Author's Note: So… the sixth Harry Potter movie is coming out. I'm not too excited since the fifth had sucked so badly that it made me want to puke. They could have edited out the Cho/Harry kiss, it doesn't even move the storyline further and it took thirty minutes, and instead, added more to the scene of Snape's pensieve. Damn it, I wanted to see if the Marauders would be sporting the Seventies hairdo, it was too short! The only cool part was where people started apparating into the room with the veil. And yeah…

This story will be shortened a lot. The parts in the book not mentioned in the story are still happening and I'll only make brief references to them. A lot of the original book is rewritten in this story. Don't sue me, I don't have any money.

A small note in the story: a Tsukumogami is a common Japanese household object that suddenly becomes alive on its hundredth birthday- old lore.

I don't own Harry Potter or Naruto or the quote.

"Speech"- English.

"Speech"- Japanese.

'Thoughts'- English

'Hand signals or thoughts'- Japanese

Here we go

Presenting…

Chakra and Magic

Two: Unknown is what It Is

((And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that-it's all illusion.))

Chapter Eleven: The Sorting Hat's New Song

Harry Potter felt a heavy weight drop down his stomach: this year seems to be shaping into a series of unfortunate events. Professor Grubbly-Plank was sitting in the spot where Hagrid should be at the teacher's table, the sorting hat delivered a new tune with lyrics that gave a sense of foreboding, and that woman from the ministry, Umbridge, was here, currently giving a speech on the Ministry of Magic, one that was quite boring. To his observation, the only student who seemed to be diligently listening was Hermione, but judging by the look on her face, the speech didn't seem to be pleasant at all. Propping his head on his hand, his attentiveness long gone, he waited for the end of the speech. He gave a small yawn.

"…perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited." Umbridge sat down. There was a small, pitiful round of applause that was loudest at the staff's table with Dumbledore leading; some students tried to follow, joining their hands only once or twice before stopping.

Hermione leaned over, "Watch your back Harry," she whispered in a low voice, "the speech was aimed for anyone who is deemed a threat."

"I'm not a threat to anyone," he hissed back, slightly puzzled.

Dumbledore had stood once again, "Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating," he gave a curt bow to her; she gave a saccharine smile back. "Now— as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held…"

"Read between the lines, she didn't imply the magical community, she mentioned the Ministry. You are a threat to Fudge's political career." Hermione said grimly, "He's taking action; the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."

"No way," Ron blurted out, "Dumbledore can't possible let-."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and tapped his wand against the table, shooting off some white sparks. The whole school's eyes snapped back up to him, including the three Gryffindors', when the headmaster spoke, his voice was grave and his eyes serious, "As I'm sure you all know from reading the recent headlines, the Minister and I have come to a set of differences regarding the safety of our students. I'm sure everyone knows here my stance of whether He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Due to my worries I have taken the liberty to hire some protection for this beloved school."

Ron nudged Harry in the ribs. Both were on the edge of their seat, as are most of the other students. If the Headmaster can still do things that are not under the Minister's approval, then he had not relinquished all of his power to the government, yet. The woman in the pink cardigan's expression turned slightly sour.

"With clearance with the Japanese Ministry, I have managed to hire some help from the Ninja Continent." Whispers among the students filled the aged man's pause as he allowed the information to sink in. The pure and half bloods looked apprehensive, the muggleborns were confused. "There will be four ninja bodyguards patrolling the halls and classrooms. They will be doing their job as they see fit, will report to me any suspicions they have witnessed, and will protect the school should any attack or harm come to it." He cleared his throat, "I ask of you not to antagonize them as if you act hostile to them, I can't be responsible for their actions. I ask that you practice caution." A breath, "On a brighter note, I encourage you to talk to them, as this is the first time in more than a hundred years that they have stepped foot outside of their lands. I would like us to form a healthy relationship between us and the Ninja Continent."

Hermione nudged Harry in the ribs, "That means that they are here somewhere."

Harry, Ron, and a couple of Gryffindors who were eavesdropping, looked curiously around. Ninjas are in the Great Hall? How long have they been there? Dumbledore continued, "One of the four will be the main patrol during the day, should you see him, do not be alarmed. Should you have any concerns, please defer your questions and requests either to him or to my staff, as you will not be seeing his companions out in the open." He smiled, eyes twinkling, and raised his arms, "Please meet the children of Hogwarts, Naruto Uzumaki."

One moment, nothing… the next moment, someone appeared standing between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor table. There were shrieks of surprise and scrambled movement to move back. Even the teachers looked alarmed, the only one who managed to partially hide his surprise was Snape, and even his eyebrows rose slightly. It took a while, but after the initial surprise, everyone openly gaped at the newcomer. Even the Slytherins were craning their necks to catch a glance.

Harry was surprised to see that the boy, ninja, was probably his age, youthful. The boy wore a nondescript, long cloak that still caught some air at the ends. Did the ninja jumped from the ceiling? Harry glanced skeptically at the enchanted ceiling. But the boy appeared so suddenly. "Apparating?" Dean muttered excitedly, "but the wards." Underneath the cloak, Harry managed to glimpse dark cargo pants and some sort of sandals. The ninja, who had a sort of Oriental air around him, had bright, spiky blond hair and tanned skin, blue eyes and was sporting a grin, enjoying the sudden attention bestowed upon him.

Naruto Uzumaki gave a low bow, "Konichiwa, Dumbledore-sama."

"Out of the four guards, you will be seeing him the most around the school. You may leave." The Headmaster dismissed the blond with a hand wave. Naruto cocked his head to the right, as if not fully understanding, but then nodded, muttered some words in a foreign tongue, and to everyone's amazement, disappeared in a swirl of wind and leaves.

