Over the Hills and Far Away
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto.
Author's Note: Beware Douglas Adams-quotes, otherwise enjoy.
Thanks to my good friend and beta, Paladin Steelbreaker.
Chapter ElevenIt was the damn message which started the chain reaction, Harry was sure of it. One little message – which was a very good and happy message, there was no denying that – had driven him to feel obliged to drink a toast in Ron's honour. And thus it had begun. One drink led to another, and the next thing he knew he was rip roaring drunk. And the worst thing was that he didn't give a damn. Now, Harry wasn't a person who constantly drank, but this was one of the few occasions he'd allowed himself the pleasure of forgetting absolutely everything – and to wake up with a killer headache next morning, but that was another case.
The message in question is as follows: 'I have just been promoted to the position of Mizukage stop Ron stop PS please help me now stop PPS preferably by shooting me stop'
How Ronald Weasley – the short-tempered living embodiment of everything Gryffindor – had managed to become an ANBU was a mystery to Harry. So it was safe to say that this message thoroughly shocked him. How the red-head had managed to become the Mizukage – a kage – was one of the world's great secrets, and even greater than the question 'what's the meaning and purpose of life' in Harry's opinion. Everyone knew that the answer to that question was 42, but no one knew how Ron became Mizukage, and no one might ever know. The world wasn't ready to know the answer to that yet, and might never be ready. Hermione would probably have a heart attack once she received the message. For once Ron had surpassed her in something. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime happenings, and would probably never happen again. Harry had to get the story out of Ron as soon as he could, if only to flaunt and taunt Hermione with the fact that he knew how this spectacular feat had been managed and she didn't.
The infamous morning after – full with pounding headaches and throwing up – arrived as it was wont to do, and Harry found himself woken up from his blissful, wonderful sleep by someone first knocking politely, then pounding furiously on his apartment door. He ignored it, but when his head began to pound with a vengeance, he got up on unsteady legs and stumbled through his small living space whilst wondering why everything was blurry and spinning, and why there seemed to be a double of almost everything, and a triple of the coffee table. He got to the conclusion that it was a genjutsu, and didn't think more of it even though he stumbled across something with every other step he took.
"Ookami (wolf)!" a voice which Harry barely recognised as Manji's, called through the door. "Ookami, we have a mission!"
"Are you even there at all, Ookami-sensei!" Itachi's voice wondered.
Harry wrenched the door open, and glared at them both. "What the devil do you two want?" he hissed quietly because his poor head couldn't take any more shouting right now. "Can't you see that I am happily suffering from a hangover, and would like to continue doing so in peace?"
"You're very articulate with your words for having a hangover." Manji muttered sulkily from behind his mask. "Why didn't you invite me to your little party, huh?"
"Or me?" the young Uchiha beside him demanded. "What was the occasion?"
"Nothing you two need to know at this point in time," the green-eyed man snapped. "Now, what the hell do you want? I heard you squawking about some mission…?"
A young, well-dressed woman stepped out from behind the two ANBU, and Harry labelled her at once as either a reporter or someone's secretary. She stared at him, apparently completely disgusted at the fact that he was suffering from a hangover, and her lips nearly curled at the state of his dress. "What a disgrace," she muttered, then turned to Manji. "Is this really the leader of Konoha's Wand-Shinobi ANBU Squadron?"
The Hyuuga nodded, and hurried to explain the situation to Harry who was slowly starting to process just what the young woman had said. "Ookami, this lovely young lady here is Xin Huyang-san, and she is the object of our long-time mission. We're supposed to allow her to interview us and show her the life of a higher-ranked shinobi from the 'inside' so to speak."
"She's from the Fire Country News," Itachi added upon seeing Harry's suddenly very blank look, and misunderstanding it. "The newspaper just recently attained permission from the Fire-Lord to go in and up close within the top ranks of shinobi. The public was apparently getting tired of the stories about gennin and lower chunnin."
"What are we, Cirque du Soleil?" Harry muttered. "Alright, get in here whilst I get more drunk."
