Chapter 33 The Root of Darkness by Amorphis760

As soon as I knew he was asleep I created a clone to read the rest of the book while I rendered this carcass down. First things first though. I took out a vial from my inventory and slowly drained the snake of its venom. I got almost 500mL out of it and after carefully stoppering the vial I put it back into my inventory. Now to skin it. The crystal blade I created didn't even scratch its scales and even with an application of wind chakra on the blade it was like sawing through wood with a dull blade. Still 3 hours into it my clone finished reading the book and helped me remove the rest of the skin. After that it was a relatively quick process to harvest the insides. I even packed away the bone because I had no idea what was considered valuable and what was not.

Finally after 6 hours of work the entire thing was gone and I changed out of my bloodied clothes as my clone popped, giving me all its memories. I winched as the slight headache came from such a large influx of memories but it went away soon enough and having all the rules memorized was worth it. I quickly sorted through the memories but none of the rules stuck out to me as a game changer so if Harry still wanted me as a mentor I would train him.

Well, technically I would just after I tried something. First off I withdrew Minato's kunai and tossed it to the ground where it made a sharp clang. I glanced over to Harry but the noise seemed to not be enough to wake him as he simply rolled over. I waited for a good 10 minutes and then slipped the kunai back into my inventory with a repressed sigh. Next off I tried to reverse summon myself to the summoning realm but the only thing that happened was an error message that popped up. It would seem that this universe isn't connected to the summoning realm which is a pity.

I clutched my head as the clone I had on the outside scouting popped as well. Popping two long term clones nearly back to back was not a good idea and I gritted my teeth as I searched the new memories as to why it thought it was a good idea to pop. Let's see routes through the school, a huge library that made my hands twitch and my mouth to water, a small village nearby, finding out that this is in Scotland on the 1st of November, 1994. Then as my clone was searching the forest nearby I found a nest of huge spiders and further into the forest I found a ruined structure. My curiosity was peaked but after setting foot just inside the ruins some sort of barrier sprung up and electrocuted me.

'Okay. It's embarrassing that I didn't escape such a simple trap but bad luck can happen.' I glanced back over at Harry as I rubbed at my head. 'Should I explore or test out that venom? Eh, why not both?' Sending out another clone I sat down and pulled out a small vial of the extracted venom. While I didn't have an optimal set up for testing new liquids my mystical palms technique was quite capable and it would do for now. About half an hour later I carefully replaced the stopper and put the vial back into my inventory.

'That was the nastiest venom I have ever had the pleasure to study.' It had a one-two punch. A physical component that would kill a man in less than two minutes as their organs literally liquefied and something that seemed spiritual in nature but I wasn't good enough with my mystical palms technique to identify what it did. Regardless, I would not be injecting myself with this anytime soon until I had a better handle on the effects. My clone popped giving me memories of exploring miles and miles of pipes with nothing else interesting happening and just as I was finishing reviewing the memories Harry began to stir.

I knew he was fully awake when he suddenly stiffened and then bolted upright as his hands patted the area next to him for his glasses. "Good morning," I said cheerfully and then chuckled as he spun at the sound of my voice, getting tangled in the sleeping bag, and tumbling to the ground. He finally found his glasses and he looked around the chamber in quite a daze until he focused on me.

"Err, it's Shiro right?"

"That is correct." He suddenly slumped and let out a groan.

"So last night wasn't all just a bad dream and my housemates did kick me out, which I'm not even sure how they did so, but you agreed to be my mentor." He perked up and then something seemed to occur to him as he looked around. "Um, where's the basilisk that was here?"

Where the snake had been there was nothing more than the odd splotch of blood that I hadn't managed to drain properly. "Oh that, I finished rendering it down while you slept."

His poleaxed expression was quite amusing as he gapped like a fish out of water. Eventually he got his act together enough to speak. "But that's insane. How did you-" he must have seen something in my expression because he sighed. "Magic, right?"

"Ah, poo you took all the fun out of it." I did an exaggerated frown at him but then went back to my neutral face. "Anyways I read the entire book as well and I didn't see anything that would stop me from being your mentor if you still want me as one."

"You read the entire book and rendered down the basilisk all while I was sleeping." He pronounced woodenly and I just shrugged at him.

"What can I say I'm just that good." His blank expression with a hint of disbelief was perfect. If he stuck around me long enough he would become blasé about these types of things.

"Right." He said slowly. "Why do you want to be my mentor anyways? I know that you're not from around here because if you were you would have known my name at the very least. So why are you staying?"

'Was he really that famous?' I studied him for a moment and I saw that he was telling nothing but the truth. "Do you want the truth or a pretty lie?"

"The truth please." I nodded and gathered my thoughts.

"Before I arrived here someone attempted to kidnap my sister. It was only a happy chance that I managed to avert that from happening but he was still able to grab me before help could arrive. He took me to a place that seemed impossible to escape from but I managed to flee." For some reason he looked almost guilty as though he thought it his fault. "Once I arrived here I saw how your trunk used dimensional expansion to hold more than it should and you were in need of someone to train you. I leapt at the chance to gain the resources necessary to speed up the process of returning home and since you witnessed my arrival you wouldn't question my lack of knowledge regarding this world."

What I didn't say is that I wanted to keep him close so that he didn't spill any details of my arriving here. If it proved necessary I would simply kill him and be done with it. In addition I had found that I could use the magic displayed here. The clone that had scouted the tunnels had also tried using the cleaning magic that Harry had displayed early before he went to sleep. It had required an 8:1 ratio of spiritual to physical energy instead of an even mixture that I was used to but it worked. So by teaching him I would be able to practice new skills along with him and perhaps give him a thorough medical examination to see how his body ticked. It also helped that he seemed to be ostracized by the student body making him a loner and less likely to spill any of my secrets to anyone else while serving as a guide to this new world. Although I wasn't sure how his apparent fame would factor in just yet.

