Harry and the Elemental Nations
Chapter Five
Hari,
I'm afraid a 'normal' shinobi is a useless one therefore your request has been denied. Instead, I am sending someone well-known for his strength. He has a few quirks, but he's not intolerable. You will find that the stronger the shinobi are, the stranger they get.
I have also neglected to let Hatake Kakashi know anything beyond you having Hedwig. The brat is often late to everything and needs to be taught a lesson. Shock and surprise him as much as you like.
Tsunade
The morning he was due to set out on his mission, Hatake Kakashi knew almost immediately that it was going to be a shit storm. The prickling feeling at the back of his neck was a familiar one. When a strap on his sandal snapped before he could get out of the front door, he knew for certain it was going to be an unpleasant mission. The black cat that crossed his path soon after only added to the growing dread pooling at the pit of his stomach. Was this karma out to get him for all the horrible excuses he gave in the past decade or so?
After half a dozen mishaps ranging from branches snapping from beneath his feet, to sudden rain showers turning the dirt road into mud and making camping out a most unpleasant experience, and bird droppings acting as an alarm clock, the silver-haired jounin was sure the universe was out to get him. He had nearly fallen into a pit trap for wild game as well, still upset by the unpleasant wake-up call. When a wet behind the ears shinobi rained kunai and senbon on him in the middle of the road hoping to collect a bounty for his head, he'd about had enough and wanted to simply go home. As a result, it took him twice as long to get to Tanzaku Gai than estimated.
Hedwig waited patiently on her perch at the reception desk for the ninja she was to escort to her Harry. When noon rolled around and there was still no one in sight, she settled in for a long wait. Several hours later, she nearly fell off her perch in shock when a droopy-eyed, mud-soaked man with the Konoha hitai-ate stepped through the entrance. And was that blood spattered all over his clothes? What in Morgana's name happened to the human? This was the human meant to help protect her wizard?! Clearly the large-breasted woman was lying when she said the man was strong.
When Kakashi saw for himself the snow white owl perched on a bird stand by the receptionist's desk, he stopped in tracks. The owl really was as white as snow. The bird seemed to be judging him too with the way she was looking him up and down. Sighing heavily, he trudged towards the bird after a quick exchange with the receptionist.
"I feel like a moron for talking to a bird, but are you Hedwig?"
The owl was so distracted by the man's appearance that the question nearly escaped her. She hesitantly nodded once when she regained her senses, eyeing the man haughtily with bright golden eyes when the man's dark eyes noticeably widened at her response.
Just to confirm, he asked another question, "you really understand me...?"
Giving the owl equivalent of a huff, she refrained from screeching at him in offense but nodded again, this time cooing softly as well.
Kakashi tilted his head in confusion, much like the dogs he was known for summoning. "Are you a summon?"
Hedwig shook her head in the negative. If only she could talk, she would tell the man to stop wasting her time so they could get moving. Instead, she flapped her wings once and glided onto the man's shoulder. A firmer grip than necessary equated to "Move!"
"Right, right." The Copycat was about to head out the door when a thought occurred to him. It wasn't as if they were in a rush. There wasn't exactly a time limit. In fact, escorting civilians typically took weeks depending on how far they were traveling. "Can I take a shower first? I'm sure your master wouldn't mind an extra fifteen minutes' wait."
The receptionist, an older woman with greying hair, interrupted with a patent smile. "Sir, the guest has a room on the second floor. The owl has the key if you wish to use the amenities."
Kakashi was about done with the oddities surrounding this mission. Since when were ordinary owls capable of such complex behaviors like holding onto keys for people or waiting for someone's arrival?
Huffing once more, Hedwig grudgingly produced the key and tossed it at the man's head. She could see the sense in cleaning up since the shinobi stunk to high heaven and was covered in who knows what, but she hated making her fledgling wait longer than necessary. A sharp bark in the man's ear at least made him hurry along.
After cleaning up under the overly watchful eye of a white owl, Kakashi gathered his supplies but left everything else as it was. Any attempts at touching any of the owl's master's belongings were met with irritating screeches. There was a golden bird perch settled by the largest window, what looked like a cloak settled against the back of a chair, and a leather bag. There was nothing else.
