Fandoms: Harry Potter / Naruto
Rating: Mature
Languages: English, Japanese, Latin, Greek
Genre: Adventure/Action
2nd Genre: Humour
Character A: Harry J. Potter
Character B: Uzumaki Naruto
Summary: (Based on esama's "Subject of Change", continued with her permission) When Harry Potter died, he didn't expect to end up meeting a giant fox, a pervert, get changed into a girl and end up with some kid who had was capable of giving Snape the warm and fuzzies.
WARNING: Genderbend, Gore, Character Death, Canon Divergence, Jiraiya.
Harry whirled around, muscles tensing in anticipation and wariness as he stared around at the endless sea of pure black around him. Sinister enough in of itself, the fact that Naruto was no longer at his side was cause for even greater alarm to the now blonde Wiza-Witch. Anticipation welled in his gut as the stillness of this place pressed cloyingly against his senses, making his ears ring painfully with the sheer silence, his breath begin to pant in the lack of air and his nose itch at the pure lack of information.
"Well, this wasn't what I had expected when one of the Seal's fail-safes activated," a pleasant male baritone spoke from behind him, nearly making Harry launch himself out of his new skin – as it was, reflexes that weren't his own came into play and a powerful leg lashed out in a whirling kick that wouldn't have looked out of place in one of those Ballet shows Aunt Petunia always watched when Dudley was away. The man who caught it however seemed entirely unphased by the attack, in fact, he was smirking as if he had been expecting it.
Harry stared at him and gently tugged his foot back, not even bothering to apologise, the man didn't bat an eyelid. This man... Thick vivid blond hair in a rather familiar spiky mane with side-burns that looked like Jiraiya's, a headband with one of those swirling leaf engravings, pale skin and a pair of vibrant blue eyes that were currently pinning her in place without a discernible expression. If it weren't for the lack of whisker markings, Harry would have assumed this man was Naruto at some point in the distant future. There were very few differences between them. The shape of Naruto's eyes were more open, their jaw-lines, different, Naruto's was rounder and slightly shorter.
The long white coat with the writing on the back was a dead-give away as well.
"You're his father. Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Harry asked sceptically, hands fisting warily. If this man was possessing his son in some way then Harry was going to kick his nasty ass out and let whatever death gods ruled this place have him. Possession was an utterly deplorable thing and any who committed it deserved to burn.
"Aren't you?" the blond quipped, smirk softening with humour.
There was no rebuttal to that one. "Touché," he allowed. "Why are you here though? And where is Naruto?" he asked.
The Yondaime Hokage sighed, "I don't have unlimited Chakra so I'll try to keep the explanation brief. When I Sealed Kyuubi, I split him in half. Sealing his Darker half into myself and the lighter half into my son. However, Kyuubi is still a singular being despite being one of ten creatures that make-up the legendary Juubi. I have a link to Naruto through our halves of the Kyuubi. But I left some extras in his Seal. Fail-Safes to ensure the seal isn't broken either by himself or someone else. My Chakra and an Imprint of myself who would watch over him... Along with his mother, Kushina, the previous host of the Kyuubi."
"And you're burning Chakra just being here and talking to me?" Harry asked with a frown, noting how he hadn't addressed the question regarding his son. Clearly he didn't trust the Magic User.
An expression of frigid seriousness flickered across the Hokage's face, indicating how unhappy he was over this little fact, but he swiftly hid it away. "Indeed. I'm not blind to the way my son is treated, the Shinigami sent you to us for a reason. Perhaps to safe guard him for whatever reason, Fate has big plans for him."
"Oh god, not another Prophesy!" the former Boy-Who-Lived exclaimed in disgust before biting down on his tongue unhappily and gesturing at the blond to continue. If his time really as as limited as he claimed it was then it would probably be a good idea for him to shut his face and let the man get on with it.
The Yondaime chuckled in real amusement this time, "I take it you have experiences of them?"
