Naruto and Harry Potter belong to Masashi Kishimoto and J. K. Rowling respectively.

000

Kakashi sighed. He was currently standing in front of the Hogwarts lake with the four other champions taking up positions along the shore. Apparently, the screaming golden egg (which he promptly chucked at a wall upon hearing the godforsaken noise) was supposed to be submerged underwater where it would start singing the directions for the second task. SINGING the directions. Kami-sama, these wizards had no sense of practicality. The genius shinobi could just imagine the Hokage going: "Hey Kakashi! The details of your next mission are enclosed in this heavy ass golden egg which screams like Anko and Tora the cat stuck in a blender being dragged by Gai around Konoha one thousand times! Oh, and you have to dunk it in a tub full of grape juice so you can hear a voice with a British accent serenade which nobles you have to assassinate! In iambic pentameter! Have fun!"

The sad thing was he actually COULD imagine Minato-sensei doing something so utterly moronic.

In the magical community's defense, this tournament was mainly for entertainment purposes, but so far Kakashi had not found this ordeal very amusing. If Minato-sensei hadn't blackmailed him into participating in this, (he had no idea how the blonde froot loop managed to get a hold of a picture of his uncovered face) the silver haired ninja would be reclining in a tree back in Konoha, rereading one of his precious volumes of Icha-Icha…

Kakashi's teenage mind wandered off into the much more magical world of porn, vaguely aware that Dumbledore was starting to explain what they were supposed to do for the next task.

000

As Dumbledore continued his speech, he was pleased to see the champions listening intently, hanging onto his every word… well, four of them at least. Dumbledore fought the urge sigh as he noticed that the shinobi transfer was paying little to no attention to his speech. He was slouching with his hands shoved in the pockets of his black combat pants, (the boy refused to wear 'the unholy lovechild of a nightgown and a wedding dress', as he so eloquently put it) his single eye staring dully at the space in front of him. The boy's apathetic approach towards the entire tournament had been amusing to say the least, but Dumbledore found himself pining to get some kind of reaction out of the boy. The slight curve of his lips was the only indication of the headmaster's musings. Albus was a brilliant man, and with brilliance came the intimate understanding of the human psyche. In other words, Albus was manipulative. He could read people's intentions like a book, and his skill in Legilimency only augmented this.

However, when the headmaster encountered the shinobi of sixteen, he couldn't read him at all. Even with his abilities, trying to read the Hatake was like trying to read a slab of concrete. The old wizard probably should have been a bit worried by the fact that he didn't know the silver haired boy's intentions, but he actually found himself intrigued, and maybe even a little excited.

Being constantly aware of everyone's intentions may have been convenient, but it got terribly boring. It was like a game that'd already been beaten, a movie that'd already been watched. Then Hatake Kakashi comes along, a silver haired, porn-reading enigma. Needless to say, Dumbledore was having much fun trying to decipher the boy's personality. Was he really so laid back? Or was he hiding something darker under an apathetic façade? Albus was well aware that most shinobi knew what it was like to go through war. They knew pain and suffering all too well, and most came out broken because of it. Kakashi was only a teenager, yet he was in ANBU. Not to mention the fact that his country had been in war for the majority of his childhood. No sane person could go through all that and come out unscathed.

Albus paused in his speech, causing a couple of Ministry members to turn to him inquisitively. He brushed off their stares and stepped off his podium, purposefully walking towards the daydreaming shinobi. What Albus had planned for this task would definitely catch the masked teen unaware, and he was going to enjoy watching every minute of his reaction.

000

Harry nervously fingered the gillyweed in his pocket as Professor Dumbledore spoke, addressing various prominent figures and thanking sponsors, etc. However, just as the headmaster was about to start explaining what the second task actually was, he stopped.

Harry gave the headmaster a puzzled look that was not acknowledged as the aged wizard stepped down and started walking towards the Japanese transfer student. The-Boy-Who-Lived noticed that Kakashi seemed to be in a daze, not reacting to the professor's approach whatsoever. He held his breath as the headmaster stopped in front of the only other champion who was under seventeen.

"Mr. Hatake?" The headmaster asked in an amused tone. The silver haired transfer blinked a couple times and made a rather unconvincing display of looking around quizzically before finally noticing the headmaster standing before him.

The younger of the two regarded the other with indifference and mild annoyance, "Hm? Did you say something?"

Cornelius Fudge had turned a unique shade of puce at the blatant display of insolence, unerringly similar to the shade Uncle Vernon's face turned on several occasions. A couple of snickers were heard from the crowd of students, but Professor Dumbledore didn't seem affected.

