Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and/or Naruto.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Hand Signs'

"Mind Speak"

"Kyuubi Talking"

'Kyuubi Thinking'

"Inner Sakura"

Last Time:

Tazuna nodded, "Hm, all good choices. But, I think The Hero's Bridge is a fitting name."

"You'll come visit, right?" Inari asked as they turned to leave.

"Yeah! You know, if you want to cry you can, it's okay," Naruto said, his voice wavering.

"I'm not crying! But you can if you want to!" Inari said. They both turned away from each other to hide their crying faces.

Kagome rolled her eyes, "Boys," she grumbled, then in a louder voice said, "Just hug already!"

"We're not girls!" Naruto and Inari both shouted.

Kagome raised an eyebrow, "Could've fooled me."

"Come on, everyone, time to go," Kakashi said eye-smiling.

Team Seven said their final goodbyes and left.

Now:

Kagome flopped down on to the couch, "How do you have so much energy?"

Naruto grinned as he went in to his room to unpack, leaving Kagome without an answer.

Kakashi-sensei had had them all run the last 7 miles to Konoha at full-speed non-stop. While Kagome didn't tire out that easily, 7 miles was a lot, she had slowed down after 4 and jogged the rest. Even Sasuke had had to slow down, lest he collapse. Sakura hadn't even been able to run the two miles – which had made Sensei leave behind a shadow clone to make sure she didn't get lost or in trouble – whereas, Naruto and Kaka-sensei had ran all 7 miles and even made it in to a race, which Kaka-sensei won.

A rush of pity went through Kagome for Sakura, but it left as soon as it came. Sakura had only herself to blame. Instead of training, she spent her time stalking a boy, who had no interest in her, and looking pretty.

Kagome rolled her eyes and got up, she had unpacking to do, her day of relaxing could be postponed for a few minutes.

~o0o~

"Yo!"

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto shouted.

"Well, you see, I got lost on the road of life," Kakashi explained, as he saw Kagome start to open her mouth, he quickly continued on, "Alright, for training today, Sakura, you need to build up your stamina and chakra. So you will be doing tree-walking exercises and after you run out of chakra, you are to run laps until you can't."

Sakura nodded.

"Naruto, while you did learn the tree-walking exercise, you are still using too much chakra. Kagome, you still have trouble keeping your chakra and holy energy apart, so you two will spar, after one of you wins, no ties, you will both be doing the tree-walking exercise until you are out of chakra and after that, you are to run laps."

Kagome and Naruto nodded.

"Sasuke, you haven't awakened the Sharingan, yet, so we are going to do that. You will be fighting me," Kakashi spoke.

Sasuke nodded.

"Wait, don't you mean sparring?" Kagome asked.

Kakashi eye-smiled, "No. I mean fighting."

Sasuke paled, "But you're a Jōnin."

Kakashi's eye-smile didn't waver, "Correction, I'm an Elite Jōnin. Now, get to training."

Kagome winced sympathetically and led Naruto to another part of the clearing for their spar.

"I feel bad for teme," Naruto commented.

Kagome cocked her head curiously, "Really? I thought you'd be jealous that he got the attention."

Naruto chuckled, "So did I, but as long as Kaka-sensei doesn't totally ignore us and not train us at all, I think it's fine. Plus, Teme needs the Sharingan."

Kagome nodded. She stopped and turned to face Naruto, "Ready?"

"Yeah, but one thing," Naruto said, Kagome raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"You can't use your sword," Naruto said.

Kagome pouted, "Fine, I won't use *Raimei."

"Good. Get ready to get your ass kicked!"

"Oh, you are so on!" Kagome said, "Loser pays for our next lunch!"

Naruto smirked, "Fine."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, starting out with his signature technique.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Kagome said, "You forget Naruto, I was there when you learned this."

"ATTACK!" Naruto shouted as all of his clones rushed forward.

All the Kagome clones jumped back and shouted, "Light Ribbon Jutsu!"

Bands of white raced towards all the oncoming clones. The bands wrapped around the clones, as they squeezed and burned, the trapped clones popped out. Leaving the Kagome clones to overwhelm the left over Naruto clones and the original. Naruto brought out a kunai, and swiped at the clone next to him, making it go up in a poof of smoke.

~o0o~

Sasuke dodged at the last second, making the Jōnin's fist fly passed his head. He ducked under the arm and jumped back, quickly making hand seals.

"Great Fireball Jutsu!"

The giant ball of flames enveloped the Jōnin, Sasuke looked on in astonishment as the flames disappeared, but all he saw were ashes, he narrowed his eyes and jumped back, where was he?

He felt a hand by his ankle, and immediately jumped away, "Kaka-"

But he was cut off as Kakashi rose from the ground, the eye-smile had vanished, "Sasuke Uchiha, by order of the Sandaime Hokage, you are to be eliminated as a threat to Konoha," he stated in an emotionless voice.

Sasuke's eyes widened, "I'm no-"

He was cut off as a kunai sailed passed him, cutting his cheek as he moved to avoid it. He dodged as kunai rained down on him; he kept dodging, getting pushed back in the cover of the trees. He hid behind one tree, looking out from behind it.

Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. He panted, 'What the hell is happening? Kakashi-sensei wouldn't try to kill me, right? I'm his student.'

