5

Dear Sirius,

I reckon I just imagined my scar hurting, I was half asleep when I wrote to you last time. There's not point in coming back, everything's fine here. Don't worry about me. My head feels completely normal.

—Harry

"That was a lie, Harry," Hermione said sharply over breakfast. "You didn't imagine your scar hurting and you know it."

"So what?" Harry said. "He's not going back to Azkaban because of me."

"Drop it," Ron said to Hermione as she opened her mouth to argue some more. She fell silent.

Harry did his best not to worry about Sirius over the next couple days. He was thankful for Naruto's constant antics in class. Mulling over the disastrous results of having Naruto, Fred, and George within a miles radius of each other helped Harry keep his mind off of his godfather's possible rash actions.

Their lessons were also getting more difficult and demanding than ever before, particularly Moody's Defense Against Dark Arts. To their surprise, Professor Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects.

"But—but you said it's illegal, Professor Moody," Hinata said hesitantly as Moody cleared away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a large clear space in the middle of the room. "You said—to use it against another human was—"

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," he replied, his magical eye swiveling onto Hinata and fixing her with an eerie, unblinking stare. She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. Scary... "If you'd rather learn the hard way, when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely, fine by me. You're excused. Off you go." Hinata didn't move. She probably would have left...if she wasn't frozen stiff by all the attention from everyone in the room and BOTH of Moody's eyes. "Fine. Anyone else want to leave?"

"Cool," Naruto said. "Free training time." He began to leave the classroom, but found Gaara blocking the exit.

"Naruto, sit," he commanded. Naruto did so, sulkily. His fox sneered at him.

Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperius Curse upon them. Harry watched as, one by one, his classmates did the most extraordinary things under his influence. Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of doing in his normal state. Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse.

"Potter," Moody growled. "You next."

Harry moved forward into the middle of the classroom, into the space that Moody had cleared of desks. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at Harry, and said, "Imperio!"

It was the most wonderful feeling. Harry felt a floating sensation as every though and worry in his head was wiped gently away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. He stood there feeling immensely relaxed, only dimly aware of everyone watching him.

And then he head Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of his emptied brain.

Jump onto the desk…jump onto the desk…

Harry bent his knees obediently, preparing to spring.

Jump onto the desk…

'Why though?' Another voice had awoken in the back of his brain. 'A stupid thing to do, really,' said the voice.

Jump onto the desk…

'No, I don't think I will, thanks,' said the other voice, a little more firmly. '…No, I don't really want to…'

Jump! NOW!

The next thing Harry felt was considerable pain. He had both jumped and tried to prevent himself from jumping, resulting in smashing headlong into the desk, knocking it over, and, by the feeling in his legs, fractured both of his kneecaps.

"Now that's more like it!" Moody's voice growled. Suddenly, Harry felt the empty, echoing feeling in his head disappear. He remembered exactly what was happening, and the pain in his knees seemed to double.

"Look at that, you lot…Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We'll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention. Watch his eyes, that's were you see it. Very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!"

Naruto snickered loudly, attracting Moody's attention.

"Don't think it's a simple task of throwing off the Imperious Curse, laddie," Moody said with a smirk that twisted his already twisted face. "You're next."

"Gee, what luck," Naruto muttered.

Harry fell on his face. Harry did a cartwheel and landed on his back. Harry started doing a handstand, and fell on his head. Finally, Harry was completely able to throw off the Imperius Curse. Hooray for Harry!

All during the meantime, Gaara was mentally recording what he saw and interpreting what was happening.

"So, Mr. Uzumaki, care to try?"

"I'll pass, thank you," Naruto muttered.

"Don't be that way," Moody said. He pointed his wand at Naruto. "Imperio!"

And then, Gaara, sitting next to him, noticed the instantly glazed over look on Naruto's face as he stood up.

"Hinata, what is his chakra like?" he asked her as Naruto got up.

"Ano…it's covered in Moody's spell. His body is normal, but it's all in his head."

"Thought so."

"But…his body is changing. Like…the red chakra he stores in his stomach is spreading out…"

"This…could get interesting…"

Stand up, and do three back flips, a new voice in Naruto's head said.

'Okay.'

A clear mind for me to return to.

Who are you? Moody's hold on Naruto's mind faltered as he turned to another sentient being in Naruto's mind.

'Who is he...? Who are you?' Naruto asked Moody in his mind. Another thing in his head? Too many voices...

None of your business, meddling human. Don't disgrace yourself. Don't do the backflip.

Naruto felt himself prepare to do a back flip, but didn't notice Moody's sudden frown. Wait a minute…his head didn't feel so nicely clear anymore. He did the first back flip.

Weak minded human. If you're letting someone else control your body...

Do it two more flips.

...then let it be me!

The room seemed to be filled with water. Invisible water. The air was so heavy, Harry had a hard time breathing.

"T-t-this chakra!" Hinata exclaimed. Harry turned his head to look at Hinata. Perhaps this strange feeling was affecting the white eyed girl the most. The veins in her temple were popping out. "It's coming out," she said breathlessly.

"What is?" Kiba asked, voicing Harry's thoughts. Moody was struggling to control something. Almost as if he were actually trying to control two minds at once. Naruto's fox was the only thing unaffected by the magical energy holed up in the room. It seemed even more excited than usual. Naruto's eyes started turning red and his whiskers boldened. He almost seemed feral. The fox sighed, as if it knew it was going to regret this, and bit Naruto's ear.

"HELL NO!" Naruto suddenly shouted wildly. He waved his arms around in his head. "Get out! Get out get out get out, you bastards! Stop arguing, I've got a freaking headache!" Neji frowned and didn't say anything. Then again, no one was.

"Ano…Naruto-kun…?"

Naruto looked at Hinata. "Did I…say that out loud?"

"H-hai."

"Uzuma—" Moody began. The bell rang. He shook his head. "Alright, kiddies, get outta here."

Naruto immediately picked up his stuff. Half of the other kids looked gloomy. They hadn't even had the chance to do get IMPERIOed.

"We'll pick up from here next time," Moody said in a hoarse voice.

Yay! I think? The class wasn't sure whether to be excited or apprehensive after Naruto's turn. And for some reason, Sasuke didn't care.

Every night, Naruto was sneaking out of the common room, and sometimes not even coming back from dinner at all. He was already wearing his winter robes, although it was barely even cold yet. He and Shino were the only ones actually wearing it. And every day, whether it was in the morning, during classes, or any time in between, Naruto was constantly falling asleep.

Hermione was the first to notice this change in Naruto.

"Honestly," Hermione said. "It's really warm this time of year, and he's already wearing those heavy sleeves."

"Who cares?" Harry asked. "So is his friend in Slytherin."

"Yeah well, Shino has always been weird like that, hasn't he?" Ron said. "He's always been a bit funny in the head."

"And how come he's got those bags under his eyes. You'd think that with all that sleep he gets in class, he'd be a bit more energetic."

"Shino?"

"No, Ron, I meant Naruto," Hermione said bluntly. Of course. No one had seen Shino's eyes.

"Maybe he's falling behind in class work, Hermione," Harry said. "We can help him later if all this is bothering you."

But they never got the chance. Whenever they returned from dinner in the Great Hall, Naruto always managed to disappear from under his nose. He had even skipped dinner on several occasions which was, according to Naruto's friend Sakura in Ravenclaw, very unlike him since he could have all the free ramen he wanted from the 'slave work' in the kitchens. Apparently, Hermione had brainwashed yet another victim of her spew.

And so, growing suspicious of their blond companion, Harry, Ron, and Hermione took it upon themselves to find out what Naruto was up to.

Flashback, several days back

"Hi, Naruto-kun!" Madoka had greeted him on the first day. She was sitting on a tree stump. After being given permission from Kakashi, Naruto had made a clearing, obliterating many trees with the Rasengan. Kurogane's girlfriend needed the place to be clear at least. "I made some bento boxes for food! I thought you might get fat from all of this Western food these wizards have been feeding you!"

"Naruto has enough ramen, Madoka," Kurogane said. "It's unhealthy."

"You're such a spoilsport, Kuro-kun," she replied. She brushed away her hair and tied it back with a cord. "It would be nice if you let loose once in a while."

"Yeah, Kuro-kun," Naruto said mockingly. "Listen to your girlfriend!"

"Shut up, damn you!" Kurogane said, throwing a wooden sword at him. It hit Naruto in the middle of the face, spinning like a shuriken.

"I'm his servant, silly," Madoka said. She started to stand up. "You alive there, Naruto?"

"Madoka, Naruto's not unconscious or anything. You don't need to stand up."

