Hello again, my dear readers! Wow. I must say I am amazed by the response to this story :D *happy dance* For that, you guys get an extra long chapter today (which isn't really all that long, but meh). For those of you also reading On Her Majesty's Magical Service, updates will be slower than this, since I have much less written for that story than this one.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The honor goes to Rowling and Kishimoto.

Without further ado...

Chapter 2: Enter Naruto

Hermione stared at some point behind the old man's shoulder while he read and re-read the letter she had handed him some ten minutes ago. She was still a little unnerved by how much the old man reminded her of Dumbledore. But while Dumbledore had always seemed to be nothing more than a benevolent old man until he dropped the strict control he had on his powerful aura, there was nothing about Sarutobi Hiruzen that gave the idea of harmless. Not even in his old age could one confuse this old man with anything else than a seasoned warrior.

Grumbling something that sounded distinctly like "that crazy mahou user" he sighed and put the letter aside to settle his penetrating gaze on her.

"As I understand from this letter, you seek to settle here in Konoha."

"Yes, sir."

"May I ask why?"

Knowing she wouldn't be able to get by with half-truths and fibs, she decided to come clean. So she told him about the war, her parents and her cheating husband, about a magical society who refused to change even when remaining stagnant was what had caused the war in the first place. Her divorce had come through and now she desired a new beginning, not to mention that the possibility of learning new things in this world which was both a part and apart of her own excited her.

Sensing no lies, and sympathizing with the broken soul in front of him, he decided to allow the girl the chance of a new life. He had, however, like all shinobi, a hidden agenda. He had seen some of what Lovegood-san was capable of, and upon discovering it was the same energy shinobi themselves were capable of using, he had to admit he was intrigued. Some of the stuff would be an asset to Konoha shinobi and would give them a much needed edge over the other villages.

"Very well. Lovegood-san informs me that you are very well off economically and have brought some gold bars to exchange for our local currency. I'll have one of my ANBU escort you to the bank so you may exchange some for ryo while I go through the deeds of some of the unoccupied residences that may suit your purpose. We shall meet back here in two hours." Not a request. Hermione nodded and waited for one of the ANBU who guarded the Hokage to lead her to the bank. She gave an internal chuckle at the thought of being "well off". True, the Ministry had gifted her, and Harry and Ron among others, with quite a sum for her role in the defeat of Voldemort, and her own modest lifestyle and luck while investing had more than tripled said sum. Even when she had married Ron and he had moved into her flat she had managed to manage her spending, something he had always complained about, after having squandered his own settlement in brooms, parties and, she now suspected, women.

A quick trip to the bank later and she was now the proud owner of a Konoha Bank account filled with enough zeros to buy her a house and allow her to live modestly without doing much work for a few years. Not that she would ever not work for a living and just spend that money, but she could do with a vacation. That's what she was here for, wasn't it?

Her ANBU companion had yet to say a word, and she wasn't feeling very talkative, so she enjoyed the silence and took the chance to look around the village. First word that came to mind was quaint, but that wasn't quite it. It had a feel like Hogsmeade, but not really. Walking through the market she could see the shinobi making purchases. She almost stopped cold when she saw a team of three young shinobi carrying groceries. They couldn't be much older than she when she started Hogwarts! From what she recalled from the journal, which she would read again at the first opportunity, only shinobi who had graduated the academy and were thus considered adults wore the hitai-ate with the village symbol.

"Excuse me, ANBU-san?" He made a noise to let her know he was listening. "Just how old are those… shinobi?" She was about to say children, but figured that since they were considered adults, she could at least refer to them as such, even if in her mind they were still children.

"My guess," he said. "Would be between 13 and 14 years old, Mahou-sama. The newest generation won't graduate for at least six months, and most shinobi graduate by the time they are 12. I'd say they are from last year's generation." She nodded in thanks to his response and started following him back to the tower. When they were almost there, they saw a crowd of about 10 people tripping and trying to run after a tiny orange blur that almost knocked Hermione to the ground. The ANBU had, of course, jumped out of the way before the blur could barrel into him. The crowd, who all appeared to have had their legs tied together with some rope were screaming abuse and falling over each other only to get back up trying to get to the one who had pulled the prank. After they were through, Hermione turned to her ANBU escort.

