A.N: This is the completely revamped chapter one/prologue. I'm kind of undecided on how to introduce the whole magic idea, and how to work that into the story. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to have their input. I'm also considering whether or not to have Harry become a shinobi eventually. If you guys have well reasoned arguments one way or the other I would love to read them and hopefully something will spark my inspiration. I enjoy constructive criticism. As always thanks for reading :D

Also, if someone is interested in Beta-ing this story, I would love it if you sent me a pm:D

Summery: Paperwork is a pain to complete and is easily forgotten in the aftermath of destruction. Sometimes that innocent paperwork becomes awfully important, and sometimes people aren't as alone as they believe.

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, except in my dreams, own Naruto, or Harry Potter.

Prologue

(1 year post-Uchiha Massacre):

Branch House, Uchiha Compound:

Amidst the stagnant wreckage of the once proud Uchiha clan, Yamato once again cursed Kakashi-taichō. His chronic tardiness is hardly my fault, and yet, here I am, cleaning the Uchiha compound houses of rancid food and decaying chairs. Yamato shot a dirty look at the corner of the house study where Kakashi-taichō reclined on the only useable chair, giggling with his mask shoved into a distinctive orange book.

He had finished two other houses so far, cleaning it top to bottom on Hokage-Sama's orders, and he was almost finished this one as well. Unlike the last two however, this house had belonged to a more influential branch of the family; leading to over triple the amount of clan documents to go through and organize.

As such he was plopped on the floor in the middle of many tall piles of scrolls as he went through them individually, and piled them into various groups to be sealed together later.

Clan jutsus, taxes, various correspondences, family records… and to think, I could be getting Dango with Monkey-chan now.

Another glare was pointedly shot into the corner before turning back to the paperwork. It's target not even having the good grace to notice.

Taxes, taxes, taxes, taxes, oh and…what?

What. The. Fuck?

Yamato's subsequent flurry of motion surprised Kakashi so much that he fell out of his chair as Yamato leaped for the window

The Hokage stared at the paper before him in stunned disbelief. Impossible…but, even the slightest possibility...

Looking up he barked out orders to the two shinobi standing erect before him.

"I want you two to comb the entire Uchiha complex for any other information regarding this." He shook the document once for emphasis. "Everything pertaining to the matter is now an S-rank secret."

Both shinobi bowed, "hai, Hokage-Sama." Before they turned to leave Sarutobi added one final order.

"Have Sasuke Uchiha removed into Anbu custody until this is fully investigated. He is to know nothing of this. Tell Anbu there is a security threat, whatever, I don't care, just keep him out."

The seemingly remedial punishment of two Anbu with cleaning up the unoccupied Uchiha clan houses affected the future events of all the Elemental Nations, and even beyond that. It affected the entire world.

Mostly though, it affected two young boys who had no idea what to do with family.

Chapter One

(3 years post-Uchiha massacre)

Main House, Uchiha Compound:

He awoke with a gasp, his blankets soaked in sweat. Beads of sweat dripped into his eyes and down his nose, which he then roughly wiped away with his sleeve…And he was not going to remember the look of pain on his mother's face as His tantō entered her stomach again, and again, and again, and AGAIN.

Sasuke Uchiha was not crying from a stupid nightmare. He was not. He was a strong shinobi with no fear, who would one day avenge his clan. Disregarding the lack of sunlight present at the early hour, he mechanically went through his early morning rituals. Systematically, with the ability born of long practice, he ignored everyplace and everything in the house that would remind him of unwanted memories.

The past is worthless, all that's left is the future, and with it, the revenge and revival of the clan.

For hours he practiced in the clan training ground attached to the house, pushing his body to its limits in an effort to not think. Only perfection was acceptable; a kunai hitting anywhere but a bull's-eye was a disgrace to his family.

Perhaps if he worked hard enough he would be too tired to dream tonight.

It was only as the first touch of orange reached the training ground that Sasuke finally ended his work out, leaving himself only enough time to down a glass of milk before he ran to the academy. He hated wasting time, every moment could be useful, and leaving extra time only left extra time to think. Which Sasuke didn't need. He knew his goals, and he knew what was necessary to achieve them.

Nothing else mattered.

