Chapter 7: The Fox Strikes
The first week of the new term has passed as it is now a Saturday. Naruto was in the forest looking to clear his mind over what happened. He took a stroll around the forest as whenever he was stressed out, he would either go to Jiraiya's cabin or the forest as he felt at peace with himself every time he was there. Naruto sent Tsunade a message of what happened on his first day and needless to say she was pissed off with what Umbridge said and did. She wanted to come over to the school and give Umbitch a piece of her mind with her fists of course, but Naruto assured her that everything was under control as he wanted to solve this problem on his own and not make things worse. He avoided telling her that he unlocked a new power as it wasn't necessary to tell her that.
Naruto notices that Luna Lovegood was there, bare feet as she stood in the forest next to those boney horses he saw when he arrived at Hogwarts. "Hello Naruto Uzumaki," she greeted as she stroked the nose of the boney horse. "If you're looking at my feet, they're a bit cold. Unfortunately all my shoes have mysteriously disappeared. I suspect nargles are behind it," she said as the horse began to move around blowing through its snout. Naruto couldn't help but smile at that response as he found it kind of funny. "What are they?" Naruto asked, as he took a closer look at the creature. The creature at first looked creepy, but somehow it was starting to grow onto Naruto with how unique it looked. It had wings, but no feathers like a bat and the color of the creature was black. "They're called thestrals. Gentle really but people avoid them as they're a bit…"
"Different, I can understand. But why can't my friends or everyone see them?" Naruto asked, as the two approached a small family of thestrals. "They can only be seen by people who've seen death," she explained, as it does make sense due to the way these creatures looked like they belong to the grim reaper. "I see…" Naruto stated, as he keeps remembering that night. One thestral walks to Naruto, as the creature looks at Naruto and for some reason, nuzzles its head on the boy. Luna chuckled, "I see one of the thestrals has taken a liking towards you," she said, as she fed one of the thestrals some raw meat. "Why am I not surprised?" Naruto stated jokingly, as he petted the thestral. "You know Naruto, I believe you and Harry. That he-who-must-not-be-named is back with new support and the ministry and the prophet are conspiring against you two and Dumbledore."
Naruto was surprised that she believed him. "Seems you're one of the only ones who does though," Naruto stated cynically. "I don't know about that," she said, throwing the baby thestral a crimson apple. "I guess that's how he wants you to feel though. I mean if I were you-know-who, I'd want to cut you off from the rest. Make you feel alone," she said, as she turned to the boy with a soft smile. Luna was right. Menma might be trying to get rid of the ones that can help Naruto so that the boy could be alone, weak, and helpless. She was right. God damn, what a brilliant girl! "Thanks Luna," Naruto said, with a lot of gratitude as he felt like his fighting spirit was rising. "I really mean it, thanks." She nods, as Naruto leaves the forest with a renewed focus.
Timeskip
"Do you ever stop eating?" Hermione asked, annoyed by Ron's disgusting table manners, as Ron was stuffing his face with what appears to be his second or third sausage of the morning. "I'm hungry," he said, oblivious to the fact that he was kind of grossing the others out at the table. Naruto chuckles, as he can't blame his friend for being like that, after all he did this before back in the village, when it came to ramen. Harry had just arrived and it's been a while since he last hung out with the group. "Can I join you guys?" he asked, as if this was the first time he spoke to them. Nobody complained about this, but just then they all turned to face the door as they heard some loud sounds of two teachers who appear to be arguing moving through the doorways. Everybody got up to see what the commotion was and headed for the stair situated just outside and caught the back end of it.
"I am simply informing you that when it comes to my students, you perform with the described disciplinary prescribed practices," McGonagall stated, stopping halfway up. "So silly of me, but it sounds as if you're questioning my authority in my own classroom…Minerva," Umbridge retorted, taking a single step up. "Not at all, Dolores," Mcgonagall said, also going the next step up, "simply your medieval methods!" Umbridge shook her head, "I am sorry dear, but to question my practices is to question the Ministry and by extension, the minister himself. I am a tolerant woman, but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty," she stated, relying once again on the power of her boss as a cheap trick to do whatever she wanted. Honestly, this woman was like Grand Moff Tarkin and the ministry was like the Galactic empire, from a certain point of view. "Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I fear. Cornelius will want to take immediate action."
Ok this is starting to get out of hand. How the hell did the minister have all this power over this school, just because some bitch in pink gave him the reports. Naruto shook his head and went to find the Weasley twins, as he had a plan under his sleeves. "Fred, George," Naruto addressed them, as the two turn to their prank benefactor. "Naruto, what can we get you?" the two asked in unison. "I'm going to need some paint, preferably lots of orange paint," Naruto said, as the three smirked at the idea. For a couple of days, Naruto was coming up with a plan, as he decided to return to his prankster days for this little assignment of his. As those days passed, Fudge appointed Umbitch as High Inquisitor of the school due to some belief that the school's standards were low. How low can Fudge go, just because he's afraid to believe what Naruto and Harry said was true. Now for this plan to work, Naruto needed a disguise and unfortunately despite his orange jumpsuit being useful back then in the village, it would cause him to stick out now as people already got used to the orange jumpsuit, and plus his face is out in the open, so he needed to cover his face, and his hair of course due to how unique it was. Luckily Jiraiya left him some extra clothing in the cabin, so that does provide some use.
