Notes: I am very limited in my knowledge of Naruto (up to episode 31), so if you find any false or incorrect information, kindly ignore it. (I'll be changing facts to fit the purpose of my story…)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and Inuyasha.

Chuunin Test

The miniature alarm clock, set precariously on the edge of the nightstand, immediately began to beep at exactly 7:00 AM. As the beeping gradually became louder and louder, Kagome was forced to bury her head under her pillow to block out the incessant blaring. Just when she was about to give in and get up, the alarm clock fell off the nightstand…immediately restoring silence to the quiet bedroom.

As quickly as the clock had fallen, Kagome was asleep again as if she had never been disturbed in the first place. It wouldn't be until exactly an hour, five minutes, and twenty-three seconds later that she would reawaken to find herself completely and utterly...late.

Feeling the warm rays of the morning sunshine through her open window, Kagome groggily snapped open a bleary eye to gauge the position of the sun. "Hm…the sun's up already," she yawned, "and by the looks of it, I'd say it's about…8:00, give or take." Rolling to her left to block the light out of her eyes, it took her a complete minute to realize the significance of her own words. "Kyaaah, why didn't someone wake me up?" she shouted as she rolled out of bed and pulled on her ninja attire, which she had luckily placed at the edge of her bed the night before. "Mizukage-sama will have my head!" she screamed as she stumbled out of her apartment while pulling on her sandles.

"You're late."

Those were the Kage's greeting before Kagome had even set foot into the room. "Thanks a bunch," she thought miserably to herself as three pairs of eyes turned to her. "Maybe I should…come back later?" she suggested sheepishly as she tried to close the door she had just banged open a second ago in her rush.

"Hold it!" the Kage ordered before Kagome had the chance to slip out of the room. "Where do you think you're going?"

Before she could answer with a smart-aleck retort, she was effectively silenced by her sensei's menacing glare. Gulping slightly in fright, she quickly retreated to the back of the room to join her friend, who was lightly snickering at her predicament.

"Did you oversleep again, Kagome-chan?" her best friend asked as she smiled widely. "Bet you ten pieces of silver that Sesshoumaru-sensei is going to give you another lecture on punctuality."

"Beat it, Sango." Kagome retorted good-naturedly with a small grin. "I know I'll get that lecture. This is going to be my fifth lecture this week – I'm probably going to break the record for irritating Sesshoumaru-sensei or something."

"Na," Sango quickly disagreed, "that'll be Inuyasha."

"True, though I honestly don't know how Sesshoumaru-sensei puts of with him!" Kagome snorted as the person in question burst into the room. "Oh, it looks like I wasn't as late as someone else…"

"Shut up, Kagome!" hissed Inuyasha as he ambled into the room, nonplussed by his sensei/brother's infamous glare.

"Didn't Sesshoumaru-sensei wake you up this morning?" Kagome asked, tilting her head slightly in question. "You guys do live in the same house…if I remember correctly. Or did sensei kick you out because you started singing like a banshee like the last time you got drunk at…"

"Sh," Inuyasha hissed as he clamed a hand over Kagome's mouth. "Are you trying to get me killed or something?"

"Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru coldly intoned as he stared blankly at his younger brother, "we are going to have a long talk after this."

"Lecture," Sango and Kagome murmured in unison as they simultaneously nodded their heads.

"Now that you're all here, I'll announce what I had called you all here for." the Kage interrupted as he stood up from behind his pile of paperwork. He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "By Sesshoumaru's recommendation, you three have been chosen to travel to Konoha to take the Chuunin entrance exam this year. This event will take place on July 1 in the Village Hidden in the Leaves – I expect you three to take it with utmost seriousness because it not only concerns your rank, but also the fame of this village!"

"Ano," Kagome interrupted, stepping forward, "Do I have to take the test? I didn't exactly plan to be a ninja…I was going to take over my…grandpa's…" she trailed off when she found herself once again on the receiving end of her sensei's disapproval. "I'll…try my best?" she finally answered, the statement sounding more like a question than a fact.

"All right, I'm going to kick some butt!" whooped Inuyasha as he pumped his hand into the air.

"Will Sesshoumaru-sensei be traveling with us?" Sango asked as Kagome tried to calm Inuyasha's excitement. "And how will we enter Konoha?"

