A Different World
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. It will be shown from Sasuke's perspective.
Chapter Notation: I'm not exactly sure, if Aoda and Manda were related. For the sake of this story though, I'm going to say they were.
Kyuubi talking will be in bold italics.
Chapter 21
Sasuke was pretty sure that the only reason that Madara was still alive was because he had cursed Hinata. If he hadn't done that, everyone's favorite little psycho would have slaughtered him. Madara Uchiha was a legend in the magical community, but Gaara had righteous fury on his side. That and Sasuke doubted that his relative would put up much of a fight.
The other wizard clearly knew what he had done was wrong, even his wife was scolding him for it. That puzzled the Slytherin. He didn't know why the Ancient Rune Professor had agreed to help Kaguya, if he clearly didn't want to go around cursing students. It just didn't make any sense.
"I think that sounds like a bloody brilliant idea, myself. You better start talking or else I'm gonna let Gaara do what he does best. Blow stuff up." Naruto warns Madara.
"I'm not going to let you blow up my husband!" Naori warns the youngest blonde.
"Lady, you won't have a choice. Your husband used an Unforgivable Curse on our friend. We aren't going to let that go. First of all, he's going to fix Hinata. Secondly, he's going to tell us what the Hell is going on. If he does that, then maybe we'll let him go." The sapphire eyed wizard says.
Sasuke sighs as he glances at his boyfriend. He couldn't believe this. Naruto Uzumaki was essentially issuing death threats. What was the world coming to?
"Brat, get a handle on the red head. Madara may be the key to winning this war. Besides, we have to tell the others what is going on and force him to free Hinata. The witch will be an extra wand in the battle that we can't afford to lose." Kurama says.
"Right. So Madara and Naori, you're coming with us. We have to tell the others what's going on and prepare for the fight!" Naruto says and with that, he casts a spell to bind Naori and Madara up in ropes.
Sasuke shakes his head. He didn't think that Naori needed tied up and Madara was a bit debatable. He had given up rather quickly, once caught. Those weren't the actions of a bloodthirsty killer.
Someone was using him, but who? Who could be powerful enough to make Madara Uchiha their pawn? He was one of the greatest duelists that the world had ever seen.
"Take him back to the Room of Requirement. I'll make sure that everyone meets you there. Are you three going to be okay with them on your own?" Minato asks.
"Don't worry, Dad. We've totally got this! Believe it!" Naruto says with a grin.
Minato looked a little less than convinced, but he quickly heads off. Sasuke sighs in relief and with that, the rest of their procession made their way to the Room of Requirement. Honestly, Sasuke wasn't sure what they would have done without it.
A short while later, Minato had kept his word. All of the D.A. were there. That included the original members and also Sasuke's parents. Mikoto in particular seemed to be rather fascinated by the fact the Sorting Hat had legs and arms now.
"Oh that's quite clever and they work exactly like prosthetic limbs?" The raven haired woman asks.
"Yes, they do. I'm quite pleased with them. I even have my own wand. Which is a damn good thing. It looks like we are in for one Hell of a fight." Fredrick replies.
"Mother, is that really what we should be focusing on right now?" Itachi says with a sigh.
Mikoto had the decency to look sheepish and Sasuke shakes his head. Well at least she wasn't panicking. Losing it, wouldn't help anyone.
"Right. We're all here now. So you need to fix Hinata now and then get talking. Don't even try to run. You might be damn good with your wand, but you can't beat all of us. Remember, Harry Bloody Potter is here!" Naruto reminds Madara in a manner that Sasuke could only describe as absolutely menacing.
It didn't sound like his boyfriend. This was so wrong. Naruto wasn't supposed to sound menacing. Naruto was Naruto!
"Alright. Alright. I get the damn point. I'll release the girl, but I'll need to be unbound. So will my wife. You have an army here. The two of us are not going to be able to fight our way out." He says.
Gaara looked less than thrilled by this and Sasuke couldn't blame him. If someone had Imperioed Naruto, he'd never forgive them. There was a reason why it was called an Unforgivable Curse, after all.
"I don't like it, but the man has a point. Yeah?!" Deidara says.
Not surprisingly, the Gryffindors were the first to weigh in on the topic. He'd never met a group of more boisterous people before. Naruto, Minato, Karin, Suigetsu, Sakura, Choji, Kiba, and Ino were handful by anyone's definition. (Though Sasuke does privately acknowledge that Minato and Choij were by far the most mellow members of Gryffindor in the room).
"This is crazy! He's a freaking legend! I don't care how many people are in this room. You don't underestimate Madara Uchiha! He fought in the Battle of Hogwarts! The man is a beast!" Kiba says.