"Yes sir, el capitan!" Madoka said, giving Kurogane a silly salute. She sat down immediately.

"Yeah I'm alive...And somehow, being his 'servant' doesn't sound any better," Naruto said with a thoughtful look on his face, getting up and rubbing his face.

"Stand up, Naruto," Kurogane said. Naruto frowned and got back up off the ground, wiping the dirt from the ground off of his painfully bright, neon orange jump suit. And to think that, with the black on it, Naruto claimed that the clothes he wore years ago were much brighter. Kurogane shuddered at this fashion offense.

"How come you speak English?" Naruto said, noticing he didn't have to wear a spelled hitai-ate band or a spelled anything.

"Unlike other shinobi, the Sound educates us in several languages," Kurogane said, "which just proves how much more I am superior to you."

"Are you implying something?" Naruto asked him.

"Don't use words you don't understand, Naruto. And even if I were, you lack the mind to understand any implications."

"You and your big words."

"It doesn't matter whether I use my vocabulary or not. The fact remains that you have too little capacity to understand. What matters is your training."

"Just how old are you, anyway?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"You're like, eighteen years old, but you talk like an old man. Unless you're a body stealing pervert like Orochimaru and you're actually fifty years old too and you're lying about your age."

"You are not to speak ill of Orochimaru," Kurogane said coldly. "-sama," he added with an afterthought.

"Fine, fine," Naruto said. "Just teach me something! I'm bored."

And so Kurogane taught him. Madoka often fell asleep, as it was in the middle of the night, so she often spoke to him before the sparring. And, occasionally, she even sparred with Naruto too, although Kurogane hated it.

Back to the present

For the past several days, Naruto had been getting the snot beat out of him every single night. Kurogane had definitely arrived. The first time he came, he had been nice enough to give Naruto a heads up on what he was going to do. First, they were going to see what Naruto had learned the past few weeks he had been at this 'wizard school' (nothing, really). Next would be to teach Naruto to repel genjutsu, which he seriously needed work on. After that was maybe a few more ninjutsu tricks, along with taijutsu. Basically… Naruto would be doing a lot of sparring and getting beat up.

However, after several sleepless nights of sparring, Naruto and Kurogane were almost on par with one another.

"You know," Kurogane said. "I find it difficult to believe that you had defeated me in the first place. It must have been blind luck."

"It was talent!" Naruto insisted.

"Whatever. I still have yet to meet your fox."

"Which one, Kyuubi? Or Vulpes?"

"Vulpes"

"Oh yeah, I brought him."

"Where?"

Naruto snorted. "Madoka's been playing with him for two nights and you haven't even noticed! And you say I'm stupid?"

He looked over at Madoka. Naruto was right. But why didn't he notice that animal?

Kurogane's eyes widened under his shadowy bangs. "That thing…is not a real fox."

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about, Kuro-kun?" The 'fox' stared at him.

"For instance, the Bengal Fox from Southern Asia is small and gray. The Corsac fox from eastern Eurasia has a yellowish or reddish brown coat. The Hoary fox, also from Eurasia, has a gray back and a white stomach. The pale fox is in the desert, usually yellow or brown. A fox called 'Ruppell's Fox' is a gray desert fox. The South African Silver Fox has a gray coat with a yellow coat. The few that actually inhabit the Five countries seem to vary substantially from one another, however, they all share the same characteristics that are: they do not look like that."

"You know a lot about foxes, Kuro-kun," Madoka commented.

"So… what?" Naruto asked.

"Let me put it simply: There are no real species of fox with completely crimson fur," Kurogane said, gritting his teeth. "Do you not realize that this creature is not normal? It has a chakra signature and can completely conceal itself! It is intelligent enough and quiet enough for me to not notice it when I can hear things miles away."

"Which must be pretty annoying when you move in big crowds," Naruto said.

"It is," Madoka said. She grinned. "So...his fur is all red? How pretty! I want to see!"

"You idiots! The point is that the only fox to have fur like this is the demon fox Kyuubi! Demons! That thing is not a fox!" The fox snickered and stuck its tongue out at him. "See? Did you see that? It laughed at me and stuck its tongue out at me! Are you two complete fools!"

"Relax, Kuro-kun, you'll have a heart attack or something. And just so you know, Kuro-kun, you should direct your yelling only to Naruto. I can't help it. I can't see."

"You can't see?" Naruto asked her incredulously.

"My eyes are all blank, Naruto-kun. Haven't you noticed? I'm blind."

"I lost a sparring match to a blind girl?"

"Hey, I'm really good at fighting, if you don't know," Madoka protested, looking slightly offended.

"That's right," Kurogane said. "She can't become a jounin because Orochimaru-sama forbids that my servant reaches status equal to my own, but she is very powerful for a shinobi with such a disadvantage. And—But that's not the point!"

"Look, Kurogane, Vulpes hasn't done anything wrong yet. Somebody probably just dyed him while he was asleep. I've done that to Akamaru before. Boy was Kiba pissed. He said Akamaru's name shouldn't be taken that seriously, although red does look really bad on him, I suppose."

"Wait, while he was asleep?" It seemed hard to think that someone could dye an animal without it waking up to snap at you.

"Yeah, he was left sleeping in a shop for about fourteen of fifteen years."

"… Foxes in the wild live only three to four years. The longest a real fox that ever lived was twelve years. Naruto, that thing is not a fox. I don't know what it is, but it's definitely not a fox."

"Maybe it's a demon," Naruto said.

"Then why are you carrying a demon back and forth to class?"

"Who cares? It's not hurting anyone," Naruto said. "Besides, wouldn't having a demon around with us help us in the future?"

Kurogane frowned. "I suppose…it may be true. But I don't think this fox would be that powerful. I doubt it'll be any use of us in the future." Kurogane jerked his head, looking around and seeing nothing.

"First, you think it might be all dangerous and powerful. Now you think it's really weak?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"It could get in the way," Kurogane said with a scowl. "When we take over the Five Countries..."

"With the exception of the Leaf and the Sand, as promised."

"...it may get in our way."

"Nah, you can trust Vulpes. You're smart, right, Vul—?"

"Shut up, Naruto," Kurogane said in a serious tone.

"That's rude, interrupting me like that."

"I said shut up. Someone's here. Several someones, at that." Naruto looked around.

"Kurogane, you're just being paranoid," Naruto said nervously.

"Use your ears, fool," Kurogane said. "I taught you to use your senses to better your advantage in battle. There…are three strangers here. I cannot pinpoint their exact location. There are two taller ones, a little taller than you, Naruto. And a shorter one. Roughly twenty-three feet left of Madoka's stump. Madoka."

Naruto, who had been training to sense the use of chakra, felt the whole area fill up with her energy. So…that's how she could see, Naruto mused to himself. He hadn't noticed the thin layer of chakra on the field all around him before he realized that she was blind.

"I can't See them," she said. "It looks like a big glob of something with three pairs of feet under it. I think they're covered in one big blanket or something. No…wait, it seems that one is running away with the blanket. Long hair. We need to catch her."

She removed the thread from her hair. Naruto watched as it extended and, like a snake, the cord whipped around blindly in the forest. However, the two boys left behind were now visible.

"Harry? Ron?" Naruto said out loud.

"You two are planning to take over your home countries?" Harry asked them incredulously.

"Well, we find ourselves unsatisfied with the effectiveness current leaders and how they treat a certain group of peoples," Kurogane answered coolly before Naruto could say anything, "but yes, we are."

"Hey, I'm not!" Naruto said, but he was ignored.

"You're bloody crazy!" Ron said. They both had their wands out, pointed at Kurogane and Naruto.

"So…" Madoka said casually. "What's going on here?" The threads in her hand were still combing through the forests. Naruto frowned. The third person must have been Hermione.

"Madoka-chan, this is not the time to act silly."

"Oh right," she said. She made a face, mocking his scowl. "Like this?"

Kurogane snorted. "Better."

"Good. Anyway, boys, it's three-to-two. You wanna try to take us on?"

"But you're blind," Ron said.

"Even blind, she is much more powerful than you children," Kurogane said.

"See? Hah!" Madoka clapped her hands together (rather awkwardly, considering she still had several dozens of strings combing through the forest in between her fingers), pleased by the compliment.

"But she's not fighting," Kurogane finished.

"What? But, but Kuro-kun, that's-that's just not fair!"

"I forbid you to fight. You can't even move from that spot, understand?"

"Nooooo," she whined. "That's not right. I can handle them myself."

"You use up so much chakra to see what happens that you're always vulnerable to anything. The only time you're actually useful for attacking is when you can't see."

"That's sooo not true!" Madoka stuck her tongue out at him.

