Harri and Naruto stood facing each other in the middle of the woods, Harri in a battle-ready position. The witch had asked for the blond's help in trying to figure out why her magic hadn't worked during the battle against Zabuza. It had been a nagging thought ever since the battle had ended. Kakashi was still unconscious, although he was resting in Tazuna's house under the watchful eye of his daughter.

"It won't hurt right?" Naruto asked, looking worriedly at her. After all, he had agreed to let Harri attempt magic on him, but she wasn't telling him what kind of magic.

"It shouldn't." she muttered as she cast a critical eye over both Naruto and the pseudo wand she had picked up somewhere. In all honesty Harri had forgotten where she had even picked up the stick. It was just a random one and a terrible conduit. Her nose wrinkled as she wished for either of her wands back in England. Death had tried to bring them to her in one of her earliest places she had landed, but something with the lamp interfered with her ability to use the wands. As soon as Harri had tried to cast a spell, the wand had disappeared. Eventually it hadn't even been worth trying. Didn't mean she still didn't miss having a proper conduit for her magic.

Grimly, she pointed the stick at Naruto, seeing the kid flinch automatically. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Harri incanted, "Imperio."

The yellow-green traveled across the clearing and Naruto tensed up at the light circling his head. But just like with Zabuza, the spell simply disappeared into nothingness. Frown evident on Harri's face, she repeated the spell, just as she had done with Zabuza. Again it simply disappeared into nothing, not even affecting Naruto in the slightest.

"But that doesn't make any sense. Even muggles are affected. So why doesn't it work on you, that makes no sense." Harri murmured, tilting her head as she thought.

"What are you trying to do?' Naruto ventured to ask.

Instead of answering, Harri tried Legilimens. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. This didn't make any sense. Legilimency always worked, no one could naturally block out a Legilimency attack.

Grumbling to herself, Harri started pacing, flipping the stick in her hand over and over. Naruto just stood there and watched her as she muttered and paced. He may not have understood what was going on, but he knew it was something big. Big to her at least.

"Harri, what's going on?" he finally asked.

"My magic isn't working." She muttered distractedly, as a thought occurred to her, she whipped around and sent a low-powered reducto towards a nearby tree. The blue light thankfully did cause a hole in the trunk, and Harri let out a breath of relief. At least it wasn't all of her magic that wasn't working.

"That did." Naruto pointed out unhelpfully, "But you meant that spell that you did earlier. The one you attempted on me."

"It just doesn't make sense!" Harri burst out, throwing her hands in the air to help portray her frustration, "My magic worked fine with Tohru! With Cassie's tumor! With finding Luke! With Kendra and Seth and curing Warren! But when it's a life or death situation, right in front of me no less, the Imperius Curse fails me! It has never done that! It's why Hermione, Ron, and I were able to even get into Gringott's!"

"Harri. What failed?" Naruto asked calmly as Harri ranted. His calm tone helped Harri to take a deep breath and to let it out raggedly.

With a final groan of frustration, Harri collapsed on the ground, looking towards the sky in aggravation. She patted the ground next to her, and after only a moment's hesitation, Naruto came next to her and laid down as well, looking towards the sky with apprehension.

There was a moment of silence as Harri gathered her thoughts.

"During the fight, why did you get upset with me?" she finally asked.

Another silence, but Naruto finally answered, "You were asking me to give up. And you were the one who had been pushing for so long for me not to fail, but when a battle was actually happening, you were the one asking me to give up. To run away. How could you?"

Well then. That was a pretty good reason.

"With magic, there is a wide variety of the spells that are available. Many things that can be solved the mundane way are used with magic to speed the process up. Most people categorize magic in two areas: light or dark. I believe that magic is more gray than anything else, it just depends on how you use it. In England, there are three Unforgivables, spells that will land you in the wizarding prison in a flash. No excuses."

When Harri hesitated in continuing, Naruto quietly asked, "One of the spells you are trying to use is one of those isn't it?"

"Yup. The war changed all of us. And the Imperius Curse was highly effective in staying alive. It's meant to give absolute control to the caster. I could tell someone under Imperio to murder their child and then commit suicide and they would do it all while experiencing pure bliss." Harry said it matter-of-factly, leaving Naruto reeling slightly over the fact that she just casually threw that spell around.

