Catching Up

With Naruto

'Naruto's gotten stronger. I can feel it. So has Sasuke.' Kagome thought as the three of them started heading towards the village in a comfortable silence. She focused on reading Naruto's aura and determining how much he had advanced. She smiled when she realized that Sasuke no longer felt stronger, they were now equal in strength. She knew that in a fight Naruto could win, seeing as he had the power of the nine-tailed fox. She also knew that Sasuke would be one of the few with the ability to fight Naruto in his fox like form. Over the three years she had sent messages to Naruto, but she had never gotten more than a paragraph back from him. He must have been busy, because he now looked very muscular.

"Hey what was that explosion that I saw when I was arriving?" Naruto asked as he broke the silence. Sasuke sighed for a moment and Kagome had to stop herself from laughing.

"Sasuke has just started to harness the full power of his sword. That explosion was caused when his attack met mine." Kagome said as she turned to Naruto with a soft and warm smile on her face. Naruto smiled back as he blushed slightly, Sasuke just watched the two with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Hey, Kagome, does my sword have a special attack as well?" Naruto asked as he mentally slapped himself and realized what Kagome had said. She looked ahead and appeared to be in thought for a moment. Then she just sighed and turned towards him again.

"Yours does have a special attack, but it is the Hogosha. Your swords main power will be in erecting powerful barriers or shields. In all truth I have never seen more than a small bit of its offensive power. If you want I can try to help to summon its main attack, once team seven gets together to train again." Kagome finished as she watched his spirit soar higher than an eagle. She then turned her head and smiled at Sasuke, who stopped his glaring and blushed slightly. After that they all walked the rest of the way to the village in peace.

"Izumo, Kotetsu, look whose back." Kagome said when they entered the gates and they neared the small building where the two jonin were stationed. Both of them smiled and welcomed Naruto, before they okayed the group to pass through. They started walking to the Hokage tower and Naruto couldn't help but feel content with being back home. On the walk they met up with Jiraiya who was busy backing away from an angry Anko.

"Anko-sempai, could you kill Jiraiya after his meeting with the Hokage?" Kagome asked as she stepped in between them and tried to defuse the situation. After all an angry Anko was something that no one wanted.

"Of course I can, Kagome. Just remember that I called dibs on him." With that being said Anko left and the group all made their way to visit with Tsunade. When they arrived at her office they entered to see that Sakura was there as well.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled in joy as he saw the face of his old crush standing there looking as beautiful as ever.

"Hey, Naruto." Sakura said as she was happy to see the blonde as well. She also looked to his side and saw that Kagome and Sasuke were standing close to each other.

"Naruto, Jiraiya about time you got here." Tsunade said as she looked at Naruto with true happiness in her eyes, she had missed the person she saw as a mix in between a little brother and a son.

"Oh hey, Granny Tsunade!" Naruto greeted as he smiled at a now annoyed Hokage. Tsunade decided to let it go seeing as she hadn't seen Naruto in over three years. Everyone allowed themselves to relax and enjoy every second for a moment. It was known that at any time things would change and these happy moments would become nothing more than a happy memory.

"Well long time no see, you two. I trust that the training has shown some good results." Tsunade said after a few moments.

"Did you think he'd come back with no results?" Jiraiya asked in a slightly hurt tone as he frowned slightly. As he finished speaking Kakashi appeared and everyone welcomed him quickly before Naruto decided to address Tsunade.

"I did great." Naruto said as he gave Tsunade the thumbs up sign. She smiled at him realizing that the only thing to have changed about him was his appearance.

"Well then, let's see those results." Tsunade said as she rested her chin in her folded hands.

"See them?" Naruto questioned in confusion.

"There is someone I'd like you to fight against. You and Sakura that is. I haven't given him any missions in the last few days, so that he could rest up." Tsunade said as she tried to clear up the confusion.

"Why me and Sakura?" Naruto asked with even more confusion.

"You, Naruto, are the only genin on team seven. Sakura is the only chunin. Sasuke and Kagome have both made jonin and their constant training has rearranged much of the surrounding forest. There isn't much of a need for either Sasuke or Kagome to join in this exercise. Naruto if you and Sakura do a good enough job you will become a chunin and at the next exam you will both be allowed to try to become jonin." Tsunade said as she tried to make everything simpler for the poor blonde. She waved her hand and both Kagome and Sasuke left her office without a word.

