Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 13: Full Circle

Saturday, September 01, 2001, Sunrise
Mt. Asahi, Hokkaido, Japan &
Yama no Kuni, Elemental Nations

Harry stood in front of the portal holding the reins of the newly named Felix Felicis (or Felix for short); one of the two Andalusian geldings (the other gelding had been named Fidelis). He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to feel now that it was time for the five of them (six if he counted Minato's spirit) to leave behind the world he'd grown up in. The one thing he knew for certain was that he felt a whole new level of respect for Naruto and the courage it must have taken for his little cousin to make this journey alone when he was only eight years old.

"What are you waiting for, niisan?" Naruto inquired in Japanese from his perch on the driver's seat of the vardo beside Dudley.

"Courage to face whatever we will find on the other side," Harry replied in kind as he tightened his hold on Felix's reins and hesitantly placed his right hand flat against the hand-shaped indent near the center of the seal that had been carved into the massive stone that held the portal and began channeling his chakra into the seal to activate the array.

Eight pairs of eyes watched the lines of Harry's chakra race through the seals carved into the stone; the hard lines of the seal array glowing blue as he continued to pour chakra into the stone until the entire design was glowing brightly. The moment he dropped his hand, the wall shimmered in the light of the seals for several seconds before the light seemed to melt into the very stone to form a doorway of what looked like water. Locking away his doubts and fears, Harry lifted his chin a notch higher and squared his shoulders before he entered the open portal; Felix dutifully following in his wake when the horse's reins drew taut.

The wizard exited through the other side of the portal mere seconds later to find himself standing on an older mountain range that had been worn smooth by countless centuries of harsh winds. By the time Felix's tail had passed through the portal, Harry had created two dozen Kage Bunshin without breaking his stride and set them to scouting the immediate vicinity. A short search turned up a small scrub brush a dozen meters from the portal door and Harry quickly wrapped Felix's reins around the base of the bush before he used his wand to create a clear path for the wagons as the lead team of Shires pulling the vardo crested the portal.

Once he was certain he had created a large enough area to hold all four wagons and the extra horses, Harry tucked away his wand and climbed up inside of the vardo to inspect their traveling supplies and the enchantments on the wagon (to confirm that both had passed through the portal unharmed and unchanged; a process that was repeated with all three of the remaining wagons and their cargo. His next task was to ask one of his elves to attempt to use magic to transport back to Japan; a feat that was easily accomplished due to the fact that the complex barriers that separated the Elemental Countries from the Outer Countries had no way to block magical travel.

Harry, on the other hand, could not use his magic to travel between the two dimensions due to his chakra network; the elves were creatures of pure magic (much like phoenixes) and therefore did not have chakra networks because magic was their life force. Still, knowing that the elves could freely travel back and forth would make things much easier for the now transplanted family of five (Naruto had come to see the Outer Countries as home since it was out there that he had found his family); they just wouldn't be able to transport any living creatures bar those that were born of pure magic.

The last thing Harry did before he gave the order to move out, was use a series of spells to restore the seal on the portal and ward the portal from both the weather and intentional harm. After that, he placed several proximity wards that would alert him the moment someone approached the portal, when the portal was activated, and in the event that someone attempted to tamper with either the portal or his wards. He then collected Felix's reins, mounted the pale gray gelding (his coat appearing near white), and rode to the front of their small caravan in order to lead the way off of the mountain.

It would take group five days of hard travel to bring the wagons down out of the mountains. It would have taken far longer if Harry had not used his magic to clear the way along with the help of his and Naruto's clones. They were also lucky enough not to run into the bandits that had chased Naruto three years earlier. The group would pass into Kaze no Kuni within twenty minutes of leaving the mountains and Harry halted the caravan the moment the solid ground beneath the horses' hooves turned into sands.

