Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I gain anything (but writing and editing experience) by using the plot and characters from these works. Naruto and the Harry Potter series belong to their respective creators, editors, publishers, and companies.
Summary: They were all trying to escape, whether it was from fate, war, grief, abuse, hate. They were all trying to escape. There are many Harry Potter spoilers for those who have not read the books, and just as many spoilers for the Naruto series.
Key:
text is text
spell you can tell when it's a spell, usually as perversion of a Latin phrase
"dialogue" a foreign language, the opposite language of the world they are in
Chapitre quatre
Harry stood in the clearing again, some of the trees had bare spots, while most of the wildflowers were dead. He regarded his father with a dead expression.
"I will be testing how much mental pain you can withstand before passing out," James explained as he came forward, kunai spinning idly around one finger.
Harry took a deep breath as his father approached him, kunai poised. He began by pricking his son's finger, causing the rest of the wild flowers in the clearing to wither. Harry gritted his teeth as he held in his pain. James then made a shallow cut along his son's cheek; a small fissure appeared in the ground. Harry fell to the grassy floor whimpering in pain and biting his lip to keep from screaming, which in turn began to bleed when his teeth broke the skin. That consequently killed off a few more leaves from the surrounding trees.
James continued to poke and prod his son; each little wound killed something in the clearing or it created cracks in the grassy terrain. James seemed satisfied after ten minutes, he was proud of his son's progress, but he wondered if the boy could handle anything else. As of yet, the child had not screamed, though his fingers were embedded into the earth, clenching the dirt as if it was a life line.
Without a second's hesitation, James swept the blade across his son's chest. The ground shook beneath him, and a deep fissure appeared beside them, running across the diameter of the glade. Harry was screaming bloody murder, his arms wrapped tightly to around his chest in an attempt to staunch the blood flow. It was at this time his father left his mind, thus causing the boy to come back to the present. However, the agony was still there. His mind felt like it was splitting open.
Harry couldn't stop screaming. He clutched at his head, and tried to will the pounding to stop. Everything was too bright in the room, and his lungs were beginning to ache. It hurt so much, and there was no stopping the pain, it just kept coming. It hurt! The boy was crying as he writhed on the floor in agony. His eyes were tightly closed and his hands clenched his aching head.
James watched his son, before he knelt down beside him. Remorse flashed across his doe brown eyes. Despite those feelings, he stood up and left the child to heal on his own, it was for the best, it was for the best that he became strong. …For the best.
Kushina and Minato were smiling at their place at the dining table. Kakashi was across from them seated by the wide-eyed five-year-old. Harry couldn't help but stare at Kushina. There was a large bump rising from her dress. There was a baby in there!
"Son, I'm sure Uzumaki-san does not like being stared at," James chided from his place at the end of the table.
"But there's a baby," Harry whispered in wonderment, which caused Kakashi to snicker beside him. "How…?"
"That's a discussion for when you're older," Minato stated while smiling cheerfully as he looped an arm around his wife's shoulder.
"Oh I'm sure he can handle," Kushina was quickly cut off by her husband and…uncle in-law's deadpan expressions. "When you're older," she addressed the boy and smiling her too large smile.
"Okay," Harry continued to look at the bump though, as if trying to figure out how a baby got in there. Wouldn't it be dead by now, how could it breathe?
Kushina's smile faltered slightly and she scrunched up her nose, "It's always moving!" she exclaimed as she hit the table with her fist, "I blame you," she stated, glaring at her now laughing spouse. "I'm barely done with my second trimester and the kid won't stop moving or kicking, I'm fairly certain that's not normal!" she growled, her arms folded over her chest.
"It can move in there?" Harry asked, suddenly across the table and staring intensely at the rise in Kushina's dress.
Sighing in annoyance, she took the five-year-old's hand and placed it on her stomach where the baby was moving most actively. Harry's eyes grew comically wide and his mouth dropped open. James watched the whole interaction with his usual smile, a slight upward tug on either corner of his mouth. Minato was laughing with his large smile in place while Kakashi began to shake with silent laughter.
Harry eventually moved back to his seat across from the table, every now and then his green eyes would stray to the fascinating stomach opposite him. The five of them talked about work or their plans for the baby. Eventually their conversations dwindled down to nothing and they were all beginning to rise to leave. It was at this moment that James spoke, it was something he had been thinking about for a while now.
