Naruto turns onto his stomach and presses his face into the lavender smelling sheets, the sun peeks through dark green curtains and he smells the scent of food being cooked. He sighs as the ambiance relaxes him. Only to jolt up in alarm as he registers that this isn't his place and he's not at his apartment.
He fumbles out of the bed and has to withhold a whine as he slams his elbow on the ground hitting his funny bone just right. He rolls on his back with a groan and holds his elbow. He looks up at the ceiling and winces as the door slides open.
From his view upside down, Harry is giving him an amused look, "you okay?" Naruto sees his lip twitch as he asks.
He blinks, so it's not a dream?
"Uh, yeah!" He says and scrambles up giving Hari a shiny grin.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it." Not many say his name so he has to say it for him, or he is afraid he'll forget his own name.
The other gives him a once over, and it makes him feel fuzzy as the other says, "That's good, you sleep okay, Naruto?"
All he can do is nod at the kind energy eluding from the other, a kinship between them.
Hari gives him an understanding look and turns back towards the kitchen, "The food is almost done, if you want to stay and eat I wouldn't mind."
"I, uh need to change my clothes," he protests weakly but follows the delicious scent of food.
The other waves his worries away, "I have too many clothes, if you want you can just wear something of mine. Take a shower too, The pressure is killer."
Naruto gives him a look, his mind overwhelmed with the kindness offered to him, "why?" He whispers as he sits down.
Hari sets a cup of warm tea and slides a tray of sugar cubes with a small frown, "I know how you feel, to be hated and judged by society, by family, before you even develop a thought."
Hari gives him a long look, "I see myself in you."
Feeling awkward he points, "Man! you sound so old!" He says, laughing brightly to hide his emotions. He takes a sip of the tea and almost moans, while he's not a tea drinker, since it's so expensive, he does enjoy it when he has the chance.
"I feel it sometimes," Hari mutters, but Naruto's senses have always been keen so he hears it.
Feeling sad that his new friend is sad, he shyly looks up from his tea, "Wanna go prank some people?"
Hari looks at him with an odd look of fondness and says, "After we eat."
"Yatta!" He cheers, he's never pranked with a friend, Shikamaru mainly just watches, Choji is too scared to participate, and Kiba is usually the victim.
He finishes his food and shuffles behind Hari as the boy leads him to the shower after gathering a few pieces of clothing.
Hari even had an orange shirt! And the water was actually hot!
Hari simply basks in the warmth that Naruto eludes from his being, the boy is a balm to depression by his presence alone. The sheer blinding effect of the blonde's smile could cure cancer. He notices Naruto wilt and scans the crowd to find the culprits who dare to sneer at the ball of sun personified.
Catching the gaze of a middle-aged man he lets his expression blank out and becomes eerily emotionless as he was taught to before the merge as he likes to call it. Hari is a combination of two souls woven into one, the botched attempt at evolution that Orochimaru made was tied to death magic, or death-related ninjutsu like the infamous reaper seal.
The very seal that holds back the Kyuubi in Naruto's soul.
The original soul that inhabited this body didn't have the will to fight the sheer vastness that Harry Potter's soul carries. His Root conditioning made it easy for the more dominant soul to overpower and devour everything the weaker soul has and ever was giving Harry Potter the knowledge and experience of Root agent Hari.
He is still struggling to break from the condition his body was put through and finds himself reverting to the conditioning when things are overwhelming.
On the plus side, it's a big help with his occlumency.
"Where are we going?" He asks, his blank expression softening as sky-blue eyes glance his way and a whiskered face crinkles happily.
"Only to eat the best food ever!" And barrels past the crowd excitedly making Harry have to speed up his walking to keep up and watches as Naruto darts under the booth of a place called, Ichiraku's.
"You could have waited," he teases as he ducks under the cloth and nods politely to the older man who seems to be the owner.
Said owner shifts towards Naruto with a parental look, "You have a new friend? Huh told you it's only a matter of time."
Naruto nods already, chowing down on his second bow much to Hari's amusement, "Yeah! Hari is the best!" Or what Hari guess he's trying to say around a mouth full of food.
The man turns to him with a more welcoming smile, "Well any friend of yours is a friend of ours, both of you will be in the house!"
Hari blinks, taken aback by the boastfulness of the man, "Oh, thank you, I'll have what he has." Not caring what he eats, and what Naruto has smells good.
"Coming right up!"
"You come here a lot?" He asks, glancing at his chowing friend.
"Mhm, they don't glare at me, and besides ramen is the best!" Naruto sprays noodle water as the noodles wiggle in time with his words.
Thanking the man when he set the bowl of miso in front of him he admires the fragrance "Smells good," he compliments glancing at the chef before taking a bite and his eyes widen.