"Is this kind of thing normal?"

"Sometimes. That was Uzumaki Naruto. He's an orphan and a shinobi trainee who enjoys playing pranks on people instead of utilizing his time to train or study."

"Ah." Ah, indeed. Being smarter than most, she could see that the kid's pranks, much like the twins back home, were most likely a cry for attention. She wondered what would make him so desperate for recognition, but on the other hand, most orphans suffered through the same. She had seen that enough in the orphans the war had left behind.

"By your leave, Mahou-sama." The ANBU said, before doing a seal with his hand and vanishing in a swirl of leaves. She entered the tower on her own and settled to wait on the Hokage's secretary's office to be called again. After a few minutes Hermione was shown in to the office once again. She left a copy of her bank statement in front of the Hokage and perched herself on the seat in front of his desk. She noticed the slight widening of his eyes when he read her statement, but made no further comment.

"I've compiled a list of possible properties you might be interested in, Mahou-san, if I may call you that. Your name is quite a mouthful, I must say." He barely waited for her nod of agreement before continuing. "They are all located near the edge of the village, which in case of an attack is a disadvantage, but given what I know of your abilities, I'm quite sure you'll be able to protect your property adequately. Now, these properties," he said, handing her three pieces of paper, each with a photo attached. "Are located near our library. While most of it is inaccessible to civilians, I'm sure we could come to an arrangement where you could share the discoveries of your studies in exchange for permission to study some of the texts only available to shinobi. After all, while not strictly the way we do, you can use chakra yourself."

Smiling at the old man's craftiness, she nodded and studied the three pieces of paper. One was a flat, which she discarded immediately. She wanted a proper house, with a garden and lots of space. Her gaze settled on a property that was just around the corner from the library.

It was a medium sized house, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office, kitchen, dining and sitting room. One more room than what she wanted, but she could work with that. It also had a fair amount of land in which she could build a shelter to serve as a potions lab and still have enough room for a garden. The asking price was a bit higher than the other two properties but she could afford it easily. It needed a bit of repair but she could probably handle most of it with her wand and the books on home repair she was already thinking of asking Luna and Ginny to order for her back at home. It would do nicely. She presented her choice to the Hokage who told her he'd contact the owner so they could finalize the transfer. He would direct her to an Inn while they got that settled and the house was made fit for habitation again.

Hours later she was sitting at the table in front of the kind faced chuunin who owned the property she was set on acquiring. His name, the Hokage had told her, was Umino Iruka, and he was the last of his line. The house had belonged to his parents who had died in an attack on the village a little over nine years ago and had fallen in disrepair since he had never had the heart to live there again. He had only put it up for sale around a year ago, but she guessed not many people had use for a house that size.

"The Hokage tells me you are interested in buying the Umino residence, Mahou-san."

She swallowed the bite of ramen she had in her mouth and helped herself to some juice before answering. "Yes, Umino-san. I've recently moved to Konoha and am looking for a residence to suit my needs. Your property is ideally located and has more than enough space for my intentions. As it is, it needs serious work in terms of repair, but I should be able to handle it without much fuss. Hokage-sama told me it used to be your family home?"

A shadow crossed his face, but was gone almost as soon as it appeared. "Yes, Mahou-san. In fact, it has belonged to my family for generations, but I'm the only one left and it is much too big for my taste." Of course, there was also the fact that he couldn't set foot inside the house without feeling the pang of the loss of his family all over again, but he had no reason to tell her that. After they were done with dinner, they settled themselves to the negotiations for the property, during which Hermione learned she could contract a team of genin to help her renovate the house and even build the shelter she wanted on the grounds. This alleviated her concerns over the use of magic to fix it, since she knew wizards weren't really all concerned with how the property ended up looking after magical repairs. She loved the Burrow, but she had to admit she wouldn't want to live in a house that looked like it was only held up by unnatural forces on the outside. After a bit of haggling, both were left happy with the final price, Iruka adding a very sizable sum to his own accounts and Hermione free to start looking for a team to help her do the renovations the next day.

