Well, thanks for the reviews guys! Hope I don't disappoint! And… I'm not sure about Kakashi… I could always put him with Iruka like I usually do… but if you're looking for something else, lemme know so I can think about it. I'm open to relationship suggestions!
Relearning the Steps
"Dear Albus you must be joking…" Kingsley muttered under his breathe.
"Actually no my friend, I'm quite serious. In my search for the deathly hallows I found some rather interesting people… Well, rather a very interesting place filled with many interesting people." The last headmaster winked at the Minister for Magic and turned to Minerva. "Please do send an owl to this address: Hi no Kuni, Konohagakure, Hokage Tower, Sandaime Hokage."
The new headmaster blinked owlishly at the previous headmaster.
"It's Japanese my dear Minerva. The ninja live in our current Japan but use a similar magic to ours to hide themselves… I don't think the ministry has heard of them before today as they tend to be a very secretive lot…"
"I see…" Kingsley shook his head. "Well, do you think I should send an ambassador or should we just send the letter…?"
Albus' blue eyes twinkled in the semidarkness of the office. "If my dear friend receives this letter there will be no need, but because it has been many a year since my last visit I'm afraid I don't know much of what has been going on in their area. I do believe you should write in the letter to send a reply should they require an ambassador."
"Yes Albus. I shall see to it that this is done… How do you suppose we are to convince them to help us?"
"The ninja villages have offices where missions are accepted and given to the most capable ninja for the task. They operate in groups of three usually; occasionally there are some that work alone. I'm sure when you meet them they can answer your questions more thoroughly. As I've said, it has been many a year since I last visited."
"More importantly, we need to get this done quickly as the new term is to start right away…" Minerva wrung her hands. "And we have Potter in the school again this year…"
"Indeed we do… trouble seems to follow that boy no matter what. We will need the best they can spare…"
-
Naruto stepped into Tsunade's office with a sheepish look on his face. Sakura was glaring at him, Sai was trying to calm her down albeit rather unsuccessfully and Tsunade seemed to be fighting with an owl.
"What's going on?" He eyed the bird suspiciously.
"Nice of you to show up for your own report brat." Tsunade growled at her favorite blond. "This stupid owl showed up a moment ago and started freaking out when I tried to grab the letter…"
Sakura rushed to help her mentor. She grabbed the bird by its wings and held it gently until Tsunade had grabbed the letter.
"The hell? It's written in English… Romaji… and addressed the Sandaime…"
The bird shrieked at her and attempted to claw at the message.
"You stupid bird! The one this letter is addressed to is DEAD. I'm his replacement!"
At her shout the bird calmed somewhat enough that Sakura felt safe in letting it go. It hooted balefully at the Godaime and stared at her.
"Well I'll be damned… it understood me…"
The owl glared and hooted angrily.
"Well, might as well read it… Can someone get Shikamaru? I really can't read English very well."
-
"Ron! Ronald! Over here!" Hermione jumped up and down in place as she waved to her boyfriend. Harry merely waved and smirked in his best friend's direction.
The tall redhead made his way through the crowds to his friend's side and embraced Hermione.
"Hello Ron." Harry nodded to the redhead. "How's the spattergoit?"
Ron snorted but pretended to be ill. "Oh mum says I'm over it… but I don't know if I've completely recovered…"
"Oh you ham…" Hermione lightly slapped his shoulder. "You both ready to get our things?"
"Yeah, just wait a moment 'Mione! We're still waiting for Ginny." Ron rolled his eyes.
"Oh! I forgot!"
Both the boys looked at her in disbelief.
"I'm sorry; it's just that it's always been the three of us… Old habit." She had the decency to look contrite.
"No worries Hermione." Ginny laughed as she came up behind Harry. "Sorry it took me so long. Mum was being mental again."
Harry leaned down and gave his girlfriend a quick kiss.
"So shall we get our school things?"
The four turned into Flourish and Blotts almost as one and entered the building.
-
"So… we're supposed to believe this…" Naruto stared at the letter the Godaime currently held in her possession. "Magic and wizards?" He shook his head. "Next you'll try getting me to believe in fairies and ghosts."
Tsunade sent him a scathing look. "The woman… McGonagall-sensei seems to know us through another person… Albus Dumbledore… And I remember him. I was a lot younger of course when I first heard his name. But the Sandaime did know him."
"So you're saying that this letter is true?" Sakura shook her in disbelief.
"I'm saying that it could be true… It says to respond as soon as possible… seems the school term will be starting soon." She paused as she turned over the paper. There was a wax seal on the back. She touched the seal and the room was enveloped in light. When the light cleared Team 7 each had a weapon of some sort trained on the person currently standing in the middle of the room and Tsunade was already drawing her arm back to attack.
"Wait please! I am a teacher from Hogwarts!"
The four paused and blinked in unison.
"I am Minerva McGonagall, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"McGonagall-sensei?" Tsunade tried. She didn't speak any English and she hoped to high hell that the woman could speak Japanese. Shikamaru had bailed out once he'd completely translated the letter.
