The Fifth Champion

By Michael Callistus

Summary: Team 7 are sucked through a mysterious portal and find themselves at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Swiftly joined by a large rescue force, the Ninjas discover that they have arrived just in time for the Triwizard Tournament, and god only knows how many schools will be participating this time round! Set broadly during the pre-Sasuke Retrieval anime fillers and obviously during GoF. Harry Potter/Naruto crossover. NaruHina, LeeSaku, H/Hr. All the characters speak English purely for reasons of convenience.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. Nor do I own Harry Potter, that belongs that JK Rowling.

Chapter 1: Arrival at a Mystery Destination

The Ichiraku Ramen Shop didn't look like much. In fact it liked a glorified market stall, what with the fact that it had no door, or shutters, or anything separating it from the outside world except a few canvas flaps hanging from the awning. It looked like something that had been put up overnight and could be taken down just as quickly, and yet anyone who had spent any time at all in Konoha knew that it was not only the best place to eat in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, it was also the most popular meeting place in town.

Especially for Shinobi who happened to associate with the blonde haired kid in the orange jumpsuit who was grinning excitedly as a steaming hot bowl of Ramen with barbeque pork on top was set in front of him.

"Here you go," Ayaname said cheerfully, "enjoy."

"You bet I will!" Naruto said, grabbing the chopsticks and beginning to shovel some of the delicious Ramen into his mouth.

"Naruto!" Sakura's voice reverberated through his ears, forcing him to lean away from her a little bit, "Don't you know how rude it is to start eating before everyone else get's served?"

"It's okay," sitting a slight distance away from the other three, Sasuke Uchiha contrived to give the impression that he was not with the others even though everyone knew that he was, "I'm not that hungry anyway."

Sasuke's tone was subdued, quiet, even more so than usual, and even Naruto could tell that something was up with their team mate. He hadn't been quite right ever since he'd gotten out of hospital. He wasn't the calm, confident Sasuke that Naruto had hated and tried to surpass for years. His calm seemed more affected than ever, he kept looking down at the ground, when he was wasn't shooting Naruto nasty glares that is.

"Sasuke," of course Sakura immediately forgot ragging at Naruto and immediately her voice was full of concern for Sasuke, "you should eat something, you have to keep your strength up."

Kakashi sensei chuckled, the outline of his lips barely moving under his dark mask, "If you want to stay healthy Shinobi then Sasuke probably has the best idea. Naruto, you won't stay in shape long if you keep eating this sort of food all the time."

"Yeah, whatever." Naruto said, taking no notice whatsoever.

"All the same, this is supposed to be a meal for the whole team, so it would be bad manners if you didn't eat anything at all, Sasuke."

"Whatever." Sasuke said.

A bowl of Ramen was set in front of Sasuke, who began to pick at it fastidiously.

"So, Kakashi sensei, any idea when we'll be getting our next mission?" Sakura asked.

Naruto stopped eating for a moment to watch their sensei with the hidden Sharingan and the long white hair intently; he too was dying to know the answer to that question.

Kakashi said, "No, I don't. Lady Hokage hasn't spoken to me about that, or about anything else on that score. But I think you'll find that the next time you get a mission, it will probably be without me."

"A solo mission?" Sasuke asked, "Without a Jonin there to back us up."

"What with the losses we endured from Orochimaru's last attack, the village is too short stretched to send Jonin on C or D ranked missions, they're all needed for the high level A or S ranked assignments. Besides," Kakashi's visible eye closed, the only indicator of whether he was smiling or not, "I have complete faith in you all, and I'm sure that you can complete your missions perfectly without me to look after you any more."

Naruto laughed, "Well of course we can, this is the future Sixth Hokage you're looking at. Believe it! We can handle anything."

"What are you an idiot? You don't really believe that nonsense do you?" Sasuke's voice was cutting, sharp as a kunai or one of his perfectly thrown Shuriken.

