A/N: Hi everyone! Hopefully these updates will be a weekly – at least – occurrence. (:

I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who has commented, favorited, and followed this story! You guys are the best!

The sorting is set for the NEXT chapter! :D Then, the pairing poll will be put back up!

Also, I was asked to write out how Dumbledore stumbled upon the shinobi nations on my writing tumblr, so once I write it, I will put the link up in my profile and, of course, alert you guys here!

Lastly, I'm still running out of chapter title ideas XD

Unknown Hero

All Seven

"Have you heard?" He looked up at the soft voice. Mouse brown eyes stared back at him expectantly. "Well?"

"Heard what?" She groaned.

"About the exchange students!" Green eyes widened.

"Exchange students?!"

"Yes, didn't you hear Mr. Weasley at dinner?" She took his silence as a no. "Well, Dumbledore informed the ministry about three exchange students coming to Hogwarts."

"Weird, isn't it?" A third chimed in, settling himself down on a chair. "After all that happened. Couldn't he just say no?"

"It might be a set-up by the country they're from." She was always the voice of reason. "With all that's been happening, they might want to see the situation for themselves. And what closer way to be near both Harry and Dumbledore than by infiltrating Hogwarts?"

"But Dumbledore might've already thought of this." Harry leaned forward. "He must know what he's doing."

Hermione pressed her lips together, sitting up straighter. "Of course. It's just…I'm already worried about the year as it is. Three students coming in this year is very suspicious."

"I trust Dumbledore on this one." Harry concluded, giving his best friends a serious look. "He knows what he's doing."

Hermione sighed. Ron rubbed his hands together, glancing to the side. If Harry was this insistent, then there was no use in convincing him otherwise.


Draco had also stopped in the pet store on that day one week and a day ago. He'd bought a rat, but from his expression Naruto could tell it wasn't as a pet.

And since then, he stayed in his home. He was doing a lot of reading, which was surprising given what they knew of him. He also seemed to be brewing something…in a cauldron.

"These people take the stereotype way too seriously…" Naruto had muttered.

Their mission aside, school began tomorrow. They memorized the layout of the castle, the teachers, and even the history of the current events.

It was also useful that they were able to create the spells. For most spells, they were able to mold a bit of chakra into the wand and it would act as actual magic, seamlessly creating spells.

More complicated spells, however, wouldn't work. Thankfully, there weren't many in the curriculum and even a few were mimic the spells with jutsu – no one would notice the difference.

During their "study session", Naruto loudly complained about his hunger before nearly running down the stairs to the innkeeper Tom for more food.

White eyes blinked. "I'm n-nervous, Sakura-ch-chan…"

She rested her hand on the girl's shoulder. "It'll be fine, Hinata-chan. You'll be fine. And you'll have us. Naruto and I will always be at your side."

Hinata smiled gratefully. "S-Same for you, S-Sakura-chan. You're not a-alone."

Sakura lightly flushed, wondering if the kunoichi could read her mind. She pulled the seemingly fragile girl into her arms, a sign that even though they were never particularly close – it was always Sakura and Ino, and Hinata and Tenten –, they were there for each other.


Tsunade was not happy. She was not happy at all.

And the source of her irritation was standing on the other side of her desk, daintily smiling at her.

"It's for your own good, Tsunade-sama."

"My own good my ass Shizune! I want my sake and I want it now!"

"Childish, aren't we, Tsunade?" Her fist was aimed directly behind her, where Jiraiya managed to sneak up on her.

"Unless you have anything useful, get out!" A lazy smile stretched across his lips.

"I do, actually. Good news." Shizune took the opportunity to sneak out. "They agreed-"

The door was opened without a proper knock, and it seemed the temperature dropped ten degrees.

"Danzou." She hissed through gritted teeth. Jiraiya couldn't help the scowl.

"Tsunade-hime," Danzou nearly spat, "we need to talk."

She jerked her head towards Jiraiya. "As you can see, I'm busy. As the Hokage, conversing with shinobi is important and as this meeting was pre-arranged, you happen to be intruding." Her words were both scathing and cool. She was hard-pressed to show restrain around that man, so it was her happy medium aside from not saying anything.

Plus, she couldn't restrain herself from making the comment about her rank. It was obvious that was his aim, so she felt that is was her obligation to remind him that it was hers, not his.

After a few moments of him sizing her up, he turned to leave. "Of course, Tsunade-hime." And then he left.

She didn't care if he heard the growl that escaped her lips.


Hagrid was, once again, at their door. They only had a few weapons on them this time, as they somewhat recognized his heavy footsteps.

"Rise 'n shine!" He grinned at them. He went to grab their luggage, but his eyes widened when he didn't see any. "Where are yer things?"

Naruto held up his small pack, taking out a scroll. "It's all in these," He paused, "Well, besides the animals."

Hagrid's brow raised, but then brushed it off. After all, they seemed to come from an entirely different world, and he couldn't imagine how weird everything must be for them.

So, he simply jingled the keys with a sly grin. "That'll fit 'n the car then!" They collectively groaned.


It must have been an odd sight to the muggles, as Harry's own eyes were wide.

He immediately believed that Hermione's previous claims were false, as what country in their right mind would send three students – one with face tattoos, one with bright pink hair, and one with white eyes – to gather information.

They just arrived to the platform a few moments ago and all eyes were trained on them!

The only normal thing about them was their attire. Ignoring their features, they would fit in perfectly.

