I don't own Naruto, or Harry potter. however, i do own Martyn, and Lee-Anne, along with my imagination.
"Hello" -speaking in english
"Hello"-Speaking in japanese
Last Time on Blades of Magic...
"You will wait here until the headmaster introduces you to the school. In case you are wondering, my name is Professor Minerva McGonagall" Scarecrow nodded in acknowledgment as the woman left.
End Flashback
Inside the Great Hall, the feast was just finishing. The plates cleared magically, and Dumbledore had stood up to speak.
"The full list of banned items can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office. We also have two changes in staff this year. Professor Grubbly-Plank, who is taking over for Professor Hagrid's Care of Magical creatures class, and Professor Umbridge, the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Now, although certain people refuse to accept the facts," Dumbledore seemed to give a pointed look towards Umbridge at this point "A certain Dark Lord has indeed returned to power, so I have decided to hire some guards for the school this year. Please make them welcome!" Dumbledore's mind was going over the description of the shinobi that The Hokage had sent him.
'Scarecrow, the team's captain and an accomplished shinobi, well-versed in many areas of fighting. Bird, A Member of the prestigious Hyuuga Clan, and possessor of the 'Byakugan'. Cat, accomplished Medic, trained by the Hokage herself. Deer, A genius with an IQ of over 200 and an exceptional strategist. Fox had been described as loud, hyperactive and Konoha's Number 1 Unpredictable Ninja. Also exceedingly strong. The next was Snake, described as the exact opposite in personality to Fox, but possibly the only one who had a hope in hell of beating the other. Next was Boar, a shinobi that specialized in Information gathering and interrogation. Then there was the ever mysterious Dragon, who specialized in supporting other shinobi in combat. Finally, the last one was called Blade, whose description was very short. 'Do not provoke. Is highly skilled at assassination'. As Dumbledore finished his mental description of the shinobi, there was a large smoke bomb set off at the front of the hall, which left many students coughing. As the smoke cleared, the wizards were confronted with the strangest sight that many of them had ever seen. Nine figures were arranged along the front of the room, each in various poses. Two of the ones on the left, as you looked at the scene from the entrance were balanced easily on top of one another. The bottom one was spread-legged, with his left hand extending towards the ground, and his right grabbing it. The top one was standing there, with his hand on a sword hilt. On the right of them, another figure was standing in some strange stance, arms outstretched, palms facing up. The figure in the middle looked like the leader, and he was just standing there with his arms folded. Behind him, an immense sword was stuck in the marble floor, perfectly vertical. Its wielder was balanced on the top, left foot on the sword, right foot up behind him. His left hand was out in front of him, in a one handed guard, while his right hand was clutching a katana so that the blade was facing outwards and back along his arm. The figure just beside the leader on the right was kneeling on one knee, with his hands forming a square shape. The next two figures were standing back to back, the one on the left had a knife in each hand and the right one had their fist pulled back for a punch. The final figure was kneeling, hand braced on the ground.
There was a sound of clapping, as Dumbledore showed his appreciation. Soon all the young wizards joined in. the middle figure nodded slightly, and the nine figures relaxed, the one on top of the sword simply sitting down on the base of the immense blade.
"Now that they are here, I will introduce you to these guards. Their leader is called Scarecrow. The others are called Fox, Snake, Bird, Blade, Deer, Boar, Cat and Dragon. Each of the shinobi stepped forwards or nodded as Dumbledore said their names.
"Now, these guards, in discussion and agreement with me have decided on a few new rules for this year and they are: each class is to be accompanied with one of these guards or by a teacher to their next lesson. Next, you are to treat them with the same respect as your teachers, and if they tell you to do something, you do it without question. Scarecrow has assured me that they will not use this privilege to get you to bring them drinks, but that if you annoy them, they might tell you to be quiet. And as one last warning, I advise you not to do any thing that might provoke them, or give them reason to hurt you!" Dumbledore admonished the students. The guards moved to the side of the room and began to talk amongst themselves about the mission.
"So, who's going to do what? Any ideas?" asked Scarecrow.
"We should have at least one person with Harry's class at all times" murmured Deer.
"We can decide who later. Who's going to watch the grounds at night? Because I'm not doing it during both day and night" said Bird.
"I'll take night watch. My other abilities might come in handy there" said Blade. All the guards nodded.
"One of the teachers said that we'd be staying on the fourth floor, third corridor on the right hand side. Any ideas for a password?" said Scarecrow
"Ramen!" said Naruto
"No, dobe. Too obvious. How about something like bijuu" said Sasuke.
