Travel
The team arrived at the gate as the sun peaked through the horizon. Hinata was already there with her baggage, a single bag full of scrolls containing all her necessities. Hinata waved as Sakura stationed herself beside her, moaning over Naruto carrying a bag twice his size full of scrolls containing ramen. He had raided the Ichiraku at midnight and demanded their best ramen served to him in huge quantities, and then running to the nearest opened store to buy a decade worth of ramen.
“The idiot almost forgot to bring his clothes because his bag was full,” Sakura said in annoyance and continued, “Sasuke had the opposite problem.”
The Uchiha had barely packed, so certain was he that all he needed for the year were ten clothes and all of his weapons. They had glared at each other until he relented and added more clothes to the pile. Hinata merely smiled, thinking it must be hard to be the only person with reason in their team. Later on, Hinata would soon learn that they had to fight Sakura from taking all her medical books in their library, confident that the team would need it as they have the destructive habit of playing keep-away with death. Naruto had to drag her away kicking and threatening.
“Sakura, you know those books by heart.”
“But what if we need them?”
“By. Heart.”
Soon enough, Tsunade arrived and led them down to a desolate place hidden underground at the very gates of Konoha. Hinata squeaked in surprise as Naruto sidled beside her, asking Sakura why she had to pack so many painkillers. He spied a box full of them earlier, do they really need that many?
“Shishou said it will be painful.”
“So what?” Sasuke asked by her side, “we’re ninjas, pain is part of the job.”
Sakura shook her head, “Shishou said it will be painful, so it will be painful. The last time she said that it will be painful, I had taken a chakra-laden punch to the face without any protection when I was 12.”
As Hinata considerably paled, Naruto and Sasuke remained silent as they trekked on forward, eyes focused on Tsunade.
They were going to die.
As they walked, Tsunade had told them the process of world travel. To open the gate and send them to another plane, all Tsunade had to do was extend her chakra to the team and on the ground, and the runes should send them to the world of magic where Dumbledore should have a room with the same runes painted, ready to receive them. The casters need to forcefully shape their chakras to flow naturally over the travelers and the runes, and as such, need to have meticulous chakra control. That's why only she and, to her dismay and pride, Sakura, are the only ones in Konoha capable of doing the jutsu without any worries.
Soon enough, they arrived in a dimly lit room, candles strategically placed on the ground their only light source. Squinting their eyes, they can see that the entire room was painted over with the runes in the scroll Tsunade showed earlier. From the floor to the ceiling, to the walls.
“Right, Sakura, you know what to do.”
Sakura stumbled on her own two feet; green eyes impossibly wide as she pointed at herself.
“Me?”
“You need to learn how to open the gate. It’s better while I’m here, I can observe and intervene when needed. Go on.”
Sakura nodded and gulped. She beckoned the team to the middle of the rune, receiving the scroll containing the runes that Tsunade handed her as she passed by.
“Keep it with you at all times,” Tsunade said.
As they stood around in a circle, Sakura instructed Sasuke and Naruto to take hold of Hinata. Sasuke placed his hand on her shoulder as Naruto grabbed her hand. The reaction was immediate. She felt the lightheadedness attack her as blood rushed to her face, but the seriousness in Sakura’s face forced her to focus.
Sakura released a breath and placed her hands on the boys’ shoulders then closed her eyes. The diamond in her forehead glowed to life, and black markings crawled out to cover her and then extend it to the entire team. She stretched the black markings to the floor and into the runes. The ground lit up a bright blue light, and the air hummed in tune to the vibration of the Earth. The very dust could be seen floating an inch away from the floor. And away from their sight, the trees outside of Konoha had started swaying despite the lack of breeze. Hinata could see that Sakura was straining to keep the flow of chakra even, and she worried for her.
“You won’t be able to use the gate for a while, you need to regenerate your chakra,” Tsunade said from across the room, “don’t be reckless. Good luck.”
And then they were gone.
A blinding flash of pain immediately had the group down on the ground. Sakura, through the hazy pain, could faintly hear her team screaming. She was burning, her head is about to split open, and tears had already fallen like a waterfall. There is a heavy pressure in her chest like Tsunade’s fist had landed on it and is still there to deliver more. Her throat is hoarse from her shrieks, and her ears are ringing. Her chakra is already running through her system and trying to find the cause of her pain. But she wasn’t injured. There was physically nothing wrong with her. There was nothing to fix, so her body could not do anything to alleviate her pain. Is she dying? Was her technique flawed? Had she done something midway she wasn’t supposed to?