"Whole life dictated by one, don't get me started on how shitty it was as well. I'm seeing some very disturbing parallels between myself and Naruto. Speaking of which, I need information. Your Village isn't just going to accept me popping up like some kind of Garden Gnome. I need something believable to work on if I'm going to support Naruto," the Witch explained, tone brooking no argument as he stared unwaveringly into the young Hokage's thousand mile gaze.
He sighed, and smiled apologetically, "I don't have enough Chakra for any kind of memory or Jutsu transferral, and the five minutes I have left won't be enough either."
"So you need more energy? That's an easy enough fix," the Witch declared. The principles had been pounded into her head for a long time and quite honestly she did wonder why no one else had thought of it come exam time. Ron had always complained about how he had studied just as much as Harry and yet never made the same kind of marks. The difference was that when Harry was tired and yet didn't want to sleep for fear of nightmares, a swift punt in the backside with an Enervate was usually enough to energise him for the next two to three hours which he then spent reading. The burn out afterwards wasn't great because he tended to sleep through whatever alarm he set without someone hauling him out of bed, but for this situation? It would work. It wasn't as if this man had a physical body to feel the backlash of a come-down.
Placing a hand on the rather bewildered man's shoulder, she willed her magic. This was a mind-scape, nothing was impossible in a mind-scape. You were limited only by your imagination and strength of will. And if there was one thing that Harry was, it was a stubborn little bastard who didn't know what was possible and what wasn't and didn't take no for an answer once his mind was made.
"Ennervate!" he commanded, golden light glowing between his fingers, casting red light through his flesh and turning the fabric beneath her palm white as the energy filled the blond man in front of him. "There, that should be enough."
The Hokage stared, "That... That was Sage Chakra," he stated, almost as if he was asking but couldn't quite get there.
"That's what Jiraiya called it. Do you have enough?" he asked again.
Clenching and unclenching a fist, checking his arms and then rubbing at the patch of skin where the Witch had spelled him the man eventually nodded, "More than enough. I... thank you. When Kushina and I found out about you, we grew concerned you would break the Seal. I agreed to be the one to talk to you while she handled Naruto, it meant I wouldn't have enough Chakra to see him afterwards though."
"Well now you do. So let's both go and see them." The more Harry spoke to the Hokage, the more he got the impression that he knew the man somehow, like a long forgotten but very precious friend he hadn't seen since childhood. It was putting him on edge as much as it made him trust and want to know him better. The last time he had this feeling it was regarding Voldemort's first Horcrux, the Diary that tried to kill both him and Ginny Weasley when he was twelve. The question now was, was it the body recognising its 'father', or was it him recognising something, or someone, else?
The blond looked steadily at him for a long while before a genuine slightly sad smile began to crawl across his mouth, "Alright. And... I'm sorry you got dragged into all this."
Harry waved a hand, "I was ready to go to the Afterlife, I wasn't happy about it, but if it helped my friends then I would have done it even if I was going to Hell. I get a second chance here. I get a little brother." He smiled, the blond Hokage blinking briefly at the expression, it was like he was looking into a mirror.
"I get Naruto, so in all honesty, I think I got the better end of the deal here."
000
"Neechan?" Naruto shrieked when he realised the blonde girl was no longer with him, that he was alone in some strange endlessly white place full of nothing but light. It was still and yet peaceful, full of warmth and light, a place that was almost beautiful despite its emptiness. But this was lost on the panicked twelve year old boy who'd just had one of the few people he could legitimately call family, the only person who wanted to be his family, vanish before his very eyes in the cage of the Kyuubi.
"Neechan! Where are you? Neechan!" he called, turning this way and that, fear and anger beginning to writhe through his veins. If that Furry bastard had laid even one claw on his Neechan he was going to beat his ass Uzumaki style!
"Naruto..."