"Ano…"
"Yes, I know that there is something seriously wrong with that sentence, but currently my hurt head– no, wait, that's wrong, my head hurts too much to figure out exactly what it is, so please shut up and get in. Except the female civilian reporter thingy."
"Excuse me?" the woman demanded.
"I do, so off with you!"
Itachi sighed. "Ookami-sensei, it's already been approved by Sandaime Hokage-sama." He said.
Glaring, the green-eyed man relented and turned to swards his bathroom. "No pictures. I know I'm great and all, but no pictures of my apartm-" he was cut off as he walked into the wall. He blinked stupidly for a second, then demanded who the hell had put a wall right there, causing both Itachi and Manji to chuckle heartily.
The young, female reporter looked shocked. This was definitely not what she had expected when she got this assignment from her boss and the founder of the Fire Country News, Mr Creevy. She had envisioned that all shinobi – especially the higher-ranking ones – would be graceful, powerful and be surrounded by an air of danger. And if she ignored the little episode with that insane, black-haired man clad in a green spandex earlier that day (she assumed he was a patient from Konoha Hospital's mental ward), her wishes had been fulfilled. That is, until now.
She just stared as she watched the green-eyed man stumble and fall over his own sofa, a bundle of clothes in his arms. She just couldn't keep silent anymore. "You're supposed to be the one I'm to work with!" she screeched. "You're a disgrace to the entire shinobi world being as drunk as you are right now!"
"I may be hung over right now – hell, I might even still be drunk – but soon enough I shall be sober. However, there isn't a single force between heaven or hell that could do something about your ugly mug." Harry snapped right back without missing a beat. 'Stupid, naïve woman.'
"WHAT!" the reporter shrieked in shock, but was promptly ignored.
Harry shut the door to the bathroom after himself, and the first thing he did was drink up another flask in his rarely-used store of Hangover Potions – provided for free by Hermione, of course. Then he groaned, leaned against the wall, and nearly beat his head against it as well. When he'd told Colin Creevy all those years ago that he didn't care what the eager photographer did as long as it was useful for the mission, he'd had no idea that the brat would set up the largest and most successful newspaper on the entire Shinobi Continent. And it wasn't to say that the newspaper wasn't useful, good heavens no, but right now it was making his mission even more difficult. He knew that Orochimaru read the newspaper every day, and if that stupid little reporter wrote something she wasn't supposed to, something confidential – even if she didn't know she wrote it – it could lead to Harry being discovered and mauled by the Snake Sannin, and 17 years of work would be thrown out the window.
He continued cursing his bad luck as he got dressed in his uniform, and exited the bathroom just in time to hear the reporter's unpleasant voice demand if he was drunk and totally devoid of manners all the time. He stood still wanting to hear what the other two would reply. For some reason this was very important to him, though he had no idea why.
Itachi shook his head. "He usually never drinks more than a cup of sake when we're out."
Manji nodded his agreement. "Nope, you were just lucky!" the Hyuuga grinned behind his mask as Xin Huyang growled. "Come to think of it though, this is the first time I've seen him drunk or with a hangover."
Harry strode out of the bathroom and tried to ignore the warm feeling that was suddenly stuck in the vicinity of his heart. He was feeling it far too often in the past couple of years. "And it will be the last time," he said as he grabbed his wolf-shaped mask from a shelf. "Well then, shall we get going?"
"Hai, Ookami-sensei." Itachi and Manji stood up and followed Harry to the window. "Across the rooftops again?" Itachi muttered more as a statement than a question.
Harry nodded. "It's faster. Besides, I have a few things left to deal with, and the Hokage wants the newest reports in today."
"Hey!" Xin Huyang called. "What about me? Although my boss gave me thorough training so that I could keep up with you and defend myself when I join you on missions, I have no chance of jumping across the rooftops in these heels!" she pointed to her two-inch, very thing heels.
