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), foul language (Anko makes an appearance in this chapter), 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 19: Everlasting Impressions

Wednesday, October 10, 2001, Night
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Hatake Kakashi (aka AnBu Teichou Inu, Sharingan no Kakashi, Kopi Ninja no Kakashi, and genius son of the Konoha no Shiroi Kiba) eyed the glittering gold dragon of burning sparks that pranced boldly across the sky with curiosity before he dropped his gaze to study the young man that had unleashed the firework that created the magnificent creature. Namikaze Takeshi's attention was currently focused on the only two children in the group (allowing Kakashi to study the man without being caught in the act); specifically, the man was watching Uzumaki Naruto… or as he was now known, Namikaze Naruto.

The head of the Namikaze family was a walking contradiction in Kakashi's eyes. The man at first glance appeared like any other civilian until you noticed the way he carried himself. He was open and friendly at first appearance too, until you managed to piss him off. An angry Namikaze Takeshi was a man to be feared as he either glared you into submission or verbally cut you down with that sharp tongue of his. At least the only thing that seemed to trigger the man's temper was any threat or slight (whether real or imagined) that was directed at one of the two children; as far as Kakashi could tell, anyway.

The man's skills were another puzzle as he had demonstrated a fairly devastating array of offensive jutsu with only a small number of defensive jutsu thrown in. His ability to manipulate the elements was rather impressive even if his control over the various jutsu he used wasn't anything to write home about. That he had the chakra reserves to throw around over twenty of the elemental dragon attacks back to back and combine two or more of them into a single attack was enough to make the silver haired Jounin sweat bullets. He also appeared to have an affinity with the fire element that would make an Uchiha green with envy and because each attack (bar the Karyuudan no Jutsu he'd used) had been seal-less meant that it was impossible to copy them with the Sharingan.

The rest of the man's arsenal had been fairly low level; a competent grasp of the basic three (even if he couldn't use the basic Bunshin to save his life), a useful camouflage jutsu, a couple of elemental clones, a wide array of elemental whips and walls, and the ability to create elemental creatures that could attack. The most unsettling skills the man had demonstrated though (aside from the devastating dragon attacks) had been Minato's Rasengan and the Hiraishin no Jutsu. Kakashi hadn't thought that there was anyone alive aside from Genma and Raidou who could use the Hiraishin (they had been taught by the Yondaime and they could only use it if both of them plus one more fueled the jutsu).

And yet, Namikaze Takeshi had used Minato's signature jutsu with the same ease that Minato had once used it; though the man hadn't use Minato's tri-blade kunai, using instead pre-drawn paper tags that he'd scattered about the clearing just before demonstrating the jutsu. Of course, it probably helped that the green-eyed man had had a private tutor in the form of Minato-sensei's ghost; if what he'd heard was true and the man possessed the ability to speak to the dead. The silver haired Jounin hadn't actually seen the ghost of his sensei as of yet though.

Kakashi was drawn out of his musings as the man he'd been considering set about launching another firework into the sky; this one a huge red dragon that attacked the gold dragon that was still trotting about the sky. Kakashi did a double take at that; the first dragon should have dissipated immediately. He was further shocked when the two dragons exploded upon impact, creating hundreds of red and gold lions that scattered in every direction. There was no way in hell that those were normal fireworks. Fireworks did not scamper off across the sky as if they'd been given a life of their own.

Then again, Kakashi thought to himself. Namikaze-san showed remarkable control over the elements during his demonstration; it wouldn't be too far fetched for him to have created those fireworks and imbued them with his chakra in order to get them to act that way. It also confirms that he has an affinity for fire. I wonder if Tenzou… no, I need to remember to call him Yamato now, has tested the man yet. I'll ask him later and offer him some chakra paper if he hasn't.

Kakashi then turned his attention to the sole Genin he'd been assigned to teach; Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and consummate prankster. Well, he supposed that he should stop thinking of Naruto as an Uzumaki and start thinking of him as a Namikaze now that the boy's heritage was no longer a secret. Kakashi had met Naruto when he was three; the day that the Sandaime had assigned him and his AnBu team to guard the blond. The twenty-five year old still suspected that the assignment had been Sarutobi's way of preventing him from taking any more suicide missions and keeping him in the village where his many enemies couldn't get to him as easily.

At first, Kakashi had wanted to resent the reassignment. That had changed the first time he'd seen someone attack Minato and Kushina's precious son. Naruto had quickly become Kakashi's reason for living after that and he'd taken great pleasure in delivering those that dared attack Naruto or spoke of what they knew about the Kyuubi to Ibiki. He'd soon been told to leave the civilians alone though; the council had disapproved of AnBu shinobi harassing the civilians on Naruto's behalf. That hadn't stopped Kakashi from intervening when he could though, and he made it a point to be particularly vigilant during the evening hours when the drunken mobs formed if even the smallest glimpse of the blond was caught.