"Ah, yes, I was just explaining the details of the second task and thought you might want to know what they were," his eyes were twinkling under his half moon spectacles while he, if possible, sounded even more amused.

The silver haired teen scratched the back of his head sheepishly, his visible eye crinkling in a way that indicated he was grinning under his mask, "Ah gomen, Dumbledore-sama. You see, I was overcome with a sudden craving for coconut-wasabi-flavored ice cream so I was internally debating whether I should ask one of my dogs to find out if they sell any in England."

And of course, this was all said with utmost seriousness.

Harry's lower jaw dropped, and promptly came back up before any flies could enter his mouth. What in the world was Kakashi thinking? He just spouted a load of bullshit in front of Dumbledore while the ENTIRE FREAKING MINISTRY was watching!

Their audience watched with bated breath, while the only reason one of the Weasley twins hadn't burst out laughing was because they were shocked by the sheer audacity of the transfer student ("Balls," Fred whispered to his twin, "Shiny, golden, 20-karat BALLS.")

But of course Dumbledore, being Dumbledore, brushed off the obvious disrespect with a grandfather-like smile. He turned back to the crowd.

"As I was saying, the instructions for the second task were contained within the golden egg our champions recovered previously. If they managed to open it properly— " Kakashi rolled his eyes "—they should already have a vague understanding of what they must now do." The headmaster's eyes continued to twinkle as the champions, excluding the silver haired transfer, all swallowed nervously.

Harry felt like strangling himself from all the tension.

000

Kakashi inwardly groaned. The brats were falling for the most basic of intimidation techniques. A couple well placed pauses with the right tone of voice and — poof! — a good old blanket of suspense. Like instant ramen, except in this case it was more like instant Ibiki. The shinobi mentally snorted at the image of thousands of dried, shriveled up Ibikis stuffed in Styrofoam cups, ready to be exported to torture chambers all across the Elemental Countries. Kakashi directed his attention back to the headmaster. He probably should get at least some idea of what he was supposed to do for this 'task'.

After a significant pause, Dumbledore continued, "To clarify, we have taken what is most precious to you, or rather, WHO is most precious to you. And now you must retrieve that person."

Kakashi raised a single brow. The person most precious to him? There wasn't really anyone at this magical school who fit that category. The miniscule amount of people who did make that list were either dead or back in Konoha. Kakashi snorted, there was no way Dumbledore knew his favorite ice cream flavor (which definitely was NOT coconut-wasabi), let alone his most precious person.

"Ah, this might be a bit hard to explain… how about we use something more visual instead?" With a single almost lazy flick of his wand, an image appeared floating above their heads, visible to both the audience and the champions. "This is an image of a certain location under this lake—" Dumbledore gestured toward the lake next to them. "—and as you can see, there are various magical creatures, including merfolk, who do not take kindly to any trespassers in their territory."

The image zoomed in, and faint shadows of humanoid sea creatures became visible, wielding various sharp weapons. However, what caught the attention of the champions and most of the audience were the five distinctly human figures tied to five different pillars.

The image continued to magnify and focused on the figure on the far left. It was a dark haired girl, the slight slant of her eyes indicated she was of Asian descent. Kakashi's eyes narrowed and managed to recognize her as the girl Diggory had gone to the Yule Ball with (Ching Chang? Jo Pang? Big Bang?). He glanced at the aforementioned boy to see that his face had gone pale.

Kakashi looked back at the image to see that it had switched to the next person who, if Kakashi wasn't mistaken, was one of Potter's female friends. Krum's jaw stiffened and the shinobi deduced that this was the quidditch player's "most precious person". The next person was a small girl with silvery blonde hair. The only female champion gasped with an exclamation of "Gabrielle!" Then a red haired male was next, and Kakashi recognized him as another one of Potter's associates.

The son of the White Fang's brow furrowed. So far this "magic school" didn't seem to have the guts to do anything purposefully dangerous (Dragons chained to the floor? An academy student in a neon orange jumpsuit could have completed the first task!), so the hostages couldn't possibly be in any real danger, right? Mentally counting off the people bound to the pillars and matching them up with their counterparts, Kakashi guessed his supposed "precious person" would be next. Dumbledore seemed to pause for a deliberately long amount of time before moving on to the final hostage.

