Chapter one
Chapter one
"umph!"
The sound startled the wizards sitting around the table. The smoke that accompanied the sound made it even harder to see in the dimly lit kitchen of Number twelve, Grimmauld place.
Instantly on guard, they surrounded the unknown object with pointed wands; as the puff of smoke cleared away, horrification replaced the prior confusion as they realized a figure lay unconscious on the floor.
Mrs. Weasley's head was spinning. The boy that lay on the floor could not be older than some of her younger kids; yet he was covered in blood and his clothes were in tatters; she resisted the urge to go check the child's well-being and instead opted to look around at the confused and alarmed faces of the Order.
"What in Merlin's name just happened?" Sirius' loud voice cut through the stunned silence. His wand was still pointed at the kid, but his eyes were frantically darting around the room, searching for more threats.
"Contact Dumbledore," Mad-eye Moody growled, "Now!" he added when none made a move.
Tonks nodded and hurried out of the kitchen, leaving the rest of the order to deal with restraining the possible threat that had invaded the safe house of their organization so easily.
Remus Lupin had seen his fair share of weirdness in his life. He was a werewolf, after all; but a mortally wounded teenager materializing out of thin air in one of the most heavily guarded places in Britain had to make it in his top five in the bizarreness scale.
As the boy had been unconscious –Moody made sure of that- it was easier to restrain him. After analyzing him with his mechanical eye, the man had even suggested leaving his wounds as they were, rationalizing that a wounded enemy was an easier enemy, as it would give the Aurors the upper hand in battle if it came to; this suggestion, however, was quickly shut down by Mrs. Weasley's horrified protests, stating that no matter the occupation, he is still just a kid!.
Lupin was not sure whether he shared the same view as her, although deep down he knew that he would never be able to forgive himself if the kid died because of their neglect of his wounds, so he volunteered to heal the boy to an extent.
He examined the teen that had been tied to a chair with some protective wards placed around him. Although in rags, he had an interesting set of clothes on him: an orange and black jacket with a fishnet shirt underneath, matching orange trousers with bandages wrapped around his right thigh and his whole right hand, along with sandals on his feet. And they were all soaked in blood, except for the peculiar headband that he wore on his forehead.
Just by looking, Lupin located several deep cuts and burn marks, a heavily bruised eye and busted lips. He sighed and carefully ripped the already torn shirt, to get a better view of the wounds on the torso.
His heart sank, and he heard several others behind him gasp at the sight that was before them.
He immediately pulled out his wand and started murmuring the incantations of all the medical spells he knew that would treat burn marks.
Naruto's head was pounding. He was slowly regaining consciousness, feeling gradually coming back to his numb limbs. As this happened, unfortunately, memories of the past hours also came flooding back to him.
How could he be so stupid?
He remembered snippets of their fight; Sasuke's chidori hitting him straight in the chest, his rasengan going into the other boy's stomach. He remembered the words that were exchanged, the hurt in his best friend's eyes; the confusion and the disbelief. They had always understood each other best when fighting, after all. However, this time was different. It was too intense, too emotional. Neither had been in their best form, still recovering from the war; the last thing Naruto remembered was seeing a flash of Sasuke's left eye –the Rinnegan- while he was trying to pull the other man into an embrace after they had both exhausted their chakra reserves and were on their knees in that damned valley.
As he regained more of his senses, the shinobi realized how dangerously low his chakra levels were, and how it was taking him much longer to build up the energy. Naruto tensed when he noticed that he was tied down, and he tensed even more when he realized he could not sense any chakra around him.
Ignoring his body's protests and the soreness, he slowly opened his eyes, and as they adjusted to the dimly lit room, he was faced with an extremely bizarre sight of an old man with baby blue robes and an unnecessarily long beard staring back at him, as though he was looking right into his soul.
Albus Dumbledore was concerned. As he looked at the unconscious teenager tied in front of him, he thought of all the possibilities and the threats this boy could pose for them. He had many questions, and very little answers for them. How had this boy breached their security measures? And if he was an enemy infiltrator, why was he injured? It did not make sense to send a weakened spy. Was it a ruse to make them let down their guard? No, the injuries had been real; lupin confirmed it. Had Voldemort figured out a way around their wards and sent this kid to test the way? It was unlikely, the dark lord would not be that careless.