"Bird, I can just seal all of it into my scroll and we won't have to come back."
An angry screech permeated the air followed by a wing against his head.
Unbeknownst to the Copycat, Hedwig was both protecting her fledgling's property as well as this shinobi's hide. Harry tended to be bit a overzealous with warding what he considered his, a byproduct of his abysmal childhood. As annoying and incompetent as this man seemed to be, she didn't want the man to get cursed.
"Fine, fine. Lead the way."
Immediately, Hedwig launched herself out of the open window, forcing Kakashi to jump out as well. Not five minutes later, Hedwig landed on the roof of a well-known casino. A blur landed beside her. Nodding at the silver-haired man as a gesture to wait which he surprisingly understood, she shuffled, fluffed up a bit and settled down to wait for her human to appear. He would have felt her rapid approach. True to her prediction, Harry walked out the door not two minutes later. With a cheerful hoot, Hedwig descended and landed lightly on her Harry's head. The ninja followed her down.
"Hedwig, thank you for this. I'll give you extra bacon for breakfast tomorrow."
Nodding approvingly, she settled down into the nest her fledgling called hair.
Harry wasn't too sure what to think of the man that appeared before him. Startling silver hair spiked messily above a forehead protector that covered one eye. A mask covered the rest of the man's face. All he could tell from what skin he could see was that the man was pale and had a relatively strong jaw line.
As for Kakashi, this Potter Harry character sure was different from what he had imagined. He had imagined a balding man in his late fourties or even an elderly man for it was typically the elder and shinobi that developed odd quirks. Instead, he was met with a young man with bright, forest green eyes and messy black hair dark as night. He looked entirely too defenseless to be wandering the Elemental Nations alone. His clothes were of a high quality cut, even if from a distance it looked plain. The man reminded Kakashi of all the times he's had to hunt down wayward lordlings who wanted to escape their gilded cages in a misguided attempt at freedom only to find the world was much safer from within their cages and that freedom wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Even stranger than his appearance was the fact that he seemed to know when they arrived from within the building.
He displayed none of his thoughts. Instead, he smiled as he typically did and cheerfully greeted the commissioner of this mission. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. Tsunade-sama sent me to escort you and your owl back to Konoha safe and sound!"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Potter Harry or Potteru Hari if you can't pronounce it. Sorry for troubling you with what must seem like a relatively boring mission."
Here, the owl made a series of clicks and hoots, followed by a soft screeching noise.
Potter blinked in astonishment, and then his brow slowly creasing with worry. "I, oh, are you hurt? Let's head back to my room and we can look you over for any injuries. I don't think a quick shower would have helped much. Maybe we should stay an extra night so you can recover a bit. I didn't think my luck would catch you before you even met me," he rambled on in concern.
With that, the man hurried back to the inn, Kakashi following along silently and dumbfounded. The guy actually understands Owl. What the fucking hell? Did humans naturally learn the language of animals? Some clans were bonded with their companion animals to such a degree that they understood each other like the Inuzuka and Aburame clans. Even Kakashi himself understood dogs to a certain degree. However, there have been no records of a clan bonded with owls.
"Potter-san, do you speak Owl?"
"No, of course not. I just understand Hedwig since we've been together since I was a child. She's practically a part of me."
That made even less sense. Growing up with a dog, for example, didn't allow the owner to understand if the dog suddenly said, "Hey, this guy showed up a bleeding mess and caked in mud! So I took him to our room and let him use the shower."
"But you understand her word for word?"
"Yes, of course. We can talk more later. Let's look you over first."
"I'm not injured."
Harry came to an abrupt halt. "Huh? But Hedwig said you were soaked in blood and mud and who knows what else!"
Kakashi chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head slowly, "None of it was mine!"
"In that case, I'll just pack up and we can leave. I can meet you at the gate."
"No. As soon as we met up, my mission started. I don't let you out of my sight unless you need privacy."
