Author's Note: I would like to point out that this story is seriously embedded in an Alternate Universe. There are not any problems back in the Ninja Countries besides the usual tension between the five great Ninja Nations. Though it's not of great importance, Sasuke did not deflect to Sound: Naruto did not go on his two-and-a-half year trip with Jiraiya to who-knows-where. Naruto will still have the Kyuubi inside of him. The whole Konoha Twelve have been promoted to chunin. The main characters, ninja-wise, are tokubetsu jounins.

I won't be abandoning FireStorm. I'll update this in my spare time, as this story is just for fun or something like that, which means that this story will be a whole lot less formal in its punctuation and mistakes, but if you find any specifics, please tell me. I want your opinion!

The chapter numbers in italics corresponds to the actual events in the chapters of the Order of the Phoenix. For example, when I put down Chapter 1, the same time these events are happening, Dudley is getting demented, hence Dudley Demented. You'll understand better if you just checked the chapter list of the actual Harry Potter book 5. Just assume that the things I don't mention that are in the book are still happening.

Thanks to Scratchy Wilson who kindly beta-ed the entire thing!

I don't own Harry Potter or Naruto or the quote.

"Speech"- English.

"Speech"- Japanese.

Without further ado

sky-sun-neighbor presents…

Chakra and Magic

One: Strangers on This Land

((They came upon the shore and were lost))

Chapter 1: Dudley Demented

Naruto stared. The man was wearing the weirdest colors he had ever seen, and he was the one that had worn orange in his genin days. Suns and moons and stars dispersed on a bright purple background… for Kami's sake, the old man was wearing a dress! This occasion called for a snide remark, and he was just about to give one, before a voice in his head that sounded like Baa-chan yelling, "This man is powerful and he has called for our assistance. We have to repay him for favors that he had done for the late Sandaime, so don't give him a reason to come back asking for anything more while we get no pay. You are to not offend him or I will hurt you so hard that..." and left the rest to his imagination.

"Dumbledore-sama?" Shikamaru, who stood behind the blond tokubetsu-jounin, asked his client.

The old man's eyes seemed to shine with a non-existent light, "You must be the castle-guard that Tsunade Senju sent to me. Please, call me Albus, as we will be working closely for this year."

The ninjas, Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, and Hinata, all exchanged glances and nodded, they would be showing him proper respect. The Godaime's warning was still ringing prominently in their heads, "The village will not be paid for this mission, in fact, I feel like I have been blackmailed into this whole affair, though I'm not quite sure how… The favors that he pulled and his mild talks about some psycho-maniac killer that has already contacted the Mainland Japan is putting me on edge," The lady paused to take a swig at her newly opened sake bottle, "You will be compensated later, you will be reporting to me weekly, more often if things comes up. For now, I'm putting this as an un-ranked mission. Our forces are low and stretched; you guys are the only ones I could send out in such short time." The half finished bottle slammed down and Tsunade leaned over the desk, eyes narrowing, "These Magic people, I don't know about them. Be on your guard."

"I hope that the trip was to your satisfaction," Dumbledore remarked, turning and gesturing the ninjas to follow. Naruto grunted in disbelief, channeling Sasuke for a moment. Neji elbowed him sharply in the ribs as a silent reprimand. They had arrived via old boot- meaning that, somehow, the boot had taken them from the Hokage's office to the middle of an alleyway surrounded on three sides by brick walls. They had some time to reestablish their bearings and examine their surroundings for a whole day, from morning till night.

They had waited for the messenger anxiously at the designated spot, wondering how they should act: childish, relaxed, tense, respectful, emotionless. The moon hid behind the clouds. Their client had also appeared in the air with a slight popping noise. Even though Albus oozed a grandfatherly countenance similar to the deceased Sandaime's, the eccentric old man also oozed power that charged the air with a slight hum. Shikamaru couldn't decide whether it was an intimidation tactic to command respect from them or a normal occurrence. At least the Sandaime suppressed his chakra aura.

Again, Tsunade's pre-mission briefing echoed in their heads, "You all know about wizards and their magic, which is really just a slightly alternate form of our chakra. Now, how many of you know how to speak English?" Only Naruto didn't raise his hand, "It's no surprise for you Hinata, you are a clan head. Neji? Well that's not too surprising." She had dully blinked at the Nara heir, "I bet you decided to learn the language because you were bored right, Shikamaru? Your family never required the skill." The boy had only shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets. The Hokage had turned to her adopted younger brother, "And Naruto. Oh don't worry, just make about a hundred clones and have these three teach you. I know you're a fast learner." She had brushed off the boy's frantic protests and continued, "Now when then portkey activates," she sent a disgusted look at the ragged, smelly boot, "it'll drop you off at the entrance to a hotel called the Leaky Cauldron. You will have a day to observe the culture before meeting up with Albus Dumbledore at the entrance to Diagon Alley."

Two knocks and Shizune had walked into the office carrying a scroll and had handed it to her mentor, muttering into Tsunade's ear. The four-man team had heard only a couple words of the whispered conversation, "-know-who... -Potter?"

Tsunade had opened the scroll, eyes squinting as she read, "It's from the daimyo. Apparently, all the other ninja countries will be closely watching this mission."

"Really?" Naruto had asked, "Why?"

"Did you sleep in the Academy?" Neji had muttered, exasperated. "The ninja countries have had a strict policy of isolationism for about a hundred years, since the Sage of the Six Paths created jutsus as we know them. The daimyos have been following the activities of the Outer World and Mainland Japan, but none of that is under the Hokage's control."

A puzzled look had crept over Naruto's face, "Neh? Then why didn't Baa-chan just refuse the mission?"

