Warning: I do not have copyrights to Harry Potter or Naruto. I am not making money off this fiction. Please do not sue me.

Chapter 6

Traveling for days on end was never fun. It was less fun when you traveled all day every day and only stopped when it was already dark. Harry and the driver were the only ones in the cart. There were some chests and scrolls but the Driver, who Harry recognized as one of the 'shinobi,' never took anything out of the cart and always shoved some type of dried bar consisting of nuts and grains and meat at Harry during meal time.

Meal time was taken in the cart twice a day and that was only time Harry was allowed to eat. If the Driver ate Harry never saw it. For the first few days that was a blessing in disguise because after puking up everything he had eaten for the last week there just wasn't anything coming up anymore.

At least the Driver didn't skimp on the water and he didn't seem to expect Harry to stay up all night and day like he was.

The Driver either didn't need sleep and was an insomniac or slept with his eyes open which if true Harry thought would be really creepy.

After about four days of constant nausea and travel Harry finally screwed up the courage to ask the Driver where they were going. The Driver didn't respond, maybe he was mute?

Once Harry got over the constant cart-sickness and the frantic unloading and reloading of the cart every dawn and dusk Harry realized there really wasn't anything to do.

They traveled so fast that Harry couldn't see anything in the woods besides trees and the Driver seemed to deliberately take the deer paths that barely allowed the cart passage because they never met anyone on the road. Which might or might not have been a good thing.

Harry hadn't given up on escaping the ego-centric and cruel people that had kidnapped him but Harry didn't know anything about this country beyond that same group.

Either way, by day seven of there journey through the woods, Harry was bored.

The Driver was not talking to him and nothing was happening. The food and water was the same thing all the time and there was nothing for Harry to do or work on. He could contemplate the various horrible ways that he could die or how he could escape or he could sleep but Harry didn't want to do that, he already did those things more than enough to be sick of them.

Harry had the unfortunate luck where if he contemplated how to escape or how he would die or what he wanted to happen in the future Harry usually ended living through the hypothetical situation that he had just contemplated.

Anyway, Harry was bored. To try and alleviate the boredom Harry started playing some traveling games that he used to do with his kids. I Spy didn't really go anywhere beyond I see something green and brown. Yea, trees… 20 Questions didn't go for more than an hour one day because you can only talk to yourself for so long before you started feeling like you were crazy. Tic Tac Toe wasn't too bad but after the last 47 ties it just wasn't any fun anymore. Hangman's Noose was boring because he already knew all the letters and he couldn't wipe his own mind, could he? Harry had a little more fun with the alphabet 'I'm Going on a Picnic With...' but after the fourth or fifth repetition it got harder to find twenty six different items for a picnic without going nuts.

After all of that Harry was still bored. And after getting smacked upside the head for bothering the Driver too much, or being too loud, or fidgeting too much, or breathing too much Harry didn't know what to do!

After several days of fighting to stay still and silent and trying not to let his mind melt out of his ears due to boredom Harry was almost ready to start contemplating drastic measures when he started to smell salt.

Harry wasn't crying, the Driver didn't seem to be crying? …No he wasn't showing any tears. Harry couldn't see anything other than trees but he did start hearing some seagulls by the time the Driver stopped for the night. The next day the salt and the seagulls were still there and by noon Harry could start seeing glimpses of blue through the trees on the right.

Was the Driver bringing them towards the sea?

That would be great!

The sea usually meant trade with ships and escape routes!

…But it also meant pirates and scurvy and diseases and rats and slavery and…yup Harry hopes they're not going to a port.

And they didn't seem to be. By the fourth day of following the coastline Harry and the Driver had been traveling for about twelve days and Harry was contemplating making a run for the cliff edge and just trying to take a swim.

But the one time Harry was able to sneak past the Driver and look over the edge of the cliff in the light of the predawn sunlight there was nothing down there but foam and rocks and waves that seemed to be reaching up towards him so they could drag him down to meet their watery embrace.

Yeah… no swimming for Harry.

