AC_D6: Hidden in Shadow (Part 2)

Before we get into today's post, I want to wish you all a 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Also, this isn't the last of this year's advent posts.

Now onto this post.

This AU had the most requests for an update. And considering I only had a tiny snippet of dialogue for what came after the first chapter, it took a long, long while to make a coherent chapter for this (most of Advent actually). But I got it done, lack of descriptions and all. 

Hope it lives up to the hype.

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Still feeling the effects of that unnatural wail, from whatever Harii’s light guardian had destroyed before it disappeared, Shikaku took longer than he would have liked to process the teen’s words. “A real curse? What is that supposed to mean?”

Eyes still searching for something among the trees, examining every visible shadow, Harii glanced at him for an instant before he said, “You know.”

Shikaku swallowed an unkind retort. But he turned to Shikamaru, “Take the fawn and this deer to the Inuzaka. Ask them for a full check-up and thorough inspection.”

Shikamaru’s pale face twisted. He wanted to argue. A full inspection would keep Shikamaru out of the Nara compound for at least half a day. Shikamaru knew that. And he didn’t like it. If Shikaku was in his position, he wouldn’t like being sent away on any pretence, no matter how logical, either.

Shikaku shot him a stern look.

This wasn’t up for a debate.

Shikamaru had to be off the property until Shikaku had a better idea of what was going on. Of what they had uncovered.

“Hyūga Neji,” Shikamaru said, the fight in his eyes dimming with a weary resignation.

Shikaku appreciated Shikamaru’s logic. An extra pair of eyes, especially Hyūga eyes would be useful in the situation. And Neji, though he was the nephew of the Hyūga clan head, could visit without them having to talk to the Hyūga main branch.

Naruto, his blue eyes wide, looked between his the two of them and his cousin- who was still scanning their surroundings with his hands raised, ready to call his ethereal guardian at a moment’s notice.

AC_D5: Prompt Fill: Curse-Maker, Curse-Breaker

For the 5th post of my 2018's Advent Calendar, it's a prompt fill for this prompt sent in by

SilentReader: How about Curse-Breaker Harry, as the job he chose. It could be interesting. He could also threaten people with curses, and just like put a jelly-legs curse, tap-dancing hex etc. Or something that makes you clumsy which would be really bad for a ninja.

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The ninja looked up from his papers and then with a wary look passed his papers on to another ninja.

Harry grew even more worried when this same reaction repeated a few more times, with each ninja looking at Harry with strange cautious looks.

The fifth ninja looked at the papers at least five times before he spoke to Harry. But even he had a cautious look. “On this paper, you’ve listed your job as a,” he hesitated.

“A curse breaker,“ Harry finished the sentence. He didn’t know what had pushed him to blurt that title out as his job when getting his paperwork but he had to deal with it now.

“You have religious training?” the ninja asked in a hushed voice.

“Not really,” Harry said, surprised that that portion of his paperwork worried the ninja.

“What exactly do you do?” the ninja asked.

Harry shrugged. “Exactly what it says, I break curses.”

The ninja’s lips pursed and his eyes twitched at the word curse. “What kind?”

Harry would have liked to use Bill’s actual job description as the basis of what he did, but that would be a complicated facade to maintain even in the short term. “Curses on people.”

“How do you know if a person has one?”

“I don’t,” Harry said. “If people think they‘re cursed, then I’ll work with that.”

“And how do you break them?” the ninja asked.

Harry hesitated. But the ninja’s reactions inspired a crazy idea. “I curse them.”

The ninja stared at him with wide eyes. “What?”

AC_D4: The Red Flame (Part 2)

For Day 4 of my 2018's Advent Calendar, it's the secong chapter of my newest Uchiha-centric AU.

Here's Part 1, in case you missed it.
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Walking away from the obsidian sculpture, showed Harry that he was in a different place if not time. Instead of the pond that had surrounded the obsidian sculpture's small patch of land, there was only solid ground with coarse grass.

Harry was just thankful that he didn't have to depend on Madara to jump over the water to reach the other side.

In the dark, Madara led the way through a thick cluster of trees with sure steps.

And unlike Harry, Madara didn't falter when a large shadow dropped down from the tree and straightened to the looming figure of an armoured man.