"Again, too obvious, snake. How's this? Shade of Night" said Blade. Scarecrow looked around their little circle
"Shade of Night it is, then. Now, Dumbledore-sama said we should take care of the other house's passwords as well. Now we need four unrelated words." Continued Scarecrow when there were no objections "what comes first to mind?"
"Healing" said Cat
"Ramen!" exclaimed Fox
"Revenge" said Snake, calmly
"Fate" Bird added
"Interrogation" grinned Boar
"Deception" Dragon put in
"Troublesome…Shadows" said Deer
"Icha Icha Paradise" said Scarecrow, pervertedly.
"Death" said Blade.
"I think we should use Fate, shadows, healing, and deception. Ramen is too obvious, and interrogation, and death would scare the squirts out of their wits. And Icha Icha paradise, just…no, Scarecrow" said Cat. "We don't need you spoiling their minds with your friggin' porn, so no reading while on duty."
Just then, a woman, who looked suspiciously like a toad, walked up to the group and spoke in a high, girlish voice.
"Excuse me, but which one of you is the leader?"
Scarecrow turned around.
"I am" within seconds he regretted his decision to answer this…thing.
"Hey, Fox, did you summon a pink toad before and henge it into semi human form? 'Cause she looks like that" Fox shook his head, while trying not to laugh at the idea.
"Blade, you take care of this. I need to do things"
"Fine, you go read your porn, Scarecrow. I'll take care of the pink horror"
"No blood, Blade. See you in the dorm later." And with that, Scarecrow poofed off, leaving Blade to deal with the 'Pink Horror' as he'd dubbed her. On reflection, it proved to be highly accurate.
"Can. You. Hear. Me?" now she was speaking in a child-like voice, and making gestures in an attempt to get Blade's attention.
"Rather unfortunately, yes, I can hear and understand you" said Blade
"Would you please remove your mask, so I can see who I'm talking to?" Umbridge said in that sickly sweet girly voice of hers. Blade felt like throwing up.
"No" was all he said.
"Why not?"
"Because, a secret kept is a weapon against your enemies" said Blade.
"Just please tell me who you are. Even a first name will do, dear"
"You will address me by the name that Dumbledore called me. If it was good enough for him, it's good enough for you, bitch" said Blade, and began to walk off.
"What did you call me?" said Umbridge, all niceness gone. She was even producing a tiny impression of killing intent.
"A bitch." Said Blade. He smiled under the mask "Bitch" he added. Umbridge was livid.
"How Dare you…" she was cut off, almost literally, by an exceedingly large sword, which was now resting under her chin. Blade had a slightly insane grin on his face underneath his mask as he pushed the blade up until it was about to draw blood.
"Now, you are going to listen to me, or you will die in a particularly messy manner. Do we understand each other?" Umbridge nodded nervously
"I don't care who or what you are in this world. To me, you are another potential target. You live, breathe and eventually, you will die. You'd better pray that it will be a natural death, and not by my hand." And Blade walked off.
"Honestly, wizards and their fucking self importance." Murmured Blade, loud enough for the entire staff table to hear. He disappeared off. After Umbridge made her speech, the shinobi gathered to escort the young wizards back to their respective dorms. Dragon and Blade were escorting Gryffindor. Blade had arrived just before the houses left, panting slightly. Dragon instantly recognized that he was getting more unstable again, but swiftly put these thoughts aside. They soon arrived with the Prefects at the front, and Dragon standing easily on the railing of the stairs, and Blade bringing up the rear.
"Password?" said The Fat Lady
"Mimbulus Mimbletonia" Said Ron. The Portrait didn't budge. Dragon hopped off the railing next to Ron
"Move it, Redhead." Dragon roughly shoved Ron out of the way.
"Password?" repeated The Fat Lady
"Kages"
"Correct" Said the portrait, swinging aside to let the students into the common room. Once they were all inside, the two guards left for the fourth floor, and soon found themselves in front of a portrait of an assassin wearing all black and holding a sword.
"Password?" it growled.
"Shade of night" Dragon replied. The portrait swung aside, allowing both shinobi to enter. Kakashi and the others were already there, masks and cloaks off. Martyn swiftly raised his mask and tossed it into one of the remaining rooms, but leaving his cloak on. He looked around, and picked a spot next to the wall where he could sit. Lee-Anne took off her cloak and mask in the last room before sitting down opposite Shikamaru.
