Author's Note: hahaha I'm so silly, and embarrassed. So thank you Guest for pointing out that I published a chapter from "Ninja of Fire" in my "Return to Leaf Tower" story. Oops.

Chapter 4: Preparations

After Draco finished his speech Cedric looked pale. The paneled office was quiet for a moment as the group absorbed the new information. Harry spoke up immediately, "so Kakashi, Kurenai, Ebisu, and Guy are all returning?"

"Yes," Draco confirmed, "along with a handful of delegates from all over their world. As Guy often hinted, there are several lands besides theirs and right now they're all at peace."

Hermione spoke up. "The muggles, or civilians as they call them, from their world are not only aware of the ninja, but coexist with them. They at least attempt to have a balanced society so we'll be able to meet their muggles as well." After a moment she continued thinking aloud, "I can understand the skepticism on our side. The guards are from a militaristic culture where all of their lands happen to be at peace right now. But what if one of the other countries that we make contact with goes to war with our friends?"

Harry had eventually understood why Kakashi and the other guards couldn't stay and help them with the war against Voldemort. However, the Captain's reasoning hadn't been so clear until now. "Maybe it would be better if they didn't come," Harry said somberly.

This seemed to wake Cedric up and he turned to look at Harry in surprise.

Viktor spoke up, "this is the same argument Luna had with officials when she started her research. We know that these people are out there. Better to establish relations now, on purpose, than stumble upon them later on and make a mess of it. Both Dumbledore and Luna have found ways to this world and he did it by accident. This is going to happen eventually."

"In any case," Draco continued. "The distrust is on both sides. There's only one actual leader coming and he's-"

"Oh Draco you didn't tell them," Luna burst out. Her face lit up with a huge grin.

Malfoy sighed, "I was just getting to that." Then he smiled, "Kakashi is the Hokage of the Leaf Village."

This declaration was met with blank stares from Harry and Cedric but a gasp of surprise from Hermione. Her long correspondence with Ebisu had not left her as ignorant about the foreign world.

Luna piped up, "there are only five great ninja villages in their world and they're each ruled by one kage. Kakashi is one of those."

Now Harry shared a grin with Hermione. "Kakashi is," Hermione said, "roughly speaking, a Minister of Magic."

Cedric grinned and said, "atta boy."

"And he's doing us the great honor of arriving in his official capacity," Draco said briskly. "I don't think any of this would have even worked if it hadn't been for him."

"Not to mention how he helped us when Luna and I arrived in their world," Viktor pitched in. "I'm not certain what would have happened if Luna hadn't asked for him specifically. Even so we were detained."

Luna crossed her arms and said breathily, "it really wasn't that bad." Viktor massaged his right temple.

Draco surveyed his old classmates and asked, "do you all accept? The Ministry wants to get the list down as soon as possible for clearance procedures."

"Of course," Harry and Hermione chorused. Cedric was silent but when Harry turned to look at him, the wizard nodded his head silently in agreement. Harry frowned at his friend wondering, still?

The door opened, releasing ninja and civilians alike from the lecture hall. They were in the Cloud Village, preparing for their mission to the strange world of wizards. Each individual wandered about or headed back to their quarters to absorb what they'd just been told.

"Well that could have gone better," Ebisu said after everyone had left except for the ninja from the Leaf.

"Nonsense," Guy said brightly. "I think they took it very well."

"We did throw a lot of information at them," Kurenai said with a sigh. "I've just never heard a group of that size so quiet. Not one that contained civilians anyway." She glanced over at Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata. They'd remained with them after the meeting was adjourned for the day.

"Sensei," Naruto said slowly. "When did this all happen? This mission you were on?"

Kakashi, who had remained silent until now, focused on his student. He smiled. "It was two missions Naruto, and, when I was even younger than you are now."

Kurenai watched Naruto's somber expression. "What is it Naruto?"

"Sensei, you've done a lot," Naruto stated bluntly, looking at his feet.

Sakura, who'd long ago looked up Kakashi's startlingly thick medical file, was unsurprised by the things their sensei had done in his relatively short life. However, it still gave Naruto a headache whenever he was confronted with it. The difference between their levels of raw experience was discouragingly large.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "I like to keep busy." Then changing the subject he said, "we should get some rest too. Luna will be arriving tomorrow to escort us over."