"Then you will simply walk to the Hokage Tower." Harry replied. "Lets go!" he said to the couple of ANBU standing beside him, and, after opening the window, he jumped out, quickly followed by both Itachi and Manji.
The three of them disappeared and left a thoroughly pissed off reporter behind.
"Oh! That… that… that insufferable MAN!" the young woman growled as she stared out across the rooftops of Konoha. "Just wait until I get my hand on him! Grrr! YOU HEAR ME, OOKAMI-ANBU! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!" Needless to say that she was heard by half the ANBU-members of Konoha, and was put under surveillance five minutes later.
-x-x-x-x-
In the beginning the universe was created. This, however, has made a lot of people angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move. Well, it was safe to say that Harry was completely pissed off right now. That little tramp of a reporter, Xin Huyang, had somehow managed to find out the close relationship between Harry and his group of 'Angsters', and had written an article about it for the rag she and Creevy called a newspaper. And although the relationships in question weren't really all that secret amongst the higher ranks of shinobi, there were some people that definitely weren't supposed to know that Harry had a heart. He had his reputation as Orochimaru's grandson to keep after all, and Orochimaru shared first place with Voldemort on the list of People Who Did Not Need to Know. Fourteen years of hard work to keep things secret had just gone straight out the window, and within a day of the article being printed Harry had had a black, snake-marked piece of paper shoved under his door signalling that Orochimaru wanted to speak to him.
'Even if the little bitch meant it well, I am going to kill her,' the green-eyed man had decided upon reading the article. How reporter Huyang had gotten hold of so much restricted information about him… well, Harry could only theorize, and he seriously suspected Kurosaki. The old man still watched him like a hawk after all these years, and knew very well exactly who used to frequently visit him. He also suspected that hippie-freak Maito Gai, although the weirdo probably did it out of the goodness of his heart – or just as another challenge to Kakashi. The point was, the damage had been done, and it had been done so good that Harry actually feared for his life this time.
"Say you broke your leg," Manji suggested, his voice full of worry. "Or even break your leg. Get into a fight with some missing-nins – or, better yet, some Akatsuki members. Or blame it on the Sandaime Hokage! Hell, just do whatever it takes not to go to this meeting; you know you won't come out of it alive!"
Harry sighed and continued to place bottles of various healing-potions in a satchel he would hide before he reached the designated meeting spot. He was sure he would need them before this was all over and done with. "You know I can't, the longer I wait to confront him the worse it will be."
"Well, some people don't calm down over time," Kakashi commented from his place on one of the barroom stools. He'd been told about Harry's role as a spy quite some time ago, and it was clear that – just like Manji – he didn't like it. "I suppose I shall have a chat with both the Sandaime and Huyang whilst you're gone, and Huyang's boss while I'm at it. We need to set some rules about what should be allowed to write about, and what should be strictly confidential. Especially about ANBU-related cases."
Manji nodded in agreement. "Just wait until I get my hands on that reporter… actually, just wait until my wife gets her hands on her. Chihiro adores you for some strange reason, Harry, and she won't hear a bad word about you – not even from Hyuuga Hiashi-sama or from Uchiha Fugaku-san."
"Thank her for me, will you?" Harry asked with a small smile, then he sighed. He was ready, his weapons were ready, his medical supplies were ready, he really had no reason to put this off any longer. Somewhere in the back of his mind a small voice whispered that no man at the age of 35 should be afraid of their grandfather, but he ignored it. He tried telling himself that with Orochimaru being 67 years old now, that the Snake Sannin couldn't do anything serious to harm him, but he couldn't bring himself to believe it at all. Orochimaru had finally perfected his Immortality Technique a four years ago despite all of Harry's hard work to destroy the process, and he had gotten himself a new body. So although the man looked like he was in his late fifties, he had the strength and vitality of a teenager.
"Sensei, I really don't like this," Kakashi sighed finally. "At least take one of us as backup. I know for a fact that Itachi has the entire week off."
Harry shook his head and put on his ANBU mask. "I can't ask you to go into danger for something that doesn't concern you."
