A New Path

The loneliness that Naruto had once felt in his life had disappeared, all because of one person— Harry. Harry had been a light in Naruto's life, something he didn’t know that he needed in the first place. Even better, they’re roommates! Hokage-jiji had told Naruto that Harry would be staying with him for “special purposes”. Naruto accepted it without any protest.

Harry took one look at the state of Naruto’s apartment and decided it was his life's mission to clean up the entire place. He was surprisingly efficient and quick,

“Woah, so fast!” Naruto exclaimed, as the once dirty apartment now looked squeaky clean. It gave Naruto whiplash at the sudden change in appearance. Harry grins broadly as he puts the random cleaning supplies up (Where did he even get them from?).

“Thank you.” Harry said as he adjusted his glasses, and he goes into the kitchen. Just from the dirty appearance, Harry assumes that there isn’t any food either, and his guess was proved correct. There wasn’t anything in the refrigerator but expired milk. Harry closed the fridge and checked the kitchen cabinets: nothing but ramen, however, some of them had met their expired date. Completely unhealthy, how Naruto was still alive when he was only eating stuff that was old and rotten? Harry has no idea. 

It reminded Harry of the abuse he went through with the Dursleys, they barely fed him, and even then it had only been leftovers when he was fed. Harry’s jaw stiffens from the thought, and he makes it his goal to make sure that Naruto has a different life than him. A better one.

Surprisingly, the villagers didn’t give Naruto any looks, glances, or glares. The shopping trip was peaceful, but it may have been because of Harry and his scary glare. Once they got all they needed, they went back home, and the once-empty apartment was filled with food, snacks, and drinks. All the old stuff was thrown out by Harry himself. 

“Naruto,” Harry starts, catching Naruto's attention as they sit at the dinner table, eating ramen. “What’s your goal in life?” Harry asks with a serious expression. Naruto’s eyebrow quirks up and he slurps on his ramen noodles, messily swallowing them. Yet, Harry doesn’t look even an inch bothered by the sight. He must’ve seen worst.

“What do ya mean?” Naruto cocks his head to the side, a question mark popping up over his head. Harry’s expression shifts into something more lighthearted and he eats his bowl of ramen noodles as well, but just a little less messier than Naruto’s way of eating.

“What do you want to achieve in your life? Since you’re attending the Ninja Academy, I’m sure it has to be something big,” Harry specifies while he continues eating.

Naruto’s lips form an “O,” and his bright blue eyes light up like stars. His lips spread into a wide, toothy grin. “Oh! Well, I’m going to be the Hokage of the village!” Naruto declares.

Harry blinks and he observes Naruto: “Ok. Why?”

The question catches Naruto off-guard because when he announces that he wants to be Hokage, he is usually brushed aside, or made fun of. No one ever takes him seriously, so this is a surprise. Naruto scratches his hair and he thinks…. Why does he want to be Hokage? Sure it was to be respected and acknowledged by everyone who treated him badly, but… What else? If he became Hokage, what would he do? Would he change the village for good or bad? Lead it into victory or despair?

Harry smiles once he sees that his question has made Naruto think deeply about his desire to become Hokage, and he slurps on his ramen noodles, “From your silence, I’m assuming you don’t know why you desire to be the Hokage. Which is fine. Many people have big goals, but they don’t know why they have them,” Harry said, he sounded quite wise beyond his years, but it’s because he has experience with this. Before he was sent to this universe, Harry wasn’t sure what goal he had in life, sure, defeating Voldemort was one of them, but what else? Once Voldemort was defeated, what did he want to do or be in life? It’s an answer he didn’t have the answer to. But now…. Maybe he can start his life anew. 

“Starting off small helps.” Harry advises and it breaks Naruto out of his thoughts.

“Starting off small…” Naruto mumbles and rubs his chin, then he nods his head, as he finds a new goal in mind: “I’m gonna be more studious, so that way I can get stronger, dattebayo!”

“I’ll hold you to it then, Naruto.”

Harry’s goal may align with Naruto’s goal to be more studious, after all, he’s in a new world. He’s gonna need all the information he can get, especially about their magic. Harry doesn’t know how to explain it, but the energy in this world is different from the magic he knows. He’s unsure if that’s a good or bad thing.

