I don't own Naruto, Harry Potter or anything associated with it. I do however own the plot and any OC's so please don't steal them! =^.^=

The Saga of Hogwarts

Book 1

The Ninja of Hogwarts

Chapter One

The Letter

Three years later, a few days before Sasuke's eleventh birthday Naruto and Sasuke were walking to school.

"And the cat destroyed your homework how?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

"Well… It looked so lonely, and I took it home… and it… It peed on it… then it scratched it up… And I didn't have time to re-do it…"

"And you still kept the cat…" Sasuke said, head hanging in dismay and defeat at Naruto's decisions.

"It was so lonely looking…"

"Fine… But you either need to protect your homework better or get rid of the cat Naruto."

Naruto brightened. "Thanks Sasuke! I'll do something about the cat! I promise!"

Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes. The two stepped into an alleyway and Sasuke took out his homework and a couple of blank sheets of paper. He placed them both on the ground and put a hand on each stack, then he closed his eyes and nearly begged the homework assignment to copy to the other pages.

Naruto was above him watching with interest and baited breath as Sasuke copied the assignment. He loved it when Sasuke did stuff like this! It was like magic! Sasuke opened his eyes after a few minutes and they inspected the pages. One was Sasuke's, the other was a blank homework assignment with all fifteen questions precisely copied.

Naruto hopped up and down excitedly, "Thank you Sasuke! Thank you! You saved me!"

"Just don't let it happen again." Sasuke said sternly.

"Okay!"

That was the point at which Naruto let out a odd noise of fear from being startled and a growl as something landed on his head, meanwhile Sasuke did a double take at the tawny owl. The tawny owl with something attached to its leg, a… Letter…

"Owls don't even live in fire country, do they?" Sasuke asked.

"Owls?" Naruto asked.

"That proves it." Sasuke concluded. If there was one thing Naruto knew about, it was local wildlife. Owls didn't usually live in fire country, let alone around Konoha. Sasuke tentatively let the owl step onto his arm and off Naruto's head. He had every intention of taking the owl and the letter it had to his parents, wondering if it possibly had something to do with his life as Harry, when Naruto took the letter from the bird.

"It's addressed to you." The blonde announced.

"Don't open it it might be-" Sasuke began but paused as Naruto bit his lip looking a little worried. "You already opened it didn't you?"

"Well, you should have said something earlier!" Naruto argued.

Sasuke snatched the letter. It hadn't exploded, started smoking, nor killed or threatened him yet so, it probably was safe to open. Tentatively he lifted the top of the thick envelope and pulled out a letter. He looked down at the writing, it was in uncertain kanji, as though the person writing it was not experienced in writing with their language. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International, Confed. of Wizards). Dear Mister Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…

There was where train that drove his world halted. Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was the world of Harry come back to haunt him, to drag him away from everything he knew. But he didn't want that, he didn't want to be plunged into a world that he didn't know, and be left to drown, like a kitten thrown into a pool. He didn't want to be different, to be thrust into a position and identity he didn't know. Most of all he didn't want to be Harry. He wasn't Harry. He wasn't. He was Sasuke, Sasuke Uchiha. He didn't care about who birthed him, he had his parents, they were his parents, they were-!

"Sasuke, who is it from?" Naruto asked, looking over his shoulder.

Sasuke hurriedly closed the letter, "No one… I… It's probably not really for me, probably it's for someone else, I'll show my parents when I get home later." He said. He felt bad lying to Naruto but the blonde noticed and took that as a hint to let the subject drop.

"If you say so Sasuke…" Naruto said.

"Anyways," Sasuke said, breaking the silence, "We ought to go before Iruka yells at us."

"Oh crap! We still have class! Iruka's gonna murder us!" Naruto shouted, panicking, he suddenly grabbed Sasuke's hand and began dragging the older boy with him as he made a determined mad dash towards the academy. They burst into the classroom ten minutes late during a quiz and got an earful before being sent to sit down. The few girls that Sasuke's heart breaking hadn't put down (for some reason some of them thought that his attitude and rejections made him 'cooler'), had conspired and Sasuke was forced to sit by one of them as there were only single seats in rows left. There were three, one by the blonde banshee, one by the pink haired menace, and the last by the shy and quiet Hyugga heiress. Both of them glanced at one another for a moment. Then it was a mad dash to reach the seat beside the heiress first. It was a desperate race, that involved a lot of tripping either accidentally or as sabotage, and several instances of terror filled glances at the banshee and menace, but finally they came to the chair. Just as Sasuke was going to sit down, Naruto grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back, literally and figuratively throwing his best friend to the hungry fangirls.

Dismayed, and with Kiba on the ground laughing with tears in his eyes (Choji was chortling around mouthfuls of chips and Shikamaru was smirking at the entertainment his friends were providing; Shino looked as indifferent as ever), Sasuke slowly walked across the room, which was smirking, whispering, and in some cases (Aside from the hysteric Kiba), laughing quietly, and found himself with a difficult choice. Finally, he sat down next to the menace. She at least understood the idea of studying and how quiet could help with that, considering her grades, and he really needed to pay attention. Any distraction would throw him off after this morning.