However, one good result of the Driver taking the cart along the coast line is that every night after they stopped he would take a net and toss it over the cliff. After tying the rope down somewhere close to the camp but not in the camp the Driver would pull up a net full of crabs or clams or octopuses or sometimes fish in the morning and they would actually have something different to eat for breakfast then the hard bars!

Harry did enjoy the new views and the new food and the different smells and sights but after eight days of traveling along the coast and after getting bored of trying to hit the seagulls with rocks Harry was bored again. There was nothing to do!

Harry didn't realize how social having more the ten people in a group could be or how learning a language and skills from multiple people kept you from contemplating how freaking bored you were or the fact that you had nothing to do all day.

Harry was bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Traveling sucked.

Chapter 7

Harry shouldn't have jinxed himself.

The very next day, after Harry had curled himself into a miserable ball of boredom inside the cart and wailed his despair from the depths of his mind the Driver stopped the cart, got off and left.

At first Harry thought the Driver was going to go to the coast line and start casting nets and fish, as he had been doing for the past week or two. But the Driver went in the opposite direction of the sea, and disappeared among the trees.

Harry was embarrassed to say that it took several hours before he even noticed that the Driver was not returning, he honestly thought the Driver had gone for a bathroom break, which would have been a first for the whole trip!

Either way the Driver had proven that he was tough and Harry might only be six or seven years old but he knows some tricks to survive and the Driver had proven more the wily in controlling Harry. The Driver had controlled Harry and the environment well throughout the long trip and Harry had even been actively pursuing mischief towards the end. Thus the Driver couldn't have been caught in a trap, or animal attack, or ambush….

Harry decided that it might be in his best interest to find out where the Driver went exactly.

Peeing behind a tree or taking a dump behind a bush did not take several hours and if it does something is wrong physiologically with the person. Something might also be wrong with the situation but either way Harry needs to find the only native guide he has in this weird place and even if it is embarrassing he might need to rescue him as well.

…After several hours of walking Harry realized that walking into the woods, away from the cart and the deer trail they had been following and into territory that Harry had never seen before wasn't the best idea.

Harry was not lost and he was most definitely not bored anymore…he wasn't lost, he knew how to get back to the cart! Harry just needed to follow the tree trunks that he scratched with a knife…that he did not have on him. Harry cursed his old instincts that insisted he knew what he was doing and yet his youthful attention span continually tripped up his desire to follow his instincts.

Harry fell into despair and proceeded to grow some mushrooms under a large trunk in the hopes that his stupidity would transfer to something it would not immediately kill.

Harry didn't know how long it had been since he started growing mushrooms, his depression would at least have been useful for something! But he started sensing a presence growing stronger and stronger the longer he sat under the tree. Harry eventually turned around and was able to see a large and dangerous figure getting closer and closer to his tree. Harry froze and shifted his body in preparation of fight or flight.

Suddenly a pale face with long, dark hair and purple makeup dropped from above him into his face and obscured his view of the approaching figure while significantly freaking Harry out.

Harry jumped in fright from the drop scare and scrambled backwards, he didn't want to be that close to the freaky face!

Harry finally realized that the face wasn't moving when the guy, who looked like a girl, flipped gracefully from the branch above Harry and landed with impeccable grace in front of him.

Harry had long since buried himself in the thorny embrace of a bush that was positioned conveniently behind him and was disjointedly trying to untangle himself.

The man didn't seem to care that Harry was trying to escape him or that Harry was even struggling.

Harry was finally able to get to his feet and was shaking off the last clinging remnants of the bush from his clothes just as the hand of the man reached down to grab him.

Harry twisted and presented his side profile to the man as he prepared to run but the man was faster. He grabbed Harry's upper arm and jerked up.

Harry wasn't a lightweight but he wasn't as heavy as his cousin and yet that man lifted him like he weighed about the same as a book.

Harry stiffened and employed several tricks some of the 'shinobi' from the family group he used to live with had taught him. Such as twisting against the man's thumb, anchoring his legs against the man's midriff to gain leverage and stability, and even striving to bite the man's arm. None of these maneuvers seemed to work, the man even seemed to read Harry's mind before he finished each maneuver.

Harry was well and truly caught and he didn't like it at all.

