zombies, but it was impossible. No matter what they did, zombies always found them and slain them. To make it worse, Itachi-zombie was on killing spree right now, just right after he had gone in a zig-zag, killing six Konoha-nin or so.

His next target would be Nosake. He almost killed him as well, but Nosake somehow was aware of his situation. The commander blocked Itachi's kunai with his own kunai.

Although, Nosake was succeeded into parrying a kunai, but he struggled to hold Itachi off. The difference in their strength were too much, or was it because of zombies? He noticed that the zombies were not aware of their own strength. That would mean there was no ounce of struggle in the zombies. They would press and press on, thus increasing their unreal strength.

The stream dissolved shortly after. Their presence was now seen by everyone. Konoha-nin realized that their commander was struggling in the battle of strength against Itachi.

Nosake groaned. No matter how harder he tried to push it back, Itachi would not budge. The zombie continued to put him on pressure. 'At this rate, he is going to finish me off!'

"Marvelous!" The zombie user continued to laugh. "This is so great! I can't believe I found a strong zombie when I stumbled across Itachi! When I found his corpse, I did not expect him to be this strong. I guess I am lucky! Kill them all, Itachi!"

In the meanwhile, Itachi obeyed the instruction as he was ordered to. He released his kunai from Nosake in order to break a guard. Then he found an opportunity when Nosake was left wide open, so he immediately charged him. Just before he could land a kunai attack, Nosake dodged a swing of a kunai by the beneath of his hair.

"Hey, hey…" The zombie user smirked with his arms crossed on his chest. "Do yourself a solid favor. Just give it up and die already! It will be a lot easier if you don't have to suffer to deal with my zombies."

Nosake forced his arm to quickly parry Itachi's kunai strike, only to have a boot meet his face, sending his body skipping across the ground. He came back to his sense, as his feet skidded away through the ground, stopping right by Konohamaru.

"Nosake-sensei!" cried Konohamaru. His body was trembled in the whole body. The trauma experience came from the witness of his friends' brutal deaths, and Sakura went psycho at the moment. Now he was facing the most powerful shinobi on this planet… as a zombie, moreover! Because Itachi was now a brainless zombie, that would just make him far more powerful than his living counterpart. It just added more to his trauma experience! Today was just a bad day for him.

"What are you still doing here?!" The stern of a voice drew his attention to Nosake. "I made myself clear, didn't I?!"

"B-But…" Konohamaru stammered, as he could not form a word to speak up. No matter how scared he was, he just couldn't…

"A genin doesn't belong in this battlefield, so evacuate yourself to where you belong to right now!" His stern glare moved directly into Konohamaru's eyes, which strike a fear into him. "GO NOW!"

Konohamaru widened his eyes. "B-But…" He hung his head down and clenched his fists in frustration. Despite scared and anxious, there was one thing Nosake could never ever understood. This was the first time that he came across a very powerful shinobi at his level. There was no mission close to this that he came to experience. "What good will I do if I choose to be a coward and run away?"

"There is no time to be sentiment!" Nosake yelled on top of his lung, hoping to see that Konohamaru would change his mind. To make matters worse, he was already worn out and his lungs were damaged, so naturally, he would be in the pain right now, but he had learned to ignore the pain and focus on the enemy. "Run away while you can before it is too late! Be rational!"

Konohamaru shook his head. It must be his stubbornness that made him not to be rational, but it was his determination that he would never run away, ever! It was the principle that Naruto taught him and especially his Nindo, his way of Ninja! He lifted his head up with a lot of pride on his shoulders and determination. His body suddenly stopped anxious.

"There is no shortcut to becoming Hokage! If I run away now, then I will be considered a coward! I can't run away when in a situation like this, especially when our village is being attacked right now! I'm going to fight and defend our home, even if I'm going to die!" His eyes cast down in a sorrow. "The evacuation point may have been destroyed, and we don't even know it! At least consider the strength of our enemy."

Nosake widened his eyes. That brat was right. There was no telling if genins and civilians were sheltered at the evacuation point sound and safe. Enemies were everywhere, and a group of enemies could be at the evacuation point. It could be destroyed by just a blast, and the cave could collapse along with the civilians and genins.

Coola and his men were quite powerful men. As far as he could tell, even a mere underling could have been on the same level as jonin or possibly even a Kage level! If they're that powerful, then that would mean Coola was far superior to them in term of power levels! That means not even a Kage was a match for him. If all previous villages were destroyed, then their own Kage struggled against Coola and his top henchmen.

He began to wonder if this village would face the similar fate as all previous villages faced. He hoped not, but it was certainly high possibility.

Konohamaru stared back at the jonin, as his face scrunched into a determination look. "Sorry, I must refuse your order. If I want to become the Hokage, then I must fight to protect the village!"

He recalled back to the time when he met Naruto. The blonde ninja made a clear explanation that there was no shortcut to becoming the Hokage. So that's why Naruto worked hard and worked even harder to aim for his dream. To become the Hokage. There was no such as shortcut to becoming the Hokage! That was his belief, and Konohamaru made sure to do the same.

If he ran away, then he was deemed to be unworthy of becoming the Hokage. He would not allow that to happen. With his guts and determination, he was going to keep fighting and fighting, even if he was going to die anyways.

Nosake's expression turned into a sour for a moment before his lips twitched upward into a grin, as he stole a glance at the boy. 'This brat… He doesn't know when to quit, huh? This Naruto brat… He influenced you, didn't he?'

He turned back to the smoke that would clear very shortly. The silhouette of the shurikens came through the fog. It was not aimed for him, but it was instead aimed at the kid right next to him!

"Shit!" He cursed in a silent before he rushed in and shoved Konohamaru to the ground just right before several shurikens pierced into his body.

"Nosake-sensei!" cried Konohamaru. He was down on the ground, sitting and staring up at the jonin in shock. "W-Why did you have to…" He could not form a word to complete the sentence. Once again, there was another guy that died in front of his eyes.

The blood spewed from the jonin's mouth. Too many shuriken to take a hit in the chest. Now he was bleeding both internally and externally. "…save you?" He finished the sentence, smiling with the blood dripping from his mouth. "This is what a jonin's job is supposed to be. You're a genin, and above all, you're too damn young to die! That's why I want you to run away."

"B-But…" Konohamaru climbed up to his feet. "I can't run away! I can't become the Hokage that way!"

"Know your role!" Nosake screamed, causing Konohamaru to take back. His eyes became sad at this moment. "You're a genin. A young genin should not rush to their death. They have a lot of life ahead of their future. I know by becoming a ninja, this was what you signed up for. But this isn't always the case!"

He watched as the smoke are getting cleared every second. At any rate, their vision would be no longer obscured. "As a genin, when you're facing a crisis in this situation, run and cry for the help, especially from the capable jonin! There will be a help coming your way."

Konohamaru gulped. He did not know how to respond to that speech.

"It is not… worth…" Nosake panted heavily every time he spoke up. There was a pause each word. "…your life… when… you know there's no chance you can…" His eyes quickly turned into a gray, and right before he collapsed to the ground face-first. "… beat them."

Konohamaru immediately checked on Nosake, but there was no sign of life from the jonin. His hands clenched and his teeth gritted into frustration and anger. How many deaths had he seen so far today? There were just too many deaths. He wondered that was what his Uncle and Grandfather experienced through their life before. How much of horrible experience they had to take in before it ended?

His eyes were clouded with tears, which he did not realize that he was weeping already. "Dammit!" He wiped tears off his eyes.

He heard the yawn, who then spoke up. "How boring. This doesn't excite me anymore. No one is match for my Itachi boy. Here I thought there was a capable jonin who could take him on, but I suppose I overestimate that piece of shit."

Konohamaru quickly whirled around and shot the zombie user a glare. An angry glare. He could feel that his anger was boiling every second already. It could explode at any moment.

The zombie picked his nose and then stared at his finger, which contained the bogger, before shrugging and throwing it away. "Trash." He chuckled, with a couple of his friends joining in.

"SHUT UP!" Konohamaru exploded, drawing everyone's attention to him, including his own comrades. Although the zombies paid him no mind, as they attempted to overpower all surviving shinobi. So Konoha-nin were quick to bring their attention back to their opponents.

"Hm?" The zombie user raised his eyebrows at the enraged genin. What could that brat possibly want from him? He gave a little chuckle on his own, without his friends having to join in. "Why should I shut up? I don't remember you paid me to shut up."

"He's not trash! Neither are we!" Konohamaru yelled. "You are the ONE who is trash!"

"Trash? Me?" The zombie user could not contain his laughter, as he exploded with a laughter. "HAHA! AM I TRASH?!" He looked to his friends for an answer, who then rolled on the floor laughing. He laughed so much that his tears flew out of his eyes. "That was a good one, you little brat!"

Suddenly, he fired a small fireball towards Itachi, who remained standing and do nothing but staring at the small fireball. He was never to faze, since he was just a brainless zombie. However, it missed and flew past Itachi.

"What kind of aim is that?" The zombie scoffed. "Can't really blame you, though. You are trembled in fear."

"The fireball…" the friend on his right side tapped him on the shoulder. "Look, it's coming at you!"

"What?!" The zombie user snapped his head up and spotted the small fireball that continues to fly, but this time, it was flying towards him. "You've got to be kidding me, right?"

The zombie user showed a bit of his smug smirk. "You think that was easy? You think it's easy to take me down? My boys are not just here to assist me in creating and empowering zombies, but they're also my protection!"

His man on his left side stepped in front of him, acting as a shelter for the zombie user, as he was staring at the fireball on way.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)" Konohamaru shouted the names out, as the fireball suddenly duplicated itself into a dozen of them. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu).

"WHAT?!" The zombie user cried in shock. He realized that no way his man could shelter him alone, so he looked at another henchman to become his additional shelter. So another henchman did and stepped in front of him.

Once the zombie user collected himself and calm down, his lips turned into a smug smirk again. "Little did you know, they're also zombies!"

"What?!" Konohamaru cried in shock. He was wondering why they look rather decayed for a while. That explained the whole thing with these men. But why were they able to speak, though? They were not like all these zombies he had fought. What was the difference?

"I had two sons." The zombie user began. "I had the best day of my life ever when I was bestowed with two beautiful sons the day they were born. They were perfect. They were my world. I would do everything for them and even I would go that far to ask the doctor to duplicate their brains in case if something happened to them! Whatever they ask of me, I shall spoil them with my love, because they were my WORLD!"

He looked at these zombies in front of him and smiled. "My wife, however, had different philosophy. She and I had a disagreement on how to discipline him right now. She believed that discipline my sons were for the best and spoiling them were completely unnecessary."

