Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Naruto. I'm sure. As for the future...

And now that that's over, back to your irregularly scheduled fanfic:

XXX

In Kyoto, an old woman tossed and turned in her sleep. Dreams that had never been concieved of before plagued her ancient mind like a swarm of locusts over a field of grain. The fact of the matter was, her visions were rarely this haunting. Most visions were symbolic and sometimes hard to understand. A line of ants eating carrying away spilled rice might mean anything from an attacking army prepared to rape, slaughter and pillage a city to a new infestation of ants in the imperial kitchens, and magical ants were quite the pesky pests. The ones that were in essence portraits of creatures or landscapes were worse. They were impossible to interpret and were mostly clear, if at all, after the event. That was why Chiyo was rarely consulted about the future in beyond the vaguest of terms. Rarer still were her prophecies, often in convenient haiku form, that were sometimes clearer than a thousand pictures, and often more clouded than thunderstorm.

As a result of these extreme shifts in the nature of her "sight", Chiyo was most valuable as the unknown advisor, somebody who knew the generalities of the present and the future but was not mired in the trivialities, of the power plays and politics that were quite natural in any and all organizations. Her retainers both took care of her and kept her abreast of the latest news and gossips. She listened and did not speak, letting the trivialities of the day wash over her and letting her sight retain what was important. It was perhaps a rather effective system, as an absolutely neutral viewpoint was always there, either for the empress herself, or the chief of her guard, Hayate. The fact that any biases in her advice came from her gift, simply made her all the more useful. She was a tool, in essence and a willing one. And perhaps more to the point, a willing one.

Today though, Chiyo was in a truly sour mood. With her dreams had come visions among which were such disturbing sights such as that of of a hand crushing the earth, a pair of gambling die, an enormous demonic looking fox with nine tails that was too terrifying to even imagine and an abyss. And for some reason, a girl and a boy were there, gaijin, staring at her blankly from beyond a window in an otherwise distorted wall. But what came after that was what had her truly shaking with fear. A grinning maw that took a bite out of the planet. Not perhaps as scarring as the demon fox, but far more troublesome.

Some of which she had no idea about, others were, from past experience and the writings of seers from ages past, crystal clear. At least she had something to tie some of it to reality.

XXX

Hayate was surprised when he received a summons from the oracle. Usually, it was the other way round and not exactly very often. To be summoned means that there was an urgent matter, something the old lady couldn't simply hint at during their next "casual" conversation.

When he arrived, he was not surprised to find the extremely secure room just the way it was when he last came. What was a surprise was the disturbed looking face of the lady who had cheerfully told a past emperor that gaijin would come to this land and that there was nothing the old man could do was possibly going to change that fact in the least. With the data he had just been presented with, he could only come up with one conclusion. The world was ending...

XXX

Harry was particularly paranoid these days. Having some sort of thing in the guise of a student after him was not what he had planned for. And considering that he had actually noted down an "In case of Bijuu" plan (namely, run like hell), that was saying something.

He had no data on this (new) person or species. He had once spotted her in the castle, taking potshots at the forbidden forest from a seventh floor balcony. And hitting things. It was a very scary sight. The idea that she had a range that was possibly greater than he could see was terrifying. The sheer killing potential in that barely human shell was incredible.

On the other hand, most of the time, Hermione Granger(if that was her real name) was almost a child. Sure, she acted like a hyper version of her old self, but when she was with him, she was like a child, always doing something annoying. The reason he found the baby label appropriate was that at times she simply stood still and looked at something only she could see, before continuing as if she had not just done that. Breaking mid stride and continuing without the slightest gap in actions was a very disturbing sight. Giggling and drooling in an eleven year old, even more so.

Two weeks had passed since Halloween.

Two weeks of hell.

Two weeks of wondering if the shinigami had decided to torture his soul for some karmic reason that he was not privy to. Or maybe reforming his abusive family was the sort of things the gods frowwned upon?

In truth, she was not that dangerous to him or even all that threatening. The "girl" acted with all the enthusiasm of a 5 year old, sometimes. She didn't point that revolver at him. She didn't bring up that incident where he tried to reflexively kill her.

No, she behaved without the barest hint of malice towards him. It was THE most nerve racking experience ever. Hatred he could deal with. As also dismissal, rage and malice. They were emotions that had occupied the fortress of Harry's developing mind in its formative stages. Little Whinging had all but given him a PhD in the field of negative human behavior towards the individual. As such, being treated like a rattle – getting "poked" just to see what happened next, was not something he knew a safe way to respond to. Especially when the person "poking" him was as far as he knew, impervious to physical damage' As such, he even had clones secretly experimenting with high level sealing, trying to seal a living being into objects. Not that he was getting anywhere, but there was slight progress, in terms of "this seal produced actual bone fragments on unsealing, compared to the total goop I got till now!". In essence, he was trying to derive the theory of relativity from "the world is round!". He envied the Yondaime Hokage, who had been a protege to an actual seal master and consequently had somebody to turn to for help.

Hermione, as far as he could tell, sought nothing but amusement. Some minor joy in making things happen in odd ways. Her amused state, signaled by the sparkle in her eyes(at times literally. Though, looking for when the white of her eyes were liberally dotted by black specks was not the most normal of cues to look for) meant that she had achieved that state of inertness wherein it was safe to let out your held breath and go about normally. If he was lucky, she wouldn't catch up with him for another hour.

