*A thank you to sydni for betaing this for me*

Chapter 5

Humming to himself a little, Harry busied himself with making enough breakfast for both Sasuke and Naruto. Today was the day that their team was going to leave the village for their very first C mission. As soon as he was done with the food, he headed over to Sasuke's room and woke him up. After ensuring that Sasuke would stay awake, and giving him instructions about the food and the clean up later, Harry pulled him in for a quick hug, and whispered good luck to him before 'vanishing'.

Sasuke, who was still flustered a little, went about his morning routine. As Harry had predicted, Naruto came in well before he was supposed to, before Sasuke was even finished with his shower. Harry amused himself with watching Naruto sniff the food he had made. Judging by his expression, Naruto enjoyed what he smelled. He didn't mean to brag, but Harry spent more than enough time cooking that he was fairly good at making great tasting food. It may have started with him being forced to cook by the Dursleys, but Harry learned to enjoy the process of cooking, especially for people he cared about. Day dreaming, he remembered the time when Mrs. Weasley was teaching him more recipes, and he managed to convince Ron and drag him and George away from the shop to be taste testers. The rest of the Weasleys later showed up, and resulting antics never failed to bring a smile on his face. It was one of the few times after the war where all the Weasleys were together and happy.

"Can you stop sniffing the dishes," Sasuke said, giving Naruto a stern look. Harry blinked away the last of the memory of the Weasleys laughing. With a small smile, he watched his current family member begin to serve food to an almost drooling Naruto.

"There's no way you made this food," Naruto said, his mouth bulging with food. "It's way too good." Harry silently laughed as Sasuke panicked. It was kind of cruel to laugh, but it was funny.

"I didn't make it," Sasuke admitted.

"Did some old lady come by and make these for you?" Sasuke smirked.

"Yeah, something like that. A wrinkly short person with a weirdly pitched voice made all this," Sasuke said, grinning. Naruto's nose scrunched up a bit at the description, but still laughed. Harry silently snorted and grinned a little. He just described a house-elf. Harry stopped grinning. Did that make him Sasuke's house-elf? He does do the cooking and cleaning after all...

While Harry wallowed in his thoughts, Naruto and Sasuke continued to eat, while discussing/bickering about their mission. Harry drifted out of his thoughts when they stood up and put the dishes in the sink.

"Shouldn't you wash them? We're gonna be away for awhile." Sasuke sighed, and went back to the sink, and Harry started grinning again.

As soon as everything was put away, they grabbed their things, and left the apartment. Harry trailed after them until they reached the front gate of the village. A young girl with pink hair, who Harry assumed was their third member of the team, was sitting by the gate looking very bored.

"Why are you guys so late?"

"Why are you so early?" Sasuke asked back. The girl looked momentarily flustered before she started frowning.

"Kakashi-sensei told us to come at 6," she said, glaring at them a little. Harry started to laugh again. Kakashi had the reputation of being late, so he merely suggested to Sasuke that he might as well go later, and Sasuke agreed.

"We know he's always late," Sasuke said. "That's why I suggested that we come a few hours later." The girl blushed.

"Don't feel bad Sakura-chan," Naruto said cheerfully. "Just do that next time." The girl, Sakura, glared at him.

"I'm not feeling bad—"

"I hoped you guys weren't waiting long." Everyone froze, and turned around.

"You're late," Sakura told him heatedly. Harry gave him a quick look before backing away slowly. He still had no idea if jonin could sense him. His eyes widened when Kakashi looked towards his direction. He finally let go of his breath when Kakashi looked away a moment later. Sasuke briefly looked towards his general direction in worry. As Kakashi started giving them directions, Harry walked towards Sasuke and quickly placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered good luck into his ear. Seeing Sasuke's lip turn up a little, Harry left the group and went back to the apartment.

Once there, he walked through the place, making sure everything was off and put away. It wouldn't do for anyone to realize someone else was living there while it's supposed to be empty.

Once satisfied, Harry picked up a small pack that he had prepared the night before with a few necessities. With a last look around, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Theoretically, tracking down a specific Uchiha was complicated since he had to specifically remember and recognize the chakra signature of the Uchiha he was looking for in the crowd of a bunch of others with very similar signatures. Now though, since there were only two left, it made his task much easier. Predictably, the thought made him lower his head in remembrance of the others.

After a minute, Harry went back to his search. Concentrating once again, he searched. As always, he ended up finding the closest person first, Sasuke, who had barely left the village. Smiling a little, he skipped over him and kept looking. Now he just had to find the other one. Surprisingly, it only took a few moments. Itachi was in the Land of Fire. Admittedly, he was still quite far from the Leaf Village, but nevertheless, he was closer than Harry thought.