After five years of watching over the hyperactive blond, Kakashi had thought he'd known the kid well enough to know when he was up to something.

Sadly, Naruto had proved just how little Kakashi had known the kid when said kid had slipped out of the village on his watch using the Kage Bunshin of all things (at least that was what the Hokage had told him had happened after Sarutobi had finished interviewing the small family). When Naruto had first disappeared though, Kakashi had thought the kid had been kidnapped. And he'd been angry; angry at himself for not preventing someone from taking the kid, angry at the Hokage for not catching wind of the kidnapping before it happened, angry at the village for the way they had treated Naruto, and angry at the person who'd stolen his reason for living.

The only good thing that had come out of Naruto's vanishing act had been the Sandaime Hokage taking back control of the village. The purging that had followed had been long overdue and Kakashi had reveled in finally making some of the more persistent bullies pay for the way they had treated Naruto. Dealing with the members of the council had been even more satisfying. The fact that the purges hadn't produced a hale if somewhat terrified and tormented Naruto had only fueled Kakashi's anger and driven him towards depression. The only reason he hadn't returned to taking suicide missions at the end of the purging was because Sarutobi had refused to allow him throw his life away.

It had been sheer coincidence that Kakashi had been patrolling the walls near the western gate when Namikaze Takeshi had made his appearance. Kakashi had been so certain that the man was an imposter but he'd nearly forgotten all about the black haired man claiming to be part of Minato's family when Naruto stepped down out of the first wagon carrying a three year old that was a near clone of the older boy. Despite Naruto looking slightly different and obviously being three years older, Kakashi had recognized him and his scent easily enough.

Kakashi had been torn between hugging the stuffing out of his little lost charge and ripping the man that had dared call himself a Namikaze into itty bitty pieces.

The Jounin had looked forward to carting the man off for an appointment with Ibiki after the man had threatened him with bodily harm in response to the Hokage's order for Kakashi to remove the children from the office. He had then reassessed his opinion of the man after listening to the man rip into the Hokage next. Kakashi had momentarily been reminded of the day that Minato had torn into a civilian for making a disparaging remark about Kakashi's father to Kakashi shortly after his father had killed himself. Even the sheepish apology the man had given after his small rant had been rather similar to the way Minato used to apologize to Kushina when his sensei had irritated his volatile wife.

All thoughts of Namikaze Takeshi had taken a back seat during the three hours he'd spent entertaining Naruto and Namikaze's little boy. It reassured him to know that his little charge (Kakashi couldn't bring himself to call Naruto his little brother even if that was how he saw him) was still the ramen obsessed little boy he'd watched over for five years. The only thing out of place was the blond haired and green eyed boy that Naruto treated like a sibling. Seeing Naruto act all responsible had thrown Kakashi for a real loop because it wasn't something he'd ever thought the hyperactive blond would be capable of until he reached at least his thirties.

That the two boys were close was undeniably obvious; the little blond had clung to the older blond with a limpet-like tenacity that the older blond encouraged. That Naruto was also painfully close to Takeshi had also become obvious as the kid had ceaselessly expounded upon how awesome his cousin was for nearly the entire time they'd been at Ichiraku's eating ramen. Kakashi had wanted to hate Takeshi in that moment; the Jounin angry that the man had stepped in and taken the place that should have been his.

Being asked to take Naruto (and two others to be assigned at a later date) as his student (something he'd been promised shortly after being reassigned to watch over the blond eight years earlier) had tempered that resentment; as had the sheer destruction that Takeshi had unleashed on the training grounds during his physical assessment.

Now, Kakashi had been well acquainted with Naruto's Academy records and knew that half the problem was that the kid had been kicked out of classes and denied a proper education and the other half of the problem had been the kid's inability to sit still for more than two minutes at a time. That the kid had aced all of the assessment tests (both written and physical) had therefore come as a bit of a surprise but not completely unexpected because he'd known the kid wasn't stupid (how else could he have pulled off some of his more memorable pranks and escape capture for hours?). Even knowing that had not prepared Kakashi for facing the blond in a one on one spar.

Not only was Naruto a chakra powerhouse just like his older cousin, the little gaki had to be one of the most unorthodox shinobi he'd ever fought. The kid could plot and plan on a dime better than any Nara, he could throw his weight around like an Akimichi, and by using the Kage Bunshin he could see just as well as any Hyuuga. His taijutsu form was no where near as sloppy as it had been while he'd been attending the Academy and Kakashi could easily see the influence of the Mizuken Ryuu in his moves; though the kid was no where near as fluid as his cousin was when it came to using that particular taijutsu form – the kid was still too much of a brawler.

