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Not Your Average Konoha Academy Graduate

A Naruto/Dresden Files Crossover

By DireSquirrel

Chapter Six


The team met us at the entrance along with the two inspectors and the one-eyed spiky haired guy. The other five ninjas were looked at him with confusion.

"Kakashi? You're on time?" one asked in amazement and a bit of horror.

"huh? You say something?" he said, glancing up from his book.

"I told him to be here two hours ago," Mikoto-sensei stated flatly. The ninja in question gave her a wounded look. She glowered at him. "There's a girl in danger. She's six."

"And he's ten," a girl with three dogs just out of puppyhood said, pointing to me. She had long brown hair, facial tattoos and a chunin vest so new you could almost smell the packaging. "I know because he's been in my brother's classes."

"Oh, I'm guessing you know Akamaru and his pet?" I asked, eliciting a smirk from the girl.

"This is serious!" Mikoto-sensei snapped with a dark glare at both of us. "Uzumaki-san is assisting us in this investigation. Kakashi, have you talked with ANBU about this tunnel?"

"As far as I know, it isn't an ANBU tunnel," the one-eyed man replied. "Officially and unofficially."

Reading between the lines, that was when I pieced together his voice with his old ANBU mask. Smirking at the memories, I looked towards the entrance.

You wouldn't know it was the entrance to a tunnel if you weren't looking for it. It was covered in vines, but if you looked closely, you'd notice that not one of the vines was actually clinging to the wall over that spot. Years ago, when I'd first found the entrance, I'd seen someone vanish down this dead end and no one had jumped out. It wasn't too hard for a kid, with a shorter perspective on the world, to see the entrance and it had a clear seam along the edges of the wall. Pushing the vines out of the way, I triggered the button that opened the doorway. Inside was a tunnel, not unlike a sewer, but dry and without the scent such a place usually has, even years after continuous use. I knew because there were plenty of old sewer tunnels that weren't in regular use now that pretty much every house had been upgraded to modern plumbing and sewage pumping. The tunnels tended to be just water drainage for the rainy season. This, though built in the same style, was dry and cool. I also noticed a distinct lack of dust on the floor, cobwebs from the ceiling or other signs of disuse, suggesting that it was a regular thoroughfare.

"Damn," muttered the book reading ninja under his breath. I don't think anybody but myself or the Inuzuka heard him. He probably didn't know this was here. I'm not surprised. When I hinted about finding it, the Old Man didn't even seem to have known about it, though he chided me for trying to go into dark places because who knew what was lurking down in these half forgotten tunnels? Well, we were going to find out.

"Yeah, I used to get to the fork up ahead when ANBU used to stop me," I said.

"Use your technique," Sensei instructed me. I held up my talisman I had built out of a silver amulet, a chain and the girl's hair. Focusing my Will, I opened my Sight and Saw.

When a mage uses the Sight it is beyond normal sight, allowing the wizard to see traces of what was, what is and, occasionally, what will be. Magical power is bright, sharp and everything looks different to the world. You can also never unsee what you have Seen: it's with you forever. Focusing my will through the amulet, I could see the past for a second. The girl, with that just-out-of-toddlerhood cuteness to her, was unconscious, being carried by an ANBU. She seemed to just be sleeping, but I suspected it was something more.

There are all sorts of ways to induce unconsciousness. The most common for ninjas are genjutsu techniques, Illusions. They force the subject to sleep. Medical techniques both chakra based and chemical based can do the same thing. Then there's the time honored fist to the face sort of sleep, but that tends to leave more obvious signs of use. I'd suspect it was an illusion keeping her asleep. It's what I'd do with a spell and the most likely since it looked like they needed her alive for some reason.

"She went through here," I said, stepping inside. I watched as the ANBU turned and moved through the passages with practiced ease. He or she, it was difficult to tell, was very familiar with the tunnels. In hindsight I should have mentioned that she was being carried by an ANBU to my companions, but I was working hard to keep from looking directly at them. I was quite sure I didn't want to literally see the ghosts that haunted my companions, so I kept my Sight firmly on the trail.

We made it to the end of the corridor where we turned right. I was in front, using the amulet to give me directions, twitching in the direction I needed to go. Kakashi was next to me, seemingly bored, but I could feel he was tense. I had long since shut off my Sight. You should never use it for long and in a Ninja Village like this one, there are plenty of things I don't want to see. That's why you'll never see me venturing over towards where the Kyubi thrashed around or any of the many battlefields around the village. I hate ghosts and I've no desire to be able to remember one, in perfect detail, forever.

