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 Darkness, Crows and Ninja Cats

The Village Hidden in the Leaves had been built on a naturally defensible area that had been enhanced by the founding Shodaime, Senju Hashirama. The Senju Clan of the Forest held a long history of adaptation and survival in the woodlands of what would in time become Hi no Kuni and its border nations. True to their nature as ninja, there were several layers of secrets to the construction of the village. Some of these secrets were compartmentalized deliberately. As such, although the Sandaime Hokage and most high ranking jounin were fully aware of the shifting labyrinth of tunnels that lay below Konoha's streets, few realized the full extent of the depth and complexity of the system.

Only the Shodaime Hokage knew the true depths of Konoha's roots, spread so deep beneath the earth and so far beyond its walls that not even the Hyūga's eyes could see it all. Only the Niidaime, with his mastery of water ninjutsu could tell where all the waterways that served the village began and ended. Some were known and well guarded. Others led to traps so deadly that they were deliberately abandoned and in time forgotten by all but a few. Other waterways had served to carve a system of caverns that were located twice as deep beneath the village as the Hokage Monument towered high above it.

Crow walked into the depths of Konoha. Deeper than the aqueduct, deeper than the sealed underground escape tunnels, deeper than the AnBu training and detention facilities, on he walked, past pillars and roots covered in seal script and sutra, along catwalks that crossed dark chasms. He walked into the very root of Konoha. The security at this level was draconian. The slightest mistake would have resulted in his immediate termination. Hidden eyes watched him with blades at the ready, blank masks observed him unseen with hearts black with murder.

He walked along a corridor before stopping at an unmarked door that was identical to the thirty or forty others that he had passed along the way. Opening it, Crow stepped into a shadowy auditorium and walked to the back of it. He handed a scroll to the shinobi waiting there next to a projector and turned about, heading for the front of the room where a large screen was set up. He stood there in silence before the projector came on.

"As you have ordered Danzo-sama, I have compiled a presentation on the threat level of the AnBu agent Owl, real name: Uchiha Fukurou. Additionally for your perusal we have included an analysis of his abilities, their strengths and their limitations," Crow began his introduction as a diagram appeared on the screen.

Cast in shadow by the light surrounding him, Shimura Danzo watched and listened to the report.

AnBu field agents could be divided into those that carried out short, mid and long term missions. Short term missions usually included patrolling the forest surrounding Konoha, guarding high security areas and personnel; in-village training, information analysis, corpse examination and prisoner interrogation. These lasted from several hours to several days. For reasons of security the identities of most low level agents was kept hidden. To aid in this endeavor, schedules were irregular, shift changes were decided at the last minute and communication in the village was made via a system of messenger pigeons and certain signal hawks.

As a result, there was a sizeable population of Konoha ninja that worked assorted part time jobs from assistants in flower shops and chimney sweeps to martial arts instructors and gardeners. They all had a penchant for long-sleeved clothes that hid tattoos and enjoyed bird watching in their free time. These jobs were just a cover to explain their income and were chosen so as to allow an agent to be on call at any time and usually their 'day job' employers were ninja who knew not to ask too many questions when an employee didn't show up.

Fukurou had started out on short-term missions, he along with his team, ran a circuit through the woods behind the Hokage Mountain twice in the day and five times at night, alternating time and schedule with another team. On the days with no patrol duties he trained with Crow or Ox in Taijutsu, Wolf and Sparrow in ninjutsu, while Rooster and Grasshopper tried to find a genjutsu that would stick to him. It was grueling work and aside from two hours of sparring and a five hour team training exercise where they worked on joint tactics, each agent was encouraged to train on their own time in the well equipped grounds provided.

Fukurou's eleventh birthday saw him on his first mission of duration greater than three days in the field. He spent three weeks trekking through the land of Frost with Crow, Cat and an unknown agent called Spider. He wasn't told what the mission objective was, only to stay with the group and do as Spider ordered. They camped out in the woods while Spider visited towns near the border with Kaminari, sometimes disguised as a woman, sometimes as a man.

He had no idea what they were looking for or what Spider was doing and it took his occlumency enhanced patience not to try for a peek in Spider's mind with his sharingan. People reacted differently to a legilimens' probe. From Harry's memories he knew it was a matter of compatibility. He didn't so much as read their thoughts as he sympathized with them.

The memories of Old Harry served up a proper analogy. He'd gone a tad deaf in addition to his myopia. Wearing his glasses allowed him to see people's lips while they were speaking. Even if he couldn't hear all the words, there was enough getting through that lip-reading caught the rest and the missing words were not consciously noticed. That was what legilimency on a person he was compatible with was like. Legilimency with an incompatible person was hearing someone talk without lip reading. Even worse, some people that Fukurou had met, like Hiko could actually feel when he was 'squinting' at them.