Hokage Tower:

Sarutobi sat silently for hours, listening intently to the report of a mission that had lasted over two years. When he had first sent his most elite Anbu tracking team off to navigate the unknown, he'd had no idea what it meant for him or his people. Due to the nature of the mission, it had been made an S-rank secret.

The mission had created an interesting problem. What had first been an effort to ensure that the Uchiha genes didn't stray from Konohagakure turned into an espionage mission deep into the little known Outer Lands.

Long after his faithful shinobi left to de-prep from the mission, Sarutobi stared out at Konoha through his window. Pondering the possibilities and the consequences of every potential action. Feeling the weight of his years press fully upon his shoulders.

Oh Minato, he sighed, you would've handled this far better than I. If only you where here. He sighed again. It seems he just couldn't help himself.

Iruka's Academy Classroom:

Iruka-Sensei's academy class 3 was filled with clan heirs. It was one of the reasons that Iruka had been specifically asked to teach it, and the reason that he was given Mizuki as a teaching aide. Iruka's place as teacher of such a class was considered a great honor. However, when it came down to teaching the class, Iruka more often than not felt it was a punishment.

Certainly he tried his hardest, but what was he supposed to do with the Uchiha heir? Uchiha-kun was the most problematic top of the class student he'd ever had. The fan girling alone that followed the boy around everywhere was enough to make Iruka want to tear his hair out in frustration—at least he didn't have the Uzumaki brat in his class this year, though if the kid failed again, he would next year, unfortunately. Two years from now he would be completely bald.

Oh, certainly, Uchiha-kun seemed like the perfect student, quiet, intelligent, very dedicated, but Iruka worried about him, often, because he was also arrogant, introverted, and obsessive. With no family around—and especially after what happened to his family—it was very hard to judge his mental state. The last Uchiha scorned all attempted interactions by his classmates, and stared blankly at the board all day in such a way that Iruka could never tell if he was paying attention. No one he discussed his concerns with seemed to believe that anything was the matter.

After all, shinobi were supposed to be emotionless. So who cared if Uchiha Sasuke was emotionally damaged?

Anbu Headquarters:

Little Harry Potter was quite certain that he was about to be eaten.

He really, really didn't want to be eaten. As he huddled beneath a green blanket, he contemplated his birthday rule. While other children had fun on their birthdays, Harry Potter's birthday was always the worst day of the entire year. Having just turned five years old, all he wanted was to be safe back in his cupboard, but the scary monsters had taken him away. Typical.

Three monsters, tall shadows with blank faces (maybe they were going to steal his face?), had come for him in his cupboard. They spoke gibberish and the tallest one grabbed him before he could scream. It ran with him tossed over it's shoulder for what seemed like forever. And now the monsters had left him in this dark room (to give the monsters their due, the bed was far comfier here than in his cupboard) while they went out to prepare before they chopped him up and put him inside their giant cauldron. Since that's what monsters did.

So little Harry was going to be eaten, and he didn't know how he felt about that. He traced the cracks on the wall with his eyes, and he wondered if monsters ate everything, such as his bones and glasses, or if the disgusting bits of him, like his stomach and eyeballs, would get thrown out like the bones of the Christmas roast.

He figured that Aunt Tuna had found the empty cupboard by now, since she had probably come to wake him up to make breakfast. Harry was almost happy that getting eaten meant he wouldn't have to face Aunt Tuna after not being around to make Dudley's breakfast.

He shuddered. If he managed to live, he was definitely not going back there.

The door clicked open softly, Harry jumped to stare at the monster coming towards him. It held a tray of strange food in its hands (Paws? Claws? Do monsters even have hands?). Maybe the monsters were going to fatten him up before eating him, just like that witch in Hansel and Gretel.

His tummy grumbled as he carefully watched the monster place the tray of food on the only table in the room. It had two chairs and the monster seemed to be gesturing for Harry to come join it at the table. Hesitantly Harry crawled to the edge of the bed, carefully watching the monster the whole time. When Harry finally got to the table, he startled when the monster grabbed him under the arms and set him in the chair. The sudden movement caused his glasses to slip down the bridge of his nose. Before Harry had the chance to get his bearings back, the monster was sliding the tray across the table and pressing two sticks into his hand. Harry thought they were called 'choppie sticks' or something. He hesitated staring at his hand in confusion. The monster moved to stand behind him and grabbed his hand. The monster then proceeded to arrange Harry's fingers into a very awkward position.