"So you're just using me?" He asked hotly and I just shrugged.

"Basically, but aren't you doing the same when you asked me to be your mentor?"

His indignation died out and silence fell between us for a minute or two as he seemed to be debating with himself. Finally he broke the silence. "How old are you anyways?"

"10, but if I do this," a quick henge and there was an adult version of me standing where I was, "there shouldn't be any problems."

He stared at my transformation owlishly. "Brilliant. How are you doing that?"

"It's a simple technique that coats a thin shell of chakra over the user that projects an image based on their intent."

"Chakra?"

"A mixture of spiritual and physical energies that I manipulate. Think of it as a different word for magic and before you ask I don't believe that you could do this in your current state. While you have adequate reserves of spiritual energy your physical energy is weak and the strain on your body could seriously damage you."

"But if I can't learn even your simple techniques then what can you teach me?"

In response I shot off the cleaning spell towards one of the larger bloodstains and watched as it vanished. "That was the cleaning spell you used last night. Even if you prove incapable of using my techniques I can still learn yours quickly and train you in their uses. Other than that I can teach you how to fight."

"You just used magic without a wand." I quirked an eyebrow at him. If he was just realizing this now I would need to include observational lessons for him. Luckily he seemed to get my silent rebuke and blushed. "Sorry, I was a little distracted with everything last night and it carried over to this morning."

Whatever. "So I'll ask again do you still want me as your mentor?" He hesitated but then nodded. "Great. So let's get our story straight whenever anyone asks how we met." The next thirty minutes were spent hashing out the details and we finally went with him meeting me during the Quidditch World Cup where he was impressed by my knowledge of the arcane. Once his name came out of the Goblet of Fire the first thing he had done was seek me out as a mentor for the tournament. It was a shaky backstory but it would do for now.

At the end of it Harry's stomach let out a loud rumble and he sheepishly glanced down. "Err, sorry I guess I'm a bit peckish. Could I call one of my friends so we could get something to eat?"

"Sure, I don't mind."

"Dobby." Harry called out and I was a bit confused until a small creature appeared with a pop right next to him. He had large floppy ears and tennis ball like green eyes with a long jutting nose along with a dirty pillowcase that served as clothing. The thing that really caught my interest though was the fact that he teleported. If I could only gain one thing from this world the knowledge of how to teleport would be it.

"Dobby has heard Master-" he seemed to notice me for the first time and with a little "eep," sound his eyes rolled back into his head as he fainted. I blinked in disbelief. Surely I wasn't scary enough to elicit that kind of reaction was I?

"Dobby!" Harry quickly started fussing over him while shooting glances my way. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing at all. He just caught sight of me and fainted." I absently scratched my cheek. "This has never happened to me before actually." As I finished speaking I saw Dobby's eyes begin to flutter.

"Dobby are you alright?" Harry asked worriedly as he came to.

"Dobby is fine sir. Dobby is-" he caught sight of me again and let out another eep before ducking behind Harry. I could see he was trembling in fright as he cowered behind Harry.

"Dobby it's alright. This is my mentor. His name is Shiro and he won't hurt you."

"Hello," I said as friendly as possible while still intensely curious to know why he was so afraid of me. "If you don't mind me asking why are you so scared of me?"

While his shivering had gone down he still hid behind Harry. "House elves can feel magic in a person and get an impression from it. Dobby feels your magic. Tis like the calm before a storm and filled with so much death for one so young." He nearly whispered the last part before hiding fully behind Harry who was looking equal parts curious and disturbed. I could see the question bubbling I up within him so I decided to preemptively cut it off.

"I don't know you well enough to talk about my past. The only thing I'm going to say is that there was a war." A war that I wasn't really involved in but it would be better to be thought of as a child soldier than a paid killer I suppose. Harry's mouth clicked shut and silence fell between us for a while.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? It wasn't your fault that there was a war unless you're a God playing at being human to mess with me." I shook my head. "Bad things happen but you can't let them consume you. Instead strive to overcome those hardships and work towards a solution or bettering yourself instead of wallowing in grief."

"That sounds like some good advice." He said cautiously and I smiled.

"Well you did hire me to mentor you. Giving out advice is part of the package deal." Harry's stomach let out another rumble and he blushed.

"Master Harry is hungry! Dobby will get food." Before he could pop away Harry stopped him.

"Dobby wait. Can you get food for Shiro as well?" Dobby's head poked out from behind Harry as he looked at me before slowly nodding.

"Dobby can. Dobby will be back." With that he popped away leaving the two of us alone.

"So," I said slowly. "Could you explain house elves to me?"

"Oh, um, sure. House elves bond to a family or a person and Dobby was bonded to someone that wasn't treating him well at all. I was able to trick them into releasing him from his bonds and now he's a free elf although he keeps calling me Master Harry Potter even though I keep telling him it's fine to call me Harry. After that debacle last night he's my only friend." His mood seemed to be plummeting but Dobby popped back with two plates full of food breaking Harry from his downward spiral.

'That was fast.' I thought as I looked over the plate full of food that was floated in front of me by a still cautious Dobby. "Thank you." I said as I dropped the henge and grabbed the plate. Just a glance at the contents made me think I was going to have a heart attack eating it. Lots of fatty foods and grease.