Even when he decided to pay a visit to the forbidden forest, the girl had been delighted. She had shot a good 30 of the 50 or so dead acromantula that had been on the lookout for human meat. What he did see was that however childish she seemed, the girl was a crack shot, spitting death at inhuman speeds. He also noted she did not reload, ever. At least she didn't seem to stick around for when he began to collect the venom. That the sporadic gunshots that occurred while he worked would probably get the centaurs in a tizzy was his only real concern.

He had also discovered the true "demon" of Hogwarts. The clone of the gunslinger girl was very very demonic looking. She looked like a succubus, all accessories included. The leather was just plain overkill. Especially since once the introductions ("Tiggy, Harry. Harry, Tiggy") were over, he was faced with two identical versions of Hermione. He had left with a headache. He did pray that they found something else to play with though. TWO stalkers were more than his poor abused sanity could handle. Though, after one particular "prank", he did wonder if Tiggy was anatomically correct down to ahem every last detail...

XXX

"Lady Chiyo, it is agreeable to see you."

"Likewise young lord. How fare thee in this new campaign?"

"Very well my lady. Tetsuya is reported to be well and truly settled in. He made contact with Skywalker, and lost."

"Toriyama's protege?"

"Indeed. A fine shinobi for his age."

"Indeed. And our person of interest?"

"Our English friend is strong."

He paused.

"And apparently very much random."

Hayate sipped his tea thoughtfully. Chiyo was unusually wary of actually discussing whatever she had summoned him for. She was asking about the past and the present. And not a peep about the future. He mentally braced himself. Before he could say anything though, Chiyo continued.

"My visions are not clear yet. There is a sense of foreboding in the air. A demon has risen, one which may seek the doom of all. The future is not sure, but battle is inevitable. Should this demon be awakened, there will be none left to write our tales. What has risen is possibly a scourge of all life itself."

Hayate calmly sipped his tea. It simply would not do to run around like headless chickens every time Chiyo announced the coming of the apocalypse. Obviously measures would have to be taken. It looked like another reason for starting an operation in England had just appeared. At least, with a stable base of operations, it wouldn't be a total nightmare. He would just try for more info for now.

"What else did you see my lady?"

Chiyo's shrunken face took on a visage of raw terror. It was frankly disturbing.

"A blood red fox, with nine tails. It cleaved mountains and raised tsunamis with mere flicks of its tails. An unkillable beast, whose evil drowns out any and all human malice. An being of such evil that man was not meant to gaze upon that terrible visage..."

She shook her head and continued.

"I also saw two children. A black haired boy with a grimace, a brown haired girl with childish innocence. I cannot say what bearing these two will have, but I believe they are crucial to the demons plans, whatever they are. The boy in particular, I saw him swallowed by the beast in a flash of lightning. He is a nexus. Hitsuzen surrounds the boy like so much rain in a storm."

"What about the demon? What are our options?"

"There is no help for it. A full containment team will be necessary. I recommend that you pick those who are...unattached."

Apocalypse indeed. The idea that they would need an entire cell of high level specialized containment sorcerers was unthinkable. And then to say that it was a suicide mission was somewhere beyond unthinkable. Exactly what was this demon?

"If you are wondering why all this is necessary, I would suggest you look up the berserker incident of 1218, in the greater forbidden archives of Edo. It should prove most enlightening"

"I will."

There was not much to be said to that. He only had a vague idea of what that particular event involved but it did not sound good.

XXX

The end of November however seemed to bring new dimension to the personality of Hermione Granger. She became, for want of a better term, saner.

It wasn't that obvious for the most part. Most of the people who saw her daily had been ignoring her from nearly day one and consequently didn't even realize that she had been acting weirdly for a while now. And Harry, who actually had an inkling of the insanity behind the beast(?) was quite surprised when he realized that Hermione was actually rational for his every encounter with her on that day. He didn't know if this was here to stay and did not speak of it one way or another. He did pray to to Kami sama a lot. Just the fact that Hermione Granger did not wave that colt around was the biggest relief he could have imagined.

XXX

Hermione Granger was in fact, becoming (drum roll please!) sane.

Well, saner at the very least. Her long suppressed "self" was finally coming to the fore after having spent quite the while hibernating.

A scientist would have been fascinated by what was happening. In essence, she was undergoing a process of mental metamorphosis. The original "human mind" she had was quite restrictive. It had human thoughts, human emotions, human reflexes, human reactions. But most of all, it had human limitations. In other words, putting her directly in charge of the body of the formidable being (or abomination, depending on your perspective) of a chaos creature was the equivalent of putting Homer Simpson in charge of every nuclear weapon in the United States strategic defense arsenal. In other words, it would have been one "D'oh!" away from disaster.

So, a proto mind was formed, one that had the memories of Hermione Granger, had the (former) body of Hermione Granger, and in general tasked with being Hermione Granger until the real Hermione Granger woke up.

Unfortunately, the designers were just a bit disconnected from humanity. So, the proto mind unfortunately reflected their inexperience in human thinking. It was quite reflective of the randomness its creators were always in the midst of and followed no sense of order outside of its actual classroom times.

Of course, the proto mind was also the same one that was responsible for what was the equivalent of sleep hypnotizing Hermione into a functioning member of "society" whichever one her new species belonged to anyway. So, while not all that sane from the human perspective, she would still retain her human personality. Hermione would at least be recognizable to whoever knew her well enough before the whole mess at Hogwarts, namely her parents. Somewhat. But hey, school changes people right? Especially thousand year old magical schools?