The blond boy whipped around, sliding into a Taijutsu stance only to stutter to a complete halt at the red haired woman in front of him – a woman with green eyes just like Neechan's. She smiled warmly at him, hands clasped in front of her, she wore a long green dress under a beige high-necked top, her long crimson hair falling down to her ankles, a thin golden clip keeping it out of her face and those green-green eyes.
"Its good to finally meet you," the red haired woman admitted, her voice filled with so much emotion that Naruto felt uncomfortable and flat-footed. He really hoped she didn't start crying, he didn't really know what to do when girls cried. Neechan was different, she was strong and didn't cry but this girl looked a lot like Sakura-chan did so she would probably cry if she got upset. Quite wisely in the twelve-year-old's opinion, he stayed quiet and continued to watch the woman for any possible sign of water-works – that way he could make his escape before she made his shirt damp with pretty lady. Her smile became self conscious, "Haha, like, this must be all very confusing for you," she said scratching the back of her head and looking sheepish. Naruto tried not to notice how she said 'ttebane', much like his own 'ttebayo', it was difficult though, because the more he stared at her face, the more he realised that if someone drew whiskers on her face, it would be almost like looking in a mirror, minus the obvious colour differences.
She had his face.
Her smile turned into a mischievous grin, "Think you can guess who I am?" she asked hopefully.
His immediate answer would be the Kyuubi's human form but Neechan had been calling it Kurama earlier, and that was a boy's name. Not to mention the fact that Kurama seemed to be really crotchety and bad tempered, this lady seemed pretty nice so far, and she definitely didn't give off the angry-DOOM aura that the Fox did. So instead, he shook his head and backed up a pace when her grin fell into an expression that was torn between sad and accepting.
"Should have expected that," she mused before sighing and pushing her hair back. "I suppose first things first then. I..." she trailed off, seemingly uncertain of how to continue before visibly steeling herself. "I am your mother, Uzumaki Kushina."
Naruto's eyes widened as emotions exploded inside of him, this was his Mum? What was she doing here? Inside the Seal? Had Naruto died? What happened to Harii-neechan? Had they been attacked? This was his Mum?
His body moved by itself. He wasn't even aware of it. One moment his brain was in chaos trying to wrap itself around the fact that this woman was his mother, the mysterious woman who gave him life and abandoned him to a life of hatred and cold stares. The next, his arms were around her and squeezing her tightly, nothing else in his mind but the overwhelming knowledge that this was the woman he had always wished to meet above all others. For a moment, all he could do was hold her, she felt so warm and soft and smelt like flowers and ointment, then her arms wrapped around him and Naruto was certain that he had died and this was heaven.
He found that he didn't care in the slightest that he never made his dream of Hokage as long as he never had to leave again.
"Hey, its alright Naruto, its alright. There's no need for tears," she told him warmly, running her hands through his hair as he sobbed into her stomach. He didn't know how long he just stood there, hugging her tightly and crying as she just held him, humming quietly and stroking his hair. He greedily drank in every scrap of affection she showed him, his hands knotted into her dress and refusing to release her, even for a moment.
"I-I always, always, wanted to know you. T-to meet you," the twelve year old sobbed desperately, his grip tightening.
His mother sighed and squeezed him tightly, "I wished everyday that I could hold you like this, my Naruto. I wished I could shield you from those cold eyes, from that senseless hatred. I wished you never had to bear my burden," she told him, her voice trembling with guilt, sadness and aching pride over what her little boy had accomplished. He was so strong, just like his father, and even more selfless.
"Y-you saw?" he croaked, looking up with red rimmed blue eyes, so much like her own but the same colour as his father's, as the man she loved, now on the boy she loved. She kissed his forehead, unable to stop herself.
"Every moment. Both of us. Your father and I. We saw it all and wished we could be there for you, but these Chakra Imprints within your Seal were the best we could do in the hurried circumstances. I'm so sorry, my Naruto, this is my fault. If only I had been stronger, if I had been faster." He voice hitched in a suppressed sob as she bowed her head over him, falling to her knees and pressing him tightly to her body, as if she could absorb him into herself and protect him from the harsh world outside.