"And it didn't work on me or Zabuza." Naruto slowly said, picking at some grass next to him.

"Yup. It's frustrating is all. It just doesn't make any sense." Harri said. There was silence again, and then Harri turned over onto her side, her arm propping up her head, "In the war, I operated under hit 'em fast, give 'em hell, and get out of there as fast as possible. And if the person we were fighting clearly outmatched us, then we ran like Morgana herself was chasing us. It didn't matter if we lost one battle so long as we won the war. And we did, that's the thing. We won against the biggest tyrant England had ever had to deal with by themselves. None of the other countries would help, we made the issue, and we fixed it. We lost people while doing it, but we won. To me, it made no sense to stay and attempt a fight against someone who clearly outmatched us. I didn't want to see kids killed because they were too stubborn to leave. Not again." She finished softly, trying to convey just through her words her reasoning, why it mattered so much to her.

Naruto looked over at her before looking up at the sky again, "That sort of makes sense. I guess. But wasn't it their choice?"

Harri fell back onto her back again as she let out a breath of displeasure, "At the final battle, only those of age could join the fight. Colin Creevey stayed behind protecting the escape route for those who needed to leave for whatever reason. He and Cho Chang ended up dying instead. Colin had such a bright future ahead of him, was going to revolutionize the Wizarding World, I really believe that. But instead of listening, he stayed and ended up dead."

"But it was his choice. He died defending the only escape route. How can he be any less worthy of your respect? He probably saved the lives of a lot of people right? He and the other person you mentioned. They saved people. And it was their choice to die. It was their choice to help others live their lives in exchange for their own. There isn't anything higher than that I think." Naruto pointed out.

There was silence in the clearing and then Harri let out a small laugh, "Kid, you have a way with words. I've been telling myself that for however long I've been stuck to that lamp, and with a few words you make the wounds all better. Maybe you should classify that as a dangerous jutsu."

And just like that, the mood was lifted and Naruto snorted in response to her words, "I'm just saying common sense." He sat up and dumped the compilation of grass he had managed to gather onto Harri.

Harri yelped as the grass covered her and she shot up, brushing the grass off of her as she glared jokingly over at the laughing form of Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I'll just dump you in river water when payback time comes." Harri grumbled good-naturedly as a slight smile appeared on her face, "Now since we've established that some magic works and some doesn't, with no idea why, why don't you go check on your sensei? I'm sure that by now he should be awake. If chakra exhaustion is similar to magical exhaustion, after about a day's rest should be enough."

Naruto's laughter died down as he regarded Harri curiously, "Really? Kakashi-sensei might be awake by now?"

Harri shrugged in response, "Honestly I have no idea. I'm not an expert in chakra. But I'm decent at magic, especially when it comes to draining too much too fast. So I figure that Kakashi should be awake soon."

Naruto jumped up into the air, pumping a fist as he did so, "Awesome! I'm going to go check right now! Do you want to come or are you going to stay out here?"

Harri thought for a moment, she could Summon Death, see if he had any ideas as to why her spells weren't working like normal. But she hated to bother him too much, especially since the crossing into this world seemed to be more difficult than other worlds. Ultimately Harri discarded that option, at least for now. She could Summon Death some other time.

"I'll come. Not much to do out here anyways." Harri said, hauling herself up as she brushed the last of the grass off. As Naruto turned away to happily lead the way back to Tazuna's house, Harri eyed Naruto's bright blond hair. Sometimes he could be a bit obtuse about things, and Harri was pretty certain that he wouldn't notice grass in his hair. But ultimately she just dropped the grass back on the ground.

Tsunami must have been one of the most level-headed people Harri had ever met. She was clearly a civilian, yet shinobi were just people to her. And even though she had berated her father over his less than legal way of how he manage to get the shinobi to their house, she welcomed them all in with open arms. It was refreshing for the genin to be treated like normal kids instead of trained killers.

Now if Inari could be dealt with, then Harri would enjoy the stay a lot more.

