AN: I live! I know you're all amazed. It feels like the chapters just get harder and harder to write. .; I can't tell you how wonderful you all are, though! So many great reviews! I totally spaz out when someone mentions details. ^^ It let's me know that my favorite parts are your favorite parts too!

Though I would please, please ask that reviewers not include spoilers in their reviews. I started this story only having seen the very first part of Shippuden, and I know a lot of other people are also at different points in the story. If you are further along, please just treat all contradicted details as AU.

Again, thank you so much for your great support and I hope you like this chapter!

When they reached the tower from the other day, it was Kakashi-sensei that led them through the large front doors. The building was nearly empty as they moved down one hallway after another, through one locked door after another. It only made sense that things would be closed up this late at night, Harry reasoned. After all, lucky people where at home in their beds, not getting dragged all around town in the wee hours of the morning.

With a sigh, Harry continued to troop along behind Kakashi-sensei. The man had his book out once more, showing off his rather remarkable skills at walking without looking where he was going. He made a strangely fitting lead to their sad little train of people. Harry stared at the design on the man's back and tried not to ignore the feeling of being stared at as everyone else walked along behind him.

Sakura had pointedly fallen back to walk behind Harry as soon as they had entered the building. She'd smiled brightly as she had, the same way she had when she shared her snack with him. Oddly enough, it wasn't as comforting the second time around. Harry was beginning to suspect it had something to do with her getting her way. Regardless, it was hard to be a stubbornly rude to a pretty girl who smiled like that. And it wasn't really that he minded Sakura walking behind him, he just wish the rest of their little party wasn't lurking around where he couldn't see them.

There was nothing quiet as nerve racking as having someone he had just gotten in a fight with walking behind him. It made him want to rub the back of his neck. Or punch something.

Harry felt his skin flush as the sudden desire rushed through him. It wasn't like him to start a fight like that. It wasn't. He was better than that. Just because Sasuke had technically started it back there by throwing his weight around the way he did, didn't mean that Harry had the right to act like a hooligan himself. Even if the other boy was being a total prat about the whole thing. Being nosy and acting like a bully. Frankly, it wasn't any of his bloody business.

Harry shoved his hands inside his pockets. His fingers automatically curled around the length of wood safely tucked away there. Years of the Dursley's threatening hell and high water if he even so much as hinted at the very idea of magic had trained Harry to keep his mouth shut. He never thought he'd actually kind of miss their willful ignorance. It was so much easier in some ways not to have to explain anything, ever. But then again – an assassin had never popped up in the middle of the Dursley's sitting room before, either.

Harry scowled. Bad enough to have the Death Eaters after him. Now he had freakish men in black with cat eyes trying to kill him in his sleep. Sasuke had said something like this might happen, but Harry hadn't thought he meant now and here. It didn't really seem fair not to have some warning that something foul was afoot.

But he wasn't on Privet Drive or safely tucked away deep in Hogwarts. There wasn't any blood magic here to protect him. No thickly warded walls. Just a small quiet little village, a ghost town of a neighborhood and one surly cousin. Who didn't know just how much trouble Harry could be to those around him. Who didn't know what happened to the last person to claim Harry as family.

Crap.

Sasuke was right. Harry couldn't not tell him. No matter what the ministry might think of it. Even if they tried to get him kicked out of school. Harry couldn't stay here and put people in danger without telling them.

Harry hunched his shoulders and sighed. None of that changed the fact that Sasuke was still a jerk who attacked people unprovoked. And he was not looking forward to this conversation. But like all things he didn't want to happen, the time came for too quickly. It seemed like no sooner did he realize he really was going to have to figure out a way of explaining how weird he really was than they came up to the Hokage's door. Kakashi-sensei didn't even knock. He simply bumped the door open, book still in one hand, and held it open for the rest of them to go through.

Harry straightened his shoulders and crossed the threshold. There was no helping it now. The truth was going to come out. He might as well take it with as much dignity as possible. Simply having reached a firm decision made it easier to meet the eye of what had to be the most intimidating woman he had ever met. She sat behind her desk, head propped up on one hand, managing to look both bored and annoyed as hell. It was such a far cry from the sternly disapproving visage of Professor McGonagall, that for a moment, Harry almost smiled. Then he saw the other two men standing in the room and his step faltered.

He'd never get used to those masks.

He had one too many memories of blood and circles of dark magic and death.