The excited student's chatter grew as they discussed the new additions to the school. "Didn't look like much," Ron muttered thoughtfully, "pretty short too."

"Don't judge a book by its cover." Hermione replied swiftly, earning a puzzled look from the redhead. She sighed, "Muggle saying. Still, I wonder what he just did… he obviously is gone, but he couldn't have apparated…"

The staff began to stand, the Great Feast has ended. There was great clattering and banging all around because everyone was standing up ready to leave the hall. "Ron, we're supposed to show the first years where to go!" Hermione exclaimed, flustered.

"Oh yeah. Hey— hey you lot! Midgets!"

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend's antics as he watched the new students shuffle by him to reach the prefects. Still, he was thankful that the news about the ninjas had diverted attention from him, though it won't last long now. With the boy gone, the stares to the back of his head intensified.

Chapter Twelve: Professor Umbridge

Shikamaru stayed in the shadows the next day as children spilled into the Great Hall for breakfast. Crouching low in his position, he observed the Great Hall's green side where the group of students called the Slytherins sat. Some sleep crept back into his eyes and he tried to stifle a yawn, having been up before the sun rose to switch with the nightshift. From his little knowledge of Britain's magical community, Hogwarts was the only magical school available to England, and where so many stick wavers trace their development and influence back to their respected 'houses'. Recently, the green house has been spitting out 'Eaters of Death.' He would have researched more but his report to the Godaime was due.

All at once, a flurry of owls flew through the window with letters and packages attached to their feet, heading to their respected owners. A platinum haired boy received what looked to be the Daily Prophet, the wizards' newspaper. The headlines were in bold, reading:

HAS DUMBLEDORE SUCCUMED TO SENILITY?

NINJAS AT HOGWARTS

Rubbing eyebrows, he muttered, "Troublesome." The conversation at the table grew slightly more interesting. The blond boy had begun to boast about his knowledge of the shinobis, it offered an interesting perspective from the magical people's view on the people from the Ninja Continent.

"They are rumored to be powerful, their magical core is so big that it extends out in some vessels and they don't need wands at all." The blond said pompously.

A girl with short, dark brown hair and a face that almost resembled Pakkun that was sitting across from the boy hanged onto his every word, "Ohhh, Draco." Shikamaru looked up, Draco? The name was mentioned once in the newspapers, one Lucius Malfoy talked about… The boy's a Malfoy, the family name has seen both infamy and exaltation. How… interesting. "What else do you know?"

Malfoy preened, "Their bloodline is pure, some more pure than the old families, up to the point that the family can specialize in different amazing abilities called bloodlines. My grandfather from my mother's side had once stumbled onto their land by a portkey accident and he bore witness to their powers. He couldn't see much because he was soon found out, but managed to see a family of ninjas with pupil-less eyes." The Hyuugas. His audience, which had now grown, oohed and awed. "Father told me to try and find out as much about them as possible, and perhaps strike up a small friendship. The ninjas hire themselves out for money. If they suddenly decided to stop their self-imposed isolation, there would be many new opportunities; it's up to us Slytherins to take advantage of the situation."

The topic shifted again onto more boring subjects such as teachers, schoolwork and O.W.L.s. The Nara shifted slightly in his place, 'This could be really beneficial or downright bad if someone knows so much information about us. Malfoy would no doubt make the connection if he sees either Neji or Hinata, heck, the whole green house would too. And Hinata works part-time with the Healer at the hospital ward, people are bound to see her.' Arms crossed, 'Tsunade-sama did not want us to broadcast our powers and information.'

Which begged the question- how did Dumbledore coerce the Godaime into accepting an unpaid mission? It all sounded too suspicious, the Kages and Daimyos of the five major powers didn't want to open up the Ninja Continent to the rest of the world, since the results would be too chaotic and too politically driven. Nations might be pitted against each other if the magical world ever descended into war. That was why the Daimyos were only allied to Mainland Japan. It's unlikely that anyone else in the world, old family or not, would be able to hire out reluctant ninjas… unless they did whatever the Headmaster did to the Fire Daimyo and Tsunade-sama.

Foul play? He should discuss this with the rest of the team.

Slowly, empty plates and bowls disappeared, groups of people began to stand and walk out in different directions. "Fox Three to Shadow," a voice softly cracked through his earpiece, "The lion house and the snake house have the same classes next in the dungeons. Is it ok if you tail them? Fox is curious about the animals that Grubbly-Plank-san is keeping."

Shikamaru sighed, "Sure, sure. I'll get to it." He lazily stretched, cracking a few joints and shoved his hands into his pockets and slid through the shadows.

OoO

A blonde girl suddenly turned and faced him, causing him to stumble back in surprise. She craned her neck up to wave to him from his space on the walls. Seeing that there were no other people, he decided to satisfy his curiosity and jumped down, his cloak trailing behind; the cloak signified that he was the original and not the bunshins that he had maintained throughout the building. The girl had her stick tucked behind an ear and her eyes carried a dazed off expression, "Hello Naruto-kun," she greeted.

His suspicion reluctantly turned into delight, "You can speak Japanese?" She nodded; he nodded back, there was nothing to fill the silence. Feeling that he was in a surreal world, he grasped for a topic to talk about, "Cool. Congratulations on being the first one to spot me after yesterday."

She tossed her hair back and smiled serenely, "Oh don't tell that to me. A Tsukumogami in the shape of an umbrella told me where you are." He blinked and she continued, "My name is Luna Lovegood." She extended her hand out to shake.

He hesitantly accepted it; after a few moments of internal debating, he smiled brilliantly back, "Hello Luna-chan! Would you like to be friends?"

