Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), some moderate Dumbledore bashing (he's more manipulative than evil but mostly just stubborn), and who knows what else.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance. Also, all spoken English will be written in italics in order to distinguish it from spoken Japanese.

Prologue: A Baby in the Forest

November 18, 1982
Near Konohagakure no Sato, Fire Country

The peaceful canopies of the monolithic forest were disturbed first by the faint hum of hundreds of tiny black bugs flying through limbs and leaves and then by three humans leaping through the treetops from branch to branch at impossible speeds.

The individual leading the trio was an eighteen year old man that stood at a respectable five feet, eleven and a half inches. He had thick black hair that defied gravity (the dark strands swept up and away from his face as if by a fierce wind) with a close cut mustache and an equally close cut sparse beard that hugged the lower edge of his jaw all the way to his chin where it met up with the outer edge of his mustache to frame his mouth. Over his eyes he wore a pair of dark oval sunglasses with dark frames that completely hid his eyes from sight. Dangling from the left arm of the glasses was a small beaded good luck talisman that had been a recent gift from his beloved fiancée.

His pants were dark gray and held in place on his lower calf by white bandages that were wrapped around his leg and ankle before disappearing inside of a pair of open toed gray boots. He also wore a long-sleeved, high-necked, gray shirt that was completely covered by the loose, high collared light gray jacket that hid the lower half of his face and hung down to the middle of his thighs. Strapped to his back, the young man wore a large round gourd that had a purple tassel tied to the stopper that sealed the mouth of the jar. Sewn to the strap that held the gourd in place was a blue bandana that had a thin, rectangular metal plate attached to it and in the center of the plate was the etching of a stylized leaf.

Behind and slightly to the young man's right, was a seventeen year old man who stood just a half inch shorter than the first man. His chin length brown hair was held in place by a bandana tied backwards over the top of his head; attached to the bandana where it sat over the back of his skull was another of the thin metal plates with the etching of a stylized leaf. In his mouth, he held a long wooden toothpick that he idly chewed on as he dashed from limb to limb beside his companions.

Unlike the first male, this teen wore dark blue pants and boots with the bottom hems similarly wrapped with bandages. He also wore a green, sleeveless flack jacket with a high padded collar that protected the back of his neck and a red spiral centered on the back over top of a long sleeved turtleneck shirt that was also dark blue. Around his right thigh he wore a shuriken case held in place with additional bandages to prevent it from sliding down his leg as he ran. Clipped to the back of his belt was a pair of pale gray utility pouches filled with various weapons, tools, and supplies.

The final and shortest member of the group, at a mere five foot six inches, was a young woman the same age as the first young man. She had long black hair that she kept tucked up beneath the pale green hat she wore with more than a few short strands peeking out from beneath the hat and framing her face. She wore a uniform that looked much like the second young man's uniform with an open fronted pale green jacket over top in place of the green flack jacket; signifying her status as a medic. Like the two young men she was traveling with, she wore a blue headband with a thin metal plate etched with the stylized leaf attached to it; only she wore hers loosely tied around her neck.

The three teens were Jounin shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato; ninjas of the leaf. They were Aburame Shibi, Shiranui Genma, and Fujimoto Taji and they were currently heading home from the high profile escort mission that they'd just completed.

Aburame Shibi, the assigned leader of their small squad, signaled to his two teammates as he unexpectedly stopped his forward movement and crouched down in the branches of the tree he'd landed on. His Kikaichu were going crazy all of a sudden and he was having trouble making out what it was they'd found because they'd unexpectedly descended into what could only be called a feeding frenzy without even a second's warning. Pulling out a kunai, in case it was a trap; Shibi dropped down to the forest floor and followed his swarm as his bugs left the safety of his body in an excited flood (without Shibi's permission) while his teammates tracked him from the trees. The only word he could understand from any of them, even the queens who were nearly twice as intelligent as the male drones, was the word 'sweet'.

After a good ten minutes trailing his Kikaichu through the foliage that grew beneath the monolithic trees of the ancient forest, Shibi began hearing the sound of soft hiccuping sobs above the humming of the Kikaichu. The sound was coming from a small clump of holly bushes that was literally a wash in Kikaichu and Shibi watched the bush rattle and shake in time to the sobs as he crept closer. A few hand signs brought both of his teammates down to his side and the three of them circled the thick tangle of brush as they searched the area for traps. Once they were certain there were no hostiles lingering in the area, Shibi dropped down to his knees and moved close enough to part the bushes so he could see what was hiding beneath the bushes.

"A child?" Shibi gasped softly in shock as his eyes landed on a tiny toddler, covered nearly from head to toe by a living blanket of Kikaichu, curled up in a ball. His quiet exclamation drew the attention of said child and Shibi soon found himself staring into tormented forest green eyes that were glistening brightly with unshed tears. Seeing those eyes grow wider, Shibi quickly addressed the babe in what he hoped was a soft, soothing voice, "Don't be frightened, little bug; no one is going to hurt you."

"What have you found, Shibi?" Taji inquired as she stepped closer.

"A small toddler; based upon his or her size I would say he or she can't be more than eighteen months old, if that," Shibi replied as inched his way deeper into the bush and held his arms out towards the child who was staring at Shibi with an intensity that was out of place on one so young. "Come on, little bug; let's get you out of there so we can take a look at you."

"What would such a young kid be doing out here all alone?" Genma asked with a frown as his eyes continuously scanned the surrounding forest for threats.