Harry and Dudley would then spend an hour fitting the hooves of the horses with special runic boots that would temporarily transform the sand beneath their feet into a solid (and level) surface in a three foot radius from the point of contact. Harry had created the boots with the help of his Rune Instructor in order to provide the horses with a solid path across the desert to conserve energy, decrease travel time, and reduce the risk of the horses injuring themselves if they were to loose their footing on the shifting sands. Strips of steel lined with the same runes were then applied to all sixteen wheels of the four wagons to prevent them from sinking down into the sand or tipping over.

The boots and wheel covers would also work on snow, slush, mud, and gravel; the only time they wouldn't work on is a body of water that was more than two inches deep because the currents of the water and the surface tension were both always shifting.

Crossing the vast desert would take ten days (five days less than it had taken Naruto alone on foot) even if they could have crossed the desert in six if they'd traveled faster and farther each day. The reason for that was because Harry refused to push the horses in the intense summer heat; in fact, the group actually camped beneath a magical awning in the shade during the hottest hours of the day each day and frequently stopped during their hours of travel in order to offer each of the horses a drink of water to prevent them from becoming dehydrated. They could have traveled during the night (as Naruto had when he first crossed the desert) but that would have been just as dangerous due to the predators that stalked the desert at night and the chance that one of the horses would step in an unseen hole in the dark (the rune boots did not work on empty air for the same reasons they didn't work on deep or moving water).

When they reached the forests of Tani no Kuni, the five of them camped beneath the trees for two nights in order to allow the horses to rest after the grueling journey across the desert. During those two days, Harry used his Firebolt to scout the surrounding area from the sky with Minato's spirit hovering at his side pointing out important landmarks that would help prevent them from getting lost. He was also roped into taking both Naruto and Teddy for a couple of rides the moment they saw him pull out the broom; both boys loved to fly nearly as much as Harry did.

They packed up their temporary camp on the morning of the seventeenth and continued on their way; crossing into Hi no Kuni around mid-morning on the eighteenth. Their journey was quickly drawing to a close as they were now within six days travel of Konoha (so long as they didn't run into any trouble). Under Minato's direction, the small caravan soon turned onto one of three roads that ran between Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni and the road that marked the main trading route between the two great nations.

From the moment they set foot upon the road, Harry felt exposed and vulnerable and the tenseness he radiated was transferred to whichever mount he was riding at the time. A day and a half after the group turned onto the road, the brewing storm that had Harry feeling on edge finally broke (figuratively speaking). At the time, Harry was riding Fidelis (the only black Andalusian); the normally placid gelding mincing his steps and dancing nervously beneath Harry as the pair slipped through the molted shadows that painted the ground through the boughs of the towering trees that loomed over the road.

The only warning Harry had before they were attacked by a group of about twenty-five bandits was a startled grunt from the horse between his legs just seconds before their caravan was swarmed from both sides. Harry experienced a brief flashback to the year he'd spent on the run hunting horcruxes with Ron and Hermione and the final battle before he refocused on his current surroundings and recognized the fact that they were under attack. The knowledge that the bandits were attacking his little cousin and godson snapped something inside of him; shattering the moral compass that had prevented him from taking the lives of Death Eaters during the wizarding war.

Giving voice to a wordless battle cry of fury, Harry spun Fidelis on his heels and charged the bandits as a dozen Kage Bunshin (all twelve unexpectedly mounted on clones of the dark gelding – something that he had actually never done before) sprang into being around him in a cloud of smoke and joined the fray.

"Naruto, have your clones protect the horses! Arata, keep the wagons moving and get everyone out of here!" Harry ordered in English (due to his memories of the past being stirred) as he pounded by the pair of frozen blondes perched on the driver's seat of the vardo where Naruto had been chatting away to Dudley just before the attack.

The wizard didn't wait to see if his cousins followed through on the orders; his attention quickly turning to the enemies in front of him as he drew the broadsword that had been sheathed in a saddle mounted scabbard. Leaning low over Fidelis's neck, Harry barged right into a trio of bandits and knocked them off balance; the deadly steel in his right hand snaking out of its own accord to pierce a heart, cut off an arm, and open a gaping wound across a chest. Smoothly sitting up, Harry spun his mount back around to charge after the next group; slashing at their exposed backs as they attempted to chase after the wagons that were rapidly disappearing down the road.