"Sesshoumaru will join you at a later time – you three will go first and turn in the applications. As for how to enter Konoha, you three will be given traveling passes specifically designed for the Chuunin test."

"Yes, I'm finally leaving this stinking village without Sesshoumaru!" cheered Inuyasha as Kagome clonked him over the head for his lack of respect to his sensei and brother.

"Sango will be placed in charge of the team and Inuyasha will be placed in the hands of Kagome, who will be writing to me every three days to keep me updated on current events." ordered Sesshoumaru, his molten gold eyes lingering disgustedly on his younger half brother for a moment longer than necessary.

"Quit putting me on a leash like a dog!" Inuyasha hollered angrily. "I'm almost thirteen! Why is Sango in charge when I'm clearly older than her by five months?"

"Because you don't have the maturity to back it up." answered Sesshoumaru, concluding the discussion with a cool glare. "You three, though only 12, are the top students of the Village Hidden in the Mist – I expect good results."

"Yes, Sensei!" Kagome and Sango chirped in unison while Inuyasha just grunted, showing that he was at least listening.

Upon arriving at Konoha, Inuyasha immediately bounded off in search of excitement, mainly in the form of brawls and fights. Kagome, burdened with the responsibility to keep an eye on Inuyasha, was forced to follow after handing her luggage over to Sango.

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Kagome asked tiredly as she handed her baggage over to her friend. "That's a lot of things to carry…"

"I'll be fine," Sango assured as she nudged her friend off with her feet. "You better go – I can barely see Inuyasha anymore. He'll probably initiate a fight the first chance he gets…Sesshoumaru-sensei isn't going to like it." she whispered the last part with an accompanied shudder.

"I'll commit suicide if I have to sit through one of his lectures on responsibility." gagged Kagome as she quickly raced off to find Inuyasha, who was already no where in sight. "Oh, how lovely…" she thought sarcastically to herself as she looked around in an attempt to spot the red-clad ninja, "He's gone…"

Inuyasha was browsing lazily through the deserted ally in an attempt to find someone strong enough to keep him entertained for at least five minutes, but was sorely disappointed to find that many of Konoha's genins were sorely…useless. "Keh," he snorted softly to himself as he kicked a pebble, "and I thought Konoha housed some powerful…" he trailed off as a blooming brawl not too far off caught his attention.

A grin quickly made its way to his lips as he surged forward to take part in the action. He was just about to holler to get the participants' attention when he spotted a little boy dangling from the grip of a genin from the Village Hidden in the Sand (if the forehead protector was anything to go by).

Before he had the chance to intervene and play the hero, a rock flew out of a nearby tree and smashed into the sand genin's hand, causing him to drop the kid in favor of nursing his wounded hand. Looking up to the tree, Inuyasha smirked when his eyes fell on the dark-haired genin from Konoha. "Maybe this village isn't completely hopeless." he though to himself as a pink-haired genin happily shrieked, "Sasuke-kun!"

Inuyasha, against his usual brash actions, for once decided to watch the scene unfold before intervening. His grin gradually grew larger as another powerful rival arrived on the scene…Gaara. Deciding he had waited long enough, Inuyasha finally drew everyone's attention to him with a shout of, "Hey!"

"Not another one," the pink-haired genin moaned.

Ignoring the interruption, Inuyasha continued, "One of you, fight me!" His eyes traveled hastily between Sasuke and Gaara in anticipation – He was sure fighting either of them would be interesting.

"I'll fight you!" announced the blond-haired genin beside Sakura, the pink-head.

"And who are you?" snorted Inuyasha, shooting the genin a distasteful glance. From what he had seen, the blond didn't hold much power, which meant he wasn't worth his time.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he announced proudly. "I'm going to be the next Hokage!"

It took all of Inuyasha's will power then and there not to burst out laughing. Waving the blond off without a second glance, he quickly refocused his attention back to Sasuke and Gaara, only to find that the latter and his companions were already gone. Shrugging it off, he focused his complete attention on Sasuke and grinned, "Guess that means it's just you and me."