Murmurs of confusion swept through the crowd as the final face was revealed. The audience was able to recognize every other hostage so far (except the blonde girl, but they could see her resemblance to Fleur) but they had absolutely no idea who this last person was. She had long flowing brown hair with a purple square-shaped tattoo on each of her cheeks. She was wearing a metal forehead protector that had an oddly familiar swirly symbol engraved in it…

The crowd seemed to simultaneously come to a realization and all turned their heads towards the silver haired transfer student in unison. Lo and behold, the transfer was wearing the exact same forehead protector.

000

Dumbledore surreptitiously examined the shinobi's reaction out of the corner of his eye, trying not to show his anticipation. Surely the image of his teammate should incite some sort of reaction? Mr. Namikaze had assured him that this girl was definitely one of Kakashi's most precious people…

000

Harry gazed curiously at the current object of everyone's gaze. The silver haired transfer student's body had gone rigid, recognition clear in the other boy's eyes. After a couple moments of nothing but eerie stillness from the other teen, Harry wondered if Kakashi had gone into shock. He was just about to raise his hand and wave it in front of the non-responsive champion's face…

… And that was when everything burst into chaos.

000

Kakashi had mildly noted how much the final hostage resembled Rin, until his brain finally kicked in and confirmed that it actually WAS Rin.

For a moment he denied it. She wasn't supposed to be here. She should be back in Konoha, working at the hospital, taking care of patients…

But she was here. And she was being held hostage.

If Kakashi had taken the time to pause and think, he would've realized that there was absolutely no way these wizards would actually put innocent bystanders in any real danger. But he didn't. In Kakashi's eyes, the image of Rin unconscious underwater had been distorted and skewed until it was replaced with an image of Rin being held under the genjutsu of an Iwa-nin. Which led to an image of Obito being crushed to death under a boulder.

His mind was whirring at a mile a minute, his rational side trying to get a hold on his growing hysteria. Rin being held hostage— Rin being tortured for information— just a harmless competition— he was breaking Obito's promise—

A sudden movement was caught in the corner of his eye, a boy with glasses— an enemy ninja— but his eyes trailed off to the figure behind him. It was Dumbledore— the mastermind behind this— he had set this up— he had kidnapped Rin— a grandfatherly grin— the son of a bitch had the gall to smile at— long gray beard, nearly touching the ground— could wring around his neck and choke him until he— smile widened— could just stab him in the jugular— harmless— KILL—

Adrenaline was pumping through his veins and with a sudden burst of speed, he lunged for the older man's throat, killing intent coming off of him in waves. He felt a sick satisfaction as he saw the shock register in his target's face. This was his niche, his specialty, what he was born for. Memories of thousands of previous kills were brought to the forefront of his mind, each swift, rhythmic, an act of cold grace and fluidity. The silver haired assassin didn't even realize his ANBU persona leaking out, the ruthlessly efficient Wolf inside of him.

But suddenly everything halted. The assassin's mind spun for a moment before he realized that he was on the ground, unable to move. He glanced upwards to see his target towering over him, waving some kind of stick in front of— the ANBU's eyes widened as he realized the bastard had managed to restrain him. A surge of fury and humiliation overwhelmed him as the Hatake white chakra within him broke free. He struggled against the invisible force holding him down, feeling the bonds start to loosen. He barely registered the fact that there were people shouting, he could literally taste the panic in the air, but he didn't care about whatever was occurring in the background. He only had one goal in mind, one body to skewer with a single Raikiri—

The silver haired ANBU operative was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the very subject of his dark musings leaning down to eye level with him. He was just about to lash out until—

"I wonder how long ninjas can hold their breath?"

It was a rhetorical question, spoken with a carefully neutral voice. At first, Kakashi wondered if the old man in front of him had gone senile. Until he realized just what was being insinuated.

Shinobi were far superior to civilians physically, but they were still human. Chakra could be used as a substitute for oxygen, but only for short periods of time. And if the shinobi was unconscious, there would be no way to regulate the chakra flow, making it impossible to substitute it in the first place. They would just die like any other human being.

Kakashi felt a sudden calm settle over him. The rage in his eyes died down and was replaced with the cold, calculating glint of a professional killer. The shock wore off and his mind cleared, and now he was singularly focused on one goal: to rescue Rin. Even murdering the man behind all of this seemed insignificant in comparison. It didn't matter that Kakashi's pride had been bruised, that he had been overcome with a sudden urge to kill, Rin's life came first.

