Chapter six
Chapter six
Uchiha Sasuke swore under his breath as he stumbled into the inn he was staying in for the night.
If you had told him a year ago that in a year, he would be making a month long journey through secret lands and passageways to the toad village chasing after Naruto, he would have straight up laughed. And Sasuke didn’t do laughs lightly.
But here he fucking was; drenched and bruised after fighting off a band of thieves who had taken a liking to his katana under pouring rain.
He had really tried not to kill any of them; he hoped he hadn’t. he didn’t stick around long enough to make sure.
He shrugged off his cloak and jumped straight into the shower, letting the cold water wash away the dirt and grime along with his worries.
Sasuke still had about three weeks’ worth of distance to mount Myoboku, and the fact that he didn’t know the paths he had to take troubled him.
He used his Rinnegan’s teleporting jutsu sometimes, but ever since the incident he didn’t dare use it much.
He stepped out of the shower and grabbed the coarse towel to dry himself off. His eyes caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror and he grimaced; he looked unquestionably horrible.
The dark bags under his eyes could rival even Gaara’s during his jinchuriki days; his hair was uneven from the time he cut his own bangs with his kunai so he could see better while searching for that dobe.
There was a nasty cut running down from near his right ear down his jaw from the earlier attack, which he refused to tend to.
He had lost some weight in the past weeks, and his skin looked even paler than usual; it was almost translucent now, accentuating the numerous bruises forming on his body.
It was okay though. He knew he deserved all of it and more.
Ever since he had come back home –no, Konoha- he had done everything he could to help the village, to somehow atone for his horrific crimes. It was never enough; it would never be enough.
He could never compensate for the pain he caused everyone; the pain he caused Naruto.
The Uchiha always carried the burden of his actions on his shoulders, hoping the pain it caused him would somehow make up for everything.
Sasuke was self-destructive, and he knew it.
He had lost everything, given up on everything; not just Naruto, but his entire life.
But Naruto had refused to give up on him; he had been the only constant thing in Sasuke’s life, like an anchor that grounded him and refused to let go.
And now he was gone because of Sasuke.
He didn’t even feel the pain on his bloodied knuckles as the mirror shattered around his fist.
**
Harry Potter did not want to tell his friends that he, Uzumaki and Looney Lovegood were sharing the same hallucinations about winged skeletal horses.
He grabbed Uzumaki's shoulder before he could go off petting the creatures with that absolutely dumb, admiring look on his face and gently pushed him into their carriage.
He would have to ask him about the horses later; for now, he had more important things to talk about.
"You guys didn’t see Hagrid, did you?"
"No; it was that Grubbly-plank woman with the first years I think. He can't have left, can he?" Hermione asked worriedly.
Harry frowned.
“I’ll be sort of happy if he has,” said Luna. “He isn’t a very good teacher, is he?”
“Yes, he is!” Harry and Ron answered angrily.
Neville, who probably didn’t want an argument to happen quickly piped up.
"So, Naruto;"
At the mention of his name, the blond haired boy, who had been ignoring the whole affair, slowly turned to look at them, then promptly went back to staring at Hogwarts, which was looming closer.
He looked stunned and worried at the same time, taking in the magnificent sight of the castle with furrowed eyebrows; the numerous towers were visible, jet-black against the night sky, the light from its windows creating a nice contrast.
"Which house do you reckon you'll be sorted into?"
"Huh?" he turned to look at them, confused.
"Your Hogwarts house. Didn’t you have something like houses in your last school?"
At Uzumaki's still confused look, Hermione piped in eagerly, probably excited to share any sort of information with any poor soul was willing to listen.
"Hogwarts has four houses; sort of like dormitories if you're familiar with them.
Each student gets sorted into a house on their first year, and from then on they share classes, rooms and meals with members of that house," Hermione stated in one breath.
"You get sorted into a house based on your personality; the ones who seek knowledge go to Ravenclaw, the hard-working and loyal to Hufflepuff, Slytherin… well, um, let's say they're cunning;" she looked uncomfortable, "and the last house –which we're in- is Gryffindor, which values bravery and chivalry."
Hermione took deep breaths.
At the mention of Gryffindor, The blond boy perked up.