"I would like my son to be administered the Genin test," Minato paused as he was putting on his shoes, for they had migrated over to the main entrance.
"You want what?" Minato's eyes were narrowed. The cordial events of the evening no longer seemed to matter as the Hokage stared down at his uncle with an icy look.
"He's more than ready, and I'm sure the Council would be" Minato cut James off, a storm was truly raging in the young Hokage's eyes.
"Don't you dare bring them into this! He's five years old," Minato hissed. Kushina had her hands together, prepared to separate the two men with a burst of her tenant's energy or with her chakra chains if it was necessary. Meanwhile, Kakashi had moved said five-year-old behind him, who was watching the interchange with large eyes. James, for his part, remained stoic, arms folded across his chest.
"He will be six in a few weeks, I'm sure he can handle,"
"Kakashi has only recently become a Jōnin because he is finally at a decent size," Minato countered after cutting off his uncle a second time, "Cousin looks more like a three-year-old than a six-year-old, his size will be a massive disadvantage. You would be leading your son to the slaughter if you make him a Genin so young,"
"I've trained him to not let that happen," James replied evenly, confident in his teaching skills.
Minato was silent for a moment, but that did not cause Kushina to move away from her preventative position. "What if I teach him the Hiraishin jutsu?" there were gasps from everyone but James and Harry, however, Harry was trembling with excitement at the possibility of learning such a complex technique. "So when you do throw him brashly into the Genin world, he can at least have a hidden tool to protect himself better,"
"That seems a fair trade, but do not expect this to get you out of your paperwork," the serious moment was broken by Minato's grimace at the mention of paperwork.
"I doubt your clones will do you much good since they usually have one use," James stated offhandedly as he opened the front door for his guests. Kakashi was already moving toward the window, and Minato just paled further. James had a point; his clones were nearly useless when it came to doing paperwork!
Minato brought his cousin into his office, which gave the boy a nice reprieve from his rigorous training schedule. While Minato had his clones sort through his paperwork, - mission requests on the left, propaganda from the council in the trash, concerns about the Kyūbi breaking free when Kushina gives birth in the trash as well, etcetera - Minato explained the theory behind the technique. Firstly, he set up a privacy and secrecy barrier that disabled any bugs in his office, as well as made sure no one could come in without permission and making it very difficult to eavesdrop.
After giving the eager five-year-old almost six-year-old a rough overview, Minato handed the youth the many scrolls he wrote over the concept, including his references about space-time jutsus. From there he asked Harry to read through them while he began working on the tedious amounts of paperwork; however, Minato encouraged Harry to ask questions when he thought of them.
By the end of the day, Minato learned that that had been a mistake, Harry had many questions, brilliant questions actually, but they made getting his work done very difficult. That meant he would have James breathing down his neck along with Kushina. The only reason his uncle would be on him about his paperwork would be due to the lack of missions coming in if he fell behind on signing the forms. Having either one yelling at him, Kushina making up for James's lack of vocal variety, was not pleasant in the least.
By the end of the week, Harry had a fairly good grasp on the concept. From that point on, it was a matter of expounding upon what he now knew as well as incorporating the various jutsus that aided Minato in understanding the concepts, thus allowing him to create the technique.
Needless to say, his secretaries were not very happy with the mess they made, or the backlash of chakra that would hit against the door of his office and sometimes create a wind that would disrupt their work place. At least Minato was keeping up with his paperwork…
After a month of Harry getting the basics down of space-time jutsus, the boy was back to reading the scrolls. Since Harry completed the basics, the scrolls he was given suddenly made much more sense; the Hiraishin now seemed more possible. It was during this time that Minato had a little breakdown.
"Why the hell am I Hokage?" he asked tiredly, glaring down at the forms in front of him. "I'm not meant to be locked indoors. This monotonous life is not what I was expecting. I haven't fought in months, I don't have time to train, all I do is paperwork," Minato sighed before picking up his preferred writing tool and forcing himself back to work.
"You're protecting people, Konoha is your responsibility," Harry sated slowly as he looked up from the scroll, his words came out clearly for a change. "You're the best ninja in the village and all the paperwork you go through will help Konoha in some way," Minato looked at his cousin, a small smile in place.