OoO

After lunch, it was Naruto's turn to watch the so called 'Golden Boy,' as Shikamaru went off to Arithmancy. The Potter kid and his red-haired friend went up to the North Tower and into that smelly room where the weird lady, now known as Professor Trelawney, resided. In his opinion, the subject of the class, fortune-telling, was total bull. The woman seemed to not to know what she was doing and most of her students were equally confused. Today's lesson covered dreams and how they foretold the future, but as far as Naruto could tell, most of the kids were making up their visions.

'What a waste of time…' He thought glumly as he observed the class. The only thing that might be worth noting, was the fact that the Potter kid was extremely reluctant to offer his own dreams, which made Naruto suspect they meant something. They were probably nightmares, if Potter was so embarrassed by them. So with nothing better to do, he popped a few bunshins and noted their memories, unable to restrain sighing at more useless information. After creating a bunshin to watch over Potter, he slipped out of the room and into fresh, un-perfumed, air.

While taking a leisurely stroll through the castle, he took out his newest seal invention. On four chakra papers, there was a highly elaborate mind seal. The concept was simple, between the four who wore the papers, anything one knew, the other three would also instantly know. That way, information could be exchanged in a matter of a split second. He found an empty room and got back to trying to polish off the technique, working at the glitches. Shikamaru wouldn't be happy to know that he was skimping on his duties, but really it was perfectly reasonable. No one would dare hurt Harry Potter in the midst of a classroom of children and a Hogwarts' professor, not with the 'Dark Lord' determined to remain in the shadows for the time being.

He had agreed to meet up with Luna later, the exact time and date not yet determined. Naruto would have to consult his friends, but if they agreed, he thought Luna could help with the reconnaissance around the castle and students, catching any bits of information that the shinobis might have missed.

'The intense information gathering is getting a bit annoying though,' he thought as he wrinkled his nose and tucked the finalized versions of the seals back into his pocket and walked out into the halls. 'Dumbledore shouldn't be holding the necessary data from us.'

He walked down the corridors, intending to have a small talk with the Headmaster before stopping in mid-step, 'Dumbledore is gone around this time of the day. And his office is blocked by that stone creature.' It was a setback. 'Bummer, the old man had to make things complicated.' The more and more he thought about it, the Headmaster was trying to prevent any sort of contact he had with the ninjas. There was no reason behind his avoidance.

'Wait.' An idea came to him, like a light bulb atop of his head, 'Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall should be around.' which was good because frankly, he was more comfortable around that witch than the old wizard. Pivoting on his heels, he turned to the stairs and walked down. Alone in the hallways, he trudged on, looking for any signs of movement, down another set of stairs and into the corridors, twisting and turning. Without a watch, he wondered how much time had passed.

Rapping on the office door, he was surprised when it opened with more force than normal. His bunshins hadn't related any new information back to him, so he was slightly stunned to see Potter on the other side of the door. He stared into a set of equally surprised green eyes, but it took only a moment for him to regain his bearings. Cocking his head to the right, he looked over Potter's shoulder to see the familiar, stern woman; he brightened up, "McGonagall-san!" and gave a short bow.

She nodded her head, having made her way to her own desk, "Pleasant surprise to see you here, Mr. Uzumaki."

"I has question." He informed and shot a meaningful look at the other boy.

The witch shooed Potter, who looked like he was about to protest, out of the doorway and ushered him in, making sure to close and lock the door with a muttered incantation. When she turned around, he began his request, stumbling over his words and waving his hands around, "It be more help if you gave us more data. Reconnaissance takes long time and it be easy if you gave us a profile on everyone in your castle."

Through the broken English, she still understood and looked slightly surprised, "Albus hasn't given you any records? Strange. Well don't worry, I'll send over a package by this evening."

He nodded, relieved, that was easier than he thought, half expecting a denial of his request with some weird reason or the other. "Arigato," he thanked her with another bow. Naruto was about to leave when something nagged at his thoughts. One of his bunshin had popped, relating the Umbridge incident and Potter's outbursts to him. "Ano…" The professor looked up, "Did Potter-san get his detentions removed?"

McGonagall sighed, "No. I don't have any power over that dratted woman, she's under the Minister, not the Headmaster. I wished he would reign in his temper though, these are very unstable times, no matter how anyone looks at it. Harry will be having detention every evening this week, starting tomorrow."

"Ah." They both mused on their own individual thoughts. Naruto would have extra hours to watch over Potter now. Joy. The woman interrupted his train of thinking.

"Biscuit?"

Chapter Thirteen: Detention with Dolores

Harry tucked his extendable ear away, courtesy of the twins, and walked quickly to dinner. Thank goodness McGonagall hadn't thought to ward her door against physical… commodities. Between his Head of House's words and the ninja's bad English, he had deduced new developments. Dumbledore wasn't really helping the ninjas with their job. 'Why though? There's no reason not to, he's their employer.'

But the big new revelation was that Dumbledore had these ninjas, or at least one of them, following his every tail.

"Well its reasonable isn't it?" Hermione loftily said at the table, applying gravy onto her chicken, "you are the Boy-Who-Lived and You-Know-Who is back so you are obviously going to be watched more closely than the rest of the school."

("He says he saw Cedric Diggory murdered…")

("He reckons he dueled with You-Know-Who…")

"It's not right though." Harry hissed back, attacking his own dinner with newfound vigor, "Dumbledore has no right to impose security on me. I can take care of myself. I have been for the last fifteen years."

"You-Know-Who is back, Harry." The girl whispered, "This is certainly different from the past years."

("Come off it…")

("Who does he think he's kidding?")

"But my bodyguards, as we eloquently put it, should at least make their presence known to me if they are so integrated into my daily life." He changed topics and tried his best, between clenched teeth and shaking hands, to ignore the whispers around him.