But the kid had improved by leaps and bounds during the three years he'd been gone. He'd also learned more than just the basic three Academy jutsu on top of teaching himself the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Seeing a not-quite eleven year old boy effortlessly form the Rasengan had been shocking. Seeing said kid then vanish in a familiar zing of yellow light had nearly broken Kakashi. The kid was no where near as proficient with the transportation jutsu as his cousin had been, but there was no mistaking that someone (Minato's ghost…? His cousin…?) had taught the kid how to use the Hiraishin.

Kakashi had wanted to cry at the time because it seemed as if someone else had done all of the work to turn the kid into a competent shinobi. He then realized that he'd actually been given a blessing in disguise because he could now hone the little prodigy of hard work into a legend. Sure, the little gaki was powerful, smart, and skilled… but he was also sloppy, unrefined, and filled to the brim with untapped potential. And he was all Kakashi's to teach, train, and mold.

Providing his cousin didn't try to interfere.

Yeah, that put a damper on Kakashi's dreams of training the next great legendary shinobi of Konoha. Kakashi had no doubt that Takeshi wouldn't hesitate to follow through with his threat of skinning him alive and roasting him over an open fire if the man even suspected that Kakashi wasn't keeping Naruto's best interests in mind. And somehow, he just knew that pushing Naruto too far or too fast would set the green-eyed man off nearly as quickly as neglecting Naruto's training and education would. So, he'd have to be cautious in how he went about training his cute little student.

Maybe I should speak to Takeshi about Naruto's training, Kakashi silently mused as he tore his eyes from the blond who was enjoying his private firework show (Takeshi had gone all out for the kid's eleventh birthday) to glance at the dark haired man once more. I'm actually rather surprised that the man hasn't hauled me to one side and grilled me in regards to Naruto's training yet. It goes against everything I've learned about the man. Then again, Ten… Yamato had hauled him off to the Forest of Death for survival training and they didn't get back until late yesterday afternoon. I wonder how Takeshi fared and if they encountered any of the nastier residents of the forest while they were there.

Tuesday, October 23, 2001, Noon
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Tokubetsu Jounin Mitarashi Anko (aka that Crazy Snake Bitch) sat fuming as she glared at the rotting carcasses of the four snakes that had just fifteen minutes earlier been part of the Senei Jashu she'd attempted to attack Namikaze Takeshi with when the man had gotten mouthy with her.

Anko had been out of the village on an A Ranked mission when the Namikaze family had arrived towards the end of September and had therefore missed most of the hullabaloo. By the time she and her team had returned, Takeshi-teme had already been inducted into the force and sent off into her personal playground for survival training. Anko had looked forward to the brutal ribbing the foreign Chuunin would undoubtedly receive the moment he had to be carried out of the Forest of Death in a blubbering mess. Few people could walk into her favorite training grounds without suffering from a traumatic experience and she expected the rookie to be no different.

When she'd heard that the teme had killed one of her former sensei's pet projects, she'd been shocked to the core because she well knew how damned hard those monstrous experiments were to kill; and she had the scars from a pair of enraged tigers to prove it. Disbelief had followed in the wake of her shock as there was no way a Chuunin could have killed one of the genetically enhanced bears, even with the help of his assigned minder. Anko had immediately hunted down Tenzou to confront him on the matter and had found him discussing the creature in question with Nara Shikaku.

Tenzou (who was going by the name of Yama or something like that now) had given her a harassed look the moment she'd demanded to know about the bear (apparently quite a few people had been hounding the Jounin on the same subject). Shikaku had lazily confirmed that the bear in question was indeed one of Orochimaru's left over experiments that had been left to run wild in the forest and that it had been the largest bear he'd ever seen that wasn't a contracted summons. One of the bear's smallest claws fit from the tips of her fingers to the crook of her elbow when she'd measured the trophy once Shikaku had pulled it out as proof.

Anko hadn't known what to say after that as she tried to imagine just how large the creature must have been in relation to the size of the claw and the only words echoing around in her head at the time had been 'holy fuck'.

Just before Tenzou (damned if she could remember his new code name just then) left, Anko had asked him if his charge had faced any other interesting encounters with the numerous critters while in the forest. The man had laughed and asked her if killing one of the giant snakes that lived in the deadly forest with nothing but a sword while inside of the creature's mouth counted. Anko had imperiously ordered Tenzou to bring his new 'toy' to the dango stand that afternoon so that she could meet him and the man had the gall to say that she'd have to wait until he could arrange the meeting with his apprentice so as not to create a conflict with the man's training schedule.

