I really need to get better at this whole updating thing, don't I? Especially after the cliffhanger I left last chapter. -laughs nervously- Anyway, here's the long awaited fifteenth chapter! Wow, we're already that far? Maybe I should take this time to thank each and every reviewer-

Gaara: I will kill you if you don't shut up.

Yeah, I'll just get to the disclaimer now…

Disclaimer: I have my own Hidden Leaf headband, but I don't think that makes me the owner of Naruto.


Gaara's eyes widened as he saw blood splatter to the ground; blood that was not his. His mind was having trouble figuring out what had happened when the figure in front of him began to sway unsteadily. Instinctively, he reached out and caught her as she began to fall, holding her protectively in his arms. A small part of his mind told him that it was Hinata that he was slowly lowering to the ground, and that it was her blood that had been shed instead of his own.

"You idiot," he said softly, holding the small kunoichi tightly. "What did you do that for?" Not expecting an answer, he was surprised when Hinata opened her eyes and spoke. "B-because, you've been p-protecting me so much," she whispered with a smile as she tried to sit up. "A-and it's not like I got hurt t-too badly. Your sand deflected most of them."

Gaara reluctantly released her from his grip as she got on her knees and sat beside him. A moment later, Kankuro and Shino were next to them as well, making sure she was alright. Hinata smiled and thanked them for their concern as Shino helped her to stand, and they once again stood facing Hiroshi.

"Well, for a bunch of puny genin, you're not half bad," the flower-user said with a grin. "Still, you're no match for me. But, if you give up now, I'll make sure you all get a quick and painless death."

"No thanks," Kankuro snorted, glaring at the man. "Like we'd ever lose to the likes of you. But tell me something before we kick your ass: why did you awaken the dragons in the first place?"

"Why?" Hiroshi sounded amused. "What do you mean, why? There were sleeping for a thousand years. It only makes sense that I, being the ancestor of the one who put them to sleep, should be the one to revive them, don't you think?"

"I don't buy it," Kankuro said. "There has to be some other reason. If you really wanted to bring them back because it was your duty or something, then you wouldn't have threatened to kill them if they didn't do as you said."

"Ah, point taken," Hiroshi said, summoning more petals. "After my ancestor put the spell on the dragons, he joined up with the enemy village that was attacking Rairyuu. That was his plan from the start; he only wanted to get rid of the dragons so that nothing would be in his way. But he was killed in the battle, and the damn village somehow survived. So I want to destroy the village, just like he wanted!" His smile widened. "Now, who wants to die first?"

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Kiba was doing his best to bandage up Temari, who was bleeding in several places because of Hiroshi's attack. The Sand ninja had moaned several while he was dressing her wounds, but had yet to wake up. "Damn that bastard," he muttered as he tightly wrapped a piece of his badly-ripped shirt around her arm. Akamaru, who was licking her hand worriedly, suddenly jumped back, startled; the hand he had been licking had suddenly moved.

"Temari?" Kiba asked hopefully, leaning over her. Temari's eyelids flickered, then opened. Groaning slightly, she tried to sit up before falling onto her back again. "Ow…" she mumbled, her fingers digging into the sand. Her wounds hurt a lot more than she expected them too; after all, they were caused by flowers.

"Kiba…" she muttered, realizing for the first time that he was there. "Where's…that guy…?" She tried to get up again, but was stopped when the Leaf genin gently put his hands on her shoulders. "Don't move just yet," he said soothingly. "The others are fighting him."

"Why…didn't you go with them?" Temari asked, blushing slightly. Her face reddened even more when she noticed that Kiba's jacket was on top of her. Kiba turned away, not wanting her to see the blush creeping up his own face. "W-well, someone had to take care of you, a-and I just happened to be closest at the time, and Akamaru was worried about you and…" he was rambling off random reasons for why he had stayed behind, none of them really making that much sense. Temari smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," she said, gently taking his hand from her shoulder and sitting up so she was eyelevel with him. "Thanks."

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"Alright, what should we do?" Kankuro asked. Hiroshi had kindly decided to let them consult on who wanted to die first, and they were taking the opportunity to form a plan. Or at least they were trying too; so far, no one had come up with anything.