All around him, his clones mimicked him as they cut down their attackers with each swing of their blades; not a single one of them showing any mercy to the bandits. One scruffy bandit managed to catch a glancing blow to Fidelis right flank with his club when Harry spun the gelding around in another tight circle to run down his next target and the gelding bellowed in pain as he reared high and kicked his attacker in the head. Harry barely managed to keep his seat as the horse beneath him rose up vertically and lashed out at the man who'd injured him with his front hooves before he dropped roughly back onto all four feet and he tossed his head as he danced in agitation and pain.

Heart pounding, it took Harry three minutes to regain control of Fidelis before he could rejoin the fight. Another precious minute was then spent analyzing the battlefield before he pointed his horse in the direction that the wagons had been traveling and sent him flying down the road in order to catch up with the others. He would take note of at least six dead or unconscious bandits as he hurried to catch up with the others; evidence that Naruto had broken out of his stupor. Three more bandits would fall to his blade before he caught up to the caravan and the last two bandits still keeping up with the wagons on foot.

Switching his sword for his wand (so as not to accidentally injure one of the horses secured to the back of the end wagon by lead lines), Harry dropped both thugs with well timed stunners as he pulled even with them. Fidelis veered away from the men as they fell and Harry pulled the gelding to a stop as he spun around to study their back trail to make certain none of their attackers had been able to slip away from his clones. Satisfied that the bandits had been dealt with, Harry created another clone and sent it to round up those clones that had survived the battle.

He then dismounted and inspected Fidelis's injured flank (which had thankfully only been bruised according to his diagnostic scan); completely ignoring the two stunned bandits now that they posed no threat to his family. Not wishing to further injure the horse, Harry began leading Fidelis along the road on foot once he'd finished checking the injury.

Half an hour later, the last four of his clones still in existence caught up to him and he sent a pair of them on ahead to check in with the others (to make certain they were alright and let them know he was fine but on foot because Fidelis had been lightly injured). The final two clones were then sent into the woods on either side of the road to search for more potential ambushers in order to avoid being caught off guard a second time. As he walked, the twenty-one year old was still in battle mode with adrenaline pounding through his veins with each beat of his heart but the uneasiness he'd been feeling since stepping onto the road was gone.

Harry wouldn't catch up to the others until well after sunset when he stumbled into camp still leading Fidelis by the reins (one of the clones he'd sent to keep an eye on the others had dispelled the moment camp had been made so as to let him know where to find the others). He'd barely announced his presence when he felt a human bludger with blond hair plow into him as one of his elves tugged the reins free from his hand (the little beings refused to allow any of the humans to care for the horses at the end of each day since there were few other jobs for them to do besides cooking while the group traveled).

"I was so scared that I'd never see you again!"

"I'm a little harder to kill then that, Naruto," Harry gently assured the blond as he ran his fingers through the boy's hair and held him close; both man and teen falling back into Japanese now that the danger was over.

"Were you injured during the fight, Takeshi?" Eloise inquired as she approached the pair holding a squirming Teddy.

"Nothing more than a couple of scraps and bruises," Harry replied as he reached out to collect his godson. "I am tired though; you guys went further than I thought you had at first and I've not walked so far on my own two feet in weeks. I think I'll start walking at least half of the day from here on out just to build up my endurance since I won't always have one of the horses with me when I leave the village."

"And how badly was Fidelis injured? I know your clone said it was just a bruise but…"

"One of the bandits hit him with a glancing blow of his club; it's not too deep of a bruise but it is large enough that I didn't think it a good idea for me to ride him once the fight was over. If the elves haven't done so already, he'll need some of the animal friendly bruise balm applied to his right flank to ease the pain and stop his muscles from knotting up after walking on it for hours."

"I'll make certain he's taken care of while you and the boys go eat; they stubbornly refused to eat until you caught up with us."

