Disclaimer: No… I still don't own Harry Potter, Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto OR the song Illusion & Dream. This disclaimer is for the whole story; I trust that in the following chapters you already know I own nothing.
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Chapter 1 – Sarcastic remarksFor Harry, it all had started one night at the park. First there was only he and the endless, starless night – perfect scenery for silent brooding. It was summer, so the nights were relatively warm. He was fresh out of his first year at Hogwats, and was more than fed up with his relatives already. It was so long until the next school year started…
It was then he met Sensui-san the first time. He seemed so like Harry: neither one of them seemed to have anything better to do, so they sat down and talked. Harry was instantly awed by the way the man was so different from others: he did not treat Harry like a child, even though they both knew eleven was not quite that old.
Sensui-san never lied to Harry. Instead, he opened his eyes to the way others lied to him. Harry had had hard time believing it – after all, after his first year, Dumbledore was everyone's personal hero – but when Sensui-san and his friend, Itsuki-san, took Harry to the Department of Mysteries, Harry could see and hear the proof with his own eyes. No one cared for him because of him: he was worshipped because of some prophecy, because he would save them all.
Sensui-san said that he didn't care whether Harry saved them or not. He said Harry was above such things. But if Harry really wanted to do it, he needed to be strong. And Sensui-san just happened to know the perfect place to train. Would Harry care to join them, perhaps?
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Ron Weasley's first question was: "Did the muggles kill him?" when he found out that Harry Potter was neither in the platform nor the train. Hermione Granger had of course strictly put him back to his place for even suggesting such a thing, but that did not erase the fact that Harry was nowhere to be seen. Teachers or the Headmaster proved to be of no use too, since Dumbledore summoned THEM before him to ask, if THEY knew anything about Harry's absence.
Dumbledore tried to keep it quiet, but in the end it could not be helped: they had to alert the whole magical community, and still none came forward with any clues. The silence was absolute.
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For the first time in his life, Harry had a team. He had a family. His new brothers were called Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, and usually the two of them used their time pretending they didn't get along. Sasuke had come first, and Naruto had followed him shortly afterwards, claiming that he could not go back until the promise he made with Sakura-chan could be fulfilled. Since Sasuke wouldn't go back because of anything Naruto said or did, he had little choice but to join them. Their new master, Orochimaru-sama, had obviously found the situation terribly funny (Harry still had sometimes nightmares about the way his eyes had bulked with glee) and had allowed Naruto to stay, under the condition, of course, that Naruto would work for him.
Orochimaru-sama had a large underground mansion in the Country of Field. He had his own ninja village called Hidden Sound, but truthfully, it could not be called much of a village at all… Usual ninja villages had plenty of ninjas from all ranks plus civilians, and they usually had many buildings instead of just one large one. The only civilians in Orochimaru-sama's village were the servants, and there was really no use trying to learn their names: they were just pawns to be used, and usually they didn't last even a week in the dark underworld.
Then there were the ninjas: under Orochimaru-sama's direct command was Yakushi Kabuto, who was obviously relentlessly trying to replace Sensui as Orochimaru-sama's chief manipulator. Kabuto was also a medic, so he was the one responsible for healing them – but truth to be told, usually everyone rather gritted their teeth and sucked it up than went to see Kabuto-san.
Then there were the Sound Five (or rather Sound Six – Harry had no idea how they could count the twins as one person), Orochimaru-sama's loyal guards. They all had some form of attitude problems: Jiroubou, who was the weakest, was a large man who always considered everyone else to be pawns to be left behind. Tayuya, the only girl, thought everyone else was just a piece of shit. Kidoumaru thought he was the wisest and always made fun of others. The twins Ukon and Sakon were really creepy, after all when they went out Ukon usually merged into Sakon and they travelled as one. Not quite normal, that was… And their leader was by far the worst of them: his name was Kaguya Kimimaro, he lived to serve Orochimaru-sama, and he had absolutely no complaints about the fact that someday, when Kimimaro was finally recovered from his disease, Orochimaru-sama would take over his body and walk around in it until he would find someone better. Only after that Kimimaro would be officially dead.