As Sasuke hopped off the tree to land gracefully a few yards away from Inuyasha, Sakura wildly cheered for her teammate to "kick Inuyasha's butt to all the way to the moon." Inuyasha quickly blocked out the obnoxious female's voice as he reached for his kunai…

"There you are, you baka!" an angry voice shouted, shattering Inuyasha's attention. Caught off guard, Inuyasha was barely able to dodge the dark-haired genin's shuriken as it whizzed past his face.

Turning around to face his companion, who had nearly cost him his life, Inuyasha angrily shouted, "What do you think you were doing, wench? You nearly got me killed!"

Kagome looked unimpressed as she grabbed Inuyasha's ear, twisting in painfully in her hand. "That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't just suddenly run off as soon as we got here. Now, because of you, I don't even know where Sango is! You better have a good explanation for this," she hissed as she further twisted his ears, "or I'm writing to Sesshoumaru-sensei as soon as I find Sango!"

"Ow, ow, ow, Kagome, let go!" Inuyasha cried as he tried to pry his companion's fingers off his ear. "I'll tell you already!"

"Um…ano…" Naruto interrupted as he scratched the back of his head. "Who are you?" he asked as he stared wide-eyed at the dark-haired beauty.

"Ah, I apologize for my companion's misbehavior!" Kagome apologized as she kicked Inuyasha in the shins. "My name is Higurashi Kagome; pleased to make your acquaintance."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," the blond answered, "and I apologize for my teammate." he added as he pointed to his frowning, dark-haired companion. "That's Uchiha Sasuke; he's always getting into trouble!"

"No he's not!" Sakura quickly defended as she glared at Naruto, who was spouting off a load of lies in an attempt to impress Kagome.

"Pleased to meet you Uchiha-san," greeted Kagome with a small bow, "I hope Inuyasha didn't cause you too much trouble."

"He was horribly weak." Sasuke retorted coldly, causing Inuyasha's eyes to narrow angrily.

"Teme, what did you say?" demanded Inuyasha as he lunged head first at Sasuke.

"Inuyasha, don't make me say the word!" hissed Kagome, latching onto Inuyasha's outstretched arm. The Konoha genins watched in interest as Inuyasha immediately paled and stopped struggling. "Now go and find Sango – no detours either or else no ramen for a week." Kagome ordered as she pushed Inuyasha back up the ally with an angry huff. "Seriously, boys these days!" she muttered as Inuyasha's red figure quickly bounded out of view.

"Wow, you're so cool, onee-chan!" three kids (that Kagome had previously overlooked) chirped in unison.

"Thanks…" Kagome smiled weakly as she turned back to the three genins. "I apologize for Inuyasha…again." she sighed as she brushed her shoulder-length out of her face. "I hope you won't think badly of our village because of him."

"No, it's fine." Sakura kindly answered with a bright smile that immediately turned sour when she discovered Kagome's attention was solely focused on Sasuke. Naruto wasn't too happy with all the attention Sasuke was getting either as he eagerly jumped in front of Kagome.

"Yes, go Naruto!" Inner Sakura cheered as she quickly moved closer to Sasuke.

"Ne, ne, why aren't you a ninja?" asked Naruto curiously, tilting his head slightly in question.

"What?" blinked Kagome, "I am a ninja…I hope."

"You are?" asked Sakura, surprised. "Then where's your forehead protector?"

"It's right…here." Kagome trailed off as she reached around her neck for her forehead protector, only to find that it wasn't there. "Kyah, I left it at home! Sensei's going to kill me!" she cried in panic as she promised herself she'd write to Sesshoumaru as soon as she got hold of some writing utensils. "Bye Sakura-san, Uzumaki-san, and Uchiha-san – maybe we'll meet again at the Chuunin exam." she smiled pleasantly before quickly running off – her thoughts completely filled with ways to explain to Sesshoumaru why she didn't have her forehead protector.

"Wow, she was pretty, ne, ne?" Naruto cried as he stared after Kagome's quickly retreating back.

"Hn," Sasuke softly grunted as he narrowed his eyes by a fraction. He didn't like the weird vibe he was getting from that girl…

TBC

This is my first Naruto/Inuyasha crossover, so please tell me what you think. Also, for those of you who want to read more Naruto/Inuyasha xovers stories, Densetsuno Youko promised me she'd write a Naruto/Inuyasha crossover ficfor my birthday - that's only January 1. Go read that on Jan 1, if you like this kind of story (she's a much better writer than me...)