Chapter 25: Gaara Returns Home

"Wow, that sounds like it was intense." I tell Neji after he and Lee finish telling me a brief summary of what happened on their end. I guess that didn't change too much from the original. We still got the same intel, only this time Sakura and Chiyo came out without injuries, and Neji and Lee got some but they aren't major at all.

"Not as amazing as your story here, Ami." Lee says enthusiastically to her.

"Nah, our guy was already weakened..." I say sadly, looking over at Gaara's body. "Gaara already did the hard work for us."

Everyone turns to look at Gaara, who is being held by Naruto still. He hasn't let him go all this time. We all move out of the destroyed forest section we were in, moving over to the open field so we could be more comfortable as Naruto finally lays Gaara down. Sakura goes to assess his body, and she sadly pulls away from him, confirming he is dead. I look over subtly at Chiyo, starting to panic that by having her not fight that she won't bring him back now.

I watch the moment that determination settles onto the old woman's face. She steps forward to Gaara's body and places her hands over him. I activate my eyes and watch the process, and notice Neji is doing the same.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Naruto asks her with a bit of aggression. 

Chiyo ignores him and continues to work as Sakura explains vaguely what she's doing, but not telling him the old lady is going to die in exchange. I just sit back next to Kakashi where he is resting and watch, both of us using our eyes to observe the process. He knew this moment would also happen, and it's important that we know the process. I give him a short look of relief before returning my attention back to the old woman. He had given me warnings that changes I make will have a domino effect, but I'm glad that this one, as sad as it is, works out the same. If I could have found a way to prevent both deaths, I would have.

Naruto steps in and offers his own chakra as Chiyo is getting too tired from the puppet fight she did earlier, even if she is uninjured. She's still elderly, and is bringing back someone who's been dead for almost half a day now. I watch with my eyes as the last bit of her chakra leaves her body and goes into Gaara, and watch as his chakra network starts working again. Chiyo passes away quietly into Sakura's arms as Gaara opens his eyes again, gasping out loudly in shock.

"Gaara!" Several member of the surrounding group call out. As we sat here in the field, a few dozen Sand shinobi had turned up, including Temari and Kankuro. Naruto starts to help Gaara sit up along with his sister.

"Should have known I'd be unconscious the one time you swoop in to save me." Kankuro says to me, helping me stand up from the ground. My chakra is recovering, so I'm fine, just really wanting a goods nights rest in a bed.

"Sorry pretty damsel, better luck next time." I say with a wink to him. This is a fun back and forth we do with one another, and we both chuckle softly. Now is not the time for laughing though. Naruto is just now figuring out that Chiyo traded her life. 

Gaara attempts to stand back up, but starts to fall because of the rigor mortis. I quickly get to his side and catch him, just as Naruto does the same on his other side. He looks at both of us in surprise, but allows us to help him up. We all look to Lady Chiyo as she lays in front of Sakura, who is crying over her body.

"A moment of silence for Lady Chiyo, a hero of the Sand village." Gaara says in his very deep gravelly voice. We all close our eyes in respect to the fallen shinobi. After, her body gets wrapped up and carried amongst her people on a gurney. We begin our slow journey back to the Sand village, Gaara being supported by his brother and Naruto.

"Ami, look what I collected after the fight." Lee says proudly as he walks up to me while we are all traveling. He pulls out Sasori's Akatsuki ring and shows it to me.

"Hey!" I exclaim out, "Good thinking Lee. Tsunade wanted us to collect any information we can on them, I grabbed this one off Deidara." I tell him, showing him my own.

"She is collecting? Then here, you take this and turn it in together with yours." Lee gives his over quickly.

"Thanks Lee." I thank him genuinely, pocketing the second ring. I don't know yet what I'll do with them, they serve no real purpose as far as I know, I just remember that Tobi needed Sasori's after his death to be a member. Maybe I'll use them to taunt Obito or Pain later.

"Thank you for saving both of my brothers." Temari says sincerely as she comes to walk besides me later.

"I hardly saved them, Temari. I showed up too late for both of them." I tell her softly.

"You got Kankuro back faster than our recon team could even find him. And you helped avenge my brother's killer. You did that." She says firmly, looking me in the eye.

I think on her words, then nod slightly in acceptance. "I would do it again for my friends. I just wish they never had to go through that in the first place at all." I tell her honestly.