The kid drove her nuts. The genin hadn't really seen it yet, being more worried over the unconscious Kakashi, but Harri saw the looks that were shot at them and just barely resisted the urge to strangle the little brat.

Unfortunately that would be frowned upon, so Harri didn't.

Even though she really wanted to.

She passed by the aforementioned little brat with only a tongue sticking out at him, and then continued on upstairs to where Kakashi was resting. The three genin had decided to have a meeting of sorts about what to do, and Harri had taken the opportunity of distraction caused by the three to sneak some food from the meal Tsunami had made. The longer she was out of the lamp, the more mortal things became necessary and Harri had to remind herself to eat more often.

It was odd to her to actually be out long enough to really start feeling hunger again, but Harri took it as a good sign.

As she finished off the bit she had stolen from Tsunami, Harri came to a stop outside the room where Kakashi had been placed while he was unconscious, listening at the door.

There were some faint voices from inside the room, and Harri's hand hesitated briefly over the surface before she laid it flat on the doorway, "Audire." She whispered under her breath, feeling a slight warming under her hand before the voices inside the room became clearer and more distinguishable.

"How are you feeling now sensei? And don't pretend that you're completely fine like you did with Tsunami." Sakura said, her voice faintly bordering on nagging and worry.

Kakashi made a small noise, but Naruto drowned out any response he might have had, "Yeah sensei, what's going on?"

"Let him speak Naruto." Sasuke's irritated voice said next, also drowning out Kakashi's response. His comment started a small round of bickering, but Kakashi's voice quickly stopped them from escalating from just words to fists.

"Enough you two. Sakura, it really will be about a week before I'm able to move normally. In the meantime, what have you been doing while I've been out?"

"Not much. We didn't know what to do. It's only been two days since you've collapsed." Sakura said in a calm voice, a bit strange for her, but Kakashi had just woken up after being unconscious. That was a pretty good reason for anyone to be more calm than normal.

There was a sigh from Kakashi, "Alright, before we continue on, I have to ask what happened with Zabuza's body. Did the Hunter-nin take care of Zabuza's body there?"

"What do you mean? You were there sensei, the hunter killed Zabuza and then left." Sakura said, wood floor creaking as she probably shifted.

Kakashi let out a small groan, more like an exhalation that just read of unwanted realization before he spoke, "Zabuza's body wasn't worked on right there? I thought it had been. That's just great."

Instantly a cold chill made its way up Harri's spine, the only sign beyond a slight clenching of her hand on the door that something went wrong with the process. Something that was about to screw them over in some way.

"What's wrong sensei? Is there something wrong with the hunter-nin?" Sakura asked, probably the only one of the genin who paid enough attention at the Academy to have any knowledge about the Hunter organization.

"Think, Hunter-nin's are meant to work on the body right there, to prevent anyone from potentially learning village secrets. Medicines, techniques, all are important things that no village wants anyone else to learn. These trade secrets are oftentimes what keep a village separate from each other and able to keep their strength. While his weapons aren't uncommon for assassinations, they are used. However at the same time, senbon are rarely used on outdoor assassinations. Senbon are used when the assassination is meant to be as unnoticed as possible. Most commonly they are used with medicine." Kakashi explained to the patiently listening students.

"But Zabuza's body wasn't worked on right there, the Hunter took the body with him. Does that mean that the Hunter was fake and not a real one? He was just working with Zabuza?" Naruto asked slowly before gaining a bit of a hysterical note to his voice by the end. It wasn't that surprising after all though-it was only thanks to Kakashi that they even survived, and he had ended up unconscious.

Harri stood rigid at the thought, her eyes closing as she clenched her teeth hard. If she wasn't tethered to the lamp and unable to carry it herself, Harri probably would have taken the lamp and gone after Zabuza herself.

"Naruto, do you remember what I said earlier? I will never allow any of the people on my team to die. Not under my supervision." Kakashi's voice was uncharacteristically sharp as he comforted Naruto in his odd way. Harri was sure that she was the only one who could clearly hear the 'not again' that remained unspoken.

Perhaps the kids sensed it though, because there were no further discussions down that route. Instead, Sakura spoke up and asked, "Then what will we do sensei?"

