"Oh, are you new here child?" asked Charity Burbage.
"Saku... You're not Sakura," said Naruto, blinking. "Sorry." Eye color was wrong (blue instead of green), this girl was at least five years older than Sakura, and Sakura had shorter hair than this girl - though Sakura had longer hair before the Chunin Exams.
"Aye lady, I'm a new hire," said the pink-haired girl in a thick accent.
"What IS it with that hair color?" asked Charity.
"Ah, well, I'm naturally a redhead but I was trying a charm earlier to see if the whole bit about blondes being more popular was accurate." The pinkette shrugged. "Miscast apparently. Should wear off in a few hours, or so I'm told."
"I would hope so," said Charity, shaking her head briefly. "My sympathies. I think there are few young women who haven't experimented with cosmetic transfigurations but my first thought was someone had pranked you."
Naruto thought of all the possibilities for pranks which would result in a change of hair color and was immediately interested. These new jutsu could be used for such? Very interesting.
"Yes, well, my name is Hannah. Can I help you find anything?"
"Young Uzumaki here needs a full set of robes for his enrollment at Hogwarts." Charity indicated Naruto with a gesture.
"Outgrown your old set?" asked Hannah. "Uzumaki, eh? Sounds Japanese. We've got a set of them should fit right over here."
"I want to get one set with the quick cleaning and resist damage charms," said Charity. "Also a set of clothes for around town and doing exercise as I understand his private tutor emphasizes physical fitness."
"Private tutor?" asked Hannah, a practiced eye going over Naruto and estimating money.
"His teacher is currently enrolled at Hogwarts and will be reimbursing me later, so I'll need a line-by-line receipt," said Charity.
"Right-e-oh," said Hannah cheerfully. "We got this one as trade-in. It's got the charms for quick-cleaning, water-shedding, and durability enhancement on it. Understand the previous owner shot up like a weed over the summer and was shy on funds. It'll save you a bit and a bob or two because it IS used and there's a burn on this edge here but it hardly shows."
"That will do nicely," said Charity.
"If it hadn't had that durability charm, prolly would'a burned the robes and the wearer," noted Hannah. "Anyway. Will he be playing quidditch?"
"I doubt it, but he will be learning to fly a broom," said Charity. "Madam Hooch has taken an interest in him."
THAT penetrated the girl's calculations visibly. Madam Hooch had a reputation for pinching every last coin until the metal itself cried out for mercy. She was known for bartering down goblins in the market - not an easy feat.
"Right-e-oh," said Hannah. "So... something a little less orange than what the young laird is wearing?"
"Your accent," said Charity as she placed the off-again on-again accent. "Beauxbatons?"
"Yes'm," said Hannah, taking her tape measure to Naruto. "Though that'd be a few years ago, been out Liverpool way since then. Is that a problem?"
"No, not at all," said Charity. "Just unusual."
"If you'd stand still, young laird," instructed Hannah to a fidgeting Naruto, "I need to finish measuring your inseam."
WHAP!
"YAGH!"
Hannah blinked at the boy clinging to the ceiling. "That's odd."
Charity shrugged. "Different culture I suspect. Interesting spell though."
Producing a kage bunshin when in a fitting room had been easy, and he'd simply left it behind when he'd exited.
The clone waited until the original and the professor had left, then went past the startled Hannah.
There was a shop that needed investigating, and a return visit when he had some of the local money would definitely be on the schedule.
"So, Mister Uzumaki," said Charity as they stopped at an intersection, "you said you already have a toad. Do you happen to have it in a pocket or something?"
"Not quite," said Naruto, biting his thumb then slapping that hand down. "Summoning jutsu."
"Yo!" said an orange toad. "Wassup?"
Charity felt her eyebrows about ready to join her hairline. "You don't do anything normally do you, Mister Uzumaki?"
"Uhm, no?" tried Naruto.
"Busy place," noted Gamakichi.