Harry nodded in understanding. Together, the odd trio made their way back to the inn. There, Kakashi was witness to yet another oddity. The man folded up his cloak and placed it in his leather bag. That wasn't the strange part. The next part was. The golden perch followed in the cloak's footsteps and entered the bag as well.
"Potter-san, that shouldn't be possible."
Harry smiled, bemused. "But it is where I come from."
Kakashi stared blankly back at his client. "Where do you come from?"
"A country called England on the continent known as Europe. I'm almost positive you've never heard of it."
"Yup. Never heard of em."
The odd little group was soon on the road. Hedwig scouted from above while the two humans walked along below. Harry busily took in all the sights. The setting sun made it all the more beautiful. As the sun fell lower beneath the horizon, Kakashi made a suggestion to make camp which Harry happily vetoed.
"It's dangerous to continue after dark."
"Hatake-san, I actually prefer traveling at night. Hedwig is very effective at keeping me out of danger at this time of day." Unsaid was that a lot of snakes were nocturnal and he liked gathering information via the snakevine. It also happened to be the best time for Artemis and Hedwig to hunt.
Kakashi was more than skeptical and was wondering if his new client was perhaps crazy. Not even shinobi liked traveling at night. The chances of being caught unaware were significantly higher even if the darkness heightened their senses because it hampered them just as much.
"I advise against traveling, Potter-san."
Clearly, the ninja didn't believe him.
Harry heaved a sigh and sat down on the dirt floor. "Fine." He turned to Hedwig who had landed silently on a branch above them.
"Take Artemis with you and hunt. It's about time you two got some free time to yourselves. Hatake-san is acting as protection so you don't need to hover." With that said, he reached under his collar and pulled out a little snake about two feet in length and half an inch in width and placed her on the ground. He stroked Artemis soothingly and watched as she grew nearly three times in size until she was a little more than six feet in length, returning to her actual size under a wordless charm.
Hissing in appreciation, Artemis bowed her head at her human before following the owl out of the clearing.
Kakashi who had been watching in growing horror and fascination in equal parts finally croaked, "You had a snake on you the entire time?!" How did he not smell it on him? Come to think of it, the snake didn't smell of anything. Neither did the owl. Was that another technique of Potter's? Concealing scents as a way of defending oneself was a smart thing to do.
"Um, yeah. She's protective of me so she doesn't leave me unless she has to eat. Since you're here, she can hunt without worrying about me all the time. Really, I should be looking after her since she's still a hatchling."
"It's a snake," Kakashi couldn't help deadpanning. "All it cares about is eating, staying warm, and sleeping." At least that was true of all the snakes he ever came across. Even Anko's vicious little snakes only cared about their next meal. He was pretty sure if Anko dropped dead, they would eat her.
Harry snorted. "Not my snake."
"Right." Still skeptical.
Ten minutes later, a fire was blazing after a low powered katon jutsu and food was cooking thanks to Harry's culinary skills. Harry's bag apparently was able to carry fresh ingredients as well for they had a delicious beef stew boiling in a pot that was also retrieved from what seemed like a bottomless bag.
Kakashi had watched dinner being prepared, surprised at the young man's apparent ease in ingredient preparation. The entire time, he thought Potter was a noble-one of those rebellious young lords who wanted to explore the world in their naivety-,and nobles didn't tend to do housework of any kind.
Hedwig and Artemis returned not long after the food started cooking. The owl's beak was stained red from her dinner while Artemis had a nice lump in the middle of her long body.
"That was fast. You girls can explore and stretch your wings and, uh, scales."
Hedwig hooted in askance, staring pointedly at the ninja with sharp golden eyes. She didn't think the man very capable judging by first impressions. She couldn't trust this man to protect her fledgling.
Artemis simply didn't feel comfortable leaving her human with an unknown. Not while Fawkes was away delivering medicine to the dark-haired ninja. The phoenix tended to watch over the man for a few hours after ingesting his tears in case of side effects. Hopefully he will be back by morning. So instead of exploring, she curled up protectively around Harry, slitted golden eyes observed the temporary addition to their group curiously, carefully not using her killing gaze. What a strange looking human.
Meanwhile Kakashi couldn't believe his ability to defend his client was under question by an owl and a snake. An owl and a snake thought him incompetent.