He sat down and expected to have his right arm immobilized by a hundred pounds of fangirl, instead she was still staring at the quiz that the class had been in the middle of when him and Naruto had interrupted. He was a little surprised by her not noticing that the plan had worked; but not wanting to kick a gift summon in the mouth he put his test down and began working through it. He didn't notice how distracted the menace, also known as Sakura Haruno looked, nor did he notice the corner of the thick envelope barely poking out of the girl's backpack.

As the day continued Sasuke and Naruto avoided the letter. Sasuke avoided all topic pertaining to it, and Naruto got the hint, putting aside his curiosity for Sasuke's benefit. Sasuke had no way to explain how grateful he was to his inquisitive friend as they went. Finally, he took the dreaded walk home. He didn't want to get home. Even if he didn't outright explain the letter, either they would notice his mood and get it out of him, or maybe even snoop in his backpack for clues (likely curtesy of Itachi), or Naruto would no doubt have a slip of tongue or ask a question about it.

No matter what it would come out, and what happened after that, where he would end up, whether or not he would be shipped off to some school, to some world that was completely foreign and unknown to him was a mystery he sort of didn't want to solve, in case he had to go. He pulled out the envelope and letter and read the contents, going all the way through this time.…Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall. He finished reading, feeling the world of Harry begin to smother him already. When he got home he smelled dinner and heard his mother in the kitchen. Sasuke dropped his bag on the floor by the door and pulled out the letter. He hid it behind his back as he walked into the kitchen doorway. Mikoto was stirring something in a frying pan, while on the table what appeared to be the rest of dinner was placed. He watched her for a minute or two before announcing his presence.

"Hey mom…?"

Mikoto turned to him with a smile. "Sasuke! You're home!" She said happily, turning to him, "What's wrong?"

"I…" He began, but didn't want to finish. He moved the envelope from behind his back and held it out towards his mom. "I got this earlier, on my way to school. I was walking there with Naruto, and this owl just flew up to us, and gave it to me." Sasuke explained.

Mikoto smiled a little sadly. "I see…"

"So it's…"

"Yeah." Mikoto agreed, nodding. She noted Sasuke's downtrodden voice and she turned off the stove and walked over to Sasuke. She took him to the living room and sat down on the couch with her son opposite.

"Do I have to go mom?"

"I wish I could say no… But Sasuke, I'm afraid this might not be something you can avoid or run away from." Mikoto explained gently. "You see, what we didn't tell you is that in the wizarding world, you're famous Sasuke. You are known as the one who defeated the evil wizard that had been terrorizing the wizarding world. Many people see you as a beacon of a new age – but on the other hand many know you as a beacon of despair, and want revenge… I want you to be safe, and I'm afraid that Shinobi techniques might not be enough to protect you one day. You're still young, right now you can learn what you need to, and become strong enough to defend yourself."

"But I don't want to go!" Sasuke exclaimed. "I like it here! I can grow stronger here! I'll be fine here! Nothing will hurt me with you and dad and Itachi protecting me here!"

Mikoto understood his plight. "I understand, I want you home too… But I also want you to be safe. Sasuke, we won't be here forever. One day, you will have to be able to protect yourself."

Sasuke felt the world begin to fade at the thought. His family gone? And were these people really that dangerous…?

"Sasuke," Mikoto said gently, "Please, just think about what I said."

NoHoN

Later that night Sasuke laid in bed awake, despite it being nearly two in the morning. There had been a relatively urgent emergency so his father hadn't made it home for dinner, and was still gone. He didn't jump when he heard the faint sound of the front door shutting. He heard whispering, his parents talking – certainly about him and the letter he had received today. He heard them making their way quietly upstairs and rolled over away from the door just before one or both of them slid it open to look in on him. He pretended to sleep, keeping his breathing even.

Finally, the door shut and he lost it, shaking quietly. What if his parents and brother weren't around? What if one of the people after me hurts them? He thought, feeling fear and horror at the thought. What if he one day caused their deaths?! What if they were protecting him one day and he couldn't protect himself?! Suddenly his mother's words were contemplated further, understood and given a brand new meaning. He knew what had happened before, with his birth parents, and he knew that there had been incidents with some of the bad wizards trying to find him. He didn't know what happened to them, but now that he was older he could make a pretty good guess.

Could he live with himself if something happened? Of course not! But… There has to be another way… But another way when the evil wizards could shout a word and wave a twig and kill someone, just like that? Could he combat that without knowing the same techniques? Could he fight that? Could anyone without the technique fight that? Well, that would be hard to prove since there were few shinobi who would put themselves in a situation that would test that, let alone shinobi that knew enough about magic and the world it came from to actually know if it was even remotely possible.

With these thoughts roiling in his head, he rolled over and went to sleep.

NoHoN

The next morning Sasuke woke up and went downstairs to find both his parents in the kitchen. Itachi was gone on a mission and would probably be gone another week or so, otherwise he would have been there too. As soon as he took the first step into the kitchen his parents went silent and he looked at them, his gaze going back and forth between the two of them.