Shibi frowned beneath the collar of his jacket as the child shrank away from him and fell unnaturally silent, those expressive green eyes now filled with both fear and confusion. Shibi briefly wondered if the child was frightened of the Kikaichu but dismissed the thought as soon as it crossed his mind; the child wasn't even paying attention to said bugs. In fact, the kid didn't seem to be bothered by the bugs at all and it almost appeared as if the child didn't even realize there were thousands of bugs crawling all over him or her (bar the rather jagged scar on the child's forehead that the Kikaichu were avidly avoiding).

"Do you need help getting the little tyke out of the brush?" Taji inquired when it became obvious that Shibi wasn't having much success.

"Possibly, the child is quite frightened or maybe should I say absolutely terrified."

Taji hunkered down and pushed her way into the brush from the opposite side that Shibi had entered through and the moment she broke into the small pocket where the child was sitting, the little toddler glanced at her, let out a strangled whine, and flung itself into Shibi's still open arms. Large tears trickled down the child's face, dislodging several of the Kikaichu, as Shibi and Taji shared a confused and concerned glance across the small space before they both pulled back out of the brush. Cradling the child carefully (so as not to hurt the child or squish the Kikaichu still covering the child), Shibi stood up and noted that the rest of his swarm followed him and the child. Those bugs that had eaten their fill of the child's chakra, which is what Shibi thought they were doing, appeared almost drunk as they dropped off the small toddler and made their way back to Shibi while yet more of the bugs took their place.

"You're a rather tiny bug, aren't you?" Shibi half declared as he examined the child in his arms.

"Children aren't bugs, Shibi," Taji huffed as she brushed the dirt from her knees before walking up to stand beside Shibi in order to inspect the little one. "Can you tell us your name, sweetie?"

"Who you? Where Tant Tunia?" the child cried fearfully in response as he leaned away from the kunoichi and watched her warily; his tiny fists clinging to Shibi's jacket reflexively.

"Either my ears need to be cleaned or the kid just spoke in a language other than Japanese," Genma stated as he tried to clear his ear out to make certain he wasn't hearing things.

"No… I'm pretty certain the child wasn't speaking Japanese but I couldn't tell you which language the child was speaking," Shibi confirmed as he gently brushed the Kikaichu from the child's dirty face so he could see it more clearly (making the child draw back and turn his wide troubled eyes upwards), the teen noting the way the child flinched each time he touched him. "There haven't been any foreigners from beyond the Hidden Borders in Konoha (or any where else that I know of in the Hidden Countries) for years, so where did he come from? How did he end up here of all places?"

"Can you call your bugs off so I can give the child a quick check up?" Taji inquired as she stepped closer which made the child tremble as he or she buried his or her face in Shibi's jacket in order to get away from her. "Oh, you don't have to be frightened of me, sweetie; I'm not going to hurt you."

"I don't have any control of my Kikaichu right now; they've been acting up since the moment they came in contact with the child's chakra," Shibi admitted with a measure of reluctance; the young man extremely uncomfortable with verbally acknowledging the potential weakness. "Let's find some place to set up camp; I don't want to hang around out here in the open on the off chance that the child is part of some trap."

Seven hours later, the three teens were securely encamped in a small hollow. Genma set to making supper for the four of them while Shibi and Taji cleaned up and checked over the child; who'd fallen asleep in Shibi's arms shortly after they'd began moving again. After removing the rags and soiled diaper the child was wearing they discovered the child was a little boy and severely underweight. Beneath the dirt that covered the small tyke from head to toe, the child had dozens of bruises on his arms, legs, and torso in various stages of healing where it looked like someone had cruelly pinched him frequently and repeatedly. Thankfully, aside from those ugly bruises, a painful looking diaper rash, a handful of fresh scratches that they assumed were from when the kid had crawled into the brush where they'd found him, and the obvious malnutrition; he seemed unharmed.

Shibi warmed up some water and washed the boy as best he could, revealing pale skin that made the bruises and scratches stand out even more than before. His hair was an impossible crow's nest of raven locks that reminded Shibi of his own hair, only thinner, softer, and wilder. The oddest feature by far though was the jagged scar on the boy's forehead just above his right eyebrow; it almost looked like someone had carved a lightning bolt on the child's face with a dull kunai, given the raised flesh around the old wound. Once the child was clean, Shibi made several makeshift diapers out of an extra blanket, put one of the triangular pieces of fabric on the boy, and bundled him up in a spare t-shirt he had so he wouldn't catch a cold in the cool air.

"He almost looks like he could be your son, what with his messy hair and the way he didn't even notice all of the bugs crawling all over him," Genma commented playfully as he dished up their meal. "You going to wake him up so he can eat or are you going to let him sleep for now?"

"Mayumi-chan and I aren't married yet, we've only known each other a little over a year, and my best guess is that the child is somewhere between twelve and eighteen months old; meaning he was conceived long before I was engaged. And you know full well that I was never involved with another woman," Shibi logically countered with just the barest hint of a blush coloring his cheeks giving away his embarrassment over his teammate's teasing. "He does look quite a bit like an Aburame though and he is a right cute little bug."

"Stop calling him a bug," Taji ordered with exasperated huff.

"He doesn't mind me calling him a bug," Shibi insisted.

"That's only because he most likely has no idea what you are calling him," Genma pointed out with a laugh as he passed Shibi and Taji each a plate.

