Title: Team Sasuke and the Fortress of Shadows
Summary: ANBU receives a request from… Hogwarts? Missing-nins have apparently infiltrated and are searching for an object. To prevent a repeat Akatsuki, Team Sasuke is sent on the mission. 7th year. Naruto x Harry Potter crossover.
Disclaimer: Neither exists while the other is mine.
A note (notes) to readers: Dimension travel No (for me at least). So – Naruto and gang coexist with HP and gang in the same world who supposedly coexist with us. The point is, Portkey travel is made possible. Heh…
for the sake of fluency in English (not that I'm that fluent for that matter), I'm gonna treat the terms Shinobi, Kunoichi, Senbon, and whatever else you can think of, as singular terms and add an 'S' as you would apple, orange, ice cream pop if referred to as plurals.
+ Some Deathly Hallows spoilers below if you still haven't read it…
I wouldn't try to attempt making this a Humour fic worthy of that categorization due to personal inabilities. Please bear )
Prologue: Nin Mu
Team Sasuke had barely returned from an ANBU mission before they were summoned to the Hokage's office.
"Nooo… Just when I was planning on going to IchiRaku Ramen…" groaned the boy with the mask of a leering fox.
His sentiment was reflected by the soft sighs of the other mask-wearing duo trailing behind him. After all, they had only just delivered their report on their month-long mission which involved all three of reconnaissance, infiltration and retrieval. If they hadn't been sleeping in damp and bug-filled forests, they were sharing very crammed and dusty rooms of shady inns in the Land of Earth; neither of which provided what one would call proper food and lodgings. But aside from that, they had completed their S-Rank mission.
Walking down the corridors leading to the Hokage's office, Naruto indulged in grumbling bitterly, scaring off some of the newer Chuunins crossing their paths. The ANBU, were after all both revered and feared; a pissed off ANBU flanked by two others more so.
Before Naruto could burst into the office and yell, "Tsunade-Baachan", an ANBU with the mask of an eagle opened the door and faltered.
"Oh! Naruto-kun" said the female ANBU. Hinata had, after many years stopped stuttering when faced with Naruto. Perhaps it was because she was so busy with ANBU now that the only times she saw Naruto, she was behind that mask. Hinata had realized her confidence behind that mask which greatly helped develop her potential. She mainly did Recon missions to take full advantage of the Byakugan. But it was also perhaps the mask's ability in hiding her blush that made it easier for her to speak; without stutter.
"Hinata! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Naruto, grinning behind the oddly leering mask.
Just then, the woman behind the desk tapped the wooded surface and said, "You're here Team K-01. I've got a new mission for you and Hinata will your fourth member. Since we all know each other here, might as well remove those masks for now."
They complied.
"But Tsunade-Baachan—"
Sakura and Sasuke inwardly groaned.
"We've only just come back from one of the lousiest missions and we have to head out again?" Naruto complained. These three years had seen a change in Naruto; or a lack there-of. True, he was more powerful, more responsible and sharper. But he'd retained that attitude of his which only he dared in front of the Hokage.
Tsunade had grown sick of correcting him and so left it at that.
"Actually, no. I'd give you two weeks to prepare for this but if you're so eager…"
Sakura slapped Naruto into a bow despite his protests and said laughingly, "He didn't mean that Shishou!" ()"
"All right, the four of you. A letter from a foreign correspondent has arrived, informing me of certain alarming news. Read this first," she said, handing a letter over to Sakura.
Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke moved around her for a closer look. The letter was in foreign hand.
"Fire Country Asia
The Hidden Village of the Leaf
Main administrative Tower
The Hokage's Office" Sakura translated and dutifully pulled out the letter written on a strange, stiff looking paper of sorts.
"What's… that?" Naruto said, pointing, "and who needs to write where they want the letter sent to? Wouldn't that give away information?"
"That's English Naruto. And, well, these people probably do not send stuff the way we do. Is that right, Shishou?" Sakura asked.
"Yes and, well yes. That came in a bird, just that it was an owl. Keep reading."
