This chapter is dedicated to TrenchcoatMan, for believing in me. Thanks, man.


Chapter Three

In which there is cleaning up, and coming clean.


Earlier this morning...

The Portkey Dumbledore had given Sasuke had landed him right outside the gates of the Hokage Tower. Despite being early morning when he left England half a minute ago, the moon was high in Konoha, which was separated from the rest of the world not only by a vast time difference, but by extensive Fuuin jutsu that widened the time gap further. He couldn't help but look at the fourth face carved into the mountain above him, illuminated by a waning moon which gave the stone-faced man a cold appearance. If his suspicions were correct, the daughter of the man was very much alive, and Sasuke would be having words with her.

As always, Kakashi had sensed his arrival and had opened the window for him to enter. The elder man had learned a long time ago that Uchiha Sasuke did not like wasting time.

There were no guards present when he entered, and as soon as he had, the silver haired man shut the window behind him and activated the privacy wards in his office. The bastard knew why he was here. Little point in beating around the ramen stand. He worded his question carefully, filling loopholes in case the sly veteran decided to mess with him.

"Is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naru the Hunter-nin Uragiri? Yes or no?"

He didn't deny it like Sasuke thought he would, rather, he tired slumped forwarded until his palms were pressed hard against his forehead. A confirmation.

"I would prefer to have this conversation either with her presence, or stinking drunk. The first is not an option." He said mildly, reaching for a drawer that Sasuke knew was full of Konoha's cheapest and strongest sake brew. The last time he had seen it open was when he had return from his pilgrimage abruptly, under the premise that his idiot team mate had undergone a solo mission, had it compromised, and died.

Sasuke licked his lips, his throat suddenly dry. He snatched the porcelain bottle from Kakashi's fumbling hands, and poured the man a cup. He filled his own and drained it, cringing as the damned drink burned his throat.

"You were the one that called me back. You said she was gone." He said hoarsely, coughing once. "Why?" So many things could have followed that word but the Uchiha found his throat wouldn't obey. Why did you say that? Why did she do that? Why didn't you tell me? Why did she lie?

So wound up was he in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Kakashi press a half filled cup into his hands and pull him into a fierce hug.

Quietly, the elder man said, "there's some things that people have to face alone." The you of all people should know was left unsaid, but Sasuke heard it as if it was shouted.

He stepped away from his former teacher, pinning him under a hard stare. "What are you talking about?"

The Rokudaime grimaced. "Why don't we take a walk?"

00

Despite the late hour the red light slums of Konoha were deserted, with only one or two people spotted through grimy windows. Sasuke looked at Kakashi curiously.

"This area was slated for demolition after the Pein Invasion. We haven't got around to it yet." The Kage explained. "Only the most destitute continue to live here."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. Naturally the village's funds from the past three years would first go towards rebuilding more important things like the hospital and the academy, residual areas for civilians and clan compounds. Especially when the rebuilding was put on hold to support the war effort, after which there was little materials to spare for rebuilding slums like these.

They rounded a corner to a run-down apartment block. Most of the windows had been busted in, and the paint had peeled everywhere except where someone had repainted in select places, probably to cover graffiti. Sasuke followed the elder man to the last door on the second floor. He noted that, strategically, it was the best one to live in. There were enough trees to obscure the flat from onlookers in the street, but not enough for enemy ninja to hide in. Being the end flat meant that, should the owner have to fight, there was only a narrow walkway to defend.

Kakashi fished a set of keys from his pocket. A familiar frog key chain hung from it.

She had never been to a festival before. She was so ecstatic when he'd won the stupid trinket for her that she had actually hugged him and—

"Naru's house." He said bluntly.

Kakashi confirmed with a grim nod. "Although she hasn't lived here for about two and a half years. People were after her, and I had her hidden and moved. She's been in standard Jounin housing ever since, not too far from the Uchiha estate or the Tower."

