Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha naruto or any of its characters I just use them in nonprofit fiction.
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'…I don't trust him' to her he seemed fake 'he's too nice for a guy with gray hair.'
'that's why you don't trust him? His hair color?' Kagome heard inner Sakura ask incredulously, almost making Kagome miss the branch she was jumping to.
'Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Tsubaki, half of Naraku's incarnations, all light colored hair, all Bastards!' she mentally pouted. wondering she managed to encounter so many.
'I thought you liked Inuyasha.' Inner Sakura pointed out
'just because you like someone it doesn't mean they aren't a total ass! I mean you like Sasuke right?' Kagome replied.
'don't talk about Sasuke like that!' inner Sakura exclaimed angrily
Kagome rolled her eyes at that knowing that no one was paying attention to her.
"so your saying we could easily be ambushed at the tower? or that we should even expect it? But we could also ambush others in order to get the remaining scroll we need." Kagome asked tuning out inner Sakura and wanting to learn more about what's going on, but not wanting seem too suspicious.
Especially to this gray haired guy with the weird aura that she couldn't trust.
"That's right, you catch on quick but that's not all."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"well I'd assume that there are a million reasons why people would do it, either way the reasons don't matter the fact that that it happens and could be to our benefit is all I really care about." Kagome said, she honestly didn't like the thought of ambushing other people but she also she knew if she didn't suggest it someone else would and she'd have to go along with it anyways; otherwise she'd look suspicious.
"What do you mean?" naruto asked again but to the 'would be' Sakura Haruno.
"For one we'll be ready when and if we get ambushed. Two we already know where to find our next scroll"
"Most of the people who will try to ambush you are pretty confident in themselves." The four eyed ninja said.
"And you think they might have reason to be." Kagome finished for him.
"Yes." He replied
"I see, explains why you decided to show yourself to us." Kagome accused, eyes narrowed.
"huh?" Naruto obviously needed it spelled out for him, luckily Sasuke had caught on.
"so you're scared to go on your own." Sasuke summed up quite bluntly.
"Exactly." Kabuto claimed without worry or remorse.
"Obviously not your run o the mill white haired man" Kagome thought thinking about how Inuyasha or any number of other people with pale hair, that if any one asked that they would either scream at them or just get aggressive at the suggestion that they might actually be scared "but then again… that's what it's like for most people I know, whether their hair is light in color or not…" but Kagome still couldn't shake the feeling of something being off about this guy.
"Sasuke already explained! he showed up because he was scared to go alone!" inner Sakura claimed
Kagome felt her eyebrow twitch and snarled inwardly: this chick in her head was really starting to aggravate her.
"I'm not saying he's wrong, I'm just saying whether that's the case or not doesn't matter, I get a weird feeling and I don't feel like I can trust him. Besides who's to say that's even the whole truth. I'm not saying that your 'Sasuke kun'" she mocked "is wrong I'm just saying that while that might be true, there might be more additional reasons."
"get over yourself, there's no way Sasuke is wrong!" Inner Sakura said ignoring her mocking, instead focusing on more on her Sasuke kun.
"are you stupid or just def? I never said he was wrong!" Kagome restated to the voice in her head "I'm just saying that there might be more that we simply aren't getting… aren't a ninja's instincts important? well I've learned to trust mine!"
Kagome let inner Sakura ponder on that for a while, while she tuned out everything and tried to put her thoughts back in order. She didn't have long as their destination came into view.
Kagome also noticed something else. "so they have those here too…" she though taking a peek at the large creature out of the corner of her eye 'but it doesn't feel demonic like usual…" Kagome shrugged it off maybe it was just bigger than most.
"there it is." Kagome stated as they stopped and looked at the tower.
"we should be careful from here on out." Kabuto said.
Kagome had to stop herself from snapping back a sarcastic 'no kidding.' Or 'you think?'
suddenly chaos ensued for a second and then suddenly stopped with Naruto flipping out and throwing a kunai at the 'large creature' Kagome had just observed a moment earlier. "it's just a giant centipede Naruto." She sighed.
Kagome couldn't count how many of those things she's seen over the years, and didn't care to remember so many encounters with such creatures either, the ones she usually dealt with were mostly aggressive the one naruto just attacked seemed (for the most part) to just be minding its own business.
