Disclaimer: I do not own either series; they belong to their creators.

Summary: An overused plot with a twist: Join us as Naruto discovers his lost family in the world of wizards, wherein discovery of being from the Elemental Lands could mean experimentation and death. The careful game of manipulation and deceit begins as ninja infiltrate the wizarding world, only to find out what home really means.

A/N: This fic started as a side project while I was working on a rather angsty Nartuo/HP crossover that I have since abandoned. This fic takes an overdone and sometimes weakly conceived plot and tries to make it something different. These revisions are attempts to smooth over inconsistencies that a fic being written piece by piece over a decade inevitably has. This fic will focus on friendship and family—be that found or otherwise. Enjoy ~ love DC 2/13/2021

Prologue

1976

A large black shape bounded from one shadow to the next as it made its way from a towering castle and toward an approaching tree line. The wane light from the stars and moon elongated the shadows cast by these places and virtually swathed the wide grassy field between the two locations in a deep darkness. However, these night shadows did not span the complete distance between castle and forest, so (for a brief moment) the dark shape moved through unimpeded moonlight and was revealed to be a large dog.

This animal ran at a great speed and seemingly melted into a blur as it made its way toward the looming forest. The large dog only slowed its run once it was safe within the trees, from there the beast began to causally smell the world around it. In moments, the creature caught the smell it was looking for and shot off deeper into the dense and towering forest.

Within a few minutes, the creature came to a halt before two figures. A young woman had her arms folded under her bust while her wide green eyes were narrowed at the large dog. Her dark red bangs were clipped to the side while the rest of her hair hung like a long sheet down her back and ended at her hips. A young man had his hands shoved into his pocket while he rested the majority of his weight on his right leg and hip. His black hair was a wild nest that shot out at the back while the front seemed to frame his pale yet aristocratic face.

"About time, Nara" the male drawled. His onyx eyes were narrowed slightly at the dog, whereas the woman huffed in impatience.

The dog's glowing eyes looked as if they rolled in its sockets before the dog's body began to shift into that of a young man. His hair was dark and curtained his pointed face in waves while his grey eyes had a playful gleam to them.

"You try escaping that rat and wolf," the dog-turned-man, known as Nara, mimicked the other's tone while he rolled his head from one side to the other.

"If I can escape Potter in time to make it to our meetings, then so should you," the red-haired woman grumbled while she took the newcomer's hand roughly. The woman shoved his sleeve up to reveal a small tattoo on the inner part of his wrist. With a sigh, the red head moved her hands together in various forms before touching the small tattoo.

After the touch, Nara's hair lightened to a deep brown and the youth quickly pulled his hair into a high ponytail, which consequently made his head look like a pineapple. His grey eyes were now a brown hazel, but other than a lowering of his cheekbone, the man remained the same.

"Yes Uzumaki, ma'am," Nara said with a mock salute. The red head deftly punched Nara in the arm for his sarcasm before whirling on the other male.

"Did it work then, calling me a mood-blood?" Uzumaki snapped; her shining green eyes were narrowed in frustration and anger at the raven-haired male.

"Yes, it did, Uzumaki," he replied glibly. He then turned to other male. "Oh, Nara, your Regulus is a Death Eater," he announced casually. Uzumaki raised a fine red eyebrow at the information, while Nara shook his head and mumbled "troublesome."

"Thanks, Uchiha," the brunette sighed while he leaned back against one of the nearby trees with his hands shoved in his pockets. "Are you ready to see what this life debt thing is about?"

"I suppose." The man identified as Uchiha paused for a moment before narrowing his ebony eyes on the casual dog-man. "Are you certain Potter will get me out in time, we can't blow our cover."

"If not, I'll catch the wolf in my shadow possession, which will give you time to pretend you cast a petrificus totalus and get the hell out of Iwa," the Nara explained as if the act of talking was a chore.

"But I wouldn't worry. Potter is a Gyrffindor through and through. He'll jump into battle without a plan. Speaking of which, how the hell again are you in Gryffindor again?" Uzumaki asked the brunette in teasing manner. Her amused expression was mimicked by the Uchiha who had now shifted his weight to the left side.

The brunette made an annoyed noise at the back of his throat that came off as a growl. "Like I've told you, I always took after my father! He was more hotheaded than our mother," he said the last bit with a shrug and looked away from them.

"Uh-huh…" Uzumaki drawled. "So, you're a Gryffindor but not a Nara, got it."

"Oi!" the brunette cried indignantly as he pushed himself off of the tree. "Just 'cause I didn't take after my mum doesn't make me not a Nara, you troublesome woman!"

The other two refrained from laughing at the brunette while giving him a pointed look. The Nara blushed and crossed his arms over his chest moodily but was already calming down and leaning against the tree again.

"Would your mother appreciate you calling women troublesome?" the Uzumaki teased again.