Sasuke nodded, aware of the large concrete building just a league further up the road from his family's rebuilt compound. It was only a quarter league from Kakashi's office, a distance that could be covered in ten seconds at a lax pace.

Something was up.

Naru lived in a central apartment close to two of her former teammates, close enough that help could reach her (or vice versa) if need be. It was also conveniently close to several underground escape routes that led into both HQ and the Hokage Tower. A perfect place for a refugee. But who was Naru - possibly the strongest kunoichi alive- running away from?

As he pondered this, Kakashi had unlocked the door with some effort—the already shoddy lock had rusted over some time—and nodded to Sasuke, who gave the door a hard kick. It swung open with a bang, and he was sure he heard wall plaster fall from the impact. He might have shown some remorse if not for the state of the room they stood in. He activated his Sharingan, ready to memorize it all.

From floor to ceiling, spray-painted hate littered the walls in large letters and colourful vocabulary. What meager furniture there was had been upturned and torn apart with kitchen knives still buried in there targets. Presumably, Naru had been the one to sweep debris and shredded scrolls to one side and hammered boards over the gaping holes where windows had once been.

There was an air of sadness that spoke of someone who had fought for every little thing they owned, only for it to be destroyed when they weren't looking. He spotted several torn scrolls that had "Namikaze Minato" written on them. It appeared that whoever had done this had tried to read the Yondaime's secrets but found that the scrolls were blank, probably a blood-seal security measure, and opted to tear them apart instead. War-hero, daughter of a War-hero, and treated like scum. Sasuke thought scathingly. You saved the world and this is how it repaid you.

And while the broken glass and furniture, ripped bedding and soiled carpets was bad, it was overshadowed by the text written across the wall in bold, red letters:

THE REBELLION WARNED YOU, DEMON!

WE ARE ALWAYS WATCHING.


Her mask lay shattered by her feet, leaving her face bared to the man she hated ambivalently more than anyone else on the planet. Uchiha Sasuke leaned over her heavily, smelling slightly of sake and sweat. She could feel the cold steel of his blade press into the hollow of her throat, she could feel his Sharingan bore holes into her whiskered cheek as she looked away from him quickly.

"Naru. Naru look at me." His voice was gentle now, soothing. Coaxing. Lies. Nothing like the hardened rasp that tortured her before. Hissed that cursed name at her. When she didn't comply, he simply wrapped a calloused hand around her chin and turned her face toward him.

Beautiful. He was just as beautiful as he had been when they were twelve. When they were friends, rivals. His hair had grown long enough to hide his Rinne-Sharingan, but he had pulled the rest of the long mass into a short ponytail at his nape. His jaw was more angular now, even more defined than in had been in the war they'd fought together in at sixteen. When they were more akin to enemies. His skin was less pale now, more of an alabaster than chalk, as it had been when they were side-by-side in hospital, arm-less. When their relationship skirted along the line of lovers. He was not the same Sasuke that had left her six years ago. He stepped away from her, giving her room to bolt if she needed to. The Sasuke she knew wouldn't have done that.

She didn't bolt. Naru merely kicked the broken pieces of her mask to one side and sat down, tugging on his arm so that he would sit too. A glance out the window told her that she'd been separated from Harry for ten minutes now, and this would take some time. Sasuke wouldn't wait though, he'd waited for answers for three years. She'd just have to trust that her clones could protect Harry in the mean time. She made another to report the attack to the Order.

They sat cross-legged, facing each other, barely breathing lest the smallest breath disrupt the fragile peace between them.

"Why did you do it?" Sasuke asked quietly. He wasn't looking at her her, opting to watch his hands fiddle with a shard from her mask. He knew she was uncomfortable enough as it was. Had she been her old self, she would have smiled at that she thinks.

Naru didn't answer for a while, trying to string her wayward thoughts into coherent sentences.