Hermione was not totally unaware of the happenings of the world around her either. While "asleep", she was cognizant of what "she" was doing. Even until just after the Halloween incident, the barest trace of rational control was exerted on the proto mind. After that, well, pure insanity was closer to the rationale behind "her" actions. Thankfully, she was sufficiently removed from the human perspective that being aware while a possibly insane personality used your body for previously unthinkable actions was not enough to render her insane. At that very moment, Harry would have been quite relieved to know that Hermione had taken the decision to be less flamboyant in her dealings with him. He would also have been petrified to hear that the proto mind was even now merging with what used to be Tiggy the house elf. Telepathic links are somewhat useful like that.

Of course, with her real mind having come forth, she had regressed to her "human" state somewhat and lost some of the conscious ability to use her powers. Only time could now bring out the hidden talents of Hermione Jane Granger.

In any case, two days after Hermione was back in business so to speak, she asked Harry to meet her in one of their previously used abandoned classrooms.

"Hi Harry"

Harry raised an all too obvious eyebrow. The distinct expression of disbelief that had not been on his true face for quite a many year was also quite embarrassing for the witch that had turned into...something.

"What did you call me here for?"

Hermione shuffled a bit before replying. His tone was somewhere between hostile and sarcastic as far as she could tell.

"I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. I must tell you that I'm not usually this way. Its just that...I've not exactly been myself for the past couple of weeks."

Harry calmed down a bit, from his fight or flight mode.

"And I suppose you are yourself now?"

There was a hint of sarcasm and a visible air quote, but Hermione ignored it and nodded her head vigorously.

"Oh yes. I had a little "incident" and I was unable to cope with it. I'm all right now."

Harry nodded. It made some weird twisted sort of sense that probably said more about him than her. He also refrained from asking what the incident she mentioned was. Personality aside, she was still moving exactly like her "other" self. The threat level had not diminished. He would have to tread carefully. Best be neutral for the moment.

"I see. Is there anything else?"

Hermione seemed to become a bit more enthused now that Harry was not running away screaming in terror or demanding compensation for mental trauma. Although, she supposed that with the esoteric abilities he had shown to her (inadvertently or otherwise) he wasn't exactly the most normal character either. She resisted the urge to cackle.

"Well, the thing is, I've not been the most social of people and I've probably done something till now to earn your undying hatred, but I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind becoming my friend? I was quite lonely before this anyway and now..."

Harry turned it over in his head before concluding that at the very least she was the only person who knew who or what he really was. Besides, he had done his research on the original Granger and discovered that she was quite intelligent, if quite bookish. The advantage of having such a person as a friend were quite obvious. The advantage of having the person in front of him as 'not an enemy' was even more obvious.

The fact that Harry was slowly getting used to the girl and could appreciate company, no matter how irritating was irrelevant. Although why the shadow clone above him was snickering on the job would have to wait till he dispersed the idiot...himself.

"All right. I can agree to that. Although, I do ask that you keep that pistol of yours pointed away from me at all times. Its quite...distracting."

Hermione giggled.

XXX

Things became less strained as far as Harry was concerned after that. There was a sense of relief, and even the pranks that Tiggy had taken up were coming down. It seemed that sanity made the world seem brighter.

Classes were the same as ever. The teachers didn't really change much, except for Snape, who was a bit more skittish when Harry was in his class. But since, he was such a master of occlumency, the only people who would have noticed were his fellow staff members, who were not in said class to notice the aberration. Quirrel was getting even more twitchy and stuttered worse than ever before, but that was put down as the DADA curse rearing its ugly head and he was generally merely pitied. Betting pools that wagered on his possible method of "departure" was the one of the few places his name was mentioned.

In the meantime, Harry was trying to find a way of making a sword that he could put all the weight of his training behind. To that end he was concentrating on improving his baseline strength to levels even real ninja would have been envious of. He might not have been Gai or Lee, but he knew enough to get the best out of his still developing muscles. He accomplished this by training every spare minute he could, using a mix a chakra exercises and pure exercise. Since he was not yet finished with puberty, he was actually quite wary of overdoing it, but he was satisfied with his current level of progress.

In the meantime, he spent a lot of time in the midst of training chatting with his currently sane friend. He didn't tell his full story, but he told a lot. Having spent his first few years in less than ideal conditions, being a social outcast at the behest of his own family, finding his power in a strange and unexpected way. The turnaround of his family's behavior by his hand. No mention was made of mentor librarian, possibly non existent Japanese comics and star wars themed shenanigans.

He did discuss weapons with his new companion who seemed surprisingly knowledgeable about such things. Then again, she still had her rather scary pistol and kept up her practice at shooting things at insane distances. Harry imagined that this was the closest he would get to a real life Miterashi Anko.

Whatever her mentality, she was quite knowledgeable about weapons and their use, a knowledge that she confessed was not present before the "incident". Whatever it was, Harry was grateful. Hermione, while not trusted at the highest possible levels, was sufficiently trustworthy that he gave her a slightly worn katana and sparred with her. He had even let her hold onto it afterwards. He had his own sword, if it came to it. And he was willing to offer up his spare in the name of friendship. At any rate, they were not the best quality stuff anyway. He briefly wondered if that fellow Takeda's shop had any good blades on sale. It would be nice to have some good quality stuff the next time he had to face Tetsuya or anybody else for that matter.

In the meanwhile, Hermione was actually quite skilled with a blade, and was able to get his level up to a more decent level. He would not be limited to expending massive amounts of chakra to keep up with whatever opponent he might end up facing.

XXX

In the unplottable bastion of the dark arts known as Malfoy Manor, Lucius Malfoy was rudely awakened from his sleep at the stroke of midnight by a most distinguished visitor.