The Nara scoffed before responding. "She's the one Shikaku and I picked the 'troublesome' tick up from."

"Is that the only thing you have in common with her?" the Uchiha prodded this time.

"Of course not. I also picked up her laidback attitude," the brunette said with a shrug.

"So, your mother's a Nara," the redhead and raven-haired youths stated in unison.

A light ignited behind the brunette's calm hazel eyes, and the youth pushed himself off of the tree with his lips pulled back in a snarl. "Are you implying something about my clan?"

"Even Ame knows the Nara clan is full of lazy geniuses who would rather play Go all day than get in a fight," the Uchiha replied in an even drawl with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Coming from the prodigal son of traitors! Gods, you even look like Madara," the Nara spat the words out while his face was scrunched up in disdain.

The Uchiha's ebony eyes flashed red for a moment before both he and Nara found themselves planted in the forest floor with lumps on their heads.

"Next time, I'm using my chains and tying you two together," she exclaimed. The red-haired girl flipped her hair over her shoulder and frowned at the males now rising to their hands and knees before righting themselves.

"Teasing is all well and good, but we can't have in-fighting," she reminded the males. "Besides, we need to write up our report of what we've learned about this place so far. Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuuga sent me their report last week and I just got Akemichi and Yamanka's report today,"

"Wait, what about Hatake?" the Uchiha asked while still nursing his head. His eyes were slightly narrowed in what might have been concern. The Nara's face was drawn and his muscles were tense.

The red-haired teen sighed before sitting down on the mossy ground to withdraw two scrolls from her pocket. "Akemichi-Hatake-Yamanka were compromised by a powerful legilimens in the rainforest. Hatake sacrificed herself to help her teammates flee northward into America. Those wizards down there were going to experiment on them, according to the report. They had to activate the self-destruct seal on Hatake," the Uzumaki explained somberly. The two dark haired males grimaced and shook their heads.

"At least the White Fang will be with his sister again," Uchiha whispered while he sunk to the ground. Nara remained standing with his jaw tightly clenched.

"What were they able to gather about the South American wizards before they were compromised?" Uchiha's dark eyes flickered to his talking teammate before focusing back on Uzumaki.

"Those wizards taught them about potions and poison the most; they also have some of the most powerful mediums and fortunetellers, and legilimens…" Uzumaki trailed off for a moment, but, when she spoke next, her green eyes were burning with determination. "While they were compromised, their research is invaluable. They discovered that the wizards in South America had learned to speak to animals mentally and control them. Our village could use this and increase our spy-networks."

"There's more, though, isn't there?" the Nara asked with his hands clenched at his sides.

The Uzumaki shut her eyes and nodded. "Yes." She paused a moment before continuing, "To make matters worse, the American wizards were informed about Akemichi and Yamanka's escape from the South America and will be looking for them now."

The two males made noises at the back of their throats; Nara's growl was similar to that of an animal.

"Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuuga have learned much from the Chinese and Japanese wizards. They seem to be adept duelers and have invested much time into astronomy and arithmancy. Hyuuga has joined an anti-vampire faction while Aburame has joined an anti-werewolf faction. Inuzuka has been working to become a minister but we will see how they fair,"

The Inuzuka-Aburame-Hyuuga cell were a few years older than the other cells and were immediately put into school upon their arrival in this world, thus they had completed their wizarding schooling before either of the other cells. They also did not have to learn a new language as the other cells had to since the Japanese wizarding population was small and combined their school with the Chinese wizards.

"We'll be graduating in another year, what occupations do we have open?" the Nara asked after sitting. It seemed he was turning his anger toward more productive endeavors.

"We need to observe their law enforcement system, their commercial system, and also the 'how' of their teaching over the 'what' they teach," the Uzumaki stated after looking at their notes. The males nodded and she continued. "One of us will also have become a criminal here to analyze their prison and court system."

"Hn," the Uchiha hummed.

"I'll take up law enforcement," the Nara volunteered. "The Headmaster hasn't been very subtle when he's suggested Potter and I take up an internship with the aurors." The two teammates nodded.

"I could try teaching," the raven-haired youth began but was cut off by a chocked laugh from his male teammate. "What?" he snapped.

"You," the shadow user paused for effect, "teaching? I feel sorry for the blighters." A slow buildup of laughter broke from the brunette genius' lips before it turned into a bark.

"If I was Madara you would be in 72 hours of torture," the raven-haired boy hissed.

Nara scoffed. He was more sober now, but a smirk remained on his lips. "Like you've killed anyone to get those eyes," he mocked.

"If my charming older brother was here, he'd be dead," the Uchiha said darkly.

"Only because of his own stupidity," the Nara replied.

The Uchiha had his mouth open for another retort when a testy redhead interjected, "We did our bantering already, so can you stop acting like children and let us get back to business. You're all very pretty and strong, so knock this pointless competition off." The latter comment was mocking and accompanied by an eye-roll.

