Disclaimer: The view of the audience blurs and clears to the author sitting in a desk, in a bedroom. The author's back faces said audience, and he seems to be writing something. A member of the audience coughs, and he turns around surprised.

"Oh… wow… can't an author get any privacy? Geez… well as you can see I'm a bit busy for your trivialities. He looks beyond the audience and squints. Oh… yeah… I need to do that… I don't really want to get sued now do I? Alright, the works of Harry Potter and Naruto are not mine; they are the creations of J.K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto. Alright have fun reading this new chapter, as for me; I have to get back to studying."

The author returns to his simpleminded scratching as the view fades once more.

Chapter 4

A cry of victory interrupted the peaceful afternoon as a figure rose from the ground, flopping himself on grassy courtyard. Harii sighed in relief as he lay on the grass. Finally, he was out! A chuckle rose from his chest which soon escalated into full blown laughter. He was out!

The crunching of leaves soon ended his short lived joy as his hands fell into his Denkou no Tan technique. He got to his feet and immediately crouched; few went near the ruins, nonetheless in them. Just as he tensed to strike, a familiar voice stopped him,

"Yo."

"Kokuei-sensei!"

"So this is where you isolated yourself, pretty cozy if I say so myself," Kokuei said as he soaked in the view. While the ruins scattered the scenery, it did little to take away from the picturesque courtyard. "I was taking my afternoon stroll passing by the old Suigyoku abode when I heard a yell. So being the curious me, I went over and checked it out. Surprise, it was you."

Harii opened his mouth to talk, but stopped seeing Kokuei shake his head, "Why don't you tell everyone where you been in the assigning room eh?"

Harii pushed up his glasses, "Why are we going there for?"

"Ah, well I found you at a good time, we were about to be assigned a mission this afternoon. You think you're up for it?"

Harii nodded and a moment later they disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Harii entered the assigning room, to be punched by worried Kinji and hugged by screaming Rikou.

"Damn it, Harii, do you hafta go and brood? I mean the news you got from the Hokage, couldn't be that bad, now could it?" Kinji teased.

Rikou backed him up by adding, "Harii! You worried all of us, disappearing like that! Kinji and I were about to go and track you down, when Kokuei told us that you were fine! Where were you these past weeks."

Harii chuckled, and was punched once again by Kinji. Falling, he laughed even harder, as he looked at the duo. "'Kinji and I' huh?" Harii smirked, "Funny I'd thought that my absence would, uh… enhance your relationship, especially with all that pent up sexual tension." Harii's eyebrows wiggled suggestively.

Kinji and Rikou blushed, though Rikou hid it better. Harii laughed, picked himself up, and smirked at the two of them. "I'll tell you guys later, but for now… well are you guys ready for another mission?"

The three of them smiled, and Kinji spoke up, "Yeah! But this time, no more injuries alright? I bruise easily."

The team burst into laughter, even the Hokage, eavesdropping in the reunion smiled.

"Alright then, time for business," the Hokage interrupted, "your mission is to escort this man," at this he gestured to the man to his left, "to the Wind country. Sounds simple enough, but this man is an important one to the Sand. After all, he is one of their chief ninjutsu creators. Do not lose him, otherwise the Sand will have our heads. Alright this is a C-ranked mission, though a high ranked one, you are qualified enough to complete it. The mission starts now!"

The team and the man exited the room, and introduced themselves to the man.

"Hey, name's Majikku Sakusei, an' I need ta be escorted ta tha Wind country. The Hidden Village ta be correct."

"Hello my name is Kokuei and this is the team you'll be protected by: Kinji, Rikou, and Harii." All three gave their greetings and scrutinized the man. He was of a thin, weak build; unusually pale and wearing a long white doctoral suit. He also was balding, giving him the appearance of an eccentric scientist. Harii shivered at the thought, old habits died hard. Kokuei spoke again, "Well let's get going, all of us are packed, wait, here Harii, "Kokuei handed him his backpack, "I dropped by your apartment and packed for you."

