After the Battle

With Kagome

"You weren't strong enough." Came a whispered voice from behind Kagome, as she turned around in shock.

"Sango! How are you here?" Kagome asked as she went to hug her long lost friend. However, when she was close enough Sango backhanded her and set her flying back. Kagome sat up and held her cheek as she looked at her friend in confusion.

"I could have lived. I could have had a family, but I died. I died and it is your entire fault. If you hadn't shattered the jewel I would never have lost my family. If you had worked harder and killed Naraku I wouldn't have lost my life. We're all dead and it is your fault." Sango said as she started walking towards Kagome.

"How could you! I loved you like a mother and you failed to save me. I followed you always and you couldn't even protect me. I lost everything because of you." Kagome turned around and looked Shippo in the eye as he spoke to her. She had been standing but she fell to her knees as she watched her him start walking to her.

"If you had killed him when you first came in contact, I wouldn't have lost my life. I would have been free from this curse. I could have married Sango. If you hadn't been so weak and selfish, Sango and I could have had a happy life together." Miroku said as he started walking up to Kagome on her left; Sango directly across from him with Kirara standing next to her. Kagome looked straight ahead again and made eye contact with an angry Shippo.

"You were always running off to go and take your stupid tests. Did they really matter; are you happy that you abandoned us numerous times? If you weren't weak and stupid you could have stopped this from happening. You were always getting hurt and needing to be rescued. If you weren't there we could have had a chance, if only you were more like Kikyo." Inu Yasha said from behind Kagome, she turned and looked at him with sorrow in her eyes.

"I took the time to train you and you came out so weak. You were not worth this Sesshomaru's time." Kagome looked behind her and saw her first teacher standing there. She felt so small as she looked at how Shippo moved to the side and stood next to Rin and Jaken.

"Sis if you hadn't been pulled down the well I could have lived. Without you and the jewel shards, my life would have been happy and normal. When you ran off to the feudal era, did you ever think about me?" When Kagome turned she saw Souta standing next to Sango, and next to him was her Mother standing there frowning. She blinked slowly and when she opened her eyes she saw her Grandfather standing there as well.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me. I would give my life if I thought it could bring you back. I would do anything in my power to give you all another chance. Please I beg you, forgive me!" Kagome said as she looked down at the ground in front of her as she burst into tears.

"You don't deserve our forgiveness; this is your entire fault!" Inu Yasha yelled as all her lost loved ones appeared to start drifting away. She looked up in shock as they started leaving.

"Please no don't go!" She yelled as her heart cracked as fell upon the floor and started sobbing.

"No!" Kagome said sharply as she lunged forward only to realize that it had all been a dream. She looked around the unfamiliar room and came to realize that she was in a hospital room. She stopped in thought as she remembered her dream, her hands clenched together and she stood up. She stretched as she felt all the muscles in her body start to tighten. She needed to rest, and yet her mind would not allow it. Her chakra had restored to seventy percent and her muscles were somewhat less stressed meaning she had been asleep for somewhere around five hours. Normally she only need an hour of sleep to push herself back in action, but the last two weeks of such hard work and messed with her. She walked to the door and left the room, as soon as she checked to make sure that she had all of her weapons. She started walking down the hall to where she heard the voices, when she turned the corner she saw Gaara, Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi standing there. They all turned to her as she stopped less than four feet away from them.

"Kagome, should you be really be walking around?" Naruto asked as he turned his head to the side and smiled at her in worry.

"Why do you ask?" Kagome questioned as she frowned slightly. Everyone seemed to shift as they gave her slight looks.

"Well gee I don't know. You killed one member of Akatsuki and managed to hold off three other members for over two hours. After already engaging in a fight with Itachi Uchiha, not to mention beforehand you had been traveling at an extremely fast pace for over twenty-four hours. Aren't you considered to be somewhat of a genius?" Naruto spoke as he waved his arms about and gave her a very weird look.

"Well, Kankuro should be fine with a few days rest." Sakura said as she walked out and smiled at everyone. She paused when she saw Kagome standing there.

"Hello, Sakura." Kagome said as she looked her friend in the eye.

"Hey Kagome, you know you should probably be resting." Sakura said as she took the opportunity to scold her friend, it was something that she was rarely able to do.

"See I knew it!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at Kagome.

"I am perfectly fine and currently I am more than able to beat you to the ground. So stop with the pointing, it is very rude." Kagome said as she mimicked the look of indifference that Sesshomaru always seemed to have when he was there. Naruto wouldn't know that, but after the dream Kagome felt the need to be close to her lost friends. Everyone just sweat dropped as they looked at Kagome.

