Favorites. Prequel

The people had fun, sang songs, danced, and Harry and I looked at all this with all our eyes. There have been holidays in Konoha too, but it's all on a big scale, and it's just a rehearsal, not the festival itself. But there really weren't as many people as in London, and mostly only in the center at the so-called "venues". And we also met what seemed to be military men, dressed up in some kind of bright uniforms, who walked in formation and played completely strange melodies on shiny musical instruments, it was unusual. It was funny to me because I imagined such "warriors" in the Konoha forest with their "music".

Emma and Jess and I walked through the streets of Edinburgh, and the further away from the center, the calmer and more peaceful it became.

Harry thought to call Kreacher in the public bathroom and ask him to exchange his gold coins for local paper currency. The house elf didn't show up later, but I had a wad of banknotes in my pocket. It's funny, as if the old dwarf didn't trust his master to spend money, or maybe he didn't want to break my "magic", since Harry and I still wore my henge. I gave him the money, but he told himself to keep half of it just in case.

Our girls chatted incessantly, telling and showing the local sights, it was funny. We visited the stone castle and the museum, and I liked the crap that turns everything upside down. Harry cheered up and relaxed somehow, sometimes even began to laugh. Periodically, turning to Jess, he began to hug her, she didn't seem to mind. And Emma was almost hanging on to me. It's a pity that there are so many people and the city... However, it may not be customary to take girls into the bushes here. Besides, in Konoha, I would prefer a normal bed or a futon.

"Let's go to a cafe," Jess suggested, pointing to a bright red corner. Above the door, which resembled a torii, there was a gilded inscription of three words. Actually, I've already noticed that the first short word of three characters is often found, not that I decided to study the local script, but natural observation takes its toll.

"What's the name?" I asked Harry.

"The Elephant House," he read and explained, "An elephant is such a big animal."

"Don't you know who an elephant is, Nart?" Emma smiled, looking at me questioningly.

"I've never met him," I laughed.

"You guys are kidding us! R.J., are you kidding?" Jess tugged at Harry.

"Yes, we're joking, but I haven't really seen the elephant, what does it look like, this elephant of yours?" I giggled, joking. We went to the cafe, it was quite cozy there.

"That's what an elephant looks like!" Emma showed me a wooden chair in the form of a fat-nosed and lop-eared animal on four legs-pillars.

"Then I'm sitting on an elephant!" I laughed, sitting down.

We ordered, and the girls went to the bathroom. By the way, there were a lot of elephants and his images, so I understood why the cafe has such a name.

"Listen, Naruto... I mean, the Sled," Harry leaned a little closer to me. "I... I don't know, should I kiss Jess? I'm not sure and..."

"Haven't you ever been kissed?" My eyebrows went up on their own.

"I've been kissing," Harry sighed. "But when it happened, that girl burst into tears"...

"Are you such a bad kisser?" I was amazed. I have never heard of such a miracle. "Or is it a manifestation of magic?"

"Well..." he lowered his gaze. "I just liked her, and she... liked the guy who died because of me a year ago, we kind of dated her, but..."

"Nine tails in my liver," was all Naruto could mutter. "You're that... Don't worry."

"I don't think the problem was you and your kissing technique," I patted him on the shoulder. "Of course, the first experience is very important... hmm... when I was little, we accidentally kissed... one guy in front of the whole class. That was the number. We almost killed each other, and the girls beat me up", I thought about it, remembering my shame and disgrace. "Anyway, I mean, it could have been worse for you."

"Yeah..." Harry muttered. "Did they tease you afterwards?"

"It happened once and by accident," I shrugged my shoulders. "And then Sasuke became my friend. Not because of the kiss, of course, but because we were assigned to the same team. I actually like girls."

"But still... I'm a little unsure," Harry changed the subject.

Emma and Jess returned, and the noodles we ordered were brought to us, but they tasted completely different from those in my homeland. We had dinner with an appetite and sat in a cafe for a long time and chatted with the girls. From the large window there was a view of the castle we had visited earlier in the day.

A middle-aged woman was sitting at a table in the corner, scribbling something in a thick notebook, glancing at us a couple of times absently. I noticed her because the owner of the place came up to her and brought her tea, and also talked to a little red-haired girl, about three or four years old, who was hanging around her table, playing with a doll, and often looked at me. Probably because we were laughing and smiling, the girl was probably a little sad.

