If you recognise it… I don't own it.

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"Nartuo" & "Harry Potter" – Middle

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"Who are you?" Dumbledore exclaimed, at seeing two strangers standing in his office, "What are you doing here?"

A grey-haired man leant against a wall, his nose in an orange book. He lowered it to look at Dumbledore, revealing only a quarter of his face, as the rest was covered by a strange mask and a bandana that Dumbledore vaguely recognised.

The other stranger was clearly younger. He was perched on the window ledge watching the clouds as he leant back against the window-frame. He too wore the bandana, but around his upper arm. This one turned an almost bored gaze towards Dumbledore… Then he yawned!

"Think this is him?" The reclining one asked.

"I know it is. Just as you do." The grey-haired one replied, "Dumbledore."

"What are you doing here?" Dumbledore demanded again.

"Keeping a promise." The grey-haired one declared.

"What promise?"

"Years ago, an old friend of mine taught me that those who betray the mission are trash. But those who betray their friends are worse than trash. Three years ago, I swore that I would not let my comrades die."

"What has that to do with this?"

"You took my student from me." The grey-haired man's voice was cold, and yet he had still not put down his book. Indeed he was barely looking up from it.

"You took my friend." The other spoke up, his voice cold. But like his companion, he was paying little to no attention to Dumbledore.

This was not what Dumbledore was used to. People did not ignore Albus Dumbledore. People did not give him only a fraction of their attention.

"I did no such thing!" Dumbledore protested, "All my students are here legitimately, to learn by their parents' request."

"Even Naruto?" The grey-haired one drawled lazily.

The name took a moment to sink into Dumbledore's mind. He knew the name, but couldn't picture the face.

"You don't even know his name." The window one stared, "You don't even know my friend's name. What do you call him?"

"Who?" Dumbledore frowned.

"Him." The boy, for he was only a boy, Dumbledore realized, had risen to his feet. There was a puff of smoke and the Demon emerged.

"Demon." Dumbledore dismissed him, "He's a nobody. Just a monster. No one cares for him."

"We do." The boy declared, changing back to his correct form, "He is my friend."

"A Demon?" Dumbledore laughed, "No one is friends with a Demon."

"Naruto is not a Demon." The man countered.

"Of course he is." Dumbledore dismissed the remark, "He simply has you all fooled. Come now, my boy, there is no need to be ashamed. Demons are clever creatures. They can easily fool many people."

"I know Naruto far better than you." The man stated, "He is not a Demon. He is the most unpredictable person I have ever met… But he is not a Demon."

"You took him because you thought he was a Demon?" The boy smirked slightly, "You did not know what you were doing."

"I know far better the dangers of a Demon than you, boy!" Dumbledore sneered.

"Have you stared down a Demon?" The boy replied, "Have you looked into its eyes and seen only madness?"

"You have?" Dumbledore scoffed.

"No."

"I have." The man stated, "Naruto is no Demon. He is my student. I will not leave him behind."

"We have taken one of yours." The boy announced.

"And you expect me to trade yours for mine?" Dumbledore asked, "Yours will suffer if he is separated from his Master for any length of time. You have no choice but to leave him here."

"Why did you take him?" The man inquired.

"He is a useful evil to defeat Voldemort. I cannot allow harm to come to Harry, until he has faced Voldemort. Naruto is his protection."

"Naruto is a Genin." The boy countered, "Body-guard missions of high calibre are beyond a Genin's level of skill."

"Besides, as you believe he is a Demon, you shouldn't want him near your people."

"He is a Demon! When we first summoned him, he nearly killed four of my people. One was so badly injured that he was literally seconds from death!"

"Hmm," The man sighed, "I shall have to talk to him about that."

"What a drag." The boy murmured, "If Naruto is trying to kill someone, he should at least do it right."

"You should not condone loss of life!" Dumbledore protested.

"Killing is sometimes necessary." The boy shrugged.

"In defence of the Village. On the orders of the Hokage. In defence of Friends. In defence of yourself." The man almost recited.

"You would allow a Demon to defend you?" Dumbledore gapped.

"No," The man shrugged, "We would allow Naruto to."

"And you would force him to defend you." The boy countered.

"That's different! It's for the Greater Good."

The pair almost seemed to glare at him. On a normal person, it wouldn't have been considered a glare… But on these two, who had barely seemed to react emotionally to anything, it was a glare.

"If a sacrifice must be made for the Greater Good," The boy almost sneered, "The sacrifice must be willing. Not forced. They must understand the risks."

"A Demon is merely a tool to be used."

"Naruto is not a Demon."

"He is. We summoned the Nine-Tailed Demon. To counter Voldemort's One-Tailed Demon."

"One-Tailed Demon?" The boy blinked.

"It looks like a red-haired boy. But seems to have no emotions."