"Sorry to interrupt your lovers spat," Naruto said, "but we've got these two to entertain."

"Not much to fight anyway," Kurogane muttered to Madoka, who was sitting sulkily. Just two little kids, probably Naruto's age yet not half as powerful.

"I beg ter differ," a voice said.

"Yeesh, Hagrid too?" Naruto yelped as a man twice Kurogane's height approached. He had a large dog with him too. Okay, so things might get a little difficult.

"Hagrid! Naruto is a traitor to his own people!"

"Am nooooot!" They ignored Naruto again.

"Naruto, I never expected this from you. I always thought you were a good student, being in Gryffindor. Hermione's on the way to getting Professor Dumbledore too. Don't fight."

"I'm no traitor!" Naruto growled. "I've sworn my allegience to the Leaf, and I don't go back on my word. That is my nindo! That is my ninja way!"

"Naruto, that is the most idiotic, pathetic thing I have ever heard," Kurogane said. "Your people trod on you like a pathetic mat. You'll learn the truth sooner or later. You're low on chakra. We just need to stop these three and Hermione from telling the world. And then you can take the chuunin exams."

"But I'm not supposed to attack Harry Potter!" Naruto said.

"Then I will. You stay back too."

"Wai—!" Kurogane seemed to disappear. Naruto could barely move. Just earlier, they were even while they were sparring. How come Kurogane was still able to move so quickly? It wasn't even half as fast as earlier that night, but it was still much faster than anything Naruto could manage at the moment.

Hagrid pointed his crossbow and shot it in front of Harry, who jumped back. Kurogane scowled, now standing in front of the arrow, near Harry. That arrow almost hit him. Fang barked loudly, and was answered by Vulpes's yipe. Kurogane was continuously attempting to attack each one of them but, each time, was stopped, narrowly dodging an arrow. He was nowhere near as fast as he was when he was when he was at 'full power', although Naruto probably wouldn't have been able to keep up, which made Kurogane wonder why Naruto was weaker all of a sudden.

Naruto looked at Madoka, who sulkily sat on the tree stump.

"Why aren't you helping him?" he asked her.

"I am bound by my word and a jutsu. I must obey him," she said. "Why not you?"

"I have no chakra."

"That's rubbish. You have the Kyubi."

"Kyubi?" Hagrid muttered. Naruto frowned. Of course. Hagrid with his giant ears could probably pick up a lot more sounds than normal sized people. Like an elephant.

"I'm not relying on a stupid fox!" Naruto growled. He used the rasengan, gathering the remains of his chakra. If Kurogane could surpass his own limits, Naruto could too. Now, all he had to do was stop Kurogane from killing them all. He ran forward and...Harry pointed his wand at him!

"Hey, wait! I'm not—!"

"Stupefy!" Shit. Naruto flinched, instinctively focusing his chakra into something like a glass wall in front of him. After training with Kurogane, he would do it without a second thought. Of course, it wouldn't be much use anyway. It was meant to block physical attacks.

Naruto saw a red light but didn't feel like he was hit by a spell, but something was definitely wrong. What sort of genjutsu was this? He was still in the forest but…something was wrong! Where was everyone?

He ran around madly. Where was he? There was no clearing. There were no people.

"Naruto!" someone cried. "Come back!" Madoka?

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Definitely Kurogane, who

"Yer goin' deeper inta th' forest!" No one had that weird accent except Hagrid.

Where was he? Where was everyone? He could hear voices, but not the people. Wait, not the voices anymore either. He kept on running until he heard something strange...

Duh-duh-duh-DUN! Fanfares trumpet as Vikki comes to the rescue!

Vicky? Naruto paused. Other words from other strangers had no affect on his mind in its current state. But these words were not really words. They were…something else.

And then, a nasty, red-furred demon of a fox (but not the demon fox) appeared in the darkness of the forest and attacked Naruto's face. What the hell was going one?

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "…Vikky?"

Also known as Vulpes, the voice replied. Eh?

"Y-you talk!" Naruto said.

Oh my god, I DO! Call the Daily Prophet! I'm a bloody talking fox! Honestly, Naruto, humans aren't the only species in this universe that had a spoken language.

"What the hell?" Naruto said.

Let's cut the crap, Naruto. I talk, big deal. But either Harry screwed up the Stunning spell or you did. You're in the middle of the forest. You're lost. You're senses have gone haywire. There are bigger things than talking foxes here. Seriously. The 'forbidden' part of the Forbidden Forest sorta implies something doesn't it?

"What happened?"

You've been Stupefied.

"What?"

The spell 'Stupefy' produces a bolt of light and stuns whoever it is cast upon, generally knocking the victim unconscious. A single Stunning Spell is not strong enough to do any lasting damage to a victim, but multiple stunners cast on one target can often cause serious harm. The spell Ennervate can undo the effects and bring the victims back to consciousness.

"Great. Can you do that to me then?" Too much talk, too little action.

Baka! I need a wand, yours is broken, the spell that hit you and affected you was altered onimpact, and I DON'T HAVE THUMBS! Are you an idiot? Anyway, it wouldn't work because of your shield.

"Shield?"

When you trained with Kurogane, you made a shield! Do you not even remember your lessons! It probably got rid of the unconsciousness effect and just canceled out your senses. That's probably what caused this reaction from a stunning spell. It only got your senses but not your body, since the chakra you forced into a wall kept you from bodily harm.

"Huh?"

Idiot human.

"Stupid fox."

Think of it as a genjutsu then! And break it!

"How?"

Kurogane taught you, you fool! And do you not realize that you're in a dark forest surrounded by spiders? Now that he thought about it, the floor really was getting quite crunchy. Now is the best time to run.

"Right…" Naruto ran into a tree.

Baka! What on earth do you even remember from Kurogane's lessons! Listen with the wind and all that stuff! For Kyubi's sake, I'm not even the one who is supposed to be learning this junk and I remember more of it than you do! Just get rid of the 'genjutsu' first. Pull all your chakra back.

"But this is magic, not genjutsu."

Listen to your pet! And...holy Kyu-sama!

Alright…so if I get caught in genjutsu…what did that ero-sennin say again? Hm...can't remember. Okay, then Kurogane's lesson. Someone casts a genjutsu spell on you, get rid of your chakra or force it out with more chakra. (1) Okay, that was nice and simple and fairly recent.

'Alright stupid fox…I guess I will borrow your chakra again. But this is the last time. After this, it's goodbye demon chakra!

Forcing all of the chakra inside himself, the empty forest suddenly... was filled with giant spiders.

Are you done now! Vulpes/Vikki growled, gnawing at a particularly large spider.

"What the hell?" Naruto said. He grabbed Vulpes/Vikki by the scruff of the neck and they ran away. But then a thin cord caught his ankle. Naruto yelped as he fell forward and the string slowly pulled him back. Back towards the masses of spiders. All of a sudden, the cord on his ankle pulled him back at an alarming speed. "AAAAARGH!" Naruto flew through the next of spiders—those unfortunate enough to be unable to get away were crushed under him (EW!). "Maaaaake iiiiit stooooop!" After about seventy feet of being dragged through the forest, whatever was pulling him finally stopped.

"Found you!" a voice said cheerfully.

"Madoka!" Naruto said. "I couldn't see and then there was this genjutsu thingie and then I had to break it and then there were spiders everywhere and then I had to run aw—"

"Shh, you need to go back to your school," she whispered. "You're headmaster came. He said something strange, and Kurogane left. It was like, Legi-legili…lejililililense? I didn't hear what, but the old man must be powerful. There's something funny about that guy. He let us go. I mean, we were all attacking this time, and we couldn't even touch him. He says you're excused, as long as you don't attack Harry again. Which one was Harry, any? The emerald-green or the red-orange?"

"Well…Harry has green eyes, and Ron has reddish orange hair…"

"Ah. Okay. Good, then, Kurogane kicked Ron." Naruto let out a groan. Madoka continued on cheerfully as if she hadn't heard him.

"Anyway, Kurogane was worried about you and told me to make sure you were okay and didn't do anything stupid. I don't think Dumbledore is very trusting of us, but at least he's letting us go. Still, I doubt we will return. Today is September 24, right? At least you've got a few more days to recover completely for the exams. Maybe we'll see you there? This is goodbye Naruto. And take care of him, Vikki."

The fox barked in response. Madoka grinned and left.

"For a blind girl, she sure is well coordinated," Naruto muttered, brushing spider pieces off his clothes. Uuuuugh... Gross. "Wait, how come she knew you call yourself 'Vicki'? And why do you call yourself 'Vicki'? And what are you? And was Kurogane right? And what's with you anyway, you're a freak fox. Wait, that means I'm a freak ninja! I understand foxes! Oh my kage!"