"Thanks, Eri," Harry replied as he gave the shorter witch a crooked grin before allowing Naruto to drag him towards the vardo where their supper was waiting for them.

Harry slept like a rock that night, his dreams blessedly blank due to how tired he'd been from the short fight and the long walk afterwards (despite the fact that he'd fully expected to have nightmares because of the bandits that he had not hesitated to kill). He was up early the next morning and spent an hour checking the horses before deciding that it would be best to sit tight for another day in order to give Fidelis's bruised flank more time to heal before they pushed on towards Konoha. The others readily agreed with him as it gave them a chance to rest as well (because traveling for days on end was tiring even if they were practically traveling in luxury).

Naruto challenged Harry to a friendly spar the moment he knew they were not going anywhere for the day and Harry agreed (if only because it had been days since they'd last had a chance to train). Minato's shade played referee for them as they engaged in a taijutsu only spar. The match would last a good hour and ended only when Naruto flopped onto the ground in utter exhaustion; the soon-to-be eleven year old had tired himself out bouncing all over the place in his efforts to land a hit on Harry while Harry used the least amount of movement to dodge or block the younger boy's punches and kicks.

Dudley asked for a spar next so that he too could get in some practice. The two cousins smirked at one another while they waited for Minato to start their match; both twenty-one year olds looking forward to trading blows. During their childhood, Harry would have done anything to avoid getting into a fight with his bigger and heavier cousin while Dudley would have done anything to beat the tar out of his smaller and faster cousin. And while Dudley might have stopped bullying him after the dementor attack around his fifteenth birthday, it wasn't until they'd moved to Japan that they both learned to enjoy pitting their skills against one another to see whose fighting style was superior.

They were actually fairly evenly matched when it came to skill; though Dudley was still stronger with a longer reach and Harry was still faster and far more flexible. Their running tally of wins between the two of them was fairly close as well; Dudley currently leading their friendly competition by three wins. Harry would drop the slightly older man's lead by one at the end of their match because Dudley had also slacked off on his training during the journey; he'd been far too busy driving the vardo (a surprisingly tiring job despite the fact that he sat on the top of a wagon all day long).

After the two matches, Harry would spend the rest of the morning working with Teddy on his lessons (the teacher that ran the daycare had provided Harry with lesson plans and plenty of workbooks so Teddy's education wasn't interrupted – though Eloise usually gave Teddy his lessons while they traveled). At the same time, several of Harry's clones were out scouting the surrounding forest; each clone paired up with one of Naruto's clones as the two of them taught themselves the art of tracking and worked on their stealth. The real Naruto, on the other hand, was diligently working on his chakra control; the kid currently looking like a walking bush beneath the thousands of leaves he'd stuck to his body and clothes by their stems alone as he walked up and down the tallest tree in their camp.

Chakra control exercises were the only real training that both Harry and Naruto never skipped out on no matter what; since missing even one day would affect their control. While they were on the move, that usually involved an advanced form of the leaf concentration exercise; meaning that they made various objects stick to various locations of their bodies for hours at a time. The size, weight, and composition of the object (or objects) that they used in the exercise would have a rather large impact on how easy or how hard it was to maintain the hold on the object.

A lightweight object that was rather fragile (like a leaf) was actually rather difficult to hold in place because using too much chakra would destroy the leaf. At the same time, holding a pebble or a metal disk in place would be far more tiring because they had to use a larger amount of chakra to keep the heavier object from slipping. Trying to hold multiple objects that were made up of different weights and durability was even more of a challenge because it required them to maintain different threads of varying amounts of chakra at the same time.

Harry typically used a specially made set of glass disks (which was a difficult material to use for the exercise because chakra tended to slide off the smooth surface) that he held in place on his chest, back, arms, and legs with chakra. There were a total of twenty disks in the set and each disk was a different size, weight, shape, and surface texture; which meant that each disk required a different amount of chakra to hold it in place. To prevent the disks from getting lost or destroyed, Harry had also carved a series of runes onto the top of each disk; one to prevent them from shattering, one to prevent them from melting, one that would repair any damage (if it was hit during a fight), and one to summon them back to their storage pouch if they fell off.

