Steve: Well, here we are, the beginning of the wave arc! Finally!

Pen-pen: Waarrkk. (Indeed.)

Hinata: So what's next?

Steve: Not telling. I will say this: I'm going to be introducing an OC in this arc that will have an impact later. Also, there's going to be a new poll at the bottom. Now, if you would please thank the reviewers Hinata?

Hinata:Hai! Thank you:

Morbious20

4343bcfsdsxazADSDC

AshK

the demon alchemist

The PhantomHokage

godzillahomer

Lady Avarice

Maloran

Steve: Well, thank you all for reviewing! Now Hinata and Pen-pen? If you would?

Pen-Pen: (Wark Wa WAAK arrk waark)

Hinata: Translation is "The author doesn't own Harry Potter or Naruto". He just owns this story, the plot and his insane plot-bunnies.

Why me?Shinigami/Demon/Inner-Sakura

'Who?' Thoughts

-YO!- Animal speech

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

We find ourselves watching Team Seven walking into the mission room after completing the mission at all genin dread: Catch Tora. Naruto is glaring at said cat with scratches all over his face. Tora, on the other hand, is currently snuggled in Harry's arms purring as Harry is scratching behind his ears. "-Oh…OH! RIGHT THERE!-" Harry begins to sweat as he feels Killing Intent coming from everyone in the room.

'How! HOW is it he can tame the demon cat! Yet no one else can!' Seeing the Fire lord's wife, Madame Shijimi, Harry hands her Tora reluctantly only to narrow his eyes at how she treats him.

"Um, Shijimi-dono… I know why Tora-chan keeps running away…" Seeing that he has her attention, he begins to instruct her in how to handle a cat properly. Several minutes later she has tears in her eyes because Tora's laying in her arms purring. Reaching over she gives Harry a big hug.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me. I'll follow your instructions as best I can young man." Still smiling, Harry pulls out a small green cloth ball from his pocket. "What's this?" Harry hands it to her before giving her a wink.

"It's a special cat toy. Inside of it is a herb found in my homeland called catnip. You see, the smell of catnip causes cats to have a sense of euphoria." To prove his point Tora begins to act like a kitten with slightly glazed eyes. Thanking him she leaves (though not before getting a promise of more catnip as well as giving Team Seven a hefty bonus). Feeling the stares, Harry blinks. "What?" After a moment of silence, Iruka asks the question on everyone's mind.

"How? How did you know that stuff?" Harry gains a far off look before he answers.

"Before I came to Konoha, I had this old woman named Mrs. Figg for a babysitter. You see, she had a lot of cats in her house so I picked up a lot of stuff from it." Everyone begins to feel uncomfortable before the Sandaime clears his throat.

"Yes, well… I believe it's time for your next mission. Let's see… We have gardening, weeding some lawns, walking the Inuzuka hounds, babysitting the elders grand children-" He's cut off as Naruto begins to rant.

"No! No! NO! I've had it with these crappy missions! I want to do something better then slave labour!" As he continues Iruka slowly gets redder and redder before he finally explodes.

"That is enough! You're only a genin baka! D-rank missions are given to Genin to ease them into the ninja lifestyle! In fact they're not slave labour so you should be happy with what you get!" Harry gives him a deadpan expression.

"Not slave labour? You're joking, right? I mean, you HAVE seen what we get paid right?" Seeing Iruka about to explode again, Sarutobi sighs and interrupts him before he can get started.

"Iruka is quite right." Seeing Harry's and Naruto's stubborn faces, he sighs again. "Seems that I have to explain about missions and rankings." And with that he begins his lecture only to finish several minutes later. "…And that is why genin are given such missions." A tick develops as he sees that everyone ignored him in favour of hearing about one of the Uzumaki-Potter brothers misadventures.

"…and that's why we've been banned from EVER ingesting that amount of Pixie sticks and pepper-up potions again." Having had enough the Hokage slams his palm down on the desk.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING!" Kakashi begins rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that." He sweat-drops as the Hokage continues to glare. 'Though that does explain about that SSS-ranked mission I heard had happened while I was away that one time…' Naruto sits down with a slight pout.

"I know all about that stuff Oji-san, but come on! How am I ever going to gain the respect of the village if all you have me do is stuff like garbage collection?" Sarutobi continues to glare for a few seconds before he settles back with a sigh and a small smile on his face.