They returned home without Owl having done anything, or any sign that the mission was a success or failure. Nonetheless, the members of the team were detained in isolation for a week while Spider and Crow debriefed as was standard protocol in order to maintain operational security. They then were given another week off which Fukurou spent in training with Mikoto-dono on clan territory aware that they were being observed.

Despite him having not asked her, Mikoto shared that those who went on long term missions could usually expect to be interrogated and observed for several months in order to unmask any sleeper agents that might be placed in the ranks of AnBu. By his third week long mission assignment, surveillance had dropped to the first three days after he was released. The quarantine time varied from a week to a few hours depending on the sensitivity of the mission and the personnel needed for consecutive assignments.

As the time Fukurou spent outside the village increased. His old cover of working in the filing room of the KMPD gave way to his reputation as a hermit and running periodic assignments for Mikoto-dono. The Uchiha Clan held an extensive library that included knowledge of seals, and both his AnBu records and the clan noted his above average talent in that area. If anyone but Mikoto had seen just what he could do they would have called him a prodigy.

As it was Fukurou followed several of Mikoto's requests to ward old Uchiha hideouts in exchange for being let off on attending the clan meetings which had by then turned into sessions of bitter complaining. He probably should have paid more attention to what was going on but as much as people were disgruntled, one clan going against an entire ninja village was suicide. Fukurou decided that the complaints during the meeting were simply a way of letting off steam. He kept an eye on the situation through his discussions with the closest among his cousins, Itachi and Shisui. It was in the midst of one of those discussions that the two boys gave him an idea for improving the defenses of the safe houses he was warding. With this in mind, he asked Mikoto to let him ward an ammunitions depot in Sora-ku.

Meeting Nekobaa in person had reminded him of someone. Fukurou paused at the entrance to the store and took it all in. Cats, cats, cats, cats, of every size shape and color, there was an old lady and a small girl carrying a box at the counter. Two cats wearing a mesh top and gi turned to look at him with unnaturally intelligent eyes. "Mrs. Figg…" was the name that stirred up from the depths of memory.

He walked up to the old lady who could only have been Nekobaa, she was wearing a plastic headband with cat ears over a wild mane of grey hair that flared around her head a bit like a lion's. Her nose was blackened with make up to look like a cat's and her first words upon seeing him were, "Tamaki, look we have a visitor, nyaa…"

The caretaker of the depot and her daughter were helpful in exchange for adding their shop to the defensive cover of the barrier. They not only showed him where the old defenses were, a series of traps that protected the armory storing the clan's surplus weaponry, but provided detailed information on the beings he was looking for.

"You sure you want to go there boya?" The ninja cat in the blue gi asked him in a purring voice, "The Kurogarasu don't really mind visitors but their leader Kurotengu is really grouchy nyaa!"

"Nekomata-sama is even worse, nyaa," added Hina, the ninja cat in the pink gi, "You look strong, but Nekomata is no push over, nyaaa!"

"Itachi and Shisui-nii told me so as well but I'm doing this to help protect my clan's properties. I can hold my own if I must but what I'm going to propose will benefit them both." Fukurou answered diplomatically.

Nekobaa looked at him shrewdly, "Such a forward thinking outlook from one so young."

"I'm already a chunin though."He answered.

"Still, be careful of Kurotengu and Nekomata, it'll be interesting to see if you can pull something like this off at your age regardless of your rank."She stared at him a moment before smiling, "You're going to be a cutie in the future," she said, "Junichi, your father, used to visit regularly. You look just like him, except, you have your mother's eyes. He and Ririko made such a beautiful couple. Please come by again."

Fukurou withheld a shudder at the feeling those words evoked within him, and smiling politely, he withdrew from the store.

Back inside Nekobaa cocked her head to the side at a comment that Denka made, "Nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs you say? Ara? I wonder what I said, nyaa?"

Sora-ku reminded him a little of Old London before Hurricane Kenneth in 2035, and immediately after it. There were remnants of skyscrapers and broken down buildings reduced to rusted girders and exposed masonry, overgrown by weeds. The first place that he was heading was the tallest sky scraper in Sora-ku, or at least what remained of it. Shisui had told him a story about a race of crow summons that had taken up residence in the highest rafters. Shisui had tried and failed to win the favor of their leader as a child having proven unable to pass the test of getting to the top level of the tower.

Fukurou had a way of working around the deadly trap laden lower floors. It was the same way that the crows got around themselves. He focused carefully while watching one of the curious birds sitting on a line, looking right back at him. His sharingan took in every detail from the arrangement of feathers to the complex interplay of muscle, ligament and bone while in the midst of flight. It was a variation of a skill that Old Harry had secretly mastered late in life. Lacking the potions and spells used for aiding in the act of self-transformation, Fukurou instead had adapted the henge to serve his needs.

