31 Chapter 30: Ningame

The next two weeks went by much the same, with different friends visiting me at my 'death bed' as Sai continued to call it. He and I got close, I can tell that he likes when I explain why certain actions are bad and others are good. It's weird teaching someone how to be a 'human', but then again, when I came to this world I really wasn't that much better off than him. I've grown to look forward to his visits the most, especially when he brings his art supplies for us. It amuses him greatly that I am absolutely terrible at art. He tried to nickname me 'Incompetent' at one point, and while his reasoning for the name was valid, I still threw a knife at him and impaled him. He hasn't tried to nickname me again since then.1Naruto had visited again one day asking for advise on wind training. I unashamedly faked sleeping when he came in, forcing him to go to Asuma for training. Neji was with me at the time, and being the amazing brother he is, also kicked Naruto out and didn't let him 'wake me up.'Shirotsu ironically brought me the best gift I got in the hospital. He brought me a book on the origin of the village. It was a fascinating read, and even covered the original founding clans. There was useful information in it about Madara as well, stuff that I couldn't remember from the show. He also brought me the best snacks since that's our thing we usually do together, tea and snacks.Neji had confronted me when I was safely released from the hospital and allowed to go back home. "Ok, we're home now, it's just you and me." He says as soon as I'm seated in our living room. "Are you going to explain what happened at the hideout? With Sasuke?"I sigh, I should have figured he was watching back then. "You know, sometimes our Byakugan is a pain. Did you really have to be a clan genius?" I ask, trying to deflect. He just hardens his stare at me further. "Fine. Yes, I transported in to see him." I begrudgingly admit. "I had to know... I had to know if my words to him years ago had reached him. I was the last person to see him, I was the one who let him leave, I had to know if it was worth it.""And was it?" He asks softly. "I saw you hug him, and I saw him kiss you. Ami, why didn't you tell me you two were more than friends?""There wasn't much to tell." I admit softly, "We were kids when he left, his kiss meant very little to me back then, and I had refused to hear his confession. At the hideout, I simply hugged my best friend after almost three years of not seeing him, and he kissed my cheek, that's all. But I told him the same thing I told him that day he left, I won't hear his confession until he's back home, back to Konoha." I say stubbornly yet sadly. "But that's not important right now, what is important is what he did say." I change my tone, getting happy and excited. "He's going to basically be my secret spy. He was already planning on killing Orochimaru soon himself, we may have just beat him to the punch. And he's going to infiltrate the Akatsuki." I finish in a whisper."What?!" He whisper yells back to me. "He said all this to you?""Yes, Nii-san." I confirm with a genuine grin. "I could see it, in his eyes. There is light in there again. He learned who his real enemy is, and wants to correct many broken things in this village, just like we want to do with the Hyuga clan. He has a goal, and he's working towards it, it's just not something that can be accomplished from inside the village. You can't fool our eyes, Neji, and I could see him, plain and clear, he's not as lost as he had been when he left. There's still a darkness, don't misunderstand me, I'm not oblivious to it, but it's less. That's all I can ask for my friend, that he not be lost, alone and drowning in the dark and the hate. We were there, it's not a good place to be." I finish sadly and Neji grabs my hand gently and squeezes it."It is because he has you to help guide him back home, Ami. I think you are his light." Neji says to me, and I raise my brow to him in surprise. "Don't think for five seconds I approve, but I understand." He covers himself and I giggle at the 'big brother' act coming on."You're so poetic, Nii-san!" I tease him and poke his cheek annoyingly. He swats my hand away and we go back to chatting about what we've been doing the last two weeks. I'm not often home like this anymore, usually I'm gone on missions non-stop, so it's been nice getting to spend so much time with Neji and seeing all my friends while I continue to recover. With how many people visited me while I was in the hospital, it really let me know how many friends I had made without even realizing it."Guy Sensei, I have a training request." I tell Sensei the next day after I was released from the hospital. I'm not cleared yet for 'Guy Level' training, but this is different."Yes! You name it, the great Might Guy will do it! What do you want to learn? Unlock your inner gates? Supersonic punch? Or how to look this good every day?" He strikes a 'nice guy' pose and winks."Genjutsu training. I suck at it, and Kakashi Sensei can't teach me it because he uses the Sharingan. Kurenai is gone on a mission, so that leaves me you." I tell him and he deflates at being my third choice."Ami, you know I'm uh... not a genjutsu user. I wouldn't be able to teach you this." He tells me awkwardly, his confidence shattered."Do you know of anyone who could teach me then? I'm not too familiar with all the Jonin, especially not ones who use genjutsu." I plead to him.He contemplates for a moment before getting an idea. "I know the perfect person!" He says excitedly, but instead of going to get a person, he performs a summoning. His tortoise summoning appears in front of me, looking around questioningly."Why am I here, Guy? Isn't this your student?" The tortoise asks Sensei while indicating towards me with his head. Guy just looks at me to make my request."Hello, my