Shibi grinned behind the collar of his jacket at the comment but made no reply as he gently shook the child to wake him up. The poor child gave a startled cry of fright once he opened his eyes but calmed down fairly quickly once he was fully awake. He seemed confused when Shibi settled him into his lap and offered him a bite of rice and roasted rabbit that Genma had dished up after making certain it wasn't too hot. The way the boy seemed almost afraid of eating at first made Shibi scowl at the unpleasant picture that was taking form in his mind from the various little clues; such as the bruises, the malnutrition, the filthy rags, and the boy's constant fear and confusion.

Someone has mistreated the little bug, Shibi thought as he patiently encouraged the boy to eat the food he was offering.

After sharing roughly one quarter of what Genma had dished up for them, the boy curled up in Shibi's lap and drifted back to sleep. As he tucked the little one into his sleeping bag, Shibi couldn't help but notice that he was once again crawling with Kikaichu and he worried that his swarm would drive the poor kid to chakra exhaustion. The reply he got back from his bugs on the matter was startling; they kept saying that the boy had an endless supply. He also couldn't help but notice that those bugs that had eaten their fill of the boy's chakra continued to act drunk as they made their way back to him. He'd never known the destruction bugs to behave in such a fashion before and he wondered if maybe they'd been poisoned or if he'd been caught in a genjutsu but found no evidence of either.

Shibi took the first watch that night, managing to get maybe an eighth of his swarm to cooperate (a small fraction of those that had been the first of the Kikaichu to find the boy). They still behaved slightly out of character but at least they were listening to him once more. As he made himself comfortable in a tree over looking their small camp, Shibi made a mental note to speak to his father about his swarm's odd behavior after his team gave their mission report to the Hokage.

Six hours later, Genma relieved Shibi and the tired Aburame stumbled to his sleeping bag and slipped in beside the sleeping child. He'd barely gotten comfortable when a pair of tiny hands latched onto his jacket and cuddled close and Shibi felt an unfamiliar warmth fill him alongside a strong urge to protect. He briefly wondered if this was what it felt-like to be a father or an older brother as he drifted off to sleep with the small child nestled in his arms.

Taji woke Shibi with a hand to the shoulder and he opened his eyes to find the camp mostly packed up and the sky just beginning to lighten indicating that dawn was not far off. He tried to sit up but the small warm bundle clinging to him protested as it burrowed closer to him. Glancing down, Shibi found the child they'd rescued the prior evening practically glued to his jacket; both of his little feet tucked into one of the pockets and the upper half of his body tucked inside of the open jacket (the kid had somehow managed to partially unzip the jacket over the course of the night) with his hands fisted tightly in his t-shirt.

"Maybe you were right and he is a little bug; I don't think I've seen hungry leaches cling to someone with such tenacity before," Genma laughed as he noticed Shibi trying to untangle himself.

"He's starved for attention and warmth," Taji stated sadly. "He has no baby fat to insulate his body so he's clinging to Shibi for his body heat and based upon his reactions last night and his current state of less than perfect health it's easy to see he's been neglected at best and mistreated at worst. Poor dear acted as if he didn't know what to make of the kindness Shibi showed him last night."

"For a tiny little bug, he's got quite the grip," Shibi mused as he finally managed to gently remove the child's hands from his shirt, replaced the makeshift diaper with a clean one, unzipped his jacket a bit more, and tucked the boy inside before zipping it back up as the child snuggled closer and sighed.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were more attached to the little bug than he is to you," Genma absently declared as he helped Shibi pack up his things since the older shinobi's hands were partially occupied. "You haven't really let go of him once since you pulled him out of the bushes."

"Don't get too attached to him, Shibi; he'll eventually be returned to his family once we can track them down," Taji warned as she took in Shibi's protective demeanor as they took to the trees once more.

Shibi said nothing, he knew the child would go nowhere with anyone until it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was not his family that neglected or possibly hurt him. Curling one arm beneath the child, Shibi held him snugly as he traveled through the treetops beside his teammates; his mind half on his surroundings and half on the sleeping child currently clinging to him for dear life.

Most of the shinobi that Shibi had worked with through the years would say he was one cold bastard without any ability to feel emotions but that couldn't be further from the truth; he had just been taught to control his emotions from an early age because extreme emotions tended to upset the Kikaichu (who reflected their host's moods) and create problems. Right now Shibi was feeling the equivalent of a towering rage at the mere thought of handing his tiny burden back to the people who had potentially neglected and abandoned the little child.

Two hours into their morning journey, the silence was shattered by a piercing scream coming from the child nestled inside of Shibi's jacket. All three shinobi cursed softly and dropped to the ground, Genma and Taji monitoring their surroundings for possible threats that might have heard the scream while Shibi tried to find out what was wrong with the child. The first thing he noticed was that the child was still asleep as he suddenly started thrashing about as if fighting for his life. The second thing he noticed was the smell of blood and a quick search revealed that the odd scar on the boy's forehead had split open and was currently bleeding. The last thing Shibi noted as he pulled a roll of gauze from his utility pouch and cut off a section of the bandage that he could use to stem the flow of blood from the child's head was that the boy was burning up with a fever.

The moment the cloth came into contact with the boy's bleeding scar, his tiny hands flew up to grab Shibi's wrist and his eyes flew open to reveal glassy, terror filled emeralds as he cried fitfully, "Mumma! Bad, bad man! Bad man hurt Mumma. Mumma…? Mumma!?"

"Shh, don't cry little bug; it was just a night terror. You're safe now," Shibi murmured as he ran the fingers of his free hand through the boy's hair (dislodging dozens of Kikaichu that had been buried in the dark locks) and rocked him gently.

