Bit late on the update thanks to a busy life but since today I am now on holiday I'll do it now.

Thank you all for reading, reviewing and favoriting , seriously it's strange to think people actually like my writing.

Also to those who reviewed about issues they have with the plot so far (you know who you are), chill. It's just getting started and I haven't even gone into depth with it yet.

In Konoha:

Kakashi gazed out the window, seemingly ignoring the people in the room with him. He knew they had questions and knew he had to answer them. It just seemed that telling them would make it all that bit more real. He turned to face them.

"Removing Naruto and Sasuke from the area was top priority as it has been reported that the threat has been spotted near the border" Kakashi spoke "the fact that I could send them as far away as possible is a blessing and even better they are in a situation where they will learn about magic"

"Putting them on the mission was a questionable move" Gai nodded "a protection mission is far to simple a mission for shinobi of their level. However with the threat becoming exactly that, a threat. It was for the best"

"Agreed" Tsunade spoke "does anyone on the team you sent have any idea about whats going on?" she asked.

"Yes" Kakashi answered "before they left I spoke to Shikamaru and told him the situation"

"They'll listen to him" Gai gave his approval "but I'm worried about it them being ... noticed over there. Surely this guy isn't working alone"

"My thoughts exactly" Kakashi agreed "which is why I've instructed Shikamaru to keep Naruto and Sasuke from using large amounts of chakra or even constant amounts. No using Kurama's chakra, no sharingan, no shadow clones. Hopefully that will keep them from being noticed by their chakra"

"But isn't putting them around Wizards a bad idea?" Tsunade asked "especially if you think this guy has comrades?"

Kakashi thought for a moment then spoke "I believe they are best hidden among potential enemies, who would expect it?" then added "also if it's true and this guy has both magic and jutsu then them having some first hand experience around magic will give us a bit of an advantage"

"Magic and jutsu" Tsunade sighed "why is there always something?"

At Hogwarts

"This is so stupid" Naruto groaned as he took a seat next to Hinata.

It was the morning of their first classes for the year and Naruto wasn't the least bit enthusiastic about it.

"Oh come on Naruto-kun" Hinata spoke cheerily "It'll be really interesting"

Her attempts to cheer him up didn't work.

"But why can't I just use a clone?" he asked in Japanese.

"Because Shikamaru said no" Hinata stated simply.

"Who made him captain" Naruto muttered rhetorically.

"Anyway" Hinata said "you'll feel better once you have some breakfast" she indicated to the food in front of them.

"She's right you know" Sakura said as she stood behind them "you always perk up after you eat something" she gave them a wave and continued on to where Harry and his friends sat at the Gryffindor table.

"I wish there was ramen" Naruto sighed as he buttered some toast.

Across the hall at the Slytherin table Sasuke and Sai sat apart from the rest of the house. The two had unintentionally made the members of the house wary of them. Could have been Sasuke's glares or Sai's attempts at giving out nicknames.

"This mission is ridiculous" Sasuke spoke.

"A mission is a mission" was all Sai replied with.

The two weren't really on 'friend' level yet, things made a bit awkward since Sai was Sasuke's replacement and a constant remainder about why he was his replacement.

Their fairly comfortable silence was broken when Malfoy sat across from them. He stared at the two for a minute before speaking.

"Seeing as you are both transfers and don't really know your way around Hogwarts, I am willing to be your guide. Help you from making some undesirable mistakes"

It was obvious that he wasn't referring to the castle itself.

"Stick with me and I'll show you the ropes" he spoke confidently "you don't want to find yourself with the wrong people" he waited for an answer.

"My friend and I could certainly do with a bit of help on the subject" Sasuke spoke, having decided that if he was going to keep an eye on Malfoy, it would be best to join his little group.

"That's good to hear" Malfoy smirked "I've got things to do right now but later I'll tell you what you need to know" with that he got up and re-joined Crabbe and Goyle.

"You do realize that we have to spend a lot of time around him now?" Sai asked, not liking the idea of having to be around Malfoy for long periods of time.