"Master Harry, can Dobby clean the area?" I looked up from my plate to see Dobby almost quivering in place as he gazed wide eyed at Harry.

"If you want to but you don't have to." Dobby gave a squeal of joy and disappeared. I tracked him around the chamber by the bursts of magic he gave off while cleaning and teleporting around. "Thanks for breakfast Dobby." He stopped his cleaning long enough to start babbling on about how Harry was the best person every before getting back to cleaning.

'Crazy little guy, but loyal to a fault.' I thought as I took my first bite of the meal after I checked for poisons on the sly first. After all, while they both seemed trustworthy I hadn't seen the food prepared and being cautious saves lives. After 9 years of eating healthier food the return to greasy food was as jarring as I thought it would be. My palate didn't like it at all and I quickly wolfed down the rest of the food so I wouldn't need to taste it.

"So," I said as I set the cleared plate to the side. Seeing Harry go wide eyed at my cleaned off plate tickled my funny bone but it wasn't time for jokes. "I was thinking we could go sell the rendered down carcass after you're done with breakfast then get some books. Would you happen to know any places where we could do such a thing?"

"Um, maybe Gringotts for selling the basilisk parts and then the rest of Diagon Alley for the books, but I don't know if I'm allowed to leave the school." I mentally frowned as he said those two places. For some reason I had the vaguest memories associated with them but they must have been before I died as I couldn't remember it perfectly and nothing in Konoha would be connected to those two places. Was this another place that I knew of but my memories of it were wiped out?

"Well it's a good thing you had me read the rule book because I can confidently tell you that as a champion you have the right to do whatever you feel is necessary to prepare for the tournament as long as it's not illegal. This would definitely include going with me to get the necessary supplies to begin your training."

He looked conflicted for a moment and then shrugged. "Alright. At least it's a Sunday so I don't have class to attend to." I let a smile grow on my face after he said that.

"Well actually you don't need to go to class. When I said whatever is necessary that includes not going to class. It actually stated that champions shall receive an automatic passing grade in all classes for their participation in the Triwizard Tournament. I think it's a way to relieve as much pressure as possible from the champions."

"You mean to tell me I can skiv off both Snape and Binns' classes for the rest of the year and it's all legal?" By the end of his question Harry was grinning widely.

"I assume that they teach classes here and if so then yes. No more classes for you for the rest of the year."

"Wicked." He breathed out as his grin threatened to break his face. I wonder how bad of a teacher both of them are to elicit that kind of reaction although judging by the fact that it looks like he's about to dance for joy they must be horrendous. The conversation stalled for a bit as Harry was off in a happy place while he ate his breakfast and I was practicing the cleaning charm.

It cost me about as much as a D rank jutsu but it also said that I could decrease the cost to a tenth of its value if I used a wand. While the thought of being able to level any newly acquired skills up faster was wonderful I was hesitant to actually get a wand. From what I felt when Harry cast a spell he didn't actual consciously direct his energy as his wand gathered the necessary amount and shaped it for him. The approach just felt lazy to me and I would always take the longer, harder road to power instead of relying on metaphorical crutches which sounded totally hypocritical now that I thought about it. I pondered about it some more but I still didn't want a wand in the end. I would be the one to shape my energies and not some easily broken tool. In fact that would be one of the first things that I weaned Harry off of.

My thoughts broke off as Harry set his plate down and stood up. "So should we get going?" I stood up as well and reapplied the henge but this time I looked like Minato.

"Sure, but do you know any other exits besides the one we came in?"

"Err, no I don't."

"Hmm, no matter then. Get anything you need ready and let's go." Harry grabbed his broom and cloak then we walked to the pipe leading up to the castle. Before Harry could fly away I stopped him. If there were no other exits to this place, which I doubted, there still should be a way up this without having to resort to flying. "Try asking for stairs."

He looked at me oddly and then hissed out, "stairs." Low and behold the stone jutted out of the pipe forming a circular staircase that continued upwards until I lost sight of it.

"Well that's quite a bit more convenient." Harry didn't say anything but I heard him sigh as he set his broom off to the side. As we started walking up the stairs I started questioning him about the monetary system that wizards had.

"Well first off there's knuts, which are bronze coins, then there's sickles, which are silver coins, and finally galleons, which are gold coins. There are 29 knuts in a sickle and 17 sickles in a galleon."

"Any reason why you have prime numbers for each conversion?" He thought about it for a minute before shaking his head.

"Not a clue. I just know that a galleon is worth 50 pounds. That's muggle money for England which is the currency here. Other nations have different currencies as well." I hummed in thought as we neared the top of the stairs and we both used our different means to turn invisible. It was seeming more and more likely that this was a version of Earth or for all I know it was the same Earth I was born on if the wizarding world was hidden like it apparently was. As the sink opened up Harry spoke over the noise. "Follow me."

I followed him through the castle. It felt even more alive during the day then it did at night with paintings laughing and talking, the noise of footsteps in the distance and just the general feel of it. The spiritual energy seemed to thrum around me almost like a heartbeat and I almost had trouble following Harry from the near sensory overload I was experiencing. I managed it though and once we got outside onto the grounds I let out a sigh of relief. Keeping track of all that movement and the constant feeling of watchfulness was a bit fraying on the nerves even if I knew consciously that I was probably safe. I shook my head to clear it and kept following Harry until we reached an impressive looking willow tree that was swaying against the breeze. 'The Whomping Willow,' a voice in the back of my head provided and I frowned. This was just like when I was reborn and knew people's names before they were introduced.

"Wait here for a second. I need to touch the knot at the base of the tree to keep the Whomping Willow from hitting us."