He frowned with a smile. "I couldn't bear the thought of telling them no straight to their face. I don't want to see them sad. So I thought up the solution to avoid making them sad or upset. I figure if I want to make them happy all the time, they will love me so much. At the age of five, I murdered my wife in front of them."

The heart stopped as the fear instilled into Konohamaru. 'What kind of monster does that?!' Only sick people would go that far to kill their Mom in front of their kids.

"My boys…" The zombie user spread his arms away, as he threw his head back and laughed with his crazed eyes. "I was worried that they might cry or hate me forever. But boy, did they do me dirty! They… they were SMILING! They loathed their Mother so much that they wanted to see her dead."

"YOU SICKO MONSTER!" Konohamaru screamed.

"I will take that as a compliment." The zombie closed his eyes. "By the way… little did you know…." His eyes opened, as his overconfident gaze upon Konohamaru. "… zombies are immune to fires."

But the reaction was not what he expected. Instead of expecting eyes-widen shock from Konohamaru, the smile found its way into Konohamaru's face.

"About that…" Konohamaru smiled, but not before he sent his glare to the zombie user. "It's a surprise for you, you sicko monster!"

The zombie user's sons were able to take all hits taken from the small fireballs, and no zombie user was harmed. However, before they realized it, there were shurikens hidden in these fireballs. They were embedded into both zombies' body, especially the chest where hearts were placed inside.

"DAD!" The duos of zombies cried, feeling the pain that was inflicted upon them for very first time in a long time since they died first time. Zombies could not bleed, but because their hearts died down, they ceased to function, as they fell face-first to the ground.

"WHAT?!" The zombie user screeched in astonishment. "Dumb! Idiot!"

"Hey, they're not dumb and idiot." Konohamaru grinned. "It's your fault that you exposed your zombies to the weakness. Remember, earlier, when I arrived in this battlefield, I killed a zombie with the kunai into the chest?"

The memory came back to the zombie user, as he recalled that Konohamaru surprised him when he attacked the zombie. The zombie's main weakness was the heart, especially by a sharp weapon. If any sharp weapons even touched the heart, they ceased to function. He looked down at his sons. "Dumb… Idiot…"

"Do not blame your sons for that. You're the who is dumb and idiot." Konohamaru raised his kunai and shifted into a defensive stance. "All zombies were decayed. So, when I look at you and your sons, I figured you all are zombies."

"Dumb… Idiot…" The zombie user let himself down and kneeled next to his sons, as he began to shed tears for them. "Why… Why…?"

"They used their body as your shelter, so I assume you're not a zombie, but a living thing." Konohamaru smiled. Suddenly, something came afloat into his head. "You said your sons were used to empower any zombies. Now they died, so I wonder what will happen to all these zombies?"

The zombie user was too focused on his sons' corpse that he could not hear the voice of Konohamaru anymore. "Dumb… Idiot…"

All the zombies who were currently fighting Konoha-nin, all of the sudden, became weakened and allowed the Konoha-nin to overpower them and slain them so effortlessly. That also included Itachi who may be weakened now. However, it was almost proven wrong when the Konoha-nin attempted to attack him, only to be killed.

Konohamaru scowled. It was pain in the ass more than he thought. Maybe Itachi was weaker now, but he was too strong. Dead or not, no one could defeat him at that level. If neither jonin or chunin could scratch even his hitai-ate, then there was no way he could beat him by himself.

"D-d-d-d…" A river of tears ran down from the zombie user' eyes. His hands were so shaky. He could not stop shaking them. "D-d-d-d…"

Both zombies were immobile on the floor. There was no response from them. No sign of breathing, no heartbeats, or even a slight movement of his body parts. Just like that. They were dead!

"Dumb! Idiot!" He sobbed, wailing his tears out. He grabbed both of his sons and hugged them to himself. "Not again! Not again! Not again! Dumb! Idiot! Whhhhy?!"

They meant everything to him and… "Dumb! Idiot!" His mouth opened to expose his teeth, as he gritted his teeth, while he tightened his arms around both zombies. Next time he knew, their bodies suddenly turned into a dust and it dropped through his arms.

His eyes widened and mouth gaped open. "Dumb! Idiot!" The longer he stared at the dust on the floor, his entire body was shaken with the rage. "DUUUUMB! IDIOOOOOT!"

'Here he comes.' Konohamaru thought, mentally prepared for next moves the zombie user was going to do next.

The veins flowed through his eyeballs. Rage already exploded from his body and he stared up at Konohamaru. "YOU! YOU!"

Konohamaru froze in fear, once the zombie user leaked his heavy killing intent towards him. For some reason, he could feel his throat being clawed out almost as if the zombie user was already there. To think even a user with no fighting experience could send such a strong killing intent.

"YOU KILLED THEM!" The zombie user screeched in rage. "You have no idea how many years it took me to find their body since they were killed by a nuclear bomb! Dumb and Idiot are my cubs and YOU TOOK THEM AWAY FROM ME!"

'He named them Dumb and Idiot? What kind of parents that named their children?' Konohamaru thought, sweating and shaking. He considered running away at some point, but he remembered there was no shortcut to becoming the Hokage. He decided that he would stay and fight.

Glaring at the shaky genin, the zombie user clenched his fists and snarled. "YOU WILL PAY FOR IT! KILL HIM, ITACHI!" He demanded Itachi-zombie to attack Konohamaru.

Konohamaru hurriedly stepped back, only to trip over the rock behind him on the ground. When he fell backward, Itachi appeared in front of him and swung a kunai towards him.

'Crap! I can't move!' Konohamaru realized. Because he was in the middle of falling, he could not dodge it or even defend himself. There was no way to defend it. That means he was going to be stabbed to death.

His face quickly turned into a white pale once the kunai was drawing closer and closer to his chest. He was quick to shut his eyes down, considering that it was better to not know if he was already killed or not.

Nothing happened…

As soon as he landed his back on the ground, he slowly opened his eyes, only to find that someone stood there, blocking the kunai with a kunai.

He sent his eyes upward and realized that it was Sasuke who saved him. "Sasuke!" Rejoicing at being saved by a friend of Naruto, he was going to thank him when he stood up, but when he took a notice of Sasuke's expression, he realized that it was nothing but a pure hatred and anger from him. "Sasuke?"

"ITACHI!" Sasuke yelled, sending his intensity glare at his older brother. His eyes activated the Sharingan, as his commas spun around his pupils. "I have come to take my revenge against you! I am going to avenge my family!"

Itachi stared down at his younger brother while struggling to overpower him. Right now, he was too hell-bent on eliminating Konohamaru, based on the order of his master.

Scowling in annoyance, Sasuke began to wonder why his brother did not bother to answer him back. "ANSWER ME!" He wondered if Itachi was too scared to say anything or he simply thought his little brother was still too weak to beat him. "I've trained myself everyday to surpass you and kill you! I am no longer too weak for you!"

"Umm…" Konohamaru nervously gulped, insisting to remind him that Itachi was already dead and was now brainless zombie, but decided to against it, since he did not want to be intimidated by Sasuke.

However, the zombie user did not get the memo, as his laughter raised all the way to the sky, receiving an attention from the sole survivor. "YOU FOOL! Whoever he is to you, he is no longer who you think he is!"

"What?!" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Who are you and what do you mean?"

The zombie user grinned. "My name is Stupid."

Konohamaru sweat-dropped. 'Dumb and Idiot. And Stupid. What's up with his family?'

"He is currently a zombie." Stupid shrugged his arms and displayed his cocky grin towards Sasuke. "In other words, he was long ago dead and is now under my control."

Sasuke widened his eyes in shock. 'What?! How did…' He turned up and looked at his older brother once again. The face was decayed, and his eyes were not stabilized. Instead, it was all blank. 'No way! How did he die? Who killed him?' He gritted his teeth, clenching his free hand into a fist. 'I was the one who was supposed to kill him!'

"In case you wondered how he was dead…" Stupid smirked. His comment just inquired Sasuke's interest, but whatever he was going to say certainly angered him even further. "I'm as clueless as you are, but I found his corpse and raised him as my pet! He is just a pathetic piece of—"

Next time he knew, his head was separated from his shoulder, his face was filled with the terror and his eyes widened when he learned that it was Sasuke who beheaded him. 'What?! How did he get past Itachi? However…' He grinned once again. 'Little did you know… I made myself a part of the zombie! That means I am still alive!'

Unfortunately for him, Sasuke seemed to figure out his plan. He placed his palm on Stupid's terror face before it could come back down to the ground. "Your name does rhyme with you. You're… stupid."

That prompted Stupid to yell, "STO—" right before Sasuke blasted him to oblivion.

Because Sasuke let go of Itachi, the zombie immediately resumed his swing on Konohamaru, who closed his eyes once again.

Nothing happened again…

Konohamaru slowly opened his eyes and found Itachi suddenly collapsing to the floor. "What?" That was all he could say.

Itach was not only one zombie that collapsed, so did all other remaining zombies. Rests of Konoha-nin were relieved that they were completely done with zombies. At least they could rest for a while before they could advance to next battlefield.

With a sigh of relief, Konohamaru took a lot of breath in and out and smiled, laying down on the floor. "Finally…"

"You all can rest here," said Sasuke.

Konohamaru titled his head to find Sasuke staring at the place very far away. "Sasuke? Where are you going?"

"Sakura… She's in danger." Sasuke muttered, before she took off on way to the next battlefield where he sensed from.

"WAIT!" Konohamaru yelled, but his words remained unheard by Sasuke.

Flashback Ended

Konohamaru closed his eyes and smiled. "Whatever." Although he was scared when he felt a bit of dark aura from Sasuke, he was grateful, for that he did not die yet. He was not ready to die. Not yet. Not until he become the Hokage first.

"Just you wait, Naruto!" Konohamaru opened his eyes and looked up at the sky, grinning and raising his fist, almost as if the victory was already ensured for him. "I am going to become the Hokage first before you!"

Hokage District (Wasteland)- Sasuke vs Paradox

Paradox continued to laugh, while he earned all stares from his enemies. Across from him, Sasuke still stood and remain silent for a while.

"Kill or be killed?" Kuririn questioned Paradox, still laying on the floor, but he had enough strength to speak up. "Is that what you said?"

"That's right!" Paradox exclaimed proudly. "Did you know…" He threw his head back and laughed towards the sky, spreading his arms out again. "…there's war EVERYWHERE! No matter where you go, there's always a war."

"War?" asked Gohan.

