I don't Harry Potter or Naruto, damn the rotten luck.

"Right you brats, shut up," said Anko as she approached her now complete and waiting team of Genin, "Today we're going to spend a bit of time with teamwork exercises but first we're going to push Shikamaru here to the brink of exhaustion to catch him up to the both of you as fast as possible." Anko then tossed a bag at Shikamaru, "Put that light body armor on and then start sticking tags on." She then smiled gleefully, it was a bit beyond excessive but it did the trick and then some.

"This is so troublesome," complained Shikamaru as he shed his shirt put on the light chain mesh body armor. He then started putting on the little notes of paper.

"Make sure they stay out of sight now," added Anko with a pleased smirk.

Once Shikamaru had added about fifteen tags Anko stopped him, "The rest are for Harry and Naruto, can't let you boys slack off now can we?"

Naruto and Harry sighed before they started adding the remained tags to their already numerous tags.

Anko made a few quick hand seals to activate all of the seals at once. Shikamaru dropped straight to the ground with a painful whiff of air leaving his lungs rapidly.

"Get your ass up Shikamaru or I'll castrate you," said Anko with a demonic and yet gleeful grin at the prospect of making her own eunuch.

Shikamaru struggled first to his knees panting heavily thinking his body would give out at any moment.

"Yo," said Naruto offering his hand to help Shikamaru up.

Shikamaru looked up in surprise at Naruto. He now knew Naruto and Harry's full story. He thought that under the same conditions he would have become that which the village feared, but one look into the eyes of either of them and he knew that simply wasn't so. They wanted to prove themselves and help the friends, he suddenly felt very lucky to be counted among the friend group.

Shikamaru took the hand offered to him and struggled to stand even with Naruto helping a bit.

"Thanks," said Shikamaru finally standing bent over holding himself up with his hands on his knees.

"Use your chakra," said Harry with a smile, "It takes a bit to get used to and you'll drain your chakra fast but at least you'll be able to move."

"Yeah, and you'll get used to it eventually," added Naruto with a smile. He may have worried greatly under the surface about the risk of adding Shikamaru to the team but he'd be damned if he didn't at least try.

Shikamaru appreciated the help and tried to use his chakra to help him move, "It's damn hard, how the hell can you two stay standing?"

"We've been doing this since the academy days," said Naruto, "Just stick with it and you'll build up an enormous amount of chakra and strength."

"He acts tough," said Harry punching Naruto in the arm, "But he's probably struggling more than you are."

"Shut up, I am not," yelled Naruto angrily.

That seemed to relax the atmosphere a bit because Shikamaru chuckled.

"Alright you brats," said Anko, "Take the little weenie here and run him through the warm up and the basic drills."

"Die biatch," yelled Naruto at Anko as he way of saying 'Yes ma'am'.

Soon enough the three Genin were stretching and loosening up their bodies followed closely by push-ups, sit-up, handstand push-up, and pull-ups.

"Good, now that we're all warmed up, start running," said Anko brandishing two hands of Senbon.

Naruto and Harry's eyes both widened with fear. Together they grabbed Shikamaru roughly and took of at a fast sprint changing directions regularly with Anko right on the tails violently throwing her poisoned needles the hopes of getting her brats.

"What's with the needles?" asked Shikamaru as he dodged yet another one.

"Nerve agent," said Naruto before he yelped. She got him.

"It'll just slow you down," said Harry, "Makes you an easier target." Harry was moving quickly to dodge a particularly nasty barrage of Senbon.

"Psychotic woman," complained Shikamaru as he moved to dodge sluggishly. His chakra was starting to wane and his muscles were having trouble supporting the weight on their own.

They kept this up until all three boys were little better than pin cushions. All three stood as Anko counted the needles stuck in each boy, "Not bad, Harry wins with Naruto a close second. The only problem with that is if I had used a real poison you'd have died a long time ago. You're going to have to get a lot faster, and no Naruto, you cannot use your Shunshin. Now, get the hell out of my sight, report back here tomorrow."

Naruto and Harry both limped off nursing their various wounds and trying to work the nerve agent out of their muscles. Shikamaru though just fell back on the grass to watch the clouds above and breathe heavily wishing he could be one of those clouds.

"Enjoy your first day as Genin?" asked a familiar voice.

"Tousan, this is so troublesome," said Shikamaru tiredly. Shikamaru heard the sounds of someone lying down next to him in the grass.

"You're going to have to get stronger faster if you plan to make this work," said Shikato to son.

"Weight training is so troublesome, I can hardly move," said Shikamaru. His father was one of the few people that really understood him. "Is this really what it is like?"