He had five such sets of disks or a total of one hundred disks (and not a single one had the same size, weight, shape, or texture as another disk). Harry typically switched out which set he used on a daily basis (to avoid falling into a rut by using the same set of twenty all the time) and occasionally worked towards actively carrying multiple sets. He could actually hold all one hundred in place; providing he was sitting perfectly still and had no distractions (otherwise the most he could keep in place was thirty). Naruto occasionally borrowed a set of the disks but the blond actually preferred to use multiple leaves.

After lunch, Harry saddled Felix and scouted their back trail for several miles to make certain that none of the surviving bandits had attempted to chase after them in search of revenge. He then circled wide to search the forest in the event that the bandits were using the trees for cover (like they had for the ambush). Once he was satisfied that they were safe (for the time being at least), Harry returned to the camp and checked in with the others before he scouted their way forward to search for more potential trouble. He only ran into a small handful of fellow travelers; most of them heading towards the capital city of Hi no Kuni for one reason or another.

He returned to the camp in time to join the others for supper and then spent the rest of the evening playing with Teddy before he crawled back into bed. The expected nightmares made an appearance that night but a long conversation with Minato's spirit had put Harry at ease as the man assured the wizard that he'd done nothing wrong; taking an enemy's life was something that the spirit had actually been preparing both Harry and Naruto for from the moment the ghost learned that both cousins intended to become shinobi. The loss of his very rigid moral compass (which had been cracked and battered by the wizarding war) made it easier for Harry to accept the lives he'd taken in defense of his family, though that didn't mean that he'd start killing every opponent he came up against.

Camp was broken with the rising of the sun on the twenty-first after making certain that resuming their journey would not unduly stress Fidelis's bruised flank; it wouldn't thanks to the bruise balm speeding up the healing process (though Harry would not ride the dark gelding again for the duration of their journey). With only one mount available (the older mares he'd purchased trained strictly for harness work and the youngest mare and stallion still too young to ride), Harry would spend half of each day on foot for the rest of their journey (which he'd planned to do anyway). When he wasn't in the saddle, he would walk with Felix's reins in hand so that he could mount the gelding on a moment's notice if the need arose.

Another thing that changed at the same time was that Harry started wearing a number of blades on his person; something he hadn't bothered with because the broadsword had always been close at hand on the saddle scabbard. He wore a pair of wakizashi blades on his back in a cross with one hilt poised over each shoulder for easy access. A katana hung at his left hip from a low slung leather belt and a tanto was secured horizontally at the small of his back with the hilt on the right. A second tanto had also been secured to his saddle just below the broadsword where it could be easily drawn whether he was in the saddle or not.

Additionally, Harry had his holly wand strapped to his right forearm and the Elder Wand strapped to his left (both of them in custom made sheathes that made them look like daggers at a glance; an illusion that was further helped by the runes he carved on the handles of both wands to prevent muggles from seeing his wands for what they were unless they were already aware of Harry's status as a wizard). He also had a number of kunai tucked into his clothes but he'd been wearing those since before they'd stepped through the portal.

Nineteen months ago, Harry would have felt awkward with so much steel secured about his person but eighteen months of hard training had erased any discomfort he would have felt walking around while carrying so many sharp and pointy objects.

The last change in Harry's routine was the addition of twelve clones (all of them once again mounted on a cloned horse) spread out alongside of the small caravan on both sides. Each clone was henged to look like a different person (most of them based upon all seven of the male Weasleys and Harry's other male friends from England) in order to make it look like their group contained far more people than it actually did in an effort to make them less of a potential target for other bandits. Once an hour, the clones would rotate their positions and two of them would disappear into the trees on either side in order to scout for trouble before they fell back into place with the others on the next rotation.