"I-." Hermione stopped and glared around, "Oh, let's get out of here." She slammed down her own knife and fork: Ron looked sadly at his half-finished apple pie but followed suit. People stared at them all the way out of the Hall. "The thing is, I'm not sure about Japanese customs. It might be perfectly normal for them to never talk to the actual persons they guard, I'm sure they report to the teachers, particularly Dumbledore." She continued talking as they reached the first-floor landing.

"And Dumbledore's avoiding me." He grumbled.

"He probably has a reason, mate. Order business, or something," Ron finally piped up.

"You're not helping," Harry bit back. "I've stayed at the Dursleys with no information about the outside world only to, in the last week of vacation, be attacked by Dementors. Then I come back to realize that everybody either hates or is scared of me! Nobody believes me- they all think I'm a lunatic!"

"I know, Harry," Hermione consoled him, "but I promise it'll get better. You-Know-Who will have to make a move soon, but until then, we can only wait."

Rain pounded on the windowpanes as they strode along the empty corridors back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry felt as though his first day had lasted a week, and he still had a mountain of homework to do before bed. A dull, pounding pain was developing over his right eye. He glanced out of a rain-washed window at the dark grounds as they turned into the Fat Lady's corridor. There was still no light in Hagrid's cabin.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia," Hermione enunciated before the Fat Lady could ask. The portrait swung open to reveal the hole behind and the three of them scrambled through it.

The common room was almost empty; nearly everyone else was still down at dinner. Harry rushed up to his dorm muttering under his breath. Crookshanks uncoiled himself from the armchair and trotted to meet them, purring loudly. He leapt lightly into Hermione's lap, and curled up there like a furry ginger cushion as Harry came back downstairs with his schoolwork and the trio took their favorite chairs at the fireside. Harry looked down at the Marauder's Map that he held in his hands, unfolded it and tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Ron, interested, leaned over the parchment, which showed the blueprint of the school and the many people that inhabited it. Noticing something out of the ordinary, Ron pointed to two dots.

"Hey, why do they have the same names? Hyu-uga?" Harry squinted down at the tiny scrawl and shrugged.

Hermione stood and walked over, cat now on the floor, and leaned over on Harry's other side, "The Japanese usually address people by last names first. They might come from the same family. Oh Harry, they might be the other two ninjas!" She clapped her hands excitedly.

"Hina-ta and Ne-ji." Ron grunted, he pointed to two other dots. "Here are the others. Nara, Shika-maru and Naruto Uzumaki."

Harry indicated at the dot labeled 'Hyuuga Neji' and said, "I think this is where the ninja's quarters are. Huh. Don't suppose that we can knock can we," he joked feebly and cleared his throat. "Well, Hinata is in the Hospital Wing. I reckon that we can visit," he paused in order to guess the gender,"…her, get some answers then. They're hiding information from us." Both of his companions agreed.

They collected their schoolbags from a corner and returned to the chairs by the fire. People were coming back from dinner now. Harry kept his face averted from the portrait hole, but could still sense the stares he was attracting. But he felt better, having a goal to aim for- to uncover the mysteries surrounding these enigmatic ninjas.

OoO

It's possible for the pain to subside if one concentrated on other matters besides the punishment, Harry realized as the quill fell to the parchment again, spilling more blood. I must not tell lies, he wrote, I must not tell lies. He concentrated on what had happened earlier in the day. There was no chance to visit the Hospital Wing, now that homework was piling even higher. The Potions essay about the properties of moonstones lay unfinished in his bag. Fred and George, he was happy to see, were continuing to develop new candies to sell in their joke shop, though Hermione was not too pleased and after a minor row, had retreated and started to knit hats, of all things.

His hatred of Umbridge grew even greater than his hatred for Draco, Snape, and the rest of the Slytherins combined. He hated her, he hated her, he hated her…

Charms and Transfiguration class had been strenuous. Both teachers gave prep talks about O.W.L.s and the importance of fifth year, topping it off with another couple of essays. I must not tell lies. Care of Magical Creatures was a disaster. The Slytherins kept trying to goad him into a fight by insulting Hagrid and his own integrity. I must not tell lies. A few students, namely Ernie Macmillan and Luna Lovegood, had come up to say that they believed him. It hadn't improved his mood. Angelina got mad at him because of his detentions overlapping with the Keeper try-outs, and, not to his surprise, Umbridge wouldn't allow him to go.

He wondered if any ninjas were observing him now.

I must not tell lies. He tried to blank out the pain by thinking of nothing at all. Only the sound of the quill scratching on the parchment he acknowledged. I must not tell lies. Darkness fell outside Umbridge's window. Harry did not ask when he would be allowed to stop. He did not even check his watch, knowing that she was watching him for signs of weakness, and he was not going to show any, not even if he had to sit here all night, cutting open his own hand with this quill… I must not tell lies.

"Come here," she said sweetly, after what seemed hours.

OoO

The second detention was just as bad as the previous one. Harry had resolved to keep his punishment secret from everybody, even his friends. He only told them that he had lines, which wasn't too far from the truth. But this was a battle of wills, between him and that horrible toad-lady, and if he told anyone, he would lose. The skin on the back of his hand became irritated more quickly than before; it was an angry red and very inflamed. The skin was taking longer and longer to heal, and soon the words etched on his hand stayed that way, spilling blood continuously. Yet, he let no moan of pain escape him, and from the moment of entering the room to the moment of his dismissal, past midnight, he said nothing but "Good evening" and "Good night."

The third detention passed by as a routine, except this time, the words, 'I must not tell lies' did not fade from the back of his hand and instead, exactly he predicted, remained scratched there, oozing blood.

Professor Umbridge had allowed him to leave early that day, saying, "That ought to serve as a reminder to you, oughtn't it?" But she told him that he still must come back tomorrow to etch the message deeper.

