Mission: Hoguwatsu
A Naruto & Harry Potter Crossover
By: GoldenDragonClouds

Chapter 2: Explanations

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, nor do I own Harry Potter

Previously in Mission: Hoguwatsu

Dumbledore smiled. "Well, Tenten," he said, opening his arms, "Welcome to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Tenten stared.

"Hoguwatsu School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Tenten asked aloud, obviously skeptical about the prospect of a magical school.

"Yes," Tsunade offered, still smiling, "you will be learning magic at this school, not the typical studies that the civilian schools have."

Tenten's eyes narrowed at the man. "Prove it. Prove it to me that this magic exists."

Dumbledore smiled softly. "Of course. You would be skeptical. But as you wish," he said, and took out a stick from the folds of his sleeves.

Tenten eyed the stick. It wasn't an ordinary stick, she could see, no, feel, that. Chakra pulsated from it, and it was covered with intricate carvings and designs... It actually looked like someone had glued dried berries to a smooth stick.

Dumbledore moved the stick in some complicated way and suddenly, without as much as a 'pop' noise, there in the middle of the room was a vase full of flowers, obviously filled with water as well. With a flick of the stick the vase was gone, replaced by a tortoise.

"Why aren't you surprised by this?" Tenten asked Tsunade, eyes wide, "He just... he just... pulled a vase out of nowhere and turned it into a tortoise!"

"I've seen him before," Tsunade answered blithely, "Sarutobi-sensei knew him, and there was a shinobi sent to that school before. He stayed for two years, but you'll only be there for one."

"Then... why not send him?"

"He'd have been too old," Tsunade said, "besides, he's been dead for fourteen years."

"Since the kyuubi attack..." Tenten looked down before opening her mouth again. "May I ask who it had been?"

"Oh, he was a wonderful student." Dumbledore said, smiling, "Highly intelligent and always kept his teachers on their toes."

"What was his name, Dumbudoru-sensei?" Tenten looked at Dumbledore, curious.

"His name was Namikaze Minato. I believe you have heard of him?"

Tenten gasped. "The Yondaime Hokage," she whispered, shocked, "S...so... I'll be learning how to do... that?" she asked, gesturing to the tortoise.

"Transfiguration is not the only type of magic there is."

"Turanufigyu-what?"

Tsunade and Dumbledore chuckled.

"You'll have more information in the scrolls and books we'll be giving you. These include Minato's mission reports from his mission back then." said Tsunade, getting up from her chair and moving towards her bookshelf.

"Why not explain everything now?" Tenten asked.

"Because I have to go back to Britain and Tsunade will have a meeting soon. I am correct?" Dumbledore asked, peering at Tsunade.

Tsunade nodded, opening her mouth, but was interrupted.

"I...Igirisu(1)? Is that where the school is?" Tenten asked, eyes going wide.

"Well, more specifically in Scotland, but..."

"Su...ukotsutorando(2)?" Tenten stuttered out. "S...so I'm going... outside of our..."

"Boundaries and protective barriers, yes. Out of the SAR and into the outside world. That's why I asked how many civilian friends you have, Tenten. You'll need all the help you can get."

Tsunade paused, then looked straight at Tenten.

"But Tenten... You do realize what my primary reason for sending you on this mission is... Right?"

Tenten blinked slowly and cast her eyes down.

"Y...yes, Tsunade-sama. I understand completely."

Tsunade smiled sympathetically.

"You were the only choice, Tenten. Thank you for taking this mission."

A silence fell in the room, Tenten fidgeting with the hem of her shirt and Dumbledore mulling over what the two kunoichi had just said.

Tsunade pulled out a few scrolls from the bookshelf and placed them on her desk, stooping to turn a page in the record book she was working on before. She picked up her brush.

"If we are to send you to Hoguwatsu, Tenten, we need to give you a surname." Tsunade said, with a businesslike voice.

Tenten hesitated.

"Long. My name will be Tenten Long, in the... eh... Western way of speech. How long do I have until I... leave? I will have to stock up on practical knowledge for school subjects, not to mention learn the language."

"How long do you have?" Tsunade chuckled. "You have three days before Arubusi-sensei comes back to pick you up."

"Three days?" Well, that was unexpected. "Alright... Will I need anything in particular for the mission?"

"Well, you'll have to read all of these," Tsunade indicated at the stacks of scrolls and books on her desk. She chuckled at Tenten's incredulous stare. "It's alright, half of them are books on the English language, and one's a Japanese-English-Japanese dictionary. Now seal all of these... things into a scroll and get out. I'm late for my meeting."

Walking towards the meeting place for team's monthly dinner, Tenten found herself wondering what kind of 'magic' Dumbledore-sensei had used to disappear from the room as soon as the conversation had been over. She herself had been chased out of the office laden with books and scrolls to study for her mission.

She was finding that the Japanese-English-Japanese dictionary was quickly becoming her best friend.

And now to explain where she was going without revealing anything to her teammates.

