Chapter 2
Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk in his office working a pile of paperwork similar to Tsunade when she received the mission request. Although the school year had barely finished just three days ago with all the students leaving the castle, Dumbledore had to prepare for the upcoming school year in a few months. With the threat of Voldemort, the Dark Lord that had terrorised Britain's Wizarding world for the past few decades, Dumbledore had to regroup the Order of the Phoenix once more, a group of wizards who fought to oppose Voldemort and his followers called Death Eaters.
Since Dumbledore had discovered the return of Voldemort, he had searched through his own personal library to find a solution or a way to protect his students, specifically one named Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. The title had been given to Harry when he was just one year old and the Dark Lord had arrived to his family's home on Hallows Eve to murder both of his parents, but failing to kill Harry even when casting the Killing Curse. Voldemort's failure in killing the one year old turned that night and several tries later had enraged Voldemort and now, the number one target on his list is the Boy-Who-Lived.
Once Dumbledore had finished skimming through book on wards, trying to find wards stronger than the ones already placed on the house where Harry currently resides, he started rifling through his own personal journals. He stumbled along a photo of himself and another man who seemed to be his early thirties. The man had dark brown, spiky hair with a goatee and tanned skinned with a single line vertically under the outer corners of each eye. The picture showed the man with a slight smile next to a young Dumbledore with auburn hair featuring a small smile as well. The background featured a dark forest with tall, thin trees covering the sun. Contrasting with the dark forest, the sky was a bright blue and cloudless.
Dumbledore stared at the picture with a fond smile. He had met the man when he had barely taken the job as headmaster. The man was named Hiruzen Sarutobi. The leader of one of the villages in the Elemental Nations, which only a few in the wizarding world acknowledged as actually existing. Being headmaster, Dumbledore was able to access information to anything pertaining to Hogwarts. Upon reading old records of Hogwarts, Dumbledore came upon the mention of the Elemental Nations. A piece of land that has been hidden from the rest of the world for centuries. He also discovered that the past Headmasters of Hogwarts had had correspondence with the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha.
A few years after being elected as the Headmaster, Dumbledore received a letter that had spontaneously appeared on his desk about the arrival of the Second Hokage, the leader of Konoha, and his apprentice that he had chosen to be the Third Hokage after his resignation or death. The Second Hokage stated that Hiruzen Sarutobi was to travel alone to the wizarding world only for a few days and that he hoped the current Headmaster would show him a small aspect of the world that was separate from the Elemental Nations.
Dumbledore at first had been wary of Hiruzen, but soon became interested in the man. Hiruzen was nicknamed as the Professor in his homeland and Dumbledore believed that was an apt name for Hiruzen. The future Third Hokage had devoured books about the wizarding world about a variety of different topic such as healing, potions, casting, to traditions and manners. Hiruzen was at first hesitant of Dumbledore as well, but soon involved Dumbledore in discussion about what he had when once he realized that the knowledge Dumbledore had was good as any book.
The picture was taken when Hiruzen was to leave back to Konoha, but before he left, Hiruzen had given Dumbledore a seal stating that if he needed assistance at one point he could send an owl with a letter through the seal to reach the village. The correspondence between the Elemental Nations and the Wizarding world was usually only one way with the shinobi taking the initiative in contacting the wizards. In truth, Dumbledore had been worried in not being able to contact the shinobi again, since it would the shinobi would have been a great source of becoming an ally.
With the emergence of Voldemort and his responsibilities to being Headmaster, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Dumbledore forgot about the seal that Hiruzen had given him and with that the shinobi realm as well.
When Voldemort appeared for the second time. Dumbledore started to worry. There was a prophecy stating that Voldemort could only be defeated by one person and that person was in danger from being murdered by the Dark Lord. Dumbledore had to take any precaution in protecting them. By discovering the picture, Dumbledore also discovered the seal that fell out of the notebook as well. With the seal, the idea of contacting the shinobi to protect the one who can defeat the Dark Lord emerged. Dumbledore had quickly sent the letter, hoping that Hiruzen was to still alive to receive it since he was unsure as to how the new leader of the village would take the request.
Surprisingly. the Headmaster received a response to his request the same day as he had sent it. The small, brown owl had pecked on the window of his office and attached to its leg was the response from the Elemental Nations. Quickly retrieving the letter and giving the owl who had made the far away journey a treat, Dumbledore opened the letter frowning when he saw that the letter was in a foreign language. Bringing out his wand, Dumbledore cast a spell to translate the letter to English which was similar to what he had done to the letter he had written to translate it into the native language of the Elemental Nations.
Unfortunately, the letter informed him that the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had died and that the current leader was named Tsunade who was not the Fourth Hokage, but the Fifth. Confused about that tiny detail, Dumbledore continued to read the letter and was startled when it stated that the Fifth Hokage was going to travel to the Wizarding world to speak with himself personally. Tsunade had not asked him for permission to visit, but it seemed as if she was ordering him to do so since the only details available for the future visit was the location and time that she was going to appear in. He sighed. The visit was reasonable since Dumbledore had no way to send another letter since the the seal had just been a one time use to send a message and get a response back.
Tsunade was to visit in three days. Dumbledore sighed once again. There was many things he needed to plan before the arrival of the Fifth Hokage. One of those was the high priority of reforming the Order and convince them that hiring the shinobi to protect Harry Potter, the only one who could defeat Voldemort, was a great strategy to winning the upcoming war. Dumbledore was not prepared to explain the situation to his Deputy Headmistress. Minerva was surely going to scold him on what she would say were imprudent actions. With one last sigh, Dumbledore prepared to explain why he thought it was a grand idea to invite shinobi, dangerous combatants, to Hogwarts and that the leader was going to visit in only three days. Popping a Lemon Drop into his mouth, Dumbledore called for Minerva and readied himself for a scolding with a twinkle in his eyes.
A/N: This chapter was more of an explanation of the past interaction between the Elemental Nations and the Wizarding world as well as Dumbledore's thought process. In the next chapter, Tsunade will finally meet a few of the members of the Order and the mission request will be finalized. Thank you for those who have followed and for new readers. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review :)