Well Hello there! So this is a story where the Naruto characters interact with the fifth year hogwarts students. This is just the prologue to provide backup info of what happened before the main events of the story. EDIT: I've rewritten this chapter, adding some of Dumbledore's perspective. Also thank you to : Rinnala, andRasenShuriken92 for reviewing! Your feedback was much appreciated.

Read on!

The man finished his letter, and sealed it. Handing it to the bird perched on his arm, he watched as it flew out the open window until it was just a dot in the pale blue sky. He hoped his old friend would still remember him.

It was time to call in a favour.

The gates of Konoha were wide open.

Curled tendrils of smell leaked out; bread and dirt, spring flowers, and the delicious smell of morning ramen. The citizens of Konoha busied themselves with everyday business, cooking, carrying merchandise, and children crouched down, drawing in the dirt with sticks.

One lone jounin, slept against the back of an old tree, his obscenely orange book resting on his face. A hyperactive fifteen year old ordered his twelfth bowl of ramen. A pink-haired medic went shopping with her friends on her day off, while a dark haired boy with spinning eyes sparred against a double of himself.

Naruto had brought Sasuke back. Nobody (excluding Sakura and Sai) knew what had happened. All anyone else knew was that Naruto had brought a half-dead Sasuke back and after an epic fight that got half of Konoha blown up, Naruto and Sakura confronted Sasuke and said something that had made him change his mind. Sai had even added his own bit ("Dickless and Ugly have tried very hard to get you back, so please stop acting like a teenage girl.")

All was well in Konoha.

"All is not well, Fawkes" said the old man.

He leaned back in his chair, and observed his surroundings. The room was circular, filled with many curious items. The walls were filled with dozens of framed photographs, which appeared to be somehow moving. A brilliant red and orange bird sat on the old man's shoulder, cooing softly.

"Perhaps, I shouldn't have involved the foreigners. This is not their fight."

He picked up one of the silver instruments on his desk. Twisting its silver limbs he watched as it exhaled a large plume of multi-coloured smoke. The smoke swirled and formed faces; two boys and a girl, before evaporating into the air.

He sighed again. "But we do not have much time. Voldemort is ever closer, and the Ministry is suspicious. And with this" he gestured to the ministry scroll decreeing the appointment of one, Dolores Umbridge,"I don't have much time. I need to protect the school." The bird crooned softly and nipped at the man's ear affectionately, then flew back to its perch. Just a moment after a small knock, almost inaudible echoed at the door.

Pasting on a small smile, the man strode over to open the door.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, watching over her village. In a rare moment of adrenaline she had finished all her paperwork and Shizune had reluctantly given her, her sake. These past three months had been so peaceful for all her shinobi. There had been no invasions, attacks, and the Uchiha brat wasn't even displaying any homicidal maniac tendencies. Tsunade knew however, that all her younger shinobi (namely the 'Rookie Nine') were still on edge, training in their spare time, trying to get ready for a disaster that hadn't happened yet. She had had to force Sakura to take a break today. Even hard-ass Hyuuga Hiashi had come to her, asking her to limit the amount of time Hinata could spend on training. She sighed. The recent fiascos had all hardened them, she knew. But they had to relax, get the chance to be kids (which in the shinobi world wasn't an everyday chance).

But, she thought with a smile. That would change soon. She finally had a legit reason to get the kids to relax.

But first she needed to get more sake.

"You've done what?"

The older witch faintly blushed, embarrassed with her sudden outburst. "Dumbledore, are you sure this is wise?" She asked instead, trying to regain composure.

"Truthfully, I not sure this is entirely wise, Minerva but in this time we need all the help we can get." The old man replied.

The man standing beside the older witch stepped forward out of the darkness, and silkily inserted himself into the conversation. "They may not be entirely trustful. These...ninjas" The corner of his mouth turned up in a half smirk. "Ninjas, by nature are supposed to be secretive, deceitful. They could be double-crossing us. Could even be double agents to the Dark lord himself" At his words everyone in the room flinched, except the old man who simply shook his head, a sad smile on his face.

"I trust them Severus. I trust them implicitly. You of all people should know that."

"Oh my god, what rock have you been hiding under Forehead? Look at your wrinkles!"

Sakura gritted her teeth, and smiled (grimaced) at Ino. "Oh, nothing Ino-Pig, I've just been training, and oh I-don't- know healing people?" Ino waved her hand at Sakura, as if swatting a fly. "Oh, don't give me that crap Sakura. It's been ages, since the whole Saucy debacle, there's no-one else to heal."

