Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one. I am SO sorry for the late update, I've been seriously struggling with this chapter, also Please review to let me know your thoughts

Chapter 16: - A Mission or A Test

The full moon's light shone down on the quiet village, all its' occupants were asleep in peace and tranquillity. However I could not sleep, I simply lead on the roof of my house staring up at the sky, watching the light cascaded down from the heavens, giving me a sense of peace.

A slight breeze rustled through, tugging at the leaves and anything else that was caught in its' grasp as they twirled about in a simple dance. An evil aura suddenly suppressed the calm feelings and the wind began to blow even stronger than before, I snapped my upper body, upright and looked in the distance, trying to discern what had caused the sudden shift when a sound drew my attention.

A loud smashing rang out, ripping through the silence, I stood up and looked out and I saw a large cloud rising in the distance. 'So that's what it was.' I thought, realising what had happened, I averted my attention to the moon. 'Sometimes I wonder if I had done something differently, but the past can't be changed and I must live with these mistakes.' I lamented in my mind.

*Naruto*

Two days had passed since the preliminaries ended and I had been training for many long and hard hours working to keep my skills in top form. Yet my mind couldn't help but wander to the match ups wondering who would win in these rounds, all were skilled and powerful, thus it would be harder to figure out.

I walked down the streets of Konoha, I had decided to take a break from the training and to visit those who were resting in the hospital. I had been a little worried about them for a while and had decided to visit them to make sure they were alright.

I was walking to the hospital when I passed a flower shop, I thought it might be nice for them to look at something pretty whilst they recovered and to give them a strong message. I stepped inside and I heard two girls talking about flowers related to love, ignoring them I began to look around when I found one of favourite flowers, the orchid.

There were many different colour but I knew exactly the ones to pick, orange and dark red. I collected the flowers and turned around, only to come face to face with the surprised expressions of Ino and Sakura.

"Didn't expect to see you here," Ino stated.

"Well, I want to give good luck to those that are recovering from their injuries and flowers are a perfect way to do that," I responded. Sakura sent a smile but she looked at the flowers confused.

"Hey Ami who are the flower for?" Sakura asked.

"Orange for Lee meaning enthusiasm and determination and dark red for Sasuke meaning courage," I explained. A sad look overcame the two girls faces at the boys' names.

"So I guess you don't kn-," Ino began to say but I cut her off

"Actually I do, I heard the medic telling Guy," I informed the girls. They nodded and let it go, then me and Sakura paid for our flowers and the three of us set off to the hospital.

We walked down the roads in a hushed quite not talking to anyone, when a sudden sound caught our attention. It turned out that Chōji, Shikamaru and their sensei were at the barbecue, with Chōji eating all of it, Shikamaru had been training because of Asuma was whining about it.

We arrived at the hospital and were guided to Sasuke's room by a nurse, however when she opened the door, Sasuke was gone, the window wide open and all his clothing missing. The nurse ran out of the room, I quickly sent the flowers down before placing my hand on the floor and feeling the chakra that was in the room.

"Ami was he-," Sakura began to question but I already knew the answer.

"No he wasn't," I responded. We waited until the nurse came back, with no sign of where he was, the others were looking for him and she agreed to take us to Lee's room, however just like with Sasuke he wasn't there, except this time we found him outside doing push ups.

I jumped down whilst the other three women took the long way, I rushed over to the boy and placed my hands on his shoulder.

"Stop Lee, you'll make your injuries worse!" I exclaimed. The nurse and girls arrived soon after but Lee yelled at us to keep away as he was determined not to fall behind the others. Lee was so determined but eventually he collapsed to the floor, the nurse rushed off to get help whilst the three of us stayed beside the fallen ninja, worried for him

"Why, why Ino, Ami? What is it that makes boys like that? They're always pushing things too far," Sakura questioned. I looked at the pinkette before turning to the blonde, honestly I had no idea, why boys were like this.

"Why ask me? I'm not a boy," Ino stated. We left the hospital after Lee was taken back, I had given both my orchids to Lee but the girls kept the ones they intended to give Sasuke, as we walked down the road we were blocked by a Chūnin or Jōnin appearing in front of us.

"Ami the Hokage wishes to see you," He stated. I nodded before going with him to the office. I stepped in to find the Hokage sat at his desk, a pipe held in his hands as he looked at a piece of paper.

"Hokage-sama, you asked to see me," I spoke up, catching the old man's attention.

