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Namikaze Harry

Introduction

In the distant past the continent had been known to the outside world, but as war spread throughout the other continents of the world a decision had been made to close it off for their own safety, and so first the continent, and later the villages within, were hidden.

Ever since he had learned the truth of the outside world Namikaze Minato had questioned why they had left themselves cut off from everyone else so completely, and one of his earliest acts as Hokage was to send ninja to investigate what had become of the outside world.

These agents had reported a world similar to the hidden continent, with mostly minor differences in technology.

The outside world even had a counterpart to the hidden villages and ninja, even if they called their chakra 'magic' and jutsus 'spells'.

It wasn't long after the spies were established that a war began inside this hidden community, and Minato saw an opportunity.

By offering the villages services to one side of the conflict they could begin to undo their self-imposed isolation and return to the outside world.

As a gesture of respect Minato himself was present at the initial negotiations, before leading his team on missions for the 'Order of the Phoenix' he had decided to back, for lack of a better choice. After all, even if their leader was reluctant to permit lethal force he at least did something (and didn't hate those from outside their world).

In such a situation it was hardly surprising for friendships to spring up between ninjas and wizards, such as the one between him and one James Potter.

When James left the fight to hide with his child, under the warnings of the orders leader, Minato was one of those who cautioned him against his chosen course of action, but his friend wouldn't listen to his warnings.

In the end they reached a compromise. Minato would place a seal to warn him if anyone came to the Hollow with murderous intent and act as a Beacon for him to transport to with his Flying Thunder God technique. If he arrived in time he would help protect them, otherwise he would take James' child in until his godfather could take up his role, in case this Sirius Black was involved in some mission at the time.

After all, the young Potter was only a target for the followers of the so-called 'dark lord', all of whom were wizards and so had no access to the hidden continent. It would make a good hiding place until the child could be returned to the wizarding world to be brought up as their parents wished.

To his great regret the seal was indeed activated, and while he was in a meeting with the villages council. He was unable to get away and use his technique to reach the house until moments before it was torn apart by an explosion.

All Minato could do was follow his friends request and take the child back to the village.

However circumstances prevented him turning the child over to Black, as the government of the wizarding community threw the man into prison without so much as a trial, giving him no chance to prove his innocence.

For a time Minato tried to find a way to force the ministry to hold the trial, but to the wizards the fact that he didn't use a wand meant he had no legal standing. Instead he adopted the child, sharing his name, and slowly closed off communications with the outside world once more, leaving only enough agents to be able to tell if they remembered their own laws.

It was only a short time later that the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox, threatened the village and Minato was forced to seal it within his son, Namikaze Harry.


The child who was a hero

Harry darted from roof to roof, keeping away from the ANBU agents chasing him.

It was years after the attack from the nine-tailed fox that resulted in his fathers death and the third Hokage taking charge of him.

Apparently his father had been the fourth Hokage, and before he sacrificed himself for the village he had told his predecessor, now also successor, that Harry should be known as a hero, leaving everyone treating him the same regardless of how he acted.

It wasn't entirely clear to him how he was supposed to be a hero, which was part of the reason he was trying to get away; the lessons the Sandaime Hokage insisted on him receiving, ahead of his entrance into the academy, were too boring for him to concentrate on, it was a far better use of his time to train himself to become worthy of being called a hero.

Of course being taught chakra control and jutsus so early hardly seemed fair to his future classmates, and that was no way to be a hero.

"Get back here," one of the ANBU agents called, causing Harry to look round with a grin.

"Never," he called, before pretending to miss the next rooftop and slipping into an alley.

In the brief period of breaking sight from the ninja chasing him he removed his iconic orange jacket, reversing it to show the bland, forgettable side few people realised it had.

A quick application of 'disguise supplies' (definitely not makeup, no matter what the Hokage said) and he was unrecognisable. His usually black hair was turned bright yellow, the whisker-like markings he possessed covered and a fake scar drawn on his forehead, just in time for the ninja chasing him to see the broken window in the building and assume he had crashed through.

There was a certain art to disguise that many ninja didn't seem to get. Of course, usually they could just use a jutsu to copy someone else completely, which was a completely different matter.

It wasn't about being recognised as someone he wasn't but rather not being recognised as who he was. This meant a greater focus on removing everything that identified him and instead introducing elements that nobody trying to avoid notice would add to their disguise (it wasn't just because something felt right about having a lightning-bolt scar).

