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edenfallingThis is part 2 of An Ounce of Prevention, which is a Naruto/Harry Potter crossover that I started as a giftfic for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
askerian.
Technically, it's an insertion of one element of HP into the Naruto world, but that does count as a crossover of sorts. Now that I have a dim outline of a plot, I can tell you that the HP element will be playing a larger role as time goes on. I think this story will not affect canon in either series; that is, it takes place during the Naruto timeskip, and significantly before CoS in HP.
On with the story!
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Chapter 2: When in Rome
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Sakura kept her first conversation with Tomu short, no more than fifteen minutes. By the end of that, she'd determined that even if Tomu wasn't a real person -- he claimed to be a memory imprint -- he had too much personality to be a mere construct. It would take years of a person's life to power this sort of seal.
Sakura was more suspicious than ever.
And yet.
She liked Tomu. He was intelligent. He was polite. He didn't shove into her personal space, or ignore her, or treat her like she was helpless. He knew nothing about chakra, but his people evidently knew something about energy manipulation -- they called it 'magic' and directed it with physical aids instead of via their bodies -- and he had suggested a possible solution to Tsunade's question of what medic-nin should do if they were temporarily unable to manipulate chakra. Pre-set seals, with simple vocal or physical triggers, wouldn't solve every variation of that problem, but they were definitely worth looking into, along with more traditional herbal remedies and surgical techniques.
"I almost hate to tell Tsunade-sensei about you," Sakura said to the closed diary. "Of course, that's exactly why I have to tell her -- if you can cast genjutsu that subtle, we can't possibly trust you, or trust me so long as I'm in contact with you." She nodded, gripped the book tightly to make sure she wouldn't 'forget' to bring it to the Hokage's tower, and scrambled out her window.
It would've been just as easy to take the door, but what was the point of being a ninja if you couldn't have fun with it now and then?
Tsunade was busy with paperwork when Sakura arrived, but she waved off Sakura's habitual apology for interrupting. "I hate this stuff," she said, dumping one pile on top of another in order to clear some space. "At least you're interesting, even when you're being dense. What's the problem this time?"
Sakura took a deep breath, reminded herself that Tsunade was 1) the Fifth Hokage, 2) her teacher, and 3) just like that, and laid Tomu's diary on the desk. "It's not a problem, exactly," she said, "or at least, it isn't a problem yet. I found this book in your file room -- I thought I'd use it as a journal or remedy book -- but it's not an ordinary book. There's a very complicated seal on it, which preserves and animates the memory of a boy named Hanjimono Tomu. He can carry on true conversations, and he can learn. And there are no physical traces of the seal on the book, just an inscription of his name."
Tsunade's breath hissed between her suddenly clenched teeth. "You realize what you're implying?"
Sakura nodded. "It's a life-powered jutsu. Which means it was a group effort, cast by a jinchuuriki, fueled by several years of the creator's life... or fueled by someone else's death." She hoped Tomu hadn't set the seal. He could be a good friend, and she didn't want to betray--
"Kai!" Sakura held the dispelling seal for a count of ten, and then bit the inside of her mouth to make sure her mind was clear. Tsunade arched one perfect brow, and Sakura hurried to explain. "There's also a genjutsu on the book; it makes me like Tomu, makes me want to give him the benefit of the doubt and not tell people about him. I think it's important to find out how the diary was created and where it came from, but..."
"We'll have to set a guard on you," Tsunade finished. She opened the diary and traced one finger over the inscription on the inside cover. "Hanjimono Tomu. Strange. Now that I think of it, I remember this book. It fell through the portal when I summoned a wave of slugs several years ago, and none of them could tell me where it was originally from. It's as if somebody tried to get rid of it by transporting it without an endpoint to the jutsu, letting it drift in non-space forever; it's simply bad luck that the backwash of my summoning pulled it out."
She looked up and pinned Sakura with her eyes. "That's not what worries me. What worries me is that when the book appeared, this inscription was written in a foreign language, in a syllabic alphabet I'd never seen before. Now it's in kanji. As you just inadvertently proved, it's a real translation, not an illusion. I want to know when and how this Tomu learned our language."
Sakura nodded. "Yes, Tsunade-sensei. Um. I'll have to reveal some information to get answers. What needs to stay secret?"
"For the moment, I'll trust your judgment," Tsunade said, handing the book back to Sakura. "Write to him no more than half an hour each day, and report the conversations to me at the beginning of your training sessions. If the guard wants to read over your shoulder, let him or her; that will be an added layer of caution."
Then Tsunade grinned and leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms over her head. "I'll pick someone tonight, and you can hash out details after training tomorrow. Consider this a B-rank mission, with pay retroactive through this afternoon -- but don't think I'll go easy on you just because you have something to do besides dreaming about Sasuke and waiting for Naruto to come home."
Sakura flushed, bowed, and left as quickly as possible.