Mid-morning on the twenty-second would see the small family encountering their first shinobi since they passed through the portal. Harry had been riding Felix about thirty feet in front the caravan as usual when four people had unexpectedly dropped down out of the trees to block his path. Felix had been spooked by their appearance practically under his feet and the gelding had reared up onto his hind legs in response. Harry quickly brought the horse back down onto all four feet by turning Felix's head to the left using the reins while his right hand automatically reached for his sword; his eyes firmly locked onto the four men that had appeared from out of nowhere.

"I apologize for startling you, sir," the oldest man in the group declared as he raised both of his hands to show that he was unarmed. "We mean you no harm; we are Konoha shinobi and I was hoping that you would be willing to answer a couple of questions for me."

"Gomen, I should not have overreacted but I'm still a little on edge right now after our caravan was attacked by bandits two days ago and I did not realize that you were shinobi," Harry replied as he quickly resheathed his sword (so as not to appear threatening) and raised his free hand to form a ninety-degree angle with his arm (the universal hand signal used to let others know you were stopping and their agreed upon signal for his cousin to halt the wagons). "What was it that you wished to know, shinobi-san?"

"You've already answered a couple of my questions," the man stated solemnly. "My team has been tasked to round up the bandits that have been plaguing travelers in the area and I had intended to ask whether or not you'd encountered them during your travels. Would you be willing to tell me what happened?"

"Give me a minute to reassure my cousin and I'll be happy to, shinobi-san," Harry answered before he turned Felix around and trotted back to the vardo in order to speak with Dudley. "Everything is fine, Arata; the shinobi are just looking for information on the bandits that ambushed us a couple of days ago."

"That's a relief, Takeshi; for a moment there I thought we were being attacked again. How do you know that they're shinobi though?"

"The one that seems to be in charge told me they were shinobi and that they were from Konoha. I didn't notice it until after he'd said something but all four of them are wearing those protector things with the swirly leaf on them; so they seem to be legitimate shinobi. I don't think they mean us any harm in any case since they could have easily attacked us without warning what with the way they dropped out of the trees without any forewarning; Felix didn't even catch scent of them before they appeared."

"Did you want me to go with you to answer their questions?"

"Nah, I'd prefer that you stayed with the wagons and kept an eye on the boys. It shouldn't take me more than ten or twenty minutes to answer their questions and see if they'd be willing to tell me how many miles it is to Konoha from here."

"Alright, if you change your mind, let me know."

Harry nodded before he wheeled Felix around and headed back towards the four shinobi (three of whom couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen years old). He pulled the gelding to a stop a good ten feet away from the group and dismounted so that he could approach them on foot.

"Thank you for your patience, shinobi-san," Harry stated once he'd reached the group of Konoha shinobi.

"It was no trouble," the man replied before he turned to address the three teens. "Tanzou, take Minoji and Shibire with you and talk to the rest of the guards and get their versions of the attack." The man then turned back to Harry and instructed, "Why don't you tell me what you remember."

"The bandits ambushed us just after lunch on the twentieth approximately forty miles back. There were roughly twenty-five of them and they attacked us from both sides of the road. I met their charge head on and held them off just long enough for my cousin to get everyone else out of there. I know I killed a number of them and injured several more of them before I sought to catch up with the others to make certain they weren't being chased. We ended up camping off the road for a full day due to my other mount being lightly injured during the fight. I scouted our back trail and the surrounding forest while we waited but I don't know what happened to the surviving bandits after the attack; I found no evidence that they were hunting us down but that hasn't stopped me from worrying."

"You fought off twenty-five bandits all alone?" the shinobi asked skeptically.

"I wasn't exactly alone and I had the height advantage due to being seated on my horse at the time," Harry replied with a self depreciating smile as he gestured in the direction of his henged clones and avoided mentioning his ability to use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu since it was frowned upon for civilians to use ninjutsu and Harry wasn't a shinobi… yet.

"How many of there are you total and was anyone injured?"

"There are five of us plus a dozen guards and no, no one was hurt aside from one of my horses."