"After all I did," she began slowly, "they didn't trust me. They only saw me as the Kyuubi – the civilians, I mean. It didn't matter that I -we- saved them all from that bastard. It didn't matter that I saved the village from Pein. All I am to them is a demon." She released Kurama's Henge on herself, watching as the hair spilling over her shoulder bleed into blonde and her exposed skin darken.

Naru gave him a measured look.
"They'd rather have you— a traitor, international criminal and a right bastard — among their people than me; because you're from the right pedigree. The same pedigree that tried to take over the world, mind you." She said with a snort, sounding as though the thought was so laughable that the world had already ran the joke into the ground until all that was left was a strangled gasp.

Sasuke didn't reply. Instead he reached behind her and into her pouch to pull her standard issue ANBU scroll. He quietly unfurled it, unsealing a replacement mask and putting away the fragments of her old one. His movements were careful and slow as not to scare her.

"Their were other options, but Kaka-sensei said that nothing but death would stop them from hounding me. It's surprising easy to fool a nation into believing their strongest kunoichi can be easily killed if taken by surprise. Most of them didn't question it. Those who did, like Sai, and Gaara ... Hinata and Shikamaru too, they found me without much effort. Follow the rumors, you know?"

Sasuke hadn't believed it either at first, but he knew no one was immortal, and he'd been too blinded by guilt to see it. Little things were starting to make sense now. Like how Kakashi had been doleful, but not grief-stricken. How a week after her death an up-and-coming kunoichi had trudged into ANBU and taken the Corps by storm, almost immediately obtaining the highest rank in the Head Hunter Division. The body the rescue team found had blonde hair, but the body was mutilated beyond recognition. The DNA test was run and confirmed by the Senju woman herself.

"You all lead me to believe you had died." It was a simple statement but she felt her heart drop and the sudden chill in his tone and flat stare in his eye. There was betrayal on his face, and if anyone knew the what the death-like strangle of that felt like it was Naru. Her face flamed with shame and she bowed her head, a silent apology.

She'd been told of how he'd nearly ruined his chakra network, running for three days non-stop all the way from Snow Country, with only his feet cross the vast sea that separated it from the mainland. She'd been told of how he'd arrived at the gates of the village, a dead man standing, and how he'd all but screamed his throat raw when he'd heard that he'd missed the funeral by a mere two hours. Shizune had whispered how he'd been non-responsive for a week while he recovered, before suddenly demanding for her to give him a signed physical and psyche evaluation for an admission application for ANBU. All of Konoha had seen how he had given his all to protect and serve the village in honor of her dream to be Hokage.

"I'm sorry Sasuke." A sincere apology, just like the one he'd given her for her arm and her Chidori wound and all the grief he'd put her through. It was a band-aid over a kunai wound, but it was enough for him right now. An eye for an eye, or rather, a betrayal for a betrayal. Three years for three years. They were on an even playing field now, and for some reason, he was okay with that. It made him feel a bit less despicable.

Down below the Shinobi could hear the unfolding of a commotion among the Order. A shared glance confirmed that this conversation was far from over and would be continued at a later date.

"When we get back home we fix this 'rebellion' together, you got that, Dobe?"

"Whatever you say, Teme."


Having the Shinobi on his side was great, Harry decided. They were adults, but never treated him like a child. They understood and fed his desire to be better, stronger, greater, more. Uragiri, he felt, understood him the most, because all he'd done was look at her and she'd nodded thoughtfully to herself before deciding to train him. Tora, his second guard, had said she had seen potential in Harry, more than the boy who lived, and that automatically made her better than most wizards in his book.

Tora himself was a decent bloke in Harry's opinion. When Harry would return home beaten and bruised from a hard day's training, it was Tora who patched him up, and trained his senses by flitting around the darkened room for the wizard to find. Tora, he found was more open to answering questions whenever he asked, although neither ever withheld the truth. It had been Tora that had told him of the Order, and of Ron and Hermione, who were all sworn to secrecy to protect themselves, which was the reason for the radio silence on their end. It was Uragiri who had shrugged off his questions on why they were telling him then, if that were true, with a short-but-effective snort. "We're not Order Members Harī. If we wanted a play club, it wouldn't be a secret, and every wrong doer would be scared shit-less."