"I wan Mumma."

The child's cries eventually trailed off into sniffles and sobs as he buried his face in Shibi's shirt. Shibi spent a few more minutes trying to sooth the child while bandaging his forehead at the same time. He then snuggled him back inside of his jacket and pulled out the rest of the blanket he'd cut the makeshift diapers from and tucked it in around the child to make certain he didn't catch a chill due to the cool winter air brushing against his fevered skin.

"Status?" Taji asked softly once the boy had fallen silent.

"He's suffering from a mild to moderate fever, the scar on his forehead split open (I suspect he snagged it on my jacket zipper while he was thrashing about), and if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he just suffered though a nightmare. He's sleeping again now and we should get moving."

"If his fever gets any worse, or he starts sweating, let me know so I can take another look at him," Taji insisted as they changed their course slightly before taking to the trees once more.

The child slept fitfully the rest of the morning but didn't cry out again and by the time the small group stopped for a brief rest around noon Shibi was growing concerned; he could feel the heat of the child's fever through his shirt. When he tried to pass the child to Taji so she could scan him in hopes of finding out what was wrong with him, the boy woke up and cried as he clung desperately to Shibi. Taji then tried to diagnose him while Shibi held him in his arms only for the child to start screaming in sheer terror the moment he saw the green chakra of the healing jutsu wrapped around Taji's hands. After a few more tries she gave up as any time she tried to use healing chakra (even the thinnest thread) as the child panicked each time he saw the green energy.

"Why do you suppose he's so scared of the healing chakra?" Taji asked as she sat back on her heels and watched the boy sobbing and babbling hysterically as he huddled inside of Shibi's jacket.

"He might associate the color green with pain if he was seriously injured at some point in the past and someone healed him while he was delirious with pain or someone might have intentionally hurt him with a healing jutsu," Genma ventured around the protein bar he was eating.

"I suppose there's nothing we can do about it for the moment," Taji sighed as she rose to her feet gracefully and pulled her extra canteen off her hip and passed it to Shibi. "See if you can get some fluid into him so he doesn't get too dehydrated. Thankfully, we're not that far from home and we can pass the troublesome gaki to the AnBu to deal with."

Shibi frowned behind his jacket at the mention of passing the child off to another but said nothing as he gently coaxed the tiny mite into drinking the water. After the first sip, he was hard pressed to keep the kid from guzzling down the entire canteen all at once (which would not have been good) and did his best to ration the water out in tiny sips that wouldn't upset the child's stomach. Several minutes and a third of the canteen later, Shibi passed the bottle back to Taji as the child sat calmly inside of his jacket with a protein bar fisted in one hand while he stared blankly out at Taji and Genma. The child's empty hand unexpectedly darted out of the jacket a few seconds later and plucked a low flying moth out of the air and Shibi stiffened as he automatically thought the child would squish the bug (mild distress filling him at the thought of any bug being needlessly harmed due to his close connection with his Kikaichu).

To his surprise the kid merely brought the moth close to his face as he absently chewed on the corner of the protein bar and watched as it crawled all over his hand. The boy then giggled softly before he cut off the happy sound and stared around with fear filled eyes as if he expected to be scolded or punished for daring to laugh. When nothing happened, the child returned his attention to the moth sitting on his finger before lifting it up so Shibi could see it clearly as the child stared up at Shibi with fever bright eyes and weakly declared, "Bug."

"Ga," Shibi automatically supplied.

"Bug?"

"Ga," Shibi repeated, drawing the sound out a bit as he pointed to the moth.

"Ga?" the boy mimicked slowly.

"Yes, ga," Shibi encouraged with a nod.

"Ga?" the boy asked as he dropped the protein bar and reached inside of the blanket to pull out a handful of Shibi's Kikaichu that had been feasting upon the boy's chakra.

"Chigau, Kikaichu," Shibi corrected patiently, "Ki…kai…chu."

"Key keye chew?"

"Kikaichu."

"Kikaichu," the boy carefully repeated as he stared at the bugs crawling over his hands. "Kikaichu and ga."

"Very good, little bug," Shibi praised.

The boy looked like he wanted to say more but at that moment he let out a big yawn before curling back into Shibi's jacket; the moth flying off at the last moment while the destruction bugs merely resumed feasting upon his chakra. He was asleep within seconds and Shibi collected the forgotten protein bar before he glanced up to see Genma grinning manically at him while Taji watched him speculatively.

"I didn't think you had it in you to interact so normally with a kid," Genma teased as the three of them prepared to move out once more.

Shibi rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses in response to the comment and took to the trees, leaving his two teammates to follow. Several hours later, just as the sun was setting in the west, the three shinobi dropped down in front of the huge gate that marked the main entrance of Konoha and checked in with the gate guards. Their team then headed straight to the Hokage's Tower to make their report; both on the success of their mission and on the abandoned child they'd picked up in the woods. Taking to the rooftops, it didn't take more than ten minutes for the trio to make their way to the far side of the village where the Hokage's Tower sat below the Hokage Monument upon which the faces of the village's three Hokage were carved into the face of the mountain.

When they arrived in the Hokage's office, they found that they weren't the only ones reporting to the Sandaime Hokage and they silently waited for the other team to finish their report. Shibi wasn't really paying attention to the other team as the child he'd been carrying was finally stirring after sleeping through the entire afternoon. He hoped the kid would sit quietly and not cause a scene least the hidden AnBu watching over the Hokage mistakenly think someone was attacking the Sandaime Hokage. Luck must not have been listening to Shibi's prayers though because the little boy poked his head out of Shibi's jacket and let out a loud gasp the moment his green eyes fell on the four people standing with their back to him just in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Mumma! Mumma! Bad man gone now? Mumma take H'ry home now? Mumma?"