"Its not your fault, Okaachan!" the whiskered blond exclaimed, but the name he bestowed upon the woman just made her cry all the harder.
"B-but it is!" she sniffled desperately, unashamed of the tears that poured down her cheeks. "I'm so proud of you, my Naruto. So proud. You've done us all proud. Mikoto-chan, your father, Sarutobi-jiji, Jiraiya-senpai, Kakashi-chan, the whole Uzumaki Clan, all of us. Especially Mito and I," she told him as she drew back, a wide, painfully proud smile beaming from her face. "You took my burden, Mito's burden, and you held your back straight and you faced your eyes forward against the darkness. Well done, my Naruto. Well done."
Something tight and dark in the pit of his stomach dissolved, the pain, the frostbite, the fear, all those negative feelings he has suppressed during his bad treatment, all of it, faded away. Like morning mist burned away by the sun's first rays. He felt lighter, cleaner, happier. Like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He couldn't stop himself from beaming as widely as his face allowed.
They were proud of him. His family. They loved him and they were proud of him.
"We are proud of you, Naruto, don't you ever doubt that," a second voice told him, a man's voice.
Naruto turned and felt his jaw practically unhinge. The Yondaime Hokage chuckled at the look of pure disbelief that etched itself onto his son's face, it was hardly an attractive expression but it was one he had seen so many times on his beloved's face that it looked even more adorable on his young son's. But that was just his opinion. A quick glance at his companion proved her to be just as amused at the expression as he.
"Close your mouth, Naruto, or you'll end up catching flies," the witch blonde girl warned him as she stepped out from behind the Hokage, smirking slightly as his mouth snapped shut with an audible clack of teeth.
"Neechan!" he exclaimed, launching himself at the whiskered girl who caught him quite expertly. Ruffling his hair as she gave him a brief hug and set him back down on the 'ground' of the endless white place. "Where'd you go?" the blond boy demanded accusingly, a pout jutting out on his face.
She smirked and roughly mussed his hair up, "Your father had a few things to say to me," she said, nodding over to the blond Hokage who was watching them with ill concealed longing.
Naruto goggled, "T-th-the Yondaime H-hokage is my..." He couldn't say it, couldn't understand it. The man who ruined him, who Sealed the strongest of all Demons inside of him, who sentenced him to a life of hell on earth, was his own flesh and blood. His father. His father was the Yondaime Hokage, his idol, his hero. His Damner.
He wanted to shout, he wanted to scream and rage and hit him. But Neechan's hand on his shoulder kept him in place. He leaned into her touch, unable to pull his eyes from his father as he felt his mother's presence come up behind him, her hand joining him on his other shoulder.
"Yeah," Neechan told him. "He's your Dad. And he ain't going anywhere for a while. I have him some of my power so he'll still be here for a while, lurking in the Seal. Making sure Kurama doesn't get out," she explained, causing the two older Shinobi to look at her in confusion.
"Kurama?" Kushina questioned, causing the strange girl to look up at her with her own green eyes from Minato's face. She felt her breath catch in the back of her throat. She had been torn between wanting a daughter or a son, when she found out about Mikoto-chan having a baby girl she had prayed feverishly for a little boy. The two friends giggling over how their children would grow up and get married so they could really be sisters. But in the back of her mind, she had always hoped for a little girl, a princess to pamper and teach all those girlish things that she had enjoyed so much with her own mother and missed so whole-heartedly when she came to Konoha. Mito-obaasama had filled the void but... it just wasn't the same.
"You should know. Kurama is the Kyuubi's real name," the blonde girl told her flatly and under her gaze, Kushina felt a stab of guilt. Guilt she resolutely pushed away in favour of the current situation. "He told me about that night," she continued, her eyes so serious that Kushina felt like she was looking at Minato during the War, even the slant to their eyes was the same. "I'll explain that to him later if you give me the memories. I can give you a Chakra boost just like I gave him so you can spend some time with your son."