He took a deep breath, feeling his previously turbulent pools of chakra settle behind his navel. He closed his eyes and relaxed each of his muscles, one by one, and settled into a loose position of deceptive flaccidity. He let his chakra seep into his legs, reinforcing his already powerful muscles. He siphoned more and more, and brought up his knees until he was coiled like a spring. He vaguely noted the old man hovering over him, saying something to the other insignificant life forms in the background, but he didn't hear a word. It was like he was looking down a tunnel with Rin at the other end, and everything else was blocked out. He didn't even realize it when the invisible bonds that were restricting his movements disappeared. He let the tension build up in his muscles, rising, growing, multiplying, until he snapped open his eyes and released it all in an explosion of movement.

He literally soared through the air, his silver hair leaving a ghostly afterimage in the gray, afternoon sun. The patch of ground he had occupied less than a second ago had cracked and splintered into a small crater, clouds of dust and bits of gravel being tossed up into the air. The shore of the lake rippled violently and the murky water sprayed a mist of water onto the other competitors. There were shouts of exclamation and cries of surprise, but it all might as well have been a fly buzzing in his ear to the copy cat ninja.

Despite the inhuman speed of his actions, to the silver haired assassin, everything moved as if time had slowed down to a snails pace. His mind analyzed the image that had been displayed. There was barely any surface light from above, which meant the hostage site must have been reasonably deep underwater. The lake itself was big, but he saw that only a limited area was dark enough to be a possible location. He made imperceptible changes in his posture, changing his trajectory so he would land at the very center of the region of dark water. The arch of his spine, the slight straightening of his knees, every movement was precisely controlled as he braced himself for the impact with the water. He saturated his lungs with chakra and inhaled until he could shove no more oxygen down his throat, and met the water headfirst. The chakra imbued oxygen would probably last about five minutes underwater. He slipped through the surface smoothly, noiseless with only a small splash.

The ANBU's body sliced through the water as he propelled himself with chakra enhanced limbs. With each stroke, he surged forward until his momentum ran out, repeating the process. The water was unsympathetic towards his haste and resolutely fought to slow him down. Kakashi stubbornly swam on, each chakra enhanced stroke creating a violent underwater current. His surroundings grew darker and he felt the pressure in his ears start to build up. He sent chakra into his eyes and ears, his vision becoming clearer while the growing pressure dissipated simultaneously. A forest of kelp and other underwater plants approached and the shinobi recognized it as the plant life that was surrounding the clearing where Rin was being held. He dived in, convinced that Rin would be hidden somewhere in the endless underwater forest.

As the copy cat ninja sifted through the dense plant life, he started to wonder if he was overreacting a bit. But before his rational side could come to a conclusion, he felt something wrap around his ankle, immediately causing him to snap back into his ANBU persona. He whirled around and reflexively pulled out a kunai he had hidden under his clothing, sinking it into whatever unfortunate creature hanging onto his leg. He glanced at it to see a humanoid figure half his size, grimy and reptilian, with large bloodshot eyes and clawed, webbed feet. The ninja's kunai was buried down to the hilt in the creature's shoulder blade and a thick, black liquid seeped out of the wound.

The creature gave an unearthly wail that should have been too high of a pitch for any human to register. However, Kakashi's hearing was up to ten times more acute than an average human's and his ears were also imbued with chakra, so the screech could register to him even though he was underwater. The sudden explosion of sound sent his mind reeling, and he instinctively clutched his head in a futile effort to stop the ringing in his ears. His vision blurred, but gradually refocused as the ringing became distant until it was little more than an echo. The silver haired shinobi raised his head and took in his surroundings once more, chiding himself for letting his guard down. He felt a mass of tiny chakra signatures surrounding him and rushing in from all sides. By the time they were close enough to be seen, he recognized them as the same type of creature he had just killed. He mentally cursed, the little demon must have called for its comrades.

He took out another kunai and slashed at any little green humanoid creature that came within arms length. They were pathetically easy to kill, but for every one killed, four seemed to take its place. Kakashi grew frustrated at the seemingly endless amount of little green annoyances. He was wasting time, time that could be the difference between retrieving his teammate and retrieving her corpse. The thought brought a renewed wave of fury, thoroughly laced with panic. He couldn't let her die, he couldn't let her die, there was absolutely no way he could let her die…

He threw away the kunai and lifted his headband to reveal a blood red sharingan, simultaneously concentrating his chakra into his left palm.

Lightning based techniques were extremely volatile and hard to control compared to techniques based on other elements. Even for people with lightning affinities, techniques containing lightning were almost impossible to use shape manipulation on. It crackled and snapped in random directions, and most techniques could only try to concentrate them in a general area. And this was in the air.