"Well as your medic I insist that you at least sit down and continue to rest." Sakura said as she tried to lead Kagome to a bench just seven feet away.

"As the one who first started training you, I must say that I am fine and I do not need anymore rest." Kagome said as she dug her feet in and wouldn't move an inch. Sakura sighed as did everyone else, silence took over and everyone stood there for a few minutes.

"I understand why Akatsuki wanted Gaara, but why would they want Kagome?" Sasuke asked after a moment. Everyone looked up in slight surprise it wasn't like Sasuke to talk let alone ask a question.

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked, besides Sasuke and Kagome, Kankuro was the only one aware of what the second team of Akatsuki had wanted.

"Kisame and Itachi didn't come for you they came for Kagome. I want to know why." Sasuke clarified as he looked the Kazekage in the eye briefly. All eyes turned to Kagome and she laughed lightly as she rubbed the back of her head.

"She knew certain things about Akatsuki that shouldn't have even been possible when they first came for Naruto." Kakashi said as he looked at his youngest and most secretive student. She looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes before she looked at everyone else with a light smile.

"All I did was profile them and make a few guesses in order to learn more about them. It turned out that my guesses where correct and I guess now they are after me in order to find out how I know what I know." Kagome said as she shifted uncomfortably under the many gazes of her companions.

"Oh, is that all." Naruto said which earned him a well placed elbow in the stomach courteously given by Kagome. He leaned over to inhale sharply as everyone else backed up a little, she must feel better than she looked. She had been five feet away from Naruto the moment he used his sarcasm. It took her less than a moment to appear next to him and elbow him hardly in the stomach. No one had felt the build up of chakra that would have signaled a technique.

"How long will you be staying?" Gaara asked Kakashi.

"It would be wise for us to stay for at least a few days in case they decide to come back. However, seeing as Kagome and Sasuke are staying here for two weeks it may not be necessary for us to stay for any amount of time." Kakashi answered as Gaara started to lead them to his office.

"Never would have thought that the boy who threatened to kill me during the chunin exams would become Kazekage." Kagome said when they stepped into the office. Gaara flinched and no one seemed to notice other than Naruto and Kagome.

"You shouldn't be one to talk, Kagome. You threatened to kill so many times that I lost track. Oh, and let's not forget that you almost succeed ten times. I remember that time I got out of bed and set off that trip wire, if it hadn't tripped me I would have been impaled by twenty kunai!" Naruto said as he looked at Kagome with a frown and narrowed eyes. Everyone turned and looked at Kagome who just smiled innocently.

"I forgot all about that." She said simply as she grabbed her chin and closed her eyes in concentration, "Nope. Still doesn't ring a bell, are you sure that you didn't do that to yourself?" She smiled as she spoke and secretly she enjoyed the way Naruto's yes widened until they looked like they would pop out of his head. Naruto took a step forward with his fist clenched and would have made way to attack if Kakashi hadn't stepped in.

"You came to establish a means of faster communication." Gaara said as he sat down in his chair and motioned for them to do the same thing.

"That we did." Kagome said as she sat straight and smiled lightly, "In fact I was going over some of my scrolls when I came across a seal that would work wonders. Right now it takes the messenger birds about two hours to reach each village, well this seal would bring that time down to about five seconds. I have one all ready back in Konoha, all I would need would be for you to okay the seal." Kagome said as she leaned back slightly and held a scroll in her hand. Gaara motioned for the scroll and she handed it over. Gaara then handed it to Baki who took a look at it and a moment later his eyes widened as he inhaled sharply.

"This is ingenious!" He exclaimed as he continued to look through it, when he was finished he handed it back to her and took his place behind the Kazekage.

"It seems that we will use your seal." Gaara said as he gazed into Kagome's eyes.

"I would like to inquire as to how you created that." Baki said as he looked at the young genius sitting before him.

"It was one of the last things a friend on mine created before he died." Kagome said simply, everyone else looked down in sympathy.

"How long would it take you to activate this seal?" Gaara asked, seeing that Kagome was not one to dwell on the past.

"Three hours per seal. You may want more than one in case you have a traitor or some emergency leaving parts of the building destroyed." Kagome said as she ignored all those who would feel guilty or have sympathy.

"Then why was it arranged for you to stay for two weeks." Baki asked.