“Madara-sama?” the man said, red eyes visible in the darkness and fixed on Harry.

With a commanding edge in his voice that brooked no arguments, Madara said, “You need to pay more attention to the newcomers from our distant properties. It won't look good if a guard like you can't recognize your own clan members.”

The man scanned Harry once with red eyes, but turned to Madara and bowed. “My apologies for the disturbance, Madara-sama.”

Madara walked away.

Harry gaped at the exchange, even as the guard disappeared back into the trees without a sound. Left without any other option, Harry followed Madara into the clan property.

AC_D3: Behind the Scenes (Part 5)

For Day 3 of 2018's Advent Calendar, it's another old AU getting an update. (For Book14Reader and CosmosQueen- hope you guys enjoy this update.)

In case you've never read it, in this AU, Harry becomes a movie star and starts collecting a very worrying set of fans- not that Harry knows that yet. 

Previous Parts of this AU
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

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“Where are you going?” Kisame asked.

Itachi straightened his coat.

“Are you going to inspire that old director to make a sequel?” Kisame asked with a long-suffering internal sigh.

Itachi didn’t react, but that was enough of an answer to Kisame.

“Your sharingan probably doesn't work on him properly. He’ll just make a new film instead of a sequel,” Kisame didn’t have to say ‘like last time’ out loud. Itachi was still sour that the first film, his favourite, hadn’t gotten the sequel he’d planned for.

“They teased a sequel, this time. They should be filming it,” Itachi said.

“You don’t know how they do things in the film industry. Maybe it takes a while to start a sequel.”

“It’s been three months,” Itachi said.

“Since the movie came out,” Kisame retorted.

Itachi’s eyes gleamed red.

Kisame didn’t look away. “You know I’m right.”

Itachi stared at him for a moment longer. Then with a deliberate look of dismissal, he turned and walked away.

“What do I tell Leader if he assigns us a mission?”

Itachi disappeared from sight.

AC_D2: Sound's Strange (Part 8)

For Day 2 of 2018's Advent Calendar, it's time for a little more of our favourite Otokage's illogical adventures.

Previous Parts of this AU
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6 
Part 7

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“We should go check what that was, right?” Harry said, when no other explosions followed the first.

“There’s no we,” Suigetsu retorted. “You ain’t going anywhere near the explosions.”

“You’re not supposed to head into danger!” Karin screeched at Harry at the same time.

Not one to be silent, Hideo also said, “Nidaime-sama, it would be much safer to wait for someone to bring us proper intel of what’s going on.”

All three of them shared unhappy looks, as though surprised they were all thinking the same thing.

Harry didn’t like their new found common synergy. “It’s probably something to do with Sasuke.”

“Sasuke is still unconscious in the west, Nidaime-sama,” Hideo reminded him.

“You don’t have to be conscious to cause trouble,” Harry said.

“Nidaime-sama,” a grey-masked man knelt in front of Harry. “There are missing-nin in the west.”

“Missing-nin?” Harry asked in confusion.

“They’re criminals who have defected from villages and live a life of crime,” Hideo explained helpfully.

“Missing-nin from here?” Harry asked.

“No, Nidaime-sama,” the masked man replied. “It’s Akatsuki.”

AC_D1: Prompt Fill: The Uzumaki Heir

Happy 1^st of December and welcome to the start of 2018's Advent Calendar. 

Today's post is a prompt fill, but it's not an advent prompt fill. This anonymous prompt came in when I wasn't updating the blog, but the potential for crack with this had to be explored.

"I was worried about lack of drabbles/updates when I saw you updated on fanfic. And now with the latest chapter read 6 times over, and now I wonder, what if that excuse was to force Harry to pick another clan heir. And then I thought, what if he just make hedwig the clan heir. I would love to see everyone's reaction to such thing. Especially if Hedwig sits in on meetings."

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“You can't make an owl your clan heir.” Koharu said, the wrinkles around her eyes deepening as she squinted at Harry.

Thinking about a transfiguration formula that he could never understand so that he could have a genuinely confused expression on his face. “Why not?”

“Because she's an owl?” Seated beside Koharu,

“And?” Harry said.