"Well, Hinata is hurt, so she shouldn't fight," Shino started, but was interrupted by the kunoichi herself. "N-no!" she said, shaking her head. "I-I'm fine, really! I d-don't want to be a burden to anyone!"

"Let her fight," Gaara said, his arms folded across his chest. "We'll just have to keep an eye on her, that's all." Kankuro stared at him. Since when did he actually offer an opinion about anything? He wondered, scratching his head confusedly. Weird…

"Alright," Shino agreed hesitantly. "But we still need a plan. What have we got to work with?"

"My puppet, your bugs, Gaara's sand, and Hinata's Byakugan," Kankuro said. After a moment, he added, "We're screwed."

"D-don't say that, Kankuro-kun!" Hinata said. "W-we can find a way to beat him! I k-know we can!" All three stared at her for a moment before Shino spoke. "Hinata is right. We can't give up yet. Gaara, how much chakra do you have left?" Gaara thought a moment. "I suppose I have enough to use my Subaku Soso once," he answered, reluctant to admit that he couldn't do anything besides the one attack.

"Alright, we'll have to make it so that Gaara's attack won't miss," Kankuro said. "Bug Boy, I'll need you to draw his attention with those creepy insects of yours. While he's occupied with that, I'll try to poison him with Karasu." He placed a hand on the large puppet on his back; for this mission, he had only brought the one, leaving Kuroari behind. The Sand shinobi turned to look at Shino. "That alright with you?" After a quick glare, the genin nodded.

"Good," Kankuro continued, turning to the other two. "Hinata, you stay with Gaara. Not only are you hurt, but your Byakugan will be handy in case our part of the plan fails and he heads for you. With Gaara's limited amount of chakra, we can't risk him having to use if before we know for sure if it'll work." Hinata nodded, while Gaara just said his traditional "Hn" before turning away. He hated being told what to do, but at this point he couldn't really complain.

"Are you kiddies ready yet?" Hiroshi called, sounding impatient. "I really do have other matters to attend to, so I'd like to make this quick." He clapped his hands together excitedly as he got an idea. "I know! Why don't you all attack me at once? That way you'll all die together."

"I have a better idea," Kankuro said, stepping forward and taking Karasu off his back. "How about we do things our way, and you shut up and die?" He gave a swift nod to Shino, who rushed forward with his bugs swarming around him. He reached his arm out, signaling for them to attack. With any luck they'll be able to drain a little bit of his chakra, he thought as he quietly watched his friends fly towards what was sure to be their death. He gave them a silent apology, knowing that their sacrifice must be made for their plan to work.

"Interesting," Hiroshi muttered, gracefully holding out the flower petal in his hand as he would a sword. "I've heard of a clan from Konoha with a Kekkei Genkai involving bugs, but this is the first time I've actually seen it." The mysterious shinobi muttered, "Flower Growth Jutsu," which caused the petal to grow three times its original size. He expertly brought it down upon the swarm of bugs, killing them instantly. With swift ballet-like movements, he moved in a circle, also defeating those who decided to attack from behind. Only a few managed to land on him, and were only able to drain a tiny bit of chakra before being noticed.

Meanwhile, Kankuro was sneaking up from the side, puppet in hand. With any luck, he would be able to get relatively close before being noticed, and would have a better chance of his poison attack reaching its target. The bugs were defeated quicker than he had thought, however, and as Hiroshi calmly lowered the petal to his side, he looked right at the Sand ninja, freezing him in his tracks. Narrowing his eyes, the man ran at him with lightning-fast speed; soon he stood in front of Kankuro, his flower-sword piercing through his stomach.

"Kankuro-kun!" Hinata cried, her eyes open wide. Beside her, Gaara only smirked. "Relax and watch," he said, causing the kunoichi to look at him as if he were insane. "B-but Gaara-kun, h-he just…" She stopped when she noticed something strange about Kankuro. Despite just being impaled through the stomach, he hadn't even flinched, and no blood was spilling from the wound. Confused, Hiroshi's smile quickly faded as he stepped back, pulling his weapon from the ninja's body.