"Very well. I believe we have a C-rank here that you could do without too much trouble." Turning towards a chunin, he gives him an order. "Please bring in Tazuna." The chunin bows before leaving, returning moments later with a slightly drunk man in his fifties holding a sake bottle. He squints at Team Seven before snorting.

"I want ninja, not a bunch of snot-nosed brats." Taking another swing of his bottle, he points at Harry and Naruto after letting loose a belch. "Especially not the two short, stupid looking ones." While Kakashi is holding back a fuming Naruto, Harry just stares at Tazuna emotionlessly before he begins to speak in a cold, almost bored tone.

"This short stupid looking one happens to know more them seventy-five ways to kill you, most of them extremely gruesome." The matter of fact way he states this fact causes shivers to go down everyone's spine. "Of course, since you ARE a client I can't actually kill you… So which will it be? Do I remove each of your bones one at a time? Or do I perhaps heat your blood until it actually begins to boil in your veins? May I should simply remove that which makes you a man-" Kakashi interrupts him at this point hurriedly.

"I think he gets the point Harry." He turns to the trembling, slightly green senor before giving him a eye-smile. "Don't mind him, he's just in a bit of a mood… Teenagers and all. Besides I'm an elite jounin so I can take care of anything if need be." Tazuna nods quickly before turning back to the genin.

"My name is Tazuna, the super bridge builder! I expect you to protect me with your lives until I've completed my super bridge!" Soon after confirming that they're leaving early in the morning, Tazuna and the rest of Team Seven leave except for Harry and Naruto. Harry continues to stare at where Tazuna was with narrowed eye causing Sarutobi to ask what's wrong.

"Something's not right about this. I can't put my finger on it but there's something about this mission…" Both the Hokage and Iruka narrow their eyes.

"You think he's lying?" Harry shakes his head at Iruka.

"No. Rather I think he's only telling us a half-truth… And then there's the fact that my gut is telling me that something's up, that the mission might be harder then expected." He turns to face the Hokage. "If so, I'll send a message for back-up." The Sandaime nods, and with that Harry and Naruto head home for preparations.

0000000000 Several hours later at the Uzumaki-Potter residence 00000000000

Finishing checking a note book in his hands, Harry flops back onto the couch. "Merlin! I can't believe that we're going on a C-rank. Finally!" Naruto agrees with a grin.

"I know! We're actually got a serious mission…" Naruto trails off looking over a nearby closet causing Harry to chuckle.

"Yes, we're going to use them. After all, we DID promise to use them on our first serious mission." Harry pauses a moment. "You know, I'm wondering if the other's are as prepared as us?" Snorting, Hedwig sits down beside him before putting her arm around his shoulders and pulling him close (causing him to blush at his proximity to something).

"I doubt very much that they're anything close to the shear amount of weaponry you and Naruto have." Hedwig begins to tick off points off her fingers. "You each have twenty ordinary kunai for use with exploding tags with another thirty in storage. Add to this the seventy Ryuu-kiba kunai you both have and your carrying around quite a arsenal." Hedwig begins to scratch her chin in thought. "You also have thirty Ryuu-kiba shuriken and you Harry have around sixty senbon, a quarter of which are poisoned… Need I go on?" Harry laughs a bit.

"No, no… I think we get the point." Row begins to smirk as she sits down on the other side from Hedwig as she also puts her arms around his shoulder.

"Then there's the fact that we have several healing potions, several types of painkillers… though they no longer effect you…" She chuckles when Harry playfully hits her arm. "Bandages, a large supply of anti-septics, various balms and creams. Not to mention the antibiotics I managed to find." Row states with pride, proud of her position of healer in the group. Snorting, Sal moseys on up behind the couch and drapes her arms over both Row's and Hedwig's arms as well as Harry himself.

"Well of course you found them! I WAS the one who pointed them out to you after all." Everyone laughs at Row, who blushes before glaring at Sal. "What?" Suddenly she's hit in the face by a pillow. As it falls away it shows her staring straight ahead with a transfixed expression before turning to a giggling Row, who soon sticks her tongue out at her. "Ooooh! That's it!" With that, Sal launches herself at Row who squawks in surprise. However, these rapidly become screeches of laughter as Sal begins tickling her. Hedwig watches for a moment before grinning as she leaps on top of them.

"DOG PILE!" Both Harry and Naruto stare at the mass of squealing, giggling familiars before shaking their heads.