Naruto got off the stool and glared at Sasuke from around Sakura, who was watching the two of them nervously, "Of course I do. What with my new techniques that Pervy Sage has been teaching me, there isn't any mission that I wouldn't take on."

"You're so stupid. You have no idea of the dangers that are out there, of how powerful some of the other ninjas out there are. There are Shinobi that could tear you apart with one punch, ninja that could kill us all before we even saw them. What would you do about them huh you little loser? Talk them to death?"

Naruto was dumbstruck for a moment, he had never heard Sasuke talk like this before. Not dismissive of Naruto, that had been going on forever, but the hint of fear, the admittance of his own weakness, that was strange and a little unnerving.

"Yeah right," Naruto said, "just because you got your ass handed to you doesn't mean the rest of us have to start being afraid."

Sasuke's face contorted into a snarl, "You don't know anything, you absolute-"

"That's enough." Kakashi said firmly, "Try and remember, we're here to enjoy a meal not start a fight."

For a moment Sasuke's black eyes remained suffused with anger, and then they subsided and Sasuke dropped his gaze to the ground, his voice resuming its tone of quiet melancholy, "You're right. What's the point anyway?"

"The point of what, Sasuke?" Sakura asked even more anxiously than before.

"The point of anything." Sasuke said, "In the end, none of it matters."

"Sasuke," Kakashi began in a kindly voice, "just because-"

He stopped because suddenly the counter of the Ramen shop in front of them was starting to glow a bright blue. The wood, the ramen bowls, the chopsticks, everything was glowing the translucent blue. Ayaname and her father backed away from it to the back of the shop, but the three Ninja sat transfixed by what was happening right under their noses, as the glow became brighter and brighter until it was a blinding light, blotting out everything around them.

"What's going on here?" Naruto said, shielding his eyes, "Sakura? Sasuke? Kakashi sensei, are you guys okay?"

"We're fine for now Naruto," he could hear Kakashi sensei even if he couldn't see him, "but even with my Sharingan I can't tell what the hell this thing is or what its doing."

"Perhaps we should get away from here," Sakura said, "this could be dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Naruto laughed, "What could be dangerous about a light, I mean come on it's not like it can-" something grabbed hold of him, pulling him forward with an inexorable, irresistible force, and Naruto yelled as he flew forwards into empty space. He could hear Sakura shrieking close behind, hear Kakashi's shouted exclamation, he couldn't hear anything from Sasuke at all, and the light was now so blinding that he had to close his eyes.

Then, equally as suddenly as he had been snatched forward, he landed with a thump.

"Get off of me you loser!"

Naruto opened his eyes to see Sasuke squirming underneath him, and got to his feet hurriedly, laughing nervously and scratching the back of his head, "Sorry Sasuke."

For a moment Sasuke glared at him, but then his eyes dropped and he muttered something unintelligible. Naruto would have almost have rather he'd shouted, tried to hit, made a scathing remark, anything. Anything would have been better than this. It wasn't the Sasuke that Naruto knew. He didn't know who it was, but he didn't like them one bit.

"So," Kakashi stood up and helped Sakura to her feet, "we all made it. To wherever we are."

All four Leaf Shinobi studied their surroundings. They were in a large empty hall, a hall larger than any building that Naruto had seen in the Village, a hall with an echoing ceiling that seemed to be made of the sky itself. Tabards bearing strange devices: a lion, a serpent, a badger, an eagle, and a crest featuring all four combined with a motto in some strange language, hung from the walls, and four tables lay beneath the raised dais on which they stood.

"Somehow," Sasuke said, "I don't think that we're in Konoha any more."

"Look at that writing," Sakura said, "I don't even think we're in the Land of Fire any more."

"Look at that ceiling," Kakashi said, "the way the stars twinkle, the clouds move, such a thing would be the envy of the nation who created it, and yet such a thing is unheard in any of the great Shinobi nations."