Kankuro began to twitch uncontrollably, his body moving in strange ways. A moment later he looked up to reveal that he wasn't Kankuro at all; it was Karasu, the Sand ninja's puppet. The real Sand ninja emerged from the bundle that had fallen on the ground while holding the handles of the puppet in his hands. Before Hiroshi could react, Karasu's mouth opened, and a poisoned dart shot out and embedded itself in the shinobi's arm.

"What the hell is this?" Hiroshi said angrily, hastily pulling the object from his arm and tossing it to the sand. "You'll pay for that, you little brat!" He lashed out wildly with his flower-sword, leaving deep gashes in Kankuro's arms and back as he grabbed his puppet and ran across the beach towards his friends.

For the first time, Hiroshi noticed that only two of the four genin were attacking him. The other one must have stayed behind to protect the girl because she's hurt, he thought, a small smile spreading over his face as his eyes traveled over to the two. Stuck with a newfound confidence, he began to run in the same direction that Kankuro had. With his unnatural speed, however, he was easily able to pass the Sand shinobi and was quickly approaching the remaining two.

Hinata stood with her Byakugan activated as they waited for Hiroshi's arrival. "I-I'll distract him while you get your sand ready, Gaara-kun," she said, getting into her fighting stance. Gaara silently agreed, preparing for his one and only attack. A little ways away, Kankuro and Shino were watching intently, hoping that their plan would work. You only have one shot, Gaara, Kankuro thought, knowing that the same thing had crossed everyone's mind.

As Hiroshi ran, he noticed that his speed was steadily decreasing, no doubt from the poison that was now spreading through his veins. I'd better make this quick, he though, gripping his weapon tightly. Due to the fact that his Flower Cluster Jutsu used up a lot of chakra, he decided that he wouldn't use it unless he had to, especially because there were six shinobi that he had to kill.

Hinata closed her eyes briefly before opening them and running towards her opponent with her outstretched palm facing towards him, ready to use the Juuken. Noticing this, Hiroshi stopped running and waited for her, slashing her left arm when she was near. Ignoring the blood that now trickled down her arm, Hinata slammed her hand into Hiroshi's stomach, getting two or three strikes in before the weapon connected with her side, knocking her down into the sand.

"I'll finish you first," Hiroshi growled, raising his weapon above her. Hinata tried to stand, but all the wounds that she had received were starting to take their toll, and she only managed to rise to her knees. She looked up at him, her Byakugan deactivated.

"Sabaku Kyuu!" Both of them turned to see Gaara standing with his hand outstretched; sand began to surround Hiroshi, beginning his final attack. "What the…?" The evil man began, but was cut off as the sand completely engulfed him. "Sabaku Soso!" Gaara muttered, clutching his hand into a fist to finish it. Hinata squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the blood she knew would follow.

But none did.

The sand slowly retracted, revealing a swirl of flowers instead of the ninja's body. The petals disappeared to show that Hiroshi was indeed alive, though blood was dripping down both his arms. "W-what?" Hinata stammered; she had no idea how he could have managed to protect himself with the flowers in such a short amount of time. Evidently, he somehow had, managing to escape from the attack with only his arms, which he could not fully protect in time, injured.

"I'm through playing around," he snarled, glaring down at the unprotected Hinata. "You're all going to die, here and now!" He bent down and picked up his fallen weapon, once again holding it above the kunoichi. "Die!" He yelled; but the weapon hit sand instead of flesh. With the last of his chakra, Gaara managed to create another wall of sand to block the attack. He quickly ran over and grabbed Hinata's arm, forcing her to her feet and gently pulling her across the sand. They only ran so far before Hinata collapsed, unable to go any further.

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered, breathing heavily. Gaara cursed silently; they were running out of options. Hiroshi began to walk towards them, his eyes glowing insanely. "There's nowhere to run, kiddies," he said, swaying slowly as the poison began to take its full effect. He was stopped, however, as a large purple object came towards him, sending him flying across the beach. Had his mind been working properly, he would have recognized it as a dragon's tail.

"Rai-san!" Hinata said happily when she saw the dragon staggering towards them. "You're alright!" Rai managed a small smile. "I may be alive, sweetie, but I'm far from alright." She sent a quick look to Hiroshi, who was already stumbling to his feet. "We don't have much time. Boy, I want you to have the rest of my chakra." This last part was directed at Gaara. Hinata was confused. Hadn't she sealed off all of the dragon's chakra points? Seeing her confusion, Rai explained. "You did manage to seal most of my chakra points, but not all of them. I may not have much chakra left, but there's probably enough for him to do that attack one more time."