"You've seen my scars, you've heard the stories," said Shikato, "I admit, I've always worried about you becoming a shinobi. You've never had much drive for it. I think Anko-san has shown you a world that you weren't prepared for. I hope you now know what you're getting yourself into."

"She stabbed me several times and threatened to kill me. I don't think anyone is ever ready for that," said Shikamaru.

"I was, so are most of the shinobi that come out of the Academy," said Shikato, "You've spent too much looking at the clouds and not enough time thinking about what it truly means to be a shinobi."

"I don't need the lecture Tousan," said Shikamaru, "Don't you think I've realized that? Don't you think I've realized exactly what will be expected of me?"

"I hope you have realized it by now," said Shikato, "So, are you ready to learn the true secrets of our families Hijutsu?"

"Yeah, I think I'm finally ready to go beyond Kagemane and Kage Kubishibari," said Shikamaru with a heavy sigh.

"Good," said Shikato, "We'll start in two weeks. That ought to give you a chance to get used to those weights." Shikato then stood and left his son to continue his reflection.

"So troublesome," Shikamaru said to himself now that he was alone. The only thing he needed to figure out now was how to stand up again.

BREAK

"Come on, concentrate Harry," said Shikamaru waiting for Harry to make his move on the Shogi board. He knew that Harry was going to lose but he hoped that he would last a bit longer this time. At Anko-sensei's instruction, Shikamaru had been taking time everyday to teach them both the game. It was a very daunting task for Shikamaru in addition to everything else he had to do.

Everyday, the team would train at sunrise. Then they would do a D rank mission. After that they would eat lunch followed closely by more training. After afternoon training, Shikamaru taught Harry and Naruto to play Shogi for an hour before he would go home to train with his father. Shikato had taken guard duty for the next two months until Shikamaru was scheduled to depart so as he would have enough time to train Shikamaru properly. Kage Aruku no Jutsu was damn difficult. Walking from one shadow to another was nearly impossible and used up such an ungodly amount of Chakra it hardly seemed worthwhile. But then again, if successful you could appear anywhere there was a shadow. It was truly an assassin's technique.

Meanwhile, Harry and Naruto were buried in text books completing their summer homework. Harry took to this much more easily than Naruto did but then again, Harry had a much more vested interest in it. He wanted to make his parents, who were a witch and wizard, proud of him. Naruto found himself more times than not annoyed with the wizards magic as most of it was useless nonsense to a ninja just as most ninja arts were useless to a wizard. However, he had to admit that he did appreciate the cleaning spells enormously.

Naruto would generally do the minimum requirements and then run off to work on his family scroll and delve further into his heritage. He'd recently become more and more interested in seals and sealing techniques. This led him to the library more often than not. If he was lucky, he'd find what he needed, read it, and return the book where it came from before the librarian noticed he was there. If he was unlucky, the librarian would spot him and chase him out with her broom stick of doom.

After Naruto left Harry to his own devices, Harry would find Anko to learn more of the Hebi-do and Hebi Jutsu. Harry was getting quite good with this by now and Anko couldn't have been prouder, not that she'd ever let him know.

"Hey brat," said Anko entering the apartment without a care for knocking, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me finish this paragraph," said Harry dipping his quill in the well again and scratching a few more words on the piece of parchment. "There, all finished. So what have you got for me today Anko-Sensei?"

"You're going to love it," said Anko with a devious grin.

Harry followed Anko a safe distance from the village to practice so as not to raise more concerns from the villages.

"I think you're ready to learn Senei Jashuu," said Anko with a gleeful smile. It was such a useful technique, it was a real pity that more shinobi didn't use it. On the other hand, that could also be deemed a good thing as it often meant that the enemy wouldn't know the technique.

"Sweet," said Harry with a grin, "bring it on."

Anko and Harry spent the rest of the afternoon working on the technique and well into the evening. By the time they rested, Harry had successfully summoned one snake to shoot from his sleeve which then turned on him when it smelt fear from him. Anko got a good laugh out of it seeing him struggle with the python and trying to reason with it in the snake language. That was something Anko was very pleased to learn about Harry early in his training. He naturally spoke the snake language. It was a rare quality that didn't show up very often in shinobi. It was the very reason that she was chosen by Orochimaru to become his apprentice, but in the end, it wasn't such a good thing. Even still, she did learn a lot from the traitorous bastard. It felt good to her to be passing on the techniques to someone who would put them to good use in service of the village.

Naruto meanwhile, wasn't so fortunate. The librarian had called several ANBU to deal with him this time.

"What do you think you're doing?" demanded one of the ANBU with a Cat mask.