Now, if anyone suggested trying to use a lightning technique underwater, every living shinobi who wasn't mentally retarded would slap that person upside the head. Water was extremely conductive, and trying to execute a lightning jutsu under those conditions was suicidal. It would require Tsunade-level chakra control for a person to do it without at least frying himself along with all the other marine-life in the vicinity.

But there was no one there to slap the silver haired ninja upside the head, and this point, most would agree that the teen had a few screws loose.

Although Kakashi didn't have Tsunade-level chakra control, he had his single-minded determination and the stubbornness of a mule. He was still in a tunnel, running through the darkness with the only source of light being Rin at the other side. His brow furrowed in concentration, sharingan spinning madly in his left eye socket. He drew once more on the white chakra inside of him and the ball of energy in his palm grew and grew until it was a large formless mass of white light. He wasn't called a genius for nothing.

Hatake Kakashi managed to do what everyone deemed impossible: he formed a lightning technique underwater.

Forks of electricity snapped out at the surrounding plants; singeing them and turning them charcoal black. The jutsu didn't make any noise underwater, but Kakashi could just imagine the sound of a thousand chirping birds emanating from his palm.

He leveled a glare at the approaching creatures and waited until they were barely inches away from him—

He thrust out his left palm and everything burst in a giant flash of white light. Kakashi winced as the creatures started to scream bloody murder. Bits and pieces of the tiny devils sparked with electricity as they were being shot through the water, leaving trails of black fluid. The resulting shockwave had blown Kakashi away from the area and propelled him through the forest of kelp. He curled up into a ball to reduce the impacts of the uncharacteristically rough vegetation. Kakashi resisted the urge to pant from the amount of chakra the Raikiri took, he was starting to feel the oxygen in his lungs run out.

The impacts ceased and the shinobi uncurled himself to see the clearing with the five pillars. His vision focused on the pillar on the far right and he saw her. His teammate. Somehow, seeing her tied up in person was more gut-wrenching than seeing it on the hologram.

He surged forward with a powerful kick of his legs, barely registering the merfolk in his peripheral vision until one got in his face, blocking his way to Rin.

The assassin's eyes narrowed dangerously, letting loose a highly concentrated amount of killing intent, his spinning blood red eye only making him look all the more intimidating. He saw the sea creature in front of him visibly stiffen, fear creeping into its eyes. But it still refused to move out of the shinobi's way.

Kakashi snarled under his mask and let out a brutal surge of chakra. The merfolks' eyes widened comically and were all thrust back as if by some invisible force. They collided with the surrounding ruins and were put in varying states of unconsciousness.

The silver haired ninja didn't even wait to see if he had gotten all of them, the moment the one in front of him was blown away, he let out another burst of chakra at the soles of his feet. He catapulted forward, closing the distance between him and his teammate in a matter of seconds.

He halted in front of her, careful to not crash into her body. For a moment he floated there, transfixed. Her flowing brown hair framed her face airily, skin as white as—

She was as white as a ghost.

Kakashi held up a hand tentatively and brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. She was freezing. The copy nin noticed that the merfolk were starting to get up, groggily regaining consciousness. He felt panic come over him. He needed to get Rin out of here, but there was no way he could fight so many enemies underwater while protecting Rin at the same time. He was running out of oxygen and he had to find a way to get out of there fast, like some kind of current or—

An idea suddenly dawned on him. The male ninja hastily took out a kunai and slashed the bonds tying Rin to the pillar. Her body fell limply and Kakashi tried not to think about how lifeless she looked. He held her close to his body with one arm, awkwardly doing a long sequence of handsigns at the same time.

Ox, Monkey, Hare, Rat, Boar, Bird, Ox, Horse, Bird, Tiger, Dog, the merfolk were starting to make their way towards him…

Rat, Tiger, Serpent, Ox, Ram, Serpent, Boar, Ram, Rat, Bird, Monkey, Rin's body seemed to grow colder and colder…

Bird, Dragon, Bird, Ox, Horse, Ram, Tiger, Serpent, Rat, Monkey, Hare, his sharingan spun wildly, only a few more signs…

Boar, Dragon, Ram, Rat, Ox, Monkey, Bird, Rat, Ram, Bird— SUITON: SUIRYUUDAN!

Kakashi felt the surrounding currents of water pause and converge towards him, fueling the jutsu. He never tried this underwater, but he hoped it worked. He winced as he felt his already significantly diminished chakra reserves being drained.

