[Fic] -- IWoT chapter 08 (1st ed)
Whoa. This chapter did something funky with its formatting. Some lines were xx-large, while some were xx-small. It's weird...
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A voice in the back of his mind, grumbling, complaining… Unsatisfied with the turn of events…
‘Filthy humans, crowding around and big clumps, disregarding everything else that’s going on around them…’
‘Get used to it. We’re going to be here for a while.’
And he in turn, also grumbling, complaining, though more about having to deal with the voice rather than the people around him.
‘Pathetic creatures, the lot of them… They’re weak. They deserve to be killed.’
‘That’s what you say about everyone.’
Trying to placate the other with words and faint acknowledgement.
‘Dirty, vile beings. Disgusting insects, annoying mammals…’
‘I know, I know…’
Off-handed response, partial agreement more to calm the other’s temper than anything else. Half-hearted mutterings with little to no truth behind them. Voice seems to understand this too. Speaks out like a sulking child not getting what is wanted…
‘I despise them.’
Trashing tails in a mock tantrum, demanding, bossing, pouting, immature, impatient, whining. Still not getting what is desired. His reprimanding tone of voice to put the other to order.
‘Shush. You’re being too noisy. I can’t hear what’s going on.’
Attention focusing back to reality, leaving the realm of his mind and imagination behind. Voice fades, tuning out as other sounds pick up and slowly re-introduce him to the world of the living.
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In Way of Trouble - Again…
Chapter 08: “New News”
By Hikagi
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Murmurs filled the grand hall like a cacophony of instruments as they tuned before a performance, sending a range of different timbres into the atmosphere. The stage was set and the audience was slowly starting to fill their seats, following one another in a mass like long file of churchgoers in the background. The stagehands and performers nervously gathered around their entrances, anticipation hanging heavily in their minds as they felt, rather than heard or saw, the multitude of crowds awaiting them on the other side of the doors.
Waiting excitedly, the returning audience members gossiped about the changes in the hall and the much looked forward to performance. Except, the main attraction wasn’t even on stage and was trying not to be the center of attention in this case. Instead, the nameless, faceless people turned their focus towards the newly joined members of the observing group. Their voices carried and echoed until it was more of a jumbled mess, indistinguishable from the other sounds in the tall building that was built for its acoustics and grand design.
“-eard that there’s gonna be a ne-”
“-mbledore’s going crazy, if you ask m-”
“-ilch is in a bad mood today so watch out for Mrs. N-”
“-ey, who’re the new kids-”
“-whoa, check out her hair!”
“-that black-haired one looks hot. D’ya think he’ll let me ask him ou-”
“-e doesn’t look like a first year. Maybe he’s older than us?”
“-I’ve never seen them before. Why do you recko-”
“-hat if it’s going to be like two years ago - you know, like the Tri-Wizarding Tour-”
Then quite suddenly as if on cue, the constant buzzing of voices stilled, the figurative instruments stopped tuning, the audience (also known as the returning Hogwarts students) settled down and the stage doors opened. The First Years trudged wearily in, frantic glances cast every which way before settling on the director seated in the center of the orchestral pit - the Staff Table.
The conductor stood to address the audience and said a few words of welcome, thanking the returning students for coming once more. After a short speech of what was to be expected, he raised his baton to the heavens and sent off a thrilling display of fiery works to announce the start of the ceremony.
“Now let the Sorting Begin!”
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The last boy sorted hurriedly skipped off the stool and settled to join the Ravenclaws before McGonogall transfigured the seat into a cushion and whisked the Sorting Hat away. Nodding to the Headmaster, she briskly made her way to her own chair before sitting down, handing the spotlight over. Dumbledore stood, raised his hands and made a motion for the crowd to settle their excited whispers.
“Congratulations to all the First Years and their Houses for the Sorting arrangements! I hope you get to know and appreciate your fellow Housemates in the following years at Hogwarts.” A few of the older students cheered in support, earning a smile from their Headmaster.