"I know, it's just…easy to forget," Harry nodded, smiling slightly at his cousin in turn. "Thank you, Cousin," Minato whispered before he moved back to his loathsome enemy, paperwork.
It was a good thing Harry was well versed in the art of throwing; it made the next steps to the Hiraishin technique much easier for Minato to teach him. It was September and Harry had come a long way in such a short amount of time. He could talk fluently and knowledgably about space-time techniques with Minato, and could perform a few minor forms of the space-time jutsus. But now was the time for Minato to explain how chakra flowed through one's body while completing the jutsu, since there were no hand signs for it.
Minato closed his eyes and focused on his cousin's chakra as he circulated it correctly through his body. "Good…" The six-year-old continued to circulate his chakra around his body, spreading it through him in the correct pattern.
"I want you to spar with Hatake-kun and try to keep your chakra circulating that way; I'll send a clone to observe the session. Once you have this down, it will only be a matter of sending yourself either to the marked senbon's location or wherever you are looking at," Harry nodded, making sure his body continued to circulate his chakra the way Minato described. "You really only mark objects when traveling a great distance, or do not have a clear line of sight for where you're going," Harry nodded again, excitement shining in his eyes.
It was chaos. People screaming everywhere, and the acrid smoke of burning bodies stung his lungs, and made him feel sick. The ground shook and without having to close his eyes, Harry could see the Kyūbi's chakra pulsating far away from the village. He had been abandoned in a now crumbling building. Screams reached his ears as those trapped in the building next to them burned to death.
How was this a safe place? His father brought him away from their home and into the market area, an area which was now ablaze. There were other children in here; soot already dirtied their faces as smoke began to seep into their building. Fear also decorated their eyes, fear of dying, and fear of losing their loved ones.
Harry kept low to the ground, but it was still difficult to breathe. His father must have sealed off the door somehow, for no matter how hard Harry ran into it, it would not budge. It was as if a force field was pushing him back. The other children were huddled together crying, praying, and wishing for something to rescue them from their slowly approaching death.
The screams grew louder, and the heat was rising. Belatedly, the six-year-old realized the other children were now screaming because the building had caught fire. To add to the smell of burning flesh was the scent of burning plaster which made up the walls of the building.
Harry clenched his eyes closed; he didn't want to see what would happen when the fire finally reached them. However, while he had his eyes closed he noticed a swirling energy around the door. It felt like the rawer, wilder energy inside his father… It suddenly came to him! His father had placed a barrier on the door and windows.
The more he looked at it, the more sense it made, the more he understood its purpose. If he focused he could…bend the energy another way, maybe even dispel it. Opening his eyes, Harry could still see the energy moving and shimmering like some ethereal light. He pushed some of his wild energy toward the remnants of his father's energy. It began to shift, and soon the energy dissolved before his eyes. To make sure that was the case he closed his eyes and focused once more.
"Follow me," he called to the children, now able to open the door. They quickly scurried out of the building and out into the burning, crumbling village.
Green eyes darted around; the buildings would soon come toppling down into the streets. They had to move to some better form of shelter. Harry knew where to go. They would go to the Hokage Monument, the overhanging rock should catch any collapsing debris. Plus, it was far from the current fires, which should allow the ninjas plenty of time to douse the flames before they reached the mountain.
Harry led the kids to their new refuge. All of them huddled together, and watched as the village slowly burned and the roars of the Kyūbi rattled their ear drums, despite being kilometers upon kilometers away. After an indeterminable amount of time the roars stopped, the ground ceased to rumble, but the cackling of fires continued.
The Kyūbi couldn't be dead, there was too much chakra for it to… Closing his eyes, Harry sought out the familiar demonic chakra, and to his surprise, it was now mixing with a chakra he had seen before, a chakra that had been hidden within Kushina…
Cousin Minato's baby was the new Kyūbi vessel, meaning the Kyūbi was released during the childbirth, which means Kushina's…she's dead. Harry focused on the area he felt the Kyūbi's chakra at, Cousin Minato had been fighting it, but….but he was gone too! Cousin Minato sacrificed himself to seal the demon inside of his own child.