"B-but how to we transfer chakra?" Hinata asked. She had never even heard of such a think, let alone think it was possible. Kankuro had a solution to this problem, however. "We can use the strings that I use to control my puppet," he said, coming up behind them. "They already have chakra in them, so they'll be the perfect conductors."

"That should work," Rai said nodding. Kankuro hastily detached the strings from Karasu and gave one end to the dragon and Gaara. "Are you sure this will work?" Gaara asked, staring at the seemingly ordinary string that he held in his hand. Rai nodded, then closed her eyes and focused. The string began to glow with chakra, and Gaara felt it entering his body. A moment later, the glow faded, the transfer complete.

"Well?" Kankuro asked, staring intently at his brother. Gaara shook his head. "It worked, but there's not enough for me to use Sabaku Soso again. Rai, having no more chakra left, let the string drop from her mouth, seeing no point in keeping it. Hinata caught it as it fell, holding it tightly. "L-let me try!" she said, causing everyone to stare at her. "I-I'll give Gaara-kun some of my chakra, too. Kankuro-kun, you and Shino-kun have already fought so hard and used your own chakra, so now it's my turn!" Without waiting for an answer, she closed her eyes and concentrated only on giving her chakra to Gaara. The string began to glow once again, and Gaara felt the kunoichi's warm chakra flowing through his body.

When she felt that she had given him enough chakra, Hinata opened her eyes and swayed unsteadily, dropping the string as she began to fall forward. Gaara, who was standing in front of her, reached out and grabbed her. "D-did it work?" she asked softly as she was slowly lowered to the ground. Gaara nodded, turning to his brother. "Kankuro, stay here," he commanded, standing up to face the approaching Hiroshi.

"So what?" Hiroshi said, still clutching his flower-sword. "I'll just kill you all before you even have a chance to use that technique again! Flower Cluster Jutsu!" He began to laugh crazily, waiting for the familiar feeling of his chakra leaving his outstretched fingers and enter the flowers that surrounded him.

Nothing happened.

"What is this?" he said, looking down at his hands. "Flower Cluster Jutsu! Flower Cluster Jutsu!" Still nothing happened, and he fell to his knees; Hinata's earlier attack had managed to seal off enough chakra points that, with his already low supply of chakra from his earlier attacks, he didn't have enough to perform the technique.

"Sabaku Kyuu!" Hiroshi felt the sand once again begin to swallow him, and he looked around frantically. "No! Please stop! I-I promise I'll never do something like this again! Please!" Gaara stood in front of him, no emotion present on his face. "Face it: you're going to die here. Sabaku Soso." He once again closed his hand into a fist, and welcomed the familiar sight of red spilling from the sand coffin.

"Y-you did it, Gaara-kun!" Hinata, who was sitting on her knees in the sand, said happily. She looked up to Rai, who was now lying down on the sand, her eyes barely open. "T-thank you so much, Rai-san. We couldn't have done it without you!" Rai closed her eyes and gave a small smile.

"No, thank you, child," she said, leaning her head down on the sand. "Because of you, I was freed from that bastard's spell, and I have the joy of knowing that I didn't die by his hands." Hinata's face became filled with worry. "R-Rai-san, please hold on! W-we have medical shinobi that we can send to heal you!"

Rai slowly shook her head. "Thank you dear, but this is fine. After all these years, it's finally time for me to go. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you." She closed her eyes and whispered, "Thank you," before passing on.


Author's notes:

I really have no idea if transferring chakra is possible. I know that the medical shinobi do it when they heal, but this is pretty different. In any case, if it wasn't possible, then it is now.


Wow, that chapter was surprisingly depressing at the end. Still, this is definitely the longest chapter thus far, and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. I think this story with be coming to an end soon, mostly because I'm running out of ideas. That's partly why this chapter took so long to get out; I couldn't think of how to defeat Hiroshi. As always, please review and let me know how I did.

Ja ne!