“I see that a few of you have noticed some new faces,” he said, nodding. “There will be four international students joining us this school year all the way from Japan!” There was a polite applause from the rest of the students and staff members.
“Also, I am pleased to introduce you to Mr. Hatake,” Dumbledore announced, extending an arm in the gray-haired man’s direction. Kakashi stood from his place at the table and acknowledged the students. “He will be interning here at Hogwarts this year in order to gain experience in maintaining and managing a big facility such as this castle. I trust that you will show him respect as you do to the rest of your professors.
“With that, enjoy the Feast!”
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Sakura stared in awe as objects just appeared from nowhere, filling the multitude of empty plates and dishes with a variety of food she had never seen before.
“Wow! This is the best!” she said, helping herself to a nearby platter. “I haven’t had lamb for the longest time!”
“Glad to see that you’re enjoying it,” Hermione replied kindly, smiling at the kunoichi’s excited behavior.
“Back at home,” Sakura stated in between mouthfuls of roasted meat, “we never had big feasts like this.” After swallowing, she quickly downed the contents of her goblet before reaching over to snag a few clusters of grapes from the centerpiece.
“Hey,” Ron whispered, nudging his best friend with an elbow. “Is she really human? It’s abnormal to eat like that.”
Hermione sent him a scathing glare before ignoring his comment and focusing her attention back to the newly acquired Gryffindor. “That’s too bad, really. I come from a Muggle background, and we didn’t do this sort of thing either. I’m very glad that Hogwarts has occasional feasts for calendar events.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” the pink-haired girl nodded in agreement, filling her plate with some of the items that were unfamiliar to her. “Hogwarts is very different than the school I’ve been attending.”
“I suppose that experiencing another school would be an interesting ordeal…” Hermione trailed off, raising her hand to her chin as if that idea sounded especially enticing for the moment.
“Interesting…” Sakura repeated, mulling over the word as if it were a unique flavor of wine on her tongue. “You could look at it that way. But this place has so many quirks! I mean, what’s up with trying the Sorting Hat twice?”
“Twice?” Hermione’s eyebrows raised with suspicion. “Dumbledore made you put it on more than once?”
“Well, I thought that was because we were older than the First Years or something…” Sakura replied offhandedly, trying to dismiss the matter altogether.
“Not really,” the witch said. “The Sorting Hat is capable of looking into anyone’s mind if it so wished. There would be no need to put it on twice unless Dumbledore requested something specific out of it…”
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“Oof!” Ron said, patting his stomach affectionately as Dumbledore dismissed the students to their dorms. The leftover food on the table started to vanish from the plates, as did the pumpkin juice from the cups. “I always forget how excellent the Feasts are.”
Harry laughed as he stood to leave for the restroom. “Maybe you ate just a little too much this time around.”
“Maybe,” the redhead muttered as he slowly excused himself from the table. All the other students had started filing out of the Grand Hall by this point, making the charmed room feel emptier as the candles continued to float in the air. Hermione offered to walk Sakura to the dormitories before they were approached by their Head of House.
Harry helped the Weasley out of his seat and turned to leave before he was stopped by his best friend’s hand on his shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Ron had a look of confusion written across his face.
“Why isn’t Hermione coming with us? Aren’t the prefects supposed to lead the midgets?”
The witch in question started walking in the direction of the Staff Table, calling out, “Professor McGonagall requested that I stay behind. Ron, Harry, would you do me a favor and take the First Years up to their rooms?”
“Leave it to us,” Harry replied, steering the protesting redhead away from the third member of their trio. “First Years, First Years, follow us!”
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“I see that you’ve kept your illusions up very well,” Dumbledore said as the door to his office closed. (1)
“Thank you, Headmaster,” Shikamaru replied as the four of them bowed.
