A New 'Leaf'

Disclaimer: I don't and will never own Inuyasha or Naruto, if I do, then Jiraiya is not a pervert, Jiraiya, Itachi and Minato all wouldn't have died, Kakashi would NEVER wear his mask and Sasuke wouldn't be an emo.

Chapter 1: Konoha

Higurashi.

Who didn't hear of that clan? Everyone heard about them. The people who don't know must have lived under a rock then. The Higurashi's were a noble clan of Ninja, with a rare trait of Kekkei Genkai which helped quite a lot in their Ninja village's internal war. And it was because of the Higurashi Clan that their village managed to survive and win the internal struggle. After the war, the Higurashi's kept to themselves and did not associate with people outside of their clan often, because of a matter at hand.

It was because the people in the Land of Water didn't trust the Higurashi clan, or their powerful Kekkei Genkai. The people were afraid that one day the clan would revolt and proclaim themselves the rulers of the Land of Water. The people were afraid that the Higurashi clan might start another internal war.

And the Mizukage at that time was a cowardly man who constantly feared for his position and his life. He actually believed that the Higurashi clan were trying to overthrow him, which wasn't true at that time. So he ordered the Higurashi clan to live in seclusion and he didn't want them to associate with the outside world. This angered the members, and their clan head, out of spite, secretly plotted a rebellion. He didn't think that this Mizukage was worthy enough to rule them.

The Higurashi had served him loyally in the wars and this was how he repaid them? By imprisoning them against their will so that he could keep his job, or his life?

The clan head plotted against the Mizukage, and he finally came up with a plan. His only daughter was a prodigy in their clan. Their Kekkei Genkai runs strongly in her blood. The Higurashi clan Kekkei Genkai was their affinity for the elements.

But strangely, the Higurashi members could not control lightning, for reasons unknown. The clan members with this Kekkei Genkai would be able to master and control high levelled elemental Jutsu, and they would have no 'secondary' element affiliation, they could have a few 'main' element affiliations. The members of the clan could even combine the elements to form others, like perhaps lava, or ice. And so far, there was only one person in the entire clan history who could control three elements.

But the clan head's daughter, she had an affinity for four. Obviously, she still could not use lighting, but she could form the ice element and even the rare wood element. She had inherited her mother's great priestess abilities, and she had been trained in the Ninja ways ever since she learned how to walk because they were still at war at that time.

She would be the perfect mole.

The Higurashi clan head could offer her to the Mizukage as a sign of peace, and the Mizukage would not decline such a talented Kunoichi to serve under him. His daughter could spy on the Mizukage this way and she could report to her father, and the information she gave them could be of great importance to their rebellion.

This was a dangerous job, and don't be mistaken, the clan head loved his daughter very much. But he knew the extent of her capabilities, and he knew that she would be just fine.

So, on her 8th birthday, he sent her to the Mizukage, who favoured her abilities immediately. The clan head was pleased that his plan was going well, but after a while, his daughter had a change of attitude and she grew more mysterious, more distant, which puzzled him. But he shrugged it off, thinking that it was just stress.

But what he did not know changed the fate of the Higurashi clan forever…

The whole of the Higurashi clan was slaughtered by his daughter in the middle of the night, a few days after his youngest son turned 4.

Higurashi Kagome.

His daughter.

People had said that she finally snapped, because of all the pressure she received from everyone as a prodigy of the clan. That was why she killed the clan, they said. She slaughtered her friends, and even her family the way the butcher slaughtered pigs, and there was so much blood shed that night that people had described that it looked like it had actually rained tears of blood. She was only 10 at that time, and yet she had killed enough to last a person a lifetime.

After the Higurashi massacre, she mysteriously disappeared, and was hardly seen or heard of ever since.

She killed a lot of people that day, except one. She spared the life of her little brother, and no one knew why. She let him live, while she killed everyone else. People said that her brother was lucky enough to survive the slaughter. But in truth, he was scarred greatly, both mentally and emotionally on that night. He witnessed his beloved elder sister kill both of their parents, and now hatred bubbled inside of him.

He thirsted for revenge.

After the slaughter, Higurashi Kagome all but disappeared from everybody's lives.

She lived her life in seclusion, as a member of the reclusive Akatsuki. She had heard the news about the Akatsuki from her travels all over the Five Great Ninja Nations and she wondered if that organization really existed. So she had searched and joined them a few months after she left the Land of Water because she was worried about the ambitions that the members and their leader had. She only gave them the name 'Kage' and demonstrated her abilities to them.

They had let her join, and Pein didn't ask any questions concerning her background, much to Kagome's immense relief.

