A/N: So, this chapter is finally finished! This is mostly a chapter that sets things up, but I hope it still is entertaining and also answers a few questions! Though, not all of them, because then where would the story be? Anyway, thank you to all of my readers and reviewers and enjoy this chapter! And, I really can't promise when this will update again, because I start school again on the 31st of August. But, I am hoping that it won't turn out to be a super long time between updates. I love updating.

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Chapter 4 : Secret Meetings.

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Naruto knew the second that Harry had fallen asleep, as the Kyuubi closed its eyes and refused to acknowledge him. Naruto figured that the Kyuubi was still upset at Harry calling him 'Uncle Kyuubi,' even though that had been weeks ago. Since the Kyuubi was ignoring him, Naruto turned his back on the fox demon and focused on the sound of approaching footsteps.

Harry was grinning like a maniac, the same grin that appeared on Naruto's face at Harry's call when he entered the large chamber. "Guess what, guys! I'm going to become a ninja!"

"Alright!" Naruto leaped up and punched the air. Over the years he and Harry had tried to get Iruka to teach Harry how to fight, but it had never worked until now. Either Iruka had gotten tired of constantly being asked and caved, or else he had decided that Harry was old enough to learn. Naruto figured that it was probably a combination of the two, but he was too happy for Harry to really care.

"Iruka's going to ask my aunt and uncle if he can teach Dudley and me how to be ninjas and I bet that they'll say yes, because Dudley really wants to be a ninja. Well, a pirate is his first choice, but I think that ninjas are awesome," Harry rambled on.

"Of course ninjas are awesome; I'm a ninja and I'm awesome." Naruto grinned at Harry and struck a pose. "And we're going to be Hokage one day!"

"As soon as we figure out where Konoha is." Harry nodded in agreement.

"Yesh," Naruto exclaimed, using the mangled word that Harry had first come up with.

"We'll find it someday." Harry stared wistfully off into space with Naruto. Even though Harry hadn't seen Konoha with his own eyes, he could still imagine the village based on the descriptions that Naruto had given him. He just knew that one day they would find a village hidden in the leaves and that they would become the leader of that village.

"Of course we will," Naruto cried. He grinned at Harry as he settled down into a fighting stance. "Now, let's train so that we can shock Iruka-sensei with our awesome ninja skills."

"Yesh," Harry shouted as he got into his own fighting stance. The six year old based his fighting style off of Naruto's chaotic style. Some of it he learned from Naruto himself, but some of the moves he learned just from watching the blond he shared his mind with. It wasn't until Harry had turned four that Naruto had started teaching the black haired boy the basics of taijutsu, but the blond had continued to train ever since he had woken up inside Harry's mind.

Sparring within one's mind really didn't do much for actual physical body, but it did help some. For the most part it all came down to mental memorization; the mind remembered the sequence of moves even if the muscles didn't. Harry really hadn't bothered to practice his fighting outside of his mind, but he could still do a few basic things in real life without any trouble because of all of his training within his mind.

Harry grinned as he launched himself at Naruto, his fist clenched in order to punch his brother. "Iruka won't know what hit him!"

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It had taken Iruka several phone calls to the Dursleys in order to get them to consent to his giving the boys taijutsu lessons. Petunia had rejected it outright, but Vernon had been intrigued by the idea, so Petunia agreed to think it over. Iruka told Petunia that it would just be the basics of fighting, and nothing that the soon to be seven year olds could really use to hurt people with. In fact, one of the main things that he planned to teach was about honor and when exactly to fight. Petunia finally agreed to the lessons once Iruka promised Petunia that none of the boys would be injured from the lessons.

Dumbledore replied to his owl soon after Iruka got Petunia to agree to the lessons. The headmaster offered to meet Iruka at the local park so that they could have a meeting without worrying about the two boys. The headmaster seemed to be very interested in seeing Harry once again after all of the years, so Iruka agreed to the meeting, hoping that seeing Harry would convince the headmaster to go along with his plan.

He started the taijutsu lessons the morning that he was scheduled to meet Dumbledore in the park. It had been a few days since he had confirmed that they would hold the lessons and the boys were bouncing off the walls, almost literally in Harry's case. Plus, Iruka hoped to tire the two boys out enough that he could take them to the park and run off the last of their steam. They would still be all hyped up from the lessons, but not hyper enough that Iruka had to keep a constant eye on them, so they would leave him and Dumbledore in peace during the meeting.

It took quite a few minutes before Iruka got Harry and Dudley settled down enough that they were paying part of their attention to his lecture. He knew that not all of what he was saying was getting through to the boys, but he figured that enough was getting through for one day. Besides, he would repeat the lecture the next lesson and the lesson after that and he wasn't teaching them anything harmful for the first lesson. In fact, after the lecture, Iruka just taught them how to properly form a fist before sending them out to run around in the yard.