Harry knew he wasn't supposed to cry, but he couldn't help it, he couldn't stop crying.
Kakashi was the first one to find them, he had a bundle in his arms that he was carrying toward the Hokage Tower. Harry already knew what was in the foureen-year-old Jōnin's arms.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" He asked weakly as he moved closer to the baby in Kakashi's arms.
"Boy," Kakashi replied stiffly, his voice gruff with emotion. He had lost everyone from Team Minato now, and Harry could practically feel Kakashi's grief.
Kakashi crouched down next to the six-year-old who hesitantly reached out his hands.
"Naruto…" he whispered, as he locked emerald eyes with hazy blue.
It was in that moment that the child was transported to a dim place, a cell lay before him, the Kyūbi raging behind it. Minato was there, along with Kushina. Harry could see chakra connecting them to the seal on the Kyūbi's door, Minato must have…
"Cousin," Minato addressed Harry while he and his wife continued to struggle with the demon fox. They were trying to suppress its chakra and keeping it behind the seal's cage. Minato broke Harry's train of thought, though the boy was happy to hear his voice, if only for one last time.
"You're both…" Harry's tears were renewed, and he wiped at them furiously.
"Dead?" Kushina supplied in her usual brash manner, "Believe it! Now either help us suppress this fur ball or get out!" Kushina had her sleeves rolled up as the portion of her spirit fought with the enraged demon, her chakra chains were forcing it into submission but it seemed the demon's brush with freedom had strengthened it.
"What do I need to do?" Harry asked from his place behind them, his voice was soft and unsure. He didn't want to be a hindrance, and he didn't want to mess anything up.
"Focus on our energy, I know you can sense chakra," Minato started to explain, his hands moved in a series of complex signs. "Try to emulate the way we are sending our chakra to the seal, it will help suppress the Kyūbi," Harry nodded with determination.
With his mental image's eyes closed, he studied the way his cousins' chakra moved toward the seal. It took a little while, but soon Harry was contributing to the taming of the Kyūbi. In a short time Naruto and the Kyūbi would be coexisting "happily."
Harry felt faint but he forced himself to remain present as Minato and Kushina turned around to face him. The Kyūbi was growling lowly behind them, but it was held down by chains. Kushina and Minato were beginning to fade, but the boy had several important questions, mostly pertaining to Naruto.
"Hey brat!" Kushina was fading faster than Minato, perhaps less of her soul had been transferred into the seal? "Take care of my kid, alright?" Again, Harry gave a determined nod.
"I might wish for the village to regard my son as a hero, but I know they never will. Too many people have died this night for them to disassociate Naruto from the Kyūbi," Harry nodded slowly; however, he was not sure how people would mistake Naruto for a big fiery demon fox. "I want you to take care of Naruto, maybe even coax Kakashi-kun into joining you," Minato had that wolfish smile on his face again, and at this moment it made Harry smile despite bringing tears to his eyes. This would be the last time he'd see that smile…
"But keep him away from Ja-Shika" Minato corrected himself, not sure if the boy had heard his father's name before, "I'd like him to have a childhood," Minato's soul was fading rapidly into the seal, his image steadily became more and more transparent.
"I won't let him near Naruto," Harry vowed as the world grew dark around the edges of his vision. But the boy did note that the scenery was changing to a blank white space. Just as Harry was about to pass out, he saw a newborn baby lying in the center of the blank space, it was Naruto's mental image… "I'll protect you," Harry whispered as darkness claimed him.
Kakashi gave a cry of shock when his six-year-old friend suddenly collapsed. Of course James chose that exact moment to arrive. Kakashi backed away from the usually stoic ANBU and cradled the baby to his chest in a protective manner as he eyed the ANBU warily. Hopefully he wouldn't be blamed for this.
"Please Hokage-sama!?" Harry could barely see over the desk as he pleaded with the Sandaime. Sarutobi was grimacing as he regarded the desperation in the child's eyes.
"You are six, you are not an adult, and the Council will not see any merit in leaving the child with his family, even if it was his parents' dying wish," the words seemed to pain the aged man, and regret etched his wrinkled visage. Clearly he wished to leave Naruto in his care, or at the very least, in Kakashi's care…
"Perhaps Shika" Sarutobi was cut off by Harry's chilling glare.
