Over the Hills and Far Away
Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto.
Author's Note: I shall tell you a short story: I was searching for something good to read on the site, and lo and behold there was a wonderful Harry Potter/Naruto crossover! I enjoyed it thoroughly and was so happy to find something good. Overjoyed, I was! It wasn't until I was around the tenth chapter before I realised that I was reading and exclaiming over my own story. That was kind of the thing that kicked me into gear and made me update.
Warning: Author is feeling stupid for her actions and for not recognising her own story.
Thanks to my good friend and beta, Beta the Second.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
There were a lot of regrets. Tonks regretted ever having agreed to become Harry's spy in Orochimaru's lair, she regretted ever letting the crazy snake-man to give her the Cursed Seal, she regretted many of the things that she had been forced to do for the same man in order to prove her loyalty and to be able to continue spying on him. She regretted that she hadn't been able to help Kimimaro or see him get better before he disappeared. She had a sneaking suspicion that either Orochimaru or Kabuto were to blame for the bone-user's disappearance, and that meant that Tonks would never see the young man again. She regretted all the years that she had been away from Remus; she'd had numerous nightmares about the werewolf leaving her and not being there when she finally came back. Hell, she had been almost certain that she wouldn't even survive her time in the lands of the shinobi, it was a miracle really.
But one thing she didn't regret was helping to bring about the end of Orochimaru and then Voldemort. She didn't regret the skills she had learned during the years, and Mad-Eye Moody had already put in a good word in for her at the Auror Academy, and when everything was done she would be able to teach her skills there. And, the best thing of all, Remus had waited for her. He'd been the first one to greet her when she had finally reached Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and since then he hardly had let her out of his sight.
The surprises simply kept on coming after that. When she had been transferred over to Hogwarts and the school's infirmary so that Madam Pomfrey could take a look at her and make sure that she was totally alright physically at least, Tonks had come face to face with none other than Kimimaro. He looked more healthy and alive than he had in ages, and she hadn't been able to keep herself from hugging the surprised young man. And then she had to change back into her Tayuya-form in order to convince the white-haired male that she wasn't an enemy.
It had taken quite some time with swapping stories during Madam Pomfrey's check-up, but in the end they had both known what the other had been up to and why they were working for Harry rather than Orochimaru. Tonks had been proud to introduce Kimimaro to her husband, and the three of them had had quite a lot of fun while dancing circles around the Ministry officials that constantly popped up and tried to pull Kimimaro into their little world of backstabbing politics.
"You are getting quite good at handling them," Tonks said once, speaking in English not only to help Kimimaro practice but also because she didn't want to hear another word of Japanese/the language they used in the shinobi lands for at least the last century and a half. It would only bring up bad memories, and she just wanted to heal and forget it all for now.
"Harry-onii-sama warned me about them," Kimimaro replied with a small smile. He had relaxed quite a lot and wasn't as serious as he'd been before. "Their attempts at subtlety and subterfuge are as subtle as... as... uhm..."
"As a hippogriff to the face?" Remus suggested with a smile.
"I am uncertain what a hipp-o-gu-riff is, but yes, I suppose so."
Tonks was happy that the young bone-manipulator didn't hold her treachery against their blooming friendship, and she was also glad that he had become friends with Remus. The werewolf was helping both of them get used to the magical world. Kimimaro had never encountered such a culture before, and Tonks had been gone for so long that she practically had to start all over again. Many things had changed after all, especially with the war with Voldemort still going strong.
"Why hasn't he attacked yet? What's what on that front?" the pink-haired woman asked, genuinely curious why nothing much had happened since she had left the wizarding world.
Remus sighed. "Things have happened. The Death Eaters are raiding and killing – but mostly keep their activities to the wizarding world and the muggle-borns here. I don't think that the Dark Lord expected such a ferocious opposition to his trying to take over, he miscalculated in other words. However, lately rumours have been floating around that he's been doing something else all these years. I'm not sure what, though. Each rumour differs from the next."
Kimimaro cocked his head slightly to the side. "There is some truth in every rumour," he said, leaving it as a subtle hint for the werewolf to continue.
