Chapter 24

Kagome was crouching on her open windowsill and was looking at the village from her position. She heard Shadow chew on what seemed to be the thousandth piece of bacon and smiled. One of her ANBU team members came up to the castle and looked up at her from below. Kagome noticed the female figure that the ANBU had and waved down at her fiend. "What's up Marina!?" she yelled to be heard. Marina waved back, "The Hokage wanted me to inform you that you have two more days to prepare and leave the village!" Marina heard Kagome laugh and smiled. "What, is she kicking us out already?" Kagome asked. Marina shrugged and left. "She wants you to leave because she knows that the path to the village is starting to become less safe." Someone said beside her, on the other windowsill. Kagome almost fell and looked at the person on the other windowsill. "Kakashi…Nice to see you too. What are you doing here?" Kakashi looked at Kagome and put away the book in his hands. "Just to tell you what Marina told you. And that I want us to leave as soon as we can so we can come back in time for another book." he said as he patted his bag on his hip. Kagome laughed and than stopped as she remembered what he said "Us? You're coming?" Kakashi nodded and pulled out a bag of ashes. "What is that?" Kagome asked as Kakashi handed her the bag. "The map I gave you a few days ago." Kagome stood on the windowsill like a shot as she heard the words leave his mouth. "What?! That's impossible! How- how did this happen!?" Kagome yelled as she looked to the bag to Kakashi and back again. Kakashi sighed and looked out towards the village. "Turns out that Kabuto had taken it off you when you guys where fighting and burned it before we got a chance to interrogate him. Now don't worry I'll lead you guys to the village and in the mean time…" Kakashi took out his book and started to read and giggle. "Ugh what did I get myself into?" Kagome said as she jumped down from her window and walked away. She threw the bag over her shoulder and heard as Kakashi fell down the castle screaming. Kagome giggled and saw Shadow look at her and then smiled. She smiled back and watched as Shadow started to finish the rest of his bacon. She patted him on the back and lay down on the bed. She yawned and looked up at the ceiling. "So now that Kakashi is in our group that leaves one more slot…" She thought and drifted to sleep.

Kagome was awoken by a sound in her room. She opened her eyes to realize it was night outside and smelled like fresh air and a hint of bacon. She looked around her room and saw someone near the window petting Shadow. Kagome connected to Shadow's thoughts and giggled at his thoughts. "It looks like he even dreams about bacon…" Kagome whispered to herself. As she rose from her bed Midoriko looked up at her. "Good afternoon Kagome. Rest well I hope?" Midoriko asked, to which Kagome nodded. "I have been hearing around the village of your 'incidents' and brave acts of heroism from the ninja. Two times in the hospital in one month and almost dieing the second time. You're very lucky that I placed that healing powder on Shadow because I have none left and without it you wouldn't be able to look for Gakuto." Kagome looked at Midoriko sheepishly. "Oh yes, I know your trying to look for him, or at least answers to why he left. It's hard to know why exactly he left or how his famous weapon ended near the sunken village but I think you'll find answers there. I haven't realized he was gone until you all told me in the hospital on my first visit. And what's this about someone using me as a disguise? I almost got attacked by your guardian when I came in." Midoriko listen intently to Kagome as she recounted the past events and how Kabuto had used her as a disguise to get close to Shadow and her. Midoriko nodded and whispered something in Kagome's ear and stood up. "It'll be our little secret word for when anyone of us are suspicious of the other OK?" Midoriko nodded to Kagome, who was trying not to laugh at Midoriko's choice of a safe word. "It's kind of random no?" Midoriko said as she also giggled. Shadow yawned and made both women turn and held their noses. "Wow what did you give him?" Midoriko asked as she continued to scratch Shadow's ear. "Bacon." Kagome said as they both laughed.

"Kagome I won't be here for awhile. It turns out that Kami needs me to help with something, so try not to get in the hospital again, at least not on purpose. I hope you find your answers just…just don't expect them to be exactly what you want or from who. If Gakuto is…gone than you must continue your mission here. You must destroy Hakudoshi and Orochimaru at all costs." Kagome looked like she was about to disagree so Midoriko said it more sternly. "At ANY cost Kagome." Kagome nodded and watched as Midoriko disappeared in a flash of light. Kagome stared at the spot Midoriko was sitting. "What am I going to do?" Kagome whispered.

