Chapter 2: Triwizard Tournament

"He's not worth it mate," Harry said in what he hoped was a soothing voice, placing one hand gently on his friend's shoulder, "is he Hermione, not worth it at all?"

Thankfully, Hermione understood what was expected of her, "Of course not, you shouldn't let him get to you Ron."

The scowl remained fixed on the face of Ronald Weasley, "Bloody Malfoy. Strutting in here like he's better than I am. What's he got that I haven't."

If Draco had been there to answer he would probably have said blood, but Harry was more of the opinion that the correct answer was money. He was, however, too fond of Ron to say so outloud, "Nothing at all. So why get worked up about it?"

Ron growled, and brushed Harry's hand off his shoulder, "Bloody Malfoy," he repeated, "I'll get him one of these days, you see if I don't."

"Don't do anything rash, will you?" Hermione said.

Ron flicked a swift glance at her, "I'll try and restrain myself."

Harry looked down at his shoe tips, he was always a little bit worried when Ron was in one of these moods, he became rather aggressive and unpredictable and it almost always backfired. He looked around for some way to change the subject, "Erm, it'll make a change for us all to be arriving on the train together won't it. First time in four years."

Ron grunted.

"Oh for god's sake," Harry snapped, "cheer up you miserable sod. You're worth ten Malfoys and you know it."

"Thanks mate," Ron said, "you're a really good friend."

Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered something about boys that sounded none too complimentary, then in a louder voice she said, "Hadn't we all better start getting changed?"

All three of them hastily pulled on their robes, so that they were all dressed and ready when the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station in the middle of the night, with the rain lashing against the windows of the carriages and the lake beyond rolling and thrashing like a chained beast frantic to regain its freedom.

"See ya at the feast Harry, if we don't ruddy drown!" Hagrid called out to them as he chivvied the first year students towards the boats moored on the tempestuous lake, waving at them before he turned his enormous back on all three of them and began to lead the new students, who looked impossibly small compared with his enormous bulk, on their way down the windswept and rain lashed path.

As for themselves, Harry Ron and Hermione were grateful to seek the sanctuary of one of the carriages, pulled by who knew what sort of magic but which did offer the comforting certainty of shelter from the storm raging outside. As they headed towards one of the nearest carriages Harry saw that it was occupied, he caught a brief flash of orange and bubblegum pink, but he had no time to wonder who was in it as he dived in, followed swiftly by Hermione and then Ron, who shut the door behind them.

It was only as the carriage began to move that they were able to take in the true strangeness of their fellow travellers.

Lined up on the seats opposite them where three people, who looked a little younger than Harry and his friends were themselves, staring at them with the same intent curiosity with which they were themselves being examined by Harry, Ron and Hermione. The first of them, sitting opposite Harry on the far left of the carriage, was a boy with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit with blue trim. Then there was the girl with the short bubblegum pink hair, sitting opposite Ron, wearing a red sort of blouse/skirt combo thing that left the bottom half of her legs bare, down to the blue sandals which, Harry now noted, all of these strange people were wearing. Then lastly, sitting opposite Ron, was the taller boy with the black hair and the dark, brooding eyes. He was dressed all in black, with leather bands around his elbows. None of them were exactly dressed for the weather, and they all wore strange blue headbands with a squiggly leaf symbol etched upon it.

"Er," Hermione sounded strangely breathless, "hello, I don't believe we've met?"

Harry looked round to see that she was holding out her hand to the black haired boy, who seemed unaware of the strange way that she was looking at him. In fact it seemed to Harry that her tongue was practically hanging out. Ron did not look pleased with this development one bit.

"Didn't fancy putting school robes on then?" he asked, "Not cool enough for you I suppose?"

"Huh?" the blonde haired boy looked puzzled, "Oh no, we aren't students. We're shinobi of the Leaf, we just wanted to see how these weird carriage things worked, I mean what's pulling them, is it some kind of rare chakra?"