The Slug Sannin had rubbed her eyes, "I suspected that Albus Dumbledore had spoken to or threatened our daimyo before coming to me, as I had orders to accept this mission." She checked a clock and motioned her subordinates to touch the ugly boot, "This mission is delicate enough in its diplomacy and our image to the outside world. Who knows, maybe we'll be doing missions for them if our performance is impressive. Little information is known about these magical communities besides the things I have already told you. This Voldemort person even has Mainland Japan so uneasy, that rumor is that they are planning to negotiate a partnership with the ninja countries if anything troublesome were to happen." An unsettled silence followed her assessment- this was serious business. Direct diplomacy between the Ninja Continent and Mainland Japan was an alarming idea. She had glanced at a watch again, "Three seconds… Good luck!"

The tug at the navel had been highly unpleasant.

The elderly wizard directed the foursome through a brick wall turned passage-way and into a bustling market bazaar called Diagon Alley with people in similarly outrageous dress.

However, the tour through the market was cut short. The moment they walked into this mysterious community, attracting some odd looks from the locals, a large brown owl flew above the group and dropped a letter into Dumbledore's outstretched hand. After scanning the message, the aged wizard rolled it back up and turned to his companions. "It seems that we will not be able to proceed as planned. For that I am sorry. I have been called to an important meeting. Feel free to browse, but go the Leaky Cauldron when you wish to retire, just tell the owner that I sent you." And he disappeared as he had come, leaving only a soft pop.

Naruto stared, "What… he's gone. What did he just do?" Nobody answered; Hinata gave him a small smile and shrugged.

Shikamaru quickly took charge, "Everybody has the money that Tsunade gave us right?" All nodded. "Good, I say that we split up and do a bit of recon. I'll look for any sort of books or old newspaper articles about the magic community. Naruto," The blond immediately snapped to attention, "I need you to make a couple of henged clones to help me… not now." He added irritably, "Out of the public eye." The other pouted.

"Then I'll look for some magical bag to put the stuff in, right?" Naruto offered, pumping his fist in the air.

"I'll get the supplies," Hinata chimed in, "I could also get clothes for all of us so we don't stick out."

Neji added in, "And anything else that might be useful to us. I'll accompany you Hinata-sama." His Byakugan was activated and he made sure to hold Shikamaru's gaze for a moment longer than necessary.

Shikamaru sighed, "Good, we'll meet at that Leaky Cauldron place at night. And remember, we're still being watched." He bent his head over and barely moved his lips, eyes darting to and fro, indicating there were spies in his peripheral vision. "I don't know if our watchers can speak our language, or if there's some sort of magic that can let them understand us, but I'm not discussing the details of this mission until Naruto manages to put up his privacy seals."

"Hai."

Chapter 2: A Peck of Owls

The boy with the pony-tail and the boy with spiky yellow hair ducked into a small side alleyway and were momentarily out of sight. Then the dark haired boy headed toward Flourish and Blotts while the other headed in the opposite direction, arms hooked behind his head, whistling. "The blond is mine," Nymphadora Tonks grinned. "He looks like an interesting one." She waved goodbye to Alastor Moody and Dedalus and began trailing her charge.

The boy didn't look like much, dressed in some weird ankle sandals, cargo pants, and a dark orange shirt with some mesh cloth underneath; he had a nondescript pouch attached to his leg and to his waist. Dumbledore had said that he had hired the best ninjas from the most powerful nation in the ninja countries had to offer on such short notice. What the nation, Fire Country, if she remembered right, could give should be good enough. But the boy, she double checked her papers and didn't find a name, was just a boy, probably younger than Harry Potter. 'And they are suppose to protect him and the castle?' she wondered and couldn't help but snort at the idea.

The blond kid had been looking around the shops and scanning a small book periodically; she supposed that it was a Japanese-English pocket dictionary, 'He isn't used to our language. Suspect that he had just been introduced to it.' She followed him in multiple disguises, young girl, old man, schoolgirl teenager, so far her plan worked, she went unnoticed. He kept looked at all the shops in total awe, nimbly dodging the bustling crowds that were rustling by him, staring at some owls before continuing on his way. At last he stopped in front of Barnaby's Baggage and Luggage.

He consulted with his dictionary for a few seconds, muttering some unknown words. After letting out a loud, "Yatta!" he ran inside, she placed a notice-me-not charm and strolled in. The shop was packed, similar to the other shops that resided in Diagon Alley. Aisles and aisles of shelves were full of all sorts of bags of different colors and different sizes. He wandered through the store in a kind of daze, squinting up at the merchandise, trying to read the labels, muttering to no one in particular. Loosing his patience over the decision of his selections, the boy ran up to the front counter and cleared his throat, catching the store owner's attention.

"Yes?" The old man looked over his glasses.

The younger boy squirmed under the gaze, "I… ano… baggage?" He stretched his arms out wide to indicate dimensions, "would like a giant luggage."

With his fingers tapping the wooden desk, the man frowned in thought, then brightened, "Ah yes, foreigner, I have the solution. How about this magically light-weight and expanded-dimension luggage?" With a flourish, he pulled onto the desk one green carry-on suitcase with rollers. The customer leaned over the desk in eager anticipation. "Beautiful eh? Four compartments, records your magic signature into its codes, able to record more than one too. Each compartment has a personal stretchable library and storage place that can instantly give you a list of what you have and can summon anything you want that's in the compartment into your waiting hands." The boy's eyes grew larger. "Weighs as light as a feather. And it's on sale at only twenty galleons!"