"We also fought in the Battle of Hogwarts." Hermione reminds him.
Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, George, Draco, and Luna all shake their heads at this. There were times when Sasuke almost forgot that they were all living legends in their own right. None of them put on airs about their abilities. Well except for Draco.
"Kiba didn't mean to be disrespectful, but you know what he meant." Karin says half in defense of her House Mate and half apologetically.
Surprisingly, the red headed witch was still going strong with Sakura. That was just fine with Sasuke though. He was glad that they had both moved on from him and had someone to fight for. Each other.
"It's alright. We get the point. Though Madara is correct. It's unlikely that even he and his wife would be able to fight their way out of this room against all of us." Harry replies.
Sasuke had grown up hearing stories about how Harry Potter used to be pretty impulse and even reckless. If Naruto was loyal to the point of absolute stupidity, Harry was brave to the point of absolute stupidity. In that way, they were a lot alike.
At some point though, the wizard must have mellowed out slightly. Not having an evil nemesis around could do that to a person. That or maybe married life just agreed with him. Fatherhood might also be the reason, but Sasuke digressed.
"Don't make me regret this." Sasori whispers to Madara as he undoes the ropes.
"I won't. Now, let me see the girl." He states as he strides over to Hinata.
Gaara immediately darts over with his wand drawn. Sasuke blinks. Gaara was fast on and off the Quidditch Field. This was especially true when it came to protecting the Hyuga Princess, it seemed. In was rather romantic, in a morbid way.
"Relax. I'm not going to hurt your girlfriend." Madara says as he releases Hinata from the Curse.
"I'd say thank you, but you were the one who put me under that spell in the first place." Hinata grumbles, after Konan frees her from her own bindings.
"What a drag. We still need to find out what is going on? Who is behind all these attacks and when can we expect them to attack? That or should we attack first? We certainly have a lot of fighters." Shikamaru says with a yawn.
Only Shikamaru, could yawn at a time like this. Then again, he was probably exhausted. Sasuke hadn't been sleeping well lately and he doubted that he was the only one suffering from stress-induced insomnia. So maybe, the lazy genius could be forgiven for his laziness this time.
"Yes, Madara. Tell them what is going on!" Naori snaps at her husband.
Hmm. Trouble in paradise. It looked like the pretty witch hadn't been entirely briefed on the situation. That was interesting.
"When I lost Naori in the War, I was a broken man. I would have done anything to get her back. Several years ago, a powerful witch sought me out. Her name was Kaguya and she had a dream. A dream that the magical community would come out of hiding and reign supreme over the Muggle World." Madara says with a sigh.
"And you went along with it." Neji says accusingly.
That didn't seem entirely fair. Sasuke could hear the weariness in his ancestor's voice. There was more to this story.
"Quiet. We need to hear everything." Temari scolds her Housemate while Shikamaru mutters something about troublesome women.
"It wasn't her ideal that appealed to me. She had something that I wanted. She offered to bring Naori back, if I helped her. So I did. In the long run, I didn't see the harm in coming out of the shadows and I could get the woman that I loved back. It seemed perfect. As time wore on though, I was forced to do things that I regretted. Things like using an Unforgivable Curse on a schoolgirl. Kaguya kept her word though. She brought Naori back. Well more specifically, Hidan brought her back." Madara continues.
Hidan blinks. That's when Sasuke realizes something. The Blood Magic. Hidan had apparently known how to revive the dead in theory and Kaguya had forced him to do it. It was likely, that the Slytherin hadn't even known what was going on.
"I never brought anyone back from the dead. I'll admit that I've read about stuff like that, but I've never done it." He protests.
"Not consciously. The witch must have used Imperio on you as well. Most likely, she followed it with a series of powerful Memory Charms. Very clever. Evil, but clever." The Sorting Hat observes.
That thought made Sasuke's blood run cold. Who knew what else they had all been forced to do? It seemed like there was almost nothing that Kaguya wasn't capable of.
"That evil bitch." Pain mutters in disgust.
"Normally, I would deduct House Points for your language, but you've already graduated. That and in this particular circumstance, I can't fault you for accuracy." Minerva says with a sigh.
"Bloody brilliant. Finally! Finally, the Old Bat is going to let everyone curse!" George says happily and the Headmistress rolls her eyes as she hurls a Silencing Charm on the red head.
Sasuke finds himself chuckling despite the situation. The Headmistress could certainly be amusing at times. It didn't matter how old she was. That cat still had claws. Really sharp claws and she wasn't afraid to use them.
"George, you really should know better than to yank a cat's tail." Ginny teases her brother.
"Well if Kaguya spelled Hidan, that means that he's under her control. Madara can't undo that one." Kakuzu reasons.