"Hey! You've gotten big Naruto." Kakashi said simply as he brought attention to himself.

"Are we going to fight against Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as she figured out the situation. Tsunade just nodded yes.

"Look here, look here!" Naruto said as he walked over towards Kakashi and reached into his hip pouch, "I have a present for you Kakashi-sensei." Naruto then proceeded to pull it out of his pouch and show it to his teacher.

"What?!" Kakashi said in shock when he saw the cover of the book.

"You see, this is the first new book from the Make-out Paradise series in three years. It's really boring, but you like it, don't you sensei?" Naruto said as he handed the book over to its proud new owner. Jiraiya in the background crossed his arms in slight annoyance that had been Naruto's birthday gift from him just a few months prior. Kakashi opened it in slight amazement.

"Okay! Stop goofing of now, Kakashi." Tsunade said as she ended the moment.

"So we are supposed to fight Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as he stood next to Sakura with a slight smile on his face.

"Just how far can you go against Kakashi? I'll decide how to deal with you depending on those results." Tsunade informed them, "Sakura it's not like you have been wasting your time while learning under me."

"Right." Sakura said as she nodded towards her mentor.

"Well then, should we start now? At least that's what I'd like to say. Naruto's most likely tired after just getting back. I'll give you a bit of time to rest up." Kakashi said as he smiled at two of his students.

"I'm not really tired. It was physically harder when I was training with Kagome." Naruto said as he interrupted Kakashi.

"I'll meet you at the third training ground. Later!" And with that said Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Granny Tsunade, why did you have Kagome and Sasuke leave so soon?" Naruto asked as he turned his attention towards her.

"There is word that Akatsuki may go after Gaara in the near future." Jiraiya said as he chose that moment to enter the conversation.

"Kagome and Sasuke are our best two man team. If there is an attack they should be able to hold up the Akatsuki at least long enough for help to arrive. They will stay in Suna for two weeks or until there is an attack, which ever comes first. During their stay there they will organize things so that communication will be swifter between Konoha and Suna." Tsunade finished for Jiraiya as she watched Naruto and Sakura's faces.

"When did they become jonin?" Naruto asked in curiosity as he started to relax slightly.

"Kagome became a jonin four months after you left to go training with Jiraiya. Sasuke made jonin less than a year ago." Tsunade answered as she motioned for Sakura and Naruto to then take there leave, as they were leaving they bumped into Shikamaru and Temari.

With Kagome

'If only we didn't have to leave so soon after Naruto finally got back.' Kagome thought as she and Sasuke made their way to Suna. She smiled when she remembered how strong he had looked. It had also been awhile since she had seen Sakura and Kakashi; she wished she could have visited with them all for just a bit longer.

"What's on your mind?" Sasuke asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. She smiled at him for a moment as she picked up the pace slightly.

"Just thinking how great it was to have the whole group together again, even for such a short time. What about you? Are you glad that Naruto is back?" She turned to look at Sasuke over her shoulder as she spoke.

"The village has been far to quiet since he left." Sasuke said, not about to admit to any such feelings. Kagome almost sighed he was in one of his moods again. She had gotten used to it, but in the last year and half Sasuke had started warming up and sharing things with her. 'Well I can't wish for everything to just fall in place, he'll talk to me when he is ready.' Kagome thought to herself as she turned to the front and started moving towards the ever approaching Suna. She frowned slightly; it wasn't her ideal place to be. It was always hot and one got tired of seeing nothing other than sand. They ran in a comfortable silence far into the night. The stopped around midnight as they prepared to steal a few hours rest.

"Do you want first or second watch, Sasuke?" Kagome asked as they made themselves comfy on the forest floor. He didn't answer and she turned to face him only to freeze, he was giving her a look. This look scared and exited her at the same time. She forced herself to calm down as she looked him in the eyes. "Sasuke, which watch do you want?" She asked again pulling him out of his thoughts. He blushed slightly before answering.