"I don't suppose you guys would be up for just leaving? After all, this is far outside mission parameters. It would be perfectly acceptable for us to head back to Konoha once I'm able to walk normally." Kakashi asked, although his voice remained mild and it didn't really sound as though he would want to take that option.

"What? Sensei, we can't just leave them here!" Naruto shouted, and Harri heard a thump inside the room. She could just picture Naruto standing tall glaring at his sensei with a determined look in his eye, "We said we would help Tazuna! We can't just go back on our word to them!"

While Sakura and Sasuke made no noise to agree with him, they didn't make any counterarguments either, and Hari took it as a good sign and that the two were on the same page as Naruto. The group did have potential.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to get ready for Zabuza's imminent return." There was the slightly irritating cheerfulness to Kakashi's voice, so Harri figured he was doing his odd little eye-smile thing. At least the small portion of Kakashi's voice was expressive when he choose to. Otherwise it would be a lot harder to tell what Kakashi was thinking.

"Since I've only been out two days, rather than the three I expected, we have a little bit extra time. Just a day mind you, but we can still make the most out of this. Since we have only been a team for a little while, you aren't as far into your training as I would like, especially for something like this." There was a grunt and then two kids' panicky responses and Harri grinned at the sound effects. Trust Kakashi to haul himself up like he hadn't just been out for two days and for two of his team to completely freak out.

"Just make sure I don't fall on my face." Kakashi admonished gently, his voice keeping that weird nonchalant vibe.

"Okay sensei!" Sakura and Naruto said excitedly, Sasuke just making a low sound, more of an exhalation of breath than anything really.

Harri cut off her magic, ending the spell and stepped away from the door. She really didn't want to get hit with the door again. It had happened several times before and Harri was in no mood to get a potential broken nose.

The door swung open and Naruto came out first, bouncing around more than usual, probably due to the promise of more training. Sakura came next, looking back worryingly at Kakashi, who came out next. While he wasn't the picture of perfect health, he mostly walked normally, albeit with support from the wall. A crutch would probably be the best thing to help Kakashi get his strength back. Sasuke came out last, looking decidedly less angst-y, again, probably with the promise of more training.

"Naruto, go find me something that I can use as a crutch. It will help me get places faster." Kakashi ordered his blond student. Said blond rushed off down the stairs to find one, sparing Harri a smile when he caught sight of her just past the open door.

Sakura rushed back to Kakashi, "Why do you need a crutch? Should you still be laying down sensei? Are you sure that you're okay?"

Kakashi looked down at the worried pinkette with amusement, "I promise Sakura, I'm fine. My balance is a bit off, but a crutch will help stabilize me. I'm fine, don't worry."

Almost reluctantly, Sakura started off again, looking back at Kakashi every few steps, as though he might suddenly fall on his face without warning. Perhaps that was the reason that Sasuke was still behind Kakashi; there was a heart in that angst-y, revenge-filled soul of his. While he didn't say anything, he watched his sensei like a hawk, his eyes constantly making sure that Kakashi wasn't about to fall on his face.

Outside, the weather was still pleasant, something Harri took as a good sign. Hopefully whatever Kakashi had planned for the group would be something helpful against the impending fight against Zabuza and his masked cohort.

He led them, on a crutch Tsunami found in a random closet, to a clearing out of sight of the house, hopefully safe from anybody who could witness the teaching session. Harri privately had the idea that shinobi were like the wizarding world, except a lot more accepted. But that didn't mean that everyone enjoyed it.

Course, Harri could just be over thinking it and Kakashi more just wanted away from the overly nice Tsunami, the still drunk Tazuna, and the supremely irritating brat-of-a-kid Inari.

Merlin only knew how much Harri wanted to avoid them. Friendly people wasn't exactly something she had gotten used to, especially with the years spent in the lamp. Granted, Tsunami couldn't see her, or interact with her personally, but she could feel the friendliness oozing off the woman.

Regardless of the reasoning, Harri still followed the small group as they circled around Kakashi, who was looking at them with a distinctly unsettling expression. Even with only one eye showing.