The amber-eyed male nodded to the bone-user in acknowledgement. "One rumour says that he is trying to change his visage from its snake-like visage to something that doesn't stand out quite as much, using the muggle plastic surgery. Another says that he's training in your shinobi-skills, Kimimaro, in order to be able to fight against Harry when he comes back. And yet a third says that the Dark Lord is training an army of Death Eaters and dark creatures large enough to conquer the British Isles and then, afterwards, the rest of the world."
"I have to say that the last two ones sound much more credible," Tonks said and Kimimaro nodded.
"Yes, well, they aren't the only ones that sound credible if you ask me, but I can't remember all the other rumours right now. There are far too many to keep an eye on. If you want a list, then the Daily Prophet recently published a pamphlet with all the rumours gathered."
Tonks blinked in surprise. "That is going to make the conspiracy-theory nuts go, well, nuts!"
"Despite it all, your people seem to take the war as some sort of entertainment," Kimimaro said, looking equally surprised.
Remus held his hands up. "Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just a simple werewolf itching to finish this madness."
"Perhaps, but you're my werewolf!" Tonks grinned and pulled Remus down onto the bed beside herself, latching onto his arm and refusing to let go as she cuddled up to her husband. She had been doing a lot of that ever since she had come back to the wizarding world. Not that Remus minded.
Kimimaro fondly rolled his eyes slightly at the cuddling couple. "Who would have thought you to be such a cuddler, Tonks-san," he said to her in Japanese and ducked the swipe of her hand that was aimed for the back of his head.
"Shush you!" Tonks grinned at him. "One day soon you will find someone who will make you go a-"
Remus blinked as Tonks stopped right in the middle of her sentence and she and Kimimaro gasped and stiffed before almost ripping their own shirts off as they searched for the communication medallions hanging around their necks. "What? What is it? Is it a message from Harry?"
Tonks nodded almost wildly as she finally found her medallion. "It's Harry," she confirmed. "He says that the last battle with Orochimaru is going on right at this moment, and for myself and Kimimaro to get ready."
"Get ready for what? He's there and you are all the way over here."
"Harry has had a plan for destroying Orochimaru ever since he went with him," she explained as she allowed the Curse Seal to cover her body. "The Curse Seal goes both ways. It makes us sealed people use up our chakra – or magic, if you wish – at a phenomenal rate, making us stronger and faster and whatnot."
"What has that got to do with anything? In fact, it sounds like a bad thing!" Remus protested, sounding more and more confused.
"Yes, perhaps, but since Harry helped Orochimaru develop this technique he also managed to put in a fail-safe that the Snake Sannin had no idea about. And that fail-safe was put there just for this exact purpose."
"And what is that purpose?"
Kimimaro was the one who answered, "For us to suck Orochimaru's chakra when Harry-nii-sama says so."
Remus blinked. "Suck Orochimaru's chakra?"
"That is what the fail-safe is," Tonks added. "It gives us the power to start leeching on Orochimaru's chakra, to weaken him further."
"But what happens to all that extra chakra?"
"We don't know." Kimimaro shrugged. "But it is of no consequence. All that matters is to help Harry-nii-sama to win."
The werewolf didn't seem convinced, but didn't say anything more and simply watched the two with their Cursed Seals covering their bodies getting ready to act the second that they got a message from Harry.
-x-x-x-x-
Anko hurled every curse and swearword she had ever known and some that she came up with on the spot at the damned cave-in that hindered her from getting to Orochimaru and beating the crap out of her old mentor. If they didn't get a move-on soon, she would personally remove every single stone that blocked her way, and crush it to bits!
"And you are certain that you cannot make these things move or crush them with your sand?" the only wizard on the team was asking Gaara.
The Kazekage shook his head. "My sand has explored up there," he nodded towards the ceiling where all the rocks had come from, "and the only thing up there is more and more rock. If we are not careful, there will only be another rockslide."
"Hum," the wizard mumbled thoughtfully. If there had been more wizards here than just him it would have been so much easier to simply apparate to the other side, bringing the shinobi with them, but since he was the only one here he would be utterly exhausted before he had taken more than four trips – and he would only be able to survive four trips if he brought one and only one person with him. If he brought two, the wizard doubted he would be able to do more than one trip!
