Mahou Shinobi
Prologue
"Shady Negotiations"
During times of war, we often do things we either immediately regret, or do later on. Kakashi Hatake had regrets even as he was given the order by the Third Hokage, in fact it seemed he was having regrets as well( the elders and Danzo may have aggressively swayed him) but he and his team had their orders right down from the man who had sole command over them, they had to carry them out. Kakashi could only hope the other side wouldn't do anything to permit them to act on this night, or else this was going to be a bad chapter in Konoha and the other side's history.
The situation was a large roaming band of shinobi calling themselves the Mahou-nin passing through the Fire Country. They had already asked for permission from the daimyo to travel in his borders, and received it, but then they'd contacted Konoha to schedule talks concerning a future alliance once they were settled in their own land. Normally the Hokage was all about peaceful alliances, but this particular band carried with them a stigma. They were practicing a kind of ninjutsu that had everyone turning their heads, one that was said to bypass the normal conventions and laws of chakra and ninjutsu as the world knew it. Kakashi had heard one of the families in the band was capable of communing with the ghosts of the deceased, even using them in battle at times. Another could make themselves completely invisible to the naked eye, most disturbing of all was one of the band's leaders; a former shinobi from the Hidden Mist that had been presumed dead, and a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, a man named Jitou.
Perhaps it was a combination of who was a leader, and what they were practicing, that led the daimyo and the other nations to suspect that Konoha was about to plan something big with the Mahou-nin assisting. The daimyo had paid the village a considerable sum to place a ANBU team to watch the proceedings, secretly recording the conversations to give to him after, unaltered. Before the band left the Fire Country, the Leaf had to eliminate Jitou, the most dangerous of the lot. There were a lot of ramifications either way, but to let that man go without hassle would mean distrust between the village and the daimyo. Best they would lose a relatively small ally, than earn several larger enemies. But they wouldn't make a move until after the negotiations were done, so for now Kakashi stood idly by along with the rest of his squad, dressed like regular Jounin. The Third Hokage had made the trip out himself, and now they were in a tent awaiting the arrival of the four band leaders."Sorry to have kept you waiting Lord Hokage" A woman opened the front flap of the tent and entered, she had sharp eyes and a pointed chin, a pair of rectangular glasses sat at the edge of her nose. Behind this woman came another, slightly larger and looking more of the motherly type than the other woman . "We were having some last minute discussions with the clan heads" The Third nodded at the arrival of a tall, muscular man with a full red beard and hair, a sword hung by his side and before he sat, he put what appeared to be a thick stick in a compartment next to his sword. "Where is the fourth? I was told to be meeting four people here" The first woman closed her eyes and sighed, a definite sign of annoyance "Jitou will be joining us-" Just then the subject of her reply walked in, and The Third Hokage tried not to bite down on the pipe in his mouth, for this was like no other man he had seen, he almost questioned if he did gaze onto a mortal, and not a demon.
"My apologies, my fellows and Lord Hokage, my pupils had some concerns" Jitou was just as tall as the other man, but had none of the musculature, in fact he was very gaunt in comparison and his eyes looked be an unnatural shade of red, sunken into his face with slits, he could see no visible hair on his head or face. The Third couldn't determine if it was cosmetic or not, but this man also had scales that were a very light shade of green. One of his former students, Orochimaru, had been called snake-like in appearance and often times mannerisms, with this man it was undeniable. "Now that I am here, we may proceed" He took a seat and like the other man, put a wooden rod into a special holster( again The Third wondered what the purpose of these instruments was). "I believe formal introductions are in order; I am Eimei, the primary instructor of our young and old shinobi, I was formerly of Hidden Waterfall" The first woman to have entered introduced herself, then the larger man stood "My name is Kenage of The Royal Lion, formerly I owed allegiance to Hidden Rock, but left when war between Rock and Leaf broke out. I am the head of our relatively small fighting force." Kenage sat and the other woman gave her name, but did not stand. "I am Jimichi, and I was but a regular villager before joining this band of shinobi, I take care of any orphans we happen across" Jitou smirked and stood. "Really Jimichi, only proper for us to stand. I am Jitou, you might know me Lord Hokage as a one-time member of Hidden Mist's Seven Swordsmen. I was taken out of retirement by these three to look over the more....how do you say......'shady' parts of a village's functions, once we are established of course, for now I instruct our older fighting members as best I can with such limited resources, I hear tell you're quite the teacher yourself Lord Hokage"
"Yes, but later on we may talk of teaching, for now we must discuss what our two villages have to offer" For the duration of the talks between the four leaders and The Third Hokage, Kakashi stood to one side of him, arms crossed and listening closely, these were very trusting people, they had only asked for no weapons to be on hand in the tent and did nothing else. He had a recording device under his jacket, and just in case so did the other three Jounin from Leaf should anything happen to them, they'd have at least one copy to give the daimyo. The four had only one other of their own number standing in; another tall man with a long brown beard, spectacles, blue eyes, a ragged flak jacket looked to be the pinnacle of his defensive armor. Again, he didn't like doing this to such trusting people just trying to make their way in these violent times, but the pressure was on Leaf to act. Looking at the target, Jitou, Kakashi recalled what the older shinobi of the village had said of him. His strength was water-based jutsu, and he used snake summons extensively. That was it, the only few to survive an encounter with him could only give that much info into his abilities. This was going to be a tough mission, that was for damned sure.
