Since he now knew what the hell happened to the owls, Sirius gave the boys an option which the Hokage agreed to.
They could suspend their shinobi training for a year and learn magic exclusively at Hogwarts...or Sirius could send Remus to pick up more books in his name and teach them at home where their magic training would be sporadic.
The second they heard who they would be stuck with...Kakashi Hatake...they chose to go to Hogwarts for a year.
They knew Kakashi through Itachi, and while they didn't mind the man his choice in books and chronic lateness left much to be desired.
They still had to train at the school, but Sirius gave them all the escape routes he knew and a room the Marauders knew about that hid all their pranking equipment from the old days. And with how early they got up (some more reluctantly than others) it would be easy to slip past the teachers and practice.
Well, that and one of the stipulations was that Itachi come to check on them at least once a month.
Sirius had the perfect excuse, even if Sasuke hated that he was the scapegoat.
Because of the massacre, Sasuke had to see his older brother at least once a month to insure neither of them had any ideas of finding the killer who had never been caught. This would also give Itachi a chance to check on their progress, give them scrolls, and point them in the right direction.
And since he and Sirius had been training using their Mangekyo Sharingan, check for any magic-based illusions or compulsions put into place by a certain old goat. Itachi had more than enough experience to see through those, since Sirius had a habit of pranking him with said illusions. The teen was just glad Sirius not only knew of a potion to heal the damage caused by said eyes, but also how to brew it. He didn't want to lose his eyesight from over use.
It was near August anyway, so Sirius hung around the Messenger Hawk building since he didn't want the birds to know where the boys lived.
Sure enough, the birds honed in on him because of his magical signature and relieved their burdens on the man. The Chunin in the building were very surprised, as no one had managed that without getting maimed at least.
Sirius deftly picked out the ones with hidden portkeys and set them ablaze, and finally located six distinct letters.
One was for Hogwarts, two for the Japanese school and three were for Salem Institute.
The Hogwarts one was for Harry, the Japanese for Naruto and Sasuke respectively, and the Salem Institute for all three.
Sirius would look over the letters and help the boys pick out where they would go. The owls allowed the chunin on duty to take them for food, water and rest since they had spent days on the wing just getting there.
It was the easiest time they had ever had with the ornery birds.
"SUGOI! We got two letters!" said Naruto loudly.
About the only thing Sirius had done for his volume control was to teach the boy to tone down the voice indoors and in private settings. He wasn't going to change Naruto, because he liked the way the boy was now. A bundle of chaotic energy just waiting to be unleashed on some poor idiot.
"I expected at least the Hogwarts letters, but I should have known someone would have picked up on me training you. Coincidentally Itachi, someone from a magical college figured out there was a problem with the owls, so there is one here for you as well.
Itachi was pretty much an adult in the eyes of the magical communities and Sirius had given him the full seven-year training so he could keep up.
"Which one?"
"It's in Japan, and they sent it through the messenger hawks from a nearby port," said Sirius.
Itachi looked at the letter and immediately opted to go. He needed a break from missions and they would be paid anyway for information about the outside world.
Well that and Sirius had finally fessed up that the 'dog' he owned was actually him, but he figured that if the Hokage didn't know he wouldn't have to cover for why a dog was in a top secret area when he wasn't supposed to be.
Itachi was naturally interested in the transformation, and a quick test proved that he had some sort of large cat.
Sirius had snickered at that, and to the amusement of the younger trio had given Itachi black cat ears that lasted a week.
Kakashi still had pictures, if Sirius remembered right.
"First let's look at what the other schools have to offer. If I remember right, there's hardly any decent selection at Hogwarts, even if it is my old school."
And so without preamble, they compared the schools.
Unsurprisingly for Sirius, Hogwarts came in third next to Salem and the Japanese school.
The three boys didn't want to be separated, and had somehow ended up on the same team with Kakashi (probably to reign them in, snorted Sirius) so they went to the messenger hawk area and asked if Harry could join them.
Japan had the biggest selection and Sirius knew for a fact they were well aware of the massive continent hidden on the oceans between Japan and Hawaii.
Plus the school Itachi had agreed to go to was part of their campus, so it would be relatively easy for them to get a room for all four of them since the higher-ups didn't want people to know about shinobi.
"Dear Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato,
We would like to inform your of our acceptance of Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Potter-Black Harry into our school for magically inclined youngsters. As you are no doubt aware by now, Itachi has been accepted into our College-level classes while the trio have been accepted into our High School-level classes.
For discussions on where to place the portal to make transportation between the village and the boys easier, please reply no later than..."
"Care to explain this?" said Sarutobi, holding up a letter that had come by way of messenger hawk.
"All the boys are magical and it appears Japan has no intention of forcing them to drop their shinobi studies just to learn magic?" said Sirius innocently.
"Hmm. I thought you said they would go to Hogwarts?"
"I went over it with them and they agreed Japan had a better offer. Wasn't expecting them to agree to install a portal though."
"What exactly would a portal entail?"
Sirius went into what the boys dubbed 'lecture mode one'.
"Portals are, by and large, magical constructs that are either permanent or semi-permanent gateways that can cut travel immensely. A portal can allow you to be in Konoha in the morning, Japan at noon and back in Konoha in time for dinner. If created, it would allow them to continue taking missions and still learn magic from proper teachers. And since they are legally citizens of Konoha, they wouldn't have to deal with the Ministry except in passing," said Sirius.
"So basically they are rather odd modes of transporting from one place to another," said Sarutobi.
"Yes. Though they are exceedingly rare where I come from, since most people use Apparation, port keys, the Knight Bus or brooms. I don't think there are any portals in England aside from Vanishing cabinets, and those are a little too conspicuous."
"Would having a portal installed somewhere in Konoha add to business?"