"Trying to learn, what the hell does it look like?" asked Naruto sarcastically. He was just plane pissed off with the situation. He wasn't bothering anyone, just trying to learn from books that it didn't look as though it had been touched in years and he was getting scolded for it.

"Don't take that tone with me boy. You should be well aware that this library is restricted to Shinobi only," said ANBU threateningly.

"What the hell does this look like?" he asked pointing to his forehead protector.

"I good forgery," said the ANBU crossing his arms.

"Damn it, fine, arrest me, take me to the Hokage," said Naruto giving up his struggle with the bigot. He'd just deal with the old man directly.

"Oh, we don't need to bother him with scum like you. I think Ibiki has been rather lonely lately without anyone to interrogate," said the ANBU, "Assuming you live long enough to meet him."

Naruto didn't like the sound of this at all. He suddenly found himself praying for a small miracle, someone just happened to be listening to his pleas.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, what seems to be the problem?" asked the kindly voice of the old man known better as Hokage-sama.

Naruto was presented with a unique opportunity. In the past he would have ousted the ANBU for his actions, today though, he knew that he'd have better luck putting the ANBU in his debt.

"Nothing going on old man, this ANBU was just helping explain something to me," said Naruto cutting off the ANBU.

"Well that's good," said Sarutobi before looked at the ANBU, "Please report to my office when your shift ends."

ANBU stood rigid and saluted before leaving.

"Now then," said Sarutobi smiling at Naruto, "What is your latest endeavor?"

"Sealing," said Naruto not entirely sure how the old man would react to it.

"Really now?" asked Sarutobi, "And why would you want to learn something as boring as sealing?"

"It's not that boring. I mean come on, you can do all kinds of cool stuff with seals," said Naruto before he launched into a long winded explanation of the pranks he could accomplish with the right seals and several other troublemaking plans. Everything he learned seemed to revolve around the next great prank or his path to becoming the next Hokage.

Sarutobi chuckled, "Well then, let's see if we can't find you a few books to help with that." Sarutobi looked through the stacks for a moment before he thought of something he had stashed back in his office. "You know, I think I have a few scrolls on the topic back in my office that may interest you."

"Really?" asked Naruto excitedly.

Not much later they were both in Sarutobi's personal library. Naruto stood patiently as he was able to while Sarutobi dug through several stacks of scrolls. Finally he re-emerged with three scrolls.

"Now, your father wasn't Hokage for very long, but in that time he managed to write a few scrolls. Several of which, deal specifically with sealing techniques. Now, within these three, there is one scroll for each level of skills from beginning to novice to intermediate. There are a few more scrolls but I think it would be best for you to start with these three. I'm sure they'll keep you plenty busy for now. I just ask that you take good care of them. After all, we don't have much of your father's works. They must be cared for and protected. I'm sure you understand."

"Of course I understand," said Naruto, "I'll take great care of them. I'll be sure to learn them perfectly too, just you wait. When I come back next year you'll be giving me the rest of those scrolls."

"I hope so Naruto," said Sarutobi knowing that he was placing the knowledge in good hands, "Now, you'd best head home and get to work."

"I'm already gone," said Naruto as he ran for home to get to work.

"Good luck my boy, you're starting down a very difficult path," said Sarutobi. There were very few shinobi who bothered to learn beyond the most basic of sealing techniques. Those that did easily became Jounin, and those that truly mastered the art became Sennin or Kage's. It was indeed a very difficult path and he hoped that Naruto would see it through to the end.

BREAK

Weeks seemed to blur together with the amount of work the team was always doing. They were always training or doing some menial D rank mission. Even Anko was getting board watching the brats chase the same damn cat six days a week.

It became quite annoying for the team to find Naruto using scrolls to create all kinds of havoc during sparring sessions. The more of sealing Naruto learned the more fun he had with it. Shikamaru and Harry quickly learned to work together to take Naruto out before he had a chance to cause too much havoc. He was simply too unpredictable to find any pattern or method to his use of various scrolls.

Harry though had grown even closer to the snake mistress Anko, almost like a brother-sister relationship. His Senei Jashuu now could compete with Anko's for speed and quantity but his chakra still couldn't keep up with her. Harry's Hebi-do was becoming down right vicious as his speed continued to increase with the accuracy of his hits. He wasn't very strong but he was so damn fast it didn't really matter. The only way Naruto could ever keep up with him now was by using Shunshin and that would drain away chakra fast.

