A/N: Hello everyone! I would like to welcome you to Harry Potter and the Secret Shinobi, a HPxNaruto (duh!) cossover taking place during Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and two years after the start of Naruto Shippuden. I know I already have one HPxNaruto crossover going, and I promis you that I am not abandoning it, but my muse has latched herself firmly onto this idea, and wont help me with HPRS until I get this out of my system. Sorry. Hopefully this will be different enough from HPRS that you guys wont get them confused.
Disclaimer: You know I dont own Naruto. Harry Potter too for that matter. Is it really necessary for me to voice my own inadequacy?
"English Speech"
"Japansese Speech"
'Thoughts'
Chapter 1: In Which We Are Introduced to the Pertinant Characters
Hokages complex
"Tsunadaaaaa-obaa-chaaaaaaan!" Tsunade was sitting at her desk, working on the omnipresent paperwork that accompanied the office of Hokage. How had she ever let Jiraiya talk her into accepting the post? She still wasn't sure. Shizune was coming in with another foot high stack of reports when she heard her name being screamed. "Tsunade-obaa-chan,Tsunade-obaa-chan, we're back!"
Shizune deftly sidestepped the charging Naruto as he caromed off the doorjamb and bounced into her office, swinging his fox-faced ANBU mask as if it were a child's toy. At first when she had met him as Jiraiya's apprentice, she had been thoroughly unimpressed with him as a shinobi. Now after having known him for nearly a year and half, her opinion of him had done a thorough 180. Releasing a small smile at his exuberant antics, Tsunade replied wryly, "Yes, Naruto, I can see that. I assume you have the payment for your mission?"
It hadn't been a long one, or a particularly difficult one for the teenage ANBU. Tazuna, the bridge builder that Team Kakashi had been assigned to protect as their first mission, had requested help. While strictly speaking, it really wasn't a mission suited to a ninja of Naruto's calibre, she sent him anyway, seeing as the mission was likely to have a sentimental value for him.
Naruto reached into a pocket, but withdrew nothing. Searching his other jacket pocket, he found nothing. Becoming increasingly frantic, Naruto threw off his orange jacket, searching all the pockets again. Realizing that the payment wasn't there, he slowly stood up and turned to face the thundercloud that had formerly been known as Godaime Hokage Tsunade. "Ah, I ah, had it here a mom..." Naruto started to explain, when Sakura strolled in the room, looking vaguely irritated. Naruto's gaze latched on to the tan package envelope Sakura held in one hand.
"Looking for this, baka?" Naruto cheered up instantly at the sight of the precious envelope.
"Oh there it is. How'd you get it Sakura-chan?"
Before replying, Sakura cocked her arm back, and launched the envelope at Naruto. Normally a nearly empty envelope such as that would have merely been caught by an errant gust of wind and been deflected aside. Sakura's strength was such that the envelope sliced right through the air and caught him in his gaping mouth. "You dropped it Naruto, running from your apartment to the Hokage's complex." Still striding forward, she retrieved the envelope, flicking him with it again before she placed the check on the desk. 'How that that boy ever passed the ANBU trials is beyond me,' the Godaime Hokage mused.
She smiled at the pink-haired kunoichi and spoke, "Thank Kami-sama that Naruto has you to look after him." That certainly was correct. While Naruto was probably the most able ninja in the entire village in terms of combat capabilities, he was sorely lacking in just about every other facet of ninja arts. "How did the mission go?"
"About as well as expected. One of Gato's successors had been threatening Tazuna again. It really wasn't much a mission to tell the truth. Once we arrived and showed a little muscle, they were quick to back down. Bit of a disappointment if you ask me."
"Well it was a C-ranked mission."
"Yeah I know. Naruto wanted to see the Great Naruto Bridge, mostly."
Grinning shamelessly Naruto agreed. "Yep, and it was really long too. Like way long."
"Well, you two arrived at the perfect time. We have a new client for a long term mission, A-ranked."
While Sakura looked pleased, Naruto was positively ecstatic. "All right Tsunade-obaa-chan! You're the best!"
"Be quiet Naruto. This is from an old friend of the Sandaime's." Digging through several piles of paper, Tsunade grunted and muttered, until Shizune came over a pluck the relevant paper off the top of the pile nearest Tsunade. Sakura rolled her eyes. Tsunada-shishou and Naruto were more alike than either of them realized. Handing the paper to Shizune, she handed it to the pair for perusal.
Tsunade Hokage-dono,
My name is Dumbledore Albus. I don't know if you have heard of me, but I was a friend of Sarutobi Hokage-dono when we were younger. Recently a Dark wizard by the name of Voldemort has begun to rise in power among the British Wizarding world. As Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I wish to hire your village to send a pair of shinobi as undercover guards for Harry Potter, the boy who caused Voldemort's fall from power fifteen years ago.
If you accept, send this letter back with your reply on the reverse by the owl who delivered it. I will then send details for the mission upon acceptance.
Sincerely
Dumbledore Albus
When the pair had finished reading the letter, they looked up as Tsunade spoke. "I have accepted Dumbledore-san's request. Now I need to know if you want to accept it."
"How long will it last?" Sakura inquired immediately.
"Approximately ten months. Right now that is all I know."
"What about Sasuke?" Since Sasuke's forcible return to Konoha eighteen months ago, they had spent nearly every waking moment with the black haired Uchiha, for the dual reasons that they wanted to get to know him again, and Tsunade had an ANBU squad on him whenever he was not in the company of the other two. "Sasuke-kun will not be accompanying you on this mission. The client has paid for only two ninja for this mission." Sakura frowned slightly, hoping that they would be able to tell Sasuke of their departure before they left. They weren't surprised at all that they were leaving without him. When Sasuke had been returned, he had been detained in a cell in the Konoha prison for four days, until the pair was able to convince Tsunade to release him under their supervision. She had acquiesced reluctantly, knowing that the council would give her hell for it. After Naruto and Sakura had become ANBU, they realized that they would have to leave Sasuke for a long term mission eventually. "Do you accept?"
"Hai," they both said simultaneously, not even bothering to consult the other.
"Excellent. Well, The mission will not start for another month or so. I want the pair of you to spend that time researching all you can find on English wizardry in the Konoha Archive." Sakura sighed. She knew that even though Tsunade-shishou said both, the responsibility would enevitably fall to her shoulders to do the work herself, and then fill Naruto in on the pertinant details later.
For the next month, the pair practically lived at the library, learning about speech, customs, food, and history. They would often check out the books and go to Naruto's apartment to study further.
Before Naruto had left on his two and a half year apprenticeship with the Toad Sage, Jiraiya, Naruto had been an annoyance, a speed bump in her single minded pursuit of Sasuke's affection. It had been a terrible wake up call to her when he had abandoned her and the village in his quest for power.