"Told you!" Naruto chirps smugly beside him while the chef simply enjoys the happiness his food brings.
Hari stares watching as Naruto walks away and is pleasantly surprised to find the boy isn't even two blocks from his place. He promised to meet up with the other before school so he could make sure Naruto ate an appropriate meal, much to the embarrassment of the blonde.
He waits until he is sure Naruto is safe before he turns towards the building and scales it, still marveling at the fact that people in this world can simply walk on walls by using metaphysical energy. His footfalls as he moves up the building are silent and his agility is on par with a jonin as the rigorous training Danzo demands enables him.
Most in the Root divisions are focused on espionage and stealth, and being quicker than the eye is a great way to keep from being detected, and the man has no qualms against forcing children to be able to do it or die in the process. He reaches up and pulls himself on the roof with little effort and peers up at the Anbu before him.
"Kinoe?" He asks shyly, still remembering how protective and adamant he fought to keep Hari out of Anbu. Kinoe is willing to take the brunt of the storm and does extra missions to placate the council.
He barely looks at the other Anbu just out of sight in favor of his fellow lab brother stiffly says, "Hari, how have you been." Looking into the mask and Kinoe's eyes he makes sure to relay the gratitude he feels for the other.
"It's awesome!" He grins as he senses the contentment that washes over Kinoe at his response.
"The sun is amazing and the village is so big!" He enthuses as he goes on to prattle about all the little things feeling fuzzy as he follows his lead and sits on the ledge dangling his feet and just talks about all the things he's done since he's been out.
He talks because Kinoe deserves to hear that his hard work isn't in vain.
Kakashi waits until the brat leaves before approaching Tenzo.
"Kinoe," he teases, stepping beside his subordinate and most trusted teammate.
"You know it's Tenzo when we are on duty." The other says not even indulging in his bullshit, but Kakashi can hear the content in his voice as he watches the direction Hari went off to.
"You are extremely protective of him." Kakashi muses, not unkindly and surprised since the other is a Root baby and is still struggling with regular emotions.
Tenzo looked down at his hands, "We were in the same room, they relied on my mokuton to keep his body stable as they injected various blood samples and chakra extractions. They used my ability to keep the tainted chakra from burning every cell of his body."
Tenzo gives him a searching look, "When I would use my ability, my mind would be drawn into his mindscape and that's how I grew to know him. We are bonded by blood and pain."
"At least you didn't ram chakra into him." He says and Tenzo gives him a deadpan look behind the mask.
Whistling he looks up at the moon, "Oh, would you look at the time." And before the other can stop him Kakashi shunshin's away.
Sasuke withholds a sneer as he listens to the fan club behind him prattle about useless shit. He strains his ears trying to block out their insistence and greedy words covered in honey. They only want him because they think they can use him. They just want to be able to claim the uchiha clan as theirs and he won't allow it.
Iruka takes them outside for physical training and stands before them with his hands on his hips, "Today in class we will be doing some sparring, and I think it will be a short tournament." Seeing their faces aren't as excited, Iruka grins, "Winner gets a week of no homework."
That causes them to go off in anticipation.
"Hell ya!" Kiba howls like the dog he is, and since he's standing next to Shikamaru he hears the other mutter, "What a drag."
He curiously looks towards the new student who is idly listening to the dobe prattle on about beating everyone, he wants to scoff. Naruto can't even beat Hinata and she is too shy to even hit him with any heat, with the crush she has on him.
"Yatta!" The only thing he can hear Naruto say, with all the excited buzzing going around. He watches as the fodder is told to go first and waits until someone interesting takes a turn.
"Kiba, your opponent is Daisuke." At least is someone he can get entertainment from, the Inuzuka clan being proficient in taijutsu.
Kiba goes to enter the ring, but Iruka calls out, glancing at the civilian kid, "Without Akamaru this time," much to Daisuke's relief.
"Ah, man!" The boy whines and takes the dog off his head. Kiba goes to stand before Daisuke and feels a little bad for the kid, most clan kids have an inherent advantage with their extra training and conditioning from birth.
They make the seals of confrontation after Iruka says, "Go,"
Kiba immediately rushes the other and Daisuke scrambles to get out of the way, narrowly missing the fist aiming for his temple. He tries to leg sweep Kiba but the boy is too fast and leaps over the leg before sending a knee towards Daisuke's stomach sending the boy a few feet with a grunt.
Kiba lands in a crouch and waits until Daisuke gets up before launching himself, Daisuke's unprepared eyes widen as he is forced out of the circle by a feral grinning Kiba, who barrels into the weak civilian.
"Winner kiba!" Iruka says as he helps Daisuke up.
Their sensei gives Kiba a stern look, "Kiba, next time in a real fight don't give your opponent time to get up, they might get one over you." Iruka then calls the next two, a bunch of nobodies, and takes the downtrodden Daisuke to the side while keeping his eye on the match. He just wants to get this over with so he can go home and train and get stronger.