"Saucy?" Sakura queried, choosing to ignore the 'no-one to heal' quip.

"Sasuke." Ino motioned with her hands to a picture portraying a cockatoo next to them. "Sas-kay." She continued, "Saucy-kay. And with a grand flourish of her hands she proclaimed: "Saucy."

"You see?"

"I...you..." Sakura started, unable to voice her thoughts due to the sheer ridiculousness of Ino's statement. "I never thought I'd say this Ino-Pig, but it's been too long."

And it had. Sakura had been basically sleeping at the hospital these days. From morning to night she was there, tending to people, when really a much lesser medic-nin could've done it. You see, after the 'Saucy' incident, Sakura had been worried that if something else had happened to her friends she wouldn't be able to save them. When he had returned Sasuke had been hanging on to life by a very thin thread, and she had had to perform emergency field medical service. For one heart-stopping moment she had thought she lost him, but luckily he had strained through. Privately, in a deep corner of her mind that she rarely ventured to, she thought that she hadn't really done anything to get Sasuke back. Naruto had gone, and fought and talked and shouted, and weaved his Naruto magic, while she had stood by, useless until Sasuke was very nearly dead.

This was why she had stayed at the centre until she had nearly collapsed. She needed to be stronger.

"Hinata! Tenten!"

Sakura looked up as Ino waved their friends over, and they all proceeded into the Konoha beauty store.

Clearing thoughts of anything related to the shinobi world, Sakura followed her friends in, prepared for some serious shopping.

Dumbledore had first met Hiruzen Sarutobi purely by accident. He, liking to keep up with muggle news had been perusing through the daily news ('Explosions at London Bank') at a local muggle newsstand. Then hearing a commotion behind him, he turned and saw the interesting sight of an old man (dressed in feudal Japanese clothes) arguing with a nearby policeman. Never one to not lend a hand he walked over and tried to dissuade the situation.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Naruto slurped happily on his ramen, devouring the strands in one mighty gulp. The ramen residue, flicked off onto Ayame, who was wiping tables but she only smiled, happy to see Naruto happy. When she had first met him Naruto had seemed like a brat, but after his continual visits to Ichiraku Ramen, she began to genuinely care about him. Her mind flipped back to the time before Sasuke's return, when Naruto barely smiled and his laugh was a rare occurrence. It was good to see him so cheerful again.

"So Naruto" she began, watching, amused as his head snapped up causing the noodles drooping from his mouth to fly up and whack him on the nose. "Is the ramen good?"

Naruto looked at her, incredulous before he announced loudly, "Yep! It's great dattebayo!"

Ayame grinned at his enthusiasm, before asking him tentatively "How" she paused, "How is Kakashi?" Naruto looked up and momentarily shivered at the hearts in Ayame's eyes. However as he opened his mouth to answer he was interrupted by the silent ANBU officer.

"Uzumaki Naruto. The Hokage requests your presence"

Blinking at the knife that had been thrust in his face, Dumbledore had to suppress himself from reaching into his robes, and brandishing his wand. The man, who had been previously shouting at the policeman, now began to speak to him in Japanese.

"Watashi wa minkan hito oshietekudasai. Koko de, masani watashi wa doko?" (Tell me civilian. Where exactly am I?)

Fluent in many languages, Dumbledore answered in fluid Japanese. Anata wa, Rondon chūshin-bu ni arimasu. Anata kara doko mo, boku ga tazuneru? (You are in central London. May I ask where you are from?)

Happy that someone there was someone who spoke in his home tongue, the man lowered his kunai, but stared at the man before him in confusion. London?

"Rondon? Watashi wa kono basho kara kiite inai. Watashi wa, jibun wa Konoha kara kuru, anata wa sore o kiita watashi wa katei? (London? I have not heard of this place. I, myself come from Konoha, you have heard of it I assume?)

This time it was Dumbledore who cocked his head in confusion. Konoha? He had never heard of such a place. However, he had to try and help this man. Scanning the man's apparel, he concluded that the man was a wizard of East Asian descent.

"Īe, watashi wa motteinai ga kowai. Osoraku, anata wa issho ni kitai to omoi, wareware wa shiyou to suru to, kono konoha wa dono kuraidesu mitsukedasu koto ga dekimasu ka?" (No, I'm afraid I have not. Perhaps you would like to come with me, and we can try and figure out how far away this Konoha is?)

Satisfied with this preposition, the man tucked his strange knife into his knapsack, and bowed to Dumbledore.