“Sadly, Mr. Olivanders did not have any spare wands for you to use,” he said apologetically. “But, no matter. You are all capable of performing without wands.”
“Ano sa, ano sa!” Naruto butted in. “How will we get through our classes that require spell-work without wands to perform them with?” Dumbledore didn’t seem to take the genin’s outburst personally, but instead chuckled with a knowing expression.
“You can use these.” He made a gesture towards his table.
“But these are just regular sticks, sir,” Sakura said, picking up one of the wands and examining it with scrutiny.
“Not quite, Sakura. As you can probably see, they are the exact imitation of the standard wand. And they have been charged with a little bit of magic so that they act like them too. You just need to supply these look-alikes with your chakra, and you should be able to mimic almost any simple spell you will encounter during the school year. These wand-imitations were tampered to manipulate your energy, so they are a little more than ‘just regular sticks’.”
“Oh, I see…” she said as she waved it experimentally around. It didn’t flash bolts of lightening or make fireworks go off as Dumbledore’s did during the feast. In fact, it didn’t do anything. She tried again, this time gently releasing a bit of chakra through her hands, and the wand flared at the tip, casting a warm light into the room.
“Ah. Kakashi said that you had a knack for executing jutsu with perfect control. That looked just like a lumos incantation,” Dumbledore nodded, clearly pleased with the perspicacious kunoichi’s talent at quickly picking up the new skill.
“Where did you get them?” Sasuke inquired as he picked up another one of the ‘wands’. He tried to channel some of his chakra like Sakura did, and was rewarded with a loud bang when it exploded. He reemerged with a blackened face and a wand smoking at its end.
“A few alumni of Hogwarts came up with the ingenious idea of creating look-alikes for the sole purpose of fooling their adversaries.” (2)
Naruto’s ears perked up when saw what kind of damage it did to his rival, and he immediately ran over to claim his own wand. He twirled it around like a shuriken, and marveled with delight when he found that the wood was very firm and surprisingly heavy. Shikamaru shrugged when he saw that the others had already made their choices and picked up the remaining stick.
Copying his other two teammates, Naruto pumped a little bit of chakra into his wand and was thrilled when it emitted a force similar to Sasuke’s unfortunate backfired spell. Grinning like an idiot, he then pointed his wand at Sasuke and charged it with chakra, hoping for the similar effect with a much greater intensity.
“Eat this, teme!”
Naruto’s wand shook violently with the forced amount of energy input and spluttered before going dead in his hand.
“Wha?”
“Interesting,” Shikamaru muttered to himself as he checked his own wand over. “It’s not limited to only casting spells in Latin.”
Naruto held the wand up to his own face, wondering if he had accidentally killed it when he had released too much chakra into the stick of polished wood. He ran his eyes over it, looking for any hint of a crack, and after finding none, traced his fingers around it just to make sure.
Shikamaru nodded in satisfaction when he was done examining his newest weapon, pleased with its capabilities. Resisting the urge to smirk, he then said a few words in Japanese to test out the rest of his theory he had built up while watching the others fiddle with their wands.
“Release his wand from your hold,” he said, while pointing at Naruto. The blond gave a wild yelp when the stick in his hand started vibrating again, this time giving no signs of going out of commission. It resulted with a terrific explosion, sending the genin soaring (and crashing) into a nearby wall.
“What the hell is wrong with my wand!?”
Shikamaru bent down to pick up Naruto’s fallen hitae-ate and wand before walking up to the slightly battered boy.
“Nothing,” the chuunin replied as he handed the items back to their owner. “I just wanted to see if I could control your wand with a spell that mimicked my Shadow Bind without using shadows.”
“If I may ask,” Sakura said in a polite tone, ignoring what was going on behind her, “what exactly did you tell the Sorting Hat before we tried it on? Granger-san told me that it wasn’t necessary to have tried it on twice.”