Shikamaru made the biggest strides in his improvement though. Anko knew that his improvement was due to the fact that he had to push so hard to catch up to Naruto and Harry as she took every chance she got to compare his progress to theirs. It was cruel, but very effective, especially when she would put down Naruto and Harry's abilities rather harshly first. Shikamaru's improvement in his families Hijutsu was far beyond impressive. Once he'd grasped several layers of chakra control training that had been force upon him, he'd become great friends with shadows. They were his gateway to the world. He learned to become nothing but a shadow to hide in plain site and erase his presence entirely. He learned to turn his shadows into weapons that could pierce almost anything or knock away any weapon. He still had a long way to go but he was making beyond impressive strides in his abilities and strengths.

Anko was very pleased with her team. She never imagined that she would ever enjoy bossing around a bunch of brats but it really wasn't that bad. On the other hand, she had some rather unique brats. Naruto and Harry's attitudes were very much like hers and she knew exactly how to motivate herself and thus them. Shikamaru was a bit more difficult but he was still making great progress and responding well to her training methods, a few trips to the hospital for stab wounds and poisoning were extremely effective motivators.

"Well, I hope you've all had a very enjoyable break," said Sarutobi to the assembled team before him, "As you know, your mission will resume in a week's time. However, Professor Dumbledore felt it would be best for you to return a week early to obtain materials for the new term and to better prepare Shikamaru to begin his first year of lessons. He has made arrangement for you boys to stay with the Weasley family."

"Sweet, Ron is finally gonna lose at chess," said Harry with a big smile. Shikamaru would kick his ass.

"So troublesome," complained Shikamaru verbally but inside he was kind of excited to meet Ron and play a game against him. He'd heard so much about their friends at Hogwarts he felt as though he now knew them. He was very excited to say the least.

"Anyway," interrupted Sarutobi before the boys could get too excited, "You'll be leaving tomorrow. Hagrid will come with a portkey as usual and that will take you to the Weasley home. From there, Mrs. Weasley will be taking you to Diagon Alley. Anko, Hagrid will take you to Hogwarts to prepare for your term of classes."

"Damn," said Anko, "Do I really have to?"

"Yes Anko, you really have to," answered Sarutobi, "Unless you have any other questions you are dismissed until tomorrow, 08:00 hours."

"Hai!" the group responded before vanishing.

Sarutobi was happy to see such a strong team formed already. He hoped they would be ready for the Chuunin exams when they returned next year. It was Konoha's turn to host and he really hoped they would be ready for it.

As scheduled the group arrived. The only one that appeared to have any luggage was Shikamaru much to his dismay until the boys showed him their shrunken trunks. His only response was 'I have to get one of those'.

"Hello again boys," said Hagrid with a big booming voice, "Hope yer ready fer another excitin' year."

"Let's just get a move on Blackbeard," said Anko more than a little annoyed to have to deal with yet another of these stupid portkeys.

"Right then, everyone grab hold," said Hagrid offering them a teapot.

With the 'oh so familiar' jerk behind the navel the group of traveler vanished for yet one more year.

The group reappeared in a field facing a rather interesting home. Interesting was a nice way to put it. The house looked ready to completely fall over or cave in on itself. Shikamaru was quickly calculating the structural integrity of the building while Naruto and Harry were thinking about all the fun they could have.

"That building can't possibly stay standing," said Shikamaru finally.

"Oh course it can," said Hagrid, "Magic is holdin' it together jus' fine."

"Right," said Shikamaru. He heard that magic was much more versatile for everyday things but nearly useless in combat but to actually see it at work redefined his opinion of how useful or useless it could actually be.

"Well, just go on an' knock on the door there," said Hagrid, "Professor Anko and I have to be getting' on," said Hagrid.

"Anko-sensei," said Anko in a deadly hiss, "How many damn times do I have to remind you to call me Anko-sensei? I'm no god damn professor."

Hagrid was fearful so he just thrust the teapot upon Anko to get them out of there.

"She's downright scary," said Shikamaru.

"Sometimes," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but that's why we love her," said Harry with a grin that was soon matched by Naruto, even Shikamaru smirked a bit.

"Prank plan Alpha 3 Zeta 7?" asked Naruto with a grin.

"How about we try to make a good impression?" asked Shikamaru flatly walking ahead of Naruto and Harry towards the front door.

"He's no fun," said Naruto with a pout.

"Well, he does have a point," said Harry trying to look inconspicuous and failing miserably.

"Bull shit," said Naruto, "You just want to make a good impression for Ginny."

"I do not," protested Harry blushing furiously causing Naruto to laugh and run ahead of Harry who was chasing after him.

Very quickly the short walk toward the door turned into a moving sparing match.

Shikamaru was getting used to this and ignored them as he went and knock on the door.