We made it past the first fork in the tunnel without being accosted by any ANBU. We were much further in than I had ever made it before when the Haimaru Trio, Hana Inuzuka's triplet dogs loudly announced we had visitors. They appeared, seemingly me to my pre-graduation eyes, out of nowhere, swords drawn, masks down and tense as they clung to the walls with their chakra.

"This is a restricted ANBU area," one said.

"Ah," said Kakashi lazily. "Are you sure about that? You see, When Miko-chan-" Mikoto-sensei bristled like an angry echidna at that nickname- "arrived to commission a tracking team, I happened to be there and over heard her talking about this, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember this haven't ever existed. And the Hokage doesn't seem to remember having it built since I left ANBU. So, that brings me to the question, how is this an ANBU facility if even the Hokage doesn't know about it?"

There was a very tense feeling in the air at that moment. So tense, in fact, that I took a few steps back behind the friendly Jonin with more skill than I. I might have a bit of a habit of biting off more than I could chew, but that doesn't mean I was stupid. No, far from it. Thinking it over, I backed up a little more so Mikoto-sensei, the Scariest woman in Konoha, was between me and the ANBU.

From the direction of the ANBU, radios crackled and something was said that I just couldn't make out from behind my two layered Jonin shield. An instant later everything went to hell.

Combat is a scary thing. I'm betting that's true for almost all people, even most experienced ninjas. Even a few seconds of it can have you panting, weak and exhausted even if you'd taken it easy up to that point. Ten years old, having kunai and shuriken thrown at you in anger instead of practice makes it even scarier. I watched as Kakashi and Mikoto-sensei went through the hand wigglies and combined their attack in the very small, enclosed tunnel. Fire and wind combined, swirling together to become an inferno. It was hot enough that I watched thrown shuriken melt in the air, only to wobble and fly into the tunnel walls where it sizzled against the concrete walls. There was a burst of smoke and suddenly three of the (I'm assuming) fake ANBU were behind us.

"Jonin-shield no jutsu fail," I grumbled as I threw up my hand, spreading my fingers and letting my shield bracelet do its job. The ninja projectile weapons bounced hard against the shield. I slipped a hand into my pocket and pulled out a thin, carved piece of wood. I could have sworn the ANBU did a double take, and I know the Chunin tracking team did, but none of them doubted me when I screamed out my attack. Screaming attacks for ninjas isn't really a necessity, but they do it anyway. I, on the other hand, require the name of my spells as an added cue which helps me focus my magic in just the right way; in theory I won't always, but at this point I needed every bit of focus I could get.

"Fuego bitch!" I snarled, sending out a rather large burst of flame from the tip of my blasting rod. The attackers quickly flattened themselves against the wall as the gout of flame used up the oxygen in the small hallway, the fakers receiving only minor wounds. I pointed to the next two and called out "Forzare!" Watching satisfied as they went flying backwards as the Force Spell hit them. Force spells, like many Wind spells and jutsu, are beautiful things because they simply cannot be seen with the naked eye. As such it is very, very difficult to defend against them, as these two ANBU discovered.

My attack must have shaken the Chunin out of their stupor, which I think was one of those illusions keeping them in place, because they started sending attacks forward. I was careful when I put up my shield because it's two-way on physical things. It blocks attacks from coming in, but it also blocks attacks from going out. I was breathing hard as the shurikens flew off my shield and clanged against the walls, lighting up the tunnel with the occasional spark. Hana's face was lit up by the sudden shocking light of a lightning ninjutsu from behind us, back where our Jonin-Shield was hard at work. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Kakashi punch his lightning covered fist through the chest of one of the fake ANBU. Now you understand why using the Sight all the time was a bad thing. That was something I didn't need to see forever, so it was good I'd shut it off before the battle. I understood now why Bob told me all those stories of wartime wizards going insane.

My chest was heaving as I blocked a sword strike with my shield. While I didn't feel the physical impact, as that was nicely distributed throughout my shield, the strike took a bit more concentration than normal. I might have a massive amount of power, but I didn't have a lot of experience in battle, the closest being spars in the Academy. Nothing prepared me for my first real battle. In hindsight, everyone who said I was too young to come along was probably right. The ANBU were fast, all three of them in front of us, really fast. I was able to protect the four of us pretty well, but they were attacking more and more and I could almost feel the impacts in my Spirit as the adrenaline ran through my veins in a heart pounding torrent. Gotta say, I was really happy that my fight/flight instinct was turned pretty well to Fight, because there was nowhere to go. I glanced over my shoulder again to where Kakashi and Mikoto were fighting the first ANBU we met. One was down, but more showed up.

