AN: Chapter Three here, sorry about the delay, but illness and work are yet again trying to kill me (receiving a place at Oxford has not meant my teachers are giving me any less work)
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything, but my friend did bring me back a copy of the Deathnote movie from Hong Kong
Chapter Three
Albus Dumbledore knew that there were certain habits he possessed that some people found very amusing for reasons he had yet to identify – his manner of dress was one of these peculiarly hilarious habits that he seemed to possess. However, this was the first time in his life that he had ever been so absolutely certain that someone somewhere was laughing at him.
When he had finally reached the tower that he had been assured contained the office of the Hokage, it had taken another three quarters of an hour before he had eventually been admitted to see Sarutobi. Although some of this time was actually taken up in ascending the large number of levels until he reached the Hokage's office, most of it was wasted in yet more security measures from the implacable masked guards at the entrance to the office.
On finally entering the spacious office, Dumbledore had hoped that, after brief pleasantries, he could declare his intent and Harry, or Hideaki, as he was calling himself, would be summoned, upon which he could take the boy with him and leave the village, hopefully never to come back. Instead, Sarutobi had distinctly ignored him for five whole minutes and then had taken up ten minutes exchanging useless pleasantries. Then, instead of resolving the matter simply by summoning the boy, Sarutobi had suggested that he accompany Dumbledore to 'Hideaki-kun's' apartment.
So Dumbledore found himself yet again walking through the streets of the village towards where he had been assured Harry was living. As he followed the Hokage through the labyrinthine streets, he had to hide his amazement at the barbarity of the life of the village. Everywhere he looked there were people carrying weapons and shops selling weapons and blacksmiths for making and maintaining weapons.
Furthermore, children who could not have been older than second or third years at Hogwarts raced through the streets, bedecked with weapons and wearing the headband with the strange symbol that he knew to denote the ninjas of this village. The respect towards Sarutobi and the suspicion directed towards himself was obvious, every person they saw stopped immediately to bow respectfully to the man and cast suspicious glares towards himself.
After passing what appeared to be a school where children as young as seven were being taught the location of vulnerable points on the body and how best to throw knives at a human-shaped target, they came at last to a quieter region of the village. Here, the people walked more sedately, although they stopped immediately to bow to the Hokage. More telling about the area was the frequently repeated motif of a strange white and red fan.
Eventually, Sarutobi came to a stop in front of a modestly presented building and entered through the front door, stopping to exchange pleasantries with a few people in the halls, many of whom bore the strange motif from outside on their clothing. Sarutobi came to a stop outside of an unassuming door on the fourth floor, where he promptly and precisely knocked.
Sounds of a responding scuffle just inside the apartment made Dumbledore start in concern, but Sarutobi just smiled indulgently, a smile that widened when the door was snatched open by a very familiar looking blonde haired boy, grinning like a maniac. When he saw the Hokage standing in the doorway, not immediately noticing Dumbledore, his grin widened and he muffled a laugh while he said,
"I swear, 'jiichan, whatever it was, I didn't do it."
While the Hokage beamed at the grinning boy, a scowling dark-haired boy came to join them at the door, his rumpled hair and messed clothing indicating that he had not emerged victorious from the little brawl. Instead he glowered vaguely at Dumbledore, nodded at the Hokage and whacked the blonde around the head,
"Itai…" The blonde cried, rubbing at his head and pouting, "What did you do that for, Sasu-chan?"
The scowl on the boy's face became fiercer and he answered in a condescending tone,
"Hokage-sama obviously isn't here to see you; can't you see he's brought a guest? Oh, and if you call me Sasu-chan again, Naruto-baka, I'll hide all your ramen."
Pouting even more, Naruto turned his attention onto Dumbledore, who found himself vaguely taken aback by the fierce protective intensity that manifested in the brilliant blue eyes as they focussed on him. The boy shifted into an aggressive stance and he glowered at Dumbledore,
"Oi, who are you and what do you want with niisan?"