"Thanks, Kokuei."

"No problem, alright let's get going!"

The five of them walked out of the building.

"Alright Harii, tell me where you were all this time?"

Harii pushed up his glasses and cleared his throat, "Kinji…"

"No stalling! I want to hear it now!"

Harii rolled his eyes, "I was about to tell you before you rudely interrupted me. Now quiet, this'll take a while…

Harii wiped his shed tears and got up, exploring the courtyard. Disappointed by the state of the surrounding walkways, Harii diverted his attention to the altar. Stepping closer, Harii saw a few shallow scratch marks near the base of the altar. Touching it, he saw it lower and was greeted by the low sound of moving stone. The altar moved back, revealing a set of stone stairs descending beneath the ground. Pushing up his glasses Harii treaded down the stairs to a large square room, lit by torches. An emerald beam encompassed him from the ceiling, and spread out to the torches, turning the fire emerald. Pausing in stupefaction, Harii noticed a hallway appearing in front of him. He took a step, and quickly turned as the sound of stone alerted him. The light at the end of the stairs dimmed as a brown slab rose, followed by a blue one from the right, then a clear one from above, then a red one from the left, then a yellow one from below, and finally an emerald one from above. Harii was shocked and rushed to the slab, eyes sifting for any way out. All he saw was a pentagram, with gems of different color as its vertexes and a flourish of writing below.

None but the elements themselves shall overcome this obstacle

Harii rolled his eyes, straightforward at most. He bent his forefinger and incanted, Denkou no Tan. Electricity sprouted and Harii slashed the slab… and nothing happened. Not even a scratch was inflicted on the slab. Harii stepped back again and cursed.

Harii rolled his eyes, straightforward at most. He bent his forefinger and incanted,

Harii sighed, one minute he was weeping, the next he's stuck underground. Reluctantly Harii turned, oh well, no way but forward. And so he went, taking out a kunai, just in case.

"Whoa, what happened next?" Kinji interrupted.

Harii pushed up his glasses, and jumped to another limb, "I was walking…"

He had counted 125 paces, when he reached the next room; or rather walkway. He had to shield his eyes from the amount of light in the room. Once the spots had dispersed enough, Harii looked up to find a large glass hemisphere with an unnatural amount of emerald flames covering the entire ceiling, a man-made sun.

Leaning on the rail, Harii looked down, gazing at the massive library below. Directly below him was a secluded reading area – fitted with a set of furniture, beyond that were scores of scores of shelves. It was breath-taking.

"Heh, Rikou would've fainted," Kinji smirked.

Rikou threw a glare at him, but said nothing as she urged Harii to continue.

Harii tore his eyes away from the sight and walked down the stairs to the furniture. Harii was pretty sure the library was empty, after all trespassers would've triggered the scan. Or at least he hoped it would, most families kept their secrets safe, being the paranoid ninjas they were. Harii pushed up his glasses, the atmosphere here seemed to comfort him in a way only his team would.

Harii's mind raced! His team! What would they do once they found he was missing? What would the Hokage do? The Hokage, of course! His watching sphere! Harii had seen the sphere on his desk during the times he was called by the Hokage. Harii calmed down a little, the only thing he could do now, he reasoned, was to get pass the slab or at least another way out.

Harii found himself past the furniture and in front of a glowing pedestal. Again there was writing near the bottom of the panel. And again it bore the scratching words:

None but the elements themselves shall overcome this obstacle

It almost drove him mad. Well, he thought, at least it shows something this time. And show it did, the map displayed the entrance and the entire library. Apparently the library was a pentagon, with five exits and one winding staircase in the middle. Harry moved away from the pedestal and began to search the exits, passing rows and columns of shelves of books. In one he found a herbarium and a large plain. Another led to an underground lake and hot springs. And yet another sent him to a cavern-shaped room, padded with reflective crystals. The last two passages, and coincidentally the closest to the passageway he entered from, were a disappointment. One was caved in and the other led to a large cavern shielded by a vociferous waterfall. Seeing no other place to look but down; Harii gradually walked back to the staircase. Harii looked down and slowly descended into the depths of the strange place.