The others slipped into the room around him like water flowing pass a misplaced bit of stone. It wasn't until Sasuke was practically alongside Harry that he noticed the foul expression on the other's boy face. But before Harry could glare back, Sasuke was moving beyond him.

"This is uncalled for and unacceptable," Sasuke growled out loudly. "ANBU have no business being here! A full ANBU guard is hardly required for-"

"Formal complaint duly noted, Uchiha-san," the Hokage drawled. "Now shut up. Two men hardly count as a full guard and I'll do whatever I see fit. About time you brats got here."

"Hey, it's a long walk, ba-chan," Naruto replied with an easy grin.

"You be quiet too, brat," the Hokage snapped back, not at all distracted by the blond boy's carefree swagger. Her eyes focused in on Harry instead, with a kind of intensity that was even worse than Snape at his best. At least with Snape there was no urge to confess everything. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut as much as possible when dealing with Snape. The dark look in the Hokage's eyes made Harry suspect that keeping quiet was almost as dangerous as blabbing out even the worst of secrets. It was a very effective stare.

Sasuke didn't seem to think much of it, however. "Hokage, I-"

"I said shut up," she cut him off without looking away from Harry. She steepled her fingers in front of her face and began in a very low, sedated voice that still managed to make something in Harry's spine quiver, just a little. "I currently have a foreign nin in my I&T holding cell," she announced, "with a very unique burn pattern across his chest and a fractured skull. Since I also have a body in my morgue that better matches Uchiha's idea of a measured response, I can only assume that the former is your handiwork. It was a rather pathetic blow to the head, which is why I know it couldn't have been your idiot of a cousin. He may have more ego than brains, but I doubt he's capable of making such a rookie mistake. What I'm more interested in that burn pattern." All of the humor disappeared as quickly as it had appeared as she continued to stare at him like a mouse caught under the gaze of a descending owl.

"He's alive?" Something deep in Harry's chest relaxed suddenly and the air rushed out of his lungs. He hadn't even realized how worried part of him had been about that. It was one thing to fling about hexes or to get into school yard scuffles where the worst that would happen was a bloodied nose. Even during some of the most harrowing of his adventures, he'd never personally physically been as close as he had that night. He knew one day he would, that he had a duty to perform. Both Dumbledore and the prophecy had made that quite clear that he wasn't going to escape that destiny. But that didn't mean he had to get a head start on killing people.

The Hokage snorted indelicately. "I hope you didn't really think that weak blow to the head would be sufficient trauma to kill a man. I've known six year olds that could do better than that."

Harry flushed angrily. "I wasn't trying to kill anyone!" he shouted back. His hands balled into fists at his sides. How could she think he was capable of such a thing? She barely even knew him. Was it so easy to believe he was a killer?

She only smirked back at him and raised one eyebrow. "So you don't deny burning and assaulting the man?"

"He tried to kill me! I didn't do anything wrong!"

The Hokage slammed one open hand down on her desk. "Do I look like I care what you think counts as right or wrong?" she yelled back at him. Apparently, he'd finally made her mad. It wasn't as gratifying as he might have thought it would be. "Let me make this very clear for you, Potter, since your cousin seems to have failed to properly explain things to you," she continued darkly. "The only thing that matters in this village is what I say matters. We've had a serious breach in security. I will not allow such vulnerability within my village. Let me make this perfectly clear to both of you, Uchiha. I am the Hokage of this village. My word is law here. I will not repeat myself again. I don't care what you think might happen, I can promise you, you won't like what will happen if you don't start explaining yourself. Fast."

Harry flinched back not just from the violent woman's outburst but also because despite everything, she was right. In more ways than one. Even Sasuke was right. Harry couldn't not tell them the truth. If he didn't, and something did happen, it would be his fault. Again.

He'd already lost one person he cared about. And he knew all too well what it felt like not to be told thing.

But before he could figure out what to say, where to even begin, Sasuke interrupted once more. Harry had expected the other boy to argue with the Hokage. After all, he'd just slammed Harry into a wall for not answering his own questions. What Harry hadn't expected was for Sasuke to step in front of him.

"Hokage-sama," Sasuke said gravely, his hands clenched at his sides. "There is ore to this situation than you realize. As the head of my clan, I will address - "

He didn't get any further than that, however. The Hokage slammed both of her hands down on the massive desk in front of her, cracking the top of it and sending a tower of scrolls tumbling to the floor. "Uchiha, if I have to tell you to shut up one more time, I'll have the ANBU remove you, and you will not like it!"