Finally it was his father that spoke first. "Sasuke, I understand your reluctance, but…-"

"I know… Mom and I talked, and I thought about it a lot… I understand."

"You'll be able to come home whenever you please. We even ought to be able to do something so that you can come back easily without having to do much to arrange it. It won't be permanent, and there is no school over the summers."

"What about my training."

"You ought to be able to continue it." Mikoto said, looking questioningly at her husband.

Fugaku nodded, "Yes, we'll arrange that as well."

"Alright, well… Let's get this all done and over with." Sasuke said.

"Are you sure you're alright with this?" Mikoto asked gently.

"Yes." Sasuke said, determination burning in his eyes.

"Alright then. Come right home after academy, you and I will go and talk with the Hokage." Fugaku said. Sasuke nodded, his mind bursting with happiness at the thought of spending time with his father, time that was just them. It was a rare occurrence and he would be sure to ingrain every moment of it into his memory even if it was for business only.

"Okay!" Sasuke agreed. He was still nervous, and really worried about being thrust into his old life, but he knew he had to do this. Failure was not an option, not when his family was at stake. Later that day he managed to make an excuse to Naruto that appeased the blonde, though he seemed a little put out at having to walk home on his own and not being able to go to Sasuke's house today. Sasuke felt bad, but he had to do this, he was just lucky that Shikamaru and Choji came to his rescue, offering Naruto to go to Shikamaru's house with them. The whole point of the thing burned in his mind, and Naruto, being his closest and best friend was within that list of family he wanted to protect. Naruto found enough trouble by himself, and Sasuke wasn't going to bring his troubles along home where Naruto was liable to get involved and likely hurt. Maybe even killed… He thought grimly as he jogged home.

When he got there his father was sitting on one of the couches in the living room, relaxing. However, Fugaku noticed him staring after only a few moments and after a few minutes more, they left the house, heading for the hokage tower.

When they got to the Hokage's office they found him already waiting for them, and Sasuke stared at the familiar pink head already seated across from the hokage, with her mother beside her.

"Sasuke, I heard you decided to come. Please, sit down, both of you." Hiruzen said happily.

Fugaku took his seat while Sasuke stood staring curiously, while at the same time almost glaring at Sakura, who ducked her head.

"First, what's she doing here?" Sasuke asked vehemently.

Fugaku frowned in disapproval. "Sasuke… Be polite."

Hiruzen gave Sasuke a very level stare, not of an angry nature, but a slightly chiding one. "Miss Haruno is also going to Hogwarts."

"What?! But…!"

"I have already spoken at length with all of the Haruno's they understand the process. We are all simply here to talk over some details."

"Such as?" Fugaku asked.

"Names to start. Your names will be difficult for those who are native to the language they speak, I think it best to have a school name. Here is a list for each of you." Hiruzen said, passing a list to each parent present.

Sasuke glanced over at Sakura's list and saw a lot of names he had a hard time fully understanding.

The list his father had had several sets of names, first and last, but his birth name, 'Harry Potter' was in bold. It occurred to him, that the real reason of the names might be due to him, and that the list – for him at least, was a simple formality to keep appearances.

"Sau-ra-h r-ite." Sakura said, trying to get the pronunciation right.

Hiruzen smiled slightly as Sakura's mother handed the list over to him. They had marked the names and he read them. "Sarah Wright."

Sakura nodded mulling the name over. "Sa-rah Wur-ite." She repeated, getting closer. "Sarah Wright… I like it."

"Harry Potter." Fugaku said.

Sasuke wasn't so certain he agreed, after so long of trying to avoid that name and not be dragged into that identity, but he nodded anyways. No going back now.

"Excellent." Hiruzen said, pleased.

"Uhm, L-lord Hokage, where exactly is this school? I don't know where Brittan is…" She asked hesitantly.

"Honestly, on maps, or our maps at least it's difficult to tell." Hiruzen opened a drawer and shifted through it pulling out a folded map. "But, on one of their maps which holds lands separate from our own, it's right about here. And the school is in Scotland, here, but you'll be taking the train from Brittan."

Sakura smiled, glad to have a better idea where it was, "Okay, thank you." She said, this time more confidently.

"Of course, now to deal with the problem of school here. For now, we're going to try having you both come back home for every other weekend. This will allow you one weekend to study your material at Hogwarts, and one to do academy training. During the time in between, you'll have lists of homework and physical exercises that Iruka will send, through these." Hiruzen said, pulling out two items and placing them on the desk. One was a large flat, rectangle jewelry box with pink cherry blossoms painted delicately on it, and the other was a box similar in shape and size to a shoebox, which was painted with browns, reds, and oranges in leaf patterns, though not the kind of leaf that the village used for their symbol.

Sasuke stared at them confused and a little unimpressed. "Isssss he going to… Mail them or something."