Dumbledore smiled, already taken with the young girl’s quick mind and observational skills. “I told it to place you in the House that would produce the best results for your mission. The Hat does, after all, spend an awful lot of time around my office and has picked up a few things over the past couple of years.”
“But why twice, sir?”
“The first time was for the Hat to get a glimpse of each of your attributes before deciding where to place you. After having gained an understanding of who would fit better where in light of your current situation, it then delved deeper into your minds the second time around to reestablish its hunches and announce its choice.”
Dumbledore spent a few more minutes answering Sakura’s questions, explaining more about the rivalries between the Houses and the traits that were characteristic of them. He then turned to the others after her curiosity was satisfied a bit, expressing his gratitude for coming to his office and bid them farewell, indicating it was time for them to part.
“Now, I have taken the liberty of assigning you each a prefect who will help you get adjusted to life at Hogwarts,” Dumbledore said as he ushered the shinobi out of his office. “They will be waiting for you in the Great Hall with your Heads of Houses, so show them all respect and get a good night’s rest.”
“Yes, Headmaster.”
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An owl fluttered down and landed in front of Naruto while he was eating his cereal, delivering a letter before taking off to the skies. He took a quick glance at the address written on the top-left corner and then put the envelope in one of his pockets, resuming his breakfast as if nothing had happened. After a few more minutes the blond gave a stretch and made a few discreet hand signals. The other genin didn’t fail to notice this, and after catching each other’s eyes, slipped out of the Great Hall while giving excuses to their housemates. They left one at a time in separate directions so as to not appear that they were traveling in a group.
“What is it, Naruto?” Sakura asked as they gathered around the courtyard fountain.
“It’s from the old hag,” he replied, making a grimace.
“What did she say?”
Naruto opened the letter and began reading. “Blah. I dunno. Too much kanji…”
Shikamaru made a tapping motion on his ear, and the others nodded with understanding. They all reached under their robes and took off their hitae-ate from their right arms.
“Naruto no baka! Anything written in kanji is ‘too much kanji’ for you!”
“Oh yeah? What about that one time-” and anything else that was said was lost in an exchange of verbal insults. The letter fluttered to the ground, forgotten for the moment as the two started their daily routine of arguing. Again. Sasuke started tuning them out while keeping a fixated stare at one of the trees in the distance.
“Ha. I bet Sasuke-kun cares more about this mission than you ever will!”
What the… Since when did he get dragged into this!?
“As if! That bastard probably forgot why we’re here in the first place! And what about you?”
Shikamaru saw that this situation was getting nowhere when Naruto started taunting the kunoichi and attempted to separate the two. “Hey, would you two just cut it o-”
Sakura started glowering with one hand in a fist, grinding into the other. “Don’t you dare talk about my Sasuke-kun like that!” Naruto merely took this as bait and started running around, shouting at the top of his lungs. Sakura followed in hot pursuit.
“Sasuke-teme! Sasuke-teme!”
“Baka! Get back here so I can pummel you properly!”
Sasuke sighed and bent down to retrieve the paper and started muttering its contents out loud.
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So…
How’s it like to be in school again? And, from what I’ve heard from Headmaster Dumbledore, to be posing as sixteen year-olds?
I’d like to inform you of some of the more recent events so as to keep you all up to date with the happenings here in Konoha.
First off, it seems that some of the other teams you’ve met a few weeks ago are planning on attending the next Chuunin Exam. This time it’s going to be held in the Hidden Sand Village. You all remember Gaara-kun, I presume? Well, if Naruto is asking, it seems that his condition is more stable than the last time they met. He will know what I’m talking about.
Oh, and Ino is asking about your health, Shikamaru. She had me surprised there. I thought that she’d be on my case about someone else in your group… Chouji said that she’s been acting moodier than usual when all the genin teams were reassigned due to the depletion in our numbers from our last fiasco.
