Chapter 8: Weakness and Strength

"A little to the left, perfect." The man with the camera said, standing a few feet away, as he directed Naruto of where he should stand in front of Kakashi. Since they accomplished their first mission together, they were qualified to get a team picture. Kagome and Naruto were excited about it. The only one who wasn't excited was Sasuke.

"Pinkie, stand next to blond boy." The cameraman said, pointing at Sakura.

"Heh? Why me?" Sakura asked.

"Just do it, Haruno." Kagome said with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Why should I listen to you?" Sakura asked, snidely.

"Just do it, Haruno." Kakashi said. Sakura grunted and walked over to stand next to Naruto.

"Raven haired girl, stand next to pinkie." The cameraman said.

"Okay." Kagome said, shrugged as she walked over and stood next to Sakura, who was glaring at her.

"Raven haired boy, stand next to raven haired girl." The cameraman said. Sasuke shrugged and walked over to stand next to Kagome.

"Okay, everyone ready?" The cameraman asked.

"Hai!" Kagome and Naruto said at the same time.

"1..."

"Why do you have to be in the picture?" Sakura asked, still glaring at Kagome.

"2..."

"I was going to ask you the same thing, banshee." Kagome said.

"HEH?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"3!"

The picture was finally taken. Everyone slumped and let out a sigh of relief.

"It's over." Naruto said.

"Finally." Kagome said. Then Kagome and Naruto's stomachs growled.

"Anyone up for lunch?" Kagome asked.

"Sorry, I got some things to do." Kakashi said, "Maybe another time."

"I'm going to go train." Sasuke said. Then he turned and started walking away.

"Oh well, I guess it's just you and me, Naruto-kun." Kagome said.

"Hai, let's go and get some ramen." Naruto said.

"You had that yesterday, Naruto-kun. Today, you're going to eat something healthy." Kagome said with her hands on her hips.

"But…" Naruto began to say, whining.

"No buts, Naruto-kun." Kagome said, sternly.

"Hai." Naruto said, pouting.


A Few Days Later:

Team 7 were on their way to report to the Hokage about their previous D-rank mission: babysitting the Nakanos' children. Kakashi and Sasuke were both surprised that Kagome and Naruto were able to help them finish the mission with no problems. They had no idea they worked so well with kids. Sasuke and Sakura were at a complete loss at what to do. Which made them easy targets for the five kids that they had to babysit. There were two boys and three girls. One of the three girls was five month old baby. Kagome and Naruto easily got their attention when Naruto mentioned about his and Kagome's secret of pulling pranks. After that, the four kids instantly obeyed them. Sasuke and Sakura managed to help them in cleaning up any messes. When it came to handling the baby girl, Sakura had no idea what to do. She tried to get the baby to stop crying, but with no luck. So Kagome took charge of the baby and she easily handled whatever kind of problem rose. The parents were very grateful towards Team 7, but the kids mostly thanked Kagome and Naruto than of Sasuke and Sakura.

After they left the tower, Kakashi and Sasuke began asking them questions on how they easily handled the five kids. Kagome and Naruto told them that Kagome's mother, Hana, taught them a few things.

"I didn't expect that you guys knew that kind of stuff." Sasuke said, impressed. Even though he didn't show it.

"Well, we have to learn about kids because we might have our own when we're older. So the last mission was good practice, right?" Kagome asked.

"I believe so." Kakashi said, smiling underneath his mask with uncovered eye closed in the shape of an upside down 'U'.

"I think you'll become a great mother one day, Kagome-chan." Sasuke said. That sentence made everyone freeze in their steps. They didn't expect Sasuke to give that sort of compliment to anyone. Sakura was frozen in horror on the inside.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun." Kagome said, smiling at Sasuke who had a slight blush on his cheeks. He quickly turned away before anyone would notice. Unfortunately, Kakashi spotted Sasuke's blush. He started to believe that Sasuke was interested in Kagome. Sakura caught a quick glimpse of Sasuke's gaze at Kagome. She finally realized that Sasuke was interested in Kagome. Her worst nightmare had come true. When she heard Sasuke compliment Kagome about becoming a great mother, her hardheadedness got the best of her.

"I'll become a way better mother than you, Kagome-chan!" Sakura said as she turned around and pointed at Kagome.

"Oh, really?" Kagome asked, her brow arched as she placed a hand on her left hip.

"Hai." Sakura said with her hands on her hips.

"Alright then. How about we settle this with a match?" Kagome asked.