Shibi tried to hold onto the kid but he slipped down through his jacket and ran across the room where he immediately wrapped his arms around the legs of a sixteen year old Chuunin with long red hair. The Chuunin in question, one Uzumaki Kushina, spun around and pulled out a kunai thinking she was being attacked only to freeze when a pair of bright green eyes stared up at her with sheer happiness before the emotions in his eyes melted into desperate longing and confused pain before he crumpled to the floor crying.

"Not mumma… where mumma? Bad man gone. Why mumma no get H'ry? H'ry wan mumma."

"What is the meaning of this?" Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, demanded as he glanced from the sobbing child on the floor to Shibi's team even as he signaled for his AnBu guards to hold their positions.

"My apologizes, Hokage-sama," Shibi intoned as he slowly approached the crying child. "We stumbled across the little bug in the woods several miles outside of the village late yesterday evening and brought him back with us the moment it became apparent that he'd been abandoned."

The child in question glanced up at the sound of Shibi's voice and stared at Kushina with tormented, tear filled eyes for a full minute before he crawled over to Shibi and attached himself to his leg and sobbed silently as he pressed his face against Shibi's shin. Kushina tucked away her kunai and knelt down so she was level with the tiny child, her blue eyes filled with concern as she continued to listen to the child's cries.

"Did you know that he's speaking English?" Kushina asked after a few minutes as she looked up first at Shibi and then over her shoulder at the Hokage. "I haven't heard anyone speak English since Mito-sama passed away seven years ago."

"You understood what the child was saying?" Sarutobi asked as he leaned forward over the desk to study the trembling child.

"Hai, Uzushio was one of six portals to the realms beyond the Hidden Borders so we often had foreigners passing through the village and we had to learn many languages in order to speak with them; with English being the first one all children were taught because it is one of the more prominent languages Outside. Had I not been brought to Konoha when I was six, I would have learned at least two or three additional languages. The little one was calling for his mother and kept speaking about a 'bad man'."

"Could you ask him a few questions for me?" Shibi inquired as he gently pried the child off his leg and lifted him up into his arms. "If the Hokage doesn't mind?"

"Please do, Kushina-chan," Sarutobi insisted as his eyes tracked the small child. "The sooner we can clear up the mystery of his appearance in the forest the sooner we can get back to work."

"What did you wish me to ask him?"

"His name, how he ended up in the forest, who his parents are, and where they might be to start with," Shibi stated as he settled the child on his hip as Kushina rose back to her feet.

"Alright," Kushina agreed as she closed her eyes for a moment in order to recall long forgotten English lessons before addressing the child in his native language. "Hey little one, don't cry; no one will hurt you. Are you looking for your mother?"

The child flinched back before he furrowed his brow and leaned forward to study Kushina intently before he reached out a small hand and patted Kushina's hair as he babbled, "Red, like mumma. Bad man hurt mumma. Tant Tunia no like H'ry and mumma gone. Not mumma… who you?"

"My name is Kushina, what's your name?"

"Mumma say H'ry. Tant Tunia say no H'ry… Tant Tunia say F'eak."

"How old are you?" Kushina asked after a few minutes when she couldn't quite make out what he meant; not wanting to distress the child by asking more questions about his name as he'd been fairly upset by the time he'd finished talking.

"This many," the child replied as he held up his index finger on both hands.

"Do you know where your mother and father are now, dear?"

"Bad man hurt dada, make mumma cry. Bad man hurt mumma, make mumma fall down. Mumma seep'g, no wake. Bad, bad, bad… green light hurts."

"How did you end up in the forest little one? Did the bad man put you there?"

The child tensed and pulled his hand away from Kushina's hair as his eyes went wide with fright and shook his head and whispered, "Bad man go boom. Tant Tunia not like cry. H'ry no like dark. Wan out. Bright light. Hurts. Cold. All lone."

"Shh, you're safe now."

Kushina brushed her fingers across his cheek to wipe away the tears that had trickled down the boy's face only for him to turn and bury his face against Shibi's jacket as his body was wracked by tremors. Sighing, she dropped her hand and collected her thoughts for a moment before passing along everything she'd learned from the short interrogation.

"I wasn't able to learn much; he's only two so his grasp of the language isn't very good but it was much better than I would have expected of a two year old. He told me his name but I didn't quite catch what it was and didn't bother asking a second time because of how distraught that topic made him. He said the 'bad man' hurt his parents and I'm guessing whoever the person is killed them because the child said his mother was sleeping but wouldn't wake. I'm not certain if he knows his parents names or not but his mother apparently had red hair like mine; which is why he thought I was his mother when he first saw me."

"Did he say how he ended up in the forest?"

"Yes… but it was all jumbled up and confusing. He said something about the dark, a bright light, pain, being cold, and ending up all alone. I asked him if it was the same man who killed his parents but he said the 'bad man go boom'; his words, not mine. If he was older it would have been easier but… well, he's only two."