"Just one of those nights…"

000000000000 Next Day 00000000000000000

Sakura and Sasuke are currently standing outside the gates of Konoha grumbling about eternally late people when Kakashi shows up. Sakura greets him in the normal manner. "YOUR LATE!" Kakashi gives her an eye-smile while rubbing his neck.

"Ah! You see I have a good excuse! You see me and Tazuna were making our way here when we were attacked by a mime and a dancing bear. But we triumphed." Sakura trembles a bit before exploding.

"LIAR!" Tazuna glares at him.

"Don't be using me for your lame excuses." Looking around, he notices two people missing. "Hey! Where are the other two gaki's?" Sakura's about to answer when she's interrupted.

"Hey! Sorry we're late! We got held up!" Sakura's, Sasuke's (Though he would later deny this) and Kakashi's jaws drop as they catch sight of their missing team mates. Both Harry and Naruto are wearing trench coats apparently made of some kind of scaly hide (Harry: black Naruto: crimson) with a tan vest underneath them. They're also wearing ANBU style pants apparently made of silk that have metal plates attached to the thigh as well as shin guards. Kakashi raises an eyebrow seeing that they have similar gloves to him except they're once again made of scaly hide. He's also interested in the metal arm guards they're wearing seeing that gems seems to be imbedded in them (Harry's is pure black and seems to absorb light with green crystals, while Naruto's is blood red with blue crystals). Naruto and Harry look at each other before saying the same thing: "What?" Kakashi's the one to shake off his surprise first.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. So, why are you late?" However, Kakashi's thoughts are on another tangent. 'Why does Naruto look like sensei now? Could he be… No he couldn't be, I was told he died when the Kyubi destroyed the hospital.' Shaking his head free of such thoughts, he gives a deadpan expression at Harry's excuse.

"Sorry sensei, but we were attacked by this tentacle monster. But don't worry, we defeated it before it escaped." Kakashi stands there waiting for something that doesn't occur. He looks at Sakura and Sasuke with a questioning look.

"Well? Aren't you going to call them liars?" Both Sasuke and Sakura give him a 'What are you? A baka?' look.

"Sensei… in there case, it's probably the truth." Kakashi hangs his head mumbling about how it's not fair. Naruto, meanwhile smiles noticing something.

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan! I see that you're wearing the gift that me and nii-san got for you." Looking down, Sakura smiles seeing the knife that they gave her in it's scabbard strapped to her waist.

"Hai! I decided that since we're on our first C-rank now is as good a time as any to break it in." Still smiling, she points at their new clothes. "And I see that you're doing the same thing. Nice look by the way." Harry scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Yeah, well… We already had decided to change our look when we had our first serious mission… So we're using our battle outfits since they count as armour." Looking them over, Sasuke snorts in derision.

"Armour? Other then your bracers and shin guards as well as those plates, I don't see any armour." Harry just clucks at him.

"Honestly Sasuke, we're ninja, remember? 'Look underneath the underneath' And all that." He smirks at Sasuke's glare. "Allthe clothes we're wearing count as armour… okay, maybe not our underpants, but everything else does!" Ignoring his team mate's growl, Harry turns to a mopping Kakashi. "So, when are we going?" Kakashi looks up at the sun before shrugging.

"How about now?" And with that they begin their journey. As they walk Kakashi notices Row and Hedwig missing. "So, where have our fine feathered friends gone off too?" Harry shrugs before answering.

"Oh, they decided to go and stretch their wings for a bit is all." Kakashi nods realizing that means they're scouting ahead. A few minutes later Naruto decides to ask a question that's bothering him.

"Hey sensei, can I ask you a question?" Getting a grunt, he continues. "I don't know a lot about Wave Country, so… Are there any ninja there?" Tazua is the one to answer him however.

"Nah, we don't have any ninja." He takes a swing of Sake before going on. "Being a group of islands surrounded by the sea, and protected by it, we don't have a ninja village." He drinks a bit more to hide the feelings on his face. 'Unfortunately. Maybe if there were we wouldn't be in the situation we are now.' He raises an eyebrow at Naruto's next question.

"What? Not even a ninja clan?" Tazuna shakes his head while Kakashi reaches over and bonks Naruto on the head.

"What part of Wave being a smallnation don't you understand? It's not big enough to support a large group of ninja." Naruto glares at him.

"That wasn't what I meant! I wasn't asking about a village. I know that Wave is too small for that! Besides, most countries that size have two or three ninja at least if not a small clan. Look at Rice Country: It's small too, yet the Fuma clan calls it home.`Naruto suddenly snaps his fingers as he remembers something. Besides, Hoshigakure is a village located in a small country." Kakashi pauses for a moment and then tilts his head, granting the point.

