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: I am sorry this has taken so long, that's all I can say in my own defence – and hope that you enjoy the long chapter ahead. Other than that beware of terrible maiming of the Japanese language. If some people out there that can actually speak the language would help me translate the technique in question, just send me a review or a mail, and I'll put it up in the beta-ed version.
Thanks to my good friend and beta, Paladin Steelbreaker.
Chapter Twelve'Through the chill of winter
Running across a frozen lake
Hunters hard right on his trail
All odds are against him
With a family to provide for
But one thing he must keep alive
Will the wolf survive?
Will the wolf survive?'
"Will the Wolf Survive?" by Waylon Jennings
He was hot, then he was cold.
He was aware of people around him, shouting and screaming things he just couldn't seem to grasp and hold long enough to understand.
"Watch the wrist!" a voice shouted.
"Does anyone know how to seal up that Seal!"
"Someone send a message to Jiraiya-sama!"
There was more shouting and the sound of people running after this proclamation.
Harry wondered what was going on. Why were they acting as though someone important was about to die? People these days really needed to learn how to relax. He was almost positive that all the stress of today's world was the reason for bastards like Voldemort and Orochimaru. He knew with his entire being that those two pre-mentioned individuals were the most evil creations of man, yet he couldn't bring himself to care at present. He was floating in a comforting darkness, and he was so incredibly tired.
He had no idea where these thoughts were coming from. Did he really know someone named Voldemort? Didn't that mean flight-from-death in some weird, ancient language? And what kind of name was Orochimaru anyway? Why did he know that in the first place?
"He's slipping!" someone's voice broke into his thoughts.
"Quick! Give me that needle! We need to shock him into wakefulness – or as close as we can get him to it – otherwise he will slip into a coma!"
Harry decided he didn't want to wake up. Waking up would bring so much trouble and responsibility and other things he was sure he didn't want to know about.
"It's not working! He seems almost determined not to wake up!"
Harry fell asleep and heard no more.
-x-x-x-x-
If the sounds of a scuffle came from the doorway hadn't woken him, then the voice quickly following certainly did.
"Hey! Stop it! You aren't allowed in here! Stop them!" the annoying voice yelled.
The exclamation was followed by crashes and curses and shouts and other annoying noise, and Harry frowned in his darkness. Was there no peace to be had around here?
His thoughts were cut off by someone grabbing his hand, and a young boy's voice flashed through the darkness like lightning. "Harry-nii-san! Wake up, Harry-nii-san! You can't leave me now!"
Nii-san? Big brother? Who would call him big brother?
"Come here you little monster!" a gruff voice growled angrily and the small hands wrapped around Harry's own tightened.
"Please!" the boy's voice was nearly sobbing. "Harry-nii-san!"
There it was again. Big brother. Perhaps he should open his eyes and tell the boy that he had the wrong person?
"Stop fighting, brat!"
Brat? Harry knew that he used that word himself quite often; however, he also knew that it never was uttered in a tone full of hate and dislike.
"Let me go!"
"No you don't!" the voice lowered as the person whispered, "If Orochimaru's grandson finally dies, then you will have no protection, monster, and then it will be open season on brat-hunting!"
"Like hell it will! Harry-nii-san will not-!"
The boy's voice was suddenly cut off by the sound of flesh hitting flesh. "Shut up, monster!"
Why wasn't anyone doing something to stop this, Harry wondered as he started to get angry. Abusing a child! Honestly!
"Why don't you just kill the brat now and get it done with?" a female voice sneered.
This was starting to get seriously out of hand. He started to force his way through the darkness, trying to find the way out.
"Che! You're right, give me that scalpel."
"Let me go, you bastard!"
That boy's voice sounded so familiar, so dear to him. He had to know who it was.
Harry growled at the darkness holding him back. There was a child out there that was going to get killed, and no one seemed to be doing anything about it. The bloody bastards! Damn darkness! There! He could see it! An opening that was growing bigger and bigger! The light at the end of the tunnel to put it in cliché terms. Harry pushed even harder and kept his eyes firmly on the growing light, refusing to close his eyes even though he knew they would sting and he would be practically blinded for a moment. But he had other senses to help him out, senses that were slowly awakening. He could smell the annoying sterilised scent of the common hospital and the doctors and nurses. He could hear other things now and he didn't have to focus anymore on understanding it all. He could feel the bed he was lying on, the clothes he was in, and – most importantly – the pain from his wrist.