"They told me to keep Naruto away from him, to give him a childhood," the child stated in a glacial, even tone that remained effective despite his inarticulate speech.
"Then you would have to take the Genin test, there is no other way you could move out of your house, which you would need to do if you were raising Naruto and Shika-san must not be near him," the old man's words brought hope to the child, but the man was not done thinking out loud. A plan was already forming, though most of the details had worked themselves out during the first part of his speech. "But no landlord in their right mind would rent an apartment out to a six-year-old, which would mean you'd have to live with someone of at least Chuunin rank, preferably Jōnin if the person is younger than twenty…"
Harry could see where the old man was going, and could not help but smile. "So I should pass the Genin test and move in with Hatake-san?"
"Hmm…? Oh yes! Hatake-kun does fit that description nicely, doesn't he," Harry had to bite the insides of his mouth to keep from laughing.
Though the old man began to frown again, granted Harry could tell it was for show, "Though that would bring up the matter of your Genin team…" Sarutobi was now stroking his gray beard in feigned thought, "If you were a co-guardian of the feared "demon vessel"" the Hokage held his hand up at this point, as if to say that was the general public's opinion, not his. This abated Harry's anger slightly, well…it actually just directed the anger back at the general public, "you would become a target, thus requiring an unbiased yet powerful teacher. A teacher that would regard Naruto in a good light and could take both of you out of the village if needed,"
Harry was completely lost now, who was this teacher? Who was powerful, had a good standing with Minato and so would love Naruto, as well as be allowed to leave the country at will…
There was a loud crash off to the side, which caused Harry jerk his head toward the now open office door. There was a flushed and frazzled looking secretary giving her apologizes as an old man began to yell at the Hokage.
"I sneezed just now, were you talking about me?" the old man had long white hair that reached past his bottom, and he had red lines on his face. Harry deduced that the man was prone to smiling broadly and making funny faces, due to the laugh lines around his mouth and his crow's-feet. The man also wore a red, gray, and black outfit with a few accents of green on his vest like thing.
"Hmm…? Ah yes! You would fit a powerful ninja with the ability to leave the country and possessing a deep fondness for anything related to Namikaze-kun," Harry regarded the old, but younger than Sarutobi, man owlishly.
"How could Naruto leave with us?" Harry asked, turning back to the Sandaime. Harry's supposed "sensei" was in some sort of open mouth, disbelieving stupor and so bored the child. "Hatake-san will be his real parent, right?"
"Yes, but Hatake-kun would have a hard time starting as a Jōnin while fending off assassination attempts on Naruto and raising the baby," the other man was still in his stupor, but at least his gray eyes traveled between the two talking.
"And the Council's not going to mind me taking Naruto with us?" Harry asked, his head tilted to the side and his brows furrowed slightly.
"Considering they're already talking about creating him into an emotionless weapon of mass destruction…" Sarutobi stated blandly, one eyebrow was raised slightly as a challenge for the boy to refute his logic.
"So Hatake-san adopting him and Naruto going with me on a training mission would be passed off as…making him into a…weapon?" Sarutobi smiled in a way that scrunched up his eyes, which made them appear as if they were twinkling at the bright six-year-old.
"Can I take the Genin test now?" Sarutobi nodded and ushered the boy out of the room before he brought his old student out of his stupor.
It took a little convincing, but the Council was finally won over. Both he and Danzo had been offering to morph the docile newborn into Konoha's own secret weapon. However, the Council agreed that having a Sannin help train the infant, along with the Hatake prodigy, would likely create the best weapon, one that was heavy hitting yet versatile.
Jiraiya was a crestfallen to hear that a fourteen-year=old Jōnin would be adopting his student's son rather than him. But, Sarutobi told him straight out that Jiraiya would only corrupt the boy, something even the council feared; who needed another super pervert? At least this way they would both be happy. Naruto would be too young to be corrupted by Jiraiya's perverted ways, and Kakashi would have time to grow and become more capable of protecting the infant.
James was a whole other matter.