"Dōmo arigatōgozaimasu. Sore wa haruka ni takaku hyōka sa rerudarou. Tokorode, watashi wa anata no hige wa hijō ni yūdaidearu to iwanakereba naranai!" (Thank you very much. It would be much appreciated. By the way, I must say your beard is quite magnificent!)

"Naze anata ni kansha shimasu. Watashi wa sore o seichō sa seru tame ni watashiniha kanari jikan ga kakarimashita mitomenakereba naranai."(Why thank you. I must admit, it took me quite a while to grow it.)

The policeman was left to watch in confusion, as both men suddenly roared with laughter.

"Hyah!"

Hanabi roared as she stretched her leg out in a kick meant to wallop Hinata in the stomach. Quickly, Hinata dodged, and swung out her arm in a scythe-like motion chop.

Neji, watched from the doorway. Hanabi and Hinata often sparred like this, practicing only Taijustsu so they wouldn't harm another (though he felt this was more on Hinata-sama's part than Hanabi's). He noted that Hanabi fought with a sort of rugged grace, like a cheetah stalking prey, her motions sharp and predatory. Hinata's fighting style reminded him of a swan, in that her motions were fluid and precise, almost like a dance (although nowhere near to the ballerina like motions of Hiashi-sama, thought Neji with an inward snicker.) He also observed that while Hanabi's attacks had more power behind them, Hinata's were more precise. He had a feeling, that even though they were equally matched at the moment, Hinata-sama would soon surpass Hanabi.

Finally having watched enough, he stepped inside and called out to Hinata. "Hinata-sama! Tenten is at the door. She said something about shopping?"

Dumbledore and Sarutobi both kept up with regular correspondence, once they had figured out how to get the latter home. Dumbledore was fascinated by Konoha and the ninja world, while Sarutobi was likewise interested in the 'chakra sticks' that Dumbledore had showed him. Their letters were filled with laughter, and the two soon became firm friends.

However after the separate horrors that the two found themselves in (Kyuubi and Voldemort respectively), there just wasn't enough time to write, and the two soon fell out of contact.

Dumbledore tried to convince himself that Sarutobi would help him now, as he penned the short but concise note.

'Sarutobi,

I know it has been a long time since the time we last met. I was hoping that you could find in yourself to help me. You once mentioned that in your village, children were also trained as ninja and could go on missions? I am not sure if you have heard if you have heard, but there is a great horror approaching my world, and I fear that Hogwarts will be in much more danger than before.

Therefore, I humbly request that you send me 8-14 of your ninja to guard the school. They will need to be between the ages of 12-17, as they will have to masquerade as students of Hogwarts. This 'mission' will continue, throughout the entire year.

If you are interested in my preposition, please send your word back through the bird I have provided.

Sincerely, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry

"So, what's up baa-chan?"

Tsunade frowned at the informal greeting from the orange-and-black clad ninja before her. "You know I could pound you into the ground for that remark gaki" she replied tightly.

"Yeah, I know" he said lightly, "But seriously, why am I here?" Then as if something had suddenly dawned on him, his eyes widened and a light came into them. "Don't tell me baa-chan. You're promoting me to jounin? I mean I knew this day would come but I didn't think it would happen so soon, but of course if you think tha—"

"No you idiot!" shouted Tsunade, a vein throbbing in her head. "Don't get so cocky brat. You're nowhere near jounin level yet." Of course that wasn't that wasn't entirely true. Truthfully, Tsunade thought that Naruto could very well be at jounin level, but she had to at least try and keep his head from exploding from self-righteousness, right? "You're not even a chuunin yet"

Naruto frowned, hating to be reminded of that fact. He started to protest very loudly, but Tsunade cut him off with a wave of her hand. Then trying to regain a sense of calm, Tsunade linked her fingers together, and spoke to Naruto seriously. "I have a mission for you" she started solemnly.

"Really?" he exclaimed excitedly. "What is it?" he said, bouncing on his toes from anticipation.

"Don't interrupt me idiot! And anyway it's not just for you. I'll need you to gather Team 7, 8, 10, and also Team Gai and then I'll give you the intel. Alright?"

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted, running out of the room and slamming the door behind him. Tsunade heard a distant call of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", and then sank into her chair.

It looked like she was going to need more sake.

"If you ever need anything Dumbledore-san, contact Konoha. I owe you."

When I read it again, it seems very..bitty(is that even a word?). Is this version better or worse?

Gaki - Kid (informal)

Reviews Please!