Paradox smirked at the hybrid Saiyan. "Yep! Three things in life we can't avoid. Death, taxes, and…" He pointed his finger at the avenger. "…War!"

He fired a beam from his finger towards Sasuke, who merely placed his palm forward and blocked the beam out. He knew that if Sasuke dodged, then Sakura would have taken a hit and she may have died, considering the shape she was in right now.

Sasuke delivered a threatening glare at Paradox if he dared to try to harm any of them, but the time warrior was not scared.

"Let me ask you this…" Paradox chuckled, looking at each person on the battlefield. "For whom do you fight for?"

For whom do they fight for? Sasuke was at loss of words at the moment. All he had done in his life was to seek revenge, but for whom did he truly fight for? Konoha? Earth? Element? Or himself?

Up until now, he always fought for him to seek the revenge against his brother himself. Since he found out that his brother died just a moment ago, he had nothing but full of regrets right now. Someone took his life before he did it himself. While he was sort of grateful that his brother died, he was agitated at the same time. Who possibly could take his ambitious away? It was supposed to be him who killed his brother first!

Paradox's question hit him very hard. Never once that he considered for whom he fought for. Now that his brother died, the question remains that whose he was fighting for? Right now, it's Element, but what came after?

"What kind of question is that?!" Sakura yelled at Paradox behind Sasuke. "In case if you haven't noticed, we're all fighting to save the Element from the likes of you and Coola! You're so pathetic!"

"Pathetic?" scoffed Paradox.

"Agreed." Hinata stated. "If not the Element, then why do we fight you?"

"We may be Earthling—or a hybrid Saiyan, in my case—we are still fighting to stop Coola from terrorizing any more planets!" Gohan chimed in, as he stood up. "They are not yours or his, nor Freeza! That belongs to natives! I ask you to stop attacking the Element!"

After fighting off his injuries so hard, Kuririn successfully managed to get up and agreed with Gohan as well. "That's right! I believe all Elementians have the similar goal: to eliminate Coola and his men. They will do anything to protect their planets. Same reason why species on every planet you fought had similar resolve: to protect their home world!"

"That's ridiculous." Paradox shook his head. "And do you believe in a peace? The world without a war?"

"The world without a war?" asked Sasuke. Like Paradox said earlier, it was very impossible to avoid the war in a life. There would always be a war and that was the reason why the Element already had three wars recorded in their history. The peace could not be forged no matter how hard you tried to make it happen.

Paradox raised his fist. "Although they all may be different on their each own, it was their ideal in order to create a world where there was a peace. Even though they knew it was no doubt impossible. They tried to overcome the impossible and in turn, it backfired on them! That moment they realized none can overcome the impossible! After all, they are the impossible!

"The ideal for the peace is forged on falsehoods. The universe is built on deceit, and its faith is an instrument of deception. It is nothing but a cobweb of lies—to believe in a peace is to believe in nothing.

"Tax, Death, and War. Three things we cannot avoid in life. If you try to dodge the tax, you will be imprisoned depends on the political laws of the world. Without a money, you cannot survive. You pay taxes in order to survive a world that is full of deceit.

"Death is inevitable. You're born to life and death, and even if you avoid all types of deaths, only old age is a guaranteed. Only deaths await you forever and forever.

"Lastly, a war will exist forever on and on, even if it is for a trivial reason. Any reasons, even far less than stealing babies' candy, can cause the war, and so hence the universe was so rotten. Whatever reasons they don't like, it shall bring the war. Therefore, it shall bring unnecessary violence and so many deaths!"

Sasuke scowled. "What are you ranting about?" Why did Paradox bring up about the peace all of the sudden?

"My point is, the ideal about the peace are nothing but a full of hope!" Paradox yelled, as he waved his fist. "You guys are no different from those members of Planet Trade Organization—Freeza, Coola, Ginyu Force, and everyone! You do the same thing we do! We killed so many people without even realizing it! We gave a birth to people, where deaths only await them! Like I said, death is inevitable. Breeding more people will only bring more wars, and wars will never end! Hence there was no peace to the end!

"We murdered people, whether it was our intention or not! Let that sink in. Accept but this, and you will see why your ideal for the peace is bleeding dry. Nor is this unknown to you people, which prompts the question—why do they cling to these false ideal for the peace? Why do you think the Planet Trade Organization was created?"

Kuririn whispered to Gohan. "Geez, he talks too much." Gohan nodded in agreement with him.

Shikamaru was stunned to hear too much words out of Paradox, but he shook it off and he took a quick glance over his shoulder at the unconscious Ino. 'Never mind that…At this rate, he won't go anywhere, for as long as he is still talking.'

He scanned around the area to figure out how to snatch the Senzu Bean. 'This is going nowhere!' It was right there by Paradox's feet. He feared that if he sneaked there, he might be caught.

On other hand, everyone, even Sakura, remained silent and found no answers to his question.

"The answer?" Paradox continued. "The answer has not been discovered, but they often cling to the idea of peace when things did not go their way! Instead of bringing the peace to the universe, we will do the exact opposite! For the universe of man to mean anything, man must own the universe. In ancient, Planet Trade Organization was formed, and it has been passed on the family generation, from King Chilled to King Cold, to soon Lord Coola.

"To this end, he had fought ever to raise himself through conflict, to grow rich through conquest. And when the dust of battle settles, it is ever the strong who dictate the fate of the weak." Paradox powered up his aura, building his Ki up to prepare for the decisive battle against Sasuke. "Knowing this, but a single path is open to the impotent ruler—that of false worship. A path which leads to fatigue and death. Only a man of power can rightly steer the course of civilization. And in this universe of creeping deception, that one truth will prove its redemption."

Paradox pulled his fists down to his fist and squatted down. He continued to power up his Ki. "Come, the sole survivor of Uchiha, face me! Your defeat shall serve as proof that I am superior to Guure! That is further proof that I alone should serve under Coola's wing!"

"That reason alone should be good enough to demonstrate you why you cannot stop me because—" Paradox screamed, his aura promptly exploded, as the wind bellowed over rests of fighters. Fortunately, Sasuke stopped the wind to prevent his comrades from getting blown away by using a Ki shield.

The ground increased the intense of earthquake the longer he was powering up, as the rock levitated around him, and around rest of ninjas and fighters. The thick dust was swept off the dirt towards Sasuke and others, which was big enough for them to shield their eyes. Not only that they had to protect their eyes from, but it was also a light that glowed from Paradox's aura, which reflected too bright for their eyes.

The earthquake was so big enough that it caused Hinata, Shikamaru, and Shino, even including a bruised and battered Sakura, stumbled to the ground.

"What kind of power is this?!" Hinata demanded, very much baffled that a single person could possess such a power enough to cause the earthquake here. If he was that powerful, then someone with the unimaginable power could do a lot worse, such as Coola, for whom they were going to stop!

Despite having a significant damage, Gohan and Kuririn had enough Ki to hold their grounds and stood firmly. However, they were as baffled as Hinata was right now.

"Don't tell me he's going for a full-power!" Kuririn pointed out. "It's already enough that we have to deal with him, but having him go full power is too much, even for Sasuke!"

"But think about it. Coola is the final boss." Gohan reminded Kuririn. "If we're facing someone like him, think about how much battle power does Coola have right now!"

Kuririn quickly paled too blue, after realizing that Gohan was right. "Y-You're r-r-right! Just thinking about it shuddered me enough!"

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Paradox emitted several lightning around his aura that continued to spike up, and the rocks levitated all over the place, as well as the ground continued to shake enough to severely injured Sakura to fall. "HAHA! You will see when I'm at a full power! It should show you why a scrub like you cannot handle a big man like me!"

Clouds were gathering towards the battlefield above them that was left over by Zahoor's novel, and there was a column of lightnings between clouds and Paradox. Every time the lightning strike down at Paradox, veins slowly spread out across his body, including his head. Apparently, his muscle became bigger and bigger the more he powered up.

"I always have surpassed my power for so long that no one ever had seen my most muscles body form, barring Coola, of course!" Paradox stated proudly, as he continued to power up. "I can assure you that it's going to be brutal for you, you scrub!"

"What?!" Sakura cried in shock. "Don't tell me we've been fighting him at his suppressed power the whole time, Outer?!"

"I told you we were fighting him at that level the whole time. But…' Outer Sakura answered, frowning. "I had no idea that the difference between our powers are too far apart. I always had believed that the difference between his suppressed power level and his full power weren't that far apart. I am still far too weak."

"So. it was a miscalculation on your part?"

"Yeah. Paradox said that his power level is about on the same level as Guure. But it was all lies. He already has surpassed Guure at that level, and it still keeps going up!"

"No wonder. That's why you miscalculate." Sakura sent her final thought to end the conversation, and then she sent her glares towards Paradox, who apparently lied to everyone about his full power. If Paradox was truly strongest than Guure, then she now started to doubt Sasuke's ability now. She did not think that Sasuke could be a match for the enemy.

But judged by Sasuke's facial expression, he never flinched, not even once. It was almost as if he had confidence in himself that he would beat Paradox. Despite Paradox showing his full power, why wasn't he being scared?

'Overconfidence?' Sakura recalled back to their time on the Namek. When Sasuke received the power boost by Grand Elder Guru, he was filled with the overconfidence and assumed that he'd defeat Vegeta with ease, only to be backfired. It looked like Sasuke would do it again.

Maybe Naruto would not be able to stop Paradox, either. That could mean no one on this planet can defeat Coola at all! Even one of Coola's henchmen were too far from being weak and had unreal level of battle power.

"I can't wait to see the terror on your face when you witness my full power!" said Paradox with a high level of excitement. "This is your last chance to say your prayers!"

An extraordinary power suddenly engulfed him into a growing height of the aura, and the dust came off from the floor and blew all over the place. More rocks, stones, and debris levitated almost as if it were raining up.

One thing Shikamaru noticed was the bag of senzu bean also floating up. 'Senzu bean! I have to grab it soon!' He could not let Ino to die right now and soon.

"How much is it going to rise?!" cried Kuririn.

"Sasuke!" Gohan yelled, showing his concern for Sasuke, who remained unfazed.

'What?!' Hinata was amazed by the amount of Guure's power level. 'To think we were dealing with him whom has suppressed powers! How are we going to deal with him now?'

"AND… BOOM!" Paradox screamed, as he just finished powering up, kicking up the dust. Now this was Paradox, who was at his full power, receiving various of reactions from his opponents. Although they cannot see him because of dust, but they could sense his powers, even if some of them don't have an ability to sense Ki.

