You Can Reclaim Your Crown

Summary: No one paid her much attention, Naruto's landlady, this woman who paid visits to the Uchiha compound with baskets of bread and fruit for the little Uchiha survivor. The woman who sat down to dinner with the Nine Tails Jinchuriki...who had befriended the silent Itachi, the impassive Kakashi...and had enraptured the hearts of Kushina and Minato...no one paid her any attention, until she's forced to act as a Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village once again.

Pairing: Kagome/?

Anime/Manga: InuYasha/Naruto

Genre: Romance/Spiritual/Adventure

Rated: M

-x-x-x-

It had been five days of waiting, worry and pacing. Kagome had plenty of time with Kakashi to distract herself, but she couldn't help but worry when on the last day, she still hadn't heard heads or tails about her boys. It wasn't until Anko returned injured from a conflict in the forest, that Kagome was summoned by the Hokage. She had learned of the cause of the injury to be Anko's old Sensei and hearing about his infiltration of the Leaf Village had her worried. "May I?" She walked over to Anko and motioned towards the mark. The Hokage had already soothed the pain and forced the mark into a catatonic state.

Anko frowned before moving her hand away from her neck. "Have at it."

Kagome's hands glowed a light pink and she placed them over the mark, she immediately felt the impurity in the mark and a shadowed look took up residence in her eyes. "What a seal...it's coveted with dark energy."

"...can you remove it?" The Hokage asked curiously, not entirely sure of what she was looking to do.

"I...might be able to."

Anko looked up in surprise, "can you really?!"

Kagome looked thoughtfully at Anko, "I'd like to try before I tell you I can. I've never purged a Seal before, only healed injuries and removed impurities from the body."

Settling herself comfortably before Kagome, Anko let the girl try her hand at the mark.

-x-x-x-

"What are we waiting for?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto and shrugged. They'd had a crappy time getting the scroll, thinking about it, he was bothered by the turn out of the fight prior to them finally making it to the tower. "We got lucky,"

"Yeah we did," Sakura sank down on the floor and sighed, "had it not been for Ino and her team, and the help from that Lee kid's team...we would have probably been killed."

"What was that guys problem!? He was determined to take a bite out of Sasuke, I almost thought he'd sunk his teeth into you for a moment there."

Sasuke smirked, "do you think I'm so inept?"

"Sasuke...you really were cool yesterday. It was an amazing fight, really..." Sakura frowned, "I only wish I'd been more helpful."

"I didn't want you to get involved, Sakura. You had the scroll, and while I don't think he was interested in the scroll, he wouldn't have wasted his time in destroying it either."

"Still, watching you and Naruto always protect me...I want to get stronger...I want to be helpful!" She clutched her fists and closed her eyes.

Naruto looked at Sakura and then up to Sasuke who met his eyes. The two of them took a seat on either side of her before they each placed a hand on one of hers. "Hey, Sakura...take your time. Don't rush on account of feeling like your being left behind. You are a great Genin, and in time, you will be a great Chuunin. More than that, you are an awesome Shinobi. We are a team, which means, where one of us lacks, the other can pick up the slack. I'm not all that great in Genjutsu, but you are amazing at it! Let us protect you while we can..."

"...while you can?"

Sasuke shrugged, "you'll catch up at your own pace, and then it'll be us looking at your back."

Laughing, Sakura shook her head, "you think so?" She indulged in the silence while the three of them waited for the next part of the Exam to start. They'd listened to Iruka and were just waiting for someone to come get them for the next part of the Exam. "So, what do you think the next part of the Exam is?"

"...well...we've done a written and survival...I would assume practical."

"So, fighting," Naruto grinned, "can't wait!"

-x-x-x-

Anko looked in a mirror and stared at the place where the mark Orochimaru had so long ago placed on her, used to be. It was completely gone; the expanse of flesh was completely clear of the obstructive seal. She hadn't put too much faith in Kagome's "abilities", but staring at her reflection, the absence of the mark, the lack of pain, it was invigorating. Half of her wanted to forgo the Exam and run after Orochimaru, to show him that he held nothing over her anymore. The other part of her...the childish, unstable part of her, wanted to cry at the loss of what her Sensei had left her with. It was gone. She was happy, but she was also somewhat sad over it. Shaking her head, she tried to clear her mind and return herself to the Exam at hand.

Walking out of the bathroom without another glance back, she motioned for a sentinel to gather the Genin where they would be holding the Prelims. "This will be fun,"

Kagome who was leaning against the wall beside Hayate and Kakashi who had come to spectate, looked up as Anko walked in. She was glad she could remove the mark, but Kagome had worn herself out to the point of not being able to stand without the help of something to lean on. Hence...the wall behind her. Kakashi acknowledged Anko as she walked over to them, the group talking in hushed tones as they waited for the Genin to make their way to the room they were in. The Preliminaries were about to begin, and they were excited at the prospect of the hopeful selection of Chuunin.

"How are you holding up," Kakashi asked, helping her to where he would be standing behind the Hokage.

"I'm doing better than I anticipated...I haven't done anything like that in such a long time, I wasn't even sure if I remembered how."

"What did you do?"

Kagome frowned, "treated the seal much like it was a poison, I extracted the chakra from it."

",,.you are quite the mysterious girl, Kagome. Even after all these years, it still feels as if there's so much I don't know about you."

"HURRY UP! LINE UP BY THREE!" Anko yelled as she stood in front of the large group of genin's. "We will start once you've done as told!"

-x-x-x-

Me: Here is chapter 24! It was hard to write because I'm not watching Naruto! Please be patient with me, I hope you like this chapter! Review~!