Well, if he couldn't use his arms, then he'd have to use something else.
"Let the boy go and focus on saving Harry!" a voice shouted.
"Let my best friend go, you bastard!
"Watch it, they've got tranquillisers!"
"The Hokage will most certainly hear of this!"
Finally, the cavalry arrived, though he had no idea why or how they knew Harry himself. That gave him the time to gather the necessary energy for this little trick. It was all instinctual. The blue-tinted energy flowing through him was quickly, but carefully gathered, and the flow was directed towards his eyes.
"Damn it, we're too far away!"
"Sakura! Watch out!"
"Where is Gai when you need him!"
"Kakashi-sensei, can't you do anything?"
If you want something done, you've got to do it yourself, Harry concluded. Luckily he had enough energy gathered and prepared to execute his own original technique – how he knew that, he had no idea, but it wasn't important at this point in time anyway. His eyes snapped open, the pupil slit like a snake's, a ring of poisonous yellow surrounding the pupil and the outer rim of the green eye, and he caught the unfortunate pair of white-robed people – that were about to seriously injure or kill the blond boy – right in his trap.
The two, male and female, froze.
Harry smirked.
"Hébì Mitsúmerú: Níbàn ni Oítsukù!" (Snake Eyes: Second Level!)
The two healers literally froze in their spots, their skin turned greyish and their eyes blank. Their clothes stopped moving about, as did their hair. The two of them had become human statues.
He cancelled the technique.
The rest of the room had frozen, and Harry could finally take in everything. His eyes fell on the blond boy sitting shocked on the ground, and suddenly his memories came rushing back like a tidal wave. A tidal wave only growing bigger as green eyes flew from person to person in the room, then returning to the blond boy.
"The second Maito Gai enters this room," Harry rasped weakly, "I'm going to silence him permanently."
"HARRY-NII-SAN!" the blond boy exclaimed happily, and threw himself on the bed, his arms wrapping tightly around the man occupying it.
"That hurts brat!" the green-eyed man hissed as Naruto pressed a bit too much on sore spots.
"You're alive, Harry-nii-san." Naruto whispered.
"Of course I am, you aren't getting rid of me that easily."
The commotion by the door was quickly over, with the healers being on the losing side, and the group came over. Kakashi was there along with Sasuke and Sakura. The silver-haired pervert looked extremely relieved, his one uncovered eye watching Harry like a hawk to make sure that everything was alright. Sakura looked relieved as well and put the flower she had brought with her into the vase situated on the bedside table, then threw away the old flower. Sasuke grinned and allowed Harry to pull him into a one-armed hug, seeing as Naruto was taking most of the space, and Harry's other arm wasn't exactly in tip-top shape.
The two human statues and the unconscious healers at the other side of the room were promptly ignored.
"Itachi nearly gave us a heart attack when he brought you back in such a state, Harry." Kakashi ventured finally.
"Hmm, I can imagine that he did." Harry replied. "How long have I been out?"
"Nearly five days." Naruto said, but didn't look up from his place on Harry's abdomen. "They wouldn't allow us to visit you until yesterday, and then only Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei and the other grown-ups."
The black-haired man nodded. "About that, why was there a fight in here when I woke up?"
"They wouldn't allow Naruto in, Harry-san," Sakura told him.
"They would have let Orochimaru himself walk in, but not Naruto!" Sasuke growled. "Bloody bastards."
"Sasuke-kun!"
"What! It's true!"
"Still, you shouldn't talk about people like that!"
"Che!"
Harry raised an eyebrow and shot a look at Kakashi. The other man just smiled under his blue mask, his one visible eyebrow curving happily, and they let it be with that. Kakashi moved closer to the bed where Harry was being squashed by Naruto, and sat down on the chair on the other side of it, now being opposite Sasuke. Whilst Naruto was happily purring and Sasuke and Sakura still arguing, he leaned in closer to Harry and whispered, "What happened to you, Harry-sensei?"
"Too much to be explained here and now," came the reply. "I need to see the Hokage as soon as possible."
Kakashi nodded and let that drop. "We fixed things with Xin Huyang and what reporters were allowed to write about the ANBU. Huyang herself was shocked and terrified that one harmless article could cause such damage, she hasn't written anything since and won't until she sees you – or so she says. Manji-san and Itachi-kun have been able to do your normal duties. Uchiha Fugaku is more pissed off than ever because you were brought back by Itachi when you could've laid out in the woods and died for all he cared. There is a rift growing between him and Itachi-kun, and it's tearing the Uchiha Clan apart."