"Thank you for trying, Kushina. I will summon Yamanaka Inoichi to see if he can view the child's memories to get more information," Sarutobi replied as he waved away her concerns over a less than successful attempt at discovering how the child ended up outside of their village. The aging Sandaime climbed to his feet and walked around the desk to get a closer look at the child before he stuck his head out the door and spoke to his secretary for a moment. He then shut the door and returned to his chair before addressing the Jounin in charge of Kushina's team, "Was there anything more you needed to report regarding your latest mission? No, then you are dismissed. Shibi, please go ahead and give me your mission report while we wait for Inoichi to arrive."

"Did you wish me to stay until Yamanaka-san arrives so I can translate?" Kushina asked as her three teammates filed out of the office.

"No, that won't be necessary, child."

Once Kushina left the office, Shibi gave half of his attention to the Hokage as he began his report by stating that their escort mission had been a success; the other half of his attention was firmly on the still fussy child in his arms. Genma picked up from where he left off; going into detail about the trouble they ran into while on their mission (not counting the child). Taji finished the report speaking of reaching their final destination and how they'd left shortly after seeing the client to his home before going into the details of how they found the child, the less than perfect health of said child, how the child refused to go to anyone but Shibi, and that he was terrified of healing chakra. By that time, Inoichi arrived and gave the child a curious glance before looking to the Hokage for his orders.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Inoichi; we have need of your talent for mind delving and according to your father, you are one of the best practitioners in your clan," Sarutobi declared as he leaned back in his chair and chewed on the stem of his pipe. "Shibi's team picked up a little stray on their way home and the poor child speaks not a word of Japanese. He's also far too young to question properly as his grasp of his native language is far too sporadic to give concise answers."

"You wish me to view his memories?"

"Yes, we need to know what happened to his parents, how he ended up in the forest in his current condition, and who his current guardians are. According to what we were able to learn from him, there is a high probability that his parents were killed at some point."

"We should also determine who neglected or harmed the little bug and find out why he is terrified of healing chakra," Shibi added as he shifted the child in his arms.

"I can do that. He's fairly young so it shouldn't take too long to view his memories; maybe an hour at most depending on how clear they are," Inoichi replied as he walked up and placed on hand on the child's head.

The boy flinched and stared up at him with frightened green eyes and Inoichi smiled warmly and ruffled the child's hair a bit before he closed his eyes and brought his other hand up in the form of half the tiger seal and closed his eyes as he activated the mind delving jutsu. While the other individuals in the office watched, the blonde haired man carefully slipped his consciousness inside the child's mind in order to view his memories.

Inoichi's spirit appeared inside of the child's mind just seconds later and blinked in surprise as he unexpectedly found himself standing amidst the wreckage of what appeared to have once been a nursery room. He had never before seen anyone's inner mind take on such a realistic appearance; in each of his previous mind delving sessions, he had ended up in a large empty room with a giant brain that represented the person's mind or in an empty room filled with barrier seals (the latter usually indicative of the person's ability to influence and protect their own minds or another person meddling with the person's mind or memories.

If he didn't know better, he'd have believed he'd ended up in some kind of genjutsu but no two year old child could have created such a realistic illusion and the room felt natural even if it didn't look it. He even took a moment to test for the usual genjutsu markers just in case the child wasn't really a child but they all turned out negative. It was rather puzzling for the Yamanaka prodigy.

"Who are you?"

Turning around, Inoichi was shocked to see an image of the child whose mind he was inside of sitting in an overturned crib, watching him with curious and worried green eyes. Crouching down so as not to appear quite so intimidating and so he could get a better look at the kid, Inoichi studied the child intently for a few moments before he answered.

"My name is Inoichi. Who are you?"

"I'm Harry. Why are you in my head? How did you get in here?"

"My family is taught how to use a special technique that allows me to see inside of people's minds. As for why I am here, I was asked to find out what happened to your parents and how you ended up in the middle of the forest alone."

"Oh. I tried to tell the pretty woman who was not my mother but I couldn't find the words."

"How is it you are here? How is it you can understand me when you don't speak Japanese? And why does your mind look like a ruined bedroom?"

"This is my head; where else would I be? You aren't talking funny anymore now that you are in my mind. And my mind wasn't always like this but I don't know how to fix it."

"And the reason you aren't speaking or acting like the child you are?"

"My mind remembers everything I have ever seen or heard. I'm only two and a half though, so my body can't keep up with my mind right now. What is it you are here to do? You said you were looking for answers but how did you plan to get them if you didn't know that I was here?"

"I was going to view your memories."

"Oh. It won't hurt, will it?"

"No, it won't hurt. Can you show me where your memories are?"

"They are all around us. Which memory would you like to see first?"

"How about your earliest memory?"

"Do you plan on watching all of my memories?"

"Yes, otherwise it would be rather confusing trying to piece together how you ended up in the forest just outside of the village."

"Oh… I guess you will be here for a while then because there are over two years worth of memories to see. If you give me your hand I will take you to the first memory."

The moment Inoichi grasped the child's tiny hand; he was transported to a small, dark, cramped space. He could hear what sounded like a heart beating in the background and felt warmth. It took him a few minutes to figure out that the memory was of the child's time inside of his mother's womb (which was kind of shocking). A few words to the child took them to the day the child was born in order to avoid spending an unknown amount of time just listening to the heartbeat of the child's mother. Inoichi then watched the first year of the child's life play out, taking note of his mother and father, the three men that frequently visited the small family, and listening closely to the hushed conversations that were held over top of the child as he was being held, changed, or fed.