"True. However you're forgetting the fact that Wave is protected by the sea around it." This time it's Harry who snorts before talking over his shoulder.

"Your forgetting Water country Sensei." He grins watching Kakashi blink. "Water country is a group of islands. So by your logic it shouldn't have a ninja village, yet that's where Kirigakure is located." Harry gets an annoyed look on his face. "Though I STILL don't understand how it's considered a major village since after the Bloodline Purge and the various civil wars it's no more powerful then, say, Amegakure or Kusa." Impressed, Kakashi raises an eyebrow.

"Very good. Now, can I ask exactly how you know so much about Kiri? Hmm?" Harry simply smirks.

"Who did you think brought survivors of Kiri's bloodline purge to Konoha?" Harry's smirk transformed into a grin at Kakashi's shocked look. "Oh yes! It was me and nii-san that did it with help from Hedwig's and Row's teleporting ability… Though you won't find that fact in any file seeing that it was done without the Hokage's permission… Officially." Kakashi nods knowing what he means, also due to the fact that he saw Harry making several gestures before so he knows that no one heard the discussion.

"Understood." At that moment Row and Hedwig return and begin to 'Talk' to him. Kakashi's eye becomes hooded as he notices Harry frowning. "They seem to have enjoyed their flight." Harry nods as the rest of the team slows down so they're grouped together as Harry begins to speak in English (which all of the team members have a understanding of by now).

"We have two misty shadows up ahead as well as robbers." Kakashi nods as he realizes that there are two mist shinobi and some bandits up ahead.

'Well now, things have gotten a little more interesting…'

00000000000000000 Three hours later 000000000000000

After several signs of nothing, Team Seven slowly relaxes only to sweat-drop as a puddle comes into view. Sal sums up all their thoughts. "-What is wrong with them?! Do they honestly think we're that stupid?-" Harry rolls his eyes before opening the mental connection with his familiars.

'I honestly believe they do, how else to explain such a lousy disguise? No matter. Row, Hedwig, I want you two to fly off my shoulders into those trees over there.' Harry tilts his head towards the side of the road. 'Once there, I want you to transform into your battle forms… You know what to do.' They both nod before winging it off his shoulders. 'Sal, I want you to stay here until they attack. When they do, transform and help the other two out. Go wild.' Harry smirks feeling Sal do the same. Kakashi takes note of this.

'Good. Harry's got a plan up his sleeve and the others are ready.' As they finish passing the puddle, two ninja rise from the puddle. Even for ninja they look strange with their breathing masks, horned hitai-ate (scratched), and clunky clawed gauntlets. In less then a second they have Kakashi wrapped in a spiked chain.

"One down…" One states and the other finishes as they pull on the chain shredding Kakashi before rushing at the genin.

"…Five more to go!" However they don't get far before Sasuke pins their chain to a tree using a shuriken before throwing a Kunai through the shuriken's hole to keep it there. Growling, they both quickly disengage the chain only to find themselves faced with to grinning genin in the form of Harry and Naruto. Naruto's grin rapidly becomes savage.

"Let's dance, shall we?" Ducking under a claw strike (and getting his hand grazed in the process) Naruto rapidly strikes his opponent's throat. As he goes to reflexively clutch at his throat, Naruto uses the opening to land a punishing blow to his abdomen before following up with a palm strike to the temple Ko'ing him. Turning, he glares as he's greeted with the sight of Harry knocking the other Oni brother out with a stunner. Seeing Naruto's glare, Harry raises an eyebrow.

"What-" Anything else he's about to say is cut off by a scream. Turning, both realize that while they had been busy with the two ninja a bandit had snuck up from behind and attacked Sakura. Time seems to stand still as the bandit observes the girl before him with hooded eyes almost close enough for Sakura to feel his breath on her face while her own eyes are wide open in shock and terror… Time begins moving again as the bandit coughs up some blood before collapsing, already dead, with Sakura's knife buried to the hilt in him. "Shit! Nee-san!" Harry's about to rush over when he feels a presence behind him and in one smooth motion frees Phobos before swinging it at the person. The person in question grabs his wrist revealing it to be Kakashi, who raises an eyebrow.

"I know that you have anger issues with me, but to try to kill me? For shame!" Taking a moment, he glances over to where Naruto is currently comforting a trembling Sakura. 'I wish she didn't have to make her first kill now… At least she has Naruto to comfort her.' He's brought back to reality when Harry grabs hold of his vest, snarling.

"Where in the bloody hell were you! We needed you, damn it!" Kakashi gives him an inscrutable look.

"Are you angry with me?… Or are you angry with yourself?" Seeing Harry flinch and feeling his grip weaken, Kakashi sighs before laying a hand on his shoulder. "I really am no good at this kind of stuff, but… I try to give you a piece of advice: Learn from this. After all, you can't anticipate everything, so don't even try." And with that he grabs one of the Oni brothers and walks off to interrogate him. Hearing a scoff, Harry turns and is confronted by a scowling Sasuke. Rolling his eyes, he begins to walk away when Sasuke's next words cause him to stop in his tracks.

"Weakling." Harry's fists begin to shake as he slowly turns around, his voice taking on a growling aspect.

"What did you just say?" Sasuke gives him a condescending smirk before answering.

"The fan girl. If she's crying over killing then she's weak and doesn't deser-urk!" Sasuke suddenly finds himself slammed into a tree with Harry's hand clenched around his throat holding him off the ground. He tries to free himself only to still as Harry looks at him, his green eyes glowing a poisonous green with a slit pupil.

"Let's get one thing straight Uchiha: you do not like me and I sure as hell don't like you. I don't like you attitude, your arrogance pisses me off to no end, and the way you treat others rubs me the wrong way on SO many levels. Now I frankly don't care if you insult me or nii-san cause you know what? To us it's water off a duck's back, we just don't care. However…" Sasuke begins to choke as he feels Harry's hand tighten and he starts to fear for his life as Harry's voice takes on a demonic tinge. "… I will NOT tolerate you putting Sakura-nee-san down for her reaction. You who have not killed have NO RIGHT to do so! DO. I. MAKE. MYSELF. CLEAR. UCHIHA?" Harry punctuates each word at the end by slamming Sasuke against the tree with each word. A finger taps him on the shoulder bringing him back to reality as Kakashi grabs his attention.

"I thought that I should let you know that I finished my interrogation so I'll be talking about something to you and the rest of the team." He then gives Harry a eye-smile. "Oh, and I think that you should let Sasuke go… though that is a lovely shade of blue." Harry drops Sasuke, none to gently, before stalking back towards the group with a snarl. Sasuke is about to get back up when Kakashi's fingers begin to dig into his shoulder causing him to wince. "Next time you make a comment like that I won'tstop Harry." And with that he begins striding towards the rest of the group as if nothing happened. Sakura notices him causing her face to light up, making him smile under his mask.

"Sensei! Your okay!" Chuckling, Kakashi gives her a wave before turning to Tazuna with a serious expression.

"Now, please explain why you lied about the mission. And don't lie or we'll leave you now." Sighing, he explains about how Gato has taken over Wave and how him building a bridge to the main land will break his hold on the country.

"…And that's why the bridge needs to be built." Seeing the sympatric looks, he decides to try a guilt trip. "I'll understand if you leave, after all I'll just be killed… But don't worry about that! And then my grandson will cry and my daughter will hate all Konoha nin until she dies, but don't worry about that either!" Seeing the resigned looks he nearly smirks only to cringe as he notices Harry and Naruto glaring with Harry growling.

"If you think guilt tripping us is helping your case, it doesn't… For one: Konoha is already hated by many people so one more won't hurt. And two… " Harry trails off as he and Naruto smirks before Naruto continues.

"… And two: If you had just explained your situation to the Hokage, he would have sent you a full team of ANBU. Instead, you got us! Ironic, nee?" Seeing Tazuna smack himself, he chuckles. "Hindsight is a real bitch isn't it?" At Harry's nod, Kakashi gives both an raised eyebrow.

"Well, that's nice and all but… the other two haven't agreed yet. And then there's the fact that Naruto's been poisoned…" He trails off seeing Naruto stab himself in the hand with a kunai.

"Heh, problem solved." He soon regrets this as Sakura bashes him over the head with her fist.

"Baka! What are you, some kind of masochist!? Kami!" She grabs his hand only to see the wound closing before her eyes. "Huh. I forgot that you heal fast. It's almost closed in fact." She still reaches back and gives him a smack. "Still, You should do stuff like that!" As she continues her rant, Harry glances at Naruto through the corner of his eye before softly hissing.

"-You did that on purpose, didn't you? Just to distract her.-" Naruto just gives him a small grin before answering back.

"-Partially. I also did it to prove a point… Success on both counts.-" Harry nods seeing the more confidant looks on the others faces. Catching sight of Naruto's grin, Sakura hits him again.

"Baka! What are you grinning about?!" She sighs as Naruto apologizes. "Look, I just worry about you is all, okay Naruto? You're my friend and I can't help but worry about you is all." Naruto gives her a gentle smile as he lays his hand on her shoulder.

""I know and I'm thankful for it since I have so few friends, I treasure those I do have." Hearing a rustling sound all turn just in time to see a slightly bloodied Row and Hedwig emerge from the trees. Seeing their state, Sakura gasps as she rushes over to check on them.

"Hedwig! Row! Are you two alright!?" They both just wave off her concerns as Row explains.

"Don't worry, none of this" she gestures at the blood on them. "Is ours." Growing serious, she turns to Harry and Kakashi. "There were about fifteen bandits hiding in the woods back there. Me and Hedwig accounted for about five each with Sal taking the rest out." At that moment Sal comes out grunting as she yanks a senbon from her shoulder. Seeing the stares she grins sheepishly while shrugging.

"Sorry, saw someone in the trees so I took off after them. Don't know how they managed it but they somehow vanished before I could get close, probably to report back to whoever ordered this." She holds up the senbon for inspection showing it to be made of ice. "They did, however, manage to hit me with some off these. They're made of some kind of chakra enhanced ice." Her face drops in disappointment. "Sorry I could catch them guys." Her face brightens some at what Harry says.

"Don't worry about it Sal, I know that I'm not. In fac-" Harry glares at Tazuna when he interrupts him.

"Wait a minute! Row? Hedwig? Sal? Aren't those the names of those birds and snake you were carrying around? Unless they were actually ninja in disguise…?" Kakashi sighs before shaking his head in the negative.

"Nope. Both Hedwig and Row are actual birds and Sal is a real snake. Since they're his bonded familiars they're somehow able to take human form…" He gives a perverted giggle. "And what forms they are!" As Tazuna nods, both still as a massive amount of killing intent hits them from Harry.

"HENTAI!"

000000000000 Later that night 000000000000000

Naruto opens his eyes and glances at the glances at the alarm clock next to him as he stretches. 'Hmm, three o'clock? Already? Oh well… thanks for waking me Kyubi-chan.' Kyubi yawns before answering.

'Not a problem Naruto-kun… Though (Yawn!) we could have used more sleep.' Naruto just shrugs and shakes his head.

'Yeah, we COULD have used more sleep… But that wouldn't have been fair. After all, us guys are all taking watches. Nii-san had the nine to twelve shift, and Sasuke has the Twelve to three shift. Besides, I only have to have four hours of sleep to get the benefit of eight thanks to that ritual I found, remember?' As he walks to the entrance of the tent , he chuckles as he remembers the looks on everyone's face when him and Harry revealed the wizarding tent they brought. His chuckles come to an end as he winces from the smell of sake from Tazuna. He sweat-drops seeing Harry asleep in his sleeping bag with Row perched on his forehead and Sal's head poking out from his shirt. 'Not going to ask…' Kyubi nods her head.

'Agreed. Hey wait a second! Where's Hedwig?' Looking around, Naruto frowns as he notices someone else missing.

'Yeah, and Sakura-chan's missing as well.' His frown becomes more pronounced as he remembers how she had been tossing and turning as well as how Kakashi wouldn't allow them to give her a dreamless sleep potion. 'Now where could she be…?' His sweat-drop returns as Harry begins to mumble in his sleep.

"Sakura-nee-chan's okay… Hedwig's watching her." Naruto stares for a moment in disbelief before shaking his head.

'Okay… THATwasn't weird… Nope not at all…' Still shaking his head, he walks out the entrance. Glancing back at the apparently small tent, he allows a small smirk to form. 'And ninja's think they're the masters of deception? HA! They have nothing on wizards…' He takes note of Kakashi sleeping in a nearby tree with his Icha Icha Paradise book covering his face. Upon catching sight of Sasuke staring into the fire he shakes his head. You do realize that destroys your night vision, right?" Sasuke merely grunts in reply. "Anyways… you wouldn't have seen Sakura-chan, have you?" Sasuke jerks his thumb towards a patch of darkness.

"Hn. She went towards that stream nearby about twenty minutes ago." Naruto stares at him in icluderous disbelief for a few moments.

"And you haven't thought to check on her!? What the hell is wrong with you!" Sasuke shrugs.

"Your brother's owl followed her. "Naruto continues to stare before he stalks off in the direction he pointed in with a growl. "Hey, where do you think you're going!? It's your turn for the watch dobe!" Naruto stops with his hand resting against a tree while speaking over his shoulder.

"I'm going to check on Sakura-chan… A team mate SHOULD." He takes no small amount of pleasure from how Sasuke flinches before he slowly fades into the surrounding darkness making Sasuke shiver at how it's almost as if he was a ghost. Of course, neither of the genin notice that Kakashi's actually awake and listening in.

'Hmm, at least one of them has his prioties straight.' He sighs as he gives Sasuke a cursory glance before sighing. 'Looks like I have a LOT of work to do with him yet… I won't let your nephew fall to darkness Obito… Not if I can help it.'

00000000 Five minutes later with Naruto 000000000000

Naruto's hopping from tree to tree until he finally stops. "Okay, you can come out now Hedwig." Silent as a ghost, Hedwig drops down beside him. "How is she?" Hedwig thinks it over before shrugging her shoulders.

"No idea. Even for a human she's acting odd." Seeing his raised eyebrow she goes into more detail. "She's over at the stream washing her hands over and over again mumbling how she can't get something off." She frowns seeing the sympathetic expression on Naruto's face, but is interrupted before she can say anything.

"Thanks. I'll take it from here." Hedwig watches as he jumps down to the ground and walks off before scratching her head in confusion and then shaking her head.

'Mental… all humans are mental.' Shrugging, she resolves to have Harry explain it to her as she takes off and flies back to camp. Naruto, however, finally locates Sakura doing exactly as Hedwig described. Not wanting to surprise her, he softly calls out.

"Sakura-chan? You all right?" His eyes soften as Sakura turns allowing him to catch sight of her puffy red eyes and raw hands. "Oh, Sakura-chan…" The breath suddenly explodes from his lungs as she rushes at him, throwing her arms around him in a vice-like grip. He slowly wraps his arms around her as she begins sobbing.

"I'm… I'm sorry… I just can't…" Her grip loosens as she brings her trembling hands in front of her. "I'm so sorry… I just… I just keep seeing his blood on my hands… No matter how much I try to… clean them." She starts to sob some more until she sees, and feels, Naruto's hands gently grasp hers. Gasping in shock, she looks up to see various emotions on his face: Sadness, sympathy, understanding, yet no pity. He slowly rubs his thumb over her hands before sighing.

"I… I know what your feeling because… I, too, have taken a life." Hearing this causes her eyes to fly open in shock that her friend, who's one of the kindest people she knows, has taken a life. Her throat goes dry as she asks what's on her mind.

"How…? When?" Naruto looks away from her with his eyes tightly shut as if in great pain. "Naruto?" Naruto sighs before turning back at her.

"I was eight at the time…" Ignoring her gasp he continues. "Me and nii-san had gone to his home country for some things when we were attacked by a Death Eater." Sakura tilts her head to the side in puzzlement.

"'Death Eater'? What's that?" Naruto gives her a sad smile before answering her.

"Remember what me and nii-san told you about Voldemort?" Sakura nods hesitantly. "Well a Death Eater is one of his wizard followers." He ignores her widening eyes in favour of continuing. "Anyways, I don't know why he attacked us… Maybe to revenge his fallen master? Who knows? Well, during the fight I threw a kunai with a explosive tag hoping to distract him…" Naruto trails off remembering what happened.

"What… What happened next?" Naruto's brought back to reality by Sakura's soft voice. Taking a deep shuddering breath before continuing.

"It landed at his feet… And he started laughing. In fact… he was still laughing a few moments later when it went off…" He looks towards Sakura with tears gathering in his eyes. "I don't think that no matter how long I live or what I do that I'll ever forget the look on his face… or the smell afterwards." He takes another deep shuddering breath. "If it wasn't for my precious people supporting me… I just don't know." He reaches out and cups Sakura's cheek with one hand. "That's what I want to be Sakura-chan, your support… That is if you would let me." Naruto doesn't have to say anything else as Sakura buries her face in the crook of his neck with her arms wrapped around it. A few moments later, she asks the question that's really bugging her.

"Does it… Does it ever get easier?" She's greeted with silence for a few seconds.

"No… No it doesn't." Naruto begins to shake his head with a sigh. "And, really, it shouldn't. There's an old saying that nii-san told me that all ninja should keep in mind: 'Those who fight monsters should take care lest they become one themselves.'" Naruto pulls slightly away so as to look Sakura in the eyes. "Sakura-chan, always hang onto that part of you that feels regret, no matter what or how much pain it causes you for that is what makes you human." Disengaging from the hug, though he keeps a arm draped over her shoulder, he jerks his head towards the camp site. "Now come on, we should be heading back before Sasuke-teme gets REALLY mad and cranky." Both her and Naruto head back with Sakura giggling into one hand. Arriving back at the camp they're greeted with the sight of a disgruntled Sasuke.

"Took you long enough dobe." And with that he walks back into the tent without a backward glance for some more sleep causing Naruto to roll his eyes.

"Teme." with that he sits down and mumbles a spell that dims the light from the fire without losing any heat. 'There! Now I can see if someone approaches the camp.' Naruto's a bit surprised when Sakura goes and sits down beside him. "Sakura-chan?" She gives him a pleading look as she shuffles closer to him.

"I just… Don't want to be alone right now…" She shivers some in the pre-dawn chill only to blush as Naruto shrugs off his trench coat and drapes it over her. "Thank you." Naruto gives her a smile as she tightens the coat around her, obviously enjoying the warmth from it while yawning and feeling safe. Naruto looks away from her with a small amount of redness on his cheeks.

"No need to thank me Sakura-chan, I'm just doing what a good friend should." He blinks as he feels a weight settling on his shoulder. Looking over, he heavily blushes as he realizes that Sakura's fallen asleep on his shoulder. The blush is replaced by a tender look as he realizes that she must not have gotten much sleep. 'Poor Sakura-chan… I really wish that I could do something… Wait a second! I CAN do something!' Inside of the seal, Kyubi cocks her head to the side in confusion.

'What is it Naruto-kun? What are going to do?' Naruto mentally chuckles before answering.

'Just watch Kyubi-chan, this is something I've been working on for sometime now…' Naruto begins releasing some chakra, much like what you would do to create killing intent, except that instead a comforting feeling falls over the camp site. 'See? I use the same process to create KI but instead I create what I call CI or "Comforting Intent".' As Kyubi nods Naruto reaches over and gently tucks a piece of Sakura's hair behind her ear before leaning down and giving her a soft kiss on her forehead causing her to sigh and snuggle deeper into his shoulder. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, as long as I'm here I'll make sure your nightmares don't bother you." Looking away, he doesn't notice a green sliver disappear as sleep fully claims the pink haired girl as her final though drifts away.

'I already knew that… After all, I can always count on you to protect me…' And with that she finally manages to fall asleep fully leaving the camp site quiet but for her soft breathes and the crackling of the flames…

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Yui: Kawaii! Seriously Kawaii!

Pen-pen: (Nods)

Hinata: (Thinking) Must... resist... urge... to... kill... Sakura-san...

Steve: (Nervously watching Hinata clench and unclench her fists) Er... Anyways, onto the new poll! I need you opinion, should I create a new fic for side stories? You know, a place for different stuff like: Misadventures of the familiars, stories involving OC's that appear, ones that have the other Naruto characters but not Harry or Naruto (or only in bit parts). That kind of stuff. Basically fillers.

Poll: Should I create a fic for side stories?

Yes:0

No: 0

Steve: And just to let you know I'll only update it as the plot bunnies bite. This poll will stay open until the end of the Wave Arc, so let me know!

Weapon List:

Ryuu-Kiba weapons:Once Kuro decided that both Naruto and Harry knew enough about normal forging, he decided to teach them how to create weapons from demon fangs and teeth. Unfortunitly, such items are rare now and hard to find so they had to make due with something similar yet plentiful and cheap: Dragon teeth. It was found that any weapons created by using dragon teeth would retain the ability to inflict extra damage according to the type of dragon it came from: Eg. Ryuu-kiba weapons forged from fire-breather's teeth would scorch the area around the wound, poisonous ones would, what else, poison, ice-breather's would freeze, etc. All Ryuu-kiba weapons have been ordered restricted by the Hokage so only certain ninja can use them (ANBU, the Hokage, some jounin, Harry, Naruto, and anyone given permission from either the Hokage or the Uzumaki-Potter brothers).

(Screen fades out)