Harii stumbled as he mistook the floor as a step and placed a hand on the wall to balance him. The torches flickered on and Harii came face to face with a wall. To each of his sides were two doors, both screens, yet were thick enough to filter out any light from the other side. Or rather if any light was on the other side.

Harii spun his kunai on his finger; letting it slowly stop to his right. Harii gripped the kunai and continued forward and slipped inside of the room. He felt déjà vu overcome him as his eyes readjusted to the light residing in the room. The black spots eventually faded, and Harii found himself in a large room, around half the size of the library was. The walls were padded with cloth, and the ceiling was similar to the library. Instead of a large hemisphere though, there were smaller globes of light floating along the length of the room, covering every centimeter of the place with an equal amount of light. Harii nodded his head at this and backed out of the room deciding to explore the final room. He opened the screen and found himself facing a large ceremonial wall, covered by a large pentagon. Harii pushed his glasses up, he was going to be here for a while…

Harii ended his tale with an exhale. Kinji looked impressed, "Dang, you got lucky. The Hyuuga's only have a huge library, and we were one of the first!"

Harii shook his head, jumping from tree to tree, following Kokuei and Sakusei in the front. "So Rikou, what's with the new chick on your head?"

Rikou's contemplative expression changed into one of delight. "Oh! So you noticed! Well as a congratulation on my first C-ranked mission my family gave me this golden falcon. I named him Fenikkusu, fitting isn't it? Well he's my animal companion, a great guy for battle, you'll see!"

Kinji shook his head, "Seriously, she doesn't shut up about that bird, I thought I'd get a moment of peace from that bird, but…" Kinji gestured.

Rikou's lips tighten and punched Kinji. "Oi! You almost made me lose my balance!"

"And you almost hurt Fenikkusu's feelings." retorted Rikou. Harii shook his head, they were still fighting. He sped up to them and laid his hands on them, calming both of them down.

"Geez, it must have been a war zone when I was gone. Let's calm you both down, we're older than this."

"Hey, I'll have you know I didn't start any of them!"

Rikou rolled her eyes and punched Kinji. "Oi! You almost made me lose my balance!"

"Quit lying then!" retorted Rikou.

Harii pushed his glasses up again, and rolled his eyes. Things were back to normal.

It was nightfall when they had reached the border between the Fire and Wind country. They had set camp up quickly, were currently huddled around the fire as Kokuei gathered kindling for the fire. The genin (meaning Rikou and Kinji) started to question Sakusei.

Smiling he answered, "Let's see here… Yes, No, Yes, No, No, Yes, Absolutely Not, and Miso soup with lots of beef."

Chuckling Harii, asked him one question that the others had been thinking of, "So Sakusei, what made you have us escort you? Surely the Sand could come and pick you up with their ninja."

"Well, the nin from the Sand are quite busy at the moment, so they decided to pay Konoha for an escort."

Rikou looked up and asked, "So why were you in Konoha in the first place?"

Sakusei smiled, "Well I was there, because it was my niece's birthday."

Rikou soon changed the topic to one about jutsu, when Kinji and Harii both tuned out. Harii turned to Kinji and inquired, "So what have you been doing this past month?"

"Heh, well I went back to my father and trained up a bit. Got to meet my little sister again, cute little girl. My byakugan also improved, I can now see things fifty meters away perfectly, though I can't see anything at a hundred meters. It's my goal before the end of the month. You?"

"Well I got this new bunshin I'm itching to try out. It's like the one Kokuei uses, except it has a special surprise when it dies."

"Heh, right… Anyway I forgot to ask you before you went all incognito, what was that taijutsu I saw?"