Sakura's apprenticeship with Tsunade had taught her a lot of things about herself and life in general. As she had grown under the Hokage's tutelage, she had realized something, and that was that she had never really loved Sasuke. Lusted after him, certainly. But she didn't love him. She had wanted him as a status symbol of sorts, something to show the entire village that she wasn't just an average, mediocre kunoichi.
Sakura doubted that Sasuke would ever find love. She didn't doubt for a second that he would marry, but she thought it would most likely be a political arrangement, not something of love. After all, he had to revive the Uchiha clan somehow.
Naruto was Sasuke's polar opposite in practically every facet of life. Both sought power, but while Sasuke quested for death, Naruto quested for life. Sasuke's gloomy, eternally dark, bad boy attitude left no room in his life for anything but one thing.
The only day that she could ever really recall seeing Naruto sad was at the Sandaime's funeral, after Otogakure's lightning strike. Naruto lived, no, lusted for life in a way only seen in tiny children who ran and laughed for no reason other than for the pure joy of running and laughing. While his eternally optimistic demeanor occasionally grated on her nerves, it was what allowed Naruto to push on no matter what the odds were, because tomorrow was bound to be a better day. And if the next day wasn't better, then the day after it surely would be.
--Flashback--
When Naruto had returned it had been a shock to realize how much he had truly missed him. Konoha had been a far quieter place without Naruto pranking everyone left and right. He had constantly astounded her with the amount of trouble he could get himself, and by extension, her and Sasuke into. And she realized, she loved him for it.
So after Naruto had come back, she had hoped that he would still like her. When she had taken Naruto out for ramen at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar she had asked him how he felt about her. Grinning fit to kill, he said "You know I love you Sakura-chan. Always."
"It's been a long three years Naruto."
"Yeah it has. I can't tell you how much I have missed this place. Especially the ramen," directing a billion-watt smile to Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame, the father daughter pair that ran the best ramen stand in the world, at least to Naruto's not-unbiased mind.
Heart hammering like it was going to explode, Sakura took a deep breath. 'What is wrong with me? It's only Naruto.' But the little voice that had once been Inner Sakura whispered that she wasn't in love with Naruto before. Steeling her will, she turned to face him and before she could have second thoughts, seized his head and kissed him.
To Naruto, it was like a dream. First, Sakura offered to pay for ramen. Then she asked how he felt about her. And then she KISSED him! Sakura kissed him. He couldn't believe it. She pulled away and searched his stunned eyes. Gathering her courage, she swiveled in her barstool and taking a deep breath blurted "I love you Naruto."
Four words he had always hoped for, but after years of Sakura rejecting his every advance, he had come to accept that those words were something he would never hear from her lips, and that the best he could have was her friendship. Teuchi and Ayame discreetly excused themselves to the back of their stand, peeking around the corner. Naruto sat there, frozen like a cow looking at an oncoming train, frantically trying to process Sakura's statement, beef ramen completely forgotten.
"What about Sasuke?"
"Sasuke... He has put me through too much for me to ever love him." Hesitantly, he reached for Saskura's hand, fearing that this was all some horribly misguided prank, and any second now she would burst out laughing.
"I realize that I was not a nice person, no, I was a horrible person to you Naruto, but I hope you can forgive me." She tightened her grip on Naruto's hand, ducking her gaze, fearing to look him in the eye. She nearly started when she felt his callused fingers ever so gently gripping her chin, as if she was a delicate pocelain doll that would break at the slightest pressure. Slowly he turned her face back towards him, close enough that Sakura could feel his breath. Slowly, ever so slowly he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.
This was a different kiss entirely. Her first kiss had been a look-at-me kiss, all force and no finesse. But this time she let herself linger, tasting his lips, feeling the coarse skin around them. When he pulled back, his cerulean gaze boring into her emerald eyes, and he knew it was true.
Abruptly realizing where he was, blood rushed to his face, setting his cheeks a rosy hue that could rival Hinata at her worst. Naruto tore his gaze away from Sakura, peering into the depths of his ramen, like a man hoping to divine deep secrets. Sakura blushed faintly and smiled lightly. She nodded in appreciation to the Ichirakus, who were now returning to the bar. Ayame gave her a devious glance and a wink she would have expected from Jiraya-sama or Tsunade-shishou. Naruto ordered another four bowls of ramen, setting forth like a man on his last meal, while Sakura sipped at her broth. Almost reluctantly Naruto paid for their dinner, and hesitantly took her hand.
Walking her back to her house, he felt like he was going to float right off into the sky. She gave him a chaste kiss as she opened the door and slipped into it. Naruto spent several hours wandering Konoha that night. Oh, how he had missed it so. He could see Tsunada's face carved into the Hokage Stone to the right and a little above the Yondaime's face. But his mind kept reverting to Sakura and her kiss.
Sakura for her part, leaned against the door, breathing deeply, trying to control her racing heart. Her mother walked into the foyer and saw her daughter leaning up against the door. "Is anything wrong Sakura-chan?"
Smiling to herself, she shook her head and went up to her room to clean up. A nice hot bath and a good night's sleep was just what the doctor ordered.
--End flashback--
A messenger hawk rapped sharply on the window pane of Naruto's apartment. Surprisingly, it was Naruto who jerked up sharply, while Sakura rolled over and mumbled in her sleep. Padding over in his bare feet, orange sleep pants, and a cat nightcap, the opened the document case on its back and withdrew the paper inside. Scanning it quickly, he smiled and hurried to wake Sakura. She was wearing some of Naruto's old sleep clothes, while they didn't fit him anymore, were her size, more or less.
Naruto went into the living room/kitchenette so that she could shower and change while he prepared breakfast. Sakura stayed over at Naruto's often enough that it had become more feasible for her to keep a couple changes of clothes over at his place, rather than having to run home for a fresh set every time, much to her parents consternation. When she came out of the bedroom, she was dressed in her usual attire, red sleeveless vest with the white circle Haruno crest on the back exposing the Konoha insignia inked on her left shoulder, signifying her status as an ANBU operative, black biking shorts with a pink skirt slit up the side, black hose that extended to just below the knee and black ninja sandals. She tied back her shoulder length hair with a hairband, and the tied her hitai-ate over it. She pulled her elbow pads over her hands, (pink of course) and tightened her gloves. They weren't going out on a mission so she left the bindings and weapon pouch on the dresser.
Naruto had discarded his orange pants, for a pair of orange and black pants that ended mid-shin, blue sandals, black tee shirt, hitai-ate on his forehead. The healing crystal Tsunade had given him upon mastering the Rasengan, one of two necklaces he now wore, hung on the outside of his shirt. Naruto was far more muscular than anyone would really suspect. The jacket he always wore disguised his phisique handily, so she always liked it when he left it off.