A shudder went through him as Kakashi's voice spoke in his head, 'Sasuke Uchiha, by order of the Sandaime Hokage…'

Why would the Hokage want him killed? He hadn't done anything.

Kakashi landed in front of him, a kunai slashed close to his throat but Sasuke ducked, a few hairs landed in front of him, but he didn't think of them and ran from the assassin behind him.

Shuriken hurtled behind him, he ran towards a tree and, using the tree-walking exercise, ran up it, making the shuriken hit the bark.

He looked down and saw Kakashi coming up the tree, he swiftly jumped down the other way, and Kakashi landed in front of him not even a second later.

Kakashi ran around Sasuke in a circle, throwing kunai and shuriken at him. Sasuke moved as best as he could, but he was limited in the circle Kakashi had created. Sasuke knocked as many kunai and shuriken as he could with his own and dodged the others, but many left gashes on his arms and legs, leaving behind torn and bloodied clothing.

The kunai started flying faster and Sasuke struggled to keep up, he couldn't even see more than a blur of Kakashi and the weapons being thrown at him were not helping. He was going to die.

Suddenly, everything slowed down; he could clearly see all the kunai and shuriken coming at him, as well as Kakashi. He redoubled his efforts, pushing his arms to move faster.

~o0o~

Sakura panted as the last of her chakra escaped her and she collapsed on the grass, not caring about the grass stains she was sure to get on her dress. She rolled over and groaned; she was so tired.

"Cha! We have to do better for Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura silently agreed with Inner Sakura, but maybe after a nap…

~o0o~

Naruto and Kagome panted as they each stared the other down. Neither would give up.

Kagome was covered in bleeding gashes that were still healing, whereas Naruto's had already healed, but he was left with torn-up clothing.

"Wind Sword Jutsu!" Naruto called.

Kagome quickly made handseals, "Phoenix Flower Jutsu," and spat out five small fireballs that collided with the swords, making the fireballs bigger and heading towards Naruto at a faster pace.

Naruto dodged the flaming balls, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Five Naruto's appeared and charged at Kagome. Kagome ran towards the clones and dodging their many strikes, slashed them with a kunai; Kagome stood still, the smoke from the clones covering her form and the hand seals she was making.

"Water Dragon Jutsu!" A great dragon made of water made the smoke dissipate and headed straight for Naruto.

"Holy SHIT!" Naruto yelled as he saw the big dragon, though it was nowhere near as big as Kakashi-sensei's, it was still very powerful.

Even as Naruto jumped out of the way, the dragon headed straight for the ground where Naruto had been, and crashed headfirst in to the grass, making water splash everywhere.

"Discharge Lightning Jutsu!" Kagome called, slamming her fist in to the water soaked ground. Lightning chakra, released from her hand, ran along the water towards Naruto, who flipped backwards towards a tree behind the first line of trees and ran up, landing on a branch that wasn't soaked in water.

The lightning dissipated as it collided in to a tree in front of Naruto, making a small explosion and completely destroying it. Naruto hopped down from the tree he was in, "Whirlwind Jutsu!"

A small whirlwind formed as Naruto blew air out of his mouth and grew as Naruto gave it more chakra, then released it so that it landed on the ground, heading straight for Kagome. Kagome jumped back and took cover behind a tree; the whirlwind hit the tree, shredding it completely. Kagome jumped out from behind the remains and went behind another tree that was out of the way. The whirlwind followed its path of destruction, obliterating two more trees, before dissipating.

Kagome made a shadow clone and sent it out.

"Is that it?" the Kagome clone taunted. Immediately, Naruto rushed towards the clone and they were engaged in a Taijutsu fight. Naruto threw a punch, which was caught by Kagome. Kagome used her free arm to punch Naruto, but was blocked. She twisted and brought her leg up to kick Naruto in the stomach, but he broke away just as her foot would have connected, making Kagome spin on her toes to keep her balance.

Naruto took out a kunai and held it to Kagome's neck.

"Ha! I win."

Kagome smirked as another Kagome appeared behind Naruto and held a kunai to his throat.

"You were saying, Naruto," Kagome said smugly.

"I give," Naruto sighed.

Kagome smirked and stepped back.

Naruto cursed and stabbed the Kagome in front of him, making her go up in a poof of smoke.

"You copied Kaka-sensei!" Naruto accused.

"Indeed, you did," Kakashi said, stepping out from behind the shadow of the trees.

Kagome and Naruto raised their eyebrows, "Weren't you training Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I'm a shadow clone," the apparently Kakashi-clone said, "Now, chakra exercises, I need to go check on Sakura. We'll talk later about those jutsu."

Kagome and Naruto both nodded and they each chose a tree.

"By the way, Naruto, you owe me lunch."

Naruto groaned.

~o0o~

The Kakashi clone blinked at the sleeping Sakura and sighed.

"Sakura…Sakura!" Kakashi walked over to the prone form and lightly toed her side, "Sakura! Wake up!" he ordered.

Sakura jerked awake, she looked around blearily for what woke her from her dream, only to see Kakashi's face.

"KYA! Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted, "I'm so sorry! I was just so tired, that I sat down and-"

Kakashi held up a hand, halting her ramblings, "Sakura, why do you want to be a kunoichi?"

Sakura blinked, "So I can be with Sasuke-kun of course! We'll be together, we'll get married and have children-"

Sakura blinked as Kakashi-sensei vanished in a poof of smoke.