Not knowing the exact timing of events makes it so I can't prevent certain outcomes. The only real change I made this time was killing Deidara. Temari and I spend the rest of the walk going over the recent events, and then talking about the upcoming Chuunin exams she is coordinating with Shikamaru over. I tease her gently about him, talking my friend up and telling her fond stories I have of him. Nothing too embarrassing, just good memories that made me like him as my friend.

We make it back to the Sand village after a very long walk. Kakashi had to be supported by Guy for a bit of it. He didn't use the Kamui as much as in the show, but he still had to catch the large explosion, so he's very tired. I talked with Kakuro a bit too, just checking in on how he's doing since the poison. I don't get to see the Sand siblings often, so this is nice, despite the circumstances, to get to catch up with them. They took a good interest in what's been new with me as well, Temari admiring my new silent arrow attacks, and Gaara liking my new scythe after he heard that part of the tale. Gaara's always been an odd one to crack, he takes an interest in random things, but I found he likes things that are unique, and actions or objects that are often rejected or underestimated. Therefore with me, he loves my weapons, each of which are not typical ninja weapons.

The sounds of cheering is what greets us as we approach the walls of the village. Everyone cheering and happy that their Kazekage has returned home. Gaara looks stunned that all his ninja and citizens are gathered to greet him. Naruto gives him some words of encouragement to step forward and accept it, but Gaara steps aside so those carrying Lady Chiyo can pass by first. We all follow her in, and an envoy directs us Konoha shinobi to some guest rooms at the Kazekage tower. I'm roomed up with Sakura, and we both promptly pass out as soon as we see the beds.

"Ami." I hear from above me as I stir awake. I swat my hand at whoever is waking me up and turn over. "Ami, wake up." I recognize the voice. It's Kakashi. I turn to glare at him, but then catch the look in his eyes. I nod to him and he leaves the room. We have another mission to accomplish while we are here. I quickly and silently get dressed and head out of the room, ensuring that Sakura didn't wake up at all.

"Have you located it yet?" I ask him in a whisper.

"Just the general idea of where, I'll need your Byakugan to narrow it down." He tells me and we set off slowly, only being able to move so fast with his worn out body. He guides me towards a hallway not far from where we are staying, with thankfully no one in sight. "It should be one of these rooms."

I activate my eyes, and search through them one by one. It's harder to find something that's written down, so it takes more focus. Eventually, I spot our target in the fourth room over. "Fourth door. Heavily sealed and with multiple traps. Plus, there's a guard in the room, ANBU." I tell him nearly silently. He just sighs before taking out several tags that each have the ability to unlock seals. Tsunade had these secretly made for us by her barrier corps. 

Step one, get in the room. Kakashi places a tag on the door, unlocking it and granting us access. Step two, distract the guard. He uses a genjutsu to make the ANBU think no one is in the room at all, but because it's an ANBU, it will only last for a few seconds. Step three, I go in at lightning fast speed and place the seal breaker on the desired scroll. Step four, place a replica scroll in its place and remove the seal breaker tag, thus putting the seal back into active mode. Step five, get out before ANBU catches on. I transport us both back to outside of my door where I had left my marker at before we started. I use my eyes still to keep watch on the ANBU, I can see he is looking around for a moment, but he gives it up after not finding anything odd and goes back to his mission of guarding.

"Mission successful." I inform Kakashi, and open the scroll. "Lady Chiyo's Reanimation Jutsu she created for puppets."

"Good work. Keep that safe, don't want it falling into the wrong hands." He warns me. "Get some more sleep, we head out in the morning." He leaves to go back to his own room as I tuck the scroll away in my storage pouch. 

He and I have been looking all over the nations on our assassination mission for information on reanimation techniques. We need to find a way to either counter Kabuto's he will use in the war, or find a method to bring back our ally's we lose during it. Lady Chiyo's is not suited for either because of the cost, but it's still a method that could be perfected or utilized differently. 

I head back to sleep with a little guilt on my conscience for stealing from my friends, but knowing I will most likely use it for good helps me clear that. I've stolen enough stuff in this world that it doesn't really bother me anymore. My thievery habits did make Tsunade double down on our own security at the Hokage tower when I confessed on how I robbed it so easily at the age of 14. She was less than pleased about that.

"Ami." I hear once again from above my head as I was sleeping some more. I just groan in response and turn to glare at the offender. "Ami, it's time to leave now." I hear Sakura say fearfully as I give her a blank dead stare.

"Ami, breakfast is ready." I hear from the door. I rise up out of bed at that and start getting dressed immediately.