She was flummoxed as she distantly realised Naruto was shouting at his father, sobbing and weakly beating his fists on the man's chest as the older male moved to hug him, letting him work his anger and sadness out before hugging the sobbing and trembling boy to his chest tightly. "Why would you do this?" she asked the whiskered girl with her husband's face.
She shrugged a shoulder, a sad, almost wry smile crossing her lips, "Like Naruto. My parents died before I got to know them. The only memory I have of them... is their deaths. But I got to meet them briefly, later, for all of ten seconds. We couldn't even talk." A look of deep envy and longing filled her face as she watched the two blonds embrace tightly, crying. "Naruto deserves this, if I can make it happen then I will. He has an opportunity to know you. To be with you, even if it is only in his head. You're as real as it gets." She sighed and pushed her hair over her shoulder in a motion that was as familiar to Kushina as her own crimson locks, the girl smiled at her. "Besides, its not like this is the last time I'll be able to speak with either of you. Just, give me the memories of that night and anything else you think might be useful. I'm going to need to plan things through very carefully if I'm going to be able to affectively pass as Naruto's sister back in Konoha."
Kushina stared before smiling and hugging the girl who looked so much like how she imagined her own daughter, only with blonde hair instead of red. "Thank you. Thank you so much," she whispered gratefully.
The girl blushed and shook her head, "Don't thank me until I make things better for the hair-ball," she told the red head as she squirmed free, clearly not comfortable with physical affection in the same way she tolerated Naruto's flying tackles and affection starved snuggling. "Ennervate," she intoned, pressing a hand against the woman's shoulder, her hand filling with light. Kushina could feel the energy rushing through her, it was like Chakra but so much fresher and cleaner, not human that was coloured with their personalities and souls, or tainted and heavy like a Bijuu's but light and natural, like a tree or a plant or a river, something that was neither good or evil but just was.
The former Jinchuuriki inhaled deeply at the clean and refreshing feeling that the golden Chakra gave her and smiled warmly as she placed her hands over her head. Her eyes sliding shut as she concentrated and withdrew a delicate construct of light blue Chakra, "Here, my memories of that night, and anything else that might be useful. You're only five years older than our Naruto so I included a few memories so you can come up with a good cover story." The other girl nodded and bowed her head, Kushina smiling as she gently laid the Chakra construct onto the girl's forehead, watching as it was absorbed into her brain.
The girl's face screwed up with pain, "Okay, thanks. I should... probably go and sort these out. You'll have a good three hours with the Chakra boost." She stumbled backwards, "I'd suggest using only half of that, I'll come back and give you another boost the next time I talk to you so you can stick around." She groaned, rubbing at her temples, "Don't worry, I'll get him back to the hotel room as soon as I've ordered all this."
"Take care of yourself," Kushina told her, concern colouring her voice as the girl's smile strained, the lines of her face tight with pain before she faded away in the light.
000
For Harry, coming out of Naruto's mind was... painful. And disorientating.
He slammed his eyes shut as the light from the late-afternoon sun stabbed her in the eyes. Taking a deep breath, he gently released Naruto and manoeuvred him so he was leaning against his side, looking for all the world like a kid who'd fallen asleep playing with his sister. Thankfully no one had noticed their brief moment of complete defencelessness.
Leaning his head against the twelve-year-old's, Harry tried to drop into his own mind-scape. He needed to sort those memories he received from Kushina-san and organise his own thoughts and memories. Something he had never done before but really desperately needed to.
Now that he basically knew the path into a mind-scape, it wasn't too difficult to make his way into his own. What it formed itself into actually was rather shocking. Though, in retrospect, he probably shouldn't have been surprised about where he ended up.