The Hokage chuckled, "Not quite," He said, "You see, Professor Dumbledore enchanted these and a counterpart to each, if you place something inside, and close the lid," Hiruzen explained, taking a random piece of paper and placing it inside Sakura's box, then placing the lid back he suddenly opened it again and the paper had vanished. "then the connected box, which Iruka will have will have it instead. You'll be sending your assignments and tests back and forth this way, there are some tests that will have to be proctored, those and physical assessments will be done on the weekends you're here."

"Okay, so it's like a super-fast mail system." Sakura asked.

"Yes, that's about the idea." Hiruzen responded. "And finally, we have to talk about language. This school has an entirely different language called english, you'll have to learn it so you can properly understand the people and events. You may also want to learn about some history and culture before leaving." He said, placing a small stack of books in front of each. "It would probably be helpful if you could work on your English together."

Sakura looked pleased at the prospect and Sasuke looked dismayed, though he forced himself to hide it from the rest of the room, including his father. He didn't want to get scolded again, even if Sakura was just about the worst person he could have gotten stuck with. The only one worse would have been the blonde banshee.

"Will that be all?" Fugaku asked.

"I think I covered everything, yes. I'll have spoken to Iruka by tomorrow, so he'll probably want to speak to each of you."

"Okay." Sasuke and Sakura said at the same time.

Sasuke and Fugaku were walking home. Both were deep in thought for most of the way, but just outside the district Sasuke turned a worried gaze to his father.

"Dad?"

"Hmm, yes Sasuke?" Fugaku asked, breaking from his thoughts and meeting his son's gaze.

"Do I really have to go as Harry? Wouldn't it be safer if I went as me?"

"No. Your scar, it would be recognized, meaning if you go under your true name then they would be able to find you much more easily when you're in the shinobi nations than if you go under a name they're expecting. Here, the only truly safe place for you is in the district where there are magical barriers to stop those who would wish to harm you, but anywhere else, especially other countries when you eventually begin missions you won't be protected. It's best to hide where you live, at least for now." Fugaku explained seriously.

"Oh…. Okay…" Sasuke said quietly looking back ahead, they were only a block from their house now. "Dad?"

Fugaku held in a sigh, "Yes, Sasuke?"

"Can I tell Naruto?" Sasuke asked. He then continued before his dad could cut him off; his father wasn't very fond of the little blonde. "I promise he can be trusted and my going to school, and being gone so often is going to be such a big change. He's my best friend and he understands it's all a secretive and touchy subject. When he can tell I'm on one of those he never asks! Please dad!"

Fugaku looked ahead at their house, contemplating. "I'll… Speak to your mother, we'll tell you our decision in the morning."

"Thanks!"

Then the young ninja in training ran ahead and ran inside. When Fugaku got there Sasuke was talking with her while he helped with some jobs in the kitchen, such as chopping vegetables for the stew. Fugaku watched, using his stealth to avoid being noticed by the pair. He loved Sasuke, even if it was sometimes difficult to look at him – though that had improved slowly over time. He was his father's son, but he was also his. And to be honest, Fugaku was quite worried about Sasuke leaving. He would be out of his sight, control, and protection for months at a time, and Dumbledore had long ago shared his suspicions that the evil wizard, moldyshorts, or whatever his name was, wasn't gone. He hoped Dumbledore was wrong, but at the same time, his gut feeling told him he wasn't. And that gut feeling was kicking the next one over that said that Sasuke wasn't going to be safe out of his protection and sight. It told him that something was going to happen, but he knew it couldn't be avoided. Not truly. Sasuke had to go to Hogwarts. If he didn't then the wizarding world would be looking for him, all of them, not just death eaters. And they would find him, and then he wouldn't be safe at all. This was the lesser of two evils. Or so they all hoped.

NoHoN

The next morning Sasuke walked into the kitchen to find his mom at the set table alone.

"You father had to go to a meeting this morning." Mikoto said when she saw him. "But, we did talk last night, and he and I agreed that you can tell Naruto. Bring him home for dinner tonight, and you can tell him." She explained.

Sasuke smiled and ran to hug his mom. "Thank you! I really, really appreciate it!"

"You're welcome. Now eat and head off to the academy or you'll be late." Mikoto said gently shoving him towards his seat where there was already a plate ready.

Sasuke scarfed his breakfast down and ran out the door heading for the academy.

"Morning." Naruto said, leaning over a half-finished sheet of homework when he got there.

"Morning." Sasuke replied back, looking over the room which had at least one person at each seat, and a couple of empty seats, then looking at the blonde as he sat down. "Don't tell me the cat ruined it again?"

"I got here early so I could get an extra." Naruto said, taking a break and leaning back to stretch. "It did a number. But I did think of a name."

"Oh?" Sauske asked more amused about this than the day before.

"Kai, short for youkai."

Sasuke smirked, "It fits."

Naruto smiled slightly as he finished the last few questions.

"Do you want to come over to my house after school?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, for sure!" Naruto said excitedly. He was always more than happy to be at the Uchiha home, though except for in rare and usually dire situations he didn't invite himself over or show up uninvited. Thus, Sasuke usually had to invite him no matter how much he wanted to simply go.