"How?" Sakura goes to the door and greets my brother in disbelief. "She was just like a zombie a second ago!"

"You will learn her traits eventually." Neji says calmly as I join them.

"Food?" I ask shortly. 

Neji leads us to a dining room where Lee and Sensei already are. I sit down and load up a plate of food. No one speaks to me until I've eaten at least half my plate. I can see them watching and waiting until I'm there. Naruto walks in and starts to say something when Lee and Sensei both clamp their hands over his mouth and turn to watch me again.

"Safe!" Guy calls out once I have eaten half my food. "Alright team, we will leave after we say goodbye to the Kazekage."

"What's safe?" Naruto asks in complete confusion.

"Never speak to Ami until she's had at least half her morning breakfast." Lee informs him in utmost sincerity.

"Why? It's just Ami, she's like the calmest person ever. How bad could it be?" Naruto asks innocently. I turn my still dead expression and bore my eyes straight into his soul. I keep my gaze there until Neji shoves a cup of tea in my hands. I feel myself relax as I take a sip, it's jasmine tea. "Never mind. I figured out why." Naruto says fearfully before hesitantly taking a seat at the table. I smile warmly at him.

"Good morning." I say kindly to him as he stares at me cautiously.

"That was terrifying." I hear Sakura whisper to Kakashi as they sat down too.

"That was nothing." Lee, Neji, Guy Sensei, and Kakashi all say at the same time. They have all been on the receiving end of my morning attitude. 

I didn't used to be so bad in mornings when this body was younger, I could wake up just fine with normal energy. Over the recent years though, I can be a bit... unpleasant and homicidal in the morning until I've eaten. It's a bit like when Lee has sake, just a short term difference in personality. It's mostly just because Guy and Lee are just way too much for me in the morning, I blame them.

We go after breakfast to say our farewells to Gaara and his siblings. Kankuro and Temari walk us out of the village. While Naruto and Sakura say goodbye to Chiyo's headstone that is already erected, the siblings bid us farewell.

"Thank you again for everything." Temari says while bowing to us. Neji and I bow back a respectful amount, but Guy and Lee take it to two opposite extremes. Lee bows excessively, bopping up and down, and Sensei just dismisses her thanks. Temari, Neji and I all just sigh together as one.

"Don't worry about it. It's what friends are for." I say, nudging her arm lightly. I feel a weight wrap around my shoulders before I can step back to my team again.

"When are you going to admit we are so much more than friends, beautiful?" Kankuro asks me jokingly from his spot perched with his arm wrapped around me.

"Right about the time that you become smart enough not to flirt with me in front of my brother." I say cheekily as Neji advances towards him with a death glare. Kankuro drops his arm quickly while Neji grabs me and drags me back to his side as I giggle at his actions. "Better luck next time!" I wink at him as my usually way of goodbye.

"You have to stop egging him on every time." Neji grumbles at me as we all start walking home.

"It's entertaining. Besides, it's harmless. He knows it won't go anywhere, so we make it a contest to be as cheesy as possible." I giggle out. I had let Kankuro know it wouldn't happen years ago.

"If it is a contest, then I know you shall win Ami!" Lee says, getting fired up. 

We notice that Guy wasn't the one to say it, usually 'contest' is his trigger word. We look behind us and notice he is lagging behind, once again supporting Kakashi. He could barely move last night on our thieving mission, and using that genjutsu just wore him out more.

"I'll show you all a contest!!" Sensei yells out angrily, throwing Kakashi into a piggy back ride and taking off running.

Lee see's this and immediately moves his backpack to his front and crouches down in front of Neji. "Neji, get on. We shall join them." He says in complete seriousness.

"Not a change in hell." Neji immediately rebukes.

"Ami." Lee pivots his body so it's angled for me to get on. I debate for half a second, then grab my bag and Neji's bag and strap them onto Lee's back. I walk over to Naruto and Sakura and take theirs too, securing them onto Lee's back as well.

"There ya go, it counts." I say to him with a shrug.

"It is not the same at all!!" Lee complains.

I turn a straight face to him and stare him directly in the eye. "Better hurry Lee. You're losing the race."

Lee takes off fearfully in a sprint to catch up with Sensei. I turn to the others, locking eyes with Neji. We know the drill, and we take off running. I glance back at Naruto and Sakura who are both just standing there in confusion and call out, "Better hurry up guys, they won't wait for you!"