He closed the door to her room behind him, dreading his remaining homework, feeling nothing but exhaustion and hate. He stood there, facing the door, directing his thoughts through, hoping to curse her through the door. 'She's evil. She's an evil, twisted, mad, old-'

A soft sound of wind behind him interrupted his thoughts. He spun around on his foot with his wand out. He blinked at the sight in front of him. The ninja, Naruto, was staring at his wand warily, cross-eyed. Slowly, the ninja pushed the wand-point to the side with a hand, Harry saw the dark orange sleeve peeking out underneath the cloak. Silence, blue eyes met green, Naruto grinned toothily, "Konichiwa Potter-san. My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Hand stuck out, waiting for a shake.

Unsure of himself, Harry took the hand, only to give a surprised grunt when the other pulled his hand in and observed, with squinted eyes, the skin on the back. "What the bloody hell are you doing? Let go." He whispered, trying to pull back, aware that they were still only on the other side of the door.

The blond frowned and retained an inhuman grip on his hand, "She's like Ibiki-san, but worse." The ninja tugged Harry forward, causing him to stumble, "I take you to heal- hospital place." He tried to explain.

There were many protests coming from Harry's lips that were all brushed aside. The tanned blond kept making references to torture, like he was an expert at it, but more often than not, muttered a long string of Japanese words under his breath. The ninja, despite his short stature, was quite strong. Harry could not escape his grip. And he was sure that if he did somehow manage to free himself, he would not get far. He didn't dare to use his wand. The duo climbed up the stairs to Madam Pomfrey's.

The ninja kicked open the door and peeked inside, "Oi! Hinata-chan!" A long, black haired girl that was sitting at a desk with her back turned to them spun around. Harry gasped sharply; she had no, pupils, her eyes completely an eerie pale color. But she didn't act blind as she rushed over to their exact spot.

"Naruto-kun," she greeted and started speaking rapidly in Japanese, sparing a short glance at Harry, who felt like he was slightly intruding on something. Naruto responded with equally fast Japanese, making his points by waving and gesturing with his arms, finally showing the message scrawled onto Harry's hand, the tone of voice growing slightly bitter. The girl clasped her hands over her mouth in shock but quickly lowered them to lead Harry to the nearest bed and had him sit down. Then she scurried to the cabinets and pulled out a small cloth and a clear bottle of liquid.

Harry let out a sigh that he was unintentionally holding back. The room was barely lit, the people in the room were mere silhouettes, but the ninjas seemed to navigate through without any problems. He stared at the two others in curiosity, having just noticed how smooth and graceful their movements were, like flowing water. Having placed the materials on a side table, Hinata sat in front of Harry and offered an apologetic smile, "Sorry. Naruto-kun is sometimes too boisterous. I hope that he didn't alarm you too much, he's really nice and caring on the inside."

Surprised by her perfect English, he stammered back, "Oh no, it's nothing, thank you for treating me."

She giggled softly and soaked the cloth in the clear liquid, which turned out to be alcohol. "It's nothing." She slowly wiped away the blood and cleaned the wound, eliciting some hisses of pain. Naruto was walking around the room, cloak billowing behind, opening and closing cabinet doors, sometimes taking out some vials and bottles and twirling them around, acting more like a immature child than a hired killer. Harry looked back to at the girl, who had her hand over his, he squirmed a bit, uncomfortable at the sudden intimacy but stopped when a soft green light appeared from her hand. He openly stared at the light as it seeped into his cuts, slowly closing them, the raw skin faded away. When Hinata let his hand go, the wound stopped hurting.

"I'm sorry, but the cut will reopen just as quickly when you are in your next detention," Hinata stated. "But you can come back, you know?"

"Yeah." He nodded dumbly, "What was that?"

"Magic," Hinata said, at the same time Naruto said, "Chakra." The two ninjas stared at each other, eyes conveying a secret message before Naruto relented, "Magic. Ninja stuff." Waving his hands, he ordered, "We go back now."

Naruto followed Harry back to the Gryffindor tower. All the while, the blond had been rubbing his eyes and yawning wildly. Harry's head spun, 'Chakra? Is it some sort of power that we don't have? What's chakra? Hermione should know, but then she would just ask me what I was doing in the Hospital Wing… but maybe I can get something out of this right now.'

He rounded onto his companion. "Why don't you show yourself to the public? Why do you hide from us?" he demanded hotly with arms crossed.

Taken aback by the sudden questions, Naruto rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly answered, "Ano, what ninjas do. Right? We stay unseen."

Not taking that as a proper answer, he redoubled his efforts, "Yeah but it's my business if you are guarding me. Shouldn't at least I be able to contact you?"

The logic didn't really make sense and both boys knew that, but Harry was betting Naruto didn't want too much trouble between them. After all, protector-protected relationships have to be based on mutual trust. The only hint of emotions that Naruto showed was his right eye twitching and his mouth muttering another long string of Japanese words. Harry only caught the word, "Kag-e-bun…" Finally, the blond let out a sigh of defeat, "Fine," he pouted, "I show self." Arms raised in exasperation, "Happy?"

Inwardly surprised at the lack of fight, Harry grinned like a satisfied cat, "Very."

OoO

The next detention night, after Naruto again took him to Hinata, he came into the Gryffindor common room intending to tell Hermione about his scar hurting when Umbridge touched his arm, only to be greeted with a roar of sound. Ron came running toward him, beaming and slopping butterbeer down his front from the goblet he was clutching.

"Harry, I did it, I'm in, I'm Keeper!"

The celebrations continued with food and drinks. He didn't tell his friends about the ninjas, and he couldn't bring himself to tell them what really happened during Umbridge's detentions. He justified his actions by reminding himself that it was Friday, his detentions were over, and there was no use to cry over spilt milk.