"It's time for us to go to camp," Emma said, looking at her watch. "You can take the hotel. There are quite a few of them nearby."

"We can meet tomorrow..." Jess offered, embarrassed. "There's a great beach here...."

"Okay," I nodded. "We'll walk you out."

It wasn't far to go, so we handed the girls over to their friends and went back.

"Well, can we really stay the night here?" Harry suggested. "There is money, but there are really a lot of motels and hotels here, near the castle."

The streets were almost empty, most likely because most of the people were closer to the center, where they were still rehearsing and playing music.

"So you're a wizard after all, Naruto? Since you can do all sorts of magical things" Harry asked me as we walked down the street, enjoying the silence.

"Well... we call it a "chakra." And according to the classification you gave me, I'm more of a combat magician. I can't brew potions, that is, poisons and poisons. And to treat, too, that's what our ninja doctors, the Irinins, are doing. What you called mental magic is our genjutsu, my friend Sasuke is well versed in it, and he has special eyes.... It can confuse your head... — I sighed. — Ninjutsu is most likely what you called "enchantment". Perhaps the only ones you didn't mention were taijutsu, kenjutsu, and fuinjutsu. I don't know, maybe it's not in your world, or maybe you don't know."

"And what is it?" Harry asked.

"Taijutsu is the art of hand-to-hand combat, the body is saturated with chakra, which gives high speed, impact power, and impenetrability in some cases. Kenjutsu is a fight with weapons, most often with a sword, katana, or tanto. But few ninjas use pure kenjutsu, which is ineffective against Shinobi. Sasuke, for example, can pass his lightning element through his sword...."

"Wow, are you also elemental magicians?" Harry stared at me.

"Well, yes, everyone has an affinity with some element...." I scratched the back of my head, remembering Kakashi's instructions. There are five main ones: lightning, water, earth, wind, fire. And some particularly gifted people, which I'm not one of, have the ability to combine basic elements to form new ones. I met a guy who made ice, and one of my captains could grow trees by combining water and land... I also heard that someone in the land of Earth has an element of lava — the union of fire and earth."

"Wow!" said Harry again. "Your world is incredible!"

"There are constant wars in my world," I sighed. "Shinobi are made to kill. And we always sow hatred. We avenge our dead comrades, and then they take revenge on us.... Eh, let's not be sad, okay?"

"Okay," Harry smiled. "I would like to see what your chakra is like...."

"Well, that's easy," I grinned, releasing a chakra in my hand and forming a ball of simple, almost non-combat rasengan. "Just don't touch it."

"Wow," Harry's face lit up with a bluish light.

"It's a pure chakra, but it's shaped like a ball", I explained, pulling the rasengan back into my palm.

There was a rustle in the bushes, and I resisted the urge to throw a shuriken there. It was lucky for the cat that ran out of there that I had a weapon in my backpack.

"Well, shall we go to the hotel?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Part 1. Chapter 7. A Strange encounter

"May I see your passports, young people?" It was asked by a polite, balding man in semicircular glasses, who was sitting at the counter in a hotel that Harry and I liked.

We both looked at each other and hesitated.

"And I forgot at home..." Harry muttered, quickly shooting his eyes at me. "Excuse me, but can I have no documents?"

"I'm sorry, but no."

"We moved away from the counter."

"Ask Kreacher to deliver your documents," I whispered.

"If only I still had them. I don't have a Muggle passport, and wizards use a wand and magic as identification tools."

Well, yes, Shinobi have the same thing — except for the chakra and the personal file code on the back of the hitai, there are also no "documents".

"Tell me, what do these documents look like? So that I can make shadow copies."

"Well..." Harry hesitated, "I should have looked at Emma and Jess. I can't explain it to you on my fingers. Uncle Vernon keeps them in his wallet...."

"Then we'll have to rob someone to look at the documents." I grinned at him. "I've already decided to stay here, it's interesting how everything works here in hotels.... But, in principle, you can get in and spend the night in the room."

"Oh, well..." said Harry. "I won't even be able to sleep then, worrying that we'll... that we'll be discovered."

"Well, yes, I agreed with his arguments." You can forget about the rest. "Constant vigilance will be required."

Harry giggled for some reason.

"what?"