The whole experience was unreal as the monster continued to guide his eating. It was so weird. Harry had never had anyone help him so much before. It felt kind of… nice. The food on the other hand, was very strange as well, but Harry wasn't sure he liked it very much. It was very colorful though, which he didn't think was normal for food.

When the meal was finally finished, the monster cleared away the dishes to the opposite side of the table and sat across from Harry. After a couple seconds the monster pointed at its chest and said "Inu," slowly and clearly

Harry frowned in confusion, "what?"

The monster pointed again, "Inu." It paused then and waited, the silence seemed expectant, and then it pointed at Harry insistently. Ooh, Inu is its name…I think… Harry pointed at his chest and said, "Harry."

It's kind of fun to talk with a monster…I wonder if I can learn monster language. That would be really awesome!

The monster seemed to struggle with his name, saying it very slowly. "Har-rii," Inu drug the syllables of his name out wide, but Harry thought that it got the gist of it pretty well, after all, being a monster probably gave Inu different vocal chords from a real person.

Inu brought out book at that point and opened it to a picture that looked like an apple, "ringo." It repeated the word a few times and had Harry repeat after him. They continued doing this for a while with various pictures in the book. Learning monster language was fun.

Hmm, I bet monsters' have a name for their language. Harry thought for a few seconds, I bet it's called Monstish. That sounds brill. Monstish, Monstish, Monstish. Harry giggle quietly to himself, what a funny language.

When the door was opened again, Harry figured that another monster had come in, but when he turned to look he saw a really big man, with lots of scars. Unless it was a monster that stole a man's face, but maybe not. If there where other people here, then maybe that meant that the monsters weren't going to eat him.

What a pleasing thought.

…And maybe that meant that he could stay here, and never go back to the Dursleys. It might take a little time, but Harry thought he could learn to be a very scary monster.

The man strode into the room and immediately drug a third chair to the table. He sat down and stared at Harry full on in the face, "Okay kid, my name is Morino Ibiki, and you are Harry Potter." His spoke a bit strangely, but Harry was too excited to care.

"Whoa, since you can talk, does that mean you're not a monster? Or did you steal someone's face? Where am I? When am I being sent back? Or are you going to eat me? I would really prefer that I wasn't eaten. I'm too bony anyway. I'll probably give you gas." Harry tried his best to look very serious as he said the last part. "I bet your farts will be really smelly after eating me."

Ibiki the maybe-monster stared at him before throwing back his head and roaring with laughter. Inu said something in Monstish to Ibiki and Ibiki replied in Monstish back. Harry was getting kind of impatient to get his questions answered, but he was trying really hard to hold it in; the Dursleys didn't like it when he asked questions, and they especially didn't like it when he pestered them for answers.

Harry almost missed what happened next, since he concentrating so hard on Ibiki's face. Inu's movement caught his eyes just in time, as Inu lifted his face over his head…Wait not his face. Oh, it was a mask! How…disappointing.

Ibiki started to speak again, "no one here is a monster, not in the way you think anyway. No one will eat you." Here, Ibiki paused, snorted, and said something to Inu. "You are currently in Konohagakure, in the Elemental Countries. Which to you is better described as a continent hidden off the eastern coast of Japan."

Harry's eyes lit up with glee, "I've never been to a different country before!" Not even Dudley had been to a whole different continent before either, he thought smugly.

"Can you confirm the identities of your guardians? We have them recorded as your maternal aunt and uncle, correct?"

"Yup, I live with Aunt Tuna, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley." Harry paused for a second, "but what's matnal mean?"

Ibiki nodded, "maternal means related to your mother." He paused here to consider his next words. "It has come to the attention of Hokage-sama," here Ibiki held up a hand to stall questions, "Hokage-sama is the leader of Konohagakure." Harry closed his mouth, since his question had been answered. "Now recent documentation has come to light with evidence that you are…"

Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoy it

MyNomDePlume signing out

A.N: There is now a poll on my profile concerning Harry's future as a Shinobi. Please cast your vote:D