Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto
Summary: Voldemort is defeated but everyone Harry loved has died as well. When Harry is transported to the Hidden Leaf Village, he lives on, but soon he will discover he is fated to be drawn to another mass murderer – Uchiha Itachi. HP Naruto Crossover.
Warning: This story will contain spoilers from Naruto and Harry Potter so if you don't like spoilers don't read this story. Also, some facts may be different from the original plot and characters might behave differently from their original natures but that is how I need them in order to write my fanfic so again if you don't like it refrain from reading it. The genre is Drama/Hurt/Comfort, Harry is emotionally hurt. In this fic, Harry may behave emotional and depressed (but not throughout entire storyline) so think carefully before you write something to you don't like my fic please read something else but if you have constructive criticism for me do go ahead and enlighten me. Lastly, there might be some future violence or coarse language. You have been warned!
Chapter 5: Before the Storm…
"They say that the eyes are the windows to your soul. Then what will you see in the eyes of a murderer, the eyes of one whose soul has been shattered?"
Harry was tired but he couldn't fall back sleep again after yet another nightmare. He knew it was past midnight so he grabbed his new glasses and quietly walked out of his room taking care not to wake other occupants of the house. He strolled into the garden, seated himself under the maple tree, and stared at the night sky. The tranquility and darkness of the night was an opportunity for his past to creep up on him. All Harry could do was sigh at the memory.
Ron and Hermione had been pretending to be his friends at first on Dumbledore's orders. The two fought by his side and helped him with whatever obstacles came. It was heart stabbing to know that they'd considered him a monster, however, Ron and Hermione's view of Harry started to change, little by little over time, to a more positive one. Then Harry met Remus who cared about him and knew about Harry's parents, who he hadn't had a chance to know.
He'd also met Sirius who'd truly loved and cared about him and was actually innocent of the horrible crimes that the world accused him of. During his next year at Hogwarts, Harry soon made another friend named Cedric Diggory. Although there were not many, by then Harry had a few people who loved and liked him, but the happiness didn't last. Cedric had died saving Harry from killing curse and Sirius followed not long after by falling into the veil.
After Sirius' death, Harry had tried to destroy the veil that had caused his godfather's death. He never succeeded in his revenge as he met the creatures that reminded him of Dementors. However, Harry soon discovered they were anything but the accursed entities.
"Please, do not destroy the veil, blessed child of Slytherin." The creatures called themselves Reapers and after they realized they couldn't stop Harry, they pleaded with him to not destroy the veil.
The Reapers had told Harry that the veil was a border between the living world and the land of dead; the veil was therefore needed so that the Reapers could cross into the living world in order to retrieve and guide the dead or lost souls to the next realm. Even though Sirius still had a long life ahead of him, he couldn't be revived because his physical being had also crossed into the land of the dead.
"What do you mean by blessed child of Slytherin?" Harry could still remember himself asking that question to the Reapers who in return presented him a shocking revelation. He was one of the two remaining descendants of Salazar Slytherin and the Reapers promised to do Harry a favor once he claimed his heritage.
Harry found out that Voldemort also had been a prophesized child when he was young. Tom chose to save the people he loved instead of saving the thousands of lives of people he didn't know. That decision was the reason why everyone abandoned him. The treachery Tom had experienced played a key role in driving Tom into a madness of hate and bloodlust. Harry felt sympathy towards Tom, but Harry had loved ones to protect and he continued to fight against Voldemort.
However, soon Harry was forced to make a decision like Tom once had been, and from what he had learned of Tom's past, Harry chose to save the innocent masses and sacrifice a few people he loved. The war got more intense then one day Hermione was found dead. Her bloody body was lying on a grass along with her parent's beaten corpses and their faces were mangled to the point where they were unrecognizable. Despite the condition Granger family was found Harry recognized Hermione from the vision of her last desperate breath forever engraved in his memory.
"Oh, Harry. Why her! I loved her! I still love her!" Ron cried his heart out on Harry's shoulder while he confessed to Harry how much he loved her. He had made Harry promise not to forget Hermione for she'd really cared for Harry or he wouldn't ever forgive Harry.
Harry saw her being tortured to reveal his whereabouts in his vision but she had remained silent, knowing that her action or inaction would bring demise of her and her parents. She'd died protecting Harry. Then not long after Hermione's death, Ginny also had been killed and Ron went missing soon after Ginny's funeral.