Naruto slid the window open and looked back when Sakura sighed. "Why do you always use the window? Is your door broken?"
"No, but its more ninja-like than using a door." Sakura merely sighed again, and followed him out to the Hokage's palace. Naruto would always be Naruto, no matter how old he was. When they arrived Tsunade was there, looking hung over. Sensing her mistress' condition, she slapped a hand over Naruto's mouth before he could shout his greeting. Tsunade looked up and smiled tiredly, wordlessly thanking Sakura.
"So what's up Tsunada-obaa-chan?"
"The client has mailed us back saying that he will be sending a representative from England to meet with us today to discuss the mission. In fact, I believe she is here," Tsunada finished as a silver tabby cat strolled in the open doorway and past the two gaping ninja with the poise, grace, and absolute indifference to everything that only cats and Uchiha Sasuke can manage.
While the pair was still gawping, the tabby turned to face them after brushing the desk leg once and dissolved. Instead of being whisked away on the wind, flecks of light and shadow merged with each other to form a woman. Dressed in green robes, a wizards hat perched on her head at an angle, and a pair of square reading glasses clinging to the end of her nose, to Naruto's mind, she looked more teacher-like than any teacher he had ever met. Bowing briefly first to Tsunade, then to the the gaping teens, she introduced herself in textbook perfect Japanese.
"Hello. My name is Minerva McGonagall. I am Deputy Headmistress Of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately, Headmaster Dumbledore had some pressing business elsewhere, and could not make this meeting." Reaching into her robes, she withdrew a folded piece of parchment and handed it to Tsunada. "Here is an introduction and proof of identity." Tsunada examined the paper, turning it over, and letting Naruto and Sakura see that there was a sealing mark inscribed over the front. Satisfied that the paper wasn't booby trapped, the Hokage released the seal and scanned the contents. Satisfied at its authenticity, Tsunada nodded, and McGonagall turned to the waiting shinobi.
Scrutinizing them both carefully, Mcgonagall seemed to find no overt defect in either of them so she began speaking. "You have been hired for the next ten months to infiltrate Hogwarts in Scotland, disguising yourselves as ordinary wizards, to the aim of protecting Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasely." Here she paused, passing out photos. "You will take a Portkey, a magical means of long distance teleportation, to the Leaky Cauldron on August 20th, three days from now. I will meet you there and assist you in acquiring school supplies. Then you will go to Kings Cross Station, Platform Nine and Three Quarters on September 1st to board the Hogwarts Express. Once there, you will be given further instructions. Questions?"
"Yes, McGonagall-san. Will all mission-specific equipment be provided?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, including clothes."
"Clothes? What is wrong the clothes we are wearing now?" Naruto interjected.
"Nothing is wrong with them, its just that they are a bit... unusual for England. Think of the new clothes as camouflage."
"Oh, okay then. Thats alright I guess." Mollified, Naruto folded his arms and frowned at the elderly Englishwoman.
Reaching into her robe again she withdrew six 9x12 brown envelopes sealed with a brad holding them closed. They unbent the brad and flipped the flap up and withdrew the contents.
"Each of those folders is a detailed dossier on Harry Potter and his two friends, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasely."
Inspecting Grangers file he whistled. "Hey Sakura, take a look at Granger. Looks to be a real brainiac. You should get on well with her." Tsunada merely let her head sink into her hands as Sakura gave Naruto a lump the size of an egg on his head. She sometime thought to herself that Naruto was proof that there was a God, and he did favor fools and children, as nothing else could account for Naruto's longevity despite the fact that he had zero survival sense.
Looking up from the envelopes, Naruto spoke up. "Hey, uh, McGonagall-san, how are we supposed to communicate with anyone in England? We dont know English."
"That is not a problem. I can cast a translation spell on some personal effect, and while you are wearing it, concentrate slightly, and whoever listens will hear English, and vice-versa."
"What about written English? Can you ensorcell us to write English also, because of we are going as students, we will probably have to do homework."
"The translation spell will convert anything, written or spoken, from Japanese to English, and English to Japanese."
Sakura and Naruto exchanged glances and removed their necklaces. Sakura had bought them a year after Naruto's return, on the anniversary of their first date, from an expensive jeweler. Each one wore one half of the swirly Konoha insignia, engraved with a picture on the opposite side. Sakura's necklace had a fox face on hers, and Naruto had a series of sakura petals that seemed to be floating on the wind on his.
These were not any ordinary necklaces though. Each necklace had a bit of the others chakra channeled into it. The chakra attuned each necklace to the life force of the owners chakra. Normally the engraved impressions of the Konoha insignia and the fox face and sakura petals were green. But when the person was in danger it changed to pink, deepening to red if seriously wounded and black if dead. Additionally, the necklaces had ben enchanted to heat to match, growing warmer the more danger the person was in, and abruptly turning ice-cold upon death. The two slivers of steel had appealed to Sakura's sense of concern for her brash boyfriend, easing her worrying for Naruto when they were assigned seperate missions, knowing that she could always know exactly waht condition the bull-headed blonde was in.
Eying the jewelry curiously, she held the two bits of steel in her palm and withdrew a long slender piece of wood. Muttering something under her breath, she tapped each one and handed them back. Naruto inspected his carefully before putting it back on, making sure it wasn't damaged. After all, it was a gift from his Sakura-chan.
"One last thing McGonagall-san. We are to be attending a wizards school, but we cannot perform magic. And what about wands?" Sakura queried.
"Well, yes. Admittedly that is the weak point behind this whole operation. However, you will taken to be fitted for wands, and in the likely event that you cannot actually use magic, well, we thought that you would be able to use your jutsus to mimic actual wizardry. I believe you have something you call genjutsu, that you use to create visions and hallucinations."
"Thats right. I am extremely proficient in the use of genjutsu, but Naruto's specialty is in taijutsu and ninjutsu."
"Hm, that is a problem. Could you cast a genjutsu on him?"
"I could, but that would require that we have all the same classes together. A genjutsu has to be constantly maintained, it can't be cast and forgotten like a spell."
"Well, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. You two will both be sharing the same schedule with Potter-san anyways, with the exception of two classes, and Divination and Care for Magical Creatures require no wand-work."
Looking at the clock sitting over the doorway, "If that is all, McGonagall-san, Naruto, Sakura-chan?" Tsunade looked to all three, when each gave a negative, the two ANBU operatives ran to the window an leaped out. Not having seen their entrance, McGonagall arched an eyebrow. "Do they always use the window?"
Snickering, she responded, "He does seem to have a thing against doors. Naruto seems to think that using a window is more ninja-ish than using a door. I think he picked it up from Kakashi, their teacher."