The kunoichi had nearly ripped Tenzou a new one over that until he bluntly told her that the man was related to the Yondaime, had a nasty temper, knew enough destructive techniques to level Konoha, and had more than enough chakra to pull off said destruction in a fairly short amount of time. The fact that Tenzou had also bluntly stated that he would not have been able to kill the bear without the younger (and lower ranked) man's help also spoke volumes. Anko knew there was quite a bit that Tenzou wasn't telling because there were plenty of other powerful shinobi you'd be an idiot to piss off; such as Senju Tsunade, Yamaguchi Jiraiya, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Tenzou, and Anko herself just to name few.

Staring the remains of the four snakes she'd summoned to attack the greened eyed Chuunin had Anko reluctantly adding Namikaze Takeshi to that list in order to make certain she didn't forget before she returned to her seething.

The meeting had taken far too many days to schedule in Anko's mind and that was with the purple haired kunoichi pestering Tenzou (damned if she was going to bother learning the man's new code named – it was too much work) every other day. To appease herself, Anko had flat out told Tenzou that he was paying for her dango order when her fellow shinobi finally gave her a date and time. Tenzou had given her one of his famous dead-eyed glares that made most Chuunin shit their shorts but Anko ignored the look as she walked away.

The entire meeting had been one frustrating failure from the moment Tenzou had walked into the shade of the dango stand with his charge in tow… along with a pair of gaki. There was nothing Anko hated more than snot nosed little brats and the man she was supposed to be meeting was dragging along two of them; one that didn't even look old enough to wipe his own ass and the other cockily wore a shiny new hitai-ate. The moment she'd recognized the older gaki, Anko had reflexively glared; Uzumaki Naruto's disappearance three years earlier had seen the Hokage turning Konoha inside out and upside down to find him while her own disappearance just eleven years prior to the gaki's vanishing act had been completely overlooked.

Ice cold eyes the color of leaves met Anko's pupil-less tan eyes a heartbeat later and she'd nearly pissed her panties at the pure venom those eyes held. The man had then very pointedly handed the bewhiskered blond a pouch of money, asked him to buy a couple of orders of dango to go, and then told him to take the younger boy (whose name Anko didn't bother to catch) back to the wagons. Tenzou had grimaced at the man's clipped tone and shot Anko an irritated glare but she didn't see what had either man up in arms because it's not like she'd done anything to either gaki.

Tenzou had then warily led the man to her table and introduced the two of them. Namikaze had then had the gall to sneer at her as he looked her up and down once before he started walking away. When Anko ordered him to get his ass back to her table and sit down so she could talk to him, the man had had the gall to give her another sneer as he proclaimed that he had no interest in hearing anything she had to say. Only he'd used far sharper words that had cut Anko deeply.

Those words seared through her mind once more at that point; 'I have nothing to say to you and I am not interested in hearing anything you have to say. To put it bluntly, Mitarashi-san; you are not worth my time.'

Anko had trembled and clenched her fists as killing intent had poured from her in waves and chased away the civilian customers that had been inside of the small stand. She'd immediately retaliated in response to the man's caustic words by attacking him with Senei Jashu so she could beat the arrogance out of the bastard before she made him bleed. Only, the man had merely turned his head to the side and hissed at her.

And the damn snakes she'd sent to attack him stopped right in their tracks and hissed angrily back at the man.

Another long hiss from the man had irritated the four snakes into continuing their attack. Two seconds later, the four snakes were dead before they could bite the man, let alone wrap him in their deadly embrace. Anko had then found the bloodied tip of an unfamiliar sword tickling her throat and burning emerald eyes glaring at her from the other end of the blade. The words the man had hissed out in an icy cold voice filled with barely suppressed fury and hard as diamonds actually made Anko piss herself.

'Congratulations, Mitarashi-san, you've just jumped right up to the top of my shit list; you made my son cry.'

Sure enough, standing just a few feet beyond the highly pissed off Chuunin was Uzumaki holding a bawling kid in his arms; a ruined order of freshly made dango tragically sitting on the floor at their feet. Uzumaki was glaring at her with frozen sapphire eyes that promised pain and humiliation while the little gaki in his arms was white as a sheet (literally… his eyes, skin, and hair were all a uniform white – wait, wasn't he blond earlier…?) and stared at her with tormented eyes that rained tears down his face to join the snot running from his nose. The bite of the blade at her neck followed by a trickle of blood dripping down her throat had brought her gaze back to the man standing right in front of her.

'Come anywhere near me or my family again and I will make you scream and beg for death for a month of Sundays as I scrape the flesh from your bones with a rusty spoon and feed it to you while I allow my pet snakes to sharpen their fangs on your bones.'