The feats of magic he witnessed he attributed to chakra manipulation even though the adults in Harry's memories didn't use any hand seals and frequently used what looked like a simple stick to perform the various techniques. The talk of war garnered far more attention; especially whenever the child's parents made allusions to someone they called You-Know-Who being after them and their son. Harry's first birthday came and went and the talk grew darker, numerous deaths were mentioned and frequently Harry's father would come home covered in grime and blood and his clothes tattered and torn. Then there came a day when both adults stopped leaving the house entirely and spent most of their time playing with baby Harry or searching through dusty old books while keeping their child close by.

Inoichi was slightly startled when the child's mental avatar clung to his leg at that point and began crying as the next memory began playing out. He soon understood though when the memory they were viewing grew dark and sinister as he heard the father yelling to the mother that their enemy had found them. Crouching down, Inoichi gathered the grieving child into his arms as he first heard a short battle that had occurred outside of the child's view and then watched the child's mother begging for her son's life, offering herself in his place, before she was coldly cut down as she stepped between her son and the jutsu that had been fired at the child.

What happened next was baffling as the man who'd murdered the woman turned on the child and tried to kill him using the same jutsu that had killed the woman. Only it failed to kill the child and instead ricocheted back and killed the man instead, though the ominous black cloud that rose from the ashes of the dead man's body troubled Inoichi more than he cared to admit; especially the small portion of it that seemed to attack the child before it disappeared. The child was then collected by a giant of a man before the memory ended as the man fed the child a strange greenish-purple liquid from a crystal vial that he'd pulled from his pocket.

The rest of the child's memories were all very similar; featuring a shrill sour woman, a temperamental fat man, and a deplorable overweight baby. The woman often muttered harsh and cruel things to little Harry as she locked him in a cupboard (of all places), the fat man bellowed endlessly as he constantly threatened the child with physical punishment and withheld food, and the butterball baby pinched and kicked the child as he snatched away anything the smaller child had been given (especially food or toys). Anything that gave the child pleasure was immediately taken away by one of the three individuals; even the small spiders and bugs in the cupboard that he had tried to befriend.

When he finally reached the memory of how Harry ended up in the forest he was confused; one minute they'd been inside of the dark cupboard as the boy sobbed silently after his latest punishment for daring to protect himself and the meager rations he'd been given from the tubby little child that always hit him and the next there was a flash of bright light and then they were in the middle of the forest and the memory child screamed and cried as if he was in pain. It made no sense unless it was some kind of transportation jutsu – though no child should have been able to perform such a feat and he knew of no transport jutsu that caused pain.

Inoichi pushed his confusion to the back of his mind as he watched the last few memories; which involved the child spending a couple of days alone in the forest until a cloud of bugs enveloped him just before Shibi and his team rescued the child, fed him, and took care of him. The fear Harry felt when he saw Taji trying to use a healing jutsu on him made perfect sense when he recalled the killing green light that had killed the boy's mother and nearly killed the child as well. He opened his mouth to tell the boy he was finished as they reached the point where Inoichi first walked into the Hokage's office only for the memory to shift to his arrival inside of Harry's mind before he could speak. Once it reached the point where Inoichi grabbed hold of Harry's hand, he found himself once more standing in the wreckage of the nursery and he sucked in a sharp breath when he realized that the ruined room was an exact replica of the nursery from the night of his parents' murders.

"Thank you for showing me your memories, little one. I have to go now."

"Will you ever come back?"

"Probably not… but there is always a chance that I might need to at some point in the future. You will certainly see me around the village if you stay in Konoha though."

"I can stay? You aren't going to send me away?"

"No, we won't send you away."

"Oh good… I think I like it here; the man with the bugs is nice and I like the way the bugs whisper to me even if I can't understand what they are saying."

"You can hear the Kikaichu?"

"Yes… they tickle when they crawl all over me. Aunt Petunia hates bugs and she'd kill my pet spiders… but I guess you already know that. Do you know the way out? I can show you if you like but you'll have to make it quick because I don't think I can stay awake much longer."

"I know the way out… go to sleep and rest child. We will make certain no harm comes to you."

The child stared at him with intense green eyes for a full minute before he nodded and curled back up in the broken crib where he'd been sitting when Inoichi first arrived.

Inoichi stumbled backwards as he ended the jutsu and returned to his own mind. He glanced down at the child whose mind he'd just been searching through and saw a brief glimpse of overly bright and slightly confused green eyes that held just a touch of hope in their depths before the child drifted off to sleep in Shibi's arms. Shaking his head, Inoichi felt a wave of exhaustion wash through him and he probably would have crashed to the floor if not for Taji grabbing hold of his arm and Genma grabbing a chair for him to sit down in.

"Are you alright, senpai?" Taji asked with concern.

"Hai… just tired."

"Was there a problem?" Sarutobi inquired as he glanced between the now sleeping child and the blonde man. "You've been standing there for nearly three hours and I was under the impression that because he was so young it wouldn't take that long. I was on the verge of sending for your father just when you ended your jutsu."

"No problems… just far more memories than I expected," Inoichi assured the Hokage as he ran a hand over the back of his head and craned around to glance at the child again for a moment. "His mind was… like nothing I'd ever seen before. You would not believe the clarity of his memories either; I had trouble believing it and if it had been anyone but a child, I would have believed that I'd been caught up in a genjutsu. And yes, I took the time to confirm that he is just a child."

"What do you mean, Inoichi?"

"Were you able to get any information?" Shibi interjected before Inoichi could answer the Hokage's question.