"Oh! That’s the one the old mad told me I would be in," he grinned brightly.
Harry and the others just stared.
He wasn’t even going to be sorted?
Neville voiced his thoughts.
"So you- you won't even get sorted?" he looked kind of sad at the prospect of Naruto missing out on the experience.
"Nah, I was told that since Harry would be showing me around the school and helping me with everything," at this he shot a sharp look at Harry, as if daring him to object to the blatant lie, "I would be spending the year at the Gryffindor house." He smiled innocently.
Neville and Luna looked convinced; Ron and Hermione however were frowning at the boy.
Harry knew he should’ve expected this, but it still didn’t make him feel any better knowing that the other boy would actually be glued to his side all the time.
Thankfully, before he could sulk any more, the carriages stopped near the gigantic castle.
**
Uzumaki Naruto was absolutely dumbfounded; in all his years as a shinobi, travelling across the five nations and visiting Feudal Lords' palaces, he had never seen a place like Hogwarts.
It also worried him; the castle was too big, which would only make his job harder.
As he entered the huge hall among the horde of students, he couldn’t help but stop in his tracks and gawk at the sight before him, causing Weasley to bump into him.
Four long tables were quickly filling up with students, each wearing different colored ties; but what really caught Naruto's eye was the ceiling.
It looked as if there was no ceiling; instead he could see the sky as clearly as he could back home, which excited Naruto. He hadn’t been able to see the stars properly ever since he popped here.
Candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery…
What the fuck were those?
"Are those ghosts?" He asked Weasley anxiously, who had started guiding him towards one of the tables.
"Yeah. Don’t worry though, they're harmless. Well, usually." The ginger said dismissively.
Naruto paled. He did not like ghosts.
He also noticed that the students were still whispering about Harry; nudging their friends and pointing at him bluntly, not even attempting to hide it anymore; although now he could feel some stares on himself too.
Naruto frowned.
It also didn’t help that they had forced him to take off his beloved tracksuit, and instead had given him these robes that were absolutely unconventional.
How did they move in these things?
As the surprise of the magical sight wore off, he subconsciously started scanning the great hall; looking for threats or any shady individuals and locating all the exits.
Naruto wasn’t really the most observant shinobi; he could get easily distracted, and acting/lying were not his strong points; during missions like these Shikamaru would be a better candidate, but he was confident that in this world where other shinobi didn’t exist, he would be just fine.
His eyes scanned what he assumed was the teachers table across the hall; He could see Dumbledore sitting graciously in the middle, chatting to a man on his right, who looked like he really needed to wash his hair; his cloak distinctly looked like the one Sasuke sometimes wore; though the Uchiha pulled it off way better than this guy. He just looked like a bat.
Trying to push the thoughts of his best friend out of his mind, he scanned the rest of the teachers, and-
Oh.
The pink wearing atrocity was there.
Naruto frowned. Why was there a Ministry representative among the teachers?
He was just about to ask when Potter spoke up.
"It’s that Umbridge woman!”
“Who?” said Granger, looking at him quizzically.
“She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!”
“Nice clothes,” said Weasley, snickering.
“She works for Fudge?” Granger repeated, frowning. “What on earth is she doing here, then?”
“Dumble-sama didn’t tell me she would be here," Naruto piped in. the trio turned to look at him with startled eyes, as if they had forgotten he was there.
Man, these wizards really lacked some basic survival instincts.
"Did you just call Dumbledore dumble-sama?" Weasley asked weirdly.
Naruto shrugged.
Granger ignored them, instead scanning the staff table. Her eyes narrowed.
“No,” she muttered, “no, surely not…”
Naruto's attention was diverted to the big doors, and sure enough, moments after they were opened and a long line of kids entered, led by a tall woman.
She was carrying a stool that had a… was that an old hat?
All the talk in the great hall slowly faded as the woman put the stool down and stood back. It was silent for a few moments; which confused Naruto to no end. Just what the hell was happening?
The hat started singing.
Oh.
Naruto thought a talking ninja ostrich would be the weirdest thing he would ever witness, in the category of things-that-should-not-talk-but-do, but now he wasn’t sure.