"I see, how certain are you about the distance you've traveled since encountering the bandits?"

"Fairly certain; we've been traveling a solid twenty-five miles per day since reaching the road and we camped a good ten miles away from where we were ambushed. We had a full day of travel yesterday and we've only been on the road a couple of hours today; so if my calculations are off, it isn't by more than a mile or two."

"Might I ask where you are coming from and where you are headed?"

"Our starting point was Yama no Kuni and we're hoping to settle down in Konoha," Harry answered without any hesitation since there was no reason to hide the truth. "Speaking of Konoha; you wouldn't happen to know how far it is from here to the village; would you?"

"It's just over seventy miles to the village from here," the shinobi replied readily enough, though Harry noted that the man had tensed slightly and was now studying Harry with far more interest.

"Arigatou, shinobi-san; it is good to know that the end of our journey is close. I've grown weary of traveling and the children are starting to grow annoyed at being cooped up in the wagons for most of the day."

"You have children with you?" the shinobi asked with some surprise.

"Yes, my son and my younger cousin. Their presence is the reason why I risked my life to chase off the bandits. I know you said that you'd been tasked to deal with the bandits… but can you tell me if I can expect to face trouble in Konoha due to the fact that I killed a number of those men?"

"No, you should be fine; it is not against the law to defend yourself from bandits."

"Arigatou, I had hoped that would be the case but many authorities are less than forgiving to those who kill; regardless of the circumstances."

"I suppose that would be true in most civilian villages but Konoha is a military village and we tend to view things a bit differently than civilians," the shinobi stated as the three younger shinobi rejoined them. "If you'll excuse us now, we've got to be on our way. Your cooperation with our investigation was appreciated and I hope that you and your family will find Konoha to your liking."

Harry bid the shinobi goodbye a heartbeat later before he watched the four of them disappear into the tree tops. Shaking his head over the strangeness of traveling through the trees like Tarzan (only with less vine swinging and more chakra enhanced dashing), Harry remounted Felix and signaled to Dudley to let him know that they were free to continue on their way. Minato and the other shinobi spirits he'd called on had told him that shinobi will often travel through the trees and over the rooftops (something Naruto had confirmed) but he hadn't quite been prepared to see it with his own eyes.

Over the course of the day, Harry briefly caught sight of a number of shinobi moving through the trees now that he knew to look up; though none of them stopped to speak with him. The following day saw a marked increase in the traffic on the road (both civilian and shinobi alike) and cut their daily progress down from twenty-five miles per day to twenty miles a day; though the change of pace thankfully wouldn't cause a huge delay since they were already fairly close to their destination. The increase in traffic at least brought with it a measure of safety as bandits were less likely to attack anyone with so many shinobi passing back and forth along the stretch of road leading right up to the village.

A new kind of tension entered the family of five as they steadily drew nearer to their destination. Naruto feared what would happen to him; he'd run away from the village almost three years earlier and he knew that the Hokage would not be pleased with him because of that. There was also the fact that most of the village had hated him from the day he'd been born (because of the Kyuubi) and he didn't know if he could face their cold, hate filled eyes after experiencing true happiness with his cousins for the past two years.

The three adults in the group not only worried about Naruto (all of them well aware of how the village had treated him), they worried about their own futures. They had basically turned their backs on their former lives in order to start over again in a world that was far different than the one they had left behind. They didn't regret leaving the Outer Countries but that didn't mean they felt entirely comfortable with the world they had found themselves in. There was no turning back though, they'd come too far to turn tail and run home just because they were a little frightened of the unknown.

It was just after lunch on the twenty-fifth of September that the Namikaze caravan reached the main gates of Konoha after watching the towering walls that surrounded the village rise out of the forest over the course of the morning. A steady stream of people poured through the gate in both directions and a glimpse through the open gates revealed a bustling hive of activity (including a number of shinobi dashing across the rooftops).