He grinned as he slipped off to resume his pranking, sorry training, enjoying the fact that most members of the ANBU black-ops assumed that his lack of interest in studying meant that he was stupid.

In any case, it was good training for life as a ninja, escaping pursuit and outthinking potential enemies.

Picking out an orange jacket was part of that; who could take a ninja wearing bright orange seriously?

He had most of the day to himself now. Not all of it, he had to let the ANBU ninja believe they caught him legitimately else he would never be able to escape them again. But that still left a number of hours to spend as he wished, before letting his guards spot him at the ramen stand.

He slipped into the street, planning what to do.

It had been a while since he pranked one of the major clans in the village, like the Hyuga or Uchiha. That was always good practise. They provided strong motivation not to be caught after all.

The last prank he pulled on a clan had been the Hyuga, he recalled, and they seemed to be getting better at trying to catch him. And judging by the way he was called in to see the Hokage shortly later they might even have been starting to recognise him.

That left the Uchiha.

From what he'd been taught they enjoyed playing with fire. He had a few ideas for how to help...

[*]

The headmaster of Hogwarts paced his office.

It was nearing the start of term once more, and he used the opportunity to check that the name of Harry Potter was still on the rolls.

It was such a wasteful rule, the one that prevented even the headmaster, even the master of the elder wand, from checking the names. At least he was permitted to scan ahead when it was time to send out acceptance or, in the case of muggle-raised students, recruitment letters.

He suspected that at least one previous headmaster must have possessed the power of the elder wand, given the ability for the rolls to keep up to date without needing adjustment and prevent even him from viewing them until he was sending out the letters.

There had been a brief panic the year after Toms disappearance, when the name 'Harry Potter' was no longer present, but he soon realised that it had merely been altered to 'Namikaze Harry', an Eastern arrangement of names he had former Order members searching for.

The search had continued for years without change.

At least the name on the rolls was still there.

The best bet for preventing Tom taking over was still alive.

[*]

"What's this about?"

Jiraiya, the only one of the legendary sannin to still visit their home village, had answered a summons from the Hokage. It had interrupted his attempts to establish his spy network in all settlements with hot springs.

Nobody would suspect anything about Jiraiya visiting anywhere with a hot spring, so placing information centres there would allow him to manage the spy network without anyone realising anything was up. And it helped with his research.

The Hokage looked at him. "Is that any way to greet your old teacher?" He sighed and shook his head. "The Uchiha district came close to burning down shortly before I sent out the summons."

"Hey, you knew I wasn't here so you can't blame me for them getting what-"

"Your godson was involved."

"Seriously? What kind of jutsu did he use to do that? Or has he tapped into-"

"He 'provided them' with flammable liquids. Says that as they like fire so much, it was the least he could do."

"How bad was it?"

"There are a few responsible members of the clan, so nobody was hurt. They didn't even identify Harry."

"Hah, sounds like a real ninja," Jiraiya responded in delight. "So what did you want me for?"

"You know how I followed the last request my successor, your student, made of me. For his son to be remembered as a hero?"

"I had expected you to hide him by giving him Kushinas name and stop anyone from spreading his identity as cage for the Kyuubi."

The Hokage gave him a familiar look. "I did keep that secret. All they know is that he played a vital part in saving the village. That isn't overly relevant to our discussions though. It just meant that he decided that he needs to become a hero if everyone is going to treat him as one."

"I don't see any problems."

"He refuses to learn any chakra techniques before the academy, instead running away to play pranks on people, to get them to not treat him as a hero until he earns it. I tried telling him about the clans teaching their children, but still doesn't want to start learning early. Doesn't consider it 'heroic'."

"You want me to take charge of him then."

"You are his godfather."

"Fine, where is he?"

"He has lessons right now, so could be anywhere. Good luck."

[*]

Harry checked the time. It wasn't too long before he was due to let the ANBU catch him.

He had been relatively lowkey since being called in to see the Hokage after the Uchiha incident, making sure none of his pranks could be quite so dangerous.

It had never occurred to him that any of his pranks could actually harm anyone before.

He glanced around casually, making sure nobody was going to see him slip into an alley.

He frowned as he spotted a strange, white-haired old man watching him. Fortunately he spotted the guys reflection in a window rather than by looking at the guy and making it obvious he had spotted him.

Judging by the guys forehead protector he was a ninja, but rather than the symbol for one of the hidden villages there was a kanji of some sort. The red haori over his kimono was also unusual.