Across the room the door slid open and Sakura walked into the classroom. She looked at Sasuke with a blush and then she quickened her pace and sat in a seat across the room that was empty.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked, watching the pinkett with keen eyes. "She seemed different in how she looked at you." He looked behind them, "And she didn't take the empty seat behind us either…"

"I'll tell you tonight at my house." Sasuke said.

"Okay…" Naruto agreed, a little confused. Since when did Sasuke have any idea on the state of mind or thoughts of the fangirls, beyond them wanting to date or marry him? Weird. "So what did you do yesterday?" He asked next, referring to Sasuke's turning him away rather than them going to his house.

"Oh, my dad and I went out for a while." Sasuke said.

"Ahhh." Naruto said, almost a little enviously, but he didn't let to show much. He understood that Sasuke's relationship with his father while not bad wasn't very close.

"What about you?"

"Went cloud watching – then I got bored, and Choji made us study. So Shikamaru and I took one of his bags of chips in retaliation, and he got upset so he made us finish all our homework before dinner, under duress. Then we had dinner. Shikamru's mom was glaring at me the whole time though, so it kind of made it way more tense than it ought to have been." Naruto recounted. Yoshino Nara had been watching him like a lot of other parents did – glaring at him like he was going to infect their children with some illness. Luckily, she hadn't acted on her silent threats like some had.

"It'll get better." Sasuke said comfortingly as the last of the class trickled in and Iruka also entered. "I mean you convinced my dad of your harmlessness, I bet Shikamaru's mom will come around too."

"Yeah, I hope so. She seemed nice enough when she wasn't watching me."

"Good morning class. Now I would like your attention please." Iruka called from the front, shooting discrete glances at Sasuke and Sakura. "I apologize, we're starting a bit late, but today we're going over our last math exam."

Groans and moans filled the room. That test had been standard – one similar to what they would face during the upcoming exams. Most children started academy at about five and a half, and so they would take the exams at the dawn of their sixth year in the academy. From there it was a hit or miss of who passed and who didn't. usually no one passed their first attempt at the exam. The second time, most of the students passed. And by the third time – except in rare cases everyone passed. Academy students had up to four tries before they were permanently failed and ejected from the ninja program. Naruto had started when he was just five, which was why his physical skills had been so superior to Sasuke's at the start, and so he had his first attempt at the exam coming up very soon, in only a couple of weeks. Knowing all of this, Sasuke wasn't surprised that Naruto was paying close attention to the review and that he was very focused through to lunch.

The bell rang, and Naruto snapped out of his focus, shaking his head a little and shaking out his writing hand. His math was decent – and he certainly got the general idea of how to do it, but as he actually solved his work was riddled with small almost insignificant errors. He got it but when he went to do it one or two little mistakes whacked him behind the knees and destroyed his test score.

"I'll help you tonight. I bet you can get that stuff down in time." Sasuke said, pulling out a bento. His mom usually packed two since Naruto didn't have one half the time.

"Thanks." Naruto said, sounding relieved as he took the bento and began heading for the door. But when Sasuke didn't follow he stopped and turned around. "Aren't you coming out for lunch?"

"Yeah, just give me a couple of minutes I need to talk to Iruka for a couple of minutes about something. But I'll be out soon." Sasuke assured.

Naruto turned slowly but finally he headed for the door. "I'll be waiting!"

The classroom cleared most of the way out and Iruka asked the last few stragglers to leave, while Sakura placed her lunch on the desk and then took her place by Sasuke in front of the desk.

"So, I spoke with Lord Hokage this morning." Iruka began, "And according to him, you're going to a different school."

Sakura shook her head, "Only mostly. We'll still be attending the academy. He did explain that right?"

"Yes… He also gave me these." Iruka said, pulling open a drawer and removing two boxes. When he had even found the time to put them there in the first place was a mystery to them.

"So, now that I have that all dealt with and out of the way, I want to talk a bit about the curriculum you'll be following. I understand that you'll be here every other weekend for proctored exams, physical tests, and some lessons?"

"Yes." Sasuke confirmed.

"Alright then. I will be sending a list similar to this," Iruka said, sliding a paper with lists of excercises on it, that covered number of repetitions, distance, or time they had to do it as well as having a slot for each day. "I'll send one a week, it's your jobs to get them completed each day, and I will be conducting physical exams every two weeks to gauge your progress. If it isn't approximately what I would expect, I will be changing it to once a week, or shorter intervals if need be until the expectations are met, and you are making sure to do everything every day. Do you understand and agree to these terms?" Iruka questions.

"Yes sir." They both answered.

"Good, as for assignments and lessons, I know that both of you are good at studying and doing your work, so I will be sending you lessons on paper. I would prefer if you worked on them together, because I think you would get more out of it, but I won't require it. I'll send you your lessons for the week Monday at noon, and the assignments that go with it. All homework and assignments are due the next Monday, unless scores or grades tell me I need to do otherwise. Any and all group projects will automatically pair the two of you and like all other assignments – unless otherwise stated, is due the following Monday after being assigned. I will put a date in the corner of each one of the assigning date. You have one week after that to complete and return the assignment. Do you understand and agree to these terms?"