Harry spent his Saturday catching up on his lag in Charka and Ninjutsu. Naruto had helpfully advised that those two topics were the main things they were learning. 

“Taijutsu is somewhat self-taught,” Naruto said while reading about the control of charka. “At least, I taught myself.” He added absently. 

Harry squints his eyes, and his eyebrow quirks up. “Well, I guess we can practice together," He decides, then goes back to studying.

Naruto smiles and he goes back to studying as well.

From what Harry can understand, his charka type is fire and lightning. Before The Hokage took him to the Academy, he had given him a piece of paper to put his charka in. Harry didn’t know how to do that, so he let his instincts guide him. His instincts had worked and revealed his charka type, meaning he has an affinity for fire and lighting justsu. Harry can only assume that both of them are powerful in their own right. So, he’s off to a good start, especially with his large chakra reserves. Before his magic had changed into charka, Harry had a good amount of it, larger than a regular wizard. And it seems that it transferred over to his new charka reserves, which Harry assumes is a good thing. 

Naruto had told him they were learning basic things in the Academy: the Transformation and Clone Technique. Of course, there were other subjects, but since Harry had arrived mid-year, he would have to learn for himself. It was hard to choose, but ultimately Harry chose the option to learn both of the techniques because it was the current thing they were being taught. 

And the results weren’t… exactly successful.

“How’d you manage that?” Naruto questioned while looking at the grotesque sight of Harry’s clone. It’s so gross to look at that Naruto completely turns a different degree so it isn’t in his line of sight.

Harry sighs and scratches the top of his head, “I have no clue… Think I put a bit too much charka in the jutsu.” Harry responds and he gets rid of the disgusting-looking clone. 

Harry tries again, and shuts his eyes, concentrating on making a clone of himself. Harry imagines a clone of himself, manipulating his charka to create an accurate one this time. His hands formed the signs for the jutsu: “Clone jutsu!” A replica of Harry pops up, it was perfect. Harry sighed with relief at the sight of it, it would’ve been a pain to not have learned the jutsu needed to graduate.

Naruto makes a soft noise at the sight of the clone: “Huh, I’ve never been good at the Clone technique, the transformation one was much easier for me.” Naruto remarks which makes Harry turn to him with a curious expression.

“Really? Well, you can help me with the transformation technique, and I’ll help you with the clone technique.” Harry said as he got rid of the successful clone he had made. Naruto responds with a nod, a bright grin on his face. 

What seemed to be Naruto’s issue with the clone technique was that he was putting too much charka in one clone, like Harry, Naruto’s body held too much charka that it didn’t know what to do with. It was all about controlling how much charka you put in a clone, however, Harry came up with a solution. Instead of Naruto creating one clone, he can do multiple! So he doesn’t have to struggle putting too much Charka into one clone. 

“I think that’s already a jutsu.” Naruto said as he observed the many clones he had made of himself.

“It is?” Harry questioned, if it already was, then wouldn’t it have been taught in the Ninja Academy? Unless it was too hard of a skill to learn, so it wouldn’t have been part of the curriculum.

“Yea, but I forgot the name of it.” Naruto responds with a slightly dismissive tone. Harry shrugs in return and they get back to studying.

Naruto tries his best to teach Harry the transformation technique, transforming yourself is quite different than making a clone. It requires complete focus, you’re essentially putting an illusion over your appearance, and you must keep that illusion at all costs. This means pouring your charka into the genjustu, if not, the transformation will break. Naruto has such a talent for it that he managed to make himself look like a girl before, but he’s always used it for pranks and to create a scene during class.

“It sounds like you’re gifted at genjutsu.” Harry comments which makes Naruto think deeply. 

Naruto has never thought about the things he was good at because he’s never seen himself to be a prodigy, intelligent, or studious. He’s always been the class clown his pranks weren’t anything but stupid or annoying. Yet there was hidden giftedness to his pranks, the genjutsus he was able to do, the ability to physically alter his appearance without any illusion, and his physical attributes: He’s always been weirdly fast or strong, without any training. Naruto always could be more, if anyone ever encouraged him, instead of putting him down. So, Naruto shall be more than what people think of him. This goal and realization set Naruto free from his loneliness and anger. He only has one person to thank: Harry.

