Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto.
"Surely he won't need bodyguards?" Professor McGonagall asked with a touch of weariness in her voice. Dumbledore sighed and unstuck two lemon drops.
"We've been through this, Minerva. Yes, he will need bodyguards. I have a bad feeling this year, especially after Professor Trelawney's prediction. It has to be done." Dumbledore answered, putting a lemon drop in his mouth.
"But the ministry isn't going to spare aurors to protect him, not since Sirius Black has escaped again!"
"Oh no, we aren't going to ask them. I have quite an idea who I am going to ask, and you're going to assist me, Minerva."
"Me, assist you?"
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"Naruto! Tsunade requests us at her office now!" Sakura called, waving a clipboard in her hand. Naruto groaned. Another chance of going to Ichiraku's….gone. Oh, he was going to murder the hag this time.
"Does it have to be now, Sakura-chan?" Naruto grumbled as he walked next to the kunoichi with his hands behind his head.
"Yes, it has to be now. Two rather…er…strange clients has appeared, well, at least that's what Tsunade-shishou said. I've also called Neji, and he's already at the tower."
"This better be good, Tsunade baa-chan…" Naruto muttered, and broke into a quick run that left Sakura behind in the dust.
"Oh no, you're not going to leave me behind, Naruto!"
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"Right now, the village is still recovering from a former attack led by other villages, and many are still grieving by our loss. We can only spare three of our best ninja. Is that alright for you?"
"Your village got attacked? By whom?" Dumbledore asked, taking out his box of lemon drops from his pocket. McGonagall rolled her eyes.
"Before that, you must understand the history of ninjas first. There are several countries, which run on money its village ninja earn. The countries are: Fire, wind, water, earth and lightning. Each has their own ninja village. The village is run by the strongest ninja in the village. Each village and country must maintain their ranking and strength, by all means, train and raise children to become ninja." Tsunade paused, waiting for the information to sink in.
"In the fire country, we have the hidden leaf village, or Konoha, which is here." Tsunade continued proudly. "In the water country, we have the hidden village of the mist. In the earth country, the hidden rock village. In the country of the wind, we have the hidden sand. These are the 5 strongest villages of all. Each have to maintain its power, or other villages will turn on it and attack it. Each village is competing to become the strongest, so we accept any kind of mission, so long as it pays well."
"So why were you attacked, if this village was one of the strongest?" Professor McGonagall asked stiffly, adjusting her hat.
"Behind that story, there exist the three legendary ninja, or sages. I'm one of them, the slug queen. Jiraiya, the summoner of frogs, and the most fearsome and evil one, Orochimaru, the snake. The previous Hokage or leaf village leader was getting old, and Orochimaru wanted to become the Hokage, but the Hokage refused. In rage, Orochimaru left the leaf village and plotted away against us. A few months ago, he had killed the Hokage and led a war against us, with the Sand village on his side. We had managed to win the war, but with a price." Tsunade's voice became bitter.
Professor McGonagall looked a bi disturbed now. "He sounds like you-know-who." She said to Dumbledore, who nodded.
"But it turned out he had tricked the sand village, he impersonated their leader after murdering him."
Professor McGonagall stifled a gasp.
"But anyway, now down to business. You were asking us to protect a boy. How old is he?" Tsunade took a long gulp of sake after her question.
"Oh yes, his name is Harry Potter, and he is 14 years old." Dumbledore replied, now shaking his box of lemon drops to see if there was anymore.
"14 years old? Shouldn't he be old enough to protect himself? We are very busy, you know." Tsunade said.
"There is another wizard like the Orochimaru you mentioned. He is also a user of snakes. He plots to get back in power after being defeated by Harry every year, but I had a rather bad omen sighting, you see, and would like extra protection this year, if not enough." Dumbledore answered, sadly putting the candy box back in his pocket.
"Well then, I think three of ours should be enough. Come in!" Tsunade called.
Three tall ninja stepped in. Each was wearing a mask, two wore navy blue sandals and all three had headbands with a swirly sign on it, but in clothes they were different. One had long white robes on; the other had a beige skirt and black shorts underneath, with a red sleeveless tank top, black gloves and combat boots. The last one had a black topped orange jumpsuit on.
"You called, Hokage-sama?" The one with tall white robes asked in Japanese, stepping forward and bowing.
"Hai, I called." Tsunade replied in Japanese. "These are our clients."
The girl with the beige skirt stepped towards Dumbledore and bowed. Dumbledore bowed back, but Professor McGonagall only nodded.
"Ah, Tsunade, I can speak Japanese, but my companion here cannot. I think its best if those three learned to speak English." Dumbledore suggested, and raised his wand.
A strange blue light shot out of the wand tip and entered the three ninja before they could dodge. They dropped to the ground after a moment, panting heavily.
"W-what did you do?" The ninja with white robes shouted, still panting heavily, but stopped talking when he noticed the language he was speaking in.
Dumbledore smiled calmly, his eyes twinkling. "I just shot a speaking spell at you, so you can speak and understand our language. But it requires another spell for you to write English, I'm afraid, but I think you'd rather not have it, so the teachers won't pile homework on you. But then again, it is needed." He said happily.
The three ninja stared at them through their masks, apparently unable to come over the shock of suddenly speaking another language.
"So we can speak English now?" The kunoichi asked, feeling the strange syllables rolling over her tongue with ease.
"You are quite right." Dumbledore answered again, apparently unfazed by the fact that all that he had just said about the speaking spell had not gone through the three ninja's brains.
"Hokage-sama, what is the mission? I have a lot of patients waiting for me at the hospital."
"Does my uncle know about this?"
"You wasted my chance of going to Ichiraku's after training, old hag!"
Tsunade growled, causing the three to stop at once. "Now let me explain the mission. You three are going to protect this boy called Harry Potter, who is about your age. You are staying in his world about a year, and I do not want complaints from any of you." Tsunade said sternly, eyeing each one of them.
Dumbledore chuckled softly, but everyone turned to look at him. "Oh, it's nothing important. I was merely thinking of what would happen when you get to Hogwarts." He explained.
"Now," Dumbledore continued. "You three know everything about your mission, correct? Good, good." Dumbledore said, smiling at the nodding heads. "I want all three of you to hold hands, and one should hold mine." He extended a wrinkled hand.
The ninja with white robes grabbed Dumbledore's hand, his other occupied by the ninja with the combat boots.
"Excellent. Minerva, your hand please." Professor McGonagall took his other hand rather hurriedly, and grabbed her hat.
"Remember you must not reveal anything about yourselves until the very last, got it?" Tsunade shouted, waving good-bye.
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" They shouted back.
Dumbledore smiled, and said, "Please do not let go while we are apparating, understand?"
The three ninja had no time to reply as they suddenly felt as if something was squeezing them through a very thin tube, cutting off their air supply.