"Yes sir." They answered again.

Iruka nodded, satisfied. Both of them were fairly good students so he wasn't too worried about them. "I've recorded these conditions and I'll write and give each of you a copy, so you understand my expectations." Iruka explained.

"Thank you." Sakura said.

"Of course. I'm proud of you both for being willing to learn more. Knowledge is power, and I think you'll both make great ninja one day." Iruka said, proudly. "Now why don't the two of you go eat your lunch. You've only got about twenty minutes left."

"Thank you Iruka." Sasuke said. He went over to his desk where his bag was and fished out his bento, then he headed for the door. He was halfway down the hall when he heard someone running up behind him.

"Sasuke," Sakura called, as she pounded up to him and stopped short, panting. "I was wondering…-" She began, then paused with a blush. "Well… Since we have to learn a whole new language… And the Lord Hokage suggested it…" She paused again. "Do you want to meet at one of our houses to study tonight?"

"No." Sasuke snapped harshly. She wilted under his tone and he felt a smidge bad. "Sorry. But not… Not tonight. I have prior plans… But maybe tomorrow…"

"Really?!" Sakura asked, looking like she'd won the lottery.

"But only to study, and maybe as possible future friends. But nothing more than friends. And I'll warn you now Sakura; Naruto is regularly at my house, or with me after school. If you want to spend time with me then you have to spend time with him. And I don't mean tolerate him with a glare and hurtful words – I mean be nice, and including. And I swear," He said stepping closer with a dark glare, "If you so much as hurt his feelings once with insults or careless actions or words again, I will never consider you someone I could possibly be friends with. Ever." He threatened.

Sakura gulped at the intensity of the glare on her. She nodded slowly, she didn't like Naruto, but it appeared, if she wanted to get to know Sasuke and one-up Ino, she would have to tolerate him – even act like she liked to hang out with him. But learning a whole new language was hard enough. She'd need a partner, and she would want a friend in Sasuke – not just to one-up Ino, though that was a bonus – but to have someone she knew at Hogwarts. She was excited to learn but the nerves of it all were already getting to her, and she wasn't sure she would make it there without panicking or chickening if she didn't have someone.

"O-o-okay… I promise." Sakura said.

"I'll see you tomorrow after school then, we'll go to my house if that's alright. Leave me alone until then." Sasuke said, then after Sakura gave him a nod of affirmative he walked off.

Out from under scrutiny she breathed a sigh of relief and calmed her frazzled nerves. She could do this. She was a ninja – or at least one in training. Ninja were stealth and masks. They made others think they were what they weren't, and that was going to be her goal. She would never really like Naruto, but for Sasuke she would fake it.

With that plan clearly laid out Sakura headed out of the building to the playground, which was really just a lot of grass with the one tree swing. Generally, the teachers hoped they would do some gentle sparing during lunch, but, that usually didn't happen.

Across the yard Naruto and Sasuke were eating under the tree with the swing. Ino was watching her enviously as she stood across the yard. It must not have been lost on her that Sakura and Sasuke had a secret, since she had been one of the last few who had been in the classroom. Sakura headed to sit in the shade of a bush as she ate her lunch.

"I think she was spying on whatever you wanted to talk to Iruka about." Naruto said.

"Actually… She was there… It unfortunately concerned her too." Sasuke said, dreading the upcoming conversation about what was actually going on.

"What, did she go to Iruka finally about you telling her off all the time?"

"No." Sasuke said, distractedly.

"Well then…- Oh." Naruto paused as he realized it probably was one of those secret topics Sasuke and his family were so tight lipped on.

"I'll explain tonight Naruto… When there aren't possible listeners." Sasuke said.

Later on the way home Naruto was curious and a little excited. Finally, he would know what was going on with his best friend. He knew it was something important and secret, so he had always left the topics alone – but his curiosity wasn't gone.

"Mom, we're home." Sasuke called as they slipped off their shoes.

Mikoto peeked her head out the kitchen. "Hello boys," She then grinned at Naruto, "What do you want for dinner Naruto?"

Naruto thought carefully. Mikoto was a great cook, and he loved ramen, but after exposure to the Uchiha matriarch's cooking over the years he had grown a love of her cooking.

"Hmmm…. Zosui." He decided.

"Zosui it is." Mikoto said, then left them to cook.

"We'll be in my room talking." Sasuke said. With that the two of them headed for the stairs and up to Sasuke's room. They sat on Sasuke's bed and Naruto waited half patiently for Sasuke to begin.

"I… Guess I should start with this… Well, I'm adopted." Sasuke began.

"Seriously?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Yeah, mom and dad are technically my aunt and uncle, though I don't really let this change my perception. Which is why I say technically."

"Okay… So why is this a big secret. I mean you're still you." Naruto said sagely.

