Thirteen years. That was how long it had been since Harry James Potter had been seen in the magical world. Twelve years since the defeat of the Dark Lord at his hands, and a mere ten since someone finally took notice that he wasn't where he supposed to be.
Petunia Dursley was adamant that her nephew had never once graced the home of Number 4, and against all the tests, she was telling the truth.
Which begged the question...where was Harry Potter? And why hadn't he come to reclaim his fortune yet? The goblins assured the Ministry that he was not only alive, but thriving and stronger than ever. But even they refused to say where the boy was.
Which left only one option. Dumbledore was tired of the Minister's requests to produce their savior.
He turned to his phoenix. Fawkes was not truly bound to him, as many assumed. Fawkes was bound to the school itself. He followed his requests mostly because of the position that Dumbledore held as the headmaster.
"Find him before the World Cup, Fawkes. We cannot allow him to remain hidden forever."
Dumbledore laced the letter with a portkey that would take the person who opened it to him. Fawkes would only allow Harry to remove it...
For an entire week, while Jiraiya worked with Naruto on his water walking and summoning, Haru terrorized the local lakes. His first and favorite victim was of course, Sakura Haruno.
When a ball of flame appeared, Haru popped out of the lake in curiosity.
"What the hell?"
The bird (which was obviously a phoenix) appeared, it landed carefully on Haru's arm. It had a strange letter on it that set his shinobi senses off. Haru allowed the bird to land on his arm, and took off the letter. His face looked highly confused.
"You got the wrong person. Whoever this Potta Hari is, he isn't here."
The bird chirped, and pushed the letter towards him again.
"I'm telling you, I'm not him."
The bird seemed very insistent.
"Fine, but I still say you have the wrong person," said Haru.
He took the letter off, and threw it in the lake. He wasn't going to get into trouble for opening a letter that wasn't even his. There was a flash of light from the lake and the letter vanished.
The bird saw the look Haru was giving it. He wasn't happy, as he reached for his new sword.
"You have three seconds before I skewer you bird," he said flatly.
The bird chirped, the burst into flames and vanished.
"...Was that a phoenix?" asked Jiraiya.
"If it was, the next time it shows up I'm killing and eating it. I don't care if it is sacred to Suzaku," said Haru.
"What was the deal with the letter?"
"No idea. Something tells me an outsider just tried to kidnap me."
"The outside? You can't be talking about the myth of a barrier that separates our world with another created by the Sage of Sixth paths!" said Jiraiya. Everyone knew it was a myth.
Haru gave him a look.
"Most civilians outside this village would call the Bijuu a myth. Hell, anywhere else other than Konoha, the very identity of a jinchuriki would be one of the best kept secrets! Yet right beside you is a boy who not only contains the Kyuubi no Yoko, but actually uses it's chakra," said Haru.
"...I hate it when you make a valid point. But why would an Outsider be so interested in you?"
"...Possibly because I was never born in the Village Hidden in the Mist, let alone the Land of Water..."
Jiraiya paused at that sentence, and gave Haru a very long look. It was true the boy was highly unusual for a shinobi (some of which had already been explained by the Hokage, like his large chakra reserves) but nothing that really grabbed at him and refused to let him go.
Haru sat on a rock (created by a mild jutsu) and glared at him.
"Go ahead and ask," he said annoyed.
"How do you know you're from the Outside?"
Haru held up a hand and counted off the reasons.
"One, my skin is paler than an Uchiha. Two, my eyes hold a gem like quality that extremely few people who go into shinobi careers possess. Three, I somehow have the ability to go into Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors, which is something even Zabuza can't do and Haku has no idea how I can. Four, I have some sort of weird ass power that allows me to turn into a full on shark, complete with teeth and fins. And Five, because the voice inside my head informed me that was the main reason it chose to seal itself in me," said Haru, ticking off the numbers.
Both of the Konoha nin stared at him.
"What?"
"Your voice in your head told you the only reason it chose you was because you were from the Outside."
"Yeah, so what? Naruto could talk to tall, red and fuzzy if he felt like it," said Haru pointedly.