Chapter Fourteen: Percy and Padfoot

His teammates' harsh criticism still rang in his ears, and he was also mentally kicking himself for his stupidity. 'Why did you agree with him, Naruto? He's a civilian, you could have just said no.' He couldn't take back his word and was now stuck spending the day in the open, vulnerable to stares of curiosity and whispers as he openly trailed the Boy-Who-Lived. 'Well, at least I still have my bunshins patrolling in secrecy,' he shuddered to think what would happen if Potter… Harry ever found out.

Friday was bad. He narrowly dodged bold students trying to corner him and pester him with questions, and there were some very tight situations. The people in green, the Slytherins, were especially talented at creating strategies to get him alone, but he managed to escape them. The staff were all amused at this new development, although he had only articulated to McGonagall the whole story, Naruto was sure that she spread the news to her coworkers.

Shikamaru was forced to change his plans: from time to time Bunshin Two and Naruto would switch places guarding the Potter boy to still maintain some secrecy while putting on a front. Shikamaru actually liked this idea for three reasons. First, the curiosity of the students at Hogwarts might simmer down slightly, or at least there would be no undue tension (it was actually Hinata's job at the Infirmary to know the students personally but having Naruto also socializing didn't hurt). Second, with Naruto's friendly personality, people might deem him as a lesser threat, or even approachable, and he would be able to mingle with the other kids. And finally, Shikamaru liked the idea because it wasn't him that was stuck in the crowd overbearing people. Lazy ass.

"Shadow to Fox," the earpiece said, "just a warning that on weekends, the students have free time and won't be going to classes. Be on your guard." The smugness was evident in the voice was evident.

He gritted his teeth, "Fox to Shadow. Shut up." Naruto trudged on, yawning and stretching some sore muscles. The team trained at the Room of Requirement daily, during any spare time they had, not wanting to get lax in the middle of their mission. Harry was somewhere up in the air on a broom, judging by what his henged bunshin was seeing from the stands. Well, that meant that his bunshin popped… Damn, he had to go to the Quidditch pitch. Because of the seals he created that allowed it's wearers to exchange knowledge, after what Shikamaru had witnessed in the dungeons, he was only slightly surprised at the level of… insults the Slytherins, led by a boy, surname Malfoy, were throwing. The rest of the team, except for that redhead, allowed the insults to slide off their backs.

Because of Harry's detentions, Naruto had needed to take up a shift and a half, which totally sucked. 'So… tired…' He walked out into the Quidditch pitch and sat on the other side of the stands, away from the people wearing green, to watch the Gryffindors practice.

OoO

It was dark while Neji crept silently forward until he stood in front of the gargoyle. "Blood pops." The stone creature sprang aside and the Hyuuga opened the door silently. The empty room was circular, the walls were covered in bookcases and portraits, all of them, thankfully, were asleep in the dead of the night. The boy walked up to the Headmaster's desk, and scanned the insides, his Byakugan activated. He reached out to pull open a drawer, and pulled out a pile of papers and leafed through them as quickly as he could, unsure of the amount of time he would have in the office alone. His eyebrows raised high toward his hairline.

Was Shikamaru right? It seemed like Dumbledore had something to threaten the esteemed leaders of Hi no Ki and Konohakagure with. The papers showed research done on a captured ninja's body, studying the chakra coils, or what the 'DoM' said, the enlarged vessels holding magic. What is the DoM? One of the portraits snorted behind him, before snuffling and continuing to sleep peacefully. He continued to browse through the papers, eyes narrowing as he memorized the contents; he suspected foul play. There were more studies of a long term spell that influenced the mind. It reminded him of Orochimaru's curse seal, something that could compel the victim into doing actions that he or she would not do under normal circumstances.

There was a short burst of flame and a small chirp behind him. Without turning around, he saw a regal, scarlet bird perched on a golden stand, staring at him with an indecipherable expression. 'Human intelligence within a creature: unlikely but not impossible.' Not wanting to take the chance that the appearance of the bird might be followed by an appearance of the aged wizard, Neji hastily shoved the papers back into their positions and slid the drawer closed. He noiselessly made his way around the desk, opened the door and exited.

As far as he knew, he hadn't been watched… hopefully. Could the bird report to Dumbledore? Kami, he didn't want to know.

Chapter Fifteen: The Hogwarts High Inquisitor

MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM

DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER "HIGH INQUISITOR"

Those had to be the worst headlines that Harry had ever read during breakfast. Already emotionally exhausted from Percy's letter and his talk with Sirius concerning the old toad, he dreaded to think what the Prophet was hinting at behind gushing reviews of Umbridge's work at Hogwarts from those who weren't even at the school. She now had power to give staff members a 'fair and objective evaluation,' and it gave Harry the chills. And yet, despite the inspections (Harry only witnessed Trelawney's and there's a high chance that the fraud would finally be sacked, he felt a bit sorry for the woman) life went on. The Weasley twins have given Hermione, Ron, and him a basic outline of the grading rubric concerning the O.W.L.s before going off to convince some 'ickle firsties' to try their new Puking Pastilles.

And Naruto was keeping his word. Whenever the ninja was shadowing Harry, he showed himself, usually ten feet behind him, yawning, grumbling, and talking to himself in Japanese. Hermione raised an eyebrow and Ron questioned Harry, to which he only gave them a brief account of him exacting a promise from the ninja. Hermione briefly debated whether she should try and research on translation spells to see exactly what the blond boy was mumbling about, but Ron told her to give it a rest. Both were satisfied with Harry's answer and the trio headed off toward Defense against the Dark Arts.

"Wands away," Umbridge instructed the class smilingly, and those students who had been hopeful enough to take them out sadly returned them to their bags. "As we finished chapter one last lesson, I would like you all to turn to page nineteen today and commence chapter two, 'Common Defensive Theories and Their Derivation.' There will be no need to talk."