"What are we to do now, Kazekage-sama?" one of the shinobi asked.
Gaara couldn't do anything but shrug. "I do not know at the present time," he admitted. There was no need to pretend that he knew anything when, in fact, no one knew how to proceed from here on.
The wizard spoke up again. "I can take at most two people over to the other side," he said finally. "And then I can vanish the rocks one by one, clearing the path for the rest of us. However, this will take time and will be slow progress, especially if I apparate two people to the other side first. I can also take four people over to the other side, one at the time, this time around, but after that I won't be able to do anything afterwards. However, it is something at least."
The shinobi shared looks. Indeed it wasn't truly much, but right then it was all they could do at the time. It was obvious that they would take the wizard up on the offer of sending off two people first before having him 'vanish' all the stones – whatever that truly meant – and then they would follow as soon as there was room to move.
"I will go!" Anko latched onto the wizard and refused to let go. There was no way that she would be stuck here, waiting and being useless. She had a score to settle with Orochimaru.
"I shall go as well," Gaara said. With his sand he was a deadly fighter and yet his techniques weren't as destructive as other people's. It was an obvious choice. "I shall leave the wizard in charge of the rest of you. Follow as soon as you can." He then turned to the wizard. "Take us across and then stay on the other side and clear the rubble."
"Yes, sir." The wizard nodded and put his hand on Gaara's shoulder. "Hang on, both of you. This will not be pleasant for you two, but whatever you do, do not struggle. Otherwise I might lose concentration and you might lose a limb or two. Just stay still until I say so."
"Just get on with it!" Anko snapped.
The wizard grumbled something about leaving behind her head, but apparated with the two shinobi. Once they appeared on the other side, both Anko and Gaara looked a bit green around the gills but neither one wasted any time complaining about it and instead set off down the corridor and left the wizard to start removing the rocks.
-x-x-x-x-
So much had happened in the past two decades. So many things had changed – so many people had changed for the better and for the worse. What had started with Voldemort and had continued throughout the years at Hogwarts and hard shinobi training and life, was now slowly reaching the beginning of the end. To kill Voldemort they needed to destroy the man's horcruxes, and to get two horcruxes they needed to destroy Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin wasn't going to simply hand over Kusanagi, and as a reward for getting rid of one of the biggest criminals in the history of the shinobi lands the Hokage had long ago promised to give Harry the crystal ball of Rowena Ravenclaw.
It was a good deal all around. The only thing that Harry regretted was that it had taken so much time to get done. Why hadn't he attacked Orochimaru before now? Why hadn't he killed the man years ago? He wasn't sure of his reasons anymore. Perhaps what remained of the Gryffindor inside him had balked at the idea of killing family, or perhaps the green-eyed male had still harboured a small, tiny hope of being recognised as Orochimaru's grandson by the man himself rather than his tool.
These things were childish hopes that he couldn't help. His life with the Dursleys had not been picture perfect, anything but, and the small Harry had often wished for someone to take him away and love him like a real family. He'd been overjoyed when Hagrid showed up and introduced him to the magical world, and had embraced that life with all that he was only to find out that the wizarding world expected something terrible of him in return. By the time Orochimaru had showed up Harry had long since become rather jaded but had never been able to rid himself of the secret childish hopes and dreams.
'I just seem doomed to never have a family,' the green-eyed male thought to himself as he staggered to his feet. 'No, that is incorrect. I have a family. I have Ron and Hermione and the Angsters and Naruto. They are all the family I need.'
Knowing that he would need all his sight and mobility in order to fight Orochimaru and win, Harry removed his cloak and his ANBU mask. He was breaking about a dozen ANBU rules by removing the mask, but right then he was far more worried about winning than people who already knew who he was seeing his face.
'It is time to end this,' he thought as he quickly sent a message to Tonks and to Kimimaro, not caring if he pressed the letters in an incorrect sequence. The important thing was to alert the two. He put the cloak and the mask on the floor slowly in order to make as little noise as possible and alert Orochimaru. He would need every possible advantage against the man after all.