It was no secret that Sasuke was Orochimaru-sama's backup plan. If Kimimaro never recovered, Sasuke would be the new Dream Container. Sasuke wasn't too pleased about this possibility, so, ironically enough, he and his team had found themselves wishing all the best for a guy they hated. If Kimimaro died, Sasuke'd be screwed, and nobody wanted that. Naruto especially hated that possibility: Sakura-chan definitely would not like it if he'd bring back Orochimaru, who was WEARING her beloved Sasuke-kun.
There were two teams actively doing missions for Orochimaru. He had some fooled, manipulated or threatened individuals also, but only two official teams. First was Harry's team, and the second was a team consisting of Zaku Abumi, Kin Tsuchi and Dosu Kinuta. They were the rivals of Harry's team.
The deal was that Harry, Sasuke and Naruto were special cases. One had gifted eyes and was The Backup Plan, one had a demon fox sealed inside and the third had a funny wooden stick he sometimes relied on when he couldn't beat his teammates in traditional ninja arts. They had a special place in Orochimaru-sama's line of command. The others weren't allowed to touch them. They had nice rooms, plenty of food and servants, and even though in normal standards their lives were far from nice and comfortable, in Hidden Sound point of view they had unmatched luxuries. And the Sound Trio wanted those.
Yes, Orochimaru-sama had his Sound Five and his Sound Trio, but Harry's team didn't have such a name. Orochimaru-sama always called them by their own names (a one more proof that they were special). Others called them what they liked. Harry always referred to them as the Unruly Hair Club (unfortunately so true…) and Naruto thought they were Pranksters United. Sasuke didn't have a standing opinion about it.
Kidoumaru said they were The Chibi Team. He laughed his ass of the first day Harry asked about the usage of wands, but was abruptly cut of when Harry drew his wand and used the silencing spell on him. Tayuya was really impressed by it and immediately asked if Harry could also silence the fat idiot Jiroubou while he was at it. 'The fat idiot' was quick to remind Tayuya that women shouldn't talk like that. Not that Tayuya ever listened, anyway.
Together, their lives were less than harmonious. The best thing that could be said about them was that they occasionally could fit in the same room without trying to kill each other. Luckily for all of them, usually they didn't have to.
Harry's team and Sound Five had rooms in the same floor as Orochimaru-sama and Kabuto-san. Kabuto-san's infirmary was also in the same floor. The others, including Sound Trio, had to stay in a less secure place. Sound Trio had their own rooms (small and dark, according to them), the others stayed in a one big room.
Orochimaru-sama didn't really like it when they took the habit of staying out just for fun. He didn't mind when they went out for missions, but being in too close contact with trees would just unhealthily remind them (at least Naruto and Sasuke) of Konoha and their former lives, remind them of better, lighter places where one could afford to just lay in the grass and never worry about tomorrow.
He needn't worry. It didn't matter where Naruto was, he still couldn't forget The Promise He made With Sakura-chan, or the hitae-ate Iruka-sensei gave him, or the way Kakashi-sensei was always late. Sasuke could never truly forget his brother, the one he must kill. The one he would do anything to kill. And after being first told about his parents' death, about the prophecy and Voldemort, Harry couldn't forget his purpose either.
It was the same. It didn't really matter: the house in Privet Drive, the hellish Dursleys, friends and warmth in Konoha, coldness and loneliness in solitude, or the underground mansion in Hidden Sound and its twisted leader. At least this way they felt like they were finally doing something.
At least they weren't living in the illusion anymore, like Sensui-san had told them.
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Yes, at this point I would really like to remind you all that this is AU. It's much more fun to have all of them alive. Yet it's not clear what other things are different in the Naruto world, but trust me, we are getting there. And yes, I'm going to tell more about Sensui and his methods. He didn't convince Harry to go with him as easily as it may seem.
All comments are welcome!