It was a dreary Halloween night, and Tsume was zoned out in the spare bedroom of the house. She was friends with Lily after the red head saved her life during a failed mission in England.

Ever since then Tsume occasionally came to crash on the couch in an effort to get away from the evil paperwork that came from being a clan head. James certainly didn't mind...he found it hilarious the way Tsume got Sirius to shut up by casually mentioning way to neuter a dog that involved sharp, pointy objects. She found it amusing that those tended to make Remus pale too.

Plus there was the freaked out look Kuromaru got whenever he talked.

She had come to see Lily mostly because her husband had had enough of the Alpha talk (he wasn't from the clan, so he didn't know what it was like to be the head of the Inuzuka) and had left her right after Kiba was born. Hana had been devastated. Tsume had been hurt. While she could leave Hana with the clan for a while, she couldn't do the same for Kiba because he cried like the damned whenever she wasn't around.

Wasn't even two and already the brat gave her migraines.

Lily had left Kiba in the same crib as her son Harry and the brat finally shut up while Tsume crashed in the spare room with so many silencing seals she couldn't hear the children outside.

This also meant she couldn't hear the sounds of battle outside the room. Kuromaru smelled magic being thrown, but didn't know what kind without the words. It wasn't until the entire house rocked from an explosion three doors away from her that she woke up.

"Enemy?" she asked, grabbing her kunai.

"I think so. Someone was slinging magic around earlier," said Kuromaru.

Tsume left the room, heard the sound of creaking boards and crashes, and went to check on the kids. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Lily dead in front of the crib, the body of the same nut job who tried to kill her all those years ago crumbling into dust, and both children crying. Kuromaru checked on James and found him dead as well.

Little Harry had a bleeding cut, which when cleaned revealed itself to the shape of a lightning bolt. Kiba was starting to calm down now that his mother was nearby.

Fifteen minutes later Sirius came in to check on them and found a pissed off Tsume waiting. She had spent that time changing the boy's diapers since both had loosened their bowels after the explosion.

"What happened Tsume!?"

"How the hell should I know? I was asleep under those silencing seals when the house shook. I came out to find them dead and this corpse turning to dust with a wand in his hand."

"We better leave. Kami knows Dumbledore will send someone to take Harry away," said Sirius.

"What?"

"Dumbledore was the one to suggest Peter. Little rat bastard betrayed us," said Sirius.

"You carry Kiba, I'll take Harry."

Outside Tsume heard Sirius arguing with Hagrid, who apparently mistook Kiba for Harry. Finally the half giant took her son and vanished with what she knew to be a port key.

She cursed.

"Black, where the hell did he take my son?" she demanded.

"I have no idea! He said something about Dumbledore's orders to leave Harry with his aunt, but that can't be right! Petunia hates Lily with a passion!"

"Where does she live?"

"Surrey. That's all I really know. Lily never told me more than that."

"Kuromaru, you keep an eye on Harry while I retrieve Kiba. No way in hell am I letting him get away with kidnapping my son! Sirius, I want you to meet me in Gringotts so we can get Harry a passport. He can live with me in case Dumbledore tries to pin you as the traitor. You can come to if we manage to get out of this."

Sirius nodded and apparated straight to the bank with the child and dog. Kuromaru wouldn't let anyone come within ten feet of Harry.

Tsume immediately grabbed Lily and James' wands, and then a few galleons. She also grabbed a few of their photo albums and books and sealed them away. Most of the things in the house were expendable, but the rest were items Lily had taken with her when they moved. Once she was done she used Lily's wand and summoned the Knight Bus like her friend had shown her years ago when apparating and port keys were too dangerous.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus..." the conductor started bored, but Tsume didn't have time for that.

"Look, just get me to Surrey."

"Right then. That'll be seven sickles."

Tsume handed over the gold coin and got several silver coins back. It was only her chakra control that kept her standing when the bus shot off.

It took her four hours to find Kiba's scent and another one to locate the house. The senile old fool had left her son on a doorstep in the middle of fall with only a thin blanket! She was going to have his balls for this!

Once she had Kiba and ripped the letter to shreds, she summoned the bus again and was dropped off at the Leaky Cauldron.

It only took a moment to get in and head to Gringotts.

"What is your business?" asked the goblin.

"Where's Black? He should be here with a child and a wolf."

"Ah, so you are the one he was waiting for. Follow me."

Sirius was fuming. Harry had a piece of the Dark Lord's soul in his scar and it had taken three hours to get rid of it. Thankfully the damage was recent enough that there weren't any ill side effects. When Tsume came in with Kiba, she had the goblins check him as well.

And when they learned that several spells were placed on him within the last six hours, which was roughly when Hagrid snatched him on Dumbledore's orders, she was livid. Those spells were removed as well.