"Twenty galleons?" the boy parroted, "Hai! Hai!" The boy shouted, "I'll buy!" Money was handed over; the blond swung the luggage off of the table. On his way to the exit, the auror noticed his eyes flicker in her direction ever so slightly and he left the shop with a rather puzzled expression on his face.

The sun of England was uncomfortably hot at this time of the day, but it didn't deter people from going shop to shop. The boy was obviously unused to such a concentration of people, as noted by his stiff posture every time a crowd of chatting witches and wizards passed by. He weaved his way through the masses of people so quickly that Tonks had a hard time catching up, unexpectedly coming to a stop in front of Ollivander's Wand Shop. Hesitantly, he stepped in with a blank face. Tonks, once again, had to follow.

Tonks hadn't stepped foot in the familiar shop since she was eleven. Nothing had changed however, the wooden floors were still un-scuffed and polished, the rows and rows of small thin boxes containing wands were stuffed into small cubbies. The workrooms were still upstairs. The boy looked around warily, "Hallo?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," an old wizened voice said, causing the Auror to have a mini heart-attack, "What a surprise it is for you to be here."

"Eh?" The boy's, Naruto's left hand jumped to the side of his pouch, before loosening up upon seeing that the voice belonged to an old man with bright, pale eyes. "I didn't know that you were here! How you know my name?" He made a show of clutching onto his heart. It was just barely there; Tonks saw that even though Naruto had seemly relaxed, his blue eyes were shifting from window to door, looking for any possible escape routes. Every fiber of his muscle was ready to move, but he held himself in a regular manner. His voice inflexion was like a normal teen's, but his eyes were temporarily hardened into someone who had been in a lot of fights. This, she realized, was probably a slight hint of what a ninja was.

"I know everyone that's going to come into my shop."

Naruto cocked his head to the right in curiosity, "I'm not buying anything; I just wonder about the chakra feel here. There's a lot." He hurried to explain.

"Everyone who enters my shop should leave with something of mine." Ollivander moved toward a side room, the boy followed, "Today was an interesting day for me. Before you, there were two new customers, a boy and a girl, siblings, with pupil-less eyes."

"Neji and Hinata-chan!" The confirmation came.

"Yes, it was most intriguing. And I convinced them to each get a staff, since I thought that it would be most beneficial for them. I think I should try and choose one that's suitable for you." Tonks gasped, only people with abnormally high magic levels can wield a staff. The last person in England who carried one was Merlin. "I don't think anybody from your country is suitable for a wand. I'm already anticipating my next encounter with the last one from your group."

"Meh, Shikamaru? He'll be too lazy to hold it." Naruto snorted.

The wandmaker beckoned his customer up a set of winding staircases and into a closed off room. The door closed behind the two. The auror sighed, running her fingers through her now brown hair; she would have no way of trailing him now. She waited in a dark corner and mentally prepared her report for Dumbledore, 'Young, age is predicted to be in the early teens. Seemly harmless but can attack at any moment, and see Mad-Eye Moody. Every one of them is going to be wielding staffs. Do not underestimate.'

Tonks heard pecking sounds behind her; there was an owl at the window whose gaze was directed at her. "Hey there little guy," she whispered once outside. She had a soft hoot in response, the letter, with a phoenix insignia was dropped into her hands and the owl flew away. She flipped the letter back and forth, tapped her wand on the cover to detect any spells, and then she examined the wax seal for authenticity: check. She then muttered a temporary privacy charm around her perimeter. Puzzled as to why the Order would try to get in contact with her in the middle of a mission, she opened the letter and read the coded contents.

'You have been selected as the member of the Advance Guard whose job would be escorting the son of the phoenix: report to Headquarters immediately for further briefing.' Eyes grew as big as saucers; the Advance Guard was going to escort Harry Potter? Excitement bubbled in her. She was looking forward to meeting the boy-who-lived.

She leaned against the walls of a building and burned the letter with a simple spell.

Chapter Three: The Advance Guard

The room was large and had a dome shaped ceiling. The walls and the floor were made out of wood. Shikamaru leaned against the bed frame. "So we all have staffs that we're supposed to keep secret about. How unusual must it be for someone to have one?" The Nara mused while nursing a drink called Butterbeer and flipping through the newspaper. "Interesting, it cost only a galleon for me."

"Same here." Naruto said. Hinata and Neji nodded. "This whole place is really strange," He continued, "I was being followed by this woman who could do a henge jutsu without chakra."

"A bloodline." Neji suggested.

"Yeah, maybe. She left when I went with the old man to pick a staff. I'm pretty sure the old man knew that she was there, but he didn't say anything." Naruto shifted into a more comfortable position on his bed.

"He was showing his neutrality, which is good, because he's strong and powerful in his own way," The Hyuuga prodigy stated, "Hinata-sama and I were followed by this oddly short old man. The wand maker pretended to be oblivious." He fingered his staff, which looked like a standard issued bo more than anything else. Shikamaru wondered why they had to hide the fact that they had staffs to the general public but could reveal them to Dumbledore's men. There must be a code of secrecy among Dumbledore's men. He scanned the newspaper, attempting to deduce the facts from the horribly overblown and biased reporting. He hypothesized that there was perhaps a group of people lead by the powerful wizard that went against the Ministry funding or meddling with this 'Daily Prophet.' After all, powerful people always have followers. The simple truth was, Dumbledore and the Minister were at odds in their opinion of the return of Voldemort.

If that was the case, the Minister might not even know of their arrival, Shikamaru thought with slight dread. He detested politics.