Teaching was hard work, especially with two young boys, and Iruka took a few minutes to relax before herding the boys out to the park. Even though he knew that it wasn't going to be easy, Iruka was still happy to teach the boys something that had always interested him. Even after learning that he was a wizard, Iruka continued to be interested in martial arts. He kept up his practice all through Hogwarts*his schoolings, even when he transferred to Hogwarts for his last few years. He had gotten a bit rusty while living with the Dursleys, but not enough that he couldn't teach the boys properly.

After Iruka had cooled down, he gathered up the boys and they set off for the park. He let them loose as soon as they reached the play area and then headed over to a bench to wait for Dumbledore. He had just called out a warning to Dudley against bugging the people in the line for the slides when the Headmaster sat down next to him.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Umino; would you like a sherbet lemon?" Dumbledore offered with a smile.

"Hello, Headmaster," Iruka replied, declining the offer with a shake of his head. If he accepted one then he would have to give some to the two boys and they already had enough sugar for the day. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

"It was no trouble at all, Mister Umino," Dumbledore reassured. "I must say I was curious when I received your letter, both as to what you wanted to discuss as well as how young Harry was doing."

"Harry's been doing well, both he and Dudley, Harry's cousin, have been growing up into fine young boys." Iruka didn't bother to point the two boys out; Harry was quite distinctive to all those who had known James Potter when he was alive and Dudley was currently playing with his cousin. "And that is part of what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?" Dumbledore asked, watching the two boys playing.

"Harry's been asking about magic recently; he's been asking about a lot of random things, but he almost always comes back to magic. He can't wait to go to Hogwarts," Iruka said.

"He's still got four years to go, am I right?" Dumbledore more stated than asked.

"That's right." Iruka nodded. "There are no problems with that, but I started thinking about early schoolings; you know what the pureblooded families are and Harry himself can be considered to be pureblood. He knows of the existence of magic, but nothing else."

"And you were hoping to change that?" Dumbledore asked, giving no indication of what he thought of that idea.

"I think it would help him in the future if he were taught about the world he is going to be a part of when he turns eleven," Iruka agreed.

"You do not need my permission for that, though I do believe that you must gain permission from Petunia Dursley before doing so?" Dumbledore said and Iruka flushed slightly in remembrance of the time when he announced to the Headmaster that he was moving in with the Dursleys. "So, why is it that you wanted to meet with me?"

"I am going to be teaching Harry about the Wizarding world, but I started thinking that it might be a good idea to introduce him to some of his peers. Not the whole year, of course, but just two or three kids to get to know before Hogwarts." Iruka paused before adding, "I'd be willing to teach those children about the Wizarding world at the same time, as well."

"A wonderful idea," Dumbledore said after thinking it over. "It might do young Neville good to meet with Harry and I believe that the Weasleys have a boy Harry's age. Minerva's been talking about a muggleborn girl who is going to be in the same year as those three boys, so we might want to choose another female to round out the numbers, so to speak. I'll speak with Minerva about this and get back to you, if you don't mind, Mister Umino?"

"That's fine; I was hoping that you would be able to handle approaching the parents and guardians about the whole thing, you would be a lot more credible than my asking them," Iruka answered.

"I'd be delighted; this is a marvelous idea." Dumbledore smiled at Iruka and then motioned to the messy haired boy who was now mock fighting with thin air. "Now, would you oblige an old man and tell him all about that young man out there?"

Iruka grinned and started expounding on a subject that he lived, breathed and ate with: the joys of watching after two young boys.

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Harry grinned when he saw Naruto appear in front of him; Dudley had gone off to play with some of his friends and Harry was getting bored. He tagged Naruto's ghostly form and ran off towards the open field next to the playground, making sure to call to Iruka before he did so. He plopped down to the ground when he reached the edge of the field and Naruto crouched down next to him.

"So, who's the old man talking to Iruka-Sensei?" Naruto asked, both boys glancing over to the two men to take another look.

"I dunno. Iruka never said that he was going to see any old men while we were at the park." Harry squinted at the old man. "Maybe he's there looking after his own kids?"

"Grandkids, I would think." Naruto tilted his head. "He looks familiar."

"Really?" Harry frowned as he thought. "I can't remember him."

"Yosh, we have a mission," Naruto cheered. "Let's go spy on Iruka and the old man!"

"Yosh!" Harry shouted out, causing Iruka to glance over to check on him. Harry held up a stick and clambered up from the ground. He was sure that Iruka was giving him a warning look at this point and he could just imagine what Iruka was saying: "Don't play with sticks, Harry." Of course, Harry and Naruto couldn't hear any of this; the field was far enough away that the two boys couldn't quite hear Iruka.

Harry stared heading back to the playground in order to get Iruka's attention off of him. As soon as Iruka glanced over to check on Dudley, Harry dropped to the ground and started to crawl over to the park bench that Iruka and the old man were sitting on. He crawled out of their line of site, circling around to approach them from the back.

He managed to get about a foot away from the park bench undetected, but the old man suddenly looked over to them and chuckled. "Harry, is it?" the old man asked.

"How do you know my name?" Harry asked, frowning at the old man.

"I told him, Harry." Iruka sighed when he saw Harry crouched down behind their bench. "You've been spying on people again, haven't you?"