"I still can't believe this is happening," Kurenai said breathlessly. Ebisu gave her shoulder a squeeze in encouragement.

"I can't believe this is happening," Cedric told Harry as they loitered in the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry checked his watch again. "Won't be long now. Luna said she'd be rigging the portkey to have the first group arrive at eleven."

"How many groups are there?" Cedric asked. He briefly wondered if Kurenai would be in the first group but banished the thought. It just made him jitterier.

"Didn't say," Harry said taking in the strange populace of the Hall.

There were dignitaries from all over the wizarding world scattered throughout. Some wore robes like Harry's plain black but others wore costumes that he would expect to see at a muggle business meeting rather than a magical one. Still others wore flashy tunics, colorful wraps, and garb he didn't know the names for. The overall idea was clear, everyone wanted to make a good impression.

Harry thought briefly about the kind of impression Kakashi, Ebisu, Kurenai, and Guy had made the first time they'd met. He worried about how he old friends would be received. Just the four of them, although probably normal in their world, wore apparel that differed very much from each other, much less how it had differed from the wizards they'd been guarding. The foreigners had stuck out to an extreme degree and that was just their clothing. Now there would be more of them.

As Harry continued to muse Cedric grasped his shoulder. "Hey Harry, we're heading down to the gates now." He looked up and saw Hermione waving them toward the Entrance Hall. Draco stood next to her, his pale face slightly drawn with anxiety.

Although the ambitious Malfoy had worked his way up the Ministry ranks his position was still precarious. He'd once joked with Harry that the higher one climbed in the Ministry, the higher one had to fall. Malfoy had been one of Luna's strongest supporters and this meeting was a culmination of that effort. To Harry this was a reunion and a possible partnership between his world and the guards'. To Draco, this was a business proposition that he had endorsed and the possibility of its failure rested heavily on his mind.

The collected wizards and witches who wished to greet the Elemental Nations delegation right away hurried out the doors. Others held back, preferring to wait for their arrival inside the warm, and far more protected, Great Hall. Viktor, Harry noticed, was one of the wizards to hang back, not because he was afraid of meeting the delegation on open ground, but because he wanted to keep an eye on the remainders.

As he, Hermione, Cedric, and Draco exited the Entrance Hall to meet Luna, Harry was overcome with a feeling of nostalgia. Many things had changed over the years but for all of them to meet again at Hogwarts just felt right.

"Last minute reminders," The Sixth Hokage spoke to the assembled group. He towered over the witch in strange clothing who stood at his side. She held a used tuna can in her hand. "Stick to your group and follow Miss Lovegood's," Luna raised a thin eyebrow at Kakashi, reminding him to not call her that. Kakashi pretended not to notice. He finished with, "instructions. Guy of the Leaf," he gestured at Guy who was sitting nearby along with the rest of the first group, "will be traveling back and forth with Luna to collect the rest of you after the first group has departed. If he does not return with Luna," he stopped and turned to his friend, unwilling to say what Luna had insisted.

Luna smiled lightly and did it for him, "feel free to kill me if I don't return with Guy. I would hate to lose him too."

Kakashi continued, "remember that where we're going both security and familiarity are lax so I can't stress this enough: defend yourselves and your comrades only. Under no circumstances are you to attack anyone without my express permission. Any infighting among you will not be tolerated and you will be answering to me. Is that understood?"

The group assented. They had been over most of this information already. The majority of the assembly trusted the Sixth Hokage's words of assurance and his promise to keep them safe. Many of the ninja that had volunteered, when their kage had been searching for candidates, had done so because they'd fought with Kakashi in the war. The other pull was having Naruto along. Heroes of war would always be looked up to, even if said hero hoped to never allow another one. The memory and continuation of the Allied Shinobi Forces remained strong among the soldiers.

Luna cleared her throat and Kakashi signaled the rest of his group, the first party to travel, to gather around. Everyone put at least a finger on the tin can that Luna held out as they'd been instructed. Luna had her eyes on her other arm where her watch lay. The watch made no sense to Kakashi but since that's what Luna had set the portkey to, he didn't question her. This was her moment after all.

"Three, two, one," Luna counted down. Everyone in the group felt a tug, their fingers now glued to the can, and whirled away.