An Honoured Shinobi
by: Alfred Juumonji
Disclaimer: I don't own these works.
I'm back! Had a good March Break, hope you all did too!
Addressing reviews segment! This will be here if you want to ask any questions! To twixxy-dee, you gave me some good ideas that I hadn't thought of before, thanks so much! I honestly hadn't thought much about Snape before now, but now I see that I should plan that; definitely want to include his spy aspect! Also, I have been updating very frequently lately. All the chapters you have read have been posted in the last two months, but the story was originally posted in 2011; this is basically a revamp.
Chapter 10: And now, Hogwarts.
During the two weeks that Asuma was in the Black house, he spent the majority of that time with either Remus or Sirius. Molly Weasley had expressly told him to not speak with her unless it was necessary, and the only other people ever in the house were the children and the occasional order member. So instead of lingering where he wasn't wanted or going beyond observing his future students, Asuma was mainly concerned with getting to know his family while he had the chance to.
Remus had disappeared for a few days after his talk with Asuma, and had returned looking even worse than he had before. Despite his calm appearance, Asuma found himself worried about the man, even after only having met him once. Sirius did his best to assuage his godson's nerves, but nothing really came of it besides Asuma accepting that this was a regular occurrence. Even so, Asuma stayed up one night writing a nutrition plan for the slightly malnourished man, presenting it to him the next morning along with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not sure what's going on with you, Remus, and I said I'd let you come to me. But Sirius tells me you're like this a lot, and I don't think I like that." Remus took the offered paper dubiously, running his eyes over it with a slightly confused air. "I don't like it when comrades –and yes, we're comrades in relation to this order- don't take care of themselves. It puts people at risk, it gets people killed."
Remus had thanked him with a stunned expression on his face, and Asuma considered his job successful.
Sirius, as opposed to Remus, had only seemed to get livelier as the week drew on. His eyes were a little less sunken, his hair pulled back out of his face and his robes suddenly gaining small repairs. Asuma suspected that it was all the recent human interaction he had been receiving, having gleaned that the man had been stuck in this house for the past two years with only a house elf (the appearance of which had startled him more than he cared to admit) and the occasional order member popping in for company. Sirius had by far been the person Asuma had spent the most time with; the man was a veritable wealth of magical knowledge, being a member of the order and having basically read through his entire library out of boredom. Asuma had made use of this and had turned the majority of their conversations into laidback interrogations.
Besides that, the two weeks spent in the house were fairly uneventful for the shinobi. Rarely had he experienced such a humdrum mission, though he expected it to pick up once he had arrived at the school. He had spent a bit of time planning out his classes, had written another mission report, had read a few of the books Remus had recommended, and had been taught how to play chess.
Incidentally, he much preferred shogi.
Finally, the morning of their departure arrived, and since Asuma had packed the night before, he was able to sit back and watch the Weasley family run around like headless chickens. He would have offered assistance, but he didn't want to disobey Molly's request to not interact with her. He shot Sirius an amused look when the other man sat down beside him, gesturing to the scrambling family.
"Reminds me of my genin a little bit." Sirius chuckled. "I guess I'll be back around… what was it called, Halloween?"
"Yup. That's about right." Sirius consented mildly, eyes mainly trained on the Weasleys. The two sat in a companionable silence for another 10 minutes before Arthur came over and insisted they had to leave. Sirius clapped Asuma on the back in farewell, an odd look on his face as his godson approached the door. Asuma was the last one out, but before he closed the door he looked over his shoulder at the older man.
"Feel free to send me a letter, though you should use the alias 'Ebisu' so you don't get caught." Enjoying the surprised look on the other's face, Asuma waved and closed the door.
The walk to King's Cross station was hurried, Molly and Arthur leading the procession and Asuma bringing up the rear. He took a bit of time to inspect the foreign architecture, but the main objective of the walk was to get to the train on time, so Asuma didn't dawdle. In the station the large group of redheads parted the crowds effortlessly, probably intimidating in their loudness and amount of luggage. Asuma practically choked on his own spit when he saw Ginny and Ron take off running towards a pillar and pass straight through. Arthur saw and patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"Completely normal reaction. Just take a run after us Sarutobi, it'll be fine." Asuma almost doubted the man's words, but consciously reminded himself of the… 'otherness' of his current whereabouts.
Upon reaching the platform, the first thing Asuma saw was the crowd of families, students running this way and that through the steam. The second was the bright red steam engine that would transport him to Hogwarts, and even though Asuma didn't know a thing about trains, he was pretty sure that this one was impressive. Arthur waved him over to their group a few metres away, and shook hands with him, offering a bit of advice on which compartment to take.
