AC: Auryn Chapter 8

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.

It took Shizune two hours to repair the ruptured blood vessels, it was such delicate work to scan so intensely and repair damage at such a level. She couldn't miss a single capillary. This was the problem with brain-trauma and why most Ninja's minds developed to be both simpler and retain and recall information with greater success. Unfortunately the simpler mind structure also made them more of a target for Genjutsu which found it easier to dig in.

The dark haired woman sat back, releasing a deep breath as she felt Jiraiya's Chakra slowly dribble out of her system as the conversion Seal he inked on her back was wiped off. She looked at the blonde girl, she was sticky scarlet with blood and had yet to move a single muscle, watching her now with frighteningly intense green eyes, just waiting. She smiled at the younger girl, "He'll be alright for now, we just have to find out how he popped those blood-vessels. His mind is unusually adaptive for someone his age, it shouldn't have happened," the woman explained.

Harii flinched and cringed backward, making the two present in the room blink and sit up straighter, "Harii-chan, do you know something?" Jiraiya asked, a frown beginning to work its way over his face. He may act otherwise in order to try and get Naruto to toughen up, but he did genuinely care about the boy and any threat to him was going to be treated harshly.

"Remember the damage I mentioned?" she began quietly, making Jiraiya nod, his frown growing. "We must have missed some kind of booby-trap or something because we fixed and organised everything back where it should have been," she told him miserably, rubbing her bloody fingers on her trousers. "This is my fault, I should have been more careful!" she berated herself.

Jiraiya sighed and stripped out of his jacket, gently dropping it over her to hide the bloodstains all across her front, "Shizune, could you get Tsunade in here? I'll clear up the bloo- od?" he trailed off as Harii-chan reached out and made the bloodied wash-cloths and sheets puff out of existence with a simple touch of her hand. He blinked, "Useful."

She shot him a weak smile, "Not so much when the Sensei keeps vanishing your work before you can hand it in because he's a spiteful git," she admitted, choking a little on a miserable laugh.

Jiraiya hummed and looked away, ignoring the twang in his chest as he watched Shizune open the door to get his old team-mate. Now that things weren't so dire, he allowed himself a moment to really enjoy the view, she may not have been much on top but hot-damn, those were some niiiiice legs, toned and yet shapely leading up to a lovely perky rump that had juuust enough jiggle to –

"Jiraiya!" Dark eyes immediately snapped to his team-mate, yet still not quite as high as her face. "Explain, Shizune says that the Gaki's mind has been messed with," the Slug Summoner barked, grabbing her old team-mate by the jaw and hoisting his face up until his eyes had to meet her face because they couldn't actually look any lower.

Grumbling a little at her for ruining the view, for putting a crick in his neck and also reminding him of the dire situation he stepped back, rubbing at his jaw before launching into an explanation of Harii's ability to mind walk and how she found someone had been scrambling with Naruto's brain while he was in the Academy. He didn't expect the older blonde to suddenly whip around and roughly plough the other girl into the far wall when he told her she'd repaired the damage but probably missed something.

"You foolish girl!" the female Sannin roared as the younger girl bounced off the wall and hit the ground with a yelp. "There was no left over boobytrap! By rearranging his mind and not showing him how to make the new connections his brain is trying to force them back into their old semblance of order! His brain is tearing itself apart trying to break itself again!" the Medic Nin snarled at the idiot child who nearly murdered her brother. The brief stab of satisfaction she felt at seeing the other girl's eyes widen soured when the girl was immediately on her feet and grabbing her by the arm, she tensed, expecting an attack.

"How do I fix it?" Harry demanded, "Please, if you know what you're doing, tell me how to fix this."

Tsunade scowled, this was like a bad nightmare.

"Not even if you paid me," she sneered.

"T-tsunade-sama?" Shizune gasped in horror. Never did she expect her Master to turn someone away like this, Orochimaru was one thing, but Naruto-kun was just a child and it wasn't like his sister was demanding Tsunade do it herself, she just wanted to know how to correct her own mistake! She knew her Master was bitter and still heartbroken from Dan and Nawaki's deaths but... she didn't think it had been this bad, even at the lowest points when her Master turned violent in her drunken anger.

"And if I begged?" the younger girl asked quietly, taking everyone in the room by surprise.

Tsunade snorted, "Like an arrogant little brat like you even knew how!" she scoffed.

Her eyes widened when the younger girl released her and dropped down to her hands and knees, bowing her head to touch the floor. No hesitation.

"Please, Tsunade-sama, if something isn't done, Naruto will not wake up. Please, I beg you, how can I save my brother?"