Because of her intervention, Sirius had time to lock down the Potter and Black accounts. The goblins were more than happy to help, especially when they learned he was screwing over Dumbledore. Tsume was given the spare key to Harry's trust, since she was registered as one of the people Harry was to go to in the event of their deaths. Because of the shinobi habit to make multiple copies of the will, Tsume had it on her even when Dumbledore locked the one that was in the Ministry mere hours after the Potters were dead.

Once the goblins had her copy (which the immediately declared valid and legal) the will was set into motion. Since Sirius planned to move in with her clan, Harry was living with his godfather.

Tsume did change the name so that the old codger couldn't track them through that method.

When they left the bank, Harry Potter died a silent death as Midori Inuzuka was born.

"Inuzuka-san, why have you brought back a foreign child and a wizard with you from your extended leave?" asked Sarutobi.

"While I was visiting some old friends of mine, they were attacked by the madman who nearly killed me on a failed mission in England. Lily Potter ne Evans saved me and we became friends. Since I wasn't about to let a life debt go unpaid I brought her son back with me. Both Lily and her husband are dead."

"And the wizard?"

"Midori is my godson. Since I come from a rather...unpleasant clan and happened to be James' best friend, the wizards will naturally assume I was the traitor that gave away their location. Tsume-chan offered me a place to stay so I wouldn't be caught by those idiots and still be close to my godson," said Sirius.

The only thing Sarutobi could think of was 'Why couldn't Jiraiya be like Sirius?'.

Once Sirius was cleared to live in Konoha, Sarutobi subtly maneuvered him into getting a job in the same orphanage where Naruto was at. The poor boy had no one to really look after him and he could just tell the wizard would adore the blond bundle of mischief.

Besides, it would really tweak Jiraiya's nose when he learned why.

Five years. That was how long it had been since Tsume had returned with her friend's son and the wizard who adopted Naruto in a heartbeat when he found out how abused he was.

Naruto Uzumaki-Black-Inuzuka was the best friend and conspirator of Kiba and Midori. Midori, the thinker, was the one to come up with the pranks. Kiba was the look out and Naruto was the escape artist. Between the three of them, pranks were common and laughs came freely.

Today was their first day at the Academy, and Tsume was ready to party now that the kids wouldn't be in her hair for several hours.

Plus there was the fact that Sirius kept being dragged to the Hokage's office to deal with complaints the civilians made about his son...or to pick up the latest Icha Icha since Sarutobi always got them before the stores.

Jiraiya was very accommodating when he heard that Sirius didn't hate the fox and was supplying Naruto with a lifetime of prank ideas.

Because of the fact he was living in the Inuzuka compound, Naruto would eventually get a ninken hound partner. What kind, Tsume had no idea, but she firmly believed that Sirius adopting the boy could only be a good thing, since the mobs weren't so quick to harm him with Sirius showing up to hex them into next week.

And Sirius was very quick to hex people if they even looked at Naruto like they planned to hurt him.

Iruka was a new teacher at the Academy, and he was stuck teaching the new children. In his class were several clan heirs...and the by now infamous Inuzuka Trio. Midori, Naruto and Kiba. Iruka was a prankster back in the day, so he could take a step back and view the work critically. And what he saw told him Naruto and Midori had a future as trap masters.

Still, that didn't mean he was going to let them prank without someone giving them a run for their money.

As Iruka did the role call, he noticed Midori giving the window a look. One he knew all too well.

"Inuzuka Midori! If you even think of trying to escape on your first day I will grab you and string you up by the boxers!" barked Iruka.

Midori said something that actually had Iruka face vault.

"You're assuming I'm actually wearing some," he shot back. Many of the girls gave him grossed out looks and backed away while Naruto and Kiba guffawed at his comeback.

"Oh yeah, it's Sirius-oyaji's turn to do the laundry today isn't it?" said Kiba.

"Is it my fault the Hokage thought a book on beginning seals inspired me to be worse?" said Midori with a straight face.

Sarutobi had given Midori a book on seals as a birthday present, unaware that the boy had a real talent for them...and that he would be making homemade paint tags by the time he was six. In his defense, he had been entirely unaware that Midori's magic could set them off just as well as chakra could.

On the plus side, Midori had decided to concentrate most of his studies to something most people wouldn't think of.

Counter Seals.

After the fourth time he was unable to set a tag on because someone had broken his seals, he became fascinated with screwing up other's work in sealing. So the Hokage gave him a basic overview of the Hyuuga's Caged Bird seal in hopes it would keep the brat busy for the next few years.

And oddly enough, it worked. It kept Midori busy and away from the pranking supplies...and if he was successful it would help Hiashi remove the damn seal from the branch house. Hiashi had made it clear he hated the thing, and if given a choice he would abolish the practice altogether. However the counter to the seal had been lost years ago and Jiraiya wasn't nearly good enough to remove it.