Takeda walked into the same room he was previously received in, with his normal gait, one that was screaming predator. Lucius was quite confused as to why there was a need to meet at this date at this particularly bothersome hour. Not that he was going to say anything. One of the perils of working with people without morals was that such behavior was entirely applicable to yourself as well. Showing disrespect towards an ally more powerful than you was always a sure ticket to death.

At any rate even he was curious as to this abrupt visit. Obviously something big was in the works, to bring this man from wherever he had been stationed to meet him. And it was obvious that whatever it was required his assistance. In other words, it had to do with either the ministry or Hogwarts, the two places where he had the most influence. It was unlikely that it was Hogwarts. The ninja organization had operatives in the area, and it was unlikely such skilled soldiers would find anything in that decrepit castle beyond their ability to handle. So it was obviously something to do with the ministry. It looked like Fudge was going to get a few more visits.

Takeda sipped his tea with the air of a man who was utterly relaxed. Not that he was believed by the rooms other sole occupant, who was in slightly less than pristine condition, due to the unexpected visit.

"So what can I do for you Lord Takeda?"

"It appears the situation in this country has become quite severe. Hakumei is intervening to prevent the total annihilation of this section of the planet."

That was most unexpectedly blunt. No pleasantries, subtle double speak or information exchanges. Just a statement that, from the tone of it, seemed to be a polite understatement. Just what had happened here since these foreigners moved in? Takeda meanwhile continued in his extremely relaxed voice.

"A Double S class malicious entity 'World Eater' has been detected on this island. The last time anybody encountered such a being was 800 years ago, 150 square miles of Chinese country side was rendered desolate in an explosion that lasted but an instant. Every last piece of organic matter was reduced to dust. The very land was rendered lifeless. And our only record of its occurrence was the fact that that part of the world still used scribes writing on clay tablets. We will not share the exact circumstances but apparently death magic was the only effective tool to defeat the beast. Our experts believe the one we have just detected is of a far greater destructive potential."

Lucius was floored. His brain had shut down and even though he showed almost nothing, his eyes were quite wide open and shocked. Takeda however pressed on.

"A team of sorcerers will be sent to try and contain the beast. We are telling you all of this because you have been a very useful ally and deserve to be told that your home and family are in danger. If necessary, you may choose to evacuate before our men engage the demon."

The next five minute were slowly spent letting the conversation settle into his stressed mind. There was just too much to take in right now. The ninja, despite their rather unique world views and operating protocols were religiously honest with their clients and non ninja allies. In any case, he knew he was valuable, at least for now. There was no reason to lie about anything. In other words, Takeda was being brutally honest.

"Lord Takeda...I'm afraid I am a bit shaken at the moment. Please give me some time to process what you have told me. I...I am afraid I find myself quite unable to think rationally at the moment."

Takeda stood and lowered his head. Death Eater or not, the man loved his family. It was best to leave him be to plan their survival.

"Indeed Lucius Malfoy. I shall await your communication regarding this matter."

And he was gone.

XXX

It was breakfast. The great hall was full, as always. The chattering was barely tolerable, but Harry would endure it. Today was an important day after all. And important days meant keeping your patience.

As he waited for that which had him on edge, he quietly paid attention to the only two people he had any interest in within the Hogwarts student body, Tetsuya and Hermione.

Tetsuya was still mostly a mystery. Harry did not dare approach too close to the base of his enemies, lest they detect and discover him. The Japanese boy himself was fair game. But it was a very interesting question, why was he there? Why was this inexperienced operative of a well supplied and professional organization here in Britain or even Hogwarts at all? He himself had no clue, and did not have the experience to deduce that information even with more data. True, he could make assumptions and extrapolate, but he was walking with a Naruto mindset, which he highly doubted would apply to magic in any but the broadest sense. True, it was highly effective against these British oafs, but these Japanese fellows were in a different league. He was on the verge of asking Hermione for her unique insight.

Hermione was a mystery. There was just no classifying her anymore. She was order and chaos, fun and killjoy, exuberant and utterly shy all at once. She seemed to be in her own little world and utterly vegetable like at times. Other times, she was focused and serious, even if he himself had no idea what she was so focused on. After her date with sanity, she had mellowed out from the utterly insane/psychotic persona into this somewhat normal behavior that seemed to cycle through maturity levels at random.

On the other hand, she was quite helpful and seemed to genuinely wish him well, something he was quite unused to until his mentor had introduced him to that concept. Even now, the idea that some sort of pseudo invincible magical creature was the only thing in the castle he had some level of true trust for was...it was indescribable. Of course, considering that she had stated that she was actually human before she laid her hands on a possibly cursed demonic (why that word specifically he had no idea) handgun, there was possibility that it was her mystery that kept him around her. Whatever the case, he would stick around her, at least for the time being. It still rankled that she seemed to have accidentally stumbled upon abilities that were rather impressive just like that.

He was interrupted in his thoughts by the arrival of an owl. It was a package he had ordered, and it was something he had considered previously, but had not devoted much time to.

As a progressing shinobi, Harry had many fields that he could develop his talents in. Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu were the cardinal 3 of any shinobi. Beyond that however, existed many skills that supplemented or went parallel to front line combat. T&I, torture and interrogation, the realm of the almighty Ibiki. Intelligence and Espionage, Jiraiya's more important hobby. Forensics and investigation, which the Uchiha military police must have a good amount of skill in, seeing as it overlaps with hunter nin. Field medicine and surgery, Tsunade's claim to fame. And then of course, the front line combat skills like puppetry, sealing, poisons, weapon skills, trap creation. They were all excellent skills for a ninja to have.