Dudley pulled the vardo off to one side of the road well back from the open gates (where it was out of the way) and the horses pulling the three wagons followed suit (the horses long used to following the wagon in front of them). Harry made note of their location as he dismounted from Felix and tossed the reins to one of his clones before he joined the short line of people waiting for permission to enter the village (the wizard had been unanimously selected as their family's spokesman despite the fact that Dudley was older). In no time at all, Harry found himself standing in front of a shinobi with messy black hair tied back with a hitai-ate, black eyes, a close cut goatee, and a white bandage bisecting his face over his nose.

"Good afternoon and welcome to Konohagakure no Sato," the shinobi lazily greeted as he barely bothered to glance up at Harry; the slightly older man obviously bored. "Please state your name and business with Konoha."

"My name is Namikaze Takeshi," Harry replied; causing everyone in the immediate area to fall silent and glance sharply in his direction while the other shinobi on guard (this one with his bandana tired over he top of his head so that his dark brown hair hid his right eye and most of his face) jerked his head around so fast he fell out of his chair. "My family and I seek an audience with the Hokage in order to apply for citizenship."

"Namikaze…? Did… did you just say your name was Namikaze?" the shinobi on the ground demanded as he stared up at Harry with wide eyes.

"Hai," Harry answered as he glanced towards the shinobi. The shinobi stared at him in return for a split second longer before he scrambled to his feet and disappeared in a swirl of leaves as he Shunshined away. Harry felt a thread of unease fill him over the man's disappearance but he pushed it down as he turned back to the shinobi that had greeted him and calmly asked, "Was there anything else you needed from me, shinobi-san?"

"Pa…papers…?" the shinobi requested as he held out his hand.

Harry nodded and pulled the envelope holding everyone's identification papers and passed the envelope to the shinobi. The man opened the envelope, pulled the sheaf of papers half out, and barely glanced at the papers inside before he signaled to someone out of Harry's direct line of sight. Two masked figures wearing gray armor dropped down on either side of Harry a heartbeat later and it was all the wizard could do not to automatically attack them as they brought back memories of Death Eaters.

The only reason he wasn't attacking them was because Minato had warned him about the AnBu Guards after Harry had told him about the Death Eaters. It helped that their masks were vibrantly painted animal faces and not white or silver skulls.

"If you will come with us, Namikaze-san; we will escort you to the Hokage now," the shinobi in the dog mask on his right stated as he reached out to take the envelope of documents from the shinobi on guard.

"One moment, AnBu-san; I will need to collect the rest of my family."

Translations: Japanese to English

Hi no Kuni – Fire Country
Kaze no Kuni – Wind Country
Tani no Kuni – Valley Country (random country selected as the country in which Amegakure is located).
Yama no Kuni – Mountain Country

Translations: Latin to English

Felix Felicis – lucky, fortunate, happy
Fidelis – faithful, loyal, true.

Techniques/Skills:

Kage Bunshin – shadow clones

Notes:

Travel speeds and distances:

Civilians on foot will travel between 10 & 15 miles per day (depending on their age and health).

Shinobi will travel between 50 & 75 miles per day (depending on age, skill, and health – which is five times the distance that a civilian will travel).

Civilians on horseback will travel between 20 & 30 miles per day (depending on the horse's gate and the terrain).

Civilians/merchants with wagons will travel between 15 & 20 miles per day (depending on whether they are using oxen or horses, how many animals are hitched to each wagon, and on how much weight they are hauling).

Harry's group will travel 25 miles per day because the wagons have been magically lightened to reduce the strain on the horses. When crossing the desert, they only traveled about 15 miles per day due to the heat.

Based upon those numbers, here is a list of estimated distances between:

Konoha and Suna – 195 miles (3 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)
Konoha and Ame – 130 miles (2 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)
Konoha and the portal in Yama – 325 miles (5 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)
Suna and Ame – 130 miles (2 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)
Suna and the portal in Yama – 195 miles (3 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)

Naruto's travel time on his way out of the Elemental Nations was obviously slower due to his age at the time.

10-24-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.