"He's not a Demon." The boy stated again.

"I'd listen to him," The man smirked, "He's dating his sister."

"You let a Demon date your sister!" Dumbledore stared.

"No," The man shrugged, "He's dating the Demon's sister." By the stress on the word 'Demon' Dumbledore could tell that the man still didn't believe him.

"I'm not dating her!" The boy protested.

"Hmm." The man seemed to smile slightly.

"The Nine-Tailed Demon is dead." The boy returned to the main topic, "We are taught that at the Academy. The Nine-Tailed Demon is dead. It has been dead for sixteen years."

"No. We have the Demon."

"He is not a Demon." The boy declared, "I've known him most of our lives. He's no Demon. He's no monster. He's naïve. He's a little dumb. And he's one of the best friends I've got."

"He's a Demon. An unfortunate evil in this war I must fight."

"He's not a Demon." The boy repeated.

"He is a Demon," Dumbledore repeated, "And while I regret that you have kidnapped a student from my care, I cannot allow the Greater Good to be destroyed, because of a moment of weakness. If a sacrifice must be made, it must be made."

"So you would make your student the Climbing Silver?" The boy asked.

"I do not understand the term."

"The sacrificial piece." The man explained.

"If I must, yes. I cannot release the Demon. It is needed."

"We need Naruto. And he's one of us to start with." The boy stated.

The boy had moved enough. Dumbledore managed to make eye contact. He quickly used legimency to try and figure of this group out. He also intended to find the location of his missing student.

He looked around the boy's mindscape. It was a little unusual compared to other minds he had been in. Usually a mindscape consisted of a room, but this was a clearing in a forest.

Dumbledore moved into the forest and find the memories stored there. However a cloud formed in front of him.

The cloud billowed into the shape of the boy.

"You're a Mind-walker." The boy remarked.

"You can't do this!" Dumbledore breathed.

"You don't know much," The Cloud-boy yawned, "Leave now."

"You cannot make me. I will find what I need."

The white clouds darkened, becoming black.

"You're troublesome." The Cloud-boy declared, fastening a hand around Dumbledore's throat.

"You can't do this!"

"Yes. I can."

Dumbledore staggered backwards as he found himself back in his body.

"He's a mind walker." The boy drawled, not even the slightest bit affected.

"Any good?" The man asked.

"I've seen a lot better. He doesn't even know about internal guardians…"

"I'm surprised."

"He's never tried Naruto's mind… Or he'd be dead. There's an actual law against that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's such a drag. I had to listen to months of complaints about that."

Dumbledore moved to draw his wand. These people had just become threats. If he couldn't control them, they had to be swept from the board, for the Greater Good.

Suddenly he couldn't move his hands or his feet.

He glanced down. Thick black cords had leapt from the floor to bind his wrists and ankles.

"We have no need to kill you, yet." The man declared, "But we will kill you if you try to harm us."

"I will not give you the Demon!"

"We don't need you to." The boy smirked, his hand in a curious arrangement, "We took one of yours."

Dumbledore smiled and relaxed.

"My dear boy, I'm so glad you agree that the best interests of all lie in keeping the Demon away from you."

"You misunderstand." The man stated, "You bound one of yours and one of mine together… We took both."

"No!" Dumbledore exclaimed, "Harry is needed. He is our only hope against Voldemort. He cannot be sacrificed until he has…"

"The teacher's job is to protect his students." The man snarled, "Not sacrifice them."

"It is for the Greater Good!"

"And you call Naruto a monster." The boy said, "At least when a sacrifice is required in our Village, the person is willing."

Dumbledore went to protest, but felt a cold hand closing around his neck, but he could see no person near him.

"We are Shinobi." The boy declared, "We live in the shadows. We kill without warning. You do not wish to be our enemy."

"We have the Will of Fire." The man moved to stand next to the boy, "We protect our own. Harm or try to harm us and we will kill you."

As one they disappeared in a flurry of leaves. The bindings and hands vanishing at the same moment.

Dumbledore was left alone in his office, gasping for breath.

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This is my protest against all the 'Dumbledore hires Ninja' stories out there.

In this one Voldemort summoned the 'One-Tailed Demon', whom he has enslaved using a Dark Ritual.

In a weird version of Wizarding version of Top Trumps (and yes I have used this line in an earlier, much shorter segment) Dumbledore has summoned the 'Nine-Tailed Demon' to counter it. The Demon is bound to Harry, so that it cannot harm or allow harm to come to Harry.

Time period is sometime after Sirius' death (HPverse) and Post Time-skip, before Jirayia dies, but after Gaara has his demon removed (Narutoverse).

Hope this section inspires someone. If anyone wants the earlier much, much shorter segments to help them, please ask. I have no idea where this story should go.