"Alright, now that we're all here, we need to discuss the mission in more detail." Said Kakashi, flipping a page of his little orange book.
"First, we need to decide if we're going to have the same person following Harry's class, or alternate between people. Suggestions?" he finished.
"Make it random, and change the person every day." Said Shikamaru, moving a shogi piece.
"Shika's got a good idea. That way, if this Voldemort guy decides to attack, he won't know which of us he's facing." Said Boar while rummaging around in her backpack.
"Got it!" she called, pulling out a book
"That's Ibiki's book" said Snake, recognizing the cover.
"I co-wrote it, especially the chapter on seduction, seeing as Ibiki has no idea how to flirt" smiled Ino
"Way to go Ino-chan!" cheered Naruto.
"Now, we agreed that Martyn and Neji would watch the grounds, because of their unique eyesight and other…talents" said Kakashi, flipping another page.
"What about the Hogsmeade weekends?"
"That village is a tactical nightmare. Cancel them. We can't defend the brats in the village, full stop" said Lee-Anne, moving another shougi piece.
"If we can get Fox to cover the village with his Bunshin, would it help?" said Shikamaru. While the lazy ninja was a genius, Lee-Anne was also a natural at strategy, and had more experience than him.
"Not much. While we'd have a better coverage of the village, they may end up getting in the way."
"I see your point" conceded Shikamaru, moving another piece, and causing Lee-Anne to frown in thought.
"So, no Hogsmeade weekends for the moment. Now, other duties. Door guards."
"Easy." Said Lee-Anne, pausing to move one of her shogi pieces, forcing Shikamaru to assume his 'thinking pose'
"Me, Shikamaru and either Ino or Sakura"
"Reasoning?" asked Sasuke
"Shika has his Kage Mane, a technique explicitly designed to stop the target, making it ideal for a guarding job. I have my genjutsu, and Sakura has her genjutsu and strength. And Ino has her Shintenshin. Perfect techniques for stopping people. They don't leave lasting damage, but can easily deter people from going where they're not supposed to." Kakashi nodded.
"Sound reasoning. We'll go with that. Now, who wants to help teach the brats Taijutsu?" asked Kakashi with a sadistic grin underneath his mask. Blade instantly raised his hand.
"Thought you might. Anyone else?" Fox put his hand up, along with Snake. Kakashi sighed. Those two were always together. He had to admit, what they'd done on their last mission proved that they worked well together. They almost had a mutual telepathy, so good was their unspoken communication.
"Alright then." Kakashi suddenly looked over to a picture on the wall.
"What is it, Mortis?"
"The Headmaster is requesting entrance."
"Let him in" replied Kakashi. The assassin nodded and disappeared. A moment later, the door opened to reveal the silver bearded Headmaster of the school, and Umbridge, who was currently in hysterics.
"One of them nearly killed me! Headmaster, I demand that you get rid of these guards immediately!"
"Oh, Shut the Fuck Up, woman. You're giving me a headache." Said Blade, not even turning to face the teacher.
"Itai! What was that for, Dragon?" Dragon smirked and walked back over to her shogi game.
"For being foul-mouthed. Watch your language." Martyn glared at his on-again, off-again girlfriend. Even though her specialty was genjutsu, she did have a mean right hook.
"What did you want, Headmaster?" said Kakashi, flipping a page in his book.
"I simply wanted to discuss a few things with you. That's all." He stated.
"Make her leave, then." Said Neji, not opening his eyes as he meditated.
"What? I am…"
"Not our client." Interrupted Neji. "So leave"
"Why does the Headmaster get to speak to you, and I don't?"
"You are not our client. Therefore, you have no right to hear about us or what we are going to be doing." Said Sakura, getting up. "So please kindly leave, and don't listen in, or I'm going to put you in so much pain…" Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks. Ever since Sakura became a medic, it was not uncommon for her to beat the living daylights out of them, only to heal them afterwards and repeat the process a day later.
"I told you she had a sadistic streak in her, teme"
"Shut it, Dobe. But yes, she does"
"I HEARD THAT UCHIHA SASUKE!" said shinobi winced at the volume of Sakura's voice and knew that when their next spar came around, he was going to get hurt.
"Ha ha, teme."
"THAT INCLUDES YOU, UZUMAKI NARUTO! Hokage candidate or not, I'm going to punch you into next week!" Naruto was wide eyed.
"Hokage…candidate?" Sakura's hands flew to her mouth. She'd said too much.