'Fuck. My memories have been messed with again.' My frown deepened as a knot on the tree was pressed and it froze. It was the equivalent of mentally raping me and words could not describe how much I absolutely loathed what had happened. Now I would have to dredge through my memories trying to find whatever fragments remained about this world.

"Come on then. There's a passage over here." I followed the sound of Harry's voice, while trying to recall everything I knew, to a small opening that was hidden within the roots of the tree. After we both entered the tunnel we dropped our respective invisibility and Harry's wand lit up giving us light to see by.

"So where does this take us?" I asked as we started walking along the tunnel.

"It goes to the Shrieking Shack and once we get there we can go to Hogsmeade village then use their floo to get to Diagon Alley."

"Hogsmeade," I tested the name of the village on my tongue. "Sounds the name of a beer, not a village." He turned a bit pink at that but recovered admirably.

"I think you'll find that wizards don't have the best naming sense in the world." That would probably be the huge imbalance of spiritual to physical energy that I've sensed from all of them. It was bound to cause a few mental issues. Of course I didn't mention this theory to my guide. Didn't want to upset the locals just yet and call me crazy, but saying that all of them were probably prone to mental instability didn't seem like the best topic to endear me to him.

We reached the end of the tunnel and found ourselves in an old dilapidated shack that curiously enough had scratch marks all along the walls. I examined the scratches for long enough to conclude that they were animal in nature and not human before dismissing them of consequence. We found that the door was locked but Harry's whispered "alohomora," took care of that quickly enough. I swear I had to wipe drool off my chin after I learned the spell. A simple D rank spell to open any and all locks not warded against it. Can I get a hallelujah up in here?

The rest of the way into the village was spent talking about commonly known things that I should know if I didn't want to stand out too much. Things such as who's the Prime Minister, the Queen, the Minister of Magic and so on. While Harry didn't know more of the in depth stuff like the political scene or things of that nature it was still very informative. Before we got into the village proper though I henged Harry into a nondescript man with brown hair and blue eyes. It was quite a bit harder to hold two henges when one wasn't on me but I managed.

We ended up at a pub called the Three Broomsticks where an older woman showing quite a bit of cleavage allowed us to use the floo for 2 knuts each. I'm sure I could come up with a sex joke but with such low hanging fruit where's the challenge? Harry paid for both of us as I obviously didn't have any cash and I let him go first so I could see how it was done. With a grim look on his face Harry had stepped into the green flames after calling out for Diagon Alley and been whisked away. I waited for a couple of seconds and then proceeded to do the same.

The experience was a bit disorienting as I was spun around fairly quickly and I could catch glimpses of other exits before I was dumped out at the end of my journey. A little spinning wouldn't throw me off balance though and I stepped out of the fireplace without a hitch in my step. It would seem that Harry was not so fortunate as he was laying on the ground muttering something uncomplimentary. Thankfully the henge held otherwise it would be a bit hard to explain the smoke.

I helped Harry to his feet as I glanced around the grungy pub we found ourselves in. The place looked old and worn but at least the barkeep sounded friendly as we passed by to encounter a brick wall. Harry tapped out a sequence on the bricks with his wand and they folded away to reveal an alley bursting with activity. I took in the scene as we walked towards a large white marble building in fascination. Seeing different cultures was one of the things that I absolutely loved to do before I died and it was no different now. The fact that it was a magical culture just made it better.

We eventually made it to the steps of Gringotts and the words above the entrance made me smile. I might have to rob this place one time before I leave just to say that I did it. As we passed the goblin guards standing on each side of the entry way I saw their pupils shrink to pinpricks as they both focused their attention on me in a classic flight or fight response. 'I'll really have to check why everything that I've met that isn't a human seems to freak out when they see me even though I have chakra dampening on.' I thought as we entered through the door.

The inside of Gringotts was… an ostentatious display of wealth and power as I've even seen with gold inlays everywhere along with a vaulted ceiling that huge crystal chandeliers hung from. As I entered the room every goblin froze for a moment and I felt their eyes zero in on me before they seemed to take a collective breath. Then they got back to work, although I still felt watchful eyes upon me. The other humans in the room noticed the odd display but seemed to dismiss it after a moment. Harry on the other hand was clued in enough to know what happened but he had the sense to keep quiet for the time being.

I walked to one of the open counters and the goblin behind it flinched slightly as it became apparent I was heading straight towards him before he regained as much of his composure as possible while gritting his teeth into a snarl. "Good day to you." I said cheerfully. "I have business that might interest Gringotts today."

The goblin's eyes widened as I spoke and then narrowed into almost slits. Whoops, I wonder if he's hearing this in his native language. "What business brings you to Gringotts today?"

"I have rare parts from an extremely magical animal that I want to sell in bulk." We regarded each other. Myself with calm indifference and him with a permanent snarl on his face before he slowly nodded. With a motion one of the guards marched over and stood next to us.

"Take them to Ironfist." The guard nodded and motioned us to follow while walking almost sideways in order to present the smallest target if I attacked. While the fact that all of the goblins seemed to consider me such a threat was almost flattering it was getting rather tedious. We followed the nameless guard to an office where presumably Ironfist was sitting behind a desk. He went through his fight or flight response before commendably composing himself and offering us seating.

"What kind of animal parts have you brought to sell?" Ironfist gravelly voice filled the air as we got situated. Straight to business then with no pleasantries. I can appreciate that.

"I have recently been fortunate enough to acquire a rather large portion of basilisk meat."

