DISCLAIMER: I Don´t own Harry Potter or Naruto. This chapter includes the song of the sorting hat from the chapter The Sorting Hat´s New Song in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, all credit for that belongs to JK Rowling.

A/N: Once again thanks to all who have read, favored and alerted this story. Special thanks belongs to all those who´ve reviewed. Lightningscar, of course, you know I actually meant to do that right from Chapter I, but I always was so tired of typing at the end that I simply forgot, so I´m going to try to be better from now on and every chapter will include a LITTLE JAPANESE CORNER Though I do not speak Japanese, so if you see something wrong with the translations just tell me please.

CHAPTER IV

Itachi muted out the conversation between Harry and his friends about the absence of Hagrid, the teacher of care of magical creatures at Hogwarts. Obviously as Kakashi and he were a permanent fixture at the Order meetings during the time of their stay at 12 Grimmauld place the whereabouts of the half-giant were no secret to him, however he had no intention of telling that to Harry or anyone else for that matter. Dumbledore and the rest of the Order definitely had their reasons to withhold this delicate information from them and considering the state of things in this world the less people knew about this the better. Though from the little he gathered about Hag rid, he was almost sure that at least the golden trio as Kakashi had somewhat ironically labeled Harry and his two friends after Itachi forwarded Moody´s words to him, would get to hear the tale of trying to persuade the giants firsthand. It wouldn´t require a genius (though he thought that the girl Hermione could easily be considered one, even if she were born in the shinobi realm) to figure out that Hagrid´s secret task had something to do with the giants and once they´d let it slip that they "knew" about the giants, Hagrid would recount his adventures to them in an instant. When he wanted to join Harry and the Weasley kids at the table that had to belong to one of the Hogwarts houses, Gryffindor he reminded himself of the house that Harry was attending, he noticed Minerva McGonagall, another teacher at Hogwarts and a member of the Order as well, gesturing towards him to join her and the large group of terrified looking kids that were about his age. Those had to be the first years and when he looked them over he concluded that he was really content with his ability to hold the henge for all the time, because he had no desire to spend most of his time at Hogwarts with these gakis. Listening half-heartedly to their conversation and their fantasies about what the sorting would be like (anything from pulling a rabbit out of a hat to fighting a troll) it seemed to him that most of these kids weren´t much more mature than his five year old brother or first year students at the academy at best.

Then he had to remind himself that these children lived their lives without the hardships that met most of the aspiring ninja of his generation in his and other villages, they lived happily with their families and in peace, considering that they were eleven now they were born a few years after the last war of this world ended and therefore the only reminder of the tough times they could have been exposed to was hearing about some relative that they had lost before they even met him. There was no sadness or despair in them; in their eyes he could only see excitement of finally being able to join the world of Hogwarts, a world full of adventures that was inaccessible for them until now. Just with a single look he could tell which of the kids came from muggle families as he could see it in their faces, the inner peace that they finally had found being amongst their own after struggling for their whole life being outcasts, freaks even , desperately trying to fit in to a world they didn´t belong to. For now they all seemed so happy and content, for now they didn´t realize that just shortly after joining this world they or those close to them might be torn away from it...a few weeks ago they might not even have heard of Voldemort or his death eaters...a few weeks ago they might have only heard of war during history classes or in the muggle media as something that happened hundreds of miles away from their homes...most of them probably had no idea that this amazing new world was on the brink of war...and the children coming from the wizarding families probably were no different in most cases...their parents either closed their eyes to the reality, rather accusing Dumbledore of madness and siding with the minister, so scared of giving up the peace that they had worked so hard to build in the past 14 years or others trying to protect their children shielding them away from the gruesome reality...but that all would change soon...Voldemort wouldn´t stay in hiding forever, he would wait for now and gain strength and then he´d attack suddenly and the wizarding world would be absolutely unprepared for his strike...Soon this children would learn the pain of the ones that they felt the most precious to them being torn away from them, soon they would learn death and a few of them would probably stare into its eyes themselves, considering the ways that the wizards fought they might be at least spared from growing up in the bloodshed that he had grown up in...the damage would be unimaginable, especially if the order of the phoenix continued to be the only force trying to fight him...in some ways the conflict between the ministry and Dumbledore strangely reminded him of the relationship between the hokage, the elders and Danzou who had always been silently pulling the strings from the shadows, unknown to all but a few select individuals who were sharp enough not to miss the steps of sandaime´s former rival, Itachi had known this from his mentor Uchiha Shisui and though Shisui seemed to trust the man believing that the well being of Konoha was Danzou´s deepest motivation, Itachi found himself doubting this and wondered whether he wouldn´t one day become a weapon in Danzou´s hands...he was obviously aware that trouble was brewing back home and this time it wasn´t an outside threat rather an inside one...ever since the Kyuubi attack the tension had grown high between the Uchiha clan and the rest of the village and Itachi felt that he would find himself in-between of that all...in the end he´d be forced to choose between the Leaf and his clan...and no matter which one he chose he´d only be leaving tragedy behind himself...it would come sooner than later...it would not just be these happy wizarding kids that would soon be scarred by horrifying events that they currently weren´t even dreaming of in their nightmares...it wouldn´t only be them who´d have the smiles wiped off their faces, the shy smile of his beloved little brother would also soon be wiped off...there was no light ahead for Itachi, only darkness lay ahead...no matter what decision he made he hoped he´d be able to follow in his mentors footsteps...but deep inside he knew that he loved his brother way too much, that in the end he was the one that would hold him back the most...