…
Do take care, ne? Come back to us safely. Oh, which reminds me…
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And the letter continued on in this fashion. It wasn’t until about halfway through that Sasuke noticed that his other teammates had stopped fighting and were, instead, peering over his shoulders, trying to read the rest of the letter with him.
“Stupid hag,” Naruto muttered. “She knows what it’s like. She hides her true appearance everyday.”
Sakura gave him one of her best I-Am-Mad-At-You-Because-You-Are-So-Stupid-So-Why-Don’t-You-Just-Shut-Up-And-Leave-Us-Alone glares. “Tsunade-sama isn’t an old hag! She just happens to like pretending she’s a different age!”
Shikamaru scoffed. “Yeah, which is kinda like what we’re doing here.”
“Oh…! Boys!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air.
“Well,” Sasuke carefully said as he deposited the letter and envelope into one of his pockets, “the rest of the letter isn’t anything important. She says that she’s heard from Kakashi-sensei that Kabuto was spotted just the other day.”
“Where?”
“Didn’t specify.”
“Oh…” Naruto shrugged, rummaging through his pockets for anything that could be used as a distraction. He managed to find something located in the inside of his robes. “Man, I’m bored right now!”
“Don’t worry too much about it,” Shikamaru stated, finding a nice spot on the grass to lie down and watch the clouds. “Our patrol will keep you busy enough. Anyway, I think it’ll be slightly more interesting once classes start.”
“When’s that?” Naruto asked, fiddling with his wand in the air like an extra-long senbon needle.
“Monday, dobe.”
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“What do you think?” Harry whispered behind his two best friends while keeping his Seeker-trained eyes on the group of four.
“I don’t know,” Ron admitted as he chanced another look around the stone pillar they were hiding behind. “I mean, isn’t it strange that Dumbledore allowed them to transfer over? With the Dark Lord and all that…”
“I think that’s especially why he accepted international students,” Hermione reasoned. “Perhaps it was a political statement from the other school that they trust us and support us even in times of trouble.”
“But - I mean, I’ve never heard of a wizarding school in Japan! Hell, I don’t even know the name of their school!”
“Honestly, Ron. I’m sure they’ve never heard of Hogwarts either until they were sent here.”
“B-but, it’s Hogwarts we’re talking about! How can you not know of this place!?”
“Hush. I want to hear what they’re saying,” Harry stated with his back turned towards his arguing friends. But the next few words were in a language that none of them understood. Hermione frowned, her eyebrows gathering.
“I guess their translation spells failed just now. Which is funny because I was so sure that I tuned Sakura’s to last for another day or so.”
“I don’t think their charms failed, ‘Mione,” Ron said in a hushed voice. “I think they didn’t want anyone listening in.”
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“Are they gone yet?” Naruto asked half an hour later with his hands behind his head in a semi-relaxed manner. He tilted his head back slightly, casting a quick glance out of the corners of his eyes towards where the Grand Hall was located.
“Not yet,” Sasuke replied, eyes closed with his hands folded in front of his mouth. “Wait… Yeah - they’ve left.”
Naruto shot up from his position on the ground and exhaled loudly. “Phew! Man, I’m tired!”
Sakura scowled, at the wind messing up her carefully placed hair she had spent fixing all morning and at her teammate’s unexplainably high level of energy at the moment.
“You have no right to complain. Maintaining a genjutsu isn’t as hard for you as it is for others on this team,” she said as she attempted to calm the hairs that were being blown around.
“Yeah, but you guys have better control than I do!” She shot him a glare.
“We don’t have an endless supply of stamina like you do, you freak,” she said evenly.
Naruto chose to ignore her and instead turned to face the Uchiha. “So then, now that Potter-tachi are gone, can we take the illusion off?” Sasuke shook his head.
“Not until the coast is clear. There still might be a few students milling about.” Frowning just a little bit and squinting his eyes until he looked like he was blind, Naruto stared at the genin, trying to get him to take back his word. Seeing that the black-haired shinobi remained ever so unresponsive, he chose to find someone else to bother instead.