Sasuke frowns as he nods. That was true. Damn it. They were going to have to tie him up now. They had traded Hidan for Hinata in this war.
That was fine though. They still had the numbers the Hyuga Heiress was likely going to be fierce on the battlefield. After all, the woman was likely filled with righteous fury over what had been done to her.
"Damn it. Sorry, Hidan. It looks like we are going to have to tie you up though." Suigetsu says as he proceeds to do exactly that.
"It took almost a decade, but Suigetsu finally did something useful. Mark that down on the calendar!" Karin says cheerfully.
"Karin, now really isn't the time to be making jokes." Shino says with an agitated sigh.
The insect lover was right about that. Time was running out. They would need to act fast, if they were going to beat Kaguya. Though Madara still hadn't answered the two most important questions.
"When is she planning to attack? If she's going to take over the Wizarding World, Kaguya is going to target Hogwarts." Jugo asks softly.
That was one of the questions. When. When was a very important question. Hopefully, Madara knew the answer.
"In three days time. You must be ready. She has recruited many people. Giants, Veelas, Leprechauns, Witches, and Wizards are all part of her army." He warns them.
Great. Just bloody great. Maybe, they didn't have the numbers. Though they did have the school. If nothing else, Hogwarts had a way of defending itself in perilous times.
"Three days isn't ideal, but it's better than being attacked immediately." Haku says.
"Well I guess that's one way to look on the bright side of things, but it still doesn't answer what we're going to do about it." Kankuro mutters.
That was true. A massive army was on the move against them. Sasuke knew that Naruto had the Nine Tailed Fox inside him, but that was a risky move. Could the Fox be trusted?
"Don't worry! The Power of Youth will make sure that we all get out of this just fine!" Lee exclaims excitedly.
"Lee, I admire your courage, but now is really not the time for inspirational speeches." Kushina chides him gently.
"We need to warn everyone in this castle. We'll need to get the younger students to safety. Everyone Fifth Year and up can fight though." Zetsu says.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow. He wanted to know who put the Akatsuki Member in charge. Unfortunately, he was right. A Fourth Year in combat would be pushing it.
"We can't do that. If we leave all the young people alone, they'll be attacked by the bad guys. If the bad guys find them, they'll be sitting ducks." Tenten argues.
That was also true. They were going to have to sacrifice some of their fighters to protect the children. Damn it!
"There's only one way to decide this fairly. Everyone who is at least a Fifth Year and older will put their name into a goblet. We'll have two hundred names drawn from it. Those will be the ones charge with protecting the children." Luna decrees.
That was sound logic. Sasuke couldn't really argue with hit. So much for her being airy and not all there. Apparently, the Pudding Princess knew what she was doing.
"She's right. That's the best way to go about this." Draco agrees.
"Malfoy is being agreeable. This really must be war." Neville teases him.
"Alright, everyone. We have our plan. Let's focus on briefing everyone and getting everyone's names into that goblet." Fugaku says.
The others agree and soon enough, everyone heads off on their respective tasks. Sasuke smiles as he sees Hinata and Gaara walk off together. Well at least one good thing had come out of this war.
"Now would be the ideal time to Mark him. Everyone is busy making battle preparations. It is time to make your own preparations. You'll be much stronger, after the two of you have Mated." Kyuubi informs Naruto.
"You alright? I know that all of this is intense." Sasuke whispers as he places his hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Yeah. I'm alright. I just think that we should focus on each other for tonight. We've got three days." The blonde says.
Sasuke nods in agreement. That's when he hears something strange. It was faint, but he definitely could hear it.
"Yeah. That sounds good. Wait. I hear something." Sasuke says.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asks in confusion as it became rather obvious that the blonde hadn't the voice.
"Something bad is coming! Something bad is coming! Must protect the Hatchlings!" A strange voice chants determinedly.
Sasuke had never heard anything like that voice in years. It was so reptilian. Frowning, he decides that he had better check it out. Obviously, this person was on their side.
"Follow me. I think that we can still find them." Sasuke orders Naruto as he drags the blonde off behind him.
"Just can't look them in the eye. Bad things happen, when I look em in the eye." The voice continues.
"Naruto, did you hear that?" Sasuke asks again.
Naruto shakes his head and looks honestly perplexed. Sasuke tilts his head in confusion. The blonde had always had rather good hearing. So why couldn't he hear this voice?
"Whatever. Come on! We can't lose it. Just whatever you do, don't look at this things face. Something bad will happen, if you look it in the eye." Sasuke warns his boyfriend.
He wasn't really sure why this person was so worried about their eyes, but the wizard was more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. If they were that concerned about it, there was probably a very good reason. At least, that was Sasuke's logic as he and Naruto followed the voice.