"Ah Ami, thank you for coming," Hokage stated, as he set the paper aside and placed his pipe down. "I would like to send you on a mission to test how you react to the unknown so as to decide which team would be best suited for you," Hokage explained.

"Why not just fight me?" I bluntly asked, catching the Hokage off guard for a moment.

"I thought that a mission would be better suited," He explained. I nodded but I wasn't convinced, he was trying to cover up for something and whatever it was I didn't like it. "Ami, you and Anko will head to the ruins just outside of the village, apparently the main entrance collapsed and no other possible routed inside have been found, it is rumoured that an excavation team was in there but we can't be sure, you are to investigate the ruins and save anyone who might be trapped in there that needs to be rescued, you'll head out tomorrow morning," The Hokage stated. I nodded and left the building wondering what the old man was up to.

*Naruto*

The next day I walked over to the gate just as the sun was slowly rising into the sky, I saw Anko leaning against the gate archway.

"Right you're here, lets-," Anko began to say before a voice yelled my name cutting her off. I turned around to see Naruto walking over to us however that was another person with him who seemed familiar to me.

The other person was a tall man with waist-length, spiky white hair that was tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs that framed both sides of his face. He also had red lines that ran down from his eyes and wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for Oil. He also had a noticeable wart on the left side of his nose. He wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which he wore mesh armour that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit, hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a scroll on his back.

"Hey Naruto," I returned the greeting, however my eyes remained on the old man trying to decipher where I had seen him before. "Who is this?" I asked to the old man.

"Oh this is Ero-sennin, he's my teacher," Naruto responded his face looking glum about something.

"I told you not to call me that! My name is Jiraiya," The old man yelled at Naruto, looking greatly annoyed at the blonde. His name however sparked my memory and I was instantly put on edge as to why he was here.

"Can we get going maggot?" Anko called out to me. I turned back and nodded before running up to her. We began to set off when Naruto ran up to us, quickly followed by Jiraiya.

"Where you going?" Naruto asked.

"Mission," I responded. Naruto looked confused but he continued to follow us.

"What do you think you're doing?" Anko asked when she realised Naruto was still following us. However Naruto ignored her question completely.

"Why are you on a mission when there's less than a month until the Chūnin finals?" Naruto asked. I just shrugged not having the answer myself, I then stepped in front of my teammate stopping him from going any further.

"Naruto go back to the village and continue with your training, focus on yourself at the moment. I can handle myself," I convinced the boy. He looked a little unsure but he nodded, turned back to the village and walked back to it and his teacher.

We arrived at the mountainous region were the excavation site was located, I had seen the blocked entrance from across the river. It was a jagged, sloping pile of rocks, dirt and grit clustered around the edges of the boulders, which were leant against the entrance, with barely a gap to let air flow into the cavern.

Anko walked over to the entrance and began to pull away the loose stones, however I walked over to the other end of the cliff as I ran my fingers over the rocky face to search for any cracks. Suddenly a quiet, almost non-existent sound entered my ears, it sounded like words… but it was not a cry for help.

I slowed my breathing and quietened my mind so that every sound became amplified. I could hear birds singing in the trees across the river and the voices becoming louder, I followed them dragging my hand across the ragged rock surface, the jagged spines lightly bit into my skin. Eventually my fingers slipped into a crevice, I opened my eyes to see a thin passage just big enough for a young person to slip through.

I turned my body, so that it was sideways on, and began to squeeze my way through the crack, it was an enclosed space barely allowing me to move and it sucked the lugs from my breath as I move.

I had no idea how much time passed before I finally managed to pull out of the small passageway. The room inside was cavernous and pitch black, I could barely see my hand when it was right in front of my face. Words bounced about the room echoing off the walls, making it hard to identify where they came from.

Walking forward a small step I heard rocks move and clack down the edge of a cliff, I immediately pulled my foot back to me. Realising that the only way to get the people's attention, was to draw attention to myself, I pulled out a paper bomb and threw it down the cliff in front of me.

A loud bang erupted, causing dust and smoke to billow outwards and light to flash up. I heard voices shouting in surprise from down below the cliff, knowing what to do next I pulled out a kunai and some wire. Tying the wire around the handle of the kunai, I plunged it deep into the rocky earth, I then wrapped the other end of the wire around my wrist. I gave it a good few hard pulls to test the strength, before jumping of the cliff and grappling down the cliff face.