Naruto, Sasuke and Kabuto looked at her with shock. "you know those aren't exactly normal." Kabuto stated a little dumbfounded at her blasé reaction to the now dead creature, Orochimaru had mentioned he wanted information on this one. After confronting them apparently.
She just shrugged and said "Almost everything is bigger here, why would it be different for bugs?" taking note of her nonchalant behavior Kabuto decided to drop it, but continue to keep an eye on her.
He turned to the blonde "Naruto, I'd like to avoid unnecessary actions and noise from now on. Moving through the forest making a lot of noise and drawing attention to ourselves will only ensure an attack on us." And looked ahead "from now on lets as move slowly and safely as time will allow us"
she rolled her eyes. And began towards the tower "Then lets go, I'm ready to get out of this hell forest."
For a moment Kagome felt something strange but it was nothing overly noticeable and brushed it off as being tired.
And she allowed her mind to wonder 'I wonder how they're doing…" she thought thinking of her companions back in the feudal era of her world and sighed and let herself worry.
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They were getting tired, she was getting tired they had been walking for hours 'damn it if I was in my own body this wouldn't be an issue! With Inuyashas slave driving I've built up endurance for this kind of stuff."
"is it just me or does this area seem familiar" Kagome asked looking around while still walking: spending so much time in the feudal era she learned to observe her surroundings even if it's just around a temporary camp; so she won't get lost if she has to leave the camp for whatever reason and observing her surroundings has become a sort of habit.
"seems like… we've already arrived at our welcoming party"
"what do you mean?" Naruto asked
Kabuto then heard a groan from the young pink haired girl 'so she noticed' he mentally noted "a giant dead bug... I certainly feel welcome " Kagome groaned out.
after observing the way 'Sakura' held her face in her hands and the confused looks from her two male teammates Kabuto pointed at the centipede that Naruto had killed earlier.
Naruto and Sasuke looked on shocked "no WAY!" Naruto exclaimed, Kagome had to wonder why she wasn't surprised… 'maybe I'm too tired to be surprised…" she inwardly sighed.
"What's going on?!" Naruto yelled
Kagome sent Naruto an annoyed glance 'does he ever talk without being loud!?'she wondered
"Genjutsu?" Sasuke asked
"looks like it, we've fallen into a trap." Kabuto said
Kagome was embarrassed she was caught off guard like that and let that embarrassment contort into anger and aggression and let an angry smile form on her face "fine, I guess we deserve it for falling for such a trick." She sighed angry at herself for brushing off her instincts: she knew better than that! "I guess now that their trap is exposed they're going to attack" she said pulling out a kunai, getting ready to fight.
As if on queue, clones began appearing all around them.
"Seems your right." Sasuke shot her look laced with suspicion and she didn't fail to notice but turned her gaze to the clones in a clear indication that he should focus on the more immediate threat rather then her strange behavior and he did.
Oblivious to the exchange Naruto began bragging "couldn't be a more perfect handicap."
Ignoring all the talking going on and focusing on fighting she watched as Naruto attacked one and watched his fist go right through it as the clone quickly reformed itself.
Kagome had already had a feeling it wouldn't work, whether it was form her countless experiences with Naraku and his illusion, accompanied by demon puppet package deal that he seemed to favor so much, or intuition she didn't know but decided to think on it later, when she knew it was safe.
Sasuke attacked a clone that was about to attack Naruto and its arm was removed but kagome saw the next move coming before their attackers even thought of it and shoved Sasuke to the ground when he failed to even move and could practically feel the weapon whiz passed them. It was in that instant that she felt that mark start to at up again and tried to get up but felt weight on top of her and realized Kabuto had done the same. He quickly jumped off and away and quickly inspected the weapon that had been aimed at Sasuke and had injured him figuring that Sasuke was okay for now the priestess addressed Kabuto "are you okay?" please tell me that weapon wasn't poisoned.'
'see he saved Sasuke. trust him now? he just saved you and Sasuke and even hurt himself in the process!?' inner Sakura thought at her, feeling smug
'a good offensive quality of a ninja is acting and earning the trust of the gullible, and a good defensive quality of a ninja is skepticism and trusting your instincts. You do neither and I do both and I'm a priestess and you're the ninja, now what does that tell you?'
