Okay, this time, I'm making sure that this is the last chapter. If I fail in that then I'll flame myself. By the way, I noticed that last chapter I said that it would be smooth sailing until the prologue. Heh. Sorry. I meant epilogue. Word confusion. But so as to not waste any more time…

Disclaimer: Yadda yadda… no Naruto… yadda yadda yadda I don't own. There.

IMPORTANT: I MADE A SMALL YET KIND OF IMPORTANT CHANGE IN CHAPTER NINE. I took out the part where the wall was blown open and the snakes were put in, because I realized that it was an unnecessary element and it complicated things, not to mention it was just plain stupid. Look back on chapter nine to refresh your memory, other than that, go ahead and read chapter 10. THANK YOU.

OOO

When Tsunade's head finally broke the surface of the water the first thing she did was gasp and sputter at the water in her lungs before she sank back down into the cold, heavy darkness. The actual pressure of the water falling on top of them would have been enough to kill her if she hadn't released all the stored chakra in the seal on her forehead; and after doing that the actual weight of the water had ceased all comprehensive thought in her that her mind had been able to gather. She broke the surface of the water again, and this time, an arm wrapped around her torso before pulling her onto something solid. 'Roof…' And it was a roof, she could feel the rough cracked tiles through her soaked clothes.

"Hokage-sama, are you alright?"

Tsunade attempted a glare at her rescuer, did she look alright, but another set of coughs ruined it, so she just nodded meekly. Briefly, the thought passed through her head that when she woke up this morning she had never thought that the day would turn out to be this… wrong. But it was a fleeting thought. One drowned out by the millions of other thoughts running rampant in her head. Pushing herself so that she was sitting up Tsunade voiced one of them, "What kind of attack was that?"

"I… don't know." Tsunade looked at him, not having expected an answer. "But, it used up a lot of chakra, an insane amount of chakra actually. Something like that shouldn't have been possible."

She shook her head in agreement. "Right, not just the amount of chakra, but the control needed to guide it all in the right direction while keeping the water together. More than one person shouldn't have been able to gain that much control without having practiced for years, and a movement of that much water, no matter where it was, should have brought the attention of at least one of the ninja villages." Whoever this ninja was, she was glad to have him here to help her sort through all the rampant thoughts in her head. But it still didn't answer any questions. How was the sound doing this.

Tsunade pushed herself to her feet, brushing away the ninja's arm when he offered his support. Looking across the water she took note of how many ninja's had survived. It wasn't good. One or two anbu, maybe fifteen jounin, twenty chuunins, some of them just floating on top of the water, most likely unable to move… and the genin, only one as far as she could see, and he was screaming bloody murder. As she continued to stare at the unfortunate genin, his arms were crushed from what she could see, he vanished. Tsunade did a double take. One minute he was there the next… There was another short scream, this one a jounin that was closer to the genin than the others. Tsunade watched as he was dragged down under the water in an instant. If she had blinked she would have missed it. Sudden fear gripped her heart. There was something in the water. Some of the remaining shinobi realized this as well and started to sprint to safety. Others too slow got pulled under one after the other. Those who couldn't move due to injury were left alone in favour of those running.

Most made it to safety. They only lost three more. Tsunade's fists clenched, what the hell was going on.

OOO

Naruto was exhausted. More so than that. He had never been so tired in his life. Every inch of his body screamed in protest as he continued to fight and make clones to replace those taken down. He was relying solely on the fox's chakra now and the red chakra swirling around him chaotically proved it. Naruto grabbed a random stone ninja by his hair and forced his head down as hard as he could into his rising knee, spraying blood all over his pants as the ninja slacked in his grip unconscious. A yell made him look to his left to see a sound nin charging him, reacting on instinct, he threw the body of the unconscious stone nin at him. The sound nin faltered under the sudden impact and weight before sinking into the water below. Naruto didn't notice, already on to another enemy nin.

The anbu, though having taken out more ninja than Naruto had been able to, weren't faring much better. Unlike Naruto, they did not have the fox or any other secondary chakra source to fall back on. They were nearing their limits, and it was starting to show. Just as Naruto had thrown the ninja in his arms at the other charging nin, one of the anbu was overwhelmed by a group of stone nin – at least ten of them, all of them dog piling him and beating him into submission. The anbu nearest to the fallen anbu noticed and quickly set a fire jutsu on the pile of ninja's, burning those on top and those trapped inside, causing those who could to roll into the water screaming in pain.

Using his chakra enhanced claws, Naruto clawed a stone nin's face off, digging his claws into the man's cheek and planting his feet on his chest, pushing off him and towards an unsuspecting nin punching him across the face and then using his now fully formed tail grab a kunoichi by the waist and throw her into a group of charging nins. He let out loud roar before attacking the next set of ninja's.