The four of them had met at the pub and asked the owner of the establishment for some lodgings, making sure to add in a word about Dumbledore. Due to thriving business, the innkeeper, Tom, was reluctant to give each ninja an individual room. Compromising, Tom asked them to all share an upgraded room that had four beds. Upon entering, Naruto had run up to the corners of the walls, plastering privacy seals on each corner of the room and on the entrances and windows before claiming the bed nearest to the door. Each nin was lounging on their individual beds, the floor between them was a pile of books, animal parts, plants, glass vials, and other items.

"I wish my staff was as cool as yours." Naruto looked up from his work of making seals, "My staff is smooth and strong and all, but it looks so… lumpy."

"It's the wood, Naruto-kun. Different woods have d-different textures." Hinata examined her own staff with her Byakugan activated, "its construction is very delicate yet sturdy and it's full of chakra and soaked in some sort of liquid and hollowed out with many small channels. There are many feathers and hairs and other sort of objects embedded in this."

"We can do bad-ass jutsus with these?"

"I think so. Ollivander-san said that we just have to pump our chakra, or magic through. It should help with our control too." Her eyes returned to normal. "Shikamaru-kun, what are you reading?"

"Hmm?" The boy looked up from his pile of newspapers. "It's just the recent news. It's strange how the Daily Prophet hasn't been talking about this Voldemort, but they are putting in liberal amounts of insults and jabs at the Boy-who-lived." His head ducked under the papers again, "How troublesome."

"The Boy-who-lived is Harry Potter and the You-know-who is Voldemort, right?" Naruto squinted his eyes in thought, pausing in mid brush, "Man, what's with all these stupid nicknames? Is it like some sort of fad in this country?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "Maybe. It just shows us that the British Ministry is wholly incompetent. Are you done yet, Naruto?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses." The blond boy muttered as he finished his last seal. He grabbed the luggage smacked some seals onto the surface, "Impervious seals…" He opened each of the four compartments, "Stasis seals… Ok!" He flashed a full smile at his teammates, "Fill her up!"

OoO

More than three days came and went for the four shinobis. They had spent their time walking around in their new clothes and cloaks which Hinata had bought from Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. The kunoichi had assured them that she had privately henged into each one of them to get their exact sizes; the boys weren't sure whether to be happy or disturbed. The days were almost carefree, given that after the first day that they had stayed here, they weren't followed by anybody suspicious. Shikamaru said that they must have passed some sort of trust test. Neji, the more pessimistic one, claimed that something must have come up for Dumbledore to pull their watchers out.

And so the days were spent researching the British Magical Community and its history, and exploring more areas of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. One night, when all four of them were getting ready for bed, somebody walked to their door with heavy footsteps and knocked on the door. Naruto whispered that whoever was on the other side of the door must be bigger than Akimichi Chouza. And no one in Konoha wanted to anger the usually benevolent clan head: the results are highly destructive.

Neji was chosen to open the door. "Ye…?" The next words died in his mouth as his gaze climbed upwards.

The visitor was a man of massive proportions, big body, big hands, big head, big everything, so big, it was almost unnatural. The four kids stared at him speechlessly as the man bent under the door frame and greeted amiably, "My name's Hagrid. Dumbledore sen' me here to pick up four kids from the Nin… er Japan. Are yeh they?"

Chapter Four: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

Introductions were made and given. It turned out, Hagrid was a genuinely nice guy who loved to chat. Naruto immediately took a liking upon the big man and the two of them were engaged in a conversation about the school, named Hogwarts, which they were going to. Hagrid, who was the gameskeeper for their destination, had given them another portkey, this time it was a patched up, pointy hat, which transported them, again unpleasantly, to another magical community which Hagrid called Hogsmeade.

"Yeh have te understan', Hogwarts dun allow porkeys in," he told them.

The rest of the journey was done on foot; the ninjas were forced to walk at a regular pace due to their burly companion, towards the big castle in the distance. The trip was mostly silent, due to the open-mouth gapes the three tokubetsu jounins were giving to the ancient citadel which grew larger and larger as they approached it. Behind them, "Hogsmeade and Hogwarts: another fad in this country, but this time it's about pigs…" Naruto muttered "I swear," luggage rolling merrily along behind him. But as they got closer to the school, even his mouth clicked shut.

Hagrid chuckled at the awe-filled expression of his young companions; it was easy to get star struck by such a magnificent building. The castle was huge and intimidating against the backdrop of the night sky. It was like a fortress and a palace all mixed into one, stone walls that towered over you, humming with power and chakra seals. Comprised of multiple curving and straight walls that had many illuminated windows, the castle easily was a couple stories high and could probably fit above a couple hundred people.

They came to two massive wooden doors. Naruto craned his neck, his joints making distinctive popping noises, looking up. The giant man knocked twice, "Open up, it's me, Hagrid."

Something clicked and twisted on the other side of the double doors. Slowly, the doors swung outward, forcing the teens to step back, revealing an older woman. The giant man tipped his hat, "Professor McGonagall, I brought them."

The woman had graying brown hair and a stiff countenance. Her eyes reminded the nins of a cat. Naruto discreetly sniffed the air: she smelled like a cat, too. She had a pointed black, wide-brimmed hat, and black robes. She held a candle, her eyes judging the kids, her face expressionless. Finally, she spoke, "Very well. I'm Professor McGonagall. Please come in, we've been expecting you."

Chapter Five: The Order of the Phoenix

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London. Inside was a dining room that showed hints, that, although it had been unused in years and was quite dusty, it had once held a certain pomp and elegance. Around the dining table sat a handful of adults and teenagers, among them was one Harry Potter. "But Voldemort is back!" Ignoring the winces from his fellow listeners, he kept plowing through, "Shouldn't there be protection? Won't he attack the Ministry? Diagon Alley? Hogmeade? Hogwarts?"