"Kabuto got hurt for real so does that mean their shadow clones?" naruto called out "but they can't be! shadow clones disappear once directly hit and these don't. so is this a genjutsu?" Now ignoring inner Sakura, she observed the people around her and fully tuned into sensing life forces and noticed none of these men had any.
'what?' she thought confused 'even a demon puppet has some sort of life energy… unless they're just illusions'
"they are all illusions!" Sasuke called out to Naruto, stopping him in his charge toward said illusions.
"They're most likely weak at close quarter combat, so they use illusions to attack long distance, it makes it harder to find them and confuses us and wears us out." Kabuto explained
"So they'll attack us when we're too tired to do more than breathe." Kagome sneered "how charming."
"The best we can do at this point is dodge their attacks." Kabuto said
'That's not good enough.' Kagome snarled and got ready to fight till absolute exhaustion, like many times in the past, just not the same body.
"No, Naruto-kun don't waste your chakra!" Kabuto called.
Kagome turned her head for a moment, to see Naruto produce about 3 dozen clones.
"Naruto! What are you doing!? Fighting them is pointless; they're just illusions!" Kagome yelled at him.
"If we destroy all the illusions while they reform, the enemy cant attack or they'll be found!"he replied
Kagome dead panned "and after they all reform? What then you'll only tire yourself out." She sighed turning back to block a kunai and dodge another.
"It's better than doing nothing!" the blonde yelled back.
"I guess…" she sighed 'if this goes bad I'll just have to pull his ass out of the fire. I've dealt with worse situations than this one."
"Sakura-chan" she heard whispered in her ear and almost attacked the person but recognized him as Naruto "I've got a plan this is what you need to do with the others" Kagome listen intently and she smirked Naruto was a bit dumb but he was definitely clever.
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Kagome was pleasantly surprised.
Now she was fairly certain that Naruto's plan would work, she didn't question that but he put on one hell of a show, even she might not have noticed the ruseif she was the one they were trying to trick having dealt with such things she had gotten good at spotting which part of what was a trick.
She was also surprised by his stamina and had to wonder if it had anything to do with the demonic presence she felt from him.
Then Naurto pulled off 'too tired to move' perfectly and three figures appeared when the illusions dissipated.
"you're trapped rats." she heard Sasuke say.
"Naruto, your plan was brilliant." Kagome smiled at him.
At the surprise of three rain ninja Kagome almost wanted to laugh but decided against it.
She listened content to let Naruto and Sasuke gloat a bit.
Kagome watched as Naruto stood and then fell to his knees; obviously exhausted "Naruto you've over used your chakra, I'll handle it from here."
"you've done your part Naruto, let us take care of the rest." Kagome said, concerned for the blonde.
But once again, surprised by this kid, he was up and punching one of the ninjas before you could say 'wow' "I'm sick and tired of letting you have the best parts." He said to Sasuke.
Kagome began chuckling under her breath from surprise, no, not form the fact he was able to move, no, she's seen more amazing, plus with what she was sensing he was being aided buy that demonic energy
No, it was the fact that he wanted to keep moving around even with how tired he was.
But things took a turn for the worse when clones appeared… again.
"this seems kinda familiar…" Kagome sighed.
Kagome became worried as the dark energy from before flared in Sasuke again and he yelled, she had sensed it had connected to his eyes 'sharingan" inner Sakura supplied curtly.
"Sasuke-kun! You have to stop using the sharingan!" she yelled at him in worry, and anger at him for worrying her, mixing into her tone.
When she looked back to the scene in front of her, she knew she had missed something, because Kabuto was lying on the floor at Naruto's feet ignoring that and taking a quick scan of the clone hoard, she knew the real ones weren't among them "but why can't I find them?" she mentally questioned and figured it was because this body wasn't accustomed to her specific brand of ESP.
"Naruto!" she called out "don't bother! The real ones aren't out there!"
"no matter how many you go through, you won't find the real ones." Sasuke stated
"yeah, I just said that." She dead panned.
The way she said that had Sasuke looking at her suspiciously 'this girl…now I'm almost certain she's not Sakura. But who is she?"
"then where will they attack from if their clones can't attack!" he yelled back interrupting Sasukes thoughts.
"you idiot! if we knew that we'd have finished this already!" Sasuke retorted.