He was livid! They were going to take his son away! Sure he was proud, happy even. His son was now a Genin, but how could he protect Harry with him moving out. And he was moving into that Cyclops's house! The only consolation was the fact that his son would be trained by one of the legendary Sannin, granted, said Sannin was also one of the country's biggest perverts. To add to matters, he was going to be taking care of the demon. Yes it was the Cyclops's legal kid, but James knew Harry would be the one raising him.
James rationale would often remind him that the baby was not the demon it carried, but it was difficult for him to accept that. It did not help that Kushina had been an excellent Jinchūriki, and his nephew a great shinobi. That should reassure him that their child would be a fine vessel for the demon, but it still worried him. What if the couple had put too much faith in their own offspring? In addition, Naruto was likely to be attack by his parents' enemies, and that would put his son in unneeded danger. James also knew that taking care a baby and child would soften Harry. Harry would slack off in his training to care for that child, and the ANBU shuddered to think where that would lead. After Lily had Harry, James practically stopped his auror training, and then with hiding from Voldemort he really had to stop his training, but he never picked it back up; because there was his wife and their precious little baby, and it was more important to be with them than training to protect them.
James saw so much of Lily in his son already. He just knew Harry would give his life to protect that damn baby… just like her. It was for that reason he saw his kin as a demon rather than the innocent baby he was. That baby would kill his son, one way or another.
How could he possibly protect his son now? How would he spend his free time if he couldn't train his son? James had tried to contest the Hokage and the Council's rulings, but they were obstinate.
Perhaps it was for the best? Harry would learn how to take care for himself and others, he would be under a different teaching regime which would allow him to flourish as a ninja, and he would have time to digest all of James's teachings.
Grinding his teeth together, James decided it was time to pay a certain Toad Sage a visit.
"Jiraiya-sensei?" Harry eyed the rather pale man cautiously. He was twitchy and seemed sensitive to light…Harry was familiar with those symptoms and quickly shot his father a look. In return, James just raised an eyebrow before crouching down and holding his son's arms.
"I want to know if he takes you to any brothels, public bath houses, or casinos," James stated, causing the already pale man to jump. This reaction caused the corner of James's mouth to twitch upwards.
"Be safe," He released his hold on Harry after the six-year-old nodded his head slowly. He then walked over to the now backing away Sannin, and James's expression was distorted by a cruel smile. Taking a quick glance at his son, James noted the boy was saying goodbye to Kakashi, as well as taking the baby from him. James's smile grew as he leaned in slightly to whisper to the shaking legend.
"Last night was only a taste of the hell I can give you. Defile my son in any way and you'll spend a few more hours under that pretty "red light"," James then apparated away, thus leaving a shaking ninja in his wake. The forbidden curses were not forbidden here, and for that James was quite thankful.
"Bye Namikaze-kun" Kakashi shifted his weight from foot to foot. Harry nodded as he took the bundle out of Kakashi's arm with a surprising gentleness. "Have you memorized the books I gave you?" Kakashi asked nervously. He had bought several parenting books on how to take care of children for the both of them. Thanks to Obito's present he was able to memorize the contents in an hour, and so passed them off to the six-year-old.
"Yes," Harry whispered, his eyes moved away from the child in his arms to look into Kakashi's remaining cobalt eye.
The child was transported into Kakashi's mindscape, he had done so accidentally on several occasions, but he meant to this time. The main reason he did so now was because he knew how frightening Kakashi's mind appeared, but whenever Harry paid a visit it would brighten up a little. Kakashi's mind would need to brighten before Harry left.
"Nami-kun?!" Kakashi's mental image reared back slightly, and he stumbled into a dust covered piece of furniture.
The young teen's mind was that of his old family home, however it was dilapidated. There was a dried pool of blood in the center of the decrepit room, signifying the emotional trauma of his father's suicide. There were other signs of his psychological damage, a portrait of Team Minato hung in tatters on the wall, and walls that were molded or had their wallpaper peeling off. There were floorboards missing, and most of the room was covered in dust or spider webs.
"Take care Hatake-san," Harry stated, as he rushed towards the older boy to give him a hug. Kakashi's mental image returned the hug with zealous. He held the boy tightly and burrowed his masked face into Harry's shoulder.
"Be careful, I don't think I could lose you too," it was a quiet statement, yet thick with emotion.