Harry believed them, of course. He'd seen what they could do. And so what if they were muggles? They were strong, and unafraid of what Voldemort might do (could do) to them. They were people to respect and revere, unlike the cowardly coterie of the Ministry that only wanted to save there own hides.

This was further fixed in young Harry's mind when both Uragiri and Tora literally appeared before him in a flash of yellow light, with barely a whisper of sound.

"Pack your things, we leave in two minutes." Tora informed him in his usual dull tone. He pulled Harry's trunk from the beneath the bed and began tossing in Harry's clothes. Harry followed suit and messily stacked his school books in too, while Uragiri carefully removed the wards and seals she'd set up over the summer.

"What's the rush?" Harry asked as he grabbed Hedwig's cage. Neither shinobi paused as he questioned them and were proud when they'd seen he hadn't either.

"This base of operations has been compromised. The Order has decided it will be best for you to go to their headquarters. There may be a... tension between us upon our arrival, but that is to be expected, considering the circumstances." The male Shinobi said.

"Wizards are useless," Uragiri muttered. "The Order wanted to lure your relatives out with a lawn competition – of all things – before collecting you, which would have taken days to organize. We decided to retrieve you immediately as per the Captain's orders, as it is not safe to stay here while those things could be just around the corner. Certain Order members decided that such measures were reckless and hotheaded of us. They said other things, I'm sure, but we had better things to do than listen to the whining of old crows."

The boy packed away the last of his things with an angry growl. "Who are they to tell you what to do? Without you they wouldn't even know I'd been attacked." Harry could see the stark difference between the organized, military-minded ninja, and the second-rate last line of defense the wizards had scraped together.

"There's a lot more to it than that, Harry." Tora said grimly. "We've interfered in your life far more than mission parameters allow, and messed with the Order's business. If Dumbledore makes an appeal, we could be replaced or just plain sent home. Without pay too."

There was an irked look on his face that reminded both Shinobi of their commander – a narrowing of the eyes and quirk of the brow that gave him a look of someone both dangerous and annoyed.

"Dumbledore doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. He didn't know about Voldemort in first year, or second, or fourth. Cedric died because he didn't know and didn't listen. Now that he's back, it feels like I'm just waiting to see what's next, who's next. But I know that it won't be me, and it won't be any of you because we're expecting a fight when no one else is. If he sends you back, who'll help me? Who will die this year? They're idiots if they think we can do this without your help and-"

Uragiri cut the boy off with a firm clap on his shoulder. "It is what it is. We can only go forward from here and see what he says."

Harry released a long exhale and nodded at her words. Everything was packed at this point and the only thing to do now was to leave for Grimmauld Place.

They disappeared in a yellow flash.


It hadn't been fun when Harry arrived.

It hadn't been fun the following week either.

It was now August 9th and some semblance of normalcy had yet to return to Harry's life. Ron and Hermione refused to talk to Harry, who was now the bad guy for not telling them that he'd known their secret location the whole time, while Harry himself was still annoyed that the two had not put their loyalty for him over their loyalty to Dumbledore and just told him. Ron was doubly pissed that Harry had received some form of "secret training", while Hermione was jealous that Harry had seen what the Muggle guards were capable of, and was being stingy about the information under Uragiri's orders.

Speaking of Uragiri and Tora, the two had been oddly scarce. No doubt a consequence of their presence in Surrey, Harry was sure. The third Shinobi (probably Commander Wolf that Tora and Uragiri had spoken of,) had all but confirmed it with a brief grunt of "they're at Hogwarts". He could only hope that they weren't in too much trouble and that the Order would see the benefit of it.