"You concern us!"
"I will be fine, stop worrying." The green-eyed man did one last check of his supplies before he walked through the gates. "I will be back as soon as I can, and Kakashi, check in on Naruto for me occasionally, will you? The brat doesn't eat anything but instant ramen, and he'll turn into a noodle soon if we don't watch his diet carefully."
"Hai, sensei." Came the sighed reply.
Harry smiled at them from behind his mask, then set off at a fast pace through the surrounding trees. He was soon out of hearing and out of sight of the two people standing just outside the gates of Konoha, and the two men sent each other serious looks before they returned to watching the trees.
Manji's eyes narrowed. "I have a bad feeling about this. Hell, I have a bad feeling about every meeting he goes to, but this one is especially bad."
Kakashi nodded. "Definitely. I'll go track down the reporter and the Sandaime, and you get over to Itachi's apartment and send him after Harry. I may not be Orochimaru, but I know how I would react if it were me. It wouldn't be a pretty scene."
"It won't be a pretty scene," the Hyuuga agreed and pulled his mask over his face. "I'll see you later." He said and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The silver-haired jounnin stood there for another minute before he took to the rooftops, heading straight for the Hokage Tower. He had some things to clear up with a certain reporter, and if Harry was killed because of Xin Huyang's mindless article – which, he might add, had been printed without permission from those involved – no force between heaven and hell could stop him from extracting his revenge. And he knew several people who'd gladly join the fun. Harry had unknowingly changed so many lives since he'd arrived, and even Gai would be willing to help, which said something when one knew that Harry practically ran the other way when he heard Maito Gai approaching.
'Be careful, Harry-sensei.'
-x-x-x-x-
Harry met Kimimaro on the way to Orochimaru's hidey-hole. The bone-manipulator had grown into a fine young man, but – like most the people Orochimaru surrounded himself with – he had one angsty childhood. He'd of course been 'saved' by the Snake Sannin, and from there on had been one of Orochimaru's most loyal followers. That was the story behind most of Orochimaru's followers, even Harry himself to some extent.
"Harry-sama!" the pale young man exclaimed with a small smile as he jumped up beside the older man. "It is good to see you again, Harry-sama!"
"Kimimaro-kun," Harry nodded his head respectfully, a smile hidden behind his ANBU mask. Kimimaro was one of the few people in Orochimaru's employment that he actually tolerated, and Harry had spent almost all his time with the boy when he had first arrived. "How have you been lately?"
The white-haired shinobi looked down in shame. "I… I have gotten some sort of sickness, and it only seems to get worse. Soon I won't be able to help Orochimaru-sama at all. The healer-nin said that I'd do best with bed-rest, but-"
"What healer was this?" Harry asked. All shinobi could take care of themselves, but none of the people Harry knew about could have earned the title of healer-nin. It could, of course, be someone his grandfather had brought in recently, but he didn't want to take the risk.
"It was Kabuto-sama." Came the reply. "Surely you remember him, Harry-sama? He was at the headquarters the last time you visited."
"Ah, yes, Kabuto. Yes, he does have some healing-training, doesn't he?" Harry muttered. He was sure he had heard or read that name somewhere before. He'd have to check it out once he got back to Konoha. "Tell you what, Kimimaro-kun, if you can tell me what you know about your illness thus far, I will see if I can find in my wand-shinobi books."
Kimimaro smiled. "You don't have to, Harry-sama-"
"It's alright, Kimmy-chan, I don't mind. I like you." The green-eyed man looked over to the younger one, and noticed that the latter was smiling even more, his blue-green eyes glittered happily. "What?" Harry asked.
"You haven't called me 'Kimmy-chan' in years, Harry-onii-sama."
"And you haven't called me 'onii-sama' in just as long, Kimmy-chan," Harry replied with a chuckle. "It's hard to forget such a special brat as you." He wondered just how many people were going to end up calling him 'big brother' or 'teacher' or 'lord' or whatever else that came up. Most, if not all of them, would be disappointed when they realised that he wasn't working for either Orochimaro nor the Hokage.