Hinata widened her eyes when he found out what his full power was. 'Is this at his full power?'

Kuririn was shaking so hard that he wanted to go home right now. 'Man, I didn't plan to come all the way here, only to possibly get killed here!'

Gohan was also shaking, but not as much as Kuririn. 'I-It can't be! His power level is too much even for Ginyu Force!'

Shikamaru could not sense Ki, but she could feel so much overwhelmed by Paradox for some reason. 'I don't think I can field a strategy to stop him! I leave the rest to you, Sasuke.'

While remain calm on the outside, but inside, Shino was as scared as everyone else. 'We're no longer a match for him. But only you, Sasuke!'

'No wonder why we can't beat him! He's too much for us! Maybe even for Sasuke!' Sakura thought.

"And then…" Paradox's voice said. "…BANG!"

'WATCH OUT, INNER!' Outer Sakura screamed.

Before Sakura could react, there was a beam that flew past Sasuke, who was caught surprised that it was not aiming at him and pierced through Sakura's chest.

"SAKUUUURA!" cried Kuririn and Gohan in unison.

Sakura was in a massive shock after getting a shot like that. Her pupils violently shook, and a massive amount of bloods spewed out of her mouth. She never realized what hit her before she collapsed on the floor and passed out.

"WHAT?!" Hinata stared at Sakura in shock. 'I never saw that coming. Before I even blinked eyes, she's already wounded up and passed out. It's too fast!' But still, the more she stared at Sakura, the more she remembered how much time she spent with her. Usually bickering together and fighting together. That scenario reminded her of how Danzo killed her sister. She could not let someone to die in front of her. Not again. Not after Kiba.

"Sakura!" Kuririn immediately ran to Sakura's side and checked on her to see if she was still alive. He had to check her pulse to confirm whether she's alive or not. Once he heard the heartbeat, he was relieved that she was still alive. But since she was bleeding out, she was going to die eventually, anyways. "She's still alive!" He announced to everyone else, who was relieved to hear that.

"Good riddance! I guess I missed her vitals." Paradox's voice said, as the dust cleared, clearly visible on his appearance again, as he showed no remorse about that girl. "However, it's only a matter of time before she bleeds to death. At least, I got rid of that troublesome girl."

"DAMN YOU!" Gohan growled, preparing his charge, only to be met with the Sharingan glare by Sasuke. He froze in fear. "Sasuke?"

"That's enough, Gohan." Sasuke ordered. "I will handle him on my own."

"B-But…"

Before Gohan could said something, Sasuke interrupted him and yelled, "Shut up and stay out of my way!"

Gohan was taken aback by the outburst. "Sasuke?!" When he stole a glance at Sasuke's face, he never had seen that expression before.

Sasuke was so furious.

That kind of expression that Gohan never had seen before, except one time where Sasuke had that look while in his curse mode. But this time, he did not have a curse mode, and he had that look right now. Sasuke looked like he wanted to murder Paradox right now.

"Kuririn…" Sasuke called out to Kuririn, who turned his attention to him. "Feed her the Senzu Bean. Now."

Kuririn stared at him for a second. He also had never seen him this furious before. Was it because Sakura was dying? He never knew that Sasuke cared about her. "Right!" He remembered it was Hinata who had the bag of Senzu Bean tied to her waist, so he called out to her. "Hinata! Give me the bag!"

But there was no responsive.

Hinata was trapped in her own thought, while staring at the dying Sakura in shock. 'Sakura… Is this the end?' Right before her own eyes, Sakura was dying in front of her and there was nothing she could do about it! She had no ability to heal her! Of all people, it had to be Sakura that receives the end of it! Why did it have to be that girl? Why not her?

'I'm nothing for good useless. I just barely learned the Ki, and not even I can hope to protect my people! I can't protect my sister! I can't protect my Dad! I can't protect Kiba! And I can't protect Sakura, either!' Hinata's nails dug itself into her palm and clenched her fists, as she was shaken. 'Is it true to what Neji said to me before? That I'm fated to be pathetic weakling, a loser? I'm not strong enough to protect people. They died because of me. It's always happening!'

"Earth to Hinata!" screamed the voice.

"Whaaat?" Hinata was snapped out of her thought and searched for the source of the voice, only to find it was Kuririn who was right next to the dying Sakura.

"Give me the bag!" Kuririn yelled, and then repeated immediately once Hinata failed to understand him. "The Senzu Bean! You had it with you, remember?"

"I lost it." Hinata frowned. "I lost it when Paradox knocked me off a while ago. I'm sorry."

"What?" Kuririn scanned the area for the bag of Senzu Bean. He realized he did not have enough time, because the time was ticking for Sakura. He did not know how long before Sakura would bleed out. This was not good. "Where is it?"

Now to more matter, Sasuke and Paradox had a long stare down with each other, while Paradox was grinning, almost as if he was celebrating something, and Sasuke scowled, glaring right at him with the Sharingan eyes.

'I did not anticipate this! I know I should have seen it coming. Is my Sharingan good enough to read his moves, or I just did not expect this? If I anticipated that, that wouldn't have gone to Sakura. I'd deflect it away.' Sasuke thought, as he clenched his fists, trying to keep his emotions in check. 'Damn it! I will never hear the end of it if Sakura dies. Naruto is going to scold me for letting that to happen.'

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did to your little girlfriend. She deserves every bit of pain until she was gone." Paradox bent his knees farther down until he crouched down to the floor, as if he was waiting for the gunshot to begin the race. "You should be lucky to witness my full power. It can only mean the hell for you! This full power is no original that you would often face to fight and live for another day. In fact, you're the person ever to witness my full power apart from Coola and Guure! THE HELL HAS BEGUN!"

As soon as he finished his sentence, he suddenly vanished in just a blink of an eye!

"WHAT?!" Kuririn and Gohan screamed in unison. One second, he was crouching down, and then next, he was already gone! It was incomparable to the speed of Guure! They had no idea how fast Guure was.

Hinata was unable to detect his speed, due to low power level, but she was astonished to witness the high level of speed. She never thought there would be high level of speed to surpass. 'So that's the power of Ki?' Not even the fastest Elementian on this planet could match their speed. Except trios of Team 7, of course.

However, Sasuke, on other hand, was completely calm and collected. He did not have the similar reaction as Kuririn, Gohan, and Hinata did. He was completely confident in his own skills. He reassured himself that he could defeat Paradox without any trouble at all. He sidestepped a little bit, just in time for Paradox to reappear and narrowly missed his face with the thrusting fist.

It felt like a slow-mo to both combatants, Sasuke sent his glance to the corner of his eyes at Paradox, and Paradox just grinned wildly back at him in that very moment. The very next moment, they vanished altogether.

"They disappeared again!" cried Gohan.

"What a speed!" said Kuririn.

Hinata gulped. 'They're way out of our league!'

Gohan and Kuririn scoured the area of their whereabouts hard, but no matter how hard they tried to detect their high-speed movement with their Ki sense ability, it was too much for them. They were TOO FAST! They never expected that Sasuke was able to even with Paradox in term of speed.

While Gohan, Kuririn and rests of spectators were unable to read their high-speed movement, only Paradox and Sasuke could read each other's speed.

During the high-speed movement where no one can see their battle, right now, Paradox was throwing barrages of punches and kicks at Sasuke, who casually dodged every single of them.

"IMPRESSIVE!" Paradox laughed, continued to attack him with the barrages. "I thought you were the same weakling when I kicked your ass last time! What made your stronger?"

Sasuke gave no response, as he continued to dodge all attacks. He did not feel the need to answer the question.

Paradox scoffed, when Sasuke ignored his question. "Fine. Don't answer me, then! Only one thing you need to know is that…" He raised his double-ax handle. "I AM STRONGER THAN YOU! You CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" He concreated huge amount of Ki into his arms, before swinging them down towards Sasuke.

Sasuke brought his arms up in attempt to block them, but in turn, it was too much for him, as the strength was more than enough to knock him down to the ground. He stopped his knockback as he flipped around to land on the ground. Because he stopped his high-speed movement for a moment, spectators were able to see him even for a moment.

"There he is!" announced Kuririn. But unfortunately, it only lasted only a moment, as Sasuke disappeared once again, just right before Paradox revealed himself stomping the ground where Sasuke previously was at.

"Did you know—" Paradox's sentence was trailed off when he disappeared again, much to the spectators' astonishment.

"Annnnd… they're gone!" Kuririn was too speechless to say anything more. Others along with him were, too, shocked.

Paradox continued his sentence where he left off, as he was chasing Sasuke, who was dashing backward. "...that you can't win by just fighting solely on defense itself! You GOTTA fight back eventually!"

He tried to land a punch on Sasuke, but he flew up further into the sky.

"You're not running away from me!" His movement stopped again, so that means he became visible to these spectators. "Punching and kicking are not all I do, ya know! I use Ki blasts, too!" He puts his palms forward together towards Sasuke. "You won't be able to dodge them. They're faster than my punches and kicks, after all!"

He started firing blasts one after one, much like a machine gun, at his opponent, but Sasuke moved around constantly to dodge every single of Ki blasts. His rapid Ki blasts would spread out explosions across the horizon on the sky, thus creating widespread.

"HAHA!" Paradox laughed manically. "HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?! I don't think there will be any body left when I am done with you! I will keep firing them until your body and even your soul is wiped out! You're just the same weakling that I encountered a month ago!"

"Is Sasuke going to be okay?" Hinata asked, very concern about Sasuke's well-being. But she noticed that Kuririn and Gohan were not concerned about that at all. She wondered why they were not concern. Before the fight started, they were concerned about Sasuke, like they were not sure he would beat him.

"He won't die that easily from the likes of that attack. It takes more than just that attack to finish him off," said Kuririn.

"Right." Gohan agreed. "He won't die that easily! I know him. He won't!"

"Besides…" Kuririn turned around to Hinata and smiled. "Paradox isn't winning this one."

Hinata widened her eyes in shock. "W-w-what? What… do… you mean?"

"You will see." Kuririn smiled, as he turned his attention back to the fight.

For some reason, Hinata could tell that Kuririn sounds so confidence in Sasuke. In that instant, she believed them and Sasuke that he would be able to beat Paradox.

"DIEEEE!" Paradox screamed, launching a powerful dark blue wave towards the massive widespread, adding huge explosion into multiple explosions before it turned into a massive dome of explosion.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Kuririn, Gohan, and Hinata blocked their eyes with their eyes because of huge explosions that emitted a large amount of light. After the explosion, the massive dust kicked up.