No. No, everything is alright, she did it as she was supposed to.
Sobbing, she reached for her backpack, into the box that held painkillers, and with shaking hands, grabbed 5 and gulped it at once. The pain was slowly dissipating and she desperately needed water. She was dehydrated, and the bitter taste of the painkillers was somehow magnified by whatever was happening to her and her team.
As if someone heard her silent prayer, she felt a hand grab hers and push a goblet of water in it. She drank it immediately, unconcerned of its content. She was so unbearably thirsty; she would drink poison if necessary. Although, Sakura did not need to worry about poison. Ever since she got her Byakugo, her body would react instinctually to dispel any harmful elements she digested.
Now with a clearer head, she crawled to her team, Naruto was still screaming, clutching his stomach in pain, while Sasuke’s breathing was labored. Hinata, who was in between the boys, was passed out. That’s fine, Sakura thought, she can tend to her after. at least Hinata wasn’t in pain.
She went to Naruto first, afraid that the Kyuubi might be released from the vulnerability he was in. She had him sit up, and then she opened his mouth. As she had her hands glow green of her healing chakra, she jammed five painkillers in his throat and screamed at him to swallow. The reaction was instantaneous. He slumped to the ground in relief, and then he was handed the same liquid she drank.
Next was Sasuke. The second she was nearby, his hand grabbed hers in a painful grip. She did the same to him, and he silently thanked her by slumping his head on her shoulder.
Hinata was painful to do, the girl had sobbed and nearly fainted again when Sakura woke her up. She thankfully drank the painkillers and the liquid Sakura was handed with earlier. After a minute of labored breathing, and Sasuke realized they weren’t alone.
Though still struggling, he had adjusted himself in a position where he could protect Sakura and Naruto from an attack, and snarled, “Who are you?”
Naruto was quick to imitate Sasuke, putting Sakura in between the two as she reached for her holster for a kunai.
There were two people in the room. A man and a woman Sasuke deduced to be almost as old as the late third Hokage on his deathbed, maybe even older, stood in front of them, observing. The woman stood straight and poised, exuding an air of magnanimity and sternness. She had a strange hat (circular in the base and working to look like an upside-down ice-cream cone), and the graying hair underneath was pulled in a painfully tight bun. Beside her was an ancient-looking man, garbed in plain gray robes in contrast to her sparkling, deep green. His hair was white, and his beard is almost as long as Neji’s hair. He wore moon-shaped glasses and had a kind smile on his face.
“You must be the shinobi sent by Konoha,” the old man started, “I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts. This is Minerva McGonagall, headmistress of the Gryffindor house and one of my most trusted friends. I do apologize for the painful trip, but it was urgent, and I thought that sending the potion to your world might nullify the magical quantities imbued in it.”
Though he had a lot of questions such as asking whether or not it was them who had asked for assistance, who was the enemy and many other important questions, Sasuke opted for the most pressing: They were handed something to drink. A drink he doesn’t know the contents of and may poise to be dangerous.
“Potion?” Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He never heard of that word before. Did he feed their team something foreign that may have been dangerous?
“It won’t bring you children any harm if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s to ensure our world accepts you as residents and not forcefully return you to where you came from,” the woman explained, but Sasuke had blanked, his face set in a frown. Children?
“I’m 16,” he replied blankly.
The woman merely raised a brow.
“Just right at Harry’s age then, wonderful. I shall have it arranged so you may share classes with him.”
“Erm, if I may…” Hinata spoke quietly from behind, “what did you make us drink?”
“A potion of sustenance. Your world may have lost its “jutsu” to accept foreign entities, but ours have not. The potion should take effect immediately. You should be better in an hour.”
They got better in 10 minutes. They were ninjas after all. Their bodies, since young, were subjected to brutal conditioning that made them more resilient than the average human.
After introducing themselves, the team was handed their mission by Dumbledore. He had summoned them to protect an orphan boy named Harry Potter, the target of a man named Voldemort who is bent on living an immortal life. And killing Harry is a prerequisite.
At this, Sakura and Naruto shared a sharp look at Sasuke whose hand twitched to reach for his blade, while Hinata nervously watched them from behind. The man sounded awfully like Orochimaru.
“Can we kill him?”