So…do you expect me to actually answer or are you going to babble a little bit longer?

Naruto glared at the fox.

Alright, alright. So demanding, children these days. If you haven't noticed, while you and Kurogane fought, I had been having the most intelligent conversations I have had in quit a while. She's much smarter. In fact, I'd say she wasn't human. Of course, maybe just some humans are just stupid. Particularly the ones I've met so far…

"Are you implying something?"

Gee, of course not, dobe.

"You're talking like Sasuke."

Fine then, you're just so troublesome…making my change the way I talk just for you.

"Stop that!" Naruto said. Now Shikamaru?

…

"You say something?"

No, I'm being Shino.

"You're a freak."

I'm your HERO! I saved your butt back there and I was freaking awesome! Did you NOT see me bite off those giant spiders' legs? I am the most awesomest fox in the world! Muahahahaha!

"Who the hell are you imitating now?"

Inner Sakura.

"Who?"

Aren't you wondering why I can talk! You're so slow!

"Oh yeah…" He's an idiot! "So why can you talk?"

I am a demon!

Naruto looked down at the adorable little fox. It had a huge, bushy, bottle brush tail. Its white ears had small black tips. And its eyes were giant morsels of dark chocolate. Yum… Wait, that's not the point.

"B-but you're an animal! And you're small and cute!"

I slept in this form waiting nearly fifteen years for you, you idiot, the fox said. And that's all you have to say?

"A fifteen-year long nap, yet you're still always falling asleep in my robes…"

Vulpes/Vikki was surprised by his overall reaction. It was a demon! When you meet one, you're supposed to run and scream! Not blurt stupid comments and call it being SMALL and CUTE!

"So…I don't get it…"

Grandpa Kyu-san is in you.

"G-Grandpa! 'Kyu-san?' As in the Kyubi? He's your grandfather!"

Kyu-san is our god. He is the grandfather to ALL foxes, demon and normal.

"You're a fox-god?"

…No. I'm a fox.

"A normal fox…?"

No, I know some jutsus… the fox muttered sulkily.

"So not a normal fox."

…More along the lines of a demon-let.

"Nani?"

The fox sighed. Lesson time. We foxes are sometimes born with the capability of…controlling chakra. Yeah. Chakra. Even fewer of us manage to very long, but every blue moon—

"Blue moon?"

In other words: very rarely. It's very rare, but we usually either live for a year or live for centuries. Kyu-sama's not the longest living demon lord, but he's the strongest of us all. He beat ol' Nekomata by three centuries, and Neko's ANCIENT.

"How old are you?"

I'm about eighteen, technically, but I didn't age while I slept. I'm four.

"Only four?"

I'm ALMOST FIVE!

"Great. What's with the jutsus?"

I told you, I could use some chakra. As a demon, I have a few extra talents. I have a hobby of imitating things. Well?

"Well what?"

Aren't you going to asked me who I am? My gender? My other talents?

"Oh. Um…who are you, what are you, and what can you do?"

The fox sighed. As a demon cub, I don't get a real name until I turn fifty.

"Wow."

It used to be a whole century. And until I get my name, I have no gender. Right now, this is not even considered a body, but rather a type of solidified demon chakra. Hence the redness. Fox demon equals red chakra equals red fur. But, as you can see, I'm not all red. I don't go all red until I'm a lot stronger. My physical body is a fox form because I have the fox chakra attributes. This body is called a gigai. I get to leave this gigai once I become a full-fledged demon fox. Once I get my name, I'll get to choose my gender too.

"Oh…I don't get half of that but okay… Wait, no gender? That would explain your missing—"

ANYway you'll have to find out my other talents for yourself.

"Hey, then why ask me to ask you!"

I never asked you.

"Yes you did!"

All I asked is if you were GOING to ask. Ha ha, stupid! The fox snickered.

Naruto groaned. "And…so…you call yourself Vikki?"

You named me Vulpes. You could say a fox's 'surname' would be kitsune, I suppose. Anyway, Vulpes is a stupid name. So V and K makes VIKKI. I'm so creative. I love myself. You won't find a fox out there that's half as smart as me.

"So you're planning to be a girl?"

No. I want to be male.

"But Vikki's a girl's name, isn't it?"

I like it.

"So I call you Vikki now?"

What a mere human calls me is none of your business. Are you finished talking now? Because I want to go back. A fox needs his beauty sleep.

Naruto snorted. Right. He stretched. It must be near midnight.

"Yeah…let's go back…"

A bit earlier that night

Kurogane had been struck by an arrow. Madoka cried out when she heard the whistling of the arrow stop suddenly by a strange 'thwuck' sound. But hearing the loud chirping of dozens of bats, she sighed in relief. It was his Koumori (Bat) Bunshin no Jutsu. (2)

"Now, now," a surprisingly pleasant voice said. "I believe fighting is against the rules." Madoka used her chakra and saw a sparkly blue figure there. How come she couldn't See it before? And who has sparkly chakra signatures anyway?

"Dumbledore!" the green chakra being said to the voice. "He attacked us! And Naruto's planning to take over his home country or something!"

"Hm…Legilimens…" Kurogane froze, confused. Madoka let out a small cry. She saw a faint blue mist come from the sparkly blue on to Kurogane's gray chakra. It went straight to his head and his chakra went all distorted. Was he possessing Kurogane with some sort of Yamanaka bloodline technique? Kurogane could probably through it off with enough effort, but just how powerful was this twinkly blue man?

"Get out!" Kurogane growled angrily. Madoka flinched. She had never heard him like that. He was always yelling at Naruto, which was a good sign, as he rarely spoke to anyone else aside from her. But this growl was different. This blue chakra had done something to Kurogane. She stood up immediately but felt something force her back down.

"Madoka, I told you not to move," Kurogane said coolly.

She got back down. The mark on her back hurt.

"Kinuta Kurogane," the blue chakra said. "You are permitted to leave Hogwarts. You may enter should you speak directly to me, the headmaster of this school, and obtain my permission. I understand your defensive actions against me, but I will not allow you to harm any of my students of professors. You have an hour to leave. If you wish to return, I shall make myself clear: do not harm any of my students and you must come to me for permission to enter my school. That is my last warning. Goodbye. Ron, Hermione, return to your dormitories. You will not speak of this even ever again. Harry, come with me. Hagrid, thank you for your assistance and for saving Ron and Harry." And the blue sparkly chakra left with the green one. The smaller two chakras—a reddish orange hue and a dark pink color—left with the giant brown one.

Kurogane stood up. Wait, when had he gone down?

"Madoka…" he said.

"Yes, Kuro…gane-sama?"

"Sorry," he muttered quietly.

"What?" Madoka had good ears (though hardly anything compared to Kurogane's), but she could hardly believe what she had just heard.

"I said go find Naruto," he amended. "Make sure he's okay, and tell him that we are leaving now."

"Y-yes, Kurogane-sama…"

"'Kuro-kun', you mean…" he said as she left.

"Professor Dumbledore, I don't get what's going on," Harry said as they entered the headmaster's office. He looked at the interesting silver trinkets that were scattered across the room.

"I suppose you noticed how Hogwarts, for the first time since its establishment several centuries ago, has accepted students beyond the first year."

"Yeah!" It never happened before. No one was admitted past the age of eleven.

"And that Naruto and his companions seem rather out of place in the wizarding world."

"Yeah!" They didn't know anything about magic and even had to take after school tutorials specially appointed to them.

"And that there are rumors flying about, saying that there are no such things as Japanese wizards."

"Yeah!"

"And how dangerous mercenary-like figures are suddenly entering a school of magic in which they are probably not receiving any real reward in return."

"Well…I didn't think about that but...yeah."

"Well," Dumbledore said, "I'm afraid I can't tell you everything about them."

"Come again?" Wow, what a letdown…

"Well, this information that I withhold from you is rather confidential. They really don't fit in our world. It seems that, ah, Japanese wizards use completely different spells than us. However, that is incorrect. While we use wands to channel our energy, they use handseals to channel what they call chakra. At this very moment, they are learning to use our magic. So…as our first item of business, I want to experiment. How would you feel if you were going to be allowed to learn their techniques?"

"Can I?" Harry asked excitedly, forgetting all about the Naruto-wants-to-take-over-the-world business.

"I will ask Kakashi about it later, then," Dumbledore said, looking rather pleased with himself. "In any case, when I accepted these students into our school, I thought it would be rather strange to send them all to the first years. After all, Kankurou, the oldest of them, is going turn seventeen in less than a year. Almost a seventh year. My, my…. Anyhow, Neji, Tenten, and Lee are all fifteen going on sixteen. The others are fourteen and fifteen, some moving on to sixteen. How would they feel to be placed in the same level as eleven year olds? Anyway, it helps that some are your age, yes?"