"Oh?" My thoughts on goblins being primarily carnivores was correct as Ironfist perked up for an instant before settling for a bored tone. "Would you happen to have a sample of the meat?"

"Of course." I pulled out a thin strip of meat from my inventory and handed it over to him. He took it with care and started doing all manner of tests on it, even going so far as to slice a bit off and eat it raw. Harry squirmed a bit at that but settled as I gave him a look. Even having to quell Harry from acting up I still saw Ironfist shiver with barely concealed delight as he tasted the basilisk meat.

"Hmph, the meat is barely worth it but I suppose Gringotts could be generous enough to buy it. How much do you have to sell?" He went back to his bored tone but I knew I had him hooked.

"Oh, not much, just a 1000 kilograms." I've never seen a goblin go bug eyed before but the sight was hilarious. Harry seemed to agree if his coughing fit was any indication. As Ironfist recovered he sent a glare towards Harry before fixing me with a stare.

"Truly you jest?"

"Nope." I said popping the p. "1000Kgs of basilisk meat just as pure as the sample. Of course if you buy it you may examine it beforehand just to be assured of its quality."

"Such a large amount would be enough to dilute its price in the market. I could offer 5000 galleons for the lot of it." He was low balling me so hard it was a surprise he didn't just club me over the head and steal all the meat. The market value dropping was also a sham. I'm sure they had some sort of preservation spell they could use to keep the meat fresh and sell it piecemeal over a period of time to keep the price high.

"Wow, I didn't know Gringotts was so hard up for cash right now. Do you need a loan? I'm sure I could find some fine some upstanding people to front you the money." I could actually hear him grind his teeth at the attack on Gringotts prosperity. In my experience those that flaunt wealth try the hardest to always appear wealthy no matter what. Now he could admit the problem, almost inconceivable, or raise the price.

"Nonsense. I simply didn't see the worth of such a large amount of meat. Nevertheless, I'll take pity on you and offer 8000 galleons for it all." Still lowballing but getting there.

"Listen," I stood up with a frown and noted that his hand jerked towards something on the other side of the desk before he brought his hand under control. Probably a weapon of some sort if I had to guess. "If you're just going to waste my time I can go elsewhere. We came to Gringotts because it would take less time but if I have to sell it in pieces to get a decent price I will."

"No!" He shouted and then cleared his throat. "No, no other institution can afford to buy such a large amount. Splitting up everything would just saturate the market. That being said, even though the meat is largely worthless Gringotts can manage to buy it all for 12,000 galleons." Now we're getting somewhere. Time for the real negotiations to start. At the end of it I sold all the meat for a lump sum of 14,500 galleons and Ironfist wrote up the contract which I signed as well. "Now then. Do you have any more business with Gringotts today?"

I smiled and for some reason that made him flinch away from me. "Oh nothing much. I still have everything else from the basilisk that I got the meat from though." There was a moment of silence and then Ironfist exploded in apparent anger. I've never heard someone so small curse quite so loudly and so inventively. I almost felt like I should be taking notes.

At the end of his rant, and after the guards were dismissed, we got back down to business and I managed to get another 5,000 galleon contract out of it. Then I actually had to deliver everything I promised and they took us to a big store room that I filled with nicely separated basilisk parts. After they had checked through the goods Ironfist nearly threw the pouch containing the promised amount at me and I slipped it into my inventory.

Right before we left I stopped and turned back to him. "Can you tell me why you guys are reacting the way you are?" The surrounding goblins halted and Ironfist stared back at me for a moment before responding.

"Goblins are warriors first and bankers second. We can tell when there's a good fight to be had." He paused for a bit and looked around as though asking for permission from the others. "If you like we hold pit fights every Friday. Maybe one of our warriors could win back the gold we gave you."

"He would have to stand over my cooling corpse to do so." I replied flatly causing Ironfist and the surrounding goblins let out barking laughs.

"Yes, you're definitely invited. Now get out. I'm sick of the sight of you." The walk out of Gringotts was silent although Harry kept on shooting me glances when he thought I wasn't looking. It wasn't until we were out of earshot from the guards that I spoke up.

"So what did you get out of all that?"

"What?" I held back a sigh.

"What did you understand about the haggling and the bit at the end? What did you observe? Speak up and don't be afraid to ask questions. After all I'm your mentor now."

He began haltingly but as I calmly corrected him in some places and congratulated him in others he began to pick up steam. We got all the way through the negotiations before he stalled out for a bit on the topic of the fight pits. "Everyone seems to think you're dangerous but to me you," he glanced around and lowered his voice, "just look like a kid. Why is that?" I was silent for a bit as we moved closer to the bookstore.

"I'll show you when we get back." I left that semi ominous statement hang in the air as we walked into Flourish and Botts. The tinkering of the bell sounded as the door closed behind us and I made my way over to the counter. "Hello there I need one, no, make that two copies of every spellbook and one copy of ever book on the arcane you have. Skip history, fiction and story books."

The man behind the counter gapped at me for a moment before a disbelieving look appeared in his eyes. "Right then. Is this a joke?" I simply took my coin pouch out of my inventory and upended it over the counter. As the galleons rained down I raised an eyebrow at the now flustered clerk.

"No. Make it fast or I'll go somewhere else. Oh, and make sure to sort them by subject please."

"For such a large order you'll need something to carry it in. Can I interest you in a library trunk for an extra 20 galleons?" The man still sounded flustered but the salesman was showing through.

"Sure, just make it quick." He nodded quickly and reached down to pull out a matchbox sized trunk which expanded as he tapped his wand to it. Next he tapped what appeared to be some sort of rune cluster and books began to fly off the shelves and disappear into the trunk. The action garnered some attention from other patrons but other than a little whispering we were ignored.