The adults all exchanged looks. Jiraiya had to admit, he was a little surprised at the girl's willingness to bow her stiff neck on Naruto's behalf, on the other hand, he wasn't. She had already admitted that she was willing to do what it took to keep Naruto alive and happy, even if that meant butting heads with him, something that even Tsunade was wary of sometimes. Shizune was less surprised and more hopeful that her Master would help them, surely she could understand girl's feelings, she knew that Tsunade would have been just as quick to bow her head if it meant Nawaki could have been saved. And despite her anger, her bitterness, Tsunade wasn't without a heart. One that was currently squeezing painfully tight as her stomach flipped and guilt made her queasy.

"Get off the floor," she grunted at the younger girl. "I'll help, but you will owe me for this. Money or a favour, which ever," she growled before marching back over to the blond boy. "Use your technique, I'll meet you in his Mind-scape."

Harry nodded, scrambling to his feet, relief making his knees weak as he stumbled to Naruto's side.

000

Jiraiya sighed, eyeing the two curled up on the bed, Harii had refused to leave Naruto's side since Tsunade and her had dropped into his mind to fix the damage. He didn't say it out loud, but he felt partially responsible for it, he should have known better and stopped her from rearranging his mind like that. Still, he could respect her a little now. She recognised that she'd made a mistake, took responsibility and did everything within her power to correct it and sought help when it was too much for her alone. Not many Ninja could do that.

The more time went past, the more she reminded him of Minato but with Kushina's temper.

Tsunade had dragged the girl out and into the bathhall to wash off all the blood decorating her front and the two of them had nearly come to blows about it. Harii had not wanted to leave Naruto in the slightest. But Tsunade wasn't a Sannin for nothing, she was more than capable of handling the green eyed blonde. Harii was in the bathhall before she'd finished her sentence, naked and thrown in the water before she could react to the sudden change in location as well. It would have been comical to him if his team-mate hadn't then turned around and punted him out of the room before he could get a good look.

Prudish bitch.

Jiraiya pouted at the unfairness of it all. Barely several hours had gone by and dawn was already peeking over the horizon as they anxiously waited for Naruto to awaken. Jiraiya didn't know what the girls had done but apparently it was enough for Tsunade to feel comfortable enough to worry about the reek of blood lingering on the other girl. If he didn't know any better, he was getting the impression that his team-mate was thinking of taking her under her wing. He wasn't so sure it was a good idea, Harii was no healer. Harii had crawled into bed with the smaller boy and coiled herself protectively around him before going to sleep, Shizune had followed suit by getting into the other bed and sleeping, leaving just the two Sannin to sit and wait.

"Why did you bring them, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked softly.

"I'm not that cruel, Tsunade. Naruto I brought because I'm doing Kakashi a favour, and he's my Godson. Harii-chan... she actually found us back in the last village." He wondered how much he should tell his old team-mate, if there was even the slightest chance she could betray the village and go to Orochimaru's camp it would be best if he didn't give her the truth.

"Kyuubi called her 'Little Shinigami'," the Slug Nin admitted, almost sounding wary of the moniker.

Jiraiya nodded, "I'm not surprised. She's been touched pretty heavily by death. Enough that she managed to track us down using just the imprint the Shinigami left on Naruto's Seal," he explained, carefully leaving out the small fact that she could pretty much be considered a Shinigami herself. The fact that Kyuubi even recognised it was cause for alarm. "She still hasn't told me anything about what happened to her, but she is Naruto's older sister, she remembers enough from before October Ten to confirm it. She's the living spit of Minato too."

Tsunade was silent, "That can be faked."

"Whirlpool Lullabies not so much," he pointed out, "Not to mention her little teleportation trick, if that wasn't a variation of Hiraishin, I'll drink my ink bottle." And given how it was made with blood, it was a little widgy and Tsunade knew he hated the taste of blood.

The two fell quiet as the dim lighting in the room grew stronger as the sun climbed higher, until...

"Ero Sennin?" Naruto asked, peering at them with curious eyes from under the tangle of hair and limbs that was his older sister. He seemed quite content to stay there though, even shifted to hug her a little tighter. Jiraiya was starting to get a little concerned with how closely the two were gravitating to one another, "What happened? Where am I?"

"You started bleeding from both ears and nose, Gaki. Harii-chan came running for us, you gave her quite the scare," he explained, watching as the blond blinked slowly as if he didn't understand before his gaze widened in a mixture of surprise and confusion as his head twisted to look at the seventeen year old wrapped around him.