"To everything except D ranks I should say. Though it might open up to some foreign ninja, since from what I can remember of Japan there are still a few practicing sects, though they don't use chakra from what I know of them, which isn't much."
"I'll have to iron out the details, but you are sure that if I allow this portal to be created they can still act as regular genin?"
"It's either that or put them on an information-gathering mission for a year and learn from Itachi, who might be a little busy."
"We'll see about the portals first."
One month after the letters, Sirius was cheerfully debating magic types with the sorcerers who had showed up to install two portals.
One, of course, would be at the Uchiha estate in an unused area so they could go to and from class without disturbing anyone. The other was in a room just outside the walls so people could hire shinobi for them in Japan without the trip or hassle of bandits. When the second one was completed the tourist industry had a rather noticeable rise in profit from all the visiting magicals.
Fortunately the 'Permanent Chunin Duo' were told of the new portal and the visitors, so there wasn't too much hassle in getting them cleared.
Though that did leave the problem of what happened when a certain cat ran through one of the portals...
"GAH! Why the hell did that damn cat run through here? And how did it have enough magic to pull it off?!" yelled Naruto.
"I hate that damn Tora. Why the hell couldn't that woman put the stupid thing in a chakra barrier or something? It's not like they couldn't afford a ninja to put one up!" said Harry.
"And when some idiot got too curious about what was in there, they could sick the cat on them," snickered Sasuke.
"Ah, but catching Tora is an unofficial Rite of Passage for all genin. The Fire Lord's Wife has been losing her cats since before she married him. She used to make people catch him then too," said Kakashi.
"...Then it's not the cat's fault, but the lady's?" said Naruto.
"Well, that's one way to put it..." said Kakashi sweatdropping, unaware he just gave them someone else to hit with their pranks.
"AIIIEEEE! WHO PUT FROGS IN HERE!?"
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
"QUIET! Everyone go back to what you were doing...someone just played a minor prank on the Fire Daimyo's Wife," said Sarutobi.
"Seriously? Why?" asked one of the jounin.
"Apparently whoever did it was kind enough to leave a note," grumbled Sarutobi.
"Dear Cat Lady,
Quit trying to kill your cat. The Genin are tired of chasing Tora."
The note was made entirely of cut out letters, so it was impossible to trace. Judging by the cuts alone, whoever did it used a sharp kunai, which didn't mean much.
However Sarutobi had a very good idea who the hell was behind this one.
He just didn't feel like dealing with the headache at the moment.
"So what's this I hear about you pranking the Fire Daimyo's Wife?" said Itachi.
"She's the reason we had to do that stupid Tora mission," said Naruto annoyed.
The more they explained their reasoning, the more incredulous Itachi became.
"You do realize that this could destabilize the relationship between the Daimyo and the Hokage right? Everyone hates the Tora missions, but we all deal with it," said Itachi.
"Even Sirius?" asked Harry.
"Well, he didn't have to deal with Tora..." Itachi said, trying not to tell him what Sirius had done to the damn cat.
"Nii-chan, don't lie to us. You know we can tell when you lie," said Sasuke.
Damn.
"Sirius put the thing under some sort of Genjutsu, and now Tora runs from him at every chance. Somehow he made it more scared of him than it's owner," said Itachi.
How, he had no idea, but it was a running bet with the ANBU who had the weirdest betting rings.
One of which he had placed a hefty sum on because he already knew the truth.
Many wanted to know why they never saw Sirius' black dog when he was around. Itachi was half tempted to teach Sirius the Shadow Clone to see if he could duplicate it with magic so he could get even more cash from the ANBU. Some believed the dog was Black, but most shot that down in favor of even wilder theories.
"If you don't behave, then the old man won't let you attend that magic school next week," said Itachi flatly.
"Aw..." whined the trio.
"And another thing, why frogs?"
"It was either her room or yours," said Naruto.
"If you're going to prank the Fire Daimyo's Wife, do in a constructive way," said Itachi.
Now he had their attention.
To be honest, Itachi never considered blaming the owner instead of the cat. Several of their points were actually well thought out, like asking why she never considered paying for a kekkai barrier for the cat so it wouldn't run away or a leash.
And another thing, how did she have so much trouble holding the cat? She was a former shinobi, she should have been able to hold a bloody cat all the way back to her mansion. Maybe then the Konoha genin wouldn't be forced to catch the damn thing all the time. Surely Tora would have left the village if given the chance.
Which was another point. Tora had more than enough experience to escape genin and jounin alike. So why did he stay in the village when he could have made his way out of the country and away from the woman?
And with that, Itachi bent down to help them plan the next prank.
This was the perfect time to address some concerns he had about the ANBU security detail. He had noticed that they became a bit lax once Naruto became Genin. Plus he had a mischeivous streak that most people didn't know about.
"Well? What do you four have to say for yourselves?" said the Hokage.
"The ANBU became far too lax because Naruto and the others became genin. Besides...there are a few things the boys brought up that concern me."
"Go on?"
"We all know that the Fire Daimyo's Wife has access to the treasury and any number of skilled shinobi. So why, if she was so concerned about Tora escaping, has she never considered putting that cat under a special kekkai barrier? Or even a seal that would make it impossible for the cat to leave the mansion? And another thing, every jounin knows she is a former Akimichi shinobi...so why is she unable to hold onto her cat long enough to go home?" said Itachi calmly.
Sarutobi sweatdropped. Now that he mentioned it, it was a tad odd.
"That cat is too damn strong to be normal!" complained Naruto.
"Very well. Next time Tora is captured, we shall have the genin team take it to T and I to find out if it really is a cat. If not, you four will be paying the Fire Daimyo's Wife an apology and a new cat."
"Fair enough," said Itachi.