"Sakura. Details. NOW." Sakura flinched. Naruto was using what the members of Team 7 had come to call his 'command voice'- the voice he usually used while in the midst of battle or while in ANBU uniform on a mission. It was scary sometimes, especially when coming from behind a mask with a fox detailed on it.
"Ahem."
"Oh, right, sorry headmaster." Said Naruto. "We'll talk about this later" he hissed at Sakura. She gulped. Talking with Naruto usually consisted of trying to explain yourself, dodge kunai, avoid his clones and really try to avoid the gusts of wind he'd send at you.
"Professor Umbridge, please return to your office" said the Headmaster. Reluctantly, she left.
"Alright, Taicho, she's back in her office" said Neji. Kakashi Nodded.
"Alright Dumbledore-sama, what did you want to know?"
"Do you have a basic plan for Harry's protection?" again, Kakashi nodded.
"Hogsmeade weekends will be cancelled unless we can come up with a viable solution for them. Door guards will be stationed at the main entrance at about 8 pm. No student is to pass these guards unless a teacher or one of us is accompanying them. Fifth year Classes will be escorted by one of us, and the teachers can escort the other years. There will always be at least one of us within a five to ten meter radius of Harry at all times, save when he's on the Quidditch pitch."
"I see. Thank you. I will now leave you to your selves." And with that, Dumbledore turned and walked out of the room.
"You know, I could grow to like him." said Blade. After that, the shinobi settled down for a quiet night, as Blade left for his night patrol. Neji was meditating, his favourite pastime while not training. Sakura was alternating between looking through several herb and plant books, and stealing glances at Sasuke. When they had encountered him that day in Orochimaru's base and had tried to kill them all, the crush from her genin days had vanished faster than Ramen around Naruto. When he had come back, she had treated him like he had treated her. Then, roughly a year after his probation finished, he had shown up at her door, and basically demanded that they sit down and talk. When the morning came, they were friends again. But for a while now, Sakura had been feeling something she couldn't quite place around the Uchiha. A flutter in her heart. She was falling for him again, she knew now. Sasuke was also reading, but history books, trying to find more information on this Lord Voldemort, or whatever the hell his name was. He was also glancing at Sakura. When he'd come back, he realized that he'd always liked Sakura. He cursed the fact that he'd concentrated on being an avenger, instead of reviving the clan. But, she'd treated him with a cold shoulder, until he'd finally marched up to her house and made her sit down and talk her problem through with him, and he with her. Shikamaru was playing shougi with Lee-Anne. Kakashi was, naturally, reading and occasionally giggling. Naruto was working on yet another wind technique. They guy might be clueless to anything beyond training, fighting and ramen, but in those areas, he'd proven to be an absolute wonder. Ino was reading the book that she and Ibiki had co authored. Like Sakura, she was also stealing glances at her current favourite boy: Naruto. Over the last few years, she had seen him come up with technique after technique, each one more powerful than the last, with the exception of the Rasenshuriken. You didn't get much more powerful than that technique. She had begun to admire the blonde, and had even admitted out loud that he was kinda hot. It wasn't common knowledge, but there was a sort of…bingo book…in Konoha for ninjas which listed the hottest males and females and who was the most dateable. Naruto was frequently in the top five hottest males, and had once spent nearly three weeks at the top. It was no coincidence that those two and a bit weeks coincided with when he was trying to cut the waterfall and had been training shirtless. This kind of evening was the kind that they enjoyed. Working on techniques, researching enemies. The only sounds that permeated the silence were the click of shougi pieces, Kakashi's giggling, and the turning of pages.
"hey, Lee-Anne." Said Kakashi, putting his book down for a moment.
"Yes?" replied the Kunoichi, not turning from her shougi game
"If you don't mind my asking, what is your and Martyn-san's relationship with Konoha?" There was a pause.
"I was wondering when you might ask that." The kunoichi said, slowly, moving another piece. Shikamaru moved into his thinking pose. The girl was good.
"Where should I start?"
"How about at the beginning?" Lee-Anne smiled.
"Alright, but this might take a while."
Flashback no jutsu!
A younger Lee-Anne hopped through the trees that filled Fire Country, looking over her shoulder every now and again, to check on her pursuers. At one such time, she misjudged the distance between two branches, and plummeted towards the forest floor, somehow missing every branch on the way down. The Genjutsu expert, a former Mist nin, had quite the reputation, and being only 16 had somewhat boosted it. While she had been loyal, the girl had been hailed as the next Genjutsu Mistress of Mist. But thanks to several disagreements as to how her village was run and a nasty incident involving a rookie ANBU, and the swamps had lead her to flee the village. She was now being pursued by Konoha ANBU, who she had heard, had yet to loose a target. As she fell to the forest floor, she caught sight of a figure wearing a black cloak and straw hat moving to seemingly intercept her. As she began to near the ground, the figure stretched out an arm and almost effortlessly caught her by the back of her shirt.