OOO

Tsunade's mind was in overdrive. There was something in the water, that much was certain. But it was only one thing, so it could only go after one person at a time. But what was it? Why was there only one of it? And was dragging her ninja under water all it could do? Or was it just toying with them?

A frightened yelp made her turn to her left where another one of her ninja's was pulled off from the roof and into the water, then another, and another. Tsunade felt a small tug on her foot and looked down to see a small patch of water around her foot. The next tug was harder and almost pulled her over, and she immediately jumped back, watching as the small puddle trailed down back into the pool around them. It clicked in her head. "STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER!" The damn thing was controlling the water.

Someone yelled her name and Tsunade turned around in time for a column of water to hit her in the chest and throw her off the roof into the pool.

OOO

Hajime walked calmly through the woods, Kimimaro trailing behind. They had not spoken since they left the hospital, and when Hajime looked back at Kimimaro's scowling face, he found that it was probably for the best that he keep quiet. Kimimaro looked ready to murder him at that moment, and though he doubted that Kimimaro could defeat him in battle, he'd rather not take the chance. After all, he and Kimimaro were going to be partners from now on and it wouldn't do to start off their partnership with a fight.

Kimimaro stopped, and Hajime, noticing that there were no more footsteps behind him, stopped as well and looked at Kimimaro. The Kaguya was looking behind them, back towards Konoha. "There is a battle going on, isn't there? That's why you came for me."

Hajime blinked, straining his ears until he heard the faint sounds of a battle on the wind that was no doubt coming from Konoha. He smiled. "Well," Kimimaro turned to him again, glaring. "I couldn't just leave you to die Kimimaro-chan."

"Don't call me that."

"Konoha being destroyed is a vital part in our plan, you see." He continued, ignoring Kimimaro's protest. "Konoha holds too many ninjas with too much potential, and was starting to do more than just poke its nose into our business."

Kimimaro's glare lessened when he saw it had no effect. "And what makes you think I'm going to join Akatsuki, Seiko? Why should I?"

Hajime smiled at him. "Because," he said, "you have nowhere else to go."

As he said that Zetsu – the spy of Akatsuki with a split personality and plant-like features – appeared from out of a nearby tree. He looked briefly at Kimimaro then focused his attention on Hajime.

"Tobi is on his way to… escort the Kaguya to headquarters. Itachi is on his way to collect the nine-tails. You are to finish your business in Konoha and return to base immediately after. No straggling."

Hajime laughed, "Hai, hai." He turned to Kimimaro, still chuckling. "Well, Kimi-chan, this is goodbye for now. Go get settled in, alright?" Not really waiting for an answer he waved and jumped into the trees heading towards Konoha.

Kimimaro contemplated following him then decided against it. The way the plant guy kept looking at him was unnerving enough to make him stay put. But he did briefly wonder which poor person Seiko had trapped in another of his exquisite lies.

OOO

Hinata was having fun. Perhaps she was having too much fun, but who knew that helping to bring down the great Konoha would be so… so… invigorating? Hinata laughed as she pulled the struggling Tsunade deeper under the water. Laughing turned out to be a bad move however, as it caused bubbles to escape and Tsunade, acting merely on instinct, sent a chakra enhanced punch right at her face.

Hinata saw the punch coming, slowed by the water around them, but didn't move away, believing that it would merely pass through her. It didn't.

She let out an uncharacteristic yelp as she was forced to let go of the sannin, clutching at her nose in pain. When her vision cleared Tsunade was just breaking the surface. Hinata frowned.

Of course she should have known that taking down the sannin wouldn't be that easy. And she really should have foreseen the effect Tsunade's attack would have had on her compared to other normal ones, but did it have to hurt so much?

By the time Tsunade had taken one good breath, Hinata was right in front of her, pressing one watery hand against her face and forcing her back down. Hinata ignored the ninja diving to aid their leader, and twisted around to behind Tsunade to avoid her deadly punches. Tsunade continued to struggle realizing that only chakra blows affected her captor and releasing chakra in every way she could think of in her position.

Hinata had had enough. Tired of the sannin's struggles she shoved as much water as she could up her nostrils. Tsunade let out a muted scream of pain before slacking in Hinata's arms, and Hinata – ignoring the various shinobi trying to dive deep enough to reach them – tightened her hold on the slug sannin and sped off through the water towards the wall.