“How can an owl be a clan heir?” Koharu asked, the hair pin in her bun glinted as she punctuated her question with a shake of her head.

Harry shrugged. “Can heads test their heirs constantly to see if they're a good choice.”

“And?”

“And I was being lax. Just because there's no one else in the clan, doesn't mean that I shouldn't test Naruto.” Harry said. “People need reassurance that the clan heir can take on the clan head's position in the future, right?” When no one could argued against his logic, Harry continued, “So I decided to test Naruto. But the only way to make things fair was to have someone to compete against him.”

“And you chose your owl as his competition?” Homura asked.

“It's not like I could test someone from outside the clan. Then I'd have had to adopt them into the clan or something, and the paperwork for that was intimidating. So I chose the simpler solution.”

Koharu frowned. “Your owl was the simpler solution?”

“She was the simplest solution,” Harry corrected himself.

The three elders were silent for a long moment but Harry couldn't tell whether it was disbelief or outrage that kept them so still and silent. Maybe it was humour, something that they didn't know how to deal with.

“What tests did you use?” Danzo finally asked.

2018 Advent Calendar Announcement!

It's time for Advent Calendar shenanigans again.

For new readers, my advent posts are a countdown to Christmas. I aim to get somewhere between 8-24 posts on the blog before the 25^th. The posts range from omakes/deleted scenes for AtO or my other stories to fills of prompts that you send in.

To send a prompt you can either:

• leave a comment down below
• use this blog's "Ask Me" page
• use my Tumblr Ask

AU's that will definitely get at least 1 update this advent

• Sound's Strange
• The Red Flame

Most other AU's are a maybe, except for 'A Change in Age' -that one is dead, I've definitely lost interest in it.

Previous Advent Calendars, if you're interested

AC2014

AC2015

AC2016

AC2017

See you on December 1^st, 

Polar 

The Red Flame (Part 1)

What's this?

A post after 7 months of inactivity on this blog?

Yeah, I'm easily distracted, but at least I'm back with a new AU which will be centered around the Uchiha.

Let me know what you think.

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In the dark night, a flame flickered inside the obsidian monument. 

A flame as red as blood.

It wasn't the reflection of the lantern that Harry had previously assumed. The red hue reassured Harry that there was something inside of the obsidian itself.

Because the red flame was moving, even when Sakura and the lantern in her hand were moving away from the obsidian sculpture.

The flickering red flame was an impossibility.

And a curiosity.

Harry brushed his fingers against the obsidian.

Instead of the cool stone surface he had expected, a hungry warmth raced up his fingers and engulfed his entire body.

Just as quickly as it came, the sensation vanished, leaving him confused as he snatched his hand away from the obsidian monument. Harry shook his hand to get rid of any lingering sensation and frowned at the monument.

There was no red flame in the obsidian.

“Who are you?” An unknown voice, low and filled with a threatening menace, asked from behind Harry.

Let it (not) Snow

A short sequel to this prompt from December, inspired by the current weather.

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"It's April," Tsunade stated, her hazel eyes narrowed with impatience and irritation.

Unlike the persistent chill in the office, being the sole focus of the Hokage's dangerous mood made Harry shiver. Harry nodded even though he didn't want to and said, "It is."

"A spring month when the weather gets comfortable," Tsunade said. “Not too warm or cold or wet. A good month to be outdoors. Don't you agree?”

Harry nodded cautiously. "Yes?"

Tsunade leaned forward, a dangerous gleam in her eyes. "Then, why are we having snow in April?"

"The weather can be unpredictable..."

Tsunade scoffed. "Shikaku told me about your tree decorating in December!"

"That was a joke to mess with him," Harry protested.

"Konoha has never had snow like this before," Tsunade said, the accusation clear in her voice.

"Do you really think that I've manipulated the weather?" Harry asked with disbelief.

"I don't know. But I want it fixed," Tsunade warned him as she sipped on her steaming cup of tea.

Prompt Fill: Hidden In Shadow

It's almost the end of March but it doesn't feel like it. Mostly because of the weather. It's supposed to be spring but it's cold... which is just ridiculous. Go away, cold.