"Well I didn't even remember I had this until the morning before we left. Besides we knew that the Akatsuki would make their move sometime in the next two weeks, we were taking precautions. We just hadn't anticipated that they would come so early." Kagome said as she turned her attention to Baki.

"You should spend the day resting. The sealing will begin tomorrow." Gaara said as they all started to leave.

"Wait! I have an idea." Naruto said as he burst into the conversation.

"What is your idea?" Gaara asked as he turned his gaze upon the person who had changed his life. The person who gave him hope and also showed him how to become human. The person that showed him how to become truly strong.

"I can't discuss it in front of Sasuke and Sakura. Actually I shouldn't mention it in front of Kagome either, but she found out by herself." Naruto said as he looked Gaara right back in the eye. Sasuke and Sakura looked like they were about to protest but Sakura stopped when Kakashi motioned for her to leave. Sasuke left when he and Kagome had a silent conversation. He knew that if it was something that he needed to know, she would tell him.

"What is this idea of yours?" Gaara questioned Naruto.

"Well I was thinking that seeing as you have problems with your seal, Kagome could add to it like she did mine." Naruto answered and when he finished all present turned to Kagome.

"What?" She asked with slight annoyance.

"Remember, after I mentioned that the Fox's chakra was overwhelming you used some sort of sutra or something that added to it. I haven't used that much of the Fox's chakra, but the little I have used as been much easier to control. And when I visit him, he can't try to harm me like he sometimes would before." Naruto clarified hoping to jog Kagome's memory.

"Oh, I remember. I can't believe that it actually worked." Kagome said as she grabbed her chin and slowly started to rub it as she thought back to that day.

"You messed with a seal meant to keep a demon from escaping, without having any idea what would happen?" Baki questioned loudly.

"Yep." Kagome said before she closed her eyes and laughed nervously.

"Kagome, can you fix Gaara's seal?" Naruto asked seriously.

"Most likely. I would need to look at it so that I know just what to work with, but it shouldn't be too hard." Kagome told them all as she smiled warmly at her friend.

"The one who created this seal for sending messages was you, wasn't it?" Kakashi asked as he looked down at his amazing student.

"Well I didn't lie when I told you that a friend created it. I just forgot to add that he never was able to finish it. I started going over seals and trying to learn everything I could after he died. He had trained me in the ways of his religion, but I knew that it wouldn't be enough to finish this seal. In fact I only completed a month before we left. I have been experimenting with it ever since then; it was approved for use the morning Sasuke and I left." Kagome said as she looked out one of the small windows.

"Hey Gaara, are you going to have Kagome fix your seal?" Naruto asked as he smiled towards his red haired friend.

"It wouldn't hurt to have you look at it." Gaara said in an almost questioning voice as he looked Kagome dead in the eye.

"Of course not." Kagome said as she smiled.

"Then would you be willing to look after you install these communication seals?" Gaara asked.

"Sure." Kagome said in a sweet voice as she made way to leave.

"Hey Kagome what did you mean when you said 'his religion'?" Naruto asked as he remembered Kagome's explanation.

"My friend was a monk." Kagome answered as she turned to look at him.

"Didn't you also mention that one of your friends was a priestess?" Naruto asked in slight confusion.

"Yes, why?" Kagome asked with equal if not greater confusion.

"Well you just don't act like you were raised by a monk and a priestess." Naruto said as he started heading towards the door.

"Well if they hadn't taken part in raising me, then I wouldn't have listened to my conscience and you would have been killed years ago." Kagome said with a smile as she turned away from him and walked out the door. Naruto sputtered as he started to follow after her, Kakashi fast on his heels.

"Lord Kazekage, are you sure you want that girl to work on your seal." Baki asked with concern.

"Naruto trusts her, and if he trusts her then I will as well. Besides you said it yourself, this communication seal is ingenious." Gaara answered as he the door closed fully. He smiled as he thought about what it would be like to sleep without fear.

With Itachi

"So you failed to bring the demon vessel and the girl." Leader said as the four returned from their failed mission.

"The demon vessel was stronger than originally thought; he also had an advantage being home." Deidara explained to Leader, "We almost had him, but the girl and her partner came out of no where. We were unprepared and we underestimated them." He stopped as he stepped back and waited for something else to be said.

"Tell me more of this girl." Leader commanded.

"Her name is Kagome, and she is around fifteen years old. As everyone is aware three years ago she knew information about our Akatsuki that should have been impossible to know. It seems that she has the ability to manipulate plants, she temporarily created a desert forest and she used a whip made out of thorns. She possessed great skills in taijutsu and she seems to be a weapon expert. It also seems that this girl has mastered nature manipulation as well. She was able to use a giant feather to fly and battle while Deidara used his clay bird." Itachi summarized for leader as he stepped forward.