The age of five to six is the age that most normal, magical children exhibit their first signs of accidental magic. Harry of course did his first piece of magic at three with the Dursleys' but here in this strange and dangerous environment he still hadn't produced anything. If Harry couldn't feel the hum of magic through his runes he would think that he had become a squid but if he really was a squid his magic wouldn't allow the runes to warm and shift in response to the environment and his needs. Harry really, really wishes that he could produce some accidental magic right now and just Apparate away from this creepy guy.

The creepy guy hasn't even said anything yet! He just picked up Harry by the arm, which is really hurting now by the way, and started walking into the woods!

'He's creepy and weird and I really don't want to be here with this possible child molester right now…so if I can go somewhere else right now, please?' Harry wished fervently towards his core, that he could feel in his thoracic cavity.

Nothing happened, same as it hasn't happened when Harry wished the Brat to catch on fire or the Hands eyeballs to fall out his head or even the wish that the Old Man would forget about him and his runes and leave him alone!

Harry continued to struggle for freedom and just as he was about to escape the man exited the forest tree line but it didn't look like it was anywhere near the coast line. For one there was this huge castle thing that reminded Harry of India that had vines growing all over it, and was that a tree growing out of the side of the wall? Either way the man was approaching this ruin and as they got closer Harry could see men, and women, with similar features to the man carrying him lingering in alcoves and windows. Harry could count fourteen at a first glance.

Harry was internally panicking. The kidnapper had brought him to his lair which was infested with his compatriots and they weren't looking too friendly.

Chapter 8

Harry attempted one last escape attempt because maybe these scary people were stupid enough to allow him to escape but they probably weren't but one never knew, right?

Harry was unable to escape, as expected, and as he was trying to wrestle with his creepy look-a-like captor, the guards that Harry had noticed lingering on the edges of the temple grounds had approached and surrounded the slowly advancing Creep Train.

Harry gave up. He had tried to escape the family unit and was unable to even leave the boundaries of the camp unless he was escorted by the 'shinobi' and he had tried to escape the Driver and been unable to even leave the camping grounds and now he can't even escape the Creep Train.

Harry was a failure of an agent of England, he couldn't escape his captors at almost 7 years old and with decades of experience behind him.

They had entered the atrium.

It was unnervingly empty. Where were the women scurrying to clean everything before the men returned to dirty it up? Where were the children that were constantly underfoot and screaming their existence into everyone's ears? Looking around as the Creep Train advanced deeper into the temple Harry uneasily concluded that he might be the only child here. Which is not a good sign.

Children were usually indicative on the mentality of the culture or the cult that raises the child. If the child is elusive and skittish that culture is probably fairly violent or fearful. If there is tons of children in view and they are all playing and screaming in joy then that culture is most likely very peaceful and loving, which can be a good thing but also can leave that culture open to violent attacks from other cultures that target the children. To have not children was indicative of extreme paranoia or violence so strong that it killed all the children that were once here.

But in this temple, as they traveled the empty halls and echoing rooms, there was not one child visible. Which really concerned Harry due to the fact that if they tried to kill him he would probably die, he couldn't even run away for Merlin's sake!

There were no children peeking around the doorway to see what the commotion was, no children racing fearlessly underneath the adults feet, no children sleeping in corners or on beds, nothing.

Harry was growing more and more alarmed, the Creep that held him in place on the Creep Train had yet to let him down and the other guards hadn't even looked at him before falling into place around him and the Creep. There was no children to be seen or heard except for Harry. The creeps looked very similar to Harry's first kidnapping group too which just made him more uneasy because he knew how intelligent they could be.

Harry didn't know if this resemblance was familial or if everyone on this continent looked the same, after all the Asian countries when Harry had lived on Earth looked very similar to each other.

The Creep and the guards marched into one of the biggest rooms to date. It looked like the jungle outside but Harry could see the stone ceiling through the leaves of the trees overhead and the guard's feet were passing over stonework that was so good that it seemed like a seamless flow of stone. Harry started squirming, trying to get into a more comfortable position when the guards started slowing down. That was bad, very bad. When the kidnappers arrive to their destination it never spelled good things for the kidnapped.

There was a throne… There was a man on the throne…if that wasn't the most pretentious thing Harry has seen since arriving here he didn't really know what pretentious was.

The Creep Train, still carrying Harry stopped at the foot of the throne and bent down onto one knee. For the first time since he was picked up Harry was within reach of the floor.

But there was nothing to grab onto and the stillness of the guards and the heavy weight of the stare of the Pretentious Guy on the Throne was making it more and more difficult for Harry to concentrate on getting away from the kidnappers.

There was a rustle of footsteps and clothe behind the kneeling guards. Creep still hadn't let go of Harry so started craning his neck around to see what was approaching from behind which was fairly painful and yet Harry was unable to resist the urge to figure out who was approaching.

After a while of fruitless twisting Harry was finally able to see the shadowy figure approaching, it was the Driver! Why was that abandoner coming into this huge haunted temple now? Was he coming to rescue Harry? Or maybe he was coming to accept his payment from the Throne Guy.

He sold Harry out, didn't he! Harry glowered indignantly at the traitor.

There was a softly scornful huff of air that escaped the Throne as the Guy commented, "Quite a rebellious thing, isn't he?"

The Driver drew level with the kneeling guards and bowed in reverence, saying nothing.

Harry switched his glower from Driver to Throne Guy and scowled dangerously at him…well as dangerously as a little kid could which wasn't very. As that thought coagulated Harry stopped his futile effort to intimidate Throne Guy and returned to trying to wrestle himself free.

"So, Elder Chinatsu stated that the little feral has some sort of seals on him? Seals that are not responding to the typical methods?" Throne Guy practically drawled as he gazed with heavy lidded eyes at the Driver.

The Driver bobbed his head up and down in what Harry understood to be affirmation.

"And what does this have to do with me? Take the child to the Masters and let them figure out his seals. Also, make him stop that insistent wiggling…he reminds me of a worm." This last statement was sneered through lips pursed in disgust.

Everyone before the throne seemed to bow deeper in acknowledgement and then stood as one and turned to the right.

They were approaching what Harry at first took to be a solid wall that slowly resolved itself into a cleverly hidden door.

The Driver cut to the front and opened the door with a respectfully lowered head. The Creep Train passed through the entranceway one by one till there was only the Creep left with Harry dangling in his grasp.

When the Driver had opened the door Harry froze and stared intently at the dark doorway. He could hear sounds of movement and inaudible voices with short bursts of clangs and bangs every now and then. Maybe there was civilization hidden in the walls? …That was really paranoid.

The Creep approached the doorway, the doorway to Harry's future.

Chapter 9

Ok… it seems that Harry's future consists of tunnels.

Which isn't that bad, tunnels were introduced to Harry when he was twelve and he discovered the Chamber of Secrets and since then he has been exploring and even living in them for decades after due to war and fame and work. Tunnels aren't that bad as long as you don't have a sense of claustrophobia which was beaten out of Harry by the time he was seven after all the Dursleys wouldn't tolerate a claustrophobic child who screamed every time he was shoved in the cupboard.

Harry has also found the other children and the women, the Creep Train delivered him to the kitchen, or what looks like the kitchen, and then disappeared into thin air…very creepy. The Driver had disappeared sometime during the transportation of Harry as well.

So, Harry was delivered into the hands of the Ladies of the house who then subsequently assigned him to another group of kids around his physical age group.

There was about five of them and of those five three were bigger then Harry and insisted on proving their seniority from the get go, usually by trying to shove Harry around.

Unfortunately for the kids Harry refused to become a doormat and as soon as one child tried to shove him off his feet Harry was pushing back…and biting and clawing and attacking any soft spots he could reach which weren't that many when you don't have a long reach but for six or seven year old kids Harry's reach was more than enough to make the trouble makers leave Harry alone.

But something that Harry did not expect to happen is that by beating down the troublemakers and ensuring his privacy and personal space he seems to have become the leader for the other children to look up to and/or bring their problems to.

After several instances of the children in his group complaining to him about getting no food or one of the other kids picking on them Harry went up to one of the silent caretakers that were always hovering on the edges of any room and brought up the kids concerns.

The Caretakers looked down on Harry with unnervingly blank eyes and stated in a monotone, "And what are you going to do about it?"

Harry was unpleasantly surprised.

In his previous group, the ones who originally kidnapped him, Harry thought that the indifference and the carte blanche way of parenting was only a symptom of Harry being the youngest child as well as being a foreigner. Here Harry was learning that it wasn't Harry, it was just how these people treated their children. This fact was starting to grate on Harry and his temper started simmering fairly early on in his stay.

Ok, he can understand teaching the children to survive on their own in the wilds, after all this nomadic lifestyle has surely lost or misplaced a child at least once or twice a year and by teaching them to survive they upped the chances of the children surviving this negligence.

Meanwhile, as Harry ruminated and watched the social dynamics of this groups the school group that Harry was placed in was being taught the written language, Harry hated the kanji with a passion, and the reading, taught by orders from on high of course, and the basic arithmetic, so you don't get cheated when working with goods and money, and of course the history of the clan and all the battles and wars the clan won, Harry could practically taste the propaganda when they went over the great and glorious history of their ancestors.

Harry thought that the fact that even a stray foreign kid was getting the same education as the biological children of the guards was a good indication of the mindset of this 'clan.' The skewed sessions towards how great the clan is and how evil everyone else is was also not only simmering Harry's temper but also grating on Harry's inherent curiosity and distrust of authority figures.

Just recently though, like within the past couple of days, Harry's group was being coached in things called 'katas' and they were being handed blunt knives and taught how to best stab and or swipe at another person, usually an adult, to cause the most damage.

This new training was being taught outside in a secluded glen and Harry could see other groups that were the same age as his and those older and Harry could see the progression of speed and strength as the groups aged up.

Unlike other groups Harry's seemed to consist of the runts and those who looked so sickly that they might well be liable to tip over and die at any moment.

Harry was angry and he was worried, he had yet to see any sick kids in the surrounding groups and those that he was sure had been sick or getting sick seemed to disappear within twenty four hours. Given the fact that he and all the kids he saw were eating rice and vegetables at least he knew they weren't unwitting cannibals.

The adults were no help and when he tried to hold a conversation to gather information from those older they just sneered at him and then attempted to hit him…most of the time they missed but Harry already had enough head blows to last him this lifetime and so he made sure to stay out of arm's reach of those he knew to be testy.

Hearing the whining of the children was irritating in the worst of ways and the fact that they looked up to some child that was the same age or younger than them caused Harry these pangs of grief that just made Harry angrier at these subpar adults that shouldn't even be caring for a goldfish.

Thus Harry strove to the best of his ability to make sure all the children got the correct portion of food and that the food didn't mysteriously disappear from their bowls to appear in another.

Harry strove to make sure that the children washed correctly and quickly at the end of the day and all scratches and wounds were properly cared for.

Harry strove to always find a protected alcove for all of them to sleep in a puppy pile away from the vicious pranks and hazing of the older children.

Harry strove to keep the children alive and yet he had already failed. Just yesterday the runt of the runt pack passed away in his sleep and Harry woke to find his stiff corpse buried under the other kids.

Harry was so angry he wanted to cry and yet he couldn't because as soon as the first bell rang the Caretakers came to collect the body and slap the other kids into position.

Harry hated this place. Harry hated these people.

Chapter 10

Hate is exhausting.

Over the course of the months and years that Harry stayed within those dingy, cramped tunnels Harry progressed from the basics of writing, reading, arithmetic, and history into writing copies of the books from the library, helping the accountants and sitting in on mass councils where the elders discussed politics and diplomacy throughout the continents and held meetings with other clans.

The katas and spars in the glen progressed to mass staging's of war as would be done against another clan, practice of procedures for specific situations – such as assassinations or theft or guarding or search and rescue – competitions between groups in return for rewards and prestige.

Harry's Runt Squad still consisted to six members in total with Harry having to defend his 'right to leadership' almost monthly. Unfortunately the original Runts were no longer among the living.

…As Harry grew older and stronger and saw past the masks of the animals that caged them more and more easily he saw the death and disposal of countless innocents.

He attempted to care and feed and save the few that he was allowed to speak for but even with his best efforts the harsh conditions and the careless disregard to the safety of the children was spread throughout this clan killed them more surely than Harry could save them.

The First probably died due to sickness or starvation, he was so skinny Harry couldn't tell.

The Second died during a spar with a separate group. All groups were taught to go for the weak spots of their opponent and this bigger kid just so happened to crush the trachea of the sweetest little boy Harry knew.

The Third most certainly died of sickness. The flu that was flashing through the kids that spring just seemed to sink into her lungs and never let go. She died drowning in her own blood.

The Fourth died during a survival exercise in the swamp when a gator grabbed her leg and dragged her under. Harry sought to violently pursue and save her but the others of the group dog-piled him and the Caretakers smacked them all back into position by the time night came.

The Fifth, the last original the one that probably broke Harry, died through carelessness. Sometime during their training all children were taught of poisons and their effects. How to make them and how to cure them… if it was at all possible. The Teacher for their introduction decided to teach them the dangers of poison by cooking them all lunch and telling them to eat. Harry's last Runt was only one of many.

Throughout this culling and torture the groups around Harry merged and grew and lost people and merged again. Harry was no different. The Caretakers lectured and harried and herded children into groups and told them they must survive and when there was a solitary child who refused they warned and then they almost invariably died.

The Loners who survived were given the respect and awe of prodigies and treated both more harshly and given preferential treatment.

After the Fifth Runt died Harry fought ruthlessly for the title of a Loner but upon seeing another Loner being conscripted as the apprentice of the visiting 'shinobi' Harry allowed himself to seamlessly blend back into the group.

Harry hated being singled out, being dragged in front of the Elders and Master of Sealing due to his tattoos daily was enough torture for him, thank you very much.

However, after several months of no progress they decided that Harry's parents were crazy and tattooed their son for religious reasons and thus he was useless and could be tossed back into the crèche.

Harry was thankful for that but due to the experience he began using the bandages amply provided and wrapping every exposed inch of skin. When Harry could find a still pool of water and he glanced into it he saw his long, dirty black hair, green eyes and a body wrapped like a mummy from Egypt.

But nobody else saw that his runes were changing. Harry still couldn't access their magic but they were changing and moving their position on his body as he grew. His anklets also grew with him but Harry could access the charms.

Unfortunately being in a crèche left little time for the individual to be alone and the few times Harry was able to access his potions he was only able to get a vial of Growth and several health potions before he had to conceal his charms once again.

After all Harry was constantly fighting to keep the food allocated to him and if there was even a hint of something different or expensive on him you can guarantee it wouldn't be with him any longer after a few hours of discovery.

Due to Harry's fundamental refusal to be a scapegoat, doormat or abuse victim he did always seem to eventually end up the leader of any group he became a part of.

This caused the elder children to both fear and envy him.

This caused peers of his physical age to either constantly challenge him or ignore him.

Because of the Caretakers herding and the constant mixing of groups due to losses and 'advancement' Harry did eventually end up with a group of five that seemed to refuse to die.

Two were a set of twins that were so identical they seemed to speak as one. They had the traditional look of long black hair, yellow eyes and purple eyeliner.

One was a huge brute of a ten year old that had a mass of wild crimson hair cropping out of his head and deep blue eyes that seemed to be soaked in sadness.

The last two was a brother and sister set that refused to trust anyone but each other. This caused them to be highly effective with each other but not so much with others. The boy was bald and refused to let any of his hair grow and the girl had braided her long silver hair back with barbed wire.

Harry was shoved together with the twins first and then the brother/sister were shoved in and finally the huge brute was dropped with them as a last addition.

The Twins had fought with Harry and he came out dominant while the Brute never fought Harry's rule he watched with wary eyes constantly. The BroSis had refused to acknowledge or listen to Harry till one group session resulted in Harry extracting the Brother from a sticky situation.

Harry was still hurting and he hated having these children huddled under his wings and he couldn't leave them alone.