"It was long in coming, Kakashi," Harry said. "When a group of people grows too large and too strong there will always be fights within it. And heaven knows that the Uchiha have grown too large, even larger than the Hyuuga."
"Well, I am at least happy that the Hyuuga seem to posses some sense," Kakashi muttered. "You know, if it hadn't been for Manji-san we never would've know what was going on in here? The Hokage personally told the hospital that we should be allowed to visit you whenever, but this group of healers went against it saying that you weren't safe because you were Orochimaru's grandson. They were almost treating you like a dangerous animal!"
"Calm down Kakashi, it doesn't matter much right now seeing as I am totally fine." Harry looked down at his bandaged wrist. "I admit that Orochimaru putting the Seal on me was a surprise, but it doesn't matter much. I was there during it's creation, and I know how it works. Therefore I also know exactly how to counter it."
"So you'll be able to remove it?"
"No, but I will be able to turn it to my advantage as soon as I am better." Green eyes flashed triumphantly. "Orochimaru has unknowingly given me the means to his own destruction."
"Well, I hope you know what you are doing, Harry-sensei."
"Trust me, Kakashi." Harry asked of the younger man who nodded.
Their private conversation was over when Sasuke looked at them. "Harry-san, I was wondering what kind of jutsu that was." He nodded towards the two human statues. "I have never heard of it before. Is it one Orochimaru taught you? An Advanced Bloodline?"
"It isn't something Orochimaru taught me," Harry replied. "Nor is it exactly an Advanced Bloodline."
Naruto looked up, but otherwise didn't move from his spot. "Could you teach it to us?"
"I am afraid not, because this technique builds on several aspects, only one of which you can learn." The three kids – even Kakashi – looked slightly disappointed at that answer. Harry continued. "Besides I have just created the damn thing, and I had no idea if it would work at all. Nor do I have any idea on how to un-freeze those to statues, so they will probably stay that way for quite some time."
"I don't mind." Naruto grinned.
"They can stay that way as long as they wish." Sasuke nodded.
Even Sakura agreed. "Definitely!"
Kakashi grinned. "Maa, maa! Easy now, what if we're suddenly attacked and need healers?"
Harry hit the man on the arm. "Don't ruin the moment."
-x-x-x-x-
Green eyes snapped open as a sound reached his ears. It was the middle of the night, and Harry had been allowed to get back to his apartment six days prior, but that was all the healers had allowed him. He thought they were still pissed off that two of their ranks were still playing human statues. The vindictive bastards.
The door to the bedroom opened and for the fifth time Naruto stepped through, carrying a pillow and a blanket. As soon as he saw that Harry was awake, the boy crawled into the bed, arranged his blanket and pillow, grabbed a firm hold of Harry's shirt, and snuggled down with his small body pressing as close to Harry's as he could get. The demon vessel had been terrified that the green-eyed man would just up and disappear in the middle of the night, for good this time, and leave him alone. Consequently he had been rather clingy these past few days – but so had the other 'angsters' as well.
"This has got to stop, Naruto," Harry sighed as he poked the brat, and tried to gently push him away. "I am not going to kick the bucket the second you turn away."
Naruto refused to move.
"Let go of my shirt, brat, and go back to your own apartment and bedroom!"
Not even a single muscle twitched.
Knowing that further tries would be just as futile as the first two, Harry simply fell back on the futon with a grumble and continued to mutter about annoying brats, bloody bastards, and anything else that annoyed him. He did this for quite some time before he ran out of things to complain about. This tirade was followed by a long silence, and Harry was on the verge of sleep when Naruto's quiet voice brought him back into the conscious world.
"I love you, Harry-nii-san." The blond whispered and tightened his hold on the older man's shirt.
Harry sighed. He just couldn't win this fight with his emotions! Especially not when Naruto did or said something that melted his heart faster than the speed of the light. He allowed one arm to wrap about the smaller body, and relaxed again.
"I love you too, brat."
-x-x-x-x-
It didn't take long before Harry was able to return to his duties – at least not the duties that involved signing papers, going over mission reports before delivering them to the Hokage, issuing missions, issuing pay-checks, etc. It would take approximately another week before he was back in tip-top shape. A week full of paperwork.
Needless to say Harry was very happy when the Sandaime Hokage finally found the time to speak to him, and interrupted the boring routine.