~o0o~

"Well, that didn't take as long as I thought it would," Kakashi's voice rang out as the kunai and shuriken were stopped and he appeared in front of Sasuke.

"W-what?!" Sasuke spluttered, "You tried to kill me!"

Kakashi chuckled, "If I was going to kill you, Sasuke, you'd already be dead."

Sasuke blinked, "But you said the Hokage wanted me killed!"

Kakashi sighed and walked closer to the shaken genin, he gave a reassuring eye-smile, "The only way to activate a user's Sharingan, is to make the user think that they are about to die, the bloodline activates under high pressure, usually of the fatal kind. Apparently, I'm scarier than I thought I was," he sounded smug as he said the last line.

Sasuke scowled, glad that no one was there to witness his embarrassing moment of panic.

"Now that your Sharingan is activated, you must train your body to move as quickly as you can see. After all, if you cannot dodge the attack, then what use is the knowledge that it is coming?"

Sasuke nodded.

"All right, let me just disperse my clone," Kakashi murmured as he made a hand seal and memories rushed in to his head.

Kakashi shook his head as he found out that Sakura had been sleeping.

"For now, I'm going to drop you off to the hospital," Kakashi said.

Sasuke nodded, and started walking towards the hospital's direction. Kakashi walked up beside him and picked him up bridal style.

"I can walk!" Sasuke grumbled, although he was secretly glad that he no longer had to walk, he was so very tired, and walking just exhausted him more. He was sure he'd lost a lot of blood.

"Yes, of course you can, but my way is faster," as soon as Kakashi finished talking, they vanished in a swirl of leaves and appeared inside the Konoha hospital.

After he left Sasuke with a nurse, he vanished once more and appeared in the clearing Sakura was running in.

"Sakura, you can go home," Kakashi said to the startled girl.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei, I'm really sorry," Sakura said, looking at the ground, ashamed of herself.

Kakashi nodded, "It's okay, Sakura. You were tired, but that is not an excuse, it will not happen again, correct?"

Sakura nodded.

"Tomorrow we will meet at the bridge, 7 am. Dismissed."

Sakura nodded and walked off towards her home.

Kakashi sighed and walked to where Kagome and Naruto were; he'd have to find out a way to deal with Sakura, for now, he had to deal with his two other students, who apparently knew A-rank jutsu.

He walked in to the clearing that Naruto and Kagome were practicing and saw that they were both walking up and down the tree trunks.

"Naruto! Kagome! Come down," Kakashi called.

They both jumped down from the trees and stood in front of their Sensei. Kakashi sat down on the grass and waited for the other two to sit opposite him.

"Firstly, Kagome, congratulations on winning the spar," Kakashi said.

Kagome beamed, "Thank you!"

"Naruto, good job as well, that was a difficult spar and you almost won," Kakashi said to Naruto, who nodded in acknowledgement.

"Now, how did you learn those jutsu you were using during your spar?" he asked.

"Scrolls we bought some and some we looked at from the library," Naruto explained.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Those are C-rank or above jutsu, especially the water dragon and the whirlwind jutsu, not to mention the lightning jutsu, which are all A-rank, and they are only available to the Chūnin and Jōnin in the library."

Kagome raised an eyebrow, "Iruka-sensei took us."

"You henged in to Iruka and got passed the guards that way, didn't you?" Kakashi translated.

Kagome and Naruto both gave him innocent looks.

Kakashi shook his head, "Don't do it again, can I assume from those jutsu that you used, you know your elemental affinities?"

Kagome nodded, "My primary element is lightning and secondary is water. Although, I developed fire as a third element from my continued use of it."

"Mine is wind then water," Naruto said.

Kakashi nodded, "Did you both go through the exercises to start using your elemental chakra?"

Naruto and Kagome nodded, "Yeah, but we haven't gotten much progress, I'm still trying to cut my leaf all the way through and Kagome's still trying to make hers crinkle up as well."

"Show me."

They both grabbed a leaf and Naruto went first, he focused on his leaf, a cut started to appear on the leaf, but stopped halfway through. Kagome laid hers on the palm of her hand and concentrated on making the leaf crinkle up. It started to get a bit wavy at the beginning before it stopped a little further than the middle.

Kakashi took the leaves and examined them.

"To be fair, we only started a few weeks ago," Kagome explained, "Although we do use jutsu that complement our elemental affinities, we wanted to wait until we graduated to actually start practicing the use of our elemental chakra."

"This is very impressive, this took you two months?"

"We weren't practicing during the Waves mission. So about a month and a week," Naruto said.

"Very impressive, it usually takes about four months for ninja, usually Chūnin, to get to where you are," Kakashi explained, "Elemental affinities are mostly for Chūnin. The fact that you two are this far in and know your secondary element is very impressive."

"What is your elemental affinity, Sensei?" Kagome asked.

"I have lightning as my primary and earth as my secondary," Kakashi said, "I also built up an affinity for water and fire."

"Wow, you have an affinity for four out of the five elements?" Naruto asked, impressed.

Kakashi nodded, "All right, well, it's already late, so you two can go home, we'll meet tomorrow at our usual bridge at 7 am. Sasuke and Sakura have already been dismissed."

Naruto and Kagome stood; they bid their Sensei good-bye, who vanished in a swirl of leaves a moment later.