The man had then pulled his blade away, cleaned the blood from it by wiping it off on her trench coat, and resheathed the blade before he turned his back to her once more. Anko had made just one attempt to rise from her seat only for Tenzou to shove her back into place with an iron grip. Unable to kill the man that had just insulted and attacked her, Anko had silently seethed as she watched the man approach the children and collect the bellyaching babe (who now looked like a carbon copy of the man – black hair and all). He had then formed a silent and seal less Kage Bunshin to clean up the mess from the floor and order a replacement batch of dango before he swept out of the stand with both brats without another glance in Anko's direction.

Tenzou had called her ten kinds of fools for pissing Namikaze off, told her she could pay for her own damned dango, and hurried off after the trio in order to do damage control; leaving Anko to seethe alone.

The kunoichi was far too busy still seething to notice the two masked shinobi that appeared beside her just a few seconds after she'd chased away the dango stand's civilian customers a second time. She couldn't help but notice them when they slapped a chakra suppression seal on the back of her neck and cuffed her hands behind her back. She opened her mouth to soundly curse the two AnBu guards only to find herself with an obscene amount of dango being stuffed into her mouth (far too much to chew, let alone talk around). As they hauled her off to see either Ibiki or Hokage, there was only one thought circling through her mind.

Namikaze Takeshi would scream for her before she killed him as slowly and painfully as possible for daring to humiliate and threaten her; her injured pride drowning out her common sense as she buried the memory of the way the man had made her piss herself with just a glare.

Friday, October 26, 2001, Morning
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Morino Ibiki had never been considered much of a people person, especially not after he'd spent an unpleasant week at the mercy of Iwa's top torturers during the last war and he grew even colder after his little brother had been killed by a traitor several years earlier. He was a large and intimidating man; it was an image that he had cultivated from the moment that he'd known that he would survive the torture he'd suffered through at the hands of the Iwa shinobi. He was proud of his image; he could walk into a room and make lesser shinobi piss their pants with just a look.

Inoichi, on the other hand, was insidious; the man seemingly made friends with everyone before he ripped their secrets from their mind with his clan's techniques.

The two of them had the perfect interrogation routine; Ibiki would intimidate their prisoners and Inoichi would move in and sooth them before making his move. It never failed to work like a charm. At least it hadn't until the two of them had met one Namikaze Takeshi. The man had the balls to look him in the eye and all but dismiss him as insignificant before he'd practically given Inoichi the stink-eye; as if the man had just seen Inoichi kick an injured puppy. The man hadn't even flinched when Ibiki had been introduced as head of the Torture and Interrogation Department.

The meeting had turned surreal at that point as Minato's ghost made an appearance. Being adept at genjutsu himself, Ibiki had been certain that the green-eyed gaki was just pulling one over on them right up until the gaki had stopped channeling chakra and Minato's ghost hadn't so much as wavered. Finding out that that really had been Minato's ghost standing there in the flesh… or rather in the spirit had been shocking. Learning that the supposed Namikaze had a Kekkei Genkai that allowed him to speak with the dead had been both troubling and intriguing.

Hearing the ghost of the Yondaime Hokage casually reveal that the young man standing in front of them was playing host to one of the bijuu had been terrifying.

The longer Ibiki had interrogated the young man alongside of Inoichi and the Hokage, the more frightened the intimidating man had grown as it became patently clear that the man was more than a little mentally unstable with a hair-trigger temper. Coupling that instability with the fact that the man was a Jinchuuriki with insanely high chakra reserves was enough to give a Kage nightmares; let alone the lowly departmental head in charge of the least appreciated department in the entire village.

The calm acceptance that Namikaze had shown when he'd basically been ordered to attend monthly therapy sessions had been unexpected and Ibiki didn't know whether or not he should be annoyed over the fact that he would be the one responsible for conducting said sessions. Damn it, he was an interrogator; not a therapist! Ibiki had fully intended to point that out to the Hokage the moment the man had uttered that nonsense and remind the aging shinobi that Inoichi or one of the other Yamanaka in his department always handled the mentally disturbed right up until he saw the visible relief in Namikaze's eyes over the fact that he'd not have to see Inoichi for the sessions.

That had actually intrigued Ibiki; he was burning with curiosity to know exactly what it was about Inoichi that set the younger man on edge. He also hadn't failed to notice that the man had only grown warier the moment Minato's ghost had brought up the Yamanaka's ability to mind-walk and view people's memories. That knowledge had opened a whole new can of worms as the possibility that the man had something he wanted to hide wasn't too far fetched. The fact that he couldn't bring Inoichi in to pry those secrets from the man's head was enough to give Ibiki a headache and what made it worse was the fact that the man had bluntly told them that he didn't trust any one of them.