"Is that so? Well, then it seems that this girl could greatly help our plans." Leader said as he turned away from everyone and dismissed them.

With Jiraiya and Tsunade

"It seems that you trained that Sakura girl rather well." Jiraiya said as he inwardly paled at the thought of a mini-Tsunade. It seemed that the new coming generation would not be spared the temper of a talented medic.

"I must say that Naruto showed great improvement, you did a good job Jiraiya." Tsunade said, oblivious to Jiraiya's thoughts.

"His three years of training were hard, but he gave it his best everyday. The whole time he made me aware of just how great his teammate, Kagome, is when it came to helping with his training. Tsunade, what can you tell me of that girl?" Jiraiya had asked around and only good things were said about Kagome, but it seemed that no one really knew her. The only person she was ever really with was the Uchiha, and that was because she helped with all of his training. He couldn't help but hold her under suspicion; after all she killed Orochimaru with one arrow. Greater ninjas had tried to stop Orochimaru; many weren't even able to scratch him.

Three Days Later with Kagome

'How the hell did I do this the first time?' Kagome asked herself as she walked to the sealing room. She was to meet everyone as she went over Gaara's seal. When she arrived she found; Gaara, Baki, Temari, Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, and two elderly people Kagome remember seeing after she had woken up in the hospital room. They had tried to find an antidote for Kankuro, but were unable to do such a thing.

"Hello, everyone." Kagome said in a singsong voice as she neared them.

"You're late, Kagome." Naruto said in a bored tone.

"Actually I arrived exactly when I said I would." Kagome corrected.

"Well whatever, just look at his seal." Naruto said as he pushed her towards Gaara.

"Could I please see your seal?" Kagome asked and Gaara nodded as he pulled up his shirt and exposed a seal.

"Oh. My. Good. Buddha." Kagome said in a dead tone.

"What? What's wrong?" Naruto questioned as everyone looked on with worry.

"Please tell me that whoever did this sealing never used any other serious seal." Kagome said as she looked towards Baki.

"Why is that?" He questioned as he looked towards the old woman standing a few feet away.

"I can't believe that an amateur was allowed to do a sealing like this. I mean this work is just terrible and sloppily done." Kagome said as she traced her fingers over part of the seal.

"Could you still add to the seal?" Naruto asked as he looked with worry at Gaara. He knew that even though Gaara hadn't said anything, he looked forward to the freedom that Kagome's seal could give.

"I can it just might take a little longer than yours. It might also bring more discomfort than yours had." She said as she stood up straight and stopped going over Gaara's seal.

"Discomfort? I seem to remember that the pain of the sealing knocked me out in three seconds flat. I didn't even wake up until the next day, and when I did wake up it took an hour before everything stopped spinning." Naruto said as he crossed his arms and gave Kagome a hard look.

"Was it really that bad?" Temari asked with concern.

"Of course not. Now Gaara if you would follow me." Kagome said as she entered the sealing room, no one made to follow the two.

"Naruto how long will this take?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, Kagome never really told me anything about the process. She said that this one might take more time, so that really doesn't help." Naruto said as he leaned against a wall. Five minutes later, a relaxed Kagome came out with an unconscious Gaara over her shoulder.

"It was a complete success, but don't count on him waking up within the next twenty four hours." Baki and Temari walked forward and took Gaara, they then walked away taking him to the hospital.

"Well, we should be leaving." Kakashi said as he looked towards Sakura and Naruto. They both nodded, as they started walking away.

"Naruto." Kagome called when they were almost to the end of the hall.

"What?" He called back as he turned around.

"Enjoy yourself while you can. When I return I'll start training you with the use of your sword." Kagome said as she looked him dead in the eye.

"Really?" He asked as he readied to turn the corner.

"Of course, so I guess I should say that you have hell to look forward to." Kagome said with a sinister smile. Naruto made no reply as Sakura pulled him around the corner.

Well there it is. Sorry for the wait, but I didn't know what to write about. Naruto will meet up with everyone in the next chapter and his training will begin. Akatsuki will make a move sometime soon. The new big bad guy that has taken over Orochimaru's organization shall also be introduced. Questions? Concerns? Please feel free to ask questions or to give any ideas. I look forward to reading the reviews to please review, it only takes a few moments.

Thanks,

AliKat89