"I'll take first watch." He said as he sat up and turned his head away from her. Kagome let out a sigh of relief as she settled down and stared to fall asleep.

'Sorry Sasuke, but I can't allow anything to start between us.' Was Kagome's last thought, before she fell into the land of her dreams.

With Naruto

"Kakashi is always late." Naruto whined to Sakura as they both waited for Kakashi's arrival.

"My bad, my bad." Kakashi said a he appeared within a few yard of them in a loud explosion of smoke, "Actually on the way here I saw an old woman who need some help…"

"Right! That's a lie!" Yelled the two loudest members of team seven in anger. They then walked over to the logs where they had first become a team.

"This was our first training area wasn't it?" Kakashi asked as he looked at two of his students, "When team seven first started there were four of you here hoping to pass. Now two of the original team seven out rank me." Kakashi said with a slight smile.

"Sasuke and Kagome outrank you?" Naruto questioned as he and Sakura looked up in astonishment.

"Sasuke and Kagome have become a special team that does many dangerous and difficult missions. Technically speaking they don't officially out rank me it is just more of an understood thing." Kakashi said as he smiled down at Naruto and Sakura.

"Wow." Came the amused voices of Sakura and Naruto. They hadn't even thought of some day out ranking their sensei. That was when Kakashi decided to pull out the bells and start the test. Both Naruto and Sakura narrowed their eyes at the sound of the bells, some how he had a feeling that this wasn't going to be easy or painless.

"Here I go!" Naruto yelled as he charged Kakashi before the test had even technically began. Naruto showed of his skills with his clones as well as a nice talent when it came to taijutsu. Naruto's skill with the Rasengan had increase as well, when he later demonstrated his skill. Sakura showed her ability to control her chakra and gain monstrous strength. Kakashi was most surprised with the level of teamwork they showed, after not seeing each other in three years they were able to work just like on able body. He was most surprised when they used his love of the Make-out Paradise to their advantage and were then able to grab a bell from him.

'All this was so much easier back in the day. What will happen if word gets out and others use this against me?' Kakashi thought when it came time for him to congratulate Sakura and Naruto on a job well done. He was even more embarrassed when he found out that Naruto hadn't even read the new book and couldn't ruin the surprise by saying how it ended. He sighed to himself as they al started heading back to the village in order to celebrate. Naruto was no longer the only genin in his age group. Tsunade had decided to bump him up and make him a chunin. The next jonin exams were a year away and if nothing happened they were both going to be able to test there skills and become jonin.

With Gaara

"Infiltration successful." The Akatsuki member known as Deidara said as he landed on the roof of a building centrally located in Suna. He looked up in order to see his target standing there.

"That's as far as you go." Gaara said as he stared down at the Akatsuki member. He was the Kazakage and he would not allow anyone or anything to harm his home and his people. He had Naruto Uzumaki to thank for his new change at life. This would be nothing more than another opportunity for him to show everyone that he was not a monster and that he has the ability to protect everyone. Deidara just reached into a pouch on his hip and with that Gaara used his sand to attack him. Deidara jumped up as high as he could and then landed on this clay bird. Gaara's sand continued to follow after Deidara who flew through the air as he tried to escape. Gaara's sand chased him around the village and it was then that Deidara realized there was no escaping the reach of Gaara.

"He's pretty good." Deidara said quietly to himself as he looked down at Gaara, who had yet to move. It was then that Gaara used his sand to form a platform; he then jumped onto the platform and joined his opponent in the air. "That's a pretty useful demon container." Deidara said to himself as he readied to attack Gaara.

"I gotta say that you realized me pretty quickly." Deidara called out to the young demon vessel.

"Birds like that don't exist in this desert." Gaara said simply as he answered the unspoken question. It was around that time that all the other sand ninja started to notice something was wrong. The immediately started emergency procedures and also sent a message for help to Suna.

"I guess my stealth moves failed. But thanks to that I don't have to waste time searching for you." Deidara said to Gaara who only responded by summon a great amount of sand from the floor of the village and the surrounding area, "As expected he has the advantage. This could get ugly." Deidara said to himself as he was impressed with the amount of sand that was summoned up to the fight. Deidara then sent his bombs after Gaara who didn't even flinch as his sand went to destroy all threats. This fight continued as such, bombs being cleverly created and sent after Gaara who used his sand shield when needed otherwise he tried to grab his opponent and crush him with the force of sand. This pattern only stopped when Deidara dropped his largest bomb over the city hoping to beat Gaara that way.