The door was answered by a tall boy with glass and bright red hair and a look of annoyance on his face, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow at the boy, "We're expected."

"We?" asked the boy looking around only to see Naruto and Harry fighting and laughing.

"Oh, you must be the new student that was coming with Mr. Kazama and Mr. Potter. Take my advice, once you reach Hogwarts, avoid those two as the not but troublemakers," said boy before turning and leaving Shikamaru standing in front of an open door.

"Mother, the guests have arrived," was yelled from somewhere inside the house.

Soon the sound of someone bustling about was coming to the door, "Oh hello," said a plump red head enveloping Shikamaru in a crushing hug, "You must be Shikamaru, where are Naruto and Harry?

Shikamaru was very surprised by the greeting but jutted his thumb over his shoulder to the still fighting Naruto and Harry.

"Now you boys stop rough housing and come over here, let get a good look at you," she said leaving no room for question.

Naruto and Harry stopped their fight and walked over to her but not without shoving each other playfully.

"Oh Harry, it's so nice to finally see you," said Molly hugging the poor boy fiercely.

"And you must Harry's cousin Naruto," said Molly giving the short boy an equally strong hug.

"I'm Molly Weasley," she finally introduced herself, "The boys are all out back playing a game of Quidditch, feel free to join them, lunch will be served in a bit." And just as suddenly as she arrived at the door she disappeared.

"Yes, Quidditch," shouted Harry. He'd been forbidden to ride his broom all summer long because it would raise too many questions within the village. Harry was then racing his way to the back of the house.

Naruto followed a bit slower with Shikamaru as neither of them had a broom.

When they got back there they could see Harry racing about in the air laughing with the others as he did several death defying tricks at near impossible speeds.

"Oh, I hope doesn't get hurt," said a worried voice.

Naruto looked to see Ron's little sister, "So, you're Ginny?"

The girl suddenly turned to notice the other two people, "Yes, that's me."

"Nice to meet you," said Naruto with a grin taking a seat next to her in the shade. Shikamaru also joined them but was more interested in watching the clouds than the Quidditch game.

"You're Harry's cousin right?" asked Ginny curious.

"Yep, I'm Naruto."

"Did Harry . . . I mean, did you and Harry have a fun summer?" asked Ginny.

"Damn girl, you've got it almost as bad as Harry does," said Naruto with a laugh.

"Got what?" asked Ginny without thinking.

"As the kids at school would say, you 'fancy' him," said Naruto, "And he, 'fancies' you."

"Don't tease me," she said cowering away from Naruto, "I get enough of that from my brothers."

"And why shouldn't I tease you too, I tease Harry all the time about it," said Naruto.

"You are a bad liar," she said getting upset.

"He ain't lying," said the lazy Shikamaru, "Harry has talked about almost nothing but finally getting to talk to you this summer."

"He did?" she asked surprised not wanting to believe.

"Yeah, and we've . . ." Shikamaru coughed interrupting Naruto, "I mean, I've been teasing him mercilessly about it. It's been quite entertaining, especially when Anko-sensei gets in on it."

"If I find out your lying, you'll be introduced first hand to my Bat Bogey Hex," said Ginny with a fierce look in her eyes.

"Roger that," said Naruto with a grin. He couldn't help but think that this girl might have a real future with Harry but then he shook that thought out of his head and started to plan new and embarrassing ways to tease the both of the now that in the same place. "So why aren't you playing?" asked Naruto with a friendly smile.

"Mum thinks that girls should play such rough sports," said Ginny with a defiant look in her eyes.

"I get the feeling that you don't agree," said Naruto with a grin.

"No, I sneak into the broom shed at night so I can practice," said Ginny with her own devious grin.

"Good for you," said Naruto with a smile.

"So troublesome," said Shikamaru with a yawn.

"Is he really that lazy?" asked Ginny curious of Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru is the laziest person in the history of the world . . . unless Anko-sensei around and then that quickly changes," said Naruto, "You'll have to look out for him this year at school. You know, keep him out of trouble so he can keep me and Harry out of trouble."

Ginny giggled at that, "I'll try."

"Glad to hear it," said Naruto who was now noticing the boys finally coming in to land.

"Yo, Naruto man," said Fred.

"What's up?" asked George.

"Ready for a new year of competition?" asked Fred.

"As if you guys even stand a chance," said Naruto, "Between Harry, Ron, Hermione, Shikamaru, Ginny, and myself you two are sunk."

"Don't count me in any of this," said Shikamaru shifting to get a better view of the clouds, "Too troublesome."

Ginny though seemed stunned that Naruto had automatically included her in the count.