"No," Harry answered; technically he really didn't spy on the two since he was caught before he could. "Who is he?"

"This is Professor Dumbledore; he teaches at Hogwarts," Iruka introduced.

"Cool." Harry jumped to his feet and leaned against the back of the park bench. "What's he doing here at the park?"

"We were just talking," Iruka tried to dismiss the question.

"Are you playing wizards, Harry?" Dumbledore asked as his eyes locked on the stick that Harry was still absently holding.

Harry stared at the stick and glanced over at Naruto. "Nah, we were playing ninjas. This is my sword."

"I see." Dumbledore blinked in surprise. "But, you are looking forward to starting Hogwarts, right?"

"Yeah, think of all of the cool jutsus that I can learn," Harry cheered. "I want to learn how to summon toads!"

"Summon toads?" Dumbledore asked, still a bit startled at Harry's reactions.

"Toads are cool," Harry told Dumbledore. "So, am I going to school early? Cause I still wanna learn how to be a ninja."

"No, I'm afraid that there still will be a few years before you join us at Hogwarts, my boy." Dumbledore smiled at Harry.

"Why don't you go join Dudley?" Iruka suggested.

"But how will I know if you're talking about anything interesting if I'm not here?" Harry asked.

"The headmaster was just about to leave, actually, and we only have about a half an hour before we have to head back, too," Iruka answered.

"Okay, okay." Harry sighed. He dragged his feet as he made his way around the park bench. "I'll see you at Hogwarts, old man!"

Harry ran over to Dudley, tackling him and trying to pin him to the ground. Dudley was still larger than Harry, though, and he easily turned the situation around so that he was now pinning Harry to the ground. "Pirates rule," Dudley shouted out.

"Ninja sneak attack," Harry called out as he started to tickle his cousin.

"Get him, tickle his armpits," Naruto called out encouragement from the side. He jumped from foot to foot, looking as though he would like to join the two boys on the ground. He managed to stay out of it, however, which Harry was glad for. It was awful hard to see Dudley's armpits when they were being blocked by a figure that only he could see.

Iruka called out to them as soon as he spotted what they were doing and Harry and Dudley reluctantly separated. They did so just in time to see Dumbledore walk away from the park bench. Dudley frowned at the site. "Who's the old man who was talking to Iruka?"

"How would I know?" Harry asked, not willing to give up something that he knew and Dudley didn't.

"I saw you talking to them. Now, you better tell or I'll tell Iruka that you're still talking to your Fishcake buddy," Dudley threatened.

"His name's Naruto and I'm not still talking to him." Harry pouted. Naruto was not an imaginary friend, something that Harry was beginning to realize.

"So, tell me already," Dudley huffed in annoyance.

"His name's Dumblebore and he's the master of heads at the magic school I'm going to go to," Harry answered, glad that Dudley was letting the imaginary friend thing go.

"So why's he talking to Iruka?" Dudley asked. "Are you kicked out already?"

"Nah, I'm still going, but they wouldn't tell me what they were talking about," Harry answered. He scuffed his shoe into the dirt and pouted.

"We'll bug it out of Iruka eventually," Dudley decided.

"We're going to go home in about a half an hour, Iruka says," Harry imparted, even though he would rather just forget about that part of the conversation.

"Then we've got to go play on the swings," Dudley decided. He started running towards the swings. "Race you!"

"No fair!" Harry called out as he raced after Dudley.

Naruto lazily followed after them. He couldn't play on the swings, so he really had no reason to rush. He could only exist outside of Harry for a short distance away from the boy, as he was tied to Harry and to the Kyuubi, so he really wasn't worried about being left behind.

Harry was distracted with playing with his cousin, something that Naruto really couldn't blame him for, but it meant that there really wasn't a reason for him to be out like this. Still, the only other option would be to head back and listen to the Kyuubi grumble about everything. At least this way he couldn't hear the demon fox and he was able to get a glimpse of the outside world.

This world was so interesting, completely different than Konoha or any of the other hidden villages. Naruto couldn't help but wonder if they were even still in his world at all. Naruto had first thought that they had simply been reborn in the future, but he and Harry couldn't find anything about the ninja villages in any of the history books that they had looked in. So, he kind of thought that this wasn't the world that he had once lived in. But, then there was the fact that Iruka really hadn't been with them when the Kyuubi had brought them all there; so where did Iruka come from?

Iruka's calls broke through his thoughts; he was so used to being startled by Iruka's voice after a prank that he still reacted to the man's voice. Harry and Dudley were reluctantly heading over to Iruka, clearly the time had come for the three to head home. Naruto had been wandering around in circles around the swing set, but now he jogged towards the two boys. He faded away as soon as he reached Harry; going back to wandering around the tunnels in their shared mind.

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A/N 2: I had another interesting question in my reviews, but I couldn't directly reply. Of course, this isn't much of a reply at all because I love my mysteries. Stefni asked if Harry was carrying a piece of Voldemort's soul and all I can say is that I shall figure that out later. I kind of have an idea in mind, but I'll have to see if anything new comes up later on.