Harry shrugged, he wasn't particularly interested in the carriages at the moment, not when there were more pressing mysteries to solve, "Excuse me, but what are shinobi?"

"Ninja." Said the girl out of one corner of her mouth, she seemed to be regarding Hermione with great distaste.

"Ninjas?" Ron laughed sarcastically, "You three are ninjas, oh give me a break."

The blonde haired one made a strange sign with his hands, "Transform!"

There was a puff of smoke, and when it cleared there was no longer a boy sitting opposite them but a buxom blonde girl, who happened to be completely and absolutely stark naked.

"Believe it, it's the truth." she cooed.

Harry and Ron's eyes widened, and jets of blood spurted out of their noses as they contemplated the vision of loveliness before them, until there was another puff of smoke and the boy in the jumpsuit reappeared where the beautiful woman had been a moment before.

"Huh?" Harry said, "What happened, where'd the girl go?"

The blonde boy laughed, "Got you with my Sexy Jutsu! You two are going to grow up to be pervs."

The pink haired girl hit him in the face, "Naruto! Next time you want to pull a stupid stunt like that don't do when I'm sitting right next to you."

"Okay, okay," Naruto said, his voice slightly muffled by the bruise, "I got it. No need to hit me."

"How did you do that?" Harry said, and without a wand.

"We don't need wands or any stuff like that." the one called Naruto said, "You must be some of the wizards who live around this place?"

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said, "and this is Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."

"Hi." Ron said, still eyeing the object of Hermione's fascinated stare with distaste.

"I'm Naruto Uzamaki, and these are my team mates Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."

"Well then tell Sasuke Ucheeto or whatever his name is to keep his eyes off Hermione." Ron snapped.

"Leave Sasuke alone," Sakura said, "it's your Hermione that's doing the staring, hey! Point your eyes somewhere else."

Harry watched the way Naruto looked at Sakura, and he seemed as much put out by the way Sakura was attacking Hermione as Ron was at the way Hermione was staring at Sasuke.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, everyone's so fascinated by Sasuke." Naruto muttered, "But is he going to be the next Hokage? Not if I have anything to do with it."

"So how did you get here anyway?" Harry asked.

"It's a long story," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head, "that old guy Dumbledore said he'd explain everything. Let's just say we're houseguests until we can figure out a way to get home." The carriage pulled to a stop outside the gates of Hogwarts, "Catch ya later." Naruto leapt out of the carriage, followed by Sakura and Sasuke, who disappeared across the grounds and out of sight.

"I didn't like the look of them." Ron said.

"Big surprise." Hermione replied.

"You only liked Sasuke because he's handsome."

"I don't like people just because their handsome."

*coughLockhartcough*

"Did you two think that there was something weirdly familiar about those three?" Harry said.

"Come off it." Ron said, "What are you talking about?"

Harry stopped to think, what was he talking about? "Never mind. Come on let's go to the feast."


"What a weird bunch," Sasuke said as the three Ninja ran across the grounds, dodging the rain.

"Yeah, and that Hermione. She seems worse than Ino." Sakura complained.

"I don't know," Naruto said, who felt a strange sense of connection to the Harry kid with the glasses, "didn't you think there was something familiar about those three?"

"Familiar?" Sasuke said, "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind." Naruto said, "Come on, let's keep going."


All three of them dripping wet, and Hermione still rubbing her neck where Professor had almost throttled her by mistake, Harry and his friends pushed their way through the press and into the Great Hall. By habit, they began to make their way to the far end where the Gryffindor House table was and always had been located. There, they found a rather unpleasant sight waiting for them.

"Oh no." Ron groaned.

Oh no was right. It was those three self proclaimed ninjas again, sitting there bold as anything, apparently unaware of the curious gazes that they were drawing from all across the hall. Harry noticed that, curious as they were, most of the other students appeared to be giving them something of a wide berth- there were empty seats all around them as if the three were ill.

"Let's sit with them." Hermione said.

"Are you mad?" Ron said.