The war had continued to grow more violent and the casualties piled up while the Ministry did nothing but watch. Harry was severely injured a few times as well, and Dumbledore came to visit often to be the young boy's companion, knowing how Harry now had only very few loved ones left and those people were unable to be at Harry's side.
When Harry's injuries had healed they both went on a Horcrux hunt, however, only Harry came back alive. Dumbledore had died protecting Harry from Voldemort like so many others Harry had loved. Why had Dumbledore protected him? Wasn't Headmaster using Harry as a mere weapon to defeat dark lord? The elderly man had even said so himself to the potions master during the private discussions.
"I love all the children of this school, Severus. They are my treasures. But Harry is only one I cannot dare to love."
Fawkes had shown Harry their conversation through their link thus the headmaster's action couldn't have come from act of love. Did Dumbledore wanted to kill Voldemort that much? Even if it meant sacrificing his life for Harry? Then Harry would fulfill the wish for he still loved the headmaster dearly.
After Dumbledore's death, the Ministry closed down Hogwarts. There were many protests arguing that the children were safe at the school but it was a fruitless effort. Before long, Hogwarts had been taken down by Voldemort and his followers, leaving devastation in people's hearts. Even so the Order and other people who opposed the Dark Lord didn't give up and retaliated resulting many casualties on both sides. Remus was one of those never to return victims that day by saving Harry.
During his last stand off with Voldemort, Harry had found Ron wearing the Death Eaters' outfit.
"Ron?!" Dread filled in Harry's soul as he watched his best friend pointed the wand to him and mutter one hate filled word.
"Die!"
The Dark Lord, with amusement, watched Harry fight against his friend while pleading with Ron to stop.
"Please Ron! Stop it! I don't want to fight you!" Harry begged yet the pleas all seemed to be in vain.
"It's your fault that Hermione died! If she hadn't known you, she would be alive!"
Ron blamed Harry for the death of Hermione and her family. Harry didn't deny the accusation but still pleaded with his friend to stop. When Harry was about to give up from despair brought by betrayal, the event took an unexpected turn as Ron suddenly attacked his supposed master.
Ron had managed to cause Voldemort some serious injuries thanks to the element of surprise, but he was no match for the Dark Lord. Although confused by the sudden proceedings, Harry jumped in to rescue his friend, but before Harry could reach Ron, the youngest son of the Weasley family had been killed. Sadly, Harry didn't have the time to mourn Ron as the struggle continued. When Harry, at long last, had won the intense fight against Voldemort, it seemed as if he'd moved away from the rest of the battle. Try as he might, he couldn't find a single person alive anywhere, but that isolation didn't last long as Fawkes came and the legendary bird's flame engulfed him.
"No!" Harry panted. He couldn't tell whether it was a flashback or another nightmare he'd experienced but the sky seemed a little brighter than before giving Harry little sense of relief that this silent darkness will soon be over. Then someone called his name.
"Hari?"
Surprised by an unexpected presence, Harry jumped up and hid himself behind the tree he'd been resting against moments ago.
"It's me, Asuma. Are you alright?" Harry heard someone's worry filled voice and quickly something clicked into Harry. That's right. He was in the Leaf Village.
"Yes. I'm okay. Did I wake you again? I am sorry about that." Harry came out from his hiding place as he replied. Asuma watched Harry as his mind lingered on the teen's action of taking cover before asking again.
"Did you have another nightmare?" Asuma walked toward Harry, who avoided eye contact at the older man's words and mumbled in reply.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?" Asuma raised an eyebrow at the answer.
"I don't remember anymore." It wasn't a complete lie since Harry didn't know whether he'd had a nightmare or a flashback. Asuma looked at Harry skeptically but decided not to press him on. They had this discussion before and his experience alerted that the teen wasn't going to say anymore.
"I'm okay. Really. You can go back to sleep now." Harry felt terrible for waking Asuma up. The man had work to do and needed his sleep, which he wasn't getting recently due to the new member of the household. Harry was worried when Asuma finally would become angry with him and act like uncle Vernon; punishing him for disturbing him. However, as if to contradict Harry's theory, Asuma chirped cheerfully.