"My youthful flower of Konoha!" A boisterous voice greeted Tenten from the swinging doors of a restaurant, and Tenten found herself struggling to suppress a sigh.

"Yo!" She said back instead. "Gai-sensei, Neji, Lee!"

Lee shouted out his salutations as well while Neji just nodded. Tenten smiled at them.

"Let's go in," she offered, afraid that if they stood at the door any longer her mentor and teammate might scare away quite a few potential customers of the diner.

The four of them went through the doors, finding their usual table, a secluded one at the back of the place; their monthly team dinners had been in this very same restaurant for the past three years. Three years also meant that they didn't have to order; they always had the same dishes. The staff even had it memorized: mild curry for Lee and Gai, herring soba for Neji, and dumpling noodle soup for Tenten.

Their dishes came fairly quickly and the four of them began to eat, Gai and Lee talking the entire time.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee suddenly exclaimed, barely keeping from spewing food from his mouth. "I have been assigned a B-rank mission with the youthful Kotaru! I will be away for a length of time!"

Tenten and Neji looked at each other, rolling their eyes at their teammate's antics.

"Good for you, Lee!" Gai cried out. He stopped eating momentarily to give his student a thumbs-up and a blinding smile. Behind Lee a waiter slipped, nearly dropping his platter. Neither Lee nor Gai noticed.

"What about you, Neji, Tenten?" Gai had turned to his other two students.

Neji raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm training for the Jonin exams that are taking place in two months, so for the moment I won't be taking that many missions."

Tenten suddenly felt like slapping herself. There was no doubt Neji had planned to train for long hours with her and Hiashi-sama. He wasn't going to be so happy at the news of her latest mission. Ten months, indeed!

"And you, Tenten?" Gai asked, turning now to her.

"Well," Tenten inhaled. "Tsunade-sama just gave me a mission today..."

She glanced at Neji, who only gazed at her with a look that plainly said "well, go on."

"I... I'll be away for ten months at least." she said very quietly.

"You what?" Neji sputtered, his eyes wide. Lee had stopped eating, staring at her.

Gai looked at her with pride. "That's our flower!" he shouted, tears threatening to burst out of his eyes. "Tsunade-sama has finally noted your youthfulness and..." he was cut off by Neji.

"What's the purpose of the mission?"

"There's an event," Tenten explained. "And I have to be there the entire time."

"May the Power of Youth and the Will of Fire guide you!" Lee exclaimed.

Tenten nodded at him, absently noting that his plate, and his third one at that, was empty. She turned back to her food; she wasn't even done with her first bowl yet.

Once dinner was over and the manager had checked for any damaged property, the four shinobi of Team Gai went outside in search of an ice cream parlor. Lee had simply insisted on buying ice cream "To celebrate our youth!" and when Lee insisted in buying something, you did not refuse.

They had all suffered the consequence once, and trying to appease a bawling Lee was not an experience any of them wanted to relieve.

And so, Lee got to buy the ice cream.

They loitered around for a while, mainly discussing team tactics and training strategies again, but once it started to get dark the group split up, Lee and Gai going over to the East side of Konoha, Neji and Tenten over to the West.

"When will you be leaving?" Neji asked. He had finished his ice cream a long time ago.

"The sixth day of the eighth month." Tenten replied without thinking. Her ice cream was melting, and she popped the last of it into her mouth, wincing when the cold hit her. "Ouch, brain-freeze." She muttered, frowning slightly.

"That's in three days."

"Yep."

There was silence.

"Neji, I'm sorry I can't train with you for the Jonin exams... but Tsunade-sama needed me to do this mission."

Neji raised an eyebrow at her and Tenten resisted the urge to palm her face. Of course he expected her to tell him.

With a sigh, Tenten turned to Neji. "I'm going undercover," she explained. "To a school in a different country."

"Which means that the three days you have left are for preparations for your cover."

"Exactly. And, I get to... be a student again." Tenten finished lamely, waving her hands. She was about to say learn magic, but she highly doubted Neji would actually believe her. Besides, even she had been skeptical about the mission's validity herself... until Dumbledore-sensei had done his demonstration.

Neji abruptly stopped. They had reached the Hyuuga estate.

"So, see you tomorrow? I'll meet you at the training grounds- I can start reading afterwards. I'll help you get started on your training, even if I won't be here for the actual exam."

"Sure." Neji said simply, and Tenten grinned widely.

"Bye then!" she called out, waving, and turned to start running home. So of course she didn't see Neji raise his hand to wave back at her. She had other things on her mind.

(1) England
(2) Scotland

Author's Note:

Hello again! And again, to my regular readers I am deeply sorry for not updating my other stories before this one. I do like to think that I've never planned another fic as thoroughly as this one, though.
So, this chapter explains certain things to different people, and more explanations will come from different characters from throughout the story.
The chapters will gradually get longer as we go along, and depending on reader responses there are multiple possibilities in the direction the story may take. Therefore... please be nice and review?
Thanks for stopping by!

Ja Ne,

~Golden

Edit1: Namely, the pronunciation and a few lines.