After they were all fed and watered, the Konoha nin watched the bedtime ritual of his client in fascination. Hedwig took up post on a branch above Potter's chosen tree. The large snake carefully curled around the young man in a way so that the thickest part of her covered his vitals while also becoming a makeshift pillow with her large spiked head unhindered. The cloak from earlier was wrapped around both of them and they fell asleep curled into a man-snake ball.
Kakashi could admit to never seeing animals behave that way before, especially not a snake. If they were summon animals, that was one thing. These animals possessed no such fighting abilities from what he could tell. The snake was unusual though. Her head was shaped like a viper but she had horns or spikes that formed into scales the further down the body they went. It was a species of snake he had never seen before. Harry had mentioned she was still young too. What kind of young snake was already six feet in length? With his curiosity running rampant, sleep came late but morning came all too quickly by birdsong.
The Copycat nin shot into a sitting position only to blink owlishly as his gaze met a stunning fiery bird perched next to a grumpy looking Hedwig, trilling a song to the sunrise. The crested bird was a brilliant mix of crimson, orange, and gold that shone like liquid fire under the rising sun.
A muffled groan had his gaze redirect to the pile of snake, man, and cloak. "Fa~wkes, pleeeease let me sleep for another hour... or three..."
The now named bird, Fawkes, silenced his song and cocked his head curiously before gliding down to the forest floor. He nudged his crested head against the curled form and crooned.
"M'tired. Sleep..."
The phoenix eyed the new ninja curiously before acceding to his bonded's request and settled down to nest next to the pile of human and snake. He would stay awake and watch their new companion.
It turns out choosing to sleep for a while longer was a mistake. Hedwig abruptly swooped down upon her human and nipped the wizard on the nose to wake him before crooning something urgently at him. Harry awoke almost immediately and stood, cautiously scanning his surroundings and Artemis circled around her human eyeing their surroundings as well, flicking her tongue to taste the air. Fawkes had immediately taken to hovering by Harry's shoulder. Kakashi who had sensed the danger at approximately the same time as the owl placed himself between the quickly approaching enemies and his client.
To his surprise, a team of Sound ninja—two males and one female in their mid-teens—greeted them with a hail of kunai and an earth jutsu, all of which Kakashi easily deflected and neutralized. Upon seeing who had deflected them so easily, they reeled back in shock, unprepared for the caliber of protection their target had.
"Hatake Kakashi?!"
Harry noticed their uniform and groaned—loudly. "Oh great, the Orochi weirdo's minions."
"How dare you insult Orochimaru-sama!" the lone female screeched.
"Potter-san, I would like to ask you how you know Orochimaru but I will save it for when you are safe. Please stay back and let me handle them."
Harry stared at the back of Kakashi in alarm. Did Tsunade really neglect to tell him anything at all? He thought the woman was joking in her letter. The man must have been chronically late to everything. Throwing Harry Potter at a single man was likely the most horrifying prank to pull.
"Uh, sure..." It seemed like he could take care of himself and their enemies were just teenagers. So the wizard nodded at his familiars and they all took a seat on the forest floor underneath the tree he was sleeping against just minutes prior.
Kakashi nearly facepalmed when he looked back for a split second to see if his client followed his instructions only to find him casually sitting on the forest floor like they were about to have a picnic rather than being in mortal danger.
The Sound team was clearly outmatched but wasn't about to return empty-handed. They had orders and to return without at least trying would mean a death sentence or severe punishment. The two men immediately began running through a series of hand seals but were interrupted by Kakashi's shunshin behind them and had to duck immediately to avoid a swift beheading. The female leaped towards Harry while her teammates occupied the Copy nin's attention but was forced to dodge a chidori, and was grazed in the arm. She still managed to launch a projectile which started spewing poisonous gas when Kakashi threw a kunai at it to halt its progress. Fawkes took flight and took up position between the cloud of gas heading towards his wizard and breathed a column of purifying flames at it, purging it from existence. While her human was immune to poison, the rest of them weren't. Artemis was already moving beneath the flames and struck lightning fast. Fangs pierced through the the girl's leg and venom was generously pumped into her bloodstream. A scream tore from the Sound kunoichi's lips as lava burned through her veins. The basilisk unlatched and returned to a defensive position, rearing back and hissing in warning.