"That's okay. It is about 4:30am and I have to meet my team at 6:00am at the training grounds. Might as well wake up now and eat my breakfast."
Well, Asuma was supposed to meet his team not until 8:00am, but the boy didn't need to know that. The older man decided to just go out early and train before meeting his team.
"I truly am sorry." Harry continued to apologize because he didn't know what else to say in this kind of situation.
"I told you it's okay. How about this then, if you are that worried that you ruined my beauty sleep then maybe you can make me that eggy bread for breakfast. I really enjoy that with honey!" Asuma gave Harry a goofy smile and motioned Harry back to the house before pulling his cigarette out.
Smile crept up on Harry's face in relief. About a little more than a month has passed since Harry had arrived in the Leaf Village and a lot had happened, not only to Harry but to Sarutobi's family as well. Housework had become Harry's responsibility because it seemed other members of the house didn't know how to properly accomplish it. Harry hated being untidy, so not long after his arrival he'd cleaned up the entire house and during his cleaning spree, he found some crystals that seemed to be good medium to channel his magic. When he asked about Asuma what it was, the older man said that the crystals were special gems that were able to absorb and conduct chakra, but no one used them at the moment because unlike chakra absorbing metals, the crystals really weren't suitable to be forged as weapons.
Asuma had told Harry he could keep one if he wanted to. Harry kept the crystal and transfigured it to two crystal rings putting it on his both index fingers. Given that he didn't have any wand, he needed some kind of replacement in case he needed to use magic. Sadly, the rings were far more difficult to control his power than his wand but it was still better than not having one at all. Wandless magic wasn't easy and in order for him to safely practice, Harry needed something to support his magic and the crystal was a suitable object.
Asuma wasn't a good cook and preferred to eat out rather than cook his own meal. Harry disapproved of the older man's habit of buying almost every meal arguing that it wasn't good for Konohamaru, his new nephew, so Harry had taken on the cooking as well. It took him some time to get used to new kitchen appliances, different ingredients, and foods but it all worked out in the end. Konohamaru and Asuma both enjoyed Harry's cooking that consisted of foods from Harry's world. However, Asuma still took them out at least once a week to eat outside so Harry could experience cuisine of his new home.
Harry was slowly getting a grasp of this world's food, not to mention that he was getting much better at using chopsticks than when he'd first tried them. Asuma had been quite astonished to learn that Harry didn't know how to use chopsticks and wondered where the kid had lived all his life. It was worrisome, but at same, amusing to watch 17 year-old teen, who really looked more like 14, struggling through chopsticks to eat while leaving a mess worse than his 9 year-old nephew.
Although Harry was still new at cooking the food of this world, Konohamaru told him his cooking was the greatest which made Harry very happy. Konohamaru loved Harry and welcomed him to the new family with all his heart. Harry realized how the lack of an adult's attention made the little boy feel, from his own experience in the matter. He cared for Konohamaru as best as he could to give the child the happy childhood he, himself, hadn't had.
"Okay, I will make what you requested but please refrain from smoking in the house. It is bad for Konohamaru's health, as well as Shikamaru-kun when he comes to play shogi with you." And with that comment Harry snatched the cancer stick away from Asuma's hand.
"Awww." In a way, Asuma hated Harry's no smoking in the house and presence of children policy more than Harry's nightmares, which kept waking him up at night.
When Asuma was informed about the situation at first, he had to seriously consider putting his father in a care home for the rest of his remaining life. What kind of hidden village leader adopts a very suspicious stranger who appeared from a burning shrine in a heavily guarded district in a heavily protected Hidden Village? All the while hiding and lying about the facts to his councilors and rest of the villagers? Asuma had tried to argue, but how was he supposed to win an argument that two influential veteran doctors plus Morino Ibiki combined with rest of the Hokage's most trusted ANBU teams had lost? Thus he reluctantly accepted the situation and had resolved to keep a watchful eye on the boy.
So far, he'd noticed that the teen obviously had had in some kind of training in being aware of his surroundings. The way the newcomer walked and tensed at small things also indicated he had been in some kind of battle related training or situations. In Asuma's opinion, the boy was better than a regular civilian, but he was too sloppy to be a ninja. The teen also seemed to be hesitant when it came to deciding something for himself. Worst of all, Asuma thought that the mystery guest seemed to be tired of life, just like the Hokage had mentioned. Great! He knew another kid, although that kid wasn't tired enough to give up his life, who found life troublesome. Just his luck!