"Best to take one near the end, they'll get filled up slower and you might get to have one to yourself." Arthur glanced at his preoccupied wife and then smiled strangely. "Keep an eye on my kids, would you?"
"Of course..." …he wasn't going to play favourites, but there was no reason to openly refuse the man such a simple request. He could probably tell the father a few things at every order meeting and that would be satisfactory.
Asuma walked away from the family to find a compartment where Arthur had suggested; the Weasley's needed some time for goodbyes without him there. As he weaved through the smoke and uniform clad students, he caught sight of a blonde man enthusiastically hugging his daughter goodbye, and he was reminded instantly of Gai and Lee.
What in Fire country would the wizard's reactions be to that duo? Asuma thought, and immediately wished he hadn't. An image of the teacher and student in front of their infamous sunset scene came to mind, along with another of the two trying to get Sirius to wear one of their jumpsuits. Asuma gained some looks at the bark of laughter that escaped him at the thought of his godfather's plight.
The steam became thin as he reached the end of the train, and he easily found an empty compartment in the last car. Putting his storage scroll and mission pack in the luggage hold, Asuma sat down with a book Sirius had lent him, and planned to stay that way for the entirety of the trip.
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Some hours later however, he was interrupted in his reading by his door being suddenly and rather forcefully opened. In came the Weasley twins and a dark skinned boy, who quickly drew the curtains and sat down, exuding a forcefully relaxed air. Not a minute later, the door was wrenched open again, this time by a burly student with two smaller standing behind him.
"Fancy seeing you here, Montague." George said conversationally.
"Yeah, how was your summer?" Fred asked, just as nonchalantly.
Asuma could tell that the other boy was struggling not to laugh.
"Don't mess with me, weasel. I know you're the one who slipped me that weird candy." 'Montague's' face was almost beet red in anger, but the twins seemed unfazed.
"Couldn't have, Montague-"
"-we've been with Professor Sarutobi the entire time." Montague's eyes shot to Asuma's spot, and after a moment of hesitation he retreated, obviously wary of a teacher he had never seen before. Once the door closed, Fred and George turned to Asuma with identical grins.
"Thanks so much, Professor-"
"-that could have gotten ugly if you hadn't been here-"
"-not that we couldn't have handled it, of course."
Asuma nodded, returning to his book now that the intrusion had been dealt with. The twins and their friend stayed until the Hogwarts Express came to a stop; Asuma quickly learned that the other boy was 'Lee' and that the trio had in fact pranked Montague. The teens rushed out of the compartment as soon as they could, though they helpfully told Asuma that he should take one of the carriages up to the castle.
The skeletal horses certainly granted a second glance, as well as a mental note to ask about why most of the students couldn't see them. He caught one of the first carriages leaving; sitting with a group of younger students who were too caught up in their first carriage ride to pay him any mind. The view of the actual castle was slightly obstructed by the trees, but Asuma could still see that the structure was larger than any he had seen previously, and just as impressive. He followed the students up to a large set of wooden doors, big enough to fit his apartment inside, and once there Asuma located Minerva directing the lower years to the Great hall.
The rest of the night moved fairly quickly, all considered. Upon reaching her, Minerva had ushered Asuma to the next set of doors, and from there had been brought to the staff table by a short, portly woman named Sprout. He was told the names of the teachers next to him and given his class schedule, and soon the sorting began. Asuma had a few reservations about the apparent structure of the school, but he forgot those for the moment upon seeing that there was a talking, singing hat in his presence.
The Great hall lived up to it's name, Asuma could say that at least; he had resolved to ignore the hat for the time being, not wanting to potentially damage his brain trying to rationalize it. The high ceilings were hidden behind some sort of spell that mimicked the sky outside, and light was cast by a thousand floating candles; none of which seemed to drip wax. There were four tables excluding the staff table, and as the sorting suggested, it was indeed set up to differentiate between the houses (something Sirius had only briefly touched upon). He took note of which teachers clapped the loudest for each table, and was a bit startled when he caught Dumbledore's eye and the old man waved at him. After the final names were called, the feast began, and Asuma made another mental note to talk to someone about perhaps including a few more familiar foods in the future. Sprout chose that time to strike up a conversation.
"Pomona Sprout, Herbology professor. Hope you're liking Hogwarts so far, Sarutori." Asuma shook the woman's hand, inwardly amused that she had called him a 'monkey bird' instead of 'jumping monkey'. "Looking forward to the school year?"
"It's good to meet you as well, Sprout-san, and I am looking forward to it. But I'm afraid my name isn't Sarutori. I'm Asuma Sarutobi." The short woman laughed embarrassedly at her blunder, apologizing sincerely. The man to Asuma's left also extended a hand, having taken an interest as soon as the shinobi had entered the hall.