He felt the current slowly build up until it suddenly exploded upwards, propelling the silver haired ninja and his teammate towards the surface, leaving the merfolk below with wide-eyed, slack-jawed expressions. Kakashi felt the last of his breath leave him, trying to at least not inhale any of the murky lake water. He held onto Rin's body like a lifeline, his body protesting from the lack of oxygen. He ignored the tug at his lungs, only praying to every higher being he knew that Rin was okay.

The silver haired ninja felt them break the surface, the dragon of water soaring through the air with the two ninjas within its translucent head. Kakashi felt his ears pop painfully from the sudden change in pressure while he directed the jutsu towards the shore of the lake (the one that didn't have any manipulative headmasters on it). He switched places with his teammate so that he would receive the brunt of the impact, holding her body protectively as he braced himself. The water dragon died out about 50 feet above the ground, leaving the two ninjas free falling. Kakashi cursed, at this height they would both end up breaking their necks. He made a few quick handsigns.

"FUUTON: DAITOPPA!" Kakashi yelled out a bit hoarsely, creating a powerful gust of wind and aiming it towards the ground. Any bits of rock or plants were instant blown away and trees leaned away from the burst of wind. The artificial force of nature managed to cushion their fall, causing their bodies to slow down before dropping the last couple of feet with a damp, unceremonious thud.

Kakashi groaned as he shifted the body now lying on top of him, pretty sure his back would be black and blue by the time this was all over. He quickly discarded the thought and gently rolled his teammate's body off him, lying her on her back. He gingerly got up on his knees and lowered his ear down onto her chest. He waited, expecting to hear the steady thud of her heartbeat. But it never came.

She had no pulse.

The copy ninja let loose a torrent of profanity, cursing every god he knew as he took out another one of his hidden kunai. He cut through the chuunin flak jacket and the shirt underneath it with one efficient, vertical slash, revealing Rin's bandaged chest. Under any other circumstances he would have been as red as a tomato at this point, but he really couldn't afford to spare any attention to his teenage hormones at the moment. He placed his hands on the center of her chest, one over the other, and began the process that would jumpstart her heart. After 30 quick impacts and no response, he unhesitatingly pulled down his mask, pinched her nose with one hand, tilted her head back, and placed his mouth on her's.

He released two breaths into her and leaned away, putting his hands back on her chest and repeating the process. This wasn't the first time he'd administered CPR, but it was the first time he had to do it on someone so close to him personally. He grew more and more nervous as his teammate showed no signs of waking up. What was wrong? She wasn't supposed to be this unresponsive! Unless there was something else causing this, she shouldn't be—

Kakashi snapped his head back up. There was one other possible cause keeping Rin from waking up. He repositioned himself and placed both of his hands on her stomach, releasing a steady stream of chakra. His chakra seeped into her pathways, gently opening up her tenketsu and making its way throughout her body. And then the copy nin's suspicions were confirmed.

He felt a foreign chakra signature lodged in the pathways surrounding her heart, preventing it from beating properly. It didn't even feel like an average ninja's chakra, giving off an unnatural sensation that was oddly similar to—

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, "Magic…" he hissed out the word vehemently. He was starting to dislike the word more and more. He didn't doubt that it was done by the manipulative old man himself. He sent out a sharp burst of chakra, instantly dissolving the magic energy surrounding his teammate's heart. Almost immediately, Rin started coughing and sputtering. She sat up and hacked out the water in her system, eyes widening when she saw Kakashi. She opened her mouth to say something but Kakashi beat her to the punch.

", I'm so, so, SO fucking sorry, I had no idea the old manipulative bastard would even know who you were, let alone kidnap you, and now you're all soaked and probably freezing your ass off in some alternate dimension when you should be back in Konoha inventing a cure for cancer or something and I SWEAR I'm going to murder that fucking old man in the slowest most painful way possible for doing this to you— your heart stopped beating— fucking Kami-sama I thought I broke Obito's promise and I— I tried CPR but it wasn't worth shit until I realized that son of a bitch's chakra was in your— I am going to castrate that old wrinkly sorry excuse for a human being and hang him by his entrails, consequences be DAMNED—"

"KAKASHI!" Rin slapped both of her hands onto the sides of his face, forcing him to look at her straight in the eye. The silver haired ninja was panting, as he had let out his entire rant in one breath, not even realizing that his teammate had been calling his name for the last thirty seconds.

Rin sighed, "Okay, first off, I wasn't kidnapped."

Kakashi stared at her blankly.