When the boys just pouted, she sighed in exasperation. She did not like being the voice of reason in their group, but it was her burden.

"Uchiha, you've said countless times that Fugaku was going to get himself killed due to his stupidity, so why would you even defend your brother?" she asked in annoyance. The darker-haired boy nodded begrudgingly and the redhead gave him a sly smile. "Besides, I believe you have to feel something over his death to gain those eyes," she drew out the words in her amusement, thus causing both males to make a choked laugh.

However, the Nara sobered quickly when the fiery Uzumaki turned on him. "As for you Nara," she started sternly, and the brunette tensed slightly as if he was about to receive a physical blow. "You know as well as I do that Fugaku is the traitorous one, not our Uchiha. That and he"—the Uzumaki jerked her head at the now smirking Uchiha—"could kill you before you could even blink since you're our support teammate."

The Nara scowled for a moment before conceding to the girl's words. "Troublesome, but you're right, I'll need to work on that." The two shook their heads at their third teammate's words but focused back to the matter at hand.

"We should inform the Hokage that I will be learning the more forbidden jutsus of this world," the Uchiha suggested and Uzumaki nodded. She then took out a fresh scroll from her robes and began scribbling quickly. The characters filled up the page fast as she also recorded the happenings of the others who had been sent on this mission.

"I've learned that animagi in animal form cannot contract the lycanthrope disease, and I also have some of the toxin," the dog youth stated as he handed his female teammate a vial which contained a faintly yellow liquid. "Also, the Marauders have come up with a way to make a map that will show where all people are on it—it even gives their 'registered' names," the Nara then pulled out a worn looking piece of paper that was folded in many ways. On the parchment were moving ink dots.

"Brilliant! How did you make it?" the Uzumaki asked as she took the paper in her now trembling hands; her green eyes were alight with a delighted fire.

"Here, hand the scroll over—it's too troublesome to say the process," the brunette said with a sight. The Uchiha scoffed at his side while the Uzumaki dropped her head froward as if she had forgotten how lazy her teammate could be.

"One fault Nara," the Uchiah began, thus causing the brunette to pause in his writing and tilt his head to the side. With a cocked eyebrow, the shadow-user waited for the darker-haired boy's critique. "Anyone can see it."

"Only if they know the passwords to activate and deactivate it," the Nara said dismissively and went back to writing.

"Hn." Uchiha looked away with his arms folded over his chest.

Uzumaki blinked a few times before marveling once more at the map in her hands. "This is better than anything I've gained. I just look up jutsus and analysis the political system through the papers,"

"Your work is too troublesome," the Nara began distractedly. He finished writing a sentence before continuing, "You have to read all those books and then practice what you learn." He paused and gave a shrug, "Really, you two do the bulk of the work. I'm just lucky those three wizards are inventive."

Uzumaki smiled slightly while the Uchiha nodded, showing that he agreed with his now grumbling teammate who was back to writing down the map's creation onto the report.

"Besides, you're our fuin expert and our only link to back home," the raven-haired boy stated dismissively.

Uzumaki flushed at the Uchiha's words. "Thank you," she whispered and the teammates lapsed into a comfortable silence while the Nara finished up his work. Once he was done, the redhead took the scroll back from the already reclining Nara. She was preparing to cast a drying spell on the ink when her eyes caught something on the map. She cursed.

"Potter just found out we're both out of bed," she said to the Nara. She then began to cast what spells she needed before she sealed all the documents.

"Troublesome," the Nara rolled back and propelled himself to his feet. "Can we make you the villain again?" the brunette asked his Uchiha teammate who gave a long-suffering sigh.

"When don't you," the young man said as he rolled his eyes. He then pulled up his sleeve while offering his tattooed wrist to the red-haired female. Said female was hurriedly running through a long series of hand signs.

A small swirling hole appeared near the redhead. Energy shot out of it and the hole cackled like it was filled with electricity. The Uzumaki bit her thumb and ran it over the seam of the scroll before tossing it into the charged hole in the air. Quickly, the hole shrunk and the air returned to normal. She then turned to her teammates and ran through more hand signs before touching each of their tattoos.

Nara undid his hair now that it was long and wavy again. He grabbed the map off the forest floor while snickering at the Uchiha, who was tugging at his now long, stringy, and oily hair with a look of disdain. Uzumaki then ran through the signs and touched her own tattoo. Her long hair shortened, lightened, and developed waves now that it was not weighed down. Her face thinned more, losing the roundness of lingering baby fat.

"Shall we?" she asked in a lighter tone than she had spoken all meeting. The two dark-haired males nodded curtly. Taking out a stick, Uzumaki and Uchiha quickly whispered something and vanished from sight while the Nara turned back into his dog form.