Hogwarts was so much more than just a Castle to him. It was a home and a sanctuary. It was still startling and somewhat heart-rending to find himself opening his eyes to the Great Hall. Kushina's offered memories and impressions as foreign discarded scrolls strewn out across the House Tables. Some were larger, others were covered in red stains that looked like blood, there were weapons as well, a strange white glowing chain hung from the ceiling and there were bouquets of flowers that Harry knew he'd never seen before in his life. There was also a small pile of red hairs on a white plate, a yellow ribbon binding them together.
Not only that, there were other things in the Great Hall that shouldn't be there. His Nimbus 2000, shattering and reforming again and again at the Hufflepuff table. That pudding Dobby broke sat on the Slytherin table in front of familiar brass telescope that he remembered repairing time and again in his Sixth Year whenever he passed the Room of Requirement – the one that belonged to Crabbe in his Polyjuiced form. Not only that, there were also Prophesy orbs, a pair of old knobby mustard socks that smelt as if they belonged to Vernon Dursley.
The whole room was a total tip.
Despite having been brought up male, Harry was well aware of his rather ingrained O.C.D. regarding orderliness. It near enough drove Ron up the wall when they were at the Burrow and Harry would end up tidying up his bedroom just because his fingers itched and the ingrained habits from Privet Drive had taught him that if he kept it as clean and tidy as possible, there would be less for him to do when Petunia came around to force him to tidy up. Which was why as soon as he took stock of his mind-scape's lack of order, that itch returned with a vengeance and he whirled through the Great Hall like a House-Elf on a mission.
No where in the Castle was safe.
And it was the whole castle. Gryffindor Common room, Dormitories, Library, Third Floor Corridor, Slytherin Common Room, Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore's Office, Classrooms, portraits, suits of armour, the Kitchens.
The more Harry organised things, the more he came to realise that the Portraits were actually memories that lined the walls, jumbled and without order, grouped together in rough categories and randomised associations. Harry quickly went about putting each memory where it belonged. The library became his Spell and Jutsu referencing room, inside he stored the scrolls and weapons from Kushina-san, each weapon containing knowledge of how to use them and each small coloured Scroll featuring a different Jutsu for him to attempt to Master. The larger Scrolls were memories which he hung on the walls of the Third Floor.
Finished, Harry decided that enough was enough. He would explore Kushina-san's memories tomorrow while Naruto was training and Jiraiya was womanising. But for now, he had to get the both of them home before the local night life and thugs became a bit too interested in an exhausted kid and a pretty blonde girl.
Stepping out of his mind-scape was like being plunged into ice cold water.
When he opened his eyes, the sun had long since set, leaving both him and Naruto curled up together in the abandoned park. Naruto was awake, sat in the hallow of her arms, clumsily putting little braids in her hair as he hummed a childish tune under his breath. Apparently he had finished speaking with his parents some time ago while Harry had been busy organising his memories and knowledge.
"Naruto?" he whispered, making the boy drop his hair as if burned and look around.
"Neechan!" he exclaimed, glomping the other blonde. "You wouldn't wake up, I got worried!"
He ruffled the boy's hair, "Sorry about that. I was organising the memories your – our mum gave me, I haven't looked at them yet. That's for tomorrow."
Naruto nodded and grinned up at her, "Okaachan told me that she gave you the memory of when I was born and the lullabies she used to sing when she was pregnant with me," he told the Gryffindor, who was not deaf to the hopeful tone in the boy's voice.
Almost immediately, against his will, the memory of that lullaby bubbled up from the recesses of his mind. Harry chuckled self consciously, "I know it but... don't expect me to sing. I can't carry a tune and I'm scared I'll mess it up." Naruto's face fell and guilt stabbed at his stomach. "I can hum it though," he admitted, drawing the smaller boy into a hug before getting to his feet. It was difficult. Naruto was twelve and no light weight despite his short-stature. As a boy, he never would have managed it, but with this body it was so easy.
He hummed the tune as he walked home, his brother clinging to his side like a baby chimp.
000
Chapter Fin...
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