Everyday new rules were being placed on the wall and some of these rules were absurd and borderline stupid. It was starting to piss people off as Umbitch decided to dictate what people can and can't do. She even has the audacity to monitor the professors and provide unnecessary criticism. The disguise Naruto made for his plan was complete. He wore a sleeveless dark blue turtleneck shirt, dark blue combat pants fitted with bandages on the right knee, leather brown steel toe boots. He also had some metal pauldrons, a couple of brown leather belts that held three kunai on each belt, a hip pouch, and leather brown plated fingerless gloves, while his hands were bandaged. But to finish off the disguise, he donned a tattered red cloak like cape with a hood and lastly an anbu mask akin to that of a fox. Itachi handed Naruto this mask, after the boy told him the plan. Naruto took a look at himself in the mirror, "I look pretty good, not gonna lie," he said, complimenting himself.
The day of the plan had arrived, when everybody was gathering at the courtyard. Apparently, Professor Trelawney, the divination teacher, was being kicked out after being fired by Umbitch herself. "She's got to be joking here guys," Naruto said, getting pissed off. "There's no way she can do this. How do they have this much power?!" Ron shook his head, "She works for Cornelius. Cornelius is the head of the ministry and the ministry pretty much rules here. There is nothing we can do unless-"
Suddenly the great doors opened and it was Dumbledore and McGonagall as they walked to the courtyard. However Dumbledore was looking rather furious. "Professor McGonagall, might I ask you to escort Sybil back inside?" he asked, in a rather dark and serious tone. McGonagall did just that and she escorted an emotionally broken Trelawney back inside. From what it looks like, these two authority figures are going to face off as if this were a boxing match. "Dumbledore, may I remind you that under the terms of Educational Decree Number-" Umbridge started, before she got shut up.
"You have the right to dismiss my teachers…however, you do not have the authority to banish them from the ground. That power remains with the headmaster," Dumbledore stated firmly ending the conversation. Umbridge forced a smile and made a slight retort, but it didn't mean anything. Soon everything turned back to normal, but Naruto knew it wasn't enough. He walks away as Hermione notices this. "Naruto, where are you going?" she asked. Naruto turns to her, "Sorry I have to take care of some business, don't worry about me though," he lied, giving them an eye smile. Before the others could ask, Naruto already left for the cabin. The time is now as Naruto dons his disguise and heads for the location. He made sure to avoid any detections by staying on the rooftops, while staying on the ceilings. It's a good thing Naruto placed a seal for his clothes, namely his boots, to help make them silent and not cause any noise. It's a good thing Naruto made a seal to carry the paint, as the paint was rather heavy to carry every time.
Naruto arrived at the classroom office and wrote his message and to add a little flair, he drew a wolf symbol. Just then Umbridge arrives in shock, but before she could react by using her wand, Naruto threw a couple of kunai point blank at her, as if he were aiming for her. She closed her eyes, until she awoke to see that she was stuck in the wall as the kunai pinned her clothes. She tries to break free and get revenge on the masked assailant, but she was too late as he had already disappeared, not before leaving a box with a note on it. She opened the box to see that it was paint bomb that exploded, leaving her and the room all orange like.
Naruto was outside perching at one of the towers looking at the already setting sun, while a faint scream was heard. He soon returns back to the cabin and takes off the uniform, not before sealing it as he might need to use it in future cases. Naruto walks back to the Gryffindor common room to see that his friends were sitting there looking worried. "Naruto!" Ron said in a relieving tone. "Bloody hell mate, we were worried about you after you ran off like that!" Naruto sighed, but tiredly smiled, "I'm alright guys, just had to take care of some business ya know," he lied as he didn't want to tell them what he actually did. If he were to tell them, he might put them in danger with the Ministry. "So, what did I miss?"
Harry explained how Hermione was complaining about Umbridge. "That foul, evil, old gargoyle!" she exclaimed back and forth. "Don't forget, she's a B.I.T.C.H," Naruto added. Hermione rolled her eyes even though the blond was right, "We're not learning how to defend ourselves and we're not learning how to pass our O. …she's taking over the entire school!"
"But what can we do?" Harry asked. "We're just school students aren't we?" All of a sudden Neville burst into the room looking rather shocked and kind of excited. "Guys!" Neville exclaimed out of breath and tired. "Someone's broken into the school! They also trashed Umbridge's office!" This shocks everyone including Naruto, but secretly he smirks as he knew who did it and it was him.