Kagome woke up with a start as she shot up, "Jiraiya-sensei!" she shouted out in concern. Last she remembered they were in the middle of battle and she was healing her teacher. If she had passed out before Jiraiya beat his opponent, then it was possible he could be really hurt. She was pretty sure Magatsuhi wouldn't have been able to stick around long after since she had been feeding him energy. That meant Jiraiya would have also lost his backup.
She felt a hand on her shoulder pushing her back into a laying position, "Easy Kiddo. We won and we are all safe."
Kagome allowed herself to lay back down as she realized she had a bit of a headache, "Is Takashi-san alright?"
"I am perfectly fine Kagome-chan. You should worry about yourself more." Takashi said reassuringly.
"You managed to keep your barrier up long enough. We managed to defeat the Kiri-nin just before your energy ran out. We're hiding out in a nearby town at the moment." Jiraiya explained.
Kagome let out a long breath of relief as tension she hadn't even known was there bled away, "Oh, thank Kami."
"We do need to talk about the white-haired man that could hold your sword. Who was he?" Jiraiya asked in all seriousness. Whoever that man was and how he was connected to Kagome was something she should have told him about before yesterday. The fact he was actually able to hold Kagome's sword was another mystery. He had made the mistake of trying to wield her sword, trying to see how balanced the thing was. The moment he had grabbed the hilt it had burned his hand so fiercely he had to drop it. Kagome had admonished him about touching her things without permission as she healed the acid burns on his hand.
Kagome had a look of confusion on her face for a split second before she realized who he meant. She had thought she had told him all about Magatsuhi. Now that she was thinking about it he did know some about him, but obviously not the fact that he could manifest himself. As much as she wanted to explain that to him, she was overly aware of the fact that Takashi was in the room with them intently listening to their conversation. She had to be careful how she explained it so she didn't give her secrets away.
"Do you remember the problem Minato-Nii asked you to look into?" she asked. When Jiraiya nodded in confusion she continued, "That was Magatsuhi, the one that is against Midoriko. I guess you could think of him as a type of summon. One that only I can summon."
Jiraiya's eyes widened in understanding. So, that is what a demon from her world was like? He would have never even considered them being humanoid. When he thought of demons, he immediately thought of animal-like beings. He gave a short considering nod, "Right, we'll talk more about that later. For now, we are going to spend the rest of the day here to rest and gather our strength. First thing tomorrow we head out."
"About that, I think we should take a more round-about way back home. After surviving an attack like that, most people would assume we'd hurry in pretty much a straight line back to Konoha. I'm pretty sure we can assume that wasn't going to be our last attack. If we take a more half-circle back it'll be harder to track us down. It'll take us a bit longer to get back, but it should be safer." She suggested drawing in experience from her past adventures.
Jiraiya nodded in agreement, "Good assessment, I was thinking of the same thing. The person or people wanting this mission to fail isn't going to just give up. Not after hiring those two. We need to keep our guard up, and a less predictable path will help. Now, let's all get some rest. This mission is long from over."
Two serious nods were his answer. He definitely had more questions for Kagome, but those would have to wait until they were back in Konoha. Where they could sit down, just the two of them, and talk about it in private.
Three weeks later the gates of Konoha finally appeared in the distance. Relief flooded through all three of them. Kagome wanted to jump for joy, but reigned in the urge to maintain professionalism. This mission from hell was finally over. The mission had taken a total of two months, and she was more than ready for it to be over with. The past three weeks hadn't been peaceful either. Far from it actually. The first week hadn't been bad, then their enemies had figured out what they were doing. The final two weeks were filled with constant attacks by numerous foes. None had been nearly as difficult as the two Kiri-nin, but the constant attacks were enough to wear anyone down. Whoever was behind the attacks had clearly changed out quality for quantity. All three of them were more than relieved to finally reach their destination.
The two guards gave the travel-weary trio an amused look, "Tough mission?" one of them asked.