Although Kimimaro was a professional shinobi and trained in keeping his face devoid of emotions, he couldn't keep himself from looking like he had just received the greatest gift in the world. "Thank you, Harry-onii-sama."
"Anytime, lad."
Soon afterwards they reached the designated meeting place. It was a small glen set at the foot of a mountain, surrounded by humongous stones and old trees, and no one ever came here. Warding-ofuda were placed on each stone, and were activated as soon as Harry and Kimimaro passed between two of the rocks. A shimmering, light-green shield appeared around them in a bubble. It even went underground and would prevent people from listening or escaping. It was one of Harry's own inventions, and right now the man was cursing himself for even having made it.
Orochimaru was waiting in the glen along with his personal group of bodyguards. Kidoumaru was still resembling a spider, Sakon-Ukon was still a freak, Jiroubou was still fat, and Tonks was still playing the role of Tayuya. None of them looked very happy, but Orochimaru looked just plain pissed off. The Fire Country News was clutched in his hand, and Harry didn't have to look to know that it was opened on the page with Huyang's article about him and his little group of angsters. He nearly winced. This was not going to be a fun meeting at all. He'd be lucky if he didn't lose a limb or two. Surprisingly Orochimaru didn't go straight to interrogating Harry about the article, but started speaking about the Chunnin Exams which would be held in Konoha approximately in half a year's time.
"As we all know the Chunnin Exam will be held in Konoha soon," the Snake Sannin began, "and I want Otogakure to finally step forwards as a true Hidden Village. We shall send the Dosu-Kin-Zaku trio to compete, they are the only ones good enough at this point in time. Not only that, but we shall also attack Konoha at the end of the Exam."
Everyone in the glen blinked in surprise.
"Excuse me for saying so, Orochimaru-sama, but Otogakure isn't even close to being strong enough to attack a large village like Konoha." Tonks pointed out carefully.
"I know, which is why we shall alley ourselves with Suna."
"The Sand? Why the Sand?"
"Because the Leaf has taken so much of the Sand's customers, and their shinobi aren't happy about that." Orochimaru smirked. "Or, at least, that shall be the official reason."
"In truth the Sand will take the fall should anything go wrong. They will take the brunt of the Konoha forces, whilst our own people take care of the most important assassinations, amongst them the Sandaime Hokage. The Kaze kage won't allow this no matter what you tell him, you do know that right?" Harry commented.
The sannin smiled at him. "Hmm, still as sharp as ever. And you are, of course, completely right on both accounts. The Sand will take the fall, and the Kazekage will agree to help us whether he knows it or not because I will take his place. Any objections to this?"
Kimimaro shook his head and answered, even though the snake-like man was solely focused on Harry. "Not at all, Orochimaru-sama."
Orochimaru suddenly adopted a mocking, thoughtful frown. "Ah, yes, that reminds me…" he shot forwards, and with all his speed and strength grabbed a hold of Harry and sent the green-eyed man straight through one of the enormous rocks lying about. The momentum was none-too-kindly stopped by the green shield, and Harry gasped for breath whilst he tried to get to his feet. Orochimaru simply delivered a roundhouse kick, and sent him sprawling again, this time with his shoulder dislocated. The wolf-mask had been destroyed already, and even though Harry's instincts were screaming at him to fight back he didn't. he knew that it would only make things worse, and Orochimaru would get even more suspicious. It continued on like this for a while until finally the Snake Sannin simply grabbed the front of Harry's ANBU armour, and slammed him up against one of the rocks.
"Now, grandson of mine, would you care to tell me exactly why you kept this from me?" he held up the article Hyuang had written right in front of Harry's beaten face. "You know just how long I have wanted to get my hands on an Uchiha, and yet you didn't tell me that you were friends with three! Not only that, but you seem to be the caretaker of that Kyuubi-brat, caretaker of all that power! All this I had to find out through a newspaper instead from you personally, not even my second spy knew about it!"
