They had placed themselves in a formation that would make it possible for them to ambush the enemy, in case they hadn't found them yet. Himawari and her group were on the left side of the small forest road their enemy was traveling on, while her brother and his squad were on the other side of the road. Soon, the group of six ninja appeared, not even trying to hide their presence. Alarm bells started ringing in Himawari's head and not only because those six ninja were putting no efforts in hiding their arrival. Her father had picked up on seven ninja, not six, so where was the final shinobi? What was their plan? She activated her Byakugan, scanning the area to see if she could find the location of the final shinobi. She couldn't. Either her father was wrong about the number of their enemy, which she highly doubted, or this shinobi, whoever he or she may be, was hiding in a place that was not visible for her eyes. Like another dimension.

She shared a look with Sasuke, who seemed just a confused as her. She mouthed the word seven with a questioning look. Sasuke immediately understood what she was steering towards. If Naruto was right, and there was a seventh ninja, this shinobi would be hiding in one of the other dimensions, where Sasuke would be able to find him or her. Sasuke frowned, confirming Himawari's suspicions. There was indeed a number seven, and he or she was watching from a safe distance, waiting for his or her turn to appear. He whispered to Naruto about this latest revelation and the two seemed to reach a consensus about what plan they were about to follow next. The only ones able to enter a new dimension were Sasuke and her brother, but knowing Boruto, he would dive head first into the battle with the six shinobi present right now, leaving only Sasuke to open a portal and force their final enemy out of its hiding place.

But the fact that those six shinobi were hiding their final member, concerned Himawari. She was afraid not even Sasuke with all his skill would be able to stop this opponent.

"Let stop with the hide and seek, shall we?" The question came from a familiar face. The water style user from their previous battle. The one who had almost beaten Sasuke. Just like the plan prescribed, her brother's team was the first to appear from the bushes, with Mitsuki and Boruto standing a little in front of Sarada, as if they were shielding her from harm.

Suddenly, a sharp pain cut in Himawari's shoulder. In a reflex, she put her hand on the sore spot. She felt a warm, thick fluid flow through her fingers. She was bleeding. Shikadai looked shocked, not being able to move due to the surprise. She hadn't even seen the enemy move! The four of them appeared from their hiding place as well.

The atmosphere around them was tense. It almost seemed like everybody was waiting for the other party to make a move. Himawari could see her brother was itching to start this battle and she had to admit that she too wanted to jump in there. But she knew that would be an insanely stupid decision. So she waited. But her brother didn't.

Boruto threw himself on the shinobi standing closest to him, forcing Mitsuki and Sarada to follow him and provide back-up. Sarada barely dodged a knife thrown at her. As if Boruto's attack was the cue they were waiting for, their enemy attacked. Himawari was barely able to dodge the barrage of attacks coming at her.

She felt how a brush of air came from the foot of her opponent and she felt being pushed backwards. The girl she was fighting against was fast. Her taijutsu was almost too much for Himawari to deal with, as she was barely able to launch one of her own attacks. She internally thanked her father for pushing her to train with Rock Lee as well, seeing it was the only reason her head hadn't been kicked of her body yet.

Himawari took a quick glance around her. Sasuke had disappeared, searching for an opening to attack the seventh enemy, completely according to their plan. Her father was fending off his own opponent while simultaneously helping Shikadai take care of his opponent. They seemed to be able to handle themselves pretty well, despite Shikadai barely healed wounds. Himawari looked around for her brother, but was unable to locate him for a moment. It was Sarada she saw first and she was fighting an uneven battle against three opponents. She was in trouble.

Himawari gave her opponent a chakra enhanced kick to the stomach, knocking the girl out for at least a few moments, before rushing towards Sarada to help her. Himawari easily took out one of the three enemies by hitting him in the tenketsu, as he hadn't seen her coming.

Her and Sarada stood back to back.

"Where are my brother and Mitsuki?" She whispered, making sure Sarada was the only one who could hear her.

Himawari deflected a kunai coming at her and Sarada, giving the young Uchiha a chance to catch her breath and answer. "Boruto got hit by a knife. Tore one of his muscles. Mitsuki pulled him aside to heal him. He should be back soon."