"Thank you, you saved me." She said, gratefully.
"Are you being followed?" was all she got in the way of a reply. Unable to speak anymore, she simply nodded. The figure seemed to frown underneath the high collar of the black cloak. They then unceremoniously dropped her onto the ground, and moved a few meters away. Not ten seconds later, five ninja, all wearing black cloaks and porcelain masks landed in a semicircle around the figure.
"Give up the girl, and you won't get hurt, whoever you are." Stated one of the masked figures. The figure's eyes cut to the girl behind him.
"if you want her, you'll have to get through me first." One of the figure's hands vanished into the cloak. The masked figure who had spoken before seemed to sigh, and then said
"Kill him, take the girl." What happened next happened almost faster than Lee-Anne's eyes could follow. The figure suddenly spun on one foot, and his left hand shot out of the cloak, a massive zanbato with it. The blade cleanly severed the first one's head, sending it spiralling off. Barely pausing, the figure leapt into the air, the zanbato suddenly changing orientation. The massive blade crashed down onto another ANBU's shoulder, cleaving him in two. As the zanbato weilder was recovering, the third ANBU aimed a kick through one of the three holes in the massive blade. Their purpose was swiftly revealed, as with a swift twist, the ANBU's leg was snapped off at the knee. A quick spin, and the Zanbato plunged down into the ninja's torso. The fourth ANBU aimed his ninja sword at the figure's head from behind, and was quite shocked when it was dodged. The figure then abandoned his zanbato, and elbowed the ninja in the ribs, breaking two. Then the figure grabbed the ANBU's arm, and wasted no time in breaking it. A long knife materialized into the figure's hand, and was thrust into the ANBU's head. The only one left now was the apparent leader, and he turned and ran at the sight of his unit being demolished by one ninja. He got ten paces before the Zanbato took his head off, having been thrown by its wielder. Lee-Anne was in shock. This guy had taken down a five-man squad of probably the best that Konoha could offer, and still looked bored. She tried to get up, but only succeeded in falling back down. The figure was methodically stripping the ANBU of all possessions.
"You should rest. You are most likely suffering from fatigue, and probably chakra exhaustion. That's what happens when you take one too many soldier pills, you know." There seemed to be amusement in his voice. Lee-Anne growled.
"And where do you suggest I rest? I can hardly do it out here. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a…"
"Missing nin, from Kiri. I know. I'm not blind, nor stupid. You may rest at my house. It is less than an hour from our current position." The figure retrived his zanbato, and slid it back to wherever it had come from. The figure walked over to her, and offered her a hand up. She grasped it, and screamed slightly when he hoisted her up onto his shoulders with a single smooth motion.
"are you sure I'll be fine up here?"
"Yes. You are in no condition to walk. This is the easiest way to transport you. Yell if you're going to hit a branch."
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Korosu Martyn. Yours?" Grunted the newly named Martyn.
"Kuramaki Lee-Anne."
Flashback no jutsu, Release!
"And that's basically how we met." Finished Lee-Anne.
"Nice story, but you didn't answer my question. What is yours and Martyn-san's relationship with Konoha?" Lee-Anne smiled.
"I knew you were too smart to fool, Kakashi-san. Our relation ship with Konoha is basically this: We are basically ANBU, but we have to ask for permission to kill. In return, our accommodation is free, and we may stay as long as we like. We also must relay any useful information we find to Konoha."
"That doesn't sound too bad."
"And we have to wear these tracking bands whenever we're in Konoha or on a mission for Konoha." Said Lee-Anne, motioning to a metal band around her wrist covered with seals.
"Why? Tsunade-sama wouldn't do something like that."
"You're right. It was those advisors of hers that had the brilliant idea. Something about keeping track of threats." Kakashi nodded.
"It makes good sense in theory, but what about Martyn-san's bloodline?" Lee-Anne grinned wickedly.
"He somehow forgot to mention that to them. Martyn-san can rid himself of the tracker anytime he wants, along with mine." After this most enlightening conversation, the Shinobi turned in; knowing that tomorrow would most likely be a long day.