The pale man in question was watching with glee as his two snakes and Cursed Seal-enhanced shinobi were keeping the great Jiraiya and Tsunade constantly on the defensive. The snakes bit and whipped with their tails, but their poison was quickly extracted from wounds by Tsunade and Jiraiya kept deflecting most of the tail-attacks. The seal-users had to be mindful of the snakes and couldn't really get in too close to the two Sannin, but they still bombarded them with kunai and shuriken and senbon and even a few wand-shinobi spells. All in all, it was an effective way of keeping the two former team-mates occupied, and Orochimaru enjoyed it. Now he would have the time to do other things – like take over his traitorous grandson's body or pouring some more of his own power into that handy Imperius-spell that Uchiha Shisui was currently suffering under. Perhaps he could make the boy kill his cousin?
However, when he turned around to look at the other fights, he was met not with the sight of Itachi and Shisui fighting to the death, but with Harry having finally regained full control over his body. Having straightened up fully, the green-eyed male was now glaring narrow-eyed at Orochimaru, hands ready to grab for weapons or perform jutsu, and Orochimaru couldn't help but smirk despite everything.
"Yare, yare, grandson of mine, has it truly come to this? Why do you not back down and come back to me? Stop this foolishness. Your comrades are getting murdered, surely you can see that?"
Harry's only reply was to draw his pair of hidden kunai. Orochimaru had, obviously, removed all other weapons from him, but these two kunai had been hidden under a notice-me-not spell, amongst other things, and had stayed hidden.
"So be it," the Snake Sannin said and attacked.
-x-x-x-x-
That's it for now.
I apologise for the long time it took me to update and for the shortness of the chapter, but please review.
I know you people wanted a grand old battle between Harry and Orochimaru, but I wanted to use the next chapter for that and I needed to use this one to set things up. In other words, I did as Rowling did with books six and seven, though hopefully this wasn't as pointless or as long as hers.
And yes, I know where this is going and how it is ending; it's just the writing in the middle that's a bit difficult! Please be patient! XD
Thanks to:
Adnexus, D-sama, Blazing Fury, riley, Cheese lover Tobi, Darkwill0w, Dragonmage182, Damn writer's block, gfhgjihm, BasicallyAnIdiot, hi, frzntears, dr3am3r06, 2stupid, Draconic Ban-Sidhe, LadyoftheDrow, Morbious20, kirallie, Morrolan, VB, Wolven Spirits, DemonicPride2001, Zetsuki, Chosha Kurenai, Shinigami Clara, Anonymous Sister of the Author, Utena-Puchiko-nyu, Key Shinigami, green ninja93, xRosePetalx, wizardmon92, Ore no Naruto, Fate, godzillahomer, kerricarri, Veve, AceZ-Shadow, momcolady, Lady Serenity, AiSard, Ravus7, arithnocrat, Saetan, Koemi-chan, Sdarian, Z-AKA Andrea-, Luna Moonlight Fawn, LadySerenity0000, sashlea, Tsukuyomi99, SteadyEddy, greivergf, Firedraike08, AnachronisticExistence, Phnxfyr1, HelKat, akuma-chan0326, Barranca, Hellfire000, Red Jeanie, mystickitsune92, Wandering Hitokiri, Merrymow, DD, Ash, Mistical Kat, Haely Potter, Sanaro0, FallenAngel, ChibiSevvi4eva, veloveddaughteroftheking, Mistress Sayu, Ruri Kzalt, Ja-Kitsu-Ryou, ellesra, juniper, Obsessive Child, skyflyte12, Amy, Zeppie, Erisabeisuu, Karasu00, Siamh, killing u with umbrellas, Kurisutina-san, CrazyILady, Talia Gea, darkemoperson, Sonia120462, Wisper, Shadow of Flame, Jewelle2, TsumeHikaru, mydog888, Erendhyl, UchihaKumiko, With a Midnight Smile, Capito Celcior, Loatroll, Triss, a fan, puregarnet, Blue-Huntress, Black Firelight, Little Kunai, CatWriter, shellsboy24, cruailsama, Little Phoenix93, FailGate, and AlexWhiteTiger.