OOO

From where he stood at the edge of the forest, Orochimaru was blind to all that was happening inside those walls. That didn't stop him from tasting victory, from touching the very tip of it with his well manicured nails. Orochimaru knew a won battle when he saw one, and this one showed all the signs of a comfortable, easy win.

It was almost unbelievable; almost. But it only made sense that in the end he would win. He had been planning this day for so long; even before he had joined Akatsuki; before he had fled this very village at the discovery of his human experiments he had been planning its downfall. He could barely contain his glee and the unrestrained grin on his face was scaring many of his subordinates. But that didn't matter, because he was here, he had done it, he won.

The attack with Suna had been a failure, yes, but it had not been a worthless battle. He had taken the old fool, Sarutobi's life and weakened the village's already weak defenses. He had acquired the Uchiha for a vessel, a vessel that was simply waiting back at the Sound base for his return; a body which he would take as soon as he was done with this village. And he had found Tsunade. Being forced into finding her could not have turned out any better for him.

If he had not been forced to find her, he would not have known before-hand that she was to be Godaime; he would not have seen that the perfect chance to strike was approaching and he would not have set up his already endangered spies in Konoha.

If his spies had not been in Konoha, then he would have never known about the unappreciated Hyuuga heiress and her sudden disappearance. He would have never taken interest in her, and would have never put in the effort to have her hate Konoha as he did, and make her feel welcome in his presence. And if that had not happened, then he wouldn't be here right now, reveling in the drizzle of certain, unchallenged victory.

Of course, there was still the matter of that two-faced fly, Seiko. The fact that an Akatsuki member was involved in this, especially him, was not a pleasant, worry-free thought. Seiko was a master of disguise; the last of a forgotten blood-line with the ability to change their physical features to suit their needs. He had been there, with Pein, from the very beginning, training in the forgotten ways of his ancestors, waiting to come into play. And frankly, Orochimaru hated him. He was an annoying, lying, piece of trash that wasn't worth scraping off the side pavement. And though Orochimaru had played with the idea of taking him for a future vessel, he had given up the idea once he saw how protective Pein was of him.

Yes, the idea of Seiko and Akatsuki having a hand in his glory did not sit well with him at all.

His thoughts were cut short when the signal came. The prone, defenseless body of his old teammate was thrown over the wall and all previous doubts were cast aside as he basked in the glory that was now, truly now, his. He nodded to one of his subordinates beside him and she nodded back and spoke a single word into the communication device looped around her ear.

The walls were blown.

OOO

Naruto was forced back from the force of the explosion then pulled forward when the water started to fall away. He had seen when Tsunade's body had been thrown over the wall, expelled quite suddenly from the waters at a speed that seemed unreal and much too sudden. Time froze for him as the water glistened off her still body and her still forming wrinkles were exposed and shown off in the light, then time went cruelly fast and her body vanished behind the wall.

He didn't even have time to call out her name before the wall was blown, killing most of the enemy shinobi as well as two or three anbu. He didn't have time to scream as the water which had shifted back in the explosion suddenly lurched forward. And he could only blink in surprise when he was pulled under water by hands gripped around his ankles and he came face to face with the same watery figure that had stopped Sasuke's deadly attack on him all those years ago at the Valley of the End.

Hinata pulled him through the rushing water, dragging him one way as the water tried to pull him in the other. He felt like he was being ripped in two. He felt ready to kill. Kyuubi's chakra was flowing through his veins with all the power of a speeding drunkard on a cloudless, cop-free night. He was mad. He was mad at Hinata. She had killed Sakura, she had killed Neji, she had thrown Tsunade over that wall like a rag doll not worth playing with, she, she was reason things had gotten so bad; why Konoha was losing; why he was losing all of his precious people along with it.

In his Kyuubi-enhanced state all of these thoughts made its way through his head, and the only thing that registered was to kill. Kill Hinata. Kill the thing holding onto him. Naruto slowly reached a chakra covered arm toward the person who was probably saving his life at the moment; forcing it through the speeding currents trying to kill them both towards his captor. Hinata looked back at him only to find her face covered suddenly with hot, fiery chakra. She made to scream only to find the chakra cooking her insides. She could actually feel herself boiling.

Hinata instinctively let go and pushed herself away from him, feeling but not really connecting it as she lost her concentration on the jutsu and solidified. But she still felt hot, she still felt too hot, and in her hazy pain filled mind she could imagine how the steam would be rolling off her if she was not currently submerged. Somewhere else in her mind the thought registered that she was now being pulled along the harsh current, and had no way to lessen the impending impact. Somewhere…

Then the glare of the sun was in her face and she felt herself flying. She turned slightly and could see the rushing river that had not been there at the start of the attack, and Hinata had the feeling as she fell closer to the dangerous waters, that she was being condemned for all her sins and wrongdoings, and that hell wasn't a very nice place, and she didn't want to go there. Then she hit the water and her world turned black. She barely noticed as the edges of her vision dimmed, that nowhere in her fall had she seen Naruto.