Well that and it kept Midori from experimenting with explosive tags. The boy was as much a pyro as an Uchiha...

Sirius was having a drink with Tsume. It was an ongoing bet with the other Inuzuka clan members when one of them would finally admit they liked the other.

Sirius was as loyal as any Inuzuka, and he could literally turn into a dog without help from a ninken partner. Plus there was the fact that unlike Tsume's previous husband he had no issues with following the Alpha chain of command that the Inuzuka employed. Though Midori attributed that to the fact that since Sirius could turn into a large black dog he probably knew on instinct Tsume was an Alpha, and dogs naturally followed the leader of the pack anyway.

Tsume rather liked Sirius because he was good looking, adored kids, and had never once done anything to royally piss her off. Well that and his loyalty to his dead friend's memory always went down well with her. His bank account didn't matter to her, she was the head of the Inuzuka clan. Plus there was the fact that he got along with Hana very well, almost like a father.

So yes, there was a very large bet going around as to when the two would finally start dating. Midori, Naruto and Kiba were all in on it. And the funny thing was that the odds were against Sirius. The Inuzuka trio all had their money on Tsume jumping the dog animagi.

"INUZUKA! GET YOUR ASSES BACK HERE!"roared Iruka. Midori and his brothers had successfully escaped the classroom after a mere week of classes. They had the highest stamina in the class, though their grades could be better.

The only issue Iruka had was that Sirius had taught them all English, which was almost never heard in the Elemental Countries. It had become a secret code between the brothers, to his ire.

Unfortunately for them, Sirius had been helping Iruka learn the language solely so the poor chunin could counter their pranks. It wouldn't do for them to get cocky because of a secret code.

It only took fifteen minutes, but the fact that Iruka actually caught them at all instantly gave him their respect. None of the ANBU or various upper level ninja had even come close...except for Anko, but that was another story.

"Not even a single week... What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Which class do you teach again?" asked Midori.

"History and Taijutsu, why?" said Iruka.

"Men, to the History books! Clearly this is a man we should actually listen to without sleeping through his class!" said Midori.

"Here here!" said Kiba and Naruto, with stars in their eyes.

Iruka paled.

'What just happened?' he thought with a sweat.

"Again!" barked Tsume. Midori and Kiba were practicing clan techniques while Naruto was unfortunately stuck inside the living room while Sirius helped his son with his homework. Naruto had headaches whenever he read for long than an hour.

While Kiba grasped the basics fairly quickly, Midori had some trouble communicating with his practice hound, who happened to be one of Hana's triplets. Still, he was almost able to understand most of what the ninken hounds said without help from Tsume.

Tsume could only hope he finally learned that skill before his hound was given to him. He had had his eyes on a wolf pup that according to Sirius looked far too much like Remus to be normal...and the irony was that said hound was female.

The odd thing was that Remus had yet to find Sirius and Midori, even though it had been nearly eight years. He was almost tempted to find out what happened to his friend, but after Tsume went back to England to check on something the goblins sent a few years into Midori's new life as a Konoha citizen, he had learned that somehow Dumbledore made a fake double of him and caused people to believe he had betrayed the Potters. Chances were he would be arrested if he stepped foot in England for a while.

Midori dropped on all fours, and allowed Hana's hound to join her mind with his. After all the practice he had, it came almost naturally. Even Naruto had gotten this far, though his partner would have to deal with the fox.

Tsume had gotten special permission to tell Kiba, Midori, Naruto, Hana and Sirius about the fox inside Naruto, if only because he would have found out the hard way once he got a partner. Naruto's response was to prank the village extra hard for a week, and then went back to normal. It helped that Hana, Kiba and Midori still treated him like their brother and Sirius hadn't lost anyone to the attack. In fact he had helped Naruto prank the village with a few fox-themed pranks.

The only experience Sirius had with foxes were the old tales about the fox wives and the fact that kitsune were considered shape shifters.

That might explain why he started Naruto on basic animagi training when they weren't sure if the boys would have magic like Midori clearly did.

"Ninja Art! Man-Beast Clone!" said Midori.

His features became more feral and he was able to move more like an Inuzuka than before. This time the chakra stabilized enough that he didn't rely on Hana's partner.

"Good! You finally got it down! Keep it up and you'll be ready for your partner!" said Tsume pleased.

"He finally got it?" said Sirius.

"About time!" said Kiba. Beside him was another hound that he was using for practice. Because they weren't ready for their own hounds, they had to practice their techniques with hounds that already had partners and had been deemed stable enough for beginners. Hana's triplets were considered the most sane hounds in the current generation.

Midori dropped the techniques when his chakra ran out. He could only keep it up for about ten minutes before he ran out, but it was still better than Kiba's time.

Still... it would be a while before he got his partner. Sirius could only hope that he managed it before he went to Hogwarts, because he would need all the backup he could get there.