He just loved being proven wrong by these sorcerers.
**
Hermione granger was somewhat anxious; The Sorting Hat usually limited its speech to describing the different qualities each of the four Hogwarts houses looked for and its own role in sorting them; she could not remember it ever trying to give the school advice before.
She looked around; a lot of the students looked confused; Harry and Ron looked slightly troubled, and Naruto looked zoned out, staring at nearly-headless nick.
"Do you reckon the hats tried to give the school advice before?" she whispered to her friends, though she was sure Naruto could hear them too.
She had noticed how unusually sharp the boy's senses were, and it disturbed her.
Before anyone could respond, Professor McGonagall started reading the names of the first years ready to be sorted.
Hermione started fidgeting with her thumbs, a habit she had picked up recently. She looked over to the blond boy sitting across from her.
His eyes kept darting around the great hall. The robes he had put on looked strange on him; they didn’t have the Gryffindor colors on them yet, and she could see the people who sat near him on the table staring at him.
She couldn’t blame them though; they had no idea who he actually was.
To be fair, neither did Hermione.
And that bugged her to no end.
The Order had said nothing to them, except that they should trust Professor Dumbledore's decisions.
Of course, Hermione had no doubt in the Headmaster's wisdom, and she knew that there was a reason this strange boy was here with them. Dumbledore wouldn’t risk anything when it came to Harry's safety;
At least that’s what she hoped.
She checked her pocket to see if the crumbled paper –on which she had drawn the symbol on that weird headband Naruto used to wear- was still there. She had made a note to check the library to see if she could find anything relating to it.
Some ungodly giggling somewhere to her left drew her attention away from the swirly symbol.
She turned to see Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown whispering to each other, eyes glued on Naruto.
Hermione frowned. Naruto looked oblivious, though she couldn’t be sure if he noticed them or not.
She could understand why they were like that; Naruto was really good looking, she would admit, but still-
She glanced at Ron, and was snapped out of her thoughts when the Headmaster stood up.
The hall was once again completely silent.
“To our newcomers,” said Dumbledore in his booming voice, his arms stretched wide and a warm smile on his lips, “welcome! To our old hands- welcome back! There is a time for speeches, but now is not it. Tuck in!”
There was an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down gracefully and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of the way of his plate.
Food had appeared out of nowhere, numerous dishes of vegetables, bread, sauces, and containers of pumpkin juice.
Hermione was startled at Naruto's yelp of surprise; and so were her friends by the looks of it.
Naruto was looking at all the food with such wonder in his eyes, it made Hermione wonder why this was all strange to him.
They had already figured he was not a wizard; or well, an ordinary one. She had confirmed that he was at least magical though, since he was in Hogwarts right now, and Hogwarts' wards were designed to keep non-magical beings out.
She had also ruled out the possibility of him being part-veela or any other magical creature they knew, since the order had specifically said they didn’t know much about his kind either.
Hermione was getting frustrated again, thinking about all the things she didn’t know, when Naruto's excited voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Please tell me this place has ramen!"
After a few minutes, Hermione was flabbergasted.
The house elves had somehow heard Naruto's pleas, and ramen had appeared on the table.
That boy was on his seventh bowl of ramen. Seventh.
By the looks of it, she wasn’t the only one; people around them were shooting weird looks towards the piling bowls next to Naruto.
Next to her, Ron's mouth was hanging open as he watched him finish his seventh bowl.
"Mate, how are you not fat?" Ron asked in disbelief.
Hermione was absolutely horrified; that daft git! How could he lack manners to this extent-
Naruto laughed.
"Oh, I do a lot of physical work; I need all the energy I can get, ya know!" he was beaming brightly, apparently not offended.
Thank god.
'What sort of physical work?' Hermione wondered. Well, it would definitely explain the muscles...
Hermione blushed and went back to her food.
She had more pressing matters to worry about.
After Naruto’s ninth (ninth!) bowl of ramen, the food was cleared away and Dumbledore stood once more to give his start of the year speech.
“Well, now that we are fed and alert, I ask for a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices,” said Dumbledore.
“first year pupils should know that the forbidden forest is, well, forbidden to students -and a few of our older students ought to know by now too.”
(Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged
smirks. Hermione noticed Naruto perk up.)
“Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes.” His eyes twinkled;
“I am happy to announce we have two new members in our staff this year. We are delighted to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also pleased to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”
There was a round of applause, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged slightly panicked looks; Dumbledore had not said for how long Grubbly-Plank would be teaching.
Dumbledore continued, “Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the —”
To his left, Professor Umbridge had gotten to her feet (which didn’t make much of a difference) which made Dumbledore stop his speaking
Professor Umbridge said, “Hem, hem,” and it became clear that she had got up intending to make a speech.
Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat back down.
The other staff members, however, looked shocked.
No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before.
Hermione frowned. This woman obviously didn’t know how things worked in Hogwarts.
“Thank you, Headmaster,” Professor Umbridge said with a twitch of her lips that distinctly looked like a smile; only it looked horrible on that toad face of hers, “for
those kind words of welcome.”
Her voice was high-pitched, breathy, and sickly sweet.
Hermione disliked her already.
As her speech went on, she could see the students losing interest and zoning out; but Hermione was listening sharply to every single word, anxiety pooling in her stomach.
Her eyebrows burrowed further and further the more the woman talked.
She finally sat down. Dumbledore clapped; the rest of the staff gave a few claps then stopped.
Hermione felt a little sick; that speech…
She was just about to talk to Harry and Ron about it, when Dumbledore stood again.
“Thank you, Professor Umbridge. That was… enlightening.” He inclined his head towards her before turning back to the students.
“Another announcement I have to make concerns a new student in our school. For the first time in the past forty years, Hogwarts will be housing a transfer student.” Murmurs broke out in the hall; students were all looking around, trying to locate the new kid. Hermione noticed Umbridge’s beady eyes bulging out in surprise.
“If you would please stand, Mr. Uzumaki,” at this, Naruto jumped to his feet and waved enthusiastically.
The chattering got even louder.
“I expect you all to give him a very warm welcome to our school.” Dumbledore’s voice silenced the hall again. “Now, as for the Quidditch try-outs…”
Naruto sat down and leaned in closer to them.
“Your ministry is trying to interfere with Hogwarts.”
The trio stared at him.
Hermione was quite surprised; whether because she hadn’t expected Naruto to listen closely to the speech or the fact that he had figured out the same thing as her, she didn’t know.
Which only made her warier of the boy; apparently he wasn’t as aloof as he seemed.
“What?” Harry asked in surprise.
There was a loud commotion around them as students began to stand up; Dumbledore had just dismissed the school.
Hermione’s eyes widened; this conversation could wait. For now, she had prefect duties.
“Ron! Get up; we need to show the first years to the dorms,”
“Oh yeah,” said Ron, who had obviously forgotten. “Hey –hey you lot! Midgets!”
“Ron!”
**
Naruto was astounded when the staircases moved.
Seriously, what was up with these wizards and making things complicated for themselves?
He really liked their dormitory though. As he stepped through the hole which the fat lady was guarding (?) he was met with the sight of a cozy circular tower room full of old soft armchairs and tables. A fire was crackling in the fireplace and a few people
were warming their hands.
The room looked safe enough; the windows had bars and the only entrance seemed to be the hole he had just crawled through, and he could see everything in the common room from where he was standing.
“Hi, Naruto,” a nervous voice called out to him. He turned to see the toad boy from the train standing by the entrance, Potter sulking behind him. “since you’re in our year I guess you’ll be sharing a room with us; I could –I could take you there if you’d like.”
Naruto grinned brightly.
“Of course!”
The boys dormitory wasn’t as grand as the common room, but it still had a nice vibe to it; six big beds with red curtains arranged in a circular motion. It was roughly around the same size as Naruto’s apartment in Konoha.
There were already two boys there as they entered, and Naruto could hear their conversation way before they went in the room.
Of course, it was about Potter.
“You’ll be staying with us?!” asked the dark skinned boy with surprise once they entered.
“Yeah! I’m Uzumaki Naruto,” he went over to the boy and offered his hand. The other guy –he had brown hair and some soot on his face- just nodded at him and went back to his trunk.