"Ah. I see. You know how to contact me if the need arises." The Hokage nodded, and looked to Shikamaru, her spymaster, entering just as McGonagall left.
"I have secured a source in Akatsuke that says they are..." The voice faded as Professor McGonagall strode down the hall, towards the room that had been set up to receive her portkey. As she felt the familiar tug of an invisible hook yank her navel, she mused at the strangeness of the secret shinobi.
Naruto's Apartment
Sakura and Naruto raced through Konoha on the roofs, avoiding ground-level traffic and leaping across alleyways and streets with ease born of years of practice. The civilian below ignored the flickering shapes flitting across the skyline. Already, Sakura was preparing a mental checklist of exactly what they needed to research, and how much supplies to buy. After all, if they were to be in a foreign, non-shinobi nation for ten months, they had to be sure that they had sufficient supplies to last the entire time. Her estimated costs were distressingly high, probably draining most of her reserve funds. However, the pay for such a mission should offset the cost for the most part.
Arriving at Naruto's apartment building, they alighted on the walkway in front of his door. Searching for the correct key, Naruto let the pair of them into his home. After tucking their shoes into the rack built into the wall, they entered the living room/kitchenette, to find someone already there, helping himself to Naruto's cache of instant ramen. Sakura had limited him to having ramen for no more than three meals a week, saying that he had to have more balenced meals to stay healthy, even with the youki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune there to maintain his health. In response, Naruto had constructed a secret compartment behind his pantry, filled wall to wall with instant ramen cups.
Hoping to divert his girlfriend's rising ire, Naruto turned to face the intruder. "Hey Sasuke, I didn't know you liked ramen." The ebon-haired man flicked a galnce in their direction before turning back to his meal.
"Well, I didn't feel like putting too much effort into my meal so I made some ramen."
With a glance that promised that they would discuss Naruto's illegal stockpile, Sakura turned to their fomer teammate. "What's going on Sasuke?"
"I heard that you two are going on a mission next month." He didn't have to add the words 'without me' to the end.
"Unfortunately so. Tsunade-obaa-chan said that we are going to some place called Scotland for the next year or so." That caught the Uchiha's attention. When Naruto, Sakura and Sai had captured him and brought him back to Konoha, he had been stripped of his shinobi status, and shadowed by half a dozen ANBU at all times, when he was not in the company of his former teammates. This was going to be troublesome. Shaking his head, he ended that train of thought before he started to sound too much like Nara Shikamaru.
"What is the mission?" He had attempted to sound disinterested, but when he saw Naruto's mouth widen into a grin he knew he had failed. Sometimes it sucked to have teammates as close as they were.
"We gotta babysit some kids in a wizarding school there." Naruto didn't sound best pleased by the mission objectives. On the other hand, Team Seven's escort missions often ended in fighting, the mission guarding Tazuna the bridge builder to Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves) and the escorting that caravan to Tsuchi no Kuni (Land of Earth) despite the tensions between the two hidden villages.
Naruto formed half a dozen Kage Bunshin before he thought about it and they were all choking on the summoning smoke until one of the bunshin managed to open a window and cast a minor fuuton jutsu to clear the smoke. Sakura had her bag slung over a shoulder and gestured for the bunshin to follow her. Each of the clones gave the orginal a sour look as they filed out, knowing the ordeal that was ahead of them. One or two considered dispelling themselves right then, but dismissed the notion soon after, knowing that Sakura really would need their help to gather all of the requisite information.
Sasuke and Naruto spent the rest of the day just lounging around Naruo's cramped apartment, attempting to sneak out to Ichiraku's for lunch. However, Sakura was already there to head them off. Instead, the trio ended up eating at the barbeque restaurant that Sarutobi Asuma used to frequent before his death.
Naruto pondered the information his Kage Bunshin had imparted to him when they dispelled themselves. Sauke sat in the corner staring out the window, silent. So it fell to Sakura's shoulders to carry most of the conversation between the three of them, something she was not terribly used to, Naruto being Naruto.
When they cleaned their plates the three split up, Sasuke going back to the Uchiha compound, and Sakura drapping a grumbling Naruto back to the Archive. Naruto made three more Kage Bunshin and loaded them all down with an impressive pile of books. Back at his apartment, Sakura divided up the labor, assigning him the majority of the reading material, reasoning that he can create a Kage Bunshin to read each book. Naruto understood, but that didn't preclude him from groaning about it.
The next month passed by quickly, and almost before they knew it, August 20th had arrived. Naruto was in the middle of his bedroom, tearing it apart in an effort to locate all his equipment. So far he had one weapon pouch of three, his chest plate, mail shirt, and his weapon maintenance kit, comprised of an oilstone for his ninjato, oilrags for polishing his shuriken and kunai, and diamond dust, to preserve the edge. Sakura sat on the middle of his bed, reading the dossiers of the three students, occasionally switching to another folder to cross reference something. Sakura completely ignored Naruto, except to lean back to avoid the occasional random flying object. When she had first starting dating him, she had attempted to get Naruto into the habit of cleaning and organizing his apartment more often, but that never lasted more than several hours, maybe a day max, because even if it was organized, he still couldn't find anything, as he couldn't remember where he had put it. The one thing she had managed to get him to do however, was at least keep track of his ninjato and mask. After Tsunada complained about him requesting a fifth replacement mask, when he had stepped on his under a pile of clothes and broken it, Sakura had intervened. Now they were kept on a somewhat crooked shelf above the headboard of his bed, both within easy reach.
The ANBU masks appeared to be simple pieces of decorated porcelain, but in reality, they were much more. While they were porcelain, they had been crafted with a hair-fine network of material that blocked chakra, mukankaku fiber. It negated the effects of genjutsu, and prevented onyone from using any justus to peer past the mask and see the ANBU operative's true identity. It also limited the utility of straight out ninjutsu on the head of ninja, although it was just as weak as regular porcelain when subjected to physical abuse. The mukankaku fiber wasn't cheap either. The fiber was exceedingly delicate, and grew only in the Land of Snow, requiring an extended season of cold followed by a brief period of warmth to grow.
Having finally located all his gear, Naruto clambered onto his bed beside Sakura. He had been over to Sakura's house once. It had been everything he had expected. Sakura was the only one of the Rookie Nine to be born to non-shinobi parents. As such, she was far more organized than Naruto. Looking up from the data files to the clock that Naruto had inexplicably decided to attach to his ceiling, she nudged her ANBU partner, jerking him out of whatever daydream he had been imagining. Naruto slid his backpack on and tied his ANBU mask on. Then he took his ninjato and slid it down his spine, into a slit along the back of the backpack. Judging from the scabbard, his ninjato appeared to be a tachi, single edged, slightly curved blade approximately thirty inches long. In reality, it was a shorter katana, about four inches shorter than it appeared to be. This was trick, designed to mislead an opponent into believing that it would take a second or two longer to draw than it actually would. And in a swordfight, a second or two was a long time. Plus, one could stick all kinds of nasty surprises in that extra four inches of empty scabbard.