"Well, I'm not sure how to say this and still sound sane, but the reason is because my birth parents were what are known as wizards. They were murdered Naruto, and the person that did it is supposedly dead, but the people that worked for him aren't." Sasuke explained.

"So, it's for your protection." Naruto figured.

"Yes." Sasuke agreed, then added. "And the protection of the people around me."

"Your scar…." Naruto realized.

"It's from before, yeah."

There was a long pregnant pause before anyone spoke again.

"So how does the menace fit in?" Naruto finally asked.

"Well… Because my parents were magical, I have magic too. And Sakura… She does too." Sasuke said. Then he paused – this was it, he was going to tell Naruto about his leaving. He could only hope that the little blonde would be okay. "And…" Come on Sasuke, fast, like a band-aid. "And we're both going to a school that will teach us how to control it."

"How will that work with the academy?" Naruto asked. He hadn't quite caught on all the way yet.

"It'll be mostly self-study." Sasuke said. "Iruka will send us our stuff, and we'll be back every other weekend for proctored and physical exams." He paused then began again, "This school is a long way away and those weekends will be the only times were home. That I'm home… I won't be around much except in the summer."

"Oh…" Naruto said, then silently sat looking at the wall, not sure what to say. "Well… That's… O-okay…"

It was obvious to Sauske that Naruto was having a hard time of the news.

"When does this school start?" Naruto asked.

"In about a month…" Sasuke responded. "I'm sorry…"

Naruto shook his head, it was hard, but it was Sasuke's choice. And he had good reason. "No, don't be. You'll be home in the summer at least, right?"

"So, you're okay with this?" Sasuke asked.

"Mostly. I can't say it isn't hard…. But it'll be okay. And I'm sure my apartment will be first stop after your house when you come back." Naruto said.

"You bet!" Sasuke agreed.

"Right, so then it'll be okay. It also means I can work extra hard to surpass your test scores while you're stuck with the menace." Naruto said, making as much light of the situation as he could. It was definitely still hard, Sasuke was his best friend, and often the one that stood up for him when he was being bullied or treated unfairly by shop keepers. Sasuke knew it would be hard, but Naruto was handling it better than he had thought.

"Dinner's ready!" Mikoto called from downstairs.

The boys got up off Sasuke's bed and as they were going down Sasuke had a thought. "Say, Naruto, Sakura and I have to learn a different language for this school, want to join us?" He asked as they tromped down the stairs. "If nothing else I need a buffer between us."

"Sure." Naruto said a little brighter than before. They sat at the table side by side on the bench, while Mikoto sat across from them. Itachi was still gone and it appeared that Fugaku was going to miss dinner. The three of them served themselves and began to eat. Halfway through though Mikoto paused in her eating.

"Naruto…" She began, effectively grabbing the blonde's attention as he stopped eating. "I'm guessing Sasuke's already told you basically everything…" Naruto nodded and she continued, "Well, I wanted to say, you're welcome at our home whenever you please. Even when Sasuke's not here, when he's at school, you're free to come visit, and have meals. Don't feel like you can't or that it's impolite, because you're welcome and I'm stating it now."

Naruto stared, gobsmacked for a few moments before shaking himself out of his stupor and nodding slowly. "Thanks Mrs. Uchiha. Thank you very much."

"Of course."

NoHoN

The next evening Sakura was waiting at the gate to the academy. Sasuke and Naruto were approaching, and she pushed some hair behind her ear and quickly adjusted the strap on her bag.

"Hey." Sasuke said.

"Hi Sakura." Naruto said, more enthusiastic than his friend. Naruto didn't approve of the way she competed for Sasuke's affections with the other girls – especially Ino, but she could be nice. And since a brief encounter a few years ago, before she had picked up on how she was 'supposed' to feel about him, he had a bit of a crush. That and he really thought her hair was pretty. Not that he had ever had the chance or courage to tell her anything since she was fawning over his best friend, and she hated him. But maybe that would change! As they walked Naruto tried to strike up a conversation to ease the tension.

"Uhm, so how long do you guys have to learn this new language?" Naruto asked.

"About a month. Term starts September 1st."

"Do you think it's hard to learn?" Naruto asked. Specifically, for this he looked at Sasuke, since Sakura didn't seem much into talking and for a couple years now most of her speech had been rather rude to him.

"I don't know, but before you can work on it, we need to work on your math." Sasuke said.

"The graduation test isn't for over half a year." Sakura pipped in quietly.

"Naruto started six months before us." Sasuke explained.

"Yeah, my first attempt is in only a couple weeks." Naruto finished. "I want to do my best, and my math scores weren't too great."

Though it didn't help that the test prep teacher – like the majority of the teachers – had it out for him.

Sasuke gave a 'sort of' gesture with his head, "I think you did okay, you just had small errors when solving. You have a good understanding of the concepts."

"Well, that's good." Naruto said, sounding a little less stressed.

They got to the house, and found Mikoto beginning dinner.

"Naruto, Sasuke – and you must be Sakura." She said, nodding at the pinkette.

"Y-yes, hello ma'am. It's nice to meet you." Sakura said with a little bow.

