ooookkkkk...almost done with this story...to put it simply i have it all typed up...wasting studying time but o well...procrastination is fun lol...i'm still debating on wether or not i should jus post the rest or wait a few days then do that...dunno lol...i think i'll wait a few days...but since i have this all done i can now concentrate on teh other two...after my tests lol

dis: ummm...yea...screw it jus read the damn chapter lol

The stranger leaned over and placed his hand on Neji's chest. There was no sign of life and the organs were starting to shut down with the lack of oxygen. He started to circulate his power into Neji's body without filtering it. A faint beat met his efforts, but his chest still didn't rise.

"Girl, he needs air."

Sakura leaned forward, hesitated for less than a second then breathed into his mouth while pinching his nose shut. The man felt the heart beat strengthen a little, but not much.

"Continue doing what you were doing a little while ago," the stranger commanded as he grabbed a flower that had closed for the night.

He placed that on Neji's chest and took his hand off of him and held it directly over the flower. They could see a faint light going right towards the flower as Sakura started pressing on Neji's chest again. The stranger's face creased as he started to force more and more of his power through the flower into Neji's body. He felt Neji's heart start to weaken again and forced even more of his power into the boy's body.

'If I put even more in, it would be too dangerous to his body,' he thought to himself.

Sakura paused and breathed into Neji's mouth again. As the air was forced into the boy's lungs, the stranger forced nearly all the Hyuuga's chest muscles to contract and Neji's body arched. He then forced the other muscles to contract releasing whatever air there was in the lungs. He repeated the process a few more times. As Naruto and Gai watched, they saw perspiration form on the stranger's head and his hands start to tremble. The man sensed Neji's heart grow a little stronger and he let up a little on his power. The heart was pulsing occasionally, but it still required his help. He then lessened the amount of power forcing the lung muscles to work, and they weakly rose and fell like they should.

He remained over Neji's body like this for a good 5 minutes before he could actually stop putting his power into Neji's body. The man sat back and looked a little tiredly at the barely breathing boy.

"You brought him back to life," Naruto whispered.

The man shook his head. "I only got his organs to work again, I don't know if there is any brain damage. He was out for a while so he might not be able to remember some stuff if he does wake up at all."

The bear made a growl like howl. The all looked at him and saw that all the animals had surrounded them. The bear made its sound again, but it wasn't in a congratulatory manner. The hawk then took flight and landed on a small branch that revealed the sky. It was starting to get light.

The stranger's eyes widened. He then picked up a rock smoothed by the water current and replaced the flower on Neji's chest then went back to muttering chants under his breath. The shinobis saw a twitch in Neji's body. The man's chants increased. Neji's back arched.

"He's not going to make it," Sakura whimpered.

The man said the last part loudly and a large amount of his power shot from his hands, through the rock, and into Neji's body. A light came out of Neji's body and took the shape of a cat above him then disappeared as well. Neji's body relaxed and the stranger sat back once again, but this time weakly.

"I haven't used that much power in one night in a long time."

Kakashi opened his eyes slowly. A bright light was flowing in from somewhere off to his left, but his head was too heavy to move. He slowly blinked and then closed his eyes again, enjoying the cool breeze that played across his face. There was a noise that broke through the normal sounds, but it was faint so he ignored it. A few seconds later it disturbed the peace again, but he still ignored it. It sounded again and the voice seemed familiar. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw a girl with pink hair hovering over his face. Her mouth moved and the sound came from her, yet he couldn't exactly tell what she was saying. Her blurry face scrunched up with worry and she said something again. He started to discern the sounds, but sleep was starting to envelop him again and he willingly fell into its embrace.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said louder this time as his eyes closed again. She felt his pulse and found that it was still normal, much to her relief.

She looked over at Neji lying beside him. The stranger's words reverberated in her mind as she looked on at his weak breathing. His heart had never strengthened ever since he brought Neji back to life. Sakura sighed and looked over at Naruto. He was sound asleep leaning against the bear's side. The bear calmly looked back at her and his look alone told her that everything was all right at this moment. Sakura then looked at the midday sun shining through the treetops. Gai had gone off with the stranger to help him change the others back into their human form. A few of the partially clothed men had come and checked up on Kakashi, but soon the stranger came and took them off to their home. She leaned back against the small boulder beside the waterfall and continued to keep a close eye on her wards.

Gai ambled back to the others. The stranger had stopped for a while because his power was starting to get low and he was tired. Over all, they were able to change 10 men back into normal and return them to their homes. The waterfall's sound reached his ears and he stepped quietly into the clearing to see Naruto and Sakura on guard and staring at him. When they realized at was him they relaxed and sat back again. The bear was still there watching over them with Naruto leaning against him.

"Has there been any change?" Gai asked.

"Kakashi-sensei opened his eyes there for a few seconds, but Neji's still the same," Sakura replied.

"When did Kakashi open his eyes?" Gai inquired.

"An hour ago," Sakura mumbled.

Gai sat down with his back against a tree trunk.

"How many were changed back?" Naruto asked.

"10"

"Just ten?" the boy continued.

Gai nodded. "It took a lot out of that man every time he took the changed men to their homes, even if he took a group to the same location."

"Who are they?" Sakura asked.

Gai shook his head. "I honestly don't know." He looked at the bear. "Do you have any idea?"

The bear sat there then shook his head no as well.

They all sat in silence. The only sound that was really heard from them was the deep breathing of their fellow bear, Kakashi's deep breathing, and Neji's weak intakes.

After a few minutes Gai asked, "How long do you think it'll take before we can return to Konoha?"

Sakura looked at the 2 unconscious men then shook her head. "I honestly don't know. With Kakashi-sensei it might take him a week or two to recover enough to return the way we got here, but I don't want to put Neji-san's body through any more stress for a while. Especially if he doesn't wake up here soon."

"So we're going to be stuck here no matter what, huh?" Naruto stated.

"Yes," the kunoichi replied.

Tsunade sat solemnly behind her desk. Gai and the others have been gone for a little over a week and rumors had been spreading like wildfire no matter how hard she tried to quell them. With Kakashi and Neji still gone, it didn't help the rumors of something happening to the other 3 at all.

She sighed and stood up. "Shizune!"

The younger kunoichi came in.

"I'm going out for some air, don't send any one after me unless it's urgent."

"Ok, hokage-sama," the other woman replied.

On her walk around the village she ran into the few left that knew the truth behind the rumors. They exchanged a look, but Tsunade shook her head meaning that the others still haven't returned. Those that inquired sighed and went back to whatever they were doing. Answering these gloomy questions just added more to her restlessness. It still irritated her that she could do nothing but sit by and watch Neji deteriorate with each change.

She let out and irritated sigh and jumped off for the training grounds to try and relieve some of her anger.

u thought i was goin to kill neji didn't u huh? i won't be that mean...unless i wanted this to be a gloomier story lol...yea i kno...it ain't a nice upbeat every once n a while...ain't my fault...i write these kind of stories better than comedies...sadly Y-Y