He had all his equipment in it, including his ANBU uniform, which consisted mainly of a black shirt and pants, sleeves removed to show the Konoha swirl insignia inked on their shoulders, and armor. They would have to be careful to keep the tattoos covered, as Konoha was not exactly unknown in Europe, if one of the more knowledgable students at Hogwarts were to recognize it for what it was, that could lead to uncomfortable questions.
Naruto and Sakura had spent most of the morning packing for the mission, and spent the rest of the day, saying goodbye to their friends. Naruto had dropped by the Academy to talk to Iruka, his first sensei, for a while. Shikamaru was his usual apathetic self, working his way through his third cigarette pack of the day, something he had picked up after his sensei had been murdered by the Akatsuke Hidan.
Sakura, for her part went to see how Hinata was in the Hyuuga complex. She had been training with Yuuhi Kurenai, but when Sakura that she and Naruto were going on an extended mission, she halted her training for an hour to chat with Sakura. Then she dropped by the flower arranging store that was owned by the Yamanakas. Ino was there and they took an extended lunch to just have girl talk.
Sakura had returned home to tell her parents that she was going on a long term mission the previous evening, and was going to be away for about a year. Her parents were aware that this would have happened eventually, since she was a shinobi, and even more so since she had graduated to ANBU. They took their daughter out to dinner at restaurant, using their last evening together for the next year to full advantage. She stepped in to giver her parents a last minute hug goodbye, then leaped up to the neighbors roof from the porch.
The pair regrouped at Naruto's apartment, gathering their assorted ninja equipment, leaped out the window. Naruto and Sakura leaped from roof to roof across town to the Hokage's office on the top floor of the headquarters in the velvet night. Hurtling in through the eternally open window, Sakura noticed the pitcher of what most likely was sake standing on her teachers desk, conspicuously empty of paperwork. Tsunada was in the process of refilling her cup with the rice liquor. Sakura was relieved to see that it was only her first pitcher of the night, and looked to still be a third full.
Smiling wryly, Tsunada answered Sakura's unasked question. "Yes, I know, I am starting rather late. It would be bad form for me to be passed out on the desk when you had to leave." Rummaging through her desk, she finally located a silvery piece of metal. She handed it across the desk for the ninja's inspection.
It was a piece of steel a foot in diameter and about a half inch thick cut in the shape of the leaf insignia, inscribed with the spiral. There seemed to be a faintly foreign and unfamiliar tingle of energy to it. Intrigued, Naruto passed it to Sakura, looking to the Hokage, a perplexed expression on his face. "What is it Tsunada-obaa-chan?"
If there was one positive thing that came of Naruto's ANBU training, it was that he was no longer the completely oblivious, blundering powerhouse he had been. Now he was merely a partially oblivious, blundering powerhouse. He had admitted that not having to rely on the others of his team for information was a very good thing indeed.
"That, Naruto, is a Portkey. That is how you will be traveling to England. It is scheduled to leave at 11:00 p.m. You seem to have arrived just in time. The Portkey will arrive in a pub in civilian London at approximately 3:00 p.m. local. You will then proceed to Diagon Alley to purchase your school supplies. Accompanying you will be the Hogwarts groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid. Show him your ANBU masks to confirm your identities. So far, only four Hogwarts staff members will know your true affiliation, being the client, Albus Dumbledore, Minervra McGonagall, the Potions Master, Severus Snape, and of course Hagrid. You are allowed to have a pet at the school, so I suggest one of you buys an owl, to communicate privately.
"I am told by the client that the government there, the Ministry of Magic, is expected to attempt to interfere at the school in some way. Under no circumstances are you two to arouse any undue suspicion by any such person."
When the pair nodded, Tsunada waving at the leaf insignia portkey as it issued a single clear musical chime. "I believe that means that its about to leave. Good luck and Godspeed." That was the last Sakura and Naruto heard as they held the piece of metal, abruptly feeling an uncomfortable tug from behind their navel. Tsunada stared at the spot that until just a moment prior had beem occupied with two of the four most important people in her life. 'Be careful and stay safe you two,' she thought.
The Leaky Cauldron's Portkey room, London England, August 20th, 3:07 p.m.
The two ninja were buffeted by the kinds of winds you feel when traveling at ridiculously high speeds. Abruptly the disorienting blur of color solidified as the Portkey arrived at its destination, its depositing it passengers three feet above the floor. Fortunately, someone seemed to have the foresight to have padded the room thoroughly. In fact the only thing that told them where the door was, was two words painted in flaking blue paint, "Door" and "Push." The translation spell that the Deputy Headmistress had cast on their necklaces worked for the written language as well as the spoken. When they opened the door, there was another arrow, this time in a virulent green, pointing down the hall. The hall led to a short staircase, which in turn led to the common area of the pub. Hoisting their backpacks, Naruto was suddenly uncomfortably aware that there was a sword hilt sticking up above his head for all to see. However, the patrons of the Cauldron were absorbed in their own matters, and none looked up to inspect the new arrivals.
Sakura forged ahead to the bar, and a man standing behind it, cleaning a mug. As they drew near, the bartender looked up and smiled. "Ah, you must be the new foreign students. My name is Tom. I assume you are here for rooms?"
Sakura nodded and offered the portkey to the innkeeper. "I'm Haruno Sakura. This is Uzumaki Naruto. Hogwarts should have paid for our room and board for ten days."
"Ah, yes. The Headmaster had paid for everything. Retrieving a pair of keys, from the board behind him, he walked out from behind the bar and started up the stairs. Sakura caught up to him, catching a shoulder, and bringing him to a halt. Tom stopped abruptly. The young foreigner was a lot stronger than she looked. "Excuse me, but could my friend and I share a room?" At Tom's frown, Sakura added hastily, "it's not that we would do anything improper, just that we are used to rooming together."
"If its money you are concerned about, you have no need. There is enough to pay for two separate rooms the whole time."
"Really, it's not that. I'm believe you about the money."
"Well okay, I suppose, if that's what you really want." When they both nodded, he took the lead again and walked down he hall. Stopping at a doorway, he put one of the keys in his pocket and tapped the other with his wand. Inserting the magicked key, he twisted it, and the door swung open. It was a comfortable, if a bit small room. The door opened into the center of the room, facing a nightstand. Standing slightly away from the nightstand, were two beds, with an uncomfortable-looking number of comforters. At the foot of the bed, spaced far enough away that if the person occupying the bed got out on the wall side they could get by easily were two short dressers. The entire room was paneled in aging, but well cared for Japanese maple.