Mrs. Weasley was visibly startled and looked nervously at her husband. Mr. Weasley smiled tiredly. "Arthur, I really don't think we should be telling him."

The man waved her away, "They're going to find out sooner or later, Molly dear. We'll just be preparing them for the new year." He cleared his throat, all eyes were on him. The other adults were observing quietly, all grateful that it was Mr. Weasley who has the burden of explaining the situation. "Ministry, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade: those places are out of the Headmaster's jurisdiction to control, Harry, but he did hire some bodyguards for Hogwarts." The Weasley patriarch leaned in, facial expression entirely serious, "I don't know how, but he managed to bring four ninjas over from the Ninja Continent."

All the non-Order members' eyes grew wide, except for Harry's and Ron's, who only blinked in confusion. Tonks scratched a tanned cheek with a quill tip, leaving ink blots on her skin, "I know, I was shocked too when he dropped the news onto us. But I trailed them for a day, along with Moody and Diggle."

"Really?" Bill turned his attention to his partner, as did everybody else in the room, "How was it?"

The metamorphagus gave a sly grin, "Never underestimate them. I think they're hiding their true strength behind such cute bodies." Lupin coughed out his tea.

"Wait, what?" Harry shook out of his stupor and asked incredulously, "Ninjas? I thought that ninjas weren't real."

Hermione shot an exasperated look over to her long time friend, "Honestly Harry, I keep telling you that listening to Professor Binns would be helpful to you one day."

Harry turned to his other friend. "I never heard of ninjas, mate." Ron shrugged, "I'm just as lost as you are."

Hermione took a deep breath and sighed a soft, yet audible, "Boys." Regaining composure, she started her lecture, "The Ninja Continent is a set of countries that are located in the Pacific Ocean, right east of Japan. They can't be contacted by muggles outside of their country but I heard that muggles live by them, side by side, aware of their magic." Harry's mind spun around, a whole continent where muggles knew about their counterparts' magic?

"They haven't been heard of for more than a hundred years back, before they isolated themselves from outside politics, and back then, they weren't too powerful either. Now they only talk to the Japanese magical government. There's a sort of mixed up space-time-dimension that hides their continent," Lupin added in his two cents, "Not much is known about them. Except that they hire out their services for money."

"Well, not much officially has been known about them. I heard that they are made up of military regimes; each is ruled by a single dictator. I also heard, by word of mouth, that the ninjas are frighteningly powerful." Sirius leaned back. "Dumbledore said to me that he had to demand their services at the last minute, something about the Lords there and their politics. So they only sent four ninjas who might not even be the best of the best. His explanation was pretty confusing."

"I'll be happy with what we can take. They're ninjas for Merlin's sake," Bill said quietly.

"The ninjas are that good?" Harry asked skeptically.

"You kidding me, mate?" Fred asked from down the table. "It doesn't get out often, but it's said ninjas could do crazy things, magic and physical. Their bodies were trained to be top notch soldiers. Japan isn't caught up in any bad diplomacy because of their close ties with the Ninja Continent. The ninjas there might not be good enough to do little intricate spell work with wands, but the rumor goes that they can do wand-less magic, easily, without breaking a sweat."

"The individuals there are powerful. Everybody wants to be friends with the Lords of the Ninja Countries," George finished with a grin, playing up the role of the elder-brother-who-tells-scary-stories-to-his-siblings-and-gets-a-kicked-out-of-their-petrified-expressions. "The only reason the British fought with the Japanese in the last world war with Grindelwald was because the Ninja Countries were too busy in their own civil war to give a damn about us. Makes you wonder how Dumbledore got them to help, eh?" He elbowed his twin in the ribs and raised an eyebrow.

"I heard that they train ninjas starting from when they're children," Bill said, staring into his teacup. "I heard that they kill for money."

A morbid silence filled the room. Sirius leaned comfortably back in his chair and met the eyes of Lupin, a small message flew between them. Mundungus had long gone back to sleep. Bill still was staring at his tea leaves, as if trying to divine them while his father rubbed his own temples, trying to get rid of a headache. Tonks slumped back in her chair, a sullen look to her face. Harry tried to interpret the body language: did the Order not agree with Dumbledore's actions?

"So yes," Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat and smiled, "there will be ninjas at Hogwarts this year. I'm willing to allow discussions to continue tomorrow morning, but it's late." She gave a friendly pat to Harry's back, "Time for bed." Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue. One by one the young wizards and witches stood up, and Harry, recognizing the end of a conversation, followed suit.

Chapter Six: The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

Hagrid nudged the four ninjas in and waved good bye to them and said in his gruff voice, "If yeh want, come teh my cabin teh visit."

"Bye Hagrid-san!" Naruto waved back at the lumbering figure. The double doors closed, he turned around, "I like him!" He chirped.

Hinata giggled behind her hand.

"Please come." The elder witch said with a slightly impatient tone. They followed her through the corridors without speaking. Taking the lead, Shikamaru could tell that this woman was all business and made a few discrete hands signs behind his back to signal his teammates to stay silent. The walls were lit up by gas lamps and torches and he wondered whether the magical community was so primitive as to not yet have electric lighting, but shrugged off the question. The ambient magic in the castle must disrupt any sort of modern technology. Hopefully, the modern shinobi technology would fare better.

The whole place was eerily beautiful, the high ceilings had an aesthetic that was never seen in the Land of Fire. They walked up a series of grand staircases. Neji looked around with his Byakugan activated. He saw Naruto's head turning this way and that, looking at the moving staircases that just seem to randomly move wherever their whims directed them to. At least Hinata-sama was conducting herself, despite her own interests, like a proper noble heiress. The walls had privacy seals inside of them too, perhaps not derived from any sort of chakra paper but carved into the stone blocks themselves. His Byakugan could not penetrate through the walls, how fascinating. He directed some chakra toward the Nara heir and made some quick hand signs to him, 'Eyes not through.' Shikamaru nodded.