"We have a former auror in the Order of the Phoenix who also talks about constant vigilance. As he barks in my ear: "Constant vigilance!". You'll jump right up."

"If I'd been vigilant, I'd have thrown some kind of spell at him so he wouldn't sneak up on me anymore." I chuckled, and Harry seemed to be seriously thinking.

We left the hotel, and I almost fell, tripping over something, or rather over someone. So, damn, we agreed on "constant vigilance", I myself am completely relaxed here. Only by a miracle I didn't trample the child. Stop. A child?

"Girl, what are you doing here so late?" Harry turned his head to look for the adults, and so did I. There were no adults.

"Hey, I know her," I said, moving closer to the light streaming from the hotel windows. This girl was at the cafe where Emma and Jess and I had dinner.

"Jessie," the girl repeated after me, staring at us with all her eyes, and pointing at herself with her finger.

"Is your name Jessica?" Harry asked.

"Uh-huh, I'm Jessica," the little one was delighted by such understanding.

"How did she end up here? It's more than a block from the Elephant House to this hotel..." Harry asked me absently.

"Ale you Hally Pottel?" it was also addressed to me, but from a girl.

And in the burr of his pronunciation, I recognized the name of the wizard who had summoned me here. We exchanged glances at the same time.

"Are you talking about Harry Potter, Jessica?" I asked her carefully.

"Yeah, you'le Hally Pottel, I've seen magic," she said.

Harry enlightened me last night about the magical "international statute of secrecy." Of course, we can't say that every dog knows about the hidden village, and even more so its location, which is why it is hidden. But almost everyone knows about the existence of Shinobi as such. And for them, the wizards, only the wizards themselves and those involved, for example, Muggles, the wizard's parents or siblings, who did not have magic, know about the existence of magic and themselves. I didn't feel any magic in the girl. And no one else in that cafe, so it was very strange to hear Harry's name coming from a three-year-old girl.

"Hey, baby, how do you know about Harry?" I smiled broadly. My appearance always helps when working with a "client", strangers and children usually trust me, which is important in our work. No one tells them that I'm "a little bit of a demon."

"My mom is wliting a story about you. About Hally Pottel. Whele ale youl lound glasses?" She pointed with her hands at how round Harry Potter's glasses should be, and that made him shudder, as if something was beginning to sink in.

"Little girls shouldn't walk alone in the dark. Let's take you to your mom." I said kindly to the child. "And you'll tell us everything at the same time."

"Nice," Jessica agreed, smiling. "But did you show me any magic?"

After thinking about it, I made a shadowy soft green frog. Who would believe a three-year-old girl if they don't believe in "magic" here?

"I'm sorry, but she'll disappear when we get to your mom, okay?" I handed the girl a temporary gift.

"Kelmit!"she immediately named the toy, hugging it to her.

"Jessie, do you know where your house is?" Harry asked the girl, who was engrossed in cuddling the frog.

"Yes, next to Aunt Dee's house..." was the comprehensive answer.

"I think we should take her to the cafe where I saw her. The owner seems to know her there. Come on, Jessica." She took my hand, holding the toy tightly to her with the other.

"Hey, how does she know my name?" Harry whispered in my ear.

"Yeah, well done, you're thinking fast," I chuckled softly.

"Considering that the woman in the cafe was her mom, who writes a story about you, and yet she's not a wizard at all, but a simple Muggle, it's fucking weird."

"Jessie, why don't you ride on my neck?" I asked the girl because we were walking very slowly, and she seemed tired. She squealed joyfully and clung to me.

We reached the Elephant House, but the cafe was already closed.

"It's already a quarter past ten," Harry looked at his watch. "They closed fifteen minutes ago.

"Jessica! Jessie!" there were screams in the street. "Jessica!"

Harry and I hurried there.

"Mom!" apparently, my passenger recognized the voice.

The same woman from the cafe ran out to us. Slightly disheveled, scared and confused.

"Oh my God, Jessie! You've been found! My girl! Baby!"

I took the girl off my neck, not forgetting to put the toy away. She ran to her mother, hugging her neck.

"Mom! I was assaulted by Gally Pottel! He's a leal wizald, I saw for myself!" the girl immediately turned us in.

"Excuse her," the woman smiled sheepishly. "I started writing a story, and she is my only listener. Thanks for finding her, boys."

Jessica darted back to us and clung to me.