People start to notice that Naruto, the class clown, prankster, etc., has changed. He’s more serious about his education, doesn’t do any pranks anymore, and he’s engaged in the Academy. Of course, it was all thanks to the sudden new student, Harry Potter. He has shown to be a great student himself, observant, and also studious. Harry Potter had made a positive impact on Naruto that no one else would be capable of doing, he made him shine more brighter in the darkness, and he set a flame inside Naruto. A flame of hope and determination. 

But it wasn’t just Naruto that Harry had changed, it was also another… A pink-haired girl named Sakura. Sakura was a smart person, anyone with eyes could see that, but her true potential was held back because of her crush on a boy: Sasuke Uchiha, the second-living Uchiha (His older brother is still alive) his clan was tragically killed by his older brother, Itachi. Yet, he wasn’t met with sympathy, but only with adoring fans, people who “worshipped” him. Harry felt a sense of understanding with Sasuke, forced to be in the spotlight, with no one to understand the pain inside your heart. The tragedy of not being able to see the people you loved. Ever again.

Besides that, he had spoken with Sakura because she reminded him a little bit of Hermione. 

“Hi.” Harry said, standing next to Sakura, as they watched the taijutsu practice occur. 

Sakura blinks, surprise crossing her face, and she stares at Harry questioningly, “Hi?” She’s never interacted with Harry before, so she is rightfully confused about this sudden occurrence.

“My names Harry,” Harry introduces himself, even though Sakura already knows his name. “What’s yours?” He asks with twinkling eyes.

“Uh, Sakura Haruno.” Sakura said with a bit of pride because she comes from a regular family, there isn’t anything “important” about her, as she’s been told multiple times by other people. But there is something special about her, and she’ll prove it to the whole damn world that there is. 

“Sakura Haruno,” Harry echoes and he cocks his head to the side, observing Sakura, “Well, Sakura, what’s your goal in life?”

The question catches Sakura off-guard and it makes her pause, she thinks, but she doesn’t have the answer to Harry’s question. Harry smiles slightly and he stuffs his hands into his pockets: “When you figure it out, come find me!” He said over his shoulder, disappearing into the crowds of students.

Sakura frowns and she stares off into the distance, wondering to herself, what is her goal in life?

Sasuke ran into Harry on a random day, in the Academy’s training fields. It caught Sasuke off-guard because he’d never run into anyone on the training field before, it’s usually empty, and Sasuke likes it like that. But now, he’s met face-to-face with a spiky-haired, who had odd twinkling green eyes: “Hi, my names Harry!” He chirps with an easy-going smile.

Sasuke blinks slowly and he stares back blankly, “My name is Sasuke Uchiha.” Sasuke responds awkwardly, put off by Harry’s chirpiness.

“Sasuke Uchiha,” Harry echoes with a pondering expression then he asks an unexpected question, “What is your goal in life, Sasuke?”

Sasuke’s expression darkens at the question and his eyes narrowed: “To kill my brother for murdering my clan.” Sasuke responds, venom in his voice, but a hidden sense of sorrow. After all, he is only a child, and a child can grieve until they’re dead.

“Ah,” Harry nods with an unbothered expression, usually, Sasuke is met with pitying expressions. But Harry only has understanding in his twinkling eyes, “After you’ve killed your brother, what shall you do?” Harry asks, tilting his head to the side. Sasuke's dark expression changes into something more confused and vulnerable.

“I’ll bring my clan back to its former glory.” Sasuke responds but he doesn’t sound very sure of this goal. Harry raises his eyebrow, his eyes are insightful.

“Ok. What happens after that?” Harry questions and it leaves Sasuke quiet. Harry smiles at Sasuke’s quietness, just like he expected, Sasuke was so zeroed in on the goal of killing his older brother that he didn’t have any plan of what he’ll do when he accomplished that goal. “Well, when you figure it out, find me.” Harry said softly, then he walked away, leaving Sasuke pondering.

Maybe… Sasuke thought as he stared up into the blue sky, Revenge can wait.