Chapter 26: Returning to Konoha

We all run for two days, shaving off hours of travel time by going at the usual Team Guy high speeds. I notice we are nearing the village, and get a wicked idea.

"Neji." I call out to my twin. "I'm gonna make them cry. See you later." He nods with a sigh as a response, and I use my eyes and lock onto my mark 20 kilometers in the distance at the front gates of the village. I transport myself to it, and walk up slowly to the check in stand.

"Kotetsu, Izumo. Hey, you guys got any tea or snacks?" I ask the guards. They always have something to munch on up here.

"Ami, hey, welcome back. We just brewed some Oolong tea, would you like to join us?" Izumo says, pulling out another cup for me. I smile and thank them, and we chat for a bit about my mission I just came back from. When I spot Sensei and Lee coming up quick, I give them a heads up.

"You're about to watch a grown man cry." I say with a devious smirk as Sensei runs through the gate.

"First place!" Sensei calls out. Lee runs in right after him.

"Second place!" Lee calls out, but Sensei turns to him.

"Wrong!" Sensei screams out, "You see Kakashi here on my back? He technically got second place. As you were behind him, you got third!" Lee starts to sob at that, taking notes.

I whistle out to catch their attention and they both snap their heads towards where I'm sitting on the check in table, a tea cup in my hand. "You're both wrong. I got here first. Already had tea and everything, slowpokes." I say casually to them.

"No!" Sensei and Lee both call out, and Sensei does indeed start to cry. "I lost!? The power of my youth was not enough! As punishment, I will do 100 laps around the village while doing only kicks instead of steps!" Sensei gives himself a punishment, and Lee quickly vows to join him. As they are doing this, Neji and the others arrive as well. He just walks up to me where I sit grinning at the losers.

"Another punishment?" He asks me sighing. I nod my head at him.

"Uh... Guy Sensei?" Sakura calls out, interrupting him as he's about to start his laps. "Maybe we should get Kakashi to the hospital first." She says hesitantly.

Sensei immediately remembers he has an unconscious person on his back, and we proceed to take him to the hospital. We leave Kakashi's team with him as we go and report to Tsunade. After our report, she calls out for me to stay behind.

"How did it go?" She asks seriously after securing the room, making sure no one can hear.

"About the same, honestly. Having Team Guy there ensured the death of Deidara this time, but honestly he didn't amount to much in the show later anyway. He would have just gotten killed by Sasuke later. I also collected these." I say, pulling out the two rings. "I don't remember if they have any actual powers or if they are just symbolic. I can't see any traces of seals or chakra in them at all. I'm just gonna collect them, maybe I'll taunt Pain or someone with them later." I say with a smirk.

"And your other mission?" She asks me with an edge.

"I received Lady Chiyo's reanimation scroll." I say, pulling it out and handing it to her. "The method is interesting. It's crafted to have two methods, one where the sacrifice is willing, and as you can see in her notes, she also crafted a ritual for a forced sacrifice as well. Not that much of a pacifist, was she?" I ask grimly.

"This is insane. This method... Ami, I can't just keep something like this here." Tsunade says while she reads the scroll with her eyes open wide.

"I will keep it secure." I vow to her as I accept the scroll back. "I can add it to the ones from Orochimaru's hideout. Perhaps I can combine the two methods somehow." I store it back up.

"This bridge mission. This is when they find Kabuto and Orochimaru, correct?" Tsunade asks me for confirmation. I nod to her. "Ok, then we will send a second team along. Your team. Your mission will be to take down Orochimaru if you can."

"Tsunade, you will be asked to fill Sasuke's spot on team Kakashi soon. Let it happen. It will be a member of Root, who reports to Danzo. Let it happen as if you didn't know. He will help lead us to Orochimaru's hideout where he is currently. It's also where Sasuke is. I am going to meet with him again, and get an idea of his mind set. I must ask you now, if it has changed, what will you do?" I ask her seriously.

"Changed how?" She asks skeptically.

"If he is lost still on his blind rage towards his brother, then nothing will have changed. If he realizes who his real enemy is, Danzo, and his goals have changed to killing him, how will you view Sasuke then?" I ask her curiously but with an edge.