"Oh, it was something I was trying to use to counter your Jyuuken. I mean it's almost impossible to fight against it with taijutsu. It's like my way of evening out the scales."

"Heh, well you'll be surprised at how shocked my dad was when I told him that. I swear he was about to faint when he heard about how you managed to disable my Jyuuken."

The boys were about to continue, when Sakusei excused himself, saying it was time for him to go to bed. The genin yawned and agreed to his decision. One by one each genin wriggled into their sleeping bags by the fire and soon the sole sound in camp was the dying embers of the fire.

Kinji woke with a start from his dreams. He was just about to kill the big bad ninja boss when a groan ended his dream. Kinji got out from under the sleeping bag and twisted his neck trying to find Harii's sleeping figure. He found him and jumped over the fire pit to him. Rikou and Kokuei joined him near Harii's side. Kokuei nodded to Rikou and went to guard Sakusei. Rikou placed a hand on Harii's chest to wake him, but Kinji snatched it away. A second later an electric charge coursed through Harii's body. Rikou and Kinji stepped back, in fear of being electrocuted, when Kinji saw Harii's hands.

From underneath the gloves, Harii's pale hands were even more unnatural, as they started to grow paler and started glowing. His hands spasmed up to his sides and crucified him to the ground. Artificial lightning seared and serrated his body as it wreaked havoc on the boy. His back started to spasm, bucking his body against the ground. Sparks began to fly from his hands, dissipating when they neared the ground. Streaks of electricity rose from his hands, curving towards the ground, charring the surrounding area black. As soon as it started, it stopped, but not before another spasm attack shook his entire being.

Rikou sobbed and Kinji hugged her, guiding them both to his body cautiously. Harii groaned once more, and slowly sat up. His eyes wearily opened and Harii slowly clasped his hands, trying to calm them down. Kinji saw the pain in Harii's eyes, and gripped his shoulders.

"Hey, you alright?"

Harii slowly nodded, but soon twisted his face as he turned around and began to eject his previous meal. He turned back and wiped his mouth, only to turn back and dry heave upon the ground. The heaves soon lessened to gasps which became coughs.

Rikou ran to her pack and returned to Harii giving him a cup of water. Kinji steadied Harii, as he drank, watching him gulp down the whole glass. Kinji took the glass from Harii once he thought Harii had enough, and placed it down near the fire pit.

"Harii, you alright man?"

Harii coughed once more and nodded, going to the nearby spring to clean himself. Kinji looked at Rikou and nodded at her to go back to sleep. Rikou reluctantly returned to her sleeping bag, but not before sobbing in Kinji's arms. Kinji turned from her and joined Harii by the lake.

Kinji leaned his head back on a trunk and sighed, he was tired sure but Harii… Harii was in pain. Kinji always had a soft spot for troubled people. That was one reason why he was so attached to his sister; she was the 'disappointment' in the family. He turned his white pupil-less eyes to Harii, sitting next to him, eyes closed, hands still trembling. Kinji stared at the twitching hands. What a mystery… Generally Kinji had never liked mysteries – he never had the patience for them – yet Harii had intrigued him. His aura exuded normalcy, but his dreams alluded trauma.

Instinctively Kinji activated his Byakugan. He immediately closed his eyes and reopened them. Harii had definitely drawn him in, Harii was different. Normally when he observed people under the Byakugan, he would see their chakra system. Yet when he gazed upon Harii, he seemed to contain two chakra systems. One was bluish white, the color of body chakra, yet the other was a rainbow, leading to everywhere on the body, but was largest to the hands and head. The result of them being together blinded him at first glance, but lessened as his eyes got used to the light. Harii was powerful, that was true, but to think his body containing more energy than any other's was outstanding. Kinji looked once more at Harii's hands and shivered. His hands had channels of nothing one should have. There was one huge spray of unnatural channels in Harii's hands. As they shook he saw not chakra moving them, but pure lightning, Kinji shivered once more, Harii was living a life of pain. Kinji released his jutsu and saw Harii's questioning gaze upon him.