And in a few seconds one enemy ninja attacked Kabuto from a clones shadow and Naruto managed to nail all three with a good kick as Kabuto thanked Naruto for saving him and with Sasukes affirmation of being okay Kagome told Naruto to rest and that she'd find the scroll.
"Okay I found it!" she called to her team and their tag along "now let's get out of here!" she was tired hungry and really needed a bath; it was making her cranky.
"You okay Naruto?" she asked him and all at once he was on his feet and acting hyper.
Kagome closed her eyes "never mind, I guess I shouldn't have worried." Her smile was both relieved and a bit self deprecating "I envy his energy" as she walked over and asked Sasuke and she noticed a bit of struggle from him she unceremoniously grabbed an arm and wrapped it around her shoulders.
The Uchiha looked at her a little shocked "there that should make it easier on you." She gave him a small smile and then turned to face forward and began walking and she could feel inner Sakura basking in holding any kind of embrace with Sasuke.
Sasuke didn't know what to make of this new Sakura but decided to ask once they got to the tower.
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After parting ways Kabuto, upon meeting his team, they went through the door.
"…theres nobody here…" Naruto stated calmly and a bit surprised.
"Sakura, I'm alright now, thank you." Sasuke said pulling away.
"oh, yeah." she said and let go of him
"god damn it!" Inner Sakura complained upon his release.
"Can it!" Kagome mentally yelled back this was getting old really fast, in fact she was totally over it already; not that she hadn't been the minute it all started.
"hey uh… what do we do now?" Naruto asked.
She pointed to some sort of plaque or something that had writing "look! Read it. I think we're supposed to open the scrolls!" Kagome was starting to get excited; this nonsense was finally coming to an end.
"All right, lets do it!" Naruto said excitedly but also just a little nervous.
She and Naruto began opening them, the boys were nervous, Kagome on the other hand refused to be, after all if she is attacked she'll just retaliate.
As soon as they were open Sasuke panicked "Naruto, Sakura quick drop the scrolls!" Kagome gave it a little unconcerned toss, Naruto was little more frantic about it.
Smoke began to come from the scrolls, Naruto and Sasuke watched on in interest and Kagome watched with inpatients. Her bad mood was getting worse, this whole thing was just ridiculous.
And she saw a man there, that she recalled from some of her memories as her academy instructor Umino Iruka.
"hey" he greeted them with a smile.
"huh? Whats he doing here?" inner Sakura asked to which Kagome ignored, she figured that question would be answered soon.
"long time no see," the chunin continued "looks like you guys had trouble."
"you could say that…" Kagome mumbled.
"huh? Why were you summoned Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"well this whole thing was set up so chunins meet up with the exam takers and I was allowed to be the one to greet you." He pulled out a pocket watch and checked "Phew, just in time too, congratulations you pass the second test." Not two seconds after those words left his mouth naruto launched himself at the academy instructor.
Naruto continued just seeming to try and hug the life out of poor Iruka while chanting "we did it!" over and over. Kagome allowed herself to relax and sit on the floor a soft smile spread over Irukas face at his cheering student and Kagome basked in the happiness that the blonde was exuding in copious amounts.
"he sure has energy…" Kagome heard Sasuke comment tiredly.
"that kind of energy is to be envied." She responded
Sasuke shot her a sharp look at her un-Sakura like reply.
Kagome felt the adrenalin wear off as questions were asked and answered. The one thing that got to her though was that there was to be a third test, but for now she could rest a little.
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Kagome was told they'd have about an hour and a halfs time to rest before the next test, for that she was grateful an
she would have been more so if Sasuke hadn't suddenly rounded on her and yelled "Okay who the hell are you?! and don't say Sakura because you sure don't act like her." He pressed a Kunai to her neck in clear threat
answer or die.
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That's where the chapter ends hope you enjoyed please review.
I just reread this chapter online (don't remember writing a whole lot probably because I was sleepy) and was horrified at some of the mistakes I made and felt no reason to not come back and fix them so I did!
Being as I forgot this last time I posted this chapter I would like to apologize and thank:ANIMEMANGALUV3R, alice, Julia N SnowMiko, DWM, dragneell49, alice, Guest, Guest, Neko-Mitsuko, fluffybunnay.
for all the lovely reviews, thank you very much!
Until next time see ya!