Two Days Later…

Kagome grew more nervous as the days went by and she was unable to find anyone else to take. The Hokage said she would see them off personally and would be at the village gates in a few hours. Her problems grew when one of her ANBU, Kinjo, had requested leave to take care of his sick mother that was going to go under surgery and requested to see him. When Kinjo asked the Commander of ANBU if he could leave he was denied. When Kinjo told Kagome his problem she gave him leave and had to put up with the rants of the Commander of ANBU. The Commander finally relinquished his attacks when Tsunade had appeared and told the Commander that it was fine and that she had allowed Kagome to take control of Kinjo's actions. Kagome thanked Tsunade and saluted to the Commander as she left the building. That was in the early morning. Now it was afternoon and her party was waiting for her and the other two replacements. She looked everywhere and became stumped. When she was about to give up and head to her small team near the village gate she heard familiar voices nearby.

When she got closer to the voices, she heard the sounds of fighting. She started to walk faster and went into a full run when she heard an explosion. She saw Naruto and Sasuke sparring in the training fields when she reached the source of the noise. Naruto and Sasuke both had looked tired and exhausted but continued to attack each other. Kagome watched the two spar until they noticed her presence. They stopped sparing and waved at her, well Naruto at least. Sasuke just nodded at her. Kagome got an idea and checked the time that was remaining until she had to be present for her departure. "An hour and a half…plenty of time." The two watched Kagome while she looked at the time. When she raised her head she had a sly smile on her face.

"How would you guys like to spar two-on-one with me?" Kagome asked. Naruto fist pumped the air and yelled his approval. "Yeah! Kagome and me against Sasuke-teme!" Sasuke shook his head and scoffed. "She meant us two against her dobe." Naruto looked disappointed for a moment but brighten up at the chance of showing Kagome some new moves he learned. Sasuke also hoped to show how his strength has increased but didn't really mind who he showed it to. All three took a fighting stance and watched each others moves. Naruto was the first of the three to make a move. He created some shadow clones and left one behind with him. A strange light started to form on his hand. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and threw a couple of kunai towards Kagome. Kagome grinned and jumped and did a front flip. She literally jumped on Sasuke's kunai and Naruto's clones heads. As she got closer to her friends they started to notice how close she had really gotten and widen their eyes in amazement and appreciation. Naruto had finished what he had in his hand at the same time Kagome saw Sasuke create one like Naruto's but with lightning. When she was only meters to them, Kagome jumped on the last kunai and activated the Sun Gauntlet. She slashed at Sasuke first and watched as he dodged and tried to connect with what he had in his hand. Kagome dodged and watched as Sasuke hit the ground causing an explosion. Dust and dirt went up in the air and clouded Kagome's vision. She waved her hand in her face and stifled a few coughs. She saw a black shape in the dust and smiled when she realized that they had their back turned. Kagome snuck behind them and put the gauntlet to their neck. "Yield Naruto." She was about to continue when she noticed something was off. Naruto didn't have the bluish orb of energy in his hand anymore. She kicked Naruto in the back and disappeared into the dust as the real Naruto hit the spot she was moments ago, causing more dust to blind their vision. Naruto and Sasuke looked around and bumped into each other, weapons at each others throat. They were startled by Kagome's laugh.

"At this rate I won't need to lift a single finger to beat you guys! You're doing it for me!" Sasuke and Naruto looked around and noticed a black shape in the dust. Sasuke thought up an idea and made a few hand signs. Seconds later and he used a fire jutsu to burn the sand and create a fire tornado with them 'safely' inside. They heard Kagome cough and then laugh again. "Hot, hot, hot! How's it feel in there you guys? An oven?" Kagome was surprised when she didn't hear a come back, especially from Sasuke, and became worried when she hadn't heard anything inside for three minutes now. "Guys? Are you ok?" Kagome asked with a hint of worry. She looked at the activated saber on her arm and looked up at the flames. She slashed the flames apart and watched in amassment as the saber started to absorb the fire and use it as energy. So instead of a calming blue, the saber was now a fiery red. When she looked at the spot where Naruto and Sasuke where suppose to be she laughed nervously as she saw a hole. She only had seconds to turn around and block the attacks of both Sasuke's lightning attack and Naruto's energy attack with the gauntlet. The gauntlet started to turn white, blue and, red all at the same time and soon Naruto's and Sasuke's attacks where absorbed by the gauntlet and used against them. But the amount of energy was so powerful that a bright explosion knocked the people at the center a couple of yards away from each other.

