PART ONE OF CHAPTER 13:
The 13 ninjas along with Akamaru and the wizards were back in the Hogwarts Express going back to Hogwarts.
Regrettably, the holiday break had to end and incomplete assignments were still here.
So as the ninjas caught a nap on the rumbling train, Harry and Ron were scribbling down the last few words on their Potions essay on the effects of moonstone on wolfbane.
Hermione sat in the middle of her friends waiting for the inevitable question coming either from one of them to check over their mistakes and correct it all.
This time, the ninjas and the wizards sat in adjacent train compartments.
Had it been the late mornings Naruto would have been now causing quite the ruckus, but as they had to wake up at 4 with the sun barely peeking over the horizon, even Naruto was subdued.
They, as in the ninjas and the wizards, had a bowl of breakfast sweetened with brown sugar (much to Neji's and Sasuke's distaste) and a glass of orange juice.
After eating, they trooped out of the front yard and separated into various groupings into the two Ministry cars.
At first glance, it looks like it could barely hold four people at a time. But when they all entered the bright, blue cars, they discovered they can all sit comfortably even with all of the luggage taking up the space in the back.
Now...now, the ninjas were in their individual compartment all napping while their wizarding friends sat in the one across from them, two of them frantically trying to complete their essay.
Meanwhile in a cave...in Konoha
Kabuto, wearing his baggy red robe, sat cross-legged in front of a map that had scattered white stones set at various points.
He had been informed, through him watching through his Reanimations' eyes, that the Nine-Tails boy, Uchiha, and their friends had somehow disappeared because of Tobi.
It has been now 4 hours since their disapperance. (One, let's pretend Kabuto is alive and not dead and two, in my story, time runs slower in the Shinobi Nations remember?)
Or, should he say, Obito.
In the shadow of his hood, Kabuto smirked.
"Interesting...most interesting. Well, I have Naruto's smell, so I might as well send some White Zetsus after him."
At the very edge of Konoha, a bunch of White Zetsus sprouted from the ground.
As they drew above the soil, their bodies branched out into limbs, enabling them to be mobile.
They all had the same...interesting designs on their faces and sported light khaki hair.
As they were initially from the First Hokage's cells and came from wood, they had no genital organs.
For a moment or two, they did nothing as Kabuto's instructions took place.
"Find the barrier that surrounds the Shinobi Nations, find a exit, and go find the Nine-Tail boy and bring him back to me alive. If possible, locate the Uchiha boy as well."
The Zetsus stretched their limbs, creaking as they did so, and started running.
Eventually, they found the shimmering Barrier surrounding the ninjas' homeland and stretched themselves thin to bypass the shield.
When they all exited, they found themselves on the Atlantic Ocean near a large island (Japan).
As one unit, the White Zetsus ran on top of the ocean towards the mass of land the Outside called 'Europe'; their eyes set on a specific castle shrouded in mist, Hogwarts.
Back in Hogwarts...
Kiba and Shikamaru stretched as the early morning light illuminated them.
Naruto, on the other hand, was delighted to be back somewhere with forestry.
The entire time at Sirius's house, he hadn't spotted a single forest.
As if they could grow healthily with all of the poisoned air around them, explained Sakura when he asked.
While their three friends took a small canoe across the Black Lake, the ninjas chose instead to run across surface of it and dispersed into their pairs across the Hogwart grounds.
Neji and Tenten headed back to the Library, Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba with Akamaru went to the Forbidden Forest to spar, Chouji dragged Shikamaru and Shino with him to the kitchens to sneak a snack from the house elves, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata headed back to their dorm room in the Gryffindor Tower to unpack their clothing.
Harry, Ron, Hermione being the early birds decided to follow Sakura's, Ino's, and Hinata's example and entered their common rooms. Bidding Hermione goodbye for the moment, they parted and ascended different staircases to enter their fifth-year dorms.
The White Zetsus spotted a strip of land appearing in their sight as the mist swirled around them.
Had they been human, they all would've been smirking at the challenge looming before them.