"Hey, no adding more people to the team," said Fred.

"The rules never said we couldn't add more people, besides, you two brought in Lee Jordan for help," said Ron with a grin.

"Yeah but . . ." protested George.

"It isn't . . ." started Fred unable to come up with anything.

"Can I have a go now?" asked Naruto pointing to the twin's broom.

"Fine," said Fred holding out his broom which Naruto handed to Ginny before he took George's broom in hand and took off into the air.

"He didn't just . . ." stated Fred in shock as he watched Ginny take off followed closely by Ron and Harry.

"I think he just did," said George.

"We're going to have to be careful of them, they are getting too good," said Fred.

"Too troublesome," said Shikamaru with a sigh again. He just couldn't get any peace and quiet to do his cloud watching.

BREAK

"Ah, welcome back boys," said the weird old man known as Olivander as the crew all entered his shop.

"Yo, what's up old timer?" asked Naruto with a giant grin.

Olivander chuckled, "As fox-like as ever my boy."

"Naturally," said Naruto with an exaggerated bow causing the group to all laugh.

"So, how those specialty items working for you?" asked Olivander.

"Good," said Naruto.

"I'd like to trade mine," said Harry with a slight grimace as the looks he was suddenly receiving from Naruto.

"I beg your pardon," said Olivander in surprise.

"Well, it works, but it's just not the right one for me anymore," said Harry.

"Oh, and which do you believe best for you now?" asked Olivander truly intrigued by the young boy.

"The basilisk one," said Harry earning a gasp from his assembled friends. Harry ignored them though and removed his dragon hide glove and placed it back on the counter top.

Olivander though just smiled, "I had hoped you'd say that eventually, but I did not expect you figure it out so quickly. Impressive." Olivander then went into the back before he returned with another glove which he lovingly place on the countertop. "Do be careful as the poison they can release is quite potent."

Harry nodded once before he put the glove on causing his eyes to glow green for a moment brightening the shop with a green tint before fading back to their usual vibrant green. Olivander smiled brightly at the boy.

"Now, who's next?" asked Olivander observing the small crowd of students before he spotted Ginny, "Ah, another Weasley, the first female born to the line in nearly two thousand years. I think we can expect great things from you." Olivander was soon going through boxes of wands for Ginny. "I do so enjoy a challenge." Soon enough, Ginny received a wand with a phoenix tail feather from the only known female phoenix. It was quite a privilege for Ginny to be gift such a feather. "I think we can expect you to become a most powerful witch with such a wand.

"Go Ginny," said Harry finally working up the courage to talk to her even if it was something so simple. Ginny though blush profusely at the compliment from Harry as he did from giving it.

"Right then, anyone else?" asked Olivander with a twinkle in his eye.

"So troublesome," said Shikamaru raising one hand up.

"Well now, another one," said Olivander with a smile, "Let us see what we can do." Shikamaru tried out several wands before he finally got one. "Eight inches, rather firm, hair of a were-cat."

"Were-cat?" asked Shikamaru curiously.

"A most peculiar creature, it is a cat for most of the time but can change at will into the form of a human boy. Very lazy creatures but very, very intelligent."

"Yep, that's Shikamaru for you," said Naruto with a laugh that was echoed by the whole group.

"Now, get him a glove would you?" asked Harry with a smile knowing that Shikamaru was going to enjoy this.

"What are these gloves?" asked Ron finally voicing the question that everyone had.

Olivander smiled, "Well, wizards use wands to focus their magic. There are some wizards that don't necessarily need wands or any kind of focus. This is an extremely dangerous and difficult branch of magic. Years ago I designed several gloves to be used as focuses for wizards that studied this branch of magic. Mr. Kazama, Mr. Potter, and apparently Mr. . . "

"Nara," said Shikamaru helpfully.

"Yes, and Mr. Nara have had some training in this branch of magic," explained Mr. Olivander.

"Really, could you teach us?" asked Ron excitedly to Naruto and Harry.

"Ah but Mr. Weasley," interrupted Mr. Olivander, "You have grown far too old to ever learn such magic. Correct me if I am wrong but I do believe that these boys have been trained for this branch of magic since they were but very small children."

"Started at five," said Naruto.

"Six," said Harry and Shikamaru together.

"Whoa," said Ron in disbelief, "You've had to train in magic that long?"

"I have a destiny," said Harry with a fire in his eyes, "Dumbledore felt it was best to prepare me for it."

"I have a whole new level of respect for you now," said Ron with a slight whistle, "I mean, I know you said that you started training that young with the running and stuff but that is just too cool."