They stopped climbing at the third floor, and headed off into a series of hallways. Naruto tried to commit a mental map into his head. So many twists, so many turns, so many walls, this was like a three-dimensional maze and therefore a ninja's dream playground.

"I apologize for not giving you a proper tour of the castle, but each staff member will be busy in the coming days for the school term starts," the woman stopped in front of a portrait of a young girl with white hair, "This will be the entrance to your quarters, her name is Ceres Le Fay. You can choose a password that will grant you passage. The password can be changed at any time if you so wish."

"Make it 'ramen'!" Naruto cheered in the back.

"No!" The other two boys yelled a split second later. McGonagall raised a single eyebrow.

"It has to be a word that we all know but don't speak of out loud." Neji announced. "Not 'ramen', not 'chakra', not 'jutsu', not 'Byakugan', not 'Hokage'…" Naruto pouted and crossed his arms.

"Ano, um. 'Sharingan,' would that work?" Hinata meekly offered. She blushed under the sudden attention. Shikamaru made a thoughtful noise.

"Great!" Naruto whooped. "And Sasuke-teme isn't here, it be perfect!" He turned to the pale girl in the portrait, "Password is Sharingan!"

"Sure," She kindly smiled back, "Welcome to the Green Quarters." The portrait swung open.

Naruto was the first to step inside, "Sugoi! Hinata, look! Look!" Hinata disappeared inside behind him. Neji rolled his eyes upward before shooting a look back at Shikamaru, and then he too followed his younger teammates.

Shikamaru stayed outside with the stern lady who spoke first, "Due to some things that have popped up, I'm afraid that the Headmaster will not be able to properly greet or discuss to you what you are suppose to do for the remainder of the mission. In fact, he will be busy for the better part of this week; this amount of time should allow you to familiarize yourselves with your surroundings. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily. Any questions?"

He examined her words; she refused to say any more than she had to. The old witch was, as he regarded her with cool eyes, intimidated, but he admired her ability to stay collected. Their 'guide' had failed to even talk about some specific landmarks and any information regarding the castle on their way up. Stiff yes, collected yes, calm no. "Yes. Is there any place where we can train our skills in private?" He inquired with a flat voice.

He heard in the portrait Naruto's loud voice, "Dibs on this bed!"

"Skills?" She replied with a slightly fainter voice.

A nod, "We are ninjas. We have to constantly hone our abilities."

The elder witch visibly paled and Shikamaru had to wonder what the Outer World thought of his people. "Well there is the Room of Requirement, but I wouldn't suggest it unless you are willing to train at night because the Room is never locked. There are some empty classrooms, yes, I think they would work." She waved a stick… wand. A piece of thick paper appeared in the air, the boy caught it as it floated down. Written in English were the directions to the Room and the schedules for individual classes for the school year. On the back was a drawn map of the entire complex. "Does that satisfy you?"

Shikamaru rolled up the parchment. "Yes." He gave a low bow, "Thank you McGonagall-san, we'll be seeing you tomorrow." He walked through the painting, which closed shut behind him. After a brief scan of his surroundings, his eyes shot up to the source of Naruto's shouting. He sighed as there was still a mission report to be written and sent out by the end of the day. "I'm going to need to borrow Naruto's toads. Naruto will have to plaster privacy seals onto every wall and corner of this place. Troublesome."

OoO

Naruto walked along the ceiling of the Great Hall examining the chakra coated ceiling. This was the coolest genjutsu ever. One can't even cancel it out with a simple 'Kai', because the chakra control comes deep within the castle foundation. Hinata had voiced her thoughts that the castle had a sort of personality; Shikamaru didn't doubt her at all. If he tilted his head back, he could see the hanging lights that hovered a couple feet away from him. He walked along the open sky and clouds, looking left and right hoping that he won't bump into that nasty youkai…

Or what Shikamaru called, "Poltergeist."

It even had a name: Peeves. Damn creature. Couple days ago, Peeves had dropped some soup mixture on his head, when he least expected it. But it was he, Naruto Uzumaki, who had the last laugh. The look on that thing's face after he unleashed a small taste of Kyuubi's chakra was so worth it though. He hadn't met the ghost, or any other ghost for that matter, since. Well, the other ghosts sometimes greeted him, extra politely, like they didn't want to get on his bad side. They obviously sensed the demon inside of him.

He took a discreet glance around. There were no adults here. The caretakers of this place that cleaned the tables and floors after everyone else was gone were little munchkins, strangely cute with eyes and ears that were too big for their heads. They were hairless and skinny, wearing only the barest essential rags. Hinata had told him that they were called "house elves." He wondered if they could talk.

He shook his head and grinned, walking down the wall. The days had been spent doing reconnaissance work, inside and outside this massive citadel. The open scroll that had a map of the school painted on, which was tacked onto the bedroom wall, was continually updated with each additional exploration of the castle. He headed off to the fourth floor, whistling a jaunty tune. Hogwarts was awesome.

Chapter Seven: The Ministry of Magic

Opening the door ever so slightly, Hinata peaked into the room, "Byakugan." She stifled the urge to yawn; it must have been half past five in the morning and she had been sparring with Naruto in that Room of Requirement for half of last night. With her eyes activated, she took in the inventory of the room; there were two rows of hospital beds, neat and tidy, behind a curtain stood another lady bent over a desk full of paper. Turning off her doujutsu, Hinata walked in, to her right there was a cabinet filled with vials of different colored liquids that she had seen at the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary. It piqued her interest: the whole process of potion making reminded her of the way she made medicinal herbal paste at home.