"HAHAHAHAHA! What do you think of my attack?!" Paradox laughed, raising his fists up in a victory. "Oh, wait. You can't hear me anymore because you already are dead!"

He laughed even louder. "Oh, shit. I sound insane, right now. But at least I'm not like that frog bastard where I am weakened by my own emotions!" He rubbed the bottom of his nose, chuckling to his own amusement. "Now on to more matter-"

"I'm still alive…" The voice startled Paradox. His eyes widened, as the voice added on. "…behind you."

Paradox glanced around, only to meet his eyes with the Sharingan eyes. That terrorized him enough for him to immediately back off. His body was already shaken and filled with a full of fears. He had not felt the fear in such a long time until now.

These eyes… Why was he scared of these eyes now? He was never scared of Fye's Sharingan eyes. He always viewed Fye as a very weak individual, who could not lay even a scratch on any of Coola's top henchmen.

So… why now?

"What's the matter…" Sasuke asked him with a slight smirk. "…scaredy-cat?"

"Incredible!" That was all Kuririn could say, while Gohan nodded in agreement with him.

Hinata was so baffled to witness this scenario. She never expected that Paradox would finally have a tough time fighting Sasuke. Was Sasuke dodging every one of his attacks, and there was not a single scratch on him?

She looked at Kuririn and Gohan, who already smiled, but at the same time they were shocked. 'I can see why you have high confidence in him, because you already took time to gauge their power level out separately. When the battle was already displayed, that moment when you knew the favor would turn the tide. Sasuke clearly has outclassed over Paradox. Their power level must be far apart from each other.'

Hinata suddenly realized that she was distracted from the current fight along with Kuririn and Gohan where they all completely forgot about the important task. Sakura was still dying. If she was not being fed a Senzu Bean, then it would not be long before she's gone soon. She began her searching, but it did not take long enough, as she found Shikamaru, who currently tried to feed Senzu Bean to Ino, who was still unconscious.

'Right. Yamanaka Ino.' She almost forgot that Ino was also dying. But when she took a glance at the bag, she just realized that it was empty. 'Oh, no!'

She panicked, because she realized that the Senzu Bean that Shikamaru was going to feed Ino would be the last one. That would mean if one gets feed, other one will have to die. She did not want to let either Sakura or Ino to die. But she just realized that the choice would have been difficult. She could only hope that Shikamaru made a right choice. But Shino was standing next to him, probably giving him some logical advice. Shino seemed to make Shikamaru think twice before he made his action. Shikamaru fought himself whether if he should feed Senzu Bean to Ino or not.

Paradox was already trembling now. "How are you dodging all of my attacks?!"

"I told you." Sasuke puts his hands in his pocket. "You already had lost from the moment I arrived here. After all, I'm stronger than you."

"BULLSHIT!" Paradox screamed angrily. "There's no way you're stronger than me! I kicked your ass a month ago! Even if you had trained for a month, NO WAY you're STRONGER than ME! This doesn't make any sense!"

"Hn… Maybe you're not as strong as you thought you would be." Sasuke mocked him with the smirk. "I didn't say I didn't warn you before we started our fight."

"Say that again, you little twerp!" scowled Paradox. He struggled to grasp the fact that the same guy he had beaten now surpassed him in power level. There was no way to explain how it was possible. No one could had gotten that much stronger in just a month!

Check-In Station- Television Room- With Minato, Kushina and Rin

The television screen now displayed the angry face of Paradox. It would switch to Sasuke's calm stoic face, giving his long Sharingan stares into his opponent's panicking eyes. The camera panned to Sakura's dying body where she suffered the shot to her chest. It then panned up to Kuririn, who was too distracted from his own thanks to Sasuke's newfound level of power.

"Would you look at that?" Minato smiled. "Apparently, that ego was Paradox's downfall. When his ego got in his way, he failed to notice what's reality was going to happen, and he paid the price for that. More or less, he's in denial that he's no longer the strongest warrior on the battlefield."

Kushina observed Sasuke's appearances when the television switched back to him. "He has gotten a lot stronger than last time we met him here."

Minato nodded. "He was obsessive with the revenge before, wasn't he?" A year ago or so, when Sasuke was killed by Freeza in his second form back on Namek, he came here on the request of Minato. When they talked a bit, he believed that his words may changed Sasuke for the better, or at least he hoped so.

The experience of hardship through the hard-fought battles, Sasuke must have trained hard in order to surpass his own level. That was how Sasuke had gotten himself this far. He would be lying if he was not proud of him. Sasuke truly had changed. But only the question remains was whether Sasuke would develop his personality for better or for worse. That was his only concern as of right now.

"I'm worried about Sakura, though…" Rin spoke up, drawing their attention to her. As the television switched to Sakura's dying body once again, she placed her hands on her chest with a worry. "I don't want her to die now. I want her to hang longer and be able to contribute at least to her allies whatever she can within her power. I think that's the only way they can win against Coola."

"Rin…" Kushina spoke softly, staring at Rin's contemplating look. Apparently, it was not only that Minato and Kushina constantly looked over them his whole life, but Rin must have looked over Naruto constantly. Her lips turned into a smile. "Yeah. She will live. I know she will."

"Huh?" Rin looked in shock at Kushina's sudden cheerful.

"Yeah!" Kushina grinned, raising her arm and flexing her arm. "Like Naruto, she's not kind of person who can easily die just from that shot. She will live on until Senzu Bean feeds to her! Because she's strong!"

Rin widened her eyes at Kushina's last sentence. 'Because she's strong!' Then she hung her head down, as her hair shadowed over her eyes, but with a smile. 'That's right. I should not cast my faith in them away even for a second.'

Her eyes came back with the determination, returning her attention to the television screen, in which it switched back to Sasuke and Paradox facing off each other. She knew they could not hear her, but all she could do at best was to root them from the other world. Minato and Kushina did the same thing.

Hokage Distrct (Wasteland), Land of Fire, Konohagakure, Planet Element- Sasuke vs Paradox

'I don't understand!' Paradox kept his scowling face, as he shot a glare towards Sasuke. 'No matter how many possibilities I think of, there's no way he could have gotten stronger than me in just a month! It's IMPOSSIBLE! Usually, it takes years and years to surpass my level.' Suddenly, he just realized what he thought just now. 'Wait…'

There was only one possibility that he could have even reached that power level. Usually, it was one possibility that no one thought of in the first place, because to them, it was just a myth and should not even a possibility at all.

'Time Traveler!' That kid could be a time travel, but that did not explain his age, though. He looked the same as he was before when they first faced each other. But that was alternative method of getting stronger even in exact time. For example, he could use a time travel to go to the past, and then trained for many years, especially on the planet with very strong gravity. With the strong gravity, his power could increase drastically.

Paradox had done it before. After all, he could use a time travel within his power.

'It should not take a month, though.' Paradox thought. Thanks to the fact that Sasuke did not age at all did not solve his theory at all. No Elementian could remain youth for so long. There must be another way for Sasuke to get stronger by just training for one month because that kid was no time traveler.

There was so many theories that he tried to come up, but none of them could work in a matter of month. All of them usually took years and years to reach that power level.

"DAMN YOU, SASUKE!" Paradox stomped his feet on the ground, cursing loudly at him. He hated thinking too much. Guure probably would have came up with a better theory.

"Trying to figure out how I am stronger than you, Paradox?" taunted Sasuke.

Paradox scowled. "Why, you! I will kill you for that!"

He finally accepted the fact that Sasuke was now stronger than him. However, unfortunately for Sasuke, Paradox already came up with his final retort strategy. He did not want to use that technique, but if it required him to do so, he would have to do it. It would use up almost all of his power in order to use a technique. 'Using technique like this one will take a year to recharge all of my powers, though.' His lips curled into an apologetic smirk. 'I'm going to be weaker than these pathetic Elementian after this technique. I am going to use it on all of these weaklings!'

All of the sudden, Sasuke, Kuririn, Gohan, and partially Hinata, including Paradox, sensed several powerful Ki somewhere. They looked up at the sky and assumed that several powerful Ki must have come from the outer space.

"W-w-what are these Ki?!" asked a nervous Kuririn. His body was so shaken already. "I thought it was going to end with just these two. But there's more of them?!"

"Three Ki coming this way. Are they Coola's men, too?" Gohan wondered. "In fact, all of them are stronger than Paradox and Guure!"

'They're calling reinforcements?!' thought Hinata. 'Even someone strong as Coola had to retort to call reinforcements here?!' She wondered if that means even Coola had some doubts beforehand.

"DAMN IT!" Paradox cursed out aloud, as far as he added more crater to the ground with another stomp. "They finally have arrived, haven't they?"

Sasuke looked down at him and scowled. "There's more of them, after all."

"As much as I don't like them coming here, but there's something you should know about them." Paradox smirked, raising his open palm upward. "They're Coola's most trusted squadrons. Comparison to me and Guure, three of them are in top tier of Coola's soldiers. Their power levels are either slightly weaker or slightly stronger than Ginyu Force. But their teamwork is on whole different level compared to the same Ginyu Force you encountered back on Namek! Instead…" He clenched his fist. "…they are not fan of one-on-one type of battle! They much rather ganging up someone to death! However…"

Paradox pointed his thumb at himself. "I am not going to let this happen!" Then he opened his mouth with a big outburst. "BECAUSE I AM GOING TO KILL YOU ALL BEFORE THEY EVEN CHANCE TO!"

"Hn…" Sasuke sighed. Despite all after this, Paradox still thought he could finish them off? Talking about idiots.

Paradox pointed his index finger at Paradox. "I would love to prolong this fight FOREVER. But we both know we should settle our fight for once and all right here. Because if I don't beat you, they're going to kill me and they're going to kill you. If you beat me, you know they would curb stomp you without sweating at all! Their power levels are way beyond than you imagine! What do you say?"

"Hn…"

"You sound like the someone I know!" Paradox pulled his fists down to his waists. "He always goes 'hn…' all the time! It's compliment, by the way!"

"I don't need to touch you to defeat you," stated Sasuke.

Annoyed, the second his eyes widened, his pupils suddenly glowed red for a second. The time had gone into a slow mode right now. 'No one in the world can stop my Time Alteration Attack! Not even you, Sasuke! So, I will start with you! Then these guys next! Y'all won't know what hits you!'

He charged towards the unsuspecting Sasuke, while generating an energy blade out of his fingernails. 'I don't care if I convert 80% of my current Ki into this technique. I'd do whatever it takes me to beat this bastard! There's no reason why he is stronger than me by just training for a month!'