Naruto snickered. Then he gave Haru a look.
"So you're..."
"Like you? I have a third of the tails your furry friend has, and according to seaweed breath...(OI!)...the bijuu have the ability to change their forms permanently, but it costs them a few abilities and a summon set."
"Hold on a minute. If you have a third of the tails, that would mean your the bearer of the Sanbi, correct?"
"What's your point?"
"The Sanbi is currently inside a Kiri nin named Mizuno."
"According to the other voice in my head, he left about a third of his chakra behind in a fake shell to keep the Kiri Shinobi off his ass and to keep his presence a secret. Something about an Uchiha screwing over his last host," said Haru dismissively.
'Well that at least confirms one rumor I've heard...' thought Jiraiya.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because A, I could care less about him and have yet to need his chakra. And B, the main reason why we get along so well is because I don't make a big deal or demand that he give up his chakra every time I fight. Sometimes the biggest Ace is one no one expects you to have, and that is something I sure as hell don't plan to let anyone else learn of."
"You mean like your Byakugan?" asked Jiraiya.
Haru shook his head.
"While I can perform Jyuken and can see someone's tenketsu like my cousin, it simply doesn't fit into my natural fighting style. I'm pretty sure that goes for Hinata as well, because I've noted her body type doesn't really suit the Gentle Fist style at all. I don't use my kekkei genkai because frankly I have yet to come across an opponent that requires those skills. In case you haven't noticed, I've been stuck doing D ranks for years now, and the only reason my skills haven't atrophied is because I only do a single mission a day before I go out to train my ass off," said Haru.
"How is it you know the Gentle Fist? Last I heard the Hyuga clan refused to claim you," said Jiraiya.
"Neji taught me, and I helped him iron out the details in his Kaiten. While most of the Hyuga refused to acknowledge the fact I have the Byakugan, Neji, Hizashi and Hinata at least greet me on the street."
"Any idea how you're going to pass the first round?"
Haru cackled, and held up his newest creation. It was a glowing sword that made odd noises when it moved in the air, like the sound of several small thunder cracks.
"You actually completed it?"
"Nope. This is a prototype. It has the light part down, but the wind element doesn't want to cooperate. It sucks because lightning and wind are the two elements that are opposite of mine. I have to use seals just to get it to even work."
"Can I try?"
"Sure. You can have this one, and claim you made it."
"Where are you going?"
"Me? I'm going to train with Hinata-chan for a while. Just make sure that no one knows it's a prototype I gave you," said Haru waving them off.
Dumbledore frowned when Fawkes returned. He didn't have Harry, but the letter was clearly missing.
"Where is he?" he asked.
The phoenix screeched at him.
"What do you mean you were nearly killed by the boy? What happened?"
Fawkes tried to peck Dumbledore's eyes out while he screeched.
"He knew we were trying to retrieve him by force? And he didn't take it kindly?" said Dumbledore, translating what little he knew of bird speech as Fawkes looked rather pissed at him.
Finally Dumbledore had the bird by the claws.
"Can you at least take me to where he is?"
Fawkes squawked in agreement.
Haru was grinning evilly. Thanks to the fact he had gotten to Jiraiya before anyone else, he now had the seals he needed to make a lightsaber. Plus, thanks to Naruto's henge, he had gotten his hands on a Hatake blade. He had three of them, each with different seals on it. If he could get them to work, he was handing it to Tenten to recreate.
Unfortunately it had taken all of the month he had been given till the first round in order to get this done. His evil cackling was worrying the neighbors.
"Hey Tenten! Got a minute?" yelled Haru.
"In the back!" she replied.
Haru practically skipped to the back, which freaked out the customers in the front.
"Guess what I got," he sang.
"You mean to say...YOU COMPLETED IT?!"
"Stage one!" he said proudly.
The twin cackles of the two sent shivers down Tenten's grandfather. Haru handed her three different swords, each with a different seal on the hilt.
"Let's see!"
"For our first test is the wind-enhanced sword! Able to cut anything!" said Haru, holding out the sword to her. Tenten went out back and channeled chakra into the blade, causing it to glow an unearthly white. She cut through the hard rock like butter. All that was missing was the sound of the sword.