"Then where the hell are we then?" Naruto said.

"If we knew that genius we wouldn't be standing here discussing places we're not." Sasuke said.

"Now that's the Sasuke I know."

"Will you shut up, you're so annoying." Sakura said, "Why don't you try and contribute something instead of just getting on everyone's nerves?"

"What do you expect me to do, know where we are when not even Kakashi sensei has a clue?"

"Well then why don't you just shut up then?"

"Quiet, both of you." Kakashi hissed, "Until we know more about what's going on here, we're going to assume that this is hostile territory. No unnecessary noise, weapons ready, and let's prepare to reconnoitre the area."

All three Genin whipped their kunai knives out, "Right."

"That ceiling," Sasuke said, "this place that's like nothing we've ever seen before, could it be genjutsu? Could this all be an illusion?"

"I'm not sensing any genjutsu," Kakashi said, making a brief sign with his hands, "release." Nothing happened, "It's not genjutsu."

The four Leaf shinobi made their way towards the doors at one end of the hall, and peered out of them into a dimly lit corridor that branched out into a number of different directions.

"Which way do we go?" Naruto asked

"We'll have to split up," Kakashi said, "Naruto and Sakura, you take the second corridor on the right; Sasuke, you and I will take the third on the left. We'll meet back here in one hour to report our findings. If you encounter enemy ninja, avoid engagement and try to slip away undetected."

"Avoid engagement?" Naruto said, "Come on sensei, all I have to do is show them my new jutsu and any fight will be over before it starts."

"Try and think about this Naruto," Kakashi said resignedly, "there are only four of us, we are all alone, unsupported with no idea how far from home we are. The last thing we need is to get involved in a battle. What we do need is to stay alive long enough to gather some good, solid intelligence."

"I understand sensei," Sakura said, "don't worry, I'll look after him."

"I knew that I could count on you," Kakashi said, "good luck. Sasuke, follow me."

Sasuke and Kakashi crept forward, veering towards the left, while Naruto and Sakura began to do the same heading towards the right. They parted ways, and Naruto and Sakura slipped down the corridor they had been instructed to take and soon lost sight of the other members of their team.

The walls were covered with pictures of old guys in funny clothes, their costumes made the robes worn by the Third Hokage seem informal by comparison, and call him crazy but Naruto could have sworn that the people in the paintings were moving.

He heard a coughing sound to his left and spun around to find himself fainting a portrait of a very old guy with a pipe who appeared to be standing perfectly still, and whose one eye was turned on Naruto with an expression like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

"Something weird is going on around here." Naruto muttered.

"Like what?" Sakura asked.

"I could have sworn this picture coughed."

"Don't be ridiculous, pictures don't cough, what are you talking about," Sakura said, "let's go, we have a mission remember?"

"Right." Naruto cast a last suspicious glance at the picture and then turned away to continue down the corridor. But then, when he looked back, the frame was empty leaving only a stretch of blank canvas behind.

He and Sakura made their way to the end of the corridor to a nest of winding stone staircases rising up in an interconnected pattern like a spider's web of stone. His knife gripped tight in one hand, Naruto stepped gingerly onto the first step of the nearest staircase. It seemed all right. No traps, no hidden weapons. He stepped forward more boldly, taking another few steps forward, but before he could get much further the staircase began to move, sliding sideways so that it was now facing in a completely different direction to the one it had been facing when he got on it.

"Something freaky is definitely going on with this place." Naruto said, "I've never seen anything like it."

"Me neither." Sakura sounded nervous, "let's just finish our recon and report back to Kakashi sensei, okay."

"May one ask," a snide, sneering voice interrupted them, "how you thought to walk through the corridors of Hogwarts undetected. Are you truly as stupid as you seem?"

Naruto and Sakura gasped as a tall, pale man clad in black robes appeared at the head of the stairs. His greasy black hair covered his face, all save his long nose and his glowering black eyes. He had some sort of stick in his hand and was pointing it at them like it was a weapon. Naruto took an instant dislike to him.