And, speaking of the Order, that was a bloody joke. Upon his arrival, they'd holed themselves up in their meeting - only to emerge wearing stern and disappointed faces. Sirius had explained that the guards were quite furtive, and many of the other Members doubted they had it in them to protect Harry and the school. They were Muggles, after all, but Harry had yet to see a Wizard make a conscious, solid clone of themselves out of smoke, or manipulate the wind around them to cut a tree in half. So far, the Shinobi had done more for him than the Order, and they'd only been here for a little over a month. The Order's blatant disrespect of the Shinobi was churlish and ill-bred

Really, the whole thing was exhausting. It didn't help that Mrs. Weasley had decided to help fix Harry's problems by throwing the infamous golden trio into a single room together to scrubscrubscrub away all the problems they had - between themselves or not. Scrub. Whoops, there goes Voldemort! Scrub! Oops, washed away my trial and expulsion from Hogwarts. Scrub! Oh look, I'm an Orphan! The Ministry's calling me a liar! Bet I can wash that away!

There was only an hour left of this before they took a break for lunch but Harry was slowly but surely going barmy.

Hermione was the first to break the silence. "Harry, do you really believe that those guards are helping you?" There was a thoughtful look on her face that reminded the two other boys in the room of an inventor on the brink of a genius discovery. Or a cat with a wounded mouse before her.

"I've told you already, Hermione." He started patiently, getting the feeling that perhaps they'd get into yet another argument over the meddling Shinobi. "They're great. Uragiri especially. I feel like everything is possible now, defeating Voldemort is possible now. I feel in my bones that I'm more prepared than I've ever been. I can actually survive now. It feels good to not feel like prey anymore. Don't you get that?"

There was silence in the room as his two friends stared mutely at him, surprised. He had almost given up on a response and reached for his scrubbing brush before there was an excited whisper from the bushy haired girl.

"Do you think they would teach me too?"

She looked hopeful, even when Ron threw a disgusted look her way for even thinking the idea. Harry understood though. Hermione, while brilliant, was not one to fight her own battles. She didn't like being though of as weak, which was where her studious aesthetic grew from, constantly working to push herself above her pure blooded pairs. He could see that she'd seen some appeal in learning how to defend herself and fight - not like a Wizard, but like a survivor, a warrior. He could see that she wanted to be known for something other than her intellect.

"Yes." Came an answer from the door, where Wolf's tall frame took up the space as he leaned against the aged wood.

Ron spluttered, "where'd they bloody hell did you come from, mate? And why'd you think that Hermione would want to be taught anything from the like of you lot. We'd never even heard about you before we came here. And from what my mum says, you lot aren't even wizards. What in the hell could you even teach us that we can't already do?"

"We taught Harry how to walk on water. You wizards can't do that."


And so that brings an end to another chapter. I'm sorry this took so long to get out (nearly a whole year!) but I wanted to make sure I was happy with what I wrote first. I took a couple of extra writing classes to help me with flow and grammar, so hopefully my hard work didn't go to waste!

A couple of notes for this chapter:

Naru's Apartment - Not all buildings were destroyed during the Pein invasion, a little ring around the surrounding wall was left mostly untouched. I'd like to think that this is where the poorer area of Konoha was, similar to how homes are worth less the further they are from the city center in real life, and that this is where an orphaned girl presumably on a small stipend was living.

Sasuke and Naru making up - Nothing is better quite yet. Sasuke is still mad at Naru, and vice versa - but most importantly, they are on a mission - which always comes first before feelings. They're putting their own feelings on a back burner for now, while they sort out this mess called Harry's life.

Anti-wizardish Harry - Is not a thing. Harry has never had any lost love for those who refuse to help him, and was particular angst-y and childish in the fifth book. In this fic, he feels like the Shinobi are the ones helping him, and feels like the wizards are not. Simply put, Harry doesn't hate the Order or the Ministry, but definitely feels like both could be more proactive and aggressive, two things that Ninja are.

Next time: Harry's trial, and Educational Decree #22.