Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one, this chapter will reveal some of Ami's past. Please review to let me know your thoughts

Also this is the last chapter of Lightning in The Hidden Leaf, thank you to all of you who read, favourite, followed and reviewed my story, the sequel will be up at some point so keep a look out for Search for A Sannin

Chapter 22: - One chapter end, Another begins

"I don't really know how much damage I can do, but it doesn't really matter, I just have to give it my best shot," Naruto muttered. I looked into his hands and saw a kunai with a paper bomb wrapped around the handle.

"Attack a joint, they'll be the weakest spots," I advised. Naruto nodded heading my advice. "I'll keep him occupied," I added on. Naruto had a smirk on his face as if he was planning something, he then summoned a small amount of clones and I understood these were backup. We charged in for the attack and Naruto proclaimed he was going to use the ultimate secret Taijutsu.

Gaara launched his hand out, but three of the clones blocked the attack, I landed on the hand and threw the real Naruto down so that he could get in reach. As Gaara was going to attack the real Naruto, he summoned another clone which took the fall instead and the real Naruto was able to land behind Gaara, knowing the dangers of a paper bomb, I jumped back off the hand and landed on a tree branch so that I was out of the possible explosion zone, but close enough to help Naruto if needed.

"Take this, Leaf Village Secret Taijutsu, straight from the teaching of Kakashi-sensei. Thousand Years of Death!" Naruto declared as he stabbed the kunai into… Gaara's butt. A sweat drop formed on my head at the insanity that my teammates had learned from Kakashi-sensei, and it seemed that everyone else was thinking the same thing as me.

Gaara tail swung out and struck him, sending him flying backwards, before I could grab him thought, Sasuke had somehow managed to move himself and blocked Naruto from slamming into a tree. The paper bomb then went off shrouding the area where Gaara was in a large cloud of smoke.

"I'm not sure whether to call that move, genius or idiocy," I told the blonde as I landed beside him, Naruto only response was to shoot me his signature grin.

"It's amazing how often those to coincide with him," Sasuke groaned from behind Naruto. We looked back to see the smoke clearing and I saw that part of Gaara's transformation had reverted to loose sand.

"All of that work and you only scored one blow," Sasuke shot at Naruto. It was reassuring to hear Sasuke criticise Naruto, it meant that he wasn't in that much pain.

"Ah, put a sock in it," Naruto shot back

"One blow that does great damage, is better than many blows that to no damage at all," I stated, keeping my eyes on Gaara.

"Naruto, Ami, listen to me. You have to save Sakura if it's the last thing you do, once you've got her and I want the both of you to take her and flee as fast as you can. It's all up to the both of you," Sasuke told us. I looked at the Uchiha, the Curse Mark still covered his body and I gritted my teeth.

"Sasuke you…," Naruto trailed off, unable to say anything to the boy.

"I can hold him here a little longer. If it ends here it just means this was as far as I was meant to go, I lost everything once. I don't want to have to see that again. My trusted comrades, falling right in front of me," Sasuke stated as he rose to his feet.

"I'm not going to let you kill yourself. I already promised that I'd save all of you and I don't break my promises," I stated, as I stepped in front of him. Naruto seemed to understand exactly what Gaara was going through, as he rose to his feet he continued. Naruto thought that since Gaara fought only for himself, he had more strength than Naruto did but true strength came from protecting someone precious to you.

Naruto then formed a hand sign and a huge amount of chakra flew around him, I was in a state of shock never had I seen so much chakra come off of a person through sheer willpower. A large cloud of smoke surrounded us and when it dissipated, I saw thousands, upon thousands of Shadow Clones surrounding the area and I was sure that if the situation wasn't so dangerous, my jaw would have fallen to the floor in shock.

"Naruto, you continually surprise me," I muttered, in shock. And it seemed like I wasn't the only one everyone else was stunned by this turn of events. Naruto told Sasuke to take it easy and to let me and Naruto handle this. These words shocked me out of my trance and I summoned about twenty Shadow Clones, surprising the boys even further, but Naruto was quick to recover as we sent in our clones to attack.

The clones unleashed a barrage of shuriken, then the Naruto clones began to use the Uzumaki Barrage whilst my clones used other weapons to slash through the sand. Because of the hefty damage, Gaara's body was beginning to dissolve and two Naruto clones dealt another punch sending Gaara flying down to the ground, the Naruto clones went in for another attack.

"There's absolutely no way, I'm going to lose to a guy like him!" Gaara roared at us from below. Suddenly a large spike of the transformation shot up into the sky and destroyed all the clones, whilst sending me and Naruto flying back into a tree. A large cloud of smoke was present but within it I could see an extremely large silhouette, one that towered over the treetops, when the smoke faded I saw sandy-brown coloured tanuki, with dark blue cursed seal markings all over its face, body, and tail. It had a jagged, concave mouth and the sclera of its eyes are black, with yellow irises and pupils that each takes the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it.