Just a second before he swung his blade around at Sasuke's neck, he just saw the Sharingan eyes casting downward at him for an instant moment. He was flinched a bit, but he ignored it and went through with his attack.

Next thing he knew, his head was separated from his shoulder, as it flew away. 'WHAT?!' He moved his pupils upward and widened his eyes in shock. His technique did not affect Sasuke even a bit. 'He must have used his Sharingan eyes to counter my technique! That must be it!'

As soon as his severed head landed on the ground, his head suddenly floated up and made its way onto his standing body and reconnected into his body. He stopped flinching. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes casted upward. He drew his blade away from the neck and ran backwards, and then sudden stop at the original spot where he ran from before. His temporarily red pupils stopped glowing and reverted colors to normal.

"Hn…"

"You sound like the someone I know!" Paradox pulled his fists down to his waists. "He always goes 'hn…' all the time! It's compliment, by the way!"

"I don't need to touch you to defeat you," stated Sasuke. His Sharingan commas spun around in his eyes several times before it came to full stop.

"I heard that before…" Paradox chuckled, very annoyed. "…you brat!"

"Wait a minute." Sasuke clearly remembered he beheaded Paradox with his quick Ki blast. Was it an illusion, or it did happen before? If it was the latter, then how would that explain Paradox being alive and had his head reconnected, despite after being beheaded? "You were dead." He made a statement to his opponent, looking bewildered.

"I fee like I have seen this before." Kuririn muttered. "Am I having a déjà vu moment or…?"

"You're not the only one." Gohan pointed out. "I think rests of us are affect as well. I'm sure Sasuke killed him just seconds ago!"

"It must be Paradox's doing!" Hinata declared. "He always has something trick up his sleeves. And besides, he was not called Paradox for nothing!"

Kuririn looked around at her, very confused. "Huh? What do you mean he's not called Paradox for nothing?"

"Paradox is a time traveler." Hinata, Kuririn, Sasuke and Kuririn turned their attention to Gohan who spoke up. "A paradox is a time that contradicts itself and caused a casual loop that occurs when a future event is the cause of a past event, which in turn is the cause of the future event. Both events exist in spacetime, but their origin cannot be determined."

Kuririn frowned, not getting what Gohan was saying.

"In other words, you cannot fix the past what you changed." Gohan added. "Once the past is changed, they're stuck what lies the future, even if you attempt to fix the past back to the origin, it is not possible. But it was stated to be pure fictional and it was not true."

"Wow!" Kuririn exclaimed. He was impressed by Gohan's knowledge. He was so baffled that Gohan was able to explain everything about the time paradox without hesitation. "How do you know about that?"

Gohan looked down with the blush on his cheeks in embarrassment, but at the same time he felt good about getting the compliment. "Uh, I studied it on the book that Mom assigned me to."

"I gotta give your Mom a credit more than I would have, considering your knowledge is a huge asset to us." Kuririn smiled, praising Gohan, much to his chagrin.

"Uh, thanks." Gohan never thought he would receive so much praise from everyone else. Maybe he should keep studying like Mom always wanted him to.

"Gohan…" Hinata spoke to get their attention. "I understand that you're from Earth and over there, the time travel must not have existed there. But understand this, time travel does exist, and it is, in fact, a reality."

"What?!" shocked Gohan and Kuririn.

Hinata looked up at the sky, as she began to explain. "Long times ago, when Naruto disappeared, I was heartbroken for many months, of course. I thought I may never see him again, and he may be gone for good. I keep telling myself I would do anything to back and get him back. Then I remembered I studied the time travel and paradoxes in the Ninja Academy, but they also claimed that it was a pure fictional, like your home back there. Only the difference is that your Earth probably did not know it existed, but here on this planet, most shinobi were aware of its existence after learning about a man once travel back in the time. That man who used the time travel once just to test his theory on it. However, he didn't do anything. He simply popped in and out.

"I sneaked in and came across the time scroll for myself. I even attempted to use it for myself to travel back in the time in order to prevent Naruto and his teammates to disappear during the Forest of Death. But…" She frowned. She came close to using the time travel at that time. She would have gone back to that time if it was not for… "But I was convinced to not use it. He… he told me if I used it, it would create the paradox, because it is possible that I could run into the other me. Not only that it would cause the problem, but for me and the other me… The Hokage would put one and one together and figure out that I used the time travel, eventually. I won't be only one that would get in a trouble, but the other me would get in a trouble for a crime she did not commit!"

Gohan and Kuririn widened their eyes.

"The Hokage can do something like that?!" asked Kuririn.

Hinata nodded. "Yes." Kakashi had done great job of convincing her to not use the time travel. She would cause the problem for others, including herself if she did. "Because that's the law. The law of Kami here. The Kami had forsaken the use of time travel."

"Whoa. Even you have the Kami here, too?" asked Kuririn. Hinata had no idea how to respond to this. She did not realize that Earth also had the Kami.

"Then what's the point of this time scroll, then?" Gohan asked Hinata.

"It is in case of emergency." Hinata answered. "If there was a crisis on this planet like this, just in case, we could always use the time scroll to go back. That is, only if we're absolute that we could make a strategy to stop them this time around."

"Bravo! Bravo!" Paradox clapped his hands and applauded. Gohan, Hinata, and Kuririn turned their head to Paradox, whose had the look of cocky arrogant with the smug smirk. "You're very smart! Every single word you uttered are all correct! Yes, my name is Paradox. But in case you wonder what my real name is, I had discarded my real name long since my parents abandoned me for no reason. The name 'Paradox' was given to me because I am able to create the time."

"You're a time traveler." Sasuke stated obviously, which made Paradox a grin. "Even if you are a time traveler, then why is that we are able to remember what just occurred a moment ago?"

"Heh…" Paradox snickered, as he rubbed the bottom of his nose. "That's because I'm not exactly a time traveler. I don't just take myself to travel back in the time, but I take the universe with me!"

"WHAT?!" cried Gohan, Kuririn, and Hinata. How was it that possible that someone was capable of taking the whole universe to travel back in the time with him? That was completely unheard of!

"Why do you think déjà vu exists?" Paradox smirked. At least he put a shock to every person on the battlefield, excluding people who were not pay attention to what he was saying (Shikamaru and Shino). They deserved to know his formidable technique, at least before they would die. "Only Mistians, the races of my planet, are able to use this technique when they died. When they died, instead of using the Ki like the rest of you do, we would use up the energy crystal that we stored in our bodies and go back in the time!"

Kuririn paled. 'When he dies, he can go back in the time.' He wondered if that means Paradox could go back in the time as many as he died?!

Paradox smirked again, as seeing that he already instilled some fears into Kuririn, along with Gohan and Hinata. Sasuke was only one that was not affected. He gave Sasuke a bit of his glares eyes by letting him know that he annoyed him to very extent. He decided to tease them a bit more.

"Fortunately, for you, if I used up the energy crystal, I can only use it once until I refilled it for several days. It is like a battery where you have to use up and can refill it." Paradox explained, much to everyone's relief. 'Here it comes. Just look at them feeling very relieve like idiots!'

"And unfortunately, once I used it up, energy crystal refilled all of my Ki to 100% again!" Paradox smiled with a lot of pride on his face and was delighted when Gohan, Kuririn, and Hinata freaked out. He knew what they were thinking, such as 'maybe he cannot be beaten.' "That's why I'm invincible!"

"Shut up!" snarled the voice.

"What?" Paradox turned his head to the source of the voice: Sasuke. He just realized that his words must have gotten to that brat, at last! His lips curled into a smirk. "What's the matter? Are you a scaredy-cat now?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, remembering that he used the same word against Paradox earlier. "Not at all. What you've just done did not change the fact that I don't need to touch you to defeat you."

Paradox snarled, "SHUT UP, YOU COCKY BRAT! Don't act like you never behead me with that little Ki blast of yours! That same trick won't work TWICE on me!" His eyes glowed red for a second again, and the world had gone into a slow mode once again. 'Damn that fool! Taking a mockery out of me already, will you?!'

He charged towards the unsuspecting Sasuke, but the moment he noticed the Sharingan eyes that moved downward. His frown turned into an evil grin. 'FOOL! You think I'm going to use that same move again!'

He disappeared out of thin air at high-speed and move around to get behind his opponent and generated the Ki blade out of his hand in attempt to behead Sasuke. And it succeeded! Sasuke's head flew off from his shoulders.

His face lit up with a glee. "I told you! The same trick won't work TWICE on me!" His pupils moved to the corner of his eyes at the slow-mode Kuririn, Gohan, and Hinata, as well as Shikamaru and Shino. "One down… five to go—" All of the sudden, his head was cut off.

'WHAAAAT?!' Paradox widened his eyes in shock. His pupils dilated too much. 'Why is my head being cut off?! Can't be!' Realization just dawned on his face, as he glanced up at the culprit, and it belonged to Sasuke. 'I-Impossible! How the hell is he still alive?!'

"The Elementians can replace themselves with the log or any items of their choice just before they are to be struck by an attack. They're called Kawarimi no Jutsu." Fayre explained a jutsu to Paradox in Coola's spaceship.

That was long times ago when Fayre explained most common jutsu on the Element. How could Paradox have forgot as trivial as this technique? He diverted his pupils down. Sure enough, there was a log that was split in half. But when did Sasuke have a time to perform this technique? He barely raised hands since he arrived!

'It's over…' Paradox thought. Or at least what he thought when his head landed on the ground. Then…

His head went up on its way to the body and reconnected between his shoulders. His pupils moved back to the center to look at Sasuke's beheaded head. His glee face reverted into an evil grin. He retracted his Ki blade and it disappeared. Then he also disappeared out of thin air and get around to get in front of his opponent. Sasuke's pupils moved upward. Paradox ran backwards. Now everything went right back to the time they started.

"What?" Paradox turned his head to the source of the voice: Sasuke. He just realized that his words must have gotten to that brat, at last! His lips curled into a smirk. "What's the matter? Are you a scaredy-cat now?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, remembering that he used the same word against Paradox earlier. "Not at all. What you've just done did not change the fact that I don't need to touch you to defeat you."

Paradox snarled, "SHUT UP, YOU COCKY BR—" The moment he realized what was going on, he looked down at his hands in confusion. 'What's going on? I thought I can only use the crystal once. Why am I reverting time back and why am I still alive?'

"What were you going to say?" Sasuke taunted him. "That I'm a cocky brat?"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Paradox screamed. 'At least I'm given another chance! This time I am going to kill him for once and all!'

His eyes glowed red again. Just like last time, the world went into a slow mode and he charged towards Sasuke. 'I will do it differently this time! You won't even anticipate my next attack this time around!'