"A match?" Sakura asked, blinked.

"Hai, if I win, you will stop acting like a snob." Kagome said.

"But if I win, you'll be my slave forever." Sakura said while pointing at her.

"Okay, deal." Kagome said, "Kakashi-sensei."

"Hai?" Kakashi asked.

"Could you be our referee?" Kagome asked.

"Sure." Kakashi said, shrugged.


Later in the afternoon, Kagome and Sakura were about to have their match. Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Asuma decided to watch the match (they didn't have anything else going on). They stood across from each other. Sakura was giving Kagome a death glare while Kagome stared blankly at her. Kagome was never afraid of Sakura's temper. Sango's temper was worse than Sakura's.

"Begin." Kakashi said as he slashed his arm down between the two girls. Sakura took out a kunai from her holster and charged towards Kagome who was just standing here. Just when Sakura was about to hit Kagome, Kagome ducked and flipped Sakura over her shoulder. She heard Sakura land on her back with a 'thud' and groaned as well. Sakura got back up and faced Kagome. She charged at her again and Kagome landed her fist towards Sakura's stomach, which made her fly towards a tree and break it in half by the force of the punch. Kagome watched and waited for Sakura to get back up.

"I didn't know Kagome-chan was that strong." Ino said, amazed at Kagome's strength.

"Kagome-chan is holding back." Naruto said.

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" Asuma asked.

"If Kagome-chan went full strength, Haruno would instantly be dead." Naruto said.

"What?!" Shikamaru exclaimed as his eyes widened.

"Kagome-chan only shows her full strength when she goes against a worthy opponent." Naruto said, "Also because Haruno is her teammate, she can't kill her. Not to mention that she's too weak of an opponent."

"You're right about that, Naruto." Sasuke said, watching Kagome walk towards Sakura who was trying to get back up. It made sense of Kagome releasing her full strength. He remembered when Kagome didn't hold back when they fought against Zabuza and Haku. He had never seen such strength before. He wondered how hard she had train in order to reach a jounin level of strength.

Sakura tried to get back up, but the pain in her back was excruciating. She felt like the wind got knocked out of her. She lifted her head back and saw Kagome walking towards her. It was more than just walking, she was stalking towards her like a predator that's about to devour its prey.

"Aren't you going to attack me, Haruno?" Kagome asked when she stopped in front of her, "Well go on, attack me."

Sakura continued to try to get back up. She knew that Sasuke was watching their match. She didn't want Sasuke to see her as a weak teammate. She had to at least try to hit Kagome. Unfortunately, her body wouldn't move. She ended up slumping against the tree. Black spots began to fill her vision as Kagome stared very hard at her.

"You're weak, Haruno." Kagome said, "If you had spent more time on training instead of stalking Sasuke-kun, then you probably would have been a worthy opponent."

Sakura's world went black after that.


"Oh, good. You're awake now." Kakashi said when he saw Sakura opening her eyes and starting to sit up.

"Where am I?" Sakura asked, looking around the room. She was in a hospital room. The last thing she remembered was Kagome standing over her. She turned towards Kakashi who was sitting in a chair next to her bed while he was reading his book.

"In the hospital. You lost your match with Kagome. It only took two hits until you were defeated." Kakashi said, going back to his book. He was amazed on how Kagome easily defeated Sakura. Unfortunately, Sakura wasn't that strong of an opponent.

"How is she so strong?" Sakura asked, placing her hand against her forehead. She remembered the wind getting knocked out of her by just one punch.

"She's trains everyday with Naruto and her Uncle Koichi." Kakashi said.

"How is possible that she can be that strong? I have never heard of a genin with that sort of strength before." Sakura said. Most chūnin and jounin had that kind of strength. For a genin to have that is unheard of!

"Even I don't know, Haruno...but what I do know is that Kagome wants to become strong so that she can protect those who are important to her. That's her main goal in life." Kakashi said. Then he turned towards her, "What's yours?"

Sakura was speechless at Kakashi's question. She believed that her main goal in life was to catch Sasuke's attention and make him fall in love with her. Unfortunately that wasn't working out so well. She knew that Sasuke found her annoying and weak. She didn't know how to change his perspective of her. She could easily tell that Sasuke has his attention on Kagome. How was she suppose to get stronger?


The Hokage was surprised on how Team 7 was able to handle the Nakano children. Kagome and Naruto especially. From what he had heard, those children made every genin team run off only after two or three hours. The two young ninjas were starting to surprise him a lot.