Harry however had at this point decided to branch off towards sword skills. It was a sore point for him that he needed to show his superior speed to block the Japanese ninja's wakizashi. To be forced to resort to compensate for lack of skill was something he could not tolerate. So he had decided to purchase an encyclopedia of swords...or the closest object to such a thing that existed. It was simply a collection of handwritten notes, that described swords, their strengths, weaknesses, styles and requirements. Alongside was an actual collection of pictures and specifications of real world swords, thousands of them. After all, Japan wasn't the only country to forge a blade long or sharp enough. The fact that such things as Zabuza's Kubikiri Hocho existed was sufficient cause for him to look beyond the measly katana. And while he was not Tenten, determined to wield everything, he was going to find his own niche and fill it, something that would make him stand out if he was actually in the elemental nations.

XXX

"Granger! Where are you dragging me?"

Hermione Granger, currently dragging a somewhat reluctant and perturbed Harry did not deign to reply to the somewhat deserved question in the face of completing her current objective. As such, she was currently on the seventh floor, having started from the first, dragging a reluctant Harry by the wrist all the way. Those who saw the quirky pair concluded that seeing her friend get an enormous book had set her off. They were only partially correct.

Minutes, that were an eternity to some later, Harry was inside a stock abandoned classroom, wondering why he had to come up all the way here for this. It was true, he had mentioned getting this earlier as he was drafting his letter to his "contact". He had simply wished that he could have an opportunity to test for himself the blades that he was going to contemplate.

Hermione had produced the widest grin at that. Unfortunately, this had set off all sorts of alarm bells and Harry had taken off before she could inflict her insanity upon him. As it was still the time when Hermione was frankly nuts, Harry had run for his life, at chakra and adrenaline enhanced speeds.

So Harry could overall connect that incident with receiving the Codex Gladius, as he called it. But why this room in particular was questionable. He was patient however. He trusted Hermione for the moment, and was wary more of the individual in front of him being a human looking Tiggy than anything else. That would be frightening.

And then, Hermione held her hand out and materialized a nodachi into it. Just like that. And before he could do so much as breathe, the classroom was empty of tables and chairs or anything else and she was in the air, swinging that monster of a blade in what was clearly an attempt to cleave him in two.

Harry danced around her incredible swing for a while, trying to find a way to retaliate when she stopped, still grinning and the blade vanished.

"What do you think Harry! Isn't it great?"

Harry shook his head.

"I have no idea what you are talking about! And whats with the lethal swings? You could bloody hell have killed me you damned woman!"

Hermione waved him off with a 'who are you kidding?' expression.

"You would have, and did dodge. Besides, it was an excellent way to demonstrate the powers of this awesome room!"

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Awesome...room?"

Hermione did a little pirouette and giggled.

"This room, my dear friend..."

At this point, she put her hands to her hips and looked off into the heavens in a rather dramatic pose,

"...is the Room of Requirement!"

And a beautiful sunset and beach scene appeared behind her, complete with sound effects, waves and a seagull.

Harry's jaw dropped. And then he fainted. Curiously enough (at least in Hermione's point of view) he was muttering about genjutsu and ...springtime of youth?

XXX

Shortly afterwards...

Harry Potter was in heaven. This room really was awesome. Hermione, at this stage had moved on to what Harry had wanted. So to fully help his choice, she had commanded the room into a hall the size of the great hall and was chock full of weapons.

Well, swords actually. All sorts of blades, from bronze age era weapons to more modern blades that were still used on a real battlefield by people who stayed alive.

That was of course, one of the particulars about swords.

Harry wanted a blade for war. Most swords today were made for peace and were wall hangers.

Ever since the firearm was invented, there was a steady decline in bladed weaponry. With the advent of repeated fire and easier reloads, the sword fell out of favor as an indispensable battlefield weapon, just like every other bladed weapon around. Nowadays, the only blades you found in the standard military was ceremonial. Not very useful except for eye candy.

In any case, seeing as he was aiming for swords,spears, halberds and the like were out. They didn't have the least bit of the versatility of the sword. Harry had tried them, purely for academic reasons and was quite disgruntled with the wrongness of it all. He also resolved to read up on how to use them more effectively should it be necessary. They were too unwieldy for his purposes though. And a spear does not an assassin make.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, knives daggers and spiked weapons were too limited for 'general' use. Small knives made for a good addition to his close range arsenal. Not a true knife fighting weapon, but excellent for deception and misdirection, assassination material at its best as far as he was concerned. And small blades, of good quality were extremely resilient.

Between the two were where the majority of laded weapons lay. Really exotic weapons(including a whole set of rather fantasy style blades) were also discarded.

Katars, chakrams and the like did not appeal to him. The extremely rare whip sword, the Urmi was an even worse suggestion for him. Merely getting it off the floor without cutting himself to strips would be a nightmare. How Hermione did it instinctively was beyond him. Not that she was a master, and she did get plenty 'scrapes' where an edge that got too close took a bit of 'skin' off.

A lot of blades were simply too large and lost their effectiveness if scaled down. In this category lay the cleaver style swords, that depended on sheer mass to bring down its target. They were large unwieldy and would have given the seven swordsman wet dreams. Though there did seem to be an example that was the kubikiri hocho brought to life. Unfortunately, it was unlikely he would be able to use the steer intimidation factor associated with such a blade any time soon. Or wield a blade of that size effectively at the speeds he was used to and wanted to exceed.

Extremely long swords, like the nodachi or the really long two handed swords like the Zweihänder were also given the ax. As were the many varieties of axes by the way...

By this point, the walls were now removed from everything except a range of swords in the two to four feet range.

"Curved blades or straight ones?"