Narrowing down his exact location, Harry picked a spot a good distance away from him. He only wanted to secretly observe him, not tip him off that he was being followed.

He quickly built up some chakra and cautiously touched his limited reservoir of magic. Taking only a little, he closed his eyes, concentrated on the area, and with a crack, he was gone.

Momentarily disoriented upon landing, Harry hadn't realized he landed on a branch of a tree. Trying to get his bearings, Harry accidentally stepped off the branch. His years of training were the only thing that kept him from breaking his bones. However, they didn't prevent him from hitting a good number of branches on his way down. Moments later, he landed flat on his back on the ground with the air knocked out of him. Holding still for a minute, Harry slowly sat up, wincing as his back protested against him moving.

Now dizzy, Harry slowly reached up and began to pull various twigs and branches out of his hair, while shaking his head to get rid of the leaves. When he felt nothing else in his hair, he stood up and began to dust off his clothes of both dirt and leaves.

Looking around while continuing to wipe his clothes, Harry only saw stretches of forest. Besides the sound of crickets and other small animals, he couldn't hear anyone else. It seems like Itachi picked a secluded location to rest in. Deeming it useless to continue brushing off his clothes, Harry began to head over towards where Itachi was, except...

"It was somewhere over here." Harry froze. He didn't recognize the voice, but he most certainly recognized the one that followed.

"Very well then, take a look around." Itachi.

Harry began to sweat a little. These weren't just random chunin. They were S-ranked shinobi, and if Kakashi sensed something when he was right in front of him, then they would most certainly find him.

Reaching for his fallen pack, Harry quickly opened it and stuck his arm into it. After some searching and knocking down a few things, he was relieved to feel the silky texture of his Invisibility Cloak. Pulling it out, he quickly covered himself with the cloak, and jumped back into the trees. He made a mental reminder to organize his pack. As much of a good idea it was to have his pack mimic Hermione's beaded bag, it was a hassle to find anything. He couldn't remember the amount of times he lost his cloak in there. He couldn't even use magic to find it since it was charmed against summoning (never mind that he couldn't waste magic at the moment).

Rustling of leaves had him snapping to attention, and his eyes were drawn towards the ground. Moments later, two people walked out. The person who was in the front made him raise his eyebrows. With blue skin and markings on his face, Harry mentally compared him to a fish. However, when he opened his mouth, Harry quickly amended it to a shark. Eying the man's sharp teeth, Harry took in the large sword on his back, and realized who this was, a member of the Mist Village's seven swordsmen, though it has been disbanded for awhile now.

Looking at the person behind him, Harry sighed softly. Itachi was looking even more stressed out, which was natural. He was in a nest filled with S-ranked criminals whom he was supposed to be spying on; the Snape of this world so to speak. Harry remembered when he had still been in the village. Though quiet and alone most of the time, Itachi had been very much studious and hardworking. Watching him had been like watching Al; quiet and focused on his tasks, but very much devoted to his siblings.

Pulling his Invisibility Cloak closer to himself, he watched as the two of them searched around the area. He silently swore to himself when they found the pile of leaves, branches, and twigs that his fall had caused. He should have cleaned it up.

"It looks like someone fell down here," the blue skinned man said. Itachi examined the damaged trees. "Do you think we're being followed by someone?"

"I don't believe so," Itachi said after a moment. Harry raised an eyebrow. Why was he so confident about that? Harry did just fall there minutes ago.

"What makes you say that?" the other man asked.

"If it had been someone, they would have cleared the area up to avoid suspicion, not leave it as it is," Itachi explained.

"So it's not just some idiotic shinobi?"

"Even the most incompetent one would have cleaned it up." Up in the trees, Harry gaped at him. Did that mean he was worse than an incompetent shinobi? "Either way, we should get moving." Worrying about his ninja capabilities, Harry almost missed the other two leave. Snapping out of it, he quietly moved through the trees, taking care that he landed correctly and without sound. He only intended to follow Itachi for a little bit to see if he was alright (or as alright as he was going to be).

Harry noted that they took paths that were rather secluded. It made sense seeing that they were criminals, but it became harder for Harry since he couldn't use other people as a distraction in case he screwed up again, since he's apparently worse than an incompetent shinobi.