"Who are you calling stupid, huh?"

"Naruto, you heard Sensei's order. We should get out of here." Sakura said.

"No way," Naruto shouted, "I wanna find out this guy's name first so I know who's ass I'm kicking."

The greasy haired man sneered, "My name is Severus Snape, master of Hogwarts School, and you are both trespassing. I don't know how you managed to penetrate the defences of this castle but I assure you, the game is over now."

Naruto dropped to a defensive crouch, kunai facing the enemy, "Oh yeah."

"Expelliarmus." Snape said, and Naruto's knife flew from his hand and darted threw the air to where Snape caught it perfectly with his free hand, "Is that your best? Pathetic. And now, I am going to restrain you until we can discover exactly how you came to be here."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto clenched his fists tight, "You think it'll be that easy?" he charged forward, taking the steps two at a time as he charged Snape in a dead run.

Snape snorted, "Hopeless." And aiming his stick at Naruto he said, "Petrificus Totalus."

A jet of light shot from the stick and struck Naruto- who disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What?" Snape's black eyes widened, "What has-"

Five Naruto's leapt out from under the stairs and glided down towards where Snape stood frozen with astonishment, "What's the matter, never seen a multi shadow clone jutsu before?"

"Stupefy." Snape yelled, and a jet of red light shot from his stick and struck one of Naruto's shadow clones, which disappeared instantly. But that still left four more.

"Na!"

"Ru!"

"To!" three clones slid along the stone floor on their backsides towards Snape's feet, kicking him upwards into the air with an audible crack. The sneering man's long black hair parted from his face as he flew upwards, to see Naruto bearing down on him with one leg braced for a kick.

"Uzamaki barrage!" Naruto yelled, as he prepared to kick Snape's ribs in.

"Incarcerous." A deep voiced boomed out, and suddenly ropes appeared, binding Naruto hand and foot and he dropped like a rock to the hard stone floor. Snape descended more slowly, looking extremely discomfited as his feet touched solid ground once more.

"Naruto, no!" Sakura called, and Naruto saw that on the far landing she was similarly tied up.

"I am afraid," the owner of the deep voice, a very old man with twinkling blue eyes and a long white beard, "that I must ask you not to physically assault my Potions Master. Good teachers are so very hard to find these days we already have enough trouble retaining staff as it is."

Snape was staring at Naruto with undisguised contempt, "Headmaster, I,"

"Quite all right Severus, it was no trouble at all," the old man, the Headmaster, said softly, "I have sent Minerva and Filius to deal with the other two intruders."

Sakura gasped, "Sasuke."

Naruto laughed, "Don't worry Sakura, if they're as bad as this ugly guy then Sasuke and Kakashi sensei will have no trouble."

"You do not appear to be doing so well yourself." Snape sneered.

"Like you had anything to do with that." Naruto spat.

"Headmaster, if I may," Snape said, "I would advise alerting the Ministry, in case out muggles should find themselves similarly able to penetrate the spells that protect our world."

"I prefer to present the Ministry with fait accomplis when I can, Severus," the Headmaster said, "kindly fetch some veritaserum, and meet me in my office; we shall have to see what our guests may tell us."

Sasuke didn't know whether Kakashi hadn't realised, or whether the sensei was just pretending not to notice that Sasuke's hands were shaking.

He couldn't seem to get it together, he couldn't seem to snap out of it, he couldn't get past those words that his brother had whispered in his ear, and the truths that he had come to realise during his time in the coma that Itachi had put him in.

"You still don't hate me enough. And do you know something? You never will."

All his training, the new jutsu that he had learned, his shinobi skills, nothing had availed him, Itachi had beaten him as thoroughly as if Sasuke had learnt nothing at all in the past four years. And then, when he had been asleep, it had been like he could hear those last, whispered words of his traitor brother repeated over and over again until they were being permanently driven into his head.