The woman seemed to understand. She pointed a wooden stick to her throat and after a small burst of light she turned her eyes to the Hokage.
"I assume that you are the Sandaime Hokage?" Much to Tsunade's relief it was in plain Japanese this time.
"No, I am Godaime Hokage. Sandaime died some years ago."
The woman looked troubled but nodded her head.
"I have been sent as an ambassador to your village as a gesture of good will, as well as to ask a favor."
Tsunade had finally recovered from her shock and she stood up straight.
"Lower your weapons men. Sakura, grab a chair for McGonagall-sensei."
The pink haired kunoichi quickly grabbed one of the waiting chairs outside of the office and placed it in front of the Hokage's desk.
"Please McGonagall-sensei, have a seat." She offered the chair and ran back to stand with her teammates.
"Thank you my dear." She nodded politely to the kunoichi before turning her gaze back to Tsunade as she took her seat. "In our world, that is, the magical world, we have just recently gone through a war. It was a great war and many innocents and loved ones perished in the many battles. The instigator of the war was a snakelike man by the name of Lord Voldemort. He was finally defeated by one Harry Potter as was prophesized by a seer. In the aftermath of this war, there are many factions and anti-Potter movements being run by the Dark Lord's sympathizers. They intend to harm muggles, non magical people as well as half bloods, people born of muggles or who have one muggle parent. With our strongest Wizard besides Harry Potter now dead, the magical wards of our school are greatly weakened and unfortunately, I cannot guarantee the student's safety should we start the school term."
The blonde kunoichi nodded her head solemnly and gestured for the woman to continue.
"Albus is dead… but as is tradition in our school, there is a magical painting of him in our school. When we could not think of a solution to this problem he suggested acquiring the aid of your ninjas." McGonagall pulled out her wand and tapped the table. A tea set appeared and began brewing tea. "I am here to discuss a plan of defense should you be able to spare some of your men and women."
The entire room seemed to forget the woman was there as they watched the tea set move around on its own.
"Another problem we face this year at the school is over population. As the entirety of last years curriculum was not adequate for proper learning we have to pull back our entire class of Seventh Years and have them repeat the year. We will be full beyond normal capacity and need extra teachers and staff to accommodate for this inflation."
"How many do you think you'll need? I'm afraid our services do not come cheap… not for the magnitude of this mission…"
"Price is really no object. We are a school that is funded by the ministry of magic as well as the money the founders left behind for it. There really is no set limit as to what I can afford to pay."
"As it is, I will be counting this as an A class mission. If it escalates in danger to my men I will elevate the mission to S class."
"I understand." The elder woman nodded as she waved her wand once more. The tea began to pour itself into the cups and the cups floated to each person in the room. "If you will be so kind as to demonstrate some of your skills before we discuss the issue of price…"
"Ah yes, our ninja are always looking for new ways to prove themselves…" The blonde looked to Team 7 and nodded.
The team quickly put their teacups down on the desk and backed away.
"Me first!" Naruto crowed. "Kagebunshin no Jutsu!"
Instantly they were surrounded by over 50 Narutos. Minerva looked at them and nodded.
"Is this an illusion?"
"If they were normal bunshin they would be closer to one, but because Naruto has access to a much deeper reservoir of chakra, he is able to use this secret technique to make flesh and blood clones. The only downside is that once they are sufficiently damaged, they disappear."
To demonstrate, Sakura waded her way through the bunshin and started throwing punches left and right. The bunshin all began disappearing in clouds of smoke.
"I see. Very impressive… you said he has more chakra than the others… is this just him? Or are there others that can use the same technique?"
"Anyone can use the technique but it is a forbidden technique because of the chakra required and the distribution of chakra is divided equally among all clones. We don't want our students hurting themselves or over exhausting their chakra supply. Also, most people can only make one or two clones at a time… Naruto however…"
"My current limit is 2000… But I start having problems then. Actually the problems start when I go past 200… I haven't had to make that many for a really long time."
"Problems?" Minerva eyed the blond. "As in draining your chakra?"
"No… My chakra is more… um… aggressive than anyone else's. My body begins to transform to take the form of my chakra… it causes a lot of damage to my body but is extremely useful as long as I don't spend too much time in that state."
"I see. Next ability?"
Sakura walked forward and bowed. "This is a technique that all children must be able to do in order to become a ninja. It isn't glamorous but it is one of the best and most used techniques in a ninja's arsenal." Her hands moved into the required signs. "Henge no Jutsu!"
Minerva was taken aback by the person who stood before her now. She was staring at a double of herself.
"Henge!" Now she was looking at the Hokage's double.
The pink haired girl returned to her original form.
"Is that an illusion?" Minerva smiled appreciatively.
"No McGonagall-sensei. That is a Ninjutsu. It is a physical art that molds the user's chakra around the body to project an image. Unless I am significantly damaged, I can continue the jutsu without concentration. Illusions, or as we call them: Genjutsu, require constant concentration as well as extremely high chakra precision. Not many Ninja are adept at this type."
"Alright… and you son?" The headmaster gestured to Sai.
