Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Harry Potter.

Twin Paths

Chapter3: Albus and Gellert

February 1899
Uzu no Kuni: Uzumaki Clan Village
Main Temple

It had been seven years since she had first met Hashirama and Madara at that river in Hi no Kuni. Since then she had been sent out on missions with other members of her clan to various battlefields in Uzu no Kuni when the Kaguya clan made landfall and began invading the island nation. The Kaguya clan was strong and vicious but they were ill equipped to deal with the Uzumaki clan's style of Fūinjutsu. After several years of almost nonstop fighting, the Kaguya clan fled back to Mizu no Kuni and had never been heard from since.

"Are you telling me that you've mastered Arashi-sama's Jigenwareme? A seal capable of transporting people across dimensions at will?" Ashina asked the question.

"Yes," the now seventeen year old Mito replied.

"Interesting…" Ashina trailed off as he contemplated the possibilities.

"With it we can better deploy our forces faster to counter any incursion into Uzu no Kuni by other clans," Mito explained. "Like the Kaguya clan."

She still remembered when the Kaguya clan first attacked Uzu no Kuni, they came out of nowhere using their inhuman bone structures to bypass the thousand or so whirlpools around the island and struck without warning. It was only due to Mito being in the area at the time to rally their defences that they'd been able to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive from the Uzumaki clan village and push the Kaguya clan back to their beachhead.

"…Tell me about what you've found," Ashina said simply.

"Well I haven't fully mapped it out or anything but so far but it seems to be inhabited," Mito explained. "It's the outlands."

"The outlands," Ashina mused as he thought back on the legends. "I want you to go back there and investigate. Find out everything you can about them and report back."

He'd heard the story and read the notes concerning the founding of the Uzumaki clan. Senju Arashi had developed a seal—the Jigenwareme—and travelled outside of the Shinobi World to what he called the outlands. Once there he had travelled around and discovered two other worlds overlapping each other, one inhabited by civilians and another by people calling themselves witches and wizards.

He'd met a young witch in a country called Japan called Uzumaki Yukari and returned to the Shinobi World with her. The Jigenwareme was an extremely difficult Fūinjutsu to learn and master, which was why no one had been able to use it since Arashi died. The fact that Mito had apparently been able to learn it was astounding, and changed everything. If she used it again then they could travel outside of the Shinobi World and research new more powerful jutsu.

They could even...dare he say it...create a proper village...

A place where children from different clans could live side by side...

"…Yes Father," Mito bowed her head at the order and turned to leave.

"Good luck," Ashina told her.

Mito left her father's office and headed for her room where the few things she possessed her sealed away in scrolls. It didn't take her long to reach it and step inside, taking care to shut the door behind her. Once she was inside, she grabbed her bag from on top of her draws and started packing away her scrolls. She usually did this before a mission and she'd gotten used to packing for long missions that may take months to do.

Like this one…

After she'd finished packing away her stuff, she left the room, making sure to seal it behind her, and headed for the clan temple where she had set up her interdimensional seal. It had taken a lot of preparation to make it and she was pleased with the results. If this could help her family survive whatever crisis came their way, then that was enough for her. She entered the temple soon after and quickly made her way to the sealing room.

"Here I go," Mito whispered as she stepped onto the seal. "Jigenwareme."

She disappeared in a burst of light…

June 1899
England: Godric's Hollow
Cemetery

After arriving outside of the Shinobi World, Mito found herself in a desert-like dimension before travelling to the inhabited 'world' she had found. It appeared that someone had erected a barrier of some kind around the continent containing the ninja population and shifted it into another dimension, taking it out of phase with the rest of reality. It spoke of incredible power when she considered that something like that was possible since it meant that someone had literally sealed the Elemental Nations in a pocket-dimension.

It didn't end there however...

A week after her arrival in the outside world she analyzed the 'barrier' between the normal world and the 'magic' world. Mito was thankful that she was a witch otherwise she would have likely missed it but with a wand in hand and her understanding of seals—runes in this case—she discovered that it acted much like barrier surrounding the Elemental Nations only on a smaller scale. The 'Magic World' was a series of smaller pocket dimensions dotting about the normal world, sealing it off like the Shinobi World was. Her ancestor, Uzumaki Yukari, had called them wards and had detailed how they essentially closed off space in specific areas so that they weren't discovered by the 'Muggles' who were normal people.

The 'Muggles' of the normal world had no idea that chakra existed or even witches, wizards, ninja or any other creature in the worlds. Soon enough she started investigating the Magic World and found herself in a small village called Godric's Hollow. She'd found a wizarding marketplace in a city called London and had bought some books from the stores to find out more information on them. It was then that she discovered that families of wizards and witches mingled together all the time instead of fighting each other like they did in the Shinobi World.

It was in Godric's Hollow that she met them...

'I need to report back to Father tonight,' Mito thought as she walked through the street. 'What's this? A graveyard?'

She stopped as she passed a small gate and looked over at the graveyard on the other side of it. It was dark but she could tell, a number of people were there next to different graves. The concept of a graveyard was something new to her since any ninja who died in battle usually had their bodies incinerated to stop their enemies from desecrating them and learning whatever secrets their body's may possess and use them against the Uzumaki clan.

"Are you okay, Miss?" a voice spoke up from behind her. She turned, her wand sliding into her hand as she did so and he took a step back while bringing his hands up in a nonthreatening manner. "Hey now, please don't point that thing at me. I'm not going to hurt you; I was just asking if you were alright?"

"...I'm fine thank you," Mito said quietly as she lowered her wand.

"A jumpy one, aren't you?" he mused before shaking his head. "I'm Henry Potter, who are you?"

"Mito," she replied simply.

Even if she wasn't in the Shinobi World anymore there was no way she giving out her clan name to anyone...

"Mito huh?" Henry asked. "Sounds foreign," he shrugged and walked on passed her into the cemetery. "I'll see you around, Miss Mito."

She watched him walk over to a set of graves and sighed before turning away. They must have been his parents' graves and he was paying his respects to them, a foreign concept for her since she hadn't really mourned her mother's death all those years ago, instead simply hurling herself into learning more Fūinjutsu. Turning away from the cemetery she spotted another man her age standing not too far away, another wizard judging by the robes, and looking down at the wand in his hand.

"Yes?" he asked looking up at her. "Can I help you?"

"I'm sorry," Mito bowed her head in apology. "I was just wondering what you were doing?"

"...It's nothing," he shook his head. "I was just lost in my thoughts for a moment."

"Your thoughts?" Mito inquired.

"It's complicated," he sighed and shook his head a bit more. "I recently graduated at the top of my class and wanted to travel the world with a friend of mine. I wanted to be great, you know? But my mother just passed away and I'm forced to come back here to look after my little brother and sister."

"And you never wanted the responsibility," Mito nodded in understanding.

"No I did not," he grumbled out.

"...What's your name?" a new voice spoke up from behind them.

"My name?" he asked as he looked over at the one who had spoken. It was another young man the same age as them, also dressed in robes though his weren't brown, they were black. "My name is Albus Dumbledore."

"Gellert Grindelwald," the newcomer responded with a nod. "I just graduated myself and I too want to become something great. Tell me, Albus, have you ever heard of the Deathly Hallows? Supposedly death itself created them, three artefacts of incredible power."

"You're searching for them?" Mito inquired. "And what do these artefacts do exactly?"

"One is said to be an invisibility cloak which hides the user from everyone, even death itself. Another is said to be capable of calling back the spirits of those that have died," Gellert explained. "And the last is said to be the most powerful wand ever made."

Mito didn't know either of them that well considering this was their first meeting, but she knew a sales pitch when she heard one. Gellert was putting on a show of knowing about some strange and powerful artefacts, things that would no doubt be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands, and he was doing it to draw them in. She wasn't sure why but he seemed to be leading up to something, and whatever it was, Albus looked as if he was already hooked on the other man's words.

"Incredible..." Albus trailed off.

"Perhaps we could talk some more in private?" Gellert suggested. "Maybe at my place?"

"Yes of course," Albus nodded in agreement.

"...Lead the way."

August 1899
England: Godric's Hollow
Church Lane

Uzumaki Mito sighed deeply as she listened to her friends ramble on, talking about the strangest of legends that the Wizarding World had to offer. One in particular caught her attention, the one that Gellert and Albus seemed almost obsessed over. No matter what they talked about, it always came back to that one legend, the legend of the Deathly Hallows and what it meant to possess them. She'd heard it a lot over the last month and it still disturbed her.

"I'm telling you, the Deathly Hallows must be real," Gellert spoke clearly. "I've looked through hundreds of books and I've come across references to them everywhere. Lovegood even has the symbol for them hanging around his neck wherever he goes."

"The Elder Wand, the Cloak of Invisibility and the Resurrection Stone," Albus smiled widely as he thought of them.

How great would it be to have even one of them he wondered? With the most powerful wand he could become the next Merlin, with the cloak he could hide Ariana from the world so he wouldn't have to look after her anymore, and with the Resurrection Stone he could learn magic that had been lost to ages past by contacting the dead. Oh what he wouldn't give to have even one of them, just one, it didn't matter which.

"So what if they're real?" Henry asked them both. "I get why you'd want them but what good are they in the end?"

"Yeah," Mito nodded. "I mean what happens after you get them? Gaining power for power's sake feels kind of…hollow"

"You don't understand," Gellert shook his head. "The legend says that the one who gains possession of all three Deathly Hallows will become the Master of Death, an immortal without equal with power beyond imagination."

The Master of Death…

Henry had to keep himself from frowning at his words and they represented. He knew the legend, admittedly far more intimately than they did, and it was getting increasingly difficult to maintain his poker face. After all he knew exactly where one of the Deathly Hallows was, in his basement back at his family cottage. The Cloak of Invisibility had been in his family for generations ever since Ignotus Peverell was 'gifted' it by the 'death.' Henry had used it in his youth but after discovering its origins had opted to keep it hidden out of sight.

There were those that would kill for it…

"Imagine the good we could do with that kind of power," Albus carried on. "We could end all war and bring peace to everyone, wizards and muggles alike."

"…And how does having more power bring peace?" Mito asked them.

"Look at us," Gellert said as he gestured to them all. "We wizards cower and hide from the muggles as if they are somehow better than us. We hide not for their protection but for our own. They slaughter each other by the thousands every day and yet we're the ones that hide who we really are just to keep peace with them. When they discover us, and some day they will, we will be wiped out. I want to save this world, I want to save the muggles from themselves and to do that I need more power."

Mito stared at him for a long time after that, they all did, and with good reason. She could understand where he was coming from, she really did, but if he was suggesting what she thought that he was suggesting then that was it, she couldn't be his friend anymore. It would be just like with Hashirama and Madara all those years ago. She didn't want that but she had learned the hard way that people like this existed, and after dealing with the Kaguya clan, she wasn't going to take any chances.

"…And those that don't agree with you?" Mito inquired further.

"Sacrifices must be made for the Greater Good," Gellert responded calmly. He'd wipe them all out, every single one of them. He would crush any and all opposition. She could see it in his eyes, there was no hesitation, no second thoughts, only a burning desire to accomplish his goals by whatever means necessary.

He would have made a good Shinobi…

"You're mad," another voice spoke up from behind them. "You're insane," it was Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus' little brother. He was helping his sister Ariana walk down the street. "Do you even hear yourself? You're talking about taking over the world and mass murder!"

"Aberforth," Albus said as he looked over at his brother. "You just don't understand."

"Oh I understand Albus," Aberforth shot back. "You've let this power hungry bastard tell you what you want to hear and now you're going along with whatever he's saying! You don't even see it, do you!?"

"Enough brother," Albus spoke sternly. "This isn't the time nor place."

Aberforth simply glared at him in disgust as he thought about what his brother was becoming. He knew that Albus was powerful and wanted to go all the way to the top of the Wizarding World but he also knew that as far as his brother was concerned, his family was a burden that he could do without. Both he and Ariana were burdens to him, or at least that's what he believed, and this here proved it. Aberforth always knew that his brother was arrogant but this was something else entirely, and he had to put a stop to it now before it was too late.

Sometimes Albus made his sick…

This was one of those times…

"Stupefy!"

A wand was suddenly in Aberforth's hand and a blue light shot forth from its tip, crossing the distance between him and his brother. A translucent blue barrier sprang-Protego—into existence from Albus' own wand a second later, narrowly deflecting the spell harmlessly to the side. Aberforth couldn't stand it, he simply couldn't stand that his brother regarded him and their sister as burdens. Sweet Ariana didn't deserve her fate and Aberforth wasn't near as skilled as Albus but still, Albus wasn't better than them despite what he believed. Aberforth turned his wand on Gellert and was just about to cast a spell when a whip of fire lashed out from Albus' wand and cut across where he was standing forcing him to defend with his own barrier spell.

"Protego," Aberforth gritted out as he narrowly deflected the fire whip. Albus was skilled; of that there was no doubt. He was a genius when it came to controlling his magic, something he demonstrated by blazing a path through school and mastering various spells.

He was also good at silent casting…

"That's enough," Henry spoke up as he stepped between them. "Stop it now both of you."

It all happened in an instant, one moment he was between them and the next he was flung away and sent crashing into the nearby gate to the graveyard. Standing a few feet away was Gellert with his hand outstretched, his palm open and a look of disgust on his face. Like Albus he too was a genius at magic though unlike him, Gellert excelled at wand-less magic as well as silent-casting. A simple banishing charm done with nothing more than a thrust of his hand.

"Stop it!" Ariana shouted at them from the side. "Please stop!"

Albus didn't register the origin of that plea until the blasting curse had already left his wand. His eyes widened as he realised who had spoke, and whom he had just shot a spell at. His sister, Ariana, her eyes widened as the blasting curse closed in on her and she knew that she was about to die. For a brief moment her admittedly short life flashed before her eyes and she knew that this was the end. Suddenly a blue ball crashed into her and knocked her to the ground. The curse flew right through the space she had occupied seconds before and exploded against the wall of the fence behind her a moment later with enough force to send her spinning away.

"W-what?" Ariana stammered as she looked up at her saviour. Henry who had saved her from being killed by her brother having recovered from Gellert's banishing charm before. He looked down at her and smiled softly, reassuring her that she was okay.

"Are you alright?" Henry asked her as Mito rushed over to their side. Ariana nodded slowly, unable to speak, this was all happening so fast and she didn't know what to do. Her brothers were fighting and she'd just nearly been killed by one of them.

"Albus," Aberforth gritted out in anger. "You almost killed Ariana!"

"No…I…" Albus trailed off in shock as he stared down at his wand and shook his head. "I didn't mean to-".

"Leave," Aberforth snarly angrily. "Get out of here and never come back. I don't want to see your face ever again!"

Albus couldn't believe what he'd nearly done; he'd almost killed his sister by accident, almost as if it was an afterthought. All he could do was stare at his brother, unable to say anything in his defence, not that there was anything he could say. What was there to say? I'm sorry that I just tried to kill our sister? Without a word he turned and apparated away from Godric's Hollow with a loud crack signalling his departure.

"We all could have been great," Gellert told them. "Remember that."

And then he too was gone…

Mito couldn't help but feel hollow for knowing that their friends had chosen that path, the path of death and destruction that she had been trying to escape in the Shinobi World. She couldn't pursue them, not with how fast they would be moving. If they had any sense they would be out of the country within the day, especially with their Apparation spell, a space-time spell that allowed the user to teleport from one location to another almost instantly.

Somehow she knew that they would meet again…

Author's Notes:

Translation

Jigenwareme = Sealing Technique: Dimensional Rift

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