It took another ten minutes for the flow of books to stop and once it did the clerk rang up everything. I've never seen the face of someone when you combine their birthday and Christmas together with a pair of naked promiscuous twins as a present but I believe that would be adequate to describe the man's face as he saw the total. Must be the store owner or something. "The total is 3,724 galleons." I just tipped my coin pouch over until he stopped me. There was some sort of counting spell cast on the counter that displayed the number of coins so I knew I wasn't being cheated. "Thank you for your patronage. Have a wonderful day." The man said cheerfully as he shrunk the trunk for me.

As we left the store Harry made an offhand comment to me. "You know, I know someone who would probably die of jealousy if they saw what just happened."

"Oh?" I questioned as I moved towards a shop I saw earlier.

"Yeah, she's a total bookworm. Reads everything she can get her hands on." There was a hint of melancholy in his voice as he spoke and I assume that she was one of his ex-friends. We entered the shop I wanted to go to and his voice took a curious quality. "Why are we here?"

"What? Do you want to continue using the sleeping bag?" His blush was answer enough and I turned to the clerk. "Hello, I was wondering if you had a catalogue for tents that I could browse."

"Yes, sir." She handed me a small book. "Please, take your time deciding." I simply started flipping through the book that was filled with pictures and descriptions of their various tents. I found what I was looking for when I saw one with two bedrooms, a storage area, a kitchen, a main area and a hot tub/shower combo.

"Two of these. Fully furnished please." I turned the book around and pointed at the picture. She nodded and two small bundles of cloth floated out from the back of the shop. She also bent down and placed a book on the counter.

"That'll be 500 galleons and each purchase each comes with an instruction manual. It also doubles as a safety guide and by buying these tents you assume all responsibility of making sure the dimensional expansions don't give out and crush you like a bug." I raised an eyebrow as she cheerfully talked about our possible demise.

"I assume that doesn't happen often does it?" Harry asked with a bit of horror in his voice.

"Oh no. The last time it happened was 50 years ago but I'm required by law to tell you this before you buy it." Her tales of a grisly death didn't phase me and I counted out the required money before throwing everything into my inventory. "Thank you and have a nice day."

The bell jingled as we left and we didn't talk much until we came to the entrance of another alley. Just as I was about to enter it Harry caught my arm and pulled me back. "What are you doing? That's Knockturn Alley. It's a haven for Dark things."

"So?" I wasn't seeing any problem with strolling down it. If it was actually 'Dark' as Harry said then maybe it would have more interesting types of magic than what I got at the last book store.

"So," his eyes narrowed at me. "It's dangerous."

"Not really. See look, five people just came out of it. If it was actually dangerous then they wouldn't be strolling along like nothing was going on. Besides I thought you would be someone who would understand that some things are exaggerated what with your language skills."

He looked displeased at that then thoughtful before he finally conceded the point and we went into Knockturn. I also wanted to get rid of the three people who began following us after the bookstore and if they disappeared in a disreputable area then who are we to blame? As I thought the actual alley wasn't exactly dangerous although I did see quite a few hags, some people who smelled of dog which were probably werewolves and some shady looking people but that was it. We wandered until I saw a bookstore called Hecate's Books that seemed interesting.

As soon as we entered my eyes focused on the too pale red haired woman standing behind the counter. She felt both dead and alive to me and when she smiled her canines were just a tad too long. A vampire then. I smiled right back at her and ignored her hungry look for now. "Well hello there miss. My friend and I were wandering on by and I couldn't help but notice your lovely little bookstore. You wouldn't happen to have any books that would be impossible to find in Diagon Alley would you?"

Her eyes never left mine as she retained her hungry look. "Perhaps. I might even be willing to part with them. For a price of course."

"Of course. Now what would that price entail?"

"Blood." She said simply. "I have no need for money after all these years but I can smell the power wafting off of you. Your blood would be divine." Really have to figure out how to hide that. Everyone and their mother is commenting about it.

I pretended to consider even though I had no intention of giving her one drop of my blood. "I quite like where my blood is right now but I'm willing to make a compromise." I held up a vial of basilisk blood. For some reason the goblins hadn't wanted it at all. Her eyes darted to the vial and then back to me before she licked her lips.

"The blood holds power. Whose is it?"

"Not whose, what's, this comes from a thousand year old basilisk." She licked her lips again and I smiled. Time for some negotiation. Half an hour later we walked out of the store with quite a few books on the Dark Arts, Rituals, Mind Magic and even one book on Blood Magic for the low price of half the basilisks blood. Unfortunately the last one was more of a history of blood magic than actual spells but it was still something I could read and potentially extrapolate from there. In addition my clone had picked up our followers and I would get an update later after it finished with them.

Other than that nothing else caught my eye and we made our way back to Diagon Alley. As soon as we arrived I turned and smiled at Harry. "See, nothing too it."

"I guess." He replied noncommittally although he looked a bit uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." I looked at him with a quirked eyebrow until he turned away.

"Well, when you want to talk about it I'm all ears. While we're here do you want or need anything?" He shook his head and with a shrug I set out for the floo so we could get back to Hogsmeade. Harry had the same problem with the floo as last time but once more my henge held up and once we entered the Shrieking Shack I was finally able to drop it. I also changed my henge from Minato to an older version of myself.

We were about halfway through the tunnel when I grasped Harry's shoulder, keeping him from stepping over some sort of magic. This definitely hadn't been here when we went out and the fact that it was here now was worrying. "What is it?" Harry asked.