A felt the pain in my side flare up and I looked down to see that I was bleeding heavily. My shirt having already been thoroughly stained by the crimson liquid and having a large tear along with it.

"So that's it the monster inside of him," Naruto stated. I was actually nervous and having to face it, but I had to be strong for my friends, especially after what I did to Gaara.

*Naruto*

I could no longer remain in the Hidden Sand Village, not after who I had seen near the borders, it seems like they were catching up to me and I refused to let that happen. I was racing across the desert, hoping to escape detection by anyone, because that would only cause problems, however after getting a few meters away from the Village I was cornered by an unsuspected group of people.

Before me, dressed in their daytime clothing and looking extremely worried and confused but ready to fight were the Sand Siblings. Temari's fan was already open, in her hands, Kankurō's puppet was already activate, only Gaara seemed unarmed, but after seeing them fight and training with them I knew he was never unarmed.

"Ami what are you doing?" Temari asked. I didn't respond and this served to anger Kankurō, who launched Crow at me, I dodge the initial attack and removed a kunai charging it with charka I slashed through the puppet strings before charging at the puppet master and slamming my leg into his abdomen.

"Get out of my way before the same happens to you," I told the other two. Temari and Gaara didn't looked worried though only concerned by my – to them – 'unusual' behaviour.

"Ami tell us what's going on and we'll help," Temari tried to persuade me.

"You can't, no one can," I stated. I then pulled down my hood and after quickly forming hand signs I unleashed a barrage of Fire at Temari, she attempted to use her wind but in only strengthened my fire which engulfed her, leaving her unconscious once it dissipated. I then turned my attention to Gaara.

"Where's the ribbon?" Gaara asked, once he saw the ribbon wasn't in its' usual place atop my head. I didn't answer instead I launched my weapons at him, the looked on his face nearly broke my heart but I had to… to protect him from danger.

The sand rose to protect him, but I used that to activate another jutsu and I streaked away from him, after running for many minutes, I ground to a stop. I reached into my pocket and removed the ribbon before retying it in my hair now in a braid, I had shatter the friendship that had taken me seven months to build by attacking himand now I would never see him again.

I promised myself there and then that I would no longer truly smile until the day I found the love to heal my broken heart… which would never happen.

*Naruto*

I was brought out of my memories when I saw Naruto being engulfed in sand, quickly acting I did my Phoenix Rebirth, which healed my wound before jumping over to Naruto, just as the sand engulfed his form. I was about to pulse of lighting into the sand when suddenly a huge cloud of smoke engulfed me again and when it faded I found myself much higher in the sky than I was before.

Looking down I saw that I was on the back of a huge pale red toad with darker red markings, that also wore a jacket and had a pipe in its' mouth.

"Sakura I swear, I'll protect you," I heard Naruto say. I turned my head in his direction on to see that he was standing right next to me.

"Naruto, did you do this?" I asked the blonde. He responded by simply nodding his head.

"What the- Not you again. What is this?" The toad spoke, but then his attention was seized by the full transformation that stood right in front of us. "Well will you look at that, Shukaku the Sand Spirit," The toad stated, as he seemed to know the spirit.

"What do you say, will you fight alongside me today, Chief Toad?" Naruto asked. The toad blew smoke out of his mouth before responding.

"Take a hike," The toad stated. This statement shocked me and annoyed Naruto. "Why go out of my way to mess with a guy like him? What am I an idiot?" The toad asked, but they seemed to be rhetorical question as I don't think me or Naruto had an answer. However Naruto proceeded to get into an argument with the giant toad about Naruto being his henchman or something

"This has to be the most stubborn summon I've ever met," I stated. However this ended up attracting the toad's attention to me. Naruto saved me from being thrown off the toad by saying I was his teammate and the toad was soon distracted by the smaller toad speaking up.

"Aw come on pops don't be like that, why don't you just settle down and hear the kid out?" The smaller toad requested. I think both me and Naruto were stuck on the 'pops' bit. The bigger toad asked why the smaller toad – calling him Gamakichi – was here, but he was quickly told that Shukaku attacked Gamakichi and that we had helped him, this seemed to encourage the big toad to help us.

The toad then removed a sword form beside him and told us to sit tight, he then charged towards Shukaku at such a speed that it sent me and Naruto falling back onto his head. He then jumped into the air once he had neared the Sand Spirit.

The toad brought down his sword into Shukaku right forelimb and took it clean off. We end up behind the demon because of the force. The sword landed in the ground, near where the others were.

"Naruto we've got to be careful, otherwise these two might hit the others," I told him. Naruto nodded and quickly relayed the message to the Chief Toad who understood.