Jiraiya let out a weary chuckle, "You have no idea."
"Kagome!" a voice called out enthusiastically.
Kagome turned just in time to get barreled into by Minato. She was soon smothered by a hug from her brother. She flinched slightly in pain as he irritated the cuts and bruises, she collected in the past week or so. She had had to heal Jiraiya and herself so much that her Ki was practically running on empty. Bruises and small cuts were ignored to be healed on their own so if worse injuries were sustained, she had enough energy to heal those.
"Minato-Nii?" she said in slight confusion. How in the world did he know she was going to be back right at this moment? Had he been like stalking the front gate or something?
For the past week or so Minato had kept a look out for Kagome's chakra signature. The moment she had pinged on his radar he had taken off for the front gate, "I was so worried! You were meant to be back weeks ago." Minato said as he pulled back from her, holding her at arm's length. He had felt her flinch when he hugged her. There were no big injuries that he could see, though there were bruises poking out from under her clothes. There were large dark circles under her eyes showing her exhaustion. There were multiple rips and tears on her clothes, Jiraiya's as well. They had clearly been though a lot. He noticed the third person with them, who looked ready to collapse of exhaustion and he narrowed his eyes slightly. Since when was her mission an escort? He had thought it was supposed to be a simple delivery.
Kagome let out a small chuckle that held little humor, "Sorry to worry you. The mission kinda blew up along the way. We'll fill you in on what we can later, but we have to finish getting Takashi-san to Hokage-sama."
Minato nodded and reluctantly let her go, "You guys must be hungry. I'll head home and start making something for us to eat. We can talk later."
Jiraiya placed a reassuring hand on his past student's shoulder, "We are both fine, Minato. We'll finish our escort and make our way to the house."
Minato gave a tight grin, "You know me, I'm a worrier. Go on, finish your mission."
Minato watched the group of three walk away. Both relief and concern flowed through him. If Jiraiya looked as beat up as he did, the mission really must have gone downhill. He wondered just what kind of hell they had gone through. What Kagome had been forced to do along the way. With a determined frown he took off towards his house, he was sure that Kagome had earned herself a nice meal of Oden. If he hurried and got it started it would hopefully be close to done by the time they were done with their mission report. It took a few hours to cook, but he could also make some rice balls to tie them over until it was done cooking.
Two hours later Kagome and Jiraiya finally stumbled through the door. A large yawn escaped Kagome as she shuffled toward the kitchen. To her immense joy she smelled the familiar scent of oden. Minato is an absolute saint. All she wanted to do at the moment was eat, take a shower, and just go to bed. God, she couldn't' wait to sleep in her own bed.
"Minato-Nii, you are the best big brother ever. How much longer until it's done?" she asked eagerly.
"Another hour yet," he told her as he set a plate on the table, "I made you both some rice balls to eat for now."
"Ah, thanks Minato. I'm starving." Jiraiya said as he greedily grabbed a couple rice balls.
"What exactly happened out there?" Minato asked.
Kagome grabbed her own rice ball and took a large bite. Since it would be a while until the food was done, she should have plenty of time to take a shower before eating, "It was, to put it lightly, a mission from hell. It wasn't so bad at first, only one group attacked us on our way to Iwagakure. Then on our way back things just fell apart. I honestly lost track of how many people attacked us trying to kill Takashi-san." She quickly finished her rice ball before grabbing another and jumping off her chair, "Since it'll be a bit before the food is done, I'm going to take a quick shower. Jiraiya can fill you in on everything else." She told him as she made her escape. They hadn't stayed in an Inn for the past three weeks, so all bathing had been done in rivers and a single hot spring they had found. She was dying for an actual shower, with nice hot water. Plus, it would give her a chance to change into clean clothes and change her bandages. Her ki was still pretty low, so she was just going to let her remaining injuries heal on their own. She preferred to let her Ki build back up.