After the terms of an alliance were done, the four leaders thanked The Third Hokage, and he them for their hospitality. Kakashi almost wished at least one of them would stop being so curteous, only made it harder to stab them in the back. Kakashi and the other undercover ANBU escorted The Third out of the encampment, away from the shallow ravine in which they'd temporarily settled. After going a certain distance out, they met another team of ANBU, traded out The Third and the recordings for more weapons, and headed back towards the Mahou encampment. A strange thing kept happening however; Kakashi knew the exact distance to the encampment from the trade-off point, yet when they were supposed to be in view of it they saw only more forest, . It didn't take at all long for them to think they were caught in a genjutsu, but when Kakashi took off his mask and unveiled his Sharingan, it still felt like they were walking in circles. "What's going on Kakashi? Is this a genjutsu even the Sharingan can't see past?" One of his comrades asked, getting annoyed when they stopped. "I don't think this is a genjutsu, it could be that new jutsu they're using" The only woman in the squad stated her opinion.
"Correct" A voice around them proclaimed, and neither Kakashi or anyone else was quick enough to avoid the swarm of snakes that exploded from under their feet, two large ones wrapped around his ankles and kept themselves in the ground, effectively anchoring him, more bound his arms together to prevent seals and another waited by his neck, fangs ready to sink in at a moment's notice. Shifting his eyes around, the rest of his team was in a similar predicament. How did he get the drop on us?. " You think as skilled and powerful as I am, I don't kno when someone is after my neck?" Jitou's voice was coming from somewhere, somewhere very close, it took a second statement for Kakashi to realize it was coming out of the snakes in unison "My own comrades order me to give you a message, and let you be on your way without any harm" A cobra lifted itself up to look into his eyes, it's moving mouth confirming he was indeed speaking through them "I will tell a story that I was attacked by the Leaf, and we fought to a stalemate until Kenage and Eimei came to aid. We will have gone on as planned, and you'll be able to tell your daimyo you did your best" The cobra got closer, it's eyes emotionless as the voice exuding from it "I beleive one of your number, a man named Danzo, should have told you The Mist tried to kill me, even employing shinobi like himself. He would have told you going after me is a suicide mission, unless of course he wants you all dead, and The Third to have a heavier burden for it. Leave now Copy Ninja Kakashi; and if you or anyone in your team comes again before we leave, I was only under orders not to kill you on this occasion, they said nothing about a second"
The snakes scattered quickly into the forest, and Kakashi turned towards Konoha "You heard the man....demon...whatever he is.....we retreat now" Nobody questioned his orders, they could have if they wanted too, but that was just it: they wanted to get out of here just as bad as he did. This Jitou, and the new jutsu used by him and the others, was too much for even them the elite shinobi to defeat, for now at least. Heading home, the Copy Ninja pondered how an alliance with such strange people would work out, especially with a character like Jitou in their ranks. Only time would tell, for now Kakashi was gracious enough to be walking away completely intact.
0000000000000000000000000000000
First off, merry christmas to all of you. I've decided to redo this story, since I was constantly drawing a blank how to go forwards with the last storyline. I thought it was better to start a little in the past, give a little more background before jumping into the rest of the story. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I should be updating a lot more around New Years. I think it would be a most gracious gift if my few readers gave reviews.
For those of you who might question how this is a Harry Potter/Naruto crossover, the characters have been given japanese names, but I'm trying my best to retain their personalities. But for purposed of time, I had to change some of the canon so things could fit, like who founded Hogwarts. There is also some of my original ides inserted to spice things up. If you're a fan of those crossovers where characters are just there, and they travel from one world to another, this might not be the fic for you, as I've tried to blend the two seamlessly as possible. Upon second look, this is being moved from Harry Potter to Naruto, sorry for any confusion. Edit: I added the character Jitou in place of Hebimaru, Jitou is this fic's equivalent of Salazar Slytherin, sorry for any confusion those who have read this.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters or franchise, nor the adapted Harry Potter themes and characters. I am not receiving any financial compensation in the writing of this, only a sense of fun and an outlet to test my talents.
-A.H. Faleaux. finished at 9:42 am on December 25th, 2009.
