Holy cow!

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Chapter Four

Two shadowy figures stood in the deepening gloom of the Forbidden Forest.

"Has Zeitweger come back yet?"

The other man looked nervous.

"No my Lord."

"Why not?" The taller man demanded.

"Because we have discovered that Zeitweger was killed on sight."

There was a moment of silence then the other man nodded.

"I…see." He said. "Then we will have to try again."

Konan was examining her class schedule for tomorrow, since Professor Lupin would be indisposed for a time. She noticed that the afternoon class conflicted with her own. She pondered this small problem for a moment. Should she? Yes. She decided, it would be perfectly fine. The students didn't use their wands in her class and so her water clone wouldn't be dispelled. Furthermore, it could report anything it had learned back to her. She would have to use a transformation technique before walking to her second class.

Now the big question remained. What exactly should she be teaching these children? It took years to learn ninja techniques and a firm understanding of physical and spiritual energy. Hmm. He had been using that strange creature a few days ago. Why not expound on that and teach them how to recognize and break genjutsu? That was something they could learn and it could turn out to be a valuable skill. She would also be testing them at random intervals throughout the day so they wouldn't become complacent. Konan's mind whirled with thoughts and ideas.

The next day she quietly released her water clone into the classroom and began walking towards the DADA classroom.

"Good afternoon class. I am Professor Nakamura and I'm filling in for Professor Lupin. As my Foreign Language students already know, I will not tolerate slacking or disrespectful behavior in my classroom."

Her voice was quiet, but had that same cool authority that demanded instant respect.

"We are going to be working on recognizing and breaking illusions."

"Illusions? You mean like what's on the ceiling at Hogwarts?" One boy asked.

"Yes. That is an example of a benign illusion, however there are many harmful ones." She explained.

Snape was walking by when he caught sight of Shiori, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked through the window again. Hadn't he just seen her teaching her Foreign Language class?

"They can take on fantastic forms." Konan continued, hands working in several seals that took a fearsome memory from her own mind and imposed it on her students.

The ground began to rumble and out burst the Five Tails, eyes flashing deep red, it let out a fearsome howl, boulders and stones seemingly defying gravity around it as it ripped the earth apart around them. Its deadly, oppressive chakra filled the room, striking terror into the hearts of all her students.

Snape was even more confused when her class screamed and scrambled over each other in an attempt to get away from their teacher.

Konan dispelled the illusion and added another one in its stead.

"Illusions can also be so subtle that you could be taking your daily stroll and never even realize that you are about to walk right off a cliff."

Snape watched with some amusement as the entire class walked right into a wall and fell over each other with oofs and grunts and scathing remarks.

"They engage all the senses, sight, scent, hearing, taste and touch." She continued

"The enemy can take the form of one of your loved ones, or an everyday object, or even disappear from view right in front of your eyes."

She cast a combination camouflage and invisibility genjutsu and flickered out of view, reappearing in front of a startled student.

"Whoa." Ron said. His eyes widening in wonder. "That's wicked."

Snape frowned, he had never seen anything like it. Yes there were enchanted items, potions and spells that could accomplish similar results but never as quickly as that and never without the use of the aforementioned tools. What on earth was she doing in there? He would have to find out more about her later since he had a class to get too.

Konan held out a bowl. "Everyone take a slip of paper and form a group on the opposite sides of the wall according to your number."

The awestruck class did as it was told and were soon assembled on opposites sides of the room.

"Group One, you will be observing your classmates today. Learning how to do this will teach you how to recognize when others are under the effects of a genjut-an illusion." She corrected herself.

"Group Two you will be the ones under the illusion. This will teach you how to recognize when your minds are under attack."

Harry raised his hand.

"Yes Mr. Potter?" She said.

"How are they going to get us out of the illusion Professor?" He wanted to know.

"They won't. As I said they are just observing today."

Hermione raised her hand next and Konan nodded.