~o0o~

Kakashi appeared in front of the Chūnin that was on duty.

"Hello, Iruka-san," Kakashi greeted.

Iruka gave the masked nin a warm smile, "Kakashi-san, how may I help you?"

"I need to speak with the Hokage."

Iruka nodded, "One moment," he pressed his fingers to a seal carved in to the desk and passed chakra through it.

"Hokage-sama, Hatake Kakashi would like to see you," Iruka spoke.

The seal buzzed twice and Iruka nodded for Kakashi to go in.

Kakashi nodded a good-bye to Iruka and walked passed him down the hall. He knocked on the double doors.

"Come in," the Hokage's voice came.

"Kakashi, what can I do for you?" The Hokage asked once Kakashi had closed the door.

"Hokage-sama, I have a request for Sakura Haruno to be placed on rotation," Kakashi said seriously.

~o0o~

"Yo!" Kakashi said, as he appeared in his usual swirl of leaves.

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto shouted.

"Well, you see I-" Kakashi started, but was cut off by Kagome.

"Let me guess, did you crash in to destiny and then have to take him to the hospital?" Kagome said sarcastically.

Kakashi smirked, ignoring the sarcasm, "Why yes, yes I did."

In fact, Destiny was a man with a scar on his nose and a ponytail. Who knew destiny was so cute?

"Sakura, the Hokage needs to see you," Kakashi said, "You are to go immediately."

Sakura nodded she left the bridge and her teammates, running to get to the Hokage Tower faster.

"Why does Sakura need to go see Jiji?" Naruto asked.

"Because she is being put on rotation," Kakashi said, at their confused expressions, he elaborated, "Usually when there is an odd number of graduates that aren't divisible by three, one team gets four genin. However, if the instructor notices that a genin is…not ready for certain things, those genin get put on rotation, so that they can help other genin teams in case they are short a member."

"So, Sakura is no longer on Team 7?" Kagome asked.

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, although, if one of you guys, supposedly, got sick or could not do a mission, Sakura would be available to fill in."

"Does this happen often?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Kakashi shook his head, "It isn't common, but it isn't rare, either. Usually teams of four don't get passed by Jōnin, as they are impractical and they don't work together anyways, it's just a formality, but like with you all, some do pass. Sometimes, there is no need to have a member put on rotation, but other times, it is necessary."

"So if we had three members from the beginning…" Kagome trailed off.

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, then Sakura would have had to stay. You can have a team with more than three genin, but you cannot have less than three. Although, you can have an apprenticeship with a student that is very talented, but that limits the missions that you can go on."

"All right, enough about that, I thought that since Naruto and Kagome already knew their elemental affinities, we would see what yours is, Sasuke," Kakashi said after a moment.

Sasuke looked surprised, "You do?"

Kagome shrugged, "I think you were off training when we got the chance to do it and then it never came up again."

"Well, that's why Kagome never said anything," Naruto smirked.

Sasuke scowled, "So how do we do this?"

Kakashi brought out a blue piece of paper, and handed it to Sasuke, "If it crinkles up, you have lightning; if it turns to ashes, then you have fire; wind if the paper breaks in half; if the paper crumbles, then it's earth; and water if the paper gets damp."

"Wait!" Kagome said.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

She turned to Naruto, "Care to make a bet?"

Naruto grinned, "Fine. 500 yen?"

"Deal, I think it's going to be fire."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, sizing him up, "I think it'll be lightning. Kaka-sensei, care to make a wager?"

Kakashi shook his head, amused, "What kind of example would I be setting if I made a bet with my students?"

Kagome snorted, "Please, with you coming late all the time, combined with that porn you read, your example is already shot."

Kakashi mock-scowled, "Icha Icha is not porn. Even so, I don't think I will."

Naruto shrugged, "Whatever you say. Sasuke, would you do the honors?"

Sasuke shook his head in exasperation, he channeled chakra in to the paper and it crinkled up. Kagome stared as Naruto whooped.

"500 yen! Cough it up, Kags!" Naruto shouted in glee.

Kagome sighed, "Yeah, yeah, here."

She took out the correct amount and placed it in Naruto's hand.

"So what next?" Sasuke asked.

"Channel your chakra once again in to the paper, we can see if you have a secondary affinity that way," Kakashi said.

Sasuke once more channeled his chakra in to the crinkled up paper and it turned to ashes.

"Fire. Now, one more time," Kakashi said.

Sasuke once more channeled his chakra but nothing happened.

"Well, you have a primary element, which is lightning, and a secondary element, which is fire," Kakashi said.

"What next?" Sasuke asked.

"Let's get to Training Ground 3, then I'll have Kagome explain what to do next," Kakashi said, he brought up his hands to vanish in his usual way, when Kagome and Naruto grabbed on to his arms.

He looked towards them questioningly.

Naruto grinned mischievously, "Why don't you walk with us Sensei?"

"Yes, this way you won't have another crash with Destiny," Kagome suggested.

Kakashi gave an exaggerated sigh, "If I must."

Kagome and Naruto grinned, dragging their Sensei towards their training grounds with Sasuke behind them, getting many amused glances from the people around them, as well as a few laughs from passing shinobi.

They made it to Training Ground 3 and Kagome and Naruto finally let their Sensei's arms go.