“Hey Shikamaru,” Naruto turned to where he last saw the chuunin, only to find him sleeping. “Oi! Shikamaru! Wake up!” Shikamaru stirred out of his slumber, twitching in annoyance.
“Baka. We don’t have anything to do as of yet,” he muttered with his eyes still shut. Undeterred, Naruto inched forward, smiling his best foxy grin as he attempted to sweet-talk his commander. Not that Shikamaru could see him, though.
“Ne, ne. When can we take the illusion off? I’m getting tired.”
“Che. It’ll get easier with practice.”
“Then what do I do if somebody makes me lose my concentration and I change back to the real me?”
“Convince them that it was some sort of trick of the light after henge-ing again,” he replied calmly, not paying too much attention to the blond anymore. Naruto pouted.
“Mou, Shikamaru - you’re no fun.”
“Of course not,” the chuunin said, smirking. “Why do you think I’m your platoon leader?” Naruto made a face at the lazy genius, but Shikamaru had already turned to face a different direction. “How’s your House, Sasuke-kun?”
The Uchiha prodigy shrugged. “It’s okay.”
“What about you, Sakura?”
She gave a small smile before answering. “I really like my Housemates. They’re nice people to be around with. What about your House, Shikamaru?”
“I think I like my House better than any of yours. It’s more lax in its environment.”
Sasuke seemed to find something funny about the way things had turned out. After all, some of their Sortings had been just too perfect to be true.
“At least my House colors don’t resemble that of a bumble bee,” he said under his breath, loud enough for the others to hear. Naruto gave a fake cough as he tried to mask his laughter, but Shikamaru rolled his eyes and continued to proceed with his questionings.
“Naruto?”
It took some time for him to calm down his laughter (which by now he had stopped trying to hide), but Konoha’s Loudest Ninja didn’t fail to meet everyone’s expectations. He gave a big goofy grin and proceeded to launch into detail about his stay at Hogwarts so far.
“I met some interesting people already. There’s this one guy, and he seems pretty okay - except that he reminds me of Sasuke-teme sometimes. And did you know? The stairs move! All by themselves! And the talking portraits are so cool too! Did you know tha-”
Sakura sweatdropped as Naruto started talking to no one in particular. “Maybe we should leave him alone…”
A few minutes later, Shikamaru decided to call their impromptu meeting to a close. “Kakashi-sensei wanted to meet us near Hagrid-san’s hut for a debriefing soon. On a different note, do you all have time for a patrol round later on tonight?”
“Sure. If you guys are up for it, so am I,” Sakura confirmed.
“Good. Then let’s go see him right now and hear what he wants to tell us before we head back.”
They put their forehead protectors back on, tying it securely before making sure that their robes concealed any glint of metal from the extra kunai and shuriken they had taken to carrying around.
“And make sure you’re dressed properly,” Sakura admonished, looking with disdain at the way Naruto and Shikamaru’s uniforms were haphazardly thrown on.
“Yes, Mother,” Naruto drawled out, earning him a slap to the back of his head.
“Urusei!” Sakura growled out, her Inner self surfacing and taking momentary control.
“Itai!”
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The night sky was clear of any clouds as the stars’ soft light twinkled merrily in the atmosphere onto the sleeping earth below. The occasional chirping of the crickets was rarely interrupted save by a slight breeze rustling over the plains of grass. An owl flew down and perched on a tree branch, its large unwavering eyes blinking slowly in the dark environment as little moved about the school grounds. Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris, patrolled the corridors near the entrance to Hogwarts, swaying back and forth in her unspoken duty to watch and guard the doors with her life.
The formidable castle stood securely on top of the hill, arms open wide with a sense of ancient, dark mystery almost as if inviting unsuspecting travelers into its midst, never again to roam under the sun for all of eternity. The trees swayed eerily, dancing to an imaginary song performed by the elusive moorfolk around an invisible fire as they celebrated a forgotten holiday.