"Best way to keep an eye on him" Sasuke explained "we can take shifts to being around him if you want" he offered.

"That would be best" Sai spoke.

At the Gryffindor table Sakura listened to Hermione rattle on about the history of Hogwarts.

"Hermione" Ron started "do you really think you should be scaring her away already?" he joked.

"Unlike some people" she gave Ron and Harry a pointed look "she actually is interested in learning about Hogwarts"

It was mostly true. Sakura knew a lot already after reading a few history books but Hermione had some information she didn't.

"Well it's boring me to death just listening" Ron replied.

"Fine" Hermione rolled her eyes "what do you want to talk about Ronald?"

"How about this Triwizard Tournament?" Ron suggested "and it's stupid age rule" he added.

"Of course that has your interest" Hermione sighed.

"Why wouldn't it? I must be pretty awesome if it's cause to cancel quidditch" Ron spoke then turned to Harry "right Harry?"

"Definitely, although that age restriction kinda makes sense if it's actually deadly" Harry replied.

"If it was SO deadly why would we even be hosting it?" Ron pointed out.

"Because this school doesn't seem to understand what 'dangerous' means" Sakura joined the conversation.

"True ..." Both Harry and Ron agreed.

"But, really it's probably not even that big of a deal" Ron brushed off "hopefully its a good show though"

They continued discussing the tournament till breakfast ended and they left for their first class of the year, Herbology.

"We have to do what?" Naruto practically shouted,

"Collect pus Mr Uzumaki" Professor Sprout smiled.

"Why?"

"Bubotuber pus is used for ..." although Professor Sprout continued speaking about the pus and its uses, Naruto had stopped listening and turned to Hinata.

"This is a gross class"

"And here I thought you would fine with something as simple as pus" Sakura spoke from the table next to his.

"Why would I?" he asked defensively.

"Aren't you the 'Konoha Hero'?" she questioned "what would the villagers think if they knew you were squeamish about pus?"

"I'M NOT SQUEAMISH!" he shouted "I just don't think collecting pus is very nice" he added softly.

"Right, sure" Sakura laughed.

"Hinata-chan... Sakura is being mean to me" Naruto pouted, causing Hinata to giggle.

"Just ignore her and get on with pus collecting" she instructed.

Naruto reluctantly got on with the task and by the end of the class only got pus in his hair, which was lucky seeing as most student were fairly covered.

Next for Gryffindor was Care for Magical Creatures with Hagrid. Which excited Harry, Ron and Hermione greatly even though they were paired with the Slytherin's. Which put a smile on Sakura's face.

"How was your first class?" Sakura asked Sai and Sasuke as they waited for the rest of the class to arrive.

"Boring" the boys answered together.

"How unfortunate, did you even try to get into it?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Its a waste of time" Sasuke spoke "we aren't here to learn"

"True but picking up some new knowledge wouldn't hurt" Sakura pointed out.

"What class did you just have to make you so positive about learning?" Sai asked.

"Herbology. Just collecting pus but still fairly interesting"

"To you at least" Sasuke spoke.

"Maybe" she replied "anyway, you both gonna join the trio for this class?" she asked.

"No, we've gotten into Malfoy's circle and he hates those three, so it wouldn't be wise to be around them so openly" Sai explained "looks like your on them for now"

"Right, well have fun with Malfoy" she waved at them before joining the trio who were talking with Hagrid about the creature they would be studying for the next while.

"But aren't they dangerous?" Hermione questioned.

"Anything can be dangerous Hermione" Hagrid stated "but if everyone listens to me and stays out from behind them, then everything should be fine" he smiled happily. Obviously Hagrid didn't see the the danger the Blast-ended Skrewts posed but that was just how Hagrid was. Always seeing the best in things.

"I think these creatures are kinda interesting really" Sakura spoke up as she stared at what she assumed was the head of one.

"They are very interesting creatures and we will be taking care of them for the term" Hagrid said proudly.

"This isn't going to be as great and easy as it sounds will it?" Ron sighed.

"Not at all" Harry also sighed.