It had been approximately three hours since the threat had been captured and restrained. The Order had bombarded him with questions when he had arrived, none of which he had answers to. He had kindly asked them to wait until the boy in question woke up, so they could properly interrogate him.
Dumbledore studied the youths features carefully. Spiky blonde hair, adorned with a headband with a strange symbol on it that Dumbledore was not familiar with. He made a note to look up any information he could on the swirly design that faintly looked like a leaf. He had tan skin, and some strange marks on his cheeks that resembled whiskers in a way. Slightly upturned nose, and an angular face (although it was hard to distinguish that with all the swelling and bruises) he looked almost Asian, but not quite. Dumbledore couldn’t place his hand on it. The professor noted the small cuts he had seen earlier, which were now slowly closing up. This boy healed faster than a regular wizard.
The figure tensed, and Dumbledore stood straight and motioned to the other witches and wizards in the room. He was awake.
Slowly, the boy opened his eyes. They were a startling shade of blue, and they widened for a fraction of a second before going blank as he made eye contact with the old wizard.
The boy scanned the room strategically, his eyes resting on all the people present in the room. Dumbledore watched with interest as he stiffened and looked back into his own eyes and finally spoke up.
It was, however, in another language.
The members of the order were slightly taken aback, not expecting the foreign language.
Not getting an answer, the boy seemed to get agitated and he repeated his words, more aggressively this time, struggling against his restraints.
Dumbledore recognized the language as Japanese, and he rummaged through his vast list of spells for a translation charm. He lifted his wands and performed the spell.
Upon seeing the raised wand, the boy looked confused, but once hearing Dumbledore speak, he tensed and struggled against the ropes. Sirius Black was glad they had enhanced those ropes with a spell that made them self-repair in case of being ripped, because the teen –to Sirius' surprise- managed to rip them.
"Who the hell are you people?" the boy yelled again, this time in English. His voice held a slight accent, and he sounded panicked. "What did you just do with that stick?" the last part was aimed at Dumbledore.
Sirius frowned. Stick?
It seemed he was not the only one confused. One look around the circle gathered around the captive told him the others shared his thoughts.
Moody decided to ignore the kids questions, and asked some of his own, in that gruff tone of his. "How did you get into this house? Are you working for Voldemort?"
The boy turned to the source of the voice, and he looked even more confused. Sirius couldn’t blame him; Moody was a sight to behold.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, and everyone's attention turned back to him.
"My boy, can you please tell us who sent you here? And explain how you got injured?" his tone was definitely a lot gentler than Mad-eye's had been.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the old man. He was familiar with the kind grandpa act, Sandaime-sama had used it on him all the time to get him to do things. He wasn’t going to fall for it. He also hadn’t missed the fact that the old geezer had not put away that weird stick –the one that had sparked and changed his freakin' language! - either.
Naruto's mind was racing, processing the facts he knew. He was in unfamiliar territory. He had been captured, his capturers were hostile, but they didn’t know who he was. And the weirdest part, what unnerved him the most: they were not shinobi.
Civilians? No, it couldn’t be. The ropes they had used on him were special. Normally, he could’ve easily freed himself, but he had almost died from chakra exhaustion and his wounds (thanks, Sasuke). His chakra was building up much slower than usual.
Which reminded him, his wounds were mostly healed. Had they healed him? Or was it Kurama?
"Answer him!"
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the same gruff voice. The man it belonged to was strange; he had long wisps of gray hair and it looked like a chunk was missing from his nose.
"I don’t know what you're talking about! Get these stupid ropes off me, its not nice to tie people up ya know!" Naruto countered heatedly. He was starting to get annoyed. He had enough chakra to get out of his bounds if he wanted to by now, but he opted not to. He didn’t know the enemy's powers yet, and he was not about to risk finding out what else those weird sticks they held did.
He saw momentary confusion in their faces; they hadn’t expected his answer it seemed.