Still smiling her wide, self-satisfied smile, she sat down at her desk. The class gave an audible sigh as it turned, as one, to page nineteen. Harry wondered dully whether there were enough chapters in the book to keep them reading through all this year's lessons and was on the point of checking the contents when he noticed that Hermione had her hand in the air.

Professor Umbridge had noticed too, walking up to the aisles, but to everyone's consternation, walked past the girl. The whole class discretely turned their heads as the woman passed and was surprised to see someone slouching next to the blond ninja with a letter in his hand, waving it casually back and forth. The other ninja was wearing a see-through mesh shirt underneath a dark green colored vest. He wore khaki colored cargo pants and the same sandals as Naruto. He had his dark hair tied up in a high ponytail and a frown on his face, one that Harry suspected is was his primary facial expression. When the Professor and the newcomer were face to face, Umbridge whispered, with the intent that the rest of the class wouldn't hear, "Can I help you, Mr…?"

"Nara. Shikamaru Nara." came the lazy drawl. He opened the parchment and showed her the Ministry seal. "I've just received a letter by owl from your government and as the leader of my team, I have some questions to ask you."

Ron shot a glance toward Harry and passed a note: 'He wasn't in the room when we came in right?' Harry shook his head, this was really strange.

Umbridge nodded in understanding, "Yes I am aware that the Minister has sent his greetings to you. But I cannot answer your questions right now, as I am in the middle of teaching a class and the business that Cornelius Fudge has with you are a private matter." Naruto looked over anxiously and muttered some Japanese in a low tone; Shikamaru brushed him off and persisted, leaning forward.

"The questions I will be asking are time sensitive and its imperative that I speak to you now."

Umbridge turned back to the front of the classroom, "I'm sure that you can wait till the class is finished," she said, perhaps to try and show her dominance and iron control of the room, and made to walk back to her seat. She stopped in mid-step. Sensing that something is happening out of the ordinary, the Gryffindors from the far side of the room pushed back their chairs and craned their necks, trying to see what is going on. It seemed like the teacher couldn't move, not her foot, not her arms, not her head, her eyes darted to her left and right as she shrieked out, "What spell is this? Release me!"

Shikamaru hadn't moved at all except for his hands, which had assumed some sort of position where one gloved hand partially overlapped the other. Parvati's and Lavender's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as they whispered and pointed to the ground. Naruto started snickering behind his hand. "Blimey," Ron muttered with a hint of awe. There was a small path of shadow, extending from Shikamaru's hidden position to Umbridge's shadow.

"Uncooperative," the dark haired ninja sighed, raising the tension in the room. "Troublesome. Fine, I'll just give you a message that you can take to the Minister: We don't appreciate any attempts to coerce us into joining any sides. Dumbledore hired us and he will be our only client until this mission is finished. It is highly likely that we will go back to our own world and never see you again. Should you, or the Ministry, force us to comply with your demands, then prepare for a diplomatic," here his lips stretched in a grim smile, "accident." His hands fell back to his side, the shadow receded and Professor Umbridge stumbled forward a few steps before straightening. "Good day to you, Umbridge-san." He made another move with his hands and disappeared in a small tornado of wind and leaves.

The class was stone quiet, quickly turning back in their seats to get back to Slinkhard's book, occasionally interrupted by a couple snickers and snorts from the remaining blond ninja that was still lounging at the back. Umbridge literally stomped all the way back to her desk and plopped herself down, a couple strands of hair have escaped from her bun and her face was red with either embarrassment or fury. The next few minutes of class was only punctuated by the turning of pages. Harry felt a small bubble of happiness in his stomach at the fact that Umbridge was intimidated by a kid who was his age. 'Just what powers do these ninjas have?' He was positive that they were hiding the majority of their abilities.

Surprisingly after another couple of minutes, Hermione found the courage to re-raise her hand. Umbridge glared with her beady eyes, but the girl didn't falter, "What is it, Miss Granger?"

"What is the relationship between the British Ministry and the Ninja Continent?" she dared to ask. The rest of the class froze in their seats, holding their breaths.

Umbridge's face turned even more scarlet, "I don't think that is any business of yours." She gritted out, at the end of her line.

Hermione tried to push further, "But with what Mr. Nara said, the two governments must cooperate in order to defeat the common evi—"

"I'll repeat myself again, there is nothing out there," was the curt interruption.

"But, the Japanese government seems convinced that You-Know-Who is out there," she protested.

Umbridge smiled nastily, "You-Know-Who is not out there Miss Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor and a detention with me tonight. You should not go around spreading false information." Hermione's mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish, tears started to prickle at the edge of her eyes. The rest of the class winced in sympathy. "Don't cry, dear," the professor cooed lovingly. "It'll just be a short lesson that we must not tell lies." Her eye moved over to Harry's who was almost shaking in his seat with rage.

"So the Ministry is being completely ignorant and in denial about a danger on our land while other countries are taking more steps for precaution that we are? Not too smart are we?" He asked hotly with his Gryffindor courage, diverging attention from his friend. The outburst was followed by one of the loudest silences Harry had ever heard. There was a single sound at the back; Dean later told him it was Naruto slapping his forehead. Then—

"I think another week's worth of detentions would do you some good, Mr. Potter," said Umbridge sleekly.

OoO

After detention, Hermione rounded on Harry, eyes glittering with controlled fury, "You said, 'just lines.' Why didn't you tell me that she was torturing you?" She was cradling her own right hand closer to her chest, the skin was raw but unbroken, unlike Harry's which looked like the cuts would open at any moment. "She's sick! We ought to go to McGonagall."

"No," Harry said at once, "I'm not giving her the satisfaction of knowing she's got to me."