Usually, a henge was just an illusion. A more skilled practitioner could actually take the physical form of the object although there were limits to the degree that properties such as size and mass can differ between practitioner and the object or individual that he or she transforms into. This was a basic technique that draws upon the Yin and Yang chakra normally produced by a shinobi's body. Yin to create a form and Yang to give that form substance, the more Yang chakra that a shinobi invests the more 'real' the transformed object can become, including how great difference in mass and size the transformation allows.

Fukurou used the details gleaned by his eyes to craft an anatomically correct model of a crow within his mind, shaped it with Yin and then flooded his body with Yang as his hands formed the required seals.

"Henge!" he cried.

A puff of smoke later and a perfectly formed crow stood in his place. It wobbled a bit unsteadily as it adjusted to it's new dimensions before hopping around, spreading its wings experimentally, examining them with small beady sharingan.

The crow that had been watching flew down from the wire, landing on a rock, "Whoa…" it said to him in awe, "That's cool bro! How'dja do that bro? What's yer name there bro?"

Fukurou paused in his self-examination to regard the crow that was staring at him with shiny black eyes. Old Harry had been a bird animagus in his time, a species of falcon. While the birds he had met had been able to communicate with each other after a fashion it was more a system of cries and intuitively understood body language rather than the rapid fire questions in what seemed to be English. Or was it? Cocking his head, he responded, "Thanks, it's a technique that I know and you can call be Fukurou."

To Fukurou his words were perfectly delivered in English but turning his sharingan upon himself revealed that that simply wasn't possible given the way his body was vibrating, as if what he was really saying was, "Caw, caw, cawcawcaw, cacaw." It seemed to be a situation akin to parseltongue. He understood the crow speech as a language that he was most familiar with and spoke it without being conscious that he was crowing.

"Owl? A crow named Owl? Why's a crow named Owl? An owl that was a man named Crow? A man that was a crow named Owl? A crow that was an owl called Man?" The creature seemed none too bright despite its power of speech, the crow was talking itself into dizzying circles as he watched.

"Um, none of the above," He said helpfully, "I'm a crow that was a man named Fukurou."

The bird stopped hopping in circles and looked at him closely, "How odd, bro, truly odd." It said.

Fukurou and the bird that introduced itself as Karasubito flew about for a while with Fukurou patiently answering his new friend's incessant questions as he got used to the motions of flight. Eventually the two made it to an opened window at the top floor forty stories high. Kurobito turned to the birds roosting along the sill and called out to them excitedly.

"Hey guys you'll never guess what I've found! This bro is a guy that can turn into a crow named Owl!" He said.

"Um… That's not quite what I…"Fukurou muttered.

But the birds in the room drowned him out, "What! Really? That's so cool bro! Yeah really bro! Whaz up, bro! Hey there, bro! Owl? That's a name, bro? Really bro? I don't believe ya bro! You're pulling my leg, bro!"

Fukurou silenced them by landing on the floor and releasing the transformation technique. There was a moment of silence before all the birds started flying about.

"Caw!"

"Caw!"

"Caw!"

"Caw!"

"What's all of this damn racket about!" a throaty voice roared from the depths of the building. It sent the crows scattering, flying away in every direction. A dark mass of feathers and muscle appeared upon a raised dais as lanterns lit the dark interior of the top floor. Roosting in a nest of silken blankets was an enormous bird wearing a cap strapped to his head. Fukurou raised an eyebrow at the fact that the thing clearly spoke a human language.

Shaking away his disbelief, Fukurou spoke, "With respect Kurotengu-dono, I have come to you as an envoy of the Uchiha clan with regards to a business offer that I would like to make to you and your kin." He then looked the old crow in the eye, flashing his sharingan momentarily, "I would also like ask you to share sake with me and allow me to become your summoner."

The boss crow seemed speechless for a moment before giving a grunting, cawing laugh, "Well, you've got balls boy…you've got balls."

Fukurou smiled, "You have no idea."

The scene at Nekomata's Cat Fortress was reminiscent of the last time it was visited by Uchiha Itachi. There was a trail of unconscious cat guards leading all the way from the entrance gates to the ruined tower where Nekomata himself lived. Said bakeneko was laid out on his back dazed from having been paddled over the head with Fukurou's uchiwa tessen.

"T-that fan…" The boss cat muttered dazedly. It squinted cross eyed as Fukurou was temporarily replaced with the image of another man, the summoner who had betrayed and abandoned him for more power. A brief surge of bitterness and rage surged within him but the dizziness did not abate and Nekomata fell onto his back with a groan.

Karasubito perched on the hilt of Fukurou's uchiwa cawing with laughter. "Bakaw, bakaaaw, bakabakabakaaa!"