Mikoto nodded, "It's nice to meet you too." She then directed her speech at all of them, "Dinner will be ready in about an hour."

The three children went to the living room to sit at the low table, since Sasuke wasn't comfortable with Sakura being in his home, let alone his room. Maybe one day if she changed, but not now, when she was still an annoying fangirl. Naruto pulled out his math homework while Sakura and Sasuke pulled out their English books, and some audio recordings that the Hokage had provided them.

Each group began their studies, Naruto studiously working through the practice problems Iruka had made for him, while Sakura and Sasuke began working on learning the alphabet.

"So interesting – their letters are all split up." Sakura said, removing her headphones – which the Hokage had also provided. Where the strange devices came from they didn't know but they were useful. "And they make so many different sounds, and the ones that do go together make interesting sounds too."

"To be honest it's a bit… Confusing." Sasuke admitted, while Naruto's pace visibly slowed.

"Really?" Sakura asked. "Are you sure, I think it makes a lot of sense to me…"

"I suppose one thing is these… Vowels. They make different sounds at different times and the rules are so confusing for when."

"Well – to simplify from the fancy words it uses about them, when there is an e the other letter over, such as in this example word," Sakura paused and pointed to kite, though she had no idea what a kite was, or at least not what the English word meant. "The vowel, makes the noise of its name. So, kite," she said, forcing the word to leave her mouth. It sounded strange and felt awkward on her tongue, but she almost had it.

Sasuke nodded slowly. That made a little more sense now. "Okay…"

"Can I join you guys now? I finished the first page!" Naruto said sliding the finished work over to Sasuke for a check.

Sasuke paused for a moment before he slid the book he was working in and the recording playback device to Naruto while he grabbed the sheet and began checking the work over. He held a blue pen and began marking away at the small errors. They were lesser now, it was obvious that Naruto was doing his best not to make the small errors.

Naruto sat over the book, headphones on his head and listening to the recordings. "Woah – I can't believe how much sense this stuff all makes." He mumbled.

"Huh?" Sasuke and Sakura looked up, talking together. "Sense?"

Sakura continued, "I mean it's okay, but it'll take a while to get… Let's not boast prematurely."

"But it all makes sense." Naruto said determinedly.

"You can't be serious, that language is murderous!" Sasuke finally exclaimed.

"And, the, kite, light, tie. The cow jumped over the moon." Naruto said, reading off the words and sentences in front of him. He of course skipped some words and phrases, but overall, he was somehow fluent in the awful language. Without studying it.

"Well Naruto – maybe you're a wizard too." Sasuke said, half joking, but looking hopeful, as Sakura gaped at the words in disbelief. Naruto shrugged, but deep down hoped that maybe Sasuke's half joke, half possible hope was right – because then he wouldn't have to be alone while Sasuke was gone. They could be together.

"I don't know, but that would be awesome! Maybe there's a way to tell." Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded slowly, "Maybe…"

The study session went on but a hope burned in the two boys while secretly Sakura hoped that it was some fluke. Maybe Naruto was just naturally realllllllllllly, reeeeeeaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyy good with languages. She knew that if the small blonde were to be there too – just as now the boys would talk and she was be majorly out of the conversation, not able to get too deep into the conversations the best friends had.

It wasn't possible… It couldn't be… But her gut told her differently as the two saw her safely home.

::FIN::

Uhm… Wow… Naruto took the revelations in this chapter waaaay better than I thought or planned that he would… Also his being good at languages has a good reason. Just gimme a couple books to explain.

Anywho, so I REALLY meant to finish this and update in September, then I didn't and I said, okay October. Then November was NaNoWriMo and school was crazy. Then I finished school last month half way through and said, okay! This month! But then I was enjoying my Christmas, and so on so forth. I'm sorry. But I'm here now! Also please read the notice below.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

I NEED HELP! I've been trying for MONTHS to make a working Hogwarts class schedule that would make it easier for me to keep track of everyone and where they need to be and when. I looked it up and found a couple, but they make no sense whatsoever for the teachers! It sucks and is a LOGISITCAL NIGHTMARE, and it's driving me insane(er). Assuming I have sanity to lose… I need help – I can do time travel, dimensional travel, ect, but this is insane. And I had wanted my older sister to help me, but she's too busy, and lives an entire state away. THUS, if any of you readers feels like you can take on this task of helping me make a working schedule I would appreciate it. I have an Excel with the years and all the classes as well as a page for each day. It's color coded by class, basically broken into periods (I can finish that fast), and has all the meals on it, which everyone should usually be at. I've been trying but it makes my head hurt trying to figure it out and I need help. I'm hoping one of you would be willing.

I would really appreciate it! If you can PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE PM me. Don't leave it in a review. I do read every review as I see them come in, but I may not see it right away since I check my e-mail only semi-regularly. I do however see my fanfiction account regularly, so I would respond right back to a PM.

END OF NOTICE

Thank you to any one who answers the call, and to all those who simply read the chapter! Thank you so, so, so, so, much!