Kakashi mock-scowled and shook his arms out, "Finally!"

Kagome and Naruto laughed, even Sasuke had a smirk on his face.

~o0o~

"Tomorrow, we will be doing D-ranks and this time you cannotfail or just barely pass them," Kakashi said.

"Why not?" Kagome asked.

"Because you need a total of 10 D-ranks that you have passed acceptably, otherwise you seem incompetent," Kakashi said, "We'll see each other at 7 am at our usual bridge."

He vanished in a whirl of leaves.

Naruto shook his head incredulously, "We did an A-rank and Kagome and I did another A-rank mission before this! We are not incompetent!"

Kagome shook her head, "Oh! Sasuke, I forgot to ask, did you awaken your Sharingan?"

Sasuke nodded and turned on his Sharingan, showing Naruto and Kagome his red eyes with black comas.

"Wicked!" Naruto said.

Kagome nodded, "Congrats, how did it go?"

"Hn."

~o0o~

"Yo!"

"You're late!" Naruto shouted.

"Well, you see, this cute little girl needed me to get her cat out of the tree and I couldn't say no," Kakashi said.

"Really? What type of cat was it?" Naruto said, "Because unless it was a tiger, or Tora, it wouldn't take an Elite Jōnin three hours to get a stupid cat out of a tree."

"Really? You too? Isn't it enough that Kagome always ruins my excuses, now you're doing it, too?" Kakashi asked in disbelief, he then noticed something, or rather a lack of someone.

"Where's Kagome?" Kakashi asked.

"She ran back to get a scroll or something," Naruto explained, "She said in case you came before she did, I could ruin your excuse this time, she would've let Sasuke do it, but he was annoying her with his one word answers."

Kakashi shook his head, just as he was about to say something, he saw Kagome running towards them.

"Nice of you to join us," Kakashi said.

"Sorry, I would've been here sooner, but I got lost on the road of life," Kagome said an innocent smile forming on her lips.

Kakashi scowled, "That is plagiarism. Get your own excuses."

"Hn, what are we doing today?" Sasuke spoke up. He didn't want to delay any training.

"We have 10 D-ranks that we have to pass in three days," Kakashi said, "So, I took the liberty of going to the Hokage and getting a couple of D-ranks that you will each do individually. Usually, D-ranks are done by three genin or one chūnin, but we are on a tight schedule and I have complete faith in you. So, Kagome," Kakashi took out a folder and handed it to her, "You are babysitting a 2 year old Miaka. "

"I thought we were banned from babysitting?" Kagome asked confused, even as she accepted the file.

"I had to talk the Hokage in to it, so do not screw this up," Kakashi said, his voice serious. Kagome nodded.

"Details are in the file, we will meet at the Hokage Tower at 7 pm, off you go," Kakashi dismissed her. Kagome nodded and left at a run.

Kakashi turned back to the other two, "Sasuke, you have to catch Tora, here."

Kakashi handed over another file to Sasuke, who reluctantly took it, "7 pm, Hokage Tower. Off you go. Naruto," Kakashi said, turning to the last member of Team 7, "You have apple picking to do, here."

Naruto took the file, "That's not so hard."

Kakashi eye-smiled, "7 pm, Hokage Tower. Oh, and Naruto?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Hm?"

"You are only allowed to make 10 shadow clones," Kakashi said before he disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

~o0o~

"Hey baby girl," Kagome cooed as the little girl giggled.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Raya-san asked.

"Of course, Raya-san, your baby girl is safe with me, don't you worry about a thing," Kagome reassured the mother, "You go on and enjoy yourself."

"Alright, I'll see you at 7 pm," Raya-san said as she placed a kiss on the small girl's cheek and walked out.

"Come on, Mia, let's go play a game," Kagome said as the girl started to tear up at the sight of her mother leaving.

"Ma! Wah-WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

~o0o~

"Here kitty," Sasuke said, trying to coax Tora out of the hole she had retreated to.

She hissed at him as his hand came closer to her, she took a swipe at the back of his hand, leaving behind blood.

Sasuke cursed.

~o0o~

"Holy crap!" Naruto said, as he gazed at the vast field of trees laid out before him. He was at the edge of town and now he wished he was the one chasing Tora.

"Well, then," Naruto said, putting his hands together, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

10 Naruto's appeared in front of him.

"Let's get to work!" Naruto shouted, starting at one of the hundreds of trees that were there.

~o0o~

Kagome, Naruto, and Sasuke sat waiting at the Bridge for their Sensei to show up. The last three days had been hell. They had each gotten the worst missions possible: from demonic cats to unruly babies to picking apples from vast fields. Then there was filing paperwork for the academy, watching over more kids, and cherry picking, after that, there was weeding a massive garden, finding lost pets, painting a pool, and buying groceries for elderly women with too much on their damn lists.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted, appearing in his usual manner.

Groans were all he heard from his students.

"Well, you are all free to go! You have the day off," Kakashi said as he spotted a black messenger bird in the sky, "Bye!" he said before he vanished once more.

"I really hate that man sometimes," Naruto said picking himself up, then hauling Kagome to her feet as well.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he stood up and walked off.

"Let's go get some ramen," Kagome said, "I need some oden as well."

Naruto nodded and they both walked in to town.

~o0o~

Kakashi opened the double doors and walked in, "Sorry I'm late, I had to help an old lady with her groceries."