"I hope I find you well, Harry-san?" the old man began and sipped the tea that ha been brought in for the two of them.
"The only danger I am currently in, is danger of being bored to death." Harry replied making the other one smile.
"And the Seal?"
"It will be taken care of as soon as I am well enough and back on duty."
The old man nodded. "Mmhmm…" there was a short silence before the Sandaime continued. "Kakashi said that you had something important to tell me?"
Harry nodded and sighed. "Orochimaru plans to attack during the Chunnin Exam."
"Alone?"
"No, allied with Sand."
"The Kazekage won't allow his village to be used like that."
"He will if he's dead." The green-eyed man pointed out.
"I see…" the old man nodded and sighed heavily. "This will need to be seriously discussed by the two Elders and myself, but there are already two things I will ask of you."
Harry raised an eyebrow and waited.
"Firstly I ask you to teach me the Sealing Jutsu that you and Arashi developed for the Kyuubi no Kitsune."
The younger man nodded. He already had an inkling of why the Hokage wanted to learn that particular technique. Being this old the Sandaime would have very little chance beating Orochimaru in a normal shinobi battle. But even with the Sealing Jutsu he would end up totally dead at the end of it all.
"It's a one-way deal, you know. You can only use it once."
"I know." The Hokage replied.
Harry nodded and let it be with that. If the Sandaime was willing to die for Konoha, then he wouldn't interfere. "And the second thing you wanted to ask me?"
"It is more of an order than a request, Harry-san. I want you to get as far away from here as you can when the Exams approach. Visit the Wand-Shinobi World, hide in a temple, do whatever it takes to stay away from Konoha at that point in time. Thusly you will avoid having to choose a side, and also exposing your role of a spy to Orochimaru."
"Are you sure that is a good idea?"
"Many times in the past I have accepted your council, so for once trust me – trust the Soul of Fire of Konoha – and accept mine."
The two men looked at each other for a long minute, before the younger finally nodded in agreement. "As you wish, Hokage-san."
And with those words the meeting was over.
-x-x-x-x-
Harry, Itachi, Manji, Shisui and Iruka stood just outside the gates of Konoha and watched as Team 7 went off on their first C-class mission ever. The entire team had been ecstatic when they received the mission, and not even the gruff manners of the person they were supposed to guard could bring them into depression. Kakashi was happy because he was finally finished with supervising the boring D-class missions all gennin received – although it always ended up in one disaster or another. And the three pre-teens were overjoyed at being finally given a C-class mission. C-class!
"I get it, you are the backup!" the old man called Tazuna had cried when he spotted the group of shinobi by the gates. "I won't be stuck with a bunch of kids! Bless the gods!" he laughed happily and none of the shinobi there missed the relieved tone to his voice. Needless to say the man was crushed when he discovered that they were simply the farewell-committee.
"So that is the infamous Tazuna." Manji muttered as he watched the quartet in the distance. "I didn't think that the Master Bridge Builder would be so old – or act like such an idiot."
"Isn't he from Wave Country?" Itachi asked.
Harry nodded. "Yep."
"The same country that is under that Gato's control?"
"The very same." Manji replied this time.
Itachi blinked, then growled, "So why the hell did we just send a gennin-team on what is clearly a B-class, perhaps even A-class mission?"
"Because the Wave is a poor country and couldn't pay for a B-class or A-class classification."
Shisui and Iruka just stood there with wide eyes as the three ANBU discussed the current dangers currently surrounding the Wave Country, until finally Iruka couldn't help but ask why the Wave hadn't gone to the Hidden Village of Mist if it was closer. It would be cheaper for one thing, and for another it wouldn't take so much time to get there and back again.
"I'm wondering about that one myself," Manji agreed.
Harry sighed and shook his head. "Because the Demon of the Mist – Momochi Zabuza – has been seen in that direction." He spoke slowly as if to a child.
Now the entire group was wide-eyed and nearly gaping.
"And… and Kakashi-san knows about this… right?" Shisui ventured hesitantly.
"Nope, that's all ANBU-classified information, and he isn't ANBU anymore." The green-eyed man grinned at the looks of alarm all around him. "Don't worry, I am heading out on a patrol of the Fire Country border. I'll check up on the brats if I have the time."
"I'll come with you!" Itachi growled. "There is no way I am letting my little brother be in the same vicinity as the Demon of the Mist."