"S-she was actually scared, for me?" he asked, as if the concept was completely foreign and Jiraiya felt his stomach twist. Of course it was. Having friends and people who actually cared was still a fairly new state for Naruto, even so, none of them had shown much in the way of fear over his wellbeing, hell, Haruno was more likely to hit him than fuss over a bloody nose, the Uchiha would call him weak and leave him to his own devices and if Kakashi actually cared to notice he would just usher his student off to the hospital. A willingness to sacrifice your life was one thing, but that was just how Leaf Nin worked. When one of their own was in danger they would fight to the death to help. But giving a damn about an injury was something else entirely.

Maybe leaving him to Hiruzen-sensei's care for the last twelve years hadn't been such a bright idea.

Tsunade glanced at her team-mate, recognising the expression of guilt that twisted the edge of his face, "Yeah, Gaki," she grunted. "Even got on her knees and begged me to help you." Which was fucking stupid in her mind, had she been a hostile presence she would have rammed a Kunai through the back of her neck and left the Gaki to die – unfortunately that would then leave Jiraiya to hunt her down and tear her apart, and he would. She knew he would because Naruto was the Legacy Minato left him.

It didn't help that the kid was the son of her favourite cousin. She guessed that made the two Gakis' family.

"Don't forget, you've got until Monday to master that Jutsu. Don't think you're getting an extension because of this," she told him roughly, turning away so she wouldn't have to look at the knowing smirk on Jiraiya's face.

000

Shizune had tried to keep Naruto in bed for rest but with Kurama helping things along, he didn't need the extra recovery time and was already back to training before Lunchtime had even rolled around. Harry had gone with him as he was determined to make sense of those Chakra Chains. That had been on Wednesday, it was now Sunday Afternoon and neither of them were present, nor had they returned to the Inn much at all.

Shizune had been about to go and look for them when Harii appeared at the door with a completely snookered out twelve year old on her back, looking a little sheepish as she asked if they could kip in with them.

"We trained a little too hard," she explained, laying Naruto out on one of the beds, checking the bandages she'd wrapped around his hand. Shizune sniffed and blinked a little as she smelt an unusual combination of herbs coming from them. "Naruto's out clean, I doubt even the magic word could wake him up right now."

"What about you, and why here?" Shizune asked curiously as the other girl dug into her pocket and withdrew a Sealing Scroll which poufed out a sleeping bag. How nostalgic, it was just like the camping one she had as a Genin only bigger and red instead of washed out brown.

"I'm exhausted. Once I'm out, I'm out. I won't wake up until my body's recovered and as much of a gentleman I'm sure Jiraiya may be, I've already ploughed him into the ceiling for trying to sneak a grope while I was sleeping." The older women pulled identical faces, yeah, they wouldn't put it past him either. He may have been a gentleman in certain ways but he was still a Super Pervert. Harii smirked depreciatingly, "Yeah. Not too comfy with the idea of being too tired to move when I see that mug of his leering at me when I open my eyes."

Harry sighed, cracking his back as he placed a hand over his chest and Transfigured his day clothes into a set of night ones, too lazy to bother with digging out a scroll – he couldn't even remember which one it was anyway. Besides, Tsunade was being worryingly quiet as she stared down at the exhausted boy, her expression strangely morose and disappointed. Shizune kept glancing at her worriedly as the younger girl slid into her sleeping bag, zipped up, curled into a ball and quite literally passed out.

For Harry, all was silent and peaceful in sleep until the sound of a body hitting the ground jarred him awake, a door closing soon after. Opening green eyes, the Gryffindor sat up and glanced at Shizune sprawled out on the floor, clutching at her stomach. She was breathing, only unconscious then. Tsunade was no where in sight though.

Pulling himself free the blond scrambled to his feet and pulled open the window, looking out and down the street. It wasn't very crowded but he had clearly been sleeping for several hours given how dawn was already peeking over the horizon. And there! A blonde flash moving slowly through the streets wearing a familiar green coat. Hopping out of window, Harry followed. A quick disillusionment and a silencing charm and suddenly it was like he was nothing more than a shimmer of displaced hot air. All those years of sneaking around Hogwarts had paid off.

Tsunade hadn't noticed, her mind too consumed with what was to come, what she was going to do.

In the early morning hours, the town was quiet, only the occasional early bird and the workers were up and about, no one paid the blonde woman any notice as she slowly meandered her way towards the Castle that was now rubble due to a monster attack the week before. No doubt they would be getting many other tourists to see the ruins and comment on how horrible the devastation was. Maybe one or two men threw out appreciative whistles and admiring ups and downs but other than that they left her be.