"Sasuke...," he breathed out in a barely audible whisper.

"Why so serious, Itachi?" Kakashi asked smiling under his mask as he appeared from a puff of smoke, a mild breeze coming with him blowing a few green leafs with him. The eyes of the whole Great Hall were on Kakashi as his entry was the most exciting they had seen since the impostor Moody has arrived exactly a year ago. Most of the students had wondered who the first strange boy standing with the first years was and they were even more shocked by the second one.

"Geez, senpai, I´d swear you´re spending too much time with Gai-senpai...dynamic entry much?" Itachi teased his superior trying to hide his previous thoughts, but fully aware that it was no use as to Kakashi´s eye he was transparent. Few could read people as good as the Copy Ninja. But catching on, Kakashi also knew not to prey too much and therefore he played along with the banter.

"What!" he shrieked somewhat embarrassed. "That´s not it at all! I decided to take a short cut through the lake and let´s just say that I ran into some trouble and that´s why I...ahh, well it doesn´t matter, anyway what are we waiting for?"

Kakashi looked at the old torn hat sitting on a stool that seemed to have the attention of most in the great hall.

"That thing´s got some powerful chakra in it, " he told Itachi.

"Ahh," Itachi agreed scanning the hat with his sharingan.

In that moment Dumbledore stood up from his seat holding his hand up to silence the excited chatter of his students who were either recalling their memories of their holidays to each other or trying to figure out who the two newcomers were.

"Before we start the sorting I have an announcement to make, " the old man started. "I´m delighted to announce that this year will mark the first year of a very unique exchange program between Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Konoha Academy of Magic from Japan. Most of you have been here last year when our home became home for students from two other schools and I hope you will embrace our two exchange students Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha as you have the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang last year. In order to get the real experience of Hogwarts they will be both sorted by the Sorting Hat into houses and take part in all the activities of our own students in 5th and 7th year respectively. And now, I´m leaving the word to the Sorting hat."

In times of old when I was new,

And Hogwarts barely started,

The founders of our noble school,

Thought never to be parted,

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning,

To make the world's best magic school,

And pass along their learning.

"Together we will build and teach!"

„I guess these founders are their version of the Sage of Six Paths, eh?" Itachi whispered.

The four good friends decided,

And never did they dream,

That they might someday be divided,

For were there such friends anywhere,

As Slytherin and Gryffindor?

„Hmm, it seems kind of tough to imagine that those two were friends...," Itachi mused as the tension between the students from the two houses seemed impossible not to catch.

„I think it means a different kind of friends...probably not unlike Jirayia-sama and Orochimaru...or maybe the Shodaime hokage and Uchiha Madara...more of a rivalry than friendship, each having their own way of doing things, but still having nothing but great respect for each other," Kakashi commented.

Unless it was the second pair

Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?

So how could it have gone so wrong?

How could such friendships fail?

Why, I was there and so can tell,

The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin. "We´ll just those whose

Ancestry is purest."