The day after his adoption became official, Harry had to go and meet village council and clan leaders. Everyone strongly suggested Harry to learn how to read and write, proper etiquette and achieve basic senior education level since it was imortant that the Hokage's son, though adopted, knew how to read and write. Harry didn't like the first impression he'd made on others, but thought he could live with it, plus he liked the opportunity to learn about the new world.
When that hours-long meeting had ended, Asuma took Harry out to shop for his new glasses along with other necessities and to give Harry a tour of the village. During this tour, Harry met Asuma's students: Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru. Ino was a cheerful girl and told Harry to drop by her family's flower shop if he needed any flowers or plants. Harry thought the boy named Choji could benefit from a diet, though he wasn't as bad as Dudley. Shikamaru, seemed to be the most unenthusiastic person Harry'd ever met. Asuma informed Harry that he would be seeing Shikamaru at the house often since the lazy boy comes to play shogi and go with him. Harry had no idea of what kind of game or sport they were, but it sounded nice.
Asuma had to do a lot of explanation to make Harry understand that it was normal for some children to jump from the ground onto the branches of the trees as though gravity was optional. Harry'd seen this when Konohamaru was playing a tag with his friends. It took a long time for Harry to understand the fact that children, who seemed to be 10 years or younger, were learning to throw dangerously sharp objects at the academy.
Asuma became more and more puzzled by the mystery teen's weird behaviour. He also had to enlighten Harry as to what shogi and go were. And Asuma'd thought Konohamaru was tiring. Nonetheless, the older man thought that this was also a good opportunity for him to get a glimpse of the environment the newcomer had lived in.
Tutors set up by Sarutobi came to the house every day except weekends so that Harry could learn reading, writing, etiquette and various other things he was required to know. Harry was a fast leaner and even Harry's instructors were surprised at the speed Harry was gaining knowledge.
It still amazed Harry that he was speaking a different language with no trouble when he had never learned it before. Nevertheless, that helped him greatly when learning writing since Japanese and English had so much difference in verb tenses. Unluckily, reading kanji proved to be a challenge for Harry, not because he could not memorize the kanji but because he could not read the calligraphy. Harry had no trouble reading books but he had trouble reading hand written characters because everyone had little different way or style of writing varying from a standard form Harry learned. He was taught the usage of san, kun, sama, dono, and chan since he needed to address people properly as the Hokage's son.
Harry went to the hospital weekly to allow either Kazuki or Kaede could perform some mystery tests on him. Even though he didn't like being a guinea pig, he knew that nothing bad would be done to him, intentionally at least. On Kaede's recommendation, Harry started to spend some time with Ibiki. Sometimes Harry felt like he was being treated like a mental patient, but mostly he enjoyed the company of Ibiki. The man looked intimidating but his presence was comforting unless you got on his bad side. All in all, life had been good to Harry for this past month.
As Harry returned from his grocery shopping, he'd been enjoying himself all afternoon, he couldn't suppress his laughter as he saw a box with two holes stalking a certain blond boy.
'So that's what Konohamaru had been working on this morning.' Harry thought.
Harry had asked what Konohamaru and his friends were doing with the box earlier in the morning only to be told by children 'it's a top secret' and that they couldn't reveal it to Harry. He knew it was nothing more than the children's teasing games but Harry still felt little estranged from Konohamaru. He tried to shake off the feeling as he smiled and told them to show him what they were making later.
Harry thought the children were adorable while they followed the blond boy. He couldn't hear the exchange between Konohamaru and the other child but still smiled at the playful scene before him only to be amazed by the pink haired girl's sudden punch that landed on the orange-clad kid. Harry wasn't sure that he should be surprised at the sheer power of the girl's punch or the pre-teen who had been sent through a wooden fence only to stand up with hardly a scratch on him. How had he even survived? The punch seemed brutal!
Not long after having hit the blond, the pink haired girl gave Konohamaru a fine whack on his head for calling her something. By the time Harry caught up on recent events, Konohamaru and the rest of children were running for their lives away from the pink haired menace; apparently Konohamaru hadn't learn his lesson from the earlier smack. Harry sighed and shook his head, thinking that he'd better teach Konohamaru how to properly treat girls.