As he turned to see the man directly, he caught the strangers grinning as he approached.

"It's been a while. Good to see you're observant."

Harry shifted into a taijutsu stance. He wasn't going to take any chances with a weird ninja.

The old man stopped, holding his hands up. "Whoa there, I'm not going to harm you. I'm Jiraiya, your godfather, Harry."

Harry blinked, before glancing around to see if anyone had heard his name. Fortunately it seemed his cover hadn't been blown. "Then why haven't I met you before? How did you recognise me?"

"I have had a number of important duties outside the village," Jiraiya replied. "And as for knowing who you are... there are ANBU and there are ANBU. You gave the first the slip, the second kept watch for your safety. Apparently they don't tend to check in very often," he grumbled. "Between them and Sarutobi-sensei looking after you, I didn't think I was needed."

"Why are you here then?"

"Sarutobi-sensei heard about what you did at the Uchiha compound." Harry tried not to wince. "Yeah, a few more incidents like that, or the one I heard about involving noodles-"

"Hey, ramen is good!"

"Still, a few more such incidents and my role as godfather is in threat. After all, I'm supposed to keep you alive. Well, until you're an adult and can make your own mistakes anyway. I'll even see about-"

"NO, I am not learning techniques before the academy."

"Not even your mothers clans specialty, Fuinjutsu? It isn't covered at the academy, you don't need to learn about chakra to learn about it and as a member of the clan you would be taught it very early, like the Hyuuga learn to use the Byakugan, for example."

"Why are you offering me this?"

"Well, my old sensei wants me to take charge of you properly, and this was about the only thing I could think of to offer you. After all, I tend towards jutsus for disguise purposes. What do you say?"

Harry looked him over carefully. "I'll need to check with the Hokage. I've only your word for who you are."

Jiraiya grinned. "You're cautious. That's good. Too many ninja act first and think later. I'll find you later."

[*]

Harry spent time pondering the offer. He wasn't about to accept without talking with the Hokage, but he wasn't about to break into the old mans office for a chat. He wasn't that much of an idiot.

Then again, it was the duty of all ninja to report suspicious individuals, and the training the old man was trying to force upon him was meant to make him a ninja...

He made a final check that he had removed all of his disguise and started moving.

His life could be about to change.

[*]

"Hey, old man."

The Hokage looked over his paperwork at Harry. Not for the first time he wondered whether he had made the right decision telling the boy not to worry about formalities. Of course, each time he remembered the boys father, and decided to accept what he would have considered disrespect from anyone else.

"What is it, Harry?"

He tried to keep his weariness at his job out of his voice, the boy didn't deserve it after all. Especially considering how little trouble he'd caused since the Uchiha compound incident.

"I saw a ninja with a weird forehead protector earlier. Had some writing on it rather than a village symbol."

"Ah, so Jiraiya sought you out. He is considered a ninja of the village. He is also your godfather."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "I doubt you could have been replaced or manipulated by a genjutsu," he mused, "not with ANBU still around. You called him to take care of me." It was not a question.

The Hokage dipped his head. "Up until now he has been confident in the villages ability to look after you, and has been busy on long term missions. After what happened-"

"You don't need to mention that, I made a mistake I know! I'm not about to do something like that again."

"We have agreed that it is our faults as well. You haven't had a father figure to help you as you grow up. This is what we're offering from Jiraiya. Bear in mind, he will have to finish up his missions still, maybe check in on other settlements for a while. You'll be out of the village-"

"Fine." The sudden agreement interrupted the Hokage, but after a moment he shook his head in amusement.

"I should have realised that what be all it took. I assume you'll try to return only in time to start the academy?"

"Got that right!"

[*]

Despite Harrys optimism, it was still a few days before he and his new guardian left the village.

Fortunately, as far as he was concerned, Jiraiya kept his promise of starting teaching Harry.

He was somewhat disappointed about the way Fuinjutsu seals still required chakra to activate, but it still left him with an idea.

That was the reason for his grin when the two of them walked out of the Konoha village gate.

"Excited to be off? I don't blame you. There's nothing like visiting a place for the first time. Well, time to be off."

They were well away before the first of the seals he left behind was activated...


AN: Here is the start of a second story I started planning. I will continue this as a second story, rather than my main one, which will be updated more 'regularly'. Much of this was written before the last chapter of my other story, but I haven't had much time to work on writing, hence the delay before either being released. We will see whether I complete the story in one go or split it into books. As such, I may need to increase the age rating at some point.