"I'll come as well." Manji agreed. "Chihiro wanted some tea that can only be bought in the Water Country."
Iruka sighed. "I assume I'll be stuck with the paperwork that comes with you two leaving without permission, huh?"
Shisui patted him on the shoulder. "I'll bring you food… occasionally… if I don't forget… yeah…"
Harry, Manji and Itachi laughed upon seeing Iruka's defeated look, and soon the three of them were completely gone from the senses of both Shisui and Iruka.
"Well, time to get back to work." Iruka muttered and Shisui sighed.
-x-x-x-x-
Harry and Itachi continued to travel through the trees throughout the night. Manji had been forced to turn back when the trio had stumbled over the unconscious forms of the Demon Brothers. He had gotten a firm promise out of both Harry and Itachi to buy some tea for his beloved wife, before he had taken the two missing-nins – one on each shoulder – and had turned back towards Konoha.
"Are we going to stop soon, Ookami-sensei?" Itachi asked as he hid a yawn behind his mask.
"Soon, Itachi." Harry replied absentmindedly. He wasn't really focused on his companion, but rather on the trickle of magic with a very familiar signature. His green eyes flashed as he neared the source of the magic, and he slowed down and hid between the branches high up in a tree.
Itachi soon landed beside him, wide awake and with his Sharingan fully activated. "Who are they, Ookami-sensei?" he nodded towards the two figured in the clearing beneath them. Both were sitting around a small, blue fire that didn't emit any smoke nor did it need any wood to burn. The blue fire glittered off of black and silver-blond hair. "Ookami-sensei?" the Uchiha repeated when the other didn't answer him.
"Old acquaintances." Came the growled reply. "Wait here Itachi, I'm going down there."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Trust me, this is a meeting which I have long been hoping for." The older man said and disappeared without a sound, and Itachi could only shrug and turn his sight back on the duo in the clearing, and watch the following show.
Harry landed soundlessly behind a thick group of trees, then made his way towards the two wizards on foot. He was mindful of any traps that might've been put up, and quickly disarmed them whenever he encountered one. Soon he was standing just behind the duo, and now he sprung out form his hiding place. Less than a second later he stood with a kunai pressed against the throats of the two wizards both of whom had stiffened up in surprise.
The person with black hair slowly turned his head as much as he could, and black eyes met green ones hidden behind a wolf-shaped ANBU mask.
"-You should never allow your enemy to get behind you, Severus Snape.-" Harry hissed hatefully.
-x-x-x-x-
That's it for now. I know this chapter may seem very weird in places, but I've been dead tired this entire week and it was also a damn hard chapter to write as well, so please excuse it all. And once again I ask that anyone who speaks Japanese better than me, please help me with translating the jutsu in this chapter correctly. Thanks.
As for Orochimaru's seal, well, it gives chakra to the person with the seal, and it makes them stronger and faster (at the first level). At the second level it turns the person demon-like with yellow eyes and black-ish grey skin, and gives them even more chakra, strength and speed. I don't know if it has a third level, but I should suppose it does. Kakashi's seal which he puts on Sasuke (in the anime), kind of locks up Orochimaru's seal and kind of slows down the corruption of the person with the seal – that's how I see it. As for Tonks and her role as Tayuya. All I am willing to say is that I have at least that plotted out.
It was a clear number in favour of Kimimaro living to see another day (to put it that way), and that's how it's going to be. And there is a reason why Harry doesn't fight back when Orochimaru decides to beat the crap out of him. It'll all be clear soon enough.
There are no pairings so far, and I don't think there'll ever be one – at least not with Harry. Other pairings however…
Thanks to:
Dragon Fairies, FireAngel8723, SensiblyTainted, E.A.V, Falling Right Side-Up, marina, kathy, Fattyaddy-99, Shadow Crystal Mage, Nocena T. Calamus, cheerful-pinkstar, DarkWolfHuntress, firelid, gahtzuah, cat, Morrolan, Saetan, scythe195, Ran Hoshino, Kagome13Chan, Geminia, VB, arsenic-graffiti, Gato-sama, Anave Lipad, Sarah R Potter, candidus-lupus-full Moon, YamaiTsuki, magerm, Vamps Witches and Weres, polabear, Wraith, braindead, dark672, hercat, RBMIfan, Angranse, tessa3, Really Bad Fanfiction, darkgabman, Wraith, HarrySlytherinson, Sweetest Thang, shadow tintinnabulation, GEVFUAN and sakura.