Now, we were in a life or death situation, but there were seven things Bob had drilled into my head until I could recite them in my sleep. The Seven Laws of Magic were pretty important. In this case, the first was most important. THOU SHALT NOT KILL WITH MAGIC. Basically, when it comes to magic, you really need to want the end result, to believe with all your soul that you have to kill someone. You have to believe it is the right thing to do. The more you do so, the easier it gets until you turn into a total monster. In Dresden's time, Wardens, wizard cops, would show up and separate your head from your body with a proforma trial. I had no desire for either outcome, so I wasn't about to break that particular rule. I had an idea, but it was not going to be easy for me. I mean, I not a precision based wizard, not then, not now. My idea was going to take every bit of precision and control I could summon up. Kakashi's arm channeled up his lightning attack and I borrowed it a bit.

"Fulminas!" I shouted. Lightning flew from Kakashi's arm to hit ever ANBU in front of us. I spun around and did the same to those fighting our chunin escorts, the electrical power arching off the Jonin's arm to hit them in the chests.

They flew backwards, bouncing off walls as every nerve pulsed with my spell. I fell to my knees. Concentration and precision take a lot out of me and while redirecting energy is my forte, I needed a LOT more practice if I ever wanted to do that more than once in a fight. I watched as Mikoto-sensei checked their necks. I didn't move and just tried to catch my breath.

"Unconscious," she said. She had her "emotion?-what-emotion?" expression on. I'm willing to bet she wore that a lot when she was a regular Jonin.

"Damn, kid," Hana said with an approving smile, though she too was heaving with the exhaustion that came from combat. Her three adolescent dogs came over and gave me a lick each, saying they approved of me. I glanced up to the Jonin who both nodded. Kakashi tapped his earbud and reported what had happened.

"Root? Maybe, not too sure," I heard him say. He leaned down and pulled the masks off one by one. "I don't recognize any of them... ...No, one dead, six unconscious... Understood Hokage-sama." He stood up and turned to us. "We're to continue in, but Naruto stays in the middle. Hokage-sama is worried that they'll kill any children now that they know their people have lost. He's sending real ANBU down all the other tunnels. Naruto, how long will they be out?"

I looked at them for a moment as my chest heaved. I balanced my body by propping me up with my hands on my knees. Turning my head I nodded. "A while I think," I said. "That was kinda spur of the moment."

"Good work," Mikoto-sensei said. Despite myself, I smiled. It wasn't often that she was so blatant with her praise. "Ready to go?"

I nodded, getting to my feet. I paused and pulled a scroll out of my pocket. I tossed it to the other inspector. "For the weapons. I'll feel a lot safer if they're unarmed when we leave them behind us."

"Good point," he said and quickly disarmed and sealed the weapons in the scroll, tucking it into a pouch on his chunin vest. I pulled my duster around me and concentrated again, sending my will into the amulet. I pointed ahead of us.

"This way," I said.

We continued on in silence, the Haimaru Trio in front, Hana and Kakashi just behind them, the Chunin around me, one ahead, one behind and one on each side and then Mikoto-sensei in the back, keeping an eye on our way out. It wasn't long before we came to a door next to a turn in the hallway. I pointed towards the door. "Through there," I said.

Kakashi nodded and summoned up a little lightning and fried the lock. He pulled out a special Kunai and slid it through the door, letting it swing wide. What we found will be with me for the rest of my life, Sight or no Sight. Cages, must have been twenty in total, ten on each side filled with children of various ages. All had the exact same hairstyle of hair, trimmed closely to the scalp in a not-quite buzz cut. They were barely clothed, given just the barest amounts to cover the genitalia and a bit across the chest. The clothes weren't rags, but they were simple, uniform, as if whoever gave them to the children expected no individuality. Their food, if it could be called that, was dumped into bowls on trays that slid into the walls.

"Shit," Hana said. Her dogs gave a growl of disapproval at the children being caged.

The girl in question was in a cell with four other kids who all seemed about the same age. She was huddled, her arms around her knees. I glanced around the room. I saw at least two Hyuga, neither one sealed, but both were my age or a little older. There was a girl I could have sworn was Ino Yamanaka's younger sister by looks. In an older cell, I saw a boy with dark hair and eyes who had more than a subtle resemblance to Sasuke, if he was a pale zombie-esque person instead of the spoiled momma's boy Sasuke was. He didn't even look up in our direction, just kept sketching in his pad.

"This is not what I was expecting when we took the case," the other inspector muttered. He glanced back to Mikoto-sensei. "What do we do, Chief?"

She turned to Kakashi. "Call it in. This is bigger than one lost girl."


To be Continued