"That's the end of your story, isn't it, Naruto?" I asked a question into the void after reading the last page of the seven hundredth issue of the manga.
But in any case, everything that was published after he learned the Golden Veil on Turtle Island was already purely an author's fiction. And personally, it's noticeable to me, of course, that this Kishimoto tried, but after reading it, there remains a feeling of dissatisfaction, the falsity of individual episodes. Especially for me, who personally knew Uzumaki Naruto. The man who changed the world. In every sense. Even the fact that he encouraged me to take this adventure with a muggle writer in the summer of nineteen ninety-six.
As if on purpose, just six months after the victory over Voldemort, the first Harry Potter book was released in mass circulation.
Merlin's cookies, how they all stood on their ears! "Leak", "violation of the statute of secrecy", "who dared?". There was also shock and disbelief that the "hero of magical England" lived in a closet under the stairs. It seems that all of them, as they once believed in the sugar fairy tale about me, continued to believe. It was damn nice to dip someone into the "truth about the hero" and destroy the illusions. Naruto was right. "First-hand experience" is more reliable. It was not possible to get to the bottom of the "leak", and soon the second "true book" about the secret room and the basilisk in Hogue was published. Investigations and inspections have already begun.
But despite all the hype, as Naruto said, in fact, the statute of secrecy has not been violated. Conversely. Now you can safely walk around the center of London in a robe, and everyone will think that you are "cosplaying". Muggles will always find an explanation for a miracle. And the children who received the invitation letters became at least a little prepared for the realities of the magical world, which, if a fairy tale, is not particularly magical and pleasant. On top of that, assimilation with Muggles and interest in their culture among magicians has increased dramatically because of these books.
And Naruto was right about that.
After the two thousandth year, when the book about the tournament and Cedric's death was published, I remember Ron being very offended by me. Like then. However, by the age of ninety-six, I had outgrown this school friendship internally. I wanted to be like Naruto. To become just as strong, courageous, and not just recklessly brave, to think with your head. In the few days he's been in my world, this guy has shown me what friendship, dedication, and duty are. He changed me. He made me believe in myself. And when I found out his story...
"Harry, have you read this yet? I received a magic mail from Tokyo today!" Sirius came into the room. He was holding a manga I already knew.
"Ha!" I showed my issue, winking at my rather smiling godfather.
He and Naruto's clone returned in the spring of nineteen ninety-nine, on the first anniversary of Voldemort's final death. It was a double celebration. My Shinobi friend was right about the Arch, that it was something like a one-way portal, but he didn't know that wizards live much longer than Muggles, and even longer than many Shinobi. As it turned out, that sent clone found Sirius and, using his magic-chakra, found a way out of that world, however, into the neighboring world. In general, they came to us only almost three years after the "death" of my godfather, for Sirius, about sixty years had passed. But he came back very mature, and "constant vigilance" became his motto, and he also "stuck" to Naruto. The clone, who turned out to be something like a material ghost from a chakra with a matrix of memory and skills, did not age a single day. But this is not surprising.
The real Naruto returned to his world on the morning of the third of July, the ninety-sixth. After we "pumped up" that writer who became my unwitting biographer.
It happened unexpectedly and quickly, he only managed to say that he had to go, and disappeared with a pop. But when his clone returned, I learned the whole story of Naruto from him. The pool of memory, as it turned out, works great with the chakra, and it was... It's just amazing. It's just a pity that after that, the clone interrupted his technique and returned, saying that he had completed his mission.
At first, I was thinking of writing a book about him, just like about me. But all these fights, these techniques, they defied description! It was too cool for someone accustomed to the "wonders" of the wizarding world, let alone the Muggle world. And then Sirius and I went to Japan. Because the "ninja" lived in Japan. Perhaps Naruto was from the parallel magical world of Japan, where magic turned into chakra. It's hard to say.
I remember Sirius and I wandered around Tokyo for a long time, went into a bookstore, and I saw comics on one of the shelves. But unlike the American ones, they were black and white, and only some had red on them. The seller explained that it was a manga. One of these Japanese comics caught my attention because there were animals and people with red eyes on the cover, as if it were the Uchiha clan, which included Naruto's friend Sasuke.
"This is the work of a young mangaka, Masashi Kishimoto," the salesman said. "The manga won the Promising Authors Award. He's a very talented young man, and he's good at the fight scenes."
Thanking the seller, I bought this comic and a few more that were about martial arts.
A week later, after I had studied all the "young and promising" authors, I asked my Japanese colleagues to find this Masashi Kishimoto for me.