The old man, who Naruto categorized as their boss, flicked his stick in a weird motion and at once the ropes that held him sagged and fell limp around him. He blinked in surprise, and the yelps coming from some of the other people in the room told him he wasn’t the only one.
Naruto looked at the man in disbelief. He hadn’t expected the old geezer to actually release him.
"Um, thank you?" the kid said dubiously. Lupin could see the gears turning in his head as he rubbed his arms, probably sore from being bound so tight.
The man was admittedly surprised when Dumbledore released the boy, but he could understand why. The captive didn’t seem hostile, he either was an extremely good actor, or he was genuinely as confused as they were. It was more likely to get information out of him like this, and in case of an attack he was severely outnumbered; the situation was in their favor. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mrs. Weasley sigh in relief. She had been against tying him up in the first place.
"What is your name, young man?" Dumbledore used the same gentle tone.
The boy narrowed his cerulean eyes for a second, but answered nonetheless. "Uzumaki Naruto. Where am I?"
"You are in London, Britain, Mr. Uzumaki." The headmaster replied.
If possible, the boy –Naruto- looked even more confused and a bit horrified at that, but he didn’t say anything.
"it seems we both have questions we need answers to, my dear boy. Do you want a glass of water before we sit down and talk?"
At the boy's eager nod, Mrs. Weasley disappeared into the kitchen.
Lupin was thinking about the professor's motives. Was he trying to gain the kids trust? How had he ruled out the possibility of a threat enough to unbound him? Sure the boy looked around the same age as Harry, but something about him unnerved Remus. There were instances in the short conversation they had had that something flashed in those blue eyes, and as more time passed the air around him was gradually changing, becoming charged with something he couldn’t quite put his hand on, but his inner wolf was sensing it perfectly. The hairs on the back of Lupin's hair prickled. Something was dangerous about this boy; he'd have to warn Albus about it.
His train of thought was interrupted by Mrs. Weasley coming back with a glass of water. The boy gulped it down and grinned brightly for a moment while thanking her; he then seemed to remember the situation he was in and his smile dropped instantaneously. It was almost comical.
Professor Dumbledore waved his wand once again, and some chairs materialized for himself and the members of the order to sit on. At this, the boy made a startled sound and stood up, the sudden action causing the wizards to point their wands at him.
Could that boy be a muggle? The thought horrified Remus, but he quickly pushed it aside. that couldn't be.
The boy was eyeing them warily now, but he sat down again.
"You didn’t tell me your name," he stated plainly, looking at Dumbledore. "or what you are."
"My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I am a wizard, Mr. Uzumaki."
Saying Naruto was confused would be an understatement. Firstly, he couldn’t figure out why the old man released him so easily; did he plan to attack? Or was he that sure of his own abilities to take him down if need be? Although he could sense no chakra from him, Naruto could feel the old geezer was powerful; but definitely not as powerful as he himself could be. That thought calmed him down a bit.
Secondly, He had confirmed that he was not in the elemental nations, which would explain the lack of chakra. This worried him greatly, as he had little to no information about the outside world, and did not know a way back.
Last but not least, he was dealing with wizards; he distinctly remembered Iruka-sensei talking about them in one of his classes, but he couldn’t recall anything significant. He had been planning a prank with Shikamaru.
"I see," Naruto mumbled, deep in thought. He furrowed his brows.
"You are not a wizard yourself, is that correct Mr. Uzumaki?"
Naruto contemplated lying, but he knew he couldn’t get away with it so he just shook his head. He considered how much of the truth he could share, and he settled for the bare minimum. He couldn’t give away too much, or Tsunade-bachan and Kakashi-sensei would have his head.
"I am a shinobi; I don’t know how I appeared here." He stated calmly.
"Don’t lie to us, boy!" The creepy one eyed man yelled. Could the fake eye detect lies?
Naruto's eye twitched. "I'm not lying you fool! I suddenly appear in a creepy place like this and an old geezer starts interrogating me, claiming to be a wizard; I'm the one who should be suspicious ya know!" Naruto yelled back, shaking his fist in the air, his calm demeanor lasting exactly five seconds. He would leave being calm to Sasuke or Kakashi-sensei.
He could see his reaction shocked the so called wizards; he was slightly satisfied with that.