"This is a special technique… so far as I know, I'm the only one who utilizes it… not that it cannot be learned, but others prefer to fight in different ways…"
Sai pulled out a scroll and his inks. He drew his wetted brush across the blank scroll and quickly drew out several small mice. They leapt off the page and scurried around the room.
"I wouldn't touch them… The ink stays wet and will get on you if you do." He smiled.
"Well… I'm assuming that they are real if I am able to touch them then… Do you have anyone adept in this… Genjutsu you speak of?"
"Currently available is Sakura herself as well as their sensei Kakashi…" Tsunade tapped her chin in thought. "If you could tell me exactly what duties they would be required to fulfill I will be able to assemble a team specifically suited to your purposes."
"Ah yes… I suppose that would be most prudent. We require body guards as well as teachers… and considering the conflicts that are expected to arise between the houses this year… healers. Because we want to infiltrate our enemies and take them down from the inside we will also need someone adept at infiltration. Sentries for where our magical barriers end would be needed… We will need an extremely large amount of people."
"Since I already plan on sending Naruto, his Bunshin will be able to act as sentries around the school. The moment one is defeated he gains all knowledge it possesses. As for healers… Sakura is my best… Hinata a close second. For body guards you'll want Shikamaru and Neji… my two best tacticians and both geniuses. As for teachers… why do you require a teacher of our arts?"
"I was told by Albus that your chakra is rather similar to our magic. In order to have more classes for the larger amount of students I thought it best to train some of our students in your arts."
"That would be acceptable… though I do not know the outcome of that situation… even in this village there are people who cannot become ninja…" She rubbed at her temples. "Kakashi would be able to handle that… and Iruka as well. Iruka teaches at our academy. His classes are made up of children who want to become ninja. Kakashi is one who will take the children after they become genin, fledgling ninja, and train them to the next level, chuunin."
"Yes… this seems to be all in order… though I worry about the numbers…"
"Oh, I only mentioned people who are currently not on missions. Several people are due back very soon. I will send them accordingly and they will tell you want they do best. All in all, you should be getting about 10 to 15 of my best ninja."
"And this is enough to defend a school with a population of over 500?"
"Most definitely. Most of my ninja come from clans with specialized abilities that allow them to do certain jobs a lot better than anyone else. If you'll give me an hour, I will have the first bunch ready to go with you right away."
"That quickly?" Minerva's eyes widened. "Wont they need time to say goodbye?"
"Ma'am, with all due respect, we are ninja. It is our job to be swift, silent, and efficient." Sai broke into the conversation. "We do not require time to deal with emotional matters as they are a weakness that no ninja can carry."
"We're not heartless McGonagall-sensei… but we know the dangers of our job and we know what is required of us. We all do our best for our village and our clients." Sakura smoothed over Sai's heartless explanation. "We love and laugh and cry like anyone else but when on a mission, the mission comes before all else."
The witch looked to the young people before her and despaired silently. These children, no older than most of her students were hardened warriors with a purpose. At least there was one thing they and the repeating 7th year students had in common. Surviving and fighting in a war changed one. She could tell that these children had suffered much.
"Team 7, you have an hour to gather your comrades and your supplies. Meet back here in one hour."
All three of them disappeared in a swirl of leaves and smoke.
"Is that… normal?" Minerva wondered.
"Yes. Higher level ninja use that technique to get around quickly. It's a lot faster than walking."
"We witches and wizards have a spell to do the same thing… but… I suppose the principle of it is the same."
Tsunade nodded and gestured for the woman to make herself comfortable.
"If you'll pardon me for a moment, I need to send out messenger birds to ascertain the whereabouts of my teams. They tend to move quicker when they know I have more missions lined up for them."
The witch merely waved her wand and more tea was poured into the two remaining cups.
"Please take your time."
-
Okay… so that was a rather long chapter… 8 pages not including my notes. I think it seems a little boring… but most stories are when they get to the explanation portion…
Um… as for questions to why Tsunade would send her best and so many of them… think of the money she's making on this. You know her. Unless there's a threat to the village, she's pretty money hungry. I love her no matter what though.
Technical stuff…
I'm sure we all know what it means, but for those who only know the English names of the towns and such in the Narutoverse, the translation is as follows: Fire Country, Village Hidden in the Leaves, Fire Shadow Tower, The Third Fire Shadow.
Albus seems to be the type of person to be very proper no matter where he is and I think he'd use the actual Japanese names of the place. So that's what I wrote.
Also, Romaji is when we English speaking people decide to take a Japanese word and spell it out in our alphabet. Like so: Hokage is Ho-Ka-Ge. Three katakana symbols. I wish I could actually put up the real katakana symbols… but alas, I don't have the means.
I like to use the Japanese names for things such as the jutsu and places. Also, when speaking to others, I use honorifics. '-chan, -san, -sama,' etc. Mostly because I like the way it carries more meaning when used as apposed to Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. Not to mention, if it's good enough for the manga translators, it's good enough for me.
So… after the really long note… I'm sure it bored you to death… please leave a review and let me know what you think.
Shinimegami7