"So what are we doing Sensei? What cool jutsu are you going to teach us?" Naruto asked eagerly, slightly bouncing up and down as his mind raced. Harri could just imagine what he thought was cool- no doubt something that was completely impractical for him to learn at his age and where he was at his current level of training.

Even though Harri was expecting Kakashi to introduce something small and casual that the kids could work on, something easily mastered for the inevitable battle against Zabuza but still something that could keep them alive, keep them ahead just the slightest bit to stay alive, she was not expecting Kakashi's response.

"We're going to climb trees?" Sakura was the only one willing to express what they were all thinking. Naruto had stopped bouncing and was looking distinctly put out and Sasuke's stink-eye had returned with a vengeance. Even Sakura was looking at Kakashi with a less than pleasant face.

Kakashi put up his hands in a small sign of surrender, giving a little chuckle, the sound instantly putting everyone on edge. He had something planned. Something they were not going to enjoy.

"Yes, climb trees. But you're going to do it without using your hands." As he spoke, he walked over to a tree near him, and then started climbing up it.

As though it was solid ground.

Well.

That wasn't something that Harri had expected Kakashi to teach the three kids.

"This requires chakra control. Very specific chakra control. It's something that is usually put off a bit longer in order to get all three students around the same level in skill. However, most genin teams also don't take C-ranked missions this early. We're probably one of the earliest teams to take on a C-ranked mission." Kakashi paused as he reached a branch a decent distant of the ground, going out onto the limb and hanging there, still managing to look casual as he hung upside down looking at his students.

"There are different areas of chakra, something that we will go over in depth another day. But for now it will probably suffice to say that up until now you've just overloaded all areas with chakra, unconsciously hoping something will come out in the right areas. It works, but now you have to move beyond that. With having fine chakra control, you will be able to regulate the chakra you put out. It will help you to not get exhausted as fast." Kakashi continued explaining, not changing his tone at all. He then took out three kunai and threw them down at his student's feet.

"You'll be using those kunai. After focusing the chakra to your feet, start up the tree. Once you reach your limit, mark it with a kunai. The goal is that you get higher and higher consistently." Kakashi explained as he started back down the tree after throwing down three kunai to his students.

"I wish you luck in all your endeavors Naruto. You're going to need it." Harri muttered to Naruto, who looked flabbergasted at his sensei's actions.

"That's really cool! I can't wait sensei!" Naruto yelled in excitement. At least one of then was excited at the prospect of using this chakra that way. Sasuke and Sakura seemed more reserved about it. Perhaps they were more used to seeing stuff like that. Although it now made more sense as to how their pursuers from Naruto's pranking days were able to seemingly appear out of nowhere. Naruto was wickedly fast it seemed like sometimes, they needed all the help they could muster for themselves. But then again it also brought up the question as to how no one besides Iruka was able to catch Naruto. A prankster thing then?

Harri was brought out of her thoughts by a crash and looking at the source of the crash, was torn between laughing or shaking her head in exasperation. Naruto certainly tested her patience if nothing else. He looked comical in his position, slightly twitching.

In the end she did a bit of both, a snort escaping her as she shook her head. Honestly it was a bit of a miracle that Naruto hadn't gotten any brain damage yet. At least no one else had as much enthusiasm as the blond.

Harri shivered suddenly as a sense of unease filled her soul. That was never a good sign. She really wanted to do a cleansing ritual all of a sudden. That was really not good.

There was a giggle, breaking Harri from her train of thought and feelings of dread. Surprised, she looked for the source of the giggle, finding Sakura sitting on one of the topmost branches feet swinging back and forth as she stared down at the rest of them.

"Huh. Would you look at that." Harri muttered mostly to herself as she stared at the pinkette. It was the first anyone had ever seen Sakura excel at anything relating to becoming a shinobi. A strange thrill went through Harri as she watched the 12 year old swing her feet back and forth child-like as she grinned down at the two boys.

"Well, it looks like the only female of the group has the best chakra control." Kakashi said unnecessarily as he stared with faint surprise at his female student. It seemed that Harri wasn't the only one who could see the potential that Sakura showed all of a sudden. It was hidden yes, buried underneath all the gunk of the personality she showed. But there was a possibility.