Although Kagome may have joined the Akatsuki, but, she joined them in the guise of a male. She didn't exactly trust them enough to reveal her true gender or her real name, and she didn't plan on ever telling them. Kagome was 10 years old at the time for god's sake. And even Konan, the other female member, was already in her early 20s. So naturally Kagome didn't trust some of the other male members to keep their hands to themselves that much.

Especially when the Akatsuki had a person like Orochimaru as their member.

So to protect herself from a bunch of S-class criminals, Kagome joined them as a male. She wore a mask to hide her feminine features, and she even wrapped uncomfortable bindings around her chest. But fortunately, those bindings did not hinder her chest growth. Kagome kept her waist long hair tied up and concealed within her bamboo hat, which she rarely took off her bamboo hat; and even when she battled, she tried hard to keep it on.

Kagome cross dressed too, wearing baggy male clothes that concealed her feminine figure, and she even disguised the tone of her voice, making it sound deeper, more masculine sounding. And that was how she fooled everyone into thinking that she was a male.

Soon Kagome had already spent 9 years in the Akatsuki, and when she turned 19; that was the time first time she met Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi had joined the Akatsuki soon after he slaughtered the Uchiha clan, also sparing the life of his little brother. Kagome noticed the façade he had almost immediately, and she tried her hardest to reach out to him, to befriend him. Itachi gradually let her in his heart without realizing it, and soon Kagome got to know him better.

She realized that he was similar to her in so many ways.

He was a prodigy of his time; there was an old conflict with his clan and his home, Konoha. He was a spy for his clan, he was a double-agent and he was also ordered to exterminate his clan as well. He spared his little brother's life, and lastly, he had secrets that he did not want to tell his brother.

Kagome bonded with him and she trusted him with her life; so much that she even told him of her true gender.

She treated him as if he was her own elder brother, and she loved him as an elder brother. Naturally, her feelings were reciprocated and Itachi had also treated her like a younger sister, the younger sister that he wanted but didn't have. He kept the matter of Kagome's true gender a secret, and he did not tell anyone.

Although, Tobi still did manage to find out that she was a woman.

Flashback:

Kagome entered her room tiredly and she kicked the door shut. She smiled slightly when she heard the pleasant 'bang' that the door had made when it slammed close. Then, she headed over to her closet and selected a new outfit for her to change into. She began undressing and her gaze was focused on her reflection in the mirror. Her blue eyes were slightly cloudy as she examined herself. It had been a long time since Kagome had actually had a good look of herself in a mirror.

It was right to say that Kagome had never looked in a mirror for a few years. She couldn't put on makeup, since it would melt behind her mask because of the heat. And Kagome would only use a mirror quickly, so she didn't actually have the time to examine how she looked.

But now she could see how different she looked, compared to how she looked the time when she slaughtered her clan.

Kagome had grown taller, that was for sure. She had also lost the baby fat around her face, making it look slim and her raven coloured hair reached until her waist. Her legs were long and her skin was a nice peachy colour. The colour of her eyes had changed slightly; it now was a misty blue in colour. She had a feminine figure, with reasonably sized breasts, and she dared to say that she looked slender, almost graceful. Kagome had actually found it hard to believe that the raven haired beauty staring back at her from the mirror was her self.

She looked almost… beautiful.

Kagome was cut off from her thoughts when the door suddenly opened again and in stepped an enthusiastic Tobi, dragging a mildly annoyed looking Itachi. 'Damn it! I had forgotten to lock the door,' Kagome inwardly thought with a curse.

"Kage-san! Itachi-san said that I couldn't join the Akatsuki! But Orochimaru-san has left already! So why can't I—?!" Tobi froze in mid sentence as he stared at Kagome.

Itachi squinted his eyes at her for one second, trying to make out what was standing in front of him. When he realized it was Kagome, he frowned in confusion when he noticed that Kagome was wearing a strange colour. 'What is she wearing?' Itachi thought to himself and he concentrated harder. It was not long before he realized that Kagome was wearing NOTHING. He froze and quickly looked away, a slight blush on his cheeks.

He even cleared his throat uncomfortably "Tobi, I believe we should leave."

Kagome found her face heating up and she instinctively covered her cleavage. She bit down on her lip to prevent herself from screaming, it would not be good if her scream alerted the other members and caused them to come here. Tobi did not listen to Itachi and he instead continued to stare at her with hearts in his eyes and Kagome found herself shrinking away from his stare.

But she felt anger bubbling inside of her when Tobi whistled "Wow. Kage-san! So you're actually a woman! And you look hot!"

Kagome grabbed her Akatsuki cloak and used it to cover herself, then she quickly grabbed her weapons pouch and aimed a barrage of Shuriken at Tobi. She was seething with rage and she hissed in a deadly tone "Get your ass out Tobi!! Now!!"

Unfortunately, Tobi managed to evade her attacks, and he left her room, laughing merrily.