Those two will probably still surprise me in the near future. Sarutobi thought, chuckling to himself. He knew that the two of them were being trained by Koichi Uchiha. But they were loved and cared for by Hana Higurashi. Two other adults, besides Iruka and Kakashi, who didn't despise Naruto. Then he heard a knock on the door, which brought him out of his thoughts.

"Come in." Sarutobi said. The door opened and he saw Kakashi at the entrance. Then he entered the room and stood in front of Sarutobi's desk.

"Ah, Kakashi. What brings you here?" Sarutobi asked. He thought he was still at the hospital watching over Sakura. He didn't know why Kagome and Sakura decided to have match, but he was glad that there weren't any serious injuries except that Sakura was unconscious for a few hours.

"Sandaime-sama, there's something I wish to discuss with you." Kakashi said.

"Very well, what is it that you wish to discuss with me?" Sarutobi asked, interlocking his fingers together.

"I know this might sound strange, but I've noticed that Kagome is no ordinary kunoichi." Kakashi said.

"What do you mean?" Sarutobi asked, his brow arched.

"When I first saw her fire jutsu, I noticed that the flames were blueish green color. There aren't any fire jutsus that have that color of flames. When we encountered two ninjas on the way to the Country of Waves, she projected some sort of barrier around Naruto as one of the ninjas tried to attack him. Not to mention the strange weapons she has." Kakashi said, remembering the bell test and Zabuza's encounter, "She has a life size boomerang that was able to deflect Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō from beheading us. She has a huge sword as well."

He was surprised at the form of Kagome's weapons. He didn't know that she can handle that sort of weight, despite her size. Seeing how heavy they looked. But the power in them was something he had never seen or heard of. Where she got them was a real mystery to Kakashi. But her enormous strength was another story though.

"And?" Sarutobi asked, curious.

"She used the word 'kitsune' in that fire release technique." Kakashi said, "Most of her jutsus that I have seen so far have that word in them. From what Sasuke has told me that he heard her say 'kitsune' in a summoning jutsu and transformed into something else."

"Transformed?" Sarutobi asked, his brow arched. He knew that a summoning jutsu involved a ninja animal, but what kind of kitsune did Kagome summon at that time that would make her transform?

"He said that her hair color changed to a snowy white and three tails appeared behind her. Her eyes were in a darker shade of blue and the pupils were in slits like a cat almost. Her nails turned blue and lengthened as well." Kakashi said.

"Hm." Sarutobi said as he rubbed his chin.

"But there's something else I noticed about her." Kakashi said, "When she was up against Zabuza, I noticed that her irises were pink with an eight point star pattern in them."

"Pink irises? Eight point star pattern?" Sarutobi asked. He had never heard of that sort of an eye technique.

"Another thing, her two tailed cat, Kirara. Now that I think about, Kirara might actually be a demon of some sort." Kakashi said.

"A demon, you say?" Sarutobi asked, shocked. He had never suspected that Kirara could possibly be a demon. Well, her two tails made it sort of obvious. But Kirara had never attacked anyone in the village so far. She looked like an innocent cat from anyone's perspective.

"Hai, she was able to change sizes during our battle. Besides, there's no other kind of cat like Kirara. Actually, there aren't any." Kakashi said, "It just makes me wonder who Kagome really is."

"What do you mean, Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked, his brow arched.

"I think Kagome might be hiding something. But I don't know what it is." Kakashi said, glancing out the window. It somewhat made sense to him, Kagome was full of mysteries and surprises. He wondered where she learned those strange jutsus and obtained those powerful weapons. Strangely enough, none of the weapons required chakra in them. The power inside of her body was an even bigger mystery to him. A power he had never encountered before.

Strange abilities, huh? Sarutobi thought. He didn't know what to make of this information about one of Kakashi's students. He had always known that Kagome Higurashi was a special student. The only girl who wasn't afraid of the nine-tailed jinchūriki, Naruto Uzumaki. He knew that she's very protective of him and thinks of him as her little brother, even though Naruto is a week older than her. Now that Sarutobi thought about it, he never saw the jutsus she had. Perhaps Kakashi is right, Kagome might be hiding something.

"By the way, Sandaime-sama." Kakashi said, "Did you know that Kagome has been sneaking into the Hokage tower?"

"WHAT?!" Sarutobi exclaimed.


Control your emotions or they will control you.

-Chinese Proverb