"Ah, but why are they here anywa—"

"I'm getting to that," Dumbledore said. "Having our little mercenary friends here is beneficial to both sides. You see, they really are mercenaries."

"Really? But, they're, like, so...they're not like mercenaries." These little kids?

"Well, they are still young, but they are considered adults where they are from. Now, Harry, I must tell you that anything I say tonight must remain a secret. Can I trust you with this?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. I know I can. I'm sure that you're heard the rumors about no Japanese wizards. That's not necessarily true. There are wizards in Japan. It's just that there aren't very many of them. Very few, indeed. They prefer technology. You can see that with all of those very interesting inventions they have. Rather amusing… Well, our friends are not Japanese wizards."

"Somehow, I saw that coming," Harry muttered.

"They are called shinobi. We have only heard legends of their…their kind."

"They're another species and they can do magic?" Harry asked.

"Well, not quite another species. We believe that…they could either be like wizards or like normal muggles."

"Muggles that do magic and other strange tricks."

"Well, we have never really met one, aside from now."

"Why not?"

"The shinobi are a very secretive group of people, Harry," Dumbledore said. "However, there is a small possibility that they do not even come from this…world. It's rather difficult to explain."

"I can tell: I don't get it."

"Their arrival in this world has actually been one of the biggest events in history. Of course, not many people know about it. After all, not many people know about them either. Not in great detail, anyway. I believe that many of them called…missing-nin, I believe, run back and forth between our world, the muggles, and their own. Missing-nin are on the run from their villages. Like escaped convicts. But it seems to require some very special preparations to come here."

"Meaning…?"

"You cannot go to their world very easily. There are rumors, of course, that the Ministry of Magic has recently created a device to enter and exit their world. However, those rumors remain unconfirmed to many... I do know the details of their arrival, but it would be best to avoid bringing it up at this point, as no one is sure what the...device used to bring them does exactly."

"Then how did they get here?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. One of the great leaders of a place called the Leaf Village from the Fire Country had made an alliance with the Village of the Sand, which is in the Wind Country. Shortly after the alliance, a young, yet astonishingly powerful shinobi ran off with a very small yet powerful country called the Sound, seduced by the promise of power, enough power to kill a certain person. About two and a half years later, the newly appointed Kazekage, leader of the Village of the Sand, was abducted by an organization called Akatsuki, which translated into the 'Red Moon'. Not that that is of much significance to the story. His people got him back in pieces, but, luckily, they were able to pull him back together with quick thinking and a large amount of powerful and somewhat illegal 'spells'." Dumbledore chuckled at the joke with twinkly eyes. Harry was confused.

"I don't get it." What was he smiling about?

"It seems that another young, pretty and impressive shinobi had been able to bring him back to life. He wasn't quite dead dead, in a sense. You know how muggles shock a person back to life? Well, she was able to bring him back in seconds—a great phenomenon, but I do believe there was outside help, involving the powers of something that is not human and the knowledge of a currently deceased old woman who had studied the art of raising the dead. Anyway, the Leaf and the Sand villages are in a tight spot right now.

"They have declared 'war' on Akatsuki and the sound. It can't be considered a real war considering the fact that none of them are really countries, but they are not on friendly terms right now. Of course, there is also the Sound's ally, Hidden Village of the Rock. The Mist Village is in political turmoil at the moment, and they are currently unable to assist Konoha in their battles. The Hidden Waterfall Village, Sand's newest ally, is very small and weak right now. The Rain and the Cloud are busy. The Rain Village is dealing with the recent breakout of a captive held for thirteen years."

"It's almost like Sirius."

"Yes, both innocent of any crime, held for thirteen years, and broken out of the most secure prisons in the world."

"The prisoner was in Azkaban? And he's innocent too?"

"No. She was locked up several months after her birth, doomed to live out the rest of her life in a cage in a mountain. But I hear that her parents who abandoned her adopted a new child to replace her, and a very great child she was. She joined an elite missing-nin hunting squad called the ANBU. But then she was assigned to guard her 'sister' in the mountain. It seems that Miu, the Anbu, helped and encouraged her sister to a, ah, breakout. Haruka, the prisoner, and Miu, the newly dubbed 'missing-nin', were on the run from two enemies the moment they left—the hunter-nin and the Akatsuki. It seems that Miu had disappeared, most likely killed, and Haruka...we have not heard from yet. They were in the Cloud territory, where we are assuming she met a shinobi by the name of Hakoi Kisho. He was just like her, but I can not explain in detail. Soon afterward, Haruka, Kisho, his two younger twin siblings, and his two teammates were attacked. Haruka and Kisho were carried off. Only two—the girl twin and his female companion—survived, I heard. I cannot be sure. That happened some time during the summer. Very recent."

"Are Haruka and Kisho alive?"

"No, I do not believe they are. Naruto and his companions, however, may be able to answer that. I do not know for sure. Now, to our current affairs, you are probably wondering, why did I hire the strange people to come to our school and how in the world had I found them?"

"Yeah."

"Well, their leader Tsunade, the most powerful shinobi in the Fire Country, and I met through some very interesting...experiments, coincidentally, both occurring at exactly the same time. Must be fate… Anyway, we discovered some type of barrier between our home and theirs. We're not sure of their exact location, and whether they are even from the same world, but we do believe that there are certain places in all three worlds where you can easily pass through, but in other cases, you would need a Portkey. Or the type of device that we have discovered. Information regarding the machine will have to be postponed until we learn more about it. We discussed things and found that by creating an partnership between our people would be beneficial to both sides, for it seems that there are rumors of the leader of the Sound, Orochimaru, is meddling in strange magics. Coincidentally enough, he is described to be very... snake-like."

"Like Voldemort..."

"Indeed. There is a possibility that they may be forging a temporary allegience with one another. Rumors are unconfirmed. I just want you to be careful, Harry. In any case, Tsunade, the Kazekage, and I decided that we would take several shinobi in. I hired them so they can protect a very precious object at this school."

"What is it?" Harry asked. "What are they protecting?"

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't tell you, Harry, but I can assure you that this will be vital to the future of the wizarding world, and perhaps even the muggle world. They don't know the power that it has, but, I suppose, the ones Tsunade called 'geniuses' are probably figuring it out right now."

Harry would have whistled if he knew how to. Wow, whatever weapon it was, it must have been powerful.

"So, while they are here protecting it, they are protected as well. From their own enemies," Dumbledore said. "Because, you see, there are several of these students—three of them—who are targeted by their enemies. Two of them by the Akatsuki, and one by the Sound. The Akatsuki wishes to take certain attributes of these two children—excuse me, I meant mercenaries. The Sound want to kill the other. Either that, or they just want him back. I mentioned earlier how a young and power hungry shinobi left Konoha in the pursuit of greater power ran to the Sound, yes? Well, recently, they were able to forcibly—and rather violently—convince him to return to Konoha. It also helped that the leader of the Sound who seduced him with his power fled, leaving the poor, confused child behind to fend for himself against his former allies. Not that he could be considered 'harmless'. In any case, he has returned to the Leaf. Though he had a high status, being the last U...the last of a great family, he is currently in disgrace for his defection. Hopefully, people will regain their trust of him. He used to be very popular with them, being the last, yet a very promising, heir of his clan. Although I hear he is very popular with the girls here, and from the Leaf Village. He may yet be redeemed."

"Why does he want so much power?"

"Vengeance. Against a man who had betrayed and wronged him in his past. The boy's entire family is gone now, because of that man. That man whom he had complete trust in. Guidance. Love. He want to kill the man who murdered his entire clan in one night, which is an impressive defeat, being large enough to make up a very small village and known as the strongest clan in the Leaf."

"'Their' enemies…they're that powerful? What if these people come and attack Hogwarts?" Harry asked nervously.

"Their enemies are powerful shinobi from their world, but I assure you that you do not need to worry. This castle has been protected by powerful charms and spells. Should anybody, friend, foe, or stranger, meet the power of this magic, they'll probably remember something important they have to do. Back at their home. And should they come and break through the spells, the professors and I are fully capable of stopping them, or at least holding them off long enough for others to escape. I will never let my students get hurt. And don't forget, with all these people coming over for the Triwizard Tournament, we are bringing in hundreds of Aurors and trained mediwizards. Security will heighten. Do not fret."

Harry was relieved and embarrassed at the same time. Of course they were safe! Dumbledore was here, and he was the strongest wizard in history.