The Hokage waved his hand, "Take your place. The Chūnin Selection Exams will begin in one week. I will be announcing the beginning of the exams in five days. Now, for the team nominations: would any of the Rookie instructors like to nominate their team?"

Kakashi stepped forward, "I, Hatake, Kakashi, would like to nominate Team 7, comprised of Higurashi, Kagome, Uchiha, Sasuke, and Uzumaki, Naruto."

Asuma was the next to step up beside Kakashi, "I, Sarutobi, Asuma, would like to nominate Team 10, comprised of Akimichi, Choji, Nara, Shikamaru, and Yamanaka, Ino."

Kurenai stepped up next to Asuma, "I, Yuuhi, Kurenai, would like to nominate Team 8, comprised of Aburame, Shino, Hyuga, Hinata, and Inuzuka, Kiba."

~o0o~

"Naruto, why is there a square rock following us?" Kagome asked, not bothering to lower her voice.

Naruto sighed, "For the last time, Konohamaru! Rocks are not square, nor do they have eyes!"

"Yes they do!" Came a muffled voice from behind the two genin.

"Rocks don't talk, either," Naruto said, annoyed.

"Aw! You got me Boss!" Smoke filled the box and a lot of coughing was heard.

"The one who is the great seductress, Moegi!"

"The one who likes dividing numbers, Udon!"

"The one who is the village's number one genius ninja, Konohamaru!"

"And together, we are… the KONOHAMURAU CORPS!" The three shouted together.

Kagome bit her lip so she wouldn't burst out laughing, but didn't manage to fully cover the smile on her face.

"Who are you?" Konohamaru asked.

"I'm Kagome, it's nice to meet you three," Kagome said smiling.

"It's nice to meet you too," Konohamaru replied, blushing slightly.

"Ah," Naruto said, deciding to interrupt, "Why are you all wearing goggles?"

"We are copying the old you, what happened to you?" Konohamaru asked, "You've been so cold to us lately! You promised to play ninja with us!"

"Did I?" Naruto asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, 'If I say yes, I'll be stuck with them all day!'

"Humph! What's the point of a ninja playing ninja," A voice came from behind Kagome.

Kagome and Naruto turned to see Sakura coming from up the street.

"Hey Sakura, how are you?" Kagome asked, Sakura looked like she'd just been rejected from Sasuke again. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Sakura since she had been put on rotation.

Sakura stared at Naruto, ignoring Kagome all together.

"What is it," Naruto asked, 'Why is she looking at me like that?'

"Sakura? Are you okay?" Kagome asked, cautiously taking a step towards her former teammate.

'Why is she staring so intently at the Boss?' Konohamaru thought, light bulb went off in his head, 'She must be!'

"Boss! You're better than I thought you were!" Konohamaru said, nudging the older boy in the side.

"Is she your…" Konohamaru brought up a hand, slowly lifting up his littlest finger.

"Ah, haha, um," Naruto said, but before he could say anymore a punch knocked Naruto back towards the fence.

"NO I'M NOT!" Sakura screeched.

"Hey! Why'd you do that to the Boss!? You-you UGLY FOREHEADED GIRL!" Konohamaru shouted angrily.

"Um, Konohamaru, I suggest you run," Kagome said, her eyes wide.

"Sakura, calm down," Kagome said trying to coax the older girl to settle down. However, it seemed to be the wrong thing to say as Sakura took off after Konohamaru who had run when he saw that Sakura was charging straight at him.

"Shit! Come on, Naruto!" Kagome said as she took off after Sakura with Naruto on her heels.

They heard a cry from up ahead and picked up the pace, they skidded to a halt as they saw two foreign nin, one was a blonde girl with four pig tails on the back of her head and the other was a guy wearing purple make up and a cat suit.

The guy had lifted Konohamaru up by the scarf.

"That hurt, you little shit!" The guy growled, shaking the kid by his scarf.

"Let him go!" Naruto shouted.

"Oh, yeah, and why would I do that?" The guy asked.

"I'm sorry, this was my fault, we were just joking around," Sakura said.

"Kankuro, just let him go, or you'll pay for this later," the blonde said.

"But, I feel like playing around for a bit," Kankuro said, staring at the small brat he was holding up.

"Let him go," Kagome said, finally stepping forward, her gaze serious.

"Oh, and what if I don't? What are you going to do about it, little girl?" Kankuro asked, shaking Konohamaru again.

"TEME!" Naruto charged forwards, aiming a punch at Kankuro's head. Kagome caught the movement Kankuro made with his fingers. She ran in Naruto's shadow, just as Naruto fell, she flipped over him, and using chakra to enhance her speed, kicked Kankuro's arm, making him drop Konohamaru.

"You little BITCH!" Kankuro snarled, making a grab for Kagome, but a rock sailed past her face and hit the hand that was stretched out towards her, giving Kagome time to grab Konohamaru and jump back to where Naruto, Sakura, and the two other kids were standing.

"Don't you dare talk to my sister like that," A voice came from the tree to their right.

Everyone looked up to see Sasuke siting on the branch, throwing a rock and catching it once more, before he squeezed his fist and the rock turned to dust.

Kagome's eyes widened, that chakra, there was a powerful demon nearby, and it had malicious intentions. She shivered, she looked around, finally, she zeroed in on the branch next to Sasuke.