She sighs out loudly, "Ami, if he kills Danzo, good for him. But if he attempts to destroy the village at all, then he is a rogue and a threat." She tells me firmly. "However, if he doesn't try that, then I see no reason to pardon him like we talked about earlier." She tells me. 

We had worked out a deal that Sasuke will be pardoned once he returns as long as he doesn't do anything too drastically evil while he's gone. He was basically poisoned and corrupted by Orochimaru to leave the village in the first place, so I convinced her to give him a pass. She accepted that easily enough back when we had our first truth moment.

A knock on the door interrupts our continued conversation. I transport myself home instantly, not wanted to be spotted by anyone. I store the new scroll safely away in a hidden spot in my home for now. I rested happily in my own bed that night, and made breakfast for Neji and I in the morning before heading out to greet people.

"Shika, good morning." I greet my friend, finding him hanging out in the street waiting for someone.

"Ami, been a little while." He greets me with a small smile, opening one eye to me.

"You've been busy planning those Chuunin exams. That going well?" I ask him. I last saw him about two months ago passed out on top of his usual hill. He had fallen asleep watching the clouds while taking a break, his dad had sent me out to find him when I went to his place looking for him.

"Eh, it's troublesome." He shrugs out with a sigh. We talk a little bit more about what goes in to planning the exams, and I tease him good naturedly about having just seen Temari. I can see they both have developed a crush over the last years with her visits to our village. She's one of the official Sand emissaries, so she's here often enough.

"Hey, you waiting here for someone? It's rare to see you awake this early." I comment after we've been standing around talking for over half an hour.

"Yeah, I was supposed to be meeting Choji, but he's late. It's a drag." He grumbles out. I spot Naruto in the distance, and go to make myself scarce. He's almost as bad as Lee or Sensei in the morning, just too much noise for this early.

"Hope you find him, bye!" I peace out of there quickly, making my way elsewhere. I walk around for a while before I come across Kiba's team who were fanning Hinata awake. "What happened here?" I ask curiously, but I have an idea.

"Naruto." Kiba growls out in irritation. I bend down to Hinata and hit one of her chakra points with my Gentle Fist, it causes a small surge of adrenaline and she bounces up awake.

"There you go Lady Hinata, that ought to wake you up again." I say to her with a smile. She looks around in confusion for a moment before focusing on me again.

"Thanks, Ami nee-san. I had the strangest dream I ran into... uh..." She stutters out and blushes.

I grin at her wickedly, "Into Na-ru-to?" I sound his name out slowly and watch her turn all red again. "Oh but you did Hinata. He's back home again." I tell her.

"Don't antagonize her more Ami, she needs to be awake for our mission." Kiba scolds me lightly as Akamaru barks in confirmation at me. I glance over at Shino who seems down in the dumps about something.

"What's up Shino? You look like someone completely didn't recognize you despite knowing you for years." I say innocently at him. 

I'm starting to have way too much fun knowing the story. It helps I've been opening up more and talking to people as people instead of as characters, so these little moments where they act the same as their characters are fun for me. 

"Astute as ever. Naruto barely recognized me. Then called me creepy." Shino says in his deep and mysterious voice. Shirotsu speaks the same way, it must be a clan trait.

"Cheer up, he's an idiot. Plus, you do hide your face, so take it as a compliment? And to clarify was he calling you creepy or your bugs creepy. Because there's a huge difference. You aren't creepy, but your bugs..." I trail off with an innocent smirk.

I feel something start to crawl on my hand and spin around, spotting Shirotsu walking up to us. "Still creeped out by our bugs, Ami?" Shirotsu taunts me lightly as I shake the bug off my hand. I take out a kunai and launch it at him at top speed. His bugs catch it as it impacts in his shoulder, blocking him from harm but killing several. "Stop killing my bugs. And stop throwing knives at me." He sighs out in exasperation. This happens... often.

"Stop sending your bugs at me!" I say to him challengingly in return. We have a stare off for a moment before we both smirk at each other. "Shirotsu, how ya been?" I ask him as we relax and he joins me next to Shino's side.