Jiraiya sighed at Minato's expectant look, "Yeah, that was pretty tough for a first mission. She did exceptional though. With some more training and practice I think she'll become one of the best kunoichi Konoha has ever had. The specifics about our mission aren't necessary for you to know, just know that she did well. I've never seen anybody perform so well on their first real mission." A considering look appeared on his face, "Did you know that she can heal from long distances?"
Minato widened his eyes in surprise as he shook his head, "No, I didn't. How?"
"She didn't explain much, I'm not sure if she really knows how she actually does it. It has to do with her kekkei genkai. She said it took a lot of focus and involves connecting her chakra to the person she's healing. It was very impressive, that's for sure. The brat saved my life with that little trick."
"Can she only do it to one person at a time, or can she heal multiple?" Minato asked curiously.
"Not sure yet. We'll have to work that into the training schedule." A fond smile spread across his face, "Speaking of training, she's a very fast study. She's already mastered the bedrock coffin jutsu and she's nearly there with the raging waves as well. She's catching onto Fuinjutsu decently well also."
"Yeah, I know how you're feeling. It was like as soon as I started teaching her how to do one thing, we had to move onto something else because she got the hang of it already. She's definitely a prodigy, I'm just not sure how I feel about that." Minato admitted.
"For now, just be glad that she has the knowledge and ability to protect herself and others. She's a strong kid, she'll be fine Minato." Jiraiya reassured his student.
Minato simply nodded his head in reply. It was best not to dwell on things he had no control over. The conversation changed to lighter topics and a few minutes later Kagome re-entered the room.
Her still damp hair was tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head. She had changed into a set of pajamas since she planned on going to bed after eating. It was a simply tank top that had a picture of a shuriken that Choza had bought for her, she paired it off with a pair of short shorts.
Minato's breath caught in his throat and he had to clamp his jaw tight to stop himself from saying something. It's wasn't the outfit that showed a lot of skin that he had issue with either, it wasn't like she was about to wear that outside. The clothes she wore may show a lot of skin, but that only let him see all of the deep purple bruises and bandages littering all over her body. The outfit she had chosen to wear for missions was very practical, coving a lot to help with protection. It had also helped hide all of her injuries. If she wasn't going to make her own injuries a big deal, he couldn't either. He couldn't baby her, she would not appreciate that at all. He realized that she had worse in the past, before she came here. He had seen the bite marks that lined her left hip once. She used to fight things that wanted to eat her, not just kill her. He had to actively remind himself that she used to fight demons practically every day. She was used to being injured. Not that he was okay with that fact.
Kagome flopped onto a kitchen chair and without even thinking about it leaned up against Jiraiya. She was tired and he looked comfortable. She felt him chuckle slightly and pat the top of her head fondly.
Minato looked at the two of them fondly, happy that they were getting along so well. This was it, all of his family under one roof. He had always wanted a large family, and it was finally starting to build up again. All he needed right now to complete it was Kushina. But, for the moment Minato was happy and that was all he could ask for.
The next day Kagome woke up and realized with a start that it was nearly ten. She really must have been exhausted if she slept past her internal alarm clock. She got up and slowly got ready for the day. When she got to the kitchen there was already a plate of food and a cup of hot tea waiting for her.
Minato smiled cheekily at her, "I finally got to make you breakfast."
Kagome giggled, "Except for the fact it's nearly lunch."
"Brunch then," he replied with a pout, "Do you have anything planned for the day?"
Kagome took a bite of food before answering, "I wanna do a little bit of shopping and I need to pick up my pay from Hokage tower. Since the mission raised by a rank halfway through, they had to refigure the payment. Maybe I'll stop by a few people and let them know I'm back, I did get everybody some souvenirs." She had given Minato his before she had gone to sleep last night. It wasn't anything big, just a simple necklace that she had placed a safety charm on.
"Well have fun and take it easy. You deserve a break after all that. Jiraiya told me to tell you that training continues tomorrow."