Harry struggled to breathe. Several ribs were broken, and he was worried that a lung might be punctured, but still he replied, wheezing. "A… a per-personal pet proje-project… didn't want to get your hopes up in case it didn't… didn't work…"
"Personal pet project?" one black eyebrow was raised. "Explain!"
"… yo-you could al-alwaysss use more men and spies, Oro-Orochimaru-sama," Harry coughed, "so I… so I started to play the big-brother role to them…"
The Snake Sannin loosened his grip, his eyes lighting up with understanding. "And slowly started converting them to our way of thinking." He finished the sentence Harry had begun, a calculating look upon his face. "You truly are my grandson, no one else could have done something that both pisses me off and also makes me very proud at the same time."
Harry dropped to the ground as soon as Orochimaru released him. He knew he had damaged his ankle, and there was no chance of him getting back to Konoha by jumping through the trees. He'd have to make himself a crutch as soon as he could. His thoughts were cut off suddenly as Kimimaro kneeled beside him and helped him to get up, allowing the green-eyed man to lean heavily upon him. "Thanks, Kimmy-chan…" Harry trailed off with a cough, blood landing on the ground.
Kimimaro nodded, his eyes worried. "Anytime, Harry-sama."
Orochimaru was walking to and fro, deep in thought. Finally he stopped and turned back to Harry and Kimimaro. "As usual you have turned the situation in your favour, Harry-kun, and you will live yet another day. Disasters seem to have a habit of turning into miracles around you, grandson of mine, but I am starting to wonder just exactly to whom your loyalty really belongs."
The Sound Five looked shocked that their master would even dare to suspect his own flesh and blood of treason. As far as they knew Harry was Orochimaru's most loyal follower, and also the one who'd been with the Snake Sannin the longest. It was totally incomprehensible to them that Harry would be a traitor, and it also made them wonder if there weren't more double-crossers about – perhaps even Orochimaru himself?
"M-my loyalty… belongsss to you o-only, Orochimaru-sama…" Harry rasped and Kimimaro's arm tightened slightly in worry.
"Hmm, are you willing to prove it to me, Harry-kun?"
"I am."
"Just what are you willing to do to prove it?"
"… any-… anything it…. it takes…"
Orochimaru smirked. "As you wish, grandson of mine. Juin Jutsu Orochimaru!" (Cursed Skill Orochimaru!)
To Harry it almost went in slow motion. Orochimaru's neck grew longer, fangs grew in his mouth, and his head shot towards the duo at an alarming speed. Harry pushed Kimimaro out of the way almost absentmindedly, and then – unable to stop his reflexes – apparated his good arm up in front of his face for protection. Orochimaru bit down on his wrist a millisecond later, his fangs going straight through the standard ANBU armguard and into the flesh beneath. And although the fangs didn't go as deep as the Snake Sannin might have wished, it was still enough to allow him to inject the younger man and the black seal formed, taking on the shape of three lightning-bolts all connected in the centre. As soon as Orochimaru let go of his wrist, Harry fell to his knees, biting his teeth in pain.
"I have no doubt that you will survive my Cursed Seal, Harry-kun, you are after all my grandson. And if you do not survive it, well, then you weren't worth my time after all." The Snake Sannin smirked as he watched the kneeling man try to keep from screaming, those green eyes slowly losing focus. To tell the truth he'd been looking for a long time now for a reason to place the Cursed Seal upon his grandson, and here he had been presented with a perfect situation. Far be it for him to ignore it.
"Harry-sama!" Kimimaro kneeled down beside the black-haired man again. "Are you alright! Harry-sama!"
Orochimaru – completely ignoring Kimimaro – bent down and grabbed Harry's chin, forcing their eyes to meet. "From now on remember to whom your loyalty belongs, grandson of mine." He smirked and stood up again. Walking over to a boulder he ripped the warding-ofuda in half, and the shimmering shield disappeared with a crackle of electricity. "Lets go."