"Dear Mr. S. Sarutobi,
It has been quite a while since our school last made correspondence with your country. We hope you are all well. I, Professor M. McGonagall would like to introduce myself, as the new Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. These are grave times for our people. Our previous Headmaster whom you were in correspondence with had departed our world a month ago. It is noted in his legacy that I am to inform you of a recent discovery owing to investigations, spawned out of detection of unusual activity, having unearthed the attached. According to instructions Professor Dumbledore left behind, we are to notify you of this matter as it may be of importance to you and your people.
We seek your help on this matter in helping with our investigations.
Thank you.
Yours Sincerely,
M. McGonagall, Headmistress
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"
Sakura finished with her words resounding in silence.
"The attached?" Sasuke asked, being the first to respond.
"This," Tsunade said, holding up a hitai-ate with the symbol of Kumogakure. A visible slash could be seen, denouncing its previous owner from his village. Their eyes narrowed.
"Actually, I have exchanged more letters with this Headmistress. This Nin wasn't acting alone. They have retained two other hitai-ates of different villages and all had been slashed." Tsunade said.
"A band of missing-nins… Does that sound familiar?" Naruto said sardonically.
"You think… We might have another Akatsuki type?" Hinata said, trailing off softly.
"It seems that they are searching for something which may harness great power. Yes. To prevent a repeat like the last time, I am sending the four of you over to find out what it is. Destroy it if it proves to be dangerous and prevent others from attaining it. Our correspondents have agreed to provide you with cover in the school which appears to house the object or creature. You are also hired to guard the school from infiltration by the missing-nins. Team K-01!" she barked.
The four straightened in attention and replied, "Yes. Hokage-sama!"
"Hawk. I appoint you team captain."
Sasuke nodded.
"Lion," Sakura stiffened as she continued, "Fox, Eagle. You are assigned this S-Rank mission. Since shinobis are involved, be mindful of your identities. You may choose to reveal yourself to whomever you see fit. This will be a mission longer than you've ever taken. I expect updates every two weeks. You have two weeks to prepare," she commanded.
"Now… Other than Sakura who had learnt under me, anyone else knows the language English?" she continued, peering curiously at the group.
There was a ringing silence.
Hinata raised a timid hand.
"Aah… Your father would've made you learn…" Tsunade sighed, looking towards a sheepish Naruto and a scowling Sasuke. Outdone by two kunoichis.
"Hehe… At least, I'm not the only one here…" Naruto teased, grinning at his team mate whose sharp tufts of hair was pointing dangerously at him.
"Actually, Sasuke," Tsunade said, rummaging through her drawers, "Oh. There…" she muttered, tossing five relatively thin books at Sasuke who caught them with his right hand. She proceeded to throw him another two tapes which he caught with his left.
"Try to be finished with the first four books by the day and pass it to Naruto. As for the tapes, they help with the accent. Mind watching them with Kakashi? Just want to save the hassle of lending it out again. I'll be sending you a compilation of data files on this Hogwarts world; report to the gate at 5 a.m. sharp in exactly two weeks. Okay, that's it, K-01, you're dismissed!" Tsunade instructed and waved her hands.
With that, the four ninjas replaced their masks and left the room, heading for changing quarters to shed their attire.
"How – are you going to finish all these books in one day? Even a genius would need about a week!" Naruto exclaimed, staring incredulously at Sasuke, having snatched his books to have a look.
Two of them were beginner English-learning books written for Japanese learners. There was an intermediate one, and an advanced one. The last, was a vocabulary builder.
Sasuke smirked and replied, "You'll see."
As Hinata bid them farewell at the ground floor of the building, the three ANBU had already changed into regular gear and were headed for a nearby restaurant. Sakura had refused to have Ramen after being away from proper food for so long, which Sasuke silently agreed. Not wanting Sasuke to have Sakura all to himself, not that Sasuke really bothered, Naruto ditched his choice of food and followed.