I landed on the rocky ground, my knees bent so that the landing wouldn't damage my legs. Looking across I saw a small fire glowing in the centre, illuminating only a small portion of the vast space I stood in, behind the light were a group of ninjas. All were dressed the same in grey and black clothing with masks covering their faces, and they bore no forehead protector, making their allegiance unknown.

"So what's a little girl like you doing here?" The mystery ninja at the front asked, as he walked towards me.

"Could ask you the same," I retorted. The ninja didn't like my answer as he launched a punch at me, but I ducked the attacked and swept my leg out, slamming it into his legs which caused him to stagger. I then placed my hand on the ground and pushed up slamming the heel of my foot into his chin sending him flying back and into the arms of his comrades.

"Anyone else?" I asked. The other ninjas all froze for a moment, before they charged for me, slinking into the shadows attempting to distort my eyes. I smirked realising their tactic, I pulled out a kunai, took a stance and closed my eyes.

With my primary sense removed, everything seemed to heighten, the after smell of smoke and clogged air filled my lungs, my enemies' footfalls sounded like the pounding of drums. Suddenly one changed direction and approached me from behind, spinning around I snapped my eyes open to see him holding a dagger in front of him.

I arched my arm to the side catching the weapon in the crook between the handle and the blade. Using my other hand I grabbed his wrist and twisted it in an unnatural way, causing it to dislocate and he screamed in a shrill tone, before I knocked him out.

The footsteps became louder as more rushed at me in an attempt to overwhelm me with sheer numbers. I jumped out of the enclosing circle they had attempted to trap me in, most of my attackers had managed to stop, but three collided with each other knocking them out with the force they had dealt.

The rest of the group, about six ninjas, turned to face me. I could see the annoyance shining in their eyes, I did have to wonder what a group of ten mystery ninja were doing hidden away so close to the Leaf Village, taking into consideration, the fact that it coincided with Orochimaru appearing in the village, it couldn't be good.

"I suggest you leave before I end up humiliating you all," I stated. This only served to annoy the ninjas even more and they charged once again, I threw the kunai up into the air as I formed a hand sign, the index and middle finger of my left hand pointing upwards and the index and middle finger of my right hand were crossed over them.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu," I declared and five copies of me appeared on either side of me. I caught the kunai as it descended towards me and the clones withdrew their own weapons. The ninjas were surprised for a brief second before resuming their assault.

I blocked the first attack and swung my right leg at their knees, however they were able to dodge backwards in time to avoid the kick. My opponent threw shuriken at me but I was able to block all of them from hitting me, I then threw some shuriken of my own at them.

They proceeded to dodge the metal stars before charging at me once again, pulling out a pair of tantō and swung them at me, I proceeded to backflip away from the metal points. I then rushed forward and leapt over his head a round kicked my opponent in their back forcing them to the ground.

"Run and don't. come. back," I punctuated as I held a kunai to their neck. The person stiffly nodded, I looked around to see that my clones had defeated the other ninjas. I threw the one I held away from me and the entire group proceeded to scramble to their feet and run away.

After the mystery ninjas were gone, I looked around the area, hoping to find something that would indicate what they were up to in here… but I found nothing of significance, not even a sign of the archaeologists that were supposed to be here.

"Interesting, very interesting. Was this a mission or test?" I wondered aloud before heading back. Anko had noticed my missing presence, which she wasn't pleased about, but she hadn't found the passageway, after explaining what I had found we headed back to the village to report to the Hokage.

After being let go, I walked down the beaten down pathway towards my house. As I walking I bumped into someone, I intended to keep walking but something stopped me, glancing down I saw sand wrapped around my ankle, looking I saw Gaara staring at me.

We held the gaze for a few moments before I discharged some of my abundant electrical energy focused at the leg held in sand, it disrupted the magnetic hold his chakra had on the sand.

"Best not to cause a scene especially with so many eyes," I told him before jumping up onto the rooftops and running over them to reach my house without any further incidences.

*Naruto*

"What happened in the mine?" I questioned Anko as I stared at her over the tops of the papers I was reading.

"I'm afraid I don't know she had managed to sneak inside without me noticing. I'm sorry, I should have been watching her more closely," Anko spoke. I removed the pipe and let out a stream of smoke.

"No need Anko, I do believe the information we received was hollow, probably an attempt to scare us and make us lose focus," I told the Jōnin. She nodded but looked troubled all the same, but I believed that all of us were. Ami was not a normal girl she was something else entirely different to the normal.