"Kagome, you okay?" Naruto asked.

"Why don't you come out?" Kagome called instead of answering his question. Everyone looked on in confusion, until they saw a figure appear upside down on a branch, right beside Sasuke.

The figure had red hair, he had kohl lining his pale blue-green eyes, and he had the kanji for love on his forehead in red. Kagome looked at his eyes curiously, they were almost empty. There was depth, but that depth spoke of pain, the pain of others, however looking closer, Kagome realized that the pain was his own.

"You're an embarrassment to the village, Kankuro," the redhead spoke.

"Gaara, I-" Kankuro started but was silenced as the redhead spoke again, "Shut up, or I'll kill you."

He floated down on a bed of sand, landing beside the two Suna genin.

"How did you know I was there?" Gaara asked, speaking directly to Kagome.

Kagome smiled, "I sensed your tenant's aura. My name is Higurashi, Kagome, this is Uzumaki, Naruto, Uchiha, Sasuke, and Sakura Haruno."

"This is Kankuro, Temari, and I am Sabaku no Gaara," Gaara said, introducing himself and his siblings.

Kagome made a split-second decision and stepped forward, her hand out, "It's nice to meet you, Gaara."

"You know," Gaara stated, not taking her hand.

Kagome smiled, she knew it wasn't a question, but she answered anyways, "I do."

Gaara looked at her hand that was still up after her admission, he then slowly extended his own hand, placing it in her own, and he shook it once, and then retracted his hand. He felt a strange feeling overcome him, something he hadn't felt in a while, or perhaps, he'd never felt it before. He couldn't name it, however, it felt…nice.

He looked at her, "Higurashi, Kagome, I hope we meet again."

With those words, he turned and walked in the opposite direction.

~o0o~

"You met the container of the Shukaku, today."

Kagome looked up in surprise, "Kurama."

Naruto's blue eyes were once again a crimson red, "Be very careful around him. That boy cannot sleep, for if he does, the demon inside him will come out."

"How do you know this?" Kagome asked, "You seem to know a lot of things, like the fact that there was going to be another battle in Waves, and before that, you had me meet up with Sesshoumaru, how do you know him? How is he even here? I mean, I had to be born in to this world, and yet, here he is and he's still a demon. What is going on?"

"I have already told you, I cannot tell you, yet. The turning point is coming soon and with it, your answers will also come. Be careful of the grass nins and if you can, join up with Gaara's team in the second part of the exam," Kurama said.

Kagome growled, "No! Damn it, Kurama! I want to know what is going on!"

"And you will," Kurama said, "right before the turning point which is after the exam."

"What exam?"

"The Chūnin Selection Exams."

"How do you know I'll be entered in it?"

"Do you think those D-ranks that you did were for fun? To be entered in to the Chūnin Exam, you need to complete a total of 8 D-ranks without being banned from them or messing them up in some way. Kakashi had you do 10, while the last two were not necessary, he probably just did that to get you three to work together," Kurama explained.

Kagome snorted, "The last two were probably payback for ruining his excuses. Fine, but what will happen in the second part of the exam?"

"I cannot tell you everything, but what you do need to know is that you shouldn't lag behind, get to the destination point as soon as possible, many things could go wrong in there. Seek out Gaara, he will help you."

"How do you know Gaara will help us? I mean why would he? If this is an exam, then aren't we the competition?"

Kurama nodded, "You are competition, but remember what you felt when you touched Gaara?"

Kagome narrowed her eyes as she thought back to when her hand touched Gaara's, "Loneliness, and anger, lots of it, but also surprise and… hope?"

Kurama nodded, "He will help you, because you are the first person to show him kindness; especially since he knows that you know of the bijuu sealed inside of him, and you still offered your hand, he thought of it as a form of acceptance. Although he does not trust easily, he will not try very hard to push you away. His childhood was cruel, perhaps crueler than Naruto's, had Naruto not met you. Before Naruto met you, his life was not… good."

"That's putting it lightly," Kagome sighed sadly, "Even after he moved in with me, he would come home with bruises on some days, he would try to hide it, but…"

Kurama nodded, "Yes. While Naruto played pranks to get the villagers' attention, Gaara killed to validate his existence."

Kagome gasped in horror, "That's awful! To think that the villagers would be so cruel as to push someone so far that they had to kill to feel alive…"

Kurama nodded, "Try to build a friendship between Naruto and Gaara. They know each other's pain, whether they see it or not, and Naruto can help stop Gaara from killing everyone."

Kagome nodded, "I don't understand something, why can't Gaara sleep? If it's his seal, then it could be fixed, right? Why not just fix it now, surely there are other seal masters out there?"

"I'm currently looking in to it. If his seal can be fixed, then it will be after the second exam."

Kagome nodded, "At least tell me what this crystal does?"

A smile formed on Naruto's face, "You still do not know?"

Kagome shook her head.

A chuckle escaped his lips, "Did Sesshoumaru not tell you?"

Kagome scowled, she opened her mouth to say something more, but Kurama beat her to it, "Look up Changing Dragon Crystal, while it's true name is the Ryuu no Kyuubi Crystal, to the humans that once knew of it, it is called the Changing Dragon Crystal."

With that Kurama walked out of her room and back to Naruto's bed, with Naruto being none the wiser.