Just as Sarada had finished her question, her brother and Mitsuki appeared from some bushes nearby, taking out one of the two opponents Sarada and Himawari were fighting. Meanwhile, the taijutsu girl had recovered from the kick Himawari had given her prior to this and came storming towards her. Himawari quickly moved away from her brother's squad, not wanting to endanger them.

The girl came at her with all her anger and viciousness. Himawari was growing tired and it became more and more difficult for her to dodge the numerous attacks. She felt a sharp pain in her gut and flew backwards as the girl finally placed a hit on her. Himawari stopped kind of abruptly, stopped in her tracks by some familiar arms.

"Are you okay?" Shikadai yelled in her ear as he was carefully putting her on the ground.

"Yeah, thanks to you. That could have been ugly if you hadn't caught me!" she yelled back, before focusing again on her opponent.

Shikadai turned around so they were standing back by back, facing his own opponent.
"Himawari? Can you buy me some time?"

She made a confirming sound before creating a shadowclone and attacking both opponents at once. She saw Shikadai get into position and his shadows left, trying to capture their opponents. It was at this moment their seventh enemy decided to make her appearance.

Shikadai was knocked aside by a strong gust of pure chakra. It was a technique very similar to her gentle fist. He flew against a three and lay there awfully still. With her Byakugan, Himawari immediately picked up on the damage the blow had caused. The physical blow was hard, but the damage caused by the foreign chakra, which worked like a poison, was devastating, eating away Shikadai's own chakra. Himawari knew she had to do something. Quick. Before Himawari could go over to check on him, both her opponent and Shikadai's opponent launched an attack at her, forcing her to retreat. She saw a knife being thrown at Shikadai and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see the end of the boy she loved. She sheath a tear, trying to let go and focus on the battle.

A precisely thrown knife that came seemingly out of nowhere knocked the kunai of track, saving Shikadai's life. Sasuke appeared in his Susanoo form, picking up the unconscious Nara boy and keeping him safe from the battle. She felt the giant hand of the Susanoo pick her up and before she knew she was inside Sasuke's armor, standing over Shikadai's lifeless body. She knew what she had to do to save him. With a bunch of precise blow, Himawari closed each and every chakra point in Shikadai's body, preventing both his own and the enemy's chakra from flowing in his system. She placed the palm of her hand on his chest. His heart was barely beating, already affected by the chakra. She closed her eyes and focused her own chakra to the palm of her hand, before releasing it into Shikadai's body. A shock went through him as her chakra wiped out most of the poison. He wasn't out of danger yet, but she had at least bought him some time. Himawari bowed over him and gave him a soft kiss on his lips, her tear dripping on his face.

"He needs to get out of here! We all need to get out of here! She's way too strong for us to defeat her." Sasuke's voice interrupted her pity party. She swallowed.

"Who?"

"Katsumi Ôtsutsuki, leader of this group of thugs and the one who just nearly killed Shikadai with one blow. There were rumors of another Ôtsutsuki showing up, so I have been investigating the claims. Out of all the possibilities, she's by far the worst!"

"What's that supposed to mean? There are more?"

"Probably not." Himawari waited for some kind of explanation following Sasuke's revelation, but he just looked at her, waiting for her next move.

"Get me to my father."

Sasuke didn't question her, instead making a way around their enemies to get her to Naruto. Aside from her, Naruto was the only one capable of performing the Flying Rajin and evacuating everyone from this battle. Himawari knew this was a lost battle too. The only way to defeat Katsumi was with a plan created to fight her and one heck of a powerful sealing jutsu. Currently, they had neither.

Just as she arrived to her father's side, who was in full Kurama form, she saw how her brother was taken out by another precise blow from Katsumi. Mitsuki plucked him out of the air, lading safely and preventing her brother from suffering the same fate as Shikadai. She looked at his chakra system and saw similar damage as what she saw in Shikadai. Sarada yelled something at the two of them. Mitsuki seemed to object, but Sarada had set her mind. After a last conflicted look towards Sarada, Mitsuki made his way towards were Sasuke was now fending off about three enemies, laying a wounded Boruto down next to Shikadai, before jumping back into battle to help Sasuke. Himawari quickly repeated the process she had performed on Shikadai on her brother, pulling him out of the danger zone.