Kakashi seeing that the kunoichi was all but incapacitated and writhing in pain on the floor, quickly returned his attention to the remaining pair who made a desperate attempt to reach his client with a series of shockwave attacks much like the ones he had seen in the Chuunin exams his genin had participated in not too long ago. With a fist full of crackling lightning, he made to intercept but was too late. As fast as he was, he wasn't faster than sound. To his immense shock, the shock waves met a barrier and dispelled harmlessly. Now that he knew Harry was safe behind a barrier of his own making, Kakashi instead directed his Chidori towards his opponents with a series of shunshin. Two punctured chest cavities later, the enemies were neutralized. The lone kunoichi was at Death's doors, barely aware of her surroundings as the quick acting poison made its way through her bloodstream.
Covered in guts, bone chips, and blood, Hatake Kakashi made for quite the terrifying sight, but to his surprise, Harry didn't look the least bit phased. He dashed over to his client and looked him over with a critical eye. "Did the poison reach you?"
"Nope. I'm fine and dandy. Did you get hurt? I was distracted by poison gas and wasn't able to watch the entire fight. But from what I saw, they were completely outmatched."
Assuring Potter he was fine, Kakashi instead asked, "Are you fine to continue the journey today?"
Harry smiled in bemusement. "Of course. It's not like I did any fighting. We should get a bath going for you. You're covered in bits of human. But first, let's interrogate the girl? She's nearly dead and I'd like to know why that guy's minions are trying to kill me."
Kakashi blinked slowly, yet again surprised at the nonchalant reaction of his client. Most people would be shaking in fear from having such a dangerous enemy or going through shock at the amount of violence that took place in such a short time, but Harry pragmatically suggested interrogation instead.
"Of course." The silver-haired nin hauled the girl up and shunshined a few meters away to interrogate her.
Unfortunately, the girl was far too gone and all he got was a shuddering whisper, "Kabuto's...orders... Kill—foreigner..."
Upon receiving the report of what was said, Harry looked utterly bewildered. "Who the fuck is Kabuto? I thought they were that weird Orochi person's minions?"
A brief explanation of who Kabuto was didn't expel the wizard's confusion. He understood it was the other ninja fighting on Orochimaru's side when he first came to this world, but he wasn't aware of doing anything to provoke an attack.
"So... I'm being hunted by these Sound ninjas under this Kabuto's orders which translates to being hunted by Orochimaru," Harry deadpanned. "But I have no idea why. I didn't even do anything other than run away from a fight between giant talking animals!"
Kakashi would usually call bullshit. People like Orochimaru didn't usually bother with ordinary people without reason, but from what he could tell, Potter wasn't lying. "You have no idea at all?"
"No. I literally ran away, but the big animals were spitting mad... Maybe it has to do with the animals? You ninjas can summon right?"
"Yeah, I have a summoning pact with the dogs. When you say giant animals, I assume you mean Tsunade-sama's, Jiraiya-sama's, and Orochimaru's summons."
"Yeah, they were on top of a toad, slug, and a snake." Something Kakashi said struck Harry then. "You make pacts? As in contracts with the summoning animals?"
"That's how shinobi summon animals." A brief explanation of how summoning contracts worked cleared some confusion but caused the wizard to hang his head in mild depression.
"Oh, well shit. I think I know why the guy's after my head. The Serpent clan probably terminated the contract. We should probably confirm that, just to be sure."
Kakashi groaned. This wasn't what he expected. Now he knew why Potter asked for a higher mission rank. To think the guy might have somehow caused a sannin to lose his contract. "And how do you propose we do that? Summon Manda?"
Harry choked on a laugh, surprised at how accurate the snarky question was. "Yep! That sounds about right. We'd need to find a larger clearing though. Manda is quite large."
"What?!"
AN: Told you I update irregularly. Happy holidays everyone. :)
Posted: December 11, 2017