Namikaze's lack of trust was troubling enough on its own but when coupled with the man's volatile temper and the sheer power he had at his fingertips, it was downright disturbing. And there was no doubt that the gaki was powerful.

Ibiki had left Inoichi in charge of things on the day that Namikaze's physical assessment was scheduled just so that he could take the morning off to see what the man could do. All morning had unexpectedly turned into all day. Namikaze's taijutsu wasn't anything special and saying he sucked when it came to shurikenjutsu would be an understatement; unless you counted the fact that the damn man had caught every single kunai, blocked the thrown shuriken, and dodged the senbon that Genma had thrown at the man all the while grinning like a loon.

His kenjutsu was passable; so long as he was using the twin wakizashi blades or his unorthodox broadsword. That he'd apparently trained his horses to ignore the clashing blade to allow him to fight from the back of the beasts was rather fascinating. The concept of a mounted shinobi was beyond weird though; shinobi were trained to move through any terrain on foot, they had no need for horses or oxen. And yet, Namikaze had looked completely at home on the back of his horses swinging that straight sword with one hand while guiding his horse with his other hand and his knees.

Those three skills hadn't been what he'd gone to see though. No, Ibiki had wanted to see just how much damage the man could do with the pool of chakra he had on hand. Ibiki shivered as he recalled the sheer level of destruction Namikaze had unleashed; and that was just in his initial demonstration. The two hour spar after lunch had been brutal. Oh, neither man fighting had truly attempted to kill one another, but neither had they held anything back. And while Namikaze had been on the defensive nearly the entire spar, he had managed to turn the tables on Kakashi more than once.

Namikaze had then amused Ibiki by acting like a petulant toddler when he'd kicked the younger man off of the training field so that the area could be repaired. He'd also discovered that the man had a snarky sense of humor that Ibiki could appreciate; something that he probably would have noted sooner if he'd spent time observing the young man outside of the Hokage's office.

After Namikaze had been inducted into the forces as a Chuunin, Ibiki had occasionally lamented on the fact that he was stuck behind a desk eighty percent of the time doing paperwork as he would have liked to have the time to observe the young man from time to time. Instead, Ibiki had to be content with reading through an endless stack of mission and training reports that were filed on a weekly basis. Some of those reports had been amusing and others had the twenty-six year old Jounin shaking his head.

The most memorable report had been the one from Namikaze's first mission slash survival training exercise that had taken place within Training Ground Forty-Four. The Chuunin and his Jounin mentor had had the misfortune to cross paths with one of Orochimaru's forgotten experiments; in this case it had been a genetically enhanced bear that had been larger, stronger, and far more aggressive than the normal bears found in the forest. That was on top of dealing with more than a few of the forest's other denizens attacking the pair (such as one of the giant snakes that made their home in the forest).

The amusing part had been the fact that Namikaze had accused his mentor of having poor taste when it came to choosing camp locations in his report while Yamato's report had claimed Namikaze's luck rating had been incorrectly marked on his stat summary.

The most horrifying report had been the one where Yamato had made a note stating that Namikaze had negotiated an agreement with Madam Shijimi (the wife of Hi no Kuni's Daimyou) to pair Tora (the woman's demonic cat) with one of his cats. The man had apparently been impressed with the scourge of Genin everywhere when he'd been assigned the retrieve Tora mission to test his ability to track and capture a target. The insane man had even gone so far as to befriend the damn thing. Madam Shijimi had been so impressed with the flattery that Namikaze had rained on her precious terror that she had even promised the man the pick of the litter once the kittens were born.

When Ibiki had seen a photo of Namikaze's pet cats, he'd nearly let out a wail of terror as the damn things looked more like miniature lions than house cats and their eyes glittered with intelligence and malice. The damn dogs the family owned were far worse than the trained Inuzuka hounds and the rotten mongrels could easily be classified as glorified slippers with feet, they were so small. Both the damn chibi-lions and the menacing mutts were foul tempered and would attack anyone that trespassed on the vacant lot the Namikazes had commandeered for their wagons and horses until they purchased a permanent residence.

That didn't even touch upon the incident with Mitarashi Anko just three days earlier…

"I have my work cut out for me," Ibiki bemoaned to his empty office as he glanced up at the time to see that he only had about five minutes left until the young man he'd just been analyzing was due to arrive for his first appointment. As if his spoken complaint was some kind of signal, Hijiri Shimon knocked on the door before he ushered an early Namikaze Takeshi into his office. Ibiki bit back the curse that was on the tip of his tongue and stated, "Arigatou, Hijiri; please see to it that I am not disturbed over the next hour for anything short of an invasion. Ohayou, Namikaze-san; please have a seat so that we can begin."

