As Ami left, Daimatsu, the great lizard sage, contemplated on his decision. His relatives clearly weren't on board with him giving their summoning contract to a child, not yet even a genin but Daimatsu had encountered shinobi with visions before. One of them had saved the clan from near extinction. It had been during the warring states period, when a child, no older than Ami was now, had told them about the destruction of their domain. Daimatsu had been younger back then and was not yet the acting sage, that was his father. Luckily, his father listened to the child and they left the land of fire, just a few weeks before a clash between the senju and uchiha had destroyed their previous domain. If his father could trust that child, then he could trust this one. He had nothing to lose by believing her and everything to gain. She had mentioned the ten tails, a legend mostly to their people but one that still commanded respect. If what she said was true, it would be instrumental to help her to avoid total annihilation.
Back in Konoha, Ami was stuffing the scrolls into her room. Yes scrolls, plural. After all, what if one was destroyed? Anyways, she got back to training. She had no time to waste.
She was still weak when compared to someone like Sasuke, so she had to train!
Over the next year, she trained without stopping to catch her breath. This was important!
The lizard clan, though reluctant at first, had taught her some of the jutsu they knew. Mahi Mahi, a dog sized Gecko, was her main summon and he taught her fire and wind style jutsu. She was lucky to be born with a relatively large chakra pool -unlike sakura- and it expanded as she used her chakra day after day. By the time of graduation, her chakra pool was almost as big as the other clan kids', excluding Naruto, because his chakra sea was massive beyond all logic. Her chakra control too was immaculate. She had mastered both tree walking and water walking, after all she dedicated a considerable amount of time to learn these exercises. By the time that the graduation was happening, she knew more jutsu than every other graduate. She of course knew the academy three but also several fire and wind jutsu, like fire release: great fireball jutsu, fire release: flame bullet or wind release: great breakthrough. She was sure, had the uchiha's lived, they would've taught Sasuke more techniques but as it stood right now, she had a wider array of techniques under her belt which she could use to great effect.
"Ami Aru", Iruka sensei called out the girl with purple hair, who walked up to the front, " the clone technique"
Ami nodded. As her name began with A, she was one of the first to get called on for the graduation exam. She performed the jutsu flawlessly, creating three clones of perfect accuracy. She then watched the other students do their jutsu. Some failed, most passed but the real kicker was Naruto, who, just as in canon, failed.
"Iruka, this is the third time and he actually created a clone. We should let him pass", Mizuki said, much to the delight of the blonde prankster. That delight was short lived however, as Iruka said, "no way Mizuki! All the others created two or more clones and Naruto only created one useless one. I can't let him pass"
Naruto stormed out of the room, tears forming on his eyes. It hurt Ami to see him like that but she had to wait it out. Naruto was a two trick pony, his shadow clones and the rasengan. If she interfered now, he might lose one of those tricks, so, she let him leave.
"To all of you who have passed, these are your forehead protectors, wear them with pride, for you are all about to become Genin!"
Ami picked up her forehead protector, the cloth was smooth and the metal was cold to the touch. She couldn't believe it, she was actually going to be a genin, though that was still on the line… what if she was placed in a team that didn't get the approval of their Jonin sensei? She hoped to replace Sakura in team seven but she had no idea if that was actually going to happen… for now, all she could do is wait. She fastened the protector around her forehead and smiled. This was going to be awesome! All that training for the future and she was almost a genin…
Her father greeted her in front of the academy building, "my baby, a shinobi! I couldn't be prouder! Let's go and eat something! I heard there opened a new BBQ restaurant not too far from here"
"Sure, let's do that, dad", Ami glanced at the lone swing, where Naruto was sitting sorrowfully, watching all the children being praised by their parents.
Her father, Shinso, followed her gaze and sneered, "of course that demon didn't pass. I still don't get why he was allowed to be in the academy in the first place"
"Dad, remember what we talked about?", they had had this conversation before. She liked the goofball and couldn't accept her father constantly looking down on him.
"Whatever you say darling", Shinso Aru took her hand and walked over to the new restaurant, "a table for two please"
"Follow me"
The restaurant was full, patrons everywhere, eating the meat, which smelled delicious. Her mouth watered as they sat down and ordered. She ordered more than her father, since as a shinobi, she burned a lot of calories. The meat skewers were divine, rich and meaty, slightly sweet and more than a bit spicy.
They were chatting, "so are there any boys you have in your sight?"
"Not really", Amu shrugged. She wasn't obsessed with romance like Sakura or Ino but she had to admit that there were a few attractive boys in her class, shikamaru, Shino and yes, even Naruto but her main focus right now wasn't romance, it was getting stronger. The Konoha crush, pain's assault… things were going to get ugly and fast.