"Hello?" The lady said from behind the curtain, finally sensing the girl. She stepped into view, a rather average looking woman with a sort of white headwear and kind features.

Hinata spun on her heals, "Ano, I'm sorry if I'm d-disrupting you." She apologized, feeling very embarrassed.

The woman continued to scrutinize her, and then her eyes lit up in recognition, "You're one of the ninjas that Dumbledore brought in." She said, with a slight accusing fear in her voice. The Hyuuga heiress was puzzled as to why that was so.

"H-hai." She nervously played with her hands.

The lady's features softened, "Oh sorry dear. I forgot my manners. People call me Madam Pomfrey, I'm Hogwart's medi-witch." She extended a hand.

Aware of the customs of these people due to her visits to her Daimyo as a little child, "Hyuuga Hinata, pleased to m-meet you." She greeted back and quickly added "Hinata's my first name," She looked around at the room. The window allowed rays of sun to warm the floor. Gathering her courage, she asked," Back at my home town, I make medical creams as a hobby and I was just thinking if I could stay and," she took a deep breath, "Watch."

After a split second of thought, the medi-witch smiled, "Of course dear, make yourself at home."

Chapter Eight: The Hearing

"You… you…" Minister Fudge turned into a dark shade of puce that would have made Uncle Vernon proud. "You have ninjas guarding Hogwarts?" With each word he sputtered out, his pitch rose higher and higher until he was imitating Aunt Petunia, Harry noted with a smooth face. The tension in the room has risen to an unbearable level but none of it was directed towards him. Many witches and wizards were murmuring to each other at this new turn of events. Well, Harry would have never anticipated this to happen. The hearing had gotten sidetracked after Hogwarts' new guardians were revealed. "Ninjas, Albus! Are you out of your mind?"

Dumbledore leaned forward on his chair, still refusing to even look at Harry, "Now, Minister. Hogwarts is out of the Ministry's control. I have complete assurance that the ninjas will be beneficial to the castle's safety." He nodded to some members in the stands, specifically, those with children in his stately school.

There was a brief silence of disbelief, Fudge's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, making him look like a fish. Harry wasn't sure whether this was in his favor or not, but the topic had moved from his actions to the Heamaster's. The whole Wizengamot's gaze was glued onto the aged wizard. The minister, whose brain had momentarily smoked out, was finding a hard time to string enough words together to make a sentence; he was finding it hard to even move his mouth to make a single word. The woman that resembled a toad cleared her throat. Fudge sighed, taking out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat off of his forehead, "Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister."

The woman spoke for the second time at the hearing. "Isn't Hogwarts the most securely warded, impenetrable fortress in all of Britain, Headmaster?" She asked in her poison-honey tone. "Then why would you need extra protection from a foreign country that hasn't shown its face to the rest of the world besides Magical Japan in over a hundred years?"

Even from his position, Harry could see the Headmaster's eyes twinkling, "Ah, my dear Dolores. Some men just can't reveal their secrets. Not to worry, I will make sure that they will be perfectly harmless to our good children." Umbridge looked like she had just swallowed a lemon. Good children, Harry couldn't help but wonder what will happen to the bad children. He had stayed up all night reading about the history of Britain's interactions with the Ninja Continent, and they had been neutral so far in almost all aspects. Maybe the people of the Ninja Continent were driven to action by Voldemort's rise from death? Hermione sure thought so; the Japanese Ministry was frantically preparing its own people against a threat in Britain, whereas people in Britain believed that his every word was a dirty lie.

Whatever it might be, he had been on the receiving end of many cautions, "Don't piss off those Asians. It might be the last thing you do."

Somehow, he couldn't stop the image of Cho Chang dressed all in black letting out a war cry right before jumping into a fight, "Hyah!" Maybe Professor Snape would get them mad, now what a sight that would be.

Fudge was calling for order in the chamber, banging his gravel twice. Harry caught the man in the middle of the sentence, "-ope you have a good hold on them, Albus. Ninjas! Merlin!"

Chapter Nine: The Woes of Mrs. Weasley

The group of teens had opted to take a late lunch that day. Hinata have been giving gushing reviews of that kind woman that she had met at the Hospital Wing that morning. Naruto was relaying his traumatic experiences in the North Tower, "-smells strong, it's too stuffy anyways. The whole room had this over decorated, round tables and a glass ball in the middle of each one. And then I was about to turn back, I find this lady right behind me in these gaudy scarves and big glasses! The room was ruining havoc on my senses, just like that wand maker, I didn't even notice her!" He punctuated specific points with hand motions; his only true audience was Hinata.

At the front of the Great Hall was the staff, speaking quietly to each other in low tones. Neji's quietly drained his bowl of soup, stirring the brew with a spoon. Earlier that morning, the old witch, McGonagall, had came to their entrance and asked for their full attendance at lunch, since the Headmaster, having returned from his mysterious trip, was downstairs waiting for them. And there he was, sitting in the middle of the staff table, emanating this unreal power. The man made him uneasy, that was really all to it.

"And she crept over and told me that 'death was nigh'." The hyperactive ninja purposely wavered at the last word, making it sound like he was being shaken as he spoke. "It was so weird, I ran out of that place so fast…"

When around half an hour passed, after everybody was just about done with their meals, the Headmaster of the school stood, silencing all noises around him, "Children from the Ninja Continent, please step forward." Nobody dared to disobey. There must be a sort of spell that made his sentence reverberate and bounce off the stone walls. Something at the side from the back of his head whispered that he should obey someone like Dumbledore with respect, but he pushed it aside.