"Some sort of magic ahead. I'm trying to get a feel for it now." It didn't feel offensive or defensive but more of a surveillance type than anything else. I got close enough that my nose was almost brushing the magic line and then pulled back. Definitely surveillance but nothing to keep people out only to let whomever cast this know someone is coming. "Is there a spell you know that lets you know when people walk through it?"

"Err, that sounds like runes and warding. I never took those classes." I concealed my exasperated eye roll. Why would you not take a class like that? Regardless the question is to proceed or not?

Going into my ID was out of the question right now until I confirmed or denied whether or not the Nibi was reforming and I wouldn't show off that kind of skill to Harry. We could just go back to the Shack and not return until Harry needed to or now that I had my spell books I could just leave. There was nothing stopping me from doing so except my word that I would mentor him. Well that and the fact that if anything Harry was under exaggerating how famous he was. I had seen the books about him and the combination of famous, wealthy and proper motive for revenge was a real kicker. Of course I could dispose of both Dobby and Harry eliminating that problem but it would just create new ones.

My face was blank as I turned to face Harry. "Alright let's get this over with. Your Headmaster will probably be waiting up at the castle if we cross over the line. Just remember, you are completely entitled to a mentor no matter what he says and we met at the Quidditch World Cup. Or we could just avoid him and sneak our way back to the chamber. Your choice."

His face scrunched up in thought before he let out a sigh. "Professor Dumbledore can see through my invisibility cloak somehow so I don't think we could sneak past him. I guess we'll talk to him." I nodded and started mentally preparing. Apparently the people here consider Dumbledore the best thing since sliced bread and I guess I get to find out if that's true or not.

We walked through the barrier and I repressed a shiver as a portion of the magic latched onto me. I destroyed it and then did the same to Harry without him noticing. While I was uncomfortable with the idea of walking through alarm wards I sure as hell wasn't going to allow them to track me. Besides it would probably increase my credibility as a mentor to Harry by being able to identify and destroy the trackers.

The walk up to the front hallway didn't take too long and sure enough an old man with a flowing silvery beard and garish robes, whom I assumed to be Dumbledore, stood next to a greasy haired man with a hooked nose and a sneer on his face as they waited for us to arrive. As we got closer the older man spoke and I noted the unnatural twinkle in his eyes. "Harry, my boy, while I do enjoy the exuberance of youth it has come to my attention that you were outside the castle bounds. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" He spoke in such a calm grandfatherly voice that it actually set my hackles on edge. He fit the stereotypical grandfatherly figure well, almost too well for my tastes.

Interestingly enough Harry, who hadn't backed down from anything today, became almost subservient as soon as Dumbledore spoke. It was a type of ingrained behavior that I'd seen in servants and a few slaves that I've rescued before. "I left to get a mentor, sir."

"A mentor? Whatever would you need a mentor for when you have the teachers of Hogwarts?" As he spoke his eyes met mine and some type of spell shot from his eyes to hit the eyes of my henge. I caught the brief wince of pain before he smothered it.

"For the Triwizard tournament, sir. The rules stated that a mentor couldn't be teachers and since everyone else is at least 17 I needed all the help I could get."

"A likely story Potter," the dark haired man spat out and as he did the same tendril of magic that Dumbledore used on my henge shot out of his eyes. I had a good idea what it was now and I wouldn't let that happen. My arm shot out faster than they could see to intercept the magic before it could hit Harry's eyes and then withdrew as it dissipated against my henge. The man winched but continued on like nothing had happened. "No doubt this is just a new way to seek attention or the brat has finally realized his actions have consequences and hired the first miscreant he could find to help him." Harry's gaze hardened but he didn't say anything back.

"Now, now Severus I'm sure that this is all just a big misunderstanding." Another tendril of magic leapt from his eyes to Harry's and I blocked it again. Apparently they had no concept of privacy, not that I'm one to really talk. "I do believe we've never met before Mr.-"

"Shiro." He waited for me to say a second name but when none was forthcoming he continued onwards.

"Mr. Shiro. I do believe that there has been some kind of mistake. You see young Harry is not in need of a mentor at this moment." I crossed my arms over my chest as I regarded him. Another tendril of magic came from Severus' eyes and met my henge. Who knew such a simple technique could cause so much trouble for mind readers.

"And I do believe that it is not up to you to decide that. Mr. Potter came to me asking for a mentor for the duration of the Triwizard tournament. After hearing him out I have agreed to it and that's that."

"Now see hear you-" I cut Severus off.

"I really don't know why you're even trying to fight this. According to the rules of the tournament he's allowed to have a mentor." I raised an eyebrow as I looked between them. "Now correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Goblet in charge of enforcing the rules?" I let that sink in for a moment before I continued. "Now by that logic as one of the organizers and headmaster of Hogwarts you are also bound by those rules so if you try to outright break them…" I trailed off and then shrugged. "Well I'm just warning you because I don't want an ancient magical artefact to harm you."

There was silence for a moment as Albus' attack dog looked to his master for orders. The silence stretched out as his blue twinkling eyes met mine and then he genially nodded. Point for me. "Of course, of course. You'll have to forgive me. In my old age memories fade and I simply wanted to ensure young Harry's safety. Rather unfortunately he was made famous due to a tragic event and that sort of fame brings all sorts of attention both good and bad."

Harry tensed at the mention of his fame although his eyes never stopped going back and forth between us as we had our verbal sparring. "Of course. I can assure you that my intentions are entirely pure. I simply want Mr. Potter to survive the upcoming tournament otherwise I would not be here."