"How was my chakra system?"

Kinji shivered once more, lied, "Perfectly fine, everything's normal, well except for your hands." He couldn't resist adding that in, it was too terrible to lie about.

Harii nodded to himself, "It's to be expected." Harii closed his eyes and opened them a minute later, "It's time to go Kinji, let's go."

Kinji nodded and followed Harii back to camp.

Harii closed his eyes, willing the memories to disappear, to vanish in the depths of his mind. Harii's spine shivered at the remembrance of the Incident. For weeks his eyes were shadowed by memory of the experiment. For months his dreams were possessed by the images, by the blood, by the pain. For years his mind had buried them deep within. And yet, now they resurfaced an ill omen of what to come. His mind slipped its grasp and fell into the memories.

He was coming home with his friends, his childhood friends when It appeared before them, whisking them away without a word.

He woke in a dark room, one filled with pain and fear, one with screams and sobs. He looked to his right and saw his best friends. He looked to his left and saw his fellow orphans. He looked up and saw hooks. He looked down and saw blood. He looked forward and saw It working on a screaming girl. It was smiling; It looked at him and smiled. He closed his eyes and saw Its smile. He screamed.

He woke again, and found himself starting into its eyes. His eyes widened as It's face smirked and Harii was moved to look at his companions. It spoke suimin nashi no jutsu and Harii's eyes tingled. It than began to torture Harii with sights one should never see. Harii wanted to close his eyes, he wanted to sleep, he wanted to fall unconscious. Yet he never achieved them. Harii's eyes burned with each failed experiment, with each failed subject, with each death of his friends.

Then it was his turn.

Harii was stripped and dragged to a metal pole. Harii gasped at the coldness and shivered at what was coming. His hands were drawn to his sides, in likeness to the crucifix behind him. He screamed as he felt metal kunai drove themselves through his hands, pinning them to the metal crucifix. He saw It step back as part of the floor dropped. No it was his part of the floor rose. He heard the distant growl of thunder as it rose higher and higher. The ceiling opened and Harii was revealed to the dark night. Thunder and lightning surrounded Harii as rain enveloped him. Pain washed over his arms as the rain flowed past his hands. He whimpered as thunder clapped nearby. He drew in his breath and his world became one of eternal pain.

Lightning seared through the sky straight for Harii. As it neared his head however, it branched off and struck his hands, sending millions of volts of energy coursing through his body. Just as it started it ended, Harii shuddered against the wind. His world receded into pain again. Lightning, twisted by fate, struck him once again, discharging in his hands, throughout his body. It ended once more, in utter bliss. Pain serrated through his body once more as lightning pushed the limits of nature. His eyes still burned from the ineptness to sleep, to fall unconscious. His body soon drowned in pain as the fourth, final, and strongest bolt shattered the law of the natural.

Harii stared lifelessly out, his eyes glowing slightly. The glow receded soon as Harii saw the Hokage step towards him, his face marred by pain, one that seemed nonexistent to Harii's.

Harii opened his eyes to find his body had moved on its own accord to the Sand village. Harii sighed, the mission was almost over.

A/N: Ouch... I feel kinda bad for doing that to Harii... Well anyway now that I have uh... satisfied my Beta's curiosity about the Incident, I can now go and work on more filler chapters and the next sequence of the references to the Incident. Finals are almost over and now the only thing left are parties and more parties.

Translations:
Denkou no Nage Yaki - Javelins of Lightning
Denkou no Tan - Edge of Lightning
Suimin Nashi no jutsu - It's technically "without sleep" but let's say it's Insomnia eh?

Thanks again to all the reviewers and my Beta. Sorry for not uploading earlier! FFnet document upload glitched on me-.-

Until Next Time

AibohphobiA