"If you could excuse me for a moment, I will retrieve your packages." Before either could object, the innkeeper vanished. Two minutes later Tom returned, floating two rather large paper wrapped packages behind him. Examining the script on the top, he pointed his wand, which was trained on the floating parcels pointed first to one bed, then the other. "If you need me for anything, I will be downstairs." With out another word, he turned on his heel and departed.
"Do you think we offended him, asking to share one room?" Sakura closed the door and walked over to the bed that Naruto had not occupied.
"How should I know Sakura? Hey look at our clothes!" Sure enough, Naruto had decended upon the paper-wrapped bundle and promptly shredded it. Their new clothes seemed to consist mostly of baggy pants with lots of large pockets. And loose long sleeved shirts. Sakura's shirts were split equally between, tight, form fitting shirts with a variety of logos splashed across the front and looser, undecorated tops, both kinds in short and long sleeves.
Naruto had several plain and striped long sleeved, button down shirts, a pair of back muscle shirts, which Sakura thought would look especially good on his lean muscled frame, and loose tee shirts.
The most surprising article both recieved was a pair of leather greatcoats, Naruto's in black, and Sakura's in pink. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that there were a great many pockets sewn to the inside leather, ranging from pockets that would hold an average wallet at arm height, to great voids that contain the largest of the Academy textbooks easily.
Sakura slipped hers on, and buttoned it up. "Hey, Naruto, what do you think of my coat," she inquired, twirling.
"Not bad Sakura-chan. I wonder where they found pink leather?"
"Maybe they colored it with magic." Naruto was still examining his, turning it over in his hands. Walking over, she asked what was wrong with his coat.
"Oh, nothing really." With that he slipped it on, and buttoned it up. "Hmm, I think they got my size wrong, it's a bit big."
Sakura instead told him to take it off for a moment. Draping it over one arm, she handed him his ninjato. He strapped it on, used by now to her noticing things he didn't. When he put his coat on again, this time over the sword, it fit better. The leather had been slit across the shoulders, so that he could draw his sword in his coat. However, when Sakura adjusted the coat, smoothing it across Naruto's shoulders, the black hilt of the sword disappeared. Holding a hand over where the invisible hilt was, she picked up a cold, thrumming energy. Examining the coat closer, she felt the same energy woven into the leather.
Frowning, she felt her own coat and felt a weaker thrum of power inside her coat too, subtle enough to escape her senses at first.
"Hey, this is really cool. I think I like this coat a lot."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. You notice that most of our clothes are very loose, and our new pants have lots of pockets? Convenient for hiding kunai and shuriken, dont you think? They even enchanted our coats, for some reason. Well, it hides your sword hilt, but I cant tell what mie does." Naruto smiled widely and nodded his assent. "I think we should get dressed and go down to the main room. Hagrid-san will probably be here before long." Naruto froze, absorbed in Sakura's rapidly increasing amounts of exposed flesh. As she started to unbutton her vest, she paused, a very Sakura-like smirk spreading across her heart-shaped face. "Anything you get to see, I get to watch also."
Naruto was distintly aware of a Kyuubi-chakra-red wave setting his face aflame. 'Good God, Naruto, get a hold of yourself. You have been dating her close to two years now. You even share the same bed from time to time, you've seen her in her panties and bra, what is wrong with you?' The problem, he was aware, was the tone she had said it in. He knew that she had been trained in seduction, so why did it surprise him that she could act this way? 'Because she's never directed it at you, that's why,' the little inner voice snickered. He would have said that it was the Kyuubi, if he hadn't known better. But he was always aware when the Kyuubi was actively observing him, and he sensed the demon occupying his soul slumbering at the moment.
"Thats fine with me," the tide of bloated blood vessels coloring his face giving him the lie. Sakura smiled sweetly, as if she had sensed the entire exchance with his inner self. Unbuttoning her vest she took it off, neatly folding it up and laying it on the bed. The skirt and leotard pants followed next. Before he had dated Sakura, he had imagined that the kunoichi usually wore filmy bits of nothing to cover her naughty parts. But the first time she had slept over at his place she had nearly had a heart attack at his surprise. Her bra and underwear were actually rather decent for underclothes. Both were sewn of rather thick, in his opinion, linen.
Digging through her new wardrobe, she selected a pair of blue pants, made of a rather rugged seeming cloth. The pants fitted rather low on her waist, looking that she had to just twist her hips right, and the low slung pants would be no slung pants. To remedy this, she retrieved a leather belt, studded with dull metal spikes. Examining the belt carefully, she threaded it throught the belt loops and cinched it tight on her waist. She actually selected one of Naruto's button down shirts to wear. The sleeves were about two inches too long so she rolled them up, baring her forearms. Her bust filled out the chest nicely, although, even buttoned up all the way, exposed a rather pleasing expanse of pink flesh. Reaching into the pile of discarded cloth Sakura retrieved a pair of gloves. Slipping them on, a thin metal plate rested across her knuckles and back of her palm. Unfortunately, the Konoha insignia was engraved into the steel, so she taped a patch to blue cloth matching the color of the gloves perfectly and covered the plates. Now they looked nothing more than simple fashion accessory. Lastly she reached up and untied her hitai-ate, wrapping the metal plate up in the cloth ties.
Winking at Naruto, she nodded towards his pile of clothes, wordlessly telling him that it was his turn. Grinning, he took off his sword, and hung it on one of the clothes pegs on his side of the room. Grabbing the hem of his skintight black shortsleeved shirt, he drew it up over his head. The moment his eyes were obscured by the black cloth her eyes were inexorably drawn to the increasing area of bared skin. His body swayed as he got the shirt up over his elbows. She drank the sight of him up like a woman dying of thirst. While no one would call Naruto buff, he was more muscular than average.
Sakura followed each muscle shifting beneath his skin, and the Shishou Fuuin(Four Image Seal) seal mark on his stomach. She could watch the interplay between the dozens of muscles that was his stomach for days on end. Finally Naruto drew back the black cloth to reveal his chest. She never ceased to love how his pecs, which might be rather small on a larger man, were perfect, connecting to his shoulders in perfect harmony. Sakura didn't really pay much attention to his arms. She could admore them nearly anytime she wanted. He reached down and unzipped his pants.
Naruto was wearing boxer, as usual of course. She had once spoken, several years ago, without thinking in the presence of Ino-pig, wondering what kinds of underwear the male ninja wore. Things had rapidly declined from there, the pair recruiting Hinata and most of the genin kunoichi into a club devoted to men's underwear.
Sakura let her gaze focus on his quads, watching them flex mightily as Naruto stepped aside, leaving them laying on the floor, normally something that would upset her. But she was too busy examining his calves, for no other male could possibly have such perfectly toned legs.