"You still don't hate me enough. And do you know something? You never will."

It was true. He would never hate him enough, he would never be strong enough, he would never achieve the revenge he had promised himself, and all the aims and goals of his life would be for nothing, leaves upon the wind.

And wasn't it the same for all of them? Weren't they all just fighting a loosing battle against cruel fate and unremitting destiny? Were they not all, in the end, fated to fall at the cruel hands of battle, and be swept away in the tides of war and history. Rock Lee, for all his vaunted courage and his fierce determination, had fallen, and all that his efforts had gained him were crippling injuries and a close brush with death. Neji, raging against the fate of the side branch of the Hyuuga Clan, had finally discovered that destiny was not only blind but inescapable. Naruto, hunted by the fearsome ninja of the Akatsuki, the chances were that he would die in battle long before he became Hokage.

And then there was himself. What had he said, that day when they had first met Kakashi: What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I am going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone. As if he could, as if he ever would. He would fail, as everyone else had failed and would continue to fail, and he would die in ignominy with all the rest.

He was so lost in these dark thoughts, he didn't even realise someone was behind him until he heard the female voice shouting, "Stupefy." And then he knew nothing but blackness.

"They got Sasuke and Kakashi Sensei too," Naruto exclaimed, as the two other members of the Squad 7 were dragged in bound hand and foot by an old woman and a little man who looked smaller than Konahamaru, "no way."

All four of them were in a large and luxurious looking office, decorated with hundreds of spindly silver instruments and moving paintings of old men who were all watching the four Shinobi intently.

"Absolutely unheard of," one of them was saying, "would never have had intruders at Hogwarts in my day."

"Thank you, Phineas." the Headmaster said, "Severus, you have the veritaserum."

Snape nodded, an ugly smile disfiguring a face that hadn't been too pretty to start with.

"Feed it to the adult, he should know the most." the Headmaster said.

"Wait a minute, you can't just poison Kakashi sensei!" Naruto yelled, "Who the hell do you think you are anyway?"

"I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and I will do whatever I must to protect this school. Severus, the potion."

"Close your eyes Sakura." Naruto had already shut his.

"What? Why?"

"If Kakashi sensei didn't want us to see his real face then that's all the reason I need."

"Right."

There was a pause, and Naruto could almost imagine them peeling off the two face masks that Kakashi wore to hide his appearance.

"Oh my," Dumbledore murmured, "perhaps I should have had a private interrogation."

"I might have joined you." the woman with the grey hair said.

"You're both pathetic, and rather disgusting." Snape said.

Naruto opened one of his blue eyes. Kakashi sensei's mask was back on, but both Dumbledore and the old woman were looking at him with undisguised lust and admiration on their faces.

Dumbledore pointed his stick at Kakashi and said, "Reenervate."

Kakashi's eye snapped open, "What the- what's going on? Where are we?"

"Do you not know where you are?"

"No."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Of course not, I've never seen you before."

Dumbledore's blue eyes narrowed, "Very well then, let us start on a different tack, who are you?"

Kakashi squirmed for a moment before he replied, "Kakashi Hatake, a jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village."

"Hidden Leaf Village?" Snape said, "What is that?"

"The Shinobi village of the Land of Fire." Kakashi said, in a tone of voice that spoke of disbelief that they didn't already know this.

"Shinobi?" Dumbledore said.

"Yes, shinobi, ninja, whatever you want to call it."

"And your companions, are they ninja also?" Dumbledore pressed.

Once again Kakashi seemed to be trying not to answer, "Yes. Team 7, three man squad: Naruto Uzamaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha."

"I see," Dumbledore's tone made it impossible to tell if he believed Kakashi or not, "and how did you come to enter this school?"

"We were brought here, against our will." Kakashi said, "Some sort of flash of light, I don't know how it happened. I didn't even know this was a school."