Harry didn't miss the way her guards shifted farther away from her and closer to the rest of them. And he doubted that Sasuke missed it either. It was like watching two duelists lone up so that they'd have a clear shot at each other without getting tangled up in anything else in the surrounding environment. The whole tone of the conversation was quickly shifting to a place Harry really did not want to explore. He'd made up his mind already. He didn't know what his cousin was thinking now, but the idiot was going to pick another fight if he wasn't careful.

"It's just that it's complicated!" Harry exclaimed before his cousin could do anything else even more stupid.

Sasuke shifted one foot back and to the side so that he could both glare at the two masked individuals and also stare at Harry. "It's none of her business," he hissed out, as if no one else in the room could hear him anyway.

Harry glared back before shrugging with a huff. "Either you both are right and I need to tell you or you're both wrong and I can happily ignore you."

Sasuke opened his mouth to snap back with something else, but the Hokage beat him to it. "Explain. Now."

Harry sighed slowly. Now that it was time to, he still wasn't sure how. He'd never had to explain it to anyone else before. Usually people were trying to explain thing to him. And somehow, the choppy but candid explanation Hagrid had given to Harry when he was eleven just didn't seem right.

"Mou," Kakashi-sensei suddenly drawled out for his position leaning against the wall. He had his nose buried in his book but was still apparently well aware of what was going on in the room. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the rather interesting individuals who descended on your house after Itachi's attack, would it?'

Everyone one in the room turned to stare at him. He raised his head long enough to scrunch up his face happily before dropping his gaze back down to the book before him.

"Just when did you- " Naruto started to demand before Harry cut him off with his own curt demand of "Who?"

"Hmm," Kakashi-sensei replied, making a show of scratching the side of his nose lazily. "A rather ragged looking old man, lots of scars. Twitching looking girl with purple hair. Rather questionable looking pair if you ask me."

Harry found himself grinning without realizing it. "There's nothing questionable about Professor Lupin," he replied firmly. At least not to Harry. Of all the adults he knew, Professor Lupin was probably the most trustworthy of the bunch. Though calling Tonks twitchy was probably better than some of the other things she'd been called. For a moment, it was nice to know that they had come looking for him. That they had really meant it when they said they would be watching out for him this summer. No one had really ever done that for him before. But then he remember just what exactly they had probably walked into. "They're alright, right?" he asked, a little embarrassed by how sharp his voice came out. "I mean, nothing happened to them, right? That man – he didn't -"

Kakashi-sensei looked up, his one visible eye fixed on Harry. "Last I saw, them seemed to be waiting impatiently for back-up." He smiled again. "After casting a number of very interesting jutsus, that is."

Harry's eyes widened. "Jutsus? They don't even know what a jutsu is! They couldn't – I mean, it's not the same thing!" Harry had never even heard of a jutsu before coming here. While it was possible that someone like Professor Lupin would have, he highly doubted his teacher went around casually using something so weird. And now everybody was staring at him again, and his cousin was back to glaring. Great.

"Care to explain?' Sasuke drawled out sharply.

Harry glared back at him. "I can't. There's a law, you know. I could get kicked out of school if I talk about."

"A lot worse is going to happen if you don't," the Hokage added ever so helpfully.

"I know, I know!" Harry replied in a huff. "I got the point already. I was just trying to make it clear just how much trouble I'm going to be in."

Naruto snorted. "It's just school."

"Not to me, it isn't," Harry replied quietly. "Hogwarts is the closest thing I have to a real home and while it might not mean much to you, I really need to finish school."

"You of all people, Naruto, ought to understand the importance of needing to see a training program though to the very end," Kakashi-sensei added.

Harry didn't know what they were talking about. Naruto didn't seem like the studious type, but he blushed slightly at Kakashi-sensei's statement and ducked his head down. The whole thing made Harry uncomfortable for Naruto, and his eagerness to move on from the strange moment made it easier to talk. "There are some similarities, I guess, between what we do and jutsus," Harry started and like a switch, everyone's attention was once more on him. It was uncomfortable and he tried to focus more on what exactly he was going to say than trying to guess what the others were thinking. "It sort of is. I mean, when Naruto showed me that one thing," he explained, waving into the air as if to form a vague human shape. The others seemed to get the point, especially the Hokage, who suddenly glared darkly as the blond boy. "It kind of felt the same. But different. Like the difference between trying to push something versus trying to pull something, or something like that."

