The Journey Begins

The wait to return to the so-called "wizarding world" hadn't exactly gone as Harry had expected.

For one thing, the translation spell had worn off before he was able to do more than leaf through the books he had purchased, whether from the schools list or his own choice.

Which rather derailed his intention to get as much of an idea what to expect as possible.

A side effect was leaving him to think on what the Hokage had revealed after the meeting with the wizards.

[*]

"Harry, I am sure you are upset with me about not telling you about your real parents," he began, "but now I must tell you something that was deliberately kept from you. What do you know about the death of the fourth Hokage?"

"When the Kyubi attacked the village, he sacrificed himself to destroy it."

The Hokage sighed. "The Kyubi, just the other tailed beasts, Ichibi to Hachibi, is a being of Chakra. They have no physical body to be destroyed and kill them. If they are destroyed, their chakra will reform over a period of time."

"Then were is the Kyubi? If they reform-"

"The only way for humanity to deal with the tailed beasts is to seal them. The weakest, mainly the Ichibi, can be sealed within objects specially prepared for them, but the others require a living host to be sealed within."

Harry felt his blood run cold. "You don't mean-"

The Hokage sighed. "There have been two prior hosts for the Kyubi, the wife of the first Hokage and the wife of the fourth."

"You mean-"

"Only members of the Uzumaki clan have possessed the chakra network required to withstand the Kyubi's chakra being sealed within them. And after the destruction of Uzushiogakure there weren't a lot of Uzumaki to choose from."

"Wait, I was adopted. How did da- the fourth Hokage seal the Kyubi into me?"

The Hokage sighed again. "First let me tell you the last words of my successor. He told me that he wanted his son to be remembered as a hero." His eyes sharpened. "Never doubt that Minato saw you as his son." The Hokage paused, then relaxed. "As to how you survived the Kyubi? Generations ago the Uzumaki seal-masters developed a technique to blood-adopt outsiders into clans."

"You mean I was blood-adopted into the Uzumaki clan?"

"Yes, even if the clan no longer exists."

Harry paused to think it all over. "What does it mean, to have a tailed beast sealed inside me? And how have I never seen this seal?"

"The seal is only visible when chakra flows through it, and is located on your stomach. I doubt you have ever had reason to utilise chakra without a shirt. As to what it means to have the Kyubi sealed within you... from what I understand it should allow you to utilise its chakra. Beyond that... I believe that the power of the Kyubi is such that the seal has to block out any other effects it would have. The seals for other tailed beasts grant their host certain abilities, as an example I believe it was the host of the Gobi who can manifest and control steam. The major things you must remember about the matter is that if the Kyubi is ever released or manages to escape, you will die, and you cannot trust anything it tells you."

"Why didn't you tell me anything about this earlier? What if I managed to damage the seal from not knowing it existed?"

"I needed to know you would keep it secret, and that you were mature enough to be told. If another country was to learn about you housing the Kyubi, they would stop at nothing to kill or kidnap you. It was dangerous enough letting you carry Minatos name, but I had no desire to go against his wishes."

[*]

Harry had returned to his room, seeking to distract himself by going through his books, but hadn't been able to focus, and when he came back to them later the translation spell had faded and the books appeared to be just filled with scribbles.

It took time for him to begin coming to terms with what the Hokage had revealed.

It was days before he felt able to examine the seal in a mirror.

What he saw made him frown.

The seal appeared... incomplete.

It was subtle, like a story missing a word here or there, but it was there.

He could read elements of containment, to house the Kyubi surely, lines to control and open chakra pathways, and elements to prevent damage to his body, but there was nothing to prevent contact with the mind, from him being influenced by the Kyubi.

Or rather, there was something there, but he couldn't see it working completely, which raised certain questions.

Was he truly Harry or was he more the Kyubi?

What of his mother- Kushine?

Could he trust his own mind?

He found no answers before it was time to leave.

[|]

It had been a challenge to get himself adjusted to being active in what he considered night, but not entirely without precedent within ninja society.

It had been on the advice of the Hokage tat he started preparing so early, as well as why he was leaving his forehead protector behind. After all, one purpose of their design was so prospective clients could see where to go to hire them. Without any intention of picking up a mission (or indeed any other leaf ninja around) it was better to keep it safe.

And now he stood ready for transport, one hand holding onto his trunk (all his school things packed neatly) and the other holding the portkey as the hands ticked closer to time.

The owl, who had received the name Hedwig from a figure mentioned in one of the books, had been sent ahead so as to spare her from the effects of the portkey.

The alarm sounded and he braced himself, preparing for the transport to occur.

And with a lurch he was sent across the world.

With a bump he landed on a solid surface, unlike that of Diagon Alley, with the sounds of an only slightly familiar language surrounding him.

Harry opened his trunk to store the clock, making use of the space he had set aside for it.