"You're not upset?" asked Naruto surprised.

"Yeah, like I would want to have been training since I was six years old," said Ron with a snort, "I'm barely motivated enough to do the running and stuff with your guys now."

Meanwhile Shikamaru tuned out the conversation seeing the issue was working itself out. He focused now on the gloves being presented to him but none of them felt quite right, "Got anything dealing with shadows or darkness?"

"I might," said Olivander with a smile before he vanished into the back and returned with one more box, "I've just finished this. I've not really had a chance to test it yet but I imagine that you'd be willing to test it." Olivander took out a glove that was pure black, it seemed as if it absorbed the light in the room. "Made from the hide of a Shadow Lizard. They live in extreme darkness, nearly impossible to catch as they seem to move as if part of the darkness themselves. Not overly powerful but very resistant and it promotes an average level of control."

"That will work," said Shikamaru lazily taking the glove and slipping it on smoothly. For an instant he was bathed in darkness before he returned to plain site.

"Now for you Mr. Weasley," said Olivander staring at Ron.

"What about me?" asked Ron.

"That wand was not meant for you," said Olivander.

"It was my brother Charlie's wand," said Ron protectively.

"I know, but it is not meant for you," said Olivander.

"It works for me so I don't need to replace it," said Ron. It wasn't that he didn't want a new wand, he just knew his parents couldn't afford it. They barely had enough money to buy Ginny a new wand and they only did that because there was no other wand that would work for her around the house.

"Go on Ron," said Harry, "We'll get it for you for your birthday, I owe you a present anyway."

"It's too much," said Ron.

"Not if it's from the both of us," said Naruto with his normal foxy grin.

"Fine," said Ron defeated and out of room to argue. Not much later Ron had a new wand with a heart string from a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon. He was very please with this.

"Good luck young ones," said Olivander with a smile now that the business was finished and he was paid his rather large fee for the gloves and wands.

"Where next?" asked Harry not really caring. They had bought their robes, stocked their supplies at the apothecary, and bought Shikamaru a trunk like Naruto and Harry's.

"Books," said Hermione coming up behind with Neville next to her.

"Yo," said Naruto with a small wave of the hand and a friendly smile.

"Hey guys," greeted Neville with a smile. He had definitely been sticking to the workout program over the summer. He had thinned out incredibly and he carried himself with a great sense of confidence.

"I think books are the only thing left for us too," said Ginny helpfully with a smile towards Hermione.

"Great, we'll be just in time too," said Hermione with an excited and giddy look.

"In time for what?" asked Harry having a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Oh, just come on you'll see, it's so exciting," said Hermione grabbing Ginny's hand and dragging her off towards Flourish and Blotts.

"This won't end well," said Neville with a sigh.

They approached the store cautiously seeing the large crowd assembled outside. "Great," mumbled Naruto before an idea struck him, "Forgive me for this Harry but there is no other way."

Harry looked at Naruto once knowing exactly what he was about to do and dreading every moment of it.

"STAND ASIDE PEOPLE, HARRY POTTER COMING THROUGH," shouted Naruto loudly causing the crowd to part and start whispering.

Harry was cringing but Hermione and Ginny were both very excited to be getting in so easily by following Harry so he just grinned and kept walking.

Soon enough they reached the front of the crowd where book signing was apparently being held. "Oh there you children are," said Molly as he ushered all of them to join her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome Gilderoy Lockhart," said one of the store managers.

The man that appeared looked like an idiot to Harry and Naruto both.

"Thank you, thank you," he said with a thousand watt smile that made both Naruto and Harry cringe knowing that something bad was about to happen.

"My word, is that Harry Potter," said Lockhart with a giant smile before grabbing Harry rather forcefully and pulling him up in front of the camera. Lockhart then whispered to him, "Smile . . . together you and I rate the front page."

Harry didn't take to the well at all. Faster than Lockhart could blink Harry took the arm that was holding him and spun and twist the limb at an unnatural angle before he slammed the man's face into the solid oak table causing a very satisfying and audible crunch as the man's nose was shattered rather painfully. "I'm not here to help you become more famous and I'm not some publicity tool. Don't ever touch me again or so help me a broken nose will be the least of your worries." With that said Harry grabbed the back of his robes and pulled him back to standing before throwing him into a stack of his own books which tumbled down on top of him.

"Idiot," said Naruto with a grin while most of the people looked on in awe at what Harry had just down.

"Put that on your front page," said Harry angrily to the reporters before he stalked off to find his text books.

Naruto though walked over to Lockhart, "Don't ever try that again or I will become involved and trust me when I say that you don't want me involved." Naruto's eyes turned bright orange for only an instant but it was enough to cause Lockhart to wet himself.