Kimimaro was by now completely holding Harry, worriedly watching as the green eyes closed and sweat began to form on the lightning-bolt scarred forehead. Harry's body began to shake, his bitten wrist turning red and purple and swelling slightly. "Harry-onii-sama, hang in there." The pale, young man whispered and picked the older man up as he got to his feet.
"What are you doing, Kimimaro-kun?" Orochimaru asked without even turning.
"Aren't we taking Harry-sama with us so that he can ride out the First Stage of the Cursed Seal at the headquarters?"
"Leave him there, my grandson needs to be taught a lesson. He's been getting far too friendly with the Konoha shinobi lately. I want him to realise that none of them care for him, he will see that when he wakes up alone. I want him to come crawling back to me, Kimimaro-kun, so just leave him there."
The bone-manipulator found himself for the first time wavering in his loyalty to Orochimaru-sama. Sure the man had taken him in, rescued him from the stone prison he'd been in for the first six years of his life, but this was Harry-onii-sama…. "Orochimaru-sama… I… Harry-sama…"
The sannin sneered. "You're getting weak just like my grandson. Alright, carry him to the closest path, and then return to the headquarters."
Kimimaro bowed as much as he could with Harry in his arms. "Arígàtou gozáimashità (thank you very much), Orochimaru-sama!" he didn't care that Orochimaru-sama saw him as weak as long as Harry-onii-sama was alright. It was a new experience, especially going against his master's orders. Kimimaro took off in the opposite direction of Orochimaru and his four bodyguards, all the while keeping a firm hold of his precious cargo. He soon reached a well-used path and carefully placed the unconscious man against a tree, made sure he would be alright – or, as alright as one could be after having the Cursed Seal placed one oneself – and, with a last look, disappeared back towards the headquarters. Therefore he didn't notice the Konoha ANBU with a weasel-shaped mask suddenly dropping from the trees, carefully picking up Harry in his arms, and then disappearing in the direction of Konohagakure.
Murphy's Law had just kicked in after being on vacation for the past twelve years.
-x-x-x-x-
There. Please tell me what you think about this.
Er, yes, Kakashi is still the jounnin-sensei of Team 7 – that's not going to change. Manji simply knew how badly Sakura performed because he was told. Or he spied on them during the test. Who knows, they're ANBU-level ninja, not even I can keep track of them.
Concerning Kimimaro. Well, I quite like the guy, and I kinda figured someone like him would see Harry as a big-brother-figure, besides it's kinda cute. At this point in time I can have him faithfully following Orochimaru and meeting his end, or follow his Harry-onii-sama and live. Depends on what you guys want, so please tell me. And don't worry, Ernie will get his due. Severus and Draco will be making an appearance soon, and I think even Voldemort will be able to threaten his way in somehow.
Many of you have asked about the Uchiha Massacre. All I am willing to say about that at this point in time, is that I have no comment. Plot Bunnies are being formed in my head – and under the sofa – but they're not finalized yet. However, there is a great chance of something happening.
Thanks to:
Surarrin, korrd, E.A.V, anti-thule, Rachel Sedai, Falling Right Side-Up, Krows Scared, deadwish, Saffron Cyanide, Kagome13Chan, Shadowed Rains, candidus-lupus-full Moon, Fattyaddy-99, Calidore, Shadow Crystal Mage, arsenic-graffiti, VB, Sk8er7, hittocerebattosai, Geminia, simpleinsanity, Saetan, Dragon Fairies, Tombadgerlock, cheerful-pinkstar, Lucifer's Following, Morrolan, Ran Hoshino, SensiblyTainted, japanese-jew, JayHun, Kaaera, DreamingRabbit, anime-rulez3, FireAngel8723, Gato-sama, Ox King, magerm, gahtzuah, Mizutama, Suma goddess of darkness, Kotetsu, scythe195, A-Brighter-Dawn, Anave Lipad, Quicksilver4, darkshaman817 and Unorthodox King.