"Been fine. Started talking to the Hokage about being a genin trainer." He says with Aburame levels of happiness, which isn't much but I can tell. We all chat for a bit longer before Kurenai arrives for her team, and Shirotsu and I head to a tea house to chat some more.

"Ami, I've never heard you mention what you want to do long term. You currently are a Jonin, and either go on solo missions or on A or S rank missions with your team like you just did, but do you have other things you want to do?" Shirotsu asks me as we get our tea.

I think about that for a moment. I have been focusing so much on the story and the coming war that I haven't thought about what to do after the war. "Huh... You know, I don't think I have an answer to that. I've been busy with my missions, they keep me occupied, so I don't really have an end game goal I guess." I tell him honestly.

"You would be well suited to advisory, or emissary positions. You're good with people." He comments casually. I snort at the notion and start to laugh.

"Yeah, I'm super great." I sneer sarcastically, "Just make sure they like being stabbed or ignored if they're annoying." I bust up laughing at the thought of stabbing Tsunade as her advisor. I still haven't gotten around to it, and she's the only Sannin I haven't gotten yet. It almost feels like a black mark on my record. "On second thought, yeah let me go be Tsunade's advisor. I have a collection to complete." I say with a wicked smirk.

"I don't like that laugh. That's not a happy laugh." He sighs out at me and then joins in chuckling. "It was just a thought. You get along with many different people around the village, like me." He says honestly. I smile at him as response. He's good company when he's not sending his bugs at me. He works really hard for his goals and I admire that, just like all my other friends do as well. Shirotsu and I chat around for a while longer until it's time for him to leave, and I go back around to my wandering. I decide to visit Kakashi at the hospital, and I find Jiraiya there too.

"Kakashi, Jiraiya, how are you both?" I ask them as I walk into the room.

"Ami, been a while!" Jiraiya says, looking me up and down. I can see him about to say something more, and I pull out a knife in warning. He stutters for a moment. "And it is so very pleasant to see you again on this fine day." He covers whatever lewd comment he was going to make with excessive politeness. I just smile at him sweetly in response.

"Kakashi, I see you're in your favorite place. I didn't think you wore yourself out that much on the mission." I joke to him as I approach.

"I'm still not used to the Kamui. Even if I had good warning time thanks to you, it still feels like I can't move a muscle." Kakashi tells me. He goes on to tell Jiraiya about how Naruto didn't need the Nine-Tails chakra suppression seal. Jiraiya looked hesitant to speak while I was in the room, so I just bid them a good day and went back out to the village. I already know largely what they will talk about.

"Ami Hyuga. The Hokage needs to see you at once." One of the Hokage's ANBU appears and summons me. I nod and transport myself into her office.

My team is already gathered so I go to stand next to Neji. Tsunade goes into her mission objectives, "Team Guy, you have been selected to go with Team Kakashi on the reconnaissance mission to the Tenchi Bridge. However, your mission will be different than there's. There has been a sighting of Orochimaru in that area recently, so your mission will be to capture or kill him if he shows up at the scene. If he escapes you, since he's a snake like that, your job is to follow him and locate his hideout. This is an S rank mission. Do not underestimate him at all. Hyuga's, always keep your eyes on him, he always has a backup plan. Guy and Lee, your speed and strength will be imperative for both attack and pursuit. Keep in contact with Team Kakashi, but focus more on perimeter and trapping the snake. Understood?" Tsunade finishes sternly.

"Yes ma'am!" We all reply and head out.

"One moment." Tsunade calls us to pause. We turn and face her again, "Travel with Team Kakashi, they leave in the morning. Stay hidden during they're encounter with the spy, your focus is only on Orochimaru. Ami, can you stay a moment and help finish up these Chuunin proctor assignments before you go? Shikamaru requested your help." I nod and the team leaves me there. 

She speaks in code for me as we work for a moment together. She lets me know that Yamato will have a different mission as well, to track and follow Sai, even if it means leaving Naruto and Sakura behind. I nod subtly as I work on the report. It's a fake report, Shika already filled his out earlier. After I'm done and the message has been received, I head home to get ready for the mission. I grab up the scroll I sealed the lightning sword in, because I will likely not get a golden opportunity like this again to see Sasuke and give it to him. I go to sleep that night thinking about my friend and how much I miss him.