Naruto had managed to grab onto the edges of the blown wall somewhere during the entire thing and had found that despite having something to hold on to, the rest of his body was still forcefully thrown to the side as the water continued to empty out. He had ended still tumbling through the air but instead of hitting water or hard unmerciful earth, he hit into a tree and stumbled down further smacking into and braking through a few branches until he felt himself stop and hang loosely. Barely able to keep the darkness in the corners of his eyes spreading he looked up to find his jacket had managed to catch onto a branch and he was now hanging loosely. He looked down, but it made him nauseous and he found he could no longer ward off unconsciousness. Before he was lost to the world, the faraway sound of the branch snapping reached his ears.

OOO

Hajime watched as the last trails of water drained from the ruined village. Then he watched silently as the sound went in for a final sweep to kill any remaining ninja. Then he stopped watching, nothing past this point mattered to him, his job was done. He was about to leave when he spotted her. Not really thinking about it, he jumped down and walked over to where she lay on her back, by the small stream that was only a raging torrent minutes ago.

Hinata had been the means to it all, and it had all been pure damn luck. It was luck that he had been the one to kill Hyuuga Hajime all those many years ago, it was also luck that he had kept the body in cold storage back at the base. He guessed he was just one lucky guy.

Slowly, his features shifted and changed into those he was originally born with. Hajime was once again, Seiko, and he breathed a sigh of relief now that it was all over. He had accomplished his mission, and Pein wouldn't be disappointed in him like he had feared.

Kneeling next to Hinata he lifted a cold hand and checked for a pulse then checked the base of her neck for one.

She was gone.

Seiko sighed. But it was probably for the best anyway. He figured that it had been nice to be looked up to like that, and to have made such a strong ninja, but in the end Hinata, like all ninja, had been a tool. The tool had done its job, and different tools would be needed for the next phase of their planning.

He brushed some of the wet hair away from her face and closed her eyes. "Bye Hina-chan."

Then he left.

Closer to the base he met with Itachi, carrying an unconscious Naruto on his back. With the ninth jinchuriki out of the way, life would be almost too easy for Akatsuki, he thought. And for a brief moment he regretted completing the mission.

But it was only a brief moment

O -- End -- O

K: … How do you end this anyway? I know the ending was kind of vague, but that's the plan. The world is bigger than Hinata, and though this story ends with her, the world around her does continue. And now that this chapter is done (the very day before school starts for me, mind you) I only have the epilogue, which will most likely be short.

Maybe the epilogue will properly tell what happened after Hinata's death; maybe it will release tension with some light (but pitiful) attempt at humour. Who knows? I sure as hell don't.

But I'm going into Grade 10 now, a scary prospect as my books are getting HUGE and I fear for my recently fixed bag, so I might not be able to get the epilogue in till around Christmas depending on how much work we get.

And I know some (if not all) of you are probably pissed off at me for this ending. Please understand. The situations might have changed and the way certain things were done from the original also changed, but the ending is still the same. I had always, from the very beginning, planned for Hinata to end up dead, and unredeemed. Hence this story being in the tragedy category. Naruto had also originally been planned to have died, but he got lucky since I included Akatsuki as the mastermind of this plan; does he end up escaping Akatsuki, or does someone, maybe Gaara, save him in time? I DO NOT KNOW. Please do not ask.

And finally, the battle. I guess it might seem too… easy, to you. But I can't really think of anything complicated that wouldn't change up the story and make it longer, and I am ready to wash my hands of W3GB and move on. Hinata might have seemed powerful, but she was low on chakra, Tsunade might have seemed to have gone down too easy but she was out of her element. Who the hell teaches people to fight underwater?? Her punches were sluggish and not very effective, and she was taken by surprise.

And finally, Hajime/Seiko. We finally know just who the hell he is and what his purpose was. Did he ever truly care for Hinata? I don't know. Did Hinata ever have an older brother named Hajime? Yes, she did, but Seiko killed him years ago and kept his body as a kind of trophy or whatever he did with it.

If I haven't covered all of your questions, feel free to ask. I'll try my best to answer them, either to you personally, or in the epilogue.

And for all those who have stuck with me through from the very beginning, or if you came in somewhere in the middle or at the very end. Thank you for reading. Special thanks to all those who reviewed. Your reviews pushed me to continue on even though I was getting antsy and wanting to move on to other stories.

Love ya! ;)

K-promises-fall