"He has the potential to become a prodigy in whatever profession he decides to take up and I wouldn't be surprised if he came to be considered a genius on top of that," Inoichi answered as he turned back to meet the Hokage's gaze. "He has a photographic memory and I watched his entire life play out before my eyes. His first memories are actually from before he was even born; when he was still inside of his mother's womb and yes I viewed at least one of them. And, Shibi, I learned everything I'd gone in looking to find in addition to a significant amount of other information."

"And his parents?"

"Dead; they were murdered when he was about fifteen months old and he witnessed his mother's death. Both of them appeared to be some kind of shinobi, as they constantly used chakra to perform strange, seal-less jutsu. The man who killed them used the same basic type of jutsu so I would assume they had been from the same village or at least they had been trained by someone who knew the same techniques. Unfortunately, I was unable to discover the assailant's name as they always referred to him as You-Know-Who; as if afraid just speaking his name would call his attention to them."

"It was a green jutsu that killed the boy's mother; which would explain his fear of healing chakra. The killer tried to use the same jutsu on the child but something went wrong; the jutsu backfired and killed the man instead. It turned the attacker into dust in an instant despite the fact that it left the boy's mother without a mark on her. It was the jutsu that gave the child the scar on his forehead. The jutsu also caused the child considerable pain when it struck him while his mother appeared to have died far too quickly to feel any pain."

Inoichi spent another hour relaying the rest of everything he'd learned about the child's short life; including how his guardians had verbally abused and neglected him, how his equally young cousin constantly attacked him physically, and how he was brought to the forest by some strange transportation jutsu but he couldn't see who had moved the child. The blonde teen also relayed the information that the boy could hear but not understand the Kikaichu and seemed very fond of bugs; mentioning the pet spiders, crickets, and moths he'd kept. He would have mentioned the fact that he'd spoken to the child within his mind but he didn't think any of those present would believe him and he didn't want anyone to question his sanity.

"It's late," Sarutobi declared once they'd finished. "Shibi, would you be willing to keep the child with you for the evening? He seems rather attached to you."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Good; then I'll trust you to see that he's taken care of for the evening. At ten sharp tomorrow morning, I would like you to take him to take him to the hospital so that the rest of his injuries and malnutrition can be dealt with and he can be given a complete check-up. I will have Kushina meet you outside of the Hospital so that she can act as translator for the child and the medics as well as see to it that the child learns that healing chakra won't harm him. If they release him once they are finished with him, you can deliver him to the orphanage since it is readily apparent that his current guardians are unfit to raise him."

Shibi hesitated when the Hokage mentioned the orphanage, the mere idea of leaving the child to be raised in such a cold environment (because no orphanage, no matter how well run, can compare to a loving home complete with a loving family) bothering him more than he cared to admit. He eventually nodded to show his compliance and exited the room without saying a word. Taji and Genma exchanged a single glance before they turned to look at both the Hokage and Inoichi (the blonde once more staring after Shibi and the child).

"How much do you want to bet that Shibi finds a way around the Hokage's order to leave the little bug at the orphanage after he's finished at the hospital tomorrow?" Genma drawled after a moment as he smirked at Taji.

"I don't take sucker's bets," Taji shot back with a snort. "It wouldn't surprise me if that little boy is an Aburame by the end of the week."

"Which would make him a little bug, ne?" Genma shot back to the Hokage's and Inoichi's amusement and Taji's exasperation.

Translations: Japanese to English

AnBu – short for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai which means Assassination Tactics Special Military Force and they are a group of masked shinobi that answer directly to the Hokage
Chigau – can be used to mean wrong, no, or to differ
Fujimoto – a random Japanese last name I picked out of a hat (or actually off a webpage) for Taji since she didn't have a surname in canon
Ga – moth
Hai – yes
Kikaichu – destruction bugs
Konohagakure no Sato (Konoha) – Hidden Leaf Village
Ne – used at the end of a sentence for emphasis or clarification; similar to the word 'right' being placed at the end of a question or statement in the English language
Sandaime Hokage – Third Fire Shadow
Uzushiogakure – Hidden Whirling Tides Village

Kun/Chan – a form of address usually used when addressing someone younger than you or when addressing someone affectionately.
Sama – another form of address that is used when dealing with a person in a position of authority or higher social standing.
San – yet another form of address and can be translated as Mr./Mrs.
Senpai – still another form of addressed used between equals (usually used when addressing someone older) that is not quite as familiar as the kun/chan address.

Notes:

The Hidden Border I refer to in this chapter is what separates the Hidden Countries from the rest of the world (I know it lacks real imagination but I used up my imagination on everything else, lol). Uzushiogakure is not the only hidden village/country that has been used as an entry point; it just happens to be the only one mentioned by name in the story at this point. Crossing the border isn't impossible though people from the Hidden Countries will rarely ever leave and those coming in are few and far between in the current times because a good portion of the world has forgotten that the Hidden Countries exist. More on this will be explained during the story at a later time; I just wanted to explain a bit of it now.

AN: Just a quick note that I forgot to throw up top; the first six to ten chapters are going to move fairly quickly and meant to set the stage for later chapters; they will mostly be information with some interactive scenes in between to break up the monotony as the main part of the story and plot is set within the Naruto plot line. Also, this is the second oldest Naruto cross-over that I have written and I started it over two years ago when I was still learning about the Naruto verse so there will be a lot of new stuff that was revealed within the manga and anime that didn't make it into the story because I hadn't known about that stuff back then. So, please don't bother correcting me about events; I'll just ignore you since I like to play fast and loose with canon anyway. =) Jenn