"Professor? Will you be targeting the group as whole? Won't that make it rather easy to distinguish."

"An illusionist can target the group both as a whole and individually at the same time."

Draco raised his hand.

"Yes Mr. Malfoy?"

"How are we are affected physically if only our minds are being attacked." He demanded.

"Excellent question Mr. Malfoy. Our minds are like the master controls of our bodies, it controls motor functions, basic senses, thoughts and emotions. By focusing on the mind, it ensures that the victim will have a much harder time distinguishing between what is real and what is not, rather then say focusing on only one sense such as sound. Now if there are no more questions we will begin."

Konan hadn't used any serious genjutsu techniques for ages. All children in Rain had been drilled regularly, since for some reason the village churned out the highest number of Genjutsu users, so for her this was as much a training exercise as it was for her students.

Her hands began forming seals, shaping and molding chakra into a loose net that blanketed the group which would establish the base for her suggestions.

Ron was waiting for something to happen, when he caught sight of a spider crawling up his pants leg, it wasn't a big spider but he screamed all the same and began brushing off his robes frantically.

In the meantime, Harry was talking to Ron in a hushed whisper, as they both speculated about the new teacher. Others were watching a strange little Asian dragon weaving in and out of the woodwork, totally fascinated.

The observation group watched as Professor Nakamura even tapped a few people on the shoulders and they fell into a blissful slumber.

Konan frowned, keeping up multiple genjutsu was a serious strain on her, which showed her how out of practice she really was. She didn't like that at all.

Hermione watched the group, then began scribbling furiously. Some of them were easy to spot, others she wasn't so sure of.

Professor Nakamura glanced at the clock, noticing that the school day was almost over. She did something odd with her hands and said.

"Kai!"

She turned towards both groups.

"Group One your homework will be to write down everything you observed outside of the illusion. Group Two you will write down everything you experienced within the illusion. Tomorrow the two groups will trade places. Class dismissed."

She sensed that her water clone had dismissed her Foreign Language students and she stopped to review the information it brought to her mind once it had dispelled. All in all, it had been an interesting day.

Tomorrow she would be working with her Foreign Language students on conversation. A sense of contentment washed over her, followed by a sharp stab of sadness.

"This is the kind of world we wanted to live in Nagato." She whispered, forcing back the tears from her eyes. "I wish you were here now."

When she got a hold of herself she decided to slip into the forest for some training after grading the homework.

Professor Dumbledore knew that there were different sorts of psychics and seers and had been intrigued by Sibyl's vision of Shiori Nakamura. It could have been that she had seen the woman as she was when she had first been discovered, but it would be better to see what Sibyl had to say about the matter. He decided to pay the resident Divination teacher a visit.

When she had finished, she slipped into the forest and created a few different types of clones, first she made a water clone, then a few mist servants and finally two Haze Clones. They attacked her viciously, Konan ignoring the aches and pains she was still plagued with after being attacked by the Hunter nin, she began to get absorbed back into the rhythms of dodging and attacking. Hearing someone approaching, she hastily dispelled the clones and turned around to face Hagrid.

"Shiori? What on earth are ya doin out here?"

Hagrid took her appearance in. She was sweaty and dirty and there were cuts and bruises on her slender arms and torso. She had discarded her cloak and was wearing one of the mesh shirts she had made, underneath a blank tank top, the whole outfit revealing many old scars that littered her well-toned body.

"Good evening Hagrid." She said in that cool, polite voice though Hagrid could tell that she was not going to discuss whatever it was she had been doing.

He scratched his head, "Err…I was jus goin out for a walk in tha for est. Got to collect some ingredients for Madame Pomfrey tomorrow."

"I see. May I accompany you?" She asked.

She wanted to start mapping out the forest and the surrounding grounds, this was in case an enemy shinobi attacked she would have the advantage of knowing the surrounding area better then they did.

No matter how safe it feels here, I must always think like a kunoichi. She told herself firmly.