I used almost the same method as my friend, but after forcing the Japanese to drink the necessary potions, I plunged him into a pool of memory, into which I prepared pieces of the clone's memories in advance. Everything that could be shown. I don't like it when people pry into my personal life, so a lot, a lot has remained "behind the scenes." And when he was little... It was too personal. So for the most part, it was the life of a military boy in a military village. All before his training sessions on Turtle Island.
The results eventually exceeded my expectations, and this manga was adapted into cartoons.
"I wonder what really happened there?" Sirius muttered.
"Yes, I'd like to know that too," I smiled. "But I'm sure someone like Naruto will definitely achieve everything he wants."
"Speaking of which," Sirius smiled. "I recently reread all the Harry Potter books and still didn't understand why you were paired with Ginny Weasley in them, and even a blood traitor?
" Well, it's an author's fiction, I think," I shrugged my shoulders. "Ginny, by the way, still can't forgive me for not choosing her, as in the book. But, by Merlin, I don't remember giving her any reason to hope for anything.
"I also noticed that it says so in the books," he thought. "It's like the author doesn't understand many things in the magical world, but she uses them in character conversations or mentions them, but... it's like someone dictated it to her," Sirius said carefully, looking at her intently.
"Okay, I admit it was me. Satisfied?" I raised my hands in the air. This question has sometimes been raised and still agitates many minds of the magical community, despite the fact that more than fifteen years have passed. But everyone understood that the source of the information was the "inner circle of the hero," many thought of Neville, so direct accusations should not have been made. It seems that Joanna was secretly tested for her divination ability, but of course, nothing was found.
"But how? When?!" Sirius sat down in the next chair.
"Do you remember the book about the half-blood Prince?"
He nodded in response.
"The only book where nothing is said about how I spent the summer. It was after your "death". Everyone abandoned me. I was desperate... Yes, I was hysterical and upset about a lot of things in Dumbledore's office when you fell through the Archway. And in the next book, I "got smart," I chuckled. "Can you imagine, Sirius, I was so angry and upset that, like a jerk, I summoned a demon to get you out of the Arch.
"what? A demon?" Sirius's eyes widened. "But you could..."
"yes. Now I know," I grinned, interrupting my godfather's panic. "I was lucky that something went wrong and instead of a demon, Naruto got into our world. He's not really a demon after all, but a jinchuuriki. I can't imagine what would happen to me if I saw what was hiding inside him all the time....
"Well, yes," Sirius chuckled.
"In the summer of '96, we tried to get you out of the Arch, and as you know, he sent his clone after you. And Naruto and I, after what we thought was an unsuccessful attempt, decided to have some fun and went to Edinburgh, where we met this very J.K. Rowling. However, then her name was Joanna. It turned out that Naruto showed me his chakra, that rasengan ball, and Rowling's daughter saw us, she decided that Naruto was Harry Potter because he was a wizard.
"Yeah, it's funny," Sirius chuckled. "But wait, how did they even know about Harry Potter?"
" Oh, I think we should thank some gossips for that, who gossip too much at train stations while waiting for the train.... Joanna heard the story about me, thought of a lot, wrote her own and tried to publish it. We were lucky to run into her like that and prevent another Rita Skeeter with speculation and a nimble pen. Even if the end of the story turned out to be quite peculiar... And a lot has been added... Including my unexpected "wife and kids.""
"That's reasonable," Sirius drawled after a moment's thought. "But in 'ninety-six..."
"I told her the story of the boy who survived and made it to the fourth year," I explained.
"But they started publishing the book," my godfather nodded understandingly. "The Harry Potter story has become popular..."
"It's good that it happened after Voldemort was defeated. Otherwise, I think things could have gone according to a different scenario....
"I remember that this writer had a long creative crisis after she wrote her fourth book. So it was related to the fact that she had written everything she knew in these books?
"Yes..." I nodded. "The Magical Society was also disappointed by the expectation of a "sequel." But for me, this sequel, where you die, and all this filth in general: the Ministry, Umbridge, the accusations and ridicule in the newspapers, was an ordeal. But Naruto helped me again," I smiled. "Then, in two thousand two, the film adaptation of his story began, and I found the strength to go to Joanna and tell the final part of my story.
"Thanks for telling me," Sirius smiled.
"Well, now..." I shrugged my shoulders. "So many years have passed, you can no longer hide the truth."
"I think Naruto will be fine."...
"Yes..."
"Hey, Harry, isn't that why you prefer blondes with blue eyes?"