Their order: "Capture the Nine-Tails Container and the lone remaining Uchiha" seems easy enough, but the two individuals were powerful shinobi.
The Nine-Tail Container was called the Hero of Konohagakure, and for good reason. He was the one who defeated the Pain and the Akatsuki.
The Uchiha survivor had the fully-evolved standard Sharingan and the Mangekyou Sharingan that allowed him to access the Susano'o and Amaterasu.
Capturing them would take a miracle.
Kabuto watched out of their eyes and estimated it would take the Zetsus no more than 10 hours to reach their destination.
As the hours passed by, more and more of the wizarding students returned.
All went into their designated common rooms to first unpack their trunks from the holidays.
Once they were done, they caught up with friends to brag about their holidays and to discuss what they had received for Christmas.
Naruto was on the top of the Astronomy Tower's top doing two things: 1. watching the wizard mingle with others and 2. to keep watch.
In the hazy heat surrounding him, Naruto was about to fall asleep when he felt a familiar chakra presence.
Naruto's eyes widened as the chakra presence got closer and closer.
"White Zetsus?! But how?, wondered a shocked Naruto.
Then, he got to action. Any lingering thoughts about taking a nap outside was shoved to the back of his mind.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
4 clones appeared next to Naruto in identical poofs of smoke.
1 went to Sasuke and Kiba who were still sparring, another went to notify Chouji, Shino, and Shikamaru in the kitchens, the third one sprinted to Neji and Tenten in the quiet Library, and the final one raced off to the Gryffindor Tower to tell Sakura, Hinata, and Ino.
All of the clones said the same exact thing to his friends, "White Zetsus approaching at 10:45 of the Astronomy Tower."
All knew not to doubt Naruto. Gaining the Nine Tail Chakra Mode had gave him amazing sensory ability, so they knew Naruto would never joke around at times like now.
They all replied to Naruto's clone, "Got it. We're coming, Naruto."
A determined Naruto clone poofed back into smoke as the real Naruto received the memo that his friends knew a horde of Zetsus were approaching.
However, one more thing was needed to be done before they could engage the Zetsus...
Naruto shunshined into the Headmaster's Office, not bothering to go through the gargoyle.
Dumbledore looked up with a amiable expression when he noticed Naruto's face. His amiable expression slipped off as Dumbledore got serious and leaned forward on his desk, his hands clasped together.
"Mr. Uzumaki, I assume that something is about to occur soon?"
"Old Man Dumbledore, an onslaught of White Zetsus is about to set foot on school grounds, dattebayo."
Naruto smiled and put his arms behind his head as he attempted to diffuse the tense mood, "So...can you tell your students to stay inside the school?''
Dumbledore nodded, "That can be arranged."
As the Headmaster was about to perform the Voice- Amplifier Spell, Naruto spoke up, "Oh, and can you put up a protection spell? Cus' we don't really know if we can prevent anything from being uhm...y'know, from being destroyed?"
Dumbledore chuckled, "Of course. Ninjas do so love their dust storms."
Naruto laughed, "Gives a edge on the enemy. Well, then. Bye, Old Man Dumbledore. We'll notify you when it's safe to come out."
With that, he shunshined back to the fields where his friends were gathered in a line.
Dumbledore mumbled, "Sonorus!" and flicked his wand towards his throat.
Just as Harry was about to perfect the Banishing Charm, Professor Dumbledore's voice sounded out throughout the entire castle.
"All students, please report back to your common rooms and stay there until I give the announcement it is safe to leave. It seems that there is a threat approaching us. Again, please report to your Houses' common rooms and stay there for the time being."
Ron gaped at the announcement and Harry can only freeze in what he was doing. Meanwhile, Hermione was frantically cleaning up when she noticed her two best friends just sitting there like a duck.
"C'mon, you two! Professor Dumbledore said something is about to attack Hogwarts and we have to get to our Tower."
Harry snapped out of his trance and cleaned up too, but not to hide away like a baby.
No, he was going to see what was the threat and protect his school.