Harry headed towards where the kids ran off to take his new nephew home for lunch. Maybe he'd invite Konohamaru's friends for lunch as well. Then out of the blue, Harry heard Konohamaru's yelp and someone calling out the child's name. Harry's eyes widened in surprise and ran off to the source of sound to find Konohamaru in the clutch of a black clothed teen, who appeared ready to punch the child, and blond boy yelling at the teen to let go. Konohamaru's friends and pink haired girl seemed to be frozen on the spot and the blond haired girl Harry didn't recognize from before stood by the teen who was holding Konohamaru hostage.
"I would appreciate it if you put down my nephew safely on the ground." Everyone stared at Harry for his abrupt intrusion.
"Uncle!" Konohamaru choked out the words.
"And who are you?" The captor asked.
Kankuro was a tad bit annoyed by the interruption. He was about to show the little kid a lesson of a lifetime until someone had an audacity to stop him. The new comer who looked to be around his age did not have any forehead protector on him. Was the teen a civilian?
"I'm the uncle of the child you're currently holding." Harry answered in a composed voice.
"I know that thanks to this twerp. Who are you?" Kankuro barked back.
"I am the boy's uncle. Now if you excuse me I am going to take my nephew home for a lunch." Threat was evident in Harry's tone while he calmly walked towards Konohamaru's assailant.
"Sure, but only after," And soon Kankuro made a move to punch the small boy again but Harry quickly flicked his wrist. He took care to be unnoticed by bystanders and used langlock and a silencio.
"I teach this midget a-." Kankuro's fist stopped in midair as he lost his voice abruptly forbidding from finishing his sentence.
Kankuro's eyes widened in shock and bewilderment. He couldn't make a sound and the worst thing was his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. While Kankuro was overwhelmed by confusion and panic, Harry took that opportunity to free Konohamaru from the captor's loosened clutches. As Harry walked away with his nephew, Harry quickly flicked his wrist again away from other's sight to release the spells.
"Let's go home for lunch. I will make you some spaghetti." Harry chirped to the stupefied little child who has just been rescued and then turned to Konohamaru's friends.
"Would you guys also like to join us?"
"Umm sure?" Naruto answered uncertainly, not sure what to make of this sudden turn of event.
"Oh no you don't, you're not going anywhere." Kankuro was furious. He wasn't sure what had just happened to him and he was determined to take his anger out on the young boy who somehow managed to escape him. Kankuro came stomping towards Harry and Konohamaru but just as Kankuro tried to reach for Konohamaru a rock came flying at high speed to hit Kankuro's wrist.
"What do you think you are doing in our village?" Said a voice from a nearby tree. Harry turned his head to find an ebony haired boy sitting on tree branch while his left hand played tossing rocks.
"Aghh, another brat to piss me off." Kankuro growled as he held on to his offended wrist.
"Sasuke!" Harry winced at the pink haired girl's high-pitched scream. Well, now he wouldn't forget the savior's name.
Harry looked back and forth between the newcomer and Kankuro while they bickered with each other. Then swiftly, Kankuro pulled some kind of mummy like figure from his back and whatever it was, Harry didn't want to know. By the look of the situation, a fight was about to break out. Harry didn't think it was good idea to get involved in fights.
"Kankuro, stop it. You are an embarrassment to our village." Everyone at the scene was startled at the calm but haunting voice. Kankuro looked nervously at the boy who was standing upside down from the tree, in Harry's bewilderment, and stuttered the intruder's name.
"Ga, Gaara."
Harry watched Gaara feeling something akin to uneasiness in his gut. Harry knew this feeling but dismissed it telling himself that he was just paranoid.
"I can't believe that you are losing yourself in a fight. How pathetic. What do you think we are doing here?" Gaara asked nonchalantly.
"Listen Gaara, they're the ones who bumped into me first." Kankuro said pointing accusing fingers at the children still nearby.
"Shut up. I will kill you." Harry's breath hitched briefly at the redhead's words. Harry didn't like how things were going now. He'd wished to never again in his life to hear 'I will kill you'. Harry noticed the blond girl who had been standing nearby from the beginning of the confrontation and the black clad teen apologizing to the red head and realized these two were afraid of this newcomer.