“Dean Thomas. Wasn’t Uzumaki your last name?” the dark skinned boy smiled as he shook his hand. Naruto decided he liked him.
“It is.”
“Why do you say it before your name then?”
It was toad-boy who asked this as he came over to stand next to them. Out of the corner of his eye Naruto could see Harry still sulking.
“Well… I guess where I come from, the clan name is more important than your own name; hence the order being that way.”
He could see they were confused. He had said something wrong. What had he said wrong?
“Clan name? mate, where are you from?”
Ah.
Truth was, Naruto had no answer to that question. Dumbledore had told him to tell the students he was from somewhere called Japan –apparently his own language was closest to what they spoke there- but he knew nothing about that place so if they asked questions, he’d be screwed.
Fortunately, he was good at getting out situations like these.
“Ah, well I’m from–”
He released a tiny bit of his wind chakra, causing the brown haired boy who was walking with a paper in his hands to trip and fall, diverting the attention from him.
Naruto regretted doing what he did when a few minutes later a fight was about ready to break out between Potter and the sooty-boy who fell. (who was called Seamus Finnigan, he learnt.)
“Don’t you have a go at my mother,” snapped sooty-boy.
“I’ll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!” said Harry heatedly.
“Don’t talk to me like that!” soot boy yelled as he raised his fists.
Naruto reckoned that was his cue to pipe in.
“Hey, hey, that’s enough ya know.” He positioned himself between Harry, who was kneeling on his bed pointing his wand, and the other boy, who looked ready to pounce.
“Oh bloody hell; you stay out of this! You don’t even know what madness Potter and Dumbledore are spewing!” soot boy told him.
Naruto’s brows furrowed. Was their newspaper this bad?
“I may be new to your school, Finnigan-san, but I’ve been here long enough to know what’s going on.”
“So you believe all the rubbish he’s come saying about You-Know-Who?” he shouted.
“Yes I do,” Naruto replied loudly “and you are fools if you choose to believe your corrupt ministry over a first-hand witness and your Headmaster!”
Soot boy was turning redder by the second, which was very funny to Naruto. He was trying really hard not to laugh while in the dramatic situation he was in at that moment.
“My -my gran says it’s the Daily Prophet that’s losing its marbles, not Dumbledore.” Toad-boy piped in nicely. “We believe Harry.”
Seamus muttered something incoherent and stormed out of the room in a rush.
Naruto walked over to the only empty bed, which was conveniently next to Harrys. His stuff was already there.
“Uh –thank you. For saying those, I mean.”
He looked over to Potter; he had an appreciative look in his eyes.
Naruto grinned.
“Don’t mention it,” he went over and sat on Potters bed next to him, which earned him a startled look from the boy “say, say, Potter-san; where is Dumble-sama’s office?”
That night, after he was sure everyone in his dorm was asleep, Naruto set out to find his employer.
He also had a list of other things he wanted to do; he would need to familiarize himself with the castle, and see if there were any threats like traps for Potter here, although he highly doubted he would find anything; he was quickly finding out that these people were way softer and mellower than shinobi.
He also really wanted to check out the forbidden forest the old geezer told them not to go into; Naruto missed forests and trees and nature like crazy.
He would never admit how long it took for him to find the stone gargoyle Potter had mentioned. Sasuke would never let him live it down.
His heart ached as he remembered his best friend, and he stopped in his tracks.
Was Sasuke still looking for him? Naruto hoped he was. Had he figured out he was outside the barrier yet? Would he come this far for him?
A realization hit Naruto like a brick in the head.
What would he do if Sasuke came here?
Firstly, he had a mission going on that he had agreed to, and Naruto was not the type to break a contract; plus, he was already too invested in Potter’s life and he was determined to help him however he could.
Secondly; it would be soawkward. Just imagining it made him cringe; like yeah we fought to death and I almost confessed my love for you but before I could do that you teleported me outside the barrier and I don’t even know if you feel the same way or even understood what I meant; would you fancy some pumpkin juice while you’re here?
Naruto would rather be penetrated with Nagato’s rods again than to have that conversation.
“Lemon drops,” he muttered to the gargoyle.
As the statue started shifting, Naruto froze in his tracks.
He felt a presence from above the stairs.
He felt chakra.