Time stood still as four figures stole quietly from the forest, past the main gate and into the hallways faster than one can draw breath. The crickets sang on undisturbed, the owl blinked and did not notice them, Mrs. Norris all but remained oblivious, and the hands of the clock slowly started ticking again once they had slipped past the first line of Hogwart’s natural defenses.
“Well, this is where we have to split,” said the first figure as the others huddled around him in one of the more concealing shadowed corners in the stone building. His voice was soft, but effortlessly so.
“Sure,” another consents, female this time. “Let’s meet tomorrow after breakfast again. How about in the courtyard?”
“Sounds good.” A confirmation from the first.
“Yeah, yeah. I got it. Make sure sensei isn’t late and everything,” a third said with the wave of a hand, dismissing the topic.
“As if that’ll ever happen,” the last scoffed, already turning his back towards the rest of the group.
And so they split up, each heading a different direction with white masks sharply contrasting against black cloth even in the dimly lit hallways. One particular person bid farewell to his companions before dashing off at a speed too fast for the untrained eye to see.
Just outside of the entrance to the common rooms the figure stopped before taking off his ANBU mask and quickly placing a henge on himself to look closer to ‘normal’. He quickly lengthened the sleeveless material so that it reached his hands and made the outfit look more loose than fitting. Hesitating for only another moment, he illusioned the black cloth so that it appeared to be orange. Satisfied with his results, Naruto stated his password and cautiously entered the Common Room though it was well past curfew and the other students were already asleep in their beds.
Slowly trudging his way upstairs to his dormitory, the genin hid his weapons and scrolls in the back pockets of his jacket, storing it for future use. It wasn’t until after he entered his room, grabbed his pajamas, and changed in the bathroom that he let the henge fade, his orange jumpsuit turning back to the black that Kakashi-sensei had insisted on using for the night-patrols.
‘At least it’s comfortable and easy to move around in,’ he thought. Kyuubi stirred within, flicking his tails lazily from the depths of his sealed cage.
‘As if. Tell that to yourself the next time you get stuck in the tree branches and wait for the others to bail you out.’
‘Oh, shut up,’ he growled back, not putting any real force behind his words. ‘And for the last time, those trees made a grab for me!’
‘Ha ha. Sure.’
‘Grr.’
After having brushed up and cleaned up any of the messes he might have brought in from outside, Naruto neatly folded his clothes with his ANBU-like mask and weapons hidden within. Then carefully tiptoeing around the others so as not to wake them, he placed the contents into his trunk and sealed it with a bit of Kyuubi’s chakra until the next night they would go patrolling.
Having stored away all traces of ‘super secret shinobi stuff,’ as he liked to call it, he stopped to stretch and yawn before his poster bed.
“Finally back, eh?” a voice asked from the bed to his left.
Dammit. So not everyone was asleep after all.
“Took you long enough, though. Next time make sure all your classmates aren’t actually faking their sleep before you leave.” Naruto could just imagine the smirk on the other boy’s face. ‘Like me,’ was written all across it.
“Yeah,” Naruto replied while slipping into the covers of the bed. “Thanks for the advice.”
“Where have you been all this time?”
“No where in particular.”
“Fine. Don’t answer me. Just as long as you don’t get caught,” the voice trailed off.
“Whatever,” the blond said as he reached over, placing his hitae-ate on the nightstand. Unlike the others, he didn’t need that much light to see in the dark to know that the owner of the voice was sitting up in bed, exasperation apparent in his body language.
Oh yeah.
Raised eyebrows? Check.
That eye-twitchy thing? Check.
Bulging forehead veins you can only find in manga? Check.
Subtle flexing of fingers as if they want to throttle you? Double check.
Naruto gave a snicker. In response, the other boy tried glaring at him, but the darkness was too thick for it to have any impact whatsoever. In fact, the genin was sure that he wasn’t even looking in the right direction and was trying to intimidate the nightstand into submission.