"A talking toad wearing a vest," said Charity. "Well, rather more useful than the usual toad."
"Well, I AM a ninja toad," noted Gamakichi. "Did you need something or is this just a social summoning?"
"Mister Uzumaki is enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," said Charity. "He is allowed a toad familiar, which I believe you qualify as though you're a bit larger than the usual. I am Charity Burbage, a professor at Hogwarts."
"Gamakichi," said Gamakichi, waving at the woman briefly. "I don't understand half of what you said, but if you're teaching the kid - good luck."
"I've already taken steps to address his learning disability," Charity informed the toad. "However, your concern for his scholastic achievements is understood and appreciated."
"Uhm, thanks I guess," said Gamakichi.
"So," said Jiraiya that evening, not looking up from a book he had opened, "what did you get?"
"Magic wand, cauldrons, magic bag, set of these black robes, change of clothes, buncha books, some magic potion, set of crystal vials," said Naruto. "School stuff."
"Ah," said Jiraiya. "Work on your henge. You're going to be masquerading as a younger kid."
"Eh? Why?" asked Naruto.
Jiraiya looked up at that. "Because the First-Year students get the basics, and the basics is what you're going to need."
"Why don't we just learn the local stuff and go back?" asked Naruto.
"Naruto? There is a right way, a wrong way, and a ninja way to do things," said Jiraiya, fairly patiently. "We are using the ninja approach. I forget the rule number but when in an unfamiliar territory - assimilate. Learn everything you can, because information is a valuable resource."
"I still don't see why this wand-waving stuff is necessary," said Naruto.
Jiraiya tried a different tack. "It's dozens of new jutsu which haven't been seen in our country, and therefore something you'd be able to pull out in a fight that your opponent wouldn't know how to counter."
"They know how to do different stuff," admitted Naruto. "I don't see how it's any better than ninjutsu."
"Who is the oldest person you've met?" asked Jiraiya.
Naruto blinked. "Uhm. Jiji, I guess. Third Hokage. He was real old."
"He died at the age of sixty-nine," Jiraiya informed his pupil. "That is VERY rare for a ninja and an indication of how badass he was when he was younger. The Third had less than a tenth of the strength he had when he was Kakashi's age."
"Okay," said Naruto.
"Albus Dumbledore, the old guy in charge of this school?" asked Jiraiya, waiting for a nod from Naruto to continue. "He's well over a hundred years old."
"Whoa," said Naruto. "Pretty spry for an old guy."
"There are others around who are even older," noted Jiraiya, tapping another book on the table. "Wizards and witches seem to age a bit slower than ninja and kunoichi, though part of that may be that their lives seem a bit less violent."
"So what are you reading?" asked Naruto, not wanting to continue this lecture.
"Reading up on the wands and magic, what they can do," said Jiraiya, frowning as he turned his gaze back to the book. "It doesn't make a lot of sense. We ninja use handseals and the name of the technique to help us focus the chakra into a specific set of patterns. With this - it's almost like the magic recognizes the word and the wand gesture is to indicate a direction and the magic then handles the rest. Or that the jutsu is drawing energy from somewhere else. Not nature-energy or sage mode. Something else. They don't go much into the underlying mechanics at least in any of the books I've skimmed through so far, so I may be wrong. Or not. Still working on it."
"Well, apparently I gotta early lesson on broom-flying tomorrow," said Naruto with a shrug. "Then I got to go into this 'London' place. Some rule about students having to arrive by some 'express' thing."
"Yeah, I heard that, passed by Ottaline Gambol, and there's complaints about how some people are trying to get that rule dropped entirely," said Jiraiya, returning most of his attention to the book. There was a LOT of history here, especially compared to what he was used to. "Before you go get some sleep though, write out a mission report. Tomorrow I'm sending a toad to Tsunade to tell her what's going on."
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(Posted Wed, 10 Jul 2013 00:01)
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