The four soldiers of Konohakagure stood directly in front of the table, under intense scrutiny. It was if they were like livestock, being examined thoroughly before putting them up for auction; it was extremely degrading. Neji's Byakugan was on, but he tilted his head toward the ground to avoid suspicion. All three of them were perfectly stoic, except for Naruto who sort of slouched in a comfortable position with his hands in his pockets and an easy-going grin on his face. Neji stopped the chakra flow to his eyes, so much for first impressions.

"Albus," a dark haired man with an unpleasant expression and a hooked nose started, "I understand that the reputation of the inhabitants of the Ninja's Continent precedes them, but these are children."

"Severus," the other soothed, "I have high hopes for these shinobis in front of us now. I believe that they are very talented."

"But that doesn't change the point," a short, stout woman with frizzed hair remarked, "that they are just kids." She turned to face the group of four and hazarded a guess, "You all look young. Are you thirteen? Fourteen?" Her eyes drifted toward, what Neji thought, what she thought was the youngest of their group: Naruto.

"I'm turn fifteen in October!" He saluted her. None of the adults looked reassured. The dark man, Severus, muttered something about little brats who couldn't even speak English properly.

But Naruto's actions did relieve some tension in the atmosphere. Shikamaru relaxed his stance; the two Hyuugas followed his lead. "Dumbledore-sama, you have summoned us so we can discuss some details regarding this mission."

The wizard's eyes twinkled, "How could I have forgotten?" He said brightly, "I don't know what your leader has told you, but I'll try to explain the best I can. How you will do all these things are not up to me. I want you four to patrol the entire school grounds at all times, day and night. You will be handing in a report to me every week and if something comes to your attention, please tell me immediately. You will be guarding the school and its students from possible intruders. Try your best to subdue them, don't kill." Naruto blinked back, puzzled. "And specially keep an eye out for one Harry Potter."

Ah, that boy that's mentioned in a bad light in the newspaper. Neji nodded, "Notable physical characteristics?"

"That underweight boy has uncombed black hair, green eyes, glasses, and a lightning bolt shaped scar on the center of his forehead." The ninjas exchanged glances. Well they had dealt with vaguer descriptions. "He's of great importance to us at this moment, I hope you understand."

Shikamaru stepped forward and bowed low, "We will do our best, Dumbledore-sama." He stepped back and flicked his wrist; the group of four left the Great Hall.

The aged wizard cheerfully called behind them, "Good luck next week, the kids start coming in late afternoon."

The group of teens closed the door. For a few minutes, they were all silent, standing still, facing down a silvery corridor; on the other side of the door were the teachers. And then, it seemed like an invisible force used a scissor to cut the thick tension in half. Shikamaru visibly, truly, sagged in relief. Hinata's straight face relaxed into an expression that Neji believed was more suitable for a personality like hers. Naruto grinned to his comrades, "That was interesting. It was like, power play."

"No shit," The Nara heir rubbed his forehead, "I haven't felt this tense since my first mission as a chunin."

"You did well, Shikamaru-kun." Hinata reassured him, "I-I don't think I could place myself in your shoes."

Naruto shushed them. His head was cocked toward the door, "Someone new is in the room, and…Dolores is an English feminine name right? She just walked in through the entrance."

"I heard that the Headmaster needed a new Defense against Dark Arts teacher, would that be her?"

"Yeah sure," The blond's eyes narrowed as he concentrated, "She has this overly sweet and fake voice." A beat, "I don't think I like her."

OoO

"What are you doing, Hagrid-san?" Naruto looked up at the towering hulk of human. He had decided to pay the big man another visit. Usually, the burly man would be feeding his assorted pets, which all, despite their physical differences, big, fat, small, skinny, deadly, poisonous, seemed to love him and cooed in his presence. It created an overall comical effect. But today, Hagrid was placed the ropes around a creature that he had never seen before. The creatures looked like emaciated horses that were distant cousins of reptiles with wings. They were pitch-black and their eyes glowed with a certain amount of intelligence.

"Eh? Hi Naruto." Hagrid walked by, leading the creature over to the front of the carriage, "Ye can see em?" Naruto nodded, "Hmm, I guess that ye would. They're threstrals, beauts ain't they?" He beamed proudly at the one at his side and gave the demon horse a playful pat on the side. "Only people who had seen death could see 'em. They eat only raw meat, give 'em a slab of steak and they love ye te pieces."

The thestral nudged Naruto's neck and whinnied, the boy saw a row of sharp teeth. "Are they harmless?" He nervously asked.

"Mostly, as long as ye dun insult 'em they won hurt ye. They'd be pullin' the carriages that'll hold the children tomorrow." The big man patted his horse affectionately on the head. "Dun worry, they're like kittens."

The demon-horse's breath smelled like rotten flesh, "…right."

Chapter Ten: Luna Lovegood

The team of four had spent all morning running through last minute plans. Shikamaru had read a book on level five spell work last night and found by accident a spell that could translate Japanese to English. That meant that the group of nins couldn't communicate secretly between them if anything important was to come up. In the midst of panic and arm flapping, the latter courteously contributed by Naruto, the Nara scion had to give the other three ninjas a crash course in detailed hand sign language.

Shikamaru thanked Kami that although their other electronic equipment didn't work, at least their communicators did. "Fox to Shadow, I'm in position, as are Fox Two through Fox One-Hundred."

Hinata's voice cracked through, "Sun to Shadow, I'm on the West Wall."

Neji's voice appeared a moment later, "Spiral to Shadow, I'm ready."

Shikamaru blended as one with the shadows. "Copy all that. Get ready, the older students are coming in."

The doors opened with a bang.