"So…" Harry said, "I suppose you aren't going to tell me about Naruto and those two weird people?"

"No."

"But-but they could be dangerous!" Harry said.

"Should word get out about Naruto's... condition, the consequences shall be dire," Dumbledore said. "The only people in this school who know of his condition are me, Professor Kakashi, and the boy himself. And perhaps..."

"…Who?"

"Nevermind, Harry. However, I would like for you to not tell anyone about this incident. Even your friends and the other shinobi. Especially the other shinobi. But I assure you, even if you are concerned for their well-being, Naruto means no harm to come to his companions. He has become very close to them. I hardly believe that he will not risk, or even sacrifice, his own life to save them. In any case, you may return to the Gryffindor Common room."

"Do you think Naruto came back from the forest? It's dangerous out there."

"Do not worry, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Even if he did not return, I would not worry. The boy is fully capable of taking care of himself."

Harry nodded, relieved. After the encounter in the forest, it would be rather awkward to face him now. "'Night, Professor Dumbledore," he said.

"Good night, Harry."

Dumbledore smiled to himself. Harry was actually much like himself when he was much younger. But now, for the more pressing matters. The encounter with that man, Kinuta Kurogane, had immediately made him aware of the pressing dangers.

Naruto was coming back from the Forbidden Forest.

"Fawkes," Dumbledore said. The phoenix woke up and stretched its neck. He tied a note onto Fawkes's leg. The password is Chocolate Frog. "Bring Naruto and his fox to me."

It cawed a little before leaving.

Several moments later, something thudded into the entrance of his office.

"Ow! Stupid rock!" a voice said. "Er…what do I do know, Vikki? ...Oh, yeah, thanks. ...I'm not stupid! Whatever... Chocolate Frog!"

Dumbledore heard the statue move aside for Naruto as he walked in.

"Isn't that a candy? I think I ate some on the trai—holy fuck! Professor Dumbledore!"

"'Holy fuck' indeed," Dumbledore replied with a little smile.

Naruto bowed lowly on the floor. "Dumbledore sir, I'm really sorry about the Forbidden Forest, I tried to get Kurogane to stop, but he's just crazy! Believe me, I tried to surprise him by jumping out the bushes and he nearly blew me up but that's not the point and I tried to stop him and Harry, but Harry stunned me, but I messed up his spell when it hit me so I went all funny in the head and ran 'cause I got freaked out and then I got lost blind but it wore off but then I was attacked by gross killer giant spiders and then—!"

Dumbledore held up his hand to stop Naruto's blabbering. "Now, I have heard from your teacher that you are having the chuunin exams very soon, and I understand your need to train and become stronger. After all, you'll never become hokage without hard work."

"How did you know I want to become hokage?" Naruto asked, not noticing the sudden change of subject.

"Because you had made it very clear, announcing it in each and every class you attended for the first several days of school."

"Oh...okay. So what's with dragging me over here, mister? And how did that bird managed to drag me all around the school in seconds? And—"

"Be patient, Naruto," Dumbledore said. "Now, I had given you permission to train in the Forbidden Forest, but I believe it would have been much easier to ask to bring a friend into our school grounds. After all, it could be very dangerous."

"They could take care of themselves," Naruto said.

"There are a large number of dangerous creatures in there," Dumbledore said, "but even if your friends could handle themselves in the forest, what of the creatures? Killing one in self-defense would upset the balance of this forest. And there's also the fact that this forest is somewhat similar to…a reserve, to protect endangered and rare species. Like the unicorns, for example, and the centaurs, although I suppose that they would have enough sense to stay away. However, there are more pressing matters at hand. For example, your hopes of world conquest—"

"It's not really world con—"

"Now, now, Naruto, I have gathered some information you might find useful from your friend Kurogane."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, are you aware that if it comes down to it, Kurogane is most likely to betray you and return to his own people?"

"Yeah. I'd do the same for Konoha."

"...Oh. Still, I would like to know your reasons, why you wish to gather other demon children and change the world in such a drastic way?"

"Did you really ask Kurogane? Because I find it hard to believe that you just came up to him, asked these questions, and actually got the answers. He's a really shifty guy like that, you know? He's from the Sound. He naturally changes the subject without knowing it. I mean, I tried to ask him his name once, and I end up in a conversation about politics. I didn't get any of that stuff."

"Naruto, please answer my questions," Dumbledore said. He looked patient, but something told Naruto that he shouldn't push his luck.

"You know what I am?"

"The guard for the prisoner Kyuubi, held captive in your body."

A guard, eh? Sounds better than vessel. "Alright, and you know that there are more of me, right?"

"Quite a few more. There are nine in all, yes? One for each country, ironically."

"Well, Kurogane and I wanted to help them."

"Help them?"

"Well, I do. He thinks that it would be best to bring us all into one place. Like a league of demon host kids. Of course, he might end up being leader, even though his demon isn't one of the Nine Demon Lords. He wants us to force the villages to accept us. I just thought it'd be cool to meet them all. He's not going to force us to fight people if he doesn't want. I don't think so anyway... The thing is, I was never hurt or anything because of the laws that the Third Hokage made for me, but I know not everyone was as lucky. I think Kurogane's just mainly interested in…er, how we feel about things and how we can change our lives."

"Ah, and how many of people like you have you met so far?"

"Um…him. And Gaara, although he hasn't heard anything about Kurogane. We've been a bit preoccupied lately, you know, being on the run and everything? Ah, well, you know the Akatsuki, right? I'm pretty sure Tsunade told you..."

"I have heard of them on several occasions with your teacher as well."

"Right, well, they're...taking demons. And, ah, Kurogane and I want to find them. There are rumors everywhere, so it's actually harder. Too many clues leading in different places. After we last found and fought them, they moved their base somewhere else. So...I guess I kinda ruined it for Kurogane, but at least we saved Gaara, right?"

"Yes, one is better than none, I suppose," Dumbledore replied.

"Yeah! I mean, Kurogane was annoyed, but at least Gaara's alive now and that's what counts."

"Yes, well, if you look at it from his perspective... by directly attacking the Akatsuki base, you showed them that you were aware of their location and they moved. Now they may target other guardians like you and you may have possibly just lost more than just Mr. Sabaku."

Naruto snickered at the name but managed to look a bit guilty. "Well, it'll be a long time before they take another one of us. Something about a resting time thing between taking on Jinchuuriki and another..."

"In any case, do you know why Kurogane is so… 'loyal' to the Sound?" Dumbledore asked, slightly emphasizing the word 'loyal'.

"Uh, because unlike the other Jinchuuriki, they practically worshipped the guy?"

"Well it is quite the opposite."

"You mean they gave him servants and food because they really really hated him?" Somehow, that didn't make sense...

"Ah, not on that part," the headmaster said. "They adored him so much, giving him anything he wanted. However, think of it like this. Your fox, Vulpes, is it?"

"Vikki. He doesn't respond to Vulpes, so it's Vikki now."

"Well, let's say Vikki is a very powerful creature that anyone in the world would die for," he said. Vikki snorted, as if to say 'What ever do you mean? I am.' Naruto snorted.

"Yes, well, Vikki is given to you, much like a sacrifice, along with several other creatures, desired throughout the world. Maybe some of the other creatures enjoy belonging to you, but Vikki wants his freedom. He fights for it, so you admire his spirit."

"Are you kidding? If that stupid fox wants to leave, nothing's going to stop me from getting rid of it."

"Hypothetically speaking, you don't want him to leave you alone, okay, Naruto? Anyway, you really do like having the fox around. The fox doesn't hate you or anything, but it doesn't truly like belonging to anyone. However, the leader of your village decides that this unruly behavior was unbefitting of a servant."

Naruto suddenly thought of Madoka and Kurogane. Wait, did Orochimaru cast a seal on her eyes or something? "Orochimaru sealed Madoka?"

"In a way, yes," Dumbledore said. "But it would be more simply put that she died."

"Are you kidding! She's blind and dead? And I lost to her? And Orochimaru killed her? And she's dead!"

"Naruto, please be quiet."

"Okay..."

"I have heard of your recent exploits against the Akatsuki. They had removed the demon from Gaara's body, and he was considered dead, yes? But why is he still alive and kicking? His demon had been returned to his body, and your medic-nins had managed to resuscitate him." Naruto very distinctly remembered Gaara's return and shuddered.

"So...I don't get it."