"Well done Sakura." Kakashi praised the girl.

A very slim one, but a possibility nonetheless.

"What? No fair! Sakura!" Naruto yelled when he realized that she had already reached the top of her chosen tree. Almost immediately, Naruto tried running up the tree, taking about seven steps before crashing to the ground again.

Harri's hand came up and rubbed the side of her face as she tried her hardest to not react to Naruto's stubbornness and the subsequent consequences that came from his stubbornness.

"Alright Sakura, since you managed to get that down easily, your next step is to run up and down the tree without stopping until you feel like you're going to collapse. This will allow you to push yourself to the limits and discover what they are." Kakashi instructed the pinkette.

"Alright sensei." Sakura agreed with only a slight amount of resentment in her tone. She obviously wasn't happy about the order, but she wasn't someone to ignore a direct order. No matter how much she wanted to look perfect for Sasuke.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, the animosity between them practically creating a literal spark. Without a word to each other, or to anyone else, they took off towards the tree again.

And again. And again.

This wasn't smart in any way. Just stupidity and an overload of testosterone.

Great. They weren't going to learn anything. Well, that wasn't true. They would learn it, and they might benefit from the challenge of each other, many people were like that, but Harri could almost see the animosity and how much it took a toll on the boys. In their individual way of course.

For a long time it was just the steady sound of thuds to the background noise of Sakura's steady feet, and Harri allowed herself a fleeting moment to think this might actually work.

Later, Harri would reflect on how she really needed to stop making assurances to herself, because as soon as she did, something would happen to come back and bite in her the butt.

This coming in the form of Sakura's chakra apparently running out. While the pinkette was in the middle of going up and down the tree, facing towards the sky.

Kakashi was too far away in his current state to do anything, and both of the boys were in the middle of falling themselves.

Sakura was falling, the other's turning as her panicked scream ripped through the air, but Harri whipped out her faux-wand and yelled, "Aresto Momentum."

Sakura's scream slowly petered out to strangled gasps as she felt herself slow down for no reason before hitting the ground hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs.

"Sakura? Are you alright?" there was a small amount of worry in Kakashi's voice as he leaped to the ground, and while the kids may have only seen the worry, Harri could see the absolute panic that lined his entire body. He really did care about his students.

Sakura stayed quiet, staring with wide eyes beyond Kakashi's shoulder as Sasuke and Naruto came over. Naruto ran to her side, worry etched over his face. And while Sasuke said nothing and calmly walked over, staying a good amount of distance away, there was some concern on his face.

"Sakura? Sakura are you alright?" Naruto asked, hovering over Kakashi and Sakura, crowding them in his worry.

"What. Is. That?" Sakura asked haltingly, and Harri realized with a start that Sakura wasn't staring over Kakashi's shoulder at nothing.

But that she was staring more to the side where Harri stood.

As in, the pinkette was looking at Harri and seeing her.

Bugger.

A/N:: Well. This is awkward.

*waves awkwardly at everyone*

Hi?

I really did not mean for this to take this long. Nor for this to turn out into a bleeping filler chapter (I hate them slightly). I had a very clear ending for this chapter and it was going to be awesome I though. I even had a pretty cool title for it. But it wasn't going to happen. And realistically, if I had waited for that ending, it would have been even longer for this chapter to come out.

I try not to come up with excuses. But writers block? And going back home from college? Regardless, I'm really sorry this is so freaking late. And it's kind of pathetic.

But it's progress. And some progress is better than none.

And this chapter is done! Finally!

But I think I'm coming to really hate the Wave Arc. It was meant to reach the battle in this chapter and next one would be the concluding and then we could move on. But it's turning out longer than I thought it would be. Sorry!

Especially since the Wave Arc seems to be a common dying place, blegh…..

But hey, I hit more than a thousand followers following the last chapter, so that was something really exciting not gonna lie. No prizes were given, but hey, that was probably a good thing!

Thank you to all my lovely reviewers! You guys are awesome! And thanks to everyone who followed/favourited this story, it makes me feel a lot better!