"Hey, photo guy, look at this, he wet himself," shouted Naruto with a loud cackle and pointing which the photographer jumped upon instantly.

With that issue resolved Naruto went to find Harry only to see that Ginny had him covered.

"Bet you enjoyed that didn't you Scarhead," said a snide voice that could only belong to one person.

"Go away Malfoy or you'll have a broken nose to match," threatened Ginny fiercely impressing both Harry and Naruto.

"What's this Potter? Got yourself a little girlfriend?" asked Malfoy thinking funny.

"And what if I have?" asked Harry, "Its one more woman than I see hanging around your ugly ass. Or do you have to pay for your women first for them to pay the first bit of attention to you?"

Malfoy flushed at that and found himself silenced.

"What is this Draco?" asked a voice that must have belonged to Malfoy's father, "Well, well, well, what do you we have here? The famous Harry Potter."

Mr. Weasley chose that moment to interrupt, "Come along children, time to go."

"Arthur Weasley," said Malfoy with a hint of superiority, "These are your children? I do hope that the ministry is paying you overtime for all the raids you've been on recently. I mean, it looks like you can hardly afford to cloth your children as it is let alone pay for their schooling." He then picked up a book from inside of Ginny's Cauldron and leafed through it.

"Leave my family alone," stated Harry very eager to put this man into a world of pain.

"Your family? But I thought they were all dead," said Malfoy with a sneer.

Mr. Weasley felt pride that Harry considered him family. It was then that Malfoy said something inexcusable.

"Oh, I see, I'm so sorry Arthur, I didn't realize you were so desperate for money that you sold your only daughter to the Potter family to get it," said Malfoy cuttingly.

Arthur was about to attack when Naruto restrained him with just a hand on the shoulder and a shake of the head.

"Mr. Malfoy, you have made several assumptions today," said Harry with a smirk that told he knew something that would put Malfoy in his place, "You assumed that Mr. Weasley sold me his daughter out of desperation and not of great reluctance. You assumed that I would be a silent child and just take this abuse. Your assumptions have blemished my good family name and the good name of the Weasley family. For that, I'm going to bring you to ruin. Your family fortune will be gone within the year, I will buy, takeover, or put out of business every last business you are involved in. Soon, you will find yourself in far worse financial standing than Mr. Weasley and will be quite envious for the second hand books he can afford to give his children while you will be lucky to be able to give your son, let alone yourself, a piece of stale moldy bread to eat in a month. So, let me tell you your only options. Option 1, apologize and pay 50,000 galleons recompense to both myself and the Weasley family and I will leave you be. Option 2, don't apologize, and walk out of this building and into permanent ruination that will be wrought against you by my entire family's fortune. The choice is yours."

Malfoy glared indignantly at the boy. He did not count on the boy ever having the slightest knowledge of the real power that held in the wizarding world. The fact was that the Potter estate was several hundred times greater than the Malfoy estate due to poor financial management by his ancestors and partly by himself.

Finally after a long period of silence Malfoy turned to Arthur, "I apologize for my poor behavior and slanderous remarks. I will have the funds for recompense transferred this afternoon and we will consider the matter closed." Malfoy than turned on his heal and marched out of the store dragging a complaining and sputtering Draco behind him.

Arthur though just looked at Harry absolutely stunned. He couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed happen. "Harry, how could you possibly . . . how did you . . . why did you . . ."

"Harry spent a good portion of the summer holiday studying wizard politics and financial system," explained Naruto, "And with Shikamaru's help, he managed to learn quite a bit about dealing with pureblood assholes like that."

"But Harry, that's so much money," protested Arthur.

"Nonsense," said Harry, "That was the minimum I could have demanded of him given the level of insults he raised against us. If I had demanded any less he would have laughed at me and not taken it seriously. Besides, we got really lucky he agreed. He could have easily refused and I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. My family estate is currently held in trust until I am of age to manage it all, I was lucky he didn't know that."

Arthur was completely dumbfounded. This young man had just arranged for Lucius Malfoy to pay 50,000 galleons in recompense on a bluff of bringing ruination on his family wealth. It was more money that Arthur would make in his current position with the ministry for the next 15 years.

"Are you okay Ginny?" asked Harry turning to the young girl who looked to be on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry for what he said and I'm sorry I said that you were my girlfriend like that, and . . ." Harry would have continued rambling apologies except that he found himself in a bone crushing hug from Ginny saying 'Thank you' over and over again.

"Great, so lunch is on the Weasley's," said Naruto loudly patting his stomach.