Genius Hyuga Twins

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.