"Hey, sorry about that." With that apology, Gaara appeared between his two companions with what seemed like a gust of wind and smoke. Harry was relieved to know that trio was about to leave but his relief was short lived as the pink haired girl called out to stop them.
"Wait!" Sakura shouted urgently.
"What?" Gaara asked, slightly annoyed.
"By the look of your hitai-ate, you guys are Sand Village's shinobi, right? Although we are allies, unauthorized entrance by foreign shinobi is being strictly forbidden by the treaty. State your purpose or I can't allow you to pass here." Sakura announced in a determined voice.
"Hn, so this is what they call clueless. You really don't know anything, do you? Here's my pass." Temari seemed to be amused at the situation and flashed her pass.
"Like you said, we are genin of the Sand Village. We are here to take the Chuunin Selection Exam." Temari continued her explanation then she went on to enlighten Naruto about what Chuunin exam was at the boy's question of what the Chuunin exam was.
Unfortunately, that was the least of Harry's concern at the moment because while the blond haired girl was giving a lecture, Gaara was having a stare contest with him. Harry didn't dare breaking the eye contact, feeling as if he was going to be murdered as soon as he broke the stare with the redhead. Harry didn't like the way Gaara was looking at him. It was as though the boy was trying to read his mind, but thankfully, this stare contest ended when Sasuke appeared in front of Harry diverting Gaara's attention.
"Hey! You over there what is your name?" Sasuke inquired. Gaara was silently eyeing Sasuke for a moment before he answered.
"Gaara of the Desert. I'm interested in you, also. Your name?"
"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke replied proudly.
"What about you?" Gaara asked staring at Harry again startling Harry.
"Hari. Sarutobi Hari." Harry answered swallowing the lump in his neck. Harry didn't like Gaara's presence and wanted to stay away from him.
"So you're the adopted son." Gaara narrowed his eyes as to analyze him.
"Pardon?" Harry asked at the unexpected statement that Gaara had made.
"How are you different?" Gaara asked him not breaking the gaze.
Gaara wondered what was so different about this boy named Hari that Hokage himself adopted the teen as his own son, while the Kazekage wanted to eliminate his own biological son. From what he heard, the adopted son wasn't even a shinobi, but if so what use was the boy? What was the difference between him and this useless boy?
"Pardon me?" Harry wasn't sure what Gaara was asking.
"What's so special about you?" Gaara's voice got dangerous.
"What do you mean?" Harry was starting to get afraid. Not only the redhead held the eye of the murderer but also something more dangerous was hiding there.
"What makes you so special that Hokage himself adopted you?" Gaara was showing his killing intent now to Harry making the young wizard step back in fear. Panic was filling inside Harry's mind.
"Nothing!" Harry yelled hastily. He broke the eye contact and found the ground was the next interesting thing to observe.
"I just had nowhere else to go." Harry added weakly while still staring at the ground.
"Is that the reason your eyes hold so much loneliness?" Gaara asked.
"What?" Harry was shocked at surprising inquiry. Loneliness? Was he lonely here? No, he had new family and Konohamaru, right? Was he lonely? Since he arrived here he has always felt something missing within him, as though a huge chunk of his soul has been stolen away. While Harry was pondering Gaara interrupted his thought.
"Your eyes are similar to mine but still different."
Harry watched Gaara terrified. His breath was little labored unknown to him.
"Why aren't you seeking power? Why don't your eyes hold hatred?" Gaara asked.
"Have you finally killed the one who put you through the hell called loneliness?" Gaara continued to press Harry.
"Stop it!" Harry was shaking now.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes and gaped at Hokage's adopted son. It seemed that the sand-nin had struck the right cord. Whatever this loneliness Hari has experienced, it seemed that the man had killed the one responsible for causing such a pain. From the story people told, the Hokage's son came from an isolated village, and that he was the sole survivor of the massacre just like Sasuke himself, but no one mentioned anything about Hari killing someone. Did Hari kill someone who is responsible for the village's massacre?
"Uncle Hari?" Konohamaru called out with hesitation since he has never seen his new uncle behaving like this. Harry found his courage to speak again and looked at Gaara.