"I'm trying to be friendly." Hermione huffed.

"You're trying to get in with that Sasuke." Ron retorted.

"Hmph," Hermione said, flouncing off and sitting down next to the tall, brooding ninja with a bright smile on her face. Sakura eyed her suspiciously.

"Come on," Harry said, "we'd best stop her embarrassing herself."

Harry and, more reluctantly, Ron took their places beside the three strangers, and it was only as once they were all seated that Harry noticed something rather odd about them, "Aren't you dressed a little brightly to be ninjas?" he said, indicating Naruto's orange jumpsuit.

"Huh?" Naruto said, "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind." Harry said, "So how did you three get here then?" he was not so much curious as to how they had arrived as interested if there was some way he might help them get back, and expedite the departure of these three from his life before they caused too much trouble- say before Hermione made too much of a fool of herself, or Ron decided to kill Sasuke.

"Well it's a long story," Naruto began, "but- hey you guys can do summoning too?"

Naruto shot out a hand and grabbed something which, after a moment, turned out to be Trevor, Neville's toad whose mind seemed permanently fixed on escape.

"Hi there," Naruto said, "you are sure are small aren't you? What's your name huh? Do you know Gamakichi, he's a friend of mine?"

"Trevor?" Neville came rushing down from the other end of the table, holding out one hand for his wayward toad. His eyes widened at the sight of Naruto up close, "Um, thanks?"

"Trevor huh." Naruto said, "Come on, did I upset you why won't you speak to me?"

"Naruto, why are you talking to a frog?" Sakura asked.

Harry blinked his bottle green eyes, "You mean you don't know what he's up to?"

"Of course not."

"He's just confused; he's forgotten nothing works the same here." Sasuke said.

"But why's he talking to a bloody toad?" Ron demanded.

"Come on, everyone knows that toads can talk, right?" Naruto said.

Everyone looked at him like he was mad.

"What?" Naruto said.

"No they don't." Harry said.

"Of course they do, believe it." Naruto stood up, "Here, I'll prove it to you." he bit into his thumb and made a series of complicated motions with his hands, ending with him slamming his hand palm down onto the table, "Summoning Jutsu!"

Strange kanji spread across the oaken table for a moment and a cloud of smoke enveloped the watching witches and wizards. When it had cleared, a fat yellow toad with a chubby face and a silly grin wearing a blue jacket was sitting in front of Naruto, his hands raised in greeting.

"Hi everybody," the yellow toad said in a high pitched voice, "long time no see huh friend?"

Naruto gave a gargled squawking noise, "Gamatatsu? Where's Gamakichi? I wanted to make a good impression!"

Gamatatsu looked a little crestfallen, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see you again." he turned around and looked up for a moment, "Gee whiz, this place is just made of coolness."

"It, it's talking?" Neville said.

"I don't believe it." Ron said.

"Hey, you brought me a friend." Gamatatsu hopped excitedly over to Trevor, "Nobody's ever been this nice to me." he and Trevor appeared to hiss at one another for a moment, before Gamatatsu looked up at Neville and said, "You're toad says he hates you."

Neville performed a pitch perfect face-fault.

"Sasuke," Hermione did not seem at all interested in Gamatatsu or Neville's problems, "who is that white haired man with the mask on his face?" she pointed up to the staff table, where a man with only one eye showing out of his whole face was sitting between Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, both of whom appeared to be trying to engage him in conversation.

Sasuke didn't even look to see who she mean, "That's Kakashi, our Jonin, our elite ninja leader. Our sensei."

At that moment Professor Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat loudly, "Before the feast begins, there has arisen a small matter which it is my duty to clear up for you now. As you may have noticed, Hogwarts is currently playing host to four shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. They are here through no fault of their own, and nobody can tell for how long they will be staying. For the simple reason that the life they live demands great courage, it has been decided to billet them in Gryffindor Tower for the duration of their stay but I ask you to treat them all with the greatest of respect for the duration of their stay. I must also emphasise, for those of you to whom respect does not come naturally, that despite their young age and the fact that they possess no magic as we understand it these four are all of them formidable warriors; I advise you therefore not antagonise them, or give them any reason to harm you."