Kagome pondered over Kurama's words for a bit longer, before she too fell asleep.

~o0o~

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted his team.

"You're late!" Naruto greeted back.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to buy dog food for Pakkun," Kakashi said.

"Pakkun's a summon, isn't he?" Kagome asked.

Kakashi nodded.

Kagome sighed, "What are we doing today?"

Kakashi held out three forms, "If you want to participate in the Chūnin Exams, fill out these forms and be at the designated location at 9 am sharp tomorrow. Good luck and if you decide not to take the exam, then I'll see you when the exams are finished, bye." Kakashi said, before he disappeared once again.

"So what do you think?" Kagome asked as she turned to the other two beside her, but sweat-dropped when she saw that they were already filing out their forms. She shook her head and started filling out her own form.

~o0o~

"Henge!" Kagome whispered. She transformed in to Kakashi-sensei, she then put a henge on another book, making it look like the orange Icha Icha that he was always reading. She had made sure that Kakashi-sensei would be nowhere near the library before she came.

She nodded to the Chūnin guard, one hand holding up the book, the other in her pocket.

She lazily walked in to the building, mimicking her Sensei's posture as best as she could. Once she was inside, she put the book away and walked towards the door labeled Jōnin. She pushed it open and ascended the staircase that led to the top. She pushed open another door, which led to a circular room full of bookcases.

She noticed that there were sections of bookcases and each particular section had a label.

Jutsu

Maps

Artifacts

There. Kagome walked over to the shelf and ran her finger along the spines and pulled out books that caught her attention: The Rarest Gems, Magical Artifacts, Powerful Relics, Guardian Jewel Myths, and Legendary Stones.

Kagome quickly flipped through each book, finally, she found a chapter titled The Changing Dragon Crystal in Guardian Jewel Myths.

She quickly flipped through it and, at last, found the page.

The Changing Dragon Crystal has no identifying description; it changes its appearance regarding to who is in possession of it. According to the Myth, the only one who may see the crystal in its purest form is the crystal's guardian. However, the guardian is not easy to find. Although the prophecy points to possible guardians, a guardian has not been chosen in centuries. There is no record of a previous guardian, however, it is clear that one exists.

However, since the crystal has not been seen in centuries, it is doubtful that it actually exists. Many seem to think that the crystal is simply a made up myth and to make it seem real, the records were falsified, because at the time the crystal emerged, the country that discovered it was at war. Although, there are some who say that when a guardian is finally appointed, the crystal will reveal itself once more.

The crystal has a unique power that is different from others. What makes the crystal unique is that unlike other gems, it does not provide the user with more chakra, immortality, or super strength. There have been, supposed, records of experiments done on the crystal, yet there is no record of what the crystal actually does, only what it does not do. One theory, that is the most plausible, is that since the crystal changes when not with it's guardian, only the guardian may use the crystal's power.

'Great! This was totally useless,' Kagome noticed that there was a seal on the page; she gasped in surprise as she felt a pulse at the base of her neck. She took out the crystal and gaped. It was glowing; she looked down at the page again, just in time to see the seal disappear in a flash of red.

The one who shall guard,

Will be pure of heart,

She will know the loss of love,

She will know the gain of trust.

A human she may seem,

An innocent being she will be.

A creature from her past seeks to corrupt,

Another from the future seeks to protect.

Silver from the past will seek to teach once more,

Silver from the present will guide her to the dark shore.

Brought from another time,

To correct the mistake of others.

She will bring the child of prophecy

Together with the one who is meant to see.

Separated as rivals,

Brought together by her.

The truth shall be revealed in time for another battle to appear.

"What the hell is going on?" Kagome whispered, her voice filled with disbelief. She snapped the book shut and put it in her henged vest.

Nodding a farewell to the Chūnin guard, she left. Filled with more questions than ever.

~o0o~

*Raimei = Thunder

~o0o~

Emerald: Holy shit! 26 pages! 7,853 words. Not including the Last Time, Author's Note, the language key, or the Review Responses! Daaammn! That is a lot for me.

I got to 202 reviews *Happy Dance* WOOHOO!

Review Responses:

Guest (Ch. 18): No worries, Sesshoumaru and Minato were out voted. They are no longer in the running.

YunaNeko: Here's the next chapter, hope you like it!

Otaku-ka-ren: Yeah, I can't wait for Itachi to show up again, either.

kat: I'm so glad you like it!

Guest (Ch. 17): Sorry, no SasuNaru in this chapter, next chapter, though! Promise.

SnowMiko: It was a long review. I'm glad you liked that. I was worried that I was making it all happen too fast, but it worked out in the end. I hope this meeting with Gaara lives up to your expectation. You are not weird for liking SasuNaru, because that would make me weird and… wait, that's a good thing. Never mind, we're both weird, yay for weird people!

Jayrock102: I'm so glad you love it! Here's the next chapter!

tinawinna: I admit, I cried when I watched Haku and Zabuza die, especially when Zabuza asked to be laid beside Haku with just moments to live. ='( I have a plan for that, but it'll be sometime in coming. I can't just have Kagome not train, but there are surprises in store for her. I can't wait until Itachi comes back, either! His coming back is one of the few points I'm really looking forward to writing.

All your reviews and favorites and alerts make me smile, I literally can't stop grinning, I'm that happy! Love you guys a bunch!

Review! Review! Review!