Feeling the need to elaborate, Rin continued, "Minato-sensei heard about the task and I volunteered to go as the hostage, I just thought it'd be a pleasant surprise…" She bit her lower lip, "I'm sorry it ended up causing you so much grief."

Kakashi continued to stare at her blankly. She sat there awkwardly until her teammate deliberately fell on his back with a dull thud. He lied there sprawled and sighed, releasing his breath in one drawn out exhale.

"I feel like an idiot." The silver haired ninja deadpanned. Rin smiled hesitantly and scooted over next to him. They relaxed in companionable silence until she suddenly felt her teammate's arm wrap around her and force her to lie down on his chest. She was about protest until she felt a steady pulse of chakra being pumped into her.

"I didn't go through all the trouble of rescuing you only to have you die of hypothermia right afterwards," Kakashi muttered sarcastically. Rin laughed, only just realizing how cold she was, and snuggled closer to her teammate. She sighed in contentment after shifting into a more comfortable position, her teammate's chakra providing her warmth from the inside. They were both exhausted and happy to have a moment of reprieve. Until a voice interrupted it.

"You know, with a face like that, it makes me wonder why you bother to wear a mask at all," the voice, identified to be the headmaster, quipped. The two ninjas sat up instantly to see the headmaster with a couple other ministry officials trailing behind him, "Ah! I apologize for interrupting the romantic atmosphere, but I felt it necessary to inform you of your results for the second task."

000

Harry didn't really understand what was happening until an ungodly pressure froze him on the spot. It was similar to the feeling he got when he faced Voldemort in his first and second years, which was rather frightening as he was getting this feeling from the foreign transfer student next to him instead.

The silver haired teen moved with inhuman speed, and after a sequence of events far too fast for him to follow, Kakashi somehow ended up on the ground, restrained by some spell cast by the headmaster. The transfer student violently jerked, releasing some sort of white energy in sporadic bursts.

Harry was hearing shrieks of surprise all around him. Ministry members were taking out their wands threateningly, but the headmaster held up a hand for them to stop. Harry watched in a daze as Dumbledore leaned down and said something to the transfer student. He watched as the younger of the two stiffen and suddenly relax. Or he supposed he was relaxing, it was rather hard to tell with all the yelling coming from everyone else watching the scene.

Dumbledore waved his wand, releasing the invisible bonds restraining the silver haired teen. There were squeals of protest, but Dumbledore would have none of it. The headmaster was unusually serious, his whimsical demeanor long gone. Kakashi still hadn't moved and Harry wondered if he had been knocked unconscious.

Then he FLEW.

One moment he was on ground, the next he was airborne, soaring as naturally as any other avian being. Kakashi quietly slipped through the surface of the water. Harry stared at the display in awe, wondering how anyone could move with such grace.

Some members of the Ministry were haughtily questioning why someone who assaulted the headmaster could be allowed to continue in the competition. Dumbledore merely smiled pleasantly and assured that everything was under control. He casually turned to Harry and stated that he would be allowed to go five minutes later, as would the rest of the competitors in order of how well they did in the previous task. As Harry waited for his turn with bated breath, there was a sudden burst of light coming from the center of the lake. It looked as if lightning was dancing on the surface of the water, and Harry swallowed nervously. Just what exactly was going on inside the lake?

Another gut-wrenching minute passed and sudden tremor passed through the body of water. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the currents of the lake grow larger and more ferocious. It all originated from the center, and everyone watched the spectacle with bated breath…

… and a dragon popped out.

Everyone was outright gaping by now. The massive figure arched and curved through the air, separating itself from the main body of water. Upon closer inspection, Harry realized that the dragon was actually made of water, and there were PEOPLE in there! It fizzled out mid-flight and left its occupants to fall helplessly. Harry inwardly panicked; the two could die from falling at that height! But another miracle occurred and a huge gust of wind broke their fall. They landed on the other side of the lake, so they probably couldn't hear any of the frenzied cheering coming from the audience. Trust the Hogwarts student body to change moods at the drop of a hat.

"It will be your turn very soon, my boy," the headmaster grinned with a jolly expression on his face. Harry inwardly cowered as the headmaster walked away with a bunch of other Ministry officials.

How in the hell did anyone expect him to be able to follow up something like THAT?