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter
Back to An Ounce of Prevention
Continue to Imitation Is
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
askerian.Technically, it's an insertion of one element of HP into the Naruto world, but that does count as a crossover of sorts. Now that I have a dim outline of a plot, I can tell you that the HP element will be playing a larger role as time goes on. I think this story will not affect canon in either series; that is, it takes place during the Naruto timeskip, and significantly before CoS in HP.
On with the story!
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 2: When in Rome
---------------------------------------------
Sakura kept her first conversation with Tomu short, no more than fifteen minutes. By the end of that, she'd determined that even if Tomu wasn't a real person -- he claimed to be a memory imprint -- he had too much personality to be a mere construct. It would take years of a person's life to power this sort of seal.
Sakura was more suspicious than ever.
And yet.
She liked Tomu. He was intelligent. He was polite. He didn't shove into her personal space, or ignore her, or treat her like she was helpless. He knew nothing about chakra, but his people evidently knew something about energy manipulation -- they called it 'magic' and directed it with physical aids instead of via their bodies -- and he had suggested a possible solution to Tsunade's question of what medic-nin should do if they were temporarily unable to manipulate chakra. Pre-set seals, with simple vocal or physical triggers, wouldn't solve every variation of that problem, but they were definitely worth looking into, along with more traditional herbal remedies and surgical techniques.
"I almost hate to tell Tsunade-sensei about you," Sakura said to the closed diary. "Of course, that's exactly why I have to tell her -- if you can cast genjutsu that subtle, we can't possibly trust you, or trust me so long as I'm in contact with you." She nodded, gripped the book tightly to make sure she wouldn't 'forget' to bring it to the Hokage's tower, and scrambled out her window.
It would've been just as easy to take the door, but what was the point of being a ninja if you couldn't have fun with it now and then?
Tsunade was busy with paperwork when Sakura arrived, but she waved off Sakura's habitual apology for interrupting. "I hate this stuff," she said, dumping one pile on top of another in order to clear some space. "At least you're interesting, even when you're being dense. What's the problem this time?"
Sakura took a deep breath, reminded herself that Tsunade was 1) the Fifth Hokage, 2) her teacher, and 3) just like that, and laid Tomu's diary on the desk. "It's not a problem, exactly," she said, "or at least, it isn't a problem yet. I found this book in your file room -- I thought I'd use it as a journal or remedy book -- but it's not an ordinary book. There's a very complicated seal on it, which preserves and animates the memory of a boy named Hanjimono Tomu. He can carry on true conversations, and he can learn. And there are no physical traces of the seal on the book, just an inscription of his name."
Tsunade's breath hissed between her suddenly clenched teeth. "You realize what you're implying?"
Sakura nodded. "It's a life-powered jutsu. Which means it was a group effort, cast by a jinchuuriki, fueled by several years of the creator's life... or fueled by someone else's death." She hoped Tomu hadn't set the seal. He could be a good friend, and she didn't want to betray--
"Kai!" Sakura held the dispelling seal for a count of ten, and then bit the inside of her mouth to make sure her mind was clear. Tsunade arched one perfect brow, and Sakura hurried to explain. "There's also a genjutsu on the book; it makes me like Tomu, makes me want to give him the benefit of the doubt and not tell people about him. I think it's important to find out how the diary was created and where it came from, but..."
"We'll have to set a guard on you," Tsunade finished. She opened the diary and traced one finger over the inscription on the inside cover. "Hanjimono Tomu. Strange. Now that I think of it, I remember this book. It fell through the portal when I summoned a wave of slugs several years ago, and none of them could tell me where it was originally from. It's as if somebody tried to get rid of it by transporting it without an endpoint to the jutsu, letting it drift in non-space forever; it's simply bad luck that the backwash of my summoning pulled it out."
She looked up and pinned Sakura with her eyes. "That's not what worries me. What worries me is that when the book appeared, this inscription was written in a foreign language, in a syllabic alphabet I'd never seen before. Now it's in kanji. As you just inadvertently proved, it's a real translation, not an illusion. I want to know when and how this Tomu learned our language."
Sakura nodded. "Yes, Tsunade-sensei. Um. I'll have to reveal some information to get answers. What needs to stay secret?"
"For the moment, I'll trust your judgment," Tsunade said, handing the book back to Sakura. "Write to him no more than half an hour each day, and report the conversations to me at the beginning of your training sessions. If the guard wants to read over your shoulder, let him or her; that will be an added layer of caution."
Then Tsunade grinned and leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms over her head. "I'll pick someone tonight, and you can hash out details after training tomorrow. Consider this a B-rank mission, with pay retroactive through this afternoon -- but don't think I'll go easy on you just because you have something to do besides dreaming about Sasuke and waiting for Naruto to come home."
Sakura flushed, bowed, and left as quickly as possible.
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter
Back to An Ounce of Prevention
Continue to Imitation Is
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