Said Ravenclaw, "We´ll teach those whose

Intelligence is surest."

Said Gryffindor, "We´ll teach all those

With brave deeds to their name."

Said Hufflepuff, "I´ll teach the lot,

And treat them just the same."

„That seems kind of stupid...well asides from what Hufflepuff said...pretty much they just probably wanted to teach those that were like themselves...but you can gain strength if you learn from those who think differently than you do...," Itachi mused.

„Hai...but isn´t it the same what we do? Each year 27 young children graduate the Academy only so that the jounin assigned to them can fail 2/3 of them if they don´t deem them to be worthy enough to b e shinobi...pretty much if those young children don´t have the same idea of being a ninja as their instructor has they have little chance to pass the exam...," Kakashi sighed.

These differences caused little strife,

When first they came to light,

For each of the four founders had

A house in which they might

Take only those they wanted,

So, for instance, Slytherin

Took only pure-blood wizards

Of great cunning, just like him,

And only those of sharpest mind

Were taught by Ravenclaw

While the bravest and the boldest

Went to daring Gryffindor.

Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,

And taught them all she knew,

Thus the houses and their founders

Retained friendships firm and true.

So Hogwarts worked in harmony

For several happy years,

But then discord crept among us

Feeding on our faults and fears.

The houses that, like pillars four,

Had once held up our school,

Now turned upon each other and,

Divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school

Must meet an early end,

What with dueling and with fighting

And the clash of friend on friend

And at last there came a morning

When old Slytherin departed

And though the fighting then died out

He left us quite down hearted.

And never since the founders four

Were whittled down to three

Have the houses been united

As they once were meant to be.

And now the Shorting Hat is here

And you all know the score:

I sort you into houses

Because that is what I´m for,

But this year I´ll go further,

Listen closely to my song:

Though condemned I am to split you

Still I worry that it´s wrong,

Though I must fulfill my duty

And must quarter every year

Still I wonder whether Sorting

May not bring the end I fear.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,

The warning history shows,

For our Hogwarts is in danger

From external, deadly foes

And we must unite insider her

Or we´ll crumble from within

I have told you, I have warned you...

Let the Sorting begin.

"Seems like a smart advice…..especially coming from a hat," Itachi whispered.

"Ahh, but it´s hard to imagine there will be enough of those to follow that ideal….I´m sure what the Sage of Sixth Paths had in mind for the ninja world was no different from what the hat says…..,"

Kakashi´s words were interrupted by McGonagall telling them to go sit on the stool and put the hat on when their name was called. The two exchange students would be sorted before the first years.

"Itachi, the chakra of the hat…..," Kakashi started.

"Hai, it seems that the founders put their chakra into it….," Itachi continued for him.

"Yeah, it´s a pretty powerful force…..still I think there are things that the hat doesn´t need to know."

"Wakarimashita."

"HATAKE KAKASHI!" McGonagall called.

As Kakashi walked towards the stool he noticed that all eyes in the room were set on him, but he noted the special interest that Harry and the others who already knew him took in his sorting. He figured that they´d be much more interested in his sorting than Itachi´s as they probably fought that they had the younger ninja all figured out, not realizing that they only saw of the young Itachi what he allowed them to see. Kakashi couldn´t blame them though, Itachi could probably fool or maybe already fooled even people he was much closer to and ones that were much more educated when it come to deception. He himself though had also only let them see little glimpses of who he really was and therefore he wouldn´t surprise him if they had pinned him down as a Slytherin. But he wasn´t planning on joining the house with the snake anytime soon.

"Hmmm…..very interesting…..a shinobi…it´s been a while…..though I´m not surprised, obviously I hear all kinds of things in Dumbledore´s office…."

Kakashi wasn´t surprised at all when the hat started talking to him, obviously reading his thoughts, leaking only some pictures of his memories that he thought the hat needed to see to him.

"Very brave I see…you´d do anything to protect your comrades…very sharp too, a genius, are you?….but you´re hiding things from me, aren´t you?"

Kakashi answered calmly: "I wouldn´t really say hiding….I´m just showing you what you need to see….I´m making your job easier actually…"

"There´s blood on your hands though," the hat remarked as Kakashi showed him a few of his memories of the war.

"There´s blood on my hands indeed…..there´s been blood on my hands for years…..I make no secret of it, you´d never be able to see those memories otherwise…but I think you can see that I do not spill blood for pleasure…..I only spill blood when it´s needed in order to protect….. you see it yourself, there are tough times ahead for your people…..you live in Dumbledore´s office, so you know where I need to be…."

"Well then, if that´s how it is…GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted as the table of said house erupted in great cheers and to Harry´s astonishment Kakashi sat down at their table. Maybe the ninja was different that he first had thought….? His thoughts were interrupted by McGonagall´s shout.

"UCHIHA ITACHI!"

The hat barely touched Itachi´s head as it shouted GRYFFINDOR. Or so it seemed to everyone watching on.

"Ahh, and Uchiha," the hat had told him. "Oh my…..I ´ve never seen such bravery, boy…..even one of my makers Godric Gryffindor wasn´t…." the hat trailed off as it read Itachi´s mind and one particular thought that the young Uchiha decided to share with it.

Itachi slowly stood up and sat on Kakashi´s left at the Gryffindor table and followed the rest of the sorting.

Then his attention turned to the conversation Harry and co were having about the sorting hat´s song and he wasn´t surprised at all to find out that the boy or anyone else in Gryffindor didn´t have any desire to be friends with the Slytherins. He was sure that this feeling was even stronger with the Slytherins. He wondered whether he should join in and comment, but then he noticed that Kakashi was too listening and opened his mind to speak, his voice so low that only the select few could hear: "Rivalry is a strange thing…..but I thought you were supposed to be some kind of a savior in this world, Potter…..if even you can´t get over those differences where will it lead your world?...You don´t have to be the best of friends with the Slytherins, if you only manage to achieve mutual respect for each other is enough…hatred is no solution…..hatred only breeds more hatred…."

Kakashi´s words had once again silenced Harry and everyone else.

"That sounds true, senpai…though when you think of it, the only thing that breeds more hatred than hatred itself is love, isn´t it?" Itachi mused as he looked up at the ceiling covered by the stars.

The philosophy talk between the two ninja that seemed to have mesmerized the whole Gryffindor table was stopped when the sorting was finally over and Dumbledore stood up to welcome the students and begin the feast. However he was interrupted by the toad like woman, who seemed like in an intruder at Hogwarts to Itachi. From the reactions of the young wizards and the teachers he gathered that such speeches as she gave were anything but common practice here and that almost everyone saw it as a great insult to Dumbledore. About half through the woman´s speech Itachi found himself dosing off and he noticed that his superior had once again taken out his favorite book out of his pocket. He thanked Gods that no one at the table was probably able to understand Japanese and therefore the topic of his superior´s perverted preferences for literature would be avoided for now. Well, if Jírayia-sama hadn´t decided to put in too graphic pictures. Seeing the book though, he was tempted to take out his copy of Hogwarts, A History that Hermione had borrowed him back at 12 Grimmauld Place.

"….very illuminating…," he heard Dumbledore say and then Hermione echoed his words.

"You´re right, Hermione," Kakashi said closing his book. "It seems your Ministry is pretty much trying to infiltrate Hogwarts you could say."

Later Hermione and Ron left to lead the first years to the Gryffindor common room as Itachi and Kakashi joined Harry on their way there. Only there they found out that Harry didn´t know the password, so there was no way the Fat Lady would let them in. But in the end they were saved as Neville arrived, seemingly very happy with himself as he told them he knew the password and that it was Mimbulus Mimbletonia.

Once inside Kakashi followed the Weasley twins to the 7th year dorm, but before that he turned to Itachi: "Don´t forget, we have to be in Dumbledore´s office tomorrow at eight."

"Ryokai. I´ll be there." Itachi nodded. "But will you…?" he asked smiling slightly.

"Hai, hai, why wouldn´t I be?" Kakashi answered lazily.

"Ja….will you be there….on time, senpai?"

He wasn´t surprised when he got no answer.

The first week at Hogwarts went quite peacefully for the two Konoha shinobi, though sometimes Itachi felt a bit overwhelmed by his duties as the Hogwarts teachers seemed to have much less patience with his superiors constant lateness and even less understanding for his absurd excuses than the superiors back home had. But that was obviously no surprise as the people hear had little knowledge of Kakashi´s motives while back home while unspoken of it was common knowledge that it was all a memento of a lost comrade. Thus, Kakashi found himself in detention during his free time more often than not and Itachi was left to follow and protect Harry most of the time, which wasn´t half bad as he probably would have went almost anywhere Harry went anyway even with Kakashi there and Harry hadn´t managed to get himself into much trouble except for the occasional fight as with the boy Seamus during their first evening at Hogwarts or with Umbridge, which landed him in detention for the whole first week together with Kakashi. What kept Itachi even busier was planning out the second part of their task…Silently, he cursed Umbridge as he waited outside her office waiting for Kakashi´s and Harry´s detention to be over….

When they finally came out Itachi could see that the Copy Ninja was obviously irritated by something behind his calm exterior.

"Daijoubou ka, senpai?" he asked in Japanese.

"Ahh, daijoubou," he answered slowly. "Itachi you haven´t copied some medical ninjutsu by any chance with your sharingan?"

"Uhm, I thought it was impossible to copy….," Itachi started a bit confused.

"It sure is for me…..but for you…..I wouldn´t be so sure…..everything seems possible with your eyes…..well, then, anyway, I guess we´ll have to find a magical way to take care of this, " he said as he forcefully took hold of Harry´s hand despite his protests and revealed the back of the wizard´s hand. I MUST NOT TELL LIES. The words glowed at Itachi.

"How original," Itachi commented. "I think I´ve read about this one things that might help….what about you though?" he asked.

"Nah, I just played a little with her….that magical quill of hers works here, but just a little chakra and its disrupted…..must have ruined about a dozen of those today…..handy thing for her, but nothing compared to Ibiki´s toys…..or the ones that the interrogation squad of Iwa likes to play with for that matter," he commented tracing one particularly visible scar on his finger, one of the many reminders of torture.

"Once Itachi takes care of that, I´ll teach you how to handle that quill…..gotta go, I´ve still got two hours of detention with Snape ahead of me…..and I´m late….well, ja ne…."

Itachi shook his head: "Why am I not surprised?"

"We need a place to teach the way of war," Itachi repeated the mantra in his head as he walked along the corridor trying to phrase what they needed as best as he could recalling the conversation Kakashi and he had with Dumbledore during the first day of school.

"I think you already know why you´re here," Dumbledore started. "As you remember the mission I required consists of two parts. The first one is to protect Harry Potter and the school and now it´s time to arrange the details for the second part. As your hokage has previously explained only few of us wizards have the ability to mold and manipulate chakra, therefore the first task of your mission will be to find the students of this school that are able to. It shouldn´t pose any problem for you with the sharingan. This select few will then become your students and you can reveal your identity to them…..thought of course only if they wish to…..your mission will be to teach them the ways of war…..I will not tell you as far you can go with teaching jutsus as such as I´m not sure myself how much you can disclose without it being considered treason…..but there´s one tiny little problem with all this…," he sighed.

"Let me guess….her name´s Dolores Umbridge."

"Yes, as sharp as expected, Kakashi. For now I will take care of that, but I hope you understand that for now no word of this conversation can leave this room. I´ve created a spell or more of a seal that will prevent the students from leaking any information and if they decided to not take part in after the first lesson or later on, they will forget about it all… You have one week to find the students and you will give your first lesson on Sunday in the room of requirement…"

Finally, Itachi found himself in a large roomthat seemed to be full of scrolls about manipulating chakra and such, shinobi history, strategy planning and even a board for go and shougi. As the first students streamed in obviously having little to no idea what was awaiting them he smiled at them welcoming them and telling them to sit down on the futons that lay on the ground. Harry and his two friends greeted him and sat down as Hermione already had one of the books in her hands reading and Harry looked at Itachi knowingly: "I guess now we´ll wait for Kakashi for a while, right?"

LITTLE JAPANESE CORNER

senpai-senior

hai- yes

wakarimashita- understood

ryokai- roger

ja- then

daijoubou ka?- are you all right?

ja ne- see you

A/N: Uhm, I think this is the longest chapter I´ve ever written of anything, the muse really kicked in tonight, so be nice and reward me…..with reviews, ne?:D