Naruto dug into the pile of clothes sending the room into exponentally expanding messiness. It must have had something to do with the Kyuubi within him, for she knew not of a single male that could compete with Naruto's ability.
Withdrawing a pair of blue pants very similar to the pair that she was wearing, she buttoned and zipped them up, drawing a blue tee shirt with a large WS printed aross the chest. The show over, she went to her pile of personal efects and started withdrawing weapons. She retrieved two eight or nine inch combat knives and whirled them around for a moment, weaving them around her fingers, slapping the back of her palms and settling him her palms perfectly. She slipping one into each boot, steel toed, reaching halfway to the knee. Sakura then took two six inch kunai throwing knive, sheathing the sharp steel in little leather pockets and hiding them in the waistband of her pants, sitting next to her skin. Finally Sakura wound a strip of cloth around her stomach, approximately thirty, six inch shuriken attached with double sticky tape. Well, except for a single kunai she hid in her cleavage, the blade sheathed in a leather pocket like the others. Picking her cat decorated ANBU mask up, whe placed hit in one of her many voluminous pants pockets. She snatched his off the bed, where it had been partially obscured by a shirt. He snagged it and made it dissapear in his volminuous coat.
Naruto imitated his kunoichi, hiding two combat knives in his boots. He picked up a weapon pouch and withdrew the shuriken and kunai in it. Biting his thumb, he dabbed each seal on his wrists with a bit of blood, sealing shuriken on his left wrist, and kunai on his right. He put the few remaining ninja tools away when the glowing seals changed from blue to red, signalling that they were full. Naruto had learned a lot during his three year training trip with Jiraiya, one of the things having learned was a great proficency with using seals. Naruto could, with enough time, create a seal to do just about anything. In fact, he had tattooed two seals on his wrists, storage seals, that when dabbed with a bit of blood would produce about thirty shuriken on one, and twenty kunai on the other. It had taken him over a uear and a half to perfect these particular seals. As long as the blood was fresh on the seals, all he had to do was do a throwing motion, and one shuriken would release, cutting it deadly way to his opponant. Jiraya had been flabbergasted the first time Naruto had demonstrated his custom seals, and got mad when he wouldn't share.
He had wanted to try to create a seal to hold his sword also, but apparently there was a very limited number of seals one could place on a body before the started interfering with one another. Something about the chakra potency of the blood. After strapping on his ninjato, he drew on his greatcoat, letting Sakura adjust it so that it was concealing his sword properly and smooth it over his shoulders. When Sakura had gotten her pink coat on, Naruto examined her with a critical eye.
"You know I never though I would say it, but you look a damned sight sexier in these wizard clothes than in your iryo-nin outfit."
"Much the same to you Naruto. I never really thought you looked that good in orange."
"What's wrong with orange? It's my favorite color."
"There's nothing wrong with orange, just orange on you. I always thought you looked better in black or blue."
Naruto had wrapped an arm around Sakura's waist, drawing her down the stairs while discussing Naruto's choice in color. Naruto had halted at the bottom of the stairs. Sakura tore her gaze from Naruto to what had caught her attention. She had never seen a man so large as this person was. He wasn't merely large, he was huge, probably closer to eight feet than seven. He also had the most unruly beard she had ever had ever encountered. This trip was already providing plenty of story material, she thought.
The giant of a man drew close to the pair, grunting at them "Yeh the Japs Dumbledore hired?" Naruto's mouth twisted sourly at being referred to as a "Jap," but reached into his coat with his freehand, the one that wasn't around Sakura's waist, and withdrew his ANBU mask. When the giant had seen both, he heaved a grunt of acknowledgement and introduced himself as Rubeus Hagrid, although the were to refer to him as Hagrid. Looking to one another, they exchanged a look of bemusement and followed the groundskeeper out a rear door. Smiling whimsically at the pink umbrella that Hagrid withdrew, Sakura took note of the what bricks in what order he tapped to gain entrance to Diagon Alley.
The sight that greeted the ninja couple was something of a surprise. The High Street was rather empty for an area supposedly being the British Wizarding community's centralmost economic hub. "An' this is Diagon Alley. There ain't nuhthin yeh can't find here, if yeh look in the right spot."
"It looks rather deserted Hagrid-san. Has some kind of emergency occured recently?" Sakura queried the man.
"Eh, wha? What'd yeh call me?
"Err, it's a Japanese thing. Instead of putting mister before a name we put san after," Naruto elucidated.
"Er, nuthin really. It gets a lot more crowded in another week or so. Yeh just missed the school rush. Yeh don' have any money do yeh?" When the couple gave a negative, Hagrid grunted as if he really hadn't expected otherwise. "Well we will hafta go teh Gringotts then first." Striding towards a white building on the other end of the street, he explained a little about Gringotts.
"Gringotts is the only bank in all of England, cuz the onleh creatures that can guard gold better than ah goblin is a dragon, and they usually aren't of the mind ter give it back." The line inside the back was short, so they had to only wait about five minutes before a goblin was ready to help them. After dumping about three pounds of scrap parchement, an extremely ruffled owl, two five gallon canisters of what was labelled "cabbage eating slug repellant," Hagrid finally found the appropriate key and handed it to the goblin. Squeezing into the cramped cart, they rapidly made their way to the vault and back. Hagrid handed them a hefty sack of coins.
"It's twenty-nine Knuts to the Sickle, and twenty Sickles to the Galleon. Got that? Okay. Now its time to do your shopping."
At Flourish & Blotts bookstore, they acquired the schoolbooks for the fifth year curriculum. The next stop was the Cauldron Shop, where they got their trunks, a larger then usual version than most sutdents got, due to them having to store all their ninja equipment as well as bookbags and Potions ingrediants next door at the apothecary. At the Magical Menagerie Naruto acquired a large black owl, who he promptly dubbed Sasuke-teme, in honor of their absent comrade. And that it would no doubt irritate the stolid Uchiha to discover that he had an owl named after him. Sakura bought herself an orange and white tabby she called Tora (tiger) after his coloration. Madame Malkin fitted the ninja for their school robes chattering away happily, either ignoring or completely missing the sword wrapped up in Naruto's coat. They loaded the robes into the rolling travel trunks and left. Finally was Ollivanders.
The duo could sense the cold, flowing power that they had come to associate with wizard magic. The door chimed as it opened, alerting the shops proprietor to the arrival of potential customers. Ollivander was an elderly, wild hair wizard with protuberant silver eyes.
"Hello, I'm Sakura Haruno, and this is Naruto Uzumaki. We are foreign exchange students from Japan. We need a new pair of wands," Sakura stepped forward, introducing themselves in their undercover roles.
"No you're not."
"Um, excuse me? We aren't what?"