Kagome finished up her brunch before grabbing Suhi and the scroll she had sealed the gifts into. She had made her way into town with a smile on her face, it was good to be back. To not have to watch her back every second in case there was a kunai coming at it.
Just as she had that thought she felt someone slam into her back as their arms wrapped around her midsection in a tight hug. She startled violently and had to physically stop herself from attacking the person. She looked behind her to see Guy practically attached to her with tears in his eyes.
"Guy? Are you alright?" Kagome asked worriedly.
"I missed you so much!" Guy practically cried out, "When did you get back?"
Kagome laughed and awkwardly returned the hug as best as she could behind her, "Yesterday afternoon sometime."
Guy let go of her only long enough to jump onto her back for a piggy back ride. She did her best to hide her flinch of pain. She didn't have many injuries on her torso, mainly on her arms and legs. So, she let him stay where he was. From his determined grip she knew he had no plans of letting go anytime soon. Honestly, he could be clingier than she was.
"I hope you don't have any plans for the day." She said lightly as she continued her walk towards Hokage tower.
"Nope, I was just training." He smiled over her shoulder at her, "I was just going to try and find Ibiki and train with him. It's hard to find him most of the time though. I think he's working hard on his stealth skills."
Kagome had to hold back her laughter. She knew how irritated Ibiki could get with Guy. The only reason they even hung out in the first place was her. She knew for a fact that Ibiki actively avoided Guy when she wasn't around to play mediator. She was pretty good at reigning him in or she could redirect the hyper boy's attention, "Oh, yeah. I'm sure that is what he's doing." She agreed as seriously as she could.
Guy fell silent as he simply snuggled into his friend's back as she continued her walk to her destination. Before he had met Kagome, he had never really been lonely. Since their meeting however he had always been acutely aware of when she was gone. Sure, that mission might have been her first, but she was very busy a lot which made her unavailable. She did a lot of training with Jonin shinobi, which took up a lot of her time. Her training with highly trained Jonin was one of the reasons she was so incredibly strong. There were times when they got together to train as a group it would be all six of them against Kagome, they could barely touch her. She was just that good. That was one of the reasons he trained so hard. Kagome was already so amazing, but he wanted to be strong enough to protect her. Not the other way around. To be able to protect her, he had to be at least on the same level as her.
He was very careful with where he kept his arms and legs as they walked. Normally Kagome wore either a simple kimono or a basic fighting kimono. Today however, she was wearing a simply outfit of shorts and a tank top, which was rare for her. Like he had thought, she usually went with more traditional clothing. Today's outfit, however, showed how beat-up she was. She had bandages wrapped around parts of her arms and legs, and there were bruises littering all over her. It was surreal seeing just how injured she was, he had never seen Kagome hurt before. It really hit him just how dangerous actual missions were, how real the danger of being a shinobi will be. Kagome's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"School starts back up in a month, you excited for it to start again?" Kagome asked casually. She had gotten a bit worried; Guy usually didn't stop talking so him being quiet for so long actually worried her a bit.
Guy nodded excitedly, "Oh, yes! I'm really looking forward for it to continue. I heard that one of the boys from my class got bumped up to your old class. I am determined to make him my rival."
"Don't make yourself too much a nuisance, otherwise he won't want you around. That will make being his rival rather hard." Kagome warned him.
"I will do my best with my youthful determination." Guy said seriously.
Kagome let out a laugh as she continued to her destination.
Hours later she had managed to round up all of her friends for lunch and they had gotten a room at the BBQ place that Inoichi had started taking her to all of the time. For a restaurant their food was actually decently healthy, she figured it was because an Akimichi ran it. Her friends had apparently decided that the fact she had graduated needed to be celebrated. So, after they were done eating, they had told her, not asked her, that they were all going to come over to her house for a sleepover. She was always surprised with how lack this entire world was with their kids. If she had sprung a last-minute sleepover with her mom, she probably would have said no. Especially if she was having the sleepover at her own house. God her mom would have been so mad at her if she just randomly showed up with six kids saying that they were staying the night. She had to hold back a laugh just thinking about it. She wondered what Minato was going to do.