He turned his eyes back to Dumbledore and saw him staring back in wonder.
"Shinobi, you say? I have heard of your kind, but there are such limited resources on it that it is deemed a myth by most. Would you please tell us more?" he asked kindly.
Upon seeing Naruto's narrowed eyes he added "My boy, you have appeared in an extremely guarded safe-house, which should have been impossible. I hope you understand why we have our concerns," his tone told Naruto he had no choice but to answer.
"Shinobi, or ninja, are trained from an early age; there are five great nations and many villages –I'm from Konohagakure, in the fire nation- after graduating, shinobi take on missions and serve their village." Naruto chose his words carefully, trying to say as little as possible. He didn’t know how much he could trust these people.
He could tell that the leader believed him, but the others in the room still looked suspicious and on guard.
Dumbledore was looking at him with a new twinkle in his eyes. It was unsettling, it kind of reminded Naruto of the way Pervy sage looked at women or the way Tsunade-bachan eyed sake. Naruto shuddered.
"This is a most curious case; can you elaborate on the kind of missions you take on as a shinobi? And your abilities," the old man spoke up.
Naruto thought back to all the D and C rank missions team 7 used to take; he didn’t intend on telling dumble-geezer about the important things in his world –the war that had ended barely six months ago, the tailed beasts or the ninjas abilities; especially his own abilities- so he settled for: "Oh you know, things like taking back a stolen artifact for a feudal lord, assassination jobs, a body guarding mission here and there," he added "or finding lost cats."
He saw the incredulous looks on the adults faces. Naruto was confused; why were they looking at him like that?
Mrs. Weasley was the first one to speak up.
"Assassination jobs?!" she cried "But you're just a kid!"
She couldn’t believe what the boy had said. There were villages who trained kids to become killers? Did they even have a choice? Or know any better? She was both angry and horrified at the thought. Before she could voice her thoughts though, Sirius spoke up.
"Just what kind of training do you go through?"
Naruto cleared his throat. His eyes had hardened a bit at Mrs. Weasley's remark, and looking at him now he no longer looked like the cheerful teenager a second ago; there was a depth to his eyes and it seemed like the air around him chilled a bit. Mrs. Weasley took an involuntary step back.
"I'm not just a kid, ya know. Its disrespectful to say that in my profession. And we go through all types of training, with weapons and jutsus and physical training," he directed the last part to Sirius, who looked uncomfortable under the shinobis cold gaze. Dumbledore's voice cut through the uncomfortable silence.
"Mr. Uzumaki, it seems we are in a bind here. You have appeared in a place you shouldn’t know about, and I'm afraid I wont be able to let you leave without wiping your memories of the past day with a spell," at this, Naruto looked panicked and he stood up again, "However," Dumbledore continued calmly, stopping the boy in his track "I could employ you for a mission, if you would be so kind to agree, Mr. Uzumaki."
The reactions to Dumbledore's proposal varied greatly. Moody yelled out in protest, Remus and Sirius looked skeptical and the rest of the order just looked shocked.
Naruto blinked,
"Huh?"
"I would like to hire your services as a shinobi, my boy. This way I would not have to wipe your memories, and you would have a place to stay and friends here for as long as you need. I will also provide you with resources I can find for a way to get back to your own nation once the mission is complete, along with adequate payment for your work." Dumbledore talked calmly, like all of this was normal. The existence of shinobi, kids assassinating people, hiring said killers for a job.
Naruto contemplated the old man's words carefully. He was stuck here for now, but he knew eventually he'd have to find a way back home, back to Sasuke. He knew the other shinobi would be looking for him, hell, the whole village would be searching for him once they realized he was missing. If Sasuke told them he was missing, and didn’t decide to do everything all on his own like the bastard always did. He didn’t have to think too hard about his options, the other was simply unacceptable. He couldn’t lose his memories of the past day, of the words he and Sasuke had exchanged, of the fight that had followed. His felt an ache in his heart, remembering the person he cared about the most. He sighed and looked Dumble-geezer in the eyes. This was troublesome.
"What's the job?"
"I want you to protect a boy named Harry Potter for a year."