"Interesting, interesting. Not bad Naruto Uzumaki," Gaara called out to us. I knew that he might snap at any moment and I couldn't let that happen to him, I saw a sandy whirlpool formed on top of Shukaku and Gaara's human form came out of it. The toad explained to Naruto what the circles around Gaara's eyes meant he had insomnia and how it also affected his personality, but so long as Gaara was awake, Shukaku was sealed away. However if he fell asleep at all, Shukaku would be released. I noticed that Gaara had formed a hand sign and then suddenly Gaara went limp, the toad explained that since Gaara had used the Play Possum Jutsu Shukaku would be unleashed.

"I'm finally free, here I come baby," Shukaku declared in a loud voice, he then raised his hand and pointed it at us. "Here we go, I hope you're ready to die, let's do this," Shukaku called out to us.

"I'm going to jump," The toad warned us. I took a grip on some of the toad skin as did Naruto, the two exchange Bullet Jutsus with Shukaku using Wind and the toad using Water, this cause short bursts of rain to fall when the two collided. At one point Shukaku had secretly launched a third bullet and the toad was unable to block it but we managed to survive the attack although the toad was damaged.

"Chief what do we do?" Naruto asked. We had to stop Shukaku before the landscape became permanently redecorated.

"Well first you can wake up the spiritualist medium to release that jutsu," The toad advised.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Naruto wondered. The toad answer was for Naruto to punch him, they used the Bullet Jutsus again and the toad used the cover to land and seize a hold of Shukaku, but before Naruto was able to hit Gaara, the toad lost his hold.

"Hey Chief you're going to have to keep a grip if you want me to get a shot in," Naruto told the toad, as he retreated backwards.

"My body doesn't have any claws or horns to dig into the enemy with," The toad complained

"Then what the heck are we supposed to do?" Naruto asked.

"Transformation Jutsu," I responded. The toad agreed but said that he wasn't very good at them but that Naruto could do it for him. "Naruto alone we might have too little chakra but if we pool it together, it might just be enough," I told the blonde. He nodded and I linked his hand with mine, the toad began to charge forward with us trying to do the Jutsu, I was trying to think but Naruto continuous chanting of fangs and claws was making it hard work up until I thought of something, something that I knew represented Naruto… a fox.

A large cloud of smoke surrounded us, once more, and when it faded the toad had been turned into the Kyuubi. It orangey-red fur was beautiful and its' tails lashed about reminding me of the red chakra that had surrounded Naruto during his fight with Neji.

The toad charged forward as Shukaku raised its' arm and released another air bullet at us, however the toad had gained a great more speed thanks to the transformation and was able to swiftly dodge the attack. Shukaku then lashed out with its' tail and slammed into the toad's side. The toad went skidding back but charged forward and tried to latch on to Shukaku but it was able to dodge and launched another Bullet attack which was successfully dodged.

"This isn't going to work, his power just keeps increasing," The toad stated. Naruto claimed that Gaara just needed a good smack to the head. "Tell me something I don't know," The toad shot back and used one of its' many tail to pick up a tree, he then proceeded to charge pass Shukaku before turning around and jumping in the air, Shukaku unleashed another Bullet Jutsu but the toad threw the tree into Shukaku's attack, the debris that was thrown up allowed the toad to land and secure a grip on Shukaku.

"Now Naruto!" I yelled at the blonde. He ran forward and jumped off just as the toad transformed back into his original form.

"Rise and Shine!" Naruto declared as he punched Gaara, hard, in the face. The toad said that it should work and from Shukaku's complaining I could tell it had, the toad revealed that Gaara still had some fighting spirit left in him. Naruto skidded down Shukaku's head before charging back up towards Gaara, however Gaara caught him and was about to use his Sand Coffin when the toad used his tongue to protect Naruto.

The toad retracted his tongue and revealed that Naruto was stuck in Shukau's head because it had been turned to sand, also since Gaara' still had energy it wasn't good since all three of us were low on chakra.

"I'll wipe you from the face of the Earth, I will not cease to exist. Believe me I will kill you, I will not cease to exist," Gaara proclaimed. Naruto then summoned the red chakra and it was able to free him whilst also blasting off his forehead protector, which miraculously landed in my hands.

Naruto jumped up but Gaara's sand caught him, however this didn't stop him, because the blonde was able to rear back his head and slam it against Gaara's head. The force of the blow, seemed to break the concentration required to keep Shukaku together and the demon began to crack and turn to sand. Knowing that the toad was going to disappear soon, I ran forward and leapt off of the summon and landed in a tree near where the two boys had fallen.