Kakashi-sensei snapped his book shut and pushed himself away from the wall. "Perhaps you could demonstrate for us, Harry-kun."

Harry grimaced, but nodded. He'd kind of wanted to avoid showing them too much, but there really wasn't any way of explaining it without showing them something. "I guess I could. What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Naruto!" the Hokage barked out.

Naruto snapped sharply to attention before breaking out into a wide grin. "Got it!' he chirped, before quickly snapping his hands together and recreating a doppelganger in the same way he had on the bridge. The clone had the same cheeky smile and waved cheerfully. "Fire away, Harry! " it declared loudly. "I can take it!"

Harry had to laugh back at it. It was almost too bizarre. But Naruto had reassured him on the bridge that his clones were nothing more than smoke and shadows. They might have a physical form, but they still weren't really real. It was an ideal solution. Harry nodded once, then reached for his wand. So far he'd managed to keep it out of sight, mostly by not drawing it at all. The argument at Naruto's had spoiled that, but only Naruto and Sasuke had been there to see it. As it was, the rest of them watched him with undisguised interest as he pulled out a simple piece of wood. It almost made him want to grin. It wasn't often that Harry got to show off like this. Usually, his best performances came int eh middle of a life or death situation and were hardly occasions to be enjoyed. Despite the tension in the room and his own misgivings, it as hard not to anticipate what was sure to be a good reaction. Shifting his stance into one he'd picked up from watch both Remus and Sirius, Harry raised his wand, held it loosely in his hand and pointed it at the fake Naruto. The spell was an easy one, but effective.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The clone's eyes widened slightly and it tried to dodge to the left, but by the time it processed it really was in danger, it was too late. The spell caught enough of the clone to latch on to it. The spell had the desired affect of causing the clone's entire body to lock up and freeze in place. Unfortunately for it, this left it off balance. Gravity took its toll and the clone toppled sideways to the floor. It exploded on impact into a cloud of smoke just like the first time Naruto had demonstrated his technique.

Harry couldn't help a small little smile of achievement. Apparently spells still really did work as long as he could get them off fast enough. He wasn't a fool though. With the speeds the others were moving at during practice, it wouldn't be easy, but at least it was possible. He could work with possible. He glanced up to see how the others were taking it.

Naruto's mouth was hanging wide open as he pointed uselessly at his missing clone. Sakura's eyes were wide as she stared at Harry. Sasuke didn't seem to know who or what to glare at. He kept going back and forth between Harry and the rest of the room. Kakashi-sensei had his book once more out and held in front of him, but his headband was actually pushed up enough to expose his other eye. It was squeezed shut at the moment however, the long scar dissecting it looking painfully scrunched up. Only the Hokage remained exactly as she was, sitting calmly behind her desk despite the tell-tale cracks that raced across the surface of it.

Harry shifted his grip on his wand subconsciously, rubbing his thumb up and down the faint marks along the side of it. "Um, that's basically what happened. Oh, and I hit him on the head with one of those kunai things. After stunning him of course. I wasn't sure how else to explain what had happened and I kind of panicked but besides, he really did kind of deserve it, but I really didn't mean to hit him too hard and I hope he's okay."

"He'll soon wish he wasn't," the Hokage announced as she leaned back in her chair. "But that doesn't matter. What was that about stunning him?"

Harry had lowered his wand after the spell, but seeing the way the two guards seemed to be focused on him, he made sure to hold his arm down n as non-threatening a position as he could manage. He couldn't quite bring himself to put it away now that he'd shown just what he was capable of. "Um, it's a basic Petrificus Totalus. We learn it in our first year of school."

Naruto stepped forward suddenly and grabbed Harry by the shoulders. "I will so totally teach you how to use Kage no Bunshin if you show me how to do that jutsu," he announced before anyone else could react. Sasuke was scowling furiously at Naruto's back, but didn't move any further when once it was clear that Naruto wasn't going to do anything else.

"I don't know if I can..." Harry answered.

Naruto didn't let go. Instead he jerked Harry to the side a little so that he could stare down at his wand. "The stick thing? It's necessary?"