The four picked out a Blast-ended Skrewt and started feeding it, if dropping food near it counts as feeding.

Across the hall Naruto could see Sasuke and Sai sitting with Malfoy and his little gang. The two looked out of place and yet completely in their element at the same time. It was rather confusing.

"Do you think that under different circumstances that Sasuke would have ended up in a different house?" Naruto asked Hinata suddenly.

Hinata thought for a moment then spoke "maybe but whatever made the Sorting Hat put him in Slytherin might have been a trait that had always been there, even before everything that happened"

"Yeah true but it makes me wonder if hes actually changed" Naruto sighed.

"Are you doubting Sasuke?" Hinata asked, concern evident in her voice.

"No ... maybe a little. If he'd been put in Gryffindor I wouldn't be thinking like this" he tried to explain himself "him being put into a house that has a reputation for being evil really doesn't help any thoughts I have about him"

"You need to remember that the house isn't evil and that the reputation was made by a few students who ended up being bad people. That doesn't mean that every student sorted into that house is evil. Maybe he was only sorted into that house because of how he focused everything he had on his ambitions. Of course his ambitions weren't very good but they weren't necessarily bad"

Naruto simply stared at her silently for a solid minute.

"I knew there was a reason I love you" he spoke with a smile.

Hinata blushed deeply and stuttered out a response of "you should worry about him, he's not like he used to be"

"Your completely right Hinata-chan" Naruto grinned "its silly of me to be worrying so much"

"What is Divination?" Sakura asked as she followed Harry and Ron up to the class room.

"You predict stuff and look at planets" Ron replied "its a phony class, just go with it"

"Right .." now she was wishing that she had gone with Hermione rather then leaving her for Sai and Sasuke to keep an eye on. At least Divination was with the Ravenclaws.

Shikamaru truly did try to pay attention to the class but after around 15 minutes he had drifted of to sleep and woke some time later after someone whacked him with a book.

"If I have to put up with this crap, then so do you" Sakura hissed at the sleepy shinobi.

"That is not a good enough reason to wake me" he sighed "this class is a bore"

"And because it's a bore, no one is playing attention so everyone is getting unnecessary homework" she explained "now I really wish I had gone with Hermione"

Shikamaru didn't go to his last class for the day, he feinted sick and spent the time wandering the corridors of Hogwarts. He found some rather interesting rooms, one of which seemed to vanish after he deemed it irrelevant.

Overall his patrol was boring and nothing happened.

Once the final class of the day was over and students flooded the corridors as they made their escape from their teachers, he encountered Sasuke and promptly appointed him the next shift of patrolling. Sasuke didn't seem to mind, not that Shikamaru really cared. He just wanted to get back to the Ravenclaw common room and have a quick nap before his patrol tonight.

Later that night Naruto and Hinata walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest together.

"This mission is ... well ... stupid" Naruto spoke.

"Well this isn't the kind of mission someone of your level would normally be on" Hinata pointed out.

"But I was put on it" Naruto frowned "which means either it is just a simple mission that I shouldn't be on OR Kakashi-sensei thinks something really super bad is going to happen"

"I hope its that first one" Hinata spoke "but with our luck it will be the worst possible situation"

"Lets just hope i'm being melodramatic" Naruto laughed.

"Wouldn't be the first time" Hinata said playfully.

"Even though that is true, I refuse to agree with you" he grinned.

"You just did!" Hinata laughed.

"No ... ugh ...I guess I did" Naruto pouted.

The two continued on like this as they walked, not really paying much attention to their surroundings.

Naruto was in the middle of thrilling tale when he suddenly came to a stop.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"Someone is in the forest" Hinata confirmed, having activated her byakugan.

"Lets go" Naruto's layed back attitude gone and a serious expression set on his face.

Very short chapter i'm sorry. But it's all I could do at the moment (getting myself back into the swing of things). Seeing as i am on holiday at the moment I should be able to update quicker. No more long waits ... hopefully. Sorry about that again.

Anyway, thank you for putting up with me and reading this. Means a lot, really it does.

xx LostOnGallifrey