000

Kakashi growled and crouched in front of Rin protectively. This caused Rin to smack him on the back of the head to remind her teammate that this was all a misunderstanding. Kakashi gave her a pout that would have sent the entire Konoha fangirl population to the ER, but the effect was lost on her (although there was a slight blush forming on her cheeks). The entire situation may have been a misunderstanding, but he was never really that fond of the old man in the first place. It was nothing personal, he just didn't like manipulative old men in general, defenders of the light or no. The headmaster's body language showed a barely perceptible amount of nervousness, Kakashi noted gleefully, so the shinobi knew his actions weren't completely for naught.

"The boy should be immediately disqualified! He assaulted an international figure in broad daylight! No, he should be sent to Azkaban for such a heinous crime! Even if he is a foreign exchange student, he must abide to our laws while he is—!" Minister Fudge was interrupted in the middle of his rant, being replaced by another.

"Now, now, Minister, no one was injured, so no harm done, right? More importantly, how were you able to make such a leap without a wand, my boy? It was absolutely astonishing! Not to mention you finished the task in only four and a half minutes, the other competitors haven't even started yet! Is it some sort of Eastern magic? And you completely slaughtered the grindylows! With electricity of all things! Merlin's beard, how were you able to pull that off underwater? And the DRAGON! My dear boy, that was one of the most amazing displays I have every seen in my entire career as a wizard! The Ministry would be very interested in an interview! " The only person with the gall to interrupt the Minister of Magic, being Ludo Bagman, talked animatedly in a one-sided conversation with the apathetic shinobi. Cornelius Fudge fumed in a corner as Dumbledore placated him with skill of a politician who could easily mimic the effects of taking a spoon, sticking it into someone's brain, and stirring.

"I must agree with Mr. Bagman, as it was partially my fault for our dear transfer student's reaction. You see, the sense of camaraderie between eastern wizards is much stronger than the ones between us western ones. Seeing one of his friends in captivity, it is only natural for Mr. Hatake to react a bit… strongly. I had not considered this reaction, so the consequences shall most assuredly be dealt with by me." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling madly, "Surely you aren't going to send me to Azkaban for such an innocent miscalculation?"

Fudge spluttered incomprehensibly as Dumbledore continued to spout a load of political BS, effectively shutting the Minister up after a couple more sentences. Meanwhile, various reporters were crowding around the two "eastern wizards", cameras flashing as Kakashi tried to cover up the lower half of his face. Little did he know that his actions would prove to be futile as pictures in the wizarding world were able to move.

OMAKE:

"Hey, Kakashi!"

A silver haired ninja looked up from his current choice of reading material (he had been kicked out of the library once Madame Pince spotted what exactly he was reading). He single eye saw Rin rushing towards him, waving a… newspaper?

"Kakashi! Did you read the newspaper yet?" Kakashi shook his head, curious as to what wizarding news could get his teammate so excited. Said teammate promptly shoved the newspaper in his face. It read:

JAPANESE TRANSFER STUDENT? OR POSSIBLY A NEW BREED OF MALE VEELA?

Kakashi raised an inquisitive brow, glancing towards Rin, "What's a veela?"

Rin shrugged, "I don't know, but look at the picture!"

She pointed at the center photograph, and Kakashi followed her finger until he reached the image she was indicating. To his horror, there was a picture of his face right on the front page.

Without his mask.

The image had been cropped and magnified so that he was the only one in the frame. The teenage shinobi would've found the fact that the picture could move rather interesting, but he was too busy trying to not suddenly start hyperventilating. He wore the mask for a reason, and the last time any sort of female (and in some cases, male) had seen it, there had been disastrous consequences.

The picture in the newspaper glared at its original sourly, as if this were all his fault, but Kakashi had already thrown it down. He leaped from his chair, out the door, and down the hallway, leaving his teammate with a bemused expression on her face. A small sarcastic voice in the back of his mind noted that he was running even faster than when he discovered Rin was being held hostage for the second task. But he knew his fears were not unfounded, and the distant rumble of footsteps only served to confirm his fears.

The rumbling got louder and he risked a glance over his shoulder to see a stampede of females chasing after him. He saw girls of all ages, ranging from seven to he-didn't-even-want-to-know-how-old. Hell hath no fury like a stampede of fangirls. Kakashi turned back around and tried to ignore the healthy amount of males sprinkled into the mob as well.

Kakashi swore on his Konoha hitai-ate that he would personally hunt down every last miserable news-reporter in Great Britain and Raikiri their asses all the way to Fire Country.

000

A/N: I guess this can be seen as KakaRin depending on your point of view. I'm also not sure if the CPR method is correct or not, so please don't go trying this on random people passed out on the street ^^".

Thanks for reading!