Hermione looked even more stunned, "Got to you?" She parroted, "You can't let her get away with this! You still have a whole week with her."

"I don't know how much power McGonagall's got over her," said Harry.

"Then tell Dumbledore!"

"No," said Harry flatly.

"Why not?"

"He's got enough on his mind," said Harry, but that was not the true reason. He was not going to go to Dumbledore for help when Dumbledore had not spoken to him once since last June. He heard a small movement of clothing and peered behind Hermione discreetly, there was someone in the shadows, Naruto. "Look, you go down ahead," he said gently, "I'll head off to the Hospital Wing to see if Madam Pomfrey can offer me anything." Before Hermione could open her mouth to let loose a barrage of questions, he slipped around her and walked to the stairs.

OoO

Hermione, Angelina, and Professor McGonagall were all furious at him the next morning. Only Ron, who heard of Harry's lie through Hermione, kept him company as he tried to pull himself together and complete his mountain of homework. Luna, who slipped in some rosemary into his hand in the library, claiming that it was to help him defend a demon fox, didn't count. But he couldn't concentrate, not after the today's events. Every time he set his quill down to begin his essay, his eyes gravitated toward the unblemished skin over his hand, and Hinata's words rushed back to him.

"This is pure torture, Potter-san, since it's forced upon you and self-inflicted. I can only imagine what this is doing to you psychologically. Gomen, but the skin will still be tender and the quill will still cut deeper every time you go back, this is only a temporary reprieve. I won't be able to heal you if it cuts any deeper, my magic would start to directly interfere with yours." Harry smiled grimly. Great, it was something to look forward to.

OoO

It was nearly midnight when Harry left Umbridge's office that night, his hand bleeding so severely that it was staining the scarf he had wrapped around it. The detention had been earned during Umbridge's inspections of Grubbly-Plank's class, which the Gryffindors and Slytherins had together. Again, unable to control his temper, he had gotten himself another detention. With the quill etching deeply into his free-flowing wound, which was incredibly painful, he tried to keep his mind onto other matters: his dreams were becoming ever stranger, walking down hallways, trying to find something… Eventually, he had blanked his mind utterly, burrowing into himself as his hand robotically wrote, over and over, 'I must not tell lies,' 'I must not tell lies,' 'I must not tell lies…'

Naruto met him outside, but this time, instead of heading up the stairs, the ninja dragged him down. Alarmed, Harry asked, "Where are we going?"

The ninja turned around and gave him a calculated look, then trying to explain through broken English, "Too deep, Hinata-chan can't heal." He gestured to Harry's hand, "Hospital place out of potions, so we go down to potion room."

"What?" Harry shouted disbelievingly. He reached out to make Naruto face him, but Naruto ducked easily to the side, "Aren't you following me? Don't you know that Professor Snape hates me?"

Naruto shrugged, "Shikamaru sees; I don't, just think…er… hear." He sighed, as if fighting a losing argument, "Look, I take you there now. Teacher helps you, even if teacher hates you." And without another word, the blond tugged on Harry's wrist and lead him down to the dungeons who was tugging back, trying in vain to release the grip.

"You're mad," Harry informed his companion for the umpteenth time when they opened the door to the potions lab. The ninja merely snorted and dragged him to the office door which he knocked loudly.

"Snape-san! Snape-san!" The blond hollered. Harry fidgeted in his place; never did he imagine that he might one day come here without a detention, granted it was Naruto who dragged him here. The Boy-Who-Lived silently prayed that he might come out of this alive. Snape would probably take the chance to give him poison instead of a healing balm.

There were footsteps slowly approaching, and then the door opened, revealing a hooked nose man with dark greasy hair in a black robe. "You! What do you want?" snarled the Potion Master. His eyes moved from Naruto to Harry, "Mr. Potter, you must be well aware that it's past curfew."

Harry tensed, but Naruto remained natural, "Meh, he with me! We need… he need help, Snape-san!" The professor turned his attention to the ninja, delicately raising an eyebrow. Harry decided that Snape hadn't acted too nasty to him because he was probably also tired. Naruto held up Harry's right wrist, unwrapped the scarf, and dangled the hand in front of the man's face, explaining the circumstances with difficulty, "Since first Dark Art class day, every week day Harry write with a quill that uses his blood. You have potion to help, yes?" He inquired.

The man's eyes narrowed and muttered half to himself, half to his audience, "Blood quills are illegal outside of the Ministry, usually used in blood rituals. And yet…" After a moment of pause, he sneered at Harry, almost like he was reading Harry's mind but still continued to mutter, "Umbridge, however, is under the Minister's orders and not the Headmaster's. I'm sure that anything Umbridge does can and will be covered up by Cornelius Fudge." Without warning, Snape swept past the two boys, pushing Harry roughly to the side and opened a cabinet at the top shelf. He took a jar that in the dim light of the dungeons, looked like it held some pieces of flesh suspended in a yellow liquid and shoved it into Harry's arms, almost causing him to drop the jar.

"If you had been paying attention in my class, Potter, you would know that this is a solution of strained and pickled murtlap tentacles, ask Granger to verify its contents if you don't believe me." Harry was stunned. The greasy git was, despite the insults, helping him, "Soak your hand in that and make sure that I never see you two at this hour again." The office door slammed shut in the boys' faces, sweeping their hair back.

"Arigato, Snape-san!" Naruto cheekily yelled.

Snape had helped him. Snape had been almost pleasant to him. It took a while for Harry to overcome his surprise before hightailing out of the dungeons to the Gryffindor common rooms, clutching tightly to the jar as if it was his last lifeline. It was so strange that he might as well think of it as a dream.

OoO

Ron and Hermione, who had finally forgiven him, were waiting to discuss with him a plan to gather members for a club where he would be teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts.