Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of mangaka Masashi Kishimoto, Harry Potter is the work of author J.K. Rowling. The author makes no claim to ownership of the aforementioned works and no profit from this fanfiction.

Uchiha Fukurou

Of ANBU, New Eras and An End to Peaceful Days

Owl resealed the bow. The Onmyōton infused arrow went unnoticed as it phased through the nobleman's skull, simulating a stroke as it sapped at the chakra within the man's brain causing irreparable damage. It was unlikely that the man would die. This was just to send a message to the people who would condone negotiations made in bad faith. That man, should he survive, wouldn't ever be able to walk or talk without remembering this day.

Grasshopper signaled them to get ready. 'Cloud shinobi coming in fast from the north-west,' the hand signs grew more urgent. 'Jinchuriki,' they said, 'Enemy Sensor.'

Wonderful, they were going to be sent running for their lives by an enemy that would be suicide to fight and nearly impossible to hide from.

"What was the point…"Owl wondered, "Of hiding from retribution, when my missions end with being hunted by cloud shinobi anyway?"

Wolf, Crow, Owl and Grasshopper were chased by a thirteen year old Nii Yugito and her team all the way from Lightning Country to Waterfall Country. Persistent...

Fukurou had been a chunin with six months of experience when Hiko and Itachi were promoted in the next scheduled exam. Fortunately it was held in Hidden Grass or rather the vicinity of it. Konoha had judged sending Itachi to be an acceptable risk and Hiko had also gone along as part of another team of genin. Though Fukurou wasn't able to attend the tournaments of the final round, Hiko evidently was able to impress the judges, given that he had managed to earn his promotion.

That year, when the three of them reunited as chunin with their sensei, Chun Chu informed them that she was retiring. Fukurou wasn't surprised. Chun Chu was twenty-nine years old and had served as a shinobi for twenty-one of those years. With a spouse, a child and two successful businesses she had no financial need to stay in service and every reason to retire. Fukurou had known how his sensei felt about the matter of her career since that first day of their genin test. She worried constantly about leaving her husband a widower and her child an orphan.

On the other hand Chun Chu knew her services were needed on the front lines during the war and had stayed on during the tense times afterward as a jounin-sensei. When she had given them the news of her retirement, Chun Chu had told them this, "I never wanted to leave me husband and child, I always yearned to return home. I tempered those feelings while in the field with the thought, 'If not me then who will protect my family?' I held that thought close to my heart every time I left my daughter to go on a mission."

She gave them a beautiful smile, "Now I can go home with the thought that there are three fine Konoha shinobi that I trained. In whom my trust will never falter. I can finally put my mind at rest knowing that who, will be you, if not I." She smiled at Hiko who was blubbering. "Well it's not as if we won't be seeing each other in the village."

It was true. Chun Chu had no intention of cutting ties with the team or village. Rather than protect her family by going out on missions she instead opened a dojo. The training hall was in a neighboring lot to the smithy and weapons shop and got a lot of foot traffic. Chun Chu was well known and many Konoha chunin, genin and even a few academy students attended for extra training in martial arts. Through his sharingan, Fukurou even discovered that there were AnBu there to take lessons. Two of the assistant instructors for the advanced classes were also AnBu agents, working there as jiujutsu instructors, a civilian cover due to the flexible hours.

The old team gathered at the dojo at least once a week when they could. Shigure was most often out on assignment. Her skills as a tracker made her the popular choice for search and rescue missions. Her trap making and close combat skills meant that she was often the first pick out of her clansmen. She brought them tales of rainy days spent slogging through the mud with people she didn't know trying to kill her. No specifics of course, just enough to rile up Hiko over how cool her missions were. Fukurou believed it was just a matter of time before Shigure was tapped for AnBu service if she wasn't already.

Hiko, by-the-seat-of-his-pants not last of his class Hiko, was an academy instructor. Chun Chu and Shigure teased him mercilessly over that. He spent his days going on the occasional mission when not seeing to the care and education of tomorrow's youth. His stories were a litany of complaints about ungrateful brats, snot nosed punks and cheeky little pranksters. His skills as a chakra sensor made him a legendary figure in anti-truancy circles, the automatic arch-villain of many a schoolchild's fantasy. Fukurou didn't doubt that there were great things in his teammate's future if only the boy would be patient.

In the end, Hiko never did get a date with Yuki Aika. When he wondered what happened to her Shigure promptly informed him that the Yuki clan had been purged in another one of Mist's regional conflicts. She did so with relish, Fukurou privately wondered if Shigure fancied Hiko. Their bickering reminded him of another couple Old Harry had known.

As for Fukurou, he had started as a junior officer within the Konoha Military Police Force. Very quickly he had realized that his image of the organization had been slightly biased by Harry Potter's past experiences. He had gone into the situation with an image of them being like the Aurors Corps. Wizards that policed wizards, enforcing the law and making sure that both the magical and non-magical sides of the divide that was the Statute of Secrecy remained safe. Of course, as he'd grown to better understand his world that idea had altered to accommodate the military culture and sheer paranoia that reached into every facet of his life.

It added up to a reasonable approximation of the way things truly were. To quote Fugaku, the members of the military police were, "Elite shinobi that watched over their fellow shinobi."

The primary functions of the military police were divided into domestic security, combat zone security, criminal investigation, correctional custodianship and the reserve defensive guard. The military police force guarded Konoha and its local environs against infiltration by foreign shinobi, kept track of outsiders, patrolled and guarded medium level security points like the village archival library, the hospital, the village aqueduct system and warehouse districts. They held the power to arrest both shinobi and civilians and to retain suspicious individuals subject to the limitations imposed by the law.

Fukurou spent the first three and a half weeks learning the ins and outs of the police system as a trainee. During times of war, security operations were extended to guarding the perimeter of battlefield triage and command bunkers. The military police enforced the law and investigated crimes reported or discovered subject to the severity of the breach of the legal code. They helped guard shinobi prisons and as needed, supported the village during times of emergency as peacekeepers and a final line of defense.

It was a job wide in scope that carried weighty responsibility. It was also familiar work if certain parts of Fukurou's job were more emphasized than in Harry's old Auror days. You were constantly on watch for infiltrators rather than responding to calls about cursed toilet seats in some muggle train station bathroom. Fukurou wondered if at some point in time he'd have to deal with coming across some sabotuer trying to poison the water supply or an infiltrator killing him for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was entirely possible such an encounter was just a matter of time.

That was the real difference between Harry's world and Fukurou's. For Fukurou, it was Voldemort's terrorism all over again. Everyone wanted a piece of Konoha, their clan bloodlines, their secret techniques or their power. Fukurou's most exciting day since completing his training had been to break up a fight, between a couple of drunk chunin, in October before things got serious. He'd hypnotically suggested that they were tired and left them in the lock-up to sleep the booze off. His relatives often looked at Fukurou with pity. His colleagues seemed disbelieving of the fact that he preferred police work to something more likely to garner a promotion to jounin. They just didn't understand how he could be happy like that.

Or perhaps it was Fukurou who didn't understand his relatives. Talking to Mikoto in unguarded moments revealed to Fukurou the woman's intense desire to see her clan live and flourish in peace. Paradoxically there was also an incongruous undertone of battle lust to the thoughts that she projected. It was there, even when speaking of how cute her son Sasuke was. It was as if she really meant, 'He's going to be a magnificent shinobi' whenever she said 'He'll become a fine young man'. There was a fierce warrior pride that all his clansmen, from his boss Tekka to Aunt Uruchi working in the Uchiha Senbei shop carried within them. They were warriors, the best of the best the prodigy of prodigies.

The closest thing to it that Harry had ever seen was at a quidditch world cup where pride in one's national team substituted for pride in the clan. Everybody and their grandmum had a stake in it. Fukurou, who just wanted to live his life as best he was able; somehow against his will was now the team mascot. He got the feeling that if he didn't show some initiative in distinguishing himself to the Hokage, a feat that normally earned you a place on the Hero's Memorial; and an early grave, they were going to kick him off of the force. The clan saw Fukurou and Itachi as symbols and their progress as shinobi a mark of pride. Fukurou had no say in the matter, taking life easy simply wasn't allowed.

It was even worse at the clan meetings that he was now obligated to attend. People groused over their jobs, over not having a greater say in village affairs. Whether it was paranoia or there really was a conspiracy to discriminate against his clan Fukurou couldn't say. The sentiment mostly came from the older members of the clan. Many of them seemed to have joined the military police force due to a dearth of positions within the upper echelons of Konoha's other military branches, particularly the AnBu forces.

Privately Fukurou thought it a matter of wounded pride. Konoha Military Police Force authority began and ended with the Hokage. If an investigation was judged to have strayed upon matters of village security, it fell into the jurisdiction of the AnBu who were supposed to answer only to the Hokage. Thus, the Hokage could kill any investigation or legal proceeding by declaring the matter classified. This happened occasionally Fukurou believed, when the police happened across an infiltrator that had been turned or was being used to bait a trap.

Fugaku also had to submit a copy of every arrest or search warrant to the Hokage for approval. In the case, as so often happened, that the perpetrator was a shinobi and the crime warranted more serious action than being thrown in a cell to sober up. Fugaku also had to turn over every bit of evidence gathered for review by the Hokage's Office. What irritated the clan was that none of their members were ever chosen for the AnBu details that pursued investigations deemed classified or sat on the review boards.

This was to prevent a conflict of interest from forming but many in his clan found that to be insulting even if it were true. There were no Uchiha with a special advisory position in the Hokage's Office, among any of the AnBu Divisions or even a leadership role on the committees that handled trade and village finances. At least that was what Fukurou learned from a half hour of listening to his elders grumbling. The situation uncomfortably reminded him of Slytherin House. The Uchiha clansmen felt that they weren't being trusted and so closed ranks with each other.

It was the sort of situation that caused bad feelings to fester. From Harry's experiences Fukurou knew that something had to be done about it before the situation got out of control. The world wars of his past life told Fukurou that all it would take was an agitator to send things out of control and it would be one more bloodbath in this world of shinobi. This realization and the fact that he really had no say in the matter meant Fukurou frequently left early or with Mikoto's blessing, helped babysit Sasuke and the other children using the task as an excuse to not attend the dreary meetings. Itachi though junior to Fukurou had to stay as he was the son of the clan leader.

Truly, Fukurou pitied Itachi.

One night, Fukurou was on patrol while holding a leaf in his hand. As he slowly moved through the streets he mentally went over the instructions from his training manual. Just as when he used Onmyōton, Fukurou separated his chakra into two parts. Instead of focusing on the concepts of 'Light' and 'Dark' however, he sifted through the chakra he was generating, separating it into what felt 'positive' and 'negative'. An attractive force developed between the two masses of chakra and he kept his chakra separated as that attraction grew.

The energy quickly slipped from his control and in his mind's eye Fukurou sensed his chakras slam together with a burst of energy that raised the hairs on his skin. The release of energy forced the clashing chakras apart, only for them to collide again. This created a series of high frequency electrical pulses that Fukurou channeled into the leaf, causing it to crinkle. With a sigh, he dropped the leaf and took another from his pocket.

The extra time he had for personal training was another reason why Fukurou didn't begrudge his lot. His junior rank meant that his patrol hours were atrocious, either late at night or early in the morning. While these times were peak hours for shinobi on covert missions, there were few civilians around in the strrets and most stores were closed. It was quiet and Fukurou was able to get in a lot of time with his leaf exercises without being bothered, nothing ever happened.

Of course, things could still go wrong but Fukurou no longer felt as tense after the day's celebration. A leading ninja from Kumo had arrived to sign a peace treaty. It was a sign that the tense relations between the great nations after the war were beginning to normalize. Things seemed to be going well. It was with that thought in mind that Fukurou turned into the Hyūga district just as a masked ninja leapt over the wall of the compound.

There was a brief moment of shock as they looked at each other. Fukurou hadn't been complacent in his patrol duties. His sharingan was on and he had cast his 'sneaking spells' making him silent and difficult to notice. This guy had almost landed on him and he was alert enough that their close proximity rendered those mild spells useless.

The moment passed and the one-eyed bandit, he was carrying a sack over one shoulder, pulled a kunai. Fukurou sliced it apart with a wind enhanced leaf shuriken. Adrenalin flooded both their veins as the now one-armed bandit, the shuriken having cut more than just the kunai. Dropped the sack he had been holding and brought his other hand up to strike at Fukurou with a lightning covered fist.

"Sleep!"

There were two thumps at Fukurou's sharingan backed command. One was before him and the other behind. Spinning around at the noise he found an older Hyūga male lying prone in the middle of the road.

"He must have had the Byakugan active when I used it…" Fukurou realized.

Muffled whimpers from the sack and wriggling drew his attention next.

"Bastard!" He breathed. There was a child in there he realized when he opened the sack. The girl's pale lavender eyes identified her as a Hyūga after he removed her blind fold. Her wide, frightened eyes looked into his and grew even wider when she looked behind him. Upon removing the ropes that bound and gagged her, the girl cried out, running past him to Hyūga the on the ground.

"Chichiouya!"

Fukurou formed a shadow clone and had it monitor the girl and her father while he policed the kidnapper's body. The man was still alive but bleeding out fast from the stump at his elbow. It was a clean cut and Fukurou could have saved the arm by reattaching the separated limb using iryōninjutsu adapted healing spells. Looking over his shoulder as the sobbing girl, he cauterized the cut, clamping firmly down on the man as he bucked in pain before fainting from the agony and another sharingan enforced command.

Standing grimly, ignoring the scent of cooked flesh, he called it in. The Hyūga guards came first, summoned by Hiashi after Fukurou woke him up much to his daughter, Hinata's relief. Next there came his colleagues in the police force, followed closely by AnBu. In the end the Hokage was awoken and called to the secure wing of the Konoha Hospital. There Fukurou learned that the kidnapper was Gashira, the dignitary sent by Kumogakure to sign the peace treaty with the very hand Fukurou had cut off. It seemed to Fukurou that his peaceful days were coming to an end.

AN: I have a few polls that are going to be alternating on my profile page. They represent some of my pondering on this story's future direction. Don't be alarmed, they're not spoilers, I would just like to see what future events and abilities were preferred by readers. None of the listed options are really what 'will' happen, just generalities.

TTFN