Some Time Later…

Someone groaned as they started to awaken. The groan was followed by some coughs and laughing. Naruto stood up and dusted himself off. He looked up and saw that the sun had started to go down and that they must've been knocked out from the blast for an hour or so. He looked around and noticed a large hole where the explosion took place. He whistled and looked for his two friends. He noticed Sasuke was also starting to awaken and looked for Kagome. He spotted her a bit further than he expected and saw something glow near her. As he helped Sasuke up and started to jog towards Kagome, Kagome started to stir and looked up at her friends. Sasuke and Naruto helped her up and congratulated each other on a great match. Kagome held back a pained groan as she patted herself off on her chest. She looked up and noticed that the sun had started to disappear. She checked the time, screamed in frustration, and grabbed Sasuke and Naruto by their collars. She ran dragging them along and when she finally reached the village gates both her 'luggage' were squiggled eyed and covered in dust. "I'm here!" Kagome yelled as she approached the group. She dropped Naruto and Sasuke and smiled at Tsunade, who was impressed at Kagome's strength. "So Rin Higurashi, Kakashi Hatake, Sasaku Oda, Marina Osaka, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Kagome Higurashi…This is a weird group indeed." Tsunade stated. A bark behind her startled everyone and they turned around to see Shadow. "Oh of course how could I forget the constant guardian for Kagome Higurashi…" Shadow barked again and walked next to the group, which Tsunade was calculating. Everyone started to avoid Tsunade's eyes and started to shuffle around. "What's wrong Tsunade-sama?" Kagome asked. "The group is well equipped for a war but…It doesn't have people to heal those that are wounded…Oh I know!" Tsunade disappeared for a few minutes. The group stood at the village gates and waited patiently for Tsunade to come back. Off in the distance they could hear two people yelling followed by a frustrated scream and something that sounded like a pot or pan hitting something. Tsunade came back with an annoyed Shizune who had all her stuff packed in a scroll like everyone else and an overly long Nin uniform from her arms. She also had a bump on her head from what they could see. Tsunade pushed her towards the group and smiled and waved them off. "Get lost!" She said when they hadn't moved. Everyone bolted off and Tsunade waved at them with a frying pan in hand to which she stared at and hid behind her back and an 'oh so' innocent smile on her face. As soon as they were gone, Tsunade threw the pan up in the sky and was caught by an ANBU who was guarding her at the same time. "Let's go." Tsunade said to the ANBU. The ANBU nodded and looked back at the group and then at Tsunade. "Umm…Hokage-sama?" Tsunade turned around to look at her escort. He kicked his feet nervously and raised the frying pan to his face. "Now that Shizune-sama is gone…who is going to do all your paper work?" Tsunade stared at the ANBU and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Damnit!"

Somewhere on the road…Two days later 11:31 p.m. …

The large group of Nin had been walking for fifteen hours and had yet to reach the border according to Kakashi. Kagome decided to pack up and make camp much to the agreement of her group. They went onto a side trail that had a perfect view of everywhere around them and the main road. Kakashi, Sasaku, and Shadow went into the forest to look for fire wood and would be back in a half hour or so. Shizune, Rin, and Kagome had started to make up sleeping arrangements. Marina was taking first watch and was up in a tree leaning on its trunk. Sasuke and Naruto had stood next to the growing fire and threw what twigs and branches were available. Kakashi came back with nothing in his hands and sat down next to Sasuke. Minutes later Sasaku came with a small bundle of twigs in his arms and dropped them on Kakashi's head. Everyone laughed and watched as the two started to yell at each other. "You could have helped instead of reading your damn Icha Icha book!" "It's more important than firewood…besides it helps me concentrate." "Your right, it is more important than firewood. Give it to me so I can throw it in the fire!" "You wouldn't!" Shadow was the last to come back and had a dead boar in his mouth and a rope that tied a large amount of wood on his back. Kakashi and Sasaku looked at Shadow. "So that's why he wanted the rope…" Kakashi stated. "That's one smart mutt…"Sasaku said. Shadow threw the boar at Sasaku and watched as they fell back. Shadow grinned with some blood on his teeth and walked next to the fire. He turned his head, grabbed the knot he had made, and pulled. All the wood fell near the fire but not near enough to burn or catch fire. Shadow walked towards Kagome and licked his paw. "Good Shadow." Kagome said as she started to run her gloved hand on Shadow's head. He started to purr and lay next to her. Sasaku and Kakashi had started to make dinner, courtesy of Shadow, Naruto and Sasuke started to add more of twigs and wood they brought and created a fine fire pit. Everything had a calming affect on everyone and they started to talk about their lives and experiences. Soon everyone went to sleep and the sounds of the roaring fire and forest was the only things heard. Marina had woken up Kagome sometime around 2 a.m. and told her it was turn to take watch. Kagome nodded and went up the tree as Marina went to sleep on her sleeping mat. Shadow had remained asleep but kept a constant watch, his ears standing up once and awhile to any sounds. Kagome giggled at that and looked over the forest. She had positioned herself on a high branch and was able to look at all the forest and beyond. A few minutes into her watch and she started to fall asleep. When ever her eyes where about to close she would see a dark shape on the treetops nearby. Every time they closed and opened she saw the shape get closer and closer. She bolted up when the shape was getting too close to the camp to be a passer. When she bolted up the shape stopped and stood there. Time went by until a cloud went over the moon and caused the shape to disappear into the darkness. Kagome looked around when the moon shone again and could not see anything. "That's the second time…something is up." Kagome whispered to herself. When her shift was over she awoken Kakashi and mentioned to keep extra attention to the shadows.