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Morino-san," Takeshi greeted in return as he reluctantly took a seat in the chair that was sitting right in front of Ibiki's desk.

"I'm going to be blunt, Namikaze; I don't do therapy sessions. My job is to break Konoha's enemies and make them sing like canaries; not put broken shinobi back together just enough so that they can function in polite society. That's usually Inoichi's job but for some inexplicable reason you seem to have a problem with my subordinate."

"I do not have a problem with Yamanaka-san," Takeshi countered with a slight frown. "I do, however, have an issue with people that make it a habit of going traipsing through other people's minds." The younger man's jaw tightened and Ibiki saw a hard glint enter the man's emerald orbs as he paused for the briefest of moments. "I've had enough of people tearing through my mind and my memories to last me a lifetime. It's bad enough that I'll eventually have to share my mind with the furball I'm lugging around without having someone ruffle through my worst memories again."

"What do you mean eventually; do you not already share your mind with the bijuu you carry?" Ibiki inquired with open curiosity as he'd fully expected the bijuu to be influencing (or attempting to influence) its host.

"The creature sleeps… for now. Apparently, the process of sealing the furball inside of me took just as much out of the demon as it took as much out of it as it took out of me and it hadn't exactly been vacationing at a five star resort before it ended up where it is now. Minato figures that I'll have at least another three to four years before the furred menace wakes from its slumber to annoy me unless something disturbs it from its nap sooner."

"Interesting. How much influence do you believe the bijuu will have over you once it awakens?"

"Very little. The Ky… creature knows next to nothing about my life since it has been asleep for the past two years and I'd like to think that I'm mature enough to have outgrown the majority of my insecurities. There is also nothing that it could possibly offer me in order to gain my cooperation; I have no need or desire for more power, any enemies that I might have sought out in order to get revenge are already dead or securely imprisoned, and I am content with my lot in life, if not exactly happy."

"Why aren't you happy?" Ibiki asked even as his mind began turning over the slight slip of the tongue that Namikaze had made in reference to the beast that had been sealed inside of him in an effort to determine which bijuu the man held based up that tiny little clue.

"Why should I be happy? I was forced to drag my itoko back to the one place he never wanted to see again. I can't say as I blame him either; I know exactly what it's like to be forced to live with people that hate you and aren't afraid to let you know just how worthless and unwanted you are. This blasted village, as a whole, abused my cousin mentally and emotionally and they damn well tried their hardest to physically harm him. That kind of shit leaves a mark on one's soul. On top of that, I just stood there and let the Hokage turn my little cousin into a child soldier. The only thing that stopped me from interfering was the knowledge that Naruto wished to become a shinobi."

"Why does it bother you so much that Naruto is a shinobi?"

"No child should be forced to fight the war before they even grow up. And you can dress up your missions however prettily you want to but you and I both know that each mission is a small battle in the war this entire damn world has been embroiled in since the day the Elemental Countries were sealed away from the rest of the world. War breaks a person, regardless of their age, but most adults at least have the maturity to cope in the aftermath while broken children eventually become broken adults that know nothing of life outside of war and therefore can't cope in a world without war."

"You are speaking from experience," Ibiki stated with certainty.

"Yes," Takeshi grudgingly admitted.

"And how old were you when you became a child soldier?"

"That's hard to say… it could have been the moment my parents conceived me while they were in the middle of fighting a war, it could have been the moment I was born and the leader of the opposing side decided that I was the one that would bring about his downfall. It could even have been the night the man murdered my parents and attempted to kill me for the first time when I was fifteen months old. Or it could have been on my eleventh birthday when the society my parents were part of came to collect their precious little scapegoat and properly cowed hero."

"You are still bitter." This too was a statement.

"Yes and no… despite the fact that death has dogged my footsteps my entire life, not everything I experienced was terrible. I still resent being set up to play martyr for an entire society that was far too frightened to pull their heads out of the sand to fight the terrorist that their prejudiced society gave birth to though. At the same time, I can't change who I am and I would not be the man I am now if not for that same society and the hardships I faced. If not for my friends and my self-made family, I could have easily turned into the next Dark Lord and that knowledge used to fuel a good many nightmares when I was younger."

"And what fuels your nightmares now, Namikaze-san?"

"My mistakes, Morino-san," Takeshi replied in a raspy tone that spoke of pain, grief, and regret and Ibiki wisely decided not to push the man into talking about the demons that haunted his past just yet.