"Should we head out?" Rin asked. They had been done eating for a bit and had just been talking. They peppered Kagome with questions about her mission and she told them as much as she was able to.
"Yeah, probably. It'll take us a bit to get to everyone's house, unless we split up and then meet back at my house." Kagome offered.
"We're not really in a hurry, sticking together is fine." Obito said with a shrug. They hadn't really hung out as a full group for a while. Kagome really was the glue that held them all together.
"Yeah, that's fine by me." Ibiki agreed.
So that is what they did, they went house to house gathering everyone's things. There weren't really any problems until they got to the Uchiha district. None of the others except for Rin and herself really wanted to go into the district with Obito as it was usually frowned upon for outsiders to enter. So, only the three of them entered the district while the rest of them waited outside of the gates. Kagome looked around with interest, this district was so much more different than her own. It was about four times larger than her own district and all of the buildings looked extremely similar to each other. Not many of them had homey touches showing on the outside. Every house in the Namikaze district had its own unique touch and honestly, even with them all being uninhabited they seemed homier than all of these homes. It looked like the rumors of the Uchiha's being very strict and uptight might be true. She had doubted it before, having being friends with Obito. It seemed like Obito might be the odd one out, however.
"This works out great, my mom wanted to meet you." Obito grinned at Kagome as they walked down the street.
"She wanted to meet me? Why?" Kagome asked, confusion in her tone.
A slight blush flushed across Obito's cheeks, "I've been telling her about you, how you graduated so early and all that. Plus, she likes to meet my friends."
Rin nodded in agreement, "She wanted to meet me too after a while. She's a nice lady and makes really yummy cookies."
Rin was right, Obito's mom was a really nice lady. She also sent a container of cookies along with them for everyone else. Obito was bright red by the time they left as his mom was a firm believer of telling the most embarrassing stories to his friends. Kagome found it absolutely hilarious. She used to do the same things to Sota's friends when they came over, he always had the same reaction as Obito too.
They almost made it out without any issued, but they happened to run into the new head of the Uchiha's just as they were leaving. Kagome knew something was off the moment Obito's eyes grew wide. When the man caught sight of the three of them, he changed course to intercept them. Kagome hid the fact that she was eyeing the man, assessing the possible danger. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, and he looked very serious. Obito gave the man a quick bow of respect.
"What seems to be going on here?" the man drawled out.
"We were just leaving Fugaku-sama. They were just helping me pick up some stuff from my house." Obito said quickly.
Kagome's eyes widened slightly when she realized just who the man actually was. Minato had made her memorize who the leader of each clan was, and their heirs. Fugaku had been named the leader of the Uchiha clan about six months ago with the death of his father. She had no idea how this man would react to them being here.
Fugaku eyed the two girls before saying, "I've seen you here before," he motioned to Rin before turning his gaze right on Kagome, "you are new, however." His gaze lingered on the shinobi headband tied around her neck.
Taking the unsaid que Kagome bowed politely, "It's an honor to meet you Sir. My name is Kagome Namikaze, I'm a friend of Obito's."
"I heard that Minato had adopted somebody into his family, and you have graduated already."
"Yes, Sir, I have."
"Impressive for one so young. I wish you luck in your future young one." Fugaku said before simply walking away.
Kagome watched after him with a strange look on her face, "That was weird."
"You have absolutely no idea. I've never seen him compliment anyone before." Obito whispered out in shock.
Rin shook her head as she grabbed both of her friend's arms and started dragging them back towards the Uchiha gates, "Come on you two, lets go. Everyone is waiting for us."
Kagome let Rin drag her as her mind started whirling. Was it a good thing or a really bad thing that the head of the Uchiha clan now had her on his radar? Hopefully he will just forget about her and everything will be completely fine. Nothing bad would happen, right?