When light had shone on the camp everyone started to awaken and do what they did in their usual mornings. Kagome had been first to finish and was hoping that they would reach a town or spring soon; her whole group started to reek. They continued on their trek and soon came to a stop. Another group of people had come across some trouble and they needed some help. It turns out that the roads had started to get dangerous again and that a group of bandits were nearby attacking caravans, even those heavily armed and accompanied by Nin. The group of people was from the Land of Earth and said that they were heading towards the Leaf Village for trade. They gave their thanks when Kagome's group told them that the trail would take them there in two days and had helped them heal the wounded. The rest of the day was uneventful and had ended soon. Kakashi stated that they where a day away from the border that was heavily guarded by the Land of Fire military guards and that they would have to travel for another four to five days to get to the Village of Whirlpools. They had decided to start making camp and decided that since they were so close to the border that they didn't need to have night watch. Everyone slept soundly and where unaware when Shadow arose and looked at the forest. "Someone's out there…" Shadow started to walk into the forest and followed a scent for some time. A few miles away from the camp shadow came up to a camp. He hid in the brush as a group of eighteen men walked around the camp and picked up some weapons. "OK boys let's go get rich. Those people in the next camp are Nin from the Leaf Village and know how to fight but that means that they have a lot of coin on them." One of the men looked at the man that had just spoken. "But what if they don't have anything?" The man grew a wicked smile and looked at the people around him. "Then we take the women! Now let's move out! A group was already sent to get the women and take any valuables and we don't want them to get all of it do we?!" everyone hollered and started to move when they heard a growl followed by the fire going out. A howl and the men's screams pierced the night sky.

Kagome was awoken by the sound of the howl and looked around. Everyone was awake and safe. She looked around for Shadow and noticed he was missing. She stood up and heard them before their charka gave them up. Everyone in the group stood up and drew their weapons. An arrow was sent into the middle of the group and exploded into a bright light. When the light had disappeared all the women were missing and the camp was in total chaos. Kakashi was bleeding from his left leg and Sasaku was trying to help him up with a wound across his chest. Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious to a blow in the head and were stirred awake by Kakashi and Sasaku. They cursed under their breath as they heard the bandit Nin laugh at them as they disappeared into the night.

The bandit Nin, they had lost five from the small skirmish with the Leaf Nin, were nearing their camp. They had gotten a few valuables and knocked out the women. "We got a big score this time didn't we?" one of the men said who was holding onto a black haired ANBU with a raven mask. "Yeah but something still is bothering me…" said the lead bandit who was holding onto another ANBU who looked like the first with a wolf mask. "What?" said one that was holding a bunch of valuables. "Never mind its nothing. Let's keep moving, the military guards at the border no doubt saw the light from the arrow and would be sending someone to investigate." One of the other bandits that was holding another female ANBU with brown hair and a sparrow mask and a woman with a Junin uniform scoffed. "Are you scared of them or something? I can break them with my own two hands!" he stated and flexed his huge arms. Everyone laughed except the lead bandit. "Their more dangerous than you think. They're not human I tell you." They continued on and soon reached the camp. When they had reached their camp they were suddenly aware of the darkness of it. They looked around and noticed a dark shape over another. The large shape on top of the other turned its head towards them, grinned, and ripped the other shape's neck, spraying blood onto the ground. The men looked in horror and surprise as the large animal started to walk toward them. They didn't even notice that the women in their arms had awoken and started to silently kill their captors. Soon all the bandits were dead and the women looked at Shadow who was wagging his tail. They all laughed and soon noticed how much they were covered in blood and made discouraging grunts of dismay. Shadow laughed and they all headed back to camp.