"You aren't wizards. You're shinobi. Your power is too warm to be wizards." Seeing he had only confused them, the wand-maker continued. "Wizards power is drawn from the surrounding environment, so our magic has a cool feel to it. However, your chakra is drawn from within yourselves, and therefore has a warmer feel to it."
Cautiously, Sakura probed him. Naruto stood back and let her take charge. If this was anyones field of expertise, Sakura would definately be better suited to handling the situation for the moment. If things turned sour, and they required an immediate extraction, he would step in.
"How can you feel the chakra on us? Can any wizard do this?" The startling ease with which Ollivander had detected the lie could be bad if this was a common ability.
"Oh, no I would think not. I was hired sixty years ago to design the masks that your black ops section uses. I was also a regular correspondant with your late Sandaime Hokage."
Abandoning all pretense, Sakura charged in, "Ollivander-san, can we trust you?"
Ollivander smiled faintly. "If it concerns Harry Potter, as I believe it will, yes."
"We were hired by the Headmaster of Hogwarts to infiltrate the school, posing as students. But to do that sucessfully, we need wands. We are aware that wands are extremely valuable. Therefore, do you have anything that would look like a wand, but not actually be a wand?"
Ollivander pondered this for a moment, before thinking of a solution. "How about I give you a pair of uncompleted wands, wands that have not had their core inserted?"
"That would be satisfactory." Holding up a hand telling them to wait a moment, he returned a moment later. Handing the first to Naruto, he said "Thirteen inches, white oak, was going to put in a dragons heartstring. Exceptional strength, but not great control. Good dueling wand." He proffered the second wand to Sakura. "Ten inches, willow wood, with a unicorns hair as the core. Average strength, but nearly unsurpassed control. Good for Charms work and Transfiguration." Hagrid had remained standing the whole time, not wishing a repeat of the last time he was in Ollivanders shop.
Having finished shopping, they made their way back the the Leaky Cauldron, the trio stepped through the magical arch of folding bricks before it closed behind them.
"Alrigh', well here's where I leave. I'll be back in a coupla days to see how yeh are doin'. Tell Tom anythin yeh need, he has instructions from Dumbledore to give yeh anythin' yeh need."
Turning away from the ninja, he strode to the door. Stopping abruptly, he turned back, looking like he had forgotten something. "Oh, I almos't fergot to tell yeh, a Ministry car will be by on the first to take yeh to Kings Cross Station." Bemused by their extremely large friends personality, they hefted their trunks over their shoulders and went to their room. Tucking their trunks away in a corner, Naruto flooped down on his bed. Looking over to the large pile of comforters at the foot of the bed, he said "how cold do you think it gets here if we need that many blankets at night?"
"Probably. England is a lot farther north than Konoha is." Naruto just shuddered. "Anyways, lets go over the dossiers McGonagall-sensei provided for us again."
"Naruto bounced from his bed over to hers, landing in a great heap. Sakura ignored him. She took out the tan envelopes and spread the contents across the sheet. There was a Wizarding photo of each student, smiling and waving. The first page told the pair of shinobi the age and physical characteristics of their targets. The next page told of their school history, classes and grades they had taken. The third page listed hobbies and noticable habits that the three had, such as Hermione's preference to seclude herself in the library to do homework, and Harry's frequent nightime explorations with his fathers Invisibility Cloak. Sakura paused over that. His ability to turn himself invisible with the cloak could prove to be troublesome.
"Well, its not like we dont have ways to tracking him even if he does leave with the cloak."
"True, but its going to be a lot harder to do it secretly."
The fourth page detailed Harry and Co. extra-curricular exploits, from Harry's rescue of the Philosophers Stone in his first year, to his extremely close encounter with Lord Voldemort at the end of the Triwizard Tournament earlier in the year.
The Leaky Cauldron, August 27th, 12:30 p.m.
The past couple of days had gone by surprisingly quickly. They had kept themselves busy, studying their textbooks, and learning all they could about Hogwarts. Well, it was mostly Sakura studying, and Naruto chatting with Tom and the other occupants of the Cauldron, only incidentally learning about Hogwarts.
The pair had just finished eating lunch in the inn's common room. Naruto took their dishes to the kitchen to be washed. When he returned Sakura smiled at him and gathered her belongings. They went back to their room and she carefully packed her books back into her trunk. Naruto sneaked a glance out the window in what he thought was a stealthy manner, but wasn't able to decieve Sakura. No matter how much training and experience Naruto got, he never could sit still for extended period of time, and he hadn't been able to leave the inn for over a day. He knew how important that kind of thing was, but he never could contain himself. Sakura didnt mind too much. After all, he wouldn't be the man she loved if he was any different. Double checking his wrist seals, he put his greatcoat on and motioned for his girlfriend to do the same. Sighing at his hopelessness, she did so, opening the window and letting Sasuke-teme out before they left.
Ducking out the back to the little courtyard that led to Diagon Alley, Sakura tapped the proper bricks, channeling a bit of chakra to her hands to power the magical archway. The couple strolled down the street, looking at all the shops and stalls, stopping by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour to get a snack. Naruto bought some owl treats for Sasuke-teme that he had forgotten to get earlier at Eyelops Owl Emporium.
They passed a gaggle of kids staring worshipfully at a floating broom in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. A question to one of the kids told them that this was the new racing broom, the Firebolt. After that, they wandered back down to Magical Menagerie, just looking at the varied magical creatures available for sale.
After about three hours of just wandering around Diagon Alley, going in whatever shop happened to catch their interest Naruto was getting hungry. They had had a good British breakfast, but that had been at eight o'clock, and it was now edging on to four. As they headed back, they examined their purchases. Sakura had dipped into Flourish and Blotts again and had bought several large jars of ink. Two of them were color changing, shifting through the entire spectrum of colors as you wrote. The other five jars were a very unique kind of ink. You channeled a bit of your magic through the ink, and when you wrote with it, the ink turned invisible, until you activated it with a tap of the wand. A trial with a scap of parchement proved that it reacted with chakra just as well as magic.
Naruto quickly wolfed down his dinner and they headed back to their room for some more studying. Naruto jumped on his bed, working out excess energy from being cooped up for several days without being able to train at all. He fervently hoped that they would be able to find some way to train while at the school. He couldn't bear to think how out of shape he could get over ten months. Before he could depress himself further, he cut off that train of thought. So the next four days pased in much the same manner until September first arrived.
A/N: Okay, that was kinda long. At 11k words, this is the longest document I have written on yet. I doubt that future chapters will be as long as this one, so dont be disappointed when Chapter 2 is like half as long. Umm... I can't really think of much more to say except that when you review, I write, so more reviews get you quicker updates! OH! And this is completely un-beta-ed, so email or PM me if interested.