His match isn't anything to tell, being paired up with one of his fangirls, who ridiculously walks out of the circle and leaves him standing there like an idiot.
"Hari and Shino." That brings his attention back and he watches Hari walk into the circle while Naruto screams, "Kick his ass!" much to Sasuke's secret amusement.
Shino fixes his tinted glasses and addresses Hari, "I'm looking forward to fighting you, why? Because my insects are oddly fascinated by your chakra."
He watches as Hari gives the other a wry grin, "Same to you, I think it's fascinating that you live symbiotically with them, are you just the host or the Queen?" He can see Shino contemplating on answering and Sasuke wondering if it's a clan secret, but the other simply was just analyzing the question.
"Both." He says.
"Wicked," Hari says with praise in his voice, interestingly a buzzing noise can be heard for a second as Shino shifts.
"Anytime now." Iruka interrupts with no real heat behind it, and Sasuke can see the slight smile on his face as the two shift into their respective fighting stances.
He narrows his eyes as he takes in the way Hari holds himself, the way he is coiled reminds him of how his brother would be when sparring with Shisui. Irritatingly he could only keep track of their fight the first few minutes before they became blurs.
"Let's have fun," Hari says and dances.
There isn't any other way of saying it, Hari glides across the ground and goes for a throat chop only to be blocked by Shino. He then tries to hook his arm around Hari's for leverage but Hari uses Shino's bent knee to kick off and twists out of the other's grip.
Hari has a tamed grin on his face as he skids a few feet away and nods towards Shino causing the other to dart forward and in a surprise move kick up dirt towards Hari's face causing the other to crunch his eyes and Shino takes advantage of that to close the gap but just as he is about to land the hit,
Hari's hand snatches it and twists it out of his path causing Shino to lose his footing as the momentum shifts, Hari then swiftly spins behind Shino who is still trying to regain his balance, and kicks the others back causing him to tumble out of the ring.
"Winner is Hari!"
"HELL YEAH!" Sasuke watches as Kiba winces and clutches his ears at the sheer volume of Naruto.
After a couple more rounds, one where Shikamaru forfeits before it begins, much to Iruka's ire. Hinata won against Ino. Choji fought Naruto, who made it by sheer tenacity and stubbornness more than his taijutsu.
Hinata and Hari's match just ended with Hinata losing.
"You know you're an amazing fighter, if you learn to stop hesitating you will be a difficult opponent for just about anyone," Hari says to her as he helps to shy girl off the ground from where she landed.
"You are a natural, it's just this that stops you." He says poking her forehead, and Sasuke has to swallow at the familiar action.
Could he have known his brother? But how?
He is jolted out of his thoughts as his name is called for the last match.
"Hari and Sasuke."
He watches as his fellow black-haired opponent rubs his arms with a wince as he enters the ring and feels sympathetic pain as he recalls Hinata's dagger-like jabs.
"Ready to go down," he can't help but quip with a savage grin.
Hari gives him a once over, and curls a brow, "At least by me dinner first."
Sasuke sputters, "That's not what I-" he snaps his mouth shut at the teasing grin.
"Let's get this over with." He growls, taking in the others' stance, he notices that Hari is favoring his left after the match with Hinata, but is it real or a fake out?
Deciding to test his theory he springs towards the right, but keeps his aim towards the left, as he nears the other he makes sure his eyes are focused on his right side and aims his foot into Hari's left knee the other shifting it with a wince just barely getting out of the way of Sasuke's foot.
He sucks in his gut and arches back as Hari tries to retaliate by swinging his fist into his stomach, the other's foot catching him by surprise as Hari hooks it under Sasuke's ankle. He has to back bend to avoid the next swing, sasuke feels the breeze of Hari's fist as it barely hits his face.
Pushing off his hands he lands on the other side with a thrill running through his body, he's actually having to work to avoid the other's hits.
If only he knew just how much Hari was holding back, he'd have thrown a tantrum.
Sasuke has to go on the defensive as the other suddenly gets into his space, he meets every blow for blow and can see the other still dealing with the aftereffects of the gentle fist. He sees an opening as Hari's hand spasms and ducks under his reach, shoves his shoulder into his sternum and sends him out of the ring.
"WHAT!" He has to grin at the despair in Naruto's voice.
A/n:
So here is the second chapter, like I said above, I'm not the best at fight scene T-T
I unintentionally made Kakashi and Tenzo look flirty so take that as you will. (Tempted to give them Iruka and just make it a throuple)
Protective big brother Tenzo is a go!
As always I enjoy constructive criticism, and any suggestions you'd like to see incorporated, that I feel would fit in is always welcome.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you like the chapter ;)