He fired the blast at the ground below Sasuke, kicking up a dust. Then he leapt into the sky and smirked down at Sasuke, who guarded his eyes from the dust. 'If the Sharingan eyes is the source of your strength where you could anticipate every single of my move, then it's only a logic to turn your strength into a weakness! Without them, you're NOTHING!'

He threw down a barrage of Ki blasts down at Sasuke, causing a multiple explosion.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"HAHA!" Paradox laughed hysterically. "DIE! DIE! DIE! I was not given a chance again and again for no reason! Too bad for you, because this is becoming a Groundhog Day for us! It won't stop until I kill you FOR SURE!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

He kept throwing one after one, just to add layers to the explosion, as it kept increasing in the size.

"NOW! BE GONE!" Paradox screamed, as he fired a huge sphere of energy from his palm at Sasuke. Once the huge sphere of energy came contact with a huge dome of explosions, it exploded.

BOOOOOOOM!

A huge cloud of dust kicked up, as Paradox was floating in mid-air, panting heavily. He took a lot of time to calm himself and gathered all the oxygen back in his body. He started to laugh and laugh until he threw his head back and laughed hysterically. "HAHAHAHAHA! SERVES YOU RIGHT! THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN SURVIVE AFTER THIS ONE!"

"Oh, really?" a voice suddenly said.

Just before Paradox could react, there was a beam that shot through his neck from through the massive dust below. His head was severed from between his shoulders. "W-WHAT?!"

"I-Impossible!" As his head fell on the ground along with his body, he began to panic. "This should not be happening right now! I am supposed to be the invincible! On top of that, no way a weakling like him could survive my attacks!"

Suddenly, his head reconnected to his body, as time began to rewind once again…

"What were you going to say?" Sasuke taunted him. "That I'm a cocky brat?"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Paradox screamed. The moment he realized that his crystal automatically rewinds again, his rage started to arise, and then he screamed all the way to the sky. "DAAAAAAMN YOU TO HELL! I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE UP! I AM GOING TO KILLLLLL YOU!"

Unbeknownst to him, Paradox just stood there across from Sasuke like a statue. The Sharingan eyes spun around and then it faded into black eyes, as he sighed and turned around to walk towards Kuririn, Gohan, and Hinata next to the dying Sakura.

Kuririn, Gohan, and Hinata were bewildered and too frozen to realize what had been going on. A moment ago, Paradox boasted about how none of tricks would work on him twice, then next thing they knew, he just froze on the spot for several seconds now.

There were too many questions to ask… What did that make Paradox stopping all of the second? Why did Paradox stand there like a statue right now? And why was Sasuke retreating from the fight right now when Paradox could kill him right now? And why did Paradox not seize an opportunity to kill him while Sasuke turned his back on the fight?

Sasuke just answered all of that questions with just one answer before they actually could start asking these questions. "I put him under the genjutsu."

"What?!" cried the trio. That explained the whole situation why Paradox did do nothing but acted like a statue.

"I trapped him in some sort of the loop." Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at Paradox, who remained motionless. "I assume placing him under the genjutsu had tricked his mind and led his body to believe that it had infinite crystal. So, he would go back in the time again and again every time 'I' kill him." He looked back at them and smirked. "He won't ever get out of it until he realized he was trapped in the genjutsu."

"I-incredible!" Kuririn was very impressed by Sasuke's successfully strategy. "I never knew you are capable of doing it so!"

"You're amazing, Sasuke!" beamed Gohan.

"Hn…" That was all Sasuke could say. He was not going to admit that he felt good after receiving some compliment from his friends.

"Do you think it is wise to leave him alive, Uchiha-san?" Hinata said, very unimpressed flatly. Her eyes narrowed, very distrust of his strategy. "He could snap out of it and ambush you at any time. We should kill him before it's too late."

Sasuke scoffed, as he puts his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry about it, Hyuuga. He is too arrogant idiot enough to realize that he had been placed in the genjutsu whole times. Besides…" He glanced back at Paradox again. "If he ever got out of it, I would take care of him. However, he doesn't possess any threat to us any longer."

"True." Hinata agreed, but still reluctant to go ahead with his plan. "I'd strongly suggest you reconsider, though. It is in our best interest to kill him; in case should he choose to run away."

Sasuke pondered about her suggestion before he came up with an answer. "That's not necessary. We need a prisoner of war."

"A prisoner of war?!" shocked Kuririn. "You mean to capture him and interrogate him on the intel of our enemy?"

Sasuke sighed and realized that he could not afford to waste more times to divulge information to them. "Anyways…" He kneeled next to the dying Sakura, placing his fingers on her pulse. It was still beating, indicating that she was still alive, but he could feel that her heart started to beat slowly. He looked up at Kuririn. "Did I tell you to feed her the Senzu Bean?"

"Uhh…" Kuririn gulped nervously. "The truth is…" He had no idea where the bag of Senzu Bean went to. He feared that it might be lost.

Hinata interrupted Kuririn, as she pointed her finger at the direction of Shikamaru and Shino next to the dying Ino. "The bag of Senzu Bean is right over there, and it is the last one, too."

Sasuke, Gohan, and Kuririn looked at the direction where Hinata was pointing at, only to find that Shikamaru held the Senzu Bean and seemingly reluctant to feed Ino the last Senzu Bean.

"It's either… Sakura… or… Ino." Hinata frowned, saddened that either could had gone way. She did not wish for Sakura or Ino to die. She always hated having to choose which life she would save. She would bet that Shikamaru felt the same way.

Knowing him, he probably felt worse, because it came between his girlfriend or Sakura who appeared to be more value when it came to protect the planet. She was also sure that Shikamaru knew the value between Sakura and Ino. He knew that Sakura had more value than Ino right now. She feared that whichever he made a decision, that would continue to haunt him for long times, even if they learned that the Dragon Balls actually existed.

It was a tough decision.

"OH, NO!" Gohan suddenly yelled. "He probably does not know that it is possible to split the Senzu Bean and still heal them!"

"What?!" cried Hinata. Why was not she told about it? Sakura never said anything about them being split up before.

Sasuke scowled, as he folded his arms, "Hn. Splitting them will only restore the half of their power and heal some of their damages." As much as he did not want to admit, he wanted to have Sakura's power to restore fully. But the more fighters at their full powers, the better chance they have to defeat Coola and his men.

"Anyhow, we must let Shikamaru know about it before he made his decision!" said Kuririn, in which Gohan and Hinata agreed with.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru struggled to make a decision. After he witnessed that Paradox shot the beam through Sakura's chest, all of the sudden, he had to consider it a little longer. Who should he feed it to?

Sakura?

Ino?

What should he do? He realized that the best choice was to give the Senzu Bean to Sakura, since she possessed Ki along with her teammates, and that she, along with them, was only one of them who could deal with Coola and his men. By logic, he should choose Sakura over Ino.

But at the same time, he felt like he should defy the logic and feed to his girlfriend and his longtime teammate. Choji had died, so he did not want his lone teammate to die on this battlefield too.

Shino stood behind him, in attempt to advise him to make the best of his decision. "We should leave it up to Sasuke and others. The reason is because—"

"I know!" Shikamaru interrupted him with an outburst of his cry. His tears started to run down his cheeks from his eyes, as his eyes shut down. "I…I…"

"Shikamaru…" said Shino quietly.

"I…I…." Shikamaru placed his hand on the ground and grabbed a handful of dirt. "I… I can't do this…" More of his tears started to rain down upon the ground. "Choji died. I-I-Ino can't just…"

He began to recall most of his time spending together with Ino more, including Choji. They enjoyed their time together, and they enjoyed spending time to build a chemistry together. And as well as spending time to polish their combo skills as well. They were dubbed as the best teammates in Konoha's current generation. Best team since last Ino-Shika-Cho!

To make it worse, he would be forced to choose Sakura (whose recently returned along with Naruto and Sasuke, and everyone were escalated to see them again, including him), and Ino (whose his girlfriend and she had been his teammates since his childhood).

Why did it have to come down to this?

"Shikamaru, you can just split the bean in half. It will restore both of their power to half." The voice said behind him.

"What?!" Shikamaru looked over his shoulder at the source of the voice, and that was Gohan. Gohan stood right by Shikamaru, along with Hinata.

Gohan smiled. "If you split them in half, it can save both of their life."

There, Shikamaru began to have some of his hopes back. He took a good look at the Senzu Bean he held in his hand. 'That's right. So, there's still possible that we can save both of their life!' He started to feel excitement, but it was only short-lived.

"Don't…" a voice suddenly said, weakly.

Everyone turned towards the direction of the voice and saw Ino moving her head slightly. "Ino!" Everyone cried, except Sasuke and Shino.

"You're awake!" Shikamaru said, much to his own relief.

"Don't… split… the bean," begged Ino.

"Why?!" cried Hinata. "You don't have to worry. The Senzu Bean will only restore both of you to half power, like Gohan said."

Ino coughed out the blood and chuckled weakly. She looked at Shikamaru, but it was all blurry to him. That was the sign of her upcoming death, and she knew that. "No…. That won't… be enough…."

"What do you mean?!" Shikamaru asked, holding her hand up. "What do you mean it won't be enough?"

"G-Give that one to… Sakura…" Ino suggested, coughing up more bloods. "Give the whole bean to Sakura… we need her at full power…"

Shikamaru gasped. "B-But what about you?!"

"It's all right…" Ino smiled. She smiled despite knowing that her life was about to end soon and despite that Shikamaru and Hinata already weep for her. Even despite that she knew that Sakura would have felt guilty even though she didn't do wrong. "Besides, if we don't have Sakura at full strength, we won't have a chance against Coola… and plus… you can bring me back to life with the Dragon Balls once all of you defeat that… C-Coola… bastard…"

Shikamaru clenched her hand as a tear dropped from his eyes. "I can't just let you die, you know that!"

"P-Please… Shika-kun… P-Please…" Ino pleaded. "I don't have… much time left… please defeat Coola for us…"

Shikamaru hesitated. He did not know what to say. He did not have an idea how to respond to her wish.

"She's right, Shikamaru…" Gohan frowned. "We can revive everyone who were killed back with the Dragon Balls once we've dealt with Coola and his men."

"You got our words on that! We will defeat Coola and bring you back to life!" Kuririn gave her a thumb up with a grin.

"Ino…" Hinata could not just hold her tears back anymore, as she started to sob.

"Hinata…" Hinata turned her attention to Ino, who still smiled. "Tell Sakura… to kick their asses… for me."