"Kurogane brought Madoka back to life, at a very high cost," Dumbledore said gravely. "You see, dead wouldn't be the best definition in which she would have been placed under, but the term sealed wouldn't fit quite right either. Orochimaru forced her soul out of the body, similar to the way that the third hokage had taken Orochimaru's arms and the souls of the first and second hokage. But instead of sending them to 'hell', he temporarily encased the soul into the body of some small object, and so Kurogane and Orochimaru made a small pact between them. Orochimaru would return Madoka's soul to her body as long as she was completely obedient to him and Kurogane and Madoka were completely obedient to him. Kurogane agreed, and Orochimaru brought her back. Of course, he did, as you said, give her a seal, similar to your friend's cursed seal. She'd have to obey every command Kurogane issued without questioning him, just like Kurogane to Orochimaru."

"That...makes sense," Naruto said, remembering the incident in the Forbidden Forest.

"However, there is the question of Kurogane's oddly unquestioning loyalty to Orochimaru. It is obvious that he will help you so long as he is not disobeying direct orders and only while Orochimaru is not aware of the fact that you and he are plotting to overthrow him, along with several other nations. Why help him if he so despises the man for threatening his precious someone? Well, what you don't know is that Kurogane and Madoka both have spells on them. Similar to the Protean Charm. The Protean Charm is a spell in which one item is linked to several other identical items. When one item is changed, the other items are changed in the same way. For instance, with your 'shadow doppelgangers' that Professor Hatake told me about, should one have the Protean Charm placed upon it, whatever happens to one of you happens to the rest."

"I get the point," Naruto said, nodding.

"Well, it seems to be somewhat related to the Protean Charm, but Kurogane and Orochimaru are bound to each other. It's only a one-way thing. Orochimaru has a countless number of others in which he demands absolute compliance. Here is their connection to one another: Madoka has two jutsus placed on her body—one for Kurogane's commands and one for 'instant death', like Neji's cursed seal. Only Orochimaru is able to activate her cursed seal, but since Orochimaru is also connected to Kurogane's jutsu which demands her compliancy, he may also issue any order to Madoka. So it is to say…she has two masters. Orochimaru's orders first, then Kurogane's. I also believe, though I am not sure, that Kurogane also has a seal placed on his body. Hm...this is much more difficult to explain to you than I thought… Anyway, that is the true reason why Kurogane wishes to destroy the Sound Country."

"But I thought he was all loyal to him and everything?" Naruto said.

"Would you be loyal if someone betrayed you, killed all of your friends, and brought your favorite one back to life just to control you?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, but...his family..."

"To Kurogane, he only acknowledges Madoka as his family. Now, about your training and your relationship with Madoka and Kurogane: you are not to see them ever again."

"What? Why? My training isn't comp—"

"Naruto, you have to understand that this is for all three of you, and perhaps even the world. If Orochimaru knew that Kurogane and Madoka were both helping his enemies, what do you think would result?"

"Oh..." Naruto said. "But then who is going to train me?"

"You're not going to train. You're going to recover. I have noticed from your teachers' reports that there is not a class in which you do not attempt to fall sleep. Therefore, I am assuming that in your training with Kurogane, you have neglected sleep just to get stronger. That was very reckless of you. Therefore this week will all go into recovering your strength and bringing up your grades in class. After all, the chuunin exams are in one week. If you faint during battle, I hardly believe that you will be promoted to the rank of chuunin. Now, it is much past midnight, and I would prefer that you catch up on as much sleep as you can, Naruto. Go to your House and get some sleep."

"Yes sir," Naruto said. He left the office with this new information at hand.

(1) I do not remember how you're supposed to dispel genjutsus. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it sounds right.

(2) I think it'll be like Shino's Kikai Bunshin, only with bats instead of bugs.(1) Imperious Curse's Effect on Naruto:Alright, so why did the Kyubi try to come out while Naruto was NOT in a life or death situation NOR was the Kyubi all like you're "dead i'm coming out". Weeeell, Kyubi has been in Naruto for almost fifteen whole years. He's probably given up on trying to escape for a while. But when Mad-Eye Moody comes up and just 'IMPERIO's Naruto, Kyubi's pissed. Not only is the person in charge of the body (Naruto) not doing anything, he's letting someone ELSE take over. Not the Great Kyubi himself? Naruto should be HONORED that such an awesome, all-powerful fox is in HIS stomach, right? So while Naruto's head is empty except for "Do three flips. Do three flips. Do three...(etc)", then Kyubi is like, "Aw, hell no, if this isn't Naruto's body then this is MINE!"

(2) Naruto's temporary confusion: Naruto learned a technique (not quite a jutsu) from Kurogane that requires a large amount of chakra. Like how the chakra in the Chidori is gathered into Kakashi's palm and forms what appears like a blue 'lightning blade', Naruto gathers chakra in both palms, places them a certain distance from one another, and between them forms a shield of chakra (usually red, considering he often resorts to the Kyubi's chakra). He can spread it thin and cover more area, or he can hold his palms close together and make it thicker, unless he (again) resorts to the Kyubi's chakra. This will block most physical attacks and minor spells and jutsus. However, with anything magical stronger than a Charm, most of the effects will come through. In other words, it's for physical attacks, not spells and jutsus. For instance, the Stunning Spell that Harry used stuns and knocks out the person's mind and renders the victim motionless until they are revived through Ennervate or wake up by themself after some time.

(3) Madoka's Sight: Basically, it's like gathering a lot of chakra as you would paint, and then you throw it everywhere around you. Everything the paint lands on, she can see. And if you still do not understand, relate it to...chakra-echolocation stuff. Like Kurogane's bat-ness. She spreads her chakra out onto the terrain, and then she Sees it.

-Ohohoohoho! It's like Kadsuki/Kazuki Fuchoin/of the strings! Just read a manga called Getbackers. Thought it was a girl. But I saw the string stuff, and was like wooooooow... so I went around and found a small profile of him and stuff.

"As previously mentioned, Kazuki's fighting style is the Fuchoin Ryu. Using koto strings stored in the bells attached to his hair, he can weave many strands together to form a huge spider web, booby trap and entire room with strings, sew shut a persons eyes and mouth, and eavesdrop on a conversation with a single strand. Controlling the strings seems to require little physical contact, as they seem to move at Kazuki's will. This art is quite versitile and is not limited to just using strings, he can also change the sound of his voice and physical appearance, among other techniques, many of which can be found in several different scrolls." yadda yada yaada, basically, he uses the string too.

Woooow. And, ironically, there's a blind violin girl named Madoka in there too. I was like WHOA! O.o That was so weird. Then again, I use the name Madoka everywhere...eh.

(4) Vulpes to Vikki?: I'm sorry about the sudden change in name. I had originally meant for Vulpes/Vikki to change his name right at the beginning, but things are already moving fast enough. I mean, one month, and all of this? Hogwarts isn't THAT fast paced. Or maybe I'm just too slow... That's sad to think about, so let's think about something else!

-a. Why the change in name? Well, when I first thought about it, Vulpes wasn't the coolest name and it DID sound like a Pokemon, as Shikamaru stated earlier. I liked Kitsune, but that's a name of a GIRL in Love Hina. Vulpes/Vikki might not have a gender, but I'm leaning for towards male. I think. And think about the chances of getting a pet and picking the EXACT name it responds to. For instance, my cousin and his wife's dogs had puppies. Once they were older, they gave one to us. We named him STITCH. His ORIGINAL name was NEMO. Get it? It didn't seem logical that Naruto would pick a name and that Vulpes/Vikki already had. So if you got confused and/or annoyed, I am very sorry. Anyway, I like the name Vikky. That and Bikky (a character from FAKE, some yaoi manga that...doesn't really have much of a point... -.- but I like the name).

-b.Now, why does Vikki talk!: He/She/It doesn't really talk. It's more like a demon mind-to-mind thought speak. Vikki could probably talk to the Kyubi too, but the main point is that Naruto can hear Vikki because he has the fox demon god inside of him. I know, I know, stupid cliche. Naruto talks to a fox, blah blah blah blah blah... Sorry, I couldn't help it. Naruto doesn't naturally understand animals/foxes like how Kiba understands dogs. I have a thing for Kiba. I like him. He's funny, like a hairy brown Naruto. Anyway, the thing I like about him is his Jujin Bunshin (Beast Human Clone). I loooove that move! Or maybe it's because I'm a tree-hugging animal lover? (I love animals so much, I have my own fur coat! haha, j/k) ANYWAY, Naruto does have a tendency to rip off (that sounds mean)-I mean, imitating other people, like he did with the Uzumaki Naruto Rendan. So...this is just preparation for future...uh, stuff. I mean, Naruto is usually naturally/unnaturally dim when it comes to learning things at first. So...maybe he'll just use other means to past his tests.