name is Ami Hyuga." I introduce myself to the tortoise with a bow. "I am trying to learn genjutsu, and Guy summoned you to help me. I think." I trail off unsure. I don't know if the tortoise summoning can even use genjutsu, I've never seen him fight, only be used to torture us as genin."Hmm..." The tortoise stares at me. I bow respectfully again to him to show my sincerity. "I accept you." He says, then a scroll appears before him and I widen my eyes at how easy that was. "You may sign a contract with me, and I will aid you in your goal. Though, my genjutsu is a little different than others. It appears on my shell, and I can reflect it out onto your opponent, but you have to craft the image. It's near impossible to break through my genjutsu, because my shell has to be broken in order to get out of it, and my shell can never be broken." He finishes with pride."That's an impressive skill!" I say genuinely in surprise. I go to the scroll and sign my name in the next open spot, sealing my signature with my blood. "Thank you, Mr. Tortoise. I look forward to working with you." I bow again to him."My name is Ningame, not 'Mr. Tortoise'." Ningame scolds me."My apologies, Ningame." I saw sheepishly. It's not like he introduced himself or anything. "Guy Sensei, thank you introducing us and helping me get the contract." I thank my Sensei kindly, and suddenly both Sensei and Ningame are crying emotionally."So respectful!! Guy, you have such a great student!!" Ningame says dramatically. I just sigh, he's just like Sensei."Her youthful power is flowing! Quick, let us embrace in this moment-" Guy says loudly, opening his arms to run at me."No thanks." I interrupt him abruptly as he advances for a hug. I'm still recovering, I can't handle a Guy Sensei fully emotional hug. I can't even handle that at my 100%. "Would you be able to begin our training soon?" I ask Ningame.He nods, and we begin to go over what I already know about genjutsu. I tell him I know how to sense and dispel it, but I can't avoid it when fighting because of my eyes always looking. He starts to teach me the basics of how to visualize a genjutsu to cast it onto his shell. The concept seems easy enough, but when we try it out on Guy, nothing happens for several attempts. I keep trying until finally I run out of chakra and have to call it a day."Too weak, I can still see you." Sensei tells me after our first week of genjutsu training ends. We've been trying to use the shell genjutsu to cast the illusion that I'm no longer visible, but it's slow going."Ami, are you visualizing just your appearance gone, or are you thinking of your scent, your chakra, your sounds? You have to imagine not only yourself gone, but the void where you are to be filled with would be here if you aren't." Ningame instructs me sternly. "Only once you can fully visualize it will your opponent also fully believe it. With this perfected, you could eventually make your opponent believe he is being injured or hurt, or make them believe you are someone completely else.""Oh... I wasn't thinking about that. Hmmm..." I look around at our surroundings. We are in the forest training area not far from my home. I look at the ground, and see we are halfway in a shadow of a tree. I move to fully be in the shadow and try again. I picture the shaded darkness being in my place, and feel the breeze and picture that moving as well."Better!" Sensei calls out, his head looking from side to side trying to find me. We try a few more times, each time I move to a different setting it becomes easier now I know what to picture. We move on from that and start to practice creating false images and moving them around."Ningame, will I be able to make someone believe they aren't injured? Like if I was hurting them, could I make them believe they were fine?" I ask curiously at the end of the day."With intense concentration, yes, you could. An odd way to use genjutsu, but I can see it would have a benefit." He answers me and I nod in thought.We practice for weeks, I trade out my practice partner to whoever on the team is available and off missions while I train. I told Tsunade not to send me on any missions that are outside of the village or that will take a long time until after the war, unless it's one of the specific ones from the story. I've been sticking to easy D rank missions and a short C rank one while I recover.I checked in on Naruto's wind training once early on. His progress was slow going, much slower than when I learned it in the first place. I thought back, I got it almost instantly, but that was because I could visually see the workings of the chakra network and how they were forming. I spotted Sai also watching Naruto, and dragged him over to help me out. I had Sai paint what I was describing, and it made a visual representation for Naruto on how to channel the wind nature better. He almost instantly got better after seeing the painting, and he thanked us both by taking us to ramen for dinner when he could successfully cut his leaf quicker and again when he could wrap his chakra around his kunai.I had fully recovered and was getting good at my tortoise genjutsu training after a few months. I had spent a lot of time around the village, and with seeing all my friends a lot. When I received an urgent summons one day from the Hokage though, I knew my peace time was over."Ami, we received evidence of the two Akatsuki members who just massacred the entire Fire Temple. This is what you warned me about. You have a mission, you'll be the fifth member of Asuma's squad moving out." Tsunade informs me. "Ami, bring everyone back home safely, and kill those bastards." She growls out to me firmly."Yes ma'am." I say darkly. I will bring home Asuma from this mission, and everyone else too. I will kill the immortal Akatsuki members. I've been training for this day for 17 years, I will not fail now.