End Flashback:

Although that ordeal was over, Kagome and Itachi had to threaten Tobi to not tell anyone about her gender or she would have purified his immortal ass into oblivion. Tobi, fearing for his immortal life, readily agreed.

As the saying goes, 'Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned'.

Life in the Akatsuki was tiring, and harsh.

The members were always being hunted by the Ninja Villages all across the Five Great Ninja Nations, especially the Ninja Village from the Land of Fire, Konohagakure no Sato. But thankfully, Kagome had Itachi as her partner, so life wasn't that bad.

And Itachi treated Kagome differently from other people.

When Itachi was around Kagome, he would act himself, the extremely kind hearted and gentle man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. But in front of other people, Itachi would maintain his cold façade and treat them with reserved politeness. Kagome didn't really mind his change of character. They were always travelling alone most of the time, and the only times when they would meet the other members would be at that King of Hell Statue that Pein summoned.

Kagome and Itachi talked to each other a lot, and when one person talked, the other would patiently listen.

Kagome didn't really understand why people said that Itachi was a cold hearted murderer, an evil man. Kagome didn't find him evil, not at all. He was one of the kindest people that she had met in her life, and Kagome could sense the good intentions in his soul.

And once, Itachi had told her that he joined the Akatsuki because he wanted to keep an eye on the organization in case they wanted to harm Konoha.

Even up till now, he was loyal to Konoha. Kagome couldn't help but wonder why when they made him kill his family, not taking his feelings into consideration. Kagome joined the organization not because she wanted to protect her Ninja village, but because she was afraid of their intentions of total world domination. Like Itachi, she hated war, and that was the reason why she agreed to kill her clan in the first place.

She spared her little brother because he was oblivious to the clan's motives. He had been too young at that time to know anything while the rest of the clan knew and supported the rebellion. Kagome didn't really like to kill innocent people, especially if it was her cute younger brother.

Itachi's loyalty must have been possessing that 'Will of Fire' he had told her about.

And after being in the Akatsuki for over 15 years, Kagome was slowly starting to be eaten from the inside with her guilt from all the killings she had made. Usually, Itachi would have comforted her and talked to her to make her feel better, to make her know that there was someone who cared about her, but recently, Pein had ordered her to go solo while he teamed Itachi up with Hoshigaki Kisame. Kagome had refused and protested to this decision, but what Pein said was final, since he was the leader and all.

'Kage' of the infamous Akatsuki was quite well known, and Kagome had to agree that that nickname suited her quite well, because no one knew what she looked like and she seemed to disappear in the shadows every time she made a kill.

Kage was in the bingo book and was wanted for killing hundreds of people.

And still, people thought that Kage was a man since Kagome had never actually let loose of the information that she was a woman. In fact, people were rather biased against women. They thought that Kage was a man because it never actually occurred to them that women could be just as strong as men. Kagome, Konan and Tsunade were good examples of strong women.

Kagome absolutely hated killing people though, despite Kage's bloodstained history.

And even Itachi could see that this type of life wasn't suited for Kagome. Because each time she killed someone, a little of her was destroyed. And if the killings continued, Kagome was sure to go insane. Her life was no different from that of an ANBU member. Although, there was one person that Kagome had killed that she had felt no remorse for. In fact, she thought that he rather deserved it.

And that person was the Yondaime Kazekage. (AN: Not Hokage! As if I would let her kill Minato-sama. I'm a big fan of his! XD)

Kagome had killed him when she was around 25. She owed Orochimaru a favour during his time in the Akatsuki, and when she learned more about the Yondaime Kazekage, about how he had sealed the Shukaku into his son in a dangerous manner and how he tried to kill his son when things weren't going according to plan, Kagome grew angry and offered her assistance to Orochimaru herself.

Orochimaru had let her repay him back the favour, seeing as the attempt to killing the Kazekage was more difficult than it seemed. And Kagome felt no guilt weighing her down when she dealt the finishing blow that ended his miserable.

She just thought in her mind 'One less cruel hearted asshole in this world.'

And sometime in the future, Kagome had met and teamed up with Itachi again because Pein had ordered them to hunt down and kill a Missing Ninja to collect the bounty. But sadly, their partnership was for this mission only. And after she found and killed the Ninja, Itachi had told her that he could not stand her throwing away her soul like this anymore. "You are too pure to be corrupted by this anymore," was what he had told her.

So Itachi had helped Kagome to fake her own death; it had been the only way for Kagome to be free of the Akatsuki.

The others would have certainly not agreed to her leaving, because of the loss of a powerful member. Kagome was a trump card to them; she was almost as strong as or maybe even stronger than Pein even though he had his Rinnegan.

Kagome supposedly 'died' by chakra exhaustion, and to make it believable, Itachi had performed the ultimate Genjutsu on them.