Since it was such a big project, in the end she had to pay for three genin teams who would come around daily for two weeks to do all the work she wanted done on the property. Since it involved low to no risk of injury they were only D ranked missions, which was fine by her, as the higher the rank the more expensive the missions were. The first thing she ordered refurbished was the kitchen and pantry, after which she stocked up on food and beverages and provided the genins and their jounin with lunch. At first, they told her it wasn't necessary, but she insisted on providing them with meals while they worked for her, so they took to her sandwiches and other foreign meals with glee.

After that, it was the main room with its bathroom and the office, where she would disappear while the genin worked on other areas of the house until it was time to make lunch. By the end of the first week, she had moved into the house and had started going round every place in Konoha that sold furniture and other essentials, purchasing whatever struck her fancy and would go well with the vision she had for her new home. Since the house lacked a library she divided her sizable collection between her study, which housed the more esoteric texts under lock, key and wards; and the sitting room, which had a glass pane covered bookcase which spanned the whole north wall. By the end of the two week period, her house was looking almost new and the small shelter that would be her potions lab was finished. She contacted the people who had sold her the furniture she had yet to pick up to have it delivered the next day and settled herself to sleep. It was a good start for a great new life, she mused.

~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~

The next months passed without much fuss, and Hermione settled herself into a routine. She would tour the village in the morning and every three days she would go to the market and buy fresh groceries. When she got back home, she would check on her long-term potions and maybe brew some of the less time consuming ones. She was stocking up on all the healing potions she knew, which were quite a few, intent on maybe starting a business selling them both to shinobi and to the village hospital. She also had a batch of Veritaserum going, which she would gift to the Hokage as thanks for helping her settle in. She was sure he'd find good use for it. After that, she made lunch and on the afternoons, she studied either magic or one of the tomes she had borrowed from the Konoha Library. She was particularly interested in the tomes and scrolls about fuinjutsu since it was very similar to Ancient Runes, the subject she had been getting one of her masteries on. She was actually halfway through her final project, for both Ancient Runes and Transfiguration before she decided to move. So far she'd found that some things possible with fuinjutsu were impossible to replicate with Ancient Runes, and the same applied the other way around. Also, some things possible with both were more effective with one rather than the other.

Finally, the evenings were dedicated to having dinner, usually either leftovers from lunch or take out from one of the many restaurants around Konoha and a bit of light reading. She also made a point of dedicating two evenings a week to work on her masteries and practicing magic in general. She didn't want her hard earned skills to get rusty, after all.

And so Hermione's life in the Elemental Countries started. While she didn't go out much, she enjoyed herself immensely. Time passed and before she knew it, she had been living in Konoha for two years…

~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~

It was during a warm morning when she was just walking around that she ran into Naruto again. She had not seen him since that morning she arrived, since she barely ever ventured to the Hokage's Tower and she lived on the other side of town from the Academy. The boy had just rounded a corner at top speed while looking back and hadn't seen her, leading to him barreling straight into her, dumping them both into the ground. The villagers who had been chasing him rounded the corner after him and, upon seeing him sprawled over the unlucky witch, started yelling abuse at him.

"You, demon! Get off from Mahou-sama! How dare you!"

Naruto jumped at once off of her and started apologizing at once. He had heard about Mahou-sama, the witch who had moved to Konoha from the Outer Lands. Who hadn't? While she remained a recluse, the rumor-mill had been abuzz for months after she'd arrived. Everyone had at least heard of her, and it seemed most civilians, at least those who minded the shops she frequented, recognized her. Hermione, however, just smiled and assured the concerned citizens she was alright. A wave of her hand had the dirt that now covered her pants and shirt flying away to settle on the ground. Another wave and the dirt covering Naruto, which was much more, followed suit.

"Mahou-sama! Don't concern yourself with the demon! He's no good, I assure you, and not worth your attention," said one of the villagers.

Her temper sharpened when she saw the hurt look the boy had upon hearing those words. "Demon, Sato-san? I see only a child in dire need of a good meal and new clothes. Tell me, what has this boy done to be treated to such a name?"