Hinata sniffed, as she wiped tears off her eyes. "I will."

"You, too… Gohan… Kuririn… Sasuke-kun…" Ino added on.

Gohan and Kuririn nodded with a determination on their faces, while Sasuke looked away and said nothing. But in secret, Sasuke felt saddened by her death. It would mean he failed to arrive on time. He allowed Kiba, Akamaru, Choji, and now Ino to die because he was too late. He cursed himself for allowing that to happen. Not to mention that he almost let Sakura to die on his watch, too!

Her pupils moved towards Shikamaru once again and for the last time. Her smile lifted even wide. "Shika-kun…. I-I love you…"

Just before Shikamaru could respond back, Ino's hand dropped down to the ground. With that, she passed away with her final breaths.

More tears began to form in Shikamaru's eyes, as the Nara screamed on top of his lungs, mourning the death of his girlfriend. Now not only that he had lost his girlfriend, but he also had lost his best friend. He was all alone.

Gohan noticed as the senzu bean slipped out of Shikamaru to mourn, Gohan silently picked up the Senzu Bean and ran over to Sakura's side and gave her the Senzu Bean.

He had to force the Senzu Bean down her throat, and with that, she unconsciously chewed it and then swallowed it. Once it was swallowed, every damage on her body were healed and her eyes slowly opened.

She groggily sat up, but once she realized that she was still alive, her eyes, all of the sudden, burst open. "I am still alive?!" She was certainly that nothing would save her because she could swear that the beam pierced through her heart. Did Paradox somehow miss her vital or…?

"Thank goodness, you're still alive." Gohan smiled with a sigh of relief. "Paradox barely missed your vital."

'Is that it? Just barely?' Sakura gulped and stared at her own hands. She was not sure if she should be scared or just relief. 'To think he narrowly missed my vital. Imagine if it was up an inch, I would not survive this attack.'

When she looked around her, she could not help but to notice that everyone was grimacing at this moment. "What's going on?"

But it did not take a long for her to finally figure out what just happened recently. All it took for her to look at Ino for a second, she immediately realized why they were sad. She immediately got up and screamed to her best friend. "INO!"

Before she could get up and ran to Ino's side, Sasuke simply laid his hand on her shoulder. She looked at Sasuke behind her, who appeared to look sad. "Sasuke?"

"We will bring her back to life with the Dragon Balls." Sasuke looked up at the sky. "However, it's still not over yet… We still have three more powerful warriors we have to fight, who apparently seem to be Coola's top henchmen and are stronger than Paradox himself."

"What?!" Sakura was so out of the loop. What just happened when she was unconscious at that time? There were more of Coola's henchmen left?! What's more, they were stronger than Paradox and Guure?!

Then…

Three space pods soared through the sky from the outer space, which shocked everyone else on the battlefield.

Destroyed Hokage's Mansion- With Coola

Coola hung severe battered and bruised, bloody Tsunade up with the chokehold, while the blonde Hokage struggled to break free out of his strong grip. However, she appeared to look really old for some reason.

Coola smirked. "The diamond on your forehead appeared to be the source of unusual amount of chakra that you have stored in it for so long. Not to mention that it also appeared to stop your aging as well. It seemed that it allows you to heal yourself no matter how much damages you had taken. It took a while than I thought. You're nothing like these guys whom I killed previously." He glanced down at the corpse of Hirzuen Sarutobi, along with a couple of ANBU.

Tsunade kicked around, much to vain. "D-Damn you, Coola!"

"Certainly, this time, you won't have a diamond to heal you anymore, since it is now gone. And you've aged poorly." Coola continued. "However, I must applaud you, for be able to prolong your inevitable death. You are able to survive longer, and because of that, you have witnessed the death of your comrades. One of them whom you appeared to be student of."

"Shut…" Tsunade groaned. No matter how much strength she used up to break free of Coola's hands, it was pretty much useless. There was nothing she could do but to hang on within the inch of her life. "…Up! You're a monster!"

Coola closed his eyes and snickered a little bit. "Ho! On contrary belief, I'm not a monster. I'm someone who is all about the business. But I'm also someone who prefers to keep their legacies alive. I will not wish to be embarrassed by the likes of your species." He reopened his eyes, as he stared deeply into the struggling old woman's eyes. "Had your beloved Naruto not humiliate my species in such a way, this planet would be off the grid. Not even I would bother to invade this such planet."

"Screw you!" Tsunade found her own strength enough to spit bloods on his face. "To me, you're still a monster!"

Coola responded back by just licking the blood around his face, in which his actions disgusted Tsunade.

A couple of newcomers landed on the ground out of nowhere, which revealed themselves to be Fayre and Kakashi.

"How nice of you to finally come here to witness her death soon," said Coola.

Tsunade looked at them from the corner of her eyes and then smiled. "Kakashi…"

Kakashi widened his one-eye when he identified the captive in Coola's hand. "Hokage-sama!"

"Coola!" Fayre shouted to draw Coola's attention to him. He raised his clenched fist up, as his lips turned from grimace into a smirk. "Time has finally arrived. I have now declared myself that you shall no longer require my service under your command. This is the time now and for that…" He swung his arm around and pointed his finger at Coola. "…you must be perished along with your life! You are a threat to not only this planet, but you're also a threat to the universe! I've yearned for my Ki powers for so long and build them up without your notice at all.

"I have killed for you, I have fought for you, I have watched your men destroying the planet for you… and I have healed your men for you. I've suffered your reign of terror over me and the whole universe long enough. While doing that so, I've trained everyday and smuggled my Ki into the syringe that I've created without your or everyone's notice, so that I can surpass you and defeat you to have a freedom of my own."

Kakashi looked at Fayre in shock. "Fayre…" He could not help but to wonder how much Fayre had to suffer under Coola's command. It must be a lot worse. Even worse, Fayre probably felt awful that he was forced to kill millions of innocent people.

"COOLA!" Fayre screamed, his hatred finally exploded out of his chest. His eyes once again evolved into the Sharingan. "My plan is now set in a motion! To me, you're DEAD MEAT!" He pulled the syringe out of his pocket with the full Ki visible inside.

However, Coola was not surprised by Fayre's sudden change of behavior towards him. Without any words uttered at all, he immediately pierced his hand through Tsunade's chest, apparently grabbing her heart out of her chest, and then threw her to the ground.

"HOKAGE-SAMA!" cried Kakashi. He glared at Coola, who was very much delighted in taking her life out. He could not express his feelings how much he hated Coola right now.

Fayre scowled, as his hatred build up more towards Coola. He only heard of Tsunade few times before he left the planet. He did not really know her that well, but she was still the Hokage no matter who she was. He found the corpse of Sandaime Hokage, whom he knew very well during his time on this planet before. His fists clenched, and only he could do right now was to apologize to Hirzuen in silent.

Coola looked at the heart that he took out for a moment before shrugging and throwing it away. He turned around to face Kakashi and Fayre, who immediately shifted into their battle stance. "Fine. However, before we can start, I would like to introduce you…"

Suddenly, a space pod crashed onto the ground about a mile away behind Coola, causing the earthquake that Fayre and Kakashi had to stand firmly on the ground. The massive dust kicked up.

Kakashi widened his eyes in shock. "W-What the…?!"

Fayre's heart stopped for a second there. How could he forget about them? After all, he was the one who called them here… on the order of Coola. He berated himself for calling them in this such situation. But at that time, he had no choice, because if Coola ever found out that he did not call them here, he would just kill him back there.

The second space pod crashed onto the ground about the same distance behind Coola, causing another earthquake and kicked up more dusts.

"What's going on, Fayre?!" Kakashi looked to Fayre, who was shaken so much, for an answer. "W-Who are they?!"

Fayre gulped. There was too much sweating on his head, and his hands were shaken too violently. "They're…" He could not even form a sentence, as he kept repeating words. "They're…"

At last, the third space pod crashed onto the ground once again. With much force from a trio of space pods, they were more than enough to kick dusts and bellowed the wind over Kakashi and Fayre, while the former was pushed a bit.

'Do we have to fight them?' That was Fayre's mere thought. He would like to focus on Coola alone. He did not have time to deal with other three. They would just wear him out before he ever gets a chance to have a go at Coola! 'Damn it all!'

All doors on each of space pod began to crack open.

"They're…" Fayre gritted his teeth in a panic. He had not felt so much fear in his life before. He realized they were nothing like Coola in comparison of their powers, but combined power level… they were going to be tough together. They were well known to have an ability to work together as a teamwork. They far surpassed Ginyu Force in a term of teamwork, but not a power level, although.

They were finally wide open, as shadowy figure from each space pod began to emerge from the inside.

"They're…" Fayre had to find a courage in his voice to complete the sentence. His eyes finally set its sight onto a trio of space pods.

There were a tall, brown reptilian humanoid on the left side, a large, green-skinned humanoid alien with long black hair on right side, and finally, in the middle between them, there was a turquoise humanoid alien with short blond hair that was curled to the left. All of them finally revealed themselves to Coola, Fayre, and Kakashi.

"…Coola's Armored Squadron!"

To be continued…

A/N: Who are Coola's Armored Squadron? How strong are they? Can Fayre and Kakashi take them on, or are they what Coola's Armored Squadron are after? Find out next time on Team Z!

Did you guys enjoy the chapter or what?! I know it's just one-sided fight, but that's how strong Sasuke is! I'm glad to write Sasuke again. I can't wait to write Naruto again soon, though! And for surprise appearance... well, you will find out soon enough. But as you know, we're getting closer and closer to the main event of the saga!

By the way, Konoha Invasion Arc just ended! We now move on to next arc called Coola Arc of Element Saga! I'm very excited to write the final arc of the saga. It's going to be big fight! I must warn you that the main event is going to be very long, though.

Vegeta: We're almost there! The planet where I have sensed a large life forms of Ki. That Ki is very familiar to me.

Me: Yep, we're almost there. No spoilers, though.

Vegeta: Shut up, you worthless author! If you're not so lazy with your writing, I'd be on Planet El-

Me: *Snap Fingers* I told you NO SPOILERS!

Vegeta: *Slam his fists on the door repeatedly* LET ME OUT, YOU LITTLE SHIT! I, Prince Vegeta-sama, order you to get me out of this room AT ONCE!

Me: Huh? What did you say? I CAN'T HEAAAAAR YOU! *Skipping on way to bed and sleeping peacefully* Sweet dream. Good night, Veggie.

Vegeta: JENNNNNNNY! LET ME OUUUUUUUT! I WON'T SPOIL IT, I PROMISE! JEEEEEENNNNNY!