Someone, wearing what must have been some kind of uniform approached, and said something that Harry, naturally, couldn't understand.

It crossed his mind that, if he hadn't had the time to prepare himself, it would have been... unsettling to be surrounded by people he couldn't understand.

After he failed to respond, the man withdrew a wand and spoke a few more words, and the speech around him became mostly comprehensible.

"Namikaze Harry, right," the man checked, "I'm with the ministry. We only realised once it was a bit late that you'd need a translation spell for the journey, and sent me to wait for you. You'll want to get on the train and find a compartment for the journey, the assigned 'muggleborn minders' will be bringing through anyone who missed the notice of how to reach the platform soon and the train will set off once they've had time to get aboard."

"Minders?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't know, but we set up a secret entrance to the platform, and not all the first years actually read the notice about how to get through, so we need people, usually families with a child starting this year, out to find them. Mainly by speaking loudly about the school or platform while under a weak notice-me-not charm. Keeps muggles from hearing what they're talking about."

"One thing, sorry better make it two. What's a train? And what do you mean by muggle?"

The man from the ministry sighed. "Usually it's the more rigid 'purebloods' who need help but," he muttered to himself before answering Harrys question. "The machine next to the platform. The front section is the engine, and behind it are the carriages it pulls. Just use one of the doors to get in, find a compartment and you should be good to go. As for muggles... you know, non-magical folk. You might have a different word for them. Any further questions?"

"No, thank you."

Having received all the answers he needed Harry headed for the train, being careful with his trunk.

He remembered that, in this country, children weren't allowed the use of magic, which seemed bizarre to him, outside of school, and resisted the temptation to just pick it up. From what he'd heard, chakra and magic weren't too dissimilar and his habitual chakra enhancement could count against their laws.

This attitude continued up to reaching the train, as he wasn't strong enough on his own to lift the trunk through the doorway.

Around him adults or other children were helping the students with their luggage, but asking for help just didn't occur to him.

Inside he found that the many apartments were rapidly filling with children, many in groups that suggested they were friends who knew they would be coming to Hogwarts together, but there were a few, each with at least one student his age, whose excitement made it clear they hadn't expected to see each other here.

Unwilling to intrude on such groups he moved down the train, looking for an empty apartment, into which he settled with great relief.

Just because he had large amounts of stamina didn't mean he liked wandering through an unfamiliar place.

He listened to what was being said outside the compartment as he waited for the journey to begin, or at least listened to as much as he could understand. It was quite clear that the official wasn't as skilled with the translation spell as McGonagall-sensei – professor McGonagall rather – given that there were so many people who weren't being translated.

"Do you think Harry will be here," he heard a voice ask, and focused on the conversation. Unfortunately for him the other voice in the conversation wasn't translated, but the first voice did soon continue. "Harry Potter of course, who else would I be talking about?"

Harry had been taught that coincidences fell into two types; those that cause problems and those that weren't coincidences at all, and let you know to expect trouble.

So either he was this 'Harry Potter' (or rather had been 'Harry Potter'), in which case he would have to know why he had a level of fame here, or he would be confused with this 'Harry Potter', and needed to find out about him as soon as he could.

With luck, the relevant details would be present in one of the books on recent history he had purchased, but as the translation spell had worn off he wasn't able to read them-

Harry pulled his trunk down from the rail, where he had assumed it was supposed to go, and opened it.

As he had hoped the books titles, or at least most of them, were legible, and he quickly located one of the history books and checked what it said, already planning on using the time until they reached Hogwarts to read as many of the books as he could.

Fortunately the book did indeed mention a 'Harry Potter', explaining that, about a decade ago, a dark wizard (whose name was missing for some peculiar reason) had attempted to kill the baby, only to instead be destroyed in the process.

Reports were that the baby had received a scar on his forehead before being removed by a friend of his parents.

There were no other details.

Harry dug through his trunk pulling out the other history books to see if they had any further details, but all they had was theories, without any evidence to back them up Harry noticed, and contradictions with each other, leaving him certain doubts as to how useful learning history here could be.

He started to pack the books up, wondering what the whistle sounding outside was meant to mean, when the door to the compartment opened, permitting another student entry.

"Hello, the other compartments seem to be rather crowded. Can I join you?"


AN: those who read my other stories should have a good idea of why this chapter took so long. In any case, I dug out my copies of Harry Potter for research purposes, and once again the research will have to wait a while until it sees use.

You may have noticed a certain level of coming up with explanations for a moment in the books, as after all fanfiction gives us the chance to explain the inexplicable from the original story.

I am disappointed in the lack of takers for my challenge (at least so far). Even if you feel that your writing isn't perfect, feel free to have a go anyway. It seems to me that there are too many accounts without stories to their name, which is particularly disappointing when they have a great username.