"I'm just a civilian. There's nothing special about me." Harry replied in a trembling voice. Gaara glared at Harry for one last time before turning around to take his leave.
"Let's go." With that order, the two other sand nins followed Gaara.
Everyone watched Harry while he took few shaky breaths.
"Uncle Hari? Are you okay?" Konohamaru's worry filled voice was heard once more.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay. Everything's fine. Let's go home and have lunch." Harry snapped out of his daze but before he moved, he turned around to face the other children.
"Would you guys like to join us?" Harry extended his invitation again.
"Sure?" Naruto answered uncertainly for a second time since he had already answered the question before.
As he led Konohamaru away from the site, he could hear voices, however, Harry couldn't distinguish if it was originating from the children he was with or if it was ghosts from the past haunting him. Harry wanted to get away. How did that redhead boy know about what Harry felt and did?
"Uncle Hari, we passed the door." Konohamaru tugged Harry's shirt to save him from his torture and Harry realized that he just passed the entrance to his new residence.
"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Harry smiled apologetically and went inside the house.
"Thank you for inviting us." Sakura politely started the conversation to lighten the mood.
"No, thank you for accepting my invitation. My name is Sarutobi Hari. Also, thank you for helping Konohamaru." Harry smiled back at Sasuke and his teammates but Konohamaru cut in and differed the idea reminding Naruto how his rescue attempt before Harry and Sasuke arrived failed miserably.
"Naruto-niisan couldn't do anything! He sucks!"
"Hey! I can take on that guy too!" Naruto barked back defending his pride.
"Ahh, so you are the Naruto-niisan I heard so much about from Konohamaru. Nice to meet you." Harry extended his hand to Naruto which the blond accepted and shook. Naruto then introduced himself to Harry.
"Hi, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you Hari-san…"
But something seemed to linger on Naruto's mind as he studied Harry from head to toe before finally asking,
"Ummm, you are a guy right?"
"Yes." Harry answerd irritably. He dreaded whatever was to follow that question.
"You have a girl's name!" Naruto shouted as though he had just made the discovery of the century.
Harry's eyebrows twiched as he thanked Naruto in his mind for the announcement.
'Thanks. You didn't have to say that out loud for whole world to know.'
"Don't insult uncle Hari!" Konohamaru jumped into Harry's defense.
"I am not insulting him! It's just that his name is a girl's name!" Naruto was still oblivious of Harry's irritated expression.
Harry was getting annoyed at this routine. He's going to have some revenge on that old coot one day. Harry could still remember that mischievous glee the old Hokage held when Harry confronted him about his new girlish name after being commented by one of the councilors. The old man's explanation was that Hari was pronounced closest to Harry while it sounded not so foreign.
"If you did not realize it, you are still within my hearing range. I can still hear you." Sakura quickly caught on to Harry's mood and elbowed at her teammate to shut him up.
"Naruto! Don't be rude!"
"Ouch! Umm… hehe… sorry. Sorry for being rude Hari-san." Naruto gave Harry a goofy smile and made his sincere apology.
"My name is Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you Hari-san. I'm sorry our teammate doesn't have any manners." Sakura offered her hand at Harry who smiled and shook her hand back.
"Uchiha Sasuke. So you really are Hokage-sama's adopted son?" Sasuke asked coolly.
"Yes I am." Harry answered.
"Where are you from?" Others listened in to Sasuke's question given that they were also curious about their Hokage's new son.
"It doesn't matter now. The place I lived is gone." Harry replies as he sat on the porch and took off his shoes.
"What do you mean it's gone?" Sasuke wasn't satisfied with information he had received from the young wizard.
"It was destroyed." Harry said in quick but clear voice.
"Oh, I am sorry to hear that. What about your family and friends?" Sakura asked, feeling terrible at Harry's loss.
"My family and friends were all killed. I will prepare lunch." Everyone was silent for a moment as Harry headed for the kitchen to avoid further questioning. He knew the children were just curious but he did not want to talk about his past.
While Harry prepared for lunch, he didn't notice the long scrutinizing stare from the young Uchiha. Harry was too preoccupied with a feeling of great storm heading his way. There was the same uneasiness as when he was in the wizarding world. His instincts were telling him that there was a threat to the village. Harry hoped that he was wrong about this feeling because he wasn't sure he could survive another big storm.