Although it was hazardous to his already decreasing eyesight, he told Kagome that he didn't mind. Then he told her to flee to a village, Konohagakure no Sato, his past home. He had told her that she would be safe there; Konoha would be good for her and she could start her new life there without many problems.

Kagome was now standing outside the massive gates of Konoha, and she looked at them in awe.

Konohagakure was so much bigger, brighter and happier compared to Kirigakure, where the after-effects of the internal war were still present. The people looked happy and content, and there was no fear among them. Kagome found herself smiling slightly; Itachi was right, Konoha was good for her.

She walked towards the stand near the gates, where two Chunin were sitting at.

"Excuse me," she asked in a polite tone. The two Chunin looked up from their work and stared at her, and when Kagome said stared, she meant that they looked like they were gawking at her. She distinctively saw one of the Chunin's eyes grow slightly wider.

"Umm… how can I help you Miss?" the Chunin with a bandaged nose replied uncertainly.

"I'm new to Konoha, and I wanted to stay here, you know, I wanted to become a permanent resident here. But I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do and what papers I'm supposed to fill in. So could you please tell me?" she asked, looking at them both in the eyes and smiling nervously.

The two Chunin looked at each other and nodded "Sure," they both said.

The other Chunin nodded and then replied "Well, you should make your way to the Hokage's tower and tell the receptionist what you wanted, then she will give you a form you need to fill out. Then you have to wait and see whether the Hokage will approve of you staying in Konoha."

Kagome smiled gratefully at the two "Thank you," she told them before she made her way into the village.

As she got farther, she managed to hear one of the Chunin shout out "And if you're looking for the Hokage tower, just make your way towards the Hokage Monument! It's the big building that has the word 'Fire' for a signboard and it's in front of the Hokage Monument! You can't miss it!"

Kagome turned around and nodded, before waving goodbye to the two of them.

Kagome heaved a huge sigh of relief as she made her way through the busy streets. She had succeeded in lowering her chakra signal, making it look like she had no Ninja training whatsoever. Luckily it had worked and those two Chunin were none the wiser. And since she had managed to fool two Chunins she might even fool the Hokage, wait, that had been too ambitious. Those Chunins were nothing when compared to the Hokage. And what if the Hokage found out that she was a Ninja?

What would Kagome do then?

If the Hokage ordered her to be captured and questioned, Kagome wasn't so sure that she could take on so many Ninja at one go. She knew she would lose the fight for sure. So what was she supposed to do? Kagome silently panicked as she walked, her head facing down.

She didn't notice until it was too late and she bumped into someone, causing her to fall to the ground while he dropped his book.

"Itai…" Kagome muttered to herself as she rubbed her sore butt. That guy she bumped into, what was he, a rock or something? His chest was rock hard. But it was her fault for not watching her steps and bumping into him.

Kagome looked up, ready to apologize when she found her voice caught in her throat.

The man she had bumped into was rather tall, Kagome guessed she only reached until his chest, and he was also well muscled. He had spiky silver hair and wore a mask covered ¾ of his face. His Konoha Hitae-ate was tilted in an unusual way, covering his left eye.

And by the looks of his uniform, he was a Jounin.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see where I was going. Here, let me help you," he told her in a deep but sexy voice. Then he extended his hand to her. It took Kagome a moment to register what he was doing and she quickly held on to his hand and pulled her up with ease.

Kagome felt some static when she touched him and the static was gone as soon as he let go of her hand.

"No, I'm the one who should apologize. I didn't see where I was going," she said with emphasis, but he retorted "No, it was my fault. I was reading my book," and he pointed to the orange covered book that was currently lying innocently in the dirt.

Kagome was getting annoyed at this Ninja.

Jounin or not, she was accepting that it was her fault already, so why the heck was he still insisting that it was his fault? Couldn't he just agree with her already? She bent down and retrieved his book, and then she handed it back to the Jounin by shoving it into his chest. The Jounin looked at her with one onyx eye slightly wide with surprise. Kagome looked at him and said, the annoyance showing "Look, I said that it was my fault already. So why don't you just accept it?" before she could stop herself.

Her blue eyes widened in surprise and she started to blush; looks like her temper had got the best of her again.

She looked away from the Jounin, but she froze when she heard a slight chuckle coming from the Jounin. She looked at him, ready to glare, but she stopped herself when she saw that he had stopped laughing and was instead creasing his eye at her.

"Well okay, if you insist. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around then," he told her.

Then he gave opened his book and found his bookmarked page. He gave her a cheerful wave before he started to walk away. Kagome lost sight of him as he disappeared in the crowds, and she found herself sighing in disappointment as she walked towards the Hokage Tower.

The mysterious Jounin didn't even tell her his name…

End Chapter

Jumpingbeans480: How was the reedited version? Did it suck? Was it better or worse than the original version? Please review!