Before Dumbledore could answer, the other boy frowned at his friend,
"Baka, how do you figure that he's here to see Hideaki-niisan?"
Naruto very obviously rolled his eyes, loosing his aggressive stance to face off with the older boy,
"It's simple, Sasuke-baka, if he wanted to see you or Itachi-nii, he'd have to go through Fugaku-sama, duh. Sides, I haven't caused any public mayhem in two weeks."
Sasuke flushed faintly, his cheeks rubbed pink with embarrassment. But before the disagreement could degenerate into another scuffle, another older, colder voice sounded from inside in the apartment.
"Naruto-kun, otouto, let Hokage-sama and his guest in."
Although to Dumbledore's ears there was nothing kind or gentle about the voice, both boys immediately relaxed, despite seeming to be slightly embarrassed about having been heard to be arguing. In such a vein, the boys stepped away from the door and opened it a little further, in what was obviously meant to be a gesture of invitation. Still smiling, Sarutobi entered the apartment, pausing slightly to ruffle the boys' hair, his smile widening as they both immediately rearranged their locks and scowled fiercely.
Frowning, Dumbledore followed after the other man, remembering just in time to remove his shoes before entering the apartment proper. As he followed the two boys and the Hokage to where the voice from earlier had come from, Dumbledore attempted to discretely observe the apartment itself and from these observations gain a picture of the people who lived there.
What he saw was not precisely encouraging. The apartment was large but seemingly sparsely furnished, with the only decoration being in the form of wall hangings bleakly ornamented with calligraphy Dumbledore could not read, as well as the occasional potted plant. What there was a lot of was weapons, as well as piles of the strange scrolls that seemed to be in immense proliferation in the Hidden Countries. Passing the partly open door of what appeared to be a laundry room, Dumbledore saw the most ominous sight of all: that was a small heap of blood-stained clothing, accompanied by the strong smell of disinfectant and detergent.
The living room that Dumbledore was then led into seemed to him more welcoming than the rest of the apartment, with a proliferation of comfortable looking chairs and couches arranged around a low table before windows that offered a view of what appeared to be half the village. In here there was less of the alien calligraphy and there was instead an attractive, if stark, ink drawing of a mountainous landscape. There were many more plants in this room, giving it a livelier atmosphere, but there were also many more weapons, most just left casually lying around with scrolls and whetstones and bandages.
Seated on what appeared to be the most comfortable of the low couches was the person for whom Dumbledore had made this long and tedious journey, wrapped in the strangely gentle embrace of the cold-eyed teen who had guided Dumbledore to the Hokage's tower.
Harry looked absolutely nothing like Dumbledore had thought he would and that difference was unsettling. Aside from the issue of the harsh ninja whose embrace he was wrapped in, he looked very little like either Lily or James, as Dumbledore had supposed he would favour his father. Instead, Harry's hair was long and painfully neat, pulled into a loose braid at the nape of his elegantly curved neck. He was tall and had an obvious strength in his slender body, which was garbed entirely in black clothes similar to the ones the ominous stranger was wearing. Most disturbing was his face, which was pale and finely built, with Lily's green eyes chill with the promise of the threat he could be. In short, this boy was a total stranger, looking at sixteen more of an adult than many grown wizards.
When Dumbledore had entered behind the benignly smiling Hokage, Harry had been totally wrapped up in the conversation and company of his companion. Noticing the old wizard, he looked up, all warmth draining from his eyes and then rose from the couch. Bowing deeply to the Hokage he then bowed slightly from the waist to Dumbledore himself, speaking as he did, his accent obvious,
"You must be Dumbledore-sensei; I received the letter from your school."
TBC.
I know that's a horrible place to leave it, but it was the most sensible place for the divide if I want to actually get something posted before the end of term. Please R&R, specially with suggestions for pairings outside of the already decided Itachi/Hideaki