This was his haven away from the Dursley's and goddamn him if Hogwarts was going to be destroyed.
Harry snatched up his robe and stuffed his wand into a back pocket as he sprinted for the front door of Hogwarts.
Ron shrugged at Hermione before he ran off to follow Harry's lead.
Hermione sighed in exasperation at the naivety, "HARRY! RON! PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE TOLD US TO GO TO OUR DORM, NOT TO RUN OFF PRETENDING TO SAVE THE DAY! HARRY, RON! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!"
As the frustrated witch ran to catch up with her friends, the White Zetsus were getting closer and closer.
The Golden Trio burst out of the castle, only to see their ninja friends standing in a straight line facing the clock position of 10:45.
Naruto started and turned around to face the noise, as did his friends.
His cerulean eyes widened, "You three!...What are you doing out here? I thought I told Old Man Dumbledore to have all the students stay inside. What are you-?!"
Sakura grabbed his shoulder, "Naruto! The White Zetsus are approaching!"
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, "White Zetsus? What is that- a new creature from the Forbidden Forest? A new pet?!"
Shikamaru sighed at the barrage of question directed at them, "Geez, a girl that talks as much as Ino. What a troublesome girl."
Hermione bristled at the slight insult, "ExCUSE ME?!"
Ron defended, "There's nothing wrong with wanting to know more- AAGH!"
All of a sudden, a white pasty man with only khaki hair appeared.
Sakura immediately reacted with a punch to the...thing.
With just a fist, it was down.
However, as it drifted closer and closer to the ground, a tree started to take root as the branches started branching out from the trunk.
Ron scrambled back in shock and fear, "What...IS THAT!"
Shikamaru scratched the back of his neck, "That would be a White Zetsu, made with the First Hokage's cells. Easily taken down, I say."
Harry stepped forward, "Then, can't we help you? If it is that easy to take down, then why did you tell Dumbledore to hide us all away? With at least 1000 students, we can easily take them down!"
Shikamaru sighed, "They can only be taken down with either taijutsu or ninjutsu, which none of you can access with the really low level of chakra you possess. Heck, even the stupidest genin has more chakra than magical people here."
Sasuke spoke up, "While we still have time, why aren't you three in your common room? I thought Dumbledore told everyone to go to their common room while we eliminate the threat?"
Hermione replied, "Uhm...but there's only 13 of you and 1...nin-dog. Assuming that your enemy had sent a horde after you, how will you survive?"
Hinata approached the bushy brunette, "Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are really strong. Well, all of us are strong. We had been training since we were genin and we have a variety of ninjutsu to fight them off."
Kiba continued, "And like Shikamaru said, they're easy enough to beat off."
Naruto then turned back to Harry, "Go back to your common room, like Old Man Dumbledore told you all to do. Don't worry, we'll take care of everything down here."
Hermione said dubiously to the energetic boy, "If you say so. Harry, Ron, let's go back. And Harry...don't argue with me on this."
Shino can tell that Hermione was obviously feeling the strains of anxiety and fatigue resulting in her commanding the boys back to their dorm room.
The trio turned back and entered the castle.
Climbing the stairs and uttering the password (Mimbulus Mimbletonia), they sat themselves in front of the fireplace, brains overloaded with the information they had just heard.
Just as Hermione was about to take out her Arithmency textbook, a crashing boom resounded.
Above them, Ron can hear the multiple stomps of feet making contact with the floor and the loud chatter above them.
He looked over to Harry, "I guess we can say that the ninjas are now officially fighting."
Harry nodded and walked over to a window.
Peering down, the window offered them a bird-eye's view over their friends.
Fortunately, they were just in time to see a large wave of the same pasty mate Sakura had punched down earlier engaging them in droves.
IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WAY HOW I AM CONSTRUCTING MY STORY OR HOW AM I SUPPOSEDLY 'WRONG' ABOUT SOMETHING, DO NOT REVIEW AND GO BACK! EVERYTHING WAS RESEARCHED BEFORE APPLIED ONTO MY STORY, PEEPS.