Sato-san, from whom she got her fresh fruit for the week was about to respond, but thought better of it when he saw her furious expression. While he didn't know the full extent of her abilities, rumor had it she could do things shinobi could only dream of. Information from the outer countries was sketchy at best, but Hermione was not above using such reputation to protect the child. "I'm sorry, Mahou-sama, but the de—the child poured a bucket of glue on Ryo, and then followed with a sack of feathers! My poor Reika will cry when she sees her puppy."

"Is this true?" She asked with a sharp glance at the boy whose head was now bowed.

"Yes, Mahou-sama."

"Then apologize to Sato-san. That is no way to treat a puppy."

"I'm sorry, Sato-san," he mumbled.

"I didn't quite hear that."

"I'm sorry, Sato-san," he repeated a bit louder.

"Good. Now we will accompany Sato-san and undo what you did on his poor puppy. After that, you and I will have a talk, kid." He was about to protest but shut up upon seeing Hermione's gaze.

"Yes, Mahou-sama." The subdued kid followed behind Hermione and Sato-san until they got to his fruit stand. There, he saw something that broke his heart. The puppy, whom he had joyously pranked not half an hour ago, was whining while trying to scratch the feathers he had glued to his fur. There was a red tint in places, where the scratching had obviously drawn blood.

"You see this, kid? This is the consequence of your actions." She waited for him to nod and look properly repentant, which frankly didn't take much before putting the puppy to rights. She whipped out her wand and vanished both the feathers and the glue from the puppy's fur before healing his injuries and conjuring a chew toy. "There you go, Sato-san. Good as new. Now, this won't ever happen again, won't it, kid?" She had to ask the kid his name; she couldn't keep calling him kid, after all.

"No, Mahou-sama."

"Now, I want you to explain to Sato-san why it was that you did this." She noticed that the kid paled at this. Seeing that neither the kid nor the shopkeeper wanted to talk in front of her, she huffed and left the room, but not before tagging a vase with a Listening Spell. She would be able to hear, but they wouldn't know about it. What she heard, though, had her wishing she had stayed so she could tear into Sato-san. Unless he promised the conduct wouldn't be repeated, she certainly wouldn't be buying fruit at his stand anymore. She had no patience for bullies, in whatever size or shape.

"So, de—kid why'd you do that to my Reika's puppy?"

He mumbled something that the shopkeeper didn't quite hear. When asked to repeat, he said it louder. "Cause you didn't wanna sell me fruit last week and then only agreed to sell me some over-ripe pieces at an over-priced rate." Sato-san was floored. Sure, he remembered doing that. He did it all the time, since he didn't like the demon-spawn, but he had never thought that that was the reason he got targeted by his pranks. And now that he thought about it, with Mahou-sama's yell about him being a half starved kid still ringing in his ears and a tiny bit of fear about what the witch would do if she ever found out, he realized he really was a half-starved kid—with a demon inside. And if charging him the correct amount and being willing to sell his produce would make it so he wasn't targeted by the kid's pranks anymore, he was, grudgingly, willing to do that.

"Listen to me, gaki, we'll make a deal. I sell you fresh fruit at the correct price and you don't prank me anymore, got it?" Really, he wasted more money fixing his stand after one of his pranks than what he would loose from overcharging overly ripe fruit. He barely ever came by to buy, anyways. The look of utter joy on the kids face made him feel a little bit bad about it, but on the other hand, the kid was the Kyuubi, the demon that had almost destroyed Konoha eleven years ago. Sending the kid on his way, he turned back to pet his Reika's puppy. He usually didn't have it with him, but today he was due some shots at the Inuzuka Vet Clinic, so he had taken him to work before he swung by there after his work hours. He barely noticed when Hermione walked back into the room.

"If I ever hear of this happening ever again, you'll receive a call from me, Sato-san." He was about to thank her when he realized she wasn't talking about the kid pranking him, but about him overcharging his prices. With a subdued nod, he watched the strange witch walk out of his shop and start making conversation with the kid.

"So, kid, what's your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Mahou-sama, and I'm going to be Hokage one day, believe it!"

"Really?" She said with a smile as she led them both to a restaurant. They didn't sell any ramen, Naruto knew, which was why he had never eaten here, aside from the fact he probably couldn't afford it. "How big of you, to want to protect all the people of Konoha after the way they treat you."