"Filius Flitwick. I teach Charms here at the school, I hope we can get along well." Asuma smiled lightly at the extremely short man as he returned the handshake.
"Likewise." A few minutes were spent eating, but then Asuma decided to ask Flitwick about the classes, making sure to address his only other teaching experience.
"You see, I've only ever tutored small groups of children and teens before. Is there anything I need to do differently, anything I should watch out for?" Flitwick considered the question seriously before answering matter-of-factly.
"With all the students, you'll likely find it harder to devote individual attention to each one, that is the number one thing you should prepare for. If you have trouble remembering names, a good tactic to do is taking roll call everyday." Asuma nodded, filing away the advice like so many a mission detail in the past. "Defense is one of the required classes for first to fifth years, so you'll have less students in sixth and seventh years. If anything, at least be watchful during classes in which Gryffindor and Slytherin students are placed together. They have a long rivalry that we cannot manage to squash no matter how many years go by."
"Also, don't be afraid to send students out of your class." Sprout interjected, a determined look on her face. "A lot of new teachers think they can't, but if a student is being disruptive or putting the class in danger, you have options. Send them to their head of house, dock points, put them in a corner of the room. I've even assigned detentions where I just taught them individually; something which should be done if the student isn't keeping up with the others."
"Thanks, I'll certainly keep your advice in mind." Asuma assured them, genuinely grateful for their words. Had he not previously known about some of those things, he may have had a harder time adjusting to the different teaching methods he was expected to employ. Before he could ask anything else, the food disappeared and Dumbledore had stood, motioning for the student body to quiet down.
Asuma paid attention to the speech, but only just barely. His mind was quickly thinking up lesson plans and various tactics he wanted to impart, though he would have to ask Dumbledore about some of his ideas first. He tuned in for part of the pink woman's speech, but just as quickly tuned it out, not finding it very helpful beyond cementing what he already knew of this community's government. It was only when his name was called that he looked to Sprout, and she whispered that he was supposed to stand and acknowledge the students. Asuma stood up, extremely conscious of the myriad of eyes watching his every move, and bowed shortly; exuding a relaxed air he didn't entirely feel. Dumbledore went on to dismiss the students a few minutes later, and as they began filing out into the Entrance hall, the old man approached Asuma.
"Mr. Sarutobi, if I could have a word in private?" Asuma followed his employer into a small chamber off the Great hall, and took that moment to light a cigarette; he noticed that Dumbledore seemed to avert his gaze at the action.
"What is it you need, Dumbledore-san?" Asuma faced the old wizard, an interested look on his face.
"I simply wanted to welcome you to Hogwarts Mr. Sarutobi, perhaps answer any remaining questions you may have." Asuma nodded.
"I have a few. Firstly, I cannot use magic, what am I to teach the students? As well, is there to be a cover story to explain my presence? I cannot expect that I will not be asked."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "We have taken care of the magical aspect, Cornelius has insisted that Ms. Umbridge take half of each year's classes and focus on spells, whereas the your classes will focus on physical defense. We were informed you were proficient in hand-to-hand defense?" Asuma wouldn't have used the word 'defense', but he agreed for the simplicity of it. "And since you wish not to reveal yourself as Harry Potter, I think it best you tell the truth about why you are here. Well, as much as you deem fit to tell, at the very least."
"Also, Dumbledore-san, I would like to ask that I be allowed to eliminate students from my classes if they do not take them seriously. What I teach is not to be made light of." For a moment, Dumbledore's expression mimicked sadness, but it was gone in a blink.
"That can be arranged, although perhaps a three strike system should be employed. A warning which would include the docking of house points, a suspension and at least one detention, and then a ban from the class. It will be fairer this way, and students will have a harder time objecting. Is there anything else?"
"Not particularly. Although, who cooks the food in this school? I would like to talk to them about something." Dumbledore laughed.
"I'll have someone show you tomorrow. Well, I must be off Mr. Sarutobi. Have a good night's rest." Asuma watched the wizard leave, a tad disappointed that the man was as unreadable as he had assumed.
At least things would be interesting here.
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Holy crap, almost 3000 words! By far my longest chapter! I really like writing Asuma's interaction with everyone.
Also, you all know that I don't read Naruto week to week anymore, but have you seen chapter 668? By Acacia, it features Might Guy and his FATHER! Seriously, it's one of the best chapters I've read lately, and I absolutely loved it. I would write another fic for Naruto based purely on my love of Guy, Lee and now Dai. Does anyone want to see some sort of crossover involving them in the future?
Next: First class! Fifth year students.