When they stopped by a small tea shop, Harry took the time to look around the area to find out exactly where they were. Coming across a few signs, Harry noted that they were in the northern part of the Land of Fire; far enough away from the Leaf Village, but still closer than Harry was comfortable with. Itachi could still be easily recognized by a shinobi if he was spotted. Since when was Itachi this reckless?

Seeing something, Harry stopped moving. Crouching low in the trees, he groaned; of course there was a leaf shinobi here. Quietly, Harry rushed back towards the tea shop where Itachi was. Hearing rustling sounds, Harry glanced down to see the leaf shinobi heading in the same direction as him. Feeling the beginnings of panic, Harry moved faster, and at the edge of the forest in front of the tea shop, Harry blinked. They were gone. Below him, the shinobi stopped by the shop. Narrowing his eyes, Harry jumped down, and slowly approached the shop.

"Ah yes, there were two people here earlier," the shopkeeper said. "Is something wrong?" she asked the shinobi in concern. The shinobi shook his head.

"No, there's nothing wrong. Just please be cautious for your own safety," he said. Harry sighed. As much as a good guy this person seemed, Harry didn't want a confrontation between him and Itachi. As much as Harry knew that Itachi wouldn't intentionally do anything against a leaf shinobi, he has no idea what the blue skinned man was capable of, though he being part of the Akatsuki was a measure of his skill. That meant that Harry had to somehow distract him enough to get off the trail of Itachi. Sighing, Harry tried to think of what to do.

"Ow!" Harry blinked as he was suddenly pushed forward. Clutching his Invisibility Cloak around himself, he turned around. On the ground was the leaf shinobi, who was staring at his general location in shock. Harry took a cautious step to the left towards the forest, and when the man's eyes didn't move, he gave a sigh of relief. The shinobi merely walked into Harry, not spotted him. Getting an idea, Harry smirked a little.

Backing away towards the forest, Harry watched as the leaf shinobi slowly got up and stared in the space in front of him.

"What the..." he muttered, as he slowly walked forwards, his hands out in front of him. After taking a few steps, he slowly put his hands down and looked confused. Shaking his head a little, the man started heading down the road. Harry got back into the trees, and starting running to get ahead of the shinobi. From what he could sense, Itachi was further along the road, so if he had to stop the leaf shinobi, it had to be now.

Annoyed that he had to again tap into his precious reservoir of magic, he sent a small hex towards the leaf shinobi, tripping him. He watched in amusement as the shinobi stumbled back to his feet, and began to look around the area. Finding nothing, the leaf shinobi looked concerned and continued on, but was obviously looking around at his surroundings more. Snickering slightly, Harry aimed at the shinobi again and shot off another hex. This time, not only did the leaf shinobi trip, but Harry caused him to be dragged by his feet a good distance in the opposite direction.

When he let go, Harry was satisfied when the leaf shinobi began to scream about ghosts, and ran back the direction he had come from. Congratulating himself, Harry jumped down, startling a large wild deer when he landed next to it. Absentmindedly patting it, he waited until he couldn't sense the leaf shinobi anymore to leave the forest. Adjusting the cloak once again, Harry stepped out from the forest onto the road, and looked towards the direction where the shinobi had run. Maybe he should go back now.

For the second time that day, Harry was almost pushed to the ground. Glaring at the large deer that had followed him out, Harry double-checked that the cloak was covering him again, which was good, since behind them, Itachi and the blue skinned man came up the road. The blue skinned man had his sword out, but they both froze at the scene.

"It's just some deer making that noise," the blue skinned man grumbled, putting his sword away.

"A stag," Itachi corrected, staring at it. Harry glanced at the deer, or stag rather, and felt a bit fond of it.

"Tch, whatever. We wasted enough time here as it is," the blue skinned man said, turning around and walking away. Itachi stared at the area in front him, but soon turned around as well, and walked away. Harry let go of the breath he was holding. Giving the stag another pat, Harry walked away from it, and when he was a good distance away, he concentrated on the apartment, and disappeared with a crack.

Sorry this was kind of a filler, but the good news is that the next chapter is already planned out, and I've begun typing it already ^_^

In case it wasn't obvious, Harry has magic, but what he can use is limited, and he's trying to conserve as much as he can, and the reason for that will be seen later :)

Also, (I'm not sure if you guys can see it) since the site made the character limit 4, the third character is now officially Itachi :D

Quick question for my readers (it's optional if you want to answer it or not, I'm just curious): Do any of you have any crossover pairings (romantic or friendship) for HP&Naruto? (e.g. I personally love the idea of Harry and Sasuke interacting. Hell, I have two fanfics based on the two of them XD)