He tilted his head to the right. He had never really thought about it that way. He only wanted recognition. He told her so and watched how she frowned at his admission. "But, Naruto-kun, isn't the job of the Hokage to protect his people and lead Konohagakure no Sato into being the strongest Hidden Village? Why would you want to be Hokage if not for that? You can get recognition doing other things." He thought deeply on this. She was right, as Hokage, he was to protect the people. People that treated him like trash. And yet, his desire didn't change. He had precious people in Konoha he wanted to protect. There was the old man Hokage and Teuchi and Ayame from Ramen Ichiraku and Iruka-sensei who always had a smile and a kind word for him.

"I still want to be Hokage, Mahou-sama! I want to protect my precious people!" He saw her smile at this and then point at an item on the menu, assuring him he would like it.

They waited in silence while the server brought over their food. To his disappointment he saw that what he had ordered was a dish made of meat and veggies, all mixed together. Not one noodle could be seen in the whole thing. Catching her expression, he settled to eat without any further comments and was startled to discover it wasn't half bad. "So tell me, Naruto-kun, what is it that you're doing to realize your dream?"

"Huh?"

"What are you doing to become Hokage?"

"Well, I go to the academy…"

"And you're top of the class, I assume."

"Well… no." It had never bothered him before, but it did now.

"The top ten, then? There are always people better at some things or others, of course."

"Not… really." He stared at her raised eyebrow in trepidation. "I'm… dead last."

Instead of laughing at him or making fun of him for being dead last and wanting to be the Hokage she just pinned him with a sharp look. "That won't do, Naruto-kun. If you want to be Hokage, you have to be the best there is. Being dead last in the academy is not the way to go." Her voice was soft, but he could still hear the reprimand behind it. "This is what we'll do. Every day after the Academy you'll go over to my house and we'll review what you learned that day to make sure you got it right. You'll have to pay lots of attention since I don't know much and you'll have to teach me, alright?" Seeing his nod of agreement, she continued voicing her plan to him. Why she had such an urge to help him, she didn't know, but she could feel it in her bones: this kid needed all the help he could get and he wasn't getting it from the village. Since they weren't stepping up to the line, then she would do it. She had learned in her stint in the Department of Mysteries to listen to those feelings, it was usually her magic warning her of things to come. She resolved to talk to the Hokage about getting a tutor for the boy that would help him in the other ninja arts that she couldn't help him with, mainly taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu, as well as bukijutsu. She smiled at seeing Naruto happily eating his meal and resolved to also give him a calendar telling him what he should eat. She guessed she'd have a tough battle on that one, but she was sure she would be able to convince the boy. If he wanted to be Hokage, he had to be strong, and he couldn't do that while surviving on ramen.

~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~

"Why are you so interested in Naruto, Granger-san?" The Hokage had come to like the witch in the two years she had been living in Konoha, and it had almost nothing to do with the wonderful gift of that clear truth potion she had presented him shortly after she arrived, nor the other brews she provided for the hospital from time to time to use on their more extreme cases. She was nice and a great conversationalist, as he had come to appreciate the few times he had had time to converse with her after she had settled in her home. She was very bright and had a desire to learn he had not seen since Orochimaru, but without the psycho- and sociopathic tendencies. She had a strong moral compass and he was sorely tempted to offer her shinobi training, if only to have her teach in the Academy later. He was sure the students would benefit immensely, much like how they did with Iruka. But now she was asking questions about Naruto, and he had to stop thinking like Sarutobi Hiruzen and start thinking like the Hokage of Konohagakure.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at his tone. The question, while innocently phrased showed that there was something special about Naruto. Acting as if it was nothing more than polite interest on his part, though, she gave her reasons. "I ran into him the other day, or rather, he ran into me, knocked me to the ground. After we set straight the matter of an abused puppy, I treated him to lunch where he told me of his dream to become Hokage." She saw him sigh at this. Apparently, Naruto had also told the old man of his dream. "That boy, he has potential. I can see it. His drive will lead him far. I have no doubt he will be able to become the Hokage one day, but he has a long way to get there. His eating habits are unhealthy, and certainly detrimental to both a growing boy and a shinobi in training. From what I've been able to determine, his instructors at the academy don't pay any attention to him, letting him learn things by picking up whatever explanations they give and never correcting him like they do the other students. Being such a ball of concentrated energy, he has trouble in the lectures, which leads to him not paying attention and not knowing the material, be it the theory behind practical things or his other classes. He is being sabotaged by his own teachers, and while I don't know the reason for that, I certainly cannot abide by it. This week and a half where he has been "teaching" me what he learns at the academy has proved that he has learned nothing from what was taught before, so I have taken it upon myself to research the topics in the library and tutor him as much as I can, but I cannot do that on taijutsu, nor any other ninja subjects. He needs a tutor who will not scorn him, nor would lead him astray. He will graduate in less than a year if he passes the test, and I'll do my utmost to see he does, but he will not be prepared for the life of a shinobi with the kind of training he has had."