Anyway, this is another leftover prompt from Advent. From ronri: Can I offer a prompt too? Your Nara rock and I'd like something to do with Harry and Shikamaru having to get married ;) Or else something to do with Harry's patronus marking him as some sort of god/saint or something to the Nara and hijinks taking off from there. Or just more Harry interacting with the Nara in general! Especially from Shikaku's point of view. I really enjoyed The Shikaku POV extra you already posted.

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“One of the fawn has gone missing.”

Shikaku frowned as he looked up from the shuddering deer he'd been examining. “Missing?”

The dim light of their forest lanterns highlighted Shikamaru's dark circles. “Naruto came by.”

“He does have a soft spot for animals,” Shikaku said with an understanding sigh.

“And he can sneak around better than most people in the village,” Shikamaru reminded him.

Shikaku looked down at the prone deer he'd been caring for since the previous night. “Better get the fawn back before he sees it succumb to this... sleep.”

A sliver of fear and unhappiness slid over Shikamaru's face before it smoothed out into a precarious apathy. He nodded and disappeared from sight.

Alone with his thoughts once more, Shikaku brushed the unconscious but trembling deer's coat, hating the herd's silent affliction now more than when he had last encountered it as a teenager. Even though it had been years since the last outbreak, they still hadn't found the cause or a cure to help the herd.

Even working with the Inuzuka vets hadn't yielded any results.

All they knew for certain was that the deer who had separated from the herd and fell into this disturbed sleep would die. At last count, over a third of the herd had been afflicted and scattered across the Nara property.

“Dad!” Shikamaru yelled, the strange emotion in his voice dragging Shikaku back into reality. Shikamaru led Naruto and Harii towards him with urgent steps. “Dad, the fawn!”

Shikaku stood, expecting the worse. Moving the fawn out of the Nara property must have hastened it's painful death.

Flitting alongside the boys, a healthy fawn warbled out a greeting without any trace of the lethargic illness that should have killed it.

“What?” Shikaku said. He glanced at his son, wordlessly asking if the fawn had actually been a victim of the sleeping sickness.

Shikamaru nodded, equally confused. “When I got there, she was already healed.”

While Naruto couldn't hide his delight at the words, his cousin exuded uneasiness.

Prompt Fill: Uzumaki Dangers

Happy New Year! I hope you've had a good, or at least an okay/ not so terrible, 2018 so far.

So this prompt came in during December/Advent Event: “Hi! Do you still take suggestions for the calendar? If so I would love to see Harry coming to Konoha much earlier, when Naruto had really been rather annoying, Sakura was an awful human being and Sasuke was... There. ;) I simply think the big-brother role Harry has would be even more pronounced and that could lead to all sorts of differences.”

With all the holiday shenanigans, I had to put a break on filling prompts.

I'm glad I did.

Anon, behold all of the differences of your prompt fill.

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Three weeks of rather benign imprisonment had taught Harry a few things.

One, the Uzumaki had a lot of valued secrets that people wanted.

Two, not knowing any of those secrets made Harry's life both easy and hard. Easy, because he couldn't give away any secrets under any circumstance. Hard, because after three weeks of magically maintained silence, his captors probably categorized him as a formidable secret keeper.

Three, his captors wanted him to like them. Or at least, not hate them completely. Instead of a prison cell, he was in a house. A secluded house in the middle of the forest, but still a house. And even with his 'stubborn' silence, they never resorted to violence. But Harry wasn't sure how long that patience would last.

The severe bands of black ink on Harry's hands itched all the way down to his bones. Ignoring the itch meant having to deal with the angry buzz of his still holstered wand instead. Both options made his current captivity even more annoying to deal with.

The smart thing to do was leave with the help of his magic. They hadn't been able to take away his wand holster and they couldn't even sense when he did magic to make his imprisonment easier.

But they had made a fleeting mention of another Uzumaki during one of their first 'conversations'. A calming spell had helped him not react back then, but the thought had stayed in his mind. What better way to get him to talk, than to have him talk to another Uzumaki? At least, Harry hoped that's what they thought. That's why he stayed.

That's why he willingly followed his masked guard out of his plain bedroom and down the wooden corridors to the meeting room where their 'conversations' occurred.

Though the Homenum Revelio spell warned Harry of new visitors, his first glimpse of one specific visitor irritated him.

A child. A blond child.