The crow evoked another memory as Nekomata who was seeing double, percieved two red-eyed men, brothers that were standing side by side. One man had a large crow, a younger Kurotengu, sitting on his shoulder with his great black sweeping wings covering the human's side like a cloak. The other man stood with a fan and sickle connected by a spiked chain. "Izuna…Madara…" Nekomata groaned internally, his memories tinged with both sorrow and longing.

His mind clearing slightly, the bakeneko looked upon Fukurou. "You… want to hire my clan to help guard your people's fortresses? You… wish for my people… to become your summons…"

There was a strange parallel in the behavior of the two bosses that he had met that puzzled Fukurou.

Kurotengu spoke to him, yet at the same time, Fukurou sensed the boss summon was seeing someone else. "You want my clan to work with the Cat Clan in guarding the Uchiha safe houses that you have restored… that… is a task that the Crow Clan has performed once before, long ago during the warring era. We will… we agree…" Kurotengu then turned his head to a side and focused a fiercely glaring eye upon Fukurou, "Your eyes, you seek power as do all Uchiha. Your eyes, they speak of a weariness not of this world. They belie your age… perhaps…perhaps if it is you…"

Nekomata was saying almost the same thing, "If it is you… then perhaps it will be alright to answer when you call to us… but inevitably…"

Kutotengu: "Inevitably…"

Nekomata: "As one who shares 'their' blood…"

Kurotengu: "There will come a time when your eyes may change…"

Nekomata: "If they do…"

Kurotengu: "And those eyes come to seek out only the darkness…"

Nekomata/Kurotengu: "Do not expect us to stand by your side while you destroy yourself!"

Fukurou had no idea what they were referring too, their emotions were too strong and the feelings too alien for him to understand but he agreed to their terms and signed a summoning contract with both species despite their ominous words. He returned home with Karasubito and a female tabby ninja cat called Haru as his bodyguard and retainer.

"To summarize," Crow said, "These are Uchiha Fukurou's stats as they currently stand."

A table appeared next to the graph.

Uchiha Fukurou

Age: 11

Parents: Uchiha Junichi, Father; Nou Ririko, Mother

Abilities

Ninjutsu: 4

Taijutsu: 3

Genjutsu: 5

Intelligence: 4.5

Strength: 3

Speed: 3.5

Stamina: 4

Hand Seals: 4.5

Special Tools: Uchiwa Tessen, Recurve Bow and Arrows.

"Tell me about his sharingan." Danzo ordered.

Footage began playing, compiled from the missions and training exercises that Fukurou had taken part in while a member of AnBu. Crow began speaking, "Our analysis compared Fukurou-san's observed ocular abilities to that of several known sharingan wielders on file. Observed factors include smooth pursuit vision, vestibulo-ocular reflex, visual fixation, optokinetic reflex, depth perception, chakra perception and predictive object tracking. In all of the above areas the subject conforms to the upper five percent of the population of sharingan users that display superior qualities and mastery of their bloodline. Extensive testing via exposure to agent codename: Rooster, has revealed a extremely high capacity for resistance to genjusu and a markedly advanced understanding and mastery of the field."

Danzo's expression was masked by the shadows, "Go on," he said.

"When tasked with the assassination of codename: Jin, during the mission on file number sixty-fourteen, code Shimodo, the subject attempted and succeeded in hitting a target area of roughly two centimeters across, from one kilometer away in a snowstorm with an arrow while both he and the target were in motion." Crow had seen the shot taken which was the only reason that he could say that without choking in disbelief. "We have also identified a similar ocular ability to the one observed from Uchiha Shisui. The subject was able to hypnotize both natural wildlife and people into obeying his will without them showing any sign of awareness that their actions were manipulated."

Danzo rubbed his scarred chin in thought, "Interesting."

"Conditions?"

"One was an owl in mid flight eight hundred meters above ground at night. The other was a pair of mist-nin in the midst of close combat with him. By making these men experience a series of false memories he had each believe that the other had turned traitor. These men appeared to be members of the same squad and familiar with each other yet they began fighting with one another in spite of having previously displayed exemplary teamwork in ambushing and attacking Owl." Crow told him.

"Dangerous," Danzo thought to himself, already making plans to have an intermediary meet with Fukurou from then on, "Too dangerous," Crow would need to have the memory of this briefing sealed as a precaution. Fukurou would need to be compartmentalized, his contacts controlled, his access to the Hokage limited.

Plans within plans rolled through Danzo's head, contingencies were made for the good of the Leaf. If ever Uchiha Fukurou proved a danger, a counter was needed. Plans within plans began to take shape. At their center, Shisui, Fukurou, Itachi…

AN: Events start to pick up as Fukurou and Itachi turn thirteen. The fate of the Uchiha clan is decided, confrontations with enemies both new and old. Will Danzo move against Fukurou? What is the fate of the Uchiha Clan? How will Fukurou respond to the situation that he thus far has ignored? Shisui, Itachi and Fukurou, caught between village and clan, a confrontation that predates their birth.