The boys were exhausted as they breathed heavily, their foreheads leaking blood, Naruto began to say that both were out of chakra and that they were a lot alike and that they shouldn't be fighting each other. However both rose to their feet and jumped at each other their fists ready to attack, they both swung out but Naruto dealt the blow, sending Gaara spiralling down to the forest floor and he soon followed. I jumped down and landed in the shade of a tree, I was about to go out when Naruto began to crawl forward, using his chin to drag himself towards Gaara.

"No, stay away!" Gaara cried out in shock, once he realised that Naruto was crawling towards him.

"It's almost unbearable, isn't it? The feeling of being all alone, I know that feeling I've been there. In that dark and lonely place, but now there are others, other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself and I won't let anyone hurt them, that why I won't ever give up, I will stop you even if I have to kill you," Naruto told Gaara.

"But why? Why would you do this for anyone but yourself?" Gaara asked, confused by the reasoning behind Naruto's conviction.

"Because they saved me from myself, they rescued me from my loneliness, they were the first to accept me for who I am. They're my friends," Naruto explained. Sensing my chance I stepped out and walked up to Gaara kneeling beside him, his eyes trained on me and I saw a mixture of emotions swirling in his orbs.

"I'm sorry Gaara. That day, I found out that the man I told you about had found me, I didn't want to go back but I couldn't bear the thought of endangering you, so I left to protect. But I knew you wouldn't let me leave, so to protect you I had to hurt you. But know this, I hope we can be friends again in the future and you have always been loved," I told him as I felt tears prickle at my eyes. I bent my head and kissed the kanji on his forehead, I lifted my head and saw his eyes train on my shoulder where part of my braid had fallen over, revealing the white ribbon tied within the strands… the same ribbon he gave me.

"Naruto, Ami, that's enough," I heard Sasuke say. I turned my head to see the Uchiha knelt next to Naruto. "Look Sakura's going to be alright, the sand crumbled away, she's free. This guy's chakra is all used up," Sasuke explained.

"Ah, that's a relief," Naruto said, before he collapsed. I heard movement and stepped back just as Temari and Kankurō landed in front of Gaara, they looked unsure about what to do.

"That's enough, it's over," Gaara softly spoke up. Kankurō tried to protest but he realised something and picked up his younger brother and then all three of them left.

"Let's get out of here, we all need medical attention," I spoke up. Sasuke nodded and after I picked up Sakura we began to head off with me carrying the pinkette and Sasuke carrying Naruto with Pakkun following. Along the way we met up with Shino, his father, Shikamaru and his sensei.

However when we arrived back we heard some horrifying news, the Third Hokage had died fighting Orochimaru.

*Naruto*

Some days had passed since the ending of the invasion, all of us had been patched up and now it was time for the Third's funeral and the rest of those who died in the invasion. I wasn't even sure if I should go but in a way I felt compelled to, at least to say thank you to the Third. I got dressed in a black kimono top with long sleeves and skirt that ended at my knees along with black tights, I removed my ribbon feeling it wasn't right to wear something so bright in my hair to the funeral, so I tied it around my wrist.

I set off from my house and meet up with Naruto and Sakura, Naruto had bandages on his forehead and both cheek whilst the rest of us were pretty much clear of them. Sasuke walked up to us and stopped for a moment before continuing on, the rest of us soon followed after him heading to the Hokage's building.

The sky was overcast and cloudy with thunder rumbling in the distance, a perfect representation of our moods this day. We arrived at the building and were taken to the top, were we met up with the other Rookie Nine, Lee's team, the senseis and others that my teammates knew.

We assembled into two long masses in front of the podium on which picture frames of the deceased were placed, then the rain began to fall.

"We are gathered here to remember and honour not only the Third Hokage but all those who sacrificed themselves in this battle, so that our village would survive," The male elder spoke. His voice seemed to echo because of the silence, slowly each person assembled on the roof began to place white flowers on the podium in front of the Third Hokage's picture.

When it was my turn I placed down my flower and looked at the picture frame 'Thank you, you were the first to accept me and for that you'll always be in my heart.' I thought. I then turned away and returned to the group I was in. The rain stopped just as the flower placing was finished and everything cleared up.

Once the funeral was over I didn't know what to do, the Chūnin exams were over and I was unsure about my next course of action. Anko then came up and happened me a scroll, I opened it and read through, the Third Hokage had stated that due to my skill level I was to be permanently place within Squad 7. I turned to them and ran up, handing the scroll to Kakashi who after reading it passed it to the other three they read it and each had a different reaction.

Naruto jumped for joy and hugged me, Sakura cheered whilst Sasuke and Kakashi both shared a smile. I also allowed myself to smile truly for the first time, because I had finally managed to find the love to heal my wounded heart. The chapter of my painful past had closed and now I could, hopefully, move on to a better and brighter future.

However despite everything, I felt a strange feeling as if something was watching us and this signalled that the danger was far from over.