-c. What's with Vikki's crappy people imitations?: Vikki is the type of thing (can't say 'person') to imitate and mock people. I have no idea if Inner Sakura is a real 'personality' or if she's just Sakura thinking really loudly, so whether you want Vikki to be able to understand things like Inner Sakuras is your choice. Vikki is learning 'human', just like how he/she/it is learning other things. Oh, and I suppose Vikki is more like a cat than a fox, being stuck up and self-centered.

-d. Vikki's Body: Technically, if he really tried, Vikky could probably change his shape. Why? Because it's not a real body. Oi, this is hard to explain. Okay, a gigai is a body. That's all. When Vikky sleeps, it replenishes its energy (as a fox demon-let, it recovers rather quickly, but Vikki just likes sleeping). When exposed to certain things, Vikki will probably fade a bit or something, but not a lot. It's body is a LOT of chakra, all packed into some random shape. As a fox demon(let), Vikki has the natural body of a fox. And since Vikki is made of pure chakra and...essence of fox...it's a completely red fox. Why doesn't Vikki burn like Naruto's shield or cut like Kakashi's Chidori? Er...I don't know. Because it's more solid? Now that I think about it, I screwed up! O.o Sorry people, just pretend that Vikki's...er...special. Well, it IS a demon. Whatever.

(5) Who in the world is Nekomata?: Nekomata is the cat demon lord, the Two - Tails with the power of death. No instant death. It controls the body of dead people. I saw this on some website and I THINK this is a real demon lord, but I can't be sure until I see it myself, yeah? Anyway, I know the legend about the two tailed cat, at least. People in Japan once believed that once a cat turned 10 years old, it would develop profound magical powers, typically exhibited by either a tail split halfway down of the tail splitting all the way down to form two tails (i think there's a purple or black Evee in pokemon that's like that or something). Hence the name "Two Tails" for the demon. By gesturing with its tail, Nekomata can animate and control the dead to do their bidding, or even dance to their amusement. Anyone familiar with cats knows their temperaments and distinct personalities, which made it all more convincing to anyone who had ever met a cat. As a result, many cats lost their tales due to superstition (poor cats!), and so many Asian breeds of cats have developed with short tails or even none at all (or so it is said). Nekomata can also do other magic, but their most well-known and common power is that of animated the dead and manipulating them to do whatever the particular Nekomata wishes. This can be particularly traumatic if a nekomata, slighted by a family, decides to animate deceased members of that family to taunt them. A nekomata must be appearsed by attention, food, and respect, and while many are fickled and turn their attention at a moment's notice, they do not tend to forget when they are insulted and by whom. While I am editting my other fiction, Nekomata is/will be the demon that hosts Kasumi Haruka.

(a reader showed me the original website I got this from Hecate-19! Thank you! I was trying to find that website again when I lost it! I also got some of the other demon lords from some forum (like Isonade, Hachimata, Kaku, and stuff. When I find the forum, I will post it.)

(6) The Relationship between the Wizards and the Shinobi: The shinobi and the wizards have not encountered each other in several centuries. To the wizards, the shinobi are just a legend. More like a superstition that nobody believes. There are certain missing-nins who have developed the technique to move between 'worlds', but those rumors remain unconfirmed. There will later come a device one both ends (shinobi world and wizard world) so they could travel to both sides. It's shaped like an arch.

(7) Gaara's Personality Switches: I have noticed that when I write, Gaara tends to act angry at one moment, then really sarcastic another moment, and then almost nice another. (If you hadn't seen it, then it hadn't happened yet. YET. this is just for future reference) Anyway, when a person dies, their brain cells almost immediately start to die. When they die, they don't come back. Simple enough? That is why when some people die, they just can't come back, because the brain doesn't remember to control the heart, use the lungs, or move the body. Or, sometimes, they just lose parts of their memory. It's not that Gaara forgot that he was inspired by Naruto and that he resolved to become a better person whom others would need. He remembers that quite clearly. He just doesn't feel it. Like, when you tell yourself, "You're getting fat! No more sweets!" You follow that rule for a while. And more often than not, after a week, you're back on your sugar diet. You remember that you told yourself not to eat it. You remember why. But all sense of determination and resolve has dissipated as you gorge on sweets. Yuuum. I've got that problem myself... But back to Gaara. He remembers how he admired Naruto and all that. He remembers talking to Kankurou on how he wants to be a bit more like Naruto. He also remembers that he ought to do his best not to kill people on sight. He has no real reason to, but he's holding back because he doesn't want to go back on his word, no matter how much he regrets it and wants to crush Malfoy and company with his Sand.

-Note: if this "(brain - oxygen) loss of memory loss of life loss of other stuff" is inaccurate...sorry. I wasn't listening in class.

(8) All that Political Junk:

Allies: Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Mist (w/Konoha, too busy fighting themself), Waterfall (w/Sunaga, too weak to do much anyway), Rain (dealing with Haruka's escape), Cloud (dealing with Akatsuki attack and kidnapped demon kid Kisho) New ally: wizards/Dumbledore

Sound/Enemies: Sound, Rock (I don't know anything about the rock...) Possible new ally: wizards/Voldemort - Akatsuki

(9) To the Sound and Back: Yeah, yeah we all know Sasuke is a traitor. Whoop-de-doo. So here's the story: Sasuke and Naruto fight. Sasuke beat Naruto and left to the Sound. Naruto leaves Konoha with Jiraiya and comes back two years later. Everyone has changed. Sakura and Hinata are abnormally strong and know various healing techniques. Neji is all noble and all to Hinata and is WAAAAY overprotective of her and Tenten. He also has more facial expressions. Tenten is a more important character now. She has a speaking role, unlike in Kishimoto's. She and Temari are closer friends (uh...I guess I haven't really been emphasizing that much, but...yeah). Gaara is stuck somewhere between bloodthirsty killer and redeeming nice guy (wow, it's kenshin!) Blah blah blah. The deal is, eveyrone changed a bit. Then Gaara was kidnapped and Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, and other people went after him (er...almost all the younger shinobi at Hogwarts). Gaara died, came back half-killer, but then they encountered a strange group of people. Orochimaru, Kabuto, and, of course, Sasuke. There was also another group who came. Sasuke was not yet told who they were exactly and what Orochimaru's great big plan was (I'm not telling you guys either!) But things happened, and there was a three-way attack between the Leaf + Sand, the Sound, and Akatsuki. The Sound was first to retreat. After that, Konoha (and Gaara and the old lady Chiyo (not sure if she's still alive...)) started losing a bit, so they began to retreat too. Sasuke was kinda ditched by the Sound. He went crazy when he saw Itachi and refused to leave. So Konoha pretty much dragged him back home. Things are awkward.

(10) Security at Hogwarts: Okay, so the Triwizard tournament thing is coming. Right. But if the security is heightened and they aurors and wizards "guarding" the place, do they know what exactly to look for? Dun-dun-DUN suspenceful music. Okay, so I'm not sure how exactly the Sound will get to Hogwarts so...yeah... -.-.

-The Akatsuki may make an appearance, taunt Sasuke, and leave, but that is all they will probably do. No mass killings yet. That'll be...later.

(12)Sound's Seal: Alright, now THIS is hard to explain... Okay, think Neji's Cursed Seal, only more options that could happen to the person it is on. Either (a) quick death, (b) Crucio-Avada Kedavra mix death, and a (3) pull-out-the-soul-and-stick-it-somewhere-not-safe death.

(a) more for keeping a person from blabbin secrets. If someone is captured and is about to tell things that shouldn't be told, like weaknesses, plans, and other stuff.

(b) punishments. You're really pissed off that the person and just want them to die, but not quickly. The time it takes to die depends on the person's durability.

-Then, there is more of an obedience thing. Like Imperio. You just have to do what the person says.

Madoka has two seals. Both Kurogane and Orochimaru can activate them. Kurogane is also sealed. Only Orochimaru and activate them.(1) Imperious Curse's Effect on Naruto:Alright, so why did the Kyubi try to come out while Naruto was NOT in a life or death situation NOR was the Kyubi all like you're "dead i'm coming out". Weeeell, Kyubi has been in Naruto for almost fifteen whole years. He's probably given up on trying to escape for a while. But when Mad-Eye Moody comes up and just 'IMPERIO's Naruto, Kyubi's pissed. Not only is the person in charge of the body (Naruto) not doing anything, he's letting someone ELSE take over. Not the Great Kyubi himself? Naruto should be HONORED that such an awesome, all-powerful fox is in HIS stomach, right? So while Naruto's head is empty except for "Do three flips. Do three flips. Do three...(etc)", then Kyubi is like, "Aw, hell no, if this isn't Naruto's body then this is MINE!"