"Our second test, lightning enhancement! Guaranteed to cause burns and cut through things, though the sparks don't act like they are supposed to," said Haru, handing her the next. This also cut the boulder, but the cut itself wasn't as clean as they liked.
"And our final applicant, the fire seal. Acts like acid, cuts like a charm, and it works well with wind seals," said Haru.
"Why didn't we think of this before! Lightning is too unpredictable, but fire acts perfectly! And they don't counter act each other!" said Tenten.
"Plus they work well together. Wind works with fire, but not lightning," said Haru.
"So we just need to combine fire and wind, maybe add a sound seal..." said Tenten. Her inner fan girl was having kittens at this point.
"We do have a slight problem though..." said Haru.
"The minute we put this into a field test, the Hyuuga will descend on us intent on taking all out notes and prototypes and destroying them, then erase our memories of any progress we've made," said Tenten. She knew. Neji had been talking about it to Gai-sensei and didn't realize she was nearby.
"We need to find a place to leave our spares so they can't steal them. Hell, I've even started a diary about this project and hidden it!" said Haru.
"And tomorrow is the last part of the Chunin exams. They might take that time to ruin our progress," said Tenten.
"Unless something happens. In any case, pick one of the prototypes I gave you and keep it sealed on you at all times. I'll keep one of the others and we'll hide the last one."
"Hand me the fire sword. You can take wind," said Tenten.
"Good point, but I'll have to use water chakra in order for it to work. Earth doesn't like wind after all," said Haru.
Haru was reading a book on seals when the proctor decided to call the time. Dosu wasn't showing up, which meant that one of the matches would have to be skipped over. Shikamaru would have to fight whoever won the match between Naruto and Tenten.
In other words he would have to beat Naruto.
Haru went up with the rest while Haku turned Kin into a pin cushion. He only paused to eat the cup ramen he had brought with him. Naruto had his own beside him, which was why he wasn't making puppy dog eyes at his brother.
Beside Haru was a large scroll full of smaller scrolls. He had a prank to play, and by kami he was going to play it!
"Remember brat, if I say quit, then you quit. No exception," said Genma.
"I must prove my existence..." said Gaara.
"I wasn't talking to you red, I was talking to him," said Genma.
Gaara looked at his opponent. Haru was cackling evilly in a way that should have sent shivers down his spine. Instead it gave him a shiver of anticipation.
"Prepare to be fuzzy, tanuki kid!" grinned Haru.
"FIGHT!"
Gaara's sand didn't waste time. Haru was quick to dodge the sand attacks, while undoing one of his quick seals. Finally he darted in towards Gaara, avoiding the spikes.
"FUIN!" (SEAL!)
A large black pattern appeared beneath Gaara, freezing him and his sand. One would think that Gaara could overpower a normal seal, but this was specially made to paralyze jinchuriki and their chakra.
Haru cackled evilly, as he walked up to Gaara. The boy was clearly terrified now that he couldn't move. None of his sand would protect him.
"Mwahahaha! Prepare to suffer my boredom, container of the Ichibi!" cackled Haru. He took out a small brush and began to paint on Gaara's face. The boy was still paralyzed when Haru activated his second seal.
Everyone stared. Gaara was...furry.
"Mwhahaha! Introducing Gaara the Ewok!"
The reaction was slow at first, but soon you could hear someone laughing their ass off. Haru looked up at the contestants booth to see Naruto on the ground pounding the floor.
Tenten was beside him giggling as well. It was hard not to.
"Haru...why did you create a seal that forces people into Ewok costumes?" asked Haku.
"Because Ewoks are cute and furry, thereby ruining the big bad ninja's credibility. Besides, Sasuke's massive fan girl horde pays me good money to make it for them," shrugged Haru.
Sasuke, who heard that comment yelled out "I'll pay you triple to give me the counter seal!"
Haru's cackling sent shivers down the spines of everyone there. Just as a rain of feathers began to appear, knocking everyone out if they didn't counter the genjutsu.