He made a humming noise as he regarded me. "I want to believe you my dear fellow but the safety of my students comes first. How can I be sure that your intentions are pure?"

"Nothing is ever completely sure except the fact that we will all die one day. That is the one constant of life and the rest is a haze of uncertainty which makes life so interesting. Besides, Mr. Potter is the only one I need approval from."

"Be that as it may I will have to bar access to the castle for the safety of the students." Point for him although Harry twitched at that statement. I'll have to get the full story for that later.

"Then I will meet my student outside the castle grounds." I said calmly. I wouldn't let Dumbledore brush me off as a technical mentor and… Why am I fighting so hard for this? Before I could finish the thought Dumbledore had continued on as I heard a ding.

"I'm afraid young Harry is already in quite a bit of trouble for sneaking off campus grounds. It shall be quite hard for him to see you for the moment."

"Actually according to the rules of the tournament he is in no trouble at all. He has every right to take whatever actions he deems necessary to compete to his utmost ability in the tournament as long as they are not illegal. Furthermore all distractions such as detentions are voided unless the champion agrees to attend them."

"You can't be serious-" Severus began before he was motioned to stand down by Dumbledore. A major point to me if he's calling off the dog.

"You seem to have quite a grasp for the rules of the tournament." An open ended statement meant to draw out information if I've ever heard one.

"I get by." I said with a shrug and then went silent. He seemed perfectly willing to let me continue but I had no intention of doing so. I could wait here forever while they did not have the same luxury. At the five minute mark Harry started to squirm a bit but a glance saw him settling back down. It also gave me a chance to study the pop up that occurred.

Ding!

Quest Received:

A Rising Champion

As a mentor to Harry Potter ensure that he is crowned the Triwizard champion. Bonus rewards are available if you meet certain conditions.

Rewards: 35,000xp, ?

This seems like too big a coincidence to ignore. I didn't really question when I landed right next to someone who was perfectly placed to use each other for mutual benefit because, hey, in an infinite universe in an infinite number of realities it's bound to happen. The odds were both infinitely approaching zero and infinitely approaching 100 at the same time for each jump. I just thought I got lucky but now this pops up right as I was seriously considering to just technically fulfill my promise a quest pops up. No, that stinks of manipulation just like how my memories have been removed twice now. For now I would go with it as I had no idea what would happen if I tried to buck the harness too soon.

We had drawn a small crowd during out standoff and Dumbledore was the one to break it. "Perhaps we can reach an agreement."

"I don't know what agreement we're trying to reach here. All I see is you trying to separate me from my student." The statement hit home amongst the crowd and soon enough whispers started up. Dumbledore's eyes flashed briefly before they resumed their twinkling.

"I feel like a more private setting would be appropriate to continue this discussion Mr. Shiro."

"If you wanted this to be private you shouldn't have ambushed us at the front door." I spoke loudly enough that my voice carried over the whispers. A glare from Severus sent them scurrying away though. What a nice little attack dog. He's got everyone trained to fear him. With a sigh I continued speaking. "Listen, I get that you want to keep your students safe but you really need to let up from trying to stop me from seeing Mr. Potter. I don't think the Goblet will stand for much more of this."

As I finished I started directing a small amount of killing intent at him and I made sure to keep a concerned expression on my face as I did so. It would start out as a minor buzz in the back of his head. The subconscious portion of the brain telling him that something is very, very wrong and he needs to do something about it right now. When he didn't respond I slowly wracked it up until I saw his eyes start to dart and a bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. "Are you alright Professor?" Bless you Harry you have wonderful timing.

"I-" he dabbed at his sweat with a small handkerchief that he conjured and I had to make sure I didn't flinch at the feel of his wand. Death pervaded the wand but whereas Harry's cloak made it seem like Death was draping over you the wand felt like you were staring down a barrel of a gun right before someone pulled the trigger. Regardless of this new trinket of Death I had to focus on the conversation for now as even Severus was looking at Dumbledore with something akin to worry. "-I do believe that it will be fine for Mr. Shiro to mentor young Harry." As soon as he said that I cut the killer intent and he visibly sagged.

"That," he caught his breath, "was an extremely uncomfortable experience. I knew we shouldn't have restarted this tournament but Cornelius insisted."

"Yes, well, at the very least you shouldn't have used an ancient artefact. Who knows how its magic has twisted over the years. Take this castle for example," I reached out and brushed my hand against the stone. I damn near jumped when the spiritual energy actually purred at me. "It seems almost alive after all these years." A bit too alive for my liking.

"Yes," he said chuckling. "It certainly seems that way at times. May we retire to a more private venue to discuss accommodation for you during your stay at Hogwarts?"

For now at least the posturing is over. My little tactic at the end seemed to knock the wind out of his sails and I think I came out a head. Time would tell I suppose. I smiled at him. "Of course, Headmaster."

Age: 10 years - 4 months

Title: Root Shinobi, Son of a Kage

LVL: 31 - 3% to next LVL

HP: 1,750/1,750

Chakra: 97,287/97,287

Elemental Affinity: Water, Earth

Bloodline: Crystal Release

STR: 180(234)

VIT: 175

END: 167

DEX: 189(208)

INT: 200(214)

WIS: 150(160)

LCK: 50

Points: 18

Money: 921,402 ryo/ 15,276 galleons

Skills learned: I'm not going to list individual spells here unless it's something like Fiendfyre.

Charms Mastery(Passive) LVL 1 – 3%

The unique subset of spells classified as charms. As your mastery rises the cost and control over charms improves.

Decreases cost by 0.1%

Increases control by 1%