"Something strange is going on. I sense another presence, but I don't see it. We're heading towards the Chamber of Secrets." Kyuubi tells Naruto.
After what felt like an eternity, they arrived. They arrived at a secret chamber. Sasuke blinks as he looks around in awe.
"Sasuke, we should go. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry killed a Basilisk here. Who knows what else might still be lurking about?" The blonde asks him anxiously.
"Yeah. Apparently, he didn't make that part up." Sasuke says as he gestures to the skeleton of a truly enormous snake.
"Guess not. Yeah. Let's get out of here." Naruto insists.
That was new. A Gryffindor didn't want to get into trouble. Though Sasuke couldn't really blame him. That skeleton was pretty intimidating and the Chamber was less than welcoming.
"Who are you?" The voice hisses out.
That's when Sasuke and Naruto turn around and see a giant snake. A giant snake that might actually have been bigger than the one that Harry Potter had faced. It was a damn miracle that they hadn't looked into the creature's eyes and sealed their fate.
"Avis!" Sasuke says quickly and a flock of birds shoot out of his wand, blocking the things eyes from them.
They would have been done for, otherwise. It bought them some time, but he didn't know how much. Maybe, Naruto was right. They should run.
"Good thinking! Let's go!" The blonde says.
"Don't be afraid, Hatchlings. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have already eaten you. I don't eat humans. I'm not my father. I like children." I'll avert my gaze. So there's no need to be afraid." The snake continues on.
"Wait. It's not going to hurt us. It's going to look away." Sasuke says.
Naruto looks at his boyfriend, like he had grown another head or something. Right. The whole Parselmouth thing wasn't common.
"What are you bloody talking about?! We need to get away before that thing tries to eat us!" The sapphire eyed wizard snaps at him.
"We don't. I'm a Parselmouth. I can talk to snakes. I just didn't tell anyone because well…it's a bit weird. I haven't talked to any snakes besides garden snakes before though." Sasuke tells him.
Naruto just gapes at Sasuke and the Uchiha rubs the back of his head sheepishly. He kinda deserved that. Now, probably wasn't the best time to spring the whole, "I can talk to snakes," thing on the guy.
"Well congratulations! That's a Hell of a lot bigger than a garden snake!" Naruto says sarcastically!
"You can yell at me later. I should probably answer the snake before it gets angry." The Slytherin retorts.
Sasuke could see that his boyfriend was feeling a little indignant about the whole thing. He'd just have to make it up to him later. Of course, that was assuming they lived through the war in the first place.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha and this is Naruto Uzumaki. What did you mean by protect the Hatchlings earlier?" Sasuke asks cautiously.
"I sense an army approaching. The Hatchlings can't defend themselves. Too little. So I was planning on bursting out of the pipes and surprising some of them. It's rare to meet someone who can speak my language. I'm Aoda." The snake answers him.
Well that was an idea. Sasuke had to give Aoda credit, he was smart. Well in a very reptilian way.
"That sounds like a good idea. Would you be willing to give me and my friends a hand? I might have a better idea though. You could protect the Hatchlings easier this way." Sasuke suggests.
Naruto was watching Sasuke with wide eyes. Sasuke knew that his boyfriend couldn't understand a word he was saying. That was alright though. He'd explain later.
"What's your idea?" Aoda asks.
"You can protect the younger people at this school. You can be a guard. Some of our people are too young or little to fight. They need someone to watch them. We are going to have some of our fighters guard them, but you could help a lot in this respect. I'll have to conjure you a giant pair of glasses or a blindfold though. We don't want you to accidentally hit someone on our side with those eyes of yours." Sasuke reasons.
The Uchiha wait's a moment. If this worked, this would be perfect. Aoda would be like a really, really big guard dog. Well guard snake, he mentally corrects himself.
"I could do that. Won't the children be afraid of me though?" Aoda asks.
That was a good point. A lot of children and even adults were terrified of snakes. Still Sasuke was reasonably confident, that he could keep a panic from breaking out.
"They might be at first. Let us talk to them and we'll see what we can do about that. Is there anything that we could do for you? You are helping us out here." Sasuke offers.
"I hear the House Elves are really good cooks. It sounds better than just hunting whatever is down here…" He hisses out.
"Right. I'll talk to the elves about bringing you some food. I'll come back tomorrow. Same time?" Sasuke asks and Aoda nods his head in agreement.
The Uchiha smiles in response and heads off with Naruto. His boyfriend was probably going to be furious with him, but he might as well face the music. An angry Naruto was still better than a dead Naruto.
"You've got A LOT of explaining to do." The Gryffindor grumbles.