Following her into the ruins, Harry watched as she came to a stop in front of a ruined section of wall and looked around briefly before leaning back against the plaster, waiting.

Nodding, the blonde stepped back and ran, heading back towards the Inn where he planned on waking Shizune and Naruto before going to find Jiraiya. If she was knocking her Attendant unconscious to go to this meeting then it was definitely something that could spell bad news.

Out of hearing range, he Apparated.

000

Kabuto smirked as he flickered past bedroom windows, their occupants completely clueless to his passing, men and women just beginning the day, children still sleeping in their beds, amorous couples reacquainting themselves with each other's bodies in the stolen moments before life reasserted itself. None of them had any idea the threat that had passed by so closely and so swiftly that had he wished it, they would have been dead before they realised he had even been there.

Still, he had a particular target in mind.

He shifted and crept along a near-by roof to where he knew there was a window into Tsunade-sama and her Attendant's room, he smirked as he peered out, half expecting to see the dark haired woman either unconscious or panicking over her Master's absence. However, his smirk instantly fell at the sight that greeted him. This would complicate things greatly and possibly spell disaster for their cause.

Jiraiya, for him to even be there couldn't be a coincidence. Naruto's presence was... he didn't know whether he should have been amused or just pity the poor boy, desperately hanging on the coat-tails of Ninja greater than himself, begging for table scraps like a mongrel.

He moved to withdraw before a sudden CRACK of displaced air drew his attention again.

He blinked at the slight shimmer of air that seemed to drain away and reveal a... was that one of Naruto-kun's Sexy Clones? No. No, it was built similarly but the shape of the face and eyes were different, not to mention she was clothed in rather practical clothes. He watched as Naruto greeted her with a flying tackle and a cry of 'Neechan', neither Jiraiya nor Shizune seemed surprised to see her, however, Kabuto had a problem. All of his information told him that Naruto did not possess a sister, nor any family.

"She's gone to the ruined Castle up on the hill," the unknown girl told them, pointing.

"You followed her?" the Attendant spluttered in surprise.

"Yes. She didn't notice me. But she's waiting for someone up there none-the-less." He knew he had seen that girl's face before, it was maddening, he knew he should recognise her. The fact that Naruto-kun had a sister was huge and he felt bitter at the fact this woman had managed to escape his information networks.

"Damnit, Shizune, what the hell is going on? Why is Tsunade talking to Orochimaru?" Jiraiya demanded in a sudden snarl.

Crap! Kabuto mentally swore and immediately raced off, if Jiraiya knew she was speaking with Orochimaru-sama then it was only a matter of time until he caught up to them. Hopefully Tsunade had decided to accept their offer otherwise this had the potential to get very, very nasty.

"I'll explain on the way," the dark haired woman told them.

"Hold your oxen, Harii-chan can get us there in a split second, right?" Jiraiya asked, looking at the blonde girl who nodded firmly, looking grim. For a moment, Shizune wondered if she was aware who Orochimaru was, her brother clearly did judging by the vicious scowl that was beginning to form on his face. "Explain now. The more time I have to work through this toxin, the better chances we have of beating Orochimaru."

So she explained. Her voice lowering as she spoke of the Snake Sannin's offer to revive her Master's beloved younger brother and the man she intended on marrying. In exchange for healing his arms.

"And she'll go for it?" Harii asked, sounding disgusted.

Jiraiya nodded looking grim, "She never got over their deaths. You've seen what she's like now. She used to be quite nice and she would have never turned someone away if they needed help, let alone drive them to begging for it."

He loved her at one point, Harry realised as he watched the Toad Sannin climb to his feet. But he was still going to kill her if she betrayed them for this Orochimaru guy. Just who was he and why was his name causing so much in the way of bad vibes amongst the group. It was like sitting in the middle of an Order meeting and having someone say that Professor McGonagall had gone off and joined Voldemort. It felt so goddamn surreal.

"Harii, let's go," Jiraiya commanded, holding a hand out.

Nodding, the Gryffindor got to her feet and grabbed his hand, "Naruto, hold tight to me, Shizune, grab my other hand. This will feel weird, but don't let go. And don't vomit on me either," he added with a frown, recalling how Ernie mentioned that sometimes muggles took to Apparation badly.

"Hai!" Shizune exclaimed, grasping at the hand extended toward her, watching as Naruto wrapped both arms around his sister's waist.

CRACK!

000

Chapter Fin...

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