She also wanted to learn about some of the local creatures here. Partly to satisfy her own curiosity. Partly to learn which areas to avoid, or when the situation called for it, to lead unsuspecting enemies to their death. She smiled at the thought. She also wanted to be able to set traps. She could also send clones out later to scout the area.

"I guess…if you feel up to it I mean." Hagrid said uneasily, eyeing her cuts.

"Of course." She said.

"Sibyl? May I come in?" Albus asked.

"Of course Headmaster, please make yourself at home." Said Sibyl, inviting the man in. "What can I do for you?"

"You had a vision concerning Shiori Nakamura and of course it's sparked my curiosity. Could you please expound on it in greater detail for me?"

"Of course Head Master."

Ugh! Traveling with wizards is slow going! Konan thought with a stab of irritation. Her feet itching to leap into the branches and cover ground more quickly. She forced that irritation away and studied the areas that Hagrid led her, she also discreetly released a clone to map out the area on the blank scrolls she kept with her.

It was also childish of her. She chided herself. After all, Hagrid didn't have to take her into the Forbidden Forest while he was running his errands, he could not help being born into a wizarding family anymore then she could help being born into a ninja family. It was just who they were.

A herd of strange half eagle, half horse creatures moved past her and one, a sleek black looked her right in the eyes. The intelligence shining out of the animal's eyes did not surprise Konan in the least, but it made her even more wary then its sharp beak and talons. After all, the more intelligent a creature like this was, the more dangerous it was. Which she supposed was true for human beings as well.

"Hello there Tanith!" Said Hagrid, bowing low to the ground.

Konan followed suit and Tanith bowed to Hagrid, but refused to bow to Konan.

"This is a Hippogriff Shiori. Proud creatures they are! But you don't wanna get to close to them if they don't bow back. It means they don't trust a person…yet!" He amended.

Konan smiled. You're very wise not to trust me. She thought. Though the feeling is mutual.

Hagrid immediately began pointing out the other members of the herd. "This here's Buckbeak and over there is Snowy and her baby Roslyn! That there's King! He's the leader of the herd and this is Tawny and her brother Lightning, this is Thundercloud and this is Excalibur.

She bowed to each in turn and Tawny and Lightning bowed back, both demanding her attention. She hesitantly patted them. They were fierce and beautiful and deadly and she couldn't help but think that they reminded her of herself… if just a little.

Albus listened carefully to Sibyl Trelawney, carefully considering every little detail of what invisible trappings surrounded the mysterious blue-haired woman.

When she had finished he looked into her eyes and gravely asked. "Is she a threat to this school Sibyl?"

Sibyl bit her lip but answered honestly.

"I do not believe she will willingly harm anyone here, but she will eventually bring danger to the school." She trembled a little.

"I can feel that threat, slipping through the shadows like a phantom, hunting his quarry and he has death on his mind Albus."

Albus instantly thought of Sirius Black. Would the man want revenge for Shiori chasing him out of the castle? It was a possibility and they would have to keep their eyes open.

By the time it was nine-thirty, Konan had mapped out a several portions of the forest, closest to the castle. She had also mapped out a few of the more dangerous parts of the forest, deeper in and had found creatures both animal and plant that she could lead her enemies too.

She had managed to see man eating trees, unicorns, thestrals acromantulas and various other creatures.

Yes. The Forbidden Forest was most interesting.

The next morning was a busy one for Konan as she had her students pairing up to speak to each other in Japanese. She walked around the room, listening to the conversations taking place around her. Then she noticed one girl left without a partner. She immediately walked over to her and sat down to help her. The girl stumbled quite a bit and Konan corrected her where she needed it. The conversations were nothing more but small talk and other then a few students who struggled with it, the class overall was doing quite well.

Author's Notes:

Ooh! What threat does Trelawney see coming for Konan?

And how did you guys think she did as a sub?

What were those two shadowy figures talking about in the beginning?

All in good time people.