The smoke from the explosion cleared to show that Gaara's shield and saved the village from harm. However it was at a cost, Gaara was beyond tired and couldn't provide his sand with the added speed it had possessed minutes earlier. It was then that Deidara saw his chance and activated the small spider like bombs he had managed to plant in the sand that was now surrounding Gaara. The crawled out of the sand giving Gaara only enough time to widen his eyes before they exploded. Gaara feeling himself weaken used the last of his strength to move the sand from over the city before it harmed all the people living under their. He was able to succeed but as soon as he was done his sand fell away and he started to fall to the ground below. Deidara went for the approach to grab his target, but a blur went straight passed him, grabbed the Kazekage then headed to the awaiting people on top of the Kazekage tower.

"Well that was close." Kagome said as she landed and started to hand Gaara over to Kankuro. Deidara not about to be beaten had his clay bird fly full speed toward Kagome who just smirked. When it seemed that Deidara was going to have a clean shot another blur appeared and a huge blast of fire forced Deidara to fall back. Sasuke watched as his Grand Fireball went out; he turned towards Kagome and just raised an eyebrow.

"How did you guys get here so fast?" Kankuro asked in amazement as he stared at Kagome and Sasuke. It was his old teacher, Baki who decided to answer him.

"It was arranged for two special Konoha ninja to come and arrange away of quicker communication between our two villages. It seems that you are early; we weren't expecting you until tomorrow afternoon. You did indeed arrive rather early." Baki said as he addressed the two foreign ninja as well as his old student.

"Sorry to disappoint." Kagome said easily with a smile on her face as she turned her attention towards the man flying in the air.

"We didn't sleep." Sasuke said as all eyes turned towards him, "Kagome had one of her feeling five minutes into my night watch, so we decided to get here as quickly as we could." He answered as he turned his gaze toward Kagome, she just laughed innocently as she blushed.

"So you're working on twenty-four hours of constant travel at the least. That mean you're not at 100. We still have to worry about the guy in the air." Baki said as he tried to take control of the situation.

"Where's his partner?" Kagome asked and everyone turned towards her, "The Akatsuki members work in groups of two. Have you located his partner?" Kagome said as she looked at the guy in the sky. Everyone followed her gaze; it was then that they watched as he lowered himself to a roof where a lone figure stood. He grabbed something next the figure before he took of into the air again.

"We saw explosions on our way here; it would make perfect sense if whatever he just picked up contains more." Sasuke said as he activated his Sharingan eyes and started to watch the man fly about, "You fly, can you handle him?" He asked Kagome.

"Well I don't fly, I glide. I can try handling him, but it would be best if we could find a way to ground him outside the village." Kagome said as she started sorting through her collection of scrolls.

"They're after me. If you take me out of the village, they'll follow." Gaara said as he attempted to stand, Kankuro helped him stand steady as he addressed them.

"Lord Kazekage you can't leave the village in your condition." Baki said in a worried tone as he looked as his student.

"It is the only option. I need to be taken from the village." Gaara said as he looked at Kagome and Sasuke. They nodded at him so Kankuro decided to help.

"I'll be going as well." Kankuro said as he put Gaara on his back and started to lead the way out of the village. Kagome and Sasuke followed and a few moments later the Akatsuki members followed them as well. The Akatsuki members started gaining on the small group in a matter of moments. Kagome and Sasuke looked at each other and nodded as they went on either side of Kankuro and grasped is arms. In a huge burst of speed they lifted Kankuro and Gaara and were able to make it a hundred feet out of the village. Baki and other jonins started coming after them as well.

"Well let us hope that this actually works." Kagome said to the three standing near her as she watched the two Akatsuki members come nearer.

"Hope what works?" Came a voice from behind them. Sasuke and Kagome whirled around and then looked at each other.