"That's all very worrying, Granger-san, but still does not explain what your interest is in the boy."

She sighed. "He reminds me of my best friend back at home. Harry had an awful childhood and was left in the dark about serious information which affected his life. He had a horrible burden to bear and was ill prepared when the time came for him to take up the mantle. While maybe Naruto does not have such a burden," the Hokage winced internally at this, "his childhood has been needlessly cruel and he is being thrust into a life that, if he goes to meet it like he is now, will most likely kill him. I do not wish to see another child go through that again." Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose, debating how much to tell the woman. He certainly saw her point, and knowing what he did about the Kyuubi, he knew better than she that the boy needed the best preparation possible. He hadn't known about the sabotage his instructors had heaped on the boy, if he had, he would've taken action sooner. He had just thought the boy was lazy. It was crucial, both for the boy and Konoha itself, that he learn as much as possible in the academy. If he didn't know how to master his chakra, then the Kyuubi might break free of its chains one day, and that would not do. In the end, he decided to tell Hermione everything.

After making it clear that this was considered an S-class secret and that speaking of it was punishable by death, he told her about the Kyuubi, the attack on the village and the Yondaime sealing the beast inside his son: Naruto. To say Hermione was shocked was an understatement, but that shock soon gave way to anger and then to fury. It was soon clear why.

"Naruto knows nothing of this?"

"No. The law was made to ensure the children of this generation wouldn't regard him differently and hopefully allow him to have a normal childhood. I always intended to tell him upon his making genin, or maybe chuunin, but you can see that is not the case."

"He deserves to know, Sarutobi-sama." She surprised him by calling him by his name. She had always addressed him as Hokage-sama until now. "I know you wanted to wait, but withholding such information can lead to nothing good. Allow me to tell you a story. Almost twenty-five years ago there was a war in magical Britain…"

In the end, the Hokage agreed to tell Naruto his story upon graduation from the Academy. He was adamant that he be recognized as an adult first, as it would lend seriousness to the matter which otherwise Naruto may not appreciate.

AN:

There you have it. Chapter 2 of Witch hidden in the Leaf. Hope you liked it, I certainly enjoyed writing it. There's a small timeskip in here, main reason is I'm really really bad writing feelings and stuff, so I don't really want to deal with throwing Hermione into a relationship with Kakashi while she is still raw with hurt. She will still have issues, as will he, but it will not be the MAIN focus.

Also #1: I always thought that Naruto was never aware of how much his pranks would affect people, mainly because of the lack of an adult in his life, so Hermione here shows him that sometimes not all pranks are funny for all involved.

Another also. Also #2: I see magic, in this story, as the spiritual part of Chakra (what monks, if I understand it correctly) use. It's applications are vastly different to what shinobi do, though they *can* learn, with a lot of practice. Like I mentioned (I think) some things can be done with Magic that can't be done with chakra, and vice versa, but both are equally potent. I always felt Magic in HP didn't get used to it's full potential, so Hermione here will be a little bit more overpowered than what you might see in the books. Not Mary-sue by any standards, but much better and much more dangerous.

To end this long AN, I thank you all again for reading and your support. Reviews are like cookies... You can never have enough!

Cheers,

C.