Hermione asked, sitting on a luxurious chair while Harry kept looking over everything,

"What do you think?"

"Well, curved ones slash better and straight ones stab better!"

Sarcasm was truly lost to her. Harry's eyebrows twitched but he didn't bother to respond. He took hold of a curved blade that he might have recognized better if he hadn't spent his youth genjutsu-ing everyone and actually spent his hard won freedom watching television.

"What do you call this?"

He did trust that Hermione would help him with this. She was quite happy to find her entertainment in helping him. She said life was more interesting that way.

"That's a cutlass. Pretty famous from pirate movies, usually used by the brawny and hairy..."

Harry vanished that blade instantly. He also dismissed a number of curved blades that he disliked for sheer similarity. He was not a pirate! Consequently, quite a few sorts of broad slashing type blades disappeared. Ancient looking vicious swords and swords that clearly belonged to a fantasy setting all disappeared.

He examined a saber rather curiously, giving it a few practice swings and stabs and then tilted his head in confusion. It was not that he didn't like it it. But it was still too curved. He liked Japanese blades, with their more natural(to him at least) shallow curves. And he didn't see himself stabbing anyone anytime soon with a saber anytime soon anyway. Sabers were hit and run cavalry swords as far as he knew. And despite his best efforts, he did not see himself using them at all. So vanished more swords.

By now, what were left were mainly straight or nearly straight swords. He dismissed the curved Japanese blades after a seconds thought as well. There was no need for them - he had done enough study on them ages ago. What he wanted was a blade that would complement his use of wind chakra.

All the blades by now were more or less straight. Everything from the gladius issued to roman infantry, to the eastern straight swords and the infinite seeming varieties of rapiers. Really, he was spoiled for choice. There were more swords than he or even the book knew existed...even if the variations were mostly aesthetic.

It was at this point he realized why his subconscious had been sending him towards straight blades. He was a wind nature ninjutsu expert. Any sword he wielded could automatically be converted to cutting blades. Hell, he could get a lightsaber like cutting effect from a twig of wood if he wanted! Too bad he couldn't make a real lightsaber with all the fancy magic around here...

(A/N: This is the point where somebody with real talent makes an omake, another crossover and inspires an entire range of spin offs. Since its just me, we'll just go back to your irregularly scheduled fanfic)

Finally, after what seemed like hours of contemplation on the theory of cutting and stabbing, Harry finally agreed upon a pair of single edged aikuchi style chokuto. He spent a little time to really familiarize himself with swinging the twenty six inch blades with some care. He was still due a growth spurt or two. Sure, he was already tall, but he was still eleven. Confident that this choice would serve him well into the future, he began to stride towards the exit. He eyed his alternate choice of shikomizue a bit hesitantly but continued all the same.

Of course, something just had to go wrong...

"Er... Harry?"

"Yes, Granger?" came the impatient reply.

"You do know that nothing created inside the room can be taken outside right?"

XXX

With current progress on swords essentially grounded, Harry went back to practicing genjutsu by ensnaring random students with "hallucinations". Harry was trying to establish a threshold for when people actually began to experience a discomfort that what they were seeing was not real. So far some teachers the odd student and Hagrid had proved totally resistant to genjutsu. Hagrid and Flitwick didn't know that there was any genjutsu while Snape often made faces and shook his head. Perhaps these people had mental defenses of a sort or even a magical bloodline of sorts. Magical illusions were not unknown and one of its greater examples was the ceiling of the Great Hall. Of course, these seemed to be area effect only. They seemed to exist in a sort of ghost type configuration where an individual could not be targeted. Those might exist but were unlikely. More things to wonder about...

XXX

"Severus! Its good to see you!"

The Hogs Head was a rather unsavory place for his tastes, but it was an excellent place to discuss your business clandestinely. As it was, Lucius was quite resolved to warn his friend about the new perils of staying in the country.

The relationship between Malfoy and Snape extended all the way back to Hogwarts. Being Slytherin, both were rather professional to each other for the most part and the only real point of contention had been Snape's half blood status.

However, prevalent pureblood dogma at the time considered half bloods as a redeemable resource so as long as Snape toed the party line, he was granted tolerance and eventually grudging respect for his potions skills. The fact that the son of Prince had a public fallout with his mudblood (never friend. Just mudblood) meant that he had cemented his place in the pureblood faction. Lucius had played the mentor role and eventually befriended the young man proper, in true pureblood fashion of course.

Lucius was perhaps the only one of the Death Eaters to have known with some surety that Snape had eventually gone over completely to Dumbledore towards the end of the war. Nothing concrete or presentable as evidence of course, but he was sufficiently suspicious as to make that intuitive leap to the correct conclusion. He was the guys best friend in all but name.

Of course, in deference to their well established friendship, he said and did nothing. And the fact that Lucius continued his friendship was a sign that to the dark lord's supporters that he was one of them. In a way, the pureblood lord's complete trust was given only a half blood.

So it was that in deference to that friendship that he had decided to inform his only true friend that there was danger afoot. A danger that Takeda had supplied the pertinent details of.

They could have chosen other places, but meeting in the castle was plain stupid and Dumbledore would have never allowed the potions master to go to Malfoy manor in the middle of the year. Not to mention, he was tracked at all times by one of the headmaster's little trinkets.

"Lucius! I am surprised that you wanted to see me in person. Is something the matter?"

Malfoy let out a light chuckle.

"You know how it is my friend. The minister is far too demanding of my time. Even Narcissa complains that I am too busy these days. And I have to deal with the St. Mungo's tomorrow too. I too grow weary of all this."