Another poorly covered laugh told the glaring boy that his attempts were put to waste. Giving up, the owner of the voice rolled his eyes and sighed as he admitted defeat.
“G’night, Uzumaki,” he said before flopping back down into his pillow. Naruto did likewise and pulled the sheets up to his chin.
“Oyasumi, Malfoy…”
To Be Continued…
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Author’s Notes:
1. Genjutsu: Naruto and co. are using genjutsu to look like Sixth Years even though they are twelve/thirteen years old.
2. Wands: These ‘alumni’ are of course, Fred and George Weasley.
Houses: Whoa! Jeez! A lot of people have made such a fuss about the fact that I put Sakura in Gryffindor instead of Naruto. Chill people! I’ve had this planned out since I announced that House Sortings were not going to be as expected for the most part - except that the spoiler is different because I drew that before I was set with my decisions and posted it without bothering to change the results. The Sorting Hat placed the four of them where they would do the most good. It didn’t put Sasuke with the Slytherins because then it would be a bad influence on him, if that’s what you’re wondering about. Naruto is in Slytherin because he is fox-like. Sakura is in Gryffindor because she needs to learn how to be braver. Sasuke is in Ravenclaw because he is considered a prodigy. Shikamaru is in Hufflepuff because his personality is that way.
Accents: Sorry. Won’t be doing them because then I have a hard time understanding what I’d just written, and they tend to make the pages riddled with red marks due to ‘spelling errors’ and such. My computer’s having a hard time with all the Japanese names and terminology as it is…
Sorting: If that confused you, don’t worry about it. I was merely comparing the parallels between an orchestral performance and the Start of the Term Festival.
Q. I like (such and such) pairing. Could you please incorporate that into your fic?
A. Sorry. No parings. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Nil. Zip. None… Well, for the time being, anyway. I’ll have some implied ones, but nothing between two main characters.
Q. When’s the next chapter coming out? Please update soon?
A. I take a long time updating. I have no idea when time will permit me to write. It’s a miracle that I’ve gotten as far as is because I also have a problem with finishing pet projects of mine.
Q. Why do you downplay many of the characters’ capabilities and potential?
A. Sorry - if it sounded like that, I didn’t mean it in that way. It’s just that it’s a very common trait in authors to make younger children too mature as if they’re adults with only a difference in height. At the same time, I recognize that shinobi are generally more grown up than what any of us could call ‘normal’ for their age group. Also, I was merely writing from a certain character’s perspective without getting into first person pov - it doesn’t necessarily mean that what they perceive as reality is true for the rest of the audience. In Naruto’s case, when he is acting childish it is because he is masking his true self to put others at ease. We all know that he is much more capable of thought and maturity than what he shows to others.
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Author’s Ramblings:
Mwahahaha! (evil grin) I can so envision the responses some of the people will give me after they’ve read this chapter. (ducks as a multitude of flames come crashing down on her head) Eep! Didn’t I warn you guys in the chapters beforehand that something like this would happen?
This chapter is definitely shorter than the previous ones… Mostly because I can’t write too well where I’m living -- my roommate is bugging the hell out of me. Maybe school will let up in a little bit to allow me to continue with my semi-annual updates. XP -- But… It takes so friggin’ long for me to write! Why can’t I work any faster!? I mean, when I started this chapter, it took me an hour and four minutes to write nine hundred words in dialogue format, and another fifty-eight to write seven hundred more! This is why I can’t update any faster than three to five months at a time, if not longer. So start pestering me about updates only after three months…
Also, I have spoilers for the next chapter. And I’ll be putting up more fanart in the near future, so check my profile every once in a while (because I can’t notify you of every spoiler or fanart right away). Just take out the spaces. Or if you want, there’s a working link in my bio: www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 24679788/
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Yatsuka Hikagi
20.XI.05