"My wand?" Harry replied feeling a little lost at the unexpected enthusiasm from the other boy. "Yeah, kind of. I mean, I could do a little without it when I was a kid, but nothing really formalized."

"So?" Naruto said before nodding firmly. "I'll get me one of those stick things. Where do I get one?"

"Baka, if you don't let go of my cousin..." Sasuke growled out from behind him.

Naruto complied immediately,but that was all the attention he spared on his teammate. "So?" he demanded.

"I don't know if you can," Harry answered. "You have to be a wizard to get into Diagon Alley."

Naruto grinned slowly. It was the kind of expression worthy of the Weasley Twins and was often the forbearer of the kind of bad things to come that more often than not involved a lot of sneaking, some clever spell use and things like dung bombs and slime.

"So it's limited," the Hokage said. Harry glanced passed Naruto to give her a questioning look. She was still leaning back in her chair, her eyes once more narrowed and her hands folded together in front of her. "Access. It's something your village is limiting access to."

Harry didn't like to think of it that way, particularly with all of the aggression back home over muggleborns, but he couldn't deny the fact that one either was or was not allowed to be a part of the wizard world. "I guess so."

"Inherited?"

Harry flinched. That was a little too close to the problems at home. "No," he said firmly. "Not really," he added. "I mean, my parents were, but my mother's family wasn't. And I guess my father's wasn't really either, were they. But the Potters were. Are. I'm still a Potter. Sort of." Harry flushed even as he trailed off uncertainly.

Sasuke didn't give him much time to be embarrassed about the whole thing. "Who trained you in this?" he demanded. It was the same question he'd asked before, but somehow it didn't seem as ominous this time. Maybe because everyone seemed to be taking Harry's big news very calmly. As if people did these kinds of things everyday. And he supposed, around here, maybe they did. It made being so stressed out about telling them seem kind of silly.

"There's a school, my school, Hogwarts."

Sasuke nodded but he was still frowning. "And they taught you to fight like this?"

Harry frowned. "No, they teach us how to cast spells. We're not supposed to fight while we're at school." At least, the majority of the student population wasn't supposed to be getting into fights while they were at school. Just Harry was supposed to be the exception it seemed like.

"Someone taught you to," Sasuke countered sharply. He was back to glaring, but it wasn't the typical glare that Harry was beginning to become very accustom to. No, this was more the "I-know-you're-not-telling-me-everything" kind of glare.

Harry sighed. There was no sense in telling them about magic and not telling them at least a little about Voldemort. "There's kind of war going on back home. There've been some – incidences at school. I learn fast." Short, sweet, and to the point – now time to move on. "So am I in trouble?"

The Hokage rolled her eyes. "The day is still young," she announced. "But no, I guess we won't throw you to the Kakashi's dogs for this one. Would we be correct in assuming that both sides of this war are using these spells?"

Harry nodded.

"Can we expect any of them to come here looking for you?"

Harry hesitated. He'd gotten so use to assuming people were out to get him these days, he wasn't sure if he could remember a time when there wasn't someone look to hurt him. But despite the obvious lack of complete security here, he seriously doubted that Voldemort could manage this one. "I don't think so, ma'am. I'd never even heard of shinobi or jutsus before coming here. I don't think anyone else had either."

"Something we'd like to keep that way," the Hokage replied gravely. She waved one hand. "Alright, I'm done with you for now. We'll increase our standard guard and keep an eye out for anyone else targeting your clan, Uchiha," she said, addressing Sasuke. "I expect a full report from you on the incident. Take your cousin home and try to keep him out of trouble. Dismissed."

Sasuke gave a curt bow then turned away sharply. He started to reach out to grab Harry's arm but stopped short. They stared at each other for a moment. Sasuke's usual glare was absent, but in it's place was one of the most blank expressions Harry had ever seen. Finally the other boy spoke, so quietly even Harry had trouble hearing him and he was standing right next to him. "I would prefer if we still remained at Naruto's until repairs can be made and I can relay my traps."

Harry didn't know what traps he was talking about, and frankly, really didn't like the sound of it. But it almost sounded like Sasuke was trying to ask him a question. So Harry shrugged. "That's fine with me," he said. "But if you break another table I'm hexing you."

Harry wasn't surprised to hear Naruto chuckling at that, but he didn't think the Hokage would be able to hear them that clearly, or that she would laugh that loudly.