Snape raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Narcissa Malfoy was the epitome of the pureblood wife. She wouldn't raise an eyebrow if her husband disappeared without a word for a decade and then returned. A slow almost hesitant nod answered his unspoken question. Something was wrong. Very wrong. It was an old death eater deception for conversations in public areas. Purebloods had far too many customs for anyone to take note of such an abnormality and anyone actually saying such a thing would be taken to have just let loose a little over a drink or so. Of course, no pureblood worth his salt would admit to a demanding wife either. Ever.

The second part was even more curious. St. Mungo's, a reference to healing. In other words, the situation was life or death.

"I see. So what do you want from me?"

"I want you to consider this proposal for another job. Its in the colonies. American potions research organization. It would be a personal favor to me. I might visit there with my family soon."

Severus accepted the offered envelop silently, before opening it. The job offer was genuine. So Lucius wanted him to go overseas for a while. And might even send his wife and kids out of the country as well. Did this have something to do with those ninja the man had hired? And what was the life or death part?

"Lucius does this have anything to do with those new consultants you hired?"

"They scouted the company. But the offer was something I picked up on my own and I personally would like to see you doing what you were born to do as well."

So the Japanese had given him some information and he was being told solely because the two were such good friends. The last sentence was a plea. Whatever it had had the blond man scared. He was afraid for his family, himself and his friend. He couldn't fathom why though. And then he recalled the other troll incident. Eastern wizards were here, that was what he gathered from Dumbledore's vague clues and cryptic statements. Something to do with them perhaps, but affecting the country as a whole. An invasion perhaps?

"If I accept this, I may not have to teach those dunderheads any longer, but there are a few who are...adequate."

I have my obligations here. Is it so serious that I must abandon them?

Lucius took a second to carefully compose his words.

"Nonsense."

Yes.

"Your talents are wasting away in this miserable dungeon of yours."

Staying may get you killed.

"You simply must accept this, for my sake."

There is no other way.

"It is a rare opportunity and the pay is good."

There may not be a next time.

Snape sighed, an action that not many have seen from the fanatically self controlled man.

"I will think upon this"

Lucius nodded.

"Do not take too long. I will need your answer soon."

They parted ways.

XXX

In the dragon boat Spirit Shadow that floated now above the ministry of magic, new people were arriving.

Seven people, including two women were arriving today. All were highly trained sorcerers with over a decades experience. They were some of the best that Hakumei could offer in their chosen fields. Six of them were barrier experts. The seventh, a woman was an onmyouji. They were not front line magic users. They were the auxiliary support forces.

They were all coming here for one purpose. To eliminate the demon they were ordered to by any means necessary, up to and including sacrificing themselves.

At midnight, a 12 foot tall Torii (Japanese shrine gate) shaped portal appeared out of thin air on the deck and seven people walked out. The captain of the vessel exchanged pleasantries with the new arrivals and then they went below decks. For now, they had a new mission.

In a deck below, at the rear of the ship, a crew man began to fiddle with levers and gauges. At the same time, in a huge room covered in arcane symbols and odd looking devices began to hum and glow as the arcane energies that were required for it began to flow from what might have been called the ships engine room.

A minute later, a group of people moved in and began to operate the rather complicated magical apparatus.

The ship itself rose up to a higher altitude and began to begin to sail in a lazy spiral pattern, still invisible to any and all British monitoring capability.

The hunt for the SS class 'World Eater' type demonic entity had commenced. Nobody was about to let an entire country vanish. Especially not if the brave and dutiful soldiers of Hakumei had anything to do with it.

XXX

Christmas was upon them all. It was a grand time, and with holidays coming right around the corner, it was a generally upbeat mood that surrounded Hogwarts.

Of course, most of the very important peoples in the castle had important things to worry about.

Dumbledore was worried about overpowered foreign powers. Alastor had not given anything new, so he was stressed simply due to the fact that he did not know what was going on. Without control over the situation, he was quite worried.

Snape had forgotten about Potter entirely in view of his friends distress. He was also wondering what he should tell Dumbledore about all of this. If whatever unmentionable danger lurked around was of a priority that necessitated Lucius to nearly beg him to leave for a while or possibly permanently might be of interest to Dumbledore. On the other hand if it was something that specifically targeted just a select number of people, whether it was former light supporters out for their long overdue revenge, or dark wizards bent on cleansing their legacy of his betrayal (and Lucius as well, by virtue of faithful association) was debatable. This year was significant for a number of reasons, including the reappearance of Potter and the emergence of a concrete fixed location for a priceless alchemical artifact. The tenth anniversary of the end of a war that was slowly being forgotten was also a possible reason for the current timing. He trusted Lucius completely, ideological leanings aside. Worrying Dumbledore with something that was most likely a private threat was likely to just bring in the headmasters ire, considering that the old man had done nothing but brood and ponder ever since Halloween, relatively speaking of course.

Tetsuya was wondering why he had been informed to watch out for allied sorcerers. It was a vague and worrying message. Not to mention that there was no real reason why such a force would be required for any aid in his mission. And the idea that something required the presence of a full sorcerer or more in this country was disturbing at the very least. He would have to get more information out of Takeda.

Harry was wondering where he could get a new sword. It would be annoying to get a fake or poorly constructed one and finding a smith capable of the battle worthy blades he would require as a base for fuinjutsu modification would be difficult. Things like welded pieces, display only pieces or even worse, imitations would be extremely annoying. He would have to see if he could find a real old style sword smith, no mean feat in this day and age. Then again, price was no issue. His current blades, were steel, factory made and unfortunately all he could find at short notice when he brought them. This time, he could be devoted to his quest without magical preparations to occupy him. At least his current arsenal had taught him the intricacies of holding together and reinforcing a sword as much as possible. He would miss the beaten down (especially after that stint with Tetsuya) kodachi, a little.