"A likely story." Sneered Snape.

"Veritaserum does not lie, Severus. Unless it has been improperly brewed?" Dumbledore suggested mischievously.

Snape flushed slightly, but said nothing.

"In any case, this not completely new to me." Dumbledore said, "Tell me Severus, Minerva, Filius, have any of you read The Memoirs of Democrates Spratt, traveller between worlds?"

Snape and the woman- Minerva, apparently- shook their heads but the little fellow who must have been Filius said, "Some sort of crank, wasn't he?"

"Apparently not. He wrote of a place divided into Shinobi nations, a Village Hidden in the Leaves, and claimed to have befriended their leader, a man called the First Hokage."

"The First Hokage died many years ago," Kakashi said, "The Fifth Hokage now leads and defends the village."

"Indeed?" Dumbledore said, "In any case, the book also told that the warriors of this world had occasionally appeared in ours, and always portended impending battle and conflict. And now they appear here, on the eve of the Triwizard Tournament. I may be a foolish old man, but I hope I am not alone in reading something into this?" Dumbledore flicked his stick and their bonds disappeared, Filius muttered something and Sasuke's eyes fluttered open.

"I do apologise, I hope you understand that we had to take precautions?" Dumbledore smiled.

"Apology accepted, I think." Kakashi said warily, rubbing his arms as he stood up, "I don't suppose that there is any way we could return to our village."

"I am afraid that that is beyond even my considerable powers." Dumbledore said, "You will have to remain here, and hope that a solution to your dilemma presents itself. Until then," he spread his arms wide, "the school is yours."

And if it is true, and their appearance does omen that battle will soon be on us, then what better place to keep four warriors whose magic, though different from our own, may prove superior, than right here, so that they are ready to intervene when the storm breaks upon us?

It was raining, the droplets being lashed by the wind against the windows of the tower in which the four Leaf Ninja had been quartered. Gryffindor Tower, the strange people who called themselves Wizards and Witches had called it. It was decorated in red and gold, everything from the walls to the bedclothes.

Kakashi was already asleep on the floor, a veil concealing his face from view. Sasuke lay on his bed staring listlessly at the ceiling, while Sakura watched him anxiously. Naruto sat on his bed, his legs dangling about an inch off the floor, his eyes staring into nothingness as he thought about what the old man Dumbledore had said. They had no way of getting back to the Leaf Village. They had arrived here, and they might never go home. Hadn't that occurred to anyone except him yet? That they were stuck here, trapped until further notice.

He would never see any of them again. His friends, his family, were beyond him now; perhaps forever. They were gone, all of them, and it might be that all he had left of them were the memories he carried in his mind: Iruka Sensei, Konahamaru, Grandma Tsunade, Pervy Sage, Bushy Brow, Hinata with her sweet, sad smile. He would miss them all so, so much.

"That's it." Naruto got up off the bed, his hands balling into fists, "I swear, we are all of us going to get back to the village, one way or the other. I swear. Believe it!"

Sasuke glanced wearily at him, "Give it a rest. What the hell do you think you're going to do?"

"What, you want to stay here for the rest of your life?"

Sasuke gave a sort of shrug.

"Sasuke, you don't really mean it do you?" Sakura said anxiously.

"Here, there, what's the difference?" Sasuke said, "There's nothing for me anywhere."

"That's not true and you know it isn't." Sakura said.

"That's right, don't we mean anything to you?" Naruto demanded.

"Well since you're both here with me, what's the fuss about going back to the village?"

Naruto couldn't believe he was hearing Sasuke talk like this, what was the matter with him, "Ah forget it." he spat, beginning to get undressed for bed.

"Kakashi sensei?" Sakura ventured

"Yes, Sakura?"

"Do you think we'll find a way back?"

"I hope so," Kakashi said quietly, "I never got a chance to say goodbye to Obito."