The boy – the one with the facial tattoos – had his…orange frog atop his head. And it wasn't a normal looking frog. It had strange markings on its back weaved in with unnatural colors on its skin. He spoke to it as if it could understand what he was saying, and he was expertly unfazed by all the stares.

The two girls were rolling their eyes behind him, the one with the pink hair pushing their cart, which consisted of only the animal cages.

He'd never seen an owl as big as the one that they had. It was dark with lighter specks throughout its feathers, and it more than half the height of the shortest of them – again, the pink haired one.

The cat that snoozed in the cage was another oddity. Its coat was snow white and its eyes were a piercing lavender. Was that even possible?

A smaller, normal owl was also caged along with their belongings, and he could hear Hermione's glare.

"Do they not know that there's only animal per person?" She nearly hissed.

"Calm down. They probably get special treatment or something." Ron shrugged. The comment only set Hermione off even more, causing her to huff and turn away.

They had only looked away from the odd trio for a second and when Harry turned to gawk at them again, they were gone.


They were one of the first on the train, and they didn't move until the train did. Until then, they set up the walls to be sound-proof and monitored where Draco was on the train with Hinata's Byakugan.

"The one watching us was…Harry, right?" Sakura nodded.

"Yup, and it would also be beneficial to be-friend him. He's the one Voldemort is after, and has always been Draco's enemy. Hopefully one of us will end up in one of their houses."

They were about to discuss how to listen in to Draco's conversations when the compartment door suddenly slid open. A red faced, considerably pale girl clumsily stepped in.

"I'm supposed to deliver these to-" She began to try to pronounce their names, but as she started to butcher them, Sakura thrusted her hand into the girl's face. The girl nearly tossed the three scrolls in the air before running out of the compartment. Sakura handed Naruto's and Hinata's to them before unraveling her own.

Miss Sakura Haruno,

I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C.

Sincerely,

Professor H. E. F. Slughorn

Hinata's eyes widened, a light flush covering her cheeks. Sakura cursed.

"How are we supposed to monitor Draco when a Professor is making us eat lunch with him? And I don't even remember him being at Hogwarts last week!" She was almost disturbed at Naruto's grin.

He dispelled his previous summon – hidden by a standing Hinata – and summoned a much smaller and camouflaged frog. Once Hinata told the frog how to get to Draco's compartment and the instructions, the tiny thing scampered off once they opened their compartment door to visit Professor Slughorn.


Harry being there was the first thing they noticed, follow by how small the compartment seemed due to the large belly of the professor. They seemed to be the last to arrive, as there were no more seats.

Slughorn seemed to be able to hardly contain himself at the sight of them. "Welcome, welcome you three! You must be the exchange students!"

Putting on her best smile – which was thoroughly practiced through being Tsunade's apprentice and dealing with foreign leaders – Sakura folded her hands in front of her.

"Yes, sir, that's us."

His smile recoiled for a moment, as if a thought had crossed him. "Oh my, I just realized that you wouldn't know anybody that I invited! Well, I'll do some introductions." He began gesturing around the room, and everyone but a tall, dark boy nodded to them in greeting as a way to study their odd features.

Hinata tried not to flush at the attention.

Slughorn seemed most pleased when the circle of introductions ended at Harry, and the gleam in his eyes was palpable.

"Now, you three must have heard of Harry Potter!"

Naruto sheepishly grinned. "No, sir, I can't say we have."

He could've sworn Slughorn had a heart attack. "No, you say? Well, we'll go over his accomplishments in a moment, once I've properly talked to everyone. But now! I do not wish to speak for you three, so, if you mind, could you three introduce yourselves?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, at you serv-"

"Sakura Haruno," She cut him off with a pointed look.

"H-Hinata Hyuuga…"

He clasped his hands together with a wide smile, and immediately turned his gaze away and began rattling on to the other guests. The first, a boy named Marcus Belby, was offered something called pheasant, began choking on, and once he answered Slughorn's question, the professor quickly went to the next student.

He followed this pattern, the three shinobi barely listening to what was happening. Until he cleared his throat and addressed them. "Now, I'm still surprised to hear that the incredible fame of this boy hasn't reached every corner of the wizarding world!" The dark boy, Blaise, rolled his eyes. His next words were directed at Harry himself, and only Hinata was truly listening.

Suddenly, his attention was now on them.

"When I asked to come back to Hogwarts this year, I didn't know there would exchange students! I've never even heard of such a thing! Where are you from?"

Sakura tucked a lock of pink behind her ear. "We're from Japan, and we go to Hiruzen Sarutobi Academy. We're very closed-off from other wizarding schools, and I guess you could say our methods and magic means are more…barbaric. Instead of relying on wands, we use weapons. And because we're the only school that does, we're sent to learn different methods to bring them over either next year or, if we stay here next year as well, we'll go back as professors to teach both students and staff what we've learned here." She had almost forgotten the last part, but she regurgitated Dumbledore's words if she did say so herself.

Once she was done, she allowed herself to notice everyone's expressions, as she had been so focused on the words themselves. Everyone, including Blaise, had wide eyes.

Slughorn eventually stopped questioning them all, and instead began rattling off tales of past students of his and how famous they all were.

That's when it clicked. Slughorn was attracted to the elite wizards, ones that would go places. They were chosen because they were the shiny new toys, the unknown.

If they wanted to stay – and have an excuse to be near Harry – they would need to continue to pretend to be elite, to please Slughorn.

After all, they wanted to cover all of the bases when it came to gathering information on Draco. And what way to gain access to unfavorable information than by befriending his enemy?