"Then same to you," Harry countered just as soft. He closed his eyes tightly, "Naruto and I will be home before you know it!" though the boy whispered this, it was firm and determined. "You're my best friend Hatake" Kakashi cut off the boy with a laugh.
"Then call me Kakashi, Nami-kun" Kakashi stated, using Kushina's abbreviation for Harry's name.
The two pulled away from each other at this point, both smiling their marginal smiles at each other; however, in Kakashi's case it was a slight upward curve to the youth's visible eye.
The building actually looked a little better now. Some of the cobwebs were gone, and some of the wallpaper grew back. "Then again, I'm you're only friend," Kakashi teased the other boy softly, his trained eyes already caught the differences in the room.
"That doesn't change the fact that you're one of my precious people," Harry's rebuttal brought a larger smile to Kakashi's face, which meant his visible eye made an upside down 'u'.
Harry retracted his mind from the fourteen-year-old's, noting his father was gone and Jiraiya looked paler than before. "Bye," he whispered as he shifted Naruto around a little. He would require help transferring the baby into the carrier thing that strapped onto Harry's chest.
Shouldering his pack, the six-year-old turned to the Sannin, "Are we ready to go?" he asked after getting help from Kakashi to put the sleeping Naruto into the baby carrier.
"The sooner we leave the better," Jiraiya whispered shakily. He did not know what exactly the boy's father did to him, but he did not like that crucio jutsu one bit! He disliked the mental attack even more, but either way, both left him screaming in agony.
A Suivre
A/N:Here is another scene I couldn't figure out where to put into the story but it clears up some of what was said in this chapter, as well as a few things in much later chapters. Again, not really edited as much as the rest of this. Anyways here it is:
Sarutobi Hiruzen disguised his sigh as an exhale of pipe smoke.
As soon as the smoke cleared from the Kyuubi attack he was dragged into the council chamber and reappointed Hokage. Now the council was trying to figure out what to do with 'the demon child'. At least the clan heads were being semi reasonable, throw Naruto into an orphanage. It was already unanimous that the jinchuuriki should not be with his relatives, even if it was the last will of Namikaze Minato and Kushina.
At least the clans weren't suggesting what Danzo, Koharu, and Homura were. Homura suggested burning the infant to death, thus riding the village of an unstable demon that certain legendary Uchiha could potentially control again. Koharu suggesting drowning Naruto like one would an unfit pup. It was a head ache. Even Danzo was suggesting training the boy so he would be on the front lines, thus likely to die.
"What if we trained him so that his container would be a benefit to the village, so that it would be our ultimate protector? Look at the other nations, the jinchuuriki within their villages are valued warriors, could not Naruto become like his fellow jinchuuriki?" the clan heads inclined their heads in agreement, yet it all fell upon the three old council members.
"But if we give the demon an opportunity to learn it could level our village!" Koharu shrieked.
"If we leave him untrained, that could happen on accident if he was pushed into a position where he must use his tenant's energy. With training he could learn to control it without negative backlash," sometimes he wondered why he needed them, they caused more harm than good it seemed.
"Who would teach a demon?" Homura asked with a derisive laughter in his voice.
"ROOT would accept him, I suppose. He could become a fine addition to our ranks with time. As would young Namikaze," the old Hokage managed not to tense and pale at the slightly scared man's words.
"Yes, I suppose they both would, but my concern is what an emotionally unstable jinchuuriki could do. I am sorry Danzo, but your operatives are not the most sane youth," the Hokage knew he had support from the clan heads, but those with the most say did not seem to care.
"Give me at least a week to find a suitable guardian. A guardian that is strong, and will make Naruto strong in turn," Koharu and Homura pursed their lips in thought.
"Yes, we should not rush such plans, for grievous mistakes abound when one does so," Koharu stated sagely, nodded her head as she spoke.
"Exactly," Homura agreed, thus leaving Danzo to begrudgingly agree to his fellow council member's words.
He needed to find Naruto a guardian fast! He wondered if Jiraiya might consider…no the council would never allow that. One pervert without match is enough; there is no need for another one to come into existence. Then who else is there? Hatake-kun? No, he would never agree…alas, Namikaze-kun was too young. Oh what to do, what to do. Sarutobi was sure something good would come of this all; that everyone involved would be happy with the product. But the question remained how?