Three years ago, Sasuke had finally returned to the village for the final fight with Itachi. When Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi found him, the brothers' fight had already been concluded. Sasuke had killed Itachi but was left near death, bleeding heavily from various wounds and was no where near conscious. Thankfully, Sakura managed to work her miracle on Sasuke and preserved his life. While a charge was being decided on Sasuke, he laid in a heavily supervised ward in the Konoha hospital. After all, he was a missing-nin and no one really knew the extent of his intentions.
Technically, Sasuke had not outwardly betrayed the village. He had only defected and was also credited for having slain two of the village's most wanted missing-nins. It was through much shouting on Naruto's part at Sasuke and line of appeals that Sasuke's sentence was significantly lightened. The Uchiha was to serve a five year ANBU bond with the first unpaid. He was also banned from leaving the village even to other parts of the Land of Fire unless it was a part of a mission.
Initially, he felt annoyed when his old teammates joined up with him in ANBU when they turned Jounin. But now, he was grateful he still had them with him. ANBU, with its various covert and mostly highly-trying missions were made more bearable with Naruto and Sakura even as they were falling into frustration and the former, whining. He was resigned that Kakashi was right – he had made friends.
As the three 18 year olds waited for their food to arrive, Sasuke picked up the first book, activated the Sharingan and began memorizing the text at first reading.
"No fair!" Naruto yelled, receiving another smirk from Sasuke and a what-you-only-just-realized look from Sakura.
They sat in the restaurant for a couple of hours as Sakura and Naruto talked, occasionally receiving some participation from the memorizing Sasuke. When he finished the fourth, they were ready to go.
"Thought of a short-cut yet dobe?" Sasuke teased as he handed the books over to Naruto.
"Heh! How could I have almost forgotten Kakashi-sensei's training?" Naruto said, grinning as he planned on how he was going to organise his Kage-Bunshins in the memorizing of the book.
"Come along tomorrow?" he asked his teammates.
"I don't see why not." Sasuke replied as Sakura just shrugged with a smile.
"One down, four to go!" panted Ron, flashing his friends a weak grin. They had presently just taken down their first Horcrux, or the third out of the seven – the Slytherin pendant. They had found it only the day before in Sirius' house.
"So, out of the four, we know three of them – the cup, the snake and Vold – oh, sorry I forgot, himself." Harry said as he ticked the list off his fingers. They had learnt the hard way that the name 'Voldemort' had become a taboo word, having been caught and only narrowly escaping with Dobby's help. Dobby's death had shaken them all, but it had also solidified their determination in the elimination of all the Horcruxes. It was also thanks to that incident that they knew where the Hufflepuff Cup is.
"There's a high chance the last item, perhaps the relic of Ravenclaw, is at Hogwarts, considering You-Know-Who's attachment to that place…" Hermione added, seemingly pondering over something.
"Think we ought to give it a shot? At least, it's McGonagall in charge and not some of his henchmen. If we can destroy the cup fast enough, we wouldn't even have to skip the sorting…" Ron said.
Even though they had decided not to go back to Hogwarts but to focus on destroying the Horcruxes instead, they had not expected their progress to be this fast. The fall of Hogwarts was inevitable with Dumbledore gone. Still, they had managed to hold out under McGonagall, perhaps also due to other plans on the Dark Lord's part.
"We'll find the Cup and if we've still got no clue as to where and what the last item is, we'll head back to Hogwarts and scout for clues. If it turns out futile, we can always… pull a Fred and George…" Harry concluded.
"Yeah. That sounds pretty good. Plus, You-Know-Who would attempt to take over the school some time anyway. That's two we wouldn't need to find. And Hogwarts could do with three more wizards fighting…" Ron muttered darkly.
"That's settled then. The Cup – I think I might have a plan…" Hermione sighed.
End of Prologue
About the story: Current manga chapter read: 371. Pardon inconsistencies for future readers. I'm ignoring Madara even though he looks like he might play a bigger role in the Uchiha face-off. I dunno. Also ignoring Karin and crew cuz I really just can't be bothered covering so many things. It would jar the fic…
Yet another note to readers: Due to annalistic tendencies, author has passed out from forcing the .IRK.SOME. BLOODY.FREAKIN.AN.NOY.ING. green and red squiggles appearing on the text in Mic. Word to be accepted.
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