"The last topic I wish to cover today is the oath of loyalty that you gave to the Hokage. He spoke to me about the short conversation he had with you regarding your reason for changing the wording of the oath and he asked me to speak to you about what you had revealed of your Kekkei Genkai. Specifically, he wished me to ask you why you chose to use your Kekkei Genkai to make your oath binding instead of just giving a verbal confirmation of your loyalty."

"I have no true control over that aspect of my Kekkei Genkai and the only bit that I can control is the type of oath I am giving and the wording of the oaths I swear."

"What do you mean by type?"

"My Kekkei Genkai does not interpret all spoken words as an oath; there are certain requirements for it to activate. I can make promises without triggering my Kekkei Genkai. However, verbal contracts, sworn oaths, and vows all contain words that will actively pull on my Kekkei Genkai due to the intent behind the words spoken. In the case of the oath that I gave to the Hokage, the moment I pledged my life and loyalty it drew upon my Kekkei Genkai because I was no longer just promising to protect the village."

"So why didn't you speak to the Hokage about that aspect of the oath before you gave it?"

"I don't particularly trust the Hokage and did not feel comfortable divulging that information before I had given my oath least he manipulate me into swearing a far more binding oath that I felt comfortable giving."

"Yet you felt comfortable enough to give him an oath?" Ibiki demanded incredulously.

"No, not really. However, I trust Minato and Minato trusts the Sandaime. Minato assured me that I would not fall under the direct supervision of the Hokage unless I join the AnBu Corps; which I have no intention of doing. I also know that I will have only minimal contact with the Hokage until I earn a promotion to Jounin or my family reaches the numbers necessary to reestablish us a proper clan so we can join the Village Council; and even then I could elect to send Arata in my place. The oath I made was also not iron-clad; meaning I can refuse any unreasonable order."

"What would you consider an unreasonable order?"

"Any order that would intentionally or unintentionally cause harm to my family and those orders that would potentially create problems for Konoha since I did swear loyalty to Konoha."

"And if the Hokage should unintentionally give you an order that you believe will cause your family harm?"

"I would first seek clarification and if I still find the order unacceptable, I would refuse to carry out said order. I would also explain why I am refusing. If, in the future, any attempt is made to abuse my oath, I can and will rescind my oath and remove my family from the village in order to protect them."

Ibiki dismissed the younger man a few minutes later; he'd learned enough from the young man for the moment and he'd gained a large list of potential subjects that he could broach with the man during future meetings once he'd had a chance to gain a measure of the man's trust. In the mean time, he had some research to do in order to see if he could match up the smallest of clues that the man had let slip in regards to the tailed beast he held at bay.

Maybe he could convince Shikaku to figure out the puzzle if he promised to maneuver Namikaze into agreeing to play a round of Shougi with the Jounin Commander.

Translations: Japanese to English

Arigatou – thank you
Gaki – brat
Inu – dog
Itoko – cousin
Konoha no Shiroi Kiba – Konoha's White Fang
Kopi Ninja no Kakashi – Copy Ninja Kakashi
Ohayou (gozaimasu) – good morning
Sharingan no Kakashi – Kakashi of the Sharingan
Teme – jerk/bastard (a rude way of saying you)

Techniques/Skills:

Kage Bunshin – shadow clones

Karyuudan no Jutsu – Fire Dragon Projectile Technique (non-canon – created by author and not to be mistaken for the dragon projectile attack with the same name that the Sandaime used in his fight against Orochimaru during the Chuunin Exam Arc)

Senei Jashu – Hidden Shadow Snake Hands

AN: And there we have a brief glimpse of the impressions that Harry has made on a few key characters in the Naruto Verse. And not all of them were positive. Now, before Anko fans tear me a new one for their rather volatile encounter, please keep in mind that as of the time of their meeting, Harry knows nothing of Anko's past or the reasons why she was glaring at Naruto; all he saw was yet another person judging his little cousin. I also see Anko as having little care for social niceties or proper conduct. So, no, I was not bashing her here in this chapter.

Will they ever kiss and make up to become friends? Nope. Both Harry and Anko (and Naruto) are capable of carrying grudges if given proper motivation. Their personalities are far too different as well and I can easily see Harry lumping Anko in the same category as the Death Eaters and other unpleasant individuals he'd encountered in the wizarding world (such as the Malfoys) instead of trying to see past her abrasive front. Nor will he be all that interested in learning her personal history; though he may eventually pick it up through the grapevine.

Naruto's feelings about the matter will be further explored throughout the story; as will the consequences of Anko earning his ire.

The reasoning I used to have Harry swear his oath despite his feelings regarding the village and the Hokage were also explained as promised. For those who are still upset about it, I'm sorry, but I will not go back and change it. On the other hand, the oath is not a major plot-point in the story but it will crop up from time to time in later chapters. ~ Jenn

10-25-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.