"Damn right." Naruto muttered.

"And now," Dumbledore spread his arms out wide, "let the feast commence!"

Food appeared on all the glittering plates, and Gamatatsu cried, "Wow, they got grub here as well. This is just awesome!"

"You call this food." Naruto said, "I can't eat this, where's the ramen?"

"Don't you get it yet?" Sasuke said, "You're going to be a long time waiting for something like that around here."

Naruto cringed, and when he began to eat there was a look of vague disgust on his face.

The feast passed peaceably enough, if only because everyone was too busy eating to do any talking, though that did not stop Sakura from shooting the occasional barbed look at Hermione. No sooner had the feast finished though, then Dumbledore rose to speak again.

"It is my said duty to inform you," he said gravely, "that the inter house Quidditch Championship will not be taking place this year. This is because of a special event which will be occurring throughout the year. The Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this very year. There is little time now to discourse upon the history of the tournament, and I wouldn't want to intimidate potential participants, suffice to say that it involves the three great Wizarding schools: Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, each selecting a Champion to compete in tests of their skill and courage for the honour of the school. Eager as I know you will all be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic has decided to restrict the number of would-be Champions to those who are already of age; that is to say, over the age of seventeen." there were groans as he said that, "And I will personally be making sure that no one hoodwinks our impartial judge into selecting a Hogwarts champion below that age."

"First bloody ninja, now this," Ron muttered, "life here's going to be a bit different this year isn't it?"

"When's life here ever normal?" Harry responded.

"Good point."

"Tests of skill and courage," Naruto closed his eyes in thought for a moment before springing to his feet and pointing his fist out across the great hall, "All right listen up all you witches and wizards or whatever you are. I, Naruto Uzamaki, hereby declare that I'm going to win this Triwizard Tournament for the glory of the Leaf Village. Believe it!"

Kakashi had his head in his hands, the rest of the school seemed to be taking it's cue from Professor Snape, who was staring at the spiky blonde haired ninja with undisguised hostility of the kind that he usually reserved for Harry and his friends. It was almost refreshing to see him death-staring at somebody else that way. Then Harry caught sight of Marcus Flint, the big Slytherin who captained their Quidditch team, making his way toward the Gryffindor table.

"You've got a pretty big mouth for such a small kid," he sneered, "you might want to think about keeping it shut in future."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto said, "Well if I was going to do that I certainly wouldn't do it based on your advice, you big jerk."

Flint growled as he reached for his wand.

"Ooh what are you going to do huh? Put a spell on me?" Naruto said.

"If I did, there wasn't anything you could do about is there, mudblood." Flint spat.

"What did you call me?"

"Mudblood. Filthy, dirty, stinking mudblood. You and all your stupid freak friends."

Naruto growled and leapt past Flint to land in the empty space between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, "That does, it no one insults my friends and gets away with it."

"Naruto," Sakura began.

"Quiet Sakura, I'm going to show this jerk who he's dealing with." Naruto held one hand out and began to make weird prodding motions with the other. As he did so a ball of blue light, whirling round and round like water, began to coalesce in the palm of his steady hand, and when it had reached a certain size Naruto began to charge forward toward Flint, who seemed practically hypnotised by what was going on, "Rasengan!"

He slammed the ball of light into Flint's stomach, and the Slytherin pitched forward and cried out as his robes were shredded and burnt away under the power of it. For a moment he and Naruto were frozen in position, like figures in tableaux, before Flint was hurled spinning backwards across the hall until he struck the back wall with a heavy thump that brought a shower of plaster falling down on his head.

There was a moment's stunned silence, and then the whole of the Gryffindor table burst into applause as Naruto sat down.

"That was awesome." Ron said, "Can you teach us that thing?"

Naruto just laughed.