"Change of plans, Kankuro I'm we will hold of all the members while you get Gaara safely hidden in your village. It seems that things are worse than we thought." Standing behind them was none other than Itachi Uchiha and his partner Kisame Hoshigaki. Kankuro just nodded as he saw the worried faces on the Konoha ninjas.

"Itachi, Kisame, how nice of you to join us." Deidara said as he smiled while he stood on his clay bird.

"Sasori, Deidara, leader thought that you wouldn't be able to handle this." Kisame said with slight distain in his voice as he acknowledged the other two members.

"The mission has changed as well. We are to capture the girl standing before us as well as the demon vessel." Itachi said as he started strangely at Kagome.

"You make it sound so easy in words." Kagome said as she narrowed her eyes at the elder Uchiha, "Kankuro as soon as I finish this I want you to run as fast as you can back to the village." With that she seemed to hold her hands over her heart before she kneeled down and started concentrating.

"What about you? You should take Gaara and I will stay and hold them off. They seem to want you as well." Kankuro said as he almost moved to take Gaara off his back.

"Great Living Forest!" Kagome yelled as they all felt her chakra give off a huge burst. Mere moments later huge streets started to burst from the sand and they grew to gargantuan heights.

"Go now." Sasuke said to Kankuro as we started doing hand seals and aimed a Grand fire Ball at Deidara and Sasori. As soon as Deidara and Sasori took to the air to avoid the fire ball, the trees and all kinds of vines started to attack them. Kisame and Itachi moved forward only for the trees to start going after them as well. It looked like Kagome had quickly grabbed the upper hand, but a split second later she felt someone behind her.

"Something of a great magnitude was expected of you, seeing as you are immune to my Mangekyo Sharingan." Itachi spoke right next to Kagome's right ear as he was kneeling down next to her. Kagome's caught her breath as her eyes widened; she hadn't expected him to be able to move that quickly. The sand was softening all sound so she couldn't hear footsteps. Another thing that was dulling her senses was that Kisame had seemingly created water from nothing. The whole surrounding area was covered with a growing layer of water. She had used a special seed adapted to the desert to grow her forest and this amount of water was killing it.

'Shit! Growing this forest takes over half my chakra. I won't be able to use many other techniques and it appears that Sasori and Deidara are already fighting Kankuro and the sand ninjas. I'm not immune to his Mangekyo Sharingan, when I realized how powerful his eyes were I had summoned some of my priestess powers into my eyes. One slip and I'm toast, no one will even be able to find all the pieces. Okay, calm down Kagome. You have to unsummon this forest and stick to weapons and taijutsu. You can do it.' Kagome's mind went into over drive as she started trying to form some sort of a plan. She pulled back her energy and the trees disappeared back into the ground. When the seed pushed against her palm she grabbed it and threw herself forward as she turned to face Itachi.

"Itachi Uchiha can't honestly say that I'm glad to see you again." Kagome said as she slipped her seed into the seam of her glove. She then charged him and aimed a powerful round house kick only for him to meet her with one of his own.

"You can't beat me in a taijutsu fight." Itachi stated as he looked her in the eye.

"That's only true if I was going to fight fair." Kagome said as she flicked her sandal a blade slipped out and showed itself at the toe. She then tried to dig that blade into his thigh. He immediately brought his leg down and pulled back, a small trickle of blood ran down his leg. She smiled impishly at him as he gave her a slight glare.

"If you give up this fight and come with me peacefully, I won't have to harm you." Itachi said as he ignored the slight pain in his leg, he couldn't remember the last time someone had succeeded in cutting him.

"Don't count on it, I have never been known as one to give up." Kagome said as her smiled disappeared and a cold calculating look appeared in her eyes.

With Naruto

"What do you need, Granny Tsunade?" Naruto asked as he looked at her with a questioning filled face.

"We have just gotten word from Suna that Akatsuki was made its move. Team Kakashi you are to travel with Temari as soon as possible to Suna and to help the Kazekage." Tsunade said as she moved for them all to leave immediately.

How was this chapter? I had some unforeseen free time so I went ahead and wrote this up. Some one gave me a private message saying that none of my stories had enough detail, so tell me what you think. Is this enough detail, not enough, too much?

Thanks,

AliKat89