Most of the professors were wondering how to motivate their students in the face of most unstoppable leisure.

Quirrel/Voldemort was hatching and discarding various strategies to get a certain stone without having to discard the host body entirely. He had to find a way past that annoying Cerberus without actually doing much. Unicorn blood was being consumed in minor quantities to strengthen the body. And it was still failing bit by bit. At its current rate of progress, Quirrel wouldn't be able to survive to the end of the year. And using magic only hastened its deterioration. Thus Voldemort was reduced to biding his time to find a perfect opportunity, one where it would no longer be necessary to withhold his use of magic, so that he could finally take possession of the stone and its fruits. But until that final time when he could be without restrain, he had to pace himself, especially to find a way past the Cerberus using more subtle methods than what he wished he could use. And he was not stupid enough to ask anyone point blank how he could get past an overgrown three headed dog.

Draco Malfoy had gotten a letter that basically said that he was to take ALL of his stuff from the school grounds. He was quite perplexed and missed the unusually perturbed expression on a certain Hufflepuffs face. Not that it would have mattered.

XXX

The train ride towards London went like all the one that came from London. With one exception.

Hermione was in Harry's compartment, sitting idly.

It was quite relaxing to have somebody to talk to even if they were there only because he had no conceivable way to kill said person. Not that he wanted to of course, but having a visible vulnerability would be nice.

"What will you do these holidays?"

Harry calmly replied.

"Find somebody to make my choice in blades. Research stuff. Read a lot of books. Hang out in Diagon. Spend time with family."

Hermione nodded

"Alright. Here's my phone number in case you ever get bored or need help! I already have yours of course!"

Harry really did not want to know how she had gotten that piece of information. Although if the nearly invisible form of Tiggy were any clue...

He shrugged visibly and then looked out the window. They were quite far from London and were nearly asleep. So out came more clones and he muttered an inaudible"goodnight" before embracing sleep.

As he closed his eyes though, he thought he saw a ship in the distance. But that couldn't be, could it? Magic didn't have flying ships as far as he knew. Besides, he could always check later.

XXX

In a room on a flying ship, floating in the air, in a room with lots of stations manned by ninja, a technician stood up and saluted the officer in charge of the room and made his report on his latest finding.

"Commander, We have just passed over a residual energy signature consistent with a demon above B class. We are however unable to derive a location or heading"

"Hmm. Continue monitoring."

Inside the well lit room, the tall, well dressed commander pondered the message and acknowledged the report. He then left the room to walk a deck higher where the captain of the ship and their latest guests were in the middle of a discussion. Sure, there was instant communication, but then this wasn't battle, so showing a little respect was important. He was of a race far above the savages his ship even now floated above.

He knocked and and entered the room, facing its occupants with a respect born of experience and knowledge of just who these people were..

"Captain, we have a single confirmation of energy signature consistent with target. What are your orders?"

The captain, wearing a rather elegant robes and missing right eye answered.

"Continue on our current course. We will likely discover many more of these signatures before the beast is before us. It is unnecessary to linger where it wants us to..."

"Yes Captain!"

And that was that.

The Spirit Shadow continued its slow patrol, searching and prying, seeking the location of, unknown to them, a very unique girl.

A/N:

I"m finally finished with this chapter, although I'm pretty sure this one is somewhat off, just can't put my finger on it. On the other hand, itrs giving me new ideas for other stories I want to write but have less time for than this one.

Basically, this chapter is going to establish the reason why Hermione has been turned into an overpowered Mary Sue...of sorts. Its just a reason why Hakumei moves more resources to Britain and causes even more headaches all over.

Despite everything, Hermione can be taken down, and there do exist people with the means to do it. Whatever said and done, she has only had a few months of getting used to her powers and so is a bit limited. At the moment , Tiggy is of more use, combat wise.

Another thing, some of you may wonder why I've devoted a great deal of space to Harry picking a sword. This is because of many things really. I'm a fan of swords and frankly know that a great deal of what everyone "knows" is misleading. Japanese blades for instance are not made to be clashed edge to edge repeatedly as anime and movies would let you believe. The whole point of these blades is to cut through flesh and bone, not other swords. The type of combat that Harry and Tetsuya engage in would have reduced normal swords to scrap. The only reason they can do it here is because one of them has a magic sword and the other uses chakra to reinforce his weapons. Both were probably be surprised that the other blade didn't break. I'm sure you can guess what their devious little minds are imagining about the other.

Quality sword making also does not involve folding the steel thousands upon thousands of times as some have described. Its mostly high carbon steel anyways. These days, useable swords made with tool or spring steels are supposed to be the best if you ask some of the experts. Most swords you get online are stainless steel crap. So much more to rant... but I'll leave off here. Search online people!

Anyways, Hermione's transformation does not mean that she is totally able to do as she pleases. Just existing has put a giant beacon on her saying "oooh kill me!" sure there will be casualties, but to the determined army, any fortress can be breached.

Next chapter will be very Harry centric, because he's out of the stifling castle and in the big wide world, where he can have clones doing stuff perhaps more appropriate to a super-naruto fanfic (lol) And he meets somebody close to someone once close to him. Guesses anybody?

I'll try to fit in some info on the search for Hermione, or I might let it go for the chapter after. I don't like to totally map out the small stuff. Turns writing into a chore.

Anyways, REVIEW...cause thats the coal that powers this engine yeah!