Himawari entered Kurama's chakra body, and she was led right to her father.

"We need to get everybody out of here! Boruto and Shikadai are already gravely injured to the point where they cannot continue the battle! More will follow if we don't get out of here right this instance!"

"I'm aware." Her father reached out his open hand, already knowing Himawari's plan.

"You take Boruto and Shikadai, as well as Sasuke! That Ôtsutsuki will probably go after you and Sasuke and you'll need his Susanoo to protect you! I'll go get Sarada and Mitsuki."

Her father nodded, in full agreement of the plan. Himawari exited Kurama's chakra cloak, feeling filled up thanks to his healing powers and made her way towards where Mitsuki was battling two opponents. She threw a rasenshuriken towards one of them, instantly killing him.

She was right about Katsumi, who went after her father and Sasuke. She heard how Naruto yelled against Sasuke that he would have to trust her to take care of his daughter and that Naruto needed him to protect the four of them as he prepared for the Flying Raijin. As Sasuke was fending off the enemy, Naruto threw the still unconscious Shikadai over his shoulder, before picking up Boruto and holding him under his arm. Naruto tightly gripped Sasuke's hand, who had noticed Naruto was prepped to go was trying to reach his daughter with a conflicted look on his face. Naruto softly said something against Sasuke, prompting him to stop fighting, before the four of them disappeared.

Himawari looked around her. Three of their opponents were dead, including the taijutsu girl and the guy Himawari had just taken out with her Rasenshuriken. Four left. The three of them were in an eery position and Himawari knew she would have to get them out as soon as possible.

"Mitsuki! Can you grab Sarada from here?" The boy looked up at her, only now realizing they were the only ones left on the battle field. He was bleeding from a nasty cut in his face.

Mitsuki extended his arm, carefully wrapping it around the Uchiha and pulling her to safety, not even bothering to answer Himawari.

Sarada, who was clearly exhausted and almost out of chakra, was bleeding from several deep cuts. She didn't even have enough chakra left to heal them. Mitsuki administered his last vial of antidote. She too had one left.

From the corner of her field of sight, Himawari saw a spere made out of pure chakra flying towards Mitsuki and Sarada. A two-in-one blow. But this wasn't normal chakra. This was the chakra that had taken out her brother and Shikadai. She knew this blow would kill the both of them. Mitsuki because he didn't have the medical skill required to heal from a wound this severe and Sarada because she just didn't have enough chakra left. And even if she had, she still wouldn't have the skill to give her the best chance of survival. But Himawari had both. She made a decision without thinking about it twice, making her way towards her friends, hoping she would make it in time. She excreted some of her chakra, just enough to go unnoticed by their opponents, but enough to change the trajectory of the spear. She had a rough idea of where the spear would hit her and she focused her chakra in that area, already starting to heal the damage that wasn't there yet. She prepared her body for the Flying Raging and made sure that the moment they arrived in Konoha, she would be able to completely shut of her chakra network. She just hoped it would be enough.

She made it just in time. Himawari turned around, facing the projectile as it quickly came closer. She felt a sharp pain as the spear entered her stomach, ripping through multiple of her organs. Himawari coughed up a bit of blood, fighting the urge to lose consciousness. Her job wasn't finished yet. She still had to bring everyone home. She focused every bit of chakra she could miss towards her wound, desperately trying to heal the damage enough for her to bring her friends back to safety, while simultaneously jamming her last dose of antidote into her body. The antidote probably wouldn't help that much, but she had multiple cuts as well and Himawari wanted to give herself as much chance to survive as she possibly could. The world was spinning around her as Himawari extended her hands, grapping both Sarada and Mitsuki and teleporting them to safety. She saw one final glimpse of Shikamaru's shocked face before she shut herself down and everything went black.

-Author's note: this chapter is a bit longer so I really hope you enjoy :)-

disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters