Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Naruto or Harry Potter

Summary: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione find themselves reincarnated into the world of Naruto as the night of Naruto's graduation, they must learn to adapt in a world far more sinister than their own, a world in which death and destruction make the world turn, and in which the strength to kill is the only deterrent to war.

Author's Notes: Wow! Thank you to everyone for the great response to the first chapter – it's definitely helped in providing motivation for this one. :) More related to the story, though, things are now starting to change from canon. Not too drastically just yet, but the ripples are being formed. Magic won't exist in this world, but they may develop jutsus or techniques similar to spells in their old world. Now, without further delay, enjoy the second chapter!

Chapter 2: A Ripple of Change

Sasuke walked towards Team 7's training ground, taking his time as he took in the morning breeze to get his thoughts together. There was something about the cool air rushing past his face that made him sigh out in relief, the turmoil in his mind an ever-present reminder of just how messed up things were right now. Just how messed up he was.

There was a part of his mind that was Harry now, but Sasuke didn't know how far ingrained that part was. Just how much Harry was a part of him, or he was a part of Harry. He'd caught himself referring to that part as an entirely separate entity in the privacy of his own mind, but having such intimate knowledge of another life's memories and experiences had to have affected him deeply.

It wasn't quite that he was Harry, but it felt rather as if he now possessed a set of memories belonging to a part of him that he hadn't even known existed. A part that had a life completely separate to his own. He didn't feel like a man far past his youth. Sasuke still felt like…well, Sasuke. Just a jigsaw puzzled together Sasuke, as if he'd taken pieces of himself out and pushed some of Harry's own characteristics and personalities in to fill the gaps.

As he arrived, he noticed disappointedly that Kakashi still hadn't arrived. Moreover, Naruto was busy asking out an angry Sakura, who seemed to have developed hearts in her eyes as soon as she glanced over at him. Sasuke shuddered slightly. Kakashi's tendency to be late seemed to be a habitual thing, so after a pause of contemplation, he walked over to the side slightly, and pulled out a scroll.

The Uchiha library was filled with scrolls on jutsu, taijutsu kata, even more obscure genjutsu. Sasuke had only ever focussed on katon jutsu, with that being his clan's main element, but with Harry's memories had come a driving need to never be so helpless again. To learn everything he could as fast as he could and never again be caught off guard against an opponent he could not hope to defeat. Itachi was that for him. He was the proverbial Voldemort in a way that was so much more terrifying, because Itachi was also his brother. He'd adored his brother. Sasuke inwardly flinched at the memories of him toddling along after his older brother in hopes to be given some help with kunai.

A week ago, he'd have taken the massacre as it had seemed. He'd believed Itachi when his older brother had looked him in the eyes and told him that the murder of his entire clan had been to simply "test his limits". He'd believed that entirely, but now…now Sasuke wasn't so sure. Memories of Voldemort's past, Dumbledore's manipulations, of politics and power struggle – things were never as they seemed. And Sasuke was determined to find out each piece of this puzzle.

As he leaned back against the tree and started reading through a scroll on basic genjutsu release, he noticed in his peripheral vision that his other two teammates had stopped fighting to instead stare at him perplexedly.

"Hey, Teme!"

Sasuke sighed slightly.

"Dobe. I'm reading."

"Yeah, leave him alone, idiot!" he heard Sakura yell on his behalf, "At least Sasuke-kun's doing something useful! You should learn from him.

Now this was just ridiculous. And he'd had enough.

"Dobe, if you have time to question me when I'm obviously reading, then you have time to read yourself," he called, as he shoved a scroll of taijutsu kata into the blond boy's hand.

"And Haruno, I have already said that I don't appreciate fangirls. From his build and the rumors of his skill at stealth, I'd already say the Dobe was more advanced then you, at least practically. I have no need for a weak teammate. You'll just get yourself killed on the next mission."

His words were harsh, and he noticed her flinch back with each word he spoke. But they were necessary. She had to understand and grow up. Sasuke enviously thought of Neji's team. At least he had a skilled kunoichi on his team. He'd never realized just how much they'd taken Hermione's intelligence and capability for granted until he'd been saddled with someone so utterly useless. He'd barely survived in his past life (mostly on luck), and Sasuke had no intention of repeating those mistakes.

Naruto had glanced up at some point during his words and looked now to be on the verge of protesting, but Sasuke spoke again before he had the chance.

"If you aren't going to take being a kunoichi seriously, then you should quit this team now. There will be missions in which our lives are endangered, and we'll have enough trouble protecting the client and fighting against our opponents without thinking of protecting you as well. Konoha has no need for weak shinobi."

He vaguely noticed Naruto's mouth shut, and his blue eyes turn serious in contemplation, staring at Sakura with a kind of intensity Sasuke had never seen from him. He knew the dobe took being a shinobi seriously, even as unskilled as he was at this point, and if Sakura didn't…then this team may never work out. A week ago, Sasuke may just have left things as they were, continued to let Sakura play pretend and Naruto play pranks. He wasn't the same person anymore, now. Without Ron and Hermione, Harry would have never made it out of the war alive. He needed the same from his current team mates. And to get that, Sasuke was willing to change his approach a bit.

Sakura seemed to be on the verge of tears, her eyes gaining a filmy, glassy appearance as she trembled slightly at the scrutiny. She turned on her heel and ran from them, and he let her. Sasuke turned towards Naruto, and the dobe met his eyes.

"A bit harsh, ne Sasuke?" Kakashi's voice came out from above as he jumped down from a tree to meet them.

Sasuke shrugged lightly, "You didn't stop me."

"Maa…"

"If she comes back, we'll know if she's serious."

Naruto had been oddly quiet, and when Sasuke turned to glance at him, noticed the intensity warring with pity in his eyes. As enamored as he'd been with Sakura, he hadn't exactly been blind to her faults. Well, he hadn't been blind to all her faults. The pink hair was sort of a hard thing to let slide, after all.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke thoughtfully. He'd hoped Sakura would have lost her fangirl behaviour perhaps after her first kill or her first C-rank, but if Sasuke's words had made any impact, aside from scaring Sakura off, then perhaps this entire thing would be more beneficial. He had thought about stopping Sasuke, about ending the speech before it had even begun, but something had made him pause. He thought back to the Sandaime's words just yesterday.

"Suna and Kumo have become restless, and Jiraiya's spy network speaks of a new village. We don't know anything about it yet, but it may participate in the next Chuunin exams. There have also been whispers of a missing-nin organization, a strong one. I have a bad feeling about this. War is looming. Train them, Kakashi. We need our shinobi to be prepared, and our genins especially. There are more clan children in this batch than any of the previous batches.

Kakashi thought back to his team, a loud, unskilled dead last, an obsessive fangirl, and the last Uchiha, a head-case if anything. "I won't disagree with you Hokage-sama, but if I'm to train them, actually train them, then I'll need to do something about their lack of teamwork. I can't do that here in the village."

"What do you mean, Kakashi?"

The white-haired shinobi gave his superior a grim look, "Naruto is constantly looked down upon, glared at, and at worse, physically harmed by the villagers. Sometimes even shinobi. Sasuke has so many bad memories and so many people stupidly praising him for it, that all this will only cause his hate to fester. And Sakura…from her reports she's nothing more than a book-smart fangirl. She needs to see life outside the village. Hokage-sama, do I have your permission to take them outside of the village for training?"

The old man nodded, "You do, as long as you complete the required number of d-ranks." Most people thought the required number was one a day, but it was actually one a week, provided that each member of the team could feed themselves and pay their rent on the stipend. This would be a little difficult for Naruto, who often got overcharged for both rent and food, but Kakashi didn't think that would matter in the coming weeks.

D-ranks were more for team-building, but with his own dysfunctional team, Kakashi hardly thought that d-ranks would cut it. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to have some odd kind of respect for each other, but it didn't extend to actually trusting each other's abilities. Sakura's obsession with Sasuke, and Naruto's obsession with her, in turn, had created some kind of odd triangle that completely imbalanced things. He would need something more binding to promote their teamwork, and some isolation would unify them before they had to face the rest of Konoha as a team.

So he agreed, and began to plot out just how he would do this.

It was with that reason that he had arrived early today. Not early, he supposed, but not too late. He'd only been a half-hour late.

Now, Kakashi pondered as to the next step. He considered starting the first d-rank already, but without Sakura there wouldn't be much of a point. She would return soon enough, he believed. The academy report spoke highly of her academic grades, and while that didn't mean too much, it did mean that even as a civilian-turned-kunoichi, she must have worked hard to get to where she was, and wasn't likely to quit just now. They'd just have to wait for her. So instead, he started Naruto out on fixing his katas (how absolutely horrendous they were), making Sasuke fix all the minute details in Naruto's form. Both glared at him before getting to training, and some deeply hidden part of Kakashi thought it was almost cute.

Naruto snapped at Sasuke every time the other boy made a vaguely condescending comment, and Sasuke replied with a typical 'dobe'. Nevertheless, Naruto's form slowly improved with the Uchiha's small alterations, his balance and speed improving. Kakashi noted Sasuke's eyes travelling over the blond's form critically, taking in every twitch of muscle and every inch that was off. It was training for him as well.

Sasuke's sharingan, when he acquired it, would be capable of detecting details with a speed that no normal eyes could match. Most of the Uchiha Kakashi had ever met used this ability simply to react to their opponents moves quicker, dodging punches and avoiding kicks. They trained their bodies to keep up with their eyes, but rarely did they train their minds to do the same. Kakashi wanted Sasuke to eventually be able to predict moves in a sense, see the twitch of a muscle and know immediately what was coming. It was a skill that would use the abilities of the Sharingan to its fullest, without relying on the deceptive copying ability the eyes provided. Sasuke's build and abilities suggested that he would be a far better taijutsu specialist than a ninjutsu expert.

Naruto, on the other hand, was built for ninjutsu. Possessing larger chakra reserves than most jounin, reserves that would only grow with age, ninjutsu was an obvious choice. But ninjutsu alone would do nothing if the boy was unable to defend himself against taijutsu or genjutsu attacks, let alone fuinjutsu or any other branches of the shinobi arts. He would do well as a well-rounded shinobi who specialized in ninjutsu.

Sakura was somewhat tricky. He'd thought about teaching her the basics of iryojutsu, something she would be able to accomplish with her perfect chakra control, but the interesting condition in Sakura's mind made her especially suited for genjutsu as well, which would give him a perfectly well-rounded team. Her academy psych evaluations had spouted theories of a possible split personality, nothing major, but enough to perhaps even help Sakura. Genjutsu users had to be strong mentally, and with her incredible mind, Sakura could perhaps pull it off. Not to mention that genjutsu required less chakra than iryojutsu, which would make Sakura a perfect user.

He let the two continue the practice when Sakura didn't arrive to the training ground the next day. Kakashi then began to doubt his initial assessment of the girl, but she showed up the day after, minutes after Naruto and Sasuke had arrived.

"Uh…" Sakura began hesitantly, glancing at Sasuke who merely stared at her expectantly, "I'm sorry, Sasuke. And to you, Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei."

His eyes widened, noticing the lack of suffix.

"I didn't join the academy to become…this," she gave a nervous giggle, "I don't want to be weak. I want to be a part of this team, and becoming a ninja has been the best part of my life. I don't want to give this up." The words bubbled out of her mouth in a rush, and Kakashi wondered if she was even taking breaths in between.

"I know you think I'm useless, and you're right. I am. But I don't want to be anymore. I don't want to be protected, so I'm going to try my level best to pull myself up and become an asset to this team."

Sakura squirmed nervously at Sasuke's intent stare, before his face softened slightly into a smirk, "Welcome back, Sakura."

Naruto whooped and moved to hug the pink-haired girl enthusiastically, before his eyes widened and he retracted his arms hesitantly, eyes on her hands, expecting a punch.

She rolled her eyes, "Come here, idiot." She hugged Naruto, Sasuke watching from the sidelines with an odd, satisfied look in his eyes.

Kakashi couldn't describe the feeling adequately enough, but it felt an awful lot like a glow of pride, warm and uplifting. They were growing, his cute little genin. This was only the first step, and they hadn't achieved anything yet, but he could feel the faint stirrings of hope. Perhaps this team would be able to withstand the tides of war.

When Kakashi visited the memorial on his way back from team training that day, he paused as he looked down at the memorial stone.

"Goodbye, Obito. Goodbye, Rin. Sensei. It'll be a while before I can see you again. I'll have to step up their training, but I'll make sure this team 7 will be the best shinobi to ever come out of Konoha. None of these three will die or betray their team. I'll make sure of it."

He gave it an eye-smile, "Let me tell you about them…"

"Neji!" Lee's loud voice shocked him into attention as his spandex-clad teammate came bursting out of the bushes to face him, twigs and leaves still stuck in his hair. Neji had never been overly critical of anyone's hair, especially with Hermione's own memories in his head, but something about that blunt, bowl-cut made him cringe inwardly.

"Lee."

"It is time for another spar, Neji! I will definitely defeat you this time!" With that, Lee moved himself back into position, arms raised and fists clenched around kunai. Neji wanted to roll his eyes. He'd gotten somewhat tired of this routine, but just as he was about to brush Lee off, Gai barrelled in, jumping into the scene with his typical shout of "Dynamic Entry!"

His – or rather, Hermione's – parents had been dentists in his past life, but Neji couldn't fathom them ever being able to make someone's teeth so blindingly white as Gai's. The sunlight sparkled off of them as Gai gave them a wide grin.

"Now, now, my adorable genin! We have a mission!" His voice was loud, booming, and for the umpteenth time since he'd been given his old memories, Neji wished he could have teammates more like Ron and Harry. Ron had been loud, no doubt, but he'd been manageable, even during Hogwarts.

Immediately, Lee's already wide eyes widened further in adoration, turning to stare at Gai expectantly.

"Why weren't we given the mission at the Hokage tower, as we usually are?" Tenten questioned, coming out from behind Neji after having finished re-sealing all her weapons.

"This one is urgent," Gai gave his sparkling grin again, "We must purchase twelve boxes of pipe tobacco for the Hokage Tower. The youthful secretary at the tower requested that we bring it back immediately, so we must do our best!"

Neji wanted to slap his forehead.

"So pretty much," Tenten said, giving the only other sane person – Neji – a knowing look, "The Hokage's run out of tobacco and we need to buy some more." Her voice flat, the hint of disbelief on her features.

"It is a youthful mission, Gai-sensei!" Lee piped up, "Where will we be going?"

"Just off of the land of Tea. There is a farmer there who can provide us with our purchase."

Gai shot them all another beaming smile, "Pack for three days."

They split up then, Neji taking off for his clan compound. He entered his room and glanced around for his pack, lying in the corner already half-filled from one of his previous missions. Taking quick note of what he needed to refill, he rummaged through his cupboard when a small cough sounded behind him.

"Hintata-sama?" Neji turned, his voice becoming flat.

"N-neji nii-san," she stuttered out, pinking slightly in embarrassment. Something new in Neji twisted at the scene and he tried to squash it down.

"What do you want, Hinata-sama?"

"Are y-you g-going on another m-mission?"

It was odd. A week ago, he'd have never felt even the slightest hint of guilt for being so disdainful of his main branch cousin. And yet…now…he wasn't sure he was right to treat her so. Still, life wasn't fair. Fate wasn't kind. And though Neji had always wished to leave fate as it was, to not meddle beyond what he was given…some part of him now wanted more. Not only wanted, but was willing to finally do what was necessary to attain it. His freedom. His recognition.

He glanced at Hinata, still staring at the floor with her fingers pressing together in nervousness. She knew Neji had never particularly liked her. Had always been resentful of her position. Then why? What was it about his cousin that continued to keep her kind even when he put her down?

Even Hermione had never been like that. She had been compassionate, but had been equally vicious to those who had crossed her. Hinata was different. Soft and gentle, so desperate to gain her family's recognition but so unable to cause harm to do so. Neji had never had that problem, and so he had despised her. Despised that she lacked the will to do what was necessary and yet still sat at the Heiress of the clan, even as precarious as that position was.

"Yes," he stated, turning away.

"O-oh," Hinata pinked further, "Good l-luck. P-please come home s-safely."

Perhaps a week ago he would have sneered at her. Ignored her and walked out of the room. Perhaps… but Hermione had always been resourceful enough to work with what she was given. And Neji no longer wanted to bow to the whims of fate. He no longer wanted to accept that no matter how powerful, how skilled he became, his clan would always see him as a slave.

And even if Hinata was the only person in the clan who saw him any differently, the only person with any sort of chance to make a difference, perhaps his goal was not completely unattainable.

"Thank you," he bowed lightly, chancing a glance at his younger cousin.

She seemed utterly shocked. Eyes wide and face flushed, Hinata bowed back, a little lower than he had. It was perhaps slightly disgraceful for a main branch member, but if he continued to think in that fashion – as all the other clan members did – then he would get nowhere. So he nodded to her, lifted his pack, and walked out, for the first time feeling that perhaps fate was not enough to tie him down.

Shikamaru turned his eyes skywards, giving an absent glance to the clouds rolling easily by. Cloud watching. Easily his favourite hobby. Konoha had the most spectacularly shaped clouds, after all. His mind was only half on the clouds, though. It had come to his realization that he had never had to use his brain for true strategy before, though he had often contributed to Naruto's planned pranks or tried to come up with various ways to get out of trouble with his mom.

But now things were changing. Being who they were, three children in three separate shinobi clans of Konoha…there was no way that things would not get complicated. And for the first time, Shikamaru felt out of his depth. Strategy was his skill…the only thing he truly had to contribute. What use was he if he couldn't figure out what was coming?

Ron had always been that person. The one of their trio who had made plans in the background. His contribution to their schemes had never truly been acknowledged, and although this had irked him during Hogwarts, he had grown to appreciate just how much of an advantage that was. If no one knew how smart you were, what skills you possessed, then they would underestimate you.

It had been integral to his career as Head Auror. To know every facet of what the enemy planned and thought and plan six steps ahead. Harry had always been good at improvising on the spot, coming up with spontaneous plans that had explosive results. Hermione had always been frighteningly intelligent and skilled in her own way. Ron…he'd had very little to contribute in those early years before he had realized that he'd looked over his own skills as easily as everyone else.

But Shikamaru had never developed those skills, and although he possessed Ron's memories, he'd never had to plan in the same way. Never on such a large scale and never with such high stakes. This world was far different from their past one. Shinobi were smarter than wizards, more adaptable and far more ready to kill to protect their own.

He glanced off to the side, where Asuma was working with Chouji on a kata, having given Ino time to work on her mind techniques. Shikamaru had always been content to laze around, even during the academy. He couldn't do that anymore. He didn't have the luxury to be any less motivated than Neji, who had a clan to defy, and Sasuke, who had a clan to avenge. Especially if he wanted to protect those close to him.

My dream is to protect my family, my friends, and live until I can see a world in which all I have to do is stare at the clouds.

He'd always been the one who already had everything, the one who started out with the perfect life and slowly, over the course of several years, lost bit by bit. No more. He wouldn't just sit at the side and watch the people in his life fall apart. With a semi-mournful sigh, Shikamaru forced himself to his feet and moved to join his team.

"Finished cloud-gazing?" Asuma sent him a half-surprised look, clearly having expected that he would nap for some time longer.

Shikamaru shrugged, falling back into his usual slouch, "I suppose so."

If Asuma noticed something wrong, he didn't comment on it, "Alright then," he held a cigarette between his lips, "Let's have a team spar. Shikamaru, Ino, you go first."

Ino's excited grin grew into a smirk, "This should be easy."

She was underestimating him, Shikamaru realized with an odd feeling of satisfaction. A young Ron would have hated it, but in the Shinobi nations, being underestimated was perfect.

It was the first time they would see each other's capabilities, and this was likely what Asuma was going for. They had only heard of each other's clan-specific techniques in theory, but never seen them in practice.

Ino grinned viciously across from him, her hands forming into her clan's trademark seals. He stood, slouching as if idle, hands stuffed in his pockets. Though his eyes were observant. The Nara and Yamanaka clans were close, just as they were to the Akimichi clan. He'd seen the Mind Switching technique before. Just once, when he had been very young. Once was enough to know what the last seal would be, and since Ino hadn't had enough practice to blur through her seals like most experienced Ninja, it was easy to spot when the technique was going to be released.

Shikamaru waited until the last second to step aside, watching with satisfaction as Ino released her jutsu. He dodged effortlessly, watching as Ino collapsed onto the ground.

Asuma sighed, walking over to pick her up, "Well, that was quick. At the very least, it will teach her not to use that technique so casually in the future."

The Mind Switch was only good when you had an opponent immobilized, or at best, unaware that he was a target. If it didn't hit, Ino would be rendered unconscious and unable to protect herself. It was a reason the Yamanaka worked so well with the Nara clan, whose very ability was meant to immobilize. Akimichis served as effective protection since neither of the other two clans produced powerhouses.

"I would have thought the Academy at least taught the basics of strategic combat?" Asuma turned to them, glancing at Chouji as he snacked on a packet of chips.

"Not really," Shikamaru mumbled, letting Chouji fill in the rest.

"They didn't let us spar with Ninjutsu. Just taijutsu. Academy style," Chouji informed between bites.

"Huh," Asuma blinked, "That's…a little…useless." He sighed again, running a hand through his hair in the kind of way that Harry would have done, "Well, we have a lot of work to do, then. Shikamaru, Chouji, you're next. Ninjutsu, taijutsu, whatever works. Go all out."

Sparring against Chouji was significantly more difficult and it resulted in the big-boned boy knocking Shikamaru out with a powerful punch. When he awoke some time later, the Nara was understandably disgruntled. There was a pang of uneasiness that lingered at his loss. He'd just become a genin. It was understood that he was weak. Yet to remain unskilled for very long…Shikamaru wouldn't last long.

When he returned to his clan home later that evening, Shikaku raised an eyebrow at the resolved glint in his son's eyes, at the way his mouth was tilted down in stubborn determination.

"Useful first day?"

"Hmm," Shikamaru responded, "Dad. Let's go over that shadow technique you were talking about earlier."

Without waiting for a response, the younger Nara walked out of the home and into their courtyard and the adjacent training ground.