Dumbledore cocked his head in Naruto’s direction, surprised that the one asking was the boy who had enthusiastically greeted him with a smile as big and warm as the sun. Looks truly are deceiving, especially so for ninjas, Dumbledore thought. Pausing for a moment to think, Dumbledore shook his head no.
“You cannot.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t take it as an insult, Naruto,” Dumbledore placatingly said to the indignant boy, “It is merely not meant to be. Voldemorts' death is written in stone, and it is not something that is easily changed.”
“… A prophecy?” asked Sakura.
Dumbledore smiled, approving at her quickness and intelligence.
“So what?” Naruto obnoxiously asked, “I’ve changed fate. I can do it again,” he said with a feral smile. And indeed, he had proven himself had he not? Pain had said that it is fate for Konoha and Naruto to fall, Neji had said that it is fate for him to be defeated, Sasuke had said that it is fate for them to battle on opposite sides. He had proven them wrong. He can do it again.
“Don’t tempt fate,” warned Professor McGonagall, “Your world and ours are different. We cannot risk having the muggles find the truth of the magical world, or the enemy wizards finding yours.”
Sensing that Naruto was about to argue, Sakura nudged him in the gut harshly and ignored him as the boy whimpered and doubled over. She can’t risk Naruto gaining their attention more than they already have, that would add another set of eyes observing them other than whatever is within the facilities.
“All we need to do is protect Harry. Understood,” she nodded, masking her earlier violence with the seriousness of a surgeon about to go under a procedure. It was a tad comical, if not a worrying sight.
Just as Naruto was about to argue once more, there was a knock on the door, and a tall burly man entered the room. Dressed in shabby clothes that would have had Ino screaming in horror at the tragic crime against fashion committed right in front of her, his shaggy hair a mess and matched the thickness of his beard, a man as thick as he is tall strolled into the room. Akamaru and Kiba popped into her mind, and she thought he would blend in well with the Inuzuka with how shaggy he looked.
He lumbered forward, greeting Dumbledore and them in kind. Sakura hastily bowed in greeting, with her cheeks flushed from her earlier gaping when he ambled his way towards them and thinking how ridiculous he looked. Such a man so big could be threatening, but he chose to smile an unassuming smile and acted with warmth.
He wouldn't survive as a ninja, but he would be a wonderful reason to continue being one. To see someone who can smile as uncaringly and kindly as him, they would need a kind world. A peaceful village. That was Team 7’s aim. Glancing at Naruto, she wondered if he understands what this man represents.
Dumbledore welcomed him with a smile, "Hello, Hagrid. How was your day?"
"Jus' fine, jus' fine. 'ave yer day's bin pleasant too, Professor?”
"Yes, Hagrid. It's been well."
“These be them new transfer's?" The man called Hagrid nodded in their direction.
"Yes indeed, do you mind showing them around and have them ready their necessities before the day ends?"
"Will do. Well, come on, kids. Big day 'head of ye, maybe 'ven the entire week or two. Yer non-magic, yeah? If ye wan' ter fit in, yer gon' have ter learn five years worth'a stuff in two weeks," the man rumbled as Naruto visibly turned a sickly green, stuttering, "Stu-- study? I didn't sign up for a mission to study--"
The rest didn't look as enthused either.
"Gon' be hard, but don' ye lot worry, heard magic an' jutsu are pretty similar."
The man nodded at Dumbledore and turned, trotting out of the room into a circular office, down the winding staircase, and out of Dumbledore’s sight with the new students in tow. All who seemed to lose a lot of their bravado.
He smiled as Sakura and Hinata bowed to him while Naruto waved before leaving. He ignored the disrespect Sasuke showed as he exited without as much as a nod of goodbye as he and his team followed the thick man out. Dumbledore reckons the boy’s respect is something earned and not merely given as a common courtesy.
Once the future Hogwarts students exited the office, McGonagall accusingly looked at Dumbledore.
“They’ll stand out.”
Dumbledore nodded, “They will.”
“They will be dragged into the war.”
“Perhaps. But we have no choice, Minerva, I’m afraid. We have asked for assistance, and we were given. Beggars can’t be choosers as they say.
And besides, perhaps their eccentricities will cover for their abnormalities.”
“…They will know.”
“Perhaps.”
Professor McGonagall sighed, downhearted and melancholic. She doesn’t want to see children go to war, but at the rate everything is headed…
“Their world is far crueler, Minerva. We were not handed children; we were handed soldiers.”
Dumbledore tried to comfort her, but it did not help her conscience at all. In fact, it made it worse.